Hi guys! I've been playing Skyrim for a while now - well, a few weeks anyway - and since I love the game so much, I've decided to make a one-shot series based on some of my adventures in-game.

These one-shots are only loosely based on my experiences, although the Dragonborn character in this story shares the same name, species and appearance as my Dragonborn character from the game itself. Her personality is an entirely different matter, though she will be similar to how I imagine my game character to be.

Anyway, I have to warn you all right now, if I accidentally mess up any of the NPC's names or whatever, it's . . . probably not gonna be my fault. There's a lot of names and a lot of different characters, and I can only remember those who I have a soft spot for (such as M'aiq the Liar) or those who I talk to on a regular basis (such as Captain Veleth). Sometimes, like right now, I'll be writing without access to internet and the unfortunate consequence of that is I won't be able to cross-check any spellings or whatever, so if anyone comes across any names or words that I've spelt wrong, please inform me and I'll get to fixing it as soon as I can.

But moving from that as well - my style of writing, when I'm creating a story with a clear plot and multiple chapters, is to write it all and then upload the full finished version. But since this is a series of one-shots and it's likely that it'll go on forever, I'll just be uploading when each chapter is done, or if there's a two-parter or whatever, I'll upload whenever that particular plot is over.

So, let's get on with the new insanity that I'm writing!

I don't own The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, on with the show!

OOOOOO

Raven Rock was a nice place to live, Kharjo reflected.

Quite apart from the fact that it was so much warmer than Skyrim, the people who called Raven Rock - and Solstheim in general - their home were much nicer than the Nords. For one thing, the Dunmer didn't constantly say racist slurs such as 'cat' or 'kitty' towards Khajiit such as himself or his friend. For another, the guards did not say things like 'what do you want, cat' every single time he approached one with a concern or just to have a conversation.

Perhaps, he thought, it was because the Dunmer also knew what it was like to be treated with such disrespect.

But then he also supposed it could have something to do with the fact that his friend had saved the entire settlement, plus Solstheim itself, twice over. First from the creatures the Dunmer called Ash Spawn, and then from that horrible Dragon Priest, Miraak.

Whatever it was that made these Dunmer treat them as actual people instead of beasts, Kharjo found himself thinking of Raven Rock as a second home because of it.

Although you would always get the occasional moron who, though they were not racist towards him or his friend, were always keen to cause trouble.

One of the Dunmer who lived in the settlement, one that Kharjo did not know by name but rather by sight, had spotted him in the market buying supplies - meat and food and, of course, potions - for his friend, and had apparently seen that as an opportunity to cause some trouble. He had said, rather inaccurately, that Kharjo was doing all the work while his 'lazy friend' stayed at home doing nothing all day. He had also implied that Kharjo followed her, not for gratitude, but for something else entirely.

Now, this Dunmer was a worker at the mine, and Kharjo's friend had a slightly unsettling habit of taking slights such as those very personally, and if he had told her, this whole thing could have ended in blood.

And it would have, too, because Kharjo had spotted Captain Veleth nearby with murder in his eyes.

But Kharjo, despite being a warrior, was a peaceful Khajiit, and so he very calmly informed the naysayer that his friend was in fact staying at home, in the Severin Manor, because she was working on improving his Steel mace - not because Kharjo asked her to, but because she wanted to. He was simply buying supplies for her because she was too occupied with her new project to think about food and supplies.

That shut the naysayer up immediately, which thankfully also pacified Captain Veleth.

Honestly, the nerve of some people. But at least there were those like the good Captain who would defend Kharjo and his friend's honour.

He made it back to the Manor with no more incidents (aside from spotting some of the Redoran Guard sneaking Emberbrand wine on-duty again, which he would have to report to Captain Veleth later), and opened the front door with only a little difficulty. He only had one hand free, after all, and the doors - not to mention the shells that housed the antechambers of the buildings - were made of quite heavy material.

His friend was not in the antechamber, which - like most of the Dunmer homes in Raven Rock - consisted of several barrels, some urns, straw, a table full of food, a cooking fire at the back of the room and a giant hole that opened up to stairs leading down into the lower floor of the house in the middle of the room.

The house was relatively silent, however, which told him that she was likely finished with working on his mace. Kharjo placed the food and various other supplies onto the table, making sure to be careful of the skull that his friend had placed there did not get knocked off in the process (she collected skulls for some reason, and often displayed them on any surface she could find - thankfully these skulls were clean, so Kharjo was fine with one being on the table they ate from).

Then he went down the stairs into the lower floor of the Severin Manor, and found his friend going through one of the sacks that contained her Soul Gems - the one with filled Soul Gems, he assumed, judging by the faint glow he saw from inside the sack - with his mace settled on the floor next to her.

"Zaliki," he greeted, "we have food."

His friend, Zaliki, glanced up. She was an odd Khajiit - practically albino aside from her black muzzle and striped war paint, along with icy blue eyes. Her face would have been unmarked had it not been for the three long claw-like scars on her muzzle. She also tied her pale hair up in various knots. The Nords would probably call those 'dreadlocks', whatever that meant. When on adventures, she often wore her Stalhrim light armour, gifted to her from the Skaal as a thank-you for all that she had done for them, but most of the time she simply wore various clothes.

Today, those were her tavern clothes. She seemed to like them, for some reason. But no matter what she wore, Zaliki always kept her weapons on her, a fact which was confirmed when Kharjo glanced at the quiver of arrows and the Stalhrim bow propped up against the wall beside her. She also always wore a copper circlet with three green gemstones embedded into it, which she said boosted her archery skills. Somehow.

"Sweet rolls?" Zaliki asked, tilting her head at him.

"Of course, and taffy also," Kharjo replied, before she could ask. "However, the meat was in short supply because Garyn has yet to receive his weekly delivery, but he says that he will have more tomorrow. Or we could go hunting for Netch again."

"Zaliki is sick of Netch meat, we can wait," Zaliki decided.

"We are agreed." Kharjo shuddered. Eating Netch meat while they were exploring Solstheim was one thing, but it was not something they would willingly do while at home.

The jelly those strange floating creatures produced was, according to Zaliki, very good for creating paralysis potions. Kharjo's only objection to that specific potion was that Zaliki had (by accident, of course) hit him with a paralysis-tipped arrow once and he had no wish to repeat such an experience.

"So, what is this one doing now? I can see you are finished with my mace," Kharjo said, crouching beside his friend.

"Zaliki is looking for a Grand Soul Gem," Zaliki informed him. "She wonders if you would also like your weapon enchanted? Zaliki was thinking of the fire enchantment, or frost if this one does not mind."

"Oh?" Kharjo was interested. He had only ever considered an improved weapon, never an enchanted one, but he remembered that Zaliki also carried a Glass greatsword for close combat, which she had enchanted with fire. "I would prefer a fire enchantment, though I did not expect this."

"This one does not wish for an enchantment?"

"No, it is just that I had not considered it before," Kharjo corrected her. "But dealing out extra damage could be useful for taking down our . . . many enemies."

"Something which is not Zaliki's fault," Zaliki deadpanned. "Things attack us because they do."

"You are a walking disaster area and you know it," Kharjo countered. "But, yes, I would like a fire enchantment. Frost seems too cold."

Zaliki gave him a look that she usually reserved for simpletons and idiots.

"I know how stupid that sounds, thank you," Kharjo sighed.

"Just so this one is aware," Zaliki replied. "So, fire enchantment. To make it last longer, Zaliki is using a Grand Soul Gem."

"You only used a Greater Soul Gem on your greatsword." Kharjo frowned as she took out one of the most impressive-looking Gems in the sack. "And you have said multiple times that you wish to save your Grand Soul Gems for more important purposes."

"This is important."

Kharjo was touched that she would consider his weapon important enough for such a Soul Gem.

It did not take long to enchant his mace - only a few minutes, which Kharjo filled by sorting out the food and supplies he had bought from Garyn and his wife Milore. When Zaliki came into the antechamber with his Steel mace, now faintly glowing red from the runes she had inscribed upon it, Kharjo couldn't help but smile.

Zaliki was a hero to most, but to him, a dear friend.

Yes, Raven Rock was a very nice place to live.

OOOOOO

Most of these chapters will actually be from Kharjo's perspective, so while Zaliki - yes that is indeed the name I gave my Dragonborn character in-game - is the 'main' main character, she won't have much in the way of a POV.

Unless it's something that requires her POV, anyway.

But moving on, does anyone know a way to fix the aiming thing for the bows? I discovered I was suddenly shooting my arrows way to the right of where I actually wanted to hit, and I kept accidentally hitting things I didn't want to. Such as my companions. Luckily I have that Companion's Insight thing or whatever, from one of the Black Books, but still. I'd like to be able to aim properly again.

In case anyone suggests it, I'm not too keen on downloading a mod for it - just in case that makes it worse. Also, I basically don't care about mods.

I also did look this up on the internet and it seems that the only suggestions anyone else has are mods or just 'completely uninstall the game and then re-install it', which is something I really, really don't wanna do. I fucking LOVE Zaliki, and Kharjo, and basically everyone in that game, and while I have been considering creating a new character (an Argonian mage), I don't want to delete my very first character.

I'm hoping that the issue will fix itself next time I go to play the game, but if it doesn't, then I can't be an archer anymore . . .

Don't worry, though - even if I can't do archery-stuff in-game, the Zaliki in TKaaD will still primarily be one. Mainly because that Stalhrim bow is beautiful.

Anyway.

Read and review!