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His feet ached. The polished brown leather “dress shoes”, which Josephine had insisted he wear, were harsh on his feet.
"Shoes bothering you, aye? That’s because your feet are as flat as your ears are sharp, Elf!", Varric rasped at him with a chuckle as he watched the elven Inquisitor fidget with the shoes on their way to the Ball.
He stood at a parade rest as he allowed his gaze to wander across the garish dance hall and it’s coiffed, well oiled, wealthy occupants. He’d dismissed his companions to allow them to mingle as they saw fit as he waited for Josephine to return to him with the host of the party whom she’d told him desired an audience with him. His back stiffened a bit as a portly man with a pointed blond beard and goatee, with curled ends and a trail of stringy gold waves framing his pink face, started toward him. Josephine was nowhere to be seen when he quickly glanced around for her.
"You! Yes you! Elf!”, the blond honked as he drew closer. The Dalish elf arched a brow minutely as the man reached him and he felt the tingling sensation of the palm hidden under a polished brown leather glove.
"Didn’t you see me gesture for your presence?!" the man, whom smelled of wine and breathed too heavily, asked him in an incredulous tone.
"I observed you, yes-" he attempted.
"Listen hear you little knife-eared twat! You will come when you are summoned or you will be replaced! Do you realize-HERK!”, he gasped through the hand at his throat. Though The Dalish Inquistor stood shorter than the goatee sporting noble the majority of his weight was muscle and the adrenaline from his rage meant he easily held the man so that the tips of his feet barely scraped at the glossy marbled floor.
"I am Guts Lavellan of the Dalish, //the true children of this land//, and you will not speak down to me or any other elvhan in my presence you shemlen hog.", he hissed with a hint of a snarl on his face as he stared up into the man’s eyes. He payed no heed to the flurry of whispers starting up around him as he felt the muscle in his jaw work while the man’s face turned from pink to red. "Do. you. under-stand?”, he intoned as the man tried and failed to pry at Guts’ grip.
As soon as he felt the nod he released the man with a resounding thump and watched as a pale woman in a frilled pink dress wearing an elaborate wig came to his side as he gasped for breath. He returned to his parade rest as he quickly glanced at the crowd that had amassed around them. He noticed a large man with the same kind of wet poodle hair and pinched face as the goatee’d man grip the ornate handle of a sword Guts was sure he’d never used in a real battle as he settled his cold stare directly on him. The boy, for after he got a good look at him he realized he was no more than 16 or 17, took a step out of the crowd towards him. He allowed his brow to arch up the same way he’d done to the boy’s father.
“Inquistor! Move out of my way! Inquisitor!”, he heard Cassandra barking as she presumably pushed her way through the crowd. He saw her surface from the crowd with Josephine in tow from the corner of his peripheral vision. “What has happened? What is going on here?!”, Cassandra’s sharp accented voice demanded as she looked from the now standing goatee’d man to the crowd and back again.
"This elf-“, the boy began.
"Silence, child!”, Cassandra snapped as she locked eyes on the Inquisitor.
"What has happened here, Inquistor?", Josephine’s calm voice said to him as she came over to stand at Cassandra’s side.
The whispers turned into gasps and murmurs. Calls of “That’s the Inquisitor?!”,”Surely there’s been some mistake!,”For an elf he is quite handsome isn’t he?”,”An elf? And a Dalish one at that you say?!”,”We’re supposed to trust our fate to a knife-ear?! And one of those wild one’s at that?!”,”It nearly killed Ser Claude!”,”I’d rather take my chances in the Free Marches.”,”Oh, I wonder how well he pays?”,”I’d heard rumors but I didn't expect them to have any truth to them!”,”That Ser Claude is a shite and I’m glad someone had the yams to gave it to him!”,”I don’t care what he is we should be kissin i's rings for what e’s doin!”,"The Inquisition are the only one’s doing a damn thing about what’s going on!",”I’m not drunk enough for this.”,”He is a divine being sent down from The Maker!” flew around him.
"Inquisitor." a voice rang above the crowd. All at once the noise seemed to to disappear as the crowd parted and a figure stepped through. A tall woman garbed in ornate white leather mage’s robes with intricate gold silk embroidery and a horned hat stepped out into the circle of people. His heart seemed to forget to beat for a moment as he took a hard swallow and gripped his wrist a bit harder behind him. "That’s her!”, "The witch!”,”The one who was First Enchnter to Celene?!”,”I hear they call her Madame De Fer.”, the crown murmured around them.
“You! What is going on here?”, Cassandra growled as she locked her eyes on the goatee’d “Ser Claude” who still gripped at his neck even as he pointedly looked everywhere but at her. He shifted his eyes to Vivienne with desperation showing clearly.
"This man assumed I was one of the servants here and when I attempted to correct him he cut me off and insulted not only me but my people.",Guts spoke calmly as he looked to Cassandra even though he’d shifted his body towards Vivienne.
"I-I-", Ser Claude stuttered in a before falling immediately silent when a surprisingly steely glance from the mage woman landed on him.
"I could not allow such vitriol towards my people to be spread in my presence.", he said as he forced himself to stay in the present and not let his eyes wander the curves of her face. He heard a tsk from Cassandra and saw a frown forming on Josephine’s face as she looked at the man with clear distaste.
"I can assure you it will not happen again, Inquisitor, as Ser Claude and company were just on their way out.", the mage woman said in an iron tone dressed in that of a lilting one as she stepped past them without a glance and towards the Inquisitor.
The man seemed unsure for a moment before seeming to think better of it and with a flick of his wrist ushered away a small chunk of the gathered crowd.
"Sers and Seras, and all those gathered here, return to the festivities. As times of celebration might soon be rare and more lavish entertainment has just arrived.", she purred to the gathered audience as she allowed a small ball of light to float from her hand in the direction of the grand staircase that lead up to the second level of the ballroom. There the ball settled and lit a flame which at the same moment seemed to light the other torches lining the balcony to reveal outrageously dressed circus performers. Applause broke the tension that had formed in the room. Her commanding voice and the new distraction seemed to immediately begin the dispersal of the gathered group.
He allowed himself to drink in her bare back from the cut out in her robe that hung dangerously low before swiftly looking to Josephine as she began to turn back towards him. The small smile the scribe girl was poorly attempting to stifle had the right side of his face twitching into the barest of frowns he was sure, even as he tried to suppress it.
"Inquisitor.", she said in a voice akin to poured honey and the smoke of a camp fire.
His heart, instead of forgetting to beat, seemed confused on whether or not it wanted to send more blood to his cheeks or his groin. He silently thanked his parents for his sable skin tone that hid his blush from plain sight if not from his expression or mannerisms.
"And you are?", he rasped much more huskily than he’d intended. He swore he heard what sounded like Varric snorting from somewhere behind him, though he hadn't laid eyes on the dwarf since earlier that night.
"Vivienne.", she said as she smiled with the corners of her mouth and an expression that said she was well aware of his reaction to her presence. "Come with me, we will go somewhere more suitable for the discussion I wish to have with you.", she said serenely as she began to turn from him.
"I should have been more clear. Who are you?”, he said calmly as he tried to keep from seeming snappish as he watched her.
"Ah this is my friend I was telling you about! The one who’s thrown this party for us and invited us here. Vivienne is quite a force to be reckoned with on many avenues. I’d advise you to meet with her Inquistor!", Josephine seemed to say in one long breath as a warm smile broke out on her face.
"Aye, I think it’s be good to here what she has to say after she pulled yer ass outta the fire their Kid!", Varric quipped as he appeared from some unknown corner and roughly smacked Guts on the back.
"You were watching and didn’t think to step in?!", Casandra half-accused as she glared at the grinning Dwarf.
"Well my stories don’t really write themselves, ya know. I need source material! Besides, you saw for yourself, this kid walked out of a blast that killed thousands with a headache and a glowing paper cut!”, Varric half-sung as he added hand gestures as he spoke and seemed only more pleased the more Cassandra seemed to disprove.
"Lead the way then…Vivienne.", the look she gave him when he locked eyes with her as he said her name made him swallow and had his jaw muscle working again. The real, genuine, toothy smile she briefly graced Joesphine with had him feel a brief but sharp twinge of jealousy toward his friend.
"This way then. We have much to discuss.", she said as she began leading them and he caught her smirk as she turned from him and he swore she arched her back more, if only by a millimeter.
Whoever this so called Woman of Iron was he got the distinct impression that he should both respect and fear her. With the latter of which exciting him in ways he’d rather not think too hard upon.