#and let the lord indeed not let yoh collapse until one thousand years have passed XD XD XD except if you need to collapse

[heniareth]

!!!!!!!! ASK??? INTERVIEWING THE BELOVEDS?????? Oh! OH!!!!!! QUESTIONS FOR THE BELOVEDS! QUESTIONS FOR THE BELOVEDS UNTIL I COLLAPSE (if the Lord lets me see it that will be approximately One Thousand Years)

For Astala (MY BELOVED!!!) if I may: 8. What do you think had the biggest impact on you growing up? 17. What makes you laugh? and 25. (freebie) Do you have a favourite celebration? And for Ilanlas (ALSO MY BELOVED!!!) I'd like to request: 5. What's your favourite thing to do in your free time? 18. What's the best way to cheer you up? and 21. Describe your ideal partner Naturally, only answer what you feel like, if anything. I send my best wishes for a gorgeous day and about twelve crates of ripe plums (do you and Ilanlas like plums? I can supply other goodies as needed)

<3 <3 <3

"Plant! Hey there!" Astala grins and waves at you. "Come on over, have a seat."

Ilanlas greets you with a nod. "It is good to see you. We heard you had ques-"

"Oh look! Plums!" Astala hauls up a whole crate (without crouching down) and throws you a delighted grin. "You are the best, Plant!"

"Like I said," Ilanlas starts again, "we heard you had questions. Seeing that Tabris is currently occupied-"

"I'm showing Plant's very generous gift the attention it deserves," Astala says, tosses one plum over to Ilanlas and offers you one too.

"I am sure you are," Ilanlas says. "Nevertheless, I think I will start answering."

"Sounds good." Astala bites with gusto into her plum. "Maker's Breath, where did you get these? They're delicious!"

"Anyways," Ilanlas says, "the questions."

5. What's your favorite thing to do in your free time?

"Ah, yes. Free time. It is a very... how do I explain this?"

Ilanlas falls silent for a second and thinks.

"There is never nothing to do in a clan. Work has no set start or end save for that you set yourself. In a way, work is life."

From where she's sitting, the second plum in her hand, Astala wrinkles her nose. "That sounds like terrible drudgery."

Ilanlas shrugs. "Not for me."

"Of course not, you like your job." Astala takes another bite of her plum, then lowers her hand and looks off into the distance. "Huh."

"My point is that I have not really had to worry about free time," Ilanlas continues. "When I was out on the hunt, I had to focus, of course; other than that I was free to do whatever, whenever, wherever... So long as things got done, of course. I suppose that is what you mean by ‘free time’, right?"

"You sound like you’ve never had real free time," Astala says and laughs. "Don't you have that in the clans?"

"Maybe we do not," Ilanlas shoots back. "We Dalish have no ‘bound' time since we are not bound to anybody. Why would we have need for ‘free’ time?"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Astala lifts her hands in surrender. "Free time is another city thing. But, just so you can answer Plant’s question, what do you do when there’s no work to be done? Say everyone’s asleep. What do you do just because you like doing it?"

Ilanlas thinks for a second, then hesitantly pulls a small wooden figure out of his pouch. It’s clearly a stick, although it has been carved into shape, with four legs, a head and two stumps on its head that look like horns. It is painted bright red.

"I like to carve," Ilanlas says and sets the figurine down on the ground in front of him. "It is... fun. Not as fun as fooling around with my friends, but they are not here." He waves his hand through the air as if to brush the matter aside. "Let us move on, shall we?"

18. What is the best way to cheer you up?

"Set me a challenge." Ilanlas straightens up with an eager glint in his eye. "When I beat it, I will feel much better."

"When you beat it?" Astala snickers. "Now that’s highly mighty."

Ilanlas turns his nose up at her. "Go back to eating plums."

"I could challenge you to a plum eating contest if you want," Astala says as she selects her next target.

"No thank you. I know my odds." Ilanlas very deliberately turns so that he’s only looking at you. "Back to your question, Plant; a challenge will do the trick. It takes my mind off of whatever has been bothering me. I do, however, not appreciate it when people try to distract me immediately. I need some time. But I am sure you have already noticed that. You are an observant one."

He takes a deep breath. "Ar suledin nadas. Let us move on to the last question."

21. Describe your ideal partner 

"Fenedhis lasa, I have to ask: is this necessary?" Ilanlas pinches the bridge of his nose.

Astala adds the core of the fourth plum to the growing pile and leans forward. "I'm very sure Plant would be okay with you not answering."

"No, I will answer," Ilanlas says grimly.

"You literally don’t have to."

"No, no, I must." He looks up to the sky and sighs heavily. “Well... Let me preface this by saying that I have never given this topic much thought. Very few people have caught my attention in... that way." His ears grow slightly redder as he adds. "Those who have, however, have left behind an intense impression. Tamlen was not one of those people, by the way. He w- is my best friend, as much as others might have assumed otherwise."

He stares at the dirt at his feet for a while. "If I ever were to pick somebody to bond with, I would look for a person who was patient and level-headed, but who would also know how to have fun. Ashalle always said we should all look for somebody who would compliment us. Most of the Creators come in pairs: Elgar'nan and Mythal, Dirthamen and Falon'din, Ghilan'nain and Andruil, June and Sylaise. Only the Dread Wolf walks alone, and he is accursed. I suppose that means that I would do well to search for somebody similar to Mythal. Justice and Vengeance are not so different as to reject each other, but not so alike that they feed each others' flames to the point of destruction."

"You don't sound very happy with that last bit," Astala interrupts. She has a half-eaten plum in her hand (the fifth) and is observing Ilanlas with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I have never been very good at settling down," Ilanlas says and shrugs. "Nor at satisfying expectations. Right now, I do not care about these things. I am bound to the Grey Wardens. That is my place."

"Well..." Astala finishes the rest of her plum and adds the core to her pile. She seems to want to say something more, but in the end, she shrugs. "You know that better than I do, for sure. So, is it my turn?"

Ilanlas gestures for her to take the stage and finally takes a bite out of the plum Astala had given him at the start of the conversation.

8. What do you think had the biggest impact on you growing up?

"Hm." Astala cleans her hand on the grass as her gaze becomes distant. It lingers on the horizon for a while until it snaps back to you, as if she is pulling herself back into the present moment. "I could tell you about the day my mother disappeared, because that's absolutely what had the biggest impact on me. I don't feel like opening that can of worms today, however, and you've already heard the story. So." She leans forward and grabs another plum out of the crate, throws it into the air and catches it in her other hand. "How about I tell you the story behind my love for plums?"

"The winter after my mother disappeared was very rough, the roughest one I remember. There was a cough going around the Alienage and killing people. My father got sick and Shianni as well, and Soris and I cared for them until they got better. Once they did, I got sick."

Astala is once again looking somewhere into the far-off distance. The plum, round and dark and ripe to bursting, is still sitting in her hand.

"I don't remember much, except that everything hurt and I was hot and cold at the same time. But because my father had been sick before me, he had been unable to work. I'd spent what money we had and then some on food and a little bit of medicine, and now that I was sick there was... well, we didn't have food."

She flashes you a quick look and shrugs. "I survived, as you can see, and I'm okay. I don't know how my father managed to provide for us between the grief and the remants of the cough. He still has it, sometimes. But I remember bitterly crying because I was so hungry and everything hurt. When he tried to comfort me, his arms were way too thin. He asked me: if there was one kind of food I would wish for right now, what would it be? I wanted to say plum tarts, but those seemed so out of reach that I settled for plums." She laughs quietly to herself. "Plums in winter, am I right?"

"Anyways, the next day my father came home from work--he worked for Bann Rodolf at the time--and he was a nervous wreck. Constantly looking over his shoulder. So he sits down next to me and unfolds his handkerchief and inside it are five plums. Five whole plums in the middle of winter! He told me later that bann Rodolf had had them imported from somewhere, that they had been terribly expensive and that he'd just... taken them. This was the only time that I know of that my father stole something."

She takes a bite out of her plum and chews slowly.

"A couple of days after that was Satinalia and the bann allowed him to take home some of the leftovers from the feast they'd had at his estate. We got meat and everything and things got better from that point on. But it all started with those five plums that my father stole for me." She grins. "It's a nicer story than that of my mother, isn't it?"

17. What makes you laugh?

"There are lots of things that make me laugh-"

"Now that is true," Ilanlas mutters into his plum.

"It is! -so I’m... not really sure what to single out here," Astala continues. "I mean, I like really bad puns. The worse, the better. Rascal is very silly sometimes and makes me laugh a lot as well, especially when he's doing things like jump around trying to catch a butterfly. He makes the dumbest faces." She chuckles briefly. "And Leliana and Zevran put on a show at camp a few nights ago, some kind of extremely dramatic Orlesian play. I think it was supposed to be a tragedy, but they played it for laughs and they did really well. My stomach hurt from how much I was laughing!"

"To be fair, Tabris, you find everything Zevran says funny," Ilanlas says.

Astala frowns at him. "I don’t! I don’t laugh when we’re talking about murder."

"But you laugh about everything else."

"Well." Astala crosses her arms. "He is a very funny guy."

Ilanlas smiles a knowing smile. "Of course, that must be it."

"It is," Astala insists. She looks positively flustered by now and turns to you with an almost pleading look. "Next question?"

25. Do you have a favorite celebration?

"Okay, no, but this is not an easy question. Here’s the thing." Astala straightens her posture and lifts her hands to illustrate her point. "On one hand, First Day is the best. It’s a sorely needed bright light in the middle of the dark winter, there’s chicken and the rest of the food is also amazing, the ceremony is beautiful and when it’s possible we even get visits or travel to other cities to visit family. Not that I have ever traveled anywhere, I don’t know any of my mother’s folks. But on the other hand, it’s freezing cold during that time and Summerday exists. And Summerday is the most cheerful day of the year: it’s warm, we dance until the stars themselves set, there's lots of booze, lots of games... It’s amazing. Around that time we also celebrate most weddings. So, between those two..."

She thinks to herself for a while, then nods. "Between those two, I think I’d have to pick Summerday, as much as I love First Day. Nothing beats a celebration in summer."

"Keeper Marethari would find that very telling," Ilanlas says.

"How so?"

He shrugs. "Something about the prevalence of the outer world over the dreamt and hoped for world. I cannot replicate it, I am not the Keeper."

"Hm." Astala absentmindedly wipes her hands off on her trousers. "Valendrian wouldn't say much, to be honest, except maybe that Summerday is also a day of community and family and whatnot."

She nods quietly to herself, then turns abruptly to Ilanlas. "Hey, did I talk too much during your questions? I have the feeling I was interrupting you a lot more than you were interrupting me, so sorry about that. I just noticed now."

"I did not mind," Ilanlas says and shrugs. "I do not talk much."

Astala tilts her head at him. "Maybe you would talk more if I talked less? Maybe I'm talking over you?"

"No. I think I talked more than I would normally because you prod me with questions," Ilanlas answers. He starts turning his carved deer this way and that, observing it intently. "Don't let it get to your head, Tabris. The fact that you helped me during this interview-"

"I helped you? Aw, thank you for letting me know." Astala has a big grin on her face. "If you go on like that you'll turn into a big softie by the time we've dealt with the Archdemon."

Ilanlas throws her such a shocked look that Astala breaks out into loud laughter. Ilanlas stares at her for a few seconds before he shakes his head and turns back to you.

"Will you stay for dinner? I should be heading back to camp to start preparing the meat, anyways."

"Oh, please stay! It'll be so much fun. We can put some plums into the fire too!" Astala says, jumps up, and lifts the nearest crate of plums onto her shoulders.

Ilanlas shakes his head. "Not everything good must contain plums, Tabris. Let meat be meat."

"No, no, trust me," Astala says. "I have a hunch. Just you see, it's gonna be amazing."

"As you say," Ilanlas sighs. "I will save you one piece of meat to experiment with."

He turns to you and nods towards the distant glow of the campfire, from where the faint noises of chatter and of a barking dog travel over to you on the evening breeze.

"Ready when you are, lethallan."

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TRANSLATIONS

Ar suledin nadas: Now I must suffer.

Fenedhis lasa: A common curse (exact meaning unknown).

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(Did I write a self-insert story here? Maybe so. I hope you enjoyed it ^^)