Author's note: I've resolved to update this every Monday and Friday. SO that means more updates.
This was based off that Grey-Mane side quest. I'm not sure if there was a way to get around murdering all the Thalmor, but honestly? I don't care. It was fun, and I'm proud to say that the entire thing took less than 5 minutes.
I also changed followers somewhere around here, for fun, so now introducing... Marcurio! The sassy as heck mage. I don't know how many people actually listen to stuff their followers say, but WOW does Marcurio say some weird stuff.
Casual daily reminder that I'm a beta reader now (and looking to create more work for myself), so yeah.
Reviews are much appreciated! Speaking of which...
Many thanks to reviewer NJT! I'm so glad you enjoy my writing. I loved hearing from you :)
Y'know, if only half of you people who had seen this story would review, I'd be a VERY happy person. *Please review* *It's nice* *Thanks*
Disclaimer: Not mine
Marcurio likes to think that good and evil are black and white. Killing someone is bad, helping them is good. Stealing is bad, giving to charity is good. But in the short time he's been with Aranel, he has started questioning that view of the world more and more. She steals, yes, and in the beginning he was going to report her. But after seeing what she does with the stolen goods, he isn't so sure anymore. The food goes to farmworkers, and struggling families, while other items go to merchants in order to boost their trade. And some of it goes to her children. He isn't so sure what he thinks of the "stealing but giving to a good cause" thing, but it isn't evil, he at least knows that. So what is it? He isn't sure.
Then there's the killing bit. When he signed on with her, he wasn't certain where she was going or what they were doing. After all, she had looked like an amateur adventurer in need of assistance, and he had figured that they couldn't be going anywhere dangerous. Now, less than two weeks later, he realizes that he was terribly wrong about that. They have (so far), plunged into more Dwemer ruins than he can count, sacked close to a hundred Forsworn camps, killed a few Thalmor, and run into dozens of vampire nests. The Thalmor are the ones that really bother him. After all, they're some of the most powerful beings currently in Skyrim, and who does she think she is to challenge such authority? But she does, and they do, and he finds himself participating in the fights. Trolls and Giants become everyday occurrences, while actual living people become something of a rarity.
Today seems no different. So far, they've cleared a few Forsworn camps, and she has murdered a bunch of Thalmor (again) on their way up the coast. A woman in Whiterun last her son, and she wants Aranel to find him. Personally, Marcurio thinks the man was killed while in prison, but Aranel refuses to believe that. Of course. So they've headed up the coast once more, and are now venturing into the more mountainous regions of Skyrim. Although, it's safe to say that all of Skyrim is a mountainous region. The slog through the dangerous territory is exhausting, though rewarding. He gets an entirely new set of armour, and Aranel finally finds an ebony sword on one of the draugr they kill. Despite the amount of money and armour they collect, however, they still haven't reached their end goal. It's only been around three days, but minimal sleep has drained the energy from both of them, though Aranel appears to be holding up slightly better than himself. She's probably had to do this before, he reflects. Thankfully, they have time on some nights to get a few hours of rest, and Aranel always carries food with her, so they remain in much better shape than they could have been.
On the fifth day out, she spots the Thalmor fortress. While, Marcurio knows, she would rather initiate combat first, instead Aranel walks straight up to the fortress.
"What are you doing?" he hisses, "You could get killed!"
She doesn't listen to him, and instead walks straight up to the front.
"Excuse me."
The Thalmor on guard eyes her suspiciously, and quickly tells her to scram, sensing a threat. She tries to reason with him a few more times, but it never works. Finally, she turns around and looks at Marcurio. He swallows, nervously, as she starts smiling. And then she walks straight past the guard. At that moment, all of the Thalmor spring to attention, and begin shooting lighting bolts, arrows, and charging straight at Aranel. She merely continues to smile, and launches herself into the fight. He sighs, and starts gathering a lighting spell in the palm of his hand. However, by the time the spell is charged and ready to go, over half the Thalmor are dead, and the others are fleeing. He looses the bolt at a nearby one, and is gratified with a hit. Turning back, he spots Aranel, casually picking off the last of their fleeing enemies.
She casually saunters back to where he's standing, stopping along the way for a coin purse or arrows. Finally, she reaches him. He begins pacing in a circle, and finally speaks.
"You are officially horrible."
She grins, and nods, storing the arrows in her quiver. There's a weird mix in there, Orcish, Dwemer, and Elvish arrows all in one. He's not sure how she stands the disorder, but then again, she is Aranel.
"You really wanted a fight, didn't you? And so instead of trying to find a way around… you killed them all."
Aranel pauses in cleaning her blade, and looks up.
"Damn right."
He stops dead in his tracks, the snow crunching.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I said," she states once more, "Damn right."
And they look at each other for a minute, before heading inside the fortress. Because although she's not going to change, he's willing to, if it means fighting for the people of Skyrim.