The story of Rodhan: Part 1

    Fire.  It is a force of nature.  It is a force of Destruction.  It is a force of Creation.  It is a force beyond control.  It is all these things and more, but to Rodhan, Fire is his curse.

    Rodhan's first memory is of fire.  He was a young child.  No more than 6 years old when his curse first rose to the surface.  While he slept that fateful night, his village burned.  His parents, his friends, and everyone else who was unlucky enough to be passing through the village that night died in an unexplainable blaze.  The next morning Rodhan awoke  in a pile of ash that stretched as far as he could see.  This is one of Rodhan's earliest memories, and one of the most painful.  A child with nothing, no one, an no idea of what had happened, started walking that day, and he has walked ever since. 

    Rodhan had been walking for 6 days.  His feet were bleeding because he had no shoes, his naked skin was blistered by the sun, he was walking towards death itself.   Even though he was young, he knew what was happening.  He knew that his life would soon be over.  Part of him was just happy that he would be seeing his parents again.  Rodhan came upon a tree and decided that this was as good a place as any to lay down and take his final rest.  He leaned his back against the tree, closed his eyes and waited for death to take him.  To his dismay however, fate had different plans. 

    Rodhan awoke several hours later to the sight of an elven woman casting some sort of magic...ON HIM!  With strength and force of will that he did not even know he possessed, he pushed the woman off and lept to his feet.  To his surprise, his feet were not longer hurting.  His skin, while still burnt, was not nearly as bad as he had remembered.  He had also been bathed and clothed.  He simply stood there in silence, staring at the elven woman.   She was a fairly young woman, tall with almost golden skin.  Even in his state of shock he could not help but notice that she was very beautiful.  He vaguely remembered his mother telling him that people who looked like that were called Altmer.  Then the woman spoke, "Calm down you brat.  I'm not finished yet, you'll just pass out again."  With the first words he had heard in nearly a week, he fell to the ground, and just as the elven woman said, he lost consciousness.

    Rodhan awoke the next day to the sound of arguing.  He recognized one of the voices as the woman he had seen the night before.  The other was a mans voice, deep and very rough.  He could not hear what they were arguing about, but the man sounded very angry about something.  He decided that he shouldn't stay to find out what the problem was.  He got out from under the blanket that was placed on him, and started to make his way out of the makeshift camp.  Then, much closer than it was before, he heard the mans voice, "And just where do you think you're going?" 

    Rodhan turned around to see the man bearing down on him.  To Rodhan's surprise the man was actually smiling.  The man was tall with with braided hair that had turned grey from age.  From the man's appearance, Rodhan determined that he was a Redguard.  After a moment the man spoke to Rodhan "So we find you half dead.  We clothe you.  We feed you.  We heal your wounds.  And all you want to do is run away?"  The man then let out a hearty laugh that echoed through the woods.  "I guess if I was a kid and saw a guy lookin' like me, then I'd probably run away too.  C'mon back to camp and we'll talk a bit.  I won't bite....you atleast." 

    The Redguard let Rodhan back to camp and motioned for the boy to sit on a log next to a poorly constructed tent.  The man sat down opposite of Rodhan and said "So, I guess that we should probably introduce ourselves.  Sound about right?"  Rodhan silently nodded.  "Well I guess since I'm the oldest one here, I should go first.  My name is Cyrus, and the angry looking woman behind you is Elenwen."  Rodhan looked behind him to see the Altmer woman with her arms crossed staring at him.  Rodhan turned back to Cyrus and whispered "My name is Rodhan." 

    Rodhan and Cyrus began to talk, or rather Cyrus talked and Rodhan listened.  He learned that Cyrus and Elenwen were traveling from their hometown of Skingrad to Morrowind.  Rodhan didnt understand everything, but apparently there was a misunderstanding and they couldnt go home anymore.  Then Rodhan told Cyrus of how he had awoken in the ash, and been walking for days.  Cyrus looked at Rodhan in shock, then he looked at Elenwen.  Then he looked directly into Rodhan's eyes and said "I don't know what happened that night, and I doubt we ever will, but if you would like, you can come with me and Elenwen to Morrowind.  We might not be the greatest companions in the world, but we'll treat you right, and who knows...you might even learn a thing or two from us.  As im sure you realized Elenwen is pretty handy with magick, and if I must say, I ain't too bad with a sword."  With nothing left to return to, Rodhan slowly nodded his head in agreement.  It would be many years before Rodhan's curse showed itself again.