Edit: Because I am a complete moron, I forgot to include the scene where Marethari actually refuses to help Sagramor when I initially posted this chapter here; it must have gotten cut out when I split this chapter apart to meet DA's size limit. My apologies for this; I've finally gotten some vacation time and only just now noticed it, so I'll make sure to avoid this problem in the future.<br /><br />******************<br /><br />Finally, at long last, I am done with this white whale of a chapter, and not a moment too soon. I'm still not 100% happy with this chapter, and I doubt I ever will be; in particular, the portrayal of Fenarel and Marethari veers a bit too close to the sort of strawman characterization I've often railed against in these comments for comfort, though I hope I was able to provide at least some measure of moral ambiguity here. Overall, this little divergence with the Merrill arc was a bit of an experiment, and one I'm not entirely content with, mostly due to the massive schedule slip this story has experienced while doing it. I wanted not only to give Sagramaor a chance to interact with one of my favourite characters in the entire franchise, but also give him a defeat, to make sure not everything goes his way, and provide an additional spur for his actions moving forward. What little we know about the Sabrae Clan is that they didn't fight against the Blight, so that provided an interesting opportunity for some conflict I felt worth exploring. Again, you have my apologies for the long delay, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter all the same. Let me know your thoughts, and what I can do to improve.<br /><br />Regardless, now that this is finally done with, I can at last get things moving again, and hopefully better the pacing on the story moving forward. This was a very talky installment, but expect Chapter 31 to have some greater action, as well as some major steps taken in some of the character relationships that I think you'll enjoy. Thank you for your continued support!<br /><br /><span>As ever, the preview image was done by the awesome Poly-M and used with her permission (Source here:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.deviantart.com/poly-m/art/BiowareClub-contest-prize-512593800">BiowareClub contest prize</a></span><span>)<br /><br /></span><span><span><b>First Chapter:</b></span></span><span>&nbsp;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><br /><br /></span><b>Previous Chapter:</b> The Cost of Honour, Part One -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.deviantart.com/thephoenixking/art/The-Grey-Path-Chapter-Thirty-Part-One-887141401">The Grey Path, Chapter Thirty - Part One</a><br /><br /><b>Next Chapter:</b> All Roads Lead to Denerim, Part One -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.deviantart.com/thephoenixking/art/The-Grey-Path-Chapter-Thirty-One-Part-One-940235841">The Grey Path, Chapter Thirty-One - Part One</a>