I stood up after looting the corpse and looked to my Argonian companion, Derkeethus, who was nursing a gaping cut on his arm received from one of the bandits that now lay strewn about our campsite. I said nothing but walked over to him and quickly healed the wound with my waning magicka; he muttered thanks in reply as I slumped down beside him.

"A fine time I've had traipsing about the wilderness with you Bosmer, I'm glad that you saved me from starvation in Darkwater Pass lest I would not be having this grand adventure at your side." his gravel voice dripped sarcasm. I reached for my blood-slathered ebony blades and began cleaning them with some linen from my pack.

"Well, we're close to Whiterun you know, half a day's journey –If you're in such a hurry to leave I'll pay for your carriage and you'll be in Darkwater Crossing before Frostfall."

"Heh. Much as I love the mines it's not often I get to travel with a legendary dragon slayer." He seemed thoughtful as he said the words.

"That's what I guessed you might say." I laughed and reached into my satchel for some mead after sheathing my blades. We're running low on supplies, not even a single restorative potion, I sighed at the thought. At least we're near a city this time. Whiterun was a strange town to me now. It was the first large city I had visited in Skyrim, and I had initially been met with some reservation; now I owned a home there and held the respected title of 'thane'.

I couldn't help but fall back into my thoughts of my first time in the land. I met the white wilderness of Skyrim on the back of a carriage leading to my execution. It was a fate harsh as the cold. Now people revered me as the Dovahkiin. I hated it initially, but felt differently as time passed. Here I sat, far from that chopping block in Helgen; people whispered my name in both fear and awe as I passed even the remotest places.

I am an orphan and a thief, so the title of Dragonborn seems inappropriate; it sounded more noble than my life had ever been. I would not have believed it myself until I first felt Mirmulnir's soul meet my own, melding and implanting into me like a worm in soil.

Derkeethus interrupted my reverie with the query: "I suppose we need to head into town tomorrow to purchase some goods?" I handed him the bottle of mead I had been drinking and he took a swig of its amber contents.

"Mmhm." I nodded. "You know, I have a home there, in Whiterun. To save on lodging, you should stay there with me." Derkeethus' head tilted. "You have a home there? Am I to guess that the Jarl appointed it to you?" I bowed my head. "Indeed, I am thane of Whiterun, though I hardly recognize the distinction."

"Of course," he said, handing me back the bottle.

"Now what's that tone for?"

He shrugged. "You hardly seem like a Jarl's thane, that all."

"I was just thinking the same thing. I don't fit into a lot of the roles I've been playing recently, perhaps I should just wonder from city to city and pick pockets for my meals."

"Which you do from time to time," he added, not missing a beat.

"Ha! You're right. Though I don't need it for meals, I guess old habits are just hard to break."

"Mmm, well you've never taken from someone who couldn't afford it." Derkeethus said with his own version of a smile.

"Should that bring me solace?" I smirked, "Ah well, some of them deserved it. Remember that bitch in Solitude?"

"There were many of those, try to be more specific."

"She was that Altmer with a pole up her arse."

"So like most Altmer?"

I chuckled. "Yes."

"That's still fairly vague. Wait, she ran that store didn't she? Radiant something-or-other."

"That's it! Radiant Raiments. I robbed her blind, her and her smug sister. Some help you were getting those goods out of the store, I recall."

"Hey! I stood guard, that counts for something."

"Sure, because standing outside of an overpriced clothing store after dark isn't suspicious."

"Less so than being inside of the clothing store after dark."

"Heh, you got me there." We sat in silence for a few moments, I watched the crackling fire spit and swirl in the clear evening air. It was nice to sit here with a friend and confidant, knowing I had his sword and not just my own gave me confidence. It had been a long time since I had another companion, especially a man to sit beside me on the lonely nights.

Though we hadn't been familiar, I wondered what he might be like to bed. I hadn't been with an Argonian before, but was terribly curious as to what type of lovers they might be. Some good, some bad, like any other man most like. But what of Derkeethus in particular, and did he wonder the same of me? My eyes wondered over his lithe figure, appreciating the striated musculature beneath the smooth scales and skin on his arm.

He must have felt my gaze on him as he looked over to me, and I coughed and looked away. "Want to help me clean up these bodies from our site? They'll call attention to wolves and other beasts, best not to draw them near." I hoped the comment would divert him from my blunder.

He nodded, and I sighed inwardly, glad for the distraction. "Good, let's start with the heaviest."

We removed the bandits in silence from the immediate area of our campsite, throwing them into a nearby hollow. I sat back down by the fire as we finished, warming my hands as Derkeethus took a seat beside me.

He waited a few moments more before speaking: "So why the look?"

"What look?"

"That expression you made before, I know it."

"Then why ask about it?"

"Because I want to know if you meant it."

"Well what was it?"

He paused and spoke. "Lust," drawing out the 's' with his soft accent.

I felt heat rising to my face. "T-that, but that wasn't–"

"Are you... Interested in me?"

I ran my hands through my short hair. "Uh, well, I'm..." I searched for the right word to express my feelings, "curious."

"As am I." He slid closer.

"You are? Have you been with a different race before?"

"I haven't, have you?"

I shook my head in reply. "Do you want to?"

"All you had to do was ask."

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