The Nord and the Four-Eared Khajiit, About 20 years after Martin's death, as crimes are spreading, a No Options

[sford564]

Okay, I already posted this on fanfiction.net, but I've revised it a little now. Soooo... here it is. It starts out a little dark and gets lighter as it goes.


Chapter 1: Fulfilling a Promise

The Nord made his way through the forest toward the traveling entertainers’ carts. There were all sorts of low lives of every race in this little gathering. Some of the scum wanted to see the bear baiting or to bet on the pit fights. Others wanted to buy slaves. Others still came to have sex with or buy some of the kidnapped girls the travelers had with them.

Sure, slavery was illegal, but it didn’t matter as long as you didn’t get caught. After Emperor Martin’s sacrifice, everyone’s attention was focused on cleaning their world up again from the Oblivion scum and rebuilding it again. Then, when things began to settle down, the talk of the new emperor exploded into several skirmishes, until most citizens didn’t care who ruled, as long as the deaths stopped. Now that the new High Chancellor took over rule, things were peaceful again for the moment. Alas, though, with all the strife that had taken place, the High Chancellor didn’t have enough time or man power to take care of every problem across the land, which meant that slavers began to rise up here and there in various parts of the world.


The Nord shivered a little and pulled the cloak further over his head so that no one could see him as he rode up to the camp. He had promised the dying Khajiit that he’d find her daughter, but he never expected to find her in a place like this. Still, though, he didn’t have as hard a time finding her as he had expected. It seemed that the sight of the four-eared half breed Khajiit made a lot of stir in every town she was brought to.

As soon as he entered the camp, he was surrounded by a group of dangerous looking men. “I’m looking for a Khajiit half-breed. Four ears,” he informed them.

“We have nothing like that here,” one of the men told him, not liking the looks of the Nord.

“Ahhh, so you’re the one asking around, are you?” another asked.

“What do you want, stranger?”

“I want to buy her,” the Nord answered.

“She’s not for sale!”

“She will be,” the Nord assured, slipping off his horse next to them. The vagabonds backed away a little, as the Nord towered over most of them. “Take me to her,” he demanded. No one moved.

The Nord slipped off his hood, and everyone backed away even more, horrified. There was no real face on the Nord; instead, there were two black eyes and two ears in a mass of scarred and torn flesh. He looked inhuman enough to be one of the Oblivion spawns he had hunted many years ago.

“Now,” the Nord growled. The group instantly spilt away from him and one vagabond, too scared to disobey, made his way through camp – nearly running to get away from the Nord – to where the Four-eared Khajiit was locked.

There was a small group of laughing, jeering people in front of the cage. They didn’t even notice as the Nord walked behind them.

This post has been edited by sford564: Sep 5 2010, 07:12 AM

[sford564]

Chapter 23: The Mages’ Celebration

A mage informed Mara that the Nord was back at their compound, and that he was gathering up his supplies to head out.

Mara quickly left the party and went to his chambers, just as he had gathered the last of his belongings. “You are leaving?” she asked him, blocking the doorway with her little frame.

“Yes.”

“Just like that? You barely even said hello, and now you’re leaving? Where are you going? When will I see you again?”

“I’m going back up north to my home. I don’t think we’ll see each other again.”

Pain shot through her face. “…Why?”

“Because I don’t belong here.”

“Where? The Mages Guild? There are plenty of other houses and inns around town. You can rent a room and we can talk again, just like old times. We can catch up on everything. Why did you never write to me?”

“Why didn’t you write to me?”

Flustered a little, Mara explained, “I didn’t know where you were going; all the letters I sent were sent back because no one could find you. Anyway, with the way you just up and left, I didn’t think you wanted me to write.”

“You’re right – I didn’t want you to.”

“Why not?!”

“Because you were happy living the life you should have. And I don’t belong in it.”

“Why not? Because you don’t know magic? I can teach you.”

“Look at me!” he exclaimed. “Look at me! I’m a monster – a freak. That’s why your friends hurt me earlier. Because they didn’t want me here. Because they didn’t want me near you. Don’t you see? Just by being your friend I taint you. If we are seen together, people will start thinking of you again as a freak. It will be ‘Four Ears and the Nord monster’.”

Mara cringed when she heard the long forgotten name. “I… No, my friends wouldn’t betray me like that.”

“Wouldn’t they now? I was raised in the Blades fortresses. I lived with them, I laughed with them, I ate with them, I hunted with them, I slept with them, I did everything with them. I was a part of their family, and then this happened –” he pointed to his face, “and suddenly no one wanted to see me again. They wouldn’t even look at me, Mara. They wouldn’t even look at me. They sent me away.”

Mara was silent for several seconds. “I love you,” she finally whispered.

“You shouldn’t.”

“Why not?!”

“Because I am not good for you.”

“Then who is? Huh? Who is? Marry me, Svein. I don’t care what people think. I’m still a bit of a monster in many people’s eyes. I don’t care. We can be monsters together.”

“No…that’s…I…” He was silent for several seconds before he finally said, “I’m leaving tonight. I will stay for your party if you will let me – I would like to see you smile and dance as Head of the Mages Guild – as someone important as I knew you could be – but then I have to leave.”

“Yes. Yes, you may come to the party. I already invited you. But we’re missing it now.”

He dropped his bags and followed her to the main hall where everyone had gathered. There was a large commotion, with lots of dancing, drinking and eating going on. Some mages were too excited to wait to display their magic until after the dancing, when there would be a big display of everyone’s talent, so a sudden explosion of color and noise was emitted in the air every now or then. Sometimes the illusion of a large, frightful creature entered the dance floor, and with great excitement and laughter from the on lookers, it would dance with its creator until he or she was finished with it.

Mara sat down at the table opposite of the Nord. She saw behind her in her glass of wine all of the excitement going on. The mages split into two groups – one of all males and the other of all females – to participate in a dance competition. It was the girls turn now to dance, and what a dance they did, too! Shiny dresses and ribbons, illusion clones of themselves, giant clouds of colored smoke rising from the ground…it was a grand and beautiful sight.

But the Nord didn’t notice. Or at least he didn’t show that he noticed. He looked into space, as if were preoccupied with some distressing thought.

“You told me that I would never be able to climb to the top of the White Gold Tower,” she finally spoke, her soft voice even softer as she continued to stare at him. “I went to the High Chancellor and begged him to let me, and he did.”

The Nord looked up. His eyes narrowed as the colorful magic disappeared, leaving the room much darker now. His square jaw set in a petulant form and his forehead tightened with aggregation, he leaned forward on the table, pushing his weight onto his elbows. Mara swallowed deeply. He had bulked up since last year. She didn’t know why she hadn’t noticed it before, but he had added a few more inches to his shoulders and arms. She didn’t think that was possible.

Everything he did seemed intimidating, especially to a frail little Khajiit such as she. And the way he leaned over toward her and the face he gave her was very intimidating…and yet, she knew that he’d never hurt her. So what was this she was feeling?

“You didn’t really?” he asked, his deep voice laced with surprise and annoyance. “Mara…” He sighed heavily. “Mara, what did the High Chancellor say when you asked him that?”

For three years she lived in the Imperial City, so now she began to recognize accents, and his was a deep one. She ignored this thought for the time being, and answered, “He laughed. I told him how I would wait for you on the city wall, but the tower was much higher. I told him that I really wanted to see the world from way up there, so he let me. He’s at my party tonight if you want me to introduce you to him.”

“No! No!” the Nord quickly assured her. “I told you, I don’t want to embarrass you tonight.”

“Eat something,” she whispered.

“Huh?”

“Eat something. You need to eat something.”

The Nord frowned, but, at the sight and sudden recognition of all the smells around him, he nodded. He reached his massive arm across the table and stabbed into a fat piece of red meat.

He didn’t look up, but he could feel her eyes on him watching him intently. He didn’t like it. Was she mad at him? Did she want him to leave right now? He didn’t want to look up at her, in case there was hate or betrayal in her eyes. How could he face that? Was it not bad enough that his heart felt as if it were about to tear free from his chest? How then could he survive the pain of having someone he loved so much be angry at him? Worse – hate him.

He nervously tore at the steak in front of him, shoving all fat and gristle to one side to leave the perfect, juicy meat at the other.

He cut the piece of pure meat into fourths, shoving one of those fourths into his mouth, and then immediately downing half a glass of red wine.

If he were not so busy tearing at the food in front of him to him to vent his frustration and confusion, he would have seen that the look he was getting was not one of anger or betrayal, but of a weird mix of love, lust…and, something else. There was almost a hunter’s look in the Khajiit’s eyes. The pupils of her eyes slowly began to thin; her ears began to fall to the side of her head; her tail twitched anxiously; and her body tensed.

He didn’t see any of this as he put the wine glass down, a little steak juice and red wine dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Mara pounced onto him from across the table, knocking him off his chair and onto the ground. She pinned his shoulders to the floor and licked the bloody wine off the side of his lips.

A soft purr emitted from somewhere in her chest as she looked down at her prey.

“M…Mara! W,what are you doing? There’s people around…I…”

“Marry me.”

“What?!”

“Marry me. You promised that you’d marry me when I saw more of the world and understood it. Well I have. And I do. Now marry me,” she demanded as she pushed her body weight against his shoulders.

“But Mara…I…Mara, get off me now. You’re making a scene.”

“No one can see us.”

“Get off or I’ll push you off.”

“Marry me or I’ll make you.”

Slightly amused, he asked, “How?”

In response the four-eared mage, pinning him to the ground with more vigor, pressed her lips against his in sloppy, yet domineering kiss.

Gasping a little to catch his breath, and sighing heavily, he whispered, “Mara, don’t do this to me. I love you too much.”

“Then marry me.”

“Don’t you see, if I married you, people would think of us as freaks. Our children would come out as freaks.”

“No. We’d have beautiful, hairy children. Some with beautiful yellow eyes and beautiful yellow hair, and some with scary, thin, black eyes and thick black fur. Some might even have four ears like me.”

Mara kissed him again, and pulling on his shoulders for him to sit up, sat cross-legged in his long legs. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she whispered, “Marry Mara? Poor, poor Mara.”

“I...But, I…” The Nord thought of one hundred and one reasons all at once, many of which he had already told her. He finally picked one: “We’d need to have a priest. There’s no priests here.”

“Yes there is. Father Claudius is here. So are most of the other Brothers.”

“And then…You don’t have any dress.”

“I don’t mind being married in my Mages Robes. It’s a sign of honor.”

“I don’t have a ring.”

“You can buy me one later.”

“But…”

“But?”

“I haven’t asked you to marry me yet.”

“So?”

“So come on…” Suddenly his voice was full of authority and determination.

He rose and helped her to her feet. He led her to the middle of the great hall, where everyone stopped dancing to part for them.

There was quiet whispering as the Nord fell to his knees before the Four-eared Khajiit, and taking his family ring of his hand, offered it to her.

His proposal was short and simple. It was the only way he knew how to do things. “I love you, Mara. I am unworthy of you, but I love you nonetheless. Be my wife?”

Giggling, Mara slipped the big ring on her thumb.

The giant Nord, scarred and haggard, knelt at the feet of the noble little Four-eared Khajiit, taking her tiny hand in his and kissing it front and back, as a group of colorful spectators watched on in amazement at the odd couple.

THE END