It got him a snicker, so there was that. She shook her head at the both of them. One night and they were already acting like immature children. Hawke said nothing when she shuddered, though she knew where the thought came from. She sympathized but made no motion to draw attention to it.

"Truth be told, that would bother me. We were an open family. Even when people didn't want to talk, whatever was upsetting them would eventually come out in private if nowhere else." To keep quiet seemed so strange, a reclusive maneuver. In everyone but family, she would think it suspicious. "Not all homes are the same, I know."

She tapped the crab in her hand and then gripped it tightly in her hands. It snapped audibly a few moments later. "You're telling me. On the pile with you. I can't wait until they're on the table." Just a few more to go.

"It was a scandal, I heard. No one knew where she'd gone to at first. I don't think my grandparents wanted to speak of it. I'm still not certain they ever did. Gamlen might have." What had happened in the family after was more private, something Cullen didn't need to hear about. "It is. I know it tore my mother up inside to be away from her parents." She lifted her gaze to his. There was no need to say anything. Had her hands been free, she might have done something to express her sympathies. "Are they still outside of Denerim?"