Leadership

"Wulfharts team will move to the south, cut off access of the lumbermill and then prevent reinforcements from moving in to counter siege us along the road. Imirin's group will head north west, around the top of the keep and hit the mine. After that, she can move down to reinforce Wulfhart." Commander Hawthorn pointed to two areas on the small map we were all studying. The four of us in the tent seemed satisfied with his plan so far.

"Seren can lead her team against the farm on the eastern side. Just ahead of the main assault te-" Hawthorn continued
"I'm sorry, what?" I interjected"
"Is there a problem?" He asked, turning up to look at me.
"Yes. Since when did Seren lead teams?"
"Since I said that she was and since I promoted her to the rank of Captain as of two minutes ago. Do you have a problem with that?"
"Are you telling me that you just went and conscripted my friend?" I asked, putting my hands to my hips.
"Yes" Hawthorn said, getting impatient. The two others in the room, Wulfhart and Imirin remained silent but eyed me carefully. One didn't usually contradict the commanders plan.
"Did you ask her?" I asked.
"I'm the commander. I don't need to ask" He said.
"Try telling her that then"

Hawthorn's rage bubbled over. I'd rather not put into writing what he then said, as Imirin tried to keep him calm and Wulfhart tried not to laugh at the commander's short temper. I left the tent with his yelling behind my back and walked down the hill to where Seren's tent was, a short distance from my own.

"What's on the lunch menu today?" I asked, eyeing the pot slowly bubbling over the fire"
"Goat stew" She said, tasting her broth. I was tempted to make a sarcastic quip about her cooking skills to lighten the mood but I also didn't think that now was a good time. I sat down by the fire, overlooking the flat plain a few meters off the side of the hill where a number of soldiers were training.

"Tell me" I started. "If you were to lead a group... Any particular soldiers you'd like to lead?"
Seren stopped cooking for a moment and looked up at me with a confused look on her face. I'd never asked such a thing before.
"Well, I don't think I could ever lead you" She said.
"Eh?" I asked.
"I said I don't think I could ever lead you... You've always been the one mentoring me so it'd be too werid"
"Fair enough. What about them?" I asked, pointing to the recruits behind me.
"Torvoal is pretty good with his sword arm... though admittedly he can get a little bloodthirsty at times... and drunk" Seren said, raising an eyebrow. "How big a group are we talking here?"
"Dunno. Your choice"
"The Circine sisters from Morrowind are decent healers. I'd definately bring them along. Though as we both know, defending people is always a bit hard"
"Eh. They can take care of themselves" I said.
"That archer as well... Sinmild I think his name is? He's a fairly good shot" Seren said, returning to cooking.

"Sounds like you have a good team then" I said,
"Any particular reason why you asked?"
"Hawthorn conscripted you into the Pact Army and made you a Captain"

Seren suddenly stopped cooking and looked at me.
"Well... I suppose I'm honoured and all that... It's rea-"
"You want to punch him in the face for not asking you personally, don't you"
"Yea" Seren said flatly. "I'm not a token to be bought and sold"
"Well go on ahead. I'll finish making lunch"

Seren stood up and walked back to the command tent where I came from. Almost a minute after she entered, I heard a crash as a table was overturned. Seren came back out, a slight redness to her right hand. She sat down and I passed her a wooden bowl with her food in.

"Feel better?" I asked.
"Much better."

Scrolls and Keeps

"So, tell me again why this thing is so important?" Seren asked me. Both of us were on horseback, riding hard to the east, heading for Farragut Keep.
"I have no idea. Something about morale, destiny and innate magical properties"
The thing in question happened to be an Elder Scroll. I had never really studied up much on them as I always considered old magic to be out of my realm of knowledge, typically leaving this sort of thing to people who knew better than me.
But right now, I had one. Stolen directly from the Daggerfall Convenant and now moving very quickly east - to safety.

My biggest concern, however, was that these "Elder Scrolls" are like big freakin' beacons. Right now it's strapped to my back and apparently any senior mage is able to immediately sense it's location. Obviously, this makes me a very big target. Especially since I am out in the middle of nowhere.

"All I am concerned about is getting to Farragut. We can stop off at Chalman and Arrius. Hopefully scouts in the vicinity can tell us if there's any problems on the road ahead." I said.
"And if there is?" Seren asked - doubtful that even I had to the prowess to stand up against a small army.
"Then we'll deal with them as we get to them. Besides. Unlike the past several months, there's more than two of us this time"

And for reasons that still concerned me, this kept putting Seren at unease. I wasnt sure why but she always felt uneasy around anyone but me. Behind me were several veteran soldiers who volunteered to protect me. Mive, a considerably powerful mage who enjoyed playing with fire just a little too much; Captain Tagerie, A warrior of great renown who wielded a very powerful two handed sword. I'm fairly certain that it's infused with magicka, as I have seen several of his foes discintegrate into dust upon their untimely death.
Those are the only two that I knew by name, having stood by them in the assault on Fort Warden and then making the push through the Gate of Ni-Mohk.

Still, we had a good plan and I was fairly certain we'd at least get to Chalman Keep without too much difficulty.

We don't go there.

Hack and Slash. Hack and Slash. Hack and slash all day long.

With Worm Cultists oozing their way through the Skyrim countryside, Seren and I had been asked to assist in dealing with them on account of good reports from our journey in Morrowind and Shadowfens.

As such, we had spent the past several days hacking and slashing our way through them trying to find their leader with minimal success. Whenever we had a solid lead, he'd slip away to our extreme frustration.

For the moment, we are camping out in one of the eastern forests of The Rift, a small fire burning between Seren and I, it's meagre warmth more than satisfying our aching limbs.
"According to local reports, there's another sect of them holed up in an old tomb located roughly around here" Seren said, pointing to a map with her dagger. I shuffled around the fire to be beside her so that I could see.

I know the exact place that she's talking about.
"We aren't going there" I say quietly.
"Why not?" Seren asks in surprise. "It's a solid lead. Better than anything we've had for the past three days."
"And we aren't going there" I say quietly but more firmly. Seren doesn't accept my answer.
"Why?" She asks.
"Because" I say, turning my eyes to the fire. As much as I try to hide it, Seren catches my expression and she knows what I am talking about.
"It's because of her, isn't it?" She asks quietly.
"I don't want to talk about it" I say simply. Seren's rage explodes.

"My gods, you ALWAYS say that! Who is this damn woman you refuse to speak of!" She yells angrily. Several birds fly from the trees in terror. Seren is pointing her finger angrily at me. I remain as stoic as before.
"Why! Why in Oblivion do you always do this! You keep shutting up like a clam at the mention of her! You havent once said it, but I know your comparing me to her in everything I do! You constantly make me feel like I am inferior to her!" Seren yells angrily. Her finger may have lowered, but her face is pure anger mixed with a little hatred.

I shake my head silently. I guess I was going to have to tell Seren eventually.
"You remember how I told you right at the beginning to never say goodbye to me?" I ask, moving to sit against a tall tree.
"I do" Seren says, calming down. "What's the point?"
"I missed my one chance to say goodbye to her" I say quietly.
"Who? This woman I keep getting compared to?" Seren asks, her anger rising slowly.
"That woman you keep asking about. Her name is actually Serenvia" I say slowly.
A wind blows through the camp, quickly extingushing the small fire as if on cue. It seems like the powers of Aetherius itself wants this discussion to cease. Seren immediately recognises the connection between the name and her own.
"Tell me. Tell me everything. And don't lie. Because if you do, I will cut you" She says, sharpening her dagger on a stone. I sigh and shake my head.
"Telling you the whole story is pointless. I'll tell you what happened at that tomb."
"I'm listening" Seren says with an icey tone to her voice.

"The local Thane had been informed by the locals that the place had become haunted by something dangerous. More than the usual spookiness caused by myths and legends. Rather than sending a few members of the town watch, he sent us two. He asked us just to put the fears to rest. Make sure it was locked up nice and tight and to ensure the dead were resting comfortably and not up and about and walking around angrily looking for something alive to kill. Well, we got there and as it turns out, it wasnt locked and the dead were walking around."
"Oh?" Seren asked, now more interested in the tale than her previous anger.
"A necromancer had taken up residence. And a pretty powerful one at that. We had no problem despatching the dead he had risen. The biggest problem was the necromancer himself and his knowledge of the dead. Now that I look back on it, he may have even been related to the worm cult that we are tracking today." I continue, shifting my leg.

"We had a great level of difficulty in defeating him. Well, when I say that, all it took was a blade through the chest to bring him down. The hardest part was defeating the undead faster than he could raise them. Anyway, it wasnt until we were safely back outside that I discovered that my companion had been hit in the leg by an arrow. She had known about it but didn't want to make me worried."

"But you were worried, naturally" Seren said.
"Yes. I took her to the best healers I could find. But none of them could treat the poison that had entered her body through the arrow."
"What?" Seren asked.
"I did everything I could. Searched every tome in Mournhold and consulted with everyone I knew about the lesser known poisons. But as they all said, you can't cure the poison contracted by Jarrin Root. It was a miracle that she had managed to survive for five days."

"She didn't die honourably. She died in bed with her hand on her sword" I said bitterly. Seren had looked away now. In her time with me, Seren had learned what it meant to die honourably. To die in a good battle or to have died doing something right.
"I'm going to bed" I said, moving to the other side of the tree, out of sight of Seren. I still couldnt get over the fact of how they both looked so alike. And I couldnt let Seren see me cry.