The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into A Teaching Moment

The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into A Teaching Moment

          As the fog fades from around them, Iriisii and Kintyra find themselves back on the veranda outside the Royal Quarters. 

        "Mama, what just happened?"

       "I am sorry you had to be pulled into that. It was a disagreement between myself and the 'jills' about, first of all, my physical presence on Nirn and the possibility that the Celestial power field that surrounds me may further erode the Liminal Barrier between Mundus and Oblivion. You see, some among the 'jills' see me as a threat, due to my abilities far exceeding their own. I hope you could see that I most certainly did not throw my Celestial weight around in dealing with the situation."

       "I did wonder about that, you seemed to be going to extreme restraint not to allow yourself to be provoked."

       "Had I done so, it would only have proven their position to be correct? And the onus of any damage would be on me. As it was, Akatosh saw what was going on, and stepped in before it could escalate. I would not do anything to further damage the state of the liminal barrier, but I could also not allow the 'jills' to walk all over me. A difficult balancing act to be sure. But we came out here for a different reason, and so we must begin."

     Iriisii begins doing as Arngeir did for her and projecting the Rotmulag onto the stone floor for Kintyra to see and read. As she does so, she looks to see that Kintyra absorbs the 'word' itself into her, then shares her understanding and knowledge of it with her. She tutors her on how it should be used, alone and with the other words that join with it. She also explains its meaning, the single straightforward draconic meaning, and the other human meanings that can be associated with that 'word'.

     Thus she shows her how the newer words taught to her by Kyne, are derived from the older meanings and how the new effects come into expression. She explains how the Greybeards and the 'Way of the Voice' came into existence and how it is practiced. And she takes the time to explain how because this is a 'gift' directly from Akatosh, the Dragonborn are 'allowed' to 'circumvent' the 'Way of the Voice' in order to accomplish what tasks the Gods gave them the the 'Voice' for.

     "I am showing all of this to you in this way to spare you what you would otherwise have to do to learn the 'Rotmulag', which would be delving into the old barrows to find the 'Word Walls' to learn the first 'words'. I am also sparing you a great deal of lecturing from Arngeir about the 'Way of the Voice'. He means well, and in some regards, I agree with him, but he goes too far in restricting the 'dragonblood' and their learning of the 'Words'. Anyone else, I can see the sense in his teaching.

     I still wonder how Ulfric Stormcloak learned to use the 'Voice', since I believe from what Arngeir and Parthuurnax have said, that they had no part in teaching him. Somehow he learned 'Unrelenting Force' and used it to murder High King Torryg in Solitude, thus starting the Skyrim Civil War. Someone had to have taught him, that this is not something that you can pick up on your own. And likely we will never know, who taught him or how he learned the 'Voice'.

     But remember this, because he somehow managed it. It is possible it could happen again, and so you must always guard yourself against what happened to Torryg from happening to you. This is one part of why I wanted to go ahead and teach you all I knew of the 'Shouts', for it will act as a shield should it ever be used against you. If you know it is being used, you can prepare yourself and withstand whatever is thrown toward you. Also, only the Dragonborn can know and use more than one shout, not that anyone else cannot, but the time needed to learn and become proficient in a single 'shout' is long enough that most could only learn one or two in a single lifetime.

     Because we are Dragonborn, we learn it as the Dragons do. It is an intrinsic part of who we are, as natural to us as breathing. But we must still learn to use it, understand it, and become one with it. As we do, we become more powerful and more dangerous. Always guard how you use them, use them when you need to, but not simply because you can. They can be wondrous and dangerous weapons, and so must be treated and used with respect for what they can do.

     Wait with me, for the sunrise is very close, and I will show you what I did to show my 'worship' and 'respect' for the 'gift' of the 'Voice'." As they watch the sun peeking over the far horizon, Iriisii instructs Kintyra in using the 'shout' of 'Kyne's Peace' to celebrate the dawn of a new day. As one they shout the words, "Kaan Drem Ov". Kintyra looks to Iriisii, "mama, I felt something just then. I do not know what, but I did feel something."

     Iriisii looks at Kintyra closely and says smiling, "Kyne has taken you under her wing as she did for me. She has started you on the road to becoming one of her 'Champions'. I will show you a few more things you can do to gain more favor. As you gain her favor, your 'shouts' will become more powerful, so always be aware of this." She hears the door to the veranda open and Lord Blackwell approaches, turning to Kintyra, she says, "Go on and get some sleep now, I need to speak to our Lord Chancellor."

     "Our Lord Chancellor?"

     "Yes, for now, you are truly the heir to the Dragonborn Throne."

     Kintyra bows to Iriisii, and to Lord Blackwell, as she returns to the Royal Quarters and seeks her bed for some sleep. Lord Blackwell looks questioningly at Iriisii, both for what he heard her say to Kintyra and for Kintyra's actions.

     "She now has all of my knowledge of the 'Dragon Shouts', their uses, and history. Lady Kyne has given her blessing and started Kintyra on her journey on the path to being her Champion. She is now no longer the little girl that would chase servants around the palace, badgering everyone who came within reach with her questions, now she is unquestioningly Dragonborn. And will one day soon, sit upon the Ruby Throne of Dragonborn Emperors and Empresses, Kings and Queens. Guide her and watch over her for she has a grand destiny ahead of her and undoubtedly there will be some who will seek to undo this or take advantage for themselves. I am trusting you with her future, do the best you are able and I will see you are rewarded. And yes, I know what will one day come after she is gone. But remember this, the future is not written in stone. What I saw, and what I experienced, do not have to be, but before the path can be changed the cost must be known and payment arranged. Now you have information for me?"

     "Indeed, Letho and I have uncovered some traces of this new Sinister Seven. Once we knew what to look for, we were able to find others who had been enthralled. Traced all of their movements and activities to find a common thread. Then tracked that thread until we found the one operating here. She is in our dungeon, under especially blessed guards. No one else is even being allowed within that dungeon wing, so she has no way to subvert help to escape."

     "Then we need to move quickly before the others move to either rescue her or destroy her to prevent our gaining information. We need to get Kintyra to go with us, it is time now for her to become aware of some of the more unpleasant duties of ruling an Empire."

     They make their way to the dungeon cell the vampire is being held in. As Iriisii enters, and looks around, using her senses to feel the situation, the vampire looks at her and at first wonders what is so special about her. The 'Master' said under no circumstances were any of us to get close to her. Then as Iriisii settles her gaze on the vampire, the true extent of her situation becomes apparent. Somehow she must get word to the 'Master' to run, for she is far more than they had been led to believe by the stories.

     "I will give you one chance to tell me what I wish to know before I rip it out of you."

     Lord Blackwell gives Iriisii a sidelong glance, hearing but not quite believing the venom he hears in her voice. Kintyra too is shocked by what she hears in her mother's voice but waits to understand all that is going on. Iriisii walks up to the vampire, chained against the stone wall, grips her face in one hand, and lets her 'beast' set the tone of her voice. Growling in a dark, hungry, yet smooth voice, just a touch of the Thu'um put into play, "I want to know where your master has taken the boy. Save yourself a great deal of pain and tell me. I will make your death clean and quick."

     "You do not know how my master would punish me for spoiling his plans. I would be tortured for a thousand years and maybe then he would tire of me. There is nothing you can do to compare to what he can do."

     "I would not wager on that if I were you." She looks toward Blackwell and the Imperial Torturer, "the usual methods will not work for this one. I will have to use different tactics to get what I need from her."

     "What will you do?"

     "There is nothing she can do!"

     "I would not be so quick to assume that." Iriisii puts her nose close to the vampire's skin and inhales deeply. "Yes, I thought so. I am sorry, this is going to be very unpleasant for you, and so I give you one last chance, tell me what I want to know."

     The 'look' the vampire assassin gives Iriisii is all of the answers she needs. She removes a torch from one corner, dousing the light, and watches the shadows crawl hungrily where the torch held them at bay. She then modulates the Thu'um in her voice, strengthening the shadows until they look almost solid, taking on the shape of a door. She reaches and opens the door, total blackness behind it absorbing the faint torchlight reaching it. She then turns back to the vampire, "you know I am Aasimar."

     At those words, the vampire looks up, a tinge of fear coming over her face.

     "And I am now an Elder Goddess of the Gods of Eld, holder of the 'Mantle of War', first of the Four Horsemen. So I think I could say I am an 'Aasimar War Goddess'."

    Kintyra looks questioningly to Yennefer for an answer, not wanting to interrupt her mother. Yennefer silently mouths, "wait, she can explain to you, later." Kintyra nods her head, still feeling goosebumps all over her skin at what is going on.

    The skin of the vampire's face tightens as she begins to realize just how bad her situation has gotten.

    "And I have a Vyrkolos, a true Vampire God as one of my mates."

    "Impossible! There has been no true Vyrkolos in more than ten thousand years! You are lying to deceive me into telling you what I know."

    Iriisii looks to the blackness of the doorway, "Dettlaff van der Eretain, come to me through the Shadow Gate." The blackness swirls like a fog in a slight breeze, and Dettlaff walks through the door. Taking in everything in the cell, he walks to Iriisii, takes her in his arms, and kisses her, Kintyra's eyes grow wide, but still, she holds her silence, as Iriisii wraps her own arms around him. When they separate, "I have a task for you if you would please?"

     "You know I can deny you nothing, what do you need of me."

     Iriisii gestures to the chained vampire, "she has information about Yennefer's and Quintus's son, who is being held, hostage. She refuses to divulge that information. She carries one of the vampire strains that originated from your people, and since you now have the power of Vampiric Command, you can retrieve the information from her."

     A small bit of understanding comes over Kintyra, 'Yennefer's son held hostage, I thought he was in Solitude with High Queen Elisef. Now, this begins to make a sort of sense.'

     "How do you want me to do this? Do you intend to release her afterward or what?"

     "No, she was one of the ones that killed Quintus, one way or another, she dies."

     "I see, very well." He walks up to the vampire assassin, taking her head in his hand and turning it away. I am sorry for this, you will feel everything until the very last moment. And plunges his teeth into her neck, puncturing the blood vessel and beginning to drain the blood from her, even as her memories and knowledge are being absorbed into him.

     Iriisii speaks to all in the cell, but this is mainly for Kintyra's benefit. "As Dragonborn, I can consume the soul, memories, and knowledge of any dragon I kill. Dettlaff is a true Vyrkolos, can do the same with any vampire. That is why they fear the legend of the Vyrkolos, and the Aasimar War Goddess, for only the mating of an Aasimar and a Higher Vampire can produce a Vyrkolos, and both must ascend to Godhood for the Vyrkolos to come into his full power. He is the first in over ten thousand years to accomplish this feat."

     The vampire assassin struggles as much as she can within the chains, but soon it is no longer a matter to be considered, as Dettlaff holds her body up, taking the last of her blood as she expires and he takes her soul, her last memories, everything she is, into his awareness as he consumes her.

     "Do you know of a place called Atmora?"

     "Is that where my son is being kept?"

     "The leader and your son are there, two of his band are in Morrowind, two in Skyrim, one in Solstheim. There is something in the memories about a city buried under the ice of a glacier. A Dwemer city, no, more of a research facility as large as a city."

     "I will have the scholars search the Library for any mention of such. Maybe there will be something there."

     "Be careful, what you say about it, there is no telling what was being researched there. Some of the things I have seen in their research stations are the stuff of nightmares. But we now have leads to pursue. Lord Blackwell, inform Letho about the other's locations. Each of you decides which ones you will go after, we cannot leave a single one alive to reform this band and continue their depredations.

     Kintyra, I know you have a lot of questions, let us go to the kitchens and find something to eat while I answer what questions of yours I can. Dettlaff, would you accompany us, it is time I introduced you and she needs to know of our relationship."

     Dettlaff kneels before Kintyra, "I know this is not the best of circumstances for a first meeting. I hope and pray this does not unduly influence your opinion of me, for I love your mother more than I have ever loved anyone in my life and would lay down my life for her without hesitation. Since you are her daughter, the same goes for you. If ever by my life, I can save yours, I will do so without hesitation."

     "I thank you for your commitment to my mother and myself and pray that it never becomes needed. As to what I have just witnessed, I will withhold judgment until I have more understanding of the facts."

     Iriisii looks over to Blackwell, "are you certain she has not peeked over your shoulder and seen some things she might not otherwise have seen?"

     "It is a distinct possibility, she knows as much about the hidden ways of this palace as well if not better than I do."

     "Well, if it can help keep her safe and provide hiding places should she ever need them, I cannot complain about it. Come on, the kitchen staff will be rising soon to start cooking."

     While sitting at a table in the kitchens, food and drink sitting in easy reach, Iriisii starts telling Kintyra about the Sinister Seven and what part the first group of that name played in her life, and their connection to current events.

     Kintyra slows her eating and comments while deciding on whether to finish the bread in her hand or not. She decides she is no longer hungry and places it back on her plate. "I am not surprised not knowing about this. Grownups often stop speaking when I or other children come into sight. Thus we know the conversation was about things they wish to protect us from. Usually, we laugh because we have already heard much from our hiding places. But now I see more of the truth of what all of you are trying to do. It is indeed serious and dark tellings, suitable only when needed to be known.

     I understand why you did what you did earlier, and the need for it. I will need to remember this lesson for the time when it may be required of me to stand where you stood today."

     "There are two saying among the people that I do my best to remember always and live my life by them. The first is this, that with great power comes great responsibility."

     "And the second?"

     "Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Both must be watched for in others, but especially in yourself. It is too easy to let such power gain control and rule over you and your decisions rather than you ruling over it. What you saw today, is another side of me that I try to keep hidden. It took me a long time to realize that it was just as much a part of me as the face I show to everyone every day. And that I need to keep both sides in balance with each other, to be who and what I need to be, to all who look to and depend on me."

     "And it will take time for me as well, I think."

     "Take as much time as it takes. Just remember this, just because you will have to do 'dark' things from time to time, does not make you 'evil', no matter what anyone else will say. It is about your intent, and why you did whatever you did. Did you do it for enjoyment, to gain pleasure from someone else's pain? Or did you do it because you needed the result to salve someone else's pain, to stop further 'evil' from being done?

     That is what separates 'dark' from 'evil', 'dark' can be experienced, even enjoyed to an extent, just guard that you do not cross the line from 'dark' into 'evil'. Also, understand that those who follow 'light' can go so far that they fall into 'evil' before they even see it happening."

     "I will remember, mama. Now tell me about Dettlaff, is he now my father?"

     "Only if you wish for me to be."

     "You should know that I am married by the 'Rites of the Mother of the Cosmos' to Rigmor, Illyria, Byrsael, and Dettlaff. And there may be one more in the near future, but I will tell you about that before it happens."

     "You called him your Vyrkolos, what does that mean?"

     "That is a tall order, and I need to refill this mug before taking on that."

     Iriisii starts from the beginning of when she met him and takes her through the blossoming of their relationship, all the way through to when she asked him to marry her.

     "Mama Rigmor must not have taken that well, she has always been so very possessive of you."

     "That is an understatement, you are right that it did not start out well at all. But in the end, she has come to care for him as I do. There have been many bumps along the road, but we have made it overall that have come our way. Together, we are much more than we are apart, and that has brought us all closer."

     "We have been sitting here for hours, and I hardly had any sleep, yet I do not feel sleepy. How is that possible?"

     "Your power of being Dragonborn is helping you stay awake and alert, you will have to sleep later and allow it to regrow, but when you really need it, it can provide you with what you need to keep going. Just make sure to keep it well-fed, when you use it, eat more than you usually would."

     "Will I ever need to kill a dragon as you do?"

     "That I cannot say, hopefully, no, but the possibility will always exist. Not all dragons can resist their inborn need for dominance, but as long as they remain away from humans there should be no problem. Otherwise, if you have those trained to kill them, like the 'Blades' of old, let them do it. Then when the time comes for the Kalpa to be reborn, they will be reborn as well. Ones that you or I consume are forever gone."

     "I will remember, mama."

     "Let us go into the Imperial City, it has been too long since I was here and could visit Elihal's shop."

     "YES!!, YES. Let us go, oh please let us go, please, please!"

     "Ok, let us get there before you fall over and hurt yourself. Come on, Dettlaff, he makes clothing for men as well, and I must say, I have not found anyone his equal."

     They rise up and make their way out of the palace and into the merchant quarter. The crowds of people still throng to see Iriisii, now with Kintyra on one arm, who this striking man on her left is, and what position he holds in her life. They reach Elihal's shop and enter in as Kintyra runs inside shouting for Elihal.

     Elihal comes out of the backroom, recognizing Kintyra's voice, then he sees Iriisii.

     "Your Majesty! How long has it been, where have you been? I...it is just so good to see you once more."

     "Calm yourself, El, I have been busy traveling between planes, but when I was pulled back here for business, I could not go anywhere else until I came to see you. And before you ask, Rigmor is indisposed and could not travel."

     "Is she?"

     "No, she is not with child. She is ill from something entirely different, but I have my best healers attending her, so she will be just fine. I will be sure to bring her once she has recovered. I promise you, she will not let me rest until I bring her."

     "But what of your stock, what is new that I might like, something that looks 'wet' and slinky, in black or a deep midnight blue?"

     Elihal starts to turn to the backroom and catches sight of Dettlaff.

     "Oh, by the Gods, where ever did you find him. Please tell me there are more like him!"

     "Elihal, meet Dettlaff van der Eretain, my Vyrkolos, Dettlaff, this is Elihal, Imperial Tailor and the only one I will allow to make clothes for me."

     Dettlaff extends a hand as Elihal tentatively clasps it.

     "El, it is all right, he will not bite unless you ask him to."

     Elihal almost faints.

     "Please take no offense, but I am Iriisii's, mind. body, and soul."

     "No offense taken, I should have realized when you came in with her. She truly is every inch a 'goddess'."

     "If you only knew how close to the mark you are."

     "You mean...?"

     "She and Rigmor both."

     "Both of them? I have really been out of the loop. Who else here knows?"

     "Very few, Lord Blackwell does, of course, the Lady Yennefer, Letho of course, I do not think anyone else knows."

     "Humph!" from the back room.

     "I know that voice."

     "Dragonborn, it has been too long!"

     "Tendril Sethri, now I know you could never be a tailor, so you must be here on business for your Mistress."

     Sethri bows, "indeed I am."

     "So the only question that remains is 'will all be revealed' or just a portion?"

     "My Mistress sent me with information and a warning."

     "Who is his Mistress?"

     "The Daedric Lord, Azura. One of the better ones, even so, they do tend to exaggerate their power and influence, but tell me what she sent you to inform me of?"

     "You must be careful of what you do while in Atmora, there are things there best left undisturbed."

     "Anything more specific, like are these things in the Dwemer city under the ice?"

     "All I know is what I was told to tell you, now you know as much as I do."

     "Likely more, but I am not going to argue the point. Tell Azura that if what I have seen in the future occurs, I will have her back. I will not allow that to happen if I can stop it."

     "I have no idea of what you mean but I will see she gets the message."

     "Thank you, maybe it will make more sense when I get there, and maybe not. We will just have to see. Now, Elihal, I want to see what you have tucked away in your backroom that is waiting for me to buy."