How I Found It All: Part X
This morning I awoke to Charley still in my arms. This time, he was awake, and he was looking into my eyes. "Good morning, love," he said.
"Yes, good morning." I looked up and saw that the window was open. 'Charley must have opened it this morning.' I thought no more about it, since there was a love right next to me, and his touch was warming enough to melt any worry I had. I felt secure in his presence. The only other person that I could ever have wanted there was Marbles. She gave me the security a sister should. Charley gave the security a mate gave. "I love you."
"Well, I love you too." We continued staring into one another's eyes. A thought came into my head. 'I have everything that I could ever want here. Would I leave if I could?' I suspected that I was making somewhat strange facial expressions, since Charley sat up in the bed a little.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"I don't know. I just don't know. I love you, and I don't want to let you go. I'm not sure if you'll be able to come with me when I find a way back."
"You seem so certain that there is a way back. Well, if you ever do find a way to return, I'm not sure whether I could leave. I have a life here, a family, and friends who love me."
"I'm split by this. I have family and friends back in Cyrodiil. Truth be told, if I were to choose between you and Cyrodiil, I would have to choose Cyrodiil. I love you, but my love for that world is unshakeable, even by you."
"You needn't be ashamed of that."
"I know. I just don't know what to do."
"Well, first thing we need to do is eat. If you're gonna get those notes translated, you should do it on a sated stomach."
"Yes, that sounds good." We both got up and out of the bed, and I noticed that he was in boxers instead of pajamas. "Hey, what happened to those PJ's?"
"Oh, I just wear them occasionally." I thought no further on the matter.
As I got dressed, I found my medallion right on the clothes I put down earlier. "Weird, how did that get there?"
"I put it there. I figured you'd want to wear it. I like it when you do. It makes you look pretty."
"Ah, so I look pretty with it? What about without it?"
"Very pretty, but it simply compliments your figure."
"Well, thank you." I slipped it around my neck, not thinking about the studying I was putting into it. We headed downstairs, coming into the kitchen.
I let Charley cook a nice breakfast of an omelet, hash browns, and sausage. I ate it fairly quickly, being eager to get back upstairs so I could go back to studying. Charley tried bringing up conversation a few times, but I was distracted by the book and the medallion and the notes from Marbles. "I'm sorry," I said. "It's just that I want to learn about what happened to Cyrodiil and my sister."
"Well, I certainly understand that. You can get back up there if you want. The sooner you figure out what happened, the sooner you can do something about it, or at least come up with a plan for something."
"Something?"
"I don't know. We'll figure it out when we get there."
"All right, I'll go up there. If you need anything, just knock. Okay?"
"Okay, I'll knock."
I headed back up the stairs. Thankfully, everything was where it was supposed to be. The notes were in their somewhat neat little pile. The book was in it's wrapping. The medallion was around my neck. I found the chair, which had rolled all the way across the room, and sat down. Once the medallion was back on the desk, I took a deep breath, and got to the back breaking work of translation.
There was a whole hour of nothing but silence. Occasionally I muttered to myself. I heard Charley outside the door sometimes. A few thousand words later I was able to learn about what happened with Marbles. I began trying to put all of the translated notes into a sensible written piece. I learned that she was trying to come up with a more stable version of the time travel portal. "While there was much improvement," I began saying to myself, "the portal was still too unstable to practically transport a person, it did require less magical protection. One problem was that there was some kind of residual magicka seeping through the portal. The magicka would wither and kill any animal life when exposed for too long. Marbles, of course created countermeasures to prevent any physical damage to her. She continued trying to remove the dangerous magicka, although with very little success.
"Also, some of the other mages found out about what was going on in the Arch-Mages quarters, what with all of the experimentation. They began to decide that what she was doing was dangerous to those around her, and that she should stop. Marbles tried to defend her position, saying that this was going to be one of the greatest discovery since the initial discovery of magicka essence itself. Soon, they began trying to get Marbles out of her position as Arch-Mage. They eventually succeeded, taking a unanimous vote from the Imperial council itself. Marbles then retreated to a secret underground lair--the one that Charley and I came across--and continued experimenting, without being spyed on by the other mages. When there was little success at halting the dangerous magicka, she decided to, instead of eliminating it, that she would capture it and store it. It seemed to work, and she was in plentiful supply of slightly altered soul gems to capture the deadly magicka. She considered this a temporary measure, so that the magicka didn't destroy the mudcrabs surrounding the entrance to the underground complex, leaving signs for other people to discover the experiments and Marbles.
"One or two years had passed, and there was a massive stockpile of magicka filled soul gems. She began to lose patience with it. There was trial after trial, and error after error, and seemingly no solution to the magicka problem. She decided to stop the experiments altogether, and decided she would have to come up with a way to effectively and efficiently shield the magicka from any user of the portal. She was able to make the shielding, but only by using enough of her magicka reserves to put her out of any Mage's work for over a day. Nothing seemed to work. She saw that the work she was doing was pretty much futile.
She knew that probably the only way to get this to work would be to attempt contact with a higher being." I stopped, since there were no more notes. I took another deep breath. I felt truly stunned and perplexed about all that I learned. 'What was she doing?" I thought. 'That's not like her. She would never betray the Mage's Guild like that.'
"I overheard what you said about your sister," I heard Charley say from the doorway. "Is she really as powerful as you say she is?"
"She is." I sighed. "I just don't know why she would act this way. She had morals. She was blessed by the Divines."
"Well, it certainly seems like something happened to her. Do you think the magicka she was working with was affecting her mind? I mean, you have talked about spells that can do that."
"Yeah, but this is different. Marbles isn't susceptible to those kinds of magicka. Maybe it was altering her mind that way."
"It's the only explanation, in my opinion."
"Yeah, but this has never happened before." I sighed again, more heavily. "I just want Marbles back. I need her here. I just hope that whatever happened to her didn't permanently change her."
"Hey, would you like to take a walk? There's still light, and it seems like you need to clear your head."
"Ugh, okay. I'm a little frustrated by this, so don't blame me when I start blasting fireballs at things."
"I'll try to stay out of your way." I left the medallion on the desk, and headed down the stairs and outside, holding Charley's arm.
We walked around the house for a bit, then headed down the path to where the lake was. With the sun casting its reflection off the still waters, the scene really lightened up my mood. A sudden breeze created ripples over it, scattering the rays. I pulled Charley, then gestured to sit. The warm sand made shame of any chair. There was a sigh from both of us, then I spoke up. "Hey Charley?"
"Yeah?"
"Have I ever told you about my sister Leireija?"
"You told me when we first met, but you didn't go into much detail. You said she's an assassin, right?"
"Yeah, and as I also said before, I don't like talking about her."
"So then why are you bringing her up?"
"I don't know. She just popped in my head, and I couldn't stop thinking about her."
"Well, you want to talk about her now?"
"I guess so. I hope you don't judge me because of how she is."
"No, not at all. Go ahead."
"Well, Leireija was hatched a year earlier than I was, meaning that she's older. That would also make me the youngest of the three."
"And the cutest..."
"Aww, that's sweet. Anyways, She was born under the sign of the lady, quite inappropriate. With the way she acts, I would think that she would be born under the sign of the serpent or thief or something. The most ironic note is that I'm born under the sign of the thief. I try not to let it influence me, though. My mother raised her and me, but she tended to favor me over Lei. She occasionally said that Lei was destined to be a thief or something, because she would constantly get into things, and she would come back to the nest usually with her face covered in fruit juice. The cultivators complained about someone going through the patches and taking fruit at night, but they could never catch the culprit. She would usually leave at night when our mother went to sleep, and she would come back, not leaving a trace behind to show she was the one. Even the fruit juice on the face was gone by morning.
"As she got older, she decided to try her hand at swordplay. After a week or two, and cut and bruise after cut and bruise, she could easily disarm some of the warriors in the village. I have to give it to her. She does have skill with a blade, but only with short ones. She could barely even hold the massive claymores that the warriors wielded.
"By the time she was old enough to lick the hist tree--a very important coming of age ceremony in our culture--she decided to get it over with, and leave. I couldn't call her a scoundrel, because they usually have bad breath, but I could definitely call her disloyal. I can't recall any Argonian before who didn't take the ceremony seriously, but she did make a little bit of a fool when she showed up naked, instead of wearing the dress she was given for it.
"When she left, she asked me to come along with her. She said we would head for Cyrodiil, where bounty awaited. She said that she would make us rich. I don't know why, but I decided to go with her. I guess I figured that there was nothing for me at the village. I packed whatever food I could carry in m satchel, grabbed a claymore from the armory, and I headed out with her, across the marshes and into Cyrodiil. The journey was fairly easy, since Lei knew her way around pretty much all of Argonia. I only knew my way around the east and northern sides of the province. Entry into Cyrodiil was a little hard, since the terrain changed completely, and the land was quite foreign.
"Our food supply had pretty much run out, so what Lei did was she broke into a house out in the wilderness and grabbed as many apples and tomatoes as she could. I think there was someone in the house, sleeping, but it was hard to tell because it was so dark out without the moon.
"She spent the greater amount of a month breaking into houses and stealing things. After a while, I got tired of her stealing, and I told her that if she didn't stop, that I would stop following and go my own way. That seemed to work, somewhat. She stopped breaking into houses, but she couldn't help but slip her hand in a few people's pockets occasionally. That I didn't mind so much, because most of the people she did it to were stuck up aristocrats.
"This is where it got interesting. One day, we were heading down the road, and a highwayman came running up to us, dagger in hand. He said that if we didn't pay up, then he would have to do something that he would most likely enjoy. You know what she did? She pulled out her sword and slashed the cat's throat in less than half a second, right on the spot. She didn't even flinch. That was the point where I couldn't take it anymore. I told her that I am turning around and leaving. That is what I did. I left her right there. She had blood on her sword and clothing. I don't know if she even cared that I did. She simply wiped her sword on the grass, searched the body for change, then threw it to the side, continuing on.
"And that, my love, is the story of Leireija, the assassin and shame of the family."
"Wow," Charley finally said. "I can definitely see why you don't talk about her. I hope I don't ever meet her. Who knows what she would do to me if she found out I was your mate."
"Yeah, she would probably kill you." I laughed a little, trying to cheer him up a bit. He didn't change his face much. He just nodded.
"Let's not let her find out, okay?"
"Well, it has been three years in Cyrodiilic time since I last saw her. I think she was at the Grey Mare, helping some old man. She came out with a icy glass sword. I'm sure that was what she was after."
"Icy glass sword?"
"Oh, I think it was called Chillrend or something like that. The blade was cold to the touch, and it could instantly freeze flesh when it cut. It's very interesting."
"Yeah, as tempting as getting into conversation about mystical shiny daggers..."
"It's a shortsword, actually." I smiled.
"Yeah, what you said. As I was saying, I'd much rather us talk about your life."
"Nah, I'm done discussing anyone's life for about a week. Hey, let's go for a swim."
"But I'm wearing trousers."
"Oh, you big baby..." I grabbed him and threw him into the water. He went under for a second, then surfaced, looking completely shocked. I really let out a laugh then. He looked at me with that expression of disappointment, then sent a big splash towards me, soaking my clothes. He laughed at me, then I laughed at him, and I jumped into the water, once again living up to my name. The water was very refreshing, and I could feel the heat of the sun leave my body as the coolness of the lake flowed all around me. I went all the way under, and I could see Charley looking down at me from closer to the shore. I resurfaced, and grabbed Charley again into the water. I pulled him under the surface and dragged him out to the deeper end. He thought it was fun for a bit, then started to look worried after I refused to let him get some air. I then took both of his hands, and in a flash of lavender light, granted him with water breathing by a spell I picked up. He opened his mouth, and I could see his chest moving in and out. He stopped moving, and then looked at me. He smirked, then he grabbed me and pulled me around the lake. I could tell that he was having the time of his life under the water, and I couldn't help but laugh.
We spent about five minutes just swimming underneath the suface of the water, holding each other by the hand, pushing each other around, pulling. I knew that the spell only lasted for around five minutes, so I gestured him to go back up. When he breached, he then began coughing quite loudly, trying to get the water out of his lungs before the spell completely wore out. Once he was breathing normally again, we both swam back to shore. The sun was still where it was when we entered. "Jumps," Charley said.
"Yeah?"
"That was absolutely amazing! This is what you must feel like naturally."
"It is quite like that, although there are a few differences. Take my gills." I pointed at the small gills on either side of my neck. "I don't actually breathe the water."
"Still, that was bloody terrific." Charley got out of the water, but I decided to stay in for a little bit longer. Feeling the sun on my scaly face, and having the water around the rest of my body was a great experience. Charley sat down on the sand, which was quite hot, seeing that he didn't sit for long before putting something underneath him. I looked up at him, and I saw him looking back down at me. He started to smile, so I started smiling too. There were birds flying above, singing, and frogs on the shore, croaking and singing their own love songs. Images began running through our head about the night a few nights ago, when we romanced and fulfilled our love. I noticed Charley changing his smile slightly, shifting his lower lip to the right, and lifting his left cheek up, making a dimple square in the center. He was probably thinking the same thing I was. Out of nowhere, I heard him say "strawberries."
"What?" I was puzzled by it.
"Strawberries," he said again. "I would love to have some strawberries tonight."
"Now that..." I paused. "That sounds like a great idea. There are some wild strawberries in a clearing just north of here. They're very ripe."
"Really? I've been here how many years, and I haven't even known that there's a patch of wild strawberries? What's wrong with me?"
"Well, would you like to go pick some now? It's still lovely out, and I'm sure the water will still be here when we get back."
"That sounds great! Lemme just get my stuff out of the sand."
"Okay, I'm ready when you are."
"You're fine with walking around in wet clothes?"
"Oh yeah, I do it all the time. Well, not actually." I let out a laugh that made Charley smile widely and chuckle some.
I got up out of the water and wrung out my clothing, piece by piece. Charley smirked and looked away when I turned to face him. "What?" I asked.
"Oh, nothing," he replied. I finished getting any extra water out of my clothes, and we head out to catch some wild strawberries.
The patch was about a quarter of a mile north of the lake. There was a clump of trees surrounded by open grass. The grass below one of the trees was spotted with juicy red fruits. We both ran up to them and started picking at them, grabbing any that looked good. I saw an especially large one and put that in my satchel. Then I found another large one and put that in my satchel as well. The rest were fair-sized, and we put them in Charley's jacket. They came in all shapes and sizes. Some were like little scarlet buttons, and some were like small apples, red and delicious. They all gave off an intoxicating aroma, and that was enough to excite me. Once Charley's jacket was to the point of flowing over with strawberries, we headed back. It took quite a bit more time heading back up the hill we came down to get to the strawberry patch, since they were quite eager to hop out of our makeshift pail. I stopped and picked up anything we left at the beach.
Once we made it back home, we took the jacket filled with ripe and juicy fruit, and put it on the table, getting them sorted by intensity of aroma. I took the two huge strawberries out of my satchel and placed them out of the way from the rest. Charley was sorting, and he looked up at them. "Whoa! Where'd those come from?"
"I had them."
"It was rhetorical. Still, whoa!"
"They look especially decadent too." I smelled one, and a shiver ran down my spine.
"These all look so good. I don't know where to start."
"We can start with cream. You got any?"
"Yeah, there's some in the fridge." I walked over and perused the shelves, looking for the cream.
"What does it look like?"
"It should be a whi--"
"Nevermind! I found it." I took it out and poured it in a large bowl. "Now, is there any specific steps I should follow at this point?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I've never made whipped cream."
"You serious?"
"Naw, I make it all the time. I just forgot because I wanted to."
"Okay, well, you need a whisk. There should be one in that drawer over there." I went over and grabbed it.
"Now what? I just beat it?"
"Yep. Oh, and you should add some sugar to it. It's in the cupboard." I felt like a dork then. It seemed to be so easy, that I should have figured it out myself. The smell of the strawberries must have been clouding my judgment.
All of the cream was made, and the best strawberries were picked out, so we both decided to dive in. I took the first bite out of one of the smaller ones, while he did the same. The taste was nothing like I have had before. The strawberries back in Morrowind were much more tart. These were very sweet. There was nothing that I would have liked better to be there eating strawberries with my love, Charley.
Charley and I took the strawberries up the stairs with the cream and placed them on the nightstand. The smell began to fill the room, both the euphoric essence of the strawberries and the ineluctable essence of romance hanging in the air. We both sat on the end of the bed, holding each other. Charley took the bowl of strawberries off the nightstand and placed it into my lap. He grabbed one, and dipped it in the cream, giving it a neat coating, and offered it to me. I gladly accepted it, biting it off the stem, some of the juices rolling off my face. He wiped my face with his sleeve. It was my turn to give him some. I found a small, and very ripe one, and twisted it into the bowl of cream, pulling it out with a funny looking twirl at the tip. He accepted this one also, eating it in one bite.
We continued to exchange strawberries among the other, occasionally one especially juicy fruit dripping sweet liquid. Before long, both bowls were completely empty, with exception of a single strawberry. I took it and allowed him to bite off half of it, leaving the rest for me. It was gone, and nothing was left but me and Charley. All was silent the whole time other than a few giggles and chuckles here and there. I finally spoke up. "I would enjoy nothing more than to be with you to the end. Let this moment not end before we sleep." We were laying in the bed by then, and our bodies were facing the other. He tried to speak, but I interrupted, placing my hand over his mouth. "I love you Charley. I feel safe by your side. I let my hand back down from his lips and put it on his side. I snuggled closer to him and closed my eyes.
"Goodnight my love," was the last thing said from him before we finally went off to sleep.
End of part X...