Awkwardly Meeting....again

It had took a few week but the bosmer had finally tracked down her old friend. Sven was never much of a socializer, so trying to find someone that had seen him more than a few times and actually knew where he lived was tricky. But she got lucky when she found a man in town that regularly bought fur from him and even stopped by his place a few times to pick them up.

So that's where Lu was heading: to visit Sven. He seemed to be the only person in the Valenwood that she remembered who hadn't died or moved. She was anxious to see if he could fill her in on some things she had forgotten. And to see if this whole thing was actually....real.

Walking past the little town of Vulkwasten, she followed a path to an even smaller town (if you can believe it) and spotted the snugpod that the man had described. The all looked alike, except this one had little blue flowers by the door. She took in a deep breath and slowly walked toward the unfamiliar house. She knocked twice and waited, feeling both anxious and nervous.

After a short bit of waiting, Lu would hear life coming from just behind that leather doorway. Stomping and a drop of something that sounded heavy, a cracking sound, and then a curse. "Hold on hold on, I'm coming!" Sven spoke with a melodic and happy tone. Then, the door was pushed aside.

Sven was moderately covered in some sort of flour it seemed and his hair was pushed up in a strange way. A large smile ran across his face when he saw just who it was. "Lucrezia! Mind the mess, I was trying a new recipe with powdered bone marrow with our daughter and-well, I'm working on it. Come in, come in!" He'd beckon her in the small hut.

At first, Lu seemed alarmed at the noise and even pushed her ear up to the door to listen. A very cheery smile started to form on her face when she heard a familiar voice on the other side of the door. The moment Sven greeted her, he'd be attacked with a tight hug by the bosmer.

"Gods, it's so good to see you! To see someone I recognize!" she finally let him out of her death grip and peeked over his shoulder. "Oh right, *daughter*. Is uh....is the kid here? Look, Sven, I need to talk to you in private-" she stopped and looked up at his hair in a funny way, "-Your hair is different. I don't like it."

The bosmer looked up before running his hands through his hair. "Wha-oh. Yeah I...must have been the small puff of smoke...don't worry!" He licked his hand and ran it across the top of his head, giving him an even worse hairstyle. Then he struck a pose. "Better, I know. Now, what was it you needed to talk to me about?"

He stepped inside and plopped down on one of the leather and bone seats. "Amora just ran out to fetch me some more water, she should be along any time now. Why, does it involve her?"

Lu stared at his even more horribly messed up hair. She had the very strong urge to cut it, but there were more important things to do!

"Amora will be back soon? Gods, I have to make this quick then. We should sit." She walked over to one of the chairs and sat down...then hopped back up, "No, I think standing is better. Okay..." she turned to look at him, a serious look on her face. "Something happened to me recently. I woke up in a room in Cormount with no memory of how I got there. I thought maybe we got into a pinch and had to hide out somewhere to avoid guards, and that maybe I got too drunk to remember any of it.

But when I got to town, a ton of people were talking about me like they knew me for years. Total strangers! But I figured they were all crazy or you were playing a joke on me but, it's real! They know me but I don't know them. I have friends I didn't know about, exes I've never met and even scars and tattoos that I don't remember getting! The last thing I remember is the night I we docked at Woodhearth and made camp behind the tavern. I've lost about fourteen years of my life."

Sven leaned back, absolutely at east as he listened. Slowly, his expression turned from joyous to puzzled, then, he abruptly burst into laughter. A laughter that lasted a good twenty seconds at least.

The silence that followed brought with it a heavy unsettling feeling...was this no joke? He sat up and looked to her bug eyed. “Wait, you aren’t having one on me? Shit, you’re serious?!” The usually laid back mer hopped to his feet as if he sat on a thorn. “You don’t remember...anything?! Docked at Woodhearth...shit Lu that must have been…” He rubbed the back of his neck as he contemplated. “That was years ago. You mean you don’t remember our adventures? Getting stuck in that old mine shaft and having to climb on my face to get out? Morrowind? Wait that means you don’t remember...oh dear.”

Stepping closer, he rested his hands on his hips and sighed. The mer looked ike he’d been slapped in the face, stunned, pale. “Oh boy. Okay, so, you uh, don’t remember a good chunk of the last ten years...okay no big deal. I mean it is a big deal but...you remember me at least. Your name, you remember some things. Are you sure you don’t want to sit down?”

He grimaced. “Who did this to you? Oh...wait you wouldn’t remember that would you? Okay stupid question. Where are you staying now? Do you have enough food? Coins? Don’t tell me you forgot about my world class cooking?”

Lu waited patiently, for once. She knew Sven and how he handled things. She had a feeling that he was going to ramble to himself for a good five minutes before she could get a word in. And boy was he predictable! She wanted to laugh, and would have if this wasn't such a messed up situation.

The bosmer nodded slowly. "Yeaaaah. Now you get it. I don't remember- wait, a mine? That sounds fun!" She whined, having missed out on something epic-sounding. "Well, I guess you could just catch me up later. I do like stories!" She slapped her hand on her face for a moment. "I remember your cooking! Sheesh. But, more importantly, to answer your question: no. I don't remember....well, I guess half of my life. I don't know who did this but I was told that I had some bad beef with a Telvanni....and some other dunmer." She shrugged. "You wouldn't happen to know some dunmer that hate me, do you?" Lu shook her head. "Nah, I don't need anything. Actually, a lot of people have been offering to help me. And so far, I only one person gold! A Khajiit, actually. Dammit, I still need to pay her the rest." She said while snapping her fingers. "I'm staying in some little room in Cormount. It's really cute, actually! You should come see it, and bring your daughter- uh...Our daughter, I guess. Wait, how do I tell her that I don't remember her?"

"Tell who that you don't remember them?" asked Amora, who had just walked through the door, carrying a pot of water. "Hey Mom!" She smiled at her and carried the water to the fire. "Dad, I left the bucket outside. It was hurting my hand. I think I sprained yesterday."

Lu just stood there, staring at the girl. She blinked several times and then finally spoke. "Amora....You look just like....just like me." She couldn't believe it. It was almost like looking in a mirror. Though, there were small differences that she was starting to see. "And him!" she pointed to Sven. "You look like...us."

Amora just laughed. "Have you been out in the sun too long again, Mom?"

“Dunmer...dunmer...actually, yes, yeah you had a bad run in with-” Sven just stared blankly for a moment before reacting proper. “Ahem, Amora sweetie, come here a moment won’t ya? Honey, your mother has...uh, she has...there has been an accident of sorts. Your mother recently had a bad...what I’m trying to say is she is having a slight problem remembering things.” He stood up and tried to place his hand on his daughters shoulder.

“This may be hard for you to hear but she lost a lot of her memory...she needs our support. But know that she still loves you, right Lu-Lu?” He looked up at Lu.

"An accident?" Amora looked worried. She looked from her father to her mother, "What kind of accident? What happened, Mom?"

"Well uh...you see..." For once, the energetic bosmer was at a loss for words. She just stared at the familiar looking girl. This was her daughter. Though, a daughter she didn't remember! Looking back at Sven, she nodded. "Yeah, yeah! Of course! Of course I....still love you." The words sounded strange to her. Even more strange as they were said to someone she had only just met. But the sweet kid was looking at her with so much fear in her face. "Hey, it's nothing! I'm sure my memory will come back. It's just going to take some time."

Amora didn't seem comforted by that. "You're acting strange." she said to Lucrezia as she looked back to Sven, "Support? Is this really bad? Mom, how much do you remember?"

Lu scrunched up her face as she looked up, trying to think of a good way to put this. Should she lie to her and try to pretend to remember her? That seemed so wrong! And she wasn't a very good liar. So, the truth seemed to be best. "Oh, I don't know...um...fourteen years? Give or take."

Amora's eyes went wide. It looked like she'd been slapped in the face. "Fourteen....years?!" She whipped around to face her father, "This is a joke, right? You'll pulling one on me? Well, it's not funny!" The girl sounded horrified, then angry. She turned back around to her mother. "I'm only thirteen years old, so that means you don't remember me?!"

"Hey, it's not as bad as it sounds! I can...I can get to know you again! We can spend some time together. You can show me what you're learning! Afer said you're learning the bow, and Sven says your cooking. We can do this stuff together, like friends!" Lu said, smiling, thinking this was a good idea!

"I don't want a friend! I want my mom! I want you to remember me!" Amora shouted at her, raising her voice in front of both parents for possibly the first time since she was a toddler.