"I've always wondered," mused Sofia as we walked out of Dragonsreach and passed the entryway to the Halls of the Dead, "Since when people die they take their final form as they were when they died. If you die naked does your spirit remain naked? I can't say I fancy roaming around either in Sovngarde or as a ghost without any clothes on. Well at least not all the time."
"You're asking me?" I queried.
"Not really," replied Sofia. "I was just wondering."
"Quite frankly I don't worry about it," I finished. "I figure the Gods have got it all planned out in a very satisfactory manner and I will have no issues with it when it happens."
"How can you be so certain?"
"Hey, they're the Gods, they know things we don't," I replied. "You just have to trust those more powerful than yourselves until presented with compelling evidence that you can't. It's called having faith. I have faith that Jarl Balgruuf will keep his word when we get this peace conference going because if I can't trust him, the world comes to an end, or we are forced to figure out another way to get Alduin. In the end, it always comes down to having faith in someone or some deity bigger and more powerful than you."
We headed across the waterway towards the stairs which led to the Gildergreen by the Temple of Kynnareth.
"So now to the Ancestor Glade," mused Serana. "I hope this works. If this turns out to be a wasted trip, your friend Dexion and I are going to have some words."
Words? She was going to have words? It was nice to see the old Serana back firmly in charge but just the same, to hear a vampire threatening to 'have a talk' with someone carried a certain level of humor with it that caused me to grin.
"What are you smiling about Valentine?" queried Sofia.
"Outside of imagining you in Sovngarde naked?" I replied.
"Well of course, but was that the only reason?" she continued.
"You filthy slutty tramp!" began another woman's voice. "So who's home are you planning on wreaking this time?"
"Um," I suggested to Sofia who was decidedly not looking in the direction of the voice and had a rather 'here we go again' expression of discouragement upon her features. I mean in one sense I couldn't blame her. But likewise she had shown precious little comprehension in the past few months of what it would take for these sorts of things to stop happening to her.
"I thought you had been smart and run away, but thank the Gods you're a stupid tramp and not some clever courtesan! Guard! There's the woman I was reporting about last summer at the end of Last Seed. Arrest her!"
The guard looked at us. Serana looked at me. I looked at Sofia. She turned and faced the guard and her mouth was off like a shot. "Wait, can't we talk about this!? I didn't know what I was doing. It was the men at the tavern, they kept buying me drinks and I don't remember a thing. You look like a handsome man . . . er I think . . . I can't tell with the helmet, but I'm sure we can work something out."
"Come on!" groused the guard.
"Valentine you're not going to let him . . ." began Sofia looking at me pleading.
"I'll do what I can the moment I can, Sofi," I said with a sigh. "But first you have to remember who your husband is."
"But but!" and with that the guard hauled her off towards the cell.
"You could have told them you were thane of Whiterun," suggested Serana.
"I'm thane, but Sofia is not. And besides," I replied. "She tried to avoid the arrest by suggesting she was free and single to that guy."
"Oh that's right," sighed Serana. "She kind of hurt you then didn't she?"
"Yeah," I said.
"So you make her wait a little so she can think about what she said. And then what?" asked Serana.
"We take a nice walk around Whiterun, and then we show up in the dungeon of Dragonsreach," I replied. "And you tell me if Aurelian has sent you any letters back."
"He did," she replied with an excited smile on her features as we commenced with our little walk.
"What did he say?"
"He talked about the weather in the Imperial City, how your mother is now free, and how your father is trying very quietly to deflect her political scheming to make you Emperor."
"He talked about the weather and all those things and not a bit about you and him?"
"If he did I'm sure I didn't notice," she replied politely.
"Why don't I believe that?"
"Probably because you know him too well and have gotten to know me a bit too."
"So why don't you say something along the lines of, 'It's none of your business Val'?"
"Because it's more fun to play coy with you," she replied.
"Oh well," I sighed. "I guess I just have to wonder." We walked on in silence for a moment.
"Val?" she began somewhat hesitantly. "He said he was glad I wasn't a vampire like my father."
I was quiet for a moment.
"What am I going to do? I don't want to lie or deceive him. But . . . This is the first guy I really have had this sort of attraction to. I don't want this to end."
I remained quiet as we walked along the wall.
"Is it possible that maybe, once we get to know each other better and become more attracted to each other he'll decide us is more important than his distaste for . . ."
"He won't get close enough to you for that to happen, Seri. He's in the process now of testing you to see who you are and how you are going to be in the long run. Sooner or later he'll note you are hiding that from him and then he'll press harder to make sure. And once he knows, it's over. He'll be discouraged a bit I'm sure, but this is how he has always been. It's one of the reasons why he's still single actually. I was a bit more quick on the mark because, well to be frank, Sofi was the first beautiful woman who showed a desire to come and be with me regardless of where I went and I didn't care that she was a perpetual source of pain and anguish. Aurelian would have dumped her by the end of the first week. If I had done it like him, it would have saved me a lot of annoyance, but I'll be frank Serana, I can't see myself with anyone else really. She's just too much a part of me now. We've gone through so much together I don't want us to end."
"Val! I don't want what's happening with me and Aurelian to end either. I like him a lot!"
"I know you do, Seri. You're going to have to make a decision. If you remain a vampire, you're going to have to tell him eventually and then he'll break it off."
"After all the pain and torment I suffered. I have to give up the one thing that makes it at least tolerable? Damn it, Val! I don't feel like getting old and dying just so I can have a nice guy to be with for a handful of years!"
"Then fess up," I suggested. "Tell him that you are a vampire and while you like him very much and would love a relationship with him, if that is what he wants, then you care enough about him to understand that his happiness is the most important and . . ."
"What about MY happiness!"
"If you're staking your happiness on a relationship with Aurelian," I said. "Then vampire or mortal you're going to end up very miserable indeed. You need to find happiness in the whole of your life, not just one little bit."
"Damn it Val, it's not just about him, it's about everything that comes with him, a home, security, family to be with . . ."
"But no children," I said. "He wants children, Serana."
She was quiet for a moment.
"And besides," I continued. "Even if he decided that he loved you so much it didn't matter that you were a vampire, he'd still grow old and die in a handful of years. And Seri?" I turned to her and once again looked in to her eyes. She was having a hard time meeting my gaze. "You went feral on us and if we hadn't planned on that possibility, you would have come to afterwards with us dead and at your feet with your fang marks in us or you would have felt the sharp blade of a knife across your throat and then you would have been in Coldharbor forever. You think you can't do that with him?"
She shook violently for a moment. Then turned and ran to the wall and just tried to bury her face into it. I walked over and put my arms around her from the back and pulled her up and let her feel the warmth. As it is with reptiles, it calmed her.
"Life is filled with some very hard choices Seri," I said. "Sofi had to make a hard one too just a few months ago. And she fought it to the very end. She was determined to not make it. And she still bucks it routinely and I'll be the first to tell you it hurts like Oblivion itself when she kicks against it."
"Then why do you stick with her? Why not just give me your throat and we run off and beat father together and live eternally?"
"Do you really want that?" I asked. "Do you really want the two of us to hurt Sofi like that?"
She practically jumped out of my arms and turned to face me and violently shook her head.
"She's my friend. I can't do that to one of my only friends," she paused for a second. "I'm sorry Val . . . You and Aurelian. There's so much in the two of you that's alike. I guess that's why I quickly started liking your father too. You're right. I guess that's what happens when you start to really like the brother of a good friend."
I waited. I had a suspicion that she was about to make a discovery about herself.
"It's your father isn't it?" she seemed to think. "He loves you and Aurelian. He loves you both. And his love rubbed off on you and Aurelian. And that's why I like the two of you. My father wasn't so loving. But your's is. And I want some of that."
I nodded.
"Val? Are you sure you can bring my father back?" It was a question phrased with a tone of desperate hope.
"No Seri, I'm not. But I'm going to do the best I can."
"If . . . If you can bring him back then maybe I won't have to make the hard choices," she mused to herself.
Well that put me into a bind. But when in doubt, keep your word. You never know how doing good will turn out, but likewise, you can be pretty sure doing bad will screw things up way more than you had hoped they would not. Just the same, I was not a little irritated. I exhaled.
"If Sofi isn't driving you crazy, I am. Is that it?" she queried, being rather observant as usual. A small smile was playing across her lips.
"Women," I sighed.
She lightly laughed. "Poor baby, how you must suffer being surrounded by two beautiful women one of whom tries to make love to you routinely."
I paused to sing an old Leyawin song of those who suffer on the warm tropical shores of southern Cyrodiil and we reached the dungeon of Dragonsreach and went down to the cells where Sofia was being held. She was looking out of the bars at us. The first thing I noticed was that she was not being belligerent. I wasn't sure about this at first, but it was possible that she had thought it out and realized that my only options were to let them take her. But then again, that fierce loyalty of hers, and the fact that she knew I would come to get her out.
"Over here!" she loudly whispered as we were approaching. "Get me out. Either try to pick the lock or grab the guard's key but hurry."
"Sofi," I replied back in a low voice. "First of all, I'm rather annoyed because you suggested you were willing to sleep with the guard who took you to prison." I waited for that to sink in.
"I'm sorry," she whined. "I wasn't thinking I was just trying to . . . get out of it?"
"Second of all," I continued. "We can pay the fine and have it done."
"What?" Her transition from meek and humble to confrontational and territorial was so fast it would have left me gasping for air if it had been anyone other than Sofia. "That's money we killed hard to get and I want to spend it on mead, some of it. The rest I want to give to you so you can buy more mead for your backpack."
"Oh come on Sofi," I continued. "How bad can a fine for wreaking a home be? It's not even a thousand for killing someone. We can afford that. Let's do this legal okay?"
She slapped the bars in frustration. It was clear she did not like being in prison, but she also hated the idea of paying the fine. I signaled Serana to stay with Sofia while I walked over to the captain's office and offered to pay the fine. His reply was cordial and somewhat unsettling. It wasn't that he wasn't willing to let me pay the fine for Sofia, it was that he insisted that the fine was 50,000. I knew that was outrageous and said so. He informed me that if I was not willing to pay the fine, then perhaps I should sit in the jail cell as well. I replied that first, I was a Thane of Whiterun and second I had committed no crime. His response was that as I was also a Stormcloak, I was no doubt a traitor like the Greymanes. How he had found out that was a bit of a mystery to me but there was no point in trying to find out why he knew just yet. By this point my voice was reaching a particular timbre of annoyance which had the problematic effect of drawing close to two dozen other guards and I realized that I could not fight my way out of this. The upshot was that myself and Sofia and Serana ended up in the jail cell.
"Why Serana?" I argued. "She's done nothing either."
"Oh yeah?" replied the Captain. "How about Vampirism?"
"What?" I shot back. "What is your evidence for that?" Okay granted it was a dumb demand given she was what he was accusing her of. But I wanted to know how he knew.
He smiled, pulled out a small vial of liquid, and tossed a splash of it into the cell where it hit the three of us. Serana shrieked and I swore I could see a bit of steam or smoke rise from her skin. There was a smell of burning flesh in the cell. "Old Thalmor magic," he bragged. "Just the sort of thing which Elenwen would provide her friends. You're wanted by the Thalmor. They do their homework. And you're a long way from Solitude. And if the Jarl of Whiterun doesn't find out? Well what he doesn't know won't hurt him. He thinks you're on your way to talk to the Greycloaks, and start a peace conference. It will be quite a few days before he wonders where you've gone. By then the Thalmor will have come and taken you and it will be a very tragic end for the Dragonborn. For me and the rest of the guards who have helped bring a wanted criminal to justice? 5,000 each."
"You won't live long to enjoy it," snarled Serana.
"Oh, we are so scared," mocked the Captain. Of course she was referring to Harkon and Alduin. He was thinking we were making idle threats. They left us in the cell.
"Well," sighed Sofia. "I was hoping to see you again. But not quite like this. Now we are all stuck."
"We have to get out of here," groaned Serana. "Soon."
"It's not that immediate," I replied back. "The fastest Elenwen will know we are here is a day, and then it will be a day for her to put together a suitable escort, and third, that escort will need to be circumspect. We have at least two if not three days to work out a way to escape and get out of town."
"Val," she hissed. "You don't understand. I have no blood potions with me."
"Oh my (insert the usual bad word here) Julianos," sighed Sofia.
"Looks like you get to practice discipline again," I replied to Serana, giving her a good strong look. She meekly nodded. But I had no doubts that there would come a point before long. "Let's start looking at this cell," I continued.
We commenced to examine the entire cell and shortly realized that there was a very large flaw in the design.
"This floor grate," whispered Sofia. "It looks a bit loose. And there's a tunnel below."
"That's the sewer Sofia," I replied. "You relieve yourself over the grate and the water washes it away."
"I bet we could get it open," insisted Sofia.
"So we're going to be in deep um . . . doo doo?" suggested Serana.
"If this works," I said.
By careful control of my magicka, I began to heat the grill with my fire spell, it began to expand and the mortar around the edges began to crack as the bars themselves began to bend. Then when the grill was red hot, I began to cast frost. The grill naturally began to contract and in so doing, the grill was no longer 'stuck' to the mortar. Needless to say, after about a couple of hours of heating and cooling, the grill was loose enough that we were able to lift it up, and then, after we had slipped into the putrid smelling tunnel, we placed the grill back into it's spot and began to gently work our way down the slippery and rancid smelling tunnel. It was less filthy than it smelled since water was always running through it, but after some working through the darkness we found another problem. The water exited into a sluice which was to narrow for us to go down and it was likewise completely underwater.
"Great," muttered Serana.
"There has to be a way into this tunnel," I said. "So we head back the other way."
"Naturally since there were only two ways we could go, we took the wrong one," sighed Sofia.
And so we worked our way back up and the nice thing about going back was we got to a cleaner part of the tunnel since we had passed the dungeon and was approaching the headwaters of the tunnel. This way was blocked by a metal door which was raised and lowered by means of a wheel which was above the tunnel, on a ledge above which we were able to access by means of a metal ladder. There was an iron door, with a lock, which we picked, and found ourselves in a small hallway which had two exits, one which enabled us to re-enter the dungeon. We choose not to take that one concluding that walking by the guards would be a very bad idea. And the other way led to the open spaces between the walls and the palace on the north side of Dragonsreach. We waited for the sun to set and twilight to fade, and then we slipped into the lower section of the town and got into Breezehome with no undo incident. Lydia then was given the full info and a couple of hours later, she rode the wagon out of town passed the guards who did not think to look too closely inside. Serana was in her coffin and Sofia and I were silently behind the curtain. The cabin then looked quite empty, the absence of light in the interior helped greatly with the ruse, and so they let the wagon pass. Besides, everyone knew we were in the dungeon, except the Jarl and his court of course.
Lydia drove the wagon all the way to Riverwood before she stopped. We switched out then and she started to walk back to Whiterun while we drove the wagon west taking the road that was north of Falkreath. The three of us sat up on top for the first two hours and then Sofia began to get seriously sleepy. Serana noted this and likewise kept an eye on me. After another few miles, Sofia was trying to sleep on my shoulder and I was starting to yawn, so Serana suggested I and Sofia get to sleep and she would drive the wagon for a bit. We agreed and crawled into the wagon and shortly thereafter were both snuggled up in the cool wagon's interior since we had no time to start the stove fire, so anxious were we to put as much distance between us and Whiterun for the time being.
It was a nice morning to wake up to. I called out to Serana, and heard nothing at all. My calling alerted Sofia.
"Think she's grabbing a few winks in her coffin?" she queried.
"Probably," I concluded.
Sofia's response was to snuggle up to me, and briefly nibbled on my neck. I looked at her and she promptly began to kiss me. I figured where this was going to go and I kissed her back and held her a little more closely.
"I'm really sorry about my suggestions to that guard," she said. "I just wasn't thinking at all. And I want to make it up to you special now, okay?"
"Oh," I replied with a mock sigh. "If you must."
"I must," she continued. "I really have to do this."
About an hour later, after the usual expression of affection, I finished dressing and stepped outside. Serana had driven the wagon up to a narrow trail which rose into the mountains. I suspected she had concluded this was the closest we could get to the Ancestor Glade. There was a chill wind blowing, but I began to look for dead wood and started to chop it up for the wood stove. As I cut it up, Sofia began to collect the cut wood and took it inside where I presumed she was lighting the stove. Once I had secure sufficient wood for the next two day's needs I got back into the wagon and began to make breakfast. After a particular knock down drag out fight, Sofia and I had concluded that I would make breakfast and lunch and she would make dinner. I would wash up after breakfast and she would wash up after lunch and dinner. It satisfied her since she was convinced marriage meant that she was to be a home maker and servant. This translated into doing no housework at all unless I could convince her that she was merely 'pulling her fair load'. Of course from Sofia's perspective, any labor in house maintenance was greater than what she regarded as fair. Hence the fact that we had fought over who was going to cook and who was going to clean. It satisfied me because I knew how to make breakfast and lunch, but had no clue how to seriously cook. Oh I had some basics down, but soups and roasts? I was totally out of my league.
Once we had finished, we woke up Serana, or rather, struggled to get a dead body out of the coffin so it would come back to life shortly. It ended in the usual fashion, at some point Serana woke up and made some comment or other about us manhandling her in a suggestive manner and as the three of us were quite used to this sort of wake up, that was the end of the topic. Checking our supply of torches, and other necessary spelunking gear, we plunged into the cave which was supposed to be the entrance to the Ancestor Glade. It wasn't so much a cave as it was a mostly covered crevice.
"Hmmph, not very impressive is it?" suggested Serana.
"You were expecting what?" retorted Sofia.
There was a bit of ledge climbing and we worked our way into what was an almost completely enclosed glade. The was an opening way up at the top and snow flakes were gently falling from it and swirling around before settling on the ground and melting. Several trees had blossoms upon them and there was the sound of rushing water and gentle pools.
"Wow, look at this place!" sighed Serana her eyes widening with wonder from the surprise of transition from the dull mundane hole in the wall to the magical garden quality of the glade. "No one has been here in centuries. I don't think there's anything else like it in Skyrim. It's beautiful." She began to bound down the stairs and was looking this way and that. She gingerly put her hood down and blinked for a moment. Then she began to look intently at things. The sun was not bothering her here and she was once again awash in the colors and scents of the place. There were at least two trees which were blooming and some of the petals were drifting off of them and gently wafting to the ground as well. In the middle of this I noted a bit of shrine architecture and made my way to it. Hovering in the middle of a stone circle was a two handled blade. Not entirely unlike a razor.
"Well now we've got the knife, all we need to do now is track down one of those canticle trees," suggested Serana looking about.
"Probably those blooming trees," suggested Sofia. "The scene is so sappy I can't imagine any other tree being it."
One was nearby so I walked over to it and began to 'shave' the tree. The bark came off in long thin strips and I gathered them up and noted a faint flowery smell.
"I hope the moths like that bark as much as Dexion said they would," said Serana.
I waited. I didn't see much in the way of moths gathering. I had seen a few of them flitting about. But then as I walked over towards a set of stairs, a clump of them began to gather around me and flit about me as if I was some sort of lamp on a foggy night.
"Well," giggled Serana. "They've definitely taken a liking to you, and unless I'm seeing things? You're starting to glow."
"Oh this is so . . ." muttered Sofia. "Guagh! It's just like some sappy kid's tale. Give me a bucket? I feel like I'm two months pregnant after a big breakfast."
"Sofi, this is so beautiful!" argued Serana. "It's so peaceful and quiet here. I could be here forever."
"I'm an adult now okay?" retorted Sofia. " I don't do kids stuff!"
"Wait until you have our first child," I suggested. "Then you'll be doing kids stuff."
"What? No way. My kids are going to be so mature so fast . . ."
More and more moths were gathering around and the vista seemed to be getting brighter and brighter. I began to look for moths and when I saw them I would walk over to them and they would likewise begin to hover about me. Then I began to hear the trilling.
"Wow, I think that's what we were waiting for," continued Serana, her excitement increasing by the second while Sofia's annoyance at the 'sappiness' likewise exhibited itself. "Let's head back and see if we can read the scroll!"
I walked back to the central shaft of light. And began to open the scrolls. Once again my vision was filled with eldritch symbols which swirled about and slowly a map began to form. First came the rivers, then came the mountains, and then finally came the mark of Solitude and the mark of a cave to the far west of Skyrim. Then once again it was all white and I saw nothing for a moment. Little by little, my vision began to return.
"Are you okay?" asked Serana. "I almost thought I had lost you there. You went as white as the snow."
"I'm okay," I sighed.
"Well of course," suggested Sofia. "You think I would have stuck with him if he wasn't the best?"
"Do you know where the bow is?" asked Serana.
"Yes," I answered. "It's in a cave near the border of High Rock."
"So we get to cross Skyrim again," groaned Sofia.
"Did you hear something?" asked Serana.
"What?" I asked.
There was the sudden twang of a conjuration spell being cast and stepping out of the blue light circle was a very angry gargoyle.
"Daddy dearest has found you again!" I shouted to Serana as we ducked and backpedaled. Several more vampires and their thralls came tumbling down the stairs for us. I unleashed a few fireballs and then paused to drink magicka potions. The Gargoyle came for me and so I barely had time to throw up a good ward and draw my blade. His fist shattered the ward but I got a good whack in before I stepped back and recast the ward. He smashed it again and I whacked him again but being he had rocks for brains, he merely wound up to whack a third time. I concluded that my ward was simply not going to do it and I took a second to duck the swing and dashed around him only to run into a very annoying thrall.
"Victory or Sovngarde!" he screamed raising his two handed blade over his head.
"I pick Sovngarde!" I replied and ran him through. When you raise your blade above your head, you have a completely exposed chest, particularly if you insist upon wearing that rather abbreviated hide which shows off the pecs really nice but provides almost no protection from someone who can keep his cool and stab. For once the silly fellow went down with a single whack. That didn't happen very often to me. I backed up and tried to get my bearings. Sofia was surrounded by two vampires and a thrall while Serana was tangling with the Gargoyle and two more thralls. I let loose a series of two handed fire bolts and that took care of the one thrall by Sofia.
"Serana!" I screamed. "Two corpses!"
She knew what that meant and ducked and did a quick take. Then with a flick of her wrist, one of the corpses rose up and commenced to whack away at the gargoyle. I summoned a flame atronach who happily flitted out tossing firebolts left and right. Useful little pyromaniac they are. Can't last long and they have a nasty habit of exploding when they are killed but for a distraction they are quite adept. Then I focused on the two vampires still on Sofia.
"If I am to die!" shouted Sofia. "Then I want to go out in style. Does my hair look alright?"
I dashed down with shield and sword out. I reached the first vampire and knocked her forward with the shield. That put Sofia one on one with the other vampire. The one I had knocked about promptly focused entire on me and I realized that leaping in to rescue the woman I loved more than life itself had turned out to be a Very Bad Idea. The new vamp was putting the drain on me and I couldn't whack her hard enough fast enough. So I tried smacking her with the shield again. She staggered and the drain went off. I was able to gulp down a fast heal potion and she was back up and turning on the drain again. I whopped her with the shield again. That really worked. So I whopped her again and found myself panting. I simply had no more energy to smack her with the shield so I sheathed my sword and let loose with a stream of flames which I began to realize were doing absolutely nothing short of discoloring her leather armor. I mean I couldn't even frizz her hair. She put the drain back on, I sucked down a set of healing potions and summoned my familiar who proved a minor distraction long enough for me to draw my sword, catch my breath and stab at her again. She was aware that I was clearly out of my league and was grinning rather disconcertingly. But unbeknownst to myself, the two of us had been fighting for so long that both of us had failed to note where the rest of the battle was going. Suddenly Sofia was standing behind her on one side and Serana was on the other side. I went into a full defensive position behind my shield.
"Like that's going to stop my magic?" she sneered.
Serana tapped her on the shoulder.
"In a moment, let me finish this one," she snapped.
"I think you misunderstand," suggested Serana. "You're the only one left and there are three of us."
The vampire paused to take a glance to her left and right. Her expression became rather uncertain.
"I think we need to spare this one," I suggested.
She'll only go back and tell father," snapped Serana.
"Depends," I replied. "Let's see what she knows first."
"What like . . ." began Sofia who then clamped her mouth shut when I gave her 'the look'.
"What do you know of Auriel's Bow?" started Serana looking at the Vampire. "You know Vampire Dust is a great component for invisibility potions and Valentine's supply is about to run out."
I nodded.
"I don't know!" she stammered. "He sent us to find out where you were going since you have one of the two Elder Scrolls."
"Stupid girl," I laughed. "It takes three Elder Scrolls to find out where Auriel's Bow is. And now we know where to find the second one thanks to the ceremony we just performed in this glade. Not that you'll find any of them. We'll have them before you do. Serana? Tie her up under the shaft of light."
Serana looked at me and nodded. Sofia looked at me and there was little open mouthed gesture of surprise. With Serana being as strong as the other Vampire, we were able to tie the woman up quickly and effectively. She offered no resistance. She just limply submitted.
"By the time you get out of this," I laughed, rather fiendishly too. "Presuming the sun doesn't fry you first. We'll have the two other scrolls needed and know where to go for the bow. Tell Serana's father that he's failed will you?"
She commenced to struggle feebly and snarled at us with a 'I'll get you in the end blood bag' expression. We turned our back on her and walked out. We worked our way down the trail and with a hi yah, put the horses into a cantor so that the wagon began to fly back up the road towards Whiterun. That was a relative term of course. To get back to Whiterun, we needed to ride north and then turn east when we got to Lake Ilinalta. If we took the road to Falkreth, we would end up riding through Helgen. And after Alduin, Helgen had become too rubble chocked to drive a wagon through.
"How long before she breaks out of those bonds?" speculated Sofia.
"About ten to fifteen minutes, maybe sooner. Depends on how good she was at tensing and going limp only after we tied her up," I replied.
"Why even bother?" snorted Sofia.
"The idea was to make sure she thought she had outsmarted us," I replied. "She escapes, sniggering at how naive we were about her strength, she then runs north to Castle Volkihar and tells Harkon that three scrolls are needed and we still only have the one. That makes him start searching for the scrolls still unfound."
"If she knew we knew where the location of the bow was, she'd break free and start to track us since the bow is essential," continued Serana. "And no doubt she knows how to contact other Vampires on the way. We're very good at spotting each other."
"So, it's off to High Rock then," sighed Sofia.
"High Hrothgar," I replied.
"I thought you said that the bow was in . . ."
"It is, but given the location of the bow, it makes sense to widdershins it."
"Why?"
"Up to High Hrothgar, get the Greybeards to host the conference, then over to Windhelm to speak to Jarl Ulfric, then to Solitude for General Tullius, and then to get the bow. Back to High Hrothgar for the conference, and then we'll see. Besides, we have all three scrolls and since we know where the bow is, by the time they have tracked us down again, they won't know what our status is. That will mean they have to be cautious. The whole point of this is continual misdirection of which Alduin's threat is a very handy tool.
"Who'd have thought the end of the world would be a great distraction for the end of the world," sighed Sofia.
Serana could only stand riding in bright daylight for so long, especially since she had a nice comfy coffin in the closet in the wagon. Once Sofia had gotten her to This Time remember to put wood into the stove to keep it warm, she crawled through the flap behind the driver's seat and I presumed she got into her coffin once she was inside the wagon. That left me and Sofia driving down the road under a bright blue sky with a cold arctic wind blowing across our face.
"Back up the 7,000 steps again," sighed Sofia. "And we don't even know if this will work."
"Have we ever known anything would work?" I queried.
"Well I always know how my schemes are going to work," she replied. "I mean how many times have I left them drunk and passed out under the table, or brawling, or . . ."
"You in jail?"
"That was afterwards," she retorted. "It doesn't count. But that does remind me. We left Whiterun just a couple of days ago and we'll be back there this evening or earlier tomorrow morning if you drive through the night. Why are we going back there? They know we've escaped by now, they'll be coming for us."
"First of all," I replied. "That so called guard captain can't just up and arrest us again in public without an excuse and it's going to be tough for him to find a reason to publicly arrest The Dragonborn."
"He had no trouble with me!"
"You're not the Dragonborn. I'm sorry Sofi, but in spite of your tremendous beauty and brilliant intellect (Yes I know I was over exaggerating but this is Sofia remember?) it's a little easier for them to make up excuses to arrest you without worrying about public outcry of sufficient volume to alert the Jarl to their nefarious schemes."
Sofia was quiet for a moment. This was one of the few moments in which I could still keep her guessing what I was really thinking because on one hand, she was hearing things she liked hearing about herself, but on the other, she knew I was not afraid to be sarcastic to her when I did not think so highly of her decisions. I had in the past made no secret that I did not think she was the smartest cookie in the jar. Now don't get me wrong, her problem wasn't a lack of brains. She had them and knew how to use them very cunningly. The problem had always been that she used them for manipulation to get what she wanted which was way too much of what was good for her. So while she could lie, sneak, and scheme her way into a massive fun filled day or night of frivolity, there were consequences to those little games which she persistently refused to factor into her plans.
"And besides," I continued. "Who said I was going to be stopping in Whiterun anyway? Our wagon is pretty well recognized there now, if we show up they'll know we are back in town so I won't be stopping, we'll ride right by Honningbrew and cross the bridge and proceed north up that road towards Windhelm."
"But aren't we going to Iverstead?"
"Yes, that first, sorry I overlooked that in my explanations."
She settled back content. By reminding me, she had 'proven' she was smart. And you know? I didn't care really. The horses were just gamboling along and I looked over at her and for a moment just lost myself in her face. She began to notice that I was gazing fondly upon her and she began to smile to herself. Rather smugly I might add.
We passed Riverwood as the sun was lowering along the horizon and I began to think of where to stop when Serana popped back out.
"You really have a nice comfy bed," she observed. "If it weren't for my coffin I'd be so jealous."
"But you don't sleep well in a bed anyway," I replied.
"That doesn't mean it isn't comfortable. A nice thick soft feather mattress, is this what you slept on in the Imperial City?"
"Not really," I admitted. "Father never thought his kids should be pampered. So while our beds were not flat boards, but they were not the cushiest either. I got the mattress for Sofia. I like babying her you see."
"Lucky you Sofi," mused Serana as she plopped down on the other side of Sofia.
"Hey," replied Sofia. "It's all part of the planning ahead I do. I knew he'd be a winner once I saw him jumped by those Imperial Troopers on the border with Lokir."
"Oh will you look at that?" I said gesturing ahead with a nod of my head. "There's a rather disreputable Argonian just standing on the side of the road. You think he's a" and here I lowered my voice to sound all 'tee hee we are so wicked' ". . . Skooma dealer?"
"Obviously," said Sofia. "So what are you going to do?"
"I need Moon Sugar for the fondu."
"But Val, we already have had enough trouble with the Whiterun guards, you going to court more trouble by having illegal goods on you?"
"Just watch," I said as I gave her a cheeky grin.
"Oh this I've got to see," mused Serana.
"Seri? You really might like to be part of this," I continued.
"How? I don't do skooma. And I would presume you had already figured that out."
"Just trust me," I finished. "You'll catch on rather quickly, just be . . . shall we say . . . incognito until you know what's happening?"
"Right," she replied.
I pulled the wagon up and got down and walked the last few strides to the fellow while Serana tagged along looking rather ordinary and nondescript behind me and shyly looking at the Argonian from behind me. Sofia took advantage of the situation to grab a bottle of mead and lean back and watch the kiddies play.
"Greetings traveler," said the Argonian. "You look weary. I have something that will help you . . . relax . . . If you are willing."
"Oh?" I queried wide eyed. "What could you have?"
"The finest skooma, the sweetest moon sugar, for a fair price of course."
"Oh!" I made like I was surprised. "I didn't know. I thought it was chamomile or something." I paused and looked concerned. "You know, this isn't legal. The guards would not like this a bit I'm thinking."
"Oh? A snitch eh? Can't have you going to them."
"Please sir!" I cried backing up and preparing to throw up a ward. "I'm just an ordinary traveler I won't tell I promise!"
But of course he charged. My ward was up, and Serana was just standing there looking rather nonplussed.
"What are you doing?" I shouted to Serana as I ducked and weaved.
"I don't eat Argonians," she replied. "I thought you knew that."
"Oh great!" I shouted. "So you are going to stand there and do nothing?"
"Oh come on Val," she replied. "You can take him, just shout!"
"Right!" I said, feeling rather stupid. "FUS DO RAH!"
He flew back and then a double handed fireball finished the job.
"That's done with," I said in a style that I had heard one very good Breton actor do once upon a time. I walked over to the corpse and began to search. I found a few dozen septims, six bottles of skooma and a bag of at least three bowls of moon sugar and one bottle of Hist Tree sap."
"Here we go," I said pocketing the moon sugar but tossing the skooma bottles and sap into the river. "That has got to be the cheapest way I know of to get moon sugar."
"And we clear the roads of scummy people too," sighed Sofia. "We're such paragons of virtue. Let's have a party and start a bar brawl before we start to glow with some sort of divine sparkly okay?"
I got back up into the wagon while Serana hopped up on the other side.
"It really was rather clever of you Val," she said. "Had I known what you were planning, I would have alerted you prior."
"No problem," I said.
"Well aren't you two the sweetest things?" snarked Sofia.
I sighed. "Sofi," I said. You are the woman I am all in love with. But you're not a vampire. I was trying to let Serana have a live feeding, okay."
She sighed. "Oh alright. Just remember you're my personal slave and not the other way around."
"Yes Misses," I replied and jogged the wagon forward.
Serana commenced with small talk on Sofia's favorite subjects and that got them all wrapped up in girl things which put me out of their minds. That bit of tension was smoothed out but it did get me to thinking. I had to tread a very fine line now. Serana had offered to turn me and then apologized on the grounds that she had just forgotten that I wasn't my brother. It was clear that she wanted to be part of our family. And while I was not adverse to that prospect, it was a non-vampiric Serana that I wanted as a sister in law. But she was far more focused on the immediate and accordingly, if I wasn't careful, I would find myself compromised with her. And that would tear Sofia's heart into pieces. Understand, I did not regard Sofia's jealousy as a fault. I was after all, hers. That's what marriage is you see. But I wasn't just adventuring with Sofia, I was adventuring with Serana and that was the problem. The old adage 'two's company three's a crowd' was leaping up to bite us on occasion. You see, when you fight for your life side by side you form a deep bond with each other that lasts for a whole lifetime. It was one of the chief reasons why I was so utterly captivated by Sofia. And it likewise was felt by Sofia for me. Her fierce loyalty wasn't just because I was the guy who had proven to her that he did in fact love her. But that bond of camaraderie was as forming with Serana and she was likewise beautiful and in a very exotic fashion as well. Seriously those fangs could be quite the turn on in the right circumstances. Don't ask me why, I can't explain it. While she might some day rip my throat open and drain me dry, she was conspicuously lacking Sofia's faults. But was that good enough a reason to switch one out for the other? The thing that I was able to keep in my mind was the simple fact that had I made a list I would have noted that both women had plenty to irritate me with and plenty for me to be madly in love with. In short, I probably would have fallen in love with Serana had I met her first, and now I would be tempted by Sofia. I sighed. When was anything ever easy?
A couple of hours later, I pulled the wagon over and we camped on the road at the head of a vale where a Stormcloak encampment was located. From there it was on to Iverstead, which we arrived in early afternoon. We walked into the inn to secure a few foodstuff for the wagon as well as have a nice luncheon while the local talent, a girl named Lynly Star-Sung first offered to serenade us for a few septims and then recognized me and wanted to know why I had not been playing music for food and board like I used to when I had come to Iverstead. It dawned on me that it had been weeks since we had performed in any inn. I had been so busy trying to save the world that my music had taken a second place. I sighed, went to the wagon, got my lute and then Lynly and I played a set of duets for Sofia and Serana and the rest of the inn for a few hours before we turned in for the evening.
The next morning we were up at the Greybeards after walking the so called seven thousand yet again. The discussion was long with a great deal of give and take since as Arngeir pointed out, the Greybeards had deliberately chosen pacifism and isolation as the means by which they would not abuse The Voice of the Gods. In the end however, having remembered the great Dragon Tongue debate over the question of the Dragon Rend shout, Arngeir concluded that events would force the Greybeards to intervene. But it was not an easy decision for him to make. I think I was successful in part because I made the argument that ending a war, even if it was only for a brief duration, was fully in line with the pacifism of the Greybeards. But I also pointed out how hard it would be for everyone to get up to High Hrothgar anyway. While a precedent was being set, it was not a bad precedent and it would seldom be employed since getting there was going to be the hardest part of the negotiations.
That evening we returned to Iverstead and slept in the wagon after a nice meal in the inn. Lynly understood that we were exhausted from the trek. And as it was, we were the only 'pilgrims' who had actually seen the inside of High Hrothgar and had talked to the Greybeards so there was a bit of query by the village residents about the place and the monks who resided there. We fell into bed, at least Sofia and I did. Serana stayed up and apparently chatted with the residents way into the night answering their questions since she had that observant eye which Sofia and I lacked. And I might note that Serana was looking forward to sleeping in her coffin all the next day as we rode to Windhelm.
And that is exactly what we did the next morning. We drove the wagon out of Iverstead and made for Windhelm. I was going to have a 'talk' with Ulfric Stormcloak. There was something which I had found out when poking about the Thalmor Embassy which I had initially grabbed because I was trying to get all the information I could. Then I read it. And now it was going to have a decided impact on the next few days events.
It is also with a bit of irony that I noted that the Greybeards pacifism was what was going to be needed to make the violent fight with Alduin possible. Adventures do that to you at times you know.