Chapter six of the Night to Remember arc | Chapter eleven
When Sanguine can stand again, he all but pouts at me, trying to look repentant and pathetic.
It doesn't work.
He sighs, cracks his neck a few times, then waves his hand towards the table. The items I collected, minus the Holy Water, vanish, though I can tell by his frown that the Water was supposed to disappear too. He gestures sharply, but the jug is resilient and the only thing it does is shake slightly.
Finally, Sanguine gives up and settles for pushing the jug to the other side of the table, far away from us. I can't quite smell it from here, but my father frowns at it for an extra second, then turns to me.
"So!" he claps, grinning, and suddenly his form changes. Where once stood a slightly homely looking Breton, is now an armored Daedra, complete with dark skin, war paint, and horns.
I just knew I could have been born with horns.
"I think you're definitely earned the staff," Sanguine says. I blink a few times.
"'The staff'?" I parrot back.
He rubs his chin. "Huh. I must have forgotten to mention it. Nonetheless, you, my boy, are now the proud owner of my not-quite-holy staff, the one of a kind–" he pauses dramatically, waving his hand and letting the mysterious staff materialize, then hands it over to me. "Sanguine Rose!"
It really is a giant rose. I handle it carefully, leery of the barbs all along the staff.
"Sanguine Rose," I mutter, purposely just loud enough for him to hear. "Could you be any more arrogant?"
"Hey now," Sanguine pouts. It doesn't work any better than his previous attempts and I just stare at him flatly. He sighs. "You should feel honored, you know. That staff is an artifact. People would kill to get it."
"It's a family heirloom," I banter back with a smirk. "There's no honor involved."
He pouts again. I ignore it with what's becoming practiced ease.
"Anyway," my father coughs. "To use it, just point it somewhere and focus a little. It'll summon a Dremora to help you. He'll only stick around for so long, and you need to charge the staff, but it'll come in handy."
It will. I can just imagine how put out Alduin would be if he came face to face with an angry Dremora when he was expecting just me. I can imagine a lot of other things, too. Like how horrified my mother would be if she came home to see me and a demon cooking up supper.
"Please don't punch me again," Sanguine adds in a pathetic voice when I go to leave. "You inherited your mother's right hook."
The last thing he hears from me as I fade out of sight is a hearty laugh.
End of the Night to Remember arc! Sorry for the wait (I kept forgetting about it).