"It doesn't matter what the truth is, Gavren." The Inquisitor sighed. "Believing the truth would shake their foundations."

"There are enough rumors in place that this story is gaining footing." Josephine frowned at her lapdesk.

"So half the world thinks I walked into a Chantry and murdered a Grand Cleric at the behest of an Old God." Gavren shook his head.

"No, only about a quarter of the world thinks that." Brehan shrugged. "Another quarter thinks you're a blood mage colluding with the Dread Wolf." He looked up at Duncan. "There are factions in Ferelden vying for open rebellion, claiming the king has been compromised."

"Wynne informed me. Apparently, some of them are foolish enough to think she'll stand as their figurehead." Duncan folded his arms. The situation was beyond ridiculous

"There are plenty who think the Therin bloodline as a whole needs to be removed." Josephine set her quill down.

"You're saying they won." Gavren glared. "We kicked their asses, and they still won. They got what they wanted."

"Maferath's balls, don't be an idiot." Duncan turned to stare at him. "We're still alive, still fighting, so they haven't won shit. Gavren, I've seen you break a damn city in half and throw the Dread Wolf halfway across Tevinter, and you're going to let this little nose tweak get to you? You sent an elven goddess running for her life. This little stunt of theirs was because they believed they should fear us. Fear you. So untwist your robes and show them just how right they are." He turned toward Ruya. "It does matter what the truth is. You of all people should know that. You've been here before, with the world against you. We walk the path you blazed. I do not care who or what stands against us. I will not be idle while my world burns."

Slowly, the Inquisitor nodded. "Nor shall we. We are with you, and we will do everything we can to see to it this war is won."

They all started to file out of the room. He started to follow Gavren, and then Brehan caught his arm. He raised an eyebrow at the spymaster. "Your father would have smacked you upside the head for that speech..." Brehan smiled. "After he stopped grinning like a proud fool."

"Thank you." Duncan chuckled. "I think."

"You remind me of him. More and more every day." He nodded. "Dareth shiral, da'len."

#

"Three elven gods on the loose." Cassandra took a deep breath.

"Five, if you count Fen'Harel and Mythal." Uncle Gabriel folded his arms. "And it is possible not counting them is a mistake."

"Mythal stands with us." Leandra shook her head.

"Remember the good old days when we had to worry about was batshit crazy templars and blood mages?" Uncle Gabriel sighed, raising an eyebrow at Uncle Fenris.

"Well, let's be fair." Uncle Fenris flashed a smile. "We still have to worry about batshit crazy templars and blood mages."

"You know I hate it when you're right." Uncle Gabriel chuckled before turning back to Cassandra. "So how can we assist the Seekers of Truth?"

"Your voice still has power, Champion." Cassandra nodded. "At the moment though, we are at an impasse. The Chantry is in danger of splitting apart. Unfortunately, the Black Divine's unification efforts with Divine Victoria are more detrimental then helpful at the moment."

"Pity Andraste can't do what Urthemiel did and show up to give a helpful wave."

"Oh." Leandra's mouth suddenly dropped open. "Oh oh oh." She turned to look at her father.

Carver nodded, and smiled. "You're right. Now would seem to be the time." He shrugged. "Gwaren. Loghain will meet you there."

"Right." Leandra turned back to Cassandra. "Come on. Let's go get Andraste."

"Wait..." Uncle Gabriel looked at her before looking at his brother. "What?"

#

"Gwaren." Brehan narrowed his eyes. "He stole it. And he took it to Gwaren. He had it all along." He took a deep breath. "We were there. We were standing a dozen feet from him. He stole Andraste right out from under our noses."

Divine Victoria leaned on her desk. She took several deep breaths before looking up at the others in the room. "And you knew this?"

"Well, not the Gwaren part..." Gavren shook his head.

"Actually, I was kind of playing a hunch." Leandra withered just a little under the Divine's gaze. "I mean, it just sort of made sense that it went missing for a reason and that this was the perfect..." She glanced at her father.

"You knew." Divine Victoria narrowed her eyes at him. "You knew, and you kept this from us."

"Most Holy, with all due respect..." Carver drew himself up. "You know full well where my loyalty lies."

"A Dalish elf and a mage. He stole the Urn and gave it to a Dalish elf and a mage." The Inquisitor rubbed her forehead before letting out a small laugh. "Who would ever think..."

"Oh for the love of..." Brehan ran a hand down his face as he stared at the mage. "You're the linguist he stole from the tower."

"I, well..." The mage shrugged. "Yes."

"The term he used was kidnap." The Dalish woman chuckled.

"We never..." Divine Victoria turned toward Brehan. "We never suspected Anora."

"I'm guessing that's why he sent the Ashes to Gwaren." Lenore shrugged, then glanced at Brehan. "Remember that time you punched him in the face?"

"Vividly and without regret." Brehan glared.

#

Duncan swallowed as he watched the flames begin to die down on the pyre. He couldn't help feel just a little heartened by the number of elves in attendance. The majority were Dalish, come from the settlement. Painstakingly built alliances were holding, despite what they faced. He squared his shoulders, and stayed until the flames were done.

The office was unchanged from his last visit, nearly two years ago. Loghain nodded him when he entered. "Your majesty."

"Teyrn Mac Tir." He swallowed. "I'm sorry. I wish I knew what to say."

"Thank you." Loghain took a deep breath, then nodded. "Wynne will be taking over the governing of Gwaren. I will remain with the Order of Vigilance. Given the circumstances we face, I can do the most good there."

He'd known what the man would say, and still it came as something of a relief to note he would not be losing his field commander. "Jerath will be glad to hear it." He smiled. "She did Ferelden proud."

"I know." Loghain returned the smile.

#

"You know you shouldn't be here." Loghain said as soon as Duncan left the room.

"This is exactly where I should be right now." The man hidden in the shadows shook his head.

Loghain smiled, and turned toward his father. "She said you visited her. That you tried..."

Anders sighed. "There was nothing magic could do, Loghain."

"I know." He took a deep breath. "I know. It just..." His shoulders slumped. "It just doesn't feel real. This is still her teyrnir. Her castle. I..." He straightened again. "How is..."

"We hold." Anders nodded. "It's all we can do." He folded his arms.

"Even he cannot hold forever." Loghain sat on the edge of the desk, then straightened again as the memory of his mother yelling at him for doing exactly that sprang into his mind. He leaned on the wall instead.

"They can't kill him. We have that, at least. As long as there are darkspawn, they cannot kill him." Anders bowed his head. "And even then, there is still us. So yes, if necessary, if the cracks can be stopped from widening further, he can. And he will."

"Thank you for coming." He swallowed.

His father took a step forward and put his arms around Loghain. Loghain rested his head on Anders' shoulder, and let the tears come.

#

"What are you doing two doing in here?" Jerath looked from Gavren to Loghain. They were in a secluded section of the Chantry garden, and if he was not mistaken, they were hiding.

"Avoiding Cassandra." Loghain shrugged.

"She's still on about the thing?" Jerath raised an eyebrow.

"About the..." Gavren blinked. "It's the Urn of Sacred Ashes. It's Andraste. I mean, it's..." He looked from Loghain to Jerath, then frowned. "And that doesn't actually mean anything to either of you, does it?" He folded his arms. "Don't you have faith?"

"Oh I have faith." Loghain shrugged. "Gavren, my lovely, I am literally a gift from a god."

Gavren stared at him a moment, then turned toward Jerath. "How do you manage to deal with him every day?"

"I asked Wynne's advice. She said to do this..." Jerath reached out and smacked the back of Loghain's head. "Whenever he starts talking."

"Does it help?" Gavren tilted his head.

"No." Jerath shook his head. "Actually it just seems to encourage him."

"Okay, I get him, but..." Gavren frowned. "I thought you were Andrastian."

"I was." Jerath slowly nodded.

"And you're not anymore?" Gavren raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"

Jerath looked away. "I died."

"I..." Gavren swallowed. "Oh." He exhaled. "I don't even know what to say to that." He sighed, then took a couple deep breaths. Finally he shrugged. "I'm going to go see if I can scrounge some lunch. Want anything?"

"I could do with some food." Loghain nodded. "Be careful."

"You worry too -" Gavren started around the corner, hit something, and bounced off to fall backward and land on his ass.

"Gavren?" Cassandra took a step toward him. "Are you alright?"

"No." Loghain started shaking his head. "No. There is no..." He rubbed his forehead. "No."

"Loghain?" Jerath raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just no." Loghain kept shaking his head as he walked away.

#

Now that he knew, he could see the young magister in the face of the Black Divine. Adralicus had given his life to save Loghain and Caleb. Without his sacrifice, they'd have likely lost the staff to Solas. And then they would have lost everything.

Even without that knowledge though, he'd have found himself liking the man talking to him now, the man already starting to be called the Reformer. "Slowly, I admit..." The Black Divine nodded to the White. "But we are gaining ground. It may be a few generations yet before we have eliminating the scourge of slavery entirely. After all, it still exists even in other nations, simply hidden away. Yet the very nature of the threat we currently face works to our advantage. The Old Gods of Tevinter stand alongside the Old Gods of the Elvhen to defend the world alongside no less than Andraste's Chosen Herald."

"It is a time for faith to be reborn. The Maker's first children return to Him, to defend his second." Divine Victoria smiled. "That one of those first children was entrusted with the Urn has brought around some of the holdouts."

"I had feared the fact that Razikale was reborn as an elf would create problems, but that particular elf had a reputation long before his true nature became known." The Black Divine folded his arms. "The remaining agitators are..." He shook his head. "Agitating." He laughed. "It seems a slow day when I don't have my life threatened four times before lunch." He glanced at Duncan. "You should consider increasing your own guard."

"I have." Duncan nodded. "Or rather, General Gilmore has."

"Ah yes." He smiled. "The Shield Maidens of Ferelden are already starting to feature in song and story. I hear all female house guards are becoming the latest rage in Orlais."

"Well, it's not really authentic until you throw in a dwarf." Duncan chuckled. He still wasn't sure how he'd ended up with an almost all female honor guard. Nugget was the only man in the group, a fact which had already resulted in the dwarf getting slapped a few dozen times.

"This tale of yours, your visit to the past..." The Black Divine tilted his head. "I would like to hear the story first hand, if you would be so kind."

"It wasn't a true past, but an alternate timeline." Duncan slowly nodded. "We met you there."

"Did you?" He laughed. "Sixteen years ago..." He shrugged. "I imagine I annoyed you."

"You did." He met the man's eyes. "Then you died to give us the chance we needed. If not for that sacrifice, all would have been lost." He held out his hand. "I didn't have the chance to do this then, so please..." He smiled. "Let me thank you now."

The Black Divine, the leader of the heretical Chantry of Tevinter, took his hand and returned his smile. "My younger self undoubtedly saw what I see now." He inclined his head. "Have faith, your majesty. I believe you can accomplish the task you have set for yourself."

"And we will do all we can to help." Divine Victoria nodded. "Together, united, we can do anything."

#

Leandra couldn't quite contain a smile. She'd been waiting for this. She bounced up a little on her toes to look. Tisallan raised an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, I'm just excited."

"And the ocean is wet." Tisallan nodded, then pointed. "There."

It took her a second to spot the griffins. "Yes." She gestured for him to follow her to the flagged area they'd set aside for the griffins to land safely.

As soon as her cousin had finished straightening her robes, Leandra grabbed her and picked her up in a hug. "Oof." Salla shook her head. "Maker, I think you've actually grown taller since the last time I saw you." She smiled.

"Come on. You need to meet everyone." She started dragging Salla toward Tisallan. "Tisallan, this is Salla, your new dedicated healer. She's one of the best. You liked her before, you'll like her again. Salla, this is Tisallan, the headmaster here. Don't be fooled by his grumpy old man act, he's actually really awesome." They both stared at her, then she saw the other person she was waiting for. "Kieran." She jumped up, waving.

Kieran walked toward them. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, everything is great." She walked toward him, linked her arm in his, and half dragged him the rest of the way. "This is my cousin Salla. Uncle Gabriel's daughter. She learned healing from Anders and she's one of the best in the world. She's agreed to come here and help out for when the students set themselves on fire."

"Is that..." Salla glanced at Tisallan. "Something that happens often?"

"They are..." Tisallan shrugged. "Occasionally over enthusiastic when exploring lost techniques."

"Twice already today." Leandra grinned.

"Thank you, Lady Salla." Kieran gave her a small bow.

Salla smiled. "This was not an opportunity I could pass up."

"Allow me to -" Tisallan started to nod to Salla.

"Hey, Tisallan." Leandra pointed. "My little brother is juggling swords again."

"Go turn your cousin into a frog." Tisallan finished. "Please excuse me."

"He's not actually going to..." Salla raised an eyebrow at Leandra.

"You know, with him I'm not entirely sure." She shrugged. "Kieran, why don't you show Salla around?" She couldn't stop herself from grinning.

"Of course." Kieran nodded. "This way, Lady Salla." He gestured. Salla looked slightly scandalized at the notion of being given a tour by an old god, but followed.

Leaving Leandra standing there, watching them with a huge smile on her face. Tisallan walked back over. "Explain?"

"What?" She glanced at him.

"Da'len, I trust at some time during our past association I explained to you exactly how old I am?"

"Well, you didn't put a precise number on it or anything but..." She shrugged. "Didn't fool you?"

"No." He glanced at where Kieran was showing the grounds to Salla, then looked back at her. Then he smiled. "Oh."

"Yeah." She grinned again.

"Perhaps later you could attend one of the lessons." He shook his head at her. "We will be discussing the nuances behind the meaning of the word 'subtle'."

"Yeah. I'm a Hawke." She shrugged. "We don't exactly do 'subtle'."