The morning came without fanfare. Runa was up before him, as usual, thought Nerella was the first one up this time. She already had most of breakfast made with their supplies by the time Runa began to drag Branwe into a fit state of wakefulness. When they came over to the fire, Nerella wordlessly handed them each a cup of dark tea. It smelled rich, almost woody in some ways. Branwe looked at it dubiously.
"Mmmph! It's so bitter," exclaimed Runa after a sip. This time, Branwe had the opportunity, finally, to upstage Runa. He finished his sip without starting out of it, and smacked his lips together a few times.
"Well, it's bitter, but it's no quina-root tea," he said jovially. Nerella cocked an eyebrow at Runa, and smiled. Runa averted her eyes, and Branwe rolled his. "So I got hit by a trick your mama taught you," he said mock-tiredly. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, Runa. She's not dead, so you'll have to come up with your own material now," he told her. This earned him a sharp elbow to the ribs. But it may still have been worth it.
"So where are you going now?" Runa asked Nerella, trying to bring the conversation back to one of serious discourse. Nerella pointed upwards absently as she poked at the meats in the pan. "Up, out, to the surface?"
"Blackreach?" asked Branwe sipping his tea again. Nerella nodded, the same engrossing attention as before.
Runa whirled around to Branwe. Her eyes both searching, and suspicious. They narrowed with a dark jealousy. She bristled under it, rankled at him knowing that before she did. She said nothing, though, and turned back to Nerella, clearing her composure before speaking again.
"Are you setting off today?" Asked Runa. Again, Nerella nodded sort of absentmindedly. "Well, then I'm coming with you," declared Runa. Nerella's nod this time was mixed with a bit of a fatalistic shrug. As if to say, 'yeah, I figured.'
"Well, better count me in too," chirped Branwe. "I've been a tag along this long, after all. I'm not even sure I'd know how to get home anyway. And I may get an exclusive interview with the Last Dragonborn later, so, you know, that might be worth it."
"It'd have to be in writing," mumbled Runa.
"Not necessarily. She thinks she might be able to talk again once she-" began Branwe. He stopped suddenly. Nerella's was staring at him utterly still. Her head hadn't snapped up in any kind of comical motion. She just was looking at him. And believe it, when Nerella was focusing her attention on you, you felt it. Branwe's mouth had been hanging open. He promptly shut it.
"...Once she what?" demanded Runa.
"...I seem to have... Um," he began, eyes flitting from one incredibly dangerous woman to the other, both of them glaring at him. Nerella was staring at him with an utterly calm expression. Not chilly. Not wooden. Not disappointed. Yeesh, there was a reason she wasn't called Nerella the Destroyer, or some far more classic Nordic sytle name. It was hard to quantify why the calm, level stare of this Bosmer was so off putting, but it was. It definitely was. Branwe cleared his throat, and tried to appeal to his audience. "Perhaps this is a matter better handled between the two of you... Not... quite so... aimed at me?" he chirped hopefully.
Nerella rolled her eyes, and handed them both their plates. She grabbed her own, and leaned back into something reminiscent to a pout, starring Runa down. Finally, Runa's attention shifted away from Branwe and to her mama. Her icy calm was thawing into brittle anger, but Nerella had just managed to tap into a tiredness to stay cool.
Branwe wanted to speak up, and tell Runa that she wasn't going to win a staring contest with Nerella the Calm, but honestly he was so glad the onus was off of him, that he didn't really want to draw their ire back any time soon. He popped a piece of bacon into his mouth, and chewed very slowly. If it came time for him to say anything, he wanted to make sure his mouth was full for it.
"You think you'll be able to speak again, and you don't want me knowing?" demanded Runa finally.
Nerella took a bite of her food and sighed heavily as she chewed. She made a few vague gestures, trying various combinations of shaking her head, waggling her hands, and shrugging, but none of them got any clear meaning across. She gestured to Runa. Then to herself and looked a little pained. Then back to Runa, and looked very pained. Even a little sad.
She rolled her eyes again, and shrugged very finally, as if giving up on trying to describe whatever it was. She gestured to Branwe, and pinched before her ear, as if tiredly granting him permission to finish what he was saying.
Branwe swallowed at length, but they neither of them seemed willing to let that deter them. His eyes flitted from the two of them, feeling very small under their gaze. He was forced to speak, or stay conspicuously silent.
"I'm... guessing she didn't want me to say anything because she didn't want to get your hopes up," began Branwe hesitantly.
He was interrupted when Nerella clapped her hands on her thighs, and with both palms up gestured to him again. 'This guy gets it!'
Branwe cleared his throat, and continued after the interruption. "She seems to think that by making earrings out of Aetherium she can... Well, I don't know why she thinks this will help, but she thinks she'll get to speak after she does that. Or at least, I mean, that's what she conveyed to me. There's... There's room for error in that translation of course, but that's the general information, right?" he asked Nerella. She nodded agreeably. That was the general information, sans any sort of telling detail, yes.
Runa bristled again, but quieted down. She speared a spud viciously, and rammed the offending tuber into her mouth. Up to that point, Branwe didn't know a person could chew like they hated something and wanted it to suffer.
"S-soooo," started Branwe. Runa wouldn't look at him. When he spoke, she turned her head away just slightly. "We'll be heading out today?" he asked. "For Blackreach?"
Nerella nodded. She pointed to the two of them, and made the gesture of reigns, her face questioning.
"Yes, yes we both have horses," said Branwe.
Nerella nodded thoughtfully. Still chewing her food as if she were actually enjoying it. Branwe frowned.
"Do you, though?" he asked.
Nerella paused, and looked up at him with a cocked head. It was hard to say if her expression was genuinely curious, or was telling him he'd just asked a stupid question.
"We didn't see any horses around when we got here..." Continued Branwe uncertainly.
"Yes we did," said Runa through gritted teeth.
"We did?"
"That glimmer I told you about..." She grumbled.
"There was a horse that was a glimmer? I don't think I understand..."
"No, that glimmer was Yaelinn."
"Yaelinn the glimmer... Yaelinn's a horse?"
"Sort of." And again, she rammed a spud into her mouth.
"...Oooooooooooh kay," said Branwe. She was clearly being cryptic on purpose. And had taken some sort of umbridge with him. So asking further questions was only going to annoy. Though it annoyed him to've had information waved in front of his face, and then withdrawn. Sure, he'd just accidentally ended up doing it to her, but he'd righted it as well.
Branwe turned to Nerella. She put her hand on her forehead, fingers pointed up and away. But when that didn't clarify anything, she just looked at him apologetically, unable to explain better.
He shrugged, and let it go, returning to his meal, the rest of which was taken in uncomfortable silence. Runa kept her eyes on Nerella, and pointedly didn't look to him. Nerella spared him a vaguely apologetic shrug, which seemed to make Runa just slightly angrier. Branwe decided to just keep his attention on the food. It was tasty, and wasn't angry at him.
They trekked back out to the entrance of the mine. When they were about to head through the slimy, nigh-impossible climb of the spring fed cave, Nerella shook her head, and led them off in a different direction. She tapped her nose knowingly, and walked down a path which came to a dead end. It didn't look like an abandoned tunnel, though, it seemed like a smooth stone wall at the end of other smooth stone walls. Branwe didn't understand the point of why it was built that way, or why it was there. Until Nerella pushed a stone, and revealed that it was a secret entrance. There was a ring on a chain dangling from the other side of the stone slab once it slid out of the way into its niche in the floor.
Nerella grinned at them over her shoulder, clearly somewhat pleased with herself. She puffed up her chest, turned around to dramatically point out the secret entrance. Runa glowered, unimpressed, and shoved her way past. Nerella shrugged. Perhaps a little disappointed with the lack of reaction. Branwe put his palms together, and mouthed the words 'thank you' to Nerella. He hadn't been looking forward to trying to go up that hot mess of a slime tunnel, so this way out was a blessing. This reaction elicited a laugh from Nerella. And yet another over the shoulder glare from Runa.
The air grew cold and fresh remarkably quickly. They exited a tunnel no more than a few hundred feet down. Pine forest covered in snow bloomed out around them.
"Why couldn't we have gone in that way!" cried Branwe once they were out. Runa dusted herself off, and stood back up to full height, the cramped tunnel having been harder on her than either of her shorter compatriots.
"Where are the horses, though?" Asked Runa."I don't know where this lets out." Her voice was still reigned in, tightly bound anger held back from the surface. Still, she wouldn't look at him. Her shoulders were riding at her ears. Branwe was trying not to take this personally. Trying to remind himself that she'd just had a lot of her world seriously shaken, and that most of her anger was probably at Nerella. But it still hurt to be on the receiving end of the cold shoulder.
Nerella distanced herself a little, leaned forward, and whistled sharply. A moment later, there was the sound of trotting in the distance. Around the bend, and out from behind some trees, there was a very white horse trotting towards them in the snow.
Runa's whole body relaxed. Her eyes welled up slightly at the sight of the beast. A misty expression of nostalgia washed over her face. She breathed out an involuntary sigh of relief, and rocked on her feet.
For a moment, Branwe didn't know why a white horse coaxed out such a strong reaction from her. From what he could see, it was a pretty horse. Very clean, very white. Big, strong. No saddle, or riding gear on it at all. But it was just a horse. Then with full force, he understood.
Yaelinn wasn't a horse. Yaelinn was a unicorn.
The beast before him stood about a hand taller than most any horse he'd ever met. Runa's horse, admittedly, was a few fingers higher still, but unlike Shadowmere, Yaelinn's impressiveness wasn't based on Branwe's fear of him. He was a strong, muscular animal, whose every curve and line was graceful and elegant. His features were a little elongated, like they'd all been stretched just a little thinner than his hose counterparts. He didn't look any weaker for the change. Just more graceful. Something in Branwe's mind conjured the image of waterfalls, rainbows, cascades of snow captured frozen in time when he looked at Yaelinn. It was hard to describe. He wasn't just seeing what was there, he was seeing some of the magic that made up Yaelinn.
His mane was brilliantly white, almost more like strands of light than of hair. Atop his head, a long and delicate looking horn was set. It wasn't the simple sort of wrapped lines he expected to see from a unicorn. It was etched with things that were almost images, pieces of it looked like gems were set into it glittering. Every time he looked at the horn, it was so intricate and specific, he could never really find what he'd seen the first time, and was lost in a whole new set of detail.
Yaelinn sized him up briefly. A snicker, and a curious glance was spared for Branwe. But mostly, he paid his attention to Nerella, whom he nuzzled affectionately. She stroked the long line of his jaw in return, and hugged at his face. Nerella looked over at Runa questioningly.
"We only tied them up with light rope," she said in answer. The anger Runa felt seemed to have been washed away in the soothing presence of Yaelinn. Her voice was back to the utterly fearless, and brilliant Runa Fair-Shield he'd met at the Starswain. The same Runa who had dragged him off to Rielle. It was a relief to hear it, rather than the brittle veneer of calm overlaying rage. "He could fetch them for us easily. Shadowmere's there, so it should be no problem."
Nerella brightened at the mention of Runa's horse – a gift from mama, Branwe remembered her saying. Nerella smiled, and whispered something into Yaelinn's ear.
Yaelinn whinnied a little, wrenching his head from her grasp. He backed up a step, reared up on his haunches. The light of the sun seemed catered just for him. Rays of light shimmered off his coat, and glimmered around him like a cloak of his own making. Time seemed to slow for a moment as his mane fanned out into gorgeous arcs of light, dazzling and bewitching. Yaelinn stepped, stepped, and turned around. Then he landed on his front hooves again, and dashed off into the snow. Flakes rose around him, clouding his path. No hoof prints were left in his wake, no testament that anything so beautiful have ever actually been there. Just the rapidly fading memory of something heartrendingly gorgeous. Nerella and Runa shared a rueful little smile at his exit.
"He's always been a bit of a drama queen," chuckled Runa by way of explanation.
"YOU HAVE A UNICORN!?"