A Tale of Dragons: Tanz do Iiz ahrk Yol
Chapter: 25
The path to Winterhold
"How's the head?" Serana asked as she ran her fingers through white hair. She had made Khara a potion to help with her headache and it had been about an hour since the wolf had taken it.
"Much better." Khara mumbled into the side of Serana's thigh.
Serana looked down at her wolf and smiled. She was sitting with her back against the headboard and Khara was lying with her arm over Serana's legs. Serana smiled because this was a position that Khara always took when ever Serana was reading, something she did often. The first time they had laid like this was way back in Whiterun which seemed like a lifetime ago. Khara placed a kiss on the thigh before she rolled onto her back, arms behind her head.
"I didn't say anything stupid last night, did I?" Khara asked as she stretched her whole body.
Serana's eyes left the book and looked over at Khara. "You said some things…-" Serana trailed off, her chest feeling that warmth again. "But what you said was flattering." She settled on saying with a knowing smile.
Khara moved her head to look at her. "What did I say?" She asked with curious eyes.
"That I was pretty and that it shouldn't be allowed to look at me." Serana said with a grin.
Khara furrowed her brows. "Why shouldn't it be allowed to look at you?" She asked.
Serana chuckled. "Because you said I'm so beautiful that it almost hurts to look at me." Serana said amused as she looked at the wolf.
"Oh, Gods." Khara groaned. "Oh, well. At least I'm an honest drunk." She smiled over her own words.
Serana rolled her eyes playfully at the wolf. She saw how proud the wolf was over her own words. "Try not to seem too pleased with yourself now." She told Khara.
"Hard not to when you're around." Khara said as she flashed Serana her most charming smile.
Serana tilted her head to the side as she looked at Khara with loving eyes. Khara's smile slowly faded at their eyes held each other. They had been doing this more often lately, just looking into the other's eyes. "Come here." Serana whispered and Khara slowly got up, making sure to keep their eyes connected as she moved to straddle Serana. Serana brought a hand to the wolf's chin and moved Khara's face closer. This was one of those incredibly soft kisses, they've had more of those lately too. Nothing is rushed as they both know that they have all the time in the world, and knowing that just feels absolutely amazing.
As the kiss came to an end, Khara moved her lips down to Serana's neck. Serana closed her eyes of feeling those warm lips on her. "When do we leave?" Serana asked in a low voice as she tilted her head a little to the side, allowing Khara to have more room to work on.
Khara smiled against the neck. "Couple of hours." She responded before she continued to worship the woman's neck.
Serana hummed as she brought a hand up to Khara's neck. "We should get dressed soon then and get you some food."
"We could do that, or we could do this." Khara dragged her fangs over the cool skin of Serana's neck.
Serana shivered at the feeling and nodded. "Do that." She whispered.
Khara sank her fangs into Serana and held her tighter as she fed. She groaned as she felt the red liquid roll down her throat. Why did Khara still eat normal food again? She swore on her life that it tasted even better now than what it did last time. She got so lost in her thoughts and in the sensations she was feeling so she didn't realize that she was leaning back, bringing Serana with her a she fell on her back. She heard Serana chuckle and removed her fangs.
Khara chuckled herself as she licked off some drops of blood. "Sorry, I got a little lost there." She said softly against cool skin.
"Happens to the best of us." Was Serana's response. She was about to ask Khara if she wanted to just lay like this for another hour, but she didn't get to do so as the wolf was already throwing a blanket over them. Serana smiled as she laid her head down on Khara's shoulder.
As they laid there, Serana drifted in and out of sleep several times, but she smiled every time because there was always this warmth underneath her, always two arms holding her tightly. After a little more time had passed, Serana felt a hand run up and down her arm, slowly waking her up. She hummed into the wolf's neck as she inhaled deeply. "Ready to get back out there?" The wolf whispered.
No. Serana moved a little and placed a quick kiss on the wolf's cheek before rolling off of Khara. "I guess we can't stay in here all day,-" She looked over at Khara. "Again."
"Guess not." Khara responded. "But after Dawnguard, we can spend a whole week in bed if that is what your heart desires." Khara said with a smile as she turned her head and looked at Serana.
Serana looked at her for a moment before grinning. "That doesn't sound too bad."
"No? Let's get dressed then, the faster we get to the Fort, the faster we can get to Solitude." Khara said as she sat up in bed and moved to get dressed. Khara walked over to the table where all her armor was and got it on with the help of her telekinesis spell.
Once both had gotten dressed they left the room and made way over to the bar where Orgrim and Delvin would be waiting for them.
"How's the head, Delvin?" Khara asked as she and Serana sat down by his table.
"Oh, it's just fine, boss." Delvin said from where he sat. He and Orgrim were currently eating some soup, probably something the orc hade made them.
"Really? You don't have a headache from last night?" Khara asked with skeptical eyes.
Delvin let out a small laugh at that. "I haven't been hungover for the past seven years, practice makes perfect, right?" He said with a grin as he moved a spoonful of soup up to his mouth.
"I don't know if that's something to be proud of or not." Khara chuckled out as she shook her head.
"Oh, well. In this trade you take what you can." Delvin said, and the others laughed.
"Says the thief." Orgrim chuckled, and Delvin hummed as he ate.
As they sat at the table, Khara's eyes kept moving over to Serana, even though she tried not to. Serana was talking with Delvin about the Dawnguard and possible supplies that they could need. Blue orbs fell to the middle of the table as the sounds around her slowly started to sound distant. Khara furrowed her brows, but her eyes were now stuck on the table, she couldn't move them. She felt like someone was standing directly behind her, yet she heard nothing indicating that there was actually someone there, she just felt this strange feeling. What's going on? She finally could move her eyes again and turned her head to look behind her, but just as expected, there was no one there. This was strange, maybe the alcohol wasn't fully out of her system yet? Must be it.
Khara got up from her seat and walked over to the bar. "Hey, Vekel. Could I get a cup of water?"
"Sure thing." Vekel said a little carefully as he got what she asked for and placed the cup in front of her.
"Cheers." She said as she grabbed the cup and turned around to lean against the bar. She saw that Delvin and Orgrim were walking over to the exit whilst talking with each other. She saw that Serana was walking towards her while looking at her with a strange expression, one she hadn't seen too many times.
"Are you alright, Khara?" Serana asked carefully as she stood next to the woman by the bar.
"Yeah?" Khara said as she took a sip from her drink. "Why'd you ask?"
"Your eyes are burning." Serana said as she looked into blue flames.
"What?" Khara looked down into her cup and saw two brightly-burning blue eyes looking back at her. "I don't…But I feel fine." Dovah zii, los daar hi? Khara asked her dragon aspect, but there was no response. Wolf? Neither aspect answered her, her mind was quiet.
"Your heartbeat is normal. Do you feel ill?" Serana asked.
"No, I'm fine, I promise. I don't know why they're like that." The wolf said as she furrowed her brows. She didn't feel angry, scared or worried. She felt fine so, why was this happening? The wolf decided that there was no need to ponder over the unknown. "We should go and catch up with the others." She said as she placed the cup back at the bar. She looked into Serana's eyes and saw that the woman was skeptical. "I feel fine, I give you my word." Khara said in a low voice as she got a little closer. "If anything changes or I feel something, you'll be the first to know." Khara said as she looked into those orange eyes.
Serana kept their eyes connected for a few moments longer before she gave a small nod. "Alright." She said in a low voice.
Khara offered her a small smile and gently took Serana's hand in her own, not bothering if anyone sees, she's the bloody Guild Master after all, she can do as she pleases.
They got out and into the streets of Riften before they caught up with Delvin and Orgrim. They walked out the main gates and got their horses by the stables.
They talked a little while riding and Khara felt a pair of eyes on her most of the time, she knew that Serana was watching her. This felt strange, not being able to talk with her aspects. Her mind felt empty, abandon, like an endless void of nothingness. She whispered words into it, but no words came back her way, not even a sound. She gave up after a little while, maybe she had upset them in some way? Her thoughts came to and end when she could hear new heartbeats approaching them. She heard footsteps and jumped of her horse right away, drawing her Blade and facing where the beating sounds were coming from. Maybe a fight would awaken her aspects?
Orgrim and Delvin stopped their horses while Serana too jumped off her horse and moved to stand next to Khara.
"What is it?" Orgrim asked, his eyes scanning the forest around them.
Khara inhaled through her nose and winched at the smell. "Bandits." She told them all.
Sure enough a group of people came into view after that word. They were all wearing some type of heavy armor and matching weapons. "Hello there people." One man said as he looked at them with a grin as his hands rested on his belt.
"Some nice-looking horses you got there." Another one said as he took a few steps to the side.
Orgrim huffed as he jumped off his horse and drew his two orcish axes, whilst keeping his eyes on the three men. "Do we really look like the type of people you'd mess with?" He asked them as he paced back and forth.
"What do you mean with that?" One of the men asked. "All I see is two lovely ladies-" He said as he winked at Khara and Serana. "A man who might be pushing fifty-" He looked at Delvin. "And an overgrown goblin." The other men laughed over the words of their friend as they got their weapons in their hands.
Delvin grinned as he turned his horse to face the bandits, there was six of them in total. "No one ever told you not to judge a book by its cover?"
"Don't think so, old man." The man said as he shook his head before he turned his head to look at Serana. His eyes roamed her form and he smirked to himself. "Dangerous to be traveling in the Rift with only two guards, ladies."
"Why do you assume they are our guards?" Serana said as she looked at him, a clever smile playing on her lips. "Maybe it's the other way around." She told him, he only laughed at that. Serana took some slow, elegant steps towards Khara and placed a hand on the woman's shoulder as she leaned closer to the wolf's ear, all while keeping eye contact with the bandit. "Shall we show him that we can handle ourselves?" She whispered to her wolf.
Khara turned her head slightly and smirked, it always was fun to make people regret their poorly made choices. Khara plunged her Blade into the dirt and took a step closer to the bandits while Serana began to walk to the side.
Orgrim looked over at the two women and began to move to the right of the group of bandits, ready to jump in if needed. Delvin was hovering his hand over his dagger, but he doubted that his help would be needed, he had known Khara for a while after all.
"You really couldn't be more unfortunate. I mean, out of all the people you could run into, you ran into us." Khara told them while supporting a smile.
"You don't look like much to us, lady." The man said as he narrowed his eyes at Khara.
"What if I told you that you had just run into a werewolf, a vampire, an orc warrior of a stronghold and a master thief of the Thieves Guild?" Khara asked with a smirk. Khara looked to her friends and smiled as she nodded before looking back at the bandits, a dark mist rolling around her feet. "You really should run." She told them in a sweet voice. She wasn't planning on transforming, she just wanted to let them see the dark mist, she just wanted to look more frightening to them.
The bandits looked a little spooked, but they still stood their ground, not sure if they had been told the truth or not. "That's enough chatting." The man said as he drew a dagger. "Hand over what you have of value and we'll let you live, after we take the horses, of course."
Delvin grabbed a knife off his belt and walked next to Khara. "Which one?"
"The one with the big mouth." Khara told him.
Delvin nodded as he looked at the man that Khara wanted silenced. "With pleasure." Delvin quickly made the knife fly through the air and imbed itself in the mans skull, right between the man's eyes. The bandit fell to the ground and some of them chose to take a few steps back.
"You really should run." Serana told them, her new blade ready in hand and a spell fully charged in the other. Some of the men took her advice, but not all. Two brutes of Nords chose to stay behind with their fallen companion.
Khara took a few steps closer to Serana and grabbed her dagger. "Want to put those lessons to the test?" She asked Serana.
"Sure, have to start at some point, right?" Serana said with a grin as she walked closer to one of the men, Khara right behind her if she needed help. Orgrim too was approaching the men, he would take care of the other one.
Serana's grip on her sword tightened as she approached her target. He was wearing heavy armor and had a sword in one hand, he too looked ready to fight. Serana raised her sword a little and made her move.
"Watch his feet, they'll give useful information." Khara said casually. The man grunted as he looked down at his own feat before he just managed to dodge Serana's blade. He jumped to the side and blocked another attack. "Try grabbing his free arm or kick him on his left leg, looks like that leg is damaged or something."
"Shut your dirty whore mouth!" He roared as he changed his stance, this strange woman was telling his opponent all of his weaknesses. His words were rewarded with a punch to the face, a very painful punch.
"Nice one, you took advantage of him being distracted." Khara said amused.
Serana was enjoying this, the man gave her a decent fight. He blocked a few attacks and even tried to hit her a few times, to practice blocking and dodging was always useful. Serana swung her sword for his throat after having kicked his left leg, ending his life. Serana had little time to cheer over her first fallen opponent while wielding her new blade when the other man took a few steps towards her. She took a defensive stance, readying herself for another fight, but the man just fell to the ground, a orcish axe stuck to his back. Serana smiled as she looked at its owner.
Orgrim placed one foot on the man's back as he grabbed his axe and pulled it free from the man's back. "Well, that was entertaining." Orgrim said as he cleaned his axe with a rag.
"Always is when messing with bandits, did you see their faces?" Delvin chuckled as he walked over to a corpse and grabbed his knife. "Priceless."
Khara patted Serana on her shoulder. "I'm impressed." She said with a smile.
Serana turned to look at the wolf and smiled. "Thanks." She then looked deeper into those blue eyes. "Hey, your eyes are back to normal now." She said as she looked at the woman.
"Oh, alright. Maybe it was just the alcohol messing with me then." Khara offered with a smile of her own.
"Yeah, maybe." Serana answered as they all got back on their horses.
"Not much further now." Khara told the others.
"Halt." A man told them as he held up an arm at them. "The Dawnguard are not expecting any visitors, state your name and business." He said as he took a step closer to them.
Khara looked over at Serana and nodded to her. Serana smiled and turned her head to the guard. "Serana of Clan Volkihar, I believe Hestla or someone else have mentioned my name?" She asked him.
His eyes widened as he took a bow. "My apologies, my Lady. I did not know." He then opened the wooden gate for them. "Please enter, just follow the path and walk through the doors, Hestla, Garan and Feran should be inside." He informed them as he took a step to the side. He kept his head low as they walked past, not daring to look into Lady Serana's eyes.
They followed the path up to the Fort and saw how the vampires outside were working on putting up wooden walls around the Fort. Many looked at them, but in the second they saw Serana's glowing orange eyes, they lowered their heads.
"Looks like Garan have been busy." Khara said as she looked at the vampires, their armor was impressive. A mixture between steel and leather, and Khara could see that the steel was infused with silver. Very clever.
"It would seem so." Serana commented as she too was looking around.
They walked up to the doors and opened them. They spotted Garan talking with another vampire close to the doors. Garan spotted them and took a bow before turning back to the vampire. "You are dismissed, Henjor." The man gave Garan a nod before walking further into the Fort. Garan turned to the group. "Welcome, my Lady, to Fort Dawnguard."
"You've been busy, Garan." Serana said as her eyes looked around the fort.
"That I have. You'd be pleased to know that we have already sent out some Dawnguards to do bounties and such, my Lady." Garan said as he gestured for them to follow him.
"We saw the armor, very impressive." Khara said.
"Yes, we had Hestla and some others to do some research on the old Dawnguard armor designs, the ones you saw outside are an exact copy, with some improvements, of course." They entered a room with a long table in the middle. "Why don't you sit down, and I will go and get Hestla, I am sure there is a few things we need to discuss." He said as he clasped his hand together. He received a nod from Serana and left the room right after.
"This place is impressive." Orgrim said as he looked around the room. The others sat down while the orc fell victim of curiosity as he walked around the room, taking it all in.
"Aye, even the Jarl's palace doesn't compare to this." Delvin agreed as he too looked around the room.
"Garan and the others have done a very good job, when I and Serana was here all that time ago, the place was a mess. Crates and barrels everywhere, cobwebs, the whole place was run down." Khara said as she remembered what it used to look like. "It actually looks like someone could live her now." She added with a small smile.
Footsteps approached and Serana turned her head towards the sounds. Hestla and Garan entered the room and walked over to them. "My Lady." Hestla greeted Serana and Serana gave a nod in return. They sat down at the table and looked to Serana.
Garan was the first to speak. "Let us begin then." He said as he placed his hand on the table. "All the vampires, as we previously mentioned, have accepted the terms and taken the blood-oath."
"We're still working on the armor for some of them, but most are ready. Once they're done reinforcing the Fort, then they will go and deal with the vampires." Hestla told them.
Garan looked at Serana and saw that his Lady had questions. "You have a question, my Lady?"
Serana looked at him. "How many people can the Fort provide for?"
Hestla and Garan looked at each other. "We would say around thirty, why?"
"We are sure to lose some Dawnguards at some point." Serana pointed out and Garan nodded, it was true after all, they were vampires, not gods, they too could die. "Perhaps we should recruit some of the vampires that the Dawnguard finds? Give some of them a third option."
"That would keep our numbers up, I agree with you, my Lady." Hestla said with a nod.
"Yes. I too agree. We currently have six Dawnguards out, all in the Rift for the moment." Garan told them.
"Good, place is crawling with vampires, if you know where to look." Delvin said as he leaned back in his seat.
That reminded Serana about something. "There is something else." Serana said and grabbed both Hestla and Garan's attention. "Our friend here, Orgrim-" Serana nodded to the orc. "Is willing to join us and help deal with the vampires."
Orgrim nodded and walked over to the table. "I live in the Reach and know the land well, I can help with finding the vampires that hides there." He said.
"Wonderful, we have been trying to clear it out, but there always seem to be another cave or camp that we miss." Garan told them. "You are with one of the orc Strongholds, I take it?" He asked the orc.
"I am." Orgrim said with a nod. "I come from Mor Khazgur."
"Very well, I am sure that your knowledge of the Reach will prove most useful." Garan said as he offered the orc a small smile. "Now there is something else." Garan said as he looked over at Khara this time. "If the information I was given is correct then you are the Archmage of the College of Winterhold, are you not?" He asked Khara.
"That's right, I am." Khara said with a nod.
"Then could you do us a favor? We all know that the Dawnguard are vampires, we also know that the citizens of Skyrim cannot be allowed to know this little secret. So, Hestla and I stumbled upon the idea of creating these enchanted rings, rings that will hide our eyes and fangs from mortal eyes." Garan explained.
"That's actually quite clever, and I'm guessing that you need someone to do these enchantments?" Khara asked with a small smile playing at her lips. The helmets could only hide so much.
"You'd be correct. Is that something you could do for us?" Garan asked her.
Khara nodded as she leaned back. "I myself aren't the most talented when it comes to enchanting, but I know someone who is, and he'll gladly do it." She informed him.
"Thank you, with our soldiers true identity hidden, we can fully concentrate on the task at hand." He said.
"Is there anything else that you need? We can have a carriage come here within a day's notice." Khara told them.
Hestla looked at Khara. "There are a few items that could prove useful." She said with a nod.
"Alright, why don't you go over what you need with Delvin?" Khara said as she gestured to her fellow Guild member. "He'll make sure it gets here." Hestla nodded and gestured for Delvin to follow her and the man got up from his seat and pulled out a piece of paper to write on.
"Anything else worth mentioning, Garan?" Serana asked from where she sat.
"No, my Lady, I don't think so." Garan said as he got up from his seat and grabbed a little bag from a table before walking back to them. "These are the rings." He said as he gave Khara the little bag.
"Alright." Khara tied it to her belt. "We ready to leave then?" She asked Serana.
"I believe so." Serana said as she got up from her seat.
"I will stay and accompany Delvin back to Riften, then help guard the carriage when that time comes." Orgrim informed them.
"Good idea." Khara said as she gave the orc a smile. She walked up to him and shook his hand. "I appreciate what you've done for us, Orgrim. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask." She told him as she looked into his eyes.
Orgrim chuckled as he nodded. "I will remember that, you two stay safe." He said as he pointed to both Khara and Serana.
"Will do." Serana said with a smile and a nod.
Garan walked them to the doors and spoke. "If anything of interest happens, I shall send a raven." He said as he opened the doors for them.
"Thank you. We'll get the rings back as fast as possible." Serana told him.
"Most appreciated, take care now, my Lady,-" he bowed to Serana before turning to the wolf. "Khara." He offered the woman a small bow as well.
Khara sent him a small smile before she and Serana walked out the doors. They followed the path down again and got on their horses once they had walked out the narrow path. As they began their little journey Serana looked over at Khara. "So, I finally get to see you as the Archmage."
"Oh, yeah. We haven't been there yet, have we?" Khara said as she looked over to Serana. "You'll like it, there are so many books in that place. I'm pretty sure we have books about everything in our library." She told Serana.
"Interesting." She said. "So, what is it you do as Archmage?" Serana asked her wolf.
"To be honest, not that much." Khara said as she shrugged her shoulders. "They require my help in some matters, like stopping magical beings or helping them acquire magical artifacts, but that's about it."
"I read about the Great Collapse, many seem to believe that the College was responsible." Serana told her.
"Yeah, I personally don't know what to believe. But many don't like the College because they think that the mages were responsible, so we don't get many students, which means I don't have to be around as much." Khara explained.
"Who is leading the College when you're not around then?" Serana asked as she looked around, words couldn't describe how much she enjoyed watching all the beautiful colors that the Rift had to offer, it was so very different from most of Skyrim.
"A man called Tolfdir, he is actually the one who taught me most of what I know within the Alteration school. A very kind, humble man." Khara said with a smile, it should be good to see the old man again. "I'm sure that you'll enjoy talking with most of the people there, seeing to how incredible you are with destruction and conjuration magic." Khara said with a warm smile. "Wait, have you been there before?" She asked.
"I have actually." Serana said with a proud smile. "Mother often traveled there for her work."
"Amazing, how was it back then?" Khara said with excitement that clearly could be seen and heard in her voice and eyes.
"It was impressive, both the town and the College. I was never allowed into the College itself, but Mother was, and she always said that it was spectacular." Serana said with a smile as she remembered how amazed her mother was over the College.
"I keep forgetting how old you are at times." Khara said as she looked down at the ground. "It's impressive, you know. How well you take the changes." Khara said as she looked over at Serana and offered he woman a kind smile.
Serana smiled at the compliment and winked to the wolf. "So, are we going straight to Winterhold or should we take a break somewhere? Just thinking about the horses."
"We should take a break, and you can choose where we do that. We got three options, Nightgate Inn, Braidwood Inn in Kynesgrove or the tavern in Windhelm." Khara said.
"Can we stay in Windhelm?" Serana asked, excitement showing in her eyes.
Khara chuckled. "Of course we can." She said with a loving smile.
Serana beamed at her wolf. "I've always wanted to see the City of Kings, I've read so many books about it."
"I hope it lives up to your expectations then, just keep in mind that some of the people who live there can be…Intolerant to newcomers." Khara told her. "They just don't like outsiders and immigrants, many within the city wants to increase the taxes for the Dunmer that lives in the city because they believe that the immigrants are more of a burden than a benefit." Khara explained.
"I can see why some would think like that, I take it not many in the city can see the situation from the elves perspective?" Serana asked.
"Afraid not, there are some of course, just not that many." Khara said as she looked around them. "It should be interesting to see how the city is doing though, because of what happened to the Emperor and all."
"Yeah, do you think that the Rebellion with vanish with the arrival of the new Emperor?" Serana asked, it was possible she guessed.
"I hope so, but it depends if Ulfric and his followers think that the new Emperor is good enough for them, which I fear might not happen. Most of them are Nords after all, we're a stubborn people." Khara said with a small smile.
"That's true." Serana agreed. "Are you known there?"
"Not really, I have only been there a few times, I don't think anyone will recognize me, but I'll keep my hood and mask on just to be safe." Khara's eyes moved to the clouds in the distance. "Looks like a storm is approaching." She said.
Serana moved her eyes up as well. "Let's hope we can get to Winterhold, or at least Windhelm before we get stuck in it." Serana was never a big fan of Skyrim's more harsher weather, she could appreciate its beauty, sure, but she preferred to do so from the warm comfort of that most buildings always seemed to offer.
As they rode they fell into a comfortable silence, they commented on some things that they spotted along the way, but remained silent for the most. And that was fine by both, a welcoming change to be honest. The party at the Guild had been fun, but there had been a lot of cheering, laughing, shouting, and roaring. It was a relief to hear the beautiful tranquility that the wilds had to offer once again.
After some hours they had arrived at the stables outside of Windhelm. They walked up the stone path and entered the city after they had been given access by the guards there. It was dark and there wasn't a soul out on the streets as they walked up to the inn. Once inside they got a room and quickly entered it and locked the door.
Khara got out of her armor. "Is it strange that I still feel the need to sleep as often as I did before you turned me?" Khara asked as she sat on the bed and let her back fall onto it.
"No, that's normal." Serana told her as she walked up to the bed and mirrored the wolf's position. "As time passes, you'll feel that need slowly fade a little. I think the longest I have gone without sleep was five days before I felt the need to rest my eyes."
"Only five?" Khara asked, she thought they could go longer without rest, much longer.
"Yeah, many believe that vampires can go weeks without sleeping, but that's just a myth." Serana explained. "We just don't need as much sleep as mortals do, a couple of hours does it for us." Serana said as she moved her arm, elbow on the bed while her hand was in the air.
Khara smiled and did the same with her hand and interlocked their arms, dragging her fingers along Serana's. "If we keep this up, we'll never arrive in Solitude." She said in a low voice, a small, sad smile on her lips as she spoke.
Serana looked at their hands and smiled. "I don't mind, as long as I get to have moments like these with you, then I don't care where we are or what we're doing." Serana said in a whisper, she smiled when she heard that her wolf's heart beat the tiniest bit faster at those words.
Khara smiled too, because she knew Serana had heard it, she just knew. "There is something I wanted to tell you." Khara said, and when she felt Serana squeeze her hand, she continued. "That dream you had, do you want to talk about it?" Khara said, when she didn't get an answer she spoke again. "You don't have to, it's just…It seemed like a bad one and sometimes it can help to just talk about it?" She furrowed her brows. "I just, I wanted you to know that if you wanted to share, then I'll listen, and I don't even have to talk, you know? I can just be quiet if that's what you want." Nothing, there was nothing said back to the wolf. Did she upset Serana? "I'm sorry, I-" She felt a squeeze.
Khara turned her head to see Serana looking back at her, a small smile on her lips, but her eyes, her eyes held so much more behind them. "It was about my mother." Serana whispered.
"Tell me about it?" Khara asked in a whisper.
Serana's eyes left Khara's as she tried to find the words to describe the dream, but it was proving difficult.
Khara saw that Serana was struggling to begin, so she asked something else. "Tell me about her?" The wolf asked instead this time.
Serana's eyes moved back to blue orbs. "My mother?" She asked.
Khara nodded. "I said it a while back, but I'll say it again. If you want to talk about her, then I'd be honored to listen."
Serana looked into those blue, non-glowing eyes and she felt safe, so very safe. "Valerica." Serana whispered. It felt strange to say the name out loud, a name that she had loved, then hated, then missed greatly. The name of her mother, yet a stranger in so many ways. Serana's trust and love for her mother had transformed into an endless number of questions and riddles over the years. Unanswered questions and mysterious riddles, never to be answered, never to be given light upon.
"Do you know what that name means?" Khara whispered back. Serana only shook her head. "It means strong." Her words made Serana smile a little. "Appropriate?" Khara asked as she brought their hands to rest on her chest.
"Very." Serana whispered back. "You didn't want to get on Mother's bad side." Serana said with a small smile, memories coming back to her.
"She was strict?" Khara asked as she looked at the woman next to her.
"Yes, there was even times when Father would turn tail." Serana chuckled and Khara joined in. "She could be fierce, but she never crossed the line, and for that she was greatly respected." Serana said as she looked up at the ceiling.
Khara looked at her and squeezed her hand. "Tell me more about her." The wolf asked a she could see that Serana was enjoying talking about her mother.
"She was so smart, Khara. She always had everything planned, she never overlooked anything, no matter how small the task was. Everything she did was done with such care and precision." Serana said as she gestured with her free hand.
"She took pride in her actions." Khara pointed out.
"She did." Serana said with a nod.
"You were close?" Khara asked carefully.
Serana looked at her wolf. "We were, but the time before I was sealed away was different, she kept me at a distance, never letting me get too close. I was confused, because I didn't understand why she would do that, but I understand now." Here comes that heavy feeling that settled in her chest. "She was trying to protect me." She whispered. "And that is what makes me so angry about the whole thing. Those last weeks I was awful to her for making me feel so alone and confused." A few tears were rolling down her cheeks now. "I felt so rejected by my own mother, do you know how that feels like?" Serana's eyes then widened. "Khara, I didn't mean-"
"That's quite alright." Khara interrupted her with a soft voice as she moved her hand to remove the tears rolling down Serana's cheek. Khara moved closer and placed a kiss on Serana's forehead.
Serana moved a hand and kept the wolf close. "I wish you could have met her, she would have liked you."
"Why do you think that?" Khara wondered, would Valerica approve of her?
"You're strong, responsible, clever, you would have earned her respect in no time." Serana said with a soft voice.
"Because I got common sense?" Khara asked with a small chuckle.
"Because when you see something, you don't just stand around, you take action." Serana explained while looking at the wolf with loving eyes. "Not many do that."
Khara smiled at those words. "I wish I could have met her too." Khara said with a soft voice.
"Yeah?" Serana asked with a small smile.
"Yeah, I would like to thank her for raising such a wonderful daughter." Khara said with a smile.
Serana closed her eyes and moved closer to Khara at those words. Khara moved her arms and held Serana close. "Thank you." Serana whispered into her neck.
"No, thank you, Serana. For telling me, for sharing." The wolf whispered back. Khara held her for some time, she let Serana have time to calm herself, to let the memories of the past to settle down. When she felt Serana relax more in her arms she spoke again. "Do you want to sleep?" She asked as she rubbed the woman's back.
"Yeah, that sounds good." Serana said as she sat up in the bed and started to undo her boots.
They got undressed and moved to lay under the covers this time. Khara was on her back while Serana was rolled into her side, face neatly hidden against a warm neck. Khara held her close as she ran her finger through Serana's hair, slowly sending the woman into a deep sleep. The wolf knew how tiring talking about the past could be, she knew what it felt like and she hoped that she had managed to remove some of that weight on Serana's shoulders, some of the weight in her chest.
Serana had done the same to her, so it was only fair to do the same back, but that wasn't the reason for why Khara had asked Serana about her dream, about her mother, no. She had asked because she was Serana's, and Serana was hers. As long as the wolf was breathing, she would always let Serana share her burdens, the thoughts that held pain behind them, the feeling that didn't fade over time, and the wolf would do that proudly, always. Always.
It was morning, or it felt like it was the morning, Serana didn't really know, but there was this faint sound of a lute being played. A bard was probably playing to the people enjoying their breakfast. She hadn't been awake for long, maybe an hour, maybe two, she really couldn't tell because whenever she looked at the peaceful expression on Khara's face, the sense of time just vanished. She probably should stop staring soon, it was probably starting to become a little weird. Maybe, but…She moved a hand closer to the wolf's face, and so very gently, she ran her fingers over the warm skin.
Khara was waking up to feel featherlight touches across her face, her forehead, her brows, cheek, nose, lips, chin, everywhere. She scrunched up her nose the tiniest bit and could just hear someone trying to keep their laughter quiet. She furrowed her brows for a second as she tried to remember where she was. Windhelm, the tavern, in a room, in a bed with…She inhaled through her nose and smiled. With her. "S'rana." She mumbled, her voice in the same state as she was; not fully awake.
She didn't get a single sound in response. The only thing she got was to feel a single finger run down from her forehead and to her lower lip. If felt good, it tickled the tiniest bit, but it felt so good, she had to smile, she couldn't not smile. She felt more fingers now, they moved up and down her cheek in slow movements. She could stay like this forever, just like this, in this very bed, till the end of time. Wait, no. That was a lie. Khara opened her eyes and was met with those beautiful orange eyes. Now I can stay like this forever.
Serana moved her hand to Khara's hair and twirled some around her fingers. "How are you so beautiful?" Serana whispered, seeing Khara in the morning was one of her favorite things, the wolf looked so very peaceful.
"You should look into a mirror, I'm nothing compared to what you'll see there." Khara said in a low voice, Serana's touches was making it hard to stay awake. She did however, manage to send Serana a small, sleepy smirk. "But close you eyes and listen to yourself, then you'll know real beauty." Khara said as she moved a hand to gently run her fingers through dark hair. "In here-" Khara tapped her index finger gently against Serana's head. "Lays real beauty." She whispered. "A beautiful mind." She said as she let her hand run down the side of Serana's face.
"You just stole my line." Serana said with narrowed eyes and a small smile playing at her lips.
"Everything is allowed in love and war." Khara threw back at her with a small smile. "Or, so they say."
Serana hummed as she placed her hand in Khara's. "So they say." She repeated as she looked at their hands. "We should get up." Serana whispered, she didn't want to, but the world wouldn't simply pause while they were in their little bubble.
"We should, but…" Khara looked down at their hands too. "The world can wait a little longer." Khara said as she looked up again and got lost in those orange eyes.
Serana's eyes fell to their hands again as she placed her palm against Khara's, she saw the scar in the middle of the wolf's hand, she felt it. "I guess that in a way, I am the one to blame for that scar."
Khara looked down at her own hand. "I wouldn't say that, I was going to press that button no matter what, didn't matter if it would open a door that led to nowhere or if it held such a treasure like you in it, I can't say no to levers or buttons, my curiosity takes over." Khara raised her hand a little into the air to look more closely at the scar. "It's my favorite scar." She said with a smile.
Serana rolled her eyes as well as her body and laid on her back, a smile on her lips as she did so. She stretched out before turning around to lay on her stomach. She moved a hand to the wolf's cheek and moved Khara's head so that their eyes met. "We should leave, Khara." She said amused, the wolf really did enjoy just laying in bed, doing nothing.
"One hour." Khara said in a lazy voice.
"Ten minutes." Serana said back with a small smile.
"Forty minutes." Khara responded with a nod.
"Ten minutes." Serana said as she widened her eyes a little, her smile growing.
"I hear thirty minutes." Khara said with a small smile.
"Ten minutes." Serana told her with a stern voice.
"Twenty-five, going once." Khara chuckled.
"Ten minutes, Khara." Serana was laughing too at this point.
"Twenty." Khara tried.
"Ten." Serana told her again.
"Fifteen." Khara was running low now.
"Ten." Serana said as she moved closer to the wolf.
"Ten minutes…-" Khara paused and Serana narrowed her eyes at the wolf. "Plus two minutes."
"Ten minutes…" Serana said, her voice a little lower this time as she dragged her lips against warm ones.
"T-ten minutes and thirty seconds…" Khara said in a low voice.
"Ten minutes." She pressed her lips a little harder against Khara's now, making the woman inhale deeply. "Say it."
Khara swallowed. "Ten minutes." She finally agreed. Serana smirked, pleased that she had won. She rewarded her wolf with a soft kiss before jumping out of the bed and getting dressed. "But you said ten minutes." Khara whined from where she laid on the very warm, very comfortable bed.
"Yes, we leave in ten minutes, but we need to get you in your armor and return the key." Serana said with a clever smile.
Khara groaned. "I regret this trade." She said as she stretched out on the bed, she laid there for a minute longer before getting up and getting her armor on. "Looks like the sun isn't up just yet, good. Less of a chance to run into the locals." She said as she looked over to the single window in the room.
Serana hummed as she got her boots on. "Do you want to grab some food?"
"No, I'm fine." She moved over and placed a quick kiss on Serana's head. "But thanks." She said as she grabbed her Blade and dagger. She looked herself over and nodded. "We ready?" Serana nodded as she placed her hands on Khara's back and gently guided the wolf towards the door.
They left Windhelm rather quickly, seeing to how the storm would soon be upon them. They got on their horses and set out for the last stretch of road before they would arrive at Winterhold. When they had rode for a little while, the wind was starting to pick up, but they would make it in time, of that they were sure. They met no beasts nor men along the snow-covered road, most must have gone and found shelter from the storm already.
"Once we're at the College, I'll have your cloak enchanted." Khara said over the howling, cold wind.
"Looking forward to it." Serana said with a smile, because even the Gods knew how much she disliked the cold winds of Skyrim. Serana turned her head to the horizon and could see some buildings. "Is that Winterhold?" She asked, it wasn't like how she remembered it. The Great Collapse really were as bad as the books described.
Khara narrowed her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, it's not much, but it's Winterhold all right."
Khara would have liked to see the town in it's prime. Not many knew this, but Winterhold was the capital of Skyrim for some time, that and the center of progress in the entire province. Sadly though, most of that respect and status fell in the Great Collapse too, just as most of the town did. As of today, the townsfolk don't have a lot of trust towards the College, many blame the College, not only for the Collapse, but also for most other misfortunes that happens within the Hold. People just like to put the blame on someone it seems like.
When Khara became Archmage, some of that hate vanished as she was well known throughout Skyrim. The people of Winterhold liked the idea of a Nord leading the mages, someone they could trust. And Khara and her fellow mages have worked hard to keep that small amount of trust well maintained.
They left their horses in the town's stables and payed the Stablemaster. They walked through the town and got on the bridge that would lead them to the College.
On the bridge they were met with a Altmer woman who looked at them and smiled when she recognized one of the women. "Welcome back, Archmage."
My opinion on the Chapter and info:
Yet another quite quiet and calm chapter. So, we had a little visit with the Dawnguard and finally we made it to the College of Winterhold. In the next chapter I will finally show you what our next big quest are going to be. As I said it's mixture of a few different quests and I might have to bend some of the lore of a specific item in order for it to make sense, but it shouldn't be anything too big.
There is a part of this questline that I'm not too excited about, but the end of it however, I am very excited about that. I hope that I will be able to capture most of the characters personalities or at least make them somewhat close to how they are in the game. I will also try to keep the lore as accurate as possible.
I also feel the need to inform you all that on the 22 of this month I will begin working again so chapters will be released a little bit slower, maybe every 3rd day perhaps, we will see.
And I keep forgetting to write this but…Holy glowing cow shit, 200k+ words in the story so far, that's awesome!
So yeah, thanks for reading and I hope the new year have been good to you all so far, I'll see you in the next one.
-Zep