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]

“ This must be a mistake,” I addressed Caius, “I am not a soldier, I don´t fight....besides I hate the Legion ..out of personal reasons.” Tears were running down my face again; this was a complete outrage, and I just wanted to run away.

“No, no it´s no mistake, this paper here clearly states it´s you, Serene!” Caius smiled at me, “Now we can´t disobey the Emperor´s orders can we? Besides you just proved your outstanding healing-skills.”

I shook my head and remained silent. Was this some kind of joke? Not a very amusing one that was; I once again had that terrible feeling of being set up somehow....

Caius gave me 300 septims, in order to get myself some decent armour, and a letter of introduction to General Darius in Gnisis. He also told me that the easiest way to go to Gnisis was to take the Silt-Strider to Ald´ruhn and then another one from there to Gnisis.

“Well, I´ll have to give you a last name, what about Catraso? Serene Catraso sounds good, don´t you think?”

I just nodded, took my 300 septims and bid the man goodbye. I didn´t bother to buy some armour, because I knew when joining the Legion I would get some for free, if the rules were the same here as in Cyrodiil, that was...So I spent some gold on new clothes instead; I happened to find a fine clothier in Balmora, Milie Hastien, a sweet Breton who willingly showed me her stock of nice clothing.

While spending the afternoon in Milie´s shop I forgot about the strange tasks that lay before me. I was a woman again, a woman on a shopping-spree........that really made me feel good. Milie and I had a cup of tea together, and she told me a lot of Balmora and it´s services, and we giggled like schoolgirls over the amusing anecdotes she could tell about different citizens. Milie reminded me of Leila, the sweet Breton who was my friend in prison, and it made me feel sad for a moment.

The young clothier had another skill as well, something that usually pleased women greatly ; she was very good at fixing hairstyles, so I let her have a go with mine.....I never had changed hairstyles in my entire life so it was an exciting moment as she afterwards held a mirror in front of me and let me have a look at the “new Serene.” It was astonishing, originally my hair was a mess of auburn waves, just hanging down my back, really nothing special. Now, after proper washing, she´d dyed it jet-black with the help of an extract of Ash-yam, choke-weed, corkbulb-root and a dash of heather, then she styled most of it in a high set ponytail, but left a part falling down on the side of my face. I really looked ravishing, but also harder, tougher, which was the purpose. If I was going to be Serene Catraso, a Blades spy and enroll in The Legion I really had to look like a warrior.

I left Milie´s shop with light steps, heading towards the Strider-port for take-off to Fort Darius. Before leaving Balmora I decided to pay a visit to the Mage´s Guild, just out of curiosity. On my knocking on the door it was opened by a tall Dunmeri woman in a beautiful blue robe. Her hair was long and dark and the look in her face was kindly neutral.

“Please come in, Outlander.” she spoke in that dark and seductive voice that is common among the Dunmeri women, “What can I do for you?”

“I´m Serene Catraso, and I´m a healer and mage, so I.....”

“A healer you said?” she interrupted, “Well now that´s interesting, would you consider joining the Guild? I´m Ranis Arthrys, by the way.” Her handshake was hard as stone and so was the gaze she gave me whilst waiting for my reply.

Naturally I joined the Mage´s Guild, and not just for the nice benefits that were given to members only; teleportation between the Guilds for a low fee, possibility of acquiring accommodations in the guild for free and also free to take what I wanted from the supply-chests. Those were rather nice benefits and I immediately inventoried the chest in the Balmora-guild, and so took care of some restore-magicka-potions, a nice set of scrolls and a couple of soul-gems. Also the chest contained some nice books, that made a good addition to my current collection.

I then bade Ranis Arthrys good-bye and walked away towards the Strider-port.

As I arrived at the port the evening was long gone already, the sun had set and the sky had the colour of warm red comberry-wine. I then took the night-strider due for Ald´ruhn, laid myself comfortably down on the pillows inside the “creature” and fell asleep.

The early morning-sun woke me up as we went down for landing at Ald´ruhn Strider-port. As I stepped off the vehicle I spotted a landscape of a kind I never had seen before; it was grey, all grey, not a sign of green as far as I could see. The ground was cracked, dry and...well just grey! The houses that were scattered in front of me were of a peculiar shape, like shells of some maritime creatures. I decided to make a stop here; the mighty General Darius just had to wait a day longer for his new recruit. I had come to think of Elone´s sister, who I´d promised to visit when in Ald´ruhn......

The citizens greeted me politely but with no warmth; their suspicion towards outlanders was very obvious. The first building I came to when entering the town was the Mage´s guild. The door was open so I stepped in to introduce myself as a new member; it wouldn´t hurt to show a bit of courtesy I thought...

I was welcomed by a Cyrodiilic woman a bit older than I. She told me her name was Edwinna Elbert and that she was the guild-guide in Ald´ruhn-mage´s guild. Somehow she already knew I was a member, and she was kind enough to offer me some breakfast and an opportunity to wash myself.

Almost fully refreshed, body and soul, I took a walk around town. I had my Guide to Ald´ruhn ready so I could easily spot the two buildings that dominated the city; the Temple and Under Skar, where the council was supposed to be. I asked a woman in the street if she happened to know of a redguard-woman called Neminda and to my surprise the woman not only smiled in a friendly fashion, she also knew Neminda and so she could direct me without hesitation; Neminda lived in the council hall in that strange construction called Under Skar.

When entering Under Skar, that actually was a shell taken from an ancient huge Emperor-crab, I was stunned. Before me was a gigantic hall, wooden ladders and hanging bridges crossed this void, leading to doors in the walls. Guards patrolled the ladders and bridges all the time. I asked my way to the Council Hall, and was directed to a spot where 3 of these peculiar doors led right into the wall.

I opened one of the doors and stepped into an entrance-hall that was absolutely gorgeous with its arched roof, exquisite carpets and huge flower-arrangements.

I caught a glimpse of a dark-skinned woman in a blue expensive-looking outfit giving some heavy-armoured guard orders, and realized that must be Neminda.....

I approached the dark woman, who turned towards me with a curious smile;

“Neminda,” I said, “I´m Serene Catraso and I have a message for you....”