In the most upper-class town in Cyrodiil, rich from its wine makers, expensive cheeses and fine grapes sat an orc with an elbow balanced on either knee and his hands clasped over his mouth. He jiggled a leg in anticipation and breathed out shakily. He moved his hands to rest as bunched fists under his chin, flicking his eyes around the small room before confining them to the floor. He was so agitated he didn't even hear the soft foot falls approach him but flicked his head up when the shadow crawled along the floor into his line of sight. He jumped up heart throbbing wildly.
"How is she?" He asked quickly
The priestess smiled and held out an arm in a motion for him to follow. He walked closely at her heels silently willing her to break from her graceful stride and walk swiftly.
"We had to give her a weak nightshade mixture for the pain;" The woman's voice was light and gentle "She became quite…aggressive you see, so she may be a bit out of sorts when you see her"
They turned to descend down the stone steps and into the lower section of the chapel. They walked through the priest's general living quarters and down a corridor lined with doors to the right. The priestess stopped outside a door near the end and motioned to it. Raven felt as if his legs would give out at any moment and he reached out a trembling hand to clutch the door handle, lowering it slowly so that he heard every clack of the latch being drawn out. He slid it open excitedly, hesitation also holding him back. The door opened in a quick burst but stopped half way and Raven poked his head around the corner nervously. The large stone slab that served as an alter was covered with overstuffed cushions at one end with thick blankets thrown over the polished rock and heaped in the middle of it all lay his wife. Her dilated pupils fell on him and she managed a lopsided smile.
"Rose" Raven breathed pushing the door away and hurrying to her side.
"My Raven" She giggled reaching up to place a hand against his face.
"How are you?" He asked with gentle urgency
"Look what I did" She whispered rolling back the arm on her bare stomach and looking down with a smile.
Raven followed her eyes and couldn't help but gasp. The small figure that had been half hidden by her mother's protective arm came into view. It lay sleeping on her stomach with its tiny head nuzzled between her breasts. Raven's eyes widened and he reached out before retracting his fingers slightly.
"Can I?" He asked looking up at Rosie
"Of course, just mind her head, I need to sleep anyway" She mumbled her eyes already betraying her into unconsciousness.
Raven smiled and reached out again but found he had to stop and assess the best was to pick the small being up. He settled on scooping her up with one huge hand under her head and chest and the other to hold her against his heart. She stirred slightly and called out in her newborn language for her mother. Raven lowered himself down slowly in awe to sit beside Rose who had rolled onto her side. Rosie reached a hand up to stroke her newborn's head before letting it slide down to rest on her husband's leg. Her mother's scent reassured her enough to lean in against her father. Raven touched the tips of his rough fingers delicately to the top of her head, brushing the downy patch of golden hair swirled on top of her skull. She raised a short un-coordinated arm and clutched at Raven's shirt, curling and extending the tiny stubs of her fingers. She gurgled and opened her eyes and Raven's breath caught in his throat. His own eyes in a larger, more feminine form looked up at him.
"Rosie…" He breathed "She's gorgeous"
"I know, right," The poison given for the pain made her slur "I was shocked too. Who's actually heard of a beautiful orc, we just made one though"
Rose then proceeded to laugh at herself before forgetting what she'd found so funny and promptly passed out. Raven looked over worriedly at an older priestess sitting in a chair against the far wall, knitting calmly. She gave him a reassuring nod over his concern for his wife and he turned to look at her. He ran his fingers through her hair and carefully leaned down to place a kiss against her temple. As he rose again too sit with his daughter joining her mother in sleep against him the sudden realisation that their lives would never again be the same suddenly speared him through the chest. He let his eyes linger on the tiny orc nuzzled against his chest and for the first time in his whole life felt truly vulnerable.
.
4 years later
.
Her tiny heart beat wildly against her ribs as she worked up the courage to peak out of her hiding place. Seeing no threat she raised her head higher from under the clumps of dried fern leaves littering the ground near the lake that dipped into the land before her. She looked around at the oaks and aspen trees flanking her on either side. Deciding it was safe she stepped out quietly and brushed the dirt and clingy stubs of leaf from her tattered dress. A sudden thud made her freeze and swing her head toward the direction it came from. She started towards a thick clump of bushes carefully; placing her feet carefully amongst the twigs and dried autumn leafs scattered over the ground. She squealed and scrabbled backwards when a huge warrior burst from his own hiding place and took up his chase again. She used her size to slow him down, running under fallen logs and squeezing through blackberries. She burst from the thickness of the trees and struggled up the hill covered with brown grass leading up to her parent's camp. She could see her mother sitting in front of the tent stirring the cooking pot when she was grabbed around her waist and pulled up into the air. Her screams turned to laughter when her father held her upside down to carry her the rest of the way up the hill. Rose looked up with a smile and rolled her eyes.
"Now if I was a wolf I would have eaten you by now, Cherry" Raven said flipping her the right way up to cradle her in his arms and sit opposite Rose.
"No you wouldn't of," She said struggling out of his arms "I would of used my magic"
"Have you been practising, Hazel?" Rose asked throwing some herbs into the pot
"Yes, Ma" She said happily, starting towards her mother before being pulled back with a hand around her tiny middle by Raven
"Magic's for girls, you should let me teach you how to fight with a sword like a real man" He said tickling her stomach
"Dad," She laughed pushing him away "I am a girl"
"Are you sure?" Raven teased
"Hazel, dinner will be ready in ten minutes if you wanna go play" Rose interrupted
Raven released her and she pushed herself up out of his lap and ran back down to the small clump of thick trees beside the lake. Rose stopped stirring and moved the pot to the side and out of the heart of the fire. She looked directly at Raven with stern eyes.
"We can't keep doing this" She said grimly
"Rose, come on, we're doing fine" Raven said leaning back
"No, no we're not" Rose said in disbelief of how lightly he regarded the situation "How many close calls with your father have we had in just this month alone"
"Yeah, but we never get caught" Raven said playing with a loose button on his jacket
"That doesn't mean we never will! If he catches us…Raven, if he gets Hazel he'll make us watch her die in the worst way he can imagine"
"That won't happen" Raven brushed her concern aside
"He's chased us across borders; he's been following us for years…This isn't a game to him, He means to kill us, we can't take Hazel with us anymore" Rose said angrily to hide her sadness
"Where will she go then?" Raven said in frustration stabbing the ground with a stick
"An orphanage, then we leave and never come back"
"Rose, that's ridiculous!" Raven snapped throwing the twig away
Rose stared at him in silence a hard look carved into her face.
"We can protect her" He growled
"For how long?" Rose matched his tone
Raven sighed and clenched his jaw. Rose's expression softened.
"I don't want to give her up either, but neither do I want to put her in danger" She said
Raven tugged at his sleeve a troubled look moulded into his features.
"Not an orphanage," He said finally "Somewhere safer"
Rose couldn't disagree with that but neither could she think of anywhere else.
"Magic," Raven said "She does magic"
"The college of Winterhold" Rosie said with a smile
"If they'll take her" Raven added
"It's worth a try; we'll offer them all the gold we've got as board"
"We should go first thing tomorrow, get it over and done with" Raven said sadly
"Dad, dad, dad" Hazel called coming up the slope with her hands clasped together
"What is it, Cherry?" Raven smiled weakly, turning towards her.
"Look what I got" She said excitedly opening her hands slightly.
A small lizard saw its chance of freedom and sprang at the circle of light above it only to have its body become wedged in the small opening.
"Wow, you must have been fast to catch him" Raven praised
"I had help," Hazel admitted making Raven cock his head "He's like a little argonian" She smiled
"You know they say," Raven said pulling her on to his lap to sit "That lizards like these are just argonians that drank too much hist when they were children so that they became animals instead of men"
"Is that true?" Hazel asked turning her huge blue eyes full of curiosity up to him.
"That's what they say," He smiled "You best let him go back to his family"
"And wash your hands in the lake ready for dinner" Rose said pouring the watery soup into wooden bowls, handing one to Raven.
Hazel toddled off towards the lake and Rosie retrieved a sliver of bread wrapped in loose fabric. She looked at it longingly.
"Is that all we have left?" Raven asked with a lump in his throat.
Rosie nodded "I'll give it to Hazel"
"She deserves more than this" Raven said stirring the soup that was barely more than flavoured water.
"She'll have better tomorrow" Rose said dryly
Hazel made her way back up to the camp and accepted the bread happily. They ate together before huddling on their bed rolls inside the tent.
.
The cart jerked every now and again on a jutting stone somewhere along the path, the snow threw its self against them in waves. Raven had one of the pelts that made up the tent wrapped around him like a fur lined cloak. Rosie sat by his side shielded from the wind by a make shift cloak of her own. Raven felt Hazel's warmth against his side wrapped up with-in the thick fur and doubted she even knew of the storm outside. Raven wished that they would carry on down the road forever and their destination would never come in to view. But the looming towers of the college and the rickety, bitter village cowering at its feet came into view along the trail of snow covered cobbles. Raven's heart shuddered as he wrapped his arm around his daughter and drew her closer against his side. He refused to meet Rosie's eyes until the wagon game to an un-graceful halt at the mouth of the town and he lifted Hazel up and passed her down to Rosie when she stepped off the scuffed wood and onto the frosted earth below. Raven jumped down beside her and they walked through buildings standing beside their half destroyed brothers and up the stone ramp towards the collage where a high elf stood.
"Do you have business with the college?" She asked, arms crossed.
"Could we see the arch mage?" Raven stood on the stone slope wrapping his cloak around him tightly.
"For what purpose?" The elf asked
"Our daughter" Rose spoke up from behind
"We rarely take younger members unless they show extreme talent" The elf tapped her foot
"Our daughter is extremely talented" Raven said stubbornly
"Very well, let her demonstrate her worth" She said
Rose unwrapped Hazel and lowered her to the ground, the Altmer scoffed at her size. Hazel turned and looked at the high elf gazing at her with amusement then back up to her mother who nodded encouragingly.
"Show her what you can do, Cherry" Raven said softly
Hazel nodded and turned back towards the high elf. She stood in silence looking forward for a moment before breathing in deeply and strained as she dragged her hand up through the air breaking it's skin so that it bled red mist through her fingers before collecting the red dust floating in the air up in her palm with a flick of her wrist and scrunching up her fist.
"That's barely more than a parlour trick, child" The elf said losing her patience
Hazel looked past her and held her hand out. The elf suddenly felt unsettled and turned to look behind her gasping when her eyes fell on a huge flame atronach glide past her, heating the elf's side with her otherworldly flame. The fire in female form twirled gracefully to stand beside Hazel and take hold of her tiny out stretched hand.
"This is Incendia, She likes to visit me sometimes. There are others but they don't wanna visit right now"
"How long can you hold this spell for?" The high elf managed to say in awe
"For as long as Incendia wishes to stay. She usually has to go home at dinner time; Ma doesn't like her around when we're eating"
"She never tires from using her magic," Rose said failing to hide her pride "I started teaching her before she could even talk; now she teaches me"
"Did you teach her to summon?" The high elf breathed
"I taught her basic element spells, everything else she taught herself" Rose smirked as her heart swelled
"I'll take you to see the arch mage" She said quickly
.
Hazel looked around her room in the apprentice's quarters, her parents stood together in the arched entrance. She brushed her fingers across the wood of her first real bed and cast her large blue eyes over her shoulder and on to her parents.
"How long will I stay here?" She asked looking back
Raven shot Rosie a nervous glance.
"Just a little while, Cherry, it'll be good for you to stay here and learn some more magic while we're gone, wouldn't you like that?" Raven asked nervously
"Yes, I'll miss you though" Hazel said turning to face them
Raven's heart dropped at her words, he went over to her and crouched down to wrap his arms around her tightly. Tears blurred his vision and he pulled back to kiss her forehead.
"I love you, Cherry," He said shakily standing up "I'll see you outside" He said to Rose before turning quickly, the main door echoing its slam behind him.
Rose turned back to Hazel with a sigh and went to sit on her bed. Hazel followed her and climbed up onto her lap.
"You're not coming back are you, that's why daddy's so upset" Hazel said softly
Rose cradled her in her arms and wished she could stay this way forever.
"You're too clever," Rose sighed and waited a moment before replying "We will come back for you, but not for a very long time, it's too dangerous for you to join us, Hazel, this is the best place for you"
"I understand, Ma" Hazel said
Rose took Hazel's tiny fingers in her own long, grown ones.
"You know that amulet I gave you?" She whispered
"Yes?" Hazel replied her eyes cast up to her mother's face
"You can wear it properly now, you don't need to hide it anymore"
"I will" She said nuzzling her face into her mother's thick shirt
Rose pressed her face into her daughter's hair and breathed in her smell. She finally cleared her throat and pulled away.
"I better get going, you be good" She said stroking her check
"Yes, Ma" Hazel said sitting on her bed where her mother placed her and watching her walk to the door.
Rose paused at the stone arch and looked back giving Hazel a wobbly smile.
"I'll miss you" She said quietly
"I love you too" Hazel replied as she watched her mother's shadow slink across the floor and disappear for the last time.