CHAPTER 6: The Divine's Mandate

Things calmed down somewhat after that heavy conversation. Yasmin promised to tell Leliana more about how the spymaster's beloved had marred her face, but not today. Just before she left the room however, Josephine called out, "Wait. I'm afraid there's another matter that you brought up that I think it would be prudent for us to know. You mentioned you were still in the service of the Divine, but you completed your mission. What did Most Holy ask you to do?"

Yasmin's eyes flitted between Cassandra, Leliana, and Lysette; the most faithful in the room. Yasmin put her bandana back on her head, covering her mark of Tranquillity. "The Divine never simply asks anything. Isn't that right, Leliana?" Yasmin smiled sadly at the once bright-eyed hero of the Fifth Blight. Everyone looked slightly uncomfortable. Leliana looked away before her mask broke, and Yasmin didn't press her on it. She turned back to Josephine and replied, "Justinia's mission is actually something Cullen should hear as well, if for no other reason than I want to see his face when I tell him what Most Holy ordered an estranged Seeker of all things to do. I will say that she first offered the task to the Hero of Ferelden, but she declined. Most Holy wasn't too pleased about that, but when Kallian explained, Justinia realised there would be no convincing the stubborn Warden otherwise."

"Well that wasn't cryptic at all," Cassandra pointed out sarcastically.

Leliana was deep in thought; this girl knew her love? How? And apparently well enough for Kallian to spare with her. Or maybe they were adversaries? "And how was Kallian the last time you parted?" Leliana's voice didn't tremble, but the intent of her question wasn't lost on Yasmin.

"She was…optimistic. We didn't travel together for long, but after she apologized for doing this to me," Yasmin motioned to the prolific scar on her face, "She set off following a lead she believed would swiftly lead her to the answers she sought. From what I gathered, optimism wasn't a common look on her." Yasmin paused before adding, "When I first met her, she seemed sad, actually. And I get the feeling that it had settled deep into her, that sadness. I thought she was grieving a death of a loved one, but when I asked her…" Yasmin trailed off for a moment before fixing Leliana with a look. "She said that she had been parted from her one great love, her words, and that she was nearing the end of that journey."

"It's a sad state of affairs when I'm the optimistic one," Leliana chuckled darkly as she looked away.

Cassandra just shot Leliana a look that said, 'Damn that's dark, if you're the optimist in the relationship.'

"Why did she…" Lysette asked quietly, gesturing to Yasmin's face.

Yasmin opened her mouth, but then closed it. "That's something I'd like to discuss alone with Sister Leliana, actually."

There was a knock at the door. There was garbled speech coming through it, though nobody could make out who was speaking and what was being said. It was probably Cullen though.

It was. He stepped in after Josephine went to unlock it for him once she saw neither Yasmin or Leliana budging. She sent a scowl at Leliana, who shrugged unrepentantly. Cassandra just made a disgusted noise at their rudeness. Yasmin couldn't help but grin at the familiar sound that was a kind reminder of her childhood.

"I trust Knight-Captain Rylen has been assigned his post?" Josephine spoke up promptly.

"He has." Cullen paused at seeing Charter and Lysette still in the room. "I hope I didn't miss anything interesting," he said with a wry grin. He dutifully closed the door when neither trespasser (in his eyes) was asked to leave. He was smart enough to not pick that fight, and he figured if Cassandra didn't object, it was probably fine.

Before anyone's facial expressions could give away the fact that very interesting things were discussed without the former Templar, Yasmin spoke up, "To the contrary, I was about to disclose the mission that Most Holy had tasked me with near the beginning of this war."

Cullen regarded Yasmin with some suspicion, but was admittedly fascinated by what she had yet to say as well. "Very well Herald. Let's hear it."

Yasmin gave a very cat-like stretch for what the women saw as dramatic effect. She put both hands on the table and made eye contact with Leliana, Cassandra, and Cullen before saying, "Has it occurred to you as strange that this war has gone on as long as it has?"

Leliana rolled her eyes as she thought about it. She had an inkling where this was headed after all. "Get to the point, Herald. Are you truly going to make us guess?"

Yasmin shamelessly ignored the Bard and pointedly looked at Cullen and Cassandra. When neither of them spoke up, Yasmin was about to continue when Lysette spoke up hesitantly, "The Templars should've had a massive advantage. There are more of us–of them."

"Correct," Yasmin said triumphantly. "But they have an even greater advantage than that. An unfair one, the Divine believed. Leliana, Cassandra, how long ago did the Divine inform you both that she had an Inquisition planned?"

Cassandra spoke up, "Before the catastrophe at the White Spire, before even Kirkwall. I initially thought it was to be an Exalted March on the Qunari who had occupied Kirkwall. Or perhaps even marching on Par Vollen to perhaps force them out of Kirkwall. But it wasn't."

Leliana nodded along with Cassandra's words and added her own, "The truth we later found out was that she had been making inquiries of the Circles of Magi, and her findings reported directly to her by the Grand Clerics greatly troubled her. She foresaw there would be an open war of some kind between the Magi and the Templars."

Yasmin nodded with a pensive look on her face. "She really was an incredibly shrewd woman when she needed to be. I always marveled at her ability to also be kind to the lowest of us when I knew she could also be so cold when the occasion called for it."

Cassandra shot her a look telling her to tread carefully when talking about the dead Divine. Yasmin inclined her head in acknowledgement. She was cheeky sometimes, but she didn't mean to press her fingers into Cassandra's open wounds on this matter either. "True. I had been making a name for myself. Officially, I was still part of the Order of Seekers, but in reality, Lord Seeker Lambert just stopped trying to silence me."

Cassandra gasped. "He…he tried to have you killed? But you were one of us? Why was he not delighted that you eventually completed the Vigil?"

"I didn't complete the Vigil. Not exactly. And it wasn't just the botched ritual and being shipped off to Rivain. Due to my unique circumstances, I have some strange powers I don't believe other Seekers do. So from the Seekers he sent to bring my head back to him, I was able to sense something: the touch of one spirit. I was only able two question a few of them though. But the feeling I got from all of them, and you, was the same. Exactly one spirit. I believe it was a spirit of Faith. The same spirit of Faith that I believe resides now inside former Knight-Captain Evangeline de Brassard. That may actually be a leap in logic, but as far as I know, there have been no more Seekers since my generation in 9:30 Dragon." Yasmin paused for a moment. "Actually, have there been new Seekers made since then? I admit I've not been in the best position to know." Yasmin turned to Cassandra with genuine curiosity.

"What you say is correct. As far as I know, there have been no new Seekers initiated since the Fifth Blight. I must ask…how many did you–how many did the Lord Seeker send after you?" Cassandra managed to ask as tactfully as she was able.

"Seven. The first one nearly killed me. His name was Trevelyan; tall, brown hair, and a face that looked like it had seen better days. He was older than Lambert, I think. I didn't expect him, and I paid for it," Yasmin said as she tapped the scar tissue running from the bridge of her nose across her cheek nearly to her earlobe. "I'm sorry if I've slain some of your friends, but I hope you understand I had no choice other than to survive," Yasmin said not unkindly.

Cassandra nodded in resignation. "Trevelyan was particularly good at stealth. Something he tried to teach me when I was a young…he was disappointed." Leliana couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"I can't imagine why," Leliana smirked. Cassandra just rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, after I sent the seventh's head to the White Spire, they stopped coming after me. That was years ago. And since then, I had been doing the job we all should have been doing."

"And what was that, exactly," Cullen asked tersely. Yasmin knew she didn't make him view her in any higher regard now he knew she was a Seeker slayer as well as a Templar killer.

Yasmin leered at him and looked about to reply with something that may just provoke him into drawing his blade when Josephine spoke up pre-emptively, "I believe you had a point you were getting to, Herald."

Yasmin turned her gaze from Cullen and focused on the shorter woman. She didn't meet Josephine's eyes for long. There was just something about the disappointed in the Antivan's eyes that made something primal inside Yasmin squirm in shame. Leliana noticed this and hid a smirk of her own. She'd made it a life mission of hers not to disappoint the short Ambassador. Josephine leveled the same look at Cullen, who was as easily cowed as Yasmin.

Charter and Lysette looked on with some sense of profound respect for the tiny golden woman. It wasn't until that point that Charter realised exactly why Leliana had gone so far out of her way to recruit Josephine Montilyet; she could end wars with a glance.

Yasmin cleared her throat and said, "Yes, Lady Montilyet, you are correct. It wasn't too long before the Mages voted for independence when The Divine herself reached out to me. I was curious. At first, I thought it a ploy by the Lord Seeker, but upon my arrival in Val Royeaux I shed my skepticism. She met me personally. I admit I was humbled by that."

Leliana was frantically trying to think of when this had happened and why she didn't know about it. Why did Most Holy subvert her Left Hand's intelligence network?

Yasmin continued with a more subdued tone, "She knew that I had been exacting harsh judgement upon the Templars I found guilty, unlike every other Seeker, who gleefully prosecuted the Mages instead."

"I resent that statement," Cassandra broke in.

Yasmin held up a hand in acknowledgement, "Alright, all of them except you were gleeful about it. But even you must admit you are firmly aligned with the Templar's ideology, even now, and were lenient when your fist should've been made of iron."

"I do not believe in this war, Yasmin. If it has slipped your attention, I refused the recall to lead the Templars into war on the Mages and was branded a traitor for it."

Yasmin looked like she was going to say something else but Leliana cut her off, "You're chasing the nug while ignoring the ram. Get to your point Herald." Yasmin swallowed whatever she was about to say to Cassandra with visible effort before regaining her composure.

"That was unworthy of me," Yasmin grit out at Cassandra, who to her credit gave a grunt accepting Yasmin's bare bones apology. "The Divine had heard about a Seeker who did not show mercy to the Templars who did not earn it. And she reached out to me. But the magnitude of what she asked of me was shocking." Yasmin took a breath before she told them, "Divine Justinia V ordered me to destroy the phylacteries in every circle of Magi across Thedas. So that when the war began, the Mages would have a fighting chance, and not be exterminated from Southern Thedas. Now that that's out in the open, let's get a move on with this Inquisition business, am I right?"

The silence was deafening.

Yasmin took this moment of shock to swiftly flee the room like the brave woman she was.