Chapter 2 Dialogue 1

After everyone calls it a night, Torren goes to Vaelyn’s room and knocks on his door.

Torren: “Hey V, you got a minute?”

Vaelyn: “Yeah, come in. I am just getting started on growing some herbs. It has been a while since I last restocked and I figured it was a good idea to be prepared”

T: “Yeah that’ll be good…”

Torren looks around almost trying to avoid what he’s about to talk about.

T: “So… I just had a thing with Jasiri go down about Tobias… got pretty heated.”

Vaelyn goes back to planting herbs as they chat.

V: “What do you mean heated? What happened?”

T: “SO remember when Schmead, Excalibur, and I went into town to return the money? Well we did that and then tried to solve the issue with the engines, you know, kill two birds with one stone and all. We met up with those hunters again because one of them was a fire genasi and we figured he might be able to jump start things. We had to make a deal to get him to agree to it”

V: “Makes sense. So what caused the rift between you and Jasiri? You seemed to be quite friendly over the last couple of days”

T: “The deal was that we’d give them 10 minutes with Tobias tied up. They were not fans of his and jumped at the opportunity. Seemed like a pretty pragmatic deal at the time, we get our engines up and running, they get to exact some vengeance on the guy that’s been making their lives difficult for a few years now, win-win.”

V: “Sounds like a fair exchange to me.”

T: “Right? HINDSIGHT being 20/20, 10 minutes might have been a little too much time, and we may have underestimated their resentment towards ol’ tied up Toby. Plus Excalibur told them he was a healer right before things started popping off so they got a little bit overzealous with the beatdown. So they pulled out some knives, which was a little too much, Schmead got understandably scared and booked it and right when Excalibur and I were about to try and calm things down Jasiri came quite literally roaring in threating everyone.”

In a tone bordering on angry, Vaelyn speaks.

V: “Torr, we have both seen how depraved people can be when they think there are no repercussions. Excalibur should not have offered that information but we cannot control others. I learned the hard way when Nyra stabbed me with that dagger the lengths people will go when they have the opportunity. I had hoped that would serve as an example to you as well.”

Vaelyn pauses for a moment, seeming to settle down

V: “Torr, I am sorry that you went through that and for what it is worth, I would probably have made a similar deal. We are all just tools, made to serve a purpose. If Tobias’s purpose was to help get this ship out of this cave by being a punching bag, so be it. But not everyone sees the world as we do, nor have they shared our experiences.”

In a more joking tone:

V: “You are supposed to be the smart one, remember?”

T: “I know I know.”

Torren shakes his heads

T: “The whole deal between the hunters and Tobias felt… personal for me though, if that makes sense?”

V: “Honestly, no. It doesn’t.”

T: “First I felt bad for taking Tobias at his word and jumping to the conclusion that they stole Hilda’s stuff. I was also mad at myself for it. All I’ve wanted to do since that happened was make it up to those guys, hence the apology letter I left them. So the opportunity presented itself to let them rough him up a bit. I felt good that I could help them and that they’d get to work out some aggression on their tormentor. Then I put myself in THEIR Shoes in that moment… and I understood them… I thought about what it would be like if I were able to do what they were doing to everyone back in Neradel… To the one who gave me the scar across my face and put me in the infirmary for weeks…”

Torren’s voice trails off and he starts looking really sad

T: “… and to my mother for what she let happen to me… So when they REALLY started going at it… it didn’t bother me… I felt happy for them. I wanted that feeling man.”

V: “Good luck finding it. But I see the reasoning behind everything you did. If Jasiri can’t, or even if he can but just can’t accept it as valid, then that is just a difference we will have to move past. I am not going to admonish you for what you did. If you want to repair what happened with Jasiri, that is up to you, however you see fit.”

T: “You know I do. Not only will we be working together on the crew, I hate when people are mad me. Right now he seems pretty pissed and rightfully so. He wasn’t wrong, it was pretty fucked up, but in the moment I didn’t want to acknowledge it.”

T: “But that brings me to my next question: How much of what has happened to us do you feel comfortable with me sharing with him so I can clear the air? We know he knows something is up with you, but to what extent, and what extent do you feel comfortable with me sharing?”

V: “Whether or not it qualifies as fucked up, we were born and raised for a specific job. What matters is did the task get completed, and in this case it did. I would ask, as your brother, that you leave my condition out of it. Somehow, Jasiri knows something but I doubt he has the whole picture and I would prefer it stays that way. But I won’t control you or force you to do anything. We both got enough of that from our mothers.”

T: “I can do that. I’ll level with him on the basics surrounding you but be sure to exclude going too deep into you and your situation. Do you think you’ll ever tell them?”

V: “I would rather not. Most of the world looks down on us for being elves, the other part of the world looks down on us for being human. I don’t need to give people another reason to look down on me. What benefit would I get by telling him? You think he understands this any better than we do?”

T: “I mean he is a paladin, he should be able to fix you right up!”

Torren smacks Vaelyn on the shoulder. Vaelyn rolls his eyes.

V: “Yeah, sure”

T: “Welp, I have some letters to write. Hopefully I can convince Jasiri to sit down and have a chat to clear the air tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening V.”

V: “For you, anytime”

Torren makes finger guns and goes to his room to write his letters to Excalibur, Schmead and Jasiri

After Torren leaves, Vaelyn smiles to himself.

V:”Nothing quite like talking to you Torr. How did we go through the same shit and you still think people are just willing to help with no ulterior motive? I hope you never change brother.”

Vaelyn goes back to his gardening.