Kairos Black-Lion's Story

Elevainia was quite a sight to behold, the purple sheen of the fabric accompanied by the glittering emeralds. "You look quite ravishing Elevainia." Allena said with a small laugh. Elevainia giggled a bit, then gave a twirl, and began to ascend the flight of stairs for the second time. At the top of the stairs, Allena gave her a quick hug, and watched as she headed in the direction of the kitchen, where Kairos stood preparing the doe they were to dine on.

Allena was disinclined to speak with the newcomer at the moment, the allure of the journals that Nirarrien studied furiously too much for her to resist. As she neared the table she grasped one, tracing the spine of the book with her fingers. "Have you found anything of significance?" Allena asked pleasantly, trying not to disturb the mage in his concentration.

Allena replaced the book with a mug of ale and took a small sip, then had to force it down her throat as she resisted the desire to spew the foul brew upon Nirarrien. After the odd expression on her face had subsided, she peacefully sat the mug down, and then retreated into one of the chairs lining the round wooden table, pulling one of the dusty tomes closer to her.

As the dust settled, Allena opened the book and began to pour over it's contents, discovering a few scraps of information on the first page.

Do'Khaj left Kairos to carve and cook the slain doe while he went to join Nirrarien in scrolling through the tomes. Many appeared to be mythological books as opposed to factual books, but after skimming through a few, it seemed that they all pointed to the same place, the Vaults of Gemin, near Stormhold in the north of Black Marsh. They claimed that within the vaults was hidden an Elder Scroll that would reveal the location of Murkwood, a strange, magical forest that moves around Black Marsh. The books claimed that within the Murkwood was one of "The Old Gods"; beings worshipped by the Aldmer that were neither Aedra nor Daedra, but beings such as the Dragons. The books revealed little about this Old God, only that it was known as Kehrok and that it owned one of the 5 keys.

Do'Khaj's study was interupted by Allena and Elevainia running upstairs wearing expensive dresses and circelts. Do'Khaj never understood why women were so obsessed with clothes, surely as long as they were clean and didn't look stupid they were fine, they didn't need a million different pairs that were laced with expensive furs and jewels. One thing Do'Khaj liked about his wife was that she shared his taste in fashion. He heard Allena ask if Nirrarien had discovered anything, so he decided that now would be a good time to share his findings with the group.
"According to what I've read, we need to find the ruins of the Vaults of Gemin where there is an Elder Scroll that will guide us to the key." Do'Khaj announced, "It's only mid-day, we can probably reach Targus by nightfall. It's a small town between here and Gideon that is unlikely to be as dangerous as where we are now, considering its remoteness. If we are to leave for Targus, we should leave soon."

Skilled hands carefully sliced through the doe, when the sound of faint foot steps quietly enter the room. The fire danced playfully nearby as shadows emerged outlining the fabric that draped the young Bosmer. "Thank you Kairos, for taking care of my kill. My hands are, very small compared to everyone's here. I am grateful that you are doing it," the young elf's voice trembled from behind him. Kairos finished the cut he was making before turning to face her.

"I wasn't aware that it was you who had slain this doe. Your marksmanship is incredible." he stated before turning around and placing the skinned doe over the warmth of the fire to cook. He cleaned his hands and began to wash his bloodied dagger as he turned back towards Elevainia. "You're not interested in looking over the tomes?" the Nord inquired to her softly. She seemed quite nervous, though she had been rather quiet since she had arrived. "Jeelus-Tei has already given me the pleasure of looking over them, so I see no reason to intrude on the others readings."

Kairos examined the girl with softened eyes. She had changed out of her fur attire into a beautiful lavender gown, shrouded in a black cloak. Her long hair was now freely flowing over her shoulders and her snow-white skin was hinted with a faint blush. Kairos noticed the young woman trembling and instinctively set down the dagger and approached her. She was rather tall, but the man still seemed to loom over her with his height. Her pale lips were tinted with a hint of pink, his moistened from ale. With one hand, he reached out and clasped the tooth hanging from her neck. His fingers traced the small object as he briefly studied it. "I know this may seem odd," he started, "but have we met before?"

The possibility of leaving the warm house, in exchange for the cold swamp nights brought forth a sour taste to my senses. "You are far too hasteful to remove yourself from the warm arms of hospitality. Let us rest our heads here for the night Do'Khaj. Just as Jeelus-Tei said, the swamp is home to many distasteful creatures that I would not ordain to have our party meet." I answered the Khajiit, a faint smile playing across my lips.

We had only been sheltered by Jeelus-Tei but a few short hours, and I was not sure why Do'Khaj seemed so keen on leaving during the stormy cold night. Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed a tall man hovering next to Elevainia. A few moments later I realized that this man was Kairos. He stood intimately close, his hands wrapped around the odd tooth that hung suspended above Elevainia's chest.

I could see his mouth moving, but could not hear the words that he spoke above the crackle of the fire. I examined Elevainia, who's cheeks were slightly blushed, who stood in a shy pose, and who was completely obvious. A Nord and a Bosmer? It was completely absurd to me, for inter-racial marriages were very uncommon in Alinor. What bewildered me even more was the fact that most Nords completely despised all species of Mer. What was different about Kairos?

Elevainia couldn't help but blush at the comment Kairos made about her kill. She gave a small smile but it faded as he asked why she was not looking over the Tomes with the others. She stuttered for the right words, "U-ummm, I- I can't really-" Elevainia stopped her sentence as the tall Nord loomed over her frail body. She had noticed that his blue eyes were indeed the same shade as her blue eye was. "I know this may seem odd," the Nord said with a pause as his hand reached out to Elevainia's choker, his fingers trailing over the wolf's tooth that hung from it, "but have we met before?"

Elevainia's heart gave a sigh as this man had obviously had that same question as she. She didn't know the right words to say to him. It wasn't just a casual thing to say Nope sorry, I can't remember a thing. Elevainia searched through her mind for something to say, but the truth was all she could find, "Kairos, I really do wish I could give you an answer, but I am afraid that I have no memories beyond last season. Please if I do look familiar to you, I am trying to find out who I used to be." She searched his eyes for hope, but as she searched, she lost herself in his gaze.

"Why am I not surprised..." Do'Khaj sighed, "I can't expect anyone who isn't a seasoned veteran like me to bear having their feet sink an inch into mud. I was under the impression that you were a soldier, you should be able to take on a Hackwing or two. I don't want to turn down Jeelus-Tei's hospitality, but neither do I want to drag this damned mission out for longer than it need be. The sooner I can go home with my family, the better."
Do'Khaj turned his attention to the fire, first examining the roasting deer, it looked cooked enough for him, then quickly glanced at Kairos and Elevainia sharing an intimate moment. They looked a rather odd couple, Kairos looming over Elevainia, but who was he to judge? He was taller than both of them, and his wife was over a foot shorter than he was. Do'Khaj then stood and slipped behind the couple, removing the doe from its place above the fire, where it would have burned had it been left there much longer. Drawing one of the ebony daggers he had obtained from the Argonian assassin, he sliced the doe into 6 equal pieces, placed those pieces on plates and gave everyone in the group a piece, as well as Jeelus-Tei. He sat down and devoured his quickly, his breakfast of a small loaf of bread had hardly been sufficient to keep a man of his stature going for long.
"Well, I'm going to spend the time I was going to have spent earlier had I not carried Elevainia's kill for her, outside." Do'Khaj announced, making sure to say so in such a tone that Elevainia would understand that he was in no way annoyed with her.

Now was the time to make a name for himself lest he got in trouble and needed more support than Jeelus-Tei could provide. The most obvious place to go to would be a tavern, the barkeeps would surely have worthwhile information. So to a tavern he went.

The Tavern he entered was named "The Deathbell and the Bottle", not an attractive name for alchoholics. Never the less, Do'Khaj entered to see a young Argonian man staggering around and shouting angrily. He made the mistake of shouting at Do'Khaj.
"Get out of my bar, furball!"
With that, he hurled his empty tankard at Do'Khaj, which Do'Khaj expertly caught, to the surprise of the spectators. He then hurled the tankard to the floor angrily. The drunk Argonian was next. Do'Khaj hurled himself at the young man, hurling him backwards into the wall, causing him to loose conciousness and crumple to the floor like a sack of spuds.
"Who was that?" Do'Khaj asked the bartender.
"My best customer." He sighed, "I really wish he'd stop doing this. I should thank you for putting him in his place. Have a drink, on the house."
Do'Khaj didn't pass up the offer, so he sat down at the bar and downed the tankard of ale the bartender gave him.
"I'm new here." Do'Khaj told the bartender, "Is there anything I should know about the city?"
"Not much has happened until recently." The bartender replied, "There's some strange Imperial man who says he wants to go to the Murkwood, who's staying here. Dark Brotherhood activity has increased recently, many innocent people have been killed recently for supposed affiliations with the Empire and the Dominion. I wouldn't be surprised if that Imperial was killed by them."

Allena weathered Do'Khaj's retort with a deep scowl impressed upon her face, and though she would have liked to tell the Khajiit a few choice words she decided to stay silent, and thus keeping intact the newlyfound peace her party had retrieved. In fact, things were so peaceful that a relationship between two unlikely people seemed to be flourishing.

The night was a short one in Allena's perspective. After a wonderful dinner of roasted deer meat, and an arduous chat with Elevainia about priorities, Allena silently trudged off to bed. If she thought that the night had gone by quickly, she was in complete awe of how fast the morning rushed to them. The morning was a good one. As she wet her throat with an odd bottle of wine she had found stashed in the drawer of her nightstand Allena was content to sit in the old oak dining chair, and ask Jeelus-Tei many questions about the journey ahead of them.

In the midst of their excited talk Do'Khaj stood and excused himself from the table, as well as the house. As he sidled past Allena, who sat next to Nirarrien, across from Elevainia and Kairos, she thought to herself, Going to a tavern most likely. Damn drunk... She afforded the Khajiit no more attention than a child leaving the room, and continued to breakfast with her companions, finding that Kairos was not as cold a man as she had initially thought. Word was that their party would leave at noon, in the direction of Stormhold.

(Ignore)

"Kairos, I really do wish I could give you an answer, but I am afraid that I have no memories beyond last season. Please if I do look familiar to you, I am trying to find out who I used to be." the young elf quietly whispered. The Nord held her gaze for a few moments before the pair heard the sound of footsteps approach. It was Do'Khaj, who had seemingly decided the doe was readily cooked. He removed the the doe from behind them and began to slice it. Kairos was not impressed, the Khajiit clearly needed to have some kind of control within the group, as Kairos could have handled the deer himself. Though he was conversing with Elevainia, he still kept a sharp eye on the deer.

Kairos let the tooth from the Bosmer's neck fall gently against her collarbone. The man shook his head, "I'm sorry," he began as his eyes softened, "I do not know of your identity." He felt the need to not say more in front of the others as Do'Khaj promptly served the party with the doe. Kairos accepted the plate before giving a slight nod and making his way to the main room where he sat and feasted on the kill. "Well, I'm going to spend the time I was going to have spent earlier had I not carried Elevainia's kill for her, outside." The Khajiit decided to announce as he promptly left through the wooden door. It didn't sound as if he minded about the kill, but the way he said it made Kairos wonder if there was an underlying annoyance in the comment.

As the evening grew colder, Kairos prepared the sleeping quarters. Despite the Khajiit wanting to leave earlier, he had not returned from the tavern. The Nord sighed as he gulped down a drink of ale. He stepped out from the small room and made his way to the front of the house. He informed the group of their awaiting beds and Allena quickly stood from her chair and bid the others goodnight. Kairos sat next to Jeelus-Tei and began to inquire about the groups next destination. Before long, the rest of the party had retreated to their rooms, as well as the Argonian. Left alone, the Nord rifled through his satchel producing an old journal. He flipped through the creased pages long into the early hours of the morn before finally falling asleep in the wooden chair.

The sound of frogs croaking and birds chirping awoke Kairos from his sleep. He turned his head towards the window to see the morning sun begin to fill the sky. Luckily, no one had awakened to find him fast asleep in the old chair. He rose from his sleeping position and proceeded to prepare his armour and blades. As the morning drifted on, the others awoke and made their way to the kitchen area for breakfast. Much to Kairos' surprise, the Khajiit had appeared from the bedroom. He must've arrived late in the night and settled in. While continuing the meal, the Khajiit again left the dwelling and ventured into town. He must have found some information in town that would prove useful to the party's quest, the Nord thought to himself. Kairos payed no mind an began to inform the others of the journey they would take to Stormhold.

"Which room is this Imperial in?" Do'Khaj asked, "He sounds interesting, I'd like to talk to him."
"First room on the left, upstairs." The bartender told Do'Khaj.
Do'Khaj thanked him, left the bar, ascended the stairs and walked into the room.

He was greeted by a scene of horror. There was a large splatter of blood on the wall, and a decapitated body was lying in a pool of his own blood. The body was covered in mutiple gashes and was wearing bloodied, orange mage's robes. Into his chest the shape of a human hand had been carved, proving that this murder had been commited by the Dark Brotherhood. Do'Khaj rummaged around the room for evidence as to how recent the killing was and why it had happened. He couldn't find anything, all he had to go by was the hand carved into the victim's chest.

Once Do'Khaj was downstairs, he immediately alerted the bartender of the recent murder, who hurtled upstairs to investigate. Once he was outside, he alerted the nearest guard so that investigations would begin. The guard questioned him as to how much he knew about the murder then went to investigate.

By the time he returned to Jeelus-Tei's house it was late night, and all the others were soundly asleep. He slipped upstairs silently where he entered his room and changed into clothes approriate to sleep in.

He awoke earlier than the others, so he prepared his own breakfast of eggs, venison and a sweetroll made using moon sugar that he had brought with him. He was just finishing as the others arrived, so he greeted them and bid them goodbye as he finished off his plate then made his way outside. He neglected to tell them about last night's affairs lest it dampen the party's morale and make them fear for their lives even more.

There was one man Do'Khaj suspected greatly of hiring the assassin, a preacher of Sithis who looked after the Hist and despised all other nations. He made his way to the nearest Hist he could find, where, luck would have it, the preacher was resting.
"You're coming with me." Do'Khaj snarled as he lifted the man up by his collar.
The preacher hissed multiple insults in Jel at Do'Khaj before he was knocked out by Do'Khaj's gauntleted fist. Hoisting him over his left shoulder in a fireman's lift, Do'Khaj carried him the the barracks and informed the guards that he was a likely suspect, since he preached against the other nations of Tamriel, and would get extremely worried if he knew a foreigner was trying to make his way to the Murkwood.

Do'Khaj returned to Jeelus-Tei's house and took a seat by the crackling fire, he was tired and needed a good rest.