Chapter Text
Cole woke in the middle of night to find part of her s shared bed empty, part of the blanket haphazardly tossed over him. He blinked his bleary eyes, looking to the desk where he found the Inquisitor; a lithe, Dalish woman with hair the colour of the untouched snow covering the Frostbacks treacherous peaks. Her head was cradled in her hands, bangs pushed up by thin fingers and revealing the bright vallaslin on her forehead. "Era?" He called with his tired voice, silver eyes watching her curiously. The elf's deep blue orbs shot up to look at him, and an unsure smile crept across her face as she gave a nervous chuckle.
"Oh, Cole." She said breathlessly. "Did I wake you again?" The once spirit smiled at her worry, sitting up and brushing his hair from his eyes.
"Don't worry, I woke up on my own." He answered, hoping to reassure the worried woman, but he could feel the worry seeping from her mind still. "Era, what's wrong? Worry is fixed, fretting, festering in your mind. It'll tangle if you keep it hidden." The elf inhaled sharply, leaning back in her chair before letting the breath out in a heavy sigh as she fixed her bangs to cover the dark, delicate lines decorating her forehead.
"I need to fix it." She answered, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. "It's been over a year since I defeated Corypheus, and the world still needs so much help, so much work, and I don't know where to start with it all." Era lamented, eyes tired and sad from her overwhelming desire to help.
As a spirit, helping had been the most important thing to Cole, and while it was still important, when he grew he found there were more things to occupy his interest and soon the Inquisitor became the most important thing to him; the fact that she was dedicated to helping and protecting was definitely an enjoyable side benefit.
Cole loved her. He loved the smile in her eyes when she made others happy or was surrounded by friends, the way she delighted in bringing joy to those around her and her frustration at court intrigue. Cole still loved to help people, but helping Era from her side helped her to help others and that was enough for him.
Lately, however, the once spirit found himself worrying about Era more than before. He often found her awake in the middle of the night, quill in hand and delicate little fingers stained with ink with the same worried expression on her face as she agonized over some plan or letter to some official. "Fix what?" The spirit asked, and Era gave a dismayed sigh.
"Everything. There's those refugees unable to return home from the Hinterlands, Crestwood is struggling to keep supplied after the undead, we have bodies to find and burn in Dirthavaren..." Another sigh left Era’s lips as she read over the list that sat on her desk. "Emprise du Lion needs help removing the Red Lyrium, Sahrnia still isn't doing well with construction, the Fallow Mire needs to be thoroughly cleansed, refugees from Ferelden are still stuck in the Kirkwall slums, there's even more dark spawn on the Storm Coast, plus a dragon..." The list continued; out of all Thedas, it seemed Ferelden, Kirkwall and southern Orlais needed the most help, but Era didn't have the power to do it all at once.
She wondered if she could convince Ferelden and Orlais to contribute to help each other with their new treaty in place. Thanks to her alliance with Starkhaven, Kirkwall received aid through the Inquisition and Prince Vael and Varric had since returned, with resources from the Inquisition, to aid in the reconstruction. "There's refugees all over the place, I heard of a few groups of mages lost contact and might not be aware that they can come out of hiding, Dalish clans need to be told that their mages are safe..."
"Come back to bed." Cole called with a gentle voice. "You need rest, you can't fix it if you're tired." Era looked to him and found herself smiling. With a nod, she set down her quill and stood from the desk, lying on her side next to the blond she had found herself so suddenly taken with not long before she fought Corypheus.
While Cole remained the same in many aspects, he had changed quite a bit over the last year and a half; most of his sentences were whole like his thoughts, and while he still had his odd way of speaking a person's mind, he knew when he needed to focus on normal speech. He'd also gained weight as he began taking on more human habits, Era going to great pains to convince him to just eat something once his human body suddenly realized he was starving. Since then, he had grown to enjoy food and drink and his face was less hollow and more flushed with life.
Era smiled as she brushed the soft blond hair from Cole's face once he'd settled back beside her. "I love you." he whispered as he took her hand, weaving his long fingers between hers and giving a gentle squeeze. "We will come up with a way to help, you don't need to worry so much." Era's smile widened and she buried her head in the warmth of his chest with a gentle sigh.
"I know. I love you too.” She replied quietly and Cole chuckled, gently wrapping his arms around the slender woman, kissing the top of her head and watching over her until her heard the gentle breathing of her sleep.
"You saved them. The world doesn't mind waiting." He whispered, though he knew she couldn't hear and soon after Cole drifted back to sleep himself.