Nesting Instinct, p.1
The site of the former wayshrine at Mistwatch was near restoration. Mage-Lord Baladas had determined that the power supplying the original shrine was merely scattered, not destroyed, and had thought the site restoration a worthy enough project to fund along with the rebuilding and remodeling of the ruined fort into a home and town center.
"So, you aren't traveling to Bruma," Ulfric concluded.
"No. I've removed it from consideration on the advice of Elder Councilor Marcia Tullia," said Revyn. "The ancient wayshrine was not well tended since it ceased functioning during the Oblivion Crisis. And since the Great War, a large bandit group has infested the wilderness between Bruma and the Imperial City, a group big enough to recruit mages. The Bruma guards and these robbers had a battle that destroyed the shrine site. The shrine may have been compromised anyway because of another large group of necromancers also infesting the area that had been using the shrine for profane rituals. Lady Marcia also tells me the Bruma chapter of the Synod is quite useless. It's more a political group than anything else. And my apprentice, Olaf, tells me the disarray in the top leadership of the Fighter Guild — conflicts with Thalmor politics and Concordat restrictions — is hamstringing the Guild's ability to fulfill contracts. This has allowed the bandit groups to prosper to a degree that military action is required, but Bruma lacks the funds and manpower."
"What one would expect of a rotting empire," said Galmar.
Revyn dared frown at Galmar. "In my opinion, my lord, such an attitude makes light of their political realities and will not help us to maintain relations with Bruma. I remind you that Bruma is largely a Nord city within the Empire. In terms of trade, Bruma is to Skyrim what Cheydinhal is to Morrowind.
"I am also of a mind to remind you of my wife's voluntary freelancing over the past years that kept down the number of bandits in Eastmarch and the Rift. This allowed you to pour funds and manpower into your troops fighting the Legion and the Empire-loyal Holds instead of ridding your own house of these vermin. What few bounties she collected from Jorlief, frankly, were inadequate. She needed me to handle the loot she took from them to make any profit from all the danger she faced." Galmar opened his mouth to argue but Ulfric tapped on the table and shook his head.
Ulfric nodded, pleased. "Good. My agents in Bruma tell me the Thalmor continue to pressure the local ruler for more influence and posting at Imperial fort guarding the pass. I did not like the idea of you leaving Skyrim."
"The Dominion would make your capture even more important than taking that dark elf from Winterhold," said Galmar. He was still fuming that a Dominion ship dared sail into Windhelm waters to snatch someone, even if that someone was just a dark elf who played around with useless old Dwemer relics.
He leaned forward across the table to scowl at the mer. "You're not a damn shopkeep or a merchant anymore. You can't just go wandering about the land on your own on a frivolous whim," he growled.
"Yes, my lord, so I am learning," Revyn snapped back, frowning. "However, confining me to Windhelm severely limits my usefulness to his majesty. And I do not travel frivolously; I have many ventures and responsibilities around Skyrim. As for the perils of travel, I was born to a trade caravan and spent most of my childhood journeying throughout the ashlands of Vvardenfell. When I came to Skyrim, I was a lone peddler and traveled many times between Windhelm to Solitude before I opened a shop. I am not a great warrior, but I am not totally hopeless in combat."
"Very true," Ulfric agreed, smiling humorlessly. "Poisoned weapons, conjurations, the luck of the Daedra to prosper in chaos. He's also going to be a father, Galmar, so I'm sure he's not going to take any foolish, unnecessary risks. By the way, how is your charming wife?"
"Ah, not in the best of tempers, majesty. And so bored since her kinfolk took away her weapons and armor. She is not used to such enforced idleness." At that, Ulfric barked a soft laugh and took a long drink from his tankard of ale.
"Yes, Lady Inelisi says her daughter and granddaughter are of the same temperament. She likens them to kagouti — ill-tempered creatures and the females merely lay the eggs and leave it to the males to defend the nest and guard the young while the females do the hunting. So, despite the ventures and responsibilities you claim outside Eastmarch, I do foresee you curtailing your traveling when you have a babe to look after. She assures me you are not one to be satisfied to leave your child solely in the care of others. Or has the lady misjudged your character?"
Revyn grimaced. "The honored lady is correct — which is why I'm trying to travel before the babe comes. Instead of Bruma I am going to Mistwatch in the Rift. Lord Baladas has rebuilt the Mistwatch shrine. He informs me that, with the help of Winterhold, he thinks he has restored the power. The next step is to attempt to attune the power using the stone I recovered from the hidden Ebonheart shrine."
"More magic we don't need," grumbled Galmar. "So, if you get the Mistwatch shrine working, you won't need Candlehearth then. Good. We don't need a magic gate in our city." Galmar turned to Ulfric. "We don't need a gate, especially not to rescue high elves.
"I understand you want to rescue your kin," Galmar gruffly said to Revyn, "but I am more concerned with Windhelm's safety. Even if you do succeed in buying Candlehearth and tear down the largest, most prominent inn we have to make a gate, will you destroy the gate after it's served its purpose?"
"If our king demands it, the outer structure can be destroyed again. But only the total destruction of Windhelm, from the mountains to the sea, will alter the course of that river of power," said Revyn. "It has flowed from this area since the creation of the world."
X—X—X—X—X—X—X
The last bandit group that held Mistwatch had been notorious for kidnapping people and holding them for ransom. Then his wife came after them after having encountered one of their escaped victims. The place stayed empty until Mage Lord Baladas immigrated from Morrowind and bought the land from the Jarl. Inevitably, a town arose around the castle. A further sales agreement with Jarl Ulfric put a small garrison of Stormcloaks to keep order in the area and to make sure the giants and their mammoths were not unnecessarily killed or harassed.
At present, the small town was overflowing with Morrowind refugees. The large group of were commoners of House Sadri, laborers and farmers who couldn't afford to resettle in Cheydinhal and who heard rumors that a Sadri merchant in Skyrim offered opportunities and was amassing wealth to become a kinlord. Revyn had been approached months ago by representatives seeking new leadership and protection.
And if he wanted to start a new House in Skyrim that included Skyrim-born Dunmer and non-mer, that was fine with most of them if it meant a protected new home.
He had to deal with this. From mad, speculative conversations with his wife's Felix Family to reality. He had no clue what the House motto would be, what traits this House was to promote. His personal values were still based on the core values of Hlaalu, that of shared wealth and mutual prosperity. Felix's values were similar with additional emphasis on knowledge through practical skills as their faith was primarily in Zenithar.
A mass conversion was impractical. Start proper and start small with core families of shared philosophies and faith and passion. He was a small businessman at heart.
So, what would make House Mora different than House Hlaalu? What significant, defining character? Productive value?
He really needed to talk this over with the Felixes, the Nerevarine, and members of the extended Felix family who showed interest. He should include the Jergenson twins, the Victor Family …
"Hold this." A long, heavy scroll slammed into his midsection. Revyn coughed reflexively, his arms wrapping around his body and, incidentally, the scroll.
"Vehk carved the stone, Ayem defined its purpose, and Seht bound its power. When the Three worked together, such things they could achieve. With this stone, you wouldn't need an army of mages to set up a permanent gate. Even you could set a gate as long as the conditions were right." He swept his arm around. The former ruined platform in the shallow pond had been refurbished and new stones fitted to level the platform. The sides and roof were in Dunmer style and a mix of bonemold struts and cement walls.
The structure had been designed by Baladas to contain and reflect radiant energies emitted by the newly unblocked ground source.
"Ah, but I suppose I can wait until Taliesin drags his sorry hide over here," grumbled Baladas, as he lifted the gate stone from the shrine's bowl and pedestal and replaced it in the chest Revyn kept it in. "How long does it take to kill a dragon?"
"I have no idea really," said Revyn. "My wife did say she'd often had to camp for days to wait for a Dragon to show up. And then this area is very popular with Dragons, so perhaps he and Severus are chasing after more than one Dragon."
"Annoying delays," grumbled Baladas. "But, I suppose, the world can only benefit from two Dragonborns. Your wife may be the Last Dragonborn of Nord prophecy, but having the Nerevarine as backup is a nice precaution. Not that I anticipate Helsette failing," he quickly added, throwing Revyn a glance over his shoulder. "But I expect other Dragons won't be content sitting on their perches while Helsette and Alduin battle for supremacy. There's always an over-ambitious worm in the ranks or carrion birds hoping to feast. Dominion carrion birds especially.
"How much time do you have again before you have to return to Windhelm? I'll do a scrying to locate those two and send a local after them. It will take maybe two days to teach Taliesin a quick and dirty version of the skills you want him to learn. Mastery, of course, would take longer, but we seem to be running short of time these days. So many things happening."
"Tell me about it." Revyn sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck as he stared down resentfully at the black stone he'd received too many months ago at a forgotten Ebonheart base Delphine the Blade had drugged and dragged him off to. "I have to leave in seven days. This blasted coronation is finally going to take place and Jarls Elisif, Balgruuf, and Idgrod are scheduled to arrive. And since my wife is a thane in each of their holds, and she's in no condition to attend, I must be in Windhelm to greet them. I'd rather travel to Winterhold with you to see the awakened Dwemer and Falmer."
"Hmph. Since your plan to move them to the hidden Falmer Vale hinges on the Felix ship, and the Felix are attending this coronation along with you, we'll be waiting in Winterhold. Take your time.
"Besides, I've come to share Curtis's concern about their mental state. After having been stuck on a magical ship the past thousands of years, they likely won't be eager to board another ship even for the two weeks it would take to get the Vale. Then learning the fate of their people … Those Altmer priests will have a challenge.
"Perhaps if we can get this portal working, a good test destination would be to the Falmer Vale. Faster and safer to run them from Winterhold to here than running a gauntlet through the Dominion Navy."
Revyn considered the idea, trying to compare his travel through the Falmer shrines against the dim, long-ago memories of the three business trips his father let him come on to the mainland via the Mage Guild teleportation service. One easy and clear difference was that the Falmer used visual panels through which one could see the destination before stepping through. The Falmer shrine attendants were there to make sure the shrine's power was optimal, but they had nothing more to do once the user stepped into the shrine and selected the destination. "Perhaps. But do you know enough about the Falmer gate magic that you believe the two can connect safely?"
"No, I don't yet," Baladas admitted with a frown. "Gelebor has told me what he knows, and from his words I have deduced several ideas of how they put their gate together."
Revyn sighed and shook his head. "Not enough to guarantee delivery, unfortunate, so a ship is still the plan. At least we now have Master Curtis's invention of a mechanical invisibility shield that he has further designed to block life-detection spells."
"I do hope he keeps that secret locked down. The military implications of that would be catastrophic," said Baladas.
"Hm, yes, so he has also stated. He calls it the 'Romulan Bird-of-Prey cloaking device,' so named after some military legend of his other-world life that called their ships birds-of-prey. It's not unlike the army tactic Tiber Septim used against Vivec where he marched his entire army underwater to avoid detection."
"Creating an invisibility shield was not among Curtis's projects. I take it this was inspired by his recent capture by the Dominion?"
"Absolutely. And he was also motivated to recover some techniques of Dwemer tonal magic."
Baladas's expression lit up with hungry interest. "So, that nonsense I was hearing about him being a reincarnation of a Dwemer magecrafter and engineer has merit then."
X—X—X—X—X—X—X
"Got two dragons," boasted Taliesin.
"With all the mammoths in this region, I can see why this is a popular hunting ground for Dragons," said Severus.
"The area around the Eldergleam cave, does anyone own that or is that technically crown land?" asked Taliesin. "I think I want to build a small home near that cave. It's nice. Peaceful."
"I can check," said Revyn. "But I believe it's outside the town limits of Kynesgrove and thus crown land and sacred land. If so, you wouldn't be able to purchase land, hm, but a forest warden would be permitted to have a home base from which to carry out his duties.
"I've been discussing such positions lately with Jorlief and General Galmar. With all growing population — not just Stormcloak Nords coming home but so many other races fleeing Thalmor — uncontrolled settlement and destruction of forests for farms and logging for building and over-hunting is a long-term danger. Already, hunting and harvesting has decimated many wild herds and taking too many prime trees, leaving dead and diseased timber behind.
"And the Eldergleam cave is special," Revyn said, thinking of all the tales his wife had told him of similar spriggan protected caves, "not only for the semi-sentient tree, but because it is a power focal point. It cleanses the energies. Defile its peace, then the spriggans will emerge and destroy the defilers. They will go away after a time — weeks, years, decades — as long as it takes for the sanctuary to heal.
"Kill the spriggans and the Eldergleam dies. It just becomes another barren cave."
"Check for me, will you? I think I would be really interested in the job," said Taliesin. "I've lost my taste for spy work and wild adventuring." More softly he added, "And I don't want to lose any more of my children's young years."
Revyn's lips quirked up in a smile. "Of course. I fully understand. I'll see what I can do to — Ah, Baladas is here," Revyn said as he saw the Telvanni literally appearing out of nowhere, returning from his morning teaching session with Helsette at Goldenglow Estate.
"About time," the mage lord groused at Taliesin. "Shake your wits awake and refrain from giving me as many arguments as your sister does. I'm all out of patience. Interested in refreshing your skills, Nerevarine? Then come along." To Revyn he said, "And you, my lord, I'll send for you when we're ready. Don't stray too far, and let my steward know where you can be found.
"And here," he tossed a tightly wound scroll to Revyn. "A note from your wife."
Ah, a listing of her frustrations, complaints that he wasn't there to rub her back or her feet. She also gleefully told him she'd mastered the mark-and-recall spell and had successfully made short jumps between Goldenglow and the nearby Fort Wolfden (formerly Faldar's Tooth). She now wanted to return to Windhelm and set a teleport point she could recall to in the future.
Also, a carrier pigeon had arrived early that morning from the Indorils at Ivarstead to tell her that Gilavin's father and others had just crossed into the Rift through Stonefalls and was heading to Windhelm. She wanted to meet them and had sent the pigeon back to have the Indorils relay to the Sadras party to stop at Goldenglow so that she could travel with them. If Revyn would delay his return to Windhelm for two days, he could then meet up with them on the road to Windhelm. Wouldn't that be nice?
Oh, an Opportunity. Now, what could he make of it? He paid a servant to deliver a request to Jarl Ulfric for extra time.
Well, it didn't turn out to be much an opportunity for him. Rather, it was Severus's opportunity to make the acquaintance of the Sadras. They had not been a tribe he'd courted during his days to win over the Velothi because they were not strong believers in the Nerevarine Cult and would not have advanced his agenda to become hortator of their tribe. And for that reason he didn't introduce himself as the Nerevarine. It was likely Dareano was well aware who Severus was.
Revyn was content to ride with Helsette in the wagon being pulled by regular horses. The Sadras had once again ridden in on guars that had warmth spelled collars to compensate for the snow in Eastmarch. Kinlord Dareano had brought a trio as gifts — a riding guar for Revyn, a hulking battle-trained guar for Helsette, and a cute mini-guar for a housepet and companion for the baby.
The second wagon was loaded with chests and carried Remarasi, Taliesin's and Helsette's former wet nurse and steward of the Felix Family. She, her husband Danvil, and her son Torben — Helsette's "breast-brother" — were transferring to Revyn's household service from Inelisi's. Remarasi would become the household manager and her husband would take over managing the apprentices' house and keeping track of the apprentices and their schedules. Their son would live at the apprentices' house and continue his studies of Skyrim and Morrowind laws.
"I know they'll be a great help to you," said Helsette. "I'm really not housewife material. I'll stay for the first month after the babe is born, but then I need to get back to work. Remarasi will find a suitable wet nurse for our child." She said it casually, but Revyn could see she was upset.
"I see I'll have to expand my house again," he chattered. "And as soon as this coronation is over and people leave, I'll have to buy a second building for a new office. We've actually gotten more work with Dunmer leaving and Nords reclaiming the Gray Quarter."
"Mm-hmm. Which is why I asked Remarasi and her family to transfer to our household. They knew how our family works, their loyalty is beyond question. And Torben was more my brother than Taliesin when I was younger." Her expression abruptly crumbled and tears leaked from her eyes. "I'm a terrible wife, Revyn! I know I don't take care of you half as much as you do me. I'm so bad I have to ask my old nursemaid to come take care of you and make sure you don't work yourself to death! And I swore I'd be a better mother, but I can't ignore the world. There's too much to do. It's not fair to my child, but I can't — I can't ignore all the responsibilities I've accepted."
Revyn hugged her tight, bewildered and frightened at this bizarre outburst. A quick glance around. Torbin was concentrating on driving. Cousin Flora and her maid seemed to find their embroidery challenging by the way they stared intently at their hoops. His bodyguards and other Sadras riders and widened their circle around the wagon, not out of hearing distance, but enough to give an illusion of privacy.
The only other ones reacting with agitation were the horses and guars. They were not ignoring the potential danger in their midst. Even Revyn could feel an uncomfortable stirring of Red Mountain level disaster in her wailing.
"Yes, you're a terrible wife," he heard himself saying. "Worrying about you works me harder than Ulfric or the new town or any of the other projects. When we get home, I expect you to behave yourself and learn how to sew baby clothes. If you can craft armor, I think you can manage a babe's dress. If you have to wander away after he or she is born, at least it will have the clothes you made and maybe even the toy you made to cuddle."
She gaped at him, then began laughing. He hugged her tight and kissed her, tasting her tears, swallowing her laughter.
"As I told you long ago, I knew the conditions of our contract. I knew I was marrying an Armiger. I knew there would be long, lonely nights and days I wanted to leave Windhelm to go to you if only I knew where you were. But I also knew if I held my ground one more day, just one more day, and you would come back. You're here now. That's all I've ever asked." He slid off the wagon bench and plopped down on the wagon floor, sitting cross-legged. He pulled off his cloak and held his arms to her.
"It's been a long morning. You must be tired. I know I am. Come here." When she settled on his lap he draped his cloak over them, a layer of shadow and privacy. He held her tight. She squirmed constantly, her gravid body refusing to find a comfortable position, but it eventually did. They whispered and laughed until they drifted off to sleep.
78_v2 rev.03.30.21
Related chapter(s): #21 Twisting the Blade, #49 Show Me the Wayshrine, #55 Assassins, #75 Briarpatch
Related 2nd Life chapter(s): #27 Severus, #28-29 Partial Recall