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"What do you want, you little guttersnipe?" A Nord woman looked down across the counter space to the child Dunmer who had pushed a book onto the counter with a bag of what she assumed to be coins.
"My father is very busy at the moment, Ma'am and he sent me to have this book evaluated and to pay for the first few copies to be written." The young Dark Elf bats her eyelashes over her soulless-looking black eyes and the woman gives a soft huff.
"You can tell your dirty father that he can shove-"
"Ma'am." The tone from the child sounded very adult-like in that moment. "My adoptive father, I'm sure you've heard of, can very easily take his business elsewhere."
"Oh sure, and who might he be?" She's gone to taking a drag on a pipe, seemingly completely uninterested.
"Why, my dearest father, Unmirr saved me from the streets of Windhelm-"
"As in... Sun-Tooth, Unmirr?" With a nod, the pipe has been dropped to the floor and the woman is scooping the book up into her arms. "Did - did he write it?" She seems to be shaking as she pulls open the front cover.
"No, but the author is very close to him. They want to be kept a secret, so they are using a third party - me - to have it done." Rocking back on her heels, the girl waits a moment, and the woman nods very firmly. "Oh course, of course, any friend of the Emperor is a friend of mine. How about I cut some of the price off for you? On the house, I'll write fifteen more copies than he wants."
"Really? Well, he wants at least a hundred of them - but is willing to pay. But I'll spread the message, Ma'am! thank you!" And with that, the girl skips out of the business while the woman tries not to faint.
Flames on the Horizon.
By, Anonymous.
If there is one thing I have learned in this world, it is that there are a lot more certainties than life and death. I have lived a hard life, but this is no sob story. I realize it has made me who I am. Watching my uncle slave away only to be robbed of everything in fear of dying if he didn't pay. I've watched the very men who extorted him slaughter him, and for what? To throw his adopted daughter in prison to do so? The only one who would stand up for him?
He taught me the basics, and I taught myself the rest. This is another certainty. Whether you learn something on your own, or the world actually puts some slack to allow others the kindness to teach one another. This kindness from my uncle gave me the courage to go to the College of Winterhold, but only to be turned away. I'm a loose cannon they said. With no gold and no shelter, I spent countless nights walking my way to my last salvation. A place where my meager skills might come in handy.
But the Thieves Guild proved to not be where I belonged either. Now, by this time I'd lived a lot in those few weeks, it took me to get to where I was going. I didn't find a bit of kindness from the Nords in the land, turning their nose up at scum like me, but I am stubborn, too much so for my own good.
I'm not sure about others, but when I say I am going to do something, I damn well mean it. Some say living is wonderful, I say they have never survived. This is something else I know for a fact. The strong will survive where others die. Obviously, anyways. I know, I've killed quite a few people in my time and sent them right on to whatever gateway of oblivion they believed they would go to. Not one of them ever begged me to kill them, they were all people, like you and me, who were fighting to survive. Some steal, some work, and some kill. But in the end, it's hopeless. Taxes will dry you out faster than the ash fields of Raven Rock, and even then you keep doing what you're good at.
When I had been turned away from my dream of the college, I vowed I'd one day master every school of magic, and only then would I return. I'm damn close to it too. I'll go back to that place, and maybe, just maybe, I won't show each and every one of them what I've learned without their help.
Because nothing you do will truly be worth it unless it's something you enjoy. I have this goal because it's what I truly want out of life. What I do now, this is only a stepping stone. A stone I hate to be on and have been on for a long time. But if it can take me to where I need to go, so be it. I'll stand here for an eternity if I must. It's those with the perseverance to suffer, who will truly be able to live how they want or die trying. And I'd rather die before mastering my dream than be a pitiful recruit of the college who everyone looks at but doesn't see.
So take the opportunities you see and never let them go. Another one probably will never come and give you a chance. Life is full of milk drinkers, and I know a couple who are complete badasses. But it's sorting out the piss pots who are hopeless and the total dicks who will screw you over because you let them which is really important. Because those dicks will get to where you want to be real quick. But if you never do anything about it, well, then you're name will burn away into history just like these pages to a flame.