Esil's eyes widened as the ghost screamed, clutching his arm.
"That's… not a ghost." Lydia said.
"Let's kill it!" Esil shouted.
"Why is that your first reaction?" Lydia asked, standing up and following Esil. Esil looked a bit like a manic child as she ran towards the wounded ghost. He looked up and saw her, and drew a knife with his good arm.
"You're not getting the treasure!" He screamed, and charged. Esil shot him in the face. He fell over with a dull thud.
"I thought you were blind." Lydia said, walking up to her.
"I can sort of see. Everything's vague outlines. And really, it's a glowing man running at me screaming. Hard to miss." Esil said. Lydia shrugged.
—
"Where the crap is Riften?" Esil asked. They were sitting at a table in the inn, listening to the bard singing about Dragonborn. Lydia had to hold Esil down from jumping up and screaming about how she was Dragonborn.
"Down near the southwestern border. Nasty place, really. Full of thieves and corruption."
"Worse than Markarth?"
"Not as bad as Markarth, no. But close." Lydia said. "Can we please stay away from both those Holds? Why don't we go somewhere nice, like Windhelm?"
"The cold place? I don't want to go to the cold place. I want to go to Riften." Esil sounded like a child. A heavily armoured, weapon-toting child.
"Fine. Can we kill some bandits on the way? That would be fun, right?"
"And take some bounties on giants. We can go explore ruins on the way, too. It'll be a trip." Esil nodded, walking over to the innkeeper.
Lydia ran at the giant, swinging her sword and impaling its knee. Esil shot it in the head, pulling back another arrow as the mammoths panicked, charging Lydia. Esil ran at them, throwing firebolts.
"Fus!" She shouted, knocking the mammoths back a little. She fired more arrows as Lydia slashed at them. After they were toppled Lydia frowned at Esil.
"'Fun'? 'Fun'? Are you fucking kidding me? That was not 'fun'."
"They're dead. So?"
"I almost died!" Lydia shouted.
"You didn't. Do you want to leave?" Esil asked.
"Yes, I—no. I'm your housecarl. I have to protect you."
"I'm going to Riften. Go back to Whiterun. I'll see you there." Esil said.
"Fine. Other than… this fiasco, it's been… well, it's been weird, and annoying, and life threatening, but other than that… it's been an honour to serve you." Lydia told her.
"Okay. Be safe." Esil said. Lydia nodded and walked away, sheathing her sword.
