Chapter 4

Riften's Beloved Tomboyish Daughter

XXXXX

"Are you sure you want to do this, Mjoll?" was what was spoken in what seemed to be a pub. The target of this was a bulky woman in terms of muscle, with blonde hair, steel-blue armor, and a blue-grey tattoo along the left side of her face.

"If anyone is going to protect the citizens of Riften from the threat of a new Deadra, it will be me," Spoke the woman, known as Mjoll the Lioness due to her wild combat techniques and protective inctinct, "I know about the Argonian archer who resides in the region, but I doubt he can be able to protect these folks on his own."

"Well, be careful," sighed the other person of the conversation, a thin man in a red-green winter outfit, with brown-to-black hair, and a demeanor to match the Lioness's gaze, "I don't think anyone here wants to lose you."

"I know, Aerin" With those words, Mjoll left Riften in search of the Argonian archer romoured to be in the region. She packed her few belongings, which were a battle-ax, and a green sword that looked a bit transparent from the volcanic glass and malachite. It didn't take long for her to find a little girl in a blue-white outfit, ice blue hair, and crystals attached to her back, unconscious on the ground. Thinking there were bandits nearby, Mjoll lifted her battle-ax and prepared for combat.

"Oww," the little girl moaned, as she came to, "Did they have to hit me that hard in the back?"

"Hey, are you alright little girl?" Mjoll asked the now conscious girl, "You seem to have been attacked by frost mages."

"What do you mean? Mages can't use frost, only Ice Fairies can."

"Ice Fairies, what books have you been reading little girl?"

"Books hurt if you look at then too hard, that's why I avoid them. Plus, some of them try to eat you."

"You're afraid of reading, aren't you?"

"How would you guess that?"

"I was the same way when I was your age," As Mjoll said this, she stretched a hand towards the girl, "I trusted my sword more than a little package of paper, and didn't learn a whole lot other than what I picked up myself over the years."

"You were afraid of books, too?" Inquired the girl, "Which books scared you the most, a big black one with gold trim?"

"I cannot remember which one I just soiled myself over, but there were some texts I simply just couldn't get near."

"Hey, what your name?"

"Mjoll, yours?"

"I'm Cirno, the STRONGEST Ice Fairy!"

As Mjoll heard this, she stepped back a bit. She has heard of the Deadra which look identical to typical Bretons or Nords, but seeing one like made her wonder if they were truly as fearsome and deceptive as they were made out to be.

"You wouldn't happen to be connected with a Deadric Prince, are you?" she asked, hoping the girl wasn't one of those Deadra known as youkai.

"What's a Deadric Prince?" Cirno asked, rubbing her head. This last remark seemed to calm Mjoll a bit, but she still was a bit on edge.

"Well, I've never heard of an Ice Fairy until now, So I had figured you would be affiliated with a Deadra like Hermaeus or Mephala."

"Nope. I just live by the Misty Lake, and go flying once every 60 years."

"How old are you, Cirno?"

"Not old, but I've lost count when I hit 90."

"90 years is pretty old."

"Nuh-uh! I've seen people who have been around for over 1000 years!"

"I don't think even a Bosmer can live 1000 years without some sort of enchantment." As she was talking to Cirno, Mjoll forgot about her first sense, the bandits that she thought were here were actually assassins from the Dark Brotherhood.

"I see we have two souls who shal see Sithis tonight," one voice spoke.

"Taste darkness, Nord," slithered another.

Before Mjoll had time to react, Cirno was directly in front of her, with a steel-blue card in her outstretched arms.

"Ice Sign: 'ICICLE FALL'!" As she spoke those words, lines of ice bolts appeared at Cirno's side, one after another, each line firing before the first line settled in. Mjoll was perfectly safe in the interior of the spell, but the two assassins were directly in the path of fire. One took a direct hit in the abdomen. Where-as the other recieved good sized buts on his arms and legs, possibly from dodging the attacks. The attack was over with in under 10 seconds, with the two fleeing and leaving a mess of a trail from the wounds they recieved.

"Something tells me you are a powerful mage, Cirno," Mjoll breathed, after the last of the icicles fell, "However, why save me?"

"You don't seem afraid of me, do you?" Cirno inquired back, "Besides, I forgot my Hailstorm spellcard."

"Well, thank you." Thus started the companionship of Mjoll and the nineball Ice Fairy Cirno.

XXXXX

Sakuya and Orin arrived at the scarlet gate in the mansion, a bit late it seemed. Signs of battle, followed by red-black bodies of youkai strewn around where a perennial garden and sakura tree once stood, seemed to remark that two powerful entities fought here. There were even puddles of lava thrown around.

"Wow, look at all this fuel," Orin exclaimed, obviously at the sight of the corpses, "This would be my quota for the day."

"Yes, but what about the gate?" Sakuya asked, pointing at the giant ring, which seemed to make the sky glow red, "I wonder what has caused this gap?"

"I don't know. I just want to have this incident solved before Reimu catches hold."

"I have to inform the mistress," Sakuya sighed, withdrawing her her pocket watch from her apron and flipping cap on its surface, "It's nearly time for her for to awaken."

"I see," Spoke Orin, "I'll just explore the gate then."

XXXXX

"Wait, wait, wait, one plus two does not equal nine, Cirno." Mjoll laughed, obviously getting along well with the fairy, "That would be three."

"No," Cirno remarked, "Nine plus three is three, didn't you take math?"

"I'll be honest, I have never heard of math before either. I did, however, use what that Dragonborn child called an Abacus for counting, though." Thise conversations started eversince their departure from the attack site, however, someone else was on the horizon.

"So you're travelling with a youkai, now," remarked a reptilian voice from behind. When they saw the figure of the voice, it was a green-scaled Argonian, in the same strange armor the college student wore, and a black bow with a quiver of green arrows. "That's a shock."

"I'm not a youkai, dummy!" Cirno piped, clenching her fists at her waist, "I'm an Ice Fairy!"

"Fairies don't exist, youkai."

"Yes they do, Baka!"

"Well, whatever. Delphine wanted me to find you to help the Dragonborn. You're coming with me, Mjoll."

XXXXX

I'm pretty damn sure I made Cirno a LOT smarter than she actually is, but it's in paper now. Mjoll and Cirno make their appearance, and Cirno now has a buddy to talk to.

I'm giving some pointers right about now, there was an Argonian in the attack, albeit one whose name escapes me. Darkeetheus is the Argonian archer hinted at in this chapter and appeared about the end of it, and Sakuya and Orin are about to enter Tamriel.

Anyways, Review would be nice this time around, as just one person reviewing a chapter at time is nice, and helpful, two reviewers or more would be exceptional. I'd like to hear opinions on the text, errors in it, or dislikes in the story as a whole or in particular chapters.

Deuces!