Altruism 14 - The Mission

Altruism 14 - The Mission

Mar 17, 2022

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'Treatise on Altruism, Kindness and Compassion. Eldaline Alkinour
Plagiarising or attempting to plagiarise any part of this text carries a sentence of being immediately exploded.

Conclusion of volume 1:
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Other adventures persisted for me as I travelled with my best scout who at the time of writing still has floppy ears. The Mace of Molag Bal came back again even though we had cleverly left it in the box from where we had taken the sword we were finding for our deluded friend in Old Hroldan.
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We went to visit Melka, one of my most valuable contacts in the Reach for destroying evidence.
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My scout was frightened because Melka is a hagraven and thus speaks openly of her desire to eat us both.
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I like the hagravens. As far as I can understand, they are the only people in Skyrim doing exactly what they want to, for nobody else's glory or benefit.'
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"I am still frightened, Second Archivist." said Aralina.
"And anyway," Eldaline explained. "If you prefer to talk to people who say they don't want to eat you, there are plenty of them to choose from. I am sure some of them are telling the truth."
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'But as much as Melka promised to keep the Mace, it returned the next morning.'
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"We have returned." Eldaline said. "Hello, you poor little ghost."
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"Hjalti? Is that you?" Said the ghost of Old Hroldan Inn.
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"You call everybody Hjalti." said Eldaline. "I am sorry."
"But Hjalti." The ghost said. "I cannot see you."
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"I do not know what you intend to do with this rusty old thing, but I warn you - Raw ectoplasm is one of my favourite things to eat. So don't try anything."
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"He's gone." She said. And it was true. So was the sword.
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Eldaline stayed in Tiber Septim's room. Aralina was too frightened, but Eldaline's mother had stolen Tiber Septim's totem, Eldaline had travelled thousands of leagues to prevent the worship of Tiber Septim, and had used the Eye of Magnus to travel hundreds of years in time to pull Tiber Septim's leg, but that is another story, so why not, she thought, stay in Tiber Septim's room. And anyway, the idea that the same wooden bed had survived since the second era without going mouldy and collapsing was a massive nonsense.
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But the night was undisturbed except by strange dreams.
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The Inn at Old Hroldan was full of animal heads but this was to be expected of an inn in the middle of a ruined town.
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In fact, Eldaline had a better night's sleep than in months.
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Aralina occasionally wandered out of her own room to patrol the inn.
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At least, in Eldaline's dream, she did.
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And the night was still and nothing was watching her.
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Sometimes the moonlight fell into the room.
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But a short time after this point, Eldaline and Aralina vanished, and reappeared three days later in Haafingar.
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And in Haafingar, hidden just between the road and the Karth River, there was a little Stormcloak camp, where Aureus Moridus, brilliant inspector of the Penitus Oculatus, still thought he was a Nord called Varic.
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"Hey, you."

"Hey, me?" said Varic.
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"You've been making waves in Haafingar. Don't mind Istar's temper. He's impressed. I can tell." said the Stormcloak.

"Hmph." said Varic.
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"It's true! He was so impressed that he wants you to have the honour of the next big mission."

"Really? What's that?"
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"Talos preserve us!" cried another Stormcloak. "He can't mean the Dragon Bridge job!"

"But I wanted that one!" said a third.
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"Too bad. Istar thinks Varic's the only man for the job. Up the road, in the middle of the town, the Penitus Oculatus have got a commander who's given us a headache one too many times."
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"He's as good as dead." said Varic.
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And at this outpost in Dragon Bridge, Commander Andalius Cosori was being notified of his finest inspector's progress. Their conversation was utterly necessary to both of them and definitely not for the purpose of dramatic exposition.
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"To recapitulate, instead of infiltrating Eldaline's office and gaining her confidence and extracting the secrets of the Imperial Orrery, as per his instructions, Aureus has gone to dinner with General Tullius, the Emperor, the Emperor's cousin, and my wife."
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"That is, more or less, the situation, as I understand it." said Luridius Amavo.
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"And now he has gone to stay at the holiday villa. With my wife."

"In short, yes."
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"I'm going to take my horse out for some exercise." said Andalius.

"You're not going to go anywhere stupid, are you?" said Amavo.
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"Don't worry. I'll try to find somewhere clever."

Andalius took the first path northwards up into the hills. The air, the snow, and even the distant waterfall, seemed colder and duller than before.
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I have not said much about him. But Andalius was less decisive in his personal life than his professional one.Decisions of a personal nature had always been left to his wife to make. She took an interest in such things.
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As such, he didn't know if he should turn up at the Penitus Oculatus' holiday villa or not.
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He also didn't know that his indecision was making him very hard to assassinate.
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Not by an old enemy. By one of his best men, the man Andalius thought was with his wife, and who currently thought he was a Nord called Varic.
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To be continued

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