Skylar groaned aloud as she looked over the tentative schedule Josephine just handed her. The damned thing seemed more extensive than Killian's infamous kill-count. It was positively jam-packed with back-to-back meetings with nobility and other "important" people—entertainment celebrities, mostly. Which would have been amazing, if it were anyone she actually cared about. But nope. They just had to make the rounds with the Fereldens, it seemed...and the Marchers? The Orlesians? Maker, was there anyone that Josephine had actually excluded? A quick scan over the names reassured her that the Uriens were, in fact, notably missing from the list, much to her relief. Leliana must have done that, she figured. She'd have to thank her for that.

"Is all this really necessary?" Skylar protested.

Josephine nodded cordially but didn't look up from her laptop. She kept typing away simultaneously while holding the conversation with Skylar. It was rather impressive, if a little maddening. "The Inquisition needs to make a good impression, Herald. Without Chantry funding, we exist on the good will of the wealthy for now."

"We need their money? Really?" She rolled her eyes dramatically. "I mean, why can't we just make it on our own?"

"The council shares your concerns, Herald, and we are working towards more permanent solutions."

"Yeah. I know. We just spent the last…" She glanced quickly at her phone's cracked display. "…three bloody hours talking about 'our concerns'. Can't this wait until tomorrow?"

"I apologize for the inconvenience, Lady Herald; however, the situation appears irresolvable."

Skylar's expression deadpanned. "Is there any chance you're going to give me a response that doesn't sound like it came from the cookie-cutter PR-speak handbook?"

Josephine sighed dejectedly as she pushed her chair just a few inches from her desk. "My apologies, Ms. Tabris. These meetings are, in fact, necessary. And each of them have requested to meet you personally."

"Maker's balls. I am not that interesting."

"You give yourself too little credit." Josephine replied with a disinterested shrug. "But, truthfully, our guests seem to be more fascinated with your…family more than the Mark, truth be told."

Skylar scoffed. "So, they're looking to gawk at the tragic daughter of the late Hero of Ferelden?"

"Perhaps." Josephine said carefully, fidgeting casually with the button on her immaculately ironed shirt.

She rolled her eyes so far, she was genuinely concerned she might never get them out of the back of her head for a short, panicked moment there. "They want to see if I'm some kind of dreaded murder like Killian, don't they?"

The ambassador nodded simply. "That…is also highly probable."

Skylar let her head fall back, drawing in a calming breath. "You can't just tell them that I ran off to go save the world or something?"

"I have. On multiple occasions." She said pointedly. "And I have assured them that you will be free of distractions this afternoon."

"So, you set me up."

"With meetings, yes." Josephine slid her laptop back in front of her, wasting no time as she began typing away again. "Your first appointment is in one hour. I'll see you after lunch, Ms. Tabris."

Skylar huffed a disingenuous laugh, muttering under her breath as she shuffled out of the ambassador's office. "Unless I jump off a cliff in the meantime…"

Honestly, who wanted to deal with this on a Sunday afternoon anyway? She had half a mind to start bitching about labor laws. She needed a damn break. Between the frequent trips back and forth across the hinterlands and planning missions and these maker-forsaken meetings—Skylar hadn't had a day off since…well, never actually, now that she thought about it. Once she woke up from that nightmare after Theirinfall, it's been nothing but work, work, work. Sunrise to sunset. Weekends weren't a thing. She suddenly sorely missed her old waitressing jobs, at least those were predictable hours.

She wearily went through the usual motions when she got to the cafeteria. But her hopes to enjoy a proper lunch were thoroughly stomped on when she examined the options they'd laid out. Apparently, some sorry bastard decided it was 'healthy choice' day. The options were salad, soups, and breadsticks. They weren't even serving any liquids beyond water and fruit juices. This day officially sucked. She walked away with breadsticks and apple juice.

"Breakfast of champions." She muttered to herself, upon remembering that she had skipped the morning meal again in favor of waiting until lunch for some real food. Oh, how wrong she was.

The cafeteria seemed unusually quiet today. A good look around told her that at least half of the usual population was noticeably absent. Nice to know that everyone else seemed to get a day off. Well at least there wasn't about a billion pairs of eyes judging her every move today. That was something.

Seeing Barris sitting at their usual table was a real relief. Something was definitely weird though. Cullen was gone, like most everyone else it seemed. Barris had apparently chosen normal clothes over the templars' uniform. The table showed no signs that anyone had eaten at it, much less even used it today. He almost seemed bored. He leaned over the table, staring lazily at his phone.

Skylar slid into her seat slowly, eyeing him suspiciously. "Am I missing something?"

The boredom completely vanished from his face. He greeted her with a warm smile as he tucked his phone back in his pocket. "Missing something?"

"Oh, you know just these little things. Like how no one is here, you're missing a uniform, you literally look bored out of your mind…" She half-heartedly ripped off a piece of her breadstick, suddenly noticing that it lacked butter or cheese or anything appealing. "The lunch ladies seem to think it's okay to serve nothing but rabbit food."

Barris let out a hearty chuckle. "You have something against salad now?"

"Yeah." She replied playfully. "It's the food that my food eats."

"It's healthy." He managed between snickers.

"Hey. I'm here for a good time, not a long time. Healthy doesn't mean shit to me."

Barris shook his head at her in mock disappointment. "The Herald of Andraste is a picky eater. Somehow I don't think that's going to make it in the Chant."

"Yeah, well if the Maker wanted me to eat lettuce, he should have made me a rabbit."

He flashed a bright smile at her. "Well, if every second business wasn't closed today, I'd offer to find us some real food."

Skylar flicked her phone's display on to check the date, her eyebrows furrowed as her confusion grew. "Okay color me stupid, what's going on today?"

To his credit he looked like he tried to stop himself from laughing at her. Not that it totally worked but the effort made him seem a little more genuine. "It's Ascension Day. You know, the day Andraste ascended to the Maker's side?"

She just stared at him, going nearly completely still. "So, it's a religious holiday."

"It is."

"For Andraste."

"None other."

The look of utter annoyance that filled her eyes was palpable. "And her fucking Herald doesn't even get the day off?!"

Barris smirked. "Now that sounds like blasphemy."

"Oh no, you wanna see blasphemy?" She pulled the schedule that she had unceremoniously folded from her pocket, slapping in on the table. "Josephine set up back-to-back meetings all day."

"Meetings? With who?" He asked as he slid the paper away from her.

"The maker-forsaken nobles." She panicked for a short moment, realizing what she had just said. But thankfully he didn't seem to notice that she had all but shoved her entire foot in her mouth.

He scowled as he scanned over the paper. "Maker, why?"

Skylar sighed, hoping the schedule kept his attention long enough for her to push down that awkward flood of pre-mature embarrassment before he could notice. "I guess that anti-Herald movement has a leader now. She's claiming I'm possessed or something and magic is evil and I'm evil—I don't know. Point is: she's apparently making Josephine's life a living hell so now I need to play nice with all these nobles to prove her wrong I guess?" She rewarded herself with a small sip of her apple juice, only to find it far more bitter than she would have liked. "Damn, I hate politics."

He snickered at her but his expression suddenly turned horrified. His eyes locked onto the schedule as if it were some kind of threatening monster. "Maker, no…the De Launcets are the first appointment…"

Seeing him unnerved completely set her on edge. Anxiety slammed into her like a truck. "What the void does that mean?"

"No one should have to suffer the De Launcets."

She huffed a dejected laugh, trying desperately to hide how much she was freaking out. "Well I'm about to, I guess. Any advice?"

"Run."

An easy smile spread across her face again, she laughed breathlessly. At least he knew how to make her smile still… "Any serious advice?"

"Run faster."

"It's that bad…?"

"It says they're bringing Emile. It's that bad."

"What's wrong with him?"

Barris shrugged playfully, using a nearly offensive fake accent to drive his point home. "Oh, nothing. You'll probably just 'majjjic' his breath away."

An incredulous laugh burst out of her before she could stop it. The sparsely populated cafeteria seemed to have been startled, turning their collective attention to their table in sync with each other. Knowing that everyone around was staring at them like they'd suddenly grown an extra head was so embarrassing but at the moment it only made her laugh even harder. She clutched her side, wiping a stray tear from her eye. "What in the actual void was that?!"

Barris could barely speak between prideful chuckles. Making her laugh felt like a worthy victory. He'd have to remind himself to try that more often. "You don't want to find out, trust me."

Skylar took a deep breath to calm herself, but a wide, almost goofy grin still remained cemented on her face. "Yeah, well, Josephine will throw a fit if I don't show up."

"…If she can find you…"

Her eyes snapped onto his. Her expression betrayed her sudden curiosity. She leaned on the table, lowering her voice to make sure it didn't carry too far. "Are you suggesting that the Herald of Andraste shirk her responsibilities? How scandalous."

He huffed a playful laugh, mirroring her demeanor. "Well, it certainly wouldn't do for the Inquisition to be overworking our Herald on such a holy holiday."

"Oh, that was good." She slouched back in her chair. "Maybe I should make you come to these damn meetings."

He smirked mischievously. "What meetings?"

She shot him a confused look, glancing back down at the table to find that the schedule was gone. She scoffed playfully. "Right. I'm sure Josephine will miraculously misplace hers too. Oh and of course all those nobles will majjjicly disappear too."

A rogue snicker escaped him before he could control it. "Trust me, you don't want to deal with the De Launcets on the same day you'll have to deal with my parents."

"Wait, your parents are here too?"

"Evidently." He shrugged. "They're the 16:00 appointment."

"The what?"

He rolled his eyes playfully. "4 p.m. And I'm planning on making myself scarce until they leave."

"Oh, that's so not fair."

He smirked again as he slid away from the table slowly. "You could always come with me…"

Maker, she really hoped she wasn't blushing. He was obviously just being nice. It wasn't like this was going to be a date or anything. She focused hard to school her girlish thoughts to the back of her mind, but it wasn't very effective. She grew a flirty look as she lowered her voice again. "Is that your idea of a daring rescue?"

"A daring rescue?" A prideful grin flashed across his face. "I just couldn't sit idly by while you suffer such an egregious injustice."

"Oh, how noble." She teased.

He smirked at her but as he glanced out the window behind her, the light quickly died from his face. "Speaking of…"

She turned in her seat to see him pointing to an older couple all but marching up to an apartment building behind the cafeteria. "The De Launcets?"

"Worse." He deadpanned. "Mr. and Mrs. Bann Jevrin Barris."

"Oh…" Just judging by their body language, Skylar felt bad for him. Even from this distance, they seemed to be putting on airs. "They, um, do realize they're early right?"

He sighed heavily. "They're looking for me."

"Really?"

"I'd bet my entire inheritance on it."

She shot him a sympathetic look. "Maker, they found your apartment already?"

"Oh, I'm sure they did."

"Maybe you need to be rescued."

"What, twice in a row?" He flashed her a coy smile. "Now we can't have that."

She rested her weight on her folded arms, leaning over the table. "Then how about this: I'll save you from seeing your parents if you'll save me from the dreaded De Launcets."

He huffed a laugh, shooting her a grateful look. "A fine deal, If I ever heard one. One problem though: we're already down one hideout."

She followed his gaze back to his apartment building, where his parents had appeared to have already talked their way passed the doorman. "Well then we better book it to my place, before they block that off too."

"You would be…comfortable with that?"

The question was obviously genuine and carefully asked. But Skylar couldn't help but feel a twinge of anxiety over it. Maybe he'd heard about what happened to her…Maybe it wasn't such a deliberately guarded secret anymore…Maybe he was already thinking less of her for it…She schooled her reasoning back into power quickly. After what he did to that ex-Templar a few days ago, she had no reason to doubt him like that. He was probably just trying to be considerate. They were suggesting being alone in her apartment together—regardless of the intention, it could very obviously be seen as a little…scandalous.

She grew a mischievous smirk. "Well, you know you could always take your chances with your own place…"

"Maker, no."

She snickered at his reaction, motioning for him to follow her as she got up from the table. "Come on, I'll make you tank for me."

"You're making me what?" He huffed an incredulous laugh as he opened the door for her. "What even is that?"

"Oh, no, that won't do at all." She shook her head in mock disappointment. "Well, I guess you'll just have to be indoctrinated…oh! We're gonna play Diablo first!"

"What is that? Some kind of demon game?"

"Well, it has demons in it. Look, I'm not too deep in the lore on that one, it's just really fun to murder shit."

He smiled playfully. "Ah, sounds like wholesome family fun."

"Not in the least bit—oh, but there's this one guy in the first town that sounds exactly like Cullen!"

"What? In the game? You're kidding…?"

"I swear! It's so weird. It's literally like someone decided to imitate his voice—"

Barris suddenly held out his arm in front of her to stop her. "Across the street, now!"

"What? But we're…"

The dreaded sound of a pair of obnoxious orleasian accents caught her attention, just barely audible over the sound of the typical afternoon traffic. It appeared that the De Launcets blocked their path to her apartment and his parents blocked the path to his.

"The situation is dire. We've only one option left." He said with laughter evident in his voice.

"Run?" She asked, hopefully.

"Run!"