"Unfortunately something very hard to test!"

"Quite. I have so many questions."

Ellayania holds out a hand.

"What's this?"

"An opportunity for answers. Come, it will not hurt."

After a brief moment, she takes the goddess's hand.

And the world changes around her. She is in a cavern, stacked with shelf upon shelf of books, extending far into the gloom.

"Welcome to my home."

"What is this?"

"A memory, that I am sharing with you. Time outside is immaterial, and we can talk privately. And rather than speak, I can show." A book falls to the ground at Occlus's feet.

She looks down at it.

Instead of words, what is written on the page is a living scene, a real-time view of the battle against Alduin from Ellayania's perspective. All of her perspectives. The main avatar and the clones and the vial around Mora's neck and the city and the temple and the miles of uninhabited wilderness and the temple in the Shivering Isles...

Occlus fights back a moment of vertigo.

"Very impressive."

"So it is to be a god."

"Show me more."

Ellayania starts a roughly chronological slideshow of events so far, beginning with the arrival of Tentou (still called Hisame), the Keres, Mora, and Eliana in her domain. Their stories, their relationships; Hisame's world and the Keres', Eliana's, Mora's. Then Elatra and Acererak. The Keres and Hisame healing. Elatra and the others exploring. The Shivering Isles and Glint, her ascension. Ellayania and Glint's expedition against Miraak.

The aftermath of that one raises Occlus's eyebrows.

Ellayania laughs. "Lightnings and Crows tend to go well together."

"Uh huh."

She laughs again.

"Something to keep in mind, perhaps. But I am curious about your story, now, if you would feel comfortable sharing."

"Hm. In this place, I suppose."

"I was taken to the Sith Academy on Korriban at a very young age." A book appears in her hands, illustrations forming as she speaks. "-Is this necessary?"

"Strictly speaking, no. But I shall not share it without your consent."

"...Acceptable."

"As I was saying. The Academy is a harsh place, and the instructors did not approve of me. I learned quickly to take what I needed, and to break those in my way. The foundation of Sith philosophy." The books shows young Occlus with a bloody nose fighting several older trainees. "When I was seventeen, I was apprenticed to a master, Lord Zash. Under her, I further refined my gifts, for power and hatred." A scene of Zash and Occlus at a dig site. Zash pats Occlus on the head and smiles. It doesn't reach her eyes. "Eventually I determined that I was meant to be the victim of a certain ritual that would transfer Zash's consciousness into my body, killing me. I did not allow that to happen." Occlus, lightsaber drawn, stands over Zash's body, revealed for the withered husk it is.

"This drew the anger of a man named Darth Thanaton. He did not like Zash and he did not like me, regarding us as arrogant upstarts. He invented an imaginary breach of protocol to justify his murder of me. I was not about to stand still for this than the last attempt, but to combat him, I needed power." Occlus stands before an altar in a dark tomb, a ghostly apparation faintly visible. "I sought it in... unwise places, and paid the price." Occlus strides across a battlefield, blasting ranks of droids and soldiers with negligent waves of her hands, swatting aside artillery strikes. Her face is wan and haggard, her fingers ragged claws. "I could not face Thanaton as I was, so I turned aside for a time, to seek a cure. The path was treacherous, but in the end, worthwhile." She emerges from the depths of an enormous machine, body remade. She fights a dark presence, meditates with iridescent aliens. "Afterwards, I was prepared to face Thanaton. I acquired Imperial allies, and lured him into a Kaggath, a ritual duel. I broke his power base, and then the man himself, and claimed his place on the Dark Council."

"An impressive story. I thank you."

"Yes, well. It got me where I am now."

"Would you like to be somewhere else?" She describes their current problem.