"I'll remember that," Ria replied, winking slyly. "We're going to have to tell them eventually, though, so it might as well be sooner rather than later." Ardin nodded. "I don't mean now, but... You know. Soon."
Ardin winked, smiled and began to talk to everyone after offering to take over the night shift from Talia.
"Who wants to go first?"
"I'll do it," Ria said quickly. She wanted to get it out of the way; even though she wasn't going to tell them about the bandits in Daggerfall, not yet.
"I was born in Daggerfall, and my mother and father belonged to a village, and lived in the jungles. We had quite a lot of land, as a village, and we had a west-facing beach, so we could watch the sunset. We were quite close to the city, so we were quite well-off, with trading and the like.
"My father was the smith; he'd forge tools for the village to use. Our house was in a clearing, near the center of the village; you know, so the trees don't burn down. When I was eight, my grandparents died. They left my parents their enormous wealth, and they left me their house. I couldn't take it until I was seventeen, so the village chief looked after it for me.
"When I was eleven, my parents sent me, along with all the other children in the village, to the teacher. He taught us about which berries to pick, which animals to hunt, which trees to cut down, stuff like that. I was... close with one boy, Uthyn. He was the chief's son. We were never apart, and we liked to go down to the beach at sunset and just watch the ocean, and eventually, that was..." She glanced over at Ardin, worried that she might hurt his feelings by talking about Uthyn, her childhood sweetheart, but he seemed unfazed.
"So that kept going. One day, I was hunting in the jungle. I was fourteen. I heard this... mewing. Like a kitten. So I looked around for it, then I found it. There was this huge tiger, a mother, dead. It had scratch marks, bite marks, everything said she'd been fighting another tiger. But that wasn't what interested me; at the tiger's teats was a cub, just the one. The others must have been taken for food by some other animal, but this one cub was left alone, suckling to no avail. I took it home, promised to feed it and raise it. It was tiny; it easily fit in my hand, and I was small, even then. Its eyes were still shut. My mother wasn't happy. Eventually, she agreed I could keep it, but she would have no part in raising it at all. I called it Sand, and when its eyes opened a week or two later, it thought I was its mother, and followed me around, protecting me. He's still doing it!" She suddenly became aware of Sand being sat beside her, looking up at her lovingly. She laughed, and scratched him behind his ear.
"Then, one day, the chief decided that he wanted me to marry Uthyn. I was quite happy to, but he said it had to wait until I was sixteen. He was older by a year and half, so he didn't have to worry about it so much. So... we were to be married on my sixteenth birthday. We were quite happy together. But... One day, before we were married, he..." She paused, wondering what exactly to tell them. They all seemed to be paying complete attention, with the exception of Talia, who was still shaking, searching her bags, but was still listening at least. "He died. It... wasn't a natural death. That's all I'll say for now." She sighed.
"After a year of being without him, I finally got my grandparents' house. But I was never satisfied; Uthyn should have been there with me, but he wasn't, and I never really got over that. I couldn't stay in the village; I needed a break. Everything was reminding me of Uthyn, so I decided to go to Winterhold. The College. When he died, I... Something awoke inside me, some strange power. It was magic, but as no-one had ever seen before, it was more powerful than anyone dared believe. But I could never use it at will, only the basic inborn Breton skill. So I went to the College. There were some... delays... along the way, but I got there. My father gave me a sword and some armour before I left; this sword, this armour. It came in very useful along the way. The teachers discovered more about my... talent. It would happen upon extreme emotional triggers. They proved it; they cast an illusion, showing me Uthyn dying again. Something happened again, something that nearly destroyed the College." She shuddered as she remembered it.
"So I stayed at the College, after they deduced there was no way they could change my power. I learnt more of the basic, general magic that normal students would be expected to learn. But one day, I got the letter from the Council, and..."She grimaced and shook her head.
"And here I am." Suddenly, an Argonian emerged from the forest. Ria couldn't quite see her face; it was still far enough from the fire to be shrouded in darkness. "Erm... Hello? Are you okay?"