Valentine, Memoirs of a Skyrim Soldier Options

[TrisRed]

I've always wanted to do a Skyrim story, but I haven't felt the time was right. I did attempt a SKyrim story a while back but it kind of lost it's way.

Then came Valentine.

Valentine is a feisty red-headed nord with a new lease of life. I won't say to much as I have a habit of spoiling the story whilst introducing the character, so I will let her story speak for itself.

Also this is kind of an experiment for me. Valentine is my first charachter that doesnt have a pre-planned story, so I will basically write as I explore with her, which is extremley exiting. The only thing Pre-planned was the backstory, which is the 'Prologue'.

I hope you enjoy

0.1 Prologue: A day in the life of Valentine

I woke up and looked to my left. My lover, Arthur, was still fast asleep as I saw a glimpse of the morning sky through the window of my house, Honeyside.

It was going to be another Riften day; dull, dreary and most likely boring.

I climbed out of bed carefully, not wanting to wake Arthur, and headed to the dining area. I buttered myself a slice of bread and sat down, taking a book from the shelf a reading it.

Just as I was getting into ‘The Lusty Argonian Maid’ I heard a knock at the door. I put down my book and breakfast and hastily put some clothes on before answering the door.

"Hello, Valentine."

"Good morning, Jenassa." I said to the Dunmer stood in my doorway.

"Not quite as good as you would think, I'm afraid I have some bad news. May I come in?"

I nodded and she entered. She sat at the table and I joined her.

"Everything okay?" I asked her, a little concerned.

"Not really, no. It appears the Jarl has ordered for my removal from the Co-Captain role. Therefore I must leave Riften and find a new purpose in life."

I laughed, but Jenassa didn't. I looked at Jenassa, stunned. Her tone was so deadpan it seemed like it was a joke, but it wasn't.

"Wait, what? She can't do that? Did you hear her right? The Jarl is getting on in years? Maybe you heard FIRED when she said... tired?" I said to her, convinced she must have been mistaken.

"There is no doubt about it. I have been ordered to leave my position. Apparently Dunmer arne't welcome as guards of Skyrim."

"WHAT? But you are MY Co-Captain. I am captain! I should choose the Co-captain to my captain!" I stood up. "I'm going to talk to the Jarl."

"I'm afraid that will not be of any use."

I stared Jenassa in the eye. "This is NOT fair."

"This land belongs to the Nords. If they choose I don't belong, then who am I to argue?"

I laughed in disbelief.

"Have you SEEN Riften? It is the most multi-racial city in Skyrim! Why would you think you don't belong?"

Jenassa looked at me and then smiled. She stood up and hugged me. She released me from the hug and held my arms.

"I must go."

"Where?" I asked her, my tone sounding meek and pathetic.

She shook her head. "I do not know. But know this. You are a wonderful captain and a true friend. Don't let ANYONE put you down. Always remember to trust your instincts to come out on top, Okay?"

I could feel a tear welling. The fact that Jenassa, my trusted friend, would be leaving without any reason or a place to go broke my heart. I wasn't sure if I would ever see her again.

As she left my house something bothered me. The way she said not to let anyone put me down. Did she mean in general... or a specific person?

***

That same night Arthur and I sat in the Bee and Barb for our mothly date. I decided it was the perfect time as I needed cheering up.

"This is nice. We hardly ever do things like this." I told him, holding his hand across the table.

He smiled at me with his blonde, blue eyed, sexy ruggedness. "You have an intense job. I understand that you can't be free all the time."

"Well you have an intense job too. I mean, you're a stormcloak. Fighting the empire has gotta be tougher than fighting skeevers."

He laughed. He then looked to the bar and saw the bar matron, Keerava, approach us with two plates of delicious looking food.

"Enjoy." She said, placing the food on the table.

"Thank you." I said to her.

Before she headed back to the bar, though, the asked me a question.

"I was wondering if I could ask you something? A favour, if you will."

I looked at Arthur, unsure if he would be happy with work talk during our date. The reassuring look on his face convinced me he was perfectly fine.

"Of course you can, Keerava; what is it?"

"Well my problem is that I've been waking up in the morning to find my inventory and some of the guests private things have depleted overnight. I worry that someone on the inside is using the master key to steal from us as there appears to be no signs of forced entry anywhere. It doesn't appear to be your average theif."

I thought about her problem for a short while before coming up with a suitable soloution. "Don't worry about it, I'll make sure to have hourly patrols near the Inn for any suspicious behaviour as well as a guard on twenty four hour watch inside the building itself. How about that?"

She smiled with elation. "Thank you Captain, thank you so much! Please, your meal is on me!"

I smiled and shook my head, "Oh no there isn't any need for that. I'm just doing my job."

"I refuse to take no for an answer! Either you accept the free meal or you never eat here again!"

I laughed, "Okay, well thank you Keerava, that's very kind."

Keerava bowed with gratitude then headed back to the bar. I looked at Arthur, who gazed at me with a loving look in his eyes. I smiled.

"What?" I asked him.

There was a short moment of silence before he responded.

"You're amazing, do you know that?"

I didn't reply, only blushed, trying not to smile too much. I changed the subject.

"Eat your stew, It's getting cold."

***

"How was the patrol of the northern sector?" I asked Gunter, one of my guards.

"No signs of any trouble." He informed me.

I nodded. "Good work, soldier. Back to your position."

"Cap'n." He replied before scurrying off to guard the main gate.

I began to wander round the city, greeting the citizens who walked past me. I liked the fact that I had garnered a lot of respect from my position. I would always get the occasional free piece of fruit or bottle of mead. I was convinced it was through my position, but Arthur remained convinced that it was because I was just a nice person. Either way, I couldn't complain.

"Ahh, Captain Valentine!" Greeted Haelga as I walked past her bunkhouse. "How are you?"

"I'm very well thank you, Haelga, yourself?"

Her face suddenly dropped. She folded her arms.

"I am well, apart from the fact that I cannot help but wonder where the guard with the beautiful eyes has gone..."

I laughed. " Who Sinding? I'm afraid he left the guard a few weeks ago. He went to live in Falkreath."

Her eyes widened. "What? Oh no, what a shame... well I best get back to work..."

She smiled solemnly and then turned to walk back into her bunkhouse.

"You do know about her reputation, don't you?"

I recognised the voice instantly. I turned to see Sapphire stood behind me. The raven haired nord stood leaning against a wall, her arms folded.

"Her reputation has nothing to do with me. Sapphire." I assured her.

She smirked sarcastically.

"If I were you, I'd keep an eye on your man. I've overheard Haelga claiming that the moment you and Arthur break up, she's going to swoop in."

I smiled at her. I wasn't in the mood to play her games, so I just put her down with a witty comeback instead.

"I wouldn't worry if I were you. Arthur and I are engaged now. That's more than enough reason for me to trust him."

She gave a look which suggested she was impressed with my comeback, so she decided to verbally stab me with words that equalled a very sharp blade.

"Was that Jenassa I saw leaving the other day? You finally fired the useless lump."

Whatever Sapphire's problem was I wasn't in the mood to deal with it. Before I had a chance to make any kind of response, though, she'd already turned and walked away, heading to the bee and barb.

Although it had been three days since Jenassa left Riften, the pain she left in my heart was still raw. Not only was she my trusted colleague, she was also my best friend. Ever since my dad died she was the only person I trusted...

Yet she didn't trust me enough to tell me why she so willingly left? That makes no sense...

"Miss Valentine. Should you be standing around? Don't you have a job to do?"

I looked up to see Maven Black-Brair stood before me. I smiled a false smile. I despised the woman and her perfect, prissy lalala-ness. She was heartless, cold, evil, manipulative, EVERYTHING.

"Hello Maven, How wonderful to see you!"

"Please be quiet. I'm not here to chat; I have an job of extreme urgency for you."

"Oh yeah?" I said, curious.

"Fort Greenwall. My son had been doing some research there and he left some very important papers behind. Unfortunately he managed to land himself in jail-"

"He didn't 'land himself'. You put him in there." I reminded her.

She performed a half smile and then continued her story.

"I have to many errands to run and I need someone trustworthy to fetch them for me. The information on those papers are too important to be read by any normal citizen. Can you do this for me?"

I thought about it for a second. I had a job I needed to do here; I couldn't just up and leave for anything. Then again, Maven was the most respected and possibly the most powerful woman in Riften, maybe even more powerful than the Jarl.

I smiled and nodded without saying a word.

"I will be away until tomorrow evening so bring them to me then. I highly suggest you go at 6pm as I return at 7pm and I will need them immediately as you get them. As I said before, I can't risk the papers getting into the hands of civilians. The less time you have with them the better. Here is the key to room where the papers are kept,"
She handed me the key, then looked at me again.

"Goodbye." She said rather bluntly.

She started to walk away. I could have just imagined it, but there was something sinister about the look in her eyes when she bid be farewell.

This post has been edited by Rihanae: Jul 16 2012, 02:51 PM

[TrisRed]

mALX: Haha thank you! Yes the trap was very un-obvious to those who aren't suspicious. Hopefully Valentine will learn from this Thank you mALX!

Acadian: Hehe Guardian Stones are such a huge part of my world, and Valentine, like everyone else, does have a guardian spirit. Hopefully we will discover this in a future chapter. Thank you for reading! I understand that a Skyrim story can be hard to get into for those who haven't really played the game

DE: WOO! Thanks for reading! and for your wonderful words! I'm glad I can do something which you can read from the beginning

I'm working on putting up a few screenies of Valentine, so look out for those soon I've also added links to pictures of other characters from the story

Previously on Valentine: Valentine reveals to her close friend Constance that she used to be an Orphan. She was raised by her adoptive father purely to gain his title should he pass away.

Valentine recieves engagement necklaces from Madesi. He tells her he made them with a Guardian Stone.

Arthur decides to join Valentine on her errand at Fort Greenwall for Maven.

Valentine and Arthur discover Maven's 'errand' was a trap, leaven them locked in a room in the fort with a horde of assassins.

1. Through my eyes

My eyes slowly opened. The first thing I felt was excruciating pain. It was everywhere; my arms, my legs, but it was worse on my face.

Although everything was blurry I recognised instantly that I was in my house, in my bed.

As I let my eyes recover I noticed that my depth perception was off. I could only see out of one eye.

Oh no! Please no!

With struggle I leaned over and grabbed my hand mirror from my bedside table. I looked at my reflection. Half of my face was covered in bandages. My forehead, my left eye and cheek. I could see that parts of my lips were stitched up. Luckily for me they were separate and not together, so I could hopefully still talk.

I gazed at my reflection for a little bit longer, horrified by what I was seeing. I touched my face, but recoiled from the intense pain that even the smallest stroke would cause.

As I continued to look I started to cry. It was a silent cry. It was a cry of self loathing. I was in shock. The last thing I could remember was Arthur and I about to open the chest at for Greenwall.

Arthur!

I turned to my right to see if Arthur was lying in the bed with me. He wasn't. I didn't worry too much, though. I knew he was alive; how else could I have gotten back home if I’d been this badly damaged?

Fed up of lying in bed I got out of it, struggling to climb onto my feet, wincing in pain with every move I made. I didn't care that I was in only my red silk nightdress; I had to find Arthur. I didn't want to be on my own.

I waddled to the front door and opened it, with each step feeling like I was being stabbed. The sunlight that rushed through began to burn my newly awakened eye. I slammed the door shut as a reaction and blinked until my eye felt better.

Once I was convinced it was okay I opened the door again, squinting my eye to protect it just in case.

I left my house, the Riften breeze coming over my body like a visit from an old friend. It felt amazing. It felt fresh; safe, even.

I closed the door behind me and waddled to the marketplace, looking around for Arthur. Nobody appeared to be around.

I stood immobile for a moment, suddenly very aware that I was all alone. The usual chatter of the market place was non existent. It was terrifying.

I continued to walk, my arms folded to try and protect myself from the breeze that soon became unfriendly. It turned cold; evil. It scared me. The calming breeze suddenly felt like it was mocking me.

As I walked through the abandoned city I saw Arthur walking in the distance. He was heading into the castle. I smiled and tried to call for him, but my lungs weren’t ready for that particular task.

I started to pick up the pace, turning my waddle into more of a limped jog. Each step caused my body to experience extreme pain, but I really didn't care. I wanted Arthur to know that I was awake. I couldn't bear to not have him with me; not even for a moment.

Then I tripped. My left leg went completely numb, causing me to crash face first into the ground.

On the floor I slowly lifted me head and attempted to crawl my way to the castle, but I knew that that attempt would be futile.

Instead I crawled to one of the market stalls, a slow and painful crawl. I grabbed onto one of the stalls legs and hoisted myself up, screaming with intensity as I did. I sat leaning against the stall.

I waited for ages. It felt like hours; it must have been at least two. Arthur hadn't found me yet, so I continued to wait as long as it would take. The longer I waited the more the cold air began to creep into my wounds. I grew tired; weak. I worried that I might have been dying.

"Valentine?" A familiar voice came from beside me. It sounded like Constance. Suddenly I felt myself being lifted into her arms as we both sat on the ground. "Someone help!"

After a moment I saw Symon, one of my guards, approach us. He lifted me into his arms." What are you doing out here Captain Valentine? You should be resting." His voice was gentle and calming.

"I was... looking... for..." I started to say, but I'd drifted off to sleep before I could finish my sentence.

***

"How are you feeling now?" Constance asked me as she sat with me on my bed. I was snuggled under the covers.

"Better. I shouldn't have gone outside. I was just... confused." I admitted to her.

"Well that's understandable. You've been through a lot. I'd be confused too."

I smiled at her; Constance truly was my best friend. In that single moment I thought about everything she'd been through with me. The death of my father, the bandit raid (which was more like a war) in which we lost half of the cities citizens, and now this. She'd always been there for me and never showed me any sign of leaving. I was grateful, but I decided it was time to give her time off.

"You don't have to stay you know." I said to her.

She looked at me, slightly insulted. "Why wouldn't I?"

"No reason, it's just wont Grelod freak if she finds you gone?"

Constance had a look of hesitant worry on her face, "Probably. But I'll cross that bridge later."

Suddenly I saw the front door open. I painfully bolted upright hoping Arthur was home, but he wasn't. It was Mjoll and her friend, Aerin.

"Captain Valentine! We heard about what happened in town this morning. Are you okay?" Mjoll asked me.

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got a bit too adventurous. Never. Again." I joked.

"Mjoll and I have been ever so worried about you, Captain." Aerin informed me.

I smiled, "Well aren’t you sweet."

An awkward silence followed, shortly interrupted by Constance, "Tea, anyone?"

Everyone nodded and Constance headed to the fire to boil a pan. Mjoll came over and sat in Constance's spot. Her heavy armour made it slightly uncomfortable. She began to stare at my wounded cheek.

"That'll leave a nasty scar you know. It'll look like a bear claw. That's what you can tell people! That you got attacked by a bear!" Mjoll said with such excitement

"Thanks." I replied sarcastically.

"My mother always said that scars are trophies, not atrocities."

"Well tell your mother I’ve got a good one!" I joked.

"She's dead." Mjoll replied bluntly.

There was another brief silence, this time it felt awkward.

"So do you remember anything from last week?" Aerin asked me.

I shook my head. "No. I don't even remember who attacked me."

"Well that is unfortunate. How will I conquer him if I do not know what he looks like?" Mjoll asked me. I wasn't sure if she was being humorous or not.

Menmenlotsofmenattackingallatonce-

"Wait, it wasn't one person-" I started. My head hurt as I slowly began to remember the vague yet accurate account.

"There was more than one? Were they bandits?" Mjoll asked me, interested, yet strangely excited.

I shook my head again, "I don't know who they were. All I remember is there was more than one. A lot more."

"That explains the extent of your injury." Aerin started. "I thought it was strange that such a skilled fighter like you got brutally beaten by a single man."

"No there were a few. Luckily Arthur managed to take them all out or who knows what would have happened."

"He did?" Mjoll asked me. She looked slightly perturbed. I wasn't sure why, so I elaborated.

"Yeah, I mean I’m sure I probably took out a fair share but I must have got knocked out or something. Then Arthur killed the rest and brought me here." I looked at Constance. "Does Arthur know I’m awake? Shouldn't somebody tell him?"

Everyone’s faces suddenly dropped.

"What?" I asked, concerned. The others all looked at each other, then Constance slowly headed over with a tray of tea. She placed it on the bedside table and squeezed between Mjoll and me.

"So you remember happened? With Arthur I mean?" She asked me, her tone fuelled with worry.

"I don't remember anything. I just assumed he brought me here after the fight."

Constance's eyes started to water, "Oh gods." She said. She grabbed my hand.

"What?" I said, laughing off my worry.

Constance looked at Mjoll, then back at me. She took my hand.

"Okay. A week ago, on that night, you came back to Riften at about 11pm. You stumbled through the gate, mumbling incoherently... you were beaten and bloody, could barely walk."

"What?" I laughed unbelieving. "No I didn't..."

"Luckily Mjoll here was there to help you. She saw you collapse onto the ground and she picked you up. She took you back here where you began to mumble something about Fort Greenwall..."

She struggled to continue, so Mjoll continued for her.

"... I ventured to the fort and found a man on the road whilst walking there. He'd been dragged along the main road leading from the fort. The backs of his clothes were ragged and torn, suggesting he'd been moved very slowly for a long time."

I stared at Mjoll In horror. She finished her story.

"It appears the man had been dragged very, very slowly for hours."

Constance then looked at me, "It was Arthur. Arthur was dead and it seemed you tried to drag him back to Riften."

This post has been edited by Rihanae: Jul 21 2012, 09:01 PM