keleren-ie

[keleren-ie]

[keleren-ie]

I wonder seriously how a Dagoth Ur wins would go if he becomes aware of your identity as a Nerevarine early on. He doesn't want you dead. He doesn't want his Nerevar dead, he needs something to occupy his time over the millennia that isn't his grand plan.

Maybe he goes in hard on the siren shit. The "song" is just. The most beautiful (idk do you think he's a tenor or baritone?) tone you've ever heard. Just like a chorus you hear when asleep. Nerevarine wakes up feeling great every time they hear it.

Azura is extra leery about this, Nibani Maesa warns against listening, everyone warns against listening. And anytime you're near an ash statue it just intensifies. Each new Sixth House base gets harder to clear.

[keleren-ie]

Severed Destiny, pt. 33

Sadara seemed...strangely detached. Voryn expected a lot of things: rage, joy, sorrow. Some mix of all three, but not whatever this was. She followed him, somehow still carrying the raggedy little blighted rat in her arms.

And she hesitated at the door to the cave.

"Do you not wish to leave?"

"I don't...it's not that I don't wish to leave, it's only that...I know what danger lies out there. What if...what if I'm seen?"

"I should hope they would see you, Sadara."

Her head lowered. She didn't want to leave, but she followed him out anyway, and seemed to be comforting the rat.

"It's alright, sweetling, it's alright. We're just going outside for a..."

The sun beat down upon her for the first time in more than sixteen years and she stopped dead in her legless tracks.

"This isn't real," she said quietly, clinging just a little more tightly to the rat. "It can't be."

"It's real," Voryn tried to sound comforting, "As am I."

"No, no, you're not, I know that, if nothing else."

She was so self-assured about it that he had no choice but to ask the obvious question.

"How--how are you so sure I'm not real?"

"You call me Sadara," she said, "And the Voryn I knew wouldn't do that, he'd call me Nerevar. He always did."

There was a pause.

"At least this hallucination is...is a good one..." Her voice wavered. "The sun...it never looked like this here before..."

She followed him, hardly seeming to have a will of her own. Every worried or fearful look, and there were many, was another dagger in his chest. So instead of looking back, and having his words stopped before they could be spoken, he started to talk of Haj-deek, of Nerevar, of everything that had gone on of late. Everything that had been and would be fixed.

"I wouldn't even recognize her," she said to herself in a choked tone, "What kind of terrible story could I tell her? None of this can be real, it's too...it's too much."

It was hard to judge how to act - he'd had to deal, in the First Era, with those who'd been tortured and isolated but none of that had effected him as much as it did now.

What he wanted was to comfort her, but she seemed, if anything, disturbed by his presence, and the first time he saw her smile wasn't from anything he said.

It was from entering the Heart Chamber and seeing Nerevar.

"Nerevar. I thought...I don't know what I thought. He said...he said this was real. Is it? I don't know..." Sadara shook her head. "It seems too...too nice. What if it's just Azura fooling us? What if..."

"What if it is real?" Nerevar asked her gently. He gave a slight smile and gestured to the ashes. "Wouldn't you like to see Haj-deek?"

Sadara set the rat on the ground, and only after noting that she seemed to like Nerevar did it decide he was good, and therefore stuck to him.

"What will she think of me?" she asked fearfully. "If she's not here now--"

"We didn't want to overwhelm you," Nerevar said, "I know what it is to be alone, Dara...what it is to try and speak to others, after so long locked away. This gives you both time to...adjust to the idea. To get ready - your daughter is...worried what you'll think of her too, you know."

"Why would she ever think anything was wrong with her?"

"She's young, and had to listen to Azura nearly as much as you. I imagine you both could use some company on that head...don't you?"

Nerevar gestured to the ashes.

"Try and stay here," he said, "And Voryn will take care of waking you up. Perhaps lay down, though, your legs won't work at first."

It was only through Nerevar's urging (how glad Voryn was that Haj-deek had given over the moon-and-star, for Nerevar truly knew how to use its power) that Sadara was calmed, and directed into the ashes.

It was his hand to reform the ashes and weave her soul into them, but Sadara reached for Nerevar first.

Perhaps, something in him whispered, she might never reach for him again. Instead of anger - he expected it, would have understood it - there was only a hollow sorrow.

This is only one of the prices you must pay for your madness, he thought, seeing the first grip of her dusky fingers over Nerevar's. He'd thought of her often, missed her, but all she seemed to feel for him was fear. She smiled for Nerevar, even reached for his face, but when he moved a bit closer she stiffened and turned a look on him she couldn't wipe off her re-formed face fast enough.

How had he never seen it before? How had she hid it so well?

...how had he been so blind?

What he wanted to do was fall to his knees and ask her forgiveness, but given her current state of mind he was sure that wasn't going to work in his favor. Even if she believed him, she might fear to say anything against him.

He would have to be patient. All would be well, surely, it would just take time.

Even if he lost her to Nerevar.

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

They hadn't had time to set up a proper room for her yet, but she didn't seem to mind occupying a bed in a corner of the hot springs room in the back, surrounded by screens. It was isolated enough that she wouldn't have people constantly walking by, but close enough she could hear people, close enough that she'd be heard if she needed help with anything. That...and the similarity to Mausur's cavern, however different, somehow made her feel more comfortable, despite how isolated they'd been there.

Haj-deek left the corridor, looked at the screened in area in the corner, and took a deep breath. Her father had handed her the lute - the beaten up looking old thing that had been her mother's, saying it might help her make some headway.

Nerevar, who had been standing in the "doorway" looked back at her, and then forward again.

"You have a visitor, Dara."

There was a soft reply Haj-deek couldn't really hear.

"I think you'll enjoy this one."

He moved off to sit down on a chair that had been set up at the end of the bed, wobbling in his steps but not seeming to mind it.

"Nerevar," Haj-deek heard her mother say. "You didn't tell me..."

She hesitated, just briefly, before stepping forward. Despite everything, she worried...what if her mother didn't care for her? What if she disappointed her, somehow?

There was no reason for her to feel that way, not from what she'd read in the journal, not from the memories she'd seen when putting on the ring, not from what they'd told her about Sadara since she was woken up.

Still...

She took a deep breath and stepped forward anyway.

"Voryn?"

Sadara rubbed her eyes with hands that seemed to shake near as much as Nerevar's legs.

"No, you're not Voryn."

"I'm..." Haj-deek's hands twisted themselves together. What could she say? She didn't know. For all that she'd thought about this moment she'd never thought to practice. "My name...is Haj-deek."

There was a gasp, and then silence as Haj-deek (carefully) sat on the edge of the bed.

"You...you still look like him," Sadara's voice started shaking now, and the tears pricked in her eyes. "I remember...thinking...how much you did..."

She looked unsure of herself, but both women felt they knew what the other was thinking in that moment.

Both spoke at once.

"I wanted to say--"

"I'm not sure what you--"

They stopped cold, and only on a chuckle from Nerevar did Haj-deek speak up.

"I didn't know what to say...I still don't."

"I read the journal," Haj-deek said, "I read...saw some of your memories...it's...I don't know what to say. I don't..."

Sadara reached a trembling hand forward - and then seemed to notice the lute.

"My...my lute," she said, then giving a sudden smile. "Do you play?"

"I've...been trying." Haj-deek returned it. "I'm not very good at it, but I'm trying."

"It takes work," her mother said, "And...and if what they're saying is true, if this is..."

There was a pause.

"I should have something of you in me, and not just him," Haj-deek replied. "Everyone always says I look like him. Maybe this can be ours?"

Her mother smiled again, and her shaking grey hand moved up to cover her daughter's still-black one.

Maybe...maybe it really would be alright, now.

This was awkward, but it was a start.

[keleren-ie]

Some people might think I’m an optimist but I’m not. I’m a realist that’s going to try to increase the good things in this world if it kills me.

[keleren-ie]

*the scarab prince & the runaway dragon, pt23, pt22 here*

———

Kaidan: *resting against the lip of a large wooden tub, having a much needed bath while Taliesin inspects and cleans his wounds thoroughly* Dragonborn huh?

Vivienne: *kneeling by the tub holding a bowl of salt water and a cloth nervously following Taliesins instructions on where to clean* y-yes? I mean, that’s partly why we came this way, to see the greybeards. They seem to think I’m this Dragonborn figure… then again people think I’m a lot of things.

Kaidan: eye, I imagine you get a few looks with a pretty face like yours. You’re an odd looking elf but that’s not a bad thing… is your friend alright?

Vivienne: *looks over to see Steren seething and glaring at Kaidan as smoke begins to billow off the floorboards where he stands* ah- *sets the bowl down and gets up, hurrying to him and pressing his hand to the princes forehead mistaking his overheating as a fever rather than anger* Steren? You’re really hot.

Taliesin: subtle with your flirtations aren’t you vi?

Vivienne: *clueless* what?

Steren: *visibly blushing and relaxing at his touch and concern* I-I’m fine… let’s just, leave these two to their business. *gently takes his hand and leads him out of the washroom and back to their rented space of the inn*

Kaidan: *watches them go* those two an item?

Taliesin: Oh absolutely. Though… Neither of them know it yet… *finishes healing him at last* I can’t get rid of the scars, they simply run too deep into the skin and muscle, are you certain you’ll want to join us on our little trip up the mountain tomorrow?… I’d, be happy to stay here and keep you company if you’re still sore?…

Kaidan: I should be fine for the journey come dawn. Don’t worry about me…

Taliesin: tsk, *pouts* ffffiiiiiine. Ugh…

Kaidan: if you’re worried your legs will give out I’ve no problem with carrying you.

Taliesin: Really~?

Kaidan: no.

Taliesin: *Preminger gasp!*

*in their room*

Vivienne: Steren? Are you okay?… I thought you’d be happy, your rescue mission was a success, Farkas said he’d report positively of you when he reaches whiterun but… but you’ve been tense since we saved Kaidan… *places his hand on his cheek*

Steren: I’m fine just… *sighs happily at his touch, leaning into it and meeting his gaze* I’m just tired… and unsure if I trust him yet… I’ll be fine…

Vivienne: *sensing theres more but not wanting to push him when he’s already clearly at his limit for the day* a-alright… *moves to let go only for steren to hold his hand in place, nuzzling his palm with a tired expression*

Steren: *gently kisses his hand, holding it there a moment longer before letting him go finally* I’m sorry… I don’t mean to make you worry when you’ve already got the world on your shoulders…

Vivienne: y-you’re my-… my friend… I’ll always worry about you. And I’m alright… I’ll be alright so long as I’m with you, things can’t possibly get any worse. Right?…

Teldryn Sero: *runs into the inn holding a screaming Inigo like they’re Shaggy and Scooby Doo* WHY CANT THE DEAD IN THIS LAND STAY DEAD?!

Steren: *hurries out* what in oblivions gotten into you two?!

Inigo: G-G-GHOST!!

Vivienne: *tilts his head, quietly walks to the door of the inn and opens it to see Wyndelius laying dead outside the barrow, still glowing* …I didn’t know you could kill a ghost. You really are the best blade in Morrowind!

[keleren-ie]

sanguine says you get free drinks if you join his cult, do you accept eternal servitude in exchange for one Martin(i)?

tes pinup prompt: blood of the daedra (or blood related to daedra at least. idk. he's sitting in a little blood martini.)

[keleren-ie]

My Dagoth Ur costume, casually walking in Vancouver BC

I mean I've been playing TES since 8 y.o., so....

[keleren-ie]

Blood of the Divines

i guess this could technically work for blood of the daedra too. but i was picturing the story where nerevar kills lorkhan in the 5 songs of wulfharth. not to mention, he IS called 'godkiller'

i wanted to put 'godkiller' on his dumb little outfit (based on the angelic scion outfit from bg3. not the first time i have put him in this and it will not be the last) so i put it on that thigh band thing. sorry if its illegible.

also sorry if he has too much blood on him. i went ham. i tried to erase a bunch of it but i still worry i put too much on. ah well.

[keleren-ie]

Morrowind but Dagoth ur still talks in extremely the old version of the language out of habit if nothing else because there's no way it's 1:1 to 3e 427, so it's like the equivalent of some guy speaking proto-English or old English to you and you're stuck going ???????

Main questline now requiring finding a historian translator or Dwemer specter who's just chillin who conveniently knows how to interpret Chimer-era regional dialects

Bonus points for a linguist Nerevarine who actually knows wtf he's saying off the bat and is like "FINALLYYY I CAN FIGURE OUT WHAT THIS EXTREMELY NICHE SPECIFIC SLANG THAT STOPPED BEING USED ACTUALLY MEANS" because nobody else as old as him really cares to entertain their 20 questions

[keleren-ie]

Severed Destiny, pt. 32

It didn't take long at all for Nerevar's throat to start working properly.

His next words all seemed to be Chimeri curses - words her father (Voryn, Voryn, she kept trying to remember) scolded him for speaking in front of Haj-deek - and he didn't quite stop fussing until he had a robe on.

"I'm going out to--"

"You're not going anywhere," Voryn said, having to support Nerevar when the man stumbled over his own feet. "You won't be fit to walk anywhere for some time."

"And we have to talk to Vivec, about...about, you know..."

"I do not CARE," Nerevar huffed, "What Vivec has to say. Blast him. Blast him to Oblivion and back."

"Well the Dagoths can't be a house again without him, so we've got to play along." Haj-deek quieted down after that outburst. There was a certain discomfort she felt on looking directly at Nerevar, at meeting those blue eyes. Something about the process of looking that felt...wrong.

Nerevar, still struggling to stand on his own two feet, accepted both her help and her father's to get back up the ramp to the previous chamber. "If I had my way, that two faced bastard would be split literally down the middle...I have things to DO, and I don't want to waste time with..."

"We just have to play the game for a bit, and then you can...what were you going to do?"

"Look for my--your mother. Or go after her, I know where she is."

"You--how do you know?" Voryn burst out.

"Because I've spent the last...I don't know how long, time tends to run together when you don't talk to anyone else or even leave the cave..." Nerevar shook his head. "Months, I'll say, with her."

"How?" Haj-deek asked, "What's she like?"

"Lonely, and because as a ghost I had to be attached to an incarnate...the point is, is that I don't have time to waste pissing around with whatever it is Vivec has cooked up, not when one of the last things Dara," Nerevar corrected himself, "Sadara said was that she still wasn't sure I was real but she was glad I was there even if I wasn't. She thinks herself mad, because she can't account for company any other way. She needs to be found, and soon."

"I could go after her," Haj-deek said.

"I don't think you'd do," Nerevar replied, "Not that she'd harm you, but I don't think she'd believe you were real either. It has to be me."

"Or me. Where is she?" Voryn asked.

They were standing in front of the door now, and Haj-deek went to turn the crank to open it.

"Mausur Caverns, it's near Vemynal, old ebony mine that was too dangerous. There's going to be ice everywhere - she blocked up the door with it."

"Why would she block up the door if she was lonely?" Haj-deek asked.

At that point, the door opened. Vivec and Nerevar made eye contact.

In an instant Nerevar was on Vivec, looping one around around his shoulders to stay steady as his opposite fist repeatedly struck Vivec's nose to bloody itself over and over again.

For a few seconds everyone was either too stunned to react or (in Voryn's case) too satisfied to interfere.

"You want to rewrite history, you scum-sucking son of a mudcrab?" Nerevar shouted, not letting up for an instant. "Huh? I suppose next you want me to get down on my knees and suck your--"

"Nerevar!" Voryn burst out. He finally pulled Nerevar off Vivec, who hadn't put up much of a fight, and was currently healing the nose that looked like it had broken.

"Are you done?" Vivec asked, after he wiped away yet more blood, while Martin came forward to give him a cloth to do it with. "I will let you do that again later, but we've got a lot of work to do and less time to do it in. Your wife's body to get out of here, for example."

"Til death do us part, and now we've both died once." Nerevar crossed his arms. "Give me any reason I should go along with this plan you've clearly concocted to take advantage of everything."

"Because if you don't, I lose my power, Baar Dau falls, and Morrowind undergoes destruction that would impress even the Sload at the height of the Thrassian Plague. House Indoril, House Hlaalu, House Dres, all gone, attainted beyond repair. Red Mountain erupts, and--"

"That's a fine story. I suppose next you're going to tell me this guy's secretly Akatosh?" Nerevar gestured in Martin's direction.

"Can we PLEASE get back on track?"

Nerevar's brow only seemed to furrow further.

"How do we explain me AND Nerevar, though, if you're saying I'm the Hortator reborn that...whatever you were saying? It's a lie."

"Everything he says is--"

"As I was trying to say." Vivec tucked the bloodied cloth away, "We all knowing I'm lying, the point is to make the rest of Morrowind believe it. 'The Nerevarine could be born only from the greatest of wounds, and that is why we chastised the false incarnates, for we knew their claims to be the opposite of truth, whose claims would not come loud but gentle as a newborn guar. From darkness the Hortator Incarnate came, bearing sins of...'"

He trailed off.

"You get the idea, I'm certain, but the plan is to end it with your coming from the void-wound to 'witness the penance of the Tribunal failing the Hortator's people, saved only by the Incarnate who banished the stain from the dreamsleeve.'"

"People really believe this tripe?"

"They believe it and come back for more," Haj-deek said. "He could tell them anything."

"Fine," Nerevar somewhat unexpectedly seemed to calm down. "I'll play along, for now. I suppose we'll need each other, considering Azura..."

He cleared his throat.

"I want my Dara's ashes."

"You could've saved a lot of trouble if you'd just asked that first," Vivec replied. Then he looked at Haj-deek, "What was it you called that thing they kept her ashes in?"

"Her treasure box," Haj-deek said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Nerever grumbled. He let himself lean on Voryn now.

"Just wait."

Vivec looked up, mumbled some letters and numbers under his breath--

--and then suddenly, right at his feet, was the same old small wooden chest Haj-deek remembered. False gold corners seeming greener all the time with age.

"There. Now if you will give me a few hours of your time, you can do whatever you want with them."

A pause. Haj-deek bent over the chest, opened it, noted all the little offerings she'd made to the ash.

"It's the right chest. I remember these pearls..."

"So he can just spawn things out of nowhere now?" Nerevar piped up again, "Maybe spawn me some potion to fix my legs."

"That's normal when you're--awakened," Voryn finally spoke. "The body is weak for a period, it's perfectly normal and wears off within a week."

"I am not waiting a week to go after her!" Nerevar barked. "The few hours Vehk wants is bad enough. Voryn, YOU are going after her, and I swear on A--on the Heart itself, if anything happens..."

"Should I write any of this down?" Martin asked quietly.

"You aren't writing any of this down," came Vivec's stern reply.

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

The game was started.

It was arranged that Vivec and Martin should emerge first, carrying the body of Almalexia, followed soon after by Haj-deek, on whom Nerevar would be leaning. And once the buoyant armigers had the situation sufficiently explained to them - or at least when Vivec had delivered his prepared speech - only then would Voryn appear.

"The Sharmat's reign of terror is ended," Vivec said, "At the cost of Mother Morrowind, and by her mercy, but in the wound of that defeat came forth the Hortator."

And Nerevar, for all his protests before, played his part well.

"I come from the void, with whom I have done battle since the Beginning," he said. That had not been in the prepared script, but it fit in well enough to make the Buoyant Armigers believe the lie utterly. He would not require healing, only rest, in the place which now knew peace.

"But what of the Ghostfence, then?" one bright spark happened to ask.

"It shall be maintained until such point as all the lost souls within are made well. And then - then, you shall all have rest."

The idea of laying down their duties was baffling, but they swallowed that idea as well.

A covered litter was arranged that would carry Almalexia's body to Ald'ruhn, where it would stay for a period to allow worshipers to make offerings in thanks of Almalexia's sacrifice. Vivec would have it moved to Mournhold at some point or the other, as that was where Mother Morrowind had made her home, and thus it was justified that that was where her body should rest for all time.

But before that, he must make a return pilgrimage to Red Mountain.

"What of the mountain?" another armiger asked, casting a doubtful look at Voryn.

"The territory of the newly revived House Dagoth," Vivec replied, "The blight is washed away, but this will ease the transition, if they are not to begin mingling with the rest of Morrowind right away. They must be given time to make themselves appropriate to appear in society, and Nerevar would be there to ground Lord Dagoth in the present, instead of the void-past he lived in for these past centuries."

Voryn finally spoke. "And changed as I am, I am not a spectacle for the masses to be gawked at before my time is ready."

So here, there was a parting. As the buoyant armigers began to move away, Vivec replied that he would reappear in a week's time to renew his and Sotha Sil's links to the Heart's power.

"How are you going to restore his body? He's basically rat food right now."

"Child's play for a god." Vivec replied, "And power I can spare now I know there will be more to replace it."

Vivec smirked. Nerevar, Voryn, and Martin groaned.

The dovahfly would follow Martin then, as he followed Vivec. Nerevar, Haj-deek, and Voryn were left behind.

"Well," Nerevar said, "Now you have to haul my crippled ass all the way back to the volcano, Voryn. And then YOU are going to go after--"

"Yes, yes, I know, Nerevar. Settle down. We'll--it's going to be fine."

It would all be right now, if they could but see it through.

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

On the way back, Nerevar would give the story he hadn't had time to fully do so up til this point: that he had spoken to Sadara just as she was about to walk into the Ghostfence, had managed to manifest in a ghostly fashion to speak to her. To give her the only approximation of touch that they could both manage. And then...something had happened.

Locked away in that cave, with naught but one another to speak to, and only despair waiting outside, he had found such beauty in the struggling strength she had managed to carry on for so long. Had seen it bolstered by his presence, had managed to prompt a litany of smiles that lit up even that hopeless, icy darkness.

He hadn't felt that bloom in his chest since long before he died.

Voryn was quiet when Nerevar spoke of this, yet seemed to understand how it had happened. Haj-deek saw - something like grief, that disappeared behind a genial mask as he congratulated Nerevar for managing what he could not, and that it would be his again, once both spirit and body were reunited. The ashes would not knit without a soul present - there had been a severing that Azura had managed, that required Sadara's presence to mend.

And so Voryn went off, out of Dagoth Ur, past Vemynal, down a dismal looking canyon that was miserable even in the sunlight, to say nothing of the cliffracers with no brains that attacked him. The rickety mine door that came ahead was just as he'd been told - covered in and blocked by ice, which took a solid minute's worth of a fire spell to melt away.

He entered the cave. As Nerevar had said, there was ice nearly everywhere - and where there was not ice, there was water, and life springing up around it. Luminous mushrooms, rats drinking from puddles...

...and far ahead, the sound of laughter. He trudged onward, trying not to slip, until he found, near the lava, a shimmering presence. In its arms, a rat.

"You have no mind at all, do you, little one?"

The voice was soft, warm, and yet...somehow empty, too.

"You cannot simply jump mindlessly around lava, it will devour you."

Squeaking. Wriggling, from that wretched creature in the half-invisible arms.

"Sadara?" he finally spoke.

Voryn expected nearly anything except what she actually said.

"You aren't real."

She went back to cooing over the rat.

"I AM real."

"Dagoth Ur does not leave his cavern," she said, still not looking at him directly. "Even Nerevar knew that."

"Nerevar is awake now," he said, a little firmer now, "You can see him again, too."

"He'll be along at some point, I'm sure. When my mind needs company again. I've never seen you before, which is only proof that..."

"Sadara, please."

A stop.

"Turn around and look at me, if nothing else."

"If--if I do, you'll vanish. Everything does here, except my rats." She sounded - hopeful, but fearful. Too afraid to look. "Even Azura abandoned mocking me, if she was ever speaking to me to begin with."

"I am not going anywhere."

He swallowed. The weight of - all of it, seemed nothing to this in comparison. The rest of it was well, the rest of it was fixed, but this...her...

"Please."

When she looked, he extended a hand, and looked her in the eye.

"Come back with me, if for no other reason than to see our daughter."

[keleren-ie]

he's so fucking hot i wanna bite his fucking head off like a preying mantis so that no one else can have him

[keleren-ie]

had this HC that maybe Dumac and Voryn were forced to hang out as children as a way to like, build up the relationship between the Dwemer and House Dagoth.

I'd always thought that House Dagoth might've been the only real link between the Dwemer and any serious surface relation before Nerevar came along. Given how much Dwemer culture seems to be entwined with House Dagoth's.

So maybe Prince Dumac was sent to spend a summer or two at Kogoruhn where surely he'll become good friends with the future Lord of House Dagoth.

Sadly, the young Voryn is a little Rosemary's baby

cue tom cardy's "dont touch my monster truck"

[keleren-ie]

ELIPS • drag race france all stars 1.02 xl wings runway

[keleren-ie]

The Throne (one-shot)

Author's note: I saw that video clip from HOTD and imagined a similar scene in the far future of Severed Destiny. Skyrim's plot has to come from somewhere. This isn't canon until it shows up in the main fic. Martin is in his 80s. Why does he have a daughter who is six? Because the healers told him to stop sleeping with his wife or his heart would give out and he told them to go to Oblivion.

-----------

The scented candles had burned low, but he found he didn't care. One could only stave off the scent of impending death so long before the effort itself was--

"Papa," the little voice beside him said. "The servant said mama's papa is here to see us."

"Tell the man to let him in, little princess." His wrinkled face gave a smile, and he patted her on the head. "And then get your maid to take you back to your mama. I need to speak to your grandfather about something."

"Is it about Titus and Tiberius?"

"Perhaps."

She hugged him gently, and then ran off.

A few minutes later the door opened, and in walked the mer who still scared half the Council.

"Every time I see you, you look a little worse." Voryn took a seat in the chair next to the bed. "They tell me you're dying. From the look of you I assumed you already had."

The insults never stung him, not when they came from Voryn. It was more of a game to him, at this point - and they enlivened him a little, even as life was leaking from his body like a sieve.

"I thought I should give you the pleasure of seeing it yourself. The death of an imperial dog should ease any ill you feel at seeing your daughter so upset."

Martin gave a hacking cough of a laugh.

"I can't think that is the only reason you asked me here."

"No. It wasn't only that, my dear Lord Dagoth. It was...what follows. Titus is already my regent, but Tiberius...seems to be readying himself for an attempt to take the throne himself."

"That's what you get when you name a son after Tiber Septim." Voryn gave a derisive snort. "But it can hardly be helped now."

"Titus grows paranoid, and seems to be looking for allies. I've been informed he's trying to arrange betrothals not only for himself - which is his prerogative - but Morvani. She should be enjoying her dolls and tutors and friends, not being set up with some lord six times her age simply because of the size of his army."

He took a shaky breath.

"I've written the order. Morvani will foster with you. Haj--" He paused, taking a moment to think, "I curse these Argonian names sometimes. They call her Haj-deek most of her life, and then when she is an adult, they give her a new one?"

"Call her by that name, it makes no difference here."

"Haj-deek. She has already started grieving me, and then to see the..." Martin shook his head. "I mean to send Morvani to you and her Dagoth aunts and uncles in the interest of keeping her safe...and away from these vipers at court. It will give her something that isn't grieving. Haj-deek has to show a strong face to all but myself, I know at least you will not ask it of her there."

The door suddenly opened. The Bosmeri Blade that came through was not wearing his customary wide grin, but instead a serious look, and was trying to catch his breath.

"Your grace. The, the--"

"Slow down," Martin said, "Take a moment to calm yourself."

"The princes have come to blows in the throne room."

A deep breath. A look at the Blade, and then at Voryn.

"Call up one of your healing spells and help me up, so I can knock some sense into their heads."

It would not slow his death, but it would make this a lot less painful.

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

"Announcing His Grace the Emperor Martin Septim!" the Bosmeri voice that so often rang out in laughter or jokes was suddenly as serious as the grave. After making the announcement he stuck close behind Martin.

Two angry faces lost their fury and looked up, along with everyone else in the hall.

Beside the shambling figure walking Lord Dagoth, a figure not often seen in the Imperial City. Seeing him with his third eye open was even less common, but it was open today, and one or two folk in the crowd from the Arcane University had curiously cast a Detect Magic spell, to find that Lord Dagoth was currently casting some sort of constant healing spell.

There were whispers regarding the Emperor's impending death - for he had not been at court in weeks. Martin's ragged breathing made his declining state even more obvious. It must be a strong spell, they would say later, to even get him to the point of being able to walk this far.

Haj-deek, who had been arguing with Tiberius and trying to separate him from his brother, rushed over to take his hand on his free side. They passed their younger son in relative silence - he still seemed stunned his father had turned up at all.

Every step was a battle fought and won, and seemed to take a little more out of him, until reaching the throne, upon which Titus had been sitting.

"I will take the throne today, Titus."

Titus stood and moved aside. His father took a seat, finally able to rest. Physically, anyway.

Martin looked out and over the crowd first, and then at Tiberius.

"You cannot think," he groaned, "That I approve of this."

"Order of birth does not determine suitability of ruling," Tiberius said, finally finding his voice, "And I will not bow to one who didn't even want the crown."

"The crown is best worn by one who does not wish to bear its weight," Martin said, swallowing briefly. "To desire a crown too greatly is the surest path to ruin."

"I have had aged wisdom and quotes thrown at me since the day I was born, and I can bear it no longer. I am the greater of us in swordplay, in sorcery, in--every strength imaginable. Quiet Titus has never done anything half as well--"

"You think strength is all there is to ruling?" Martin coughed.

"It is all that matters when crisis comes. When the Oblivion Crisis came, did you not defeat it with strength?"

"I defeated it with aid and allies. Had I attempted it alone - it would have ended in disaster." A deep, shaky breath. "It was not strength alone that made your mother empress. It was kindness and compassion. It was the same which saved Lord Dagoth. The gods help those who help others, and your brother--"

Tiberius said no more, but if looks could kill his next one at his brother would surely have him dead on the spot. A moment later he stormed out.

[keleren-ie]

Severed Destiny, pt. 29

https://archiveofourown.org/works/49342666/chapters/174783591

Many trials make manifest The stranger's fate, the curses' bane. Many touchstones try the stranger. Many fall, but one remains.

- The Stranger

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

"Your father will be here shortly," Gilvoth said. "Is there anything you wish to say before he arrives?"

"Is he really--alright? Is there anything I need to know before he gets here?" The seconds ticked by and with each one she felt a little better.

"He has read your mother's journal, cover to cover. Some pages, more than once. And--" Gilvoth's face hardened here. "He has found your skooma."

"I--" Haj-deek looked first one way and then another. "I found a bottle, on the trip here. I only used it to stay awake...and I needed that more than I thought."

"I'm not going to give you the talk about skooma. That falls to your father. But I WILL tell you that an addiction makes you vulnerable to those who wish you and House Dagoth harm."

"I know." She took a deep breath, and then noting how calm he still seemed, added, "How long have you been...like this?"

"Like what?"

"Normal."

"Since the beginning." Gilvoth shut all three of his eyes. "I have been very tired, for a very long time."

On hearing footsteps coming down the hall, opened them and rose to his feet.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "For not killing me."

She was almost certain he wanted to.

He didn't reply, merely opened the rickety door and walked out of the room. There was talking she heard the sound of, but from which she couldn't make out any words. Then--

Haj-deek found herself looking toward the wall, afraid of what she might see if she looked in her father's direction. Afraid she might see him angry from the deception, or something like that. Angry that she'd stolen all that power from him. Angry at--all kinds of things.

But she heard him moving the chair closer that Gilvoth had sat in, then taking a seat himself. For a painful amount of time it was silent.

Haj-deek kept her eyes shut, and tried to stop the shaking, but she couldn't. The blanket was pulled higher, but even that didn't help.

"I'm not cold," she said quickly.

I want to go home.

She wanted to be back in Ebonheart. It wasn't perfect but she was nobody, and she knew how to be nobody. She didn't know how to be whatever she was now. Even after all of this, she still didn't feel she belonged.

And then he spoke, in a strange, different tone she couldn't recall him using before.

"You still expect a monster, I see."

"I didn't--I don't--"

What words were there? What could she say?

It was the same voice, but somehow it had lost some of its...presence. She didn't know what, exactly, but it was missing something.

"Am I truly so terrifying?"

She wasn't going to answer, but when she felt his thin, bony hand reaching out to one of hers, she flinched and couldn't help but answer. It was too late to do anything anyway.

"Yes. Y...you are."

Haj-deek finally opened her eyes, still shaking. She hadn't fully seen his face before, and it was different than she expected. Of course he was going to look like a Dunmer, but...she somehow expected something more. Something to justify the mask, a hideous scar maybe. But it was just a grey Dunmeri face with red eyes, tired, framed by limp hair. The only thing remarkable about him was the (closed) third eye.

A noise in his throat.

"I have been, yes."

It was almost a relief to hear that. Something had given way. Something was different.

The grip on her hand tightened just slightly, and she gave a slight cringe when there was a burst of pain in her wrist. He let go and she lifted her hand, turning to look at the damage.

"It won't stay black. Mine didn't." her father went on, "Or perhaps it will...my veins never turned that color."

"Red is a better color than black," she said, "This makes my skin look like one of those dolls from Akavir. I saw one once. The merchant said that when the dolls broke, they would use gold to hold it together again. It was still beautiful, even broken."

"You are not broken, but you are beautiful."

That finally made her smile.

"Your mother will think so too."

Haj-deek looked away. "If you can find her."

There was too much to talk about. Far, far too much. She was glad to have something more...normal...to talk over, honestly.

"None of those who followed me before have ever seen her outside the Ghostfence," her father said, "Which leads me to believe she is confined within."

"Why would she stay there if she's afraid of you?" Haj-deek sighed. "Unless...unless she can't leave. Maybe Azura had something to do with it."

"Undoubtedly. At least I know what she is now. Knowing she is a wispmother will make it a little easier to find her."

"Why?" Then, recalling one of her lessons with Im-Kilaya, she suddenly realized. "Oh, because of the ice magic!"

"Exactly." There was a slight smile. "Naturally, any presence of ice this close to Red Mountain would be suspect. I can have her back here, provided she doesn't try to run again."

A pause.

"Do the argonians who raised you have her ashes?"

"Yes," Haj-deek replied. "Kept them in a box I talked to sometimes...but she never talked back. I guess...this is why. She's--she didn't go where she was supposed to. Azura must have done something."

"And this is why House Dagoth primarily worshiped Mephala, and not Azura. Mephala is a webspinner, yes, but she is upfront about it. Azura likes to think of herself as a benevolent goddess, but when she is needed, where is she? She preaches patience to the suffering, which is worse than nothing at all. We will find your mother, and all will be well."

He got up and came back with a bowl of water and a rag, which he used to wipe at something on her forehead.

"Gilvoth says," Haj-deek changed the subject, "That I kept fading in and out. Was I...did I die?"

"Yes and no." Her father said, "Something seemed to be trying to end you, but...something else brought you screaming back, each time."

"Lorkhan, maybe. He said--"

"You spoke to him?" Her father's voice was sharp.

She nodded.

"He said I could do as I wished with...with his Heart, but...he wanted my help, when next he returned." Haj-deek took a deep breath. "He mentioned Alduin and something that sounded like a prophecy--"

"Let us confine ourselves to one prophecy at a time. You mentioned this as you slept, and it is being looked into."

She took a deep breath.

"So...what happens now?"

"You don't have a plan?" There was something about her father's tone that almost made her want to laugh.

"I...sort of, but you won't like it."

"Let me hear it first." He gestured vaguely.

"Vivec--"

"I don't like it." His eyes narrowed, and anger flashed onto his face in an instant. "No. We do not need HIS help."

"He doesn't want to--" Haj-deek tried to sit up, and found her arms shaking only a little. She moved back, and found she could sit up properly now. "He's more open to you than Almalexia is. He could..."

"I said no!"

"You can't expect people to magically like you again," Haj-deek said, "Like it or not, most people on Vvardenfell will listen if he speaks."

Her father's arms crossed.

"If I tell him to show up and give some stupid story to people about how he banished the darkness you were under, everyone would buy it. Everyone. Well...except maybe Almalexia..."

"And how exactly would you tell him?"

"Give me paper and charcoal. He can get to anything I write. I don't know how. Then he can write a reply and somehow I get it."

Her father sat back in his chair, and kept his stern glare directed at her.

"You've been doing this regularly, haven't you?"

"Where do you think I got the tools from? If it wasn't for him, I'd--I'd never have been able to do any of this. You'd still be...crazy..."

She knew she was right, and on feeling a spike of fear seeing that narrowed look, realized it was only that that had stopped her from being afraid.

"My own daughter, conspiring behind my back..."

"...to fix you. To fix everything. If he makes up some metaphor for your madness and says he killed the metaphor and healed you, the Temple followers will believe it. And if they believe that...they'll buy that House Dagoth isn't evil anymore."

The look went from angry to stunned.

"I knew he was going to have to be involved," Haj-deek said, going on. "He said he wanted things to be different than the way Azura wanted it to go. If she got what she wanted, Baar Dau would fall and Red Mountain would explode and Azura would only warn her faithful. Hundreds and thousands of people would die."

She paused.

"The only problem, if you go along with this, is Almalexia. She won't buy any of this for a second."

"You can write Vivec. But I will be here the entire time." Her father snorted. "I don't need to tell you that I don't trust any of the Tribunal, whether they helped you or not."

"Does this mean you're agreeing to it?"

"It means I intend to see what filth he's pouring into your ears. I don't want to look up and find that you're--that you enjoy his poetry too much."

"You don't think--ew, no!" Haj-deek made a face, and thought of some of the love interests in the romantic novels she used to read before everything. "I want someone...I don't know, maybe normal. Awkward. Like if we were going somewhere, he'd need me to hold the map. Someone with sad eyes who wouldn't ask but always looks like he needs a hug."

He gave her another look at that.

"Someone common, like I used to be." She gave a sigh. "But...I guess now, that's not going to be an option?"

He got up again, left, and returned without the bowl of water, but with paper and charcoal.

"I would prefer someone loyal - to me," he said in reply. "I wanted that before and I want that now. Someone who would...value you, as the treasure you are, like I should have done with your mother. Someone who would join House Dagoth, and live here in Red Mountain."

As she was writing the note, every word of which he carefully watched, he added one thing more. When she looked up she saw something almost like a smile.

"I would not part with you for any man less than a King."

[keleren-ie]

"A tall figure with a golden mask led you among the dead as through a wedding celebration."

[PRINT] - [COMMISSIONS]

He is a groom he is a widow, he is a bride he is dead

Process and yapping vvv

I know there's no horse in morrowind..... But some fidelity had to be sacrificed for my grand vision of bride/groom or widow/death vision :)) Also it's technically the dream of a foreigner, they can dream of horses

Anyway I'm so so so happy with how the line turned out !!!! The colors tho not so sure nvfjbv

The more I draw Dagoth Ur the more high femme he gets..... Can't resist giving him more gender-

And as a bonus an alt horizontal version I was way way to lazy to do vfhjvf

[keleren-ie]