It was… unsettling to be thought the "Herald of Andraste." Ishan knew by now that no amount of protesting would change the minds of those Andrastians who thought him chosen by their god. And he knew well enough the advantages of such faith; the people needed something to believe in, and to believe their leader chosen by their god made them all the more loyal. He understood the advantages, both for the individual people in the Inquisition and for the inquisition as a whole. That did not make it any less disconcerting.

Andraste meant little to Ishan. Clan Lavellan was known for associating more with the rest of society than most other clans, so he had heard parts of the chant and he understood, as well as a non-believer could, who Andraste was to her followers. Andraste in and of herself made a good impression on Ishan, but the sheer amount of what had been done to elves in her name… He did not wish himself associated with her, or The Maker, and not just because he didn't believe in their divinity.

What was perhaps even more frustrating was that he didn't think the possibility of godly help entirely impossible. He had been through incredible things, survived things that one would not think survivable… though the gods were sealed away, they did find their ways of helping The People. Of course such help was usually small, personal things, inconsequential on a larger scale, which made it very unlikely that this was their work; impossible, some would say… but then, a lot of impossible things had been happening lately, hadn't they?

"I don't deny that divine intervention is possible," he'd told Mother Giselle after the destruction of Haven. "I simply have different ideas of who might be helping me than you – or anyone else, I daresay – do."

Mother Giselle had been quiet for a very long time; she was probably quite unused to interacting with heathens such as himself.

"No matter who you interpret as your savior to be, the people will think it was Andraste," she'd finally said. "The specifics rarely matter when we are called to a greater cause; what matters is that you have been chosen, whether it be by The Maker or circumstance or someone else."

Ishan had privately thought that the reason the specifics didn't matter to Mother Giselle was that what she believed was the commonly held belief. He doubted she would have treated him the same had he been "The Herald of Mythal." He'd been tired though, and in no mood to argue, especially not with a representative of the Chantry, so he'd said nothing more of it. Not then, anyway, and not to Giselle.