Chapter Text
The thing people forgot, as they watched the Inquisitor roll up her sleeves and chop firewood for the camp, or get stuck into some needed task in whichever nameless little hamlet they had stopped in for a couple of hours, or dance gracefully across the battlefield, moving with the effortless grace of someone who knew exactly what they could ask of their body, was that she had a trio of advisers for a reason. She was not a politician, or a spy, nor a commander of armies. Yes, once upon a time she had been in command of others, and her experience as the leader of the Valo-Kas Arvaarad was useful in the field, people often forgot that she was not and had never been the commander of the Valo-kas as a whole, but instead had lead a small sub-section of what had been a large and organised group. When it came to the deployment of armies and what such large groups needed, she was reliant upon Cullen and his experience. Just as she leaned heavily upon Jose's intricate knowledge of the nobility of Thedas, and made thorough use of Leliana's contacts, which were far more extensive than her own.
Even her own people sometimes forgot just how heavily the Qunari woman relied upon them. While Saare had never been afraid to say no when she thought a plan was wrong, or to pitch her own ideas, and actively worked to gain her own base of knowledge in these areas so that she could more readily contribute to the discussions on what the Inquisition should be doing with the power and influence it was gathering. Still, she trusted her people, and when they said that something must be done in a certain way to ensure they achieved their goal, than Saare was going to follow their directions.
So really, they had no-one to blame but themselves for not noticing that Saare was unhappy about the preparations for their excursion to the Ball at the Winter Palace.
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When Vivienne had learned that Saare did not know any of the formal dances, the elder mage had immediately set bout fixing this oversight. With Iron Bull and Kos the only two tall enough to partner her as the lead, Vivienne had instead enlisted Josephine, Lelianna and a few of the mages whom she had previous known in the Circles, to teach Saare how to dance the part of lead. Cassandra had also been drafted, but the other woman had swiftly manged to escape the clutches of the First Enchanter, though not before proving that she remembered all the steps to the dances she had learned in her childhood.
The interruption by the tailor Josephine had hired, was something of a relief for Saare. Being a Knight-Enchanter kept her more fit than many mages, who became soft and slow in their academia, but dancing like this was a while new kind of exercise and they had been at it for hours now. The comments from the sideline provided by Bull, Dorian, Varric and Kos hadn't helped either. The woman shot the quartet a glare as she followed Josephine and Vivienne to where the man was setting out examples of cloth.
Lelianna only caught the look on Saare's face out of the corner of her as they looked over the cloth samples and settled on a bright crimson and gold. The expression was gone when the spymaster turned to look at the mage curiously, and the change was convincing enough that it almost had her wondering if her eyes had been playing tricks on her.
"Are you sure about these?" Saare asked as she rubbed the crimson cloth between her fingers and eyed the mock-up of the uniform they would be wearing. Josephine caught the way the Qunari's eyes lingered on the brown and gold cloth, but thought nothing of it.
"Yes" Josephine said, with all the authority of her position as the Ambassador of the Inquisition. "We must present a united front to the court. Anything less will invite 'trouble' to see us out"
Saare nodded, with a touch of reluctance which none of the others thought anything about. Josephine had a good point.
"We will use the cloth. Add a sash to the outfit. This blue." Josephine began telling the tailor what was needed, as Saare was once more claimed for dance lessons.
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In the residence where they had been staying for the night before the Ball, Saare stared with distaste at the uniform which rested on the bed, waiting for her to put it on.
"It's not that bad, is it?" Josephine asked softly, closing the door quietly behind herself as she slipped into the room. The antivan woman had not been a Bard in the Orlesian sense of the word for a long time, but many of those skills were still with her. "I know dealing with the nobility is something of a trial at times, but we must speak with the empress."
"I know" Saare replied "And I know this is the only way we can get close enough to her to warn her but I-" Her words were cut off by a loud knocking on the door, and a shout from someone, probably Varric, to hurry up so they could get this thing over with. The dwarf was very nearly as grumpy as Cassandra at being made to attend the Ball, but Saare had a gut feeling that she was going to need them to get through this nightmare with what remained of her sanity intact.
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It was not until Saare entered the ballroom for the second time that she discovered where Josephine was. She paused for just a moment outside of Josephine's line of sight, hearing her speaking softly with the woman next to her. Their voices were not loud enough to be heard over the sound of the crowd, but Saare's hearing was better than that of a human, and she could catch the tone of their conversation, one of annoyance hiding deep affection. It was the same tone she got when Kos annoyed her, a side-effect of growing up together, close as any blood-siblings would have been.
She had to lift a hand to cover her smile as she was introduced to Yvette. There was something delightful about the woman, and Saare was happy to stop and chat with her for a while. Josephine interrupted every time the conversation turned towards the woman's exploits as a child, but there were enough hints at stories that Saare was determined she would get them out of her lover at some point in the future.
"Personally I think the lace cuff has had it's day" Saare replied to Yvette, not seeing the puzzled expression on Josephine's face as the qunari woman spoke on the topic of fashion. She wasn't up to date with the latest trends, but she spoke knowledgeably on quality and suitability of cuts and colour with Josephine's baby sister. Regretfully Saare was not able to stay long, needing to make a new round of the ballroom, and return to trying to figure out the mysteries and intrigues of the palace.
She didn't see the way Josephine watched her leave, and expression like something was almost but not quite falling into place for her. Or the way the woman excused herself to her sister to go and find Leliana.
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"I don't think I've ever seen her wearing a dress" Leliana said once Josephine had come to her. "She's always wearing breeches and shirts around Skyhold"
"Yes, those are all that she has in her closet, and not many of them either" Josephine regretted that it had never occurred to her just how little their inquisitor had to her name. Much of what she had once owned had been lost in Haven, and none of them had thought about whether or not Saare had replaced those things. It was only now that Josephine thought about it, that she realized how worn many of Saare's things had become. How many times had she sat with Saare before the hearth and talked, the other woman listening as she applied thread and needle to some item of clothing. She had thought it simply a hold over of having to do such tasks for herself for so long, but was it perhaps more than that? Had Saare, like her, simply never thought that perhaps something was wrong with how things were.
"The way she has been watching the ladies however... There is something there" Leliana spoke. The red head made a decisive gesture "Leave it with me Jose. I will work this out"
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When it was all over, Josephine found Saare standing on one of the balconies. The qunari woman was leaning against the stone railing, arms folded as she watched the setting sun.
"I'm sorry" Josephine began, and then stopped as Saare held up a hand. Though the woman had tried her best to clean it off, the signs of battle could still be seen upon her skin, and no amount of quick cleaning could be rid of the flecks of blood which had spotted her clothing, or the burn which ran up one sleeve.
"What are you apologizing for?" Saare asked softly "I'm the one who couldn't keep this from bloodshed." Though the Duchess's assassination attempt had failed, Florianne's machinations exposed before the court, and the woman taken into custody, there were bodies left scattered throughout the palace.
"That's not what I meant" Josephine said "I meant I'm sorry I didn't..." She trailed off, not certain how to word what she wanted to say and then charged ahead, knowing how Saare valued honesty from those she was close to. And who could call themselves closer to her than one of her lovers? "I'm sorry I didn't pay attention to you. I'm sorry we didn't ask you what you thought about what we made you wear"
Saare snorted, combination of amusement and exhausted exasperation. "You all forget sometimes that just because I fight like a barbarian, doesn't mean I am one" Vivienne had commented one more than one occasion about Saare's tendency to not just lead from the front, as was proper for a knight-enchanter, but actively draw aggression from whomever they were fighting. "I've never had nice things, not like these" She waved a hand vaguely in the direction of the ballroom "They don't make clothing like that for someone like me. Besides, you were right, we needed to appear united, and we did. Celene is alive and she's going to work with Gaspard and Briala to make peace. Florianne's been arrested. All in all, not the worst result we've had for a day's work" There was a self deprecating smile on her face.
"Still" Josephine put a hand gently on Saare's arm "I should have listened. I should have seen that you weren't happy. And I'm sorry for that. I can't fix that now, but, perhaps, when we return to Skyhold, we can see about getting someone to make you a dress to wear for the next time we have a formal function."
Saare smiled "You don't have to do that, but it's a nice thought" Turning, she held out her hands to the smaller woman "I know something you can do to make it up to me right now though" Saare said, tone soft and wanting "After all the practice, we still haven't had a proper dance" She and Bull had done a turn about the dance floor early in the proceedings, taking the opportunity to scope out the ballroom and reporting their findings to each other afterwards. However, she hadn't had a chance to dance with Josephine.
The music which still played in the ballroom became a little louder, and Saare lifted her eyes to see Iron Bull standing at the doorway. The man had opened it just a little, letting the sound flow freely, and now stood guard, keeping them from being interpreted. He nodded to her with a smile, and Saare smiled and nodded back. Gently, she took Josephine into her arms and began to move to the music, enjoying the feeling of Josephine in her arms, and the company of the two people she cared for most.