THE GARDENER OF MEN

The Listener

I'm still in shock. Hermaeus Mora is right in front of me in the flesh. This isn't a fever dream, at least, I think it isn't. Last I checked I didn't have any mushrooms of any kind. No matter how tempting it was to eat one…

"For once you are quiet. Quiet in my presence. Does the power of Hermaeus Mora frighten you?" His voice has this melody to it. Kind of like his eye. It rises, before falling, making a soft landing in a pool of ink. At least, that's how I look at it. His solitary eye remains unblinking and focused on me.

"I just don't get it. How are you alive? I thought she banished you." I reiterate. If he didn't hear me the first hundred times I asked.

He chuckles, "Yes, that question. I have quite the library of texts. I knew the powers she would use on us all, the barriers she would put in place. She is not as eloquent in her spell casting as she would think. There are cracks in the Night Mother's plan." The inky blob just floats there.

"This is Apocrypha, where all knowledge is hoarded. This land is untouched by her rule and directly linked to Miraak and his power… I am bound to Solstheim as much as he is. There is no casting me out of this sacred place."

I'm nearly choking on my excitement. My heart is beating so fast. "What do we do? Where is Nocturnal? This is great! Good. We can get a better plan. A better idea for how to defeat her."

The blob only floats around at my rambling. "Young. Foolish. Naïve. That is how I have seen you on this journey. A worthy adversary for one such as the Night Mother? That remains to be seen." He keeps floating as if he didn't just give me a verbal bitch slap to the face.

I ball my fists. "Yeah? What are you doing? I came all the way to Solstheim to find the perfect warrior to go against her! If Miraak can kill her then it's no skin off my ass! I'm actually smarter than you give me credit for."

The laugher is deep and booming as the darkness swirls in the puke-colored sky. "A noble idea. A noble sacrifice. But those are not all the pieces to her demise."

"Then what is?" I growl.

"See for yourself. You are in one of the most prized and sought-after libraries known to Aedra and Daedra. Look for yourself…" The darkness sinks into the sky to blend with the other colors. One of those weird bridges unrolls itself just for me to walk across it.

I grind my teeth but decide I'll show him. Figures that I get to the perfect place for answers and instead of giving me them on a silver platter I have to go do whatever…this is.

I stomp across the pathway and take little care in avoiding the tentacle thing that snakes out at me. It thrashes around my feet, but I just walk over it. On the other side is a book resting on a pedestal with a light above it. Looks like some kind of spore acting as a reading light. This has got to be what he wants me to look at.

I open the dusty old cover and instead of pages upon pages of your greatest epic, I find one saying scrawled across the page. Sweet mother, sweet mother, send your child unto me. For the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear.

The Black Sacrament, that old saying in the Dark Brotherhood. Don't know why it's helping here. I just drop the book and watch as the spore descends. Something eats it up and soon, a tunnel of a bookcase comes barreling towards me.

I step on and follow the glowing path down to the next book. One of those scary floating octopus guys watches me. I expect him to start shouting things at me like he did when I saw Miraak but nothing happens. "You're stuck here too, huh?" I joke. He doesn't turn away or give me some pathetic fake laugh.

I pull out the next book and read the contents. Bride to be. Bride of the Dread Lord. Killed five of her children to become the unholy mistress of the night.

Nice. Looks like a little history lesson on how the Night Mother came to be. I set the book down nicely so the plank like guy floating next to me won't lose it.

Another bridge falls. I walk over it to get the next book. Cast out from her home and land, she is destined to walk no more, falling into the arms of Sithis, a new order will arise.

All this mumbo jumbo and still no answers. I walk up the steps to another book. Eons in a coffin until the day the next Listener is born.

Okay. That's weird. I walk right up to the last book. It's up the spiral staircase and sitting on a pedestal under the gazebo looking scaffolding. I pick it up, glance up at the sky and see the Daedric Prince of knowledge hasn't shown himself just yet. So, I open the book.

She has midnight hair. Sea blue eyes. A smile that is as mocking as it is endearing. Her strength grows with the passing years. Her life is sheltered, unhindered by the troubles of the world. The house that is her home is welcoming and nourishing. Her parents were fated to love each other, to care for her from the day she was born.

When her youth was in full bloom, the power grew. Her mother worried, her father pushed on. They would not help her unless the common person was in danger. One day, the fair girl nearly killed someone in a marketplace with the power she held. She was told then to consult with mages.

That day never came. The next night, her parents were slain in cold blood. The man who killed them saw the girl, peeking over the edge of the staircase and thought better than to gut her as well. Days passed and soon the young woman was placed in a heavily guarded prison at the King's demand. She was too dangerous to keep.

When the bars couldn't hold her anymore, they let her go. Let her back into the world without a…

I throw the book on the ground without reading the rest and resist the urge to stomp on it. "What is this creepy shit! You've been spying on me this whole time and writing a biography on my life, huh? Is that your special power on how we get out of this mess?" I have angry tears burning and I'm happy to say, when I look up through them, I see Hermaeus Mora glaring down at me with that solitary eye. Others blink behind him.

"I was merely wanting you to see the sequence of events. How we got here is how we escape."

"Yeah? Tell me how reading about my old eye color and the nice ass lifestyle I used to live does anything? Last I checked that wasn't an Artifact I could stab her with!"

The cloud floats closer until all I see is his eye. "You dare disrespect the time and dedication I have put into this plan?" His voice is deep as ever. I really resist the urge to fall down to get away from him.

"You haven't told me what it is yet." I say softly as the inky spindles move closer to my face.

The Daedric Prince merely laughs. "I will tell you in due time. Be aware, it is not something you will like…tell your friends when you wake up. You have some decisions to make."

I wake up with a start. I'm still on the marble floor of the dwemer ruin we broke into. Bryn is right in my face. "Are you okay? Gods I thought you were hurt." He pulls me into a hug. Behind him I see Cicero holding a knife to Nematode. He isn't happy about that. The reiklings are crowding around Teldryn who looks at a loss for words.

"We need to get out of here." I gasp. My heart is beating so fast.

"Lass, why? What's wrong? What did you see?" Bryn wipes some stray hairs from my face.

"Something unpleasant it seems." Neloth says. Cicero sticks his knife to him further. That shuts him up.

"It's a lot. We need to go somewhere safe. I have to think of how to explain it. I think I found a way to stop her. But you won't like it."

Bryn gets that knowing look in his eye. He can hear in my tone we might be separated. "Fine. Can we go back to your tower, Neloth? I want every moment with her to count."

Neloth sighs, "Yes, if the vampire here will get his knife off me."

Cicero looks to me as I rise. Bryn is by my side. "Listener?"

I jerk my head to the side, showing the now open doorway to the great outdoors. "Let him be. Come with me. We have a lot to talk about. I know how to get Mother back."

The walk back was leisurely. I went over everything in my head but tried not to let it distract me from Bryn's hand in mine. His skin was the same temperature as mine for once. I wish we had more time like this. I wouldn't make him uncomfortable with my cold touch and he won't be fearful of breaking a bone when we become passionate. We were now equals in every sense of the word.

Well, almost. He wasn't bound to an unholy creation since his birth. Sounds like I still have that over him.

The reiklings pull on my armor. Trying to get me to go hunt things with them. I wave them away and try to tell them to go back home but they're stubborn, they won't leave my sight.

Teldryn hasn't said much. He could read the aura around the group and stayed back only to help Neloth around certain obstacles that might be hard to navigate in such an extravagant robe. They talked about meaningless things about living in Solstheim.

Bryn kept a tight grip on my hand, and Cicero had my other. He hasn't left my side, not once. I allow this. In a weird way, it felt nice to hold my soul brother's hand. No animosity. No fighting. No hatred. Just companionship until the end.

We get to the giant mushroom and do that weird floating thing. I'm one of the last to get to the top with Bryn and Cicero behind me. Neloth and Teldryn already have chairs dragged out for us. The reiklings sit on the ground, completing the circle of sitting people.

I sit. Everyone stares at me. I start, "I'd like to say, this whole time I've been addicted to trashy romance novels. It's a problem." They all give me blank looks. I sigh, "Sorry couldn't help the joke with the set up we have going here. It's like we're in an addiction meeting…nevermind." I sigh when Teldryn raises an eyebrow. He has his helmet in his lap. Neloth looks disgusted. The others are entranced with my lips, waiting for me to say what they came here for. Only the reiklings laugh.

"Duck!" They yell in unison.

I grin, then wade into the murky waters of Hermaeus Mora's plan. "He told me a lot. More than I wanted to know." I start for real. "I met with Hermaeus Mora, the Prince of Knowledge. He was able to stay away from the Night Mother's banishment because he's tied to Solstheim with Miraak."

Neloth nods, "I knew he was in this somehow."

The others shush him. I give a smile to the crowd, "We had a plan. Well, the last part of it is a good idea. It kind of kills two birds with one stone. We thought it might be a good idea to send Miraak to Skyrim. Hermaeus Mora actually brought him out to talk with me. Boy, he was pissed but after he heard the other Dragonborn is sitting in Skyrim he wanted to go kill her." I paw at my armor, pull out that vial I've had for so long filled with the vampire cure. It's now empty. I show it to everyone.

"This vial was holding the incomplete vampire cure. I wanted to cure myself before I got over that existential crisis. I kept it because I thought it might be useful and turns out it is. We can kill the Night Mother's body with it since she is a vampire. I had Miraak coat a weapon of his choosing with it. He was dramatic and chose a solitary arrow. So, he better hit the mark." I add.

"Continuing on. The plan is, he will show up to Solitude, where Hermaeus Mora sees the Night Mother being in a few days. He's going to kill her body and we get to deal with her soul." The room is still quiet. They're all waiting with bated breath.

"This is the hard part. The really weird part." I look to all their faces, "I don't think the Black Star is going to work. Even if we got her soul in there and I gave her to Molag Bal for him to lord over her, she would just find a way out. Hermaeus Mora is smart and experienced. He knows how far a pissed off person will go to finish their deeds. He knows that won't keep her for long…"

"So? How do we get around it?" Teldryn pushes when I'm not explaining fast enough.

I hold my hands out, signaling to the circle of friends itself, "This. Group therapy basically."

They all look at me like I ate a sweetroll covered in skeever heads. "Come again, lass?" Bryn has his arms crossed. Cicero scratches his head in confusion.

I sigh, "Hermaeus Mora told me that he…his realm…is close to the Void. He can get us in there to talk to Sithis again. He wants to bring me and the Night Mother in there. Her soul. So we can talk to Sithis and maybe change her mind."

They all look like I've gone insane. "Mother would do that?" Cicero asks.

I nod to him. "Yep. He said you can come with me. Only the Listener and her brother can go in. We, you and me, are the only living flesh and blood of the Night Mother."

Cicero seems like he lost his breath. His eyes brighten. "What is it you're saying, Listener? Are we Mother's blood and flesh? For real?"

I shake my head, "No. Her children died long ago. Before they could start their own bloodline. You and me, we were chosen at birth to be her servants, thus, making us brother and sister in her eyes. Only we can walk the plane of the Void with her and the Prince of Knowledge."

His eyes are lit up with excitement. Bryn gets in the way. "Are you sure this isn't some trick?"

"Hermaeus Mora doesn't deal in smoke and mirrors." Neloth sneers, "He would rather take her soul for a millennium of ungrateful servitude. That's what I would be most concerned about." He nods to me.

I sigh again. "No. He's not going to do that. You guys keep forgetting, he still has skin in the game. He doesn't want to be limited by her power. He wants her gone. Even if we stormed the Castle and destroyed that moondial, she would just put it back up somewhere else. We have to convince her otherwise."

"Can Hermaeus Mora do this himself? Without bringing you in?" Bryn questions.

I shake my head, "Nope. He needs us. Me and Cicero."

"Of course, Cicero will help Mother! Wherever he can." He leaps from his chair to sink to his knees right in front of me. He takes my hands in his. The jester's eyes glimmer. "It would be an honor to walk the dark paths of the Void with you, dear sister, all for Mother."

I swallow that lump of fear in my throat, "And you would be alright taking her off this path? Changing her mind?"

He nods, "If it means she gets to live. Cicero serves her to the end but if Sithis knows what is right, and this path will destroy her, then so be it. We must help Mother how we can."

Then the deal was sealed. He was the one I was most worried about. I honestly thought he'd go on a rampage and try to get back to Skyrim before anything could happen. But he surprised me. It sounds like Sithis is the true kingpin here, not Mother.

"Let's do it then." I clasp his hands. He gives me a breathtaking smile and pulls me into a hug.

I see Bryn over his shoulder. His eyes look pained. "What can go wrong with this?" He asks point blank.

"Everything." Neloth butts in again. "Hermaeus Mora is a Daedric Prince I would not put it past him to trick her into something she would not do. Or even, lock you two in the Void and throw away the key." He crosses his arms. I'd think he's just being an ass but he way his heart flutters, he's just scared.

"He reassured me." I remind Bryn, "He told me he would bring us back, safe and sound, out of the Void and the Night Mother dead. Her soul will go somewhere else. He gave me his word."

"I know, lass. But how long have you been working with the Princes? Can you even tell if their word is true? They said the Artifacts would work and they didn't damn well do anything to her!" He shouts. The others wince at the outburst.

"I know. But we were in Sovngarde. I don't think those Artifacts would have worked there anyways."

I see him opening his mouth to protest but Neloth butts in. Yet again. Wish I could tape his mouth shut. But he has surprising words. "Daedric Artifacts? You tried to use those in the land of the gods?" His look is incredulous. "You thought that would work? You know the Artifacts of the Aedra can work in Oblivion but not the other way around. Oh no, to do so would be a great insult to them…" He trails off with this haughty look on his face. But if I weren't already taken, I would go over and kiss him.

I look to Bryn again with excitement. "See! That confirms it! We had all the tools but we were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He still looks pained. Indecisive. "Why the Void? Why not bring Sithis here to talk to her?"

Neloth comes to the rescue again, "Why not open the portal to what seems like a man eating subhuman but is actual a primordial deity larger than the universe itself? Do you understand how foolish that sounds?"

Bryn gives him a heated look but eventually complies. "How long?" He asks me in a soft voice.

"A few days. I'd need you and whoever else wants to go to get to Solitude. Try to get any Artifacts there that you can and be ready for Miraak's arrival. Once she's dead, we should be back and have her soul with us or somewhere else." I add.

I see the shadows of tears in his eyes. "Are you sure about this?" He really looks at me.

I clutch Cicero's hands tighter and nod. "I've never been so sure. Hermaeus Mora laid out the plan and he did it well. There is no doubt in my mind that this will work."

Bryn nods again. "I would ask if we could have more time…"

"Time is short, and the Night Mother's days are long." Teldryn finishes. "Better to be done with it now."

I stand, letting Cicero sink off to the side and go to kiss Bryn. I don't care who sees, or how gross it is. I give him the kiss one would die for. Like our first kiss but even better. It's how it should be. His arms snake around me and pull me to him. I push against his lips with a fervor. Saying all I wish I could. I wish we had one more night. One more week. One more time to really show him how I feel without words. But we can't wait with her on the other end of the sea with great hatred in her heart.

"I'll be back. I always come back." I whisper. "I love you."

"I love you, lass." He breathes in my scent. Kisses me again, "When you return, I want to get that house with a dog. Get a real marriage."

I laugh and feel that promise ring on my finger. I've been wanting that too. "When the storm is over, I promise we can do that."

We break away to some awkwardness to the group, but I just keep going. I hug the reiklings. "Duck. Duck. Duck!" They keep chanting.

"Be good and tell the Chief I'll be back for some mead soon." I pat all their heads.

Teldryn is next. I hug him tightly. "Thank you, for all that you've done. I wouldn't have been able to get through the Temple or saved my friends without you."

"You as well, thank you for the entertaining adventure." He pats my back. "It's not over yet. I'll accompany Brynjolf to Solitude to see her dead." He promises.

"Duck! Duck!" They keep yelling. Sounds like the reiklings want a piece of the revenge cake too.

I don't tell them not to go, I just turn to Neloth and bow my head. "Thank you for everything and getting us to this book. You don't know how…welcome this is. We needed to get a chance like this. I found more than Miraak himself in there. I found a way to save Tamriel."

The Dark Elf just stares at me. "You are welcome but remember Miraak is not one to be trusted. I would not be surprised if he has plans of his own. I am hoping for his destruction in the process."

I shrug, "You never know."

I then turn to Cicero. He's watching me with a fervent expression. Last time I saw him looking like this was when he found out I was the Listener. It was the same look I got when he saw me with Hay, my resurrected bear for the first time. He knows what power I wield.

He falls to one knee, exaggerating his bow before me. "Listener, you don't know what you have brought into my life. You may never know, just think me a fool. But Cicero is grateful for your service." He looks up with a wide grin on his face.

"You're alright if this changes things though? Mother won't be allowed to take over Tamriel like she once could." I remind him.

His eyes glow, they're harsh in the dim lighting in here. They're certainly mad. "The Dread Lord whispers to me…he knows. He knows all and wishes little ill will on the people of Tamriel. If he doesn't want Mother to heed his wishes in such a way…" He trails off. His eyes are vacant. "We shall ask Mother and see what she has to say."

I can't really tell if he's agreeing with me or not. But I can't sit around and pry the answer from him. "To the Void?"

He snaps out of it, shakes his head and bounds over to me to hold my hand. "To the Void, Listener! Oh, how I've longed to say that!"

I look back to Bryn and have to say goodbye again. He falls into my arm and kisses me once more, before presenting the Black Book to me. I hold it in the one hand that's free. Cicero is in the other. The reiklings begin jumping around. Teldryn nods when I look to him. Neloth keeps a cool eye on me. Bryn gives me that gorgeous smile. "Go get her, lass." He tells me.

I open the book and soon I'm transported back into the world of Hermaeus Mora.

Cicero keeps up with me when I run all the way to the top of that spiral staircase to where I saw Hermaeus Mora last. When we stand, side by side and staring at the green and yellow sky, the inky orb appears.

"Ah, I see you have returned as you said you would. And with your brother in tow. Are things set up? Have you told the others?" His eye blinks down at us.

Cicero's breathing is ragged, not sure if he's suffering a panic attack or wanting to stab this Prince through. I keep a hand on his shoulder. "We did. They're going to Solitude as we speak."

"Good. Good. They will be a great asset when the time comes. Are you two ready to enter the Void?"

I swallow that fear that likes to climb up my chest. Squeeze Cicero's shoulder. I can hear his heart beating faster. Feel his fear now that he's changed over. He's just as scared as I am.

"Yes." I say for the both of us.

"Very well. I shall see you in a moment." The ink around the eye bleeds outwards, slowly blotting out the green and yellow in the sky. Soon, the whole world is encompassed by it and we both sink into a black hole.

On the other side, I wake up in on the forest floor. It's very dark here. Barely any light to see with. But I make out the shape of the trunks of trees and underbrush brought to life by the faint blue light. They're barely a shadow against the permanent night here. The tree limbs reach out so far that I quit seeing them. It's just the forest floor and us.

"Listener?" Cicero grabs around for my hand. I hold his. If this were months ago, I'd probably puke at the thought of holding his hand in any situation. But now, I need some form of comfort more than ever. There's a certain wrongness here. Like we are where we are not meant to be. Uninvited guests.

"Uninvited you may be. But once we show ourselves, we will certainly be welcome." The only light to pierce this dark place is the whites of Hermaeus Mora's eye. He looms above us still, showing there is a sky here. "Follow the path and I will be sure to meet you on the other side…"

His voice fades with his form. "Listener! It's so dark. So cold." Cicero trembles against me. "It's what Cicero thought but…"

"Scary? Like you're being watched?" I feel that pressure now. It's like there are millions of eyes on us and none are from Hermaeus Mora.

"Like someone waits in the shadows." He whispers. I keep a tight hold on his hand.

Before us, in the little light here, I see a ragged cobblestone path. It's beaten by age, it will be hard to traverse but it leads over a small hill and down into nothingness. It looks like a pool of ink laying on the ground. Smoke rises from it to beckon us home.

There has to be something there, but whatever is under those inky depths I'm not sure I want to know. Not that we have a choice. We have to go that way. I pull Cicero next to me. His fear is permeant. Bleeding through to my own and making my own flustered heart beat faster. I have to keep him calm.

"Think of what Mother would say." I muse in as chipper a tone as I can muster when I pull us onto the path. I nearly stumble into a small hole that had suddenly opened up. It's like even the land doesn't want us to go further.

I feel his hand pull against mine. I can feel his instincts. They're like mine. As we near the inky pool that wades out into oblivion, his instincts are saying to run away. I hold fast.

"Mother wouldn't like this." He whispers frantically, "There is nothing here. Nothing. No sound, Listener, do you hear that?"

I keep my ears open. He's right. Aside from his nonstop chatter and our clomping footsteps, I don't hear anything in the forest. Cicero continues, "Whatever is down there is nothing to rule, nothing to be. It's everything she would hate."

"She was in a coffin for eons. She'd be fine with this." I reassure him. Even his voice is panicked.

He pulls against me, but I keep good hold. A few more steps and we will be there. "But Mother could talk to you. She always had someone there." His voice is but a whisper.

"I'm here. Don't I count for something?" I say it as a joke. His hand only latches onto mine.

He's so quiet, I have to focus to hear the words. "Don't leave me, Listener. The darkness never scared me. But the nothing will."

I tried my best to reassure him, calm him, all we have to do now is descend. Once I cross over from the cobblestone into the inky darkness beckoning us, I can't feel Cicero's hand anymore. I am detached from my body. I fall away into the Void.