Cearbhail: Now that I'm done with that depressing story, I'm back to this one. Now, I wanted to do more today, but I got all caught up in pretty much every little thing imaginable today. Everyone wanted something. (sigh) Barely even got to sit at my computer today.

Anyway, enough about my life. Enjoy this one.


Dear journal,

Last night was amazing. Sure, I was surrounded by six dragons and I didn't even get to kill one of them, but I guess that's what teamwork is all about. After all there was my team, a team of eight, plus five werewolves. That makes…well, too many people to share dragon kills. But Ria gets all the points for absorbing their souls and keeping them from returning. It appears that this flea-ridden Imperial is in fact…a Dragonborn. It's amazing just how they are starting to pop up. Of course, I know the real reason behind this. I figured it out once I recalled reading Asger's journal back at Sky Haven Temple.

I guess no one else really knows about it. I'm the only one, but it also makes sense about what Cecilie told me when she told me about her past during our stay at the Sky Haven Temple as well. Heck, I had almost forgotten about it until this just happened.

So, we were held up for a while. Ria was growing ill and vomiting rainbow juice. The other Companions were worried for her, scared of what she did and what it was doing to her. I explained everything to them, telling them all that she was Dragonborn. They were all suddenly honored to have her within their little 'circle' now. Imagine a hero of Skyrim as a Companion in the Circle. Tremendous honor to both the Dragonborn and to them. Well, Aela asked me if I knew anything about Dragonborns. I told her that my fiancé was one and so was my daughter. I had a lot of experience with them. And just like that, Aela nodded to me and said that they were leaving Ria in my 'capable' hands. They had to go back to Jorrvaskr. So…now I'm stuck with another person.

Oh, and I asked the Thalmor for his name. He said his name was Fiirnar. Hmm, that name sounds familiar. And without Cecilie here to give me a load-down about anything this guy has done in the past and whether or not he's in fact the cause of her death…I will never know. Oh well, he seems nice.

Lydia…

I closed my journal and looked over at the sleeping Ria. Her fever had come down a lot since she passed out after consuming all those dragon souls. I guess her body was processing the collection now. What the body did with those souls, I'll never know.

Ruby was doing all she could with her crystal magic. Amethyst to keep the headaches and fever reduced, citrine for the energy transference…whatever that was…it was in her own words. Whatever she was doing was helping in the least. Ria was no longer tossing and turning, mumbling in her sleep.

Babette and Serana both went out to go hunting. After everything that had happened, I just wanted to curl up into my little sleeping mat and fall asleep. My growling stomach wouldn't let me, though. So I just sat myself around Pantu and Zaliika. She was trying her best to engage him in a conversation and he was pretty much only answering in short bursts. It seems that the love connection was one way. Either that or he just pretending to be gruff. Hard to tell with him. He's just so…mysterious.

Fiirnar was busy asking Esbern everything he could about random stuff that he wanted to know. Esbern was giving him false information, purposely leading him away from knowing anything. He'd even contradict himself just to confuse the elf in an inescapable circle of false knowledge. It made me laugh to hear it.

"So, you're saying that the dragons are returning because there are Dragonborns?" Fiirnar said, scratching his head.

"Oh, definitely. The dragons appearing right after the Dragonborn is born…it cannot be coincidence." Esbern said, nodding in real enthusiasm.

"But we'd never know that the Dragonborn is in fact…a Dragonborn if there were no dragons around for him to eat." Fiirnar said, squinting and shaking his head in confusion.

"Oh, but of course. It's like the question: which came first…the chicken or the hunter?" Esbern said with a growing smile. "Were there chickens before hunters started killing chickens, or did the chickens survive long before someone figured out that they could be eaten? And what of their eggs?"

Fiirnar nodded, rubbing his perfect chin. "Ah yes…the age old puzzle, which came first: the chicken or the egg?"

Esbern laughed and shook his head. "No, not that. Honestly, who cares about that one? Did hunters eat chickens first…or their eggs? I could care less if an egg hatched the first chicken, or if they were all crapped out as chicks to begin with. What I care about are the hunters, the people who consumed the chickens and their eggs. So…new hypothesis. What was eaten first: the chicken or its eggs?"

Fiirnar nodded. "Ok, I understand. I will have to do research on this question." He stepped away and Esbern chuckled to himself.

When Fiirnar was out of earshot, Esbern looked over at me and said, "And that's how you get rid of pesky question askers."

I smiled at him and shook my head. It was amazing that he could just throw Fiirnar into a fit about chickens and eggs. "So, what do you really think? Think the dragons are returning because of Dragonborns, or were there always Dragonborns who lived through the ages without any dragons to unlock their powers with? Or could the Dragonborns just be showing up now, first of their generations because Alduin was returning to us?"

Esbern shrugged. "Personally, I would go with the second one. Without dragon souls to eat and unlock their dragon blood, we'd never know who held the power Dragonborns as only known to have. They'd be normal, like the rest of us. And when dragons started appearing, it just became obvious that people would gather around the sight of a dead dragon. Then, that one normal Joe would get too close and the dragon would light up into flames. Then that would start the whole 'soul absorption' process. That person may have been Dragonborn his whole life and not even know it. It is very possible that there are many Dragonborns, not just one. All from strong clans. The trick is finding one person with enough royal blood left over to actually activate the soul absorption process. That being said, the slim chance that there are two separate clans of powerful dragonblooded citizens is either lucky or damn impossible. We've not interbred like those old days. The end result would either be thousands of Dragonborns, or none. The fact that Asger is one and this woman is one…I'd say that they're related."

I sat there, completely stunned. He knew. He figured it out. I had actually smiled and started rubbing the back of my head. "Well, you're right about one thing. I think these two are related."

Esbern rolled his eyes. "Let's see…too old to be his daughter…but knowing Cecilie I'd say that it could be her older sister or something coming back in time to save Asger from eating too many dragon souls. She has similar features to Cecilie."

Ria started rustling in her bed. We both turned to look at her. She looked like she was going to vomit. When she turned over and vomited up a fresh batch of rainbow goo, I considered that I was getting good at reading people's vomit faces. Ria let her head smack the ground as she rested back down. Her eyes looked thoroughly exhausted. She looked up at me, that expression filled with pain. "What happened?" She said, sitting up.

"You ate six dragon souls. Congrats, you're a Dragonborn." I said to her, patting her on the back. The end result of that was Ria groaning and throwing more up. "There, there. Cough it up."

She grabbed her head and shook it lightly. "Feels like I tried to eat a mammoth." You ate enough for six mammoths. I thought sarcastically in my head. She looked up at me and attempted at a smile. "Thanks." She tried to push herself up, but her arms suddenly felt very weak. "Ohh…" She groaned. "Ok, I'm just going to stay here for a while."

Esbern nodded. "That's ok. We're not leaving without you. Aela put you under our care while we train you to become a Dragonborn."

Ria scoffed and smiled. "Did she now? Can't wait to get rid of me."

Fiirnar walked back up. "Ok, I considered all possible approaches. I feel that hunters would have not taken to the knowledge of cracking eggs and frying them on slabs of rock. No…and eating them raw is just as unlikely. So, if I had to think of what the hunters would have eaten first, I say it would have to be the chicken."

Esbern looked back at him. "You're considering our brains in the matter, not the primitive hunters. Think of this. Chickens run…and fast. Eggs…don't. Go do more considering."

Fiirnar nodded and stepped away. "Hmm, that is true.. In that case, I could reconsider the use of magicka to launch fireballs.."

"Back then hunters used spears! Not magic!" Esbern yelled after him as he disappeared again. He looked back at me and winked. "See…got to keep him thinking. I'm sure he'll realize that I've just sidetracked him sooner or later and come back to his original questioning. Then I'll move onto the next phase. What came before the Dwemers?…Who taught them how to build what they did? Aliens? They possibly couldn't be that smart."

Ria groaned and shook her head. "Either I'm going loony or you're all a bunch of idiots."

I patted her on the back which caused another repeat performance. "Hey…don't call me an idiot. I'm the only one who knows who you really are."

She glanced up at me, curious. "And what's that mean?"

I smiled and nodded. "You're Asger's sister."

She looked at me like I was stupid. "Who's Asger."

That…did not go as I planned. "Asger…the Dragonborn. The Thane of Whiterun, a Companion! Probably a werewolf too. Heck, I don't know."

Ria did that comprehension nod where her mouth gaped open and she nodded thickly. "Oh…him. Yes, I remember him. He threw a rock at the giant I was fighting outside Whiterun. When the giant charged him, he tossed another rock. The giant started crying and ran off before I could kill it." She raised an eyebrow and said, "And…you're saying that he's my brother? Isn't he a Nord?"

I nodded. "Yes…why aren't you?"

She patted her chest. "I'm Imperial."

Ok, that I did not expect. Maybe I was mistaken. It could be that she is just some random person who has mysteriously gained the Dragonborn ability. Who knows…maybe one person of each race was selected by the gods to wield the Dragonborn power. Was M'aiq or Ruby about to sprout dragon wings and go dragon slaying next? Or was Maleek or Zaliika going to start lighting dragons on fire? Was there going to be a team of Dragonborns someday, all fighting dragons as one unit?

I shook my head. No! I'm not dramatic, I do not think about this stuff. I took a few deep breaths and allowed my emotions to cool down and collect. I could do this without resorting to Asger's crazy world. I looked at Ria, who was looking up at me like she had just seen someone bipolar. "My apologies. I assumed that because Asger is in Skyrim looking for his half-sister that you may have been her. Then the whole dragon thing started, things happened, Asger became Dragonborn and had to put off finding her. All he knew was that she was at the College of Winterhold for a while."

Ria looked shaken. "Who…me? Living at the College of Winterhold? Ha…crazy." She stood up, grabbing her head. "It's not like I was dating a wizard there or something. No…that would be just…" She sighed. "Ok…so, who were his parents?"

I shrugged. "I don't even know his last name. I don't think anyone knows his last name. Or if it's even recorded anywhere. I've checked…a lot and out of fear of already having it somewhere and creating a new one on top of .. I have just tried to ignore it and just call him by my last name…or by the Dragonborn. Instead of trying to learn it."

Ria sighed. "Ok, so you don't know who his parents were, only that his sister came to Skyrim, lived at the College of Winterhold…and then became involved in the whole…dragon uprising?"

Fiirnar stormed up to us, his face pulled in a slightly angry tone. "You tricked me. All this time, I thought we were getting along fine but…you had me thinking about chickens. No longer…so answer my question. Why are dragons returning?"

Esbern nodded and sighed. "Fine. It all has to do with what the Dwemer discovered years before they vanished. You see, when they were beginning, they had help designing their monstrous contraptions. They were as pathetic as the snow elves, but overnight…they suddenly evolved. Some say that aliens advanced them…"

"What does this have to do about dragons returning?" Fiirnar said, beginning to cross his arms.

Esbern smiled. "Some believe that dragons helped the sudden advancing of the Dwemer."

Fiirnar nodded. "Hmm, and if the Dwemer had help from the dragons, the dragons may have known that they were going to disappear."

"And since all the Dwarves disappeared, some believe that the dragons went with them. All at once. So, the real question is…why haven't the Dwarves appeared yet? Or…are they actually the Draugr that live in the ancient Nord dragon burial mounds? It would explain their sudden disappearance."

Fiirnar nodded. "Hmm, that is a good theory. I shall have to think about this for a while." He turned around and slowly walked away.

Ria shook her head in dismay. "That Altmer is such a dork." She looked at me and said, "I want to meet this Asger. If anything else, he can at least teach me how to adapt to this…uneasy feeling."

Well, at least I could keep her around long enough to find out from Asger if she really was his sister. I don't know the full story as to why he was here, his last name, her last name, if it's the same last name…or if they really were just coincidentally intertwined in this never-ending plot about dragon slayers.

I looked up at the sky. Alduin. He escaped us once and then…we got caught up in this. How much longer until we killed him? We'd probably wait until this war was over and a new High King was crowned. And not to mention whatever was going to happen next. We chased away Alduin, but he wasn't dead. What were we going to have to do to fix that and end this dragon uprising? Stop the end of the world? I wish I knew.

Ruby walked up, smiling. "Oh, I smell deer."

By now we had a giant working fire that was burning down to the giant logs of firewood that Ruby just happened to have in her bag. How convenient. Zaliika stood near the edge of the fire, her giant staff-like stood inside a giant cauldron almost as big as her. Another thing that Ruby had to stuff away. She was cooking enough soup for us all. I half expected to see Pantu and Ruby doing something related to food as well. Heck, all three of them were registered chefs. Only Zaliika was a Glass Chef, one of the best around. And a member of the Full Course. The five wonder chefs of Tamriel.

I followed Ruby's shining blue eyes to see Serana and Babette both flapping their wings as hard as they could. Serana was carrying a deer with one hand, easily bored by the effort. Babette was carrying another deer but she looked like she was straining too hard. It didn't help that Babette had the bigger deer that was easily four times her size.

Serana set the deer down and brushed her hands off. "Ok, Babette and I will drain the blood, and then you guys can enjoy it."

Ruby growled. "No, not all the blood, juts most of it. Draining too much will dry the meat!"

Serana rolled her eyes. "Fine…I'll just go on a diet then."


Cearbhail: I thought that was pretty clever. Tying in dragons with the disapperance of the Dwarves. I...I didn't even think of it until my fingers wrote it down. Amazing. I...I'm speachless...well, I guess I'm not because I'm still blathering.