Author's Note: Hey! Good news: Summer's here! Bad news: I'm going to camp in a few weeks. Other bad news: I'm going to school directly from camp so you won't be hearing from me for a while. So to compromise, so you won't kill me, I will try and keep updating as often as I can. I don't own Skyrim. Enjoy!

P.S. Apparently I'm an idiot because I didn't realize you could edit your stories when they're still documents and that my stories don't always appear just like I wrote them. I'll be sure to fix this.

Dragonslayer

Lydia and I rushed the horses as fast as we could to Ivarstead and hurried up to High Hrothgar. The length of time it took to reach the top made me infuriatingly wish I could just travel to places on my map instantly. Oh well. At the top, tired as we were, we pushed on through the doors of the keep where we found Arngeir waiting for us. "Ah!" He said when he saw me, horn in hand. "You've retrieved the horn of Jurgen Windcaller." He took the horn from me and passed it on to another Greybeard. "Well done, you've now passed all of your trials. Come with me, it's time we formally recognized you formally as Dragonborn." He led me to the center of the room where the Greybeards began to gather for my initiation. "You are now ready to learn the final word of Unrelenting Force, 'Dah', which means 'Push'." Arngeir announced. He nodded to another Greybeard who stepped forward and whispered "Dah." The letters appeared in the dust and burned into my mind. Arngeir continued, "With all three words together, the Shout is much more powerful. Use it wisely." The Greybeard then let me absorb his knowledge of Dah. When the wisps disappeared, The Greyebeards all stepped forward. "You've completed your training, Dragonborn." Arngeir said. "We would Speak to you. Stand between us and prepare yourself. Few can withstand the unbridled Voice of the Greybeards. But you are ready." Lydia took a few steps away to be safe.

Arngeir gave the signal and all the Greybeards lifted their hands into the air. They began to chant, the walls shook from their words. "Lingrah krosis saraan Strundu'ol , voth nid baloon klov praan nau. Naal Thu'umu, mu ofan nii nu, Dovakhiin, naal suleyk do Kaan, naal suleyk do Shor, ahrk naal suleyk do Atmorasewuth. Meyz nu Ysmir, Dovasehbrom. Dahmaan daar rok." Though the ground shook me left and right, I stayed upright, although Lydia fell to the floor several times and looked quite nauseous. When the Greybeards finished, Arngeir looked to me and said, "Dovakhiin, you have tasted the Voice of the Greybeards and have passed unscathed. High Hrothgar is open to you." The Greybeards bowed and left the room. I looked to Lydia, who through her weak state smiled weakly. I smiled back. I went up to Arngeir and asked if he could let me absorb the knowledge of the Word I learned in to crypt, but he said I would have to kill a dragon to learn it myself, as it was a Shout for combat which none of the Greybeards have learned or found any use for. I nodded and left with Lydia for Kynesgrove to meet up with Delphine.

With all the strength our horses could muster, it took a day to reach Kynesgrove, where we met the fully equipped Delphine in the darkness, hiding behind some boulders. She had twin swords strapped to her back. "Get down!" She hissed. Lydia and I crouched beside her.

"What are we hiding from?" I asked.

"We're not hiding." Delphine retorted, a little insulted I accused her of cowardice. She pointed to the sky. "We're scouting that." I looked and gasped with shock.

"T-that," I stammered, "that's the dragon from Helgen!." It was indeed the same black dragon that was circling above our heads. I almost could hear it chanting something. I strained to listen. They were Words of Power! Then a circular group of stones and earth marked in front of us began to glow. I pointed this out to Delphine.

"That's a dragon's grave!" She exclaimed. A blast came from the grave and the bones of a dragon materialized, with muscles and scaly skin to follow. The dragon from Helgen seemed to stop his chanting and began to give the reborn dragon instructions. With all the training that I had, I had no idea what they were saying. The dragon from Helgen noticed me and began to speak to me in the common tounge.

"You do not even know our tongue, do you?" The dragon bellowed in a deep voice. "Such arrogance to take for yourself the name of Dovah." He roared one last time before flying off into the night, leaving us with the now fully formed dragon, ready to tear us apart.

"Attack!" Delphine shouted and we drew our blades. The women attacked the dragon from either side while I went straight forward. It snapped its jaws and I rolled to the side, dodging the attack, and countered with a swipe across its face. Lydia pierced her sword though its hide with a single, but strong, stab, while Delphine used her blades to try and cut one of the wings off. The dragon sensed this and raised its huge wings and flew upward. It flew through the sky, coming back around to us for an aerial attack. When it got close an idea sprang into my head. I positioned myself quickly and Shouted, "FUS… RO… DAH!" The blast of focused energy flew from my lips and straight into the mid-air dragon. The blast threw its balance and concentration and it fell to the ground, dazed. We took this opportunity to attack. Just like the last dragon, I jumped on top, striking downward at the head, while Lydia went to work on the neck, and Delphine hacked away at its chest. In one final movement, we each struck fatal blows at the exact same time, killing the beast. Its death was confirmed when the wisps of its soul came up to be absorbed by me. I stood proud in front of the now skeletonized dragon. I had just killed my second dragon in under a week. I. Am. Dragonborn.

Delphine seemed to understand that. "You… you really are…" She was so full of awe she couldn't speak. Lydia smirked and joined me at my side. Delphine paused to compose herself and take a breath. "I owe you some answers, don't I?"

"Yes, you do." Lydia and I said at once. We stopped and looked and each other quickly. I hoped she didn't notice I was blushing.

"Go ahead. Whatever you want to know. Nothing held back." Delphine continued.

"Who are you, exactly?" Lydia demanded.

"And what do you want with me?" I continued.

"I am the last of the Blades." Delphine answered. "A long time ago, the Blades were dragonslayers and we served the Dragonborn, the greatest dragonslayer. For the last two hundred years, since the Dragonborn emperor, the Blades have been searching for a purpose. Now that dragons are coming back, it's clear our purpose is clear again. We need to stop them." I accepted this.

"What's our next move?" I asked.

"Wait." Lydia interrupted. She turned to me. "May I have a word in private." I nodded and held up a finger to signal Delphine to wait. When we walked a few feet away, Lydia turned to me and whispered:

"Are you crazy? We don't know anything about this woman other than her story, with no way to prove if it is indeed true, and now you want to work with her?"

"We don't have much else to go on." I whispered back. "Whether she is to be believed or not, dragons are coming back, you saw that for yourself. We need all the help and answers that we can get." She nodded reluctantly.

"I just don't trust her." She said.

"Then trust me." I said. She gave me a silent look and nodded. We walked back to the waiting Delphine. "As I was saying, what's our next move?" I repeated.

"The first thing we need to figure out is who's behind the dragons. The Thalmor are our best lead. If they aren't involved, they'll know who is." The Thalmor, even I knew who they were from Pa's stories. They are the faction that rules the Aldmeri Dominion and nearly destroyed the Empire during the Great War. In Pa's stories they always seemed to have a villainous role, the worst enemy anyone could find in Tamriel. The Empire barely survived the last war, and I doubt the Thalmor inter to lose the next one. But that didn't necessarily mean they were behind this.

"What makes you think they're the ones behind this?" I asked.

"Nothing solid. Yet." Delphine admitted. "But my gut tells me otherwise. Think about it. The Empire captures Ulfric. The war was basically over. The dragon attacks, Ulfric escapes, and the war is back on. And now dragons are attacking everywhere. Skyrim is weakened. The Empire is weakened. Who else would gain but the Thalmor?"

"Wait," I asked, "Ulfric isn't Thalmor. He's just a man who started a rebellion for freedom."

"The war with Ulfric keeps the Empire busy." Delphine answered. 'Making Ulfric just a pawn."

"Fine," I said, "we need to figure out if the Thalmor know anything about the dragons." I thought for a moment. "Do you have any ideas?"

"The Thalmor Embassy might hold a few answers for us. " Delphine answered. "Problem is the place is locked up tighter than a miser's purse."

"So how do we get in?" Lydia asked. I smiled at her. She may not trust Delphine, but I was glad to see she was on board.

"I'm not sure yet, but I have a few ideas." Said Delphine. "Give me some time to pull things together, and meet me back in Riverwood in a few days' time. If I'm not there, wait for me. I shouldn't be long." She turned to take her leave. "Keep an eye on the sky," she warned, "This is only going to get worse."