ghastley: Most of the Seven do not translate directly to the characters from
Seven Samurai or
Magnificent Seven. Something which I am glad for, since it gives Seven a bit of uinqueness. Only two characters really copy over, one of whom we will meet this installment. My primary motivation for the others comes from Aela's background, which she spoke of in The Witch of Bawnwatch Island in the TF. If you reread that, you will find that the most of the Seven were mentioned.
ThatSkyrimGuy: I think that armor pic came from Wikipedia. I did a lot of searching for Japanese armor. That pic was the best one showing lamellar armor with numerous small pieces, rather than fewer large pieces.
Aela feels most comfortable around Ungarion, so it is around him that she can feel free to be the most herself. Hence all the little jokes between them. I have always liked writing the two of them together. They each complement the other very well.
King Coin: Ungarion does use
discuss pretty liberally!
That is part of what makes him such a fun character. He is liable to do just about anything.
Do'Sakhar is an old friend, so he is in it just because of his friendship. Besides, no one is going to do it for the pay!
Acadian:Ungarion and Aela have definitely done this sort of thing before. Since Ungy is the wheeler and dealer of the pair, naturally he would step up and take charge of the recruitment drive.
I could not resist the wine in the mug and choosy comments. They added so much color to not only the scene, but AUs relationship. Kurdan was also one I was glad to insert into this story, it being a prequel. He is a well-known quantity to those who have read the TF, and tells us a lot about what kind of place the
Suitor is.
Kazaera: That is funny, because when you wrote that, I was making home-made calzones!
Sometimes when it comes to Ungarion, no amount of common sense can make a dent! That is one of the things I like about him. You never know what he might do next!
I was not planning Ungarion and Do'Sakhar to be sniping at one another all the time. It just came that way the moment Do'Sakhar walked into the tavern, so I rolled with it. I enjoyed it just as much as everyone else has, so I kept it that way.
haute ecole rider: Remember, in the TF the counts/countesses are not hereditary monarchs, but patricians appointed to their roles by the Elder Council for set terms, like Roman propraetors or proconsuls were appointed to Roman provinces. Domitianus is just the guy who had the job before Terentius is all. It is one of the things I tried to use to show that this is set in a different time than the TF.
Wow, that is a coincidence with the name! I got the name Do'Sakhar from the UESP Wiki's page on Khajiit names. I think I picked the prefix 'Do' because it said that meant a warrior. The suffix was just from a name I picked out of the list. It just sounded good together.
Like I said to Kaz, I was not really planning on Do'Sakhar and Ungarion snipping at one another constantly, but I do love how it adds color to their relationship. Like you said, it shows us a lot about them both.
Previously On Seven: Our last episode found Aela and Ungarion back in Bravil, where they ran into the four Agrigentans once more, failing miserably at hiring mercenaries. Ungarion took pity upon them, and not only volunteered himself and Aela for the job, but he also took over the task of recruiting more fighters. Soon his efforts bore fruit, as an old Khajiit friend of AUs named Do'Sakhar joined up.
Chapter 1.3"Are you sure it was Nashira you saw?" Ungarion did not conceal the doubt in his voice. "I know everyone without fur looks alike to you cats."
"Perhaps if one stopped looking down his long Altmer nose at everyone else, he might see what is plainly in front of his eyes," Do'Sakhar replied coolly.
"So how long have those two been married?" Ulpia whispered into Aela's ear.
Aela barely resisted the urge to giggle. "Almost two years now," she managed to get out with a nearly straight face. "We first ran into Do'Sakhar while exploring the Arimer ruins beneath the Imperial City. Our paths have crossed off and on since. He's a good friend."
"Who is this one Nashira?" Hathei asked. Like the rest, they followed Do'Sakhar and Ungarion down Riverwalk. Shops and warehouses lined the streets to either side of them, with more of the latter to their right, where Bravil's interior river and its docks lay just beyond the buildings.
"Who is Nashira?" Ungarion repeated aloud. "Why only one of the finest swordswomen alive. They say she has killed at least sixty people in duels, perhaps more."
"Aye, for once this one speaks faultless. Truly an event worthy of remark," Do'Sakhar said. "Nashira is a sword-saint. Some say that one can even create the spirit sword of her race's ancestors."
"And shoot lightning bolts from her rear no doubt," Aela said dryly.
They paused as the road came to an end. To their right a bridge led across the city's internal river to Castle Isle beyond. But they turned left instead, and made their way north along Silver Avenue.
"Do not scoff until you see that one in action," Do'Sakhar admonished. "This one has never witnessed a finer swordfighter."
"I'm just saying don't build your expectations up so high that no one can live up to them," Aela explained. "I'm sure she still puts her hose on one leg at a time, like the rest of us."
"Perhaps we shall see just that," Ungarion said as they passed the Fighters Guild. "
Silverhome On The Water is just ahead. If the cat is right - for once - she will be within."
"Or perhaps without?" Ulpia said as they approached the elegant inn. "What is that crowd up there?"
Led by Ungarion and Do'Sakhar, the group moved through the crowd that had gathered outside the inn, almost completely blocking the traffic on the thoroughfare. Aela squirmed her way through with the others, and finally got a look at what was going on.
Standing in the street was a Redguard woman wearing red and brown. She was in her middle-years, and wore her raven-black hair back in a braid behind her head. A long, gently curved scimitar of Dwemer steel hung from her hip. However, it was a stick that she held in one hand, rather than a weapon.
screenshotStanding before her was an Imperial clad in mail. He towered at least a head higher than the Redguard, and likewise gripped a length of wood in his fist. Aela imagined it might have been a limb from a small tree, which had been cut off and denuded of its leaves.
"That is Nashira indeed," Ungarion said. "I saw her in the Arena once."
The crowd was silent as the two stared at one another. The Imperial took up his stick with both hands, and held it over his head so that the tip pointed up and away behind him. Even though she knew little of longswording, Aela recognized that stance as the Roof. Given that the Imperial knew enough to use it, it was plain that he was a formally trained fighter.
The Redguard calmly swept her stick back behind one hip, its tip low to the ground. While it made her appear to be undefended, Aela likewise knew that as the Near Ward stance. Clearly, both of them were experienced swordfighters.
The Imperial bellowed like a bull, and crossed the distance between them in a flash. He brought his stick down at Nashira's head. But the Redguard was not idle. Her weapon swept forward and whacked against the Imperial's thick neck muscles. Perhaps at the same moment, his stick smacked down upon her head. It was all so quick, that Aela had trouble telling just who struck first.
The crowd gasped, and let out a collective sigh before beginning to chatter in many voices. Aela easily heard the rumbling of the Imperial over them all however.
"A tie then," he said, almost ruefully. "We will never know."
"No," Nashira said plainly. "You lost."
The crowd grew silent once more as the two stared at one another. The Imperial's face grew red, and his lip curled up in a snarl.
"I did not!" he insisted.
The Redguard stared impassively back at him. "You did," was all she said. Then she tossed her stick aside and turned to leave.
"Don't you walk away from me!" the Imperial growled. His hand went to the arming sword at his hip, and bared its blade in the late afternoon sun.
Nashira stopped and turned back to him. She eyed him intently, then filled her hand with steel as well.
Like the others in the crowd, Aela held her breath as she looked on. They were really going to do it! She never once thought of trying to step in to stop the pair. She had no idea what the history between them might be. Or what either of them would be willing to do. She was certainly not going to get a blade stuck in her back by some stranger in the street.
As before, the Imperial brought his sword up above his head, tip pointed backward. Nashira swept hers back behind her, point low to the ground. Again he charged, and again she countered. The entire scene took only the blink of an eye to play out. This time however, the Imperial's head flew from his body, even as his skin frosted over with ice. A moment later his partly frozen corpse fell to the cobblestones.
The Redguard stood by impassively, and wiped her scimitar clean with a small cloth. Even as far away as she stood, Aela could now feel the magicka pulsing within the enchanted sword.
Barafu was the name it announced itself as. 'Ice' if Aela recalled her Yoku correctly. The feeling of power gradually subsided as the warrior slid the weapon back into its sheath, and its frost enchantment grew quiescent once more.
The crowd roared in excitement, and Aela remembered to breathe. She lost track of the others in the bustle around her, and for once she wished for the height of an Altmer. She pushed and squirmed through the mass of humanity, looking for Ungarion's dark red locks above the heads of the others around her.
After several minutes of being pushed and jostled, finally the crowd began to break up. Aela soon found the reason why. The Bravil City Guard had arrived, and was shoving everyone back with their kite-shaped shields. Aela caught a glimpse of the soldiers encircling Nashira. Rather than fight them, the Redguard woman calmly accompanied the guardsmen toward the castle.
"Well, that was exciting, if fruitless," Do'Sakhar's raspy voice nearly made Aela jump. Turning, she found the Khajiit warrior standing right beside her.
"Do'Sakhar!" she cried, holding one hand to her heart. "One of these days you're going to scare me to death."
"Apologies goodwoman," the tiger-striped feline bowed his head. Then he looked up and smiled. "But you know what they say: Khajiit like to sneak."
"I thought they liked to sleep?"
Ungarion appeared from the thinning crowd, with the four Agrigentans in tow.
"Thinking is not an activity this one associates with certain butter elves," Do'Sakhar replied dryly.
"So did you talk with Nashira before the guard took her away?" Aela asked, before Ungarion could sling a verbal fireball back at the Khajiit.
"I did," the high elf shook his head. "But to no avail. She is not interested in questing, or fame, or coin. The only thing she cares about is perfecting her art. I imagine that the City Guard will keep her for questioning for a while before they release her. One thing the law always loves to do is talk. If they were smart, they would take lessons instead."
"That was horrible," Ulpia said. "How can people just casually slay one another in the middle of the street! What kind of city is this?"
"As opposed to the finely cultured capital of Tamriel, where they do it in an Arena instead?" Aela observed. "Or in the alleys, where they stab one another in the back for scraps?"
"Or on rice farms, where they do it for sport," Rullianus spat. His eyes glowed with a fervor that Aela had seen all too often. He had lost someone dear to him. To the Nagas no doubt.
"Not if we have anything to say about it." Ungarion declared.
This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jul 13 2013, 03:34 PM