[ And he smiles. Not pitying; just a little wry. ]

I'm half-Orlesian myself. From my mother. And yet when I came to Val Royeaux, looking for a home among people I thought would accept me more readily than the Fereldans had, all I saw was rejection. And I ought to have had every advantage - a man of noble birth, with cousins in the capital - but I was turned away.

[ A one-shouldered shrug. ]

Orlais is not a land that loves easily. I can only imagine the hell it put someone like you though.