The sky overhead was inky blank, not even the stars visible, only punctuated by the snow that drifted downward. A middle-aged man stood in the centre of a silent village of wooden houses, leaning on a carved wooden cane and staring up at the penetrating blackness of the sky. His hair was pale blond, graying with age, and there were lines on his face that were deeper than they would have been normally. His brow was furrowed, his breath rising in clouds above his face as he stared upward.
A second man approached, his hair white as the snow that fell around them and hanging long upon his back. His eyes were like chips of ice.
"You have seemed on edge lately, Korst," the second man said, and the one called Korst Wind-Eye did not turn, but continued to stare up at the dark sky.
"The stars have not been visible for weeks," he said. "Every night is cloudless, yet it is also starless. This is a malevolent omen." The second man joined Korst in staring up at the sky, and his expression, too, was troubled. He did not often take much stock in fortune-telling and omen-reading, but he trusted Korst and knew when the shaman was worried.
"An omen of what?"
"I cannot say. But it is worrying." Korst finally lowered his gaze to look at the second man. "I fear our days of solitude here are numbered, Chieftain."
"Perhaps they are," the chieftain replied. "But we will do what we can to protect this village from harm, omens or not." There was a pause. "There has been troubling news from the mainland as of late."
"Oh?"
"They say that the Nerevarine has been crowned Princess of all Morrowind and that two of their Tribunal are dead." Korst turned to the chieftain, confused.
"I never knew you to be one that frets over the affairs of the Dunmer, Tharsten."
"Normally I am not," Tharsten said with a sigh. "But I felt a change in the air here since the news reached us. And if I did, I'm sure you felt an even stronger one."
"There was a slight disturbance," Korst admitted. "But quite truly, Chieftain, I am more worried about the absence of the celestial bodies than the petty affairs of Morrowind's Royal Family." Korst gazed at Tharsten steadily, unsmiling. "Good night, Chieftain," he said finally, and he retreated into one of the dwellings, leaving Tharsten standing alone under the inky black sky in the centre of the silent village.