Chapter Two: Research (Sundas the 9th, Morndas the 10th, Tirdas the 11th of Sun's Dusk)
Mari was extremely frustrated. She'd spent hours combing over the books she had rescued from Fellglow Keep and hadn't found anything terribly informative. One book was about the fall of the Ayleids and their descendants. Another was about the Isle of Artaeum where the Psijic Order made their home. The third was about the so-called Night of Tears when the elves ransacked Saarthal, but it only hypothesized that there was more to the attack than simply wanting the Nords out of Skyrim. The author felt the Nords had unearthed something beneath their city that the elves wanted for themselves. Clearly there had been something buried beneath Saarthal, but this book didn't give her any further information on it, nor did she understand what the correlation between the three books Orthorn had stolen could possibly be.
After watching her sister's frustration, Aerenwen had suggested she seek out Glenys.
"I know Markarth is on the opposite side of Skyrim as Winterhold, but she may have some insight or further information," her sister had stated. "If this is somehow tied to the Ayleids or Artaeum, she knows more of those two topics than anyone else we have access to, and if not, she may know more of Saarthal itself."
Mari had seen the wisdom in her sister's thinking, and so that was how she found herself, several days later after an extremely long journey, standing atop a set of stone steps in an ancient Dwemer city, dripping wet as heavy rain poured around her.
A tall Nord with long, sleak hair answered the door, and Mari smiled at him. "Vorstag?"
"Yes?" he asked curiously.
"I'm Mari," she stated. "Is my sister home?"
Mari sat back in her chair and took a sip of her wine, watching as her sister closed the final book she had brought with her.
"I had read both of these before," Glenys informed her with a gesture toward the books on Artaeum and the Ayleids, "but after telling me what you had found beneath Saarthal, I decided I should reread. It was years ago that I read them. Back when I first began studying under Calmir."
Mari nodded but didn't speak. She could tell by her sister's expression that she was preparing to begin a scholarly lesson of some sort.
"As you know, all mer are distant cousins," Glenys began. "We all descended from the ancient race of Aldmer who claimed to have been descended from the Aedra themselves."
Mari nodded. She did know this, but she would admit that unless it was directly involved with magicka, she hadn't paid attention to or retained the majority of her history lessons.
"They left the ancient continent of Aldmeris, sailing across the seas," the brown-haired elf continued. "Some took to the seas permenantly, making the islands off the southern coast of Tamriel their home. They became known as the Maomer, or sea elves. Others settled in the Summerset Isles to the west. Those are our ancestors and eventually became known as the Altmer.
"Through the ages, others would leave their new home. The first to do so were the Altmer who established the Psijic Order, settling on their own island, Artaeum, because they disagreed with the new religion and chose to remain true to the old ways. Others left and expanded across Tamriel. These would evolve into the races of Bosmer, Chimer, Dwemer, Falmer, Ayleid, and Dunmer. Others mixed with the races of men and would become the race now known as Breton.
"The Falmer, or snow elves, dwelled in Skyrim," she explained. "They are rarely referred to as Falmer now. That name is reserved for the twisted race their descendants became, but it was this race of mer that ransacked Saarthal. The Nords had come from the continent of Atmora, to the North, in search of a new home as theirs was failing somehow. Some sort of climate change or natural disaster, I gather. Saarthal was the first city they established, and most historians agree that the snow elves attacked with the desire to wipe out the Nords in order to keep Skyrim for themselves.
"A few disagree, and I am inclined to favor their opinion," Glenys stated. "The snow elves already shared Skyrim with the Dwemer, who dwelled underground, and while conflict between men and mer is by no means uncommon, I see no reason for the elves to have reacted so strongly to the Nords arrival when the province is so large, and they had no established settlements in the direct area of Saarthal, from all accounts. Not to mention that the Nords had already dwelt there for some time and delved quite deep before the elves chose to act against them. If it was simply the settlement they were against, they no doubt would have acted sooner when there were fewer defenses in place.
"Those that disagree with the original theory believe that the Nords unearthed a very powerful artifact beneath Saarthal" Glenys stated. "Scholars disagree then on whether or not the purpose of the attack was to claim the artifact for themselves or prevent the Nords from accessing it. I tend to lean toward the former, especially since it was obviously still there. If they had wiped out the Nords and wanted it for themselves, they no doubt would have reclaimed it and relocated it. Instead, it remained buried beneath the ruins of Saarthal.
"I once read an Imperial report on Saarthal written by an archaeologist under the Empire's command to delve into the more shallow areas of the ruins to study the lives of the ancient Nords who reestablished a temporary settlement there upon returning to Skyrim after the Night of Tears. The author of the report felt that the snow elves' attack had been too precise, by his findings, to have simply been set to exterminate the Nords. He felt they had a clear destination and purpose in mind. I think it is possible they sought to clear out the area around this artifact, and that it was them, rather than the ancient Nords, who sealed that area of Saarthal that you uncovered.
"The Ayleids, as you know, are my area of expertise," she continued after taking a sip of her wine. "They are known by the races of men as the Heartland High Elves, and they inhabited Cyrodiil. I won't go into their story completely, as it's unnecessary here, but I do feel that these three books are connected and that it wasn't simply the one from Saarthal that you were after. There was a reason it was these three books the mages stole.
"The Ayleids, like the Psijiics, would be the most similar to the Aldmer due to the fact that they died out so long ago. Those of us who have remained have continued to evolve into more distinct cultures, and our similarities to the old ways are few, even if our own race likes to claim they are the most pure in terms of ancestry.
"Therefore, it can be surmised that the type of magicka used by the Ayleids, whose culture would have been contemporary with Saarthal, would have been much more in line with Psijics beliefs than that of more modern mer, as would the snow elves'. The stones and artifacts within Ayleid ruins are like nothing seen today, and I surmise that this artifact is something from those ancient elves. It is highly possible, in my opinion, that this artifact was developed by those ancient elves, possibly even stolen by the snow elves from the Ayleids, or perhaps created by themselves somehow, and that upon realizing how powerful and dangerous it was, they buried it beneath the snow in hopes it was never unearthed.
"Then, generations later, along came the Nords who, unknowingly, discovered it again, and when the elves realized they had found it, attacked in order to avoid it being brought back out into the open and used. It's possible, I suppose, that this artifact predated even them, and that it was something the Psijics, and even other mer races, were aware of even before the events of Saarthal. Something the Aldmer had created or possessed, a relic of the old world or the creation of Mundus.
"Regardless of that, you're dealing with something very powerful and very ancient," Glenys concluded.
Mari sighed. It wasn't exactly new information, nor did it give her a lot to tell her superiors at the College, and it didn't exactly give her the warm fuzzies either. "This damn thing should have stayed buried," she commented.
Glenys nodded her agreement. "What are you going to tell them?"
"I don't know," Mari answered honestly. "I suppose I'll just give them all the theories. I gather the only ones who know more definitively what this thing is would be the Psijics, and they're not exactly fans of sharing information."
Glenys chuckled. "They're watching you," she commented after a few moments of silence. "They have put their trust in you. Mother would be proud."
Mari smiled sadly. "I wish she were here," she sighed. "She may have been of some help with this."
Glenys reached forward and took hold of her sister's hand, giving it an affectionate squeeze. "Tread carefully, Mariwen. Our ancestors were in tune with magicka and elements that we wouldn't even begin to comprehend. There is no telling what this thing is capable of, and whatever you do, do everything in your power to make sure that Thalmor agent at the College does not take it. If the Thalmor get ahold of it . . ." she trailed off with a frown.
No, Mari agreed silently. That would not be a good thing at all.