Bird Of Prey (Valan)

  Prompt: A bird of prey

I really need to find a time one of these days to write Jiub a letter thanking him for dealing with the Cliffracer problem on Vvardenfell. While there are certainly still other things that want to kill me for no reason, not having to deal with those flying demons makes getting from place to place much easier, especially along the coast. No longer do I have to keep my eyes to the sky looking for another bird of prey ready to attack when going to visit Tel Fyr, or almost anywhere else along Azura’s coast. While the lack of the feathered bastards is a relief having them gone is almost strange, I don’t miss them, but I feel their absence. Just like I feel Jiub’s a sense now that I think about it, sitting at my desk late one night. The rest of the tower is asleep, not that many people live here anyways, by comparison to other Telvanni towers mine is quite small…not to mention built on top of a grave. I should sleep, or continue looking over what Eno has for me to do, as feeling over the stack of documents I recognize the raised seal of the Morag Tong. The thought of Jiub however stays in my mind, I haven’t seen him in quite a long time now, the last I heard was he moved to the city of Kvatch in western Cyrodiil having dealt with Morrowind’s bird of prey problem. Perhaps he has now moved on to eradicating the mountain lions that prowl that western region? We had communicated by letter for some time during the time I had spent on Solstheim and we were unable to catch up in person. With nothing better to do and unable to sleep I take a large piece of paper and some ink, beginning to write a letter. It requires me to write quite large and as much light as I can get but I do have enough usable vision left to read and write large print. Colored ink, such as the dark red I use to write against the off-white paper makes it easier for me to read due to the contrast. “Dear Jiub, I hope you are well.” I begin writing before pausing and thinking what it is I would like to say. “I heard you had moved to Kvatch recently, having rid Vvardenfell of cliffracers (which I greatly appreciate) and I hope you are enjoying your time there writing, it is a beautiful city in springtime. Should you find yourself in The Imperial City anytime soon, I will be visiting for a few weeks in around a month. Do let me know. Respectfully, Valan Velothi” I press a stamp at the bottom that lists all the various titles I’ve collected before folding the letter, tying it with an extra piece of string, and melting some wax in order to stamp it closed with a seal. With my thoughts written out I can finally sleep, I’ll send the letter off in the morning when I head to Sadrith Mora to once again do errands for Neloth.

Morning comes quicker than expected. Since I am still exhausted I find myself sleeping until the early afternoon until one of the guards wakes me informing me that if I need to do things today I should get up, as the longer the day goes on the worse the weather is looking. With a bit of complaining I do get up in the end and quickly throw on the nearest pair of clean trousers and a shirt, Neloth isn’t worth getting dressed up for. Grabbing the letter and my coat I thank the guard who had woken me and begin to make my way to the small island. Sadrith Mora as expected is practically empty aside from the usual vendors in the market and a few mages here and there. I drop the letter with someone from the mages guild who can get it where it needs to go for a small fee before getting what Neloth needs this time. The man has an unhealthy obsession with canis root tea, but at least he pays me to get it. “Neloth you old bastard I have your tea and the groceries you asked for!” I yell up to where he sits scheming and experimenting as usual. Placing the bag on a nearby table though it’s still somewhat wet from the rain I go up to see what it is the old wizard is up to this time. It turns out, not much, he sits reading a book on opinions regarding necromancy. “I got your tea and the salt rice you wanted.” I tell him, leaning against the doorframe. He looks up from his book and makes a noise of approval before getting up with an over exaggerated groan to go get his coin purse. Noticing the piece of paper the mage from the guild had given me to send the letter to Jiub he points it out and asks what it is. I consider telling him it’s not his business but decide there’s no harm in telling him in the end. “I sent Jiub a letter, he moved recently.” Neloth scoffs “Of course he did, there’s no more birds of prey to hunt. Maybe he’ll move on to mountain lions…or perhaps the dark brotherhood.” The old man drops some coins in my hand and invites me to sit for a cup of tea. While I tend to prefer black tea, canis root tea isn’t so bad, especially if it’s free…and it is so very rare to get a gesture of kindness from the old wizard. The two of us sit and talk over tea, discussing politics, the temple, Jiub and his vendetta against birds of prey, and what seems to be a slowly gathering darkness in the west. For now we can only wait and see, I just hope my letter reaches Jiub okay.