Private The Good Old Days

[TomLeViking]

Thorek took a sip from one of the mugs and immediately declared it to be delicious; "Wonderful!" He exclaimed. "If it's no secret, I'd like to pass this recipe on to my own suppliers."
Thorek's understudy, the praefect Sergurio, followed him like a dog follows his master around the house.

 

[CapObvious]

On their way to the deck, Carenen was surprised still that Corelas could string flowing sentences together comfortably. He remembered when Corelas was a social wreck, no offense to the man himself, but this man seemed to be a totally different person. Carenen was proud.

Her returned his focus on Corelas' question, about what they do now. He shook his head with a sigh. "Still fighting the An-Xileel, I'm afraid. Now that the civil war's over, and we're rebuilding, it's the best time for an Argonian invasion, and we have to do everything in our power to stop it..."

Carenen thought back to the inn in Dawnstar, during his days with them, which had started his longest adventure, and for sure his bloodiest. His hand gripped at Kaalys', as it normally did when his comfort reached dangerous levels.

Kaalys took over. "So, as you can see from these two boneheads, we're right in the middle of planning when the invitation came, and we still have some kinks to work out before we can begin our assault."

You could hear them laugh softly in the background, but like always, they didn't argue.

 

[TomLeViking]

Thorek suddenly got a bit annoyed at the mention of an Argonian invasion. He felt like he should intervene, but decided he would ask Sergurio about it later, and do a bit of digging on his own in the meantime.
He tried to gather what information he could; "So," He said, turning to Carenen, "Where you guys living at the moment?" He smiled.
He was annoyed mainly because he hadn't been informed by any Imperial agents of this event, but also because if the Argonians were to wage war with the elves, he knew what side he'd rather be on, and it probably wouldn't please the present company.
He didn't even know if it was to do with elves, though, as Carenen wasn't one for the Thalmor, in his memory. This is why he decided he needed answers.

 

[CapObvious]

Carenen could see the look of frustration on Thorek's face, and frowned slightly. He hadn't kept in much contact with Thorek as much as he would have liked, so he wasn't surprised that even someone so high in the empire's graces still kept out of the loop. The Thalmor were unsurprisingly keeping this matter a secret from them. Typical. Unfortunately, all of Skyrim would soon know who the An-Xileel were, and Carenen didn't know which would be worse.

"I moved back to Sunhold after we had departed from one another, to gather contacts and make friends. After gathering a group of trustworthy individuals, we took on different skirmishers and groups of guerrilla fighters near the Skyrim-Morrowind Border. We are trying our best to keep them out, but they are proving to be capable warriors. If we don't handle this correctly..."

Carenen stopped short and turned to the children, who seemed surprised by the news. He coughed and pointed towards Myra's children. "Sorry, the adults need some alone time. You should go on over and introduce yourselves." Instead of complaining, they nodded and headed towards them, hoping that they were friendlier to new people that to each other.

Carenen sighed and patted Thorek's shoulder softly. "We should continue this some other time. I'm sure you and your man here have a lot to catch up on."

 

[TomLeViking]

Thorek nodded and turned to Sergurio. "Where do we sleep?" He said to him, hoping he had been informed and they didn't have to head to the camp down the road every night. Sergurio just shrugged and Thorek gestured it off as it didn't matter currently.
"An argonian invasion." He muttered under his breath through clenched teeth - he had not been in Falkreath long and already he was in a foul mood. He decided to start a new topic of conversation;

Filling up his mug once more (without being offered, either) he took of drink and exclaimed "Corelas!" Quite loudly, which may have surprised him as he turned quite suddenly.
"Where's an officer like you stationed around here?" He said, following up his near-random exclamation and drinking more of the cider.

 

[Patricia]

"I go from camp to camp, training the men. Mostly. Last place I was actually put in for one length of time that was longer than a week was in Markarth. Horrible city. It's got such beauty in it's walls, but the people and the ways of that place are dirtier than Riften. Since General Tullius promoted me to Legate, he hasn't done a thing with me. I've been on officer duty- me! A Legate! Commanding the guards of cities like a mere Captain of the Guard! Ah, regardless, the last thing I worked on was quite endearing. You heard about the Rorikstead Massacre, right? And how everyone thought the father of the victims was the culprit? I found out that it was ACTUALLY a woman in town who was practicing Necromancy! One of the girls got away, though. Follow up reports said that she doesn't speak a word any more. Poor thing. I've been considering asking for a task force to be set up in the Whiterun Hold that'd be on the lookout for Necromancers and the like.", Corelas rattled on. "My husband still can't hold his liquor. he's not drunk, but when he's buzzed he talks on and on like this", Myra whispered to Carenen and Kaalys. "So, I take it that you all have had some wonderful new memories. Anything you'd care to share?""Myra sounds like Lollen and Linilia's old preschool teacher. Who wants to share?", Corelas mimicked. Myra slapped the back of his head, and he winced. "He also gets brave. A bit too brave if you ask me. Anyway, I have a few, but i'd feel like an old bitty if I was the only one talking. I think the best one was how the twins were born. It's actually fairly amusing, for a birth story. See, it turns out they both had oddly shaped heads, and they weren't coming out. This reminded the midwife, the girl she was training, and Corelas of a recent publication of an installment in the popular book series, Star Journey: Voyage, where a character was giving birth and her son's head was not the right way for a human's body to give birth to. The way they fixed it in the book was to use a teleportation spell on the baby, and get it out of the body that way. Unfortunately, you can't do that in real life. Also unfortunately, they were so immersed in their discussion of the book that they forgot I was there. I'm laying there, in pain, with Ninane in the other room trying to be preoccupied by her Grandparents, and they're just standing there talking about a fictional world of space travel. They only remembered I was there when I managed to have Linilia.", Myra said bitterly, but shook it off and laughed. Corelas looked a little ashamed. "In my defense, it was a very good book."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~By the waterfront, the children are playing, and Ninane looks up to see Cirwen and Lorundil walking to the lake. Ninane is in her swimming clothes and helping her baby sister play on the shore of the water, holding her arms while she kicks at the water. "Let's go make a sand castle now, okay? I'll give you a shell to put on top.", she says sweetly to Maranyn. She looks over to Lollen and Linilia, who are trying to convince Olwen to come in to the water. She brings her sister over to the bank and sits her down. She stands up and faces the two newcomers. She notices that one of them, a boy, must be her age, and the other, a girl, is about Lollen and Linilia's age. She smiles at them and waves. When they reach her, she holds out a hand. "You must be... Cirwen and Lorundil? Hi! I'm Ninane. This is Maranyn, but we call her Mary. Those two are Lollen and Linilia, though I suggest you don't try to join any of what they claim to be games. They will try to prank you. Mom said not to, but that's not going to stop them. She said I can hit them if they pull anything on anyone while we're here. That one over there that-" Ninane is interrupted by a splash and frustrated yell-"Just got pulled in to the water with his clothing on, is Olwen. He's okay to hang around, but he's not one for conversation. You want to make a sandcastle with us? The water is really cold today, and it takes some getting used to, so doing something on the shore is the best way to get used to it!", she continues excitedly. She didn't get to make many friends that were truly her age. All of the other seventeen year olds she knew were either human races, and were actually older than her, and all of the people that were her age and an elf didn't like how upbeat she was. She was absolutely certain that they would be her friends. After all, weren't their parents the best of?

 

[TomLeViking]

Thorek's face curdled as he became disturbed by Myra's birth story - he knew it was all in good fun but he didn't like to think of Myra's love tunnel squeezing out two new additions to the family.
"Well, I'm sure I have business that needs attending to. I must go find where those grunts I call 'legionnaires' have gone off to." He said, excusing himself. He walked back upstairs and out the door with Sergurio following intently behind. He stopped out of the door and looked left to right, before remembering the direction of which they came and turning opposite. He and Sergurio walked about 5 minutes down the road before a small camp of soldiers was found.

As he walked to his tent he was met with many salutations, but he was in no mood. He walked to the tent and beat open the flaps, walking inside and slamming his hands down on the table, where a strategical map of upper Tamriel had been laid.
"An Argonian invasion!" He exclaimed, grabbing a knife from the table and adorning the map with the blade. It pierced the paper near the border of Morrowind and Black Marsh. "Why wasn't I told of this?"
Sergurio went to his side, looking at the map with him.
"Because no one else knew, sire." Thorek grunted and withdrew from the table. "We must sent word of this! Bring me my parchment and a fast messenger!"
"But sire, it seems a messenger is already here."

A small imperial soldier had entered the tent uninvited and held out parchment for Thorek to take. The legate snatched it from his hands and opened it up as the messenger began to sweat.
Thorek began to read it, and the men in the tent could see his face turn to astonishment.

"Legate Thorek of Eastmarch, your departure from Solitude comes at great frustration to us all.
You are, however, able to retain your 14 days leave as you have work cut out for you on your return. I have been corresponding with his highness, Emperor Titus Mede II and we have made a decision. I am to take up position as the legate of the noble house in Layawin come 1 months time, and I hereby name you my successor.

Expect an invoice from the Emperor in the coming days to confirm you new rank and carry out the ceremony. Look after this country, Legate.

General Tullius"

Thorek could hardly speak. He handed the parchment to Sergurio and walked out the tent, following the road back. Only some 15 minutes had gone by since his departure when he'd reached the door and heard the praefect coming up behind, slightly out of breath. They saw children playing and walked inside, looking for Myra or Corelas or someone.

 

[CapObvious]

Carenen took a longer drink than necessary, trying to forget the imagery that popped into his head from Myra's story. Kaalys noticed, and laughed heartily.

"Well, luckily for us, Lorundil and Cirwen weren't much trouble when they arrived." Carenen chuckled to himself. "Now, however..." Kaalys laughed again, this time laying a light slap at the back of his head. "No need to tell on our "perfect little angels", Love. They'll certainly do it on their own, eventually." She stepped to get another drink, then took a small sip.

Carenen's turn to speak, he brought up the offer of storytelling Myra had mentioned, and nodded. "Right." He sat his mug down, then returned his gaze to Myra and Corelas. "Well, things didn't really get exciting after we broke apart from the caravan. Apart from the children and the war, which we've had to juggle at the same time, not much has happened."

"Her father did bless our marriage, however. We had it back in Alinor. Sunhold, where I was raised. We would have invited you, but unfortunately, we weren't in charge of the guest list." Kaalys felt his chiding and smiled. "Father has to be in control of everything nowadays. Being high up in the political side of the Thalmor, he had his fingers in everything off or on the Isles." Carenen shook his head. "There were too many stuffed-shirts there. After meeting all those nobles, I almost feel bad for the Thalmor, now." Another slap to the head for Carenen. This one a little harder, but still playful. "Now, now, dear. Let's not get into this again. We are with company, and I'd rather not have to make it messy." Carenen made a face at the word messy, and Kaalys shoved him softly. "Pervert."
______________________________________________________________________________________
"That sounds like fun." Lorundil said softly, his interest peaked. These kids seemed interesting enough. Cirwen didn't respond, as she was playing a name-game, memorizing the names with the faces. Satisfied with her efforts, she smiled at Ninane. "Thank you."

Cirwen and Lorundil had met the children. Nice enough, they seemed. Except for the two in the water, they all seemed friendly, each in their own way. Lorundil snickered softly when the two troublemakers pulled the Olwen boy in, and immediately knew who he'd be spending the brunt of the vacation with.

Cirwen on the other hand, made a face as the boy scrambled for air. She didn't like pranks, mostly from being the only one Lorundil had to prank. She felt sad for the boy, and wanted to pull him out of the water and make sure he was okay.

Lorundil laughed and pulled off his boots, which snapped Cirwen out of her pouting, and caused her to do the same. Lacking swimming clothes, they just rolled their pant legs up and began to play amongst the children. This might not be so bad after all.

 

[Patricia]

Olwen had scrambled out of the water, and, luckily, found his book on the shore, just outside the reach of the water. He looked out to the new people, playing with his sisters among the bank, and for a moment he considered stripping down in to his swimming clothes, which he had known to wear under his clothing for the duration of the trip. But once he saw that they were elves, he quickly reconsidered. He sat down and began to read again, but slowly looked up. He saw them having so much fun. He sighed and took a breath. If he were ever to make friends, he would have to settle for the elven people he met. After all, most of the children he met were elves. He just wished to meet someone like himself. But that may never happen. He picked himself up, and changed his clothes, and shyly walked toward them all. "Hello.", he said quietly to the new children, Cirwen in particular. She seemed to have seen him when Lollen and Linilia pulled him in, and he saw a twinge of familiarity to the situation in her eyes. He hoped to become friends.

 

[TomLeViking]

Thorek was about to enter the cellar before turning to his praefect and making a sharp finger towards the younger man;
"Not a word to the others." - Sergurio nodded quickly.
Thorek opened the door and came striding in, his feet making heavy steps on the floor.
"Sorry for my absence, duty calls and all." He said, with a slight laugh, swaggering about the place and making hand gestures. From a distance he seemed to take up the whole room, especially with no human next to him as Sergurio waited outside to guard the door.

The sound of marching could be heard once more from the windows, but it couldn't have been more than a couple squads, and no music was playing this time. The children could see, if they looked back to the manor, legionnaires were setting up guard posts at every entrance to the house - it looked as if the quiet home was becoming a military-occupied outpost.

Thorek heard the marching and stamped his foot hard on the cellar floor, looking back to the door to have Sergurio run in. He clutched him by his collar and said something inaudible to him before he ran out.

Thorek took a seat with the others and helped himself to another drink, wiping his mouth and setting it down on the table with a clang.

 

[CapObvious]

Lorundil said his greeting and headed off after Ninane, not ready to greet the two troublemakers just yet.

Cirwen was surprised to see the Olwen boy had not only gotten out of the water, but had come up to greet them. She could tell that he wasn't used to this sort of thing, and she decided to herself she would befriend him, if only to make it easier for him to open up. She smiled kindly and held out her hand. "Hello. Are you okay...Olwen? It is Olwen?" She of course knew his name. But for the sake of conversation, she had to use everything she had. She then looked to her hand. Deciding the gesture might seem a bit odd, she took her hand back. But she continued, not letting awkwardness stain their meeting. "My name is Cirwen, by the way. It's good to meet you."

Lorundil headed over to Ninane, who was still looking after...Mary, did she call her? Mary...Lorundil tasted the name, then shrugged. Must be an imperial thing. He spoke up, hoping to get her attention. "So, I heard from Father that our parents were close." Not too bad of a starter, he thought. Needed to work on the delivery though...He studied the appearance of the two girls, and once again had his interest tugged. The look of imperial features mixed with altmer, however faint they may have been, were still alien enough to make her look...different? Unique? What was the word he was looking for? The mixture of bosmer and altmer made he and his sister alien to most of his family, sure, but Altmer-Bosmer children weren't that unheard of. Altmer-Imperial, however... He caught himself staring and coughed, pounding the tip of his boot into the ground. "Sorry." He muttered.

 

[Patricia]

"That's alright. We're actually the two to talk to that aren't upset by people gawking. Me because i'm well adjusted, her because she can barely talk, let alone understand.", Ninane said quickly, then regretted saying. Perhaps she had let on too much about her family for a first meeting. Her Great-Grandmothers had put the fear of the Divines in her, as the only female child they'd ever gotten in their family that was remotely feminine in personality and shape, and made certain she knew the basics of a young noblewoman. That including speech. Incidentally, those lessons and lectures invoked the genetic trait of her father's younger days, when he was a stumbling stuttering fool. She became flustered easily. But, also thanks to the lessons and lectures, she knew how to make a smooth recovery. "We've heard stories of our parents' travels across Skyrim. I particularly like the ones that have... what was his name.... Wraith? Wrath? Rath! Yes! Rathalos! I think he sounds a bit like Olwen, once he has some mead in him. He's just as cunning and sly as Lollen, then.", Ninane laughed, a smooth sound. "Mother tells the most. She says that Rath was a bit like her own child, and that Uncle Thorek was a bit rude at first, but she warmed up to him after she found out he had switched from the Stormcloaks side in the old war. She says that your father was her first and best friend. She said that she and your mother knew each other before their travels, and hadn't even realized it until they had left Riften! Oh, but I babble. Do your parents tell you stories, too?", Ninane said sweetly.

Olwen shook Cirwen's hand politely and bowed. He had a fanciful imagination, behind his cloak of shyness, and liked to take advantage of his political stature, acting like a noble every chance he got. Then the hairs on his neck prickled with a wave of shock, as he realized such a gentlemanly act might have made Cirwen uncomfortable. After all, she seemed just as embarrassed as he was when she held out her hand. He quickly stood up, and looked down at his feet, suddenly all too aware of his swimclothes. "Why didn't they make full body swimclothes? Why couldn't I have found those?", he thought to himself. He stood awkwardly, and finally said something. "They're making a sandcastle. Do you want to make a rival sandcastle? I have a pouch of shells that we could put on it, and it'd look better than their's."

 

[TomLeViking]

A squad of 8 imperial troops and their foreboding centurion stepped through the grove of trees to see a large manor on the horizon. They rejoined the road as they no longer feared the sounds of thalmor boots on stone. They had walked 4 hours that day and many had become weary of carrying their armour - not least the two officers who were clad in the imperial's heavy plate. The men marched in staggered form, as they most often do during reconnaissance missions. On their sides were their imperial swords of strong steel, and those without bows were adorned with shields bearing the seal of Akatosh.

"Centurion! Who is that man in the distance? Thalmor mage I reckon!" Yelled the decanus to Hroki, despite being next to him.
"Be on your guard, but do not be fools; 'tis probably just an old man between hamlets." As they continued down to road Eastwards to the manor, the man came ever closer to them, and aimed to part them on the centurion's side. He was clearly old by his small stature and the way he stumbled on his cane.
"You there! You stand before a centurion of His empirical legion - state your business!" Shouted the group captain.
"I am simply gathering my things and departing to High Rock." He replied, grinning slightly under his hood.
"We've only just come that way; you're in for a long walk."
"Oh I don't doubt it." He said, chuckling slightly as he walked further towards them, passing them on the left side.

They began to continue walking when a bony hand clutched at the forearm of the young centurion;
The soldiers all drew their swords as Hroki was left paralysed by the man's grip - his eyes were purely white and seemed to speak a thousand words as he looked into the fibre of his being.
"War and conflict are very good for the young and thirsty, my boy, but take a gander upon which that made you and discern for yourself what is important in this life." He said before releasing his grip. He trotted down the road with his black cane cracking against the stone for a number of seconds before the centurion broke the silence; "Keep moving."

He was clearly embarrassed about the incident there, and seven of the men there wanted to know why their decanus wasn't the centurion in this convoy. Just as the tension was building, they came within 100 yards of the manor. The adopted a more relaxed form as they marched close to the entrance and noticed the guards at the door, before Hroki turned his vision to the children playing in the lake. "He told me they had kids." He muttered before signalling to the squad to wait and moving forward with the captain of the squad with him.

Two large nordic men in bulky armour, swords by their waist, approached the children and addressed the eldest of them;
"Hello, children! I don't suppose you've seen my father around, Legate of the Penitus Oculatus, Thorek of Eastmarch?" He said cheerfully. The other officer scoffed and butted in.
"You seen a big, bald guy around in black armour?"

 

[Patricia]

Ninane raised an eyebrow, and folded her arms across her chest. "And just who might you be? I'm not saying anything about the whereabouts of anyone until I know you're not bad news.", she scoffed haughtily, loosing the sweetness she'd had when talking to Lorundil.

 

[TomLeViking]

The two men looked slightly shocked but amused. The centurion smiled while his subordinate simply laughed. They could see the armed guards at the entrance to the manor and assumed Thorek could only lie within, yet they continued to talk to a child.
"We are emissaries of the imperial legion, little girl." The decanus said before he was cut off by Hroki;
"I am Hroki of Eastmarch, Centurion of the imperial legion. This is Decanus Trondheim." He said, motioning to his partner, "I'd tell you what we're doing here but from the looks of it you've got.. 'Elven blood'.. so all you need to know is I'm here to visit my father."

He could hear Trondheim whisper in his ear "Damn half-breeds" before he delivered an elbow to his ribs.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well don't let me spoil the conversation!" Bellowed Thorek, raising his mug to his mouth. He slammed it down onto the table before exclaiming, "Now, what were you discussin' before I was walking on in here?"

 

[Patricia]

They apparently hadn't realized that Ninane, as well as most of the other children, had heard the Decanus's words, and Ninane's face flushed with anger. Ninane then pulled something that even she herself was surprised at: She spat on the man who had insulted her family. Her heart pounded with pride and pain. "Every child you see here today is an elf or of elven descent. Every person except for yourselves and Uncle Thorek is an elf or of elven descent. If you feel the need to damn us, you should go about your business quickly, and leave.", she said diplomatically to the Decanus, turned around and storming off, taking her sister with her. This man made her so angry that she spat on him, and filled her with blind rage in doing so. But he also filled her with fear. She had read about what people like that did to people like her. People like her family. Elves in general. Would they do something to them? Or were they all talk and no action?

 

[TomLeViking]

Hroki had to stop the man from slapping the child before she stormed off. They watched her go before turning to one another; "Uncle Thorek?" He said, confused and slightly amused. They went back to the squad of men and the Decanus filled the 8th slot in the parade.

The centurion returned to them after a word with the guards at the door.
"There's a camp setup a mile down the road, have fun walking." He said, grinning and putting a hand on the Decanus' shoulder. "It would seem my father, or rather his understudy, has made all the necessary arrangements for us. There's nothing else to do than report to him. Don't dally now." He smiled as he sent them off marching down the road.

Hroki turned and walked to the manor, stepping inside and hoping to find the young girl he'd offended; he didn't wish to send off alarms before his presence was known to Thorek. He glanced around the front room, looking for Ninane or one of the children.

((sorry for the unimaginative post. I'm a little drunk atm, and about to go to bed - just wanted to progress this bit of story a bit further ))

 

[Patricia]

Ninane sat under a tree with a blank look on her face. She couldn't get her worries out of her head. She had just majorly insulted someone who could easily kill her and her siblings. The feeling of fear gnarled and twisted in her stomach. But, she also knew, she would not apologize if she had a chance. Pride of her act of courage and a gleaming sense of patriotism for all who had been wronged by people like him, waged a war in her heart and gut. So she sat silently, drifted off until she knew what to feel. She only snapped out of it when she heard the *clunk* of Imperial boots right next to her.

 

[TomLeViking]

Hroki looked down at the young girl and remembered all that Thorek had taught him. He then remembered all he was taught to forget, and everything that the legion had taught him in its place.
"Nice day for a snooze." He said, smiling down at her before realising who he was again. He gave her a sideways frown before reaching for his shoulders and unstrapping the leather belt which held the steel plate to his chest. He let it drop onto his forearm before pushing it off. The steel armor landed to the ground with a crash, followed by another as he unstrapped the plateskirt and threw that down also.

Underneath his armour, he was a large man, about as large as Thorek, and he wore plain legion crimson. He belt down to the ground to face her and tucked his knees under his elbows, putting his hands together.
"I must apologise for the decanus' behaviour. He is much like my father; a remnant of an old war. However, my father did much for the dark elves in Windhelm. Trondheim however, still has some maturing to do." He tried to explain to her, but not being good with children, he was unable to tell how she'd react. "I haven't come to speak with you to make excuses; indeed, I did not have to seek you out at all - it is plain to me where Legate Thorek lies, as we both know. Now, I hope that you can accept this apology." He concluded.

He sat on the grass for the first time in weeks and allowed himself to have a "normal" conversation with someone he'd never met before; it felt good as he spoke the words, but he awaited her reaction.

 

[AS88]

Moved to Active Stories.