Cearbhail:

So, in this chapter... well.. hmm... Why do I even attempt to say things? Anyway, so I guess without ruining the surprise well... eh. Fuck it. Did everyone watch the big game last night? No? Neither did I! Ha! What about Gravity Falls? Any fans? I love the show. Heard something about conspiracies and whatnot. I thought the show was amazing, but to find out that they're hiding stuff inside the show for people to figure out, that's just mega awesome. makes the show more interesting, I think. Well, I have some butt to kick now. Enjoy this chapter.

Bloodstain's Journal, 27 Morningstar 5e 000

Last night was perhaps the worst night I've had for a sleep in a long time. Vivian was allowed to join me back in our bed. She tossed and turned all night, and I was on edge the entire time. I kept an ear open for any sounds of some Thalmor assassin rushing in to kill us. It didn't happen of course, but after what we've been through, I would not be surprised if it did happen. Vivian is still in enough pain, emotional and physical, that she could barely sleep without the help of her pills. Wish I could have taken one to fall asleep as well, but one of us needs to be cognitive enough to fight bad guys if they somehow get into our room. Whatever sleep I did get was broken into dreams of my time as a child. The old days when my dad taught me how to be a detective; to learn things without knowing a lot of the facts. Being able to pick up on big details with little information.

The past two days, well, you've heard it all before. But now I know something new. Nrillia. I know who she is now. She's a figment of the past, of the Aedra War. I watched some of her battles through some of the shadow journals last night before heading to bed. Erandur Ocato, Vatu Ernard, Nisha Ernard. I had a field night reading those journals and speaking to the specters of the past. They all had something to say about Nrillia and her involvement in the Dominion. It's too bad no one knew what happened to Nrillia after the collapse of the research station in Elsweyr. It would seem that she just died after that day. Not one journal speaks of knowing what happened to her, or seeing her past that. I have one last journal I could consult, but I refuse to open it. As much as I respect the Seer, I could never open her journal and ask her about Nrillia. I've idolized her to a point where I cannot fathom her being anything less than perfect, even if I know she wasn't. It does not matter, however. According to Babette's shade, the Seer would not know of Nrillia anyway. But that dream I shared with her… she knew Nrillia's name. Perhaps she is my only hope then. If I don't turn anything up tonight, I will check her journal. I will face her shade and we'll see what happens.

Today, I have no idea what we plan on doing. Vivian is able to move around the castle, but not do anything strenuous. Still, today would probably be the best day to see about starting up our campaign to create a new government. While Vivian, Sofie, and Indra handle most of that, I will go with Deathlake and Nishera to see about finding out who might be trying to kill her.

Bloodstain..

…

It felt nice to have Vivian beside me again. It felt nice to feel her warm body next to mine in our bed. The way she shifts in her sleep, the way she mumbles, it was comforting in a way. The past few nights had been uncomfortable for me. Having her sleeping in the healing chambers while I stayed up in this room. Looking down at her while she snoozed on the bed, seeing her smile as she curled her hands around one of her pillows, it made me feel warm inside. Not used to feeling like this. Sometimes, I wish I was back to being alone. Made it easier to think about the mission. But I wouldn't be on this mission if I weren't involved with her. Perhaps that's a lie. She was the symbol of hope for our people. If she died, the Dominion would have a quick reign on our way of life again. I would protect her no matter what, even if I wasn't in love with her.

I was gentle as I pushed myself out of bed. She stirred for a second when I stumbled near the edge of the bed. She opened her eyes for a second, rubbing them as she yawned. Sitting up, she looked over at me with blurry-eyed vision. "Claus?" She yawned as she looked over at me. "Where you going?"

"I'm heading to the High District to find any loyalists to the Dominion. If we can find out who threatened to kill you, we can end any more surprise attacks." I said to her as I started placing my crystal plates on.

Vivian nodded as she started getting out of bed. "Speaking of which, I need to prepare for my royal announcement."

As I started putting my leather duster on, Vivian was busy stripping out of her nightgown and moving over to our bathroom. I reached for my mask and threw it over my face, taking in the comfort that I was once again ready for another day of exciting Solitude crime fighting. I wonder what could possibly happen today. More insane people of the past that I need to kill? Maybe Nrillia will pop up and start crap. More riots? Maybe find the cult of hidden Dominion supporters trying to threaten my wife. Who knows? I might just go out and elect a new government today. That would be too simple.

Vivian smiled at me as she closed the bathroom door behind her. When she did so, I walked over to the door and tapped on it. "Yes, Bloodstain?" She called from inside the bathroom.

"I'm heading out. Take caution, and if Claus needs to make an appearance today, just let me know." I called after her. I wasn't the High King; I was just married to the High Queen. I had some amount of political say, but I let Vivian handle all that stuff. I usually stood by her side as a silent watcher, and I wondered if anyone would question my absence. Especially since Bloodstain is suddenly back after the past few weeks of his disappearance. Soon enough, people would figure out that I am Bloodstain. The best alternative would be to send Deathlake out on patrol while wearing my mask and overcoat while being Vivian. And the more I thought of it, the more I liked the idea. I tapped on the door again. "Change of mind. I'm staying with you today."

"Then who's going to annoy the Dominion today?" She amusingly stated through the door. I heard her slip into the tub and I was so tempted to open the door and join her in the bath.

"Deathlake." I called back. "He'll wear my costume today and go through town."

"Or he can just handle it as himself." She responded in a way that told me she didn't think it was a good idea to have him dressed up as me.

"Afraid he'll be a better Bloodstain than me?"

"I'm afraid he'll do something stupid while wearing your mask and ruin your reputation." I heard water moving around. "Well, if you're planning on dressing in royal attire and standing by my side, you should get cleaned up. Perhaps a bath?" She said with a hint of possible numerous outcomes. I could only to begin to wonder what kind of bath we'd be having. I pulled the mask off my head as I opened the door. When she saw me, she smiled. "Ah, there he is." She was sitting in the bath with enough space for me to join her. Elven baths, they're huge. They're not small tubs, but bigger like hot tubs. They bathe communally. Part of their culture, I guess. I quickly threw off my coat and my armor. I smiled as I jumped into the tub with her.

The hot water felt so refreshing. The past couple days, I'd been bathing alone, but it felt nice to have Vivian beside me again. As soon as I entered the water, I exhaled sharply at the bruises I had received from the Glass Arrow yesterday. He hit me hard enough that even if my armor and my coat protected me, I still felt enough impact to put bruises on me. And they stung as I entered the water. I almost climbed out on instinct, but Vivian was already rushing over to me, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me back in. "No, don't go! We haven't seen each other in a while."

I groaned and hissed at the pain as I tried to settle in the water. I didn't know I had any exposed wounds, but I could feel the water stinging inside me already. Oh well, the chlorine and Epson salt would help clean my wounds up. So, I nodded to Vivian as I clenched my teeth and settled down beside her. She wrapped her arms around me and leaned her head on my shoulder. "This is nice." She said after a few moments of silence. And I had to agree; it felt nice to just sit here with her. If only every day could be like this. Too bad it hardly was.

"Claus?" I heard Sofie's voice from inside the bedroom. "Vivian?"

"We're in the bath!" Vivian called out to Sofie.

"Umm… I don't know how to say this, but… you know that boy we rescued?" Sofie called from the other side of the door. "Well, he's missing."

"He's what?" I was suddenly on my feet and Vivian was sighing in regret.

"We can't just get a moment these days." She said, looking away from me.

I rushed over to the door, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my waist. I opened the door to find Sofie waiting for me. She saw me in the towel and quickly covered her eyes, turning her head away. "Ugh, I so did not need to see that."

"I'm in a towel." I said to her as I looked back at Vivian. "Sorry, but we'll have to find time to do this again later."

She rolled her eyes and sank deeper into the pool. "Whatever, I have the tub to myself now." She called happily as she sprawled out in the bubbly water.

I looked back at Sofie. "So, the boy is missing?"

She nodded through tightly shut eyes. "Yup. The guards don't know how he got away, but he did. He didn't leave behind any blood trail either."

That boy in question was one of the ones that was lucky enough to survive a bloody mass murder up in the High District. He just woke up yesterday and I had talked to him. He resisted any attempts to talk to him and now he was missing. I knew exactly where he was. I ran to the closet and grabbed my royal clothes. You know the rumor about superheroes, right? They can get dressed and undressed in the blink of an eye? It's true. You pick it up as you do your job. Have to disappear, and have to appear at a second's notice. Even wearing a towel, I was wrapped up in three layers of Nordic royal robes in the matter of three or four seconds. By the time Sofie opened her eyes to look over at me, I was already dressed in my clothes and working on combing my hair. Getting my boots on and tied had taken three of my four seconds, something I needed to work on. I had to admit, it felt nice to be back in normal clothes. As much as I loved that mask, it ruins my face. I turn all pale and my hair starts turning into a matted mess.

I nodded to Sofie. "You know the plan. Attend the royal announcement with Vivian. I'm going after the boy."

"We already have the guards out on patrol for him." Sofie replied back to me.

I shook my head. "They don't know where he is. I do. Besides, I think I'll be able to get the boy to listen to me." And I could get more done as Claus than as Bloodstain. Bloodstain was the hero of the Nords, and the 'enemy' of the elves. The boy would fear and hate Bloodstain, but he might feel differently to Claus Mottiere. I would not know until I found him.

I was quick as I rushed out of the room. I sprinted through the hallway, past all the people gathering to begin their morning chores. Nishera was still in the library with Indra. They were discussing stuff in Ta'agra. Another history lesson I'm sure. Last night had been a bit of a shock for me. She was talking to one of the Khajiit Shades in the journals we had in our library. She spent maybe two hours talking to one of the spirits and when she came out, she was able to speak Common. Perfectly, I'll add. She was really happy to be able to talk to me without having to pause, but as soon as she started talking to me, her eyes blanked out and she fell down onto the table. I thought she had died until I heard her snore. I carried her over to her room and tucked her into her bed. She's still pretty frail and light as a feather from not eating for the past year. I give it another week or two before she becomes a safer size. If she becomes anorexic, I wouldn't be surprised.

Racing past the library, I saw a crowd gathering by the throne room. They looked like a bunch of angry Nords. As I ran past, a few of them looked at me for answers. Not happy answer either. I let myself come to a stop as I nodded to them. "Can I help you?" I scanned their eyes. They looked angry. There were a couple picket signs that read 'FREE OUR HUSBANDS'. Oh… that's what this is about. I nodded at the signs and then shook my head. "Not happening."

"You cannot do this!" One woman shouted at me. "My husband did nothing wrong!"

"If your husband is locked down in the cellar… then yeah, he did." I crossed my arms. "Do you even know what happened?"

The crowd all looked at me for a few seconds before the girl I saw yesterday walked up. She had her own picket sign that had a giant middle finger on it. She held the sign up to me, frowning at me. "Do you know what happened?"

I shrugged. "Enlighten me."

"The past few weeks, there have been beatings in our district of town. Our people had been beaten down in the name of the Dominion Order. And my father decided to do something about it. And while you've been turning a blind eye to the humans being pushed down and beaten on, the second you hear about elves being murdered, you're suddenly taking action and sending Bloodstain out on our families to lock them up." The girl screamed at me.

I sighed as I looked at the girl. "I did not know about these beatings. Did anyone report it?" I asked the group. They all became very silent and stone-like as they glared at me. "And Bloodstain was not out for Nord blood two days ago either. The High Queen was attacked by a Dominion supporter and Bloodstain was dispatched to find the attempted killer. He was looking for the killer in the High District when he stumbled onto the scene of Altmer attacking Nords. He rushed in to defend the Nords until he saw the mass amounts of blood and bodies of Altmer. Of course, if the court had been notified of the beatings in the first place, we would have had Bloodstain out to shut down the Altmer group harassing the human populace. And if happens again, you will tell us. Understood?"

The picketers just stood there, mouths closed tightly as they silently glared at me. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something rather important to address. The High Queen will be out shortly to answer any further questions you have. And she will tell you how we will plan to deal with the murderers."

I walked away from the group. I should have guessed that someone would eventually come here to complain about the missing Nords in the village. I couldn't blame them for being upset. No one told them why their husbands and fathers were suddenly locked away. And if there were Altmer going out their way to beat up humans, I could understand their frustration with the inaction of the courts on their part. Still, if I had known about it to begin with, we would have been doing something to fix it. This town was reformed only three weeks ago. It would take time to make this town work. The first step was getting a new government installed. That was step one. What comes after… that will be a different kind of hell.

As soon as I was allowed to leave the throne room, I let my breath go. Man, Vivian had one hell of a job ahead of her today. Sure hope her bath was enjoyable. I'm guessing after today was done, both of us would take a few hours to enjoy each other in the bath. Heh. I can already imagine it.

Shaking the image out of my head, I sprinted from the throne room in through the streets of the High District. The part of town where the massacre took place wasn't too far from the palace. Probably on purpose so that the Nords could move closer to the castle when they began their takeover of the High District. I could see the elves were already out doing their thing. Rows and rows of Altmer were bowed in meditation in their little gardens. The only section of town not doing any morning meditations was the one I wanted to be in. Buildings with bloodstained walls ruined what could be a beautiful part of town. Most of the houses were cleaned up. Teams of Bosmer and Altmer had been cleaning the buildings up over the past couple days. They looked a lot better, but it would be another five or so days before you'd think nothing bad ever happened in these homes.

The house furthest to the right was the one I wanted to see. I sighed as I walked up to the gate of the house. I looked at the house, hoping to see the boy just sitting out in the garden or something. I didn't see that. "What do you need?" I heard a voice calling out from my left. I snapped my head around to see that little girl from earlier in her yard, balled up in a meditation sitting stance. Beside her was that man that I saw sobbing over the dead woman in the third house all the way on the left corner of the block.

I nodded my head to the little girl. "There was a Bosmer boy in intensive care. He ran away from the castle and I'm worried about him."

She tilted her head to the side. "You mean Bronsia?" Huh… he was named after a tree in Valenwood. That was interesting.

I nodded. "Yeah. He was heavily wounded and Bloodstain took him back to the castle to have him treated. He woke up last night and today he was found missing from the care unit. I figured he'd come back here."

The girl's eyes squinted. "And how did you know where he lived?"

Wow, that was pretty perceptive for a little girl. "Bloodstain told me." I said to her.

"You sound a lot like him too." She wondered out loud before standing up. She looked at the adult, pointing at him. "Thanks to Mr. Bloodstain, Mr. Ursiar is going to take good care of me." She looked at me and winked playfully. "Mind telling him for me?" I could not believe it. She looked like she was seven or something, but she figured out that I was Bloodstain based on little to no evidence other than my voice and my ability to find this place with nothing to go on. Elven wisdom or something. I could never understand how the Altmer could be so intelligent even as children. How was I even able to outwit a 200 year old Vampire Lord anyway? He must have been a fucking idiot.

The man chuckled under his breath as he looked at me. "Your secret is safe with us." The man said to me as he stood up. He nodded his head. "I saw the boy you were talking about. He's in his house now. Do you need us to come with you?"

I nodded. "That would be much appreciated. Feel like taking care of him too?"

The man rolled his eyes. "If it will make the Great and Powerful Mottiere happy… sure." He grabbed onto the little girl's hand and they started walking to their gate. They took their sweet time doing it too. They soon joined me by the gate leading to the Bosmer child's house. The man pushed the gate open for me and we walked into the garden. It looked cleaner today than it had two days ago, but it was hard to hide the puddles of dried blood stained in the grass and mud. A bloodstain of the boy we carried out still resided on the sidewalk. It looked mostly scrubbed away, but you could clearly see the boy's frame. I wonder how he felt when he saw that coming home. Probably brought everything into perspective for him.

I took the lead as we approached the front door. I pushed it open, finding out that the front door was not yet latched onto the doorframe. It fell inward, slamming pretty heavily on the ground. The girl Altmer covered her ears as she jumped back. She quickly recovered and took Ursiar's hand. She looked up at me with her golden bright eyes. "Should I call for him?"

I shrugged. "Is he a friend of yours?"

She nodded. "Yeah, we're best friends." She let go of Ursiar's hand and stepped into the house. She cupped her hands around her mouth as she took a deep breath. "Bronsia! Come out and play!"

"Vickiera?" I heard the Bosmer child say from the living room. I heard some heavy footsteps and soon I could see the tiny Bosmer child limping into the room. He was clutching his chest and I could see blood welling up under his green shirt. He stopped when his eyes locked onto mine. "It's you… that masked guy. Blood … something."

I rolled my eyes. Jeez, everyone can see through my disguise. Why bother hiding it now? I shrugged. "Yeah, that's me." I rolled my eyes as the girl tried to hide her laugh with her hands.

The boy looked over at me. I could see more blood seeping through his shirt. "Why did you come here?" He took a step back. He stumbled and fell back. He hit the ground pretty hard and I heard him scream in protest.

Ursiar was the first one to act. He practically moved like a flash. First he was here, the next he was beside the boy, wrapping his arms around him, ripping the shirt open. "Oh no… the wound has reopened." He looked at me. "Is there anyone that knows healing arts?"

Two thoughts came to mind. Deathlake… probably not the best person to take someone to for healing. And there was Sofie. Both were back at the castle. I nodded. "They're at the castle though."

The boy groaned through his pain. "Oh great… not again."

The girl rushed over to him, crossing her arms. "Bronsia, this man is not a bad man." She pointed back at me. "I bet you one hundred pieces of chewing gum that he'd take an arrow for you."

I nodded. "I would." And that was pretty true. I'd take an arrow for anyone that wasn't a Thalmor. And that's only if they're fighting for this town's control. Any other circumstance, I might be inclined to protect a Thalmor supporter or even agent.

Ursiar looked over at me. "Mr. Mottiere, we must hurry. If Bronsia loses more blood, he's likely to die."

I nodded. Ok, time to rush to the hospital then.

Cearbhail:

So.. we have Vickiera and Bronsia now. As well as Ursiar. They'll be sticking around. And... well... I'm sure you figured out Ursiar's role in all this by now. And if you haven't.. well ... perhaps you should think for a couple seconds. There are so many things i can make this person say and do... and in the end.. it won't even matter.