"Can't wait to count out your coin!"
Any further jibes the bandit may have made were cut short as he — and the three bandits behind him — were blasted off of the bridge of Valtheim Towers. It was a favored pastime of the now semi-retired Dragonborn of legend. Alduin had been defeated, Miraak stopped, and even an ancient, regional vampire lord that had tried to blot out the sun with the bow of Auriel. Even almost became a vampire himself due to the feminine wiles of his friend, Serana, but vampiric seduction is no match for the simple, honest Dragonborn.
A strange time, that.
An arrow glancing off of his armor brought him out of his reverie. Looking out at the opposing ridge-line, he could see a lone bandit firing at him with a pathetic and worn hunting bow. Seeing no immediate threat, he calmly walked across the now empty bridge to the tower at the other end and took his time to comb through the building, eyeing every drawer and chest for handfuls of gold or jewelry. After looting so many bandit hideouts and strongholds — many of them multiple times — it was a mundane and habitual affair to simply go to the places he knew to have items of worth, taking all he could see at a cursory glance, and moving on to the next.
He looked around the tower, quickly running through his head which containers he'd looted this time around.
"I've looted the dresser, the barrels, the drawers, the nightstand, the table up top… which one am I missing?" he wondered aloud.
With a snap of his fingers and a pleased smile he remembered. "The chest under the stairs! That's the best thing in this entire place, I can't believe I almost forgot about it."
Breaking the shoddy lock was near child's play for the experienced hero, and methodically went through the items inside to make sure he didn't miss any of the smaller, more valuable items. When he reached the bottom of the chest, however, a familiar white, faceted orb shone.
"Nope." The Dragonborn immediately closed the chest, forsaking any items he hadn't taken. Nothing was worth dealing with that.
Confident he had looted the highwaymen for everything of value that they had owned, he strode back across the bridge when another arrow tried desperately to find its mark in his back. He just turned around and shook his head at the bandit. He wasn't mad, he was just disappointed.
The bandit hung his head in shame and sat back down on his chair.
"Good boy."
O
After finding Meridia's Beacon for the umpteenth time in his travels, he wasn't even annoyed anymore. That is not to say that it didn't ruin his day, it definitely did that, but it just gave him too much undue stress. At what point would she just force it onto him so that he would have to complete it? It wouldn't be the first time that the daedra have forced his hand into completing some quests or another.
After an entire ballad of achievements that he was forced to complete, whether due to prophecies or his own frustrating sense of morality, he was eager to accomplish things that he set out for himself to finish. The first thing on that list was to clear out the last of the bandits that seemed to be endlessly reinforced by deserters of the civil war. Balgruuf had been a close friend of his ever since he first killed his first dragon, Mirmulnir, so he had decided on clearing out Whiterun Hold, first. All he needed to do was clear out the Embershard Mine near Riverwood and he'd be one step closer to finishing at least one goal that only he, himself, had decided to accomplish.
With a quick skip in his step and a small smile on his face did he all but run to Embershard from the Sleeping Giant Inn. He'd saved the small iron mine for last in his short crusade. It was the first bandit hideout that he had taken out when he arrived in Whiterun hold, and to a larger extent, Skyrim itself. He felt it poetic that it would be the last as well.
He rounded the bend by the small waterfall and as he closed in on the entrance of the mine, he began to hear screaming.
"I don't have any gold on me! I-I'm just a farmer from Bruma, I used all my gold to get here!" a woman cried.
"Like I'd believe that." the highwayman grunted. "Your purple dress says otherwise. Now hand over your gold, and you might just leave with your life."
The Dragonborn had reached the curve around the bend just in time to see the woman draw a short dagger from underneath her dress with a shaking hand.
"Oh, now you're dead!" the bandit yelled, walking forward with his iron greatsword held clumsily in front of him. No threat to anyone with actual skill, but definitely more than enough for the poor farmer in front of him. He'd seen enough.
"What ho, friend!" the Dragonborn called out.
Both the bandit and the woman turned to him, their faces bearing identical expressions of confusion.
"I was simply making my merry way to the guardian stones to look over Lake Illinata when I heard the damndest thing. Two of my friends, fighting with each other. One even threatening the other!"
He let a bit of lightning escape his left hand as he held them in front of himself and tilted his head in a shrug. "And we don't threaten friends, do we?"
"I don't know how much skooma you're on, pal, but I guess I'll just have to rob both of you," the bandit said.
"Ah, bandits. So many, and yet not an ounce of reason between you all." He let more lightning escape his left hand as prepared the spell. "Would you like to try again for the correct answer?"
The bandit hesitated at seeing the lightning, but ultimately shook his head and charged the Dragonborn with his greatsword.
He sagged. "Always the hard way." A sharp burst of lightning from his hand dropped the bandit instantly, his body twitching and spasming before falling limp.
He felt as a weight slammed into his back and he stumbled forward. "I cannot thank you enough!" She cried into his armor.
He spun around to pull the woman off of him and held her at arm's length before looking at her face.
His breath caught. She's beautiful.
The Imperial woman appeared to have some Nord ancestry; not uncommon for those from Bruma. Lightly tanned skin and dark brown hair tied up in a loose bun allowed some rogue strands to frame her soft features. Her eyes were an easy hazel that seemed to radiate warmth, her nose, straight and prominent as most Imperials, and her full lips were curled into a brilliant smile.
"You don't need to thank me…"
"Thea!"
He put on the most charismatic smile he could muster. "Then you don't need to thank me, Thea. I had already planned on clearing out the bandits here at the mine, anyway. I hope you have a good rest of your day and safe travels."
He had turned around to enter the mine before his arm was jerked back. 'Feim' was already on his lips, but he put down the immediate instinct to shout and looked over his shoulder to see Thea gripping his sleeve tightly.
Once his eyes met hers she glanced away, finding his boots vastly more interesting suddenly. "Please don't leave me alone out here."
"It should be safe. The lookout is dead on the ground and there shouldn't be anything dangerous on the road to Riverwood. It's only about a day's walk away."
Her grip tightened. "But what if there are wolves? I can't fight off a pack of wolves! I could barely fight against my chickens when they were being too unruly!"
He looked away from her and toward the mine. He felt he needed to help his new friend —Thea, he mentally corrected himself — but he also needed to finish off the bandits, lest they make their way to Riverwood. He bit his lip, thankful Thea couldn't see the conflict evident on his face as he mulled it over.
A quick glance back at her face was all he needed to make the final decision.
Who am I kidding, I can't say no to that face.
"I won't leave you alone," he promised, "but I also need to clear out these bandits. It's important to me, and left alone long enough they may begin to threaten Riverwood." The sleepy little logging town had a special place in his heart. It was the first place of safety that awaited him in his impromptu visit to Skyrim, and having nothing trying to kill him had done wonders for his fragile state of mind four years ago.
Thea seemed quick to agree. "Of course, of course. I wouldn't want you to stop just for me, but are you sure that you can clear them all out by yourself?"
"Oh, they may try, but I've been doing this for a while, Thea. I'll be fine. Now sit. Make yourself comfortable out here. This may take a moment." The Dragonborn draw his Runic axe, a Dawnguard specialty, and strode confidently into Embershard.
Look at me, I'm almost running down the shaft to get back to Thea. What would Balgruuf say if he saw me, running down a mine shaft with abandon just to go back to talking with a woman I met minutes ago.
Bending the corner, the Dragonborn stopped in the entryway to the natural cave that the mine had excavated into, surveying for bandits.
Only two by the fire. Child's play.
"You know, it's rude to not welcome guests," he called.
The two bandits down near the fire scrambled up and readied their weapons, leveling them at the Dragonborn.
He clicked his tongue. "Oh, and you don't even offer food or drink when you welcome a guest. Terrible hosts, the lot of you. What would your mothers think of you?"
"I actually have a very loving relationship with my mother, thank you very much." The bandit on the right said evenly.
The Dragonborn lowered his axe.
"Really?"
"Yes, really. I visit her every other Sundas and buy her groceries from the market in Whiterun." The bandit sagged his shoulder. "But lately she's been having a terrible cough, and I'm not sure what to do with her."
"Wuld." In an instant, the Dragonborn was next to the bandit, a hand on his shoulder and a tankard of ale in his other.
"How did you-"
He rubbed his hand softly on the bandit's back. "Shh, just take it."
The second bandit, staring blankly at the scene, finally broke out of his stupor and charged him. "You're dead!"
A dark look flashed over his face under his helmet. Every corner of the cave was illuminated by a blinding blue light. The Dragonborn eyed the newly-formed pile of ash with disdain.
"Excuse me, but we're having a moment here."
He turned back to the first bandit. "So, what's your name?"
"Uh, Ignatius, sir. My adoptive parents were Imperials from Cheydenhall before moving to Whiterun Hold. My father is out in the Legion somewhere in Haafingar and so I'm trying to get gold for my mother, and with her ill, my father's pension won't cut it. So," Ignatius gestured about the cave with the half-empty tankard, "here I am."
"Oh, well that just won't do." The Dragonborn chastised.
"What?"
"This. All this. Here." He reached into his pack and pulled out a large coin purse near full to burst.
"There's about a four thousand Septims in this purse if I remember correctly. You take this, and you help your mother." He forced the purse into Ignatius' hands, forcing the tankard to spill cheap ale over the cave floor.
"Now shoo." He lightly pushed the bandit towards the bridge that led out to the entrance. Ignatius looked over his shoulder at the Dragonborn and nodded gratefully before disappearing around the corner and out of sight.
It's the little things. The Dragonborn thought with a soft smile.
"Well, time to murder the rest of them."
With a bounce to his step, the Dragonborn strode down to where he remembered the draw lever that controlled the bridge to be. He forced the rusting mechanism to drop the bridge and alert a few bandits that had been close enough to hear. He watched them as they crossed, contemplating on what creative way he could come up with to end them, such as-
"What are we doing?" Thea whispered.
The Dragonborn jumped and hit his helmet on the nearby sconce, the sound of metal striking metal resonating through the cave.
"Hey, they're over there!"
"Oh for fuck's- Yol Toor Shul!"
An unrelenting wave of mystic fire washed over the area in front of him, charring the bandits to ash and burnt corpses instantly. Making sure that they were all well and truly dead, he turned back to his new companion.
"What in Oblivion was that for?"
She tilted her head innocently. "What was what for?"
"Sneaking up on me! How did you even do that?"
"I just walked here. The mine is quite linear, there were only so many places I could go."
"No, I meant, just, ugh." The Dragonborn sighed. "Can you make it back outside?"
She shook her head. "Nope."
"No? What do you mean, no?"
"I don't feel safe walking back out by myself."
"You got in here just fine." He said flatly.
Thea had the sense to at least look guilty and drag her foot across the floor in a circle, paying great attention to her dust art. "I saw a bright light from the door and I wanted to make sure you were okay… I didn't really think about how dangerous it might've been. But now…" she trailed off.
"Now there's no rush for you to ignore the possibility of danger?"
She just nodded.
He sighed. "It's, well, not fine, but I understand. I've been there quite a few times in my travels across Skyrim. When only after the rush wears off you realize just how deep you are." He laughed. "Sometimes literally, in the case of a few Dwemer ruins."
She gasped. "You've been into Dwemer ruins?"
The Dragonborn straightened his shoulders and puffed out his chest a bit. "Oh, a few times."
"Are they anything like the Ayleid ruins in Cyrodiil?"
"I've actually never been to Cyrodiil before. Are there a bunch of automatons running about in Ayleid ruins?" He asked, genuinely curious.
"Oh no, just quite a few undead." She spat the last one out.
He laughed. "No love for the draugr or skeletons I take it?"
She scowled. "They're filthy, unbecoming things." She shook her head. "I've never been in one myself, just the thought of it turns my stomach."
"Well, then it's a good thing there aren't ruins or undead between here and Riverwood." He reached for her hand and she met him halfway.
Before they continued on down the rest of Embershard, Thea stepped about in front of him. "I almost forgot, but what's your name?"
He froze stock-still like Lydia did that one time.
We couldn't get her to move out of that doorway for three days. He shuddered at the memory.
"I'm so sorry, Thea. I thought I'd given it. That's my fault. Let's start over."
She laughed. A beautiful, melodious thing, he decided.
She reached out a lithe hand. "My name is Thea, and what may yours be?"
"Cyrus."
O
Thea was thrown to the ground, the steel sword skittering to the ground next to her as she rolled pathetically in the grass. She wheezed as her throat burned and lungs desperately tried to suck in precious air.
"Come on, get back up." Cyrus urged her.
"You said that the first fifty times." Thea moaned.
"And this'll be the fifty-first,." He held his hand down to the downed Imperial. "We can take a break as soon as you can hit me once. I promise."
She gripped his hand and was pulled to her feet. "Stupid Cyrus and his stupid sword training." She muttered under her breath.
He raised a single eyebrow. "What was that?"
"Nothing, oh wonderful sword-instructor!"
Cyrus smiled cruelly. "That's what I thought. Now, get into your basic stance."
Thea groaned and muttered expletives under her breath, but otherwise stood clumsily into a basic swordsman's stance. Cyrus looked her over with a critical eye and went over every part that was incorrect and then put them in order of importance.
"Your right leg is forward, Thea. Switch. Your left leg should be forward with a longsword in that stance."
"But I saw you have your right leg forward when you were fighting earlier against those Forsworn." She whined.
"I was using a different stance, as well as an axe. Besides, if you're so willing to say that you've been put on your rear fifty times, then that means I've told you to have your left leg forward fifty times, as well."
Thea didn't respond and simply put her left leg forward. "That's better," Cyrus said. "But it's a little too far forward for your size. Your shoulders are too tense as well." He strode forward and nudged her foot into place a few inches back, and placed his hands on her shoulders. Thea tensed up a bit further before relaxing, and despite the warm day and her already sweating self, she found herself melting into his warm touch.
"You relaxed fast, good job. Now, pull your arms out a bit, they're too tucked into your chest and it'll make it hard to get quick and accurate responses to your opponent."
Thea widened out her elbows and looked back to Cyrus to see him holding a hand to his mouth, failing to hide a growing smile. "What's so funny?" she demanded.
"It's just, well," Cyrus removed his hand and began to laugh in earnest, "You look like a chicken with your arms out like that."
Thea looked down at her arms and began to see what he meant. Smiling too, now, she waved her elbows up and down and walked around in a circle.
"Bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk."
Cyrus finally lost his composure and was now bent on his knees laughing. Thea continued her chicken impression as she walked to Cyrus and bumped him on the head with the flat of her sword. "Bawk."
Cyrus quickly looked up and saw Thea smiling down at him with her sword in a proper grip. "I win." She said smugly.
He blinked twice before realizing that she had technically done what he had asked and he just smiled for a moment before another laughter fit shook him.
Thea decided that she liked that laugh.
O
Thea lay on her back near the lakeside, a thick linen sheet beneath her, a harsh summer sun above her.
Why did Magnus have to rip such a big hole in Mundus? Asshole.
"Why are just laying on the banks?" Cyrus called out from the lake. "You won't get any cooler by just being near the water, you know."
"I just think that it would be better up here than down there. Besides, there are Slaughterfish in lakes, why would I swim?"
Cyrus pursed his lips before turning back to the lake and whispered, "laas."
All the fish that were in the lake began to glow under the water.
A few mudcrabs on the far bank, but the closest group of slaughterfish are far out, near the edge of the shout.
"I just checked, and there aren't any close by. Now, come on!" Cyrus urged, moving his arms in a 'come hither' motion.
Thea sat up. "What do you mean you just checked?"
Cyrus shrugged. "I used a shout. Aura Whisper. Closest slaughterfish are halfway across the lake, nowhere nearby."
Thea just stared blankly ahead. I forgot he could do that. Huh.
Cyrus jumped out of the lake and ran up to Thea, pulling her to her feet with a soft 'eep.'
Thea smacked his arm. "Don't do that without some warning first. I wasn't all here and it nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry about that, then. Anyways," Cyrus motioned with his arms, "strip."
Thea's eyes widened. "I beg your pardon?"
Cyrus, seeing nothing wrong, continued. "Yes, what do you have mead in your ears? Come on, now. Strip, unless you'd like to swim in your clothing."
Thea heaved out a sigh and found herself oddly annoyed that he meant to swim. "Oh. You meant down to my smallclothes. That's… less concerning." She muttered.
Thea shook her head. "Wait, no. I refuse to believe that you, the Dragonborn, are this socially inept. Don't you talk with people literally constantly?"
Cyrus frowned and scratched at his close-cropped beard. "Well, I get into conversations with loads of people. I don't talk back very often though. It's mainly them talking at me, but I see your point."
"Then you see why I'm hesitant to strip in front of you."
He nodded. "I do."
"What? Then why," Thea stopped, took a deep breath in, and released it in a shaky breath out, "nevermind. Just turn around."
Cyrus spun in place and took his time to walk down to the water's edge.
He heard the rustling of clothes and soon felt a hand on his shoulder. Despite expecting it, he still jumped slightly, and had to continue to push down the instinct to reflexively shout.
"I'm ready- Cyrus!" Before Thea could finish, Cyrus spun around, picked her up, dragged her onto his shoulder, and ran with her into the shallows. A few feet in and confident it was deep enough, Cyrus plucked Thea off of his shoulder and tossed her into the water.
After a brief moment of flailing, Thea successfully latched back onto Cyrus' arm, her own arms shaking. "Why would you do that?!"
Cyrus lifted his arm up a bit, dragging Thea a little bit further out of the water. "I always find getting into the water the hardest part, so, I gave you a bit of a head start."
"I can't swim, you idiot!" Thea shrieked.
A conflicted expression crossed his face. "Well, if you knew you couldn't swim, why did you agree?"
Thea shook. "I didn't agree! I put my hand on your shoulder to ask you to help me, and then you threw me into Lake Honrich!"
"I didn't know you couldn't swim…" Cyrus mumbled.
Thea pulled herself out of the water using Cyrus' arm. Seeing her lifting herself up, Cyrus bent down and put an arm behind her knees, lifting the soaked Imperial out of the water and into a bridal carry.
"Come on," Cyrus said softly, "Let's dry you off."
He carried her back to her thick linen sheet and placed her gently atop it. He quickly got his own from nearby and Thea held her arms out. He began to run the sheet along her lightly tanned skin, soaking up the excess water from the lake and warming up her now dry arms. Pink began to dust her cheeks as Cyrus ran his hands- even if covered by a cloth- along her while she was only covered by her soaked smallclothes and chest wrap.
Thea didn't know how much time had passed, but for a while there was only the sound of breathing, the light lapping of water onto the nearby shore, and the ruffling of cloth as Cyrus gently his hands along her body until Cyrus broke the quiet. "Would you like to learn?"
Thea quickly blinked and brought her mind back to the present. "Learn what?"
Cyrus paused for a moment and glanced up to meet Thea's eyes before continuing his ministrations. "Learn to swim."
"Oh no, that's uh, more than fine," Thea blushed, "but thank you! Thank you. Maybe tomorrow?" She asked with hope.
Cyrus looked back up at her to meet her amber brown eyes with his own emerald green, a certain glint in them that left her out of breath. "Of course, Thea."
Thea decided that she like those eyes.
O
"Why is this relevant, again?"
Cyrus looked over at his traveling companion of the past few months with a raised eyebrow. "Because Skyrim is basically just a bunch of mountains?"
Thea crossed her arms in defiance. "But why do I have to learn how to climb them? There are perfectly good paths up and around all of them."
"Because, my darling little Thea, those paths are often out of the way, annoying, surrounded by highwaymen, hard to find, or all of the above. So I'm going to teach you a trick I learned a few years back."
"What trick? And don't call me that." Thea snapped, pink dusting across her cheeks involuntarily.
Cyrus smiled impossibly wide. "Watch this."
Cyrus turned to the mountain and began to run at it.
Thea's eyes widened. "Cyrus! That's a sheer cliff face! What're you-."
As soon as Cyrus hit the cliff face, he began to scale it, continuing to appear as if he were running in place as he moved up the mountain.
"How." Thea dropped to her knees. "That doesn't even make sense!"
Thea decided that she, with absolute certainty, did not like that.
O
Thea threw herself to the ground, a cough escaping her as her back hit the grass and leaves below her. She stared up at the trees that seemed to be trapped in a perpetual state of Autumn, watching as their branches and leaves swayed and danced above her, small shafts of light peaked between them and left the area covered in dappled sunlight.
"I can't do it." She huffed.
Cyrus leaned over her. "Of course you can. Everyone has latent magic potential. Just because you don't know how doesn't mean that you can't do it. We just need to exercise your Magicka reserves."
Thea frowned. "And how do we do that without me exploding, again?"
Cyrus rubbed his neck sheepishly. "I'll admit that having you try to make a fireball first thing wasn't my brightest moment. We'll try with a more novice spell. Candlelight has no destructive potential, so the worst that happens is that the spell fails."
"But Candlelight is boring. Why use a spell when I can just light a real candle?"
Cyrus offered his hand to Thea and frowned. "Do you want to explode?"
Thea accepted his hand with a nervous smile. "On second thought, Candlelight sounds like a wonderful spell."
Cyrus adopted a serious expression. "While I know that wasn't quite genuine, Candlelight is a worthwhile spell, used by even master level magic users. Candles, torches, braziers, lanterns; all of them are dangerous to have around a library, or anywhere that has a high amount of paper. It also serves the secondary purpose of exercising your Magicka reserves in a safe way. You won't instinctively know when you're out of Magicka at first. Only when your spell fails will you know you're out. Apprentice level mages and higher intrinsically know what kind of spells and how many they can cast, just as an experienced hunter knows how far he can shoot. Candlelight is a good spell to figure out how deep your reserves are."
Through all of his speech, Thea gave a flat expression. "If you knew this much, why did you have me try a fireball first?"
He smiled. "I wanted to see if you could."
Thea smiled back, saccharine sweet. "So you knew I would explode?"
Cyrus nodded. "There was a distinct chance of that happening, yes."
Thea nodded back. "And you didn't tell me… why…?"
"I thought you could do it."
"Well, as we can see- I can't!" Thea's voice rising at the end.
Cyrus raised his hands in front of him in mock defense. "You didn't get hurt, at least!"
Thea's lips curled into a thin smile. "Well, you can catch, at least."
Cyrus raised an eyebrow. "Catch what?"
"These hands," Thea said as she tackled him.
Despite being almost twice her weight, Cyrus let out a 'manly' scream as he fell over, pushed onto his back with the small Imperial woman straddled above him, landing on his chest. She now sat on him, her rear on his lap and her hands holding down his arms. Looking down, he swallowed thickly, his armor suddenly feeling extremely constricting and hot in the cool weather of the Rift.
"Hey, Cyrus."
"Uh, yes, Thea?"
She smiled down at him. "I win, again."
"Win what? You were learning magic, and as much as Aela may think so, tackling is not magic."
She poked a lithe finger into his chest. "I won you."
I suppose she has, hasn't she?
Cyrus decided that he liked that.
O
Cyrus placed the last log into the fire, his amulet of Mara catching the golden light and reflecting it in the snow around them. They were below the shrine of Azura, a few days out from Winterhold. The fierce blizzards that were normally present atop the mountain were unnaturally calm tonight, a product of Cyrus using Clear Skies when Thea was taking a nap earlier in the day. Now, the snow fell in slow, fat flakes that moved in mesmerizing patterns as they fell, seemingly matching the Aurora's above them in the night sky.
Azura's outdone herself tonight, Cyrus thought absently as he looked up at the sky. He shifted his eyes to the statue of her, are you trying to play wingwoman?
"Cyrus?"
He took a last glance at the statue before turning to face his companion of almost a year.
"Yes, Thea?"
She smiled groggily, only having just woken up. "Come over here, it's cold."
He raised an eyebrow. "I'm the one next to the fire, Thea."
He could almost hear the gears turn in her head as she mulled over his words until she blinked and padded over to him. She dropped down next to him on the furs next to the fire before snuggling deep into his side.
Cyrus opened his mouth to ask a question but Thea beat him to it. "You're warm and it's cold." Cyrus took it at face value.
Thanks to the snow and the isolated location, the only sounds they could hear were the other breathing and the light crackle of the fire before them, both content to simply sit and be close. Thea noticed the golden glint of the Amulet of Mara that would rise and fall with his chest, the shifting lights of the fire dancing on its promising surface.
He's never worn one of those before. She thought excitedly. Her mind was running a mile a minute as she thought of all the things it could mean. She felt a shift next to her and felt Cyrus begin to lay back. She followed him down until they were both lying on the furs next to the fire while she shifted to lean into him, her head near his shoulder, the little heat he gave off gave her more warmth than the fire ever could.
She felt his head shift before the question. "Hey, Thea?"
She nodded her head against his arm, not quite trusting her speech.
"Do you remember when we met outside of Embershard?" Another nod.
"Do you want to know what I thought that day?" Yet another nod.
"I have found the most beautiful woman in all of Skyrim, I thought. Of course, I had put it in the back of my mind back then. I've seen plenty of beautiful women," he paused, "but then you stayed. And you stayed, and you stayed, and you stayed. All through our travels around Skyrim clearing out bandit camps, you never once asked to stop. I'm not sure when I realized it, but at some point in there, I realized that no matter what I was going to be up to, that you'd join me. That you'd be right there with me."
Thea spoke before she could rein in her traitorous voice. "Because I was with you."
Cyrus didn't respond for an almost uncomfortably long time. What was most likely only a few seconds felt like hours to Thea. Every second he didn't respond felt more and more like a vice was tightening in her chest. When he did respond, it was with no words, as he simply shifted her closer to himself, placing her head on his chest while an arm snaked under her and pulled her close. Being this close to him, even if it wasn't quite what she wanted, was euphoric, and she couldn't feel the biting cold anymore.
With her head on his chest, Thea could now feel his heart beating, but the Amulet of Mara stayed in her vision, now only an inch away from her. It was so close she could see the intricate detail that was placed along the outer rim of the necklace. Every time the light of the fire would reflect off of it and into her eyes, she could almost imagine herself in its glare, seeing herself in the reflection of the love that it would entail. She soon found herself lost in it.
"Do you like it here?" Cyrus whispered.
"Do I like it where?"
He ran a hair through her hair, a few strands fell in her face before he gently moved them behind her ear. "Here. With me."
She made a light humming noise. "Do you believe your home is where your heart is?"
"I do."
"Then I'm home here, with you, and I love my home."
She couldn't see his face, but she knew Cyrus was wearing that stupid smile he always wore when he heard her say something sweet. "Then let's have a permanent home. In each other. With each other."
He gently nudged her as he sat up, bringing her with him. The Amulet of Mara that had taunted her all night was now catching the light of the fire with renewed opulence. The gemstones embedded within seemed to glow with ethereal light, adding to the already shining, golden glare it gave.
"Thea, will you marry me?"
She didn't trust her voice, so she nodded.
Thea decided that she loved that.
O
Cyrus paced relentlessly outside their bedroom. The middle floor of Lakeview Manor was spacious, but he felt as if he were walking a rut into the floor he'd been moving so much. There was only so much house for him to walk in while still being close enough to the master bedroom for him to rush in at the first sign of trouble. Of course, anything that happened in that room was going to be trouble, he just wasn't allowed to enter until after it was over.
His wife was having their child.
I can't be a father! I'm barely responsible for myself, and even then Jordis and Lydia take care of everything a normal adult takes care of.
"What if they only get their features from me. Not that I'm not 'roguishly handsome,' as Thea's told me before, but what if it's a girl? I can't look good as a girl, I'm too roguishly handsome! Then my daughter will die alone as a crazy Khajiit lady."
His pacing increased. "What if they only get my brains and Thea's looks? They'll just be a very beautiful potato. Oh no. What if they get my looks and my brains? Then they'll just be a bad potato!"
He stopped his pacing and gasped. "What if they inherit my dragon's blood? I can't deal with a toddler's first word being Yol!"
Cyrus' frantic ramblings were cut short as he heard the door to the master bedroom open. He rushed back and caught the wetnurse cleaning her hands with a rag she pulled from her bag. When her eyes caught him she nodded back towards the doorway. Cyrus didn't need to be told twice. He cautiously crossed the threshold into their room for the past two years now, mementos and items collected all across Skyrim spread across the room in a haphazard collection that they put together on a slow Sundas morning some months ago. The moment he laid his eyes upon his wife holding a bundle of blankets lovingly to herself, he felt the weight that had been crushing him the past few hours lift.
As he reached his wife's bedside, he slowly held out his arms to Thea, silently asking if he could hold their child. Sparing one last look at them, Thea carefully passed the wrapped bundle of blankets into Cyrus' waiting arms. Cyrus gently pulled the top wrapping of the blanket away to see his newborn.
Underneath the soft blue blankets shone a familiar, white, faceted orb.
Thea laughed triumphantly. "A new hand touches the Beacon!"
O
A/N: My editor and I will never get this time back and neither will you.