Solona remained silent the entirety of the boat ride across Lake Calenhad. Finally, when they were well on their way to camp and far from the tower, she looked to Cousland. Voice devoid of emotion, she asked, "Am I a Grey Warden now?"
"Alistair's the one who would know," Cousland said, and Alistair frowned.
"No, not until you undergo The Joining… And we don't exactly have a how-to book on it."
"Is that like my Harrowing?" she asked.
"It will be harrowing, if that counts," Cousland said, and her deadpan humor made Solona almost smile. "I don't care if you actually join. You help us against the Blight, and if you want to be a Grey Warden after that, you can."
"I… don't think that's how the rite of conscription works, Elissa," Alistair said, looking discomfited at the thought. "If we could have her undergo the Joining now –"
"We would, but we can't, so it doesn't matter," she replied. "Amell, was it?"
"Yes," Solona said, "Solona Amell."
"How far did you get up that tower alone?"
"Two floors," Solona said, and Cousland nodded.
"And what happened immediately before we found you? Why were you on the ground?"
Solona's face darkened. "Desire demon," she said, tone of voice clear that was as much as Cousland would be getting from her.
"But you killed it alone?" At Solona's nod, the Warden turned back to Alistair. "If we could make her a Warden now, we would. I don't know how Duncan chose recruits, but it sounds like she'll make it."
"But you can't conscript her and then let her decide –" Alistair began, but Cousland cut him off.
"Fine. Let's pretend we did the Joining and she's already a Warden who gets the option to retire if she survives the Blight," said Cousland. "We won't have the resources to rebuild the order until then, anyway."
"I want to be a Grey Warden," said Solona. "There isn't much a mage can do on her own. Without you, I'm an apostate." Cousland looked as though that settled things for her, and Alistair sat, quietly emanating a wave of disapproval in Cousland's direction. "So…" said Solona, not liking the silence, "What do we do now?"
"We're collecting allies to build an army against the blight," replied Cousland, "Currently more pressing, we're trying to save a child possessed by a demon. Do you know anything about going into the Fade?"
"Physically?" Solona asked, both eyebrows raised, and Cousland exchanged a look with Alistair. This was the first time her voice had any sort of lively tone since they met her. If she could figure this out she'd be an even better recruit than they expected. "That'd take at least five or six mages and an obscene amount of lyrium. And with the circle –" she cut herself off, voice full of a pain that Cousland understood very well. "You won't find enough mages or lyrium."
"What about blood magic?" asked Cousland, and Solona's face darkened.
"Certainly, if you have no qualms about murder."
"Grey Wardens do what we have to," replied Cousland.
"Oh… Maker preserve us, is that our only option?" Solona asked, looking sick.
"Or we can kill the child," Cousland replied.
An idea suddenly struck Solona, and she said, "Orzammar has lyrium. The Chantry controls the trade but I'm certain we could find dwarves who'd sell it to us."
"That could work," said Alistair, looking hopeful. "Right? We have to show them the treaty anyway, we can get the lyrium while we're there."
"Certainly," Cousland said, frowning at the both of them, "Let's suppose we buy fifty sovereigns worth of lyrium. Does that sound about right, Amell?"
Solona frowned. "I… we don't really use money in the circle. It'd be… a lot of lyrium. About twenty vials' worth?"
"We have it, though," Alistair said, "And it's not as if we're wanting for supplies."
"So we have the lyrium. Where will we find the mages? We have you and Wynne."
"And Morrigan," said Alistair, "That's three, we only need three more –"
"Can a mage who isn't circle trained do it?" Cousland asked.
"Maybe," Solona said, mulling it over carefully, "But I doubt it. It takes a well-trained, powerful mage. And only a mage can enter the Fade, so whomever you're sending in to fight the demon won't be able to participate. We would probably need something like six or seven mages. But there must be…" She trailed off, wondering how one could possibly track down apostates who weren't maleficarum and would be willing to help the Grey Wardens.
"So, for you idealists, let me sum up our brilliant plan. We'll travel for a two weeks to Orzammar, spend time trying to find a dealer willing to sell illegal lyrium who is trustworthy enough to give us the correct substance, waste Maker knows how much time getting the dwarves to agree to this treaty because these so-called allies can never just agree without us doing something major, travel another few days back to Redcliffe, and then pray to Andraste we can somehow summon up four mages who know how to do this obscure ritual. In the meantime, of course, the demon will have almost certainly sent another army to destroy Redcliffe." Cousland let that hang for a moment to see if Solona or Alistair would have any further objections. When both fell silent, she continued, "Right. Amell, you've killed demons before in the Fade?"
"Yes," she replied. "That's what the Harrowing is."
"Good. We'll send you in. Unless you have an objection?"
"No," Solona said. "I look forward to proving myself as a recruit."
Cousland almost smiled.