From a mission to finish my "Voice" to wild goose chase. When Bishop and I arrived in Ustengrav between the traps and the undead and mostly everything else, we had expected it all. At least up until we faced the final room where the horn used to be. Key words : used to be. Someone had apparently gotten past all the traps and drauger, took the horn, and left a cryptic note for me.

After we got out of the bloody riun, Bishop suggested that we go to the nearest hold to rest and resupply before going back to Riverwood. I was going to suggest Morthal, but then I remembered what happened before we got to Ustengrav. We passed through Morthal for a bed and supplies. I got curious about a burned down house and that led to a vampire conspiracy. Bishop wasn't all that happy that I got involed, therfore he had to get involved with the matter. He of course understood that I couldn't back down after vampires got involved. However, once the vampires were dead, the jarl asked me to be her thane and everyone wanted my help with anything and everything. Bishop was even more moody and practically dragged me out.

So since Morthal was out of the question, the second closest hold was Solitude. We realized that walking there would take a long time and we'd have to camp, but we didn't have enough food to last us the time, so I pushed him in the water, jumped in and started swimming until we reached the docks.

Now I'm just wringing out my hair waiting for my ranger and his wolf. Karnwyr is happy to get to swim, but Bishop looks like he might actually kill me. I laugh a little as he walks out of the water and on to the dock.

"So was that revenge for all the times I got you wet?" he asks and I just laugh even louder. "Heh, yeah, well you were certainly right, Revenge is a bitch like you."

"C'mon you grump ranger. Swimming gave us exercise and cut our distance time in half. Besides, Karnwyr like it." After saying that, Karnwyr gives a joyful bark.

"There is no beating you two." Bishop growls as I giggle.

We go up the stairs and almost literally run into a drunk man.

"What are you doing?" I nearly yelp when the man stumbled in front of me a little too close.

"Damn! That was my last bottle of rum!" He tosses his empy bottle and looks at me. "Hey, you!"

"Oh joy, another drunk." I say annoyed.

"Come closer, beautiful, who are you? Why haven't I seen you around here before?" He asks looking me up and down.

"Someone you don't want to get in a shouting match with." I tease, hoping that he'll just think I'm lying and pass out.

"Oh! Shut up! You?! What?!" I can't really tell if he believes me or not, but he goes on. "The power to shout a man to death? The power to shout a man to pieces?!"

I can already see Bishop getting fumed about something, so I try to end the conversation. "Well, I guess you won't want my help then."

"No. No." the man stops me before I leave. "I'm sorry, I have a real problem lass. My name is Jack. Captain Jack."

After he says that I look over his attire and realize that he's a pirate captain, but a little less bearable than Aunt Isabella. It certainly explains the rum.

He continues to talk and I just stand and listen. "You see, I have absolutely no idea how I got here and, even worse, I have no idea where my ship is."

That's what happens when you get really drunk. At least that's what I want to say, but instead I say, "That takes talent, losing a whole ship. Look where you last had it, Cap'n Rum." I feel like I'm talking to a child, but then again.

"Ah! And she's got beuty and brains! Do you think you could escort me to my vessel? Wouldn't want my lads seeing me in my vulnerable state y'know." Jack asks.

I want to say no and I know Bishop wants me to say no, but if we leave Jack like this he will hurt himself as well as someone else. "Sure, why not?" I try to smile.

"When we get back there I'll show you my captain's cabin. I'll even give you the old safety talk! Goes like this: In the unlikely event my cabin loses pressure, grab the person next to you, placing him or her firmly over your nose and breathe normally! Haha, I slay me." Jack informs me.

Bishop looks like he might actually slay him. Plus, I don't even have to read between the lines to understand what he's talking about. I turn to Bishop before going back to the docks, and as per the usual, he's not happy.

"You stumble upon some drunk out in the street and think" Oh, let's go with him!" At times, I really question your intelligence." Bishop says almost sarcastically.

"I suppose saying "Oops, I'm sorry" wouln't help?" I ask almost hoping he'd say no, but he nods his head.

I smile apologetically and lead Jack down the stairs. As we walk, Jack shares little stories about other women and asks questions about my abilities. Bishop pops into the conversation and almost makes the anwsers as well as the questions a little dirty. Of course with me blushing afer every answer, the drunk pirate stumbles on something that the ranger didn't know.

"Say, lass. Are you... hic... are you a virgin?" He asks still very drunk.

I nearly freeze in place until Bishop starts laughing. "Her?! A virgin?! Haha, there is no way..." Now he's thinking about it as sees my blushing cheeks. "Are you?"

Now he's asking? "I don't see how my sexual life is any of your business!"

"Yup, she is." Jack declares. "That's the best kind. So lass, let's sail away."

"Put her oars on your rudder and you're dead." Bishop growls at Jack before he even lays a finger on me.

We arrive to Jack's ship, the Jolly Rodger. It's small, but I guess it's good enough to go to far places in. The crew isn't on board and Jack is now leading both Bishop and I to his quarters. Bishop stays close to me until Jack talks about getting drunk. For Jack it would be getting drunker, but Bishop joined in anyway. Not a fan of rum, so I look around the ship thinking of my aunt leading to the rest of my family.

I can already see Auntie Izzy trying to scheme a way to steal the ship while Uncle Varric and Uncle Anders share stories with Jack. My father, Uncle Carver, and Bishop having a brooding contest. Uncle Sebastian praying to the Maker as Aunt Aveline and Uncle Donnic try their best to keep everyone on control and not killing them. And my mother, Aunt Merrill and I watch everyone from the side, laughing a little. I take a look towards the outer sea while I'm on deck, missing all of them even more.

Bishop finally comes back up, telling me that our host passed out. I wasn't surprised and we went up the stairs again to get to the door of the hold. Once through the door we come up to a familiar sight. An execution. From what I can tell, he's being executed because he opened a gate for Ulfic Stormcloak after he shouted the High King to pieces. Another reason people fear the power I wield.

We enter the Winking Skeever Inn, mostly so we could miss out on the beheading. I can feel my markings starting to glow from the dreaded memories of waiting to be killed, having my head on that block, and then the dragon. My responsibility.

While I get us a room, Bishop goes off to the corner. He seems a little wobbly, but I bet it's nothing. I inform him that I'm going to some of the local shops to sell anything we're not using and buying anything we'll need or anything better than what we have.

...

I return to the Winking Skeever to find empty wine and mead bottles all around Bishop, still in the corner.

He sees me. "C'mere... you look... like a comfy place to lay my head." And he's really drunk. Unbelievable.

"Are you... are you feeling alright?" I just hope he didn't drink too much; I've never seen him like this before.

"You know, for a pirate... What's was his name?" As he slurs his words trying to remember Jack's name, I look around apologetically. "Joe? Bob? No... Jock? NO!" He still ponders as I giggle just a little. "Jackass! Yeah... his rum is awful!"

I stop laughing and look around to see that there are a few rum bottles around.

"I can still taste it in the back of... my... my throat!" He continues as I silently panic. "Even the Winking Skeever's shit couldn't wash it out!"

I look to the innkeeper apologetically, telling him I'd pay for any and all of the damage, and look back to Bishop. "Oh no, don't tell me you drank ALL of it?"

"Every single bottle!" He exclaims and I just sigh an shake my head. "Ugh, stop mothering me, dammit... hic... I'm not a child. Although...hic..." I've got a bad feeling of what he's going to say next. "...you'd be a better mom than the one I had."

I start to think that he needs to sleep it off and drink only water tomorrow, but then again, he could be faking it. Only one way to find out. "Bishop," I whisper, "The world will end if you don't tell me your middle name."

"Florance!" That's a surprise. "I mean, Lawrence." He hides it and I look at him suspiciously; he sighs and explains. "My parents had a debt, alright? They needed to pay it off and this damn, tights wearing noble wanted them to name me after him."

He's definately not faking; he would never tell me that if he were sober. "Come on, Ranger. Let's get you to bed and we'll talk about this in the morning."

"Get laid! Good plan!" He says very loudly as take his arm around my shoulder and lead him upstairs to our room; thank goodness he's drunk. "Can I use you as a pillow? You look..."

Pillow? I'm almost not liking the way he is looking at me with those amber eyes of his.

"You look so soft." he whispers in my ear, giving me chills as we walk through the door. "You smell so nice too."

He's now sniffing my hair? I better put him on the bed before he does something that he'll regret. "Okay mister. Get some sleep," I lay him down on the bed, "and I'll keep watch tonight."

He grabs my wrist and pulls me ontop of him, snaking an arm around my waist. "Nah-uh. You need to stay here. Don't want nightmares to get'cha!"

I try to get him to let me go, but even drunk, he's strong. I stop struggling as he turns to his side, keeping me close to his chest. "Bishop?"

"I don't want you to be scared when I'm around. You look sad when you are. I want you to smile that..." Bishop scoots back a bit and place his hand on my cheek. "That beautiful smile. It goes good with your eyes. A beautiful blue."

He leans in and... I don't stop him. He kisses me and I'm not feeling the urge to slap him or dump cold water on him. Instead, I close my eyes, savoring the feeling of my first kiss. Sure it tastes like wine and mead, but it's so gentle, so... caring. We stop, I open my eyes and see Bishop passed out.

I giggle a little as I hear Karnwyr, the smart wolf, walk in and close the door. "Good night, Ranger."

...

Morning has come and not a single nightmare. Maybe he really does calm me down and make me happy. Am I? Happy with Bishop, I mean? I sit up and stretch a little bit. I hear a groan from behind me.

"Shit. Well, you haven't killed me yet, so it wasn't as bad as my hangover suggests."

"Morning, Florence." I say to him teasingly.

"Wha- no! It's Lawr-" He just realized. "Wait! I didn't tell you that, did I? You know what nevermind. I must have been piss assed drunk if I told you... that!" He sees my mixed expression of concern and humor. "Look did we... did anything... happen?"

"You don't remember?" I am a little sad, I mean, it was my first kiss.

He shakes his head almost unsure then says "If I did anything, I'm sorry and can we just forget that anything happened?" After hearing him say that, I turn away trying not to yell or anything, and he continues "If we go somewhere cold, just ignore me when I dunk my head in the snow or something."

"Or we could skip the trip." I make a snarky remark when I see Karnwyr with a bucket of cold water in his mouth.

Karnwyr understands and runs to Bishop, knocking the bucket all over him and the bed. I stand up and walk out with Bishop yelling and Karnwyr a step behind me. I tell the innkeeper on the way out of the building that Bishop will take care of expenses.

How could I be a fool? Of course it had to be my first kiss and he had to be drunk! After we reach Riverwood, I might as well leave him to do what he wants and continue my journey as the Dragonborn. Alone. Like it should be.

"OOF!" I run into someone hard as I run out the door.

"Oh, are you alright dear lady." The man I ran into looks like a knight of some kind, he's kinda handsome.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." I tell him as I take his hand and brush myself off. "I probably should have watched where I was going."

"There is no need to apologize, I am new in these lands and got sidetracked." He really is a gentleman. "May I ask something of you, my lady?"

I suppose being called "my lady" isn't much different from "Ladyship" or "Princess", but I can tell that he has a good personality. "Sure, why not?"

"Are you perhaps the Dragonborn?"