Fishing expedition

Kaczor was once again shocked that the Archon wasn't calling for her head to roll across the floor, split from her shoulders. Wonders never seemed to cease then, it seemed. She let her fingers absently return to stroking Zizi, the small cat seemly endlessly purring at the attention. And animals were good judges of character, if she were in trouble, wouldn't the small cat have already have bolted and run away? If her master was angry, or contemplating murder, wouldn't the animal have already gone to hide, lest face the wrath of the colony leader? No, as long as the animal was calm, then Kaczor was safe.

She wasn't sure if she was disappointed by this realization, or relieved. Her wife had wanted to die to get away from her, everything was raw and painful, and this meeting had come only days after her father and brother in laws had banned her from the property, from seeing her wife. And now, to be in front of the Archon, barely keeping her own mental state together properly, well.

Potential is a tool that can be used by someone clever enough to let it work properly, yet keep the guard rails in place so, as you say, the house doesn't burn. You're offering to be the guard rails then. And the financier of such an endeavor. It had been a game from the start, his words were too precise, too.. You knew my answer before I even entered the door, didn't you? Before I even arrived to it myself. You don't strike me as someone who would bring someone like me into your home, without knowing that you're going to get exactly what you wanted. Why give the illusion of a choice, if you already knew, if I may ask, since you know my answer already? Why dangle it in such a way that it makes it seem like I had a choice in the matter at all? It wasn't impertinent, the way she asked, the way she spoke, more a true query into the man's mind. Kaczor could be called a lot of things, stupid was not one of those though. Dumb, sometimes, a lot of the time honestly, she was dumb about many things, but stupid? No. Kaczor was intelligent, truly intelligent, able to see both sides of an argument and hold both true at the same time, able to solve complex problems with very little effort, if anything, the woman was lazy. She liked her vices too much.

So when she asked, it was in true curiosity of what the answer would be, because one way would give her all the needed to know about the Archon. If he really was as mad as he played at being, if he was cruel in his intentions, then this answer would let her know. Offering her the illusion of a choice was a courtesy, he very well could have ordered her to do it, but offering her the choice, even when there was none to make, gave her the illusion of control of her own life. Which was an incredible courtesy, seeing as she had just a few months back had absolutely no control over her own life. It was a manipulation, of course, but in this case it was one that would ultimately benefit all of Tevinter. It was calculated, and the more Kaczor thought about it, showed that the Archon had understood what she had expressed earlier, in feeling out of control in her incarceration to the point that it had been completely meaningless, her time spent there. It is, of course, a yes, I don;t think you'll take no for an answer, and I'm not willing to see this Empire die a slow death, left to entropy with ineffectual and elitist ideals that belong about a century buried in the past.

@Demetrius Arvina