"Left. Left. Right..." Merrill wound the string back onto its spool as she backtracked from the market.
Today she had fresh berries, perfect apples, walnuts, and the most lovely greens. She was lost in thought, winding the thread automatically, thinking of dinner, the Eluvian, where Hawke might take them next, that lovely story that Varric...
She turned a corner and bumped into someone in her path, apologizing automatically before realizing to whom she was apologizing.
Varric held the other end of her twine, neatly rolled into a ball.
"I went to see you in the alienage and I saw the string," he said, tilting his head up at her, a faint smile turning up the corners of my lips. "I thought to myself, 'Daisy's out having an adventure' and Bianca and I decided we'd see if there was a good story in it."
Merrill held up her market basket. "Did you know that they sellnuts at the market? They might as well sell rocks. You can pick both up off the ground."
"Let's not disparage selling rocks," Varric said. He took the basket from her and held out a hand to indicate their direction. "It's how I make the money that keeps us all in twine and carta protection and rounds on the house at the Hanged Man. May I escort you home?"
"Oh." Oh.She connected the fact that Varric held the other end of her ball of twine with the fact that she wouldn't be able to find her way home on her own.
"Yes, please."
Sometimes she wondered why Varric took such interest in her.
Varric offered his arm and let Merrill take it to lead her home. Sometimes he wondered why she didn't see why he took such interest in her.