Serene Of Cyrodiil, Chapter 4, Ashlander Affairs Options

[mplantinga]

Thanks for a great update. The Ahemmusa are certainly in dire straits; I'm looking forward to seeing how Serene's unique skills will help improve their plight.

[Wolfie]

Yay! My battlescene finally made it in lol. It must be about 4 months since i wrote that lol lol.

[treydog]

Nice work (by both of you). It is fascinating to watch Serene as she finds out more about Azura's plans for her. The time with the Ashlanders should be quite interesting.

Great writing.

[Adanorcil]

I have read this last chapter too, Minque. I like it.


Ashlanders and silt striders... now where have I heard that before?

[Soulseeker3.0]

wow, that was excelent.. I really want more...

[Florodine of Hlaalu]

another two entries that i missed, im ashamed, i really need to check more often. But great chapters, really good description and very interesting

[Kiln]

Very nice update to this story, I can't wait to see how her time with the ashlanders treats her.

[minque]

Yay! My battlescene finally made it in lol. It must be about 4 months since i wrote that lol lol.

Yeah yeah....I know I´m a slow writer....

Thanks all for the nice comments......I´ll really try to update soon..

[Mazuk]

Wow outstanding is all I can say. My mind spins while trying to catch up to all I have missed, but what great reading there is to explore here in the world of the fan fiction forums. Great Work Minque.. Keep up the great work.

[Burnt Sierra]

I vaguely remember (the old memory is starting to fail me now) posting a comment way back, when Jona had been the guest writer, and mentioning how impressed I'd been at your ability to integrate another perspective into your tale, without losing the style and flavour of your own. It would appear to me that it wasnt a one off. Again, the way that the battle scene is presented to us is very inventive, and seamlessly slips into the story. Perhaps the greatest compliment I could pay, is that if you hadn't mentioned that there was a guest writer in this update, I'm not sure I would have noticed. It just fits so well.

As for the rest of the update, and several of the one's before that I never managed to reply to, the plot is starting to tick along nicely now, and the reappearance of Sedrane suggests another twist in the near future. Could we see romance? I certainly hope so, as thats a genre that is all too infrequently touched upon when writing about the Morrowind universe.

Most of all though, you bring the characters not only to life, (a rare skill in itself), but make us care about them. They're fallible, scarred, hurt and emotional. Through a combination of description of the world, the foods, the aroma's, the tastes (note to writers - yes, there are more senses to play with than just sight), the believable dialogue, I worry what will happen to Serene and her companions. I read to feel connected to the story, and this is something that you never fail to awaken within me.

[mplantinga]

Kudos to burntsierra for so eloquently putting into words what I'm sure many of us have been thinking about this story. I also feel a certain emotional connection to the characters in the story, and I'm grateful that you continue to provide us with such emotionally rich characters.

[Justinj115]

where is chapter 3?

[mplantinga]

where is chapter 3?

See the link in the first post.

[minque]

Thought I´d show you how her new dress looks like....

[Scrooluse]

*smiles* Serene does the Ashlander look extremely well

[mplantinga]

Definitely a good look for her. Is this picture from the Ahemmusa camp? My instincts tell me that it is the Zainab camp; of course, I've been wrong before.

[minque]

Definitely a good look for her. Is this picture from the Ahemmusa camp? My instincts tell me that it is the Zainab camp; of course, I've been wrong before.

Well ......It is taken just outside the Ahemmusa Camp, on a bright morning..and Serene is on her way to tend to the guars....

I´m working on the next installment now..but it will probably take some time before it´ll be posted......terribly busy right now...

[mplantinga]

Well, I guess I was wrong after all. Take your time with the next installment; personally, I'd rather wait for a really good one than have you try to rush.

[Jonajosa]

Thought I´d show you how her new dress looks like....

that looks... nice I guess.

Good update. Can't wait for the next one.

[minque]

First I´m very sorry for taken so long to update! But I´ve had one of the most severe writer´s block you can think of! And if that wasn´t enough real life has interferred a lot the last month, too much fuss at work, sending my daughter to US....then my old parents are about to move from a house to a flat..so you maybe understand the situation!

But....now I´ll give you an update finally I succeeded in finishing the part I started writing so long ago.....

Enjoy!

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”But isn´t the Wise Woman a healer as well?” I looked at Sinnamu Mirpal, confused. She smiled faintly, put her arms around her knees and said:

“Some Wise Women are healers, true healers, but not all. It´s a gift from the Divine Azura, and not every Wise Woman is blessed with it. In my case I was given the ability to lead my people in combat but my ability of healing their wounds is rather poor nowadays.” Sinnamu sighed and then continued:

“We had a true healer, Marena Reladren, but she disappeared half a year ago and we assume she´s dead because nobody has seen her since.”

That night I could not sleep; I was tossing and turning on my bedroll without getting any rest, thinking about the future for this people and how my presence here could possibly affect it.

It took me another week to finish my outfit. By then the really cold weather had begun; the wind was cold and hard and we hardly had any sunshine at all, so I was very glad I had something warm to wear.

The daily life continued at the Ahemmusa camp; usually I awakened by the sun rising, then had some tea and a piece of bread before I had to go out and tend to the guars. It´s amazing how social those big clumsy animals are, they come running when they spot you, making all kind of funny noises....

One day Sinnamu told me we had to prepare for the annual shaman-meeting, which was to take place at our camp this year. It was a very important event; the Wise Women of the four Ashlander-tribes met and discussed various things...exactly what Sinnamu did not tell me; instead she said I could attend and see for myself.

I was under the impression that the four Ashlander-tribes were not always on talking terms with each other, but that was not the fact among the Wise Women apparently.

There was much to prepare for the meeting. First we had to arrange quarters for the visiting Wise Women, then there had to be a lot of food, and that could be a problem, as the Ahemmusa hadn´t had a very good hunt lately,

Sinnamu prepared three more bedrolls in our tent; it made it look really filled up, and I went to see Lanabi, the trader, to see what goods she might have. It was a miserable amount of things she had in her yurt, nothing really of use. She was indeed sad about that but explained to me that no travelling merchants were coming to Ahemmusa during the last months so there had been no chance of bartering.

Ulabael and Addamus, two of the most experienced hunters of the Ahemmusa, were preparing for a hunting-party. There had to be some meat at the table at the meeting, or the honour of the Tribe would be lost. The other three Wise-women would arrive escorted by their apprentices and at least two warriors each, so we expected about a dozen guests.

I met Sedrane outside Lanabi´s yurt, and as always when I saw him my heart started beating faster, my legs started to get shivery and I felt the heat come to my cheeks....

“Serene! There you are!” Sedrane took my hands and looked me in the eyes. I couldn’t say a word, there was this lump in my throat so I just nodded at him.

“Could I ask a favour of you?” he continued. I nodded once again, feeling almost angry with myself, this was ridiculous, he was just a young ashlander with whom I once spent one night ....that´s all, but the tension between us was very obvious....at least to me it was.

“Y..yes...of course,” I finally croaked, desperately swallowing whatever it was that was stuck in my throat. Sedrane smiled and squeezed my hands a bit harder;

“So Serene, I´d like you to accompany us on our hunting-party tomorrow morning; the men have bad feelings about going hunting due to the last time.....” he went silent and bowed his head.

***********************

When I came to this part in my story I had to stop for a while and ponder how to continue. I was about to describe an event that was the first in a chain of events that led to the conception of the little girl who at this moment was sitting in her room, probably reading a book of history, which was her favourite subject.

I was about to write down the story of her real father, my first love, but not my last, as it would come out. The story was also about the curse that lay upon the Ashlander Tribes, and my first and very brief meeting with the man who would lift that curse and who initiated a way for me to aid the Ahemmusa people, and give them a future.

But I was also about to begin writing the story of the rest of my life and how my past caught up with me- for better and worse.... This was a difficult part; the very thought of it made me shiver in pain.

As I sat there in my library, I had a divine visit of a lady in an icy-blue dress; Azura!

“Serene, Serene, you must continue your story, for the sake of your daughter and the unborn child you are bearing, but most of all for the sake of yourself, to finally put your heart at ease...”

I sat quite still, hearing the words of Azura still in my head, when the door opened and my husband entered, arms outstretched, giving me a look of love and devotion. He took me in his arms, gently rubbing my back and took me with him into our private chambers.

Then I knew how to continue my story......