Old Friends, New Secrets

She nodded somewhat absently, an anxious feeling curling in her gut.  She could indeed ask Byron outright, and given the closeness of their relationship she might even get the truth.  But she was somewhat reluctant to do so; if he told her there was no underlying reason for seeking the throne other than wanting to be sure someone with Ferelden's best interests at heart held she would want so desperately to believe it that she might accept a lie.  And if he did admit it to her, then she didn't know what she'd do with that information.  She'd need to protect Ferelden, but what that would look like in practice she didn't know.

But her instincts were telling her there was something to this, and so were Zevran's, and she couldn't ignore both of those.  Looking into it could be dangerous if their suspicions were correct, but that hardly registered.  Making sure that Ferelden wasn't at risk of being swayed behind the scenes by the Crows was far more important.

She looked at her friend, both grateful for his insight and offer of help and almost wishing she'd never asked to have this conversation in the first place.  [color=#17b529]"I'd appreciate that.  Anything I can provide to help I'm happy to.  And I'll do some digging myself - it's been a while but I can probably track down some of the possible mothers.  See what happened to them."[/color]  And if there were any whispers of a child that disappeared, or one that disappeared themselves, they might have a clue as to the truth of it.

[color=#17b529]"One of these days we're going to manage to have a thoroughly uncomplicated meeting,"[/color] she said ruefully.  Wouldn't that be the day.