Julius' brows lift, and Cedric thinks: Stupid question. Half a second's reflex, the impulse to equivocate. He doesn't. Sometimes, the stupid question's worth asking. It's not every mage came to the Inquisition, to Riftwatch. One war writes the next.

"I'm sorry," Honest. Orlais took a lot of conscripts, it's no kindness. "Things get bad enough, they get... blurry. Dunno that anyone chooses, by the time 's in the streets."

And a broken bargain to find themselves there. Freedom for safety. Alienage walls, tower walls, they keep the danger out much as in. To be dragged from them -

"Means something different, when you do." Julius has now. He'd know. "Deserved t'have that."