Chapter 10
The Dragonborn headed down the mountain steps away from High Hrothgar, followed by her companions. The snow fell on a gentle wind around her, and from the high mountain view she could see all the way to Windhelm.
Malborn quickly joined her side and said with a grin, "When you confronted Ambassador Elenwen at the negotiating table, I thought she was going to die from embarrassment! By the Eight Divines, I wish there were some way to watch that over and over again!"
The Dragonborn laughed along with Malborn and said, "I wish so too! You know, you don't have to say 'By the Eight' anymore. The Thalmor already hate us. There's no need to deny Talos as the ninth divine, just because they've outlawed Talos worship."
Malborn stood silent for a moment then quietly replied, "I'm sorry if I don't share the beliefs of your people, but I'm not a Talos worshiper. But just because Talos isn't a god, it doesn't give the Thalmor the right to kill people for worshipping him. What they're doing here is pure evil."
"If Talos isn't a divine, then why do his shrines heal people and cure diseases?" asked the Dragonborn.
"They do?" said Malborn in utter shock.
"The idea that Talos isn't a god is just a Thalmor lie. The Thalmor think they're a superior race and can't bear the fact that a man rather than an elf became a god. It's not your fault though that you don't believe. Growing up in Valenwood after the Thalmor conquered it, you were probably never given the chance to see a Talos shrine," said the Dragonborn.
"Well, that and the fact that anyone who did believe in Talos was immediately killed," said Malborn, "But if you're right about the Talos shrines healing people, then that means the entire religious war started by the Thalmor was based on nothing but a foolish lie. Those ignorant fools have killed so many people."
"Sometime I'll take you to a shrine of Talos and show you its healing power. Then you can see for yourself that Talos is a god," said the Dragonborn.
"I believe you already," said Malborn, "Praise the Nine divines that I finally know the truth. If only the Thalmor could know it too, then maybe they'd stop what they're doing."
"I suspect that many of them already know and don't care," said the Dragonborn, "The ban on Talos worship has more to do with Elven supremacy and racism than religious truth. It could've also been a strategy to start the civil war here and weaken their enemies."
"You're probably right," said Malborn with a sigh, "I should have known the Thalmor were lying all along about Talos. Why did I ever believe them?"
Delphine stepped next to Malborn and said, "Sorry to interrupt your sudden religious conversion, but we should get some supplies here in Ivarstead before we move on."
They stepped across a small wooden bridge and entered the quaint village of Ivarstead. A young and abundantly cheerful wood elf standing near the bridge glanced up at Malborn and said, "Hello, brother Bosmer!", the term that wood elves use among eachother to refer to their race.
"Hello," replied Malborn to the villager with a friendly smile and nod.
Malborn hadn't seen another male wood elf in over four years... not since his friend Rolindir, a fellow servant at the embassy, had been killed by the Thalmor for insubordination. Seeing a happy and free wood elf, not in forced servitude to the Thalmor made Malborn feel a pang of jealousy. Yet at the same time he felt thankful to see that not all of his people were suffering. Mostly, it made him think of home. He wondered if his province of Valenwood would ever taste the sweet joy of freedom again, or if his people were doomed to cook and clean for the Thalmor forever. Very few wood elves were allowed to hold positions in the Thalmor higher than a servant. The Thalmor often spoke of the wood elves as their allies, but his people had never been given a choice in the matter. Malborn had been assigned the servant job at the embassy, never recieved pay, and was never allowed to leave. The Thalmor had called him an ally and servant, but Malborn knew what he really was. He was a slave.
Before the rise of the Thalmor, his people had lived freely in the vast lush forests of Valenwood, hunting and fishing, smoking caterpillar pipes, telling ancestral stories, wearing animal hides, and sleeping under the stars or in tree cities. The beautiful and sacred forest was central to their lives. The wood elves had once had their own religious beliefs with rituals of a carnivorous diet, eating the dead, and never harming the trees. The patron god of their pantheon was Y'ffre, the great storyteller and god of the forest. When the Thalmor invaded they completely wiped out the culture of his people as "savage and inferior". The Thalmor built structures throughout Valenwood that they termed "Schools for Re-Education". The Re-education schools only served to brainwash the people of Valenwood into being servants. The religious customs of Malborn's people were summarily replaced by those of the Thalmor, and in a symbol of Thalmor supremacy, the religious leaders of his people were forced to chop down many of the sacred thousand year old trees of the ancient forest. The traditional wood elf funeral ritual of cannibalism was banned and punishable by death.
Malborn's biological parents had never cared for the oppressive laws of the Thalmor. He still remembered when his grandfather passed away in a mining accident. Malborn was a young boy of seven, and his family had secretly carried out the traditional cannibalistic funeral feast in their home. He had participated in it, although that was nothing he'd ever admit to his human friends. To him though, it symbolized the freedom his people had lost, and a beautiful act of respect for the dead. Only memories like his held the last remnant of the wood elves' now lost culture. Sadly, the only wood elves who survived in Valenwood after the eugenics purges the Thalmor had carried out were so fully brainwashed and loyal to the Thalmor that they would never go back to the old ways.
Now he could see the same fate beginning in Skyrim, to Elsa's race, the Nords. First their religion had been taken away with the Thalmor ban on Talos worship. Next would come the purges. He shuddered at the thought.
Malborn felt guilty for having denied the existance of Elsa's god. She was brave to openly continue her beliefs despite the ban on it. He hoped that the her heroic culture would survive what his could not. Above all, he hoped for a day when everyone would be free from the oppression of the Thalmor- a day when the Thalmor would flee back to their province of Alinor, conquered by the will of the people they've oppressed.
"I have the supplies," said Delphine, "Should we take the northern or southern pass through the mountains?"
"I think the southern pass will be faster," said the Dragonborn.
The sun was already low in the sky when they set out toward the southern pass. The snowfall had stopped and the ground was dusted with a thin layer of powdery snow. The dirt trail they walked upon was thin and lead them through a tall dense forest. After a few hours of hiking, the forest around them grew dark, and the only light above was the full moon. They stopped at a dirt clearing near the path and began to set up camp. Delphine rolled out her bedroll, and sat down while Esbern leaned against a tree to quietly read an old book. Malborn walked off alone into the woods to gather firewood.
Delphine looked at the Dragonborn with a smirk and said, "You know I'm jealous of you. Ulfric Stormcloak actually proposed to you. I've always had a thing for him. I even told him so once. I still can't believe you rejected him."
"Well, I wasn't expecting it. I don't even know him. Besides, I have feelings for someone else," said Elsa as she rolled out her blanket.
"Malborn?" asked Delphine.
Elsa gave a look of surprise and said, "Umm...No..."
Delphine sighed and said, "Well, ok. I guess you won't mind then if I ask Malborn out to dinner when we get to Whiterun. He's quite a handsome elf."
"What?" said Elsa, "You... you're not actually going to do that? Please don't."
Delphine said with a smile, "Ahh.. I knew it."
"So... You're interested in Malborn too?" asked Elsa with surprise.
"Oh gods no. Wood elves aren't exactly what I'd call 'attractive'," said Delphine, "I was just trying to get the truth out of you."
"You're not going to tell him, are you?" asked the Dragonborn with a look of concern.
"No, I wouldn't do that," said Delphine, "But why haven't you told him? I seriously doubt that he would reject you."
"I just can't make the words come out," said Elsa, "I keep hoping he'll eventually notice me."
"The way I see it, it's better to just say it," said Delphine, "If he's interested, then waiting around was pointless, and if he's not interested, well, then waiting around was also pointless. Look, I'm just trying to help you, as a friend. Listen to what I'm saying."
"I see what you mean," said Elsa.
"So are you going to finally have the guts to tell him?" asked Delphine, "Or do you still think it's better to sit around never knowing?"
Elsa sat quietly looking at the ground. She ran her fingers through the dirt, seemingly lost in thought. Finally, standing up she said, "I'm going to go help Malborn gather the firewood."
Delphine smiled as the Dragonborn disappeared off into the dark forest. She had the distinct feeling that Elsa didn't plan on gathering any firewood.