(Whiterun, Aela the Huntress POV)
My wolf pushes at the edges of my mind, trying to lead me somewhere. Giving in, I leave the table in the Bannered Mare and head outside, much to the confusion of my Shield-Brothers Vilkas and Farkas.
You got me up… Now where are we going?...
He continues pushing towards the town gates.
At least let me grab my bow first…
The beast whines, but stops his annoying struggling long enough for me to get my bow and some supplies from Jorrvaskr. I exit the town through the Underforge and stand in the plains.
Okay, now where?...
Just then there is a loud roar in the distance. I can make out a silvery werewolf with goggles of some sort as it is tearing apart a bandit camp in the distance.
It's just playing with them…
I sneak closer and watch from a decent couple yards away.
"Come back here beast!" One of the few remaining bandits yells angrily as the werewolf runs laps around the camp.
"…Hmmm… How 'bout not… Yer too fun teh play wit' Sir Bandit…" A low, rolling, but still oddly feminine voice says in my head, startling my wolf and I.
"Get out of my head!" A bandit screams and charges the
werewolf. "DIE!"
"…Oooo… I'm so scared…" The voice says mocks as the werewolf closes its jaws around the bandit's neck and shakes, effectively snapping the spine.
A well placed arrow from the last surviving bandit buries itself into the werewolf's neck causing it to disappear in a cloud of black smoke. A barely audible poof and the great beast is behind the bandit.
"…That wasn' ver' nice…" The voice says.
The poor bandit turns around just in time to see the werewolf's clawed paw slash him across the middle, killing him.
"…Hmph!" The voice says to the bodies. "I've defeated Dwarven Spiders stronger than yeh…"
After making a quick meal out of the corpses, the werewolf transforms back. Instead of a silvery werewolf standing just yards away, a bare naked and pale as snow (almost) Breton woman with long, ash-grey hair stands there. She adjusts her goggles quickly so they fit her now smaller head better.
"Yeh guyz jist aren' much of ah chall-enge en'more…" She says in the voice from before. "Le'z see whut yeh got…"
The woman then goes through the bodies looking for valuables.
Why hasn't she put on clothes yet? She thinks she's alone, doesn't she?...
"C'mon out... I know yer starin' at meh…" The woman says as if reading my mind. "C'mon."
I slip closer until I am only a few feet away. My wolf eagerly tries to push me closer.
"…Hmm… I honest'ly thought yeh'd be more like meh… Ah Breton I meant… Yeh make meh feel… short…"
A smile pulls at my lips as I regard the beauty in front of me and she looks at the ground shyly.
"You're not that much shorter than me." I tell her causing her to look up at me again.
"Oh! An' ah beau-tiful voice teh match ah beau-tiful woman!" The woman says. "My name is Shadow Darkia Stryder XLIII of High Rock. Whut's yers, m' dear?"
"Aela. Aela the Huntress." I answer looking through Shadow's goggles and into her pale silver-green eyes. "Wait... you're the forty-third?!"
"...Yeah... After Shadow I saved Tamriel in 2E 583, my clan has named the first-born daugh-ters of the head family Shadow Darkia Stryder of the in 'er honor... I happen teh be the forty-third Shadow teh walk on Nirn..."
We stand there just looking at each other for a couple moments.
"Hey, why don't we head to Whiterun?"
Shadow only nods and picks up her bag before walking ahead of me towards town. Leaving me to run to catch up.
"This is going to be interesting." I say quietly to myself, even though it is obvious by her amused expression that Shadow heard.
I have found my mate and I couldn't be happier.
NOTES:
1. XLIII is 43 in Roman Numerals
2. 2E 583 is the year Elder Scrolls: Online takes place
3. Yes, the current Shadow is the 43rd Shadow! I did math! I is smart! XD
4. As will be hinted/revealed more later, Shadow's family is basically a family of legends:
a. Shadow I (the First) - protagonist of "TES: Online"
b. Shadow XII (the Twelfth) - ally of protagonst in "ESA: Redguard"
c. Shadow XX (the Twentieth) - protagonist of "ESL: Battlespire"
