Ifan Orestson

1) What's your name?
Ifan Orestson

2) Do you know why you were named that?
Yes. My name is Ifan, son of Orest. Therefore I am Ifan Orestson.

3) Are you single or taken?
Did Hildi put you up to this? If she did … well, no, I'm not taken. Never will be. Don't want any ties to anywhere.

4) Have any abilities or powers?
If you count stubbornness as a power, then I am Lord Archmagus of Stubbornness. But really, no. I don't have anything. Don't want anything neither. It's more trouble than it's worth.

5) Stop being a Mary-Sue
Excuse me? I'm a bloke. And I'm not a whining little … you know … My knife here says different, so move along before you experience a difference of opinion.

6) Uh … if you were to get in a fight with a strong wrestler, do you think you'd win?
Look at me. What do you think? I'm 5'11" and a northlander. The wrestler is probably kin. Or thick. But if you want to make it fair, if I was unarmed … *shrugs* … I'd give him something to remember.


7) Riiight … Have any family members?
Yes. Next question.
*sigh*
If I tell you, will you stop snivelling? Fine. I had three sisters and a brother. And a brother in law. Though not any longer. Parents dead. Two sisters and the brat dead. Now I'm stuck with Hildi and my loose-tongued brother in law.

8) Oh? How about pets?
No. Not unless you count horses … then yes. Two. Well, one. Well … *counts fingers* I gave that bay gelding to Nyssa and Trajan had little coin for that temperamental buckskin, so I probably own that one too. One. I have one.

9) Cool, I guess. Tell me something you don't like.
Pointless questions. People who talk too much and do too little. Being tied to anywhere for too long. Owing people money.

10) And something that you do like?
Being free. Able to go where I please.
What? You want more?
Fine. *exasperated sigh* I need to have a new horizon, new places to see. I'm searching for something, or at least I was. Perhaps I've found it in Nyssa. Stop looking so puzzled. It's not what you think. I made a promise to get her home. I keep my promises. It's just that … with her around … the emptiness is lessened …

11) Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?
When do you think I have time for hobbies? When I was younger I liked to hike and go far afield. I also liked hunting and training with my father's longsword *laughs* Once it was far too big for me. I could barely lift it. Now I carry it where ever I go. But hunting happens little these days. Too hard to arrange and it's not like I have a pack and horsemen at my beck and call. No, that's all gone to Hildi now… if there was any left.

12) What kind of animal are you?
Something tough which survives. But not a Shryke. If you say I'm that then I'll be anything but those carrion eaters. Filthy things.

13) Name your worst habits.
I don't speak. I don't tell people all I should. And I'm as stubborn as they come *laughs sadly* Must be a family trait. Freya was stubborn too …
*eyes the reader*
Do I have to say more?

14) Do you look up to anyone at all?
No. Other people have their rituals and their false smiles hiding the knives in their hands. Though, the young King of Rhegan is something to behold. Strength and a way with his people. He's beloved, you know. Beloved by all, both courtier and soldier.

Then again, my Father, stubborn bastard, had a way with people too. A kindness masking stone. Stupid bugger. His kindness killed him a long time before the sickness got him.

15) Ever want to marry and have kids one day?
Of course. But then that brings in the problem of raising the brats and teaching them right from wrong and protecting them. Family gives you a weakness. Gives you something to lose *frowns* No. No children. No wife neither.

16) Do you have any fangirls/fanboys?
Nah, I'm not pretty enough. A great hulking Northlander like me? No, the one with fangirls will be that prettyboy Elrik. Him and his golden dragon draw admiring looks everywhere. That and his preening and his flirting. And all the lasses fall for it. Don't they know that they'll never have him? Riders like that are always bound up tighter than a marriage band with their dragons. Something about some law or something they have.

17) What are you most afraid of? I promise I won't laugh.
You'd better not.
I'm afraid of losing everything again. My world faded when my mother died bringing the brats into the world. It died when Cradlewell burned. So, no ties, not binding reasons to stay anywhere too long. No women, no children. Hildi is glad to see the back of me, too busy rebuilding the clan to worry about me. Though Trajan is a persistent tick I can't seem to get rid of.
And Nyssa. I'm afraid of losing Nyssa. I've seen how the men look at her, that hauntingly pale skin, glacial eyes and mane of raven dark hair. A true Far North maiden. Aye, I'm afraid of losing that one, even if she makes the emptiness a little less empty.

18) Ok, ok. What colour is your hair?
Oh geez, this again. I'm blonde, alright. Big and blonde. Northern blonde. The folk in the towns think it strange, marvel at its paleness. Probably more ashen blonde, going almost white or grey. They call it Wasteland Gold. I tell them where to stick their fancy words.

19) Eyes?
Blue.
*scowls*
Pale blue. Sky blue. Take your pick. Blue blue blue. Blue grey. Taynor says they're like a stormy sky, or like the fine clouded glass available in the market. Now there's a sensible woman with words.

20) What do you usually wear?
Whatever's comfortable to fight or travel in. Cloth shirt, heavy weave or leather jerkin. My leather bracers. I used to have a band across my upper left arm with a metal disk bearing my family mark, but Hildi disowned me and I misplaced it. And then the usual decent boots, goodly made and hard wearing. If I have to wear a cloak, my good long navy one secured with a gifted pin.

21) Ok. What's your religion?
My people follow Lur above the Goddess and the Hunter, but I'm not so sure. I could say I pick the best for the circumstances, I pay tribute at the larger shrines to the Goddess or the Hunter, but that's out of respect for my companions. It's not like any of those two or their offspring have done anything of good in my life.

22) Anyways, where do you live?
My father's Thanedom was in the northern territories of Rhegan, named the wastelands by ancient scholars who declared no one could live there. They were wrong. My people were semi-nomadic, hunters and their families following the game to return to Cradlewell for the winter. But I don't live anywhere really. The longest I've been in one place was Natul, but I was recovering from a wound and wasn't really living anywhere. But Caeris, capital of Rhegan, has a space for me – a room in the household of Lord Gretham or the Lord Archmagus, his father. I sleep there when I come to Caeris.

23) What class are you? (Low class, middle class, high class)
My Father was a thane, a noble overseeing the land around Cradlewell. Perhaps this makes me high class, being a nobleman's son … a disowned nobleman's son.

24) How many friends do you have?
Friends. I can probably name my "friends" on my bare hands. Not that they are truly my friends, normally requiring coin or some other trinket to get help out of them. But Trajan is loyal, like a hound I can't get rid of. Keep sending him away and he keeps coming back. Perhaps I have more …

25) Alright. What's your favourite food?
Anything Hildi doesn't cook. Whoever said women can cook has never met my shieldmaiden of a sister. Stupid wench can't even heat trail mix properly to make it edible, and I wouldn't want her preparing my rations. If she marries, she'll need a good husband with a strong stomach.

26) What's your favourite place?
Anywhere I can see the stars. Preferably a blanket overhead with the wind blowing down from the mountains and across the plains. I used to lie out at night and simply watch them. This probably explains why I hate sleeping on a proper bed in a city.