[past] The truth is

Garryn chuckled softly as Frankie’s comment about Antiva not having been top on the list he’d given. He hadn’t really thought about it when he listed. He’d started with Orlais since they were to the west and accessible by land. Whereas the Free Marches they would have to cross the Waking Sea, then he just sort of chose at random based on likelihood. Though he knew that Frankie didn’t really mean he was upset, but it still amused Garryn.

Then he nodded at Frankie’s comment about the Vints, there was nothing that Garryn wished more than that the dwarves could have put up some magical barrier so that the darkspawn couldn’t have overrun Orzammar, but alas, they hadn’t had the resources or the hindsight to do such a thing. He wasn’t even sure he could imagine what sort of magic such a thing would have taken, and the only mage they’d had at their disposal had been his step mother, Moira.

I guess there is one positive thing from them being closed off, the rest of Thedas hasn’t been plagued by their slavers Garryn had heard stories about them from Moira and even some from his father. As well as from Zoltan Chivay, a surface dwarf that had made himself invaluable since the Orzammar dwarves had taken to the surface.

Garryn listened intently as Frankie spoke about Starkhaven and their Prince, hanging on every word. He still remembered some lessons he’d learned about the state of Thedas before Orzammar fell, but that felt like another lifetime ago now, his father’s words dulled with every passing day that the boy went without him.

I mean, what does one even drink if not alcohol. Water? Milk? Tea? I would think that would all get old after awhile. I’ve never understood absolute abstinence, I mean I’d get not drinking to get drunk, that’s easy enough to do. He said with a shrug, but one thing was certain, they were both in agreement that the Free Marches may be Garryn’s best bet if they had to leave Ferelden, only he couldn’t afford to wait until the worst had happened before he reached out to Sebastian Vael.