Hawke does love hearing secrets. She's excellent at keeping them too. She has a treasure trove of secrets she keeps for her friends and from them. Varric knows most of her own, her only real confessional of a sort, but that's how they are together. She would still not share with him what was told to her, nor would he ask her. There's been a few exceptions to that rule, when someone's life was at risk. So she understands he's trying to let her in on something and nods, somberly, to indicate she can take it.

The ability is a fascinating one, and her eyes widen and then narrow. "So you looked at someone, and you could tell if they wanted to kill you or not?" So he could strike first in that case, although Hawke stops from saying that just in case he's not someone who likes taking advantage of something so helpful. Sometimes she's aware that the way she talks about fighting makes it seem like she's a psychopath. "That is a handy power. Was it just toward you or toward anyone?"