We made camp on the side of the road that night. Ralof got a small fire started for us to huddle around. When it had died down a bit, I loaded some potatoes and salmon onto the coals. We had a good time eating it, too.

We were both on edge. It was dangerous, stopping at a random spot in the woods. We could be attacked by wolves, or Imperials, or trolls, or one of a thousand other creatures that haunted the wilds of Skyrim.

But the way we talked, the way we laughed - I was completely at ease with him. I didn't feel the hot embarrassment flood to my cheeks like I usually did. I didn't know if it was because I wasn't planning anything, or because I wasn't expecting anything, or if it was we had finally made clear where we were. "Sister," he had called me. Did that mean that there was no room to grow? Did that mean that there was no spark between us?

Before we went to sleep that night, we took turns stepping out of the dim firelight to relieve ourselves. Ralof went first, and when it was my turn, I went a little farther than he had. It wasn't necessarily because of my modesty, it was just because I liked to have a little privacy before bedtime.

I found an outcropping of rock to sit on after I had done my business. I let my feet dangle off the edge of the rock, and shook my head so my hair fluffed out around me. Clouds had rolled in just about sundown, so the night was dark and flat. I heard the chirping of crickets unseen all around me, and the gentle hoot of an owl in its tree. I closed my eyes. I could hear the wind in the trees, the gentle creak of each branch, the sweet whistle of tall grass growing defiantly on rocky hills.

The air was different away from Riverwood, away from the fire and Samia and Ralof. It was so dry, stinging my lips and nostrils. There was no scent of mud, or wet roof thatch, or manure, or wood smoke. There was no other person's scent there. I guess I'd been near Ralof so often that I'd learned not to notice how he smelled anymore. I wondered if that was a good thing.

The wind picked up and tossed my hair, and it roared through the pines and made the world moan. I opened my eyes, and I was blinded, but only for a moment. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the Northern Lights dazzled above me. They sprawled across the heavens, this time red and orange and white.

I looked down at the valley below me, following the road with my eyes. I knew it led to a thousand other small towns that I had never seen before, and that eventually the towns gave way to rolling plains and enormous holds and their palaces. And the people in the palaces, and in the towns, and everywhere in between could see the lights, too.

They were a blanket, a cloak, that covered all of Skyrim. And I promised myself, in my heart of hearts, that I would never let anyone take that away from me.

I had my life, I had my love, I had my land. And that was plenty.