Refreshing Feed...
Leto was raised by a kindly innkeeper in Helgen named Valdis, along with several other orphan children. She was raised amongst four other kids, and as far as she knows the innkeeper is still taking them in. There was only one boy older than her, another Imperial orphan named Domenic. Though Valdis took the children in, gave them food, clothing and shelter, he had not the time to rear them. They had to find their own way. When Domenic was old enough, he began going out with the village hunters to bring meat to the table. Whenever he went away, Leto felt alone, despite the presence of her younger ‘siblings’, who all seemed to know what they wanted to do. Her two younger brothers followed the men of the village; one became a logger, and the other learned Valdis’ trade as a brewer and innkeeper, while Leto’s younger sister learned to tan hides and make cloth for clothing and lesser armors. Each of them had a teacher, someone to look out for them, but whenever Dom was gone, Leto was alone. Immediately she began begging for Dom to take her with them. It was difficult for Dom to deny Leto anything, and despite initial misgivings, Leto began following the hunters around like a duckling.
At first, Leto made a lot of trouble for Dom and the other hunters. She would scare game away with noise, or get bored, or fumble arrows when offered, but after she despaired, Dom would take her aside and patiently explain how to go about being more like the rest of them. How to move without being heard, how to spot a trail in the woods, and how to use a bow. Over time, under the careful eye of her brother, Leto learned how to hunt with the rest of them. Both of them proud of Leto’s accomplishments, Dom and Leto began hunting on their own, going farther and farther from Helgen after better game, moving north or west to hunt deer as opposed to the rabbits and fowl they found around their home.
One day, they went too far. Dom and Leto tracked an elk deep into the western forests, and there they ran into trouble. In the night, they were stalked by a hunter greater than themselves. A werewolf attacked them. Dom managed to protect Leto and fight the beast off, but he was wounded in the process. Fearing for her brother’s life, Leto tried getting Dom to the nearest sign of civilization so that they could find him healing or a priest – but they were too far. Slowed by Dom’s wound, a day’s travel couldn’t bring them close enough to safety. When the moon rose, Dom transformed, and became like the raging beast that had hunted them.
Leto tried to speak to her brother, but his mind was lost. It never occurred to her to fight him. She ran for her life, hiding where she could, but he always found her. She ran until she was cornered at a cliff face. Nothing could bring Dom to his senses. He attacked. It was luck that saved her. The Vigilant of Stendarr came to her rescue, fought the beast and brought him down. Once slain, her brother returned to his human form. Numb and despairing, Leto let the Vigilant feed her a potion that would prevent her from contracting lycanthropy, but would need to keep her close to make sure that it had worked. She went with them, leaving the body of her brother behind.
While in the company of the Vigilant, one of the two, a woman named Phoebe, took pity on Leto, and did her best to comfort the grieving girl. But the Vigilant were ever on watch for trouble, and when they run into a Hagraven cult, they instruct the girl to hide, and take care of the witches with steel and sorcery. Watching them fight is inspiring. When they’re finished, Leto asks them if they would be willing to train her. If she can learn to fight like that, she will never again need someone to rescue her. She’d be the one doing the rescuing. Phoebe’s partner is reluctant at first, until he finds that Leto has skills as both a hunter and a cook. He eats one of her meals and agrees to let Phoebe keep her around.
The Vigilant take Leto back to the House of Stendarr in the north, where they hand the girl over to their arms master; a hardy Nord woman named Uma. For the most part, Uma is dismissive of the possibility of the scrawny hunter ever becoming a Vigilant, more often setting Leto to domestic tasks or hunting for food, but she trains the girl, or tries to. Leto turns out to have no skill with magic, and is unable to cast a shield, heal, or even call light. Her form with a sword is atrocious, and she starts off barely able to hold one aloft. The armory has no armor small enough for her, and the ones Uma cuts down to size are ill-fitting. It doesn’t take long for Uma’s frustration to show, and she and Leto soon learn to despise one another.
Phoebe makes infrequent visits to the House, and whenever she is there, Leto begs her to take her with them. Each time, Phoebe asks after Leto’s training, and the girl has to admit it is not going well. But after two winters of being cooped up in the house with an ill-tempered training master, Leto finally gets fed up with her lot and insists Phoebe take her with them. Because the Vigilant are in need of every one of their available numbers to go after a Cult of Vaermina in the north, Phoebe reluctantly agrees.
Leto travels north with the small army of the Vigilant, taking her typical role in the crew and hunting to keep their meals fresh. But one evening, while she’s out hunting supper, she runs into an Orc scout for a war party. He chases Leto all the way back to the Vigilant camp, where Phoebe and the others subdue the scout and find out that the Orcs’ stronghold was burned and they’re looking for a new place to conquer. Knowing that the cult is strong and that they may not be able to subdue them on their own, Phoebe uses her charms to convince the Orcs to help them take the Nightcaller Temple, promising them free reign of whatever loot they might find there. The Orcs hear they are fighting mages, and agree readily. Mages are squishy and carry expensive loot. With the Vigilant there to fend off magic attacks, they should make quick work of the cult.
They make camp at the base of the mountain leading up to the temple. In the night, the Cult of Vaermina plagues the Orcs and the Vigilant with horrific nightmares. Their resolve is nearly shaken, but Phoebe insists the Nightcaller Temple is challenging the Orcs’ warrior spirit. Taking this rather personally, the Orcs follow her and the other Vigilant into the temple. The cultists fight back with every trick they have, but eventually see that there is only one last resort they can use to save the temple. They release the miasma that will trap everyone who breathes it in an eternal slumber, doomed to Vaermina’s Quagmire for the rest of their days.
