'Where is Hawke?'

Aveline stomped into the waiting room of the Amell Mansion with her usual haste.

'In her bed. Mourning,' Anders answered from the top of the stairs.

'I know it's a difficult time for her, but I need her to come with me.'

Anders waived his hand towards the bedroom door inviting the Captain to enter. Aveline rushed up the stairs. The room was in a total mess, part of the furniture was broken, the floor was covered with papers and feathers. Marian was lying on the bed and hugging a pillow.

'Be careful,' Anders whispered to Aveline, and she nodded.

'Hello Hawke...' the Captain started. 'How about a nice stroll to the Keep?'

'Go to the Void, Aveline...' Hawke mumbled.

'I tried to be nice,' Avelive sighed. 'But if you won't get your lazy ass out of the bed and come with me, I'll get very very angry. Viscount Dumar requires your presence.'

'You can take Viscount Dumar to the Void with you!'

'She's not mourning. She's drunk!'

'It's the only way to keep her from... this,' Anders pointed at the desk cut into two parts right in the middle. 'The damned elf brought her a new sword thinking it could make her feel better. She used it to destroy everything around. I even had to stun her before it was too late.'

'Oh dear... Could you do something? I don't know, to straighten her mind. I really need her to go with me.'

'I can remove the drunkenness, but I cannot guaranty her agreement to help.'

'Just... Do what you can.'

Anders's hands began to glow as he pressed his fingers to Hawke's temples. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

'You shouldn't have,' she sighed.

'Hawke, it's important,' Aveline said. 'Bran will kill me if I get back alone.'

'What's going on, Aveline?'

'To be honest, I've got no idea. It was something about you sending away four messengers without listening to them or even taking letters from them.'

'Oh... Did I do that?' Hawke turned to Anders.

'The first one was sent to the Void by you, the other three were dealt with by Bodahn,' the mage shrugged.

'Right... I... Remember something about that.'

'I know it's hard,' Aveline put her arm around Hawke's shoulders. 'But it's been three weeks already. There are problems on the city scale, you can't just sit here and drink.'

'Can I not?'

'Absolutely.'

'Why? I'm nobody. The city can function without me.'

'Just... Do it for me, Hawke,' Aveline sighed.

'For you. Alright. I'll try to be polite.'


The Viscount's request turned out to be personal. His son Seamus decided that he doesn't want to be an Andrastian and turned to the Qun. He was a grown up man, and it was his decision which Hawke respected, but the Viscount wanted his only child back. Marian was going to refuse helping him, but seeing Aveline's face changed her mind. She was going to talk to Saemus and listen to his version of the story. The necessity of facing the Qunari and especially the Arishok gave Hawke the chills. She was one of very few people in this city, if not the only one, whom that huge man respected, but at that moment she was not in the best shape. Showing weakness in front of him could be fatal for entire Kirkwall.

'Why is that always Hawke?' Marian asked while they went down the Keep stairs.

'You make a lasting impression,' Anders smiled with the corners of his lips.

'No, I'm serious! I was brought up as a farmers' daughter, then I was a mere soldier, one of many hundreds, then a refugee whom nobody wanted to see. But now everyone expects me to save them from any trouble they get themselves into.'

'Such a familiar story...' the mage kept smiling.

'Let me guess. Cassandra?'

'Yes. Only her whining started with "My biggest ambition was to become the First Enchanter, not the Hero". She always was a modest one.'

'Why would she want to be the First Enchanter?'

'Well, in Ferelden it's quite a nice position. Though if I were a Circle person I'd stop at the Senior Enchanter level. Less pressure, more freedom.'

'Freedom?'

'Yes. Senior Enchanters are relatively free to do anything they want. There are very few of them however. None in Kirkwall.'

'I see...'

'Also most of them are quite old, so they rarely actually use that freedom.'

'And what does one need to become a Senior Enchanter?' Aveline asked.

'First and foremost, they must be loyal to the Circle, be exceptionally gifted in magic and prove their abilities to control their powers. In addition they have to spend many years as teachers or researchers, making a noticeable contribution into the Circle life. And so on, and so forth.'

'So it's not your case.'

'Surely not.'

The dialogue with the Arishok went surprisingly well. He was annoyed by everything as usual, but after what had happened with the delegates three months before Hawke expected him to be more enraged. But he was almost polite and calm, probably because Mother Petrice, the one person both Hawke and the Arishok despised, was suspected in doing something sinister, so they had the same goal.

Hawke and her companions got into the Chantry too late. The Viscount's son was murdered right in the apse from which the Grand Cleric usually gave her sermons. The next moment they were attacked by the "righteous" mob provoked by Petrice. What Hawke wanted to do the most was to kill that viper, but she vanished right at the beginning of the fight only to bring the Grand Cleric with her when it was over. Elthina was calm as always, too calm, in Marian's opinion, and even the appearance of a qunari archer and Petrice's subsequent death did not make her drop her facade. Hawke expected her to at least say some prayers for Seamus or that blasted Mother, but neither she nor Sebastian who accompanied Hawke did anything. Was it a Chantry custom not to pray for those who converted, Marian had no idea. And she did not want to know. Her own soul was still torn apart by her Mother's death, and looking at the Viscount crying over his son's body made her feel the pain once again. She left the Chantry with tears in her eyes.


'How many people have died in the Chantry?'

Hawke was sitting in the kitchen with Anders and Aveline and drinking whiskey right from a bottle.

'I thought you've stopped counting those you kill some time ago,' Aveline sighed.

'I don't mean today, I mean in whole. We were dragged into big fights in Chantry three times, and I bet we are not the only ones.'

'Now that you mentioned it,' Aveline turned from Hawke to Anders. 'Why did you arrange that meeting with Karl in the Chantry?'

'I... I don't know... It was his proposal. I was wanting to get him out so desperately that I didn't think of it,' Anders looked puzzled. 'But it is a good question indeed.'

'It could be entirely orchestrated by the templars,' Hawke murmured. 'And they thought the Chantry is a convenient place since it's closed and they know it well.'

'Could be,' the mage nodded and took the bottle from Hawke's hand. 'And today's events were not too surprising. Though it doesn't cancel its idiocy.'

'Yes,' Aveline nodded. 'However Isabela's case is still unexplained.'

'I wonder if they even lock the doors,' Marian took her whiskey back. 'Or do they think that the Maker will keep those golden statues from thieves?'

'Most likely it would be Andraste,' the captain smiled. 'Those are her statues after all.'

Anders looked at two women in front of him and shook his head. Neither of them believed in what the Chantry said. He knew that Marian believed in the Maker, but her faith had nothing to do with the religion. He had no idea what Aveline believed in. Nobody knew that for sure. She was too realistic for that. What he could not understand was why, if they did not care about the Chant, did not they see that his cause was so important.