Finley sat atop the Chantry roof, straddling the peak so that she wouldn't fall off. Looking out across the way, she could see all of Haven stretching out before her, like a game board, the houses making simple, but curious shapes with the streets until they led out into the multitude of tents, ever expanding across the area near the small village.

The tents had finally made it to the far side of the road, and formed squiggly rows along the lake's shore.

Finley was a bit disappointed that her previous quiet spot had been overrun, but she supposed it was a good sign for the Inquisition. She'd managed to only grumble about it once. Commander Rutherford had overheard her, though. While she'd expected a sigh or eye roll, instead he, surprisingly enough, mumbled something back about having suggested the newcomers camp elsewhere at first.

When she'd asked for clarification, he'd pretended he hadn't said anything, instead launching into a list of reports—most of which were for Seeker Pentaghast as they meant nothing to Finley.

Still, it had been a curious twist, one that Finley couldn't get out of her head.

"Nice view, yeah?"

Finley blinked, glancing to the side to see one of their newest recruits, Sera, had come onto the roof to join her. The elf gave her a simple nod, her broad smile in place as she came to a stop next to her.

"I can't decide if it's worth it," Finley admitted, sighing. "It is nice, but it means people have a nice view of me, if they look up high enough."

Sera laughed, plopping down to join her. She leaned to the side, a bit ahead of Finley so that she could loop her arms over the peak, making sure she wouldn't fall. With her elbows hooking her in place, she slowly thudded her boots against the roof, sprawled out. One of the shingles looked ready to fall from the new abuse.

"Could always sit back a bit, I suppose. Out of sight, but still high up."

"True," Finley drummed her fingers slowly against the cold roof tiles, idly inspecting the dingy color. "But then no one would be able to find me if they needed me."

Sera scoffed. Her emotions changed so quickly. Turning so that her back was to the little village, her large eyes caught Finley's gaze as her eyebrows dipped down. Forgetting safety, she brought one hand up and pointed at the roof, tapping her finger against it hard. "Let me get this straight. You're the mighty Herald of Andraste. But you don't want to mix with the common people who work with you. You want to be alone. But not so alone that no one can find you, since you're oh so important?"

"I'm not much of a people person," Finley offered, leaning forward. She crossed her arms across the peak and rested her chin on them. "I mean, I appreciate everything everyone's doing, but I don't know how to just be around them. Back home this would be…well, I don't think the Avvar clans near my home even had this many people. And I really don't live near the Avvar, either."

Val Royeaux had been a terrifying nightmare, with so, so, so many people everywhere.

Sera eyed her for a moment. "So shy, not an uptight bitch. Good," Sera nodded, mostly to herself, considering things. She drummed her fingers against her chin, eyes turned upward, thoughtful. Finally, she slapped her hand down on the roof. "I can help you."

"Help me?"

"Right, it's like this." Sera held both her hands up, fingers splayed in the air, though she quickly grabbed the peak of the roof when she started to slide down it. Finley reached out and gripped one of her arms when she lost her footing a second time as she tried to push herself back into place. She held both her hands out as Sera gave up, stood up, and sat the same way Finley was, just in front of her, so that they were facing one another. "You've got all these little people working their arses off to be part of something big, yeah? And they know nobody up top is probably ever gonna glance at them more than once, but still. And it's mostly just knowing you're doing something important. But still, when you come about, pat a shoulder, think to ask how things are going, it makes 'em feel like they're the important ones, if only for a little bit."

Finley let her gaze wander past Sera, toward the people hurrying about below. At first, she'd been so busy considering all the ways they might try to hurt her that she hadn't wanted to be too close. Then, once she'd decided she would be safe, she… she still didn't know what to do around so many people. She hadn't thought much of them beyond them being a collective crowd.

However, Sera's words were true enough, weren't they? They weren't some faceless mob ready to strike Finley down. "Well, they are the important ones, really," Finley said, still mulling it over. "Without all of them, Commander Rutherford and the others might bark the orders, but they can't do them all on their own."

"Exactly!" Sera's eyes lit up as she pointed at Finley. "Lots of important people forget that without the little folk, they don't have a pot to piss in."

With a sigh, Finley stretched her arms up over her head, cracking her shoulders before letting them drop back down. "I kept asking to be one of the little people, but apparently getting spit out of the Fade means you don't get to stay in the background."

Sera snorted. "Maybe they think if they don't keep an eye on you, you'll fall back in."

"I hope not." Finley scoffed.

"You really don't remember what it was like in there?"

"No," she shrugged, drumming her fingers against the roof.

"Good," Sera nodded, her hair flipping forward around her face only to fall back into place. "Some things we don't need. Like knowing what's going on in the Fade. The demons can have their world, and we'll have ours."

"If only we could convince them." Finley had known that she'd like Sera the moment the elf had shown up in Val Royeaux. Sera was refreshingly honest about everything. If she had a thought, she said it, even if it made those around her angry or flustered. There was no wondering if she was posturing or what her agenda might be, for she wore it openly on her face.

The seeker had seemed a bit wary of her, but she had said nothing when Finley accepted Sera into the fold.

The trip back from Val Royeaux had been an adventure, though. And not quite the kind Finley preferred.

Solas and Sera had quickly fallen out of favor with one another. Further, First Enchanter Vivienne had accompanied them back, as well. She and the seeker had spent much of their first day talking quietly ahead, while Solas and Sera argued about 'elf things' behind. Varric and Finley had alternated between eavesdropping and making up outrageous stories.

Finley still had moments where she felt like she was going to drown, where she tried to remind herself not to get too attached to these people, as it would inevitably fall apart at some point, but they were becoming less and less frequent. She'd even gone over a day without such a thought flitting through her head. That had only made her worry the next day, though, that she was already becoming too careless.

Around noon, both Solas and Sera had attempted to trade conversation partners, leading to quite an awkward moment when they both came to Finley. Then she had to choose who to talk to first, choose whose topic to carry on with.

Without meaning to, Finley had ended up talking to Sera instead of Solas.

Her fellow apostate had settled for falling back to talk to Varric, who had quickly gotten out of the way to watch the ensuing madness. She'd felt guilty, and Sera had picked up on it, annoyed. She'd asked what was so great about Solas, and had berated spirits and the Fade when it was brought up.

Even so…she'd been so excited to close the hole in the sky. Everyone else had come to the Inquisition with grim determination. But not Sera. Finley had wanted to give Sera a real chance before she wrote her off as whiny or bratty.

By the end of the first day, they'd all reached an unspoken agreement that they needed to pick up the pace, and there had been little conversation after that. They rode hard during the day, and by nightfall they were mostly too tired to do much talking.

Finley hadn't been able to sleep much, regardless. Her ghosts still haunted her, but Varric, Solas, and Seeker Pentaghast took turns staying up with her. They rarely talked, but the mere presence of someone else, ready to shake her out of her memories when they became too much, was a comfort.

Part of her was terrified that she might start relying on people so much, but she kept telling herself it would be alright. They were a resource. Why not use them while she had them? Once this mess was done and she'd gone home, she would have time to get back into the swing of things.

They'd arrived back in Haven that morning, to the sight of a burgeoning tent city. Dozens of people had stopped and stared as they rode through, utterly exhausted. Some had pointed, others had whispered. Finley had been too tired to try to look regal or…however it was she was supposed to be looking as the ever wondrous Herald.

Commander Rutherford had met them at the stables, briefly nodding to Sera and Lady Vivienne during introductions, and then ushering both an exhausted seeker and herald on to their war meeting.

The trip itself had been refreshing, with the wind in her hair as they rode their steeds across the countryside, but once they'd gotten into the mountains, it had been like a hand squeezing her lungs. She typically liked the cold, but somehow everything was just…too real. Too much.

This rooftop was the first time she'd really felt she could breathe all day.

She was oddly pleased that Sera's company hadn't ruined it. In fact, she felt like she was breathing easier, with the elf telling her how things were and what she ought to do about it.

As if reading her mind, Sera pointed over her shoulder toward the Breach. "So. When are we dealing with that, yeah? I mean, roof sitting and shite is fun, but there's work to be done."

"Seeker Pentaghast and Commander Rutherford are trying to get in contact with the templars, and Sister Nightingale is trying to contact the rebel mages." Finley absentmindedly played with her braid. It was a mess, as usual, with locks looping into the wrong sections, some just falling free about halfway down. Despite her efforts, somehow it always ended up tangled. "Once we hear back from either of the sides, I think we'll be heading out."

"Hmm," Sera tilted her head one way and then the other, her hair fluttering around her again. "So we're here for a bit?"

"Once we know who to go to, we're going to swing back through the Hinterlands, but yes."

"Right, then. Let's go, Herald." Sera swung her far leg over to the side of the roof she'd climbed up and hopped up, skidding a few feet down the roof. Rather than try to stop herself, she went with it, crouching and gripping the edge of the roof when she reached it, swinging down and out of sight. Finley stared after her for a moment before she heard a thud and the elf's voice drifted up to her. "C'mon, would you?"

Hopping to her feet, Finley walked down the roof, pausing at the edge so that she could angle herself right before launching herself into a nearby tree. From there, it was easy to swing down through the branches.

When her feet hit snow, she looked up and saw Sera had one arm crossed in front of her, supporting the other's elbow as she rested her fingers to her chin. "Hmm…bit of a showy exit, innit?"

Finley looked back up at the tree, confused.

Sera didn't give her time to follow. She gripped one of Finley's wrists and began to drag her into Haven, pausing only briefly to stick her tongue out at Solas as they walked by. Finley waved at the elf, and he simply shook his head, going back to…whatever it was that he was doing. She didn't have time to see.

"So. What'd you wanna do?" Sera asked when they were near the middle of Haven. She let go of Finley and brought her hands up so that her index fingers and thumbs formed a little square. She turned slowly, peering through it with one eye. "Where do you wanna leave your Heraldy mark?"

Finley blinked at her. "I…what?"

"Just 'cause we're stuck here don't mean we gotta do nothing. Shite. If I wanted to do that, I'd be back in Val Royeaux. Plenty of prigs there to play with, yeah?"

Finley motioned back the way they'd come. "Well, I help Adan with alchemy a lot."

"Yeah?" Sera perked up. "You like mixing stuff?" When Finley nodded, Sera thumped a hand to her chest. "Me too! Fire in a bottle, bees in nobles' drawers and their drawers…if you know what I mean." She cackled, doubling over at her own joke.

Finley couldn't help but laugh a little herself. As she shook her head, she realized that Sera was staring at her, wide-eyed. Even as she eyed the elf, a slow grin spread across Sera's face. She darted closer to her, patting her on the shoulder. "That's the first time I've seen you smile. Like, I've heard you make a few jokes and stuff, but you don't really…it's dry. Dry and dingy and sad." She patted Finley's shoulder again. "That's no good, though, you know? I mean, if everyone up top is always grumpy, it's hard for people down below to feel like they can crack a smile, either. Important people got big shadows, and they're all murky and dark. Bleeding sad all over."

Finley arched her eyebrows a bit, then motioned for Sera to walk with her. She didn't pay attention to the direction. "If you were in charge, what would you do?"

"Me? In charge? Ugh," Sera rolled her eyes dramatically, slouching her shoulders and letting her arms swing at her sides. "I don't want that, yeah? I just mean, like, if you cheer up a bit, it helps. People see you smiling, and then it's not so bad to smile themselves."

"I got that," Finley felt her lips twitching up as she watched Sera.

"So then what you want is…what?" Sera clapped her hands together in front of her, eyeing Finley. She scuffed the heels of her shoes against the snow as they walked, leaving an odd pattern in their wake.

"Just wondering what you'd do. If you were the one making all the decisions."

"Well, I wouldn't leave the hole up there," Sera declared, loud enough that two templars passing them paused, glancing at them. "But I guess you aren't really doing that, either. Takes time. And connections. And arse kissing. Not fun." She crossed her arms, drumming her fingers against her sleeves. "Guess that's why I'm not ordering people about." She laughed. "Wouldn't be too good at it, anyway. Too many people you gotta step on to be up top."

"Surely not everyone important is a terror," Finley offered.

"Eh, I guess," Sera seemed almost disinterested. "I don't really deal with those ones, though, do I?"

"More fun to prick the bad ones and see them squirm?"

"Right?" She paused, stopping in her tracks to watch the people scurrying to and fro down the road.

Finley watched as well. For the first time, it wasn't just an overwhelming mass of people, pressing into her personal space and suffocating her. She saw one of the nurses that she'd assisted a few times, smiling and nodding to a few templars who had left the infirmary recently. Another man was carting vegetables toward the kitchens near the tent city. A few guards waved to one another as their patrols intersected.

So many were hurrying to do their tasks, each of them different, each of them contributing to the Inquisition, a tiny part that clicked into place and made the whole thing move fluidly.

There were so many people.

Yet, that wasn't the frightening horror that it had been before.

When she finally glanced back at Sera, she saw the elf had a knowing smile plastered to her face. She tilted her head back a bit, nodding approvingly. "And you finally see them. Your little people."

Even as Finley felt an odd calm settle inside her, Sera gripped her arm and pointed. "Oh, oh! Lookit that! What's that even do?" Before Finley could try to see what was being pointed at, Sera dragged her off, into the throng.