:rofl:
That's the phrase that stood out for me too.

Aftermath scenes are so hard to do, you have created a vivid scene that perfectly reflects how the people would be reacting. I love the TG line from Methredhel !!

Acadian: Thank you Acadian! A little chick stuff is good after all that manly combat.

I am glad that so many people like that one line from Methredhel. I thought I needed some humor to lighten the mood after the grimness of Talos Plaza and the creepiness of Umbacano. It was completely in character for Methredhel to say, so it just flowed out naturally.


D.Foxy: Thanky you D! Who knows, maybe the Grey Fox still stole the horns off some of the Daedra!


treydog: Thank you T! That is very perceptive of you, as always. I almost did not put this scene in, because of Teresa's estrangement with Methredhel and her old life. But it felt important for me to do it. Methredhel had been Teresa's best friend until her life was turned upside down by her part in the Main Quest. I needed to show that Teresa could not just walk away from that friendship, even though she now lives in a completely different world. I do not think she will ever stop being friends with her and Adanrel, because it is just the way Teresa is wired up. But that Thomas Wolfism is definitely true. There is no going home for Teresa.

I had not been thinking of using Methredhel again until Act III, but she might work nicely into an epilogue of Chapter 7, as I can see Teresa wanting to talk to someone close, and not Simplicia. I might be able to reinforce that fact that they live is separate worlds while I do that.


Winter Wolf: I think ordinary life is more interesting than the battles. The trouble is making scenes like that either drive the plot or somehow define the characters so they can be put in a story. I was only really able to justify putting this scene is because plot-wise it showed us that the Waterfront was not effected by the Crisis, and character-wise it showed us that Teresa is still friends with Methredhel.


RemkoNL: Thank you Remko. I was not born it Detroit, but I was raised and lived nearly my entire life here. So phrases like that come natural.

p.s. I do keep meaning to start reading your topic, I just never get the time. There are so many good writers here I cannot read them all.


mALX1: Thank you m. There is actually one more aftermath chapter, where we see what happened to Vols. Stay tuned.

I felt that the reconnect with Methredhel was quite logical and natural. Teresa is adrift in many ways, even as she is finding herself and exploring her true potential. So many things in her life have changed- so she goes back to what was once familiar.

I certainly found myself reaching out to old friends when my father died- I needed to overcome the feeling that the entire world had shifted out from under me....

That installment also allowed us readers a chance to breathe and recover from the final(?) Oblivion assault.

D.Foxy: Thanky you D! Who knows, maybe the Grey Fox still stole the horns off some of the Daedra!

Now we know why some of the Daedra are not horny :angel:

But I think Methedrel met her match in Molag Bal, 'cos as far as I know the bally guy is still horny...that is to say, he still has horns...

treydog: Thank you T. I am sorry to hear about your father, that must have been very difficult to go through.


D.Foxy: I saw that at the local pr0n shop the other day - Molag's Python and the Holey Girl!


* * *

Chapter 4a - The Promise


By the time Teresa returned to the Market District it was long into the afternoon. Simplicia was definitely going to kill her, she thought. Hopefully the old woman spent the time with Jensine instead of actually working any more around the shop. That way she would not be too mad?

Teresa's stomach growled as she walked by a hot food stand and inhaled the aroma of the fresh bread, cooked fish, meat, and garlic served there. She should stop and get something to take back with her, she thought, that might keep Simplicia happy.

Making her way over to the small, open-air stall she found an open spot between workmen at the long stone counter that ran its length and waited her turn to order. The counter top was lined with large holes filled with earthenware jars, each brimming with a different form of hot meat, fish, or mulled wine. Sprigs of garlic and other spices hung from the canvas awning that kept out the sun, and further back in the shop she could see loaves of fresh bread and cheese stacked on a table, with bottles of wine and ale sitting on the stone floor underneath.

She traded some of her recently earned coinage for bread, cheese dumplings, and a small bottle of wine. The smell of the warm fish tempted her, but she would have to eat that here from the shop's tableware rather than being able to carry it with her, so she left that for another time.

The meat did not interest her at all. Once upon a time it would have, but ever since she had begun her expeditions into the Great Forest the idea of eating animals had lost its appeal. As she looked at the roasted patties and strips of fresh meat she could not help thinking about how beautiful the deer were as they bounded through the underbrush. She could not even consider eating anything of such sublime loveliness, nor any other beast, not anymore.

Filling her hands with the meal, she continued her way down the street. If she had been planning on buying food to begin with she would have brought a small sack to put it all in. She knew that she was an easy mark for pickpockets with her hands full, but there was nothing for it. She would just have to avoid the urchins that she knew were thieves and hope for the best, she thought.

She told herself that was why she took the long way back to Jensine's. At least until she came to the large, wide tower that bulged from the corner where the walls of the Market District, Elven Gardens, and Green Emperor Way converged. She knew who would be in there, just as something inside of her knew that she needed to stop and see him.

Walking to the great oak door at the base of the tower, she struggled to rearrange the food in her hands so that she could grasp its handle. That is when it opened on its own accord and a legionary clad in full armor stepped into her. She had no time to move aside or otherwise react, one moment she was standing there, and the next she found herself flying backward, still clutching at dinner.

But she did not fall, for a pair of steel-clad hands shot around her and held her tight to an armored briast. Looking up, she found that the same legionary who had walked into her had also caught her up in his arms. She supposed some women might find it terribly romantic, but for her the urge to bolt and run was nearly overpowering.

Where was that steely nerve that saw her through so many battles? Teresa wondered as the legionary let go of her and made an apology, eyeing the food and drink in her arms. She could face down goblins, wolves, assassins, even Daedra, she thought. But as soon as a legionary touched her she was a frightened child all over again.

Being careful to avoid further collisions with the mountains of walking steel that filled the ground floor of the guardhouse, she made her way to a grey-haired Imperial sitting behind a table. He wore the armor of a legionary, but the helmet that sat upon the table in front of him bore a transverse crest, rather than the normal back to front ones of the regular legionaries. She recognized that as a centurion's helmet, and assumed that he must be in charge. Parchments were neatly stacked around his helmet, and an inkpot and writing quill sat near his hand, only reinforcing Teresa's thought the he must be in command of the tower.

"Yes citizen," the centurion's voice sounded tired as she approached, "what do you have to report?"

"Oh me?, nothing, to report that is," Teresa stammered. She was still not used to watchmen treating her like a regular person rather than street rat. "I was just looking for Volsinius, is he here?"

The Imperial cocked an eyebrow, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again as he narrowed his eyes upon her.

"Did you say Volsinius?"

"Yes," Teresa repeated, beginning to feel nervous, "he's a big guy, wears lots of armor, like I guess all of you do? Did I come to the wrong tower? I thought I saw him come in her before?"

"Yes, he's here," the centurion said with a look of amusemant now forming in his eyes, "he never gets any visitors though. Anyway, he cannot see you now. He is still recovering from injuries sustained in the battle. Check back in a few weeks."

"Oh I know he's wounded!" Teresa exclaimed, "I was with him when he was hurt. His arm, and his head, and his stomach, and all the rest of him that is."

"Are you some kind of friend of his?" the centurion asked, eyes dancing with laughter now.

'Umm, yeah, you could say that," Teresa looked down at the floor and could feel her cheeks starting to blossom with warmth. Stop acting like an idiot! she told herself. It was not like they were going to arrest her and throw her in prison, again?

The Imperial stared her up and down and finally shook his head.

"He's two flights up, with the rest of the wounded," he pointed his finger at the stair that spiraled around the wall of the tower chamber.

"Thank you," Teresa replied, feeling more relieved than she would have been to survive a battle with a goblin. She turned and headed up the stairs, and could not help but to hear some of the watchmen muttering behind her.

"Vols has a girlfriend?"

"Red-head too, you know what they're like?"

"Too stringy though, looks like a vampire with that skin too."

She climbed to the next floor and the voices faded. She wished her embarrassment would wash away as quickly. By the next day the entire watch would think that she was sleeping with Volsinius! she reeled. What would Methredhel say if she heard that? Or Simplicia?

She was beginning to regret her decision to visit the legionary as she briefly paused to look at the barracks that made up the second floor of the tower. She had never been inside one of the watch towers before, and her curiosity won out over her reflexive aversion to the Legion. Rows of bunks were regularly spaced throughout the circular room, with a chest at the foot of each. Racks containing weapons and armor lined the walls, and a large table and chairs stood in the center of the chamber.

Legionaries in various states of undress loitered throughout the room. Some were cleaning their armor and weapons, several were playing cards at the central table, and one was lying on his bunk reading a book. Most wore simple grey tunics with the Imperial dragon stenciled on them, while a few were still in their armor.

Teresa's eyes fell upon a Redguard who was in the process of stripping off a padded under-tunic like that she had found Volsinius wore beneath his briastplate. He discarded the sweat-stained cloth as she looked on, and then followed it with his equally sweaty loincloth, leaving him completely naked. That was when he looked up at her and met her gaze with a smile.

"See anything you like?"

He clearly did not mind her gaze, Teresa realized, quite the opposite considering his grin. She on the other hand felt more than embarrassed enough for the both of them. She was never going into another one of those towers again! she told herself insistently. Wasting no time, she scampered up the stairs to the third floor before some new revelation unfolded before her eyes.

She found it was much like the previous floor, except that instead of naked watchmen many of the beds were filled with injured men and women. Most of them seemed to have bandages wrapping at least part of their body. Some were even missing arms, and from what she could guess by the way their blankets fell, legs as well.

Several people were moving among them with food and drink or otherwise tending to their needs. Most of them appeared to be regular folk like herself, but one was a high elf wearing green velvet robes. After a moment she recognized him as Calindil, who ran a magic shop down the street from Jensine.

As she watched, the Altmer wizard bent down near one of the most heavily bandaged men and laid a hand on the watchman's chest. He raised his other hand in the air and muttered something under his breath. A white light burst from his raised fist, and as he uncurled his fingers it traveled down his arm, through his body, and into the injured watchman. When the light was gone the high elf slumped over, his face drawn with exhaustion. For a moment Teresa thought he might have fallen unconscious from the strain, but then he stirred again and reached for a glass of wine with a shaking hand.

She recognized the healing magic. It was much the same as the simple healing spell which the priestesses of Mara had taught her when she was younger, except his worked on other people where Teresa's only healed herself. She knew that healing others was a much higher order of magic, the kind of thing only people who had gone to the Arcane University or had temple training could do. From what she had been told, it was difficult for even a trained magician to use because of how wearing it was. Now she could see why he ran a magic shop.

Oh, ever since that little lure you gave me the other day I have been dying to read this chapter! I see you have left me to wait till the next to find out, lol. I love the interactions you described in the guard tower - how correctly you interpret what would happen IRL if a girl went in to visit there - Awesome write!!!!

Another winner! Very good story. I particularly liked the detail you lavished on the food stand, as well as Calindil's healing spell. :goodjob:


:whisper: Couple tiny nits -
'she walked by a hoot food stand and inhaled the aroma'
'rather than the normal back to font ones of the regular legionaries.'

Most Bosmer uphold the 'Green Pact,' a strict code that forbids the use of plant products but, in effect, almost forces the Wood elves to become carnivores and cannibals.
Teresa is not only 'not quite a hero,' but she is also 'not quite a Bosmer'. :lmao: This makes her to be a very interesting character.

I loved the way you 'humanized' the IC. It was unfortunate that Beth could only build the main city as a cold, lonely shell, when it really should have been teeming with life and had interactions like the one you described with the food stall. Lets hope that TESV improves on that.


What a deadly and humorous line this is. Women only have two reactions to it. Run or attack.
Lovely!!!

And now the contagion of romantic comedy has infected our Sub Rosa!!!

:lmao:

"Vols has a girfriend"???

P.R.I.C.E.L.E.S.S!!!

:clap:

Rosa.... I wish you wouldn't describe food so well when I am on a diet!!! Grrr!!!

OT: I have considered five possible replies to your remark of the title you saw in the pron shop, and censored them all. I would like to continue posting here.

mALX1: Leydenne described the scene with the Redguard as a "little bit of naughtiness" Just wait until you see Chapter 7, because this is nothing in comparison. I hope I do not have to cut any of it, because I really stretched myself in writing it.

The really strong stuff is coming in the next post. In fact I did have to edit one line because it was too disturbing for the forum. We are going to find out a lot more about Vols and Simplicia, and it is not pretty.



Acadian: Thank you for pointing out the goofs Aceditor, fixed now.

I dug into the food stand description because I wanted to really try to make the city come alive as a real place in our imaginations. It is entirely taken from reality. They were known as thermopolium, and they were a regular feature of all ancient Roman cities and towns.

Calindil's spell is something I worked on more just this afternoon, thanks to our discussion about healing magic the other night.



Winter Wolf: I read about the Green Pact a while ago, and it is something I am not using in my writing. It just would not work in reality, as in the kind of setting Oblivion is portrayed as, people would be lucky to eat meat even once a week, let alone be exclusively carnivorous. However, the irony of Teresa being a vegetarian still holds true. To all appearances she is your classic ranger, so it would be everyone's assumption that she would be out shooting deer for dinner. Who ever heard of a vegetarian huntress?


Well, there is third, laugh. But a woman would have to be excessively clever and cruel to employ such a brutal tactic...

The game actually gave me that line however. It is what Jensine says every time you go speak to her. For some reason it just popped into my head as I was writing it, and the irony was so delicious that I had to keep it.



D.Foxy: I am afraid there is not much more romantic comedy left in me. Next post has some, and then it gets deadly serious again.

I suppose I should not be posting links like http://www.squidoo.com/ancient-food-rome to ancient Roman recipes? http://www.squidoo.com/ancient-food-rome#module11989737 is the one for the cheese dumplings Teresa bought, and http://www.squidoo.com/ancient-food-rome#module11990164 is the fish that tempted her. I have been trying to make all the food in my writing feel authentic, so I am working from ancient recipes. In fact I need to go back and look at Terry Gilliam's History of Egypt, because it shows the preparation of an ancient Egyptian meal that just seem absolutely scrumptious.

Actually I got that title from a site that has a list of humorous porm movie names... Some of them just amaze me, the titles that is...

That first link has a vid about halfway on the page that says, "Eating Italian Cooking" but mysteriously, the pic frozen on the front of the vid looks like it should have a title like, "eating Italian cooks" - what's up with that? - (edit) never mind, I watched the vid and it is just some strange chair covered with pink cloth (edit) ROFL. Where did Teresa go on your avatar? - can't wait for the upcoming chapters!!!

Saya has been making quite a few good screenshots lately so I decided to give her some front page space. Come to think of it, she may have eaten some of those Italians after her Skeleton Hero killed them...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion203.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion204.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion206.jpg


But just to be fair, here is a sneak peek at a pic from Chapter 6

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion193.jpg

Oh Saya looks nice in that armor. How did you get Teresa to pose like that on the table?

The Iron Armor is one of my favorite in the game, just because of how it looks. At least on female characters. I will not even wear the Steel Armor because I think it looks awful on girls, same with Fur.

I took that pic with Teresa using the sixy Witches Poses mod. A girl's best friend.

It must be a darn good mod, is that the one you can fly the pumpkin or broomstick with? I had downloaded a posing mod, but had to remove it. All the male NPC's in my game were posing all over the place (in womens poses), but my character wouldn't do anything at all. I just pulled the whole thing off, along with Umpa which wasn't working either.

Several excellent SubRosa touches here:

The healing spell, the locker-room mentality.

My favorite though:

'"Yes," Teresa repeated, beginning to feel nervous, "he's a big guy, wears lots of armor,..."'

I love seeing our normally cool, composed archer getting flustered. She is already wonderfully human, but this makes her even more so.

Huh, reminds me of the time I got lost and ended up in the West End of London.

mALX1: That is the one with the broomstick and pumpkin. http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=23530 it is. I only really use the Sitting, Mystical, and a few of the Garden poses. Most of them are just way too overly girly even for me!


treydog: Thank you T-dog. I have a lot of fun writing Teresa when she is flustered. Although I suppose that is kind of obvious...

She is not wonderfully human though. She is wonderfully wood-elven...


Verlox: LMAO!

Some of them just amaze me, the titles that is...

Thank goodness for the second half of your sentence...

*wipes sweat from brow*

:lmao:


Then I suppose you must have seen the titles "Star [censored]s" "The Empire's ass strikes black" and "Revenge of the J-cups" as well!!!

:rofl:

EDIT: Grrrrrrr I HATE YOU ROSA against my better judgement I have clicked on the recipe links!!!!

:drool:


But I did find this tit-bit for our mutual friend Malx...

You don't have to prepare and cook a Giraffe or a Flamingo to have an Ancient Roman meal, try something smaller ~ like a dormouse.

Alix in butter and wine sauce!!!


*DFOXY ducks into steel bunker and slams door shut*

ARGH !!!




@ SubRosa - I was not going to spam your thread, but I did want to thank you for the link and defend Alix (and LMAO at what Verlox said)

As long as I am laughing I do not mind!

But I do feel it necessary to point out that Alix is in fact larger than a giraffe, being a missing link and all, and that there is probably not enough butter in the world to cook him in... :lmao:

ROFL!!!

I would like to warn people that following scene is intense near the end, and I have taken the precaution of running this by Leydenne before posting it to make sure it is not going beyond the forum rules.

I would also like to note that the entirety of Chapter 4 was inspired by the feedback of people here on the forum. I had never intended to write any of this when I made my initial outline of Moving Through Darkness. It is only here because of the interest people have taken in Volsinius and Simplicia. I humbly believe it is some of the best writing I have ever done, so I would like to thank everyone for inspiring me to put it down to pixels.

* * *

Chapter 4b - The Promise


Teresa walked deeper into the room and scanned the beds for Volsinius. It did not occur to her until then that she really did not know what he looked like, not very well at least. To her he had always been just a bigger mountain of steel than most of the other legionaries, with blue glaciers for eyes and a voice like a growling lion. The only time she had seen him without his helmet was during the battle yesterday, and then his face had been burned and covered in soot.

None of the men looked very big lying in beds and covered in bandages, she thought, let alone without all the iron-mongery she was used to seeing legionaries in. She walked among the beds and looked for someone with the same kind of wounds that she remembered Volsinius had, and finally came upon the right man.

The top of his head and left side of his face were covered in bandages, as was his left arm, which she saw was laid out straight between two long wooden splints that were firmly attached from wrist to elbow. His body was covered in a simple grey blanket from his midsection down, making Teresa wonder if his stomach was bandaged as well. He wore the same dragon-emblazoned tunic that the men on the lower floor had, and did not stir as Teresa walked up.

She wondered if he were asleep, and moved around the bed to the right side of his body, where his face was not bandaged. His blue eye popped open then and stared at her intently.

"No more of the damned laudanum," his words slurred as he raised his arm to wave her away. "Damn stuff makes me see things, I'd rather feel the pain."

"Oh see what Vols?" Teresa asked with a faint smile on her lips, stepping closer and setting the food and wine she had brought onto a small table between his bed and the next one.

"Is that really you red?" his now hairless eyebrow furrowed as he turned his head to watch what she was doing. "Teresa I mean? Damn women and hair, how do the Gods keep them all straight?"

Teresa was not sure what he meant, but she knew that if they were giving him laudanum he was probably seeing all sorts of things. Opium was something that Simplicia had warned her about since she was a child, along with skooma, and she had never touched either. However, both were certainly popular with the denizens of the Waterfront, so she had seen up close what they did to people.

She wondered how bad his burns were under those bandages on his face, for them to be giving him such a strong drug. They must be awful, she thought, given what she remembered from the previous day. She hid an empathetic wince by turning to pick up a stool. Placing it beside his bed, she sat down and looked back at him once her face was composed again.

"I thought you might be hungry, so I brought some dinner," she said, reaching for the wine and uncorking it, "I hope you like cheap wine and cheese dumplings."

Teresa took a sip of the wine and nearly winced again. It really was cheap, she thought. After what she had drunk at the priory in Weynon or Nerussa's inn at Weye, it was just awful. But she was thirsty and it was better than nothing, she thought as she offered the bottle to Volsinius.

The wounded soldier reached for the bottle and missed, eliciting another faint smile of amusemant from Teresa. He really was out of his head, she thought as she set the bottle down and stood back up.

"Here, let me help you sit up," she said and leaned across the bed to put her hands under his arms. Taking a solid grip she pulled up, and nothing happened. She tried again with a grunt of effort, and once more his massive body did not budge an inch. How much did he weigh? she wondered in amazement. She had thought that without his armor she would at least be able to pull him up.

"Argh, are you trying to smother me woman!" he cried out from underneath her. Looking down, Teresa saw that her leather-clad briasts were nearly pressing down against his face. She let go and stepped back while he pushed himself up into a sitting position with his good arm. An arm she saw was still black and blue from bruises when he reached for the wine bottle again.

He raised the bottle to his lips, tilted his head back, and commenced to gulp it down as if it were water. Teresa stared in amazement. He was practically breathing the alcohol in! When he finally set the bottle down and let loose an ear-shattering belch she found it was nearly empty.

"Ah that hits the spot," he breathed in satisfaction, "kind of weak though. You didn't bring any whiskey did you?"

"You nearly drank it all!" Teresa fumed as she snatched the bottle away and set it out of his reach. She was regretting coming here more and more by the moment...

"Well you should have brought a bigger bottle wench!" he cried in exasperation, "A man gets thirsty, especially after spending all day cooped up in this dungeon!"

"I am not your wench you s'wit!" something snapped in Teresa then, and all of the tension that had been building within her throughout the day finally burst loose in a torrent as she jabbed her finger into the wounded man's chest with all the force her slender arm could muster, "and if you call me that again you'll get that bottle upside your head! Why in Nocturnal's name did I ever come here?"

"Gah, enough, enough!" Volsinius cried, raising his one good arm to try to find her off, "What did you come here for anyway?"

"I came here to say thank you dammit!" Teresa shouted, "I was trying to be nice because you saved my life! Now I wish I let you die on the floor instead of making you that last healing potion!"

"You made me a healing potion?" he asked, his voice suddenly quiet. His one eye looked up at her with a completely different light in it. Just what it was, Teresa had no idea, she only knew it was something she had never seen in him before. "I thought you used them all on Jensine?"

"I did use them all on her," Teresa breathed softly, feeling the anger flowing out of her as quickly as it had erupted. She sat back down on the stool, and was keenly aware of how everyone else in the room was staring at both of them. "I got the ingredients out of my pack when you were unconscious and made another one for you. You were lucky, I only had enough lavender for that one potion."

"You did that for me?" he asked, genuine surprise in his face, "I thought you hated me, and the Legion?"

"I don't hate you," Teresa looked down from his gaze. She could take the steely hard glare that she was so accustomed to, but not this new thing she saw in his eye.

""I came to thank you for what you did, for me and the others," Teresa continued, raising her head and setting one hand over his, "You stepped in front of everything that came through that door to protect the rest of us. I saw what it cost you then, and I can see it again now. What all of you go through. No one has ever done that for me before, and I never thought anyone ever would."

She was not sure what she saw in him now. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He swallowed hard and licked his lips. Finally he closed his eye, and gently moved his hand over hers and squeezed it so softly that Teresa was not sure if she really felt it.

Then a growl from Teresa's stomach broke the moment, and the next thing she heard was Volsinius laughing. She managed the ghost of a smile herself, and reached for one of the dumplings. They ate in silence. Teresa was not sure what to say, and she could see that the legionary did not either. When they were finished she made sure she had a drink from the bottle before she gave it to him to finish.

"You're just like her you know," he said as he plunked the empty bottle down on the table, "a real fireball!"

"Who?" Teresa wondered.

"Simplicia," he said, "back in the day she was a working girl over at the Peony Pavilion, in the Arena District. Won't find it no more though, 'cause it burned down years ago. Oh she was something else back then!"

Teresa almost spat out her wine. Simplicia had been a prosttute! She was stunned, the old woman had never said anything about it to her. Then again, Teresa thought, it was not exactly the kind of thing you mentioned in passing. Still, she would have thought to have at least heard about it by now.

"I was just a young kid back then, fresh from Skyrim and still wet behind the ears from the snow," Volsinius went on starry-eyed as he gazed into the past, seemingly oblivious to Teresa's amazement, "I had no idea women could be like her. She could curl your toes! Shame about what happened to her..."

"What?" Teresa asked, wondering if he was really talking about the same Simplicia who had been her surrogate mother for her entire life.

"You don' know?" he said, staring at her in surprise. After Teresa shook her head, his voice regained the hard edge that she was so used to. "Some Dunmer piece of filth got ahold of her and cut her up bad, ruined her livelihood, if you take my meaning. Like I said, I was just a kid back then, I never imagined someone would do a thing like that. It made me sick. If it wasn't for a priest of Mara in the next building she'd have bled out."

Teresa felt sick now too. No wonder Simplicia did not want to talk about it, she thought. She could not even imagine what that must be like. As bad as she had felt for those poor men and women laying maimed in the Temple District and here in the watchtower, it was nothing compared to the deep abyss that she felt open in her heart at the thought of Simplicia being so horribly tortured.

"Bastard did it to two other women too, before I finally caught up with him," Volsinius growled, once more the lion of the street she was so accustomed to.

"What happened to him?" Teresa asked, feeling a hot, angry sensation beginning to grow within that empty space inside of her.

"I gave him what he had coming," the Legionary spat, his eye as cold as Skyrim. "I cut him up one piece at time and fed him to the damn slaughterfish in the lake. He didn't die 'till I was halfway through."

Teresa looked down, the anger in her dying as quickly as it had arisen. So that was how Volsinius had lost his humanity, she thought, and how Simplicia had lost her way. Part of her wanted to cry, but she could not find the tears. She just felt numb.

"I never told anyone that, not even her," Volsinius explained softly, his eye losing that steel it had briefly held, "must be the damn poppy juice they're giving me... They'd kick me out of the Legion if anyone could prove it, probably put me in a cell too. I guess you should know though, if anyone. I know you love her like she was your real mom. Such a damn shame what happened to her..."

"You better run along now girl," he said, "before I start gettin' all teary-eyed over the old days. People will start thinkin' you're my girlfriend."

"Oh they think that already!" Teresa exclaimed, feeling a smile creep to the corners of her lips. That made the legionary squirm in his bed, which she only found to be more entertaining. But she could not retain her amusemant for long, not when she looked down at the bandages that covered most of his head and thought of the charred flesh underneath.

"Thank you, for everything," she rose and took his hand in both of hers, "I'll never forget."

Beautifully captured! All of it!

Your touch throughout this entire story was perfection itself.

Ah yes, the Imperial Legion.... SubRosa has always gotten it. I am delighted that Teresa has learned to 'get it' as she so clearly demonstrates here:



You bring a tear to this old paladin's eye. Well done!