It says something about his hunger that he doesn't think to question the gesture or whether Dorian is sure, merely nodding his thanks instead. The transfer of one bowl for another is nearly seamless when the first is emptied. He wipes his mouth and sets the spoon down once he no longer feels there's a chance he could start on his own arm.

There was a time he'd have argued that people have good reason to fear, that mages are doorways to demons and that it's naive not to see it. He has seen too much prejudice in the other direction now to fire off that sort of retort. His expression goes a little grim. "You're not the only person," he says quietly. "But you aren't wrong. It's a volatile time, and it's going to take much effort to reach anything resembling normalcy again." If such a thing is possible at all. He decides to amend that, since normalcy for Kirkwall is hardly a worthy goal. "What I mean by that is deescalation on both sides. We didn't get to this point overnight. We won't get away from it quickly."

He swallows down the remaining contents of his tankard. "You're hardly idle here. You're doing good work. I can see about setting you up with pay. It won't be much. Contrary to popular belief, Circles aren't swimming in coin, and we're not beneficiaries of the Chantry's deeper pockets." With their Chantry gone entirely, the situation is even thinner.