Keeping busy didn't make her worry less about those in Tevinter, but it at least didn't give her room to worry any more. She couldn't, not when she needed to focus on the precise strokes of her knife as she gently scratched at a piece of wood, carving in shallow lines to put details in the owl she was now working on. The approaching footsteps were enough of a warning that Merrill didn't jump, instead pausing to blow a few chips of wood away from her handiwork.

"A bit of both, really! Well, I wouldn't say that this is all necessarily flashy, but- meaning and decoration both, yes."

She straightened then, turning to look at her questioner. It may have been some time since she'd seen a qunari, but that didn't bother Merrill, and she offered him a slight smile.

"Animals favored by the Creators," and she gestures with her knife toward the unfinished owl, the bear, the ravens, the halla, "and all sorts of things that I like, too!"