The sky was a sickly shade of peridot green, filled with noxious looking clouds that were probably toxic. As Leola came to, the sky was the first thing she saw. She'd never seen a green sky before – blue she'd seen plenty of times, as well as the reds and oranges of the early morning and late evenings, but this horrid shade of green was the first thing to tip her off that something was horribly wrong.
Gazing downwards, she saw that she stood upon what looked like an elegant metal grate. The platform floated upon some goo-like black water that seemed, as she looked around, to be an ocean. Leola shuddered. This was Apocrypha? This was where her mother had gone to save Solstheim and the Skaal village? Aeta's people really did owe her a debt they could never repay.
Archways that seemed to be made of stacks and stacks of books stood on the grating, and in the distance, sprouting from the ocean of black, she could see pillars and towers that also appeared to be made of books. Strange tendrils seemed to be creeping out of the black water, and when Leola looked down at the water at the edge of the grate closest to her, she saw those same tentacles beneath the surface – lurking, waiting for her to come close so they could grab her. She wouldn't make that mistake.
"A mortal…" murmured a voice suddenly, and Leola's eyes widened. The voice was a deep drawl, and it seemed to be coming not from one place – rather, it was as if the voice was all around her, and she knew in an instant that the voice was that of Hermaeus Mora. "How long has it been…since a mortal came to my realm?"
"I-I'm sorry," Leola stammered nervously. "I don't mean to intrude – I simply needed to speak with you."
As she looked around for the source of the voice, she could see what looked like a black cloud forming. As she watched it, tentacles began to creep from the blackness just as they crept from the black of the water, and dozens of cloudy eyes came into view, peering down at her from the black mass. In the middle she saw one massive, clearly dominant eye – Hermaeus Mora.
"I know why you are here," drawled the voice, sounding almost tired – lazy, and certainly elderly. "The question is…do you?"
"Of course I know why I'm here," Leola said softly, but his very words made her doubt herself. "I need to know what you want in exchange for your piece of my mother's soul."
"What makes you assume that there is something I want?" asked the seething black mass, and Leola cringed. She'd been afraid of an answer like this.
"I'm here to barter for my mother's soul. There may not be anything you want, but something you're willing to trade it for – anything, please. Just tell me and I will do everything in my power to make it so," said Leola, her hands shaking.
"Anything I ask…?" drawled the spooky voice, and Leola cringed, nodding.
"Yes, anything," she replied softly.
There was a long pause. She waited, watching the giant mass of eyeballs and the writhing tentacles. Slowly, the eyeball blinked – for a moment, it looked as if Hermaeus Mora was drawing nearer, but perhaps it was just her imagination.
"I have but one task to ask of you, Dragonborn's child," drawled the Daedra, and Leola nodded.
"Name it," she said.
"You must gather all of my Black Books…and you must keep them someplace safe. Under lock and key…where those who are not worthy of their knowledge will not find them."
Leola raised an eyebrow. That was a simple enough task – unless there was something she was missing, of course. "I can do that," she said softly. "How many books are there, exactly?"
"There are seven books…and you must protect them with your life, as your mother was supposed to…"
"Who am I protecting them from?" Leola asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is someone looking for them?"
"There are always people looking for them," the Daedric Prince mused. "It is not a matter of those who look for them, but those who find them. When you are High Queen, the maids of your castle will search everywhere they can…searching for anything you might not notice them stealing, searching for secrets that can be sold to spy services all across Skyrim… They who stumble upon the Black Books are not worthy of the great power they hold…"
"Then my mother did not stumble upon them? She was looking for them?" she asked, and the massive eye blinked slowly.
"She did not know it at the time, but she was looking for them…they were what she needed, and she found them – and your mother, Leola, was worthy of their power."
"I'm guessing that I'm not worthy of their power, am I?" Leola asked, only slightly joking. And to think, this was what her life had come to – standing in Oblivion and making jokes as she talked with a Daedric Prince. This was far from what she ever would have imagined for herself as a child – but at least she had a beautiful partner, back in the real world. Was it even the real world? She couldn't figure out what she should call it – it was obviously a different world from the one she was in now, but was this not real, too?
"You have the potential to be worthy of great power," drawled the mass of eyes before her. It was not the response Leola had expected.
"Do I?" she asked, and a low, spine-chilling chuckle echoed through the green air.
"You do…but first, you need direction…when you know where you are going in life, then you might consider returning to me…I might have a little something for you…"
"I'll consider it," Leola said softly.
"I don't think you will," said the Daedra.
"I don't, either," Leola admitted. It was, after all, the Daedric prince of knowledge who floated before her. How could she get away with lying to him?
"Go now, Dragonborn's child… return to your world, and when you arrive, you will have my piece of the Dragonborn's soul."
Leola raised an eyebrow at hearing his words. "I thought you wanted me to gather together the black books first?" she asked softly.
"I know that you will do it…that knowledge is enough for me," Hermaeus Mora drawled in his low voice. As his words came to an end, the black mass of eyes and tentacles began to slowly vanish.
"I – thank you!" Leola said. This was much easier than the rest of the Daedra's tasks – they all wanted her to do something and then come back for their piece of her mother's soul, but all Hermaeus Mora asked was that she simply promise to do what he wished and she would get the gem right away?
Pulling out the black book, surprised that she still had it in this realm, Leola opened the book and gazed upon the pages. This time, instead of a mess of symbols and diagrams, the pages appeared to contain words – unfocused words, however, as if Leola could tell that there was writing there but she couldn't get her eyes to concentrate on the words. Feeling a dizziness in her head, Leola tried harder to focus on the writing until, just as it had back in her room with Erith, the edges of her vision went blurry and faded away.
Within moments, she woke up. She was back in Solstheim, lying on the bed with her head on the pillow. Erith lay on her side, propped up on one elbow and absent-mindedly playing with Leola's blonde curls. When she saw Leola's blue eyes open, a grin came to her lips.
"Welcome back, sleepy-head," she teased gently. "How did it go."
Leola was quiet for a moment. He had said that when she awoke, she would have the piece of the soul gem…so where was it? She slowly sat up, as did Erith, and looked around.
"What are you doing?" Erith asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I – oh," Leola breathed. The book was open in her lap and her hands were at her sides – as she lifted one hand, she realized that it was clenched firmly into a fist. Opening her fingers, she saw that there was a soul gem fragment in her palm, the edges of which had been digging slightly into her skin.
"You got it?" Erith asked, a grin coming to her lips. "Leola, that's wonderful! Did he ask you to do anything?"
"He did," Leola said, nodding. "He wants us to get the black books all together and keep them locked away and hidden somewhere. That's all – and he said that he knows I'll do it, which is why he gave me the piece right away."
"That's amazing," Erith said. "We'll head out in the morning, then – everyone else has already gone to bed. For now, I think we deserve to celebrate a little by ourselves."
Leola smiled over at the brunette and nodded slightly. "I think you're right," she said in a soft voice, closing the book that sat in her lap and setting it aside. No sooner had her hands left the book's surface than Erith's arms were around her waist, pulling her close and drawing her into a sweet, perfect kiss.