Skyrim is the property of Bethesda Softworks. For those of you hoping for a bit of Aela having sex, sorry. It's coming, but it's a bit early in the story for it. I'd also like to single out Heart0fst33l for the review. Your few kind words have gone a long way in what has been a truly dismal holiday season. Thanks for the review and thank you all for taking the time to read my work.

I woke the next morning in the Winking Skeever feeling healthier than I had in years. The bed smelled of Aela, bringing memories of last night's sensations flowing into my mind. I have had only a few lovers in my day, but my favorites among them were always playful and aggressive. Even as we came together, Aela laughed and clawed and bit and teased.

She was gone long before I woke up but, left her marks all the same. As I rolled onto my back, it felt like she had done her best to write her name there. I also found my new short sword was missing. Bellowing downstairs for coffee, I sat on the bed and began reading that tome on telekinesis.

I was nearly done reading when I heard the sound of leather boots on the other side of my door. "Sweet dreams lover-boy?" Delphine teased as she strode into my room and took a mug of coffee without asking. An image of Aela's naked body lounging on my bed came to me unbidden. I felt the ghost of the excitement and wonder of that first glimpse of her body course through my veins again.

"That's funny, you don't sound like Aela," I replied without looking up. I thought instead on how Aela had wrapped her legs around me while I argued with the knots on the back of her corset. The end table I'd sat her on still had its contents scattered across the floor. I gestured at the Thalmor file on the dragons I had placed on the dresser to try out my new spell. The small journal followed my motion toward Delphine. She took it out of the air with a cautious glance at me. "Read," I said.

"So the Thalmor think the Blades are to blame for the dragons," she looked thoughtful for a moment. I my mind flashed back on how Aela's hips bucked when I curled three of my fingers inside her against my thumb. "I suppose everyone is guilty of blaming their enemies for every problem. But this puts us back to where we began. We still don't know how the dragons are returning." Delphine mused.

I sent another document her way. "The Thalmor seem to think this Esbern might be able to shed some light on the issue." I shivered at the memory of how Aela's sex glistened black in the dim light of the moons. I had to shift my legs thinking on how she arched her back sucked in a breath when I parted her folds and I let my tongue explore.

Delphine's face lit up, "Esbern! By the gods he's still alive! I thought the Thalmor would have gotten that crazy old man years ago! Figures the Thalmor would be on his trail though if they wanted to know more about the dragons."

I peeled myself away from my daydreams, "Who is Esbern?"

"Esbern was one of our archivists before the Great War. He knows everything of the Akaviri dragon lore of the Blades. He was obsessive really. Nobody paid much attention back then. I guess he wasn't as crazy as we all thought."

"They seem to think he's hiding in Riften."

"Ieago if the Thalmor identify me, they'll crucify me! You must do this! If anyone can help us understand the dragons' return it's him."

I guess I'm a sucker for refugees. She wasn't being figurative about crucifixion. The Thalmor had lined the Gold Road between Skingrad and Anvil with upright timber.

"Alright, I'll depart once I get packed. I need to find a fence anyway and Riften is the place to do it."

"If he challenges you, ask him where he was on the 30th of Frostfall."

Lydia was disappointed to be taken away from the festival even a few hours early and the man she finally let seduce her even more so. I did my best to make it up to her by sidestepping off the main road to watch the fireworks launch from the Blue Palace. We split a bottle Colovian brandy I had swiped from the embassy.

I made some serious enemies last month.

We were nearly to Riften, having traversed the Hjaalmarch, Whiterun, and Eastmarch holds, going cross country where doing so promised a more direct route. An early morning fog had risen up from the lowlands along the road we were following. In the distance I saw dark shapes bracketing the road. Closer in they resolved into two humanoids and an Argonian wearing black armor and masks. They had dismounted from their black horses. My senses of hearing and smell remained sensitive after having my blood purged in Ysgramor's Tomb, but I had not caught a scent or sound of their arrival.

"If their plans are benign, I'm my own grandfather," I commented to Lydia while getting a hand on my saber and dismounting.

"I'm right behind you Ieago," she replied, flexing her shoulders in preparation for the work ahead.

One of the humanoids, a grey-skinned woman in back and red armor blocked our path as we came up. "Sithis calls for you," she said.

"My soul is not for the Void," I replied, dropping into a fighting stance and igniting my blade. Lydia drew her new elven blade in support.

The assassins came on us in a whirl of steel. Each carried two short swords. I fell back, grabbing a rock with my new spell; I cast it at the face of my nearest attacker. It smacked hard on his forehead and put him out of the fight. The Argonian had been intercepted by Lydia and the two were now deeply committed to their own fight. The woman and I were locked in a dance of blades. The space in front of her was a whirl of darkened metal. At intervals I could not begin to predict, a point lashed out at me. Only a willingness to keep moving backward kept me from overbalancing and finding death on a waiting blade.

I sensed the rhythm of the fight beginning to favor the assassin. I needed to do something to break that rhythm.

"Fus ro dha!" I shouted. It was the first time I had tried the full Unrelenting Force on a person. The shockwave blasted my foe off the ground and sent her flying dozens of feet away. She bounced off of trees and rocks like a rag doll before coming to a rest.

I looked over the check on Lydia, seeing her excellent form. Her shield bashed into the lizard man's face. The follow-up was a spinning hack that separated his head from his shoulders. We went together to make sure the woman was dead and then walked over to the unconscious man.

"I like his boots," I commented.