Love Language: Body doubling, handmade crafts

Sexual Orientation: Poly, Bi, Aro-spec

Class/Specialization: Mage

Looking For: [x] friendship [x] platonic [?] romantic (if you're cool about them being aromantic about it <3) [?] rival (if its funny)

Hobbies: Bug keeping, Fiber arts, Dance, Map making, stamp carving, sculpting, Puzzles

Fav Food: Self contained foods that are easy to eat like taquitos, wraps, empanadas, ect

Fav Drinks: Auga Fresca (Hibiscus juice), Fruit juice, Herbal teas, Water

Best Traits: Creative problem solver. Thorough. fights for the things they love and tries to love the world and everyone they meet. Has a genuine interest in cultures, places and things outside of what they know. Strives to be compassionate. Funny. Good at bringing a situation together. Nosy (in both helpful and harmful ways)

Worst Traits: Fixates → Ruminates (obsesses) → Spirals → Represses (Creates a compulsion to avoid thinking about the issue) (ocd). Gets caught up on details sometimes and hits a mental wall, collapses in on themself easily. They become quiet and immature when stressed, forgetting to eat and take care of themself and resistant to being told what to do. Struggles with empathy at times (Autistic <3).

A friend describes me in 3 words: Humorous, Creative, Steadying

An enemy describes me in 3 words: Daft, Cowardly, Immature

I'm passionate about: Bugs, the ocean, water fowl, types of bears, accessibility in magic, community building, food and health safety practices, making things for other people, being cozy, spending absurd amounts of time staying up playing games or just chatting with friends

Fun Fact(s): Clover uses a mobility aid that she incorporated her staff into, and post game Assans sibling, Stormwing takes an interest in herding Clove into resting and taking care of themself more (Sometimes a service animal is a Griffon) <3 Clover is very short and almost human looking. Its unclear if this is a side effect of the blight sickness as a child or if Clover had a mixed race set of biological parents (it's both).

Motto/Mantra: We craft a path. Do your best, the rest is out of our hands. There has to be more to life then planning your death.

The Creator Bubba/Bugba/Bug

Tumblr: QueerestBeetle (Likes, DMs), Rook-Bug (Reblogs, Replies, ect)

AO3: QueerestSea

How to get in touch: Tumblr Asks/DMs, Discord

[x] dm/message me for coordinated collab

[x] surprise me via post

[x] surprise me via askbox

What I do: [~] writing (im a little out of practice) [x] artwork [_] other

Do Not Wants: Erasure of fatness or disabilities! Other than that if you're unsure of if something is okay just ask, or if you just want more info or to chat just stop by <3 If you need any body refs or more info don't hesitate to reach out!

Day One Questions:

Clove Moore (Thorne) What does arriving back at the Lighthouse mean for your Rook?

The lighthouse is very dear to Clove, its the first semi-permanent place xe knows outside of where xe grew up. Clove visits frequently as a home base outside of the wardens as xe takes up traveling post game. Coming back to find other rooks is surprising but exciting to hir. It's something new in a familiar place.

How does your Rook introduce themselves?

Clove introduces himself as "Clove Moore." Though she'll add "Mage" or "Close friend of the Wardens" depending on the social situation. They won't offer a hand first, prefering to let the other person in the situation decide the extent of the physical contact.

How can someone new earn your Rook’s trust?

Clove is a little quick to trust, as long as the person they're meeting is polite, not weird about their mobility aid, they tend to trust people who are open about being strange, little freaks even.

What's your Rook's Origins?

Clove was the sole survivor of a blight attack on a group of travelers. Rescued by Warden Anya Moore, Clove was taken to the Wardens nearby camp and with some fighting on Warden Moore's part, it was decided Clove would stay so long as Anya could care for them, and find people to watch over them when she was called away on assignments. Later the same day that Anya and Clove return to camp, Warden Edrick Thorne returns from a mission with his own freshly orphaned child around Cloves age. The wardens agree to help each other out and the children declare themselves twins.

Clove grew up alongside Vaughn, two kids being raised by a bunch of wardens and their friends, it's by no means stable or traditional but it's all the pair can really remember. Clove struggles with it more than Vaughn, as Clove grows older the Wardens feel less noble and more reckless. Every adult Clove knows is constantly at risk of dying, some even seem to be waiting for it. Clove develops a strained relationship with death.

Though Anya and Edrick are both the twins primary caregivers, Anya favors Clove in strange ways, always transparent about the Wardens, even about secrets she shouldn't necessarily discuss. There are different excuses Anya argues to justify her choices: Clove's health is too delicate for them to become a warden but that doesn't mean they should live in the dark, Clove deserved to understand the things that shape their community, anything and everything to defend Clove's right to know. This causes some clashing between the twins at times, but the pair tend to recover from disagreements easily, after all, Vaughn will learn everything himself as he becomes a warden.

Vaughns choice to become a warden is the biggest argument the twins ever face. Clove cannot accept another person in their life choosing a early death in the name of something noble. They cannot support every person they've ever known and loved living just to die before them. Everyone in their life has somehow revolved around the Blight. Their birth families death, their adoptive family's formation, everything that has ever mattered to them has been tainted by the blight and they cannot stand it, or the idea of ever chasing after that same fate for themself. The twins don't talk for weeks.

The pair don't reconcile until the night before Vaughns joining, while Clove doesn't support his decision, something they both have to come to accept, they won't let him risk dying thinking Clove hates him. The pair share their childhood bedroom and stay up half the night talking about shenanigans they got into and villages they passed through. Vaughn survives and becomes a Warden, and Clove argues their way into training with the Warden mages even as a 'civilian'.

Clove starts going by Mage Moore, rather than letting people call them Warden Thorne to avoid the assumption that Clove and Vaughn were married though with their matching facial tattoos and closeness the assumption still tends to pop up. Clove doesn't correct people much when they are mistaken for a Warden, it helped keep them from getting othered by people who don't know them and offers a layer of social camouflage.

Clove is preparing to travel and try to find a place outside of the wardens when a village is going to suffer an attack before reinforcements arrive. Always there to have Vaughn's back, they accompany him and the pair hatch a risky plan as they are prone to, and the village is safe in the end. The twins social standings with the warden higher ups are not safe, and so Clove shoulders the blame for the plan despite Vaughn's disproval, and sets off with Varric to see the world outside of the wardens.

Clove adapts well to traveling with Varric and Harding and takes things in stride. They take over Varric's duties because someone must, and Anya and Edrick raised them to help where they can. They just need to hold things together long enough to stop the end of the world and then they can see what exists outside of how they grew up.

When Warden Moore dies during Weisshaupt she leaves Clove a chest that contains a letter that reveals more about the events of surrounding Cloves adoption. When Anya found Clove they were being cradled by a dying woman, the blight all around them. The senior Warden with Anya, Warden Belldon, was a strong studier of the blight and a talented mage in Anya's opinion. They scooped Clove up and began to draw the blight out of him, and into themself.

Belldon confessed to Anya they had joined the wardens expecting to die far earlier, and was too tired of surviving, but by healing Clove they would still be dying honorably. And a child would live. It wasn't a sure thing, Anya spent days at the pairs camp fretting over Clove until he began to look well again. Anya never told anyone, Belldon had asked her not to. Her letter states that she debated telling Clove a million times, but could never bring herself to break that trust. It's why she never lied to Clove about the joining or how the Wardens functioned. Anya needed Clove to never want to take the joining so she would never have to explain why she knew it would kill him.

The news feels like Cloves world is pulled out from under them. Even her resistance to living just to die, every part of her life truly, was tainted by death and blight. She doesn't tell anyone what she's learned. She keeps her mothers secret and it is suffocating. Vaughn knows something is wrong but Clove won't open up and it causes a rift between the pair. They don't make time to fix it before they are pulled into the fade.

They consider for a brief moment, doing nothing in the fade. But the team is waiting, and their twin is waiting. And there has to be more to life than blight and death, and the prison is certainly full of both. It's hard to accept Varric is dead, and that so much of their life is out of their control, but they manage. The people they love will die, it's the price of living. They start to come to terms with that.

Vaughn is there with the veilguard to pull them out. He insists on staying the night to make sure Clove is really there and okay. The pair stay up all night, talking about everything, talking about nothing important, just spending one night hidden away from the end of the world drinking far too sugary tea.

Love Language: Quality time, Physical touch

Sexual Orientation: Polyam, Queer

Class/Specialization: Warrior/Reaper

Looking For: [x] friendship [x] platonic [x] romantic [~] rival (Primarily for petty academics)

Hobbies: Beetle tending, Prosthetic making, Jewelry making, reading (loves cozy mysteries), cave exploring

Fav Food: Any meat with veg and rice dish, soups.

Fav Drinks: Hot cocos, tea with a lot of honey.

Worst Traits: Hol has never met a social queue she has not had to learn painfully. She's often one step out of sync in social situations pushing him to detach from the situation or become quiet to avoid making a social mistake (Autism <3). He doesn't have strong confrontation skills outside of academics where the lines are clear and thus tends to minimize his own emotions and try to indirectly soften others anger toward him through acts of service to let the matter fade. Hol will put the team and the goal above herself until something breaks, most times her prosthetic, unless someone reminds her to take a break.

Best Traits: Hol has never met a subject or problem he did not immediately want to study to understand. Hol loves things that are strange and odd. Hol is quick to recover from being knocked down, always ready to shake things off and help others back up too. Hol loves breaking things and situations down to their components and understanding them from there making her very patient and open to understanding.

A friend describes me in 3 words: Curious, Persistent, Reliable

An enemy describes me in 3 words: Unsocialized, Odd, Roach-like

I'm passionate about: Prosthetics making and how that can help repair the dead, Preservation of culture in the process of preserving the dead, bugs, messy academic rivalries in published research papers

Fun Fact(s): Hol keeps the bones from her missing fingers in a tiny tomb in his workshop, Hol can't talk to wisps and spirits like Emerich or Neve but usually ends up with a few around when she settles down to work on things and credits it to the wisps in the necropolis watching her until Vorgoth found her.

Motto/Mantra: Life finds a way.

The Creator

Bubba/Bugba/Bug

Tumblr: QueerestBeetle (Likes, DMs), Rook-Bug (Reblogs, Replies, ect)

AO3: QueerestSea

How to get in touch: Tumblr Asks/DMs, Discord

[x] dm/message me for coordinated collab

[x] surprise me via post

[x] surprise me via askbox

What I do: [~] writing (its been a while but I was a writer first) [x] artwork [_] other

Do Not Wants: Erasure of fatness or disabilities! Other than that if you're unsure of if something is okay just ask, or if you just want more info or to chat just stop by <3 Hol's feather forehead scarring is stand in for the fact that he has a scarring of a beetle, I have a sketch if you need it just ask! Same with if you need to figure out Hols body type, the games sliders don't allow much variation but I can lock in and finish a sketch

Day One Questions:

Hol(comb) Ingellvar What does arriving back at the Lighthouse mean for your Rook?

Hol visits the lighthouse on occasion already so returning is nice. It's a revisiting of a place that shaped where her life is now.

How does your Rook introduce themselves?

"Mourn Watcher Ingellvar, at your service." Though with the amount of other Ingellvars Hol would likely switch to something closer to "Mourn Watcher Hol". He was raised to always offer a handshake and a smile though he never managed to figure out eye contact.

How can someone new earn your Rook’s trust?

Hol is pretty trusting but warms up to other Mourn Watchers faster since there is no caution needed to figure out if they are cool with death. Other than that, taking an interest in any of Hols interests is a quick way to gain trust, he loves getting to talk about his interests and learn about others.

What's your Rook's Origins?

Holcomb was found by Vorgoth as a baby, left in a tomb by unknown circumstances. He found her surrounded by wisps that were bobbing around the baby, listing to her babble and floating in and out of reach of pudgy reaching hands. Vorgoth feels a sense of responsibility for the baby, giving her the name Holcomb and watching over her education, making sure that Hol spent time with the few other Qunari Mourn Watchers. Myrna took an interest in Hol as well by virtue of being around her so much spending time with Vorgoth.

Neither Vorgoth or Myrna are particularly parental, but they are good guardians. Hol grows up feeling loved though he doesn't socialize much with people his age, or anyone outside of the Necropolis. Hol has no magic talent but he doesn't let that deter him from his studies or enjoyment of the Necropolis. He takes well to combat training, and becomes a bodyguard for his few peers on their ill advised adventures in the crypts.

Hol has a few bad scrapes resulting in some necrosis over the years which is how their interest in the corpse beetles and maggots kept to help clean skeletons and necrotic infections. Hol starts to hang around the bugs even when not injured and slowly convinces some of the Senior Watchers to teach her about how to help care for them. When Hol turns eight-teen she is sent out to see some of the world outside of the Necropolis with her best friend, Franzia.

The first week of the journey Franz fell down the side of a path and due to lack of proper wound care they needed both an arm and a leg amputation.

Hol uses essentially all of the funds the pair had for Franz's treatments and prosthesis costs and in the process is offered an apprenticeship with the prosthesist in charge of Franz's care. Hol accepts the position, wanting both to learn something new and have a chance to explore a path outside of the mourn watch, and also out of a level of guilt for not being able to treat Franz's injuries properly in the first place.

At Franzia's behest none of the letters home to Vorgoth mention the reason Hol has taken on a prosthetist apprenticeship only that they enjoy the work and think it could help to have a prosthetist in the mourn watch. Hol ends up taking an extra year to complete her training before returning home, and once a year is granted permission to return to her mentor to renew her studies.

When Hol loses part of his left hand in a incident with a nasty spirit and some fast acting necrosis he takes his journey early and has a partial prosthetic made. Hol's roles aside from being a Warrior were helping study and tend to the beetles, and being the necropolis's very own prosthetic specialist.

After a few years of this Hol is involved in the war of banners and gets sent away. There is some hurt at having to leave but none of it is aimed at Myrna or Vorgoth, especially with Myrna's letter stating her intent to stick up for Hol even in his absence.

Hol takes to Varric and Harding well though. It's like he is exploring the tombs with his friends again, there to watch everyones back and get them home safe. When Varric is out of the fight, Hol steps up to keep having everyones back. Hol is smitten by Neve and Lucanis quite easily and does his best to find time to woo them between the chaos of everything.

Accepting that Varric is actually dead in the fade is surprisingly hard for Hol even with all of her acceptance of death and experience growing up in the Necropolis.

Hol no longer feels the need to pray, he'd long sense lost that habit and as painful as Neve's absence is her room does not have the same impending doom as a hospital bedside.

There are wisps constantly dancing around Hol, they are not the ones of the necropolis but they are calming nonetheless to the mourn watcher. It helps that the wisps are clearly glad of the company even if Hol offers no notes for them to scatter, only a toolkit for them to explore as he sheds his collar and over shirt to work comfortably.

Neve's spare prosthetic is less ornate than her preferred leg, the covering over the ankle joint carefully peels away to reveal a surprisingly complex joint compared to what Hol observed of the snake sculpted prosthesis. He wastes no time carefully testing the limbs movements, it's slightly stiff from disuse though there doesn't seem to be any damage.

Hol can't remember ever seeing Neve wear it, though she doesn't remember seeing Neve without her prosthesis before and the realization troubles her, the habit couldn't be comfortable and for a second Hol forgets any of the tension left between the two as she mutters to the wisps to remind her to make sure Neve is taking care of herself.

A persistent wisp tangles itself with Hols vision for a moment as she attempts to take a closer look at the joint, in a huff of light frustration Hol fusses at it. "Hail the eyes of the dead! Get out of mine though, grab me the lubricant if you absolutely need to be helpful."

The wisp moves and Hol mutters a much kinder thank you to it as she picks up the bottle the wisp rolls over. The wisp enters Hols vision once more, bobbing and fussing as Hol sighs. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you what I'm doing if you just move out of my way."

The wisp relents and Hol keeps his promise, he speaks softly to the wisp as if explaining the procedure to the wisps back home when Franz needed a tune up or his own hand needed dirt and dust removed after too many days of forgetting to wear a glove.

The wisp bobs with interest and nudges a rag toward Hol when he spills the lubricant on his gloved hand. He doesn't mind it, his prosthetic could use some repairs as well, he tells the wisp as much as he rips the glove off and uses the rag to wipe the limb down.

"I never realize you had your own." Neve's voice scares Hol, he almost knocks the still open bottle over entirely as he scrambles to face her, tongue already stumbling over excuses for his presence. Neve seems to almost manage a smile at the sight. "You're not very observant, I've been standing here for a while."

"I- Your-" Hol looks to the wisps as if they have any hope of steadying him as he scrambles to put his over shirt back on. "I'm a trained Prosthetist, I wasn't just fucking around I noticed your spare needed to have maintenance-"

"I didn't think you were." Neve enters her room fully to set her notes on her desk before she leans on it. "I've been too busy to to fix it myself, never did have much patience for it. Though from what I heard you tell the wisps you haven't had the patience lately either. Do you do that often, talk to the wisps?"

"My hand can wait it's still well enough," Hol ignores Neve's look of disagreement as she turns back to reassemble the spare leg, her voice becomes almost shy. "I can't talk to the wisps like Emerich can, I have no magic of my own to date, but I guess I've always talked to the wisps more than others. Other mourn watchers at least, which is more than the average person by far. Vorgoth said it was because the wisps found me first."

There is a moment of silence, and Hol fears that his nervous oversharing has ruined any hopes of escaping the situation without Neve thinking him strange and invasive, but then she hums and studies him closely. "The wisps found you?"

Hol hesitates for a moment as he finishes fastening the ankle joint covering of the spare leg and sets it back on its stand. "I was found in a tomb in the Necropolis, I was just a baby but Vorgoth said the wisps were watching over me until a spirit led him to me."

"Someone just left you in a tomb?" Neve's disbelief is acompanied by something Hol doesn't know how to parse as she circles her desk to sit.

"Myrna says it was to protect me from something." Hol packs his things away in his kit, he slows to watch the wisps for a moment to alow himself to breathe. "Whatever the reason was the Watchers took me in, and I turned out well enough."

Neve hums as if considering for a moment as she nods toward her spare leg. "You turned out handy enough, pardon the pun. Thanks for the leg repair, I could use the options."

"Do you have a crutch? I'm sure your leg could use a rest-"

"As I'm sure your hand could."

Hol hums his surrender as he stands, gathering his things together. "I'll leave you to settle back in. I'm glad you're back."

"I was only gone a day." Neve manages a smirk. "Am I really that miss-able?"

Watching the training of one such fledgling was how Rook found themself being hurried to their room at the Cantori by a fearful Jacobus, the fledglings voice was close to shaking as he ushered his mentor along. "Rook I swear I would've told you to move if I had seen it-"

"Jacobus, don't worry!" Rook's laugh sounds slightly strange to their own ears as they tap the rune to light their room, "I'm not sure my medical supplies are well stocked, could you ask Teia for some spare supplies?"

Jacobus hesitates a moment before he nods and scurries out into the hall. Rook knows Viago will scold them later for not having their own medical supplies, and not keeping their head on a firm swivel when around fledglings throwing knives, but they think Jacobus not being the one to hit them would soften the situation. If Rook had been cut by their own student the world would end before Viago would let it go.

For a moment Rook is sure the knife stuck in their back must have been poisoned, because Viago enters and he almost looks concerned as Teia follows him in, Jacobus trailing them with an arm full of supplies.

"You were going to let a fledgling treat a knife lodged in your back?" Viago's disbelief almost covers the frustration in his tone as he roughly sits Rook down on a chair. "You let yourself get hit by a fledgling and you were going to let another treat it?"

Rook finds themself laughing again, even through the worsening stabs of pain at the movement. "Jacobus has to learn sometime, besides it's not that bad-"

"Rook, you cannot even see the wound to make that assessment." Teia's tone is firm as she sorts the medical supplies on Rook's desk, a disapproving glower overtaking her expression. "If you die from an injury this stupid I will not host your funeral."

"House De Riva takes care of their own-" Viago stops himself when he catches a glimpse of Jacobus's nervous figure hovering near the door. "Rook dismiss your fledgling."

Rooks casts Viago a look of annoyance before nodding to Jacobus. "Go finish your training for the day with Heir, I'll check in when Teia is finished with the wound."

The boy hesitates for a moment before his usual ambition returns to him and he leaves with a focused stride. Rook manages to wait until the door has been closed behind him to start laughing once more.

Teia tries to scold them, but they can't stop, the whole situation feels too absurd. Rook saved all fo Thedas from three gods, and Viago and Teia were yelling at them about a minor wound like they were still a fledgling.

"Is there a toxin on the blade?" Viago does not address Rook directly as he holds them still to allow Teia to examine the wound with less issue as Rooks laughter fails to subside.

"No, you know fledglings use plain knives on that range. Whatever is wrong with Rook is a De Riva house special." Teia's comment makes the laughing worse, turning into gasps for air as the seventh talon tries to help steady them. "Rook- Little Coyote-"

The nicknames makes the gasps worse, though they begin to sound closer to sobs. Viago says something but Coyote can no longer hear over the sound of their own heart racing as they continue to gasp. Teia and Viago's arguing is just noise as they are helped to their own bed, laid prone.

There is a hand stroking their hair, slightly frantic and still soothing as Coyote starts to regain control of their breathing. Teia's voice comes into focus first, much louder than Viago's frantic whispers as she talks them through the stitches she plans to put in the wound.

"The scar only marred one of your feathers, if you let me monitor the healing it should be fairly small." Teia tuts and there is a hand gently smoothing their hair. "I should be able to fix your hair, though you will have to give it time to grow back out. I'll have to cut your shirt off though, we can have another made."

"My hair?" Coyotes voice is almost a whisper, whatever strange amusement had crept into them earlier is gone as they try to lift their head only to find Viago soothing it back down onto his lap. His whispers stop for a moment only to be replaced by scolding.

"Hold still! Teia is working. You will lose more if Teia's scissors catch your skin because you refuse to hold still."

Coyote holds still, though they make sure to grumble as the cool air of their room meets their skin. Teia only shushes them as a cool cloth wipes away blood. "The blade isn't near anything important, Viago will pull it and I will flush it. You know the rest, stitches and a cover."

Coyote manages to only gasp when Viago removed the blade with a slight grunt. They focus on Viago stroking their hair as Teia puts the stitches in. The last time he had pet their hair had been the night of their graduation, it had been accompanied by scolding as they threw up from drinking too fast.

Teia's whistle catches Coyotes attention as a finger began to lightly trace over scars along their back. "You took some hits saving the world."

Rooks snorts before they can stop themself. "I evened out my skull, got the other side cracked like when I was a kid."

"When?" Viago's question borders on a growl as Rooks head becomes manhandled as he searches for the new scar. "Cracked? It looks like you got your whole head caved in-"

"It wasn't that bad." Rook manages to twist out of Viagos grasp, accepting the same, though gentler fate as Teia searches for the scar. "I got it when the veil closed after Elger'nan and Gili'nane escaped. I recovered from it quick."

"Solas did this?" Teia's tone is careful. It sets Coyote on edge as Viago has a silent conversation with her over their shoulder. They feel like a fledgling again watching the pair decide if she was ready to start poison resistance training.

"Not directly, the veil sent out a wave of force and I hit the wall. Gave Solas the blood he needed to manipulate me though. I didn't know Varric was dead until I got trapped in the fade. I should've."

Teia's grip on her tightens as if she could retroactively steady Rook. Viago is not much better, he looks more enraged with every deflection. "He used blood magic on you?"

"He used it to mold me to take his place in the fade. I'm a crow, I've already been molded, so I saw the betrayal coming." Coyote's smile is sharp, the way they learned to bare their teeth to ward off any doubts in their abilities as a crow. "And I knew if I didn't make it out Viago would kill me himself for dying with an incomplete contract stuck on my body in a god prison."

"Lucanis said you never talk about what happened there."

"You've been asking the first talon instead of me?" The question gets Coyote nowhere so she relents. "Not much to discuss. I was there. I found a way out, and my team was there to pull me out."

Rook Clove "Clove, Ant and Ev tracked down this address for me and if all is going well you should be reading this at the inn where Varric arranged for you to meet Scout Harding. I've been hearing only good things from them about Scout Harding since Varric told them his plan to bring her on the job. She's a good scout and a good shot, you two should get along just fine. Ev and Ant insist you tell her hello for them.

The Warden chain of command is still unhappy with your plan and the entire effort to save that village but there's nothing they can do publicly to scold anyone, and as you are so fond of saying: you aren't under their command. It's for the best you're off with Varric for a while, until tempers cool enough for you to not need me hovering behind you.

Ev, Ant, and I are getting shipped off to a remote assignment no one else wanted to touch. I'm not upset about it, it will actually be nice to make small talk with other wardens without needing to use them as shields to avoid the First Wardens glare. You know me, as long as I have at least one person I know I'll be just fine, and I'll be lucky enough to have two.

Don't let this situation make you feel exiled from the Wardens. I know you have your issues with everything but no one has the right to push you out of the community that raised us and if anyone tries they will have to contend with your "sturdy social network" so maker help whoever tries.

I know you hate to be called a warden but we were raised by them, and there's no denying it when you go off to face mysterious forces to protect the world that at least some of our upbringing got to you. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself to stop worrying as much.

Come back home intact, no new concussions and horns not an inch shorter than when you left or you'll never hear the end of it.

I've got your back as always, Vaughn"

Rook Vaughn "Vaughn, If Antoine and Evka are right, which they usually are, this should reach you when you meet Varrics contact, Scout Harding. A&E politely ask that you say hello to her for them and are telling me to inform you Harding is a good scout and shot, and they believe you will like her. I'm inclined to trust their opinions on your tastes but from what they've said she sounds like good people.

The First Warden and his gaggle of fools are still mad that you listened to my plan, they're made at everyone who helped really but they can't punish anyone overtly so they've sent Antoine and Evka off to a remote assignment no one else wanted.

I plan to go with them, I'll look after them until you make it home. It would be best for me to be out of line of sight for a while too, until tempers cool and Mama and Pa no longer feel the need to take up your habit of hovering behind me.

I'm including some addresses to write back to us, and Atoine and Evka keep stressing that you shouldn't see this as an exile. They believe whatever Varric is chasing is a real threat, and Wardens are there to face threats. I agree that Varric is hunting a real threat, so don't die without me there to cover your back.

Take care and be safe, Clove"

Twin Rooks (The standard Thorne letter with some minor adjustments) "Warden Thorne and Mage Moore,

If our calculations are correct—and none of us have gone astray—this letter should be at the inn where you two and Varric are to meet Scout Harding. As with Varric, we worked with her before. She's a good scout and a good shot. We think you'll both like her. Please tell her we say hello!

Anyway, to the point! It's probably best you've gone to work with Varric a while. Our superiors in the Wardens can't deny that the village is safe and the darkspawn stopped. But they are still not especially pleased with you two. Or your methods. Or the people who helped with your plan. Evka and I have been given a somewhat remote assignment that no one else wanted. But we are no strangers to that! We've enclosed a list of addresses where you are most likely to reach us for the next few months. Should you need.

Finally, do not feel you are in exile. We know something of what Varric is after. When the world needs protection from malevolent forces—that's what Grey Wardens do! You're in the right place.

Be vigilant and stay safe.