"How do you think she knew we were there?" Maura asked, scaling up the next portion of cliff before Jane reached down to help her up. "Did she feel the Dragon or something like that?" She twisted her neck, pulling her cloak tighter around her head while standing still for a moment.

"Its possible. There are some people that can feel the amount of soul power within a Dragon." Jane shrugged. "The odds of her being one of them though..."

"What are the odds?" Maura tilted her head, following Jane through a thin path that was not quite as steep as scaling another cliff face.

"Well, it requires a strong inner soul as well, and one that is ideally unbalanced." She shook her head, trying to think. "An example would be the strong order of the Greybeards, turmoil created by running a city, someone like me."

"Running form the law with people trying to kill you?"

"Exactly."

"Got it." Maura couldn't help but grin, then she thought of something. "What about me, Jane? I can't feel them. And why couldn't you feel that last one? It was right above us."

"Maur, I was distracted."

"I make you balanced." The Nord snorted, pulling the smaller woman into her side. "But what about me?" Jane sighed.

"Really Maura? You are the most balanced, psychologically stable person that i know. Its a compliment." Jane pressed her lips to the other woman's forehead briefly, before directing her towards the next cliff that they had to climb. "High Hrothgar is just beyond this, and a little to the left. We're almost there."

"You seem tense, Jane." The Nord sprang up onto the wall, careful where she put her hands, checking every hold before she placed her weight upon it. "Jane, you were form the Rift, weren't you."

"Ivarstead." The topped the rise quickly, Maura wrapping her arms around the slim waist before she could run from the questions again.

"Jane, please."

"Maura." She sighed the name, shaking her head. "I was from Ivarstead. That's why I know where High Hrothgar is like its the back of my hand. It pretty much is. As a kid though, Dragon burial sites don't really stick out in the memory." She tilted her head when the blonde refused to let go. "I left because I didn't agree with the customs in Riften. What happened to my family, I'm not certain."

"Can we stop and see if we can find them?"

"Maura!" The blonde blushed, casting her gaze outward, away.

"I never had a family." Jane sighed, pushing her up against the nearest rock with the least amount of sharp edges. "Jane!"

"If it would make you happy, I will ask around to find them. We'll go through Ivarstead and everything, so you can know the Hell- hole I grew up in." She let her forehead drop against Maura's, hands sliding up around her neck. "Anything to make you happy." She didn't know how Ivarstead would react to her return, to the knowledge that she survived what she had done. She didn't even know if the Greybeards, people she had known once, would accept her into their realm again. If not... She would wait outside for Maura. Patiently. Or at least, as patiently as she could manage.

"Thank you." The mage whispered, pressing their lips together chastely. When Jane released her, the Nord pointed upward, and Maura could see the high towers of their destination. "Oh my, its massive!"

"Smaller than your college, actually. But its like a second home to those from Ivarstead." She didn't mention that she had spent the majority of her early life there. Perhaps she should have. Perhaps it would have made everything easier. But how would have Jane known? She had never planned on returning to the Rift at all.

"How long until we get there?" Jane shrugged.

"Five minutes?" Her guess was right on the mark. The two of them were standing in front of two grand, brass doors within moments. Maura ran her fingers over the engravings on them. Jane bit her lip. They couldn't have left them open.

"It says you need a key of some sort." The brilliant scholar whispered, tracing a few of the symbols over again. "This piece I do not understand. It says that the key is made of some type of allegiance. Jane do you-"

"Yea. Like this." She sighed, running her hand over the crease of the doors, before stopping and pressing in. There was a crack, before lines began to grow. "I was kind of dreading this moment. I hate High Hrothgar." Maura tilted her head to the side, wanting to ask why, but also not daring to. Jane ran a hand through her dark hair. She had never wanted to stand before this door again. Had never wanted to open it. Never wanted to step back through.

But she did. All for Maura.

"Where do we go?" The mage asked quietly, reaching down for Jane's hand. The dark- eyed woman shook her head slightly, drawing back. The building was silent. Much too silent.

"Central chambers." The Breton nodded, walking down the short path, stepping past large, intricate stone pillars, past cast iron artifacts. She thought they were statues originally, before realizing that they were alive.

"Welcome Dovahkiin." One spoke, turning a hooded face towards her. Maura swallowed her trepidation, hoping Jane would do the same. There were only two of the cloaked figures, after all. "I am Heldren, one of the Elders. It will be a pleasure to teach you the art of the Voice." He held up a gnarled, aged hand. "But first, a test of your Voice-"

"She needs none, sir. I have seen the use of her Voice." Jane's voice carried a shaking edge, as if she was expecting something to happen. "And as you know, I am a very good source." The man paused, seeming to stare at her.

"You were told not to return."

"I had no other choice. I travel, with the Dragon Born." Maura couldn't help the slight smile that graced her lips at Jane's protectiveness, her courage. The two of them stared at one another for a few long moments, before the hood nodded.

"Very well. Third quartet, in my wing. Do not make yourself at home, you leave as soon as possible." Jane turned towards her companion, taking their travel gear and raising it to her shoulder. Maura tightened her grip on Jane's forearm.

"Don't go. Please." She allowed worry, fear even, to cloud over her eyes for the briefest moment. Jane shook her head.

"Hey, it'll all be fine, I promise. Heldren may seem like a grouch, but its all an act. And Agroth," she tilted a shoulder to the other hooded figure. "He's a good kid. You'll be fine here. At least until the other two come back, and then all Hell breaks loose. But it won't break loose on you." She rolled her eyes, before glaring at the older man. "Heldren, she learned the Shout of Dragonrend, but needs the power to unlock the sacred Thu'um. It would... be a great service if you would help with that?" She said the words slowly, as if trying to remember an etiquette she had been taught too long ago, and couldn't quite figure out what she wanted to say.

"Agroth shall share his power, before teaching the Whirlwind Sprint." The second hood nodded, and Jane bowed shallowly, before turning away. "Ah, and Jane." She paused, flinching at her own name. "Remember, the others shall not be quite as... forgiving."
"As long as they don't hurt Maura. Let them try me." She stalked off, shoulders tense. Maura spun, opening her mouth to ask what the older man meant by that, when he held up a hand.

"Now, for your training in the sacred Thu'um, the Voice. We begin with Unrelenting Force, the second word of which is 'ro'." He bowed, and she felt a sudden increase in power, in strength. "Agroth shall set up targets, use your Voice to dispel them one by one." Maura set her mouth into a determined line, fully prepared to complete this lesson as quickly as she could. After all, she had questions that needed answers