The next morning, it was obvious that Jacob had very little sleep because of Dar'vaba's presence. He tried to be his regular self, grinning and making rude jokes—many of which involved the attire donned by Lily and Marian while in the lake the previous day, which was white shirts and dark pants—but he yawned after every second word, and his eyes were bloodshot.

From Lake Rumare, they went back north to the Red Ring Road and followed it east, and then south, and turned east again on the Blue Road to Cheydinhal. Near a doomstone they set up camp again, and Lily noticed that Jake was beginning to look more and more nervous that they were nearing Cheydinhal. And if cats could have smug expressions, one was definitely on the face of Dar'vaba.

In the morning, Jake looked even more haggard, and he stopped joking and started complaining—mostly that he didn't have a razor and was turning into a Khajiit, which made Baran, who was also growing a little beard, laugh and demand that they needed to use a dagger or something of the like.

Which they did, and promptly cut themselves—Baran on his throat, and Jake across his cheek. They both received a scolding from Lily and Marian before the priestess healed them and they continued on.

When they reached the town of Cheydinhal, they abruptly turned north and began to trek through the wilderness, only meeting one spriggan along the way—who was beautiful and graceful even though she was easily overtaken, and the black bear she summoned nearly scared the pants off Lily and Marian, who had never seen one before.

They spent the night on the border of the Jerall Mountain and Nibenay Basin regions. It was midmorning when they followed a narrow, unmarked road to the place Baran needed to be.

He helped them set up a little fire and take care of the horses before giving orders yet again.

"I'm going into Lake Arrius Caverns," he announced after Dar'vaba ventured into the woods under pretences of hunting, though he was probably going to Cheydinhal to visit the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. "Inside is the shrine of Mehrunes Dagon, and this is a favourite hideout of the Mythic Dawn. I'm going in there to find Mankar Camoran and hopefully get the Amulet of Kings back. It's dangerous, so you all need to stay here. I'll be back with the Amulet, and we can finally make Martin the emperor."

Once he left, crashing loudly through the brush, Lily tossed a log onto the fire and remarked, "I have no idea who Mankar Camoran is."

"Probably a bad guy," Jake muttered, rubbing his eyes. "I'm going to sleep for a bit. Wake me up when Dar'vaba gets back?"

"

Of course." Lily poked the fire with a thin stick. "Hungry?" she asked, looking up at Marian, who was staring lovingly into the fire.

"Mm? Oh, no, thank you," she refused politely, never taking her eyes from the flames.

Lily dragged one of her saddlebags toward her and dug through it until she found a little bundle of venison. She stuck it on the stick and held it over the fire for a while, watching Marian. "When you met Dar'vaba, what did you mean when you said that Orc wouldn't like him?"

"Ushnar gro-Shadborgob? Oh, he's a man I knew from New Sheoth," she explained distantly. "He's afraid of cats, and that includes Khajiiti. I only met him when I was visiting my cousin in Crucible, and I thought he was a very odd man. Ushnar, that is, not my cousin. Though he's odd too. I wonder if he's died yet."

"Why?"

"Oh, Hirrus is a very depressed person. He thinks nobody likes him. But then, I would be depressed too, if I had to live in Crucible all the time. I tried to convince him to move to Bliss with me, and Orinthal agreed since I hadn't my own house at the time, but…"

Lily shuffled backwards when a little drip of fat fell from the venison and sizzled loudly in the fire. "Orinthal? Is that the person you named your horse for?"

Marian nodded and blinked slowly before looking up from the fire. "Yes. He was a very good friend of mine. He was obsessed with numbers, and would always greet me in the morning with exactly how many minutes I slept that night. I never understood his fascination with numbers… fires, though, those are always interesting." She sighed softly and returned her gaze to the flames. "Other than my lord Sheogorath and my family, I miss him the most."

Lily observed her for some time. Though she was growing to really like the woman, she still couldn't help but resent her for her beauty. There seemed to be nothing at all wrong with her—outwardly at least. It was hard to escape the fact that as soon as she opened her mouth, she made it more than clear that she was insane.

When she thought the venison was done some time later, she pulled it from the fire and held it in the air to let it cool. She waved it around to ease her boredom. After being attacked by bandits, witnessing the breaking-and-entering of an impenetrable fortress, and helping close a portal to hell, her life seemed terribly mundane.

Of course, as luck would have it, just then Dar'vaba thought it was time to return to the camp. As soon as she spotted the brown cat coming towards them, Lily nudged Jake's arm, and he was awake almost immediately.

"Oh, damn," he muttered, seeing Dar'vaba. He scowled for no more than a split second, and it was followed by a huge grin. "Oh, damn!" he exclaimed again, happily this time. "Aw, kitty, have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"That is something I can live without, Cub," Dar'vaba said, coming up to the camp with a bag slung over his shoulder. He sat down a safe distance from the others and set the bag in his lap. Jake practically lunged for the bag, and Lily found out why when he emerged a moment later with two bottles of mead in his hand.

"Ooh, do you have Fellmoor spore wine?" Marian asked delightedly upon seeing the bottles.

Jacob frowned as he sat back down and shoved a bottle into Lily's hand. "What now?"

"That does not sound appetizing," mumbled Dar'vaba as he pushed the bag off his lap and opened up a sugary-smelling drink. "Spore?"

Lily arched her brows at the brandy in her hands, and she grimaced without meaning to. "It's before noon. You two are thinking of drinking now?"

Jake leaned in close to her and rested his chin on her shoulder. "He'll be out after one drink," he murmured, too quietly for anyone but her to hear. "And he'll be out for a long time. Then I can conk out and have a peaceful sleep."

As he pulled back, Lily muttered, "And a headache."

"Ah, but you can fix that, Lil. You're the priestess." He cracked open one of the bottles of mead and clanked the glass against Dar'vaba's. "Bottoms up, cat."

Lily shook her head and ignored them, choosing instead to gnaw on the venison. Across the fire, Marian was watching them with wide, bewildered eyes.

Her nose twitched delicately, and she remarked, "That smells like Caldana Monrius. Is that skooma?"

The Khajiit almost smiled. "It has a small bit of moon sugar in it, but it is not skooma."

And that small bit of moon sugar was enough. Halfway through the bottle, Dar'vaba collapsed in a furry heap beside Jacob and was quite unconscious.

Jake prodded him in the chest to make sure of it before grabbing up the bottle and firmly corking it. Marian chuckled as she watched him, and she said, "I'm surprised you're not going to finish it for him."

He shuddered and shook his head. "No way in hell. I've had way too many problems with skooma and moon sugar. You're more than welcome to it. I'll stick to your generic booze, thanks."

Too curious not to ask, Lily quizzed, "Any of that skooma and moon sugar have to do with your sordid past?"

He flashed her a grin and made himself comfortable beside her. "I had a whole bottle of skooma to myself before killing my friend in the fort, and I was still high when the Speaker of the Dark Brotherhood showed up to invite me to the family. Probably made a horrible impression on them after that."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah. I don't remember most of it, but I think I said something about flapping my arms and flying to Cheydinhal when I made my decision."

Lily rolled her eyes and tossed the remnants of the venison into the fire. "Good for you."

"Plus I was nineteen," he said, pressing the bottle of mead to his lips. "Everyone says stupid shit when they're nineteen. Except you, I bet. You were probably reading banned books and picking corn and wishing some strapping Imperial lad would show up to tell you to become a priestess when you were nineteen."

"Jake, I was nineteen at the beginning of this year. I only turned twenty on the seventh of Rain's Hand."

His dark brown eyes widened at this revelation. "Really? Hell, you were one mature seventeen year old then." He took another swig from the bottle and vigorously shook his head. "Woo, I feel great! And—and I'm a lot older than you than I thought, then. Nine years? Nine years. Nine Divine! Ha! And practically to the month too, since Second Seed is right after Rain's Hand."

"I'm glad you figured it out," she murmured, tossing the stick she had used to cook the venison into the fire, which had once again trapped Marian. "You should probably stop drinking before you make a fool of yourself."

She might have misheard, but she thought Marian giggled and whispered something like, "He's already a fool."

By the time he finished both bottles and was halfway through a third, he was loudly and dramatically reciting a rather inappropriate scene from Crassius Curio's The Lusty Argonian Maid. Lily had respectfully declined when he offered for her to say Lifts-Her-Tail's lines, so he ended up doing the Argonian's and Crantius Colto's in increasingly exaggerated voices.

Marian nearly fell into the fire with hilarity when he began act four, scene three, and Lily couldn't help but collapse in a fit of giggles, even though she wondered in the back of her mind how he knew the play so well.

"So you are, my dumpling. And a good one at that. Such strong legs and shapely tail," Jake exclaimed in a pompous, haughty version of his own accent.

"J-J-Jake," Lily stammered through laughter that made her gut hurt, "you're going to—to wake up Dar'vaba!"

"I don't th-th-think that's p-possible!" Marian snorted. Her face was red, and she was doubled over, but Jake continued the play—"You embarrass me, sir!" Lifts-Her-Tail was saying in a very creepy, raspy voice that was too high for him to do properly—and for once, Marian didn't seem to notice the nearby fire at all.

"Fear not! You are safe here with me!" Crantius Colto said through Jacob Bercarius.

Lily wiped her eyes and wondered if she and Marian had something to drink and just didn't remember it. She couldn't remember Jake being this hilarious the only other time he had been drunk around her—he had just been embarrassing then. Of course, they had been in a very full tavern that time. Here, they were alone in the woods with nobody to judge them.

Somewhere in her musings, Lifts-Her-Tail had spoken again—"I must finish my cleaning, sir. The mistress will have my head if I do not!"—and now Jake gestured rudely to his crotch and bellowed, "Cleaning, eh? I have something for you. Here, polish my spear!"

"This is a play?" Marian squeaked. "This seems like something my lord would love!"

"By the gods, what happened here?"

Jake immediately stopped reciting the bawdy scene and swayed a bit before falling back on a bit of moss near Lily. "Hello, Mr Hero of Kvatch!" he shouted, waving enthusiastically. "You got back just in time! The next scene is so good!"

Lily bit her lip and grinned up at Baran as he approached, a large book under one arm. She could only imagine what he saw before him—one unconscious Khajiit reeking of moon sugar, two red-faced girls giggling helplessly, and one very drunk Imperial who could barely stand on his own.

"Dar'vaba went to Cheydinhal and got alcohol," Lily explained, trying desperately to keep her giggles under control. "You know how the Khajiiti are—he barely lasted ten minutes. And Jake was just amusing us."

The corner of Baran's mouth twitched upwards, but otherwise he remained stoic. "I swear I could've heard you all yelling from inside the shrine," he remarked, tucking the book away in one of his saddlebags and sitting down beside Marian. "It's amazing you weren't swarmed by the Mythic Dawn."

Lily beamed and wrapped an arm around Jake's shoulders. "Crantius could've fought them off with his giant spear."

Baran merely watched her with a carefully blank expression. "Were you drinking too?"

"Not one drop. What's that book you had?"

"Oh, Camoran got away before I could get to him, and he took the Amulet with him, so I got the next best thing—the book telling me how to get to him when he's in his Paradise. It's called the Mysterium Xarxes, apparently. I read a bit of it. Something about Mehrunes Dagon coming to Tamriel, or something."

"It explains it in Tamrielic?" Lily asked, flabbergasted. She didn't even notice that Jake was leaning on her, still mumbling about Crantius Colto and Lifts-Her-Tail.

Baran shook his head. "No, it's in Daedric runes, but I can translate some of it. I got enough to read, 'Of bold Oblivion fire who finds you for Lord Dagon forever reborn in blood and fire from the waters of Oblivion,' when I was hiking back through the forest. I'll give it to Martin when I get back to Cloud Ruler Temple. He's drooling on your shoulder."

Lily glanced down at Jake and pushed him away, and he managed to sit on his own again. "Why don't you read more now? It seems interesting."

"I would, but… I'm a little afraid to. The book screamed at me before, so I think I'll leave that up to Martin."

"It screamed at you?" Marian asked, her giggles having subsided.

"It did something when I started reading it. That happened when I closed my first Oblivion Gate, the one in Kvatch." He shrugged and leaned against a tree behind him. "I touched the sigil stone and it sounded like it screamed. I don't trust Daedric artefacts after that."

"Oh. Should we leave, then, if the Mythic Dawn are in there?" Lily asked, nervously glancing toward where the caverns were located.

"No, they're all dead. I made sure of it before coming out here, just in case. We can stay here long enough for the boys to get recovered," Baran offered, arching his brows at Jake, who had given up The Lusty Argonian Maid for a quiet but still enthusiastic rendition of A Less Rude Song. "But I wouldn't recommend staying much longer than that, in case more show up. Anyways, you seem to have a hold on things here, so I'm going to explore for a while." Baran jumped back to his feet and waved at Marian and Lily. "See you later."

Once he was gone, Jake chuckled and pulled at the sleeve of Lily's shirt, mumbling, "Whatever your odd needs: feathered, scaled or finned, you'll find it all in Morrowind."

"We're in Cyrodiil, dear," Lily said, gently pushing his hand away.

He only grinned wider and continued to a jaunty tune, "It's an invention of bards that Bretons and Redguards have more than some staid fun and suffer deviant fornication. Hm, sweet little Breton, is it true?"

Lily felt herself blush. "I wouldn't know about Bretons, as I've never been involved in any way with one of my own," she replied, pushing him away again when he pulled the collar of her shirt. "But Redguards—definitely true. Very enthusiastic lovers. Lots of stamina."

Jake snorted. "You're a terrible priestess, you know that?"

"I wasn't always a priestess."

"And what about Imperials, hm? The song doesn't really say much about them."

Lily sighed and smirked at him. "Imperials? They're boring as hell. You'd get more action out of a dead Sload."

Jake looked genuinely hurt. "Ouch, that cut me deep, Lil."

"Well, it wasn't a personal insult. It was more… insulting your race as a whole," she corrected, grinning at his expression. "Of course, you all make up for it by being charming as hell too. It's the only way any of you can get someone into bed."

"Ah, well, at least we have that." He smiled in a cute, little boyish way at her, and she chuckled softly.

"Baran was right," she murmured. "This is either very bad or very upfront flirting."

Jake ruffled a hand through his hair and smiled drunkenly. "Is it working?"

Lily glanced at Marian to see if she was transfixed by the fire again—which she was—before lifting one eyebrow at Jake. "A little."

Jacob giggled in a way that only drunk men can. "You're adorable when you blush, Lil. And you're pretty anyways."

"Thanks."

"Yeah. I'll continue this later," he said, pointing firmly at her. "But right now I'm feeling sick, so I'm going to sleep this off." And without further adieu, he curled up on the moss beside her and promptly fell asleep.

Lily leaned back and looked into the fire, and when she saw Marian smile the tiniest bit, she sighed heavily and fell back against her saddlebags.

—

It was nightfall when Baran came crashing through the trees again. With a contented sigh, he sat down beside Marian and pulled off his armour to ease the burns on his arms. "Well, that was fun," he decided.

"Find anything exciting?" Lily wondered as she handed bread to Jake—he had woke up an hour before, giddy with the remnants of his drunkenness, but groaning with a head-splitting hangover. Dar'vaba was stirring, but he hadn't officially woke up yet.

"Nothing in the way of ruins or caves—and I wasn't in the mood for spelunking anyways. But I met some bandits, spriggans, and even a few minotaur. It was pretty good. Things been all well here?"

Marian chortled and said cheerfully, "Jake kissed Lily."

Baran turned a questioning eye on Lily, and she glowered at Marian as a blush blossomed on her cheeks. "He was still drunk when he woke up, and when I went to fix his hangover, he did it. This is why people shouldn't drink."

"You drink," Jacob pointed out through a mouthful of bread. He seemed completely sober now, and wasn't at all abashed by his intoxicated antics. "And I heard about the time when you danced with that rat woman in the Count's Arms."

"That isn't the same," she snapped. "And I didn't kiss her."

"You liked it."

"Oh, shut your mouth, Bercarius."

"Listen to you two," Baran chuckled, "like an old married couple."

"You shut up too," Lily muttered. "When are we leaving?"

The knight rolled his eyes. "Whenever the Khajiit wakes up. I know he isn't really with us, but it wouldn't be very nice to leave him out here. Did you want to look at Cheydinhal, Sister?"

Lily nodded and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Yes, I did. I'll bring Marian with me, since she's never seen it and Jake can't go inside city walls. Will you wait with him?"

"I suppose. We can have a little chat about how priestesses serve gods and not men."

"Bad priestess," Jake said, gesturing to Lily. "She's screwed around with Redguards. And dead Sloads, apparently."

"Well, at least the dead Sload was better than the Imperial," she retorted sweetly.

Baran choked on water he had been attempting to drink. Slapping a hand over his face to wipe off the spilled drink, he gawked at Lily and said, "Wow, you are vicious."

"Did that go out your nose?" Marian asked distractedly.

"Yeah." Baran shuddered and rubbed the water off his face with his sleeve. "Really, Sister, not all Imperials are horrible."

"I never said they were horrible—I just said they weren't as good as dead Sloads. I'm sure Orcs are worse. Or better, if you like big green brutes."

"Like Ushnar!"

"Exactly."

Baran shook his head and smiled at Lily in disbelief. "He's right—you're a bad priestess. So, what's your hierarchy of good bedroom companions?"

Lily ran her tongue over her lips as she pondered it, but regretted it—she tasted like mead. "Redguards, Bretons, Nords, Dunmer, Altmer, Bosmer, Sloads—" At that, she smirked at Jacob. "Khajiiti, Argonians, dead Sloads, Imperials, Orcs. Of course, I'm biased. I'm only guessing about Bretons, and I don't like the high and mighty Altmer."

"So if that's how you think it is," Jake said calmly, "why do you like Marty?"

Lily stubbornly stared into the fire so she didn't have to meet his eye. "He's one of those Imperials with charm, unlike you."

Baran chuckled and shook his head again. "You two are perfect for each other."

Lily snorted.

The knight sighed and pulled his bedroll from the saddlebags behind him. "Whatever, I'm going to sleep. Can one or both of you stay up tonight?"

The redhead nodded her assent, and Baran and the Manic made themselves comfortable on the grassy patch they made camp at. Dar'vaba was still in the same place as before, but he had probably moved from unconsciousness to sleep long ago.

Silence overtook the camp for quite a while. The fire burned down but was still crackling merrily, and other than the noises of the night, the Khajiit purred softly in his sleep and Baran snored occasionally. It was quite peaceful, considering what their travels had consisted of in the past.

Jake broke the silence by scooting forward and stoking the fire with a stick. As fluttering orange sparks danced into the air, he remarked, "It's really easy to embarrass you."

"I know. You seem to enjoy it quite a bit," she said dryly.

"I don't mean to. Okay, well, sometimes I do," he corrected, laughing when she shot him a dark glare. "Sorry if I embarrassed you when I was drunk, by the way. I didn't really know what I was saying."

"Do you remember?"

"Perfectly. And I do particularly recall you saying that my stupid flirting was working." He smirked at her almost triumphantly. "I must've done something right."

"It was your Imperial tricks," she muttered, watching him under partially lowered lids. "Whatever compelled you to kiss me?"

Jake sat in front of her and tilted her chin up so she was eye level with him. This close, she could see the long, thin cut on his cheek where he had hurt himself trying to shave with the dagger. Very lightly, he cupped her face with his hands. "You did that to me, when you were going to fix my hangover," he said simply. "And I got all warm 'cause of the spell…"

Lily was quite warm herself, but she shivered involuntarily anyways. It felt as though somebody had turned her heart into a butterfly, and it was fluttering about in her chest, trying to get out.

"Jake, what are you…" she started to ask, but she let her sentence run dry when he gave her the innocent, child's smile again.

It started as a simple brush of their lips, and Lily almost jerked away. She didn't, but she shivered again when one of his hands moved down to the small of her back and the other lightly touched her neck. Goosebumps popped up over her arms at the gentle caress.

Just when she started warming up to it, she heard him softly humming A Less Rude Song. That had to be something to look out for.

She didn't have to, however. Something scratched her, and she yanked back in surprise and gasped. "Ouch!" she hissed, rubbing her cheek. "That hurt!"

Jake smirked in that smug way of his and he reached up to run his hand over his cheek. "What, this?" He grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward him, and she couldn't decide if she wanted to fight it or not. She probably should have, she thought, as Jake rubbed his cheek against hers. The stubble rasped painfully against her face, and she squealed and tried to roll away. He easily held her still and nuzzled against her, scratching her again.

"You ass, that hurts!" she squeaked, pushing pathetically at him.

"What, this?" he said again, and scraped the stubble against her cheek again.

An exasperated groan rose above her badly stifled giggles. "By the gods, would you two keep it down?" Baran mumbled sleepily. He lifted himself onto one elbow and glowered at the two of them. "You're going to keep the whole forest awake."

Lily bit her lip and smiled awkwardly at Baran. He huffed tiredly and fell back into his bedroll. She pulled her hand away from Jacob's and rubbed her face. "This is ridiculous," she mumbled into her hands. "Completely and utterly ridiculous. I'm a priestess."

Jake remained silent. Too embarrassed at her behaviour to look at him just yet, Lily pressed her forehead into her arm and didn't say another word until Baran exchanged guard shifts with them many hours later.

And even then, her sleep was restless.

When the cloudy, overcast morning came, she was tired and irritable, and the ride from Lake Arrius Caverns to Cheydinhal was absolutely miserable. Jacob absolutely refused to ride a horse this time around, and he walked with Dar'vaba ahead of the rest of them. Lily appreciated that he was giving her some time to think, and she wondered when it became possible for thieves to be gentlemen.

At the gates of Cheydinhal, they stabled the horses, and Lily and Marian left the two men behind to explore the city after promising to return after a few hours; Dar'vaba had slipped into the town while they were putting the horses in the paddock.

Her morning grumpiness immediately vanished when she stepped into the city of Cheydinhal. A little river trickled through the town, and the tall stone buildings were pleasantly coloured. People smiled at the two of them as they passed over a little bridge, though one Orc glowered at their dirty hands and the leaves clinging to their clothes from their time spent outside. Despite the darkness of the day, the city was incredibly beautiful.

Lily and Marian simply wandered around outside, where Marian would ask about certain plants and bugs she had never seen before, and Lily would explain what they were. They were so immersed in a vine of morning glory—Marian couldn't understand how such a pretty thing could possibly be poisonous—that they didn't see the storm coming before it hit.

The sky seemed to crack in half and unleash a flurry of rain and a gale in an instant. Before Lily realized what was happening, Marian shrieked and sprinted away, and she was immediately lost to the water pelting from the sky.

"Marian?" Lily called, looking after where the woman had retreated. Her hair was already soaked; she wiped it back and ventured out from underneath a little awning they had been standing under. "Marian!" Her voice was swallowed by the furious patter of rain smacking the ground, and the storm seemed laugh at her when thunder rolled over the city far above. The citizens of Cheydinhal were all retreated back into their homes to wait it out; she felt utterly alone.

Lily screamed when she felt something brush against her back, and a low, cultured voice behind her softly said, "Would you like some assistance, my dear?"

She breathed a sigh of relief hearing the familiar accent of a Breton, but when she turned to see the dark-haired man behind her, she couldn't find the strength to move.

The little smile on his ashen lips made her colder than the rain ever could have. "Please do not let my appearance unnerve you," the man murmured. "I understand you are acquainted with a brother of mine. If you could spare the time, my family would love to have a few words with you." The glint in his pale red eyes suggested that something other than discussion was in mind.

A hand lightly touched her back, and she walked mechanically in front of the vampire toward a boarded up house, far from prying eyes.