Quintus watched as Ashya took the flask. She didn’t even ask what it was and Quintus couldn’t help but smile. He hid the smile behind a hand, amused as the girl shuddered from the taste of the strong liquor. Chuckling softly, he raised an eyebrow at her question. He didn’t answer though, letting her contemplate the flask. The next question halted his chuckles. His expression still seemed fairly amused. Lowering his hand, his smile and amusement quickly faded away.
“The first time I fought a darkspawn...” He murmured, looking away to the fire as if it was about to reveal a magical vision of the memory. Quintus thought back to running through the woods, back when his body was younger and stronger, when he could leap over fallen trees without stopping... When he wasn’t completely ruined by years of battle, but only by memories of failure, loss, and regret. He brought a hand to his forehead, his index finger rubbing at the wrinkles at his temple. Quintus focused his memories.
“I was headed to a main road traveling back to Denerim after...” He paused, a momentary hesitation, “I came across a group of soldiers being attacked, by hideous... beings. Before then, I had heard of them, seen illustrations, been weaved tales about them. I had even seen some from far away but never got close enough. I was not prepared for the smell, the deafening sounds they made, the brutality...” He looked over to Ashya, as if reminding himself that he had an audience that perhaps would prefer not to hear all the gruesome details he was remembering, “As you might have noticed, darkspawn are difficult to describe in words because they are not natural. They are not suppose to be among this world, living upon death...” He sighed, moving his legs to sit cross-legged. The leather armor stretched against his muscles. Resting his hands in the middle of his lap, he continued, “I aided the soldiers in pushing back and reducing the darkspawn’s numbers...” He paused before an awkward smile twitched at his thin lips. Quintus considered whether he should speak what his memory gave him next. Whether to tell the young girl that one of the darkspawn had magical capabilities. None of the ones they encountered today seemed to have such skills. Would it aid the girl to know or only serve to make her more uncomfortable? She could always be told later, but he had already been blunt with her already... perhaps too much so. Quintus decided to stay quiet, looking away to the fire with a look that he had concluded his recollection.