"Yes, but you get the benefit of skipping those first few months when you make a mistake and the others look at you like you've just said something dirty in front of the sisters because you should 'know better' by now. You can just go straight to being the capable one that all the apprentices have a crush on and titter about in the lunch hall."
He was only half joking, really. Had Hawke been in a circle and settled in, Anders had no doubt he'd be exactly that: smart enough and creative enough to have his own projects, but kind and charismatic enough to have time for the apprentices and questions, patient enough even to offer lessons. The idea of Hawke stuck in a circle, bound to restrictions and looming shadows and blocked from being entirely himself broke Anders' heart, Hawke deserved to be as free as the bird that matched his name. And yet...some part of him knew Hawke would adapt as readily as he always does, and had he been there from the start, he would have been okay in the long run. Someone like Karl: unhappy and hating the system, but able to work within it and find what joys and peace he could. Especially if what he'd said was true about Anders being his Wardens: his shake up of his views and the change in his life.
Had Hawke been in the circle...Anders would have fallen for him then too, he knew it as surely as he knew his next breath would come. And Anders would have stayed. For Hawke, he would have stayed and made it work, followed the rules a bit more just to have concessions so maybe he and Wolfe could have had that bookcase separating their rooms, so maybe he could listen to those breaths evening out each night even still and dream of it being in some small house instead of their gilded cell.
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He was only half joking, really. Had Hawke been in a circle and settled in, Anders had no doubt he'd be exactly that: smart enough and creative enough to have his own projects, but kind and charismatic enough to have time for the apprentices and questions, patient enough even to offer lessons. The idea of Hawke stuck in a circle, bound to restrictions and looming shadows and blocked from being entirely himself broke Anders' heart, Hawke deserved to be as free as the bird that matched his name. And yet...some part of him knew Hawke would adapt as readily as he always does, and had he been there from the start, he would have been okay in the long run. Someone like Karl: unhappy and hating the system, but able to work within it and find what joys and peace he could. Especially if what he'd said was true about Anders being his Wardens: his shake up of his views and the change in his life.
Had Hawke been in the circle...Anders would have fallen for him then too, he knew it as surely as he knew his next breath would come. And Anders would have stayed. For Hawke, he would have stayed and made it work, followed the rules a bit more just to have concessions so maybe he and Wolfe could have had that bookcase separating their rooms, so maybe he could listen to those breaths evening out each night even still and dream of it being in some small house instead of their gilded cell.