Blindness

by Deunan and Hawkings.

The Plan part II: Cheydinhal.

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"Come on slow-poke!" Xochi called out behind her as Nero tried to catch up, her horse was fast and well trained, his was a basic bay given to the patrol guards, that and he was wearing armor.

"Xochi!" He chased after her for hours, of course, she was going easy on him by not riding at her best.

Every now and then Xochi would easily dodge people on the roads, either on horses or just walking, Nero would have to slow down slightly and speed back up.

Still dark out Xochi was easy to spot, pure white in the moonlight only illuminated her as if she was a candle on fire in the middle of a dark room.

Once Cheydinhal came into view, Xochi only rode faster and Nero decided since they had neared the city that she wouldn't get lost or attacke when their so close too the Cheydinhal guards.

Xochi stopped once on a hill overlooking Cheydinhal.

"What's that?"
Xochi pointed to a large tower in the city.
"That is the Great Chapel of Arkay, one of the Nine Divines."

"Can we meet him?"
"Arkay!? He's a Divine, in other words, not mortally existing... Non-existent in a mortal body, that sort."
"Ohh. Then how you do you follow him?
"We read-... I mean we have... Uh, you know, I don't know..."
"You're very religious, I can tell." Xochi laughed.

Two riders appeared behind them, "There they are, wait until they are in a secluded area, we'll jump them then." One man said and they turned into the woods.

"So this is Cheydinhal." Xochi looked around, taking just about everything in at once.
"Yeah, it's a small city, not much around, a few shops, fighters guild, Mage's guild. It's an okay city I guess."
"Okay? I love it!" Xochi walked on ahead of Nero who simply followed her as she made her discoveries.

She went into the Mage's guild and asked them just about everything that has anything to do with the Mage's guild and a lot of the mage's were slightly surprised to see someone with so little knowledge of Magika in general but was so willing to learn it, even if it was all at once.
They had to gather multiple mage's, from apprentices to masters of Magika because after a while she began asked very complex questions that took the most experienced to answer.
If she memorized everything they said she'd be more knowledgeable then the most masterful Mage's.

Nero took her to the Fighter's guild which he instantly regretted because Xochi and the highest guild member in Cheydinhal chatted more about the political defects and the general drawbacks of fighting and war rather then talk about the array's of styles the Fighter's guild has accumulated over the years.
The guild members of the Fighter's guild watched closely as Xochi backed the highest member into a corner until he couldn't answer to any more of Xochi's light interrogation.

Nero simply stared in amazement as the guild members couldn't find words to back up their way in the guild, although Xochi was right, there has to be a reason for everything.

Finally he took her to the guard barracks to visit various guards Nero has met in one situation or another, all instantly caught Xochi in their sight and then wouldn't let her out of their sights.
Nero would be annoyed if he didn't know that this was Xochi's first time in Tamriel and he was given the pleasure of giving her the grand tour.

"Xochi, it's getting late, we need to go."
"Oh fine, you're the escort." Xochi stood up. "Goodbye!" She said and turned out the door with Nero behind her.

"We'll make it to Noki's in time if we go now." Nero said as they exited the gates.

"Do you want to stay with her again tonight Xochi? If she will let you that is."
"Of course I'd love too, Noki's nice. I don't want to burden you and Chanda anyways."
"You are not a burden."
"Can't make love with your wife if I'm in the house, can you?" Xochi laughed, Nero only twitched.
"I'm going to act like you never said that and go on with what I was saying. You're not a burden Xochi, you're simply... without a home."
"Thanks for reminding me, but I am at times, I know it. You're trying to impress your wife and I walk in, it makes an awkward moment, I can see it clearly."
"I can appreciate your consideration Xochi, but honestly you are not a burden. I know your history and I understand you have no where else to go to, you have to stay with us. I don't trust anybody around here."
"What about the other guards?"
"Not completely, I can trust them with my son, my brother and even my wife because they know her and she knows them... and they know I'd kill them if they ever touched her, but with you it's an entirely different story, you are fragile and you are a very beautiful young woman, any man would want to get their hands on you, especially a drunk, lonesome night guard who cries himself to sleep because he has nothing in his life and you walk along."
Xochi only rolled her eyes and continued on.
Nero sighed. "Xochi, you are rare indeed, not just because of your race, but because of how you think. No land is perfect, there are people who will want to kill you, people who will want to... hurt you in a way that I can't stand to think about. You're a good person Xochi, but you can't survive on pleasantries."

Xochi only felt slightly confused with this sudden change of thoughts, people used to be so good to her and in return she was helpful to them.
Her first take on the free world was just that, a free, well-kept world. Where people made peace and held a certain degree of cleanliness.

Nero's world was much different then she hoped for, she's met begger's, talked with merchants and even chatted with counts that wanted to see this rare creature, she is seen as a delicacy, like a pet almost, a rare, beautiful and very expensive pet that since no one could buy was simply paraded around for all to see.

Although Xochi felt confused in this terrible world, Nero was only even more grateful that he found her and not some highwayman, or some scout from Morrowind who felt like taking a stroll.
Nero's best relief was that even though Xochi was safe most of the time from other people, was that he himself has felt no desire for Xochi whatsoever.
He was worried once Xochi told him that Aidan explained to Xochi that Leocadian's are always in a higher level of the civilians of her world, Leocadian's are often desired upon by every male and female of any race because of their brimming history, their enchanting appearance and their love of the arts.
Xochi told Nero that a man would look at her and would go into a trance just by looking at her and many men were punished when this would happen because of the danger that could follow.

While Nero appreciated the handy work of the God's and more then likely a God of love and prosperity, he felt no immoral desire to be with Xochi other then to protect her from the other men that will have a desire to be with her.
He felt like a guardian, he felt good and very pleased with himself that Xochi's enchanting appearance was not affecting him in some painfully strong way.

Nero wondered though, what made Xochi so enchanting.

"Xochi, what is it that Aidan said that makes your race so... desirable?"
"Why? Do you feel this desire?" She asked.
"No. Amazingly not, but I want to know why it would happen."
Xochi smiled, blushing ever so slightly.
"Aidan said it's caused by our history, he said it was about our skin, he said a lot of things..." Xochi thought for a moment.
"But he said this was the mother of all reasons!" She remembered.
"In the past, when races would fall in love with other races, that my kind, the Leocadian's, did not and remained pure blood, loving only those of their own race, creating an impressive purity that stunned other races to the point of this trance."
"So because of historic impurity other races would stand in shock that Leocadian's are so strict?"
"Well, when you say it that way it almost makes us sound like perfectionists." Xochi ran her hand through her hair.
"It's true though, because Leocadian's wanted purity over everything else they became like this." Nero reasoned.
"I guess." Xochi thought for a moment about it, so ego driven behavior was so strong that her race would only have relations with another Leocadian.

"Sounds a bit... selfish and slightly thick headed." Xochi's smile disappeared.
"No, it's not bad! It makes sense, it's only a heightened sense of things."
"You're right, it's not dumb, it's smart." Xochi tried to reinforce herself with her now former pedestal, which has now been burned and swept away in one fell swoop.
"Aw, Xochi it's okay, I didn't mean to bring you down." Nero cursed himself for asking her.
"No, it's fine, you are right though. My race chose to live a closed off life rather then happiness and joy."
"Xochi it's not like that, it was only a question, no life lessons involved, I promise." Nero was shouting to himself for pointing this out earlier.

Nero could only mentally hit himself over and over again after saying that, he felt stupid and her was quite the moment killer.

Xochi on the other hand was feeling down, but enlightened, being numb for so long was quite the thing, she felt alone and almost emotionless as she can now realize.
Nero has been her eye opener, telling her the truth, hiding nothing from her, telling her that the world isn't perfect, it's full of violence and greed at the same time calmness and love.
All this was confusing but was slowly making sense, it's only a matter of time until she full understands this world of Tamriel.