Adopting Dwarves

They arrived at the Proving Ground as the Dwemers were all reunited there to see the Proving as they began to stare at Vincent because of his armor that they never saw before.

"They are checking you out. I don't know if I should be jealous of you dragging all the stares or relieved that you do because they would stare at me," says Kirvena as the women were stared mostly because they looked quite different than normal elves.

"We should talk to the Proving Master and inform him of the situation that you want to join the Proving," says Sereda as they walked towards him.

The Proving Master looked like all the other Dwemers to Vincent with his long grey beard making it only to identify him by his clothes that were quite different from all the others he saw so far.

"Proving Master," says Sereda as the Proving Master turned towards them seeing Vincent in his armor beside Sereda.

"Princess," says the Proving Master showing respect to Sereda.

"The Ambassador wants to participate in the Proving. He wants to see how strong our warriors are," says Sereda as the Proving Master was looking at Vincent.

"What weapon are you going to use?" asks the Proving Master curious since he didn't see a weapon on Vincent.

"A staff of a wooden great ax will do," says Vincent as the Proving Master sends a servant to fetch a staff for him.

"Please take your seat. I will inform you when it is your turn to fight," says Proving Master as Vincent nods and leaves with the group as Sereda brought them to the Tribune that the Royalty normally uses.

Endrin and his sons were already there and were surprised to see Vincent in full armor as Sereda says, "It seems the Ambassador wants to join the fun."

"Well, I hope my warriors can learn from you and you from them," says Endrin as Vincent nods.

"I hope so too," says Vincent as his inner Dragon was calm again after Vincent wrestled with it for a while.

They watched the first round together when the Proving Master came to inform Vincent that he would fight in the next round as he gave him a wooden staff.

The announcer was hyping everything up as Vincent felt like he was in the arena of the Imperial City right now.

Vincent then walked over to the edge of the stands as he just jumped down scaring the Royal family and Arthur as Karliah calms them down saying, "Don't worry its a small altitude for him."

"Really?" asks Endrin as Kirvena nods.

"Yes, a Dragoon is known for being able to jump quite high. The First Emperor was known for piercing Dragons from the sky before he was known as Dragonking," says Kirvena as she heard the stories from Mina how he took down a Dragon from the sky in High Hrothgar.

Vincent was in position to fight when the announcer gave the go as Vincent wasn't really interested in talking just knocking the Dwemer out before jumping back up.

"The Ambassador won," says the Announcer as Vincent was back in his seat.

"So Dragoons are that strong?" asks Sereda as Kirvena nods.

"They are the Elite of the Elite in the Empire. Only four Dragoons are riding Dragons while the rest rides Chocobos," says Kirvena explaining how Dragoons were picked from people with potential that served already a year in the Legion.

The Proving went on as expected as Vincent was winning round after round quite easily when Endrin asks, "Does the Ambassador also ride a Dragon?"

"No, I'm not that lucky. My uncle and two of my aunts ride Dragons. The last person died long ago," says Vincent as Endrin was quite interested in this topic.

"It must be hard to control the Dragons now that the First Emperor is dead," says Endrin as Vincent shakes his head.

"Not really. The First Emperor was the son of Akatosh making him the youngest brother of all Dragons. The Dragons see the Highwind family as their own family since Dragon blood is circulating in their blood," says Vincent explaining why the Dragons didn't rebel yet.

"Who is Akatosh and why would the First Emperor and the Dragons share blood?" asks Endrin curiously.

"Akatosh is the God of Space and Time. He is said to be the father of all Dragons. The First Emperor as Dragonborn falls into the category of Dragon," says Vincent explaining everything to Endrin who was already in disbelief from all the information he was getting.

The Proving was now over as Vincent was stretching his hands up after helping his opponent up showing them who was the boss.

From the Proving Ground, they returned to the Mansion they lived in and Vincent asks, "Vlad, How is it progressing?"

"The scholars found out so far that the Dwemers and the Dwarves are cousins to each other. When the Dwemer arrived here they retreated deeper into the Deep Road to never be seen again," says Vlad as he wasn't showing himself.

"So the Dwarves aren't Dwemers," says Kirvena as the other two were relieved.

"It seems so maybe there is some mixed-blood here and there between the Dwarves but Dwemers retreated deeper into the Deep Roads to a place called the Heart," says Vlad as Vincent was thinking.

"The Heart?" asks Vincent curiously.

"Nothing is known about this heart. As if it never existed. The Dwarves have no record of it and if they had then someone had to erase it from their records," says Vlad surprising the group as they knew that history was everything for Dwarves.

"We can't enter the Deep Roads without an antidote for the taint. So we won't be able to investigate it for now," says Vincent as he walked in a circle in his temporary office in Orzammar.

"Since we know what we wanted we should leave Orzammar. The troops outside might want to finally move," says Karliah as Vincent nods.

"Yes, we have what we wanted but first let's meet with some people in Dust Town. If they are cousins then that means that the Dwemers and Dwarves have some relation making them the closest to each other. Maybe Dwarves can learn Magic once on Tamriel," says Vincent as Karliah only sighs at that.

"Alright tomorrow we go and adopt some children," says Karliah as Vincent now showed the face of a winner to them while in the Proving Ground it seemed more of a boring expression.

The next day, Sereda brought them to Dust Town and asks, "You really want to adopt children?"

"Yes, ten if we can," says Vincent as Sereda was surprised by that.

"Ten, really," says Arthur as he was with them.

"Yes," says Vincent as he was quite convinced that they could rear ten more children since he reared more than enough children at the same time.

They walked through Dust Town as they see many people old and young when suddenly an old man walked towards them and talked to Sereda as she told them why they were there.

The old man then went to the middle of Dust Town and gathered everyone that could be interested in this offer.

Suddenly mothers with children began to line up in front of Vincent and the others. The only person that didn't walk over was a woman that was sitting on the ground holding a newborn child. She seemed quite weak as if she would die at any moment.

Vincent walks over and sees the child, he was still alive when Vincent says, "Those two will come with us."

"The mother too?" asks Karliah confused.

"Yes, she would rather starve herself to death than let her child hunger," says Vincent as Karliah and Kirvena nods.

They take the woman and the child before Vincent could choose another child. He walked and took five girls and four boys that were between 1-5 years old giving the mothers a pouch of coins each.

He notes the name of the children in his book as he smiles at them and says, "From today on you nine are now members of the Highwind Family. No one will ever look down on you but you ever again. But you will learn what it means to be a Highwind from today on. Get everything important to you and return here."

Arthur was now seeing another face of Vincent the one that looks like a loving father when he talked to the children.

The children left as they returned with either a shabby puppet or broken clothes. Vincent sees them and says, "How about we get you all a nice bath and some new clothes. We will also get that tattoo from your face."

Vincent just passes his hand through their faces as the tattoo that marked them disappeared making Arthur look at Vincent with wide eyes as he says, "Mage. You are a mage."

"Am I really? I might have learned from a Divine but there are many people that are far better than me in magic," says Vincent as Arthur didn't know what to do when Vincent continues, "If I really am I mage then all the people with me are mages too as well as the Legions."

"You mean that-," says Arthur when Vincent interrupts him.

"That's right everyone in Tamriel could be called a Mage since everyone has Magicka in their body. If not for the veil you all would be the same," says Vincent as he looked at the children that were ready to leave after hugging their mother for one last time.

After that did Vincent guides the children with Sereda and Arthur back to the mansion. Once there he gives the maid another pouch with money and says, "Get us new clothes for the children."

"Why not new toys too?" asks Sereda seeing the toys as Vincent shakes his head.

"Those toys should remind them of where they came. Memories can be quite strong and I want them to know that they shouldn't be ashamed of their origin," says Vincent as Arthur and Sereda liked to hear that.

They find Karliah and Kirvena when Vincent asks, "How is the mother?"

"She is recuperating slowly. We will have to stay a week before leaving Orzammar," says Kirvena as Vincent nods.

"Well princess it seems we will separate in a week since we are going to leave Orzammar," says Vincent as Sereda was quite sad that they will be leaving soon.