Quick note: This is after the Dark Brotherhood Questline, the main character is a female Khajiit, it will be mature in later chapters, and it will have very little canon after the first few chapters.
As I dismount Shadowmere I hear the distinct huffing and puffing of Aela and only a few moments later I am joined by the winded huntress. Remaining silent I walk away from both of them until I am only a few feet away from what I came here for. The Black Door. As I glance over my shoulder I see Aela sitting on the ground, near Shadowmere, pouring over our map. She seemed almost obsessed with the map, I have no doubt she had been staring at me only moments before. With a slight sigh I push open the heavy steel door.
The smell of smoke and death washes over me with so much power I almost gag. Blinking profusely I slowly walk deeper in to the once great sanctuary. As I arrive in the main sanctuary I can't help but walk closer to Arnbjorn's corpse. For some reason ever since I first saw him a hatred so intense had formed that every time I was around him I'd have to restrain myself from morphing in to my beast form and showing him what a real werewolf looks like. After giving Arnbjorn's uncaring corpse a quick kick to the head I continue deeper to get to what I came here for.
I don't remember getting to the room she's in. All I remember is seeing HER. Nazir and Babette call her a traitor. They don't understand her like I do. A small part of my mind will often whisper "She wanted you dead you know..." every time I come to see her. I know she wanted me dead, but in the end she cared. I think. Isn't that all that matters? I like to think it is, it has to be. But it doesn't matter what she did right now, nothing matters right now. Listen to me talking about a corpse like she's still alive. My nerves and feelings are getting the better of me. So I do what I always do when I come here to see her. I talk.
"I found a court wizard yesterday that sold me the Soul Trap Scroll for a steal. I plan on going out and practicing as hard as I can until my conjuring is as good as it's going to get. I've talked with Phinis Gestor and he said that when my conjuring is good enough he'll give me a test. If I pass he's assured me he has a scroll that will help me bring you back. He warned me that if I use the spell on you you'll come back good as new, but he said you might not be happy. I think he's just trying to pull my leg. Who on earth would like being dead more than being alive? I know you won't be as strong or fast as before, but I'm sure you can still help the Brotherhood like you always use to. Then you can come see all the stuff we did with the new sanctuary, you can explain in full why you did what you did to Nazir and Babette, and then maybe we can start over and grow to be even better friends than we were last time. I think you'd like that. You won't have a lot of the members and Arnbjon's dead, I think you'll get over it though. Actually I'm sure you'll get over it. I know you'll have a good laugh when I tell you how I struck down the emperor while he sat in his chair, all he could do was sit there and look like an old goat! I think I better go now, Aela wants to go to Winterhold and sell some of the treasures we've accumulated over the past few days. Well goodbye, Astrid!"
With a quick jump I'm running out of the sanctuary as if Alduin himself was after me. A heartbeat before I get out of the sanctuary I collect myself and try to look as casual as possible. No need to give Aela another reason to question my sanity. As I leap on to Shadowmere I feel a hand on my leg. As I look down I realize it's Aela, trying to keep me from running full speed ahead of her I suppose. "I think that going to Winterhold would take to long. I think we should go to Riverwood instead. And please restrain yourself from running miles ahead of me. Remember what happened going to Windhelm?" With a shudder I remember the fear of having to fight a Blood Dragon with only Shadowmere as a ally. "Alright fine we'll go to Riverwood. I hope you realize it might take a few days for him to buy every thing. And as for not getting ahead of you I'll stay to the paths but restraining Shadowmere from her full potential is a crime. I suppose I could wait at certain points but no more."After getting Aela to agree I point Shadowmere towards Riverwood and hang on as she speeds towards our destination. As I ride I silently curse Aela for just now deciding we should go to Riverwood. I could have had more time with Astrid.
As we stop to rest I see a small mudcrab walk his way along the edge of the river. Suddenly a piece of advice I heard about getting better at conjuring comes to mind. Kill a mudcrab and use Soul Trap on it five or six times. Wait an hour and repeat. Continue until you feel your conjuring can't get any better. Well looks like little muddy just got the honor of helping me bring Astrid back. "Hey Aela I know it's early but can we camp here for the night? I wanna practice my conjuring..." I yell over my shoulder. "Conjuring? Sure. Good to see you're starting to want to get better at anything besides two handed swords. I suppose I could practice my sneaking while you conjure." She answers from across the clearing. With a smile to myself I take out the Blade of Haafingar and slowly walk over towards the mudcrab. With a quick prayer to Sithis I slam the blade down on the mudcrab. As he collapses with one final twitch I smile knowing that soon I will have the person I gave every thing for once again by my side.