Chapter IV
3rd of Sun's Dusk 4E202
As Lydia pulled open the drawer, they were both assaulted by the overwhelming odor of smoke and oil that clung to the fabric of the robes inside. Lydia coughed in surprise, waving her arm in front of her face to dispel the stench. "Talos, Kai! These things stink! Oh look, it's the robe you said you lost..." She looked over her shoulder towards her Thane, preparing to lecture her on the importance of washing her clothes before she put them away when she noticed Kaiya's blank, panicked expression.
That smell.
Kaiya sat on the edge of her bed, frozen in place at the onslaught of memories brought on by the smell. Her eyes were wide, staring forward at nothing, her posture rigid and straight. The only part of her that moved at all was the frantic, erratic dancing of her fingers, desperately rolling the ring around her neck in circles.
Lydia was baffled, "Kaiya! What in Oblivion is going on?" The Dragonborn continued to stare forward, now clutching the ring around her neck in her hand as tears started to form in her eyes.
"Lydia. I need you do to me a favor." Her voice was an eerie calm, casting a formidable tone to her words.
"Anything, what is it?"
"I need you to wash those robes for me, please. Wash them until they don't smell that way anymore. Take them from this house and wash them until they smell like lavender or mountain flower or fuck, they can smell like a damn troll for all I care, just please make them stop smelling like that."
Lydia nodded, rushing downstairs with the offending garments and out the door. The thought of what could have happened to make them smell the way they did terrified her, but not as much as it seemed to terrify her Thane.
The door to Breezehome slammed as Lydia rushed out, leaving Kaiya alone in her smallclothes, trying to piece herself back together. She slowly laid back onto her bed, rolling onto her side and pulling her knees up to her chest. With her eyes squeezed tightly shut, the memories began.
15th of Last Seed 4E201
Kaiya heaved open the doors to Dead Man's Drink as she stumbled in, tripping on her newly acquired monk robes that were much too long. The doors slammed behind her, causing Kaiya to wince.
Sure Kai, draw MORE attention to yourself. That was the plan.
She was lucky that she had arrived in Falkreath so early. There were very few residents awake at the hour, and even fewer of them had made their way to the inn. She slowly glided her way up to the counter, trying to be as graceful as possible in the robes that were practically swallowing her small frame. Casually, she threw her elbow up on the counter to give the barkeep a charismatic grin, hoping that made up for the awkward entrance. The barkeep stared back at her with a raised eyebrow, undoubtedly too interested to see where this would go to be the one to speak first.
"Anything good on the menu for a traveling priestess?" Kaiya asked, throwing as much charm as possible into the question.
At this, the barkeep's face morphed from skeptical interest into one of recognition. "You must be Runil's new apprentice!" A smile stretched across the Imperial's face, excited to have the opportunity of being the first to meet the anticipated new arrival.
Uh oh. Who?!
Time to turn up the charm. "Right yes, the new apprentice to Runil, priest of…"
"Arkay!" the barkeep beamed.
"Yes, Arkay. I'm the new apprentice priestess of Arkay. Benevolence of Arkay upon you, my child. And your name?" Kaiya diverted, trying desperately to take attention away from herself.
"I'm Valga. This is my inn, Dead Man's Drink. Would you like something to eat, Priestess? Unfortunately, I am unable to give it to you on the house, but I would be happy to serve you."
"Oh," Kaiya responded, putting on the air of a highly disappointed holy woman. "Well this is most unfortunate. As I spent my last septim on the carriage to travel here, I have nothing to offer you for food. Is there nothing you could spare for a poor, hungry priestess of Arkay?"
Before Valga could reply, a voice chimed in from the darkened corner, startling both barkeep and Priestess.
"Valga are you really going to let this poor woman go hungry? She's a priestess for divines' sake! Just give her whatever she wants and put it on my tab. I, for one, do not want to anger the gods today." The voice said, low and rumbling, like the sound stones made when they grinded into each other.
Valga's face went red with embarrassment, as she nodded once towards the voice and once towards the hungry priestess, standing before her. "What will you have?" she asked, unable to make eye contact with the priestess any longer. Kaiya smirked. "I don't mean to be a bother, Valga. Whatever you have to offer would suffice." Valga nodded again, still without looking up, before taking her leave to go fetch the priestess something to eat.
"Priestess!" It was the gravelly voice again. "Come sit with me while you eat. That's all I'd ask in return."
Kaiya's instincts screamed a warning at this, but she had no choice but to comply. The voice had paid for her to be able to eat after all, and she desperately needed to eat. She approached the corner, finding an older man in black mage robes as the source of the voice, eyes narrowed at her with suspicion. She sat down across from him, mumbling a 'thank you' and some form of 'the benevolence of Arkay' to him.
"Cut the crap." The old mage spat, leaning forward to put his elbows on the table between them. Kaiya's face took on a mask of confusion, pretending to be perplexed by his statement while her mind screamed. He had seen through her performance.
The mage looked past her, indicating the incoming presence of the barkeep. They sat quietly as she was served some bread, a bowl of tomato soup and a tankard of ale. Kaiya's mouth watered at the scent, but in order to regain some of her composure, took a quick sip of her ale. As Valga walked away, the mage nodded at her food, encouraging her to eat. She leapt at the opportunity, devouring the meal in front of her.
"A word of advice," said the mage as Kaiya gorged herself, his eyes crinkling at the corners with what seemed to be sheer amusement at the current situation. "While I thoroughly respect your choice of disguise, next time consider learning a thing or two about the deity you claim to represent first."
Kaiya closed her eyes in shame before opening them to find the mage still wearing the same amused expression. "That obvious, huh?" she mumbled, mouth full of bread.
The mage laughed, "well first of all, 'benevolence' is a blessing used by priests of Mara, not Arkay." Kaiya shrugged sheepishly at her mistake. She did not know much about the 8 (or was it 9?) divines. The mage continued, "I'm also pretty sure Runil's going to notice he has a robe missing. You're bold, I'll give you that. Scrawny little scoundrel like yourself, stealing a robe from a high elf and trying to pass it off as your own," this caused the mage to chuckle, shaking his head at her shamelessness. "That's rich."
Kaiya nodded at the mocking compliment, eyes fixated on the mage while she continued to devour her meal. "Hey, better than what I was wearing before," she laughed, crumbs flying out of her mouth. "Why are you telling me this? You some expert on disguises, old man? Are you wearing one now? Are you really just a bunch of skeevers dressed in a mage robe?"
The mage smirked at this. "Feisty one, aren't ya? For your information, I have no use for disguises. I'm too damn old to worry about pretending to be someone I'm not. Disguises are for suckers."
Kaiya raised an eyebrow at his retort. "Touchy, are we?" she teased.
"Ha!" The mage scoffed at her jab, but then refocused, not to be deterred from his point. "Anyway," he declared, dramatically. "As I was saying, more than either of these missteps, what drew my attention to you was your hands." The mage's tone had dropped, indicating that this conversation was moving toward the serious. Kaiya's eyes darted to her hands, noticing for the first time that they were tinged with a dark red. Her stomach dropped.
"I know those stains when I see them, Priestess." the mage mocked, throwing in her false title. "Those are blood stains. No use in denying it."
She didn't deny it. She just stared at the old mage. Who was this man? What was happening? He didn't seem mad or even judgmental at the thought that she may have killed someone before she made her way into the inn. In fact, he seemed almost impressed with her.
"Where did you come from?" he asked, a note of fascination in his gravelly voice. "Who are you?"
Kaiya smirked, adding a little suspense to her answer. "Well old man," she leaned forward, with an almost predatory grin, "I could tell ya, but then I'd have to kill ya."
"I'm willing to take that risk." he responded without hesitation.
She sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes. "Well you may be observant but you sure as hell aren't good at taking hints," she teased.
"Fine." He stated, clearly not getting anywhere with the stubborn girl. "We'll start easy. What's your name?"
Kaiya took a long gulp from her tankard, wiping her mouth and letting out a sigh. She began to stand up from the table as she spoke. "I appreciate the food, old man," she said, dodging his question. "But alas, I must now go tend to the… uh… Arkay business… I have." She threw the old mage a wink before he grabbed her wrist, preventing her from leaving.
"Tell me your name, priestess."
"It's Kaiya," she answered honestly, seeing no reason to make up an alias. He'd just see through it anyway.
He released her wrist and nodded, appreciatively. "See, that wasn't so hard was it, priestess?"
"Why'd I tell you my name if you're going to keep calling me priestess, old man?" she taunted as she stood, hands on her hips. "What's your name, huh? Quid pro quo."
"Ah see," the mage smiled and shook his head. "You should have said that before you told me your name if that's what you wanted." Kaiya sighed heavily and started to turn to leave. She was in no mood for any more games. Plus, the real priest of Arkay may walk in at any moment and that would put her in a really awkward position. She had to get moving.
"Priestess!" the old man yelled as she retreated. She turned to face him. "Next time you find yourself in Falkreath, come find me!" She laughed, "And how am I supposed to do that if I don't know your name, old man?"
"Leave a message for me with Valga, she'll know what to do. Just tell her you'd like to speak with your crazy Uncle Festus."
"Sure old man," she laughed as she turned to go. "See ya around!"
"I'm sure you will" he replied to her back as she pushed open the doors and left, just as mysterious as she was when she entered.
The tears began to come as memories overtook her, first just one, sliding down her cheek, then two, then three. Before she could react, the floodgates opened. She sobbed. She sobbed harder than she thought possible, her heart feeling as if it were breaking all over again. The sobs ripped from her chest as her mind was flooded with one memory after another, her body convulsing as she cried out for someone, anyone to make it stop.
Through the sobs and torment, one hand stayed clasped, white-knuckled and defiant, holding on for life to the silver ring she wore on a chain around her neck.