From her tone, he thinks she does understand, at that. He tucks that away to ask about another time. It's not that he isn't interested, but her story deserves better than to have to fight a tower full of ghosts for his full attention. Instead, he turns to her question.

"I'm sure I'm not the only one to think about an alternative to the Circle system, if we succeed in our aims of mage liberty after the war. After all, Tevinter trains their mages without imprisoning them; it's not a wholly new thought." They're even called Circles there, though he thinks keeping the name in Southern Thedas would be more likely to rip open old wounds.

"But to answer your question, yes, I have thought about it. For me personally, I don't think I would have the attention to give it that it would require, as long as I'm committed to Riftwatch. And I know I don't have the resources; we'd have to enlist one or more interested patrons. Not an impossible hurdle, but tricky while the Chantry hasn't yet acknowledged that the Circle system as we knew it before the war is over." He has high hopes they can still get there, but convincing a noble to stand against the Chantry is still more complicated than convincing them that all children, even mages, deserve education.