Storied Waking
Morning dawned pale and clear; and far too early for a number of people, Ravenlight among them. She heard the roosters in the farms outside and a few pens in the city happily hailing the dawn and groaned, turning over and covering her head with the pillow. But she remembered that she had said she'd get up once morning came; so after a few minutes of talking herself into it, she rose and dressed, heading out of Jorrvaskr and first to the Bannered Mare.
Most of Whiterun, it seemed, still seemed pretty excited over the previous day's events. As if having a dragon captured inside Dragonsreach and the Stormcloaks storm the city wasn't exciting enough...
Admittedly, losing part of a structure that had stood up to the weight of a dragon was...sobering. But nobody had been killed when it went down, at least; and the fight with the demon, while no doubt terrifying for those who'd been in the Hall, was making the rounds as a spanking good story, and growing a little in the telling each time.
Stories were still, she noticed with mild irritation, divided on whether or not Gyrmallion had survived killing the demon: but at least they all credited him with the deed. And most of them cheerfully ignored Delphine's presence entirely, claiming that it was the Altmer who'd rescued their Dragonborn as well as killing the thing.
A curious tale reached her ears though. A very familiar one. Of how an Altmer, this very Altmer, had gone to Chorrol in Cyrodiil and paid a massive tribute to the Great Oak there. How the entire city was moved by him!
Anoriath was telling that one, which made sense, because a Bosmer would be more moved by the idea of an Altmer paying respect to a storied tree somewhere in Cyrodiil than most of the Nords; still, folk were listening. Though most of them were skeptical about how he could have gone from Cyrodiil to Whiterun in the few days needed for him to end up fighting a demon in Whiterun.
Ravenlight paused as she heard that one, one eyebrow rising. There was only one way she knew of for a rumor from Chorrol in Cyrodil to have reached the marketplace in Skyrim: and that was if a certain eyewitness had been telling folk. As well as a certain ring making sure the story stuck and felt true.
Well, she thought, at least this means they didn't leave the city last night. She entered the Bannered Mare.
Drizzt and Cattie-Brie, she was glad to see, were both already up. The reason for their early rising was sitting on her father's knee and babbling happily, big violet-blue eyes captivating nearly every passerby.
"Morning, sunshine." A familiar voice off to her right said.
She turned to see who had spoken to her. Nevano grinned at her, somehow not looking too worse for wear after last night. "Might see if Drelasa has any hackle-lo for you."
"She'll want it for herself first. Don't run off this time, either of you. She's figured out what you did to get those twilights to come." She sat down near Drizzt and Cattie-Brie; her brother glanced up from Brie-Zara and smiled at her. "And you don't want me to track you two down with Guenhwyvar."
Cattie-Brie giggled.
"Oh, I know I'm quite possibly going to have my skin peeled off slowly and painfully but I'm hoping she's too tired after last night that 'Lasa will settle for glaring me into a pile of ash." Nevano said casually. "And no. Didn't go far. After all that, I couldn't. Plus, big day today. Unfortunately."
"True. You've knocked at least one item off my list." Ravenlight went to the counter to order breakfast, adding a request for the strongest morning drink they had. "Just trying to figure out which of the next twelve to deal with first."
"I probably knocked off two." Nevano said.
"What would be the second?" Drizzt asked.
"Convincing a certain couple to at least keep half their clothing on." Nevano said.
"Good. I was wondering how we were going to manage that." Ravenlight sat down. "Dare I ask how you accomplished that?"
"I won't go into detail but I told them it doesn't matter which half of their clothing stays on and get creative." Nevano said. "They were pleased with the compromise. How pleased we'll find out when we see them later because I also told them if they don't come up for air during the day, then I'll get creative in ways to get them up. The furry cows outside the city really caught my attention. They should be out and about within an hour or so."
"If it keeps Vilkas out of cat form, I think we'll all be happy." Ysolda arrived with a steaming plate, and an equally large steaming cup, and placed both in front of Ravenlight, who looked up at her and smiled. "Thank you."
"Until one of them remembers it was a bluff." Nevano said. "Cows don't go down stairs."
"Not normally, anyway," Ravenlight said. "You've seen the pens up in the Cloud District, right? Gotta be some way to get them up there."
"Gradual stairs, yes. Ramps, hills, hell they'll even jump off cliffs because that makes so much more sense." Nevano smiled as Serana finally joined them. "There you are. But regular stairs? Nope. By the way, minotaur won't go down regular stairs either. Found that out by happy accident. Still hurt though."
"Might be a useful thing to know while we're heading across Cyrodiil," Ravenlight mused, smiling at Serana before digging into her breakfast.
"I don't recommend being thrown through cellar doors down said flight of steps though." Nevano stood up. "We're going to go see if Veleth is up then check on Drelasa and Gyrmallion...and test if I survive that or not."
"It'll be interesting to see how much of last night he remembers when he finally does wake up," Ravenlight said, before turning to Drizzt and Cattie-Brie. "I showed Nevano and Serana what happened to the Great Porch, and Nevano realized that Nerevar knew what that strange daedra we fought down on Glimmosven was. They started arguing over whether or not Nerevar was going to say anything more about what he knew...and somehow, I do not know how, Gyrmallion managed to drag himself out of bed and up to the porch to ask Nerevar if he would please explain. And I strongly suspect he was sleepwalking, doing it."
"He likes the sodding bastard, for some reason." Nevano said as they headed out.
"Which one is which?" Ravenlight muttered.
Dragonsreach was considerably less crowded that morning, as most of the leaders of the various armies had gone back to their own encampments. Drelasa stretched as sunlight started to filter into the room, very stiff from being in the chair all night long. Gyrmallion was still sleeping peacefully, as he had once Nerevar had finally talked to his satisfaction. How he managed to sleepwalk through her sleeping draught remained a mystery. The warm light revealed that his skin, which had paled to a sickly ashen white after the effects of the demon's poison, was again his normal, healthy gold.
"Much better." She said, smiling.
He stirred slightly, one hand briefly closing, but didn't open his eyes.
"Easy you. Everything is fine. Rest calm."
He stilled again, his face lightening a little; and it was only then she realized there'd been a slight frown there before.
"You...are every bit as bad as Drizzt. Poisoned, burned, vomiting your guts out...still going to fret." Drelasa shook her head. "That draught should wear off soon and you can wake up then but in the meantime, everything and everyone is fine."
He definitely relaxed at that. And...she wasn't sure, but it looked like there was a little smile on his face at her words.
She stroked his forehead and stood, stretching her back out.
"You look exhausted." Elealda appeared in the doorway. "Get some rest; I'll keep watch over him for the time being."
"Just stiff and hungry." She smiled and looked over to check on Zak.
He looked...odd. As though he were asleep and awake at the same time. But as he felt her gaze stay on him, his eyes focused, and he looked over at her.
She nodded her head at the door. "Let's find breakfast."
He glanced over at Gyrmallion and Elealda and stood, grunting a little as he did; the chair, apparently not being the most comfortable thing to sit in for most of, if not all, the night. She waited, very much in sympathy. Sitting throughout the night was more tiring than staying awake would be, not to mention far more painful. He stretched, apparently more or less used to this, and followed her out into the main portion of the Hall.
Most of the space at the long tables was occupied and, seeing the aversion in Zak's eyes, Drelasa decided to instead head into Whiterun. Might be easier on him that way.
It was better than the crowd in the Hall. By this hour, the merchants had headed out to their shops, but it was still too early for most people to be up and about, though the sounds from Jorrvaskr suggested that at least a few of the Companions were already working off their breakfast by training. She raised an eyebrow when she caught two familiar shapes. Whoever had gotten Nevusa and Farkas out certainly had done a good job. No singe marks, no blood, no whining...and no cats. Interesting. Zak paused, torn between the smells wafting out of the Bannered Mare and the sound of the warriors training.
Drelasa nearly laughed. "At least get three bites in you before you show them all up. I'm sure they will be at it for a while. Long enough for you to stuff a piece of bread down your throat."
"All right." He gave the mead hall a last, lingering glance before following her down to the Bannered Mare.
Drelasa was very pleased to see Ravenlight, Drizzt and Cattie-brie there still there and went over, bringing Zak, determined to at least get something filling in his belly before he couldn't hold back the urge to go spar any longer.
Ravenlight smiled at her. She still looked tired, but not quite as haggard as she had when she'd got up that morning. "Hey. Elealda found you, then?" She nodded to Zak as he sat down, nearer to Drizzt than the rest of them.
"She did. Something tells me she wants to be there when he wakes up to tear him a new one." Drelasa smiled and ordered something to eat. "Won't be long. He looks far better."
Ravenlight laughed. "Probably. And something tells me it won't be the first time for either of them." She took a pull at her drink. "Sounds like we could be ready to move on again as soon as tomorrow, then. Hopefully I'll have everyone else mobilized by then, before we figure out how we're going to get everybody down to the Imperial City."
"Our numbers keep growing as we continue on." Drelasa smiled. "To the point where I think it might be too many cats for Nevusa to handle. Nor am I willing to allow her to exercise that power."
"She's getting Vilkas good and mad over it," Ravenlight said. "It's really only a matter of time before she discovers how that sort of thing could really backfire on her." She paused. "I'm wondering how else we could travel and fast. Dragonback is good, but we can only fit so many people on each dragon...and some of us aren't all that happy about traveling that way to start with."
"She's young. She'll survive the backfire. And I'm of the mindset that one must suffer through and learn from mistakes. I'll step in if it verges on disaster but she won't learn otherwise." Drelasa smiled when food came and passed quite a bit to Zak. "As to travel...there is a way. It's an old magic, part of the school of mysticism which I am not very adept in, but...hmm..."
"Like the Psijics? I'm not overly familiar with them, but we did meet them during that incident with the Eye of Magnus."
"Not quite. Mysticism is a school that deals with spells such as detection, soul trap, telekinesis and teleportation." Drelasa said. "Since the schools of magic have fallen to shreds, the classification of spells have been all reorganized and some spells no longer taught. No idea why though I suspect pride over practicality. However, on Vvardenfell, we had spells to get us out of trouble quickly. They would teleport us to the closest temple or Imperial cult shrine. Almsivi intervention and divine intervention, it was called. Though those shrines are long since gone, I'm wondering if it would work to the nearest Imperial temple. That would be Bruma, I believe? At least get us over the mountains."
"Hm. It could...and Bruma would be far closer to the Imperial City than we are now. Certainly make it easier for the younger members of our group." Ravenlight considered. "We don't need to take everyone. The Companions-most of them, anyway-can go with the main body of the army...though the Chii Chare should probably stay with us for the time being. But with Bal targeting the children, they have to stay with us, and that...could make matters a little more difficult. I'll probably buy horses in Bruma."
"I'll see if I can figure the spell. Or if Nevano still has an amulet."
"The mages from the College of Winterhold are still here," Ravenlight said. "I'm sure they'd be happy to try to help you figure it out." She paused. "Insist they test anything they're not sure of some distance away from Whiterun, however. They're a little less overeager now, but...well, I've got more than a few stories about what the younger ones have pulled off."
"I will remember to do so, darling." Drelasa looked over at Zak. "Do try to sit still long enough to eat all that."
Drizzt looked briefly puzzled, but Ravenlight laughed. "Let me guess: the Companions are out training."
"Oh yes." Drelasa smiled.
Drizzt's eyes lit up, and Cattie-Brie laughed. "You wait for a little while, too. Think he'll wait if you take off now?"
Drelasa rolled her eyes and handed both Ravenlight and Zak a few hackle-lo leaves. "These will chase off the last of the fatigue from last night." She explained to Zak's suspicious look. "They taste like mint and do you really think I'd hand you poison when I just handed the same thing to Ravenlight?"
"Paranoia's not a bad thing where he's from," Ravenlight commented. "Here, however, it's not needed. Thanks, Drelasa."
"Figured we'd need it."
"After last night? Yes." She popped the leaves into her mouth and started chewing. "If I'd had a straight shot to it, I'd have probably tried to shoot the Battleborn's rooster. Stupid bird sounded like it was right under the window, and it was loud."
Drelasa snickered. "The one time I ever heard Jorun explode into a cussing rant was when he finally staggered home after six weeks hunting ash vampires, fell into bed, got maybe half an hour of sleep and the silt strider started calling. They make these loud, high pitched moaning noises that's a cross between a wolf howling and a rooster crowing. He was less than pleased."
"I've actually heard them before. There's one left on Solthsteim...yes, that would be a most unpleasant thing to wake up to." She suddenly burst into laughter. "Oh, gods; while I was wandering, I briefly detoured into Black Marsh. It was...well, I'm sure Veleth can sympathize. I ended up climbing a tree for some semblance of safety and curled up in a fork of a branch to sleep. A little before sunrise, this ungodly noise like...I don't know how to describe it, like someone banging on pipes of metal and swinging a rusty gate, broke out. Nearly scared me out of the tree." She held up her hand, fingers a few inches apart. "Little bird, maybe this big. I've never heard anything that small make that much noise before, and yes, that's counting my baby sister!"
"Loudest noise I can think of..." Drelasa thought for a moment. "Find a rat and we can have a live demonstration."
Ravenlight snorted with laughter. "He certainly holds the record for the highest-pitched. While we were heading to the Card'vel, Odahviing spotted a fish below and forgot he had passengers. I found it fun. Nevano...didn't."
"He is too easy to get to sometimes." Drelasa laughed.
"I think I sympathize," Zak muttered.
Drelasa tried hard not to giggle too much.
"Kaelen didn't appear to enjoy riding dragonback all that much, either."
"I don't think Dreyla noticed the ride so much...not with Dusty screaming in her ear the whole time." Drelasa said. "He wanted to crawl around the whole time."
"Yes, he did. Worse than Nevusa. I don't know if she'll be the same…" Ravenlight nodded toward Brie-Zara, "but if we can manage to avoid finding out, I think we'll be happy all around."
"Yes." Drelasa shook her head.
Ravenlight blinked. "Wow, those leaves really do give a boost. Okay, I'm going to go talk to the various armies, see if I can't get them into some semblance of order and send them out. Once I've got most of them on the move, I'll come back and see how everyone else is doing."
Drelasa nodded. "That they do. When I finish here, I'm going to hunt Nevano and get him to take the Ethos Knife to the mages. See if we can't copy it. Then tell him to carry it." Drelasa said. "We might be seeing more demons soon."
"Most likely. And any way we can counter that is a good thing." Ravenlight sighed. "I'll go see if I can't hash out some way to get peace between the other forces and the Dawnguard, particularly concerning the trolls and the automatons: because something tells me that's going to be the trickiest part."
"I...just had a horrible realization." Drelasa said. "Where are the twins?"
Ravenlight froze. "They were here last night..."
"Oh no..."
"Should I call Guen to find them?" Drizzt asked, mildly alarmed.
"No. I think I know where they are."
"I'm praying you're going to say 'training with the Companions' and not 'looking at the trolls'."
"Oh, they are absolutely with the trolls." Drelasa sighed.
Ravenlight heaved a sigh. "They're well-behaved, for trolls, but I think I'd better get down there before one of those two does something really stupid and loses an arm. I'll see the rest of you later."
"Or the trolls will love them, since they are little trolls themselves." Drelasa rolled her eyes.
"Maybe Gunmar can train them," Ravenlight muttered as she left the inn.
The twins were indeed by the trolls. Though, to Ravenlight's absolute astonishment, they weren't causing trouble or in it. They were enthralled with the trolls, hanging on to every word Gunmar said. He appeared pleased himself, it wasn't often he had this interested an audience.
Though...Ravenlight was starting to wonder if the interest the trouble-making pair was showing in just how Gunmar had trained and tamed the trolls was a bad sign. Too much interest would not be a good thing. Especially around Blacklight. For now, though, they were out of trouble and happily distracted.
She nodded and was turning to head over toward the mages when she heard her voice called in a high, clear voice, and quickly turned to see Hawk, the young Blade, running toward her. "Ravenlight, there you are. Oh wow." She stopped, breathing hard. "Um...you remember how Delphine was talking about those other Thalmor? And you were saying you wanted to find them?"
"Yes, why?" She straightened, suddenly alarmed.
"They're here!"
The twins heard that and immediately went over.
"Here?" Ravenlight stared. "As in..."
"They found us! And surrendered! And-and they're asking to talk to you, and Gyrmallion!"
The twins looked at each other and grinned.
"Hey, it's working!" Left twin said.
"He'll have his own army before too long." Right twin said.
"It...is." Ravenlight blinked. "Both of you, go tell Drelasa about this, now...and Hawk, why don't you take me over there. Don't know if Gyrmallion's awake yet...but I can talk with them in the meantime."
The twins took off at a run.
Ravenlight followed Hawk around the curve of the mountain, heading to the northern slope where the Blades and Forsworn had camped. The development was obvious even at a distance: ten or twelve gold-armored figures kneeling in the middle of a large, uncertain ring. She approached slowly, realizing to her annoyance that she was currently only wearing leather armor, and silently decided to get used to wearing her dragon armor most of the time, until this was finished.
Fortunately, the reaction of the Blades and the Forsworn to her appearance made up for any lack of armor. "Dragonborn, you're here." Delphine turned to her gratefully. "They...showed up about half an hour ago."
She nodded and strode toward them. "If you've been in Skyrim long enough, you'll know me as Ravenlight Dovahkiin. I don't have to tell you this is a fairly...unexpected move on your part. May I ask what your...intent here is?"
The leader of the group looked up at her. "We came...we heard..." He swallowed. Being next thing to a prisoner was apparently grating on him. "General Gyrmallion. Is he really alive?"
Ravenlight nodded. "He is. He and four others. I rescued them nearly a week ago, in High Rock. They're here now, though he was injured killing a demon last night, and may still be unable to get up."
The leader hesitated, clearly not sure how to take that. "Is there...any way we-we can see him? That we can know?"
Drelasa, upon hearing the twins' breathless report, had thrown coin down to pay for breakfast, hoping that she had tossed the correct currency, and ran back to Dragonsreach as fast as she could. She skidded into Gyrmallion's room, hoping that the healing potion had finally faded.
Elealda looked up, startled. "What in the world?"
Gyrmallion stirred, blinking. "Drelasa? What's wrong?" He sounded groggy, but not sick or hurt.
"Oh thank goodness you are awake, darling." Drelasa was pulling hackle-lo leaves out. "I do not want to push you but...a group of Thalmor showed up. However, they have...surrendered and want to speak to you and Ravenlight. Ravenlight has already gone to see them."
"Thalmor? Surrendered?" He sat up...then gasped and sank back.
"How many times do I have to tell you, get up slowly after you've been lying down for a while," Elealda scolded. "All right, once the vertigo fades, we'll try that again."
Drelasa waited until he could sit up and held out the leaves. "Chew these. You won't feel as groggy."
"Thank you." He took the leaves, and looked around. "My armor. I can't go out there in my smallclothes."
Drelasa looked around. "Damn...I wasn't exactly paying attention to that once we got you here."
One of the servants who'd gone back in with her to help get him out of it paused. "I can fetch it for him...should he really be getting up yet, though?"
"No. No, not at all. But I don't think he has a choice." Drelasa made a face that showed that she did not approve. "Is there any way we can get a horse by the road for him? Far better than walking."
She nodded. "Yes. I'll bring the armor, then send word." She darted off, returning shortly after with the armor. She left it with them and hurried out.
"Chew those leaves. We'll get you in this." Drelasa instructed. "I might have a potion that will make you feel almost normal again but by the afternoon, you're going to want to nap. That nap might go until tomorrow morning."
"That might be necessary." He was chewing them ferociously as he struggled to help them get him into it. "No, it will be necessary, if just to make me feel less weak. Argh, this is not the best timing."
"No but then again, getting stung by a highly venomous demon rarely has good timing. By the way..." Drelasa hesitated a bit. "Do you...remember anything about last night?"
"Vaguely? Not much. A dream, maybe, about Nerevar..." He shook his head. "Nothing really clear."
"Just curious. I will explain in full after all this, if you still have the energy." Drelasa said. "Just know you helped break a huge dam with Nerevar."
"I did?" He blinked, surprised. "Well...that's good, then." They finished dressing him, and he groaned as he rose to his feet. "Ahh, gods, I ache all over still. I hope they're not too far out..."
Drelasa dug in her bag and pulled out a small bottle. "Try just a small swallow. No need for you to think you can run a race or something equally asinine. My potions tend to run strong."
Gyrmallion smiled at her. "Just...enough for me to go meet them. That's all I'll need." He took a small swig. "Hopefully...that's all I'll need."