Sleeper in the Cave, a Morrowind fanfic Options

[Thomas Kaira]

Adryn's trademark dry humor continues to delight.

I do hope our favorite floating holy-knight returns some day. She sounds like a good friend for a hopelessly out-of-her-element ex-thief to have. But I would suggest she keep an eye to Riften over the course of her adventures if an when the time comes when the rope finally snaps and Adryn wants nothing more than to leave and get back to Skyrim. Good job opportunities for a woman of her profession, and its close to the border.

But in the meantime, the priority is a change of clothes. As our favorite Bosmer Bowgirl would advise, to adventure in wrinkled clothing is just as bad as forgetting your bow.

[Kazaera]

Giving you an update so Athynae has something to read over the holidays And a long installment since I have no idea when I'll be able to update next.

@mALX - Adryn's nightmares are definitely meaningful, but I shall say no more... I'm very happy you liked Helviane! I wanted to present her as a little more three-dimensional than "woman who owns a brothel, omg" but didn't have much space to do it in, so I'm glad it worked for you!

@Athynae - I'm glad you're still enjoying, and am sure that some of the things Adryn and co. have in store (or rather, things I have in store for them) will live up to your expectations *rubs hands together in evil glee*. Just, er, hold off on that balding spell!

@Thomas Kaira - I think I can safely say Ervesa will be returning! Honestly, she barrelled her way into the story with such force that there's no way I could send her off with just one appearance. Riften, now, might be a good place for Adryn (alas, I wouldn't know as I haven't played Skyrim) but she has her own reasons for not wanting to return there which will become clear... er... eventually.

Speaking of which, I need to whine for a moment: when I was working out the rough shape of Adryn's backstory a few years ago, I first considered having her spend a long time in Cyrodiil but opted against it. Why? Because my computer could barely manage Morrowind (at the moment, I'm not sure whether it *can* manage Morrowind) and Oblivion was totally out of the question, and so I'd have real trouble getting Adryn's history to mesh with what we'd learn about Cyrodiil in that. So I decided to plonk her into a place where no one had any more than a bit of lore as info and I could make things up to my heart's content. Namely, Skyrim!

...I sometimes get the feeling Bethesda is mocking me.

But anyway!

Previous

Chapter 5.2

Last installment, Adryn had a sequence of nightmares, then chatted with Helviane Desele and is now off to get the silt strider back to Balmora.

*****

Some perfect, amazing, wonderful person who I was prepared to compose love letters to had come up with the idea of extending an oiled awning on one side of the silt strider platform to allow waiting passengers to wait dry. I ducked under it, shaking drops of water from my hair. The platform hadn't been far away from Desele's and shouldn't have taken much time to reach... unless, that is, the person trying to reach it was a total stranger to the city with the approximate sense of direction of a drugged chicken. Let's just say that I was quite damp by the time I found the place.

"Oh, hello there! Going to Balmora too?"

"Hello," I sheepishly greeted the Breton woman I'd been ignoring completely in order to revel in dryness. She was about my age and small for a Breton, with dancing eyes, short brown hair and wearing some sort of leather armour. She was also munching on something that made my stomach remind me that the only thing it had had all of yesterday was breakfast and some kagouti 'meat'. (I use the term loosely.)

I suddenly remembered I hadn't answered her question yet. "Yes, I'm going back to Balmora - I just joined the Mages' Guild there," I explained. I was absolutely not showing off, I told myself. It was relevant information.

"Really? I just joined the Fighter's Guild." At least there were two of us bragging now. "I'm a scout, you see. My name's Fasile."

"I'm Adryn," I responded. I was going to continue, but was interrupted by my stomach deciding to make its general state of emptiness and displeasure at that audible. I blushed.

"Here, take some." Fasile gestured at an open pouch at her side, out of which drifted a lovely smell.

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly..." my protest was very weak.

Fasile shook her head, grinning. "I got breakfast to take with me at the tradehouse, and Ashumanu, the owner, gave me far too much - I could never eat all this myself."

"Well, in that case..."

The pouch contained rolls with scrib jelly, which I was very proud at myself for being able to identify. They didn't taste quite as good as the ones I'd had yesterday - the cook here wasn't as dab a hand with the spices as Dulnea - but were fresh out of the oven, and offset nicely by the sweetness of the scrib jelly.

"A scout?" I asked as we chewed. "What does a scout do for the Fighter's Guild?" I'd thought Fighter's Guild members ran more along the lines of big brawny hulking fighters who were confused by words more than two syllables long. Scouts didn't fit into the picture.

"Well, the guild takes a lot of escort and protection quests - travellers hire us to protect them from bandits or the wildlife, people exploring ruins and caves hire us as back-up, that sort of thing. Other times we're asked to hunt down criminals who are trying to hide in the wilderness. Having someone who knows the area and can set up camp and hunt for food in the wild can be very important."

I nodded. "That makes a lot of sense. So what brings you to Suran?"

"Well, Eydis Fire-Eye, she's head of the Balmora guild, she asked me to drop off a message. But it was a good opportunity because I'd be a bad scout if I didn't know a lot about different regions, and I've never been to this area before," Fasile explained. "I mean, imagine what would happen if someone asked to escort them to Suran, or to Marandus, or to the Vandus tomb, and I got them lost? I wouldn't dare call myself a scout after that." She shuddered. "Oh, but, I also picked up something amazing at the shops here! One of the traders had a glass dagger for sale, see?"

I squinted at the weapon she held out to me. There is a euphemism for when something is in particularly bad shape, saying that it 'has seen better days'. This dagger, now, had probably seen better centuries. The hilt seemed to be in the process of dissolving, contrary to the laws of physics, and even from a distance I could tell that with that edge the weapon probably ought to be classified as a blunt instrument, as it wouldn't make a difference whether you hit an enemy with the flat side or the "sharp". I could still tell that somewhere underneath all the chips, scratches, and what looked like old blood that hadn't been cleaned off in so long it might actually have become one with the weapon, the blade was made of some reflective greenish material - wait, had she called it glass? Who in their right mind would make weapons out of glass?

Fasile stared at me for a moment after I voiced this opinion, then laughed. "Oh right, you must be new to Morrowind. This isn't ordinary glass. Volcanic glass is one of the hardest materials known to man and mer, and durable enough that it makes excellent weapons. If you want better, you'd be looking into ebony or Daedric... which is why a glass dagger usually costs around forty septims." Four thousand drakes? I whistled and stared at the weapon with new eyes. "But because it's in such bad shape," understatement of the year, "and because it's really hard to repair glass weapons the trader let me have it for much less!" The girl bounced. And I do literally mean bounced. I paused in the process of reaching for a new roll to blink at her - this was the first time I'd ever seen that outside of literature.

I spotted a flaw in her plan. "But... if it's so hard to repair, will you be able to?"

"Oh, I'll take it to old Wayn. He's the smith at the guild - bit of a stick-in-the-mud but very good at what he does. I'm sure he'll be able to fix it for me." Fasile smiled dreamily - I could almost read the words 'and then I'll have a glass dagger of my very own!' above her head - then blinked as though something had just occurred to her. "But what about you? What brought you to Suran?"

"I was looking for ingredients," I said, ruefully thinking of my vials which currently all contained that precious, rare, difficult to harvest ingredient known as air. "I'm an alchemist, one of two at the guild, and our guild mistress asked us to study some of the flowers that grow near Lake Amaya. I had a few... misadventures, and ended up staying the night here."

"That's funny, I don't remember seeing you at the tradehouse last night..."

I decided to take this as an opportunity to practice my poker face. "We must have just missed each other, I'm sure."

"I suppose. Did you at least manage to get the flowers?"

"No," I moaned. "All I got from yesterday were near-death experiences and this map here." I wiped my hands on my trousers and fished the damnable thing out of my pack. "I suppose it's useful to have one, but when you were expecting a reward that's a little, shall we say, shinier and more metallic..."

"Oh, yes," Fasile clucked sympathetically. "Wayn told me it's why the guild insists on a proprely negotiated contract before accepting any missions, to avoid this kind of thing." Yes, thank you for telling me now. "Although... wait, can I see that map for a moment?"

I handed it over, puzzled. Fasile took it, stared at it, then spoke a word I didn't quite understand. To my amazement, a glowing dot appeared on the map - I leaned over and saw that it was just at Suran.

"Is that..." I was stunned.

"It's enchanted with a location spell. Some Telvanni worked it out, I hear. They're really expensive - I've seen them selling for almost five septims! I've been thinking of saving up for one." She eyed the map hungrily while I tried to incorporate this new fact into my worldview.

"So when I thought about throwing it away..."

"...it would have been very, very stupid, yes. Whoever gave this to you must have really liked you."

I giggled. It may have sounded slightly hysterical. "No, I... doubt that. I really, really doubt that. I think it's more likely she just didn't know and thought it was a cheap copy off the streets. I mean," I paused for dramatic effect, "when I met her she was holding it upside-down."

We looked at each other and burst into laughter.

"Ahoy the strider!" A new voice, this one, and - to my surprise - unmistakeably tinged with the accent of Wayrest.

I was even more surprised when the owner of the new voice turned out to be a dark- a Dunmer. Given the accent, I'd been expecting a Breton... and wasn't that hypocritical of me, given the amount of people who, upon hearing me open my mouth, probably expected some fur-clad axe-wielding Nord!

But my ruminations on accents and their owners, who are not always quite what you expect, were interrupted when I noticed that the newcomer was surrounded by a glowing purple bubble of energy - one that the raindrops hit and then bounced off.

I may have drooled. If so, it was obviously to do with being a Mages' Guild member confronted with a type of magic I didn't know (a shield spell, something hidden in the dim mists of memory nudged me), about the passionate search for magic-related knowledge of all kinds, and nothing whatsoever to do with a way to stay dry.

"Oh, hi Eddie!" Fasile greeted as she handed the map back (with noticeable reluctance.) Apparently she knew him. "That's a neat trick. So did you get back without getting lost again?"

I hid a grin as 'Eddie', who'd strolled under the awning puffed up with his own cleverness, deflated. "Ah, of course not, I would never..."

"I met him yesterday," Fasile explained to me over his protests. "Said he was looking for Sulipund, but he was going the wrong way, was about to enter an ancestral tomb," a dark expression crossed her face, "and had already managed to fall into Lake Nabia twice. I ended up escorting him there, but I couldn't take him back to Suran and I was worried he'd manage to end up at the Ghostfence or eaten by Daedra at Bal Ur."

It's funny how sometimes, you can read "please let the earth swallow me right now" on people's faces clearer than if they'd spoken out loud.

As I was still smarting from my various misadventures yesterday, I was more sympathetic than I might have been otherwise. So he fell into the lake twice? At least he hadn’t almost been killed in a very embarrassing way by a rampaging kagouti. "Well, these things happen, especially when you’re not an experienced scout." I smiled encouragingly. "My name’s Adryn, by the way."

"Ah! Your sympathy is a salve to my poor wounded soul, o fair flower of beauteousness." He bowed with a flourish. "Edd Theman is your humble servant."

My sympathy vanished like a puff of hot air in a Haafingar blizzard.

"I think you must be confused. The bushes are over there, you see. At least, I assume that since you were talking to a 'fair flower of beauteousness' you were trying to address the local plant life, given that I told you my name just now."

"Ah, but such a masculine name hardly suits a gorgeous orchid in this arid wasteland such as yourself-"

"Excuse me?"

His shield spell chose that moment to wink out of existence.

Fasile, probably sensing that there would be violence done in a few moments, interrupted. "Look! There’s the strider."

*****

Notes: Some years after I'd started writing this story, at which point Adryn had firmly cemented herself in my mind, I realised that Adryn is a male Dunmer name. Think Athyn Sarethi - I checked all the lists, and all NPCs with names ending in -yn (of whom they are quite a few) are male. Women have names ending in -yno, -yna, -yni, -yne... you get the picture. Adryn flatly refused to become Adryne, and I worked out a way to make that doable, but this is where Eddie's surprise at her "masculine" name is coming from.

Also, I swore I wouldn't give in on currency, that I'd stick with what we're given in-game, but I've got so used to the "septim = 100 drakes" from various stories (e.g. Teresa!) that it actually threw me when I reread my own story. So I'm surrendering and using it too... and I'm going to go back and edit previous entries where I was using the two interchangeably to be in line with this when I have time.

Next

This post has been edited by Kazaera: May 16 2020, 02:38 PM

[Thomas Kaira]

To be fair, Skyrim does take place 206 years after the events of Morrowind, so you still get to take some leeway. Besides, I'm not very satisfied with a few of the things in Bethesda's rendition of Skyrim (Dawnstar, for example).

Given that Morrowind also seems to get Drake and Septim confused a lot, I really can't blame you for going the way you did the first couple of times. But, I do agree with 'Rosa's idea of Imperial currency, too. (Speaking of which, if Ulfric is trying to secede from the Empire, why are Stormcloak territories still accepting Imperial mint coin?)

Oh, and who cares about the name? Elven names in The Elder Scrolls are so asinine I've given up trying to understand the conventions and gender specifics. I just name my elves whatever I want, so don't you go feeling ashamed of giving your heroine a masculine name. Because for all I care, it's not masculine anymore.

[Grits]

Love the magic map and the fun application for a shield spell. I'm glad Fasile is there, otherwise it could be a long ride with Awkward Eddie.

[Kazaera]

@TK - If anyone calls me out on inaccuracy in my Skyrim portrayal, I'll definitely use the "it's been 200 years!" excuse... although there's a limit to that, e.g. if I get the geography wrong. Out of curiosity, what's wrong with Dawnstar?

And re: names: What I like about the TES names is that the names for the different races are distinct enough that you can immediatey tell what belongs to what (well, Redguards seem a bit diverse). That said, I get the impression they had a bunch of allowed syllables and a random generator, and some of the races had fewer than others (see also: Altmer names), which makes creating new ones tricky.

@Grits - glad you liked - I like to consider what practical uses various spells have outside of combat.

Last time:

Waiting for the strider, Adryn met a scout from the Fighter's Guild, learned her map was not as useless as thought, then ran into Fast Eddie whose idea of suitable conversation was... not the same as hers. This continues. Adryn would like you to know she is suffering.

Chapter 5.3

*****

The journey back to Balmora was something of a trial, thanks to Edd "call me Fast Eddie" Theman and his idea of what counted as suitable conversation.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't always mind flirting, provided it's in the right time and place and - most importantly - everyone involved knows that it's just for fun and nothing is actually going to happen. If that last condition isn't fulfilled I get to wrack my brains as to how to get it through to the person in question that the only way what they have in mind would be less likely to occur would be if one or both of us were dead. In my experience, this is something that is surprisingly difficult to get through men's heads. A few will back off gracefully, but many of them will react as though you're speaking Aldmeris, and some of them will take you pouring the boiling hot potion of feebleness you were working on over their heads while screaming at them to get out as a sign that "she must really like me!". Eddie was definitely, definitely of the last sort, even though I sadly didn't have any feebleness potions at hand.

Furthermore, he was also of the sort that thinks your eyeballs are located on your chest - particularly egregious as I have been reliably informed that it takes several minutes' concerted study to even tell that I possess one - and as far as his poetry went, it would be undeservedly flattering to call it merely 'dreadful'. I swear that at one point I heard the silt strider moaning in pain, which goes to show that even giant fleas have a greater sense of artistry than ser Theman.

Thankfully for me and my hypothetical life sentence in Imperial prison for murder via pushing someone off a giant flea, Fasile was there and we quickly allied against this threat. One remark of hers, relating his nickname to his stamina when it came to certain activities he was evidently interested in, left him sputtering and us in blessed silence for at least five minutes. As a result, although I was sorely tested I was able to hold out until Balmora without resorting to attempted murder.

I may have set a new speed record for strider disembarking; the people waiting at the strider port in Balmora certainly stared as though I had. Even so, I wasn't quite quick enough to escape Eddie's parting remark of "Look me up at the Lucky Lockup some time, my beautiful pearl!"

"Look up a portal to Oblivion!" I retorted, while resolving never to set foot into the Lucky Lockup. He ignored me.

I was still fuming a little when I stepped into the Mages' Guild after having bid a quick farewell to Fasile, enough that I had to hold back a nasty comment when I saw Marayn crouching in front of the supply chest.

"What are you doing there?" It came out a little more curt than it might have otherwise, but I managed to keep most of my temper out of my voice.

"A new shipment for the supply chest came in this morning, and I'm checking to see if that useless bureaucrat at the mainland has finally got it through his thick head that we need soul gems, not- no, it's all potions to strengthen willpower again. " Marayn slammed the chest shut with a little more force than necessary. At least I wasn't the only one in a bad mood. "As if Ajira can't whip up more than we'd ever need with wickwheat and bloat, especially now that she's got Adryn to- wait a moment." He blinked at me as if he'd only just realised I was present. "Adryn!"

Bad mood or no, I felt a flood of affection towards Marayn in that instant. At least one person on this island had managed to remember my name! "Yes?"

"Where on Nirn have you been?" He frowned. "Ajira's been out of her mind with worry since yesterday evening."

"Well, it's a long story-"

"In that case, tell me later. For now, go downstairs and tell Ajira you're still alive and in one piece so she'll stop turning the guild upside-down. She already almost poisoned someone this morning."

I squirmed guiltily. It wasn't as though I could have done anything about it, but I'd not thought at all about how Ajira might take me vanishing after she sent me on an errand. Especially when the reason she didn't go herself was because she thought it was too dangerous; she'd probably spent all day thinking something horrible had befallen me.

Well, something lethally horrible - given that I thought spending a several-hour silt strider journey in close quarters with a man who had a decidedly overinflated perception of his appeal, wit, and poetic ability certainly qualified as 'something horrible', not to mention the brothel, how could I possibly forget the brothel. And the evil fiend disguised as a pilgrim whose only purpose on Nirn was evidently to torture me. Oh, right, and I supposed almost dying probably counted as well.

Downstairs, things were quiet - it looked as if I'd arrived during the lunch break, because the only person I saw in the room were the Breton, who I'd mentally dubbed 'teleportation girl', and Ajira. The Khajiit was mixing something in a bowl, but I didn't think her mind was exactly on the task given her twitching tail and ears.

Or what she was mixing.

"You know," I said from behind her, "I'm relatively certain you don't actually want to add gravedust mixed in water to minced scamp skin. For one, I'm not sure why you'd want to make a potion that drains your magicka, but more importantly you don't want to add something mainly consisting of water to a hot liquid containing anything that ever touched a Daedra. Trust me on this." I still had the scars. Literally.

Ajira whirled around. "Friend Adryn!" Then I found myself with an armful of relieved Khajiit.

"Um. I'm sorry I worried you. There, there?" I patted her back awkwardly. What were you supposed to do in a situation like this anyway? And what was that sticky feeling on my... oh. "Could you take the stirrer out of my hair, please? I don't know what you were trying to make exactly but I'm relatively sure I don't want it on my scalp."

Ajira disentangled herself, then disentangled the spoon (which was a bit more complicated.) "Ajira was so worried! You are all right! ...you are all right, yes?" Before I could reassure Ajira that yes, I was totally fine bar mental trauma, I found myself with a potion pushed into my hands. "Drink this!"

I checked the label. Healing. "Ajira, I'm fine-"

"Drink."

I shrugged and unstoppered it - even though it wasn't necessary, I was happy to let Ajira fuss about me a little to make up for how she'd obviously worried about me.

The potion tingled going down, washing away the aches and pains I still had from yesterday. It tasted surprisingly good compared to the ones I was used to, apart from a bitter aftertaste and a dryness in my mouth.

"Mm, that was good. What was in it?"

"Saltrice and wickwheat," Ajira said. "Not only good ingredients for healing potions but also common foodstuffs, perhaps Adryn has had saltrice porridge already? But more importantly..." her expression shifted to something like I'd always imagined a scolding mother must look like. "Where have you been?"

"Um. It's a long story?"

"Then I shall finish this," Ajira cast a glance at her looming explosion in potion form, "and we shall discuss it over lunch."

*****

Notes: Ajira's explosion in the making is actually based on something I learned in chemistry lessons regarding what happens if you add water to acid, and the only reason I probably remember this is because there's a nice rhyme to go along with it in German.

Next

This post has been edited by Kazaera: Jun 22 2013, 03:42 PM

[Athynae]

Thanks for the reading to keep me busy Kaz, I am enjoying it immensely!!

I am so glad I wasn't drinking my tea when I read about Fast Eddie though, I would have ruined a perfectly good monitor! I was feeling Adryn's pain on the silt strider, I have been in a similar situation once or well....I won't go there, just suffice to say I felt for her.

Keep it coming, there is still more "holiday" to fill.....

[mALX]

I wasn't quite quick enough to escape Eddie's parting remark of "Look me up at the Lucky Lockup some time, my beautiful pearl!"

"Look up a portal to Oblivion!" I retorted, while resolving never to set foot into the Lucky Lockup. He ignored me.

ROFL !!! Great Write !!

[Thomas Kaira]

What's wrong with Dawnstar? For being a major Imperial port in Skyrim, why is there only one dock? And where are the Imperial fortifications, for that matter? The town is just a collection of thatch cottages with no defenses whatsoever. And I think the only thing you really need to remember geography-wise is that Winterhold is not destroyed in Adryn's time (the city collapsed into the sea when Red Mountain blew during Infernal City).

I hope Ajira doesn't blow up the entire Guild with her little experiment... it would not be healthy for Adryn's sanity.

[treydog]

Still your faithful- if absent- reader. I am not caught up yet, but shall fix that soonish. And that is to MY great benefit, for this story just keeps getting better.

Now for a quote-fest, beginning with the ending of Chapter 4.

Wait, I couldn't possibly have heard that correctly.

"Your god cheats at cards?"

"Well, I suppose-"

"Your god cheats at cards?"

...with Alduin trying to hide an ace between his scales because he didn't have any sleeves (being a giant, world-eating dragon), Kynareth using her powers over wind to blow the cards into the order she wanted when dealing, and Talos simply telling the others that his seven of staves was actually an ace and daring them to object.

That caused more than a bit of laughter on SO MANY levels. The expert weaving of Skyrim into Morrowind, the personalities that just BLAZE through the scene... and poor Adryn's already-spinning head getting sent for a few MORE rounds....

"Wild kagouti couldn't keep me from finding out the story behind this," I responded.

Which is NOT simply a metaphor given the circumstances of Adryn and Ervesa's meeting.

"One of the things we Armigers are dedicated to is poetry and prose. In other words," she winked, "I know very many such stories!"

Ervesa is such a delight, and watching Adryn's reactions to her is equally delightful. Moments like the one above are one of the "whys" of reading fan-fiction. You have given a significant group in Vvardenfell so much more life and personality.

My shoulders relaxed. Books, I could deal with books. I could deal with books very well indeed, considering that I'd been contemplating doing bedtime reading about kagouti mating habits earlier and as far as I was concerned, everything you needed to know about those could be summed up in two words: Stay. Away.

QFT!

Chapter 5

And then- wow, just... wow! What a way to start a chapter. I want to quote the ENTIRE dream, but will desist, only noting--- anyone who wants to know how to write prose that grabs the reader and DOES NOT let go- read that passage!

Reflexively, I looked around for my cloak, then had to remind myself that I didn't actually own one at the moment and that this land had a very balmy climate. What can I say, old habits die hard.

Been hanging around with Redguard Legionaries, have we?

And with Helviane you continue to give history and personality to the people Adryn meets.

...given the way she was scowling at the table as if it had insulted her, ah, professional assets. (Well, for all I knew it had - after the Bed I wouldn't be too surprised at anything the furniture here got up to.)

And sometimes not just the people...

From the moment Adryn awoke to see Jiub's unlovely face, and through all her adventures since, this story has made me smile, laugh, wince with sympathy, and even want to cheer. Most of all- it has done what art is SUPPOSED to do- it has made me FEEL. Thank you so much for continuing, despite dragon attacks and all the other distractions.

[Kazaera]

@Athynae - Sorry to hear that - I've also been in a similar situation once. I couldn't resist sharing the pain with Adryn, although I did relent and give her an ally!

@mALX - thanks!

@TK - ooh, yeah, that's a problem. Reminds me of when I read in the UESP Wiki that NPCs in Balmora say the town is a centre of trade because it's on the Odai River... but there are no docks! or ships! (Modding opportunity, anyone?) And trying to figure out Vvardenfell economy is also a bit of a headache. Also, whoa, Winterhold gets destroyed? They really went all-out with that Red Mountain eruption, huh.

@treydog - ironically enough, I wrote the cards scene before Skyrim came out! I'm glad my little Skyrim references work anyway. *g* I'm glad you like Ervesa, and my treatment of the Buoyant Armigers - they've always fascinated me and I've been sad that there's not more in-game stuff to do with them, so they will get expanded in this story. And ha, you spotted my little tribute to Julian and haute XD. Thank you very much for your kind comments, your reviews always leave me smiling so hard my cheeks hurt!

Last installment, Adryn finally (!) made it back to the Balmora Mages' Guild, although she was plagued by Fast Eddie and his decidedly unwelcome flirting. She managed to prevent Ajira from accidentally blowing herself up with a potion. Now, it's time to catch up with her friend over lunch.

Chapter 5.4

*****

The weather had cleared up, so we got "rat-inna-bun" - a kind of meat wrapped in dough roasted over a fire where I could only hope the name wasn't meant literally - from a street vendor, then I followed Ajira to her favourite spot outside. It turned out to be sitting on the northern wall where it passed over the river.

Although the wall was quite low at that point it still wasn't somewhere I'd take my hypothetical old grandmother, since we had to clamber to get onto it and it was narrow enough that even sitting on it required some dexterity and sense of balance. Thankfully, neither of those things had ever been a problem for me - another thing I could thank my birth-sign for - and I could tell why Ajira liked the spot. The view made all the acrobatics worthwhile.

To the northeast, we could see the river winding its way through a valley that broadened beyond the town. I could spot a small boat in the middle of the river - fishing, perhaps? - and another banked on the lush green shore. Further inland, there were tall, surprisingly normal-looking trees and pinpricks of brilliant colour that must have been flowers. The entire scene looked (deceptively, I knew after yesterday) peaceful.

The sunlight flashing off the river made me squint and let my gaze drift beyond it - then up, and up, and further up, my eyes widening. Although I'd only been rained on once, the weather had tended to sullen grey clouds since I'd arrived, and this was my first opportunity to see the incredible mountain they'd apparently been hiding. In fact, the peak was still shrouded, but enough of the rising landscape was visible to make the awe-imposing heights it must reach clear. Why, that one mountain must be visible from every corner of the island! I've never seen the like.

"This place is beautiful," I said to break the silence.

"Ajira is pleased you think so. She found it when she was very small and has been visiting ever since. She is very glad that now she is big enough people do not try to fetch her back down!" Ajira gave a fanged grin. "Silly tailless folk, thinking we fall as easily as you do."

I gave the appendage a glance - it must make balancing a lot easier. I found myself seized by a sudden moment of tail envy, and groped for another topic to distract myself. "So did you grow up in Balmora?"

"Yes," Ajira answered. "Ajira's mother worked here, once." I was still looking at her tail, and so noticed when it started shifting restlessly. It didn't seem as if this was a topic of conversation she was particularly comfortable with.

Rather than probe further, I took a bite of my rat-inna-bun and decided that even if it was made of E.R.Ds I didn't care as it was delicious. In fact, if it really did contain actual rat that had its advantages after all. I hadn't forgot my first day on the island - as with the kagouti yesterday, eating them would be poetic revenge given what they'd planned to do to me.

"So what happened yesterday?" The small talk was over.

"Well, I got to Lake Amaya all right, but then..." and again I began to recount the sorry tale.

Ajira made an excellent sympathetic audience. She oohed, aahed and winced in all the right places. She shared my disgust for the horrible pilgrim, nodded understandingly when I related how I ended up looking for the Bosmer's missing friend despite myself, and when I got to the kagouti she could barely sit still from the suspense. "Kagouti! They are dangerous, very dangerous, very aggressive - oh, Ajira will never forgive herself for sending you out," Ajira moaned. "How did friend Adryn survive?"

"Well." I bit my lip. "I managed to paralyse it-"

Ajira's eyes went wide. "You know a paralysis spell? But they are so difficult and - can you teach Ajira?" I had to smile at the imploring look she sent me.

"Sorry, I would if I could but it's not really a spell." I distracted myself with crumbling some of the rat-inna-bun bun and scattering it onto the water. I could see a few tiny fish gathering underneath it - the largest barely as long as my thumb, the smallest only visible due to their bright colour. Why couldn't more of the animals here be like that - reasonably sized, preferring fresh pastry to fresh person? "...I was born under the Lover, you see."

"Ohhhh. Ajira sees. She has never witnessed it herself, but she has read that the Lover-born can paralyse with a touch. It sounds very useful! Ajira is a little jealous - she has no such birthsign abilities, you see."

I looked up, distracted from watching the fish. "Why, what sign were you born under?"

"The Apprentice. Which is why she is only a little jealous." Ajira grinned at me.

I whistled; I was definitely not just a little jealous at that moment. The Apprentice is often considered the single best sign for mages, as those born under it have nothing short of prodigious magicka reserves - almost as much as those born under the Atronach but, unlike those unfortunates, still able to regenerate their own magicka. (Not that I have anything against the Atronach-born. Quite to the contrary, an Atronach-born can be an alchemist's best friend - or more specifically, an Atronach-born's unending need for restore magicka potions.)

"If you want birthsign abilities, I'll gladly trade you!" The Lover, being in the domain of the Thief, is not a birthsign I have ever heard anyone suggest when it comes to the "best sign for mages" competition. Needless to say, my magicka reserves were really nothing to write home about.

"Ajira is sorry, friend Adryn, but she does not think it works that way. Besides, her life would have gone very differently if she had not been born under the Apprentice, and Ajira likes her life the way it is." I cocked my head inquisitively, but Ajira didn't seem inclined to elaborate. Instead, she continued, "At least you can rest assured that there are advantages to being Lover-born. If Ajira were attacked by a wild kagouti she would undoubtedly end her life in its stomach, whereas you defeated the beast-"

"Well, 'defeated' would be putting it a little strongly," I said in a small voice.

Ajira's whiskers twitched inquisitively.

"The Lover's ability costs a lot of energy. I, um. Fainted. Right afterwards."

"Oh, yes! Ajira remembers reading about that as well. Next time," seriously, Ajira was probably younger than I was, she should not be able to manage such an excellent elderly matriarch impression, "you should drink an energising potion immediately beforehand or afterwards."

That was actually a very good idea, except. "Well, I didn't have one with me..."

Ajira looked at me. I sensed that if she had anything to say about it, the next time I left the city walls I would be laden down with so many potions for any possible eventuality that I wouldn't be able to walk.

"So, did the man you rescued kill the beast?" she asked now.

I grimaced at the memory. "No. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was him running away."

My ears perked as I was treated to a long list of what must be genuine Morrowind curses. I made mental note of some of the more colourful - my repertoire could always be bigger.

"-that scamp-spawned cowardly fetcher who Chemua would refuse and Vaermina would be ashamed to count as her own... if friend Adryn ever wishes someone to teach him a lesson about bravery and loyalty to those who put themselves in danger for him, she need only ask Ajira."

She seemed deadly serious, but I had to bite back a laugh imagining Ajira menacing anyone. "Ah, that'll be all right - after all, nobody got hurt in the end. Someone rescued me, a... floating armoire?"

Ajira's tail - previously swishing back and forth angrily - stopped dead. "Buoyant Armiger?"

"Yes, that. Honestly, that name..."

Ajira leaned closer and lowered her voice. "Ajira would be very grateful if friend Adryn did her a favour and didn't mention this to Galbedir or Masalinie."

"What? Why?" Were the Armigers disliked for some reason? But why Galbedir and teleportation girl specifically?

"Because if you tell them, they will not be able to stop talking about it for weeks," Ajira moaned. "It is bad enough with them reading those books all the time. 'The fair maiden and the valiant Armiger', or 'Fadresi Varyes at Molag Mar' or 'hello, the person who drew the cover thought big breasts and muscles were more important than adhering to basic anatomy' - nothing sensible like Saryoni's Sermons or texts about flora or magicka! And then they sigh about how they dream of being rescued by a brave, strong, handsome Buoyant Armiger - friend Adryn, I beg of you, if you tell them they will get carried away and Ajira's desk is directly next to Masalinie, do you understand?"

It sounded as if Buoyant Armigers had more in common with knights than I'd thought - in particular, that they had the same role as popular romance novel stars. And that I'd been more accurate than I'd thought with thinking yesterday evening had been a very cliched set-up. But... "The Armiger who rescued me was a woman. Does that make any difference?"

Ajra fingered her whiskers thoughtfully. "They will be a little less enthusiastic, Ajira believes, but only a little. Male or female it is an Armiger, Adryn understands?"

"So... such relationships are accepted here?" I'd found myself assuming so, given everything I'd grown up hearing about dark elven attitudes towards sex and that Ervesa hadn't reacted badly to the mention yesterday, but it's best to be sure of these things. "I know they're tolerated in Cyrodiil, but a lot of the people in Skyrim frowned on them and in High Rock I heard they were even illegal some places."

Ajira shrugged. "Here, nobody cares, unless the people involved are of a high rank. The daughter of a Redoran noble or of Duke Vedam Dren, she is expected to get married and have children, yes? And if she does not she is called selfish and betraying her family. But such things are rarely the case for the people Ajira knows... unless they have been keeping something from her, she supposes."

We looked at one another, each - I suspected - trying to envision the other as a high-ranking noble swathed in silk and surrounded by servants. At any rate, we both burst into laughter a second later.

*****

Notes: My description of Red Mountain is inspired by the Teide - I visited Tenerife a year ago and was really struck by it.

Next

This post has been edited by Kazaera: Jun 22 2013, 03:43 PM

[Athynae]

"Rat-in-a-bun"? I'm really glad I wasn't drinking anything.

I really like the way the friendship between Adryn and Ajira is blooming. I also am enjoying Adryn's growth, I feel like some of her youthful paradigms are being altered or eliminated all together. This story is getting better by the post and I am anxious to find out what's next for her.

I gave the appendage a glance - it must make balancing a lot easily.

I think you want "easier" instead of "easily" here.

And as far as being in the same situation as Adryn on the silt-strider, working in retail you are at the mercy of the population of shoppers.....

[mALX]

You had me in absolute hysterics with the dialogue in this chapter !!!

I'll only quote two, but could have so many more !!

My ears perked as I was treated to a long list of what must be genuine Morrowind curses. I made mental note of some of the more colourful - my repertoire could always be bigger.

Someone rescued me, a... floating armoire?"

"Buoyant Armiger?"

ROFL !!! Awesome Write !!

This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 3 2012, 11:14 PM

[Grits]

Oh, I missed an update! That means I got the delight of reading two back to back.

Like Athynae, I’m really enjoying the friendship between Adryn and Ajira. Maybe it’s Adryn’s history with animal life, but I was seriously expecting a much larger fish to lunge up out of the depths and devour the cute little ones that Adryn was feeding.

[Glargg]

"Rat-inna-bun" -- I think I detect a Terry Pratchett fan!

This story is fun!

[treydog]

And the quote-fest continues---

[quote]…unless, that is, the person trying to reach it was a total stranger to the city with the approximate sense of direction of a drugged chicken. Let's just say that I was quite damp by the time I found the place.[/quote]

Well- and as small as Suran is, SEEING the strider is easier than REACHING it.

[quote]I'd thought Fighter's Guild members ran more along the lines of big brawny hulking fighters who were confused by words more than two syllables long.[/quote]

And Adryn’s introduction to glass weapons was a treat (no surprise).

[quote]"No," I moaned. "All I got from yesterday were near-death experiences and this map here." I wiped my hands on my trousers and fished the damnable thing out of my pack. "I suppose it's useful to have one, but when you were expecting a reward that's a little, shall we say, shinier and more metallic..."[/quote]

That, coming just before the revelation of the map’s actual value, was simply wonderful.

[quote]"...it would have been very, very stupid, yes. Whoever gave this to you must have really liked you."[/quote]

Especially when we remember it was the grouchy, anything-BUT-humble pilgrim who gave it to her.

[quote]I may have drooled. If so, it was obviously to do with being a Mages' Guild member confronted with a type of magic I didn't know (a shield spell, something hidden in the dim mists of memory nudged me), about the passionate search for magic-related knowledge of all kinds, and nothing whatsoever to do with a way to stay dry.[/quote]

Of course- and I also imagine Adryn has some lovely waterfront estates in the Ashlands she is willing to let go for much below market value- but ONLY to a select clientele.

[quote]"I think you must be confused. The bushes are over there, you see. At least, I assume that since you were talking to a 'fair flower of beauteousness' you were trying to address the local plant life, given that I told you my name just now."[/quote]

Ah yes- the surest way to Adryn’s heart is most assuredly NOT by forgetting her name.

[quote]...many of them will react as though you're speaking Aldmeris, and some of them will take you pouring the boiling hot potion of feebleness you were working on over their heads while screaming at them to get out as a sign that "she must really like me!". Eddie was definitely, definitely of the last sort, even though I sadly didn't have any feebleness potions at hand.[/quote]

And the poor silt-strider, victimized by bad poetry.

[quote]"Look up a portal to Oblivion!" I retorted, while resolving never to set foot into the Lucky Lockup.[/quote]

Makes note to self to save that one for use at an appropriate moment.

[quote]And yes- the joys of the USELESS supplies that restock in the Mages Guild. Restore Willpower- of course- because Willpower is what gets depleted when one casts spells. Oh wait- no it doesn’t- that would be MAGIC that depletes and needs to be restored.[/quote]

[quote]Well, something lethally horrible - given that I thought spending a several-hour silt strider journey in close quarters with a man who had a decidedly overinflated perception of his appeal, wit, and poetic ability certainly qualified as 'something horrible', not to mention the brothel, how could I possibly forget the brothel. And the evil fiend disguised as a pilgrim whose only purpose on Nirn was evidently to torture me. Oh, right, and I supposed almost dying probably counted as well.[/quote]

Yes, that is a long quote and I do not care, because it so perfectly captures Adryn and why we love her so.

[quote]…you don't want to add something mainly consisting of water to a hot liquid containing anything that ever touched a Daedra. Trust me on this." I still had the scars. Literally.[/quote]

And an English language rhyme to go with it-

Johnny was the chemist's son, but Johnny is no more

What he thought was H2O was H2SO4

[quote]...so we got "rat-inna-bun"…[/quote]

Hooray for Discworld!

The scene of luncheon on the wall was simply beautiful. Lavish descriptions of the landscape AND of the growing friendship between the OTHER “A and A team.” Especially effective is the seemingly idyllic interlude with the dark currents beneath the surface.

[quote]…seriously, Ajira was probably younger than I was, she should not be able to manage such an excellent elderly matriarch impression,…[/quote]

[quote]Someone rescued me, a... floating armoire?[/quote]

Everything is brilliant and hilarious- and then- heartfelt as well.

[Kazaera]

Thanks for all the comments! As a warning, the next installment may take a bit longer to post, because I've been stuck connecting it up to the next bit for a while. :/

@Athynae - the friendship between Adryn and Ajira is something I really enjoy writing, so I'm glad you like! and yes, Adryn is evolving and I take it as quite a compliment that that came through... although at the moment it's mainly a matter of starting to relax and let her defenses down.

@mALX - thank you!

@Grits - oooh, you're right, I totally could have... but I do have to give Adryn breaks sometime, you know? Otherwise she'd just become numb and start ignoring things, she has to have moments of peace so the horror has full impa- I mean, I am a nice author who is kind to my characters, that's it.

@Glargg - Hey, welcome to the story - I'm glad you enjoy it so far! And the rat-inna-bun seller, no doubt, was cutting his own throat letting them have it at such prices and was called something like Dibulo .

@treydog - How did you ever guess about those Waterfront estates? And thank you for your kind words regarding the setting - description is quite a bit harder for me to write than most other things (whereas, for instance, Adryn in full sarcasm mode positively flows onto the page - a fact that probably ought to worry me) but I want to have the occasional panorama. I'm glad it worked for you! Also, thanks for the rhyme, which I'd never heard before and made me giggle.

Last installment, Ajira and Adryn gossiped. This installment, Ajira and Adryn... gossip. And Adryn learns a little more about the history of her friend.

Chapter 5.5

*****

Once we'd calmed down, Ajira shot a guilty look at the sun - now noticeably lower in the sky than it had been when we'd left. "Ajira really ought to go back to work. Soon customers will be coming and will be angry that she is not there to sell them potions! If she is not careful, some of her customers will decide it is better to go to Nalcarya 'oooh I am a master alchemist who is much better at everything than a mere Mages' Guild Apprentice, and also my neck has a crick so I cannot lower my nose' of White Haven - er, please do not repeat that," Ajira added anxiously as I started laughing. "But Ajira still has not heard everything that happened to friend Adryn!"

"Well, not much happened," I lied, "I can tell you quickly as we walk back." I tossed the remaining scrap of bun to the fishes and carefully started moving back towards the shore. "It was just, it was quite late by the time I-" woke up, "recovered from the attack. So Ervesa, she's the Armiger, she taught me this spell, to teleport you to the nearest Temple-"

"Ah, Almsivi Intervention," Ajira nodded. "Ajira has heard of it, but does not know it."

"It's not that hard, really. She thought that way I could get back to Balmora that evening. But we ended up landing in this place called Suran..."

"Ah. This is why Ajira does not know that spell! She has heard of enough misadventures like that."

"I don't blame you." I let myself fall to the ground and paused to catch my breath "We ended up having to stay the night." And where, I wasn't going to say.

"Ah, the tradehouse? Ajira has been there before. Ashumanu Eraishah is very nice, don't you think?"

I remembered the smiling face telling us she was very sorry, there were no beds free. "I... didn't really get to know her. I'm sure you're right, though. Anyway," I continued, changing the subject hastily while Ajira was distracted getting back off the wall, "I took the silt strider back in the morning and, well, here I am."

"So not as bad as Ajira feared... still, she will not send friend Adryn out alone again," Ajira said dolefully. "She did not realise it would be so dangerous."

I nodded emphatically. "Honestly, I don't blame you for not wanting to collect the ingredients yourself now."

"Well..." Ajira stopped walking and scuffed at a cobblestone with her foot. "Animals are not entirely what Ajira is worried about."

"What do you mean?" I was confused.

"Ajira supposes friend Adryn deserves to know, since she put herself in danger looking for ingredients Ajira was too afraid to go out for. It is... you are aware that slavery is legal in Morrowind?"

I shivered, remembering the horrible woman from yesterday and her talk of the 'slaves at the plantation'. "I am now."

"The preferred races for slaves, you see, are Khajiit and Argonian." Ajira was staring out over the river, her voice distant. "Other races, Ajira hears they are taken sometimes as well - especially in the east, among the Telvanni - but everywhere, mainly Khajiit and Argonian. The Hlaalu here have great plantations, saltrice and corkbulb and marshmerrow, all tilled by slaves. The Dres on the mainland, even more."

I swallowed convulsively. "That's - that's horrible."

"And of course, all those slaves have to come from somewhere, yes? The Dunmer send expeditions to Black Marsh and Elsweyr, but that is far away - Elsweyr especially - and may make people angry. May make the Empire go 'no, if you don't stop enslaving people from other provinces you may not have slaves any more.' May even start a war. So much easier if they can just catch them right here. They see a Khajiit walking alone in the wilderness and-"

Ajira made a quick motion with her right hand that reminded me of a trap springing shut. "No battles, no diplomatic incident, the leaders in Black Marsh and Elsweyr are happy the Dunmer are not stealing their people, the Dunmer are happy they do not have to fight angry warriors in those places, the Empire is happy they do not have a second Arnesian War threatening to break out. Everyone is happy. Except for the Khajiit."

"I- Ajira, I'm so sorry. I had no idea." Although... "I don't remember seeing anyone who could have been a slaver yesterday, though. Even that horrible pilgrim - she was old and unarmed, if you don't count her tongue. Is it really that dangerous?"

"Ah yes, a lot of people ask Ajira that." She still wasn't meeting my eyes. As usual, the nagging little voice that told me I probably shouldn't have said that popped up after the fact. "Say that it cannot possibly be so dangerous so close to town. That there are no slavers near Balmora. Except." Her voice was growing quieter and quieter, to the point where I had to lean in close to make sure I understood her. "That is what Ajira's sister thought."

Her sister thou-?

Oh.

I suddenly felt as though I'd just had a big meal consisting not of rat-inna-bun but of Adryn's foot, garnished with offensiveness and with a side dish of being a oblivious donkey who should learn to think before she speaks. It's a meal I find myself having relatively regularly, but not usually in this sort of size and it doesn't usually lie quite so heavily in my stomach.

"I- Nine, Ajira, I'm sorry- I didn't know. I shouldn't have said that. That's awful. I... I'm sorry about your sister." What did you do in this sort of situation? Someone should publish a book: 'The guide to properly apologising and sympathising once you have yet again managed to unintentionally deeply offend someone and remind them of various horrible past experiences.' I'd buy it.

Ajira sighed gustily and turned her head to look at me. "It is all right. Friend Adryn did not know, and it happened some years ago. Just... Ajira is very, very careful now. And she does not go out of town without escort."

"I understand. Really, I'm sorry," I repeated in a small voice.

"It is really all right, but..." Ajira gave a small smile. "If she wants to make it up to me, friend Adryn can read through Ajira's reports and tell her if they are all right or if anything needs to be changed. After all, they are on the experiments we did together."

I seized the change of topic like a drowning mer. "I can definitely do that. How did you describe the poison effects in the end?"

"Well, Ajira thought it best to make clear from the start that they were two entirely different types of poison, with the violet corprinus's being closer in type to bittergreen in the way it causes palpitations of the heart as opposed to the stomach cramps induced by the luminous russula, but she did put aside a section to speaking of their combination..."

*****

Next

This post has been edited by Kazaera: Jun 22 2013, 03:44 PM

[Athynae]

I liked Adryn's quick thinking to skirt the whole where we stayed issue, nice when "quick thought" works well.

Ajira's story was so very sad. I do hope that someday Adryn can maybe find Ajira's sister???? Just a thought.

Well done Kaz, I enjoyed watching them connect even more and I do believe it bothered Adryn much more than Ajira that Adryn had her foot for dinner.

Isn't it amazing what finding a true friend can do for a being, I think maybe Adryn might be seeing things in a bit of a different light. I like watching the slow but realistic progression that this friendship has brought for Adryn. I look forward to more....

Impatiently!!

[Kazaera]

@Athynae - Yes, it bothered Adryn quite a bit more - Ajira is kind of used to people being unpleasant about this subject (and knows about Adryn's social skills) so is happy that Adryn is at least trying, whereas Adryn is just getting used to having a person in her life who she cares about again.

Last installment, Adryn and Ajira finished their lunch-slash-gossiping-session and Adryn learned more about Ajira's past and why exactly she was so afraid of going ingredient-gathering herself. Now, it's time for alchemical shop talk about report writing.

Chapter 5.6

*****

I stared at the reports and tried very, very hard to control my expression. Because at the moment I was dangerously close to bursting out into laughter, and with an anxiously shifting Ajira standing next to me I suspected both would be the end of our friendly working relationship.

"Well? What do you think?"

I took another moment to impress it on my facial muscles that they were going to do what I wanted them to do, thank you very much, this was not up for vote. "It's. Ah. You've definitely written down everything we've discussed." Written it down, in fact, in exactly the way we'd discussed. Complete with, for instance, remarks about how Galbedir was most undeserving of being raised to Journeyman status, totally theoretical digressions about what effects a potion that drained intelligence would have slipped into her morning tea, and complaints about how lazy and unreliable the local apothecaries were. I had to admit, if this style were widely adopted in academic writing scholarship would become a lot more amusing. And blood feuds between alchemists much more common, admittedly, but I would consider that an acceptable side effect.

"That is good, no? Ajira made sure not to leave anything out in case it was important!"

Yes. She'd certainly done that.

I pondered how to break it to her. "Ajira... how much experience do you have with formal academic writing?"

"Um." Ajira looked away. "This is the first time Ajira has ever written a report like this."

Somehow, I wasn't surprised.

"And what about reading it? Have you read many textbooks, papers by researching alchemists, that sort of thing?"

Ajira was shaking her head. "Only very little. Those which are here in the guild, they are mostly about such alchemy as uses the ingredients available in Cyrodiil, yes? Much writing about the uses of arrowroot or lotus seeds, very little about gold kanet or trama root or the mushrooms. It is one reason the honoured Ranis Athrys has asked Ajira to investigate such things. And before she joined the guild..." Ajira seemed suddenly fascinated by the stained counter. "Ajira did not have access to such things at all. She learned on her own."

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'm mostly self-taught myself," and was equally familiar with the derision one experienced as an alchemist without a proper training pedigree. Even taking my general cynicism into account, it's surprising how many people care nothing about whether or not you can actually brew a potion in favour of whether or not your family was able to pay your way into the Arcane University. I keep hoping for the day where they all end up poisoned by the sorts of incompetents with more book learning than sense they call "real alchemists".

Judging by Ajira's downtrodden expression, it was the same here. I patted her shoulder gingerly. "It doesn't mean we're worse alchemists - in fact, I think we're better for having had to work everything out on our own. But it makes it hard to pick up things like the style of academic writing, and Ranis probably expects you to use that."

Ajira stared at me hopefully. "Can you teach Ajira, then?"

I'd walked straight into that one, hadn't I.

*****

I stood behind the alchemy desk musing over the strange turns that life takes.

I'd spent some time giving Ajira pointers (mostly along the lines of "no, you should not explain exactly why Nalcarya is an awful person and horrible alchemist who doesn't deserve the customers she has, even if her refusal to sell you any ingredients did mean you couldn't do half the experiments you wanted"). Thankfully, this had gone relatively well - Ajira had honestly wanted to know how to make her writing formal enough to pass muster and hadn't taken offense at any of the things I'd pointed out, which was something I'd been worried about. I'd tried to be tactful, but... well. Tact and I have never been the best of friends. In fact, our relationship could probably be more closely described as somewhere in between chilly hostility and open warfare, given what generally happened when I tried to get tact on my side. Most likely I'd dreadfully offended it at one point without meaning to. That happens more than I'd like.

At any rate, after a detailed and thankfully friendly discussion about the do's and don't's of report writing, at least as far as I understood them, Ajira had decided to retreat and rewrite her report. However, given that it was Fredas afternoon, business had picked up and Ajira couldn't just leave the alchemy desk unattended. But since fortune had it that there happened to be another alchemist standing around with nothing to do now that she'd finished her imparting of wisdom...

All of which, together with Ajira's best sad kitten impression and use of "friend Adryn" (a combination that was so devastatingly effective it ought to be banned) led to me selling Guild potions to the townsfolk. Being a merchant. Being, in other words - I shuddered inwardly - positively respectable. Or as respectable as it's possible to be when you still feel as if you ought to be stealing the potions instead of selling them. Which was still far more respectable than I found entirely comfortable; I couldn't help the feeling that some fundamental law of nature had been violated and as soon as nature realised it disaster would follow.

Unless it already had and "disaster" was taking the form of "customers". I wouldn't be surprised.

The walking disaster I was dealing with right now still hadn't finished his appraisal of a simple energising potion, despite my lengthy mental digression. At the beginning, I'd thought the old Imperial must be a master alchemist himself, given how carefully he was studying the list of ingredients on the label. Now, my thoughts were going along decidedly more uncharitable lines, including but not limited to speculation about how well the pair of spectacles on his nose actually worked.

"You. Girl." I fought down the sudden burst of rage by mentally repeating a merchant does not start screaming at her customers until I was sure I could stay in control of myself. It had been my mantra for the afternoon, and I felt my close adherence to it made me a veritable candidate for the Psijic Order. "What's in this potion?"

A merchant does not start screaming at her customers.

"Excuse me," I said through gritted teeth. "Could you hand me the bottle so I can read the label?" The one you've been staring at for the last however many minutes, apparently without picking up a single word of it-

He stared at me for a long moment until I was already preparing myself for him to tell me how it was an utter disgrace that I didn't know the ingredients of every single potion in the place by memory (something he would not, sadly, have been the first person to attempt). Thankfully for my temper, he handed it over quietly in the end.

"Well, if you just read this label here," I was proud of myself for managing to keep that sentence only moderately sarcastic, "you'll see that it contains water, kresh weed pulp, minced kwama egg hide-"

"Kwama egg!" the man spat. "You use that filthy stuff in your potions?"

I stared at him. "Er... is there a problem with kwama eggs?"

"You expect me to drink something that came out of an insect? Vaermina's filthy creatures, they are. Bad enough you dark elves eat them, but trying to hide`the vile stuff in potions so good honest folk like me get fooled into-"

I squeezed my eyes shut. A merchant does not scream at her customers. Even if they are insistent on explaining to you how your race's diet makes you barbarians. Weren't Bosmer the usual suspects for that kind of thing-

Wait, hadn't Ajira pointed out the cupboard with alternate potion formulations to me? She'd said it was for customers with allergies, but I was willing to make an exception for this man if it would make him stop shouting at me about the evils of kwama eggs.

"Just a moment, I may have something." I opened the cupboard door - yes, there it was, energising potion, thankfully without anything kwama-related. I drew the bottle out. "This one doesn't contain kwama egg," I explained. "The ingredients are water, chokeweed, hackle-lo, some alcohol-"

"Alcohol? Alcohol?"

Oh no.

The man's expression said I could expect spittle flying any minute now, so I ducked in precaution as he raged on. "I walk into the guild expecting to find reputable alchemists, not - not - harlots pretending to respectability in order to cater to drunkards!"

Harl... excuse me?

All right, that was it. Merchants not screaming at their customers was all very well and good but I wasn't even one anyway, just a very out-of-place substitute.

"Actually," I snapped, cutting across the man's invective about how he would make sure I got kicked out the guild to starve, "the alcohol is a byproduct, used because some ingredients are easier to store and more effective after fermentation. Morever, so much of it is boiled off during preparation that in order to actually get drunk off it you'd need to take so many that you wouldn't sleep for days. If you're worried about potion abuse, you should be worrying about that, not two drops of alcohol."

And really, that was where I was used to the moral outrage starting. Alcohol content was definitely a new one for me, but the abuses of rejuvenating and energy-fortifying potions among students at the Arcane University so that they can study for three days straight are talked about throughout the Empire, and there'd been talk about banning or restricting speed-boosting potions in Skyrim for as long as I'd lived there. Ludicrously so, I'd thought, since they're really harmless. Even I, with my general dislike of altering my state of mind, had tried them the first time I got my hands on the ingredients several years ago and spent a very pleasant evening bouncing around with-

The man who had a moral objection to kwama egg, alcohol, and - I suspected - at least one ingredient of every potion we stocked, had apparently ignored my interjection entirely and was still talking. Ordinarily, I'd have felt guilty about tuning him out, but for some reason I had the impression I wasn't going to have missed much.

"-trying to ply their dreadful homebrew to innocent customers, this would never happen in the Imperial Cult-"

See?

"Well," a new voice interrupted, "if you're so upset this place isn't like the Cult, why don't you go there to buy your potions? Fort Moonmoth isn't that far away, after all."

Both I and the plague on the life of innocent attempting-to-be-merchants turned to look at the newcomer.

A Redguard woman had apparently been waiting behind the outraged Imperial until she couldn't keep herself from intervening. Since she was apparently on my side, I found myself not minding in the slightest.

Backed up by my unexpected ally, I added, "Yes, it's only half an hour's walk or so." I'd passed the fort on both silt strider journeys and my ill-fated flower-gathering journey already, so I was becoming familiar with the area. "Or-" maybe I shouldn't be so eager to lose Ajira a customer, "if you tell me the ingredients you do not have any moral objections to, I can see if we have any potions that meet your specifications."

I thought this was an eminently reasonable suggestion, but the man just huffed wordlessly, turned, and strode towards the exit. I had to admit that, customer or not, I really wasn't sorry to see him go.

*****

Next

This post has been edited by Kazaera: Jun 22 2013, 03:44 PM

[Athynae]

And for anyone who has been on the merchant side of this scene, it is all too common. Working retail is almost as bad as waiting tables in a restaurant, the average consumer has NO IDEA what it takes to do the job and put up with their less than hospitable attitudes!!!

Ok, off my soap box and on with my comments...

Excellent write.

I'd walked straight into that one, hadn't I.

Why yes, I do believe you did.

From there I would have to quote the rest of the segment. It was wonderfully written, so real that I felt like you had stepped in on a few of my retail memories

Unless it already had and "disaster" was taking the form of "customers". I wouldn't be surprised.

Yep, that says it all right there.

Kaz this was wonderful! I am truly beginning to love Adryn. I can't wait to see more!!!

[mALX]

*

I suddenly felt as though I'd just had a big meal consisting not of rat-inna-bun but of Adryn's foot, garnished with offensiveness and with a side dish of being a oblivious donkey who should learn to think before she speaks. It's a meal I find myself having relatively regularly, but not usually in this sort of size and it doesn't usually lie quite so heavily in my stomach.

...Someone should publish a book: 'The guide to properly apologising and sympathising once you have yet again managed to unintentionally deeply offend someone and remind them of various horrible past experiences.

What great lines !!! I also love how you've written Ajira's dialogue - no doubt she is Khajiit even if we didn't know, really well done!

It's. Ah. You've definitely written down everything we've discussed." Written it down, in fact, in exactly the way we'd discussed. Complete with, for instance, remarks about how Galbedir was most undeserving of being raised to Journeyman status, totally theoretical digressions about what effects a potion that drained intelligence would have slipped into her morning tea, and complaints about how lazy and unreliable the local apothecaries were. I had to admit, if this style were widely adopted in academic writing scholarship would become a lot more amusing. And blood feuds between alchemists much more common, admittedly, but I would consider that an acceptable side effect.

"That is good, no? Ajira made sure not to leave anything out in case it was important!"

ROFL !!! Absolutely loved this section, totally unexpected !! What a great light touch you have !!

I don't think we've seen the last of the huffy customer, but I could be wrong, lol. Great Write!!

*