Altaïr sat up, not with the usual start, but more like he had been awake the entire time. The morning light was already bright in his chambers.
He remained silent, remembering the last image he had just witnessed.
He's not sure how long he sat, merely staring unseeing at the room in front of him, but he eventually became aware of Malik standing in the door.
"And?" he asked, his voice soft.
Altaïr regarded him a long while. "She did it," he said with an admiring smile, which soon turned to a frown.
"She saved her world. But… I saw her die. She didn't even try to drink one of their damned potions, or heal herself. She just... bled out. And I couldn't even tell her there was no point in being a martyr. I couldn't do anything," he said in a hollow voice.
"I am sorry Altaïr," Malik said.
He nodded, feeling oddly calm.
He felt the nagging sensation of Skyrim fade from his mind, felt himself fully present right then and there, something he hadn't felt since he came back – but still somehow dazed, like someone that heard shocking news, but it not sinking in. He couldn't believe she was gone – "Surely it must be a mistake," he thought.
"I should get cleaned up, the morning is late already," he said as Malik left.
He got dressed, and finished up in his room, but just before he left, he opened the chest at the foot of his bed.
It was still there. Gleaming crisp white in the morning light, the white cloak with the thick collar of white fur. He closed the chest with a sigh, and went to see to his duties.
. . .
Quill breathed out her last breath, her eyes unfocusing until the sky was just a gray blur, as she felt herself slipping away. She blinked a few times, and saw something dimly in front of her.
It didn't look like Sovngarde.
After a few moments she saw an enclave with a desk standing in front of a huge ornate window. Bookcases lined the walls on the left and the right, and in front of the window, with hands folded behind his back, stood a man dressed in white.
"Altaïr?" she heard her own ghostly voice ask in confusion.
The vision faded, and she slowly opened her eyes to the stormy sky again, forcing a shallow breath into her lungs. She rolled over onto her side, the pain quite unbearable – Alduin must have broken several ribs and punctured who knows what when her bit her. She had no hope of help, from herself or from others – except maybe…
"…Odahviing …" she all but whispered before losing consciousness.
. . .
