"Blondie! You're early!" Varric greeted as Anders came up the stairs.

"Merrill usually gets here early, right?" Anders pointed out, "I wanted to catch her before cards tonight."

"Did you make any progress with Hawke's new jewelry?" Varric asked.

"A little," Anders said, "One of my contacts told me that mage shackles tend to be a lot less complicated than the one she has. Said he'd look into it for me."

"Oh, joy of joys," Varric sighed, "I actually did a little of my own digging. Some of my contacts with the Merchant's Guild actually recognized the metal. Said it's only really found in The High Reaches."

"That's all the way in the Imperium!" Anders announced.

"Right," Varric said, "My contact said it was hard to find and even harder to mine. It likes to attach to itself, so the miners have to use special lubricants on their tools to keep it from growing back. I don't want to think about the extra time it takes to mine."

"That's," Anders paused, a little stunned, "Incredibly helpful, actually. If we can just find what that lubricant is made of, we could probably just cut it off, and Hawke would have her magic back."

"Precisely," Varric said, "I've already sent out some letters. I've got a friend in the Imperium, and I'm hoping she'll pull through for us."

"I'll talk to my contact from the Mage Underground, too," Anders said, "I can't imagine what being cut off from your magic and also not being tranquil would do to a person. If there's any potential repercussions, we should be prepared."

Merrill dashed into the suite, papers overflowing from her arms, and dropped everything onto the massive table. Her hair was unruly, several strands sticking to her face. She dropped to the floor with an 'oop', collecting papers that had escaped.

"Easy, Daisy!" Varric said, "You doing alright?"

"Just got back from Sundermount," she panted, her voice thin, "I was wrong, it's not from Arlathan, it's-"

"Hey, slow down!" he insisted, "Sit down. Relax. Let's get you a small cup of ale. The light shit. Get you hydrated. I'll put in an order for some jerky while we're at it."

Anders cut in, "You didn't go up there alone, did you?"

"She almost did," Sebastian answered as he stepped into the suite, "I was lucky to be up so early, otherwise I wouldn't have caught her on her way out of Kirkwall."

"Daisy," Varric sighed, then excused himself to find one of the servers downstairs. Sebastian made himself comfortable as Merrill started spreading out sketches, chattering and pointing at them eagerly. Anders listened as he looked over the images, occasionally picking them up and comparing them to one another. Varric returned, and soon Corff showed up with four ales. Varric gestured for Corff to just leave them on the benches, and he did so.

"I've never seen anything like this," Anders commented.

"It almost looks like the old Tevene and Elvhen magic got smashed together," Merrill pointed out, looking at the multiple pages that combined swirls with straight edges, Elvhen writing that, when pronounced, she didn't recognize but Anders almost did.

"It's a bit of a mess," he criticized, "I'm not even sure what the intent was."

Merrill looked up at him, then turned to Sebastian and asked, "Doesn't your Chantry have stories about this?"

"Hm?" Sebastian responded. He rubbed the corners of his eyes and said, "I apologize, I didn't think I could contribute to your investigation. What do you wish of me?"

"The story about mages trying to…" she paused, asking, "It was either that they wanted to find your god or become gods."

"You're not seriously asking about a myth that's been weaponized to oppress us," Anders complained. Ignoring Anders, Sebastian retold the tale of the first Darkspawn.

Merrill wondered out loud, "The tear in the Veil didn't want to close. I wonder if that's what this story was about. Mages of different backgrounds all trying to travel past the Veil."

"To what end?" Anders countered.

"I don't know," Merrill said, "but it was clearly important to them or they wouldn't try to do it."

Anders let out an exasperated sigh, and conceded, "Out of everything you've said, I can't deny that someone opened the Veil, and I can't deny that it was probably intentional." He ran his fingers through his hair and finally said, "Maybe we're thinking too hard about this. Maybe Hawke is just confused because the Veil was basically slammed shut on top of her."

Merrill gave him a disappointed look.

Soon, Isabela sauntered in, and the mages knew it was time to pack up. As the pair collected the scattered papers, Aveline entered wearing casual clothes and a sword and shield. Once the table was cleared, she took a seat, and Isabela sat across from her, leaning heavily against the table as she did. Aveline glared at her and Isabela returned her expression with a smirk. Varric shouted down the stairs to Corff for more refreshments, and soon Fenris showed up with Hawke in tow.

"Hawke! It's great to see you!" Varric greeted, "How're you feeling?"

"I'm… well, Serah Tethras. Thank you for your concern," she replied. Fenris shot her a concerned look but didn't say anything. She went around and reviewed everyone's names until she eventually got to Merrill.

Hawke said to her, "I apologize about the way I treated you when you came to visit. It was… unfair. I was thinking perhaps you and I could spend some time together and get to know each other. Again. As a way to make up for it."

"Oh, that sounds lovely," Merrill said with a sigh, "When were you thinking? Tomorrow, maybe?"

Hawke answered, "Tomorrow sounds lovely. I could swing by in the morning. I've got some tea we could share."

"Ooh, is it your-" Merrill stopped herself, and then said, "You have some very interesting blends. And I can show you my mug collection."

Hawke affirmed and Fenris slipped a hand around her arm and guided her to a spot on the bench, next to him but as far from Merrill as he could manage. The rest of the night went along relatively quietly, with Sebastian retiring early. Varric couldn't stop himself from smiling. The wall Hawke had kept up the last few days had hurt him, he'd loathe to admit, but seeing her cautious progress between the cards and the drinks brought him comfort. As the night went on, Varric eventually had Aveline escort the exhausted Merrill back home. The others slowly filtered out after another round or two, and eventually Varric found himself alone and content.