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Morrigan caught up with Thule as he was on his way to the War Room. It was a chilly afternoon, spitting rain here and there, but Morrigan wore nothing that indicated she cared in the least about the weather—and the expanse of fine white skin exposed by her brief garment showed no trace of gooseflesh. It must be nice to be impervious to all things, Thule thought. Or perhaps it wasn't so nice. Morrigan was here alone, after all, no friends, no lovers, no family. He hoped for her sake that she would always be enough for herself.
"Inquisitor," she said insistently, keeping stride with him easily as he hurried toward the main keep, "when do we leave for the Arbor Wilds? We cannot afford to continue to delay. Corypheus will not flounder there forever—eventually he will find the—" She caught herself as they entered the keep, bustling with people, and lowered her voice slightly. "What he is looking for."
"Since you're so curious, why don't you join us for the meeting? Like I could stop you," he added under his breath. He wasn't fond of the way Morrigan barged into the War Room meetings as though she belonged there. Even Cassandra had bowed out of them when they arrived at Skyhold, not wanting to appear as though she was trying to push herself into a place where she had chosen not to take. Much to Thule's chagrin, since he welcomed every moment he could spend with her. But Morrigan had no such scruples, and when it had been suggested to her that certain aspects of the Inquisition were really not her concern, she had pointed out that Celene had sent her, and did they really wish to annoy Orlais? Josephine had looked worried at that, Cullen had rolled his eyes and thrown up his hands, and Leliana had glared at the witch so hard Thule thought she might burn into Morrigan's skin.
She hadn't, of course, Morrigan ignoring her completely, and so Morrigan had stayed.
The others were waiting, heads bowed over the section of the War Table where their next sortie would be focused.
"Everything ready?" Thule asked.
His three advisors exchanged looks.
He sighed. "I see. All right, lay it out for me, let's see if we can find a way to work it out."
"What is the delay?" Morrigan demanded sharply. "Every moment the three of you dither, Corypheus comes closer to the eluvian, closer to entering the Fade and walking there—and I promise you, he will not do so little damage as the Inquisitor and his party." Her cold look down at Thule said she thought he had nevertheless done enough, and he wasn't sure he could argue with her about that, even though being stuck physically in the Fade had not been his idea either time. As a dwarf, he could cheerfully have gone a whole lifetime without ever experiencing the Fade, had it not been for Corypheus.
Leliana straightened, frowning at Morrigan. "You are saying that with an eluvian, Corypheus could cross into the Fade in the flesh?"
"Indeed. As the Inquisitor can attest, these artifacts still work if one knows how to use them."
"And how does Corypheus know that?" Cullen demanded.
"I … do not know," Morrigan admitted reluctantly. "But the mark on the Inquisitor's hand proves that he has at least a rudimentary knowledge—and often that is more than enough to do great harm."
"What do you think will happen when he enters the Fade, then?"
Morrigan's eyebrows lifted, and she cast one of her chilly smiles at Cullen. "He will gain his heart's desire, of course, and take the powers of a god."
Thule felt that was a rather vague answer—he felt it probably indicated Morrigan didn't really know what Corypheus intended to do. He supposed he couldn't blame her for that; he had far more experience with Corypheus and he didn't know what Corypheus intended to do.
With genuine anger—or possibly just severe annoyance—darkening her tone, Morrigan added, "Or the lunatic will unleash forces that will tear the world apart. Given his bumbling to date, that is far more likely."
"We don't have to worry about this eluvian if Corypheus isn't alive to use it," Thule pointed out.
"Ah, Inquisitor. So scrappy." The superiority and humor in Morrigan's eyes as she looked down on him reminded Thule of Corypheus. He wished he could lock the two of them in a room together—he wasn't sure which would come out victorious, but he gave Morrigan fairly decent odds. Certainly letting them go at each other had to be better for Thedas. He considered the prospect for a moment, enjoying the fantasy, before pulling himself back into reality. "Ending him thusly would be ideal … if you could manage it," Morrigan continued. "But I think you have already found that killing Corypheus is more easily said than done."
"Pardon me," Josephine said with uncharacteristic meekness, "but … does this mean everything is lost unless we get to the eluvian before Corypheus does?"
There was a silence, none of the rest of them wanting to answer her question in the affirmative—and none of them able to lie convincingly about it, either.
"Corypheus has a head start, no matter how quickly our army moves," Cullen said at last.
Thule sighed. Here they went again. Each advisor thought their own aspect was the most important, and they could never seem to see things from each other's perspectives.
Next to him, Morrigan said sharply, "If you had moved on the Wilds immediately—"
"We weren't ready," Cullen said.
At the same time, Josephine pointed out, "We need to gather our allies before we march."
"Well, haven't you done that?" Cullen asked her.
"I have told them to be on the alert, but I did not have a date on which to tell them to move."
"We certainly shouldn't wait for them!" Leliana said. "We should send our spies ahead to the Arbor Wilds. I have a few in place on the edges, but it has proven a difficult place to infiltrate fully."
"If you sent spies in force without the support of the army, you'd lose half of them!" Cullen exclaimed.
"Then what do you recommend?" Josephine asked him sharply.
"Allow the armies to march, and let everyone follow."
"That would take forever!" Leliana objected.
Josephine said, "And our allies will not want us to get ahead of them. They must feel they are with us."
"Enough!" Thule waited until they all looked at him, sheepishly, like scolded children. "We cannot continue arguing amongst ourselves while Corypheus gets closer to his goal. I've let you take point on this so far, but now we do things my way." He paused again until he had three nods. "All right, then." Thule took a deep breath before speaking. He had gone over this in his head many times, and he thought it would work, but he was prepared for a flurry of argument. "Josephine, have our allies send scouts to meet us in the Wilds. Leliana, your fastest agents will join them. Together, there should be enough spies to stand against those of Corypheus's forces they may run into and slow them down until Cullen's soldiers and the allied armies can arrive."
Before any of the others could speak, Morrigan chuckled at him pityingly.
Thule frowned at her. "Yes?"
"I was merely thinking, Inquisitor, that you have such confidence in these … conventional methods, but the Arbor Wilds are not so kind to visitors. Old elven magic lingers in those woods."
Ever the diplomat, Josephine inclined her head politely toward Morrigan. "We would be remiss not to take advantage of your knowledge in these matters. Please, lend us your expertise."
Even though Morrigan must have known Josephine was playing on her vanity, it was clear it had still worked enough to mollify her a bit. "'Tis why I came here, although it is good to see its value recognized." She cast a sidelong glance at Leliana, who rolled her eyes and looked away.
Morrigan did not go on to offer any of her 'expertise', however—Thule was sure she intended to use it as leverage to ensure that she was brought along on the journey, and probably as a bit of a slap in the face to Leliana and a reminder of her superiority to Josephine.
In the silence, Cullen cleared his throat. "Any further instructions, Inquisitor?"
"No. You know best how to mobilize your specific forces." It occurred to Thule, however, that here in the moment before the chaos of mobilization, before they entered the Arbor Wilds to face down Corypheus for what he hoped would be the last time, he had some things he wanted to say to these people who had taken a mercenary thief and turned him into an Inquisitor. "We began as a handful of soldiers. Thanks to the three of you, we are now a force that can topple a self-proclaimed god." He looked at each of them in turn, receiving and returning slow nods of respect. Clearing his throat, which was feeling a little choked all of a suddden, he said, "I could ask for no finer counsel, no better guidance. No … no truer friends."
Josephine sniffed, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. Leliana's face held an unaccustomed softness that suited her.
Cullen stood to attention, an acknowledgement of Thule as his superior officer that Thule was very touched by. "I speak for all of us when I answer: We could ask for no finer cause."
Thule didn't let the fact that Cullen spoke of the cause rather than the leader bother him. They had been forced to take him by the Anchor; they had molded him to the best of their ability. His success was their success.
Leliana looked down at the War Table, her gloved hand closing on a piece. "We will hound Corypheus in the Wilds before he can find the temple or this eluvian," she promised.
Next to Thule, Morrigan muttered, "Finally."
No one answered her, and privately he thought she was right. They had not hurried this as much as they should have. They had felt—he included—that Corypheus in the Arbor Wilds was far enough away that they had time for other things. Time for living. Well, that time was up.
The five of them dispersed from the War Room. Josephine was already scribbling as she sat down behind her desk. Leliana gave a subtle nod as she exited into the main keep. Three of her scouts appeared immediately and followed at her heels, all four of them moving quickly without seeming to hurry. Cullen started shouting for his lieutenants on his way toward his office, and was soon trailing a number of soldiers who were hastily noting down his barked orders.
Morrigan nodded down at Thule, looking supremely satisfied. "I have some preparations of my own to make, Inquisitor, but I am ready to leave when you are."
"I'll find you."
"You will not need to."
With that ominous promise, she slipped through the door into the gardens, leaving Thule to go looking for Cassandra.
She looked up from the piece of armor she was polishing as he came into her room above the blacksmith's shop. Some of the decision must have shown in his face, because she nodded immediately, putting down her polishing cloth. "It is time."
"Not right now, but … very soon."
"Good. Let us get it over with."
"Cassandra, if—if I—"
She came to him, stripping off her glove and putting her fingers over his mouth. "I will be with you. I am not leaving your side. There will be time to say … anything that might need to be said."
He pulled her down so that he could kiss her, putting all of the things she wouldn't let him say into that kiss.
Above his head, her hand reached out and pushed the door closed, before she drew him further into the room and responded to his feelings in kind.