Marudil: Sitting Bear, Chapter 1: Nu-Na-Ye-Di-S-Dv-Na (Safety)

• Posted by MarkusMasterThief May 26, 2015 - 714 views

  

  Aimlessly Marudil wandered across the landscape of this strange land... was this The Reach? In Skyrim? Yes, yes, it looked like the Reach... the land of the Forsworn, or so he'd heard. It would do him no good to wander the hills, he thought, in his physical state... he couldn't risk a run-in with the native people. He'd have to follow the road with caution; eventually it'd lead him some place where he could recuperate. Maybe a small town or a city... whichever came first. His head was spinning. The road seemed to go on forever. The arrow in his shoulder kept digging into his flesh. And he was tired... so tired... his knees gave out and he fell to the ground, and his vision blurred as he closed his eyes...

  "Jouane? Is he gonna be okay?" A little girl's voice cut through the haze. It was dark... Marudil's eyes were still closed. His body was still weak. But something was different now...

  "I think so... he took quite a beating by the look of 'im, but there's no permanent damage and none of his bones are broken. There's a few fractures, sure, but nothing a little magic can't take care of. At least the arrow head's out of him now."

  Marudil stirred and groggily opened his eyes.

  "He's waking up!" The little girl chimed.

  "Easy now, my boy." An old man gently pressed him back upon the bed where he lay. "You're lucky to be alive. What in the world happened to you?"

  Marudil thought as best he could, but he was unable to recall the details. "I don't remember... everything's a haze..."

  "Was it perhaps bandits? There was an arrow in your shoulder that almost cut it in half. Took a while to remove it."

  "But it is gone. Thank you."

  "Thank Sissel." The old man introduced the little girl. "She found you on the road and brought you to me right away."

  Marudil looked at Sissel. "Thank you... I don't know what might have happened if you'd not done what you did."

  "You're welcome, sir..." She responded, "What's your name?"

  "... ... I don't know. I don't remember."

  "Well, um... what do we call you, then?"

  Words floated through Marudil's memory. Folk tales... a tribe... history... a nickname... was it his nickname? The name his people gave him? Who were his people? What was that nickname again...?

  "Sitting Bear." Marudil finally spoke. "It was something that my people called me... at least that's what I think. I'm sorry, little one, the wounds run deeper than my flesh... I don't know if I will ever recall my true name."

  "Sitting Bear's fine." Sissel said. "Can you stand up?"

  "Wait a moment, my dear." The old man cut in. "I don't think it'd be wise for him to--"

  Wearily Marudil rose to his feet, clutching the bed for support. "I'll be-- mmf-- fine."

  "But the beating you've taken..."

  "I said I'll be fine." He started walking... and though his movements were slow, he was well enough to carry onward. "Red mer are tougher than the white man gives them credit for. Your kind thinks us weak and frail, prancing around in the forest like dancers..."

  "Now now, I wasn't suggesting that. I've just... I've never seen anyone recover as well as you have. I've been a healer for many years now, and I've seen my fair share of warriors... but nothing like you. I haven't even begun my work here and already you're on your feet."

  "Even I can't explain it... it's just the way we're built."

  "Can I show him around town?" Sissel asked.

  "Well, if he's alright with it." The old man shrugged.

  "I am." Marudil, now Sitting Bear, agreed.

  

  Sissel guided Sitting Bear outside and introduced him to the small town: Rorikstead, she called it. According to her, it was a small farming community founded after the Great War, where the locals lived fairly simple lives; work could be found either at the Frostfruit Inn, where Sitting Bear had been taken to recover, or in the fields to grow produce. The settlement was small, with just four buildings: the inn, the Cowflop farmhouse, Lemkil's farmhouse, and Rorik's manor. All around him Sitting Bear could see the people tending their crops, putting up fences, and gathering whatever ripe goods they'd grown. There was something so humble about this little place... so welcoming...

  "Where do you live?" Sitting Bear asked Sissel.

  "Over there." She pointed at Lemkil's farmhouse. "I don't really like it, though."

  "Why not?"

  "My father is... he's mean. He says lots of terrible things and yells at me and my sister all the time..."

  "... I'm sorry, little one. No child should have to suffer as you do."

  "Thanks for understanding. So, um... will you need work?"

  "Work?"

  "I mean, will you be staying here? In Rorikstead?"

  "I don't know... maybe. I don't know my way around this province... it would be best for me to stay."

  "Well then, we're gonna have to get you a job. Maybe we can ask Mr. Ennis for work. I'm sure he'd love the help."

  "Yes..."

  "Oh, I forgot to ask... what's with the face paint?"

  "Face paint?"

  "Yeah. What does it mean?"

  Sitting Bear approached a puddle on the ground that'd formed in a recent storm, and looked upon his face once again: it was made to be menacing, with black paint going across his eyes and a red hand-print across his mouth. It was significant for some purpose, he could tell, but the purpose itself was foreign to him. Besides, he reasoned, it wasn't likely anyone in Rorikstead would want to hire someone who looked ready to kill. And so he whet his hands and wiped the paint from his face, then rose to his feet.

  "I do not know what it meant... but it doesn't matter now."

  And so, Sissel and Sitting Bear approached the door to Cowflop farm to seek out a job. Somehow, Sitting Bear thought, things would start looking up for him... a new day was dawning, and perhaps now he could put his past behind him... whatever it was.