#Kathariel Ellaire

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Priest of Sun and Flame

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Some screenshots of my fire and ice elf couple seeing as I’ve been visiting summerset a lot for the Daedric War Celebration event

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Grumpy old ice mage is recruited into cooling down his beloved and their miniature gryphons during a heatwave in the Summerset Isles

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new friend! <3

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Splurged some Endeavours and free gems on some of the stuff from the new crates and collected the last piece for those Scales of Akatosh. Used the Scales and the new Darloc's Golden Eyes to give my priestess of Auri-el a suitably dragon-ish appearance, as well as a cherry blossom-themed one for the springtime jester’s festival in game.

Also got that Nereid's Seafoam Raiment outfit for my half Maormer lady of storms. 

(@elavoria  the cherry blossom tattoos reminded me of your Vienne’s tattoos ^^)

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Kathariel, dressed for when her and Valien go to visit some of her extended bosmer side of the family while in Valenwood.

I like to imagine that she spends some of her time over the years helping to train Valien’s young grand daughter who then eventually passes down her training to her daughter (or possibly granddaughter, don’t have the energy to do the math for how well it all fits into the timeline atm), also named Kathariel, who goes on to be the future Dragonborn.  But in the longer run (Possibly once Valien is no longer around) and she is a very old elf I could imagine that she moves out to Valenwood to live out the remainder of her days in a sun-dappled forest somewhere.

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I've been having way too much fun trying out the new Shimmerene Soiree Gown in different colour schemes ^^

Characters: 

Vesunna, vampire Breton sorcerer; 

Kathariel, Altmer/Bosmer battle-priestess of Auri-El; 

Safinia, Imperial necromancer; 

Cerya Tempestborn, Altmer/Maormer storm battlemage.

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(Belated art for the Summerset Celebration Event.)

Some more colourful art this time, Kathariel giving Valien a wreath of Rose-of-Archon during some sort of Altmer religious observations to Mara. I liked the thought that perhaps the flower isn’t just restricted to the Sapiarchs’ rituals to Mara only, but might see more widespread use among Altmer.

[fenriael]

A Frosty Reception

A short story about the first meeting of Valien Gelus, an icy Altmer battlemage, and Kathariel Ellaire, a fiery battle priestess of Auri-El, where Valien is recovering from serious injury in the abbey where Kathariel resides as a healer.

~1200 words, hurt/comfort

(This sat mostly finished in a folder for ages forgotten about, partly as there was supposed to be some art to go with it, but that didn’t work out in the end. Was reminded about it again recently and thought it was about time I dug it out and posted it anyway.)

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Weak rays of first morning sun filtered in through the small stained-glass window, casting an array of flickering colours onto the carved oak bed and the small wicker armchair that sat beside it. Currently occupying that chair was Kathariel, a young and somewhat short Mer woman dressed in the trappings of a priest of Auri-El.

The last dregs of half-hearted sleep slipping away from her, Kathariel pulled herself up from the chair she had rested in the past few hours. Stretching her arms upwards with a stifled yawn, she closed her eyes and inhaled the sweet scent of honeysuckle wafting in from the gardens of the abbey outside. Breathing out again, she felt some of the tightness in her muscles and forehead ease; the tension was an unfortunate result of the intensive restoration magic she had been performing only a few hours previously.

Opening her eyes once more, her gaze drifted over towards the older Altmer sleeping on the bed before her. She tilted her head slightly, absently tucking strands of bronze hair behind a pointed ear as her eyes appraised the bruising and bandages on his bare arms and chest.

Lord Valien’s wounds had sealed up remarkably well considering the corrupted dark magic that had made them. With the abbess and other several other senior monks currently attending a gathering in Shimmerene it had been left to Kathariel, next in seniority, to tend to the battlemage’s wounds when his retinue had carried him in in the middle of the night. She had done the best she could, but even so she estimated it would take some time longer for the damage to be healed completely.

Pulling back the gold-embroidered sleeves of her crimson silk robes, she stepped closer to the bedside. Chewing her lip slightly, she gingerly reached out to the dressings on his chest, wishing to examine the partially-sealed lacerations more closely without waking the unconscious battlemage.

As she began to pull the bandages away, a pale hand reached up and seized her wrist. Light amber-flecked eyes stared back at her, momentarily wide with alarm, before she found herself abruptly being pulled onto the bed.

Twisting around with surprising agility despite his injuries, the other Mer attempted to pin her down. But Kathariel was quicker: wrapping a leg around his own and grabbing his other arm, she shoved him sideways, manoeuvring herself on top of him in the process. Valien give a sharp hiss of pain as, having finally liberated his arm that she had seized, he grasped in apparent discomfort at his chest where his bandages sat.

Panting slightly, Kathariel leant backwards into a kneeling position. Blowing away several strands of stray hair that had fallen over her face, she narrowed her eyes at the mage before her.

It was at that point that an unsettling chill in her arm brought to her attention that he was still tightly grasping her other wrist. Ice was creeping slowly up the side of her arm where he still held it. Indeed, a cursory glance around the room showed that much of the bed and furniture was covered in a thin layer of crisp frost.

Kathariel cursed and quickly muttered an invocation. A gentle, sunlit glow drifted across the room and the frost melted away; warmth danced up her arm as fiery strands snaked around her hand fleetingly.  

“Was that really necessary?” she asked him with a sigh, indicating towards her now ice-free hand and room around her.

“Who the blazes are you, woman?!” he shot back angrily, still clutching his chest in pain. “And what in Oblivion are you doing in my bedchambers?”

“Ah, you don’t remember yet—”

“Obviously not.” His expression was distinctly sullen.

“Well, it is hardly surprising under the circumstances, of course; given your injuries and-“

Valien let out a frustrated noise that registered somewhere in-between a groan and a growl, and Kathariel rolled her eyes at him exasperatedly.

“We aren’t in your bedchambers at all,” she explained patiently.  “I am a healer; I tended to your wounds last night. You were brought to the abbey by your brother and your own soldiers after you were injured in those Oblivion-cursed ruins. We did speak briefly - before you fell unconscious, that is.”

She watched as he frowned deeply, clearly still struggling to recall recent events. She then looked downwards once more at the long fingers that still grasped her wrist tightly.  “You are safe here,” Kathariel added, following with a pointed glance towards her arm.

He stared at her a moment longer, his expression unfathomable. His hand then slipped away from hers, and he slumped back into the goose-feather pillows behind him. The colour seemed to drain away from his face as he looked up at her a little apologetically.

“Please forgive my reaction, I…” he tailed off, running a hand through greying white hair with a weary sigh. “You caught me by surprise.” He glanced away from her towards the rest of the room.

Kathariel’s gaze had drifted down momentarily to his injured torso. There was some muscle around the arms and shoulders, as might be expected of a Mer who had spent his lifetime training to fight. However, she could also make out the definition of bone underneath skin around his ribcage and collarbone; unsurprising, perhaps, given his advanced years. Silver ridges and grooves were etched all across much of his chest and arms in an array of shapes and sizes; a veritable living map of scarred flesh that told a tale of a lifetime spent in war.

“I understand,” she replied quietly, giving him a slight smile.  Valien gave a near imperceptible nod of his head, still not quite looking her in the eye.

“My brother,” he continued, “I must speak with him immediately-“

“Your brother is currently away, alongside your grandson and the uninjured members of your retinue,” Kathariel interrupted. “They wished to confirm that the binding wards you put in place as you departed the ruins still hold well enough.”

Valien closed his eyes and nodded again. “Good, good,” he murmured. “We were fleeing at the time, and I was already injured. He is wise to ensure they were well enough done.”

“Indeed,” Kathariel agreed. “And now, you must rest. You have already been far more active than I would like for a patient in your state this morning.”

“Fine, if you insist,” Valien grumbled tiredly, his eyes still closed. “I suppose it would be unwise to argue with the woman still pinning me to my bed.”

Kathariel, having been temporarily distracted by their conversation, was suddenly all-too aware she was still knelt atop Valien’s legs.

“Why yes, I would quite agree,” she replied firmly, though a slight blush had creeped into her cheeks. Valien snorted slightly in what Kathariel took to be amusement.  Gathering the lower portion of her outer robes out of the way, she climbed off the bed as gracefully as she could manage under the circumstances. Picking up her golden shawl from the wicker chair she had only recently vacated, she then made her way to the door.

“I will send an acolyte along later with some tea and breakfast,” Kathariel turned to inform Valien as she reached the door; however, the old battlemage had already fallen fast asleep.

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Dug up the font of Auri-el a couple of weeks ago and with much house decorating going on this week I got around to putting it in Valien and Kathariel’s home; as she grew up and trained as a healer in a monastery of Auri-El it seemed a suitable place to put it. I sunk it into the ground a bit for extra leafiness ^^

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(I finished this area of my Psijic Villa all the way back in December, but with everything else going on the last few months I’d forgotten all about posting the screenshots and video (all taken while using ReShade.)

“The Glimmering Grotto” is an indoor garden with a pool for bathing, and IC is Valien and Kathariel’s (my altmer ice mage and half-altmer priestess of Auri-el) special project they like to work on together while at Valien’s family country estate on the slopes of Eton Nir. 

The glowing crystals provide suitable light and heat, and the plants (often with interesting magical properties they glow a lot) are collected both from the Summerset isles and from Valenwood, where Kathariel recently visited for the first time with Valien to meet some of her extended Bosmer side of the family; they sent her back with several gifts including several interesting plants from their home village.

Apart from the fact that Kathariel is very fond of the garden, the other reason Valien loves the grotto is because it would, no doubt, count as scandalous to many of the more traditional Altmer he has met in his lifetime, being very wild and untamed in its design compared to the manicured lawns and carefully curated greenhouses of other Altmer estates, and this delights him greatly (Valien has little time and even less patience for many of the more traditionalist views of Altmer culture).

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Some screenshots of Kathariel and Valien enjoying the Summerset isles together alongside their matching indriks and gryphon pets ^^

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I told myself I wasn’t going to spend money on the Heart’s Day Retreat furnishing pack, but well, that didn’t happen...

Some really lovely stuff in it though, I’ve been using some of the items alongside the stuff from last couple of weekends’ luxury vendor stuff to decorate Valien and Kathariel’s country estate (the Psijic Villa) and their townhouse in Alinor.

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Valien the ice mage and Kathariel, the Altmer/Bosmer priestess of Auri-el decorating a winter-blossoming cherry tree with snow and bright lights for the new life festival, accompanied by the miniature gryphlings enjoying the snow.

I meant to have this done for christmas, but well, that didn’t happen (obviously XD)

Hope everyone has a pleasant hogmanay/new years :)

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I realized I don’t think I’ve ever posted any actual in game screenshots of my altmer Valien and altmer/bosmer Kathariel, so here are some I put together, including a couple of edited shots of them spending some together in the gardens and also also armoured up and ready for battle (they aren’t meridia followers or anything, I just really like that chest piece and think its quite elfy-looking XD ).

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I actually had another drawing planned for the 14th, but I’ve not had the time to work on it, so in the meantime here’s a quick doodle of my characters Valien and Kathariel for @ockissweek  :)