10 Things Vasher & TenSoon Could Talk About
As requested by anon. :)
[Previously in this series (?): Lightsong & Hrathen]
If Vasher & TenSoon had a chance to talk (which is actually not outside the realm of possibility, I guess!), here's what they might chat about.
[THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR WARBREAKER SPOILERS!]
1. That TenSoon is a Dog
Vasher: So. You're a dog. TenSoon: It is the body I have grown accustomed to. TenSoon: When it was first forced upon me, I hated it. But I have since grown to see the things it can do--the speed, the silence, the ferocity--and have grown to see it as--me. Vasher: Oh. Vasher: Thought maybe it looked like a good body to avoid people and take naps. Vahser: You are, as the kids say, "floufey." TenSoon: ... TenSoon: Let's change topics.
2. That Vasher is a Priest
TenSoon: You traveled to Roshar & now serve their god? Vasher: "Serve" is an overstatement. Vasher: I'm an ardent. Let's me avoid some of the worst customs of this barbaric planet. Vasher: On Roshar, the priesthood is often for those who don't otherwise fit in. TenSoon: I understand. I am a dog. Vasher: Lucky bastard.
3. Bad First Impressions
TenSoon: I can now say that Vin was my final master--and my greatest. TenSoon: But our initial interactions where she killed a dog and forced me to assume a nonhuman form against my will--that was rough. Vasher: Yeah. Vivenna's all right now, but when we first met, she was actively trying to start a war. Or so I thought. TenSoon: Why did you think that? Vasher: Because she was taking concrete actions that made war more likely. TenSoon: I can see how you got there.
4. Learning to Respect Someone
Vasher: What changed your mind--about Vin? TenSoon: Time, I suppose? I watched her live. Fight. Love. Try. Be human. TenSoon: She was magnificent and fragile, all at once. TenSoon: Is that how it was for you, with Vivenna? Vasher: Nah, I just handed her my evil-detecting magic sword. TenSoon: That seems...easier? Vasher: It's a convenient tool if you ignore everything else about it.
5. Guiding the Hero
TenSoon: Somehow, in the intervening years, I've become the sort of figure who appears from the darkness to guide the hero. TenSoon: You wouldn't know Wax Ladrian, but I literally guided him through dark underground caverns. How mythological of me. Vasher: Yeah, I've been teaching various protagonists how to swordfight and believe in themselves and all of that. Vasher: Got to attack Kaladin Stormblessed with laundry once. TenSoon: ... Vahser: You had to be there.
6. Using a Trick to Survive
TenSoon: ...And by convincing them that I didn't want to die in my dog body, I tricked them into "forcing" me to assume it, which allowed me to escape. Vasher: Classic. Vasher: When I need to kill someone whose talent with a sword I can't match, I give them all of my Breath. All at once. TenSoon: ...Which means what, exactly? Vasher: It's like I give them a sudden gift so surprising and so pleasurable that they freeze, allowing me to stab them. TenSoon: ... Vasher: It's less sexual than it sounds. TenSoon: Are you...sure?
7. Losing Memories
TenSoon: ...And because we enacted the Resolution, I lost memories. Not all of my memories, but some portion of them are gone, never to be recovered. Vasher: Yeah, since I Returned, I don't remember anything about my first life. Vasher: I feel essentially no connection to that man, whoever he was. TenSoon: What if he was a bubbly optimist? Vasher: Uggghhhhh don't even SAY that...
8. Passing Into Mythology
Vasher: You and I are old. Super old. TenSoon: [dog nod] We've seen kingdoms rise and fall. Vasher: Generations come and go. TenSoon: We've lived on planets where we became part of the mythology. Vasher: Yeah. I've been mythologized as multiple people, actually, as both the great villain and the great savior. TenSoon: I got turned into a stuffed animal. TenSoon: For children. Vasher: Yours is worse.
