Hey everyone! It's been quite a while since the last update but I swear to you all that this chapter was supposed to be posted last Monday. Every single time I sat down to write this, within five minutes I would be interrupted by something or someone and the chapter that was halfway done was deleted so I had to rewrite it over again. Also, college is finally picking up as we head towards the end of the semester. Who the hell assigns seven essays within a week?
Enough of that though, I want to thank everyone for sticking with this fic despite its current sparse updates. Thank you to the reviewers: DecrepitSoul, Lotheon, Victor, Dis Lexic, Jmw, and PassiveResistance! All of you were correct on your guess of Sheogorath! To the new readers, favoriters, and followers, welcome and thank you for your support! Also, a question to you all: should I continue responding to reviews at the top of the chapter or move them to the bottom?
Question time!
To DecrepitSoul: This chapter might feel a bit more transitional since I needed to fill the space between Refridís' arrival and the Midsummer's Eve. The word and her scales will very much be part of the plot but I won't give anything away. :)
To Victor: He seems to have taken the hint since he's been following me around a lot less, so I'm glad for that. There will be other being who find out about her nature but that will happen as the story goes along. I am planning for Lucia and Sofie to make a reappearance but I still haven't cemented on how that will happened (it will though!). Thank you for your reviews!
To Dis Lexic: Who knows what goes on in that crazy Daedra's head? :)
To PassiveResistance: Well as we all know, a bunch of shit is going to go down in Middle-Earth within the next couple of years so it isn't too surprising if the princes of all things bad are interested in the area. There will be quite a reaction for what I am planning (I'm so excited to write it since it's one of the main scenes I've been thinking of since the beginning of the fic). Also yes, many of the things I pick up in-game end up in a chest in my house since I tend to hoard everything I find. I once, very stupidly, went through a massive Chaurus nest and picked up all the eggs I could find. Needless to say, I was encumbered with over 400 eggs that I refused to drop, not including the ones I gave to Faendal to carry. I try not to have too many filler chapters since I'm not very good with them (though I apologize for this chapter since it is sort of a filler). Also, you have no idea what I plan on doing to our poor main character ;D
Hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Characters and Worlds belong to their respective owners (J.R.R. Tolkien and Bethesda). Skyrim OC Refridís belongs to me.
THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN UPDATED & EDITED
Golden light filtered through twisting spires as she ran down the hall, darting in between the walking inhabitants who laughed slightly at the small thing's focus. She slowed down at a door peeking in and when she saw her target speaking to others she quietly snuck behind a curtain.
"-despite your troubles is the barrow nearly complete?" her target spoke to a group of large men.
"You worry about your visions, we'll worry about our building," one man answered gruffly, his shoulder covered in a thin deerskin cloak and his arms crossed, "You said this was the last place you saw in your vision. Has Akatosh sent you any more?"
"No he has not. As far as I know this will be the last barrow before we sail for home," the smaller man answered, though he was fidgeting a bit, "but… the elves have been most gracious so far, surely they will allow us to stay for a bit longer?"
Another man started to laugh, deep and rough, "Figures that a Bosmer would want to stay with his own kind."
The deerskin man's face grew stony and he held a black sword to the wood elf's throat making him back up against a wall, "We warned you, the only reason we brought you is because Akatosh willed it and you will take us back across the sea storm. I do not care what you feel for these pointy-eared cunts. You'd do well to remember that we need you alive, not uninjured."
"Yes, yes of course, I understand," the Bosmer breathed out and he rubbed his neck were the blade was held when the man backed up.
The man turned to his companions, "Lets go, I don't want to stay here any longer than we have to."
As the men followed their leader out of the room the Bosmer whispered, "Nordic bastards, they'd all be doomed before Alduin if it wasn't for me."
The wood elf turned to look back at his plans on his desk when he heard quiet giggling. He paused looking up, a small smile on his face as he began to wander around the room.
"Now, now, is that a mouse I hear in this room? Surely an elven home like this would be cleaner than that!" He said, the giggling resuming as he passed her hiding spot.
She squealed in delight as the Bosmer pulled back the curtain and scooped her up in his arms, "My what a big mouse this is! And so strange looking too!"
"Ada! I'm not a mouse!" the small girl responded, an indignant frown on her face as she spoke.
The wood elf gave a small gasp as he stroked her silver hair, "But of course! How could I mistake my little star for a mouse?"
The child laughed as she hugged her father and he asked, "Where is your Nana? She is supposed to be watching you."
"She was talking to Grumpy and the kind elf," she responded.
He gave a sharp laugh before saying, "That's certainly one way to describe Lindir but please call him by his name and remember that the kind elf is called Elrond, he's the one letting us stay here. Now, let's go find your mother…"
Refridís blinked sleepily at the pale dawn light that filtered through the windows as a quick knock echoed in her room, interrupted her dream. She had left the meeting almost as quickly as she had arrived at Elrond's adamant orders that she should rest but she still felt exhausted from her trek through the barrow and her fight afterwards.
A female voice asked, "May I come in?"
"Might as well," the Bosmer muttered back loud enough for her to hear.
"I brought you some more clothes to wear for your stay as I am sure that wandering around in an evening gown is not at the top of your to-do list," she responded kindly, "If you wish, I can find someone to repair your armor?"
Refridís sat up with a sigh and looked at the intruder who disturbed her sleep. She was a rather youthful but, then again, one never knew what age an elf might actually be. Her hair was a slightly curled brown and eyes that matched. In her delicate hands, she carried a dark blue dress and a wine red tunic with brown pants.
"You are right, I don't think it would be proper for me to go around like this, though I am sure the reactions would be amusing" Refridís answered with a small laugh, taking the clothing, "Thank you, for these and the ones you gave me last night. I would very much appreciate if my armor could be repaired, it is very dear to me."
The Bosmer gave the she-elf a nod as she disappeared behind the door with her armor and was once again left alone. Refridís undid her braid, her hair still slightly damp and wavy and brushed it straight. She took note of the sun that filtered into her room reminded her of her dream, though she felt like it wasn't a dream but more of a memory.
"Can't be, I've never been to Middle Earth before and the barrow here is millennia old. I was a little over a hundred when Alduin attacked Helgen. Additionally that child had silver hair and mine is black as shadow. I must be picking up something's memories here."
She shook the dream from her head and took the time to put it up in to a more complex hairstyle, feeling that her normal hairstyle was rather inadequate compared to the beauty of the town but made sure that it would remain out of her way for what she planned that day.
Though her arm was still sore from the Warg bite and she could feel the bump on her head as she worked her hair, she planned to get Bilbo's sword training started. The hobbit's lack of weapons training made her nervous in case he was ever separated from the group and needed to defend himself, that and Thorin's poor attitude towards the Halfling at their first meeting made it a necessary goal in her mind. She unraveled the bandage from her arm to check on its progress and to her surprise it was healing rather well and quickly.
"I wonder if it is the herbs the elves used or my own circumstances. This looks like it has been healing for days," Refridís thought as she slipped out of her gown and began to put on her pants.
Looking around the healing room, she spotted some clean bandages and quickly wrapped her injuries and, for good measure, wrapped the scales that were beginning to creep down her arm. Afterwards, she put on the tunic carefully so that she did not mess up her hair to badly and slid on a pair of dark leather boots.
As the Bosmer walked out of her room, the guard on duty snapped to attention, causing her to think that he'd probably dozed off at some point during dawn.
"Good morning!" Refridís said, attempting to be friendly despite her early awakening.
The guard gave her a nod before saying, "Lord Elrond has invited you and the dwarves to dine with him this morning. Do you need to be accompanied?"
"No, no. Don't worry about me, I will manage on my own," she responded, "I believe, however, you should get some rest. Wouldn't want anyone to catch you sleeping on the job."
The guard looked at her confused, "I was merely meditating, elves do not need sleep like that of man."
Refridís gave him a curious hum before walking away though it was only after going through a few twists and turns that she realized that perhaps going off on her own wasn't such a good idea as she was completely and utterly lost. There were no elves around whom she could ask for directions so she kept on going straight.
To her relief, after a few minutes of wandering, she began to hear the conversation and shouts of her Dwarven companions from ahead and quickened her pace. She was about to turn a corner when she spotted Elrond with another elf looking with shock and disgust from a nearby ledge and had only a moment to wonder what had caused their reaction before she saw for herself.
Now Refridís had spent many of her days alongside men, male elves, and other masculine creatures during times of war and had seen many in various states of undress when she would help the restoration mages with their work but nothing, absolutely nothing, could have prepared her for the sight that was twelve dwarves bathing and running around slapping each others with soaked towels.
She felt her face turn scarlet and leaned against the rock to wait for them to notice her, making sure that her eyes did not wander down. When they weren't stubbornly refusing her help and being suspicious of every little motive, they actually seemed like a lot of fun. It reminded her of the Thieves Guild when they would get a new shipment of Black-Briar Mead, courtesy of their agreement with the Jarl.
It seemed like fate had decided to have some fun when Kíli finally caught her gaze and looked confused for a moment before realizing his situation and ducking down into the water with a mortified look and a yelp. The festivities of the dwarves stopped at their companion's reaction so they all heard a throat clearing behind them. The Bosmer had enough sense to look away before they turned towards the sound, certain that her face was a brilliant crimson from her embarrassment.
"Lord Elrond has invited us to breakfast this morning…," Refridís said, "I believe I took a wrong turn."
There was a moment of silence before someone started to chuckle and pretty soon she heard many of the dwarves laughing and cheering.
"What's so funny?" she asked, her cheeks still radiating warmth.
"Oh lass," one of the dwarves said, Bofur she guessed, "We honestly didn't know if you would return to us or not with the story that Kíli told us! That, and the fact that you actually have a sense of humor!"
"Funnily enough, Bosmer are known to be the only elves with a sense of humor in my country," Refridís informed them with a scowl, "You lack faith in me if you believe a dragon slayer can't take down a few overgrown wolves and orcs."
"I'm sure some of us would like to invite you over and ask how in Mahal's named you survived but I don't think you would appreciate the timing," someone shouted at her.
Refridís gave a humorous snort, "That would be a very correct guess. I will tell you all at the breakfast table."
"Why not now? Don't you like the view?" another taunted, definitely Fíli.
"That question will remain unanswered as either choice has consequences," she yelled back, her face once again becoming flush and quickly walking away, "I will see you all once you've put on clothes!"
As she climbed down the steps quickly, the dwarves finished up their baths and began to get dressed, stomachs rumbling at the prospect of food.
Kíli was still bright red when he slipped his shirt over his head. He asked his brother nervously, "How long do you think she was there?"
The golden-haired Durin hummed, putting on his boots, before answering, "I spotted her watching us for a couple of minutes before you went off sounding like a chicken with its head cut off. Why?"
"She was watching us?!"
Refridís had eventually found a guard to ask where breakfast was being held and they graciously led her to a balcony overlooking the falls. Gentle music was being played by elves and Gandalf, Elrond, Thorin, and Bilbo were already seated and eating when she walked in.
"Speaking of which, here she is! How are you feeling this morning," Elrond asked the Bosmer.
She gave him a small glare as she sat down next to her hobbit friend, "Good morning all of you. I'm feeling rather well this morning, Lord Elrond though I think I would have been better should someone had warned me of where my path led."
"Ah yes, it's just that we spotted you a bit to late to give you warning, my apologize," the elf said, though she could sense a humorous undertone in his words.
Refridís side-eyed him as she turn towards Bilbo with a wide smile, "Good morning, Master Baggins!"
He returned her smile, "Morning! You know you can just call me Bilbo?"
"Yes yes, I know. I have some plans I want to do with you today," the wood elf said as Bilbo gave her a confused look, "Though I highly doubt you will master the sword in one day, I find it necessary that you should at least know how to use it correctly."
Bilbo was sputtering a reply when the rest of the company filed in, chatting and laughing. As they passed Refridís' gaze some of them winked at her making her cheeks warm slightly. She noticed that Kíli walked by rather quickly and kept his head down, and Fíli, noticing his brother's reaction, laughed loudly.
Breakfast was served shortly after their arrival and when Refridís was crestfallen when she saw no meat. Though she had long given up the Green Pact of Valenwood, she stilled preferred meat to greens and ate very little.
She froze halfway through chewing a rather sweet vegetable when Balin asked, "So how did you survive and get back to us?"
All eyes were on her, one of them nervous, as she swallowed and asked, "I'm not sure what you all have heard from Kíli. Why don't you tell me so I don't recount that part of the story?"
It surprised her when the normally shy Ori spoke up and said, " He told us that you let loose a giant fire spell that took down many of the Orcs and that both of you fought to the remaining Orcs. A warg bit you on the arm after you were distracted by the elven horns and you helped him to escape. He said that he saw you being dragged away."
Refridís subconsciously rubbed the arm that was bit and glanced towards Kíli who had finally looked up. She blinked her eyes and gave him a barely visible nod to show that she could work with the story. The raven-haired dwarf gave a notable slump of relief as she began to spin her tale.
"Yes, I would expect for him not to know anything pass that. I was considerably weakened after the fire spell and had very little magicka left. The pack was trying to outrun the elven riders who chased them and for that I thank Lord Elrond as he provided me an opportunity to escape. The Warg who carried me was shot on the hindquarters and let me go out of reflex. With my arm now free I used a smaller fire spell to the underside of its face, setting its fur on fire. I used the chaos of the battle to run for cover, as I did not dare run across the field where I might accidently be shot by a stray arrow or mistaken for the enemy.
The elves left shortly after and many of the Orcs laid dead on the field. My arm was bleeding rather heavily and I used the rest of my remaining magicka to try to heal the wound. It did very little so I made a poultice and used some cloth to make bandages and wrapped up my arm. After that, I just climbed into the cave, followed the path and… here I am," she said finishing her story.
Refridís did not know how much they would believe though from the looks of it many of them had already began to accept her explanation and only a few were looking at her with scrutiny. One of them did not believe her at all, knowing the true reason of why she had survived but she would talk to him later to give him his explanation. She noticed that Ori was furiously scribbling in a little journal of his and decided to talk to him later about it.
"That's quite a tale miss Refridís, though I'm sure I can say for many of us that we are glad to have you back," Fíli said, ending the silence that had taken over the balcony as even the elves who were playing music had stopped to hear the tale.
"Glad to be back," she said with a smile as she rose her cup of wine to her lips.
Breakfast continued and Refridís found her appetite to be too great so she ate some more of her greens. She watched as the dwarves grumbled among each other, enjoying the breakfast as much as her. A haunting tune played from behind her as an elf blew into a flute and she found herself smiling, remembering the bards that often played at the inns and taverns she would visit for the night. She watched as Óin stuffed a napkin into his hearing trumpet and giving a smirk as he no longer heard the flute.
She heard Elrond was examining the weapons that they had found in the troll hoard.
"This is Orcrist," he explained as he held Thorin's sword, "the Goblin Cleaver. A famous blade, forged by the High Elves of the West, my kin. May it serve you well."
Refridís felt the hair on her neck stand up and she became slightly more cautious of the elves standing around them, "So they are high elves…"
"And this is Glamdring," Elrond continued, snapping her out of her thoughts, "the Foe-hammer, sword of the King of Gondolin. These swords were made for the goblin wars of the First Age…"
The Bosmer felt the heavy weight of her own blades and brought them to their table, "And these?"
Elrond looked up at her as he took the blades, "the sister swords Aryante and Sildaraana, Daybringer and Gleaming-Moon, used to strike down a powerful and influential goblin chieftain. How did you come by these?"
"We found them in a troll hoard on the Great East Road," Gandalf answered, "shortly before we were ambushed by Orcs."
"And what were you doing on the Great East Road?" Elrond asked, suspicion once again returning.
Thorin excused himself from the table and walked out and Refridís sat back down in her seat. She watched as he walked away, deep in thought, and wondered to herself what was wrong.
"I wouldn't bother, laddie," she heard Balin say and turned to see that Bilbo was looking at his own blade, "Swords are named for the great deeds they do in war."
Bilbo looked at him, slightly offended, "What are you saying, my sword hasn't seen battle?"
"I'm not actually sure it is a sword; more of a letter opener, really," he responded, giving the hobbit a small smile.
"Letter opener or not, Bilbo needs to learn how to wield it effectively," the Bosmer said from Bilbo's other side, "That's why after breakfast we are going to be training."
"B-but your arm is still healing! What if you get hurt? What if I hurt you?" the Halfling asked, worried about the prospects of harming his friends.
"Ah I've had worse, and no offense but I do not believe you will be able to hurt me. You can't tell an attacker to stop fighting just because you have a little injury," she told him as she pushed away her plate.
Bilbo was about to respond when all of a sudden Nori shouted, "Change the tune would you? I feel like I'm at a funeral!"
"What?! Did somebody die?" Óin asked, not hearing well with the napkin stuffed in his hearing trumpet.
"Alright lads, there's only one thing for it!" Bofur said as he got up and stood on the table and began to sing,
There is an inn, a merry old inn
beneath an old grey hill,
And there they brew a beer so brown
That the Man in the Moon himself came down
one night to drink his fill.
The ostler has a tipsy cat
that plays a five-stringed fiddle;
And up and down he saws his bow
Now squeaking high, now purring low,
now sawing in the middle.
So the cat on the fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle,
a jig that would wake the dead:
He squeaked and sawed and quickened the tune,
While the landlord shook the Man in the Moon:
'It's after three!' he said.
While Refridís was at first amused at the dwarf's antics, she was quickly embarrassed by their food throwing and even gave Kíli a sharp look when he threw something that nearly hit Lindir. Kíli gave her a wide smile and she returned it with a breathy laugh and a small shake of her head.
Since the food was all over the floor, breakfast was quickly ended and she led Bilbo to a training field that the dwarfs had found. Most of them stuck around, having nothing better to do in the Elvish town except to watch them.
Training the hobbit was not as easy as Refridís thought it would be, his low confidence heavily affecting his movements and strikes. She treated him like she would any other trainee that she taught in Skyrim, never giving him a break, making him repeat movements over and over again when she felt that they did not meet her standards. The dwarves were cheering on the Halfling but knew in the back of their minds that he probably had no chance of learning what took years of practice and experience.
When Bilbo was disarmed again for what she felt the dozenth time, Refridís gave a growl, "Again! And this time hold your sword like I taught you!"
"Maybe you should give him a break! He'll only get worse from here," someone shouted from the sidelines.
She looked at the panting hobbit before giving a sigh, "Fine, go sit down. But I am not giving up on you!"
Bilbo leaned against a pillar with a sigh of relief and slid down into sitting position, exhausted from the continuous exercises.
Refridís was sheathing the blade when she heard, "How about a little friendly competition?"
"I don't see why not," the Bosmer replied, intrigued that she might be fighting an actual opponent, "Who would like to go against me?"
"I do."
Refridís turned towards the voice and saw that it was Kíli that had spoken. She was taken back slightly but agreed to the match.
The two circled around each other, blades glinting off the morning sun, before Kíli made the first move and rushed her. She brought her blade up, stopping the hit and kicked her leg out in front of her, hitting him in the stomach and making him stumble back.
"You'll have to do better than that!" She said in a teasing tone.
Kíli gave a growl and launched a series of attacks that she had some difficulties stopping. While she could defend herself with a blade very well, archery and long- ranged attacks were her strong suit.
It was at the end of the barrage, the two of them nearly face-to-face when Kíli whispered, "You owe me an explanation."
"You want to do this now?" Refridís asked quietly as she jumped back slightly and let his blade hit the ground.
She swung at him, Kíli easily sidestepping her, "Better now than later when you run off to avoid this conversation."
"Fine," the wood elf said as she made sure that her attacks stayed short-ranged so the others did not here them, "That fire spell that you saw on the field was called a Thu'um, a dragon shout, and the only people who are capable of making them are those who have trained for years to be able to do it and those who are Dovahkiin."
Kíli ducked down to avoid nearly getting his head cut off and swung at her legs, Refridís easily jumping over the blade, "My guess is that you are the latter?"
"Yes, I am. Dovahkiin in common tongue means Dragonborn and those who have been blessed or cursed with the title are capable of using the power of dragons, but it always comes with a price," she continued dodging an attack that would have struck her bad arm, "the more a person uses the power, the less control they have of their draconic side because," she said kicking the back of Kíli's knee making him fall to the ground and holding the tip of her blade at his throat, "we are dragons in blood and soul with the forms of mortals."
Kíli had frozen up at the end of her explanation, a growing fear evident in his eyes. Refridís sheathed her blade and held a hand out to help him off the ground. He took it and used it to pull himself up.
"You are a dragon?" he whispered to her as some of the dwarves in the sidelines cheered and exchanged small pouches of coins with each other, having made bets on who would win.
"In all manners except physically and some what mentally. I cannot control myself while I am in that mindset, it is why I try to use Thu'ums as sparsely as possible," she said as they shook hands in a symbol of sportsmanship, "Do you see now why I try to hide this? If I told the company of my power, they would make me use the shouts whenever we are in trouble and there is no doubt that Thorin would strike me down where I stood if he found out that dragons were traveling with them. I could have killed you on that plain, be glad that Odahviing arrived when he did.
On a completely different note," Refridís with a mischievous grin said as she began to walk away and acting like the conversation had never happened, "You should be shirtless more often."
With a wink, she left a very red and flustered Kíli in the middle of the field, not knowing what to think with these two very different pieces of information.
Refridís spent the rest of the day at the library she had found on her way to the barrow, browsing through the books trying to find anything that was of interest and that she could actually read due to the language differences. It had become dark and using candlelight she was halfway through a charming story about a man and his adventures in the wild when Elrond and Gandalf walked in. They did not see her immediately as she had settled herself on top of a bookshelf to insure that she would not be disturbed in her reading so she listened in to their conversation.
At first they spoke of Gandalf's strange traveling companions and she was almost tempted to ignore them and return to her reading but then Elrond said, "And what of the elf who claims to be a dragon?"
Gandalf shifted nervously, "I did not know about her powers when I first asked her to join us. I simply thought that she was an elf who had made a name for her self as a dragon slayer. She had a strange and powerful energy to her but never in all of my years would I have believed that we had a dragon walking among us."
Elrond gave a sigh, "This is not the first time we have had Dovahkiin in our halls though I certainly wished it would have been the last. Surely you remember the Od Kendov that came with Istilrína? I would have banished them from our halls if she were not with them for their ridiculous request to build on our land."
Gandalf froze at Elrond's statement, "Surely you don't think…?"
"I cannot say for certainty but you must be careful traveling with her. She does not seem to remember anything from here though memories might start to come back and we cannot be certain how she'll react." Elrond responded and both figures walked beyond her hearing.
Refridís' interest was definitely peaked as they continued to talk about this Istilrína and other Dovahkiin. Perhaps she was not too far off from her theory of picking up fragments of memories and Elrond definitely knew something about her past. She carefully dropped down from the shelf, book entirely forgotten as she hurried to her room. She planned on staying locked away until Elrond came to check on her arm but her stomach had other plans, obviously unfulfilled from that morning's meal.
With a groan she got up, mind set on finding the dwarves again as they probably would have found food that they actually liked using their resourcefulness. Remembering their joyful song at breakfast, she dug through her enchanted pouch and pulled out her lute.
To her surprise, there was no guard posted at her door when she left and with the ruckus that dwarves were making, she had no problem finding them. She turned the corner just in time to watch Bofur throw a sausage at Bombur and the table, which the ginger dwarf was sitting on, collapse under the weight.
"Mind if I join you all?" The Bosmer asked, laughing along with the dwarves at what just happened.
"Why of course! Though we expected you would have preferred the company of elves though seeing as they are your kin," Dori replied.
Refridís snorted as she sat down close to the fire and began playing a gentle song on her lute, tuning it when a note sounded wrong, "Quite the opposite. They remind me too much of the High Elves of my home."
The company seemed taken back from her statement so she explained a little further, "Not all elves get along in Skyrim. The Altmer believe themselves to be superior to all other races in Tamriel and often take actions to prove it. It was not uncommon in the old days for a squadron of High Elves to march into Valenwood and slaughter an entire town of Wood Elves in order to remind others of their status. Plus, nearly all High Elves I've met are the snobbiest, self-centered people I know.
This is not to say that I've seen that behavior here. It is probably just old prejudices playing in my mind but the way that the elves here hold themselves sets me on edge," she finished.
The dwarves nodded among themselves, some smiling at the fact that an elf would rather be with them then their kin.
"You have a lute," Fíli said matter-of-factly, "do you know any songs?"
Refridís smiled, "I am unfamiliar with the songs here but I know many in my homeland."
"Why don't you play us one? I'm sure all of us would like to hear one," Bofur asked.
Refridís thought for a moment looking down at the instrument in her hand, thinking of what would be good to play. From the corner of her eye, she spotted Kíli smoking a pipe and watching her expectedly.
"I feel as if this will be a rather fitting song for our journey," she said as she strummed the beginning notes,
Alduin's wings, they did darken the sky,
His roar fury's fire, and his scales sharpened scythes.
Men ran and they cowered, and they fought and they died.
They burned and they bled as they issued their cries.
Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal!
Ahrk fin norok paal graan fodnust hon zindro zaan, Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu drall!
We need saviors to free us from Alduin's rage,
Heroes on the field of this new war to wage.
And if Alduin wins, man is gone from this world.
Lost in the shadow of the black wings unfurled.
But then came the Tongues on that terrible day.
Steadfast as winter, they entered the fray.
And all heard the music of Alduin's doom,
The sweet song of Skyrim, sky-shattering Thu'um
And so the Tongues freed us from Alduin's rage,
Gave the gift of the Voice, ushered in a new Age!
And if Alduin's eternal, then eternity's done
For his story is over and the dragon is gone.
The dwarves cheered at the end and began to pull out some of their own instruments. It was in this way that Refridís spent her time until the early hours in the morning, the voices and songs of both dwarves and elf mixing together until she excused herself to get some rest. She would need it for that evening's summoning.
Hope you all enjoyed this slightly fillery chapter and I promise that the pacing will pick up for the next one (oh the plans I have). Please review, favorite, and follow if you enjoy the story so far or if you have any questions or comments let me know! While I'm not sure that it's 100% accurate I took the names of Refridís' swords from a Quenya-English dictionary. Also the version of the Tales of Tongues that Refridís' sings is from Malukah, whom I like to imagine is what Refridís' singing voice sounds like. I would give her a look because her covers of Skyrim's songs (and others) are absolutely beautiful! The Dovahzul used in the song is simply the first two lines of Dragonborn (or Skyrim's Main Theme). Od Kendov means 'Snow Warriors', a fitting name for a group of Nords but whatever is a group of Nords doing in Middle-Earth, much less Rivendell? You'll all just have to wait and see! :)
Hope you all have fun and stay safe until the next chapter~