Kristian slid his sword into his sheathe as he stood up, offering a hand to pull Illirea up from the ground. She gently grabbed it and pulled herself off, sighing and peering out at the trees of the forests infront of them. She turned to look at Kristian. ''So - Riverwood it is, eh?'' she said with a light smile. Kristian nodded in response and they both started to walk down the forest's slithering road. Illirea peered at the rich nature of Skyrim, while Kristian kept his eyes at the road ahead. The smug thief broke the silence with a cough.

''So, where are you from then, eh?`'' she said with a small smile. Kristian kept his blue eyes on the road as he took a deep breath before replying.

''I used to live in Markarth.. Not for long.'' ''Oh, what happened?'' Illirea said curiously, lifting an eyebrow.

''Well, if you want the full story, I was born a bandit's child. When I was four my mother fled from my father, into Markarth. A few years later, while me and my mother were out enjoying the beautiful nature of the Reach, my father turned up again. Killed her in cold blood. I barely had time to react until I saw her head rolling down a slope. I was still covered in her blood as they led me to their camp.'' Kristian said with a neutral expression on his face, just a small twitch of his eye showed any emotion tied to the event. Illirea's jaw slackened in surprise. Kristian dryly continued his monologue.

''I didn't understand back then. They put a weapon in my hand and taught me to fight, and I quickly forgot. Father just told me mother was in a better place - so nothing was wrong.'' Illirea scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

''I'm.. err.. sorry to hear, Kristian..'' ''No need to be sorry, Illirea. I'm past it.'' They continued walking, and Kristian turned his head over his shoulder after taking the Imperial helmet he wore off.

''So, what's your story, Illirea?'' he said politely as they continued their long walk, getting closer to the river.

''I'm the daughter of a sailor and a shopskeeper. We moved to Skyrim when I was ten, I believe. Not much happened, I just ran around, being my own charmy self. Soon enough, my parents got tired of me, put a coinpurse in my hand and sent me off to the Bard's College.'' Kristian nodded and looked over at her with an understanding expression.

''And I guess that next step of your story is where things goes wrong, aye?'' Illirea nodded and smiled, giving a small kick to a pebble that was unlucky enough to be in the way.

''Yep. Got robbed on my way to Solitude. They took all I owned, including my family's horse. Roamed around to try and get to Solitude for five days. No food, just the water of the river. Somehow, I ended up in Riften. I snuck around the marketplace. Noone knew me, noone wanted to, so I could most of the times get away from pickpocketting. However, one day, I pickpocketted a merchant, and a man of the name Brynjolf saw this and immediately took me to the Thieves' Guild. Soon I made quite the name for myself - Ofcourse, not such a big name - You can't properly be a thief if everyone knows you.'' Kristian nodded again, smiling slightly as they took a sharp turn. The Guardian Stones were right down the road.

''Guess I should be lucky to have met you then - It's not always you meet up with a thief. Aslong as you keep your hand out of my satchel, we'll be perfectly fine.'' The duo stopped at the Guardian stones, slowly splitting to walk to their respective stones. The stones reacted at their glances, and a beam of light shot out of both of them. They turned to sit down at the edge of the river. Kristian leaned over and splashed water into his face, sighing merrily as he turned his face up to the sun, happy to get the ash and sot out of his beard and face. Illirea smiled, looking over at him as she tried to conjure up a conversation.

''Have a wife or kids, Kristian?'' she said curiously, Kristian shook his head in response, turning to smile back at Illirea.

''Banditlife was way too busy to settle down for that. I've had a few romances, ofcourse. They often ended when people heard of my profession - People aren't to keen on marrying away their daughters to a man who's pastime, hobby and work is to kill and rob people in cold blood.'' They both shared a chuckle, and Kristian stood up.

''Now, because I as a man is naturally hungry, I'll show you something that I bet you can't do.'' Kristian grinned wickedly, pulling his armour off until he was down in his loincloth. He put his armour down in a neat pile and then dove into the water with a huge splash. Illirea blinked as Kristian dissappeared under the surface. It didn't take long until he re-emerged again, with a salmon held by it's backtail in his hand. He stood up and walked over to where they were seated and sat down, grabbing a knife.

''That was.. well, one of the last things I expected of you anyways.'' Illirea said with a light grin, watching as Kristian started to gut the fish open with a semi-concentrated face.

''I'm a man of many surprises. Actually not - I'm quite predictable.'' he said with a shrug as he carved the salmon's meat out of the fish in his hands. He wrapped it in a small piece of leather and put it in his knapsack before getting his armour on again, as determined as ever.

''Okay. We've got our blessings, and our food - but blessings and fish alone won't get us to Riverwood - Ready to get going again?'' Kristian said with a humble smile on his lips, patting Illirea on the back and continuing strolling along the river. Illirea followed right next to him, jogging up to get next to him.

''So, when we get to Riverwood, euhm - maybe you'll go talk to Gerdur and I'll see if I can fix any gold?'' Illirea said with a small grin on her thin lips. Kristian looked over at her with a lifted eyebrow.

''Gold?''

''Uh, yeah, gold. Septims. That hard stuff that would make a Khajiit your best friend?'' she said with a roll of her eyes.

''Meh. Fine - Keep yourself out of the way of others though. I don't want to break you out of jail.'' Kristian replied, his eyes tiredly peering at the road. He could start to smell the faint scent of civilization, wood being burnt for warmth and cut for economy's sake.

''Psh - I can break myself out of jail. Once I broke out of Riften's jail with half a lockpick and a bottle of Skooma! True story.'' she said proudly, blowing some hair out of her face.

''You're not wearing any lockpicks now - We both know you were completely skint when we escaped Helgen. And even if you found a miraculous way of getting out who's saying I'd be waiting for you?'' Kristian said, the corner of his mouth twitching into half a grin. His rebuttal quickly silenced his sister-in-binds, as they drew closer and closer to the village of Riverwood. Kristian peered around as they walked to the center of the city.

''Okay, so I go talk to Gerdur and you go and 'get' money.'' he said and turned around. Noone was there to meet his gaze. Kristian angrily grunted at his partner's sudden dissappearance and walked over to the sawmill at the edge of the village. He gently nudged a woman cutting wood on the shoulder.

''Excuse me, miss, are you Gerdur, Ralof's sister?'' Kristian said in the most inviting, friendly voice he could produce. The blonde, stern woman turned to look at him, her grip on the axe's wooden handle hardened.

''Yes - And what's it to you, Imperial?'' she spat out like vile venom, and Kristian looked down at himself, noticing the Imperial Heavy armour he was still wearing.

''Oh no, miss, I am no Imperial. I just fled from execution at Helgen - With, with your brother ofcourse.'' Gerdur squinted suspiciously at him, putting the woodcutter's axe down.

''How did you escape?'' she said with just as much suspicion in her voice.

''Well, this is where things gets abit hard to believe, but Helgen has been.. well, razed to the ground by a dragon..'' Kristian replied dryly. Gerdur blinked in surprise.

''So the dragon I saw fly over Riverwood.. Wasn't my imagination? You need to go and tell the Jarl of Whiterun and that's fast, my friend.'' Kristian nodded at the new idea.

''I was going to do that, but I can not walk over there on an empty stomach, so I am simply asking for, well, supplies. I won't take everything, but preferably as much as you can spare.'' Kristian said with a light smile as Gerdur smiled back and handed over a key.

''Head into my home and get some food and rest if you need it. Good luck, mister.'' Kristian smiled at her and waved goodbye as he strutted into the town to find Gerdur's house. He went up to the door and slid the key in, swiftly heading inside to take a few loaves of bread and what else they had an abundance of. His instincts told him to swipe everything down a bag. Luckily he'd grown smarter then his instincts. He headed out with his knapsack full of what he'd been given, sitting down at the stairs of Gerdur's house to patiently wait for his companion. The seconds turned to minutes, the minutes turned to an hour and then he saw his companion walking out of the Riverwood trader with a proud, smug grin on her face. He headed over to her and poked her.

''What are you so happy and dandy about?'' Kristian said as he grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around. She dangled a big, fat coinpurse infront of his eyes.

''I just got us five hundred septims. Talk about turning a profit, eh?'' she said, an opportunistic gleam in her eye. Kristian quickly nabbed the coinpurse from her hand, pushing past her to get to the forge.

''Hey, where d'ya think you're going with that?'' she shouted angrily, hurrying up next to him.

''I am not staying in this armour for an hour longer. And neither should you - Unless you want the Stormcloaks to attack you on first sight. Now let me buy us a few things and we'll be off to talk with the Jarl of Whiterun.'' Kristian said calmly as he walked to the blacksmith. Illirea seemed awestruck as Kristian returned from the blacksmith, holding two piles, Iron armour and hide armour in left and right hand respectively.

''W-whiterun? Why are we going to Whiterun?'' she said nervously, her hands twitching at her side.

''Because we need to inform the Jarl so he can deal with our dragonproblem.'' Kristian said calmly, dumping the light hide armour in Illirea's arms.

''Now, get changed - We have quite a trek infront of us.'' Kristian said calmy as he started to strip himself off his Imperial armour in the middle of the street - which seemed to quickly cleanse Illirea's head of any worries.

''Uh.. Just.. out here? In the middle of the village?'' she said, peering around at the different kind of folk walking around them. Kristian pulled his new iron boots on and started to strap his chestpiece on as he replied.

''Well, we don't have time to go anywhere else - And to be honest I kindof doubt that you've never been naked infront of more then one person.'' Kristian said with a wry grin, his insult quickly being reflected with a glare as Illirea started to change aswell, much to her own dismay. Kristian folded his arms, scoffing at the obviously embarassed thief, who stood up after finishing her dress up.

''I'll get my revenge, you Nord-bastard.'' she said with pure anger in her voice, which made Kristian put his hands up in the air.

''Well, excuse me, 'princess'.'' he said in his defense, before turning on his heel to the northern gate of the city, and they started their long walk to Whiterun. Not much happened. They ran into an Imperial prisoner escort, and Kristian tried more then once to start a conversation as the sun slowly went down over central Skyrim. They drew closer to the gates of Whiterun, but just as they went to enter, a guard took a grip on Kristian and Illirea's shoulder.

''Halt! City's closed with the dragons about. Official business only.'' the guard said sternly, making Kristian turn with one hand on the gate.

''I have news from Helgen about the dragon attack, I need to speak to the Jarl immediately.''

''You know about the dragon attack.. ? Okay, go on in, straight to Dragonsreach.'' the guard said, nodding. Kristian quickly pushed the gate open for Illirea and himself, and they quickly made their way up to the castle at the top of the hill Whiterun was built upon. He pushed the door to Dragonsreach opened and briskly walked up the stairs leading to the Jarl's throne. A dark elf woman drew her sword and walked infront of him.

''Jarl Balgruuf is not recievi-'' her sentence was cut off by Kristian shoving her aside, quickly hopping up the stairs to the Jarl's throne.

''Jarl Balgruuf! Riverwood needs your aid to defend it's townsfolk from the Dragons!'' The Jarl quickly turned his attention to the large Nord.

''How do you know about the dragons, citizen?'' he said suspiciously, supporting his head on his hand.

''I was at Helgen when the dragon attacked, and it flew this way after obliterating it from existence!'' Kristian said while gesturing around him. The Jarl murmured quietly, crossing his legs.

''Speak to Farengar in the room over there. He has found a way to try and stop these dragons, and I think you can help.'' Kristian looked over his shoulder at the door the Jarl gestured at and quickly hopped down the stairs to get there. Illirea caught up with him, finally breaking her silence.

''Went well? What happens now?'' she said as she tried to keep up with Kristian's brisk pace, but he didn't answer as he came up to the wizard next to his enchanting table, who turned his head over his shoulder.

''Come to Dragonsreach to discuss the current hostility, like the other great warriors?'' he spat out like venom. Kristian muttered and then replied.

''The Jarl said you had a project you needed help with?'' The wizard let out a snort.

''What? Project? You think you can help me? I really don't think so..'' he said afterwards, crossing his arms. Kristian clenched his fist and slammed it into the enchantment table the wizard had previously leant on to, glaring angrily at the ohsowitty mage.

''Lookie here, milk-drinker - I'll help you whether you like it or not. So you tell me what you need help with, and I won't have to be escorted to the dungeon with your blood splattered onto my chestpiece.'' Kristian growled out, withdrawing his hand from the table. Farengar looked around nervously.

''Okay.. okay.. I need you to go get an artifact for me.. As in, go into a deep cave and get a thing called the 'Dragonstone tablet'…'' the wizard said, tugging at his collar. Kristian nodded.

''We'll be off then. Thanks for your co-operation.'' Kristian turned and nudged Illirea's shoulder on the way out, and they again went outside of the city. Kristian took up a map as they trodded along the path through the Whiterun-districts. He looked up from his map to peer around, seeing Illirea slightly hunched up behind him.

''Exactly what are you doing?'' he asked with a lifted eyebrow, standing up and turning a quarter of a lap to her. She pushed him on torwards the gates with a hand on his back.

''Kristian, no time to chat, things to get, right - dragons to stop from killing everything and whatnot..'' she uttered nervously as they went outside the gates, passing a wagon with an old man counting the baskets of vegetables.

''Rea, Talos damn you, calm down!'' Kristian said, stopping and giving her hand a light smack away from him. The man at the wagon turned around as Kristian blurted out his sentence, and hopped down from the vegetable-carriage.

''Rea? Is that you?''

Kristian watched Rea's eyes grow wider and wider at the sudden mention of her name. She made a slight turn to the old man near her and her brown eyes examined the wrinkles and the white fluff on the man's bald skull. Her mouth twitched nervously to find a perfect line to get out of this situation.

"Illirea?" the man tried again, he slowly lifted an arm to reach her scarred face. She stood there, frozen.

"Dammit, Dad…" she gasped.

The man had an expression that was either shock or relief. "I.. I.. you must come! To your mother! She must know about your return and you should tell us about the Bards College! How is Solitude? Oh please.. Come! Come!" He walked up to Rea and started tugging her back into Whiterun. She turned to Kristian pleadingly to safe her from this awkward reunion with her father. Kristian looked like he didn't had business to interfere so she took measures in her own hands.

"Kynareth curse you! We have no time for this!" She spat out and slapped his hands of her arm. "I'll see you when I get back!" she grunted and turned back to Kristian and walked down the road with a quick pace.

Kristian looked bewildered at the rejected father and quickly retook his posture and followed the redheaded Imperial down the road.

Imperials and their honesty-issues.