Chapter 21: Interlude ten

[4E 526]

Once more the three brothers managed to sneak up to the attic to continue reading the second volume of the old diaries they had found. Whereas Bha'jhan, the Khajiit, and Jomund, the Nord, just wore their regular house clothes, the third juvenile, Jomund, had brought a thick blanket. He was a Bosmer and needed protection from the low temperatures in the unheated attic; after all, they had winter, and there was snow and ice outside.

Once they had double checked that nobody, specifically not one of their many other siblings, had followed them, they got the book from its hiding place behind a lose board and opened it on the page where they had stopped reading the last time, a couple of weeks earlier.

"So, as the second volume is at least as thick as the first one, this might keep us busy for a few months at least."

"Until summer, I guess."

"True; we can't come up here more frequently than once or twice a month without somebody wondering what we are doing."

"But that's all right – the reading will last longer this way."

"So, where were we?"

"Balu had a picnic with Carlotta and Mila and started to help Adrienne's daughter with enchanting."

"Right, so he promised to try and get some silver or gold ore and maybe also soul gems."

"Yeah, but he raised a good point – with filled soul gems getting destroyed when being used for recharging a weapon or enchanting something, where does the supply of new ones come from?"

"Our teacher didn't tell us about this, right?"

"No, he did not – let's ask him when we get a chance!"

"All right, but now let's read a few pages!"

For a few minutes the attic was quiet; occasionally the wind was heard blowing around the roof, sometimes there was some rustling like from a small rodent moving around between trash, and sometimes a sensitive ear might have heard a page being turned.

"Wow, this is really an odd and disturbing dream!"

"It is, for sure. Do we know anybody who would actually enjoy doing something like this?"

"Well, maybe a bandit boss might?"

"Maybe so, but still – this is so dishonorable."

"Looks like one of those comment writers agrees: 'I'll say that the dream was honestly really disturbing, and probably a sign that Balu is under far too much stress. Other than that, Balgruuf joining the Stormcloaks because the Imperials are being totally unreasonable... I'm starting to wonder if Tullius has been replaced by a Thalmor agent or something.'"

"Balu under stress? Hm, maybe, but maybe not; maybe he just needs to get laid!"

"Hey, that's a good point; that book needs a hot bed scene or two!"

"Well, I prefer doing it to reading about it."

"Sure, speaking from experience?"

"I wish; but I can dream at least."

"Not like Balu, I hope!"

"Of course not! In my dreams the girls cooperate willingly and start to swoon when they see me..."

"That why this is just in your dreams!"

The three looked at each other, and after a few seconds they all started to laugh. Bantering between them happened on a daily basis, but they would never really hurt each other, neither with words nor with weapons. Bha'jhan got back to the book:

"So, about the Imperials being totally unreasonable, yeah, that seems to be true here. General Tullius a Thalmor agent? Hard to believe..."

"But it would explain a lot!" Jomund chimed in.

"At least Balu got a new task now!"

"That he did – off to Windhelm again." Alander changed the topic.

"And this time it is just a quick visit; arriving, talking, staying the night, leaving."

"And nobody trying to get into his bed."

"Bad luck for him."

"Not really; he would have refused company again."

"True. But they're having some fascinating conversation, Balu and Ralof."

"Yes, and there is a lengthy comment on that, too: 'Interesting that Ralof was the one to complete Sanguine's quest, and I'm not sure how I feel about him having the Sanguine Rose, especially since he strikes me as a pure warrior who would likely be averse to using a magical staff, especially given modern Nords' aversion to all thing magical, even if he didn't know it was a Daedric artifact. As for his companion... revelry with a Daedric Lord, even one as supposedly good-natured as Sanguine, isn't something done lightly. Hope that doesn't come back to bite her, and Ralof, for that matter.'"

"Sanguine's quest? Is that kind of public knowledge, or was at that time?"

"No idea. But they got a point; Ralof is a Nord, after all, and at that time, most Nords did not like magic at all."

"On the other hand, think about Balu's first visit to Windhelm, when he learned that Ulfric had started to add Dunmer into his troops. If Jarl Ulfric overcame his aversion to magic, maybe also Ralof…"

"He did – this was even mentioned earlier!"

"But can you imagine? Ralof's companion actually asking for a night with the Daedric Lord?"

"Maybe she actually got the night of her life, as Ralof assumed."

"Is that even possible?"

"No clue, and I certainly would not want to spend a night with any of the Daedric Lords."

"Not even one of the female ones?"

"No way."

After a quick break for further reading Bha'jhan smiled and said:

"Finally somebody appreciates cats: 'I find the idea of Jordis cuddling with Hanni and Nanni so wholesome :) Cats really are the best thing to hug when you're down in the dumps' – fully agreed!"

"What's that ':)' sign supposed to imply?"

"A cat maybe?"

"Hm. So, Bha'jhan, you'd cuddle with anybody who feels down?"

"Well, I mean, I certainly have my preferences…"

"...young and female?"

The three looked at each other and laughed together; that preference was obvious and clearly shared between them.

"Hey, look at that comment in chapter 12 here" Jomund shouted. "'That aside, I really appreciate the shout-out, and I'm glad you're still enjoying my story! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it, over six thousand years later!'"

"What? Six thousand years later?"

"Wait – does that imply that there are books writing about events more than 6000 years ago?"

"No, that can't be right. The Third Era was a little more than 400 years, the Second Era was almost 900 years, and the First Era was almost 3000 year, as far as I remember from the history lessons. That implies they they're talking about events in the – what was the time before called?"

"Medieval Era, no, Meredic or Merethic Era or something like that, I think."

"Wasn't the early Meredic Era the time when Ysgramor showed up?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"Maybe we can find those books as well?"

"No, they're probably in a totally different area, or maybe in somebody's personal library."

"What a pity. But anyway – wow – an alliance now between Whiterun and Stormcloaks!"

"In that story, it seems to make sense."

"Yes, and one of the comment writers thinks: 'this should be interesting going forward: not looking good for the Imperial Legion' – fully correct, I guess."

"Will Fiona agree to that selection of sides?"

"She isn't here, and such an alliance is a decision for a Jarl; she will probably follow Balu's lead anyway when she learns about it."

"Yeah, probably correct; she does not know that much about Tamriel politics, and she was not treated well by Tullius."

"But wait – the comment goes on: 'Nice touch referencing Atkynd'. Who or what is Atkynd?"

"Some people seem to have fun using words nobody knows about."

"Now, the poor guy has another bad dream."

"And there's a comment on that as well: 'Shot in the dark here, but I'm presuming that Balu's dreams could be the work of Vaermina. Wouldn't be surprising, considering she's the patroness of nightmares.'"

"Who is Vaermina?"

"I heard about her" Bha'jhan replied. "She is something like the Lady of Nightmares, and she is known to haunt the dreams of Khajiit."

"Really? Only Khajiit?"

"I do not know."

The three siblings kept quiet now to read on, and except for some occasional throat clearing, they did not talk for a number of minutes. Eventually Jomund broke the silence:

"The Dragonborn is back!"

"That she is, and with company, too."

"One of those who wrote comments seems to like that, too: 'Nice to catch up with Fiona again! It's been a while The Saints and Seducers show up! Will Balu be encountering the funny bug Daedra too? (Elytra nymph, I think they're called if I remember right?)'."

"Saints and seducers?"

"Bug Daedra?"

"Elytra nymph?"

"It's not funny to confuse us like this."

"No, it's not at all. Those guys apparently have some background information we do not have."

All three of them nodded and continued to read for some time, until there was a shout:

"Mephala! Did she really hide in the basement of Dragonsreach at that time?"

"I have no clue, but Daedric princes do all kind of weird stuff, I have been told."

"Right! Wasn't there a time when you could find Sheogorath by going into a specific area in the Blue Palace in Solitude?"

"And I have heard stories of people finding Clavicus Vile after encountering a stray dog."

"And meeting Lady Namira when investigating some issues in the Hall of the Death in one of the cities."

"Ugh – don't want to do this; better leave the Hall of the Death to the dead people."

"But Mephala – isn't it going to be dangerous dealing with her?"

"Maybe they should just like, you know, permanently lock and seal that door?"

"Yeah, but that might make Mephala do something else, and maybe they want to make sure that she is, I don't know, not tempted to corrupt more people?"

"Wait, Daedric princes sometimes try to find people do something specific for them, and they call them champignons, right?"

"No, wait, that's not quite the right word. A champignon is a mushroom you can sometimes find on meadows…"

"Oh, of course, it's champions. And what would Mephala want them to do? Something good or something evil?"

"I guess that we have to read on for that. But, there's another comment in here, related to the political situation, it seems: 'just reunite with the Empire, march a joint army on the Thalmor, and tear up the White-Gold Concordant! That's what the Empire WANTS to do! Geh... the politics of Skyrim irritate me to no end. On both sides.' What?"

"Bha'jhan, the situation at that time was not great for Skyrim. Not only did they have a Civil War, but they had had that big war with the Thalmor, no, the Aldmeri Dominion, just a decade or two before, and the White-Gold Concordant defined the terms of the peace treaty."

"How do you know all of that, Jomund?"

"I tend to pay attention to the history lessons instead of phasing out, you know. This is Nord heritage, and some of it is really fascinating. I have to admit though, that I specifically like the earlier parts, like when Ysgramor came and conquered…"

"Yes, absolutely – this is my favorite, too!"

"Of course it's your favorite, Bha'jhan, with you being a junior Companion!"

"Well, yes, but those stories are so cool!"

"They are, that's true, and this is about the history of Skyrim, where we live after all."

"It is, indeed. Hey, there's something else I wondered about – Balu calls Mephala a 'Daedric princess' here; is this right? I mean, is she really a girl?"

"Oh boy, I really doubt that she'd want to be called a 'girl', brother."

"Wait, there's a scribbled comment here on that: 'None of the Daedric Lords are referred to as Princesses. Any gender they have is purely aesthetic, so even the female ones are referred to as Daedric Princes.' "

"Is that so? I did not know that. Our teacher did not really tell much about the Daedric Lords and such, except for warning us to keep away from all of them as much as we can."

The others nodded, and Alander suggested:

"Now, are we done for today? I feel that we should not linger too much longer. Not sure if you have noticed that, but I have an inkling that one or two of the girls suspect something, and I believe that we need to be more careful in future."

"You think so? Oh no, what do we do if they find out about the books?"

"Well, maybe we could share?"

"With the girls? Are you out of your mind?"

"Yeah, they'd ruin the reading experience with their girly comments."

"But if they find out, we may not have a choice…"

"Wait, was there a noise outside of the door?"

"Let's hide the book and hurry down!"

[Author's Notes: Once again I had an opportunity to use some of the reviews I got in here; I am having fun writing those interludes!]