"My Lady, surely you jest. Not my lady anymore?" said the aging warrior, a fire growing behind his eyes. "Now, in case you haven't noticed, would be the time to stop being down, grow a spine, and stop feeling sorry for yourself. The teryning is lost, your family slain, yet here you sit hopeless and dejected, acting like a starving kitten!" he roared. Valerius was thankful that the room was away from the rest of the bar, and thus he could raise his voice in relative safety.<br/><br/>"You are the last surviving Cousland. You are LADY Aimil of Highever, and so long as you hold that blade of yours your family and your spirit cannot and WILL NOT DIE. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself and get MAD!" he preached. In a way, Valerius knew on some subconscious level that he was also speaking words of encouragement to himself. So many lives lost, each and every one of them having died in place of he- a man who, by all accounts, should have perished long ago.<br/><br/>Sitting down with a sign, he knew that frustrating the young woman and himself would lead them nowhere. They had to plan accordingly, but Valerius had never undertaken a mission of this sort before. Most of his combat experience leading others was straightforward military procedure.<br/><br/>"I suppose hiring sellswords would be the easiest course of action. We have few allies, and desperation is a smelly perfume. The only problem, apart from lack of experience, would be finding sellswords who are loyal. Mercenaries only lust after one thing- coin. Whoever has the most, in this case Loghain, is who they are loyal to." he said, his expression turning sour at the mere mention of hiring mercenaries.<br/><br/>It was unmistakable, hearing the voice that mentioned something about 'some other guy from Highever' in an assassination attempt. No doubt it was likely some fool grandstanding in an attempt to try and bed a local tavern maiden, but the voice said it occured roughly 6 years ago. Valerius could vaguely recall a member of the Cousland family having been murdered on a diplomatic mission around that time, and as a rule the old warrior did not believe in coincidence.<br/><br/>Rising from his seat, he made a motion for the young female to wait there as he donned his gloves once more. Making his way towards the source of the voice, he kept his senses on full alert for anything unusual. Finding nothing- the person whom the voice belonged to must have left- Valerius came back to the room looking a tad more angry than before.<br/><br/>"You heard that too, right?"