Alex watched, her eyebrow raised, as Cassandra continued to read by the training grounds, sitting on a stool, completely oblivious to her surroundings. The Seeker's eyes seemed to sparkle with unshed tears as she continued to read, and even when she stood directly behind her, she didn't seem to notice her. "Good book?" Alex asked, causing the Seeker to shout in surprise as she stood up, letting go of the book. Her face flushed red when she saw her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Cassandra said defensively, and Alex smirked, "Yes, because I suddenly went blind."

The Seeker let out a small disgusted noise as she bent over, "It's a book." She said, picking up the object and holding it to her chest. Alex nodded, still smiling, "I can see that, Captain Obvious."

"It's… one of Varric's tales." Cassandra finally admitted, but her face was turning red, " ' Swords and Shields'. The latest chapter."

Alex's eyes widened, "Meaning you've read them all?"

"Not since… everything started. We've been busy." Cassandra admitted, wringing her fingers while holding the book.

"She's read this book three times already." Alex heard someone say, and she looked behind the Seeker to see Dorian, walking away from the quartermaster's room, smirking at them.

Cassandra scowled, "Nobody asked you, Tevinter."

Dorian laughed as he walked away, heading towards the library again, "I still haven't finished the ones you lent me. I actually feel dumber for having tried."

Alex looked at Cassandra, who sighed, "It's literature… smutty literature." She almost sputtered out a laugh, but the woman came forward to her with a pleading look in her eyes, "Whatever you do, don't tell Varric!"

She laughed a little and made a little stitching action across her mouth, "Not a word of it."

The other woman sighed and looked down at the book in adoration, "It's horrible… and… magnificent. And I know Varric is working on the next one… he must be!" Something clicked in her brain and she looked at Alex, "You! You could tell him to finish it! Command him to…"

But at the mischievous look on Alex's face, Cassandra scowled, the usual harsh look on her face visible, "Pretend that you don't know this about me."

The Seeker returned to her stool to read, making Alex chuckle out loud, and she turned her attention to the other side of the training yard only to see Iron Bull and the Charger's second lieutenant, Krem, training. As she watched, Krem charged with his shield, running into Bull, but the Qunari merely pushed him back.

"Come on, Krem! I've been busting my ass trying to get you to see that move!" Bull said, looking annoyed.

But the soldier merely grinned, "You still got plenty of ass, Chief…!" But he stopped when he saw Alex, "Oh… your Worship."

Bull looked down at her as he lowered his shield, "Glad you came by, boss. I got a letter from my contacts in the Ben-Hassrath. I already verified it with Red."

Alex nodded towards Krem as he stood beside the Qunari, "You want to discuss this in private?"

"No. It's not like I'm not hiding anything from my boys. Besides, right now, I want to hit something." Bull answered.

His lieutenant rolled his eyes, "You know you've got training dummies for that, Chief."

Bull huffed out a breath, "The training dummy might actually defend itself against a shield bash. Anyway, about the letter…"

Alex crossed her arms, "What did the letter say?"

"The Ben-Hassrath has been reading my reports. They don't like Corypheus and his Venatori." Bull stated, "And they really don't like red lyrium. They are willing to work with us… with you, I mean, boss. The Qunari and the Inquisition, joining forces."

She scowled as she thought it over, "Well… that could be a powerful alliance."

"My people have never made a full-blown alliance before. This would be a big step. They've found a massive red lyrium shipping operation on the Storm Coast." Bull said as he raised his shield again and got into a battle stance."

"They want us to hit it together. Talked about bringing in one of their dreadnaughts." Krem said as he raised his shield and smiled excitedly, "I've always wanted to see one of those big war ships in action."

But Bull scowled and charged at Krem with a shield, making the soldier fling back, "Did you see that? Go get some water."

Krem huffed out a breath and walked away to do his leader's order, and Bull turned towards her again. "They're worried about tipping the smugglers, so no army. My Chargers, you, maybe some back up."

She watched him a little before nodding a little, "What does this alliance get us, Bull?"

"They wouldn't call it an 'alliance' if they didn't mean it. Naval power. More Ben-Hassrath reports. The Qunari Antaam pointed at the Venatori… it could do a lot of good."

"You don't seem entirely happy about this, Bull." She said as she noted his constant shifting, "That uncomfortable look in your eye and the fact that you want to hit something tells me you don't like this."

Bull blinked, "No. I'm good… it's just…" He sighed and shifted again, "I'm used to them being… over there. It's been a while."

"But I thought the Qunari wanted to extend to the whole world… just as much as the Chantry does."

"Yeah. I just didn't think I'd see it." Bull answered, "Look, the Qun answers a lot of questions. It's a good life for a lot of people. But it's a big change, and a lot of folks here wouldn't do so well under that kind of life. I guess it's not like we're converting. This is just us joining forces against Corypheus. On that front, I think we're good."

Alex sighed, "Alright, Bull. We'll do it."

"Good. I'll pass on word to Cullen and Red. We can set up the meeting whenever you're ready."

She nodded as Bull walked away, but soon enough she sighed, thinking of all the tasks she had to do. With Bull wanting to head to the Storm Coast, that added another thing to her mental list, as Sera had asked her to allow a bunch of her soldier to march for positively no reason to Verchiel a few moments before she spoke to Cassandra. And with the Seeker still practically distrusting her, she still had to ask Varric for the next chapter of the book. The thought of all her tasks made her head hurt, and she quickly headed back up the castle and into the garden to clear her head.