Shade-Eyes, One elf's descent into Oblivion. Options

[kementari]

Hey, all.

So, long time lurker, first time poster. I've really enjoyed reading all the stories you guys have put up over the years.

I've been working on chronicling a group of vignettes on and off since 2006, and it's still a work-in-progress. Some disclaimers:

First, it's all quite long, so I sincerely apologize if anyone gets TLDR syndrome from reading it. Additionally, I tend to take a little free license with lore where Bethesda has been silent, so please don't crucify me for some of my inventions passed off as "world fact" in the story. Finally, I do draw some of my plots from game elements, but I change them where I think I can do better. Please don't let either of those admissions become the basis for hating me. Writing these stories is cathartic to me, and in some small way, I feel like fanfiction is the highest form of glorification I can give the story guys over at Bethesda.

I'd also really love feedback (CRITICISM! PLEASE!) on characterization, prose, pacing, or anything else, if any of you have the time or willingness to give it. While I of course appreciate even small affirmations, "hm, good work" doesn't really help me grow as a storyteller.

Anyway, here goes. Hope you enjoy it.

This post has been edited by kementari: May 27 2008, 12:31 AM

[kementari]

West Weald; Second Seed 22, 3E413


Vasha rocked back and forth on the saddle, trying to work some feeling back into her legs. Her chestnut gelding complained noisily at her movements, trotting a few steps to shake her up. Horses! she thought, acidly. Just ahead, Lily perched effortlessly atop a gorgeous blue-black mare; a recent gift from Lucien, if the crusted blood in the shape of a hand on the mare's rump was any indication. The mare looked back at the gelding's whinny, glaring disapprovingly from crimson eyes. There was something of magicka about this horse, Vasha knew - its hooves flew faster than the wind when Lily gave the mare her head.

Right now, though, Vasha was tired of all horses, and wished only to be at the end of their journey. A week or so past, she had accepted a contract that took her just past the border of Valenwood, and had hurriedly extended an invitation to her friend, who no doubt missed the trees of her homeland.

Vasha had been shocked at the way Lily's usually-shrouded grey eyes lit up with fury at the offer. The blonde elf hadn't even dignified her with a response, and Vasha had persisted with questions, risking Lucien's wrath, until Lily finally snapped. Turning on her heel, Lily had caught Vasha by the neck, dragging her into a sideroom in the Sanctuary. The following flurry of Bosmeri had been sharper than any knife, and by the time Lily had finished telling Vasha precisely why she had no interest in an offer to return to Valenwood, Vasha had been thoroughly terrified.

So, in a frightened babble, she had offered to travel with Lily as far as an inn near the border, and return for her after the job had been finished. She had half expected those grey eyes to be the last thing she saw before a black blade flashed across her throat, but Lily's expression had softened. Lily had requested that she extend her trip into the forest by a couple of days to deliver a letter to an elf in Arenthia, and Vasha had, of course, agreed.

And then these damned horses had to come in and ruin what should have been a nice trip home. We can't take them past the border anyway, she thought. At least it's only a day or so away...

The dark-haired elf kicked at the sides of the gelding. Still walking, he turned a lazy eye back toward her. Frowning, she kicked again. He turned his head away, and after just long enough to make a point, cantered a few steps forward to bring her parallel with Lily's mare.

"Want to stay at an inn tonight?" Vasha called brightly. "I know of a little place just a few hours out from the border. We could finish the ride tomorrow!" She mentally crossed her fingers - Lily had already vetoed the idea of extending their trip by a day, but you never knew what a day of riding could do to someone's willpower. Lily didn't respond, her eyes steady on the southern horizon. Vasha knew that the great forests of Valenwood wouldn't be visible for hours yet, but that didn't seem to lessen her friend's resolve.

Lily had been unnaturally quiet throughout the journey - quiet even for Lily. Vasha had seen her fingering the parchment envelope, sealed with Vicente's blood-red wax. Sometimes, at night, when Lily didn't think Vasha was looking, Vasha would see her simply staring at the ancient star-symbol painted onto the front of the envelope with a thick calligraphy brush. Vasha thought she had seen something like it before, but couldn't recall what it meant. The one time she had asked, the warning in Lily's eyes had been enough to talk Vasha out of her curiosity.

Vasha mused. The girls had been friends for months now; together more often than alone, and yet she knew next to nothing about Lily's past. The little she had learned that day in the Sanctuary - that Lily had been exiled - did less to answer questions than to raise them. She didn't dare ask the reason for Lily's exile, though the question burned in her mind. The primary confusion in Vasha's thought process stemmed from Lily's age. The girl wasn't even old enough to have committed any willful crime severe enough to warrant expulsion from the homeland - and certainly not any crime severe enough for a magistrate worth his salt to expel such a talented archer. Vasha herself was more than twice Lily's age; sixty-two and in the prime of her life for at least another century. Lily couldn't have been a day older than thirty - barely past adolescence by Bosmeri standards. Theft simply wasn't a crime in Valenwood, and young elves weren't held responsible for murders or even violations of the sacred Green Pact until they reached maturity - around fifty years of age.

Lily finally stirred, clearing her throat with a hiss. The girl spent such long periods of time silent that she frequently needed to prepare her voice for use, or risk embarassing squeaks. "When you reach Arenthia, take the south road out of the town and travel on it for about two hours. You'll see an eastward path about then - no other roads branch from there, so you can't get lost - and you'll take that for another hour. Ornilomea is a tiny township there."

Vasha nodded. "And who do I give the letter to?"

Lily was silent for a long moment. "Ask the people there for Maredhel. Go wherever you need to go to deliver it to her directly. Don't give it to her relatives, or show anyone the envelope." She looked over at Vasha, studying her. "And don't mention me."

"Of course," Vasha replied, hurt. "I'm not a complete dunce."

"We'll see," said Lily darkly.



Some hours later, the sun had dipped into the west and Masser had begun its ascent into the eastern sky. The elves stood at the border of the great forest of Valenwood, as far as Lily would go toward her home. The blonde elf slipped delicately from the saddle and began removing the mare's tack.

Vasha, on the other hand, almost fell out of her saddle. She had to sit on the ground for a few minutes while Lily hobbled her gelding, just massaging her aching legs. She got the idea that the gelding found something humorous about the whole situation, and shook her head at him threateningly. As Lily began to make a fire, Vasha strode around the clearing a few times. When she could feel her toes again, she came back to the horses and lifted a satchel from the gelding's back. Lily sat staring into the nascent flames, gently poking them with a twig, her eyes dull.

Sitting down next to Lily, Vasha took a calculated risk and placed a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder. Lily didn't react. After a silence, Vasha asked, "So... who was Maredhel? A friend?"

Lily blinked into the flames, her shoulders relaxing a bit. "Not really. I didn't... know her all that well." She shook her hair out of her eyes. "But I've needed to tell her something for a while now, and this seems like my chance.

Vasha let the silence linger for a moment. "Would you... like me to ask her to come back with me? To see you, I mean?"

"No." Lily's response was instantaneous and final. "In fact, if she volunteers to come with you, I trust you haven't lost the forestry abilities needed to lose her." Vasha nodded an assent, pushing down the prickle of irritation at the insinuation. Lily stood, then, and dug the wax-sealed envelope from her mare's saddlebag. "Maredhel will know if it's been opened, and she's got permission to kill you if it has."

"I think you're bluffing." Vasha laughed.

Lily held her gaze. "One way to find out."

Vasha held up her hands. "Okay, tiger." She put the envelope into her satchel and strapped her boots tight. "Anything else?"

Lily looked into the fire. "I know you have a target out there, but if Maredhel is hurt as a result of any of your actions..." She trailed off.

Vasha nodded solemnly. "I understand." She turned around, surveying the black forest. So many beings in Tamriel feared those huge trees, their fifty-yard heights only a tiny taste of the gigantic boles deeper in the forest, but to Vasha - and undoubtedly to Lily - they looked like home. She smiled, thinking of the hunt ahead, and looked back down at Lily. "Goodbye, then," she offered, not really expecting a response.

"Good luck," Lily replied. Her friend, who had already begun to stride off into the forest, turned in surprise. Lily met her eyes. "And... thank you."

Vasha just grinned, nodding her head. As she turned away a third time, she caught a whiff a "parting gift" left for her by one of their four-legged companions, and was doubly pleased to be leaving them behind.

Horses!