[ It's a credit to Byerly (and his sweet face) that Bastien does actually think about it instead of slamming shut like that metaphorical clam, making a joke, causing a diversion. But thinking about really, truly seeing them again makes his chest swell with fear and shame that he knows the source of—what if they aren't there; he shouldn't have left them—and miserable, wounded anger that he doesn't.

Identified origins or no, he doesn't know what to do with any of those feelings except step away from them. So after he's thought, he shakes his head, then shakes it again while he says, ] No. No. Thank you, though. If I were ever going to go, I would want you with me. For courage. [ More lightly: ] And to prove you are real. This might shock you, but I used to tell them a lot of wild stories. My lover, the Ambassador—Fereldan nobility, yes, that's right—