Cearbhail:

I have a new chapter for you guys. I guess you already know that, but I do have something important to announce. Both up here and on the one down underneath. First off, I would like to thank everyone for being patient for this chapter. Also, I have figured out how I'm going to end the love triangle between Vatu, Nexa, and Primrose. I know who Vatu will or will not end up with. If anyone wants to know before I actually write that chapter like two years from now (realistically), just let me know by message or something and I'll tell you what I have decided and when. But I will say this: The love triangle will be decided in Changing Fates. You know, since this story continues directly into the next one. So, it might be a while until then.

Second: for the notice on the bottom, I have a little surprise for those of you who don't read my Veselle Tenvanni story.

[Nexa]

Dear Prince Xravrish,

I'm glad to hear that you already know the full extent of the Aldmeri Dominion's cover up. I cannot wait for the spying device you mentioned, but by the time it gets to me, I'll already be in Lilmoth taking the fight to the reanimated corpse of my father. I'm glad to hear your warning that he might be up and walking. Who knows how the Dominion will try to confuse me. All they want is for me to die so that they can rule Argonia without worrying about a blood royal rallying support from the country to fight back. There are only 10 of us total, but I believe we can take a whole town with our little team.

Once we are done with our battle here, I'll see about sending some aid to help you with your war. I hope to hear from you soon.

Princess Nexauvia Frazviani.

…

I finished my letter just in time to see the giant wooden tree barrier that acted as a gate for Lilmoth. I slipped the letter I had just written into a waterproof envelope, sealing it by peeling off some adhesive stuff and closing the letter. I was sitting up on one of the higher branches of a Hist tree. The tree swayed a few times as it slithered through the swamps towards Lilmoth. I was fascinated by the fact that the trees didn't just grow legs and walk like you'd expect them to do. No… their roots come up from the ground and pull the tree as it hovered barely off the ground. Think of an octopus and how its eight limbs pull the creature across the land. A Hist travels much the same way, only pretty slowly. It took us a couple hours of traveling to get here, but at least we were here.

I had to think about what we were about to do. I was leading an attack on my own hometown; the capital of my country…the most defended place in all of Argonia. And it was so that I could protect the very same town from being used by the Dominion for the rest of oblivion. Of course my entire reason for fighting was also to cause a distraction that could distract the Dominion from our true objective…which I don't really remember what it is. I only know that I'm supposed to fight, kill my daddy, and recognize myself as Queen of Argonia. And by the graces of the many Hist slithering behind me…I will.

I looked over to Oleeme. He was resting on a Hist to my right. He looked right at home, standing up on the highest branch the Hist had, scanning the tree barrier while wrapping one arm around the slender tip of the trunk. "Are you sure this will work?" I called up to him.

He may not have had magicka rolling around in his eyes, but he nodded to me as if he was still bound by limitless magicka potential. "I have thought up our entire attack plan. I believe starting with the Towers will be our best bet. If we attack their guard station, the Towers will gather to inspect the going-ons. If the Hist are there, waiting and patient, a surprise attack will scatter the Towers and give us a direct discrete pathway to Lilmoth's waterways."

I nodded and looked at the rest of Shadow Squad gathered on the various Hists that strolled around mine. "Ok, everyone. Get ready for war." I looked down at Brinsa, who rested three branches lower than mine. "Are your men ready?"

He nodded. "We are prepared for our part. We cannot breathe underwater, so we will patrol the outskirts of town and defend against any agents defending the Dominion." He looked up at me, his eyes grim. "Do I have your permission to kill any Argonians that wish to involve themselves in protecting your targets?"

I nodded. "I'd rather you didn't, but I understand if you decide to. As of right now…we're a terrorist cell attacking the Queen and Warlord of Argonia. I'm a national terrorist…gods be with me. But I know that I'm doing the right thing. Even if I know that…I know that no one else will. So…there may be innocent casualties in this fight. That's as much my fault as it will be Fiirnar's. But that won't stop me from doing the right thing." I sighed, looking down at him. "Kill whomever you must…because I will do the same if I run into Tower guards trying to stop me."

Brinsa sighed heavily as he looked back at the tree barrier. "Times must be hard if one has to make a difficult choice to voluntarily end life."

"When isn't it?" I asked right back. "That's all we ever seem to do. In Morrowind, some god had sleeper cells of some ancient House living in towns. They started attacking civilians in the streets to kill the Nerevarine… and a lot of people died because of that. And then you also have the Oblivion Crisis. An entire Daedric Cult, the Mythic Dawn, tried to destroy all of Tamriel. And I'm sure that somewhere in the future, there will be another war against some powerful empire against a country fighting for its rights. Or even three different organizations all fighting for power and control." I shook my head in disgust as I looked down at Brinsa. "It never ends…and it never will. There will always be this struggle…this constant push to keep the peace that will ultimately lead to invasions, war, bloodshed. I hope that this battle…the one that I'm fighting in Lilmoth will at least lessen the amount of blood that will flow in our waters for years to come."

A collection of fireflies hummed off the branches around me. They flew up around me for a few seconds before spinning into a ball of light. It formed into a head that hovered a foot away from me. The floating head of fireflies hummed for a second before the ball started moving its mouth. A bunch of chirps that sounded like words started speaking to me. "Princess, we have a report from Valenwood."

"Ok?" I said cautiously as I looked at the ball of moving insects.

"The Hist have engaged several Dominion bases and have begun all-out war with the settlements. We expect an end to the war in three hours." The ball of light said to me.

I was surprised at how fast they believed their fight would be over. "That quickly, really?"

The head nodded. "Yes. We are not slow; we are not indecisive. If all the Hist of the world wish to act to correct nature's true path…we will move as one unit and establish our path as though the Dominion as if we were ending a plague."

I looked ahead as the giant tree barrier grew in size, easily 100 feet high. We called it the tree barrier because to begin with they were the largest trees in Argonia that grew near the ocean. The Argonians of the past decided that we were the safest from Imperial invasion here in the south, near the ocean. Imperials can't breathe underwater, and they could barely storm our massive jungles without dying first. So, to make it even more impossible, the ancestors bread a venomous bramble vine around the large trees. The vines turned into a massive bramble that was intentionally spread out to the other trees, and after years and years of manipulating the bramble, it led to a giant 100 foot impenetrable wall of venomous prickly vines that surrounded all of Lilmoth that was up on land.

There were several openings that we created in the wall so that we could venture out into Argonia's wilderness without going around the massive wall, three of which were underwater and led into a series of tunnels, one of which led straight into one of the Tower's bases that connected to the underwater Lilmoth. We were taking one of those routes. But we also wanted the way to be clear so we'd have to get the Towers outside first. One massive attacking forest would at least start that.

"Ok, everyone. Get ready." I called down to everyone as I looked to the floating ball of insects floating near my head. "Ok, Hist. Start your attack."

I watched as spriggans started pulling out of the trunks of the trees surrounding all of us. I could see almost fifty spriggans marching out towards the bramble wall. And to my surprise, the bramble wall started pulling and tugging. The wall split open, the wall untangling itself. The vines pulled away like they were a castle doorway giving way for the return of the heroes of its hold. I sat on my branch, holding onto the trunk of the Hist. I could not believe I was here to see this. The entire forest of Argonia… was becoming alive right before my eyes. Every day I spent as a child training in these woods; living off the land during my seasonal camping survival simulations, forced to fight starving wild beasts. All this time, and the forest had been watching me as well. Amazing.

I could see the surprised faces of the training shadowscales inside Lilmoth's training grounds as the wall of brambles split apart. I remember spending some afternoons near the bramble wall. We'd play paintball out there some days as a training exercise. It was a training sport where we'd use hollow knives and swords that would squirt paint out onto your body upon contact. The knives and swords were pretty dull and rounded, but that didn't stop the paint from coloring you 'dead' when you've been hit. We even had shuriken and arrow versions that we played with. It's a good reminder of how to fight well.

I watched as the surprised shadowscale trainees were suddenly attacked by the spriggans. It was fast too. It went from a minor showdown where the spriggans formed a line inside the tree barrier to where the spriggans were flashing into the trainees, overwhelming them with flying fireflies buzzing over them. I heard the shadowscales screaming in surprise and horror as they fought back with their training weapons. Looks like they were playing paintball too when we opened up the wall.

I started climbing down from the branch I was sitting on, saying, "Ok, Shadow Squad. We're taking the Western Tower Route. I'm sure we've all been briefed on it in our training. The beautiful thing is that Fiirnar doesn't know about our secret tunnels. He will not have thought to have them covered if he doesn't know they exist."

My shadowscales of Shadow Squad were quick in hopping from their Hist, falling silently to the forest floor. And as soon as they hit the ground, they dove right into whatever cover they could find, whether it was a bush, a hollowed tree, or the black lagoons periodically dotting the forest floor. My shadowwraiths, Nakuma and Oleeme, were slower to getting down, much like myself. We took our time as we glided down from branch to branch. Even Oleeme, who normally would just levitate without breaking a sweat, was behaving more conservatively with his crystal bracelet. He knew that if he overdid it, the magic in the bracelet would cease and he would be Silenced again. So, he was saving his magicka for important matters…like Ruins and Dwarves. I had to see Vatu, don't I? And right now, Ruins and Dwarves was the only communication between all of us. Next game was in two days.

When I got down from the final branch of my Hist friend, the battle inside the training grounds was in full roar. More shadowscales and shadowwraiths had jumped into the fight, and now Tower guards were climbing out of the lagoon hidden entrance to Lilmoth, the same one we intended on going on through. When I hit the ground, I lowered myself into a crouch. I flashed as fast as I could into a murky black lagoon, covering myself with the black algae. I slowly creeped my head out of the lagoon, black algae covering and hiding my face well enough that I didn't look like an Argonian. I scanned the entrance of the hidden tunnel further down the forest. I could see more Tower guards climbing out in a hurry, carrying their spears as they charged into the fight with the now moving Hist trees and the many spriggans that charged out of the woods to fight.

It was maybe two minutes before I didn't see anyone climb out of the tunnel, and I waited another three minutes to see if anyone that lagged behind was going to come out. When it didn't happen, I slid out of the lagoon, saying, "Shadow Squad, advance to target."

My shadowscales were always faster than my shadowwraiths. Of course, I knew why, but I hated that even I could see the militant difference between the two sets of teams. I had hoped that when this team had first been formed that the shadowwraiths would be just as quick to reacting to my orders as shadowscales, but ever since the first day Nakuma and Oleeme were more hesitant and awkward with stealth-styled missions. Nakuma was just a scatterbrain; and I knew why. Oleeme was a husk, and I knew why. The Soul Chamber; the single most horrific place an Argonian can be sent. It's not broadcasted to anyone…but whenever we have traitors, spies, or captured enemy officers…we send them to the Soul Chamber. And we keep them there until they break. We learn a lot about the other provinces by doing this to special informants. And by informants…I really mean kidnapped advisors to kings and generals that spent three days in the Soul Chamber. So, it's because I know this that I know just what Oleeme and Nakuma went through. If we wanted better mages, we should end the ancient practice of breaking them first.

I took cover as a Tower guard flew through the air over me. The Tower guard screamed as he flew through the air, only stopping when a Hist tree snaked out a limb and impaled the Tower guard. I watched in horror as the Tower grasped at his chest as a giant wooden spike rammed through him. He cried in horror for a few seconds before his face lax. I shook my head in shame and hurried as I charged for the hidden tunnel to Lilmoth. The sooner my team and I got inside, the sooner the Hist could stop their fight. Oh, who was I kidding? The battle would last until I came out as Queen of Argonia. The Hist wouldn't know when to stop fighting. That's when I stopped and looked at the Hist tree to me. Ironically, it was the Hist that had the impaled Tower on one of his branches. "I need a way to contact you once I'm inside, so that I can tell you when to stop butchering my people."

The Hist tree's trunk widened for a second, and a face with yellow glowing fireflies climbed out of the bark. A spriggan pulled herself out of the Hist and walked up to me. "I will come with you." The voice hummed with excitement.

I nodded to the spriggan and waved to my squad to join me as I glided to the murky lagoon that housed the only hidden entrance to Lilmoth near us. The three shadowscales were bounding from their hiding spots, diving down into the murky lagoon with such practiced ease that I almost wished I had these three instead of Meesei, Ram-ku, and that other guy when we first started our mission. Nakuma tried her best to be sneaky as she sneak-ran up to me, but her long mage robes were pretty open and flowing. So, as she ran, part of her sleeve caught on a branch or something. And when it pulled, she lost her balance and face-planted into a borris mushroom, which are known to cough up poisonous spores that actually melt skin off regular humans and elves. To us Argonians, however, some of us have…

"Oh gods…" Nakuma sniffled as she started sneezing. Some of us have allergies to the spores. It tickles our noses and lungs… that's all. And the way Nakuma was sneezing, she had a horrible allergy to borris mushrooms, it would seem. I waved to her to hurry up, but she took her time as she stood up, wiping her already itchy eyes. She looked towards me, jogging her way up, and then awkwardly dived into the murky lagoon. I was still waiting on Oleeme and Brinsa.

Brinsa dropped from a tree above me, landing a few inches from my face. "What shall I do?"

I had jumped back in surprise as he landed so close to me. I had to hold back a surprised scream too. When I cleared my throat, I said, "I want you and those elite Sparvia soldiers to harass the shadowscales and make sure the battle continues on. Try to use non-lethal methods of fighting though. Ok?"

He nodded. "Ok, got it." He took off in a run before grabbing onto a low-hanging branch from a tree, swinging himself up into the tree, and then jumping up to the top of it. He worked fast.

I looked around, waiting still for Oleeme. It got to the point where I stood up and actually looked around for him. I finally saw him staring at purple lavender almost as tall as him. I rolled my eyes as I walked up to him. "Oleeme…we need to go. The others are waiting for us and we need to end this war before any more Argonians are killed."

He was still eying the lavender. "Princess, this lavender." He reported to me with his empty voice that defined his husk personality.

"Yes, it is." I acknowledged him. I've seen Oleeme get distracted before, but not by an abnormally large plant.

"Did you know that lavender is one of Nakuma's favorite plants? She even uses them in her shampoo and soap. She always smells just like this plant." He informed me as he reached out for the plant.

"Are you suggesting we take the plant to Nakuma?"

He shook his head. "It would be a waste to kill a thriving specimen as large as this one. I was merely thinking that…Nakuma would like to see this lavender for herself. Perhaps if it is still here after we defeat the Aldmeri Dominion, I could bring her down here to show her the plant."

Ok, now I knew what was going on. "Oleeme? Are you suggesting that you're going to ask Nakuma out on a date?" I didn't mean to break into a laugh mid-sentence, but the idea of a husk asking someone out made me think of Yuvenni and my uncle Julanza opening making out last time I saw them. For years husks were moving soulless being in our society. And now it would seem that they were developing emotions again. Why? Or did they have them all along and needed nudging?

Oleeme turned to look at me. He looked confused for a second before nodding. "I believe that I am. Odd…but the thought of having Nakuma here with me makes me feel oddly similar to how I felt before I took my final test. I do believe I have the capacity to open up again."

Holy hell…I was right. This very well might change everything he believed about our emotionally damaged Argonians. When I become queen, this will be one of the very first issues I will try to fix. This was long overdue.

Cearbhail:

Coming soon to a fan fiction site near you..

...

...

[Bloodstain]

Fairy tales would have you believe that when a story ends, everyone lives in peace. The princess gets her prince and then the kingdom just rolls over to accept their new happy lives. Stories of war, oppression, enslavement just cease. Our story is just like their story. We fought to take our kingdom back. And we killed Fiirnar the Great. The Dominion pushed out of Solitude; pushed out of Skyrim. Their factories burnt to the ground, their inventions destroyed, their magicka taken away. You know what we did and you know how it ended. But that's the thing... stories don't end. They just begin a new chapter. And now...someone's tried to kill my wife, and pockets of resistance are forming across Skyrim. Discrimination against the elves is strong, dead bodies of Altmer in the streets, families killed and displayed in public masses, even open beatings of elves through Solitude.

My name is Bloodstain, and I'm a Shoutman. I live to protect those who need protected. And now, I have to do the one thing I never thought I'd have to do. I have to protect the citizens of Solitude against the Nordic invaders. I have to protect the elves that live here, elves that just want to get on with their lives. And I have to do it while keeping what remains of the Aldermeri Dominion away from my pregnant wife. And most importantly of all...I have to do it without the use of magicka, for I am silenced as is the rest of the world.