Young Stefen?
Dec. 12th, 2012 09:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gildaurel posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
last_herald_mageStrains of conversation and laughter shifted in through the cracked window of Medren’s chamber, as groups of trainees headed home from their afternoon classes. He fiddled with his lute half-heartedly, feeling unmotivated and a bit sorry for himself. Cora barely tolerates my company, and I’ve been courting her for a fortnight now. At least. The more I chase, the quicker she runs. He sighed. To think Stef managed to kiss her…albeit on a dare… Thoughts of his roommate disheartened him further. Two nights he hasn’t been home, no reason to hope for company to lighten my mood tonight. I suppose I could go see Uncle Van. Not like he ever has company for dinner besides a stack of papers. Besides, it must be weeks—a month, even—since I’ve had a real conversation with him. Not that Vanyel would ever notice.
His uncle certainly made time for him when needed, but was always immersed in seemingly interminable mountains of paperwork and magical tasks that boggled Medren’s mind. Yet while he often felt he was intruding, he usually found that Vanyel was glad he visited. Because nobody does. Not with how he discourages companionship and friendship.
A squeak of the door interrupted his thoughts. “Medren! It’s been ages!” Stefen exclaimed melodramatically, opening his arms to wrap him in a hug.
Medren rolled his eyes and returned the hug a bit less exuberantly. “Two days, Stef. Gods only know where you’ve been.”
“Everywhere!” Shrugging out of his patched cloak, Stefen flopped on his bed. “I was leaving my last lesson for the week when I ran into a Blue who was just finishing his lesson, and…” he paused to wink at Medren “….we started talking. He had these gorgeous blue eyes that matched his uniform, you know the type.”
“Not exactly,” Medren muttered, but Stefen didn’t seem to be listening.
“At any rate, turns out he’s absolutely swimming in wealth; he took me to his family’s ‘town home’—his parents are in the country for the summer—and gave me the royal treatment for two entire days.”
“Whatever brought you back?” Medren asked sourly, sitting on his own bed.
“What’s up your bum?” Stefen rolled on his bed to face Medren. “Still after the elusive Cora?”
Sighing, Medren tossed a sack of coins into the air, catching it as it fell. “Yes,” he groaned.
“I tell you, she is not worth the trouble. Why don’t we go out to a party in the city and you can meet someone who might actually be able to write a song? I heard the Black Rooster is having a sort of pre-Solstice fete—“
“I have plans,” Medren interrupted him. Stefen’s enthusiasm was not catching, at least not this time; much as he enjoyed a night out with his younger roommate, he knew they would not be getting home before daylight the next morning. And Gods know I need to attend every class, even if Stef is a musical genius who can compose a song without a second thought.
“Which are?” Stefen asked, raising an eyebrow pointedly. “I know when you’re making excuses, Medren.”
“I’m having dinner with my uncle.”
“Now that is a lie if I ever heard one! You’ve never even mentioned having an uncle, or any relative! From one bastard to another, let me tell you, excuses involving family are a poor disguise.”
“I do have an uncle, thank you very much,” Medren replied, standing up from his bed and turning toward the window, “I just don’t mention him often.”
“An uncle at Haven? What is he, some sort of courtier representing your backwater keep’s interests?”
And here it comes, the moment I’ve been avoiding with Stef. He looked out across the courtyard for a moment before looking back at Stefen. “Herald-Mage Vanyel Ashkevron.”
It was almost worth it for the pleasure of watching Stefen turn white, then red. “Herald-Mage Vanyel—“ he spluttered, seemingly unable to get the rest out. Then, surer—“You are the absolute worst at coming up with plausible excuses, Medren. I swear on all the Gods above, that is the most ridiculous idea I have ever heard.”
“It’s true,” Medren said simply, dropping his hand from the window. “I hate mentioning it because, well, look at you.”
After hearing the words “it’s true,” Stefen seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilation; sitting upright in his bed, he finally gathered himself enough to squeak, “If you are pulling one on me—“
“It’s true,” Medren repeated, more forcefully. And this is why I hate to tell people. I try to forget that he’s perhaps the most famous Valdemaran ever, not to mention powerful enough to level the city. Tends to prevent me from having a normal conversation with him—which, given his general reticence, is hard enough already.
“Oh my Gods, Gods, Gods!” Falling back onto the bed, Stefen clutched a pillow to himself. “Did you know I know every Vanyel song?”
“Please don’t sing them.” Medren pressed a hand to his forehead. “I heard them enough at Forst Reach; Lady Treesa insisted they be sung by every wandering minstrel.”
“Is he as absolutely, perfectly beautiful up close?” Stefen asked suddenly.
“I—“
“Yes, I just know he is,” Stefen moaned. “And I can’t possibly hope that he might be shaych, despite that pretty face and lack of a wife, because Gods know I am more than familiar with the Palace shaych community.”
Medren hesitated. Should I tell him? Would it only encourage this—whatever this is? Then, a slow, somewhat humorous thought—Well, couldn’t Uncle Van stand to have a Stef set on him?
“You’re stalling, Medren.” A glimmer of hope lit Stefen’s face.
“It’s—well, believe it or not—he is.”
“He is shaych?!” Standing up, Stefen grabbed Medren with a somewhat desperate, fanatical look. “Medren…”
“I didn’t promise an introduction!” Brushing off Stefen’s hands, he shook his head. “He’s not very open to meeting new people—he’s been through a lot, Stef. I mean, more than just the war stories. You… you can’t just expect me to introduce you in the Palace halls, alright?”
“Fine,” Stefen said, backing away. “I didn’t even say that I wanted you to. I just—I don’t know why, it seems strange even to me—” The look in Stefen’s eyes was that strange one Medren had glimpsed at times; a look as if an older, wiser soul stood in his errant roommate’s place. “—I think we would get along.”
“Well… “ The comment was odd, more than usually so, even for Stefen. “… I might be able to arrange something. But there are a few things you should know about him first…”
Medren was sure that Stefen had never looked so earnestly attentive in his entire life.
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Date: 2012-12-13 09:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-13 11:42 am (UTC)And then, of course, the two of them never actually discuss it besides a brief nod in the direction of "do you miss your lifebond?"
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Date: 2012-12-13 12:54 pm (UTC)(random but, I headcanon that they talked about it in the kyree caves, because there's that stray clause about Van opening up to Stef while Stef is opening up to Hyrryl, and I kinda figure, it HAD to come up in there somehow.)
eta: I kinda think that Stef getting Medren to make people think they were already dating is MASSIVELY creepy and stalkerish but a) Medren's idea, not Stef's, and b) oh come on everyone who knew them both was assuming that anyway, right? (I always wonder if Jisa noticed they were lifebonded long before Van did...)
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Date: 2012-12-13 02:19 pm (UTC)When I wrote the Sovvan fic, I toyed with Vanyel opening up to Stef, but then decided it was a. not supported by canon and b. OOC for Van-- too soon.
I always wonder whether anyone besides Withen and Treesa actually believed they were dating (which is already somewhat odd/ OOC for Withen, even if he did start to come around, and seemed a bit forced to set up the implied sex scene). After Jisa's marriage, it seems some people are talking about it, but would anyone assume anything about Van? Canon's a bit contradictory here, because Stefen says at the start of Price that most people don't even know Van is shaych-- although I guess that doesn't apply to close friends.
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Date: 2012-12-14 10:48 am (UTC)IMO that was a good call there; Van opening up would have been a tidy, easy ending and instead we got delicious failure to communicate, which felt much more sensitive. <3
You're right, of course - wasn't it that people were surprised at Van saying Stef would be in his room? Which would indicate that people weren't assuming until then but may have done so afterwards... :P One element to the whole thing that always gets me; as far as everyone at the Palace knows, Van is a reclusive virgin, but everyone at Forst Reach thinks he's a total manwhore? I'm not sure that prejudice can entirely explain this phenomenon. :P (I did once come up with a convoluted reason - tl;dr Van, in his late teens, having a drunken & indiscreet conversation with Lissa about his relationship disasters, in the middle of a terrible family party (possibly Meke's wedding?), eavesdropping thereof).
lol, I really should try writing/posting more of that kind of 'THIS HAPPENED' snippetiness that is not going to ever feel like a 'real fic' because yeah, bang to rights, I will indiscriminately read anything about this ship so really why not ;__;
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Date: 2012-12-14 02:19 pm (UTC)Please do, I too read anything indiscriminately, although I sometimes regret that choice. I don't think there's any way to make it plausible that Withen came around so easily, but I like the idea of the Van/Liss failed relationship conversation/ VAN DOES IMPLY THAT HE WAS A TEENAGE MANWHORE POST-LENDEL (I mean, what is that comment to Tashir about having enough experience to make him enjoy it? And that when he was 19 he thought he ruled the world/ apparently wasn't sad about Tylendel anymore? Plus, the Lackey-approved fic about Guardsman Jonne didn't exactly imply that they'd known each other ages before they got it on in the hot springs.) Okay, fine, maybe not that he was manwhore, but at least that he was getting around, right??
I so want to write that fic. Time, where are you?
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Date: 2012-12-14 08:05 pm (UTC)Soooo my theory is...for a short time, possibly among the Tayledras...he dated a couple. He had a great time with this until he became insanely jealous of them and had an emotional meltdown and dumped them; unfortunately he chose to vent about this before an audience.
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Date: 2012-12-14 11:19 pm (UTC)Interesting theory! I always figured he slept with at least one Tayledras. I can almost see Starwind and Moondance inviting him in for a threesome; Moondance did kiss him at the end of Pawn!
Regardless, he must have been doing it somewhere. I always figured he slept with some heralds, maybe ones that died on the Border. Either way, he certainly wasn't celibate canon-wise between Pawn and the unmentionable.
I love imagining emotionally awkward Vanyel engaging in morning-after conversations.
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Date: 2012-12-15 12:02 am (UTC)I've never been sure about Van/Moondance(/Starwind) because of how vulnerable Van is in relation to them - it's so close to being a parental kind of relationship that I've tended to shy from the idea of shipping it. Their affection is so sweet and healing, though, and I love their friendship ;__; (the only time I ever tried to write Moondance/Starwind their dialogue quirks made me want to kill myself.)
AUGH OMG yeah. Especially if he is having to deal with how non-emotionally-invested he is. :/ Even with Stef it was like two minutes of sweet and normal and then /runs away, goes off and sulks until he is absolutely forced to stop doing so. Oh Van. <3
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Date: 2012-12-17 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
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