seeking_truth: (armor and shield)
There's much to be done between the declaration of intent and their actual departure. Leliana sends her messenger birds flying on swift wings to all corners of Thedas, carrying notifications and news, requests and orders.

(The Divine is notified first, of course, before any other birds are sent. Several scouts are dispatched as well, each by different routes, to confirm and to bring word back with minimal risk of a message being lost to blade or bow or spell-strike. It's only prudent, in these troubled times.)

After speaking with Aveline Vallen to ensure that the Guard-Captain is willing to accept her aid, Cassandra directs that one of the first messages be sent to Lord Seeker Lucius Corin in Dairsmuid, requesting that he detach her former apprentice Daniel to Kirkwall for a time. She is blunt about the matter of the Gallows - or, more particularly, that the red lyrium remaining in the Gallows represents a problem that warrants the Seekers' involvement.

(For one thing, the statue of Meredith Stannard cannot remain there forever.)

She consults with Cullen on the needs of his troops, both on the journey to Val Royeaux and in the field after, but leaves their leadership to him as they prepare for departure. It surprises her not at all that he manages that as capably as he does everything else. (She tries not to let him see her concern as he continues the slow and laborous process of withdrawing from the lyrium, and simply does her best to assist if her help is ever requested.)

(It isn't.)

Leliana brings word that Lord Seeker Lucius has agreed to Cassandra's request, and that Daniel will be arriving in Kirkwall within the month. She also reports that she has sent notice to Josephine Montilyet to meet them when they arrive Val Royeaux; the Inquisition will need an ambassador, and Josie is more than well-suited. Between the two of them, they agree that Leliana will go on ahead to make sure that all is in readiness when the ships arrive, while Cassandra will remain to oversee their departure.

A few weeks later, that is exactly where she is: on the docks, watching while Captain Harald commands his crew to load the ships. All else is in readiness, save for one final matter.
seeking_truth: (armor and shield)
The Hero of Ferelden has vanished, it seems, or at least is nowhere that any of Leliana's spies have yet been able to discover.

They cannot afford to wait. They must continue their search, in order to be ready before the Conclave. Besides, Cassandra had argued, there are other preparations that need to be made.

(That argument had resounded from the very stones of the keep. Fortunately, both Hands are long used to each other's ways by now.)

In the end, Leliana had conceded the need to act, while Cassandra had agreed that the Nightingale's spies should keep looking for the Warden-Commander, just in case.

* * * * * * *


Kirkwall is a ruin.

Not as much of one as it had been, of course, but Cassandra's gaze is still drawn like a lodestone to the spot where the Chantry had once stood, before the apostate Anders's work.

It does nothing to improve her mood.

"Find him," she snaps to the nearby lieutenant. The Seekers she has brought with her are enough to suffice almost any need, without being quite enough to constitute an official invasion, and are already spreading out to establish their base of operations. Nearby, Leliana is deep in low-voiced conversation with her most trusted scouts. "Guard-Captain Vallen as well. All of them. Now."

"Right away, Seeker Pentaghast."
seeking_truth: (don't even start)
She storms out of the interrogation chamber in a towering fury, paying little attention to anyone who might happen to be in her way.

"Blast you, Varric Tethras, you and your tale of the Champion!"

Cassandra stalks the length of the hallway and slams the door open.

"Leliana. It is no use. We must--"

She's two steps into the bar before she realizes that it's not where she expected to be.

As the door swings shut behind her, one hand goes to her sword.

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Cassandra Pentaghast

October 2016

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