Cearbhail:

Sorry for the delay. My Tomodachi Life game came in the mail and well...I had some fun. And Friday was my birthday. A shaman...having a birthday on a Friday the 13th...during a full moon. yeah, it was something. Went shopping for crystals but didn't find anything that 'spoke' to me, literally. so, I hung out with my niece at an Irish fair instead. I wanted to go roller blading at Presque Isle but it was raining the whole way down so that was out the door. Oh, so I guess I should talk about the chapter right? Um... Veselle and Talvas share a slow motion action scene. And...go.

Oh...and enjoy. ^^


Dear diary of shadows,

Where, oh where to begin? Well, last night was something. But we already know about that, don't we? And today was something too. While I was drifting off at one something, I kinda ended up in some…I'm going to call it a place for a lack of any clue as to what it was. I thought it was a dream. This giant tentacle thingy that was completely invisible started crawling up my legs, wrapping them so I couldn't run; then it traveled around my arms, locking me from using them; and then it closed around my neck trying to suffocate me. Then it ended up by my ear and started whispering to me, demanding to know why I was in its lair and all that stuff. It started choking me, threatening me. And then its tentacle slithered through my ear, and I could feel it feeling around my head, in my memories. It made me remember things I didn't want to know and insulted me. And finally it let me leave. I woke up with a Conjuration book. Oh and by the way, I made a contract with a Daedric Seeker named Inquianari. She's cool.

So, after I made friends with my new contract spirit from Oblivion, Talvas and I continued onward. I 'accidentally' got locked in a combat situation where I had to fight numerous draugrs. I may have enjoyed killing them too much. I just kept thinking about Talvas while I kicked one in the balls, smashed another one in the head with his own skull. After that we continued on killing several other rooms filled with draugrs. I let Talvas lead us while I followed behind him. I wanted a bit of a rest while watching him fight. Once Kyuu wakes up, I can't wait to introduce him to Inquianari. I hope they get along.

Veselle.

Ok, so the walk wasn't so bad once I let Talvas take the lead. We traveled through the hallway, and we first passed a small deposit of some eternal ice stalled stralhrim. We left it alone because we wouldn't know what to do with it. He told me if I touched it without special gloves that my entire hand would freeze over and I would slowly become a frostbitten statue covered in ice. I was kinda curious so I almost pushed him into it…but then I'd be all alone in this ruin. But as luck would have it, Anari had a lot to say about stralhrim. She told us all about its origins and how it won't freeze us for eternity for at least an hour. And during that hour we spent it in cover while being shot at by some draugr overlord standing on a bridge over two higher levels with a waterfall behind it. And that's where we were standing right now. Well, that's where I was standing. Talvas was… um… unconscious. Here's what happened.

"And it is because the ancient…" Anari had been drawling on about the ancients this and the ancients that… while telling us about the ancient ice and how it had been discovered for armor and weapons. That ice is what led to the creation of Frost magicka… if you can believe it.

Talvas looked back at us, sipping at his thermos. "Guys…we should be quiet. No idea who we'ee eee eee eeee eeeeeeee…" He squealed as he was suddenly turned into a light-up Talvas. Two soul gem traps had both opened fired at him with electricity and he took it hard. I watched him light up; even saw his skeleton a few times before he launched a few ice spikes at the gems. He hit them and they fell from their pedestals but once the lightning wore off, he collapsed. And as soon as that happened, I head barking up ahead so I went to check it out. There was an open door at the end of the hallway. As soon as I stepped out to take a look what was inside the doorway, an arrow whizzed right past my head. So I ducked back in and tried to formulate a plan. Every time I look back into the room, I see three scary-looking draugrs waiting for me, and one archer who already nipped my twintails a few times. I kept looking at the waterfall. I'm gungy; covered in draugr blood, sweat, filthy muddy water, and Talvas drool. I really want that shower.

Partner! Kyuu called into my head happily. I'm awake now. Please summon me. Gladly. I ripped open a portal and Kyuu came bounding out, landing on my lap. "Morning, Veselle!" He chirped to me before looking over at Anari. He pointed to her with one of his tails and said, "What the shab is that? I'm gone for one night and you replace me?"

An arrow flew through the doorway, smashing into the wall. 34. That made 34 arrows all stuck in the wall now. I looked down at Kyuu, who glared up at me with some of the scariest cute light blue eyes I've ever seen. It made me want to pinch his cheeks. And I did so. "Aw, I can't take you seriously when you're mad, Kyuu."

He purred and rolled over on my lap. "Ooh, rub my belly!" He purred as he batted my hand with his paws. So, I tickled his belly while he chirped/laughed.

Anari floated up to us. "My name is Inquianari. I'm a seeker. My Master is Hermeaus Mora. Trust me when I tell you it was not Veselle that sought me out; it was my Master that placed me in her service so I might keep an eye on her during my mission that he has not yet disclosed to me."

"What?" I turned to face her. She was…an agent of that thing that tried to kill me? She was only here because he told her to be here? And she was only here to keep an eye on me? I looked down at Kyuu, who I remembered was only here to feed off of my energy and become stronger, which he maybe already be. And when he grew powerful enough, he might try to kill me and destroy the world. Jeez…I seem to keep making the best of friends in the ethereal worlds. "You're…here to watch me? What does that mean?"

She looked over at me, blinking her eyes. "Am I to inquire that you believe that our contracts with the terms and conditions are limited to only what you want?" She looked at Kyuu. "We have agreed to assist you in combat and anything else you require us to do. We allow ourselves to be put in danger and face numerous deaths on your account…and you expect us to not have our own agendas? I have been assigned to you by my Lord, who wishes to use you for his purposes. He is the Lord of Fate…therefore you cannot escape it no matter how hard you try; he just wants to make sure you uphold part of his plan. And that's why I'm here; to make sure you do not stray from what he wants." She looked over at Kyuu again. "And this creature…I am uncertain of his true purpose."

"I wish to feed off of Veselle's magicka and grow stronger…strong enough to overthrow…" He paused and looked up at me, smiling. "I mean, I wish to grow stronger so that I can show my parents just how stronger I've gotten…and to be of service to my best friend, Veselle." He rubbed up against me. Yeah…I did not believe that for a second. I looked at both of them. So…they were both using me for their own gains… but I guess I was using them too. Quid pro quo, right? Since they both didn't really want to be here to be my friend, I had less worries about sending them out to do their part of the bargain…fight for me.

I looked at Anari and waved her forward. "Ok…so, we need a plan. What do you think we should do?"

She sighed as her eyes started glowing. I don't know what she was doing, but she looked over at me. "I see three draugr scourges with heavy weapons; and draugr overlord with a bow watching the doorway. I could go out and buy you some time to advance. I can teleport pretty quickly, but my attacks are pretty weak. The just hit more opponents at once."

Kyuu looked up at me. "I'm pretty quick and can dodge stuff too…but I'm also weak. But, now I can grow a little bigger and can deal some decent damage…but I'm slower and it really drains me afterwards. I'd be dead after my initial assault."

Ok, so I had Kyuu and the floating brain. Kyuu could move quickly and the brain could hit multiple opponents. Kyuu could transform and deal damage quickly….that's it. I nodded to them. "Ok, I have a plan. Kyuu and Anari, I need the two of you to work together. Anari carry Kyuu with you and teleport up to the balcony where the sniper is. When you get up there, release Kyuu onto him. Kyuu…I need you to grow big and wail on that archer; tear him limb from limb. Anari, I need you to distract/attack the three down low while Kyuu does his thing. I'll charge in and help you with the three draugrs." I looked at everyone. "Ok…are we good then?" They nodded and Kyuu jumped into Anari's hands. They teleported and I turned to run out the doorway.

The archer turned to fire down at me, right as Anari popped up right next to him. Anari released Kyuu and he transformed mid-jump. He landed right on the archer and started tearing into him. The archer pulled his bow up and fired right into the air. It flew right past Kyuu, drawing blood from his ear, and hitting Anari right in the head. Anari released this sound of gas and she exploded. I don't know what happened, but she faded away. She must have died. Poor Anari. Now she can't spy on me for a day. Kyuu started shrinking down already. The archer shrugged him off and Kyuu jumped off him. The archer pretty much kicked him through the air and back over to me. I grabbed Kyuu as he fell from the ceiling, turned around, and raced for the doorway. Three arrows smacked the wall right beyond me as we rolled back into my safe spot. Ok…that plan failed.

"Uugh…" Talvas said as he started stirring. "What…what happened?" He said as he looked over at me. Oh well…so much for my shower. He stood up and walked over to me, rubbing his head like it was split in two. He opened his thermos and started drinking again. Jeez…just how much sujamma does he have anyway? He nodded to me as he closed his lid. "Hey pigtails." He said, pulling on my left twintail. "What's up?"

I knocked his hand away from my hair and gestured to the doorway beyond me. "We have a strong archer beyond the doorway up on a balcony, being covered by three heavy weapon draugr scourges." I looked up at him for any sign of intelligent life. I didn't see any.

He nodded and took a deep breath. "Ok…here's how we're going to do this." He looked at Kyuu. "Ok, Kyuu. I need you to do a really epic wall run that looks amazing. That will distract at least one of the heavy fighters. If you can, shoot some fire around at the archer, maybe blind him or something." Then he looked down at me. "Ok, Veselle. I know you're going to hate this but…we're going to have to act cool for a scene and act like we know what we're doing…while in slow motion." What? What type of plan was that? He grabbed me by my shoulders and nodded. "This will work. Just…flow with me. Ok?" Flow? What the heck was he talking about? "Ready?" Ready for what? "Go!" He pushed me forward and we rushed into the room.

And it seemed like we were really running in slow motion. Kyuu ran right onto my shoulder and pushed off, landing on the wall to our left, running alongside it. Talvas was ahead of me running so slowly that I barely could believe this was really happening; and I was sprinting beside him trying to keep up. The archer released an arrow and pulled back another. I watched as the arrow slowly raced right for me. Talvas jumped in front of me, ducking. He grabbed me by my legs and picked me up. He tossed me in the air and I watched as the arrow flew right between us like he planned it. And I was able to keep track of the stuff happening all around us. He was right…this slow motion action rocked! At the same time, one of the heavy wielders slashed at me. Kyuu jumped from the wall, flying right into the draugr's face. One fireball later, we had a distracted draugr. Kyuu jumped off his head before any of the other heavies tried to take him.

I was still falling; Talvas stepping up to the distracted draugr. He stuck out his hands and launched two ice spikes into his chest. The draugr flew off his feet, crashing into the wall. Talvas had time to reach up and grab me before I hit the ground. He swept me up in his arms and then over his back. I could see what he wanted me to do. There was another heavy coming at us with his sword. I rolled right over Talvas's back, bringing up my legs and kicking at the draugr in the chest with my flaming foot spell. Once I rolled off Talvas's back and onto my feet, Talvas snapped at the draugr still pinned to the wall, freezing his head. I looked up at the archer. He was releasing an arrow that was aimed right at Talvas. I spun back, grabbed Talvas by his collar and pulled him away right as the arrow ricocheted off the wall. The arrow barely skimmed his proper-looking nose.

The draugr I kicked was starting to get up. Talvas grunted as he jumped into the air and then basically froze in his place as his boot smashed through the draugr's head. I could see Talvas's drunken/angry expression frozen on his face as sweat and draugr blood filled the air around him. Then we started moving again. I brought my staff up onto the last heavy, Kyuu still running on the wall like a badass. Talvas placed his back to mine as he rounded on the archer pulling back another arrow to shoot at us. The heavy slashed at me and I caught it with my staff over my head. He was pushing hard, but I held him without sliding and getting my hands cut off. The archer released the arrow and Talvas slowly brought up his right arm to catch the arrow; catching it right before getting hit in the head. "Almost…done…with…slow…motion." He drawled to me; and I nodded to him. "Rotate!" He and I spun. I knocked the draugr in the head as I spun with Talvas.

Talvas spun the arrow around in his hand so that the tip was sticking straight out. As he came up to the dazed draugr, he took the arrow he caught and slammed it right into the draugr's throat. Kyuu jumped from the wall to the draugr, scratching out his eyes. Talvas ended it by throwing his palm to where the draugr's throat met the bottom of his jaw. He launched an ice spike straight up through the throat into the brain. The draugr flew straight up a few feet before crashing onto the staircase above him. The archer released another arrow and I brought up my staff. I don't know how I did it; maybe it was the slow motion action but… as the arrow raced for me, my staff seemed to catch it. I somehow got the arrow to spin around my staff, and as I spun my staff the arrow spun with me. I threw my staff in a forward slam and the arrow launched right off me and flew right into the draugr… but this time the slow motion wore off and it was instantaneous. The arrow just suddenly appeared in the draugr's head; his head rocked back and he dropped his bow. He stood here, wobbling for a few seconds before his knees crumbled. He fell from the bridge above us, landing on the ground with a sickening thwack.

And just like that, our world seemed to return to us. Drunken Talvas was drunk; Kyuu was incapable of running on walls anymore, although he was still trying; and I was still wondering how I got my bo staff to do that with the arrow. The miracle of slow motion action scenes seemed like something we should do only on a limited basis. No idea what crazy magic we were really working with.

I looked over at Talvas, who was busy sliding down a wall. "Ok…that was fun." He looked at his thermos. "But now my head hurts. Did…did I really just smash a draugr with my boot?"

I nodded. "Yeah…that was pretty cool."

He nodded. "Tends to happen. I saw that thing you did with that arrow." He spun his hands in the air like it was imitating my staff. "I feel like I'm the sidekick on this quest." He glanced at me. "So…what do you want to do now?"

I gestured to the waterfall. "See that? A pool with a waterfall…and it drains normally. I really, really, want a bath. Think you can…you know…not be in here for a few minutes while I wash up and change my clothes?"

He nodded. "Now that Kyuu's here, he can just fix your previous robes."

Kyuu pawed at the wall. "I didn't get a great scene! I want to run on walls some more!"

Talvas started standing up and taking off his shirt. "Whoa!" I screamed to him. "What are you doing?"

He looked at me. "I was going to join you in the waterfall shower. It's big enough for both of us. Look…I can throw up an Illusion wall between us. We won't even have to see each other." And before I could object, a giant white screen wall flew up between the whole room. It flew straight up to the ceiling and I couldn't see any holes in it at all. I could see Talvas on the other side as a shadow…more like a shade, I guess. I could see where his shadow would have been if there had been a lamp off in the distance and this giant Illusionary wall was some really heavily stained glass. "See? Try to cross it. Bet it feels like glass." I placed my hand to the wall and it felt solid. Talvas's shadow walked up and placed his hand next to mine. I couldn't even feel it at all. This spell was amazing.

"Think you can teach this to me? Or something like a door for my bedroom?" I was still using that giant leather pelt as my 'door'.

"Sure." He replied. And I heard him take his pants off…and I guess I could see his shadow doing it too. I forced myself to look away as he walked over to the waterfall. I heard him walk inside the pool and heard water crashing down on top of him. I was still not fully on board with this but I started taking my bloody top off and my skirt too.

I stripped down and tossed my bloody clothes into a pile. "Kyuu?" I called to him. "Please fix my clothes too!"

"Yup!" He said. "Once you invite me in." Oh come on…that again? "Ok…you're allowed on my side of the wall too." He morphed right through the wall like it wasn't there. He ran up to my clothes and started using his healing beam.

"Hey, Kyuu?" I called to him as I stepped into the pool. I was as quiet as possible as I glided up to the waterfall. I could see Talvas's shadow from the other side. He was basically right next to me. "Mind grabbing me some soap and shampoo from the backpack?"

"Kay!" Kyuu called and ran back to the other side. I tried to ignore the fact that Talvas was less than a foot away from me as I started running my head underneath the surprisingly hot waterfall.

"Hot waterfall?" I asked as I stepped back. "What?"

"Sorry, that was me." Talvas called from right beside me; making me cover my chest and jump a bit. "I may have used an Illusion spell that makes the water hot. Or…it's Alteration. It's really a combo. I wanted warm water so the water became warm. It's not an illusion; the water's not cold and we're viewing it as warm…it really is warm."

"Oh…" I said as I stepped back under the waterfall. "Thanks." I let my face and hair just rest under the waterfall for a few seconds before sitting down in the deep end of the pool. I looked over at Talvas, who was still standing under the waterfall. I closed my eyes and just relaxed in the hot water while Kyuu bounced back over to me with a bar of soap and a container of shampoo wrapped up in his tails. He stopped by the pool of water and dropped the items for me.

"Here you go, Veselle." He smiled. "Mind if I join you in the bath? Maybe help me clean my fur?"

I nodded. "Sure, hop on in." And Kyuu didn't wait a second before jumping onto my head and then diving into the waterfall.

"You're going to let a boy bathe with you?" Talvas called from the other side.

I sighed. I looked down at my naked body and then up at Talvas's shadow. "He's a fox. And…he's not drunk." I looked over at Talvas's shadow. "Why? I bet you'd jump at the chance to join me." I grabbed the bar of soap and started lathering up my face. I hoped to get rid of all this blood soon enough.

"Need someone to wash your back?" Talvas called from the other side.

"I have Kyuu." I replied back. The thought of Talvas seeing me naked made me tremble. I didn't want him to see all the scars that covered my back, or my lack of chest for that matter. I got the scars from Marise Aravel from Riften one day when she thought I was stealing her bread. I had actually just taken it back from a thief and was trying to return it to her. She turned me around, pulled my shirt up, grabbed one of her whips, and gave me a back whipping in front of everyone in town. I also spent a day locked in a juvenile cell being lectured on what was accepted for children and what wasn't.

"Ok. Make sure to send Kyuu over here when you're done with him. I need him to wash my back too." Talvas replied as he sat down into the pool as well. He placed his back to the wall and I could see him relaxing. I found myself smiling as I started cleaning my hair and Kyuu's fur. We had a nice silence as we bathed and relaxed in the steamy water. Kyuu eventually joined Talvas and cleaned his back, and he just swam across the wall as much as he wanted, diving underwater and playing in the waterfall. I almost drifted off but as I started closing my eyes, Talvas started standing up from the pool. "I'm getting out now. If I stay in I will pass out. I'm already tanked as it is. If I collapse, the wall will too and then we'll both be bathing without a wall between us."

I didn't want him to get dressed before me so I jumped out of the pool and grabbed the towel waiting for me. I quickly dried myself off and rushed to put my Telvanni robes back on. They looked good as new. I made sure I had everything on perfectly before I had Kyuu help me with my twintail placement. Once they were back on, I let Talvas drop the wall. He was dressed in his robes, which looked new as well. "You looked cleaned up." He said to me with a slight slur. He gestured me to follow him. "We should continue on." I followed behind him as he led me up the stairs. "Think we've done enough yet to clear out the mines?"

I shook my head. "Although we're past anything the miners would be working on, I think we should just go through until we find Crescius's ancestor's journal. You know…to tie up all lose ends."

He nodded and led on. We found a door that was locked. He tried to open it and then sighed. "Watch closely." He placed his palm to the door for a few seconds. A green mist rolled off his hand, enveloping the lock. The lock clicked and the door opened up. "Tada…" He grumbled and drunkenly pressed on. I followed behind him. Talvas reached out to stop me, placing his hand right on my breast as he did so. It made me freeze for a second while he glanced ahead. "Two burial coffins." He said as he looked back at me. "And a pressure plate. Be careful." He stepped forward and missed a step. He stumbled forward, landing right on the pressure plate. The coffins popped open and two draugrs stepped out. And if that wasn't enough, I heard some whizzing past my head. Green-tipped darts whizzed past the room. The draugrs all got hit and they started stumbling. I felt a slight pinch in the back of my neck, and then my head started getting fuzzy. My vision blurred, and the last thing I remembered seeing was Talvas looking up at me, running up to catch me as I fell forward.


Cearbhail:

I think that ending may have been a bit rushed. I'm tired. I'll make it up with the next chapter. Some of which will be Talvas taking care of a drugged Veselle. Because Kyuu will be sleeping from getting hit by a poisoned dart too. Just in case someone suggested I used that as an escape claus. Oh...and a couple people wanted to remind me of things that go on in these quests. Yes, there will be the Bloodshoal blade. I made certain to remember that before I started so don't worry about that. The quest was going to be just Veselle to begin with... but she's pretty physically weak so I threw Talvas in so that he coudl use the blade instead. That's why he's in. And Verona dying...yup, also coming up soon enough. Don't worry, I have a plan.