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hellomynameised1 · 7 years ago

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A Human in the Dominion

I have no idea how posting short stories works here on Tumblr, but I would like to contribute to this site at least once, to see if perhaps even one person might enjoy what I’ve written. This is a short little thing I wrote on impulse regarding my Breton Templar, Rolando, working through the Aldmeri Dominion questline as part of Cadwell’s Silver. Enjoy!

A dark veil had passed over Auridon, putting the entire Dominion and even the Queen herself in peril for many weeks, perhaps even longer, before being lifted. Now the Dominion was saved and the Queen’s reputation was no longer at immediate risk. Battlereeve Urcelmo thought he’d have been more at peace knowing that the Veiled Heritance, that group of radical extremists bent on destroying the Dominion that his Majesty Queen Ayrenn had built, had been destroyed. He should have been elated that the Heritance leader in Auridon, a traitor to the Crown and to the Dominion, had been slain by one of Queen Ayrenn’s own Eyes, and that the very Eye had promised to visit the Dominion Capital of Elden Root in Grahtwood, Valenwood to search out and destroy any possible subversion to the Crown. And yet…

“This one thinks you should enjoy your brandy before it gets too warm in its cup, Battlereeve, instead of searching for answers within its depths.”

Urcelmo suddenly realized he’d been staring into his drink. The Altmer lifted his dark eyes and turned his stern gaze upon his new drinking companion, before bowing his head at the Khajiit; it was easy to recognize that fiery red crest of hair he sported, as well as his sleek black leathers belonging to agents of Queen Ayrenn. “Razum-dar. What brings you to Skywatch today of all days? More business?”

“Depends on what you refer to as business, Battlereeve.” The Khajiit coolly brought a glass of wine up to his lips and tilted it back for a sip. When the glass came away he was smirking at Urcelmo, leaning back against the wall before looking back to the rest of the room. The two were in The Barbed Hook, a tavern overlooking the docks in Skywatch, and they were hardly alone. It wasn’t a fancy place but Urcelmo knew the bar always had a good brew on tap here. Now, dozens of the First Auridon Marines and local guards were reveling in drink and song over the good news of the Veiled Heritance’s defeat.

“Razum-dar came here of his own volition,” the Khajiit continued, lazily swirling the glass of wine in his hand as he nursed his drink. “The Veil hanging over Auridon has been lifted after over a month of subterfuge and hard-fought battle. This one thinks he has earned the right to a drink or two. But he has also come for… surveillance purposes. A duty which I think you have taken upon yourself as well, Battlereeve.”

Urcelmo’s gaze met the Khajiit’s, before turning back to the room, eyes flickering over a pair of drinking Marines at a table and a small group of guards singing a raunchy song. His dark gaze finally fell upon a pair of figures at the opposite end of the room, having taken places at the bar. He recognized both figures. Jimila, the Khajiit Captain of the brig known as The Prowler, was knocking back a tall mug of frothy beer. Her drinking companion, however, truly stood out from the crowd. The young human called himself Rolando and claimed to be Breton. He was clad in armor fit for a true Dominion soldier; most notable were his cuirass of metal plates overlaying a thick and flexible aketon with the Aldmeri Eagle soaring on the plastron, and a longsword of High Elven make resting at his hip. When the Khajiit Captain had finished her mug of beer, the human raised his own in a short salute before knocking back his own beer.

Razum-dar chuckled. “You have taken an awful interest in the human, Urcelmo. I should warn you that he does not enjoy the company of menfolk like he enjoys that of women.”

The Battlereeve blinked once in shock then turned to give Raz an affronted look. “That isn’t what I was thinking of at all, you utter pervert.”

“Then what is on your mind, Battlereeve?” Raz asked, watching the Breton and Khajiit drinking themselves into a stupor.

“He shouldn’t be drinking,” Urcelmo muttered quietly in answer. “He is the Queen’s Eye, and look at him getting drunk with Captain Jimila. The Queen has sent him on a mission to Grahtwood! He needs to be more professional about his duty!”

Razum-dar didn’t reply immediately, instead taking a moment to carefully sip his wine and weight his words before glancing back at the Altmer. “You would not deny one of your own soldiers a bit of fun drinking after a particularly hard-fought battle. Even you have been known to indulge in the local brews on your down-time. Meanwhile, the human Eye has fought hard battles and claimed hard-won victories for the Dominion across the entire island for months, with little time for rest in between each battle.”

The Khajiit now turned back to watching his fellow Eye savoring his victories with the Captain. “If anything, I believe that he is the single person who most deserves to have this moment of reprieve from being a messenger boy, or a covert operative, or a butcher of the Dominion’s foes.”

Urcelmo stared long and hard at Razum-dar, before turning back to looking into his port. “No,” he admitted at length, “I wouldn’t be so harsh on the boy if he were an Altmer.”

Razum-dar snorted quietly. “And we just finished eradicating a group of extremist bigots who wanted only Altmer purity in the Dominion. There is irony in this, Raz thinks.”

Urcelmo gave Raz a cold look. “Do not compare me to those utter heretics and traitors to the Crown. My loyalty is unquestionable. It’s just…”

Here, the Battlereeve faltered. He glanced uncertainly at Raz, who simply gave a shake of his head and a wave of his hand. “Speak freely, Battlereeve. I would like to hear what thoughts you have on our human friend over there.”

Urcelmo looked back over to the Breton, who has listing heavily to one side on his stool now as he watched Captain Jimila emptying another mug down her gullet.

“Hearts and minds,” the Battlereeve said quietly at last. “That’s the essence of Queen Ayrenn’s strategy to maintain cohesion in our fragile Dominion. She seeks to win the hearts and minds of her subjects so that they believe in the Dominion and its strength of unity as strongly as she does. It is that strength that will give us the edge we need to win the war on the mainland. And we both know what the Dominion’s agenda as a whole is.”

He took a sip of his port, savoring the strong, malty drink for a few quiet moments before clearing his throat. Raz kept his silence, waiting for Urcelmo to continue. At length, the Battlereeve spoke again. “The races of Men are young and foolish, driven purely by emotion and lacking the wisdom granted by age.”

“The Altmer, the Bosmer and the Khajiit share the common traits of intelligence, patience and reason,” Raz remarked, nodding slowly, with that undefinable quality to his voice of someone quoting something. “We do not seek riches or plunder. Domination is not our goal, nor is the acclamation of power for its own sake. Today we make our stand. Today we take back the Ruby Throne, which is ours by ancient right and the blessings of the Divines. Stand with us.”

Battlereeve Urcelmo nodded back; so Raz had remembered the words of Queen Ayrenn’s speech as well. The Altmer scratched at his sparse gray beard as he watched the Breton struggling to finish his next pint, his pale human skin flushed bright pink with warmth; although it was harder to tell in the case of the Captain, it was clear both were quite literally in high spirits.

“Queen Ayrenn has made it the Dominion’s mission to claim the Ruby Throne from the capricious whims of Men,” said the Altmer, “and yet she has all but made a Breton one of her champions. The very fact of the matter is that this decision of hers might undermine her entire premise of Elven Wisdom over Human Whimsy. If we rally our people behind the Queen’s original premise, and then name a Breton – if he even is a Breton, I still have my doubts – one of the Queen’s most trusted agents, and a Champion of the Dominion…”

Urcelmo looked up to see Razum-dar nodding slowly. “Raz understand your concerns, Battlereeve. Truth be told, Raz had doubts about his new fellow Eye at first as well. He is a Human, and this is a Dominion of Elves and Khajiit. Why would a Breton pledge allegiance to us, I thought?”

Raz sipped his wine again, his cheerful demeanor replaced by a more thoughtful one, although the traces of a smile ghosted across his lips. His whiskers twitched ever so slightly in contemplation. “I believe our friend simply enjoys being a hero. He likes bringing an end to those who threaten the lives of the common people. I would call him an altruist if I didn’t know how pleased he looked whenever he was hailed as a savior. The look of disbelief on that one’s face after claiming an arduous victory… he never goes into battle assured of his own survival. If you’ve seen him fight, you know he could not have picked up his blade more than a year or two ago. But I have been pleased to see how dexterous he is becoming in such a short time.”

The Khajiit dragged a nearby chair over to Urcelmo’s table and sat down in it properly, resting an elbow as he leaned in towards the Altmer. “Now, to address your primary concern, Battlereeve… do you know what the people value?”

“The people, Raz?”

“Yes. The common people. Not Canonreeves or Kinladies or Princes or Barons… I mean the blacksmiths in the forges, I mean the stevedores in the docks, the laborers and the artisans and the farmers across our entire Dominion who are at the mercy of forces beyond their ken, the whims of their higher authorities and their own fortunes which wax and wane like the Twin Moons.”

Raz watched Urcelmo carefully. When the Battlereeve made no attempt to interject, the Khajiit resumed. “The commoners do not care much who sits the Ruby Throne, certainly not as much as we under the Queen’s own service do. At the end of the day, with daedra still threatening their homesteads, enemies from both within and without putting their lives at peril… at the end of the day what the people of the Dominion care most about is themselves. Their way of life, their families, and their own safety. This is true of Altmer, Bosmer, and Khajiit; they only wish for their families and their livelihoods to be kept safe. With the Alliance War raging in Cyrodiil, our own forces are spread too thin to protect our own people as well as they’d hope, and thus our people are forced to face their problems alone.”

The Khajiit then made a vague motion with his wine-bearing hand towards Rolando and Jamila, both of who were leaning heavily against the bar, laughing quite loudly. “That man there is what the people of the Dominion need. He represents exactly the kind of values that the common folk treasure – the safeguarding of their lives and livelihoods. The Breton rooted out Heritance dogs across Auridon and ended or eased the suffering of our people with his actions. For whatever reason he has chosen to pledge allegiance to our Dominion, our people are better off because of it.”

Raz chuckled again. “Besides, I believe the Breton is just as aware of your concern as you are. It’s why he so eagerly wears Dominion armor emblazoned with the Dominion Eagle, and it is why he wears the winged helmet of Altmer design. He does not wish to be perceived as an outsider in our lands.”

Urcelmo found himself frowning slightly. He had not thought much about the human’s choice of armor, except how strangely it fit a man who was not of Altmer height; he never considered the reason why he had chosen to wear such armor and display such an iconic Dominion symbol on his chest for all his foes to behold.

“I… I see, Razum-dar. You are right. I believe I might have let my own fears for the Queen rule me,” the Battlereeve conceded at last. “He has only ever been a boon to us. The Queen trusts him, and... I should, too.”

“Of course you should!” Raz slapped the Battlereeve’s armored back. “Did you not recall how he foiled the assassination attempt on the Queen in Vulkhel Guard? You and him were back-to-back slaying assassins, from what he told me. I even overheard you saying you looked forward to sharing a drink with him sometime.”

Raz inclined his head towards the bar where Rolando and Jimila were still trying to match each other drink for drink, with the human evidently failing to keep up. “Perhaps you should hold yourself to that promise sometime.”

Urcelmo gave Raz a firm, hard look. The Khajiit, instead of responding to that look, simply stood and gave the Battlereeve a respectful nod, then a flippant smile, before departing. The Altmer watched him go, before turning his attention back to the human at the bar. After watching him for a minute or so, contemplating, he sighed at last. Everyone deserved a chance – and this lad had proven himself over and over. Perhaps it was time he had a sit-down and drink with the young man himself, finally.

#ESO #Breton #Khajiit #Altmer #Dominion #short #story

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