Chapter 43 - Jullanar
[A/N: I am having exams three weeks from now and I am not sure I can do the bonus chapter thing now, I'll keep updating daily until I fix my laptop.]
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I picked up a small round box that contained a 'bruises healing ointment' I bought from Solitude, then sat in front of the girl and started applying it to her face.
"Not a chance!" I said to the girl who wanted to die, "How would I torment you if you died." I couldn't help but grin.
"The Brotherhood won't leave a traitor like me live." She said, "I told the red man everything."
Seems that Njord had done a score on her.
"Just what did he do to you to make say all that?" I couldn't help but ask.
She shivered from the question so I cast 'Calm' spell on her, one must know that this girl has a disturbed mentality.
"So what did he do when you told him what you know?" I asked.
"He just left! He also said that the one who hired me was already dead." She said.
"Sibbi? Yeah, I killed him." I said.
"You did?" She looked and appeared shocked. "Do you know what the Black-Briars may do?"
"Yes, but she won't do anything to me." I said, "She has already killed most the thugs in Solitude though, I pinned the kill on them."
The girl was looking at me surprised by what she heard.
"So you did!" She said, "I guess thieves are good with these sort of stuff."
I was done applying the ointment now.
"So, what is your name?" I asked.
"Mabia." She said.
"Do you still want to die, Mabia?" I asked.
"What choice do I have?" She said, "The Brotherhood will perform the Black Sacrament if they suspected that I didn't die yet."
Oh! So she is worried about that?
The 'Black Sacrament' is a dark ritual that can be performed by whoever those who want to contact the dark brotherhood, that ritual is a way to contact the 'Night Mother'.
The Night Mother, an immortal spirit who is revered and worshipped by the Brotherhood. She is only ever met face-to-face in very exceptional circumstances and is seen as a phantom-like form. When a person prays for the death of another, the Night Mother hears and passes on the details of the prayer to her Listener. At this point, the Listener informs a Speaker, who then goes to meet the hiring party in order to draw up a contract.
But still.
"Don't you know?" I asked.
"Know what?" She asked.
"Astrid, your leader, doesn't follow the teachings of the 'FiveTenets' anymore." I said.
"What nonsense are you saying? How can this be? I've never met the leader but my mentor told…" Mabia halted, "Wait a minute! How do you know of the name of the leader?"
"Hehe! Don't you dare look down on how much I know girl, I know most of the important names in your merry little cult, Veezara that mentor of yours, Arnbjorn the husband of Astrid....." I said and started making an act but everything was true.
"Your organization has fallen deeper than what you think, the Listener, Alisanne Dupre, was killed eight years ago in Bravil and the coffin of the Night Mother was lost since then." That also was true, these events happened in the game world yet not 'the game' (Skyrim) itself.
'The Elder Scrolls: Legends', a card game that told the story of a certain hero who lives in this world right now, this hero walked on a different path than the hero of 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim' and had his own adventures.
One of them was related to the Dark Brotherhood and he interacted with the big shots from it, he also was the cause of their current decline.
Astrid is the leader of the Dark Brotherhood in this day and age, she abandoned the five main teachings of the Dark Brotherhood which were called the Five Tenets and converted the group from cultist killers to professional assassins.
Hearing this information, Mabia was taken aback by what she heard.
"That all means that there will be no 'Black Sacrament' on you." I said, "And even if there is one, then just live your damn life now and face whatever comes at you later."
I finished what I had to say and went away from her. All I care about was a fellow orphan in distress, if she chooses the path of her own demise then I won't care anymore.
"This all hard to take in." She said as she looked away, "All I ever learned was how to kill."
"Then just learn how to live." I said, "Also you write some crazy nice poems, and I bet you can make a good Frey pie."
"What is Frey pie?" She asked.
"It's a pie that you present to someone you want to kill, its main ingredients are his/her family members, then you kill him/her after they eat it." I said, "Didn't they teach it to you?"
[A/N: Frey pie is the pie that Arya Stark made for Walder Frey in Game of Thrones.]
Mabia seemed impressed by what she heard and shook her head.
"Figures, these people became too soft." I said as I was having fun playing with that girl.
I stood up and headed to the door, "I'll head out to wipe myself and I'll bring you something to eat, rest now."
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Heading out, I went to a cabin that had a tub in it, I took some buckets and filled the tub from the sea.
Heating the water with fire magic was a usual practice for mages, even these sailors learned some spells to do their chores.
The tub is a blessing even though the weather outside is freezing, I can now enjoy some nice bath in this dangling ship.
As the water is nice and warm, my head started spinning from a thought to an idea, there was much stuff I wanted to do and experience, from this moment onwards I will focus on magic and become stronger, there is one year and I should master most of the spells I couldn't master yet.
'Mysticism School' also known as the 'Old Ways' is one of the main six schools but it's not really supported fully by the College of Winterhold, I need to dig into their famous Arcanaeum for more information on it.
[A/N: Arcanaeum is the library of the college.]
During my research, I also plan on; understanding more about Conjunction School, create my original style in Destruction School, start taking the Illusion School more seriously, learn all the aspects of physical magic from the Alteration school, and seriously make progress in the Restoration School. I found out all of my shortcomings in this tournament and I must admit, I am worse than I thought.
I won this tournament because my physical ability, I am also not that talented as I thought, Argir's body movements on equal ground are much faster than me, also Ongeim and Farkas are far stronger than me.
My superiority lies in three talents I have; the first is that I am very talented in Mysticism even with the lack of spells and knowledge, my practice in mysticism also made my Magicka pool larger than most of my peers, the second is about my body my body which is very flexible due to my training on my own versions of Parkour and MMA, The third is my natural gift in the Thu'um, one of the reasons I think I am the hero of the game.
Adding all that to my knowledge from my past life, it made the person I am today.... dammit the water got cold, heat heat heat!
Ah! Just about right.
Where was I again? Ah yes! My qualities.
I am glad I could see through myself this early, I need all the power I can muster, all knowledge is good, and my memory is sharper the better I control and increase my Magicka.
I remember a lot of knowledge from my past life which helped me greatly in something like the Electromancy. Magic is about understanding the power and I can make some scientific theories about it. I also remember a lot of stuff I read in the Wikis, this is all power I have right now and I should make use of.
Yet, too rough! None of it is refined! My time in the Orphanage gave me a good head start and my good luck met me with Nurina, I was lucky to meet her alongside all the people I know.
That's right! People!
My people!
My friends!
That's what I need more right now! A lot of friends to stand beside me.
Wulfur is guaranteed, he would follow me anywhere even if I asked him not to, Jon Battle-Born is a new brother but I know his quality doesn't lose to Wulfur.
Nurina is more powerful and mysterious than I could fathom, I don't like to be greedy but I can't let go of her guidance.
Hilda and these crazy Fire-Mane folk are my next possible ally, I'll let fate decide this one.
The people from the college I met so far are good people but I need to work on this relationship on my own, this will be one of the tasks at hand.
Who else? Ah! Her...
That girl, Mabia.
She is alone in this world, she is a fighter too, if I help her, I can make her into a follower of mine, we just need to build trust with each other.
Dammit! This water is getting colder without my noticing!
Heat heat heat!
Phew! That was close.
Let's stop overthinking for now! I finally can make up some plan for the future.
The last thing is the money but I'll think about that in Winterhold, at least there will be some good ways to earn coin there.
Now after this bath, I should get food for Mabia and me.
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The ship has a big dining cabin and I could get warm food from there, two warm meals for me and Mabia.
As I got back to the room, I found that the girl is still sitting on the bed.
Sigh! What a helpless creature, I moved my hand to her head and pushed the hood on it away.
What appeared was a face of a half-breed girl, she is half Dunmer half Nord.
On the left side of her face are three old scratch wounds under her left white blind eye.
The right side of her face is actually pretty, her right eye is hazel, and her skin was a bit bluish, she had the most features of a Dunmer but her pointy ears are shorter than usual elves and her face structure is that of a human.
Her black hair reminded me of mine from my past life.
Her body was not that tall yet if she stood, she would reach my shoulders, the rest of her body is quite nice.
All in all, if we fixed that girl's face, she will be a hot little treat.
I put a tray in front of her and she started wolfing it up.
I talked to her while eating, I noticed that she had a few screws loose. Well, I guessed as much, she was brought up on killing after all.
After saying this and that, Mabia was not awkward as she felt before and started taking normally, she also told me her story as if nothing, even though it was a tragic one.
Apparently, from what I could understand from her, her mother was a Dunmer in Windham, there are many refugees there and Nords treat them like s**t.
One day, a Nord raped her mother and Mabia was the result of the crime, normally the Nords wouldn't care and her mother wouldn't be helped out even by the Dunmer folk because she decided to raise the daughter.
In a society full with racism like Windhelm, a child between a Dunmer and a Nord will be considered some sort of a taboo child, both races were at each other's throat since the time the refugees started to flee from Morrowind to Windhelm.
The mother decided to take her daughter and leave to a more suitable place for her child, Falkreath was her choice.
The mother died after they moved out and she was brought to the orphanage of the hold, her unusual appearance caused her to be mistreated and she escaped to the forest one day, there she was attacked by a lynx and her left eye was wounded before she was saved by an Argonian who later became her mentor and made her into an assassin.
This was a sad story, I do sympathize with her but the only one who can help her now is herself.
"This ship is heading to Winterhold, do you have any plans for yourself from there?" I asked.
Mabia shook her head, she thought for a while then said, "Do you have a job for me?"
"I can use someone with your set of skills." I said.
"Won't that bring you bad attention?" Mabia asked.
"You can act as a maidservant and no one will mind you." I said.
"So you just want me to do your dirty work in the shadow?" She asked.
I smiled, "I am not really taking advantage of you, I'll give you whatever you wish for as long as I can trust you."
Mabia thought for a while, "Fine, I don't have any choice left, do I?."
"One last thing." I said, "I told them that your name is Jullanar, I think your current name will bring you trouble anyway."
"Mhm!" She nodded and asked, "Jullanar! What kind of a name is that?." She asked.
"It a name for the pomegranate flower, from my past life." I nonchalantly said.
"Ah! Right, past life.." She looked away while mumbling.
"Heh heh!" I laughed and said, "Wait until you see dragons."
Jullanar looked at me again and said, "So I am not the only one who hear voices!"
I think this is my turn to freak out.