"Ha, seriously? You think another Ferelden traitor has anything I'd be interested in?" Alistair scoffed with his voice so loud that it had other voices quieting down.

  "Traitor? If I recall, I'm not the one that got exiled by the queen." Hawke frowned, struggling to maintain his composure.

  Fenris quietly made his way to the gate and leaned against the wall as he carefully watched the escalations.

  "It's so ironic that the man who hunted wardens across Ferelden like dogs became one himself." Alistair bitterly laughed. "What a fucking joke."

  "That was 13 years ago. Loghain more than made up for that mistake."

  "Made up? How does being a warden make up for it? He made sure my brother died to fucking dark spawn then tarnished the wardens' reputation. Fair I guess, since they all became bat crazy with blood magic in the end."

  "Loghain was against that!"

  Alistair shook his head and swiftly aimed his greatsword for Hawke's chest. "Doesn't change a thing. Royalty, orders, and causes are all nothing but twisted excuses to do bad shit and get away with it. It's not murder if you're killing your own for a so-called righteous cause is it? Wrong, it's fucking insane evil. This Inquisition was no different being a lap dog for the Chantry."

  "How dare you!" Knight-Captain Rylen bellowed with outrage but kept his cool when he saw Iron Bull's look to stay out of it. He nodded.

  "Dare? You were once a templar, good Knight-Captain. How easy does your allegiance change."

  "They were all out of their fucking minds!" Rylen snapped back, unable to contain his response.

  At this point, everyone had paused to give full attention to the heated conversations.

  "Since we have everyone's attention, I see now as any good time to shit out our grievances and get it all out in the open," Hawke said, not about to let Alistair go. This was his opportunity.

  "I don't have anything more to say to traitors and fools." Alistair pressed his greatsword close to Hawke's chest, drawing blood. "Get out of my FUCKING WAY."

  "You need to know loyalty before using the word traitor." Hawke stood steadfast as he tested for Alistair's sore spots.

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  "Loyalty?" Alistair's eyes narrowed dangerously. "How would you know? You started the mage rebellion. Became friends with a traitor!"

  "Who's daughter sits on the throne as Ferelden's queen to manage her country. Not wallowing in self-pity and complaining about what was lost."

  Alistair's eyes narrowed as he lowered them to his sword.

  Hawke decided to press further. "When we met at Kirkwall, I still saw a fire in you. You could've shaken off Bann Teagen, but somewhere deep down you knew you had to return."

  "And look what happened. I ended up being kept out of my own order because I wasn't some pouncy Orlesian. Never thought being Ferelden would keep me alive." Alistair shook his head and lowered his sword. "I'm done with it all. Not get out of my fucking way."

  Hawke caught Iron Bull's sigh and nod. He stepped aside. "You were once part of something bigger, you can be again." He let Alistair go with those parting words.

  "Alistair, Ser!" One of the other wardens called out to him as they watched him pass through the gates.

  "Stay with the ex-Inquisition. At least they'll give you a purpose while they still exist," he said offhandedly as he left his old comrades behind.

  The two wardens cordially approached Hawke with an apology and checked if he was alright.

  "He comes across as hard, but he's a good man," one of the wardens said.

  Hawke sighed. "I know that's why I won't give up on him."

  Hearing these words made the two wardens bow with their respects and pleas to help Alistair in ways they couldn't. They then left the keep to make their own way across the desert.

  "What are you going to do about him?" Rylen soberly asked Hawke when the keep had returned to its usual activity.

  "What I came to do, save him." Hawke flashed the Knight-Captain a cheeky grin.

  Rylen smiled and patted the man's back. "Then I don't envy your task. Good luck."

  Iron Bull joined Hawke and Fenris's side. "You want us to help with the convincing or just be the backup?"

  "Well, yeah. But..." Hawke heaved a heavy sigh. "This is my responsibility, after all I traveled with Loghain and took the man's revenge away from him. This is probably why Anri asked me to handle this."

  Iron Bull shook his head. "Boss wouldn't have thought you had any responsibility. He'd just thought you could get through to him."

  "I know, but that doesn't mean I don't think that way." Hawke groaned. "Burdens of fate Anri had called these shitty situations."

  Iron Bull laughed. "If anyone would know that shit it'll be Boss."

  "At any rate, it'll be wise to team up just in case there are still Venatori out there." Fenris dropped his voice of reason. "Hawke can focus on Alistair while the rest of us make sure there aren't interruptions."

  "Agreed." Iron Bull nodded.

  "We can take off once we have a full belly. I'm starving." Hawke brushed off his emotions with thoughts of having a plate of tasty roast bird.

  The sun was burning fiercely in the sky when the Shadow Sect agents and Chargers left the keep to track down Alistair.