Spiteful Heart

Emmrich: I shall pass your compliment along to Manfred.

Shale: It was not a compliment.

Emmrich: Ah. My mistake.

Shale: Though I will admit, it has refrained from screaming, whining, or attempting poetry, which is admirable.

Emmrich: He has excellent manners.

Lucanis: You couldn't have simply said he is irritated, no?

Lucanis (Spite): Hungry. Bored.

Cole: He likes when you cook. The kitchen feels warm instead of watchful.

Lucanis: That may be the first sensible thing either of you has said today.

Lucanis (Spite): More. Sugar pastries. Sweet. Good.

Dorian: You talk about Aelia with a remarkable amount of restraint for someone who quite clearly wants to throttle her.

Neve: Experience.

Dorian: Ah, yes. The cornerstone of all healthy professional relationships.

Neve: In my line of work, if you throttled everyone who deserved it, you’d never get anything done.

Nathaniel: You’re unusually comfortable around death for a man who fears it so much.

Emmrich: Fear and fascination are often very close companions.

Nathaniel: Most people spend their lives avoiding the subject entirely.

Emmrich: Indeed, but those who do so eventually discover that avoidance changes very little.

Nathaniel: A Grey Warden learns that quickly enough.

Davrin: That obvious, am I?

Cole: Tired in the bones, deeper than sleep fixes. Wardens carry it differently.

Davrin: We carry a lot of things differently.

Cole: But you still laugh when Assan steals your gloves.

Davrin: Someone has to enjoy himself around here.

Cole: You stay awake because the Ossuary comes back faster otherwise. Clawing against the cage, cold cold cold, until rage became the only warm thing left.

Lucanis: …

Cole: Dark water stretching forever in every direction, no shore, no sky, only the sea and the certainty that no one could hear you scream beneath it.

Lucanis: You seem very determined to ruin what was becoming a pleasant evening.

Cole: You weren't sleeping anyway.

Cole: You listen differently.

Lucanis: Hmm. Explain.

Cole: Most people hear the words first. You hear the spaces around them. The things kept hidden.

Lucanis: That sounds exhausting.

Cole: It can be.

Lucanis: And yet, you still do it.

Lucanis: Caterina valued efficiency.

Cole: She valued survival. Yours most of all.

Lucanis: In her own way.

Cole: You still want her approval. Even now.

Lucanis: Careful, Cole.

Cole: You hear her voice every time you fail.