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After the Council meeting, Leliana decided it was time to do one of her favorite things—dress up in a disguise and go out to see what people were saying. It was more and more difficult to do as people grew used to her looks and her habits … but the increased challenge only made it more fun.
She found herself in the tavern, which was bustling. The Inquisition forces had mostly taken over this one. The Chargers were in rare form, singing at the top of their lungs. Leliana leaned an elbow on the bar, looking the Iron Bull in the eye.
He grinned at her, recognizing her at once. "Red. What can I do for you?"
"Tell me things."
"Used to be you could find things out on your own."
"It used to be that I could kill you with the tip of a dagger so small you wouldn't feel it until after you were dead." She smiled. "Actually, it still is that way."
He didn't bother to argue, although if anyone could anticipate that move, it would be him. "Say no more. First thing: These aren't Ben-Hassrath. You're not dealing with spies."
"I could tell that by the fact that we knew they were here. So what are they?"
"Specialists, working with a Viddasala."
Her raised eyebrows invited further commentary.
"Ben-Hassrath handle normal security. The Viddasala's people focus entirely on magic. They find it, they study it … they neutralize it. And they must be desperate if they're using eluvians. I'd expect them to shatter any mirror they find, not walk through it."
"Useful. Thank you."
The Iron Bull nodded in response, and Leliana moved across the room to where a familiar figure in a mustard-spattered tunic was dancing to a tune only she could hear.
Sera stopped short when she recognized Leliana. "Shouldn't you be muckety-mucking somewhere?"
"Soon enough. How are things, Sera? Do you hear anything from your friends?"
"Shouldn't tell you if I did."
"Of course you should! If the little people didn't tell the big people the problems, how could the big people solve them?"
Sera parsed through that one, frowning. "Anything goes wrong, arrow in the face, yeah?"
"Naturally."
"I've been trying to figure out why everyone's been acting so weird. I mean, besides Qunari assassins and … everything. You see it, right? Something going on with the elf servants? Makes sense after those ruins."
"I suppose it does." Leliana couldn't help but frown. There had been something, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Point is—the servants have no complaints. No asking for a Jenny. They serve this lot, but don't want them done for anything?"
"The nobles are nice, and the servants are happy," Leliana summed up.
Sera nodded vigorously. "Two things that have never been true. Mark that I said it, we're fighting Qunari, but something else is on the up."
"Yes. Yes, you're right," Leliana said thoughtfully.
"So you'll do something."
"I shall." What she would do was another question, but she would do something, Leliana thought, slipping out of the tavern into the shadows.
In the Deep Roads, Thule found a vast lyrium-mining operation, run by the Qunari. Even the Iron Bull had few answers as to why the Qunari were mining lyrium, when typically they avoided—or destroyed—anything magic-related.
Sera looked around her, deeply unhappy with the whole situation. "Why'd an elfy mirror dump us in the middle of dwarfy things? And why do we keep going through them?"
"An excellent question." Dorian sighed. "But now that we're here …" Thule could see him shiver. "Last time it took an Exalted March to stop the Qunari. And even that barely worked. If they strike now, Thedas may well fall."
The Iron Bull swore viciously under his breath in at least three languages that Thule could recognize. "I wish I hadn't burned all my contacts with the Ben-Hassrath. Be nice to have some idea what the fuck they think they're doing right now."
"I prefer you on our side, Bull," Thule told him.
The big Qunari looked gratified by this, but not exactly mollified. "Still, though, at least I'd know. I like knowing things."
Further in, they found a human, a former Templar convert to the Qun, huddled over a small fire. His first reaction was to run, but he didn't get far before the Iron Bull caught up to him and carried him back to the Inquisitor.
"We're not going to hurt you," Thule said, in his most persuasive voice.
"Sure." The Templar eyed the Iron Bull, but after a few more assurances from Thule he sighed and relaxed a bit. "Fine. I don't care if the Inquisition does serve Fen'Harel. Someone has to stop the Viddasala."
"Fen'Harel?" Thule frowned. "Why would you think the Inquisition serves an old elven spirit?"
"I don't know why. I only know they all accept it as fact."
The Templar went on to explain that agents of Fen'Harel had been dogging the Qunari all through the Crossroads, sabotaging them anywhere they could. He looked down at Thule earnestly. "I hope they succeed. I stand for order and discipline, protecting the innocent from magic, but this … it's as mad as Meredith ever was. The Viddasala is giving the Qunari mages lyrium. A lot of lyrium. They were already powerful beyond anything I'd ever seen, but now—It's unbelievable. It's part of something she calls 'Dragon's Breath'." His job had been to teach the Qunari everything the Templars knew about lyrium and how to handle it. "Inquisitor, the lyrium is only part of the Viddasala's plan. She said it would 'save the south'. That can only mean one thing: an invasion. But this mine is the only source of lyrium the Qunari have."
"So we need to destroy it."
The Templar nodded. "It's the only way." With a desperate, panicked glance around him, he set off at a run and disappeared through a crack in the wall that Thule hadn't seen.
"There are barrels of gaatlok, a Qunari explosive, scattered all around, boss," the Iron Bull offered.
"So we blow it up."
"Boom!" Sera said happily.
Dorian shook his head. "Setting off explosions in an underground ruin. You do like to live dangerously, don't you?"
They set about the work, fighting their way through small groups of Qunari to get to the heart of the operation, and then set the gaatlok barrels ablaze on their way back, racing through the mines to get back to the eluvian before everything crumbled beneath them.
When at last they burst through the mirror and stumbled, panting, onto the stone of the Crossroads, Thule lay on the ground, gazing upward at more stone. "Which one of you wants to tell Cullen and Josephine that we're probably at war with the Qunari?"
Resounding silence answered his question.
"You could just leave me here. That would be fine."
"Cass would come for you, boss." The Iron Bull reached a hand down to help Thule up.
"You're right, she would. I wonder if she'll miss me once my advisors kill me …"
"Look at it this way," Dorian said, "if Cullen and Josephine kill you, you won't have to attend any more Council meetings."
That was a bright spot, Thule had to admit.
Cullen leaned over the War Table, as if he was looking at all the pieces arranged there. In fact, he was looking for a place to escape to. Once, news that the Qunari intended to attack would have energized him. He would have looked for strategies, enjoyed the challenge of pitting his forces against theirs.
Now, mostly he wished it would all go away.
Behind him, Leliana, who had snuck into the meeting because she could not bear to be left out, laughed softly. "'Dragon's Breath.' The Qunari do like their metaphors."
"But what does it mean?" the Inquisitor demanded.
"Who knows?" Cullen straightened reluctantly. "Qunari agents moving through eluvians to attack the south is bad enough already."
"This makes no sense. The Qunari may not be friendly to the Inquisition, but they have no reason to attack us," Josephine said.
"They do if they think we are working with Fen'Harel, and if other agents of Fen'Harel have attacked them." Leliana frowned. "Although that does not explain why the Qunari, who are not fond of anything magical, are using eluvians at all."
"But why did they accuse the Inquisition of serving Fen'Harel?" Josephine asked. "What have we to do with him?"
The Inquisitor waved his marked hand, which Cullen noticed was glowing more than usual. "It doesn't matter what the Qunari think or why. All that matters is stopping them."
Once, Cullen would have argued with him that the enemy's motivations mattered a great deal, but he rather agreed with the Inquisitor that he merely wanted them stopped. He smiled grimly. "Let's see the Exalted Council try to disband the Inquisition after we've saved them from this Dragon's Breath."
"We must find out what it is first," Leliana cautioned. "For now, our only lead is the Qunari leader, the Viddasala."
There was a loud pounding on the door, and the Inquisitor opened it a crack, groaned softly, and then opened it wider to admit Bann Teagan and Lord Cyril, who had come to complain about an incident with an Inquisition soldier, and incidentally to complain about everything the Inquisition had done since arriving in Orlais.
Holding up a hand to cut through the stream of vitriol from Teagan, Cullen said, "I will deal with the soldier. If you'll excuse me?" he said to his fellow advisors and the Inquisitor. When they all nodded, he escaped gratefully, glad to leave any further arguing behind him. First the Blight, then mages and Templars, then Corypheus, now the Qunari. Could the world not go ten years at a time without falling to pieces?