Imprints in Stone [AU]

[Carver Amell]

He looks up at him, naked hope in his misty eyes. "Really? Thank you so much! You won't regret it, I'll be real careful."

[Varric]

"Not sending you alone mind you. My thought is that I attach you to a caravan heading to Raplin's Oak. Marethari said she found someone there that can help you learn more about your claw trick." Someone read Carvers mail? Who!? That dastardly scoundrel! "Shouldn't be hard to arrange for you to be able to join another caravan on its way back to Nyra after a month or so. Just take me a few days to find someone that can go with you."

[Carver Amell]

Carver nods. "I wouldn't want to go alone. I'm not trying to -- I need to come back to Beth, eventually."

[Varric]

"I was more thinking that you'd do better with a guide that's more familiar with traveling, not a minder that'll be there to drag you back," Varric says gently.

[Carver Amell]

"I-- I meant..." He takes a deep breath, looking away. "Beth thought I was trying to, to leave her. Last night. I wasn't. I'm not trying to do that. If I went out by myself into the wilderness for a month I'd probably get eaten."

[Varric]

"Ah. Yeah, it's dangerous to go alone. So... so we'll figure out the details on that in the next week or so." Varric studies Carver or a moment. "How you feeling?"

[Carver Amell]

"Awful," he admits. "Better than I was."

[Varric]

"Thank you for admitting it," Varric says bluntly. "You need to burn off some stress with some exercise before we head back?" A beat. "You ready to head back at all?"

[Carver Amell]

"I-- yeah. Beth and Merrill will be worried and I... I think I'd feel better seeing them, being around them."

[Varric]

Varric gives him a careful study, then nods. "Alright. Let's get home then. Maybe swing by and get some sweets or something. 
As long as you don't go overboard- too many or too often- little gifts like that do wonders for loved ones," Varric says sagely. "Might want to start thinking about how you want to go about telling them about your trip too."

[Carver Amell]

Carver nods, slowly. "Alright. I'll... I'll figure out the words by the time we get home."

[GamesMaster]

It's a tense conversation, but with a little help from Varric, Carver manages to fumble his way through "It's not you it's me" and "I just need a break for a bit" well enough that Beth understands. He sets off within a week, with Kenta on hand to keep up his Vangal lessons and a whole set of caravan guards to protect him from getting killed in the wilderness, promising to write every night.

The first few evenings, he's clearly anxious: he asks a bunch of questions about how people are doing, if Merrill's okay, if Beth's made up her mind about whoring. But slowly, as he progresses, he starts to instead talk about the cool things he's doing, the people he's meeting. Forced to communicate so that his sister and girlfriend know he's alright, he starts to sound almost like his old self again: talking about things that interest him rather than keeping silent until there's a problem. It's not really until he starts gushing about swords that Beth realizes how long this has been missing, how much her twin has been holding back since Marian died.

Maybe this trip was what he needed after all.

It's a good hour before Carver Letter Time, and Beth and Merrill are helping Anders close up the clinic for the evening. There's no patients in the waiting room, but just as Beth's about to lock the door, an unfamiliar catfolk slips in, looking nervous. It's harder for humans to read their expressions sometimes, of course, but Beth's been around the Bandannas long enough to know what that tail twitch means, what the whisker quiver signifies: fear, uncertainty, a readiness to bolt if things go wrong. His fur is short and white, fading to grey at the tips of each strand, and he wears a vest and patched trousers: simple clothing, adapted for his tail, indicating poverty but not destitution. Not yet.

"This healer, yes?" he begins, in a halted, accented Common. 

[Bethany]

"Yes, all three of us in fact," Bethany says in catfolk, a careful smile that shows no teeth on her lips. 

[GamesMaster]

He seems at first startled, then relived, switching languages easily. "Ah! The [bandanna] girl, yes? I have a sister at home, sick, I wanted to know how to help her."

[Bethany]

"Yes, yes. Can you bring her here? Or too sick to move?" Beth asks briskly, gesturing at Anders and Merrill to wait a moment.