The Demands of the Divines Chapter 4 in The Demands of the Divines

Fakhriya and Jenassa got to the marketplace in the Stone District of Windhelm a little later than they had hoped they would, but that was often the price of a late night in a tavern. They needed to sell off a few items they had collected on their travels and replenish their supplies before they headed south to meet with Delphine.

After they finished their shopping for the day, Jenassa offered to take Fakhriya on a tour of the Valunstrad, the Avenue of Valor, before they headed back to Gray Quarter.

The Valunstrad was Windhelm’s wealthiest and oldest neighborhood. Each of the single family homes of the city’s most prominent citizens was as large as a Jarl’s residence in some of Skyrim’s smaller, less prosperous holds and boasted the sturdy wood and elaborate stonework for which the Nords were renowned. Many homes had fenced in stone patios and private gardens that struggled bravely against Eastmarch’s unforgiving climate. As the Valunstrad continued east it narrowed into an alleyway that opened at its other end into a vast courtyard on the north side of the wall of memorials to the great kings of Windhelm that gave the Avenue of Valor its name.

Outside the courtyard where the Valunstrad bordered with the Stone District stood the Temple of Talos. Other cities in Skyrim, notably Whiterun, Riften, and Markarth, had temples or statues dedicated to Talos. The Nord dominated city of Bruma in Cyrodiil, Fakhriya’s hometown, boasted the Great Chapel dedicated to the reverence of the hero-god. But Windhelm’s Temple of Talos was distinct in that it was the only temple in all of Tamriel where Talos was actively, openly worshipped.

Although the ban against Talos worship had been lazily enforced by the Empire in most places, if it was enforced at all, in the months immediately after the end of the Great War, as a result of the Markarth Incident of 4E 176 the Aldmeri Dominion insisted on the Empire’s strict compliance with that significant condition of the White-Gold Concordat.

In 4E 174 the Breton population of the Reach, the hold for which the city of Markarth was the capital, used the opportunity created by the turmoil of the Great War to declare itself independent of the Empire and to overthrow the local Nord ruling class. When the Great War ended the deposed Jarl of the Reach asked Solitude, the seat of Skyrim’s High King, for support in returning the Reach to provincial control. A Nord militia, led by a young Ulfric Stormcloak, was dispatched to the Reach to rein in the wayward hold.

Ulfric’s forces dealt swiftly and, according to some accounts, brutally with the rebellious Bretons and quickly regained control of the hold. As a condition of returning the Reach to the deposed Jarl, Ulfric demanded that Markarth allow free and open worship of Talos. The Jarl agreed to Ulfric’s terms, but when the Aldmeri Dominion learned of the conditions Ulfric had imposed, the Thalmor insisted that the Empire intervene. The Empire demanded strict compliance with the ban against Talos worship in all Imperial holds and Ulfric Stormcloak and his men were arrested. Ulfric’s father, the Jarl of Eastmarch, died while Ulfric was imprisoned.

Upon his release, Ulfric returned to Windhelm, assumed the Jarlship left vacant by his father, and permitted the open worship of Talos in his hold. Until Ulfric killed High King Torygg in a challenge for the throne in Solitude, the incident that started Skyrim’s civil war, Ulfric’s defiance, though well known in Skyrim, seemed to mostly escape the attention of the Empire and the Thalmor.

Whereas the Temple of Talos stood on the southern side of the memorial wall of the Valunstrad, the Palace of the Kings, the administrative center of the hold and the private residence of the Jarl, dominated the courtyard on the northern side of the wall.

“You know I met him once,” Fakhriya announced as she and Jenassa stood facing the entrance to the Palace of the Kings.

“Who?” Jenassa asked. “Ulfric Stormcloak? When did you meet Ulfric Stormcloak?”

“When I was in Helgen,” Fakhriya replied. “I never told you this? He was in Helgen when the dragon attacked.”

“It seems to me the story always went like this,” Jenassa countered. “One. You almost got beheaded. And two. A dragon destroyed the city. Ulfric Stormcloak never came up.”

“Well, I’m trying to brag now that I hang out with Jarls every day,” Fakhriya said. “So now the story goes like this: One. I almost got beheaded. Two. Ulfric Stormcloak was there. Oh, and there may have been a dragon or something.”

The two women chuckled.

“So what’s he like? Did he say anything to you?” Jenassa asked.

“No. By the Eights, no, he didn’t.” Fakhriya smiled as she put the pieces together in her head. “He didn’t say anything to me because he was gagged. We were in a prisoner caravan, like I told you before. There was a chatty Stormcloak talking about some juniper wine his girlfriend used to make sitting across from me. Ulfric sat to my right. He was gagged because the Imperials didn’t want him to use a thu’um. Divines guide me, I didn’t even realize that until now.”

“I’ll tell you this about Ulfric Stormcloak, though,” Fakhriya continued. “I was as close to him then as I am to you now, and I looked him straight in the eye and I know that man thought he was going to die that day in Helgen. We all thought we were going to die.”

“Ulfric stood directly in front of me when we were unloaded from the wagon,” Fakhriya recalled. “The Imperials made a big show of announcing his name, and announcing his title and announcing his crimes, but when they sent him over to the chopping block, he strolled over there like he was going to look at samples of tapestries to remodel his private dining room. Ulfric Stormcloak was not afraid to die.”

“Well, you seem to remember him so fondly,” Jenassa joked. “Since we’re in the neighborhood, do you want to visit your best friend?”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Fakhriya scoffed. She spoke in the direction of the palace as if someone were standing in front of her.

“Oh, Ullie, it’s so nice to see you again,” she said in a voice mimicking high society women. “You look well. I brought wine for the table.” Fakhriya pecked the air as she continued. “Oh, kiss. Kiss. How are the wife and kids?”

“Wife and kids?” Jenassa asked as she laughed. “Is he even married?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Fakhriya replied. Her face lit up as she realized that Jenassa had fed her the next joke. “Why? Would you like me to introduce you? Maybe we could go back to the marketplace to find an Amulet of Mara first?”

The two women laughed a little louder.

“Yeah, that would be a union blessed by the Divines,” Jenassa said. She put her right hand on Fakhriya’s left cheek.

“Oh, Ulfric,” Jenassa said in an overly dramatic, breathless voice, “Your eyes. They are like two limpid pools. So icy. So blue. How I swoon when I gaze upon them.”

This time the women laughed loudly enough that a city guard on her rounds turned her head to look at them. Jenassa met the guard’s gaze, but where the guard seemed to dismiss the distraction, Jenassa continued to stare as the guard walked away.

Jenassa took Fakhriya lightly by the arm.

“Come on,” Jenassa said. “Let’s get out of here before we get arrested for lollygagging.”

Fakhriya and Jenassa stayed in Windhelm a few days longer. Fewer people came out to the Cornerclub during that time. Another Nord woman had been murdered and the city guard had become more aggressive in their questioning of people in the Stone District during the day and in most areas of the city after dark. Few Dunmer ventured outdoors any more often than they had to.

Turseth, however, remained a regular fixture at the Cornerclub. He and Jenassa managed on a nightly basis to find new ways to hurt each other with old arguments and resentments.

Jenassa seemed particularly anxious to go on the morning the two women were suiting up to leave Windhelm. As she was leaving, Fakhriya waved goodbye to Malthyr, who was sweeping at his regular post, and opened the door of the New Gnisis Cornerclub to the cold morning air. She was surprised to notice that Jenassa wasn’t behind her as she stepped outside.

“Malthyr, I want you to do something for me,” Jenassa said as she approached him. She started to fumble with a coin purse. “Please take this. I know Turseth is going to end up getting arrested again. Someone will have to pay his bounty. Well, wait, you’ll need more if he -- oh, send me to Oblivion, hold on.”

Janessa dropped the coin purse onto a table, let her satchel fall to floor, took off the malachite helmet she was wearing and dropped it with a thud and then slumped into a chair. She started to count out a few coins before she pushed the purse and the loose coins across the table.

“Just take the whole forsaken thing,” she said as she abruptly stood up and backed herself away from the table.

Malthyr picked up the few coins that had fallen to the floor.

“I can’t take all this money, Jenassa,” Malthyr said as he added the fallen coins to the loose pile on the table.

“I trust you, Malthyr,” Jenassa said. “There’s probably 100, maybe 120 septims in there. I’m sure my stupid brother isn’t the only Dark Elf in Windhelm who finds his back against the wall from time to time. Take care of Turseth first, but otherwise, give the money to whoever you think needs it until it runs out.”

Jenassa collected her gear and brusquely walked out the door before either Malthyr or Fakhriya, who had been standing just inside the doorway, could react. Fakhriya went to the table to retrieve Jenassa’s forgotten helmet.

“Thank you for everything, Malthyr. It was a pleasure to meet you,” Fakhriya said.

“Azura’s wisdom shine on you both,” Malthyr said as he collected the loose coins and returned them to the purse. He offered the purse to Fakhriya.

“No. Keep it,” Fakhriya said. With a wave she walked out the door of the cornerclub.

Fakhriya stepped into the street and started the climb to Sadri’s Used Wares. Jenassa was pacing in front of the store.

“You forgot this,” Fakhriya said as she offered Jenassa her helmet.

“I know,” Jenassa said as she accepted the helmet and planted it firmly on her head. “You left the money, right?”

“Yeah,” Fakhriya said.

“Good.”

Jenassa maintained a brisk pace as she navigated Windhelm’s narrow streets. Fakhriya struggled to keep up, but matched Jenassa’s pace when the road widened near the city gates.

“Are you OK?” Fakhriya asked.

“I’m fine,” Jenassa muttered. She looked away from Fakhriya.

“I just hate this city.”