Conlan walked through the streets of Denerim, feeling slightly distracted. Certainly not because he was back in his home city, no traveling at length and then coming back was something he was used to. He ignored the people staring at them as they walked past. "tourists" he thought to himself. The people of Denerim were used to armed groups passing through the streets, and they were in the market district, a place where the people who actually lived in Denerim only went to sell things. Then again, the group consisted of several armed elves, two Qunari and a small dwarf, so it might be odd enough to draw some actual attention.
But those were only surface thoughts. Conlan was more distracted by his time in the chantry. He'd spent the night staring up at the rafters, counting them. When he was a teenager, and his father forced him to go, he used to lean back in his seat and count. When his "wife" had left him poisoned, he'd managed to crawl out of his house, and get dragged to the chantry, where the sisters gave him food and water and let him rest off the sickness that had accompanied the poisoning. Since he couldn't sleep, due to throwing up every so often, he lied awake and counted the rafters. There weren't as many. The previous night spent in the chantry, while he was waiting for Ordhan to come back, while he was about to walk through the city as a Grey Warden. He found he couldn't sleep, and had ended up counting them once again. He was trying to remember if they'd changed when Faer spoke to him. Con scoffed slightly.
"Of course it lacks trees. I mean come on, trees would bring birds, and birds would sing, and then how would the nobles get to hear how nice and oppressed everyone is? Never mind how all the greenery and color would clash with the brown and grey color scheme we've worked very hard to create." He smiled a bit and nodded in a very exaggerated manner. The joke had been intended to distract him from where they were going. It hasn't helped.
Now they were marching into the alienage itself, and Conlan knew the stares weren't from tourists. He remembered the last time he was here. He was similarly armed, but he was with the guard then, straying far from his mission to go and "deal" with some elves. Now he was a Warden, and still straying far from his mission. He let out a breath and shifted uncomfortably, wondering what was it with him and elves, when Lalin appeared and grabbed his arm.
He listened quietly as she told them the story, remembering when the Warden came to Denerim as well. When she finally finished talking Con frowned for a second, he spoke quietly to the three of them. .He looked to Faer first.
"I think the point of their suspicious behavior is that they're doing it not to be seen. If it was something obvious enough for us to spot it, then the guards would have caught them long ago." Conlan shrugged. "Unless the guards are in on it, which they probably are. Either way, the best person to notice anything odd here… already has." He looked to Lalin and smiled slightly.
"Good catch. I don't think we should do anything about him right now. I mean… he may or may not be the person you remember, and he may or may not still be in the business. That's a lot of if to send someone to harass him over." Con looked around quick to make sure no one was listening in.
"Awful coincidental though if he's not. If he is, then trying to deal with him might tip off his buddies, and that may lead to them cut their losses and kill some elves. I'd rather see slavers go free, then see elves die or stay in captivity."