Meet Darishu

“Thank you so much for your help Darishu!” – the little girl said “I would have never made it out of there alive on my own.”

Darishu didn’t respond with words. Only a slight smile graced her features. She shouldered her shield and turned to leave. But before taking a step she looked at the floor covered in frost flowers and mumbled: “Take some friends with you next time. Enough to spare the tasks – because some things can never be undone.”

She didn’t wait for a response, but rather summoned her mount. A wolf neither plant nor ice – enchanted by magic, only she can wield. Darishu knows more than most of what true sacrifice really means. Her path in life had been altered forever. Some days she wished the path had come to a hold altogether, but then she interacts with people needing her help. Just like Zaraliana – the little Nord went into a dungeon to read through books without noticing the ghosts following her around.

Zaraliana reminded her of someone. Someone she had to leave behind, someone whose actions had cost her everything she ever knew. Someone she would always love, but never meet again.

As an adolescent she jumped into a lake – a frozen lake. It must have been enchanted or maybe an enchanted being helped her in that one awful moment. It is unclear to her and everyone around her how she survived. But it must have been for a purpose. She awoke in her bed. There was a fire in the fireplace. Something eerie in the air.
Her parents: nowhere to be seen.
Her siblings: quiet as can be.

Such an unusual way to wake up, seeing as she was the eldest of them and normally awake at the crack of dawn. Sometimes even earlier than her parents. She would let them sleep in. She knew how hard they worked to put food on the table. Since the planemeld it was difficult finding work. Particularly when you have so many rules to comply with when it comes to your own guilds beliefs. “Mustn’t hurt Plants; Mustn’t hurt Animals; Mustn’t do this and that and whatever else some random person came up with on that one Tuesday morning after the rooster shouted in pitch too high and a wolf had cried too loud in the night.”

It was difficult enough in Cyrodiil, but at least in Cyrodiil there was so much space that small communities were mostly left to their own devices. The rest of Tamriel is so cramped, The Rift in particular.

When Darishu awoke that day, everything had changed. One of her siblings, the youngest, shivering in front of the fireplace. Dripping wet. She herself in bed, cozy as can be.

And then, suddenly, it came to her.
She was frozen. She had felt it. She jumped into the lake after her youngest sister and pulled her out of it. She froze over because her cloak dragged her under. She couldn’t get air – and the next thing she remembers: being in bed. Warm and cozy.

She tried to get up but every move felt as though her joints were grinding on each other. Her siblings turned and Alobister ran out the hut presumably to get an adult.

In came her parents. With a worrisome look on their faces. Darishu knew this look. She had seen it many times before. Whenever something life changing is to be announced. For example when they had to move from their known home to a foreign, strange place. They sat down in front of her bed and in a very calm manner started explaining what had happened. It felt like a fever dream to Darishu. She saw her mom starting to cry, but upon reaching out to comfort her she left the room.
Her father stayed. Darishu saw his lips form words and phrases, but nothing came through.
One thing she remembered bright as day:
“See, you have been changed. You won’t be able to follow our rules anymore. You have to leave. Please leave and do not come back. You are no longer welcome here.”

She remembered Lexie, the shivering littlest one run up to her, planting herself in front of her shouting at her father, begging – pleading!
She felt herself hugging her tightly and then setting herself in motion out of the house. A tug on her cloak that was being dragged away by a force.
Snippets of her wandering through woods, fighting Vampires, passing cities with giants guarding them, boarding a ship and encountering her first dragon are ever present, yet no details remain.

She must have been in shock as most of her memories are spotty at best.
The first coherent impression she could recall was fighting Laatvulon.
Many people were attempting to bring the beast to its knees. Many were dying during the attempts.

Frozen by the icy breath, pierced by the Frost-Atronachs obeying the monster’s commands.
Darishu didn’t know what had come over her. She just pulled out her sword and ran into the fight. Standing there as a frozen shield holding its attention. Protecting the people surrounding her. Infused by their magic and their fighting spirit she had found her purpose.

She might not be able to interact with living plants or animals anymore, but she could fight. With Ice-magic.
She could withstand the hottest fires and the most freezing breath.
She could protect with shields pulled out of the cold air and attack with frozen shards.

Little by little her path became clear. A path she would have never seen coming now gave her – once one child of many – in a new and unknown world the ability to be different; to be a valuable asset due to her specific talents. She could make a difference now.

She – mattered! Her life – mattered!