The legionnaires at Cheydinhal will not speak with me, treating me as the outsider I am, and a potential threat; I cannot blame them. In these troubling times for the scattered Legions I too find it difficult to tell friend from foe, ally from enemy. I guess the paranoia of the garrison’s leaders is what has kept them alive whilst most others have fallen. The leaders of the rebellion on the west side of the river however are far more accommodating to a fellow Cyrodil, and upon inspecting my weapons and armour, are eager to enlist my aid. Alas that many of their requests require direct confrontation with the legionnaires across the river, asking that I attack their archers and lieutenants, and even poison their food supply.

Not for the first time I am forced to ask myself where my loyalties lie? In Hammerfell when faced with Septima Tharn’s Seventh Legion, it was their disloyalty to the people of Tamriel that forced me to take up arms against them. And again within the Imperial City itself, out of greed, fear or simply despair, the members of Legion Zero turned traitors for Molag Bal and the Worm Cult. Whilst riding through the Heartlands I have tried to avoid many of the small camps of Legionaries dotted about for lack of trust to whom they now serve. And now, here in Cheydinhal I find a garrison still loyal to the Empire, yet disloyal to their own people, forcing me to ask once more, am I loyal to my country, my former comrades, or to my people?

The strength of an army lies in the soldiers loyalties to each other, whilst the strength of the soldier lies in his loyalties to his own principles of faithfulness and sincerity. Despite my empathy for the plight of the people of Cheydinhal, I cannot, and will not raise arms against another legionnaire if they seek not conflict with me first. I cannot shake the sentiment that ‘there by the grace of the Divines go I’. For were it not for the carnivorous dagger of the worm king that forever changed my destiny, I may well have found myself walking in their boots right now.

Even so, I agree to aid the people of Cheydinhal where my honour allows. Fate though can be a spiteful prince, and inevitably I cannot avoid all contact with the Legionaries. For example, as they no longer have access to the city’s Chapel of Arkay, I am asked by Sylvian Herius to deliver written petitions from his militia to a shine outside the city’s walls to boost their morale. As I reach the relic I am ambushed by two Imperial soldiers. Thus I have been deemed a traitor; this does not mean I will act as one.

I can only hope that in time the Garrison and the rebels will come to realize that they are all in the same boat upon a stormy sea, and they owe their loyalties to each other.

S.K