Valandil

Name
Valandil (The Valiant, Wolfcub)

Physical Traits
A tall night elf, with distinctive white hair and beard. He carries an axe in honour of his adopted Dwarven father, he also travels with a white cat, Lessien.

Race and Class
Night Elf, Hunter

Occupation
Exceptional Skinner and Leatherworker

Family
Mother, Eldarwen (resides in Dolanaar) Father, Unkown Adopted Father, Shenn Ironfoot

Background
Taken from Valandil's Journal

''How long has it been ? How long have I looked for him, wasted time and energy on a fools task ? The answers just dont seem to come to me anymore. The hunger and desire to find this person, and with him he answers to so many questions, it just seems to have left me. I am tired and ache from it all. All it has brought me so far is bitterness and failure, two traits that just dont sit well with me.''

''The path from my home and the only family I ever knew has been a long one, I sit here now in my adopted home of Ironforge writing this, and can see how much my quest has changed the impetuous child that left Dolanaar all those years ago. My dear friend Shenn said I should keep a record of all this, so I dont forget he said, strange that I should sit here and be following the ramblings of a Dwarf, but he has never failed me yet, and I do owe alot to him. ''

''It all seems to stems from my childhood I guess, I only ever remember my mother, Eldarwen, being in my life, nothing about my father. I suppose it shouldn't have bothered me, I mean there was always too much trouble to get into really, time to be, well to be a child, scrapes on knees and smacked backside for indisgressions, and it wasnt a bad time for me, my mother showered me with as much love as a I could have hoped for. So what started it all, what set me off, thats a question that I have had on mind most nights sonce leaving. I think it was a foolish boys pride, wanting to know who his father was, why he was never around, what had happened to him. ''

''At first Mother just used to change the conversation, and I probably shut about asking, as her avoidance usually meant more chores that suddenly required my immediate attention. But I as grew up, taller and stronger, in mind as well as physique, I started to see that she deliberately steered the conversation away from my questions about this man, my father. I struggled to understand why she didnt want me knowing about him, even if he had died, surely there was no shame in it. This ate away at my conscience like a cancer. I couldnt get anything out of her, and my frustration soon, inevitably turned to anger. I remember being angry alot back then, and sulking alot on my own in the forests. But to her credit, she never once backed down from her refusal to tell me anything. ''

''My anger and frustration brought on my own questions about why she protected this mans identity so much, and I started filling the blanks myself. I could only think she was ashamed of him, perhaps he was criminal ? Maybe he had killed an innocent ? I still remember the day clearly when I finally thought I knew why she avoided talking about the man. I had been asking her again for anything about him, and she point blank refused. It suddenly hit me, that I might have been the cause, well not me per say, but my arrival, was it something about how I had been conceived. In my anger I lashed out and told her my thoughts, her silence at the time seemed to only confirm my suspicions, I stormed out of there, vowing never to return. ''

''In truth I havent returned either, I wont until I know for sure what she is hiding about him. Though the sight of her crying as I left still haunts me to this day, it is what I feel I must do. So it was I left my childhood home of Dolanaar, deciding then and there to leave behind the ways of a child and start a search for the one who is my father.''

''Friendship is something still foreign to me. Not that I don’t have any you understand, its more that, well I suppose my past has tended to make me close up, and not let any get close to me. Better that, than disappointing them, or them disappointing me. I don’t avoid others, or any warmth from then, I just am wary of others, yes that’s it. Caged. ''

''ill having said all this, the few that have persevered with me, I count as close as anything I have ever known as a family. There are two in particular that gives thanks to Elune for, everyday. Shenn, a mentor and Gilraen, the most faithful of companions I could ever wish for. ''

For the dwarf, well there is a lot I can say about that one. In the years I have spent in his company I have noticed more and more how much we have in common, rather than what differentiates us. For one thing he is stubborn, had it not been for that trait we both share, I might never have mastered all I have been fortunate enough to learn from this Dwarf. For another, he has a heart of the purest gold, and not so that he is blinded by what that metal does to others, he is simply my friend. I owe him everything really.

''He has not only just been a friend, he has been a mentor, a brother, and someone who has helped me grow. Not that our friendship started as such, he found me in a spot of bother, and close to death in one of my more reckless moods. I had taken on too much in a fight. It was this dwarf that came to my rescue, and cared for me till I was once more well enough to carry on. Shenn took me in, gave me once more that bond of family, but without any of the guilts and frustrations I had known to exist within my own family. It was a new start for me, and the dwarf taught me much, about myself and what I could become. He lectured me all to often, but again he saw what my angry soul could not possibly see or even want to back then. ''