[Even Bruce has heard of the horrors that had been Kinloch Hold - hard not to, since he had still been in a Ferelden Circle at that point in time. The Blight was one thing, but to hear of what happened, to imagine the gruesome things that spread around... that had been one of the many reasons then why Bruce resolved to make his choice to do something, to try and make a difference. To prove that things could be better as long as they tried.

How that had all turned out instead.]

Even if I didn't leave then, I'd have been an apostate anyway when the Circles fell. [Not that Bruce had been there - in fact, he had been far, far away when it all went down. Harlem had still been a wound all too fresh, the aftermath of it something that had taken him so much time to get over. Even now he's still not entirely over it. Harlem had been the beginning of the end - or maybe it was just the end. It's hard to say on some days. But now its probably impossible to find an answer.

A finger scratches against his arm, an unconscious gesture as he stares out into the night, the mountains and the sky, watching the stars twinkle. Times like these, its almost easier to believe that Thedas could be at peace, that there was no war, no Corypheus, no Rift and no demons. If only.]

I can imagine so. [He eventually says after a pause.] It's all the more commendable. Being a parent must be hard during these trying times.