Work Text:
"Hey Cullen, can you do Amelia's hair for me?" Antheia called from the closet. It was an early morning in Skyhold, and Antheia had a bunch of meetings sooner than she would prefer. But, that means they would be out of the way sooner and she could spend the rest of the day with her wonderful family.
"Are you sure love? I'm still not the best with hair, I can barely manage my own and Amelia's isn't exactly any less curly than my own." Cullen called back from the main room. Their daughter, Amelia, had the unfortunate luck of having parents with naturally curly hair, and she somehow managed to get a hellish version of her parents blonde curls. Cullen walked over to his daughter's small bed and knelt next to it. "Hey kiddo, it's time to get up. We've got new friends to make and some hair to brush." He cooed in Amelia's small ear. The small girl shifted and yawned, small hazel eyes opening and sleepily staring at her father. Cullen smiled down in wonder at this beautiful mix of Antheia and himself; Amelia at only a few years old had her parents unruly blonde curls, small ears with a slight point from her mother, and strangely, hazel eyes - an equal mix of his brown eyes and Antheia’s green ones - and to top it all of a dusting of freckles across her nose.
“Oh vhenan, it’s not that difficult I promise, you don’t even have to braid it today. Not to mention i can do it, and I only have one ARM.” Antheia said, stepping into the room as Cullen plucked a half awake Amelia out of bed. She smiled at him and held up a hairbrush with a hair tie on it, holding it out to him. He grumbled and walked over to grab it, kissing Antheia on the cheek and he walked past her to the wardrobe and set Amelia on top of it.
“Papa, what kind of friends are we making today?” Amelia inquired, wiggling a bit on top of the wardrobe as she started to wake up a little.
“Very important and boring ones.” Cullen answered. Amelia scrunched up her face and balled up her small hands. Poor baby had to put up with all her parents meetings, and they tried to make it up to her afterwards, much to Amelia’s delight. “But, this means you get to wear that new dress from Auntie Josephine today.” Amelia gasped and wiggled again in excitement, causing her mother to giggle from across the room where she was looking over reports. Cullen dug through the drawer full of Amelia’s clothes until he found a pair of bloomers and a thin underdress before moving to the closet and searching for the garment Josephine had gifted them. He finally found it and returned to the wardrobe where his toddler was squirming impatiently.
“Careful Cullen, if she wiggles anymore she might move all of Skyhold with her.” Called a laughing Antheia, Cullen turned to give her a look before scooping Amelia off her perch and placing her on the floor and kneeling before her. He quickly went to work dressing an excited Amelia, discarding her crumpled bedclothes and smoothing out her maroon dress; with it’s long fitted sleeves and fluffy skirt she looked like a small cake. Amelia immediately ran over to the couch and climbed on top of it, plopping down in preparation for her father to style her hair.
“Antheia, are you sure that you want me to braid her hair today? Remember last time?” Cullen tried, looking over at his wife. She glared back at him and held up her left arm, or at least what was left of it. He sighed and shuffled over to the couch where his daughter was still perched, hairbrush in hand. Cullen plopped onto the couch and Amelia climbed onto his lap and he set to work, carefully brushing out the tangles, then splitting it into three parts and doing his best to braid it, tying it all with a ribbon when he was finished. Looking at his handiwork, Cullen realized that he actually did it this time, and excitedly scooped up a giggling Amelia.
“ANTHEIA! MY DEAREST ONE! MY DARLING DEAR! I DID IT THIS TIME! IT ACTUALLY LOOKS NICE! LOOK! LOOK!” Cullen almost yelled as he ran over to Antheia’s desk and proudly setting Amelia down in front of her, crumpling whatever reports were underneath the toddler’s feet. Just as Antheia looked up from her report at his handiwork, it all came undone with a single poof. Antheia burst out laughing as Cullen stared in disbelief at what had just occurred, as his wife reached out and their daughter crawled onto her lap, looking up at her father completely unaware of the state of her hair.
Bonus:
“Mistress Rutherford, your hair looks lovely today.” A soldier told Amelia, who was sitting happily in her mother’s arms. She was watching her father train the recruits, an activity she found riveting.
“Amelia, what do you say to the nice recruit?” Cullen asked her, chiding her for the lack of a ‘thank you’. The toddler straightened up and beamed at him before putting on a stern expression and saying:
“That’s a shield in your hand! Block with it!” Amelia said and smiled at her father, thinking she said the right thing as Antheia held back a laugh and Cullen scratched behind his neck apologizing to the recruit and adding that ‘She does have a point,’.