Fate's Games
To Talos! To Kynareth!
She had wanted to kill him, you know. She had wanted so badly to cut out his tongue and silence him once and for all. Divines only knew how badly. "Talos the Unerring!" he cried out in the plaza. She watched silently, unimpressed, but at the same time she had to give him credit. He was brave. To call on a deity whose worship was banned, to call out his name publicly for all to hear? A fool but brave, and as much as she hated to admit it, in a way she respected his determination. "Praise be to Talos!" he shouted out, and his blazing eyes fell on her, a silent challenge that she had run into once upon a time…
She had tried to silence him 'peacefully,' if you could call it that, the night their rivalry had begun. She had challenged him, marched directly up to him and began to chew him out about how Talos was only a man, albeit a great one, how a man was not a god. Those words had been taken from the priestess in Solitude, in fact. He had listened to her silent, eyes steely, teeth gritting quietly. A priestess of Kynareth versus a priest of Talos. Oh he had wanted to kill her that day for all she had said, for the way she had denounced his deity. He had looked up silently at the setting sun and the Gildergreen tree as her rant finally stopped and she went to catch her breath. His eyes narrowed at something. She turned. There were soldiers coming towards them, weapons drawn…
She remembered that night vividly. She had assumed they were coming to break them apart. She had gone to apologize, but they had shoved her aside and gone to him. They had seized him and began to attack him in front of her shocked eyes. The Companions had had to come break it up, had helped the man back to his home. Her respect for him grew when the next day he was back with the same spiel. She had listened again, bitter, cold, trying to glare him down. This time it wasn't anger, it was a challenge. He was calling her out. Challenging her to call upon Kynareth in his presence. Well, she wouldn't grace him with the satisfaction. She never had yet.
He spoke well, he spoke firmly, unwavering, preached as if he were born to do so, unafraid of arrest, unafraid of death. Then one day she had come, and he wasn't there… It was silent, no cry of 'We are but maggots!' Yes, she knew his speech by heart. She had wondered. She had explored. She had learned he had been taken by soldiers. She had gone white… She had gone white and she dropped the basket she was carrying and ran, ran as fast as she could towards the prison. She had found him. The guards were having their fun with him and he bore up under every attack though he was steadily weakening. They would beat him to death, she knew, and claim he had died in prison.
ES
"Enough!" He still heard that word in echo in his mind whenever he saw her sitting by the Gildergreen Tree watching, always watching, and listening. Enough… She had saved his life that night, and he was fully aware of it. He had never thanked her, he realized. Danica had destroyed the guards with words until they had handed him to her. He was in serious need of medical aid, bones broken, gouges so deep that stitches would hardly be enough. She had taken him into her care, tended to him. He'd never asked her why, but did it matter?
All at once he was aware he had stopped his 'sermon.' He had fallen silent. Upon realizing he once more began to speak on. "A man, nothing more," she suddenly said aloud. He froze and looked at her. She was taking his challenge. "He was only a man," she repeated.
And for once he lowered his hands and gazed at her silently. No retort, no defense. The sun was setting over the land, the tree had lit up in its glow, and he replied, "I know."
Her eyes widened in shock. Had he just… Impossible. "He was only a man, who found more favor in the eyes of the Aedra than anyone else could ever hope to, and upon his death was called up to them to rule at their sides. Demi-god, god, it does not matter."
Her mouth fell open in that moment, and he went back to his spiel. All at once she said, "Preacher…"
He looked warily at her. Preacher? When did she take to calling him preacher? "The Dragonborn has his dragons, but you alone could have saved Skyrim from Civil War without casualty."
ES
He took in her words, watched her quietly. "I am but a man," he answered.
"What that all men could be such a man," she softly remarked, drawing near to him, gently playing with his clothing, and for once Talos was the last thing on his mind as his lips parted gently.
She looked quietly up to him. What, she wondered, would it take to silence Heimskr for good? Nothing. Not death, not the removal of his tongue, nothing would silence the power of his voice. Forever it would remain in the minds of all who had heard it, whether they wanted it to or not. What would it take to silence him for good? She would soon see. All at once her lips gently pressed against his, sealing them, and his arms slipped around her, drawing her near. He pulled away first, and in hardly a whisper, a tone she had never heard from him before, he told her, "I will not live a long life."
Tears in her eyes, she answered, "I know…"
"I will be killed, possibly very soon," he stated.
"You will not be forgotten," she vowed.
He took her lips again then pulled away. "All men are forgotten in time," he stated.
"I pray to Kynareth… to Talos, that they will not leave you for nothing," she answered.
His eyes widened. She had just accepted Talos as a divine… Quickly that thought was forgotten, however, when he saw the tears in her eyes. Gently he brushed them away. "Let them leave me for nothing, as long as you do not," he whispered into her ear. Gently he kissed her again, and again, and again until both lay beneath the Gildergreen Tree. Temptation was great. Kisses? Yes, and there were many, each more longing than the last. Gentle caresses? Yes, as she cupped his cheek lovingly, as his hand was behind her head adoringly. They would come for him, she knew, but she would not let him go without a battle. For him she would die if she had to, for him she would live… And he for his part would fight with every ounce of his being to survive for her sake.