( For long moments she is silent. Leliana fingers, still twisted into her slirt, flex and straighten. How can she ever explain in such a way that makes the horror of what Leliana was known? She had tried and utterly failed with Peter. )

Bards are free to do whatever they can get away with, in essence. We are welcomed into every great house, because we are a gift of the Game. To best us is so tempting that nobility will risk their own ruination. One crime was beyond blind eyes and even the realm of bards.

( Somehow she feels calm, like she's listening to someone else tell the tale. ) Treason. With Orlais so much at war, any act that might endanger the Empire or compromise it was punishable by death. Marjolaine committed such a crime, I questioned her. I feared for my life and Tug and Sketch's-- and Marjolaine's. I wanted to keep her safe more than anyone.

( Her hand twitches, and she tries to shake the tension out of it. )

Rather than undo the treason committed, Marjolaine framed me for her crimes. I had questioned, and so my betrayal was inevitable; there was a window, and she struck first.

( Without thinking, her fingertips run over the scarred gash below her ribs, fleetingly. )

She saw to her problem. I was to be auctioned as a traitor to the highest bidder, once Raleigh had his fun.

( Leliana pauses then, actually looking at Sara, regaining her awareness a little. )

I was... forced into an awareness, but before that I had adored that life. The hunt and the scandal and the victories. Marjolaine said we were the same, and if... if Cassandra and Morrigan are to be believed, it seems she may have been right.