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Man and Dragon, Dragon and Man; ....with a side-excursion into vampires and so on
Topic Started: Jun 15 2017, 08:41 PM (1,205 Views)
Serethil
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Et'Ada
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Thanks sis! So here's the really odd part - now that I've got a Serana who's more "normal" (this one I'm writing about), I'm finding her more tolerable in game.... That's a good thing, because with LotD, you HAVE to do that DLC to enable finishing the ultimate Explorers Guild quest line, the Trials of Trinimac.

Sure you wouldn't have to do either one, but damn - that quest line is AMAZING, and I just can't stand to skip it....
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Andra Hawksdaughter
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Jarl
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Oh no, NOT feeling sorry for Valerica, I think the road she took broke something in her. She did it willingly, and whether she really did try or not to stop the gifting of her daughter to Bal makes no difference to me. She still used her own daughter, for what ends, I don't know. I'd like to see her try to take any vengeance on Tier or her family, LOL. That was great Sis!

As for Serana, I can only hope she finds whatever she seeks! :)
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Serethil
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Et'Ada
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Thanks Sis! Well, Valerica might try - but hey, I'm the one writing this story, so there! *snerk*
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Serethil
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Et'Ada
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Thirty-two: Message from Talos

Several days after Valerica’s “visit”, I woke about middle-night not knowing what had awakened me from sound sleep. I lay quietly while I thought back over if I’d been dreaming - no, I thought not. So then, what? It was unusual for me to wake like this....

And then I realized my mind was holding a - hmm.... an echo of a voice which faded a bit as I thought about it. The main thrust of what little I heard was that Talos wanted to see me. Us. And then I fell right back into dreamless sleep.

At day-meal, I told Var and g’ma about it. And then told it again when Arngeir came into the room looking for a book he’d left on the table the night before.

“So, shall we all go up to the Aerie? The weather should be nice. We can take one of the carriages.”

We settled to leave the next morning, and set about packing. The weather might be nice here - but it was still winter-cold at the monastery and the Aerie was even colder; we’d all need winter gear, heavy bedrolls, and so on. Before we left, I hunted up the twins and Melki.

“I don’t know how long we’ll be away this trip. Melkioran, is that stud ready to go to High Rock?”

“Aye sis - but with you gone, I’m not wanting to leave to take him over the border.”

“Right. Well, the twins can do it. Can’t you?” Identical nods answered me, so that was settled. That stud was bringing a more than fair bit of coin, and waiting on delivery just wasn’t going to be a good idea.

Beyond that, I just had to hope Valerica wouldn’t return while we were gone. And that the Jarls would decide that with no one home here, they should just go to their own holds for a while. That last wasn’t at all likely of course!

The trip to Ivarstead was uneventful, long-ish and boring. Arngeir read, g’ma dozed, Var and I talked over the Holds and their Jarls, Valerica, Serana.... And then Var put his arm around me, and I fell asleep on his shoulder.

We spent the night at the Vilemyr, the town’s only inn. And the next day after we broke fast, we began the hike up to High Hrothgar. It would take however long it took - with Arngeir and g’ma, neither young, we were not going to push it. The weather held fine, but of course as we hit the middle reaches of the Steps, the wind came up and pushed fine snow ahead of it.

By a couple of hours after mid-day, it was time to stop. “Why haven’t we put a hut or something on this trail?” I asked suddenly.

Var sent me an odd glance. “Well, we could of course, and actually, three would be a good idea. We’re already seeing pilgrims to the Aerie.” True - we’d been caught up and passed on the Steps by several groups.

“Fine. We’ll get that started once this is done.” I wondered if we’d ever run out of things to do - and then I thought probably not. There would always be something that needed to be better, bigger, more solid, improved....

But since we didn’t have a hut right now, we moved into the deep trees and set up a lean-to shelter using downed limbs, cutting some of the lower, very sweeping needle-covered branches to make a real cover against the wind-driven snow for the night.

Var cleared snow from the area in front of the shelter, and built a small fire. We’d placed the shelter with the opening away from the wind (at least until the wind changed), and we hoped to have time to heat a bit of water to something above ice-cold to have with sandwiches provided by the innkeeper.

Once we pulled an old blanket down over the opening, and got into bedrolls, the temperature inside rose enough so that we, even g’ma and Arngeir, could be comfortable. And so we slept.
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Areial
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Et'Ada
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Well hopefully Talos has some good news.. and not a lot of thing's to do to get to the good news!
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Serethil
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Et'Ada
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Well, without the t'storms, I'd have gone on with it. Still dodging stuff, so it'll wait a day.
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Areial
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Et'Ada
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I know dodging T-storms!
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Serethil
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Et'Ada
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Heh. Don't all of us who live in the desert southwest. So far we're doing fine on the monsoon - inch and a half in the last three days. Hope it continues....
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Areial
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Et'Ada
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We could do with a bit of rain. It's hot and humid, with a good chance of rain, but no...
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Serethil
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Et'Ada
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Yeah.... you're a bit too far east to get much help. Sorry.... wish you could have some wet and cool.
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Areial
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Et'Ada
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Yeah me to... <sigh> it'll come soon enough.. and then I'll want warmer weather!
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Serethil
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Et'Ada
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Oh, HELL no. I never want warmer. EVER.
Edited by Serethil, Jul 29 2017, 10:10 PM.
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Areial
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Et'Ada
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<giggle> yeah I know..
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Andra Hawksdaughter
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Jarl
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The long trips back and forth can be wearying, but also thought inducing. Can be good and bad, lol.Good one Sis, and hope the weather continues treating you nicely, even if it isn't to me and Are! :D
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Serethil
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Et'Ada
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Thanks Sis! Cool and cloudy again this morning....
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Areial
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Et'Ada
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Partly cloudy and 78F here atm.. high of 91F.. which is better than 101 which is what the outside thermometer said yesterday.
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Serethil
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Et'Ada
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Thirty-three: Thankfulness, despair, and deeper belief

We were up early to finish the climb. As we reached the Aerie, we met the groups of pilgrims heading down after spending the night near the shrine. That was good - I didn’t really want to talk to Talos and Akatosh with unknowns around.

We set up a sketchy camp so that Arngeir and g’ma could be as comfortable as possible while we were talking to Talos.

I walked into the center of the shrine’s curving walls and knelt. Var stood behind me - I think he was planning to keep anyone out if they came along before I was done. So I waited in the cold and snow, letting the light here on the top of the Throat fill my soul. I remember thinking that I could do so much worse than to give these four all my love - Akatosh Dragonfather; Talos Stormcrown; Meridia Daystar’s Light; Azura Rose-Lady of Dawn and Dusk - and as that thought settled in my soul, I felt them all within.

“Daughter, you are our beloved child.” The deep bell-like tones of Akatosh’s voice vibrated my bones. “I have - ah - discussed Durnehviir’s situation with those who style themselves the Ideal Masters. They are willing to release my son from his slavery.” He paused, and I sensed that there was more to this - and that I might not be happy about it.

At that point, Var whirled about to look out of the shrine. “Damn it to all the Hells, what are you two doing here? You’re supposed to be delivering that bedamned and blasted stud!”

Uh oh. I couldn’t exactly go to check or even try to stuff Var’s temper back down - because Talos was - laughing....

“Well, your husband does have an - interesting turn of speech when he’s annoyed. Your twins are here at our behest.” I felt Talos’s attention light on Var, who stuffed whatever he’d been about to say next back into his mind - or mouth - whichever. Then he and the twins came fully into the shrine’s center, where they knelt next to me.

“As for the ‘bedamned’ stud, they - delivered him - a bit faster than they’d planned on. So they were free to come here. This is, after all, a family affair, see you. The Ideal Masters - want - recompense for the release of Durnehviir. This is a bit sticky of them - after all the poor dragon has paid with millennia of his life for a few bits of knowledge - but as they feel they have (somehow) right on their side....”

Akatosh spoke again. “See you - there are balances that must be kept. And this issue impinges on them - because if the wrong choice is made, those balances will never again be settled. That would - be unfortunate. I don’t expect you to understand or even want to understand - as it’s something that unless you are a greater entity such as we four, or one of those Masters of the Soul Cairn, you would likely not be able to parse. Things of that nature require - millennia - of life....”

I nodded. Var just looked sulky. The twins - well, while I didn’t want to think about it.... they seemed excited.

“So. Fathers, Mothers - you are telling us that the twins must be the ones to.... accomplish this ‘recompense’ for the Ideal Masters.”

“It’s refreshing”, Meridia said calmly, “to deal with a human whose mind is nearly as incisive as ours.”

Azura picked up the thread. “Aye, Tiercel and Vartain. Vaerlon and Terlinna are the ones to complete this task. It is not beyond their capabilities. They will be as safe as is possible when dealing with bits of Oblivion. We of course are not sure what the Ideal Masters will want - but we have enforced that it not be something un-doable, and that these two will not be coerced as Durnehviir was; that once they have done their best to provide this service to the Masters, they will be released to their home, and that nothing will remain of their time in the Soul Cairn.”

“We will retire to discuss this with their grandmother, and the Greybeard Arngeir.” I stood, and shooed my family out of the shrine. In my mind I looked at the four entities, and said silently ‘Be assured that I do fully reverence you all. Also, be assured that if my twins do not return, or return and are - not whole - well, while I don’t promise what I can’t perform.... I will not be happy.’

I felt their nods of acceptance. I hoped that this - did not create a rift with my deities - but if it did, well.... so be it.

It took a lot of hashing all this over, sometimes each of us talking over all the others. But just at dusk, Terlinna stood up and stated with a firmness I didn’t realize she owned “Enough. We WANT to do this. It is OURS to do. We will return, whole, and that’s all we’re going to say more. We know you’re all unhappy - you’re our parents, grandmother, a much older and revered good friend. But....

“This IS ours to do. We’ve known for a very long time that there was something we needed to be doing. We’ve never married - and I know you’ve worried ma! - because we’ve had it to do. So. Enough.”

Vaerlon had placed his hands on Terlinna’s shoulders. Solidarity - I knew he’d always wished he was the elder, but together they were solid.

Var shook his head, and I knew he was a breath away from weeping. So I defused this moment: “Well, by damn you’d better get back alive and in one piece or I’ll kill you both myself!”

After that, we decided to have some wine and eat some sandwiches. The mundane is generally a good antidote to extreme emotion.
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neildarkstar
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It's really difficult to write Deities into a story with face-to-face encounters, but you've done well with it. The problem(usually) with bringing gods into a story is that Deities have enough power that they don't need the hero, and therefor solve all issues themselves, or they are not powerful enough to be accepted as deities worthy of any sort of worship. People never seem to realize their own insignificance when dealing with gods, eh? :)

It's a very fine line...
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Serethil
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Et'Ada
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In main, very true. In fine, in my version of Skyrim, there are just things that deities can't do - without screwing up relations with other deities. And that's the point where people get brought into the scenario: they can (and do, in Skyrim - I mean, look at the whole Dragonborn thing....) manipulate situations and "fix" things - without causing the War of the Gods.

Now, as for realizing insignificance - well, Tier does. But a mother's instinct - and heart, and love - caused her to poke at them a bit.

Tier is quite well aware that she's the recipient of godly benevolence - as well as on the receiving end of some godly manipulation. Thus her rather ambivalent statement of intent....
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neildarkstar
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Hmmm... I won't get any further into the "insignificance" thing because we'd be headed into territory that would no doubt be politically incorrect, and also no doubt be highly offensive to some folks (a fact which makes it more than a little tempting :devil: ) .
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