When the Devil Broke the Universe

She was a slave. Ironic, considering what they thought they were rescuing her from. Oh sure, she was being paid for her work and the expectation was that one day in a few years she'd graduate into being a full member of the Blades when she was old enough, but she was a slave. She couldn't leave, obviously, it wasn't 'safe' out in the Reach.

Alard had had the crazy idea of making Homura Nabar's page. They couldn't let her go and in Alard's words, it would make Nabar think twice about bringing in more homeless children in the future. Already Nabar had gotten quite a lot of ribbing from his companions about how they wished they had a servant too, greatly embarrassing the good-natured man.

As for Homura, in practice she was more a ward of the entire temple rather than just Nabar. She cleaned, learned how to maintain armor, put up practice dummies, and generally did what menial tasks needed doing. When she wasn't being the maid, she was being given lessons on language (so she didn't have to wear the amulet forever) and general knowledge. Attempts at giving her lessons in self-defense and combat had flopped when she'd "accidentally" managed to break her tutor's leg during practice which led to a six-and-a-half-foot tall Nord veteran of the Reach wars and sixteen separate dragon hunts being wheeled out thanks to a waif of a fourteen year old girl.

At first all of this had been out of extreme reluctance; there was no part of Homura that wanted to be here, and more than once while working outside in the garden had considered just throwing herself off the side of the mountain the temple rested on into the jagged rocks below so she could slowly bleed out or succumb to the elements. Or maybe just taking a sword and lopping her head off. Or even maybe forgoing the melodrama altogether for once and just unceremoniously crushing her soul gem.

Yet she hadn't.

That would be too easy, wouldn't it? After what she'd done? She didn't deserve to die quickly, even if it was excruciatingly painful. She deserved to grow old and know she had failed, knowing she would never see Madoka again. She deserved to live in her shame for the rest of her days instead of taking the coward's way out.

She deserved to suffer, forever if need be.

Whenever she wasn't working or being trained, including during food breaks, Homura could usually be found in the library, going over texts and scrolls as she devoured the knowledge of this world and how it worked. She would study late into the night, ignoring any need for sleep. Not all of this was academic; it also kept her away from others' attempts at socialization. She wanted nothing to do with the "honorable" mercenaries she found herself forcibly employed by. She could hear them laughing and talking in the main hall, and she hated it. She hated what she could never have. What she didn't deserve to have.

Unfortunately for her, not everyone took the hint so easily.

"What'cha reading?"

The voice startled her, and she looked up to see a middle-aged gentleman. He looked… Breton? That was the term, right? His moderately-long hair was white, having lost all coloring some time ago, and carried a thick beard. He actually looked a bit like Alard, if Alard was much thinner.

"Ooh!" the man said, looking down at her book, "An invisibility spell. Very nice, very nice. More of an alteration guy, myself. Always makes good for a prank or two."

Homura's brow furrowed, "… And you are…?"

"Oh, where are my manners!" the man said, swinging around and taking a seat across from her at the table she was at, "Name's Theodor Gorlash. You're the new girl, right? HomuHomu?"

Homura glared, repressing an urge to break a second man's limb this week, "Homura Akemi. What do you want?"

The man's unsettling smile never wavered, "Nothin' much. Just seeing how our new recruit is settling in. I think you're kind of interesting. An Akaviri in the wilds of Skyrim? How exotic! Especially being found after that meteor shower."

Homura blinked. Wait, what? "… What are you talking about?"

Theodor leaned back, "What? No one's told you?! There was a big meteor shower a few nights ago, completely unscheduled. Normally these things are predicted and cataloged in advance by boring people, you know? But no, this one came out of nowhere, and nobody really knows why."

"… What does that have to do with me?" Homura asked, humoring the man.

"Never said it did!" he said as if he was struggling to keep from laughing over a joke only he got, "But it wouldn't be the first time something entered the Mundus from beyond, would it? Ask the dark elves about Baar Dau sometime and watch the expressions on their faces, it's a hoot!"

"Wait," Homura said as pieces started to click together in her mind. Despite her best efforts, emotion began to creep in as she stood up, her hands planting themselves on the table as she leaned over, "What do you mean 'came from beyond'? Are you implying I came from the meteor shower?"

"Naw, of course not," Theodor replied, "You came from Akavir, right? It'd be really confusing to come from two places at once, I'd imagine. Hah! Still, it was a stunning sight. Absolutely stunning. You shoulda been there!"

Homura's eyes briefly flickered over to the library's small astronomy section, then back to Theodor as she sat back down, "I see." Theodor didn't respond, instead just sitting there with a small grin plastered on his face. Homura was unamused and was quickly running out of patience, "… Is there anything else?" she asked, barely masking her contempt for the odd man who was interrupting her work.

"Theodor, what are you doing?" Nabar asked from the doorway. For the first time, Homura was thankful for her would-be master's timely arrival.

Theodor for his part looked like a cat that had been caught in the act of doing something it shouldn't have done, "Ah, just getting to know your friend here. She's been such a ghost this whole time. It's not healthy for a child her age! She should be out with the other kids, playin' hopscotch, jumping in barrels of hay, settin' ants on fire in the garden with a wee bit of sun magic…"

"You can leave now," Homura told the old man. Nabar looked at him expectantly, and Theodor knew when the game was over.

"Very well," he said with a bow after standing up, "Till next time, young lady!"

"Sorry about him," Nabar said after Theodor had left.

"… Who was he?" Homura asked. Something about the man had unnerved her slightly.

Nabar shrugged, "Theodor? Eh, he's harmless enough, just ignore him. I'm not really sure where he came from, I'm not sure anyone really knows, he just kind of showed up at our doorstep a few months ago and before you know it he was taking the oath. Don't know why Alard made him a Blade, but we get some weird ones in here sometimes." There was a pregnant pause as Homura didn't bother to respond. Nabar cleared his throat, "… Anything else you need?"

Homura shook her head and returned to her book, "No." Nabar knew by now his use was at an end here, and wisely backed out without another word. She waited until she was alone, and then closed the spellbook and turned her attention to the astronomy section.