A.N: A very big thank you once again to anyone who reviewed, followed or favourited the story, or myself, in the last chapter. Much appreciated as always.

This chapter is, thankfully, back up to its more usual length rather than that pitifully short last chapter of mine. Hopefully this one'll be far more interesting for people.

Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Complications

"Are you enjoying yourself, my little elf?"

Nibenor jolted awake, eyes snapping open, his body covered in a thin sheen of sweat, breath coming in ragged uneven pants. Bed sheets tangled about his legs and hip, brushing against the somewhat sensitive area that now stood to attention. His cheeks flushed red in response to his own state and he busied himself with straightening the sheets out, trying to calm himself down. It didn't seem to be working, instead his mind concerned itself with wondering just where that dream had come from. Those had been male hands running over his body and he had never thought about male hands in that way before, though they had been quite effective in his mind. He wondered vaguely whose hands they were before passing it off as unimportant. It wasn't like he planned to go and find himself a male partner. Right now, he wasn't looking for anything of that sort and if he did, he reckoned he'd find himself a nice Bosmer lady for that sort of companionship.

He sighed, leaning back onto his elbows and looking blearily up at the ceiling. Pale sunlight was streaking in through small gaps in the walls, highlighting the flaws in the wooden boards that made up the ceiling, the knots and dips and subtle warping of wood where rot was beginning to creep in. He supposed Skyrim's winters might do that to a building. Rot wasn't exactly a problem in Valenwood. If the trees that housed the city were in too damp or cold an area, they simply moved to somewhere that they found more tolerable.

Thoughts drifted back to his homeland, wondering what his sister was doing now, if she had made it home safely, if she was getting into trouble trying to feed the family. That reminded him of his purpose in Skyrim and with a resolve he had found waning in his time in Whiterun, he pulled back the bed sheets and made his plans to head back to Jarl Balgruuf.

He dressed quickly, though he found that his arms and legs ached from the previous day's activities and his back felt taut, muscles protesting vehemently as he shrugged into his armour, struggling to do the buckles on his own. He shouldered his pack and bow, picking up the Dragonstone and golden claw that he had found before and he balanced them carefully, making his way out into the main room to eat. A rumour about the claw led him to the shop up the road and he parted with it for a not inconsiderable amount of gold before departing for Whiterun once more.

The day was pleasantly mild, he found, and he could only be thankful that it wasn't colder, else his muscles would have made the walk back to Whiterun a significantly more difficult task. It wasn't exactly easy as it was, his back laden with pelts and bits and pieces that he thought Belethor might be able to trade with him for. The Dragonstone bumped into his spine painfully as he walked and it only served to remind him of his previous thoughts that he was not cut out to be a warrior or adventurer of any description.

It took him a few hours to return to the city, though had he been asked, he wasn't walking at full pace, instead taking the time to watch the salmon leaping up the waterfalls that ran down from Riverwood, occasionally pausing to watch a butterfly flit around a plant. Or he did until an alchemist appeared and, somehow, managed to snatch it from the air and plucked its wings off without a seconds hesitation, leaving the wingless body on the floor. Nibenor watched quietly, wondering if, at this point in time, his life in Skyrim was somewhat the same. Small and insignificant, ready to be snuffed out as long as it suited someone else's needs. Although he doubted he was quite as beautiful as a butterfly. Though perhaps as fragile looking as far as the Nords were concerned, he'd bet.

He looked up as he neared the city, taking in the sight of its banners, sailing low today with only a light breeze to stir them, almost lazily and despite having only been there for a few days, he felt a small sense of comfort and safety at the idea of getting inside the settlement's sturdy walls. There were people he liked there, he was building a new life there and he supposed, to an extent, that made it his new home. For now anyway. Though in all honesty, though he had heard about the grandeur of Windhelm, the beauty of Solitude and the business of port life in Dawnstar, he felt that there wasn't a city in Skyrim that could be more appealing to him than Whiterun. At any rate, it wasn't like he was planning to visit any of those places anytime soon and especially not Riften. It sounded like the kind of place he should avoid at any cost.

The streets were as busy as ever as he trotted up through the plains district, the market place humming with the noises of human activities, Anoriath's voice cutting through the noise to advertise his fresh caught game, Fralia struggling to sell her trinkets that her husband made, Carlotta and her daughter standing behind their stall, trying desperately to coax Jon into buying some 'fresh' fruit and veg. He smiled at the two as he passed, receiving a small nod from Carlotta in return as he headed up the steps and into the wind district, looking behind him at the scene of the market. It always looked busy to him, though Ysolda had assured him that it wasn't. She claimed that before the civil war started, peddlers and merchants came from far and wide to trade in Whiterun and customers too, hoping to gain bargains or find unusual items. At times it had gotten so busy that there were no rooms for stalls and traders stood at the side of the streets, employing local children to wave flags advertising their wares and position, while buyers squeezed against one another like leeches in a jar, barely able to move and the entirety of Whiterun's trading area looked like a swarm of ever moving colours.

The thought didn't sit particularly well with him. In all honesty, he preferred quieter settings, where he had room to breathe and move, though the idea of all the delicacies that were brought in with exotic traders made him salivate and he thought that maybe he could tolerate such a thing for the chance to eat some new and delicious foods. He had a bit of a sweet tooth, something that he never really got to satisfy in Valenwood with its carnivorous diet, but since trying sweetrolls he had found his new love in life. And those honey nut treats as well and he couldn't say no to apple dumplings or snowberry crostatas. He swallowed as he approached the palace, not wanting to look like a slavering idiot in front of the Jarl. He wondered if he would offer him any food from his grand dining tables. It was approaching midday after all and Nibenor's stomach growled hungrily in response to the thought.

The wooden doors of the palace opened smoothly and he slid inside, opening them just enough to get inside, before letting them shut behind. To his disappointment, the Jarl was not only not having dinner, but nowhere to be seen. Neither was Irileth or Proventus and he wondered if something had happened to distract their attention from the throne. He shook his head. It would have to be something big for that to occur and he had heard nothing in the town. Although, now that he thought about it, the guards looked somewhat uneasy. He shrugged it off, making for Farengar's side room, trying to ignore the scents of dinner being cooked and thinking instead about his latest adventure, wondering just what the court wizard would want to know, if anything. To his surprise as he entered the room, he found Farengar conversing with a woman he didn't recognise. She stopped speaking immediately when he entered, staring at him, though her face was shadowed by a hood.

"Ah, the Jarl's protégé returns," Farengar announced as he noticed the woman's distraction and turned to face the elf "It seems you're a cut above the usual thugs the Jarl sends my way."

Nibenor lifted a black eyebrow, not sure if that was much of a compliment, though too shy to really say anything about it. Instead he settled for pulling the Dragonstone off his back and placing it on the desk, still in it's binding, glad to be rid of the weight.

"Your Dragonstone." He said simply.

Farengar let a wide grin cross his face at the sight of the stone and Nibenor took a step back, not quite sure about how the wizard was going to react. He looked like he was about to start kissing the stone...or maybe even its retriever.

"Ah excellent," he rubbed his hands together before he started unwrapping it and gesturing to the woman at his side "My...associate here will be pleased to see your handiwork."

The woman's head cocked as she looked between the stone and Nibenor.

"You went into Bleak Falls Barrow and recovered that?" she nodded at the item Farengar was now running his hands over almost lovingly. Her voice was not what the elf had expected and he started a little at its deep tones before nodding to her.

"Nice work," she responded, shaking her head as she noticed Farengar's almost amorous touches on the stone "Send me a copy when you've deciphered it."

The Nord nodded distractedly, muttering a "yes, yes.", still poring over the slab and the woman sighed exaggeratedly before excusing herself. Nibenor opened his mouth to say speak to Farengar about who exactly the woman was when he was interrupted by an uncharacteristically harried looking Irileth charging into the room.

"Farengar!"

Her breathing was heavy as she ran up to the wizard.

"Farengar, you need to come at once. A dragon's been sighted nearby," she bent at the waist slightly as she paused to catch her breath, eyes alighting on the Dragonstone and she immediately looked at Nibenor, understanding that he had been the one to retrieve it "You should come too."

Nibenor opened his mouth to protest, not really wanting to get involved with a dragon, especially one that was making the usually calm Dunmer so agitated. In his chest, his heart stopped for a moment at the words, a stab of panic racing through him at the thought of being exposed to another dragon and he hoped that it wasn't the giant black one he had encountered at his almost-execution.

His words went unheard as Farengar threw a barrage of questions at the dark elf and she cut him off irritably, grabbing Nibenor by the wrist and dragging him through the throne room when he didn't start moving of his own accord. He winced at her tight grip on the joint, her dark fingers pressed against the still healing wounds on his wrists. She seemed to realise after a moment and released him, letting him trot after them as they made their way past the throne and the stairs behind it.

Balgruuf was already waiting for them as they reached the top of the stairs, his face taught with anxiety as he spoke to a guard. He sent the soldier off to rest a moment later, turning to Irileth and briskly instructing her to gather her men. Worry played across his face as he spoke to her and the wood elf got the impression that that particular expression of tender concern was reserved just for her. He wondered if, after the death of his wife, the Jarl had become more attached to his housecarl that he strictly should be.

She stepped aside after another moment, allowing the Jarl to look at the room's other occupant and the elf craned his neck back slightly in order to meet the Jarls' stern gaze. Panic swirled in his stomach, knowing what the man was about to ask of him but he found an odd sense of pride there too, his chest puffing slightly at the idea that this nobleman, this tall lean Nord, this leader of warriors, put so much faith in a little elf like him.

"There's no time to stand on ceremony, my friend," he spoke quietly, the gravity of the situation sinking in for all of them and the pride in Nibenor's chest gave way to cold fear " I need you help again. I want you to go with Irileth and help her fight this dragon...you have more experience with dragons than anyone else here."

Nibenor took a breath. He wasn't entirely sure that seeing a dragon from an unusual angle while your head was on a chopping block, before running madly away from it, counted as experience that was worth having. Even if he did manage to not scream hysterically during the event. He elected to remain silent, nodding in a slightly defeated way. The Jarl seemed to genuinely trust him and find him useful and as much as he didn't want to go, who was he to question the wisdom of a Jarl?

A moment later he was being ushered out of the room, Irileth practically charging out of the room and down the stairs, sprinting though the long hall and out of Dragonsreach. He found himself unable to keep up with her, her longer legs and better fitness leaving him, behind and he only got the chance to catch his breath when he reached the party of guards they were meeting with. Each of them seemed to be as about as enthusiastic at the prospect of fighting a dragon as Nibenor himself was, even as Irileth gave her speech. The guard next to him was mumbling under his breath and the elf was sure he caught the words;

"We're going to die."

Around the guards, a crowd of people were gathering, standing on the steps of the Drunken Huntsman, Elrindir poking his head out of a window to listen to what was going on. Anxiety was running through the crowds, nervous murmurs running through them at the word of the dragon's attack on the western watchtower.

He scanned the crowd as Irileth spoke, looking at the faces that were becoming familiar to him, the ones he was getting to know as friends and those he recognised as townsfolk he rarely spoke to. Most of the city's population seemed to be turning up now and he spotted the hulking form of Farkas at the back, easily visible over the heads of everyone else, his brother on one side, a male dark elf, struggling to see through the crowd of Nords, on the other. There was a faint expression of distaste on both the brother's faces, though Vilkas' was far more pronounced and half of it seemed to be directed at the crowd. The rest of it seemed to be directed at the group of guards, as if they didn't think they could handle a dragon without the might of the Companions behind them. Sharp blue eyes scanned the helmeted men and Nibenor met Farkas' gaze as he looked them over. His expression instantly changed to recognition and surprise, softening as he looked at the elf. Nibenor wasn't entirely sure if he was seeing things when the Nord nodded his head to him.

He found it strange that the man would truly recognise him, let alone give him the time of day and he almost lost himself to thoughts of what the gesture meant. He would have if one of the guards hadn't slapped him on the shoulder as they headed out, anyway, and minutes later he found himself in the strange situation of charging out onto Whiterun's plains to face off a dragon.

If he hadn't had such a criminal past, he wouldn't know what he had done to deserve this fate.

As a side point, I really don't like Delphine, hence I haven't given her more importance or dialogue in this chapter.

On another note, a guest reviewer asked what SKM was. SKM is 'Skyrim Kink Meme'. It's a website which allows you to request Skyrim (or most elder scrolls) stuff e.g. pictures, stories etc. and allows them to be responded to on the same site. It's where I got the request for this fic from. Anyone who likes Skyrim fanfics should head over there but I will point out that it has a lot of adult content on it. By that I mean MA/ 18+. The site discourages anyone 14 or under from going on it but really, I wouldn't suggest anyone under 16 going on it myself.

Anyhoo...onto the last point I was going to make here (got a little sidetracked):- Just so that people know, because I don't want to disappoint anyone, there may be a chance that the next chapter won't be posted quite as promptly as usual i.e. I might not get it posted by monday and if I do it'll certainly be a few hours later than usual. I've just got a new job and on mondays its a late shift. I usually post the chapter between 5pm and 6pm (GMT) and I won't finish work on monday until 7.15pm so it'll probably be after 8pm before its posted.

Sorry for all the blathering, I just like to keep people informed. Anyway, as always, please review the chapter whatever you thought of it. Comments (especially positive ones) are greatly appreciated.

See you next monday (hopefully) :)