CHAPTER 10: Leliana Makes a Friend

"I would like a moment to think about it, if that's okay," Lysette murmured.

Yasmin nodded and opened the door to the war room without further ado. As she hoped, Leliana was bent over the table, deep in thought about her plans no doubt. "Sister? Would it be alright if I had a private word with you?"

Leliana looked up and appraised the new look of the Herald with a slight smile, "Ah, I was hoping I'd get to see you in full regalia. What do you need, Yasmin?"

Yasmin's smile dimmed as she prepared for an argument. "I need you to look for a replacement for Cullen Rutherford."

Leliana's eyebrows rose, but didn't seem very surprised all things considered. "Oh? And what spurred this on?"

"A number of things, but there are at least two reasons that he is unfit to command this Inquisition's forces that have little to do with his crimes against mages in Kirkwall."

"And these are?" Leliana asked as she lightly crossed her arms over her chest and pierced Yasmin with her icy eyes.

For all her training and experience, Yasmin felt Leliana's gaze as keenly as a blade. It was no wonder this woman was capable of espionage spanning the contintent with eyes like those. "He's a Templar who isn't taking Lyrium, which presents a number of problems. And he has dismissed reports of sexual violence within his ranks," Yasmin noted the darkness that floated across Leliana's expression at the mention of sexual violence, so she paused. Once Leliana's mask of neutrality flickered back into existence, Yasmin decided it was alright to continue.

"While I'm inclined to interrogate the man on the second offence alone, I believe that the former offence would be the most likely to garner traction going forward. I know you respect Cassandra, but Cullen is–,"

"A monster, yes. I know that better than you do, actually," Leliana said with a mirthless grin. "You don't need to convince me of his inadequacies as a commander here. I fear you will have more trouble convincing Cassandra on account of her stubbornness. And Josephine will need to find a way to eventually smooth this over publically with our potential allies."

Yasmin was stunned at the admission from her spymaster. "I got the feeling you didn't like him much, but I wasn't expecting to have you on bouard after half a conversation."

"At Kinloch hold, Cullen advocated quite loudly for the extermination of every mage in the Circle. When the Abomination appeared, do you know what the fearless Templars did?" Leliana drawled. Yasmin was a little wary at Leliana's tone. It was course and frankly scary. When she wanted the spymaster to look for a replacement for Cullen, she was not anticipating a horror story.

"Did they deal with it as they had been trained to? No. They fled like cowards to the first level, sent for the Rite of Annulment, and locked the doors behind them. The mages were nearly entirely slaughtered because of that. I'll never forget the ripped open bodies of children less than ten who were less than twenty paces from safety before the Templars condemned them to death." Leliana had a hatred in her voice that Yasmin recognized in herself.

Yasmin was almost afraid to ask, but ask she did. "And Cullen's role in this?"

Leliana tilted her head, "The guilty few mages were using him to fuel their spell. Torturing him. But once Morrigan, Alistair, the Hero, and myself saved him…Cullen begged for the surviving mages to be annulled. Had Kallian made a different choice, there would be no Ferelden Circle today. Just a very tall mausoleum."

Yasmin took a breath and circled the table to where Leliana was standing. "I saw the aftermath of the Annulment of the Dairsmuid Circle. The keening of mothers who had lost their young daughters. I waded through blood and the naked, ravaged bodies of women I had known. Mages aren't people to the Templars, or the Seekers." Yasmin quickly shook her head of the worst day of her life, but was unsuccessful of ridding her mind of those traumatising images. She persisted nonetheless, "So if you ever want to talk more about the horror you experienced at the Ferelden Circle, or elsewhere, know that I have an incomplete understanding. But I know something akin to the horrors you've weathered."

Leliana seemed to come back to herself after Yasmin finished speaking. For a fraction of a moment, there was a very vulnerable look on her face, but that disappeared. "Thank you. I…I should never have let you see me like this."

Yasmin shook her head, "On the contrary, I believe you and I have quite a bit in common that the others here may not understand, not even Cassandra. If I'm being completely honest," Yasmin paused at the hint of a grin Leliana gave her, "I may need to talk to you, share some of my burdens so to speak, before this is all over. I have no expectations of you, but I would very much like to be your friend if you'll have me," Yasmin finished shyly. She had briefly considered courting Leliana before the face of former Warden Commander Kallian Tabris swum into her mind's eye…that wasn't a relationship Yasmin wanted to tamper with...ever. So friends it would stay, if Leliana was amiable.

Leliana looked at Yasmin with an outright confused expression. "Friend? Me? Surely you've heard of what I've done for the Divine, for the Chantry you so hate."

Yasmin nodded and said, "You were not involved in the Rites of Annulment. And you seem to have a soft spot for mages, which means your heart is clearly less steeled than you'd like me to believe."

Leliana scoffed, "Oh? And if I did have something to do with the death of your friends in Rivain?" It was a hypothetical, and they both knew it, but Yasmin's expression seemed pained.

"You didn't. Neither did Justinia, or Cassandra. I checked. Rigorously," Yasmin said quietly. Leliana paused before snapping back, and saw the shamed look in Yasmin's eyes. Yasmin continued with an almost fearful look back at Leliana. "If you had been involved, any three of you, or all three of you, I would have struck you down."

Leliana sat on that for a couple solid minutes of silence. She repressed the reflexive retort, 'as if you could take me, or Cassandra,' but then she really thought about Yasmin's surety. Yasmin was a Seeker of Truth who had been hunting corrupt Templars, and infiltrating Circles to destroy and obfuscate her sabotage of the biggest advantage the Chantry had against the Mages. The scale of that feat alone implied that Yasmin's skill did not only lay in strength of arms, but at infiltration and stealth as well. "Even Cassandra?" Leliana had to ask. If for nothing else, Cassandra was one of her last friends, and this was her student having just declared she would've assassinated her if the situation had been different.

Yasmin looked up and met Leliana's eyes. "Yes. I would hate myself, but if she had a hand in that…that…" Yasmin felt tears form in her eyes as she struggled to put words to the nameless horror that walking through the savaged corpses of her friends had been. Yasmin pulled herself back in before responding in a level voice. "Cassandra doesn't know it yet, but she now suspects it strongly, but I hunted much of our order down like dogs. They never expected one of their own to empathize with the mages, to seek justice in the only way that could be guaranteed. There are a few who escaped me. I know not where they currently reside. And not all of the Order of Seekers participated in the carnage because like Cassandra, they felt the Lord Seekers went too far in breaking the Nevarran Accord." Yasmin's confession was delivered with sombre clarity. There was no doubt, no tremble, and no regret in her voice. Despite her own horrific deeds, Leliana shivered.

Yasmin didn't look likely to speak again unprompted, and Leliana let the silence sit for a little while before trying to bring this maudlin conversation to an end. "I will discreetly look…for replacements for Cullen. But what will you do when Cassandra tries to block this motion. What about Cullen and his men who are loyal to him?"

"I have heard talk of this Knight-Captain Rylen…he seems a good man, though I haven't met him. He'd be a fine interim commander. But I will not work with a man who allows the rape of his soldiers. I will not work with a man who was at the heart of the evil in Kirkwall." Yasmin's voice was less dark, but no less firm.

Leliana paused before saying, "Sometimes we have no choice in who–,"

"Choice?" Yasmin scoffed. She then shook her head. "Sorry. But if there is no choice at present, I'll give you one. Either Cullen leaves this endeavour, or I will set out on my own. Unburdened by the Inquisition, I can seal rifts faster anyway." Yasmin wasn't sure how she'd fix the big rift in the sky, but she could get to it with some help eventually.

"You think we cannot stop you from leaving?" Leliana tested the waters.

"Not indefinitely, and how would that look to prospective allies? You've already branded me the Herald of Andraste. I have no doubt that rumour either started, or was boosted tenfold in this room. I'm not asking for him to be gone tomorrow, I'm not unrealistic. But within the next month or so, I want somebody else commanding these soldiers."

"You think your name gives you authority over me?" Leliana asked pleasantly with the knife-edge smile of hers.

"No. But it will wield public opinion deftly in time." Yasmin's response wasn't something Leliana could argue. Because the 'Herald of Andraste' gambit they had played may indeed work too well. Leliana knew that making Yasmin an outspoken or even silent enemy of the Inquisition was a bad idea. And there was little doubt in Leliana's mind that this formidable woman speaking with her commoner Starkhaven lilt would bring the Inquisition to its knees if she felt like she had no choice but to do so.

Leliana let out a sigh. It wasn't defeat; after all, she wanted Cullen gone too. But she couldn't help that Yasmin getting the better of her, even temporarily, settled badly in her. "Very well. The search will happen. But you need to at least get Josephine on board before I can even tentatively reach out to candidates. And even then, those candidates I find will have to be ratified by Cassandra, Josephine, and myself before action can be taken."

Yasmin's dour expression burst into a smile that took Leliana by surprise. "That's all I wanted! Thank you Leliana."

Leliana's bemused expression shone through her frown. "Oh, is that all?"

Yasmin's head jerked, like she had just remembered something. "I need your spies, preferably your women, to look out for the Tranquil here in Haven. They are always vulnerable, and surrounded by so many men, soldiers no less, it is only a matter of time before they are violated. And I want the names of the known rapists in Cullen's forces, perhaps Rylen could help with that."

Leliana nodded firmly, "I will have Charter tell our personnel to do that. Do you know of any incidents that have already happened, with the Tranquil?" Leliana prayed for a negative.

"Not that I know. But that's the problem isn't it?" Yasmin grimaced.

Leliana nodded in commiseration. There was a tentative knock on the door. "This has been an interesting talk, Yasmin."

Yasmin let out a small laugh, "Yes. Yes it has. Though I do want to be your friend, even if we'll likely clash on some things."

"I'm willing to try, Yasmin," Leliana says to her own surprise.

With a quick hug, Yasmin departs the room leaving Leliana staring after her with a smile on her lips.