A/N 5/6/21- Hey all! So this chapter is slow and anti-climatic, but at this point in Tala's life, that's where she needs to be. Also in this chapter it mentions certain items from the Elder Scrolls Online that are not included in Oblivion, and I figured I'd incorporate an idea I had that'd tie a little of that into this story... as well as hint at what Tala's future goals will be!

Thank you all for those still faving, following, and reviewing! They continue to mean a lot to me and I continue to appreciate your support!

...

Eyja and Reynald were settled into chairs and starting on their meals by the time Tala and Guilbert joined them. While Reynald paid no mind, Eyja quickly noticed that Tala's eyes were red and puffy, and she immediately set her slice of bread back down on her plate.

"Are you alright?" She worriedly asked.

The twins looked to Tala as she initially stared blankly at the Nord sitting across from her at the table. When she realized that Eyja was inquiring about her appearance, she shyly smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." She genuinely replied. "I'm just feeling tired and overwhelmed because I'm new to this mommy thing. But I'll be alright."

Eyja held her concerned expression, but eventually nodded and accepted her answer.

After that, there was several minutes of silence as they took a moment to enjoy their food. Afterwards, they cleaned up and the twins went about their normal business of tending to the homestead. When Eyja put some water over the fireplace to heat it up for some dishwater, Tala took a minute to sit on the edge of the window closest to the stairs. As she observed the world outside, she let out a sigh.

"I wish I could go step out and enjoy the sun for a while." She causally said.

"Really?" Eyja asked in befuddlement. "It's still technically winter and it's rather cold out there. You sure you don't want to stay here by the fireplace and keep warm?"

"Yeah but it's honestly not that cold out, compared to how cold it was up at Cloud Ruler. There's no sign of a breeze, and the sun actually looks to be melting the snow on the grass." She then sighed again and dejectedly added, "I guess I'd just like to get out of the house for a little bit."

"Wow, those words sound strangely familiar." Eyja chuckled. "All those times you used to beg me to let you out of the house while you were on bed rest just came flooding back into my mind."

Tala cracked a small smile, but didn't say anything. She knew it was a little cold out there, but even if she could get a moment to sit outside and take some time to process her thoughts, she'd be happy. But she felt if she were to walk away and leave her child alone upstairs, she'd be neglecting him. And she didn't want to bring him with her; it might be a tolerable temperature for her, but she knew it was a little too cold for Marten.

'Oh well. I guess I should just process my thoughts a different way.' She tried to convince herself.

But then she heard Eyja say, "I don't see why you couldn't go out, so why don't you?"

Tala's eyes lit up and she looked away from the window to her friend. "Really?"

Eyja nodded. "I'll keep an ear out for Marten if he starts crying. You've been looking pretty glum and worn out lately, so if you want the space to clear your head, go do it."

Tala initially opened her mouth to express her worry about leaving the baby, but she stopped herself when she realized Eyja already told her that she'd take care of him. So Tala chose different words to speak. "Thank you! I won't be long."

"Take whatever time you need. It's not like you're leaving for hours on end. I got this." Eyja then flashed a reassuring wink before she returned to the fireplace to grab the boiling water and bring it to the washbasin.

Tala went and grabbed her cloak and refilled her cup of tea before she stepped outside. As she took in the scenery of the woods surrounding the homestead, she slowly inhaled through her nose and carefully let it out of her mouth. She took another moment to watch her breath turn to steam as it made contact with the nippy air before she eventually wandered over to the garden fence and took a seat on the top railing. She then cupped both hands around the warm teacup and just let her thoughts ramble. She still thought of her parents and how she missed them. She missed their voices, their quirks, their words of comfort towards her or each other. She also kept thinking of Martin and how he hadn't appeared in her dreams. Now that she knew he was watching over her and that he could come to her if she needed him, Tala really wanted to see him again so she could ask him a few questions... provided that he'd answer. As she thought of him and her parents, she did wonder if her mother and father were watching her from Aetherius, and if they were proud of her and everything she accomplished... and did they forgive her for the mistakes she made along the way? The sadness of those thoughts was still there, but at least her tears were expended thanks to the good cry she had about an hour earlier.

"Tala? You alright?" She heard Guilbert say as he and Reynald came up the hill from around the back of the house.

"Yeah. Just taking a moment for myself." She replied. "Where'd you two go?"

"Root cellar." Reynald replied as he held up a basket of vegetables. "Going to need food for dinner tonight."

"That... and we got lost in conversation." Guilbert cryptically added.

Tala raised a suspicious eyebrow. "What kind of conversation?"

Reynald set the basket on the doorstep before he and his brother made their way over to the fence. "I think I'm going to head to Chorrol later today and take the house off the market." He casually said.

Tala's eyes slightly widened. "What? Why?"

"Well... I got to thinking: there really isn't a whole lot of room for four of us in this house, and once Marten gets old enough he'll be needing his own space. We'll be way too crowded. It'd be easier for me to move back into town for a little while, at least until we figure out how we can expand the house... or perhaps build a house adjacent to this one."

"We were contemplating building a house down in that little valley down there." Guilbert commented as he pointed to behind the home before he narrowed the gap between them and leaned on the fence.

"That seems like a good enough place." Tala merely remarked.

"We thought so." Reynald said as he hopped up onto the fence beside her. "But for now, it's cheaper to move back into town. And if need be, Eyja could also move in there if she wanted. That house has plenty of space for it."

"Well... I'd say it's easier to move back into the town house." Tala corrected. "We do have sufficient funds to build another house if need be. You made decent enough money selling the distillery, and then there's my funds..."

"Yeah, you've got quite a nice chest full of coin down in the basement." Reynald replied. "You said each little coinpurse had two-hundred septims and I lost count at one-hundred and fifty. So that's what... over thirty-thousand in there?"

"Actually, there's close to fifty-thousand in there."

Reynald's eyes widened and he subtly shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of the shock. "No wonder that thing was so heavy."

Tala softly chuckled. "We'll be fine for a while. While I would say let's spend that gold on building the house, I personally would want to hang onto most of it to keep funds for everyday expenses. There's county taxes, food and supplies for us, repairs that are always needed, and Marten's going to need new clothes every year for several years as he goes through growth spurts. He'll also need an education at some point. Whether it's a tutor or sending him off to a university, neither one of those are free. Plus, I have seen a fluctuation in prices at the stores because of the damage the Oblivion Crisis had on trading, so who knows if that will return to normal, or if we'll see more inflation of costs in the coming months. I don't want us to deplete all that money early and finding ourselves struggling in the coming years."

Guilbert nodded. "Yeah, me neither. So we'll keep the town house for now. It's not like we need the money from the sale in order to survive right away. We'll get by."

"We will. But fifty-thousand septims isn't going to support us forever. Eventually we'll need to find some kind of professions."

"Yeah... but what would we do?" Reynald sighed. "I don't have the best reputation in Chorrol due to my former life as a drunkard. Guilbert worked as a bar-back for an inn-"

"Which I suppose I could see if The Grey Mare or The Oak and Crosier are hiring." Guilbert interjected. "If I had to, we could take up with the Fighter's Guild and sharpen our skills to be better equipped for combat and take contracts."

"Why do that when I'm the one who's got battle experience?" Tala inquired.

"Do you want to make a living as a blade for hire?" Guilbert asked.

She shrugged as she took a sip of tea. "I was already going to do that in order to keep my fighting skills from getting rusty... or at least that's what I had planned to do prior to finding out I was pregnant. Now with Marten, I haven't really thought about what I might do after he gets a little older. I... I do have all my recommendations from the Mages Guilds, but I never actually went to start my apprenticeship at the Arcane University. I guess when I have the chance and we still have the coin, it'd be nice to go there and learn how to enchant items and improve my destruction skills."

"Mages make good money selling enchanted items." Guilbert mentioned. "If that's what you'd rather do, you could go start your apprenticeship as soon as Marten's old enough. I could stay here to tend the farm and look after him while you finish your studies."

A soft smile crept into one corner of her mouth. "That actually sounds nice. Perhaps we'll plan for that in a few years."

Reynald then crossed his arms against his chest and sighed while his shoulders slightly rose and fell with the motion. "I still should do something. Actually pull my weight for once."

"You'll find something." His brother reassured. "We'll just see what the future holds."

There was a long moment of silence as the conversation fell to a pause. Tala softly sighed and looked down into her teacup before she absentmindedly made an off-comment. "I miss the smell of black coffee."

Reynald looked at Tala and blinked. "What's that?"

"It's a drink, made from a coffee bean. It was common to see it back in High Rock. My father used to drink it all the time whenever he worked on his alchemy projects. My mother used to bring him a cup in the morning and he only ever used to take two sips before he'd forget about it and let it get cold. He hated it cold, so he'd always reheat it... but then he'd take two sips and forget about it again. I started drinking it when I was a teenager... I'd mostly drink his cup before it got cold and laugh when he was surprised to see the cup empty." She paused to softly laugh to herself. "I could never find coffee beans when I came to Cyrodiil. I don't know why it's uncommon here. I had a tonic once called Kvatch Watch Grenache when I stopped in a town in Skyrim on my way here. The alchemist said it was first made in Cyrodiil and needed coffee beans in order to make it, so I assumed it was common to find. But I never saw it once I got here. I've been thinking about my parents a lot and coffee is kind of like a childhood memory for me, so I'm really wanting a cup now."

"Huh... I wonder why nobody's grown some here."

Tala shrugged. "Yeah I wonder that too. I guess coffee lost its cultural use in Cyrodiil at some point. I did have a trader in Anvil tell me coffee beans are hard to find and more often than not are used by alchemists these days. But even then I struggled to find an alchemist who had any... or if they did, they didn't want to part with it because it's difficult to find in the trade markets. That's actually how I met Sinderion. I went looking for an alchemist to sell me coffee and went to Falanu Hlaalu over at her alchemy shop. That's when she told me she didn't have any to sell because it was extremely rare for her to get her hands on some. Then I asked her about my freshly acquired Nirnroot and she pointed me to Sinderion. The rest is history."

Reynald's gaze wandered towards the house, but his stare seemed to go right through it. Eventually, he spoke up and asked, "How difficult it would be to grow exotic plants and sell them to the local alchemy shops?"

"I guess it would depend on the plant." Guilbert replied. "You thinking maybe we should start trying to do that?"

"Why not?" Reynald countered. "If we could grow certain herbs and spices that aren't common in Cyrodiil- things that people have to get from other provinces- there could be a bit of a demand for locally grown provisions that don't cost as much because of trade tax. Alchemists might like that option, too. Rather than having to tend to a multitude of plants, they could just buy from a local farm."

"Well, so long as there aren't restrictions on growing certain exotic herbs, that actually sounds like a good idea." Tala said as she perked up. "I know certain plants prefer warmer climates... so I wonder if instead of building a house down in the valley, we build a greenhouse and cultivate those various plants?"

"That would be perfect!" Reynald said with a wide smile. That smile then quickly faded and the happy light in his eyes dimmed a little before he added, "This... this sounds great, but I don't know a thing about growing herbs. Just crops for food."

"I can teach you." Tala said as she held her own excited smile. "My father was an alchemist. He taught me a lot about how to grow herbs and creating adequate soil for certain plants. Plus, I know a master alchemist who might help us get started... so long as he gets to have his pick of ingredients for a discounted price, I'm sure."

"You think Sinderion would help?" Guilbert asked.

"He'd better." Tala said as her smile turned into a devious smirk. "He told me if I needed anything, I just had to ask. If he meant it, then I'm going to ask him to help me get this idea off the ground!"

"Great! Think we could still use some of those funds in your chest to get this project started?" Reynald asked.

"Absolutely! I said I didn't mind offering some of my coin to build something back there. I just don't want to use too much and set us back financially."

"Agreed." Guilbert said. "Plus I don't want to take all of your coin for this either."

Tala merely smiled at him and replied, "It's not just my coin. It's ours. We're a family now. What's yours is mine, what's mine is yours."

Guilbert flashed her a simper. "I appreciate your willingness to share, but I'm still on your side of the argument of not wanting to spend it all so soon after you've offered to share it."

Tala softly giggled and nodded. "Fair enough. But I'm still excited to give this a try. The first thing we'll have to do is try and get a hold of merchants who do travel to other provinces so we can get seeds and crops to cultivate-"

As Tala was talking, she suddenly caught wind of the faintest high pitched cries coming from inside. She wasn't sure if it was her motherly instincts heightening her hearing or making her paranoid, but she instantly cut her sentence short and paused to listen. When her ears confirmed what she thought, Tala quickly slid off the fence to head inside.

"You alright?" Guilbert asked.

"I hear Marten." Tala replied. "I know Eyja said she's got him, but I still feel the need to check on him."

"Do you want me to help?" She heard him say, though his voice sounded as if he was trailing behind her.

When she turned around, Tala did find him narrowly close. "I think I've got it... well, between Eyja and I, we've got it. But whenever you guys come back inside, we can talk more about this herbal farm idea! I'll be back!" She then flashed him a smile before she turned back to the door, making a point of grabbing the basket of vegetation as she stepped inside.

The second she closed the door, the sounds of an upset infant two stories above her rang clear throughout the house. Tala then set the basket and her teacup on the dining table before she lightly jogged up the stairs.

"I thought I heard him." Tala commented as she entered her bedroom.

Eyja quickly turned to look at her as she was swaying back and forth with the baby in her arms in an obvious attempt to soothe his tears. "Yeah, it seems he's needing his Ma. I thought maybe he needed changing, but that didn't work."

Tala walked over and plucked Marten from Eyja's arms and put his chest against hers as she took a seat at the chair beside the crib. After a series of soft soothing words and gentle rubbing of his back, he eventually settled into a low murmur of whimpers before falling into content silence.

"You're really good at that." Eyja casually commented.

Tala nervously tittered as she lightly shrugged. "Thanks, I guess. I'll need that reminder from time to time, since I'm still new to this and I never thought I'd be a mom."

"Well you're doing well so far." The Nord said with a chuckle. "So were you able to get enough fresh air?"

Tala nodded. "And the twins and I had some good ideas as to what to do for future plans. We're thinking of trying to gather herbs that don't normally grow here in Cyrodiil and cultivate them here. If we sell rare herbs, there might be a market for mages and alchemists looking for them."

"Oh... that's not a bad idea." Eyja remarked.

"And once Marten's old enough, I might start up my studies at the Arcane University. I really want to learn more magic there... especially how to enchant. That could be a market for me someday."

"Well yeah, who wouldn't want to buy an item enchanted by the famed Champion of Cyrodiil herself?" Eyja said with a smirk.

Tala's soft smile faded into something more dumbfounded. "I never thought about it that way. I'd definitely better spend a lot of time getting good at the craft before I start selling anything, or people might be pissed if I sold them a poorly enchanted item."

Eyja then let out a laugh. "I love where you went with that! There's definitely not a swindling bone in your body!"

Tala couldn't help but chuckle herself. "Nope. My mother raised a lady with morals and a conscience."

Eyja held her smile as she shook her head. "Well, if you got him, I'll return to the dishes before the water gets cold."

Tala nodded, "Yeah, I've got him. Thank you for watching him while I was out." She then heard the door open and close downstairs followed by the sound of the twins talking to each other and she added, "In fact, we'll join you."

She then grabbed her wrap that she nestled Marten in so he could stay cuddled up to her and followed Eyja down to the kitchen. From there, Tala made a point to sit down at the table with the brothers as they warmed up by the fire and continued the discussion they were having outside. They spent most of the afternoon talking about where they wanted to begin; once they had an idea, Tala found some parchment to write to Sinderion about some of the things she would be needing from him.

By nightfall, the housework was completed for the day and Tala returned upstairs to carefully put Marten back in his crib. When she approached her dresser to dress down for bed, she looked to see her journal sitting on top beside Sinderion's hair elixir.

'It's been a while since I've added any entries into that thing.' She thought to herself.

Tala then grabbed the journal and opened its cover to reveal the handkerchief Guilbert placed Marten's hair in. She carefully set the cloth back on the dresser and went to sit on the edge of her bed as she flipped through the journal's contents. She couldn't help but just chuckle at all her little notes for every 'side quest' she did for people, as well as some of the notes she made during her time at Cloud Ruler Temple while she was resting up her arm under Martin's behest. The smiles turned bittersweet as she read all her little thoughts about Martin and how she couldn't tell if he felt the same as she did, and it wasn't until she was confined to bed rest that another long entry was written, filling in the facts that Martin indeed loved her, that they married, and that she lost him almost as quickly as she got him. She then turned to the last entry that was dated back in Last Seed:

I've got another day's ride before I reach Bruma. Then I'll be back at Cloud Ruler Temple. What are they going to say? Will they ever forgive me for walking out on them? Is Baurus going to still be disappointed in me after I had forsaken the throne and tried to end my life? What is Jauffre going to say when I tell him I'm pregnant with Martin's only heir? I'm not looking forward to this... but I have to tell them. They are the Blades. They may not forgive me and never accept my apologies, but they at least deserve to know about the baby.

I can't believe this, but I just ran into Guilbert Jemane and his brother at the inn I'm staying at in Chorrol! I haven't seen him since he saved me after I acquired the Mysterium Xarxes! Perhaps I'll stay for a little bit and chat with them before I go. No harm in catching up with an old friend before I head up north to make up for my failures.

Tala couldn't help but chuckle at the last paragraph and how hastily she had written it. 'That's right,' she thought. 'That was the day I ran into Reynald and Guilbert again. I scribbled that in last minute before I gathered up my things and went to sit with them at a bigger table.'

She then decided to grab an inkwell and a quill her end table drawer and set them up before getting comfortable in her bed. She then propped her knees up so she could rest her journal on her thighs and dipped the quill so she could start writing again:

3 of First Seed, 4E0

A lot has happened since I last wrote in this journal. I guess I need to fill in all of the details... again.