"I hear water." Ja'kal's tail perked up, and like some sort of homing arrow, his ears searched for whatever direction this water was. Serana chuckled when the khajiit rushed ahead on the road; he always stayed near the treeline and marked them with his claws. His toes wormed into the dirt with the half of his face, that she saw, melting in relaxation. She hoped someday she could watch this curious khajiit as he marked and mapped a city.

They would probably be kicked out at first sight of his claws scratching posts.

Entertaining images rushed through the flood gates at that and Serana chuckled to herself, picking up her pace to catch up with the khajiit. "Well from what that carriage driver told me, a settlement called Dragon Bridge is that way, and there's probably a river running through there. Don't rush into the water without me so you don't get carried away by a waterfall."

Ja'kal stopped and turned, his ears turning until they seemed to fixate squarely on her footsteps. "Serana-ro needs to wash the tarmo and halku away, yes?"

"I'm not old and moldy anymore," she huffed and pretended she was offended, smiling when the khajiit's laughter roared in the air. She'd hoped he had the sense to restrain himself if he ever heard something or someone else that might not have had the best intentions with their safety. "Play nice, or I'll go from swimming with you, to watching the currents take you away." She smirked when the khajiit's mischief came out to play in the form of grins and dancing, an energetic bounce to his steps. She had never met someone so open and free with their emotions; positive emotions, anyways.

"But Serana wants to swim with Ja'kal, yes?" He spun around and picked up the pace. "Come, this way! This one smells lots of fish!"

Of course he smelled fish. It was probably the number one scent he ferreted out any chance he got.

"How powerful is your nose?" Serana muttered in disbelief, trying to get a sense of such a smell herself; and she was sure hers was far more powerful than the average vampire. She would have to delve in her books again to get a grasp of just how well in tune the beast races are with their senses, then try to amplify it in what she assumed what abilities vampirism granted the khajiit. At least she was positive no one would ever be able to sneak up on them, but she worried that he would be overwhelmed and have trouble discerning so much stimuli.

Afraid of losing him in his personal mission to search for fish, Serana broke out in a light jog to catch up. Part of her grumbled that the carefree khajiit was off doing his own thing yet again, losing sight of the mission he still had yet to ask about; but maybe these distractions were what she needed. It wasn't what vampires needed though. Their survival was on the line here, and knowing that a group like Dawnguard existed had already threatened that enough.

They didn't need to call on the wrath of an entire nation upon them.

"Hurry up, tarmo upoma! Catch Ja'kal if you can!"

Old something. Whatever it was, it was a tease, and it fired her up. He was going to regret turning this into a contest. Serana disappeared into the treeline the second Ja'kal did, determined not to lose sight. She smirked when his mirth gave him away, and she came in hot on his heels. The khajiit climbed up a tree and leapt from branch to branch, sometimes swinging by his tail. She laughed when he'd swung up and around, crashing into her from behind.

"Urada," he yelled all the way down when they were knocked to the ground; they twisted in time to land on their sides. Serana's head hit something soft instead, and she looked down; a robed arm and furry hand stuck out. Ja'kal groaned and his tail flopped over her hip, the end patting against her. "Urada, Serana... This one did not think that through."

"It's alright," she grunted as she rolled to face him, and soon learned the khajiit wasn't the only one who didn't think things through; she'd come face to face with him, and his nose moved and sniffed the way it did whenever he was curious. She'd stopped herself from bumping into him as she rested her hands on his chest, trying to ignore the thundering in hers. He turned his head slightly so that his whiskers brushed her nose, and then he pulled back with a grin.

"Ja'kal likes how close you are."

"But Serana doesn't like how close she is," she tried to fire lightheartedly, but her nerves made themselves clear when her voice trembled. She played with his collar, and her heart clawed up to her throat when he lifted his blindfold to his brows. She tried to push away, but the tail on her waist tightened.

"This one would still like to hug you, if you trust Ja'kal." He held out his free arm up in the air as his milky eyes bore into hers, and there was a glimmer of something inside them. They didn't have anything in them before, and she covered his eyes with her hand before he harmed himself with the light. His grin grew, warm and natural, soothing the nerves. "This one wants to see the face you make when you hug Ja'kal."

"How do you know I will?" She challenged his confidence, and smiled when the khajiit huffed proudly.

"Because Serana wants to hug, but is afraid. Ja'kal smells desire and fear." He scooted forward, but seemed to forget that her head rested on his arm. His hand slowly reached over her, and she eyed it warily. "You taught this khajiit that fear can be conquered by surviving it. It is just like standing on the tower."

"It's not the same," she whispered; she was torn apart by a war inside, one side saying this was okay, the other side fighting and denying it. She didn't know what to listen to, and closed her eyes when Ja'kal's arm slung over her shoulder. He pulled her gently and ever so slowly, his chin nuzzling her temple. She chuckled at the strange and ticklish sensation of his fur against her forehead.

Silence fell, and she focused on breathing through this fear. But nothing happened; just fur brushing her skin, and the weight and warmth of his arm over her shoulder. She smiled when he stretched his neck forward, and his jaw conformed to the top of her head. His rhythmic breathing lulled the nerves to sleep.

"Not so scary anymore, yes? See? You have 'stepped in' and come close, and you are still alive." He fired softly, revised words she had told him when she helped him get in the boat for the first time. "We are in the..." Boat. "Hug." That only barely made sense because she knew what he was doing; and now she knew the extent of how sharp his memory was. "Everything is okay. You are surviving."

"Everything is okay. I am surviving," she chuckled quietly. His chest pushed against her hands with every rise and fall, wondering how he'd taken to his new tarmo robes that even she could smell was halki. Her lips tugged in a subtle smirk, but she begun to feel awkward with every minute that passed by. She drummed her fingers. "We need to go, Ja'kal. The Moth Priest-"

"Can wait. What good is life if you do not enjoy it?"

"Is that the excuse you're going with?"

"Yes." Quick and easy, absolutely no hesitation. She laughed.

"You always hide with everything and everyone... But not when it comes to me, apparently."

"That is because I do not want anyone but you to find me."

Serana bit her cheek.

She couldn't stop her smile.

x - x - x

With the sun so high, it was getting harder to ignore the nagging weakness that festered in her muscles. As she watched Ja'kal however, no such weakness seemed to make itself apparent as the stubborn khajiit rushed down to the mill, stripped down to his smalls in a flash and dove into the water.

"Waterfall be damned, apparently," she sighed. She reckoned it was him getting hungry though. If this settlement relied on fish for food, well, they were about to say goodbye to it for the day. Serana shook her head and smirked, careful to keep her lips firmly pressed together as she approached one of the villagers who was chopping wood. "Excuse me, sorry to bother you. Have you seen a Moth Priest lately?"

"Seen what now?" The man grunted in mid-swing, the chips of wood flying as he nailed the log perfectly in the middle. Serana absentmindedly touched her neck and smiled a little nervously when he turned to her. He wiped his forehead with his tunic and gulped for air. "Sorry, lass, you'll have to say that again."

"A Moth Priest, have you seen one?"

"Might have, we get a lot of travelers through here. What do they usually look like?"

That was a good question. Serana wasn't sure herself, and 'they look smart' probably wouldn't quite be a suitable explanation. She shrugged. "He would've had some sort of entourage with him. Bodyguards, maybe other scholars, that sort of thing."

"Oh, yeah. There was a wagon passing through, some Imperial soldiers following an old man in robes." He rubbed his stubble in thought. "That wasn't too long ago." He pointed ahead, "they went through the village, you could probably still catch up to them before they get to the fork in the road past the bridge."

"Great, thanks for your help." She fished in her pocket for septims and handed a paltry amount to the lumberjack, then turned heel and ran down before he got a good look at her eyes or got suspicious as to why she was asking.

She needed to find Ja'kal and fish him out of the water now.

When she reached the mill, she noticed a crowd growing and saw people clapping. Curiosity pulled her closer, and her eyes widened at the small pile of fish that grew on the shoreline. She jogged down and pushed past until she was on the edge where the khajiit, happy as could be, had a fish everywhere he could grab. He'd even curled his tail around one, though it slipped through and earned aw's from the crowd.

Ja'kal's head lifted and she saw the furious movement of his nose, then he grinned with the fish in his mouth; thank hell his fangs could be amounted to the anatomy of the khajiit. "Serana, look! Ja'kal catch enough for the whole village, let us have a feast today!" He leapt on rocks that just barely broke the surface of the water and made his way back to shore to drop off his catch, chest heaving as he gulped for air. His patchy fur of blondes and browns glistened as the sun dried him, and if he felt any weakness, he did a damn good job not showing it with how energetic he was.

Probably because he was so proud and happy of his haul.

"We'll have to come back after," Serana said, and chuckled when his ears and tail drooped immediately. "Take what you need right now to eat." She minded her words so that nobody in this crowd caught wind of what they were or what they were passing through for, and took Ja'kal by the wrist to pull him to his pile of clothes. She didn't get away in time when he shook the water out of his fur, and she laughed with the crowd; she didn't mind, not when it felt amazing in this heat. "You did that on purpose this time."

"Urada... Not." Ja'kal smirked and looked at her, though had to keep his eyes closed. She let go and unfolded his robes to get his blindfold, then tied it around his eyes.

Her heart skipped and raced when he rested a hand on her hip.

"You smell like fish now," she teased as her excuse to draw away, turning when he'd reached to wring out his loin cloth. There were gasps and mothers shooing children to look away. Serana ignored the heat that beat in her chest. She didn't have it in her to teach Ja'kal right in this moment that what he was doing was just slightly inappropriate, but how could a blind man be blamed for not seeing what others could see?

Serana glanced over when she caught him donning his trousers in the corner of her eye. She chilled her hands and combed it through his fur, roving over his shoulders and chest. She smirked and rolled her eyes when he'd shivered violently. "You feel the sun worse than this," she whispered as quietly as possible, having faith that he'd hear her loud and clear. "You just swam in ice-cold water."

"Ja'kal is not shivering because of the cold," he husked, and both his hands came upon her hips. "This one is going to hug you."

"What? Wait, no!" Serana didn't even have a second of a chance to respond and yelped as wet fur enveloped her in a crushing hug, soaking through her cloak. She laughed and pushed against him, hands slipping because of his damp chest, and it kicked against her as Ja'kal's rowdy mirth shook through her.

Then her mind pieced the puzzle together as to why else the khajiit could have been shivering.

And Serana ran away.

x - x - x

Author's Note

Do let me know if you ever find another khajiit story, as I too would love to indulge in some reading that doesn't involve in immediate editing thereafter ;p! Thank you all again for your overwhelming support, I appreciate it very much! See you in the next chapter :)

Translation

Tarmo - old

Halku - mold

Halki - moldy

Upoma - bones (meaning he teased Serana as 'old bones')

Urada - sorry