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[ohmygodgreywardens]

I preferred the old books better. [This thing is being folded every which way, because they just had to make this thing harder to use.] At least you knew where you stood with them. The old books never changed; they might never have been easy to use, but they you knew what you were supposed to do with them.

[Is he talking about the book, still? Maybe, maybe not.] With all this talk of the Initiative and the United Earth issues, there's been something that's come up several times. Something I would be worried about, and so should others.

Traitors. Those who turned away from the goal right when their colleagues needed them most. Or the ones who never came to help in the first place, though they said they would. Traitors also includes liars. Yes. Liars. The ones who never tell the truth, especially when the truth could be the information you needed the most.

[He's getting exasperated with this new book.] I wonder, how did everyone else treat liars back home? In Ferelden, we had several ways of punishing those that had committed crimes against the crown, or those who'd lied and were caught. Some of them seemed rather harsh, but if someone who steals loses a finger, why not have the liar lose something as well? Something they value, something close to them, so that they can be hurt as much as they have hurt those around them.

So, how should we treat those liars, here? If we find traitors, what do we do with them? A mock execution, whipping, leaving them bound and gagged in a small room? Killing them would just be too merciful for what they've done, wouldn't it? [He pauses.]

Andraste's foul breath, this new book is more difficult then the other! [Okay, he's done with this book thing. With a yell, he throws it across the room.]

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[ohmygodgreywardens]

She was... [He takes a drink and sighs.] She is married to another man, now. And that is not the worst of it.

[healplz]

[ oh shit. LOOKIN KINDA SOLEMN HERE. ]

I'm sorry. [ and a little afraid to ask, but: ] And what else?

[ohmygodgreywardens]

[He needs a drink. Right now. And he takes that, before answering.]

I'm dead.

[healplz]

[ Oh. Well. Right about now sounds like a good time for Ashraf to down a drink himself. And afterward, completely forgetting himself for a moment in the presence of royalty, he reaches a hand to clasp Cailan's upper arm firmly and sympathetically.

At least that explains his wife marrying someone else. ]

Your world is... not kind to you.

[ohmygodgreywardens]

[Men don't cry. Men don't cry. He didn't cry at the funeral they gave for his father, though he barely remembered bawling his eyes out when his mother died. He was three at the time, so it was forgivable.

That touch makes him want to cry, and he ducks his head down, body shaking slightly, enough that if he was holding he would feel, rather then see. A sort of trembling.]

I tell my people I am unafraid to die. But I'm not that old, not as old as I should be, and I had so many things to do.

[healplz]

[ Oh, he feels it. And by the time he recalls that touching a king is all sorts of off bounds, it's too late to take it back. But he can stand and go to the sad little flaps of the tent, adjusting a few straps to give them more visual privacy. He doesn't return to his seat, but watches Cailan. ]

Do you leave your kingdom in good hands?

[ohmygodgreywardens]

[That's the thing; he doesn't care if it's out of bounds. Just the fact that someone was willing, was able, and did not care if he was a king or not... it helped.]

...I thought so, at first. We didn't have any children, however much I wanted them, and... there was talk, of course, of her abilities, and. I did not have an heir, and Anora would be all that there was to be.

But Elissa and Duncan, when they told me I was dead, and how I died, they also said why. And it was because Loghain had betrayed us in battle. Loghain. Anora's father.

[healplz]

[ This story, full of names and people he doesn't know, is dishearteningly easy to follow. There's really just one immediate conclusion to draw from that, isn't there? He takes his seat again, slowly. ]

Have you had the full story yet from her?

[ The immediate conclusion isn't always the right one, after all. ]

[ohmygodgreywardens]

She doesn't want to talk about that, yet. She thinks I'm acting like a child. [Maybe he is, a little. But who in their right mind would be able to figure this out like an adult?]

[healplz]

[ That doesn't bode well, but... Ashraf shakes his head solemnly. ]

I am sure I need not counsel to you do your best to withhold judgment until you have had the full story. In Exsilium you have effectively been given another chance, and I see little reason to cast it aside.

[ohmygodgreywardens]

...Not until now, have I truly began to wonder and understand on the meaning of the phrase "given another chance". [He looks up in wonder.] A chance to make amends.

[healplz]

[ For the first time he wears the hint of a smile. It's not exactly a happy ending, and it doesn't fix anything, but he firmly hopes that the more hopeful take on it will help. ]

You might take it further still, if you found yourself ambitious enough.

[ohmygodgreywardens]

I think... I need to gain some more ambition, first. But I will do what I can, now. To set things right, as they were.

[healplz]

And that is as admirable a beginning as anyone could ask for.

[ This dude seeming as pretty decent as he does, Ashraf would not mind encouraging a little more ambition. Later. There's just so much one man can focus on at a time. ]

[ohmygodgreywardens]

Thank you. For your kind words, and your friendship. You are a true friend, Ashraf, I am glad to have met you, despite the problems of being here.

[healplz]

It is no more than anyone would do. [ But that with a warm smile. In a moment more he stands. ] And I would say it is well past time for me to return to rebuilding.