Twist of Fate
Author: Faraway Dawn
Rating: M
Parings: Naaja/ Kar & Nata/Telo (yes I created separate game and yes I took serious liberties with their parents and their backgrounds. But what would one expect me to do? Be boring and take no artistic liberty?? Hah….)
Warning: SERIOUS ARTISTIC LIBERTIES WERE TAKEN. I can not make it anymore clear than that. This story is written from the point of view of Naaja. Please do not flame me if you do not like my story or my characters. I do not like flames and one of my best friends is the Kami-chan of Counter flames (who should probably charge for her services…yes she is that good…). She writes counter flames for Spellspinner Vincent Valentine and I am sure she will write counter flames for me if I ask her. You have been warned.
Note: Behaviors of Nata and Naaja reflect my friend and I most when we played. She had a natural skill for stealing and always was hyper about it when she did. I had a magic casting obsession so being calm, level headed, and curious was how I behaved. I am aware that most Bosmer are not quite as hyper as my friends character and most Dunmer lack a sense of humor all together...but like I said...artistic liberties have been taken. Please do not flame me. If I misspelled anything please don't hesitate to correct me though. Some of the names in Morrowind are a bit much.
Disclaimer: I do not own Morrowind (wish I did but I don't.) I own only the four characters I created and this story and I intend to abuse my poor characters and of course, edit their stories a bit to suit my needs.
-Much thanks to Nel for corrupting me with Morrowind.
Chapter 1
From one Hell to Another
The Imperial Prison was hell on Tamriel. It was well known that the place was easily, the worst hell hole ever to be in. Rats infested every cell, and impressive sets of locks kept even the most skilled thieves behind its stone walls, metal bars, and heavy wooden doors. I hated the place. To be honest I didn't even know why I was there.
I was captured in the city about fifteen years ago. Guards just came and put me in shackles, and then they told me was going to prison. I had fought a few. I kicked one as hard as I could in the nether regions and attempted to gouge another's eyes out. They would not tell me why I was to be imprisoned, simply that it was ordered by the Emperor that I be incarcerated and held until further notice.
Why the Emperor felt the need to imprison a simple mage was beyond me. It's not like I was a great thief with a bounty on my head, a murder, a smuggler, or even a double agent! I was just an ordinary mage and all I wanted to do was help people who could not afford treatments from the expensive alchemists and healers.
However, all that was in the past. The guards eventually let me have a journal, quill, and ink so that I could write. Apparently it was some sort of reward for my "good behavior". Oh if they only knew. The illegible curses and spells I copied down would have charmed them into letting me walk right out of prison. Unfortunately, being unable to regenerate my own magicka, I could not test my spells nor attempt to use them to escape. Simply put, I could not risk something going wrong.
There were very few like me, that were rewarded for good behavior. There was a Breton in the cell next to me who was allowed to have books in his cell. The old man loved reading, and every night I could hear him read tales aloud through a crack in our cells. My favorite was a story called "The Dowry". I wrote down every story as he told them to me. Soon my journal was full of fantastic tales about thieves, smugglers, mages, assassins, and slaves. I read them often when boredom set in, and I can assure you, that was quite often.
One day however, I noticed that there were no new stories and that a foul odor had begun to seep into my cell. I peeked through the crack to find the man dead. I called to the guards to bury him, criminal or not, the man deserved to rest in peace. The guards told me to pipe down or they would lock me in the cell with him. I heard one cruelly say that the rats would be getting a good meal that night.
Apparently, another inmate heard this and was outraged. I heard a woman yell at the guard who had spoken, she was swearing profusely for what seemed like an eternity before she fell silent. Her silence was short lived. Another guard laughed about the death of the man beside me.
"You damn bastards!" I heard her yell. She could not have been more than three cells to my left. "If I had a lock pick right now I would pick all four hundred of these locks and shove each one up your Imperial asses!!!!"
Such a punishment, though entirely fitting, seemed a bit extreme to me. The locks on each of our cells were larger than my fists. "Poor bastards wouldn't be able to sit for weeks…" I muttered lying down on the straw bed in my cell.
"…But totally worth it." Someone muttered back. It was the same voice but such a thing made no sense to me. She could not have possibly heard me unless…unless she was an elf or a Khajit. I noticed though, that the girl did not speak like the Khajit, and so I assumed she was an elf.
"Huh…" I leaned closer to the cell walls.
"It would be wouldn't it? Their asses deserve it I mean, the guy deserves better than to die and be eaten away by rats." She answered softly. "I mean…don't you think they deserve some pain for letting the guy just lay there to rot?"
I sighed. The guards deserved it alright…"Yeah…they do."
Weeks passed and the girl and I spoke occasionally. Both of us possessed ears sensitive enough to pick up the slightest utterance from the other. Things we would have never dared say above a whisper, out of fear of the guards, we told one another. Things like how much the one guard, who called himself Casicus, smelled like dead fish and garlic.
Finally, after one day in which we were particularly cruel to Casicus, there was a sudden collective murmur throughout the prison. Rumor had it, that one of the Emperor's personal advisors was present, and was releasing a said number of prisoners. Releasing prisoners! The mere thought made me happy. I might go free! I might be able to get back to my work! I might be able to finally breathe clean air and drink clean water! I was shaken from my thoughts by the sound of the lock on my cell door opening.
Looking at me with a most displeased expression was Casicus, Captain of the Guards for the prison tower I was held in. "You are to be released." He growled at me, turning me away from him, and drawing my arms behind my back. I felt the cool irons clap around my wrists and narrowed my eyes when he tugged me out of the cell and threw me into the arms of another guard. "Take her to the carriage." I noticed, as I passed the cell that contained my friend, that her cell was indeed covered by over four hundred locks. Some trapped with all sorts of enchantments that I could detect and others required multiple keys.
I looked at the guard leading me to my freedom. "So…what's with all the locks on that cell?" I asked quietly. I knew this guard. He was the one who brought us dinner every night, and he wasn't all that bad.
"Female Wood Elf...born under the sign of the Tower. She had a bounty on her head that should have marked her for execution. She broke out of the prison about twenty times before they added all the new locks."
I was floored by the sheer number of times she had managed to escape. Sure, she was captured every single time, but escaping from the prison was no easy task! "Incredible…" I muttered before being led to a covered carriage. There were guards inside waiting to take me. The carriage wasn't comfortable. It was huge and more like a prison on wheels drawn by horses, rather than a "carriage".
I was placed in a cell inside the carriage and told to be silent. I felt unwell and the last thing I remember before darkness claimed me, was that a girl was yelling about wanting her 'lucky lock pick' back.
The darkness was comforting. I don't know how long I was out just that I dreamt vividly. I saw wastelands covered by dark red storms. I was afraid of the storms. Something about them told me, 'this is evil…this is bad', and so I plowed through the storms in my dreams toward the voice. I could hear a woman's voice speaking to me and it calmed me. She told me I had been taken from the prison, how she knew this was beyond me. She said I had been taken by carriage and was now on a boat heading east, for Morrowind.
Morrowind? The province? Why Morrowind? I saw strange runes appear in gold, my head ached trying to read it, then I heard her say 'Fear not, for I am watchful…You have been chosen.' The runes seemed to speak to me. –Many fall but one remains…- What does that mean? I asked myself as the sound of thunder filled my head. It was so loud and I hated the noise, especially since I felt sick enough already.
Soon I heard voices. One asking if I was ok while another, said to just leave me alone. I did not recognize the first voice. It was obviously a male, but the second voice, it was that bosmer who had been in the prison with me. The man kept asking me things. Why was I shaking? Am I shaking? Was I ok? I don't know…am I? "Wake up!" Why??
Finally, I opened my eyes. I saw a Dark elf and he told me I had been dreaming.
"I could have told you that…" I looked to my left and saw the bosmer girl lying in a hammock tightly bound and with her hands shackled with possibly the most impressive locks I had ever seen.
"What's your name?" The dark elf asked me. For some reason I didn't mind telling him.
"Naaja…my name is Naaja." I said slowly. I didn't remember being on a ship. The woman in my dream had known I was on a ship though. How could she have known? She said I was chosen…what on earth for?
"…Well not even last night's storm could wake you." The male elf was saying. It had been so long since I heard the voice of a dark elven male that I forgot how calming it was. "I heard them saying we've reached Morrowind, I'm sure they'll let us go." He continued.
Morrowind? Did I hear him right? The woman in my dreams had said I was heading to Morrowind…and here I was…in Morrowind! How strange…
"Blah…Morrowind psh…I wanna go back to Valenwood." The bosmer chirped. "I miss the steamy jungles and the marshes! I miss the sun and the trees!!"
"Quiet. Here comes the guard…" The dark elf said coolly. The bosmer looked angry that some stranger had the nerve to cut her off like that.
The guard directed me and the bosmer to follow him. He said this was where we would get off. So of course, eager for freedom, we followed him. Once out on the deck I heard the girl beside me breathe in the crisp sea air and exhale slowly. More guards led us to the Census and Excise Office where we met a…strange fellow.
He asked us all sorts of questions about our skills, our birth sign, and what title we wished to be known as.
"Does any of this matter???" The bosmer, whose name was Nata, according to the papers, drawled.
"It does if you want to be released!" The man snapped sharply at her.
I answered his questions quickly. I thought the man a bit snobbish to be honest. My skills were in the mystical arts. I was skilled in the areas of Mysticism, Conjuration, and Alteration. I had also been trained with short swords and as an archer. I had been athletic, extremely acrobatic (one had to do something in prison after all…), and I was an adept pickpocket in my youth. He didn't look as impressed by that. I knew how to pick locks and foil traps (probably not as well as my bosmer companion of course…) and I was swift and agile. Chances are, I would fare best in light armor styles of combat. At least in his humble opinion…
"Your sign?" He asked not looking up from the parchment he was scrawling upon.
"…Sign?"
"When were you born?" He asked glaring slightly at me.
"…The first of Sun's Dusk."
"Your sign is the Atronach." He muttered finishing his papers. "…Interesting…" He murmured before continuing writing. "Your chosen status?? I mean the people would have to know you as something. I would advise against adventurer. It's a dull and highly abused title."
I thought long and hard. In the Imperial City, the poor people had called me a 'Holy Mage' they said I was gifted with great power and was destined for something great and maybe even divine. "Holy Mage…" I said watching him dip his quill in ink before continuing to write.
"Look over these and make sure they are correct." He said showing me the papers. I was satisfied; although it was obvious he had almost misspelled my name on the release papers. I nodded to show him the papers were indeed correct. While he had been busy with me, Nata had looted almost the entire room. Clever girl…I couldn't help but think as she pick pocketed the guard. Very clever… "Show your papers to the captain, he'll release you."
"Thanks…" I said coolly taking my papers and leaving the room. It wasn't long before my bosmer companion joined me outside of the Census and Excise Office. "So…any idea's where the hell we are?" I asked her looking around.
"Yup…" She held up a small map. "Apparently this place is called Seyda Neen…" She looked around. "Yuck…I hate it here already." She and I walked to the trade house where we talked over some beverages.
"Here's my proposition!" She said swaying slightly. Apparently she did not have a high tolerance for alcohol. "I say…we loot this….dump…then go to eh…this Balmora-ish place." She grinned. "Sounds like a-" a hiccup broke her sentence in half "-fun place!"
"Balmora…" I said softly eyeing my own drink. Sounded like a plan to me. It wasn't like I had any friends. Traveling alone wouldn't be wise in such a strange and unfamiliar land. "Sure…why not?" I said throwing back my flin. After all….what's the worse that could happen?
Something about this land made me feel uneasy though. All night as Nata slept, I sat up watching the sky with a strange feeling in my gut. This place seemed like my destiny. It felt like I was …home…at last… I had to shake my head a good few times to be rid of the strange sentiment. Home at last? Where the hell had that come from?
Sleep finally claimed me, but not long after it did I was being shaken awake by Nata. "Come on! Up up up up up!" she chanted endlessly until I opened my eyes and glared at her.
"Where's the fire?" I muttered sitting up slightly while rubbing my head. I had the same weird dream that I had on the ship.
"There's no fire…" She said blinking at me.
"Then another ten minutes won't kill anyone…" I growled slightly, collapsing against the bedroll. I swiftly pulled the covers over my head. Usually, I was up at the crack of dawn, but everything was so different now.
"But if we don't get on the road now," Nata whined, "we'll never get to Balmora by sunset!"
Sunset…good grief how late in the day was it? "What time is it?"
"About noon."
I sat up abruptly and narrowed my eyes at Nata. "YOU LET ME SLEEP UNTIL NOON!?" Such behavior was unlike me! I was the type to be up training at the crack of dawn, not lounging around in bed all day!
"You were having a weird dream, shaking and all that…I figured it would be best to let you sleep it off." She said rolling up her blanket and pillow, which was now full of various goods. It was clear to me that Nata had one very severe case of sticky fingers. If it was moveable, it was obviously stealable.
After about an hour of looting Seyda Neen, packing up the load, and splitting it between us, we both headed in separate directions for Balmora. I had asked for directions to a city called Vivec. I heard rumors of an assassin's guild, whose headquarters were in the city. I thought it best to make some friends in this strange new land and seeing as I never seemed to fit in anywhere, perhaps this "Morag Tong" was the guild for me.
Nata, had decided to go to Pelogaid. She heard it was a newly chartered town, and she said it would be the perfect place for her to loot. "New towns aren't that well guarded! So as soon as those pigs in skirts turn their backs…HA! I'll have stolen everything and be half way to Balmora before they notice anything missing!" If anything, I had to give her credit for her arrogance.
My initiation into the Morag Tong was simple. Slay a marked subject, return to the Grandmaster, and I would be accepted into the guild. I preformed my task, returned swiftly, and was inducted into the service of Mephala as a member of the Morag Tong. The Grandmaster, Eno Hlaalu, was pleased by this and he gave me a writ to execute before I left Vivec. The other he told me to hold on to.
"Should you travel to Sadrith Mora or Tel Ahrun…" He said. The writ was for an Ashlander who was hiding out on a peninsula in those areas. I informed the Grandmaster that I would see to it as soon as possible.
After finishing my work in Vivec, I returned to the Foreign Quarter and joined the Guild of Mages. A wise idea, I was after all a fantastic mage, and to be honest the transportation of the guild would work to my advantage.
Balmora was nothing like the confusing city of Vivec. It was smaller and much easier to navigate. I joined Great House Hlaalu, the Thieves Guild, and the Fighters Guild. Anything at all for a little extra money… I stole food when I could, robbed stores for clothing, and put my money toward training. If I was to be stuck on Vvardenfell, I damn well was going to be strong enough to survive on my own. The guilds trained me well, gave me a little extra money, and assisted me in finding my place in Morrowind. The largest problem I seemed to have, was that I had been living out of Corner clubs and Taverns, and such a life was eroding the gold from my pocket before it even got there.
Luckily for me, Nata managed to find Balmora, and returned with more money than either of us could have hoped for.
"Ha! What do you think of that?" she chirped happily twirling her long blonde braid in her hand. "Can you believe it? All that, just from Pelogaid! Can you imagine how much there might be in bigger towns!?" She was ecstatic. She was grinning and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "I can't wait!!!" she squealed.
In my travels between Seyda Neen, Vivec, and Balmora, I had met other bosmer…but not one was like Nata. She was obviously a masterful thief, but there was something about the seriousness of her hyper squeals that told me that this girl meant business. She wasn't just good luck and cheerful ignorance. The guard had told me she had a grand bounty on her head and that she had nearly escaped the prison about twenty times…Teaming up with her sounded better and better.
"Nata?"
"Yes? What is it?" She said grinning and leaning toward me slightly. Her made quick work of her hard earn-eh…stolen gold and swiftly placed it in a large bag she carried on her back.
"Let's team up." I said tossing around a soul gem containing the soul of a cliff racer. "We'll split our wealth between us evenly and we'll manage everything fine…With luck we'll have a house in no time."
She smirked at me and agreed. She said it sounded great. If we pooled our resources we would be filthy rich. She would steal and I would raid. She was cautious and liked to break into mansions and steal valuables, while I preferred to charge into bandit caverns and ruins, loot them, trap souls, and cash in. I had to be careful though. Nata did not know I was an assassin and the Grandmaster strictly stated that I must keep my identity as secret as possible.
Months seemed to fly by in days and in time we were rich and living large. I had risen up the ranks of Great House Hlaalu and managed to acquire my own home. Rethan Manor was mine, as such; Nata joined me on the property. We now had large house, plenty of storage space, and even people to help defend the manor. It was here, over dinner one night, that I was enlightened to the "horrors" of Dwemer Ruins.
"It was not cool! I don't know how to describe it!! Ugh it was dark and creepy and there was this clicky sound every time I took a step and…" Nata continued in this fashion for hours, barely taking a breath. I decided to listen; such information could prove useful if I was ever sent into such a ruin. So silently, I ate my rice and hound steak. Occasionally she would stab her portion with her fork viciously to emphasize how much she 'absolutely detested' the ruins. "I mean…gawd…the friggin ruins HISS! HISS NAAJA!!!! And just when you think your safe…." I hadn't been watching when she began to wave her spoon around. "Poof! SOMETHING ATTACKS YOU!" I would forever regret looking up. The soup she had been eating had splashed all over the table, and a large piece of ash yam had been flung in my direction.
Within mere seconds there was ash yam in my hair and Nata was roaring with laughter. "Oh gods you look so funny!!! Naaja you have yam in your hair!!"
"…I deduced that for myself thanks…." I muttered. Though normally I would be annoyed by such a character, Nata was good to have around. I found myself laughing more than usual and discovered myself less troubled by my strange and haunting dreams. Most of my kind would be annoyed at the presence of a Bosmer, especially one with Nata's personality. I however, found myself enjoying it. I found in my laughter I had finally been granted one of the simpler pleasures of life, and that the hell of my past was unlikely to become a hellish future.
From one hell to another is what I originally believed my journey to Vvardenfell to be; now I see it simply as an opportunity. Sure, I would eventually contact Caius, in the mean time though, I would enjoy my freedom before I bound myself to the service of the Emperor.