Memories return

The evening was pleasantly cold. Cold enough so that you could see the breath from your mouth steam infront of your eyes and warm enough that you didn't need thirty cloaks to stay warm. Kari closed her eyes, breathing in the clean air, the first breath she had taken without blossom soaking the air in weeks... No, centuries technically. The elf slowly sat up, a hand resting on the chest beside her while she got her bearings. From a thin gap of torchlight that flickered at the end of the alleyway, she could see a couple of ten-foot long banners that hung on walls. One she recognised as the burgundy banner of Solitude, the other was a black banner, with a white imperial dragon staring down from its height at those below it. The mage stood up in the snow, brushing off the flakes that had clung to her cloak. She reached down and tucked the chest under her arm, the previously heavy box feeling much lighter. Just as she began to leave she stopped and a thought struck her mind. She had no where to go. There was a semblance of a profanity that escaped her lips that surprised her at her own use of language. Kari sighed and walked out from the alleyway into the empty marketplace. It all looked the same, albeit the stalls had moved around and were in varying states of wear and tear. The well was still there, which brought a smile onto her features. A swift glance made her smile fade as none of her or the other kid's scratchings were on there anymore. There was a rumbling from her stomach and she became aware that she was starving. Her first instinct was to start walking home, before it dawned on her that home probably wasn't hers anymore. Eddy would probably be dead. She stopped in her tracks, standing at the main path through the city. She blinked a few times. Everyone she knew was dead except for Huntrek.

A guard glanced over at the hooded woman that was standing still at the entrance to the market. From behind his helmet the guard raised an eyebrow. The figure was clearly a traveller though they looked very much lost. He took his weight off the wall and rolled his shoulders, hearing his leather armour creaking as he did so, before walking over to the figure. As he got closer, he spotted that the woman was an elf by the two lumps that were in her hood that were clearly her ears. He spoke clearly to her, a hand instinctively resting over his axe on his side,
"Excuse me lass. Are ya lost?". His accent was thick, carrying the colloquial tone of people from Haafingar. The girl seemed to snap out of her daze and looked up at the man. He was shocked by how dark her skin was, even for a Dunmer, and her eyes had something that were just... wrong about them. Her voice sounded hoarse, as though she had been shouting, though it carried a tone that made her sound younger than she looked,
"No no, thank you. I've just not been here for a while. I should be fine". She smiled, though the effect may have been lost in the darkness on the night. The guard slowly nodded, backing himself up to where he was. He watched the woman go, or rather, he watched the woman blunder back and forth indecisively for a good ten minutes before she headed off towards the residential district of the city.

Kari wandered through the streets, feeling like a child again. Not a lot had changed since she had gone weirdly. Most buildings were still here, a few new ones dotted the landscape. Still made of grey stone. The elf chuckled when she noticed this. Nords were many things, stubborn was certainly on that list. She stopped outside a familiar front door and she ran her free hand over it. Her heart lurched slightly, nerves getting to the better of her. What if the people in here just kicked her out, calling her a homeless vagabond? She shook her head and rapped her knuckles on the door. She waited for a while, putting the chest down on the ground. She felt like another century passed before the door opened for her. A tall Breton man stood at the door, looking very angry and very tired.
"What do you want elf?". His accent certainly carried that he wasn't from here. Kari thought she could pick out voices of others from behind him, but it was faint.
"I, uh, sorry to bother you sir. I used to live here a long while a go. I left some things here that I would like to retrieve." She tried to sound sincere, but she probably sounded as confused as the man at the door. He turned and shouted for someone called "Petra" to come to the door. He looked back at the elf, nodding before a shorter Nord woman stood at the door, who looked equally confused as the man.
"First off, you could've waited until morning miss. It's rude to wake strangers y'know? Second, I want your name. Your full name". She sounded stern, echoing Kari's mother in some respects that made the elf shrink slightly. It was hard for one party to see the other in the gloom, a torch several yards away the only light illuminating them. Kari could see her eyes and was slightly disturbed at how familiar they looked.
"Karinia. Karinia Ashmane. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?". She gave a slight nod of the head and another smile. The woman was silent for a while before calling back into the house for "Gul'zad" to make sure the kids were in bed before looking back at Kari.
"My grandmother told me that an elf by that name would come knocking one day. I cannot say I believed her until now. I suppose you would like to come in?" She sounded shocked. From behind her an orange glow began to light up the room and corridor, letting Kari see her general outline.
"If you don't mind. It's been a long journey". The elf offered a kind smile, though she was sure this one was also lost in the gloom of the night.

They were sat in the living room of the house around a pleasant and roaring fire. Kari was sat on one of the seats close to the fire, nestling a tankard of water with a full belly. Petra and Gul'zad turned out to be husband and wife. Petra was a blond haired, blue-eyed Nord, basically the average sight of a Nord woman. She worked as a guard in the city, but was apparently off for some form of anniversary that Kari didn't really hear despite trying her best. Gul'Zad was a student from the college of Winterhold, a centre of magical learning in Skyrim that got the elf's interest, who was rather large in height and width. He had a shaved head but a bushy beard that made it look like his hair was upside down on his head. They gave her a brief history about themselves to Kari while she listened. Petra also made a passing mention that they had two children, but Kari thought better of it than to ask details. From her seat she got a good look of the ground floor of the house. It had changed a fair bit since Kari had seen it last. The only thing Kari had truly recognised was the fireplace. Kari smiled when they reached the end of their stories and Gul'zad leaned over to speak,
"And what about you, Miss Ashmane? Tell us about yourself". Kari stopped the sip of water she was taking and pondered. She couldn't exactly tell them that she had been suspended in time for the past century and a half without being called a lunatic. A few ideas came to mind before she blundered out a tale of having been fostered by Petra's great grandfather a long time ago and had been wandering Tamriel ever since. The couple seemed to buy it, to which Kari let out a relieved sigh into her tankard. Eventually Kari made her excuses and took herself and her chest to her old room. Tears beaded in her eyes when she saw the faded scratching she had done as a child in the door. A flash of light escaped her hand and she heard the tumblers of the lock turn and the door turned on very old hinges. Kari found it difficult to push the door open to the point where she could squeeze herself into the room. The room was covered in a thick layer of dust from ages of disuse. Despite this, everything looked exactly as it did when Kari last saw it. Even her mother's old jewellery lay, covered in dust, beside her bed. Tears immediately began to flood her eyes and she went to lie on the bed, not caring about the build up of dirt that was on the covers. She felt like a little child again, locked up in the prison cell all alone. She hugged her knees and slowly sobbed herself into sleep, her tears cleaning small patches of dust off the covers.

Mephala drummed her fingers on the table, watching the patches of dark materials on Kari's statue grow slow enough for only a Daedra to see. Her blood was creeping its way through the elf, ever so slowly. At this rate, the process would take too long for the threads to be true and to her liking. The statue had to be fully obsidian to be of true use. The Daedra glanced across the table to the stationary form of Dagon and a thought drifted into her mind. It was a dangerous risk, but her actions at the moot several centuries ago should ensure that a temporary alliance could be formed. A smile drifted onto her features and several shards of golden light formed in her hand, before blowing them over to the stationary figure. She imagined that Dagon will not be happy.