Well, I read the above linked thread and found out what her plan is. But I still don't understand what in the world she said to Hawke. Words were coming out of her mouth, but they were not making any sense. Needless to say, Hawke told her to forget it. Varrick approved.
With Patrice, that sounds about right for even more veteran players. I will echo some of the other posters and let you know that what she says makes more sense come Act 2.
To begin, you need to remember that she hates the Qunari. Hates their presence in the city, hates the Qun itself as well. The quest basically says that she's trying to use the Qunari mage (that you escorted) to prove a point. Her intention was to point to him and say, "See, all of these Qunari heretics are bad. We don't chain up our mages and sew their lips shut. That's barbaric." She didn't care about the mage, she wanted to use him to rally the people against the Qunari.
Her words to Hawke were dismissive and haughty. She uses Hawke to carry out her plans, since Hawke is a nobody at this point. If Hawke tried to come out against Patrice, it would be the word of a Sister versus the word of some punk from Lowtown.
Hopefully that helps explain things. They do get into this more later in the game.