A Stranger in Skyrim
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Voice
By: N3k0
In which Words are spoken.
A man slowly walked down the stairs opposite her. For all his age - his long beard was, indeed, gray - he moved with deliberate grace.
She leaned on the wall, still struggling to catch her breath in the mountain air.
Two more men appeared in the space of a blink, and she blinked again, slightly confused. Lydia sighed softly. "You shouldn't have come here in this condition," she murmured softly.
The gray around the edges of her vision tended to agree.
Still, she stubbornly pulled off the wall, going to greet the men. Lydia followed, one hand on her shoulder for support.
"So, a Dragonborn appears, at this moment, in the turning of the age."
She tilted her head to the side. "You called, I came. Hullo."
"Indeed, you have. We will see if you truly have the gift. Show us, Dragonborn. Let us taste of your Voice."
She inhaled deeply, focusing. Fus was the word - it meant Force. She opened her mouth, focusing on that single syllable, and sound fell out.
The old master stumbled backward, grunting, as some of the nearby pots smashed into the far wall, shattering. "Oh - oh Gods, I'm sorry - " She rushed towards the old man, and realized belatedly that rushing anywhere was a bad idea - she herself stumbled with the effort.
"Do not trouble yourself with me - you did as I asked, after all. So, you are Dragonborn. Welcome, then, to High Hrothgar."
Her world spun about her, for a moment, before settling.
"I am Master Arngeir. I speak for the Graybeards," he said, voice even. If he noticed her dizziness, he said nothing. "Now, tell me, Dragonborn: Why have you come here?"
"H-wha? I - I'd like to know what being Dragonborn means." She nodded once, ever so slowly. "Yes. I would like to know - what it is to be Dragonborn."
He nodded, slowly. "We are - here - to guide you in that pursuit, just as the Graybeards have sought to guide those of the Dragon Blood that came before you."
"Y'mean - I'm not the only Dragonborn?" She looked confused, before remembering. Tiber Septim - Talos - that was right ….
"You are not the first," he confirmed. "There have been many of the Dragon Blood, since Akatosh first bestowed that gift upon mortal kind." Wait, but according to the tablets it had been Kyne, wasn't it supposed to be? And someone named Paarthurnax.
She kept quiet on that point. Who was she to tell this man what had truly happened? Did she even know for certain herself?
"Whether you are the only Dragonborn of this age," he continued, oblivious to her train of thought, "That is not ours to know. You are the only one that has been revealed thus far. That is all I can say."
She nodded slowly. "I'm ready," she said with confidence she didn't feel. "I want to learn."
He looked her over, as though measuring her. "You have shown that you are Dragonborn. You have the inborn gift. But, do you have the discipline and temperament to follow the path that has been laid out before you? Ah, that remains to be seen."
He paced toward the far wall, where one of the shattered pots lay. Picking up one of the fragments, he continued:
"Without training, you have already the first steps towards projecting your Voice into a Thu'um - a Shout. Now, let us see if you are willing - and able - to learn."
"When you shout, you speak in the language of Dragons. Thus, your Dragon Blood gives you an inborn ability to learn Words of Power." She nodded. This she had gathered already. "All shouts are made up of three Words of Power. As you master each word, your Shout will become progressively stronger."
One of the other hooded figures stepped forward, bowing politely.
"Master Einarth will now teach you "Ro," the second word in Unrelenting Force." This second figure smiled encouragingly at her, as Arngeir continued: "Ro means "Balance" in the Dragon Tongue. Combine it with "Fus" - Force - to focus your Thu'um more sharply."
The second figure, Master Einarth, spoke the word, "Ro," and the force of his Voice was enough to make the entire room shudder - or maybe just her perception of the room. He moved his hand above the floor, and the words in that strange and ancient script formed in the stone there.
She noted dully that the words looked as though they had been - or could have been, perhaps - carved there by powerful talons.
What a reassuring thought.
She moved to stand beside Master Einarth, looking down. It read "Balance," just as she had been told. "Ro," she murmured softly. The lines burned into her vision, until they were all that she could see, even with her eyes closed.
"You learn a new word like a master. You truly do have the gift."
She looked up, and over, bewildered. She'd only spoken it - there was awe in the old man's eyes. She wasn't sure she liked that.
"Learning a Word of Power is only the first step. You must unlock its meaning through constant practice, in order to use it in a Shout."
He paused, looking her over again. "Well, that is how the rest of us learn Shouts. As Dragonborn, you can absorb a slain dragon's life force and knowledge directly. As part of your initiation, Master Einarth will allow you to tap into his understanding of 'Ro.'"
The man spread his arms as she regarded him. Einarth's power shot forward suddenly, threads of white light spearing through her. Knowledge flooded her, though she couldn't honestly say she understood what he was showing her.
Later, Lydia would tell her that she'd risen momentarily off her feet, her eyes blazing white with power. She had no idea of this at the time,
"Now," Master Arngeir said with a kind smile. "Now, we shall see how quickly you can master your new Thu'um. Use your Shout to strike the targets as they appear."
She was still fuzzy on that point. How was she supposed to hit a target with her voice, exactly? She wasn't a ventriloquist!
Someone spoke from behind her. "Fiik - lo sah!" Suddenly, a ghostly man appeared. She stumbled backwards, alarmed, only just remembering the gist of what she was supposed to do.
"Fus - Ro!"
The 'target' - the ghostly figure - and everyone before her - stumbled with the force of her Voice. Then, the ghost disappeared and she was left only with the Masters - and Lydia, of course.
"Very good," Arngeir said. "Again."
Author's Note:
So, you might have noticed that I've been gone for a while!
Life happens, and I simply didn't have time for Skyrim. Then when I did, I wasn't up to writing at the quality I was satisfied with.
But I'm gonna give it an honest go. Onward!
