"Hey! Wake up, you drunken blasphemer!" shouted someone- a woman presumably- angrily. Ana groaned and opened her eyes slowly. She looked up to see a woman in orange and yellow robes glaring down at her. Ana looked around, confused. There was a fountain in the middle of the room and risqué statues of a woman around the room.

"Wh…Where am I? Who are you?" Ana asked. The woman scoffed.

"You were so drunk last night I figured you wouldn't remember trashing the place and rambling on and on about a Sam and a staff of some sort. I might have let you go until you started fondling the statues of our Dibella," the woman snapped. Ana looked at her with a odd expression.

"Dib…ella?" she asked. The woman huffed and shook her head.

"Either way, you need to clean this place up. Now," the woman snapped and walked off, tending to her other duties. Ana began cleaning up and trying to remember the other night. She found a note and opened it up. Her eyes widened as she saw the name "Sam" at the bottom of the letter.

We need the following to repair the broken staff:

Giant's Toe

Holy Water

Hagraven Feather

~Sam

Ana realized everything she had to pick up were the ingredients for repairing the staff. She sighed. Why'd he even offer it if it was broken? She shoved the note into a pocket of her and rushed over to the woman.

"I-I cleaned up everything, and I'm sorry for messing up the place and… the statues," Ana said, blushing as she tried to picture herself fondling a statue. She wasn't usually perverted but then again, she wasn't usually drunk. Maybe that's why everyone liked her at parties…

"Do you remember what I was going on about at all?" Ana asked the woman.

"Hm… You were going on about a man named Grok in Rorikstead. Besides that, it was Sam and the staff he promised you," she told her.

"Oh, okay. Where is Rorikstead?"

"Just west of here. Before you ask, 'here' is Markarth."

"Thank you, miss!" Ana grinned and headed towards the door.

"Don't come back just to do this all over aga-!" the priestess was cut off as Ana slammed the door behind her. She made her way through Markarth, not taking the time to see the sights of the 'safest city in the Reach' (something the guards preached as she ran by). As she reached the exit, a man snuck up behind a woman and stabbed her right then and there. The guards immediately went after him, killing him with a sword through the heart.

"Safest. Right," Ana mumbled to herself before taking her leave. She found her way out and looked for a carriage. She ran towards one.

"Where to, madam?" the man asked.

"Rorikstead," Ana answered. The man looked uncomfortable.

"Sorry, I do not take travellers anywhere but the nine holds. Buy a horse if you must," he said, turning away and ignoring everything else she said afterwards. Ana huffed angrily and went to the stables.

"What's his problem?" she mumbled to herself, "I offer to pay more than usual and he still ignores me! Blasted bastard…"

"Hello! How may I help you, miss?" the stableman asked. Ana turned towards him.

"How much for a horse?" she asked.

"Hm… 1000 septims," the stableman answered. Ana sighed and handed them over, hopping on the first horse she saw.

"Hey! That one is double!" the stableman said angrily.

"Should've said so," Ana said, snapping the reigns and making the horse begin to run. She didn't have time for this. As she crossed the bridge, she noticed a caravan of some sort. She slowed the horse down next to them

"Ah, hello. How may Ri'saad assist you?" a Khajit asked as he noticed her.

"Do you sell maps?" Ana asked, "I'm new to Skyrim and I'm on my way to Rorikstead."

"New, eh? Why, yes, we do sell maps. Ten septims. Or find a camp nearby and take theirs," Ri'saad said. Ana nodded and tossed ten septims at him. He handed her a map and she left without another word.

"I swear to the Gods if this guy cheated me and left me out here, I'm going to strangle him and steal his staff," Ana thought to herself. She sighed and continued on, following the map. Hours go by as Ana becomes weary. She stopped her horse and hopped off, checking her pack. She sighed. She gave her horse half of the bread in her pack and ate the other half. She looked up at the sky, smiling. She always wondered what the Aurora Borealis looked like.

"It's gorgeous," she whispered. Suddenly, her horse whinnied. Before she could look up, a dagger pressed against her neck.

"What is? The sky? Meh, not as pretty as gold," a deep voice said behind her. Bandits. Ana was stiff, not wanting the knife the slice through her jugular if she moved.

"Smart girl. Now, let us have your horse with everything on it and your gold. Then, we'll be on our way," a woman said, stepping into her view. Ana scowled. She bit down hard on the hand holding the dagger, causing the man behind her to drop it and stumble backward. Ana quickly grabbed the knife, lunging towards the woman. Before the blade could meet flesh, Ana was met with a swift punch in the jaw, knocking her down. The knife skittered across the stone path away from her. The bandit woman grabbed it and ran towards her. Ana got up quickly, but was too late to miss the blade. It sliced across her cheek, causing a deep gash in her face. Ana let out a hiss as the pain stung. Warm liquid ran down her cheek as the wound throbbed.

Ana ran towards the woman, kicking her in the stomach. The woman fell and she dropped the knife. Ana grabbed it and plunged it into her chest four, five times before getting up and dodging a punch from the man, who had finally recovered. Ana cut into his abdomen, causing him to cry out in agony. She grabbed the axe from his side and used it to slice his throat. Panting, she watched as the two bled to death. Adrenaline raced through her veins. She dropped the weapons and raided what they hand on them. He took their arrows and one of the bows.

"Should come in handy for hunting," Ana mumbled. She took what little gold they hand and caught up with her horse that had ran off during the fight. She put everything in her pockets and hopped back on the horse. She yawned as she started heading towards Rorikstead once more. No time to rest anyways. Maybe she'll stop at an inn on the way.

.

Ana finally arrived at Rorikstead exhausted. She was on her way to the inn when a Redguard ran up to her, screaming something in her face.

"You! You're the one who took my Gleda! My sweet, precious Gleda…" he said.

"Um… Excuse me?" Ana asked.

"My prized goat! You don't remember?!" the man snapped. He huffed and crossed his arms. "I want her back now. I can't live without her!"

"Sir, I have no idea what you're screaming about. I need to rest after spending hours awake heading here. I'm trying to find a man named Sam," Ana explained, her eyes burning from exhaustion. The cut on her cheek was infected and scabbed over. The man examined her and frowned.

"Alright… I'll hire someone else to look for my Gleda—which I'm still upset about you losing her," he said, "When you stole my goat, you sold her to a giant named Grok for money to buy a ring from… a Ysolda in Whiterun? Yeah, Ysolda. There. Now rest and leave."

Ana rubbed her eyes and quietly thanked him. She tied up her horse and went inside. She sighed in relief at the warmth and smell of fresh food. She went up to the counter and asked for a room. The man at the counter cringed at the first sight of her.

"Hey. I know it looks bad, but I need some sleep or I'm going to pass out on the spot. How. Much. For. A. Room?" she asked.

"Ten—" he began, but was interrupted by the sound of golden septims slamming onto the counter. Ana went into a random room and fell onto the bed. She curled up and fell asleep, finally relaxing. The sleep, though, was short lived. Her eyes shot open as she heard two male voices—guards she recognized.

"So they are hunting me!" she thought. Worried, she quickly went under the bed, glad one of the patrons shut the door for her as she fell asleep. She watched as familiar elven armor walked into the room. She covered her mouth and tensed up, trying desperately not to make a sound.

"How did they find me?!" Ana thought to herself. Her chest hurt from her heart pounding so much. She wanted to cry, but knew it'd blow her cover. One guard threw open the cabinets closest to the door while the other made his way to the bed.

"Men! We have reason to believe she's on her way to Whiterun!" a woman shouted—most likely one of the Thalmor wizards.

Ana gulped as quietly as she could as the men left the room. Once she knew they were out of the Inn, she let herself breathe. Tears escaped her eyes as her heart started to calm down. She thought of going back out and sleeping, but what if there was a bounty on her head? What would these people do for gold?

The man behind the counter left his spot and made his way into her room. He looked around before bending down to look at her. Her eyes were wide and her breath was jagged.

"It's safe. Damn Thalmor think they own everything—especially their own kind," he said, helping her out, "The name's Mralki. I suggest you stay here for a couple days before heading out to Whiterun if that's where you were headed."

Ana nodded, sighing in relief. She let out a soft laugh, which soon turned into a half-sob. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her ears, it almost deafened her. Mralki led her out to the fire and sat her down in one of the seats. Ana wiped away her tears.

"Do you need anything? I'm Mralki's son, Erik, by the way," a man next to her asked. Ana sniffled and nodded.

"How much for a meal?" she asked.

"No, this one's free," Mralki said, having a lady cook her up something. Ana relaxed into the chair and thought to herself.

"So, they're hunting me… But there are people here who want to help me—even though I look exactly like them," she thought.

She snapped out of her thought as the strong smell of meat and vegetables hit her nose. The lady handed her a bowl of stew. Ana ate it quickly, thanking her between bites. The taste was much blander than the meats at home, but it was tolerable. Her mother would have criticized it to no end. Ana smiled a little as she ate, remembering how her mom would constantly teach her the proper way to cook with random ingredients found around the garden. Her smile disappeared as she remembered what brought her here. Anger seared through her veins as she remembered the note her brother left. Damn guards burnt it up just to prove she was "guilty". The poor kid just wanted to be truly loved and felt everyone was too focused on death and war. The last line of his suicide note stated, "If everyone wants death and terror, I'll give them all a meal for their dark and morbid appetites". Ana let out a humorless chuckle. Ironic how her parents were so torn apart by his "murder", but wanted Ana's death just the same.

"Hey, hey! Slow down," Erik laughed as Ana spilled food onto her clothes. She personally didn't care if they were ruined. She'll need to find armor anyway. She swallowed and took slower bites of her food. It might've been bland, but she didn't want to scarf it down and not savor it. Oh, how the people of Skyrim would love a few more spices. Maybe she'll go up to Solitude and try out their meals when it was safe. In the meantime, Ana would stay in Rorikstead. As long as these people liked her, she'd be safe.