Tenslayn Valerin is a Dunmer mage from the mages guild in Cyrodiil specializing in illusion magic. He is sent to Skyrim to approve the new arch mage at the college of Winterhold, but first he must pass through Riften. When Tenslayn meets a strange Nord woman he must uncover her dark secrets. I've made up some new spells that aren't in the actual game so don't get angry about that. And I've changed the layout of some places so it fits the story better.
And also, I don't own any of skyrim or the elder scrolls games etc. that's Bethesda.
Tenslayn Valerin awoke from his restless sleep rubbing the grainy dust from his dark crimson eyes, he sat up and leant against the wall of the cart that was carrying him and a few other people into the province of Skyrim. Tenslayn observed the other passengers in the cart. A fat merchant with a bulbous nose and thinning grey hair stared dreamily with half lidded eyes and a fidgety Khajiit barely containing his excitement about arriving at Riften, (the first stop in Skyrim in the journey to Winterhold) he had been chattering, probably to himself more than anyone else, for hours at the beginning of the journey until the fat merchant had told him to shut up. There was also a third person crammed into the carriage: a Nord woman wearing a cowl to cover her dishevelled looking (but still pretty) face. This was a woman who was running from something. But there was something more than that; Tenslayn could feel a strange atmosphere around this woman, something that he couldn't quite place his finger on, and he wanted to find out what this was. He felt that he had to uncover this woman's secrets.
The cart slowed to a halt and the repetitive clopping of the horse's hoofs subsided. Before Tenslayn could even start to move to get out of the carriage the excited Khajiit burst out towards the gates of Riften shouting "I'm here! I'm here! Three days trapped inside a cart but I'm here!" and within a few seconds he was submerged in the bustling crowd.
Tenslayn stepped out next, the sun straining his eyes, he crossed the stable courtyard and waited by the crowd of people trying to get into the city, far away enough to not be noticed by the woman when she came out but close enough so he could still see the cart without too many people crossing between him and it. He had experience in doing things like this since he was also an investigator for the mages guild as well as doing things like overseeing magic colleges. Tenslayn decided that he would go and find an inn to stay in later, but for now he would wait for the strange woman to exit then take note of where she was staying.
Five minutes later the fat merchant exited the cart and waddled off towards the Riften gates to get in to the city. Five more minutes passed. Then ten more. And after twenty minutes of waiting Tenslayn had lost his patience. He had heard of paranoia but this was getting ridiculous. Was this woman ever going to leave? He spotted the cart driver - who was tying putting the horse into its stable - and paced over to him; he had some Nord mead in his hand and he smelt vaguely of horse manure. Regardless Tenslayn introduced himself, "hello Mr…"
"People call me Frikk" the man replied.
"Frikk, who is that woman still sitting in the cart?"
"No idea, I don't really ask too many questions. Just take them to where they need to be."
"Come on, you must know more than that." Tenslayn said holding out ten septims.
"Well now that you mention it when she asked to be taken to Skyrim she looked like she had been running, like someone had been chasing her. She also asked that if a merchant and a group of people came looking for her don't tell them that she was there. That's all I know."
"Thank you for the help Frikk, oh, and if you find out anything else, tell me about it." Tenslayn said and promptly walked away.
As Tenslayn passed the cart the woman slowly stepped out pulling her cowl lower over her face to hide her identity. "Are you okay?" He asked, and when he said this she looked at him like she had never seen him before (even though they had spent three days in the cart together. "Oh, um…" she said seeming to be somewhere else in her mind.
"So what brings you to Skyrim?" Tenslayn asked carrying on the conversation.
"Well sometimes you don't have anywhere else to go you know?"
"And Riften's the only place you can go?"
"Well actually I don't really know where to go in Riften."
"Hmm, how about the temple of Mara, they have rooms for people to stay in and it's probably the safest place in Riften apart from the Jarls palace. I can get you into the city then take you there."
"Yes… the temple of Mara…" she said, her mind still seeming to be somewhere else. It was making Tenslayn unsettled.
"Let's go then." Tenslayn said leading the way to the gates of Riften. It was surprisingly difficult to get only a few metres through the crowd – as people pushed past each other all trying to get where they needed to be – but eventually they got there. "Hey you," said a guard as they got to the gates. "Why do you want to get into Riften?"
"Just passing through."
"She with you?" Tenslayn looked over to the woman realising he didn't even know her name; he would have to ask her that when they got into the city. "Yeah, she's with me."
"Why is she looking down at the floor like that?" the guard asked inquisitively.
"Oh yeah, she's just really shy"
"Mmmm OK… you can go in. But I've got my eye on you."
"Thank you sir." Tenslayn said. He then hurried into the city with the woman.
"So, have you got a name?" he asked as they walked through the streets made of wooden planks that were suspended by wooden beams above the canal that ran through the city. "Hm?" the woman looked at him with that same look, like she had never seen him before in her life. "Oh, um, I guess you can call me Mirren"
They walked the rest of the way to the temple of Mara without saying anything. "Alright Mirren," Tenslayn said as they reached the steps of the temple. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodbye." Mirren replied.
"Oh and I'm Tenslayn by the way, Tenslayn Valerin." And then Mirren turned, walked up the steps and entered the temple. Tenslayn started to walk back into the city to find an inn to sleep in for the three days that he would be here before setting off to Winterhold. He would find out who this woman was.