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To make Sebastian happy, Hawke broke into the throne room of the Viscount's Keep long after midnight one night. To the best of her knowledge, no one had used this room since the Qunari had left; it wouldn't have surprised her to see the bodies of Viscount Dumar and the Arishok still lying there.
But clearly someone had cleaned up, because the room was free of bodies—and equally clearly, someone was expecting them.
"As I suspected," Anders snapped. "This Chantry sycophant set us up."
"Sycophant?" Sebastian replied in outrage. "We are here to save the life of the Grand Cleric and prevent an Exalted March."
Hawke turned on them both. "How about if both of you shut up, before we alert the guards and we all end up in Aveline's holding cells?"
"I don't know about the rest of you, but getting lectured by Aveline constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in my book."
She looked down at Varric, grateful for his unrelenting good cheer. "Agreed."
"I have never met this Aveline, but she sounds most fearsome." The voice was feminine, with a light and charming Orlesian accent, and maddeningly familiar. The figure who emerged from the shadows was the same—a pretty face framed by bobbed red hair.
"This your contact?" Varric asked Sebastian.
"I assume so."
Hawke glared at him over her shoulder. "You don't know?"
"Only by reputation."
"I assume if you are here, you are representing the city of Kirkwall?" the red-headed woman asked.
Hawke shrugged. "Well, the Arishok killed the Viscount, and then I killed the Arishok, so … I guess I'm as close as there is to a representative. And you must be this Sister Nightingale we've heard so much about."
"If you've heard anything at all, someone is in very big trouble. Apparently it will be harder to remain anonymous so near the Fereldan border." The twinkle in the woman's blue eyes was even more familiar. "Nonetheless, I am she. You, Mina Hawke, can call me Leliana."
Hawke gasped as the picture fell into place. "Sister Leliana, of the Lothering Chantry? I have to admit, I thought you were dead long ago in the Blight."
"Leliana?" Varric echoed. "Hawke, you know who this is, don't you? Leliana, one of the Blight Companions. She was at Fort Drakon with the Hero of Ferelden."
"I was. I was fortunate enough to escape Lothering with his help, and I remained with him until the Archdemon had been defeated. But that was many years ago. Now I work for the Divine. She sent me to investigate the possibility of a rebellion here in Kirkwall. She suspects that Kirkwall's problems are spurred by an outside group."
Anders snorted openly. "Like any mage with a brain needs help coming up with 'let's rebel'. Especially with Meredith in charge."
Before anyone else could respond, Varric said, "To be fair, Blondie, a lot of those 'rebellions' boil down to 'let's feed ourselves to demons'. Outside help of the planning variety might find an easy way in, if they know the right words to say."
"Because they have no other choice! They—"
Leliana lifted a hand to stop the flow of his words.
Sebastian stepped forward eagerly. "You have to help us, Sister! The Grand Cleric is in danger! You must send troops in and—"
Alarmed, Hawke looked at Leliana. "Will the Divine send soldiers?"
"If she must. Divine Justinia takes the situation here very seriously. She believes it is the worst threat to Thedas since the Qunari invaded."
To Hawke's ears, that sounded alarmist at best, hysterical at worst. And neither alarmism or hysteria was going to be good for Kirkwall … or the rest of Thedas, for that matter.
Behind her, Sebastian spluttered, "A handful of apostates?", echoing Hawke's thoughts. "How can that possibly constitute such a threat?"
"I'd back a handful of apostates against any force in Thedas," Anders proclaimed, earning himself a hissed "Shut up, Blondie!" from Varric.
"The whole world is watching Kirkwall," Leliana said softly. "If it falls to magic, none of us are safe."
"Oh, yes, because mages are such a threat." Anders threw up his hands and turned away.
"You just said you would back a handful of apostates against any force in Thedas," Sebastian reminded him hotly. "Which is it? Are mages a threat, or no?"
"If we could be left alone—"
Hawke's eyes met Leliana's. She could see that this agent of the Divine had seen more than enough to convince her that one mage in Kirkwall, at least, was on the verge of rebellion. Something would have to be done about Anders, she thought uneasily.
Leliana looked over Hawke's shoulder at Sebastian. "Tell Elthina to leave. There is refuge for her at the Grand Cathedral in Orlais. She will not be safe here."
"She will not go," Sebastian said sadly. "Not unless she is ordered to do so. Hawke, can you speak to her?"
"Convince Elthina to do something she doesn't want to do? I don't think that's likely."
Leliana looked Hawke in the eyes again. "We will be watching what happens here."
"Watching," Hawke echoed. "Well, thank you for your assistance."
A faint smile crossed Leliana's pretty face, and then she was gone, melting back into the shadows, the interview clearly concluded.
Sebastian stared after her, open-mouthed. "But why—she was supposed to help! She was supposed to take Elthina to safety!"
"It appears the Divine wants to let Kirkwall trip over its own toes rather than step in herself," Varric observed.
"Don't you hate it when people refuse to get involved?" Hawke said, resolutely not looking at Varric to see if he caught the acid in her tone.
Anders shrugged. "I don't see how the Divine can help the trouble in Kirkwall when, ultimately, it's her own institution behind it. Yes, blame Meredith all you want, but if it wasn't her, it would be someone else. The rot has to be cut out from the inside."
"Blondie, if you keep talking like that, someone's going to take you seriously."
"Someone needs to take something seriously," Anders intoned, his eyes flashing blue to indicate that the spirit within him was uppermost at the moment. Without waiting for them to respond, he strode through the doors and into the main keep.
"Varric, I think we're going to need to do something about him," Hawke said softly.
"Oh, do you think so?" Sebastian frowned. "If you have any further need of me, Hawke, you can find me at Elthina's side. If she's going to be in danger, that is where I belong."
He, too, stalked out, leaving Hawke alone with Varric, and a deep foreboding that things were only going to get worse before they got better.