In mercy I behold

The greater truth Christ told

And when seek God's glory

I will not fall

Teach me all the courage and

Kindness of His love

And forever I'll rest

In the promise of God

     "Tindomelind!" I heard Estormo calling me and hurried to attend him. A Thalmor wizard, Estormo was also my adoptive father. I could not remember my real family, but Estormo had found me when I was very young, and even though I was a Dunmer, he had taken me in. Thus, I was raised to be a servant of the Thalmor, and all my life I had been taught Thalmor beliefs. When I was old enough, Estormo put me under the authority of Ondolemar in Markarth, and since then I had been working for him. My only jobs up to then had been running errands, and I doubted it would ever be anything else. Dunmer cannot have high positions in the Thalmor. However, if I ever found out anything related to the Talos heresy, I was required to report it to Ondolemar immediately.

     Coming to Estormo, I bowed and said, "You called."

     "Yes," Estormo replied, smiling a bit, "Ondolemar has a job for you, and he sent me to find you."

     Estormo led me to the place where Ondolemar stood waiting. Ondolemar was the leader of the Thalmor in Markarth, and he was very outspoken about his beliefs and opinions, especially regarding the Talos heresy. He considered Altmer and even Bosmer to be the higher races of Mer, and he looked down on Dunmer as the lower race. Despite this, he showed me a great deal of approval because I was always respectful and honest toward him.

     As soon as I arrived, Ondolemar handed me a sealed piece of parchment. Not wasting any time with formalities, he said, "I want you to deliver this to Shavari in Riften. Tell her it is a letter concerning the Dragonborn."

     "Yes sir," I responded with a bow.

     Since Riften was on the other side of Skyrim from Markarth, Ondolemar gave me a week to return, though he hoped I could do the job in less time.

     I hoped so as well. I owed the Thalmor my life. If I could do anything to help their cause, I would. As soon as I left Markarth, then, I started off running.

     I made it to Riften in the evening of the second day, just as the marketplace in the center of town was being shut down for the night. Finding Shavari on one of the bridges leading to the center of town, I went to meet her. I had seen her once before she came to Riften, so I was able to recognize her. Shavari was a thin, dark brown Khajiit who seemed suspicious of anyone and everyone. Though she wasn't a part of the Thalmor, she often worked for them as a spy and mercenary, as she was doing now.

     "What do you want?" she hissed as I approached her.

     "You have a message from Ondolemar concerning the Dragonborn," I replied, giving her the parchment.

     "Good," Shavari said. Without another word, she slipped off to go read the letter someplace private.

     Since it was already dark, I decided to stay overnight at Haelga's Bunkhouse. Going inside, I bought some bread, cheese, and an apple and sat down at a table in the corner of the room, facing the wall. No sooner had I begun to eat my bread when a voice behind me said, "Pardon me."

     I jumped since I hadn't expected anyone to talk to me. After all, who simply walked up and addressed someone in Thalmor robes? Feeling a little affronted, I turned to look at the speaker. He was a Dunmer with black hair and a plain, brown tunic. "What is it?” I demanded.

     "I was wondering if I might join you," the Dunmer responded with a friendly smile.

     I didn't know what to say. I had never received such a request from anyone before. For a moment, I wondered if there might be some rule against accepting his offer, but I couldn't think of any, so I hesitantly replied, "Very well."

     "Thank you," the Dunmer replied, sitting down across from me. "My name's Brand-shei,” he introduced himself, holding out his hand over the table.

     "Tindomelind," I replied, accepting the handshake. I noticed with some surprise that his name sounded Argonian.

     "So are you part of the Thalmor?" Brand-shei inquired curiously.

     "Of course," I responded.

     "If you'll excuse me, it's very unusual to see a Dunmer in Thalmor robes," he remarked.

     "It's very unusual to see a Dunmer with an Argonian name," I returned.

     "Well, I can't argue with that." Brand-shei took a bite of his bread and we sat in silence for a while. Then he spoke up again, "What do you think of Talos?"

     "What, are you a Talos-worshipper?" I demanded, suddenly taking a greater interest in the conversation. If he was, I could report him to Ondolemar.

     "Not at all," Brand-shei replied, "But what about you? Do you believe he's a god or not?"

     "I am part of the Thalmor; of course I don't believe he's a god."

     "Is that your only reason?"

     "Of course not! But why are you asking such things?" I exclaimed, getting a little angry.

     "I just want to hear your reasons," Brand-shei rejoined innocently.

     "Well, I don't see what right you have to question me about my reasons. I think you are a Talos-worshipper and you're subtly trying to convert me!"

     "I'm telling you, I'm not," Brand-shei insisted, almost laughing, "But what would it matter if I was? Are you more interested in knowing the truth or adhering to Thalmor beliefs?"

     I was somewhat disarmed by this one. "Knowing the truth..." I stammered before hurriedly adding, "But Thalmor beliefs are the truth."

     "Why do you say that?" Brand-shei asked.

     This time I was ready to answer him, "A man cannot become a god," I said, reciting what Estormo and Ondolemar had taught me, "And it is heresy to think so because it insults the gods to worship a man along with them."

     "Some would argue that the Thalmor only say this because they don't like the idea of someone from what they consider a lesser race being one of the gods. If Talos had been an Altmer, they would have worshipped him too. If the gods had appointed Talos to be one of them, wouldn't it be an insult to them not to worship him?"

     "They wouldn't have appointed him as a god--that would be impossible! And now I see you were lying when you said you weren't a Talos-worshipper because you clearly are!"

     "No, I agree with everything you've said so far," Brand-shei replied, "It is insulting to the gods to worship a man along with them, and it would be impossible for them to appoint a man as a god. But why do you say so?"

     "Because if that was true, then the gods would not be great enough!" I exclaimed, passion flaring up inside me at my conviction of this, "If a man could become a god, then there could be no order to the world! If the gods had to appoint a man to join them, then they couldn't have been sufficient on their own, and it is clear that they are sufficient because they held Skyrim together even before the Talos heresy came along!"

     "Wouldn't the same be true if there was more than one god?" Brand-shei asked simply.

     For a long moment, I was speechless, my mouth half-open. Had I really just heard him say that? Never in my life had I heard anyone suggest that there might be just one god. "Wh-what are you talking about?" I stammered.

     "Well, why would Skyrim need eight somewhat-imperfect gods to hold it together if one all-powerful God was sufficient? Wouldn't the very idea that there are many gods imply that each individual one is not great enough on his own? And wouldn't it be an insult to the One God to break Him up into many imperfect gods?"

     "Is this what you believe--that there's only one God?" I demanded, feeling anger rising in my chest again.

     "Yes, it is," Brand-shei acknowledged.

     "But this is an even worse heresy than Talos!" I exclaimed, standing up suddenly and knocking back my chair.

     "How so?" Brand-shei asked, but I was tired of his insolent questions.

     "Quiet!" I snapped, "How dare you try to spread such ideas! The Thalmor will not stand for this! And as for me, I will personally see to it that you're arrested and executed for this!"

     Though he tried not to show it on his face, I caught a look of fear in his eyes. Smiling coldly, I bid him good evening and stalked away. Going to Haelga, I rented a room, went up to it, and lay in bed.

     But I couldn't fall asleep because I couldn't stop thinking about what Brand-shei had said. One God! I thought indignantly, That insults every one of the gods even more than the Talos heresy by claiming that they all are not gods--only to be replaced by one God! Yet Brand-shei had said it would be insulting to the One God if I imagined Him as eight gods, each of whom were not sufficient on their own—or rather worshiped the Eight Divines instead of the One God. If it was true that there was one God, I would have greatly offended Him. Yet it is not true, I tried to assure myself, The Thalmor do not accept one God. But where the Thalmor necessarily right about everything?

     I barely slept that night, and the next morning, I got up early and sat at the table in the corner, eating a red apple and a sweet roll. As soon as Brand-shei came downstairs, I gestured to him to come join me. When he saw this, he almost smiled, and I felt somewhat annoyed because I thought he might be laughing at me.

     As he sat down across from me, I ordered, "Tell me everything about this one-God heresy." I certainly wasn't going to accept it, but I thought it would be useful to Ondolemar for me to find out everything I could about it.

     "We prefer to call it 'Christianity'," Brand-shei told me, "But I would be happy to tell you everything about it. Yes, there is only one God who created the universe and who is Lord over all that exists."

     "And would He be offended if I thought of Him as eight gods?" I inquired, finally voicing the concern that had been bothering me all that night.

     "Yes, but it's even more than an offense to Him. He is hurt, angry, and even jealous because He loves you, and you're worshipping false gods instead of Him."

     "What do you mean He loves me?" I asked incredulously. The concept was even more alien to me than the concept of one God. Even aside from the fact that the gods never claimed to be loving—except maybe Mara—I had never experienced such a thing in my own life. Ondolemar and even Estormo had always seemed to regard me more as a servant than as an object of affection.

     "He created you to love Him and to be loved by Him, but you rejected Him," Brand-shei replied.

     "But I never knew Him," I protested, realizing a little too late that I was talking as if what he was saying were true.

     "There's no excuse for not knowing Him."

     "That's absurd! He never revealed Himself to me"

     "But you already knew about Him intuitively. When I brought up the Talos heresy to you, you protested to it on the grounds that the gods would not be great enough to hold everything together. If you had thought about that further, you also would have realized that there is only one God."

     "I haven't believed the one-God heresy and I don't intend to," I argued.

     "I see..." Brand-shei looked out the window where the morning sunlight was starting to shine through. "I'm sorry, Tindomelind, but I'll have to go to work now," he said, "But I have a book you can read. Wait here." Standing up, he hurried back upstairs and returned a minute later with a heavy book in his hands. The book had the words "Holy Bible" etched into the cover. "This is the book by which the One God reveals Himself. If you want to learn about the 'one-God heresy', as you call it, read this. It will tell you more than I ever could. If you have any questions while I'm at work, ask Shadr. He's a Redguard who works in the stables just outside the Riften gate." With this, he left.

     I smiled a little to myself, thinking that I had just caught, not only one but two heretics, and I even had their sacred text. Yet at the same time, I also wondered whether I was even going to think of them as heretics by the end of the day.

     I had expected the Bible to be a rulebook for how to worship the One God and perhaps a list of miraculous happenings. However, although it included those things, it seemed to be more a history of a certain nation and how they related to the One God. It also had major sections of prayers and poems to the God, expressing a great deal of love and respect. One thing that interested me about the prayers is that they were not only offered at the God's temple, but also at many other places. It seemed that this God was not confined to one place at a time.

     In almost the first chapter of the book, I had thought of a question for Shadr. The book said that the One God created man in His image—presumably setting him apart from other living things that way—but it said nothing of the Mer, Argonians, or Khajiit. Finding Shadr, then, I introduced myself, told him about my conversation with Brand-shei, and asked about that part of the book.

     "In that verse, 'man' is a general term referring to all the races made in God's image," Shadr explained eagerly, "All races that have the capacity to have a relationship with God are made in His image, because it is the soul which reflects His image more than the outward appearance."

     Shadr tried to talk to me further, telling me how amazed he was that one of the Thalmor was actually reading the Bible, but I wanted to continue reading and perhaps finish the book by evening, so I took my leave of him. When I got to the second major part of the book—the "New Testament"—I asked Shadr a few questions about the man in it called "Jesus Christ" (who I guessed was where Brand-shei got the name "Christian"), but I saved my real questions for Brand-shei later that evening.