Varric walked up the steps to the battlements of the ruined fortress which only a few hours ago had been the site of….something he could hardly describe. A dragon, Grey Wardens, the Inquisition forces all fighting for control of this place. Adament. It was impressive, Varric would give it that. He sighed as he reached the top of the stair and looked out across the sand blown walls to the dunes beyond. The sky was just starting to show some color as dawn approached. Varric felt something lift in his chest with the lightening sky. This was all crazy, but at the same time...they were alive. They'd stopped Corypheus from getting his demon army. They-the Inquisitor, was really winning. It was….something. Varric walked slowly across the stones as he mentally tried to process everything from the night before. He nearly walked into the person sitting on the walkway before he saw them.

"Woah! Sorry, I….Oh. Inquisitor…." A series of emotions ran through Varric before he stopped talking and just absorbed. The Inquisitor did not look nearly so pleased as Varric had been feeling a moment before. He looked...tired? Maybe just lost in thought? Pained? Varric crouched down and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, smiles. You ok?"

Amahri nodded slowly.

"Mmm." Varric looked him over more closely, unconvinced by the weak nod. "What's up?" He liked the kid and he wasn't half bad at cheering people up, he fancied. Might as well give it a shot now.

"We went into the fade, you know." Amahri said evenly. Varric frowned. Ok so this was serious.

"Yes, I heard. And you came back. Again. Pretty impressive." Varric sat down.

"You didn't hear everything, I'm sure. We met a-spirit, or something. In there. She, it, looked like the Divine." Amahri was still staring ahead, words pouring out. Varric raised an eyebrow. "She showed us, me, what happened at the conclave."

He paused. Varric prompted. "And?" He was half excited, half dreading what Amahri was going to say, though he didn't even really recognize his feelings.

"It was an accident. The mark. Me."

Varric's shoulders dropped slightly. Amahri explained.

"I just happened to be there. The Divine was calling for help and I stumbled into the room and he, Corypheus, was there. He was doing some ritual and dropped some magical orb, and I touched it. And…" Amahri lifted his hand, the raw scar on his palm was not currently glowing as there was no rift nearby.

Varric felt his head swim for a moment, then with great effort he tried to speak steadily.

"I see… Are you-alright? I mean I thought you...didn't believe in the Maker or being chosen anyway. But you sure look...upset." Varric tried to keep himself focused on his friend, ignoring his own feelings. He did-had? When asked a few days before he had told Amahri he did believe the Maker had chosen him.

"I'm Dalish." Amahri shrugged, as if that statement should explain everything he was feeling.

"Yes, you are." Varric said dumbly.

"I just… I'm scared. What will the others…" Amahri looked at Varric, fear flicking across his features. "Are you mad at me?" He asked.

Varric blinked and frowned. "What? No. Why should I be mad?"

"You believed in me. And Cassandra, and so many of the others. Even if they don't talk about it in front of me, I know they did. I know they believed I was chosen by their god. But I'm not. I'm not chosen by anyone…" Amahri looked away again. Varric studied him while he thought.

"I suppose people will have to decide for themselves what to believe, just as they did before." Varric closed his eyes a moment and then looked towards the rising sun.

"I think the Maker is smart enough to use accidents, if he wants." Varric looked back at Amahri. "So might other gods, if that's what you're wondering about." He added.

Amahri's eyes widened and he turned to Varric again.

"You said 'I'm not chosen by anyone.' Have you been thinking..that maybe your elven gods chose you? Not the Maker?" Varric asked. Amahri flushed slightly and looked down.

"The people… I never really thought of the gods interfering much in our world but… with everyone talking about the Maker choosing people and… I mean, it seems such a big thing. The rifts, some half human half darkspawn creature wanting to destroy the world… I guess I thought that whoever was going to stop such a thing must be chosen by-someone."

Varric shifted and squinted back towards the sun, which was now almost fully up.

"Forgive me, but shit. I'm not the best person to be talking about crises of faith with kid. I'd say you should talk to Leliana or-hell, Cassandra or something. But… all we can do is our best. I've never been what you call devout or anything, but… I've seen a lotta crazy stuff in my time. Something tells me there's more to what's going on in our crazy world than chance. So I believe… in spite of your saying it was an accident, that you are chosen." Varric's purposefully shifted his tone lighter to move on. "In fact I don't believe in accidents at all! Not anymore. I've seen too many that ended up working out in ways I can only describe as miraculous. So I still believe somebody intended for you to be where you were that day, and for you to be the one to have that mark." Varric gestured at it.

"Now, as for what you believe… I can't tell you what you should believe. That some other god than your own chose you, or that your own did, or that it really is a random accident you just happened to stumble into a magical object that gave you the ability to possibly save the world." Varric waved his hands. "But, I can tell you this. Whatever the case may be, I'll be right by your side to the end of it. And so will Cassandra, and Leliana, and Bull and Blackwall and a whole lot of other people around here. We're a team, come hell or random accidents. You don't need to worry about us leaving you." Varric smiled softly.

Amahri automatically returned the smile which faded quickly, then replaced it with a more genuine one.

"Thank you, Varric."

"Maybe try to sit somewhere Red will trip over you next time, ok? I'm sure she'd have more valuable insights than me." Varric winked.