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Apotheosis I	By : OneMoreAltmer Category: +A through F > Elder Scrolls - Oblivion Views: 2266 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I didn't create and do not own Elder Scrolls: Oblivion or its characters (except for Tavi, within game format). I make no moneys.

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Four � Watching the
Snow Fall

He rose before I did, while I was only half awake and still
hazy.� His hand brushed slowly over my
waist and my hip as he moved away, like a lover�s hand, departing the object of
its favor only with reluctance.
I really had to stop thinking this way.
This time we rode and traded idle chatter.� I told him about the Ancestors and the Mages�
Guild.� He nodded, said he�d guessed me a
mage, told me to be cautious choosing my friends and my studies if I made
Apprentice.� A typical priest�s warning,
that:� it wasn�t unusual for them to
distrust any power that wasn�t obviously straight out of the hands of one of
the Nine.� He told me about Kvatch as it
had been, a lovely city of stone � �like a warmer
Skingrad,� he said, but that meant nothing to me as I had never seen Skingrad.� But I nodded and smiled like I understood, because I wanted to listen to him talk, because
his voice flowed over me like sun on skin.
I�d nearly forgotten that there was any urgency to our
journey when we turned up the last road to the priory and saw their Dunmer
stablehand running for his life, and behind him � behind him, curses and ruin
on them all, one of Dagon�s madmen in his red cloak and mask, giving pursuit
with sword raised.
�No!� I screamed,
leaping down from my horse and throwing fire.�
There were more of them emerging from the buildings and from the
direction of the stable.� No, I hadn�t
made things worse with my tardiness again.�
No, Jauffre and the Amulet were not in danger.� No, I hadn�t just led my pretty priest into a
death trap.� No, no, no.
Eronor fled out of range of my frantic blasts as one cultist
and then another flailed, shrieked, and fell burning.� I aimed at a third � and then clutched back
the spell, singing my own fingers.�
Martin the priest, the man who had placidly assured me that his life was
in my hands, had drawn his sword and surged forward into my line of fire.� As I growled in impatient fear and drew a
knife to join in the close combat, he dispatched the remaining enemy with just
a few graceful strokes.� He was better
with a blade than I was.
Then he stood and frowned down at his would-be killer as if
troubled.
I was imagining what would have happened if my reflexes had
been slower:� I was imagining the back of
his head looking the way I�d left Claude�s.�
�Be more careful!� I yelled, closing the distance between us.
�He�s just a boy,� Martin murmured.� �He had no skill.� Just rage.�
�They�re not trained fighters,� I snarled, sick of the sight
of them.� �They�re zealots.�� I hurried into the main house, where I found
Prior Maborel�s dead body.� There wasn�t
time to feel sorry:� Eronor scurried in
after me.
�The Grandmaster is in the chapel,� he cried.� I went out again and paced off in that
direction, but had to start trotting to keep up with Martin, who began to run ahead of me.� Thus taking my best weapon
out of my arsenal, again.� What
was wrong with him?� Did he want to be killed by friendly fire?
Martin threw the door open, sword in hand, and revealed half
a dozen agents surrounding Jauffre in front of the altar.� Jauffre, at least, had apparently been better
prepared for the attack than poor Prior Maborel:� his sword was in his hand.� �Your timing is excellent,� he said, with no
more obvious feeling than if he had meant that dinner was ready.
�I�ll take the one on the left,� Martin replied, as Jauffre
turned right and they left me to come up the center.
The priest and the monk, coolly trading quips and assigning opponents
as if it were just a training exercise, just a game they had come up with one
night while drunk in a tavern.�
At the time, I did not realize that the nature of reality is
Death, that a game was all it really was.�
I didn�t even have the awareness to gawk at their sudden transformation
from religious men into warriors.� I did
wonder if Martin quite understood that as the main target and the last hope for
Tamriel he really ought to stay out of the fighting, but there was no time to
ask him.� I spun and sank my dagger into
the nearest of my enemies, and listened with a disturbing satisfaction as the
name of his false god drowned in a gargling of blood.�
I don�t remember any more how many fell to whom.� I took my share, and it made me glad.� I turned my weapon in my hand as I stooped to
wipe it against my last foe�s cloak, and it occurred to me to look at it.� I had pulled it by instinct, the smallest
weapon I had, for fear of hurting Martin with a reckless swing.
It was Lucien�s dagger.�
I had forgotten I had it.� I had
never meant to bring it out of Weye.
As I turned that thought over unpleasantly in my head, I
realized that the two men were both waiting for me to speak.� I turned to Jauffre first, and asked the obvious
question, already fearing that the fact he hadn�t already answered it was,
itself, the answer.
My voice came out thick with dread.� �Where is the Amulet?�
He muttered something about a �secret room� and ran back
toward the main house.� Martin looked to
me before turning to follow.� I waved him
on and came behind, but I already knew.� I
knew before we had even gone up the stairs in the main house to where the �secret�
door stood open.� I knew as the three of
us stood there, Jauffre searching in half-concealed alarm and Martin watching
perplexed.� I�d known all along that
Jauffre had done this the wrong way round.
The Amulet was gone.
I was shaking, enraged.�
I dropped to my knees because it kept me from surging forward and
throttling him.� If I�d had the Amulet,
it would have been safe.� It had been safe, when I had it.� I knew how to carry a valuable, secret
thing.� But I�d given it to a monk, and
instantly, it was gone.
This was useless, this fury.�
I had to think.
This cult, this Mythic Dawn.� I had to learn what else was precious to
them, what kind of a place they would choose to hide their precious things.
Did I?� Or did I have
to figure out where to hide the thing that was precious to me?
�All right.�� I made an effort to slow my breathing.� �All right, Jauffre.� What now?�
He echoed my thought, after his cold-blooded fashion.� �At least Martin is alive.� There is still hope.� But I must keep him safe, and obviously I
cannot do so here.�� He frowned.� �We will go to Cloud Ruler
Temple, the stronghold of
the Blades.� It is strong enough against
both steel and magicka to buy us time to think.�
�And against spies, Jauffre?�
�There has never been such a thing as a traitorous Blade.�
�Hmm.�� Still, it was the best plan on offer, in that
it was the only one.� I rose to my
feet.� �As you say,
then.� Let�s go.�
I thought that Martin smiled, a little.� Jauffre looked perplexed.� �You have been of great service, of course,
but I can impose no further on you.� And
the Temple is
sacred to the Blades.�
�To those in service to the crown,� Martin clarified.
Jauffre stiffened.� �To the Emperor and his family.� To the blood, not the government.�
�To my
blood.�� I could see the
discomfort flash through Martin�s eyes as he said it, but he went on.� �There was a stable portal to Oblivion at
Kvatch.� It should be impossible.� She went into
it, closed it from inside, to find me.� I
owe her my life.� If she is willing to
come, I want her with us.�
Again without a hint that he had ever felt another way,
Jauffre inclined his head.� �Of course, Martin.�
She will be welcome.�
Jauffre�s presence made it harder to engage in idle,
pleasant banter as we rode north.� The
talk was mostly business:� what I knew
about the Gate, what Jauffre and Martin could conjecture from that � and what
Martin could conjecture turned out to be a surprisingly great deal.� He knew the ins and outs of conjuration and
daedric lore as well as I would have expected him to know the niceties of
theology or ritual.� An awkward
conversation about why Martin had been raised as he had, ignorant of
himself:� because he was a bastard child,
and because Uriel�s talent as a seer had stirred and told him to keep the boy
hidden.� Then there was some exchange
about the Blades and how they would expect to be treated by their
sovereign.� That was little use to me, so
I pondered how many more facets my warrior-wizard-priest was going to reveal, and
scanned the rising cliffs for crazed killers.
None came.� I humbly
submit that the Jerall
Mountains were too cold
for them.� Certainly they were too cold
for me.� The little side roads we were
taking for privacy had led up into the snowy heights more quickly than the main
roads would have, and by the time we camped I was miserable in my thin,
Heartland-friendly clothes.
I don�t think Jauffre would ever have noticed, but Martin
did.� I was standing against a tree as
Jauffre lit the fire some little distance away, and Martin brought me a cloak.
�Thank you,� I said, chattering.� He wrapped it around my shoulders himself,
and as a distraction from making more of that than I should I said, �You�re
rather more a warrior than I expected.�
He chuckled.� �I had a
little training, before I took my vows.�
My real passion was magic.�� He
grinned, with a light in his eyes that was surprisingly close to being
mischief.� �When I warned you against
wizards, you thought I was being superstitious.�
�Perhaps.�� I let myself smile back a little.� �Was it your faith that made you give up wizardry?�
�It�s more that wizardry compelled me to take refuge in
faith.�� But Jauffre intruded before I
could coax out more of the story, asking us if we wanted water boiled for hot drinks.� So it was back to the three of us for the
evening, and back to shop talk.� Then
Jauffre also insisted, for propriety, that he and Martin stay in one tent and I
freeze alone in the other.� Of course he
didn�t put it quite that way, but it was the result.
Cloud Ruler Temple
looked like it was perched on the top of the world, and was surrounded by walls
higher and grander than I�d seen anywhere but the Imperial City.� A lot of devotion and a lot of money had been
channeled here, over a lot of time.
Outside the gates Jauffre turned and regarded me with a
sober expression.� �We are about to enter
sacred ground.� No one has ever set foot
there who was not either one of us, or a member of the royal family.�� He paused.�
�You have done heroic service for Uriel Septim and for Martin, and that
makes you our ally.� If you are willing
to continue in Martin�s service, I invite you to join the Blades, and enter the
temple as our sister.�
I blinked at him.� I
hadn�t expected any such thing.� But I
supposed from the speech that he would really rather not let me inside if I
didn�t agree.� I gulped and nodded,
hoping I was agreeing to answer to Martin and not to Jauffre or, worse, some
strange soldier I didn�t even know.�
Jauffre smiled, gave me a fatherly pat on the shoulders, and waved up
for the gates to be opened.� Jauffre gave
the news of Martin�s existence and presence to the guards in a quick,
perfunctory tone, and they ran ahead of us shouting.
Word spread quickly, and by the time we had stabled the
horses and walked to the stone steps leading up to the great temple itself, we
were mobbed.
The Blades greeted Martin by swarming out of the complex,
cheering, some even weeping in relief:� but Jauffre reimposed order quickly, and they
fell into formation around the steps and cried out formal hails for Martin Septim.�
He was quite taken aback; I would even say mortified.� When Jauffre invited him to speak, it was all
he could do to stammer out humble thanks for their hospitality.� He promised to try to learn how to be the
Emperor.� They all stared up at him,
adoring but puzzled � what had they expected! � and at last Jauffre released
them back to their duties, and himself wandered away inside, leaving us on the
steps, Martin aghast and me compelled to try to soothe him.
�That wasn�t very convincing, was it?� he grimaced.� �I don�t know what I�m supposed to do.�
I never thought of being an Emperor.�
I�m only a man.�
I took his hand.� �You
will learn it.� You learned magic, and
fighting, and religion.� You can learn
this.�
He looked aside, deep in thought.� �It all seems to hinge on the Dragonfires �
they are relit at every coronation using the Amulet.� It must be the fire itself that enforces the
boundary between us and Oblivion.�
�Then we must certainly get the Amulet back.�
He nodded.� �Yes.� So that we � I � can relight the
Dragonfires.�� He squeezed my hand a
little.� �I�m glad you came.� I can�t imagine having to face this with no
one but Jauffre to talk to.�
But when we went up into the temple, we were pulled apart
for separate tours.� For my part, I saw
the barracks, and the training rooms, and the armory, and the library, and the
dining hall.� There was brief,
hand-waving reference to private quarters, and from the door in question Martin
emerged with his own guide.� He only
barely had time to acknowledge seeing me before they hurried him off in another
direction.
Still, those were not bad days.� I had a cot among the other female Blades;
and although the barracks were huge and often bitterly cold, I slept better
than I had in weeks.� It was hard to
imagine less fertile ground for membership in the Dark Brotherhood than among
the Blades.� They were full of noble
ideals � and to be more blunt, they had the political
standing to do away with their enemies outright, rather than sneaking up on
them in the dark.� And there was no
question of anyone getting onto the grounds without leave.
They offered me armor, which proved heavier than I liked to
wear, and training with swords, which I accepted happily.� Despite all the time that Jauffre and the
other high-ranking officers kept Martin isolated for intensive training in his
new role, they had to let him eat, and at the common meals he insisted on
having me at his table.� We deliberately
talked about anything else but matters of rule.�
I showed him the Ancestor I was still carrying, and we talked about
elves, ruins, and treasure hunting.� He
taught me to understand the uneasy marriage the state religion had formed
between elven and Nord pantheons.� We
appraised the Order�s book collection, which was not bad for a military
institution.� We complained about the
cold.� I complained about the rigid disciplines, about which he was more
philosophical, comparing them to the disciplines of being a chapel priest.
Yes, that was right, he was a priest of Auri-El, and
chaste.� Best remember that.� I kept wanting to
forget.
The day came when my residence at Cloud Ruler
Temple ended, as good
things must.� Jauffre approached me in
the central hall.
�Sister Tavi,� he said, �I have a matter to bring to your
attention.� Do you remember Baurus?�
I thought.� �He was
with the Emperor the day he died.� He was
the one who sent me to you.�
Jauffre nodded.� �He
has remained in the city, looking for leads to the Mythic Dawn.� He is going to need assistance, and he has
requested that I send you.�
Go back to the Imperial
City?� Where I had spent most of my time in my other
life, where there were shops, where I could finally sell my goods to Umbacano,
where it was warm?
Without Martin?
I frowned, and Jauffre saw my reluctance.� �You wonder why he should have asked for you
specifically.� Your fame has been growing
while you�ve hidden here, Sister.� You
will find that a surprising number of people know of the Hero of Kvatch.� Perhaps you can put that regard to some use.�
I considered this.� I
had wanted to find the Mythic Dawn, and I was being given the chance to do
so.� I should have been happier.
Not that it was really a request
in any case.� Refusing an assignment from
the Grandmaster would not have been a choice well received by my peers.� So I bowed my head in assent.� �As you say, Grandmaster.� May I�may I tell Martin myself that I am
leaving?�
He smiled a little.� �Only because you are his friend.�� But then he furrowed his brow, as if that
bothered him.� �Sister Tavi?� Although you should depart soon, I do not
think it is urgent that you go straight into the capital.� You�re something of a wizard, aren�t
you?� Make a brief tour of the cities, visit
the Guild halls, and get yourself access to the Arcane University.� We have friends there, and that will be most
useful.� And I think it will be
heartening to the populace to see their Hero among them.�
Was he trying to be rid of me?� I scanned his face, which remained quite
bland and friendly.� No.� There was no reason for it; and his logic was
sound, assuming that this �Hero of Kvatch� business was true.� And again, there had been a time when I
really wanted access to the University.
I went and gathered my things.� And lo and behold, there was Lucien�s knife
in the chest by my cot, waiting for me.�
I was sure I�d abandoned it at Weynon Priory.� There went all sense of safety as well as my
good cheer, and I hadn�t even left the grounds yet.
I came back to Jauffre to tell him I was ready, and he
escorted me back into the private wing.�
The walls here were little more than screens, and guards stood at each
door.� The doorway to what I supposed was
Jauffre�s own room was on the left, and just one other door waited at the end
of the hall.� He waved me past the
guards.� They closed the door, a sliding
screen, behind me.
These were Martin�s quarters: �nicely sized and appointed, the walls covered
with delicate tracery.� He was sitting on
the bed opposite the door with his feet up, leaning against the headboard, and
still wearing his robes, although they had given him other options.� On seeing me he grinned and rose to his
feet.� �Tavi!� How is it that they have finally allowed you
to visit me privately on the day I hadn�t
yet asked about you?� Do you see how they
keep me here?� Do you see that the walls
are made of paper?� I have had to
remember how to set wards to keep any sense of privacy.� And yet it�s much finer than I�m used to, and
that is uncomfortable in its own way.��
He looked then into my face, and his happy stream of friendly
nonsense came to an abrupt halt.� �What�s
wrong?�
I told him about my assignment, and he frowned.� �Do you have to � I mean.� Will you be � of course you�ll be all
right.�� He cut off the peculiar ramble
with a false-looking smile.� �The
University will be glad to have you.� I�m
sure you�ll do great good in the Imperial
City.�
I crossed my arms protectively around my waist.� �I�ll be fine.� I don�t mean to stay there longer than I have
to.� I intend to come back.�
He nodded.� �But
you�re worried.�
Cursed priests and their empathy.� I was tired of dancing away from this
subject.� �Yes.� I�m worried.��
I paced to the left side of the room, drawing my worry from my
belt.� I threw the dagger down on
Martin�s desk and instantly looked away from it, even taking a step back from
it.� As he came to pick it up, I forced
the words out.� �I�m worried about the
Dark Brotherhood.�
�Is there a contract on you?�
�No.� No, it�s
worse.� There�was a man.� We�d been intimate.�� I hated telling him that.� �Briefly.� He was another treasure hunter.� He shadowed me when I was out making an
acquisition and wanted to steal the piece from me after I�d found it.�� The rest came out in a tearful jumble.� �He told his men to kill me, and I panicked,
and I threw a fireball at his head as he rode away and left me there to die,
and it killed him.� And a man from the
Brotherhood broke into my room at the inn, and told me it counted as murder,
and gave me that, and as much as told me I would be joining them.� And I can�t lose the thing, and I�m afraid he�s still watching me.�
He just stood there silent for a moment, and I could see in
his eyes that he was putting the pieces of my confused story together,
comparing them to the odd way I knew I�d behaved when we first met.� And then he surged toward the door.
I grabbed him by the arm to stop him.� �What are you doing?�
�Telling Jauffre to send someone else.�
�No.�� I pinched his
arm for emphasis, to make him turn again and look at me.� �I�m not going to tell you secrets again if
you go straight to Jauffre with them.�
�I don�t have to tell him why.�
�I can�t afford to be seen receiving special favors.� I�m new to the Order.�
At the same moment, both our eyes dropped to where I was
still holding onto his arm.� I willed my
hand to relinquish its prize, and it parted from him reluctantly, slowly, like
the touch of a � never mind, Tavi, enough.
He exhaled sharply, reluctant to let the matter go.� �The Dark Brotherhood, Tavi!� he whispered.
�Believe me, I know.��
I barked out a humorless laugh.�
�But�I want to do this for you, Martin.�
I�ve enjoyed hiding at the Temple,
but neither of us is going to be safe here forever.� If I can, I�m going to go out and conquer
your demon for you.�� I tried to put on a
brave smile, but it might have been more of a grimace.� �Perhaps when you�re the Emperor,
that will give you the power to conquer mine.�
His jaw clenched and then unclenched, and he nodded.� �Go, then.�
Be careful.� You�ve promised to
come back.�� He frowned at me for another
moment, and then turned his back on me and said nothing else.
That stung a bit, and kept stinging as I rode down toward
Bruma.
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Apotheosis I