FUCK FUCK FUCK - 

" - what - "

"Find my friends. Fazil and Mahdi, she says they came here with her, she says they're being held somewhere. I want to see them immediately, and if they're injured or mildly irritated I also want whoever did it." 

He glances back at Aria.

 " - I didn't mean to scare you - I don't understand what's happening -"

Nodnodnod. Shaky breath.

"Draconis too. Please."

"And Draconis. Are the animals here?"

"I haven't seen them. They might not be in the Fade or might just be stuck in parts we haven't found yet. They're not in the palace. - Mahdi had his bird for a second, in Fazil's dream, but I haven't seen it since."

"I don't remember how we escaped Tevinter."

"We didn't."

"If I'm not a pharaoh you have no reason to be groveling at my feet, you know."

"I'm - 

" - I don't know how sure you are that you're not."

"I want to believe you."

"I'm sorry, I didn't get to bring a lot of evidence up. I - if you could follow us out of the city you'd see that it isn't Osirion beyond it, it's - the underground was swarming with darkspawn last I saw, and it might be different now but I'm sure if we walked far enough it'd be - something it shouldn't be - I know it's a lot to ask - "

He paces. "What - what if you're telling the truth, what then -"

"If I'm telling the truth then - there's something holding us, in the Fade like this. Maybe a demon. Maybe something the magisters can do that I've never heard of. We find it, we kill it, we wake up. This - doesn't get us out of Tevinter, but - "

"Please get up off the floor, I hate it."

She stands.

"Why are you - wearing that -"

"It's -

"This is my wedding dress. What it looked like at the end of the day that was supposed to be my wedding day. Your servants gave me lots of dresses that weren't really dresses and - this. To pick from. And - this one is awful, but it's - mine."

"And the makeup?"

"That they just sort of did to me. To, uh - the guard captain, who I remind you is wearing the face of the person who killed my husband, is - he said they were letting me up here to - give me to you."

"Okay, that's very hard to explain. Do you want - me to call attendants back in -"

"I think - I mostly don't want the nightmare to separate everyone again. Other than that I'm - it's very hard to think like this."

"'m not going to hurt you." He takes several steps back until he's against a pillar. "I - I hate this place but it's not like that, not - in reality, not -"

Nod.

"What d'you need to - think -"

"I don't - "

She stares up at the ceiling.

"Is there - a place with, like, a - curtain, or something, I dunno, so I can wash the makeup off and change into something that is both made of reasonable amounts of cloth and not covered in blood, without - actually having to go to different rooms - "