The open cave had a musky smell. There were waterfalls on the other side of the cave and water from the condensation dripped from the ceiling and pillars. There was mold on the rocks that lined the cave and Aurora almost covered her nose from the smell of it. The rest of the ruin hadn't smelled nearly as bad as this, even with the decaying bodies lining the tombs on the walls. Though she hadn't expected any of those bodies capable of moving. She nearly had a heart attack when the first skeleton got up and threateningly stalked towards her. She was lucky to find that they simply crumbled after merely a few hits to the ribs or a quick arrow to the skull. After the first group she easily picked them off before they even awoke.

The bandits were another story, also something she hadn't quite anticipated, but it wasn't as if she had never dealt with them before. They roamed much of Skyrim and she often had to test her combat and archery skills when she crossed their paths. The Dunmer she found stuck in the large spider web was separate from his fellow bandits. After releasing him from the web trap, he quickly fled, yelling something about a treasure at the end of the ruin. When she encountered the live skeletons she had found him slain by one of the ancient Nord swords they carried. On his person, she found a golden claw with three symbols resembling a bear, a dragonfly, and an owl. She had kept the thing just out of mere curiosity (and the fact it was solid gold), but later found it had its use for one of the old Nord puzzle doors at the entry to the cave she was currently trekking through. She felt relief at having the instinct to keep the object and she made sure to put it safely back in her pack in case of future uses.

As she neared the end of the cave there was a small bridge crossing over to an area that did not look naturally part of the cave. There was a large stone wall that curved in a half circle and had what she thought looked like a flat dragon skull embellishment on the surface of the wall. There were etchings on the bottom part of the wall, but she paid no attention to them at first. She was more focused on the single sarcophagus that sat opposite the wall with a chest to its right and a shelf holding some sort of large gem, which she pocketed, and a bottle of poison she also kept to later use for her arrows. She migrated to the chest and to her surprise it was not locked. She kneeled down and rummaged through it finding some septims, jewelry and a bit of armor. She placed the valuables in her back, but she continued to search for the tablet she was hoping to find in the chest. There was nothing. She slammed the chest lid, aggravated that she had yet to come across this ancient artifact Farengar had sent her for and she was beginning to think she was going on some wild goose chase for a mythical tablet. When she slammed the chest lid it made a large sound that echoed through the cave and she heard some bats flutter about on the other side. The other noise she heard grated against her spine as she turned to her left and saw the lid to the sarcophagus open. She quickly got to her feet to see what was making its way out of the coffin and when she saw another skeleton she pulled her dagger from her boot. Before the atrocity could climb out, she tried to stab it through the skull. To her surprise, it grabbed her wrist before she made contact and it slowly stood while holding her hand in place. She tried to yank away, but its bony fingers held her firmly in its grip. As a wave of panic surged through her, she punched the skeleton and his grip weakened and she yanked her hand away but in the process dropped her dagger. The creature shook its head from her punch and she quickly backed away as it continued its pursuit. It withdrew the large ancient great sword from the sheath on its back and charged at her. She backed up nearly running and tripped backwards on the small set of stairs leading to the sarcophagus. She continued to move backwards on the floor using her elbows and feet as it swung its sword down at her. She rolled over to her right and when its sword hit the ground with a loud clang, she kicked at its knees and they buckled as she quickly got back to her feet. Standing in front of it, she readied her bow and sent an arrow flying into its ribs. The skeleton stood and turned to her, icy blue eyes blazing and opened its mouth. The next minute she heard the loud cracking sound of thunder as she was flown back into the large curved wall. Her back hit it with a hard blow and she fell to the floor completely out of breath. Her vision blurred and darkened and she began to hear voices in her head. She shook her head thinking the blow must have been much harder than she even thought, but she tried to clear her mind as the creature came at her again. She saw her bow was just in arms reach and she snatched it before the sword came barreling down at her again. She held her bow above her to block the attack and it splintered in the middle. It raised its arms again for a second blow and she kicked her feet at its pelvic bone. It staggered back and she crawled away, still weary from the shock of hitting the wall.

Once again, the skeleton regained its composure all too quickly and she crawled faster diving down another set of stairs and hiding behind the stone platform the chest sat on. She tried to catch her breath as she looked at her damaged bow. Shooting anything with it was out of the question. The creature appeared to her right and she quickly darted away again, but not quick enough to avoid the tips of its sword grazing her right arm. She pushed herself to her feet while clutching her arm as blood spilled from the wound. The wound hurt worse than any cut she had felt before. It burned, but not the type of burn you would receive from playing with fire. No, this was an ice-cold burn, the same kind she would get when her bare skin held contact with the snow for too long in the middle of Evening Star, when Skyrim was its coldest. She had no weapons and this thing seemed to have some sort of magical power radiating from its weapon and she couldn't forget what it did when it shouted at her.

Feeling hopeless, she knew all she could do at this point was to try and dodge the attacks. She continued rounding the platform, hearing its boney feet clatter against the stone floor of the cave. As she ran up the stairs facing the round wall again, the voices in her head returned and she almost cried from it. She was so flustered already and it made her feel as if she was going mad. She fell to her knees, almost giving up. When she landed, she looked over to her left and saw the dagger she had dropped earlier. She turned her head to see the skeleton approaching and she dove over to the dagger, snatching it with that hand of her uninjured arm and threw. She had never been overly accurate with her left hand and she only hoped the dagger would meet its target. Her eyes followed the blade as it spun through the air and connected with one of the skeleton's glowing blue eyes. She released the breath she was holding and the skeleton fell back as its bones crumbled and some flew apart, while others were held together by the armor. She slowly and cautiously crawled over to the skeleton, just to make sure it was actually dead (or more so than it already was). When she approached it, she noticed the flat stone tablet stuck within its ribs and she chuckled to herself in disbelief as she split open the rib cage and yanked it out. She dusted it off to see the markings on it, not at all understanding what they meant. She shuffled back over to where her pack was next to the chest and after she put the Dragonstone safely among her things she leaned back against the now open sarcophagus with her right foot under her left knee. She closed her eyes, composing herself and breathing in through her nose and out her mouth, trying to steady her raging heartbeat from the fight. Her back ached and her arm was still burning slightly, but had stopped bleeding for the most part. She sat that way for a few moments with her blood stained hands in her lap, still as could be and she reveled in the silence. Then the voices slowly came back.

She barely opened her eyes and stared at the curved wall across from her. The voices were a soft whisper in the back of her head and it sounded more like combined chanting than random murmurs. She widened her eyes more when she noticed a blue glow emanating from the wall. She stared at it a moment longer before climbing to her feet and slowly walking over towards the wall, mesmerized by the blue glowing symbols. As she drew closer the chanting in her head grew louder, but it pushed her on. When she reached the wall she ran her fingers over the glowing symbols as the chanting was like a roar in her head. Suddenly the blue glow enveloped her and she fell to her knees, choking on the light swarming around her and the chanting was nearly screaming in her ears. She closed her eyes while trying to gasp for air and covering her ears until suddenly the chanting ceased and she could breathe again. She opened her eyes and the light was gone. She looked to where the wall had glowed and it was just symbols etched into the stone, nothing extraordinary about them. She ran her fingers over them again and she shook her head, trying to clear her mind. The chanting may have been gone, but like a small itch in the back of her head, the word "Fus" repeated itself over and over like a mantra. She tried to ignore it, but couldn't grasp the meaning of the word and it made her slightly frustrated. She stood at the wall, still staring at the etchings. She was unsure of how long she had remained there, but when she finally grabbed her things and left the cave, night had nearly fallen. It was around noon when she had entered the barrow and she had been surprised at how long she was in the ruin.

She slowly and carefully climbed down the rocks of the mountain, finding a cluster of bones and animal parts at the bottom. She only hoped that she would not run into any trouble since she broke her only weapon. She supposed she could still use her arrows if she needed, but she could only do so much. She took in her surroundings, trying to gauge where exactly she was. When she looked up the mountain, she could no longer see the ominous black arches that hovered over the entrance to the ruin. She looked opposite the mountain and saw a lake before her and decided it was best to follow the flow of the water. If she was anywhere near Riverwood, the water would lead her straight there, if not it would surely lead to another town.

She continued to follow the edge of the water and it formed into a small river, as it wrapped around the mountain. Soon she was able to see the arches she had looked for and knew Riverwood was not far. She crossed the river when the water became shallow enough for her to hop on the stones and random debris to get across to the cobblestone path that was on the other side. She followed the road until finally Riverwood was in sight and she heaved a sigh of relief when she reached the gates. She was sweaty and sure she smelled similar to the moldy cave she had just been in. She considered stopping by Gerdur's house but decided against it seeing how late it was and walked towards the inn. She finally had a few septims from her journey through the tombs, after picking some off the dead skeletons and finding a few in the chests she had lock picked her way into.

She entered the inn and approached the man at the bar, then handed him the ten septims he requested for a room. He motioned over to a room on her left; she thanked him and made her way to the room that had a bed set against the far left corner with a chest sitting at the end of it. There was a small table with a pitcher of water and a small wooden chair next to it. The room also contained a large wardrobe against the left wall and a fur wall decoration above the left side of the bed. She found a bowl and put some oils in to help rid her of the god's awful smell the covered her and she filled the bowl with the water in the pitcher that was sitting on the end table. The water was not warm, but at this point she did not care. She found a rag in the wardrobe and she scrubbed herself raw until she was sure the stench had left her skin. She used the remaining water to wash the rest of the smell out of her hair. She made sure to also treat the wound on her arm, pouring some of a health potion on it before she wrapped it in the bandages she had in her pack. After she felt she was clean and the wound was well-tended, she packed up her dirty clothes and changed into the green leggings and white male's shirt she found in the wardrobe. The shirt was a bit large, but once she tucked it into the pants and adjusted her belt it worked just fine. She climbed into bed and was so exhausted it was only moments before she fell asleep with a tick in the back of her head that continued to repeat the unknown word.


The next morning she reluctantly awoke, her body feeling much heavier than it actually was. Her back still ached and she arched and twisted her back to stretch as she sat up. After she pulled on her shoes and pack she headed out of the inn, making sure to hand the innkeeper some septims for the clothes she had taken from her room. She backtracked towards the Riverwood Trader, needing a new bow before heading for Whiterun. When she entered, the two running the store were arguing about a break in, and she almost turned around and headed back out of the store to avoid any awkwardness. She came up to the counter, setting her pack down in front of the man and she dug through it to give him the the things she collected from her trip to trade for the hunting bow he had in stock. She withdrew the jewels and random little trinkets she had found, setting them all on the counter. The man offered her a decent amount for each and she gratefully accepted the few extra septims he gave her on top of the bow and she placed them in her coin purse with the rest. The hunting bow he had in stock was not as nice as the one she had acquired from Jorrvaskr, but it would work for what she needed. Before she left, she noticed the gold claw that was sitting in her bag. As she reached in her pack for it she asked the trader, "Actually, I have one more thing. How much do you think this would be worth?" The man grew wide-eyed and the woman he had argued with stopped her sweeping and they both gawked at her. "What?" she said, startled by their sudden change.

"I can't believe you found it!" The trader exclaimed. Aurora held up the claw in her hand and looked at it in confusion as he explained himself. "A few days ago, a group of bandits had robbed the store. The only thing they took was that golden claw. They had said something about heading towards Bleak Falls Barrow for some treasure as they left. I guess you caught them before they got there!"

"Actually, I found it while I was there. It was some sort of key in the tomb." She explained as she handed it over to the merchant. He took it from her with a wild smile on his face.

"I'm going to put this back where it belongs. I'll never forget this! You've done a great thing for me and my sister. Here…" He bent down and handed her a large coin purse. "Take this, it's the least we could do for bringing this back." She took the bag from the man and placed it with hers, inside her pack. She smiled at him, glad to see she could help, even if it was by accident. She turned to leave and he hollered for her to return when she needed to sell or buy anything. She waved as she walked out the door and thanked them again.

After she returned to Dragonsreach and gave Farengar the Dragonstone (which he greedily took without so much as a thank you) she headed over to Jorrvaskr like she told Farkas she would. She climbed up the stairs and the first time looked at the odd shape of the roof. She thought it was intriguing that it looked similar to an upturned boat and she admired the style of it. She stopped at the front doors and reached for the handle, but stayed her hand as she remembered her last conversation with Vilkas before she left. What if he was alone in the hall again? Could she face him without them being harsh to one another? She debated it for a moment, though hadn't fully decided as the door swung open and she saw Farkas standing there.

He immediately grinned when he saw her and welcomed her inside. "Look who showed up!" He said shouted to no one in particular in the hall and she was happy to see that he greeted her just as warmly as before. When she entered the hall, she saw Vilkas was nowhere to be seen. She let out a breath of relief and turned her attention to Farkas, who began speaking to her. "How was Bleak Falls Barrow? Did you get that thing for Farengar?" He asked with amusement in his eyes.

"Uh, yeah. It was oddly stuck in the rib cage of a still living skeleton." She replied, recalling her fight in the cave.

"You mean a Draugr?" Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion and he let out a quick chuckle before he explained, "They used to be Nord warriors. I think they still cling to life when they were buried with their weapons and armor. It's creepy if you ask me, but they're dumb, so they are defeated easy enough."

"Well, most of them were. That last one though, he did something to me and my back is still paying for it." She said as she arched her back, rolling her shoulders. He slightly tilted his head to show he was listening as she continued. "One minute I'm firing an arrow at him and the next I was flown back against a wall." She also made sure not to mention her odd experience with the symbols on the wall and the chanting. He would probably think she was crazy.

"That, my friend, was a shout. The ancient Nords were able to do it almost naturally. Now I think the Greybeards are the only ones who do it, but it takes them months or even years to learn." She nods in understanding and he walks her over to one of the main tables in the hall. "Come on, you look like you could use some food, your tiny little self needs all the help it can get." He said with a wide grin.

"I'm not that little. I have seen Bretons that are shorter than me." She said in defense as she ripped off a piece of bread and popped it in her mouth.

"Well, you're one of the smallest people I've met. It's no wonder you had to learn to defend yourself; you make for an easy target."

"Don't I know it. I can't tell you how many times a bandit has thought the same thing." She said as the corner of her mouth lifted.

"Well cheers to you for overcoming it." He said as he raised an open bottle of mead and she joined him in their toast giggling. She decided then, that she liked Farkas. He had been overly friendly the few times she had interacted with him, and each time he brought a smile to her face. It had been many years since she had felt such happiness and it made her want to remain in Whiterun a little longer, just for his company.

Soon, many of the companions had joined them and it was just as it had been her first night staying there. They laughed and told stories while many of them drank their fill of mead. Aela had joined her at her side once again. She and Farkas shared friendly banter and Aurora found it quite entertaining. Though they threw insults at one another, neither seemed to take offense at it and she found it almost comforting that these people could joke in such a way with each other. Neither, though, had taken any harsh jabs at Aurora and she was thankful. She enjoyed the conversation, but she was still timid from her lack of social involvement over the years and both could see that. She had never opened up so much or spent this much time with the same people and it was nice to have that sort of camaraderie.

She had noticed Vilkas the minute he had appeared from the living quarters, but he made no acknowledgment of her presence at first and she felt relieved. Though at times she would catch him looking her way throughout the night and each time she caught his icy stare it sent shivers down her spine. She would always quickly look away only to have her eyes drawn back to him moments later, whether he was staring or not. She wondered how he and Farkas shared the same face but she would feel completely different when looking at the two. Farkas always had a smile on his face and was more than friendly enough to make up for his brother's cold demeanor.

Kodlak had also joined them that night and she also enjoyed his presence. It was relaxing that everyone was just as rowdy when he was there, showing their comfort in his company. Though he gave off the persona of a Leader, he acted just as their equal. She assumed that was why they were all called "The Companions" because it very much defined the relationships they had built with one another. She wondered to herself if she would still be considered one if she often left to be by herself, only returning when she strived for the social connection they provided.

As night fell, she grew weary enough to head to bed before the rest of the companions. She wished her new-found friends good night and made her way down the stairs leading to the living quarters. She walked across the empty and quiet hall to their quarters, picking the same bed she had previously slept in. She took off her shoes and sat on the bed as she took off her belt, laying it on the floor next to the rest of her things. She began unbraiding her hair when a familiar deep voice made her turn towards the open door.

"I see you made it back in one piece." Vilkas was leaning against the door frame on his left side with his arms crossed and was staring at her intently. She stopped midway up her braid and looked at him dumbstruck. She opened her mouth to respond, but then shut it, not having anything to say. His gaze did not move away from her and she tilted her head towards the floor to avoid him. "Find what you were looking for?" She barely nodded in response. He moved his head to try to get a better view of her face but much of her bangs were concealing it so he continued. "You're speechless now, eh? You had a lot to say yesterday morning." It was then she finally looked up at him again, her brow slightly furrowed.

"I apologize. I should not have said what I did." She turned away from him again and continued undoing her braid. He watched her and noticed her hair looked longer when she did not have it in her braid. She brushed her fingers through it and it strayed in different directions from her head, layered down many inches past her shoulders. She ran her hand through the hair at the top of her head and her long choppy bangs flung back to frame her face, swinging off to her left from part in her hair.

"Do you think I'm heartless?" She looked at him again, her lips slightly parted. "Because of what you said the other day." He tilted his head slightly and raised his chin waiting for her to respond. She didn't answer. "Well, you would not be the first. You are not the only person I had to test to see if they were worthy of being called a companion." He said to her, trying to get some sort of response from her.

"It was not that you were the one to test me. It was the arrogant and debasing way that you did it." She looked away from him again towards the floor and he was slightly taken aback by her answer. "I am not a fighter. Or I am not when it is not needed. Taking lives and hurting people, that is not the way I want to live my life." She softly spoke the words with her head still down.

"Then why did you come back?" His words were laced with venom.

"Because I told your brother I would. I have not socialized much and do not often speak, but my words and promises still hold meaning." She looked back up at him swinging her head to move her bangs from her face so she could look at him. "Him and Aela, they make me feel welcome and try to include me in this family of yours. I have not felt that way before and I don't think anyone would blame me for craving it again." They remained quiet and Vilkas dropped his eyes to the floor, staring at her bare feet, with her toes curled in. She had looked away as well during their silence. She was unsure of how long they remained like that and her heart felt heavy from their conversation. She wanted to know why he had followed her down here, why he had spoken with her. Was it just to chastise her about their previous conversation? He had not officially accepted her apology, but at the same time she had not cared if he did. Finally, she decided to break the silence, still not looking at him. "I guess it matters not, I will probably leave tomorrow, if not then in a few days. I did not plan on staying long. These past several days have been rather… abnormal for me and I wish to return to something familiar." She spoke resolutely but there was a tinge of sadness in her voice and Vilkas could hear it.

"You still did not answer my first question." He spoke again. Her eyes still remained fixed on the floor.

"What question?" She asked.

"Do you find me heartless?" She looked up at him finally and he took in her golden irises and tilted his head not having noticed them before. They were luminescent and almost had a glow to them, but the feeling projected in them, was not as bright as the color.

"No, I do not think you heartless." She stated with a breathy voice but she continued. "Though that does not mean your heart is warm." She had made eye contact with him and his icy eyes matched the coldness that radiated from his stiff body. She swallowed loudly before he gave her a nod and turned to leave. She let out a shaky breath and remained frozen on the bed moments before she finally lay down and faced the wall. She curled in on herself under the blanket and she shivered from the conversation. She had received stares and other odd looks all her life, but none had compared to the fierce stare he had given her; it was almost of a feral nature. When she closed her eyes to sleep, all she could see was intense silver eyes, covered in black war paint that felt as if they stared to her very core.


A/N: This chapter wasn't as long but I honestly did not want to spend time going through the whole Bleak Falls Barrow quest. We've all played the game, we all know how to get through it and we all know what happens at the end. I am trying my best to not just write what is in the game so if you feel I am doing too much or too little, review and I'm happy to take your critique! Anyways, next chapter... Dragon! Fave and Review! Thanks for Reading!