It is a part of the system I am trying to change. Children show signs of magic and they were taken to Circles. Towers filled with templars that have the ability to nullify our magic. It is for our own safety, we are told- and to a degree? This is so. We wrote now and ten but it was never 'Dear Addie' as one would a child.

It was always 'Apprentice Adelaide' or 'Mage' or 'Enchanter'. Lately it has been 'Councilor' and there has been some warmth, I think, in his writing. Perhaps the distance was as much to protect himself from hurt as it was me. Perhaps he is an ass.

[ She manages a faint crack of laughter- something faintly brittle that she swallows back and tucks away. This is not entirely about her, not truly. ]

If I can look at the man that destroyed a Chantry and killed hundreds of people, a man that was as warped to me in their propaganda as you are in your literature- if I can look at him and still see a friend? If I can attempt to look upon him kindly as much as I am upset by what he did? If I can have mercy on him for what he is-

How can you have any less for yourself?