Sloan's Story part 46 - The Daughter of Melissa Shae
Entry posted by jfraser in Sloan's story
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“I have some daggers you can use. Don’t worry, you will like them.” Delphine opened a display case and pulled out a pair of ebony daggers. “These things will slice through metal. Although try not to actually slice metal. Also, I got you all licenses for armor and weapons. The local guards have been too afraid to challenge your orc companions so far, but that won’t last. We don’t need any trouble. Did you get the horn?”
Sloan shook her head. “No. Sian got there ahead of us.” She smiled as Aithne pulled out the note. “She left a note, though.”
“I am…perplexed.” Delphine set the daggers on the table in front of Sloan, took the note, scanned it, then snorted. “’This time,’ eh? I assume that means she is from the future, like you two. Maybe that’s why she went there first – maybe the past version of me managed to get the horn before her.” A pause. “If that’s the case, though, why didn’t she come to me straight away? If she knew me before, she would know I am a Blade and am sworn to serve the Dragonborn.”
Sloan shrugged. “The only thing I know about Sian so far is that she is unpredictable. I suggest we focus on finding ways to help her instead of trying to find her. Assuming she does remember, we know she knows about you, so I imagine she will find her way to you sooner or later.”
“Didn't you tell me she had been captured and forced to work in a mine last time? How can we be sure that won't happen again?”
"That's a good point. But the evidence at this point suggests she has help, so hopefully whoever is with her can keep that from happening."
Delphine tapped the table with a finger. “I suppose. I guess the best way to help is to learn as much as we can about the dragons and who might be behind them. I suspect it has to do with the Thalmor, but we can’t be sure.”
Sloan smiled. “Why don’t we ask them?”
Delphine smiled back. “I was thinking the same thing.”
Aithne blinked. “Um…I don’t know much about the Thalmor, but aren’t they…”
She paused and Sloan grinned at her and supplied, “Untrustworthy?”
“Monsterous?” added Delphine.
“Callous?”
“Malicious?”
“Vicious?”
“Disagreeable?”
“Despicable?”
“Contemptible?”
Aithne cleared her throat. “Dangerous?”
Delphine nodded. “Oh yes. Very.”
“I was scared out of my wits every time I had to deal with them,” Sloan agreed.
“Well…then how do we ask them about the dragons?”
Sloan exchanged a look with Delphine, then smiled at her sister. “Indirectly. I’ll pay their embassy a little visit and poke around a bit. We can add ‘fastidious’ to the list of words for them – if they know about the dragons, they will have detailed records somewhere.”
Delphine gave Sloan an approving nod. “I was going to ask if you would do that.”
“I…” Aithne looked a little poleaxed. “Um. Be careful.”
“Oh I shall, believe me. I have infiltrated that place a dozen times…well, eleven, I guess – the last time, the place was virtually empty – and those were the most petrifying hours of my life. But if things haven't changed too much, I will hopefully be able to procure a way to go there whenever we want.” Sloan glanced at Delphine. “I’ll need an invitation to one of their soirees. And some nobles' clothes.”
Delphine nodded. “I have already reached out to my contacts. If you head to Solitude, everything should be prepared by the time you reach it.” She glanced at Aithne. “Oh. Unless you get there today. Then you might have to wait a few days.”
“No, I need to establish myself as a new money up-and-comer or they’ll just kick me out as soon as I get there. At best. I’ll head to Whiterun and make a few wealthy connections, then travel with them to the Embassy.”
“That is a good plan. I have some outfits here that should be good enough to get you started and you can purchase more in the city.”
“Yes.” Sloan smiled. “Nothing like a good shopping trip for bonding!”
“Um…” Aithne glanced from one to the other. “You will need a man to accompany you. Do you want to take Merks with you? He is smart and capable.”
“That…is a good point.” Sloan considered. “If you think he is up to it, it would be best to have someone who knows what’s going on.”
“I’ll tell him. He…won’t be happy, but I’ll tell him it’s either that or I drop him back off at the college. In the meantime, what should I do? To help?”
Sloan shrugged. “Kill dragons, I suppose. Even though they won’t stay dead for long, we need to keep their numbers as low as possible for as long as possible. As a bonus, that will be a great way to make money – dragon hide, meat, teeth, and bones will likely be worth a fortune.”
Delphine nodded. “Also, you’re with the College of Winterhold, aren’t you? If you can look through their records for anything dragon related, that would be a big help. They have one of the largest libraries in the world, but few have access to it.”
Aithne nodded. “I have been doing research on them but haven’t found much of use.” She blinked. “That reminds me, last time you visited us in the College. You were looking for information about a…a Shout for the Dragonborn. I think it was called Dragonrend? Does that sound familiar?”
Delphine shook her head. “I have not heard that term. Sounds like I was making some progress, though! Did you have any information on it?”
“No.” Aithne shook her head. “The Arcaneum has an extensive section on dragons but, it turns out, precious little useful information. I have read all of it three times, and the only things I have learned were that some group of rebels fought the head dragon, named Alduin - who is absolutely terrifying in person, by the way - at the top of the Throat of the World and came out victorious. I cannot begin to imagine how. Alduin disappeared, assumed killed, although there is no mention of his body, and the rest of the dragons became permanently killable at that point.” A pause. “Well, until now.”
Delphine’s eyes narrowed. “The Throat of the Word, eh? It can’t be a coincidence that the Greybeards established their monastery there. That bears further investigation, but that place is even harder to get into than the College. Legally, anyway.” She sighed. “I suppose if our enigmatic Dragonborn ever shows up, she will be able to tell us more about the place.”
“What about your friend?” Sloan gestured at nothing in particular. “I expected him to be here with you, but I haven’t seen him.”
Delphine frowned. “What friend? Orgnar is upstairs, but he’s…”
“Not him. Last time you were with an older man. A Nord.” Sloan thought back. “I do not believe you ever said his name. Aithne, do you remember him?”
Aithne shook her head. “Only Delphine came to us. Although you did keep saying ‘we found,’ or ‘we learned,’ so it sounds like you were working with someone else.”
“This is frustrating.” Delphine laughed. “I need to stop trying to figure out what future me knew and just start learning those things for myself.”
Sloan hesitated, but decided this was her best chance to know, and asked, “Since we are talking about people from before, do you happen to know someone named Kira?”
Delphine stilled and her eyes narrowed. “How do you know Kira?”
“She was the leader of the Tong I was in last time. That Delphine told me she taught Kira all she knew.”
“This Delphine did the same. Kira is the head of the Dark Brotherhood.”
Sloan nodded. “Of course she is.”
“I would not recommend seeking her out, if that is your plan.”
Sloan shook her head. “Oh no, I am staying as far away from her as possible. If all goes well, she will never even know I exist this time.”
“That is wise. I know only one person who could best her.”
“You?” Aithne guessed.
Delphine laughed. “No, I have become old and she has surpassed me.” She cast a meaningful look at Sloan. “Only your mother, if she is your mother, is Kira’s equal.”
Sloan lifted her eyebrows. “So you don’t think she is my mother?”
Delphine shrugged. “There is no doubt you both carry her genes in some way. You look and move very much like her. But if you are her daughter, the timing is strange. She only had one daughter that I know of, and you cannot be her. She would have been about the same age as you, and it would be odd for you to have been born around the same time without anyone knowing about you.”
“I…” This news shook Sloan to her core. All this time, she had believed Melissa was her mother, had staked her burgeoning new identity on being Melissa Shae’s daughter. Her mind wheeled as it tried to reprocess all she knew about herself.
Aithne’s voice broke through Sloan’s scrambling thoughts. “What do you mean, ‘she would have been the same age’? Did something happen to her?”
“Yes, she died. She and her childhood friend ran off to get married against Melissa’s wishes, so Melissa had her assassins hunt them down. They died on the pass between Hammerfell and Skyrim.” Delphine shook her head. “Of the twenty assassins sent to kill them, only two survived. Trendil was nearly as gifted as her mother.”
Sloan’s body jerked as the shock of this revelation passed through it. Her brain scrambled to switch paths from ‘Melissa might not be your mother’ to, “Wait…Trendil? She’s…she’s dead?!”
Aithne cursed as Delphine glanced from one to the other, nodding. “Yes. Did you know her?”
“I…yes. She was the most amazing swordfighter I have ever seen.” Sloan shook her head, trying to get her brain to process this information. “I was really counting on her help again.”
“Swordfighter? She was an assassin. As you well know, swords are not the usual tools of that trade.”
“What?” Sloan shook her head. “The Trendil we knew was a soldier for the Stormcloaks and was amazing with swords. I got no indication she had anything to do with any of the Tongs.”
“Um…” Aithne cleared her throat. “What is a Tong? Is that a kind of school for swordsmen? Because, as I understand it, that’s what Melissa does – teaches at a swordsman’s school.”
“No, a Tong is what they call guilds for assassins.” Delphine took her turn to shake her head. “As far as I know, Melissa has never run any kind of school, especially one for swordsmen – she hated the things. She said she found them clumsy.”
They sat for a time just looking at each other, but the conflicting realities failed to coalesce into something understandable.
Finally, Sloan sighed and said, “I assume this is some difference between our Skyrim and this one. There have been a fair number of them so far. But this one…hurts the most. I was really counting on Trendil to help us again.” She gave a soft laugh. “She’s who I was looking for in Windhelm when we crossed paths. No wonder I couldn’t find her!”
Even as she said the words, a memory bubbled to the surface – the Stormcloak recruiter gave Sloan both an irritated scowl and a valuable piece of information as she approached: “I told you, we don’t take women! This is exactly why – you’re clearly too stupid to understand what I’m saying.”
He had recognized her. Or someone who looked like her. But if Trendil was dead, who else could it have been? Sian came briefly to mind, but Sloan discarded that idea as unlikely. Which left no one else, unless there was yet another doppelganger out there. Who had also happened to try to join the Stormcloaks, for some reason.
The more she examined it, the more only one scenario seemed to make sense. Sloan thought about sharing her growing suspicion but decided to hold onto it – she had nothing further to back up the flicker of hope that accompanied it. Instead, she shook her head to clear it and put the focus back on the present; if Trendil was alive, she would have to continue to fend for herself. For now.
Edited by jfraser
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