Meria Alone

“Not now Meria I have important business with the First Ambassador!” snapped a tall Thalmor Justicar with black hair slicked back in a neat style and vivid green eyes.

“B-But uncle, you promised that we practice magic today!” pleaded a smaller Altmer similar to the Justicar.

The Thalmor agent paused in mid step and gazed down at the smaller Mer with annoyance in his eyes,

“I said, not now, go back to your room before I get reprimanded for allowing a child to be up here!” he snapped before pushing her back, nearly knocking her off her feet.

Meria watched her uncle leave the hallway of the embassy, holding back her tears before wrapping her arms around herself.

“That’s what you always say…” she murmured to herself before looking over to a frost window overlooking the Courtyard of the Embassy.

The snow gently fell from the sky onto the patrolling guards as well as a few Justicars, Meria wished she was allowed into the courtyard to play, but her uncle had forbade it claiming it was unsafe for a young superior Mer to be exposed to the weather of the Heathen homeland of Skyrim.

“I miss the Isles and papa…” Meria murmured to herself “everyone is too cold here, no one wants to be my friend either…” she murmured as she stepped away from the window as she picked up the pitter-patter of footsteps approaching her direction.

Meria moved to hide behind a large planter hoping it wasn’t one of the higher ranked Thalmor agents, she wasn’t allowed to be alone in the parlor. She was barely small enough to full hide behind the planter, but the small plants resting within provided extra cover for her.

“Hello, who’s there?” called a masculine voice; he was standing near Meria’s hiding spot, scanning the hallway with hands glowing in magic. After a few more moments, the Altmer began going back the way he came, slower than before “I was sure I heard something…” he muttered to himself.

Meria peaked over the planter to see if the coast was clear, once the Altmer was out of sight, she crawled over to the opposite end of the hall and hoped the Altmer wouldn’t return.

******

Meria’s room was small, it was so small it doubled as a storage closet, only her bed, a few shelves, and a tiny end table was all that was able to fit to allow her and another mer to fit comfortably inside. Back on the Isles where she was born, her room was almost as big as the Ambassador’s room. But due to the Embassy being no place for a small child, Meria had to make due to her storage closet of a room.

Meria had waited for hours for her uncle to return from his meeting with Elenwen. She never had to wait long for him to return, Meria counted the length of his meetings by how many pages she read from his thick magical tomes. She had read through half of a tome explaining how to form an ice spike to use in battle, usually he would have returned when she was a few chapters in.

Last time she was alone like this, he was sent out to go claim an escaped heretic, but it never took long either… sighing heavily, Meria closed the tome, staring out the window looking towards the Sea of Ghosts, Masser and Secunda creating tiny sparkles on the water with the stars and auroras resting in the sky.

The sound of the door to her room being unlocked brought Meria’s attention back as a tall Mer entered carrying a tray of food common to the Isles and Skyrim. Meria recognized the mer from earlier as the one coming to inspect the upper hallway. Meria got to inspect him further, noting some white stubble growing on his lower chin, and his eyes being a deeper green than hers.

“Your uncle requested that I care for you until his return…” said the Altmer as he put the tray down on the end table beside her bed, nearly bumping his head on a support beam.

“Return?” Meria asked in a small croak “what do you mean?” she asked as she cleared her throat.

“He has been sent to investigate some reports of Talos worship…” answered the Mer.

Meria sighed and looked to her supper; she wrinkled her nose at the steaming bowl of Apple Cabbage stew, her mouth watering at the Aldmeri food being marred in its delicacy by the Nordic food. She didn’t even notice the Altmer move to lean against her door as if he was a guard watching a prisoner.

“Are you always left alone?” he asked as Meria looked back to him with sad eyes.

She nodded, subconsciously tracing the symbol of destruction magic on her book as her mind shifted back to her home on the Isles.

“I miss my papa and my home…” she murmured.