Siofra was examining the scroll the abomination had given her when she heard the front door open. Immediately, she gestured to Padar. His tattoos glowed lightly as he started across the room to investigate.

He'd made it halfway when the door to their room opened and a tall, handsome young man entered. Siofra narrowed her eyes. "Who are you and what are you doing in here?"

"You hurt my friends." He tilted his head at her. "That is unacceptable."

The face of her spirit companion's host twisted into a smirk. Siofra rolled her eyes. "Padar, get his name before you kill him."

Padar took two steps forward before the young man waved a hand and Padar flew backwards across the room. His smoking corpse came to a stop at her feet. Her mouth opened as she stared. Next to her, Baradies started to flee and ran into a barrier. His form began shifting and trying to move in all directions at once, making a panicked noise.

"My name..." The young man's eyes started to glow. "Is Urthemiel."

#

"...Kirkwall is honored by your presence."

Salla blinked, and rubbed at her eyes. She was standing in the Chantry, and her father was up on the dais, giving a speech to the Divine.

"Salla?" Agatha put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I..." Salla turned, and rushed down the hall, only dimly aware Agatha was following her. She stopped a few paces from the room that contained the kids, and heard laughter within.

"Salla, what's wrong?" Agatha caught her arm.

"I just..." Salla took a deep breath. "I need to be sure." She nodded politely to the templars at the door, and they nodded in recognition before letting her pass. She stepped into the room, and saw Leandra dragging the slightly smaller Gavren into the garden. The faces of both children were smeared with something, and they were laughing madly. Loghain had found himself a quiet corner, and had his nose stuck in a book. Duncan was sitting at a table, apparently being annoyed by a girl a year or two younger who was trying to get him to play some kind of dice game.

And then her eyes fell on the older boy, red hair just a shade or two darker than orange, standing by the bookshelf, watching them play. She smiled, and walked over to him. He looked up, and gave her a small bow, stumbling slightly when he noticed Agatha behind her. "Lady Hawke." He swallowed. "Lady Amell."

"General Gilmore." She smiled. "Keeping an eye on everyone for us?"

He turned slightly red at the title. "Yes, ma'am."

Impulsively, she reached out and tousled his hair. "You and Duncan have to be bored sitting in here." She glanced at Agatha. "Why don't you come with Agatha and I and we'll go see if Varric put any secret passages anywhere?"

Duncan nearly knocked the chair over in his haste to get away from the table. "Really?"

#

Fenris found his daughter sitting in the balcony, as she had done every evening since the Chantry Dedication. "Salla?" He sat next to her. "What's wrong?"

She leaned into him. "I don't know if I can even explain it."

He put an arm around her. "Try?"

"I'm..." She sighed. "Waiting. I thought..." She shook her head. "What if...?"

"Salla?"

She hugged her arms around herself. "Or maybe it was just a dream, I don't know." She turned towards him. "Has Papa ever considered writing Sebastian back?"

"What..." He blinked. "What brought that question?"

"It's been a lot of years. They used to be good friends and..." She looked up at the newly rebuilt Chantry. "Sometimes the past needs to be let go."

"Is this about your guardsman?"

"What guards..." She laughed. "Oh, I haven't given Veluc a thought in months."

"Well, that's..." He raised an eyebrow. "Good?" He shifted to look at her. "Did you meet someone at the Dedication."

"Yes. And no. And yes."

"That clarifies everything."

"I expected him to be here by now." She looked up at the night sky, and sighed wistfully. "Maybe I should carve snowflakes."

He followed her gaze up to the stars as he tried to figure how just how and when the conversation had turned strange. "Salla..."

"I'm alright." She snuggled into him. "I'm just watching the stars, if you want to help."

"I can do that."

#

Kels fastened the collar and wrinkled his nose. He saw the Commander shake his head slightly. "You do not have to attend."

"Minaeve has been dropping hints about dancing." Kels sighed. "Rather large ones."

Cullen nodded. "Well, Lieutenant, I will leave the dancing to you then. Represent the Inquisition well."

"Wait. What?" He started to turn towards the Commander, and caught sight of Minaeve coming down the stairs dressed in flowing robes of yellow. He had to relearn how to breath before he could start walking towards her.

She smiled before greeting him with a kiss. "Are you ready?"

He managed a noise that vaguely resembled an affirmative before offering her his arm.

#

Leliana handed Brehan a small stack of papers before turning to the Inquisitor. "Are you going to be staying in Kirkwall much longer?"

Ruya shook her head. "Just another week. I'm leaving Iron Bull a while longer."

"Dorian is still conducting negotiations?" Leliana shook her head and smiled.

"Speaking of which, I thought perhaps I would drop by for some additional negotiations after the feast." Brehan tucked the papers away.

"Oh for..." Ruya buried her face in her hand as they laughed. "You realize I'm never going to be able to use that word again now?"

"Speaking of the feast, we should be getting back." Leliana turned towards the door.

The door opened, and four men in the robes of Chantry brothers entered. Leliana was starting to turn towards them when she heard Ruya call her name. Brehan was reacting immediately, going for his weapon as magic appeared around the hands of the newcomers.

And then abruptly there were four neat piles of ash on the ground. A tall, handsome young man stepped in the door. "Ah. Inquisitor, Divine Victoria, Spymaster Brehan." He frowned, and looked around him in confusion. "Could you tell me what day today is?"

"Um..." Brehan glanced at Leliana before answering. "Thursday." When the young man continued looking at him blankly, he added, "the 12th of Kingsway?"

"The 12th?" The young man blinked. "Bother. And now I'm late." He abruptly turned into a hawk and flew out the window.

They stood there for a minute. "What just happened?" Ruya asked.

From the direction of the feast, they heard the sound of shouting, and all three of them headed that way at a dead run.

#

Gabriel sent a blast of fire into the newly summoned demon. "Varric, this is the last time I let you make the guest list."

Next to him, Fenris's sword of mercy opened a whoever these people were from throat to navel. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his daughter put up a barrier, keeping a shade from getting to the children she'd gathered to her. "Who are these guys?" Varric asked.

A pride demon appeared, and started for the guests cowering behind a table. A mage started to call up another spell. A hawk came in through the open window and landed in the center of the room, turning into a tall young man as it did so. The young man, surrounded be an aura of green fire, lifted a coppery staff above his head and slammed it into the ground, sending a wave of energy washing through the room. The demons and blood mages turned abruptly to dust.

Silence descended. The fire vanished from around the mage. The Divine entered, followed by the Inquisitor and Spymaster. They looked at the scene before them. "What..." The Divine started to speak.

And then his daughter was striding across the room. She shoved the newly arrived mage. "You're late."

He shook his head. "No." He pointed. "I checked twice." He smiled. "This was definitely the nick of time."

Gabriel felt his jaw unhinge as his daughter threw her arms around the man's neck, kissing him soundly. The mage put his own arms around her and swung her around in a circle as he returned the kiss.

#

Salla released Kieran, and shook her head. "What took you so long?"

"It is very difficult to enter an unknown symphony at exactly the right moment in its creation." Kieran caressed her cheek. "I had to go back several days in order to stop the cult from getting to the ruins while Melavan's group was there."

Her eyes widened. "You saved Enara!" She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him again.

"Of course I saved Enara." He blinked at her. "And then I was too early and I tried hopping forward, but I went a measure too far."

"Making you late." She nodded.

"I could try going back part of a verse and..."

"Kieran?" She shook her head at him. "Stop messing with the time-space continuum." She kissed him again.

"Yes." He smiled. "Would you like to go have dinner with me?"

She smiled. "Where?"

"Starkhaven." He took her hand. "There are some people there we need to meet again."

#

Leliana stared as Hawke's daughter and the young man abruptly turned into hawks and flew away. "Um..." She turned towards where Hawke was standing, and saw similar confusion on the faces of both him and Fenris. "Does anyone know who that was?"

"Yes." Carver Hawke nodded.

"Well..."

"I'm not entirely sure what just happened..." Carver rubbed the back of his neck. "But that was Kieran."

"Wait..." Alistair turned towards him. "That was The Warden's kid?"

"Why was my daughter kissing him?" Fenris raised an eyebrow at Carver.

"Yeah, I have absolutely no idea."

Duncan's voice piped up. "Hey, that was the crazy mage from Darktown!"

#

Ruya sat in her husband's lap, and looked across the bar at Carver. "Let me see if I have this straight." She took a deep breath. "Your niece just flew off with an Old God."

"Yes."

Next to him, Hawke shook his head. "So you are saying my daughter just turned into a bird and flew off with an Old God."

"Yes."

The Divine pinched the bridge of her nose. "How many times are we going to have to repeat it before it starts making sense?"

Brehan sighed. "I need a drink." A bottle slid down the bar, and he caught it. "Thank -" He turned in the direction it had come from and cut off abruptly. "Um..."

Jerath Tabris leaned on the other end of the bar. "I was just informed I've acquired a daughter-in-law." He looked at all of them. "Anyone care to explain?"