Days and week's went by I learned a lot from every member of our patrol. I also learned more than I ever wanted to about politic's, my Aunt and Decin would often talk about political happenings, Amy listened without ever saying a word to them, I listened but often gave my opinion.
I didn't like the way it looked like the Thalmor were heading, as a deadra hunting quasi military group I was happy to be with them, but the direction of the politic's and religious aspect was something I was very uncomfortable with. In my Aunts quiet way, without ever sounding mean, she told me that my opinion would get me persecuted in the year's to come, that I should like Amy did, keep my mouth shut and no one would ever know. It was a lesson I took to heart. Decin said that he would never turn me in for my opinions, but their are many who would, to make themselves look better.
Amy taught me another lesson that I caught on to right way. She said "Altmer could plant a little seed today and wait to harvest the Acorns 200 yr's from now, where as her people planted corn to harvest in less than a season." I saw what she was getting at right away.
Aunt Irrillia and I worked on her baby clothing, Amy sat with us playing her lute. Decin would sometimes sit in, reading a book or working on a silver engraving. I really admired those engravings, but had no talent at all. I know we must have made an odd sight, 1 lady, 2 warrior woman and a scarred brute of a man. Because of his size and the scarring on his face, not a few softer political appointee's made the mistake of thinking Decin wasn't the brightest star in the sky. Decin had a rapier whit and slow way of talking, that often had people walking away before they realized he had insulted them. I heard from one of the guards that one young man took three days to realize he had been insulted.
I did find in that time, that if I took my time, I was pretty good at carving stone. I did a lot of the Deadroth that we ran into and sent back to Oblivion. If the first couple were a little warped looking, no one seemed to mind.
About two months before Irrillia was due, Decin had a meeting with all of his patrol to tell us some new's that had just come out of Cyrodiil and to ask us all a favor. Because of the type of news, he asked the favor first, which was probably a good thing, as no one would have shut-up long enough to hear the favor after the news. He asked us if we would run two patrols back to back and then have two weeks of guard duty in the week when Irrillia was due. He really didn't need to ask, we all agreed to that without any hesitation.
The news and it was big, Decin stood before us, with warring emotions on his face, but then he became our commander. " I don't like repeating myself, so keep any comments and outbursts quiet until I have finished." He looked down at the paper in his hands, " Someone in Cyrodiil has figured out how to close these Oblivion gates. They closed a gate saving the city of Kvatch, it seem's you can go through the gate and into towers that are found in that realm. Making your way to the top of the tower and removing a sigil stone, will close the gate and send the person home that is holding it. Now that said, their are alot of unanswered questions. How long ago this happened we don't know, how many people went in the gate we don't know, how many came out we don't know. Our mages have been discussing this and think that as long as anyone that get's to the tower is touching the person removing the sigil stone, they will also come back. But we can't be sure." as he paused the room blew up with everyone trying to talk over everyone else.
Amy and I kept quiet along with some others as Decin wasn't answering any questions, them being tossed at him to quickly to answer. As the room quieted down Decin started talking again, " The commander here has picked our patrol to enter a gate, now we won't be doing so alone, Merican's patrol will enter ahead of us, then someone will come back out when they get to the tower, then they will leave as we fight our way to the top. I would hope we all would come out, but some may get lost, others may die... I don't want someone getting injured and left behind inside the gate. Each of you will have a buddy, IF your buddy get's injured, you both will hurry as quickly as possible back out of the gate. I would think after a certain point that going back would take longer than going ahead, but staying behind everyone. Something's we will decide when we see what we are up against. Please take some time and come up with answers at evening muster. Dismissed" and with that he turned and left quickly.
I slowly followed him out the door with Amy beside me, I had no intention of actually catching him. My Brother-in-law to be or not, he was still my Commander. I just didn't want to be in the cluster of questions, I wanted time to think. Amy and I went and sat up on the fort's walls, looking out toward the nearest Oblivion gate. "Healing" Amy said, "We need to ask about taking healer's with us or teaching those with any skill at all some simple healing spells". I nodded and told her I thought some potions would be a good idea also. Something else was food and water, nothing in the dispatch had said anything about how long they had taken to close that gate. Bandages and herbs, would be a good thing, as not every cut needed a healer or potion.
The day wound slowly towards dinner, I checked in with Aunt Irrillia, but Decin was there and I felt they needed the time together. I was hoping he would talk her into marriage before we went to close the first gate. Amy and I went to the barrack's were most of our patrol was. They were all in little groups, talking quietly. As we came in the room got quit and I wondered what was up. Salihia the oldest of our patrol took it upon herself to come over to us and in a not so quiet voice said " We want to make sure the commander makes it out. You Zane are not just a good warrior but also a good healer. You know magic's and we think that you and Amy can stay right behind the commander and make sure he is comes out. Remilyn will be the commanders "buddy"." I nodded and went and sat at one of the tables.
Remilyn was everything opposite to the commander, he looked about 200 years younger than he was, plus he had to be the heaviest set Altmer I have ever seen. He carried a shield and a mace, both of which I have seen him use to cut the head off of enemies. That shield had a metal ring around it that he kept as sharp as some people kept their swords. He was actually older than Decin by 100 years. He looked more like a bandit than the professional soldier. They would make excellent "buddies" for this trip.
We all waited on Decin, quietly tossing idea's back and forth, we also decided that Salihia would ask all the questions, which I wrote down for her, that way we would have all our questions answered without it getting to late. As Decin walked into the barracks, he had a small smile on his face, I nudged Amy, who smiled large and nudged the man next to her, I think we all figured out that my Aunt had consented to marry him, before he even stopped in the middle of the room.
Decin let us know that Irrillia Greymore had consented to marry him on the morrow, before we left to close our first gate the following day. That shut the whispers up for a moment as we all soaked that one in, then a round of congratulation before Salihia walked in front of him and started asking the questions that we had come up with.
We came up with some changes, Merican's patrol would wait for 2 hr's for anyone that might be injured and help them out after the 2 hr mark, all injured would follow with the healers. The healer's would have guards that would also act as stretcher barriers. Any walking wounded would help the others.
I went to talk to Irrillia and talk to her about everything we had discussed. If anyone got home, Decin would, all of us would make sure of that.
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