First of all I�ll thank you all for your nice feedback, and for being patient with me for not posting very regularly.....sorry to say real life is intruding on my writing...
But here�s an update anyway.....nothing very fancy but it takes her a bit further on her destined path....
enjoy!
The first thing I had to do was to look up General Artorius again and show him the registration-forms I got from Imsin. Whether he was pleased to see me again or not was hard to judge; his scarred face revealed no particular emotions.
First thing on the agenda was to provide me with some armour and weaponry. The deal was I would get more fancy utensils each time I raised in rank, a fair thing I reckoned.
I started out as a Trooper because of my already proven skills; apparently The Legion had gotten some records of mine already. I never stopped wondering how the information-flow on this continent actually worked; it seemed as there was some pre-destined path that I was supposed to follow; each time I was ordered to do something or to meet someone, it was already known by the people involved!
The appropriate armour for a Trooper in The Legion was a steel Imperial style, and fairly heavy. I tried to wear the cuirass and almost panicked, because I just could not make a move wearing it and even less handle a sword or shield. General Artorius looked at me and shook his head; of course this armour would not be suitable for a woman, with that much less strength, and so he sighed and told the officer at the Armoury to find me something else.
�Now Trooper Catraso, report back to me after you�ve got your uniform and we�ll get you your quarters,� General Artorius saluted his subordinate and went back to his office.
The Armoury-officer gave me a somewhat queer smile, looked at me very thoroughly and then presented me with a Studded Leather Cuirass, Imperial style,
�Try this one on, miss,� he said, still undressing me with his looks. I shrugged and put the cuirass on, and almost panicked again....The leather was thick and absolutely motionless, I couldn�t even get my arms in front of me and it was so tight , my breathing was affected. I tore it off with a groan;
�I can�t breathe in this one,� I stated, panting, �Please find me something else.�
�Now there lassie,� he said in a superior tone, �It�s not for you to state the rules here, and demanding some special treatment.� He then turned away from me, and began poking among the different types of cuirasses lying on a shelf behind him.
I was getting slightly angry now; this was no voluntarily action from me; I was ordered to go here and that for a certain purpose, yet unknown to me. So I found it very unfair of the officer to treat me in such a humiliating manner.
At last he presented me with an Imperial Newtscale cuirass; it looked hard but was lined and seamed with soft netch-leather and seemed both lighter and smoother than the other one. I tried it on and it fit perfectly; also I had very good mobility in it. Apart from the cuirass I got a pair of Netch-leather boots, a helmet also made from Netch-leather and some soft leather gloves to protect my hands from being hurt when handling the sword, and a steel longsword, newly sharpened and cleaned.
I thanked him and hurried out of the Armoury. I definitely didn�t like the man back there; his staring eyes and superior manners didn�t appeal to me at all.
Back with General Artorius I felt better. The aged officer had a friendly attitude towards me; he maybe didn�t exactly like the fact that I was a woman but never rubbed it in my face; in fact he treated me like any recruit, at least that�s what I thought before I went into his office all armoured up and with the longsword hanging by my side.
Getting sleeping quarters for me was not that easy; the General was worried about how his men would react having a woman living amongst them, especially as most of them had been without female acquaintances for quite some time. He therefore put me up in the storage-building, a rather spacious Redoran-style house, not far from the big main-building where the dining-rooms, the kitchen and the leisure-rooms were situated.
I didn�t mind sleeping next to the foodstuffs and the other army-gear that was stored in that building; I got a small room of my own with a lockable door, inside there was a bed with a fairly new dark-red blanket and at least four big pillows. Beside the bed there was a small cupboard with a jug and a pitcher on top of it, and covering one of the walls there was a bookshelf, almost filled with various specimens of literature. Now that surprised me, until the General said:
�This is the room I normally use when I need to get away from the daily life, when I need to contemplate and think about other things than warfare and other military matters. I have always been a huge friend of books,� he smiled at me, �Not so common amongst military officers, really.�
I found this very appealing though, and it raised my disposition toward the General quite a bit. I asked if I could read some of the books in my spare time and he nodded, with a kind of odd smile on his face.
�It�s rather late now, Trooper Catraso,� he said, �The supper will be all finished, so why don�t you go into the kitchen on your way back to your quarters, tell the people there I sent you and ask them for something to eat...Now reveille is tomorrow at 0600 sharp, breakfast will be served at 0630! ..Dismissed!�
I walked down to the kitchen and asked politely for some supper. A lady worked down there, a Dunmeri woman in her late fifties, tall, dark with a sad look in her face. She provided me with some bread and an omelette from Kwama-eggs. A cup of hot hackle-lo tea accomplished the meal, and I thanked her heartily for her trouble.
�No trouble at all, little lady,� she said, �I�m only happy to meet another woman; it has been a long time since I�ve met one here at the fort.�
I realized that she wanted to have a chat with me, since she poured herself a cup of tea and sat down at the table opposite to me.
She told me her name was Lalatia Vabdas and she originally lived in Gnisis, but after she became a widow half a year ago she started to work as a cook and kitchen maid at the training camp at Fort Buckmoth. For the time being she stayed at her daughter�s house in Ald�ruhn. Her late husband had worked at the Gnisis Egg-mine, but after its closure the couple was near starvation so the poor man once went into the mine in order to collect some fresh eggs; unfortunately he was caught by a notorious legionnaire and foully slain.
�I reckon it was their bad conscience that made them give me this job,� she grumbled, sipping her tea.
I felt uneasy about this killing of a starving man just trying to support his family, I regarded it as cold-blooded murder, and the feeling that there was something more to this wouldn�t leave my mind.
It was quite late as I unlocked the door to my quarters and flung myself on the bed after putting all my armour-gear in a corner.....So I fell into sleep, not even undressing...
�Serene, Serene of Cyrodiil! The first part of your mission has now begun, be a good soldier and improve your skills. Talk with the golden-haired lady in the castle, follow her orders. Before this year has ended you will be elsewhere, in a place of despair and agony, but you are to be the pathfinder, the guiding star, the prophesied saviour......Serene, I will watch over you, I will guide you.....trust me!�
Azura! It had been a long time since she�d visited me in my dreams, so I sat up in bed, shivering from a strange coldness, yet I could feel sweat running down my back and between my breasts. Trembling from the experience, I wrapped the blanket tight around me, lay down and let the tears run until I at last fell into a dreamless sleep.