"I hope you have real news Leliana," Josephine yawned rubbing at her eyes. The woman was still in her night dress, hair strewn across her shoulders. "The sun hasn't even risen yet."
Cullen rubbed at his own eyes, forcing out the sleep. Leliana had called the meeting to discuss some urgent matter. The messenger had caught him in the middle of shaving and, instead of finishing, Cullen had rushed to the council room, sure that something terrible had happened to Cassandra and the others. When he arrived Josephine was the only one there, yawning and mumbling quietly about the time. Leliana came in shortly after, dressed, and holding an arm full of papers. Pushing back his unruly curls, he leaned against the table as Leliana laid scrolls and books out in front of them.
"I think I finally have answers for us," the Spymaster said grinning. "I had my agents investigate any leads on the Bloody Suns and it seems that their first job was in the Free Marches."
Cullen groaned inwardly. Lately, Leliana seemed obsessed with finding out about the Herald and his sister's past. If she didn't have her agents watching the Qunari and mages in her company, they were reading the letters the Herald and Ela sent to each other.
"What is the point of this Leliana?" He asked trying to hide his irritation. "We should leave their past alone. If they wanted us to know, they would have told us."
Josephine snapped her head around. "We work with them, Commander. Their reputation could be a stain on the Inquisition."
"Or it could help us," Leliana added eyeing him from under her hood.
"No matter what it is we must know. If they are known negatively among nobles it can hurt us." Josephine stressed. "The Inquisition needs support, it needs men, it needs supplies. All this we gain from nobles, the Chantry, and tradesmen, but we must show them that the Herald is someone worth supporting."
"This is ridiculous. If the nobles and the Chantry won't give us support, then we find ways to move forward without it. The Inquisition wasn't founded by them."
"We can only go so far on the ties we have now." Josephine explained . "Each time I meet with a potential ally they ask of the Herald and I can say nothing, because I know nothing. Neither, Ela, nor her brother will tell me anything of themselves. These things may not be important to you Commander, but they are important to the Inquisition as a whole."
"Josey there is no need to skewer our Commander. He thinks differently is all." Leliana said unrolling a particularly weathered scroll. "I have information that may change that though. While there is no record of the Bloody Suns past this job in the Free Marches, there is record of Lilith. It seems she was a mage at the Markham Circle, but they had an incident where ten escaped."
"Ten? How did they lose ten mages?" Cullen asked.
Leliana moved to a book bound with black leather. "It seems they were taking the mages to help a local city with a severe sickness that was ravaging the area. A few Templars grew sick and the mages used the advantage to overthrow the remaining ones."
"I can't imagine they evaded them for long."
"They didn't," Leliana explained. "Search parties were sent after them. All were found, dead or alive, save for Lilith. A group of Templars were sent out with her phylactery, bu they never returned and their bodies were never found."
"Well, that does not bode well." Josephine whispered to herself.
"It's unusual, but not unheard of," Cullen added. "But what does this have to do with the Herald and his sister?"
Leliana gave a coy smile. "I had my agents look for records of mages with purple eyes. It is a rare trait, and poorly documented, but they found a few records."
"And?" Josephine asked
"Two notable families have had this trait in their family, both in the Free Marches. They also found a number of villages rumored to have had purple eyed children." Leliana stretched a long scroll across the table. "I wasn't sure which lead to investigate first, until one of my agents here finally gave me more information. The elven mage, Evsa, was talking about Ela, she said the woman describes herself as modest in temper."
"So?" Cullen growled rubbing his unshaven cheek.
"Modest in temper is part of the Trevelyan house motto. The full saying is 'Modest in temper, bold in deed.'"
Josephine moved closer to the unrolled scroll looking over it with intensity. Cullen followed suit. The scroll had small circles scribbled all around it, with lines connecting each one and inside each circle was a different name. "Is this the Trevelyan family tree?" Josephine asked dragging her finger down the parchment.
"Not the original," Leliana answered, " but it has some interesting information. For nearly forty years, the Trevelyans have not had a single mage in their family. Whereas, before every few years another mage would be sent. Instead of sending their mages to the circle, they may be reporting them as dead." Leliana pointed at the last few circles on the parchment. "The last generation has five members, but it seems that only two 'survived'."
Cullen leaned in further, straining his eyes to read the messy script. Torres Trevelyan - Died from fever, age ten. Eliana Trevelyan - Joined Templar Order. Juliana Trevelyan - Married Bann Ringlen. Alesana Trevelyan - Died from wagon accident, age six. Aidan Trevelyan - Died from drowning, age seven. "Aidan Trevelyan," he mumbled to himself.
"Strikingly similar to our young Herald's name, no?"
"It is, but that doesn't mean anything."
"Cullen has a point," Josephine voiced, still staring at the family tree. "This could be coincidence. We should confront the Herald and Ela about this."
Cullen nodded in agreement. "If we show her the information we have gathered, she may come clean."
Liliana sighed crossing her arms. "I doubt the woman will. That is why I wish to go about this is a different manner."
"How?" Josephine asked.
"By doing something underhanded." Leliana admitted. "I want to contact this family, indirectly, and find out what the truth of these deaths."
"Is that wise?" Josephine asked. "What else do we know about them? They may have good reason for keeping this secret. I think it would be best if we confronted them about it. Going behind their backs could show ill will."
"Josephine has a point," Cullen chimed, "they may have good reason to keep this a secret."
"We have asked before and we have gotten no answers. Josey, you spent an entire week trying to convince Ela to tell you where they came from. When you told her why you needed it, it did not change her mind and it will not change it now. We must take action. If we do not get this information it could be used against us if something sinister comes to light."
Josephine sighed folding her arms across her chest.
"This is what's best for the Inquisition." Leliana said pointedly.
In that moment, he hated himself, because he knew he had to agree. The Inquisition came before anything else. As much as he hated nobles and their damned reputation, they needed them. Knowing the Herald's origins would help them. They needed supplies, needed men, needed support. Damn it all.
Josephine was the first to mutter in agreement and he followed suit quickly after. Leliana smiled that damned coy smile of her's and thanked them. Thanked them for seeing things in her light. Cullen just shook his head, angry with what he had to agree too.
"Do you intend to contact Bann Trevelyan personally?"
"Of course not." Leliana answered. "I will have my agents make contact with someone of less notoriety. A servant perhaps, or one of his daughters."
Cullen shock his head. "I don't like this, it isn't right."
"What's right and what's best for the Inquisition are not always the same Cullen." Leliana said regathering her papers. "Don't worry too much on it though. You just keep Ela busy and try no to look to guilty."
"Easier said than done," he grumbled.