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SPOILER INFO
This fanfic novel is largely based on the events that occurred in an actual game of Skyrim I played. Therefore, it's inevitably a spoiler.
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previous day
4-202-02-28 05:19
The Copper Cask Inn, Darkwater, Eastmarch, Skyrim
I leave my followers sleeping and go to wash myself in one of those warm water springs.
Darkwater, as I've told you, is a location where it's considered acceptable to bathe naked outdoors even in sight of other people. Not that it would matter at this early hour, of course.
My girls turn up one after another. We didn't make it to Cragslane Cavern yesterday, but we're certainly going to today.
Hi, Billy! I'm Laura and this is Lydia.
You probably can't understand what I'm saying, but we'd really like to be friends with you.
Jordis and Jenassa over there like you too, they're just shy, never mind.
You probably can't understand what I'm saying, but we'd really like to be friends with you.
Jordis and Jenassa over there like you too, they're just shy, never mind.
We are just a little northerly from Vernim Wood, and Cragslane Cavern is to the south of it. So we follow the road through the town, then a little way to the south and then we turn off the road. Sneaking cautiously across the hills, approaching the place where, judging by the Riften guards' description, our destination ought to be, I look over the edge of a rocky cliff and see tents and a couple of large cages with animals inside.
The humans who walk back and forth near a campfire are clearly hostile, so we shoot them dead before they would see us. Then we descend carefully.
Cragslane Cavern is here all right. There's a cave entrance at the foot of the very hill across which we approached. Inside is a passage leading to a large open space with maybe half a dozen bandits in it.
Now, this is a little hard for me to tell about. Maybe it's residue from our jolly mood from my amazing revelations up in High Hrothgar, and our close encounter with the death yesterday, and having a part in the happiness of the people of Darkwater. At any rate, Lydia, Jordis and Jenassa do something they haven't done for months now – they run past me towards that large cave and ruin my ideal shooting position. I mean, imagine this: a passage two or three meters wide and 20–30 meters long, and behind it a cavern with bandits it it. All I had to do was to shoot one arrow into the cavern and then stand there with my bow at the ready and wait for the bandits to arrive one by one. But those stupid cows created a mess where we all ended up hurt! Well, I admit, there was no actual danger for us from bandits so weak, but this is something you just don't do! I'm so angry. I wonder if I ought to spank their butts for this, but then I decide not to. Still, the girls are very humble and remorseful for the rest of the day.
There's this strange arena in the big cave with an opening into another cave that had
cages with wolves (whom we killed). Had they been staging some kind of pitfights here?
What if I left each one of my followers in that arena for one night, naked and all alone?
Nah, can't afford to waste three nights.
cages with wolves (whom we killed). Had they been staging some kind of pitfights here?
What if I left each one of my followers in that arena for one night, naked and all alone?
Nah, can't afford to waste three nights.
We find and destroy a shipment of skooma. Now, we could go back to Riften and ask the jarl if she thinks there's anything more that needs to be done, but I prefer to go to Windhelm and ask Yrsarald. I mean, we were headed north anyway. Riften would be too long a detour.
The weather is nice. Something rather amusing occurs not far from that giant camp halfway between Vernim Wood and Kynesgrove. As always, I run as our vanguard and get attacked by a roadside bandit. I use a sword with that cage enchantment again. Inside the cage barely big enough for him, he can no longer attack me. I quickly grab my bow and step back a few paces to finish him off out of his range before the magical effect wears off. The bandit is furious.
I don't think so. :D
We make a brief stop in Kynesgrove to say hello and see how the people are doing.
In front of the fortifications of Windhelm, a Khajiit caravan has made camp. I think this is the first time my followers are really happy to see Khajiits, because there are few things that improve my mood like the company of Khajiits. Indeed, after this encounter, I'm no longer angry over that blunder in Cragslane Cavern.
Inside the city proper, we go to our house first and then find Sofie to say hello, after which I tell my followers (although they would know even without being told) that they can walk around on their own while I go to the palace to see Yrsarald.
He looks tired and not very happy, but he interrupts his work for my sake all the same. I have to go through the same routine of leaving all my stuff in my room and slipping naked into his, unnoticed by the guards. Yrsarald arrives shortly.
He makes me suck all the way to his climax.
Then he orders me to step down onto the floor and stand there, naked as I am. At least it's warm here. When Yrsarald slouches comfortably, supported on his elbow, his head is slightly higher than mine.
Now I have to report what I've been doing in the meantime. Yrsarald approves of the renaming of Bitchen back into Riften, among other things. Then he asks me what I intend to do next. I tell him I'll go to Winterhold to report about having successfully closed the rupture down south, then to Solitud to make the last preparations for Jarl Igmund's trip back to Morpork, and then travel to Morpork myself, wait for the jarl to arrive and make sure the local garrison isn't going to make any trouble, as well as verify the Silver-Bloods are gone for good. Then we'll rename Morpork back into Markarth, after which I'm going to have some adventures of my own. I'm totally fed up with big politics. By the way, would Yrsarald give me a written order for the Morpork garrison commander to cooperate with Jarl Igmund? Just in case.
Yes, he would.
I'm now allowed to take a blanket, spread it over Yrsarald and lie down under it next to him.
"Have you figured out why Ulfric was in the area of Helgen at the same time you were?" Yrsarald asks me as I delightedly caress his hairy chest.
"No, I haven't."
"He went there because our priestess Jora had a vision. Gods told her the Dragonborn was about to arrive from Hammerfell."
Arrive from Hammerfell?
When we were brought to Helgen on the first day I can remember, Ralof told me I had attempted to cross the border, and I had always been wondering what business I might have had in Hammerfell. But what if Ralof had misunderstood the situation? What if I hadn't tried to cross from Skyrim into Hammerfell? What if I had already crossed the border – from Hammerfell into Skyrim?
Yrsarald agrees it would make sense, considering what I already know:
1) my home was in High Rock;
2) I had been told I would have to travel to Skyrim.
How else do you travel from High Rock to Skyrim if not via Hammerfell? (The ship connection is apparently not too developed. Besides, a ship on the sea is easier for potential enemies to find than a lone traveler somewhere within a big territory.) I had already known the facts, just not thought of putting two and two together.
"But when we were in that horse-cart, Ralof didn't tell me anything about that Dragonborn thing."
"Ralof didn't know. He was merely one of our secret garrison in the area, accompanying Ulfric as a guide. Only a handful of people knew and I don't think Ulfric told anyone in Falkreath. You didn't talk to Ulfric himself, did you?"
"No, I couldn't. He was gagged."
"You see, Laura, we had no idea who the Dragonborn would be. The message from the gods was serious, there was no doubt about that. Serious enough for Ulfric himself to venture southwest hoping to meet the Dragonborn. But to the lower ranks, he just told to look for unknown people who were in any way peculiar, and protect them from the Imperial Army at all cost. He put himself in danger because he wouldn't entrust the lead of this operation to anyone else."
"Well, he found me all right," I snigger.
"To tell you the truth, we were looking for a man."
I nod. "I can imagine. All the legends..."
"...say that the Dragonborn is a man, right. Or actually the original legend doesn't. The popular narrations do. The point is, we have all been so used to thinking that the Dragonborn would be male that even after everything Ralof and Ulfric told us about you, none of us had any idea you were Dragonborn until you actually turned up here yourself."
"What everything? Ralof barely saw me."
"He saw enough. He described your looks in such detail that when I first saw you, I recognized you immediately."
"Oh! That's embarrassing."
"Come on. A gorgeous-looking woman ending accidentally up captured together with a top-secret Stormcloak task force? The soldiers kept going on about it for quite some time. You were a great mystery. And yet no one guessed what the mystery was about."
A mild hurricane of ecstasy vibrates through my body as I hear that "gorgeous-looking", spoken casually as a well-known fact. Then, however, another, horrible thought occurs to me...
"And you came to bed with me only to find out more about the Dragonborn's mission?" I hope my voice doesn't sound too appalled.
"No, Laura. I did it to find out what you looked like with no clothes on."
"What do you mean?" (Silly question, I know. I just want to hear what he'd reply.)
"I mean I found the sight of your body sexually arousing and I wanted to see you naked and fuck you."
I rush to hug and kiss him. He has no idea how happy he just made me.
"Do you know why Hammerfell closed its border to Skyrim?" I ask then.
"No. They claimed it was some kind of a plague, but I don't believe it."
"Why not?"
"Firstly, you've been in Hammerfell a couple of times in recent months and you didn't hear anything about a plague, did you?"
"No, but they might have gotten it under control in the meantime."
"Yes, that's possible. However, we interrogated a couple of bandits from Hammerfell some time ago who were harassing people on roads. They hadn't heard about any plague either."
"Were they looking for a certain Redguard woman?"
"Yes, why?"
"Did you find out who she was and what she had done?"
"I can't remember her name, but they said she had betrayed Hammerfell to Aldmeri Dominion. We soon found out they didn't know any particulars or if it was even true. They had just been told a story and sent out with a job to do."
"Are they still here?"
"No. We squeezed all we could out of them and then we had no reason to keep them alive."
"I guessed as much. Can I talk to that priestess, Jora?"
"By all means. You know where the temple is, don't you?"
"Sure."
"Laura, I think the government of Hammerfell might have gotten wind about your traveling through their country and closed the borders in order to prevent your arrival in Skyrim."
"Why would they do that?"
"I don't know. But we've gotten distracted, Laura. I actually wanted to talk about us."
"Of course. I'm sorry, darling. I'll talk to Jora later, but I won't bring up that Dragonsborn stuff anymore."
Yrsarald adjusts his position. We are now lying on our sides, basically mirroring each other.
"Now, Laura, I'm a military man and I've had a chance to notice you're a rational and sensible person, more or less, so I won't beat around the bush."
"Okay."
"Do you have other boyfriends?"
"I have."
"Whom you would consider your primary boyfriend?"
"You."
"Based on what?"
"Firstly, I have spent much more time with you than with any other. Secondly, there is no doubt in my mind that you are the one I'm most eager to please. Thirdly, if I were required to choose only one to be with and give up all the others, I would choose you."
"Is there anything you have been wanting from me but haven't been getting?"
"Yes." I realize this is not the time for me to beat around the bush either. "I need you to tell me about your feelings. When you are having orgasms, I can sense with all my being how much you are enjoying yourself with me and I feel extreme pride in my ability to give you such pleasure. Still, that is not enough. I want you to tell me that you find me attractive and you desire me – even though you have told it to me before. I also want to know what you think and feel outside of bed. What makes you happy, what makes you sad. I don't know if anyone has ever told you that, but women need that kind of thing. I admire you as a strong man who knows what he wants, and I won't respect you any less if you tell me occasionally that you have mishaps or doubts or regrets. I need more than just the sharing of bodies. I need yoo to share your soul with me. I need to be able to feel with you, in good and bad things."
I know Yrsarald is not a man of many words. Therefore, I wait patiently. "I'll try to keep it in mind," he says finally. "You are right in presuming no one has ever told me about this aspect of women, but now that you've said it, I can understand women's strange behavior better."
"Yeah. I mean, like you said a few minutes ago that you desired my body and wanted to fuck me. I need to hear such things, even though I'd prefer if you said "make love" instead of "fuck". But it's really no big deal. I'm fine with such words as long as we're not among people."
"Okay. Well, as for what I've been up to at this time, I've been greatly worried about how I can keep the legacy of Ulfric and I've hardly had time to think about anything else. Speaking of which... I mean, speaking of the near future, I will have a war to fight." Fondling my right breast absent-mindedly, Yrsarald searches for right words. "You left your family to come and rescue Skyrim, so you will surely understand I can't abandon my people now. We have a historical chance to seriously weaken the Aldmeri Dominion. We have to use this chance to bring about a peace as favorable as possible, so that never again could some damned High Elves grab our people off the streets and barbarously torture them for honoring our gods."
"I understand that."
"You, in turn, will, as I presume, want to recover your memory and then go to visit your family and friends."
"Yes."
"Considering all that, it's very difficult for either of us to make any future plans. I am firmly of the opinion that we shouldn't even talk about marriage before we have lived together for something like four to six months."
Wow. As if he had been reading my thoughts! I nod. "I agree."
"At the moment," Yrsarald continues, "we both have a lot of work to do. I'll need to meet with Tullius and hammer out a common strategy against the Dominion. After that, I might have to go to actual war. The point is, it'll take some time before you and I will have a chance to have some kind of a peaceful and stable life together to rehearse being married. In the meantime, I could even get killed."
"Yeah, me too."
"So, Laura, we'd better just live one day at a time. The fact is, you look gorgeous, you are intelligent, kind, obedient," (I cast my eyes down), "but there simply can't be any promises or commitment when I don't know what might expect me in a week or a month from now. Therefore, I'd suggest you go on doing whatever you feel you must do that might help you get your memory back, and come to see me as often as is convenient, and I will always make some time to sit and talk... among other things."
I smile. I'm glad he didn't bring up the topic of being or not being allowed to sleep with other men. "Do you want me to come back tonight?"
"Unless you were planning on traveling. If you want my advice, I'd recommend you bring that Solitud and Morpork affair behind you without delay."
"Guess you're right."
"Apart from which, I'd like you to tell that vermin Tullius that I want to meet him." Yrsarald kisses me, gets up and begins to put his clothes on. "I think Hviterun would be the ideal place. As hard as it may be, we'll need to learn to work together."
"Don't forget that mounted archers plan."
"I'm already making preparations for it, but enchanting the bows will be a real problem. Do you know by any chance where we could get a large number of soul gems? We'll never be able to equip a serious military force with proper bows with the supply we have here."
"To be perfectly honest, I have no idea. I'll try to ask around. I know a couple of traders who sell Black Soul Gems. I mean, if they know where to find very rare ones, maybe they'll also know where to find many."
"Fine. Come back in a couple of hours and I'll give you that document for the Morpork garrison commander."
He's already on his way to the door when I say quickly:
"Darling, would you do me a favor and see where those two guards are?"
"Oh. Sure." He goes out and then gives me the sign that the coast is clear.
"Thanks." I run quickly into my bedroom. Yrsarald comes and watches me getting dressed.
"Do I have to leave my clothes here every time now?"
"Yes. Whenever I send you up here, you do like you did today and the last time. Except when I'm not in my office. Then you come and strip naked and wait for me here."
In case you're in your bedroom with another woman? I'd like to ask but I know I'd better not.
"The guards will inform me that you're waiting for me," Yrsarald adds. "But when you have waited for one hour, you may get dressed again and leave."
I sigh with relief.
Yrsarald pats my shoulder. "I know you're too impatient to sit around for longer than that."
"How do you know?"
Yrsarald grins. "Let's go now."
We walk downstairs where Yrsarald goes into his office and I head for the exit. I see Bronwen who is visiting the palace. I give her the news about Mendrell. She tells me he's in Windhelm already. Their gratitude is boundless. I refrain from mentioning her father.
I take a walk outside to clear my head. Then I go to the temple which is between the palace and the inn.
I feel kind of tired, but Jora is very nice and her presence gives me a real boost of energy. She understands my problem completely and I don't even have to explain everything.
"Did Alduin want to kill me in Helgen?" I ask her.
"I'm certain he did."
"He must have felt very foolish when he learned I was going to be executed and he in fact saved my life."
"I'm not sure he ever found out," Jora replies with her gentle soothing voice. "Dragons don't notice such small details in the affairs of the humans."
"Yeah, I didn't think he did. I was being witty. But there is one thing that's been bothering me – why didn't Alduin kill me the next times we met?"
"Did he just fly by?"
"No. He kept traveling across Skyrim waking up other dragons, but he never attacked me, not even when me and my followers killed the dragons he had just awoken. And he himself was invulnerable."
"Invulnerable?" Jora asks with an astonished look.
"Yes. We kept shooting arrows at him, but they seemed to be flying through him without harming him in any way."
"Oh, then I think I know what it was about. He was not fully in our world."
I make a confused face.
"Those slumbering dragons were not dead the way humans are dead," explains Jora. "They were, in a way, outside of our world. In order to "awaken" them, I presume Alduin himself had to be somewhere between our plane and Oblivion, present enough in our world to be seen, but not enough to be vulnerable to your arrows. That explains why he was so weak in Helgen."
"Weak? He laid the village completey waste."
"It may have been a huge deal for the people who lived there, but for Alduin... Did you know he's nicknamed World-Eater?"
"Yes, I've heard."
"He doesn't actually eat planets, but he is... was incredibly mighty. Speaking of Helgen, it would seem that about the same time when I learned about the Dragonborn's expected arrival (as, I'm sure, did the Imperial Army which must have been the reason why General Tullius himself ventured down there), Alduin must have known too. He hurried to the region where you were supposed to be, but one human being in a crowd is much too small for a dragon to notice, that's why he just tried to kill everyone. But since he hadn't had the time to transit completely to our plane, he was able to do only limited damage. And when he attacked you up on The Throat of the World, you had already grown so strong that you and Paarthurnax together proved stronger than Alduin. You killed his physical body and Paarthurnax took care of the spiritual part."
"Yes, that makes sense, but what was Alduin up to between Helgen and the Throat of the World battle?"
"My best guess is Alduin realized you were too small for him to locate, so he decided to save his energy and wake up as many dragons as he could instead. However, as soon as he sensed you had read the Elder Scroll, he knew he had to act immediately, ready or not. And because you were all alone on top of that mountain save for Paarthurnax, he had no difficulties targeting you, unlike he had when you were among other people in Helgen."
"Okay. But why did the government of Hammerfell try to prevent me from reaching Skyrim?"
"Oh, that part's easy. The legend says the Dragonborn is destined to slay Alduin, right?"
"Right."
"But that purpose had been fulfilled – as everyone assumed. Alduin had been killed many centuries ago. Everybody knew that. Therefore, it was presumed that the prophecy was to be understood in the metaphorical sense – the Dragonborn would be sent by the gods to make Skyrim great again, to let the Nords rule the Empire again the way they had in the past. What else could have possibly been the gods' purpose for letting a new Dragonborn be born when Alduin was no more?"
Heavens, I hadn't realized that! Now I understand why the Nords held me in such an awe even in the early days when many still refused to believe there were even any dragons reawoken. They were hoping for me to put an end to Skyrim's troubles!
Jora goes on: "My guess is the rulers of Hammerfell learned from their own priests that a new Dragonborn had appeared and was geographically near, possibly on their very territory and in all likelihood headed for Skyrim. It's not surprising they tried everything in their power to prevent the legendary leader of the Nords from arriving at his destination – reaching his people, among whom he would soon grow unbeatably mighty. Who could have thought that the legend meant exactly what it said – that the gods had sent us a new Dragonborn to really kill Alduin? Who could have guessed that Alduin had not been properly killed the last time?"
"Yeah, and Tullius found Ulfric instead of the Dragonborn and decided to have him executed without delay, and then the dragon scared the pants off both of them and they decided to return home and consult priests and see what would happen."
"Laura, I assure you that Ulfric wasn't afraid of anything in the world."
I don't want to argue. "What role could the Psijic Order possibly have played in all this?"
Jora has no idea.
Afraid to ask if the gods would really have let the imps chop my head off if Alduin hadn't interfered, I ask her instead how I ought to behave now in order to recover my lost memory as efficiently as possible.
"Do you have a small object you have worn a lot that you can leave here?" she asks. "An amulet would be best."
I hesitate for a second and then take the amulet from around my neck. "I've been carrying this a lot. It's an amulet of learning."
"Learning? That's a rare enchantment."
"Yeah, well, I did it myself. I kind of noticed I had become slower in improving my skills."
"Please hang it up there next to the shrine of Talos."
I do so.
"I'll pray to the gods and see if they'll give me some kind of guidance. Please come back in a couple of weeks or months."
I walk out the temple without even replying. I feel an amazing connection to that woman. I don't mean anything like with Ysolda or my followers. I mean like we're spiritually connected. Which, if I were to think logically, is only to be expected. How else could she have been the one to receive a vision of my forthcoming appearance in southwestern Skyrim at such geographical distance? She's just an assistant priestess, nowhere near as powerful as Rorlund of Solitud. There must be a lot Jora and I have in common apart from our gender.
I realize only now that maybe I should have left a donation or something. Well, never mind. I've no doubt Yrsarald is going to make sure the temple won't be lacking anything.
I walk around on the marketplace and indeed I'm seeing certain hostility from some people, similar to what my followers reported the last time we were here. Strangely enough, none from Hermir, though, the blacksmith's assistant who had made an impression of being in love with Ulfric in the past.
On my way to the palace, I make a detour through the elven quarter. No hostility there, obviously, but no signs of celebrations either.
Yrsarald gives me the written order for the Morpork garrison commander as I had asked. And he agrees it'll be best if I leave without another trip upstairs, because there's still daylight left.
A few minutes before 5, me and my followers head for Winterhold. We run past a troll or two, make a brief stop in Amol City and arrive in Winterhold when it's not quite dark yet.
We drop by Birna's shop before proceeding to the College.
I report to Tolfdir, after which I just walk around and talk to people. I'm slightly disappointed, because I can't find the resourceful trader Enthir, yet pleasantly surprised by getting new quests from the teachers Drevis, Faralda and Colette, all connected to research of advanced magic. More precisely, Colette tells me that before she can give me the quest, I'll have to go to Midden and get approval from that ghostly being called Augur of Dunlain.
That's fine, but what's with all the skulls? Have you been catching up on Conjuration?
While discussing Drevis's quest with him, I also try to cautiously question him about his romantic relationships or at least tendencies. He's a really nice man, but I'm not getting anything out of him by beating around the bush. That's why I go to Ertzebet in the library and tell her I'm going to find a pretext to get the two of them together the next time I'm in town. My followers and I are going to make some kind of a plan, and if she has any ideas of her own, she is welcome to share them with me, but basically it's time to grab the bull by the horns.
And now it's time for me to retire to my quarters with Onmund. I hope I haven't been bad this time.
I've given Lydia and Jordis strict instructions to keep to their wing and be absolutely quiet. Valdimar is one thing, but I'm going to need my privacy with Onmund. Quite frankly, I've had my doubts about meeting with Onmund today in the first place. I thought maybe I should lie to him that I'm having my period. But then I decided not to. The path of lies is easy at first, but can easily get perilous.
Onmund fingers me down there at first. All the doubts I had about him earlier today vanish as I'm getting wet fast.
Then I'm somewhat baffled when his fingers seem to start lubricating my butthole with the abundant moisture from my vagina. He can't mean that!
But I don't dare say anything. Apart from which, his fingers are still delightfully caressing me down below, and I can't really believe he would have the nerve to invade my other hole when we have been together only, what, three times? At the same time, the fear that he is going to do it after all gives me a strange thrill, and all the while excitement and anticipation are building up in the right hole, and I can't make up my mind what to do. I mean, I can't make decisions in a state like this.
Well, you get the idea – I hesitate until I feel his something that I don't think is a finger touch me where I rather wouldn't.
I can't believe the cheek of him! But now there's nothing I can do.
Had he asked, I would have said no, but I'm not the kind of a woman who would tell her boyfriend to stop fucking and pull out. Besides, I'm not sure he would, and what would I do then? Or what would I do if he did pull out and went away angry?
I guess I kind of tried to move away from him, so Onmund puts me face down and lies on top of me.
Even though Onmund's size is nothing like Yrsarald's, it hurts like hell. I try to keep quiet, but after some time I can't help wailing. How can this take so long anyway? Aren't men supposed to come quickly in that hole? Well, nothing doing.
To sum up: I've been had big time. I can't even take a health potion afterwards, because I'm not sure Onmund wouldn't feel offended. So we just go to sleep with my merciless lover hugging me tenderly and drying my tears.
next awakening
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