Serene of Cyrodiil, chapter 3 "Gathering Forces" Options

[minque]

Always be smarter than the people who hire you.
Lena Horne


Chapter 3 Gathering Forces

I decided to take a walk through the beautiful City of Balmora before finding my quarters. It was a rather big city, sturdy houses made of some kind of yellowish stone were scattered on each side of a river. I did meet quite a lot of people strolling on the riverbank, and in the streets. Most of them were very friendly, with few exceptions, who were clad in a strange type of armor and called themselves “guards”.

There seemed to be a lot of service available here, armorer, outfitters, various shops and to my greatest satisfaction I found a book-store. Now I can´t resist visiting a book-store whenever I find one and this time was no exception.

“Balmora Bookstore – owner; Dorisa Darvel” the sign by the door said and I stepped inside, meeting a young Dunmer girl, looking up from a book she was reading, friendly smiling at me.

“Good evening to you” she said, “what can I do for you?”

She was beautiful and the kind tone in her greeting touched me, so I smiled back to her;

“ I love books” I said, not the most intelligent answer, but I was somewhat stunned by the open friendliness with which she addressed me. “I´d like to look around for a while if that´s Ok with you?”

“By all means Muthsera, you´re welcome, take your time” With those words she got back to her reading.

I turned to the books, there were a lot of them, many unknown to me but also some titles I remembered seeing in Cyrodiil, even in the Library of the prison. When strolling among the bookshelves I suddenly heard someone coughing, naturally I got terrified, I didn´t expect someone else to be there besides the lovely Dorisa, but now I spotted a “guard” in that weird armor I´d seen in the streets. “Well naturally”, I thought when my heart stopped pounding, “she had to have some kind of protection, so young and all alone in her store.”

I found a couple of useful books though; A Guide to Balmora, and then there was another one where the name of it caught my interest, it was a Guide to Ald´ruhn, Ald´ruhn…there it was again…..my fate was somewhat bound to this place I imagined, far too many coincidences lately! Then I had to stop buying books, if I should be able to pay for night-quarters. It was obvious that I must try to get some kind of a job because I´d soon run out of the few septims I had.

With my new books in my satchel I then took a hearty godbye of Dorisa Darvel, certain that I´d visit her store again and made my way down the street. I noticed that the Mage´s and the Fighter´s guilds were situated nearly right across the bookstore, that knowledge could eventually come in handy later on…..

Further down, the street broadened a bit, stairs leading down to the river Odai, that I just learnt from the Guide, and also stairs leading upwards, then again I didn´t bother exploring anymore of the city tonight, all I wanted now was a decent meal and a bed for the night.

From a distance you could hear the whereabouts of the inn “Eight Plates”, laughs and raised voices accompanied by some weird kind of “music”…sounded out from a building to the left of the street. I hesitated for a while but decided it couldn´t be all that bad so I went inside…..

It was an Inn alright, but quite different from those back in The Imperial City….This one was dark, there was a distinct mouldy smell oozing from the very walls, and there were not many guests, just two Dunmeri sitting at a table heavily arguing about someone sleeping with someone else´s wife…..another rather drunk man in an ever weirder armor than the outside guards, was pacing back and forth muttering and hissing at some invisible enemy. Then there was the landlady, a tall elderly Dunmeri woman with an extremely dark voice, shouting at the drunken man to shut up and sit down otherwise he would be expelled from the premises.

I stopped at the counter and asked for night-quarters. The landlady stopped yelling at the drunk and turned to me thoroughly examining me before saying;

“Nah look what we have here guys!, an Outlander….and a woman, now that´s quite extraordinary” She laughed and stared at me, undressing me with her looks and I felt quite bad. It was not a good idea of coming here, but what choice did I have?

“Nightquarters” she laughed….”the little lady wants a bed, right?..and maybe some company to go with it?”

“No, I just want somewhere to sleep and something to eat if it´s possible” I tried to keep calm and be polite, despite the rage I felt inside by this insulting comments.

The men who were arguing before sat silent now and watched me with curiousity, the armored drunk had finally given up, lying beside the wall heavily snoring.

“Women don´t come in here unless they want some company”, the landlady snapped at me, “but nevermind, I´ll let you have the room downstairs to the right”. She then handed me the key and turned away.

The room was very small, a bed, a chair and a little table at the bedside, and it was filled up. Now I didn´t mind that at all, all I needed was a bed, but I checked the lock on the door very thoroughly, didn´t want any visitors….

After putting my gear on the bed, I went upstairs to investigate the possibility of having something to eat. The landlady was not very pleased with the thought of cooking me a meal so she shook her head in a negative answer on my request.

“Now now Dulnea, what about those kwama-eggs I brought you this afternoon, you haven´t finished them already have you?” A soft voice came out of a dark corner of the inn, and a young man stepped forward. He was a Dunmer, tall and slender, of about my age, maybe a few years older, pointed cheekbones, a complexion fairly light grey, and a tribal tattoo on his forehead, his red-brownish hair glowed in the dim lights from the lanterns on the wall, his eyes were red but then very sad and he looked thoughtfully right into my face.

“Oh heck,” Dulnea snapped at him, “Very well I´ll fry some eggs then, you certainly are a strange kind of man, Sedrane Mirpal, always volunteering to aid, being a woman or an outlander, your father would be ashamed of you”…..

“You know perfectly well that I don´t have a father” he said harshly and then turned to me;

“I bid you welcome to Balmora lady, and do forgive Dulnea, she is a hag sometimes but basicly she has a heart of gold, by the way my name is Sedrane Mirpal” .The young Dunmer reached out his hand to me and looked me straight into the eyes.

I felt weak, my legs trembled as I took his hand; strong and warm…..I was all lost in his earnest gaze, my voice was not but a whisper when I told him my name.

I simply had to sit down, having no idea what was happening to me,…….

“Ok Serene, let´s put you to bed before you pass out”, Sedrane took my hand again and led me down the stairs to my room, “I´ll bring you the food in a minute, but I think you have to
lie down for a while”
Lying on my bed I let my thoughts wander…..No doubt I was attracted to Sedrane Mirpal, he was very handsome, and that dark low voice, so soothing so calming and so sexy……and his hands, strong, warm and supporting. I closed my eyes and let it come to me, the feeling of something not yet experienced but still I knew what it was….Love!

[minque]

The door opened and Sedrane came in with a large bowl filled with something that smelled quite good.

“Serene, I brought you this, it’s something we usually eat back home at the Camp,” he said with a faint smile, “It’s simple but it fills you up real good.”

It was a porridge-like stew made from boiled saltrice and in it there were small chunks of kwama-egg and scuttle. I must admit it didn’t look very fancy but the taste was wonderful and it really satisfied my hunger. Sedrane and I ate from the one bowl, also sharing one spoon; there was nothing wrong with that, it felt quite normal to share the meal like that. I was beginning to wonder about what strange fate that brought this lovable young man to my side, but decided to just enjoy the fact that he was there at all!

Sedrane told me about his origin, he was an Ashlander, from the Ahemmusa-tribe, which had its Camp in the northern Grazelands, northwest of Tel Vos. Now this didn’t tell me much since I was completely unfamiliar with the land I currently was in.

He told me about the small tribe, the hard times they were experiencing at the present time. They were hunters mainly and the prey in the surroundings had diminished continuously during the last years. Besides that, they also lost their ashkan this last winter, so the tribe was now lead by the Wise Woman. When he mentioned this I saw tears in his eyes; I took his hand and just held it…..

“Sinnamu Mirpal is the Ahemmusa Wise Woman….she is also my mother,” Sedrane whispered, bowing his head down. His shoulders were shaking and I understood he was crying. I just put my arms around him and so we sat for a while……

“She’s old Serene,” he then said, “It’s too much for her leading the tribe in combat as well as being their spiritual leader and healer, and she can’t prepare the potions we need! The tribe is falling apart, the young ones are leaving for greener pastries, the older ones are too weak to hunt for the support of women and….and there have been no children born in several years, due to some unknown curse; Azura knows we need some coming generations…..oh what will become of my people?” Sedrane cried out in agony and pain so I just put my hands around his face and kissed him…….I don’t exactly knew what made me do this, it just felt like the right thing to do at the moment.

The consequences of my action were maybe expected…..we fell down on my bed tightly locked in an embrace…...

It was true that I was no virgin, due to the events in my past, but this time it was something completely different, it was an act of love and caring, of support and warmth, and I just let go…..drifting away on the waves of love…

“Serene, Serene of Cyrodiil, your next task has begun, fear not child, just follow your heart and everything will be revealed, I am watching over you…..”

Azura! I sat up in my bed, disoriented and dizzy. The room was completely dark; the only thing that was heard was the calm breath of the young man beside me. “Sedrane,” I whispered his name, gently stoking his chin; he moved and dragged me down beside him again. I cuddled up in his arms and fell asleep again.

That night I had the best sleep for a long time so I awakened quite refreshed and very happy, turning aside to wake up Sedrane…..but he was gone! On the pillow there was a small leather-satchel with a long strap attached to it. I opened it and found a selection of medical herbs, all very useful for making restoration-potions, and also quite powerful. I was stunned; how could he know I was a healer and alchemist? How could he know I was able to make good use of herbs like that? I sat down tears running down my face; he had left me, but he also left deep marks in my heart….I understood the hidden message in this, somehow the Ahemmusa-tribe was connected to my future, and as Azura had told me; I was to follow my heart…

So I rose from the bed, washed my face in the bucket in the corner and headed upstairs. Dulnea Ralaal, the barkeep, looked suspiciously at me;

“Ye had a good sleep little lady huh?’ She chuckled, “Yer hunter-boy left hours ago, headin´ home he was, in a hurry, hadn’t time te have breakfast he didn’t…”

I just nodded at Dulnea and asked her if I could have a cup of tea; I had no appetite this morning, I just wanted to get on with what lay ahead of me, visiting this Caius Cosades, and then….my heart was with the young ashlander who now was heading home to his tribe.

While having my tea, which Dulnea provided me without hesitation, I consulted my “Guide to Balmora” to find out where to find Caius Cosades.

I was not sure what I was expecting when knocking on the door of Caius´s house, but definitely not the sound of a drunkard’s hoarse roaring:

“ENTER, dammit, she door ish opennnn….arrrghhh.” then followed by the unpleasant noise of someone vomiting heavily.

I took a deep breath and opened the door. The smell that met me was indescribable; I had to cover my nose and mouth with a corner of my shirt to endure it. On a filthy bed lay a middle-aged Cyrodiilic man totally knocked out, his trousers in a mess, he had no shirt and was gasping for air in between severe coughing-attacks.

I rushed towards him and turned him on his side so he shouldn’t be suffocated if he should vomit again. He muttered something I couldn’t understand and then lay still. I opened the window to let some fresh air in and then tried to find something to boil water for tea-making. When I happened to look at the man’s face....there was a thin stream of blood running from his mouth that was absorbed by the pillow under him. Now that was a bad sign, there was most certainly an open wound inside his stomach, so tea wouldn’t be the best thing to give him....

I closed my eyes for a moment then sat myself beside him on the bed. I slowly rolled him over on his back again, he moaned a bit, but did not move. My hands were a bit cold so I rubbed them against each other, then put them on his stomach, concentrating........forcing the power to come, to emerge through my fingers into the poor soul on the bed.

The power built up inside me; I could feel the familiar tickling sensation in my fingertips, the heat.....then I felt the open wound inside him slowly close. It was a slow process this time; maybe because the man was dead-drunk, the amount of alcoholic beverage in his stomach hindered the effect of my healing-powers. I concentrated even more; sweat was running down my back, over my face, I was shivering....”Close...close.” I formed the words with my lips....Then it went faster, I could feel the wound finally close, so I fell to my knees panting heavily, I had succeeded again; it never stopped puzzling me, that I always managed to perform that healing-process ....It was a true wonder, even though Marthona always said that it was a natural gift I had and no wonder at all!

I wiped Caius´s face with a piece of cloth I found, and noticed he had fallen asleep, naturally asleep, so I began tidying the place up. After a while I felt that peculiar sensation in the spine that tells you someone is watching you, so I turned around and looked into Caius Cosades´s sad blue eyes.

“Who are you girl,” he said in a hoarse voice, “What brings you here to watch the misery of an old addict?”

“My orders were to see you master,” I said, “I have a package for you”

“NO you can’t be the one!” he yelled at me, trying to rise from the bed, “Not a girl, it just can’t BE.” He fell down again on the bed; the effort of sitting up was too much for him, besides he was still rather drunk...

I did not understand the meaning of his last remark, so I just handed him the documents and watched his face turn from anger and wrath to astonishment and then happiness as he read...

“My request has been approved. “He said quite happily, “Look here:”

He handed me the document and I read with fear rising in my heart:

“Spymaster Caius Cosades, Knight Errant of the imperial order of Blades, Director of Imperial intelligence in Vvardenfell District, eastern Provinces”

I have, in the name of His Majesty Emperor Uriel Septim III the honour to fulfill your request concerning the corruption of the Imperial Legion in the District. I therefore have the honour to acquaint you with Serene , an individual of no rank or consequence or even a last name, though with remarkable skills in the noble art of healing, and a strong sense of justice.

Serene has been released from prison by His Majesty’s authority and sent to you with this message. Serene is to be entered as a novice in the Imperial order of The Blades and to serve under your absolute authority as you shall see fit except insofar as His Majesty’s particular wishes are concerned.

His Majesty’s particular wishes are as follows:

Serene has to be enrolled in The Legion under cover and investigate the nature of the ongoing corruption in order to develop sufficient evidence on the basis of which We shall act.

You will provide Serene with adequate disguise, as well as a usable last name and introduce her to General Darius at Fort Darius. She shall report directly to you. If her true mission is revealed, the Emperor will not show any recognition of Serene_.

I have the honour to be your most humble and obedient servant,

Glabrio Bellineus
Personal secretary to the Emperor”


I trembled when I finished reading.....I couldn’t believe it....It just couldn’t be true. What could I, a 23 year old ex-convict, newly arrived from Cyrodiil, possibly be able to achieve with the Imperial Legion in Vvardenfell?

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