All mirth leaves him. He feels strange, suddenly cold, deeply somber. Even the heat from Anders' hands isn't enough to stop him from shuddering.

Nathaniel has had friends experience the Calling in truth. He has said goodbye to them. Some of them vanished like this, saying only private farewells to their closest friends, but it never really gets easier. Especially when each time it happens, it reminds him that he will also succumb one day. In his earlier years, he hadn't thought it so bad--it had been further away at the time, and he had had less to live for. Now, he has reasons to want every day he can possibly have. Herc was a good friend, now vanished into thin air. Once the best leader the Wardens had in Skyhold, now merely the most recent in a series of peals from death's toll bell.

"He came to say goodbye." His eyes close and he shivers. "I almost didn't outlive him. I thought...if I was going to die, at least he would make sure you were safe. Old...old dog, I'd almost forgotten he was mortal."