The Milk Drinker Ninja (Naruto/Skyrim Crossover)

Chapter 23: Races

"Hadring! Hadring, are you there?!" Rustleif called out as soon as he went through the doors of the inn, startling absolutely no one inside as the place was almost completely empty.

"Rustleif?! By the divines, what happened to you?!" The man currently tending to the inn's bar, yet another Nord who had a balding head and a long brown beard, asked.

"Several things, but most of them are finished now." Rustleif replied while handing Seren over to Nia before both men put their hands on each other's shoulders in a friendly greeting.

"Go ahead and sit down for now and I'll get you some clothes that aren't covered in blood." Hadring stated as he let go of Rustleif and pulled out a chair for the man.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to have any baby formula here, would you?" Nia asked before the man could run off. "I think she might be getting hungry."

"And what is 'baby formula' exactly?" Hadring asked, and Nia was left aghast before the man shook his head and continued in the direction that he'd been walking. "I don't have that, but a bit of yak milk with honey in it will do her just fine."

"Yak milk for a newborn? Are you kidding me?!" Nia spoke as loudly as she thought that she could get away with without upsetting the infant.

"Nia, do you think that we have any other alternative?" Rustleif asked, and not for the first time, Nia missed Konoha as she sat down in a chair of her own and looked at the little girl in her arms.

"Will she be alright with that though?" She asked worriedly.

"It never hurt either me or my brother when our ma' passed away when we were babes." Rustleif shrugged. "It's done all of the time for orphans here in Skyrim, but if it isn't where you're from, them maybe it's a fact that Nords are sturdier than you're people?"

"Maybe so..." Nia agreed thoughtfully.

"But then again, maybe it's just a problem for your people in particular seeing as Seren said that the same thing happened to her brother, and she was a Redguard." He continued thoughtfully.

"What's a Redguard?" Nia asked.

"Lass... You really don't understand anything, do you?" He asked. "Redguards are a race of man who come from the land of Hammerfell, a province to the southwest of Skyrim. They have dark skin and are fairly tough, though just like everyone other than Nords, they can't seem to stand the cold."

"I sympathize with them." Nia agreed wholeheartedly. "So what other races are there other than Nords, Redguards and Khajiit? And before you ask, let's just say that I was extremely sheltered while growing up and don't know anything."

"Well, there are ten different main races that you'll find in Tamriel which are diversified into three groups. The first group is Man, whom we dignify as the Nords, Bretons, Redguards and even the Imperials. We Nords are large, tough and make for some of the best warriors in all of Tamriel, though we're followed by the Redguard in that category. The Breton race comes from a province known as High Rock, and while they have their fair share of warriors, most of them prefer to meddle in their magic and are the most proficient with the power then any other of the races that make up mankind. And finally we have the Imperials from Cyrodil, who have an unnatural way with words and make up the majority of the Empire."

"And it's the Imperials that are invading Skyrim." Nia nodded in understanding.

"Well no, actually. It's not just them." Rustleif seemed to correct himself. "We generalize them because they're all a part of the Empire which nearly all of the provinces in Tamriel have united into. And while Skyrim was once one of its most proud and fiercest supporters, ever since the Empire lost in the Great War and became the puppet of the elves, we tried to separate from it and hence they came to quell this 'rebellion'."

"So the rebellion is severally outnumbered then, seeing as the Empire sounds massive." Nia stated her thoughts.

"It'll take more than the Empire to quell Skyrim's anger, especially in its weakened state." Rustleif replied. "But the real problem for not just Skyrim but all of Man is the Mer."

"The Mer?" Nia questioned.

"Elves. Or more specifically, the Aldmeri Dominion." Rustleif nearly spat in distaste. "Ever since they won the war against the Empire, they've been pulling the strings from behind the scenes, making us weaker, stretching our alliances thin and trying to make us forget our culture, our religion and eventually they will try to take away our very way of life!"

"So this 'Aldmeri Dominion' is a group of elves?" Nia asked, and even if she wanted to know more about what was happening in Skyrim, she didn't want to get sidetracked from the information that he was originally telling her.

"The leaders, more or less, are the High Elves. Or the Altmer, as they are called. They hail from the Summerset Isles and you'll never meet anyone more arrogant no matter where you travel. Though that arrogance isn't just barking seeing as they're even better magic than Bretons are." Rustleif explained.

"So they're basically Uchihas then..." Nia commented to herself as she remembers Sasuke, the kid in her class who was always so good at everything in class and always felt as if everyone else were beneath him.

"Anyway, you'll be able to tell them apart from everyone else due to three things. The first thing is that they're tall, the second is that they have yellow skin and the third is that they always wear a snotty expression on their face. Especially when they think that they're speaking to somebody of less importance than they are... which is just about everybody. But the worst of them are the Thalmor, a group of High Elves that believe in 'Elven Superiority' and want nothing more than to have dominance over mankind, and it's them who have a heavy presence in Skyrim and are pulling the strings of the Dominion. Though other than the Altmer, there are the Bosmer of Valenwood who are also in the Dominion. They are master archers and very capable at stealth. And after them there are the Dunmer, or Dark Elves, who make their home on the volcanic island known as Morrowind and are capable in offensive magic, though they're just as resistant to the heat as we Nords are to the cold." Rustleif continued to explain. "Orsimer are the last on the list, or Orcs in other words, though neither they or the Dark Elves are part of the Dominion like the other two... Orcs are... Well, even we Nords can't match them in their viciousness  in combat. Their home is Orsinium and they're mainly berserkers who can't be matched when they get a hold of a two-handed weapon."

"And where do the Khajiit fit in?" Nia asked while feeling as if she were learning a lot about this land despite it having only been a short conversation.

"They belong to the Beastfolk along with the Argonians." He answered immediately. "Khajiits call the sands of Elsweyr their home, have the appearance of cats and are excellent acrobats and assassins seeing as they have a natural talent for sneaking. The Argonian's home is the swamps of Black Marsh and they have the appearance of reptiles. They are good at running in quick bursts and have the unique ability to breath under water."

"They can breathe underwater?!" Nia asked in excitement. "That's sooo cool!"

"C-Cool?" Rustleif asked.

"Never-mind. It's just something that the people of my land say when something is good or that we're interested in something." Nia waved the matter away.

"Here's ya' a set of my old cloths that should fit." Hadring finally returned while carrying cloths draped over his arm and giving Nia a strange look as he approached. "So? Who's the Milk Drinker?"

"Uh, what'd you just call me?" Nia asked suspiciously.