Chapter Text
The Beach Episode I
"It is nice to have a woman to talk to." The voice over the altar was more approving than the other members of her House might have ordinarily thought it should be. "Especially one so eager to listen."
"I'm just glad you speak to me at all. The Hlaalus just stopped responding, and...it's just nice to have someone to talk to. An ancestor, I mean."
"A pity, considering all the good you've done. But that is the way of it sometimes," Morvani said, "You reject the predetermined path set for you, step a toe out of line, and the family who claims to love you rejects you utterly."
There was a pause.
"I had an elder brother," she went on, "He was rather wild to try and get away from his duties, didn't wish to be the head of House Dagoth. He often said I was better suited for it - and our father all but cast him out."
"What happened to him?"
"I found him a situation," Morvani replied, "House historian and lorekeeper, such as it is. Something he preferred as being quiet, out of the way, not to do with people. That is what I hope Voryn retains: to find those who would join our House a place that suits them, not which he merely wishes to give. What, I wonder, has he given you?"
"Aside from the obvious, I've just been...handling things as they come up," Sadara said, "Getting food ordered, helping some of the ash creatures with forms...the paperwork. Gods, the paperwork. The scheduling, the staff rotation. It's a lot, but...I don't mind it because I don't have to worry where anything is coming from and it makes me feel like I'm not just sitting around. And the ash creatures are happy because I take more interest in them than Nerevar or Voryn did...not that they were ignored, but..."
"Voryn is like his father in some ways, a bit short-sighted, but I didn't marry him for his brains. Easy to manage, once you know which levers to pull and what words to speak in his ear. Nerevar...is pretty much the same." There was a slight chuckle. "A savant for war and politics, but in need of guidance in most other places. Voryn is brilliant in some ways, and not very bright in others. The wise woman can lead them both."
"I wouldn't call myself wise," Sadara replied, "And I'm not the head of the House...but I do my best."
"Well, you have time, and the attention of two of the most influential mer in Morrowind right now. With my guidance, you will be an excellent lady of House Dagoth."
The hotel was beachside, and Sadara tried not to think how expensive it must have been to get one room, let alone the dozen or so they needed for her, Voryn, Nerevar, the Dagoth brothers, and the small group of ash ghoul servants that had come with them.
It felt like a dream, but it wasn't.
Even more so was the suite she was sharing with Voryn and Nerevar. The latter had absolutely insisted on different bedrooms - not because he didn't intend to get laid the whole time, but because of Voryn's snoring.
"You sound like a forest full of lumberjacks all sawing at once," Nerevar said, when asked if it was really necessary, "YES, it is."
The only reply to that was grumbling.
"Well, whatever you get the others to agree to, let's try to enjoy ourselves while we're here. We don't need you being grumpy the whole time."
"I imagine he'll have a lot to be grumpy over," Sadara tried to reason, "Having to corral everyone. We should lift his spirits later."
"Along with a few other things."
"A few? You got some extra dicks in your luggage? Maybe a contortionist ordinator tucked away somewhere?"
"They won't fit in the luggage."
Nerevar said it so matter of factly she couldn't help but laugh.
"Voryn, you really need to put some sunscreen on," Nerevar, well coated in the stuff, waved a bottle as they were setting up outside. "I can even put it on for you."
"I don't need sunscreen, I'm a god."
"You haven't been properly outdoors in how many centuries? Put on the sunscreen!"
Nerevar squirted a bit of the stuff into his hand and chased Voryn around with it a minute or two before he gave up.
"Fine! But when you're peeling, don't come crying to me!"
"I'm not going to peel." Voryn settled himself carefully under the umbrella.
"It would do you some good to get sunlight though. It's been how long?"
"Literal millennia," Nerevar said.
"I went outside SOMETIMES!"
"It always rained then, though."
"Where are the others?"
"Araynys went down to the gym," Nerevar said, "Some of the others are playing volleyball with a college group from Gnisis. Odros went to the boardwalk to people watch. Gilvoth set up his easel down there too."
"You keep track of people awfully well." Sadara looked out at the water, at one group of people kite-boarding. "And what do you plan to do?"
"What does any red blooded man do at the beach? Dig a hole."
"Go swimming with me first," Sadara laughed, and headed out into the water.
There were people with cameras all over the beach. But she felt then, with Nerevar rushing after her, laughing, a contentment she hadn't felt in a long, long time.
That everything was right.
Nerevar dug a hole when she'd had her fill of the water, alright. At some point a couple Imperial boys noticed and started digging with him, and he started giving them talks on trench warfare. Then an argonian kid, and some khajiits, and Nerevar ended up giving them all the same talk.
"Has he always been like this?" Sadara asked Voryn, as she watched the sight from under the umbrella.
"Always," he replied, "Warfare is second nature to him. If it starts snowing he'll probably be throwing snowballs at everyone. It didn't snow much in Resdayn, but when it did...everyone was a target."
She laughed, and then glanced back at the water. "Do you not like the ocean?"
"I like it just fine," Voryn replied a bit shortly. "I don't like getting wet."
She paused.
"Can you not swim?"
"I don't NEED to swim. There are spells to--"
"Come on, no sun and now no swimming?"
"I just never had a need to." he seemed a little more flustered now. "And it's a little late for me to be learning. I'm not going to do it in front of people either."
"There's a pool at the hotel, we could teach you there." Sadara gave a smile, and then curled up against him. "And reward you for the effort."
"That's not going to work." Voryn sat back, though, and put an arm around her regardless.
There was relative silence under the umbrella for a while. The background noise of the beach, the waves...it was nice, really.
"Nerevar is happy," she said softly, "I am happy...but...are you?"
"Yes." Voryn gave a noise in his throat almost like a chuckle. "I am. It almost seems like a dream. How often I'd thought of times like this..."
"But it's not, and that's better."
There was a sudden growl.
"Oh, I should've brought a lunch basket," Sadara said. "The boardwalk food is always expensive."
"We can afford it," Voryn gestured vaguely. "Get Nerevar and bring some back. We'll have a little picnic."
"How whimsical." She gave a slight smile. "Where IS he?"
"I think he went further down the beach...something about getting tips from Araynys on something. I can go with you--"
"I can go myself." Sadara stood up. "Who's going to try anything on the beach without a dozen people seeing it?"
"Seeing isn't the problem, it's what they might do."
"I can handle myself," she said, "I've had to deal with creeps and cutpurses before. I'll be fine walking from one end of the beach to the other."
He clearly didn't like the idea, but he did finally let her go.
She headed down the beach, still feeling that warm contentment. Everything was right. Everything was perfect, really. Maybe it wouldn't stay that way forever, but...she had Voryn, she had Nerevar, and she didn't have to worry about where money was coming from. It made her wonder what--
"Well hello, beautiful..."
The deep voice sounded off as she was approaching the beach gym, and she looked up to see a bulky bear of a man with a huge beard approaching the gate just as she was.
"Sorry, I'm taken. I don't think my boyfriends would like me looking at you, even if you are nice to look at."
"Two? Lucky men." He laughed. "I suppose they're here and you've come looking for him?"
"Something like that. One of the Dagoths is here and I heard he was talking to..."
"The Dagoths? You know them?"
"I'm--"
"Sadara!" Nerevar's voice sounded off, and he came jogging over from the football 'green' that had been set up. "What's up?"
"I was going to get some food, Voryn thought I should go with you. If you're busy..."
"No, I'm fine, I was just talking to Araynys about something. My stomach's grumbling too, but they were dragging some guy off earlier and I didn't want to get too close. It was almost funny, he was yelling into the pizza joint, 'Get off your ass and write your book you lazy fuck!'"
The stranger beside her suddenly went stone-still.
"Nerevar?"
Nerevar looked, and his jaw dropped.
"Dumac?"