Woo Hoo! I am so excited I will spam you, your PM, and your thread till you post the next chapter!!!!! AWESOME write!! (I knew that) !!!

On a side note, that "Bloom" - eh....er...well, let's just say that if you visit any truckstops, and you see any "Argonian" types hanging around the "lot" - well, let's just say that the "Bloom" thing is...uh...er...their...uh...idea of a...er... bath. Nerussa's trick was known as a "trick of the trade" - Someone may or may not be...er...uh...er...on assignment...er... as we...uh... speak...er...uh... and .... er.... well, will have to get back to you on this.


I have to agree with the posts above mine, there is no way to read your stories without becoming immersed - but my favorite thing of all is Teresa's reactions. She is so in depth! I can't say it enough, Awesome write!!

So busy I am just passing by, but this I must say -

When two worlds collide and come into one

With me loving both worlds - even on the run

then I just explode with joy and shout an "O YAY!!!!"

And I say, Oh Hey!
SubRosa got a poem today!
Yeah!
Athynae!

A leisurely stroll down the woods and a casual run-in with two nice men. Needs to happen from time to time :goodjob: Loved the description of the two men sparring.

hauteecole rider: Actually this Alix will not be so different from mALX's. You will see why when I post the next part of the chapter...

I know what you mean about Errol Flynn. He is the ultimate swashbuckler! I grew up watching movies like Captain Blood, Robin Hood, The Swashbuckler, etc...


Acadian: I am glad you liked how the roses smelled. This part was just the setup to the next post. Although I also wanted something that would show what Teresa's journey south through the forest was like in general. It is her home after all, so I wanted to show her in it. Plus I wanted to convey the sense of paranoia that comes from nearly being killed by bandits.

Hmmm, who is taking my "a"s... Thank you for reporting it missing!


mALX1:

Have you been getting into the skooma again?


D.Foxy:
Oh my
what a guy
left me some words
that were not turds...

See I am a poet, and no one knows it!


RemkoNL: Thank you Remko. All she needs now is a picnic basket!

Chapter 11b ? The Faregyl Inn


"Oh my!" the Khajiit turned and her jaw dropped open when she set eyes upon Teresa. "You look just like her!"

"Ummm, hello." Teresa's eyes darted from the Khajiit to the Breton. Now that his friend was gone, even the swordmaster had begun to stare at her. She took a step back the way she had come. Just what had she walked into? she wondered, and why were they looking at her like she was a ghost?

"Alix, I swear for a moment I thought it was her!" S'jirra breathed, her eyes practically glowing as they stared at Teresa.

"Yes, I thought the same thing too," the Breton sighed as he stepped nearer to the Khajiit and put a comforting arm around her. The Khajiit pressed against him, her head falling to his shoulder, causing him to drop his stare and kiss her once on her hair. If it were not for their strange looks at her, Teresa would have found it to be very sweet and romantic. But instead she felt her hackles rising at the bizarreness of it all.

"Please forgive us, we mean you no harm," Alix said in that soothing voice of the Bretons. "I know this must seem odd, but you look just like our daughter. We have not seen her in years. We do not even know where she is, or how she is."

"Oh yes, I'm sorry!" the Khajiit stepped away from the Breton and with the cat-like quickness of her race she was standing in front of Teresa an instant later. "You must think we are all terribly strange. Please come sit with me while I make this stew and let's talk. Alix, get her something to drink, and fetch a stool for this poor girl."

With that the Khajiit was dragging Teresa across the room to a seat that the Breton quickly produced, followed by a glass of wine. S'jirra herself brought over a loaf of bread which Teresa could see still steamed from the oven. The smell of potatoes filled her nostrils as the Khajiit cut her a piece and offered it to her.

"Here, try some of my famous potato bread," she said.

"So, you two have a daughter?" Teresa said, looking from the Breton to the Khajiit. She had no idea that the cat-folk could even have children with the other races.

Then she took a bite of the hot potato bread and for a moment she forgot everything else. The taste in her mouth was far too good to be simply bread, she thought. She had scarcely tasted anything so delicious outside of a few stolen sweetrolls, only this was not sweet and sugary. She was not sure exactly what it tasted like, but it was more than just potatoes. She thought there must be spices like rosemary and basil in it as well, but could not be sure. Teresa closed her eyes and savored the bread before swallowing, then chased the lovely flavor with a sip of wine.

"That was incredible!" she breathed afterward, looking at S'jirra, "how did you make that?"

"That is my secret." the Khajiit declared, her back straightening and ears perking up. She looked as if she were almost preening, and something told Teresa that she had said just the right thing.

"People come from near and far for S'jirra's potato-bread," Alix declared with a smile. "Maxical - that is our daughter, we adopted her when she was a little kit - she used to love it too."

"Oh, so you adopted her," Teresa said. Now things were making more sense. She reached for more of the bread, and stopped herself when she realized that she had not asked first. For a moment she was afraid S'jirra would object, but instead the Khajiit beamed with what could only be pride as she pushed the entire loaf of bread in front of her. "I'm an orphan too, I never knew who my real parents were. Is she a wood elf too?"

"Oh no, she is a Khajiit," S'jirra explained as she went back to cutting vegetables and throwing them into a steaming pot over the stove. "But she's snow white, just like you. Except her hair, that's red like fire, same as yours."

"Oh, oh my," Teresa said as her hand reflexively drifted to her scarlet tresses. Somehow that tickled something in the back of her mind, yet she could not place what it was. "I did not know there were white Khajiit?"

"There aren't," Alix answered. "Maxical is a one of a kind, that is for sure. The gods broke the mold when they made her."

"And a good thing too, the world could not survive two like that!" S'jirra laughed as she stirred the pot of stew.

"Did she wear her hair in braids, with a headband?" Teresa thought out loud, wondering why that image had suddenly leaped into her mind.

Teresa heard a crash from behind her, as the clay cup from which Alix had been drinking shattered on the floor. The wood elf nearly jumped from her seat, but the wide-eyed stare that both he and S'jirra were giving her gave her pause.

"You've seen her!" S'jirra cried. Once again she moved with that blinding Khajiit speed, and just like that she was grasping Teresa by the arms, her eyes pleading for an answer.

"I?" Teresa stammered. She tried to remember where that image, no, that memory, had come from. Then she had it. "It was in the Market District of the Imperial City, just a few months ago."

"Did she say anything? How did she look?" Now Alix was by her side as well, laying his hand upon her shoulder. Under any other circumstances Teresa would have jumped. But the emotion was so raw in their voices, and their eyes such a contrast of sparkling hope and empty dread, that she felt her heart tear itself open for them. She wondered if this was how Simplicia felt when she knew she was going into the forts and Ayleid ruins?

"She looked well," Teresa said. It was true, but even if it were not she would have said the same thing. She could see how much the Breton and Khajiit needed to hear that their daughter was safe and sound. She would not dream of saying otherwise. "She looked muscular. Not big, but she was solid, in good shape, like a fighter."

"It was early in the morning, so there was hardly anyone else on the street." Teresa went on, trying to recapture every moment from her fleeting encounter with the snow white Khajiit. "I saw her hair and I said it looked good on her. I remember she said we looked like twins. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now I see what she meant. Then I walked by, and that was it. Now I wished I had stayed and tried to talk to her more. She seemed? kind, like a good person. Do you know what I mean?"

Then S'jirra was enfolding her in a warm embrace, and Teresa did not know what else to say. Even though she could hear the Khajiit was crying, Teresa had the feeling that her tears were not a bad thing at all.

What a wonderful chapter! Alix the Swashbuckler is the same Alix as Maxical's!

I think you've captured the emotions very well in this chapter. Not just Alix and S'jirra's friendliness towards Teresa, and their worry over their lost kit, but also Teresa's confusion at the situation she found herself in until everything was explained.

Priceless!

Like mALX1 says, More, More, More!

Wow I didn't see that coming.
But now that I think about it,the last time they saw each other there was something going on.Although I kind of forgot about it,it's good to see you didn't.
And as allways your writing is terrific.
I'm enjoying reading about Teresa,keep up the good work.

Ha!

The moment you mentioned a Khajiit that looked like Teresa I remembered! And somehow I knew that Khajiit would be of some importance.

You have found the way to my heart. FOOD!!!! (and tantalizing descriptions thereof.)

Woo Hoo! It is just as wonderful the second time around! I am in tears! Awesome SubRosa, but I have to tell you what a minx you are for posting this in the middle of the night!!! Still - Awesome!! No one can do an emotional scene like you can!!!

My cold, woofy heart sings with joy when all these threads tie together.
This is the culmination of what Beth tried all those years ago. And that was to have a real, living and breathing world where people and decisions really matter.

Awesome. :thumbsup:

This is lovely! As said above, you handled the emotions well. Your descriptions, dialogue, pacing and flow are great. And, as always, what makes it sing is being privvy to Teresa's thoughts. :foodndrink:

I'm with bobg. Comfort food. Yum - hot, fresh potato bread. I wonder if that explains part of the chubbiness of Alix's rodential namesake? Well, that along with sweetrolls and coffee with cream & sugar . . . .



Couple 'editory' notes:

"You must think we are all terribly strange. Please come sit with me while I make this stew and let's talk. Alix, get her something to drink, and fetch a stool for this poor girl.
Here, I believe you overlooked closing the quotations at the end.

"Maxical - that is our daughter, we adopted her when she was little kit - she used to love it too."
I'm not sure, but is there an 'a' missing?

"It was in the Market District of the Imperial City, just a few months ago.
I think you forgot to close the speech quotes again.

I figured out what you do that is so Awesome when you write: it is not a matter of telling or showing a story, you make the reader feel the story - that is what I meant when I said you are not afraid to take the character to the next depth.

hauteecole rider: Thank you dressage girl. It looks like mALX and I surprised quite a few people with this crossover. More is on the way.


night owl: No one ever expects the Cyrodiilic Inquisition! Thank you owl.


Jacki Dice: Now I just need to find where I can work in a certain Dame...


bobg: Did you see http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1054548&view=findpost&p=15365759 with the hot food stand, or the ancient recipes I worked from http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1054548&view=findpost&p=15367103


mALX the Mega Minxstress of Minxtressia: Going deep is what every chick writer loves to do after all... Did I mention I watched Scarface over the weekend? All thanks to your mention of it a while ago.


Winter Wolf: Thank you Invierno Lupus.


Acadian: Thank you. and thank you for finding those missing quotations and letter. I bet the same Ogre who took S'jiira's jumbo potatoes stole them too...


Now the conclusion of Chapter 11:

* * *

Chapter 11c ? The Faregyl Inn

The sun had long since fallen over the horizon by the time Teresa made her way to the room she had purchased for the night at the inn. S'jirra and Alix had spent nearly the entire afternoon and evening regaling her with stories of their daughter's misadventures as a child and later at the Arcane University when she had grown older. Each escapade was more hilarious and unbelievable than the next, and they even showed her the scolding letters from the headmaster to prove them.

Yet as cheerful and lighthearted as the tales were, Teresa could not help but to see how much they missed their little kit, as they called her. It was sunken into the pools of their eyes, pregnant within every long silence, and laden in every glance at an empty chair.

Again, she wondered if this was what it was like for Simplicia every time she went on her expeditions. With that in mind Teresa asked for parchment, ink, and a quill as the evening drew to a close. When her newfound friends learned why she wanted them, they were produced as magically as Alix had procured her a seat and glass of wine in the kitchen.

So with quill in hand, she sat at the small table in her tiny room with a piece of blank parchment before her. Drawing her oil lamp closer to the page to better see by, she tried to think of what to say. Yet somehow the words did not seem to come. She had never written anyone a letter before, she thought. How was she supposed to start? What should she say? How should she say it?

Finally, she closed her eyes and just remembered Simplicia. She thought of all the times as a child that the old woman had brought her a crust of bread to eat and a cup of goat's milk. She remembered how Simplicia would hold her when she cried and gently hum in her ear. She remembered all those times she had yelled at her for being too wild when she was off with Methredhel and Adanrel. She remembered holding the old woman when she had told her the truth about being maimed, and her following skooma addiction.

Teresa opened her eyes and began to write.


Dearest mother,

I am sitting in the Faregyl Inn writing you to let you know that I am safe and well. I am half way to Bravil now, and should be there in less than a week. So far my journey has been uneventful, and the only excitement has been a meeting I had with a legionary on the road.

She was a woman! I did not know they had women in the legion, but she told me that there were quite a few actually. I guess I just never noticed before under all that armor they wear. She said I should join the legion as a forester. She told me they need people now badly, as many died in the battles during the Crisis. Can you imagine me in the Imperial Legion!

Valfreya, that is her name, mentioned the Fighter's Guild too. She said they need people also, and they would train me and make me better at what I do. I never thought of it before, but I think I might do just that. I know you think I am reckless sometimes, but I really do try to be careful. If they can teach me how to be smarter and better at how I do things, then I think it will be worth it.

Once I am in Bravil I will start looking for the Ayleid sites I talked about when I left. I know the ones I need to find are somewhere down there in the south and east of Cyrodiil from the books I read, so I still think Bravil is the best place to stay while I look. There might even be people in the Mages Guild there that can help me. I stopped at the Arcane University after I left and a scholar there said that there is an Altmer in Bravil who is studying the Ayleid ruin of Anutwyll, which is right outside of the city. So I am hoping he will know more. See how careful I am being? I am learning all I can before I even go inside them. Maybe this Altmer will even come with me? Having a University wizard at my side would make it a lot safer I am sure!

I met some wonderful people here at the Inn. It is filled with a caravan heading north. They say that bandits are becoming a problem on the roads, so merchants are starting to pool together like this when they travel and hire bodyguards to protect them. I have not seen any bandits myself though, so I am not sure if it's really that dangerous. But maybe if I do join the Fighter's Guild I might work some of these caravans, that way I can come back to see you and get paid for it at the same time. Wouldn't that be something, to be paid just to travel? Maybe I could make enough that I would not have to even go to the Ayleid ruins at all?

But the people I met here, I was going to say, they are so kind and generous. S'jirra is one of the cat-people, and she makes the most incredible bread! You would not even believe it is bread from the taste of it. It is like something that the nobles in the Talos Plaza probably eat. I will bring some with me the next time I come back. I think she is married to a man named Alix. He is a very nice man, and apparently a famous swordmaster. I saw him teaching a knight when I arrived.

Oh, and I met a real knight! and he kissed my hand like I was a lady! I did not know what to even say. His name is Sir Lucius something-or-another. I forget his family name. He is part of that new Order of Saint Martin the Chancellor created to protect travelers on the roads. I am sure that the Emperor Martin would be glad to know that people like him are out helping other folk in his name. I know his father, the Emperor Uriel, would be proud.

S'jirra and Alix both have a daughter named Maxical that they told me all about, and I think I actually met her in the Imperial City a few months ago, when I first came back from prison. Of course I did not know it was her at the time. She has white skin just like me, and red hair too. I did not tell them that I dye mine red, hah! hah! They told me all about Maxical this afternoon, and how she got into all kinds of trouble playing pranks at the Arcane University. But I can tell they really miss her and wish that she was home.

That made me think of you. I know you do not like me going off like this to Bravil, and putting myself in danger. But I promise it will not be for long. Know that I am doing everything I can to stay safe and out of harm. I will write you once I get to Bravil so you know I am well. They tell me the post can be a little slow on the roads, so do not worry if it takes a while for the letter to come. You might even get the one from Bravil first, because I think they carry it by a ship from there.

I miss you, and hope I can come back to see you again in the city soon. I thank Mara for bringing us together. You are the best mother a girl could ever hope for.

I love you with all my heart,
Teresa

This really captures the agony that S'jirra and Alix are feeling! What a lovely, gentle touch right here.

I loved this chapter - very introspective and a nice change of pace.

Looking forward to Teresa's arrival in Bravil!

Oh, Simplicia will cry when she gets that letter! I loved these last three chapters, and not just because of the crossover! It is the depth of feeling I get from everything Teresa does - Awesome SubRosa the Minxiest Minx from Minxdom! Just Awesome!

Love it, love it, LOVE IT!!! I reeeealy like how Teresa stops and takes the time to write her "Mother" (Simplicia..who is actually her Mother in all truth) a letter. It really makes her personality shine thru (thinking of others...not wanting Simplicia to worry about her). I think she's GRRRRREEAT (Tony the Tiger...err..Kajiit, great!!)...Do you know, tonight, when I was in-game with my female Breton, Ealsania, that I actually went OUT OF MY WAY to venture over to the Wawnet Inn to see Nerussa??!!! She's a hot one, I'll venture!! I just HAD to go over there and check her out (even tho I've already been there before)...I had to see her again, after your chapter(s) about her. Boy, I'll tell ya, you REALLY make these NPC's come to LIFE!!!

Keep going...PUUUUHHHLEEEEEEESEEE!!!! I am LOVING every BIT of story-telling you bring!!!!!

GOOD SHOW!!! (Fakes British Accent )

Teresa is very, very loyal and devoted to her friends. That must be a scrawny she-elf thing.

Beautifully done SubRosa. The power of her feelings for Simplicia shine through loud and clear. :wub: As does her empathy for Alix and S'jirra.

You did a very nice job with the letter. I have done one in my story and have two more imminent ones drafted. I find them hard because there is no speech tagging (she sighed, as a tear formed. . . ) or hesitation (I. . . um, er, well I . . . ) or immediate feedback from the recipient (He steepled his fingers and frowned as I spoke. . .). Subtle shades of meaning must be drawn out using the words in the letter alone. I think it takes a different talent and skill to use letters effectively in a story - a talent you clear have.

My goodness. I think everyone is converging on Bravil!

Ya'all just keep ya mitts offa Fathis while there, lol. I need him alive for the deflowering - ROFL !!!! :rofl:

hauteecole rider: Thank you. The next chapter will be Teresa's arrival in Bravil. I am still putting the finishing touches on it now.

Did I mention that I saw the Lippazaners last year? It was awesome! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/Animals/Lipizzaner14.jpg.



mALX1: That last paragraph is a real heartbreaker is it not? Just what every mother wants to hear.

It is not a question of me keeping my hands of Fathis, but him keeping his paws off my sixy stringy wood-nymph!



YvetteJeannine: Hi Yvette! :wave: Welcome to the TF (Teresa Fiction). I am glad you are having fun with it. Isn't it great how Teresa lied about how safe her journey was! But lets face it, who ever tells their mother the truth about that sort of thing?

I remember Tony the Tiger! Now I have a strange urge to create a Khajiit character named Antonia the Tigress!

I actually modded the game slightly to Nerussa a better outfit than she has in vanilla. I would have given her some makeup too, but unfortunately the construction set does not show you the changes you make with the texture sliders for NPC's faces. So there is no way to tell just what your changes look like until you start up the game and look at the character. Needless to say I left that alone...



Acadian: The letter was hard, because I had to change the "voice" that I normally write in for Teresa. I had to give it that "letter" sound to it, as opposed to her normal speech when she is talking to someone else who is physically present. Because of that the letter "sounds" a little different from the way Teresa normally is.

I did indeed. It brought back happy memories of visits to http://www.olvera-street.com/html/olvera_street.html in L.A., and http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3a%50ier_39_San_Francisco_CA.JPG in San Francisco. Good times. Sigh.

Teresa's letter is just one more way that she remains grounded in her humanity.

bobg: Thank you bobg. Now I want to go on vacation to San Francisco! Especially when I see it is in the 70s there, when it is below freezing here in Michigan.


* * *

Chapter 12a ? The Fighter


A high-pitched screeching came to Teresa's ears as she worked her way through the forest. It was gulls, she knew. Years of living on the Waterfront had burned their shrill cries indelibly into her brain. No other bird on Nirn could make such an annoying racket.

That meant she was near water, Teresa thought, and a lot of it. With that in mind she followed the direction of the sound. It would lead her to the Niben, she knew, and that in turn to Bravil.

She still took the time to move quietly however, scanning the underbrush in every direction as she moved from tree to tree. The road would be somewhere between her and the coast, she thought, and it could mean bandits again. She had not seen a trace of outlaws since she had left the Faregyl Inn. But her encounter on the shores of Lake Rumare was never far from her mind.

The sight of a familiar plant gave her pause however. Its green stem rose high from the ground, nearly to her knees. Several flowers sprouted from the trunk and drooped down from their weight. Each bore a brilliant yellow beak that protruded from its center, with slender purple leaves radiating in a star around it.

Ahh, my old friend nightshade, Teresa thought with a faint smile, so good to see you again.

She produced a small trowel and began digging up its roots. They were the most poisonous part of the plant, she knew. These she packed away in a bag fairly bulging with similar alchemical finds. When she was finished she took the seeds from the flower bulbs and buried them in the soil around the spot. Then she was off through the woods again, once more looking carefully for any signs of trouble.

The moist smell of water came to her nose in no time at all. Soon afterward the trees of the forest thinned out to reveal the cracked and worn cobblestones of the road to her left. The ground sloped down beyond it, leading to a great expanse of blue waves that stretched on to the horizon. Wheeling in the sky along the shore were the gulls whose cries she heard. As she watched, one of them dove straight down into the water, only to emerge a moment later with a writhing fish clutched within its long bill.

Teresa turned her eyes from the birds and looked down the road. Not far ahead loomed the grey stone walls of a city perched upon the edge of the bay. Square crenellations dotted the top of the walls like blunt teeth, and numerous towers rose like horns above them. Yet what really caught the wood elf's attention was the needle spire of the chapel, rising into the blue sky at least three times as high as the walls encircling the city.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion268.jpg

Lowering her gaze back down to Nirn, Teresa saw that the road lead to a river which cut across the land directly in front of the city wall. As she walked nearer, she saw that the river actually forked upstream, and the second branch of the watercourse curled out of sight around the far end of the settlement. That made it seem that the city was actually on an island separated from the mainland by the river.

The road led directly to a wooden bridge that spanned the water on her side of the city, and beyond were the massive gates of the settlement. Made of wood but bound in iron, the doors looked as formidable as the interior gates that separated the many districts of the Imperial City. Yet they were no comparison to the mighty bronze portals that guarded the capital's outer walls.

A lone guardsman stood at the near side of the bridge. He wore mail armor draqed in a cream-colored surcoat. Emblazoned upon it in brown and green was the image of a stag with its head turned backward. The same image decorated the kite-shaped shield at his left hand, and the hilt of a longsword jutted from his hip.

The smell of beasts came to Teresa's nose, and she realized that the collection of wooden buildings next to the bridge was a large stable. Now she saw people dressed in simple working clothes leading horses here and there, and as she cleared the last of the trees a wide corral with more of the animals came into view.

This had to be Bravil, she thought. There were no other cities that she knew of on Niben Bay. She allowed a faint smile to cross her lips as she unstrung her bow. She had set out from the Faregyl with only a general idea of where the city was. That was nearly a week ago, she thought. Yet even staying off the road and in the thick of the forest she had still found it. She had come right to it in fact.

This forester thing must really be in her blood, she thought as she strode to the bridge. A wide sign over the beams at its near end said 'Welcome to Bravil', confirming her thoughts. As she approached, the city guardsman standing there echoed the sentiment.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion271.jpg

"Good afternoon stranger," he said with a smile, "welcome to the City of Mara!"

"Hi," the wood elf said as she walked up to him, "I'm new here. Could you tell me where the Fighters Guild is, and the Mages Guild?"

"Well, the Fighters Guild is right down the main road there." The guardsman pointed across the bridge and through the open gates of the city. "The mages are past that, down to the docks and then to the right."

Teresa thanked him and headed across the bridge. Glancing at the gently flowing river under her feet she was suddenly struck with the impulse to leap over the edge and dive into its inviting waves. She had not gone for a swim since crossing Lake Rumare when she set out for Bravil more than a week ago. As she stared at the water below, her body longed to feel its cool embrace once more.

With an effort she compelled her feet to remain on the wooden boards and crossed to the stone cobbles of the street on the far side of the river. Then she was through the gates and into the city proper. All around her rose buildings of two and three stories, many nearly as high as the city walls themselves. Some of their lower stories were made of stone, but most were purely of wood. Stairways crisscrossed the outsides of nearly all of the houses, giving Teresa the impression that they were actually multiple domiciles stacked one upon the other rather than single homes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion279.jpg

The cobbles of the road beneath her feet led straight through the city, yet the many smaller roads and alleys that branched out to either side were of hard-packed dirt, and some even of grass. Trees and small gardens bloomed everywhere she looked, giving the wood elf the impression of the city being half wild.

This was so different from the oppressive, crowding stones of the Imperial City, Teresa thought. Even with the high buildings all around, Bravil seemed so open, so much more alive than the capital. Perhaps because the stone of the Imperial City was so hard and cold, where the soft wood and grass of Bravil seemed to invite one to sit and relax while the rest of the world went by outside.

And people call this the sewer drain of Cyrodiil! she thought. What a bunch of idiots!

Down a dirt road to her right Teresa caught sight of a curious statue that rose in the middle of the street. Made of stone, it depicted an old woman wearing a dress whose skirt seemed to flow like water around her legs. Surrounding her were several children, whom she looked down upon with warm, caring eyes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion278.jpg

"The Lucky Old Lady that is." A thin, cracking voice came to Teresa's ear. "They say it's good fortune she'll bring if you kiss her." The wood elf turned to see a silver-haired Imperial woman standing beside her. Her face was a roadmap of wrinkles, and she wore a patched dress of worn flax. But what really caught Teresa's eye were her feet, which were bare on the cold stones of the main street.

Teresa felt her heart leap into her throat. That could be Simplicia! she thought. Or it could so easily be herself someday. She wanted to say something, but could not find the words. Instead she dug her fingers into a pouch at her belt and produced a handful of coins. She did not bother to even look at what kind they were. She simply passed the money to the much older woman, whose eyes blossomed at the sight of the currency.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion280.jpg

"Mara bless you fine lady!" the old woman cackled with glee, revealing a mouth filled with yellow and broken teeth. "Never even asked you for anything did I, and handing over your lifesavings you are."

"I know what it's like," Teresa looked down as she felt her cheeks turning red from the old woman's praise. "I grew up on the streets. I know how hard it is, how cruel people can be when you are down and out."

"Oh, a kind soul is what you are my lady!" the old woman proclaimed. "Aia is I, Wretched Aia is what they all call me. You're new I can see, if you're wantin' to know anything about the city, you just be askin' Aia, anytime."

"I will," Teresa said with a faint smile, "thank you Aia." One thing she had learned as a street rat was that it was the beggars who knew everything that was going on in the city. They saw everyone day and night, and no one ever noticed them because of what they were. For being poor rendered one invisible far more potently than any potion or spell ever could, Teresa thought.

This is very beautiful. The rich detail throughout perfectly captures the City of Mara and approach thereto.

You show us some significant things about Teresa here:

Her continuing skittishness in the wilds, despite her growing survival and navigation skills.
Her understanding that planting nightshade seeds will render her future visits to the same area more fruitful.
Her empathy, no doubt influenced by her own history and that of Simplicia.



What a powerful and appropriate end for this story. Turning her encounter with Aia into an oportunity to make such a profound reflection.

I believe I counted a couple faint smiles in this story; it seems perhaps, that Bravil may agree with Teresa. -_-

Oh yes, and very nice use of screenshots.

Woo Hoo! The big T is coming soon !!! The anticipation is killing me! This chapter was a work of descriptive art, but my fave part was with Wretched Aia - Everyone may see the worn dress, but how many others would have noticed she had no shoes. I have always loved the use in stories of the anonimity of the beggar - mainly because it is factual. People don't see what they don't want to see. Awesome write Minx !!!