Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-5543592-20140906173711/@comment-11457306-20140913015100

Midafternoon light filtered down through the high windows in the chamber where Peri waited. Dressed in soft leathers, she sat back in her chair with her feet propped on a footstool, ankles crossed. She sipped on a mug of hot tea. The mug was a finely crafted piece of crockery, not one of Skyrim's metal creations--and the tea was a fine blend of imported tea leaves rather than Skyrim's harsh brew. She contemplated it, trying to keep her mind off what might be happening in the room where Torene tended the woman called Brighid. She decided she missed her old home and its rough life and harsh tea. This tea had no substance, no bite. Life was too dull in the Imperial City, just like the tea.

She heard soft footfalls coming down the hall and turned her head to see Torene enter. She looked tired. Brushing a stray lock from her face, her elder sister sat in a chair opposite her.

"Well?"

"She is very lucky.  She will live, but it was close.  Her sister, Anneken is with her.  Where is Cathal?"

"Awaiting your pleasure, in the library."

"I very much doubt that, Peri.  He is probably deep in some dusty old tome."

"He can't help what he is, Torene."

"I know that very well, Peri.  I just do not know what to do with him.  He knows too much for his own good at his age.  How he managed to find them and why he saw them is beyond me.  He never met Brighid and he only saw Anneken the one time."

"Perhaps it is connected with the reason he's here, Tor.  You know as well as I do that Meridia gave him to you.  She guides him and grooms him for some future purpose."

Torene looked sharply at her sister. "I've never known you to be devout, Peri."

Peri frowned and put her mug down, dropped her feet to the floor and leaned forward. "Tor, I'm not.  But neither am I blind.  I was there, remember?  I saw the incredible power you wielded with Cathal yet unborn.  Since his birth, he has shown nothing but more of the same.  He grows in knowledge and power every single day.  Some higher power is at work.  How else can it be?"

She sat back. "You can't chain him, Tor.  Don't try."

"I must protect him, Peri." She shook her head and put a hand to her mouth. "Makoru will be furious."

"Mak will have to live with it.  Cathal is perfectly capable of packing up and leaving if he's too restricted."

"No...no...I couldn't bear that, Peri!"

"Then you'd better find some way of getting Mak to understand.  And for the Gods sake--get him a room of his own and stock it with the tools of his trade to keep him out of the sewers!"

"I will, Peri.  He can use my---"

"NO.  His own, Tor.  His own space."

"Very well," said Torene, a bit meekly, it seemed to Peri.

"Everything's going to work out, Tor."

"I hope so, but I am worried--and why are you dressed that way?"

"I'm going on a little hunting trip."

Torene looked at her sister suspiciously. "Where?"

"Skyrim.  I've a strong desire to see the old homeland, Tor."

Torene narrowed her eyes. "Hmmm."