"We were successful in all respects," says Ambrose, handing over the box. "How long will it take to prepare for the Joining?"

"A day," Duncan says. "You're free to move around camp in the interim, but please return promptly after twenty-four hours."

Ambrose nods.

"I think I'll have dinner. Anyone else who's hungry is welcome to join me."

Acara glances at Tev. "Well, I could use some food, but I think considering the amount of darkspawn blood I have on me it would be wise to wash first, if that's possible, or at least change into something less spattered."

"Given the purpose of this camp, it would surprise me very much if there were nowhere to clean armor, at the very least. I'll join you," he tells Ambrose. "I managed not to get any blood on me."

"Yes, there is, it's—"

"This way," says Shiral, turning in the correct direction.

"Excellent, thank you." Shiral's competence continues to be bizarrely impressive.

And Acara has her armor cleaned and doesn't immediately re-don it since she's not immediately going out into the wilds and performs a couple of minor errands and goes to find Elissa.

"Acara! Been learning how to kill darkspawn?"

"Yes! And also that if I approach strange shemlen like the quartermaster in plainclothes they will mistake me for a servant."

"I wish I were surprised. Meanwhile, I've been learning that my brother arrived here three days ago and immediately got himself lost in the woods with his entire complement of Cousland troops, which is not normal behaviour for my brother."

"I'm sorry to hear that. What do you think happened?"

"Not sure yet. But the possibilities are more worrying than otherwise."

"Thank you for telling me. I should probably see if Ambrose and the others are still eating, or if I need to find food on my own."

"Enjoy. I hear the food's all right."

"Here's hoping." She goes to see if Ambrose and the others are still eating.

They are!

Especially Tev!

In retrospect this is unsurprising! She will join them and acquire food.

"Hey."

Nom nom.

"Hey. You probably won't have this problem but the quartermaster mistook me for a servant when I showed up in plainclothes inquiring about armor care, it was irksome."

"I can imagine."

"Elves are less populous than humans, but have more mages per capita. Having few enough elves who aren't servants around that that kind of mistake is plausible feels--very strange."

"Being surrounded by shemlen is surreal, but less so than it was when we had just left the alienage."

"And there's pretty much nothing about my life that's not surreal lately," says Tev cheerfully.