The worst part about all the travelling she did was the dirt from the road, but this? The Fallow Mire was just as dingy and slimy as Jacquelyn expected it to be, and she hated it. She hated it with a passion. She hated the mud and slime, and things that she didn't even want to think about. As though that wasn't bad enough, Vivienne and Sera had been bickering most of the way, and she could have sworn that Cassandra was treating her a bit different to how she usually did. The Seeker seemed somehow more… standoff-ish towards Jacquelyn. She wasn't sure why, and she wished Cassandra would just talk to her about whatever was going on. But Jacquelyn wasn't even sure there was something going on, and she couldn't think of anything she could have done to wrong the woman, so she didn't say anything. Cullen was the only one of the small group who wasn't either getting on Jacquelyn's nerves or treating her particularly differently, but even he seemed a bit off, as though he were lost in thought. More often than not, when Jacquelyn looked at Cullen he had a vacant look in his eye, a small frown on his face.

Jacquelyn pushed all the worries and complaints from the road to the side first Inquisition camp in the Fallow Mire appeared in their view. There were other things that needed her concentration for the moment, namely getting as much information as she could so she could rescue their men.

"Hello, Harding," Jacquelyn greeted, the dwarf stepping forward as she approached. "What news do you have for me?"

"Not a lot more than the information you probably already have, I'm afraid," Harding replied. "Our missing patrols are being held hostage by Avvar. Barbarians from the mountains."

"If they are from the mountains, then what are they doing in a bog?" Jacquelyn pulled a face as she looked around, blinking as rain pelted her face.

"That's the thing. Their leader… he wants them to fight you," Jacquelyn raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Because you're the Herald of Andraste."

"And they want to fight me because of that… why? What do they have against Andraste? Or is it me they do not like?"

"Well… the Avvar think there are gods in nature. As in, the sky has a god, and the forest. The Avvar say you're claiming to be sent by one, and they'll challenge the will of your god with their own. I think their leader's just a boastful little prick who wants to brag he killed you," Harding sounded frustrated and annoyed at the Avvar leader on Jacquelyn's behalf. It almost made up for the location they were currently in.

"Delightful," Jacquelyn sighed.

"It doesn't overly matter why they're doing this," Cullen cut in, "we can deal with that later. What's important right now is getting our men back."

"I would prefer that we not have to fight them," Jacquelyn admitted, "but if they are unwilling to return our men without bloodshed, then so be it. Do you know where our men are?"

"Getting to our troops won't be easy," Harding told them. "You'll have to fight your way through undead, but you're probably really good at fighting undead after Crestwood, right?"

Jacquelyn did her best to suppress a scoff, hiding a small, mirthless smile. She noticed the look of mild dislike on Cullen's face, realising he wasn't so keen on fighting undead.

"I am better than I would like to be," she admitted. "But it is of no real consequence. I will not let the Avvar butcher the Inquisition's people."

"I appreciate it. The Avvar are holed up in the castle on the other side of the Fallow Mire. Maker willing, the Inquisition's people are still alive."

"I intend to have them brought home either way," Jacquelyn told her, then looked around to her friends. "We should get moving. We have a ways to go, and the sooner we get to this castle the better."

The advantage to traversing a swamp was that there was limited conversation. Everyone was too busy paying attention to the ground beneath their feet and the undead-infested waters around them to bother with bickering. Cullen knew that Cassandra was watching him closely as they traversed the swamp. Part of him was a bit annoyed about it, but he did his best to not let it bother him. He knew that the seeker was just concerned for him, even though he didn't think she had a lot to be concerned about. He had told her everything there was to tell her, really. He felt good, and he was certainly more up to traversing the difficult terrain and weather now that he was taking lyrium than if he wasn't. Right now he didn't even want to think about lyrium, wanting to focus more on the Inquisition's men.

"Do you have much of a plan for once we reach the Avvar?" he asked, falling into step beside Jacquelyn. She glanced around at him, rain making her hair stick to her face, pale skin glistening in the low light. She looked rather out of place in the swamp, mud caking her white armour.

"If we can resolve this peacefully, that would be the best case scenario," she said, seeming to be doing her best to ignore the unpleasantness of her surroundings. "However, from what Harding was saying, I doubt that 'peace' is a word in their leader's vocabulary."

"That doesn't really tell me your plan," Cullen pointed out, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"I will do what I must, as I always do. If I have to fight, then I will."

"We should probably rest at least once before we get there," Cassandra called from behind them. "We don't know their exact numbers, and if we're having to fight the undead our entire way to the castle we may be too tired to be of any use to our men."

"Rescuing our men should be our priority," Jacquelyn replied, a small frown on her face.

"Cassandra has a point," Cullen cut in before anyone else could say anything. "If the Avvar haven't killed our men yet, then they likely aren't going to. One more night won't make too much difference."

"Let us wait and see how many undead we must fight on our way, then," Jacquelyn conceded, then smiled at Cullen. "Despite the location, it would be nice to spend some extra time with you."

She lengthened her stride, once more leading the small group, and Cullen fell back slightly. He shook his head, only just managing to suppress a scoff. He knew he should be happy to be spending more time with Jacquelyn, but recently he hadn't been feeling quite as… enamoured with her as he had. He still cared for her, and he thought he wanted to work through whatever the problem was, but he was struggling. He wasn't entirely certain why, though he was having some trouble denying the quiet resentment he didn't even want to acknowledge that was growing inside him. He'd been feeling it since she'd asked him to start taking lyrium again. He wished she had never asked him to, but he realised that she was probably just trying to help him in the only way she knew how. That didn't change that he wasn't happy about it.