Trevelyan informed Josephine of the additional guests that evening, and accommodations were found for them in Skyhold, though Josephine wanted to put the mabari with the horses.

When she returned to the great hall she found that the group had dispersed to look around, and only Bethany, Chase, and Varric were still there. "Where did everybody go? I thought you wanted to hear what happened to Hawke."

"Fenris saw a Tevinter, Merrill saw an elf, Aveline saw Knight-Captain Cullen, Sebastian saw a Seeker, and Isabela saw a Warden," Bethany explained.

Trevelyan looked at Varric. "Which of those is the most dangerous?"

"I'd start with the elf and Sparkler," he said. "I'd come with you, but I don't really want to be in the danger zone."

Trevelyan ran full tilt, right past Solas, to the stairs where she heard yelling.

"Inquisitor! Glad you've arrived!" Dorian exclaimed. "Care to assist me with this?" Dorian's hands were indeed sparkling with the beginnings of flame, which was even more concerning so close to so many books.

Trevelyan threw herself between the two. "Out of the way, mage," Fenris growled. "I don't mind taking out the both of you."

"Please, stop!"

Fenris had begun to glow blue, and that was definitely not a good sign. "I will rip out his heart!" he shouted.

Varric appeared at the top of the stairs. "Fenris, stop," he said calmly. "Dorian and Hawke fought side by side through the fade. He's not what you're mad at anyway."

Fenris spun on him. "You're right, I'm mad at her!" he hissed. "Shall I rip out the Inquisitor's heart instead?"

"For doing what Hawke wanted?"

The glow of Fenris' skin faded. "Fenhedis! Hawke always got what she wanted. Where does that leave the rest of us?" he spat. He stormed away, out the door to the upper great hall.

"Well," Dorian said, letting his magic fade. "That was certainly bracing. You do attract the most charming people, Inquisitor."

"You never really knew Hawke," Varric chuckled, but his eyes were sad.


They found Cullen and Aveline in his office, and Cullen looked rather grateful when they arrived. "Aveline, are you threatening the Commander of the Inquisition?" Varric asked.

She scoffed. "I was merely asking about his tactics. Looks like his soldiers are being trained well, better than Kirkwall's old Templars, that's for sure."

Cullen did not seem to know what to say to this, and it occurred to Trevelyan that he was intimidated by this woman. "Seeker Cassandra recruited Commander Cullen," Trevelyan put in.

Aveline looked at Varric. "That's the Seeker who abducted you and interrogated you in Hawke's estate, isn't it? Maybe I should have a word with her too."

Cullen stood up and he and Varric vehemently said "NO!" at the same time.

Aveline laughed. "Just as well. I wouldn't want to have to pay for the damages to your castle."

"You never paid for the damages to the gallows…" Cullen muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."


Alistair and Isabela were together on the ramparts. "Really, though, about that weekend..." Isabela was saying.

"Rivaini," Varric interrupted.

Isabela sighed, as Alistair laughed and put a hand on the back of his neck in the same way Cullen did when he was uncomfortable. "Varric you are such a kill-joy," Isabela lamented.

"I don't think the Hero of Fereldan would appreciate you borrowing her lover," Varric pointed out.

"We shared him once, I don't see why she can't share him again," Isabela pouted. "I mean she leaves him here all alone, practically free for the taking…"

"Well!" Alistair exclaimed, blushing. "This is awkward."

That was when they heard Sera yelling. "I swear to Andraste, I will put an arrow in your bloody eye!"

"That's our cue," Varric muttered. Isabela and Alistair followed them out of curiosity as they ran down the ramparts and into the training area outside the tavern.

Merrill and Sera were standing several feet apart, and Sera had her bow drawn. "But you're an elf," Merrill said calmly. "The Dalish are your people."

"Uh...Daisy, I wouldn't…." Varric warned.

"People are my people," Sera said. "And you elfy elves can go be elfy away from me!"

"Elfy elves?" Merrill repeated. "I don't understand. How can an elf not be elfy? Isn't that what elf means? Is that what you call the Dalish? Elfy elves?"

Sera made an exasperated noise. "Don't have to be Dalish to be bloody stupid. Like Solas."

Merrill was offended now. "Stupid?"

"Yeah," Sera confirmed. "Stupid! Caring about all that lost history and power. It's gone now; talking about it won't get it back."

For the second time that day, Trevelyan witnessed the telltale signs of a mage beginning to flare with magic as they lost their temper. Merrill, being a blood mage, was slightly more worrisome. Trevelyan jumped into the argument. "Hey, why don't we go find your friends, Merrill?"

Isabela approached her. "Come on, kitten. Aren't your feet still cold? Let's go find a fire."

Merrill nodded and followed Isabela inside Skyhold.


Sebastian was talking to Cassandra inside the blacksmith. "As the Right Hand of the Divine, you must have spent a great deal of time in the company of Most Holy," he said.

Cassandra sighed, but Varric spared her having to answer. "Come on, Choirboy, we didn't bring you here so you could pester the Seeker about the Divine."

Sebastian looked from Varric to Cassandra and nodded. "My apologies, Seeker. I too have lost a close friend recently, may they both find peace at the Maker's side."

Cassandra looked up at him. "Hawke's loss was a loss to us all," she said.


The Inquisitor invited Hawke's friends, and mabari, up to her private quarters, where they would have some privacy. She also had several bottles of wine sent up, and several more after she realized that Isabela and Fenris had claimed a bottle each.

She told them that Hawke had claimed Corypheus was her responsibility, and that she wanted Alistair to survive to ensure the survival of the Grey Wardens.

"I am so sick of the Grey Wardens," Aveline complained. "They locked Corypheus up with Hawke's father's blood in the first place."

"And they accepted Anders," Fenris agreed.

"They saved Fereldan," Bethany said quietly. "Hawke was at Ostagar. That meant something to her."

Aveline sighed. "I love Fereldan as well, but the Blight is over. Corypheus wouldn't be here now, and Hawke wouldn't be dead, if the Wardens had just left well enough alone."

"You're suspiciously quiet, Varric," Isabela said.
"He is quiet, but is it suspicious?" Merrill asked. "We can't all talk all the time. Then we'd just be talking over each other and no one would ever know what was said. Listening is nice sometimes, too."

"I'd prefer if you listened more," Fenris said to Merrill.

"There was no word

For heaven or for earth, for sea or sky.

All that existed was silence.

Then-"

Varric cut off Sebastian, "Choirboy, no one wants to listen to the Chant of Light."

"Times of mourning are when we all need the Chant the most," Sebastian argued.

Isabela sighed. "So pretty and so boring."

"Among the Dalish," Merrill said, "we plant a tree over the remains of the fallen… Hawke's remains were lost, but…."

Bethany was nodding. "We can't burn them, but we can plant a tree for her."

"Where?" Aveline asked. "On the Hawke estate?"

"Or in the Viscount's Gardens!" Merrill suggested enthusiastically.

"We could plant one in Skyhold's garden," Trevelyan said. "I know...she didn't spend long here, but I would be honoured for Skyhold to have a memorial tree for her."

To the Inquisitor's surprize, all heads turned not to Bethany, but to Varric.

He smiled slightly. "I think she would have liked that," he said. "What do you think, Sunshine?" Bethany nodded.


It was late that evening, after the Inquisitor and Cullen had retired to her quarters, when she heard the commotion. She got out of bed and quickly dressed, careful not to disturb Cullen as he appeared to be sleeping soundly for once and he never got enough sleep. She rushed down to the great hall to find it empty except for Varric, and Hawke's mabari.

"What's going on?" she asked, moving to sit beside him on the steps beneath her throne.

There were several empty bottles around him, and he had broken another, which seemed to have upset Chase. The dog was barking at Varric, rather loudly. Her arrival got him to calm down. Varric looked at her and he laughed, a noise that sounded unnatural and forced coming out of him. "Nothing," he said. "It's nothing. We're just planting a fucking tree for Hawke tomorrow because her body is stuck in the fade." The Inquisitor said nothing. "You're a mage, Inquisitor. What does that mean? Is she dead? Are we planting a tree for a dead woman, or for an undead woman, or for a bleeding fade spirit? I don't know anything about this...weird shit…. That was always Hawke's area…."

"I...I don't know, Varric," Trevelyan said.

"Well...shit," Varric muttered. He stumbled to his feet. "I hope it's a gorgeous tree. Has a lot to live up to," he said quietly, almost to himself, before stumbling away. Chase, whining softly, trailed after him.

Trevelyan watched them go, brushing tears out of her eyes.