in the heart chamber

what i believe happened. sorry for the writing; i'm not good at it. neverthelss, i hope you enjoy this :)

A: the wounds won't heal. i have never ...

S: nor i. it's as if his body wishes to tear itself apart. this pattern of structural disintegration ... i don't think it has ever been observed since the sun- ... he won't survive the dawn.

V: our magic couldn't save him ... mortal magic couldn't save him ...

A: we need to summon azura.

V: we have no adequate offerings.

S: we do. the opportunity to be present here and now. she won't be able to refuse.

[EACH OF THEM STANDS IN A CORNER OF A SQUARE OVERLAYING A CIRCLE, AND PERFORMS THE RITUAL.]

AZURA: [GAZING AT THE HEART, IGNORING THE BABBLING MORTALS.]

S: [SIGNALING THE OTHERS TO STOP TALKING.]

AZURA: the hortator has failed. he is done, so let him be. the fire is mine, as boethiah would say.

V: we know what lord boethiah would say, which is why we summoned you and not him.

AZURA: weakness is paid in death, mortal, as is foolishness. [DISAPPEARS.]

V: i ... i don't understand ...

A: [LOOKING AT SEHT, SILENTLY.]

S: she wants the hortator's soul.

V: why now? nerevar is hers to claim eventually.

S: not if he succeeds in the endeavor.

A: she's not having him.

S: he won't keep in the starry heart.

A: then she won't keep him either. [HOLDING IN THE TEARS.] i will make her release him.

V: [HOLDING AYEM CLOSE.] we will.

S: [MUMBLING TO SELF.] a dwemer box.

V: reincarnation is nothing rare. most mortal souls are recycled.

S: the oath nerevar made us swore in azura's name ... if we break it, he's supposed to punish us to defend her honor.

A: you think she would bring him back to punish us? she doesn't have to use him.

S: no. which is why we have to bind nerevar to something only he could do ... or undo ... his dual ... a co-hortator!

[THE OTHERS ARE LOOKING CLUELESS.]

S: everything has something isomorphic to it, indistinguishable by identity, yet completely opposite.

V: not everyone is interested in this new khajiit theory. we make an anti-hortator, yes? how?

S: [DISPLEASED AT VEHK'S IMPATIENCE.] you understand duality better than i do, pupil of mephala.

V: ... we murder him ...

A: alright, so what's the hard part? [TRYING TO BE JOYFUL AS EVER, FOR HER FRIENDS.] the catch?

V: murder is nothing rare. but to weave a mirroring binding requires an echoing event.

A: the heart ... and the tools ... with them, staging such an event is possible, right?

S: from what we saw of voryn's new-gained power, yes. and possibly even more. but i need time to study them ... months ... maybe years ...

A: and my husband won't survive that long to be murdered.

V: stasis magic! it can preserve his body indefinitely. it's a secret among the black men of the west. when nerevar and i traveled ...

A: i assume you stole their secret?

V: well, i couldn't wait til i turn black, could i.

A: alright, let's say this mirroring event works. which role in the event is to be the hortator's double?

S: if a proof for that exists, i don't know it yet. but someone present will be the co-hortator.

V: co-hortator. do i have to the one to say it? we know what it is. we've all heard of the prophecies of the sharmat.

A: they're only prophecies.

V: that didn't stop us from damning dumac. the sharmat is the greatest threat to our people. are we to bring it about?

S: we will gain equal powers from the heart. one of us will become the sharmat, and the others will have to ... the sharmat is the sacrifice.

A: and an equally great sacrifice is the witness.

S: the false witness. we must hide the truth from the world, lest azura know of our intent.

V: is it even possible? to trick azura?

S: a dwemer box. we let her believe that we are tempted by the profane power, and wish to tap it for consummating the way of the dead.

A: are you, tempted? breaking the oath ... that was your suggestion from the beginning.

S: i see no alternative. we are not stealing the power. we are borrowing it. besides, i don't understand the power yet.

A: then we should all get started to work. the houses are waiting. [TELEPORTS AWAY.]

V: she accused you of being tempted?!

S: you see it as well.

V: she's tempted?

S: the war. all the lives she failed to save. she's tired of being powerless.

V: she does deserve the power.

S: you are forgetting your lessons.

V: ... "our hold over the forbidden is only as secure as our resistance to its temptation."

S: very good. yet it's not the temptation that worries me. her love is stronger still.

V: ... so you won't tell me what worries you then.

S: i'm off to my lab now. you two will have the privacy to prepare his body for the stasis magic. [TELEPORTS AWAY.]

V: give me your ring, alandro, i need it for the magic. and stop blaming yourself. it's not your fault. you'll cry yourself blind.

edit:

i imagined this dialogue because i've always been baffled by what happened under the red mountain.

there are mainly three sources: alandro's account, vivec's account, and the nordic account.

we know alandro's retelling is not completely accurate. he said dagoth-ur was driven-off by the tribunal, but we know from dagoth-ur himself that nerevar killed him (from his letter and his dialogue). surprisingly, the nordic account is the only one that agrees with this. alandro says that the tribunal murdered nerevar, but both the nordic and vivec's versions agree that nerevar died from battle wounds, inflicted by lorkhan or dumac, yet it's quite clear to us that nerevar's last fight was probably with dagoth-ur.

we don't usually think of nerevar's death as a mystery, because vivec admitted the foul murder in the sermons.

> He was not born a god. His destiny did not lead him to this crime. He chose this path of his own free will. He stole the godhood and murdered the Hortator. Vivec wrote this.

yet when the nerevarine confronted vivec, he denied the foul murder.

> We did not murder Nerevar. The legend that we murdered Nerevar comes from a story told by a shield-companion to Nerevar, Alandro Sul, who lived among the Ashlanders.

why would he hide the message in the sermons, which was written for the nerevarine, yet deny it in hir face? vivec must know that this makes him appear like a coward. it's almost as if vivec wishes the world to see him as a shady traitor who pretends to be an honorable guy.

on the other hand, the nerevarine was constantly commuting with azura, and she could have used the foul murder to turn the nerevarine against vivec, but she didn't. the tribunal could also have outlawed the worship of azura, by kicking her into a corner as they did with the other four, but they didn't. one might guess that the tribunal and azura were in a stand-off: the tribunal couldn't ban azura lest she reveal the foul murder, and azura couldn't reveal the foul murder lest the tribunal ban her. it's a reasonable explanation, unless we consider alandro, who started the accusation against the tribunal, and who we think speaks for azura. but what really baffled me, was alandro's words in the trial.

> I am tired of this haggling. For three centuries after the battle I was the center of debate, for I opposed the Tribunal, the new leaders. Eventually, I knew I could no longer live among them, and so left. It has been a half and three millennia since the battle. Though I still miss my lord, I will no longer disrupt these proceedings with my words. I have said what I can; let another who is better known step forth. I yearn for rest. Let these rude conducts continue; what was done was done, and I will always remember that, Vehk, no matter what decision these foolish young ones come to. I will stay here no longer.

so alandro dislikes the tribunal, he still misses nerevar, and yet he addressed vivec, one of nerevar's murderers, in a personal and perhaps even loving tone? alandro even called those who put vivec on trial "foolish young ones". yea i know alandro and vivec were lovers, but c'mon, what about the foul murder? we know alandro witnessed it, because someone had to take this picture. how could he have forgiven vivec for nerevar's murder? moreover, alandro was called vivec's "lover-liar" in the trial, so what was the lie?