There's a stillness and silence where there should be good humor or a joke and- oh. They've tripped into something emotional for both of them, haven't they? Sentiment is dangerous, sentiment is a weakness- and yet it is with Sentiment heavy in his heart that Zevran loops his arms around Alistair to hold him close, squeezing gently.

Friends were not something one had in the Crows, for they could be used to exploit you. Could be used to hurt you. And thus it was safest to have none, but Alistair did not come from so cruel a beginning. For no one to look to him and realize the loyalty, the humor, the kindness under the self-deprecating projected incompetence isn't surprising, but it is...sad. "I am here, Amico. I have you."