I get Furgus showing up early, and I'm glad Chirpy was in town... but if people keep arriving, this is gonna be a party before the party. At least this place is furnished now – stupid cold weather. What idiot decided to have the Winter Landsmeet in winter?!

Chirpy and Furgus sit down at the main table, as Braids apparently decided the 'tour' only needed to cover two rooms. "Boss or Robes can explain the paintings and all that, when they get down here. I dunno why they picked furniture."

"Holed up in the study, eh?" Furgus chuckles. "Some things never change." I don't think this time is because she doesn't want to deal with a crowd. Not entirely, at least. Scruffy was all weird because of some letter, and then Mistress got the same way after reading it. Said something about 'sending letters to her contacts'.

"I'm still surprised she hired Goldanna to be head of the Estate staff" Chirpy murmurs. "Although I admit she didn't do a terrible job with the decor. By Fereldan standards." Mistress and Goldie had a good talk. And Goldie raised a good point – there she is, working herself ragged to make enough money to get the family, or even just her small army of children, out of the city before the Horde attacked. And stupid Al comes barging in with his dumb face, demanding attention.

Scruffy emerges from the side corridor, followed by our new Seneschal man. "Teyrn Fergus? The Arlessa wishes to see you in her study" he gestures.

Furgus gives the others a nod, and stands. "Lead the way please, Charles." Oh yeah... that was his name. Seneschal Charlie. Senescharles? I squeeze past Scruffy, as he goes to sit down, but then stop. Hang on... Scruffy, did Goldie actually get her army of kids back, or are they stuck on a dock in fucking Ostwick or wherever?

He glances over, with a nod and "Yeah, they're all good." Okay, great. And he's getting better at understanding me. I think. These stories are so vague about how that works. Abandoning that thought, I rush to catch up to Furgus and Senescharles. I need to investigate what's so important about this dumb letter, and what Furgus has in his bag.

We reach the door and Furgus goes to knock, but I just shove the door open and enter. Allow me. Mistress is seated at a desk, tying up scrolls. "Come in" she tilts her head at a spare chair. She didn't specify for who, so I jump up into it. Thank you, those floors get cold in winter. "... Yeah, good on you Max." With that muttered, she gets up to greet Furgus. "You're early."

Hello, early.

"For once" he answers. "Thought we'd need to talk before it started... and I was right. You look stressed."

Mistress answers with a groan. "Got some bad news. Leliana's already here as well?" When Furgus nods, she lets out a quick sigh. "Okay... I don't feel like explaining this twice, so let's head down."

"Wait" he holds up his mystery bag. Finally! Show us the pirate gold or whatever! "We finished cleaning out the family estate, and seems Howe didn't really bother ransacking it."

Mistress gives me The Look so I hop down, and they both sit. Fair, this does sound like a long talk.

"I heard Father's servants scattered, with all of the keys. The Kendalls estate gave Howe better secrecy, for sneaking in those slavers, guess he didn't care too much."

Plus, we're Teyrns. Of course our house was impossible to break into.

"You know the Royal guilds, too" Furgus notes. "With Loghain's clumsy manoeuvring to keep Anora and the Landsmeet sidelined, there was nobody who could order the Locksmiths' Guild to crack a door for Howe. Point is, I found some things you'll like." Like pirate gold.

The first thing he hands over is... a noise stick. "Now, this looks expensive; so why did you leave it in Denerim? Worried Max would eat it?"

… Right. First of all, give me that fucking chair back. And then I'm gonna explain a few things to you, smartarse.

Mistress ignores me, and turns it over in her hands. "I'd almost forgotten about this... let's just say I didn't want Mother asking how and why I suddenly had another flute. Especially a silver one. She liked how I played, entertaining her, and insisted I keep it."

Furgus smirks. "So I was right. One of your friends?" There's a weary noise from Mistress, so he digs into the bag again. "Which nicely brings me to this, actually." The gold? He lifts out a book, and offers it to her.

"... Looks like one of Mother's potential husband lists" Mistress starts, as she opens the cover.

"Well, you're close. I did warn you you're weren't as subtle as you thought. Especially with Mother's eyes on you."

She keeps flicking pages. "Unmarried sons... and daughters. I... she could have just told me."

Furgus shrugs, as he stands up. "And you could have just told her. Knowing her, she was waiting for you to be honest with her. Or she wanted to pin down your preference in partner. We all could have talked more." Hell, the fact she was at the fancy book stage, she probably wanted to give it to you before the Blight screwed everything up.

He rubs Mistress' shoulder. "Come on, get up" he offers, holding his arms out. Sniffling, she almost leaps into the hug.

"... I miss her. And everyone."

"I know. Me too" he answers, letting her sob. After a while, they just kinda pull away awkwardly. "So... want to tell me who Flute Girl is? Anyone I know?" he offers a light grin.

Mistress flips through the pages, right to the end, and looks back at him. "She's in here, at least. Tell you what; stay after the dinner, and if you can guess her or even just the family, I'll owe you something."

"No hints?" Furgus prods.

"I don't remember if you were at the party, but I won't say what year or the estate that hosted it. Might make it too easy" Mistress shrugs. "But I will say they're from the Marches."

"Fine, fine" he mutters. "We better get down there, if you have to tell us another heavy thing."

I nudge the bag. Empty? But where's the rest of it?!

"Sorry, that's it. No treasure, or whatever you're looking for" Furgus calls out, as they go to exit.

Then you better bring some, next time! I was promised pirate gold! By myself, and that's a very reliable source, I'll have you know.

We get back to the hall. Scruffy seems annoyed, Chirpy impatient, and Braids... is bored. Like always. "About time, boss" Braids says in way of greeting. "She won't quit asking, about whatever this is about."

"Something is obviously wrong" Chirpy retorts.

"Something usually is" Mistress answers, motioning to Scruffy.

"Right – so, my cousin in Kirkwall sent me a letter" he begins.

Braids leans forward in his chair, with a "Is she hot?"

Scruffy doesn't even have time to scowl, before Mistress says "Yes."

"I thought the Amells were all gone?" Chirpy asks. Can everyone stop interrupting, so I can know what the deal is?

"You've met, according to her" Mistress tells Chirpy. "Beth Hawke from Lothering?"

Chirpy pauses for a moment, and then smiles. "Oh, Bethany! Yes. They got in time, then. Good."

"Is that yes, you know her, or yes, she's hot?" Braids leers. Scruffy scratches the side of his face and groans.

"Both" Chirpy simply notes.

"Anyway, there was another letter attached. For Amanda" Scruffy gets out before any more interruptions.

"From Alistair" Mistress announces. What the fuck does he want?!

"The fuck did he want?" Braids backs me up.

"Flemeth is back" she warns. That was Morrie's mum, wasn't it? I thought you killed her. "Beth's letter confirms his account."

Chirpy's face sinks, Furgus frowns a little, and Braids simply lets out a burp. "Okay... so fucking what? We killed her last time, we just do it again. You've got armies at your beck and call, now."

"Maybe... she didn't fry Alistair to a crisp, so hopefully we've nothing to worry about" Scruffy points out. "I'll get a message to Wynne and Shale, just in case."

Mistress glances over. "Good point. I'm not sure how I'd get one to Sten, but he's surrounded by the Qunari army. He'd be fine. For now, I'm just doubling the reward for any information about Morrigan. She's the one who needs to be worried."

Oh, we might get to see her again?! That'd be awesome.

"Great, then" Braids voices. "Since that's handled, did you want me to stick around for your party? The Howe kid already left for his sister's one."

"That's up to you" Mistress answers. "It's only going to be small, and not much drinking."

"Ah. Then I'm gonna go to the Pearl. If I see that pirate of yours, I'll let you know" he waves, shoving his chair back to leave. Keep it in your pants.

Wincing at the dragging sound it made, Chirpy looks around. "Did Sigrun come along?" And that goes for you too.

"She decided to stay" Mistress answers, as she shifts Braids' chair back into place. "Partly because she wanted to see snow for the first time, partly to be the one who got to stay and 'smack around the fresh recruits'.

"Anyway, did you follow all of that about Flemeth?" Scruffy asks Furgus, who's sitting with a pensive expression.

"Mostly" he shrugs in response. "Honestly, I'm more curious about the pirate he mentioned. You must have left that part out."

"I was drunk, and met a Raider. Or so she claimed. There's not a lot to tell, compared to everything else happening at the time" Mistress notes with a groan. True – we killed Toadface, rescued the Queen and some other people, snuck in and out of the jail... it was a busy week. We even saw an actual real bar fight!

Furgus thinks for a second. "Okay, true. Save the little stories for another night. If it's a small gathering, you probably won't tell many later?"

"We'll see" Mistress answers. "I'll have an actual party later in the week, to break the estate in. Tonight's mostly to help get Bann Shianni used to dealing with nobility, if she attends events in future. So it's us, her, Sighard and Alfstanna."

"A Bann dinner, basically" Furgus muses.

"Not the Arl of Denerim? That's how she'd be working with the most" Scruffy opines, making Mistress and Furgus sigh.

"There still isn't one. The Landsmeet were throwing names around yesterday and today, and naturally Anora isn't giving away her thoughts on the matter."

Nodding at Furgus' summary, Mistress takes over. "Probably made it easier to get Shianni appointed, with nobody to officially consult and everyone instead focused on the Arling as a prize. Anora never did waste a thought, after all..."

Yeah, wasting thoughts is my job. So, a nice dinner tonight. Party during the week... and maybe this business about Morrie in the near future.

A/N: and Max is back, for Witch Hunt and any scattered post-game ideas I may have. Meant to get this up the other day, for Origins' anniversary but no such luck.