Good Lord, has it really been half a year since I updated this story?<br /><br />As you might imagine, this one was exceptionally tough to produce, even by my poor standards of productivity these days. It honestly felt like every single sentence came out wrong, no matter how many times I'd painfully revise it, and even taking a little break to do some Kinktober drabbles only did a little to break the writer's block. Combine that with the apartment hunt/job hunt so I can afford a new apartment/last-minute renos on my current residence because the job hunt isn't going well... /sigh.<br /><br />Needless to say, it's been a rough few months.<br /><br />Still, I'm glad to finally be able to post this chapter, not just to have another installment for you all (many thanks for your continued patience, by the way, it means a lot to me), but because bringing Merrill into the fray is soemthing I've wanted to do for quite some time. She's one of my favourite companions in the entire Dragon Age franchise, and a definite highlight of the second game, and given that she was in Ferelden around this timeframe, as per the Dalish Elf Origin, I thought it would be really neat for her and Sagramor to meet up. As with the Hawke team-up, I know it presents some minor continuity issues, but I hope you enjoy this small digression from the canon nonetheless. I'll have more to say about her in the second part of this chapter. Hope you enjoy!<br /><br /><br /><span>As ever, the preview image was done by the awesome Poly-M and used with her permission (Source here: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/poly-m/art/BiowareClub-contest-prize-512593800">BiowareClub contest prize</a></span><span>)</span><br /><br /><b>First Chapter:</b><span> A Day For Celebration -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.deviantart.com/thephoenixking/art/The-Grey-Path-Chapter-One-A-Day-for-Celebration-311164927">The Grey Path - Chapter One: A Day for Celebration</a></span><br /><br /><b>Previous Chapter:</b><span> The Unbound Flame -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.deviantart.com/thephoenixking/art/The-Grey-Path-Chapter-Twenty-Seven-797713831">The Grey Path - Chapter Twenty-Seven</a></span><br /><br /><b>Next Chapter:</b><span> Mahariel's Calling, Part Two -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.deviantart.com/thephoenixking/art/The-Grey-Path-Chapter-Twenty-Eight-Part-Two-823993685">The Grey Path - Chapter Twenty-Eight, Part Two</a></span>