Mischievous Bosmer

[bendmeover360]

Nivriel was a young Bosmer with short but messy dark hair and light skin. She had grown up under the canopy of Valenwood and had never really ventured very far outside of it. She wasn’t quite from a rich family, but they were comfortable. Her family had reaped some benefits from their early support of the Thalmor and for her father and brothers had all supported the war effort years ago and had all fought well and valiantly which had earned their family some prestige locally. Still, Nivriel felt restless at times.

She had always been told that all non-mer races were inferior and not worth your time, but for some reason, her family no longer crossed borders to attack them. They let the empire and the Nords sit there and live almost as if they were equals, but if elves were truly the superior race, Nivriel saw it as almost a moral obligation to subjugate them and have the nobler species on top. Nivriel was almost surprised the Imperials and other races not under meri dominion didn’t descend into anarchy through gross incompetence.

At first this was just a passing thought to her, but as she began to grow into her late teen years, the thought almost became an obsession. She had lived there so long and had only very rarely seen anyone from Cyrodiil. Eventually, curiosity got the better of her. Her family had always told her not to venture outside of Valenwood, but if she truly belonged to master race as her parents had always told her, what did she have to fear? She was quick on her feet if she got surrounded, and she knew a basic shock spell her mother had taught her if she needed to fight. So one day, when no one was looking, she slipped away to go scout out the strange land of Cyrodiil.

It took her almost a full 24 hours to get into Cryodiil, but finally she was there. There certainly was nothing impressive about this place, but she still had yet to find anything moral that wasn’t an animal. Oh well, it was time to look around and test her mettle.

[Chriekel]

Patricius marched. He didn't do it consciously but he had spent so long marching that he was incapable of losing the habit. Currently he was marching along a poorly maintained track that slowly meandered its way back and forth across the border of Cyrodil and Valenwood. In theory it wasn't a particularly safe place for an Imperial to be walking but in practice it was so isolated that he was safer here than he would have been taking a major road along a safer route and risking an encounter with bandits.

Patricius moved carefully even so and kept his crossbow ready, without discipline walking alone for hours at a time could easily lull a man into a trance and leave him vulnerable. The wild brought its own dangers, with or without bandits or patrols of murderous elves.

He adjusted the strap of his heavy leather satchel, which was doing its best to wear a groove into his shoulder and ran a weathered hand through his short cropped grey hair. He reached down to his belt for his flask of wine but froze at the sound of something moving among the trees that crowded in on both sides of the track, a brief but violent rustling that quickly stopped.
Patricius remained perfectly still, breathing gently, waiting. The moment elongated, silent except for the quiet hum of insects and the gentle rustling of leaves in the breeze. Then a tiny woodland creature burst out of the trees to his left and vanished into the trees on his right.

"There is such a thing as being too alert." He muttered to himself. "Stop jumping at shadows."

And yet something didn't feel quite right. Call it instinct or call it paranoia but Patricius had a sudden, strong sense that he was no longer alone.

He began to walk again, keeping up the same steady pace as before, not giving any indication of suspicion or concern.

[bendmeover360]

Nirviel’s heart began to beat a little faster. Finally she had found an Imperial! She had thought she’d need to find a major road or a city first. What good luck that she’d find one out here! She suddenly had a very good idea on what to do with this Imperial. She looked around at her surroundings and spotted a fox. She quietly called to the fox and bound it to herself. She then started commanding the fox to jump in and out of the clearing near the man, surprising him. She giggled softly as the small fox startled him. She had the fox do it a few more times, and quickly scurry in front of the man.

Even she could admit that this was a childish game and any Bosmer would see right through it, but it was fun to do it to an imperial. Unfortunately, as she made the fox run out in front of him to make a circle around him, she accidentally giggled a bit too loudly and she quickly covered her mouth as the stranger might have heard that. In a panic she yelled out at the fox to bite his ankle to injure him so she could run away if she needed to. It was a selfish act which would probably be the end of the fox, but she’d just have to deal with that.

[Chriekel]

The first time the fox reappeared Patricius simply muttered a curse at its retreating tail as it sped past and kept moving.

What did idiot creature think it was? A stray cat following him home?

Perhaps his much vaunted instinct had failed him and it was just this oddly persistent animal that he could sense following him along. Not that Patricius seriously believed that, his luck simply wasn't that good. If it could be a monster, it would be a monster. Or something worse.

When it shot past him again Patricius' brief flirtation with optimism came to an end. Foxes did not behave like this, they shied away from people, especially large obviously armed people. There were many hunters who weren't too proud to bring back a brace of foxes for dinner, and consequently quite a lot of foxes who knew what a crossbow signified.

And again, not just running madly back and forth, leaving long enough between each appearance to allow him to relax. Patricius played along, faking surprise and increasing annoyance as it continued to pester him, even throwing a stone at the fox although he was careful to miss.

And then he heard the sound, it wasn't particularly loud but it was distinctive, standing out as separate from the muted natural noise of the forest. In other circumstances it might have been quite a pleasant sound, the suppressed giggling of a young woman coming from somewhere off to his right, not close but presumably within sight of him if she was giggling at his reactions.

Patricius tensed, if he was quick he could catch whoever it was, find out why-

Then he heard whoever it was cry out. He couldn't understand what she shouted, she was speaking some elven dialect that he didn't have the time or inclination to translate. At that same moment the fox rushed back into view, eyes wild with what was either madness or terror and streaked along the path towards him, teeth bared.

"Now what in Septim's name do you think you're doing?" Patricius growled. For a moment he considered simply shooting the animal down, whoever was stalking him was presumably using this time to escape. On the other hand the poor creature was clearly being forced to act against its will, killing it would just add insult to injury.

Instead Patricius raised a hand and concentrated. He was no mage, his understanding of the arcane was essentially non existent. And yet anyone could pick up the basics of a few simple techniques, given time and inclination. The Breton Patricius had paid to tutor him had said that he was the single least magically talented person that he had ever encountered. And yet slowly, more though repetition than through understanding Patricius had learned to cast three basic spells.

He could heal a minor wound, conjure a brief burst of fire and calm an animal as long as he did nothing to provoke it. The ability to light a campfire at will, fend off a pack of hungry wild dogs without being mauled and patch up a bad cut well enough to fend off infection were invaluable skills when you spent a lot of time alone and far from assistance.

The fox stopped, the madness gone from its eyes and replaced with a look of overwhelming confusion. It took a faltering step towards him, then shook its head as if it was trying to dislodge a flea from its ear and bolted, racing in the opposite direction down the track, away from both Patricius and whoever had compelled it to attack him.

Patricius lowered his hand, grimacing as a dull ache began to build behind his eyes. One day he'd go back to that Breton and ask how to cast spells without getting a splitting headache. For now however...

Patricius turned and broke into a run, plunging into the forest and racing in the direction the shout of command had come from. If the plan had been to ease her escape then his stalker had completely miscalculated. Her voice had given him a far clearer indication of her location than the muted giggling had done. and he hadn't lost more than twenty seconds dealing with the fox.

[bendmeover360]

Nirviel had already started running, but she suddenly felt as if something was changing. She no longer controlled the fox which she had sent after this Imperial. Could the race of men challenge her abilities? Perhaps that was an issue to think about another time, but for now, she took off running faster than she had done in a very long time.

She was unfamiliar with this terrain, however. It was a bit rockier in places than she was used to, and she tripped over a rock, went flying forward, and scraped her knee against another rock. She quickly brushed some hair out of her face and kept running, but now she was running with a limp and she wasn't sure she could keep up the same pace. Still, she wasn't sure that she wanted to get in a fight with this man, so she tried to keep running although at a reduced speed.

[Chriekel]

Patricius could hear her now as she rushed through the trees ahead of him, she was distant but moving surprisingly slowly. He drove himself to run faster. To close the gap before his stamina began to run out.

The thing was, now that he knew that he was being followed and the person following him knew that he knew, letting them get away and come back later was not a good idea. Maybe it was all a harmless misunderstanding, one they could laugh about over a drink later. Or then again perhaps it was someone who'd shoot him in the back the next time, when he wasn't on his guard. These were not the kind of questions that you left unanswered.

He stumbled over a rock that stood out at an awkward angle and ran on, whoever he was following was moving awkwardly now, before she hadn't left visible tracks but he could see footprints in the dirt ahead of him.

[bendmeover360]

The Imperial was gaining on her, and she could not bring herself to run any faster with her aching leg. Perhaps it was time to stop running.When she could tell that he was within 20 meters, she promptly turned around and said, "Come no closer, imperial!" She used the basic shock spell that her mother had taught her on the ground in front of her as a warning, though the narrow arc of electricity which looked like simple static shock was less intimidating than she had hoped. "I tire of being chased by an inferior halfwit such as yourself! I am mir, and I will be respected."

She thought that perhaps losing a war to the Thalmor would teach all men a lesson, that they had no hopes of defeating mir in the end. She hoped that perhaps the show of bravado would convince him to back down so she could taunt him some more and then leave with some feeling of accomplishment.

[Chriekel]

Patricius stopped short of the Bosmer girl. The small flash of electricity wasn't particularly intimidating but he had no compelling reason to come any closer. He wanted an explanation, not a hug.

What he appeared to be getting was attitude, and huge quantities of it.

As she finished her little speech Patricius growled under his breath. So young and yet so like every cold blooded and haughty Thalmor he'd ever had to deal with. They were more like a cult than a society.

"Listen girl." He said, not bothering to hide his annoyance and still slightly short of breath. "You'll get as much respect as you show and no more. You're following me. You set an animal on me. Why?"

[bendmeover360]

"I was not following you," Nirviel said indignantly. "I happened to stumble onto your path and I decided to... do a little experiment. You men are not worth the bones in your body, but exist because mir delight to see what they can do with you. Stand back, for I may be small, but I am dangerous, because I am superior to you."

Nirviel puffed out her small chest and tried to stare him down, but she feared that perhaps her small stature did not aid her in looking intimidating.

[Chriekel]

"Well, one of those three things is certainly true."

Patricius considered for a moment then shrugged his shoulders and turned away from her. The Bosmer girl was rude and annoying but clearly no kind of threat. He'd wasted enough time on her already.

"You can take it from me that your "experiment" is over." He called over his shoulder as he began walk away. "Go home little elf."