...Briony is not really used to 'go talk to the king' as an action available to her. Feels like they're skipping some steps in the chain of command.

Eh, Duncan's their immediate superior and he coordinates directly with King Cailan, so it's not that bad. And they're the only Wardens in the country, so it's not like there'd be hundreds of others queuing up to follow their example. Xandra bets the king at least would spare some time for them.

"I'm not a royal anymore, but - even among dwarves, Grey Wardens could easily get an audience. Though it'll help if we have a specific purpose in mind - ?"

"Do you have specific questions, or are you just being nosy?" she asks Lys.

Rude. "I want to know what our place in the battle will be, what the dark spawn forces are looking like, if they want us to do any scouting beforehand..."

"So technically yes, and also yes."

She elbows her girlfriend in the side. "Brat."

"That's what you pay me for."

"I didn't know I was paying you."

"In affection."

"And kisses?"

"Of course."

Quick kiss! "A bonus for good service."

"Much appreciated."

Aww, they're cute.

Be that as it may... Shouldn't they get going? 

Probably! Lots to do, royalty to shake down, so it goes.

Lead the way. 

On the way to the king's tent, they pass a Chantry sister leading a service, singing from the Canticle of Benedictions blessing the soldiers before the trials ahead. A group of squads doing practice drills in a courtyard under the watchful eyes of their sergeants. A deserter in a gibbet cage.

A fairly well run camp, as far as she can tell at least. 

However young Cailan is, Teryn Loghain is a veteran of the Fereldan war against the Orlesian occupation. He's an experienced campaigner who was the right-hand man of Cailan's father Maric, which is how he earned his title.

It seems he and the king may indeed have stayed up all night, or else they're up early. They, Duncan, and a few advisors are gathered around a war table with a map of the area. They seem to be planning a battle, luring the darkspawn horde in with part of their forces, and smashing them against the walls of Ostagar with the rest. Loghain thinks this is foolish with their current forces. Cailan (eager for action) suggests that then they wait for the Orlesians to respond. Loghain, aghast, vehemently denies the need for the help of those bastards. Cailan, smug, says that then they don't need to wait for reinforcements. He then notices the party.

"Ah, Grey Wardens! I understand congratulations are in order."

"Thank you, Ser." She looks over at the map, brow furrowing a bit. 

The idea seems to be that since the terrain near Ostagar is mostly unsuitable for large-scale wars of maneuver, they bait the darkspawn into a valley below the southern ramparts. Loghain's forces will be hidden behind the eastern ridge, waiting for the signal to attack.

" - If you're planning to use this fort again anytime soon - the darkspawn are very likely to poison the water, and that can linger for a long time. And you don't want to risk coming under siege, not unless you have a ready store of water not connected directly to the ground."

"In my experience - it's usually safer to force confrontations farther afield, but be prepared to fall back in good order if things go poorly. Especially if you can strand them on the opposite side of a natural feature - they're not particularly adept engineers - or harass them at range. And if you have a few fast moving archer groups, you can sometimes bait them into splitting their main forces in really stupid ways, which would help offset the force disparity..."

She doesn't hesitate at all in her feedback - even disowned, there's still a deep part of her that's a princess, a commander of armies in an unending war against this very foe.

Duncan nods along with her points, as Loghain makes the face of a man who has been saying much the same thing over the past few days.

Cailan deploys his rebuttals, which mostly boil down to 'it will probably work', 'it'll be fast', and 'I'm the king'.