It was midnight and Letholin and Deacon were both still inside the tavern. Other than the remaining bartender and the two town drunks in the corner who were passed out, they were the only others left. For the most part they talked about rather cheerful topics, that was mostly because of the drinking.

"Y'know I'd always thought that you would be...shorter." Deacon said after he finished his third bottle.

Letholin (who was still on his second cup) laughed heartily along with the guard captain after taking a drink. "Taller you say?" He finally asked after the two calmed down.

Deacon nodded instantly. "They always said that the Hero of Ferelden was rather tall for an elf, they even say that you're just as tall as humans. I never believed that...but when I walked up to you at the gate I nearly fell over realizing how wrong I was!" Deacon laughed again but this time Letholin only chuckled.

The guard captain was practically under the table, multiple times he looked over to the bartender giving him a worried look, but the man at the counter would always just shake his head and motion him to turn his attention back to Deacon.

Through most of their conversation Letholin held back one question, the reason why he even agreed to diverting off course and spending some time with the man in the first place. It was killing him to know what was going on with the Wardens, and from what Deacon said about it back at the gate he made it sound like things were bad for them. All he had to go on was his word, otherwise he was completely out of the loop.

During his hiding Letholin cut next to all ties from the world, not even Leliana recieved a letter from him for the eight months he disappeared. Once he returned to society he was at Alistair's front door, and he was just about out of the loop as he was!

After some time Deacon finally seemed somewhat composed after his fit of laughter, it was then that Letholin finally had to ask it: "So what has caused the Wardens to have such a bad reputation as of late?" He asked calmly before taking a sip of his drink.

Right before the drink Deacon's face was filled with drunken bliss, but after hearing Letholin's question his gaze looked upward to the elf and his face hardened immediately - it was like he wasn't even drunk at all. "In short? Warden Commander Clarel is the reason." Instantly he sat up and stretched for a moment, it was obvious that he was trying to shake it off a bit before he spoke about serious matters. Eventually he stopped and leaned forward a bit to continue speaking.

"I s'pose that you haven't heard a word of this, right?"

"The last thing I heard about Clarel was that she was sending troops to Highever to aid the few Wardens in Ferelden, that was a year ago." Letholin was beginning to worry about the news he was about to hear. Clarel was good person, the two frequently wrote to each other and out of all of the Commanders he found himself closest to her. The few times they spoke in person convinced him that they were even friends.

"Shit, you've heard nothing about the Wardens since then?" Deacon's words were beginning to slur a bit, it was obvious that the drink was getting back to him again. Letholin needed to hurry this up.

"Nothing, I have been completely out of the loop." Letholin said calmly before pulling the half empty bottle away from Deacon's reach.

Deacon nodded. "Clarel was trying to stop future Blights from happening. Sounds like a good idea right? Wrong." Deacon slammed his fist against the table causing the cups and bottles on the table to shake a bit. Letholin was caught off guard with Deacon's sudden rage, he was curious as to what was causing it, but he didn't want to ask what.

"She made her mage Wardens summon a demon army so she could have them end the Blight somehow. She ordered them to do it!" His voice steadily rose as he explained the situation. "My son! My son...he was forced to…" But by the time he started to say it, he stopped. "I need to go home." He concluded before getting up. Slowly he got to his feet and began to walk towards the exit of the tavern. Letholin looked over to the Bartender who was now significantly worried, so much that the dwarf began to jog over towards Deacon. "Catch him!" He ordered.

Without hesitation Letholin got up and side stepped to catch the suddenly falling guard captain. With a grunt Letholin was able to get in between him and the floor. Even though he was known for his surprising amount of strength Letholin still had a hard time keeping the guy standing, it was almost like he wanted to fall. Luckily the bartender came in time to straighten the man out.

"Does he do this often?" Letholin asked as he slung one of Deacon's arms behind his neck.

The bartender nodded. "At least twice a week."

Letholin sighed. "His son went to Orlais to become a Warden didn't he?" He asked.

"He was one of the many Wardens who died to the Inquisition during the battle at Adamant."

Letholin shook his head. He couldn't help but feel like it was his fault somehow. "Where does he live?" He asked.

"Across the street, I'll take you there."


It only took a few minutes to get to Deacon's house. It was Letholin's turn to practically drag the man this time, but instead of past a city gate it was to his house. Which was hard especially since he was still in his guard captain armor and it felt like it weighed a ton.

However after a very strenuous few minutes Letholin made it to the front door of his house. He could still see light coming from the windows of the house, his family must have still been awake. With his free arm Letholin knocked on the door and waited for an answer. He was greeted by a woman who seemed to be in her early forties. The woman gasped realizing Deacon was practically out cold. "I'm afraid that I might have been the cause of this." Letholin said guiltily.

The shook her head before holding out her arms. "It isn't your fault, work has been tough on him recently, at least you brought him home." Letholin transferred Deacon over to the woman before nodding slightly. "It wouldn't have been right if I leaved him there." He said with a small smile.

The woman nodded before she guided Deacon farhter into the house. Once the man was out of sight she returned to the front door. "Thank you Dane and Mr….?" She looked over to Letholin expecting a name of some sort.

If it weren't for the hood covering most of his face and the cloak concealing his armor Letholin would have had to give up his true name, and he realized that. But luckily he was covered up enough to feel safe enough to lie. "Enteri." He answered making up the name on the fly.

The woman nodded. "Well thank you Mr. Enteri for ensuring that my husband returned safe and sound." The woman then closed the door behind her as she went to go further into the house.

For a few moments Letholin and the bartender stood outside of the house in silence. It wasn't until the bartender handed him his pack that the two even said anything.

"I suppose that I should get going." Letholin said before looking over to the road that would lead out towards his destination.

With a small nod for his thanks Letholin began to walk, but he was stopped at the sound of a voice behind him, the bartenders.

"You know he doesn't blame you, right?"

Letholin turned around confused. "What?"

"For his son." He answered. "He doesn't blame you for his death. It was because of you that his son was given another ten years, even if it was you who influenced his son to join your cause he still knows that he wouldn't have even been given the option if it weren't for you."

Letholin sighed before nodding, he didn't know what to say. He still had a distinct feeling that it was his fault somehow. "Thanks for the drinks." He finally said before he began to walk down the road again.


For the next few days Letholin went from town to town without saying so much as a word to anyone. Even though Deacon made it significantly easier to get out of Lothering without having to explain himself to some guards he still regretted the idea of even talking to the man. He felt like his question about the state of the Wardens pushed the man over an edge that he didn't even knew existed until it was too late. He doubted that he would do something similar in the next town, but he didn't want to risk it. He simply just kept his hood up and his cloak perfectly covering his blue and white armor as he went from town to town.

Eventually Letholin paused seeing the very trail that would lead to Skyhold. The terrain was already snowy given it being winter, but the sight of the mountains ahead of him sapped nearly all of the motivation out of him. 'Why did they have to pick a castle in the middle of the damn Frostbacks?' He thought as he stood at beginning of the trail.

For a few minutes he simply stood there, luckily for him it was a rather seemingly empty path which meant that not all that many people were traveling. Otherwise knowing his luck somebody would have most likely tried to rob him by then.

Finally Letholin took a deep breath remembering the reason why he was there in the first place.

"Alright then..." He muttered before taking his first step up the trail.