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Skyrim Page 5 - "NAKED! Naked naked naked "

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Summary: Altmer children never go wandering strange cities on their own, and a missing Ancalime sends her parents into a panic, which is not alleviated when the dragon arrives. Fortunately, Markarth has well-developed plans for dealing with dragon attacks, not least a secret weapon as their Dragon-Queen returns...

Much later, and Sabrinda and Meryndor emerged from their room to a very quiet house. Clearly Ancalime must be reading or something. Uaile had returned and was sitting at the main dining table, book in hand.

“Good afternoon, Justiciar,” Uaile said archly, one eyebrow raised. “I thought you and Sirrah Meryndor were going to be in there all night.”

Sabrinda narrowed her eyes but did not rise to the bait. A servant but only on loan to her and therefore disciplining the woman would be unwise.

“We all have to eat, Uaile,” Sabrinda said tersely while Meryndor wandered off to Ancalime's room to check up on her. “Will you be cooking or do I have to do it?”

“I can make you something,” Uaile said calmly, laying her book aside. “I used to have to cook for old Nepos after all.”

That was something. Sabrinda could fling a meal together, but since getting married to a man with servants and also becoming a commanding officer in the Dominion's armies, Sabrinda had long since left anything resembling domestic duties behind her.

A door slammed and footsteps rang out as Meryndor raced out of the other room in a panic.

“She's not here. Ancalime's not in her room. Where is she??”

“She's gone?” Sabrinda whispered, feeling everything come to a standstill as she quietly began to panic. “What do you mean, gone? She's not hiding somewhere?”

“She's not in the house, I checked, I used Detect Life and everything, it's just the three of us!” Meryndor cried. “She's gone!”

Sabrinda wasted no time before rounding on Uaile, furious. “Where is she? How could someone get in here and take my daughter??”

Uaile slammed the book down, glaring. “No one has taken your daughter. She went outside, chatted to the Garra-Lann for a bit and was last seen playing some sort of game with the city's other children. I don't know what exactly, but it involved a lot of running around and squealing and she seemed quite happy so I left her to it. The ReachGuard are watching, if there'd been any trouble they'd have brought her home or fetched you, so she's most likely still out there having the time of her life. Why don't you go fetch her in like normal parents?”

“Oh sweet Aedra,” was all Meryndor said before tearing out of the house. Sabrinda had been tempted to make Uaile go find her but she had a feeling her husband was probably best suited to the job. Nevertheless, Sabrinda was sufficiently concerned to want to join him in the search.

“Your King will be hearing about this,” Sabrinda threatened, before chasing after her husband. Uaile just rolled her eyes and let them get on with it. Some parents were too overprotective by half.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Where do you think she went,” Meryndor gasped as he emerged into Markarth in the late afternoon. “Gods, look at this city, she could be anywhere.”

“She was with other children,” Sabrinda said, lip curling. Human children and that boded ill. Bad enough Liriel had essentially gone native. “Squealing, apparently. So follow their voices and you should find her. Kynareth help me, they're certainly loud enough.” She could hear a girl squealing at the other end of the city, and gods help her, all these years spent training Ancalime to be good and quiet like a good Altmer child should be, and the human children of Markarth looked set to undo all of it in a day. She should never have brought the girl here.

“Right,” Meryndor nodded, heading off in that direction – and then a shadow swooped overhead, wind whipping through the streets as it did so.

“What in Oblivion...” Meryndor began and Sabrinda went pale to see what it was. A dragon, had to be, a vast scaly lizard with wings swooping over the city, bronze scales gleaming in the sun. Below, the cries of “Dragon!” had gone up and the ReachGuard patrolling the streets had unhooked their bows, cast mage armour and starting sending arrows and magic flying its way as the townsfolk ran for cover.

“Everybody indoors, now!” the guards were shouting and the citizens were swiftly obeying.

“Meryn, find her,” Sabrinda whispered, heart in her mouth as the beast breathed fire at one soldier who only just got her ward up in time. “Go on, go, I'll try and get its attention.” She cast her own mage armour and prepared to fight. No worse than a Dremora horde, right?

“All right. Just... be careful!” Meryndor turned back to her, kissed her passionately and then broke off, his own mage armour flaring into life and warding spells at the ready as he ran off in search of their daughter. Sabrinda shook her head, refocusing on the task in hand. She couldn't think of her husband and daughter out there at this thing's mercy. Just focus on getting it down.

“You there, elf! Get under cover, we'll deal with this!” one nearby ReachGuard shouted at her. Sabrinda ignored him and sent twin fireballs at the beast, both striking it dead centre.

“Never mind. As you were, ma'am,” the guard said, bowing his head and returning his attention to the dragon. Sabrinda smiled grimly and switched to lightning spells. She was starting to enjoy this.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Meryndor darted through the streets, ignoring the ReachGuard snapping at him to get under cover as he reached ground level, correctly guessing the ReachGuard on the higher level would be easier targets for a dragon. Ancalime was a bright kid, if she was going to hide anywhere, it'd be down here, near water, right?

There was a house on the right, but a quick glance revealed the door had actually been welded shut with Destruction magic, and the sign on the front read “NO ENTRY BY ORDER OF THE KING” and underneath in what was presumably the local language “DIM ANSIO MYND LE HORDU Y BRENIN – ANSIO DAIDRAI”.

Daidrai? Meryndor hoped it didn't mean what he thought it did, but he had more pressing concerns. Such as finding his lost daughter, and she certainly hadn't taken shelter there.

“Daddy!”

Meryndor looked, Detect Life revealing a cluster of life forms hiding under a nearby bridge that turned out to be three children, one of which was his own.

“Cali, are you all right?” he gasped, kneeling next to her. “Come on, we need to get you home.”

“We can't, there's a dragon!” the ashen-haired girl next to Ancalime cried. “It might eat us. So we have to stay under cover until the ReachGuard have dealt with it. Adara and Skuli were right next to Adara's house when it turned up so they ran inside but we were here and there wasn't time so we hid.”

“Dragons can't get you if you're under here,” the smallest child, a round-faced girl with bright yellow hair announced cheerfully. “We know, Mama and Odahviing tested it. Odahviing's Mama's dragon friend, but don't worry, he's friendly.”

What sort of woman befriended dragons, much less introduced them to her small children, Meryndor had no idea. He assumed from the look of the girl that her parents were Nords, which would explain it. Everyone knew Nords had no sense of fear or self-preservation.

“Daddy, it's coming back, get in here!” Ancalime pleaded, terror in her eyes. Meryndor felt the wind on his back, the sky darkening and heedless of the water, he threw himself under the bridge just as dragon fire spewed down at them. Sure enough, the angle was wrong and the fire blazed harmlessly into the stream. It was close enough for Meryndor's liking.

“Are you all right?” he whispered, pulling Ancalime into his arms. She looked a bit scared but much less so now he was crouching under the stonework with her.

“Yes Daddy,” Ancalime whispered. “It's awfully big, isn't it!”

Big didn't even begin to sum it up. Concerted magical bombardment from the ReachGuard, not to mention repeated thunderbolts from where Sabrinda was based, didn't even seem to be scratching it. He could even see that odd court jester on the upper level, firing at it with some sort of mechanical contraption, something Dwemer perhaps, and next to him Princess Eola blasting her own magic at the dragon. Meryndor was no Destruction expert – he left that to his wife – but he could see some serious firepower on her part. Clearly this Eola was not your typical fairytale princess or cosseted noble-born child. All the same, he was surprised her husband wasn't with her. Maybe it was like with him and Sabrinda – she was the warrior, he was quite happy to be the more domestic one.

Another thunderbolt arched overhead, accompanied by a wave of magicka that was familiar from before. The King himself had come out to fight, and judging from the smell of ozone, he was at least as skilled with lightning magic as Sabrinda, if not more.

“YOU COME TO MY CITY AND CAUSE TROUBLE, DOVAH?” Meryndor could hear Madanach roaring. “NOT TWICE, YOU WON'T! REACHGUARD TO ARMS!” There was a renewed barrage of magic and then Meryndor felt it, a wave of magic rolling out, making him want to get up and fight and destroy any enemy of Markarth, particularly that dragon menacing the city and all these poor, innocent people...

Meryndor shook his head and the feeling passed. All he intended to do was protect the innocent people presently clustered around him. But he recognised the spell although you'd have to be a skilled illusionist to actually cast it. Call To Arms, a call to all willing to fight for the caster, imbuing them with strength and determination and suicidal bravery, a key part of Reach battle strategy had Meryndor but known it. He knew enough to realise that Madanach's magical ability was stronger than he'd thought.

“Wow,” Ancalime whispered. “What's that spell? It feels really nice! Can I go out and fight the dragon too, I know a few spells!”

“No!” Meryndor snapped, tightening his grip on her. “You're in enough trouble as it is, sneaking out like that! You just stay here until the King and his guards kill it.” What would happen if they lost the battle, he didn't like to think about, but the fact that the other two children didn't seem that scared and that there were clearly well-rehearsed plans in place for this eventuality reassured him a little. This had happened before clearly, and the city was still standing.

That this happened on a regular basis was less reassuring.

“Da said Mama would be back soon,” the ashen-haired girl said hopefully. “She can kill dragons easily.”

“Mama can kill anything!” the blonde girl added proudly. That did intrigue Meryndor. The girls didn't look similar enough to be sisters but he might be wrong.

“You're sisters?” he asked, studying them both carefully. About the same sort of size as Cali, but their actual ages were anyone's guess. He had a feeling the blonde one was younger though.

“Yes!” Ancalime said, smiling up at him. “That's Lucia and that's her sister Sissel. Except they didn't use to be sisters, they had other parents once but they died and then they got adopted so now they're sisters, and we were playing tag until we got tired and then we sat around and talked and now they're my friends, and Daddy, Daddy, guess what, their Mamma's -!”

“JOOR ZAH FRUL!”

Another wave of magicka rolled out across the city, slow and languid and definitely mer rather than human, in fact it reminded Meryndor of Sabrinda except it was fiercer somehow, tapping some power he couldn't even begin to fathom.

Strange blue magic hit the dragon and it screamed, screamed as it writhed in the air, screamed as it crashed into the gully before them, howling in pain and Meryndor looked up, seeing a red-haired figure in some sort of brown mage robes taking off after the dragon. An elven figure with gold skin like his and mage armour flaring, just visible by the gates with fire blazing in her hands as she cast at the dragon, not stopping moving but just flinging fireball after fireball at it.

“Mama!” Sissel cried. “She came back, look!”

“She's the best,” Lucia whispered, awestruck and Meryndor had never quite seen any child look so adoringly at their parent. Said parent had now summoned bound swords in each hand and was now carving into the dragon's face, and that idiot court fool had produced two ebony daggers and launched himself on to the dragon's back.

“YOU DO NOT EAT MY LISTENER, DRAGON!”

“AFTER IT, GO HELP THE BRENHINA! AND TRY NOT TO HIT THE GARRA-LANN, I DON'T HAVE GRANDCHILDREN YET!”

Another thunderbolt arced overhead, smacking into the dragon's back and now the ReachGuard were swarming, dual-wielding swords and axes, and the magic wasn't letting up either. The dragon was bleeding freely now from dozens of wounds and the elven mage hadn't let up, seeming to instinctively know where the weak points were, those bound swords drawing blood with every strike. The little jester was also doing quite well, cheerfully stabbing and slashing away at the beast, and both King and Princess were sending impressive fire and lightning the beast's way. The King was standing barely feet away from his hiding place, hardly pausing for breath in between strikes, and it occurred to Meryndor that while older humans in general weren't terribly fearsome, older humans who'd carved a country for themselves out of hostile neighbouring provinces were probably an exception to that rule.

“Wow, he's nearly as good as Mamma,” Ancalime whispered, impressed. Said mother was sending in a few blasts of her own magic, and Meryndor was sure there was at least one reanimated ReachGuard corpse involved in this fight – honestly, what was Sabrinda thinking? He definitely did not want to have to explain corpse reanimation to Ancalime.

The dragon finally died, and the ReachGuard all lowered their weapons. Meryndor noticed Madanach finally relaxing, leaning against the nearby rock wall, clearly exhausted, and evidently not quite as invulnerable as he liked to make out. Sissel and Lucia had already wormed their way out, Sissel sprinting down to the gates while Lucia ran up to Madanach and flung her arms around him, which Meryndor didn't think was terribly appropriate but who was he to judge. Then it all became shockingly clear.

“Da, are you all right?” Lucia cried, sounding terrified.

“Of course I'm all right, I've been in worse battles than that, bachgen,” Madanach murmured as he cuddled her back. “Now what are you doing out here, shouldn't you have been inside hiding like we told you and your sister for when a dragon turns up?”

“There wasn't time, so we hid,” Lucia told him, still clinging on to him. “Da, you mustn't be out here fighting dragons, what if you die?”

“I'm not going to die, cariad,” Madanach soothed her, looking as if he was trying not to laugh. “Not for a good while yet. Your mother fights dragons too, a lot more than I do. Aren't you worried she'll die?”

Lucia actually shook her head. “Oh no, she's Dragonborn, it's her job. She's meant to. But you're not! And... and you're older than her. A lot older. You might... you might die.”

“I'm meant to guard and protect my kingdom, so it's safe for little girls like you. I can't hide in the Keep while my people are fighting and dying, can I?” Madanach murmured to her. “But I'll make sure I've got guards like Borkul and Dryston and Tynan and Duach and all the others, hmm? They'll keep me safe.”

“They'd better,” Lucia said fiercely. “Mama will be upset if you die and I'll miss you and who'll teach Sissel magic if you die?”

“I don't teach her a lot now, she's got a tutor for that,” Madanach laughed. “Come on, let's go and find your mother, I have things to talk to her about.”

Meryndor waited until they'd moved on before climbing out, brushing the water off as best he could and deciding Ancalime's dress was a complete loss. She didn't seem that bothered. She was too busy staring at the elven dragonslayer who was making her way up the path, currently kneeling as she cuddled two human children, kissing them once each and smiling as they both cried “Mama!” at her.

Meryndor would know her anywhere and he didn't know whether to cry or feel more proud of her than he ever had.

She killed dragons. She had the magicka of a master mage. She had children, for Mara's sake, and those children clearly didn't think this was just a game, as far as they were concerned Liriel and this human she'd married were their parents. Madanach and Lucia had interacted like any father and daughter might... and that was something else that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry over. Technically he had grandchildren now... but his daughter was breaking his heart.

Daughter number two looked set to twist the knife further. She'd seen Sissel and Lucia cuddling their mother and she took advantage of her father's distraction to wriggle free.

“LIRIEL!” she shrieked, racing down the path, dodging past everyone, including a surprised Madanach, until she came face to face with her stunned sister.

“Cali?” Liriel whispered, barely able to believe her eyes. That looked like her baby sister, sounded like her but how in the Void had little Ancalime got to Markarth?

“Liriel, Liriel, I missed you, I missed you!” Ancalime cried, cuddling her. “Did you kill that dragon, did you? And you did magic, I saw you, lots of magic, you SHOUTED at the dragon and it crashed, what did you say? And you've got robes, fancy robes, wizard robes, did you do it, did you learn all the spells??”

“Not all of them, I'm still working on the Illusion school,” Liriel said faintly. “But I did kill the dragon – Cali, how did you get here, what are you even doing here, you never came all the way from Alinor on... your... own...”

Liriel's voice died as she looked up, simultaneously realising that there was really only one way Ancalime had got here... and seeing the evidence before her as she met her father's eyes, saw the heartbreak and disappointment all over his face and realised the game was up, he knew, he knew everything, and if he was here...

“Liriel!”

Oh sweet Mother, her real one was here. Liriel realised she'd take the mummified corpse of the Night Mother, who'd killed her blood children and ordered others sent to the Void on a regular basis over Justiciar Sabrinda any day.

Sabrinda was making her way down the steps from the upper levels, looking furious.

“What is this, Liriel?” Sabrinda said softly. “Aedra, it's true, isn't it? Everything Elenwen told me. You married a human and adopted... these.” She waved dismissively at Sissel and Lucia, and Liriel felt her blood start to boil, draconic nature rising, just as the dead dragon beside her was burning up and its soul rising... oh Sithis.

As Liriel got to her feet, her children clutched to her, staring her mother down, the dragon's soul boiled up out of it, magic swirling around Liriel and sinking into her, making her gasp as it happened, familiar dragon essence sinking in, and Liriel shook herself down as the soul became part of her. A memory came back of being curled up in bed with Madanach, him asking questions about how it actually worked, curious as ever about things magical, and it ended with him finally confessing the memory of her absorbing a soul never failed to get him aroused.

“It's all that power, all that dangerous essence of a dangerous beast, and you just slaughtered it and took it for yourself and... damn it woman, how can you expect a man to not want to bed you after that?”

Madanach was standing behind her father, a little further up the hill, smiling a little and eyes staring straight at her, and she knew what he was thinking, could tell that he wanted to drag her into the nearest bedroom and tear her clothes off, falling into bed with her and having a powerful and dangerous dragonslayer riding him until they both passed out. Or possibly pinning said dangerous dragonslayer to the bed and watching her come while he took her hard, it depended on what sort of mood he was in. Difficult to tell, the Bond only told her so much and she wasn't sure if he even knew which he'd prefer.

In the sort of mood she was in right now, Liriel could quite happily claim him right here in front of everyone, nails digging in as she snarled he was hers, all hers, her chosen mate and no one was taking him from her, not even her parents.

And as for Sissel and Lucia, they were her babies, her little dragons, and if her mother thought they could just be waved aside like they were some pet she'd brought home...

“I am the Queen of the Reach by marriage, and the mother of Sissel and Lucia here,” Liriel said coldly. “I am a slayer of dragons, saviour of the world, bringer of peace and if you think you can change any of that, you can think again, Mother.”

Sissel gasped and Lucia snuggled closer to Liriel, both looking up at Sabrinda with wide eyes. They'd often wished for grandparents but she suspected they'd not imagined this.

Sabrinda's nostrils flared as she drew herself up to her full height, cold fury in her own eyes.

“I should never have let you leave Alinor,” she snapped. “Look at you, you look like some sort of... and you're queen of...” She gestured helplessly at the watching ReachGuard, not to mention Cicero still covered in dragon blood and Eola who'd been nuzzling at his cheek, licking it off him while he cooed at her, but had stopped on seeing Sabrinda talking.

“Girls,” said Liriel calmly, patting her daughters on the shoulder. “The Keep. Now.”

“Ohhh, but Mama...!”

“But we didn't do anything!”

“The Keep,” Liriel growled. “Now.”

Hung heads and sad eyes and pouting, but neither child argued with that tone of voice and Sissel and Lucia ran off. So impressive was that tone of voice that Ancalime actually started to follow... until Sabrinda caught her arm.

“Not you, Cali. Wait for me up in the house.”

“But Mamma...”

“In the house! Now.”

“Yes Mamma,” Ancalime whispered, giving in and walking forlornly up the steps to Vlindrel Hall. Watching her, a few of the ReachGuard gave the little elf-child sympathetic looks but Ancalime kept her head down and kept walking. Liriel's heart went out to her baby sister. Her mother had always been firm with her children... but it took seeing her again, seeing her family after all this time, after everything that had happened, after looking after children of her own, to realise just how messed up her family was. How messed up Alinor was.

“What do you expect me to do, Mother?” Liriel said, barely keeping her anger under control. “Tell Madanach I don't love him any more and want a divorce? Tell my babies I don't love them any more and can't be their mother? Go back to Alinor with you and be a good little Altmer wife to some Thalmor toadie?”

“You can come home with your people where you belong!” Sabrinda cried, frustrated.

“These are my people!” Liriel shouted back, indicating the surrounding crowd of ReachGuard and quite a few ordinary citizens who'd crept out now the fighting seemed to have stopped.

“They're not even elves!” Sabrinda cried.

“I don't care!” Liriel shouted. “Altmer aren't the only people worth bothering about, Mother. Who cares if we're descended from the Aedra? We're just mortals like everyone else – ow!”

Sabrinda had slapped Liriel hard, sending the Dragonborn reeling. She hadn't even planned it, it was just an instinctual reaction to having her people's heritage dismissed like that. And as soon as she'd done it, she realised it was a mistake, she hadn't meant to, she did love Liriel despite everything, that was why she was here, to get her back home before the Thalmor decided she was too dangerous to allow to live...

Except right now she had more pressing concerns, such as the fact every single member of the ReachGuard, and Princess Eola and that ridiculous court fool, had just cast mage armour and raised bow, sword and spell at her, Breton faces glaring at her in rage while her daughter rubbed a reddened cheek and just stared back in shock.

“Liriel, I'm sorry, I-” Sabrinda began, and then she felt the wave of magicka she'd felt earlier, Madanach's power unbound, not even an attempt to mute it this time as the King of the Reach cast mage armour and pushed his way past everyone else, including Meryndor.

“That's enough,” Madanach growled, eyes hard and cold, face twisted in rage, and everyone was standing back a little, even his own daughter looked a bit concerned, and Sabrinda began to realise that she'd just angered a very dangerous man.

“Reach-King, this... this is a family matter, perhaps best discussed in private,” Sabrinda began but Madanach didn't even seem to hear her.

“The penalty for striking a member of the Reach royal family is death,” Madanach said softly. “No one hurts my family, Sabrinda. No one. And Liriel is my family. Her daughters are my children and she is my beloved wife and Queen. You will not hurt her.”

“Sab!” Meryndor cried, appalled. “Sabby, no – Madanach, you can't hurt her, I won't let you – argh!”

Borkul had stepped in, grabbing Meryndor in a headlock and effortlessly holding the elf still.

“What do you want me to do, boss?” Borkul asked calmly. “You want him shivving as well?”

“No!” Liriel cried out, reaching out in her father's direction, looking as if she was about to cry. “Please, Madanach, no, they're my parents, please.”

Madanach's eyes never left Sabrinda, expression never changing from murderously furious as he raised his hands and cast at his mother-in-law.

The paralysis spell hit her and she fell to the ground, Sabrinda the Thalmor Justiciar rendered helpless and bound. Madanach motioned to the nearest ReachGuard to deal with her.

“Take her to the cells,” he ordered. “In the light of her being blood-kin to my wife, I'm inclined to show clemency this time. Five hundred septim bounty, payable to my steward in the morning – court is closed for today. Borkul, you can let Meryndor go, he's done nothing wrong. Liriel... gods, Liriel, are you all right?”

He'd not spared Sabrinda a second glance once his guards were picking her up and carting her off. All his attention was on Liriel as he strode over to her, cupping her face in his hands.

“What have you done?” Liriel whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Madanach, she's my mother!”

“Yes, which is why she's still breathing,” Madanach said softly, fingers caressing her cheeks. “Cariad, no one hurts you in front of me and goes unpunished. No one. You're my wife, my Davrha-Brenhina. What sort of message does it send out if I let people mistreat you, hmm?” He leaned closer, lips brushing her cheek.

“For years, Nords mistreated our women and we had no choice but to sit there and take it. It is not happening under my rule. Not to anyone, and most definitely not to you.”

Liriel closed her eyes, sobbing quietly and Madanach held her to him, not saying a word. He didn't have to, she could feel the worry and love and a twinge of guilt – good, so he should after arresting her mother. All the same, it was nice to see how everyone had reacted by immediately taking her side. She was Queen here, and her people loved her. Her husband loved her.

“My sister is going to be heartbroken,” she whispered. “My father is going to be heartbroken – Sithis, where is he??” She looked up, seeing the crowd dispersing, apart from Cicero and Eola, who were having a hushed conversation which seemed to mostly be Cicero worrying about the penalty for striking a member of the Reach royal family being death.

“Non-consensually, he meant, don't worry, we're safe,” Eola murmured as she traced his lips. Cicero snuggled in to her, seeming to relax, cooing as he did.

“Did you see where my father went?” Liriel whispered, looking around. He was nowhere to be seen and that worried her. Just remembering the look on his face, as if she'd personally betrayed him, was breaking her heart, and given Madanach had just arrested his wife – Mara help her, would her father ever forgive her? “I should talk to him...”

“He went after your mother,” Madanach said quietly. “I imagine he's worrying about her. He's lucky Cidhna Mine's just a working commercial mine now, she'd have lasted about five minutes in there.”

“Don't!” Liriel cried, but given Liriel had not only survived Cidhna Mine, she'd befriended the prison king, escaped with and later married him, she was fairly certain her mother would have coped somehow too. “Oh my gods, Daddy will never forgive me for this.”

“He will, or he never loved you anyway,” Madanach murmured in her ear, nuzzling at the lobe. “I'm fairly certain he'll never forgive me, but I'm used to that.”

Liriel held on to him tighter, despair in her eyes.

“What if I can't have you both?” she whispered, her voice hollow. “What if I have to choose between my parents and you? What if they disown me? I'll never see Cali again, she'll be heartbroken and oh gods, Daddy, I've already hurt him, I just know it.”

“Cariad, oh creenama, don't cry, don't, you still have me. You'll always have me,” Madanach whispered.

“For now,” Liriel said bitterly, and silence fell as Madanach recalled elven lifespans and what they meant in practice and promptly tightened his grip on a wife who was actually over twice his age in years, if about Eola's age developmentally.

“I love you,” Madanach said quietly, determined not to lose his wife to Alinor. “I love everything about you. I think you're beautiful, passionate, kind, caring, strong, powerful, dangerous, sexy... Liriel, please, can we go to bed and then can you never leave me? Ever?”

“I never will,” Liriel promised, feeling his love for her through the Bond of Matrimony, feeling the desire, the want... and the need, the silent terror of losing her that always made her want to hold him tighter. “Mi cari te siorad, ceilin.” A promise to love him always, and she knew she always would. Even though one day he'd leave her for good.

“Mi cari te, ceilhinama,” Madanach whispered back. “Gyd holl ma creena.”

I love you, wife of mine, with all my heart. Liriel heard it, felt it, knew it, and not all her mother's anger or her father's disappointment would ever take this from her. It was breaking her heart, everything about this was tearing her apart, but she couldn't bring herself to let Madanach go. Not even if it meant her parents never spoke to her again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Garra-Lann means Knife That Laughs or Laughing Dagger, and is the nickname the Forsworn gave Cicero. Bachgen means little one. The Rhanic translation of the sign is largely the same as the Tamrielic, except the Rhanic has 'here be Daedra' added to the end, on the grounds that Reachmen can cope with knowing this but outsiders... not so much.

Liriel's words to Madanach at the end there are 'I love you forever, husband'. Ceilin and ceilhina (husband and wife) are pronounced 'kayl-in' and 'kayl-ina'.

Next chapter, the fall-out, and Liriel having faced down her mother has next got to deal with her father.

Wow this keeps getting better. Good for Madanach! I love how he defended her. I loved it.

Thank you! He may have many many faults, but he's very protective of the ones he loves. Once you're his, you're his for life.

Gods, this is so good! Keep it going anon, it's awesome :D

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