It was dark and humid with the familiar sound of gears turning and steam hissing through the ruins. The Falmer shaman was observing him,though she had no eyes he could tell that she was focusing on him.
She was pale and you could see the veins in her skin,what one could see of her eyes only showed black and her teeth and nails were bloody and sharp. She dressed in traditional clothes,showing her rank in the tribe,with a staff forged from chaurus shell. He,unlike other members of his tribe,could see;he was only half Falmer,and it was obvious.
His eyes were a pale ice blue,that almost seemed to glow in the light of the tall luminescent mushrooms. His skin was white but not the ugly pale of his fellow Falmer and his hair was blond to the point of near snow. His teeth and nails were sharp and his ears were long and pointed. He stood hunched to the point where his knuckles nearly touched the ground. He was capable of standing straight,but chose not to out of comfort.
The fellow members of his tribe spoke,mulling over something,but he couldn't tell due to their low voices. Finally the shaman silenced them with a quick click of her staff on the ground. She spoke in a primitive tongue more similar to grunts then words;when the words that she spoke came out he felt his stomach turn upside-down and he fell over hard on his back;Balfaith was to be banished from Blackreach.
He shot up with a start,his heart was racing and his body felt sickeningly hot. He could remember the dream he had just had but the room around him was dark and without light. It was just a nightmare;that's what he believed until his ears heard the sound of the lute and flute playing down in the main room of the tavern.
He felt his heart recoil with disappointment. Of course it wasn't a dream,he had just hoped so badly that it was. He got up and realized he wasn't on his warm soft bed;he had fallen out of his bed from the memory. He let out a light groan and cursed in his tribes tongue at the pain in his back,he must have hit something sharp on his descent to the floor.
Balfaith made his descent down the stairs and into the main room;he was greeted by booming music and singing that made him wish he was deaf.
"Do all surface dwellers wake up loud?"He thought had found that a majority of the residents of the surface woke up loud and obnoxious,much to his dismay.
He picked up a stray mug of ale,which was certainly abandoned the night before, and went to the dark corner in which he proceeded to sip on his newly acquired beverage. He hated the toxic brew but he was low on septims and after all,beggars can't be choosers. He hated the price of life up on the surface and getting money was a pain. He barely managed to get the little he had together,which he had obtained in his last temporary rest stop with less than ideal residents.
"Well,well if it isn't my friend from last night!"The voice came in a high gleeful tone which belonged to Frellyn;the girl he had met the night before.
Balfaith silently cursed to himself before speaking in the closest thing he could obtain to joyful so early after he had awoken.
"Hello miss Fellyn."Balfaith said with as much kindness as he could.
"Well I guess we're not much of a morning person are we?"She spoke as if he were a small child after it's nap.
"Not really."He had stopped trying to hide his lack of enthusiasm as it was to much effort.
"Well I know what might wake you up."She spoke slower and with a slight mischievous tone.
He sighed,which she apparently mistook as interest because she continued to speak.
"I was asked to obtain a family trinket,a pickaxe,which was stole by some bandits not far from here in a fort. I would like you to come along to keep me company and possibly help if I get into trouble"She spoke like a child who was about to tell her parents of a misdeed she had just done.
"No."He was getting rather annoyed with her and did not want to continue this conversation much longer.
"I'll pay you two-hundred septims."She smiled innocently though he could not see.
Balfaith's ears stood up.
"If it's only a little ways what can it hurt."He had given in,but it was the easiest way to get money. Besides,he was raised by Falmer and the surface dwellers were no stronger than the machines in Blackreach.
"Great! Let's get a move on then!"She jerked him up with surprising strength and all but drug him out of the tavern.
The day was slightly cloudy but it was still nice compared to the snow covered Pale. As they exited Frellyn made a turn to the right which led to a part of town where Balfaith had not been. They walked up the stairs and around the large tree in the town.
It looked dead like it had went into it's unending slumber long ago. Balfaith could sense otherwise;the tree was merely asleep waiting for something to wake it back up. It had an odd magical power about it but he could not quite figure it out. He had apparently stopped because Frellyn was tapping her foot impatiently.
"You act like you haven't ever seen the Gildergreen before."She said impatiently
"Gildergreen? Is that the name of the tree?"He asked more focused on figuring out what the energy was.
"Yes,yes;it's a tree that is a symbol of Kynareth and it's sacred and so forth."She spoke while beginning to pull him away from the tree.
"Now come on. We're going to the temple to pray to Kynareth."She said hurrying.
They went to the temple and Frellyn prayed;Balfaith did not;he did not understand the religion of the surface. The temple was made with light shining in from the glass in the ceiling and water filled four corners of a cross shaped path in the middle of the floor. An altar to what he could only believe was Kynareth stood near the wall in front of him. It was quiet except for the praying of those in the temple;Balfaith merely sat down until Frellyn finished praying till they left for the fort.
They left through the city gates and went to the fort;which according to Balfaith's newly found "friend" was not far away. Luckily for him she was right it wasn't far and they got there by noon. It wasn't to bad either,it was only well guarded with bandits and makeshift barricades. Of course she had made it sound easy he wouldn't have come so early if it was hard even with two-hundred septims.
"Here we are,Fort Greymoor."She sighed happily.
He cursed himself for agreeing to this. He had succumbed to his need for gold; why did he have so little gold and better yet,why was everything so expensive?