Serene of Cyrodiil, chapter 2 "A New Start" Options

[minque]

Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.
Jean-Paul Sartre

Chapter 2, A New Start

I am an incurable landlubber; boats are not my cup ´o tea, not in the least! I remember once when I was a child back home in Cyrodiil and my father and I went out on the quite calm Nibenay River in a small wooden boat just to take a pleasure trip……I was hanging over the side trying to get rid of whatever I had eaten the last couple of hours…the whole time.

I awoke with a terrible nausea, and honestly thought I was dying. The squeaking of wood against wood and the salty smell showed me I was on a ship somewhere at sea. I didn’t dare to move lest I have to empty an already empty stomach. The boat was tossing and turning and the sound of the heavy storm reached my ears as I tried to fall asleep again. A soothing hand was stroking my forehead, and I felt the bitter, yet refreshing taste of Hackle-Lo-tea on my lips.

“There now, lassie, drink this and you’ll soon feel better.”

A hoarse voice caused me to open my eyes and I caught a glimpse of the dark face of a man kneeling beside me. I drank the bitter fluid and my stomach slowly calmed down. When I opened my eyes I looked right into the red eyes of a young Dunmer with a gruesome scar across his left cheek. He wiped the cold sweat from my face and gave me a friendly smile.

“ Nah, feelin´better now? “

I nodded and he continued;

“Try to get some more sleep, we are far from our destination and the weather is getting even worse, so the best is if you sleep it through.”

I closed my eyes and drifted away, the last thought that came into my mind was a slight wonder what he had put in my tea………

It is sometimes hard to decide what is dream and what is reality. I was walking in a strange ash-covered landscape, no grass and the trees seemed all dead, no sign whatsoever of life. There was an eerie humming sound as the air thickened and went reddish. Then the humming sound grew stronger and the wind started to blow the ash from the ground. I tried to cover my mouth from the whirling red ashes and trudged forward, forward……Then Azura´s voice came to me as so many times before.

“Serene, Serene of Cyrodiil, they have taken you from the Imperial City’s Prison, first by carriage and now by boat, to the east, to Morrowind. You have been chosen, you are the first, and others will follow. Fear not, I will guide you….”

The landscape changed to a dark stormy night, rain pouring down; lightning crossed the sky in an outrageous tempest. I was running in the rain trying to escape from something yet unknown, when the world started to fall apart…..

A hand was shaking my shoulder; I tried to avoid it by turning aside but the shaking was persistent and I had to open my eyes. The Dunmer with the scar was bending over me with a friendly grin in his face.

“Hey wake up lassie, how are you? Here take my hand, you are shaking, did you have a bad dream?”

He took my hand and helped me to my feet; I was all shivery and felt nauseous with a terrible headache. The ship was slowly turning and I swallowed frantically to alleviate my obvious sea-sickness.

“Now there, take my hand, I’m Jiub, by the way, here, drink this.”

He held a pitcher to my lips and I downed the bitter liquid…..

“Thank you”, I said in a hoarse voice, “I’m Serene from Cyrodiil. What´s the matter, why are we not moving?”

Jiub told me we’d reached Morrowind, as he’d overheard from the guards. Morrowind….I closed my eyes for a second and remembered the words from the dream “……”to the east, to Morrowind”….

The sound of heavy footsteps approaching made the young Dunmer put his finger across his lips;

“Shhh, guard’s coming, better be quiet.”

The guard was a stout, heavy built Cyrodiil with sharp blue eyes. He looked emotionlessly at me and told me to follow him. I didn’t argue with him; there was no point in doing that from the look in his face. Besides, I wanted to feel solid ground under my feet again; the rolling of the ship didn’t agree at all with my stomach. I stumbled after him up on deck.

Bright daylight struck my face when I stepped out, and so did the smell of rotting fish, salt and the smoke from cooking-fires when using damp wood. My stomach turned and I swallowed…..As I looked around I saw a few buildings scattered along the shoreline, a lighthouse and a strange creature resembling a giant insect. I shrugged and approached the dark-skinned man standing on deck. He gave me a faint smile as he unlocked the bracers I had worn since I left the Imperial Prison and then pointed me down the gang plank.

“This way, m´am,” he said, “there will be an escort for ya.”

In full Imperial armour he came marching towards me, my escort for the day, sternly peering at me as he asked for my name. I gave him the requested information and was ordered to follow him up to the Excise and Census-office to complete my release. So apparently I was to be a free woman at last, after 7 years in custody. That was a strange, yet not unpleasant feeling.

An elderly man with a white beard greeted me as I entered the office. I felt uncomfortable; dirty and smelling from the mouldy ship where I’d been for such a long time, with no possibility to wash myself. My worn shirt was soaked with sweat and my hair was in terrible shape, being neither washed nor combed for more than 2 months. I looked into the eyes of the old man and remembered my grandfather back in Cyrodiil……Grandfather?? Do I even have a grandfather anymore? The memories made my eyes fill with tears and I turned away, taking a deep breath in order to compose myself.

“Ah! We’ve been expecting you!” The man presented himself as Socucius Ergalla and gave me a welcoming smile. Then he asked me quite a lot of intricate questions, who I was, who my parents were and about my skills and abilities. When I told him I was a foundling he looked at me very sternly and nodded.

“Ah, the letter that preceded you states you are a very skilled healer, now might that be a fact?”

Ergalla´s soft voice made me jerk, “Letter?” I sensed some kind of set-up, someone knew I was coming here, and that someone also had gathered information about me…..

I admitted I was fairly skilled in the noble art of healing, and I also had to tell about my other virtues, such as that I consider myself to be intelligent; I knew quite a lot about alchemy; and I’d learned a lot about how to manage a long blade, thanks to Telemachos; I can repair my weapons as well, when needed…

The final question was about my birth-sign; what relevance that had I don’t know but the man was satisfied when I told him I was born under The Ritual. I was also told to pay a visit to the captain in the adjacent building in order to get my orders and a release-fee. Being given orders didn´t appeal to me, but the word “release-fee” was another thing, I could certainly need something to get me started in this godforsaken place.

Then my papers were properly signed and stamped and I stepped out of the office as a free woman.

[minque]

I had to recover from the wound caused by the gigantic mudcrab, and I didn’t want to heal myself, since it was utterly onerous and I felt like letting nature take it’s course this time. Also, it seemed to me that the recovery time would serve as a reminder that I was no longer in “civilized” Cyrodiil. Besides I could pay Thavere back some of her hospitality by just resting beside the Lighthouse fire and thus monitoring it.

I really felt comfortable, sitting on a folded bedroll beside the fire, nicely wrapped up in a warm woolen blanket. Firewood lying handy beside me, just to put another log in the flames now and then to keep the light as bright as possible. There was time for contemplation, time for remembrance, even though remembering the past almost always made me cry.

The nights were getting warmer; I’d lost count of the days but the rise in temperature during the last days, and the fact that the night-chill was not that hard anymore indicated that it had to be somewhere in Second Seed by now. I sat on top of the Lighthouse every night for more than a week, monitoring the fire, pondering the mysterious fate that brought me to this foreign continent, to fulfill a mission, of which I had absolutely no idea, predicted by a goddess I did not even believe in……that was until now. Every prophecy by Azura had come true so far, and still I had no clue of what all this was about, or what exactly was expected of me.

“Renie, hurry up and be quiet,” Ranya´s whispering voice woke me up and I sat up in my bed all dizzy and confused. “What is it?, what time is it? ”I tried to see something in the greyish light that came in from the curtain-covered window. I rubbed my eyes, but could barely see the dark shadow of my Dunmer maid and friend, as she stood by my bed shaking my shoulder urging me to get up.

“It’s after midnight and we have to hurry now if we’re going to make it to the Village in time for the ceremony.” Ranya fussed about getting my clothes together, warm panties, a woollen dress and my hooded cloak, which she laid out for me and then grabbed my hand and virtually dragged me out of bed. I stood there in the dark, shivering with cold as Ranya helped me dress myself. Now I remembered what was going on; it was 21st First Seed, and we were going to the Village, that is the Dunmer settlement in the valley to celebrate Hogithum*, the day dedicated by the Dunmeri tribes to praise the goddess of Dawn and Dusk, Azura. The celebration should take place at Dawn, at the market square and I was very excited to have got the opportunity to participate. Naturally I had to do it in secret; my parents would not have approved of this.

It was also my birthday and I was a little bit concerned about what my mother would say when entering my room in the morning and finding my bed empty. But I suppressed that thought as I wrapped the cloak tight around me and tiptoed after Ranya out of the house.

We hurried through the streets of The Imperial City and out in the Nibenay Valley. It was a clear chilly night, no sounds of dragonflies or birds was heard, just our pounding footsteps.

Once out in the valley we slowed down for a bit, panting heavily we sat down on a flat boulder to rest.

“Well Renie, here we are. You don’t regret coming , do you?” Ranya´s face glistened from sweat, as she turned to me smiling. I looked at her, my very best friend, grasped her hand tightly as I shook my head; “ No, I don’t regret anything, I’m very excited about this, but do you really think your family will approve of letting an outlander join this celebration?”

“Why of course they will!” Ranya looked at me with consternation, “They love you dear, you know that!”

When we arrived at Ranya´s shack at the Village, little Kira, Ranya´s baby sister, came crawling towards us, giggling with joy, waving her tiny hands, all dirty from the damp soil outside the shack. I took her up in my arms, kissing her soft cheeks, sensing the sweet baby scent that came from her despite her obvious state of dirtiness. Oh how I wished I’d have a little brother or sister!

“Come, come, we have to go now, the sun is soon arriving and Azura expects us to greet her.” The powerful voice of Eneas, the head of the household, sounded out loud in the small room and we all followed him out to the Market-place, where the entire tribe had assembled in order to greet the sun and with that… Azura!

All were very quiet, not even the babies uttered a sound. I was sitting among Ranya´s family with Kira in my arms, waiting for the big moment. As the first rays of sun reached the Village-market, the Dunmeri started chanting a welcome-song, one by one they rose to their feet, stretching their arms to the rising sun, singing words I didn’t understand, yet they went right into my heart, filling it with a strange yearning for something I didn’t have, and would not get. I put down little Kira, stretched my arms to the sun, and let go…. I chanted with the tribe, moved in the same intricate pattern as they did, greeted the sun and praised Azura, tears running down my cheeks, I fell to my knees, Ranya embraced me whispering:

“Renie, you feel it, don’t you? You’re one of us in heart, I knew it”

“My children, fear not, I will watch over you, times are getting rough, but a new era is predicted.” The soft voice of the goddess filled the air, and with it, a feeling of comfort, of calmness…..Azura…

The sun was up by now and its bright rays struck my eyes….


I sat up with a gasp for breath. The rising sun shone directly on my face. Had I been sleeping? The fire was out and I was totally disoriented. So was it just a dream, the celebration at the Dunmeri Village? No it had been real, I remembered it clearly, but at that time, almost 12 years ago I did not see the hidden message in the event, like I did now. There was some reason for Azura to follow me, to guide me through my life as she had done the last 7 years, and there must be a higher purpose……there must be.

I closed my eyes; this memory was clearly a sign; last night the moons were growing, they should be full in just a couple of days, and by then I had to be in Balmora paying a visit to an unknown man, for better or worse.

My wound had healed pretty well by now and I reckoned it would soon be time for Thavere to return from her visit to her mother in Pelagiad, so I went to Arrille´s to get some supplies, such as foodstuffs, because I wouldn’t leave her home emptied. On my way there I met with Processus Vitellius again; “Are you still here lady Serene?” he said in a slightly irritated voice. “Weren’t you supposed to go to Balmora?” I nodded and told him I’d be on my way as soon as Thavere was back. He muttered some words and went away. I got the feeling he was not at all pleased with me staying at the Lighthouse.

I managed to get some very nice supplies at Arrille´s this time. A sack of saltrice, very nice fresh ash-yams, bread and scuttle, some comberries for winemaking and the very best; a large hunk of crabmeat. As I stepped out of the tradehouse I heard some yelling and shouting, and to my surprise the noble tax-collector was having a really harsh argument with one of the commoners, who by a closer look turned out to be the notorious non-payer Foryn Gilnith. I did not wish to be involved in this matter so I hurried along to the Lighthouse.

Just before entering the lighthouse I was greeted by a man I had not seen before;, he was a sturdy Cyrodiil, with short brown hair and sad looking blue eyes. He told me his name was Vodunius Nuccius and that he did not like it here in Morrowind; he wanted to get home to Cyrodiil but since he’d been unemployed for almost a year he simply couldn’t raise the money for the trip. He wanted me to buy some enchanted ring of his in order to at least partly solve his economical problems, but I was in no mood for buying anything, and especially not some enchanted item that I did not know the effect of.

The man looked so sad that I suggested I’d buy him a drink at Arrille´s to cheer him up, so we went to the bar on the upper level at the tradehouse. The young Redguard woman at the counter looked steadily into my eyes as we sat down to order our drinks. She did not say anything, just handed over the two glasses of flin, which I had ordered. The two glasses became 4 and then 2 more. All the time Vodunius talked about his past in Cyrodiil, and how he longed to go back. I did not say much, but made sure his glass was filled constantly. Unfortunately mine was also constantly refilled, and I downed the strong beverage with pleasure, until I suddenly realized I was terribly drunk. It was no consolation that Vodunius was even more drunk than I, and when he at last fell asleep with his head neatly on the table, I just sat there, wishing I had stuck to water instead. The entire world was spinning around and I felt really nauseous. There were some other men in the bar, among them a huge Nord, named Hrisskar, at least his name sounded that way in my intoxicated brain…..

Then the Redguard woman approached me, telling me it was time to leave; I realised I had to try to get back to the lighthouse somehow, but that was not what she meant;

“Serene, you have to leave for Balmora first thing in the morning; tomorrow night the moons will be full, and you have a mission to accomplish….

I was too drunk to question how she would know my name and destination. I rose to my feet and then the floor came rushing up and hit me in the head, and everything was darkness….




* Hogithum - 21st First Seed (21st March)
Hogithum, the day that all dark elven priests summon Daedra Prince Azura for her guidance and support.