Hazelnuts and plaid

[Isabela]

Isabela nods. "Same. So why don't we stop by the autopsy office and let it be known we're the ones with the best claim to the body so they'll contact us when it's done?"

[Varric]

"That task best falls to me," Zevran puts in, his breathing and voice even now, though he still looks haggard and worn. "I cannot imagine that you have only the one idea," he explains with a half shrug.

"Fair," Varric replies with a faint smile. "We're missing a good third of Hawke's recent life, a third that we'll need to, ugh, talk to uni students to get. I don't buy that Hawke did all of this without some nudging and there's no shortage of people, groups and beings willing to provide said nudges. Wouldn't hurt to question Bodan, see if he knows something he doesn't--"

"Hawke fired him three months ago."

A heavy pause. "Of course she-- Fine. We also need to check in with Aveline and Helene. The mabari are at Voice with the brothers, so that's everyone situated. Local anyway." He ghosts right over Wynne, whose funeral Aveline had informed him about by letter a few months ago.  "Helene's contacted Estelle to check up on the ritual, I'm sure, so she knows." Please don't invade. "Which only leaves Maeve and Jassinth, Seli and Andy, Anders and..." He hesitates, fighting the urge to scowl upwards at the sun.

[Isabela]

Isabela coughs a little. "I'm not certain Seli and Andy are... well, I ought to send word to them anyway, let them know. Seli's more Merrill's partner than Hawke's, these days. But they won't have arrived yet, so..."

[Varric]

"Not arrived?" Varric frowns, wondering why they'd have traveled slow instead of being teleported or the like. Shite. They probably didn't feel right using (theirs too) the Clan accounts (stubborn, the whole lot of us, and prideful too sure enough) because of the fighting. "Not important. Anders might be helpful. Maeve is... unreliably so but a maybe is better than a no." He looks over at Isabela hopefully. "Don't suppose you're up for a countryside visit?" 

[Isabela]

"I can go to Anders, yes. That leaves you with the university? Are you sure that's wise?"

[Varric]

"Cows."

"Uni students."

Varric studies each hand, then drops them both. "At least the bullshite at the uni won't have methane coming off it."

[GamesMaster]

Fifteen minutes later, and Varric's on campus at Sacred Spectacles, an oddly-named university dedicated (as most of them are) to Alydra. Formally Her Lady's Sacred Spectacles, the university was named after an artifact it was built to study and house: the Sacred Spectacles of Alydra, a pair of glasses whose powers even now are mostly a mystery. 

However, it's here he runs into yet another roadblock: the front office has no record of a Marian zi'Hawke attending. As he argues with the receptionist for a third time, a door at the end of the hall opens, and the dean walks out of his office, stepping up to tap Varric on the shoulder. The man is a Samsaran, but unlike Helene, he is full-grown, on the cusp of retirement age. "Well met. I am Lalit-who-was-Padam, the dean here at Sacred Spectacles. Please step into my office, Mr Tethras."

[Varric]

Varric studies the newcomer for a moment, then nods sharply before following. He's already under a half dozen enchants, some of them his, some of them purchased, but he readies yet another vial with one hand. The other is kept free, of course. 

[GamesMaster]

The dean's office is cramped and small -- a great sign, as it's full of books and papers, not a place for entertaining rich students but a place of study and learning. Still, there are chairs on either side of the desk. "Have a seat," offers Lalit. "I take it this is about your daughter's academics?"

[Varric]

"Ah, so she does exist?" Varric observes, voice drier than fire.

[GamesMaster]

"I take it you did not know about her alias?" he asks, tilting his head. "How peculiar. Yes, she's been attending under the name Mary Amell. That would be why my assistant failed to find her name in the roster."

[Varric]

Varric stares a moment, then groans softly. "Yeah, of course. Fucking stupid," he adds in a much lower voice. "I've been in Orzammar for business for almost a year," he explains. "I left between her exams and semester start."

[GamesMaster]

"It's no matter. I am pleased to be able to clear that up for you. Now. I assume you're here because of her preliminary term results? Because unfortunately, while they are preliminary pending her final exams, the marks as submitted are quite accurate. I cannot change them, nor can her teachers. Only Miss Amell -- pardon, Sage zi'Hawke -- can do that, and only the old fashioned way: by scoring far more highly on her final exams than her midterms."

[Varric]

Varric's right eye twitches and he takes a slow breath. "No, that's not-- how bad are they?"

[GamesMaster]

"She won't have to repeat any of her classes, but she gives a few of her teachers pause about her ability to grasp some of the higher requirements of her degree, given these are all introductory courses."