There and Back Again Ch. 192

Sigrun and Faren would go to Orzammar; the two of them had yet to completely reconcile, but they were at least on friendly terms, and both were looking forward to seeing the dwarven city again. Neither wanted to stay there forever, but they would at least get established and see about recruiting, before eventually rotating back to the Peak.

Bel was being sent to Denerim to take Conrad's place; I knew the time for Morrigan to come looking for an eluvian was approaching, given she must have been close to giving birth; in 'Witch Hunt' the baby had been born already, but I had no way of knowing how long afterwards she waited. I wanted Conrad back at the Peak so he'd have the chance to go with her. Wulf would be staying in Denerim; last I'd heard, he and Kallian had been considering marriage, so we weren't going to be pulling him back.

That left the Peak with Alistair, of course, but also Oghren, Daniel, Jowan, Lana, Donal, and now Bethany. Plus Conrad, for a while, at least. It wasn't bad – but we really needed to start recruiting more. Aedan's recruiting trip had taken a sudden left turn, what with him and Zevran now marauding around Antiva, and seven Wardens at the Peak was a lot less than we were comfortable with. Not to mention it left the Peak with nearly all human Wardens – with the exception of Oghren, though I doubted the rest of the dwarves thought of him as the best example of dwarven kind. We would be left without a single elf. Bel, Loghain, and Faren all promised to look for volunteers as enthusiastically as possible, and Alistair reluctantly told them to consider using the Rite of Conscription – judiciously, not recklessly, and only when it wouldn't cause any political backlash.

The goodbyes were unsurprisingly emotional; though no one was going for good, many of us had been together through incredible events, and I was going to miss my friends. Faren and I had finally fallen back into an easy friendship, and it bothered me to think of him so far away; Sigrun leaving meant yet one fewer female friend for me to talk to at the Peak. I hugged everyone who was leaving – except Loghain and Justice, because reasons – and then excused myself to go pout in my office rather than watch them all leave.