"There are three prayers you should make before you pass death's doors.
Pray for yourself so that you are ready to meet the Divines.
Pray for others, those that you will leave behind.
And praise Arkay for letting you have the gift of life."
- Archon Seth Veranos, Imperial priest
Sibylla hated this.
The weather had gotten worse. The rain turned to snow and the skies became perpetually cloudy. The sun never came out. Claudia on the other hand was barely clinging to life and the healers were quite certain that there had been occasions where she had stopped breathing altogether. Bann-Je was constantly on hand to provide whatever help he could considering his limited insight on living bodies. To top it off, there was still no evidence as to what happened to Do'Ravier. The Khajiit had simply fell off the balcony and disappeared. She had sent the guards out to go look again.
"Gods, I hate this..." Sibylla murmured to herself.
Sibylla was in the sanctuary of the temple. The front of the temple and its shrine to all the Divines was in front of her. It was a lone figure meant to symbolize all of the Divines in one avatar, one symbol. She preferred that, it kept things simple. She wasn't too big on complexity. She sat in the front pew if off to the side, trying to be as relaxed as possible. It was hard. The problem was that she was the only one who did not know anything beyond a basic heal spell. Bann-Je could at least make himself useful by cleaning the instruments the healers used while trying to keep Claudia alive or even re-bandage that still grievous, ugly wound in her belly. Sibylla's hands were not deft enough to do that kind of work. All Sibylla could do was pray. Pray and wait.
Admittedly, she was terrible at those two things too.
Her prayers were simple and to the point. She'd asked Mara and Julianos for Claudia to get better. She then tried praying to Julianos to make those healers smarter and figure the problem out. She'd then probably ask Julianos to make the guards smarter so they could find Do'Ravier. At some point she even prayed to Zenithar so that everyone involved would work harder to get these problems solved.
Even she had to admit she was terrible at this, she didn't even sound priestly when she prayed.
She did not see much of Bann-Je or Claudia, who was in one of the sick rooms of the Temple. No one faulted her. Sibylla was in no position to help, she just did not have the skills and in all reality, she was a big woman and the room Claudia was in was small. She was just getting in the way and Bann-Je was too antsy to tend to any need the healers might have that he just couldn't talk with Sibylla.
At least Alaviera had sense enough not to show herself. There was no reason to blame Alaviera for this mess, even Sibylla knew that. Still, that didn't mean Sibylla would be above taking the opportunity to let her frustrations out on the Thalmor.
Sibylla heard someone enter the temple. She did not really care, it was probably just someone visiting to pay their devotions or something. She only started to pay attention when she realized it was a Breton knight who had come to visit and he sitting a respectful distance away from her. His armor was polished to a mirror sheen and his long black hair was gelled so that it always stayed smoothly behind his ears and out of his eyes. He at least kept a respectful silence. He only had a mace at his side but his eyes were at least kind when he looked at her.
"Are you well, my lady? There seems to be something amiss." the Breton said when he finally noticed her.
"I'm not." Sibylla replied flatly.
"Is there a way a humble knight might be able to lend his aid?" the armored Breton asked, sounding eager to help.
"One of my friends is most likely dead. The other is probably dying." Sibylla snapped. She regretted it, the knight didn't deserve the attitude but she was not in a good mood.
"I- you have my condolences, my lady. Who was your friend?" the knight inquired carefully.
"He was a Khajiit. Stupid furball. I didn't give him permission to go off and die." Sibylla sulked.
The knight frowned, pausing for a moment.
"I'm terribly sorry for your last, my lady. I will leave you in peace. My name is Sir Gervald. Should you need anything, seek me out." the knight announced before leaving.
Sibylla waited till he had left before she let out a scoff.
"I could probably snap him in half with just my fingers." It was a natural instinct, sizing up challenges. Almost anyone wearing armor and carrying weapons could be a possible opponent.
Sibylla continued to sit there in silence, not really able to pray anymore. Still, it was not like she had anything better to do. She could only find it in herself to sit there and stare at the shrine. It was a humbling feeling but it also made her feel helpless. That was not a good feeling.
She heard the door open again and saw the two guards she had sent. Both of them were covered in bits of snow while melting slush ran rivulets of water down their armor. Both were shivering, one had icicles hanging from his beard and Sibylla could see that their cheeks and noses had turned into a brilliant pink.
"Did you find the Khajiit?" Sibylla asked again.
The guard shook his head apologetically.
"...Thank you for trying..." Sibylla said quietly, eyes on the floor.
"Why are you here?" a calm voice asked, a voice that seemed to be ancient if not weighed down by the weight of the years.
Claudia looked around. It was so bright. It was if she was in a room made of pure ivory and alabaster. But some parts of it looked misty, out of focus. Was the material made of clouds then or was her vision fuzzy? Was she crying?
"Too much grief weighs down a body and sucks the soul dry. Why are you here?" the voice asked again, patiently and without malice.
Claudia looked around.
It was so glaring white. The brightness should have been burning her eyes and yet it did not hurt to look at them. She did not feel like talking, she could only feel water falling from her cheeks. She finally spotted the owner of the voice, a tall, stern looking man with a short, close trimmed beard and mustache whose head of hair had turned into a gray brown. He wore robes of fine linen but it was hard to see the colors. It could have been yellow or maybe it was white. It was hard to tell, everything was so bright in here.
"I am Arkay. I am the Divine of life-"
"So that means I'm dead." Claudia whimpered.
Bann-Je left the room, his eyes closed, his body exhausted, his soul weary. He made his way to the kitchens and slumped to a table. His head hit the tablecloth at the moment he sat in his chair. He promised himself that he would at least grab a loaf of bread to eat but he really needed to catch a few minutes of shut eye.
He heard the sound of a plate and a cup being put in front of him.
Bann-Je opened an eye to peek in front of him. He spied a simple arrangement, a loaf of bread, some cheese and some pieces of roast beef on it. A wooden cup of wine sat next to it. It was only then that he realized Sibylla had been in the room the whole time. It dawned on him that he was so tired that his usually sharp senses were starting to dull.
"You're here at an odd hour so I apologize if the leftovers are cold." Sibylla murmured.
"Mhmmghgmm..." Bann-Je groaned, though he lifted his head to bring the bread to his lips. He couldn't really taste it in his drowsy haze but his stomach was so empty he didn't care. He just wanted some weight under his ribs.
"How is she?" Sibylla asked, not hiding the worry in her voice well.
Bann-Je rubbed his forehead between bites. The pause did not help Sibylla. If he didn't look so darn pitiful she would have been tempted to strangle the answer out of him.
"She...stopped breathing again. I had to strike her chest a few more times than usual to get her breathing again. We are all...worried." Bann-Je admitted.
By "worried" he meant that some of the healers were saying maybe it was about time they just gave up. Claudia's body did not seem to want to hold the healing energies they were pouring into her anymore. However, Bann-Je was fairly certain that if he told her that, Sibylla would be filled with the overwhelming urge to go and shave off more than just the healers' beards.
The Nord said nothing except maybe frown a bit longer.
"I'm sorry I haven't really been out here. I should be thinking about you too." Bann-Je apologized, suddenly realizing the situation.
"Bann-Je, is Claudia dead yet?" Sibylla demanded.
"No, of course not." the assassin replied.
"Then you stay by her side and do everything to keep her alive. I can handle myself. Claudia is the one that needs help." Sibylla said.
The two sat in silence as Bann-Je fought the competing urges to fall asleep and feed himself.
"We've already lost Do'Ravier. We can't lose Claudia." Sibylla huffed as she left the table.
Bann-Je was rather dismayed to learn that they had already decided Do'Ravier was a lost cause.
"Do not make assumptions. Your life is dimming to be sure but your friends have not committed your body to my grasp yet." Arkay said.
Claudia looked at him. She immediately started to wonder if this was all a hallucination. Then again, she doubted a hallucination would tell her about her physical situation. She only remembered having a bad run in the vampire. Clearly was not all that well.
"Now, why are you here?" the Divine repeated.
"I-I was fighting a vampire. I got seperated from my friends. I paid for my mistake." Claudia admitted.
"I was not implying that you were guilty of anything, nor was I interested in why you came to your present circumstances. I know more about you than you know of yourself. I am asking you this so that you consider for yourself why you are here. How did you become what you are, Claudia Vivinici? Why did you become a Vigilant of Stendarr?" Arkay asked.
Claudia hung her head and paused. She wasn't sure what Arkay was looking for so she decided to retell the story.
"I was the daughter of a lesser family of nobles in the Imperial City. I was my family's only child. My father wanted a son but still was happy to have me, even if he insisted I learn archery and swordsmanship. Whatever I wanted to learn or I was interested in, my family paid the money for it." Claudia said.
"How does a daughter of a noble family end up serving as a humble priestess and vigilant?" Arkay inquired.
"I...I killed someone..." she admitted.
Bann-Je had become well acquainted with the healers here at the temple, specifically the three that were working with him to save Claudia. All of them were old and were considered the most skilled healers in the area, the best that the Northpoint temple had access to and still they were not enough. Healer Purin was the most vocal of the three and if he was not the oldest, he was certainly the one with the most energy. It was he that usually spoke with Bann-Je.
Bann-Je was becoming sick of this room. While it was by no means small, it was not enough to hold three healers, and assassin and one bed ridden patient for a long period of time. At this point all of them had brought chairs to sit on while they waited, hoping for a change for the better. Claudia had not woken once. They had thrown a clean robe on her while a thick band of bandages coiled around her midriff to patch the entry and exit wound of the sword. They could only hope it was enough.
"You said that the vampires had some sort of sickness when they fought and that it is clear one of them bit her." Purin said as one of the others brought another healing draught to her lips.
They all glanced at the bandage at her neck which was there to cover the wound there. It had stopped bleeding long before but they wanted to make sure it would close. It was also probably best to hide the iconic twin prick points.
"Yes, but we've hit her with several spells that cure diseases and that's standard operating procedure. What are you getting at?" Bann-Je asked.
"What if that illness has something to do with her current state?" the healer speculated.
"Does it matter? We need to keep her alive. You've hit her with all the cure disease spells you know, right?" Bann-Je demanded.
"Yes, we have." all the healers said in unision.
"Then make sure she stays alive. I'm not asking you to understand it, I don't either. We just need to keep her alive." Bann-Je asserted, his voice showing annoyance.
"We are doing what we can, Vigilant. However, you must understand, we have reached our limit." Purin admitted, apologetically but firmly.
"I understand and that is why I have not left you. But do not waiver. Let it not be said we did not give our all to keep her alive." Bann-Je replied.
Meanwhile, it had fallen to Sibylla to send a letter to Archon Tacitus explaining their delay. Unfortunately, words left her the moment that she lifted a quill and ink to parchment. How could she explain to the Archon what had happened? She was not even sure herself what was going on. Besides, the situation was in such a flux that it was very likely that whatever she wrote to the Archon would be obsolete by the time the letter got to him.
Still, she had to. It had become her responsibility.
Archon Tacitus,
Unfortunate things have happened. The mission
She did not like that one. She tossed it out and started anew.
Archon Tacitus,
We were able to accomplish our mission objective. We have taken losses. Claudia is grievously wounded and we are doing everything we can to preserve her life. Do'Ravier is
What would she say about Do'Ravier? That he fell and they could not find him? That he was missing? That they were still searching for him? She tossed that one too.
Archon Tacitus,
We cleared out a den of vampires. We have taken some causalities. We are recuperating and trying to see the extent of the damage. We will update you on the matter as soon as possible.
She tossed that one out too because she realized she didn't say who had gotten hurt.
"I was the only daughter of a lesser noble house. They taught me archery and brought an eccentric High Elf to teach me to use the rapier because it was the only light sword I could wield effectively. The Altmer was always energetic and spoke a mile a minute but I was able to keep up with him. I was sad when he said I had completed my training and he had to return to his home in Hammerfell. My dad taught me the basics of archery and I became a natural at it. I was betrothed to a man named Marcellus. He was a...competent man and although I had no love for him, the marriage was arranged. It was suppose to bring great honor to my house and I believed maybe I would come to love him in time.
It was going so well. The wedding was to be in a month's time. My father and mother were so happy. My house stood to rise in honor. I was excited too. Marcellus was a cold man, a hard man, but he was competent and maybe I could come to love him. He was a merchant's son who ran his business well. They had weathered bad seasons and knew how to handle it when the markets went bad. There was no reason we would ever be in want.
One night I was by myself and he cornered me. I wanted to take the opportunity to speak with him but he did not want to talk. He...made advances on me. It was inappropriate before the marriage. He was suppose to be my husband and I was his betrothed but my family always raised me to do the right thing. I told him to stop but he insisted. I became frightened."
Claudia paused a moment. So many other people she knew had had wonderful arranged marriages. They had gone well. This wasn't right. This was not how it was suppose to go. However, what happened was done and she had no choice but to tell the Divine. She wiped her eyes, what little good that did since they welled up with tears again. She continued her story.
"He was stronger than me and I was suppose to trust him but I couldn't do something wrong. I just wanted him to stop, I wanted him to let go. I tried to hit his face to get him away, to get him to his senses but he kept going. I was frightened, so frightened and he was starting to hurt me. My hands grasped something on the nearby table and I hoped something harder than my hands would snap him out of it. I struck him in the face with it.
It was a letter opener and in my desperation, I pierced right through his eye and into his brain.
My mother and father were devastated. Marcellus' family was out for blood but it would have been a disgrace to know what he had been trying to do, not that they believed it. Still, it would have looked bad to see that he had died from a woman. Justice had to be done but no one wanted the shame that would come with a trial.
My mother and father were at a loss with grief but in the end it did not matter. We had no choice. I was sent to start a new life in the Imperial Cult, disowned from my family with no more place in our House. My talents served me well and soon I was climbing the ranks in the Vigilant of Stendarr." Claudia explained.
"You have answered the question but again I ask, why are you here?" Arkay asked.
"I wanted to bring justice to others but mercy as well. I wanted to bring justice...because of the injustice shown to me." Claudia replied.
The Divine nodded.
"You must wait with me here, Claudia. We must wait and see if you will have my leave to go or if you must come with me." Arkay the Divine of life and death said.