The Oddball and the Lycan inflicted Housecarl entered the General store in Riverwood. Things had calmed down since Camilla had confessed her preference of the same gender after witnessing two people she cared for pound each other to pieces in her name. Belethor was more surprised to see another one of those Sangheili Foreigners. While not as tall or physically imposing as the one that helped him out, he welcomed him in all the same when he spotted the Nordic woman clad in similar apparel accompanying him.
"Never thought I'd see another like you, friend. Come up to the counter and let's see what kind of deal we can make."
Oddball slammed the rough sac with a few swords pointing through the material due to the fullness of everything from the Dungeon he came through onto the counter the height and girth of the sac towered over Belathor and made it hard to converse with such an object obstructing his view. The Oddball and Belathor tried to initiate the conversation by moving to one side of it but for a moment they went kept going to the opposite side of where the other was looking. Lydia stood next the table waiting for the transaction to end. She suddenly noticed the young imperial lady approach her, walking with a subtle sway in the hips.
"Haven't seen you around these parts before. My Name's Camilla Valerius. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance."
"My Name's Lydia, Just Lydia. Nice to meet you too." she smiled a bit.
Camilla Gestured to the Oddball haggling with Belethor.
"We haven't seen some of their kind in a while. Only one other came here and returned our claw back to us. One Very big and Gray armored one, So I assume they are good people."
Lydia instantly knew she was talking about Her Thane.
"Yes, He's a very decent person." Lydia said smirking to herself.
"Oh? So you know him?"
"Yes, actually. I'm His Houscarl. He's become Thane Of Whiterun."
"Truly?" Camilla's eyes filled with surprise and joy.
"Finally we have a thane who takes the interest of the people first. That should surely do some good."
Lydia thought back to when He snapped at the Pilot for undermining her role.
"He's pretty nice to me too." Lydia rubbed her shoulder bashfully.
"Mmm. What broad set of shoulders you have there. You Nords really know how to keep yourselves." Her eyes Squinted lustfully.
"I, er, Uh. T-Thanks. I-it's just how we are I guess." She stammered.
"Why don't you take a seat? I'm sure they'll be there for a while." Camilla offered.
Lydia accepted and sat down in the chair next the table and placed her helmet down next to her leg. Camilla took another look at Her Brother who was busy Arguing with the foreigner about the worth of an enchanted sword. She swiftly drew her eyes back on her guest. Camilla placed her small warm hands on the muscle at the base of her neck. Lydia looked up suddenly in surprise.
"My. You're so tense."
She began to massage the stiff muscle into relaxation with long strokes and grinds.
Lydia was a bout to protest but it was offset by how good the massage felt. Her breathing began to slowed and she felt at ease.
"Wait, How do you even know that it's stolen?!" Oddball Shouted.
"I just do! I not touching it! No deal!"
It wasn't long until she was so entranced she barely felt Camilla's warm breath drafting down her neck. She reopened her dazed eyes to see her face only a few inches from her own. Eyes closed and lips slightly puckered steadily moving closer. She snapped out of it and stood up and swiped up her helmet nervously.
"Uh..I'm...Sorry..I'm not..." Lydia Stammered.
"Aye! House Girl! Come on, let's go!" Oddball called from the door.
"I Have to go."
"Ah, well. You know where to find me." Camilla smiled innocently.
"Don't be a Stranger." She then clacked her teeth together seductively.
Nothing could have gotten her out of there faster. She walked out of the General store shivering a bit knowing for a fact that Camilla was checking out her Ass as she left.
"Oi, What's wrong?"
"Nothing...Just please don't take me back there again, Okay?"
"No Problem, Asshole only had like 300 Gold anyway. Still have to get rid of this so called stolen stuff."
After all that had conspired Lydia almost forgot that she needed to eat.
"Hey, What happened to my food?' She asked.
"Don't Get your panties in a knot, House Girl, I'm cooking soon."
Lydia stopped dead in her tracks.
"You...Cook?"
"Of course I do. Just because I'm Bat-Shit Crazy don't necessarily mean I don't know my way around the kitchen."
Lydia gave him a skeptical look.
"It's not any weird orange goo Stuff I saw the others eat back at the ship, is it?"
"Aw, hell no. That stuff looks like Hunter Shit. I stick to Human food."
"Oh? What kind of Human food?"
"Well, I don't usually cook, so anything that you can throw into a microwave or something that can be at my doorstep in 30 to 40 minutes, really. But when I do Cook I Make my specialty; Southern Style." He smiled proudly.
"What's That?"
"You haven't had Southern Food? Well, get ready for clogged arteries and hips as wide as all outdoors." he suddenly put on a Southern accent.
"..."
"Too much?"
"Too much."
"Oh, hey, look. There's Arbs." Oddball pointed over to where he was standing. He looked like he was holding someone around the neck and an energy sword close to their face.
"Who Sent You!?" Thel Shouted at the Cultist.
"Mi...Raak. He.. Will return...And take this world as his own once again...And Reign Supreme...FOREVER!" The Cultist Spat.
"Tell Miraak That He will not take this world for as long as Hell Burns Hot and the Great Rings Are round."
"No, I've Changed My mind. I'll tell him myself."
Thel Pushed A Finger to her mask to muffle her scream as he shoved the Energy weapon into her abdomen.
Oddball and Lydia came over and inspected the scene.
"You know, you'd think being Dragonborn would result into people liking and respecting you, but instead everyone is literally trying to kill their only hope of defeating Alsuin." Oddball said.
"Alduin." Lydia corrected.
"Yeah, that. So Arbiter, Who tried to off you this time? Red and black Spandex Ninja sociopath assassins? Hired thugs? Or might I say Nazi Elves?"
"There is no such thing as Nazi Elves, Oddball." The engineer buzzed on the communication line.
"Fingers crossed!" Oddball then crossed his pointer and middle finger so the engineer could see.
"I don't know who they were. But they spoke of someone named Miraak. Another person who I do not know that wishes to the end of me."
"Maybe we can find out something from the bodies. Perhaps they were just as careless as the Assassins." Lydia piped up.
"Good thinking. See if they left anything on them."
Feeling around on the Cultist's body, lydia picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Thel to read.
Board the Northern Maiden docked at Raven Rock. Take it to Windhelm, then begin your search. Kill the False Dragonborn Known As The Arbiter Before He reaches Solstheim.
Return with word of your success, and Miraak shall be most pleased.
"Got a lot on your plate, huh?" Oddball asked.
Thel sighed with frustration.
"Indeed I do. Let me set my priorities straight." Thel gave it some thought and put current events in order from most and least important.
"Alright. First, We must stop another Dragon from being brought back to life. Quell those Mongrels Numbers"
"So we have Zombie Dragons now? First there was Vampires that shine in the Sun and now Undead Dragons? Does anyone even research the history of fictional creatures anymore?" Oddball sighed face-palming.
Lyidia looked up in shock.
"You're telling me Vampires dwell freely in the sun where you're from?"
"No, No, Its just from some really old Movie I Saw. A Vampire and a Werewolf were both in love with a girl with the facial expression equivalent to a brick wall.'
"Oddball, be quite. Then I'll return the Horn back to Arngeir, then I'll Investigate the matter of this Miraak."
"Sure you are not to make things right with Shipmaster Rtas first? You still are not on good terms with him." Mattis said.
"I'll deal with him later when I can stand his presence."
Delphine came from out the inn and joined the rest of the group.
"What happened here?' She asked
"Cultists calling me a False Dragonborn, wished to eliminate me. They failed." Arbiter answered.
"False Dragonborn huh? I'll see how authentic your DragonBlood is when we go kill that Dragon."
"Alright. Let's make haste."
The pace had quickened from a slow but determined walk to both of them sprinting across the land. The Band of magic wisps that led them to their Quarry had had been cut shorter and shorter with every stride. Jesik kept behind her and followed her closely. an half an hour of straight running he had not felt the burn in his chest as some would. His anatomy allowed him to run full speed across large distances without even being winded. That's how he got to Sykrim. He had decided to test his limits by running literally cross country from Hammerfell to Cyrodiil to Skyrim. All those days and nights had passed him like minutes. And upon entering Skyrim, he hadn't even broken a sweat nor was he winded. But that was him, His prisoner was an Altmer, a race who favored knowledge and civility over physical aspects. This is probably the most exercise she had gotten in a long while. She was already slowing down because she was not only expending magika, but stamina as well. Her breathing had become desperate and her legs burned. In mid stride, she stopped to catch her breath, putting her hands to her knees and heaving in air and out again like her lungs had shrunk several sizes. In response he stopped as well knowing this would be a problem.
"Tck, exhausted already?' Jesik smiled.
She didn't answer so she could reserve everything into regaining her breath.
"When you catch your breath, hop on my back. Then you can cast that spell of yours and I don't have to keep stopping for you."
She looked at him menacingly. He was doing it again. Making her feel like she was the weak link.
"Don't look at me like that, Anira. You know I only mean well." he said.
She pointed her nose to the sky and crossed her arms as she walked over to him. He picked her up giving her a piggy back ride.
"Comfortable back there?"
"Ah, yes. A fine steed I have to take me to where I need to go without needing to degrade myself to a lowly act of walking."
"A steed am I? Oh, no. I think I see a snake!"
He suddenly bucked her up and down and running about just hard enough to give her a scare.
"S-Stop! Your going to make me fall you dolt!" She laughed clenching his neck tightly.
"Alright, enough of this. Let's move."
She casts another clairvoyance spell and he took off to follow the wisp that placed itself over the tall grass.
They made excellent progress. The wisp had shortened considerably and they were making excellent time judging by the sun movement. It had barely moved from where it was when they first seen it. The wisp lead First through the grasslands, trough forest, and rugged rock. It did not matter. Even the tallest mountain could not deter him from his goal.
"We're close to Falkreath." She said.
"I noticed. The fog is starting to thicken."
They suddenly came to the edge of a plateau. Jesik skidded to a stop just shy of the edge. Several dozen forest trolls lay slain at the bottom.
"What happened here?"
"Don't know. Brace yourself."
"For whaaat!"
Jesik hopped down and used one of their bodies to cushion his landing.
"Next time give me a warning before you do that!" she scolded him.
He ignored her and walked towards the circle made from troll bodies. He closely studied the clues left behind.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Hmm. Two warriors. One Male One female. Heavy armor from how deep the prints are." Jesik said.
He looked over the bodies to get more information.
"One used a sword made from ebony and the other a dagger of an high quality steel alloy. One used a sword and shield style native to Hammerfell. A Redguard or one trained by one. Not so sure about the other one."
"You can tell that just by looking at cuts and tracks?"
"When you lived long enough to see every emperor of the Imperial Empire meet his end, you pick up on a lot of things."
He wondered about more and found more tracks.
"They rested for a while until they parted separate ways. That's all I could get."
"Okay, we should keep moving then."
"Of course."
Jesik kept it to himself, but if they kept following the wisp then they would run into who ever made that mess back there judging from how the wisp just so happened to follow a set of foot prints. It couldn't be that Bitch, they were on horseback. He wasn't sure about it but he had a swelling feeling in the pit of his belly. Not fear but an unwanted anticipation of an event he may not be able to come out on top in.
Reyna had allowed Rook to take the lead. She wondered how he could have survived for so long being deaf. He wouldn't be able to hear Gunfire or hear orders on the radio, or any sort of noise if someone decided to attack from behind. Yet he was here, on this mission, with her. He seemed so aloof sometimes, like he didn't have much care in the world. Directly parallel to her always vigilant disposition. All the time she stared at the back of his helmet she decided to test him. See how he's able to manage in a fight.
They past a fallen log with a branch growing out the side. She casually snatched it off while walking to not to raise any suspicion. The snap was loud enough to be heard anyone that close in front of her, but as expected he didn't show any sign of noticing. She took the narrow end to use the wide end as a club aiming directly at the side of his helmet. Not a weapon that could kill even if swung at full strength, just something she needed to use to see how he would react. The branch swept to the side almost at blinding speed sure to hit its target. An equal speed went into play as the Rook had suddenly ducked forward and the branch finished its course without interruption. Rook turned around to face his would be attacker.
"What was that for?" he spoke. This time he refused use sign language and read her lips.
"I was testing you" Reyna admitted as she tossed away the branch.
"Why?"
"To confirm a theory. Forgive me for not asking first but that would interfere with the end result."
A moment of silence filled the space between them.
"How did you dodge my attack?" She questioned.
"I felt it coming."
She cocked her head to the side.
"Felt? As in the wind currents? Explain."
"No, not wind currents. It's difficult to explain. I felt it not as in how one would touch cloth for example." He said.
"It's as in how one would expect to be hit but the blow does not come. A sudden tightening of the area to try and dull the hit. In my case it's a cold bitter feeling. Like fear pumped Adrenalin on the part of the body where i were to be hit. When an object moves in my direction. I am able to determine it's size, shape, speed, and it's potential lethality were it to make contact with me. In a sense, I have eyes in the back of my head as well as on top of it. Were a Arrow for instance were shot at me from behind, as long as it is physically possible, my body would move itself to safety on it's own accord. That dodge just then wasn't me consciously moving out of the way."
"I still don't understand."
"Huh. Alright then. Think of what it has been dubbed by our scientists. 'Clairvoyance' And nothing more."
Another long period of silence swept up on them as Reyna wondered greatly if he was like her. An Abnormal.
"Sorry If I couldn't simplify it any Further."
"Oh, no. I understand completely. You and me, we're one of the same."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"I don't understand. How can you and me be one of the Same?"
!
At that moment, Both Of them had spoke the same words at the exact same time and speed.
"Your next Line is going to be: How did you do that?" Reyna Predicted.
"How did you do that?"
!
"As I said before, You and I are one of the same."
^I don't understand any of this. I thought I was the only one. What are we?^
Just then, Two people. One carrying the other on his back bent around the corner and skidded to a stop in front of them.
"I guess I'll have to show you better than I can tell you, Rook."
It was late. Almost midnight by the time Emeral led her new companion back to their camp. Emma had kept a pot of venison and vegetable stew on when Emeral came back and was currently chopping wood for the fire and Quayland Doing nothing as usual. The Ebony Warrior would almost completely camouflaged in the darkness if not for the reflection of moonlight. Emeral Plopped down on a fallen Log and began to massage her sore feet.
"Well, Emeral, Are you not going to introduce us to your new friend?" Emma said.
Quayland glanced over his book interested at the new comer.
"Oh, I actually didn't get his name. We met at the Inn In Whiterun." She replied.
"When you say 'Meet' you don't mean a senseless bar fight do you, Emeral?" Emma shot her an accusing glare.
"Tch! It wasn't a fight! It was more like a Brawl, I guess."
"Emeral, those are synonyms for the same thing. If you'd stayed in school and not run off to join those Stormcrooks-"
"Stormcloaks!" She angrily corrected.
"Whichever it is. You should have stayed in school and sharpened your mind instead of your Axe."
"I use a bow."
"Again, the point goes over your head."
"Listen, can we talk about this later?"
"Very, well. But when this is all over, you're going back to School. No sister of mine will go about with the Brains of a Horker."
"ANYWAY." Emeral tried to change the subject.
"We need to get acquainted. This is...uh...what was your name again?" She asked.
"I'd prefer it if my name went unknown. Not that I don't trust any of you, it's just that It's a really personal thing for me. You may call me Ebon if you want." Ebon spoke.
"Okay, Ebon. This is Amma, my Big-headed Big sister."
Emma glared at her for the remark.
"And that over there is Quayland. The Imperial Traitor, Lapdog to the Thalmor." She spoke with a tad bit of venom towards him.
"Knew that one was coming." Quayland replied dryly returning to his book without a second thought on the matter.
"Nice to meet you all." Ebon said sitting down next to Emeral on the fallen Tree and removing his helmet so he could breath.
"Oh." Amma cooed.
"Something the Matter?" Ebon asked.
"No. Nothing at all, Ebon. I just didn't expect you to be so..."
Ebon Narrowed his eyes predicting what she was going to say about him in a negative context.
"Yes?"
"Dashing."
Quayland again peaked over his book at the Comment he had heard in rising interest. Emeral too stop massaging her feet and stared at her dear sister in Surprise.
"Well, Um. Thank you. You're not bad looking yourself." Ebon Shyly Replied scratching the back of his head and lowering his eyes to the fire.
"Oh, don't be so Bashful, Ebon. Make yourself Comfortable, I'll go get you too some food. You must be Starving from the walk back."
Emeral strolled to the Pot of Venison stew and added four soup spoons into a wooden bowl for her sister and eight for Ebon. She came back to them carrying a bowl in each hand and handing them their meals. Emeral instantly dug in with her fork and began picking the ingredients from the broth and shoving them in her mouth with great vigor.
"Ah! It's good even when reheated!" She said.
"Emeral! Where are your manners? Don't talk with your mouth Full! It's rude and disgusting!" She snapped.
"And Close your legs," She pointed towards her legs that were spread like butter on toast.
"Why should I? I like Sitting like this it more comfortable, Sheesh!"
"Because, you'll have the whole camp stinking of Spadefish." Amma Replied coldly but jokingly.
Quayland couldn't hold back the Chuckle that reminded everyone he was still there.
"Tch! Not. Funny." Emeral growled but obediently crossed her legs.
Ebon lifted a chunk of venison to his mouth and tasted it. He found it delicious and began to dig into his meal as if and it was the best thing he's had all month.
"Is it good?" Amma asked with a slight smile.
He nodded to confirm his approval of the meal.
"See Emeral? Battle prowess isn't the only thing that can attract a man." She cooed.
"I can cook!" Emeral barked in protest at the accusation.
"Emeral. You burned Fire Salt, You overcooked Sandwiches, You even managed to Enchant the pot you were cooking on with Magical Resistance. That's not cooking, That's Sorcery."
"Oh, Yeah? Well Then How's that Cooking Prowess of yours helping you find a man? Hmm?"
Amma brought a small jug of Coffee to her lips and took a long sip before answering the question.
"Skyrim doesn't have enough of my type. And the ones that are here are usually Married or just passing through." She answered.
"Really now? What is your type? I'm curious." Emeral leaned in with Interest.
"I like my men how I like my coffee." She then added two Sugar cubes to the Jug and began to swirl it to dissolve them.
"Aww. Sweet?" Emeral Grinned.
"Black."
"So you're the type of guy who kills the Princess and saves the Dragon? You basically just revived me just to kill me. And what do you have to gain from this Pointless endeavor?" Serana Placed her hands on her hips as she sassed him.
"Look, Kill me and you Killed One Vampire. But if people are after me, there's Something bigger going on. I can Help you find out what that is."
John lowered His weapon just down to her waist.
"I'm Sorry. I shouldn't Have done that. You're the only one that didn't try to Kill me." He apologized.
"Well, Forgiveness is a Virtue, I guess. I'll be even more forgiving if you can take me home."
"And Where's that?"
My family Used to live on an Island to the west of solitude. I guess they still do." She answered.
"By the way...My Name is Serana. Good to meet you."
"John. Just John." He said.
"how long were you in there?" He asked.
"Good question. Hard to Say. I...Can't really Tell. I feel like it's a long time. Who is Skyrim's High King?"
"Uhh." John had no idea how to respond.
"New to Skyrim?"
"You can say that."
"Great. Let's just Assume it's Been at least a hundred years then."
"Why Were you locked away like that?" He asked.
"I'd...rather not get into that with you. If that's alright. I'm sorry. It's not that..it's just that I don't know who I can trust yet. Let's get to my home, and I'll have a better Sense of where we all stand."
John knew all to well how she felt after being asleep for long periods of time.
"Alright. Let's get you home."