She found the Herald of Andraste sitting on a bench in the gardens of the Winter Palace. Herah's broad shoulders were slumped, and her hands rested on top of her head, covering her face. "Inquisitor," Cassandra asked, "Are you all right? The court has been missing you."

Herah looked up at her. "Sorry. I guess it's easy to notice when I duck out. A qunari Inquisitor's kind of conspicuous."

"You are," she agreed, but when she saw the weariness in Herah's big, brown eyes, she decided not to push her. "There's no rush to get back to the court. You've saved their lives tonight. They will wait."

"Thanks," she shrugged. "I guess I needed a little break from all of it."

"An understandable sentiment."

"Maker, but I hated tonight," Herah told her. "The whole time, I felt like I was stumbling around the palace with a blindfold on while people threw darts at me."

"Leliana tells me you did well," Cassandra reassured her, taking a seat next to the Inquisitor on the stone bench. "She said that the court was both surprised and impressed by your diplomacy."

"Were they?" She laughed. "You know how I pulled that off? It was Josephine's advice: say as little as possible. Every time somebody asked me a question, I told them something like, 'That's possible' or 'Maybe, but we'll just have to see.' Complete and utter bullshit, all of it."

"That is what they liked." Cassandra allowed a small smile to cross her face. "And it is one of the many reasons why they are so insufferable."

"You got away from it," Herah told her, a clear note of envy in her statement. Escape was something Cassandra doubted would be possible for the Inquisitor any time soon. "You were born to be one of them and instead you picked up and did something worthwhile with your life instead."

"It remains to be seen whether starting the Inquisition will qualify as worthwhile," Cassandra replied, "But yes, I did. Sometimes I wonder if it was even really my choice. We are all who the Maker made us to be, and He did not shape me to be the sort of woman who wears fancy dresses and cares about frivolities."

"Well, I'd count that as a good thing," the Inquisitor said, giving Cassandra a friendly pat on the back, "Even if you'd probably look pretty hot in the dress."

She was sure she blushed at that, because Herah laughed. "Just teasing you. But really, they were all terrible people here. Celene, Briala, Gaspard… Florianne happened to be the one working for Corypheus, but every last one of them would feed their mother to a dragon if there was an little power in it for them. And they way they do it… A good fight is honest at least. Here, they'd rather kill you will a smile and a knife in your back."

"You will find no argument from me. I understand the necessity of what Leliana and Josephine do. I can even respect their skill at doing it. But I have no wish to do it myself. I do wonder one thing, though?"

"What's that?"

"Why did you chose to save Empress Celene? Given your dislike of the Game, Grand Duke Gaspard seemed like the one you would've preferred to see on throne."

Herah shook her head. "Maybe he would've been better. I don't know. It's not like he wasn't up to plenty of bad shit too. Murdering people, sneaking mercs into the palace..."

"That's true, " she conceded. The behavior of those they had dealt with tonight had disgusted Cassandra no less than the Inquisitor, a collection of spoiled nobles playing at their little games while the future of the world hung in the balance.

"But that's not the only reason I didn't let him take the throne," Herah told her. "It's that... I don't know. I told you before, I like things simple and you know what seemed simple to me? We don't let Corypheus kill who he wants to kill. Save the girl, save the day, and figure out the rest later, right?"

"A noble enough sentiment," Cassandra told her. It was one she shared, but did that make it right? Was it better to have the Inquisition led by someone honest like Herah, or someone like Leliana who saw all the angles? She liked to think it was the former, but she couldn't know for sure.

Just then, they were interrupted by the sound of loud footsteps and a boisterous voice calling out, "There you are." Iron Bull sauntered into view, an entire bottle of wine in his meaty hand.

"Andraste's ass," Herah groaned, "Is the entire Inquisition out looking for me?"

"Only the ones who wanted to get away from all those boring-ass Orleasian nobles," Bull laughed. She wouldn't have expected it, but Cassandra had come to like the big qunari well enough. They were both warriors who had given their lives to their duty, even if his version of that duty seemed to involve a great deal more drinking and carousing than hers.

In this case, though, she had a question. "Bull, where is Sera? You were supposed to be keeping an eye on her."

"Don't worry," he assured her, "I found her an excellent Orlesian red. She should be busy for a while."

"And what about when she's done enjoying it?", Herah asked, pulling herself off of the bench. "Come on, we'd better get back to the party before she burns the palace down."

As it turned out, Iron Bull had been right about the wine keeping Sera occupied. Herah found her lover half-asleep, draped across a sumptuous couch with a cloth-of-gold cover, the empty bottle on the plush carpeted floor next to her.

"Come on, sleepy," she told Sera, giving her a pat on the head to wake her up. "The party's winding down and it's time for us to get out of here."

"Mm, Buckles," Sera mumbled, inching her green eyes open in response to Herah's touch. "Was good wine. Sorry I didn't save you some. Why do rich tits get all the good wine?"

'Because they're rich," she told her. "Now come on. I think we've spend enough time with those tits tonight. I'd rather spend the rest with yours."

"Heh, yeah. My tits… Do think yah…" Sera blinked, trying to remember the order words went in. "Do yah think we could get Celene?"

"For what?"", she asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

"You know.."

"For sex?", she asked, raising an eyebrow. "You want me to see if the Empress of Orlais would join us for the night?"

Sera rubbed her messy blonde hair. "Sure. Cause, um, she's hot. I mean, not you hot, but hot. And you saved her life. So, yeah. Think she'd go for it?"

"Somehow I doubt it," Herah laughed, helping Sera to her feet. "I think she's gotten into enough trouble by sleeping with elves for one night."

"Not… not like other stupid elves," she protested, shaking her head back and forth while she tried to sneak in a quick grope of Herah's ass.

The attempt almost made her fall over though, and Herah wrapped a strong arm around her lover's waist, making sure she stayed upright. "Oh, no," she quipped. "You're no trouble at all."

Sera placed an awkward kiss on the side of her face. "Mm, your trouble though, right?"

"Definitely," she agreed, pulling Sera close to her as the two rogues made their way slowly through the Winter Palace, "You are that."