Since it's clear that Warden Commander Thierry will not be interested in helping them, and they've hashed out some personal History, it's time for our heroes to being their investigation. Their only lead: a popular ballad about the Black Fox describing his epic fight in, and escape from, the Grand Cathedral of Val Royeaux.

"And they're just going to let us run around their cathedral?" Ariane asked dubiously, feeling quite naked without her armor.

Finn nodded. "It's just a fact of city life. We'd get an infestation at the Circle Tower every so often, more than the cats could handle, and they'd have to row a rat-catcher over from Redcliffe or somewhere. And then you just have to let him nose about, placing his traps wherever he tells you the rat runs are. Even the templars had to give way."

They were back in the square before the Grand Cathedral. The sun was setting, red-golden light lancing between the two great towers and pooling on the cobblestones between their enormous shadows. The Chant flowed on, out of the tall cathedral windows and into the streets of Val Royeaux.

The direct approach had failed. Finn had produced his piece of paper and asked to be taken to the choir loft so that he could conduct research there. The priest had sniffed, shook her carefully coiffed head, and coolly informed him yet again that magic was to serve man. The singing of the Chant would not be disturbed for his convenience. Finn had protested that they wouldn't be a disturbance at all, which had earned them all an arch look and a nod towards the street, where the blood of Warden Commander Thierry's carriage horses still stained the ground.

So they'd spent two days trying to come up with some other way to gain access to the loft. Vashti was certain she could sneak in unseen, but that didn't help the others. Finn had initially proposed disguises as choristers, but Ariane insisted that she couldn't sing and besides, elven choristers were probably rare to nonexistent. Her idea to light a small fire to scare the singers out of the building was met with a horrified stare from Finn.

Finn had reluctantly proposed going to the other Warden Commander to enlist his influence in gaining access to the cathedral when inspiration struck. Vashti was in the middle of telling him the many ways the idea was unacceptable when the dog growled, cutting her off. A rat had appeared and was too close to the mabari's bone for his comfort. The rodent turned tail and dashed for a chink in the wall, but the dog lunged and caught it in his powerful jaws. There wasn't even a squeak as he crunched down on the would-be thief.

"Rat-catchers!" Finn had exclaimed, and now here they were.

Rat-catchers did not wear elven chain mail, nor did they carry a pair of swords. Or a mage's staff. They were both wearing simple woolens, and Ariane acquired daggers. The dog had been entrusted to Ariane... or perhaps it was the other way around? But Vashti had gone in ahead of them, much to Finn's anxiety. The Warden was confident that, after sneaking through all manner of cavern, wood and palace, she could successfully conceal her movements through a cathedral after dark. Still, Finn didn't like them splitting up. He rubbed his hands together nervously. "I hope she's not spotted. We've gotten into enough trouble as it is. Another incident... She knows what a choir loft is, right? She'll be there to meet us?"

"The place with all the pink robes singing, I bet," Ariane said dryly. "Come on, let's give this a try."

Rat-catchers worked at night, when the rats came out to feed. Although the sun hadn't quite set, it was already very dark and cool inside the Grand Cathedral. Small girls in miniature Chantry robes were solemnly lighting candles all around the walls as night came on. They paused as their eyes adjusted to the dark, looking right and left for the stairs leading up.

Before they could go anywhere, a brother bustled up to them, pointing indignantly to the dog and saying something quietly but very intensely in Orlesian.

The dog barked back, the short, sharp sound echoing around the shadowed columns, a single unwanted beat of percussion in the Chant of Light. "Ssssssttt!" the brother shushed, extremely agitated.

The dog lowered his head penitently. Finn leapt in, giving their cover story, Ariane assumed. The brother looked perplexed and said something questioningly, again indicating the dog. "Ehm..." Finn swallowed, blinking rapidly.

"What's the matter?" Ariane asked.

"He wants to know why we had to bring such a large dog."

The brother switched to the Ferelden tongue when he understood that Ariane did not speak Orlesian. "The dog is too big to go after rats," the brother said, puzzled. "It is a waste of time to bring this large, noisy beast in here." He wasn't concerned about money; rat-catchers would be paid by the rat. But if two incompetent rat-catchers wasted time with unsuitable equipment, it would mean more time for rats to breed.

"They're big rats," Ariane improvised.

"Blighted rats," Finn confirmed, shooting her a thankful glance of pure relief. "They must have come in on a Ferelden ship. They brought us in especially from Denerim to deal with them."

"Lots of Blighted rats in Ferelden right now. We're good at getting them."

"And you really want a mabari for that job. A Blighted rat will just tear your average terrier to bits," Finn said, with the authority he usually reserved for pronouncements on ancient Tevinter tomes. The dog sat proudly, tail wagging rapidly, and quietly whuffed in agreement.

"Blighted rats?" The brother's horrified expression was exaggerated by candlelight and shadows. "In this sacred place? I have not heard of this!"

"Of course not," Ariane said. "Don't want to cause alarm. We were told to be discreet about it."

"We'll want to start high and go low," Finn said, "but ehm, we were told there's no sign of them up in the towers. Just in the cathedral proper. So if you could show us to the stairs...?"

"Of course, this way." The brother led them to the darkened staircase. "Your dog, it will hunt quietly? The Chant of Light is praise to the Maker and should not be disturbed..."

"Quiet as a mouse. Well. Perhaps that's a bad analogy," Finn said thoughtfully.

"Very good, then. Bring me your catch and I will see that you are paid," the brother said, leaving them to do their work.

They waited until he was well away down the length of the cathedral before letting out twin sighs and a happy panting sound. "See? It worked," Finn said.

"I can't believe he didn't notice my vallaslin" Ariane said.

"Well... your hair is a bit in the way," Finn said, with an air of unease that indicated he was lying badly. Ariane sighed and decided to skip this particular lesson in How Humans See Elves in favor of getting on with their job. "So now what?" she asked.

"The ballad indicates that the fight was going badly for Remi and Karolis until 'Andraste covered them with the cloak of her mercy.' I suspect some sort of hidden escape route, concealed by an image of Andraste."

"An image of... Finn, we're in the biggest chantry in Thedas! It's covered in images of Andraste! And statues and stained glass windows and carvings and... isn't there anything more specific?"

"I'm afraid not," the mage sighed. "We'll just have to be very thorough as we search for rat runs, right?" Ariane groaned as they started up the stairs to the choir loft. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad, Ariane thought. How large and ornate could this little balcony be?

As it turned out, very.

Emerging from the stone staircase, the sound of the Chant hit them with an almost physical force. It hadn't occurred to Ariane to wonder at how many voices would be needed to create a sound that could be heard for blocks around the cathedral. It needed a lot. Scores, maybe hundreds, of rose-robed brothers and sisters stood on a pair of risers, back to back. Perhaps a quarter faced into the cathedral, while the remainder sang out through the large, open windows, into the plaza beyond. The harmonies were simple, pure and perfect, designed to carry the words and their meaning.

Ariane was momentarily stunned. She'd never heard anything like it. Even at the arlathvhen, when they might have had enough singers, they didn't combine their voices like that. The Dalish warrior was not much of an aesthete, but the tremendous beauty of the most rigorously-trained choir in Thedas was affecting nonetheless.

It was the dog who nudged her and Finn both, bringing their attention back to the present. One of the two song leaders was shooting suspicious glances their way, and Finn hastened to brandish his rat-trapping equipment. That seemed to mollify the woman, and she returned her full attention to the singers before her.

The chamber was huge and, as Ariane had predicted, full of representations of the Maker's prophet. Ariane didn't see any way they could possibly investigate them all before someone grew suspicious, but Finn just indicated that he'd start work across the room from her. They'd do what they could and hope they'd be lucky.

The mabari sat with his head cocked, seeming to listen to the music for a while, before getting up with a quiet chuff. Nose to the ground, he started to snuffle around the edges of the room. Ariane's eyes widened. He's not looking for Vashti, is he? No, don't do that, bad dog! She gave a low whistle, which the dog ignored. But the lead cantor somehow detected the off note despite the volume of the Chant being sung at her, and she directed a truly fearsome glare at the Dalish. Ariane ducked her head penitently, watching the dog out of the corner of her eye.

He stopped before a statue of Andraste holding a bowl, a long scarf of some kind falling gracefully from her bent arms. One last definitive whuffle and he sat, scratching his ear with his back leg and then panting with evident satisfaction. He looked at Ariane, then at Finn, and then back at Ariane. He shook his head and went after the ear again.

Ariane moved, not so quickly as to be suspicious about it, to the dog's side. "See something interesting?" she whispered to him. He licked his nose and got up to root at the left side of the statue's pedestal with his muzzle. Ariane caught Finn's attention and motioned him over.

The mage took the scene in and almost immediately reached up to run a hand along Andraste's shawl. There was a soft click, and the dog had to jump back as the entire stone panel he'd been investigating came loose and fell forward with a very loud crack. Unpleasant wet and rotting smells wafted up from the hole - undoubtedly what had drawn the mabari to the spot.

The cantor whirled around at this disturbance; behind her, the choir kept on singing, although they were watching the scene with wide eyes. She actually left her post to stalk over to them, finger already pointing in stern disapproval. "This is the holy Chant of Andraste!" she hissed quietly as she got near. "Offered as a prayer to the Maker! Do you understand that it is not to be marred by your clownish antics?"

Finn shifted his weight nervously and indicated the hole. "Probably where your rats are coming from, your reverence," he whispered.

"Then get in there and lay your traps. Quietly!"

"Yes, your reverence."

Ariane rubbed at her nose to conceal a smile. At least sneaking into the not-so-secret-anymore passage wouldn't be an issue.

Hurrah for good Ferelden mabari! Tune in next week as we leave the cathedral behind and enter instead the Temple...