Adventures of an Altmer – Book One: The Prisoner

6 – The Cyrodiil Arc – Bravil, Home of the Lucky Old Lady

Author's Note!

In the next chapter, Eilen finally reunites with her dear and almost insane twin brother, Eldaon! Just one more thing – he knows Eilen is the Dragonborn, thanks to his and her split personalities, his being the actual Sheo and Eilen's being Deirdre. He calls her briinah, which means sister in Dovahzul, and he calls Hadvar jul fahdon, which means, literally, man friend. He really thinks Eilen and Hadvar are engaged! It's really cute, actually.

Eldaon: What? They'd be cute together! I ship them.

Fox: Yeah, yeah, Eldy. Just go back to your palace. I hear the alocasia fruits are in season in the Halcyon Conservatory…

Enjoy!

-A note added like a minute before I posted the chapter haha: Please don't kill me if some of the formatting is wrong. I'm currently writing tenth grade November exams and I'm really excited to publish this chapter! Also I'm uploading everything on my phone... So please don't kill me!

LAST TIME

'The Brotherhood in Skyrim is, apparently, an uncivilised rabble who don't follow the Old Ways, the Black Hand, the Speakers, the Listener… I'm the Listener. If they followed the Old Ways, they would have contacted me. The leader of each sanctuary is supposed to know a spell that can summon the Listener. The leader of the Falkreath Sanctuary, Astrid, hasn't cast the spell. So, when I'm finished with all this Dragonborn business, I'll mosey on down to Falkreath and raise Oblivion in that sanctuary.'

'You'll put things right?' Hadvar asked.

'Yes. I will.' Eilen's tone was resolute.

My Lady Elsinfaere, an assassin? Things just get more curious every time I get her into ' story-time' mode…

THIS TIME

'Milady, we're here,' the nervous Imperial carriage driver stammered.

'My thanks to you,' Eilen said, and Hadvar nodded his agreement.

Eilen walked down the road to the front gate of Bravil. The guards noticed the lovely looking (and superior looking) Altmer lady walking towards them with a Nord following close behind (they thought he was the lady's bodyguard) and hastily pushed the wooden gates open.

As Eilen waltzed past, she nodded to the guards without even looking in their direction.

She marched on down the streets of Bravil, heading straight towards the town square, guided by memory. True, all the people (other than most of the elves) had changed a lot. Obviously. She hadn't been there in two hundred years. Humans didn't live that long.

'The Lucky Old Lady is around this corner,' Eilen said, looking over her shoulder at Hadvar. She had such an elated look on her face. Hadvar found himself smiling at her immense joy to be back in the town she had lived in for the first few months of the Oblivion Crisis.

She rounded the corner –

And was horrified. The Lucky Old Lady statue was lying in pieces in the dirt surrounding the statue base. The Night Mother's crypt was open for all eyes to see.

Eilen hastily descended the ladder leading into the musty tomb, Hadvar following close behind.

The skeletons of the remaining members of the Black Hand sans Lucien and Arquen were still there, and the coffins containing what Eilen assumed were the preserved bodies of previous Listeners were there. She looked at the names inscribed on each coffin, tracing her fingers along the spidery letters. The newest coffin, albeit a two hundred year old coffin, caught her eye. Ungolim was written in Eilen's own handwriting on the lid of the coffin, above the following words:

'A faithful Listener until the end, betrayed by Mathieu Bellamont.

May you rest in peace until the end of time, my Listener.'

'Until the end of time…' Eilen whispered, then gasped. 'Hadvar, do you have my copy of The Book of the Dragonborn?'

Hadvar rummaged through his knapsack. 'I have it here,' he said, brandishing the book with the insignia of the Legion. He handed the book to her. She paged through it until she reached the last page. And read.

'When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the worldWhen the Brass Tower walks and Time is reshapedWhen the thrice-blessed fail and the Red Tower tremblesWhen the Dragonborn Ruler loses his throne and the White Tower fallsWhen the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleedingThe World-Eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn.'

Hadvar blinked at the prophetic tone Eilen's voice took as she read aloud.

'Misrule…. Eight corners of the world… The Staff of Chaos! Jagar Tharn! The Eternal Champion, my great-however-many-great aunt Druriella used the Staff to destroy Tharn and bring Uriel back to Mundus… And here, the Brass Tower walks and Time is reshaped, another relative of mine, the Hero of Daggerfall, Sirurmend, gave the Mantella to the Underking, allowing the Underking to pass into eternal rest. And here, the thrice-blessed fail… the Red Tower trembles… The thrice-blessed are the Tribunal, Sotha Sil, Almalexia and Vivec, the Red Tower is the Red Mountain, and trembles implies that the Red Mountain erupted – the Red Year. The White Tower falls tells about the Great War. Snow tower could be the Throat of the World, where the Greybeards live. Sundered, kingless, bleeding talks about the Civil war… The World-Eater is Alduin, and from what I know about the Wheel, from reading so many books the Wheel is Aurbis, the universe. At the centre of Aurbis is Mundus, this plane, the mortal plane, and at the center of Mundus is Nirn, this planet. I am the Last Dragonborn. This basically says that the universe turns to the Last Dragonborn to save Nirn.' Eilen sighed at the end of her "lecture".

Hadvar blinked spastically.

'You've deciphered what I tried to decipher as a child!' Hadvar said. 'I had a lot of books when I was a child…' he muttered.

'Hadvar, I've read tons of old books and tomes, and I've read an Elder Scroll while posing as one of the Camoran siblings…' Eilen said, her voice trailing off.

'It was you?' Hadvar asked.

'Yes, the one and only Eilen Elsinfaere. Now, let's see if my gate is still on that island. But first, a visit to my house!'

…

'My palace in Bravil,' Eilen said, sauntering through the small and cosy house. It was one large room, with a closet in one corner, a round table in the center, and a trapdoor to one side. 'It leads to my baths and basement,' Eilen said airily. There was a curtain hanging in an archway which led to Eilen's bedroom. The curtain rustled. Eilen raised her hands, a blood red spell in both. Hadvar unsheathed his sword.

An Altmer walked out, her hair tied up in a bun. The only sign of her age was the white lock of hair she sported.

'Arquen,' Eilen breathed, and lowered her hands, dismissing the spell. Hadvar slowly sheathed the sword, the steel blade making an eerie sound.

'It is so good to see you again, My Listener. The Unholy Matron spoke to me mere months after you left, and said that she would become inactive in the Void. There were Listeners, of course, but they had people posted in each city, listening for talk of the Sacrament in that county,' Arquen replied.

'A False Listener,' Eilen muttered.

'I am glad to see you again,' Arquen said again. 'I have a gift for you. Even though we all knew about you and the young Emperor,' here Arquen smirked, 'I knew you loved Lucien. And he, you.' She held out a book to Eilen.

Summon Spectral Assassin was written on the spine. Eilen opened the book –

And almost cried tears of immense sorrow. Lucien had asked her all those years ago, if one could make their spirit eternal and able to be summoned. Eilen thought that it was for Rufio, because, when she needed to cleanse the Cheydinhal Sanctuary, she received a scroll that was to summon Rufio's vengeful spirit from the Void.

…

'My dear Lady Elsinfaere, tell me, with your Thalmor knowledge of magic, is it perhaps possible to make a spirit come back from the Void?'

Eilen turned around, a quizzical look in her leaf green eyes.

'Why would you want to do that, dear loved one?'

Lucien groaned. 'I know of your courtship of Martin Septim, the heir of Uriel. Why taunt me so, Lady Elsinfaere?'

'Because I love you,' Eilen replied. 'It is a deep and confusing love, but love nonetheless.'

'Well? Can you do it? Summon a spirit from the Void, someone recently killed?'

'I suppose it's possible,' Eilen murmured. She walked over to the bookshelves, where her magic books were kept. 'Ah,' she said, touching a single finger to the spine of a deep purple and crimson book. She channelled a Telekinesis spell into that one dainty digit, and levitated the book to Lucien. 'This one,' she said. She levitated another purple book, with the symbol of the Conjuration field of magic on it, and said, 'This one.' She levitated one more… Her personal notes from the Thalmor mage academy years. 'And most importantly, this one.' She found a leather covered journal. 'My field notes,' she said, and walked over to Lucien, the journal in hand.

Eilen Elsinfaere. Thalmor Justiciar Mage, field notes was the title.

'You were a Justiciar?'

Eilen looked at Lucien imperiously. 'Read,' she commanded.

And so he did. And a week later, she was presented with a scroll to summon Rufio's spirit from the Void.

…

Eilen woke up on her bed. She didn't know how she got there. It was twilight, and Hadvar was next to her bed.

'You're awake,' Hadvar exclaimed.

'I am,' she said, putting a small hand over her eyes.

'Arquen left mere minutes after you fainted. She said she had business to attend to.'

'What a busy elf,' Eilen muttered. 'How long have I been asleep for?' She sat up. She was in her silken robes – a flashback to her Cyrodilic days.

She suddenly flushed crimson. 'Where did you sleep, and how did I find myself in my pyjamas?'

'Arquen dressed you. I slept right here,' he said, and gestured to where he was. Next to her.

'Pass me the book from Lucien, please,' she said, clenching and unclenching her hands.

He complied. Eilen opened the book and read the first page, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

Eilen. I know that, by the time you read this, I will be dead, long, long dead. I just want you to know that, even though you're now betrothed to the Emperor, I still love you. By now, you're probably married to him, and he's probably dead, as we humans don't live long. One last thing. When you get this spell tome, summon me.

L.L

The pages that followed instructed one on how to summon Lucien.

Eilen stood, and walked to her lounge and pulled a key from a small box on the dining table. She crouched by the trap door she had requested, and unlocked it. She then proceeded to descend the ladder into a small basement with enchanting and alchemy facilities, and a spell crafting stand with ample space to cast the finished product. Lucien's spell tome had a "first summon policy".

One had to create the Conjuration Field's symbol out of Deathbell flowers and Nightshade. Then, one had to chant a prayer to Sithis, claiming that the Listener calls for Lucien to walk the mortal plane.

Eilen did this, and a purple vortex swirled around her and the spot in front of her with an ominous sound. Hadvar looked on in shock and the vortex took on a shape of pure darkness, which filled the whole room, and a hand of pure black ringed with bone bracelets reached out with an ebony dagger. The hand stabbed the palm of Eilen's hand with the dagger, and her blood dripped onto the ground, in the center of the symbol, the little dot in the center of the Conjuration symbol. The Deathbell and Nightshade melted into a pure purple mixture that set in the shape it was laid in. The symbol flashed purple and then black and then –

Red. Red as blood.

The Void disappeared, and the wind whooshed back into the room with such force it blew Eilen and Hadvar's hair back.

And Lucien was standing there, in ethereal form.

'Listener,' he said, in a hollow voice.

'Lucien!' Eilen exclaimed.

The ghost looked shocked as he gained a more corporeal form due to Eilen frantically scribbling in the book with her own blood. Her palm was still bleeding, but she paid it no mind.

Very soon, he looked as he did in life, Black Hand robes and all.

'Oh, how I've missed you,' Eilen said, casting a healing spell. The golden light swirled around her hand, knitting the skin back together. When the light faded, she fell into Lucien's arms sobbing uncontrollably. The Speaker looked at Hadvar, standing in the corner of the room. Lucien patted Eilen's head. 'I've missed you too, Listener.'

'This is Hadvar, my companion,' Eilen said, breaking free from Lucien's hug and gesturing to Hadvar, who waved.

'You know who I am,' Lucien said. 'You have the look of someone who's read a lot of books.'

Hadvar's jaw dropped. 'Correct!' Lucien exclaimed triumphantly.

Eilen, Hadvar and Lucien decided to retreat to the ground floor of Eilen's house, to get away from the gruesome scene of Lucien's first summoning.

…

'Wow,' Eilen said as Lucien faded away with the words; 'Someday, you'll serve Sithis in the Void, as I do now.'

'Eilen,' Hadvar said, slowly.

'Yes?'

'You're an Altmer, and Altmer live long lives. Why, then, do you break down and cry each time you're confronted with something from your past?' he asked.

'My life has been prolonged drastically by the Divines,' Eilen said, looking downcast. 'I'm meant to be much older than I look. Because of this, I've lost more than I care to count. It hurts to see them this way, and everything else so different.'

Eilen sighed.

'This probably doesn't make any sense,' she said softly.

'It does,' Hadvar said. 'I'm a Nord. If I had to live a long life like you do, and I had to see people close to me dying before I even go grey, I'd be in exactly the same state as you are now.' He took her small hands in one of his large ones, and lifted her chin with the other.

'You have no idea how much you fascinate me,' he said, leaning closer. 'You are an Altmer, and yet you're the complete opposite of the rest. You're kind, caring and compassionate, and you don't look down your nose at anyone, instead you do your best to help them.' He leaned even closer, and lightly touched his lips to hers. He broke the kiss. 'And I love you.'

'And I love you, but I'll outlive you,' she wailed. 'I don't want to see another loved one die!'

Hadvar made a comforting noise and pulled Eilen into a warm bear hug. 'I'm not going anywhere.'