So while I was researching this chapter, I found out that Argonians are apparently descended from sentient trees. SENTIENT TREES. WHAT THE HECK.
Ahem, anyway, I hope you enjoy!
"So we'll be taking the northwest road through Rorikstead and Dragon Bridge. Before we get to Solitude, there should be a small path leading to the temple." Analyn sketched a rough map of Skyrim in the dirt behind her house. "Rorikstead and Dragon Bridge are towns while Solitude is a city. The capitol of Skyrim in fact."
"We couldn't take a detour to visit?" Liara asked.
"Well I mean we could, but I don't see a reason too."
"I'd just like to see it. If we're going to be stuck here, we may as well see the sights."
"It depends. If we have any time, maybe." Analyn wasn't really fond of heading to Solitude; the guards there don't forget a face like hers, even if the bounty was paid. "Anything else?"
A chorus of "no" and shaken heads was her response.
"Then let's go ahead and set out." She swept the map out of the dirt. "Since you guys are new, I'll give you some pointers about the wilds of Skyrim. There will be bears, wolves, and saber cats. There will be bandits. There might even be dragons. Whatever happens, try to stay out of the fight. You are too inexperienced and would cause more a problem then help. Do you understand me?"
"Yeah, that ain't gonna happen." Wrex grunted.
Analyn sighed. "Besides the Krogan."
They all nodded, but they didn't look happy about it. They were just going to have to deal with it.
"Good."
…
Three dark forms stalked around a deserted giant camp.
"Master said that they would be here." One cried in a harsh voice.
"They must be. Keep looking!" Another responded.
"Yes, they couldn't have gotten far." The third one added.
In a flash, the three creatures were gone.
…
They had been on the road for about an hour without incident. Shepard walked behind Analyn, with the rest of the crew behind her. No one spoke; the silence comforted Analyn. She was used to it.
That's when the bears attacked.
Two cave bears came charging down from the hills to their left and immediately Analyn drew her sword and readied a fireball. The rest of the group also drew their weapons. Apparently they had already forgotten that she told them to stay out of the fight. As the Argonian blasted back one of the beasts with a fireball, a strange blue glow formed around the other one, lifting it into the air.
"What the hell?" Analyn said, distracted. That distraction provided the perfect opportunity for the bear she had blasted to jump her, knocking her to the ground. "Dammit!" She yelled as she kicked it off her. There wasn't any time to worry about the others; she just had to trust they'd be ok until after she finished of the first bear. A single slash from her blade sent it lifeless to the ground, and when she turned to the others she expected at least one of them to be horrifically mauled.
Surprisingly, that wasn't the case.
The other bear lay dead with a Krogan holding a bloody battleaxe standing over it.
"Hah! Next time make it a challenge!" He yelled, raising his weapon above his head.
Maybe Analyn hadn't given them enough credit.
"Are you alright? You look like you got hurt." Liara asked, concerned.
"No, I'm fine."
"But that bear was on top of you…"
"That's what the armor is for." Analyn proudly thumped her chest. "My own handiwork. Daedric and enchanted with various defensive spells."
"Sounds tough." Wrex responded.
"Damn right it is! Are any of you hurt?"
"No, we're fine. Liara caught the bear in a biotic field before it got to any of us." Shepard said.
"Biotic field? Is that what that blue glow was?"
"Yeah. It allowed me to immobilize it, and then Wrex here attacked with his axe." Liara replied.
"Hah, maybe you should be the ones protecting me."
"Maybe." Liara smiled.
Analyn turned back to the road. She said "We should probably get back on the road. Time waits for neither man nor mer" as she started walking.
Liara walked faster so she was next to the Argonian. "Mer?"
"Yeah, like elves and stuff."
"You have elves here?"
Analyn sighed. "Do you want me to just give you a rundown of all the different races we have here?"
Liara nodded. Great. Now Analyn was a walking lexicon. "So you have the races of man: Imperials, Nords, Bretons, and Redguards. They are all like your friends Shepard and Kaidan. Next, you have the races of mer: Bosmer, Altmer, Dunmer, and Orsimer. They're also called Wood Elves, High Elves, Dark elves, and Orcs respectively."
"I see."
Analyn continued walking, but Liara looked at her expectantly.
"Yes?"
"Well what are you? You said you were an Argonian and you didn't mention them at all."
"Oh. Right." Analyn cleared her thoat. "Argonians as well as Khajit are called Beastfolk. We're unrelated to man or mer."
"Wow. Are you uncommon?"
"What makes you ask that?"
"Well, I didn't see any non-human people in the city we were just in."
"Not uncommon, just shunned. Most people want as little to do with my kind as possible."
"That must be tough."
"Yeah, well get a big enough sword and reputation and anyone will respect you. Doesn't stop them from calling you scale-skin behind your back though."
"I'm sorry." The Asari seemed genuinely upset for her.
Analyn smiled. "Thanks." Normally the Argonian hated people offering pity, but for some reason, Liara's consolation didn't bother her. It actually felt nice.
Behind her, Tali called out "Who are those people ahead of us?"
Analyn had been so distracted by the conversation that she hadn't noticed the six figures on the road in front of them. Squinting, Analyn made out their gold-trimmed grey robes and elvish armor. "Thalmor." She bitterly responded.
"Who?"
"Just wait here. I'll deal with them."
"Not by yourself you won't." Shepard said as she caught up to her.
"I promise I can handle them. They shouldn't be any trouble at all."
"I'm coming too." Liara stepped forwards.
Analyn glared at them. They stood their ground. "Oh by the Eight, fine. The rest of you stay here. You two, follow my lead and let me do the talking."
…
"Carry on traveler. Nothing to see here." The aloof elf said to Analyn as she approached.
She tried really hard not to roll her eyes. She really did. Unfortunately, that effort was to no avail.
"Something you want to say, Argonian scum?" The forced politeness of before fell away to pure disgust.
It was now or never. Analyn could try to backpedal and repair the damage already done or she could throw diplomacy to the wind and take her chances in a fight.
"Hah! I will never stop worshipping Talos, pointy-eared fool!"
"Then you shall die a heretic's death!"
"Wait, what?" Liara yelled as the Thalmor drew their weapons.
"Get ready for a fight!" Analyn called back as she threw fireballs at one of the Justicars. Shepard drew her Ebony blade and Liara raised some sort of blue field around herself. Must be biotics, Analyn thought.
Even though the fight was six against three, Analyn felt confident. She'd beaten situations worse than this hundreds of times over. Her only concern was for the human and Asari with her. With any luck, they could handle the other four until Analyn could get back to them.
…
The past few minutes had felt like seconds. One moment, Analyn was conversing with the unpleasant "elves" before them, the next moment they had drawn their weapons and started attacking. Shepard thought that there had been some comment about "heretics", but all that mattered now was surviving their first real fight in this new place. No wild creature could properly substitute for conscious, sword-wielding opponents.
Analyn was charging the two robed elves in front of her, but the other four had retreated off the road and had some sort of barrier in front of them. Before they left Whiterun, Shepard had taken a few practice swings with her new sword, but it wasn't any real training. Hopefully her talent for learning on the fly would aid her, so she followed Analyn's example. Running at the nearest elf, she raised her sword above her head and brought it down with all the force she could muster. It easily cut through the elf's robes and she cried out while stumbling backwards.
Well that was easier than Shepard thought it would be.
After a few more swings, her opponent lay lifeless on the ground and Shepard was out of breath. It took more effort than she thought it would to wield her seemingly light sword. Turning, she saw Liara had two attackers stuck in a stasis field. Analyn had taken down one of her opponents and was currently chasing the other, blasting fireballs at them. Counting in her head, Shepard realized that one of the elves was unaccounted for. That's when she saw them crouching behind a boulder, aiming some sort of spell at Liara while she was focused on her biotics. Before Shepard could do anything to warn her, Liara was struck with a bolt of lightning.
It tore right though her shields. They hadn't been designed to handle direct impact from an attack of pure plasma. Knocked to her knees, the stasis fields broke on the two in front of her. Shepard yelled out at Analyn, then ran over to her comrade. She slashed viciously at the two in front of her, who responded by blocking with their shields and attacks of their own. However, their blades bounced harmlessly off her kinetic barriers. The fact that their attacks had no effect seemed to confuse them, which gave Shepard the opportunity she needed. She focused on the one to her right, and in a few hits he was down. Just as the other raised her arm to swing, Shepard yelled out and ran her sword directly though the elf's stomach.
She heard the elf behind her yell an insult, and as she turned to take them on, it became apparent that her sword was rather stuck in the body of the elf she had just killed.
Seriously?!
By the time Shepard got her blade loose from the torso, the elf behind her had readied another bolt of lightning. However, right as she was about to fire it at Shepard, a yell came from behind her.
FUS RO DAH
Some sort of shockwave flew past Shepard and directly struck the opposing elf. She was knocked to the ground and in a flash Analyn was upon her and with a single swing, the elf's head was rolling on the ground.
Next to Shepard, Liara shakily got to her feet. "You ok?" she inquired.
"Me? I wasn't the one that got struck with lightning!"
"Fair point." Liara dusted herself off. "I think my shield took the brunt of it; I got winded by the impact, but other than that I'm fine."
Shepard breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't every day one of her crew was hit with something that so easily went through their armor like that.
"Glad to see you guys held up alright in a real fight. I was worried, but it looks like you were fine without me." Analyn said as she approached them.
Shepard felt rage rise inside her at the fact that Analyn had just left them to fend off four of the attackers by themselves. "Why the hell did you leave us? You realize that I've never used a sword in my life before just then, right?!"
The Argonian seemed taken aback by her anger. "Hey, it worked out alright didn't it? I took them out as quick as I could. The bastards kept trying to run…"
"Yeah well Liara got hit by a bolt of lightning! She could've gotten seriously hurt!"
"So? It was just destruction magic. She probably could've taken a few more hits. Happens all the time here. Besides, she's fine, so what's the point?"
"So people getting hit with lightning is normal here?"
"Yeah. I could fire some off right now if I wanted to."
Shepard took a few breaths to calm the adrenaline coursing through her veins. A swordfight had proven to be more intense than she originally thought. "Ok, you're right. No one was hurt. Still, next time, try not to leave the rest of your squad, ok?"
"My squad?"
"Well yeah. You, Liara, and myself. We were your squad. The group of people you fight alongside on missions. You look out for them."
"I tend to work alone."
"I thought you said you were in the military."
"They let me work alone. I don't need to worry about the other soldiers. They take care of themselves."
"That doesn't sound like any military I know."
"Well, you don't know Skyrim."
Shepard didn't have a response to that. It was a fair argument. She wasn't acquainted with Skyrim or its customs. "I guess I don't."
"We should regroup with the others; I'm sure that they'll be worried." Liara cautiously tried to break up the disagreement.
"She's right. Let's go." Analyn gruffly agreed.
Without a word, the threesome turned to head back.
…
After a battle was never the right time for a conversation. That was one of the many things Analyn had learned over the course of her time in Skyrim. Even then, she couldn't understand why Shepard had been so upset over her actions in the fight. She had taken down two of the Jusicars, and saved her when the third attempted to attack with destruction magic. Sure, they had gotten a hit on Liara before Analyn got there, but one hit between the two of them wasn't a big deal. It had been the Argonian's fault that there was a fight to start with, but that was beside the point.
Analyn would worry about smoothing things over after they got back on the road.
"I can't believe you had a fight without me!"
"We didn't know there would be a fight, Wrex." Shepard said.
The Krogan still looked pissed, but didn't protest further.
"Would any of the rest of you like to register a complaint?" Analyn sarcastically added.
Garrus started to open his mouth. Analyn glared at him until he closed it. She turned and started walking. The argument with Shepard had really put her in a bad mood. Strange. Normally she didn't care what people thought about her. Hopefully, a few hours of enjoying the natural beauty of the land would help to sort out her emotions. There wasn't really time to find an enchanting or alchemy table to work at, and normally that's how Analyn sorted out everything that was going on in her life. Fighting hordes of draugr also worked, but that really wasn't an option at the moment, either.
"You ok?" Liara politely asked.
"I'm fine." The Asari had startled her out of her thoughts. Great.
"Shepard isn't really mad, you know, she's just feeling like she doesn't have any control over the situation."
Analyn remained silent, trying to express that she wasn't really in the mood for talking.
"Being the commander, she takes personal responsibility over the crew, and ever since we lost Ashley…"
"No, I understand." It became apparent that she wouldn't leave. Besides, the Argonian remembered when she used to adventure with someone. She had taken personal responsibility over his wellbeing too…
Liara smiled and stayed beside her.
"Anything else?"
"No. Just enjoying the scenery. There is such natural beauty here."
"There sure is." Analyn sighed. It was nice that even an outsider could see what Skyrim had to offer. "Trust me, it's even better when you climb to the top of a mountain then look down. Especially around Dawnstar and the Throat of the World. I get chills just thinking about it."
"You'll have to show me someday."
"Hah, I doubt you'll be here that long." Looking up, Analyn saw the pointed rooftops of a village off in the distance. Pointing, she said to the entire group, "See that? It's Rorikstead. We'll stay the night at the inn there then continue."
"How far?" Shepard asked.
"Probably a few hours uninterrupted."
"Sounds good."
…
Accurate to what Analyn said, the group reached the town of Rorikstead in several hours. As they walked in through the southern entrance, although it was debatable if it was even an "entrance." Hell, it was debatable if this even qualified as a town. There appeared to only be four buildings, accompanied by two farms.
The Argonian stopped in front of one of the larger buildings. "This is Frostfruit Inn. There's only one room available for rent, so you guys are just going to have to snuggle up."
Everyone looked at her and Kaidan.
She cleared her throat. "That shouldn't be an issue. Does this place offer food?"
"Of course it does! What kind of inn doesn't?"
"Ok, ok. What's involved with checking in?"
"I'll handle that part."
"Just like how you handled those elves?" Garrus piped up.
"Oh, for Namira's sake."
…
"I'd like to rent a room, please." Analyn told the innkeeper.
"Found some companions to travel with, eh Analyn?" Mralki replied, taking note of the people filing in behind her.
"You could say that." The Argonian pushed a small satchel of septims across the counter.
"The room to the right is yours. You have it for the night."
"Thanks."
Analyn turned back to the group, "you hear what she just said? It's the room to the right."
It took a little while, but eventually everyone got settled in.
"I'd just like to mention now that I have a penchant for snoring." Wrex called out from his position by the door.
"Fantastic." Garrus responded.
As Analyn turned to leave, Shepard caught her by the arm. "Wanna grab a drink?"
"Sure."
Soon, the human and the Argonian sat beside one another at one of the tables with a Nord Mead in hand.
"I'm sorry about earlier. With the Thalmor." Analyn finally spoke. She was scared at the prospect of losing a person who had the possibility to become the first close friend the Argonian had in a while.
"No, it's ok. You did protect us, and did everything you could to prevent it. It's not like you ran off or anything."
For once, Analyn decided against lying. "Yeeaaahhh, the thing about that is I didn't"
"You didn't what?"
"Do everything I could to prevent the fight."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, let me head this up by saying that I hate the Thalmor and that they're awful." She took a swig of her drink. "The dicks are naturally aggressive, and I could've attempted to kiss their asses and talk our way out of a fight. Naturally, I insulted them."
"Oh."
"So sorry about that. I just can't stand them, and I was itching to wipe the floor with their elitist asses."
"You put us in a fight for no good reason?"
"Not exactly," Analyn was trying to use her most convincing voice, but the commander clearly wasn't buying it. "First off, I knew you and Liara would be fine. Even if you did take a few hits, it wouldn't be anything a few healing potions couldn't fix. Also, the Thalmor are terrors to the people of Skyrim. Randomly 'interrogating' people, funding revolutionaries to weaken the Empire, killing for no damn reason."
"Even if they are as bad as you say they are, is killing them on the road really the best solution?"
"Well what else am I supposed to do? As a Legate in the Imperial Legion, I can't exactly go declare war on them. That would violate the treaty so many died for. Rather, if I kill the ones I come across as a vigilante, then the treaty remains intact and General Tulius has plausible deniability."
"I guess you're right."
"Anyway, no witnesses, no crime. I always make sure that there aren't any of those."
"So does that mean you're going to kill all of us in our sleep tonight?"
"Wait what?"
Shepard was smiling. The fucker was joking.
"Ha, ha, very funny. Don't tempt me." She conjured up some flames in her hand and attempted to look menacing.
"Ooo, so scary." She laughed.
"Hey, I could roast you alive in two seconds."
"But you won't."
"Dammit, you're right. I won't. Just promise not to turn me in." Analyn winked.
Shepard sighed and got a serious look on her face. "It's good you found us. I don't know where we would be without your help."
"Probably some mush under a giant's foot."
"Hah, probably."
Finishing her drink, Shepard stood up. "I'm going to go ahead and get some sleep. I figure we're going to have a full day of walking and pissing off elves tomorrow."
Ugh, I rewrote the ending for this chapter like ten times. I just could not figure out how I wanted to end it. I hope it turned out alright.
Please tell me what you think in the comments!