So I finally fixed this chapter. I'm sorry for those of you who had to read the block text. My computer was pissed at me and wasn't cooperating with me. As always I don't own Skyrim, just my own characters. Enjoy!
Dala woke to pain, so much pain that she wanted to scream, but her throat wasn't working. She looked around as her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room. She was lying on a bed of soft furs and around her she could hear the soothing gurgle of water. The air smelled of vanilla and cinnamon, a byproduct of excessive restoration magicka. As she adjusted to her surroundings the noise started. All around her people were crying out in agony or moaning in broken voices. She could tell she was separated from most of them, almost like something was dulling the noise. Next to her sleeping in a chair was her wife, she gasped at the sight of her but no noise came out. Regan's usually rosy skin was pale and clammy, deep bags shown under her eyes and her usually soft hair was unkempt and slightly tangled. Dala tried to move her arm but the second she moved fire licked up her entire body. This time she did make noise as a scream ripped out of her lungs. And she regretted it the second she did it as she started coughing uncontrollably.
Regan was up now as she yelled for a healer, Dala was convulsing on the bed, her entire body was wrapped in bandages and Regan could already see blood seeping out from various wounds from the violent coughing. One of the women healers quickly ran over and tipped a paralyzing potion down Dala's throat. She calmed instantly and the healer closed her wounds again under the bandages. She silently changed them then left the room. Dala was staring at Regan, because of the potion she couldn't speak but Regan could see the questions in her eyes. Her own eyes began to mist as Regan gently grabbed Dala's hand.
"Thank Talos you are awake, we were all so worried for you Dala, the kids have been crying since they saw you at Dragonsreach." Dala sucked in a breath and with as much strength as she could she croaked out two words.
"What... happened?" Regan brought her wife's hand to her mouth and kissed it.
"You took on an entire army almost single handedly. Everyone is talking about how you jumped into the middle of their forces and started cutting people down left and right. When they breached the city you lit the barricade on fire then jumped over it to face them alone. They said you shouted them all off the steps, but you had fought so many before that. You were covered in blood, gashes ran up your body left and right. When you used your second Thu'um they said you were faster than a vampire, and that blood sprayed in an almost beautiful pattern around you. They said you looked like a red windstorm. But when you shouted it drained you, with all of your wounds it nearly killed you. Arya brought you into Dragonsreach and they started healing you. I have never seen such a powerful Guardian's circle cast." Regan took a moment to catch her breath before continuing.
"Arya and Farengar spent half the night healing you, they wouldn't let anyone disrupt the circle. But your wounds weren't closing, they managed to stop the hemorrhaging though before they both collapsed in exhaustion. Arya was in a coma for a week she used so much of her magicka reserves. The healers here have done the rest, most of your wounds are closed but there is still a lot of damage, the internal damage was much worse than the external. The arrow you were shot with was dipped in a toxin designed to stop your heart. If you hadn't been shot you would be dead right now Dala. Arya made sure to express her gratification by ripping the man's throat out of his body." Dala tried to smile but it was more of a grimace. Regan didn't seem to notice, she was in her own world as she relived that day.
"When I got to you, you were laying in a pool of blood with more gushing out every second. When you coughed it was like a fountain, blood shot out from everywhere. Balgruuf wouldn't let me near you, he said I couldn't disrupt the circle. I didn't even know if you were alive until Arya came up to where me and the children were staying and started crying in my lap. I had thought the worse but when she looked at me I had never seen such joy. We cried for hours it seemed, and finally they let me see you." Dala pulled her wife forward so Regan was practically on the bed. She shook her head and pulled back,
"Dala I could hurt you." Tears sprung up in Dala's eyes as the severity of the matter sunk in.
"Please." Unable to deny her wife Regan waited until Dala scooted over before gently getting onto the bed. She let Dala curl into her as she gently stroked her hair.
"How…long?" Regan stilled against her and Dala repeated her question. Sighing Regan kissed the taller woman's head.
"Please Dala, just sleep." Dala shook her head, which consisted of her moving less than an inch.
"How… long?" Regan sighed again,
"A month, like I said, your wounds were severe. You took the brunt of the army, Dala you cut their forces in half practically." Suddenly Dala remembered Arya, she had been fighting right next to her.
"Arya?" Regan shushed her wife as she ran her hand soothingly over her arms.
"You may not know it but you were defending her, she said that you kept dragging the Stormcloaks away from her, besides a few minor gashes on her arms and chest she is fine. Although she has been a bit week since her magicka surge." Dala settled against her wife again as the healer came in.
"I told you not to touch her." Regan glared at the woman but it was Dala who spoke.
"Back… off." Both women burst out laughing which only irritated Dala more. After using a spell to check Dala over the healer smiled.
"As long as you're careful with her she can go home, I am sending a healer with you. They will stay with you for the rest of the week, if everything is proper at the end then you are in the clear. But you are mostly confined to the bedroom. And Dala," She was waiting until Dala looked at her. "I need to warn you, you suffered mass amounts of nerve damage thanks to that poison. There is a good chance you won't have full mobility in your body." This caused more fear than Dala had ever felt in her life to cores through her.
"I suggest you have her walk around and do basic functions like lifting a plate with each arm or grabbing a tankard. Don't do it more than once a week and don't start until after this week, once you're fully healed we will start more aggressive forms of physical therapy." With those words the healer left Regan alone with Dala. Regan could feel her wife trembling next to her as she laid her chin on the blonde's head.
"It's going to be okay Dala, we will figure this out." They sat like that for another twenty minutes before Dala had calmed down enough to move. Getting up from the bed had to be one of the most painful things Dala had ever done. And the hardest. She had thick bandaging around her torso, her right leg and her left shoulder. Both hands were wrapped lightly in gauze and she had a thin layer around her left ankle. Dala was pulled from her thoughts when Regan opened to door. The gasp that escaped her was barely registered as she took in the sight of the Temple. Wounded men and women took up every inch of space they could find. Blood had no permanently soaked into the floor and the usually soothing pools of water that formed a flower in the center of the large room now looked like blood fountains. There were healers running everywhere, stopping at each person to cast a quick spell or feed them. And Dala could see that there were a select few that were chosen to carry out the dead when they passed.
"This is only half of them, more are lying at Dragonsreach right now." Dala could only stare in horror as Regan gently half pulled half carried her to the exit.
"Total?" Regan knew what she meant but she was hesitant to say it, Dala would take it personally.
"We think a total number of around five hundred, four hundred Stormcloaks and one hundred Legionnaires. And that's not including the eighty or so wounded." Dala gasped, that was more than half of their forces. Tears fell freely from her eyes as she took one last look at the suffering behind her before the doors closed. Outside she could see the effects of the battle, buildings were torched, and blood still stained many places in the city. The once vibrant tree that Dala had worked so hard to restore was now dying from the amount of blood that had poisoned it. The bottom half of the tree was dark red, as if the tree itself had been bleeding. Wounded lay everywhere in the streets, people who had lost their homes or didn't have one in the first place. The market was gone, the stalls that once held an array of goods now reduced to nothing.
"How… are people… making money?" Dala thought about Carlotta who had a daughter to feed, or Ysolda whose dream was to take over the Bannered Mare.
"Balgruuf is making sure everyone is taken care of, he has dinner at the keep every night for the whole town. Free food and drink for everyone and even a place to stay if their house was burned down. It might be a cot next to the fire but to many people it's better than nothing." They reached their home after twenty minutes of labored walking. Those they passed on the streets gave them tearful smiles as they walked by only to disappear seconds later to be replaced by haunting looks. Behind the pair was the healer, she walked quietly but never took her eyes off her charge. Once all three were in the slightly damaged house Dala was rushed by faces. But before any of them could hug her the healer stepped in front of her.
"No touching, she is still fragile." Dala shoved the woman aside gently,
"I need to hug my children, as long as you don't squeeze mommy hard I will be okay." Both children cautiously wrapped their arms around her as they both sobbed. Dala shushed them and put her hand on Rorin's head. Behind her children Dala could see Lydia and Arya, both were bawling as they took turns hugging her. Arya held on the longest as she sobbed into Dala's neck. She kissed the younger woman's head as she said soothing words. Finally Arya pulled away and let Regan carry Dala up the stairs. Once she had situated her on the bed Regan stood back and stared. Dala grinned and raised her arm slightly. Needing no further incentive Regan slid under her arm as she laid her head on Dala's shoulder.
"I'm fine now, I'm okak."
It had been three weeks since the battle, Dala was fully healed, at least aesthetically. She had about a dozen new scars all along her body thanks to the cursed battle and she had trouble using her left side. She hissed in irritation as she fought to bring her arm up to block Lydia's attack. They trained behind their house every day to try and strengthen her arm. She snarled and ducked out of the way as Lydia brought her sword down.
"Dala, maybe we should take a break?" Dala shook her head and wiped sweat out of her eyes, she would not become completely useless on her left side.
"NO, we continue." Lydia hesitated and Dala advanced, snarling she lurched her arm up and swung. Lydia swore and leapt out of the way as the blade cut a deadly path where she had been standing. Lydia let out a roar of her own and slammed the dull side of her blade into Dala's hand, she barely even felt it. Dala glared as her sword fell from her grasp,
"Enough Dala, we are finished for today." At that moment Regan chose to come out, she noticed Dala's dropped weapon and placed a small hand on Dala's shoulder.
"Sweetie?" It was too much, Dala couldn't stand the look of understanding in Regan's eyes, she didn't understand what it was like to be invalid. Her Thu'um filled scream rang out into the silence of the day. Rage fuelled her Thu'um as a blast of blue energy shot into the ground creating a cloud of dirt, it its place was a deep crater. Lydia and Regan stared shocked as Dala turned and ran to the wall, ashamed of what she had just done. Using her momentum she leapt over the shortest part to land hard on the rocks. Then she sunk down to the ground and began to sob.
It wasn't until the sun began to set behind the mountains when Regan came out to sit beside her. Dala turned from her wife not wanting her to see Dala's tear streaked face.
"Dala, look at me." Dala ignored her and crawled farther in on herself, how could Regan even love her when she was a cripple, a pathetic defective.
"Dala look at me NOW." Slowly Dala turned at her wife's hard tone, in Regan's eyes Dala could see confusion but also love, so much love that Dala broke into another fresh wave of tears. Regan simply pulled her to her chest and let Dala cry. By the time she had stopped the sun was gone and the night had become chilly. Instead of saying anything Regan stood pulling Dala with her. She didn't let go of Dala as she started walking towards the gates. The guards stared at them as they walked past, as did anyone who happened to see them as they walked the short distance to Breezehome. Dala looked behind the house and could see the still smoking pile of dirt, it had been so close to Lydia, Dala thanked the gods she hadn't screamed at her, but rather herself. Inside the house Lydia and Arya were talking quietly, Dala's children looked up from where they were playing. The stood and walked over to Dala, each gave her a hug then silently went to their room. Lydia was ignoring her, Arya stood and came over to Dala.
"Are you okay?" Dala shook her head and was wrapped in Arya's small arms.
"It will be okay sis." For once those words didn't comfort her, she watched bleary eyed as Arya mounted the steps leaving Dala, Regan and Lydia alone. Regan simply stood back and watched and Dala shifted from foot to foot. Lydia was still ignoring her, Dala could see the pain in her eyes, and she had been the cause of it.
"I'm sorry Lydia, I'm so very sorry." Her words were barely above a whisper as her voice broke. Without a word Lydia stood and walked over to her Thane and friend, she pulled her into her arms and held her.
"Don't ever shout at me again, and for the record I forgive you. You can't help your arm Dala, the best healers in Skyrim tried, but you are no less the Dragonborn and more importantly no less my friend then before you walked into that battle. I will love you no matter if you can pick up a sword, or only pick up a stick; you have to know that by now." Dala shuddered as Lydia placed a quick kiss on her head then walked upstairs; Dala still had one more person to face. Slowly she turned to Regan; she couldn't believe she had shouted like that near Regan, even the thought of hitting her with such a powerful force made Dala's stomach turn.
"Regan I…" Her words were stopped mid sentence as Regan lightly gripped her face and gently kissed her. Pulling back Dala just looked at her as Regan started to speak.
You are NOT an invalid, or a cripple, or any less of a person than when you had full mobility. I will ALWAYS love you no matter if in the end you're nothing more than a stump with a head. I chose You because I love you, your soul and everything inside that makes you beautiful to me. I will never leave you because of what you look like Dala, you are mine until death do us part, and even after that." Dala nodded between her hands, sighing her eyes dropped to the floor.
" I am the mighty Dragonborn, how am I supposed to keep you and everyone I love safe if I can't defend you. I don't have full functionality in my arm Regan, I AM a cripple. A cripple who will end up getting her family killed because she thinks she can do something she can't. How am I supposed to trust myself to be the person you need me to be?" Regan shook her head,
" The only person I need you to be is my wife, and the other half of your children's mother. I don't need you to be the Dragonborn, or a master assassin, or any of that. I need you, the real you that I met before all of this. And after all the world has thrown at us you will still have you, that's the person I need. I don't need a warrior and a protector, I need a wife, a woman to love me and our children. You are that woman Dala. When you come home, people don't see you as the Dragonborn, they see you as a long time member of this community whom everyone has come to love, they love you for you so why can't you?" Dala couldn't take it anymore, she simply broke down crying as she fell into her wife's embrace. Regan sighed and held her wife as she sobbed.
"Dala please, its alright. Come on, lets just go to bed." Dala meekly nodded as she let her wife lead her to their bed. She just let Regan strip her down and pull her into the bed before wrapping her in her arms around her.
"Sleep now love, things will get better in the morning." Dala sighed and cuddled into her wife, letting the soft rhythm of Regan's heart guide her to sleep.