22. Sermon

22. Sermon

Jan 08, 2023

Eldaline and Aralina are still refusing to leave Whiterun because there was a dragon outside.  In the last chapter, Eldaline found a way to contact her Embassy.

Today would be a magnificent sermon. Thought Heimskr. He had spent all morning tidying up in preparation. It was true that at the moment his only congregation was two Thalmor, but it showed that the power of his words and the zeal of his soul was making them jumpy.

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And to his delight, a crowd of women had encircled them, to defend him from their tyranny.

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"Excuse me." said a young woman.

Eldaline asked, "Can I help you?"

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"We, er, would like to make a complaint. Can we, er, do that with you?"

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"Njada, what's come over you? She has to listen to you, and don't take No for an answer." said the Dunmer in the group. "Tell her the Thing."

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"Well, it's, er," Njada began again, and hid shyly behind her lovely iron shield. "it's very bad, we think Carlotta Valentina worships Talos."

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"Well, that is not what I expected you to say." said Eldaline.

Aralina said, "Are you sure? Be sure to ask them if they are sure, Second Archivist Eldaline, they might not be."

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"Oh yes, quite sure..."

"... Everywhere she goes, Talos this, Talos that, Talos smite all elves..."

"... Everybody she talks to, 'Did you know Talos is a god', obviously, that's not me saying it, that's her, that's me, saying it, as her."

"... We just thought, we should tell somebody, and we thought you of all people'd want to know."

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Eldaline looked between them. "And whom should I thank for such a report?"

"We are the Concerned Residents' Association." said the Dunmer.

"I see."

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"We were formed very recently." a lady explained. "Just the other day, in fact, in the market square."

"Yes?" said Eldaline.

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"We are all respectable taxpayers, and didn't see why we should have to put up with Carlotta Valentina any longer. I mean, Carlotta Valentina being a heretic, any longer, and of course, other crimes, like people blocking the street with the carts. Alfhild Battle-Born had a purple shirt stolen from her washing line. Whiterun's overrun with crime."

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"Your disapproval of this blasphemy is not shared by your Jarl." said Eldaline, slowly standing upright on the bench.

"Oh, don't worry about him, he's an idiot." the curly-haired woman said.

"Hey." said the grey-haired woman.

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"Second Archivist Eldaline, I know the woman they are speaking of!" said Aralina. "She has a stall in the market. She is very confused, I do not believe her capable of the complicated crime of blasphemy."

"Thank you, Flopsy. I believe I understand the problem. Some very unfortunate people find themselves friendless and despised as soon as they open their mouths."

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"Ahem," Heimskr commenced. "HARK! THE THUNDER IN THE CLOUDS IS THE UNYIELDING ROAR OF THE DRAGON OF THE NORTH AS HE RETURNS TO PURGE THE UNWORTHY, UNBELIEVING AND FALSE OF HEART FROM THE FACE OF HIS FAVOURED HOMELAND."

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"QUIET!" Eldaline called. "For some might speak too much, or too loudly, and many are simply unable to prevent insults from spewing forth into ordinary conversation, for they are not very bright. It hardly speaks for the prudence of mortals, that those of ill intent will often present themselves with airy confidence, particularly those trained in the sphere of diplomacy and other noble offices. I will delineate your available options."

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"FOR SKYRIM, ALWAYS BELOVED OF TALOS THE MIGHTY, HAS ABANDONED THE NINTH DIVINE AND RUN INTO THE BARBED EMBRACE OF PERFIDIOUS ELVES AND THE INDIGNITY OF THEIR POISONED TERMS..."

"SHUT UP, HEIMSKR, THE ELF IS GIVING US OUR OPTIONS!" said the curly red-haired woman.

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"You might well accuse the human Carlotta of the crime of blasphemy, but I have given the Jarl my word that I will conduct no official arrests in his city, and in any case, what would you do, were I to discover that she has never worshipped a thing besides her own reflection and imagined persecution by those who envy her?"

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"We would be back where we started." said a warrior woman.

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"Not quite. You would be back where you started, and Carlotta's insistence that all of Whiterun is in love with her or else wildly jealous would be absolutely vindicated, and she would be rewarded with the sympathy of every halfwit to cross paths with her."

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"Then, by the Nine, what do we do?" demanded the smallest woman in the mob.

"One of us will do her an injury if we have to listen to another lament about the burden of her loveliness." said the one called Njada.

The Dunmer pointed out, "And then the effect will be the same."

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"There are two ways to unravel a person's semblance of goodness. Do it yourself, and risk discovery, or let them do it alone. Undermine their faith in their competence and worth, and watch as they attempt to prove themselves in ways in which they can never succeed. Or else, they do succeed, and were right all along, and you can count yourself honoured to have met such a magnificent being. Either way, I do not see the problem."

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The warrior-woman appeared taken aback by the suggestion. "Undermine her? Make her doubt herself? That cannot be done."

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"There is a way to do everything, if you can be bothered to think about it. Now, go about your business. I have to think."

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The various women of Whiterun returned to their pursuits. Whether these were pathetic or not is entirely subjective.

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"Hello, Heimskr, we are finished now. The floor is yours." said Eldaline. "Just pretend I'm not here."

Aralina said, "What heretical things are you going to be preaching about today, Heimskr?"

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"Oh," Eldaline remembered. "And what is that building those red-headed women went into?"

"Jorrvaskr, home of the descendants of Ysgramor's Companions, who drove the elven scourge from our shores!"

"Thank you, I will have a look at it."

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Heimskr resolved to try harder tomorrow, with a smaller congregation.

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"Do you really intend to help the Concerned Residents' Association with the matter of the vegetable woman, Second Archivist?" Aralina enquired, as they sat in the sun in the Marsh District market.

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"Might do, don't know." said Eldaline. "I was a bit bored. Let's go into this bookshop and laugh at people."

"I fear there will be few people inside to laugh at."

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Aralina was right; there were three floors containing books of all kinds, nothing of course, to the Archives of Alinor, but a good bookshop anyway.

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Some of the books were so old and rare that they had shiny purple protective covers.

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But there were no people, only the local schoolteacher and her son, who rented the place.

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"Perhaps there would be more people in here if they didn't frighten them away with terrible dragon sculptures." Eldaline suggested.

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"Second Archivist, although I disagree with Heimskr's blasphemous moral explanation for events, the number of dragon statues and carvings has always irritated and unnerved me, and I do rather think that the people of Skyrim have brought it upon themselves. If I were a dragon, I might think that I was entirely welcome here."

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Mistress Gray-Mane arrived, practically unprovoked. "I have a book about the history of dragon wood-carving."

Eldaline said, "Good for you."

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"Ignar, sell the Elf a book. Go and find a good book, and sell it to the Elf, like I taught you."

"You know how much you have been paying me to supervise those human young." said Eldaline. "How dare you attempt to sell me anything?"

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But Mistress Aervu Gray-Mane, like all teachers, was quite incapable of teaching her own children anything, so Ignar sighed, and did not find a book.

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"I heard that the book shop is shortly to be closed down, Second Archivist." said Aralina, in the reading room.

"Oh, yes?"

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"Yes! I was attempting to buy back my golden tiara from the merchant, and overheard a conversation between a Redguard lady and her hatchling."

"What transpired, Flopsy?"

"The small human asked if she might help her mother with her shopping. The adult human's reply was bewildering."

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"She said that No, she could not help, not unless she could become a great writer and publish a new novel that would draw in the crowds and keep the book shop open. Or else, she could go away."

"I wonder if it is the same small Redguard who asked me to blow the place up." said Eldaline.

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Eldaline wondered this only a short while. It was an hour or two into her sound sleep that she began to dream of libraries and books.

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It was inside a tall tower that rose halfway to the sky. It had been filled with books before it had been filled with armies. Eldaline looked down upon what remained.

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This was a hopeless fantasy of her dream. In reality she had been confined to the library by the Moth Priests when the Legionnaires ran into the tower.

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As it was proved thereafter, there was a great distance between a tyrannical overseer, appointed by conquering despots, and a tragic wretch who had gainsaid the Empire.

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It was decided upon by the number of soldiers she had left.

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A cloak flapped sharply and the noise travelled up the tower.

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The White Gold Tower was blackened by fire and the inner library lay in devastation. Eldaline opened her eyes onto the wooden ceiling of the Wayhouse, but she was still asleep and could not move.

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continues

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