Skyrim IV: The Ghost of Hamvir's Rest

Chapter Five: Speaking to Arodil.

I grimaced when I look at the deep gouges in my neck in the looking glass in my room. Lucia was asleep, with a heavy curtain separating her part of the room from ours. The curtains were of heavy make from Elsweyr, ones that Sinding and I spent a pretty septim on when we had seen Ri'saad, the local Khajit trader on the outskirts of town with them. I had tipped a cloth in a basin of water and cleaned the scratches, but they were angry and inflamed. I hoped it wouldn't leave scars. The Divines know, I have enough of those. 
   The door to our room opens and I can tell already that it's Sinding walking in. I listen to him sigh and remove his shirt as he asks. "We couldn't find you after you left Jorrvasker, dear." I hear him say as I sigh and throw the cloth into the water basin and push it away from my dresser. I take a hair brush and attempt to comb through my mane of hair. 
"You know how Aela gets under my skin." I say, putting it down and using my hair to cover up the scratches. They weren't too bad, but knowing Sinding, he would worry. 
    "Yes, but considering all that has happened." I hear his bare feet come behind me and he sits down in the chair across from my dresser and looks at me. He stops speaking and tilts his head slowly, his eyes getting larger with worry. He gently pushes my hair away and looks at the scratches of my neck. 
  "Sinding, don't." I say, "It's not that bad."
He looks at me in shock, "Sweetheart, what happened?" He gets out. 
   I sigh and cross my arms, leaning back into my seat. "I'm sure you know what happened." 
"You visited Arodil again, didn't you?" Sinding said, putting his head in his hands. 
  "Yes, because there are things I have to know." I say. I lift my legs up into the chair and rest my elbow on my knee as I remove a strand of hair in my eyes. "Listen,  this elf is my only biological family left, and unfortunately its from a man who I wish had never existed, but here we are."
   "Taniiaae," Sinding looks up and leans forward, taking my hand until his, "You don't need to explain yourself to me, Divines know, you are much more powerful than me. I just don't want to see you get hurt anymore."  I look at him and give him a sad smile, "I think due to what I am and what role I play in this world, that I'm always going to have to look behind me, or risk getting hurt." 
   Sinding gets up and leans towards me and says. "And I will always be there when you look back. I will do everything I can to protect this family." His hand drifts towards my stomach, where our unborn baby is. I look at the love in his eyes and I lean forward with my nose touching his and say, "I know you will."  Sinding smiles and his lips brush mine and we move into a passionate kiss. Among the embrace, Sinding picks me up from my seat, and I wrap my arms around his bare shoulders and neck as he sets me down on our bed. He leans over me, kissing my ears as my fingers comb through his gold hair. We stop our kissing for a moment as we hear Lucia talk in her sleep. I giggle for a moment and use my hand to gesture a 'shhhhh' to Sinding. He smiles and nods. He slowly removes himself from the bed and leans over to blow out the candle by our bedstand.

    My cheeks burned as I threw up bile in the basin in our bathing room. I kept the door closed, but I knew that I could be heard. Because I could hear Malborn chattering louder than usual. I knew he was trying to keep the household from hearing but I could tell it didn't work. After I cleaned up after myself and cleaned the basin, I open the door to leave the bathing room and see everyone looking at me. 
Serana gives me a sympathetic look as I use my sleeve to wipe my mouth. "Are you alright, Mama?" Lucia asks from her seat at the table. I nod and smile, "Yes, fantastic." I move past her, gently patting her head as I head back to my room. I close the door and sit down by the looking glass. I look at my neck, the wounds from Harkon were healing nicely, and the gouges from Arodil seemed to be less inflamed. I still feel a little sore, but find no trouble putting on my clothing. I pull my hair back in it's usual hair buns and step back out into the living room.  As I sit down besides Lucia and across from Serana, I ask. "Where is Sinding? And Lydia?" 
  I was surprised when I woke up and didn't see my husband this morning, especially after the time we spent together last night. I smile a little when I think back and ask. "Are they outside?" 
   "They left early, back to Whiterun this morning." Malborn says, as he puts down hot oats into a bowl and sets it before me. I look down at the food and frown, "Why did they go to town?" I say. I feel my stomach turn, and I feel the urge to vomit again. Serana's blue eyes look into mine. "Sinding said he wanted to talk to Arodil himself after what happened yesterday. And then he was going to speak to the Companions about the Hamvir's Rest." 
   I scowled. Part of me wanted to be mad at Sinding for going to Whiterun without me, but part of me was still tired so I just nod. "Alright." I push the bowl away from myself and get up. "I hope I don't offend you, Malborn. But I am feeling ill. I think I'm going to lay down again."  
I push back my chair and give Lucia an affectionate pat on the back. "If your father and Lydia comes home early enough, you can tell them that they can take you to Whiterun to play with Mila, Lars and Braithe, per your mother's request." 
  "But Ma! Braithe is a big meanie!" Lucia wails. 
 "Maybe I need to have a talking to her." Serana gives a devious smile as I exit the room and close the door to my room. I lay down on top of my bed and curl up a little on my side to stop the nausea in my belly. I close my eyes as I drift off to sleep. 
   I wake up some time later as I feel a hand resting on my arm. I open my eyes to see Sinding asleep besides me. It was dark outside now, but he was still in his working clothes. His hand rested on my arm and I nuzzle myself closer to him and close my eyes. I hear him murmur. "I'm sorry I woke you up, my love." 
  "You didn't wake me up." I whisper, my eyes still close. "I've been asleep all day. I needed the rest, I guess." 
   I hear Sinding sigh and roll over on his back. I open my eyes and see him staring up at the ceiling, his hand on his stomach while his other hand clasps mine. "I'm sorry I left you this morning." 
  "Oh, for going and talking to Arodil without me?" I say, watching my husband. He swallows. "Mmhm." 
  "Did he say anything to you?" I ask, curious. 
Sinding shook his head, "He refused to speak unless you were there. Even after I told him that I was the one who killed Vulono, not you." 
  I think back to that day, when Sinding and I were both werewolves, and when Ulfric Stormcloak essentially gave my father to us on a platter, and how he had tried to kill me, and Sinding transformed and snapped, tearing the elf to shreds. I think fondly back at that day. I refocus to the now. "What did he say?"
 "Still that he wants to speak to you, and he refuses to speak to anyone." Sinding says, turning towards me.  
  "Then let me speak to him, but you come with me." I say, softly. "Because, everyone knows that when I go to anywhere on my own, I get hurt." 
  Sinding blinks for a moment when I add. "He wants to speak to me, then he can. But he will have to deal with my husband at my side."  
   I slowly stand up, and to my relief, my nausea was gone. Sinding sits up and says, "Where are you going? It's night time." 
   "I wasted the whole day by sleeping and getting sick." I say, as I slip on my boots. "Besides, things can be more productive at night. I have Serana to thank for that." 
  Sinding gets up from the bed and nods. "I'm going with you." 
I nod, "Good. I was hoping you would say that."

     "So, he hasn't said a word?" Serana asks as we stand at the edge of the Dragonsreach Dungeons. Serana had joined us, saying she wanted to get out of the house. She stood besides me while I stood in between her and Sinding. 
  Sinding shakes his head, "No, not to me." 
"He will only speak to me, it seems." I say, as I walk over to the cell door. Arodil was pacing the small room like a caged animal and his gold eyes bore into mine as I approached the jail. 
  "Where is your Dunmer friend, sister?" Arodil sneers. He says the word 'sister' in a spat, and I pause before I respond. "What Dunmer friend?" 
  He gives a cold laugh, "Don't act so coy, Dragonborn. The Dunmer that led you to Ulfric Stormcloak who let your murderer of a husband kill our father." 
   Karliah.  The Dunmer woman who had lead us to Helgen.....she never said why, only implied that she had her own motives that were the same as mine. 
  "What is she to you?" I ask. 
Arodil gives a nasty smile and I wonder if he is truly going mad in his cell.  "She is a Nightingale, a servant to the Daedric Prince, Nocturnal.....and she knows the secret of how Ulfric captured my father.....and the God-Cleaver of Hamvir's Rest." 
   "Another slave to the Daedra." I hear Sinding murmur when I ask. "How would she know of The God-Cleaver?"
   "Because, the God-Cleaver has the blood of Queen Barenziah infused in it's make. And your Dunmer friend, is the granddaughter of the Dunmer Queen." Arodil says. 
  "Then how did it get into the hands of the Headless Horseman?" Serana asks, as she and Sinding approach the cell. 
  Arodil looks at them for a minute before saying, "The Headless Horseman, was a Nordic man, some say he has direct lineage to Tiber Septim." 
  I make a face. "A ghost? Where the old folksong is based on? How? And if it had the blood of Queen Barenziah, then how would it go to a Nord from the bloodline of the Septims, Talos at that?" 
   "Because, Queen Barenziah and Tiber Septim were lovers once." Serana says, her blue eyes getting large. "So even if they had no heirs together, the sword is mixed with the blood of Queen Barenziah and was gifted to either Dunmer or Nord for the royal lovers." 
   Arodil leans against the bars. "You speak as if this was something that happened recently." He says, his voice lacking his usual venom. 
  Serana crosses her arms and says, "I just started aging again not too long ago, being in my twenties for centuries before hand." 
   Arodil narrows his eyes when Serana sighs. "I was a vampire, my father and mother often told me about the affair of Barenziah and the future Talos. I personally believed it aided in the prejudice of the Dark Elves and Nords." 
   "If you found Karliah, what would you do to her?" Sinding asks, crossing his arms over his chest.
    Arodil smirks. "The same I would do to you, murderer, for what you did to my father." 
  "Enough!" I snap. I glare at the Mer, and see the hatred in his eyes. I think about what he said, and that now I know what I needed to do, I wanted to get out of the dungeon before it was too late.  
   I turn my back from Arodil's jail cell and he shouts. "So, what now? You aren't going to try to save me from myself? Tell me that my father was the true monster?" 
  I whirl around and say, "Well, you know I think that, and I think deep down, so do you, why else would the man who you called father maim your hand?" 
  He raises his head in shock and I say, "Because the same man tried to kill me numerous times, and rape me, as he did my mother. A father who tries to rape his daughter and cuts off his son's fingers is no father, but is a monster."   I leave the elf in the quiet of his cell and walk out of the dungeon. Behind me, I could hear nothing but silence from Serana and Sinding.