His Heart

Chapter 7

Dear Varric

Life in Cyrodil is alright . I found work with a Khajit merchant as a cook .

Before I tell you about the voyage here to the land of Tamriel I'll explain what a Khajit is .

Khajit are cat people from a Province called Elsweyr . They walk on two legs like us and have fur as well as a tail . K'Jeer is a good boss and keeps me and Jodran , a boy from Val Royeaux fed . I never need anything .

The voyage here took six months . It was long and tiresome . I worked as the ship Cook's assistant to pay for my passage . The man was huge like an Avvar , but called himself a Nord . Though , they do have Avvar names ,like Helm and Eomund ,they aren't Avvar . I worked hard scrubbing pots and learned a lot about cooking . It wasn't for nothing that I became a Cook's assistant . For one I gained knowledge in cooking and in the other I heard legends of the far North .

Most people in the far North don't believe in the Maker . They have their Eight gods who has names that I haven't ever thought existed . Their chief god is portrayed as a dragon for some reason . Akatosh , the god of time .

They call their gods the Divines or the Eight when they curse or praise , it's like us when we say Andraste's ass or something more revolting .

This Tamriel is part of a vast continent called Nirn and people speak of other lands , but mostly of the Province of Skyrim , that is at war with the Empire of this land , a rebellion of sorts , I don't know why they rebel , but it seems the war between a faction called the Stormcloaks and the Empire of Tamriel had been going on for a while , the leader of the war is Ulfric Stormcloak , he seems to be an important man in Skyrim , Empire hates him , though.

I will be leaving K'Jeer soon and make my way to Skyrim ,because it sort of fascinates me , this war and the sound of the name SKYRIM , it reminds me of Skyhold , though , Skyhold isn't a Province and people don't look like this people .

I hope you are well Varric and I hope everyone else is too , especially the Inquisitor .

Some days I miss you all so much , except for some of you , of course .It is hard being in land and being classified into a race . Jodran jokes that if he wasn't a bit taller he'd be called a Breton like me .

Yeah , they call me a Breton and him an Imperial . There are four races of man and more races of elf that I have ever seen in my entire life . And then there is the two races of Beast Folk , but K'Jeer said that in other parts of Nirn there are more than just the two .

Nords , Redguards , Imperials and Bretons makes up the four races of man . Elves are called Mer here so there is Altmer ,Dunmer and Bosmer . Two of the mer races has been extinct or so they tell me , Dwemer and Falmer , though Helm has said that the Falmer hasn't actually been extinct , they just changed in time becoming wretched creatures living in the dark places of his homeland , the Dwemer has vanished without a trace . Then there are Orsimer , which are commonly known as orcs . For some reason they were once beautiful until some Demon came along that swallowed an elf and pooped it out or so one of the books I read says . The result was another Demon, or as they call them Deadra, called Malacath or something like that . So these Orsimer was born . I don't know if I should believe it or not .

The two Beast Folk races are of course Khajit , cat folk and Argonians , Lizard people .

When I first saw them I thought ABOMINATION ,but I learned quickly enough to realize that they weren't .

I work for a Khajit for crying out loud .

Life here is different than in Thedas . People seems a bit more relaxed , though some like the Altmer are stuck-up gits . The sky here is clean and there is no scar marring it .

Oh and guess what …Mages are free here .Yeah, you heard me . We're not locked up in towers and in each part of Cyrodil there are Guild houses that the College of Whispers or whatever are restoring , ,don't ask why the Guilds weren't in use before ,I obviously don't know, The other mage faction the Synod occupies their time in doing other things . They are mostly part of the Arcane University . K'Jeer had given me a few tomes on this land's magic and in some ways it is different ,but in others it is the same .

There are different schools of magic here . Conjuration , Destruction , Illusion , Alteration , Restoration . There used to be one more ,but K'Jeer said that it had merged with two of the other schools .

I've learned a bit of Restoration magic . Just a simple Healing spell , but I have used it and one of my scars , the one on my cheek , faded a little .

Parts of Cyrodil are cold and snowy like the Frostbacks . Bruma is the city there . This Bruma are bordering on a mountain range called The Jerells . There's a road through there that would take me to Skyrim if I so please to use it .

I can't wait to see this Skyrim for myself . The way the Nords talk about it ,it sounds like they truly love it .

I miss my home , Varric , but this place has become my home in this short few months since I have been here . I am free here . No Templars . No Chantry . No rebel mages . My list is long and I won't bore you with it .

I am alright . I live ,I breath , so you can tell him that I am okay , he don't have to worry about me .

I will write again when I can . There's a fleet of ships taking the voyage to Thedas every six months or so . I can't help it if it takes a year to sail between Tamriel and Thedas .

Six months to go there , six months to get back . It's an awful lot of sea to cover .

Anyway I am alright , Varric .

Love and greetings to all .

Carrie AKA Kiddo .

Varric stares at the letter that had arrived for him .

She wrote to him!.

He couldn't believe it . He was so , so happy to hear from her .

It's been more than a year now . Seventeen months to be exact , that he'd heard of her .The war against Corypheus are taking a bit longer for them than they thought and it wasn't over yet .Corypheus still needed to be defeated and even though it was nearing its end , there was still so much to do before they can get there .

He smiled at the way Kiddo seemed to be eager to get to that Skyrim place . It was as if he could see her face lit up with eagerness .

''I ,Varric , what are you so smiley about ?'', Bull's voice interrupts him .

Looking up he shrugs before handing over the letter to the big Quinari .

''She wrote to you ?'', he asks a few moments later , after he read the letter of course .

Varric nods grinning at him silently .

''She seems quite happy , don't you think ?''.

Varric nods again .

''If this war is over I am going there '', Bull says determinedly ,'' I want to see with my own eyes that she is alright , what do you say ,Varric , will you accompany me ?''.

Before Varric can answer a voice sounds up behind them asking ''Accompany you where ,Bull ?''.

It was the top man himself . The Inquisitor .

Varric and Bull becomes extremely nervous as they think of a way to keep this new information about his Kiddo away from him . He'd been quite obsessed of finding out where she'd sailed to .

''Err.. you see ,Inquisitor , we thought of going to …eh …Rivain when this is over '', Varric says looking far more guilty than he'd ever been in his life and that caused the Inquisitor to see right through him , but because he didn't want to pull it out of the dwarf he just snorts before walking away , causing the two to sigh in relief .

''Whew , that was close , Bully , I never want to be on his bad side , ever , so anyways , yeah I'll go with you , but first we really need to win this damn thing .''

Bull says nothing just watch as the Inquisitor walks through the door to the Smithy .

He hoped that the Inquisitor never finds out where Kiddo is because he would trample the poor girl .

''I said next Prisoner !'', the mean Captain snapped .

Carrie couldn't believe her bad luck . Her name hadn't been on the damn list and she'd been send to wait her turn while watching as they manhandled Ulfric Stormcloak cussing him out and gloating while he just stood there , silent as a mouse . Carrie didn't think that she could stay silent .

It had been awful to watch a stupid Nord walk over to be killed by way of beheading . She'd tried not to flinch when the axe fell . All the while there was this roaring noises that Carrie knew , because Thedas had things that made those noises . There was a dragon somewhere and these people seemed to ignore it as if it was just a breath of wind , though some did react , like the Captain , but the General had told them to continue the execution.

She hoped that the dragon didn't come there . She wouldn't love to see one . Not after Bull's tale about the one in the Hinterlands . She wanted to die like she was . Not going up in flames and burning to ash !.

''Prisoner to the block , nice and easy '', the young Nord who had the list says gently to her and she has no choice but to walk over .

She had a hard time not gagging at the sight of the other man's head in the crate and his blood on the block . The smell was something she'd smelled before , but it was still disgusting .

She felt a bit of pressure on her back and knew that the Captain was helping her kneel and lay down .

She breathed in through her mouth as the strong smell of the sticky blood that touched her cheek wafted up into her nostrils .

She lay there looking up at the headsman as he lifted his axe to swing it down . He never got the chance because just as he was about to swing his axe down a huge black beast came flying in , landing on the tower behind him , causing chaos and panic.

''Divines , what is that !'', someone calls .

''Dragon '', another answers .

Carrie would never forget the rush to get away from the beast as Ralof , the other blond that she'd shared a wagon with helped her up , calling for her to take the chance of escape .

In her heart she thanked the maker profusely as she followed Ralof into a tower where an unbound and no more gagged Ulfric stood waiting for them .

''Jarl Ulfric , was that a dragon ?, could the legends be true ?'', Ralof asks the man who stared at the girl instead of his comrade .

''Legends don't burn down villages '', Ulfric says in a voice that causes Carrie's knees to become a little weak , but not as much as the Inquisitor's voice used to .

''Are you serious ?, ''she asks quietly ,''dragons aren't legends , well , not my homeland's , at least ''.

Ralof and he looked at her frowning .

''High Rock has dragons ?, Impossible !'', Ralof snaps .

This causes Carrie to frown in turn . ''No , you're getting me wrong , I am not from this High Rock , I am from somewhere else , the far South to be exact , Thedas to be more than exact ''.

For a moment they just stare at her then Ulfric says ignoring what she'd just said ''We need to move , Now !, we won't get another chance ''.

''Up the tower '', Ralof says to Carrie ,taking her by the arm , leading her up there . They have to jump back when they reach halfway to the top because for some reason the dragon breaks a hole into the tower wall ,spewing in flames for good measure . The flames didn't reach her or the others , but the tower felt unusually hot ,making her sweat .

''Great , an escape route '', Ralof says when the dragon leaves to go bother someone else .

Carrie frowns at that as they walk up the stairs to check out the hole .

''See that Inn ?, jump over there and find a way to the Keep , I will follow when I can '', Ralof orders .

Rolling her eyes Carrie wonders if he thinks that she's some Rogue like Varric with the agility of a goat , but because she has no other way out she obeys and almost break her legs for her effort .

''Thanks a lot '', she grumbles as she limps to a hole in the floor wishing that there were stairs to walk down , but her bad luck still holds a little .

Jumping through the hole she grinds her teeth at the pain it unleashes on her sprained leg . This was going to be a real long and hard task . She hoped she survives this .

''Gerdur , Gerdur , I'm fine '', Ralof tries to assure his sister while Carrie stood by observing them .

She was tired , hungry and so dirty she thought that she'd never get clean again . It sucked .

She had found a way to the Keep and had to learn very quickly to use a sword because when she met up with Ralof inside the Keep they had to fight their way through Imperials and giant spiders to get out . She had to become a Rogue too and sneak past a damn sleeping bear , before they got out .

Ralof lead her to this little village called Riverwood , where his sister owns the Lumber mill. The village was inside of Imperial territory , but Ralof still came there anyway .

Carrie stood by listening as brother and sister spoke to each other about what happened in Helgen . Gerdur was shocked to hear about the dragon ,but seemed to believe her brother .

When she finally speaks to Carrie , she asks a favor that Carrie cannot refuse . She asks her to go to the City of Whiterun to ask for the Jarl's aid in case the dragon comes to attack Riverwood .

''I'll go at once '', she says ,nodding at Gerdur .

''Rest up a bit first , we'll be having dinner soon , you can go tomorrow morning '', Gerdur says .

Accepting the woman's suggestion she follows Ralof when he walks towards Gerdur's house . Whiterun wasn't going anywhere .

She lifted her hand to shoot sparks at the Giant man who were terrorizing some of the locals around the city of Whiterun's outskirts .

She had taken a short cut over rocks to walk through a small farm when she saw a group of three people fighting this Giant who looked nothing like Thedas' giants .

It looked more human than anything else !.

She decided to help out , but because she didn't want to waste arrows she threw spells at it hoping that it wasn't resistant to it .

It wasn't because it let out a roar of pain filled anger as it swung around to see who threw that spell giving a woman with red hair and skimpy armor the chance to pelt it with arrows while the other two people swung their blades at it .

Carrie had to duck as it swung its giant club made of some kind of bone at her . It missed her by an inch .

Readying flames in her hands she chugged that at him hoping that it would hurt a little more . She didn't bargain on its furry loincloth to burst into flames as the flames touched it . The Giant screamed in fear and pain as its ass was now on fire while arrows still cut into its back . He didn't know where to hit , or who to hit with its club . It was the only man in the group who gave it the deathblow and as it toppled over Carrie felt kind of sad that it was dead .

''Thanks for the help '', the red headed woman says swinging her bow over her shoulder .

Carrie nods while looking at the three people . They were clearly Nords if she had to go by how tall they were .

''We could use someone like you in the Companions , if you want to join go up to Jorrvaskr in the city , you would make a decent Shield Sister '', the redhead continues ,''I am Aela by the way ''.

''Carrie , my names Carrie , what's a Shield Sister ?''.

''Pleased to meet you , Carrie , a Shield Sister is someone who have your back in fights , you're not from around here are you ?''.

Carrie shakes her head at the redhead '' No , I am from far away , anyway I have to go , see you around , Aela ''.

Carrie wasn't sure why ,but the woman gave her the creeps .She just had to get away from her and fast .

Guards stops her when she finally reaches the city gate saying that the city was closed by order of the Jarl .

''Riverwood calls for the Jarl's aid '', she states hoping that , that would help her gain entry .

''Riverwood is in danger too ?, best to find the Jarl up in Dragonsreach , he'll want to know '', the Guard says changing his demeanor and opening the gate for her .

With a soft friendly smile she nods at him before walking into the city .

Dear Varric

I couldn't write for a while . Been busy .

I left K'Jeer and made my way to Bruma by Carriage . From there I had to walk .

Took me a week to get to the border and well end up walking into an Imperial Ambush .I was captured and thrown onto a wagon with three others .We rested the night under the stars watched by soldiers put out as guards . The next day we were carted off to a village called Helgen .

Varric I almost died there . They were going to execute me alongside the rebels they'd captured . I was never so happy in my life when a dragon attacked Helgen just as I laid down with my head on the block . I got a chance to escape .

I met the leader of the rebels personally . Shared a wagon with him . He has this cold demeanor . One of his soldiers and I escaped together and I had to learn how to use a sword very quickly as we fought through Imperials and giant spiders . Then I had to become a rogue by sneaking past a sleeping bear . That was a bit scary .

Helgen is destroyed . The dragon's work . He is an ugly big black one with red eyes . Sort of reminds me of Corypheus' dragon .

I was send to a nearby city to inform the Jarl there about this dragon and the Jarl gave me a set of armor and a sword for it , then I was send off on a quest by his Court Wizard Farengar Secret-Fire to a Nordic Tomb to find a Stone Tablet . Oh , Varric , it was scary going dungeon diving .

There were bandits , undead , the Nords call them Draugr and a giant spider . The Tomb stood on a mountainside and I had to fight off those bandits first . It's scary how one learns things so quickly under pressure .

After the bandits I found the spider harassing a lone bandit that was stuck in its web . Took me a while to kill ,but I got it right . That damn bandit ran when I freed him , straight into a group of three undead .

They were strong . Killed him instantly and then faced me . I wasn't sure if I would survive , though , here I am writing this down .

I searched the bodies and found gold , as well as a journal and a golden Dragon claw that turned out to be the key to the last chamber . In the last chamber I encountered a stone wall with glowing words on it as well as a strong Draugr who had the tablet .

After that when I went to sell my loot in Riverwood I found that , that claw actually belonged to the shopkeeper and that those bandits had stolen it from him . Gave me four hundred Septims for it . Sovereigns wouldn't be accepted here even if its gold . Anyway I then took the tablet back to Farengar after resting at Gerdur's house .

Gerdur is that rebel I escaped Helgen with Sister .

Farengar wasn't alone . There was a woman , hooded and armored with him .

I have just handed him the Stone tablet when Irileif , the Jarl's Houscarl , came running , calling for Farengar , telling him the Jarl wanted to see him and told me to come too .

Well , I killed my first dragon because of that . Its name was Mirmulniir .

The most oddest thing happened, Varric , as the dragon lay there dead its scales begun to burn away and well a sort of orange light rushed into me .

Oh , Varric , I was so scared when all of its memories and all that it was became sort of part of me .

One of the guards told me that I absorbed stole its power and I later heard it was actually its soul .

He told me that I am something called the Dragonborn and that I have the power to kill dragons permanently .

I didn't believe him until I ended up having to go to a monastery upon the tallest mountain in Skyrim called High Hrothgar and meet with a bunch of old bearded men in robes . Oh , little did I know that meeting them would end up in me having to go to a place to retrieve a horn of the first Greybeard , founder of The Way of the Voice . Anyway the horn wasn't in the tomb called Ustengrav . Someone stole it , leaving a note for me and I am currently on my way to Riverwood to find this person .

Well , that is how my life went until now .

Thank you for your letter . It was very helpful Varric . And I am glad that you and dearest Bull will be coming . I hope soon because I really , really need you guys .Thank Bull for his letter as well .

Love and Greetings to all

Kiddo .

P. S If this reaches you while you're already on your way to get here , sorry for taking so long !.

Varric smiled at the letter . He was glad to hear of her again . It had been almost two years . The war had been won and Solas had done something to get all the unstable magic out of the Inquisitors hand .

All that was left was a little stable magic , that wasn't a risk and a scar .

Cassandra had become the next Divine while Leliana stayed with the Inquisition that did nothing ,but repairs and kill off the remnants of Corypheus' forces .

Mostly everyone stayed . Even Josephine , though she won't be staying for much longer . She missed her homeland too much .

''Smiling again ?'', Bull asks like the previous time .

''I have another letter , Bull , Kiddo says we should hurry up and get there already ''.

Bull smiles , shaking his head at the excitement in Varric's voice .

''We should take him with us , you know '', he says to the Dwarf , ''it'll do him good , the Inquisition won't be needed much longer and he sorely needs a vacation , Cullen too , so do we all ''.

''Yeah , let's go find him , I saw him going to the war room a few minutes ago '', Varric says walking straight for the door that'll lead them there .

Carrie sighed in relief as she walked into Riverwood .

She'd had to catch a Courier to take a letter for her to Cyrodil and Captain Savellian . She didn't know if the letter would ever reach Varric , but she had hope that it would .

After handing over the letter she walked here . She hoped that whoever had the horn was here and didn't hide or anything .

She'd been walking hard to get here and she wasn't leaving without it .

The Sleeping Giant Inn wasn't very busy when she walked into it and a woman approached her just as she wondered who to ask for the so called attic room that didn't really exist .

''I am Delphine , can I help you ?''.

''I'd like to rent the attic room '', she says hoping that she's not making a fool of herself . Whoever had the horn might be laughing at her now as he or she watched .

''Attic room , eh ?, well we don't have an attic room ,but you can have the one to the left if you really want it for ten Septims ''.

Since she have nothing else to do she hands over to Delphine and walks to her room .

Not five seconds inside Delphine walks in and closes the door .

''So , you're the one the Greybeards had sent to retrieve the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller , I believe this belong s to you and before you say something , we cannot speak here , follow me to a more private place ''.

Carrie has no choice but to follow her into another room and finds that the wardrobe in the room isn't a wardrobe , it's a damn secret passage leading into the basement of the Inn where there's a table with a map on it as well as weapons and other essentials .

The setting was different , but if she closed her eyes she could picture another table and a map .

''So , you're the Dragonborn ?, can you really do it ?, I mean absorb a dragon's soul ?''.

''That's how I found out what I am , if you don't believe me I'll try and prove it to you , so anyway tell me what you want from me ''.

Delphine proceeds to tell her if she proves herself , she Delphine would answer all of her questions , so Carrie finds herself traveling with the woman to a place called Kyne's Grove where once again she meets that big black red eyed beast from Helgen ….

*Four years after leaving Skyhold *

''This Vampire menace really needs to be dealt with '', a Guard grumbles to Carrie as she bend down to retrieve an arrow that she'd shot at a vampire who'd attacked a guard in Whiterun .

''I know and hopefully it shall be dealt with soon '', Carrie tells him.

She had been already contacted by a group of people called the Dawnguard who'd asked her to join , well , an Orc by name of Durak asked her .

''I hope you are right , Dragonborn , they just keep getting in here , harassing not only guards ,but also the town's people , say maybe you should join the Dawnguard , I am sure they'd like someone as strong and resourceful as you ''.

Carrie just inwardly rolled her eyes at him . She'd obviously join . Just like when she'd have to defeat Alduin two years prior .

Now that was some hard work . She even saw this Sovngarde that Ralof had spoken of . It had been so beautiful.

She'd help end the war against the Empire , became Thane of all Nine Holds and even joined some Factions , like the College of Winterhold since arriving in Skyrim .

It's been four almost five years since she'd left Skyhold and she'd proven to herself that she could do whatever it takes to become good enough for the people who thought her unworthy .

She'd been very busy .

Nodding goodbye at the Guard she heads to her very first house in all of Skyrim .Breezehome .She still didn't understand why it had such a name while it was actually warm inside and not all breezy .

Lydia her Housecarl was busy warming up some soup .

''Morning , My Thane , what was the commotion outside?''.

''A vampire terrorizing the Guards at the gate '', she answers stomping her boots clean on the rug at the door .

She was wearing a full set of Dragon Scale armor . She'd been lugging the bones and few remaining scales back because Eorlund Grey-Mane had told her that he could teach her to smith . She learned from the best in all of Tamriel and it resulted in her smithing a good quality armored set .

She didn't need to pay for her repairs because by learning she could do the repairs herself . She was better than that horrid Harrit of the Inquisition .

''I hate vampires '', Lydia says in a disgusted voice .

''Yeah , me too , they're nasty creatures ''.

She and Lydia dishes up some of the soup when it is hot enough .

''So ,when do you plan on joining the Dawnguard , My Thane ?'', Lydia asks when they're sitting down around the cooking pit .

''I want to go to Windhelm first , Wuunferth had asked for a few Alchemical ingredients , when I come back I'll go , why?, do you want to come too ? ''.

''No , My Thane , I'm just curious ''.

''Okay , if you change your mind ,just tell me when I leave ''.

Lydia just nods as Carrie gets up to walk to her room . She smiles at her Housecarl as ascends the stairs to the loft .

She'll get ready to leave for Windhelm soon ,for now she just wanted some sleep and to write a letter to her old friends.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED HUGS TO ALL READERS !.