“Good idea. Come get us if Anders comes back?”

"Straight away," Raeli promises.

Karl leads Blaise into a small room they had mostly been using to store things for the clinic. Two boxes on the ground made for decent enough seats, and so Karl urged Blaise onto one. 

Blaise follows the urging, slightly too compliant.

Karl keeps a hand on his shoulder. 

“I’m sorry. I try not to be angry around you. I’m usually much better at it, I know.”

"I- uh, it's okay? I- you can't-"

“Can’t hold it in? Apparently true,” Karl said on a sigh. “You know that when- when Justice happens, that it isn’t really Anders, right?” 

It seems almost vital to Karl that Blaise knows that.

Blaise nods. "Feels different. They're- They're the same, but not, like...two halves of differents wholes? edges worn together to make them fit..."

"Parts of them both, sawed down to force two things together," Karl agrees. "That's why what we're working on is so important. We can help him, and we can stop abominations."

He nods again. "I know. I know. I just- No. It's fine. S'just loud."

"You're liking it though? The studying?"

"Yes! Yes it's good! Please-" (don't take it away.)

Karl smiles bright. “That’s good! I tend to get very caught up in it, sometimes I don’t really pay attention to what’s going on around me.” He laughs. 

“Is there anything you’d like us to find out about?”

"I don't- I just like. Magic?"

"I do want to see how you respond to different kinds of magic. Elemental spells seem to come so easy to you. Especially fire."

Karl taps his chin. "I wonder if that affinity ties into your virtue."

"I- I don't know. I don't...know what it is."

"You're certainly empathetic. Very in tune with people's feelings. I would hesitate to say compassion, though I've never met one. Justice or Defiance would have a better read, though I don't think Justice is really up for talking." 

And Karl doesn't want Anders to lose any more time. 

"We could try taking you into the Fade?"

"-Isn't that bad?"

"No, no. It's quite safe. Mages do it every time they sleep. It's as natural as breathing. You just have to be careful when a demon tempts you. It's not too difficult to resist, when you remember what demons really are."

"-Oh. I- Yes. Maybe we should- You'd help me?"

"It would be my absolute honour, Blaise. Plus! Haven't accompanied a spirit through the Fade. You'll have to show me where you hung out. If you remember."

"I think I'd like that."

"That's settled then. We'll work out the safest place to set up an enchantment, and go Fade walking. We'll see if Defiance wants to come too." 

That gets a wider smile out of Blaise.

Karl does not let the melancholy feeling of 'just one more thing he can't share with Anders' take over.

Instead he delights in that smile. "All right. Wanna get back to work? There were some notes on runes of Holding I just know we could use."