"Well, little friend, this is where M'aiq leaves you," the Khajiit declared, halting at the entrance to a cave. He paused, examining it. "Er…you are sure this is where you want to be?"
"It's the Sanctuary?" she asked, glancing away from the dark entrance that could be hiding spiders or…or something.
"It is a big cave with a big tree inside," he confirmed with a shrug.
Sofie nodded happily. "Then I'm sure," she assured him, fingertips brushing lightly over the petals of an enormous Dragon Tongue flower that bloomed just outside the entrance. Ysmir had several in the garden, but they never got this big.
"All right," he said doubtfully, and she giggled.
"Thank you, M'aiq," Sofie said, smiling hugely at him. "I don't think I would have had the courage to walk all the way here on my own."
The Khajiit smiled, scratching one cheek bashfully. "Sofie is a brave child. M'aiq is sure she would have gotten here somehow."
The girl blushed, not used to thinking of herself as "brave" at all. "Thanks," she replied, turning to go inside. Taking a moment for her eyes to adjust, she felt her way slowly down the stone tunnel, going quite a ways before she began to doubt again, wondering if M'aiq had gotten the wrong cave. He has seemed sure, though, so she resolutely made her way forward, down further underground and into the darkness until, quite suddenly, she turned a corner and the rocks were lit with faint sunlight. A few more steps brought her to the beginnings of a wooden path, recessed between two ledges of rock and dirt with pines growing from them, and the tallest waterfall she'd ever seen falling from a hole in a cave roof taller than the Palace of Kings.
Enchanted, she moved along the path, coming to a bridge over a lively stream that seemed to burble and giggle pleasantly at her.
"Hello there, little friend!"
Sofie nearly jumped out of her skin as she suddenly realized a man sat next to the stream. He laughed and looked a bit apologetic. "My apologies, I didn't mean to startle you. Come to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Sanctuary, as I have?" He looked past her, probably waiting for her parents to come around the bend, then looked a bit puzzled when none materialized.
"Um, yes," she said, picking her way over to him. "Kind of. Is there someone in charge here?"
He watched her thoughtfully, rising to give her a hand over some rocks. "Well, I don't know about being in charge, but if you have questions you should talk to Asta. She's been here a lot longer than I have."
"Thank you," Sofie said politely, fighting her shyness. Still, she ducked her face behind her hair as she followed the man through the beautiful cave to where a woman sat, apparently basking in a shaft of sunlight.
"Asta, this little one has some questions," he said genially, leaving them to it with a wave. Sofie smiled bashfully back, then bobbed a curtsy to the woman, who chuckled.
"No need to be so formal, little one," she greeted her. "I'm Asta."
"Sofie," she supplied. "I…I was wondering…is there a way to get sap from the Eldergleam? I mean, is it tapped like a maple tree?"
The woman looked offended, and Sofie shrank back. "Why would anyone want to do such a thing? The Eldergleam is sacred to Kynareth, and hurting it in any way is despicable!" she caught sight of the wide-eyed expression on the child's face and sighed. "No. No, it's not tapped. Not that I know of, but no one has gotten close to the tree in years. The roots block the path," she waved toward the tree, and Sofie finally looked up.
It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. The tree was massive, with roots stretching from the rise it grew on all the way to the bottom of the cavern. Its branches were covered with lovely blossoms—or leaves the color of blossoms, it was hard to tell from there. It grew under another opening to the sky, making it perfectly illuminated. Sofie wondered if one day it would grow right up out of the hole and pierce the sky, stretching its limbs in the wind.
Asta smiled at the expression on the girl's face. "Beautiful, isn't it?"
Sofie nodded, unable to talk for a moment. Sitting, she watched the tree for a long while, until the light began to fade and she remembered her mission, a flash of the sad, empty branches of the Gildergreen in her mind's eye. "A priestess of Kynareth told me that the sap returns life to barren fields. If there're stories, then someone must have collected some sometime, and not hurt the tree. Maybe it oozes out, like some pine trees do."
"I've heard the tales," Asta admitted, turning to look at her curiously. "Why do you want the sap? Need to save your parent's farm?"
Sofie shook her head. "The Gildergreen in Whiterun. It's this tree's baby, but it got struck by lightning. The sap is the only thing that can make it better."
Asta shrugged. "You're welcome to go look for sap at the roots, but you won't get too far. I doubt a sweet little girl like you would want to hurt her, but be careful you don't fall and hurt yourself."
"I promise," Sofie replied with a smile, heading up the path.
The roots barred her way pretty quickly, but as she looked through them (there was no sap on them, unfortunately) she realized that while they might prevent an adult from getting further on, they would do no such thing for a girl as slight as she was. Kilting her skirts up she scrambled over the first one, then painstakingly made her way up, dodging and climbing roots. She had the oddest feeling that the tree was amused by her antics, but she told herself that it was all in her head.
Finally, she was at the base. Considering how overgrown the rock was below her, the space around the trunk was strangely clear. The tree was even more gorgeous up close, and the ground was littered with blossoms and leaves so thickly her feet made no sound as she approached the trunk, placing a shaking hand against the smooth bark and closing her eyes. The same rushing feeling she had gotten from the Gildergreen pulsed under her hand, only more so, feeling as if it traveled through her palm right up into her head and down through her toes into the earth again.
A sound much like bees in a hive made her turn. Sofie gasped, pressing her back flat against the tree as a woman made of wood gazed down at her, purple light filtering through the cracks in the gnarled wood that made her body. Her eyes regarded the girl steadily as she tilted her antlered head to the side. A second stood behind her, glowing from within with golden light, like that from a healing spell. Beyond them stood several more, all radiating the glow of sunlight through new spring leaves.
Spriggans.
Sofie gulped. "H-hello," she greeted them nervously. The ones in the back shied back like startled deer, but the front two continued to stare. "I…I'm Sofie. Please don't kill me. I don't want to hurt anything…" When nothing happened, she swallowed and continued, "I was hoping to find some sap from the Eldergleam to revive the Gildergreen. I don't know how to get it, though."
Still nothing, just the Spriggans turning slightly towards one another and a series of strange sounds mustering forth. Finally, the back Spriggans all faded back into the greenery, and the tall purple one came towards her. Sofie stiffened, unable to take her eyes off the creature as it reached forward, long fingers ending in splinter-sharp claws lightly brushing against her cheek, as if the Spriggan were examining her. This was altogether outside anything the poor girl had heard about. Ysmir had returned home time and again to complain about being attacked by a Spriggan for no other reason than walking too near its home. They were hostile, dangerous beings, and yet…
The Spriggan with purple light looked to the side. The other one had returned, hands cupped. Sofie stared at the pale, viscous sap in astonishment, then slowly reached into her basket and pulled out a jar, the kind normally reserved for when Uncle Inigo found a new insect pet, pulled the lid off and held it out to the Spriggan with trembling hands.
The sap flowed into the jar so perfectly that the Spriggan must have been able to manipulate its motion. Sofie sealed the jar securely with beeswax and the warmth from her hands, since she didn't think the Spriggans would like flame too much. "Thank you," she told them, smiling warmly. They regarded her the same way they had, and she wondered if they had facial expressions at all. Bobbing a curtsy, she put the jar in her basket and prepared to climb down.
The trip down was a lot worse than the trip up. For one thing, it was nearly dark, and for another, she was having a hard time not looking back up at the curious beings gazing down at her as she might at the antics of a particularly funny chipmunk. She'd wave once in a while, and once one of the green ones even waved back. Sofie giggled and decided that people were wrong about Spriggans being mean. Or perhaps the ones here were just particularly nice.
Asta greeted her at the base of the tree, looking as if she didn't fully approve climbing it. "Find what you needed?" she asked the girl.
Sofie beamed at her, taking her completely by surprise. "I met some Spriggans!" she announced. "Oh, they were nice," she added when she saw the alarm on the woman's face. Unslinging the basket from her back, she added, "They gave me some sap, and one waved to me!"
Mouth working silently, Asta stared at the little girl. "Where did you say you came from again?" she finally asked. "You mentioned the Gildergreen in Whiterun…are you an acolyte at the Temple there?"
Pursing her lips in puzzlement at the question, the little girl replied simply "No. I was staying at Jorrvaskr."
"So the priesthood didn't send you? This isn't a pilgrimage?" Asta persisted, trying desperately to make sense of all this. Of course, it was quite possible the child was lying, but somehow she didn't think so.
Sofie blinked. "What's a pilgrimage?" she asked curiously.
Rueful, disbelieving laughter was all the response the woman could manage for a few moments. "Here," she said, pulling something from her pocket. "Another pilgrim dropped this once. I think you should have it. Wear it always, and Kynareth will protect you. I'll get Sond to escort you back to the Temple, and I want you to go right up to the head priestess and tell her exactly what happened here." Dropping the Amulet of Kynareth around the girl's neck, she smiled at the child's slightly troubled expression.
Sofie fingered the Amulet doubtfully, looking back up at Asta. "I'm going to be in a lot of trouble when I get back," she admitted.
"Perhaps not as much as you think," the woman replied, when a commotion by the entrance caught their attention.
"This is a sacred place!" the man from earlier was yelling. "You cannot just come in here—no, stop! I won't let you!" A pained cry followed.
"Sond!" Asta cried, running.
Sofie watched in bewilderment as a troop of heavily armored individuals poured into the Sanctuary, spreading out like it was a military maneuver. The apparent leader was a large man who held up a parchment like a map, turning to get his bearings. As she watched, he pointed, "There."
To her horror, one of the others immediately moved forward with a shovel.
"Stop! What do you think you're doing?" Asta cried, grabbing the man's arm.
"We have business here, woman," the man said impatiently, shoving her away. "Let us get on with our jobs."
"What business could require desecrating this sacred space?" she persisted, darting in and ripping the parchment from his grasp. Turning, she grabbed a torch, holding it under the parchment. "Now leave, or your business will be—"
Sofie's hands came up to cover her mouth as the man coldly ran her through with a sword, kicking her off with a callousness that spoke of doing this several times before. She stood frozen as the man with the shovel stared at him in surprise. "Was that really necessary, Garrot?" he asked in disapproval. "They were just pilgrims."
"No one can know what we're doing here," he replied, unaffected. Stooping, he pulled the map from Asta's hand, frowning at the rip in it and wiping the blade clean on the dead woman's skirts.
"Are you going to kill their brat too?" a woman asked, voice dripping with dislike for the man as she pointed to Sofie. The men looked in surprise, having not noticed her at all. "Because if you even think that we'll let you get away with that, you'll be in for a real surprise, Garrot. We're here to protect people, not kill those who get in our way." She softened slightly, "I know you've been through a lot lately, but you can't forget our purpose, Garrot."
There was a long pause as the others watched this. Finally, Garrot turned away. "Bah," was all he said, though.
The woman came over and put a hand on Sofie's shoulder, bending to meet her eye-to-eye. "I'm sorry you had to see that," she said, real sympathy in her voice. "It should never have happened."
Sofie looked from the bodies to the man with the shovel. "Get out," she breathed, then yelled, "Get out!" as the man shoved the iron blade into the ground.
The effect was immediate. The cavern filled with the swarming of bees as Spriggans emerged from the trees and flora. The woman drew her sword and shoved Sofie behind her, where the girl fell over one of the lesser roots, wrapping her arms around the jar to protect it. The Spriggans ignored them, though, going after first the man with the shovel, then the rest of them.
"No!" Sofie cried, struggling to her feet. The woman gave her a startled glance and threw her arms around her, holding her back as she lunged for the scene, not entirely certain what she was trying to do other than stop the carnage.
A Breton pulled out a staff and started lobbing fireballs at the Spriggans, who screamed in their peculiar voices and fell back, healing themselves. Another man pulled a red-tinged greatsword from his back that left fire behind whenever it hit a nature spirit.
"No no no no no," Sofie sobbed, nearly chanted as she could do nothing but watch. Four of the six Spriggans lay dead in minutes, and all she could do was moan.
"It's a Matron!" another woman yelled, an Orc by her voice.
The golden Spriggan joined her sisters—or perhaps her daughters—enveloping the defilers in a green cloud of angry, poisoned wasps until she went up in a wall of flame, her anguished cries grating on human and mer ears alike.
A scuff from behind them made the woman holding her turn, lifting her off the ground as she swung around and gasped. "An Earth Mother," the woman breathed, sounding terrified as the purple Spriggan stepped menacingly away from the roots of the Eldergleam.
"Stop!" Sofie yelled at her. "You have to protect the tree!"
The woman looked down at her as if she was mad but the Earth Mother paused, her eyes locking on Sofie's.
Please, she thought at the Spriggan, Please don't fight. The Sanctuary is lost for now, just protect the tree. Don't die. I don't want to watch you die, too.
As the other warriors came running the Earth Mother examined them, then turned her gaze back to Sofie. Then she took a single step backwards and vanished back into the Eldergleam.
The woman dropped Sofie as if burned. "What did you do?" she asked, sounding as horrified as Sofie was.
"I told her to protect the tree," Sofie said softly, incredulously. "And she listened to me."
"Yeah, right," the leader scoffed, having arrived just in time to hear this last part. "What are you supposed to be, a priestess of Kynareth?"
"It really did listen to her, Garrot," the woman said, sounding frightened.
"Some reports say that Spriggans speak their own language," the Breton said, leaning on his fire staff. "Some of the scholars in High Rock spent years trying to learn it. Maybe those worshipers were among those that knew how to speak it, and taught her."
Garrot rolled his eyes. "Frankly, I don't care as long as no more Spriggans come out of the woodwork. Now Fjotli, take that brat back to camp. Someone can drop her ass at the Orphanage when we're done here. For now, we have some dragon bones to unearth!"
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I hope everyone has been having a good week. Well, I meant to post this much earlier, but I got an urgent call from work while at the grocery store asking me to come in IMMEDIATELY, so that's where I've been. In other news, my chins are nuts as ever. One of them is now addicted to green apples, and will follow me like a duckling if I'm eating one, and the other keeps getting out. I just watched her jump over the barrier to the wash room for the second time tonight, and they have't even been out twenty minutes yet. Yesterday I looked up to see her gingerly making her way over the pile of soaking pots in the sink (and I still don't know how she got up on the counter) and had to catch her and rub her down. She is strenuously avoiding me now. I've decided to name them Stardust (Dust) and Troublemaker (Trouble), because that's how their personalities are steering me.
I have a serious question to pose to you all, and if you could answer me in reviews or by PM, that'd be great...If I self-published one of my original works, would you guys at least check it out?
Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed!
LightningMoziak: Not getting enough Miraak/LDB stories is what actually got me thinking of writing a fanfic. Actually, that's what got me writing in general-there weren't enough of the kinds of stories I wanted to read, so I started writing them. Thanks for the support!
Wynni: Remind me to never get on your bad side...er...unless I did with this chapter where Sofie had a hard time. 0_o ... Oooh, I have Irish in me too...maybe I have some Viking? :D Unfortunately, Cicero was more of a cameo, like Talsgar or Erik were. If I continue the series past the end, he'll appear more, but most likely we won't see him again in this tale.
Vergil1989: Speaking of finding her children alive and well... Lol. I like Cicero too, and I'm glad I had a chance to have him say hello, even if he didn't get to kill anyone.
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Next chapter: Miraak learns some distressing news...
