Alistair looks at Loghain's fist, then away. It's always weird when people you wish would die are not only alive, but acting like they have feelings, which they obviously do not. Because that would be weirder. But Qarinus. It doesn't sound impossible. He returns his attention to Loghain once he's talking again and sounds less like he's experiencing human emotions (which is impossible), and nods curtly.

"Thank you," he says, because the dogs and the horses raised him right. "I might know someone in Qarinus. Someone who knows someone there, anyway. Give me what you have and I'll see what I can find."

And that's it. He should go, before Loghain has another visible feeling. But he doesn't just yet; he moves on foot back and shifts his weight to it, planning to begin backing away but caught there by—

"Did you know my mother?"

He doesn't want to talk about it. He just wants to know what he knows.