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4E 175, Month of Sunset (November), 26th day, Tirdas.

In the early morning, among the trees shrouded in mist, stood a young elf. Golden skin, pale green cold eyes, and long strands of golden-pink hair. She was tall, with a well-built figure, a neat, aristocratic face, and the arrogance of all high elves.

The girl stood with a scimitar-like weapon raised high above her head, slightly bent, her left leg extended forward and her right leg slightly backward. His free hand was hidden behind his back. Nemesis was not tense, on the contrary calm and collected, and in everyday times in a familiar environment, a little hot-tempered, but now when the enemy is in front of her, she will not get hot or act rashly.

The frost spider, which was watching its food warily, was preparing to attack, but one of its instincts was telling it to run as far as possible. After all, there is still plenty of food in these lands, but this woman has offended him in some way. Perhaps by its fearlessness, perhaps by its arrogance, but the creature had no intention of retreating. Eight pale paws moved the monster's torso, so it didn't remain a worthwhile target.

When the spider seemed determined to attack, the elf made her move. A sharp and fast lunge with a vertical blow of great force landed on the head of the frost spider, separating the two parts from each other, though not completely. The monster was dragged in different directions until it fell on its belly with a thud, hitting nearby trees.

Quiet exhalation and inhale. After that, Nemesis went to a small puddle near the entrance to their shelter. The girl's thoughts were about an old friend, whom she secretly loved and everyone knew about this secret, even he, but because of guilt and for a long time, she never got close to him, which may have changed him in the end.

When she reached the much-loved puddle, she noticed another friend there. Linovet is an Imperial who used to live in High Rock and then moved to Skyrim. The first time she met her together with their other companion and friend – Hrankorn, it was ... 5-6 years ago, and perhaps earlier or later. Nevertheless, they became good friends.

"I guess I'm not alone, I get up so early." - slowly approaching her companion, she said, the second woman turned around and greeted her: - You know, it's so quiet here and soon our other comrades will be here. - Ha! Are you talking about those uncouth monkeys in the cave? the elf asked rhetorically. -Hahaha...m – yes, but we also live in a cave, how do we differ from them? - making a thoughtful look, Nemesis rubbed her chin and replied: - Well-u-u… We are beautiful and elegant ladies, just now we have a black streak! Hahahah. - Hahahahahah. after laughing a little, the elf started a serious conversation:

- Linovet… my team is a little unhappy about being in the cave, and every time I think about it, why don't we accept Huskarl Ayrilet's offer? She offered us a fort near Whiterun, like ... Grey ... moore ... hmm.... Exactly Fort Greymoor, even if it is partially destroyed, but for us it is not a problem.

The Imperial named Linovet was silent for a while:

"Fort Greymoor is not nearly as empty as it may seem, many... groups want this fort and the owners of this fort change with a certain frequency. Despite this, the fort is located in a very good and convenient location for us. The nearest road from Whiterun to Markart passes through it, and it is quite close to the road from Folkreath to Markart, which would be very useful to us. But on the other hand, as soon as we accept the offer and the rest of the residents and in fact our customers in Skyrim find out about it, some of them will refuse our services, as well as potential customers.

-As always, everything is not as simple and rosy as it seems. The political part shouldn't concern us much, as Mufalt said, after this little war of outcasts and Nords, we'll have a bad reputation among the Nords. But if we take Jarl Whiterun's side, we can keep our losses to a minimum, since the Whiterun Domain is neutral, as is Jarl Balgruf himself. In addition, not all members will take part in this task and we will be able to push off some of them…

"On us, don't be shy, Nemesis. I also thought about it and my team will also support me in this. I think I'll go to Arcon before I leave, and convince him and the others to buy Fort Greymoor. A small, predatory smile appeared on Linovet's face, and her friend knew what it meant. When this smile appeared on the imperial, it means that she is completely sure of something. After sitting for a while longer, they got up and went to the Arkon, talking about various things along the way.

The transition from the street to the cave was still unusual for the women, but they managed to adapt to it. On the way to the Archon's deputy, they saw many of their comrades from different races, Nords, Orcs,Imperials, high and forest Elves, even a couple of Khajiit and one Argonian. Women or men, each going about their own business, mostly training, and the orcs and imperials were busy preparing for their departure, which would take place later in the night.

"Don't your teams need to rest, since you're going out at night?" Nemesis asked, with some confusion, a slight smile once again covering her beautiful scarred face. "No, Nemesis. I think you haven't noticed that my team performs the task most often at night, and since there is a single mode for all members, we are used to it, and as for the orcs... I think they don't really need rest at all.

Soon they reached the common room where their meetings were held, where they found a branch and descended. It was a secluded place, quite consecrated, apparently Arkon listened to the advice of his comrades, in the corner there was a small square table with a chair. A candle burned on the table, the residual wax of which covered some distance around, and opposite stood a column of books, the top of which was called "Aedra and Daedra".

The owner himself was not there, but the breakfast on the bedside table next to the table made it clear that the owner of this food would soon return. On the opposite side were many shelves of books and one with potions and soul stones. On one of the lower shelves, there were several ingots of various ores, which Arkon collected and stored very carefully. It was mostly refined malachite and refined moonstone.

- It seems Arkon still decided to start creating glass equipment, commendable, not everyone can decide on this. Linovet remarked, and Nemesis decided to tell her friend something: "Arkon always loved blacksmithing and took it very seriously. When we lived in the forest, he dabbled in alchemy, but it was terrible for him! -Chuckling, she said: - Often he just burned the ingredients, and then just exploded ... once the entire alchemy table was blown up, which he himself created, and the glass fragments hit him in the chest, well, not deep. After we began to travel, he became interested in enchantment and it is worth admitting that he was much better at it, once he was even invited to the College, but then he refused. Arkon ... showed great talent in the forge, someone even invited him to become the jarl's personal blacksmith, but he refused everyone. He created equipment just for us.

"I... didn't know that." When Hrankorn and I met you, Arkon was always secretive and rarely helped anyone, but his help was always... at the right moment? This dark elf... I didn't think he'd ever be like an older brother to us. - some nostalgia came over the girls.

"Arkon wasn't always secretive, silent?" Yes. Once, a hammer that was made by him broke right in the battle, when the Archon was fighting with a troll. Then the Archon almost died and Arkon blamed and blames himself for this and he will never admit it.

There was no more conversation, and to pass the time waiting, Nemesis picked up one of the Aedra and Daedra books and opened it. On the yellowed pages were neat words.

"The uninitiated tend to get confused about such concepts as gods, demons, aedra and daedra. They are often used interchangeably.

"Aedra" and "daedra" are not generic terms. They are of Elven origin and express precise concepts. Azura is considered a Daedra in both Skyrim and Morrowind. "Aedra" is usually translated as "ancestors", and there is no more accurate translation from Elvish to Cyrodiil. The approximate meaning of "daedra" is "not our ancestors". This difference is fundamental for the Dunmer, whose fundamental split in ideology is reflected in their mythical genealogy.

Aedra are associated with stagnation, while daedra are associated with change.

The Aedra created the mortal world and are chained to the Bones of the Earth. Daedra that cannot create have the power to change.

The divine contract of creation suggests that Aedr can be killed. The evidence of this is Lorkhan and the moons.

Changeable daedra, to whom the rule does not apply, can only be banished."

"Hmph! That those that others use us as their toys, they need us only to serve, the difference is only in the conditions... " the elf thought and broke off when she heard a painfully familiar voice:

"Linovet and Nemesis, what can I do for you?" standing in the narrow passageway was a tall and muscular Dunmer, clad in heavy iron armor over dark robes with a hood and a thin, bright red scarf. His face was covered by the gray metal mask that had already become famous, the Havnorak. The right hole under the eye was sewn up with strange steel threads, and the left one was empty. Both of them were rather narrow, but the cold golden eyes were clearly visible from under them. The first time you look at it, and in subsequent times, it is difficult to determine the race of Arkon, only the original group and a couple of other mercenaries knew the true race of their mysterious deputy.

After the death of the Archon, one of the innovations was that the one who is the person and the manager of the group, must hide his belonging to a particular race and not give it away in any way. This was done so that there would be less tension between the group's mercenaries and the head. Let's say everyone in the group knows that the head of the north and if someone is unhappy, they can use this fact to put pressure on him or create disagreements between them. And the unknown Archon, or in this case the deputy Archon, allows you to avoid such cases. Plus, the mystery has always attracted and frightened people.

"Arkon, Nemesis and I have come to the conclusion that Fort Greymoor is the best base for us, as it is for the current plans. So it is for the future. Nemesis nodded in agreement and stared at her friend, glaring at him, thinking that maybe it would help.

"Fort Greymoor... it seems that Jarl Whiterun's huscarl offered such an opportunity. We need to hold a meeting and decide - " before he could finish, Linovet interrupted him with some fury in her voice. You should have realized a long time ago that you had the last word in the group, and now! If you don't understand, I'll explain why Fort Greymoor is so important to us.

"I know, I realized that when I looked at the map, and I was sure of it when Morlina called us to meet. - he answered calmly and after examining us continued: - Linovet… Nemesis… I am the Archon's second-in-command, and you know my rights and responsibilities. I can't make decisions on my own, as an Archon would.

"But you can become an Archon!" And none of the mercenaries will mind… Tell me, as a friend, why do you not want to take the post of Archon? there was a heavy and tense silence, when a soft sigh was followed by an answer that no one expected: "Responsibility... I ... am afraid to bear this heavy burden." for a moment, the world stopped for Nemesis, and she felt a flash of understanding.

All this time, her friend was afraid of responsibility, but when did he become afraid of it? She went through a lot of memories. Arkon was kind of fearless... when it came to his life... And then she realized that he had never been afraid to bear the burden of responsibility for himself, but not for others. The lives of his friends and comrades were too precious for him to make decisions freely, and his status as a deputy Archon allowed him to more or less avoid this very responsibility. Since they made their own decisions, and he only officially confirmed their decisions. How could she not notice it for so long?

Dunmer noticed Nemesis drawing some conclusions and saw her strange look that he couldn't understand. Linovet stared at him in disbelief and said only one word: "I see." "I got up and went out. Nemesis stared at Arkon for a while, then also got up and said as she left: "I'll let the others know there's a meeting coming up.