Cearbhail: Hmm. Author's notes. I guess I actually had no idea what these are for. I wonder what I should do with them. Anyway, I guess I should talk about the newest chapter and things that anyone should know before reading it. yeah...that sounds about right. Ok, then.

Dear journal,

I have been bedridden for twelve hours now. All my muscles are too sore for me to lift up my own quill so Cecilie is being kind enough to record this for me. What happened? Blade training. It's no joke. All the…things we did. I did not know you could do all that stuff with a sword. I mean, who thinks of cutting another sword in half. Not horizontal half, but vertical half. As in, cut all the way from the tip down to the hilt. I had to learn that while Delphine slashed at full strength at me. She ruined my favorite blade. Not that it matters anymore. I have an Akaviri katana. I'm sure that's better…somehow.

I hear from Delphine that Esbern is almost done picking the wall apart and knows pretty much everything he needs to know now. Awesome. Soon maybe we can have some answers as to why dragons are destroying everything. Every second he plays with the wall, another dragon pulls out of the ground and attacks a settlement.

Asger is also ready to leave this place. Even though he will be gone for a while and I will be here training, Cecilie has decided to stay here and train with me. She wants Blade training. Now…this is what gets weird. Delphine stated that she could not teach her until she was a little older so Cecilie opened a portal and disappeared. I thought she had left. Then, she walks back through, a couple years older. She said that she's 15 now. This was as old as she could become. I could barely recognize her. She was three feet taller, just a little shorter than I am, her black hair as long as mine. She looked strong capable. She looked like me, only younger. Well that and she still had her white eyes.

Delphine was surprised by what had happened. Cecilie stated that this was her true age and the Cecilie from earlier was an experiment to see if time travel was too exhausting. It did not tire her one bit but once she met me…she didn't want to leave me. She was having too much fun here with us to leave right away. There was that sadness in her voice. It has to be that something bad happened to me. Gods…I don't want to know.

Lydia…

…

I looked over at Cecilie. It was like looking in a mirror. The way she sat in the chair, the way that she brushed stray strands of hair from her eyes as she continued writing in my journal, the way that she smiled…it was like looking at me. She just had this composure that seemed like she was this strong young lady who had seen the world already and was resolved enough to face it. I was impressed with her new fashion statement too. She was wearing a tight armor that expressed her figure but she kept it partially covered with flaps of blue fabric. The armor itself was pure white with light blue glowing symbols carved inside it. The fabric was blue with golden symbols that lined the edges. Her armor and her battle-skirt were amazing. On top of her head she wore a circlet made up of one ruby on the right side, a sapphire on the left side, and a giant amethyst in the middle.

When I asked Cecilie about the armor earlier, she smiled and said that it was traditional battlemage armor. She wore it during the Aedra wars. She also learned a new spell that allowed her to store all her stuff in the astral plane. She actually got the idea from Ruby, who has that same spell in her bag. Oh yeah…I forgot to mention that. Last night, while at dinner, I asked Ruby how her bag could hold so much stuff. She smiled awkwardly and brushed the top of her head in embarrassment.

"Oops…I forgot. Um…my shaman friend? She uh…made me this bag. It has a portal effect that delivers anything I put in to an astral realm of my creation. I actually go there sometimes and just relax if I have nothing else to do. It's a lovely garden with butterflies that I catch, some skeevers, and some fish. Yes, there is a lake. I made sure to catch some water for my world…and fish along with it. It's a nice sized world that I retreat into if I have nowhere else to go. The only problem is that I can't stay there long. It takes magicka to open the portal and keep it open. If that portal closes while I'm inside…I could be lost in there forever." Ruby shrugged. "But whenever I want something, I just picture it, reach inside my bag, and it comes to my hand. As long as I have it at least."

That's what Cecilie did with her new spell. She grabbed a bunch of stuff, made an astral plane, and stored it within the astral plane in case she needed it. This was before she disappeared into the portal and came back a teenager, mind you. I guess while she was gone she learned the new spell and learned how to use her Conjuration magic to just conjure the items that she stored in her own astral plane. It was wild. She said that she could just 'summon' any outfit she wanted onto her body, 'summon' any weapon into her hand that she owned, and actually 'summon' any piece of food that she ever stored as well. I could not find any reason why not to. It sounded like a great idea.

I shook my head and brought my thoughts back to the present. Well, it wasn't me who brought me back. It was Cecilie. She had closed my journal and looked over at me. It was the sound of my journal closing that snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked over at my daughter. She was hiding back small invisible tears. She looked over at me. "I could tell you…you know?"

I shook my head, which threw all the muscles in my neck in pain. I guess she was referring to the last statement that I threw into my journal. The statement about me wondering what happened to Asger and me. Why she wanted to come and 'meet' me. "No…I think I'd rather not know. So…where did you go for…how many years you were gone?"

Cecilie smiled. "Oh you know…in the past, and some into the future. I met some fun people, played some games…recruited an army. You know…kid things." She laughed as she sat down next to me. "Actually, I went back in time to the Aedra Wars and joined some of my favorite heroes in battle. I helped my six favorite friends escape several ambushes from shadowscales and Aedra. I don't think they ever noticed me until I talked to them."

I looked at her. "That's what you did for four years?"

She shook her head. "Oh no. I just did that…yesterday. No, I was not ready for a fight like that. I went back home and continued my studies. My Aunt taught me how to Shout…just as Father taught her. Since you know…she's Dragonborn too."

"Why didn't Asger teach you?" I asked. I really did not like where all the conclusions in my head were leading me to. It seemed that everything I heard from her involved someone else teaching her something. It was like Asger did not have much of a role in her life. And I was still troubled over her wanting to 'meet' me.

Cecilie shrugged and looked away. "You know…he's busy. He becomes very serious once he becomes a father. And…I think he just grew apart from us. You, me…Ruby. She's in my time now. I never noticed her before but now that I know who she is…it's amazing that I never connected any of those dots. She's like my big sister. I always wondered why she liked me so much. Maleek is also there. Huh…I never saw that coming." She shook her head. "Look, I'd rather not talk about this anymore. Can we just drop it?" She asked, trying to put on her puppy dog eyes. It somehow looked just as cute as when she was eleven years old. I thought that being a teenager would have dried that cuteness up.

I nodded. "Sure thing, kiddo. I think you have some Blade training to do today, right?" I had to change the subject somehow. Heck, I was getting depressed.

She nodded back. "Yeah, you do too. Just because you're tired doesn't mean that you can skip on training. Delphine wants to see us both outside later." She stood up from her chair and turned to face the doorway. I guess she expected someone to walk into the room.

Just then, Asger walked into the room and looked at Cecilie. He nodded awkwardly to her and looked at me. "It's weird. I can't stop thinking that she's not the same girl that we had traveling with us the whole time." Then he shook his head. "It's amazing…you two could look like twins if Lydia wasn't horribly pale and older."

Wow…that was the wrong thing to say to your girlfriend. Cecilie wasn't too happy either. She arched her eyebrows. "Want me to Shout at you? Will that settle this?"

Asger chuckled. "You're so snippy. You're just like your mother."

That got both of our mouths to drop. Was he asking for me to kick his ass? I was not in the mood for this. I grabbed him by the arm. "I am not snippy." I said as I began squeezing his arm. He cried out in minor pain and pulled his arm away.

He rubbed his arm. "Jeez, Lydia, don't kill me. I was only kidding." He looked at Cecilie and nodded. "I guess you know that this is probably goodbye. I don't know when I'll be back or if I'm coming back."

That's when it hit me. Asger was in pain because he was leaving all of us here to go on his adventure to find the Graybeards again. His little act of being an asshole was just a cover so that he wouldn't start crying in front of all of us. Of course, he wasn't going alone. He sent one of Esbern's familiars over to M'aiq in Riften. M'aiq and Brelyna were going to meet him in Whiterun so that the three of them could go out and do some damage to whatever fate was going to throw at them.

Cecilie smiled thinly. "And you don't know if I'm leaving again and coming back again as an adult. I already told you…this is as old as I'm going to get. I don't age past this…for now." She reached in and hugged Asger, pulling him closely. "Goodbye, father. Don't worry, you'll be back and I'll still be here. I'm not leaving yet." I could see tears rolling down her blind eyes. "I'm having too much fun to leave."

Asger nodded and turned back to me. He kneeled and kissed me on the forehead. "Goodbye, Lydia. I'm off to see the Graybeards to find a Shout that can Alduin." Just like that, he turned around, purposely flapping the tails of coat as he pulled a bag over his shoulder. He looked back at me and pulled a hat up to his head. He pulled it down to barely obscure his eyes. "Although we depart on this day…may we never forget the times we shared…the laughs we had. Never shall we forget the baddies we cut down, the deer that we hunted, the fish that we caught. May we never forget the dragons we've slain, the quests that we've attended, or…"

Cecilie pushed him out into the hallway. "Just go! You have a dragon god to kill."

Asger nodded. "Right…going." He looked back at me and smiled. "Love you." And then, he just turned around and started walking out of the room.

Those two words. He said it so casually, but it held all the weight of my heart inside them. I fought against all the screaming muscles in my body as I pushed myself out of the bed. I rose onto my sore legs, my knees buckling as I did so. I chased after Asger, the air in my lungs already throwing my chest in pain as I breathed. "Asger!" I screamed. Asger turned around in time to see me throw myself into a tight hug around him, throwing us both off our feet. We crashed on something soft and warm, breaking our fall.

"Ow!" Ruby called from underneath us. "Get off, get off, GET OFF!" She cried in horror as we starting kissing each other while lying on top of her. Neither of us wanted to move from our spots so Ruby was stuck underneath us as we started…um…getting more involved. She looked up at us in horror. "Ah…no…not again." She screamed as she tried to push us off of her. "I swore I'd never be in this position ever again!" She finally managed to pull herself away from us and she took off into the hall saying, "All you guys ever do is hurt me."

Asger lifted me up and together, locked in each other's arms. Somehow we managed to find our way back into the barracks. We found ourselves on top of one of the beds. Asger managed to breathe out in between kisses, "Cecilie, leave. Make sure no one comes in here."

Cecilie was already gone. I don't blame her. I wouldn't want to see my parents doing this either.

…

An hour later…I think. Well we stopped. I was still catching my breath. My muscles were crying out in pain. I can't tell if it was from the thrashing in the training, or the thrashing that I took while I was in the bed. I can't remember much of it, only that I loved it. This was our second time doing this now, riding Asger's dragon. That's what he calls it, anyway. My body was still recovering from the shock of all my worn-out muscles receiving continuous abuse. I was now in cool-down mode. Asger was sleeping beside me. Jeez…he just fell asleep after he was done. Just like every man in history. I guess the world would have to wait another eight hours before the Dragonborn saved them. Sorry world.

I heard footsteps coming towards us. I pulled up the sheets, covering at least some parts of us. Delphine walked into the room and saw Asger sleeping beside me. She smiled. "Wow…" She looked around the room. There were scratches on the walls, pillow feathers were all over the room, and just…stuff everywhere.

Delphine nodded in amusement. "Ok…I've had some wild days myself." She looked over at me and said, "Get cleaned up and report outside. Now that Esbern is done with Alduin's Wall, he wants to teach the four of you how to break your limiters."

I looked down at Asger, who was sleeping soundly. I heard him take in a quick breath and then he smiled a bit. I ran my fingers through his hair, just relaxing for a second. I had almost forgotten about Delphine, who was still looking down at me.

She nodded. "Ok, I'll leave you two alone for however long you need. Just…report outside when you're ready."

I nodded. "Roger, ma'am. Don't worry, I'll be ready shortly."

She walked out of the room and Ruby poked her head in. "Are you two done yet?" She asked. When she saw me brushing my fingers through Asger's hair, she smiled. "Yup, done." She walked into the room and crossed her arms. "Never…do that…on top of me…ever again." She grabbed her bag and turned around. "It smells like my cage in here. Yuck." She said as she rushed out of the room. I watched her go. Jeez…I can only imagine the horrors she had to live through.

Almost on cue, Cecilie walked into the room as Ruby left. "Hey, Ruby." Cecilie called as she walked into the room. She looked over at me. "Ok…now that you're done, I want to know something."

I nodded. "Really? You do? I thought you knew everything." I said with a playful smile.

Cecilie stuck her hand out and brushed the thought away with a flick of her fingers. "Mom…I was a kid. I was arrogant. So…" She started, putting her hands behind her back. "Is it ok…if I date…" She stopped, looking away. She shook her head. "You know what…forget it." She laughed as she bit her lower lip. "I shouldn't be focusing on that. Not while I'm here at least."

I urged her to continue. "Go on. Who do you want to date?"

She looked over at me and her face blushed over. "Vignar Gray-Mane?" She said the name lightly as if it didn't matter. But then her eyes darted over to me, her face turning bright red.

Gray-Mane…hell no.

She seemed to read my mind. "but Mom!"

I stuck my hand up. "No buts…period. I'm not allowing you to date a 90 year-old man."

She crossed her arms. "Not him, his grandson. He's one of my best friends. He's always been there for me. And…the two families aren't warring anymore. We're all good buddy-buddies."

I shook my head. "I don't buy it. Why come all the way back here to ask me that? It's probably because you think I'm gullible enough to believe you."

Cecilie stomped her foot on the ground in irritation. "No…I wanted your blessing. It's not like I can go to Sovngarde to talk to you." Her eyes widened as she reached up and snatched her mouth before she said anymore.

Everything became silent. No one else moved except for Asger, who was still smiling as he hugged me close to him. I saw that tears were flowing down her eyes again. I finally nodded. "Ok…that's fine. Go ahead. You have my blessing."

Cearbhail: Ah... damnu air. I forgot to tell you about the chapter. Um...yeah... well...Lydia's pregnant! Oh dammit... that doesn't happen yet. Um...she's a mother to a healthy blind child! Yeah... no... that already happened. That makes me laugh. She's not even pregnent yet and she already has a teenager to deal with. Oh and I hope no one hates that I morphed the little girl into said teenager. I had to have it link to every other story where she is...not...a ten year old little girl. So...what else should I say about this chapter before you read it? Well... shab... I'm lost. Anyway, enjoy the next chapter.