Dearest Father,

I hadn't planned on visiting the Deep Roads again so soon, or ever for that matter. But when we were approached by Delilah Howe in Hightown, I had little choice but to help her. She told me about her brother Nathaniel, a Grey Warden, who had recently gone missing. The desperation in her tone pulled at my heart, and I imagined being in her position; if Carver were missing, I'd do anything to find him. But this woman clearly was not meant for exploration or battle, especially against potential darkspawn, so I agreed to help.

We were better prepared this time around with plenty of supplies and Anders' maps. Varric had a map of his own that he drafted when we returned from the expedition several years ago; I wasn't aware of this, but it was certainly a help when we were down there. I tried to convince Anders to come with us, get him out of the city for a while (not to mention his warnings of darkspawn would have come in handy) but he wouldn't hear of it. So Sebastian, Varric, and Fenris came along for the trip.

Tracking a group of Wardens wasn't too hard, just follow the trail of darkspawn corpses. It meant little fighting the further we went in, which I was thankful for. It seemed quiet, almost too quiet, until an arrow out of nowhere startled me, flying close enough to my face so I could hear it. Behind us, the arrow landed straight through a genlock's eye. And that is how we met Nathaniel.

"Nathaniel Howe I presume?" Hawke asked, still staring at the darkspawn laying dead on the stone floor. "Your sister said you were a master with a bow, and I have to admit that was impressive."

"Quite," Sebastian said as he stood beside her, admiring the Warden's skill.

Varric huffed. "Bianca's not impressed."

"The Champion of Kirkwall?" Nathaniel seemed surprised. "Here? But why?"

"Your sister sent me," Hawke replied. "Delilah was worried when she hadn't heard from you, and I can see now it was for good reason. May I ask why the Wardens are interested in retracing my steps?"

"You and your expedition went further into the Deep Roads than anyone thought possible," Nathaniel said. "The First Warden himself ordered this investigation after hearing rumors of the red lyrium you discovered."

Hawke crossed her arms over her chest. "Funny, I don't remember making an announcement about that, or drawing any maps of our route. How did the Wardens find out about this?"

"Your brother, Bartrand," Nathaniel said as he looked to Varric. "He approached the Warden's first about the idol he found, claimed it may be a key in helping defeat the darkspawn, and for a price he'd share the information with us. He cooperated right up until it came time to hand over the idol, and then he disappeared before doing so."

"So instead of contacting myself or Hawke, you just decided to trust my brother's information, wander around down here without the full story?" Varric asked. "I always thought the Wardens were smarter than that."

Nathaniel became defensive. "There was no need to speak with either of you. We are fully trained in scouting and following tracks, and you lot were quite lazy in hiding your way through, if you tried to at all."

"We were too busy trying to survive," Hawke pointed out. "Bartrand left us down here to die, covering our tracks was the least of our worries. We had no maps, no food, and barely made it out of here alive."

"I wasn't aware," Nathaniel admitted. "I'm sorry."

Hawke shrugged. "It's fine. But if it's all the same to you, I'd like to return to Delilah and tell her the good news. I'd rather not remain down here any longer than we have to."

"I cannot leave," Nathaniel told her. "These attacks separated me from my men. I must press on to see if there are any survivors. Though you are under no obligation to assist me, your help would be appreciated."

"Of course we'll help," Sebastian said, readying his bow. Hawke eyed Sebastian with curiosity as a huge grin graced his face. "Crawling through blight-infested tunnels, rescuing Wardens in peril. This is what I signed on for!"

"Funny," Hawke said, "I had thought you were here for me."

Sebastian laughed, wrapping an arm around her waist. "An added bonus," he said before kissing her forehead.

"Are they always this nauseating?" Nathaniel asked Varric.

The dwarf shook his head. "Must be the confined space. The sooner we get out of here, the quicker we can separate these two from further displays of affection."

Nathaniel agreed. "Let's move. I'll alert you of any darkspawn ahead."

We managed well enough with the five of us maneuvering through the tunnels, picking off darkspawn here and there. Sebastian spent most of the time talking bows and arrows with Nathaniel while Varric, Fenris, and I discussed the last time we were in the Deep Roads. It wasn't all that terrible to be honest, thinking back on it now. Of course we had Isabela with us then, and she kept things interesting with games of dares and chance. Only to return and find Carver was a templar… naturally it upset me then, but now I couldn't be prouder of my brother.

We ran into a member of Nathaniel's expedition, a lively dwarf named Temmerin. He wasn't skilled with a weapon of any sort, but he was a master at explosives, and had set up a variety of traps to keep the darkspawn away from him. Using them to our advantage, pressing forward was easy enough (except if you count the bad timing of some of the explosions, which I think hurt us more than the darkspawn). At the end of the tunnel we faced a large Ogre, not something I had wanted to face again. They always remind me of the horrible way Bethany had died, but I used that anger to help defeat the giant creature.

Sadly we discovered that the rest of Nathaniel's expedition didn't survive. With his mission complete, we all returned to Kirkwall together, and met up with Delilah at the Hanged Man. She was overjoyed to see her brother safe and out of harm's way, and I invited them both, as well as Temmerin, to the estate for a decent meal and a good night's rest before they had to part ways.

Bodahn and Orana were overjoyed at having company and new people to fuss over. It was a fun evening of storytelling, and we learned that Nathaniel had worked with Anders for a time in Amaranthine. I offered to take Nathaniel to the clinic to see Anders, but he declined. Apparently there's some history there; Nathaniel wasn't happy with Anders merging with Justice, and they hadn't spoken since. I did my best to convince him that Anders could use an old friend right about now, but Nathaniel insisted on not seeing him.

Sebastian came by in the morning to walk with us to the docks where we said our goodbyes to the Howe's. Nathaniel was returning to the Wardens with Temmerin, and Delilah was going back to Amaranthine. She was heartbroken to see her brother leave again, which of course pulled at my heart as well. Even though Carver and I rarely see each other, there's comfort in knowing he's within the same city as I am. Thinking of Carver as a Warden, constantly on the move with no place to call home, no reliable way to be in contact… I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad he's a templar and not a Warden.