Melea Entius(Female, Imperial)
An Imperial woman who has contracted a mysterious and incurable disease. She and her young daughter traveled to Whiterun to the Temple of Kynareth, but after the priests failed to heal her, she decided to travel to Riften to see the orphanage, but first to Falkreath to arrange for her burial. In Falkreath, she met a couple who lost their child and decided it was better for her daughter to stay with them. This has reaffirmed her strong religious faith, which was tested by her illness. She now feels she is ready to die, but this has left her feeling conflicted. She is happy that her daughter will be cared for, but at the same time worried that she will forget her. This is related to the abandonment she feels from her husband, who once cheated on her and later died while searching for a cure.
Player Greet
(Coughing)
Are you alright?
1. That’s a question I’ve asked myself for weeks now. Am I alright? Will she be alright? Was it wrong to come here?
Why, what’s wrong?
2. I’m sick. It would be fine if it was just a cough, but…well, my body hurts so much I can barely walk …and those are the good days.
What are the bad days like?
3. On bad days it hurts to be alive. The air feels like you’re breathing solid ice, and I feel like the slightest touch will shatter me.
4. Oh, I’m sure it’s still nothing compared to the wounds soldiers get.
5. But that doesn’t provide much comfort. Not when my daughter is so young.
Don’t worry, the priestess in Whiterun can take care of you. I can vouch for her skill.
6. I’ve already tried. I’d heard that Danica Pure-Spring is the most powerful healer in all of Skyrim, but she couldn’t help me.
7. I know now it’s my destiny to die. That’s why Arkay guided us here.
Brace yourself. I’m about to hit you with a healing spell.
8. That’s kind of you, but there isn’t a spell in the school of restoration that’s been able to cure me.
valenwood is vaa-len-wood
Stay right there. I can mix a potion that can fix you right up.
9. Not unless you’re going to Valenwood. My husband heard there’s a rare mushroom that grows on the trees there.
10. But I doubt even then it’d make a difference. Arkay brought us here for a reason.
An incurable illness? By Akatosh I hope you’re not contagious!
11. Don’t worry, if the disease was the kind that spread, I couldn’t hold my child, or be out here talking to you.
12. It’s by the grace of the Divines that I’m granted this small measure of happiness.
Kynareth is kin-uh-reth
Sounds like you’ve given up.
13. Not at all. I took my daughter and journeyed to Skyrim in hopes of finding a cure. Yet not even a priestess of Kynareth can heal what ails me.
14. I’m afraid now that we’ve come to Falkreath, I won’t live much longer.
15. I can only thank the Divines for guiding us this far, and showing me my faith was not in vain.
Bruma is broo-mah,
Have you tried praying at a shrine? That usually works for me when I’m sick.
16. Oh, I’ve tried. I prayed at the chapel in Bruma, at the Temple of Kynareth and every shrine and altar along the way.
17. I’ve prayed standing, kneeling, and prostrating, to any divine that would hear me.
18. Sometimes prayers aren’t enough. Some things are just meant to be.
The Divines often work in ways beyond our comprehension. But they are working.
19. It’s an important lesson. One I didn’t always heed.
20. It’s funny how the same hardship that makes us pray to the Divines also makes us doubt them.
You can’t be sure it’s the Gods’ will. You should fight the disease to the very end.
21. Oh I know. My faith wasn’t always as strong as it is now. In fact, I almost gave up on the Divines altogether.
This is why religion is dumb. How are you blessed?
23. You’re wrong. I believe this story will have a happy ending.
24. I didn’t always think so. There are times I knelt before the altar and wanted to scream at the Gods.
25. I wanted to blame them, curse them, but in the end…all I could do was weep.
skip 26-28
You questioned your faith?
29. Yes, believe it or not. When I was sure Henrietta was fast asleep, I’d crawl out into the forest and just let it all out.
30. But all of that anger and hate left me the moment we came to Falkreath and met that sad couple.
31. Here I was lamenting my own predicament, yet my daughter is still alive.
Not for long.
32. I don’t know what you’re talking about. My daughter is healthy. I’m the one who’s sick.
33. But even my death is hardly tragic, when you consider what happened to Indara’s daughter.
34. She was Henrietta’s age. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence.
And about to lose her mother. Not much of a blessing.
35. She’ll lose me, but she won’t lose a mother. The Divines saw to that.
As opposed to the farmers who lost their daughter.
36. That’s right. When I talked to Indara, I found out the girl they lost was about Henrietta’s age. An Imperial girl like her mother.
37. How can that be a coincidence? How is that not the work of the Divines?
She’s being adopted?
38. I believe she will. I’ve yet to broach the subject with them, because their loss is so fresh.
39. Or maybe part of me is just unwilling to let her go. But I’ve told Runil of my intentions.
You put a lot of faith in Gods that are about to orphan your daughter.
40. They blessed us by bringing us here. In Bruma, my daughter would have grown up without a father. In Riften, she would grow up in an orphanage.
41. Here, she will have two parents, an Imperial mother, and the support of the village.
You mentioned your daughter.
42. Henrietta. My baby girl. Bright, talented, and just enough of her father’s courage to be brave without being fearless.
43. She complains a lot too, but I forgive her.
She must get that from her mother.
44. Which part?
The complaining part.
45. I think I’ve earned the right.
The bright and talented part.
46. And here I thought you were going to say the “complaining” part. Not that you’d be wrong, but it’d be sort of mean to say.
What happened to her father?
47. My husband passed away not too long ago. She reminds me so much of him.
48. If she ever asked me what he was like, I would’ve told her to just look in the mirror.
Tell me about your husband.
49. He was a gallant man, and my best friend. We met on the coast of Rihad as children, and married as young adults.
50. When the Great War began, he was one of the first in our town to enlist in the Imperial Army. He despised the Thalmor, and so did I.
Tell me more about the war.
51. When the White Gold Concordat was signed, he defected from the Legion to join the Redguard forces as they pushed the Elves back to Summerset Isle.
52. I supported him in his decision. I told him to go to Gilane where the army needed soldiers most.
53. That’s where he met a girl, in a small town by the southern peninsula.
Not surprising. I would have left you as well.
54. Only he didn’t leave me. I would have never known if it weren’t for his guilt. And when he told me, I still wasn’t sure if I believed him.
55. But I also knew I couldn’t stay in Hammerfell any longer.
It probably was moment of weakness.
56. He said the same. He told it meant nothing, but it changed everything.
That fiend.
57. He said it meant nothing, but it changed everything. He betrayed my trust and the vow he made before Mara.
58. But Mara forgive me, I still loved him. That was the problem. But I also knew I couldn’t stay in Hammerfell any longer.
Why not?
59. It reminded me of what he did. I couldn’t look at the desert without thinking about the war, and I couldn’t think about the war without thinking about that girl.
60. So we moved back to Cyrodiil, to Bruma, a place without sands or oceans.
What happened after you moved to Bruma?
61. Well, things finally began to slow down. It took some time to patch our relationship back together, but we made it work for twenty years.
62. And in the meantime I had Henrietta.
How did he die?
63. An alchemist told him about a magical plant that grows only in the damp forests of Valenwood.
64. As a base agent, it could make a potion strong enough to cure any disease.
65. Whether he found it or not, he promised to come back in a month’s time for Henrietta’s birthday. He never did.
Men treat women like swords, tossing them away at the first sign of rust.
66. Not a chance. At least, not this time. My husband had his frailties, but he was young then, and I was strong. And he would never abandon Henrietta.
Your husband’s belief in Arkay was strong. He knew the child would find a home.
67. You’re right. Only through faith can we achieve the impossible, and should our efforts fail, the Divines will reward us for our belief.
He died trying to save you.
68. It was a foolish thing. A romantic thing, but the two are often one in the same.
69. What did he think would happen to Henrietta if he never came back? If not for the guidance of the Divines, I shudder to think of the consequences.
Are you staying in Falkreath?
70. Yes, I plan to stay here with my daughter until Arkay bid me leave.
71. I’ve already arranged for a plot of land, away from the trees, where the stone faces east.
Just another plot of dirt.
72. (Laughs) You’re right, but it’s not for me as much as it is for Henrietta. I want her to be warm when she visits me. That is, if she remembers to.
It sounds like a wonderful spot.
73. Thank you. It’s funny, when they told me about the grand cemetery at Falkreath, I was so worried it might be too large.
74. I feared Henrietta wouldn’t be able to find my headstone.
75. But when we got here, I was relieved. The graveyard is so cozy, and the priest is a kind man.
You sound ready.
76. I am. I was afraid to die before, not knowing what would become of my daughter.
77. I thought she would end up lost and alone, a child few people noticed and nobody wanted.
78. Now my heart is filled with more trivial concerns, and I often forget how lucky I am to have them.
What kind of trivial concerns?
79. I’m worried she’ll forget me. She’s just a child, and the memories she has now will soon be replaced. It’s wrong to think so, but it almost makes me jealous.
80. I just want to be part of her life, even when I’m gone.
Is there anything you can do to help her remember?
81. Well, these last few days I’ve tried to tell her all the little things, the stuff she won’t understand until she’s older.
82. How to brush her hair. How to tell when a man lies. The perfect recipe for apple cabbage soup.
83. I thought if I showed her all the little things and she carried them with her as she grew, the big things would speak for themselves.
84. She wouldn’t have to wonder how much I loved her. Yet when I talk her to now, all my words float by her like…like dandelion clocks in the wind.
It’s better this way. You don’t want to confuse the poor child.
85. I know it sounds selfish, but she is my daughter. I want to be part of her life, even in death. But thank you anyway.
You could write her a letter. To her future self.
86. By the divines, why didn’t I think of that! That’s a wonderful idea! Thank you, stranger!
in-dah-rah and mah-thee-us
Glad to help.
87. I think Runil has a quill and paper he keeps for his journal. I’m going to get started right away.
88. And If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you a small favor. I know she’ll be in good hands with Indara and Mathies…
89. But if you could look in on her from time to time, make sure everything’s alright, I’d appreciate it.
(No answer)
90. That’s alright. You’ve already done so much.
(Yes answer)
91. Truly, the divines must have sent you to answer my prayers. Thank you again, so much.
Hellos
92. Is there something I can help you with?
93. Yes?
94. All right then.
95. Until next time.
96. Safe travels.
97. Divines be with you.
98. I talked to Kust the other day, and he said my burial spot was different from the one Runil showed me.
99. Well, I suppose as long as Henrietta knows which one is Mommy. I’d hate for some old Nord Jarl to have to listen to her problems.
100. I asked Bolund if he could build a bench by the cemetary, but he wouldn’t even talk to me.
101. Thankfully, his brother Solaf was kind enough to do it.
102. Zaria gave me a potion that eased some of the pain. Added a little pick me up too, but don’t tell Henrietta.
103. Valga’s a nice woman, but her constant gossiping is a bad influence on Henrietta.
104. Melea: Henrietta dear, I don’t want you talking to the lady in black.
Henrietta: Why not? She’s nice.
105. Melea: (Sigh) You’ll know when you’re older dear.