This is a continuation of On your marks (here: /s/11123684/1/On-your-marks) so I'd recommend reading that one first.

...

Carver Hawke knew he was far from being the best brother but he tried to be a good one, sometimes.

It was hard and confusing when Garret had treated him like a son or a nuisance, because it left him not knowing what to do, what to say, what to be.

At least Carver read all the letters his brother sent him, even if he rarely wrote back.

Mother is okay and blaming me for you goin' away. I am ignoring her and kickin' ass. My beard is magnificent. Gamlen is Gamlen. They better be taking good care of you there, Carver!

Dog says hi.

Some were uninteresting and some made him wish he was blind.

Good thing you didn't go for Merrill, elves seem to tend to run away from one's magnificent beard. I also can't feel my left foot.

At least I know what Isabela meant by calling Anders "Sparklefingers". Good thing he's a healer. No regrets!

Some were long and some were heartbreakingly short.

Isabela ran away.

Need you here. Dad business.

Mother's dead.

Dog misses you.

I do, too.

And some did have a reply, an answer.

He's dead, Carver. Anders' dead. And I killed him. Maybe he killed himself long ago, right before what he did, right before joining with Justice? Vengeance? Whatever. He's dead and I feel like I killed Fenris along with him. How many people is this city going to take away from me?

It was funny, in the most horrible of ways, that the only thing he wanted to write back was the only thing he couldn't (he was being watched, everything he wrote would be read before being sent away).

He's alive, brother, he's alive and alone.