The Many Misadventures of Mirri (and Varanis Arano)

VaranisArano

I've been writing shortfic for Mirri & Varanis prior to playing with her, and figured I'd continue. Spoilers ahoy for Blackwood, Companion interactions, and past content. Updates will be quite sporadic.



Brigadine Andricus folded his arms and scowled at Mirri, and the stranger riding up behind her on a flaming panther.

"I'm not helping you mount a suicidal rescue mission," he declared.

"Then you can watch me kick the arse of every cultist standing between me and my little brother," Mirri snapped back.

"Sucidal rescue missions from evil cults are sort of my thing," Varanis Arano said, dismounting in a plume of ash and fire. "Where do I sign up?"

.........................................

On the outside, the Doomvault Vulpinaz was a typical daedric shrine. Black, red, and everything set at slightly unsettling angles. On the inside, more black, more red, unsettling angles, glowing letters in daedric script, the works. Oh, and the assorted cultists and daedric beasties.

"You're taking this all in stride." Mirri observed, as Varanis burned two cultists to ashes and then promptly turned to rifle through the bookshelves for new books.

"It's just another Daedric ruin. I've been in dozens."

Mirri pointed to a break in the wall, through which a fiery sky and large spiked towers could be seen. "That's not our sky."

"Er, no. It's not Coldharbor either."

"Coldharbor?"

"That's a long story we don't have time for right now."

.........................................

Asking far too casually for someone grappling over a lava chasm to break a soul gem array and stop a nasty ritual, Mirri said, "Did I mention I'm a Daedrologist?"

"No."

"It's my main field of study. I don't worship the Daedra, I promise, but I'm fascinated by the Anticipations, the Princes, and their cults. You've really been to Coldharbor?"

"Yes."

Mirri took a deep breath. "Are you Varanis Arano the Vestige who defeated Molag Bal, Nocturnal, Clavicle Vile and who's been to half a dozen daedric realms and come out alive?"

"Aren't we supposed to be rescuing Eolaf and your brother from a ritual that's probably killing them right now?"

"Er, right. We should do that."

.....................................................

"The real Xigira?" Mirri repeated after Ardia. "She's a fetching Daedra? No wonder this cult is nuts. I think they're trying to turn this place into the Deadlands."

"If it makes you feel any better," Varanis said, "the Planemeld didn't end too well for the Worm Cult. And we usually managed to rescue the Mages Guild members they kidnap to summon their dolmens."

"Usually? Xigira keeps threatening my little brother!"

...............................................

From above, Xigira taunted them, "You can listen to your brother Liam's screams as you stand helpless in front of my sealed gate!"

"I'll fetching kill you!" Mirri screamed back.

A grinding noise came from behind her, and she spun around. Varanis hauled a long black lever into position. "One down, two to go. Xigira, you gotta work on your puzzles, this is easy adventurer stuff."

.........................................................

Safely back in camp, Mirri fussed over her brother, alternating between bandaging him up and berating the Brigandine for his lack of help.

"Oh, get a real job." The Brigandine said, exasperated.

"I'll have you know I'm a member of the Fighters Guild in good standing."

"Uh, huh." He eyed Varanis. "And I suppose you're going to tell me you're the Vestige."

"Yes, she is," Mirri said, before she could answer. "And I'm going to accompany her as part of my Daedrologist duties for the Fighters Guild!"

"You are?" Varanis asked.

"Of course! You can't turn down a fellow comrade, right?"

"I..." Under her breath, Varanis muttered, "I turned down Bera so many times she's taken to shouting at me in the street when I walk by. But if the rumors about the Four Ambitions are true?"

To Mirri, she said, "Sure. I could use the help of a Daedrologist."

"Great!"


..............................................................
Outakes:

1. Varanis hauled a long black lever into position. "One down, two to go. I'll take the one on the right. Mirri, you go get the one on the left." She headed down the right path toward the grapple point.

Mirri didn't move. "Er, I can't pull levers."

"Your little brother's soul is at stake and you can't pull a lever to save him?"


2. "You can't turn down a fellow comrade, right?" Mirri asked, confident she had Varanis dead to rights.

"Do you know how many times I've turned down Stuga's quest?"

deleted221106-002999

Awesome - but too many words. Needs pictures for the hard of thinking like me.

Loved the last entry/outakes, though: very droll.

AcadianPaladin

Nice job, Varanis and a fun read!

VaranisArano

"A Mortal's Touch" & "The Emperor's Secret"

Mirri rubbed her hands together in thinly disguised worry as Rogatus Cinna walked away. "The Dread Lady? His lovely and powerful mistress? Are you sure we aren't walking out of the frying pan and into the fire of another Daedric cult?"

Varanis reread Lyranth's letter. It is indeed lacking in social niceties, but..."Let's just say that Lyranth and I do each favors when its mutually advantageous. So far, our enemies have always come off the worse."

Mirri scowled, then sighed. "Well, I did sign myself up for this."

.............................................

Deep in the Ayleid ruin, Varanis and Mirri found Lyranth studying a large magical barrier, flickering with purple lightning. A dead Varakun thrall lay at her feet.

"You make a habit of breaking out of prisons and finding things you shouldn't. Emperor Leovic's cache behind this ward requires both skills." Lyranth said. "Help me break it." She held out an amulet.

"Why should we?" Mirri challenged.

"Because your world depends on it," Lyranth snapped back.

Varanis took the amulet. "Because at some point, Mirri, we have to trust her."

A ways out of Lyranth's earshot, Varanis murmured, "Because like she said, I've yet to find myself in a trap I couldn't cut my way out of. And she knows that."

........................................

"One more step and you get an arrow in the knee!" The keen-eyed Bosmer archer shouted up the staircase, taking aim at Varanis.

"Eveli! Who'dve thought you'd be responsible for singlehandedly ending my adventuring career?"

"Varanis?!" Eveli lowered her bow and quickly explained the situation to her squad, then hugged Varanis when they came down the stairs. She took a long look at Mirri. "You tagging along with Varanis now?"

"I'm a Daedrologist advising her on daedric cults."

"Oh," Eveli blinked. "Well, we've got cultists here. Want to help kill them and uncover old Emperor Leovic's dark secrets?"

..........................................

"I think I'm getting good at this!" Mirri said, contemplating the trail of Covenant and cultist corpses they'd left behind in Ne Salas. "I probably shouldn't be proud of that."

Eveli twirled an arrow between her fingers. "You two did nice work. I still beat you to the evil cult-lady. And I broke the ward."

"Just search the cache," Lyranth said.

"Leovic liked his codes." Varanis said, handing over the encoded scroll and signet ring to Eveli. "Maybe if he'd spent more time on being a good ruler and less on hiding his treasures underneath ayleid ruins, he wouldn't have gotten himself overthrown by Varen Aquilarios."

Lyranth shook her head. "I sense there's more to this mystery than the politics of emperors."

.....................................

It was a rainy day in Valenwood, and the jungle steamed during the few moments when the sun broke through. "It's nice to finally meet you," Beragon told Varanis as they pored over the coded scroll. "Eveli's told me lots about your adventures in Orsinium."

"It's nice to finally meet the brother she told me nothing about!"

"Stick around, and I'll introduce you to our other ten siblings."

At the other end of the small campsite, Eveli asked, "You alright, Mirri? You look as green as a springtime leaf.

"Apparently I get seasick from daedric portals. It'll pass." Hastily, she refused an offer of "tea." Only Vivec knew what Green Pact-loving Wood Elves would put in it!

Eveli sat down with a cup, and then studied her. It was uncomfortable, watching that serious expression on the normally cheerful woman's face.

Finally, Mirri broke. "Do I really look at bad?"

"No..." Eveli said, "But I should warn you about adventuring with Varanis.

An icy pit formed in her stomach, driving out all the roiling. "Warn me?"

"I've personally helped her infiltrate at least three strongholds that armies couldn't break, and watched her slaughter her way through countless orcs and reachmen, including the orc King Kurog. The killing we did in Ne Salas? That's a normal day for her. If you aren't comfortable with that, you might want to think twice before you accompany her."

"I didn't do this much fighting before I met her." Mirri admitted. "There were always other Fighters Guild members around to do the killing." On the other hand, it wasn't Varanis' fault she'd been fighting cultists in the doomvault without backup.

"Just think about it." Eveli said, finishing her "tea." "And don't be afraid to call it quits with her for a awhile if you need a break. That's what I did after Orsinium."

............................................

Eveli led the way down the Riften docks to her employer's house. "Emperor Leovic, the Four Ambitions, a mysterious book that makes my head hurt, and secretive Farrul Lupus the old Emperor's steward! What could go wrong?"

"Don't say it." Varanis warned.

"Help! Help me!" Farrul Lupus shouted through the locked door.

"Let me get it," Mirri quickly lockpicked the door open, and they shoved their way into the wreckage of a ransacked room.

"Well, I don't think I'm getting paid." Eveli said, spotting Lupus' body at the foot of his bed.

Mirri saw the paper nailed to his chest with a dagger and turned ashen. "The Dark Brotherhood. Vivec spare us!"

In a flash of flame, Lyranth appeared. "Smells like blood." She remarked. "Of course, it usually does around Varanis."

"This time, I didn't kill him." Varanis said. "And since our best lead is dead, I hope you've got something for us."

"Fancy returning to the Imperial City?"

.........................................

The Imperial Sewers were huge, easily able to hold a secret vault now colonized by the Dagonist Cult of the Waking Flame. "That's a really imposing statue of Dagon." Mirri said. Mehrunes Dagon, Prince of Change and Destruction appeared to clamber over huge rock pillars.

"And that's a really fiery Oblivion Gate!" Eveli exclaimed. "I'm no cracked acorn, ladies. It seems like a really bad idea to jump right on through."

Varanis shrugged.

"I'm afraid to ask how many Oblivion Gates you've been through." Mirri said.

"At least four. The worst was when a bunch of drunken Undaunted went to go rescue a Wood Elf from Valkyn Skoria, got stuck, and me and some friends had to go haul them out."

....................................

"Sweet Nirn, a breath of fresh air!" Mirri exclaimed as they fled the Deadlands into the wilds of Valenwood. After the sulfurous fumes and scalding air, the clean woodland scents settled her despite the portal travel. Or maybe she was getting used to it?

"Tell me everything!" Lyranth demanded.

"Shall I brag about killing the flaming titan-dragon-thing or do you want to?" Mirri asked Varanis.

"Oh, you go ahead." Varanis chuckled. "Lyranth, apparently Leovic's grandfather made a deal with Mehrunes Dagon. Which might be slightly better than a deal with Clavicus Vile, but not by much, I'm sure."

"At least those weapons- the Four Ambitions - aren't ready yet." Eveli interjected. "I never thought much of wanna-be Emperor Varen, but maybe I owe him a vote of thanks!"

"You owe him both more and less than you think." Varanis murmured, then cleared her throat. "Ah, the Doombringer of the Waking Flame tried to finish off the bargain with Mehrunes Dagon, but we killed him."

Mirri added, "We found a list of people who might know more about the Four Ambitions."

"Then go find them." Lyranth said, and vanished.

"Not even so much as a thank you?" Mirri said.

"She's really not one for mortal politeness." Varanis said. "She played straight with us, and for Daedra, that's a high compliment."

Eveli said, "I can't believe I'm agreeing with the scary daedra lady, but we've got to warn the people on that list that the Dark Brotherhood is hunting them. Also, I hate to say it, but I think maybe I've been dreaming of the Deadlands recently. Dunno what it means though."

Mirri examined the list. "Lots of these folks are in the Blackwood region. I'd been working there when I met Varanis."

"Perfect!"

...........................................

At the Outside Inn, in Elden Root, not far from Beragon's camp, Varanis brought over a jug of wine stamped with a golden eagle to split with Mirri. "I'm told the High Elf embassy imported this specially for Prince Naemon before he died and has been quietly selling it off since. So it's either really good...or really bad."

Mirri took a cup. It would have been good, if it weren't so sweet. "Naemon liked dessert wines, I take it."

"I wouldn't know. We, ah, weren't exactly drinking buddies." Varanis paused. "How are you doing? Still feel like tackling daedric cults with me?"

"It's not exactly like how I imagined it would be." Mirri admitted. "There's a lot of killing." Actually, now that she'd had a moment to catch her breath, she found herself wondering over Eveli's well-meant warning. Did she really have what it took to follow the same Vestige who'd invaded Coldharbor and personally told Molag Bal to stick his Dark Anchors back where the sun didn't shine into another adventure to save the world?

On the other hand, if she went home to her family, the Four Ambitions were still out there, waiting for someone to claim them. They'd made a real difference by defeating the Doombringer, but more Dagon worshippers were out there ready to try and rain disasters upon all of Nirn.

"I'm a good fighter," Mirri said, "and I'll get better. I want to help save the world."

"I hope we don't have to," Varanis said gravely, then offered a silent toast that Mirri matched. "But if we do, here's to good company!"

.....................................

Outakes

1. "Wow, Shadowfen is bustling!" Mirri exclaims as they arrive at the imposing ayleid Shrine of the Black Maw "It's like being at a family reunion, except that we don't live in a swamp."

"Yeah, it's the latest fad for perfecting one's combat technique. Drink all the water. Pick all the nirnroot. Wade in the river. For hours. Personally, I think the real fighting techniques come from arguing in zone chat over who owns which spot!"


2. "I'm afraid to ask how many Oblivion Gates you've been through." Mirri said.

"You know how Eveli is having weird dreams she doesn't understand? I'm getting the weirdest sense of deja vu about something called TES IV and I don't know why."

VaranisArano

"A Deadly Secret" Part 1

"Some of the folks on this list are pretty highly ranked," Mirri said as she and Varanis approached the main gate of Leyawiin. "They may not want to see us. Do we just announce that you're the Vestige, come with a dire warning?"

Varanis eyed the small group of finely dressed ladies arguing with a blond captain of the Ivory Brigade just outside the gate. "You'd be surprised at how few times people listen to my dire warnings."

"Captain Liore, Councilor Jirich doesn't miss her meetings, sir."

"If the councilor can be found, we will find her."

Varanis glanced at Mirri.

Mirri looked down at the decoded journal of Emperor Leovic. "She's on the list."

"You, there!" The captain pointed to them. "Eveli Sharp-Arrow said her associates were coming along soon. Councilor Lovidicus already charged her to investigate and help protect the councilors. Help us find the Councilor, and there'll be a nice reward for her safety."

"We'd do it for free." Varanis assured the man, and handed over her journal for him to sketch a quick freehand map of the councilor's routine.

As they rode off towards the river, Mirri said, "I guess we could've just announced you were the Vestige after all."

"It's really, really, nice to meet reasonable authority figures for a change!"

....................................

As soon as she read Farrul Lupus' letter by the scattered remains of the Councilor's picnic luncheon, dread fell over Mirri like a wet woolen blanket.

"The assassins must have found their targets by watching who Farrul Lupus contacted. Fetcher!"

Down in the cave, Varanis commented over Jirich's letter, "She made herself a target by sourcing vaults for Emperor Moricar. A woman who hides another man's secret treasures ought to be prepared for the risk."

"Councilor?" A woman shouted, running down the sandy slope into the cave. Her sandal slipped, her feet flew out from under her, and she slid all the way down to the floor on her bottom.

"Oh!" Mirri rushed to help her up. The woman took her hand, holding back tears. "Are you hurt?"

"No, just a few scrapes and my dignity." The woman looked between her and Varanis, who had not moved except to put her hand on her mace. "I'm Milona Hanus. You aren't the Councilor."

"No," Varanis said, pleasantly enough, though Mirri knew her well enough to see that she was on very high alert. "What's it to you?"

"Oh, I'm was looking for her! I'm her aide. If she's not here, she must be by the Eastern Gate!"

"Then lead the way." Varanis directed.

"Oh, I couldn't. I've got to get back to the city. Please, find her, you must!"

"Right." Varanis strode out of the cave without looking back at Milona. "Come on!" She barked, when Mirri didn't immediately rush after her.

Mirri scrambled up the slope. "What's gotten into you? Why so rude?"

Varanis mounted her flaming panther. "Word of advice. Don't trust anyone new. Especially when they're delaying you from finding an assassin's target!"

.................................

They pounded across the bridge towards the Eastern Gate when Varanis sawed on the reins. Her panther peeled off to the right, crouched on the lip of the bridge for a moment, then sprang off the side. It vanished in a plume of steam the second it touched the water, but Varanis was already sprint-splashing to the water's edge where a purple-robed woman slumped at the base of a broken Argonian monolith. She crouched at the woman's side, yanking a potion from her belt.

Rather than subject her comparatively unmagical horse to a crippling fall, Mirri took the long way around. By the time she got there, Eveli was splashing through the bog towards then. Varanis stepped back from the Councilor, shaking her head. "The assassin got her first." She said. "Unfortunately, she didn't say anything we didn't already know. Like Farrul Lupus, the assassin left the Black Hand calling card."

"The other councilors are at risk!" Eveli said. "We've got to warn them."

Varanis made a complicated gesture and her flaming panther sprang into being once more. "There's no time to waste then."

..............................

"Where's the Councilor?!" Varanis demanded of the woman sitting outside the Sophus house.

"My husband wasn't expecting visitors..." she protested.

"He's probably not expecting an assassin either," Varanis snapped. "If he got a letter from Farrul Lupus, he's a target."

The woman went pale. "Zenithar preserve us! He's walking our dog along the treeline. Oh, I think I hear Chaero barking!"

"Mirri, stay and protect her!" Then Varanis ran off towards the trees.

The woman buried her face in her hands. "Oh, Velan! He wasn't the same after he read that letter, but he didn't tell me anything. He never wants to burden me."

If her woolen blanket sense of dread was right, then Councilor Velan Sophus was dead, and the assassin gone, hopefully with some nasty dog bites. Varanis would return, angrier than before; she was ill-suited to comfort a grieving widow.

Mirri dug in her pocket for a handkerchief. It was a little grubby, but Sera Sophus didn't care as she began sobbing loudly into it. "Sera, let me make you some tea," Mirri said, gently taking the woman by the elbow and leading her inside. "Then I'll escort you back to Leyawiin where the Ivory Brigade can better protect you."

.................................

"We'll keep Lunia Sophus safe," Captain Rian Liore assured Mirri. "Eveli is searching Councilor Jirich's papers. Why don't you go help her?"

Councilor Jirich had a huge townhouse. Eveli looked up from a bookcase with a despairing expression. "There's so many books! How am I supposed to figure out what's important?"

Her fingers itched. "I'm really good at finding secret compartments. Comes with trying to hide my stuff from loads of younger siblings. Let me see what I can find."

Varanis arrived by the time she'd found and jimmied open the extra panel in the Councilor's nightstand. "Well done, Mirri," Varanis said, seeming a little more at ease. "I've got good news for once. Councilor Faleria is still alive and her Ivory Brigade guards are taking the threat seriously."

Mirri read the note inside. "Jirich knew the Ambitions' caretakers. She hid the Ambitions in the vaults she made. She knew everything. Now she's dead. Damn it!"

..................................

Councilor Lovidicus listened to Eveli's report with a deep frown. "Unfortunately, I have no idea about the Four Ambitions or any other of Leovic's secrets. He knew I'd refuse to go along with anything illegal or daedric."

"Mmmm, sure." Varanis said.

Mirri elbowed her in the side, right in the gap between her cuirass plates. "Be nice."

Eveli snickered. "Okay, I like you."

Varanis ignored them and spoke to the Councilor, "No offense, but you didn't exactly join forces with Duke Varen when he rebelled after Leovic declared daedra worship the law of the land."

"Of course not." Lovidicus said, with a straight face. "Rebellion is very illegal. There I was, between a rock and a hard place. Varen didn't hold a grudge. Perhaps his Vestige won't either, and will instead go persuade Councilor Abor that she should return to the city at once for her own protection."

"I do love working with reasonable authority figures. We'll get it done."

..............................

"By the way," Mirri said, as they climbed up to Councilor Abor's room in the watchtower of Fort Blueblood, "I met Milona Hanus in Councilor Jirich's house. She is the Councilor's aide and was most distraught to hear the bad news."

"Is that so?" Varanis said. "Good thinking on your part to double check that."

"I also apologized on your behalf for your appalling rudeness."

Eveli snickered.

Varanis paused a little too long on the next step. "Thank you, Mirri."

It sounded....sincere. But any doubts were driven straight out of her mind when they found Councilor Abor murdered, blood splashed high on the walls, and yet another Black Hand note stabbed into her chest. There was a faint smell of smoke in the air.

Eveli knelt at the fireplace. "Someone was burning papers. There's nothing legible left."

A journal lay out in the open, written in a precise hand, in contrast to the ragged edges where someone had ripped out several pages. Mirri scanned the remainder. "What a fetching fool! Can you believe she wrote down the locations of the Four Ambitions, just so her murderer could take the pages?"

"Or the servant took them." Varanis suggested. " Or the assassin disguised as the servant took them. Or the servant was the assassin."

"You know," Mirri said, "for all that you trust the daedra Lyranth, you're the most paranoid person I've ever met. No wonder no one listens to your dire warnings. Come to think of it, why did you trust me at first glance?"

"Most of the people who end up betraying me later aren't also the sort of people leading suicidal rescue missions fighting cultists to save people they could've easily abandoned to the terrible fate they'd only barely escaped themselves. You impressed me."

Despite herself, Mirri's cheeks grew hot.

"Aww," Eveli said. "Look, I hate to break up the sweet moment, but we've got to find Abor's servant girl before the assassin cleans up loose ends."

................................

"Damn it, they murdered her too!" Eveli snarled, no trace of cheerfulness left. "She's stone cold. I bet the assassin did disguise herself as the servant to lower the Councilor's guards." She nodded to Varanis. "You were right about that."

"One out of three guesses isn't great, but I'll take it." Varanis rubbed her nose in thought. "Something about this isn't right. Oh, the Dark Brotherhood are killers, but they don't leave the Black Hand on every single kill. Only the important ones where they have a contract."

"What would you know about the finer ethics of a super-secretive assassins' guild?" Eveli asked. She stared at Varanis for a very long moment. "Tell me you aren't a member of the Dark Brotherhood." She was deadly serious.

"Of course not!" Mirri said.

"Shut up, Mirri." Varanis said, in the sort of voice that reminded her that this woman had commanded soldiers on the battlefields of Cyrodiil. "There's a lot you don't know about me."

Her throat closed up. Surely, Varanis, the heroic Vestige, wasn't...

Varanis turned back to Eveli. "That would be awkward, seeing as how the Morag Tong are professional rivals to the Brotherhood."

Just like that, she could breathe again. "B'vehk, you scared me!"

Eveli scowled. "How is the Morag Tong any better?"

"You aren't a Dunmer." Mirri said. "Well, obviously. But the Morag Tong are the legal assassins guild in Morrowind and they worship the Anticipation of Vivec, the Daedric Prince Mephala. While they were practically all hunted down after they killed the Potentate, they've been rebuilding their order and Tribune Vivec himself legitimized their guild when he hired Naryu Virian to kill the former treacherous head of the Morag Tong. Naryu's sort of a folk hero now in Morrowind. She never kills without a perfectly legal contract."

"You kill people for a contract?" Eveli demanded of Varanis. "Legally?!"

"I'm not a member of the Morag Tong. Mephala wouldn't have me, even if I wanted to." Varanis said. "I have assisted Naryu Virian on some of her contracts where I thought it best, and have thus far not regretted it."

"So you're one step removed from a legal contract assassin."

"If you see it that way. It's not so much different from normal adventuring, frankly."

Eveli pressed her hand to her face. "Urgh."

"Think what you want." Varanis turned to leave.

Eveli was swaying. Mirri asked, "Are you alright?" and reached out to steady her.

Eveli clutched Mirri's elbow, leaning on her. "Oh! That was horrible! Like one of my dreams, but more like a waking premonition. A cloaked cultist. All I sensed was...overwhelming evil."

"Do you need to lie down?" Varanis asked.

"No." Eveli said, pulling herself together and pulling away from Mirri. "Don't think we've finished this conversation, Varanis. We will discuss it again when I'm ready." She stalked out of the pantry, slamming the wooden door behind her.

.................................

They ate their meal with the rest of the soldiers, though there was a wide berth around their table and Eveli was giving them the cold shoulder. It made for a very awkward silence, and finally Mirri couldn't contain her curiosity any longer.

"What was it like working with Naryu Virian?"

Varanis speared a piece of fish, then set her fork down, making eye contact instead. "I'm sorry, Mirri. I owe you an apology. I've been beastly as an adventuring partner today, and I will try to do better."

That was certainly sincere. "Thanks. I'll hold you to that."

"Please do. As for Naryu, she asks me for help when she needs to prevent an assassination. She helped me save King Jorunn's life. Then I helped her stop her apprentice who'd gone rogue and was trying to kill House Redoran's councilors. I've been saving innocent lives, not taking them."

Eveli stood up and moved to another table, taking her plate with her.

Varanis looked down and slowly ate her piece of fish.

Keenly aware that she'd brought up the offending subject, Mirri muttered, "Sorry."

"Don't be. After what I said, you have the right to know. And Eveli has the right to be angry. Some acquaintances of ours in Orsinium were killed by Kurog's Vosh Rakh assassins. She took High Priestess Solgra's death pretty hard."

"Eveli said she took a break after your adventures in Orsinium."

"Adventuring is a rough life."

Looking at the frown lines permanently etched in Varanis' forehead, and thinking over her abrupt, almost paranoid behavior seeing threats everywhere, judging everyone new as a potential traitor, and the hyper focus on the task at hand instead of taking a moment to soften her approach for the bereaved...yes, Mirri agreed that the years of adventuring had been hard on Varanis.

Deliberately taking a lighter tone, she said, "Well, it's been a little easier for me at the Fighters Guild. Did I tell you about what I did the first time I joined the Mournhold Guild?"




*Part 2 to follow, because this was way too long of a quest for one session.*

.........................

Outakes:

1. Mirri and Eveli looked at Jirich's nightstand with its letter in the secret compartment. Then Mirri felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Problem, sera?"

"No, sorry." Varanis said.

Then Eveli asked, "Can I help you?"

"Nope."

Again, the tap on the shoulder. "Problem, sera?"

"Can you two please move over? Your hitboxes are messing with my interact prompt. Lydia would be proud."


2. Standing in the pantry over the dead body of the servant, Varanis said, "Eveli, I have to tell you the truth. I'm a member of the Dark Brotherhood."

"What?! How could you?"

"Look, they offered me this sweet riding passive that prevents me from getting stuck in combat with every wolf in Cyrodiil. It was an offer I couldn't refuse!"


3. Standing in the pantry over the dead body of the servant, Varanis said, "Eveli, I have to tell you the truth. No, literally, the writers didn't give me any other options but to volunteer that I'm a member of the Dark Brotherhood."


Alternate Universe featuring my breton Silencer, Maria Montclair. She's pretty dark, but the coincidences of the quest begged for this to be written from the perspective of an assassin who will murder NPCs for the trinkets in their pockets or for looking at her funny.

Standing in the pantry over the dead body of the servant, Maria said, "Eveli, I have to tell you the truth. I'm a member of the Dark Brotherhood."

"What? You've been protecting your murdering friends!"

"No, Eveli, it's worse than that. You sent me to go "defend" the Councilors. They trusted me. They let their guard down. I hunted down Jirich in the swamp. I killed Sophus while he was walking his dog. Faleria and her bodyguards are dead because of you. And thanks to you, Lovidicus trusts me."

"I'll shoot you dead and drag your body back to Leyawiin behind me!"

"I'm sorry, Eveli, but Molag Bal couldn't kill me, you know you won't be able to kill me permanently either."

"Mirri will help me, right?!"

"Ha ha, no. You're worth about as much rapport as a torchbug. I'll make it up to her with some wine later, isn't that right, Mirri?"

Mirri sighed. "Make it the good stuff, and you have a deal."

geonsocal

bookmarked

thanks for sharing your stories...

VaranisArano

"A Deadly Secret" Part 2

Gideon was a smaller city than Leyawiin, both in population and the size of its walls, which were slowly sinking into the swamp. The Black Fin Legionaires patrolling the soggy streets must feel right at home. Though they'd already been attacked, Councilor Vandacia and Governor Keshu the Black Fin were alive, unharmed, and taking prisoners.

Varanis bowed to Keshu after introductions. "I don't believe we've met, but the Pact owes you our thanks. I served in Cyrodiil with several of the Argonian soldiers from your campaigns. They spoke highly of you, very highly indeed."

Keshu eyed her with scant favor. "Don't fawn on me, Dunmer. If really you want to help, see to it that the Chamber of Legates actually gives me the information I need to safeguard the Elder Council against this new threat in a timely fashion instead of waiting until its nearly too late."

"We've been trying to keep them safe!" Mirri protested.

"So is Governor Keshu," Varanis said.

After a scuffle broke out downstairs, and she and Mirri found themselves tracking a trail of acid and wounded legionnaires, she added, "All too often, I've met fellow Dunmer who take the help the Argonians offer and give nothing back. Even Pact officers who ought to know better."

Chagrined, Mirri asked, "Should I apologize?"

Varanis shook her head. "Our actions will have to speak for us."

.....................

At the door to the ayleid Twyllbek Ruins, Mirri stopped. "Look, maybe we should get some backup? I'd rather not spend my afterlife in the Void because we got knifed in the back."

Varanis looked back to the wounded legionnaire who'd been guarding the ruin door when the assassin ran inside. The Argonian saluted her with the potion bottle they'd gifted him. "I won't be much help," he admitted.

"I think we are the backup, Mirri."

..........................

Deep inside, they found the assassin's camp and a discarded letter from the Dark Brotherhood's Matron detailing their plans to start a new Sanctuary in Blackwood.

"Maybe it's just really that obvious. The Dark Brotherhood is behind it." Mirri suggested.

"We're more subtle that that." A dunmer man who's armor bore the mark of the Black Hand strolled into view, well protected from pursuit behind a heavy iron grate. "Unlike the two of you. If this was an ambush, you'd be dead."

"I can breathe fire right through those bars." Varanis warned him.

"And I can throw acid at you if you really want to push your luck," he retorted. "Look, I know your reputation, Vestige. Death itself spat you back out. There's no point in risking you chasing me across Tamriel looking for revenge after I melt your face off." He continued, "I'm here on other business, not a contract for the Councilors. Anyone can dip their hand in black ink and leave a note."

"If not you, then who?" Mirri asked, backing up to what she judged was a safe distance from any acid that might splash in her direction. "The Morag Tong is sticking to Pact territory while they rebuild."

"If you fine ladies find out, perhaps you'll will let me know? I'd love to - ah - have a chat with them."

"I don't think our other friend would approve." Varanis said.

"Ah, now, what the little wood elf doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Don't you dare hurt Eveli!" Mirri exclaimed, reaching for her bow.

The assassin hefted a bottle filled with bright green acid as a warning. "Don't be surprised if sticking her nose into everything lands us a contract with her name on it some day. Come to think of it, you ought to watch where you stick your nose too, Mirri Elendis."

Varanis stepped between them and held up the Matron's letter. "Rather than threatening my friends, how about you leave Blackwood peacefully with your Sanctuary now, before I hand this over to Keshu the Black Fin? If not, perhaps I'll go wipe out your Sanctuary myself. Unless you think you can race me back to Bloodrun Cave?"

He glared at her. "Using the wayshrines is cheating vs the likes of us mere mortals, Vestige." Then he spun around and ran deeper into the ruins, vanishing from sight.

...........................


Back in Leyawiin, the Elder Council, the Legates, and Eveli met to discuss their future plans. Eveli and Councilor Vandacia were a united front on one matter: "The Dark Brotherhood must be burned out of Blackwood, root and tree!" Eveli declared.

When Lovidicus wavered, Vandacia insisted, "We know they're in Bloodrun Cave. What are we waiting for?"

"I'm not against killing the assassins," Varanis said. "But-"

"That'd better be a pretty good "but." Eveli snapped.

Mirri interjected, "But the Dark Brotherhood assassin we cornered said they weren't killing the councilors! It's a frame job. Someone else is responsible for the killing!"

That sent the others into a frenzy of whispering amongst themselves. Lovidicus rested his chin on his hand. "We still know nothing about what any of this has to do with Leovic or the Four Ambitions."

"We've got a Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in our backyard, waiting to murder us in our beds. I'd say that's a more pressing matter." Vandacia said.

"We will go deal with them." Eveli said, staring coldly at Varanis. "Your friend Naryu would like that."

Mirri warned her, "The assassin knows we found the letter. If they haven't fled, they'll be expecting us. Its an ambush."

"You can stay home if you want. Unlike Varanis, I don't expect you to eat cults of assassins for breakfast."

Varanis pursed her lips. "I'll have you know I don't follow your Meat Mandate, Eveli. But yes, we'll go eat a cult for breakfast, figuratively speaking. Mirri, you're welcome to come along or stay behind, as you like."

Out of Xigira's frying pan and into Sithis' fire? Mirri took her afterlife in both hands. "Few Daedrologists get to see a Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary and live to tell about it. How could I pass this up?"

..........................

At Leyawiin's Kaladas Inn, Mirri fiddled with the dark glass bottle of Argonian Bloodwine over dinner. "Its a splurge, I know, but I figured I'd drink some of the good stuff before I see a Sanctuary to Sithis firsthand." If she thought too hard about the upcoming fight or how the assassin sounded when he threatened to take a contract on her, her knees got a little weak.

"Don't get in the habit of looking for courage in a bottle." Varanis said.

Well, of course the legendary Vestige didn't have that vice. "I'm not a drunk. I'm an oenophile. I just like the taste of wine." Mirri said, defensively.

"Yeah, and Numyn the Undaunted just likes the taste of ale before, after, and sometimes during battle." Varanis said, skeptically. "Look, I know adventuring and drinking at the tavern afterward go together, but seriously, do yourself a favor and save the drinking for afterward."

After a long pause, Mirri admitted, "I'm scared. My family isn't perfect, but I've always expected that when I die, I'll be with my ancestors, guiding and guarding future generations of my family from harm. Sithis' Void is nothing like that."

"This isn't much of a comfort, but from what I've seen, it's harder than you'd think to keep a strong-willed soul trapped forever in an afterlife they didn't choose. Whatever else, Mirri, you don't lack for a strong will. Nor for an ally who'd come looking for you."

Her vision misted, and she hastily pinched away tears. "You really weren't kidding when you said suicidal rescue missions were your thing, were you?"

"Nope. If Sithis is smart, he'll tell his Might Mother to tell all their scary little children that he really doesn't want to give me a reason to pencil in a visit to the Void right before we haul Darien Gaultier out of Meridia's Colored Rooms. I'll find a way."

Once she felt she had her composure back, Mirri flagged down the bartender and passed him the bottle of bloodwine. "Save this for when we get back, please."

Varanis' smile seemed to shed a decade from her lined face. "Thanks, Mirri. I'll make sure you get back here to enjoy it, no matter what happens."


...................................

Outake:

Back in Leyawiin, the Elder Council, the Legates, and Eveli met to discuss their future plans. Varanis put her hands on her hips. "Does anyone else feel like, despite all that running around, we didn't learn anything new? Doing this quest was a colossal waste of time after I did the Prologue."

"Well," Eveli said, "I learned something new; you're a Dark Brotherhood assassin."

"She's a what?" exclaimed the Councilors. A mad scramble ensued as they ran for the exits, leaving Varanis and Eveli alone, glaring at each other.

"Can't you be a little more discreet?" Varanis complained.

"I did warn you we'd discuss this later."

VaranisArano

"Giving up the Ghost"

A ways out from Leyawiin, a piece of paper nailed to a tree truck along the road caught Varanis' eye. "A phantasmal discovery awaits? Arcane ayleid archaeology? Let's divert up to the ruins of Veyond and see what this scholar Revus fellow is doing."

"Aren't we supposed to meet Eveli at Bloodrun Cave?" Mirri asked.

"I'm not convinced the Brotherhood has anything to do with the murders. Now that they know we're onto their location, I think they'll cut their losses and run back to the Gold Coast."

"Or take the evidence and run." Mirri said. "It's a bit strange, being the more paranoid of the two of us."

"That's a fair point." Varanis said. "I suppose I've seen so research studies in ancient ruins go horribly wrong that my priorities might be a bit skewed. Tell you what - let's see what's going on, and then you decide."

...........................

Veyond was a considerably bigger Ayleid ruin than Ne Salas, but it had much the same look of white stone, iron grates, and blue light from glowing crystals. Revus's tiny camp nestled inside the arms of the two outer walls.

Revus was a well-dressed, fussy Dunmer man, who flagged them down immediately. He explained, "Our situation is quite desperate. House Telvanni is funding a test of my latest invention: the Phantasmal Censer. It will safeguard us from all sorts of ghosts and spectral beings."

"Sounds useful, in theory," Varanis said. "I do fight lots of ghosts."

His student, Tiras Tirethi, wore Telvanni armor fine enough that it would cost a year of Mirri's loot to buy, with an aristocratic air to match. "I could run the experiment myself, if I thought it would work."

"If it won't work, why post notices asking for help?" Mirri asked him.

He looked down his long thin nose at her, as if she were about two feet tall instead of nearly his height. "Our assistants and porters came down with food poisoning. I'm not about to fetch and carry while Revus tests his theories."

Varanis looked over the towering arches of the ruin. "We're a long way from Vvardenfell. Why not test it closer to home?"

"Well," Revus explained, "It's not like I can go down to the family crypt and tell my aunt Sernsi to shut up about the color of her urn."

"Right. If your lantern works, I can find a use for it." Varanis turned to Mirri. "But as you said, we are in the middle of an important mission for the Ivory Brigade. Its your decision whether we stay or move on."

"We're in the middle of an important mission for the Telvanni Council." Revus said, wringing his hands.

"We're wasting our time testing it at all," Tiras said, folding his arms. "These mercenaries aren't going to be of much help."

It was petty of her, undeniably petty, to want to stay here and prove Tiras Tirethi wrong. She probably ought to push on to meet up with Eveli by Bloodrun Cave, face her fears, and fight the Dark Brotherhood. But Revus looked so hopeful, and when she thought about what it must be like as Tiras' teacher day in, day out...

"We should help them." She said.

Varanis nodded, and offered her hand to Revus. As they shook on it, Tiras muttered, "By Vehk, this better not be another disaster."

.........................

While Varanis gathered supplies to paint Revus' safeguarding runes, Tiras lounged back, clearly not one to get his hands dirty. "Come to think of it, Revus, a crumbling ruin is great place for your final experiment with House Telvanni." He said.

Mirri favored him with the sort of look that usually cowed her younger siblings. "Final? Since when does his apprentice have the rank to decide that?"

"My talents destine me to be on the Telvanni Council one day, unlike you, little mercenary. When I ascend, weeding out hedge mages like Revus will be my first priority. Assuming he doesn't get exiled first after one more failure in a litany of a life of failure."

Instead of punching him in his eminently punchable face, Mirri grabbed a paintbrush and stormed away to join Varanis further in the ruin. As they dabbed the wall with gritty soul gem-infused paint, Mirri muttered, "I hate how smug the Great House scions get!"

Then, suddenly aware that might've been quite the faux pas, "Er, unless you are...well, you aren't smug at all. You're generally quite agreeable!"

Varanis laughed, the sound ringing through the underground chamber. Back in his corner, Mirri saw Tiras look over, shake his head, and turn his back to them.

"Oh, no," Varanis said, still chuckling. "I'm no noble's child. My father is a Redoran farmer, who about died of shame when he found out that I'd insulted House Indoril's Grandmaster over the Stonefalls crisis. Well-behaved daughters of minor Redoran clans just don't do that, you know?"

"My father's a minor Hlaalu merchant, but he probably wouldn't approve either. Mother, though, she wouldn't give Tiras the time of day if he was snotty to her!"

Varanis chuckled. "You'll find a balance that works for you. Back in Stonefalls, I was proved right in the end, but not before Tanval Indoril almost unleashed a second Brother of Strife on the region. Sometimes I find it's better to keep my mouth shut and cooperate with the jerks, whether I want to or not. Now if only I can remember that around Lovidicus and the other councilors!"

............................

"What? Why isn't it working?" Revus buried his face in his hand rather than keep messing with his malfunctioning array of Welkynd Crystals. "Ugh. I must have missed something inside the ruin that's interfering with my spell. Or maybe Tiras is right and this is all a waste of time."

Tiras snorted. "It IS a waste of time."

Mirri glared at him. He sneered back.

"The Telvanni Council cares about it," Revus told Tiras. "So you should too."

"What's more," Varanis added, "there are ruins filled with unique ghosts and spirits throughout Tamriel. Perhaps the Council doesn't care about safeguarding commoners for free, but this Phantasmal Censer might be quite useful for future research expeditions. There are still Dwemer ghosts in Vvardenfell, after all."

"Fine. But I'll be the one to do any further work," Tiras grumbled. "Revus would only make a mess of it - more of a mess of it than he already has."

.....................

Varanis, Mirri, and Tiras headed deeper into the ruins looking for the source of interference, but at the first fight against some skeleton guards, Tiras hung back guarding himself with an Alteration shield.

Afterward, Mirri remarked, "For a Telvanni protégé, you aren't as useful as I expected."

"I assumed that you were a combat-ready mercenary."

When they entered a cave section, the smell of rotten meat hit them full force. Tiras retched up his lunch against a wall. Mirri firmly told her own rebellious urge to gag that she'd get used to the smell.

"A troll," Varanis said.

"Keep that brute away from me," Tiras gasped.

"What sort of Telvanni protégé can't handle a simple troll?" Mirri asked. "Don't worry, Tiras. Varanis and I will handle it, since you can't."

One dead troll later, they pushed through the cave into another section of the Ayleid ruin. "Finally, no more mucking about in the dirt like a clumsy saltrice farmer!" Tiras said.

"My father," Varanis noted, "was a saltrice farmer." When he looked at her, alarmed, she smiled back serenely. "You can lead the way if you want, oh future Telvanni Councilman. But then you have to fight the spirits too."

"Er, no, you can lead."

Mirri coughed into her hand, "Coward."

After that, he stuck behind them, only coming out to drain the clouded welkynd stones in an admittedly impressive display of power.

"See, you can make yourself useful!" Mirri remarked, with false cheer. "You keep it up and you might just grow on me."

Then the golden Ayleid Spirit materialized on the central plinth. "Intruders?" She drew her greatsword.

Revus rushed in carrying his lantern. It glowed with a certain phantasmal light. "Stay back! The lantern will drive it off!"

Tiras shot him a look of pure contempt. As the spirit approached him, he screamed "Get back!" A banishing spell flickered between his fingers.

"Tiras, don't; let me handle it!" Revus cried, running forward with the light.

The moment the light touched Tiras' spell, he and the Spirit were snuffed out like a candle flame. Revus dropped the lantern, which rolled across the floor sending crazy shadows everywhere.

Just like that, he was gone. Once the shock passed, it was replaced by guilt, much like when she and Liam's squabbles had broken an heirloom vase. Some things happened so quick and could not be repaired. "I didn't like him, but he didn't deserve to die," Mirri whispered.

"He's dead!" Revus exclaimed. "Oh, I'm a pox on the Telvanni!"

Varanis picked up the censer. "Well, at least you have results to tell your House."

Revus glared.

"Now is maybe not the time for black humor." Mirri said, guilt making a pit in her stomach.

"Right. Sorry, Revus."

Then Mirri heard it - Tiras's voice saying, "What's happening to me?"

"Er, did you hear that?"

Varanis shook her head. "Hear what?"

"B'vehk, please don't tell me that Tiras is haunting me!"

"You can hear him?" Varanis handed over the lantern.

Revus pleaded, "Use the lantern. Maybe we can find him."

She'd never expected her second suicidal rescue mission to be rescuing a stuck-up son of House Telvanni from his own hubris. Then again, perhaps this was want adventuring was all about, stumbling from rescue to rescue. She held the lantern up, "Alright, if I were Tiras, where would I go?"

......................

The first time she saw Tiras' soul hunched over, tortured by more clouded welkynd stones, Mirri's grudge vanished.

The second and then third time, she tried to comfort him. "We'll get you out, Tiras. Stay strong!"

He screamed back, but with so much fear and desperation she couldn't tell if he could hear her in return.

In the end, when she led Varanis and Revus to the magicka well that was drinking down Tiras' soul like a glass of wine, she prayed "Ayem, have mercy" as she raised the lantern high and Revus cast his spell.

Tiras, alive and corporeal, fell down on the well.

She offered him a hand up. He didn't take it, but his semi-permanent sneer vanished as though it'd never been. "No one's ever looked out for me before. I'm sorry."

She offered him her hand again. This time he took it and let her haul him upright. "I'm sorry, Master Revus. I panicked and interfered with your work. I knew better. You could have run, all of you. You chose to save me instead. You'll receive accolades a plenty when I inform the magisters."

"I was expecting you to strangle me or something," Revus admitted. "But I won't say no to thanks instead."

Tiras bowed to Mirri. "I owe you a favor. And the favor of a Tirethi is a powerful thing, especially from one who'll become a magister."

A favor? That might come in handy in the future. It never hurt to have connections in the Great Houses.

To Varanis, he said, "I apologize for my slight to your family."

Varanis waved it off, "I'm hardly offended - even Lord Vivec did his share of mucking around in the saltrice paddies."

Mirri couldn't hold back a snicker as Tiras looked paralyzed at the thought of insulting a Tribune. Then Varanis added, "As a future Magister, if you will accept the advice of a mercenary, you should pay Revus more respect as your Master. When faced with the slightest peril, you panicked. He kept a level head. You have much to learn from him."

He bowed his head. "Any other Telvanni would've left me to die. I would have done the same. You're right, I do have much to learn from Master Revus before I'm fit to lead my house on the Council."

"I'm sure you'll manage."

As Mirri saddled up her horse to leave, Tiras came over. "Thank you, again, for saving me. I'll do my best to live up to deserving your efforts." He glanced back at where Revus was counting out coin for Varanis. "I don't think she expects much out of me. I'm not used to that from commoners, but I deserve it."

"You know she's the Vestige, right?"

"Oh." She hadn't thought it possible for him to shrink further in on himself, but he did.

"Hey, if the Vestige who saved all of Tamriel thinks you'll manage to become a good magister some day, believe me, that's a compliment!"

He smiled back. Who would've thought snotty, snobby Tiras Tirethi actually had a pretty nice smile? "Thanks, Mirri Elendis. I won't forget this, and we Telvanni have very long memories indeed."

VaranisArano

"An Abundance of Stibbons"

To make up for lost time at Veyond, Varanis and Mirri bypassed Gideon, stopping briefly at Glenbridge to rest Mirri's horse and eat lunch. The Argonian keeper at the waystation, a male with a proud crest of salt-and-pepper feathers, took their flatbread order with a warning, "Don't go up to the local Xanmeer. Some stupid outsiders set off an ancient curse."

"Do you need any assistance?" Varanis asked.

Mirri stifled a sigh. There went any hope of making it to Hutan-Tzel by nightfall.

"It's probably for the best if you stay out of it. Our Priestess, Nisswo Somarz, already has her hands full with that hoity-toity lady explorer and her manservant."

"Then we'll keep our noses clean and be on our way," Mirri said. "Right, Varanis?"

"That'd be Lady Clarisse Laurent and her manservant Stibbons, right?" Varanis asked instead. "Tall, blonde lady. Short, balding man obeying her every whim."

The keeper scowled. "Friends of yours?"

"Not after the way I chewed her out for caring less about archeological ethics and more about personal glory back in Orsinium." Varanis admitted, then said to Mirri, "Look, I don't like Lady Laurent, but I try not to leave old friends hanging out to dry. It won't take too long for me to pull Stibbons out of his latest predicament. Why don't you stay here, eat lunch, and if I'm not back in an hour, come tell me to hurry it up."

Since they were stopping anyway, taking the time to eat a proper lunch after being in the saddle all morning sounded great. "You sure you don't need my help?" Mirri offered, hoping Varanis didn't change her mind.

"Nah, you stay. Besides, you two wouldn't get along. Lady Laurent is more courageous than Tiras was, but she's no more likely than him to get her well-manicured hands dirty."

The keeper handed over their flatbreads. At the smell of hot bread and roast chicken, Mirri's stomach rumbled. "If you aren't back in an hour, I'm eating your lunch."

................................

The water clock chimed the hour, and Varanis hadn't returned. Mirri wrapped up the second flatbread and was sticking it in her pack for later when the waystation door opened. "Oh good, I was getting worried-"

A tall, blonde Breton noblewoman stood in the doorway where she'd expected to see Varanis. Six identical balding Breton men followed the woman, slouching and drooling where they stood. The woman said, "You're Varanis' friend? I'm Lady Laurent. I need your help."

"Oh, fetch."

At the base of the xanmeer, Nisswo Somarz the Argonian high priestess, scowled as dark as an ashstorm when they approached her. "We told you to make things right, shiny-hair, and instead you passed the task off to another. Now the dry-skin sorcerer you freed has another servant more dangerous than the last. Her hands break down the seals binding him as we speak."

"Oh, fetch!"

"Normally, Varanis handles the fighting." Lady Laurent said, in a subdued voice. "I've never seen anything defeat her for long."

"The strongest wamasu in the swamp may still suffocate in quicksand," Nisswo Somarz snapped.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mirri saw a familiar figure in black, dragon-crested armor walk down the path from the xanmeer. A trail of slime dripped off her boots.

Mirri's heart rose. "She did it!" She waved. "Varanis!"

Nisswo Somarz caught her arm. She shook it off and rushed forward. "Varanis, you worried me -"

Varanis did not wave back. Instead, she announced, "Master will be free." Then she exploded into a shower of green goo.

"Oh, fetch," Mirri whispered, too shocked to do more than wipe away the goo that had once been her friend from her face.

Nisswo Somarz, Laurent, and the horde of manservants came up behind her. "If it makes you feel better," Laurent said, "it was just a duplicate. Like these Stibbonses."

"Laur-ahn!" Chorused the Stibbonses.

"You must rescue your friends from this curse," Nisswo Somarz said. "Know this: succeed or fail, Sithis will have us all in time."

"Of course we're going to rescue Varanis!" Mirri said. "We're not going to fail."

"Yes, of course." Laurant said. "Now step lively, Stibbonses."

"Stibbo coming!"

............................

Inside the Xanmeer, Mirri stared at the Argonian carvings on the walls, feeling as lost as if she were in a maze despite her brave words to Nisswo Somarz. "How do we save Varanis?"

The small horde of Stibbonses sat at Laurent's feet. "Based on my rough translation, this sorcerer, Rectavius, achieve immortality by transforming himself into "death-mud" - that is, voriplasm. Not how I would choose to spend eternity, but I detest goo. That must be how he captured Stibbons and Varanis and is making duplicates from the voriplasm. Plus, the Priestess said he needed hands to break the seals: their hands. We need to get past the locked doors and into his inner sanctum to defeat him and rescue our friends."

"I've hunted a lot of daedric relics, but never in a Xanmeer."

Laurent explained, "Much like the ancient Nords, the Argonians used simple puzzles and traps to safeguard their secrets. There'll likely be a series of counterweight puzzles for you to figure out."

"Right. For ME to figure out."

"Of course! I'm going to stay here and keep translating."

"Fetcher." Mirri muttered under her breath. Well, if Laurent wasn't going to help, how was she supposed to deal with the counterweights? Unlike Varanis, she wasn't spawning copies of herself.

She snapped her fingers as it came to her. "Stibbonses, I need your help."

As one, six heads swiveled to Lady Laurent. "Laur-ahn?"

"What? Oh. Yes, go help her, Stibbonses."

"Stibbo coming!"

......................

An hour later, Mirri limped out of the north hall. Lady Laurent pressed a healing potion on her. "You opened the way to the inner sanctum. Are you ready for a real fight?"

Mirri drank, tasting cornflower in the back of her throat and trying not to cough it back up as her broken big toe reset itself. She really shouldn't have kicked that dormant vine tongue so hard while getting a Stibbons past a water obstacle. "Yeah. How did Varanis get past the traps without duplicates?"

"She's gotten me out of several scrapes before. If she told Stibbons what to do, he'd trust her. So his duplicates trusted her too." Laurent speculated. "Or I might just be hoping the duplicates trust people they know because it'll make what comes next easier."

"Right," Mirri said, draining the last of the potion. "We have to fight Varanis and maybe if she remembers us, she'll go easy on us. Some of the Stibbonses went feral, you know."

Sighing, Laurent offered her a hand. Mirri stretched her leg and stood. "I was afraid of that. Worse, she and I argued over archeological ethics in Orsinium and then we argued again before she stormed into the Xanmeer. I'm afraid I'm unlikely to be in the good books of her duplicates. Not that it matters. I sent her into this mess and for once I'm going to get her out of it."

Mirri still didn't like Lady Laurent, but, "Varanis sure knows how to pick her friends."

"I could say the same about you. Ready?"

"Ready."

..........................................

The Xanmeer's inner sanctum was home to a giant voriplasm. It had completely engulfed Varanis; she thrashed weakly inside it, weaponless. Two duplicate Varanises knelt in front of it; Stibbons lay in a crumpled heap beside them.

"Stibbons!" Laurent rushed to him, checking for a pulse.

"You fools!" The voriplasm roared. "You cannot stop the great sorceror Rectavius. Stop them, puppet!"

The two duplicates Varanises drew their weapons. One had her mace and shield, the other her fire staff. Mirri sized them up and aimed her bow at Fire Staff. "Don't do it, Varanis. I don't want to hurt you!"

"Vara not hurt." The duplicate shrieked, erratically jabbing the fire staff in her general direction so that tiny fireballs scattered everywhere except at Mirri. "Vara not hurt!"

The other duplicate advanced on Laurent and Stibbons. "Vara smash," it snarled, swinging its mace from side to side. Mirri ran for that duplicate instead, putting herself between it and its targets.

"You can't hurt her. We're your friends," Mirri exclaimed. Then a sledgehammer of a shield slammed into her head. She saw white. Then she was flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling, as Varanis leaped impossibly high into the air and dragon wings burst from her shoulders.

She woke up as a potion bottle was forced between her lips, choking and coughing up cornflower. Laurent dropped her back onto the flagstone where she'd landed and skittered away, dodging fireballs and luring the stalking sword-and-board duplicate farther away. "You've got to free the real Varanis!" She shouted.

But how? The real Varanis hung limp inside the voriplasm. If Mirri tried to pull her out or fight the sorcerer directly, as Varanis had likely done for Stibbons, she'd get sucked in too.

Then she saw it: another dormant vine tongue behind the sorcerer. She ran to it and gave the heavy plant a mighty kick.

A starburst of eye-watering pain burst from her toes. "Fetch!" The vine tongue shook itself and lashed out, snaking its vines around the real Varanis and yanking her right out of the voriplasm to sprawl at Mirri's feet.

"No!" Rectavius shouted.

Fire Staff dropped her weapon. "Vara not hurt." she declared triumphantly. Sword & Board stood frozen like a statue, mid-swing. Then both duplicates exploded in a shower of goo.

"Nooooooo!" Rectavius moaned as he began shrinking into nothingness. Stibbons and Varanis stirred.

"Er," Mirri said, as Varanis slowly came too, "You don't happen to have more health potions, do you? I'm pretty sure I broke my toes again."

............................................

Nisswo Somarz met them outside the inner sanctum. "Well done. The curse is broken."

Stibbons glared at the trail of tiny voriplasms that had followed him. "Are you sure? They seem to think I'm their mother. How am I supposed to serve Lady Laurent like this?"

"I don't want goo in my manor." Laurent agreed.

"I have goo in places I don't want to think about," Varanis said, "in addition to nearly killing my friends. Sorry about that."

"You're right, after all this muck and mire, I could use a bath." Laurent clapped her hands. "Stibbons, see to it."

"He suffered far worse than you!" Mirri snapped. However doglike his affection for his mistress might be, he deserved better than to be treated like those pitable, drooling duplicates.

Stibbons ignored her loftily. "As you wish, my lady."

Varanis gestured for her to hold her tongue as Stibbons left and Laurent followed. "He likes it that way. There's no accounting for taste."

She added, "You did well, Mirri. Very well. I couldn't see much of the battle with, er, me, but believe it, I was cheering you on the whole time."

Mirri's face grew hot. "Er, thanks. I should've scanned the battlefield better. Then I could've gotten you out sooner."

Varanis clapped her on the shoulder. "If you had any doubts that you're a solid adventuring partner, put those to bed. You did great."

"I like to think I'm agreeable," Mirri said. Then, curious, she asked Nisswo Somarz "What happens now that the curse is gone?"

Nisswo Somarz held up her hands, then let them fall. "Sithis reigns over all. Even this mighty xanmeer, freed from its purpose, will crumble. We will let it happen." She tsked her tongue at them. "Succeed or fail, Sithis will have us all in the end."

Mirri scratched her head. "But we succeeded, right? I don't understand."

"We'll all die someday, but not today," Varanis said. "Speaking of Sithis, I'm as ravenous as the Serpent himself. I don't supposed you saved my lunch?"



.......................

Outake:

The water clock chimed the hour. Mirri wrapped up Varanis' flatbread and was packing it away for later when the door opened. "Oh good, I was getting worried-" She broke off as Varanis marched in, followed by a short, balding, Breton man. "-Who is that?"

Varanis pointed to the floor.

"Stibbo stay here!" The man exclaimed. He slouched in place where she pointed and began to drool green slime on himself.

"Mirri, meet Stibbo," Varanis said with a certain gleam in her eye. "He's a duplicate of the real thing made from voriplasm and he's our new adventuring companion."

Now, that was just insulting. "He's literally made of semi-sentient Jello. What can he do that I can't?"

"Unlike you, he can stand on pressure plates. Grab your stuff. Eveli can wait; we're going to run the dungeon at Direfrost Keep!"

VaranisArano

Author's Note

Apologies for the long hiatus! I could blame computer issues, since my new Desktop PC has turned out to be a bit of a lemon. But the truth is that "Shadows in the Swamp" gave me a 4-month long case of Writer's Block that didn't clear up until NaNoWriMo when, at the start of the month, the Merry Misadventures promptly waylaid the project I'd been planning on writing and demanded that I work on Mirri's story instead.

Here resumes "The Merry Misadventures of Mirri (and Varanis Arano)"

VaranisArano

"The Adoring Admirer "

They stopped a little ways north of Glenbridge to water Mirri's horse, while Varanis' flaming panther looked on with lofty disdain. To Varanis' amusement, most everyone gave it a wide berth. Then the Bosmer lad carrying pails of water out to the trough took one look at her and shrieked. His pail splashed down and rolled into the road. The panther yanked its paws back from the spreading puddle.

"By Azura, by Azura, by Azura!" His voice rose in pitch with every phrase.

"It's not dangerous." Mirri assured him. "It's all fang and no fight."

The panther yawned, showing the fires deep in its throat.

He didn't even look at her. No, he was staring at Varanis the way Buoyant Armigers looked as they sung praises to Vivec. "Is it really you? The hero of Tamriel? You aren't a myth! You look just like the paintings. Oh, my friends will never believe I met you."

"Wait," Mirri said, "She has paintings?"

"Yeah, ugly ones," Varanis said. She seemed torn between complimented and insulted. "Look, good sir, can I help you with something?"

He gasped, hand over heart. "I never, oh, I never, imagined that a famous warrior like yourself would ask me if they could help. Er..." He paused to think.

"I'll take it that's a no." Varanis dismounted, her panther vanishing into smoke, and retrieved the bucket.

"I could get myself into trouble if you'd like!" He called out after her.

"That's how she met me." Mirri warned. "I don't recommend it."

"She rescued you and you became her sidekick? Wow! Quick, tell me what you recommend: should she save me from a troll? No, it's gotta be a dozen trolls."

"That's not what I meant."

"You're right. It'll be a much better story if she rescues me from cultists."

A cold anger settled over her like a fog. "Listen here," she said through gritted teeth, "my brother could've died when we were captured by the Waking Flame. He was almost sacrificed by a dremora! They tried to steal his soul!"

He had stars in his eyes. "Almost. See! She's a hero! It's so exciting!"

She massaged her forehead. "You're an idiot who's going to get himself killed."

Varanis came back with a filled bucket and splashed it into the trough. The horse drank greedily.

"No, I won't," he replied. "The Vestige will save me. It'll be a great song for the bards!"

Varanis told him, "The bards don't sing about me bringing home mementos for the loved ones left behind. There's trouble enough in this troubled land without looking for it, lad. It'd bring me more joy to know you are safe."

He actually pouted.

"Listen to her," Mirri urged. "I got lucky, real real lucky that she came along when she did. I thought I was heading into a suicidal rescue mission alone."

He thought that over, then grinned "Oh, I've got just the thing. It'll be a great story to tell the lads back in Bravil!"

Massaging her forehead wasn't helping with this headache.

Varanis sighed. "Don't do anything so stupid that you don't live to tell them."

..............................

Instead of stopping at the waystation for the evening meal, they pressed on until night and camped rough near the road. Mirri stood the first watch, watching the fireflies wink their mystic patterns through the darkness seeking companionship.

For the tenth time, Varanis turned over in her bedroll.

"Can't sleep?" Mirri asked.

"Just thinking about that idiot boy," Varanis said, rolling over so she was staring up at the stars. "Don't get me wrong - I appreciate when people respect my reputation, but that "hold my rotmeth" attitude is gonna get him killed."

"We can't exactly hang around trying to teach him the common sense Vivec gave a guar."

"No."

Trying to interject a bit of lightness, Mirri said, "I'm not sure how I should feel about being your sidekick."

As she'd hoped, Varanis chuckled. Then, she asked, "Seriously, does it bother you?"

Seriously? Well... "You don't treat me like a sidekick. Of course, when the Bards write the songs, I'll be lucky to get sidekick billing. I figure it'll be 'The Ballad of How the Vestige Singlehandedly Saved Blackwood.' Maybe Eveli will get a nod for her sharp arrows. Not me."

Varanis propped herself up on one elbow. "I can assure you this is definitely a team effort, Mirri. But if you want to get yourself in the songs, it's not enough to help save the world. Lots of people helped me save the world and didn't even get a verse. You've got to put yourself forward, start talking to people, and lead the way to solve their problems. That's what makes them think of you as the hero, not just the sidekick."

That was a rather humbling thought. In hindsight, she'd been too quick to believe Xigira's flattery about wanting a capable team of adventurers with a reputation. In truth, Xigira had picked them because they were of average skill and just gullible enough to believe the compliments. "Maybe that explains why I never really made a name for myself as an adventurer. Not like Mom. She's always putting herself out there. Huh."

"You proved your mettle at the Xanmeer when you kept your head and defeated Rectavius." Varanis said, then laid back down. "Don't wonder if you can lead. You can. Consider if you want to."

A torchbug drifted through the camp and then back out into the swamp to join its many brethren. Mirri watched the fireflies and wrestled with her doubts.

VaranisArano

"Shadows in the Swamp: Part 1

Hutan-Tzel was an Argonian village of reed and bamboo thatched huts straddling the north road from Glenbridge. As soon as she saw the group of Argonians arguing, heads together, frills and crests flattening and flicking open in short, agitated motions, Mirri knew something was wrong. "It reminds me of the unrest in Stormhold," she told Varanis. "Maybe it's better if we move on?"

"That's your call." Varanis replied.

Decades ago, before the Pact, Stormhold had been frightening during the fighting between House Dres and Keshu the Black Fin. She remembered sneaking down one night to see her parents arguing in the kitchen by candlelight whether to stay or not, then the next day going out to greet their distrustful Argonian neighbors with open hands and honest trade, as her Hlaalu father would say. They'd earned some measure of respect, but it had taken years. Much like Varanis had said of Keshu - it'll take deeds, not words.

"We should at least ask if we can help," she decided.

They slowed their mounts down to a walk. Most of the villagers eyed them with distrust, and she didn't think it was because of the flaming panther. Then a dark-scaled Argonian with red face paint waved them down with a grin.

"Heem-jas!" Varanis exclaimed, flinging herself off her mount and clasping arms with the fellow.

"Ah, another friend," Mirri murmured. She dismounted and led her horse to a nearby hitching pole.

Varanis and Heem-jas drifted over, followed by another glowering Argonian who wore an ornate pectoral carving on his chest. "Heem-jas, this is Mirri. She's another veteran of a suicidal rescue mission."

"Then I'm doubly glad you've come. This might well be another mission like Mazztun."

Varanis glanced at her. Mirri took a deep breath, and then took the lead. "How can we help?"

"Members of my tribe have gone missing."

"It's the damned Imperials' fault," the other Argonian broke in, so angry his black frills flattened against his head and every breath hissed. "The Lieutenant must die for his crimes."

"We don't know he did it, Olik," Heem-jas protested.

"He doesn't deny it!"

"He clammed up when you threatened to stake him out for the bog dogs to chew his entrails!"

Mirri winced. "Nasty way to go."

Olik turned his back on her. "Heem-jas, I respect you, so I will speak plainly. The Imperials press into our land, offering false promises of trade and then kidnapping our people. The last thing our tribe needs is Dunmer poking their nose in our business." With his piece said, he stormed off into the village. She watched him take up his post next to a wooden cage that held a rather morose looking Brigadine of Leyawiin.

Heem-jas wrung his hands. "I'm sorry about Olik. He means well, even though he and the rest of the tribe are so angry and only want someone to blame. We really need an outsider's perspective."

"Even the perspective of a Dunmer?"

"I trust Varanis and she trusts you," he said. "If the Imperials have killed my people, I will fall on them with the strength of a graht-oak! If not, er, I would prefer not to fight in vain. And I need help figuring out what’s really happened."

...........................

The Brigadine Lieutenant Viria was a young, sandy-haired Imperial man who'd been in the wooden cage for about a day, judging by his stubble. He grasped the bars when they approached, then yanked his hands back when a villager smacked at them. "Dibella's sacred buttocks, you've got to help me! They've already staked out who gets my shoes."

The villager, an Argonian woman crowned with horns, shook her head. "Heem-jas, stop recruiting strangers. We don't need your heroic deeds. We know the guilty party."

"Nuvui, let her speak."

Mirri folded her arms, hoping she looked more intimidating to the Lieutenant than she felt. "We're working with Councilor Lovidicus and the Council of Legates on an urgent mission which I have delayed to deal with you. I suggest you come clean now, as in yesterday."

He gulped. "My brigadines went missing in the swamp. I went looking for them, then the Argonians ambushed me. They're trying to pin this on me!"

Nuvui hissed at him. "What of our missing people, soldier? We wouldn't hurt them.”

"Did you see any sign of your soldiers?" Mirri asked.

"No." He admitted. "Just an awful lot of monsters near the water. I think they're going to tie me up and feed me to them."

"Wild nix-hounds don't discriminate between slave and overseer," Mirri murmured the old Hlaalu proverb, then as Nuvui glared, regretted it. "Er, sorry, I just meant -"

Olik cut her off. "The Imperial lies. You lap up his excuses like a bog dog. It is simple: although Keshu the Black Fin has guaranteed the peace, the Imperials push our boundaries and take our land. Keshu does nothing about it for fear of starting another open war."

"Kidnapping people seems like open war to me. If he's guilty."

"We're not kidnapping Argonians!" Lieutenant Viria warned, "If my commander finds out what they did to me, he'll respond in kind."

Olik looked at her like she was something disgusting on the bottom of his foot. "I should have guessed that a Dunmer would side with the kidnappers."

Feeling tears prickle, Mirri glanced back at Varanis, who stood back with Heem-jas quietly listening to the whole affair. "I'm sorry. I'm messing everything up."

Varanis tapped her black cuirass with its twin dragon heads, "Thanks to Keshu the Black Fin's wisdom and military aid against the Akaviri, the Pact does not allow slavery anymore. I've fought alongside many fine Argonians, including Heem-Jas. I fought under the command of Walks-in-Ash when she saved Stonefalls from the wrath of the Brothers of Strife. We will do what we can to help your people."

Heem-jas added, "We're going to investigate the swamp."

Olik said, "When the Imperials take you, don't say I didn't warn you."

Once they were down the slope from the village, Mirri couldn't hold back the tears any longer. When she hiccuped, Heem-jas took one look, and announced, "I will scout ahead." True to his word, he rushed ahead on the muddy path.

Through the tears, she protested, "But what about the Imperials?"

Varanis wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "We both know that's bunk. He can handle himself against wild animals. Are you okay?"

"My parents would be ashamed of me. It wasn't easy being one of the few non-Dres Dunmer kids in Stormhold. They taught me to be respectful, and here I am making a mess the first time I really get to work alongside Argonians who aren't fellow Fighters." She wiped at her face. "I just want to help. I'm afraid I'm making it worse. I'm not a very good hero."

"You just started yesterday."

"And I've already fanned the flames of a diplomatic crisis. How do you always know what to say to smooth things over?"

Varanis lifted one foot to show off her swamp-muck-covered boot. "I've stuck my foot in my mouth so many times that I've eaten more soles than Molag Bal."

"That's a pun worthy of Liam, and that's not a compliment!"

Varanis squeezed her shoulder, then let go. "Seriously, you'll learn. As you know well, I'm still working on it myself!"

They set off at a brisk pace to catch up, kicking up mud and water whenever they hit a puddle. Then they reached the swamp itself. Thick-trunked cypress trees ringed large, still lakes tinged green with algae. A hackwing glided over a stretch of water, abruptly banking upward to land on a branch next to another of its kind. A moment later, the water rippled below where it had been, and two large bulbous eyes of a Death Hopper frog were briefly visible above the surface. It submerged, then there was a v-ripple across the surface as it swam away from them with powerful kicks. The path curved away to the left along the front of the lakes.

"I can't imagine that the Imperials want to mess with the deep swamp," Mirri said. "Do you think they did it?"

Varanis shrugged in response. "Maybe? You know what I said about the Pact? Don't take that all at face value. Argonians get pushed around a lot and their sacrifices taken for granted by those who should know better. Olik isn't wrong to feel angry about that."

"On the other hand," she added, "I'm a suspicious sort. Olik also knows more than he's letting on."

"A paranoid sort, I'd say," Mirri replied, thinking about the way Varanis suspected anyone and everyone of being an assassin earlier. "He cares about his people. I can't believe he'd do anything to harm them."

"Hmmm."

Before she could press Varanis on the non-committal response, they heard a shout ahead. A bog dog barked, then a pack of them took up the call. Then Heem-jas let out an undulating warcry.

Questions forgotten, they drew their weapons and rushed down the path.

VaranisArano

"Shadows in the Swamp: Part 2"

"Don't worry, my quick reflexes were enough to keep me from harm," Heem-jas panted from his perch atop a glowing stone totem. "Though I am glad for the help. There have not been packs of wild dogs like this for ages. This will be a story to tell my grandchildren. Once I have them."

Together, they helped him down from his perch. Rather than fight the swarming dogs on the ground or try to climb one of the cypress trees, he'd wisely scrambled up a nearby Argonian Totem by clinging to its deep stone carvings. The carved face of a bog dog glowed with a certain greenish light - not unpleasant, but definitely magical.

"Was that already glowing when you got here?" Mirri asked.

"Yes. The pack was sleeping nearby," he gestured at a break in the vegetation. "That's a game trail used by our hunters as a shortcut back to the village. Sometimes the Imperials used it for, ah-"

"Trading with the sort of contraband floating around any army camp?" Varanis asked, with a certain knowing smile.

"Exactly."

He favored Mirri with a shrewd look. "When I was growing up here, the totems didn't glow. You think the dogs and the totems are connected."

"And I have a bad feeling about what we'll find on that game trail."

As she'd feared, they found bodies savaged by the bog dogs. Argonian villagers. Imperial legionnaires.

Two of the bodies lay back to back. Their grip on their stone knife and gladius was so firm that even the dogs tearing at them could not shake it. Heem-jas said, "We'll tell Olik that they died protecting each other."

She wanted to believe it was true. She really did. "That's just how their bodies ended up. We shouldn't lie."

"Perhaps it's a lie," he said. "Or perhaps it's a story where they didn't die for nothing."

Put that way, it was the least she could do to honor their sacrifice.

.....................................

In grim silence, they followed the game trail upward to the village. They broke through the trees out into a clearing at the foot of an Argonian temple. The small building had been exposed to open air for a long time, judging by the crumbled stones and hanging moss. In between the pillars, Mirri could just make out a carved totem. It was glowing.

A small hackwing poked it's sharp beak out from one of the many holes in the ruined roof. It too was glowing. It squawked an alarm call.

At least a dozen hackwing heads poked out of holes in response. All of them glowed the same green as the totem. Then one squalled a hunting cry, and yet a dozen more throats took up the call.

What was that her mother had said about being chased by cliffracers in Vvardenfell?

Right. "Run. Cover your head, and don't forget to pray!"

Heem-jas didn't need telling twice to take off running toward the village. The hackwing flock took off.

"You go!" Varanis ordered, her hands and staff blazing with flames. "I want to investigate that temple!"

Well, since she couldn't turn her skin to stone or grow spikes like a dragon of legend, Mirri sprinted up the hill, scrambling on the uneven footing after Heem-jas. Only then did she use one of her mother's tricks. Technically, good Three-fearing Dunmer girls weren't supposed to know any daedric magic. But knowing her early interest in Daedrology, Irenni Elendis made sure her daughter knew how to get out of danger in a pinch.

She shut out the screeches for a moment, instead recalling the cool stillness of the early dawn. Then she drew it over herself like a mantle, surrounding herself in Twilight.

One hackwing had followed them. Now it squawked in confusion as it's prey vanished before its eyes.

Then the heavens opened as a firestorm engulfed the clearing. Hot air blasted through the trees, and oily, black smoke plumed up to twice the height of the trees. She covered her face, and it still left a searing afterimage against her closed eyes.

Her Mantle faded. The hackwing looked up at her from the pile of brush where the blast had hurled it and chirped pitifully. "You better thank your fetching lucky stars you weren't in there," she told it, and then rushed back into the clearing.

The temple looked a bit scorched where the moss had burned away in the flash, but otherwise the ground was damp enough that any smoldering embers should fade out. Then Varanis came out of the temple carrying a large ceramic pot filled with a glowing green liquid. "We've got a problem. Come see this."

She went inside and saw the totem painted with runes in the same dye. "The Imperials wouldn't know how to do this."

"Something to ask Olik about, I suspect."

"Something to ask their tribal elder, I suspect," she corrected. "No offense, but I'd really rather not spend my adventuring career jumping to conclusions. Besides, Olik doesn't want his own people dead. Why would he summon wild animals that are going to attack whoever is in their territory, Argonian or not?"

"Hmmm."

"Still working on that part of your theory, aren't you?"

Varanis chuckled. "Yes."

...............................

When they told tribal elder Naheesh Nurwul what they'd found, her crest of black feathers drooped. "It is as you feared. This is one of our tribe's ritual dyes, meant to call down plentiful beasts for a successful hunt. One of our own has done this."

The assembled Argonians took the news with more head-shaking. Olik said, "I don't believe that Imperials and Argonians died fighting back to back."

I'm a terrible liar, Mirri thought. "You can go see the bodies for yourself. We drove off the beasts for a while. If we're quick, we could reclaim the bodies for a proper burial."

Naheesh Nurwul said, "We will plant grave-stakes where they fell. All of them. If we can. We have a greater problem. It is clear that whoever painted the runes you describe had no idea of the proper ritual. What they did has summoned beasts from all over Black Marsh to our swamp with no hunt in mind. The beasts will keep coming as long as the totems call them. They will keep coming long after they have driven us out of Hutan-tzel, and perhaps even to the walls of Gideon."

"I will see to the grave-stakes," Olik said, sounding as sick as she felt. His frills were pressed close back to his head.

Heem-jas said, "I will go with you." They left.

Naheesh Nurwul said, "It is never pleasant to learn we were wrong. Nuvui, free the Lieutenant. We must ask him to carry our warning to his commander before we are overrun. Maybe they will help us evacuate."

Nuvui led Lieutenant Viria over to them. Though he limped a bit from sore muscles caused by the cramped quarters, he stood straight at attention to take the report to his Commander. "This explains the additional animal attacks we'd noticed. We just didn't put it all together. Pity there's no way to turn off the totems."

"There's got to be a way to stop them," Mirri said. That was what heroes did, right? Stop the destruction of villages, even if this one was self-inflicted. "We can stop the ritual, right? I'm a Daedrologist, not an Argonian shaman, but I'll do my best."

Varanis said, "It's surprising how many rituals I'd stopped by smashing something with a hammer. We saved her brother that way."

Naheesh Nurwul rustled her feathers. "You'd have to brave the abandoned xanmeer Xal Irasotl to disable the lures there. That's the center of the ritual. It will be crawling with wild beasts now. Worse, we must also brave the swamps to disable those lures at the same time. As brave as Heem-Jas is, our tribesmen have already fought and died. It would be foolhardy."

This was the moment when Varanis would say something that made everyone nod in thoughtful agreement and then decide to work together. Or maybe Mirri was about to stick her foot in her mouth.

"These beasts," she said. "They aren't picky. They'll eat Argonian, Imperial, and Dunmer alike. Even if we didn't all have self-interested reasons to work together, it seems to me that this whole conflict has spun out of control because the native Tribes and newcomer Imperials don't trust each other."

Viria and Nurwul were listening, not looking at her like she'd grown a third eye. Varanis was giving her a slow nod of encouragement.

She appealed to them, "We've got a chance to tell a different story. One where we fight, back to back as allies. Maybe we die together, back to back. Maybe we save each other this time."

After a very long pause, Viria said, "You know, they were planning on staking me out for hackwings to eat my guts."

Mirri winced.

Nuvui, very quietly, asked, "Please."

Viria nodded to her. "I'd shame my men if I didn't. I'll give the Commander my recommendation that we fight our way to the totems in the swamps."

She breathed again, feeling the mood lighten like a ray of sun piercing through an ash cloud.

"Who's going to tackle Xal Irastol and it's monsters?" Nurwul asked. "We are very grateful for your willingness to help despite everything, Lieutenant, but the xanmeer will be the most dangerous task."

"Is it a prison for another voriplasmic sorcerer?" Varanis asked.

"No. Why do you ask?"

Now she could laugh with joy and relief that she'd done it. They had an alliance. They had a fighting chance. "We can handle it!"

VaranisArano

Shadows in the Swamp: Part 3

Heem-jas met them outside Xal Irasotl, alone. "Olik ran inside before I could stop him."

Varanis sighed. Mirri told her, "He just wants to save his people as much as we do."

They found Olik at the first glowing totem. He swung a stone axe at the totem. Chips flew, but from the battered state of his flaked obsidian axe, it wasn't from the totem.

"Stop, you dumb relic! Just stop!" He was near sobbing.

"We can stop it!" Mirri said.

Heem-jas grabbed the axe and wrestled it from his friend. Olik struck the totem with his bare fist instead, howled in pain, and then Heem-jas grabbed him around the waist and hauled him away. "I can't stop it. I've doomed us all."

Once, she'd planned a prank for her siblings, putting a bucket of water over the door. Then she'd forgotten about it and when Mom shouted down the street for dinnertime, rushed back through that door at the head of the pack. The shower of water stopped her in her tracks, all the colder because it was the last thing she'd expected.

"You set the lures?" She couldn't look at Varanis, who'd somehow known from the beginning. "Why?"

Olik slumped into Heem-jas' arms. "I only wanted to drive the Imperials away. They drive us out of our lands and homes, so why not? Let them fear the marsh again! Or so I thought. Now, it is we who must fear the Marsh.'

Varanis muttered, "I hate it when I'm right."

His thousand-yard stare was a far cry from the righteous anger and contempt he'd greeted them with at first. "If you can stop the lures, leave me here and save my tribe. The wild beasts can eat me. I deserve it."

As awful as she'd felt back then, she'd rather have the old Olik around. She stuck out her hand to him, hoping again to find the right words to say. "Look, I'm not going to say it was the right thing to do. We both know it never was. There's something else you should know. Lieutenant Viria and his people are fighting out in the swamp to turn off the lures to save your people. We're fighting back-to-back to live. Want to fight with us?"

Olik grabbed her hand. She and Heem-jas helped him upright. "The least I can do is help you right my wrongs."

By the time they'd finished closing the three inside lures with the runes Naheesh Nurwul taught them, Mirri's arms and shoulders hurt from shooting and she'd long since been reduced to scavenging arrows from her kills. "I have a whole new respect for the Undaunted."

Varanis had taken point, covering the narrow hallways in coals and ashes, then calling the earth itself to lock down any beast who charged across the embers through Mirri's arrows. Then it was time for sheer butchery as Heem-jas and Olik waded in with obsidian sword and axe to slice the hamstrings and throats of bog dogs, death hoppers, and more than a few voriplasmic skeletons. They all were battered, bruised, and slow making their way back to the village and the sounds of a growing celebration.

Nuvui led them to Naheesh Nurwul and Lieutenant Viria. Heem-jas stood tall. Olik's frills drooped very low. Nuvui wrung her hands. "Tell them what they say about you is not true," she begged.

Olik said, "I set the lures. I broke the terms of our treaty out of fear that the Imperials intended to breach it first. I surrender myself to the Black Fin's judgment, knowing that the Imperials have, at least this once, been better than I."

Nuvui groaned, and left.

Mirri knew how that felt. "What happens now?"

"My commander is dead," Viria said, "I'm in command and so it falls to me to take Olik to Gideon to face the Black Fin's justice."

Varanis said, "The Black Fin is fair. Of that I have no doubt."

Viria grimaced. "Yeah, she's fair. Thing is, it won't matter..." It burst out of him in a rush of anger. "It won't matter if she's fair because she's beholden to men and women who aren't. I've been locked up in a cage with nothing to do but listen to a bunch of angry Argonians talking about how my superiors drove them out of their homes, overhunted their lands, wrote biased treaties, broke them, and then expect the Tribes to pay taxes. You know what? These tribesmen are right! I've been there. Done that. I followed orders. Sure, my brigadines weren't kidnapping people like they thought. Hooray?"

He threw up his hands in exasperation, declaring, "I can't go back to pretending that Imperial rule in Blackwood is an unalloyed good for the natives anymore. If I take Olik to Governor Keshu for justice, I have no doubt that men motivated by greed will demand their share of reparations. She'll have to make a show of him, and if not, she'll have to pay at the negotiating table."

"That's..." awful, Mirri wanted to say. On the heels of that thought came a bitter chaser. Actually, that sounded a lot like why Dad never advanced far in House Hlaalu. Earning rank and status in a cutthroat business required a certain amount of throat-cutting; Dad was just too sweet to play along with the sort of manufactured offenses Hlaalu used to chip away at House Redoran territories in Vvardenfell. His competitive cousins soon made him an object of scorn as they climbed all over each other in their race for the top.

The same, she feared, would soon happen to Viria if he didn't play along with his superiors' desire to cement control over Blackwood's tribes.

Olik told Viria, "After what I've done, if making a show of me protects the tribes, I will gladly take my punishment."

Viria rubbed his forehead. "If Keshu were the only one making that decision, I'd bring you to her in a heartbeat. Make no mistake about that. She's not, and I'm not convinced that staking you out for bog dogs would help protect your tribe either, even if I had the stomach for it anymore."

"Which I don't," he decided. "My superiors will throw my career to the wolves instead once I report I lost this many soldiers to the swamp totems and let the perpetrator go. Hopefully they'll be satisfied with making an example of me, and more than a little afraid of what you all might do if they retaliate."

Bittersweet though it was, Mirri beamed with pride in him.

Olik's frills fanned out, and he bowed low in the Imperial fashion to Viria. "You have shown me that Imperials can be both worse and far better than I had imagined. It is hard on my pride. I thank you for it nonetheless."

Naheesh Nurwul likewise bowed to Viria. To Olik, she said, "You still committed crimes against the tribe and against these brigadines. We will start our new relationship with just punishment for your wrongdoing. I banish you from this tribe, nor are you to sleep beneath another Hist until you have hunted the albino death hopper and procured it's skin."

"Hunt a legendary beast not seen for an age?" Heem-jas asked. He clapped Olik on the shoulder. "Sounds like an adventure, my friend. Let's go."

"This is my punishment, not yours."

"So what? You're my friend."

.........................................

They bid farewell to Heem-jas and Olik at the edge of town. Heem-jas clasped arms with Varanis, then her. "It's good to see Varanis training up another hero like me," he said. "You'll do great!"

Olik, geared out for a long trekking hunt, bowed to her as low as he had to Viria. "You too have shown me that Dunmer can be better than I imagined."

Thinking of House Hlaalu again, she said, "We can be worse, too. Be careful out there."

"I will."

"With me, the hero Heem-jas, looking out for him, he can't come to harm!"

The pair headed off into the woods. She and Varanis strolled back to the village. She asked, "How did you know it was Olik? You thought it was him from the first."

"Well, remember how he didn't want us interfering from the beginning? There were others who blamed the Imperials, but he was the most insistent that even Heem-jas should keep his nose out of the business. When people who obviously need help don't want it, well...you'll learn to pick up on the red flags."

"I thought you were just being paranoid."

"I rather hope you don't become as jaded as I am with this hero business, Mirri."

Back in the village, Viria was watching his soldiers prepare to march back to Gideon, looking morose. "My career is toast."

"I've been thinking," Mirri said, for she'd been mulling over what she knew of House Hlaalu, a healthy dose of "What Would Varanis Do?" and what her father would call "the Carrot and the Stick." Viria was a good man, and it wasn't fair that he should bear the brunt of greedy mens' ire in their place.

She explained, "When we first met, I said we were on an urgent mission for the Elder Council and the Council of Legates. I didn't tell you that we're going to fight a pack of assassins who're trying to murder the lot of them. Thanks to your willingness to forgive and work with the Argonians of Hutan-Tzel, our mission can now proceed as planned. When we return, they'll all understand that they literally owe you their lives."

"That…" Viria blew out his cheeks, looking as if a weight lifted off his shoulders. "That might just do the trick for me. Thank you."

The carrot for Viria. The stick for the greedy Imperials he feared.

"And if your superiors give you or Keshu a hard time about leaving Olik to face the tribe's justice, remind them that it was thanks to the actions of Emperor Leovic and men like him that the tribes' trust was abused. If they continue in his path, they will fall just like his Empire."

Viria chuckled, "I'll find a politer way to put that when I talk to the Council. Thanks for backing me up."

"You backed us up when we needed it." Mirri assured him, "We won't leave a good man like you hanging out to dry."

Varanis added, "Officers with a conscience are a rarer breed that I like. Don't be surprised if the reward for a job well done is more work from us, Lieutenant."

He said, "I guess that much is true in the Pact Army as well as the Brigadines, eh? Don't worry, we know how to 'hurry up and wait too.'"

A little ways down the road north to Bloodrun Cave and the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, Mirri asked Varanis, "So, how did I do on my first outing as a hero?"

"Keep it up, and I'll be proud to be your Companion."

VaranisArano

An Unexpected Adversary: Part 1

Mirri tied her horse to a tree by the side of the road where the gelding could graze freely. "If I don't come back, you be a good boy for your new owner, okay?"

The horse wuffed a breath at her and turned his attention to the fresh grass.

Keenly aware that she was only delaying the inevitable, she patted his flank one last time and followed Varanis into the woods to Bloodrun Cave and the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary within.

The cave mouth sat halfway up a cliff face over a river. When they climbed across the ledge to it, Eveli stood there, spinning an arrow through her fingers. "As the Dunmer say, you took your fetching time coming here."

Mirri protested, "We saved a village-"

Varanis stopped her. "Eveli, remember when King Kurog sent us to talk to the three Orc tribes, and you wanted to rush straight there? And I strolled across Orsinium, picking up every odd job we ran into?"

"And by the time we got to the strongholds, the Chiefs already knew us by reputation and were willing to listen to a couple outsiders." Eveli sighed. "Yeah, I remember."

Mirri stared. She'd thought only about helping the villagers while the Vestige was already laying the groundwork for a campaign.

Varanis shrugged back. "I promise there's some method to my madness."

..................................

Mirri gazed up at the Black Door. Carvings depicted a gaunt Dunmer woman with a knife about to kill her five children, watched over by the skull-sign of Sithis. "It's bigger than I expected."

"The Morag Tong isn't nearly so ostentatious," Varanis agreed.

"Do we just knock?" Eveli asked.

Varanis reread the letter they'd taken from the assassin's camp, then knocked on the Door.

A sepulchral wind made the hair on the back of her neck rise. They had the attention of...something.

"What is the sound that fills the unending silence?"

It was a voice from the depths of the grave. She shuddered. Eveli hugged herself.

"Death, my brother," Varanis said, and the Black Door swung open.

The assassin from Gideon stood just beyond the doorway, his hand held up to signal. Two other assassins were with him, bows drawn. "Here's the part where I say, 'Welcome home, sister.' Except you aren't my sisters, are you? Out of respect for your deep familiarity with death, Vestige, I'll forgive the sacrilege this once. I'm Elam Drals, Speaker of this Sanctuary and I promise that we aren't the murderers you're looking for."

Eveli aimed her bow at his face. "We found the black hand next to every body!"

"So? You've been duped." He retorted. "Someone set up my Sanctuary to take the blame. If you find out who, I'll even take care of them for you as a favor."

If Elam wanted to talk, Mirri would keep her eyes on the archers. Like hers, their arrow tips were darkened. "Poisoned arrows," she said to warn the others.

"Baandari," Elam said. "If the arrow doesn't kill you, you'll feel the poison for hours."

"I'm not sure I believe you." Varanis said. She stepped over the threshold.

Mirri held her breath. Elam's hand stayed up as he made way for her.

For a moment, Varanis appeared to admire the decor. Elam's Sanctuary was a great deal fancier than his camp down in the ayleid ruins. There were long red banners on the walls and expensive looking carpet on the floor. "Don't play the innocent with me." She said. "If you didn't want to pick this fight, I gave you the time to run. Now, I'll grant it might've taken a while to pack up all these nice banners..."

She put the tip of her inferno staff right under one of the banners. The fabric began to smolder and char.

"Look here, Vestige-"

Fire blossomed behind Elam. He shouted, and dropped his hand. One assassin fired; Varanis sprouted dragon wings that batted it away. The other fell with Eveli's arrow in his throat. Mirri shot the first a second later.

Then Varanis leaped up like a dragon. Up - and over Elam, crashing down like a wave between two armored figures spilling out of the fiery portal. Their black and red armor was nothing like the leathers of the Assassins. Mirri had seen them before, in the Imperial City. Varanis sent one flying head over heels with a burst of flame from her staff.

Elam, sword drawn, went for Varanis' unprotected back.

"Its the Waking Flame!" Mirri shouted at Elam.

His sword strike decapitated the other cultist. Varanis spun around to find her opponent already dead.

Mirri drew on Elam, arms shaking with nerves. After a long pause, Varanis asked him, "Shall I go back to burning down your Sanctuary, or would you like help making sure there's only one murderous death-cult in Blackwood?"

Elam too was shaking. He strode past her to a speaking tube on the wall and roared into it, "Protect the Sanctuary!" Then he vanished in a puff of smoke.

Mirri asked, "Was that a yes? I hope that was a yes. I'm getting good at killing cultists."

"That was a yes," Varanis said, and started off deeper into the Sanctuary.

"What's the Order of the Waking Flame doing here?" Eveli asked while they jogged after her. "We only just discovered this Sanctuary a few days ago. What are the odds?"

"Maybe we took too long," Mirri said.

"You said it, not me. I can't believe we're helping these assassins now instead of killing them!"

As flame blossomed ahead of them and more cultists fell out of a daedric portal, Varanis said, "Indeed, what are the odds that not one of Leovic's old councilors knew anything of his plans?"

Eveli took her shot. "We all know you're paranoid."

After Hutan-Tzel, Mirri wasn't quite as quick to doubt. One look at Eveli's frustrated expression, and she resolved to keep it to herself.

The farther they got into the Sanctuary, the more it became clear that while the assassins, caught by surprise, were no match for cultists portalling in through their defenses, neither were the cultists any match for the three women in a fair fight.

They cornered a Waking Flame battlemage by the largest portal underneath a huge stained glass window of a dagger-pierced heart. When he realized he couldn't escape, he stuck his head through the portal and screamed - faintly, the sound attenuated by the portal - "Fall back! Warn the high priest!"

He stepped back into the room, drawing an ornate sacrificial knife. "You won't get through before they close the portals."

Behind him, the stained glass swung open on silent hinges. Elam Drals dropped down to the floor with nary a sound.

"What does the Waking Flame want?" Mirri asked, more to distract the man than because she expected an answer.

"For the glory of Lord Dag-urhk!"

Elam stabbed him in the back, grabbing his shoulder to force him further down on the long blade. He hissed in the man's ear, "You're only a down payment for the deaths of my brothers and sisters. I'm going to cut your high priest's throat." Then he shook his sword free and leaped through the portal.

"Maybe he'll get himself killed and good riddance," Eveli said.

"Or he kills the high priest before we get answers." Mirri pointed out.

As Varanis led the way through the portal, Eveli muttered, "I still can't believe we're helping this assassin. He tried to kill Councilor Vandacia!"

TheImperfect

Always a pleasure to read, thanks.

VaranisArano

An Unexpected Adversary: Part 2

The Sanctuary portal dumped the three women into the gloom of an unknown Ayleid ruin. They caught up with Elam, and Mirri found it disturbing how quickly he fit into the rhythm of the group's slaughter. The cultists certainly weren't prepared for enemies to come back through the portal at them. Not only were a fair number of them stumbling out of their barracks only partly armored before being cut down like wheat before a scythe, but they'd left their documents unsecured.

Eveli looked dismayed at the amount of papers in one antechamber that'd been converted to someone's office. "Where do we start?"

"Grab everything. Read it later. If it's in code, your brother can crack it," Varanis said, taking a stack of paperwork from the neatly labeled "Out" tray and stashing in it her backpack. "I wonder how thisl Imperial bureaucrat wound up in a Dagonist Cult?"

Mirri scanned the bookshelves, grabbing any book on daedra that she didn't already have access to.

"Don't weigh yourself down," Elam warned her.

"Oh, I'm a cracked acorn!" Eveli cried, holding out a letter. "This says the Black Hand notes were a red herring. The whole time we were chasing the assassins, the Waking Flame was preparing to smash-and-grab one of Leovic's caches from the Sanctuary."

Elam snatched the letter from her, scanning it. "I could have told you we were framed. Oh wait, I did tell the Vestige that!"

Varanis asked, "There was a cache in your Sanctuary?"

"I knew nothing about it. If I had, we'd have dug it up and run before you showed up."

Hoping, Mirri asked, "Could it still be there?"

Varanis shook her head. "They wouldn't have tried to close the portals if they didn't have what they wanted."

"Then the high priest has it."

Elam said, "This letter says he wants a certain book, too. Do you lot know anything about that?"

Eveli growled, "He can take it off my dead body."

The farther in they went, the more evidence they found. A small pile of Black Hand calling cards, where Elam demonstrated to Eveli's satisfaction that it wasn't his handprint. A golden amulet of the rising sun that resonated with the portals, leading them further into the ruin. An overheard conversation when Elam pulled them into a side chamber to listen as the cultists frantically responded to alarms from the breached portion of the ruin: "We have the cache and the location of the first ambition."

Unfortunately, when they burst into the room from the back entrance, the two cultists didn't actually know anything about the first ambition, or so they said.

Elam tapped the flat of his sword on his palm. "We can do this the easy way, where you two suddenly regain your memory. Or we do it the hard way, and you lose fingers first."

Their obvious terror made Mirri sick to her stomach. "No. We don't torture."

He pointed his sword at her. "You don't get answers either."

She shrank back. Varanis stepped in between them, pushing the blade down. "She's right. We don't torture."

With new courage, Mirri pointed the cultists back the way they'd came. As they scrambled off, she called after them, "You should really reconsider your life choices!"

Elam made a rude noise at her. "You Fighters are soft. If they kill more of my Family, I'll take out a contract on you myself."

Eveli stepped up to her side. "You won't get the chance. Mirri and I will take your head back to the Councilors in Leyawiin first."

"Fine words from someone who's been betrayed by her masters," he taunted back.

Varanis grimaced. Eveli snapped, "Don't try to sow division between us and them."

"King Kurog." Varanis said.

It was a non-sequitur to Elam, but Eveli flushed bright red. "Don't you even bring him up."

"So who's Kurog and what'd he do to be such a sore subject?" Elam asked, finally backing off and sitting down on a nearby crate. "Since we're just going to politely ask questions, I might as well get one of mine answered."

"Don't be petty," Varanis told him, then appealed to her, "Eveli, think about it. The Waking Flame knew exactly where the Sanctuary was, right after we handed that info directly to the Councilors and Legates. Who else could've let it slip? It has to be one of Leovic's old councilors looking for the Ambitions. Massive cults with recruitment like this don't spring out of nowhere. It took Mannimarco years of planning to build up his Worm Cult."

Eveli rubbed her forehead. "Maybe you're right. We knew, the Councilors knew, and the Legates knew. And we didn't tell the Waking Flame. Unless..." She trailed off. "In some ways, I feel like I hardly know you anymore since Orsinium. You've gotten harder, Varanis. More willing to work with bad people." She jerked her head at Elam.

A vein started to throb in Varanis' temple. "Of all the things you could accuse me of, you decide I'm in league with daedric cultists out to destroy the world?"

Eveli's eyes dropped to the floor, then flew up to Mirri. "You're a Daedrologist."

Was this what prey felt like, pierced by the gaze of its hunter? "I worship the Tribunal! Eveli, the Waking Flame nearly killed my brother Liam before we rescued him!" Belatedly, she remembered the rest of it. "The cult tried to kill me too. No way I'd help them."

Frowning, Eveli started to argue, "But-"

Varanis cut her off with a sharp chopping motion and a face like hammered iron, "Drop it, Eveli. Or you and I are done."

"Maybe the Order has spies?" Eveli suggested, her voice now a weak imitation of her usual passionate self.

Mirri suddenly felt very bad for her. Wanting to extend an olive branch, she said, "Maybe one of the Councilor's secretaries passed on the information."

"Maybe." Varanis said, turning away and leading them deeper into the ruin.

………………………………...

Mehrunes Dagon's shrine in the heart of the Ayleid ruin was impressive in a gaudy sort of way, Mirri thought. The same could be said of his high priest, who's now bloodstained crimson robes with their fanciful golden embroidery would have been garish in bright sunlight. Perhaps that was why cults frequently lived in ruins - the flickering torchlight made their costumes look less ridiculous.

You're being ridiculous, she scolded herself, knowing that she was only trying to distract herself from the uncomfortable silence that had taken hold of their group since the accusations.

Varanis scanned the bookshelves, her body still rigid with unspent fury. Eveli picked through the high priest's pockets like she was doing her chores. The mood had even infected Elam. He hadn't made a single crack at anyone.

It was up to her to break the ice. She cleared her throat. "Did that seem a little too easy to anyone else?"

Elam nudged the high priest's foot with his boot. "Yeah. That was a high priest. Just not THE high priest."

Eveli sat back with a thump, holding up a piece of paper. "Varanis?" She asked, sounding for all the world like a lost kitten.

Varanis went to her side, read the paper, and sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I trusted him!" Eveli wailed, and when Varanis hesitantly offered, wrapped the other woman in a bear hug, burying her face into her armored shoulder. "I told him everything!"

Elam picked up the paper. "Well..."

Hardly believing her own daring, Mirri plucked the paper from his hand. "Don't say it." She muttered.

The "I told you so" on his lips died, unspoken. At least Eveli couldn't see him smirk.

She read the salutation, "In the name of our Lord of Fire and Flood, High Priest Vandacia."

"Well, fetch."

"I trusted him." Eveli wiped at her tears. "Trees and acorns, this is like King Kurog all over again. I trust someone in charge and then they hire assassins to kill people. Now Vandacia knows everything and it's my fault."

"We stopped Kurog. We'll stop Vandacia too." Varanis assured her.

Mirri read the rest of the letter. "Oh, fetch!" She exclaimed. "They're attacking Leyawiin. Vandacia's going to kill the Councilors!"

"You three have fun with that." Elam said. "What? I'd be shot on sight. Do me a favor, though. Give my best to Vandacia, and I don't mean politely asking him questions."

VaranisArano

An Unexpected Adversary: Part 3

Mirri fell out of the portal, cracking her knees on the hard red bricks of Castle Leyawiin's courtyard. "Ow!" She scrambled forward just in time that Eveli and Varanis didn't pile out right on top of her.

"More cultists!" Someone shouted.

She saw Captain Rian Liore standing behind a wooden barricade with archers. Archers aiming at them. Fetch!

She sprang to her feet, waving her arms and jumping despite the pain shooting from her kneecaps each time she landed. "We're friends. We're friends! Don't shoot!"

Eveli rolled to her feet, holding her bow dangling from her upraised hands. "Rian, we have to save the Councilors. They've been betrayed."

"Thank Zenithar you've come," Rian said, shoving aside the barrier. "The cultists fooled me into thinking they were portalling into the courtyard. As soon as we attacked them here, they summoned portals inside the castle and locked the doors behind us. We've been making sure they didn't break out into the rest of Leyawiin. You say we've been betrayed. By who?"

Mirri handed him the letter. "Keep that safe. It's proof that Vandacia is the traitor."

"Vandacia? He served Blackwood and the Empire for longer than I've been alive. Why would he betray us to cultists?" He pocketed the letter.

Varanis, still on the ground, said, "He served the daedra-worshipping Longhouse Emperors for most of those years. He's the cult's High Priest, presumably Leovic's successor in that regard."

Rian stared down at her, gradually turning ashen as he processed the implications. "Then we can't trust any of the Councilors."

"I never did," Varanis admitted. "I'd still like to save their lives if we can." She rolled over, up to her knees. "I'm getting too old for plate armor," she muttered. "I used to do this all day."

Mirri teased, "Can't lay down on the job just yet, old lady."

"I'll show you, young whippersnapper."

Rian started barking orders to his soldiers. "We'll break in through the barracks. Eveli and I will find the Legates."

……………………………….

Mirri dipped the tip of the last arrow from the fresh quiver she'd taken from the barracks storeroom into her bottle of Baandari poison. "I'm ready."

"The kitchens will have a quick route to the great hall and the Councilors' chambers," Varanis said, making one last check to her shield's straps. "We'll cut through there. There may be close quarters fighting."

The kitchen was large enough to cook a feast fit for a hundred men or more...and every servant who'd worked there was dead, cut down while they worked. A scullery maid held onto the spear pinning her to her pile of scrubbed pots. The man carving a glistening turkey lay facedown on his cutting board with a jeweled dagger in his back. The pommel of the dagger winked golden with the rising sun.

"What sort of monster does this?" Mirri cried.

They skirted the bodies carefully, then resumed their search. The hallway they chose led out onto a second floor balcony with a sweeping view of the Great Hall. The balcony was barricaded off from the hallway with bookshelves. Councilor Faleria had probably intended the barricade to protect her. Unfortunately, the Order had set the books on fire, and left her to either perish in the blaze or else leap onto the stones below.

"Help me!" She screamed when she saw them.

Varanis set her mace and shield aside and went down on one knee, interlocking her fingers to form a stirrup. Mirri set her foot in it, and on the count of three, Varanis launched her up to the top of the toppled bookshelf. She grabbed onto the shelves for purchase, hauling herself hand over hand over burning wood. It stung; nothing worse. Thank Vehk for Dunmer fire resistance! "Come here, Councilor. We'll make it quick."

She knelt to do the same launch for Faleria. The woman girded her dress around her legs, and grabbed Mirri's shoulder. "Thank you."

"On three, now."

A portal blossomed on the balcony. "Three!" Mirri straightened her bent legs in an explosive throw, hurtling the surprised noblewoman up and mostly over the bookshelves. She shrieked, and then was on the other side.

Vandacia stepped out of the portal, looking surprised. "How unexpectedly clever of you."

She flushed with anger, not from the heat of the flames at her back. "Why are you doing this?" Why betray Eveli? Why tell his Cult to slaughter innocents? Why had his Cult taken her, Liam, and their friends?

He spread his hands wide, "With all that's at stake, how could I not?" His fingertips began to glow red with a spell.

Varanis dragon-leaped over the bookshelves. He had a single moment to look at Mirri, shocked that she'd only been playing the bait, and then the dragon's landing knocked him back against the balcony railing. Varanis shield-bashed him in the face and he fell over the edge, grabbing at the railing.

"You can't do this-" He shouted, and then realizing that Varanis did mean to smash his hand off with her mace, let go of the railing. He plummeted, robes rippling up in the air...and then a portal opened up beneath him and another on the floor. He sprawled out of the second portal, battered but alive.

Mirri fired an arrow. He opened a portal that swallowed it up. "You can't beat me in a fight!"

"Then why are you running?" Faleria shrieked from another upper balcony. "Coward! Traitor! Leovic should've taken your head."

His fingertips glowed with spell-light again. Mirri shouted, "Faleria, run!"

Too late. The light obliterated the unarmored woman, leaving nothing behind.

"Oh, fetch." She whispered. That could have been her dead in the blink of an eye.

"You can't beat me in a fight," Vandacia said, and ducked into yet another portal.

VaranisArano

An Unexpected Adversary: Part 4

As Mirri and Varanis chased Vandacia through the castle corridors, they first collected Eveli's brother Beragon, then Eveli and Rian. Those two had been hot on the heels of Councilor Lovidicus running for his life, and the realization that he was heading straight for Vandacia was enough to send them all racing after him.

The chase ended in the castle's open courtyard. Vandacia had Lovidicus wrapped in bonds of red magic and used them to drag him up a flight of stairs towards a portal. "I will finish what the Longhouse Emperors started. You'll tell me everything you know before you die screaming."

For his part, Lovidicus flopped about like a dying fish, fighting the bonds with everything he had.

Eveli shot at him. Mirri fired her shot at his knee. Let him block that!

Portals sucked up both arrows. Vandacia hauled Lovidicus upright in the air as a human shield. "I'll kill him!"

Varanis stalked towards him. "Put him down gently, or I'll jump you again."

Vandacia dropped him. Lovidicus hit the pavement with a scream as his ankle bent unnaturally. Beragon and Rian rushed to his side; Beragon drapping his arm over his shoulders to help him limp to safety, while Rian covered them both with his shield.

"I will do you all a favor," Vandacia said with grandiose generosity. "I shall allow you to gaze upon the power that Mehrunes Dagon has already promised me, before I unlock the Four Ambitions and ascend to powers undreamed of." He called put to the sky, "Lord of Fire and Flood, hear your high priest. Send forth a champion!"

Yet another portal opened in front of Varanis. Some muscle bound monstrosity of a daedra with skin the color of a boiled lobster stepped out. Three of its four arms carried hooked blades. At full height, it towered over Varanis.

"Behold, the Ruinach," Vandacia announced.

Varanis made a rude sound. "Molag Bal's champions are bigger than yours."

Vandacia gasped in outrage. The Ruinach roared, and reached out to seize Varanis.

This time, Varanis was the distraction, spitting insults behind her shield and keeping the Ruinach focused on her while Eveli and Mirri peppered it with arrows. While dragonknight fire had little effect on its deadlands-toughened hide, it only took a few minutes for the accumulated Baandari poison to take effect. The Ruinach began to stumble.

Vandacia shouted down, "Just kill her already!"

Following it's master's command, the Ruinach grasped one sword with both upper hands and raised it high for a devasting slash. Varanis met it in a solid defensive stance. Daedric metal clanged, and the sword flew right back out of its grasp. It blinked once, then twice, in utter confusion at its empty hands.

Eveli fired an arrow straight into its left eye. It fell to one knee shaking its massive head.

Mirri drew back her own arrow for the kill. The beast was dazed. It's master was absorbed in the fight, banging his fist on the stair railway and shouting exhortations.

She fired, and the arrow flew straight and true at Vandacia.

At the very last second, a portal swallowed it up. Vandacia fled through a second portal and was gone.

……………………….

That night after he'd been seen to by the healers, Councilor Lovidicus hosted the five of them in his private chambers. "I don't have any food to offer you," he apologized. "You are welcome to any of the contents of my liquor cabinet. Please, help yourselves."

The healers had taken care of his shattered ankle and heavy bruising. Mirri thought they couldn't do much for the mantle of worry that weighed down his shoulders. Vandacia was out there planning who knew what for the Four Ambitions, and his rampage had effectively gutted Leyawiin's court.

"Is there any rotmeth?" Beragon asked. He and Eveli had food: platters of meat the two of them had roasted. It smelled like pork; it probably wasn't.

"Probably?" Lovidicus shrugged. "I'm sorry, I don't know. My manservant Aquillus would have known. He collected vintages to serve to guests of any tastes. Now he's dead. When the cultists arrived, he blocked the door to buy me time to escape and they cut him down."

He rested his forehead in his hands. Seeing his regard for his servant, Mirri went to the cabinet, found the rotmeth and selected a few very good wine bottles, and brought them back to the meeting table with glasses. "We'll drink to his memory."

They poured. Lovidicus raised his glass. "To Aquillus, and death to Vandacia."

Everyone echoed back the toast. Varanis set her glass down first. "Vandacia is following the model of Mannimarco in slowly building up his Order of the Waking Flame into a force to be reckoned with."

"You would know how to deal with that better than anyone, Vestige."

She shrugged. "The Worm Cult started shedding recruits once they started losing."

Mirri added, "I've noticed in my studies that most people who bargain with daedra are overconfident. They expect victory, and when that doesn't happen, they fall apart."

"It still won't be easy," Varanis warned. "The Worm Cult had people high up in each of the three alliances. About the only person in power in Blackwood I'm absolutely certain isn't complicit in the Waking Flame is Keshu the Black Fin. If she is, we might as well give up."

Mirri said, "I think we can add Councilor Lovidicus to that list." When Varanis raised an eyebrow, she raised her glass of wine in reply.

"Ah, that's a good point," Varanis admitted, then stuck out her hand to the Councilor. "I apologize. Mirri's right - a man who's closest servants will die for him isn't the sort who looses murderers on his own household."

He shook on it. "Speaking of murderers..."

Eveli said, "I was wrong. The Waking Flame framed the Dark Brotherhood, then followed us to their Sanctuary to steal one of Leovic's caches. They've found the location of the first ambition."

Beragon held up a piece of paper. "I'm nearly done working on the code from the originals you brought me, with the help of what you recovered from their base in the ruin. Give me a bit of time here." He took another bite of meat, then scribbled down another couple of letters.

"Are the Dark Brotherhood still a problem?" Captain Rian asked.

"A problem for another day, I think." Varanis said. "Their Speaker wants revenge on Vandacia for invading his Sanctuary."

Rian sighed with relief. "We'll keep protecting the Legates and Countess Caro. This mess could be worse."

Beragon set down his paper. "The ambition is in a vault, hidden in the Ojel-bak. That's not code - it's Argonian."

"It's a place in the deep southern Blackwood Marsh," Lovidicus said. "I don't know much, except that Imperial taxmen sent there don't come back. We haven't bothered for years." He pursed his lips. "Though I have to wonder if Leovic didn't have a hand in that, since he hid an ambition there."

"We'll ask Governor Keshu if she knows anything more when we ride through Gideon," Mirri said. "If she doesn't, Glenbridge is only a short detour to ask Nisswo Somarz. If anyone knows, she would." Once again, she thought the method to Varanis' questing madness showed its value.

The meeting broke up soon after. Mirri poured herself another glass of a rich, dry red now that it didn't matter if she let herself get pleasantly tipsy. She sat down by Eveli, who was steadily drinking her rotmeth. "You doing okay?"

"Did Varanis tell you about Kurog?"

"Just the basics."

"So there I am, a fresh-faced adventurer out to make a name for myself. This Orc lady chases me down, saying "Orsinium needs heroes!" I go there, meet the Vestige of all people, team up with her to save some folks and defeat a rebel army all to help the new king of the orcs unify his people into a real nation for the first time in centuries. I'm gonna be a hero, right?"

"Sounds like what I expected when Xigira hired our team to crack that doomvault."

"Varanis had doubts about Kurog after he executed some rebel chiefs. I didn't want to hear it. I was gonna be a hero! Problem was, Kurog didn't want to compromise with the traditionalist clans. He wanted to rule with an iron fist. He and his mother cooked up a false flag operation using assassins and religious terrorists to murder their allied chiefs and pin the blame on the traditionalists."

Eveli took a big gulp of rotmeth, coughed, and continued. "High Priestess Solgra was my friend. She didn't want to be a part of their lies, so they killed her. We killed them. I got the final blow on Kurog and ate his heart for breakfast. It didn't help. And that's the sad story of how I found out that being a hero means you watch good people die because you trusted the wrong person."

Mirri put an arm around her. The smaller elf snuggled against her side. "I know I got lucky in the doomvault that we could save my brother and all our friends. I'm still learning how to judge people better."

Eveli drained her glass. "You know the saying, 'It's better to be lucky than good?' I'm the unlucky hero. Varanis is good. You? Stay lucky. It's better that way."

VaranisArano

A Mother's Obsession: Part 1

With the kitchens out of commission, breakfast at the castle had to be shipped in from the tavern. Over eggs, sausage, and cereal, Varanis asked, "So, when we find Vandacia, what are we gonna do about his portals?"

Eveli said, "Mirri's shot was as good as it gets. He's too quick."

Her cheeks heated. "I think we're going to have to fight him in melee range. I'll stop at the Fighter Guild and requisition some daggers. Maybe I can turn invisible and stab him when he's not looking."

"I'll need to get close to lock him down," Varanis said, pouring milk over a bowl of Bewitched Sugar Skulls cereal.

A courier entered the hall with a packet of letters. Most of them went to Countess Caro and Councilor Lovidicus. One letter was for Mirri.

"It's from my father. Liam must have arrived home!"

It was from Father. Liam had arrived home; Mother, however...it'd been three months since she left on a commission and Dad had an angry letter from one of her clients sitting on his desk demanding a refund on a job in Stormhold he knew nothing about.

He was worried. Mother was a capable adventurer, yes - she'd taught Mirri everything she knew! Three months out of touch was a long time, and now Mirri had a newfound understanding of all the things that could have gone wrong. The longer it took to find her, the greater likelihood it was too late.

"My mom's missing. I've got to go find her." She said, dreading what they would say to her running out on them. "I'm sorry. I know we're hot on the trail of the Ambitions and Lyranth says the fate of the world is at stake. But we nearly lost Liam. I can't lose-"

"Of course you've got to save your Mom!" Eveli exclaimed.

Varanis wolfed down the last of her cereal. "Where was she last seen? We've got a few days to spare if Eveli goes to meet Keshu instead of us."

"I will." Eveli said. "Better than trekking through the marsh with no map."

"She was in Stormhold, Shadowfen," Mirri said, ruthlessly crushing their hopes. "Two weeks of ship travel-" she'd be wretchedly sick the whole time, but what choice was there? "And that's assuming her business there was nearby. She could've gone to Solstheim for all I know."

"Solstheim might be a challenge; I've never been there." Varanis said. "Stormhold? That I can manage."

"How? Can you call up Lyranth on a whim and ask her to portal us to wherever you want to go?"

She chuckled. "Remember when we first met Elam Drals and he got upset that I was going to use the wayshrines to 'cheat' whilst he raced back to his Sanctuary?"

Wayshrines dotted the cities and roads of Tamriel. Dedicated to different gods and local guardian spirits, they frequently served as waystations for travelers, caravans, and particularly devout travelers. She'd never paid much attention to them except to water her horse. Speaking of which..."I don't even have a mount. I left my horse back near the Sanctuary." Hopefully whoever found him would take good care of him.

"We'll find you a properly heroic steed if we need to," Varanis said. "Anyway, what Elam knew is that because I'm the Vestige I can use any wayshrine to travel to any other wayshrine as long as I've been there before. I can even take a few people through with me. There's a wayshrine at the crossroads in Leyawiin and one in Stormhold. I can get you there in less time than it takes you to pack your bags."

Her eyes prickled with tears. "Thanks. If this takes more than a couple of days, though, you've got to come back, help Eveli crack the doomvault, and beat Vandacia to the Ambition. Promise?"

"Promise. Go requisition your daggers and we'll be off."

……………………………….

Eveli waved them off with a final word of advice, "If you close your eyes, you probably won't even get seasick!"

Mirri screwed her eyes shut tight, and indeed only felt a brief sensation of cold before the humidity of a different swamp washed over her. In contrast to the overhanging limbs of Blackwood's dense trees, Shadowfen's air danced with fireflies and rang with the mating calls of frogs that feasted on them.

On the way to the Mages Guild to meet her mom's angry client, Mirri asked a question that bothered her. "If you can wayshrine with me across provinces, couldn't you have taken five minutes to take Eveli to Gideon?"

"Yes, but I can't take her horse." Varanis shrugged. "That's the simple answer. The more complicated reason as to why I don't make a fortune as a VIP shuttling service for the rich and famous is that I prefer that my enemies don't realize just how fast I can get around once I know an area. Like I told Lovidicus, the Waking Flame has a lot of eyes in Blackwood. If Eveli shows up in Gideon the same day she was in Leyawiin, Vandacia will smell a rat and plan accordingly. This way, when seconds matter, he won't know I'm already there until it's too late."

"That's thinking about the big picture."

"It doesn't always work. In Markarth, I was reduced to using the wayshrines constantly just to keep up with Rada al-Saran. Vampire Lords are fast on the wing. And make no mistake, if the cult's portal hadn't taken us right to Castle Leyawiin, we would've booked it straight to the nearest wayshrine for a chance at saving the Councilors."

The Mages Guild was deep in the Ayleid ruins that formed the foundation of Stormhold. Unlike the Waking Flame's camp, it was well-lit, well-furnished, and inhabited by mostly-peaceful scholars.

Mirri spotted the Altmer Mirtulivon's perpetually grumpy face. He scowled deeper as they approached and stuck his finger in her face. "Your unscrupulous mother cheated me."

"You take that back. Mom wouldn't cheat clients."

"Well, what do you call offering to trade a favor for information, reneging on the favor, and running off to follow the lead I gave her? I call that cheating!"

"Dad will refund you. I just need to know where Mom went."

"So you too want the info? No."

She gritted her teeth. If she hit him, he'd probably fry her on the spot, then Cardea Gallia would bury her with the paperwork from complaints about inter-guild cooperation, and Varanis would write 'Should've kept her temper' on the burial urn. "Look, maybe we can come to an agreement."

"No. How do the Dunmer say it? 'Sod off, fetcher.'"

Behind her, Varanis said, "Hey, Valaste! I didn't know you were out here."

She turned to see another Altmer, a blonde, painfully neat woman in silk robes that shone with powerful enchantments, beaming at the two of them. "Varanis, it's been ages. Find any new books for me?"

"Actually, my Daedrologist friend and I can pass on some Dagonist literature after our code-breaker gets done with it."

"We'll make sure we keep it well-protected," Valaste promised. To Mirri, she said, "A Daedrologist? If you can learn anything from my mistakes, be cautious and take it slow. And have very good friends who will pull you out when you go too far in."

By the time introductions with the Guildmaster were made and Valaste and Varanis went off to talk about dealing with a surge of occult books in Blackwood, Mirtulivon's golden skin looked more like marzipan. "I don't want a refund. I want my ink pot back. It's priceless and the banker took it from me in a card game. Get it back - I don't care how - and I'll tell you where your mother went."

"Priceless?" Of course, if it were her, she'd hang on to the thing just to spite him. So perhaps the banker wouldn't part with it for love or money. Which meant..."You told my mother to rob the bank. Of course she wouldn't do that!"

"Why not? Your whole family is a bunch of no-good, dirty tomb robbers."

She stormed out of the Guild before she hit him. The fresh air helped, and when Varanis came out ten minutes later, she said, "I don't expect him to understand the difference between digging through ruins for treasure and robbing a bank. My family does the former."

"Which one are we doing?"

Mother's life might hang in the balance. She took a deep breath. "Robbing the bank."

VaranisArano

A Mother's Obsession: Part 2

Under-root Bank was a two story building in the Dunmer style, with bank vaults underneath watched by a member of Stormhold's guards. Mirri hoped the ink pot was in an office upstairs, because if it was in a vault, she was just going to have to pull a spare fortune from her behind to buy the ink pot back. "It's too bad I suck at cards."

"I used to play," Varanis said wistfully. "That was a long time ago, and against my fellow officers, not a banker with a head for numbers." She added, "Worse, I'm about as stealthy as a bull kagouti in mating season. Best I can do is guarantee that Under-Root will be tied up for several hours dealing with me so she won't know when the ink pot goes missing."

How was she going to do that? "At least come get me out of jail if I get caught."

Once in the bank, Mirri tried to act casual while Varanis marched right up to the counter where Under-root waited. She leaned over the counter to speak confidentially to the Argonian woman. "I'm hearing rumors that gold inflation from the dragon hoards at Elsweyr is driving some Merchant Guilds to bankruptcy. I want to review my membership agreements and responsibilities. Can you pull my sales records and go over them with me to make sure everything's in order?"

"Of course," Under-root said, "As always, I swear on my mother's egg tooth that your riches are well looked after."

"Oh, I believe you." She followed Under-root into a side room. Mirri risked a look. No ink pot. Whew! "It's just with the rumors, I'm worried that I should diversify out of the potion business and..." The door shut behind them.

Mirri shrugged and said to the guard, "Sounds like that could take awhile. Guess I'll go upstairs and look for a different banker."

The bankers' desks were upstairs. Under-root's had to be the largest, and there, in pride of place with a swooping feather in it, was the ugliest lump of clay ever formed into an ink pot. It looked like her little siblings made it. This was priceless?

The other Dunmer banker, who's brass nameplate read 'Seviel Andril', tugged on his vest and cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "Under-root is helping another client, and I-"

"Am here for the ink pot," he finished. "You're the fifth sap Mirtulivon sent for it in the past month. Now you can go quietly, or I can call the guard."

Fetch. If she left, it'd be hours before she could cobble up a Plan C with Varanis. Time for Plan B: bribe him. "If Under-root has you guarding her things, shouldn't she be paying you a guard's salary too?"

"You know, I do believe you're the first one to offer me a proper cut of the deal. What do you want that ugly thing so bad for?"

"He knows where my mother went."

"Well, then-" He named a price. It was most of her ready cash. She handed it over without complaint. "Pleasure doing business with you."

She emptied and pocketed the ink pot. On the way out, she told the several waiting customers, "You'll have to go upstairs for service." With any luck, Serjo Andril would serve so many, there'd be no point in trying to guess which one walked off with it while he was busy.

……………………….

Mirtulivon inspected the lumpen pot in minute detail, stroking his grey beard as he turned it over and over. Satisfied, he said, "I told your mother that Edvilda Stone-Stalker, another antiquity hunter, made a discovery about the ancient Dwemer in Stonefalls she might be interested in. Out near Steamfont. Now you toddle off."

Mother loved Dwemer stuff. She got it from Grandfather, who'd practically loved Dwemer stuff more than his family. That lead would've been like mating pheromones to a bull netch. Even though she wanted to blame the elf for Mother's long absence, it wasn't really his fault.

"What's with the 'priceless' ink pot?" She asked instead.

"Do you have any idea how rare it is that something this wretched came out of Summerset? It's even made by a Sapiarch of Ceramics back in his early days of study. Normally they'd smash it all to bits. It's uniquely bad!"

"I think I'd rather have a pretty one, but whatever makes you happy."

Varanis met her at the wayshrine a few hours after the midday meal. Mirri asked, "Do you know a wayshrine near Steamfont in Stonefalls?"

"Steamfont? There's a crafters camp out that way." Varanis held one hand up to the Wayshrine's central brazier and the other out for Mirri to grasp. "Davon's Watch, coming right up."

Stonefalls was as hot as the marsh, and as dry as Shadowfen was wet. A thin haze of ash particles greyed the sky. The Velothi Mountains dominated the sky ahead while walls of Davon's Watch rose up behind them.

"Ah, the sulfur smell of home." Varanis sighed.

"You live here?"

"Grew up east of Kragenmoor, south of here. I'm named for the region. There's a dolmen there with the same name as me; I'm pretty sure Molag Bal is still dropping a dark anchor there out of pure spite."

A Nord guard wearing Pact armor stopped. "Are you the hero of Davon's Watch? I'd like to shake your hand."

For the next ten minutes, Varanis was politely mobbed by well-wishers. Then the higher ranking Pact officers arrived, wanting to talk strategy. At that point, Varanis broke free for a quick conference with her. "Thanks to the mountains, Steamfont is about two hours ride out to the coast and then the same ride southwest. If you want to go now, I understand. Just realize it'll be getting dark a few hours later if you have to search around."

"Knowing mother, we're going to be searching for a while. Antiquity hunters like the person she was meeting move around a lot and sometimes even hide their tracks so it's harder to snipe their finds." The more she thought, the more rushing out sounded like a bad idea. "I hate to wait when she might be hurt or in trouble. I'm just afraid I'd miss something in the dark."

"Then we'll leave well before dawn tomorrow."

Maybe her remaining coin would cover an inn room and renting a horse. She dug into her purse. She'd rent the stable nag.

"I promised you a mount, didn't I," Varanis said. "What's your favorite color: gold, black, white, or red?"

"Er, gold?" Gold sounded properly heroic.

"Right." Varanis dug around in her pack for a while, pulling out four of the most gorgeous peacock feathers she'd ever seen.

Emerald, jet black, milky with opalescent highlights...she poked the gold one, "I can't believe it's not gilded."

"Put them all together." Varanis stepped back.

The feathers were silky soft. Not knowing what to expect, she took them all and fanned them out. A warm wind swirled around her, tugging at the feathers, and motes in the four colors began to dance around her. The wind tugged harder, and it felt right to let go.

The motes and feathers became a whirlwind, and when they settled, a young buck indrik stood in front of her. His fur and feathers shone in a thousand shades of gray from steel to silver. Though so young that his horn and rack weren't sharp, he was a Prince of steeds. When she petted his snout, it was as soft as she'd dreamed.

"He's adorable! My sisters are gonna be so jealous when they see you."

Varanis held out a handful of glowing golden berries. "Feed him these. It'll turn his feathers and antlers golden."

She hugged his neck. He whuffed at her hair. "No way. He's perfect!"

VaranisArano

A Mother's Obsession: Part 3

As they rode out to Steamfont through the ashlands, Mirri and Varanis traded stories about their parents.

"This isn't the first time I've had to hunt down my mother." Mirri shared. "She gets wrapped up in things, and just forgets to write home. When she's home, she'd forget to eat if Dad didn't remind her. They're an odd couple. She's an adventurer from the Elendis clan. We're tiny; you won't have heard of us."

"Not too many people outside of House Redoran knew about the Aranos before me either. What about your dad?"

"Dad is a real Hlaalu. He's also the seventh son of a seventh son and is just too sweet to climb over his siblings to get his share of the money. So he runs a small trading business and took the Elendis name when he married Mom for love." Curious, she asked, "Under-root never treated my family so well when we lived in Stormhold. You run a business too?"

"Some would call it war-profiteering. I go into wild areas like Craglorn and harvest the rare ingredients for potions, armor, and weapons. I get a hefty cut from the trading guilds when they sell the goods. Everybody needs what I sell, so I'm pretty rich. Not Great House scion-type-rich, but enough for some VIP treatment when I need it."

"Is your father still a saltrice farmer?"

"Yes. If I gave him money, he'd use it to buy war prisoners as slaves for the farm. So I don't, and he whines that his old bones ache as he works the paddies while his only child lacks traditional Redoran filial piety." She shrugged. "There's a reason I haven't been to the farm in years."

She didn't mention her mother and Mirri didn't press. Dawn painted the ash slopes red as their mounts climbed up to the crafter camp at Steamfont. The name came from Dwemer pipes that belched out steam from geologic hot springs deep beneath the earth. The crafters told they'd seen someone camp above Steamfont Cavern a month ago, and not come back down.

Riding up above the cavern, she saw a single tent. Her stomach did a flip-flop. It wasn't her mother's; it was Nord style, and if it was Edvilda's she could only hope the veteran antiquity hunter would cooperate.

Unfortunately, when they got there, Edvilda was already dead and drying out in the ash. Mirri tore through the tent, coming up with her journal. The selfish hunter had lied to get mother out of the way! She'd sent her off to - "Inner Sea Armature?"

"It's a dwemer ruin nearby." Varanis said, poking through the rest of the camp. She held up a knitted scarf and shook off the ash to reveal colorful and uneven stripes. "This look familiar?"

Liam made that scarf. She held it against her face, wishing it still smelled of perfume. If this was all she could find, Father would be heartbroken. Furious, she kicked ash over Edvilda's face. "You sent her there to die."

Varanis touched her shoulder. "Don't give up hope. Last time I was there, it was a bandit-infested ruin, not a dwemer machine-filled ruin. They may have taken her captive. I'll just offer to pay the ransom."

"You're a good friend. Let's go."

………………………...

Mother was alive! Chained up to a post in what passed for the bandit camp's kitchen, but alive!

Bandit Chief Telvasa Uthil counted out the sizeable pile of Varanis' gold at the price she'd set for a "slave who can cook." She swept the gold into a bag and sent it with one of her people farther into the ruin. "Always a pleasure doing business with the Pact, Captain."

She dangled the key in the air between them. "Her ash yam stew is particularly excellent. Perhaps I should have charged more."

The ash yam stew ought to be good; it was Mirri's favorite. Hoping not to reveal too much eagerness, she pasted on a smile, "I can't wait to try it."

Varanis bared her teeth in a grin no one would call friendly. "Don't jerk my chain. Unlock her."

Uthil freed Mother and escorted them to the door so quick it was clear she wanted to see the back of them. Since Mirri wanted to see the back of her, it suited them just fine.

Once out of sight from the Armature, Mirri flung herself on her mother.

"Oh, scrib, I'm glad to see you." Her mother's strong fingers caressed her hair.

"Mom, are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"I'm fine. I've been adventuring since before you were in diapers and I know when to surrender. I wasn't about to mess with them after they killed Edvilda. Their cook at the time was, well, it reminded me of your first attempts at cooking."

"Mom!"

"So I became their cook. I figured 'A bunch of bandits or a bunch of hungry teenagers in the house; what's the difference?'"

"Mom."

She stuck her hand out to Varanis. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met. I'm Irenni Elendis. Do you work for my husband?"

Mirri quickly explained the circumstances of their meeting, and Irenni insisted on a hug instead. "You've saved my son and now me. That practically makes you family already. Are you just friends with Mirri, or something more?"

"Mom! This is why I never bring anyone home." B'vehk, now Varanis was laughing at her. "Mom, we need to talk." She held out Edvilda's journal. "This says you went in there looking for a Dwemer Puzzle Box."

Irenni grew excited. "Yes! I couldn't really look around much as their prisoner. Did you see it?"

"Edvilda lied. She played you. There was no Puzzle Box and you almost died chasing Grandfather's dream." Her mother seemed to shrink in front of her eyes and she couldn't stop shouting or stop her hands from shaking as she held out Liam's scarf. "Grandfather didn't stop trying to figure out that box until he died. What if your scarf was the last thing we had left of you?"

Her mother took it, playing the unevenly striped yarn in between her fingers. "Mirri, I'm sorry."

"If you really mean it, you'll stop chasing after Grandfather's lost puzzle box."

"I just want his spirit to be at peace in the halls of our ancestors."

"I don't want to lose my mother like you lost him! I love you, Mom. And not just for your ash yam stew."

Irenni buried her face in the yarn scarf. Gravel and ash crunched as Varanis headed down the slope to give them space to talk.

"Alright. I'll stop."

"Promise me, Mom."

"I promise." She hugged her tight. "I'm so proud of you. Saving Liam. Keeping company with the Vestige. Saving me. You're going to be an even better adventurer than I am. Than I was," she corrected herself. "Maybe it's time to hang up my rucksack for a while and spend some quality time with your dad. Neither of us is getting any younger."

"I think he'd like that."

They rode back to the Davon's Watch wayshrine with her indrik carrying double. "I think I'll name him 'Lucky,'" Mirri decided, thinking of Eveli's advice, and knowing that she'd had more than her fair share of it today.

"Do you have time to come home with me and meet the family?" Irenni asked.

"We don't have time," Mirri said, then explained to Varanis, "We'll have to meet everyone, and by everyone, I mean out to my third cousins. Everyone will be certain we're dating and I'll never hear the end of it."

Despite her chuckles, Varanis said, "I'm afraid we're urgently needed back in Blackwood."

Irenni stuck her finger in Varanis' face. "You take care of my daughter, you hear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She hugged her mom. Irenni said, "Scrib, be careful. Do as I say, not as I do - as I did."

"I promise, Mom."

VaranisArano

A Hidden Vault: Part 1

Back in Gideon, they met Eveli and Governor Keshu at the stables. "Is that an indrik?" Eveli asked as she checked the saddle on her bay horse. "Legend says those are blessed by Y'ffre."

"Varanis gave him to me. I call him 'Lucky.'" He really was the perfect hero's steed, since she could summon him with a snap of her fingers just like the flaming panther.

"A good name."

Varanis asked, "Do you want one?"

"No, but if you find something that flies, let me know. Can you imagine me raining down arrows from the sky?"

The Black Fin watched them with the amusement of someone's who's favored mount was a famously bad tempered welwa ravager that had once taken on a wamasu and won. "The natural formation Ojel-bak where Leovic hid these weapons, also called the pit of the outsider, is several days ride to the south deep in territory claimed by the warlike Sul-Xan tribe. These Naga killed every Imperial emissary sent to them and periodically raid nearby tribes and villages. I do not doubt your courage and capability after the tale of your deeds at Hutan-Tzel, but..." She spread her hands. "It's not wise to pick more than one fight at a time."

"We'll avoid fighting where we can," Varanis assured her.

"Bring back whatever you find. Gideon will keep the Ambitions safe from Vendacia and his traitors."

………………………….

The farther south they rode, the deeper, denser, and darker the forests got. Then the ground dipped as they entered a valley: Ojel-bak. "What do you think they did to outsiders here?" Mirri asked, undeniably nervous as they crept around the valley edge away from the multitude of tribal campfires in the center.

"Probably sacrificed them to Sithis," Eveli said.

Mirri shuddered.

"Or," Varanis said, "perhaps it means 'The Outsider', as in someone outside of Nirn entirely." She pointed through a gap in the pine trees where a spire of black metal could be seen. "That's a doomvault and it looks like it's been here a long time."

They broke through the trees into the Doomvault's clearing to find Lyranth tapping her foot waiting for them by the doors. "Oh good, my professional ward-breakers have arrived."

Eveli groaned, pressing her hand to her head. Mirri grabbed her so she didn't fall. "Ugh, another vision from that stupid book. Why is it always at the worst time?"

Lyranth said, "It's the Mysterium Xarxes. Written by Mehrunes Dagon himself. If the worst it does is give you headaches and visions, little mortal, you should be grateful."

Eveli took the hidebound book from her pack and carried it to the door of the doomvault. "It wants to be here."

Red light the same color of Vandacia's magic flared out from the crack of the door and hit the Mysterium Xarxes. A series of symbols scrawled themselves over the doors, answered by a scrawl of symbols flowing out of the book. The huge metal doors began to grind open.

Eveli swayed, and leaned on Mirri's shoulder. "It's called the Doomvault Capraxus. I don't know how I know that."

Mirri said, "Probably the daedric artifact you're carrying around. It's not exactly his razor, but still, be careful with it."

Eveli nodded.

Lyranth marched forward, "I sense the Ambitions are still inside. Cultists too, it goes without saying."

"Right," Mirri said. "I think we've got fighting cultists down to a science."

Much like the doomvault she'd been excavating when it all went wrong, Capraxus was much larger on the inside. Passages alternated with bits of Blackwood merging into the lava pits and thundering sky of the Deadlands. Bog dogs squabbled with clannfears for the scraps of cultists unlucky enough to get in their way. Hackwings harrassed a daedroth, sending it fleeing from the tree that held their nests, even as the tree's leaves wilted and crisped in the dry heat.

It was Eveli's first time in a doomvault. "This place is huge!"

Lyranth said, "Each one is a small pocket of Oblivion, or more accurately, a little pocket of space where Oblivion can bleed into Nirn and Nirn into Oblivion. Of course, to Mehrunes Dagon, they are one and the same."

She'd heard this one from other books on Daedrology. "Isn't that the Dagonist conspiracy that Nirn is just another Oblivion Realm, and Lorkhan was its Prince?"

"Silly mortals. So close and so far. Dagon believes that Nirn is his realm of Oblivion. In the doomvaults, his belief becomes truth. Both realms change, becoming a new one." She scratched at her chin. "Hmm, perhaps that explains the purpose of these Ambitions."

"What sort of weapon creates a new world?" Mirri wondered.

Varanis said, "The Dark Anchors pulled bits of Tamriel into Coldharbor. I'm expecting something similar."

Eveli pointed at the reflective walls, many of which bore the intaglio of a ram with curved horns. "Maybe some sort of battering ram, meant to breach the walls between Nirn and Oblivion?"

"That makes sense," Mirri agreed. "The Longhouse Emperors didn't expect that Varen Aquilarios would overthrow them and then promptly break the Alessian Covenant, thus removing all of Akatosh's protection against daedric invasions. Their plan wasn't ready, then."

They reached another warded door. Lyranth said, "I sense the Ambitions are very close."

Eveli raised up the Mysterium Xarxes again. Symbols flew. "Here goes nothing."

The doors to the weapons vault swung wide, revealing a bedroom. A rather frilly bedroom with lacy curtains and bedspread on a four poster bed. Another bed stood further into the very large room, minus the lace. The walls were covered with bookshelves, not weapons racks, and paintings that were either still lifes of everyday items scattered around the Vault or of the same subject: a young red haired Imperial man with a tight beard, usually casting spells.

"Um?" A young woman with the same shade of reddish hair peeked out from behind a painter's easel, "Are you our new caretakers?"

The man from the painting stepped out from behind a pillar. "They look more dangerous than the last lot, Calia. Be careful."

Mirri asked her, "This looks like your home. Where are the weapons?"

"Weapons? We don't have any. Destron's got a pocket knife."

Destron said, "Calia's paintings have done a real number on my ego."

"Oh, shut up!"

Even if it weren't for the family resemblance between the two, the bickering made her certain that they were siblings. Twins, probably. "You two remind me of my family. I wasn't expecting to find people in here."

While Lyranth, Eveli, Varanis spread out to check the bookshelves, Destron asked, "So why'd you break our guardian wards? We felt it, you know. The Emperor used to visit with teachers for us, and they never needed to do that."

"Well, we're not really here to teach you. I mean, we will - if you want to come with us."

"I knew it!" Destron told his sister. "No one's come to visit in years."

Varanis came over, saying, "Emperor Leovic is dead."

Both twins' jaws dropped. "Then what do we do?" Calia asked.

"His Empire has fragmented over the last six years. We're here on behalf of what remains of his Elder Council, looking for Daedric weapons we believe the Emperor hid inside your vault." Varanis said. "There's a rather dangerous cult chasing after the same weapons and I suggest that you evacuate with us rather than wait here for them to find you."

She'd played a little fast and loose with the truth for Mirri's taste, but perhaps this wasn't the time for lengthy explanations. Not when Eveli jogged back from the far doors, saying, "I'm pretty sure the cultists have found us. If we're gonna check the deeper vaults for weapons, we'd better leave now."

Lyranth said, "I sense something about these two. I'll stick with them."

Was the dremora trying to hint at something? "I'll stay with them too."

Destron grabbed his journal. Calia fretted over her painting. "It's not dry yet."

"We'll buy you more paints in Gideon after you make it out alive," Varanis said. "Go with Mirri."

VaranisArano

A Hidden Vault: Part 2

Mirri, Lyranth, and the twins went ahead, while Eveli and Varanis headed off down a flight of stairs to the lower levels of the doomvault. As they went through yet more metal-walled hallways, Destron asked, "What's the world outside like? And will you still train us like you said?"

"Of course!" Mirri said. A pocket knife wasn't going to protect them from cultists. "I saw that you're a mage?"

"Yeah, I know some spells."

He and Calia listened with great interest as she explained how to use Twilight's Mantle to duck out of trouble. Destron asked, "What's twilight like?"

"Have you never left the vault? Ever seen the sun?"

"Nope."

First into the next room, Lyranth stopped dead, and swore something vile and obscene in daedric.

"I'll have to remember that next time I need to curse out a s'wit," Mirri said. The next room was a large, long rectangular hall, and several ranks of cultists stood waiting between them and the door on the far side. "Oh, fetch."

"We see you," one of the cultists shouted. "Might as well come on out."

"Who is it?" Calia asked.

"The cultists."

When Calia and Destron came into the room, a hubbub went up from the cultists. "The Twin Ambitions!"

"The Rams!"

One man swaggered forward. "Ambitions, allow me to be the first to claim you in the name of Mehrunes Dagon."

Calia whispered, "That sounds bad."

Mirri whispered back, "It is bad." Especially since it sounded like the Ambitions they were looking for were...the twins? The twins weren't weapons.

Destron pushed past her. "We're not going with you," he told the man.

"Don't imagine you have a choice."

"I'm warning you. I'll do what I've been trained to do."

"You're coming with us whether you want to or not."

Calia screamed. Destron threw out his hands. Bright actinic lighting flashed between them, arcing towards and through every cultist between him and the door. They collapsed, their dying screams swallowed up by the thunderclap that followed.

Mirri blinked frantically, her vision filled with bright spots. "When you said you were a bit of a mage, you sold yourself short! What was this doomvault; some sort of battlemage academy?"

Lyranth said, "It wasn't a spell. You're the so-called 'daedrologist.' You figure it out."

Destron rubbed his hands together. "It's not really a spell. Those I picked up from books. I've always been able to do this, even before the Emperor sent tutors to train me. It just comes naturally."

The spots were slowly fading. She rubbed her eyes again. "So what I'm hearing is that the Longhouse Emperors stuck you in this Vault as kids so tiny you don't even remember seeing the sun, then trained your natural power until you could zap a whole room of people to death, for the purpose of either using you as weapons or giving you to Mehrunes Dagon. Whether you wanted to or not."

Lyranth almost rolled her eyes. "Well done. Someone's infused these two with immense daedric power."

"When you say it like that," he said in a small voice, "This vault sounds like a bad thing. Our powers sound really bad."

Calia hugged him. "You didn't have a choice. They wanted to take us away."

"So does she."

"At least she was polite about it."

"What if we said no?" Destron asked. They both looked at her.

"Well, I'd prefer not to get fried whilst trying to make you do something you don't want to," she said. "Look, this isn't exactly a safe place for you anymore. There are cultists inside, a hostile Naga tribe outside, and a rogue Councilor out to "unlock the ambitions", whatever that means. So why don't we get out of here, show you what sunlight is, then sit down somewhere safe and talk it all out straight with Varanis and Eveli when they get done with their wild goose chase?"

……………………….

That night, they sat around a campfire. Destron stared into the crackling logs as though it was the only familiar thing around. Maybe it was. Calia twirled a small yellow flower in her fingers. "There's so much beauty beyond the vault."

Eveli said, "Just wait until we get back to Gideon. Cities are really something!"

Varanis paced the perimeter of the small camp. As she went by, Destron asked her, "Are we really safe here?"

She shrugged. "No. No one camps out here except for the Sul-Xan, and therefore, no one who doesn't want to face the Sul-Xan is going to investigate a campfire. And no one messes with the Sul-Xan lightly."

"So we're not safe."

Mirri said, "I promised we'd be straight with you. You aren't safe. The Emperor who protected you is dead, and I'm not even sure if he was really protecting you, or planning to use you. I can say that the man who commands those cultists, Vandacia, is a murderer."

Eveli broke in. "He turned on the rest of the Elder Council. He murdered four Councilors to find out where you were hidden."

Varanis added, "Judging by the numbers we're seeing from his Order of the Waking Flame, they've been recruiting for decades. I've fought a cult like that before and I can tell you what it means: spies everywhere. Anyone could be out to take you to Vandacia."

"Anyone?" Calia said. "Then maybe we shouldn't trust you."

Leave it to Varanis to successfully pass on her paranoia to the people they needed to trust them most.

Eveli said. "We're on Vandacia's hit list because we stopped him from killing the last of the Elder Council. So you can trust Councilor Lovidicus and Governor Keshu. They are working to clear out the Order's spies."

"I feel like that's what someone who's lying to us might say," Calia said, doubtfully.

Mirri sighed. Varanis chuckled, "You're a girl after my own heart, Calia."

Calia tossed the flower onto the fire. The yellow petals blackened and curled. "I don't actually think you mean us any harm. I just sense that you aren't telling us everything."

"Ah," Varanis said. "That's because I was afraid I might offend you. You see, Emperor Leovic and the other Longhouse Emperors are widely regarded as foreign usupers to the Imperial throne. Spies aside, it might be best not to advertise that connection. Also, if you've been raised to the service of the Lord of Fire and Flood, then you should know that Mehrunes Dagon is the Daedric Prince of Destruction, and is widely regarded as very evil indeed." She resumed her pacing, face outward into the night, shield on her arm and hand never far from her mace.

"Oh." Calia said in a very small voice. "I guess I did ask.

Destron said, "Leovic said we had a special purpose. He didn't say what."

Mirri recalled her lore on Dagon. "Dagon destroyed a couple cities in the past. Ald Sotha, Gil-var-delle, even Mournhold. That's the largest city in Morrowind. Maybe that's what the Emperors wanted. Like Imperial battlemages, but able to destroy cities."

Destron and Calia looked at each other over the flames for a very long time, silently communicating with little changes of expression and deep familiarity with each other's thoughts.

The three women left them to it. Mirri leaned back on her bedroll, staring up into the sky. Who would've thought "the Ambitions" would be people? For that matter, what sort of monster stuck little kids in a vault and never let them out to experience the world? Really, they'd gotten lucky that Destron and Calia were as normal as they seemed. If they'd been made in the same power-hungry mode as Vandacia, this would've been a nasty fight.

What would she do if they decided to risk the cultists and strike out on their own?

The others had important stuff to do. Eveli had more connections with the Councilor. Varanis had a better grasp of the high-level strategy. Her? She was just an average adventurer with the urge to be a hero.

No. She was a lucky adventurer. The twins might need that luck.

She rolled over to face them. "If you two don't want to go to Gideon, I'll go with you. You'll need someone watching your back."

"And if we go to Gideon?" Calia asked.

"Then I'll be helping Varanis. But since she'll be fighting the Order of the Waking Flame, we'll all be helping keep you safe."

Calia looked to Destron.

He nodded. "We'll trust you three to keep us safe in Gideon."

VaranisArano

The Rising Winds: Part 1

On their fast ride down to the Ojel-bak, the three women had ridden past the Argonian village of Stonewastes. Now, on the return journey, Mirri spotted smoke rising from above the trees. "Something's very wrong."

"More cultists?" Destron asked.

Looking for all the world like a mother hen fluffing her feathers to protect her chicks, Varanis stood tall in her stirrups to get a better look. Then, wheeling her panther around, she told them, "Stay here, I'll be but a moment."

"Last time you said that-" and she'd ridden off, leaving Eveli and the twins staring at Mirri. "Wanna hear about the time I saved Varanis?"

"Heck, yes!" Eveli said.

By the time she'd finished telling the fight with the voriplasm duplicates, Varanis returned, reporting, "The fight was already over. Some warlord is picking off the fringes of Sul-Xan territory and extorting supplies from villagers to prepare for the inevitable showdown. Stonewastes has protectors - four of them - but this warlord killed one of the friends, and now the other three have decided to stick their heads in the sand while he destroys a house each time the villagers don't cough up enough food."

"What?" Mirri exclaimed. "You can't just take breaks when people are depending on you."

Eveli said, "I took a break after Orsinium. Sometimes you need time to grieve."

"That was afterwards, though."

Varanis said, "At least it's a healthier reaction to a friend dying than learning necromancy to bring them back. I've seen that."

"Ugh."

"Or joining a daedric cult and swearing vengeance against the gods because their child died. I've seen that too. Twice."

"Why don't these heroes want revenge? If those bandits killed Mom, I don't know what I would've done."

"Used an ancient volcanic spirit to rain death and destruction on them, and also half of Stonefalls?" Varanis suggested. "Or lured hundreds of wild beasts near their camp to drive them off? I'm not saying ignoring a warlord in your backyard is a good idea, but it's a lot better than some of the roaring rampages of revenge I've seen."

Bringing up Olik was a hit below the belt. "I would've just killed the bandits."

Calia ventured, "Can we help them? Since their heroes won't."

Varanis said, "I'd feel a lot safer with you off the road and in Gideon."

Last night, she'd thought about priorities. The need to keep the twins safe, balanced against the bigger picture of what the Waking Flame was doing in Blackwood. At Hutan-Tzel, she'd seen how local conflicts could create far-reaching consequences. Now, perhaps she was seeing a whole different aspect to being a hero: what to do when something unexpected came up and you couldn't walk away in good conscience. Maybe Varanis planned on wayshrining back here later. Still..."You go on to Gideon. I'll stay."

Varanis nodded in approval. "You're ready. And it's a good idea to make sure no one is cooking up another crazy revenge scheme."

"Is that safe?" Destron asked. "For us and for you?"

"They've already got three heroes. All I have to do is convince them to fight." Mirri said. "You'll be safe with Varanis; she's the Vestige!"

"What's a Vestige?"

Leaving them to that long tale for the road, Mirri rode Lucky into Stonewastes. Most of the village buildings were Argonian reed houses built high up on stilts to keep them out of the seasonal floods. Several homes had been wrecked - one looked like Breton cheese with all the holes punched through its walls - and the pale-scaled village blacksmith who hailed her down was battered and bruised like all the others.

"Oh," he said with some disappointment, "I had hoped - never mind."

"I'm Mirri and I'm here to help. It sounds to me like your protectors need a little push to get off their butts."

"Maybe a strange Dunmer showing up will motivate them. Or maybe not. The Four Winds quarreled even before Warlord Naxhosa killed Satul-Sa."

After a little persuasion, Nuxul the Smith agreed to lead her around the village outskirts where the Winds lived.

The first, Elossi the Sudden Gust, was known for her stealth. So when they found her home empty with the evening meal half-prepared, Mirri said, "Hey, Elossi, since you're probably watching us right now, how about you and the rest of the Winds deal with Naxhosa before someone else has to clean up your mess?"

Silence.

Nuxul said, "Maybe you shouldn't be quite so insulting to people you are asking to help."

There was movement out of the corner of her eye. She ducked and pivoted, and a flying dagger thunked into the wooden slat where her head had been.

"Oh, fetch. I was rude. I'm sorry!"

A blackscaled Argonian woman in leather armor appeared, blocking the door. "Well, at least your reflexes are as sharp as your speech, dry-skin." Elossi sharpened her claws on another dagger. "I'd thrown my daggers into the swamp after my quarrel with Satul-Sa. I needed them back to avenge her, no?"

Now she really wished a pit of quicksand would open up under her feet and swallow her whole. "I've been a real s'wit. I shouldn't have assumed you weren't going to fight."

Elossi made a hacking sort of laugh. "I wasn't going to. I was watching your group on the road and figured your very capable looking adventurer-friend would take care of the problem. But then she rode off, and I was angry at her. Angry enough that I resolved to get my daggers and avenge my friend and our village properly."

"I had no idea you were watching us." She admitted, chagrined.

"Come with me and learn, dryskin."

Elossi drilled her relentlessly in stealth techniques all the way to the cave where Meer-Ta "the Zephyr Eternal" lived. She emphasized, "Mages only brute force their way to invisibility. You must never forget the basics. The direction of the wind, your footing, your silhouette, the play of light and shadow across your surroundings...combine that with just a hint of illusion, and you will be harder to spot than a chameleon."

"Is Meer-Ta a mage?"

"Yes," Elossi admitted with a grimace. "He's as grumpy as he is good, and he's very, very good. You'd best go on alone. I haven't kept up with him or Otumi-Ra for good reasons."

This time, with a lot more respect for the idea of actually learning from these heroes, she approached the green-robed Argonian who was muttering over the translation of some ancient runes.

"Pardon me, Serjo. Elossi and I-"

He looked up from the runes and practically bared his teeth. "Sounds like a load of 'not my business.' Now get out of mine."

"A warlord killed Satul-Sa."

"So what."

"I thought you were friends?"

"Key word: were. Why are you still here? No, don't answer that question. Just leave."

By Vehk, he was ruder than a Telvanni Magelord! He sure wasn't going teach her anything. Even Tiras Terethi softened up a bit once they saved him, which gave her an idea.

So she offered, "Can I do anything to help your research, to make up for lost time while you help the village defeat the bandits?"

"Nope. My work could make history. It brooks no delays."

Just like a Telvanni, completely absorbed in secretive learning. "Then at least tell me where I can find Otumi-Ra so I can ask him for help."

Meer-Ta stared at her from under lowered brows. "You want the drunken lout?"

He sounded properly irritated, like she'd pricked his pride. Just like a Telvanni - rivalries and all.

She tried to channel Eveli's sincere enthusiasm, fully aware that he could fry her if he thought she was being the least bit sarcastic. "Elossi's going to help me fight Naxhosa and protect the village. Since you're too busy with very important matters, I'll need all the help I can get."

"Khah-khah-khah!" He burst out laughing, clutching his chest and wheezing. "You want - khah - the drunken sod - khah - oh Sithis, it's too funny. Southwest, by the cliffside. Prepare to be disappointed."

Elossi made a face when she returned with the bad news. "Go into the swamp and get the seeds of a briar plant. We'll need them to wake Otumi-Ra from his stupor. Practice stealth."

Fully expecting that Elossi was watching her from a distance, Mirri headed out into the swamp. Moving from tree to tree, she avoided the crocodiles sunning themselves on the pond's shores. While the wind blew her scent away, a quick dash under Twilight's Mantle brought her past a pair of giant bloodsucking mosquitoes with nothing worse than a natural-looking rustle of leaves. The only mishap came after she had the seeds. As she was skirting around a lizard-bear lounging on a fallen tree, the wind shifted. It's head shot up, and it looked straight at her. She froze, not sure if she should grab her bow. It bolted off the trunk and ran deeper into the woods.

If she'd seen it, Elossi didn't say anything. Just pointed her to the yard of a rather ramshackle house, "The briar pods stink to high heaven! Shove 'em under his nose to drive out the drink."

Cautiously, Mirri sniffed the seeds. "I don't smell anything."

"You're a dryskin, s'wit."

Feeling like a fool, she climbed into the yard. Otumi-Ra was big for an Argonian and made taller yet by a full frill of horns. He was stretched out lying on his back, mumbling drunken nonsense to the sky.

"Glad we don't have to drag you anywhere," she muttered, sticking the seeds near his snout.

He sniffed, growled, and slapped her hand away. Then he rolled over, shaking his head as he slowly got back to his feet. "What sort of bandit wakes a man up with a stink bomb before robbing him?"

"What sort of hero gets drunk when people need him?" Mirri retorted.

Elossi told her, "Go wash your hands. Let me talk to him."

When she got back, they were inside the hut. Otumi-Ra had his head in his hands, and half of another bottle gone. "I wanted to ask her to be my mate," he said. "Now she's dead and I never will. Of course I'll help. And if I help, Meer-Ta won't be able to stay away."

"Excellent!" Mirri said.

He put up one finger. "Before we go, we drink to success."

"I'm not sure that's the best idea."

"Whyever not?" He got up and began collecting a number of bottles. "It's not enough to fight glorious battles and come out victorious. We must enjoy life. Party!"

He poured a small amount of berry-ale, then mixed in some red absinthe. "I've traded the warrior life for a brewer's. Come, let me see your zest for life!"

He poured two more liquors in and plunked two cups down on the table in front of her and Elossi. "It tastes good, I promise. Drink up, young hero."

She looked to Elossi. Elossi saluted her with her own cup.

She could drink it. In the not so distant past, she'd hang with the Fighters, drink a whole bottle of wine or more, and then go out and fight at the Deshaan dolmens with nary a hangover. Except that Varanis had pierced right to the heart of the matter, and Mirri couldn't deny her own bad habits any longer.

"No." She said.

"I'm going to have to call you some rude names for refusing, young hero."

"My mentor says, 'Save the drinking for after you've won.' I hate it, cause I really like the taste of wine. But she's right. After we win, I'll drink it and enjoy every drop. Beforehand, I need my actual courage, not the liquid variety." Belatedly, she realized that might have been an insult. "Ah, I don't mean that you're a coward, just-"

He bellowed laughter. Elossi hacked right along with him. He clapped her on the shoulder, saying, "After the battle, then. Let me set my standard where Meer-Ta can see it, and we'll get to the business of teaching this Naxhosa and his bandits that he shouldn't mess with the Four Winds."

"The Three Winds," Mirri said. "And me."

"Are you not Mirri, 'The Wandering Breeze' who brought fresh air to our stagnant friendships after so long apart?" He asked.

"You are one of us," Elossi said. "The Four Winds will fight together once more before you wander away, as you must."

She could only bow and say, "I'd be honored."

VaranisArano

The Rising Winds: Part 2

Up until she was looking at Stonewastes fort, she hadn't really worried about the fight ahead. Looking at the ramparts now, the crumbling formerly Imperial fort was going to be a tough nut to crack. Naxhosa's bandits patrolled the walls with good alertness, as befit the edge of Sul-Xan territory. They had prisoners from Stonewastes or other villages in a cage out in the courtyard. They even had catapults aimed down at the village below, ready to destroy more houses.

"So, what's the plan?" She asked the other Three Winds.

"Siege weapons," Otumi-Ra said. "They've got to go."

"Prisoners," Elossi said. "Give me a distraction, and they're as good as freed."

Meer-Ta hmphed. "So straightforward. Naxhosa slew Satul-sa when no mere bandit Chief should have been able to touch The Steady Breath. How did he do it? I will find out."

He vanished from sight. From the slightest waver in the air distorting the walls behind him, she watched him march into the fort and down into its interior unseen by the bandits.

Elossi shook her head, "Brute force. What did I tell you?"

"What do I do?" Mirri asked.

Otumi-Ra said, "Wander where you will, Breeze. Do what you want."

"That's very poetic, but not much help. I'm not my mentor, who can charge in and kill everything that fights her."

"I could use some help with the siege weapons."

"I could use some help with the prisoners." Elossi added, "Meer-ta won't ask. Doesn't mean he doesn't need a breeze to wander by."

Teamwork. Division of labor. Helping each other. It made sense. Hadn't she seen how Varanis ran into trouble on her own with a foe she couldn't simply beat down? The Vestige did much of her work alone and had certain strategies that wouldn't work for Mirri. Perhaps learning how other heroes tackled problems together was what Varanis wanted her to learn!

She scanned the fort again, this time looking for ways to accomplish her new objectives. The stonework supporting the catapult deck was badly crumbling. With enough strength, the walls might give way. Surely that would create enough distraction for Elossi to free the prisoners.

"I've got an idea."

Otumi-Ra put his back against the stone pillar below the catapult deck. "One more good push!" He encouraged.

Mirri braced her feet against a rock and bounced her weight into the pillar through her arms. Pain jolted all the way up through her shoulders. The rocks shifted. She and Otumi-Ra sprinted out from underneath.

Someone up above said, "Did you hear something?"

If there was an answer, it was lost in the crash of falling masonry and twisted machinery. Alarms went up around the fort. Elossi had her distraction.

"I'll go check on Meer-Ta," she said, slipping under Twilight's Mantle. Unlike the mage, she took her time in slipping between the bandits rushing to aid their comrades trapped in the wreckage. If Elossi was watching, she didn't want to embarrass her teacher.

She found Meer-Ta in the last place she'd expected to find in a bandit camp: an actual library that hadn't been ransacked for toilet paper. "I didn't expect bandits to read for pleasure."

He made a rude noise. "Naxhosa does not read for pleasure. He's saved these officers' collections so he can learn from Imperial conquests. Unfortunately, one of these books told him how to kill Satul-Sa. What do you know about Bound Weapons?"

"I'm a Daedrologist. You're saying he's oath-bound some daedric spirits into his weapons to make them powerful enough to overcome the Steady Breath's skill?"

"Precisely. Now think about the implications."

"He's still got them. Fetch. He can beat you. And me."

"Yes."

No daedra ever liked serving mortals. Binding them was as galling as chains to a slave. "If we can find the scroll he Bound them with-"

"Bring it to me, and I'll destroy it."

If she were Naxhosa, that scroll wasn't leaving her sight. "He's probably got it around his neck. I'm gonna need one heck of a distraction."

……………………

The Four Winds marched side by side into Naxhosa's throne room. The warlord sneered down at them from under his helmet made from the skull bone of a behemoth. "The Winds have come to die away."

"You don't scare me!" Mirri shouted back, trying not to sound afraid. Naxhosa's two spiked maces glowed with the power of the spirits he'd bound to them.

"I should scare you, little puff," He taunted back. "Run while you can. Perhaps I'll spare you."

Elossi readied her daggers. Meer-Ta raised his hands. Otumi-Ra drew his obsidian greatsword. "We will have revenge for our friend!"

"You're going to die like her!"

At the first blows, Mirri vanished. Her job wasn't to fight; she had to find that scroll.

It wasn't around his neck; that much was clear from his barechested swagger. It wasn't on his throne, which reeked from its badly-treated animal hides.

Behind the throne, she saw a stone chest. She shoved the heavy lid off, hoping the noise of the fight covered the crashing.

"Where'd your fourth Wind go?" Naxhosa asked.

Fetch, he was on to her plan. She tore through the contents of the chest. A bag of jewels - no. A book on binding daedra - interesting, but not the oath scroll she needed.

Otumi-Ra screamed out, "What a coward!"

Elossi wailed, "Wandering Breeze, how could you leave us?"

She turned from the half-sorted chest. Her friends needed her.

Meer-Ta half-laughed, half-sobbed, "We're lost without the Breeze. Whatever shall we do?!"

Relief washed over her like a wave. No way would someone as arrogant as Meer-Ta whine about needing her. Her friends were covering up for her absence, depending on her to find the scroll before the fight got out of control.

As Naxhosa began to taunt them again, she dug all the way to the bottom. Underneath the helmet of the former garrison commander, she found the thin, bone capped scroll and snatched it up, sprinting back to the fight. "Meer-Ta!"

The fight was chaos. Elossi was too quick for Naxhosa as she darted in and out of range of his maces. The warlord could pressure Otumi-Ra relentlessly, but that meant leaving his back open for Elossi. Meer-Ta was nowhere to be seen. Or was he?

She scanned the walls, looking for the telltale distortion like heated air shimmering where light didn't quite bend around an invisible object. There he was, headed towards her.

"The little puff returns?" Naxhosa said. "You should've run while you-" He saw the scroll in her hands. "No!"

She threw the scroll at the invisible Meer-Ta. "Do it!"

She vanished, barely sidestepping Naxhosa's frantic charge. Then, unlike Meer-Ta, she dashed for a dark corner.

Naxhosa spun on where she'd thrown the scroll.

Mirri used what Elossi had taught her - just the right combination of magic and stealth to increase her speed - and dashed across the room into the warlord's back, knocking him off course. Elossi did the same, leaving one of her daggers planted in him. Naxhosa fell to his knees from the unexpected blows.

Meer-Ta reappeared, unrolling the scroll and burning in it with a green flame. "It's over, Naxhosa. The Winds have swept you away."

The spirits Bound to the maces swirled up and out. Their claws sank into his arms. They began to pull.

"They'll tear him apart," Mirri said, backing away

"Good riddance," Elossi sheathed her remaining dagger.

Otumi-Ra shook himself. He grabbed his greatsword, strode up to Naxhosa, and cleaved his head right off. The spirits vanished, and the skull helmet smacked into the throne steps with a crunch. "That's for Satul-Sa."

………………………….

Mirri woke up on her bedroll laid out on the floor of Otumi-Ra's hut, feeling like Vehk, Seht, and Ayem were dancing a three-way jig on her skull with St. Nerevar singing accompaniment. No, wait, that wailing was Otumi-Ra trying to sing.

"Ugh, stop it!" She pulled the travel pillow over her head. It didn't help the hangover.

"Hey, my singing did the trick!" Otumi-Ra exclaimed. "Pity the seeds didn't work. I was looking forward to some payback."

Mirri rolled over. Elossi offered her a hand up and a cup of water, telling him, "I told you the seeds don't work on dry-skins. Or she'd have known that lizard-bear could smell her."

Sheer embarrassment that her mistake had been seen after all drove most of the hangover fog from her brain. "Otumi-Ra," she said, now remembering the party the villagers had thrown upon their return, "your drinks were totally worth the hangover!"

With Naxhosa dead, his bandits had scavenged whatever scraps they could before fleeing. The strongest might rejoin the Sul-Xan as tribesmen. Most of them would be taken as prisoners or slaves. The village was free of their tyranny and besides, it had its three protectors back.

"You drank like a true champion," he said. "I'm proud to have fought and drank with the Wandering Breeze before she wanders away. Perhaps I will train an apprentice for a new drinking partner."

Elossi said, "You're only saying that because Meer-Ta is finally going to take an apprentice himself."

Mirri told her, "Unlike Meer-Ta, you're a fantastic teacher."

Elossi said, "Perhaps I too will train a successor. As for you, you are a good learner. At least when lizard-bears and pungent seeds aren't involved."

"I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"Nope. Do tell your mentor - the one who rode away - that you can be very proud of what you've accomplished here, Mirri."

Her cheeks heated again, with pride and a little shame. "When I came here, I thought badly of you all for not doing enough to protect the village. I was arrogant, and you've taught me better. I've learned so much from the three of you."

"Even from Meer-Ta?" Otumi-Ra asked with some skepticism.

Elossi had taught her stealth. Otumi-Ra's test had meant to test her fortitude. Instead, she'd proven to herself she could resist temptation. From Meer-Ta, hadn't he proved against Naxhosa that arrogance should humble itself before the needs of the mission? "Yeah, even Meer-Ta."

"From you, Mirri, we've learned once more that we're stronger together. If you need us," Elossi promised, "we'll answer the call."

Ilsabet

That was a really great take on the Winds quest.

VaranisArano

The Ghostwriter of Giovesse: Part 1

By the time Mirri got back to Gideon a day later at mid-morning, Governor Keshu informed her that the twins were settling in at the Temple of Dibella, Eveli was reporting in to Councilor Lovidicus in Leyawiin, and Varanis had set up temporary shop in the inn. At the inn, she ran into a familiar face: "Tiras Tirethi, how's the expedition going?"

He smiled to see her - the nice smile, not the snotty one. "Pretty good. Master Revas wants to test the lanterns under more circumstances before we report back to the council. I'm here to hire more porters." Shifting from foot to foot, he asked, "Hey, can I buy you a drink or something?'

The sons of Telvanni Magisters really shouldn't look that cute while being that awkward. "I need to check in with Varanis. Maybe later?"

"Yeah, later." He glanced around the inn's taproom. "I'll wait."

She headed upstairs, where Varanis had rented the top floor of rooms and was poring over several maps spread out over a large table. Varanis added another red mark to one, where it looked like the south-east portion of Blackwood had the pox. "Don't pay too much mind to this," she said, waving her hand over the marked map. "I expect someone from the Waking Flame to break in here at some point, and when they do, I want them to think I'm focused on the Sul-Xan. If you want good info, check with Governor Keshu."

Then she stepped away, drawing Mirri into a hug. "It's good to see you back safe."

"It's good to be back," Mirri said, and meant it. "I've got some new hero friends and a new hero name: the Wandering Breeze."

The corners of Varanis' lips turned down, like she was trying very hard to suppress a smile.

"Look, I know it's not exactly "Sharp-Arrow." It's a start."

"It's a start," Varanis agreed. "Was Tiras Tirethi still downstairs? He delivered a prototype of that ghost-banishing lantern, and I wanted to try it out." She handed over the lantern and a Help Wanted advertisement.

"Yeah, he wants a drink later." She read the advert out loud, "Author's Assistant Wanted!" Well, she had plenty of experience traipsing about swamps and haunted ruins. "You think I should help this Yisara of Sentinel?"

"I'll put it this way: when he realized it was just me here, you'd have thought I'd shot his pet nix-hound."

"You want me - and Tirethi - to help out and test the lantern at the same time?"

"I'm saying that you should do what you want with him. And also saying that I haven't seen a Great House scion fall that fast for someone since Garyn Indoril."

"Me - and Tirethi." Absolutely ridiculous. Great House Telvanni did not lower itself to be with a minor house like Elendis. Except he did have a pretty nice smile. "I don't know what I want to do with him!"

"Then take him and the lantern, and go help Yisara. Maybe you'll figure it out." She bent over the maps again.

It was crazy to think of Tirethi...no, of Tiras and her. It felt nice too. "You think he's really fallen for me?"

"I've seen that star-struck look before. Of course, there'll be a ton of negotiating with his family if you two decide you're serious," Varanis said. "First, you have to decide if you are even serious to begin with. If you aren't, might as well find out now."

"Is that what happened with Garyn Indoril?"

There was a long pause, so long Mirri thought perhaps she hadn't heard the question. Then Varanis said, "No. He died."

………………….

With Tiras in tow, Mirri approached Yisara in the inn's dining room. She was a strikingly pretty Redguard woman wearing a white riding outfit that had Mirri feeling every bit of dust and grime from the road. Why hadn't she washed up properly before coming back down?

"You saw my fliers? Excellent! I can't wait to start research for my latest romance novel."

A romance novelist? Oh, they'd been well and truly set up for a date. She could just imagine Varanis chuckling to herself upstairs.

Yisara explained, "My muse is highly interested in my great-great grandmother's stories about Castle Giovesse and the tragic love affair there. I have a magic lantern-"

"Another magic lantern?" Tiras asked.

"Er, the Orc I bought it from said it would let me speak to the lovestruck spirits trapped there. But I need someone to keep away the angry ghosts that might show up. It's a tragic love story, remember? You say you have another lantern?"

He grimaced at the thought of angry ghosts. "It should get rid of all the ghosts if it works properly. My master and I are trying to fine-tune it."

Yisara said, "As long as I get to take notes on their stories first, you can do what you like with the ghosts. I was going to test mine in the castle gardens, and hope I didn't get conned like a fool."

They followed her out to the castle gardens, which turned out to be part of the ruined structures right outside Gideon. Once off the main road, it quickly got swampier. Tiras and Yisara were reduced to hopping over and past the bigger puddles. Mirri, now happy to not have a starched white blouse to worry about, didn't fret about the muck and marched right through.

Tiras asked her, "Have you read any of her books?"

"Do you write brooding heroes?" She asked Yisara. "Pretty sure most of my teens were spent reading about either dashing Buoyant Armigers or brooding elves brooding over their family's lost fortune."

"I do more adventurous romance. Bodice-rippers, you know?"

"Trashy stuff," Tiras said. The two women looked at him and he looked mortified.

Yisara took pity on him. "It's a fun bit of adventure and romance for women who don't have much of either. Problem is, I don't have much experience with adventure and romance myself! So I decided I'd do some hands on research and really up the ante for this novel."

"You don't lack for adventure," Tiras murmured to Mirri.

"I don't have much time to read romances anymore, either." Truth be told, she'd stopped reading them because, "I realized the Buoyant Armigers were always up and leaving for the next grand adventure. And look, my family doesn't have a fortune. Worse, brooding over finding his lost heirloom got my grandfather killed. Those heroes kinda lost their shine after that. How about you?" Had Tiras, who cowered from a troll, craved adventure in his younger days?

"I always thought I'd be the wise old mage up in the mushroom tower that the heroes come to for advice. Younger Me didn't think about how lonely that life must be."

Yisara came to a stop by a series of rose bushes that had once been gorgeous but were now a tangled wall of overgrowth. "Let's try it here."

Her lantern flared, and the ghost of an Imperial woman knelt, tending the roses without a care that she was treading the hem of her silk gown into the dirt or that she had grass stains on her embroidered gardening gloves. "Who are you lot to wander into my garden uninvited? I am Duchess Astella of Giovesse. Alas that my estate has fallen to pieces under this curse!"

Yisara began scribbling down notes. "A curse, you say. How tragic!"

At the first hint of interest from a fellow gossip, Astella spilled the whole sad story about how her son Mathen became infatuated with some Redguard trollop Alizinda, who promptly murdered him. "She cursed us all, and my poor Mathen's soul is still bound to the cottage where they-" if a ghost could blush, her fair skin would be fiery, "-trysted. Please, free him from the curse where I could not." Still pleading, she vanished as the lantern's light faded.

Yisara looked up from her notes, grinning. "This is everything I hoped for. Lusty young nobles, betrayal, murder, curses." She stashed the notebook in her bag. "There's only one problem I should come clean about."

Mirri tried her best to imitate Varanis's way of going from calm to intimidating in an instant without even moving a muscle. "Please do."

Tiras gulped, so it must have worked.

"Er, Alizinda? That's my great-great-grandmother's name." Yisara said.

Mirri relaxed. "Awkward, but we can work with that."

Ilsabet

Get it Mirri.

(And awww Garyn.)

VaranisArano

The Ghostwriter of Giovesse: Part 2

Mathen and Alizinda's lovers cottage was well out in the swamp, long since boarded up, broken down, and overgrown by poison-spitting plants in the front yard. Most of the furniture within was likewise broken in by years of exposure to the elements. They started sifting through it anyway.

"This isn't very romantic," Tiras said, poking through drawers until he came up with a tattered book for Yisara.

"Just think of what it must have been like in my great-great-grandmother's day.'' She took the book and began to read, "This is her journal! She loved Mathen...and then he proposed to another woman, so she murdered him. By Morwha's left ***, I swear she never told me these dirty delicious details."

In the muddy, clumped ashes in the hearth, Mirri found a ring, a delicate gold band for a woman's finger. In leaner times, she might've kept it for herself, but the loot with Varanis was pretty good. "A ring of Mara. She must have thrown it into the fire. It's not damaged though. I never believed the Maran priests when they claimed that the rings never tarnish as long as love stays true. Maybe there's something to it."

"This is bizarre." Tiras said, shaking his head. "His mother disapproves, he betrayed his lover, and she murdered him, yet love stayed true? Bizarre. Maybe there's a reason we Dunmer make marriage contracts between families, not this 'get married for love' thing that Mara preaches."

"Who's this 'we Dunmer' you're talking about?" Mirri asked. If he was expecting something out of her that was worthy of Great House Telvanni, maybe she'd better set him straight right quick. "My father married my mother for love with nary a contract in sight. Mostly because my family hasn't got anything worth calling dowry or dower."

"No-" He protested. "I'm just saying that if they broke their contract, my house would've solved this all with a neat writ to the Morag Tong. No need for curses."

Did he really think that sounded at all attractive? She replied, "So my murder will be bought-and-paid-for, but at least I won't get cursed. What a fantastic reason to join your house!"

He shrank in on himself at the withering sarcasm.

Yisara shook her head at them. "By Tuwhacca, I'm starting to feel like a real third wheel around you two." She held up the lantern. "The Duchess says Mathen's spirit is here. I want to hear what he has to say about cheating on my great-great grandmother. What sort of man brings a ring of Mara to a tryst with a woman he intends to jilt?"

Mathen Galenus was a dreamy, muscular young Imperial man - very male, given his state of undress. As soon as he realized they could see his ghostly form, he yelped and leaped behind the bed, answering their questions as he shielded himself as best he could.

"Of course Alizinda didn't curse me! She poisoned me, but that's not witchcraft. As I lay dying in her arms, she told me someone told her I was going to marry another. Never! I loved her!"

"Then this ring was for her?" Yisara asked, holding it out.

"You found it! Yes, I meant to give it to her that night. Er, I don't suppose you've found any pants too, have you?"

Tiras shook his head. Still very subdued, he said, "Ghosts and curses often attach themselves to specific objects. Since you really loved her, that might explain the untarnished ring you’re so attached to you won’t leave it behind. However, your mother is also cursed, and we don't know what object is that important to her."

"I don't think Alizinda would have cursed my mother either. Mother, now...she gave me some golden heirloom armor. I was buried in it in the chapel in our estate. She might still be grieving me, and thus attached to the armor? Hey, maybe then I'll get some pants!"

"Sounds like the armor is our next goal," Mirri said.

He bowed to each of them, and when he came to Yisara, he put his hands over his heart. "Forgive me. When I saw you, I thought: 'Alizinda?' You are her spitting image and have the fire of her spirit."

Yisara stammered, "I...I'm pretty sure she's my great-great-grandmother. Sorry about the poisoning and all that."

"She lived? And has a descendent as lovely as you? Mara has blessed me greatly!" Beaming, he vanished.

"Sweet Morwha's left ***! Have you ever seen a ghost so gorgeous?" Yisara fanned herself, looking for all the world like Mathen's bare muscled chest had laid a spell of its own on her.

"The Ayleid Ghosts weren't half that pretty, right, Tiras?" She asked, meaning it only as a bit of light-hearted banter.

He smiled back, but it didn't come close to reaching his eyes.

……………………….

Castle Giovesse was in worse shape than the cottage, with gaping holes in the walls and only a few towers and the chapel to mark where it once stood. Ghostly Imperial Guards still patrolled the grounds, a hallmark of the day's when the Empire and the Galenus family had money to keep the place running. Tiras's banishing lantern worked very well to clear the grounds, but he didn't join in on the women's banter.

"Can you imagine what Mathen must've looked like in golden armor?" Yisara asked. "I'm getting tingly just thinking about it."

"If there was golden armor lying around out in the open, it's long since gone," Mirri predicted. "I sound like Varanis, but I bet we find out Duchess Astella was up to no good. Somebody lied to Alizinda. Somebody laid a curse." Perhaps like Olik blamed the Imperials for the disappearances that were his fault, Astella likewise tried to avoid her own guilt by blaming others.

They started searching the chapel, and when she saw Tiras searching in an even more desultory fashion than before, she knew she had to admit to her own fault. If she didn't want a husband who thought marriage was a contract enforced by assassins, then he probably didn't want a wife who bit off his head at every opinion. Besides, she was supposed to get to know him on this first date, and how was that going? Not well.

She went over to him. "I didn't mean you had to shut up. My brother and sisters give as good as they get, so sometimes I forget that I can be too harsh on others. I'm sorry and I'll work on it."

He sighed. "I always feel like I speak before I think around you. I mean, I only meant..." He trailed off.

Mirri was more keenly aware than ever of the lingering silence. Her family was never silent. As the oldest of five children all badgering for attention, she'd learned to speak up forcefully or else go unheard. With Tiras though…

Perhaps she needed to be patient and wait for him to work out what he wanted to say. Being a magelord up in a tower meant having a lot of patience, right? Besides, the longer she waited and the harder he furrowed his brow as he thought, the cuter he got.

Finally, he said, "As soon as I said it, I realized you were right. Most Telvanni wizards aren't married. Maybe it's the contracts and assassins, or maybe it's just that they are married to their research. My parents are like that. I don't think they see each other more than once a decade now that I'm not a child anymore. I don't entirely know what I want from a relationship." He shrugged, "I know I don't want what my parents have - or don't have, in this case. No assassins or curses if this doesn’t work out, I promise."

"I appreciate that," she said. "As for my parents, Mom adventured a lot before retiring to help Dad with the shop now. I don't really know what I want either, but I do like talking to you when I'm patient enough to listen to what you really mean to say."

He smiled again, shy, but nonetheless a real smile that reached his eyes.

Then Yisara called out from across the chapel. "Did you two lovebirds find any golden armor? Because what I found? Well, I want a second opinion cause it doesn't look good."

She held out a scroll to Tiras, who read, "Return what murder took. No price is too dear."

"Necromancy?" Mirri asked.

He sniffed the scroll. "Smells like necromancy to me. Somewhere, there'll be a lair where they did the ritual. I wager we'll find Mathen's golden armor there."

She remembered Varanis' warning that some people turned to necromancy in their grief, and that others turned to more drastic revenge. "Tiras, I think you're better stay here with Yisara while I go look for this lair."

"What? Why?"

Yisara said, "I can handle myself and I want to help Mathen. He's a real hunk. Besides, I need to take notes for the book."

Mirri explained, "We're dealing with someone desperate enough to perform necromancy. What's the odds that someone - cough, Duchess Astella, cough - might've wanted revenge on Alizinda too?"

Yisara began to take deep breaths. "I look just like Alizinda. Sweet Tuwhacca save me, I'm glad you two are here to protect me!"

Tiras held up his lantern. "I'll take care of any hostile spirits here. Mirri, you just stay safe, okay?"

VaranisArano

The Ghostwriter of Giovesse: Part 3

Mirri trudged back to the chapel with a bag of golden armor she'd taken from Astella's necromantic tower lair banging against her back. She'd have to remember to thank Tiras for clearing the spirits on the castle grounds because fighting with this load would've been a pain. This much gold ornamentation on top of the gold washed plate was heavy!

Someone shouted in the chapel. She broke into a light jog. The armor started to clang.

Then Tiras screamed "Mirri?!"

She dumped the armor and sprinted into the chapel.

"Mirri!" He shouted when he saw her, banishing lantern held high, and otherwise bug-eyed with shock. Yisara was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened?" She demanded.

He stared around him as though Yisara might reappear if he shone the light into all the corners. When she didn't, he began to take deep breaths while trying to speak. "We tried - she wanted -"

Frustration made her want to shake him and scream, "What happened?!" As though that would help. He was trying; she needed to be patient. "Just breathe," she said.

After about thirty seconds, he managed to calm down enough to say, "He took her. Mathen. He took Yisara."

"Not Astella?" Mirri asked, astonished. "I found proof she was the one who set the curse in motion."

"No. Yisara wanted more notes for her book, right? So we used her lantern on the scroll. Astella showed up and admitted everything. She got shirty, but didn't want to mess with my lantern."

"So how'd Mathen get involved?"

"Yisara wanted to see him again."

"But he's a ghost."

"That's what I said." Tiras shook his head in disappointment. "She told me I didn't have room to talk after making eyes at you the whole time, and used her lantern on that Ring of Mara. He showed up, professed undying love for her, and swept her off her feet. Literally. They vanished. What was I supposed to do? Banish him?"

Her first thought was, 'Yes, you should have.' No, that was hardly fair to Tiras, who was honestly doing much better at keeping a level head in a crisis this time. Instead, she said, "I found Mathen's armor. Can you use that to make him bring Yisara back?"

He thought, then nodded. "Actually, you said you found Astella's lair? With the scroll, this ring, and the armor, I can free the whole castle from the curse."

Once inside the tower, Tiras squared his shoulders and began to move with real confidence. "It's still set up for the last ritual. We need to reverse it so their spirits are encouraged to move on." At his direction, Mirri hauled the brazier to the west under the setting sun and burned the scroll in it.

"Are we also doing necromancy?" She asked.

"Technically, it's done on humans, so no." He answered, absorbed in drawing symbols on the ritual altar with charcoal.

She coughed. He looked up, then bit his lip in embarrassment. "Oh, I mean..."

After a long while as he searched for words, she added, "I'm not terribly squeamish," by way of reassurance.

Relieved, he explained, "I'm adapting a Dunmer ancestral rite that can calm an angered tomb guardian. So no, its not really necromancy even by Mages Guild standards. I will need to concentrate, though, so you'll have to either banish them or persuade Astella and Mathen to go peacefully. "

"And persuade Yisara to stay. Now I'm sort of wondering what trysting with a ghost is like."

"Cold, I imagine," he said, then raised his hands over the armor and began to call the spirits of Castle Giovesse to attention.

Mirri raised Yisara's lantern high for hopefully the last time. The three ghosts appeared. Astella looked like she wanted to die as Yisara was locked in a passionate embrace with Mathen. He was still barechested, but at least he'd put on the gold-washed pants from his armor.

"Yisara, are you alright?"

Yisara stopped kissing Mathen long enough to rest her head on his broad chest. "Just a little dizzy. Mathen, you take my breath away!"

Astella folded her arms and turned her face away. "Why do you torment me so? Just let my son and me go on to Aetherius while you live your tawdry lowborn life."

"You're one to talk about tawdry," Mirri told her. "You're the one who's going to end up the selfish, controlling, necromancer villain of a bestselling romance novel."

Yisara sighed, "Oh, right. I was supposed to be taking notes, wasn't I." Ghostly Yisara began to fade back into reality.

Astella also began to fade, into Aetherius. "Mathen?"

He looked at his still very ghostly, unfading, hands. "Why aren't I moving on? I must still be tied to the ring." He gazed at Yisara with doe-like lover's eyes. "And to you, my love."

Yisara put her hands over her heart and began to breathe deeply again. "Oh. Sweet Morwha."

Astella wailed, "Mathen, no!" Then she was gone and neither of the lovers paid her any mind.

"He loves me," Yisara said. "I love you too, Mathen!"

"I'm tied to the ring," Mathen told her. "Wear it, and I will remain your attentive and devoted Guardian. I'm, ah, not quite sure how the rest of it will work though, since you aren't a ghost anymore."

"Did he just - did I just get a proposal from an incredibly handsome ghost?" Yisara asked Mirri, with the same sort of wide-eyed wonderment that she'd felt at Varanis saying that Tiras was head-over-heels for little Mirri Elendis.

Of course, if Tiras had proposed based on their first acquaintance, it'd be a disaster. "You hardly know him.'' She protested.

Yisara looked Mathen over from the top of his curly hair to his gold-washed pants. "Oh, I think I know him pretty well. I'm just not used to being the heroine of my own novels! Before this, the only man who wooed me was a stablehand from Bergama."

If Mirri remembered right, Redguards, like Dunmer, despised necromancy. "What would your family say? You'd have to come back like, "Hey, Mom, Dad, meet great-great-grandma's boyfriend who she murdered. I married his ghost!"

Yisara deflated. "Oh, by Tava's sweet breath. I couldn't go home. The Crowns won't stand for me shaming Alizinda's memory with scandal. Loving Mathen would be profane. Blasphemous, even." Despite her words, the two stared at each other longingly.

"I've always wanted a love of my own." Yisara said. "It's easy for you to stand there and spit reasons why I should give Mathen up when you've got a boyfriend."

Mirri looked at Tiras as he continued to chant a Dunmer hymn in a low tone. He was deep in concentration and could probably keep the ritual up for hours if he had to. So what if he wasn't good in a crisis? There were things he was good at, and she'd like the chance to find out more of them.

"I can't really give you advice about love," she admitted. "He's my first boyfriend and we haven't even had a drink together yet."

Before Yisara could pity her, she hurried on, "But I can advise you about ancestral spirits. We Dunmer are guarded and guided by our ancestors. We call upon them in battle when needed and ask their advice in times of trouble. What we don't do is fall in love with them. That's just asking for possession or a short skip to doing necromancy ourselves. There's enough good Mer out there now that we shouldn't lose ourselves in what could have been with our ancestors who came before."

Yisara buried her face in her hands for a long moment. Then she held out the ring. "Here. Destroy it. I can't bear to do it with my own hands."

Mirri carried it over to the brazier. "Do you want to say goodbye?"

Yisara had tears streaming down her face. Maybe Mathen did too. "I'm sorry, Mathen," she said. You deserve real peace. Maybe you'll find your way to Alizinda in the Far Shores or she'll find her way to Aetherius. It wouldn't be fair to keep you with me."

"Yours is a loving heart, my dear Yisara. You'll find someone to share it with," he said, and blew her a kiss. She caught it and sobbed.

Mirri dropped the ring of Mara into the brazier. The gold, unharmed by the hearth fire, melted into the coals. Mathen vanished into Aetherius. "He's at peace now."

Tiras ended his chant, shaking out his hands. "The curse is ended."

"Just my luck," Yisara said, wiping her face. "I meet the man of dreams, except he's a ghost and my ancestor poisoned him in a fit of passion, two hundred years ago."

Mirri held out her arms, and Yisara hugged her fiercely. "You were right. I don't want you to be right. Gods, he was gorgeous!"

Though Mirri thought, 'A gorgeous ghost can't keep you warm at night,' she kept it firmly to herself.

"I'll just have to think of him for inspiration," Yisara sighed. "Let's get back to the inn so I can compile my notes."

Tiras asked, "You still want to write about this even with your loss?"

"Of course! Tragedy, lies, murder, necromancy, intrigue, true love...ah, you two don't mind featuring as cameos, do you?"

A book with her in it? For her siblings to laugh at? "Er, wait a minute, here!"

……………………………..

Two hours later, Mirri was freshly scrubbed, wearing the nicest shirt she owned, and fretting over whether small gold hoop earrings would be too much for a simple drink with Tiras. "Fetch, I'll ask Varanis."

She was still bent over her maps, this time examining a village up near Bloodrun Cave. "I've gotten a letter from an acquaintance asking me to investigate some disappearances nearby," she said, then did a double take. "You look nice! I take it he warrants a second date?"

"Yeah," Mirri shifted from foot to foot as all her doubts circled like cliff racers. What if his family hated her like Astella hated Alizinda? What if slow and steady wasn't the way to go, and she should be looking for a man who made her want to marry him at first meeting, like Yisara had been willing to stay with Mathen? Was she even ready for love, after telling Yisara to give up her chance?

She found herself telling Varanis everything over a cup of tea, and asking, "What do you think I should do? He's probably waiting downstairs, sighing over why women take so long to get ready."

"You aren't me." Varanis said, draining her own cup of tea. "I'm not going to give advice trying to relive my glory days through you."

"I knew it. You were the one Garyn Indoril fell in love with."

Varanis poured herself another cup and told the story in between sips. "Garyn Indoril. The grandmaster's son. We fought together in Stonefalls. Found love under siege and in the shadow of the volcano. Tanval Indoril didn't approve, but Garyn figured he'd come around to his only son's choice eventually."

She knew what'd happened to Tanval. "Ayem's mercy."

"A Covenant necromancer killed Garyn. Blasted me off my feet, and then he was dead before I could do anything. Tanval went a bit mad afterwards. Nothing was going to stop him from getting his revenge on the Covenant. But I couldn't let him unleash a second Brother of Strife on Stonefalls, so..." she drained the second cup. "That's the sad story of how my lover died and then I helped kill his father."

"I'm sorry."

"You aren't me. Don't be so afraid of my mistakes that you don't live your own life. I guess if I have any advice, it's to enjoy this time while you get to know each other better. And yes, the earrings look great."

The cliffracers of doubt had settled down. "I guess we'll learn from you, my parents, and his, and make our own mistakes."

"Exactly." Varanis set the tea cup aside. "While you go have your drinks, I'll go talk with Yisara. I should share that the grief does get better with time. Maybe she'll even autograph one of her books for me."

"I didn't know you liked that genre."

"Army camps were never lacking in trashy romances. Besides, I need to put in a pre-order for the new book. I think one for each of your siblings should be enough, don't you?"

"Varanis!" Oh, butter wouldn't melt in that woman's mouth. "I'm going, I'm going."

She trotted down the stairs to the taproom. When he saw her, Tiras looked maybe a little like Mathen looking at Yisara. "Hey," he said, plucking a fleck of lint off his robe.

"Hey," she said. "Do you have a favorite wine you'd like to share?"