Valleri breathed out sharply and kept her eyes shut tight. The blanket was pulled down, leaving her lower back and shoulders exposed to the cold air that filled the room. Still the body next to her radiated enough heat to make her feel almost uncomfortable. Valleri wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Reluctantly, Valleri propped herself up on her elbows and rolled over to face Vilkas. The Nord still sleeping next to her. The Nord was sprawled out on his back with an arm dangling off the side of the day. Valleri watched his chest rise as he breathed. She smiled as she placed a hand on Vilkas' chest.

Since they left Windhelm, Vilkas was becoming increasingly nervous. Valleri felt some amount of relief watching him sleeping peacefully next to her. She hadn't seen Vilkas this relaxed in a long time. At least not since the Battle of Whiterun

Her eyelids began to feel heavy and a lazy smirk grew on Valleri's face. She had to get up soon. Breathing out sharply, the Imperial leaned over and gave Vilkas' forehead a quick kiss. She was about to get up when she felt Vilkas wrap his arms around her waist. Valleri laughed as he pulled her back down next to him.

"You're awake then?"

Vilkas kept his eyes shut as he sighed, "Unfortunately. We should go back to bed."

The thought tantalized Valleri. She laid back down on Vilkas' chest and stretched her arms far out, making the sleepy Nord groan for a moment. "We can't just stay here all morning. We have places to be and things to do," she muttered.

"Et cetera, et cetera." Vilkas paused and sighed again. Quietly he brushed the stray hairs from Valleri's face. "We don't have stay here all day but a while longer sounds nice."

Valleri grinned and leaned back over gave Vilkas another kiss, barely brushing her lips over his skin. The Nord chuckled. Finally, he opened his eyes and propped himself up against the headboard. For a moment longer, Vilkas kept his hand on Valleri's cheek. The Imperial shook her head with a smirk. "At some point we will have to get up," Valleri said.

"No," Vilkas stated. He brought Valleri closer suddenly and the Imperial nearly fell over.

Quickly, Valleri regained her balance and turned to face Vilkas. He eyed her through heavy lidded eyes, grabbing Valleri's hands. Valleri tilted her head, "You make a very weak case."

"I can change that easily," Vilkas said. "For instance, it's very cold outside. And you're a warm blooded Imperial who won't last more than a few minutes."

Valleri rolled her eyes before looking back at the Nord she was sitting on. "I can just wear more layers. And It is getting warmer outside."

"You really want to leave me here?"

"Well," Valleri paused, "Not exactly."

Vilkas didn't say anything as he brought Valleri closer for another kiss. The Imperial pulled back reluctantly with a lazy smile. "Stay now?" Vilkas asked quietly.

Valleri rolled her eyes, "Yeah. You made a particularly strong case." She gave Vilkas another kiss just below his ear. Instinctively, Vilkas stretched and leaned into her. Just as he was about to bring her in, Valleri leaned back, eyeing him coyly, "Besides, I could get used to this."

She sank back into Vilkas, relishing the welcome warmth coming off of him. Soon enough, it was just the two of them in their own little world. Slowly, Valleri began pulling Vilkas' shirt off.

"Gods above, this is what you two have been doing?"

Valleri stopped and any smile she was wearing was quickly replaced with mild annoyance. Her eyes rolled as she shook her head. Vilkas only smirked, pushing Valleri further into mock rage. Whipping her head back to meet him, Valleri addressed the newcomer. "Haven't you learned to knock, Marcel?"

The Breton huffed, "I did. Twice."

"Well, we were gonna…" Vilkas paused for a moment, then sighed with disappointment, "It doesn't matter what we were doing."

"Of course, it doesn't matter. As far as I was aware, we were Winterhold for a specific reason other than the romantic tryst you two were obviously enraptured in," Marcel continued. He tapped his foot on the floor and crossed his arms in irritation.

Valleri narrowed her eyes as she took another look at Marcel, "You look different. What happened?"

"I took the opportunity to take a bath and what not." The Breton tapped his foot a little bit faster. "Look, that's not important. What are we even doing here?"

Valleri tipped her head to Vilkas and shifted herself next to him. Vilkas sighed, covering his eyes with a free hand. "We're here to cure the Harbinger of lycanthropy."

Marcel grimaced, "Isn't he dead?"

"Yes, and no thanks to you," Vilkas muttered.

"I wasn't the one who killed your friend," Marcel interjected with a pointed finger.

Vilkas shook his head, "Well, Kodlak's dead regardless and this is the least I can do for him. Though to be honest, I'm not even sure it'll work."

"What's the point then?"

Valleri spoke up before Vilkas could say anything, but she could see him smoldering from the corner of her eye. "What's the point to anything Marcel? It's a sign of respect." She glanced back to Vilkas, "You said we had to go to an old crypt, right?"

The Nord shrugged, "It's the place where Ysgrammor and the original five hundred Companions were buried. As far as I know, no one's been there for a few centuries. Who knows? Maybe there'll be dragur."

"Gods, I hope not," Valleri muttered.

"Well whatever it is, I hope you don't expect me to help. I just want to see what happens," Marcel stated, staring pointedly at Vilkas.

"Marcel's almost as bad as Cyrenial," Valleri said with an amused grin.

Vilkas glanced at her with a worried glint in his eyes, "Valleri, don't even joke about that!"

"Whose Cyrenial?"

Valleri's eyes went wide momentarily, "Another mildly inconvenient person we know. It's not something you should worry about."

"Don't worry, I won't," Marcel interrupted, "We should be off soon anyways."

Valleri and Vilkas didn't say anything further while their friend walked out of the room. Valleri placed a hand on Vilkas shoulder and leaned her head downwards. "I guess this means we really have to get up."

Vilkas groaned and leaned his head back against the head board. "Why'd we have to bring him along?"

"Well, that's how things worked out, huh?" Valleri said with a smirk. Vilkas only glanced to the other side of the room with annoyed expression on his face. "Besides, we'll have plenty of time later to finish what we started earlier."

Vilkas grinned as he watched Valleri get up from the bed and walk across the room to get dressed. "You're absolutely right."

…

Valleri squinted as she looked at the stony mound in front of her. She thought the tomb of the founder of such a famous group would have been buried in a grander tomb. After spending most of the day trudging down the icy cliffs from Winterhold, Valleri felt like she was cheated. Marcel looked equally disappointed.

She turned to Vilkas, "You're sure this is the place?"

Vilkas didn't answer her right away, looking up at the structure with a strange look on his face. Finally, Vilkas turned to her, "What?"

"This doesn't look like somewhere you'd bury a cultural hero."

The Nord shrugged, "Must be bigger inside."

Marcel shook his head, still not impressed. "Are you done staring at the place or are we just done here?"

"Just give me a minute," Vilkas snapped. "This place is near sacred to the Companions. Hell, it took me weeks to even learn where this place is."

"That long, huh?" Valleri questioned. "You'd think they'd keep the location well documented." She paused again, grimacing. "Can we go in now? It's getting cold."

Vilkas started forward and climbed up the side stairs leading to the inside of the mound. "Yeah, let's go. The door's probably unlocked."

Valleri and Marcel exchanged an unsure glance before following him. The Breton nearly tripped on the stairs going down. He let out a high pitched shriek as he twisted his ankle. Vilkas didn't bother to look back but Valleri helped him up. "You okay?"

Marcel grimaced, "I'm fine, I'm fine. Unhand me please."

Valleri backed up from marcel and held her hands up in the air. She watched Marcel cringe as he got up, grabbing the wall for support. They both looked over when they heard a click and Vilkas muttering to himself. Valleri walked over and paused over behind the Nord. He nudged the door open and the hinges squealed as they moved. Vilkas shrugged, "I'm actually amazed it didn't take too long to open."

"I think I'm more amazed the door wasn't iced over." Valleri took one last glance at the door before going inside. As she expected, the inside of the ruin was just as cold as it was outside. Maybe it was fitting place to bury some ancient Nordic barbarian here after all? Valleri didn't think much more on it, instead listening for the footsteps behind her.

It wasn't long before Valleri came across the bottom of the stairs. The room was small and cluttered. Swords, spears, and shields littered the room clustered around a giant statue dominating the middle of the room. The Imperial's eyes narrowed as she studied it. The statue was made of black stone and moss poked out of the cracks and crags. Its arms were raised out in way that suggested that the statue was meant to hold something.

Valleri turned around when she heard a gasp behind her. Vilkas and Marcel were stopped on the stairs. The Nord's eyes were as wide as dinner plates staring at the statue.

"You know what this is?" Valleri asked in low tones.

Vilkas glared at her for a moment, "Of course I do. It's Ysgramor."

Grimacing, Marcel pushed past Vilkas, eliciting a scowl from the Nord. "That's well and all. But is this the only part of the tomb?" The Breton gestured all around them. "I hate to point out the obvious, but there's no open doors in here."

Valleri sighed and looked back to Vilkas, "Marcel has a point."

She watched as Vilkas came closer, stopping only when he was facing the statue directly. "He's missing Wuuthrad," Vilkas muttered to himself.

"Do you think the artist forgot to add it?"

Vilkas hummed, "No, this one's supposed to have the real one."

Scowling, Valleri glanced at the floor, "Like the one we've been collecting the pieces of? Last I checked it was still in pieces." She paused and waited for Vilkas to nod his head. "Vilkas, I don't see you carrying around a giant axe. That'd be too hard not to notice."

Marcel finally turned to face the duo, still scowling, "Wait, you don't have your giant axe with you? Does this mean we can go home? Trips over?"

"Not at all," Vilkas said finally. He kneeled down on the ground and began to riffle through his pack. "Apparently, I stashed the fragments under my bed and forgot about them. Didn't even remember them until just before we left Whiterun."

"For the love of…" Valleri trailed off. "Are you sure this is gonna work?"

The Nord shrugged, "I think it will."

Vilkas pulled out a small bag, presumably filled with the fragments, and plopped them down by the statue's pedestal. The trio waited for something to happen. And nothing did. The room was filled with an awkward silence. Vilkas stared up at the statue in disappointment, arms crossed.

The Imperial glanced over to Marcel. The Breton sighed, "Well, that was climatic."

"Shut it," Vilkas snapped.

"I'm sorry that it didn't work, but what did you think would happen, you stuffed Nord?" Marcel continued.

"I didn't know what would happen, but I had to try something!"

Valleri sighed as her two friends continued to bicker. She gave the bag a swift kick to the bag out of boredom. It landed at the Ysgramor's feet with a muffled clang. Valleri was about to give up and turn around when she heard rumbling.

"Do you guys hear that?"

Vilkas paused, "Hear what?"

"Shut up for a moment," Valleri interrupted. Vilkas and Marcel exchanged a confused look. Valleri only stared at the ground as she strained her ears. Maybe she was thinking things up?

Vilkas perked up a moment later, "Oh wait, there it is." The Nord didn't waste another moment before running to the wall behind the statue. Valleri followed him, watching Vilkas kick away some random clutter away from blocking the gate. Vilkas turned to Marcel behind them, "See, it worked!"

The Breton could only shrug, but Valleri could see him begin to panic. "So what? That was only good luck."

Vilkas and Valleri exchanged a knowing glance before the Nord ran forward.

…

The trio soon learned of how vast the tomb actually was. The single hallway poking off the first room slowly morphed into a series of greater halls. Valleri wasn't surprised by the size. She'd seen vast underground cities before in Cyrodiil. Of course, most Ayleid ruins weren't very well preserved without much of the magic the ancient elves left in pace.

This Nordic tomb, however, was almost as good as new. Some of the colors used in the murals were faded, but the carvings were intact. Maybe it had something to do with how cold the ground was?

Valleri turned back to Vilkas. "How old is this place again?"

"At least a thousand years old." Vilkas paused, "I don't actually know."

"It looks almost brand new. Got some dust and what not, but nothing's really destroyed."

The Nord furrowed his eyebrows, "Ayeid ruins don't hold up too well?"

Valleri shrugged, "They usually do but roots and vines tend to break through the stones and what not. Things get messy. And then the Great War didn't help."

"Should be a nice change of pace then."

The Imperial hummed as she continued to follow Vilkas and Marcel. The Breton was limping along silently. A look of tense apprehension was drawn on his face. Valleri couldn't blame Marcel for being sour. Valleri almost bumped into the Breton when he and Vilkas stopped suddenly. The hallway in front of them was covered by swaths of spider webs.

Valleri groaned. Stopping behind them, she crossed her arms. "I thought this place was empty."

Vilkas used a spare knife to cut through the sticky mess. "It was either spiders or dragur. I don't know what would be worse," he muttered as he worked.

"I know what your brother would think is worse."

Vilkas looked up to her with a smirk, "I felt bad he didn't want to come, but maybe it's for the best."

"I can hear them scuttling around in there," Marcel whispered, voice quivering. "Gods, I absolutely hate spiders. Especially the really big ones."

Valleri and Vilkas exchanged an entertained glance before Valleri gave their Breton friend a slap on the shoulder. "You're gonna have fun, Marcel," she laughed.

"I don't have a weapon."

The Nord groaned as he paused cutting the webs. Slowly, Vilkas turned to glare at Marcel. He shook his head in disbelief, "Then what in Oblivion are you doing here?"

"Deciding if I'm going to kill you or not," Marcel said with a shrug. "My ankle's still out too."

Vilkas only muttered quietly to himself while Valleri pushed Marcel out of the way. The webby netting gave way with a slick, squishy noise. Almost immediately, the spiders were upon them, clambering over each other to get through the door. Valleri ran past Vilkas to meet the first spider. She drove her sabre into it with a yell. Squealing, the spider reared backwards and landed on the floor with a thud. The remaining spiders screamed and came at the trio faster. Panicked, Valleri lost her footing and smacked her head hard against the wall. In only a few moments the spiders would be upon her.

Without another moment wasted, Vilkas banged the pommel of his own sword on the stone wall. The loud ringing noise reverberated around the room, calling the spiders' attention to him. In only a few fell swoops, the remaining spiders lay in a dead heap at the Nord's feet. He was breathing heavily as Marcel helped Valleri up.

"You okay, Val?"

The Imperial rubbed the back of her head with a grimace, "Yeah, yeah. For the most part."

"You think that's all that's in here, Companion?" Marcel asked, sidestepping the arachnid corpses.

"Should be it. At least, the last of the tangible beings we'll have to fight.'

Valleri furrowed her eyebrows, "Tangible?"

Vilkas didn't say anything for a moment. All of sudden he became increasingly aware of the head in the bottom of his sack. Valleri only looked at him expectedly. "I don't actually know what's gonna happen when we get to the last burial chamber. A lot of the older Companions said something about the original five hundred coming back to life if anybody ever made it to Ysgramor's burial chamber."

Valleri's lips curled into a smile. "Oh, that's fun."

"Fun? Are you crazy?" Marcel questioned with a grimace.

The Imperial shook her head, "It was a jest, Marcel. You've got to take this sort of job with a sense of humor. Maybe that's why the Silver Hand and the Companions haven't made a lot progress recently. You guys take everything so seriously."

The Breton looked over to Vilkas, face drawn out in an offended stare. Vilkas nodded his head, "She's got a point."

…

The trio hit another dead end. Half an hour passed by and neither Marcel nor Vilkas could find any sort of passage way, secret or otherwise. Valleri helped in the search at first before her head started spinning. It took almost three minutes of arguing before Vilkas convinced her to sit down on a dusty, old bench.

By now, Marcel was on the bench too, checking to see how well his ankle held up over the last few hours. The man's foot was swathed in purple and Valleri frowned when she saw how swollen it was. When Valleri questioned him about the pain, Marcel shrugged it off. Apparently, he was stupider than she originally thought.

The Imperial eyed Vilkas from across the hallway. The Nord was still searching for any sort of pull chain or lever; anything that might open a passage forward. She sighed. "Hey, Vilkas?"

He hummed, barely audible.

"Take a break for a moment," Valleri suggested. She watched Vilkas turn to look over his shoulder. His eyes were tired and any determination she saw in them earlier was waning. He didn't say anything. Valleri held out a hand, "Come on. Marcel will move over."

Reluctantly, Vilkas did as was told and sauntered over to his friends. He sat on the ground in front of Valleri, taking her hand and placing it on his shoulder. Sighing, Vilkas muttered quietly, "Maybe you're right, Marcel."

"Huh?"

Vilkas tilted his head onto Valleri's thigh. "Maybe we can't make it any farther. Ysgramor would have had this place locked down."

"Vilkas…"

The Nord continued, disregarding the sad look he was getting from Valleri. "Honestly, I should have expected that in the first place. It's amazing we even got this far with so little resistance."

Valleri rubbed Vilkas' shoulder for a moment. Her eyelids fluttered closed and she leaned her head back against the stony wall, "It wasn't bad to hope though. Kodlak wouldn't be mad; you gave it your best shot."

Marcel groaned, "That's right. That's what you two were doing here."

"You've got the worst memory don't you Marcel?" Valleri questioned with a smirk. The Breton shrugged with indifference before going back to his foot.

Vilkas grumbled, grabbing tighter onto Valleri's hand. "It doesn't change what happened to Kodlak though. He's still going to Hircine's Hunting Ground. He didn't want that."

"He'd appreciate the thought."

"I feel like a bad son."

Valleri scowled, opening her eyes to look at the back of Vilkas' head. "I can't change what you're feeling now, Vi. But I know for a fact that Kodlak understands that you had his best interests in mind 'til the end." She paused, breathing out sharply, "In my book, that doesn't make you a bad son."

Vilkas didn't say anything further and Valleri went back to resting her eyes. If she wasn't careful, she was going to fall asleep. It was surprisingly warm this deep in the tomb. Valleri cracked an eye open one last time before catching sight of a strange shape poking out of some moss across the way. Valleri almost dropped Vilkas when she got up to the bench.

From out of the stonework was a small button, well hidden by the moss. The iron was rusted over for the most part, but Valleri attempted to push it anyways. In moments, the hallway began to rumble. Vilkas' eyes went wide as he rose to meet her. Marcel clung to the bench behind them, satisfied to stay put. The rumbling steadily increased as a portion of the wall moved out of place, revealing a tunnel caved into the bed rock.

"Looks like you can do more for your Harbinger now that we found the way through," Marcel said, coming up behind the two Companions.

Valleri looked up at Vilkas from the corner of her eyes. The Nord could only look forward in disbelief. Finally, she smirked and gave his hand a tight, short squeeze. Vilkas gulped before walking forward. Valleri could only follow