Lol just typed this up over a couple of weeks for fun. I really enjoy writing their interactions as they're the best of buds and their interaction in my upcoming novel [i]The Angaran Chronicles: The Underside[/i], is one of my favourite scenes to read and write. Would've made a new thread, but it's so short it'd be a waste. So please enjoy!

Arken smiled, leaned back in his leather chair and swivelled side to side slightly.

'Anargrin,' he said as his gaze raised to the ceiling in thought. 'Who do you think would've won?'

'Who would've won what?' said the elf, by contrast, Anargrin sat hunched in his chair as relaxed as a brick wall. His eyes fixed down on the carpet.

'Between us, in a fight, I mean. Before we met, in our youths.'

'At what age, exactly?'

'Oh, I don't know, old friend, when we were 24, 25 about, I suppose.'

It was Anargrin's turn to raise his gaze. 'Me.'

Arken couldn't help scoff. 'That was a quick answer, Anargrin. How do you figure that?'

Anargrin shrugged and looked at the floor again. 'I was nearing the…end of my Hunter apprenticeship at that time. You were just finishing your tenure as warrior-Prince having just defeated your half-brother…?'

'King Kolten,' said Arken. 'Right bastard he was, both literally and figuratively.'

Anargrin smiled. 'I suppose that's one thing I have over you; I wasn't born a bastard.'

Arken shrugged. 'You still haven't answered my question, Anargrin.'

Anargrin pursed his lips and snatched his glass of whiskey off Arken's desk and took a sip. 'You were a soldier, a commander of men, not just that but unenhanced, mortal men and as I understand it you had to hold back your full...potential as to not give away the fact that you weren't exactly normal, am I right?'

'Indeed,' said Arken as he took a small sip of his drink.

'Well, I'm sure you've figured out where I'm going with this…'

'Let's say I haven't, Anargrin and humour me, please.'

'By that time I'd been an apprentice vampire Hunter for a good five years, I'd slain many an unnatural enemy not just vampires but trolls and the in not just single combat, but many others. I had even defeated a few rogue Hunters that were much older than me. I had much more experience than you in fighting and killing unnatural beings and not just that fighting in small scale one on one combat, both in hand to hand and the blade. Unlike you, I knew my limits in my ability as a Hunter and an Assassin. I was thought to be one of the "rising stars" of the time for good reason, Arken. Especially because Malidil was far past her prime so I didn't have a master to rely on when things went off badly. That's why. Don't get me wrong she was a superlative swordswoman and had an amazing head on her shoulders and many of the plans we pulled she'd thought of. Still, I had to perform much more heavy lifting than many Hunter-apprentices before or since, without the crutch of magic.'

Anargrin smiled and sipped his drink.

Arken smiled back.' Some would think you were being arrogant or boastful, then.'

Anargrin just pursed his lips and shrugged.

Arken shrugged too. 'And some would think you have spent a lot of time thinking about this, but you just came up with it then, didn't you?'

'Yes and no,' said Anargrin. 'When I first heard about you, "The King who is a Hunter" I would've liked to test my skill against yours.'

'Indeed, Anargrin. Ah, but you are coming from this with one hell of an assumption.'

Anargrin's eyes widened. 'Assumption? Of what?’

‘You assumed that you would know of my true capability as a Hunter, and no one knew I was a Hunter until I revealed myself to them at the beginning of the rebellion against me.’

The elf-Hunter frowned. ‘Yes, I suppose…’

Arken raised his palm, and a ball of light rose to float above it a few millimetres. ‘And on top of that, while I have never been the best at it, I can use magic, and blink, so…’

‘You’d take me by surprise,’ said Anargrin skulling back the remnants of his whiskey then shaking his head. ‘Assuming you even see me coming.’

‘This is a hypothetical fight, Anargrin,’ said Arken. ‘A “fight,” which already means that I have “seen you coming”.’

Anargrin rolled his eyes and sighed. ‘Yes, alright. “Know your enemy” is a core tenant of the Hunters, and for a good reason. But if I did know of your abilities, I would win.’

‘Ah! You would “likely win” nothing is certain, remember?’

‘Well that goes for your hypothetical that I don’t know about your abilities, too and that assumes you know that I’m a Hunter, too. So…’

‘Ah! But that means you would be far more likely to underestimate me than I underestimate you.’

‘Yes, but what if I was hired to assassinate you-’

Arken frowned. ‘But-’

‘Yes, I know we wouldn’t have accepted such a contract, but what if we did, hypothetically. What if this was an alternate universe version of you who, for some reason, intended to exterminate the elves and dwarves in Hamar so I was sent to kill you, okay? Okay, anyway, what if I infiltrated your army and studied your abilities and figured out that you were a Hunter-’

‘But they wouldn’t have sent you as you were a Hunter-apprentice still. I would have been a too high profile of a target.

‘Yes, but what if they did, then-’

‘You would either report this back to the Head-Hunter at the time so you’d get a Black-Ops group or you’d do it in a way which I’d never have seen coming, making sure there would never be a fight in the first place!’

Anargrin frowned, stared into middle-distance, then glanced around while tapping his finger on Arken’s desk.

‘L-lets...just talk about something, eh?’ he said.

Arken nodded, and silence hung in the air.

‘Nice whiskey’ said Anargrin.

‘You know I only get the best.’

‘Uhhh.’

‘What does “uhhh” mean?’

‘Is it, though?’

Arken sighed.