Chapter 26

Mages and Father Figures

The next morning Bishop woke to the sounds of kitchenware clattering about. He rolled over from his face down position on the couch and fell off with a soft thud! - forgetting that he was elevated a foot off the ground. He gave an agitated groan and sat up on the floor, rubbing the back of his head.

Serlas came over, a tea cup in hand, stirring it with a spoon and looked over the couch and down at him, "Ah! Good morrow and bright tidings to you today Bishop. I see you slept well."

He stifled a yawn and looked up at the man, squinting through the bright daylight pouring into the room, "Uh yeah, morning to you too... er." He was trying to be polite and wasn't sure if he should use some kind of title, or mister, or sir, or... what the fuck am I thinking? This isn't me.

"Serlas is fine," the elf said with a plucky tone, "You know I always did feel that the title Honorable Arch-Mage Master Serlas Felroonyaran Thoraminh was a bit too long winded."

Bishop scoffed lightly, "Yeah, you'll never catch me even attempting to say all that."

He pushed himself up off the ground and walked over to the table, taking a seat while rubbing his eyes, trying to wake up.

Serlas was fishing around the cupboards, pulling out a few slices of bread and a plate when he said, "Can I get you anything? Tea? Toast?"

Bishop shrugged figuring why not, he could eat, "I prefer warm milk in the mornings and just a sweet roll if you've got any, or plain bread and butter is fine."

The elf chuckled, "Ah yes, the simple old fashioned nordic breakfast, full of sugar to start one's day!"

Bishop smirked, head in hand, "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it."

Serlas set both their breakfast choices down on the table and took a seat at the head of the table. In a second Karnwyr rose from his feet by the burned out fireplace and sat looking up at them both, patiently waiting for some table scraps. Serlas reached a hand out and scratched the wolf behind his ears. "He's quite amiable isn't he?"

"Karnwyr?" Bishop scoffed, "Damn old boy's gone soft on me. Ladyship spoils him too much."

Serlas looked over at him, sipping his tea, "Ladyship?"

Bishop felt a heat on his face and crossed his arms, darting his eyes away, "Uh yeah. S'what I call Rona sometimes, since I met her."

Serlas chuckled, "That's quite fine. I had many pet names for my dear Claudia, all the time we spent together," he looked upward, thinking, "Let's see, Miffed Muffin, Nagging Netch, Dreadful Dremora..."

Bishop laughed, "Wow, sounds like she was a real peach."

"Ah Claudia, she truly was an entirely awful and astounding woman all rolled up into purely, petite madness."

He started spreading butter to his toast when Bishop asked him, "How'd you end up with a woman like her anyhow?"

Serlas blinked, "Oh? Rona never told you?"

Bishop shook his head and drank his warmed milk.

"Well, Claudia and I were never in a relationship or anything like that. Let's see, it was about twenty four years ago. I was visiting my colleagues up at the Mage's College in Winterhold. We'd stopped by the tavern for a drink where some rowdy and robust nordic women were celebrating, quite loudly in fact, for their newest Shield-Sister. It was Claudia and her good friends Grella, Evanne and one other gal, I forget her name. Anyhow, Grella's daughter Aela had just become a full fledged Shield-Sister after proving herself on a task they'd been assigned. I remember it all quite vividly, in fact. There she was, the most lovely nordic woman I'd ever seen with flowing strawberry locks and dazzling green eyes. It was her voice which truly captured me though. The way she sang, it would make the coldest of hearts melt."

"Heh, sounds just like Rona," Bishop smiled to himself.

"Oh yes, Rona dear takes quite a bit after Claudia, thankfully her temperament is leagues calmer... Well my fellows and I started ordering drinks, enjoying the mirth in the tavern and then I ordered a round for the ladies. They were very appreciative and friendly. I got to talking with Claudia and we drank plenty of ale together. I shared with her my stories of the Oblivion Crisis telling her in great detail about the battles I waged in tearing down those gates. She seemed rather impressed and I must admit I had every intention of wooing her that evening so I may have embellished my stories a bit. We'd drank quite our fair share of ale at that point and I vaguely recall her drawing me off into the privacy of her sleeping quarters where... well I'm sure you can guess the rest."

Bishop had the widest grin on his face, his arms crossed and he laughed, "You sly old dog."

Serlas took a sip of his tea, smirking slightly as he said, "Well naturally, the next day we woke up to heavy hangovers and she scurried about, collecting her things and running off to rejoin her Shield-Sisters. Despite the throbbing headache I had, I felt quite proud of myself having bed her and all but forgot about it after some time. Of course nine months or so later, I received a letter stating that I'd had a daughter. I scoffed of course, thinking, how absurd! This woman must be utterly mistaken! I shall go there immediately and correct her! So I did, carrying off to Skyrim to prove that I was most certainly not the father of some nordic woman's child."

"You were that sure, huh?"

"I was until I reached Bruma and my evening with her all crashed back down to memory. Seeing the snowy peaks I remembered that entire night and realized, perhaps I did sire a child with this woman. So I went on, starting to doubt myself. When I arrived the Companions greeted me with the utmost hospitality. It was their Harbinger, Kodlak Whitemane who I spoke with first. He took me aside and asked me about myself, did I have a family, or any other children, what I did for a living and so on. I started to think I was speaking with the woman's father and was being interrogated for her sake. I would later find out it was for Rona's sake, they were very protective of her, like a family."

Serlas paused to take a few bites of his breakfast and heated his tea with a spell, stirring it some more, "So they lead me to the room where I was to meet this infant child they claimed was mine. I was still feeling rather wary about the whole situation, not sure what would happen. The moment I entered the room I noticed that the child's mother was nowhere to be seen and that the babe was wailing loudly. I went over to her and looked into her crib. There she was, this tiny girl, swaddled in a wolf's pelt, screaming for attention. So I picked her up and held her in my arms. She stopped crying instantly and looked on at me with those endearing eyes. I was in love. I knew she was mine, her tiny pointed ears and slightly golden skin were every indication I needed."

Bishop wanted to say, you can't know for sure, but he couldn't bring himself to ruin this heartfelt tale. Thinking back on his own family, he realized just how lucky Rona was to have Serlas for a father, even feeling a slight twinge of jealousy that neither of his own parents had ever held that kind of love for him or any of his siblings. Things could have been so different if he'd ever been as lucky as her.

"My dear sweet daughter," he reminisced, "I miss those days somewhat, how small she was, how precious."

"So you took her back to Cyrodiil?"

"Actually, I decided to remain in Skyrim for a while and attempted to rear her with her mother. You see, the moment I carried velvynen out of the room Claudia attacked me! Shrieking that I was stealing her babe, that I was a vile, evil Thalmor come to kill her child. Grella held her back, trying to soothe her and insisting that it would be for the best that I take her. Claudia wasn't having it though... and that was my first glimpse into her extremely capricious nature. One moment she'd wanted to keep her child and the next she utterly despised her, screaming about how she was ruining her life. I naively believed that I could help her somehow and agreed to leave my position as Arch-Mage and take on this new role of fatherhood and raise her together with Claudia. We lived together, attempting to make this situation work for three years. I took on a job working as court wizard for the Jarl of Falkreath and gave lectures to students at the Mage's College on occasion while Claudia continued working for the Companions. We did our best to keep ourselves busy while looking after our daughter. But I couldn't rely on her and over time I trusted her less and less with Rona. She'd done so many strange, erratic and dangerous things with her that I couldn't risk it anymore."

"What did she do?"

Serlas shook his head, "Well aside from the numerous times that she left Rona stranded at some inn or other questionable places she would often take her along on her solo missions into dangerous places like caves and Dwemer ruins. She even tried to train the girl to use a dagger when she was only two years old! What preposterous nonsense! She could barely walk!"

Bishop was stunned. It seemed that like him, Rona had experienced a similar childhood upheaval. Fortunately for her she'd been whisked away and saved by someone who cared.

"Claudia would disappear for weeks and months at a time. The last straw was after a four month stint, I couldn't very well take my three year old daughter off to the Mage's College and try to teach, so I wrote her a furious letter and left returning to Cyrodiil where I could raise her with a proper support system. Emperor Titus was thrilled at my return and reassigned me to my old position right away," he paused, finishing off his toast and said, "I didn't hear from Claudia for another year after that until she sent a letter apologizing and thanking me for taking her. I made sure to send her a yearly letter on Rona's wellbeing."

He set his tea down and lace his fingers together, "Rona doesn't know a lot about this. I never wanted to stain her view of her mother with these details, so I've kept most of it to myself. Perhaps that was part of my failings as her father, never warning her of what her mother could be capable of whenever she insisted on running off to live with her." He sighed.

Bishop disagreed and shook his head, "No, you did right by her and that's what matters most. It could have been a lot worse for her if you'd stayed. You're a good man Serlas... a good father."

"That's very kind of you Bishop," he smiled, "I can also tell you're a good man who has done right by my daughter."

Bishop turned away feeling slightly uncomfortable realizing that he was talking to his lover's father.

"I would like to discuss something personal with you."

He glanced back at Serlas and prepared himself for the weight of questions regarding his relationship with Rona. Gods, he's going to roast me alive, he thought, and hesitated, "Discuss what?"

Serlas looked right into Bishop's eyes with a stern look on his face and said, "I want you to know that I recognized you yesterday, realizing that I'd seen you somewhere before. A father cannot be too careful, so I dug through some old papers that had crossed my desk years ago and I found this," he pulled a tattered and folded piece of parchment from a slit in his robe and passed it to Bishop.

Bishop looked at the paper, his heart pounding suddenly, and he unfolded it. The smug face of his father stared up at him from a meticulously hand drawn image. The words WANTED: DEAD scrawled across the top in bold lettering and beneath the picture, Thrice-Banished Torban - 100,000 Septim Reward. Below that was a small paragraph in intricate detail.

Wanted Dead for crimes listed: Thievery, Murder, Kidnapping, Rape, Resisting Arrest, Escaping Prison, Assault, Pick Pocketing, Forgery, Trespassing. Though courteous and well-dressed, he is extremely dangerous and armed. Kill on sight, bounty will be awarded for his head.

Bishop curled his hands into fists, feeling his anger boiling. He put a hand to the page and slid it back to Serlas, glaring and said, "That's not me."

Serlas cast his gaze over the image and said, "I remember those days. The ever infamous Thrice-Banished Torban and his brood of brigand children. The resemblance you hold to him is uncanny. I imagine life was unspeakably horrific for you and your siblings."

"You have no idea," Bishop said through gritted teeth.

"These posters were put up everywhere in Cyrodiil back then. The Empire had enough of what Torban and his disgraceful wife, Rina, had to offer. I remember seeing the files on your family cross my desk one day, reviewing them and thinking to myself, how I might be able to save those damned, degraded children from them. I'm afraid to say I never did though."

Bishop turned his face down, scowling, "I don't need your pity. I got away from them on my own and survived just fine."

"And Torban?"

Bishop looked up at him, brows lowered, angered by this man's sudden insight into his private life, "He's dead."

Serlas sighed, relaxing and nodded his head slowly, "I'm glad to hear it."

Bishop growled, "So what? You showed me this because you think I'm like that? That I'd actually hurt her the way my father hurt... everyone?"

Serlas blinked and smiled gently, "No... From what I've seen and from the way Rona spoke of you in her letter, I have no doubt that you would never lay a harmful hand on her. I understand your anger though. I know what it's like for people to assume you're someone you're not and be attacked for it."

Bishop twisted his mouth and dropped his arms, rubbing his temple and sighing, "Yeah... I uh. I thought you were a Thalmor."

"I'm quite used to that, as I have been mistaken for one my entire life. This is what can happen when we paint others with such a broad brush of assumptions. I apologize for being so forthright in mine about you as well. I had to make sure though. My daughter is my world you know."

Bishop bit his lower lip and nodded, "Yeah. She is," he stumbled, "Er... for you, obviously."

Serlas chuckled, clearly gleaning that the two had some kind of relationship, but he was kind enough not to pry.

Bishop looked up at him and said, "I didn't attack you, just because I thought you were a Thalmor. I'm not... like that. I don't go around assuming people are out to kill me just because of the color of their skin or the shape of their ears... I did it because the Thalmor are after Rona and they will hurt her or kill her if they don't get what they want."

Serlas looked gravely at him and said, "Tell me everything."

Bishop spilled his guts again, telling him every despicable nasty detail about the Thalmor's plans and even about Thorn's intentions. Serlas' face slowly changed from one of horror and disgust to sheer ire as he talked.

When he finished Bishop said, "Rona said you can protect this place. That you can cast some spells or something to keep us safe. Can you do that?"

Serlas said nothing and stood from his seat and swiftly strode over to the alchemy lab, his robes fanning behind him. Bishop stood too as he heard some loud noises coming from the room suddenly, like bottles shattering and objects being knocked over. Rona came out of her room, yawning and rubbing her eye and said, "What's going on?"

Serlas swept out of the alchemy lab and grasped his daughter's hand. "Ata? - Ouch!" he pricked her finger and said, "My apologies velvyn, I need some of your blood. "

She looked on, confused as he hurried over to Bishop and pricked his finger with one of four needles, drawing his blood, then knocked on Illia's bedroom door and insisted he take some of hers too. They watched as he disappeared into the alchemy lab again and the sounds of drawers opening and closing and books flopping to the floor echoed into the living area.

Rona walked over to Bishop and squinting said, "What's going on?"

"I told him everything," Bishop said looking at her.

Her eyes widened as she whispered, "Oh..."

A bright red light flashed and a loud boom rumbled from the room and then a light smoke billowed at the floor. Serlas came out holding a sword and a large potion and looked over at Bishop, "How's your aim?"

Bishop raised a brow and said, "I never miss my mark."

"Good, get your bow and come with me." Serlas stormed outside and Bishop grabbed his bow while Rona stammered, "Wait - I'll get mine too."

Bishop spun around, grasping her shoulders and said, "Just wait here, please."

She gave a frustrated groan as he left her and Illia there. Bishop chased after Serlas who'd gone down the slope a ways and started dragging his sword through the dirt, creating a line. Bishop followed him as they went around the entire perimeter of the farm, up and over sloping hills and around trees. He essentially created a half moon line from one side of the mountain to the other. He popped the cork from the potion which was billowing a red smoke and he dripped it into the line in the dirt where it slowly pooled and trickled slightly over the slope through the trench he dug.

When he'd finished pouring most of it he took the rest and dumped it on his hands making them a sticky blood red. He tossed the bottle aside and held his hands out to the line, looking over at Bishop he said, "Stand inside the perimeter please."

Bishop did as asked and stood back a ways watching this man as he began to cast a terrifying spell. Serlas' hands shook madly as he fired a fierce red light from them over the line. The potion ran through it rapidly and a red light shone high and bright creating a wall all around them. It cascaded up into the mountainside, cracking the wall slightly. Serlas thrust his hands to the wall and forced the crack to continue with what Bishop could only assume was some force of magic. The wall shuddered and splintered up and around the cottage in a strangely uniform fashion and as the wall of light curved up and around the farm he realized that they were standing inside a perfect sphere if it had been partially enveloped by the mountain and the ground.

Serlas grunted, pulling his now steaming hands away from the wall and held them out along the perimeter, writing with his fingers in the air, etching bright runes to the ground. He did this for some time, placing fifty or more runes along the outside of the red wall.

When he finished, he looked quite drained and wiped at his sweating brow with his arm. He shook his red hands slightly causing the rest of the potion to burn up. He looked down at Bishop and said, "Alright, now I'm going to channel a detect life spell through you."

Bishop looked uneasy, he never cared much for magic, let alone when it was used on him. He didn't understand it at all and preferred to stay away from most of it, save for Rona's healing hands.

Serlas sensed his unease and said, "You will not be harmed, I promise you. The spell will make your vision fade slightly and give you the ability to see living things out in the forest, as though seeing through the trees and wilds to easily identify your prey. We're looking for anything that resembles a human or elf stalking about."

Bishop relented and said, "Alright... Okay."

Serlas put a hand to his shoulder and cast the spell. He felt a warm, tingling sensation run through his arm and into his head. His vision faded and he blinked a few times until he could see again. What he saw was ethereal and amazing. Everything in his field of vision was a dull grey except for the wildlife sprinting about and standing around lit up into bright red shapes and pulsing like a heartbeat. He could clearly see a rabbit scratching its ear before continuing to chew on one of Illia's plants in the garden. He looked out at the lake and around the forest watching wild deer graze and drink and thinking just how damn useful this was. Something caught his eye then, two things actually. They looked like men that were kneeling down, whispering to each other, clearly trying to hide behind the trees.

Bishop honed in on them and said, "There, I see two people over in the trees."

"Good. I will channel one more spell to conceal you. I want you to kill one of them, but leave the other alive. I will play as your distraction. We must capture one of them so that I might speak to them." Bishop looked over at Serlas with surprise. He'd never have guessed this friendly old elf would be so quick to kill, then he remembered that the man had lived through the Oblivion Crisis and the Great War and probably saw his fair share of fucked up shit throughout his entire life.

He smirked, feeling a kinship with the man, "I like the way you think."

Serlas waved a hand over him, making his body vanish and whispered, "The detect life spell will end soon, so make sure that we're about to kill some Thalmor bastards or bandits and not some innocent hunters before you shoot, please."

Bishop snuck around and slowly made his way towards the two men. Serlas took a walk away from the farm in the opposite direction, heading towards the lake and walking along the shore, looking as though he were just taking a quiet stroll after casting a giant protective bubble over the house.

Bishop saw that the two men were both watching Serlas, keeping their distance but their eyes on him. He stopped by a tree and felt his vision fading again. He shook it off and blinked so that he could clearly see two high elves kneeling in the brush nearby, whispering in Aldmeri to one another. One of them looked particularly agitated and seemed to be motioning that they leave. Bishop aimed his bow, making his mark on the nervous one. It'd be easier to sweep in and wound the least flighty of the two.

Serlas trudged up the hill, coming around their backsides, trapping them between him and Bishop. Though they seemed to think they were still well hidden. That's when Bishop let his arrow fly right into the forehead of the first one killing him. The other jumped and panicked, initially running towards Serlas before attempting to turn back again at the sight of him. Bishop let another arrow fly right into his leg.

The Thalmor cried out and his hands went alight with magic, ready to fight. Serlas rushed him, firing a shot from his hand completely paralyzing the elf. They approached and stood over the man, Serlas glared furiously at him, "Who do you work for? Who sent you?"

The elf's mouth twitched. Serlas waved a hand freeing his mouth from the paralyzing spell and repeated himself.

"(As if I'd ever tell a filthy blood-traitor like you.)"

Serlas' spat back, "(Do not test me Thalmor. You will speak in life or death, that is your choice.)"

Bishop couldn't understand a word but knew it was a very heated conversation as they snapped back and forth at each other, with Serlas casting some sort of strange white charm over the elf making his mouth twist as he fought against it. Serlas' rage was growing as he shouted, "(I warned you Thalmor. SPEAK!)" and then swiped a hand through the air, making the Thalmor's bones crack loudly.

He howled in pain and clenched his teeth, his jaw being the only part of him still able to move, that and his tongue. He seemed to realize this and stuck his tongue out then and made to bite it off when Serlas cast another spell at him, melting his teeth from his mouth. It was one of the more disturbing things Bishop had ever seen but he felt no sympathy for the Thalmor, not after all the sick and twisted threats they'd made. Serlas moved his hands and body in a sweeping motion, raising the elf up and he held his hand out as though he were holding him by his neck, but not touching him at all.

"(SPEAK! Who is it that would seek to harm daughter? You cannot fight the truth. SPEAK!)"

Finally the name was wrenched from his lips. "E-E-ELENWEN! It is Elenwen," he said defeated.

Serlas dropped him and released his spells. The elf grasped at the grass, shaking his head in disgrace.

"Leave us," Serlas said to him.

The elf scowled up at him, "(Kill me. I can never return. Just end it.)"

"As you wish," Serlas thrust his palm out, hitting him with a powerful spell which utterly disintegrated him.

Bishop made a mental note to never cross this man and asked, "Who's Elenwen?"

"Someone far worse than you would know. This may be an uphill battle for us."

They walked back to the farm and Serlas went around, continuing to cast runes on anything and everything around them. Bishop went back into the cottage and glanced around. Both Rona and Illia were sitting at the table, the Wanted poster sitting in front of Rona. Bishop's heart sank and he walked over to them expecting the worst.

The second she saw him though she leapt to her feet and hugged him, "Are you alright? I saw you two go off into the forest just a minute ago."

He looked at her, confused, and said, "Uh... yeah. We just took out some bandits. No, I mean," he had to be truthful. He couldn't keep lying like this, "two Thalmor agents that were following us."

She sighed, sitting back down, "This is getting to be a lot of trouble isn't it?"

Illia looked out at the fading red wall and said, "I've never seen someone use necromancy like that before."

"What do you mean," Rona asked.

"That wall. He took a drop of blood from each of us and created a barrier that only we could pass through. It's... vampiric magic. He's a very accomplished mage isn't he?" Illia stood up and said, "I'll see if he can use some help casting runes."

She left them and Rona looked up at Bishop with a soft expression, "So... I met your father."

He glanced at the paper and then back to her, "Yeah. You weren't supposed to see that."

"Well, I'm glad I know what a Thrice-Banished is now," she grinned.

"Huh... wha-why?"

She cocked her head, "Balgruuf told me to ask you about it back in Whiterun. He made it sound worse than it actually is."

Bishop scowled and crossed his arms, "I'd say it's pretty bad."

"Well, yeah," she looked at the paper again, "Kill on site for crimes listed. Yeah, that's pretty bad... But it's not you."

He exhaled slowly, "So... what? You don't care?"

She laughed, "Bishop, if this is the big secret past you've been keeping from me, this is... it's awful and I'm so sorry you had to go through that, being raised by such a horrible person. But it's all in the past now. The banditry, the thieving, whatever. It doesn't matter anymore. I've seen who you really are and you're a good person. If you were afraid I'd leave because of this... you had nothing to fear. I'm still here."

He pressed his lips together, feeling that overwhelming, uncomfortable emotion in his heart. It used to be so unfamiliar but now, with her he felt it all the time. He grasped her, holding her close to him. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his arm before tracing her hands up to his face and smiling sweetly at him. "My ranger," she whispered and pulled herself up to kiss him.

He wanted to bare his heart to her. Soon. At the ball, he thought. He would give her the most romantic night of her life and finally tell her how he really felt.