บท 579: Familial Wounds

Surtr huffs in annoyance, "You are only partly correct... While my gifts may have had a hand in my accomplishments, that doesn't mean I didn't work for them! Were you there when I toiled under my abusive Fighter's Guild-mates!? Were you there when I killed my first man!? Were you there when I took a dagger to the back during an ambush!? NO!"

He stomps up to Sirgar, looming over him with his now impressive 7ft height, "If you had any inclination of what I've been through you would stay and silently work on some farm somewhere, hoping your time to act would never come." he shoves Sirgar in the chest, "At any time you could have left and joined a mercenary group to find your fortunes! The Companions would have accepted you had you shown promise! Any city guard would have trained you! Yet you complain to me about how hard your life was sitting at home enjoying mother and father's grace!?"

"WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME DO!? YOU TOOK ALL THE GOLD, AND SOMEONE HAD TO STAY AND LEARN TO MANAGE THE MINES! YOU TOOK THAT OPPORTUNITY FROM ME!" he roars in response, tightly gripping his fists.

"I'D HAVE YOU ACT LIKE A MAN!" Surtr shouts back, silencing his brother, "Our parents don't rule you! And your excuses for your weakness disgust me! Just say it how it is and stop lying to yourself! You are weak! You deserve nothing! You have no right to say anything to me about unfairness!"

"YOU WANT ME TO ACT LIKE A MAN!? HOW'S THIS!?" he shouts as he draws a hidden dagger from his belt and holds it up threateningly.

"Put that down, brother." Surtr growls as his pupils' contract at the 'threat'.

"OR WHAT!? WHAT, THE LEGENDARY DRAGONBORN AFRAID OF A DAGGER!? MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE DRAGONBORN INSTEAD!? MAYBE YOU STOLE THAT FROM ME TOO!?"

"Shut up, and put the knife down. Before you do something stupid."

Sirgar almost hysterically laughs at his face while drunkenly waving the dagger around, "Hah! Pathetic! Tell me! How many of your women would bother if they saw how scared you are now!? Just another thing you stole from me!" he erratically thumps his chest.

Grinding his teeth, Surtr finally loses his temper and slaps the knife out of his brother's hand before grabbing his throat, and slamming him against the alleyway wall with a hard *thud!*.

"You remind me of the many cowardly bandits that harass roads, you say a lot, but when the time comes you beg like the rat you are. You are right, we were never brothers, no one like you would ever share my blood." he growls as Sirgar frantically clutches the armoured hand holding him in place.

"If you are so intent on finding something to whine about, let me give you one." Surtr grouses, dropping Sirgar and stamping on his leg, crushing it at the joint and crippling him for life.

Sirgar, of course, screams out in pain, crying as he holds his mangled leg. Surtr ignores it though, sending one last glance at him before walking away to follow Esbern's map.

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Louise' eyes blink open as she slowly sits up and surveys the area around her, only pause as she sees only darkness... She couldn't differentiate the floor from everything else, or if she was trapped in a small box or an endless black landscape.

How did she get here anyway? She and the others had just discovered a relatively large port city and had decided to rest and continue planning how to approach it in the morning... Was she dreaming? If she was, she wasn't sure if this was an improvement or not...

Usually, her dreams had her reliving her many failures in life, the mistakes that'd led to the deaths of almost everyone, including her own family... The death of Henrietta. Her familiar's betrayal...

She grits her teeth at the thought and is about to go into one of her many rants when she hears a quiet chuckle behind her... She turns and is greeted by a shadowed silhouette of what seemed to be a man... "Who are you? Why have you brought me here?"

"Hm, you did not have a problem listening to me previously." the man remarks as his face, or mask, comes into view. "I am Miraak, what is my benefactor's name?"

...

"You're the one who spoke to me? I thought you'd look... Not human..." she trails off, having thought the voice belonged to something more monstrous than a mere man. "Ah-, my name is Louise-," she pauses for a moment and decides to not mention her last name... After everything she'd done, she didn't deserve it. Not in the slightest. "Just Louise."

Miraak idly nods, "Well then Louise, shall we discuss the manner in which your help will come?"

She nods, "Yes, but first, what do I get out of this?" she inquires.

"What will you get...?" Miraak parrots, rolling the words in his mouth, he smiles under his mask, "Let me show you. Gol Hah Zaam!" he shouts and a wave of strange energy washes over Louise. She stumbles backwards and is unable to avoid it, causing her to drop to a knee as something itches at her mind... She just couldn't tell what IT was.

"Tell me, how do you feel?" Miraak asks, walking out of the shadows and towards the girl.

"Strange..."

"Stand." he commands, and she does so, quickly standing upright while seeing nothing odd with this situation.

"Lie down." she does so.

"Sleep, and forget this dream." she does so.

Louise' form fades from the black expanse, leaving Miraak standing there alone. "A strong, yet damaged mind. I wonder how many sessions like this it will take..." he ponders aloud in the comfort that no one could hear him.