"Best of luck preventing Teyrn Loghain from getting us all killed."

"Thank you!"

"Oh, and it turns out the Joining has a one in six fatality rate, so if I don't come back tonight that's why."

"...Good to know."

"Ambrose seems to be better at telling people things than Duncan."

"I like Ambrose."

"He's okay."

"He takes his responsibilities very seriously, and that's a quality I appreciate."

"He does. And it is a positive trait. And I've learned all kinds of new things about the ways people are horrible, partly because of him. ...Not because he did them."

"...Oh?"

"Templars and how they run the Circle of Magi."

"Ah," she says. "Yeah. The Circles are... a problem."

"No one I'm close to has lost a child to the Circle but that doesn't mean no one I know."

She nods.

"Ambrose said Grey Warden neutrality is important enough that I can't do anything about it even once the Blight's over." beat. "Makes me glad you never told Duncan you wanted to be a Grey Warden recruit."

"It seemed like it would conflict with being Teyrna of Highever!"

"I don't know how nobility works besides the obvious but if you say so I expect it's true."

"Warden neutrality means Wardens aren't supposed to hold title. If, say, Cailan joined the Wardens today, they'd expect him to pass Ferelden to his heir. Which would be awkward since he doesn't have one."

"I should probably mention to Ambrose at some point that Shiral thinks he's Cailan's half-brother."

"That," says Elissa after a pause, "is the sort of rumour that could do some harm if a lot of people started believing it at the wrong moment. I don't think I should speculate about whether it's true or not, at least not right now. But yes, mentioning it to Ambrose would be a good idea. And I might like to be around when you do."

"I'm not telling it to random shemlen I don't trust," she shrugs. "I don't really care if it's true, but if it is Ambrose deserves to know that we know.

I don't care if it's true but I think it probably is, because: Shiral."

"Shiral is a very persuasive argument, yes."

"My city elf ego is greatly soothed by the fact that she is exceptional among the Dalish."

"If she wasn't exceptional among the Dalish I'd expect them to still own the Dales."

"That is a very good point."