Merrill's smile dims somewhat. "Oh, um. My, er- the Keeper. She'd probably have it. She wouldn't give it to a shem though. Though she might for Hawke!"

"I doubt she'd give it to me either. All things considered."

"More likely you than me," Merrill said, looking a little lost for a moment, and scratching an old scar on her hand. 

"But!" She said a second later, bubbly charm coming right back. "You wanted to know about Dalish magic? I learned from Keeper Marethari, and she's considered one the best we have! The actual best was Zathrian, but either he died or disappeared or something."

"We better head back to it, Blaise. Unless you wanna hang around, listen to the Dalish magic lecture?"

He thinks for a moment, and then shifts closer to Karl - an answer, even if it isn't a verbal one.

Karl listens to that hint, and hugs Blaise a little tighter. "All right."

"I'll leave you all to it," Karl says to the rest of them, waving as he takes Blaise upstairs.

"It was really lovely to meet you, Blaise!" Merrill calls, cheerily. 

"I- and you?" he responds.

Merrill squeaks happily.

Karl takes him back to the study, their notes still sprawled out from before, books open or in haphazard piles.

Blaise flops down onto the floor next to the book he'd been reading.

Karl slides over a fresh piece of parchment and a quill, and adds a book next to him. "That leads into this, this here," Karl gestures towards the second page. 

He sits at the desk and grabs the last thing he was working on.

-Yup, Blaise is officially burrowed back into his books.

Karl goes back to his, occasionally grabbing Blaise to point out something he might've missed, or bounce ideas off him.

It is, truly, a delightful way to spend time, probably Blaise's favourite.

After probably a few hours, something slumps over Karl's back, wrapping his arms around him. 

"Hi."

Karl leans back into him. "Hey, love. You okay?"

"There are a lot of answers to that question," Anders says, tucking his head into Karl's shoulder.

"All right. We'll go with not good for now, and work our way up?"

A muffled sound of a agreement, then Anders lifts his head. "Can I borrow you for a moment?" 

"Of course, love." Karl stands. "Blaise, I'll come back later, all right? Can you also follow up on-" He shuffles through his notes, finds what he's looking for, and passes it to Blaise. "-this one?"

Blaise takes it and nods.

"You're doing awesome, Blaise. Thank you," he smiles at the boy. 

He then takes Anders' hand and leaves.

There's a knock on the door, and Merrill opens it a tiny bit. 

"Hello? Blaise? It's Merrill. Oh, and Cia."