Summary: What do you do when you wake up in the world of a video game? What do you do when your an unknown amount of time away from when that game begins? What do you do when your saved from drowning by some unknown who dragged your bleeding and naked body to safety? I tried to hide like a smart person, but apparently I'm not allowed.

4E 199 - 21st of Morning Star

I leaned heavily against the railing on the porch of the Sleeping Giant Inn. It was supporting my weight as I pulled the large bear pelt cloak I'd brought with me tighter around my shoulders. My eyes were staring up at Bleak Falls Barrow, thoughts darkened by just how real this all was.

I hated not knowing how exactly I ended up here, not just in Skyrim but in Riverwood too.

According to Delphine, a man in steel armor had come into town with my naked body wrapped in my (now) bear pelt cloak and bandages. Apparently he'd barely caught sight of me before I'd gone over the waterfalls up near Lake Ilinalta. He'd managed to fish me out of the White River, in time but I'd been knocked out and bleeding badly by that point. He'd bandaged up the wounds he could, which hadn't been limited to my trip over a waterfall before rushing me to Riverwood. He'd payed for my room for a week before quickly departing, and no one had seen him in the weeks following.

Delphine couldn't tell me who he was, just that he'd come through a few times over the past few years. Who ever he was, I wasn't sure if I should be thankful for rescuing me or worry that he'd been behind it all. For all I knew, he was a daedra who had was behind this.

A constricting pain in my chest brought me back to my (new) body, causing me to nearly fall over the banister as I started hacking. White hair fell over my shoulders like a curtain as I coughed into a little rag I had quickly brought to my mouth, pain radiating from my lungs and the still healing wounds across my chest and abdomen. It took several minutes for the coughing to stop, and when it did, I had to wipe blood from my mouth as I straightened up slowly.

I hated this. This wasn't' my body. My face was wrong (thank god the lack of mirrors). My body shape and height were wrong. My voice was wrong. And don't even get me started on the white hair and yellow eyes. I was basically in the body of the Dragonborn character I had made right before my arrival, except she had red hair and wouldn't have been coughing up bloody everyday either.

The fear started to settle in as I wrapped the cloak around me tighter. I felt so alone as I listened to cheerful voices that could be heard within the Inn as the two moons stood high above with a beautiful set of northern lights dancing before my eyes.

I wonder if Northern Canada had looked like that at night...

I breathed in the strong smell of man, steel and lavender that came from my cloak. (The stranger hadn't been back for it, and I wasn't about to give it up, even if I looked absolutely tiny wrapped in it. This was my safety blanket thank you very much.)

"Shouldn't you be inside?" A voice asked from behind me, making me flinch in surprise as I turned to face it's owner a little too fast.

"I-I-Uh-I..." I had to pause, my eyes looking at Sigrid in shock before looking down at my hands that were tightly balled in my cloak. Me? Confident? Nah, Alduin would eat me alive and that made me pray even more that I wasn't the Dragonborn. Screw that.

"Come on, you were not far from Sovngarde not three weeks ago, let's get you inside," The older woman said, shaking her head as she carefully took me by the shoulders and steered me into the Inn.

"Ca-Can I- Do you th-think I could... Go to the forge... Tomorrow?" I asked just loud enough for Sigrid to hear me.

Sigrid threw me a look and I blushed as we reached my room. "I-I like the... The noise... It-It reminds me of home... The forge..."

Sigrid stopped glaring at me in way for a soft, understanding smile and a nod. "I'll ask Alvor if it will be alright, it won't tire you to walk all that way will it?"

I didn't answer her on that one, we both knew I couldn't do that walk yet on my own. Not that I wouldn't try.

I really need to find work soon... I thought as I looked over my little room in the Inn. Delphine was wasting money keeping me here, and it made me wonder on why I hadn't been thrown out yet. Money usually won over kindness, but here I was...

"I'll send Dorthe tomorrow afternoon," Sigrid eventually said before patting me gently on the head. "Good night Summer,"

"Night..." I mumbled, slowly walking into my room as Sigrid closed the door behind me. Carefully untying my cloak, I took it off, leaving me in the small nightgown I'd been given. Depositing my cloak on the chair in the corner I laid down in between the warm fur pelts with hand stuck out as I concentrated on small flame I'd been able to create in my palm.

The Flame spell lit up my room for a moment before I closed my hand into a fist, extinguishing the light and returning the room to darkness. Despair washed over me again as I turned over carefully, burying myself into the pelts.

Bloody hell, I just want to go home...

4E 199 - 22nd of Morning Star

"Sigrid said you like the noise from the forge," Alvor said conversationally as I sat in the far corner. It was hot around the forge, and even where I sat a good distance away left me feeling slightly uncomfortable. I was sweating quite a bit under my cloak, but since it was the only article of clothing I owned that wasn't my nightgown...

"It reminds me of home..." I murmured, hands playing with the dagger Alvor had been showing me earlier. It was a simple iron dagger, dulled a bit, but something I could play with. I had been looking for something to keep my hands busy earlier and instead of some stray piece of metal, Alvor thought it would be safer for me to have a dagger. "I like making things with wood and metal... I made a table once for my mother."

There was silence for a moment. I kept playing with the dagger, flipping it in my grip, or at least trying to like I had seen on TV so many times.

I used to do something similar with my pocket knives when I was younger but I hadn't tried in a long time. My fingers (no, not mine) were long and thin, nothing like the short stubby ones I had before. I kept over judging my actions, and the knife would slip into my lap. Thank god for a dull blade or I'd be back at the inn with Sigrid or Delphine ranting about not being careful.

"Did she like it?" Alvor asked as he checked on the blade he was fixing for the mill.

"She loved it. It wasn't a big enough to go in the kitchen so we used it in the sitting room. She used to brag about it to her sisters," I sighed, rolling my shoulders as I picked up my little dagger again.

"She sounds like a good woman," The awkwardness was growing.

I looked up at the blacksmiths back as he started hammering away at the blade. I was trying to gather my thoughts but they seemed to be back in the familiar state of chaos. My slow recuperation was slowly driving me mad. This body looked like it had been strong once was now weak and fragile. I hadn't been kept down for this long since I had been a child and broken my leg trying to copy something I'd seen on TV.

Though not an athletic person, I was still granted an astonishing amount of mobility compare to this. Not being able to do things I normally did everyday to keep my mind busy was stressful in itself.

I didn't know what to make of anyone in Riverwood because I'd met them the first time through a game.

How do you act around people when they weren't even real a month before?

(Don't even get me started on how I reacted when Delphine first introduced herself when I was weaker than a babe, unable to talk or move. Those were some really bad thoughts. I hated myself the first time around for killing Paarthurnax, now, I wasn't sure what to think on that. I prayed I wasn't the Dragonborn and I would never meet him.)

My hands tightened on the cloak once before releasing it as I spotted a sadly familiar scene. A sigh left me as I shook my head at the two morons fighting over Camilla Valerius. I didn't much like Camilla, she just rubbed me the wrong way (the comment about me being a charity case had nothing to do with it), but the fighting was just getting old.

At least treat her like a woman and not a possession. At least Faendal was nice to me, Sven thought I should have been thrown to the wolves already.

Sigrid choose that moment to appear from the house, her hands using her apron as a towel. The disapproving glare settled on the two unaware males made me feel a slight bit of sadistic glee as the mother marched out into the street, grabbed the two by the ear and started shouting at them. The poor hunter who had just exited the Riverwood Trader had to inch along the wall before bolting up past Gerdur and Hod's to flee.

"Will those two ever learn?" I sighed, shaking my head before turning back around and looking into the fires of the forge. The rest of the day was uneventful thankfully, leaving me to question Alvor about his work before discussing Sigrid's little rampage through town earlier with Gerdur.

Despite Ralof and Hadvar's animosity, those two ladies were thick as thieves. They didn't care for this rubbish future-Stormcloak sympathizers were spouting like horse shit. They agreed Talos worship shouldn't be banned, but this talk of rebellion that was being not so quietly suggested didn't sit well with them.

They didn't want a civil war, and I couldn't blame them. What you didn't know is that Dorthe is actually the youngest of four. Her the two eldest were city guards, one for Solitude (eldest) and one for Whiterun (next eldest). The last brother was currently learning healing magic at the College apparently in hopes of bringing a healer back to Riverwood instead of having everyone go to the Temple in Whiterun for emergencies.

Sigrid hadn't known how to react on that one when her son had told her he was going to the College apparently. According to his last letter he would be home soon for a visit and that apparently Winterhold was cold even to Nords. As a Nord myself now (the only good side to all of this was I didn't get as cold as often), I had to wonder just how cold it was. I missed the thermometer.

I had told her that I hope her son could make such a difference that others would see the benefit of having a healer nearby as well. She had looked so proud.

"Are you staying for dinner?" Alvor said as he gently helped me to my feet. I'd been sitting too long, my legs were numb and I couldn't quite get them underneath me.

"Of course she is!" Sigrid scoffed, once more appearing out of nowhere (was she some master of sneaking or what?!).

"I-I co-"

"You can and you will, now get inside," Sigrid ordered, causing me to shake my head in acknowledgement and let the scary woman drag me in for supper. It was delicious by the way.

4E 199 - 16th of Sun's Dawn

They have a Valentines Day. I'm not sure if I'm shocked or not, but either way, Sven and Faendal have gone to new lengths. I couldn't help but stare as the two were now arguing inside and Delphine hadn't done anything. Orgnar was doing an amazing job of ignoring them as he blatantly watched Delphine's butt swing from side to side as she went about serving drinks and food to customers.

I on the other hand had found myself in charge of Riverwoods two bratlings. Gerdur and Hod had asked me to watch over Frodnar for them while they made a trip to Whiterun to speak with the Jarl about some building or other and the wood they would be supplying before spending Heart's Day in the city (town to me). Since I already had Frodnar, I had offered to look after Dorthe as well so Sigrid could have some time with her husband without having to worry about her daughter. I had been doing better in the last two weeks, and had even been learning to cook from Delphine while doing odd jobs around town for everyone in hopes of repaying the village back for the kindness they'd offered me.

"Ma and Pa should be home tomorrow, right Summer?" Frodnar, for all his bluster, was an adorable Mama's Boy. The pair of eight year olds had taken it upon themselves recently to try and make me feel better and had included me in a few games of hide and seek. I couldn't play for long, but I found it easier day by day when I wasn't doing something for someone else.

"They will be, no worries, I thought you enjoyed having me watch over you!" I mocked hurt, placing my hand over my scarred breast as I leaned dramatically over to Dorthe. "And here I thought you loved my stories!"

"I do!" Frodnar said quickly, his eyes widening in fear. He probably thought I wouldn't be telling him a bed time story again. I would have read him a book, but I couldn't actually read the written language. Bethesda made it easy on players, here they wrote in Futhark (Norse Runes).

I wasn't the only one though either. Alvor, Orgnar, Hod, Hilde and Embry didn't ready either, reminding me of the difference in culture.

A part of me was almost desperate to ask Sigrid or Gerdur to teach me, but another was ashamed. I spoke and sounded like a well educated woman, and that is what everyone expected, and that just made me feel worse and made me keep my mouth shut. I would certainly be trying to put into the ears of someone that Skyrim could benefit from an education system. Women were typically expected to read and write in Skyrim, not the other way around (culture shock), and meant most men didn't learn to read or write until they joined the city guard or the legion.

Skyrim itself didn't really have a designated army, apparently the Legion was the closest thing and that Skyrim basically ran on a reserve style military that conscripted warriors, mercenaries and mages alike.

"Hm... Do you really?" I asked, sipping on my cup of water.

Alcohol apparently agitated whatever made me cough up blood to the point it caused sever pain in my stomach and chest and would result in me immediately throwing up blood (not pretty) and then passing out. For my safety, no one had offered me another drink again. Not even Embry who challenged anyone in the Sleeping Giant to a drinking contest.

When Frodnar started saying yes like a broken record, I caved. "Alright! Alright! You win."

"Could you tell us more about the Boy Wizard?" Dorthe asked shyly, causing me to hide a sigh. These kids...

"Your wish is my command my lady, shall we make for bed now so you can hear the rest of it?" I asked, standing up and stretching a little. Sigrid had given me an old dress of hers to wear, a practical one in dark blue and grey that I could now wear around town without having to go running around in just my nightgown. Not that I had minded but I had apparently been setting a bad example and needed some more clothes. I even had a few pairs of tunics and leather breeches for when I was doing chores around town.

"Yes!" Frodnar cheered, quickly standing up and taking his plate to the counter with Dorthe hot on his heels.

"Boy Wizard?" Delphine raised an eyebrow towards me.

"It's a story from home, a rather famous one about this boy who keeps facing the same necromancer who killed his parents up. He eventually defeats the necromancer, but many lives were lost." I shrugged, grabbing my large cloak off the back of my chair. I could still smell the owner on it but now it was accompanied by my own smell of mountain flowers and burnt wood from hauling wood to the forge for Alvor and Hod.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" I called as I followed after the two children who were waiting for me impatiently at the door. Despite how out of place I still felt, I no longer felt the nagging depression that had been prominent several weeks before.

...

I just prayed I never met my Mysterious Rescuer ever again. I'm no prude but I was completely naked and a needed fishing from a river. And this was before he had to wrap bandages around my naked chest and abdomen.

I think I had figured out that particular injury. I'd been dreaming of a werewolf chasing me recently, and in the dream it always managed to slash me from my right shoulder, across my breast and stomach down to my left hip as I fell backwards into some very cold water. It may have been just a conjured idea, but the fear I felt when I dreamed seemed a little too real.

Either way, Delphine had claimed it was a miracle I was alive, and the horrible scars I now had attested to it.

"Ready then?" I asked, coming back to reality when Dorthe pulled on the white braid falling over my shoulder. The two children were in their night clothes and securely tucked under the pelts we'd organized on the floor as a large bed. Sigrid thought my idea of a 'sleep over' was adorable. "Alright, where was I earlier?"

"Harry was fighting the giant snake!" Frodnar said, as he leaned against Stump. I gave a sad smile at his enthusiasm. It would be nice if battles looked as good in stories as they did in real life. It seemed wrong now to romanticize war, not when the rebellion was not even two years away and the Dragon Crisis would soon be taking hold of Skyrim (along with other problems).

"Right, so with the Sword of Gryffindor held in hand, and Fawkes distracting the great snake..."

Fangirl: Alright, someone is going to lynch me because this is not the story everyone was waiting for from those reading my other stories. Which will eventually have new chapters out. Recently I've been going through an extremely hard time with my depression and life in general. This story is kind of my pick me up and will soon be followed by a new chapter of The Hobbit - An Unexpected Companion. That I swear on my life, the plot bunnies are just very terrified of Ambush and she's decided to wander off into other worlds. (She had a great deal to say about Infinity Wars by the way.)

Anyways, let me know what you think about this new story, I'm eager to hear your thoughts and curious on who you think Summer's rescuer was!

Until Next Time!

Howlin' Mad and Lovin' It!

PS. I apologize for typo's, spelling mistakes and bad grammar, I'm a horrible editor for myself!