"Well, if you'd caught me a month ago I'd've had to be all judgmental about your life choices, but half my companions are murderers and I think I might have 'em all beat for body count anyway. Nothing like a blight to make you put up with that sort of thing, for better or for worse."

"Yes, Nathaniel had something of the same reaction upon my confession. Which I certainly appreciated, though I had still planned to convince him in...other ways. I've been told I have something of a gift," he says with a slow smile and a wink.

Nothing like flirting to diffuse tension. 

Aria does not seem particularly less tense now; she blushes a little and looks away from him, not smiling. "Uh. Whatever works for you, I guess."

Ah, blushing. Adorable. "I suppose the Blight has not left you much time for recreation, what with fighting every step of the way. Have you had a chance to rest properly since-" Vague hand gesture. "-all this?"

Ack, why can't they go back to talking about killing people -

"Uh. Not as such. We're sort of busy, with the saving the world and the watching cities crumble and the almost being killed."

That sobers Zevran somewhat. "Ah, indeed. I apologise if I made you uncomfortable, I've always had a penchant for the dangerous and the beautiful, and I can be quite incorrigible."

He pauses, seemingly deep in thought. "I am sorry for the loss of your Denerim. I would not know how I would bear to see my Antiva City destroyed."

"'S'fine," she says, still pinker than she's supposed to be, and then immediately regrets it because she is not actually sure whether it's fine. "I'm - sad about it, sure, but that's not gonna bring anyone back, and moping about it is gonna do the opposite of help me save anyone else. As soon as everyone else is up and rested, I think we're gonna head west again and see if we can meet up with the circle."

"If your offer still stands, I know I would appreciate the chance to leave. And to help your noble cause. You can always use a second assassin watching for threats."

"Sure. Like I said, we're hurting for people, any help on that front is appreciated." She fidgets for a moment. "I should go, uh - make sure someone fed the dog," she settles on, which is not a terrible excuse to go in that it is actually important and she should've done it yesterday.

"Merina took care of that, she adores dogs. She used to sneak down to the kennels to play with them, before Arl Howe began his rampage."

He looks up at Aria through his lashes, smiling rather suggestively. "You are so eager to flee from me? I would be insulted, if not for that lovely tinge of colour in your cheeks."

"I have stuff to do," she says, hoping that if she ignores the blushing enough it'll just go away. (Doesn't feel like it's going away.) "If we're going to head out as soon as the others are up, then I should be checking on the Denerim refugees and making sure none of them have any urgent unfulfilled needs that Amaranthine isn't equipped to support. You're welcome to come along if it means so much to you, and you're welcome to stay here for the next few hours if it doesn't."

"No, no, far be it from me to get in the Wardens way. I'll make my own preparations," he says, raising hands in surrender. His smile is very self-satisfied.

"Thank you, again, for allowing me to come along."

"No problem," she says, doing her best to approach her previous level of seriousness. "Be ready by lunchtime, then."

She'll check whether anyone else is up yet before she heads out; she doesn't expect the path to Amaranthine to be particularly dangerous, but there's no reason to take unnecessary chances.

She bumps into Merina on the way out, who hands over a small and hearty breakfast first, and informs her that Sten and Leliana are out in the courtyard. 

Anders hasn't emerged, but he could just be hiding from Alistair.

Nathaniel is listening to a report from a scout in the main hall.

She's gonna ask Sten if he wants to come check on the refugees. You know who's not going to bother her with weird questions that make her stop trying to channel Duncan most of the time? Sten. He's dependable like that. Probably she and Sten and North can handle whatever's out there. She'd ask Alistair, too, but Alistair's still sleeping, and she doesn't super blame him for that.

Sten nods at her as she approaches.

North barks excitedly, and runs to her upon seeing her.

"Hey boy!" she says, petting the mabari's head and looking about as delighted to see him as he is to see her. Dogs: also dependable. "We're gonna go make sure the refugees from Denerim have everything they need before we head out. You wanna come along, Sten? On the off chance that we run into more darkspawn and have to cut our way back here?"

"You would not rather take the whole group?"

"Some of them are busy and some of them are sleeping and some of them are making it annoyingly hard to keep acting like Ferelden's acting warden commander. I don't actually think it'll be very dangerous. We can take Leliana if you want, though, I don't think she's doing anything."

Sten gives her a hard, searching stare, but eventually nods.

Leliana appears, like magic, at the mention of her name.

"You're going into Amaranthine?"

"That was the plan. I think we need to give everyone else a chance to finish sleeping or regrouping, and it'd be good if we could take that opportunity to make sure the refugees have access to everything they need. Food, shelter, anything in the way of medicine for the wounded, that sort of thing."