What an enjoyable chapter!

But first, let's get the nits out of the way:
The first sentence is a little hard to read - are you missing 'it' after so? If so, then the sentence would read as a fragment. It just feels incomplete on a couple of levels. And it's epitaph.
Looks like the second opening quote (after offhandedly) got scared off by the black winged ones.
Another sentence fragment, methinks.
This is more of a personal thing than anything else, but starting two sentences this way to one side . . . to the other side is just a little disruptive for me.

Okay, nitpicking done. Now for the fun stuff.

Ah, irony! Isn't that the truth, though? How many brave souls who survived great dangers were felled by a tick?

Loved the creaky bridge. A great way to discourage those Jehovah's Witnesses from banging on your front door!

As soon as the sylph appeared, I recalled the conversation you and I had about summoning "good" creatures (Aedra?) as opposed to the usual monsters and daedra.

And a cross-dresser! Loved how Aela was presented. It made me think of homosexual men in the Plains Indian cultures, as well as the shamans in NE Asia. Historically, shamans in Manchuria, Korea, Mongolia, etc tend to be women, but there have been a few male shamans as well. Your description of Aela certainly brought those two elements together in a very harmonious manner in my mind. And the fact that she found those despised mudcrabs a nice home (even cleared it of vampires!) just raises my estimation of her several notches, as that is very typical of Buddhism.

I had to stifle a laugh at this: So two of the four Musketeers are still getting into trouble! Teresa, are they really ordinary cats?

And dinner sounds so delicious! Wish I was there on that island (Mudcrab Island, perhaps?) with them!

There was some wonderful description in that piece, it wasn't long enough to damage the flow at all but it was really vivid and really worked for me. The witch is quite a character too, you certainly manage to original people to fill your story and back them up with plenty depth.

That the bears talk of Teresa is interesting and a nice touch, it shows them as more than animals and that she has effects beyond what she guessed. The crows though - that's more interesting as I recall they haven't had much to do with her so far. Perhaps they're just gossips...

Anyway I'm interested to see how this goes, they're far more equals than Teresa and Mordant were and that both shows how Teresa's developed but might also bring out another side in her, especially as it's been a while since she did anything particularly 'witchy' (well other than some potions which rather take a back seat against the archery competition and meeting people in the Fighters Guild.

Mudcrab invasion is not a good way to go.

The character of Aela has me intrigued, a man-witch who kills vampires for mudcrabs is not something I have ever come across.

Then there is Ungarion. Would this be Ungarion the merchant?

How interesting! A wonderful description of Aela, her home and island. You simply have to tell us a lot more of this tale about vampires and crabs and Ungarion! A delightful mix of the mundane (walleye fillets and copper cookware) with the mysterious. You also served up a nice mixture of forresty goodness and witchcraft - how Teresa is that? I enjoyed the cats and hope to see more of them. Oh, I hope you linger with this one for quite some time!

Nit? 'Yet that body was not made flesh, nor of anything substantial at all.'
Did you want perhaps, 'made of flesh?

SPEW! Teresa's inner thoughts - she never does anything halfway !!!



BWAAAHAAA !! Aela is definitely an intriguing character!



I love this, Teresa prepared for any unforseen occasion: bottle of Tamika's on hand, ROFL !!!


You have captured my interest with this new turn in Teresa's storyline!! Awesome Write !!

What an enthralling episode. Aela makes quite an entrance with her summoned sylph and creaky bridge. Then her home is as warm and welcoming as she is.

"Why the bears of course," Aela said offhandedly, "and the ravens. They all speak of you."

I hope Aela plans to tell Teresa all about it. It seems that there might be some Morcant-style goodness coming!

What was Aela doing on Bawnwatch Island?

I wonder, too. I hope Teresa gets to spend some time with Aela, she is fascinating. I mean, she and Ungarion found a castle for the mudcrabs. A castle.

haute ecole rider: Nits picked. Is any cat ordinary?

Gay and especially Transgendered magicians are a regular part of not only those cultures you mentioned, but are fairly universal. They can be also be found in North and South America, Siberia, Polynesia, India etc... In Europe there was the Ergi of Scandinavia, Scythia had the Enarees, the Greeks had the the Semnotatoi of Hekate, and the priests of Hercules wore dresses. Then of course the Galli of Kybele were transplanted from Turkey to Rome during the Second Punic War (and took credit for the Roman victory ).

Deities themselves being transgendered is certainly nothing strange either. Ardhanari is both the male and female principles of Shiva and Shakti combined. There is Kybele's son Attis who died and was rose three days later as her daughter Atthis. Hermes learned magic by becoming a priestess of Aphrodite. Hermetic magic (probably the most popular and well known tradition of Western magic) was the result. Odin learned the seid from Freja, and sometimes walked the Earth as an old woman. There are just too many examples of Queer magic to list. I got the term "Two Spirit" itself from the Native American traditions. It is a translation an Ojibwe word that has become quite common in modern usage.


Olen: I have been portraying Raven/Crow as the same spirit guide (though technically not so IRL), so Teresa has been getting visits by both since the story began. However, I did go back and change it to ravens to be more clear.

We will be seeing more Witchy stuff for the next few posts, for the time that Teresa remains at Bawnwatch.


hazmick: I got the inspiration for the crabs from watching The Pacific. The island of Pavuvu was infested with crabs that would come out after dark. The Marines would find them in everything, their boots, clothes, you name it.

Aela is not a man witch though. She is very much a she, as this next post will show. I did originally have a regular male Witch in mind, named Ursos. But he never quite clicked for me.

We will learn more of Ungarion this post as well.


Acadian: I am afraid there really is not more about the crabs and vampires. It just did not come out in the dialogue. I am surprised at how much that has grabbed hold of people's imagination. That is a good thing though.

Nit picked.


mALX: Teresa never leaves home without a bottle of Tamika's. A girl just has to be prepared for anything that might happen.


Grits: More Aela in the next few posts. I am glad you find her interesting, as I was inspired to write her after seeing your inclusion of Servilla in the JF.


Previously on Teresa of the Faint Smile: In our last episode Teresa journeyed to Bawnwatch Island, where she met a Two-Spirit Witch living there alone. Next, Teresa learns a bit more about her host.


Chapter 36.2 – The Witch of Bawnwatch Island

They ate as Magnus crept down the horizon. Teresa marveled at Aela. Except for the few physical traces that she had noted upon first meeting the Witch, she never would have guessed that the Breton had not been born female. The way the Witch sat with her knees together, walked with a gentle sway to her hips, and her every other mannerism, were completely female. Aela may not have been born a woman, but she certainly was one now, Teresa mused.

As they finished the meal, Teresa realized that she was staring, just as the other woman's eyes met hers.

"Go ahead, ask," Aela sighed. Again, she slumped her shoulders slightly.

"I'm sorry," Teresa looked down at her lap with a frown. By Mara, how could she be such a lout! Especially when it was plain how sensitive Aela was about her body. It took an effort of will for the wood elf to raise her eyes to meet those of Breton once more. "It is just that I have never met a Two-Spirit person. What made you, well, you know?"

"Change?" Aela said with a raised eyebrow. "No woman is born with a perfect body. I was just born with one less perfect than most. Thanks to magic and alchemy, many of my problems could be solved though."

"So you always felt you were a woman then?" Teresa asked.

"I always knew I was," Aela said, "in spite of how much everyone else insisted I was not."

"That is incredible," Teresa breathed. "I mean you. Knowing that about yourself, believing in yourself. I wish I had half the willpower you must have."

"Well, they say my race is possessed with an abundance of will. Or maybe it is just stubbornness." Aela's eyes twinkled with mirth. "It helps that I was born under The Lady. Now there is irony for you!"

"I'm sorry," Teresa looked down at her lap. "You must hate having to explain this to ignorant clods like me all the time. I just always thought that people like you were something from bard's tales, like dragons. I never imagined…"

"That you would meet a Two-Spirit?" Aela smiled weakly. "You sound just like an Imperial. Well you probably have met people like me. You just did not realize it. Most people do not look at me twice. They see the skirt and the long hair, and never look further. Still, there is always at least one in every crowd who notices. Like you."

"I'm sorry," Teresa repeated, feeling warmth rising in her cheeks. "I'm not a very good elf. I don't know the first thing about being an elf really. I was raised by a Nibenean in the Imperial City. I never even knew another elf until I was eight."

"That could not have been easy." Aela observed as she took a sip of wine. "Outside of the halls of academia, I know many Imperials still hold quite a bit of prejudice against elves."

"Tree-hugger!" The shout rang in Teresa's ears as the other children surrounded her. A moment later a fist buried itself into her stomach, driving the air from her lungs. She fell to the hard stones of the alley, clutching her midsection and fighting for breath. "Twig! Point-Eared Freak! Woodworm!" The taunts rose from all around, as the human children pressed in around her small, slender form…

Teresa turned away from Aela - and the image from her past - and blinked. Ever since she had begun delving into her Shadow, memories like it had been bubbling up to the surface of her mind. There were so many things she had worked hard to pretend never happened. Yet they had happened, and would no longer allow themselves to be forgotten.

"It could not have been easy for you either." Teresa looked back to the other woman. "I imagine from what you say, elves are more used to Two-Spirits. But I never heard a good thing about your folk from an Imperial, except that you are all great magicians. But that's just another reason for them to fear you. Of course they do not have much good to say about sapphics either. Just that we are all immature, selfish, and failures as women because we don't hitch our wagons to the nearest sausage and squirt out a dozen kids."

"Well then, a sapphic, elven Witch with Arimer-white skin!" Aela cocked an eyebrow as she rose to her feet and gathered up the dishes. "You are certainly no ordinary woman either. We make quite the pair of outsiders."

Teresa looked down again. Curiously, she did not find herself embarrassed this time. Standing up as well, she helped the other woman with the plates. Then she realized that among the other things, Aela had called her a Witch.

And why should she not? Teresa mused. It was true after all.

That thought brought a faint smile to her lips as she stepped beside the other woman. Again, she reveled in the sweet scent that rose from Aela's soft skin. "You are right. We do make quite a pair. But where is your friend Ungarion?"

Teresa nodded to the beds at the other end of the house. Obviously Aela did not sleep in both of them.

"Oh, he lives in Bravil." Aela explained as she took the plates to a tub filled with water and began wiping them clean. "He comes to visit sometimes. I make scrolls and potions for him to sell. Aside from salamanders, he couldn't summon a hansom!"

"Take a chance on the Warlock's Luck!" Teresa found herself exclaiming. "I saw the two of you at the tournament! He's the Altmer who runs A Warlock's Luck!"

"That is Ungarion alright," Aela shook her head with a smile as faint as any of Teresa's own. The forester took one of the cleaned plates from her and began drying it with a cloth, while the Breton began scrubbing the other. "He just loves that line. I told him that no one uses the term Warlock, except people who aren't Witches. Male Witches are just Witches after all. But he won't listen."

"So he's not a Witch too then?"

"Oh no," Aela said. "Ungarion is, well, he's Ungarion. Part Sheogorath, part Auriel, part Nocturnal, part I don't know what! We went to the University together."

"So are you and he…" Teresa let her words trail off, as she glanced to the woman beside her. The Breton handed her the second plate, which she began drying as Aela went to work scrubbing the utensils.

"No," she said quietly. "Not anymore at least. Not since I changed. It was hard for him when I did that. It took me years to realize just how hard. But he has always stood by me. Without him I never would have gotten through University. But I think he's still in love with that skinny seventeen-year old boy he shared a dorm with. Women have never, well, never interested him. To be honest, men have never caught my fancy either. He's just the first person to ever see something in me that was special."

"Oh," the forester said. So Ungarion was only interested in other men, like Ardaline's brother. Here Teresa thought her relationship with Tadrose - if she could even call it that - was complicated! Poor Aela and Ungarion, pulled together by fate, yet forever separated by their genders. She laid a pale hand on the other woman's shoulder, in a way she hoped was comforting. "So did he help you in one of your subjects?"

"You might say that!" Aela smiled back at Teresa. "In the most important one of all: paying tuition. After I transitioned, my parents cut me off. Ungarion helped me raise the gold so I could stay in school. Even back then he was always wheeling and dealing. You name it, and he found a way to get it, then sell it. Even still, I had to take out a loan from a usurer to make up the difference. That's when we started adventuring, to pay it back. It took me years, and I nearly had my legs broken more than once, but we did it."

"That is amazing!" Teresa exclaimed. She could not imagine making it through the Arcane University, even with someone else paying for it all. But having to study all day, and then go plumbing through caves or mines all night, it just seemed incredible. "You are amazing!"

"That is not something I normally hear," Aela chuckled. She reached up to her shoulder and gently took Teresa's hand in one of her own. Her head leaned forward slightly, and tilted to one side. Teresa took a deep breath, knowing exactly what the other woman was saying, all without words. Her heart fluttered in her chest, and she could not take her eyes off Aela's soft lips. What would they feel like, pressed against her own? How would the Breton's long, silky hair feel when it was draped over her body?

Then the burning eyes of Tadrose Helas filled Teresa's mind. She could almost smell her primrose body wash, and feel her hard, muscular body against her own. With a sigh, she pulled away from Aela, and looked aside.

"I'm sorry…" Teresa murmured. "I just can't."

"Because of what I am." The Breton's words were more sour then twenty-year old shein.

"No." Teresa reached out to softly cup the other woman's cheek, hoping it would convey the honesty in her words. "I think you're beautiful. But there is someone else. I look at you, and I see her instead. I cannot really look at any women anymore, without comparing you all to her."

"She must be quite a woman." The Breton's eyes looked away, gazing out the window into the night outside. "What is her name?"

"Tadrose," Teresa smiled as she thought of the dusky-skinned armorer. Where might she be now? In her forge most likely. Or perhaps curled up in the sitting room with a novel. "Tadrose Helas. I've never met a woman like her."

"Tadrose? From the Bravil Fighters Guild?" Aela's eyes widened as she looked back. "You're kidding? I didn't know she was sapphic."

"Well, I don't really know if she is." Teresa felt her cheeks turn warm, and now it was her turn to look down.

"Oh my," Aela sighed. "So she doesn't know how you feel about her?" Teresa felt the other woman's hand settling gently upon her own once more. "I was right. We do make quite a pair then! Sometimes I wonder if I am living in some silly play, with the way my life is so twisted and turned around. At least I am not the only one!"

Teresa managed a faint smile as she looked back up at the other woman. "So do you know Tadrose then?"

"I used to, somewhat." The Breton went back to her wash basin. Handing Teresa the now clean forks to dry, she began wiping the knives. "Back in our adventuring days Ungarion and I ran with a group. Seridwe was one of them. Her hair was always perfect. She taught me the fine arts of womanhood: hair, makeup, how to walk, and talk, and pick out clothes. You know, the important things."

"We all sort of drifted apart about five years ago, after Do'Sakhar died. Ungarion opened his shop. I settled down here. Valens went to Morrowind, chasing some strange dreams he was having about a moon and a star. Seridwe joined the Fighters Guild in Bravil. Ungarion and I still had dinner or just a bottle of wine with her once and while, when I was in town to pick up supplies or drop off scrolls."

"Seridwe?" Teresa thought, "I know that name. Pappy mentioned her before. She was at…" Then it came to the wood elf, and her voice dropped to a murmur. "…Bruma."

Aela nodded, her own face a grim twin of Teresa's. "She never came back."

They finished the last of the washing in silence. When Aela opened her door to dump out the dirty water, her cats slinked back inside. Both made a fuss over Teresa, sniffing her feet and rubbing against her ankles. The forester could not help but to kneel down and pet them both, which brought a harmony of contented purrs from the felines.

"Well I see you made some friends!" Aela exclaimed when she returned. "I have always said that animals are the best judges of character."

"I think so too," Teresa said as she slid her hands along the soft fur of the cats. "Where did you get them?"

"They got me." Aela smiled and walked over to pick up one of the felines, a red tabby. "A few years ago in Bravil, Valdemar here leapt out of an alley to attack my ankle. Then his friend Alain followed suit." She nodded to the chocolate tabby which Teresa still petted. "I had no choice but to capitulate."

"So do you take them with you when you travel?" Teresa asked. "Or does someone take care of them for you?"

"They take care of themselves." Aela put down Valdemar, who instantly jumped to the nearest windowsill and began staring intently outside. "They hunt mice in the old houses, and have plenty of water from the lake. They only keep me around to pet them."

Teresa smiled faintly at the other woman's words. Perhaps she should get a cat, or maybe two, when she bought the house for Simplicia? Or maybe just one for the Fighters Guild. She could tell Pappy that it was to keep out mice.

"Will you stay the night?" Aela asked.

"I can't." Teresa shook her head ruefully. "I have to get back to Bravil. In fact, I came here hoping to find someone who could take me there in a dory."

"Well, I can't tonight." Aela said. "But I suppose we could sail over tomorrow morning."

"I'm in something of a hurry." Teresa bit her lip. "I need to tell the Bravil City Guard - or the Imperial Legion - about the smugglers. Those in Bawn are dead, but there's going to be more turning up there sometime. If they are quick, they can catch the fetchers in the act."

"I wouldn't expect anything from the city guard," Aela shook her head as she walked to the beds and opened a chest. Leaning over, she rummaged through the clothing inside until she drew forth a short skirt of Dunmer design and a loose top. "What with the Count's son being a skooma-sucker and all."

"I still have to try." Teresa said resolutely. "Someone has to do something. Look, I can pay you to take me tonight."

"I cannot," Aela said once more. "The festival is tonight. If you feel it is really that important, you can go down the shore to Thistledown. But I doubt anyone there will take you across Niben Bay in the dark. You may as well stay until morning. Bawn will still be there tomorrow."

"What festival?"

"The Witches Festival of course." Aela declared. "It's the thirteenth of Frostfall. Did you forget?"

Teresa looked down at the cat that sat enraptured at her feet. "I didn't know," she admitted. "I'm not very good at being a Witch, or an elf."

"You are doing just fine." Teresa looked up to see the Breton standing above her. The Witch handed her a ball of clothing and smiled. "Now get out of that armor and try these on. I'm going to put on something to dance in as well. I'm used to celebrating alone. It will be good to have some company for a change."

I used the term cross dresser because I couldn't think of the right term for what I wanted to say - transgender!

Of course cats choose their human pets, not the other way around. Much the way my Trinity chose me over being the church cat. Of course, it's a tough world out there for cats, and he knows it! Won't go outside for anything!

Loved delving further into Aela's past. Being a medical professional, I can't help but wonder, how did the change happen? I know you said magic and alchemy, but I want to know more! Many examples of ambiguous gender is present in the animal world - most commonly caused by an extra sex chromosome (i.e. XXY or XYY rather than the usual XY). That's how male cats can be calico - normally that can't happen. So it makes me wonder if transgender changes using magic can only function on those individuals possessing an extra sex chromosome? Such individuals often have ambiguous genitalia.

And Aela knows Tadrose, too? Small Nirn! And I wonder if this Velas she mentioned became the Nerevarine?

Looking forward to the Witches' Festival!

Aela is a truely interesting character, I didn't comment so much last time as I wasn't certain of who she was. It appeared Teresa had the same questions. I didn't see any of Haute's ambiguous physical form, otherwise I doubt Ungarion would have been so bothered by the change (poor bloke), just a woman's mind given the wrong body. Though if magic can manage that it makes you wonder what else it could do.


Teresa shows quite an understanding there, that what she was asking was difficult for Aela.

You managed to work up a lot of history quickly there and make some really unique and compelling characters. It's not a direction many would have tried, or managed to pull off so well. I suspect we might see more of most of these characters, and this festival of the withes sounds interesting too.

Normally I do not comment until posting the next segment, but I thought I would jump in just to clarify because it was brought up. What h.e.r. said about chromosomes happens in humans exactly as in animals, and results in many of the intersexed people out there (of which there are a lot more than most people think).

There is another reason for transexuality which was was discovered back in the 50's by an anatomist. As I am sure h.e.r. knows all human (and so far as I know all mammal) fetuses start out physically female. Then early on if they are genetically male they receive a testosterone bath that masculinizes their bodies (causing the ovaries to descend and become testes, the labia to drop with them to become the scrotum, etc...). This works on not only the genitals, but the brain as well.

As I was saying, an anatomist was doing some tests back in the 50s on rats. He found that the genetically female rats he gave an in utero testorone shot acted like male rats after they were born. The male rats whom he witheld the testosterone bath thought they were female. It is all in John Colapinto's book As Nature Made Him (as well as other places of course). Sometimes this also happens naturally, and a fetus just does not get the hormones it is supposed to while in the womb. Finally, there have been more recent studies on cadavers that show male-to-female transsexuals to have the same physical brain structures as genetic females, rather than males.

Aela is one of these latter, "garden-variety" transsexuals born physically male, yet instinctively knowing they are female. We will see more evidence of this later in the story, when Teresa sees her naked and gets a good look at the scar where her male genitals once were. I am trying not to go too much into it to avoid the story seeming like a scientific journal. My own takes are that she has used magic to help with surgery and later we will see hair removal as well, and alchemy for the equivalent of hormone therapy (an interesting factiod: the modern birth control pill was originally developed from a Native American concoction using yams. Other plants show estrogenic properties as well).

What she said.

All correct. XXY mares behave like studs and have larger than usual clitori, XXY cats have small male genitals, etc. It's the Y chromosome that causes the testosterone bath in utero.

Okay, I'm not going to say anymore out of fear of sounding too technical. Don't want people fleeing Teresa because it's starting to sound more like a scientific journal (like Cell)!

Examples of Hermetic Magic:


Lady Gaga:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Mons...mped2-tweak.jpg



Carrot Top:

http://images.starpulse.com/pictures/2007/...-CSH-026686.jpg


Lassie:

http://www.lassie.net/graphics/LassieBlur.jpg



The verdict is still out on Marilyn Manson:

http://www.contactmusic.com/pics/ld/revolv...son_2801760.jpg


*

First off, I loved it! A wonderful and gentle blend of Teresa learning new things, delicately laced with humor. This story just lent itself to loads of quotes, so bear with me -

Aela smiled weakly. "You sound just like an Imperial.
Ouch!

"Twig! Point-Eared Freak! Woodworm!"
Double ouch!!

"Well then, a sapphic, elven Witch with Arimer-white skin!"
Finally! A compliment!!!

"Take a chance on the Warlock's Luck!" Teresa found herself exclaiming. "I saw the two of you at the tournament! He's the Altmer who runs A Warlock's Luck!"
You know the moment Aela mentioned Ungarion in the last episode, I thought of the scene in the tent market place during the tournament. Forgive me for not mentioning that after your last episode. I do remember and love the tie in. And I love that in TF, Ungarion remains an elf that is capable of getting his hands on most anything.

Her head leaned forward slightly, and tilted to one side. Teresa took a deep breath, knowing exactly what the other woman was saying, all without words.
This was lovely, natural and so very easy to envision. Even lovelier was Teresa declaring herself for Tadrose. It was understandable that Aela would misunderstand (if that makes sense). Just like with the misunderstanding with our favorite charming orc, Teresa's compassion helped comfort Aela.

She taught me the fine arts of womanhood: hair, makeup, how to walk, and talk, and pick out clothes. You know, the important things."
Yup!

"I wouldn't expect anything from the city guard,"
Um. . . looks like some foreshadowing of what is ahead for Teresa.

Teresa looked down at the cat that sat enraptured at her feet. "I didn't know," she admitted. "I'm not very good at being a Witch, or an elf."
What a perfectly Teresa thing for our elf to say!

All joking aside, this is a wonderful chapter - and I hope a budding friendship for Teresa and Aela both. Aela's character is amazingly open, softly sensitive revealing the pain of slights he must have endured before the magic allowed the change, and the ability for her to feel one with the spirit within herself. I am completely rapt by the paradox and history of Aela. Awesome Write SubRosa !!!

I think the mudcrab migration captured my imagination because it was an intriguing idea that I had to picture myself. I even started wondering if they walked on the water and led the crabs under it. It was the same when Teresa jumped off the bridge, since I had to imagine the scene, it has really stuck with me. All in a very good way, it’s made me feel more connected to Teresa’s story.

I found Aela and Ungarion’s love story quite moving, especially as Aela said, he is still standing by her despite the separate beds. It can be hard enough to get the heart and the head to agree when the gender equipment isn’t a variable.

Finally Teresa gets to talk to someone about Tadrose! The girl talk was my favorite part of this episode. I found myself admiring Aela for creating such a home for herself all alone out at Bawnwatch, but of course now I see that she isn’t alone. Between the animals, the spirits, and the visits from Ungarion, she must have almost constant company. I see that she already knows Teresa a little, too, from the ravens and bears. It just came together for me in this episode. I admire her tremendously, I was just wrong about the alone part.

Witches Festival, I’m so looking forward to it!

Aela is a brilliant character! Her and Teresa are quite a pair Aela's story of her gang was brilliant and you tied it in well with Bruma.

I assume this festival involves feasting, drinking and magic? Sounds like my kind of party! (Don't worry, I'll of passed out long before the girl talk )

haute ecole rider: As Tadrose says in the game: "There's a lot of adventuring action from here south to Blackwood, and everyone comes to me with their gear."

I wonder if Aela's old pal Valens became the Nerevarine too. Or maybe he was one of those many failed ones...


Olen: Aela is one of those characters who really inspired me once I started writing her. I wrote the first draft of all of her scenes in this chapter in just two days, which is fast for me. I feel sorry for Ungarion too. He had to stand by and be a friend while everything he wanted slipped away from him.


mALX: Umm, none of those are/were hermetic magicians. Better examples would be Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, William Butler Yeats, and of course the self-proclaimed "beast" Aleister Crowley.


Acadian: I love how you portray Ungarion as a wheeling and dealing black marketeer in the BF. So I had to do the same when he finally made it to the TF. And yes, that little scene where Teresa saw him and Aela during the Tournament was meant to set up her meeting with Aela here in this chapter.


Grits: I envision the mudcrab exodus the same as you. With Aela walking on water and sort of being a Pied Piper of Bawnwatch, and leading all of them down the coast.

I hemmed and hawed over Aela's pets. At first I was going to make her have a grizzly bear companion (like Grizzly Adams had Ben). But I saw too many problems with a bear and the local villagers who would be going to her for things like potions. Not to mention Ungarion. Then I was going to cut it out completely. Then I thought of a dog, but they are too clingy and needy. Finally, I thought of cats (which are kind of obvious really, since there is a tradition of Witches with cats). They work because they are self-sufficient.


hazmick: I am sorry to say but there will not be any feasting, or drinking. But there will be plenty of dancing and magic.


Previously on Teresa of the Faint Smile: In our last episode Teresa learned more about Aela, and was invited to stay for the Witches Festival. Next, Teresa kicks off her shoes and has some fun.


Chapter 36.3 – The Witch of Bawnwatch Island

Teresa followed Aela down the rise upon which the village stood. The pair of women now wore short skirts that barely fell past mid-thigh, and flared outward as they dropped. Unlike the long gowns the Imperials favored, Teresa found this gave her legs plenty of room to move in, as if she was wearing nothing at all. The plunging necklines of the loose tops that they wore left little to the imagination as well, and Teresa made a mental note to look for similar clothing once she returned to Bravil.

The stars glittered in the night sky above, sharing the firmament with the ruby bulk of Masser and the smaller ivory disc of Secunda. A cool breeze wafted in from the east, and for a moment Teresa shivered. Fall was definitely on the way, she thought. It would already be in full force in the Imperial City, and the trees there would be turning their bright autumn colors. She wondered how long it would take for the same to happen in Bravil County, given its warmer climate?

Aela carried a small chest in her hands, and set it down near the pile of wood. Her sandals followed a moment later. Teresa followed her example, shucking off her footwear and standing barefoot upon the sand. Opening the chest, Aela produced a small pottery bowl and handed it to Teresa.

"Bring us some water from the lake would you?" she said.

The sand crunched beneath her toes as Teresa walked to the shore. She let the water lap around her ankles for a moment before bending down to fill the basin. Stepping with care to avoid spilling her cargo, she made her way back to the other Witch.

"What now?" the wood elf asked.

"First we consecrate the circle," Aela explained. "And to do that, we must make the water holy."

Aela stood with a tiny spice box in hand. As Teresa held out the bowl to her, she opened it to reveal salt within. Pinching a bunch of the white granules between finger and thumb, the Breton sprinkled them into the water. After tucking the spice box away in the chest, she put a finger into the bowl and gently stirred.

With a smile on her lips, the Breton put her hands over Teresa's. Then together they lifted the bowl of salted water over their heads.

"Spirits of Nirn, bless this water." Aela said in a near whisper, and Teresa found herself repeating the same words. Then along with the other woman, she gently lowered the bowl. Aela left it in Teresa's hands, and bent back down to her chest. She produced a bundle of basil from within, and exactly as Olava had done during the Harvest Blessing, she dipped the leafy ends into the water. Drawing the wet bundle forth, the Witch began walking in a circle around the pile of wood. Every step she took, she flicked the water to one side or another. Teresa followed with bowl in hand, so that Aela could occasionally pause to wet the basil as it dried. After making a complete circuit, they stopped once more to set down the bowl and bundle of herbs.

Aela stretched out her hand to the woodpile, and nodded to Teresa, who followed suit. Calling up the magicka within her, Teresa focused on the symbol of her Flare spell. A moment later the two Witches sent fist-sized balls of fire into the wood. In moments it was ablaze, and where Teresa had first shivered, now she could feel the heat of the flames bathing her skin.

"Close your eyes Teresa." Aela's soft voice was in the forester's ear, and she felt the Breton's fingers clasp around her own. "Breathe deep, in and out. Feel the sand beneath your feet, the sky above, the water around us, and the fire before us. Forget everything else. Just feel the elements - and you - together."

Teresa did as the Witch suggested, and more. As Morcant had taught her, she imagined that she was a tree. Her toes sunk into the beach like roots, and her hair rustled about her head like leaves. Breathing deep, she felt Nirn beneath her, above her, all around her. Reaching down into the sand, she drew up the water of Niben Bay into her trunk, and felt it spread through her body like sap. It invigorated her, purified her, washing away all of her doubts and fears. She felt herself glow in its wake, as pure and brilliant as the Aedra who created Nirn so many eons ago.

"Now we dance," Aela declared. Opening her eyes, Teresa saw that the bonfire threw wild shadows across the beach. She heard the pounding of a drum in her ears. Or was it her heart that boomed so loud? No matter, her limbs knew what to do. Along with the Breton, she stepped lightly around the fire, leaping, laughing, and spreading her arms like an eagle's wings.

The rest of the world dissolved as they danced. There was just the fire, and the circle, and the pair of them within. Nothing else existed. It was as if they stood out of time, out of the world, perhaps within Aetherius itself.

Then the others came. They began as shadows cast by the blaze, metamorphosing into distinct forms. Here was a bear, there was a raven. Then a butterfly, a turtle, a wolf, a lion, and a stag. More and more of them came and danced with the Witches. Teresa could feel their hot breath upon her skin, and their soft hides against her own. They lifted her to the sky, and guided her feet as she dropped back to the ground. Always they were with her, as much a part of her as her fingers or her toes.

So they danced around the fire, an ever-turning spiral with no beginning or ending.

* * *

Teresa breathed deep, and filled her nostrils with the scent of Tadrose's primrose body wash. She smiled as the dark elf slid her naked body atop her own. The armorer's raven-black tresses fell into the wood elf's face as she lowered her head, and her fingers gently caressed Teresa's pale cheeks. The forester lifted her head upward to meet the Dunmer's lips. Softly they met, and Teresa closed her eyes as she guided her own fingers between the other woman's thighs.

Teresa woke to the feeling of a sharp paw against her cheek. Snapping her eyes open, she found a cat staring back at her.

"Valdemar!" she cried. "I was having the most wonderful dream!"

"About Tadrose?"

Teresa looked across the sand to the source of the voice. Aela sat with her back to the forester, long brown hair spilled across her naked frame. The Breton seemed to be moving one glowing white hand across her face, bathing herself in its light.

Looking down, Teresa saw that she was naked as well. Her usually pale skin was flushed with the excitement of her dream. It was a state betrayed by other parts of her body as well. Yet she did not feel the slightest bit embarrassed. It felt no different than her mornings with Nerussa.

A glance across the beach revealed their clothing, scattered in a circle around the grey coals of the spent bonfire. She ignored them as she rose to her feet and walked to the Breton. In the light of day, Teresa could see that the other woman's body bore the hourglass shape of any born female, albeit not as curvy as most.

"I told you how I felt about her." Teresa bit her lip just the same, and sat down beside the other woman. A glance down revealed that the magician's breasts were smaller than own, but still undeniably female. The scar tissue that filled the empty spot between her legs however, was another story entirely.

Gingerly, Teresa reached out to put her arm around the Breton. Aela flinched for a moment, and Teresa's heart dropped like a stone. Was it because of Tadrose? Or was it because Teresa could see her body in full daylight? But then Aela leaned against Teresa, and the forester breathed a sigh of relief.

"I know," Aela sighed, now turning to look at Teresa with a weak smile. "I envy you."

The Breton turned away, and slowly moved her hand down the length of one leg. The white light from her fingers spilled across her flesh, and Teresa saw tiny hairs falling away from her skin behind it.

"You're shaving?" Teresa stared incredulously, "with magic?"

"For someone like me, it's a necessity," Aela sighed. "This is better than shaving though. I have been working on this since University. It makes the hairs actually fall out. Unfortunately, they still grow back though, so you have to keep doing it. One of these days I will find out how to make it permanent."

"That is incredible!" Teresa exclaimed. "Do you think you could teach me that?"

"You don't have any hair," Aela laughed. "Except where you're supposed to at least."

"That's because I shave too," Teresa pouted, "the old fashioned way, with a razor."

"Where?"

"Right here," Teresa smiled. She took Aela's glowing hand in her own and guided the Breton's fingers between her legs. The next thing Teresa knew, Aela's lips were pressed against her own. She thought of Tadrose, and knew that she should stop. But her arms had minds of their own, and they wrapped themselves around the other woman. Then she found herself leaning back in the sand and pulling Aela atop herself. Her legs slid around the Witch's hips, and the Breton's long hair spilled down over their naked bodies.

"Not here!" Aela pulled away from their kiss long enough to giggle. "That sand gets everywhere!"

What happens in Bawnwatch, stays in Bawnwatch! I did wonder why they were getting dressed up to go dance by the light of the moons, but of course Aela’s preparations came first. I love the comparison between Aela’s consecrating the circle and Olava’s blessing the harvest. The animal spirits joining the dance was my favorite part.

But I’m guessing Teresa is a fan of the morning after. Hot dreams abound in County Bravil this fall! If Aela ever wants to go live in town, she could start a day spa with that depilation magic. Teresa could offer Bloom treatments. I’m glad Aela already knows about Tadrose. More than friends or friends with benefits, it will be interesting to see where this goes.

Wella! Some slash for the morning after?

Loved the spirits joining the witches around the fire. Who says one is truly alone when one is able to commune with Gaia? All four elements - air, water, fire and earth, conjoined in one celebration. Very fitting of the witches of Nirn.

I agree with Grits - wet dreams are spreading. Are they contagious? We'll have to see!

What Grits said. No that Tadrose could really complain given that neither has actually made their feelings known. Still some unexpected slash, this piece certinly stays fresh with the unexpected.

More animal spirits, I wonder if we might be meeting them in future. I too thought the similarities between the witches' ceremony and the church's worked well. It suggests that they're worshipping the same thing but in different ways. No shudders of the earth this time, but perhaps Mara had something to do with that dream...

As for a shaving (well better hair removal really, closer to pain free waxing) spell. That could sell for a small fortune!

Teresa woke to the feeling of a sharp paw against her cheek. Snapping her eyes open, she found a cat staring back at her.

"Valdemar!" she cried. "I was having the most wonderful dream!"

Its like cats know what's going on and decide to be most naughty and ruin it!

You have done an amazing job making Teresa blossom as an actual person and not just a character. She's always saying or doing something that I can completely relate to

An elegantly exotic, erotic and enticing episode!

What a wonderful glimpse into the world of Aela and Teresa's witchcraft. You really capture it well when you describe Teresa 'becoming' a tree - you've done so before and each time it's just as captivating. I loved how the animal spirits joined them. Especially the butterfly!

Teresa's dream of Tadrose was a perfect segue into what followed. Teresa obviously felt a connection to Aela and, between her nocturnal arousal, perhaps a touch of sympathy for Aela and nature taking its course it looks like a lovely, loving morning!

Hmm... Tadrose has competition now!

You paint a very endearing picture of Aela here. One of the things I really must applaud your style for is how natural and familiar you can make it feel to talk about homosexuality in your stories. From here on out, I will be recommending anyone I notice raving about gays protesting same-sex marriage to simply come over here and read a spell.

They only reason people oppose it is because it is an alien concept to them; it goes against our preconceived notions that such relationships can only occur between male and female. But in reality, there is nothing strange about it if you look any deeper than the surface. You have shown that utterly well throughout your writing, and are never afraid to hold back.

Don't stop.

Yes, absolutely! Like many gay people I know, who are just like straight people (who aren't all that straight themselves, they just bend the other way is all).

Brilliant. First of all, I loved Teresa's awakening by Valdemar. The old cat's paw to the face has awoken me many times.

Second, I am very happy for Teresa and Aela! Even though Teresa would prefer it to be Tadrose it was still wonderfully written and the last line was perfect.

Finally, I am very interested to see more of Aela in the future and I imagine that this encounter will be with Teresa for a long time.

Chapter 32.2
Ugh zombies. I hope Chance doesn’t freeze at the sight of one of those disgusting nightmares.

I think light only matters to living enemies. I’m sure a ghost could see her just fine if she had stepped into the shadows rather than remained in the light. Perhaps she was only talking of receiving ranged attacks.

I’m kind of wondering if it’s that same necromancer from Vilverin.

Chapter 32.3
Chance and Teresa work well as a team. Pappy did well training them.

A statue! Too bad the guild gets a cut of Teresa’s earnings now. Small price to pay I suppose for everything they’ve done for her.

Exciting fight! When Teresa found the severed arm, I thought for sure there was a trap on the statue.

Wow. I believe in your characters. I believe in your world.

More. I want more. Now. Hurry!

Grits: Teresa hopes that what happens in Bawnwatch stays there! Now she has to deal with the awkward afternoon after the morning after... I never thought of the magical day spa. I wish we had those IRL!


haute ecole rider: I see you noticed my inclusion of the elements. That was not something I originally planned. Rather it just came out naturally as I wrote it. I think in the game fire is not included in the elements, but rather light. But I like fire better as it does more than just illuminate.


Olen: I did want there to be strong similarities between Aela and Olava's ceremonies. As you noted, my intention is for the differences only to really be in the degrees. Olava is focused on only one Aedra, where the Witches are all-encompassing. But otherwise I felt that the same format to the rites was natural.


Jacki Dice: You can completely relate to sex on the beach?


Acadian: IRL the Tree of Life is my favorite meditation. I do it every night before going to sleep in fact. So that is one of those examples of writing what you know best.


Thomas Kaira: Well, being a lesbian is natural and familiar to me! So writing about it is really just writing what I know best. Did you know Derek and the Dominos did a song about Aela? They changed her name to avoid paying me royalties though... Seriously though, I think the piano solo for the second half of the song is perfect for Aela.


hazmick: I have been woken up countless times by the paw in the face as well! I like to sleep in on the weekends, but my cat does not.

I have never had sex on the beach, but I understand the sand gets everywhere, so it's not a good idea!


King Coin: You would think that a ghost could "see" just fine in the dark. But you can sneak up on them if your stealth is high enough, even if they are looking right at you. Beth never really does explain how undead know where things are, even though most of them lack any physical sensory organs. I am just going with them having the same senses they had in life.

Well, there sort of was a trap on the statue. Just not actually on the statue itself. It did trigger all the skeletons to rise and attack though.


Glargg: More on the way.


Previously on Teresa of the Faint Smile: In our last episode, Teresa woke the morning after the celebration. She got her first good look at Aela naked, and had sex with her. Next she deals with the awkward afternoon after on the way back to Bravil.


Chapter 36.4 – The Witch of Bawnwatch Island

Magnus stood high in the morning sky by the time the pair had bathed, dressed, eaten, and returned to the beach. So much for being in a hurry, Teresa thought as she looked at the Witch beside her. "No one can stop a thunderstorm," Nerussa had once told her. "You can either run for shelter, or dance in the rain."

Well Aela - and the celebration - had certainly sparked lightning within her!

Would she have felt the same way if they had not spent the night dancing between the worlds? Teresa was not sure. Or perhaps it was just her own pent up feelings for Tadrose looking for an outlet, any outlet?

Tadrose, Teresa thought, what would she think if she found out? Would she feel as betrayed as Teresa imagined she must? Or relieved that Teresa's eye had gazed elsewhere? Would she care at all? It was not like the two of them were lovers after all, and while sometimes Teresa could not see how the Dunmer could not know her feelings, at others the armorer seemed as distant as Magnus above.

Still, why had it been so easy with Aela? She could not even tell Tadrose how she felt. Yet she had no trouble falling into the Breton's arms. How could that be?

Because there was nothing to lose with Aela, Teresa thought. While she had everything to lose with Tadrose.

"Aela, about the other night, and this morning, I…" She turned to the other woman as they flipped over her dory so that the boat rested on its keel. She wanted to explain to the Breton how she felt, about her, and about Tadrose. But when she tried, her tongue sat as still as a boulder in her mouth.

"I know," Aela said softly. There was a sad look in her eyes as she gazed at Teresa across the gunwales of the boat. "There is someone else. I'm a big girl. I never expected flowers and wedding bells. What we had was just, what we had, that is all."

"So we can still be friends then?" Teresa bit her lip as the other woman walked around the boat to stand next to her.

"Of course." Aela's smile was as faint as any of Teresa's. "You're a good woman Teresa. I am glad I met you. It's just that every time I make love to someone we end up being friends. Sometimes I wonder if Dibella enjoys playing jokes on me."

"I think I know what you mean," Teresa forced a twin to Aela's smile to her own lips.

"Look at us, we ought to be in some silly play!" Aela chuckled, and Teresa joined in a moment later. "You would think Juno Austenius wrote us both!"

"Except there is no dashing Lord Decius to sweep us off our feet!" Teresa giggled. The pair of them grabbed hold of the gunwales, and dragged the dory into the waves lapping upon the shore.

"Ungarion can have Lord Decius!" Aela laughed. "I will take Euphemia any day."

"I want Euphemia!" Teresa cried as she leaped into the boat behind Aela. "You can have her sister Juno."

"Well I suppose," the Breton chuckled. "She is the most beautiful woman in the county after all. What a coincidence that she has the same name as the author…"

Teresa sat in the center of the boat, and reached out to set the oars in their locks. But Aela waved her hands away, and stood up in the stern of the ship. Raising one hand over her head, she clenched her fingers into a fist. Blue light erupted under her fingers, and spilled out from the cracks between then.

Aela opened her hand, and a disc of azure energy formed in the air before her. A form took shape behind the energy as it fell to the water beside the boat. It was definitely feminine, with long hair and an hourglass frame. But rather than flesh, the conjured being was comprised of water. Her hair was the foaming white spray of waves crashing onto the shore. Her body was the crystal blue of clear waters, and her eyes, mouth, and fingernails the dark green of an algae-soaked lake.

The water-spirit hung in the air for a moment, and at Aela's nod, she sank into the waves around the dory. Then the boat began moving forward, as if of its own accord. Aela had to quickly sit, lest she fall overboard. Teresa glanced down at the water surrounding them, and thought she saw the deep green eyes of the spirit gazing back at her.

"What is she?"

"An undine," Aela said as she took the tiller and guided the boat around Bawnwatch Island. The morning sun glared in their faces, and the southern coastline stretched away to the right. Then they were clear of the island, and the Breton turned the ship north, into the vast expanse of Niben Bay. "You never saw one before?"

Teresa shook her head. Conjured beings were hardly an everyday experience on the streets of the Imperial City! "What else can you summon?"

"Oh, all the usual Aedra," the Breton said off-handedly, as if she was talking about something as ordinary as cooking or knitting. "Sylphs, archaens, dryads, lares, salmanders… I usually don't do the last though, because that's the only thing Ungarion can summon. It makes him feel inadequate when I do."

"Typical male," Teresa rolled her eyes. "You must have learned all of that at the University I suppose." Teresa stared out across the waves. What would it be like, to go there and learn from the greatest magicians in Tamriel?

"Yes, and more," Aela said. "Conjuration was one of my major fields of study, although not originally. I went there for Restoration, to help myself with my… change. I had to learn Conjuration to defend myself when Ungarion and I starting tomb raiding. It is amazing how imminent death can prompt you to learn!"

Teresa smiled, and thought of how she had met Barenziah on the Green Road. She had learned to heal others then, because of the urgency of the bear's wounds. She also remembered Pappy insisting that she learn a touch Destruction spell, because her Flare was not powerful enough. What was it the Imperials said, necessity was the mother of invention?

"So how does a Witch go to the Arcane University?" Teresa puzzled.

"Well I wasn't a Witch yet then," Aela explained. "That was not until my final year. When I did my internship at the Bravil Mages Guild I fell in love with the forest. I used to go for walks up the Larsius, past Silverbridge, and sit for hours just staring at the otters as they played in the river. The first time I saw a grizzly bear walk past me I jumped nearly as high as Magnus! But after that I started to realize that none of the animals meant me any harm. In fact, I always felt more comfortable around them than people. Animals see me for who I really am after all."

"That they do," Teresa smiled faintly. "That they do."

The time flew by as Aela's undine sped them across the bay. Every half-hour the Breton Witch was obliged to renew the summoning, lest the spirit fade away with the spell. There seemed to be little difference between doing that and simply summoning the undine again. Aela went through all of the same motions, and appeared to expend the same amount of energy. Still, the undine never vanished between castings, and Teresa supposed that was the point.

Before the wood elf knew it, the walls of Bravil were rising up from the northern horizon. The last time she had seen this view, she had been swimming into the city, just before the tournament. Although the swim had been invigorating, it was certainly more relaxing while sitting in the dory!

They saw numerous small boats like their own on the bay as they approached the city. All of them contained one or two fishermen casting their nets into the bay, only to haul them in again to see what they had caught. Thanks to their preoccupation with their trade, the Witches found the docks to be nearly empty when they entered the city through the Bay Gate. Teresa insisted to pay for Aela's docking fee, even though it was only a single copper reman. Then the two women climbed up the criss-crossing flights of steps along the riverbank, until they stood upon the main road above.

"Well, I have to get to the castle and talk to the guard captain about those smugglers," Teresa said. She looked off down the road, where she could see a bridge spanning the interior river, joining Bravil's North Island with Castle Isle beyond. Yet when Teresa looked back to Aela, she found her feet unwilling to move.

"I should go see Ungarion," Aela said. "He will be so surprised to see me."

"Why don't we meet again for dinner?" Teresa's forced the words out before she could change her mind. "Bring Ungarion, I'd like to meet him. We could go to Silverhome on the Water. My treat for your bringing me here."

"And Tadrose?"

"I'll see if she will come." Teresa bit her lip. "I hope she will. Maybe we could all see a play afterward, although I don't know what is at The Globe."

"We will meet you at the Fighters Guild then." Now Aela smiled genuinely. Teresa put her arms around the other woman in a short embrace. As they disengaged, she paused, and so did Aela. She was keenly aware of how near their lips were, and how loudly her heart was pounding in her chest.

Then the burning coals of Tadrose Helas' eyes filled Teresa's thoughts, along with her dusky skin and raven tresses. She sighed, and leaned in to kiss the other woman gently upon the cheek. Teresa knew that Aela could never fill the place of Tadrose in her heart. But the Breton could still have a place all her own, even as just a friend.

Deep are the fathoms of love,
sandbars too abound there -
Currents flow and eddy enough,
with backwashes too to snare -
Dark, lay your veil over me
And teach me how to explain
That which I love I cannot gain
That which I gain I cannot love
I have tired of fighting against current
I grow weary of battling this stream
And now drifting, I seek my destination
Adrift to whatever lies between
yet once I have seen - in a dream,
a goal of pure silver burning bright
And if life is more than just struggle
I dream I shall wake up in its light.

A wonderful chapter. I loved Aela's list of summonings and "all the usual daedra" was a brilliant line. I love conjuration, it's my favourite skill in TES and I always love conjuration talk. I'd like to see more of Aela in the future, maybe she could summon me a cup of nightshade tea? (complete with resist poison goat's milk of course)

And now we're off to dinner and hopefully a play! I hope Tadrose can go, no doubt wearing some sort of dress which makes her have curves in all the right places and makes Teresa have more than a faint smile...

That didn't seem too awkward. Summoning Aedra, there's a novel concept. Certainly Aela knows how to make use of magic an she seems fairly reasonable about Teresa being more interested in Tadrose.

I suspect she won't be in her best mood after going to the castle though, I wonder if that will help with Tadrose or not...

I haven't really got many specific comments on that part, as ever it was polished and a joy to read. It all flows so seamlessly too. And leaves me wanting the next part *HINT*.

Because there was nothing to lose with Aela, Teresa thought. While she had everything to lose with Tadrose.

Oh, that is so true.

Aela could never fill the place of Tadrose in her heart, Teresa knew. But the Breton could still have a place all her own, even as just a friend.

A sigh for Aela. Let’s see if she can become friends with Tadrose without sleeping with her first.

I hope the dinner and show works out, I think Tadrose and Teresa would enjoy a circle of friends outside the FG. Though Alcondil might also enjoy some culture. Yikes, but if he hits on Aela, he’ll get turned down again.

I enjoyed every word of Aela’s University talk. She continues to fascinate.

First I want to comment on the link you included in your comment to TK: most of the guitar music I typically enjoy listening to are later - Prince, the Police, etc, every once in a while I hear something that makes me go 'yeah, now that's wonderful guitar work!' This song did it for me - I couldn't let go of it until it was done playing. I don't get to hear that kind of atmospheric guitar playing all that often (I'm more piano and saxophone, really).

Now on to the chapter. This one was even more delightful than the previous segment, just when I didn't think it was possible! What a clever use of a summons - much easier than rowing, that's for sure! And it's interesting that here the two women talked out the implications of their act in such a open manner. If one of them had been a man, he would have slunk off before the woman woke up, and hid his face from her every time he saw her in town! Now, not every man is like that IRL, but that's the way it goes in the stories. This is quite the refreshing change, to be honest.

I think our vulpine friend said it quite well.

"No one can stop a thunderstorm," Nerussa had once told her. "You can either run for shelter, or dance in the rain."
What a delightfully welcome surprise to see this! Although I wonder if our stringy Bosmer could simply run between the raindrops?

I enjoyed hearing Teresa's internal dialogue regarding Aela and Tadrose as the two women prepared to, and then left the beach for Bravil.

'Every half-hour the Breton Witch was obliged to renew the summoning, lest the spirit fade away with the spell. There seemed to be little difference between doing that and simply summoning the undine again. Aela went through all of the same motions, and appeared to expend the same amount of energy. Still, the undine never vanished between castings, and Teresa supposed that was the point.'
Some lovely world/magic building here. Half an hour or so is a reasonable amount of time to work with and consistent with what Morcant showed Teresa. Refreshing the same summon is a great idea instead of replacing them with a new one. I liked not only these aspects of Aela's summoning, but the interesting things she can summon!

I somehow suspect that Teresa trying to relay her smuggling concerns to the guard will not go as well as she hopes. I wonder also if she will share with us how that dinner and play goes for the maybe foursome. Each of the four is fascinating, but I must admit I look forward to seeing that loveable scoundrel Ungarion again.

D.Foxy: Beautifully done my foxy friend.


hazmick: Tadrose certainly looks forward to Tadrose wearing those dresses! But alas, our stringy wood elf still has much to do before then.


Olen: Summoning Aedra is one of those changes I thought about a long while back, and now have finally had the opportunity to put into direct action. It never made sense to me that the "good guys" would want to be summoning the very same monsters that are trying to destroy their world in the game. So I am leaving Daedra summoning to the cultists like the Mythic Dawn, and undead summoning to the necromancers.


Grits: Perhaps Ancondil could get lucky with Ungarion though!


haute ecole rider: Layla is one of the all time best rock songs ever recorded. If you ever saw Goodfellas, it is the song playing in the closing credits. My favorite guitar instrumental is C-Note, by Ernie C of Body Count.

When it comes to piano, the soundtrack to Voices of a Distant Star is just marvelous. Here is track 4, which gives you a good idea, and this is track 2, a slower, more introspective piece. If you have never seen it, I highly recommend you Netflix Voices. It is only a half hour long, but it makes me cry every time. What is truly amazing is that the director did the entire thing on his laptop. The only things he did not do are the final voiceacting, and the soundtrack (by Tenmon).

And of course I cannot talk about piano music without mentioning Ayumi Hamasaki, and Love, another marvelous piece.

Back to the story though, one of the delightful things about writing that exchange between Teresa and Aela is that they are both very mature people, moreso than usual for their ages. It lets them be honest and direct, (at least where Tadrose is not concerned!)

Acadian: I put a lot of work into that thunderstorm line, I am glad it resonated with someone. I wanted something that sounded Nerussa-like about the nature of passion. Hmmm, how come everyone thinks Teresa will be disappointed by the Bravil city guard though...


Previously on Teresa of the Faint Smile: Our last segment saw Aela take Teresa back to Bravil via boat, summoning an undine in lieu of sails or oars. There the two women parted as friends, rather than lovers. Next, Teresa is off to report her Bawn adventure to the city guard.


Chapter 36.5 – The Witch of Bawnwatch Island

Teresa made her way east down Riverwalk to where the street ended at a Y-shaped intersection. To her left Silver Avenue stretched on to the North Gate, passing the Fighters Guild, Silverhome on the Water, The Globe, and numerous other taverns and shops. To her right a wide wooden bridge spanned one fork of the river that cut through the center of Bravil, leading to Castle Isle. The other prong of the river curled south around the other side of the castle, completely separating it from the other two islands in the city.

Teresa set her booted feet to the bridge and stared up at the wall of stone that ringed Castle Isle. It was the smallest of Bravil's three islands, but was certainly the best defended. The bulwarks here were as tall and thick as those that ringed the outside of the city. The gatehouse at the far end of the bridge was likewise no less forbidding than that at the North Bridge into the city proper.

The bronze doors at the front of the gatehouse stood open, allowing Teresa and other pedestrians to enter the tunnel that cut through the miniature fortress. A glance to either side revealed numerous arrow-slits cut within the walls, and a look above found that the ceiling was lined with murder holes. The final line of defense was a portcullis, which was now raised. Even if the rest of the city fell to an invader, the Count and other nobles would still be safe and sound behind this fortification.

Stepping out into the light of day once more, Teresa made her way along the short main road that cut through the center of Castle Isle. Castle Road was its official name, but like most of Bravil, she knew it as Snob Alley. For to either side rose the tall stone manors of Bravil's wealthiest - and most patrician - of residents. Each was separated by stone walls and wrought iron gates, and decorated with statues of deities, heroes, or fantastic beasts. Here was Reman the First, there a dragon, and at another abode Talos Stormcrown himself. It was a long display of power and prestige, and Teresa wondered if the inhabitants adorned their homes in such a way in the hopes of it rubbing off on them?

A glance at Scaurus Manor softened the cynicism in Teresa's heart. There was one manor that needed no gilding to display to the glory of its owner. The Great Lady of Bravil shone with her own light, and unlike most of the other residents, truly deserved the title 'noble'. If only there could be more like her, Teresa sighed.

The wood elf walked on in silence, until finally the grey walls of the castle itself rose before her. Its massive bronze gates had long since turned green with age, and were flanked by a pair of armed men clad in mail and the deer-emblazoned surcoats of the Bravil City Guard. She paused to draw her guild amulet from her Thieves Bag and drape it over her head. Then she strode through the gateway with only a glance at the guards.

She found herself in a wide courtyard. Directly before her rose the looming bulk of the keep, and all about the bailey she found smaller stone buildings and entrances to the towers. There was a stable, a smithy, a chapel, and many other structures whose functions she could not guess at. Teresa bit her lower lip and stared. She had never been to the castle before, and now she realized that she had no idea where to find the captain of the guard. Would she be in the keep? Or somewhere else?

As she stared about, she noticed that most of the guardsmen came and went from one of the towers near the keep. So she squared her shoulders and set her boots in that direction. Again, she met more men standing guard at the door, but one glance at her Fighters Guild medallion dispelled the questions Teresa could see momentarily form in their eyes. As the men had at the other gates, they simply nodded as she passed.

The interior of guard tower was not what Teresa had been expecting. Rather than something akin to the marble and gold elegance of Scaurus Manor, it was simply dank and cold stone. An iron chandelier hung from the ceiling, and held candles rather than glowstones. These cast a fitful light about the interior, which was just as well, for there was little to see. A tapestries of a hunting scene hung from one wall, giving it a modicum of decoration. But most of the walls were simply bare stone blocks, and only a few carpets adorned the otherwise plain flagstones of the floor.

Again Teresa followed the armored men down a flight of stairs, and soon found herself in large chamber filled with chattering guards and civilians. Numerous tables were stretched out through the room, where many of the guardsmen sat putting quills to parchment. Often they had dejected folk sitting next to them with shackles on their wrists. Near the back of the room three armored men were hustling a tattooed Nord to another door, while the larger man loudly sang something about swimming with bow-legged women.

Along one wall near the entrance Teresa found a dais upon which sat a tall desk. Behind it lurked a grey-haired and mustached guardsman, who was flanked by a pair of youths clad in linen. Teresa wondered if the latter were guards in training, or simply civilian employees of the county? In any case the older man seemed like a someone with authority, so Teresa strode to his desk. When he somehow failed to notice her standing before him, she made a point of loudly clearing her throat.

"Ehm, what is it Fighters Guild?" The man grumbled, as if Teresa had interrupted something important. "The latest wanted posters are down the hall, by the dungeons."

"I need to speak with the captain of the guard." Teresa declared, looking the grey-haired Imperial directly in the eye.

"Captain Lerus does not just make appointments with anyone who walks in the door." The Imperial looked more and more disagreeable by the moment. "Talk to a patrolman."

"She will want to hear this," Teresa insisted. "It's about the skooma trade."

"Oh really?" The guardsman leaned closer, and a look of amusement now blossomed upon his craggy features. "Don't tell me, you think your neighbor is selling?"

"No. I just killed a dozen fetchers trying to smuggle it into the province." Teresa felt her fingers curling together into fists. He was clearly not taking her seriously. Little wonder, she thought, with a skooma den openly in business just off Riverwalk. The city guard might ignore that, and the Count's son, but surely they could not ignore what had happened at Bawn?

"You what?" Teresa took comfort from the way the way the older man's eyes widened into saucers. He rose to his feet a moment later, towering over the wood elf from his lofty perch.

"You heard me," Teresa said. "I killed the fetchers. Every one of them that was in Bawn. Now if you people get a move on, you can get their partners."

"You… did… what?" the guardsman sputtered. His face turned red, and when his voice finally returned, he pointed a chubby finger to one of the tables in the room. "Talk to Inspector Hordeonius. He'll take care of this."

Teresa nodded. Her heart had doubled its pace in her chest, and she did her best to force herself to remain calm. He had seemed more upset that she had killed the skooma-runners, than surprised to learn of their existence. She knew that could mean only one thing. Just as everyone said: the Bravil City Guard was in the pocket of the skooma dealers.

Still, they might not all be in the liquid coinpurse, Teresa thought. Or perhaps she hoped they were all not. Could every one of them truly be no good?

She made her way past the guards, criminals, and other folk to the table the first guardsman had indicated. There she found a man with the dark hair and olive skin of a Nibenean sitting amidst a pile of parchments. He half-heartedly scribbled away at one sheet, and leaned back in his chair as Teresa stepped up him. "Inspector Hordeonius?" she asked.

"Now what?" he grumbled. "Can't you people see I'm busy?"

"The man at the front desk sent me here." As much as Teresa tried, she could not contain the sharp tone in her words.

"Alright, what is it? It better not be about the bounty sheets. Those are late coming from the Imperial City, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"No," Teresa said. Why did every member of the Bravil City Guard think that whatever she had to say was trivial? She paused to take a deep breath and exhale slowly, hoping it would abate her rising annoyance.

"Yesterday I killed a band of skooma smugglers in Bawn," she said plainly. "None of them escaped. They were bringing it in with a wagon, so if-"

"Wait, you did what?" Hordeonius practically jumped out of his chair, as if he had been struck by lightning. His eyes competed with those of the first guardsman to see which could grow wider.

"I killed the fetchers!" Now Teresa could not prevent herself from raising her voice. The low buzz of conversations that had surrounded her abruptly stopped, as everyone turned to stare. "A dozen drecking skooma runners! Are all of you deaf? Do I have to paint a portrait for you?"

"That's Teresa of the Faint Smile," the forester heard someone say in a hushed tone.

"One of the best archers in Cyrodiil," came another whisper.

"Put an arrow through your heart at three hundred paces," murmured a third.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Now the other man stood on his feet, and his dark eyes narrowed as they took Teresa in. "You think I believe you killed an entire pack of smugglers by yourself?"

"I didn't say I did it alone," Teresa growled back. "I had help from the spriggans. Here, want proof?"

Teresa reached into the Thieves Bag at her hip, and drew forth the long, two-handed axe of the Nordic smuggler. Now stained with the Nord's own dried blood, she threw the weapon upon the cluttered table beside the Nibenean. She followed it with a shredded tunic of mail rings, then a mace, a smaller hand axe, a sword, and more weapons and pieces of armor. All were stained, notched, or battered. Mute testament that their former owners did not meet their ends gently.

Now the entire hall went silent as a graveyard at midnight.

"What are you? a Witch?" The inspector, and more than a few others, stared at her with mixtures of shock and horror.

"Yes I'm a Witch damnit!" Teresa shouted. "I killed the smugglers in Bawn. But someone else was bringing it in to them with a wagon, and they were delivering it to another group. They were just one link in the chain. If you people act now, you can set a trap for the others. Now what are you going to do?"

The Nibenean put one hand to his head, as if he had a fever, and stared at the weapons scattered across his workspace. "You killed them all," he mumbled. "You really did it. You crazy bark-biter."

"Of course I killed them!" Teresa felt as if she would burst. "That's my job! That's your job!"

"How do you know they were skooma runners?" The inspector found his voice again. "You probably murdered a dozen innocent people."

"Innocent people don't attack a member of the Fighters Guild after she's clearly identified herself." Teresa shot back. "They don't chase her through the forest trying to kill her, and they don't have twenty casks of skooma in their camp!"

"You found the skooma then?" Teresa could see that caught Hordeonius' attention very quickly, and now he stared at her intently. "Where is it? Did you bring it with you?"

"I destroyed it."

"You did what!" It was not so much a question, as a cry of fury. The Nibenean's fist slammed against the table, causing the weapons on it to clatter in a cacophony of metal. "Do you know how much that…"

"How much it's worth?" Now Teresa regarded the inspector through the narrow eyes of a stalking lioness. "Yes I know exactly how much it's worth. Is that all you care about? What you can sell it for?"

"You watch your tongue tree-hugger!" The Nibenean thrust a finger in Teresa's face. "I'm one second from putting you up on charges of murder."

"Murder!" Teresa barked. "They attacked me you oily fetcher!"

"According to who, you?" the guardsman said. "With no skooma to back up your story, there's no proof they were doing anything illegal."

"There's nothing to back up the imp chips you're slinging either round-ear." Teresa hissed. "How much are they paying you to sell out that uniform?"

"That's it!" Hordeonius spat. "I won't listen to another word of your forked tongue you filthy tree-hugger."

"You lying Daedra!" Teresa cursed, "I'll…"

Before she could finish, a mailed form stepped between Teresa and the inspector. Iron hands locked onto her shoulders, and pushed her toward the entrance of the chamber. Teresa resisted, but it was to no avail against the strength and weight of the larger, armored man.

"Walk away Teresa." The newcomer's words were soft in her ears. "Just walk away, this is not helping."

"I'm not going to…" Teresa fumed. Yet as much as she struggled, the guardsman had her out the door and into the hall beyond within moments. There he stopped and took a step back, but kept one hand on her arm. Now that she had the time to really look at him, Teresa saw that he was tall, even for a Nibenean, but bore the classic jet hair and olive skin of his race. His face was one Methredhel might call handsome, if not for the crooked line of a once-broken nose. His dark eyes held no rancor as he looked back at her. If anything, Teresa imagined they held sympathy.

"How do you know who I am anyway?" Teresa breathed, trying to still her pounding heart. Damnit! she silently cursed. She had lost her temper again, and with the city guard no less. Yet when she thought about the inspector's reaction once more, she imagined what Vols would do in the same circumstance. The centurion would flatten the treacherous guardsman, and that would be just for starters!

"Are you kidding? How many crazy, red-headed, wood elves do you think there are in the Bravil Fighters Guild?" The tall Nibenean laughed. "Every guardsman in the city knows you. You're the one who keeps jumping off the North Bridge and into the river! I was there the first time you did it. I thought you were trying to kill yourself. Would have been a better idea than what you just did in there."

"That bounder's taking gold from the skooma dealers!" Teresa hissed, pointing a finger at the chamber beyond.

"I know," the guardsman said quietly. "Half the guard is, and the rest know better than to cross them."

"How can you just ignore it?" Teresa sighed. "Don't you know what it does to people?"

"I know, I see it every day." The Nibenean's eyes looked sad. "But you have to pick and choose your battles in this world. The last man who tried to fight it ended up in Kvatch. After the Crisis thank the gods. But you would not believe how quickly he was run out of here. And the others, well, one man just disappeared. They said he went to High Rock, but everyone wonders…"

"So you just let them bully you?"

"There is nothing we can do right now," the Nibenean spread his hands. "The Count knows about it, and doesn't care. Probably because his son's their best customer. Maybe he's a bigger part of it too, I don't know. The captain's definitely in the smuggler's pay chest, as well as Kurdan gro-Dragol's. Until the Elder Council steps in, our hands are tied."

"I thought Kurdan was the one selling the skooma?" Teresa blinked.

"No, it's that shifty tree-hugger Nordinor," the guardsman spat. Then he paused and held up a hand in apology. "No disrespect intended. He's got the Count's personal seal of immunity. Kurdan runs everything else: gambling, loan-sharking, extortion, robbery… Anything violent that happens, you can bet his fingers are behind it, and his gold is in the Captain's pocket."

"So how do you do it?" Teresa asked, barely even noticing the accidental racial slur. "How can you be a good guardsman in a bad city?"

"Those of us who are still honest, well, we all have our reasons," the Nibenean explained. "Marius Helvius, he's got something to prove. He never talks about it, but I think he fetched up something but good back in the Imperial City. Now he needs to make it right, for his own sake if nothing else. Gladius Maro - that one who got shipped off to Kvatch - well he was always the straightest arrow in the quiver. We used to joke that he had a steel rod up his back instead of a spine."

"What about you?" Teresa said softly, "I'm sorry, I don't even know your name."

"Prentus," the Nibenean declared, "Gaius Prentus. Well my father was in the guard, and his father, and his father before him. So there was never really any question about what I was going to do when I grew up."

"That doesn't explain why you're not with your captain, and that fetcher in there," Teresa observed.

"This is my city," Gaius said plainly. "It's my home, always has been, and I can't imagine it ever not being so. My people have been here since Bravil was just a bunch of huts by the bay. I hate seeing it run down like this. So I do what I can, when I can, and bide my time until the Count is out of here. He's only got another year and a half before his term is up and the Council puts someone else here. When that happens - gods willing that the next one isn't just as bad - we can take our city back. Until then we just have to be patient, and do our best for the good and decent people that are still here in Bravil."

Pappy's Rule Number Ten came to Teresa's mind. "Never fight a battle you cannot win. You retreat, and trade space for the time you need to gather your strength, until you can win. Then you fight." It was exactly what she had done at Bawn, when faced with the horde of smugglers. Obviously it was what Gaius Prentus, and the other honest guardsmen, had to do in Bravil. What she would have to do as well.

"Thank you Gaius," Teresa said, laying a hand on the Nibenean's shoulder. "You're right. It's good to know that there are still people like you left here in Bravil."

You know, that's pretty darn close to what I had pictured for the Guard in Bravil, except that Lerus is the straight-arrow outsider and a lot of the local guards (the ones born in Bravil, anyway) are crooked.

So the Count has a term limit? That makes Cyrodiilan politics mighty interresting!

Somehow I'm not surprised by the outcome of Teresa's visit to the guard barracks.

That went well, didn't it?

Good confrontation. We feel Teresa's frustration. (Fortunate she was that Gaius Prentus was there.)

Wow! I don't know as I've ever seen our Teresa so angry - and justifiably so. Clearly the henna dye is having a 'red head' effect.

Nice nod to Lady Scaurus as Teresa walked along Snob Alley.

"That's Teresa of the Faint Smile," the forester heard someone say in a hushed tone.
"One of the best archers in Cyrodiil," came another whisper.
"Put an arrow through your heart at three hundred paces," murmured a third.'
I'm so glad you inserted these comments. Teresa will not toot her own horn, but it is refreshing to see her awesome talent recognized here!

"You killed them all," he mumbled. "You really did it. You crazy bark-biter."
That guy was slinging the insults, and I was delighted to see Teresa give it right back to him:
"There's nothing to back up the imp chips you're slinging either round-ear."

My heart swelled as you portrayed Gaius Prentus as one of the good guys; even more so at the wonderful mention of dear Gladius Maro - sent off to Kvatch. How delicately you work with the massive differences in timeline between our stories to make them seem to temporarily not even exist - thank you! And I see you have added a little more depth and insight into the mysteries of Bravilian politics.

Nit? 'The final line of defense was portcullis, which was now raised.'
I found myself wondering if you perhaps might want to insert an 'a' before the word portcullis?

Near the back of the room three armored men were hustling a tattooed Nord to another door, while the larger man loudly sang something about swimming with bow-legged women.

Follow the singing Nord, that’s how you find the drunk tank.

Hooray for Gaius Prentus. That was not going well. I could understand his point about trying to be someone good in a corrupt system.

So I do what I can, when I can, and bide my time until the Count is out of here. He's only got another year and a half before his term is up and the Council puts someone else here.

That’s interesting, for Bravil and for the other counties if it’s that way throughout Cyrodiil. It also gives me hope for Teresa’s long term prospects there. I wonder if Pappy will have any insight into the situation.

Most of what I might say has been said, but I did pick up on this line:


It was rather overshadowed by later events but it made me think back to the old Teresa before the fighter's guild, and the before then even. When she could barely pass a guard in the street I could hardly have imagined her ignoring those on duty at a castle. It highlights how far you've taken her character, and how smooth it's been give that the closest thing to a tipping point I can find it 'the fighters guild' which is a fair portion of the story now.

The meeting with the guard went about as I'd have expected. But we have some honest ones. Could the next section of the story be a political intregue?

I wonder what Pappy will have to say about this...

haute ecole rider: The Counts being appointed for set terms was something I came up with a long time back, in those pages where I was asking people for opinions on Cyrodiil's government, nobility, etc... In the end I went with something similar to the Roman Republic/Empire, where governors were senators appointed to their provinces for a set term, usually one year. That keeps any one faction or person from accumulating too much power and influence in one place. It also gives the Elder Council a way to throw a bone to one of its members, or simply to get them out of their hair for a while.


Glargg: As well as it could have gone! Well, Teresa did not have to lose her temper and get in a name-calling match with the city guard I suppose...


Acadian: Good thing Buffy has never been tempted to dye her hair red! Thank you again for the loan of Gaius Prentus and Gladius Maro. We might have the chance to see more of them in the future. The comments about Teresa were because of just what you observed. Teresa does not see her real stature in the community, or understand how people look at her. But since arriving in Bravil, she has been making a name for herself. Now that the tourney is over, that name has become well-known.


Grits: Yes, I was indeed thinking of Jerric when I wrote the part about the drunken Nord being hauled off by the city guard!


Olen: Indeed, quite a seismic shift in Teresa's attitudes toward the law! She has gained a great deal of confidence since the beginning of this tale, and without a doubt Pappy is a big reason for that. The next episode will center on political intrigue, but not in the way anyone expects, I am sure.


Previously on Teresa of the Faint Smile: In our last episode Teresa tried to warn the Bravil City Guard about the smugglers in Bawn. Yet her news fell on deaf ears, and she came to the inescapable realization that most of the guard was indeed corrupt. After a screaming match with an inspector, she was quickly hustled out by one of the few honest guards left in Bravil (courtesy of Acadian), who explained to her that it started with the count and the guard captain, and flowed down to most of the rest of the guard. Next Teresa returns to the FG hall, where a surprise awaits in the final episode of this chapter.


Chapter 36.6 – The Witch of Bawnwatch Island

Magnus was slipping from his perch high above when Teresa returned to the Fighters Guild. The moment she stepped in the door, she heard the sound of agitated voices emanating from the sitting room. Making her way through the foyer, she stood in the open doorway of the guild's parlor. She found most of her guildmates within. As the morning drills were over, they were clad in ordinary linens, except of course for Ancondil, who wore velvet as always.

"This means war then?" Chance asked.

"Damn right it does!" Vincent said loudly, smacking a fist in his opened palm.

"That would be sheer folly!" Ancondil contested. "The Elder Council is wiser than to let that happen."

"What is going on?" Teresa asked. Most of her companions were so caught up in the discussion that they did not even notice her. But a moment later a familiar dusky shape stepped through the others. Even as a faint smile lit upon the wood elf's features, she could not deny the twinge of guilt that stabbed through her heart. Just the other night she had lain with Aela, as well as in the morning. Now here she stood before Tadrose. How could she face the dark elf after what she had done?

Damnit, stop feeling guilty, Teresa told herself. Nerussa would not feel that way. It was not as if she and Tadrose really were lovers after all. How could she betray someone she had never made a commitment to in the first place? She had the right to sleep with whomever she wanted.

But had she not made a commitment to Tadrose just the same, even if the armorer did not know it?

Those thoughts vanished the moment that the Dunmer smith gently set her hands upon Teresa's arms. "It is good that you are back Teresa." A look of relief crested the vice-commander's features. "The news this afternoon has been terrible."

"What?" Teresa furrowed her eyebrows, looking from Tadrose to the others. "What happened?"

"Summerset Isle has seceded from the Empire." Valerius now turned to face Teresa, his face a mask of steely composure. He handed her a copy of the Black Horse Courier. She took the broadsheet in one trembling hand and stared dumbfounded at the words upon it.




Teresa took a deep breath, and willed her hand to still itself as she gave the broadsheet back to the Colovian knight. A few skooma smugglers and corrupt guardsmen seemed insignificant in comparison to this!

Teresa's head swam. How could they do this, when only months before Emperor Martin had sacrificed himself for their sakes? It was him, and the Empire, that had saved the world from destruction at the hands of the Daedra. Now the High Elves were just going to ignore all of that?

"All right you meatheads, settle down!" Pappy's voice rang through the room, and the crowd parted for the bare-chested Colovian to step between them. "You're all clucking like a bunch of hens. Now here is the situation as we know it. The Altmer Conclave has declared independence, but not cut all ties to the Empire. Now they've always had more autonomy than any other province. Obviously they want more, but it doesn't mean they are going to invade Tamriel, or attack the troops stationed in Alinor. If they were going to do that, they would have started out with a sneak attack. This declaration means they don't want war more than anyone else."

"It has to be war!" Vincent cursed. "Our good Emperors died to stop Mehrunes Dagon. It's our blood that saved them all! This is like spitting on Saint Martin's grave!"

"If the Council doesn't do something, who else will be next?" Chance said less vehemently. "I'll tell you one thing, the Crowns back home have just been waiting for something like this."

"But what can the Elder Council do?" Valerius now spoke up. "There is only a token Imperial force stationed in Summerset Isle; a few cohorts and a handful of knights at Alinor. They cannot conquer the entire province. All the Conclave really has to do is cut off their food and water and eventually they will be forced to capitulate. From the sound of it, the Altmer are willing to let them go. In fact, I'd say they want them out without a fight."

"Gaius, who is leading the men in Alinor?" Tadrose now asked.

"I don't know who's actually on the ground there, probably just some snot-nosed tribune long on connections and short of experience. Alinor has always been a toy soldier post." Pappy scratched his ear. "But Titus Mede is in overall command. He's the Legate of the Third Valenica, in Valenwood."

"What manner of man is this Mede?" Ancondil asked. "How he proceeds will probably determine the course of events. If he resists with force, it will likely compel the Empire to war, regardless of what the Elder Council wishes. If not, then diplomacy might well prevail."

"I know Mede," Valerius spat. "He is a slaughterfish waiting in the reeds. A few years ago he tried to have Chancellor Ocato deposed, so that he could take his place. He lost that round of backroom politics. That is how he found himself in Valenwood. He is sly, ambitious, and completely ruthless."

"Will he fight?" the ever-placid Storm-Tail finally added his dry voice to the discussion.

"I doubt it." Valerius shook his head. "If he thought he could win, he would not hesitate. Then he would come home as the conquering hero. But he cannot win, and a confrontation will only make him appear a failure. One thing you can count on though, he will find a way to turn this to his personal advantage, and the rest of Tamriel be damned."

"And if the Council puts together an army from the other provinces, then those places will be the next to rebel once the troops are gone." Teresa thought out loud. "Just like Chance said."

"Aye," Pappy nodded. "They would have to recruit half-a-dozen new legions. With Kvatch still a smoldering pile of ash, that won't be happening anytime soon. The Council needs the money to rebuild. "

"Unless they just give up on rebuilding Kvatch altogether," Vincent said. "Then they could raise an army. Even of mercenaries."

"That would not suffice," Ancondil said. "Summerset was never truly defeated. They only joined the Empire because Tiber Septim had the Numidium and threatened to use it. Now both are long vanished, and the Empire has nothing to replace them. Brute force will not suffice against the Altmer."

"Especially since all they have to do is sit on their islands," Chance remarked. "The Empire would need a fleet to get to them, and the Altmer navy is almost as good as that of we Ra Gada."

"Better," Pappy said. "They may not be as good at sailing, but their magic more than makes up for that. Thanks to their sylphs and undines, they always have the weather gauge. Only the Maormer have ever been able to challenge them at sea."

"So there will probably not be war," Tadrose declared. "It is a stalemate. Besides, war is bad for trade after all. The High Elves might not like Imperials, but they like their gold well enough. Believe me, the feeling is mutual in the Empire. It is the same way in Morrowind. But that does not mean there will not be trouble here. If you have Altmer friends, you had best caution them to be careful until the initial furor dies down. Anything could spark violence. It would not hurt for them to have a visible Fighters Guild presence to deter that."

Teresa thought of Ardaline, Henantier, and Carandial. Could something happen to them? Would some angry Imperial attack them? Tadrose was right, a Fighters Guild escort might make people think twice before starting trouble. But what of Nerussa? Her heart yawned wide as she imagined the delicate high elf falling prey to a mob. Please Mara, she silently prayed, do not let anything happen to her. Nor any of her other friends.

Well that is a twist. I suppose it was an obvious thing to have happen, though I suspect it might well lead to war because the Empire would want to be seen to lose one province in case others followed. Of course the real trick is to hire the army of one province to supress another distant one and so prevent either from revolting.

Anyway excellent teist, I wait eagerly to see where this leads (Valenwood maybe?). I also noticed Tadrose was quick to greet Teresa and seemed rather worried. Perhaps she will be keen to go out to dinner, even given the day's events.

Nicely done with the black horse courier bit.

A nit, maybe.
perhaps the mysterious Psijic's - should there be an apostrophe there? It's an odd word so perhaps it's meant to have one but it's not a possessive.

So the Summerset Isle is the first to break away, eh? I always thought it would be Morrowind for some reason. Yes, yes, I know about the wizards banning Imperial goods in the Isles, but I had King Helseth pegged as someone with extreme ambition (blame Rumpleteaza's excellent fiction for that). With the Septims gone, what would stop him from breaking with Cyrodiil?

And then there's the return of the Wild Hunt in Valenwood, and the border disputes Skyrim's always involved in --

I suppose it could go any way you want. It does make sense to have Summerset be the first to secede. Wonder how long it will take before the others go their own way? Black Marsh?

I won’t comment on all the chapters that I have read in order to catch back up because you are like a machine when it comes to regular posting and, given the length of this particular absence of mine, it would take forever to list all of the things that I liked about each chapter. I will confine my comments for now to this latest entry.

Bringing 36 to a close with stirrings of rebellion and rumors of war makes me wonder where the TF will lead us next. It was interesting to see how even Teresa’s assessment of events is shaped by the Oblivion Crisis. I can well imagine that the citizens of the Isles, so far removed from those events, would see things differently. I am eager to see how the two points of view contest each other in the chapters to come. I was also struck by the idea that her first thoughts would be for the safety of her Altmeri friends even as she herself shares the mentality that might lead others to cause them harm. That is so very Teresa to me.

I think at some point in the TF Tadrose is going to have to hit Teresa over the head with the proverbial ton of bricks! She really has done everything except bend Teresa over the forge and plant one on her lips (Please don’t go there!! ). That Teresa remains clueless to the fact is in perfect keeping with her awkwardness in dealing with Nerussa.

Pappy’s insight into the character of Titus Mede was also fascinating. Painting him as a ruthless yet pragmatic opportunist does much to tell us how he eventually comes by the throne. It also hints at conflict that may arise if/when the two are ever put at cross purposes. I have a feeling that Teresa’s story is about to weave itself into events that form the fabric of history once again.

And she will continue to insist that she is not a hero.

You do a nice job painting Teresa's conflicted emotions around Tadrose - complicated by her recent time with Aela.

And a twist that is both surprising but not surprising! It makes sense, with the Empire weakened, that provinces with uneasy ties to the Empire (about all of them I figure) might be looking to reassert their independence. I can understand the predominant FG feeling - they paid dearly themselves at the battle of Bruma to save all of Tamriel. You seem to be presenting a situation that does not have clear 'good guys' and 'bad guys' but rather significant and very realistic grayness on all sides. I'm very impressed! I think also that using the Courier was an excellent (and well executed) vehicle to paint the first coat of detail on the situation.

Once again, I like that Teresa is witness to big events. Although I doubt she will be central to them, she will no doubt be somehow drawn in on the periphery I expect.

Then you bring things back for the local impact as Teresa wonders about the safety of her Altmeri friends.

Chapter 33.1
I get the impression that Vincent was being funny and not actually trying to win over the ladies with his… manliness (or lack thereof). I could be wrong though…

Well if Tadrose hasn’t noticed how Teresa watches her before now, I think she certainly will now.

Chapter 33.2
Oh cool! The tournament of archers! First we need to finish this job though. I wonder where the other guild mates are? Did they split up, each going with a different priestess/priest?

Interesting insight on the crops. I’ve never thought of them like that. Did you do research?

Whoa! Not what I was expecting of the rite. Makes sense in a symbolic way I guess.

Some interesting comments spawned of this episode too, putting it mildly


Chapter 33.3
Lol! Button the horse!

Heavy duty stuff. I have to admit, the ceremony felt alien to me.

Too bad very few can see the power involved there.

Chapter 33.4
That Nord priestess is not putting her body guard to good use by having her pick corn! And Teresa is junior enough to neglect her duty and help with the harvest!

What the heck! I knew Teresa wasn’t going to be mauled by the bear, but that was insane!

Teresa took a deep breath, and willed her hand to still itself as she gave the broadsheet back to the Colovian knight. A few skooma smugglers and corrupt guardsmen seemed insignificant in comparison to this!

Not to mention her turmoil over the tumbles with Aela. Nothing like the threat of war to bring things back into perspective.

"It has to be war!" Vincent cursed. "Our good Emperors died to stop Mehrunes Dagon. It's our blood that saved them all! This is like spitting on Saint Martin's grave!"

Hopefully there will be more Pappys than Vincents. Each person’s reaction reinforced what we've learned about their character, especially Teresa’s instant concern for her friends. As I reread this section I felt like I was among people I know, listening to what they have to say about a crisis. I’m in awe!!

Olen: I think the only real option the Elder Council would have to attack Summerset would be to enlist the help of the Redguard navy. But they would have to make sure they got the Crowns as well as the Forebears. Otherwise as soon as the Forebears were away, the Crowns would probably attack their cities. Even then though, the Empire would need some way to offset the Altmer advantage at sea. Otherwise just like Napoleon, Hitler, and so many others, they would just be stuck staring out at the cliffs of Dover from across the sea.


haute ecole rider: It is not in the lore anywhere that Summerset Isle broke away at all, let alone first. But it seemed to me that they would be the first to go, since unlike any of the other provinces, they are physically separated from the rest of Tamriel. As with Great Britain in European politics, it makes it very easy for them to stand apart.

I actually do not see Morrowind ever breaking away from the Empire, at least not willingly. Morrowind is weak. Even with 3 demigods they could not stand against the completely mortal armies of Tiber Septim. Instead they surrendered while they could still get terms. They have only gotten weaker, especially thanks to Helseth. By destroying House Redoran and Indoril, he removed the only real army Morrowind ever had. Now the only thing keeping Argonia and the Nords from conquering Morrowind is the Imperial Legion. If they ever leave, Morrowind is doomed.

Your comment did get me thinking about Helseth ruining Redoran and Indoril by freeing the slaves however. It made me realize how backwards that is. Those two houses would be the least affected by it. Rather it would be Hlaalu (the merchants trading the slaves), and Dres (the plantation owners using the slaves) that would face financial peril. So maybe in the TF I might make it the Nerevarine who frees the slaves, destroys Hlaalu and Dres, and deposes Helseth.


Destri Melarg: I am glad you noted that Teresa possesses the qualities of both sides of the dispute. I wanted to use her to convey those feelings.

The Altmer secession will actually lead to Cyrodiil, but probably not in a way most people will expect, and Titus Mede will be at the heart of it all.

As this coming chapter will show, not only Teresa needs that ton of bricks, but Tadrose as well...


Acadian: I can see some provinces not wanting to rebel. High Rock and Skyrim seem more or less satisfied being in the Empire, and as I noted to h.e.r., Morrowind has no choice. The lore says Elsewyr and Argonia were the first to go. Valenwood seems like it is in too much of a state of anarchy to actively break away, but the Empire might abandon it when there are problems in other provinces. The Crowns in Hammerfell are definitely trouble waiting to happen, but the Forebears are also there to counter them.

When it comes to the inevitable breaking of the Empire, I am indeed going for a situation without good guys or bad guys. More like these guys and those guys. Without a Septim on the throne, even Teresa is unwilling to actually oppose any of the rebel states. She would gladly fight for Emperor Uriel's throne, or Martin's. Her loyalty to them is where her initial outrage stems from in fact. But she could really care less to keep an empire for some greedy patricians on the Elder Council. Most of the other members of the FG are the same. Hopefully I will be able to show that in a future chapter.


King Coin: The tournament of archers is indeed just around the corner from where you are. You read it in the BF, now you will get to see it from Teresa's side. I did do some research into the Three Sisters. It was the Native American method of farming. I actually stumbled upon it while looking up climate information for North Carolina, since I am making Bravil's climate similar.


Grits: I am glad people's personalities did show in their statements. I was hoping to use the FG as sort of a microcosm for Cyrodiil, to show how people from all walks of life were reacting to the news.


Previously on Teresa of the Faint Smile: In our last chapter Teresa met Aela the Witch of Bawnwatch Island. After celebrating the Witches Festival with Aela, the two became lovers, albeit temporarily. Returning to Bravil, they parted as friends. Afterward Teresa learned the extent of the city guard's corruption when she tried to report the skooma smugglers she had killed in Bawn. Finally, we closed the chapter with the stunning news that Summerset Isle had seceded from the Empire. Next we find Teresa a week later, as she goes out to pick alchemical ingredients.


Chapter 37.1 – Redemption

21st – 22nd Frostfall, 3E433

Teresa stood upon the bridge outside of Bravil's North Gate and stared down. The waves of the Larsius meandered past twenty feet below, inviting her with the promise of their gentle caresses. She was tempted to leap over the handrail and dive into the river blow. She could always swim up it rather than walk after all.

Yet the words of Gaius Prentus rose in her memory: "Every guardsman in the city knows you. You're the one who keeps jumping off the North Bridge and into the river!"

There was no sense adding to her reputation for being mad. With a sigh, Teresa walked along the bridge rather than taking the river's invitation. She was pleased to see Marius Helvius standing guard at the far end of the span. So at least walking was not a total loss.

"How does Magnus greet you this day Marius?" Teresa asked as she drew near.

"Teresa!" the Nibenean exclaimed as he turned from facing the Green Road. "I'm half surprised I didn't hear a splash!"

"I've only jumped off twice," Teresa pouted as she stepped up to the mail-clad guardsman.

"That's twice more than anyone else…" Marius murmured with a wink. "Off to Silverbridge to visit?"

"Not this time." Teresa shook her head. Then she thought of young Quintis and Poppea, who were probably driving their grandfather Decimus crazy by this time of day. "Well maybe I'll stop in for a spell. I have to head up the river though. I need to gather lavender and summer bolete for potions, and more chamomile for my hair."

"Women…" the guardsman shook his head as well. "Has your guild heard anything new about Summerset?"

"Nothing," Teresa shrugged her shoulders. "Although it takes so long for word to get down here, we could have invaded a week ago and we wouldn't know it yet."

"You don't think that will happen do you?" The Nibenean's face was completely serious now. "An invasion?"

"No," Teresa said. "Even Tiber Septim wouldn't try that. Pappy said that the Altmer invaded Valenwood once back in the Second Age, but it didn't work out well for them either. Apparently we wood elves are a troublesome lot. So he thinks it will be up to the Council and the Conclave to work something out. Has there been much trouble in town? A few friends and I were having dinner at Ungarion's shop the night the news came out, and someone threw a stone through the window. I saw Silverhome on the Water got plastered with rotten eggs the next day too."

"That's about the extent of it," Marius said. "Plus a few black eyes and split lips. Pretty much all the Altmer here were born and raised in the county. They're just as Imperial as you or me. Well, you know what I mean."

"I do," Teresa nodded. She knew that Ardaline and Henantier were both born in Bravil, and that their parents lived in the city as well. She was not sure about Carandial, and Ungarion had told her that he was from the Imperial City, just like herself. They knew as much about the Summerset Isles as she did! "At least there is one good thing about all this. It got the Count out of the city."

"Aye," Marius smiled. "That it did. Let's hope he stays in deliberations with the rest of the Elder Council for a long time. Like the next year and a half."

"Aye to that." Teresa nodded, and rapped a friendly hand on his kite-shaped shield. "Well, I had best be off. I'm burning daylight."

"Be careful out in the woods," Marius called after her. "There've been more reports coming in about trolls to the north. Yesterday they attacked a caravan on the road just five miles from here."

"I will!" Teresa waved back. She had never seen a troll. At least not a live one. Her encounter with Barenziah on the Green Road had been as near as she ever hoped to meeting one. Thank Mara those had already been killed by the grizzly bear. Given all of the bears like Barenziah that lived in the forest outside of Bravil, Teresa wondered how there could be trolls there at all? She would have imagined that the grizzlies would keep them out.

After passing by the fenced-off pastures of Bay Roan Stables, Teresa continued down the Green Road. Pappy had told her that the West Weald was troll country, and that they were thick as fleas east of Skingrad. Did they get tired of wine country and decide to head east to County Bravil?

The raucous cry of not one crow, but half-a-dozen of the black birds immediately snapped Teresa to alertness. She stood upon the pavestones of the Green Road, with the Larsius and walls of Bravil to her left, and the forest girdling the hills to her right. Before her lay Anutwyll, its star well sparkling under Magnus' warm rays. In the distance beyond lay a low stone bridge that spanned the river, and the wooden stockade of Silverbridge rose beyond its southern end.

She did not see anything untoward. The road was empty, and only birds and squirrels showed themselves among the trees. Still, she drew her bowstave from her shoulder, and fished a string from one of her belt pouches. If only she had a recurve bow from Valenwood, she mused as she put her body into bending the sturdy yew, then she could keep her bow strung for much longer periods without fear of it warping.

Then the smell came to her. Thick and musty, it made her nostrils curl. It was not the wholesome scent of a bear, dog, or other natural animal. Instead this was vile, like meat left out in the sun for too long. She willed her fingers to move quickly, and looked up the moment she finished hooking the string over the top ear of her bow.

Her eyes scanned the undergrowth, searching for anything out of place. Letting her feet drift back, she gave herself more room, just in case. Her free hand reached into the Thieves Bag at her hip, and drew forth one of Ungarion's scrolls.

With a chorus of bellows that ripped through the air like a knife, a quartet of dark shapes burst from the forest ahead of her. Their muscular forms were covered in yellow-green fur that was flecked with darker brown and black. They ran on not only their legs, but also with the assistance of their over-sized arms. All four of their limbs ended with long curved digits that looked like extra thick claws. Their heads were like the drawings Teresa had seen of Valenwood's apes, except that they bore three black eyes, and their distended jaws were packed with dagger-like fangs.

Trolls!

Screenshot

As Pappy had trained her, she reacted without thinking. Instantly she shook the scroll open in her hand, and glanced down at the single word written across its face.

"Salamander!"

The page crumbled to dust as the magicka within burst forth. A disc of blue energy formed in the air before Teresa, and fell to the stones of the Green Road a second later. In its wake a golden serpent burst to life. It swam through the air like a fish in water, and its long, sinuous body was wreathed in flame. Its draconian head bore a set of gaping jaws, in which gleamed two great fangs, like those of a snake, while rows of smaller, needle-like teeth ran out behind them.

Teresa did not know how to command it. She had never seen Aela or Morcant actually tell their summonings what to do. All she knew was that she wanted it to attack the trolls. As if bidden by her thoughts alone, the magnificent Aedra did exactly that. It propelled itself forward with a great snap of its tail, and arrowed directly into the oncoming beasts.

The Aedra's jaws locked around the nearest troll, and shook its head like a dog with a ragdoll in its mouth. The troll screamed as one of its paws came off in the salamander's mouth. Yet at the same time it clawed wildly at the Aedra with its other hand. The other trolls shrinked away from their blazing attacker for a moment. Then they all dove in upon it.

Teresa did not stand idly by while the Aedra fought for her. Her free hand fell to the arrow bag at her hip and drew forth one rifled shaft. Popping open the stopper of her poison jar with her thumb, she dipped the slender mithril head within. Dripping with nightshade, she drew it forth a moment later and set it to her bow.

Taking in a deep breath and letting half the air out, she drew her string back halfway and took aim at the nearest troll. An instant later she pulled the feathers of her arrow to her cheek, then let fly. Even as the missile spiraled down the road, she was reaching for her next arrow. She heard the troll cry out in anguish as she poisoned the next missile. Then she had the arrow on her string, and aimed once more.

The troll she had shot turned from the salamander and charged at her. She loosed before it could take its second footstep, and turned as well. Sprinting down the road the way she had come, she dug into a belt pouch with her free hand. Pulling forth a small, glass vial, she felt it slip from her fingers as she took a hard footfall. A moment later it shattered on the stones of the road under foot, spraying golden liquid across the pavement.

Damn! the wood elf silently cursed, that was one of her combination shield and magicka restoration potions! Teresa heard the troll's feet clicking on the pavestones behind her. It was fast, and even after two poisoned arrows it was gaining on her. She did not dare glance back - or reach for another potion - for fear of losing the slightest bit of speed.

The fences of Bay Roan Stables blurred past over her right shoulder. She heard the horses within cry out in panic. Then the thunder of their hooves on soft grass told her that they were getting themselves as far from the troll as they could.

A mailed figure holding a shield in one hand and an arming sword in the other appeared before her eyes. It was Marius! Teresa's heart leaped as she closed with the guardsman. He did not rush to meet her. Instead he moved slowly forward, shield up, sword ready to strike. Teresa angled her approach so that she would pass him on his left. That way she would not interfere with his sword swing.

As soon as she drew abreast of him she dug in her heels and skidded along the stones of the road. Teetering, she nearly fell to her knees. By the time she regained her balance Marius was standing in front of her, and the troll was just a heartbeat away. Even as she reached for an arrow, it charged headlong into his shield.

Rather than trying to take the full-force of the beast head on, the guardsman pivoted on his back foot and pushed the creature aside, allowing its own momentum to carry it past him. Yet it hung onto the rim of his shield with its hooked, claw-like fingers. Marius was dragged along with it, stumbling along the pavestones as he fought to retain his shield.

Teresa set her arrow to the nock of her bow, and saw a second troll closing in fast from down the road. There was no longer any sign of her salamander, or the other two monsters. They must have finished one another off, the wood elf imagined. Leaving the first troll to Marius, she took aim at the second and let fly.

Oh, I do hope that Teresa and Marius make it through this okay! I know how fast those darned things can move. Ogres are almost funny in their movements - it's like watching Monday Night Football in Super Slo Mo. But trolls - brrgh! They're fast, agile and vicious! I hate 'em!

Where's a good fire spell when you need one, Or Daedra Slayer? That sword is awesome against trolls! I think Julian wouldn't mind if I were to somehow lend Marius that trusty old katana. Wish I could!

Okay, I really enjoyed the scenery earlier in the piece. It was lovely, and I know about the temptation to dive into the water. I have the same problem further south near Topal Bay. And I chuckled at Marius's comment about the Count. Good riddance! Though I'd love to be a fly on that wall and listen to their bickering. Hmmm . . .

The symmetry between Teresa's thoughts of trolls and the appearance of them was well-done. I especially liked how she alerted to the cawing of crows and started looking for danger.

Exciting stuff, there's nothing like ignoring a warning though. I suspect Marius might have something to say on that front. The trolls are certainly strange looking beasts, though the salamander would be a good choice for finishing them off.

Saying they wer unnatural made me wonder. What are trolls? I'd have classed them as another animal but Teresa clealy doesn't.

The rotten meat smell was spot on, I'll be imagining that every time I see a troll now.