[It was a miracle the first time. A miracle the second. Fate-defying, one might call it, but there's no point at which a gambler feels safer for winning after being forced to bet it all— only more sure that they'll lose. And as many times as they've surpassed the damage of being torn from Thedas without a trace, it doesn't change the fact that just as Fenris says it now (and every time before that in the shadows of the past): he left.]

Still got a long way to go before I earn my keep, don't I?

[Awash with painful sympathy, as if late coming home from an errand, since that's the bottom line: I'd have found you. I won't say it again, but I'd have done that and more.

But still, it doesn't change a thing.

Ataashi. Kirkwall. Astarion. His newfound friends. Migration makes it hard. Awareness makes it harder.]

You know, what truly makes it maddening is that I can't even argue that you're wrong. Loss comes. Life changes.