Teresa of the Faint Smile, Adventures of a Stringy Bosmer Options

[SubRosa]

Hi all, welcome to Teresa 2.0. Some of you may recognize the stringy wood elf this fan fic is about from another forum. I am going to start reposting her adventures here. However, I have taken this opportunity
for a fresh start to go back over the story and do some work on it. Starting with an entirely new scene, which you see below.

I have decided to give up the idea of breaking things up into separate Acts like I did with Not A Hero and Moving Through Darkness. It was probably a little confusing. Instead I am just going to go with a single title and let it go on as long as it needs to, hence the new name.

You will also find that the first half of what used to be called Not A Hero has been heavily edited. Hopefully an improvement! The rest of the story will also receive a facelift, although generally not as great. There will probably be a few more entirely new chapters turning up between some of the old ones as well. So this is not the same story you might have seen on the other forum.


For people new to the TF, you might find it easier to catch up with the cliff notes version in the spoiler tags below:




* * *

Chapter 1 –Warning

12th Second Seed, 3E433

The harsh croaking of a raven prompted Teresa to raise her green eyes from the only slightly bruised apple that she was eating. The alley behind the Tiber Septim Hotel was narrow, a thin gouge cut between massive stone buildings that loomed high to either side and cast its depths into dim shadow. Sacks filled with trash dotted the length of the lane, clustered in small islands near the back doors of every business and home.

The pale wood elf stood at one such mound of garbage, filled with slops and other castoffs. Rich people threw away the best food, she knew, making the back streets here in the Talos Plaza district a practical gold mine for street urchins like herself.

Screenshot

Her scavenged lunch fell from suddenly nerveless fingers however, as she gazed down the alley and saw the figure of a man running in the shadows. He was clad in plain linens, the clothing of an ordinary plebeian. But there was nothing ordinary about the way he held a drawn sword in his hand, nor the blood that stained it.

Before the elf could bolt and run herself, the interloper was upon her. Now she could see he was an Imperial by his olive skin and dark hair. He reached out to her with his free hand, and as Teresa backed away she realized that it was not only his sword that was washed in blood, but the front of his tunic as well.

"You must warn them!" the Imperial croaked through the blood that flowed from his mouth. As she stared with wide eyes, Teresa was certain she could see tiny bubbles of air bursting up from the red flow. She had seen that before, from deep knife wounds to the chest. He was a dead man, she thought, he just did not know it yet.

His hand clutched at the shabby tunic of worn sack cloth that Teresa wore, grabbing a handful of the rough material. Teresa nearly jumped as his fingers pressed against one of her breasts. The sword fell from his other hand with a clatter of steel on stone, and the Imperial dropped to his knees, collapsing into her.

Teresa stared with wide eyes at the dying man, whose head was now buried in the valley between her small breasts. Her heart raced like a wild horse, and she felt her skin grow cold as Skyrim. Try as she might to flee, her feet seemed rooted to the spot however. All she could do was gape in growing horror as the man clutched at her willowy frame and spat blood over her already bedraggled clothing.

The sound of footsteps caused her to lift her eyes and gaze back down the way the Imperial had come. There stood a handful of figures wearing dark red robes, nearly black in the dim light. Hoods of the same material covered their heads, shrouding their faces in darkness. She saw blades in their hands as well. Not mortal steel, but rather monstrous, wavy knives, like the jagged teeth of some fearsome Daedra.

"They're going to kill the-" with that the Imperial's voice gave out, and she heard a rattling noise issue from his throat. It was like a dry breeze through an abandoned tenement. Then he fell limp at her feet, open eyes staring blankly back up at her from the pavement.

"Hey, what's going on back there!" came an iron growl from the other end of the alley. The clash of armored boots rang out between the high buildings, reverberating in the Bosmer's ears. Wrenching her gaze from the dead man, Teresa turned to see an Imperial Watchman charging down the alley toward her, dark eyes glittering like polished ebony within the 'T'-shaped slit in his full-faced helmet.

"You there! Put down your weapons and surrender." The legionary had his arming sword out now, and before the wood elf knew it, he was standing before her. He took a moment to first glance down at the dead man at Teresa's feet, and then the blood that washed her tunic.

"I didn't-" Teresa gasped, feeling her blood turn to ice with the understanding of how things must look to the watchman. Then the steel gauntlet of his left hand was reaching out for her, and the words slipped from her throat.

"You'll hang for this street meat!" the legionary growled.

With that Teresa finally felt her body come back under her control. Twisting away from watchman's grasp, she sprang for the other end of the alley. Her eyes saw that the red-robed figures were gone now. Then her view swam as her foot caught upon the corpse of the Imperial. She felt herself falling, and her head slammed against something hard as she came to a stop.

Her vision narrowed, as if she were within a tunnel. She was vaguely aware of the thin, blue slit of the sky above her, flanked by the grey stone of buildings to either side. She thought she saw a dark bird spread its wings in that sliver of light. But then the shape dissolved, and turned into the steel helmet of the legionary, looming closer and closer. Finally, darkness consumed her.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jul 30 2020, 01:31 AM

[SubRosa]

D.Foxy: Thank you DF.

I think what you are seeing is that I put a little more emphasis on Teresa's being a street urchin, and a lifetime of being treated like garbage by the people around her. Her thoughts that Emperor's in their lofty towers do not mean anything to an urchin, that no magistrate would ever believe her word, etc... That low self-esteem is something that has always driven Teresa. It is why she does not know how to take a compliment. Why she cannot think of herself as a hero, etc... I just wanted to show that a little more.

However, she still has all the same vulnerabilities as before. For example, she still falls flat on her rear (I did not say boat - darned forum!) when she comes around the corner and sees Baurus, her hand still shakes as she hold the torch he gives her.

Edit: forgot to mention. I used the term "mortal" because I did not know any ES catch-all term to use for elves, humans, khajiit, and argonians combined. Saying "person" does not sound right for a fantasy setting. "Humanoid" sounds too scientific. The old tabletop RPG Shadowrun had the term "Metahuman", and Earthdawn had "Namegiver", but those do not translate to ES either.


Winter Wolf: I think you hit the nail on the head there. Teresa's vulnerabilities do always show through when she deals with other people. Expect no real changes there.


Destri Melarg: As I said to Fox, I believe you are picking up on that low self-esteem of Teresa's.

I am glad the extra stuff I put in to reinforce the Emperor's power to inspire others is working. It was something I always wanted to get across, that he was a man who made everyone around him better. I was never really satisfied with the job I did of portraying that in the first go around.

* * *

Chapter 2c - On The Wings Of Ravens


They came to a dead end, the passage barred ahead of them by an iron gate that was locked from the other side. They backtracked to a side chamber that Baurus had noticed, and Teresa waited inside with the Emperor as the Redguard and the last Blade went out to scout down another passage.

"I know this place, I have seen it," the Emperor said in a harsh whisper, his eyes casting around the small room. "My end his here." He turned to face the slender wood elf. "However, your stars are not mine Teresa. You still have a destiny ahead of you."

"I don't know what you mean sir, um, your majesty," Teresa said, feeling overwhelmed. "I'm not a hero..."

"No you are not. Not yet," the Emperor said, his azure eyes locked onto hers. She tried to pull away from his stare, but she found she could not. His eyes drew hers like a lodestone, and again she felt that brilliant light they cast filling her up, making her feel taller, stronger, bolder, than she had ever felt before.

"It is our choices in life that define us," he said. "Everything we do, or do not do, makes us what we are, makes the world what it is. Some people choose poorly. Some choose to be something better. Your choices lie ahead of you, starting this night. You will have to live with them for the rest of your days. So make them wisely."

Teresa had heard much the same before, from the priestesses and priests of the Nine when they made their monthly tour of the Waterfront shantytown to save the souls of proles like herself. Yet where they always sounded like pompous hypocrites, every word the Emperor said struck home deeply within her. Somehow because he said it, something within her knew that it was all true.

"The time has almost come," the Emperor said with resignation. He lifted the Amulet of Kings from his shoulders and placed it in her hand. "Take this. Give it to Jauffre. He alone knows where to find the last of my sons."

"But surely Baurus should..." Teresa stammered, staring down at the gigantic ruby in her hand.

"Baurus cannot. Our enemy knows too much about me. They know him. They even know this secret passage well enough to lay a trap for me here," the Emperor insisted. Taking her hand, he pushed the amulet into one of the pockets in her sackcloth breeches. "You they do not know. You can fly past them unnoticed, like a bird in the night sky. You must do this. No one else can. Take the amulet to Jauffre and let nothing stop you. The world hangs in the balance!"

Just then the wall opened up behind him with a grating of stone on stone. Teresa's eyes widened in horror as she saw a man in red robes emerge, raising one hand in the air. A blue glow erupted from his fingers and fell in a ring around his body. As the energy passed by, it left him clad in what looked like metal armor, yet nothing a mortal smith would construct. In one hand he now held a wavy bladed dagger that looked more like the fang of a monster than an ordinary weapon. Exactly as she had seen in the hands of the assassins in the alley.

Teresa wanted to shout, to step up and strike at the assassin. Yet she found her feet rooted to the stone beneath her feet, and her tongue a motionless rock in her throat. Before she knew it, the Emperor pushed her back out of the way and drew his sword. But he was old, and too slow. The armored assassin was upon him in an instant, and the next thing the wood elf knew the great man's body was falling to the stone tiles in a fountain of blood.

Something happened to Teresa then, which had never happened before. Looking from the dead body of the Emperor to the assassin who had claimed his life, her terror washed away. Replacing it was something in her heart that was dark, cold, and furious.

Without thinking she picked up the sword from beside the Emperor's body and rose to meet his killer. The assassin's dagger flashed down, and without flinching Teresa raised her off hand to meet it. Its hard blade pierced her palm straight through and stuck tight in her bones. She did not make a sound however, nor even flinch as she thrust the sword up into the belly of the murderer. She was vaguely aware of him screaming as she twisted the blade and drew it back out. A moment later she stabbed him again, and this time tilted the blade upward and pushed it behind his ribs.

The assassin crumpled in a heap beside the Emperor, his armor and dagger vanishing in a swirl of blue light. With an effort Teresa pulled the sword from his body and stabbed him again and again, thinking nothing of her wound, or of anything else in the world. She heard a woman shrieking, and it was not until Baurus pulled the sword from her hand and lifted her to her feet that she realized it was her.

* * *

"We've failed, I've failed..." Teresa heard Baurus sigh as the world came back into focus, and with it the pain in her hand. "The Blades are sworn to protect the Emperor, and now he and all of his heirs are dead."

"Not all of them," Teresa was more surprised than anyone to hear herself say. "There is one other. Someone named Jauffre knows who it is."

"Another son?" said Baurus, eyes widening in surprise. "Jauffre is the head of our order, if the Emperor entrusted anyone with that knowledge, it would be him. But how do you know?"

"The Emperor told me," Teresa said with effort, fighting the tightening in her throat as she looked down at his still form. She felt tears welling in her eyes, and it took every ounce of her will to resist them. Her heart was still racing from the battle, and she could not stop the trembling that coursed throughout her body, or the exhaustion creeping into her limbs.

Baurus' eyes followed hers, and a moment later he tossed the bloody sword of the Emperor aside and dropped to the floor beside his body. For a moment Teresa thought he was indeed going to start weeping. But then she saw he was running his hands through the folds in the old man's robe.

"The Amulet of Kings!" he hissed, turning his face back to hers, "where is it!"

Teresa blinked at the sudden change of his demeanor, but only for a moment. She drew the amulet from her pocket and held it out to him.

"He gave it to me," she said, looking back down on the Emperor. "He said I should take it to Jauffre. He said no one else could."

"The Emperor said that?" Baurus blinked, rising to his feet. He placed one hand over Teresa's own and gently pushed the amulet back to her breast. "Then you must do as he said."

"How? I saw it all happen, right in front of my eyes. I couldn't stop it...." Now she did begin to cry. "I just can't do this..."

"The Emperors see things, know things, that lesser mortals cannot," Baurus explained. "They say it is the dragon blood that flows through their veins. If he said so, then you must go to Jauffre."

"But I do not even know where to find him!" she exclaimed, waving her hand for emphasis. The motion sent a white hot bolt of pain lancing through her wounded palm. Doubling over as she cradled her bloody hand, the wood elf gritted her teeth and moaned. "Look at me. Do I look like a hero?"

"Here, take this healing potion, it is the last one I have left." Baurus said, reaching into a pouch at his waist and drawing forth a blue vial.

But Teresa waved him off with her good hand, still clutching the Amulet of Kings in it. Concentrating upon the healing spell she had learned so long ago, she drew her magicka up from within her. She pictured her hand, not torn and bloody as it was now, but rather whole and unharmed. Letting her magicka loose through that image, a white light burst from her fingers and washed over her body. The flesh closed around the wound as the light faded, but Teresa could still feel pain throbbing deep within her palm. Once more she cast the spell, then again, until finally it subsided.

"Oh you're a stubborn one aren't you," Baurus said with what Teresa thought might be a tinge of respect. It was something that she was not accustomed to hearing in other people's voices. "Good. It looks like there is more to you than you give yourself credit for."

"Yeah," Teresa muttered, staring from her hand to the body of the assassin. "It's been a night of surprises alright."

She had never killed anyone in her life, she thought, nor even seriously imagined doing so. Yet here a man - and a hardened killer to be certain - lay dead at her own hand. She did not feel the slightest twinge of regret, except that she had not been able to kill him sooner.

But it did seem strange to her. She could barely remember any of it. She could not even recall consciously deciding to pick up the sword and attack the assassin. All she could remember was the outrage that she felt at seeing the Emperor die. Somehow it had just taken control of her. Teresa had never thought she had that kind of anger in her, yet she had never met anyone like Uriel Septim before either.

"You will have to get off the City Isle and go west, to Weynon Priory. It is just outside of Chorrol," Baurus said. "Stay off the roads, we don't know if the assassins will be looking. They probably would not know you anyway, but at this point we cannot take any more chances."

"What about you, and the other man?" Teresa said, looking for the last Blade, who was nowhere in sight.

"He's dead," Baurus stated plainly, nudging the assassin's body with his boot. "We were ambushed while this one here did his work. I have to stay here with the Emperor's body. I will cover your escape in case there are more."

"You should come with me," Teresa reasoned. "I've never been outside the city. If I run into trouble in the wilderness..."

"No," Baurus shook his head. "Believe me, no one is more surprised than I am that I am sending an escaped prisoner off with the Amulet of Kings. But the Emperor trusted you, and I trust him. Besides, the assassins know who I am, and they know my place is by the Emperor's side, even if he is dead. If they see me running to Weynon they will know something is happening. They will suspect there is a last Septim that they missed. They must never know that!"

Teresa nodded. His logic was inescapable. She put the amulet back in her pocket and leaned down to pick up the sword the Emperor had been carrying. It was a plain steel arming sword, the kind any legionary might use. It hardly seemed like the weapon of an Emperor.

"You will need that. It belonged to a legionary who tried to help us in the prison," said Baurus, who then dug a heavy iron key from one of his belt pouches and handed it to Teresa. "Take this too. It will open the grate at the sewer exit. That is where we had been going. By the smell of that secret passage, it leads there too. Now you had better get going."

Teresa nodded. Gripping the sword in one hand, she wiped the tears and blood from her face with the other. Then she headed down the passage that the assassin had come from.

"Talos guide you," she heard Baurus say behind her.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Apr 12 2011, 09:27 PM