Holli let out a laugh, dropping her cards on the table. "Git good, scrub," she grinned, pulling the pile of her winnings towards her.
Hawke glared her way. "I'm going to figure out how you're cheating, and I'm going to stop you."
Holli didn't think she was cheating. Counting cards and educated guesses were just utilising her skills.
"Good goals, noble goals," she told him. "Let's see how that works out for you."
"If you're done being fleeced by the child," Fenris drawled. "We have plans."
"Ouch, Fenris. Ouch," Holli told him.
He cast her an amused stare but said nothing and certainly made no move to apologise.
"Guess I should get back to the infirmary," Holli said.
She still had so much to do, so much she wanted to accomplish, and it wasn't going to accomplish itself.
"Why don't you take the rest of the day?" Hawke suggested. "Spend it with Cole."
Cole perked up, almost puppy-like, at the suggestion. Maybe she had been neglecting him a bit, getting so absorbed and lost in her work. There were some days it was borderline obsession – she'd forget to eat, she'd lose track of time, and she would sit in one position so long it hurt to move once she finally did. It hadn't escaped her notice those were the days that tended to follow her worst nights – nightmares, times where it was hardest to fight back the grief. It still hit hard at times.
Before she could say anything, Josephine appeared at their table. It was rare to see her in the tavern. Especially in the middle of the day.
"There you two are," she said.
Both Holli and Hawke exchanged a glance before simultaneously sighing, a last-moment replacement for the pained groans they were about to expel. Josephine, with that tone, meant nothing good for them.
"Oh, stop it," she snipped. "I wasn't sure what to do with these. I've read them, and my first instinct was to decline, but I think you should at least know they exist. It might come up in future."
She placed a substantial stack of papers down in front of them, all opened and clearly scrutinised by her practised eye.
"What are they?" Hawke asked warily.
Holli picked one up, skimming it as a wide grin spread across her face.
"People want to marry you," Holli laughed. "Those poor bastards. They're marriage proposals."
"Before you start laughing too hard," Josephine told her, one elegant eyebrow arched. "The bottom half of the stack is for you."
"What do you mean?" She asked, her laughter dying a swift death.
"Proposals for your hand," Josephine enunciated slowly, like she was talking to a particularly dense child.
"I'm only sixteen," Holli protested.
"You know," Hawke drawled. "Funny how you're only sixteen when you don't want to do something, and 'I'm sixteen' when it's something you do want."
She didn't like how well he captured her tone. "Well, I don't think playing the 'I'm a girl' card is going to help me much here."
Her brow furrowed as she pulled out the bottom half, taking a look. Flicking through, she didn't recognise most of the names, while some bore faint traces of familiarity.
"So who are the poor sods wanting to tether themselves to you?" Hawke asked, flicking through his own pile with an exaggerated grimace at each seal he recognised.
"I have no idea who these people are," Holli replied. "Why are people asking marriage at all?"
"Political clout and useful alliances, primarily," Josephine replied. "Although there was one gentleman that waxed poetic about your beauty when he saw you at the Winter Palace. He may just think you're pretty. I've already taken the liberty of declining on Cullen's behalf; would you like me to do the same for you both?"
Four resounding 'yeses' rose from the table as both Fenris and Cole added their own voices to the chorus.
"So Cullen got some too?" Holli asked, distracted from her own mortification by this piece of gossip.
"As did Leliana, Cassandra, and I," she replied. "Though you two definitely received the bulk of the attention."
"Well, I am quite the catch," Hawke announced, stretching with theatrical self-importance. "Take note, Fenris."
Holli snickered at the look on the elf's face – a unique blend of exasperation and fondness.
"I'm taking notes," he replied, his voice a soft rumble. "Several, in fact."
"They don't know about the blood, the battles, the burden," Cole murmured. "They see only the titles and the tales."
A moment of silence fell over the table before Josephine plucked the papers from their hands, straightening them with the rest of the stack. "I shall get on to politely declining the proposals. Should you wish to see these again, I'll keep them in my office."
"Or you could just burn them," Hawke told her.
"No, these need to be answered with proper diplomatic refusals. Now, I shall leave you to your... difficult tasks," she said, eyeing their card game dubiously before making her exit.
"And after that bout of judgement, I suppose I should get onto something productive," Hawke said, sliding back from the table.
He and Fenris left, and Holli pocketed her winnings and packed up the cards, returning them to Cabot. He kept a few decks behind the bar for those that wanted them.
"What do you want to do, Cole?" She asked as they left the tavern hand in hand. "I'm sorry I've been so busy lately."
To her credit, she had finished two large sections of her anatomy book, diagrams, labels, functions and all.
"Don't be sorry," he told her. "You haven't been sleeping well," he pointed out, tilting his head as he examined her.
She probably had some pretty unflattering bags under her eyes. "It'll pass," she told him. "Want to go to the gardens?"
Holli quite liked them. There were always some people there, and there was always sound – rustling leaves, people passing through, and distant bird calls. Back home it was never silent. Passing cars, the hum of appliances, neighbours talking through the walls, distant sirens, planes overhead, her mum partying it up downstairs. There was something about the sound of muffled music that just reminded her of home and made it easier to drift off.
Cole nodded, and they made their way there. She checked on her planters since they were nearby, and then they took a seat under the stone gazebo. The effect this place had on her was almost instant, and she rested her head on Cole's shoulder. She felt his arm come up around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. At some point after that, everything just drifted away.
-
Holli drifted through layers of consciousness, voices filtering through the fog of sleep. Cole's familiar voice alongside a younger one – Kieran, her mind finally registered. She cracked one eye open. Her head was nestled in Cole's lap, her body curled awkwardly on the stone bench. She would feel that later.
They had encountered Kieran around the castle grounds several times now. If not for the striking resemblance in their features, she would never have believed this boy was Morrigan's son.
"Her blood is old," Kieran murmured, his voice carrying that peculiar cadence that made him sound both childlike and ancient.
"Ancient," Cole agreed, his fingers absently stroking her hair.
"But new as well," Kieran continued, tilting his head like a curious bird.
"There isn't another like her," Cole said softly, a protective edge to his words.
Kieran's eyes—too knowing for his years—fixed on Holli. "It's not from here. It's not from now. It exists between times."
Holli rolled onto her back, looking up at Cole's face framed by the roof of the gazebo. The stone pressed against her shoulder blades.
"What are you talking about?" she asked around a yawn.
Cole's lips curved into that smile that still made her heart stutter. "You." He leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips.
She frowned. "There's nothing wrong with my blood."
"Of course not," he answered, but his eyes held shadows.
She shifted her attention to the boy. "Hey, Kieran."
He sat cross-legged on the flagstones beneath one of the gazebo's weathered pillars, a massive leather-bound tome in his lap.
"Hello, Holli," he replied with the formal politeness that never seemed to fade.
"What are you reading?" She asked, trying to dispel the strange tension lingering in the air.
He lifted the book, revealing elaborate illustrations of mushrooms and toadstools. "Fungi of our Realm," he answered, his expression serious.
"Any good?"
Kieran shook his head solemnly, and Holli couldn't help the amused huff that escaped her. She sat up, wincing as her stiff muscles protested, and rubbed at her eyes. Her mind felt wrapped in fog—one of those disorienting naps that somehow left her more exhausted than before.
"How long was I asleep?" she asked.
Cole's hand settled warm against the small of her back. "It's almost dinner time. The sun will set soon."
"Holli!"
They turned toward the voice. Hawke strode toward them.
"Here you are," he said. "We have a meeting in the war room. The others are waiting."
She nodded, reluctantly rising to her feet, already missing the warmth of Cole's presence. "I'll find you for dinner," she promised him.
Cole nodded, his eyes following her as she fell into step beside Hawke.
"What's the meeting for?" she asked as they crossed the courtyard.
"Next steps," he replied with a shrug.
Holli's blood—that old, new, out-of-time blood apparently—ran cold. A sense of dread and forboding hitting her like a freight train out of nowhere.