Mounting means literally mounting. Ember, as precocious as his orange tabby forefathers, jumps on the toe of Cullen's foot to put his front legs around his shin in the bizarre approximation of a human infant hugging its mother's leg.

Anders is no good at pretending something ridiculous isn't happening right in front of him, and he looks torn between staying eye-to-eye with Cullen or bending to snatch the cat back. He squints at the man standing ramrod straight in his doorway. Is this Cullen being his usual sullen self? He looks about as happy to surprise Anders as Anders is to be surprised, but all things considered, there's not much joy to be had with darkspawn around. He resolves not to ask how Cullen found him. At least not for a full minute.

"Just two," is the automatic answer. "You and cats seem drawn to one another."

On the food chain, darkspawn trump Cullen by a few orders of magnitude, but Anders has to admit, he's still surprised Cullen would suggest they work together in close quarters. Maybe he shouldn't be. From the beginning, Cullen's shown more willingness to work together than Anders has, if he's being honest.

And even Rolan understood when to bury the hatchet when it came to darkspawn.

"Well, I am a Warden and I am headed into the tunnels," he confirms slowly. He looks hard at the other man for another second. At first glance, he'd thought Cullen had looked on the haggard side with the kind of pale wanness Wardens get when they wake up from a dream influenced by the taint. Looking again, perhaps "tired" is just Cullen's natural state. "But if you kick my cat, all bets are off."

Coming from Anders, that's a yes if there ever was one. He bends then to pry Ember off. It's a struggle. The cat doesn't want to go.