[ Cassandra raises her chin at the direction Krem takes the conversation but she does not back away nor does she shy away from the question. Instead she simply figures out the right way to word what comes next. ]

An alliance with the Qunari would have been powerful in many ways. We would be feared by our enemies and we would have been envied politically for acquiring the first Qunari Alliance. We should not have that, not when we need the Inquisition to be what it is. [ Cassandra knows too well that taking the behemoth of the Qunari into the Inquisition's fold would turn Skyhold into what the Chantry has become... no longer a place of salvation, of healing and hope. The Chantry lost what made it so important and an alliance with the Qunari would very well cast the same shadow over the Inquistion. Furthermore: ] We must also remember that it was the Qunari who approached us with the alliance first.