Garrett listened attentively throughout the whole story, yellow eyes large in his face and hardly blinking; it was never a question of whether or not she had his full attention, not with a focused expression like that, but whether or not he absorbed it, understood it the way a mage raised in the heart of civilization did intrinsically. He listened, at the very least, and when she was done, he tipped his head the other way and sent those gold eyes thoughtfully off to the side, as if he needed a moment to search through that ton of information.
After a few moments playing mental catch-up, he said, "But this isn't the Alienage, sister." He looked at her again dead-on, the in-your-face bald honesty that only a wolf could manage front and center. "I don't really understand why true-men have them. River Dane's elves live amongst the humans and dwarfs without problems, but Luka says that River Dane is very small." From the combination of the look on his face and the mild bewilderment in his gravelly voice, he didn't quite get why the two factoids are relevant to one another, but that was a discussion for another day and time. "But even with that - this isn't the Alienage. You are not alone, nor among people who would sell you from your family without your consultation." (Of course this is how someone like Garrett would interpret arranged marriage.) "You are pack. You are among those who would lay down their lives for you."
And was there any doubt that he would do so? Kallian was his sister, close as blood, the kind of family that had nothing to do with their individual heritages. Earnest devotion shone in those golden eyes, thrummed in every line of his form. He took her shoulders in his big hands, gently but firm, the kind of motion one makes when one wants badly to hug another, but is uncertain the contact is welcome. "There is no danger too great that it cannot be overcome with the pack, and a little courage. You are Kallian, and my sister, and you are here among the Grey Wardens, and you do good works and good things and never ask for a reward. Don't think of the Alienage. Don't think of the Templars, either. Those people are not your pack. Their expectations are not your expectations, and their wants are not your wants."
He peered a little closer at her face, the very picture of a blinding light of brutal truth unabashedly delivered. "So. What does Kallian, my sister, want?"