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

Scar Stories

The group sat around the fire, eating an assortment of food.
Bread, chicken, fish, and so on.
And they shared stories as they ate.

"So... does anyone have any stories to tell?" Erlirria asked.
There was silence for a moment.
"I don't have a story but I have a question?" Lucien asked.

Erlirria motioned for him to go on.
He cleared his throat.
"Khayla, why do you wear that face scarf all the time? It can't just be for fashion sense, can it?"

The Khajiit he spoke to looked up from where she sat in front of a plate of untouched salmon.
Her emerald eyes glanced away for a moment, then turned back.
"There is a reason. But it's a long story."

She turned to the others in the group, "You sure you all want to hear it?"
They looked at each other briefly before nodding slowly.
Khayla sighed greatly, casting her eyes to the flames of the campfire.

"It was two years ago, I was still here, working in Skyrim. But, the contracts I was taking weren't earning me enough."
"I did tell you that blood money doesn't pay well, it's the thief who gets rich, not the assassin." Erlirria said, finishing her chicken.
"Ria, I'm going to ask that you keep quiet while I tell this." She spoke in a tone Erlirria had heard rarely from her, deathly seriousness.

The Last Dragonborn nodded her head once, letting the younger Khajiit continue.
"I got offered a job that would pay ten times, maybe even twenty times better than the others. I was warned, it was a suicide mission."
"Why did you take it?" Lucien asked.

Khayla gave a short laugh, "I got told that for ever contract I did."
Lucien was silent.
"Anyway. I took the job, set off to Windhelm to get it done. The plan was to ambush the guy from the stone walls, y'know- the really high ones?"

"You can climb those?" Inigo asked.
Khayla held out her hand, flicking her wrist to reveal silver climbing claws. "I'm a professional."
"I was just going to snipe him, but the contract stated it had to be a...public killing. To make a statement to the Jarl or something."

"So- what happened?" Serana asked.
"Well, I leapt down on the guy, pinned him rather easily, but he struggled. He rolled over and uncorked a vial. And, before I knew what it was- he threw it in my face."
The group around her winced.

"It burned worse than Dragon fire, stung like Chaurus venom, and I could literally feel it eating my flesh away."
"And...what of the man who did it?" Miraak asked.
"He tried to get away, but he didn't get far before I pulled out my knife and stabbed him in the shin. Then the hip. Then the chest. After that, I took the vial off his corpse, leapt for the walls and fled the city. I almost screamed when I saw myself in the river." Khayla said.

She reached a hand up to her scarf, then paused. "Are you sure you want to see this? I promise you that you'll never be able to un-see it."
Erlirria looked to her companions for a moment before nodding her head with them.
Khayla sighed and took the scarf off.

The group sat horrified at what was revealed.
Khayla's jaw and nose were scorched and burned, with uneven bits of fur and singed whiskers.
Some teeth cracked, others missing entirely, the majority of the lower half of her face being rotted and malformed.

Khayla drew out an empty vial, tossing it to Erlirria.
"That's what he scarred me with."
Erlirria turned over the bottle, scanning the tag attached.

"Daedric acid?!" Erlirria exclaimed. "He threw Daedric acid in your face?!"
Khayla looked away, revealing that her tongue stuck out partially from where her lips had been rotted.
"I was lucky that my eyes were covered, otherwise I would be blind as well as scent-blind."

"You can't smell anything?" Inigo asked.
Khayla shook her head. "No, not the grass on the moors, not the dust in the air, not even the food served to me now. That acid permanently damaged my face."
"Nothing can undo it?" Lucien asked.

"I tried everything, believe me. I went to temples, I went to medics, I went to magicians. But this is Daedric stuff, very little is known about how it works, even littler with how to counteract it. And it's been too long since it happened. My face is stuck like this forever, now." She said sadly.
"Is this why you never ate in front of us?" Erlirria asked.

She nodded sombrely. "I didn't know what you'd make of what I'd become. I was scared, I guess."
"You? Scared?" Miraak asked.
Khayla looked up.

"Is that so hard to believe?"
"Coming from you, yes. It is. You've always been the most stoic amongst us, even compared to me..." Erlirria elbowed him.
Miraak cleared his throat.

"But- what I'm trying to say is... You never seemed like the sort of person to get scared easily."
"I don't." Khayla said. "It just takes specific circumstances." She said.
"It's not like you're the only one with scars, though, Khayla." Lucien said.

Khayla glanced towards him.
"Inigo has scars from draugr after he survived his own suicide attempt. Erlirria has scars from... well." He paused.
"Yes, yes. Inigo shot me and Khayla scratched me when we were kids, it's fine." Erlirria said.

"Lucien, where are you going with this?" Serana asked.
"I'm just saying that, even if you've got scars or you were splashed with Daedric acid, that doesn't make you any less that what you are."
Khayla looked surprised.

"You're Khayla Daro, the master thief, hit-cat, supreme archer, pride of the criminal underworld of Tamriel, and our greatest friend and ally." Lucien announced.
She looked down, then smiled.
"Thank you, Lucien." She said.

"You're very welcome, Khayla."
Erlirria nodded, turning to her sister.
"No matter what you do, or how badly you get hurt or scarred, we will never think less of you." She promised. "Remember that."