HELLO! This is StarGazer, and here is the new update to the Dovahkiins. I am posting this without Mapn's knowledge so lets see how long it takes her to notice ;) Anyway this is a fairly long chapter that I've been working on for the last few weeks. Mapn has been having a hard time staying motivated so most of the writing has been left to me, so PLEASE leave comments, ideas, advice, and lastly please enjoy! Thanks for reading this you amazing people you!
IT TOOK ME 20 MINUTES TO FIGURE IT OUT!- Mapn
Start of merged perspectives
"Uh, my head." Raven groans when she finally starts to stir from her unconscious slumber. Scarlett jerks awake at Raven's whine, and stretches sleepily, "So you're finally awake hmm?"
Raven rolled on her side to look at Scarlett, "You?" she glances around at her surroundings before refocusing on Scarlett, "What do you want?"
Scarlett regarded her for a moment before answering, "I don't "want" anything, I tied you up because you probably would have killed me if I hadn't."
Raven was silent for a minute, "I only kill if I have to. And why would you take me with you if you, or one of your rebel pals, didn't want something? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense." She said stubbornly.
Scarlett shrugged, "You were unconscious, and defenseless, it just didn't seem right to leave you there."
Raven rolled onto her back, "How very noble of you." Scarlett turned at the sound of footsteps approaching her. It was Ulfric and he didn't look very pleased.
"You should be more courteous to the people who saved your life, spy." He said while glaring down at Raven. Raven returned his glare, "Oh forgive me your highness for my rude speech." she said sarcastically.
Ulfric was visibly angered by the little wood elf at his feet, and so Scarlett decided to intervene. "Leave her Ulfric she's a lot to handle, I'll take responsibility for her." Ulfric looked at Scarlett, and back at the venomous elf, who was still glaring obstinately at him.
"Fine, however you had better make her situation painfully known to her, otherwise we'll leave her to the wolves." He said before leaving Scarlett to "deal with" Raven.
Scarlett looked back down at Raven who was still glaring at the back of Ulfric's head, "Nice work there, insulting one of the most powerful men in Skyrim to his face."
Raven turned her glare to Scarlett, "I'm not particularly fond of Nords or their Nord leaders if you hadn't noticed."
"Oh, I've noticed." Scarlett replied, "You're not exactly subtle about how you feel." she added with an amused chuckle, this Raven character looked and acted like a cornered fox surrounded by wolves.
And yet she had to admire the little fox's gutsiness, she had just challenged one of the biggest wolves in the pack to his face without so much as flinching.
"So why am I here?" Raven asked. Scarlett considered this for a moment, "Because you know to much but I don't want to kill you." she said flatly.
Raven wiggled into a straightened position so she could sit up, "If you let me go I swear I'll never breathe a word of what I know." she said pleadingly.
Scarlett shook her head, "You do know that I don't exactly trust you right? If you behave yourself then we might get to a point where you don't have to be bound, but as for you being set free… That might not happen until the conclusion of the war." she said while glancing at Ulfric.
Raven chewed her lip thoughtfully, "Well then perhaps in the near future Ulfric and I can make a deal." she looked at Scarlett glumly, "That and it seems I am now indebted to you."
Scarlett raised an eyebrow, "I didn't think you would acknowledge that." she said slightly surprised by Raven's admittance of that fact. Raven scoffed, "I'm not entirely devoid of a moral code." she said almost as if Scarlett had offended her.
"And what do you mean by making a deal with Ulfric." Scarlett asked after a moment, Raven turned to look at her, "That's for me to know and you to find out." she said.
Scarlett sighed, "Fine." she leaned back up against the tree and closed her eyes, "We will probably be heading out soon so get as much rest as you can." Raven sat perfectly still for over a minute before demanding, "I'm hungry!" to Scarlett, who jumped at her sudden outburst. "Aren't we all?" she said wearily to Raven who was smiling at her innocently.
Raven perked up suddenly, "In my pocket!"
Scarlett gave her a perplexed look, "Your pocket….?"
"Jerky! Jerky in my pocket!" Raven exclaimed excitedly.
Scarlett blinked, "You have jerky in your pocket?"
Raven nodded, "Yes, if you help me get to it I will share." she said suddenly serious.
Scarlett rolled her eyes, and looked at Raven's multitude of pockets, "Um, which one?" Raven looked down and gestured to one with her chin, "That one I think." she said after a moment of contemplation.
Scarlett reached into the pocket but felt no jerky, "Oh wait its that one!" Raven gestured to another one. Scarlett began to reach for that one when Raven again changed her mind. This continued for about a minute and Scarlett had uncovered a surplus of hidden weapons (that Raven claimed to have no knowledge of) but only in the last pocket did she finally find the jerky.
Scarlett re-tied Raven's hands in front of her so that she could eat. After they had finished Ulfric gave the order to move out, with his band of six remaining soldiers, and one prisoner.
The little party of soldiers, an elf, and a Companion, managed to make it to make it back to Whiterun, in a little over a day. Scarlett, led the way to the entrance of the underforge, and led Raven, who had a bag placed over her head for secrecy, through to the training yard.
"Can I take this off now?" Raven asked impatiently. Scarlett pulled it off for her in response. Raven blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light, standing before the company of ragged soldiers and herself, was the entirety of the Companions.
Raven nearly took a step back before she stopped herself to not seem cowardly. Kodlak separated himself from the group and went to embrace his daughter.
Scarlett returned the embrace but winced as she did so, "Careful father, I've got a bit of an injury on my shoulder." Kodlak released his daughter and looked at her questioningly.
Scarlett lightly touched her wound, "Don't worry I'm fine." Kodlak turned to look at Ulfric. "What happened?" Ulfric crossed his arms, looking grim. "We were ambushed, and taken to Helgen for execution. And.." He trailed off before finishing.
"A dragon appeared from the sky." Scarlett finished for him. Kodlak stared at his daughter in disbelief, Scarlett nodded, "Although I guess we should be grateful because otherwise we would be dead." she finished with a grimly joking tone.
Kodlak took a minute to process this, "How is it you were captured? Your route was kept in the utmost secrecy." Ulfric gestured to Raven who had started to slowly inch away from Scarlett and her father.
"That was thanks to this little spy. She was following us from the very beginning I'd imagine, and she assisted the Imperials in our capture."
Raven was considerably afraid now that she had just been thrown under the wagon for everything that had befallen Ulfric's charge. She felt like bolting but she knew deep down that would get her nowhere and just make the situation far worse than it already was.
So she merely stood there, waiting for whatever judgement would be passed on her. She locked eyes with Kodlak in an attempt to convey her plight, yet not in a way that demanded pity for she knew she would receive non. It was merely a look of cold acceptance.
Kodlak nodded, "I see, but before we pass any judgement let's hear her side of the story hmm?" Raven saw in his eyes that this was his way of offering her a chance, she inclined her head in a simple show of thanks.
"But before that, let us rest and have something to eat." Everyone nodded in agreement, and began heading inside.
Raven was pushed in a corner and told to stay while the rest, sat around the table to eat. Scarlett glanced at Raven after a moment and decided to bring her something to eat, she picked up a piece bread, some meat, cheese, and some mead.
"Here." she said as she handed the offering to Raven. "Thanks." Raven said absentmindedly. Scarlett nodded and headed back to the table.
Raven was mentally rehearsing her story, she would have to be honest, because if she tried to lie she would most definitely be found out by someone.
When the eating was done Raven was seated in the middle of the hall, and surrounded by the members of the Circle and Ulfric. And so she gave her side of the story in as vivid detail as she could manage.
When she was done the hall was consumed in silence, until it was inevitably broken by Kodlak, "I see, so you're a thief, indebted to the Empire." Raven nodded.
He sighed, "I'm not fond of your kind, but then, I suppose everyone needs a trade. And if my daughter is able to show you mercy then I suppose I can as well."
He looked to Ulfric, "And you Ulfric? What say you?" Ulfric regarded Raven for a long moment before responding. "I suppose if she proves herself to me, and repays her debt, then I might show mercy as well."
Raven inwardly sighed in relief, "And although I too am not fond of lowly thieves, your organization could prove useful to me in the near future." Ulfric added, further driving in the fact that she owed him.
Raven nodded, "Of course, however, I'm afraid neither I nor my organization will be much help to you if we aren't granted some protection. The Imperials as of now have us at their beck and call."
Ulfric nodded, "I expected as much, it will be as you say, so long as you hold up your end of the bargain." Raven inclined her head, "I swear it on my life." She looked to Kodlak, "And I swear I will one day repay your mercy as well."
Scarlett looked approvingly at Raven, "I didn't know you were capable of being this polite!" she said trying to break the painfully serious mood of the hall.
Raven huffed lightly but otherwise didn't respond. "So what are we going to do with her then?" Vilkas decided to voice what everyone was thinking.
"Well I think it's about time we untie her." Scarlett said matter of looked doubtfully at Scarlett, "Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked.
Scarlett studied Raven, "I think she understands her position, and she gave her word. So yes, I think it's a good idea." Scarlett walked over to Raven with one of her daggers drawn to cut her bindings.
Raven tentatively rubbed her chafed wrists and stood. Kodlak turned and began heading out of the room, accompanied by Ulfric and the rest of the inner circle. Leaving only Scarlett and Raven behind.
"Well, It looks like you've been pardoned." Scarlett said cheerily. Raven gave a long sigh, "So it would seem." she said wearily.
Scarlett rubbed the back of her neck as she looked over at Raven. "Well I guess we should start over. Hi my name is Scarlett Whitemane."
Raven didn't respond so Scarlett taunted, "You know someone once told me it's polite to give your name once someone has given you theirs."
Raven looked Scarlett in the eyes and raised her eyebrows, " Forgive me if I'm a little dazed, I was just tossed to the wolves and barely made it out alive. I might need a little time to recover." she said in a slightly sarcastic tone.
Scarlett gave out a little laugh at Raven's choice of words and mumbled under her breath, "You have no idea."
"What was that?" Raven asked.
"Oh nothing" Scarlett replied dismissively, "Come on, you need to clean yourself up."
Raven looked down at herself and grunted in agreement, she was filthy, and her armor was in desperate need of cleaning, and Scarlett wasn't much better.
Scarlett led the ragged wood elf down to the rooms under Jorrvaskr, showed her to a washing basin and left to find her own.
When, she returned, Raven was sitting on the floor in a loose fitting black under shirt, and snug leather pants. Her hair was still slightly damp, held in a messy bun, and she was meticulously polishing her armor. Her sword and bow (which had been returned to her when they had decided to charge Scarlett with keeping an eye on her) were laid next to her, clean and gleaming in the dull candle light.
"My, aren't you productive." Scarlett said to get Raven's attention. Raven glanced at Scarlett, "You learn to be quick about everything when you do my kind of work." She replied simply.
When Raven finally finished she looked up to inspect Scarlett. She obviously still hadn't let her guard down, the daggers strapped to her thighs were a testament to that. But other than the daggers she looked much more relaxed with her light brown leather pants and a sleeveless white tunic.
"I have somewhere I have to be in the morning and since I'm charged with watching you, you'll have to come with me." Scarlett stated as she walked over to Raven's pile of weapons and picked up her sword.
Raven eyed Scarlett carefully as the other woman inspected the sword. After Scarlett had finished looking it over she gingerly put it back down and looked back at Raven.
"Where did you get that sword?" she asked, an enchanted ebony sword was not an easy weapon to come by. Raven shrugged, "I… Acquired it on a job." she said dismissively, Scarlett raised an eyebrow, "Acquired? You mean stole."
Raven shrugged, "Acquired, stole, what's the difference really? I relieved the owner of the trouble of caring for it, it was just sitting in a glass case, waiting to be taken."
Scarlett sighed, "First there's a big difference, and second, you can't justify taking something that isn't yours!" she said exasperated. Raven leaned back from her work and met the Nords gaze, "Would you change how you felt if I told you I stole it from the great General himself?"
Scarlett looked at the grinning face of Raven in disbelief, "How…" she trialed off, sighed, and shook her head. Raven gave a fake laugh, "See, you're awfully quick to put me down on something without even knowing the whole. Yes I stole it from right under the General's nose, and replaced it with my plain old steel sword, and you know what? Nobody has noticed!"
She laughed again, this time it was more genuine. Scarlett was still staring at her when she said, "You're a little weird sometimes, you know that?" Raven cleared her throat and returned to polishing her armor, "I suppose I have my quirks." she said absentmindedly.
When the two women were done, Scarlett found a place for Raven to sleep in a small closet of a guest room, and headed to bed herself.
So, what did ya think? The next chapter will be coming out soon! (given I am able to stay motivated) And once again, thank you so much for reading, have a lovely day, or night.