maybe several things

this is the start of an AU where my surana did not get recruited by the wardens but also survived the massacre at kinloch hold, and later became the inquisitor. i am nothing if not self-indulgent.

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Mehren wasn't quite asleep, though she was tired. This journey to Amaranthine wasn't comfortable, physically or figuratively. Even a few weeks ago, she would have begged for the luxury of her own sleeping quarters, even if they were just a private tent, but now she felt so uneasy in only the company of templars that she was constantly on edge.

When she first heard it, she thought she was mistaken, or it had only been a leaf or something, hitting her tent on its way past. Then she heard it again, someone scratching at her tent flap, and then a voice softly calling: "Mehren?"

Her insides turned to ice, and her stomach turned over. That was Cullen's voice. Cullen was standing outside her tent. He'd called her by her name, which he hadn't done since before Uldred unleashed all those demons in the tower.

He said, barely loud enough to hear, "I need to talk to you, Mehren."