Blinding light and then darkness and the pull of oblivion. Now? Slowly he opens his eyes and takes in his surroundings. A glen under a strange night sky with unfamiliar stars. Not Nirn, not any place he has ever seen. A place between realms, perhaps beyond life and death itself for against all reason, he still exists. That thought is enough to bring him despair for what is life without his pack? Without the one who saved him, without his Egg-mother? They deserve to be here, wherever here is. Not him. Slowly he lowers his head.
Time passes in silence until the silence is broken by a single word. "Keerasi-Zish."
Slowly Keerasi-Zish raises his head to behold the being that has appeared before him. Her robe shimmers with stars and the sun and moon seem to exist within her and with a chill down his spine, he knows who and what it is that has appeared before him. Azura, the Prince of Dusk and Dawn, and then others appear. Mehrunes Dagon. Meridia. And the last, Hircine. Long ago memories stir a dream in a forest, a buck that sent him trembling in fear and wonder. A small quiet pop and a familiar tabby appears to the left side of the glen. Following him on the right is a shadow that seems as a living thing, and a Dunmer in a white robe with Dwemer like armor. At all the power focused on him, Keerasi-Zish digs his claws into the grass. "If you wish to punish me, do so," he whispers. "My war cost everyone so very much. And it cost me everything, including my pack and my Egg-mother, who did not deserve such a fate. I deserve...no less." After he speaks these words he starts to close his eyes. Whatever punishment these beings can think up, can be no worse than seeing his pack fall. Then seeing the love in his Egg-mother's eyes as she takes her last breath knowing it will be the last time he feels her love.
"Patience," Azura says and a soft glow infuses the meadow, and the still forms of Zirasha and Tyranius appear near the tabby that is Sheogorath. Keerasi-Zish's eyes snap fully open as he turns his head toward his pack. He cannot tell if they live still and he should be able to, but this place is far too strange. The glow is not yet done, however, and it draws his eyes away from his pack. Near the living shadows, the still form of Rufico appears, and then the rest of the heroes appear, also still and silent. Softly-Spoken-Crab rests in front of Azura, Iveryni in front of Dagon, and Theodyn in front of Meridia. The glow then moves to Hircine and Keerasi-Zish's heart seems to still as the full wolf form of his Egg-mother appears in front of the Prince of the hunt. So very still, and yet so very close. "How?" he rasps.
"A moment in time," Azura says softly, "Between life and death. We brought them here. So close to the end, they would have perished had we not."
So close...Keerasi-Zish remembers. The brutal way Viperish Night had beaten his pack, the savage way he took down the heroes. He had been past wanting them to suffer at that point. He just wanted them dead for daring to betray them. Daring to stand defiant of him. And Keerasi-Zish had been helpless to stop him. Only when he and Death's souls resonated with the same song had it been enough to overwhelm the Daedric aspect. And with a song of sorrow, he looks at the wolf. His Egg-mother...he knew she had died. Knew that which made her more than mortal had been taken by his Egg-Father. And yet she was here and so he looks up at Hircine.
"As do all my wolfs, Jeziasi has come home to the Hunting Grounds upon her death," Hircine tells him and then pauses before continuing. "Mortal memories fade and my wolfs join the Wild Hunt. But I have not yet allowed my Champion's memories to fade. I have not yet allowed her to join the Wild Hunt."
Confusion clouds his spine. "I...do not understand," Keerasi-Zish says. "I should be dead. I...," he starts to say he deserves it, but his Egg-mother's last words come back to him. That he was, somehow, worth it. And he finds he cannot say the words, he cannot dishonor her memory in such a way and so instead he asks, "What is this?"
Meridia is next to speak, an undercurrent of anger in her voice but it is tempered. "You caused a flood of vile undead to cover Tamriel. You almost gave everything to Molag Bal. And yet..." she trails off, her eyes full of judgment, but again it is as tempered as her anger is.
"In the end, you sacrificed everything to not only stop the war you created but to stop The Band of T'zlich from ever being used again. It is stricken from this world by your actions, forevermore." Azura tells him.
"In essence, little pup, retribution. Redemption. And perhaps a second chance," Hircine says.
Again Keerasi-Zish's eyes fall on the wolf and it takes all his strength to turn his head away. "I... the Daedric essence... Viperish Night is so very strong. If he ever frees himself from the depths...," Keerasi-Zish trails off and looks down. "I should end if it means he ends too. But I should be the only one who dies for all of this."
"We give the mortal a chance, and he throws it in our faces," Mehrunes Dagon says with a laugh. "You who threw the world into a path of stagnation. And you who found another path. And yet you turn your back from it to simply end?"
Meridia is looking at Keerasi-Zish with something other than anger at last. "Sotha Sil," she calls for the living God who has been listening hands behind his back. Slowly he steps forward.
"Accept what you are offered, and I will remove the Daedric Aspect from you," Sotha Sil says. "He will be imprisoned without form in my city for all time. I will not let him be reformed in Coldharbour," and then he tilts his head and his eyes seem to look far beyond this glen. "Know this. Much of your power comes from him, and he comes from Molag Bal. To make a mortal as strong as Viperish Night was at his peak... Molag Bal overstepped, and yet not enough to break the compact. I could not enact punishment until he tried to set foot on Nirn with his true self." A few moments pass and the living God's eyes focus back onto Keerasi-Zish. "Molag Bal has been punished and he has been forbidden from interfering in this matter ever again."
"The POINT!" a yowl breaks through the meadow as Sheogorath at last rises lashing his tail. "Tell him! He's confused! He's a confused mortal!" Meridia turns her gaze on the Prince of Madness.
"We will banish you from here if interrupt again," Meridia warns and Sheogorath quiets and settles. For now.
"You must be willing to allow Sotha Sil to take the Daedric aspect, it cannot be taken by force," Azura tells Keerasi-Zish, drawing his attention back to her. "But you will lose much of your power."
"I do not care about it," Keerasi-Zish hisses, and then his eyes move to his pack, to the wolf that represents his Egg-mother. Only they matter.
"Get to the point. I have matters to attend to," Mehrunes Dagon stays.
Azura raises her hand and Softly-Speckled-Crab stirs. A brief look around and then the Argonian's heroes eyes close for a moment as Azura speaks to her silently and then she rises and walks to Keerasi-Zish and sits in front of him. "Your rivers were taken from you, Keerasi-Zish, and their was many wrongs done to you and your pack." Softly-Speckled-Crab says quietly. "And then the wrongs you and the other aspects have done as a result of that, and of the Daedric aspect that should have never been within you." She rests her hands on the ground and then nods. "I forgive you, Keerasi-Zish." At those words, her eyes move to each of her friends in turn. Viperish Night did great harm, and yet each echo her words and she turns back to Keerasi-Zish who is looking at her in shock, unable to speak. "This would have never happened if not for the machinations of a Daedric Prince. You will be given a second chance, and your pack as well, but it is not without cost." Again Keerasi-Zish cannot speak and his eyes once more move to the wolf that is his Egg-Mother and she smiles gently. "Prince Hircine is willing to return her as well. But there must always be a balance. Always a price. You must understand the full ramifications of this. Both of you," she says and there is sadness in those eyes for she knows it will not be a easy path.
Hircine moves his hand next and the wolf stirs as magic encircles her allowing the Mer to surface. Jeziasi takes it all in in a moment and starts to rise but Hircine's words still her. "Not yet, my champion." he laughs as a soft growl reverberates through her throat before she stills, her eyes never leaving her son.
For long moments all he can do is look at his Egg-Mother. The fatal wounds, gone. Never did he thought he would see her again and all he wants to do is move to her. To wrap his arms around her and keep her here with them. But he forces his eyes back onto Softly-Speckled-Crab. "Anything," Keerasi-Zish hisses.
Softly-Speckled-Crab regards him a few moments before she speaks. "You must surrender the Daedric aspect and give up much of your power, that you know. But there is so very much more. Much harm has been done to you. And you have done much harm." Softly-Speckled-Crab says and then turns towards Rufico as the assassin walks towards him.
"For each life taken, you must restore the balance," Rufico says. "Life and Death, the scales must be balanced."
Theodyn moves from Meridia's feet to stand on the other side of Softly-Speckled-Crab. "Until the scales are balanced, you will not be allowed final rest," Theodyn says. "However long it takes, you will walk Nirn until then."
Iveryni is the last to come standing on Theodyn's side. "And you must never be heroes, as we were. The main conflicts, the ones where heroes are called and forged, you must stay your hand. Stay on the fringes, helping those forgotten by the larger wars."
Keerasi-Zish rises and his eyes move to his Egg-mother and she gives a small nod. "I am to walk with you if you decide on this path," Jeziasi says. "My Prince told me that much." A smile graces her face as if she would want nothing better. To have time with her son, no matter how hard and long the road will be.
Softly-Speckled-Crab rises and Keerasi-Zish's eyes turn back to hers. "You will live a mortal life and die and be returned to the Marsh and the Hist to be reborn again, but when you come of age, you will retain your memories and your journey will begin anew," Softly-Speckled-Crab tells him. "This will happen until the last life is saved."
"My champion will remain as she is," Hircine says, "Only when your journey is complete, will she return home to the Hunting Grounds."
"And...," Keerasi-Zish says and looks at Zirasha and Tyranius. Those he also loved. Those he would walk with until the end. But the pause that follows stills his heart and he, at last, knows why such sorrow was reflected in Softly-Spoken-Crab's eyes and he looks back at her.
Softly-Speckled-Crab lowers her head slightly. "Tyranius and Zirasha did harm as well. But they have started to change, to become something other than what they were. But the change is not complete. And they must walk the final steps themselves."
"Why?" Keerasi-Zish says heartbreak in his voice. "I know we have done wrong. We cannot be forgiven, and I will walk to the ends of time to make up for all I have done, but why can't they walk with us? Why?"
Softly-Speckled-Crab moves closer to Keerasi-Zish and gently takes his trembling arms in hers. "Because you finished your change. You and Death are one, and you strive for a better river. You and Jeziasi have shown Tyranius and Zirasha another river, but it is up to them to choose it for themselves." At his tears, she smiles gently and turns to Azura.
"Should they walk the path, you will meet again," Azura says her eyes glowing softly. "It is not the end. But it must be done." she pauses and adds in a gentle tone, "We will watch over them."
Keerasi-Zish lowers his head although he understands. All the death they caused, the world thrown into a war that almost ended in the death of all mortals. He understands a great deal of it was a result of the Daedric aspect and his Egg-father, but so much of the blame rests with him as well. He and Death wished for such horror, once, and the power they had let them unleash it upon Nirn. "I...understand," he says softly and then raises his head. "And there is more."
"The world will hunt you to the ends of Nirn," Hircine says. "I enjoy a good hunt, but not one of this nature. What we will do will give you another chance. But it is also punishment," he says, and then his head turns towards Meridia and Jeziasi follows his gaze.
Meridia turns her attention to the Vestige. "You may have been...tricked. I may have let my anger rule me. But you did go with him. You did let him defile you." At Hircine's angry growl she pauses. "What will do is this. The world will forget your faces, your names. History will go down that a necromancer nearly set the world to ruin aided by the Daedric Prince Molag Bal. But no mortal, save for those in this glen, will know his name, nor those who aided him." Meridia pauses once more and her eyes glow softly. "You will be forgotten as well, Vestige. Such is your punishment for allowing yourself to fall under Molag Bal's sway, for plunging into the war on the necromancer's side and murdering so many. History will know a Vestige came and saved the world from the Plane-Meld, but no one will know it was a Bosmer from Valenwood that did so. All who knew you, will no longer know you. It will be as if you never existed."
Keerasi-Zish hisses angrily and is only stoped as Jeziasi rises and his eyes move to hers and she smiles sadly at him. "We cannot deny what we have done, I do not want to, and I know you do not want to either. If being forgotten is part of my punishment, I accept it. I never thought I was a hero. Just a lost Bosmer, who never knew what she was missing until everything else was gone. You are my family, and that along with the promise that we will be with Zirasha and Tyranius someday is enough for me. Let the world forget my sins, and forget my triumphs. As long my family remembers me, I need nothing else." Jeziasi says.
Keerasi-Zish moves to her and the heroes part to let him. Her warm hands in his have him shaking. "Are you sure?" Keerasi-Zish asks her. "It could take...so very long. I will walk it in balance with life and death, but..."
Jeziasi gently interrupts him. "To have time with you, yes. To watch you hatch and grow, be able to hold and watch over you as a mother should? Yes. It is worth all the pain our long road will give us, and all the joy as well."
Keerasi-Zish presses his head against his Egg-mothers and they stay that way for long moments until he steps backward to regard the Princes, to regard everyone. "Take the Daedric essence from me. Take the memories of the world of me. I will walk to the ends of Nirn with my Egg-mother, and someday the rest of my family. I accept this punishment...this chance at redemption."
Sotha Sil steps forward and from behind his back a glowing gold orb. "Place your hands on this," Sotha Sil instructs, and Keerasi-Zish moves to him and hesitates not a single second as his claws grace the orb. It flares brilliant white and Keerasi-Zish throws his head back and screams once before falling to the ground.
Not even her Prince can stop her now and Jeziasi moves to her son as he sits up blinking rapidly and with wonder on his face. "The depths," Keerasi-Zish whispers. "The depths are gone. I never knew a single second without them, and now they are gone!" A smile across his Egg-mother's face as she helps him to his feet as Sotha Sil turns and vanishes, his part in all of this done. Keerasi-Zish gazes up at the Princes then moves toward Zirasha and Tyranius followed by his Egg-mother.
As with the heroes, Zirasha and Tyranius's injuries have vanished and now they sleep. Unaware of all that has happened, unaware that they are soon to be parted. They will wake only after this moment in time. Jeziasi kneels by Tyranius and takes his hand in hers. All the memories of Duskhollow are hers and she saw how much he gave to protect his pack. And now he was... she laughs slightly at his new scent. "My pack brother, you became a bear, the most fiercely protective animal I can think of, and I think it fits you," Jeziasi says with a small sad smile. "Until we meet again. And we will." Next, she rises and moves to Zirasha and sits beside her. "Perhaps my words will reach you in your dreams," she says to her pack sister. "Do not break at our parting. We'll find each other again." Jeziasi lowers her hand to Zirasha's face and holds it gently. "So brave. You beat the fear. Not through being a vampire, but changing into the strong woman I knew was in there. I set out to save my son, but to know you and Tyranius, to know I... helped you. I'll wait until the day we are pack once more." Jeziasi rises, tears in her eyes, and walks back to the Princes to give her son silent moments with his pack.
Keerasi-Zish gazes at his pack and then silently moves to Tyranius's side. Not a single word, for words, eclipse this moment for him. With a small sad shudder, he presses his head to Tyranius's and then moves to Zirasha and does the same, before rising and turning his back. "I would be lost without my pack. I never knew...how much I needed all of you. Find your river, and may it join with ours, someday." With those words spoken he moves to his Egg-mother, who takes his hand in hers, and then all is blinding light as the glen fades and their new life starts.
-Outside Vivec City-
Naryu stands in the moonlight looking towards the city. Memories of Jeziasi, of pain and sorrow, of the torture and imprisonment in Coldharbour swirl through her mind, but as strong and vivid as those memories should be, she feels as if they are melting away, no matter how hard she tries to grasp them. "What did you do to me?" Naryu whispers in a strangled voice as she turns toward the portal. Count Verandis stands in Coldharbour, unable to cross. He, unlike her, was fallen. Trapped forever in the realm of ice and despair that she had been sure she too would remain until she breathed her last, but then vampires came and freed her, took her to this Mer that opened the way home. And did...something to her memories.
"It is not my doing," Count Verandis tells her. "The Daedric Prince's have cast their judgment." His gaze softens slightly as he regards her. "You...will forget your time in Coldharbour, Naryu. Perhaps it is a blessing. To forget how you suffered there, to forget the pain and rage you feel towards Jeziasi and her son... although you will also forget Jeziasi and her son entirely, as most mortals will."
Disbelieve, rage, and finally, pain crosses the Dunmer's face and she wraps her arms around herself. "Jeziasi...," Naryu whispers and then closes her eyes, memories flashing through her mind one last time before they at last fade. When she opens them once more the portal is gone and a puzzled look crosses her face. "Why am I here?" she whispers to the night. "I was... hunting the necromancer." A frown crosses her face as she searches her mind for the name of her target and not finding it she turns toward the city feeling she's forgotten something essential but also feeling somehow freer. A sigh and she starts walking to the city. "I need a drink," she complains and then adds with a small smile, "And perhaps some company."
-Northern Elsweyr-
Zirasha wakes in the soft glow of moonlight and as she sits up and looks around confusion crosses her face. The last thing she remembers is Viperish Night's bolt of lightning striking her and then...nothing. Slowly she closes her eyes. Not nothing. In the depths of unconscious, she is sure she heard, felt her Viper and Jez. But now, here? She is so very alone and she wraps her arms around her legs lost.
Long moments pass and then the night is broken by a shimmering glow and a woman is suddenly standing near her, her eyes shining with moonlight and sunlight, although she is not really here. "The war is over," Azura tells her.
Zirasha looks up at the Daedric Prince. The night all around them is full of the chirps of insects and the distant sound of night creatures. It feels...alive. "My pack?" Zirasha whispers.
"A new river was found. Nirn was saved," Azura says, and then beside her Count Verandis appears. Here, and yet not. Still bound to Coldharbour, Azura has somehow managed to bring him over for a few moments.
Count Verandis sits by Zirasha and he tells her all that happened and Zirasha listens in shocked silence. Jez free, only to be struck down by Molag Bal. Her Viper, sacrificing everything to destroy the band. And the second chance they have been given and the cost of it. Tears slowly fall down her face. "I am a monster. I have done so much wrong. I know...I have to accept this, but how can I exist without my Viper? Without Tyranius, without...without Jez?" Zirasha whispers. "I don't know how to BE without them."
"You must find your path, Zirasha," Count Verandis gently tells her. "You and Tyranius both were shown another and you took the first steps toward it. But the rest of the journey must be yours and yours alone."
Zirasha's hand clenches and Azura intercedes. "If you find your true path, you will be with your pack again, when darkness and fire fall on Tamriel," Azura tells her.
Zirasha looks up at her and slowly stands a lost look in her eyes. "That...won't be any time soon will it?" she whispers.
The look in Azura's eyes tells her she's right and the vampire turns to look out the wild night. "I...no longer fear the past. I no longer want to drown my pain in the blood of the world. I want my pack, so I will live without them until then. I will..." she trails off and looks back at the Daedric Prince and the Count. "I will find another river."
Screams in the night has Zirasha bursting into mist and reforming amid a tableau of violence. Bandits threatening a female Khajiiit and her small kit. A moment of stillness, of thought of just how many were sent beyond this life and of Argonian eggs that will never be, and then the vampire throws herself on the bandits, throats ripped out and blood splattering on the ground. The Khajiit screams again and takes her kit fleeing into the night. Zirasha turns to watch her go and realized that she had frightened the cat so very much and a lost look appears in her eyes. She used to swim in the screams but now...now.
"Hmmm..."
Zirasha's head snaps around to see a female Breton studying her. Ebony short hair, crimson eyes, and pale skin. A vampire, like her. Zirasha wipes the blood from her face. "I...don't think I meant to scare them," she whispers.
The vampire laughs as more vampires move in behind her. "We were hunting these bandits too. But to discreetly kill them and feed later. Your way was a bit...frightening to those you saved."
Zirasha swallows. Those she...saved. A glance out at the night and then her gaze turns back to the Breton. "I...have been a monster too long. I am not sure how to save people the right way. I...I do not even know how to be something else. My..." Zirasha breaks off. Her pack, lost to her for now, too painful to speak of but the pain and loss are clear enough in her eyes.
The vampire's expression softens. "I am Viorya. You could say I take in strays. Teach them to hunt the ones who prey on the innocent and how to fit in when we must," Viorya tells her. "You look like you could use some friends." At Zirasha's hesitation, she adds, "You've lost someone recently, haven't you?"
"For now!" Zirasha snaps and then softens her tone as she looks away. "For... for a long time. I don't know how long. I don't know how to be without them."
"Come with us," Viorya tells her.
"I...," Zirasha starts and then stops. How to say what she has done? Her existence has been removed from memory, but what she did still exists, always will.
"What you've done matters not. What you do going forward does. We may be cursed but we do not have to be the monsters the world expects of us." Viorya says.
A moment passes and then Zirasha brings her eyes back to Viorya and the Breton's pack. There is no going back, there is no changing all that has happened and all she has done. All she can do is step forth into the now and perhaps if her footsteps are correct, she will see those she loves more than Nirn itself once more and so she nods and follows Viorya and the vampires into the night.
-Western Skyrim-
Tyranius wakes in the snow as a bitterly cold wind blows. As he stands he looks around. A snowy plain that stretches out through the night and to his left a forest. The last thing he remembers is the blast to the head that staggered him into the black and then nothing until thought he heard Pup and Wolfy. But looking around, he is ever alone.
"Hunter."
A familiar powerful voice has Tyranius turning to the forest where a mighty buck regards him and Tyranius walks to the forest's edge. A moment passes and a woman joins him, one he remembers from the war, Wyress Asteria, though she is not truly here. "Pup won," Tyranius says simply.
"Yes, Tyranius, the war is over." Wyress Asteria says. And then she tells him the rest. Bloody combat and sacrifice and against all odds the monsters were being given a second chance. And the cost of that chance has him frowning his eyes stormy, the only sign he gives of how much pain losing his pack is causing him.
"You will perhaps hunt with them once more, Hunter," Hircine tells him. "You must simply find your true path."
Tyranius nods once and turns his pack. Once war was all he craved, but now? Now he had his fill of it and wanted his pack. And to find them, he had to find something new. And...he pauses. "Not on your leash, am I?" he asks the Prince of the Hunt.
Hircine laughs. "My hunters are free to hunt as they choose. But I will not force my gift upon you. You may surrender the bear without consequences if that is what you desire."
Tyranius thinks about it only a moment. "No, I think it suits me," he says with a slight smile. "It will let me live long enough to see them again, won't it?" The question is simple, but he means more by it. He wants to judge just how long a road it will be to them.
"Should you not fall prey to a stronger hunter, yes, and you have further boon from me. You will age much more slowly than any of my weres. Call it a gift for a most satisfying hunt." Hircine answers.
"That long," Tyranius says a flicker of sadness in his eyes, and then without a further word he moves out into the snow to find something new until the day he runs with his pack once more.
The night continues as Tyranius walks without a clear path in mind. His world has been shaken. Not just the end of the war, but the end of what he used to want, used to be. How to be this new version of himself? How to strive toward what he wants without falling back upon the ease of the past? And then in the night, screams that set him running and a small village comes into view half set to the torch, raiders in the streets and the only thing that keeps them from the hapless villagers is a Nord woman with fiery hair fighting against them with a small group of warriors. They fight fiercely but they are outnumbered and faltering. A frown across his face, for he has seen this before. Raiders pillaging helpless small villagers and what they do to the survivors. With a growl, he transforms into the bear and charges into the midst of battle felling the raiders with claws and fangs. Soon the raiders are beaten and silence descents. With a quick change back he walks out of the village, halted only by the crimson-haired Nord.
"Wait," she says and Tyranius stops and turns his head to regard her as she regards him. "I've seen werewolves, but never a werebear before. Come with us. My bands lost members recently. Could use your strength protecting the outlining villagers. By Kyne's breath, someone has to after the war. Damn vultures taking advantage of the aftermath."
At her words, he freezes and turns his head away. Memories of the war, of all those he killed. Never before had thoughts like these crossed his mind. Not after the Plane-Meld, but now? Now everything was different. He was different. "You don't want me," Tyranius growls.
"You have a story behind those impassive eyes of yours. And sorrow as well," she says changing the subject.
Tyranius is surprised. No one has ever managed to read him so easily. Is he that troubled, or is she that good? And so he turns around. "Not many that can read others like that," Tyranius responds.
"And your one of those few," she responds. "I'm Bjarva. This is my crew. And I'm not going to take that as an answer."
Tyranius crosses his arms. For a moment he's focused on her, and then his thoughts take him back to his pack, once more. If he could cross Nirn itself to be with his family he would. But he knows how these things work. Forces more powerful than they would keep them apart. Punishment, perhaps fitting and certainly earned. And yet a second chance. "Not a liar," Tyranius at last answers her. "I am Tyranius Vivicus, formally of the Zero Legion. And I had a hand in the necromancer's war." His name had been stricken from the world and history. But the Zero Legion was known. And the war, though no one would know that the Necromancer's name any longer, would always be known as well.
Surprise crosses Bjarva's face and she's silent for long moments as she studies him, and at last speaking. "Even as impassive as you are and even as a bear the anger you had towards the raiders was clear. As is the regret and sorrow in those dark eyes of yours," Bjarva says and then glances at her crew who each give her a nod, and then she turns to Tyranius once more. "All of us have a sorted past, Tyranius. We've done things we regret. We once were people we regret being. Come with us. See the good you can do. And we get in our share of trouble. I think you like trouble. Let us show you the good kind of trouble."
Tyranius shrugs and lowers his arms. "Why not. Got a long time before I can meet back up with my pack," Tyranius answers and walks off into the night with Bjarva and her pack.
-The Cave-
The wards had shattered and the magic binding Mannimarco to the cave broken and the necromancer stands in the dawn's light, arms crossed. "Never should have gotten involved in all that. Still...," Mannimarco says with a small crafty smile across his face. With a laugh, he moves off into the world once more. Although...he plans to keep a low profile at least for now.
-Elden Root-
Keerasi-Zish runs his claws gently through the brown dappled horse that pulls the small covered cart. Such a simple resting place for what is so very precious. Somehow Azura had known the desire in his heart and when the blinding light faded he and his Egg-mother found themselves on Oblivion's Isle. Night had fallen and the moons seemed to watch over him as he purified the island and once the cleansing was done he called upon nature and throughout the night trees, plants, and all things green had taken over the island. Erasing not only all signs of death but all signs the island ever was a place of slavery and despair. And then he collected what remained of his friends, of his River. Those he had lost, those who he turned his back on, and yet they had forgiven him, helped him. He could not bring them back, so all he could do is return each of them to the home that was stolen from them, long ago. A gentle hand on his arm pulls him from his memories and he gives his Egg-mother a small smile. The memories would always haunt him, but he would make amends for it, and learn how to swim in the river long denied to him. And in truth with the depths taken from him, he felt lighter than he had in a very long time, although it would not always be easy. He was life, and he was death. Able to call forth the green, and able to call forth the dead. It was a balance within him that must be maintained. Not to lose himself in the call of necromancy, and not to ignore it in favor of only life either. Two halves of the same coin, he never wanted to be split asunder again. "Denros's village?" Keerasi-Zish asks.
"North of here, we should arrive by nightfall," Jeziasi responds. And then she pauses and her eyes move to the great tree. A familiar Khajiit is walking from the tree. "Raz..." she softly whispers. Briefly, the Khajiit turns his eyes on her before moving on but there is no recognition in his eyes. Even from him, she had been stricken from and Jeziasi turns her head a flash of pain in them.
It is Keerasi-Zish's turn to place his hand upon her arm. "Egg-mother," he hisses softly.
Jeziasi smiles, sad but accepting. "I caused him so much trouble," she says. "Let us go, Keerasi-Zish. Let us go to Treesong Village and you can tell me stories about Denros." And with that the two move away from the great tree, deeper into the Valenwood, their first stop before heading to Northern Elsweyr.
-Just outside Daggerfall-
Rufico stands under a grove of trees, arms crossed. He is to meet up with his friends soon. Theodyn is at the castle, Iveryni is at the mage's guild, and Softly-Spoken-Crab was down by the docks. And Rufico? Right here, ready to do battle if he must. "Going to have to deal with me sooner or later, Meridia. Let's get it over with."
The air shimmers and Rufico finds himself someplace very different. On a small patch of ground surrounded by shimmering water, floating rocks in a purple night sky. "You dare, mortal?" Meridia says as she appears in all her golden glory before him.
Rufico's eyes narrow. "You will release Theodyn from his bonds. We have spoken about this. He no longer wants to be your Champion, and I know you. You will refuse to let him go," Rufico says.
Meridia's eyes narrow in anger but before she can speak a pop as a familiar tabby appears. "MINE!" Sheogorath spits.
Meridia turns her anger onto Sheogorath. "You dare enter my realm again? You are not welcome here, Prince of Madness." Meridia threatens.
"But I am not here. A cat is here, yes. But not I." Sheogorath says. Before Meridia can snap at him again he sits down. "You owe me."
A long silent tense moment passes before Meridia turns from Sheogorath back to Rufico. "Tell my champion to place Dawnbreaker upon my shrine and I will release him," Meridia says and with those words blinding light flashes and Rufico is back amongst the grove of trees.
"You owe me now," Sheogorath says.
Rufico blinks the spots from his eyes then turns to Sheogorath, raising an eyebrow. The Prince of Madness is no longer a cat and is leaning against a tree so casual. "Not true form. Not the cat, not this," Rufico says and then gets serious. "Never made an official bargain for that."
"But you would have!" Sheogorath says with a grin. "Love is madness. Look what it did to the world! It threw the world upside down, inside out, and everything in-between! And then it put it back together again. But there are cracks! I LOVE IT! Wait till you see what is coming next! Butterflies! Plague Dogs! Spider-Lizards, Dragons, Oh My!" Sheogorath says with a wave of his arms.
"True," Rufico says. "For my light...well not stupid enough to say everything. What do you want?"
Sheogorath gets serious and moves closer to Rufico. "Your madness. I know it's still there! You beat it! But the depths of the sewers, when Nirn and Coldharbour blended into insanity. I...Want...It." Sheogorath says.
A moment as Rufico thinks of this. It drove him into Fate's arms, but now new forces had changed him. Shadows and Death, Love and light. And yet was that love not madness as well? "Theo," Rufico says his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Not that madness!" Sheogorath spits. "That madness, keep! I am rather enamored with that kind of madness at the moment. I want you to keep it! I just want the darker one that is inside of you."
Rufico is silent for a few moments before answering, "Agreed," and upon those words suddenly all is butterflies and when they fade Sheogorath is gone as is the madness Rufico had carefully put in a box deep inside of him. Rufico stands there for a few moments bemused before moving back into town.
-Meridia's Shrine-
Deep in a glen, far from prying eyes. Light glimmers through the trees throwing off perceptions. If Meridia did not want someone to find her shrine the light would surely lead them astray. Theodyn stands in front of her statue looking up at it. How could light be so dark? He would forever remember that light could be blinding hate, that light could blind and break. And yet... Theodyn kneels on the grass before the shrine and places Dawnbreaker upon it. "Lady Meridia, you were mistaken about much. You nearly turned me into something I did not want to be. But I still thank you for saving me from the vampiric curse. Without that I would not have returned to Rufico, I would not have loved him." Theodyn falls silent and then rises. "Release me now. I will do my best never to cross your path again." A blinding light envelopes Theodyn and he feels every trace of the power he had as Meridia's champion vanish. When the light fades he bows his head briefly then turns and walks from the woods back to his shadows. Back to the after he and Rufico strived so very hard for.
-Daggerfall - The Rosy Lion —
A small gathering of friends. The InnKeeper had given them the upstairs for their gathering and remains supper lay eaten all around them as the heroes sat at the tables.
"So," Rufico says. "An Assassin and a Knight walk into a bar together..."
"Rufico!" Theodyn explains and then laughs and leans back in his chair.
Rufico grins sheepishly. "We are going to make it work, our after. I... am an assassin. Walking with the shadows makes sense to me. But I want to walk in light as well. Speaker Malkeyranis transferred me to Glenumbra's sanctuary, and I have been given leave to avoid certain...assignments that may conflict with Theodyn's new job." Rufico says and then straitens up. "Captain to my heart, and the Lion Guard."
Theodyn tosses a roll at Rufico who catches it. "Hey!" Theodyn says a faint blush spreading up his face. "I...it was always my dream. But it no longer is the only one. I want the shadows as well."
Softly-Speckled-Crab smiles at her friends. "I am returning to the Marsh, it is home now. And I want to be there when Keerasi-Zish returns to the Marsh for the first time, although that is years distant." The Argonian looks thoughtful. "I am to be a Tree-Minder. And a guide to those who have never swum in the Hist's river. SilverFen Tribe has already agreed to send seekers out to find those who was once slaves and lead them home to the Marsh, should they wish it."
Chatter descents among her friends and Iveryni are content just to listen. Once strangers, now they shared a bond that would never be broken. Slowly she rises and her friends look at her. "I have something to take care of," Iveryni says. "It will only take a moment." And ignoring the light protests of her friends she descents downstairs and then opens a portal and steps through it.
- Glenumbra, some distance away-
Iveryni walks from the portal onto a meadow as it closes behind her. A pause and then she looks to see a dark portal opening and she turns to Rufico as he emerges from it. The assassin looks around and then folds his arms and looks at her. "Did not go far, Iveryni."
Iveryni looks briefly lost. "Where is home? Not with the Telvanni. Not with Mournhold's Mages Guild. Home...home is perhaps with you and the others."
"Iveryni," Rufico says and she shakes her head.
"Why I did not tell Theodyn and Softly-Spoken-Crab. Why I...could not bear to say goodbye," Iveryni says quietly. "Sometimes there is another river, against impossible odds. I believe that now. But this path I was set on. There are only two rivers before me. If I was still mortal, perhaps there would be another. But I am evermore Dagon's creature now. I can decide to lose all I am and be that, and let him have this power, or I can release it and be free." At Rufico's dark look her eyes narrow. "Tell me I am wrong, Rufico. And I will pause, here and now."
Rufico briefly closes his eyes and when they open again they are filled with grief. "I know truth, Iveryni. I wanted all of us to have our afters. Not this." Rufico says.
Iveryni moves toward him. "Tell the others I am sorry. Tell them they are my family. And that is why I must do this. I will not let Mehrunes Dagon have me, and I will not let him have this power. You saw what happened when a Daedric Prince maked a mortal so much more than they should be." Iveryni tells him.
Rufico nods once. "You are my family as well, Iveryni. All of you are. Without you, a piece forever missing." Rufico tells her and then turns his back the portal opening. "Be free," is his last words before he vanishes within. Knowing Iveryni's wish is for him to remember her as she is, and not to see what has to happen. Not to have THAT be his last memory of her.
Iveryni turns and walks to the center of the clearing. Once she saw the truth, she had not known if she would ever have the courage to make this choice. But the end had almost come for Nirn, and for those she now considered family. If not for Keerasi-Zish sacrificing himself, everything would have ended. He had been brave, and despite all he suffered, he leaped into a new river even knowing he would end. The fact that he did not...she knew she would not get a chance as he did, and she was alright with that. If her family had their after, if she could hinder Dagon's plans...it was enough. And so for the last time she takes her strange firey form. With both hands on the staff, she hovers in the air, flying and yet not free. Not yet. With a wild cry, she releases all the energy that Mehrunes Dagon made of her, all the energy that keeps her soul bound in this form, and with a burst of brilliant flame Iveryni is gone forevermore, and at last free. The staff hovers for a long moment in the air glowing wildly before it vanishes, far from Dagon's clutches.
-Glenumbra - Theodyn's family home-
A small grove of trees, quiet and peaceful and it is here the three heroes gather. "Even after she helped save the world her house..." Theodyn trails off looking lost. Rufico had brought back the news of Iveryni's fate a few days earlier. It had been hard to accept that at times, there were no other rivers. There was no way to return Iveryni to who she had been before. No way to save her from the last of her mortality being consumed by fire. And so instead of letting it, she sacrificed herself to ensure a different fate, for her and for Nirn. Even if that fate was to die.
Rufico moves to him and takes his hand. "We won't forget her, Theo. All who were lost, all who are forgotten, we will never forget a single one," Rufico vows.
Softly-Speckled-Crab has been silent for so very long. At first, despair swept over her spine at the news. There had to have been another path. There always was. And at last, acceptance. There had been one other path, and Iveryni had bravely taken it. To despair over her choice would be to dishonor the sacrifice she made for Nirn. For their after. Perhaps now this would dissuade Dagon, at least long enough for Nirn to rest after the last war. "The Dunmer take their houses very seriously," Softly-Speckled-Crab says at last. "Even with all Iveryni sacrificed they are as unmoving as stone. She renounced her house, and they renounced her. Nothing else matters in their eyes."
"They do not matter," Rufico says. "Iveryni's last words, we are her family. Since I and Softly-Speckled-Crab have no family ties..." he trails off.
A sad smile crosses Theodyn's face. "Iveryni will be remembered here. We are family now, and we will never forget." Theodyn says.
The three fall silent as they gaze upon a simple Dunmer funeral marker set in the middle of the grove. So simple, but Iveryni's wishes were just as simple. Not to belong to a powerful house, but to simply pursue her mage craft far from the territory and cruelty of the Telvanni. Fate had taken the mage on a far different road and her sacrifice at the end of the road would never be forgotten.
-Murkmire, Lilmoth -
The portal closes behind Softly-Speckled-Crab and she walks to the docks to meet Dariziki, a male Dunmer of the Ebonheart pack that she had contacted days earlier. Dariziki walks off the boat and stands in front of her and she watches him carefully as she notes his eyes move to the grievous scars she will always carry until the day she returns to the swamp. What he cannot see is how very deep they run and how long this sort of healing will take. The war takes its toll on all of Nirn, and she is not immune. Not immune to waking in the night in fear, not immune to the pain in her heart of all they lost, and of the loss of her friend, Iveryni. One she will forever remember, one she hopes found a river of peace away from the fire that almost consumed her body and soul. This...is how she moves beyond it. How she continues swimming her river. "My request," Softly-Speckled-Crab quietly asks.
The Dunmer nods. "Lord Vivec has agreed. We, of the Ebonheart pack, will make efforts to return all previously enslaved Argonians who wish it here." he tells her.
"Thank you," Softly-Speckled-Crab responds. "Emissaries from the SilverFen Tribe will be here to bring them home." The Dunmer nods and turns to his boat and she watches him go. How long the pack will stay, how long it will keep the Dunmer from returning to their old river, this she does not know. What she knows is she can show Argonians who have never known the Marsh, never known the Hist how to swim in its river. How to be Argonians, how to be home and free. With that thought she turns and walks into the Marsh, heading to her new tribe deeper in the Marsh.
-Vvardenfell-
Talshaza leans against the house she shares with her brother staring up at the night sky. The moons have set and it is the hour that is darkest before the dawn. The war is over, and yet scars remain. So much was lost and her parent's death still pains her. "What am I to do now?" Talshaza whispers. She has never felt the need to wander, and yet now all she wants to do is run. This home is her sanctuary, and yet still. Dreams keep her from sleep, dreams that slip away as soon as she wakes. A small sigh and she turns to go inside before her brother can wake and worry about her. But before she can slip inside a flash of light and she spins around as fire rains from the sky and the young Dunmer raises her arm to block the flames fearing they will set all to tinder. But after a moment the flames fade and she cautiously lowers her arm. On the ground near is a staff with strange runes running up and down it. Slowly she moves toward it as if pulled and she crouches down her hand moving towards it.
~Be sure~
Talshaza freezes and then her eyes narrow in determination as she, at last, accepts a difficult truth. She no longer belongs here. The simple life is no longer her path. And with that, she grabs the staff and stands up. A bolt of fire runs down the staff and into her hand and she stumbles back and hits the house as pain etches itself across her arms and face before it fades.
The door opens and Alvenniu comes out and she turns to him. His eyes are wide in shock as he looks at the staff and at her. "Talshaza, what have you done?" Alvenniu asks her.
Talshaza looks down at her arms and the crimson runes run down them, knowing similer ones are eched on her face. Slowly she looks back at her brother. "It called to me," Talshaza whispers. "Brother..."
A flash of sorrow crosses his eyes then acceptance. "Fate calls for you, my sister. You answered the call. There is no going back now." Alvenniu tells her.
Talshaza gazes at her brother for long moments, sorrow and love in her eyes. "I had to. I no longer belong here. I've known for a while now. I'm sorry brother," Talshaza says.
Alvenniu places a gentle hand on her arm. "So have I. The distance in your eyes has grown every day since our parent's death. Do not be sorry sister. Just be careful out there. I'll get the gold our parents put away why you pack." At Talshaza's look of protest, he shakes his head. "The farms doing well. I can do without it. But you are going to need it. Nothings free in this world and you have a hard path in front of you. What I can do as your brother is make sure you are taken care of on your journey, and for you to go with my blessing, and love little sister."
With that, he heads inside and Talshaza looks once more at the sky before following. Not knowing what awaits her, but knowing it will take her far from the shores of her homeland and all she has ever known.
-Vvardenfell, small Telvanni settlement-
Dawn breaks across the farm and silence is the only result. It had been a very different story when the dark had covered the small farn. Then it had been very loud. Screams of agony, the sounds of battle, as if this could be called such a thing. Really, it was more...a massacre. The slavers had no chance. The slaves as well. And now he is all that is left and as his crimson eyes sweep across the bloody result he smiles, a smile of fangs and horror and he moves to the edge of the settlement, looking down at the water. A face covered with the palest grey scales and rust-red slash like markings and a flood of golden horns, with eerie glowing eyes that seem to change from the deepest purple to the color of freshly spilled blood greets him and he kneels to touch the water. Once, he looked very different. At least, he thought he did. Memories of before this night was...distant. Full of weakness and all that held him back. Before he found the strength to go to her. Namira had embraced him and everything that came before ceased to matter, and soon would cease to be. The memories so faint, and only getting fainter. He became his true self with her help. "My Lady," he whispers and she appears before him in the water.
"Spiders-In-Scales," Namira whispers. "Are you pleased with what you have become?"
The smile that crosses Spiders-In-Scales's is answer enough. "I am all that slithers in the night, all that bites with venomous hate. My lady, what do I do now?" he asks.
"Go to Elsweyr," Namaria tells him. "Find the strange Nord that walks with the Lord of Pestilence and the Khajiit that has a dragon's soul within him. They are like-minded creatures to what you have become."
Spiders-In-Scales rises and bows his head. "As my Lady commands, I will. The world..." his eyes change vivid blue for a moment. "I want to see the world. I want the world to see ME," he pauses then and raises his head. "They may not live after. Will that displease you?"
Namaria laughs, "If they fear the dark enough to die, then they are weak. Do what pleases you, my Spiders-In-Scales." Namaria says and vanishes.
Spiders-In-Scales sets his gaze upon the horizon. A world to explore and new friends to find. And more fear to cause. He rather liked the screams and blood that came after the fear, as well. With that thought in mind he plunges into the water. No longer weak, he can swim as well as any Argonian and he makes full use of it moving out into deeper water vanishing under it.
-Reaper's March, near the border of Northern Elsweyr-
Two horses graze on the sandy-colored grass as the sun sets upon the grasslands all around them. A covered cart sits nearby and Ri'Zakar builds a fire as Lyssavi sits in front of a cage staring at the dog within. The dog stares back, eyes glassy and drool dripping from its jaws. "Still missing something," Lyssavi says as he taps the cage, no response from the dog. "I took so many dogs apart. I should be able to fix this."
Ri'Zakar finishes with the fire and walks to the Nord and leans against a rock staring at the two. "It should want to bite and devour," Ri'Zakar says. "You need an answer to this, yes?"
Lyssavi looks up at his best friend thinking of their time together so far. The two had traveled from Skyrim during the remainder of the Necromancer's war, dodging the battlegrounds, undead, and finding Khajiit and other travelers for their dark purposes. Upon entering Reaper's March they had encountered a hoard of the undead marching east and before they could find a way around them a shockwave had hit the undead and disintegrated them. Without speaking the two knew the necromancer's war was over, and life would soon return to normal. And so they continued across the grasslands in the direction of Elsweyr. Enough time for the two to get to know each other and so Lyssavi knows when the Reachmen is onto something so he rises and moves to him until he's inches away staring up at his best friend's eyes. "You have an idea," Lyssavi says. "Tell me! Tell me, my best friend!"
Ri'Zakar laughs. He has come to like this strange Nord. Slightly unhinged, but it was the sane ones you had to watch out for. "Orcrest," Ri'Zakar says. "Diseased dead, cannibals. This one thinks your answer may be there."
An odd smile crosses the Nord's face. "And there is Khajiit's there. You are hungry my Dragon friend." Lyssavi.
Ri'Zakar snorts. "When you look at me like that, I think I may wake up to see you trying to take me apart," Ri'Zakar says.
"Could happen!" Lyssavi admits. "But I like you in one piece more. I think you will change, Ri'Zakar. Dragon, Reachman. How I fixed you...the things it might do to you combined with the dragon's soul you have inside you!" he says and then, at last, settles near the fire. "Orcrest...But, my friend, what of your plans?"
Darkness fills Ri'Zakar's eyes. A vow he once made, broken by the loss of his clans. The hatred that the love for his family had kept deep down inside of him was rising as a tide that may prove unstoppable once unleashed. "The Fire witch," Ri'Zakar growls the anger and pain still so very much on the surface. "This one tasted her blood when we fought. I felt it when she died. But her power yet lives. Another has claim it, and I will find them and devour their heart, their power, and all that they are." he declares. "As for the Moons..." The sun paints the Reachmen's fur bloody as he falls deep in thought. "Jone and Jode must suffer. They must weep tears of blood for their fallen Khajiit. But how...this one is not yet sure."
Silence falls over the two as the sunlight gives way to darkness, only the fire lighting the night as both fall into deep thought. They know things they want, need. But what is the path that is not yet in view? In darkness or light, in crimson heart blood or a flood of disease, they will find their path.
-Blackwood-
A young Imperial woman with chin-length black hair and eyes peers from her hiding spot behind thick bushes watching the Argonians and a few merchants traveling down the road. When they at last pass out of sight she emerges. "I...," she starts and then looks down at her armor. "I do not fit in," she complains. "Zen'la says I must." Rel'ihala looks around for a few moments and then an overturned cart off to the side of the road hidden behind large rocks catches her eyes and she marches toward it and after rifling through what was left inside she takes off her armor and puts on the clothes she finds. Rather tribalistic and a strange fit on her body. But it will have to do. Once dressed she buries her armor under a tree and then starts down the road. Not sure her path, only knowing she wants to see. Already her attention threatens to wander even though she should be cautious. But there is so much to see. Lush green trees, glowing frogs, colorful reptile birds, and more. It is all...so different from home and there are so many more colors and she takes a moment to close her eyes and breath. To center herself. The reason she was here, was she had been sent away. Dreams of a different life, a different girl with a different name plagued her nights, and a strange nearly unwelcome desire to see... and so Zen'la had sent her with Xahrshi who had brought her here and then left her with no way to return home, and no way to know what to do, what way to go. But that was only some of the truth, was it not? And so she opens her black eyes, now filled with fierce determination. She was raised to be strong. Strength was everything, and her fighting skills were unsurpassed. What threats would stand a chance against her? She may have had to give up her armor, but she kept her blades and knowledge of far darker arts. And so she sets out upon the road untraveled to see what awaits her.
-Rivenspire - Shornhelm -
Stratos Firn frowns as he is let out of jail. This is...tiresome. How is he to show his glory when they keep locking him up? With a snort, he turns to the guard. "How many clothes am I to were to become acceptable and not in up in here?" Stratos Firn demands.
The guard sighs as she answers him. "At least pants of some kind," she tells him.
Stratos Firn thinks on this. "Very well, I will be the nearly naked Breton instead," he says with a sigh. The world's loss, making him wear pants. And then without further ado, he takes off most of the clothes the guards made him wear, all save for the pants.
The guard sighs again. "Just go. Please," she says one hand on her forehead.
Stratos Firn is only too happy to comply and he strolls down the streets of Shornhelm utterly pleased at the strange looks he's getting. It seems only wearing pants is enough to show most of his glory off. And perhaps he could find a loincloth or a bathing towel in the future. That surely would count for pants! At last, he exists the city, and once away from view he opens a glowing blue and gold portal and sends forth a glowing orb through before continuing on his merry way.
-?-
The werewolf runs down the mountain. The hunters, on her tail. These werewolf hunters were cruel and cunning. They had gotten past all defenses undetected and sprung on them. Her pack had a secret hiding spot, but the hunters would have seen it. And so Leaps-With-Wolves had sprung on the hunters, killing one and injuring another before racing down the mountain. The hunters angered all followed her. With her pack leaders' howl in her ears, she runs from them to save them. Knowing it will cost her her life, for she was injured in the fight and her strength is failing. But if it saves her pack, it is worth her death. As she slows and the hunters gain she accepts she will fall here. Never to see her pack again. Never to return to the Marsh to see her family.
And then a glowing blue star appears and her heart stops. When she was young they used to appear. Always when she was alone, always vanishing as quickly as they appeared. She thought them friends, once. Never did they hurt her, and they had been so pretty and mysterious. And so she turns and chases the glowing orb. It leads her to a glowing white portal surrounded by cerulean blue and without hesitation, she leaps into the portal.
-Southern Outskirts of Deshaan-
Leaps-With-Wolves crashes to the ground the portal snapping shut before her. She staggers up and moves to a small empty barn and pushes her way in and collapses on the hay-infused floor her wolf melting from her, leaving behind a grey-blue scaled young adult Argonian with small purple fins on her head.
When last she wakes again sunlight is drifting in from the open door. Suddenly a shadow crosses it and Leaps-With-Wolves bolts up to see a Dunmer staring at her. Around her age, a black mohawk and crimson eyes staring at her. She hisses softly then moves to him and he scrambles to give her room to leave and as she moves into the sunlight she freezes. Nothing is familiar. "Where...am I?" she hisses. When the Dunmer fails to answer she turns on him a lost look in her eyes. "Where AM I? Tell me now!"
The Dunmer leaps back from her a disgusted look on his face. "Back off you damn fetcher," the Dunmer snaps. "Is it my fault your too stupid to know where you are? Did you get lost from your master?"
For a werewolf, Leaps-With-Wolves's control is remarkable. But she is very lost. Not knowing if her pack made it. Not knowing where she is or what has happened. And so the world goes crimson red and all there is howling and screaming.
-Later-
Leaps-With-Wolves paces back and forth and then stops to look at the Dunmer. When the wolf retreated she found him sprawled on the barn floor in a pool of blood unconscious. She had torn his shirt and bandaged the bite marks. She did not mean to bite him! She could have very easily killed him, and yet years of training to be a different kind of werewolf somehow stopped her, despite being so lost and out of control. The Dunmer slowly sits up and shrieks scooting across the floor until he hits the wall. "Damn Lizard...Wolf...YOU BIT ME."
"I am sorry," Leaps-With-Wolves says. "It has been a difficult night. Now please, where am I? And who are you? I should know who I bit!"
The Dunmer sits up keeping a wary eye on her. "I am Tervven of House Dres. And this is Deshaan, near the Shadowfen border." Tervven says.
"House...," Leaps-With-Wolves says with an angry growl. "Slavers. I do not like slavers! And yet, I still did not mean to bite you. I am sorry. I need to return home now." Leaps-With-Wolves turns and walks to the door but the Dunmer's next words freeze her in her tracks.
"You think it is EASY being Dres? It is our RIGHT to keep slaves, but the Ebonheart pack makes it nearly impossible! Yet still, my damn Father sent me out to catch damn cats and lizards. I have better things to do!"
Again Leaps-With-Wolves turns on him and this time fear flickers in his eyes. "Ebonheart...what are you talking about?" Leaps-With-Wolves says bewildered.
"Ebonheart pack. Why an alliance with barbarians and lizards was ever thought of as a good idea, I will never know," Tervven spits.
Leaps-With-Wolves turns around her blood cold, even the sun fails to warm her as she starts to shake. She wanted to go home. She wanted to return to her pack and perhaps back to the Marsh to visit her family. But that was now impossible. The image of the portal flashes through Leaps-With-Wolves's mind, and a story she was told when she was young, and she lowers her head eyes closing. The Ebonheart Pack had broken up long ago. And yet, it existed here. The truth shook her to the core. Somehow the portal she leaped through had taken her into the past. Why? How would she ever return home? Slowly she calms herself and the shakes quiet and she raises her head and opens her eyes. This... she would deal with this. She was strong. "Thank you," Leaps-With-Wolves says and moves into the sunlight. There is no other path but forward.
"WAIT DAMN YOU!," Tervven snaps and stalks to her and she turns around. "Am I going to turn into a flea-bitten mutt?"
Regret courses through Leaps-With-Wolves and she lowers her head. "Yes...I did not mean to bite you!" she says again.
"I...I demand you cure me then!," Tervven demands. "Cure me right now!"
"I cannot," Leaps-With-Wolves says and turns her back. "You...You should not have made me angry! And I should not have bit you! I am sorry but I cannot help you. I have to find a way home." she stalks away and the Dunmer's footsteps follow.
"I am...I am going to follow you until you fix this!" Tervven spits out.
Leaps-With-Wolves blinks rapidly. "If that is what you want, I cannot stop you. But I cannot fix this!" she says as she continues, Tervven following her.
"What kind of lizard turns into a wolf anyway?" Tervven says. "You should be a big were lizard or something."
"There are stories in the Marsh of that," Leaps-With-Wolves says. "But the wolf called to me. So when I was of age, I asked my Grandmother to turn me. She did...after she saw I was sure." Why she is talking with this angry Dunmer is beyond her. But she is lost in time and has no one and nothing. His presence is oddly...reassuring.
"So you come from a family of wolf lizards?" Tervven asks, sounding curious despite his anger.
"My Grandma is not an Argonian," Leaps-With-Wolves says.
This stops Tervven in his tracks and she turns to look at the puzzled expression on his face. "You're adopted then?" he asks confused.
Again she rapidly blinks. "No. She..." Leaps-With-Wolves trails off. Not knowing how to explain. Her family was...a little strange. Her Egg-Father was an Argonian. Her Egg-mother had been to, although she sickened and died before her eggs hatched. And yet...she shakes her head. "It is a long story," she says at last and turns back to the path forward. "I do not know how to explain it." Tervven grumbles at that but she quickens her pace and he has no choice but to follow her in silence.