A/N: Hey, everyone, some of you may have read this under 'The Half-Breed Dragonborn: Familia Ties', but I decided to change it to just Familial Ties because it sounded better and a little more interesting, the last one just sounded horrible the more I said it out loud.

My Dragonborn, Yasmina Drelas, in this story is going to have a series, most likely there is going to be at least three to four, depending on how long the third one will be since the third one could possibly be longer than others. I don't like doing more than 40 or 50 chapters, I feel I could overwhelm my readers by doing that.

I also edited this chapter because I realized how awful it sounded before and I wanted to make it better. Leave a review if you like, but as I said before, no flames please. If you like the story and want to leave a review, that is fine, I encourage that, but I don't tolerate flames. If you don't like the story, please refrain from leaving one.

I mentioned in the previous first chapter of Athelyn and Seryn's exact age, but n this chapter I did not really mention it that much. Basically, Athelyn is about in his mid-40s in human years while Seryn is about in his 20s.

I do not own anything from any of the Elder Scrolls series, except for my OC's.

I hope you enjoy the edited first chapter of Familial Ties :).

Chapter One: Orphan Baby

Morning Star, 4E

It was a late night one winter. The moon was full and there were signs of snow just passing as there were patches of them here and there on the ground, and it was a cold night up north in the province of Cyrodiil if there was anybody near the border of the harsh lands of Skyrim. The wind howled as it moved the trees and their branches, making people shiver in the night in the cold if they were out in the wilderness. Wolves could be heard howling in the wind, causing many night critters to go into hiding for fear of becoming a midnight snack to one of the predators.

Most people in Cyrodiil would normally stay out of the wilderness this late at night or if they were out in the wilderness, they would camp somewhere in an area where no one could see them. There were packs of wolves, bandits, and vampires that roamed around the area, and there was always a risk of being ambushed by either one of those groups, so most people tried to stay away from the wilderness during the night. There were only two people, though, who were walking out late at night in the wilderness.

They were two Dunmer who were from the city of Cheydinhal walking northwest from the city. One was younger looking with jet black hair that was in a low ponytail with some strands falling in front of his face while the other one looked older with brown hair that was graying at the top of his head and his face having more wrinkle lines on it. Some people may call them crazy, brave, or even stupid for walking in the wilderness this late at night with the risk of a possible ambush, but these two Dunmer were capable warriors and were able to handle anything that came their way.

The two Dunmer were walking late at night in the wilderness, each having their own reason. The older Dunmer was looking for some snowberries for his wife for an alchemy ingredient for her alchemy shop. The younger Dunmer, though, was just accompanying him for protection when the older Dunmer's wife had pleaded him to take someone along with him. Even though the older Dunmer had explained to his wife that he was a capable warrior and could take care of himself, she persisted and so he decided to take a companion with him just to make her feel better.

The older Dunmer smiled fondly as he thought about his wife back in Cheydinhal in their alchemy shop most likely sleeping. For a Dunmer woman, she was really sweet, but was also fierce when people brought out that side of her. The older Dunmer's thoughts are then interrupted by the sound of his companion complaining.

"Urgh, I really don't understand why we could not make camp earlier, Athelyn. How can you keep walking out here with it being so dark and know where you are going?"

Athelyn responded by looking at him over his shoulder and smirking. "I know where I am going, I have been down here plenty of times, even on darker nights than this," he said. "Besides, the full moon gives us plenty of light to guide us. Don't tell me the famous Seryn Varen, the fierce mercenary, is afraid of the dark?"

The younger Dunmer named Seryn glared at him for the jab.

"Of course I am not afraid of the dark! I just don't understand why we couldn't make camp and get the snowberries in daylight."

"We would not have been very far from the area even if we did camp earlier," Athelyn explained. "Besides, I want to leave back to Cheydinhal and get back to my wife as soon as possible. I worry for her…"

Seryn then gave Athelyn an understanding look when he realized what he was talking about as a look of sorrow crossed Athelyn's face, no doubt thinking about his late son who died during the Great War.

Casien Drelas was the only son and child of Athelyn and Lilinah and also Seryn's best friend. He became a battlemage for the Imperial Legion when the Great War broke out back in 171. His parents begged him not to go, but Casien had reasoned with them and told them he would not sit idly by and let the Thalmor walk all over them and destroy everything that he holds dear to him. Seryn did not go with him because he did not want to get involved unless it was financially beneficial for him. Wars did not give him money to keep a roof over his head or feed him. So Casien left for the war, and his family and Seryn never saw him again. For the first two years Casien was gone, a courier would come to Cheydinhal a few times with a letter from him to his family, but the letters suddenly stopped coming for the third year he had left to war. Athelyn, Lilinah, and Seryn feared the worst, but they hoped for the best as well. It was not until the war ended that they finally heard something about Casien.

It was the year 176 when an Imperial soldier came to Cheydinhal and came to Athelyn and Lilinah's house, telling them what became of their son, and what they heard broke their hearts. Casien and his fellow soldiers were camping when they were suddenly ambushed by an Aldmeri Dominion unit. Caught by surprise, Casien and the soldiers were defeated and were given an ultimatum: accept the Aldmeri Dominion as their rightful rulers or be killed. Casien was one of the first who refused and, therefore, was beheaded before his body was burned along with the rest who refused.

Seryn had never seen Athelyn and Lilinah so broken before and ever since then, he has hated the Aldmeri Dominion, including the Thalmor, even more. Casien was almost like a brother to him and to have him taken away all because he refused to bow down to a bunch of snooty mers was painful. And the fact that Casien never got the chance to have a traditional Dunmeri burial, just like his parents wanted, was heartbreaking. Athelyn and Lilinah never quite got over it yet since Casien was their only child.

Seryn offered a comforting hand on Athelyn's shoulder and said to him, "Lilinah will be alright, she is a strong woman."

He felt as if his comfort would not be enough, but it seemed to help a little as Athelyn gave him a look of gratitude. "Thank you, my brother, that means a lot to me," he said.

"We should keep moving, we are almost there and I don't want us to stay out here too late."

The two Dunmer went up the path towards their destination in silence the rest of the way. When they finally reached their destination, Seryn is relieved that he would be able to rest soon. The journey from Cheydinhal to here had been a long one. He may be used to traveling long distances, being a hired mercenary, but a mer still needed his rest.

Athelyn must have been relieved too because he sounded happy when he spotted the snowberry shrub. He bent down near the bush and took out a knife from his boot before cutting out a few of the snowberries from the shrub. Seryn, who was anxious to leave so he could rest, did not even notice Athelyn become tense once he pocketed the snowberries.

"Alright, we got what we came for, let's head back east and make camp."

Before he could even move, Athelyn had grabbed his wrist firmly, preventing him from moving and nearly startling him.

"Athelyn, what is it?"

"Shh!" Athelyn immediately said before asking quietly, "Do you hear anything?"

Seryn stopped and listened and when he heard nothing, he said so.

"Exactly, it is too quiet."

Realizing what Athelyn meant, Seryn concluded that there was danger nearby. When the forest was deathly quiet, it meant there was danger nearby to a warrior.

Both Dunmer took out their weapons, Athelyn taking out his one-handed sword while Seryn took out his two ebony blades. They were now alert and looking and hearing for any signs of danger that was in the thickness of the dark forest.

It was then there was a noise to the two Dunmer's right. Voices were heard from the distance and up ahead, they could see a glow up ahead. Athelyn and Seryn made eye contact with each other, both of them wondering if it was bandits up ahead. Seryn made a move to look ahead, but before he could even move, there was a different sound that was coming straight towards them. It was coming towards them really fast, and Seryn was getting ready to defend himself when Athelyn suddenly grabbed him and pulled him towards the left, hiding behind a nearby large tree that hid them both well.

Seryn snarled at Athelyn, about to ask why he pulled him behind this tree when Athelyn covered his mouth and put a finger to his lips. Seryn still wondered why he pulled him here when he heard the sound of someone running through the bushes of where they just were, stopping and breathing heavily, trying to catch a breath as if it had been running for a long time. Seryn and Athelyn looked around the tree, making sure to not be seen, to see who or what had come and was surprised at what they saw. It was a woman—a Nord woman from what they could tell. From what they could see with the little light in the forest, she had blonde hair, was pale, and tall, as most Nords were. She looked as if she was possibly a noble because her clothes were made of fine material. The Nord woman was crouching behind one of the trees across from where they were, and Seryn realized, as he observed the Nord woman more closely, why Athelyn dragged him and hid them behind this tree.

The woman was weaponless and was breathing heavily, clutching onto a bundle for dear life as if it was the most important thing to her. She jumped when the voices Seryn and Athelyn heard earlier started shouting at each other, making both Seryn and Athelyn realize that this woman was on the run. From whom, they did not know, but hearing them just made the woman clutch onto the bundle more tightly to her chest.

The voices could be heard again from the woman's pursuers, but this time they were closer and clearer.

"Sir, we've lost her, she disappeared."

"Then find her, you imbecile! I know she is here somewhere…"

The fear was written all over the woman's face, not realizing how close her pursuers were. She looked around frantically until her eyes landed on the snowberry shrub before looking down at the bundle in her arms. Seryn wondered what was it that the woman was holding and was so adamant in protecting it from her pursuers. He looked to Athelyn and saw he was thinking the same thing, but he signaled Seryn to wait.

The woman got up from where she was and quietly as she could walked over to the shrub. She kissed the bundle with tears in her eyes as if parting from it was the most painful thing she ever had to do before placing the bundle inside it. She moved the branches and leaves around in order to prevent anyone from seeing the bundle getting up and running back the way she came. As soon as she did, her pursuers spotted her.

"There she is!"

"After her!"

From where Athelyn and Seryn were hiding, they could see the woman run east and her pursuers followed behind not too long after. As they ran past the two Dunmer, the group never seeing them, Seryn could feel rage run through his veins as he saw it was the Thalmor that was chasing the Nord woman, and all thoughts of investigating the bundle in the shrub went out of his mind. Seryn knew full well what the Thalmor had been doing to Nords, just as every other person in Cyrodiil knew. He never did like Nords because of the way they treated him and his people and what they did to them in the past, but if there was any group he hated the most, it was the Thalmor. Even if he did not like Nords, he would not wish any harm done to them by the Thalmor. The Thalmor were notorious for torturing their victims before finally killing them.

As he saw the five Thalmor soldiers and a Thalmor Justiciar run after the Nord woman, he thought of what they would do to her once they got a hold of her, and Seryn could not help but think of his best friend Casien and what the Thalmor did to him. The thought of it just made him angrier, and his grip tightened on his ebony blades, imagining killing every last one of them for what they did to Casien. He got up and ran after them, but he was quickly stopped by Athelyn when he stepped in front of him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Do not be a fool, Seryn, there are too many for you to take on."

"You are the fool for not avenging your son!" Seryn exclaimed. "Would you not do the same if given the chance?"

"Killing the Thalmor in revenge won't bring Casien back," Athelyn responded.

"I don't care! Every one of those scum deserve to suffer for what they did to him. Casien would want us to avenge his death by wiping out Tamriel of all these Thalmor scum."

"You don't know what Casien would want."

Seryn just scoffs as if just pushing the older Dunmer's words aside, trying not to listen to him when in reality, he knew Athelyn's words of wisdom were true. Seryn did not truly know what Casien would want them to do, he was just speaking in anger, but he could not help the rage he felt towards the Thalmor for what they did to his best friend. He deserved better than what they did to him, as if he was nothing but dirt under their feet.

"I understand how you feel, Seryn, Casien was my son and what the Thalmor did to him was unjustly. I often thought of killing the Thalmor in revenge too, but I have a wife who needs me. She is still grieving over the loss of our child, I can't leave her for the sake of revenge. If you are going to wage war against the Thalmor, do it for a just cause, not in revenge, there is no honor in that."

Seryn, finally realizing how much danger he could have put him and Athelyn in danger, bowed his head in shame. He knew he would have been killed, and Athelyn too, if he went after the Thalmor, but his anger clouded his judgment. While he was a capable warrior, it would have been folly to take all six of them at one time. He should never have let his anger get the best of him, he already had gone through a century to learn that fighting in anger would just get him killed.

It was then that a piercing cry interrupted Seryn's thoughts, and both Dunmer looked towards where the source of noise came from—the shrub where the Nord woman hid the bundle—and walked towards it. Athelyn was the first to approach it. Once he looked inside the shrub, he used a spell to light the area and is shocked by what he sees.

"Oh, by Azura…"

"What? What is it?"

Seryn came to Athelyn's side and looked into the shrub, expressing his surprise as well. Inside was a Nord baby girl, but not just any Nord baby, a half Nord baby. The baby looked about 6-months-old with skin as pale as any Nord, but with short curly blonde hair. Its eyes were blue with emerald radial lines around the pupils, but what really stood out the most that made both Dunmer realize why the Thalmor were after the Nord woman were the pointed ear tips on it.

This child was half mer, but whether it was half Altmer or Bosmer, they did not know. It was hard to tell right now, but both Dunmer men were thinking the child was half Altmer and possibly a product of rape. There were rumors that went around during the Great War that when the Thalmor ransacked the White Gold Tower in the Imperial City, they committed all kinds of atrocities towards its citizens, including raping the women. There were rumors of them still doing it. One of the most famous rumors that went around was the Thalmor committing human trafficking in their black market, selling men and women and children as slaves. The slave men and women are viewed and used as sex slaves or 'pets' as they are sometimes called. Most of the time, interbreeding is never allowed within the Aldmeri Dominion and if it is ever found out that someone within the Aldmeri Dominion interbred with someone, there would be consequences to pay. Whether or not these rumors were true, the Dunmer men did not know, but it was the only explanation they could think of that this child was living, and her and her mother were being chased down by the Thalmor.

The child, who was most likely an orphan by now, had tears streaming down her face as she cried, trying to call out for her mother. Athelyn started to feel sympathy for the child, knowing that she was afraid and just wanted to be comforted by her mother. Her mother was now long gone, though, and so, he decided to step in the mother's place to comfort the child, at least for the time being. Picking the child up with her blanket wrapped around her, he held her in his arms, singing it a lullaby he once knew as a child to calm it down.

At first, the baby was scared and confused at who was holding her. This wasn't her guardian, and it scared her that this person who was holding her was possibly the same person who tried to hurt her and her guardian earlier, so she started to cry, trying her best to call out her guardian's name, but she struggled to say it. When she heard the stranger start to sing, though, she realized that he meant no harm and slowly ceased crying.

Athelyn almost sighed with relief when the baby started to stop crying. He was worried that the sound might attract the attention of the Thalmor and was glad that he was able to calm it down. Now, her tears were just reduced to sniffling, and she was looking up at Athelyn with a curious yet cautious expression on her face. That made Athelyn smile as it reminded him of Casien when he was just the child's age, of how he would look at strangers with a curious expression yet always cautious, never quite trusting them until he got used to them.

"What are we going to do with it?" Seryn suddenly asked, bringing Athelyn out of his thoughts.

Athelyn gave him a confused look.

"What do you mean, 'what are we going to do with it'?"

"Well, we can't take it with us, but we can't just leave it here either. It will die if we do."

Here, Athelyn gives him a smirk and says in a teasing tone, "I did not know you had a certain fondness for Nords."

"I don't, but I know we can't just leave it here" Seryn said. "I may not like Nords, but even I am not that cruel to leave a child to fend for itself."

"So what are we going to do with it?"

Athelyn looked back down at the child, wondering what he should actually do as well. On the one hand, he could just leave it here. That would be the safest route to go for them: to just leave the child here for the Thalmor or other dangerous creatures to find her and kill her, but that would be wrong. He could not live with himself if he just let an innocent child, who knew nothing about the hatred between her own people and his, die all because of an old age hatred between their own races.

"We will take her back to Cheydinhal with us, and we will figure out what to do with her then," Athelyn finally said.

Seryn nodded in agreement, thinking it was better to do that. No doubt it would be too dangerous to take the child to the Imperial City where Thalmor were crawling everywhere within that city ever since the end of the Great War. As much as he wished to just take the child to an orphanage and just leave it there, he knew that would not be the best course of action for right now. The Thalmor were out and about looking for the child, and they could not risk it. Taking the child to Cheydinhal was probably the most safest route as not many Thalmor came by to the city. They hated the Dunmer more than they hated Nords, so they mostly avoided the city. Even if they had to, they did not stay very long due to the citizens driving them out.

"Let's go," Athelyn commanded. "The Thalmor no doubt are on their way back to find the child by now, and we have to keep moving if we don't want them catching up with us."

Seryn sighed inwardly, wishing he could get that long waited rest like he originally wanted. He followed after Athelyn all the way back to Cheydinhal and as they walked back, the baby started to cry.