User blog:Leea/The Tale of Voronwe, Chapter 1

Hello everyone. You may know me by this time, considering that I have been here (more or less) every day since December of '14, when I bought my copy of Skyrim. Some of you may also know me from my Saturday Polls over on the Fallout wiki, which is now in their 49th edition. I'd give you a link, but I have no idea how to do interwiki links, so sorry about that.

So, what's this blog about, you may ask? Well, normally I'm not the type to create backstories or roleplay with characters, but I was inspired by looking at the Maormer page into creating an Altmer with white hair and white eyes, as he is supposed to be a mix of the High Elf and Sea Elf bloodlines, and I was inspired to create a backstory for him. What I am writing, however, is way too long to put into a forum post; no doubt there is a limit to how long a post can be, and large blocks of text can be trying to the patience to load in a forum and read. So, I am going to post the story of how his parents met and got to know each other via weekly chapter blog posts.

I hope you enjoy reading it, as I have in writing it.

The tale of Voronwe, Chapter 1
4th Era, year 100, 7th of First Seed, Summerset Isle

It had been long years since she'd seen anyone on her stretch of the beach. She was still young, but being so alone made her feel as if she were an old hermit. The pearl farm was still prosperous, as it always had been, but there was something to be said for only having gulls and oysters to talk to. She still missed her parents, though they had been gone for going on ten years now.

Wrestling with the memories, which felt both old and fresh at the same time, she went to a window to gaze at the sunset over the water. "Think of only the present, not the past," she told herself, watching the shimmering waves touched with myriad hues of orange and gold. Leaning into the windowsill, she breathed the cooler evening air and she gazed out on the water. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw movement on the sand. Leaning further out the window, she peered to the left and fixed her eyes on the spot in the growing gloom. "Too big to be a gull," she whispered to herself, as she thought she saw the form more clearly. It was the shape of a man, lying on the beach. "It might be a shipwrecked sailor. He could need help!" she thought urgently to herself, jerking herself back into her home and lighting the lamp on her bedside table before taking it and running outside.

When she got closer, she slowed to a walk to see if she might know the stranger. She didn't. "Definitely not Eldacar," she thought apprehensively, remembering the deep, golden hue of the crotchety old alchemist who sometimes came for more pearls for his mixtures and distribution to other alchemists and jewelers across the Isle. No, whomever this was was completely white from head to toe; both his skin and his hair, barring the ratty remains of his clothing, of which like she'd never seen before.

Cautiously coming closer, she held the lamp higher and gasped: he was an Elf.

* * *

Roused by the light from the lantern, the stranger gave a groan of pain and attempted to roll onto his side and sit up. Quickly setting down the lantern, she attempted to help him, but he waved her away, grumbling, "No, I can do this myself," but coughed up seawater. Bending down, the young woman gently grasped his shoulders, helping him into a sitting position. Opening his eyes, she now saw with a shock that they were as white as the rest of him, but stranger yet, there was no discernable iris or pupil.

Mustering her courage, she managed to stutter, "Who are you? I've never seen the likes of you before." Looking up at her face, the man attempted to reply but was racked with another fit of coughing. Spitting some murky seawater out of his mouth, he looked up at her again and noted that she was wringing her hands. "There is no need to be afraid of me. I can see in your eyes confusion, but this is understandable, as my kind has not been seen in quite some time. I am a Maormer."

Maormer. The word struck her like a thunderbolt. The memories came flooding back as she recalled the stories her father used to tell about the Maormer, and how her grandfather had been killed by them in one of the last wars back in the Third Era.

Stumbling backward, she began to stutter, "You...you're...I know..." Stopping suddenly, hate began to fester in her heart and light her eyes in a fury. "Your kind of responsible for the death of my grandfather! For wars on my homeland!"

"Yes. I know that. But I was not involved with any of it." he replied.

"How can you say that!" she fairly spit out the words, "What are you here for? To spy?!"

He looked calmly up at her. "Because you are an Altmer, does that mean you are a part of the Thalmor?"

She frowned, her anger faltering. "No, of course not. Not everyone agrees with their ideals."

"Then how could you think the same of me? Are not individual Sea Elves also allowed to have different opinions than their ruling body?"

She thought his words over. They did seem to have the ring of truth to them. Why else would he be here, by himself, half drowned? She sighed and said slowly, "I don't see why not. But what are you doing here in Summerset?"

A cynical look passed over his eyes. "I think long stories are better told by a warm fire, don't you think?"

Sighing, the young woman smiled and said, "Yeah, I guess so," and offered her hand to him, asking, "What's your name?"

Grunting, he pulled himself up. He was tall, much taller than her, and his clothes seemed to be made of seaweed. Or maybe he had no clothes and was wearing seaweed like clothes, she couldn't be sure.

"My name is Balasian," he replied. "And yours...?"

Tearing her eyes away from his clothing, she looked up and met his gaze. "Hhm?...Oh, my name is Curwe."

"A lovely name."

There were no clues on his face or in his eyes if he was telling the truth or merely being polite. She decided not to fret over it.

Bending down, she picked up the lantern, holding it up to see the path to the house, as the sky was dark now as the sun had been set for quite some time. Walking up the trail, she turned to see Balasian standing some paces distant, gazing out over the waters. "Well, come on, my house isn't that way." she stated, holding out her hand to him. He turned and smiled a little, taking her hand as she supported him as they walked up the path.