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“That him, Agna?” The apprentice priestess would ask, as the older priestess of the Eight Divines led her to the table where the man’s body lay. He’d died from something on the inside- drunkenness or heart-related, it was hard to tell. Either way, the Priestess of Meridia- Therazi Cairn-Bane, which she insisted on being unrelated- fussed with the dark red and rustic orange cloak denoting her as a priestess of Arkay.
“Oh, I wish it weren’t.” The Agna gruffed, staring down at her brother. “But family is family.”
“Indeed.” There would be a moment as Therazi took in the man’s graying beard, and Agna would sigh. “So- where do we begin, Priestess?” A grim smile would take over the woman.
“Well, we surely can’t work with his clothes on.” Therazi would stifle a laugh, and Agna would smile, turning to her. “We’ll get him a change into armor after we’re done with the preservation process. Step one, as all embalmings begin, is with undressing and inspection. After all- when we go to drain the blood, it would be poor work if there were unaddressed wounds.”
Therazi would nod, familiar enough with that particular branch of the process. She wasn’t here to learn the basics, she was here to learn the peculiar talent this woman possessed, seemingly unknowingly; the ability to create draugr. The two worked to patch any holes that may have been created, and then the older woman pulled out a bowl, a thick, purple-ish mixture being poured into it.
“I’m going to cut a few holes into him, now, and you’re going to massage this ointment into his skin. It may tingle on your hands, that’s because it’s a mixture of snowberries and spriggan sap, which fortifies your ability to cast on the corpse. This will help near the end, after he’s done… drying.” The older woman would explain, smiling at Therazi as she positioned a bucket underneath the table. Therazi would huff, patting her hair to make sure the braids were still in place as she took station, dipping her hands into the sap.
It would be pretty easy for Therazi to disrupt the process with the natural magical capabilities, but Therazi fights her own magicka as she works the ointment into the corpse. Interestingly, it did wonders at being absorbed, which Therazi was surprised about. She figured that the snowberries likely did something to help with the process- as the sap was a little less sticky than she was used to with other tree saps. Though she wasn’t overly familiar with spriggan sap- as she would never go out of her way to disturb the beauty of nature- she still understood what ‘sap’ was.
“How do the snowberries affect the sap in this way?” She would ask, “It’s like it turned it into an oil base, and the hue is… iridescent. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“That’s because it’s a snowberry-based vinegar.” Agna would smile, quickly swapping out one of the bowls of thick, congealed blood and pouring the full contents into a pot. “It breaks down the toughness of the sap and leaves behind a softer, more fat-like substance, which then combines with the properties of the snowberries to hold the blessing.” Therazi would let out an ‘ahh’,
“So find old snowberry wines, essentially?”
Anga would laugh, “Or, if Golldir can get his act together, perhaps I can bestow upon you the family’s Mommy. We’ve been holding onto it for a few generations now.” Therazi would sigh,
“Sounds more like a great-grandmother, then.” She didn’t appreciate the priestesses attempts to get her to marry in, but she didn’t mind Golldir that much. After all, he seemed like a good man. Not good enough to settle for, considering, but good. He’d make some woman very happy, some day.
It didn’t help that he had to kill his mother figure. She wasn’t sure if she felt okay with staying with someone she murdered the direct family of.
It was a long process, but eventually, the process was done, and Therazi would hold her hands up as she patted his very gray feet.
“Good, good- now for the part that, if you’ll excuse me, I may need to take a break from midway through. I never took a husband or child because I couldn’t imagine doing this to another person I loved, after my own father.” Agna would explain, rolling out the embalming tools. “Unfortunately, though- corpses aren’t in need of organs.”
Therazi would give a sympathetic look, “If I may, I am more familiar with this process than most of the rest. I was raised on a farm.” A lie, but nonetheless harmless as she was familiar with disemboweling, “If you would like to step out and perhaps check on Golldir… I have no qualms. I will send a shout your way once I’m done.”
The woman looks at Therazi, lips thinning and trying their best to not quiver, but her gaze turns upon her brother, and Therazi sees her eyes soften. “I buried my little brother when I was but ten and he a measly six, orphaned by what took his life,” Therazi would continue, and Agna would suck in a breath, “It’s not an easy task, and you are not weaker or stronger for it. The man’s shames lie with him, now, and you are left with the memories of when you two were children, playing in the creeks of the Rift and talking about what you would be.”
Therazi would smile at the woman, almost choking up herself, “Sometimes, when someone passes, they were the person you would have wanted to talk to about it. You don’t have the option to cry to your parents, your only brother lay here, drained of his life’s essence, and you have already done enough monitoring of the processes I am unfamiliar with.” A pause, “Take some time away from what remains, spend it with your nephew, who has lost his father for the last time. Remind him of who his father was before he lost him the first time.”
Agna would break, slightly, and sigh. “Thank you, Cairn-Bane… I’ll return when either you call for me, or once I think enough time has elapsed.”
“Take your time, sister.” Agna smiles, making her way back up the steps to the entryway of the tomb, and leaving Therazi with an abusive drunkard’s body. She would turn her pitiless gaze upon him.
And took great enjoyment in emptying his innards, even as she had to set them aside in jars of a liquid she wished that she could ask Agna about, but it would have to wait. Otherwise, it was a quiet process, with only Therazi and her thoughts about Agna, Golldir, and this awful man.
-
Therazi takes a step back after she’s done to admire her work, and then covers the man with a sheet.
“Alright, I’ll be back with your sister.” She’d laugh softly, “Don’t go anywhere, I’m most curious about this next part, alright?”
Her steps are light as always- can’t exactly be heavy when you’re 5’ 6” and wearing cloth- and it’s halfway up the steps, passing by a chamber with shut doors and food offerings, that she hears the combined sniffling and laughing from above. She lingers at a trapped door with snowberry wreaths, letting the pair have their moment of privacy.
That’s when she hears Golldir shout with a joy, “Vals! You came!” And Therazi blinks, raising an eyebrow at the other voice that responds positively.
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything, Golldir.” Familiarity. Friendship. Oh boy, that was never a good sign. Therazi steps out into the main chamber, seeing Agna’s discontent, and then looks over to a dunmer man who looked like he wanted to take the man away and elope. The way his face twisted in joy, Therazi would think they were already lovers.
The man’s red eyes turn to the new arrival at the scene, seeing her first, and he backs away.
“Golldir, you didn’t tell me you had a sister.” With an intent to murder on-sight, it would seem. His voice stretching across the gap between her and Golldir, the man makes immediate calculations that seem to be, mostly, wrong. Agna’s relief at seeing her, combined with the dread of her dead brother, paints an interesting picture.
Golldir’s red-faced expression at the accusation tells Therazi that he’s been having thoughts about that particular topic, and she keeps her smile. Though it’s thin. “Oh, no, I’m an apprentice Priestess of Arkay, is all.” Vals wears nice, dark blue college robes with ice blue embroidery on the hems. She very much does not like the look of the black underclothes he’s wearing, or the sapphire-silver ring on his finger that glimmered with ill-intent and bad omens.
“Well, you know what they say about priestesses of Arkay.” He’d snicker, and Therazi would blink, a touch confused by the notion he was pressing. Agna stands at attention, then, hand hovering near her axe.
“Agna, please.” She whispers, before lightly nudging her, and turning to the men. “Well, it’s always nice to meet a friend of Golldir. I wish we could stay to chat, unfortunately,” She would turn to Agna, “We must return to our priestly duties.”
“… Yes.” Agna agrees, uneasily. “Let’s return to my brother.”
Therazi trips slightly at the strength and speed with with Agna pushes her through the halls of the tomb. Unlike before, Agna even closes the doors to the room they were doing the embalming in, whipping around to Therazi immediately.
“Agna, is everything-”
“That’s a worshipper of Molag Bal,” She grips Therazi by the shoulders, “And under no circumstances should you ever be alone in a room with him.” Her eyes widen slightly as Agna’s grip becomes painful,
Therazi would consider this, and then nod severely. “Of course, Priestess Agna.” She responds quietly, turning to the man, “But first, your brother.”
The woman blinks, wanting to laugh in frustration. “But first, my brother.”
She inspects Therazi’s work with a pleased expression on her face, and then gestures for Therazi to help lift the man. They take him to a side room, where they lay him down in a coffin full of salt, where they cover him. Therazi runs some of the salt through her hands, realizing that it feels a little cold, which is strange to her. Perhaps it’s the atmosphere of the tomb, or the weather outside. Agna notices her inspecting the salt all the same, and an appreciative smile graces her features.
“Now, when we come back in a few days, he will be hardened.” She continues her rote explanation of the process, “This is because the sap actually will harden into a thick, white-blue resin, and from there, armor will be put on him, as it will actually be easier to get on than standard clothes, and- forgive me, but I wish to not bury my brother naked. He was still a warrior.”
“Only a few days?” Therazi asks for clarity, mostly ignoring the other instruction, and Agna winks, getting to to impart knowledge she was clearly proud of possessing,
“The process is sped up considerably as this-” She pats the container of salt, “Isn’t just salt. It’s a mixture. First, you mix one spoon of finely-crushed small antlers for about a bowl of salt, then, one part frost salts to three parts antler-salt.”
“How fine?”
“About as fine as can be ran through linen.” Therazi thinks for a moment about that, realizing that that’s about as fine as she needs for her pottery glazes,
“Forgive my words, but that’s pretty fucking fine.” Agna laughs, apparently appreciating the crass reaction to something so remarkably insane.
“Indeed- you will know if you’ve mixed it well whenever you can feel the magic in the antler-salt mixture. I don’t have an applicable example on my person, however, you will notice that salt has an effect that strengthens magic. That’s why we’re covering the corpse in a mixture including it. As said, it will speed up the process of hardening the sap within, and strengthen it’s ability to receive our blessing.”
“And the frost salts?” Therazi would question, since it seemed an odd inclusion in all of this.
Agna thinks about it for a moment, “Well, I’m actually not sure why the frost salts.” She shrugs, “I suppose it might have something to do with how frost salts ward against the cold? Representative of our nordic heritage and our innate resistance.” She tilts her head. “Why the frost salts indeed… well, regardless, my brother won’t dry faster if we watch him. Let’s go do something much more worthwhile.”
“Watch over Vals?”
“Watch over Vals… in shifts, preferably. I’ll watch when he’s awake, and you can sleep soundly, I promise.”
-
The dinner Golldir made for everyone was a simple one, but it had been so long since Therazi had venison- with butter and garlic no less!- that it was practically sent to her by the divines. It’s while eating that Vals smiles menacingly, and then turns to Therazi.
“So, little priestess, whatever made you interested in tending the dead?” He’d huff, “Isn’t something like that for older folk with ailing bodies and a stronger stomach?”
Golldir frowns, “Vals-”
“Oh, it’s not an insult, Golldir. I’m familiar with the line of questioning.” She dissuades further thought, “Honestly, I became interested from a fairly young age. All of my family died in a housefire, save for me and my brother- who passed shortly after, due to a bandit attacking us.” An abridged lie of a story, but the beats were true enough, “I wasn’t ever able to recover the bodies of my parents, and so I decided that I would do my part to make sure others would be able to recover the bodies of their relatives, and be able to visit as they please.”
“You aren’t at all worried about the reputation that Arkay has..? After all, he stole away your immortal lives.”
Therazi laughs, “You are a mer, so perhaps you have a differing perspective,” she sighs, “But I think it makes life more worth living, that we races of man have lesser time than you. It motivates us to take risks we wouldn’t, which means we don’t lose out on opportunities as they appear before us. You mer must create and craft your personas and livelihoods over centuries, scraping together justifications for much of your lives just to be seen as equals by your peers.”
Therazi takes a deep breath, while Vals considers this, as all elves do when she voices it. “I do not envy you. In the cultures of man, we need only to do one fantastical thing to secure a legacy. Mer must do several.”
Vals would lean back slightly, humming to himself, “I see.” Golldir looks at Therazi with wide, appreciative eyes, clearly enamored with this woman of wisdom. Agna looks practically ready to marry her herself, taking a sip of honningbrew mead. “So if you were granted the divine gift of immortality?”
“Immortality is inherent to our beings. Our souls are immortal, why must our bodies be?” Her grin goes thin, and she takes another bite out of her venison, keeping her hand under it to make sure nothing drips onto her robes. She swallows. “Those with intention to live forever are vastly overestimating it. What cause have you to run from death,” her grin would turn malicious as she faces him, “Should you be a devout worshipper of the divines, only good things await you in death.”
“Dunmer don’t- we worship the daedra.” Vals informs her, and she rolls her eyes,
“Aye. And is the triad so terrible in their treatments that you should run from them, too?” She huffs, “Or, in your grab for personal power, have you erred foolishly? Many such cases.”
“At least those who find great power within themselves often have ambition. What do you have? A dead family and the future of a housewife?” Therazi would laugh as Golldir would turn to his friend, confused by his vitriol. Someone was mad she got to play with his love interest’s abusive dead father’s corpse before he did.
“I see your point- I disagree, though.” She smiles, “I see that I have the opportunity to bring peace and community to the people who are likely to outcast me. And I don’t mind that.” It’s true- for as long as she can remember, she was destined to be ousted from whatever community she wanted to join. However, so long as they have a shared distaste for her, they have something in common. As long as she stays outside, and hurts the other evil things, they will be safe.
So long as she doesn’t cause them to attack her through misguided but good intentions, she sees this as a win.
She gets to kill anyone and everyone outside of society, and she gets to hear screams of agony and terror. Sticking to simply exasperating and angering those who do not deserve pain and cruelty is good enough for her. People would leave her alone if she helped them faster. Anything that frees her time so she could make art as quickly as possible was enough for her.
The group goes quiet and Therazi and Golldir sleep first. She doesn’t miss the way he looks at her, wanting to offer to share a sleeping roll. For just a moment, she considers offering it, herself. Instead, she waits.
-
The group spends the first day outside, discussing little things here and there. Mostly, Vals (Veran, apparently) and Golldir catch up. Apparently they met a few years back when Vals was making pilgrimage to one of the standing stones nearby- Ritual, no doubt- and Vals needed help passing by Valthiem Towers. (Definitely the Ritual stone.)
Therazi and Agna mostly spent time several paces away, discussing different religious motifs and admiring their surroundings. Therazi was a priestess of Arkay right now, but she could espouse a good chunk of her usual spiel about light and beauty of nature.
Therazi and Agna broke away from the boys at the edge of the water to take a short bath, seeing as how they’d spent a chunk of a day with a corpse. Agna taught Therazi how to braid her hair in a more traditionally nordic way- “It’s like you learned from an imperial!”- and it was peaceful.
When Therazi and Agna returned to the group in fresh clothes and Therazi’s newly braided har, she didn’t miss the way Golldir stared. In fact, she encouraged it- blushing at his obvious gaze and turning away. Vals Veran grunted angrily and stormed to the tomb, which Agna had to speed-walk to prevent anything from him.
“Therazi.” The man would call, and Therazi would look up at him. “Has anyone ever told you you’re the bravest, wisest, most beautiful woman that’s ever been?” A few people, here and there.
“Ah, I don’t- I don’t know about that.” Golldir’s hands trembled as he approached her. Tilting her head up to face him, there’s a lingering. And then, he pulled away.
“Would you like to… share a sleeping roll with me, tonight?”
“That’s a little… forward.” She would respond, and he would take a deep breath.
“Please.”
“We’ll see after dinner. Perhaps I want to spend a little more time with you… privately. Perhaps we could go into the tomb together?”
He swallowed thickly. “’Course.”
It’s an unimportant venture into the catacombs, as Golldir takes Therazi to the set of locked doors, offerings of food already placed outside, alcohol included. He explains to Therazi, to her disinterest, that this was the chamber that his father locked him inside.
It’s to Therazi’s humor that she remembers that that was where Agna had said that he would be placed once they were done. Not that she tells him.
-
Therazi sits outside while it rains on the second day, and Vals comes out to sit beside her, apparently tired of the aunt-and-nephew conversations. She eyes him from her spot, shifting uncomfortably. “You know, Therazi,” He would look her over, “I’ve been thinking about something after that night, and I wanted to… apologize.”
“Apologize?” She’d huff, “For what? I understand, honestly.” She didn’t want him here, though. She hadn’t really made any plans on how she was to kill him, because, well, frankly- she was here to kill a different heretic. She supposes she has to think about that, though. After all- things have just gotten far more complicated.
The initial plan was simply to kill Agna and then tell Golldir she’d wanted a time alone to grieve, and then kill him in his sleep so that he needn’t grieve her loss, too. Now there was another party involved who would love to have two fresh corpses.
“You understand?”
“I saw the way you looked at him, Vals.” She turns to face him, “You can have him, if he wants you. I honestly don’t mind.”
“Well,” Vals thinks for a moment, “He won’t want me so long as you’re around.”
“Ah,” She’d laugh, “A worthy concern.” She gives him a small pat as she scoots away slightly. “I’ll be out of your hair tomorrow.” She lies, “Once the ritual is complete, my business here will be done.”
“Ritual?” He asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes- we’re entombing Golldir’s father. There’s a divine blessing that must be passed down, and now that I’ve been taught the steps to it, I will head out after. I have no prolonged interest in him. I thought maybe he would be a fun dance through a crypt, but I see someone has a longing for him and I don’t wish to intrude on that.”
Therazi smiles, hearing someone approach before Vals does, “Please don’t bother me any further-” The steps- Golldir- pause in their stride, hearing something he shouldn’t, “I’ll break his heart so that you’ll never have to see me again. It will hurt, but I already know what you will do to me if I don’t”
Vals looks contented by this, to a degree. Therazi hears Golldir step away, two slow steps before fve very fast ones back to the tomb. Vals turns to her with a grin, and leans over to pull at one of the braids Anga put her hair in. “Good little Priestess. After that first night, I was worried you didn’t know your place.”
Therazi bites her tongue, knowing that if she suddenly outbursts and strikes him, everything will be for naught.
Vals stands up, “How many times will the daedra prevail over the aedra, at this rate?” He gloats, and Therazi felt her nord blood boiling ever so slightly, and she also kind-of wanted to laugh in his face.
-
The third day, Vals Veran stands behind Agna and Therazi as they begin un-salting Golldir’s father. Rising him first from the salt bath, they turn him over and empty him further. Therazi’s least favourite part, the dressing, is done by Agna. There’s a silence in the room as Agna finishes with the armor on her little brother. The three of them stand there for a moment, and then Agna turns to Therazi.
“All that’s left is the prayer. Veran, if you could leave us to it?”
“Of course, Priestess Agna.” He turns away, grinning as though he has something planned, but Therazi doesn’t know of any way he could ruin this. Not any more than she is about to.
Priestess Agna leads her in prayer, devoting the time, magicka, and belief to the divines, and blessing her brother’s soul to rest in Sovengarde as she lays his greataxe into his arms.
Therazi takes a deep breath, “And may I say an old prayer from my hometown?” She asks, staring down at the corpse. She knows what she has to do next, and she’s not a fan of any of it. However, the corpse is too fresh, too easy to reverse study, especially with the ingredients and supplies sitting around.
“Oh- of course, Therazi.” She’s so gentle.
“Spirits of the heavens, the divine and their ilk, I pray on this day, of all days, on the light and Lady Meridia.” Agna’s eyes widen in shock, her brain unable to comprehend what she just heard, as Therazi continues, “Forgive Lovarr Wide-Reach for his misuse of the gifts given to him by his stars, as though he was born a Warrior, he died a coward, and may he find eternal rest” Agna’s gaze went from shocked to horrified as Therazi raises her hand, casting,
“You’re…” Her eyes flick to the ribbons in her hair, woven tightly into the braids Agna showed her, as though a crown on her head, “You’re one of her worshippers.” She whispers, her hands instinctively flying to her own axe.
“Let there be an end to his existence, may he rest among the star-”
“I won’t let you destroy his body!” Agna cries, raising her axe and forcing Therazi to block with her raised hand, Therazi scowling,
“He’s being truly purified-” She defends, pulling out her mace, “Not that you would know what purification looks like!” She backs away from Agna, and as Agna swings wide, she lands a blow with her mace, getting her jaw. She hears it crack, and Agna’s face contorts with pain.
It’s not Therazi’s proudest kill, as she takes the momentary distraction presented by her attack to shove Agna to the ground, raising the mace one more time, gathering her Lady’s energy into it with a small whisper to The Atronach on her tongue, and she brings it down on the woman, the blue light she casts coming down full force.
She stares down at the corpse of the woman that she had just spent a week and some time with, a little bit distressed that she’s killed her so easily.
Vals Veran slowly claps from the doorway, and grins down at her. “Oh- this is much better than what I’d had planned.” Therazi looks up at him, scowling.
“You’re next.” She jumps up, taking a swing at him, which he dodges, causing her to fall forward due to the momentum of the attack.
“Oh! But you’ve miscalculated, my dear.” He grins, and his red eyes briefly glint the magenta-purple of a tainted star sign. She hears, rather than sees, Lovarr’s body begin to rise. The freshly-set sap snaps and pops as his remaining joints try to compensate for the magic running through him. She hesitates to turn, freshly horrified as she faces the warped and breaking body of Lovarr and the rising body of Agna. “Fascinating. A freshly-founded draugr moves like a wooden puppet! Look at this, Therazi.”
Therazi feels her stomach turn as she witnesses Lovarr waddle from foot to foot to get to the door.
If she had cast the spell faster, no, no, no time to think about that. Therazi stands up and turns, immediately swinging once more as Vals laughs at her, Anga fully realized and gripping her own axe in hand. Therazi scraps with a freshly raised Agna for a few seconds- this time, Anga isn’t surprised by the blow, she has no way to be- and the axe that finds itself into her arm is only slightly more distracting than the screams of Golldir.
She watches as Golldir is chased down the steps by his deceased father, and he spots Therazi and falters only slightly. “Therazi, why’s my aunt-”
“She killed her, Golldir! But not to worry, I’ve brought her back.” He answers, and Golldir’s face scrunches in immediate hatred and disdain.
“Leave my family’s corpses alone, you- you-!” Vals would whipser an unhearable command to Lovarr,
“It’s not only your family’s corpses! The dead should naturally serve the living, and once I’m done here, I know who’s family will be next.” He turns to Therazi, “Don’t worry though, little priestess of Meridia, I’ll make sure your corpse is left plenty intact.”
Therazi kicks at Agna, and Golldir almost doesn’t notice his father swinging down at him.
“Golldir! Go for Vals- I can get these two!” She commands, and Golldir nods grimly, as Therazi turns and captures Lovarr’s attention by pointing two of her fingers his way and hitting him with a weak bolt of flame. It burns him severely and his attention is parted, her continued duel with Agna reaching it’s conclusion.
She doesn’t see the fight between Golldir and Vals, but she certainly hears their screams. She blocks his father’s own mindless attacks. Though he’s strong, he’s also clumsy. It’s likely that the sap is supposed to loosen over time- and he seems weaker to fire than the average draugr. Therazi stares into his blue-lit eyes and realizes very suddenly what the frost salts are for.
They’re what separates the embalming people do these days from those the old dragon cultists used to, as she already knew.
There must be something about the frost salts that makes the corpses easier to rise, even after centuries have passed. Nothing else seems likely to do that.
She dodges the swing of a great-axe, and hears a body hit the ground behind her. Finally, she releases one last charged swing into Lovarr, and he crumples to the ground, the light of her lady dissolving a small part of him into ash.
Therazi turns, preparing for battle once more, but instead finds Golldir bloodied and holding his aunt’s corpse. They make eye contact, and Therazi doesn’t offer and explanation as she raises her hand, and whispers for the Light to bring them peace, as a great light envelopes them. All that remains in the tomb is ash and the corpse of one who is borne of it, and Therazi sighs to herself, knowing that she has brought to an end the last of a culture’s methods for entombing their dead. At least nobody else will know this method for a long while yet.