Interview with Valendar

The Tavern is full with guests on this late summer evening. It is getting dark outside already, bandsmen play their medieval melodies in the room next to the one where I sit. My table is in a corner of the room actually, from here I can overlook most of the place and watch the people drink and talk. A waitress comes to me and I order two mugs of beer – one for myself and one for the guest I am inviting this evening. It was him who chose this location for meeting me and I am actually very excited for this encounter.

So I sit and wait while the pretty waitress brings the ordered beer and her two long blond braids swing when she walks away again. The music next door gets a little bit louder now and I am sure that I can hear some people dancing while a stranger is coming closer now. His movements are fast and do not seem to make any noise, he is of a normal size, not small and not very tall and also he is very slender. He wears tight leather pants of a dark brown color and a hooded black coat which almost goes down to his knees, the hood hides most of his face and a single red strand of hair can be seen.

The man stops at my table now and looks at me, then he raises his slender hands and takes down the hood, revealing his face. He is of elven heritage – obviously, his face has the typical elven features such as high and well defined cheekbones and also it is rather slim... and of course he has long pointed ears that are surrounded by a few rather wild looking strands of red hair which is tied back in the mans neck.  A tattooed tribal like pattern covers his forehead and his chin, green eyes sparkle when he looks at me now.

„So you are the one who wants to meet me?"

„Yes, I am. Please..." I point at the chair on the opposite side of the table. „Be my guest tonight."

He turns away from me and  I can now see that some of his strands of his hair are braided. He looks around the room behind him, then he looks at me again.

„You will sit here and I will sit where you do now... I..." He now grins at me and reveals white teeth with a single golden incisor on the upper left side. „... feel better when having a wall of brick behind me. I hope you don´t mind.

I shake my head.

„Oh, that should be fine..."

I get up and take a seat on the other chair, having the open room behind me now. The elf – „Valendar" is how he calls himself – walks around the table and now opens his coat, gets rid of it and hangs it on the free chair beside the one on which he sits down now.

„Good for you then... because if you DID mind, I would be gone again already."

This time it is no grin but a smile that he shows me and he looks at the full mug of beer in front of him.

„This is for me I assume, is that?"

He does not wait for an answer and raises the mug.

„So cheers then..."

„Cheers!" is my reply and both of us have a deep sip of ice cold beer.

„Okay then... Valendar... first off all let me thank you for following my invitation.  I hope you like the beer and also I hope that you feel comfortable. Some of the questions that I collected  are... rather deep and personal."

He shortly laughs and his green eyes sparkle.

„Deep and personal, yes? So someone wants to know the length of a certain body part of mine? Hahaha..."

I have to chuckle and look at him rather amused.

„And if this is the case... what would you answer then?"

He laughs again and drinks a little more beer. When he does that his throat catches my attention as it has a tribal shaped tattoo as well. Also the little bit of his upper chest which shows behind the ties of his light brown shirt seems to be tattooed.

„Very clever, lady, very clever..."

He leans a little forward and lowers his voice a bit.

„I´d say... dare to find out."

I am blushing a little, I am sure about that and quickly I grab the notes containing the questions which are inside of the bag beside the table. While doing so, he watches me with a very amused face expression which does not make it easier for me to get started with the serious questions. However, I look at my notes now and read the first question.

***

„Ummm.... okay, the first question... Somebody wants to know what made you go rogue. Why are you a rogue?"

He leans back on his chair and looks at me.

„I was born as one. I have been one already when I still was inside my mothers womb. „

„Oh, is that so? I did not know, someone is born as that..."

„Yes, that is so, lady. Any doubts?"

„No, of course not. Thank you for your answer."

I look at the sheet of paper again.

***

„Are the cities of other races looking like you have expected?"

He raises an eyebrow now.

„What kind of question is that now?"

„One with a question mark at the end of the sentence."

Valendar grins again, then he answers.

„Yes... they totally are. When I was a child, I have been told that cities are horrible... they stink... they are loud... as there is too many stinking humans... or dwarves... Oh, I did not mean to offend you, hahaha...

Again he leans a little forward onto the table now.

„But believe it or not, I like being in crowds. Makes my job easier, you know... also... I love to watch them, study them... so this is the one good thing about cities... and the taverns, the whorehouses... cities are filled with life... and death."

I listen to his words and look into his face as he looks into mine. He is not shy at all, as I have already found out right at the start of our conversation. He has confidence, he is not afraid of direct eye contact with a stranger and his body language tells me that he is very attentive in general. He seems to notice everything which happens  at and around this table.

***

„Okay, the next one then: What could stop you from killing someone you are supposed to kill or you want to kill?"

He laughs once more.

„Stopping me? You must be kidding. Nothing, my dear, nothing.  As soon as a person turns into a target, I would call this... bad luck."

He smiles at me and somehow it shocks me how charming his smile is... even when he talks about killing someone. I take another deep sip of the beer again, before I now continue with the next question.

***

„Which soft side, if any, do you hide behind your demeanor?"

His green eyes grow big all the sudden.

„This is a very insolent question. Behind my demeanor, yes?"

His friendly voice seems to be cold as ice all the sudden but he still is smiling at me a little.

„De-mean-or... do you see that the word „mean" hides inside of this, yes? I can be very mean to people who assume anything weak inside of me... for I am not. Maybe I was once... maybe not...  I realized – and  I have learned my lessons well – that those „soft sides" are in the way when you want to be successful, so I am not allowing any of them."

He drinks a little more beer and wipes away the rests of the white  foam on his upper lip.

„Are you listening? I am VERY successful. Next question now."

***

I take his answer as it is and look back at my notes again. I can tell he is watching every single one of my moves.

„Are you considered evil, good, or do you walk that fine line down the middle that's grey, and do what you feel within yourself to be right?"

He sighs.

„Are you interested in philosophy?"

I look at him.

„Why are you asking?"

„Because... define „good" and „evil"... Am I evil for killing or am I good for doing it FOR someone, for eliminating really nasty specimen of society, because this is what my targets are... well, ummm, in most cases at least, hahaha..."

He now empties his beer and the noise which the mug now causes by being put back on the table in a rather rough way, calls the attention of the blond waitress who quickly brings another one for my guest.

„I am just good they way I am. So... I must be considered „good" right?"

He grins and then looks at the bottom  of the waitress who leaves our table again.

***

„So let me continue with the next question then... Are those tattoos simply decorative or do they have specific meanings?"

„Ahhh..."

Again, there is this charming smile.

„The „Blood Writing" or „Vallaslin" as we call it. This will always identify me as dalish, yes...  Well, yes, there is a meaning. Those set us apart from the shemlen and also, they remind us to our tradition and beliefs... and that we should never surrender those ever again... every Vallaslin stands for an elven god and no, I will not tell you for which one mine stands for... bla bla bla..."

He drinks some more beer.

„ Ahhh... you know what... I don´t give a shit about tradition... not any more... I... have left my tribe... I had good reasons for that. I am still proud of my Blood Writing though because having this is a sign of strength. Also... women – and men – like it and many times feel the urge to find out how much of my body is covered with these."

He laughs.

***

„Talking about the Dalish – your origin... the next question really fits to this topic... Do you consider the Dalish your family or have you abandoned them for what the rest of the world offers?"

„I do not only have abandoned them, lady... I have killed the keeper and many others. There is nothing more to say."

I bet he can see that I swallow, but I do not make any comment about what he just said. Instead, I look back at the notes again and reading the next question makes me chuckle now. I am happy to get away from the rather serious topics for now.

***

„Oh, I am sure that this one will make you smile again, Valendar, here it is:  Do they all  look so delicious? I think, it is about the dalish people... are they all … attractive?"

He starts to laugh now and looks at me with his green eyes, they seem to be full of life again and he raises an eyebrow.

„Ohhhh, I do not only LOOK delicious, hahahaha. I do not know about that though with other dalish... hahaha. I know that you human people tend to find us elves attractive though, so who knows? Maybe we DO look delicious, all of us!"

His answer makes me laugh and both of us sit here now with a grin on our lips. A few fine strands of red hair hand loose in front of his face and he drinks another sip of beer now, obviously waiting for the next question.

***

„Are you glad to be a Gray Warden? And why?"

He sighs.

„No... Yes... Ahhhh.... See, I did not choose to become... that. The Blight is a really nasty enemy... and all this foul  blood... it really stinks and to be honest – I am really happy once this is over. Having this title though opens doors too, if you know what I mean."

He even winks at me now which makes him look really charming once more.

„We should be almost done with these silly questions, shouldn´t we?"

I nod.

„Yes, only two more, then we are done. Are you happy when it is over? Am I that bad of a company?"

He grins.

„Not at all lady... but... whoever wants to know all those things about me... ahhhh, I did not know that I am THAT interesting, you know. And no one asked about the length of my penis yet, I am disappointed as I just thought of an alternate answer to this question, haha."

„Which would be?"

„The truth."

I shake my head with a smile on my face, then I read the next question.

***

„What do you think would make your world a better place? These changes can be selfishly for your own benefit... but if so what would you do to make these changes happen if you could?"

„Naaaaahhhhh.... again... so serious...."

He sighs.

„My world is perfect as it is... Wait, no... That was a lie. Hahaha... If I could I would bathe every single dwarven man that exists... and shave their women. I would have more jobs and also I would have even more sex."

He smiles at me while I do not say a single word.

„Lady, you did not expect me to say things like „I would pray to the gods for eternal peace for all countries", did you?"

Laughing I shake my head.

„Actually, no... I did not expect that. Are you ready for the last question then?"

He empties the second mug of beer.

„Of course."

***

„Have you ever turned your back on the people who trusted you IN CASE  anyone ever trusted you before?"

He raises an eyebrow and grins at me

„Oh, people have trusted me before, yes. It was... fatal for many of them. Did that... answer the question appropriately?"

I smile at him and empty my beer now as well.

„Yes it did for sure, thank you very much"

He leans back on his chair again, looking into my eyes.

„So that was it now? I am free to leave again? I would like to be a little more polite but I have things to do, you know."

„Of course you are free to do whatever you wish to do now. I have to be very grateful already that you found the time to come here and answer the questions I have collected."

Something inside of me regrets that he wants to leave already. And maybe this is what he can see in my eyes now when he says:

„When you go to sleep tonight... you should be looking underneath your bed. Maybe it is me who hides there..."