Updated 05.04.15

2.

Lio coughed. And she coughed again until her lungs felt clear enough of salty water. She opened her eyes to the picture of her cabin upside down. She felt a bump on the side of her head and a sudden shock hit her, rendered her immobile.

The Skinny Horker had shipwrecked.

She was on the floor, or rather, the ceiling, with her back to the wall and the level of water already up to her chest. The silky and fancy noble clothes she wore were now useless, as they held no warmth and had been ruined by the salt and dirt.

Her skin had turned white in the cold water and she felt a small ache and numbness in her tired limbs.

Lio breathed. Most of her shock had passed and she roamed across her cabin to grab things floating in the water. She had to find the captain fast.

"Where are we...?" she mumbled, but a sudden fit of cough stopped her. The salt in her throat burned.

Lio took the now cabbage-like "Biography of Barenziah, v1" under her arm. She roamed to the upside-down chest and opened it.

For a moment Lio froze. Then she fell back in the water, covered her face with colorless hands and cried.

She had been left alone on the wreckage. There weren't any jewels in the chest; it had been emptied while she had been unconscious. There was no captain anymore, just her and her Biography.

Deep breaths brought Lio back. She wiped away the tears and forced down more sobs that desperately wanted to escape her chest. After grabbing a corundum ingot and some gold coins that had been left behind, she put on an iron helmet that had rolled in through the open door of her cabin. It reminded her of the ugly helmets the guard in Jehenna used to wear. Painful stabs of regret broke her down again. If she hadn't had left her home, she could still be safe and warm. After another long moment of breathing in and out, she inhaled and dived into the water leading out of her room.

The stairs that used to lead up and to the deck above it were now fully buried under the sand that covered the ocean floor. Lio swam in the opposite direction - towards the bottom of the ship.

Skinny Horker was a small sloop. If the ship had been completely underwater, there wouldn't have been any air to breathe. Land was close by. Either that or the Sea of Ghosts must have been very shallow. Lio prayed for the first guess to be true.

Some rooms were almost empty of water and she could stand up to take a breath. She grabbed most she could find on the way and stuffed them in the bag she had taken with her. She found a lot of soaked and now decomposing food, but some better preserved bottles of mead and cheese stored in some drawers too. It was all the food she had. A double-sided axe was in a chest and she tried swinging it around, mimicking the movements she had once seen the trainees at the barracks practice. The axe was nothing like a quill or a flute, but more like a whole cupboard. How could anyone work with things like these? After a reconsideration she took it with her, reminding herself of the many dangers in the world.

She needed armor too. Rusty iron gauntlets from an upside down cupboard were put to use. Lio put on a tan foul-smelling belted tunic she found, which in fact was one of the ugliest clothes she had worn in her life. The tunic was woolen, heavy and clumsy, half soaked in the sea water. The style in Jehenna had been more to her taste and Skyrim's poorer clothing was not something she had ever imagined herself wearing. Her old self would never had fallen that low. Things had changed quickly.

After a bit of exploring and rummaging, she was reaching the bottom of the ship. Turning a corner, she found lots of crates piled up and broken wooden boards put on them for climbing to the very bottom of the ship.

"So, I was right. They survived... " she mumbled, sighed and tore her helmet off. Her vision became blurry, but crying and swallowing hurt and she tried to stop herself. Lio's stomach cramped as she cried a noiseless, tearless cry. Her skin was dirty, painful and miserable. The bump on her head hurt and every time she stood up her vision blurred and a headache dulled her senses.

They had left Lio behind and during doing so they had robbed her clean. The fact was clear as day to her now and it broke her naïve heart. She was alone in the middle of the sea without anything, without anyone. Now she realized that the captain wasn't much different than the nobles she had despised back home – he had been friendly to her because of her money. Lio had annoyed them with her talking. She had made them tired of her, even hateful. She was guilty for all that had happened to her. Had she been less of a nuisance, they would have taken her with them. Definitely, she thought.

It was doubtful if the Skinny Horker had an emergency boat, and even if there once had been one, it wasn't there anymore.

A bare ache was scratching Lio's insides and her knees weakened. Her body shook with silent sobs. It was all too much. She had only just seen freedom, the real world, and it ended with her alone on a shipwreck. It ended with her shipwrecked.

Finally, a quiet heart wrenching wail escaped her cracked lips. She pushed away dark strands of hair that stuck to her teary cheeks. She quivered in the cold, her hands cramped and her beautiful nails dug into her palms, leaving behind small and red marks. New, strange and painful feelings arose in her, made her delirious, desperate.

A foul smell reached Lio's nostrils and she woke up. She had cried herself to sleep, but still felt tired. The bump on her head didn't hurt anymore, but those weird feelings were still stabbing her insides like thousands of small needles. She slowly got up, the throbbing in her legs strong, and grabbed her bag.

Lio climbed the makeshift way to the bottom of the ship and gasped – a body was lying on the ground. It was emitting a rancid smell and Lio covered her face. Gradually, carefully she stepped closer to it, keeping low. Fear had almost clouded all the pain from before and she was almost thankful for the adrenaline. She turned the body over.

An unknown man turned to stare at her. His eyes were clouded and stared through her at the ceiling, a grimace of fear on his pale face. Lio recoiled, but pulled herself together and, while keeping her eyes from his face, she searched his body. He was a Redguard and was dressed accordingly in Hammerfell garbs. Lio had seen many of these clothes on envoys in Jehenna.

Jehenna…

Lio stopped her thoughts before they reached another dead end. She decided then – she was going to survive this. She couldn't surrender to those paralyzing and horrendous feelings. Pushing all thoughts of Jehenna and the crew out of her mind, she breathed in and willed herself to go on. She needed to learn how to be stronger than this.

The first thing she saw, a short and simple dagger, she grabbed and kept it close. A bundle of lockpicks and a tension wrench were on the Redguard's belt and Lio snapped them away. She knew what they were for. She had only picked a lock once in her life, when she had stolen some taffy from a locked cupboard in the kitchen. She had read a small guide she had found in one of her nanny's room, but none of it made much sense to her back then and she hadn't given much thought to it all. Now, reliving her memory of finding the book, she couldn't believe who Moricyan had been hiring to look after her. Lockpicks could be very handy.

After making sure the body had nothing else significant on it, Lio stepped away and walked to the farthest corner of the ship, still picking up mead and random objects lying around on the way. She took a deep breath and submerged into the water in the ship's point. Lio opened her eyes underwater – through the hazy and muddy waters she saw faint light glowing from straight ahead, through a hole in the bottom of the sloop. Smiling, she swam back.
Lio took the time to think things over. She needed warmer clothes to live in Skyrim's weather. She had all of her noble clothes replaced except for her silky slippers. A revolting idea popped into her mind, but she saw no other way to get what she wanted, to she took a deep breath and pulled the Redguard's boots off, exposing his pale legs. An even more disgusting smell now came from the body and Lio jerked back, covering her face with her hand. She put on the disgusting boots, still wearing the slippers, and her toes cramped in them in disgust. A spark of warmth already spread in her legs now and she bore with the squishy and unfamiliar feeling inside the boots.

"Alright!" she shouted enthusiastically, suddenly feeling a lot better. After tying her bag around her shoulder and waist and doing a few sporty up and down jumps, Lio finally took a deep breath and dove into the water in front of her. She swam out of the broken hole in the ship's hull and made her direction the surface of the freezing water. The Sea of Ghosts, she thankfully realized, was shallow and the surface seemed not far away. The water was freezing and made her leg cramp. Her breath was short and the strength in her muscles was disappearing quickly, but then her outstretched hand felt different, almost weightless, and then her head and neck also emerged from the water. She flailed and gasped for breath and grabbed onto driftwood close by, upping herself on it.

The white horizon was lain out before her.

"So this… is Skyrim, huh?" her tattered mumble was lost as the sound of waves overwhelmed it. Lio trembled on the wood and gazed at the frozen land far away. Her lips slightly parted in fright. The nature was monotone and bleached; there weren't any flowers or trees in lush colors. She saw ancient towers high on the mountainsides; saw the tips of old of monuments on icy islands. The land was covered in black and white and it was like so from one point of the horizon to the other. A harsh and cold wind blew and the trees on the coast bent under its power. Snow was falling and Lio couldn't help but feel disgusted at the sight of it. All doubts about her whereabouts dissipated - this was definitely Skyrim.

Slowly she began paddling herself towards the far away coastline. Lio pulled down the sleeves of her many blouses and stuffed them into her gauntlet, but still her hands numbed. It was a long way to the beach and only adrenaline and shock kept her moving.

The slaughterfish.

Lio pulled her hands from the water as if struck by something.

"Now what do I do?" she asked and looked at the looming water down below. Something was moving around in it, just as she had suspected.

"Slaughterfish, aye?" she mumbled and took meat from her bag. She dropped some in the water. The shadows in the water ascended and suddenly, thin and long jaws with rows of small razor-sharp teeth jumped out of the water, catching the meat. The fish's small and sharp eyes caught on to Lio's and she jolted, almost sliding off her shabby plank.

The tips of her new boots were in the water and she could feel someone nibbling on them. From time to time she felt a harsher pull downwards and she grasped at her plank even stronger. The fish were trying to get to her.

For some minutes Lio floated on the driftwood, the pulling and nibbling unbalancing her. She looked around in fear, a frown plastered on her features. She inhaled slowly and closed her eyes, forcing herself to think and do something about the situation. The grimace on her face disappeared. Grabbing the biography and axe from her bag, she rowed with them. .

It didn't take long until she saw another wreckage near the coast. The ship's point wasn't buried under sand and water and two masts, broken in half, were poking out of the sea. Lio saw a light near the ship's carcass.

A bonfire. No one seemed to be near it.

She paddled quicker until she felt her hands numb. Quietly she turned herself on the wood, dropped into chest-deep water and floated on her back, her limbs too tired to move much more. Letting the waves carry her, she finally felt ground under her back and closed her eyes in relief and in gratitude for solid ground.

Her breath was cut short by the knife on her neck.

"Who are you and where did you come from?" a rough voice asked and Lio opened her eyes to a haggard Argonian hovering above her.

He looked up further to the distance for a split second. "Are you one the survivors? Why are you here?" he hissed and pressed the knife even deeper against Lio's neck.

"I'm... A survivor! Lio… Let me go!" she yelled and in a sudden rush of adrenaline pushed the man's blade away from her neck.

"Who are you?" she yelled and raised a hand in front of her body in defense. She hid her dagger behind her back, unsure if she'd be able to use it even if necessary. The haggard looked at her, his full hazel eyes serious, and then straightened up. He took a few steps back and finally sat back on a collapsing chair. Lio hid the dagger in a pocket, releasing a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in, and stepped closer to the shabby crate in front of the Argonian. There were jewels randomly laying around, a mug of ale and a coin purse on it.

Lio pulled her gaze from the gleaming jewels. She felt the haggard's eyes following her every move. They both had their guards up. The air was thick of intense wariness.

Lio stepped closer to the fire and the smell of the fish roasting above it reached her nostrils.

"I don't even know why I'm here," she said and the Argonian scoffed quietly.

"Am Deekus. You need something?" he said finally and watched Lio as she sat on another crate across the fire.

"Directions to the closest port. And food. Shelter wouldn't be too bad either. Clothes, and..."

"You talk too much," Deekus cut in suddenly, his arms folded. His cold look of wariness dissipated and was replaced with impatience, even annoyance. "I don't care."

"But you asked..."

"I don't care," he hissed and Lio frowned in confusion. She stared at a clawed trap in front of a locked chest behind her. Then she noticed a small box under a shelter that was also full of gems.

"You don't think you could give some of your treasure here to me? I'll make sure you're rewarded one day. I'm the daughter of a nobleman in Jehenna. He'll pay you," she lied, but Deekus didn't seem interested in the offer.

"If you don't shut your mouth you won't be able to use it ever again," he said instead, softly petting the side of an iron dagger he had taken out, and Lio sat still like a statue.

"Rich bastard..." she mumbled through gritted teeth.

"Be thankful I didn't kill you on the spot. I'm a kind soul, you see," Deekus said and Lio swallowed a retort. He continued, "It's late. You go sleep over there." He nodded at a spot on the beach away from the camp, away from the food and fire.

"And if I wake up tomorrow with my treasure gone, I'll come after you. This is my treasure, no one else's. I found this wreckage. Mine," he threatened, the light of the fire deepening his reptile-like features. Lio nodded and warmed herself and dried her belongings at the fire until Deekus started sharpening his dagger. She settled down quite far from the campsite between some frozen bushes. She made sure that he couldn't see her and crawled between her tunics. The cold crept through the tunics. Violent shudders shook her throughout. She wondered if she'd freeze to death during the night.

At first Lio couldn't sleep. It was too silent and she kept turning from side to side. Slowly she started noticing dim lights against her closed eyelids. The dark sky had turned clear and she turned to her back to see the space above Nirn filled with stars and waves of green and yellow colors. The lights danced slowly and she couldn't turn her gaze from it anymore.

The green long colors moved lazily across the starry sky and turned to yellow in a slow motion. It was beautiful, mesmerizing. The dance of the colors was frail, measured. She was in a trance, out of this realm, in her own one. Finally her tired mind got some rest.