Alistair and Fiona were catching up on their lives as they sat within the hull of their chartered ship ride to the Free Marches.

  Fiona was refreshed in her long navy mage robe and long hooded bottle-green cloak for travel. She had scrubbed Alistair's splintermail warden armor so the griffon breastplate and metal glinted with daylight whenever he moved. He had joked that he felt like a walking trophy cup.

  Regardless, they were enjoying the calm before the storm as they both saw it. Alistair constantly fused over her to ensure she was warm and comfortable. As much as she felt awkward by his overt care, she enjoyed his attention and sharing time she never imagined they would have. Their conversations were cheerful and they even realized they had commonalities like enjoying cheeses.

  Their pleasant company made the creaking and swaying merchant ship ride go by with ease. Fortunately, the sea faring was so smooth time was shaved: no mythical sea snakes bursting out of the water to send them sinking to doom. Alistair and Fiona were able to see Kirkwall's large gallows chains as distant figures from the starboard side.

  Eventually, the ship curved toward a harbor city and rows of docks. The stench of brine and musk slammed up his nostrils as their ship eased into one of the docks.

  When they alighted at The Docks near weatherboard warehouses and other merchant port facilities, he received a timely ravensky call from Dorian.

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  "If it isn't my favorite magister with a moustache you can hang a coat on." Alistair joked.

  "Ain't you a ray of sunshine. I suppose the journey along the Waking Sea is making your brain mush. Speaking of, where are you? Hopefully, you're near Kirkwall."

  Alistair frowned when he sensed a strong feeling of distrust from the surrounding workers and commoners. People avoided eye contact or would glare at them and then return to their duties like they were trying to distract themselves from the giant in the room wearing a dreadful pink tutu. Something troublesome lingered, but everyone was acting like normal.

  "I've just stepped onto the docks. I know Kirkwall is everyone's prime choice for the swashbuckling shithole, but there's something odd about the people here. I can't put my finger on it other than we're not exactly given a welcome home feeling. It's tense."

  "Venatori, likely," Dorian answered and paused.

  Fiona detected heightened worry from his spirit voice. "Is something happening?"

  Dorian filled them in regarding the upcoming Wycome purge and bounty on the Dalish.

  "They don't waste time." She sighed and took control of the conversation for both her and Alistair. "What do you need us to do?"

  "Hawke and Fenris are checking with the Kirkwall Guard if anything untoward is occuring. Sera is checking with the Alienage for news. We'd like you to remain in Kirkwall for now and assist them. If the Venatori intend to color the city with a depravative shade of red wine hues, they'd need all the support they can get to stop them."

  "Understood. We'll met up with them and do what we can to help the city. I pray we don't need to."

  "Me too. Let's just hope we stop them at Wycome and it ends there." Dorian ended the ravensky call.