Fae returned to the ballroom proper, immediately noticing how much stuffier it felt inside after spending a short while in the wintry night air. She looked for the table the Inquisition had been gathered around earlier, and found it crowded with even more of their allies than before, deep in conversation. "Fae," Ellethir called, waving her over. "How did it go with Briala?"

Blackwall and Varric shuffled over to make room for Fae to join the circle. "I think it went well, all things considered, but we have a new complication. She set a specific condition in return for her alliance with us."

"Didn't she offer us an alliance to begin with?" Blackwall frowned.

"She did, but with all cards laid on the table, she saw an opportunity. I couldn't think of a way to refuse her. She—hold on—" Fae scooched closer, covering her mouth as she whispered in Ellethir's ear. "She'll keep Celene safe, and ally with us, so long as the peace talks are ended with Gaspard sentenced to execution by the Crown."

"What?" Ellethir whispered back, her voice returning to a normal volume over the din of the crowd. "Damn it. And the talk with Gaspard went so well."

"Why, what has happened?" Cassandra asked at the same time as Varric said, "We got an alliance with him too."

"My apologies, Varric, you first."

"Thanks, Seeker. Apparently not all of Gaspard's people got the memo about speeding up the timeline for the coup. We were outnumbered, but not by as many as we thought. The fighting had already started, but we managed to call a truce when Gaspard himself showed up. He was surprisingly amenable to the idea of keep Celene alive a little longer… once he had the details," Varric muttered. "Cullen and our men are still monitoring the west wing, making sure Gaspard doesn't change his mind about attacking. In the meantime, he's agreed to a temporary ceasefire with Celene for as long as it takes for the Inquisition to take Corypheus down, in return for giving his chevaliers pride of place in the Inquisition's future battle plans, and our ongoing support for his side. And of course, Briala's indefinite imprisonment. My guess would be that he wants to be able to use her as a hostage to keep Celene in line, and as an example to the elves who've sided with her."

Ellethir went to rustle the back of her hair like she usually did, forgetting that it was styled meticulously into place. She settled for anxiously patting it. "While Briala will only help us if Gaspard is executed in disgrace."

Leliana laughed hollowly. "So, we are still required to choose which is more capable, or more likely to follow through on protecting the empress. It's your call, Inquisitor."

Ellethir tapped her nails on her empty champagne glass, thinking. "It may depend on what we find in the royal wing. The Grand Duchess told me Gaspard's mercenary captain would be waiting for his order in the Royal's Wing's garden, the jardin de rȇverie. He might know more."

"Hmm. There were no any mercenaries in Gaspard's number when he tried to make his move," Solas murmured. "It may be worth finding out what their part is in all this."

Ellethir stood up, with some assistance from Fae and Leliana on either side of her. "Solas, Fae, Varric, Cassandra, Blackwall. You're with me. Josephine, Leliana, move to the vestibule. We should still keep a look-out where we can."

"Yes, Inquisitor."

Alone or in pairs, each gradually left for the vestibule, staggering their movements. Ellethir already had a halla statuette ready to go when Cassandra turned the corner and jogged up the stairs last. Fae pressed the halla statuette into its groove on the door, but the door did not light up, simply opening with the force of the push. "…Oh. It's already unlocked."

"Did one of Leliana's people unlock it?" Cassandra whispered loudly.

Varric shushed her, ushering everyone inside and closing the door behind them. "Shh. Nightingale would have told us if they had."

The room they'd entered was a spacious stairwell, with towering bookshelves curving around the walls. Up the stairs, the balcony area served as a sitting-room, next to an archway, leading through to the royal apartments.

They entered a square-shaped hallway with an enchanted door on each of its sides. In the centre, a gargantuan statue of Disciple Havard carrying the Urn of Sacred Ashes on his back reached through the open centre of the hallway, from where it stood on the floor below. Several noblemen lay prone on the hallway floor, or slumped against the walls.

A shrill scream echoed from the end of the hall before them, where a single door was open. "Stay back!"

They ran. Blackwall got there first, and everyone else crowded behind him as they caught up to see the scene playing out before them.

An elven maid scrambled across the floor of another opulent bedchamber, fleeing a harlequin whose dagger was within striking distance. The harlequin looked up at the sound of many hurried footsteps, and Blackwall charged. The harlequin barely had enough time to stand up straight before they caught Blackwall's heavy boot in the chest, slamming into them with such force that they flew back through the closed window behind them with a shocked cry, falling and taking a thousand shattered pieces of glass with them.

"Are you alright, miss?" He asked, helping the servant to her feet.

"Oui, monsieur. I am…I am not hurt. Thank you, for saving me."

Blackwall bowed. "We are the Inquisition, that's what we're here for."

"You…?" She looked at the group one by one. "The red gown…you are the Inquisitor!" The maid gasped.

Ellethir nodded. "I am. Can you tell us what happened?"

The maid shook her head frantically. "No…No one is supposed to be here, Briala said. I was a fool to trust her."

Fae stepped forward. "Why? I was under the impression she's been doing what she has to protect all elves."

The maid continued shaking her head, wringing her hands on her dress. "It's not that simple. I knew her. Before. When she was Celene's pet," she spat. "Now she wants to play revolution. But I remember. Briala was sleeping with the empress when that…shem… purged the slums our people live in."

Fae looked to Ellethir. "We know."

"Briala told you to come to this room?" Solas asked.

"Not…personally," the maid said hesitantly. "The ambassador cannot be seen talking to the servants. We get coded messages at certain locations. But the order definitely came from her. She has been watching the Grand Duke all night. No surprise she wanted someone to search his room, and the Grand Duchess' room too."

"So whose room was this, the Duke's or the Duchess' room?" Cassandra asked, looking around.

"It used to be Grand Duchess Florianne's. This has been her bedchamber in Halamshiral since she was a child. But this part of the palace was damaged when the Grand Duke fired catapults. Empress Celene moved to the guest wing, and set up a room there for the Grand Duchess when she came to stay."

"What were you searching for?"

"The message didn't say what I was supposed to find…" The maid gazed bitterly at the trail of broken glass by the window. "I should have known it was a setup."

"Is there anyone else who knows the code and the drop location who could have written those orders?" Blackwall asked.

The maid shrugged. "I… don't know. Any of us could do it, but… no. No one else would send me here. It had to be Briala. She probably knew it was dangerous and sent me anyway. One more embarrassing secret erased."

"What secret? Why would she want you dead to stop it from getting out?" Fae asked.

"Some of us know she has an… intimate history… with the empress. But most believe she was just a favoured servant."

"We already knew that, too," Fae admitted.

"But we offered her a great favour in exchange," Solas pointed out. "I doubt she wanted the secret getting out without having a chance to use it as leverage."

"And I imagine she knows you still resent her," Varric said to the servant, keeping watch on the hallway. "So an untimely death by one of Celene's personal assassins would both add another martyr to her cause and prevent you from sowing discord among her agents."

"Would you be willing to testify against her, if you were under the Inquisition's protection?" Solas asked.

"We need Briala," Ellethir reminded him.

"It never hurts to have more cards to play."

The maid wiped her hands on her apron. "If the Inquisition will protect me, then yes. I will tell you everything I know."

"Which way is the fastest to get to the garden from here?"

The maid pointed toward a side door next to the fireplace. "Through those hallways. The area is under renovation, but it is stable. The door on the left leads to the balcony outside."

Blackwall gestured to the door. "Go to Lady Josephine in the Vestibule, and tell her the Inquisitor sent you."

The maid curtsied quickly and fled, walking as fast as Orlesian etiquette would allow.

Fae waited for the maid to disappear through the archway before turning to Blackwall. "Why Josephine? Why not Cullen and our honour guard?"

"Because Leliana keeps a sharp eye on anyone in the proximity of her childhood friend."

Solas smiled. "You appear to be a natural at the Game, Warden Blackwall."

Blackwall shrugged. "That's not something I ever thought I'd hear. Let's be on our way."

"Does that dashing hero routine always work for you?" Varric smirked.

"Usually."

"Wait!" Cassandra looked behind her. "Can you hear that?" Everyone fell silent. There was a muffled groaning sound coming from the hallway.

"A survivor?"

The group filed out of the room, looking over the corpses once more. The groaning started again. Ellethir followed the sound to a door they had passed before. "Here! They might be hurt, hurry." Fae accepted another halla statuette and pressed it to the door. It lit up, but remain closed.

"There's indents for three statuettes here, we need more." She ducked down under Ellethir's skirt hoop again.

"Fae, hurry."

"Yep, sorry, lethallan- one of them is stuck on the hoop, sorry—got it." She passed one to Blackwall and one to Varric, and they held them in position together. The door finally yielded, swinging open with a high-pitched creak.

As soon as the door opened wide enough, Fae squeezed through first, bracing herself for a round of urgent healing. "Why the fuck do they need three keys? Wouldn't that be really annoy-ohhh Maker."

The room before them was divided into two sections. The front of the room was a study, tall bookshelves filled with both books and eccentric curiosities, piles of parchment littering a polished oak desk. Up a short, wide flight of stairs was a generously-appointed bedchamber with an enormous bed in the centre, and on the bed…A man, his wrists and ankles each shackled to a corner of the bed. He was naked, save for the plumed helmet of a chevalier on his head, and a rag stuffed in his mouth.

The others rushed in behind Fae, and on seeing the scene before them, all wore expressions ranging from shock and disbelief to varying levels of amusement. Varric, in particular, burst out laughing. He laughed all the way to the bed, plucking the gag from the man's mouth and returning to Ellethir's side, wiping tears from his eyes. "Oh, Orlesians. Heheheh…Eheh…"

Ellethir pinched the bridge of her nose, looking a lot older than she was for a moment. "What… happened?"

"I-It's not what it looks like!" The chevalier sputtered. "Honestly, I would have preferred it if it were what it looks like. The empress led me to believe I would be… rewarded, for betraying the Grand Duke. This… was not what I hoped for."

"I can imagine what you thought your reward would be," Varric said, still chortling.

"Please, I beg you, don't tell Gaspard!"

Cassandra was struggling immensely to keep a straight face. "How exactly did you betray him? Apart from attempting to lie with his enemy."

"It's not my fault! The empress beguiled me! I told her the Grand Duke's plans for troop movements in the palace tonight. She knows everything! Everything! Gaspard's surprise attack has been countered before it ever began. This whole mess began when his forces ambushed hers, she would not be surprised a second time! She's turned it into a trap. The moment he strikes, she'll have him arrested for treason!"

"Oh…" Ellethir glanced at her companions and back to the chevalier. "I suppose we've interrupted the empress' plans, then. We stopped Gaspard's surprise attack tonight before it officially became known. Sorry about that."

The chevalier began to struggle with renewed effort. "Then everything I told her was for nothing! Gaspard will have me dead for this, if not the empress once she grows tired of toying with me!"

Ellethir sighed deeply. "I'll protect you from Gaspard if you're willing to testify about Celene's trap." She turned to the others. "Just in case Celene changes her mind about what we discussed. More cards to play."

"You learn quickly," Solas said approvingly.

Fae hopped up the stairs and began untying the knots. "Help me, Varric. And you, don't breathe a word about this unless the Inquisitor tells you otherwise," she tapped a fingernail on his helmet. Clink.

The chevalier looked as if he could cry with relief. "Merci, merci, I can promise that. I have no intention of dying for this."