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The Tenth Hold	By : Singalmo Category: +A through F > Elder Scrolls - Skyrim Views: 23706 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Elder Scrolls : Skyrim, or anything related to it. This fiction is purely for entertainment and I do not profit from it in any way.

Chapter List
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Seved awoke to the rather amazing smell of sausages frying in butter. He smiled as he rolled over to stretch, albeit gingerly. Sleep had been deep and restful. He felt refreshed and his wounds did not hurt nearly as bad as they had the previous evening. Slowly, he eased himself up to a sitting position. Lydia was clearly up and moving downstairs and he liked what he was smelling, and hearing. She was singing softly, an old Nord tune. It was one that his mother used to sing, he remembered. It brought a smile to his face as his feet hit the floor. He felt stronger than he had in the previous days. More confident, as well. He pushed himself slowly up into a standing position and kept himself steady. He made his way gingerly down the steps.

“Good morning, my thane.” Lydia smiled, serving up eggs, sausages, and spiced potatoes onto a plate. “Where would you be more comfortable?”

“Oh, I think the table.” Seved smiled as he made his way there and eased himself onto the bench. “I think the ointments worked. I’m feeling a lot better.”

“We’ll have a look after you’ve eaten.” She set the plate down in front of him. “You look a lot better, too.”

“Less singed?” He grinned cheekily.

“Less tired.” She smirked back. She loaded up her own plate and set it down on the table before gathering up a plate of fresh sweetrolls and setting those on the table. “You looked like you’d been through Oblivion...”

“I’d almost say I had been.” He spoke around a mouthful of sausage. “The last three days have been harrowing to say the least... And the days before that were not much better.”

“I heard you were at Helgen.”

“You heard right.” He nodded as he ate. His manners were not exactly up to par, but he was a Nord after all. Not even other humans considered Nords to be civilized. “Had us lined up at the headsman’s block. The horse thief got off easy. He was an idiot, decided to run.” He swallowed a mouthful. “Got cut down by the archers.”

“Who else was there?”

“Ulfric Stormcloak and a bunch of his men. Dunno who all made it out after the dragon showed up. It was kinda every man for himself at that point.” He washed down the next mouthful with a large gulp of the fresh milk that Lydia had poured for him. “Which reminds me. What in Oblivion is going on politically in this country?”

“Oh, now that will take some telling.” Lydia chuckled.

“I’ve got plenty of time, thanks to that dragon.” Seved smirked. “Bring me up to speed as best you can.”

“It’s often amazing what you overhear when standing guard in Dragonsreach.” Lydia smiled as she settled in her seat, taking a bite of sausage. “But the storm has been brewing since the end of the war.”

“Explains why I don’t know much, I was either in Morrowind or Cyrodiil for much of that. I was only four when the White-Gold Concordat was signed. Soon as word reached us in Windhelm, my mother packed us up and we left Skyrim.”

“We had the Dominion routed, from what I understand, but not without cost. The Empire wasn’t ready to finish the job, because it just plain didn’t have enough soldiers. So the emperor went for the treaty.”

“Tactically, that’s probably the best move he could have made.”

“Well, the part about outlawing Talos worship didn’t sit well with the Nords. Didn’t sit well with a lot of humans, really, but Imperials are used to bending over.” She smirked. “Most of Skyrim took things in stride. We didn’t stop worshipping Talos, we just got quiet about it. Took down the public stuff where we needed to. The idea was to not give the Thalmor a reason to come up here and bother us.” She washed down a mouthful of potatoes with milk. “Then there was the Markarth incident.” She got up and retrieved a book from the shelf and set it beside Seved’s plate. “This gives you one side of the story, and not all the details.”

“The Bear of Markarth?” Seved looked at the book curiously.

“During the war, the natives of the Reach took over Markarth. It was a relatively peaceful thing. After the war, the son of the deposed Jarl and the Empire promised free worship of Talos if Ulfric could retake the Reach. Which he did. The Thalmor arrested Ulfric and his men, but eventually let them go.”

“For the Talos worship?”

“Mmmhmm.” Lydia nodded. “And the Reachmen, angered by what happened, fled into the wilderness and became the Forsworn. They have a reason to be angry, that’s for sure.”

“This was probably the kindling on the fire, then?”

“Right. So the Thalmor started coming up periodically, but most of the time found nothing. Between the occasional legal Thalmor raids on innocent people, the slowly increasing Imperial taxes, and the fact that the Legion couldn’t really keep its promises to those it was trying to protect, the seeds of rebellion were planted.”

“What happened then?”

“Ulfric went to Solitude to confront High King Toryg, and killed him. The rumors about that are fairly wild and varied. You’d probably have to ask people who were there to find out exactly what happened.”

“Which would mean traveling up to Solitude or out to Windhelm.” Seved nodded as he sat back a bit, having finished his breakfast and picked up the book, reading through it. “Huh... It’s starting to sound like Ulfric is a bit too ambitious for his own good.”

“Well, it’s started a civil war. Those who side with the Empire and those who side with the Stormcloaks. It’s torn Skyrim in two. And Balgruuf is caught in the middle. He refuses to take a side. Either side.”

“Which puts him in a dangerous position.”

“And it’s torn Whiterun in half. The two big families here are the Grey-Manes and the Battle-Borns. Grey-Manes support Ulfric, and the Battle-Borns support the Empire.” Lydia sighs. “Vignar and Olfrid get into some amazing shouting matches with one another. It got to the point where Balgruuf won’t meet with them at the same time.”

“Great. And here I thought I’d settle into a quiet life of thaneship and occasionally running around the hold to clear out bandits.” He smirked lightly.

“You don’t seem like the type to just hold still, my thane.” Lydia chuckled, finishing her breakfast and getting up to clear the dishes.

“Never have been.” He laughed. “I’ve escaped death and I might be a fugitive from the Thalmor. Do you really think I’m going to hold still, Lydia?”

“Well, wherever you go, I’ll follow you.” Lydia smirked. “It’s my duty, and my honor to do so.”

“Well, there’s plenty of places for bandits to settle in and for treasure to hide. And if I’m going to start looking like a proper thane, then I’m going to need money.” Seved started unwrapping the bandages that he could, taking a look at the burns. “I think most of these are fully healed.”

“You could also join the Companions.” Lydia tossed over her shoulder as she cleaned up the breakfast dishes. “Up in Jorvaskyr here in the city. It would certainly give you some prestige to be counted among them.”

“I also need to venture out to Winterhold.” Seved nodded. “I seem to have developed a knack for magic and they can teach me out there.”

“That will be a long hike, but if you can control magic as well as you swing a sword, I don’t think the Nords would question it as much.”

“Not really sure what they have against magic users. I aim to change opinions on that.” Seved nodded to himself. He’d made up his mind. “Alright. We’ll get horses and supplies and make our way up to Winterhold first. We can easily spend a few weeks up there while I get a better understanding of what I can do.”

“We should wait a few days for that wound in your side to heal. It won’t sit well riding on horseback with that injury. That, and you look like you could use another day or two of holding still.” Lydia finished up the dishes and set them up to dry before moving over to look at the wound on his side. “That’s healing up fairly well, but even Danica would tell you to take it easy for another day or two.”

“I’m tougher than I look, Lydia. And I can’t afford to hold still. You go with me, and we’ll be fine.” Seved smiled. “Besides, I think you’re anxious to go on an adventure or two. Follow my lead and we can get through anything.”

“As you wish, my thane.”
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The Tenth Hold