Skyrim and it's characters do not belong to me, the only one that I am allwed to call mine are the characters I added into!
Tameena reached Markarth at sunset – finally. She was trying to avoid dragons and the forsworn for two days now and is relieved when she finally sees the gate.
She really likes this place, even though she already saw the Cidhna Mine from the inside – and escaped it. She only enters the place disguised or at least always wearing a hood. But if it wasn't for the damned Silver-Bloods the people wouldn't even care for her presence. The people of Markarth are rather private with their own lives – and leave her alone too, which ultimately made this her favourite place in whole Skyrim. It is a place where she can just be herself, and just is a random someone to the others. Only some guards and Kleppr – and the Jarl – know her name, and even they usually keep their distance to her private life.
Her history itself is rather interesting – and highly guarded and hidden. She was a guard of the royal family of Valenwood, who was also the family who adopted her when she was just a baby. They raised her, educated her and integrated her into their lives as if she was one of their own. Even though they were not related by blood, the love for each other runs deep. They consider Tameena their daughter and sister, and their commandant since she became the head of the royal personal guard.
Therefore, her parents are king Tuuragar and queen Nimrael, and her brothers the crown prince Engair and prince Thandil, and her sister Niolifin.
Tameena and Niolifin are around the same age, while Thandil is three years older and Engair five. They are all pretty close and their family hold has always been a happy place when they've all been together.
But then the Thalmor came, stole, manipulated and left it a broken up. They stole Engair's fiancée, a noble woman called Aneileth, who was as kind and soft-hearted as she was beautiful, and as fierce as an arrowhead. They manipulated the people to think it was Tameena who murdered her, wanting to become queen herself. And even though Engair knows what happened, he has not been the same since.
And so Tameena left, searching Tamriel for the tracks of the woman she just refuses to believe dead. And she followed the tracks to Skyrim, where she was captured at the border and lost her memories for sometime before it recovered itself just a few months earlier. Meanwhile she became the queen of the underground, trying to make her peace with her fate as dragonborn and hiding from the face of Tamriel as much as she could. Pure instinct on her part for that decision.
And so she became Guild Master in Riften, Herald in Whiterun, Arch Mage in Winterhold, Leader of the Dawnguard warriors and Brotherhood Second in Falkreath. And also Thanes in Morthal, Falkreath, Solitude, Whiterun, Riften and Windhelm. And now she works on becoming a Thane in Markarth, which is almost done. She finally got the shield Igmund wanted. Blasted Hagravens! And she stands in the favour of quite a few Deadra too.
And meanwhile she was using all her contacts to find the track of Aneileth again. Therefore she is in constant contact with Serana and Karliah who are her biggest help in that problem, and also Babette sometimes, for she goes places, where most people cannot.
And she finally found a home for herself in Skyrim: Vlindrel Hall. She adores the place. It is high up in the city and also kind of separated from the busy ways. It is made of stone and she finally feels comfortable enough to stay longer than just two weeks. And it is the farthest place away from Ulfric Stormcloak. She sincerely supports his idea of Skyrim, but despises his racism deeply. And he tries to court her, which she doesn't like in the least.
Not only because her life will be cut short with a real high possibility, but also because he is just not right for her.
Her first stop in Markarth is the Inn to greet her friends and to drink some well earned mead. She takes a place at the bar, silently talking and joking with Kleppr.
After a while she notices the young girl waiting the tavern that night. She seems fairly young, and so she asks Kleppr about her:
"Say, friend, who is that pretty youngling you have working here tonight?"
"Hah, that girl is young Frieda. She is the younger sister of a guardsman here and celebrated her 18th winter just a few months ago. She wants to help him earn their living, and so she works here when Fribba and I can afford it.", he explains.
"That is fairly nice of you, old friend.", Tameena comments smiling.
But something seemed off with the girl, and so she observes her closer. And she is not the only one. A man sitting next to the fireplace doesn't take his eyes off her even a second. And the woman also notices that the closer she is to him, the clumsier, more insecure and paler the young woman gets.
That smug grin on the man's face makes Tameena unexplainably angry, for she has seen this behaviour before. He had laid his hands on her.
When Frieda is almost next to her Tameena can see her shaking.
Abruptly she sets her mug down and stomps out of the Inn, racing to her house, changing clothes and packing her backpack for a nice short journey to Boethias' shrine, disguised as a woman in need of a man who knows how to wield a sword.
Clothed as such she soon re-enters the tavern, winking to Kleppr whose raised eyebrows almost break through the roof and signing him to keep silent of her acknowledgement. Luckily he understands and treats her like a newcomer to the tavern.
She rents a room loudly (having a note hidden inside which says that the money should please go to Frieda later) and complains about her upcoming journey to a shrine rather far away and that she still looks for a swordsman to come with her. After a while, said staring man came over to her, attracted by her weak image and the possibility to increase his macho-one.
As soon as they seal the deal to meet up at sunrise at the carriage outside the gates, he leaves to prepare his backpack. Frieda looks at her wide-eyed and tries to signal her not to do it.
But then a man enters, who Tameena has never seen before. He is broad shouldered and tall, his longer blond hair kept in warriors style and his body language talking loudly about his abilities and power. But the most striking feature he carries is the scars on his face. Around his left eye, leaving it blind and milky, they stand out as rather fresh on his relatively light skin.
Tameena could not look away, until he feels her stare and looks back. And for the first time since she entered Skyrim she blushed. Shocked by her own reaction she almost missed his eyes wandering further to the other young woman, which immediately came to him when she saw him. They seemed close.
"Of course, she is a beauty. I see the appeal. But of course that is it.", she thinks to herself. He looks worried at the smaller woman, and Tameena decides to leave. Paying for the drink and waving a last time to Kleppr, she leaves the tavern. Just a few hours left to the sunrise. She will make sure that man never touches her again.
After she waved to Kleppr, Argis eyes followed that woman to the door and out of it. She was dressed as a commoner, a woman who could not defend herself, her hair carefully braided and taken care of. But a closer look betrays that image: she is extremely trained and her toned body speaks a language of battle and wears an always-ready stance. She was definitely not the woman she tries to represent.
But his sisters' behaviour worries him more. She is nervous, clumsy even. Something had happened, and he tries to get out of her what exactly.
A few minutes later Kleppr comes over to them, putting the mug down in front of Argis and giving the moneybag to Frieda, who looks puzzled. "What does that mean, Kleppr?", her brother asks in her stead.
"That woman who just left is a friend of mine. She asked me to give the money she presumably gave to me for a rented room to Frieda."
"Why would she do that?"
"I don't know why, and it is her business, isn't it? All I know is that she will not miss the money and she is a friend, so I do as she asks. I don't know why she even asked that moron to accompany her tomorrow. But well, I guess that is also not my business after all, is it?", he answers and turns around, cleaning up the bar for the night.
Argis' mind races. Who is that woman? And by the nine why does she behave like that?