Chapter 12
Rioghnan felt intimidated by the girl, and by the possibility she hadn't come alone to ridicule him, but he wasn't actually afraid. He was too irritated to be afraid. He'd never been in any kind of physical altercation, but despite his tender age, he already stood a head or more higher than the very largest of the Dunmer youths; unusually tall even for a High Elf of his age. He was quite thin and not at all muscular, but he thought in his annoyance that he could take any one of the rotten little s'wits and probably the whole crew.
At first, it appeared that the girl had fled upon realizing he was actually coming down. He remained in the entrance to the stairwell, craning his neck to see as far toward either end of the alley as possible. Then, out of the shadows on the other side of the flagstone lane, the girl emerged, smiling at him. Her teeth were gleaming white against her dark grey skin and her eyes a typical Dunmer deep red. "Hello," she mumbled, her voice and posture both unexpectedly demure.
"Go away," Rioghnan growled as threateningly as he could muster through clenched jaws.
She looked down, pressing her lips together into a thin line of apparent disappointment.
Rioghnan glared at her and crossed his arms over his chest to show her he meant business, but she wouldn't leave. "Get out of here!" He demanded. He had considered issuing an idle threat involving what his Mum might do to her if she were to awaken, but thought better of it.
"I'm sorry…" the girl offered, pleading with her eyes.
"Yea?" Rioghnan shrugged her apology off obstinately. "Great. Then clear off and quit throwing things at my window."
"Okay. But …I just… wanted… you to come down." The girl appeared to be uneasy and stumbled over her words. She kept her eyes on the ground save for an occasional awkward glance up to his face.
"So I have. And what for? So your mates can chuck some rubbish at me?"
"No… So as I… I can just… talk to you - without them."
Rioghnan couldn't determine why on Nirn this elf was so nervous. He expected at any moment that her friends would surge out of the shadows to assault him in some fashion. "Yea? And why'd you want to do that?"
The Dunmer shrugged sheepishly. "I don't know. You hate me don't ya?"
"Can't say I like you," Rioghnan retorted.
"Well… I don't hate you. I just… I just wanted to tell ya that, is all."
"Okay..." He wasn't ready to drop his defenses yet. If that was all she had to say then shouldn't she be on her way now?
"What's your name? I'm Nilsie." She was slowly edging toward him.
"Rioghnan."
"You're Altmer, aye?"
"Aye."
"You've got …lovely eyes…" Nilsie visibly cringed after she spoke as if she wanted to take back her words.
Rioghnan regarded her as if she was quite mad but he had to stifle a laugh.
"Sorry," Nilsie stammered, hiding her face in her hands.
"It's alright," Rioghnan replied. "I've heard worse."
Nilsie laughed - a little too loudly - and then quickly went back to cringing.
"How old're you?" Rioghnan asked. He wasn't trying to make conversation; he legitimately wanted to know. It was hard to tell when even most adults were shorter than he was.
"Fourteen. Be fifteen the beginning of Last Seed, though. You?"
"Evening Star I'll be fifteen."
"I'm older," Nelsie declared matter of factly.
"Shut up, by four months, aye." Rioghnan sniffed dismissively.
"Still." She replied with a smug little smirk.
"Then you'll die first, that's all."
Nilsie looked a bit perturbed by his cutting retort. She sucked her teeth dismissively. "Not if I kill you first, n'wah."
"N'wah – Pshhht. I was born here." Rioghnan countered.
"Aye, but technically, you're still an n'wah. Cos you're a High Elf. And you've got a High Elf accent."
Rioghnan made an irritated face at her. "I'm going back to bed."
"No, stay." Nilsie whined.
"Why?"
"Cos I want ya to."
"So? My mum'll kill me if she wakes up and I'm down here with you."
Nilsie sighed. "She won't kill ya. She'll just be a bit cross. And so what, ya can't always be with your mum forever and ever. It's weird."
Rioghnan knew how bizarre his mother's paranoid behavior was. He hated it. He was torn between agreeing with Nilsie, because she was absolutely right, and defending his mother, since the idea of a strange little Dunmer saying negative things about her was innately offensive to him. "I know…" He mumbled. "She only does it to protect me."
"From what?" Nilsie asked incredulously.
"From everything, I reckon. She's afraid she'll lose me like she lost my father."
"What happened to him?"
"I think he got killed by magic before I was born. She won't ever talk about it, really. She just said she hates magic coz it took him away."
Nilsie raised her eyebrows. "That's awful. But she still shouldn't keep you like a prisoner. It's not right."
Just then, Rioghnan's ears picked up the sound of the doorknob turning at the top of the stairs. "You have to go," he whispered urgently as he turned to race back up.
"Alright, yea… tomorrow!" Nilsie ordered him, smiling.
