Skyrim
A Tale of Two souls
Chapter 9
The young argonian Ne’Ma was dazed for a few moments as she felt movement the thundering from the sky had shaken her mind, looking up to her father the khajiit Usshin who walked along the streets on Whiterun carrying the girl in question. The hour was early, the sun not even showing the ever so slightest signs that it was coming up yet. She was tired, very much so, and so she cuddled closer to her father, the cats warm fur keeping her warm and as soft as a blanket. The cat looked down to the girl, who smiled up at him, the cat poking her nose a little saying as he coddled her a little,
“Oh, you worry me so little one, please next time I tell you to say, then say. . . .”
The cat pausing for a moment before saying,
“If that dragon had killed you, I don’t know what I would have done, I‘d never have forgiven myself.”
The girl nods silently consoling her father who’s whiskers had started to droop a little as the thought of losing the girl once more crossed his thoughts. Continuing to carry the girl in his arms the khajiit then says looking down at her once more,
“You must be tired sweetheart, come, why not go to sleep, I’ll put you in bed once we get back to the inn.”
The girl thinks about it for a moment, but then a silent yawn gives her fatigue away, the girl then nodding with a silent giggle, curling up in his arms and closing her eyes. He looked down to the young argonian, a smile on his muzzle as he watched her get comfy, using his fur as both a pillow and a blanket, she wasn’t that little girl who’s egg he use to carry around in his robes. He rubbed the side of her face, the girl smiling as he did so, she was getting so big, though she still weighed very little, he could easily carry her like this with no problems, he enjoyed doing so. Looking back up from the girl now sleeping in his arms, the cat resumed his trek to the jarls palace, the keep of Dragonhold, the nord who desperately awaited good news inside. The cat got a few nods from the guards one of whom opened the door for him to enter, seeing the cats arms full. Upon seeing the cat approach the man who had been talking with both his adviser and his brother moments before, stood and was just about to shout his question before the cat held a finger to his lip, then holding the finger up in the air to sign his need of a moment, the cat then pointing to the girl in his arms. The jarl nods allowing the cat a moment of silence to make sure the girl didn’t wake, the cat giving her a kiss before weaving a spell over her head, the cat then saying looking to the jarl,
“Alright, it is safe to speak, she’ll not be disturbed now, foolish child followed me and the others to the tower, nearly got killed by that dragon.”
The Jarl nodded then asked looking to the cat as he once more took his seat,
“So, you all fought it, the dragon that is, how did it go? Did you win?”
The cat nods saying as he was careful not to jostle the sleeping argonian in his arms,
“Yes, we fought it, the battle was fierce, we did take several losses, but in the end I was able to bring it down.”
The cat then went on to say looking at the girl sleeping in his arms,
“It threatened to kill my beloved little one after all, once I saw it make for her, I saw red.”
The jarl nods the nord saying thinking of his own children,
“As any father protecting his child would, as a father myself, I salute you, staring down a dragon to protect your daughter is a very noble thing even if it is a very dangerous thing, and killing this dragon places you as a hero of Whiterun, no doubt one of the best. But when the dragon died, did anything strange happen?”
The cat nodded looking down then creasing the cheek of the sleeping lizard girl, then saying as he looked up to the nord,
“Yes, when the dragon died, Ne’Ma absorbed its soul, I am now ashamed to admit that I have muted the dragonborn.”
Balgruuf nodded looking to his brother with a nod then saying,
“So it was true then, the graybeards really where summoning her.”
The cat looked up to the nord then asked,
“The who?”
The second nord, the jarls brother then said,
“You don’t know who the graybeards are? Did you not hear the thundering sound when your return to the city?”
The jarl chuckled then said waving his brother down,
“Easy Hrongar, you can’t blame someone who is not a nord for not knowing who the graybeards are.”
His brother nodded the jarl then saying as he looked back to the cat,
“The graybeards are masters of the way of the voice, they live in seclusion high on the slopes of the throat of the world.”
The cat looks down to the girl in his arms then says looking up to the jarl,
“And just what is it that these graybeards want with my Ne’Ma?”
The jarl leans forward a little then says clasping his hands together,
“Well, the dragonborn is said to be uniquely gifted in the voice, you know the ability to focus her vital essence into a thu’um or more commonly known as a shout.”
The jarl then goes onto to say resting back into his chair,
“If she really is dragonborn, then they can teach her how to use her gift, the thundering sound we all heard, was the graybeards calling to her, summoning her to High Hrothgar.”
Hrongar then steps up then says,
“This hasn’t happened in . . .well centuries, at least, not since Tiber Septim himself was summoned, back when he was still known as Talos of Atmora.”
The imperial man, the jarls aid Proventus then steps up saying as he looked to the nord who just spoke,
“Hrongar, calm yourself, what does any of this nord nonsense have to do with the girl? Capable as her father is we’re still only talking about a child here and I see no proof that she is this, what, dragonborn was it?”
This however angers the nord who says readying to strike the man, grabbing him up by the scruff of his collar,
“Nord nonsense?!? Why you puffed-up ignorant . . . . . These are our sacred traditions that go back to the founding of the first empire”
The mans brother, the jarl then says defusing the situation before he had a fight on his hands,
“Hrongar, don’t be so hard on Avenicci.”
The man then saying to quickly try to clam the angry nord, the nord in question letting the imperial man go before he spoke,
“I meant no disrespect, of course, it’s just that we’re speaking about a child here, what do these graybeards want with her?”
The jarl then says looking to his aid,
“That’s the greybeards’ business, not ours.”
The jarl then says once more sitting up and learning forward in his chair,
“What ever happened when you killed that dragon, it revealed something in her, and the greybeards heard it.”
He then stands up, walking to then looking at the sleeping argonian with a great deal of respect in his eyes before saying,
“If they think she is dragonborn, then who are we to argue it?”
The cat looks on, his daughter turning a little as she slept in his arms, the jarl once more returning to his seat then going on to say,
“You’d better take her up to High Hrothgar immediately, there’s no refusing the summons of the greybeards. It is a tremendous honor.”
The cat nods, a hint of worry about taking his muted daughter to the greybeards as she was. The jarl then saying as he reminisced a little,
“I envy you, you know, to climb the seven thousand steps again, I made the pilgrimage once when I was young, High Hrothgar is a very peaceful place, very disconnected from the troubles of this world. I wonder if the greybeards even know that this civil war was even going on, they haven’t seemed to care before.”
The man sighs as he stops thinking of the past then says once more relaxing into his chair, the man looking like his lost sleep was starting to catch up with him, looking like his next trip would be back to bed,
“No matter, take her to High Hrothgar, allow her to learn what she can, it’ll no doubt help her find her power.”
Then sitting up once more he says with a tired yawn, the man then excusing himself as to not seems disrespectful,
“You however have done a great service to me and my city, master mage, by my right as Jarl, from this day forth let it be known that I appoint you as Thane of Whiterun, it is the greatest honor that is within my power to grant.”
He looks over to his aid, the Jarl asking him for a list, and after a moment of looking at it, hands it back then says,
“I’ll also appoint Lydia as your personal housecarl.”
Then taking an ax from his belt and saying,
“Also take this weapon, its from my personal armory, it serve as your badge of office.”
The jarl then says once more standing, but with yet another yawn,
“Last I’ll notify my guards of your new title, wouldn’t want them to mistake you for the common rabble, now would we?”
The cat nods thanking him quickly and with his hands full asking if someone could put his new ax on his belt for him, one of the maids quickly doing so. After that the jarl then says, stretching into a yawn,
“We are honored to have you as Thane of our city master mage, now if you’ll please excuse me. . .”
The jarl stops for a moment then says with a chuckle,
“I think I’ll follow the little ones example and go back to bed.”
The cat nods quickly saying farewell to the nord then excusing himself as well, his next destination being the inn where he and Ne’Ma’s bed awaited them. They slept the rest of that morning away blissfully unaware that they missed breakfast as they did, however a little while later they where woken, once again, from a blissful slumber, as someone knocked on the door, the cat then saying as he woke,
“By the nine, for crying out loud can’t someone get some sleep without being woken twice in one morning.”
A woman responds from the other side as the young girl wakes as well, untangling from her fathers arms before rubbing her eyes a little, with a silent yawn,
“Forgive my intrusion my thane, My name is Lydia, the Jarl has appointed me as your personal housecarl.”
The cat got up only half dressed and fangs getting sharp with a few days of not having drank. He then says getting up a little and scratching his chest,
“You my enter.”
The woman opens the door and walks in with two plates of food, the woman then saying,
“I’m sorry to wake you thane, but you and your daughter missed breakfast so I took the liberty of saving some for you.”
The cat nods taking a plate as Ne’Ma did the same, the little lizard only half awake when she took her fork. The two ate quickly as the woman watched the cat then asking,
“Is there something else??”
The woman nodded then saying as she showed him a note she was asked to give to him,
“I was given this note from Belethor the owner of the general goods shop in the market, he asked me to give it to you.”
The cat nods taking the paper and looking at it, leaving his fork on his plate, then after a moment the cat grins then saying,
“Ah ha, he finally has them, well then, this makes things much better.”
He looks to Ne’Ma, the girl sleepily putting some egg into her mouth as she had yet to finally wake, looking up only after her father rustled her feathers a little. The cat then quickly ate his meal, prompting Ne’Ma to do the same the girl pouting a little that she wouldn’t get to sleep more, but then did as she was told, eating her breakfast then getting dressed. Once done the trio headed over to the general goods shop where within the cat had something waiting for him. Once he walked into the shop the Breton then says with a smile on his face,
“Well my friend, you’ll be please to hear I was able to obtain everything you asked for, a few items where admittedly hard to come by but I got them.”
The cat nods looking over as the man carefully placed a sack of items the cat had asked for on the counter the cat then quickly examining the bags contents before saying,
“Indeed, its all here, you have my thanks, how much then?”
The man looks over a sheet where he had done the math, showing it to the cat who then nodded saying,
“As I expected.”
The cat then takes a coin purse off of his belt then saying putting it on the counter,
“There you go, my good man.”
The man takes the purse looking inside and quickly counting before saying,
“And thank you Thane, if there is ever anything else you need, please feel free to ask me about it.”
The cat nods taking the sack and leaving the shop behind, the shopkeeper himself happily counting out his earnings as they went. Lydia then asks as the cat puts the bag over his shoulder with something of a happy purring smile on his face,
“So what are we doing now then my thane?”
The cat thinks about it for a moment, then says looking down to Ne’Ma and patting her head,
“Guess we go to High Hrothgar to meet the greybeards.”
The woman nods then asks,
“Would you like me to accompany you sir?”
The cat smiles and then says,
“Sure why not.”
With a nod the trio got ready to leave, a messenger intercepting them before hand with a small pouch of gold from the Jarl as thanks for dealing with the dragon. With that they made their way to High Hrothgar, leaving Whiterun behind early that morning. They traveled for many hours that day having to deal with some bandits who had set up a toll point to rob people without robbing them, and after vaguely threatening Ne’Ma’s safety should they not pay up, Usshin quickly taught then the error of their ways, allowing them to try and survive a wave of Daedra he had summoned after the fact. Once they had looted the remains and the gold they had managed to claim from passersby, the trio once more made their way to their destination, however stopping to make camp when the sun was getting ready to go down. Ne’Ma sat by a fire with Lydia, both females watching as the cat did . . . Something with the items he had gotten from the general store. Finally having finished a circle of powder of unknown origin, the cat then said with a smile looking back to Ne’Ma,
“Well sweetheart, its time to undo my mistake.”
The girl looks at him confused, the cat one more looking into his tome to make sure he had set it up correctly, then saying as he put it away again,
“Alright, what I need you to do, is stand in the circle.”
The girl nodded then did just that standing inside of the circle he had prepared. The cat then took out the black soul stone he had previously charged with a bandits soul from his raid on Bleak Falls Barrow setting it on the ground and telling her not to kick it. Setting up a few more items, namely several magic wax candles which he lit then set up around the circle he nodded mumbling “all set”. He then said taking a knife then cutting his hand spilling blood on the circle as the red flamed candles suddenly went black,
“With your darkness bound and her sound you stole, be gone foul serpent and take your gold.”
Dumping a small pile of gold coins on the ground in the circle a dark black marking formed around the girls neck, Usshin holding his hands up to calm her, the girl then getting scared as the marking quickly turned into a snake, the demonic looking creature flicking its tongue at the girl a few times before slithering down her body, hissing at the black soul gem then going to and coiling around the gold pile then vanishing in a puff of black smoke, the gemstone at the girls feet then shattering and the circle blown away by some unnatural breeze. The girl looked up at her father then said surprising herself more then anyone else,
“What did that do daddy?”
The cat smiled as the girl put her hands on her throat,
“I . . I can talk again daddy!!”
The girl happily jumped into the cats arms then saying as he coddled her a little,
“Yes, it was a mistake I never should have made, please forgive your foolish father for using that curse in the first place.”
The girl nodded as her father then set her back down, Lydia then asking as she looked on,
“What was that all about?”
The cat said, taking a seat by the fire, his daughter clinging to his arm humming a little as she once more enjoyed her own voice,
“It is a curse that makes a deal with a demon, a snake as it stands, the foul creature wraps itself around the victims neck, till such a time as this ritual is preformed and the demon paid, or the victim dies.”
Rubbing the girls head he then said,
“Obviously, we couldn’t afford to wait for the ladder.”
The girl smiles then says,
“I’m glad I can talk again Usshie.”
The cat smiles then says,
“And I’m so glad that you can talk again, that I’m not going to get mad at you for calling me Usshie.”
The girl giggles as the tender moment then came to an end the girl saying as she sat up holding her belly,
“Daddy, I’m hungry.”
The cat smiles saying as he looked to their campfire,
“Me to, lets eat, Lydia are you hungry? Please help yourself.”
The woman nods and joins the two in the meal, the three eating their fills till they decided to go to bed, setting up some tents to sleep in before hand, their destination tomorrow, High Hrothgar and the greybeards, to see what they could teach Ne’Ma.
~End of Chapter~
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