Cearbhail:
Oh man, oh man. So many things happen that...Ok. I guess I couldn't hide it forever...and now... you will all find out the truth. Well, part of it at least. I'm certain you might learn more if you think about it for a few seconds. Oh well...
Oh...and enjoy. ^^
Dear diary of shadows,
Today is the 2nd of Mid Year. It's hard to believe it's been two weeks since we started studying Nchardak. We can't even get past the doorway inside the 'library' in the entranceway. And we keep having to kill reavers every time we go back to study more. But, it's nice to get away from Tel Mithryn every once in a while. And inside Nchardak is one of those black books, except it's like covered with this glass thing that we can't get through or past. Master Neloth went hyper crazy trying to blast the thing open, but it didn't do very much if anything at all. And so, we keep going back, trying to find clues as to how to open the place. We hadn't gotten anywhere and it was starting to bother me. Finally, after a while, Master found some sort of pedestal that he examined. And then he just left with the new kid: Azarien Julareth. Said something about other Dwemer ruins he needed to search and wanted me to stay at the tower with Brelyna and Talvas.
Speaking of which, that kid is…crazy. Seriously OCD and…I don't even know how to explain it. I've been his roommate for a couple weeks now, and in that time he's only made me hate living in my own room. All these stupid agreements I signed to…I hate it. I hate it; I hate him. It's gotten to the point where I'll not even come back to the room, but go over to Talvas's room, climb into his bed while he's sleeping, and nod off for a couple hours before he'll wake up, pick me up, and toss me out. Maybe if I hadn't erased his memory he'd let me stay, but then I'd feel uncomfortable sleeping with him. And when I get kicked out of his room, I usually go over to the farmhouse and sleep in the guest hut outside in the garden. They usually wake me up first thing in the morning. Speaking of which, dawn is breaking.
Veselle Tenvanni.
…
I closed my journal as I heard Seth closing the screen door to the farmhouse behind him. The guest hut, which I was kind of sleeping in right now, was near the house, but still not really part of it. They built it one day when they found me sleeping with their cows in the feeding stall/hay house. They put in a spare bed in case I ever found myself needing to sleep out here again. And I'd been here maybe every day since Azarien got on my nerves that first time. And with every morning, Seth and Zera would come outside and do their morning chores before joining me for morning drills with Brelyna.
I made sure I was fully clothed before Seth got to the doorway, tapping on it. "Hey, Vess. You awake yet?"
"Yup!" I called out to him. "Just woke up not even two minutes ago."
"Good to hear it." Seth called back to me through the wooden doorway. "Feel like collecting some eggs with me and my sis?"
"Sure." I called out and slid my journal into my back pouch. I clasped my crimson belt to my dark red training robes, making sure it sat perfectly over my hips and that my training robes were unwrinkled. I checked for some hay before I started pulling my hair back into my twintails. I exited through the small doorway leading to the backyard. The sunlight was barely even breaking over the crest of the ocean, and I could see the bright red flare of the Red Mountain in the distance. I could see the dark cloud hovering over Vvardenfell. That large cloud was filled with ash, and I'm guessing it was on its way over here. "We really need to put a weather protection circle over this whole village."
Seth, who was leaning against the guest bedroom's wall, looked up at the approaching cloud as well. "Won't be good for our crops." He sighed. "You know the pigs eat the ash yams we grow…and when they're covered in ash, the pigs get sick." He sighed, looking over at me. "You look nice today."
I smiled to him and scanned him. He was already dressed in his dark red training clothes, but they were wrinkled and torn near the kneecaps and elbows. Slight tears in the sleeves and the collar pretty much told me just how much work he did in them. They were heavily stained with ash as well. "You've only had those for a week. How'd you ruin them already?"
"I do all my farm work in them." He shrugged. "And Destruction's not easy. I remember you told me you read a tome to learn flame magicka…my sis and I didn't get one of those fancy tomes." He said begrudgingly. "It's very hard to create something from nothing when you don't know whatcha doin'."
"Sorry." I hadn't thought it would be for them to learn magicka from scratch. But it was their choice to become wizards like Master Neloth. The whole family was learning, but it wasn't full time like I was. They were farmers first so they did their magicka studies when they had time. I suggested learning Conjuration first so that they could get some helpers with their farming. They rejected the idea, saying that farming with hired (or non-hired) help was the Dres family's thing…not Telvanni. They wanted to be farmers still, but they wanted to be Telvanni Lords as well. I couldn't help but be inspired by them. They did so much work as a family together. I wished I had a family. The closest thing I had was this village: Master Neloth…Talvas… that was about it. Well, the place had really grown since then, I guess. Now we had the silent watchman Teldryn that looked over us. He was pretty cool. Master Neloth actually trained with him, stating that he was the only one among us that could give him a slight challenge. Teldryn was considered a full Telvanni Wizard already, not a Lord like Master was, but a full-fledged Telvanni Master. That's impressive, I think.
Seth looked over at me, sticking a thin piece of hay in his mouth to chew on. It laid there lazily as he looked over the farm. "It's not your problem." He said to me as he fiddled around with the long piece of hay. He pushed off the wall and glanced over at me, smiling. "Ready to collect some eggs?"
I nodded. "Yup."
Seth started walking over to the chicken coop; I was following behind him, looking at the rows of corn that was starting to grow normally. When they moved here, they had to grow their crops all over again. All that corn, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, and lettuce had to be grown from scratch. Not to mention all the hay and wheat they were growing. Their farm wasn't that big, but it was certainly big enough to supply plenty of hay and wheat for the animals. And the rest of the food for the family. The farm had actually grown in size since I left for that quest in the mines two weeks ago. Now they had pigs and more cows. They ordered them in from Cyrodiil. And with all those new additions, the family was even busier making sure everyone was fed.
"It's nice to see the farm is so big. You know, with all the ash spawn attacking us, we thought we'd never be able to keep our farm. But now…look at it." He waved his hands at the growing corn crops. "We can rebuild…make a home." He looked at me, showing me a toothy smile. "And you saved us." I felt my face blushing over as he kissed me on the cheek. He ducked into the chicken coop. I waited for a second, staring at the empty spot where he was standing a few seconds ago. He poked his head out of the chicken coop to look up at me. "You coming?"
I looked around for a second. Zera was busy collecting apples out of my garden, his mother milking cows, and his dad pulling up come carrots that looked ready to eat. I shrugged and ducked into the chicken coop. Four rows of chickens lied in their little hay beddings; one row on the ground, the second a couple feet above them. Seth started collecting eggs on the right side, grabbing the basket on the nail. I reached for the basket on the left wall and started looking down at my first chicken. I hadn't collected eggs before…this was a first. "So…um…"
He glanced at me, smiling at me with his toothy smile. "Yeah, sorry for the kiss. It was a thank you for you know…keeping my family safe. I hadn't gotten the chance to thank you yet."
I shrugged that off. "Oh, I wasn't going to ask. I was going to ask…" I pointed to the chicken. "Any rules?"
"Yeah, don't squeeze the egg too hard when you grab it…and place it gently into the basket. No dropping it, ok?" He said as he demonstrated. He nuzzled the chicken up and grabbed two eggs in one hand very gently. He slid his hand out and slowly placed the eggs into the basket. "See…nice and easy."
I nodded and looked back at my first chicken. Ok…I've handled flames…I've summoned gods…I think I can pick up one egg. I reached down at the chicken. It looked up at me with curiosity, knowing that it had never seen me before. As I got my hand closer, the thing pecked at my hand. I pulled my hand away as fast as I could.
"Don't mind Yippy…she's just nervous." Seth called from his fifth chicken down the first row.
"Ok…" I said to him and looked back at the chicken. When I met her eyes, she brought her wings up like she was going to fight me. "Um…nice Yippy." She leapt from her spot, flying right up to my face. She started kicking me on my forehead. I screamed and tried to bat her away, but whatever I did forced her to flap up to the top of my head. She sat down for a second and I stood there completely still for a second. I felt something warm and then she jumped off my head, landing in her completely empty bedding. I still felt something on top of my head.
Seth started laughing as he looked over at me. "Seems like Yippy left you a present." He snickered as he walked over to me. I reached up to grab whatever it was and I found out when I my hand smashed it to my head. I felt an ooze flow down my hair and I saw the yolk dripping from my fingers as I pulled it away to look at it. Yippy had laid an egg on top of my head.
Yippy and Seth both laughed as my face dripped with egg whites. Well, Yippy was clucking and flapping her wings madly like she was throwing a fit that I crushed her egg. I looked at Seth and glared at him. "You will tell this to no one."
"Oh come on." He said between chuckles. "Don't get egg on your face." He set the basket down.
"Seth…" I warned him as I saw a familiar sparkle in his eyes that meant he was getting started on a joking spree.
"Weren't egg-specting that?" He drawled on as he picked up his basket and started collecting more eggs. "An egg on the head is worth two in the bed."
"Seth…" I warned him one more time. If he made one more joke, I would smash an egg on his head and see how he liked it.
He sighed. "Ok, I get it. You're all scrambled from the egg-sperience. No reason to give up so over easy. You need to look on the sunny-side up of things." He said as he started on his second round. He looked over at me, smiling. "Oh, come on, Vess. Cheer up. I'm just…"
"Don't say it…" I warned him. I think I knew what he was going to say next, and if he did…I was so chucking at egg at him.
"egging you on…" He finished. And I reached for the chicken next to Yippy, digging my hands for an egg to pull up. The chicken flapped up in confusion as I started digging around. I found an egg and pulled it up. I reeled back and chucked it at Seth. Seth didn't have time to dodge and the egg slammed him right on the nose. He flopped back, slamming into the wall support behind him. He was laughing as he started pulling egg off his face. "Ok then…" He chuckled and started reaching into his basket.
"Seth…" I warned him as I started backing for the exit. "Don't…"
"Why not?" He asked as he pulled out two eggs and ran for me. I screamed as I turned around but I wasn't fast enough. He grabbed me by the back of my robe's collar and pulled it back far enough that he slammed two eggs on the back of my neck. I felt it ooze down my neck onto my back, making me arch backwards. "Afraid to fight me, Vess? You know you'll lose."
I growled as I reached into the basket he was carrying and I grabbed two eggs per hand. I slammed all four on his face. When he reeled back, I grabbed two more and slammed them on top of his head. He was shorter than me by a few inches so it was pretty easy. I crossed my arms as he stood there with yolk dripping down his face. He opened his eyes and glared at me, cracking a smile. "This was fun but…" He said as a defeat. "We need to save some for the family." He started wiping egg off his face and went back to collecting eggs.
While it was fun to smash eggs in Seth's face, I went back to my third chicken. I reached under her gently and started feeling around. I could feel a solid mass so I pulled it out, happy to see that I found an egg. I repeated the process several times with each chicken, happy to see that I had collected a lot before starting on my second row. "Sorry about all that." I said to Seth when I got to the second row. He already finished with his and started helping me by starting on the other side of the row.
He laughed. "No problem, Vess. It's just nice to play with someone other than my sister for once." He looked at me, smiling. "Besides, you're part of our family now, Vess." He went back to picking out eggs. "You may not realize this, but we're very thankful for what you've done for us. You saved us…gave us a new home…helped us rebuild our crops…even let us use your garden. And you're cute."
I looked over at him. He was too busy collecting eggs to look up at me. "You really think so?"
He nodded. "Yup. Maybe it's the savior goggles or somethin' but I find you mighty nice to be around."
I had to admit, I did find it fun to be around him too. I liked messing with Talvas and all but… he was just a little too old to play with me. Seth was actually just a few months younger than me so…we liked to play the same stuff. Like smashing each other with eggs. That was fun. I doubt Talvas would do something like that with me. He'd probably roll his eyes and tell me just how evil I was to him. I don't think he realizes just how much I like to play with him. He just finds me annoying. But Seth was fun to be around. And so was his sister, Zera. She was a little out there, but she was just as funny as Seth was.
I looked past Seth, hoping to see what Zera was up to. I could see her trying to wrestle a pig to the ground. She had long hair that reached pretty far down to the ground, almost touching to her knees. After I saved their family, she started wearing her hair back in twintails like me because she thought it would make her braver too. Seeing her use her twintails to tie the pig up underneath her make me laugh.
Seth looked from me over to his sister. "Oh…Zera! You're all covered in mud."
"Lighten up, brother!" She called from the mud pit where they kept their pigs. "I'm just playing with Verver."
Seth looked back at me, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about all this." He sighed. "Looks like she'll need a bath before we can go to training."
I shrugged. "Well…since Brelyna is out at Raven Rock… Talvas is our instructor for today. I'm sure he won't mind waking up in a couple hours. I know he hates it when I wake him up early."
Seth nodded. "Ok." He nudged me to follow him outside the coop. "Help me carry these eggs inside?" I nodded and followed behind him. I looked down at the basket filled with ten or so eggs. They would have enough to last them for a couple days…if they didn't share them with the rest of Tel Mithryn, which they did. We pretty much shared everything in Tel Mithryn nowadays. Even my bedroom wasn't safe. And since Master was always busy looking for whatever he was looking for…he never got a chance to make Azarien's room. Which meant, I still had to share a room with him. And while they hadn't been here in almost a week…I was still getting random Illusions of Azarien popping up in my room to remind me of every condition of which I had to uphold…even when he wasn't around. That's why I try to stay out of my room.
"Thanks for letting me sleep in your backyard." I said to Seth. He shrugged as we walked up to the back porch. His father was sitting in his rocking chair, sharpening a knife on his leather strip. He nodded a welcome to me as I walked up the stairs. I bowed to him. "Morning, sir."
"Why are the two of you covered in eggs?" He asked as he shook his head in amusement.
I looked at Seth and gave him a strong set of evil eyes, willing him to not say anything. "Yippy laid an egg on Vess's head and I laughed at her when she accidentally smashed it. She threw an egg at me, and that sort of led to an egg-citing fight." He glanced at me, sticking his tongue out.
I pulled out and egg and threw it at him, scoring him right on the cheek. "Enough of those egg puns."
Mr. Vedes sighed as he looked over at me. He smiled a bit as he leaned back in his chair. "Thank you for helping my son with the morning eggs, Veselle."
I bowed to him. "Not at all, sir. You let me sleep in the backyard so…it's no problem."
"If you need to take a shower, feel free to use ours." He implied.
I shook my head. "I'll use the one inside the bathhouse." Oh yeah, this entire time I hadn't mentioned the bathhouse that had been built. It had a boys' side, and a girls' side. It was an Altmeri design but it was nice. Two giant heated pools to relax in with shower stalls inside the building to rinsing and cleaning with. We were supposed to use the showers to clean ourselves before going to the massive bathing pools to relax. I would just go and clean up in there.
"I'll join you." Zera exclaimed as she jogged up to me. She was covered head-to-toe in mud, her twintails completely undone and her hair was sticking up every direction you could imagine. The only things that weren't drenched in mud were her bright pink eyes that glanced up at me.
Mr. Vedes sighed as he looked down at her. "Zeratah!" He started using his disciplining voice. "What have I told you about wrestling with the pigs?"
She looked up at him. "To change out of my training robes?"
He nodded. "Yes. You tore your last ones and you're only supposed to wear them while working with magicka."
She sighed. "But I love wearing my robes!" She hugged her mud-laden body. "I feel like Vessy when I wear them."
He sighed, looking at me. "She takes good care of her robes."
I glanced down at my robes. They looked brand new because every time I ruined them, I had Kyuu fix them for me with his heal beam. If only he knew the truth that I usually ended up incinerating them with each fire-based attack that I did…at least until I learned how to control my fire magicka. Right now I was working with Frost, which was difficult for me. I was very emotional, and trying to summon magicka with a cold emotionless aura was difficult. Now I had to worry about freezing my robes, which happened a couple times already. Once time I got frozen in my own robes and I wasn't able to move for a few minutes. Kyuu had to use his fire magicka to make the robes defrost before they shattered. That happened once too.
I looked over at Zera and patted her on her head. "Don't worry, we'll get you cleaned up. Go meet me in the bathhouse."
"Yay!" She screamed and ran off for the bathhouse.
I looked back at Mr. Vedes and handed him the basket of eggs. "Thank you for your hospitality, sir."
He took the basket of eggs from me and smiled. "You're always welcome here, Veselle." He looked over at Seth and nodded to him, handing him the basket. "Draseth, take these inside and help your mother. Then go get washed up and ready for breakfast."
Seth nodded, taking the eggs from his father. "Yes, dad." He looked back at me, smiling. "See you for practice, Vess?"
"Yup." I said as I turned around. I felt sticky from the eggs rolling down my back and my hair . I couldn't wait to get in the bath. I looked around the town as I walked over to the bathhouse. Teldryn was walking over to the farm for breakfast and he looked over at me through his masked face. I never saw him without it. I wondered what he looked like; let alone what he sounded like. He never talked either. I think he talks to Master Neloth, but that was the only time I think he talks. He never says anything to me, but he does help me train. He lets me shoot fire magicka at him, and he works on blocking it.
"Apprentice…" I heard a hiss behind me. I stopped in my tracks and turned around. I didn't see anyone behind me, but I felt someone watching me. "Come to me, Apprentice." I felt a tug on my chin and I felt my feet beginning to walk. I started walking for the protection circle nearing the edge of the town. There was someone standing on the very edge of the town, dressed in a black cloak that covered their form. I don't think I could control my feet as they carried me over to the edge of the circle. The black-cloaked figure waited for me at the edge. My feet stopped just a foot away from the circle's edge, where the mysterious person waited for me. They stood just an inch away, their face hidden behind a massive hood that obscured their face from me. I could see their red eyes though. It looked like a Dunmer, but since we're on a Dunmer island, it wouldn't surprise me. "You were the one I've been looking for…." The serpentine voice called from behind the hood. The shadow person started walking around the edge of the circle, glancing at me the whole time they shifted back and forth while they paced right outside the barrier. "You took my test subjects…" It hissed.
That's when it clicked. This had to be the Telvanni Lord that paid the reavers to steal the Vedes family. "So…you're Ildari then?"
She hissed at the mentioning of her name. "One does not just say my name so willy-nilly." She hissed to me. "You have those…who belong to me. Bring me the boy and the girl…and I shall spare you your life." She raised her hand and I started getting pulled off my feet. It felt like someone had lifted me up by the collar of my robes and was holding me ten feet up in the air.
"You better just kill me then!" I screamed to her. "I'm not bringing you anyone."
"You will bring them. I command it." Her voice slithered into my head and it rattled around in there. "The heart stones speak through you…as they do me. I am in your head…and you'll join me soon enough…daughter…" Daughter? But my mom…I didn't remember ever meeting her. Ildari couldn't be my mother…could she? I didn't get a chance to ask her because she had extended her hand. I was thrown forward with such speed and force that I found myself slamming into Talvas's room's wall within a few seconds of being launched. I was stuck there for a second before all pressure released off me. By the time I was able to stand up and look at the protection circle surrounding the town…she wasn't in her spot anymore. Ildari? Mother? That couldn't be right. Ildari was Brelyna's mother…and…now I'm just confused.
Talvas burst through his door, carrying a staff with him. He looked around frantically before looking down at me, rolling his eyes. "Veselle? Can't you wait at least until 7 a.m. to wake me up?"
I looked up at him, my eyes tearing up and my voice cracked in fear. "Talvas? I just met Ildari."
He looked at me and then went back into fighter mode. He ran out of his room, looking around. "Where is she?"
"Gone…" My cracked voice reported. "She wants me to bring her the Vedes children. Or else she'll kill me."
He looked at me, his eyes wide. "We won't let her."
"She was able to pick me up and toss me halfway across Tel Mithryn on the other side of a protection circle…I don't think I can beat her." My voice was cracking up even more and my hands were shaking uncontrollably. I hadn't even felt her presence, or her magicka. But the way she was able to pick me up and throw me without any effort told me she could kill me whenever she wanted. And she was able to make me walk to her. That was scary. What could I possibly do to protect myself?
Talvas looked down at me. He could see how scared I was. He walked up to me, wrapping me in his arms and hugged me close to him. "We'll keep you safe…we'll keep you all safe." He whispered to me, before pulling me inside his room. He closed the door behind us and gestured me to take a seat on his bed. I was a little reluctant because it seemed like a bad opening to what could happen next, but I sat down anyway. Talvas didn't take another look at me though. He locked the door behind him and set up a protection ward around his room. He sat down at his desk and grabbed his crystal ball. He waved his hand over the ball, saying, "Master Neloth…" like he was in a trance.
The ball sat there quietly for a few seconds until Master Neloth's face appeared on the screen. "Yes, Talvas…what is it? This had better be important, we're close to finding something out, of that I am quite sure."
"Master, something has happened." Talvas said to him. "Master Ildari attacked Veselle."
"What?" He screamed. "Is she ok? She better not be dead. I already lost one person this month; I don't think I can stand losing another to that witch."
"She's fine, Master." Talvas looked back at me, scanning me, and then looking at the ball. "Covered in eggs, a little shaken up, and crying, but she's fine."
"Sounds normal then." Master Neloth sounded more controlled. "But this is serious. Put Veselle on." Talvas waived for me to join him, so I stood up and walked over to Talvas, sitting on his chair when he stood up to offer it to me. Master Neloth's face showed how worried he was. "What happened, Apprentice? Tell me exactly what happened."
And I did just that. I told him about the whispering I heard and how my feet walked me over to the protection circle. I told him about how she wanted the children we saved and how she lifted me up off the ground; about what she said about the heart stones; and how she tossed me into Talvas's room with no trouble. I left out when she called me her daughter because I didn't know what he'd say to that.
When I finished, Master sighed. "I am returning home immediately. Talvas…" Talvas ran up behind me, putting his head on my shoulder. "I want you to secure everyone in the tower. Make certain to use the Interference circle around the tower. Make certain Teldryn is aware of the situation."
Talvas nodded. "Yes, sir."
"I will be back within a couple hours. I still have to finish up here or Ildari will be one of many concerns." Master nodded to us before his image blinked away.
I looked up at Talvas, my tears still falling from my eyes. My body shook with fear that I had never felt before. "Talvas…"
He hugged me, rubbing the back of my head as he rocked me back and forth. "It's ok, Veselle. You're safe."
I shook my head. "It's not that…" I looked up at him. "She called me her daughter."
His surprised look told me everything I needed to know…he already knew. And that raised so many more questions I had.
Cearbhail:
Did anyone expect that? I had it planned for a while now. And that's not it. Maybe her father...isn't really her father, but someone put in charge of keeping her safe? I'm not sure yet, but that would make her...someone else's daughter. And who might that be? Don't know...maybe someone who specifically said they 'weren't'? Not saying it's factual yet, but i might let it be. Stay tuned. things are going to heat up now. And this part of the arc isn't over just yet.
