Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Changes, 20.5)

My head pounded, and my mouth was dry. The sunlight periodically blinded me as the wind rustled through the trees.

Slowly, carefully, I sat up. I was sitting amongst the ruins of an elk- one of the shaggy, oversized ones that lived in the druadnach mountains. I’d torn it apart- I could see the rents in its flesh, torn meat and flesh from my meal.

It had been… satisfying. In more ways than one. To let go, to be something wild. I didn’t have to think, or worry. I could just let my muscles sing.

Of course, now I had a hangover, and I was naked except for scraps of venison and elk blood, so it wasn’t the sort of party I’d want to go to too often.

The witches- the other shapeshifters- seemed to have left me alone here. As a kagouti, I wasn’t exactly friendly. I’d warned them off from my hunt, I vaguely recalled. Even though they hunted as a pack, even as birds, bears, or boars… that was probably because they knew eachother. Saw eachother as sisters.

But as a Kagouti… I was a bit too greedy. If Martin, Kirat, or Emylee had been with me… I might have let them.

It was strange, to be another creature like that. It was like I’d let myself get overwritten. The world saw me as a beast, and that had become my priority.

But I knew the trick, now. I flickered- my shadow swelling up around me. I became a doe, black spots on my back, and looked down at the corpse of my own kind. Then a vulture, glancing down at a meal that was to be mine if I only waited for the scent of kagouti to fade.

A second later, I let my shadow fall, and I was me again.

I took a deep breath. Power flooded through my meridian lines. I stood back-to-back with my own shadow, and cast a few spells. Fire immunity, first, before I set myself a flame. The heat burned away the offal.

I wouldn’t be me for long, and I wouldn’t have the chance to be me forever. I took in this moment. I relished it. The wind blew. The burning kept me safe from the chill, and I relaxed, enjoying the moment.

When the fire died, I brushed the ashes from my body. From my shadow, I pulled a potion and a bowl, poured one into the other, and then stepped through my own shadow.

On the other side, I was flying. Wide wings, a fierce countenance. I was one of the bigger eagles in the area, but I’d have to be careful of getting hunters on my tail, or getting caught. With my pristine, alien eyesight, I knelt down to the bowl, and drank the potion.

My form shimmered… and disappeared. I was invisible to the world. I didn’t have time to relearn magic in a nonhumanoid form, and I was better at alchemy than I was illusion, anyway.

With invisible wings, I took off into the sky. I rode the thermals upward, my instincts singing, and drifted through the air. From here, I could see all of Wrothgar. To the north, Jehanna and Farrun. To the south, Evermore atop the Bsouljae river. Both Orsiniums, new and old.

I turned west, glancing past both Orsiniums, new and old.

My destination lay even further away.

=====

What stepped out of my shadow had humanoid legs. No tail. My hair was completely different- I’d have to get used to it. I tied it up in a high ponytail, a little jealous of how silky and manageable it was, and put a golden clasp over it. The clasp was intricately carved, and older than most things I had. I’d found it in one of the telvanni towers I raided, and it was apparently even older than that.

I still had the long nails, but they weren’t proper talons anymore. They were just as breakable as they were when I was human. I’d have to be careful… Or reinforce them before I used them. I had the time to develop a few spells while I traveled, anyway. I'd have time to tinker with it.

I got dressed in all of the accouterments I’d prepared, complete with shoes. It was nice to be able to wear a skirt without it bunching up around my tail, hole or not, so at least it was comfortable. A malachite, leaf-bladed sword sat on one hip, and a Shadowrend in the form of a tome sat on my other. An intricate, carefully-designed necklace went around my neck. It had no clasp, and it would normally have to be magically welded on, never to be removed… but my shadow magic came with a few perks.

“Sessalan,” I said, and summoned him not in his full form- but in a minor, lesser degree.

An eye wrapped in tendrils appeared. Our minds touched, for a moment.

“Just looking at myself,” I said. I didn’t have a handy mirror spell ready, anyway.

“You look mortal.” Sessalan responded.

“Of course.” I drawled. “Does anything look wrong with my movement?”

I took a few steps back. Then forward. Then waved my hands, making a few motions.

“Painfully mortal.”

“... Right. You’re not the best sounding board,” I said.

It was fine- I could see myself through his eyes. I was fine.

I clasped my fingers together, and Sessalan vanished from my palm.

I took a deep breath, drew on my memories of being the Serpent-Eating-Lady. I cast a levitation spell, feeling new meridian lines struggle. My magic was struggling, slightly, since my meridian lines were shifted, and the magicka didn’t route the way I was used to. But that meant the transformation was proper. I hovered over the road.

Castle Daggerfall reminded me of the imperial city, only done in the breton style- dour greys covered in tabards and plush paintings. It was at the top of the bluff, and the castle town surrounding it was made out of the same dour stone where it could be. I wanted to check it closer, to look at the history there…

But Daggerfall wasn’t my destination.

Instead, I hovered further west, shooting down toward the harbor.

Most of the ships didn’t catch my eye. Some were the warships of the Imperial navy, red dragon emblazoned proudly on their sails. Others were Nordic make- thick stout things with icebreakers on their prows.

But sitting in the back, the smallest and slimmest of the merchant ships, was the type of ship I was looking for.

It had swooping wings on the hull. The sails were stretched and partitioned, each sheet smaller like it was following the golden ratio. What little wood there was were pure white, bleached and purified with magic. It seemed to catch the sun, rainbows shining through the sails like they’re prisms.

Silk, gold, and magic.

It was an aldmeri ship.

I set down in front of it, wrinkling my nose as if I were disgusted with the prospect of even standing on the docks. 

The ship's crew- most of them aldmeri themselves- froze when they saw me.

“Where is your captain?” I called out to them in perfect Aldmeris. One scrambled toward belowdecks, and eventually, a merchant came up, face carefully schooled as he looked at my outfit. When he saw the necklace, though, he froze up for a moment.

“M-my lady most Wise,” He started. “Please forgive me for not noticing your esteemed countenance.”

“You shall be forgiven. In fact, determined by your destination, you shall be given the honor of escorting me there.”

“We sail for Firsthold as tide falls,” He says.

“Good.” I respond. “Your ship will escort me there. You will be rewarded.”

“Of course!” He says. “May I know your name, my lady?”

This would be the test. To see if my entire plan was even feasible.

“Marlia of Scourg,” I said. Then, as he waited for more, I continued.

Surnames in Aldmeris were long. They were almost like a story, ‘grandson of X and Y’, son of Him and Her'. I’d spent a while memorizing this, learning how to pronounce it perfectly.

At the last word- the supposed name of my father- he almost stumbled away from me, looking aggressively at his own shoes.

“D-did you say Mannimarco?” He asked.

“I shall take great pleasure in seeing what has become of my homeland while my father was away,” I said.

Golden skin graced my features, and silver hair blew in the wind.

The hunt for the Thalmor was just beginning.