After the Party

Marso and Aurelia didn't stay long either. I think Aurelia still has memories of Stros M'kai that she finds embarrassing. Perhaps that's why they arrived by boat at the back of our little island, rather than have to go through town.

So that left just Seryn and myself in this huge house - except for the traders in the courtyard, if we wanted to go out there and chat. Seryn did want to chat, if a bit reluctantly.

"Is Azura about to take you off on another mission for her?" she wanted to ask me.

"She hasn't mentioned anything yet," I replied. "But last time it was you that she sent off, to pick up Isobel. If you recall, my journey started with that letter from Divayth Fyr, not anything from any Daedric Princess."

"That's true," she remarked. "I suppose I always think of Azura first because of being her declared champion, and because she's one of the Velothi 'Good Daedra' that I was always taught to worship."

She paused and then added "But I don't think of her as someone to worship any more. She's a friend, now. Just about everything from my Ashlander upbringing has changed."

"Tell me about that," I prompted. "I don't have much of a clue what Ashlander society is like. When I met you it was already disturbed by Clavicus Vile interfering with your brother. And I gather that the tribal conclave at Ald'ruhn is a special event anyway."

"Right, most of the year, the tribes are each following, or guiding, their herds around their migratory paths. Young women like myself are keeping themselves entertained with all the young men in the tribe, but not forming any permanent attachments. That all waits for the annual moot at Ald'ruhn, where we get to pick a husband from the other tribes, and then join our new tribe. That was what I was expecting before my brother got his delusions of being the Nerevarine, and I found you, instead of another Ashlander."

"And I don't belong to a tribe, and I only have the one guar," I added. "Not to mention not even being a Dunmer."

"Oh, that's a plus," she responded. "If you'd been a member of one of the Great Houses, I'd been trained to distrust you. At that point, a complete outsider was the best thing possible. I expect Azura knew that."

"And you've told me that she's been guiding you ever since we took that trip to Summerset. You've done well from it, better than you would have staying with the tribes, perhaps?"

"I'm just uncomfortable with the break from my traditions," Seryn complained. "I feel almost guilty about having a home bigger than a yurt, and not having to tend the herd, and all the other benefits of civilisation. Do I really deserve all this?"

"Nobody just gave you this. You had to do all the questing and crafting and everything to earn the funds, buy the house, and then you made most of the furniture - Isobel told me that - and put it all together with style."

"It did give me the chance to throw my own big party, and I guess I was trying to reset things by having my own personal 'Ald'ruhn gathering' so I could start again from a familiar situation. But it didn't work out anything like that. Two more Daedric Princesses, Varuni's project, it was all taking on a life of its own, and running me in all sorts of directions I wasn't expecting."

"So has it been more, or less, fun than following a herd of guar?" I asked her.

"That's just it," she replied. "I don't know what it's like to be a wife in that situation. The tribes generally practise plural marriage - a woman marries the whole tribe, even though she has a nominal husband. In one of the tribes, she always marries the Ashkahn, but that doesn't make any practical difference.

"The Great Houses apparently do something similar, but they complicate it by having ranks within the house, and a wife is available to any man of equal or higher rank. That's just not fair to the women!"

She paused a little, musing. "I wonder if you were extra tempting, being an Imperial, not a Dunmer. That could have meant I get you all to myself."

"Except for Daedric Princesses," I reminded her. "And did you really want to restrict yourself to just one?"

"I didn't want to restrict myself to just one tribe!" she countered. "But I've been doing that, more or less, just because I don't understand who else I should consider."

"Are you actually looking for a husband any more?" I asked. "You don't need one to support you. You have your own house, enough sources of income to sustain your lifestyle, and friends to help you enjoy it."

We talked for several hours after that. I started to understand that Seryn was trying to tell me, or rather not trying to tell me, that she didn't understand our relationship any more. Her feelings for me hadn't changed, but her expectations of where they led had. And having Isobel as 'combat companion' had thrown a whole new set of relationship considerations at her that she was having problems handling. And she'd just met two more Daedric Princesses, and was almost friends with them, too.

We could still have fun, while she figured it all out. It just depended on what Azura, or Nocturnal, were up to next. And perhaps that's what she wanted, somebody else making the decisions.