So, it is apparent that I have to adjust a few things to make the Skyrim game work in a story. I've added a few things - like the stables in Dragon Bridge. And Labyrinthian, in my mind, is much larger on the outside than it was in the game. It was, after all, a grand city. The game has to downsize (even though it's a damn big game).

I'm so, so excited that everyone who has been reading has been following along. Thank you all so incredibly much for taking out your precious time to read this silly story filled with holes and mistakes. If you spot one, PLEASE let me know. =)

That being said, special thanks to Pint-sized She-Bear, Annonimous4862, Cegorach (thank you, still, for all your help!), Golden Naginata and Blinded in a bolthole, as well as the guest. Your reviews/follows all encourage me. I'm surprised people like this story as much as they do, honestly.

Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out, I've been working like crazy, but I will have a few days off coming up.


Labyrinthian was a ruinous place awash with stark gray and white. Snow blew down from the mountains bitter and frigid, and Fenris was sure he'd lose his toes to frostbite if it weren't for the Orcish boots Evelyna had bought him.

Traveling through Labyrinthian was a nightmare. Fenris could hear the huffing and growling of a creature he had never heard before. Whatever it was, there were several. He followed Evelyna, trying to be as quiet as she was, in a desperate hope that he wouldn't wake whatever it was that was making that terrible sound.

Labyrinthian had many places to hide - walls, little dome-shaped buildings with archways leading in and out of them, structures that had half fallen away long ago. Evelyna led them through the myriad of the ruins, slipping behind walls and stay out of the eyesight of whatever it was that growled and huffed. Fenris had glimpsed one of the creatures - a thick, white, furry creature with an ugly face and long limbs. Fenris couldn't bear the thought of opening his mouth to ask what the thing was.

Evelyna had wrapped the horse's hooves in hide to muffle the sounds of it walking. Meeko was quiet, looking as frightened as Fenris felt. The elf woman was dead silent as she moved. Their going was immensely slow. They would wait an hour for one creature to move away, somewhere out of eyesight, and then only be able to go a few steps because it would turn, sniffing and huffing at the air.

It was difficult to see them, especially in the darkness of the night that had covered Skyrim. The aurora had come out, though, in its magnificent fullness.

Evelyna brought all of them into a domed structure that had an archway on opposite sides of it. The horse was hardly able to fit inside, but once inside there was enough room for it, Meeko, Fenris and Evelyna.

"I hate this place," Evelyna muttered quietly, the first words that had been spoken in hours. Fenris huddled up by the wall beside Meeko, Evelyna on the other side of the wolfhound.

Fenris kept his voice quiet. "What are those things?"

"What?"

"Those creatures."

"Oh. They're frost trolls." She frowned. "They're very hard to kill."

"They can't be more difficult than a dragon."

Evelyna snorted. "Sometimes, I think they are." She took a deep breath. "In the morning I suggest we travel up the last few flights of steps and then ride hard away, we can try to outrun anything that follows us."

"You can look a dragon in the eyes and kill it, but you flounder when it comes to frost trolls?" He asked.

She smirked. "You don't understand, Fenris."

Even then he could hear one far off, its wild snorting and grunting the only sounds in the bitter howling of the wind. He pulled his wolf's fur around him and was sullenly glad for it. Meeko was warm against his thigh where the dog was curled up between the two elves, his head on Evelyna's lap.

"If," Evelyna whispered, "we do have to face one... try your best to keep it from getting too close. They are very quick, though they don't seem like they would be. And they could easily kill one of us in only a few blows."

"Do people ever travel through here? Why don't some group together to clear out the area?"

Evelyna pulled her knees to her chest. "Sometimes trading caravans will go through here, but they'd prefer to go around. And I don't know, Fenris. Likely because no one is willing to pay someone enough for it to be worth it."

Hawke would do it, Fenris thought. Hawke was fearless and reckless, and he was a deadly thing to behold. Hawke helped everyone. Hawke found mercy within himself where Fenris only found a hot, devouring rage.

Evelyna was more difficult to figure out. Fenris remembered her face when she went toe-to-toe with that great beast of a dragon, and she had almost a calm hatred to her eyes. She didn't tremble, she didn't balk. He wondered if that was the same way she had approached the chopping block months ago, if that was the same face she had when she saw her first dragon, come to disrupt her execution and save her life.

Fenris felt a shiver run through him as a troll grunted not too far off. "How good is their sense of smell?" He whispered, as Meeko raised his head.

"Not very," she replied in a whisper. "But if they see us..."

Evelyna must not have been as anxious as him, because it wasn't too long before he could hear her breathing becoming very slow and deep. Outside the moonlight was cast on the snow, this corner of Tamriel bathed in a silvery ribbon of light. He wondered if the lights were dancing in the sky.

Hours passed. Sometime halfway through the night, Fenris crept towards the dome archway leading into their stone shelter and looked out. The night was bitter cold here, halfway up the mountains, but the breeze had died considerably.

The sky was a deep black, with millions of speckled, glittering stars upon its face. There were no dancing lights tonight, but the moons were beautiful. Fenris looked around at the snowdrifts and the stone walls, some of which had crumbled away through the ages.

All was quiet. Fenris wondered if the trolls had finally fallen asleep. Maybe they could make away for it. Try to at least put this ruin Labyrinthian behind them. But perhaps they would be more easily heard, if all else was quiet. He didn't want to risk it, since they would be more compromised at nighttime than the trolls, likely.

He crept quietly back to his spot against the stones and tried to fall asleep.


The troll would hear them, he was sure. Fenris scowled as he watched the humanoid creature walk, its great arms swinging as it huffed and grunted.

They all stood atop what appeared to be the last flight of stairs. Ahead was an archway, tall and thin, with the frost troll wandering about below it. The sun was pale and shining against a bright blue sky. A gentle breeze breathed down the mountainside, between the two peaks in which Labyrinthian was nestled, the dip in between them.

Evelyna glanced at Meeko, and Fenris wondered if he and the she-elf were thinking the same thing. The dog would likely die here, the poor wire furred animal the found mourning the death of its owner. Fenris, kneeling on the other side of Meeko, put a palm on the dog's shoulder. It's golden eyes flicked to him, but turned back to the troll ahead.

When Evelyna spoke it was so quiet that Fenris leaned towards the dog to hear her. "We'll get on the horse here. I'll shoot the troll with an arrow, and we'll ride as fast as we can past it. And Meeko," the dog looked at her when she said his name, "will have to follow us. As fast as he can."

Fenris gave an affirmative nod. The fear of falling off the horse was overpowering his anxiety of the frost troll, a tide rolling in the pit of his stomach. But he had no choice, if he wanted to leave this blasted ruin with his own life. He was half-starved, half-delirious with the exhaustion of not sleeping the previous night, but he wanted to survive. And to survive, he'd have to listen to Evelyna.

She crouched low, and took a step back with her eyes on the troll ahead. The creature wasn't looking their way, so she vaulted onto the horse. It snorted and shifted its weight, and Fenris froze. But the troll hadn't heard them, either. He got ready to pull himself onto the horse, and he heard a snort in the distance behind them.

Evelyna's head swiveled, hazel eyes sharp and scanning Labyrinthian. Fenris stood perfectly still with his hands fisting in the makeshift saddle. He looked up at Evelyna and saw her focus on something. "We're alright. Just get up quietly," she whispered.

He did. He had healed from the shipwreck, and was no stranger to climbing or scaling things. But sitting on a horse, he was sure, would never feel second-nature.

Fenris cleared his throat quietly as he snaked one arm around Evelyna's waist and put one hand behind him on the horse's rear. His fingers curled in Evelyna's leathers as she pulled out her bow slowly and methodically, notching a steel arrow to the weapon.

The troll turned and took a few steps to the left. Meeko stared up at them sadly. Fenris winced as he heard the arrow sing away from the bow. He watched it hiss through the air and nick the troll, sticking in the snow. Evelyna hissed under her breath.

The troll looked around for the source of the arrow, and its three beady black eyes spotted them atop the stairs.

"Go, go," Fenris whispered, his cheek pressed into her hair. He hated how riding forced him to be so uncomfortably close to this stranger.

"Wait," Evelyna said slowly.

The troll began to run towards them, its long arms swinging beside it. It grunted and huffed loudly, the massive creature the size of a bear barreling towards them. It wasn't as fast as Fenris thought it would be, but it looked deadly and brutal, with long claws tipping its fingers and fangs in its mouth.

Then Evelyna kicked, and the horse was suddenly breaking away, gaining speed into a gallop. Meeko barked, but Fenris couldn't look. He gripped Evelyna close to him, legs tight around the horse's abdomen.

The horse struggled through the snow. The troll sounded so close behind them. Fenris leaned forward when Evelyna did, and felt the horse move faster. Fenris was sure he'd fall off and make a few meals for the troll. Would Evelyna even stop for him if he did?

He thought he would be sick. He shut his eyes and felt Evelyna's hair in his face, smelling of pine and cold, if such a thing was possible. She was warm against him, but the wind was still harsh even in the bright sunlight of the morning.

He could hear Meeko barking behind them, and a growl or two escape the dog's mouth before it quieted. Fenris hoped the troll hadn't killed the poor dog.

He was going to die here, he thought. He'd die up here in Labyrinthian, and never see his companions again. He'd die without knowing if Merrill and Varric had survived the shipwreck, without knowing what Isabela and Hawke had done after they left Solitude.

But then the horse slowed to a trot, heaving for breath after the long sprint, and Evelyna shifted in the saddle slightly. Fenris lifted his head and looked at Evelyna, and then behind him.

The dip between the mountains rose behind them. On the other side of that rise, Fenris knew lay Labyrinthian. The troll stood atop the rise, beating its chest and growling. But it was far away now, at least fifty yards. Would it attempt to close the gap between them?

"It's tired. It won't chase us any farther," Evelyna said breathlessly. Beside the horse Meeko panted, tongue hanging out of his mouth. Fenris felt relief wash over him. He took a breath and loosened his vice grip on Evelyna' s waist.

When he turned to look in front of him, his breath caught in his throat.

Skyrim spread out before him, vast and untamed. Tall mountains rose on the opposite edge of a wide valley covered in dry brush and pine trees. Some buildings with thatched roofs were visible, but they were far off and accompanied farms.

To the left rose a walled city on the top of a low hill in the center of the valley. A building sat atop the hill, larger than the others, with smoke billowing from its several chimneys.

"What is that?" Fenris asked as Evelyna glanced back at the troll one more time. The horse moved down the sloping side of the mountain before them, dislodging stones in the terrain.

"That's Whiterun," Evelyna said with joy in her voice. She smiled and sheathed her bow to her back, where before she had held it in her fingers with the reins.

Fenris couldn't hear the troll anymore. The wind blew across the valley ahead, rustling the pines and making the grass shiver. He saw a human-like creature, tall and gangly, beside a huge beast with tusks and shaggy fur.

"What are those?" He asked, pointing.

"That's a giant and a mammoth. Don't go too close to them, ever."

He didn't need to be told twice. The horse went slowly down the mountainside towards the valley, Meeko leaping ahead a few times to explore. The sun was still climbing up into the sky. Whiterun stood overlooking the sweeping valley like a king atop his throne.

It was early afternoon by the time they had descended the mountain and were riding gently across the valley. Fenris watched the giants and mammoths with fascination, saw a small pack of black wolves prowling, chasing down an elk with heavy antlers. Hawks circled high above, foxes and rabbits ran across the tundra. The mountains rose in distance, beautiful and snow-capped.

It was hours before they got to the city, stabled the horse and walked through the large wooden gates. Evelyna grinned at Fenris as he stood on the small bridge between the burning braziers. The city of Whiterun stood before and all around them. A woman was working a forge to the right, two children were chasing each other through the streets, guards were walking about and men and women clothed in fur armor and street clothes strolled about, carrying bags or buckets.

"Welcome to Whiterun, Fenris," Evelyna told him as she waved to the blacksmith. "Come, I'll show you my home."

He followed behind her with Meeko down the street, before she stopped at a house on the right and turned a key. She smiled back over her shoulder and pushed the door open.

Fenris followed her into the house, and was pleasantly surprised. There was a firepit in the center of the room, with a table for eating in the back, weapon racks and bookshelves lining the walls. Fenris was drawn to the weapons hanging; swords and axes, a few bows leaning against the wall. Some of them seemed to glow with different colors, but he couldn't be sure.

Evelyna shut the door behind them. "Lydia?" She called out, but there was no answer.

Meeko's tail wagged as he sniffed around the home, walking from corner to corner. Fenris stretched where he stood, and put his sword to rest against a wall.

Evelyna started a fire in the pit from the magic she possessed before she sat down heavily in one of the chairs before it, stretching her feet towards it. "It's nice to be home," she said. Meeko padded up the stairs to the second floor of the home. Fenris followed her lead and sat beside Evelyna, eyes scanning the room.

"This is yours?"

She nodded.

"Your family... where did they live?"

"Someone else owns that home now. It's where the forest meets the tundra."

Fenris nodded. Evelyna stood and emptied out her bags on her table, keeping with her some money and daggers, as well as the axes hanging from her hips. "Are you hungry?" She asked Fenris. "We can get some ale and food at The Bannered Mare."

At the moment, nothing sounded better. Some vegetables and herbs hung above his head from the ceiling, but nothing that he could truly eat for a meal.

"That sounds good," Fenris said, straightening in his seat and twisting to look at Evelyna. She put her coins in her pocket and smiled at him disarmingly.

"Your room is the one on the left, at the top of the stairs."

He would have a room here? For some reason it surprised him that she'd allow him to stay in her home with her, that she'd give him an entire room. He had half-expected to be sleeping on the floor.

"Oh," he said, "thank you."

She nodded and made her way towards the door. He followed her out into the late afternoon, Meeko on his heels.

Whiterun was more charming than Solitude, Fenris decided. Smoke billowed out from the chimneys, children laughed as they chased each other. Pine trees lined the streets as night began to fall on the land.

They reached a small outdoor market shaped in a circle surrounding a well. To one side stood a merchant's shop, and to another stood the tavern Evelyna had told him of. She led Fenris up the steps, nodding to men and women who recognized her.

She was something of a celebrity in Whiterun, he noticed.

Inside The Bannered Mare, a bard was singing and strumming his lute. A blond man with a ponytail, dressed in leather and fur, sat at the bar. Another man sat on a chair beside the fire burning in the center of the tavern, a woman wearing steel plate sat in the back corner with a deep scar running down her face.

She spotted Evelyna and raised her tankard, waving her over.

"Uthgerd," Evelyna said as she crossed the tavern with Fenris and Meeko behind her.

"Evelyna," Uthgerd said seriously. She reminded Fenris of Aveline, surprisingly, with her orange hair. "When will we go adventuring again?"

Evelyna laughed and cast a brief glance at Fenris behind her. "Soon, my friend. I have some things to do, first." Uthgerd nodded and then glanced at Fenris.

"Very well, dragonborn. Get on with your business."

Evelyna clapped a hand to her steel-plated shoulder and turned away, leading Fenris to the bar. She ordered a bottle of spiced wine and three plates of food before sitting on a bar stool beside the blond man. Fenris sat beside her and glanced back at the orange-haired woman.

"She reminds me of a woman I knew back in Kirkwall," Fenris said nostalgically. He always liked Aveline as a friend, and he was good friends with Donnic, surprisingly, who would play Diamondback at his dilapidated mansion every week.

Evelyna smirked at Fenris and glanced at Uthgerd. "She does?"

"Aveline," Fenris clarified. "She was a friend of Hawke's. I was good friends with her husband."

"She must be a strong woman."

Fenris snorted. "That she is."

"So is Uthgerd. But... I beat her at a fistfight."

His dark brows lifted in surprise, the corner of his lip twitching. "You what?"

Evelyna chuckled and nodded as the bottle of wine was placed before her. She poured herself a glass and then offered the green bottle to Fenris. The bard began to sing another song.

"I needed to hire a mercenary before I became the Thane. I didn't have the money to pay for her, and she told me she would follow me if I brawled with her. I did, and I won."

Fenris looked over his shoulder at Uthgerd. "How...?"

Evelyna shrugged. "I'm quicker than her. Not weighed down by so much armor. I left with a broken nose, of course, and some chipped teeth, but nothing too terrible."

Fenris couldn't imagine such a thing. He didn't like to imagine it, he realized. Uthgerd was bigger than Evelyna, and clearly stronger. He stared at the she-elf beside him, and suppressed a rising urge to scold her for being foolish and brawling. But that was not his right, nor his place.

He poured his own glass of wine and brought it to his lips, shocked at how uneasy he felt just now. Why should he mind, anyway?

"I hope men don't do that here also," he said darkly before taking a long sip of his wine. It seemed to warm him from the inside out, or at least begin to.

"They would, if I wanted," Evelyna said, without sensing his own discomfort. Then she paused and took a hesitant breath, noticing his irritation. "The women here are strong, Fenris. We can manage ourselves."

The man beside her chuckled, picking up on their conversation. He leaned forward and cast a friendly glance at Fenris. "That's the truth of it, for sure."

Fenris scowled at the man, jaw clenched, but the man went back to his ale with a smirk. Evelyna seemed confused. "Everything alright?"

Fenris hummed affirmatively and took another sip of his wine. Evelyna looked away and poured her own glass.

"It's hard to imagine we were outrunning a frost troll this morning."

"It is," he agree. The scent of cooked meats and vegetables wafted into his nose. He felt his stomach growling. "It's hard to imagine why you would be more frightened of a frost troll than a dragon, however."

Evelyna scoffed and shook her head. "I'm Dovahkiin. Dragonborn. Dragon kin." She shrugged. "It isn't difficult to understand a dragon. They can go mad just like we can, they are intelligent. They feel sadness and pride. Their urge to dominate us is impossible to ignore. They're driven by it."

"And you understand that?" He asked with disgust. "They sound like the magisters from Tevinter."

Evelyna shook her head stubbornly, and Fenris rolled his eyes in irritation. "No, they aren't," she insisted. "Your magisters can overcome their urge to dominate. For dragons it's an innate drive. Your magisters are evil. Dragons are still, in a small way, animals. At least... in their instincts. They have an instinct to dominate, whereas I think your magisters learned that desire."

Fenris waved his hand dismissively and took another long sip of his wine, finishing his glass. He reached out to pour a second glass, and felt Evelyna's feather-light touch on his arm.

Fenris shrugged away from the touch, frustrated, and shot her an icy look. Evelyna continued, only her eyes showing that his abrupt movement had disheartened her.

"Can an animal be evil?"

Fenris wrinkled his nose at the question. He poured his glass of wine and took a long swig of it, before shifting his gaze to Evelyna. He watched her seriously. "Do you know what my name means? What it allegedly means?"

"No," she answered, disarmed at the change in topic.

"'Little wolf,'" he replied with clear disgust, turning his wineglass around in his fingers. Evelyna was watching him with interest.

"It's fitting for you."

He scoffed bitterly. "Is it?"

Evelyna nodded. "You seem fierce. Loyal, perhaps, to your pack. Among other things."

Fenris felt his lip curl in anger, but it wasn't directed at her. "It was not the name my mother gave me," he explained in a solemn tone. "My former master bestowed it upon me."

Evelyna tapped her fingers to her wineglass, and their plates of food were set before them, with one in the middle. Fenris lifted his fork and stuck it in a carrot.

"I'm sorry," Evelyna said so quietly that Fenris hardly heard her. "What... do you know your true name?"

Fenris cut a piece of the roasted mutton before he answered. "I did not know for many years. When I met my sister... I remembered it."

"What was it?" Evelyna still hadn't touched her food.

"Leto."

He chewed his bit of mutton and straightened, looking at Evelyna. The she elf was watching him curiously, her hazel eyes flitting over his face. The firelight behind them washed the back of her black braid in a warm glow.

"Leto fits you as well."

"I don't know what it means, so don't bother asking."

"You remembered it when you met your sister. What else do you remember?"

Fenris ran a hand through his snowy hair and frowned. He hated this subject. "I remember being a child in the courtyard, wherever I lived as a slave, chasing my sister around."

"What does she look like?" Evelyna asked, a small smile on her lips as she began to finally cut into her own food.

"She had red hair and green eyes." Fenris took another bite and then a long swig of his wine. "Enough," he said, "I don't want to think of her."

"You'll always think of her," Evelyna pointed out, but she nodded respectfully after. He hated how right she was. "Back to where we were... I asked you if an animal could be evil. You then asked me if I knew what Fenris meant."

"Oh, yes," he leaned back in his chair and swallowed, casting a brief glance at the barkeep and the blond man beside Evelyna. "Well," he suddenly felt embarrassed, "having these markings... being named after an animal... I was crafted, allowed to live only to become a creature of murder. I feel as if my very soul has been tainted and stained with the depravity of the magisters. I will never be clean."

Evelyna was staring straight at him, and he had to look away uneasily. Her eyes trailed over the lyrium markings on his neck and chin. She turned back to her food. "You aren't who you are because of what someone did to you, I hope you know."

Fenris said nothing. They finished their meal in silence, listening only to a song sung by the bard about a man named Ragnar the Red. When they were done, there was still food left over on the third plate. Evelyna set the plate down for Meeko to eat.

Fenris had drank more than half the bottle of wine, and with a full belly and a warm fire, he only wanted to lay down and fall into a long, deep sleep.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" He asked, hoping the answer would be nothing. Even with Hawke he had plenty of time to spend at home in his empty, cold mansion.

Evelyna shrugged. "Whenever we're ready we can head out to Riverwood. It will only take a few hours to get there, if that. And we can stay at Gerdur's house, or at the Sleeping Giant Inn."

Fenris nodded. His eyelids felt heavy, his stomach warm, limbs tingling from all the wine he had drank so quickly on an empty stomach.

But Evelyna had the same idea. She got up from her stool as Meeko finished the plate and licked it cleaner than it was when it had been served with food. "Ready?"

He felt like he was ready a thousand years ago. Fenris pushed off the stool and glanced at Uthgerd, who was sharpening her sword in her corner.

Fenris followed Evelyna out of The Bannered Mare and into Whiterun. Lanterns hung from either side of the streets. The pines sighed in the breeze. The sky was starry and bright, but again there were no dancing lights. There were no children wandering about either. Fenris scratched Meeko's head as they walked back to Breezehome.

Evelyna opened the door and stepped inside.

"Welcome back, my Thane," Fenris heard as he followed the she elf inside. He reached for his weapon, only to realize he had left it inside the house all along, which put it directly to his left.

"Hello, Lydia," Evelyna answered, sounding almost resigned. Fenris froze. "How are you doing, my friend?"

Fenris looked ahead and saw a woman sitting in front of the fire pit, drinking out of a mug. She wore steel armor, not quite as nice as Uthgerd's, and she had brown hair and a plain face. This was Lydia?

Lydia noticed him, and her eyes flitted between the both of them uncertainly before lingering on Fenris' markings. "I've been well. I heard that you arrived in town."

"Ah yes," Evelyna turned and glanced at Fenris with an apologetic smile. "I needed a hot meal and a cold glass of wine. Now all I need is a long sleep, uninterrupted."

Lydia got to her feet, nodding her head. "I-I'll leave, my Thane," she replied.

"Oh!" Evelyna clapped a hand to her forehead and laughed, and Fenris realized what Lydia was suspecting. He felt his ears burning almost instantly. Even in his delirious sleepiness, the thought of... being with Evelyna... he had to look away. It wasn't that he hadn't thought of it briefly before, because he had. After all, he was a man. And he couldn't remember being affectionate with anyone. Of course, Danarius had twisted his ideas on what that was, but Fenris knew better now. But for someone else to look at him and think that... what kind of signals was he giving her?

"No, no," Evelyna corrected, a flush staining her tanned cheeks. "Lydia, this is Fenris. He's a friend that I stumbled across in Solitude. Fenris, this is Lydia."

So she would keep his secret safe even with her own housecarl? Fenris nodded to the woman and tried to regain his composure.

"Hello, I've heard a bit about you," Fenris muttered.

"And you as well," Lydia said, clearly lying. Fenris tried to suppress his smirk, but Evelyna saw the corner of his mouth twitch. Lydia shifted on her feet and smiled at Evelyna.

"I hope you plan on staying for a few days?"

"Tomorrow we'll be going to Riverwood for a night," Evelyna said, dashing Lydia's hopes. "But we will then be back."

Lydia glanced at Fenris and then sighed. "Very well. Is there anything I can do for you, Evelyna?"

She shook her head. "However, we are hoping that some of Fenris' friends come to Whiterun within the next few months. I'm not sure how many we're expecting, but when they arrive, please allow them to stay in my home and show them around the town. I will give you a list of their names, but we probably won't expect to see them for at least another week."

Lydia nodded. "Of course. Should I inform the guards to be aware of them?"

"Please."

"I will," Lydia said with another curt nod before she made for the door. "Take care. Come to Dragonsreach if you need anything. Safe travels tomorrow."

"Thank you, Lydia, take care."

Then Lydia left, and Fenris stepped closer to the fire, warming his hands. The brief walked from the tavern to Breezehome was brisk and it had cleared his head a little bit from drinking all that wine. But now that he was back in the warmth, he felt sleepy again.

Evelyna scratched Meeko behind his ears, and the dog laid down lazily beside the fire pit, stretching. "I'll show you your room, Fenris," she said, moving towards the stairs. He followed behind her.

His room was modest, but he hardly cared. All he wanted was a bed and a long sleep. As soon as Fenris laid down, he was asleep.


His dreams that night were softer and quieter than they had been. In place of the dragons and the fire, and his friends dying, he could hear the gentle crackling of the wood in a small camp fire, could see the dancing lights in the sky. Evelyna sat across the fire from him, smoothing her slender, dirt-stained fingers over her furs that hung across her legs.

She was the embodiment of Skyrim, or what he knew of it. She was wild, untamed, fierce. She was like him, in more ways than he cared to realize. In his dream she lifted her hands and braided her black, wild hair.

She was alone, singled out as the only living dragonborn. He was alone, searching for his friends. They were both elves, and had faced some type of discrimination in their lives. But Evelyna was kinder than he. She had found him washed up on the shore and had risked her own safety to keep him alive, though originally her intentions were to interrogate him.

Fenris woke up, just as Evelyna put her head in her hands, as if to cry. His eyes opened, and for a brief moment he didn't know where he was. Green blankets were pulled up over him tightly, with wolf furs on top of them. His head was on a pillow. How long had it been since he slept on a bed? He realized it had only been a few days, but it felt like he had gone years without sleep.

The room was mostly dark, some strands of light filtering in beneath the cracks in the door. He wrinkled his nose. Was Evelyna cooking?

He shut his eyes again, wondering if he could fall back to sleep. He had never been a heavy sleeper. Being a slave for so long, he had to wake up on a whim and be dressed and ready and alert in the blink of an eye for Danarius. Hadriana had also hounded his sleep so often that it seemed as if his body had forgotten how to properly sleep.

Fenris cursed the thought of her and Danarius, pulling the blanket over his head. He didn't have to think about them here. There was no slavery in Tamriel. He didn't have to fear being caught and sold to that trade, he didn't have slavers at his heels wherever he went.

You can't teach an old dog new tricks, Fenris remembered Varric saying once, before Isabela smirked and claimed she could. Fenris scowled and threw the blanket off of him in irritation. He'd never be able to fall back to sleep.

He stood and dressed, strapping himself into his armor. The floor creaked slightly beneath his feet. He pulled on his new, Orcish boots and left the small room.

As he descended the stairs he saw Evelyna standing over the fire, frying some delicious-smelling food. She wasn't wearing her full armor, just her fur around her legs and her leather vest, baring her arms and some of her chest as well as her calves. She had even bathed, which was impossible to do on the road, and her hair was still wet and clinging to her shoulders. Fenris tried not to stare as she looked up at him with a big smile.

"Good afternoon, Fenris," she laughed.

"What?" He asked, stepping onto the floor. "What time is it?"

"Mid-afternoon," she grinned. He saw the bacon in the pan, as well as some eggs frying. His stomach growled. But he felt rested.

He sat down heavily in front of the fire in one of the chairs. Evelyna took the frying pan away from the fire, and he watched her step around behind him.

Then he understood why he had been irritated with her last night, when she told him about fighting Uthgerd. It had been a rash thing to do, for sure, but why did it bother him? Did he really have the smallest of feelings for her? Or was it that he knew he was supposed to keep her safe, in order for her to help him find his friends?

Fenris hoped that the latter was true. Sure, Evelyna was pretty in her own untamed way, but he had no business with her beyond finding Hawke and his friends. He owed her plenty, though. Until Hawke turned up, he'd be at Evelyna's side, fighting trolls and dragons and prowling the Skyrim tundra.

The thought wasn't all that terrible, he decided. Things could be so much worse.

Then a plate of steaming food was set in his lap, and Evelyna sat down in the chair beside him with her own plate.

"Did you sleep well?" She asked, holding a piece of bacon out for Meeko, who was sitting between them looking at them both with big, round, solemn eyes.

"I did, in fact," Fenris replied. "You have a nice home."

She shrugged. "It's a home." She smiled at Meeko and bit into her eggs.

"As Skyrim is now mine," he murmured. "For now, at least."

Evelyna smirked. "It's not a bad home. Once your blood thickens and you learn the way of it all. Besides, I'm sure within a year you'll find a pretty little lady and your own cabin out in the woods."

Fenris frowned, but he felt a hint of a blush blooming from up his neck. She was more forward than he would ever have the heart to be. But Skyrim was a different place than Thedas, he reminded himself. "I am sure you are wrong about that."

Evelyna smirked at him from the other chair, but said nothing more of it. They both cleared their plates, and Fenris tried to distract himself with Meeko while Evelyna finished putting on her armor. They were heading out, and Fenris wondered if this would be an everyday thing for him and Evelyna. To be on the road more than in a home, to constantly be on the move. It was more than in Kirkwall, but he knew he'd be used to it soon. Not that he truly had a choice in the matter.

They did not take the horse to Riverwood, but Fenris didn't complain. Their starry walk under the bright sky with the dancing lights was beautiful, and Evelyna seemed to know the way like the back of her hand. It felt nice to stretch his legs, feel the crisp breeze blowing across the tundra, and hear the wolves running along the countryside, howling.

It had been a few hours, but at last they came to a bridge, where a village stood on the other side. Smoke rose from its chimneys, lanterns lined the bridge and the town. Guards were posted, only a few, and a river ran alongside before tumbling over a series of waterfalls. Fenris caught Evelyna grinning at him in that feral-way, and he couldn't help but feel the corners of his lips curling as well.

"Here we are. Riverwood. My favorite town in all the world." She took a deep breath and sighed, beginning to walk across the bridge. "Let's go see Delphine."