Blood from Stone [AU]

[Carver Amell]

"I don't want to save it," he growls. "I don't want to sit here and ration healing among whichever of my family has been tortured today. What the hell kind of Paladin am I?"

He lets out a long, slow breath, forcibly untensing. "Sorry," he adds, quieter.

[Varric]

"Fair." Varric wrinkles his nose. "Vent, vent. Fair." He shrugs a little. "You talk some?"

[Carver Amell]

"I shouldn't," he mutters. "You lost a damn hand, what do I have to bitch about?"

Still he shakes his head, keeps going. "It's just so damn frustrating. Why does my family always suffer? Why was I so stupid I didn't see? You were suffering and I didn't even notice you were gone. Don was suffering. Mother suffers still. Gamlen fucking died. I can barely wrap my head around it. What the hell kind of Bright's am I, that I can't even protect my own family? I just trusted you had it all down. I didn't check. I didn't even try to offer help. And you were overworked and what did I do, I fucking left like a coward. I didn't trust you, and here we are."

[Varric]

"Not your fault dammit," Varric growls. "Dad." He thumps his chest. "My place. Should be able. Should have down." He glances down. "Trusted me. I failed."

[Carver Amell]

"You're my dad, not my God," he snaps. "I am an adult now. We're not twelve anymore. I should have helped. You should let me help. Because you're not Mother -- you didn't throw us to the demons -- but you can't bear all this alone. Yes, it's your place to suffer for us. Yes, it's Helene's place to, to die for us," he adds, voice catching. "But Beth's pregnant. It's my place to suffer for her, to protect her kits. And I can't do that without learning how and I can't learn if I don't try to help now, before they're born and harder to protect. You and me both, we protect this family together. From now on, I will help."

[Varric]

Not twelve anymore. Let you help. Can't learn if... "Sorry," he croaks out, standing up to move around the counter. "Need. Need- Three minutes. Sorry." Shaking, he starts jerkily adjusting the ingredients and tools still out from when he was brewing.

[Carver Amell]

Carver swallows, stepping back, letting him work. What did I say?

[Varric]

The simple actions of putting things to rights seems to soothe the dwarf after a bit, the tension slowly bleeding out of him until he's about where he was a few minutes ago. "...sorry." He studies the ground for a moment, then turns to mostly face Carver. "Do.... do I do too much?"

[Carver Amell]

"Yeah," says Carver, gently. "We've been relying on you too much. You're amazing, Dad, truly amazing, but no one person should have to protect the whole family. That's why there's usually two adults for every set of kids. It's time for me and Beth and Don and Marian to start protecting Beth's kits and Seli's twins and Jaina's new babe and all the next generation. It's time we became adults."

[Varric]

So I did fail... just... not how I realized. It's not that I wasn't good enough, really. It was that I tried to hold on for too long. Tried to do everything myself. Tried... "Failed to teach. Stunted legacy." Varric studies Carver for a long moment, thinking. Beth... learning politics, can handle that. Liz... business? Money and assets. Merrill... hmmm. Home? Never good at it myself but important anyway. And Carver... "Need teach you lie. And catch lie."

[Carver Amell]

"Yeah, I'm pretty shit at that," he agrees, with a nod. After a pause, he adds, "Have you... given any thought as to who you'll be passing your assets onto?" It's a loaded question -- normally, it'd be a given that he'd split the assets among the kids, but that would result in the Merchant seat going to another person entirely. To keep it into the family, he'll need to pass the bulk of his funds, businesses, and other assets to one of his children, who would thus inherit the title -- assuming he or she didn't squander the family wealth. 

[Varric]

Varric nods slowly. "Not... decided. But... Liz best business. Beth, politics. Merrill, family. You, protect. Beth with Don, confusing lineage." Because having two Light lineages crossing in that manner can make things very, very complicated. Founder would trump Merchant, disqualifying them from the seat and having it skip to the next richest. But at the same time, Don and Beth aren't legally intertwined. But their children... Maybe, maybe not. "Not sure."

[Carver Amell]

"Liz is the best choice, I think," says Carver, after thinking for a minute. "You're right, Beth's basically a Founder's Wife, so her kids will inherit the Founder seat. And, and Marian was your apprentice. You always meant for her to be your factor someday. It makes sense to make her the heir. So I have to start thinking that way -- protecting her as the heir to your seat, and Beth and her kits as the heir to Don's. I'm quitting the Guard, so, maybe you can help me set up a company of bodyguards? And we can hire them to do security for things like that party in the future? So we can make sure they're not tainted."

[Varric]

"Quitting?" Varric asks curiously, gaze a little distant in the manner that Carver would realize means he's thinking about something. Likely how to go about setting up a... "Not mercenary company... Security. Security Company."

[Carver Amell]

"Yeah, that's the thing," he agrees. "And yes, I have to quit the guard if I'm going to date Aveline."