Commoners and Mages, Zerina's background Options

[Remko]

Hi Guys!
I fell in love (in a manner of speaking) with the character Zerina I invented. I wanted some more depth to her so I started thinking what she would have been like as a child. Soon I found myself writing it down and before I knew the first chapter was born. Overall it's going to be a short story (if I can restrain myself lol) in which I will describe several events throughout her youth to when she meets Rales.

I hope you like it


Chapter 1: Childhood

Vabdas residence, 3E290

‘Zerina, come inside dear. Dinner is ready!’ a Dunmer woman caringly shouted across the green pastures alongside the Quada Samsi, south of Gnisis. ‘And stay away from the river honey!’
‘Yes mummy,’ a young girl answered sighingly while wading through the river knee-deep and kicking the water. ‘I am big enough to decide for myself,’ she mumbled despondedly but was soon lured to the house by the wonderful smell from her mother’s cooking.

‘Yummy, Nixhound-stew.’ The smell was a familiar one, her mother always made Nixhound-stew when her father returned from the mines. He’d stay away for days and return grimy and utterly exhausted.
With her bare feet flapping though the wet grass, she ran towards the house to greet her father when a moist nose tumbled her over. ‘Hey buddy,’ she greeted her favourite Guar from the pack that was grazing around the Vabdas residence. ‘I can’t play right now, daddy’s come home,’ she exubarantly said to the animal.‘I’ll be back after dinner, alright?’ she said while hugging the animal. A wet tongue dragged across her face sending her into a giggle. ‘Not now,’ she said laughingly.
Quickly she pressed a kiss on its snout and ran home.

‘Easy on the door! How many times do I still have to tell you?’ her mother reprimanded her.
Zerina pouted her lips. ‘But, I wanted to-’
‘Yes, yes, I know, you wanted to see your father,’ her mother smiled. ‘But you still need to take it easy on the door. One day you’re going to break the hinges.’
Zerina’s eyes became wet and the corners of her mouth dropped. ‘I don’t want to break them,’ she said sadly.
‘No need to cry, dear. Just be more careful.’
‘Shijana, you’re being to hard on her,’ a gruff voice interjected.
‘Daddy!’ Zerina shouted and ran into his outstretched arms.

‘You been behaving, darling?’ Zerina nodded vigorously in reply.
‘Did you bring me something father?’ she asked with her almond-shaped eyes glowing with anticipation.
‘I might,’ he said with a mysterious smile. ‘How about a kiss first?’
With a wet sound she pressed her lips on her father’s cheek. ‘Now can I have my present?’
‘Okay, okay,’ her father smilingly submitted and slowly pulled a thin leather strap with a blood-red amulet suspended on it from his tunic. He put his indexfinger over his lips. ‘It must remain a secret, okay? You can not show it to your friends,’ he said conspiratorially while tying the leather necklace around her slender, long neck. A feature she inhereted from her mother. ‘Now, let’s have some dinner. Why don’t you help your mother set the table?’
She hated doing chores but since her father had asked her, she ran into the kitchen to help her mother. ‘And don’t run indoors!’ her father shouted after her while shaking his head amusedly.

‘Look what I can do!’ Zerina exclaimed at dinner. Her plate filled to the brim with Nix-hound stew was floating several inches above the dinner table.
‘Don’t play with your food,’ her mother told her off but a wink from her husband silenced her.
‘Where did you learn that?’ her father asked her intrigued. Of course he knew Zerina had learned it from simply copying her mother.
‘I watched mother and just did the same as she did. Wanna see?’
The pair looked at eachother meaningfully. Shijana was a resourceful mage but in many ways, her five year old daughter rivalled her, if only in talent.
‘Show me,’ her father said. Before her mother could interrupt her, the floating plate crashed down on to floor, slinging stew and ceramic shards throughout the entire kitchen while another lifted from the table.

‘How many times have I told you never to cast the same spell when another is still active? Now look what you’ve done. I just cleaned the kitchen,’ Shijana complained sighingly while her husband burst out in laughter. ‘So you think it’s funny, why don’t you clean it up?’ she jestfully adressed him and flung the moist towel towards him.

Handily he caught the towel and set to cleaning the floor. It was partially his doing so it was more than fair he and Zerina would wipe away the spilled stew and remove the ceramic shards.
‘Come darling, put down that plate and help me clean up the mess you made. And no buts.’
‘Yes daddy,’ the little girl bleakly answered.
For several minutes Zerina helped her father but much to his amusement she only spread it out further rather than cleaning it up.
‘Go feed your Guar,’ he said.
He was rewarded with a kiss, a hasty thank you and footsteps through the mess leaving only more for him to clean up.
Amusedly he shook his head and wondered what his wife would say if she found out he had let their little girl go play outside, despite her orders.

This post has been edited by Remko: Jul 7 2010, 10:39 AM

[Remko]

Much quicker than anticipated, I present you chapter 4 A little foreshadowing and a familiar name to the MW players.

Chapter 4: Mischief

Outside Gnisis Legion barracks; 3E 300 (Zerina age 15)

‘I dare you,’ Ranys provocatively said.
‘You know I promised my mother I wouldn’t.’
‘Oh come on Zerina, she will never find out. What are you, a scaredy Scrib?’
Zerina looked at her friend angrily. I am not a coward, she thought.
‘Okay, I will do it. But if you tell her, I will hate you forever,’ she said sticking out her tongue.

Below the hill the two girls were hiding on, the Imperial Legion was exercising. Several barechested men were frantically swinging their blades into wooden training dummies. Some were shooting arrows into targets and others were running around the exercise field, sweating profusely underneath the blistering summer sun.
Ranys had dared Zerina into casting a spell on one of the legiononair’s swords. She ensured Zerina it would be incredibly funny and that no one ever would ever find out. Zerina wasn’t entirely sure - her mother had a knack of always finding out about their antics - but wouldn’t stand for her best friend calling her a Scrib.

‘What in Oblivion!’ the soldier cursed when suddenly his sword froze in mid-air. Pull as he might, the sword was suspended in space and time and wouldn’t budge.
Soon, his desperate tries of freeing the sword from seemingly nothing attracted the attention of his collegues.
‘Well, well, look at that,’ an archer laughed at the unfortunate soldier. ‘Omnius is too weak to pull his sword from the air.’
‘Stop laughing, you son of a Guar, and help me find the mage responsible! Has anyone seen the origin of the spell?’
With a clang the sword hit the ground when the spell wore off, drawing a stream of curses from the soldier when the hilt hit him in a particularly sensitive spot.

‘You were right Ranys, this was hilarious,’ Zerina commented still wiping away the tears from laughter.
‘I told you it would be funny,’ she replied with a grin from ear to ear.
‘So,’ a voice from behind them rumbled. ‘You two brats think that was funny?’
‘Uh oh,’ Zerina whispered.
‘It was her idea,’ Ranys suddenly shouted while pointing at Zerina. ‘I told her it would get us in trouble but she wouldn’t listen.’
‘Liar!’ Zerina hissed. ‘It was your idea.’
‘No! She’s lying, I swear it!’ Ranys screamed again.

Despite all Ranys’ attempts into framing Zerina with their crime, both the girls were punished and, exactly as Zerina had suspected, her mother was told of their mischief as well.
‘I am really sorry mother,’ Zerina ashamedly said. On Shijana’s face the disappointment was poignantly present. Yet; there was something else in her eyes. How could Shijana be mad at her daughter. It was only an innocent joke but the targeted soldier apparently had been the son-in-law of some general in Cyrodiil and had insisted the offending mage be punished, despite her low age.
The spell Zerina had cast on the sword had been an incredibly hard one. Shijana herself had been on the exercise grounds and had felt the remnants of the energy from the spell. Some parts of it she had recognised, some alteration and a hint of illusion but it had contained more, much more. It felt to her like Zerina had crossed the lines of the arcane schools and had wrought them together into a whole new way.

‘It was Ranys’ idea,’ Zerina mumbled with puffy eyes.
‘You know that doesn’t matter. It was you who cast the spell,’ Shijana told her off.
‘I told you to be responsible with your magic. Do I really have to forbid you to use it?’
Zerina slowly shook her head.
Shijana gently lifted Zerina’s chin and looked into her eyes with a faint smile. ‘Good, because I don’t want to punish you. Now, stop crying and say hello to your father. I can hear him coming home.’
Zerina’s face lit up with anticipation of seeing her father again and she started racing downstairs.
‘Oh, and ‘Rina?’ her mother stopped her.
‘Yes mummy?’
‘Stop showing off for Ranys,’ she winked.
‘Yes mum.’ Shijana waved her hand to indicate Zerina could go.
Before she could hug him and give him the usual kiss she saw something was wrong. Her father almost never frowned but today he looked worried.

‘What is wrong daddy?’
Mansilamat growled. ‘Damned Legion. We have to put up with those S’wits but they don’t do anything to protect us. They just stand around and mock us. Today another one of my collegues was attacked by those damned Kwama warriors. He nearly lost his arm. If the legion had done his job, Telar wouldn’t have gotten so badly hurt. Fetcher,’ Mansilamat cursed.
Shijana had come downstairs to greet her husband too. ‘Is there anything I can do for him?’
‘No, he was taken to the infirmary and was healed but it’s doubtful he will ever regain full control of his arm again. I bet he’s going to get fired because he can’t do his job anymore.’

‘Have you reported the guard with the General in Gnisis? He seems a decent enough officer.’
Mansilamat scoffed. ‘Who do you think they will believe? An Imperial officer or a lowly native miner?’
Shijana nodded. ‘I guess you’re right. But what else is there?’
Mansilamat’s sense of humour emerged. ‘Can’t you turn them into Cliffracers or something?’ he laughed.
‘I could try.’
‘Let’s have dinner, I am starving,’ she said with his stomach rumbling loudly.

This post has been edited by Remko: Jul 15 2010, 10:32 AM