[ Right, so he's gotten the hug part down, sort of, and now he's just... going to stay this way. Leandra used to stroke their hair years on years ago, some kind of reassurance, but he's hesitant to do that. For one, hair catches in the leather bindings oh the gauntlets. For another, that's way too much of a comfort thing he's not sure how to give. ]

It shouldn't have taken me this long.

[ But it had, and it might have gone as unsaid as his pride in being able to call her sister had, before going back to Kirkwall, and in his own way, running from the Warden for long enough to help Family.

As far as Bethany goes... ]

She might. [ ... whoops. ] I don't know how Bethany ended up with the Grey Wardens, but if it's anything like how I did... Well. There are times you almost think it'd have been better to die then than live through the horrors afterward.

[ He has a feeling he might not be helping. At all. But it's the truth, and in knowing Bethany, he thinks it might be a little too true for her. ]

It would have been harder for her than either of us. [ And another pause, with a pat on the back and an attempt at self-referential humor. ] You put up with me being a tit for no good reason for Maker knows how long. Give her time.

[ Try to bear with it, and being wrongly blamed by someone Carver doesn't think could find the Wardens as much of a calling as he did over the years. ]