Hazelnuts and plaid

[Nox]

"Son of--"

[Varric]

A hard look from Varric.

[Lux]

"--a right bastard."

[Varric]

Varric nods sharply, then returns his attention to Helene. "I am. Aveline sent a message yesterday around noon, then Isabela sent another an hour later. They didn't seem to quite match up, so I came in quietly and stayed quiet. I tried to lie as little as possible," he adds softly to Helene specifically, an apology in his voice.

[Helene Dakesh]

But Helene's already shaking nir head, reaching for Varric's hand to hold tightly -- something akin to a hug from the touch-averse Seeker. "Can this one assist in any way? Does Beinn Varric need anything? This one is pleased to see that Beinn Varric is caught up on events -- have you eaten? Slept?"

[Varric]

Looking deeply amused-- and not a little touched-- Varric smiles crookedly at nem. "Yes, yes, me too, yes and yes." A beat and he adds, "scrying and advice, peace and safety for my Clan, as much as anyone else here is, trail rations on the move, and less than forty-eight hours ago so I'm good for a while yet. Speaking of which--" Reaching into his vest with his free hand, he swiftly prepares and then presents a vial to Helene. "Polypurpose set to Wakefulness."

[Helene Dakesh]

"Appreciated," says Helene, taking and drinking the potion with no more concern than that. "This one will prepare the mirror while Beinn Varric speaks -- assuming that the desire to speak on the case was not a ruse?"

[Varric]

Shaking his head, Varric replies, "no, I did want to make sure everyone is caught up as best we can all manage. For instance, before you get to the verbal part of the scry, mind letting us know what you can about the fetal transference ritual and any surrounding context?"

[Helene Dakesh]

"The ritual was a success. It had to be adapted slightly; our previous adaptation had leaned on the fact that elves are basically the same creature as drow, but to transfer to a human, more finesse was required, along with the fact that the fetuses were suffocating without enough air, so we had to cast a Restoration upon them as best we could to keep them alive long enough to perform the ritual. The fetuses were both successfully transferred to Captain Vallen, who is meant to be resting but from what this one understands has locked herself in the cell with Hawke to keep her company."

[Zevran]

Zevran snorts, a grin briefly making an appearance. "Any other of her lovers and I would be sure no rest was being had, but Aveline would view the scandal of having sex in the Lantern jail to be a negative. So I suspect there is cuddling and conversation but precious little sex."

[Varric]

Varric, however, is frowning. "Suli. Aveline is suli, not human," he says, concern in his voice. 

[Helene Dakesh]

"This one misspoke. We did verify Aveline's heritage but we used the shared link to human biology to connect with the original maternal ancestor of the fetuses using-- this is not important. Regardless, the transfer was a success."

[Nox]

"The what to what?" Rolling his eyes, Lux pokes his twin in silent admonishment.

[Varric]

"Huh. That's pretty clever," Varric says after a brief pause to analyze nir answer. "Been working with strangers and contacts for a while, gotten too used to triple checking everything. Alright, so, anything of note come up during the ritual? About-- about Hawke's state of mind or recent behavior, or about the investigation?"

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene shakes nir head. "The autopsy was delayed in order to perform the ritual. This one was shut out from that portion of the proceedings. However. This one has no reason to doubt Sage zi'Hawke's testimony."