"Ah. Yes. I hadn't-" Dorian stopped mid-response to think. On the one hand, it was quite possibly kinder to tell the more lie-like but technically truthful story that he hadn't seen Hawke in quite a while and didn't know. Technically correct, occasionally the best kind of correct.

But he knew from experience that that kind of obfuscation and not-exactly-lies tended to pile up and become untenable, and the eventual reveal was worse. People didn't appreciate the defense 'I was trying to safeguard your feelings' either. He sighed. "I doubt she's still alive. In dealing with possessed Wardens, we ended up physically in the Fade. Hawke stayed behind so the rest of us could get out. The Nightmare didn't strike me as particularly inclined to mercy."