Due to the whole Timeline-mess, you'll find the chapter "The battlemaiden" to it's rightful place, like three chapters back ;)
Where the Evergreen rest - 3rd of Sunsdawn - 4 E 202 - Falkreath Hold
The hours and the clouds passed. A bright evening sun lit the evergreen hold in an almost surreal golden light. Jarl Siddgeir had been not so kindly escorted out of the hold, and was now on his way to Solitude, the soldiers were celebrating victory at the Dead Man's inn, town-folks were slowly returning to their usual activities and Eliana was taking a few moments on her own before she left to report their victory to Ulfric.
"I thought I ordered you to leave for Windhelm about one hour ago. What are you still doing here?"
Leaning against the guardrail up the rampart, the young woman did not react nor did she seem to hear the general climbing the stairs to scold her.
"Evergreen! You hear me?"
The girl suddenly came back to her senses.
"Sorry, Galmar… I didn't- …what did you say?"
His patience growing thin, the general closed the gap between them, intending to finally let weariness and his just recently controlled dislike of the half-elven get the better of him but something captured his gaze and held him back: a bunch of flowers tied together with a black ribbon.
"You… Are you visiting someone's grave?"
"I'm trying to bring myself to." She sighed. "My parents - my whole family is buried not far away in the forest… I've been spending the last hour or so wondering whether or not to go. I… I'm scared.", she admitted, no trace of shame showing in her voice. "Brings back too many memories, too many… unfinished business…"
She let out a dark chuckle, tears gleaming in her eyes.
"Look at me. I'm scared. I fearlessly fought draugr, Imperials, dragons - the World-Eater himself! - and I'm terrified to face my past. I'm scared to return home…"
The general let out a disdainful snort.
"I henceforth strip you of your rank and title."
"What?!", the girl breathed, shocked by such an injustice! "Why?"
"Because this name is fit to no coward. So… either you prove yourself worthy of the honour that was granted to you, or you'd better hit the road south, for you'll no longer have your place in Skyrim."
20th of Evening Star - 4 E 201 - Falkreath Hold
The feeling of nausea that plagued her ever since she set foot near the wooden palisades of the town finally overwhelmed her!
Eliana leaned against a tree as the content of her stomach fought its way out and spread on the cobblestoned cross-road. Now she regretted not having eaten in two days… Exhaustion - both physical and emotional - was getting harder to ignore in the light of Galmar's threat.
She should have known better but to take his words to the letter, but she was not herself here… or maybe was she back to herself?
Another wave of nausea - stronger this time!
She coughed and cried in desperation. She had to pull herself together! She was better than that! She was no longer the person she used to be! She was strong; she was the Dragonborn, the savior of Tamriel, the hero of Skyrim, the terror of the Thalmor… Except she didn't feel like any of these things, now. She was weak and lost and hurt and alone…
"For Talos' sake, Evergreen! What in Oblivion happened to you?"
She looked up to see the very person she expected the least.
"You… followed me, Galmar?"
"Like if I was going to let you wander on your own in this gods forsaken woods!"
The young woman laughed weakly and shamelessly accepted the bear-warrior's hand.
"What is so terrible about this place?"
She followed his gaze up the slopes and turned pale.
"This… this is where I died, Galmar."
3rd of Sunsdawn - 4 E 202 - Falkreath Hold - Evergreen Grove
The small shack stood by a pond and a stream, in a clearing down a now covered in moss path. The door was torn out, the windows broken; death bells had grown around the walls and across the doorstep. True, the surroundings were grim and bleak, but Galmar saw nothing that could in the slightest explain the Dragonborn's breakdown.
But as they grew closer to the shack - and the young woman grew paler - Galmar started noticing what had disturbed him on first sight.
The black stained floor, the burning marks on the walls, the mess around the room, the tools in the hearth, the chains nailed in the wall. Galmar somehow knew the state of the house wasn't owning to bandits or to an angry mob.
"What happened to you, Evergreen?"
"The Thalmor happened."
She bit back her tears and pride and told him the whole story. The sun had long disappeared behind the crests of the Reach, a few leagues west when her tale came to an end.
"There are thousand ways to die… I might have survived through this, and through Helgen, but… the person I was… I used to be… The alchemist of Falkreath… She died in there."
A heavy silence concluded her tale. She looked up in fear of meeting Galmar's eyes and see there only disgust and coldness or sympathy and condolence, but never had she expected to see what gleamed in the General's eyes: pride.
"Not bad… for an elf!"
She let out a nervous chuckle.
"Please… don't breathe a word of this to anyone… especially not to Ulfric. If he knew… he would pity me, and there would be no way he could ever respect me again, as an equal… And… his respect is all I have left."
The bear-warrior patted her shoulder in a clumsy comforting gesture. He had no shame to admit he had underestimated her. She was definitely stormcloak material! As weeks passed, he started understanding why Ulfric had bestowed his trust upon her. Perhaps from the beginning he had foreseen what Galmar was too blind to notice in her: strength, cleverness, complete devotion to the cause… and to the High-King.
The general frowned at the way the young woman's eyes had lightened at the mention of the jarl. He knew this look all too well for having seen it on countless women that never earned as much as a glance from the jarl. Galmar himself never paid them much attention for they were no threat, they didn't matter. But the half-Elven did! She counted for Ulfric. And if the feeling was mutual, he could only foresee where this would lead… Whether he would attempt to stop it or just let it be, Galmar didn't yet know, but of one thing he was sure:
"You must tell him.", he stated.
The young woman grew a whiter shade of pale..
"He doesn't need to know…", she breathed.
"No, he doesn't… but he deserves to."
She blinked, defeated, then numbly nodded…
She had Ulfric at a disadvantage. She knew much about his past. He knew nothing of hers.
It was not like there had been any confession or if she had intended to discover these information but, since she had read that dossier she stirred from Elenwen's Solar, since she knew of his capture, of his interrogation, of how he eventually broke down and betrayed the Empire, it would be only fair if, in return, she shared her burden with him… if she told him of her own history with the Thalmor, if she confessed what led her to Helgen, and to him…
She chocked on her breath as this realization hit her in the face! She laid a look around her, and felt the chains on her heart loosen. All along she thought her past held her back, while it had actually pushed her forward. If not for what had happened here, she wouldn't have been handed to that Imperial patrol, she wouldn't have been thrown on that cart to Helgen, she would never have met him… Tears of joy filled her eyes.
It was over. She wasn't scared anymore, nor did she feel enslaved or trapped from the memories that lingered here. She would not look back, but only move forward. Her past wouldn't remain confined here - she would always bear its burden - but never again would it hold her back.
She wiped her tears away and laid a gaze upon the house one very last time.
Galmar watched intently as the young woman traced the edge of the mantelpiece and tore a heavy looking rounded shape piece of metal from the stone wall.
"All just disappears, doesn't it?", she breathed. "Everything you are. Gone. In a moment. Like... breath on metal.", she thought out loud, tracing the edges of an intricate carving upon the darkened material. "We all... change. When you think about it, we're all different people all through our lives... And it's good. It's all good as long as you remember all the people that you used to be."
Placing the barely recognizable shield on her shoulder, she traced the mount of the door, the window, closed the shutters and traced an intricate rune over the wood. She laid a bunch of gold and blue flowers over the windows' ledge and carefully withdrew.
"Fire purifies…"
'In your tongue, the Word simply means 'Fire'. It is change given form. Power in its most primal. That is the true meaning of 'Yol'. Suleyk. Power. You have it. As do all dov. But this power is inert without action and choice. Think of this as the fire builds in your su'um. Su'um ahrk morah. What will you burn? What will you spare?'
The young woman smiled through tears and took a deep breath: "YOL TOOR SHUL!"
Annnnd, done with Falkreath!
This chap and the two previous ones were supposed to be gathered in one only and very loooooong chapter but I figured out it would be better to cut it in three parts, otherwise it would have been about 8000 words long ^^
So! Galmar and Eliana getting along! That's quite a surprise, isn't it? ^^ Maybe Galmar's learning the hard way he can trust a woman, he can trust a mage and he can trust an elf! Now, Ulfric doesn't quite need any convincing about her but Galmar still thinks there are things he should know about what led her to Helgen. What happened in the Evergreen Grove? How did Eliana end up in a cart from Eastmarsh to Helgen ? Will she have the courage to bring up the subject with the jarl or will he find out about her past some other way ?
What do you think ? ;)
I really want to thank you all who read, follow, fav or review my fic! almost 57000 views! I never imagined I would get so many ! O_ô
Thank you! Thank you so, so much! T_T
Please, keep reviewing, even just to share an impression, or ask a question, I try to answer every review personally :) And I'm always nice in my PM ;) Love you guys! :)
Hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to review! :)
