How I Found it All: Part V
I was awoken this morning by a loud Thud! I turned over in the bed to see what happened and I saw the man on the floor staring at me. "What the!? Who?! What!?" was all that came out of him for a minute or two. He got up and went over to the window, opening it and breathing heavily the fresh "I must be dreaming. Wake up, Charley! Wake up!" He proceeded to slap himself over the head a few times.
"Um, what are you doing?"
"It... She... You can talk!"
"Of course I can. What are you doing?" I demanded, more slowly and sternly.
"You aren't real. You can't be. You're a lizard."
"I beg your pardon? I am an Argonian, thank you very much."
He said quietly to himself, "oh, lord, now I have a smart-mouthed lizard in my bed."
"Well, if you don't want me in your bed, then you could just tell me."
"What? Oh... can... can you get out of my bed? It's a little weird. In fact, you being here is a little weird." He stuck his head out the window once again, trying to calm down.
"Why didn't you just say so before?"
He proceeded to say to himself, "I'm talking to a lizard. I'm talking to a lizard. I'm talking to myself." I simply rolled my eyes at that. At this time I was still in the bed and covered. Since he thought that I was still a dream, I thought that I would show myself to him. There was a sudden change in his attitude as soon as I removed the covers and stood up in front of him. His mumblings turned into a slightly open jaw and a fixation on my slim and scaly body.
"Yes, this is a dream. Wake up Charley," I said to him. I felt like I would tease him a little bit, just because he was acting so rudely to a lady. "Hey, before you wake up, could you get my clothes? I need to wash them."
"Uh, okay." he grabbed my vest, pants, and shoes and handed them over. I took them from him and quickly jumped out of the room.
I took a somewhat hasty tour around his house. All of the things that I had seen last night now looked like common items in the sunlight. I finally found the back door, so I went through it to the outside. There was a little clearing of grass and a small shack. I noticed a little path leading off to the right, on the opposite side of the yard. Following it down, I found a small body of water, just large enough to be called a lake. My heart jumped for joy along with me directly into the water. The water was so refreshing, that I felt like I could spend hours just laying in the shallows, bathing in the sun. I remembered that my clothes were dirty, so I cleaned those too, and set them to dry on a large rock by the shore.
With the sun shining through the crystal water, I could see everything in the pond. It wasn't all too exciting. All that I could find was a few fish, some pond weed, and an object made from metal, although I couldn't make it out. I really hadn't ventured far from the beach, so I had no idea as to what was out in the rest of the pond. When I surfaced near the beach, I noticed that the sun had moved a significant amount. One thing that I had also noticed on the beach was a figure. He was tall, and a little thin. "Hey, are you awake yet?" I said to him.
"Huh? Oh, yeah," he replied. "I wanted to apologize about the way I acted this morning. I was just a little startled that there was a lizard in my bed with me."
"For the last time, I am an Argonian, not a lizard. But, if you insist, you can call me that. You Imperials are all the same."
"Imperial?" he asked, with a puzzled look on his face.
"Wait, you are an Imperial, right? Don't you hail from Cyrodiil?"
"What are you talking about? We're in England. I'm British."
"I have no clue as to what that is." This information was a little shocking to me. I had been thinking that I was still in Cyrodiil. I now realized that I was still in my bare scales. "Can I--get dressed? I feel a little strange talking to you in the water."
"Maybe I could join you. It's a nice day, and we don't get very many of these around here."
"I would be delighted if you could join me."
"Excellent! I'll just go get dressed in my bathing suit, and I'll meet you out here--"
"Or you could just come in now. The water's fine."
"It's strange enough that I am going in the water with a lizard--"
"Argonian..."
"Whatever. I'll be back in a few." He left back up the path, out of sight.
While I was waiting, I felt like exploring for a little. The pond was pretty large underwater, and there were plenty of things to see, even if I hadn't found much yet. I saw that there was no possible way for me to return to Cyrodiil, which I knew then that the place I arrived in was not. "I might as well find a way to settle down and wait for something from Marbles, I said, poking my head above the surface. If I was to try to live there, I was going to have to get to know the area.
It wasn't long before I found a large enough fish to be called dinner. One thing that I enjoyed was trying to catch them myself. It only made sense that since I was supposed live near water, I could catch fish. What were my claws for, if not for doing so? Anyway, the fish was quite large, but not as large as the fish I was used to catching. It was also seemingly void of long, sharp teeth, which was a relief when swimming after it. The ones back in Cyrodiil I had to be careful with, because if I wasn't, then I would get a nasty, and very deep bite.
I grew tired of chasing after the fish soon after beginning. It was fast, faster than Slaughterfish. I still wanted to explore the rest of the lake, so I did. I was disappointed, yet again. All that I found was a small medallion. Well, I shouldn't say that I was disappointed, because there was something familiar about it. Upon closer examination, I found a barely distinguishable inscription on the back. "Hey, I'm back," said the one who left to change into a more appropriate set of attire earlier.
"You made it," I said.
"Yeah, sorry. I had to deal with my niece and nephew. What's that?" He pointed to the medallion.
"Oh, this? It's nothing--just something I found in the water." I threw it in the sand, as if it was nothing important. I didn't want to bother him with it.
"I was wondering. Do you have something to wear in the lake?"
"Why would I need anything while in the water?"
"I don't know. It might be the fact that you have breasts and certain parts down there."
"So? How many lizards wear clothing that you know?"
"How many lizards have breasts?"
"You're good." I beckoned him to join me in the cool, refreshing water. He accepted, jumping in with a large splash. Some of it got in my face, so when he surfaced, I splashed him back.
We spent a few hours in the water, until the sun began to turn orange, and slowly sink over the horizon. I think he was thoroughly worn out, because he began to yawn when he sat on the beach, in the white sand.
"So you just arrived here?" he asked. "You say time travel? I don't believe it, although, at first I didn't believe that you were even real, but here you are."
"I didn't believe that I wasn't in Cyrodiil anymore, at first," I said.
"Tell me about this Cyrodiil. You've mentioned it a few times now, and I'm curious."
"Cyrodiil is my home. It is a landmass in the center of a region known as Tamriel. Tamriel consists of nine provinces, each with their own cultures and dominant humanoid races."
"You say you're from Cyrodiil?"
"No, that is my current home. I was hatched in the province known as the Black Marsh to the Imperials. We call it Argonia."
"Oh, that makes sense now. You are from Argonia, so you are an Argonian."
"How very astute of you to say so." I said that, of course, with a heavy sarcastic tone.
"So, why, then are you living in Cyrodiil if your homeland is Argonia?"
"You see, my sister, Found-Her-Marbles came to Cyrodiil because of a crisis that was happening there. I won't bore you with the details, so I will save it for another day. For now, I am tired. Do you have a spare bed that I can use?"
"I just sent my niece and nephew home, so there are two spare beds that you can use, although you just need one."
"That will be great. I hope that I don't freak you out when you wake up tomorrow like this morning."
"Hey, having an Argonian in my bed, naked, on top of that, was just a little startling."
"Okay, but if you ever get scared, you know who to call. Speaking of which, I need to get my sword. I left it in your front yard."
"You have a sword?"
"Of course I do. What adventurer would venture without her trusty blade?"
"Well, we do have guns."
"Guns?" I asked, confused with this new word.
"What do you mean 'Guns?'?"
"I don't know what a gun is. What is a gun?"
"I will show you tomorrow."
"Okay."
He and I went back to the house. He went in through the backdoor, while I still needed to get my sword from the front. When I got there, the dog that had been following the children showed up. She was still as friendly as ever, showing no difference in behavior than when near her owner, or who I assumed to be her owner. I grabbed my sword and slung the strap over my shoulder. When I got inside, I was shown directly to my room by a lovely gentleman. It was small, quaint, and had a deep crimson paint on the walls. The window shown directly to the pond, so I was content with it. As long as I could see the water, I was happy.
"Thank you for all that you have done," I said. "I am very grateful for your hospotality."
"It was the least I could do. I couldn't just leave a beautiful creature like you outside. That would be uncivilized of me."
"Well, there isn't much left to say but goodnight, Charley."
"Goodnight, Jumps-In-Water."
"Call me Jumps."
He left the room with a smile unlike I had seen before on his face, although I had only been there for a day. I once again undressed and slipped into the soft comforters of the bed and drifted off into deep, blissful slumber, dreaming about all that happened. What awaited tomorrow?
End of part V...