Skyrim One-Shots (FT: My Travellers Of Tamriel)

Origins Of The Daro Sisters

The group were sat around a campfire again, having stopped from their adventures due to the setting sun.
But they weren't tired, this time.
So they were up, just chatting.

"So, does anyone have any campfire stories to tell?" Inigo asked.
The group sat in awkward silence for a few moments.
"Hm..." Erlirria began, "Have I ever told you about my origins? Or- more accurately- my and Khayla's origins?" Erlirria asked.

Khayla's nose wrinkled beneath her face scarf. "Ria- I don't believe it's necessary to tell them..." She said.
"Why? What are you hiding?" Lucien teased, elbowing her.
Khayla was as silent as the grave.

"Well, if nobody else has any stories, I may as well divulge the origins of the Daro sisters." Erlirria said, clapping her hands together.
The group leant in as Erlirria began.

"Twenty-eight years ago, in the province of Southern Elsweyr, also known as Pellitine, stood the capital city: Senchal." Erlirria painted the past with her words.
"At this point, the Thalmor had already been established, and I was born during the third year of The Great War. Though, in Elsweyr, you wouldn't have known a war was going on in Tamriel, everything in Senchal was remarkably peaceful."

"Mm." Inigo hummed. "Riverhold always felt quaint, as well. I think the War somehow managed to completely miss our home country."
"I still think diving into our background is a bad idea." Khayla growled.
"Would you rather tell it, Kay?" Erlirria asked.

The grey Khajiit was silent again, instead narrowing her emerald eyes.
"I was two when the War ended, and it was another year before the archer of our group showed up." Erlirria said.
"Wish I hadn't, Senchal was lame." Khayla growled.

"What were your parents like?" Lucien asked, elbowing Khayla again.
"Our mother was called Ai'suru, and our father Akash. I get the most of mother's fur colour, while Khayla got her eyes." Erlirria explained.
"Yes...and I got Pa's spots while you got Ma's stripes." Khayla said.

"Oh, are you gonna help me tell it now?"
"If you can't beat em, join em." Khayla shrugged.
"What did your parents do work-wise?" Inigo asked.

"Ai'suru was a merchant who worked at the markets, she always used to come home smelling of fish and sea water." Khayla said.
"And your father?" Serana asked.
"Akash was retired by the time we were both born. Before that, he worked for the Imperial government to recover Elder Scrolls." Erlirria said.

"Elder scrolls?!" The group chorused.
"Yes. He was an adventurer, just like we are now. He was what inspired me to set off on my expedition to Cyrodiil, and, eventually Skyrim." Erlirria said.
Khayla looked away.

Serana turned to her. "What's up."
"Khayla's inspiration was perhaps a bit more controversial." Erlirria answered.
"She wasn't inspired by your father as well?" Lucien asked.

"No, rather, one of our ancestors back in the Second Era. The infamous Lerisa Daro. Liar, Thief, Murderess." Erlirria said.
"Why would you be inspired by her?" Lucien asked.
"Because her exploits sounded so much more appealing than Dad's did!" Khayla bit back.

"An assassin who scaled the side of a noble's tower, just to throw him to his death! A Thief who stole the golden teeth off a merchant without him even noticing. And a fine example of a Khajiit's honeyed words."
"And yet she was everything you wanted to be, somehow." Erlirria narrowed her eyes.

"Ah, now I'm beginning to understand why you two are at odds most of the time." Inigo said.
"Khayla's been a scoundrel all her life, she doesn't know the meaning of the word 'behave'. She'd been in Senchal's prisons three times before she was seven." Erlirria said.
"Doin' crime, servin' time." Khayla seemed proud.

"Lerisa was so infamous because she was never caught, and all of Pellitine knew her name after her most well-known exploit." Erlirria said.
"What did she do?" Serana asked.
"She carved her name in the arm of her victim. And wrote an 'L' on the cheek of every kill she did after that." She said.

"One of the greatest assassins of all time, and armed with only a dagger, no less! She was swimming in coin when she was only twenty, too." Khayla said.
"And the fact you thought our parents would support you when you made being like her your life's goal is laughable." Erlirria growled.
"Hey, you played a part in this as well, Ria. If Dad didn't favour you as much, I probably never would have turned out like I did."

"You think it's my fault Dad liked me more?" Erlirria hissed, her tail bristling. "All you ever talked about was wanting to be just like Lerisa, it drove him mad, he thought he was a bad father to you the more you said it. He thought it was something he did that made you turn to crime."
"Pfft. Yeah, right. Like he even gave a damn about me." Khayla said. "Did he even react when I vanished that night?"

"I caught him downing wine by the bottle, as well as eating pounds upon pounds of moon sugar. He was inconsolable, in a state of pain and depression, sick to the stomach with the fear and guilt of if he'd been a bad father to you. He thought that he was the reason you left." Erlirria said.
Khayla was stone silent, her green eyes stunned.

"Well... what happened after that?" She asked.
"A long time of him hiding his guilt from me, mother knew what was going on, and I think that she was aware I knew, as well. It wasn't until I was packing up for my expedition that he gave me two things. The family heirloom, Jode's Fang, and a message."

"A message?" Miraak asked.
Erlirria seemed to pause for a moment, as if just realising he'd been sat beside her the entire time.
"Mhm. A message for Khayla, if I ever saw her again." Erlirria said.

"He wanted me to tell you that if he was a bad father to you, that he was sorry. And that whatever it is you wanted to do with your life, he was sure you'd be great."
Khayla sniffed, then squinted her eyes shut, dipping her head in her clawed hands.
Tears spilled onto the grass from between her fingers.

"I...I-*sniff* I..." Khayla tried to speak, but the tears just kept coming.
Serana hugged her in an attempt to console her, but the younger Khajiit just let her walls break for the first time in years.
Erlirria looked on with a saddened expression.

"I'll never forget how Khayla looked at me the night she vanished." Erlirria said, looking at her feet.
Khayla's sniffles quietened.
"There was a warmth in her eyes I don't think I'd ever seen. And she didn't even say anything to me, I just found her at the window to our bedroom, a thunderstorm outside. I asked 'where are you going?' And she just stared at me."

"Then she jumped. And when I got up to go to the window, she'd vanished completely."
"I- I was still there..." Khayla muttered, Serana pulling away.
"What?" Erlirria asked, actual surprise in her voice.

"I was under the overhang. I heard you calling for me... and... I would be lying if I said I didn't want to come back. Even if we hated each other's guts."
Erlirria's brow creased, surprise and sadness written on her features.
She got up, walked over to Khayla, and hugged her.

"Everything I've ever said to you that was hurtful. Everything I've ever done to you that was mean. I take it all back. I'm sorry." She said.
Khayla hugged her back.
"I... am not." She laughed.

Erlirria pulled away and slapped the Khajiit's hand playfully.
"I just can't have a nice moment with you, can I?"
"Nope! I have been a nuisance from minute one and I will continue to be one every minute following." Khayla promised.

Erlirria rolled her eyes.
"That won't be hard for you, Khayla Daro."