Welcome to my newest! I have been on a streak so to speak, writing all day long because for whatever reason I enjoyed doing this one.
Even though there is nothing major happening in here, I consider this a little..fun transitional chapter, rest while you can someone might say. Exciting times ahead!

There are also NEWS:

I have made a whole new cover picture for this story and recently changed it, so if anyone's interested for the big version, you can check it out from my tumbrl (link in profile)
- thank you for the couple new comments, I'm glad I made someone other than myself smile at least once =D


Delphine barged in, modestly late which wasn't her thing on a normal basis but had become a habit recently. Her steps were firm and posture straight like never before, indicating she had, at last, received the long-awaited news. I had located myself to the only corner with a chair and stopped impatiently swinging my leg when Gair gathered around from the side.
"Today's the day for decisions." The woman started, placing a bunch of handwritten letters on the table without giving them much of a second thought. She eyed us in the chandelier-lit room, an oncoming storm developing in her gaze. Gair glanced at the quite magnificent stack of parchment before bringing himself into the discussion, I on the other hand kept resting myself, ears awake and eyes fixed to the roof.

"You want to infiltrate the Thalmor embassy," The man spoke. "A task like that requires a lot of effort and especially resources, without even talking about an opportunity. Unfortunately, none of us happen to be an Altmer, stating the obvious." his face lined up at the thought but it was clear Delphine held the upper hand in this conversation. The woman lowered her chin and tapped her hand on top of the stack.

"Fortunately for you, I have been developing the possibility for this a long time. There is not much time to waste in my line of work. As you might see, I happen to have a contact - contact inside the embassy. We've been exchanging information for a while and finally, I've got the confirmation needed so that this plan might fully form and be set into motion. That is, if you're willing to go aboard."
The Nord shifted his weight and without expectation turned to face me for a second. I lowered my grim gaze at him, he well knew my opinion on Delphine but referring to our discussion from the previous morning, the only thing traveling between our looks was a small nod.

"Go on then," he agreed with a sigh, paying his attention back at our host. With a brief smile of satisfaction, Delphine's voice gained tenacity when she picked the topic once more.
"My contacts name is Malborn. He's a wood elf, been working for the Thalmor for years now and has plenty of reasons to hate them. The embassy is usually shut off from outsiders, except on special occasions and there is going to be one. Malborn has kindly informed me that our mistress Elenwen has decided to host a party..- "
"A party? Divines help me, I already know where this is going.." Gair unexpectedly intervened with less enthusiastic groan than anyone could think possible.

"This is no small event indeed. They never are, as she is known to throw lavish gatherings for the Skyrim's finest allies as a distraction for their other businesses," Delphine continued with raising confidence as if nobody had any idea. "The execution is a simple one, in theory of course. You need to disguise yourselves as guests, get inside the embassy and when no one's looking, slip away and start searching for the records."

"You do realize Delphine there's absolutely nothing simple about this?!" Gair stated and threw a hand in the air as the woman shook her head. His stress level started to develop in the second Delphine had mentioned a party and if it weren't for the situation, this could have been almost funny. Perhaps he'd rather swing his sword, no surprises there.
"No, there isn't. And there's a lot to be done before we might pull it off but I believe it can be done. We have help inside, knowledge of the archive position, an opportunity and the means. But there is, however, only one problem to be solved before the final. Something, I haven't been able to get past. Yet."

At last, my sleeping head woke up from its slumber. In the absence of any better options, I had thought she would have had everything figured out by now and the sudden tone of defeat surprised me. I stopped slouching on the chair and curiously leaned forward, watching as the Nord paced, slamming his hands down.
"Always a but somewhere in there, it seems. What is this problem exactly?" The woman grimaced with a wincing inhale.

"As anyone could expect, all the guests in these parties are counted for. They have a special invitation and a list they will check out every single one arriving." She rolled a parchment open. "I can easily craft an invitation, I even have a copy of one so there is no way they will recognize my handiwork as a fake. But the list is a problem. My contact is in no position to get his hands on it, that is a classified piece of paper."

A heavy speechless moment pressed down on us and my side-eye detected the man who had halted his pacing.
He had fallen deep in thought, maybe into a distressing one and my other side-eye detected the woman leaning on the table corner other hand pressed into a fist. How could we possibly fix this? It wasn't like any of us could have any chance with the list and if Malborn couldn't do it, then who? I buried my face into my palms in frustration that rippled into two directions. I heard Gair clearing his throat.

"This looks bad. I've got nothing and It all falls on the list, even if the rest of your plan worked.."

He was going to say we couldn't do it. He was going to. Perhaps this could have been my happy day? Maybe I could have gotten what I wanted, the plan wouldn't work, we wouldn't be doing it and it didn't have to be my doing. I hated the plan and everything to do with it, right? Then why I heard the chair screech against the wooden floor as my body lifted itself standing behind the discussing comrades. Someday I'm sure, I was going to regret this, but it is not this day. Raise the flag.
"Wait," I said. They both turned to look at me with slower motions than usual.

"If this is again your-" I shushed Delphine with a raised finger. My eyes blinked couple times before I decided to quit freezing and plunged into action, claiming a space around the table. If not Malborn, then who? Who could be able to reach the list? Who?
"Wait! No, I.." I stammered before my head caught up with the fact I had remembered. A memory.

"Who could reach the list?" I asked, exchanging fast-paced glances. No one said anything and I wildly gestured at Gair. "We need someone to reach the list, right? Someone who can? Obviously, someone discreet, someone possibly high ranking enough or, or someone with a.." My fingers snapped. "Connections! The right connections!" Delphine's jaw dropped an inch and Gair's eyes squinted at me with wonder, indicating he wasn't getting it.

"What are you saying? You know a person of this sort?" the woman inquired now with slight disbelief but also curiosity. My lips turned into a well-deserved smirk and I couldn't help but spin around for the effect.
"Nope, but I know of one, and I also know exactly where to look for her! It will be a long shot but it's the only shot we have. Tell me, how does an Imperial spy sound like?"

As my words hit the room, Gair's audible chuckle broke the atmosphere as his eyes seemed to brighten the moment he had understood where I had been going. For once, we all should be glad for the detours I used to complain about.


After nearly two weeks of residing in Riverwood, I had found out the hard way I am, in fact, able to miss the traveling and moving around. Well, at least the nicer parts. The sense of restlessness wasn't only because of Delphine's presence since during that time I had rummaged the whole town upside down and realized that a change of scenery was a drug of its own. Once you've seen some, you eventually want to see more.
My shoulder again had healed during the generous amount of eating and sleeping, leaving behind only a small spot of discoloration and otherwise painless ligaments. My existence felt better than ever with less trouble by the day.

The plans had been set in motion and before we had ended up packing our bags again, Gair had even taken time to try and teach me how to ride a horse, something very enjoyable. Be there more time, I could have already started to find scenic routes on my own but now we were standing on a serious time limit.

Elenwen was going to host her party at the beginning of the next month. Markarth being nearly on the other side of Skyrim, our current goal would be to return at least one and a half weeks before the primary moment to meet with Malborn, who apparently would spend some time with us according to Delphine.
One must say, I became more than curious about actually having some other than a grumpy Nord to discuss with, even more so an elf, so I decided to make sure we'd be on time.
With a little low on money by now, we had left Riverwood by carriage only to end up dropped off in the middle of the Reach, right before the Old Hroldan. The Inn had been a fast pit stop but due to our timing and Gair's stubbornness, the rest of the way had to be walked by foot. No time to get comfortable.

Sometime later, the oh so familiar gobble stone road continued beyond our sights ever onward.
Adjusting the bag I shouldered, brown autumn leaves crunched their way under my boots with an occasional stick blown by the storm winds. The Reach spread in front of us as a land where dry vegetation had fallen asleep for the cold and cliffs carried their share of trees without much under them. I could tell we were in the lower lands now.
For once in a million years, Gair happened to be the one walking behind as I had a nice pace going on, but he caught up eventually. It had been a while since seeing him in the full gear, weapons and all without forgetting myself and my newer piece of armor. Sword in the sheath and a couple throwing knives strapped on my side reminded me of the lack of practice with them recently.

"We really need more money," he grunted next to me, still pissed about the whole carriage deal and stomped forward. I gave him a shrug while proceeding to grimace at the sight of my pouch which held barely a few coins on the bottom.
"Yeah, you're right. Those sweet rolls got surprisingly expensive after I exceeded my once a day limit," My hand poked my tummy on top of the leather. "You've never had a problem with walking before, so what's up? You're not getting lazy, are you?" I raised a brow as a significant statement against the Nord's overly vacant facial expressions.

"I do not take pleasure in going around the Reach on foot," he corrected, turning to glance behind us with a tad more paranoid feels than I would've liked to.
"This is not exactly your typical countryside." That, was most likely why he had preferred staying on the road, instead of leaving for somewhere else. I silently agreed by humming, turning my thoughts towards the hills. People were living in these parts and for what I knew they weren't the most hospitable versions of everything Skyrim had to offer.

"By the way, have you ever been to Markarth?" Throwing up the question, I turned to look at the man walking on the side. About halfway through our trip, the realization of this being the first real city we were going hit me hard. Until the upcoming moment, the only populated areas I had seen were towns, villages and encampments which were always small with maybe a shop or two and for some reason, I didn't know what to expect. Or I did know, but..didn't. The man shook his head to my surprise.

"No, at least not in a way it would matter." He paused. "I've been around the hold once but the city itself is all unknown to me. This should be interesting." A sliver of returning humor returned into his rather hopeful tone and didn't take long before he asked to take a look at the map residing inside my bag. So, how long Gair had been in Skyrim exactly? I acknowledged he ended up into Helgen from the Cyrodiil's side but he was a Nord?
Anyway, with our current pace, we'd reach the city well before nightfall, which the whole party determined to be a good thing as no sane person would roam the wilds in here after dark.
The guy's reluctance to leave the road complicated things for a moment before he, after half an hour decided to have us a shortcut through a generally safe shrubbery. Soon we were climbing a rocky terrain. The wind hit my face in the open area with little protection and we started to follow paths made by animals for the straightest direction possible.

Not long after, I spotted an open source of water drawing near the front. With a strap digging into my shoulder, at last seeing an opportunity to fill up my water reserves became heaven-sent thought. My steps took me forward with more speed than usual, leaving behind the man going on about at his own speed. Too bad I didn't pay attention to the rising steam from the pond's surface before dipping a finger into it. The bottle I held dropped down with a clink.
The water was warm. Very warm.

An audible gasp left my lips as I sprung back onto my feet, furiously pointing and waving towards the water in order to get some more speed into the Nord.
"Walk faster, you have to see this!" I yelled in a state of excitement I hadn't experienced since the invention of pop tarts. When the man reached my spot he stopped to give me a piece of his eye.
"See what now?" he said and placed a hand on his hip and my head nearly burst open.

"A HOT SPRING!"

Indeed. Barely visible specks of steam danced on the surface of the rocky bottomed pond, full of hot water. The center looked deep enough to cover a person, even if the water was pretty dark by color. I didn't know how exactly had it warmed up and I didn't care, the only thing on my mind right now was the fact I had found a hot spring in the middle of a tundra forest. After over half a day walking? A smile reaching my ears lit up my face when I rubbed my palms together, giving a very, very happy representation for the Dragonborn.

"I'm going for a swim." With those words launched through the specific smile going on, I dropped the bag from my shoulders faster than nobody has ever done it. Gair's face hit a dumbfounded.
"Hey! N- We don't have time for this, what? No, no! Stop whatever you're doing we are not stopping for a swim! What is this, a leisure trip?"

"Aw, seriously?!" I spread my arms, gesturing at the pond. "Come on, Gair! Don't be such a bore, it's gonna be fun. You should try that sometimes, it might loosen you up!" The man scoffed at my face and stepped closer as if trying to be threatening.
"We don't have the time. No swimming. " Tilting my head for his displeased face, I could already tell this could only be a win scenario.

I cleared my throat into a fist.
"Yeah, okay we don't have the time. Except that we do! Markarth isn't going anywhere, it's still going to be there when we're done and we don't have to take all day. You said yourself we're not far anymore, right?" He still scoffed. "Riight?" More scoffing. "Please?"
"Pretty please?" I added even nicer, with an extra dramatic sad face. The whole moment took a while and just when the extensive staring became too much to bear, his expression faltered with a chestful of air and he rubbed his temple with a hand.

"Alright, fine then, a moment.."
"Yes!" I screamed, unapologetically doing a winner dance and running to my bag to rid myself of the armor as a starter. However, I didn't have the time to get further than a single strap before way too smug Gair interrupted my process of happiness.
"..On one condition!" He said from behind me and my deadbeat murder face turned into his general direction, watching as the man unsheathed his sword, tapping the ground with it.

"No work, no fun. Who's been slacking for a week now?"
Aaand I wanted to strangle him from his balls. Again.


Sweat glued down the small hairs on my forehead.
A week without proper workout and way too many sweet rolls became my only regret in life at this point. We kept exchanging hits at a steady speed, only this time I was able to execute some of the more complicated patterns. The beginning had been stiff, you might give me that but when the tiniest shreds of muscle memory had kicked in, the exercise was on.
Like in all those times before Gair always made changes to make me react and block, react and block, yet he never gave enough leverage for a sense of proper accomplishment. Every time I started to think I might've been handling this well, the man would notice and increase the level of difficulty for me, there were no breaks or easy chances with his training. Not that it was expected.

Gair blocked my attack with his blade and the metal screeched against one another. I made an effort to push him back but the man answered that by sidestepping and forcing me backward, making me nearly lose my balance. At least now we had a solid rock under our feet, not like the last time, finding myself face first in the sand.
I regained my footing fast, pretty well done I judged, but during the next assault the Nord halted our sparring after a couple of hits and we lowered our swords. Breathing from my lungs came out as a fast-paced panting.

"A next lesson," Gair stated, circling me and I followed him with my eyes. "A sword fight isn't just fighting where you'll do your best to slash your opponent, if it comes down to that." I huffed, taking a better grip.
"It isn't? Here I thought I had it all covered if I just stick 'em with the pointy end." Gair chuckled but returned the mask of seriousness soon, there was nothing that could possibly distract him from this topic.

"A sword is your tool, in offense but more often in defense. Your next best tool is your body," He tapped his sword hilt and went through all the defensive stances, which I copied as had become a custom. "I can teach you how to use a tool, but you can't fight the same way I do. Why then? Because you are different, your body is different. You lost your balance for a second there despite your good stance, can you tell me why?"

It didn't take me as long to steady my breathing anymore, so I thought his question for a while and wiped my forehead.
"You were able to force my weight too far back.." The man nailed his eyes on me, encouraging me to continue the sentence. "Because you're heavier than me." Gair nodded deep in satisfaction and we stopped circling each other.

"And stronger, right on point. You are smaller, lighter, you have a far less muscle mass and strength. That's why when fighting an opponent superior to your size never, NEVER engage in a straight forward confrontation determined by pure force. Your chances of survival are next to nothing if someone manages to get their weight over you, much less with a weapon. Now put your sword aside, we'll start with this.."
In a rather curious manner, I laid my blade on the ground somewhere out of the way. Gair did the same and while I waited for any additional information the only thing happening in a split second was the Nord, who without a warning grabbed a hold of me. A yelp escaped my mouth for the sheer surprise.

And when I say a hold, I mean he violently spun me around, grabbed both of my wrists and pushed them up against my body, wrapping me into one big helpless human. He squeezed me so hard it was everything but pleasant, my limbs were all tied up and even my feet couldn't move too much while being so tightly pressed into a person.
"Try to free yourself. Fast." His words hit hard my left ear and in an instant, I began the struggle fueled by a tiny annoyance for the jump scare.

Though I discovered mighty fast, no amount of annoyance would be getting me out of this trap. I tried to free my arms but couldn't generate enough force in them no matter how hard I twisted. He beat me to it. I tried to kick him but he dodged whatever landed in the right direction, without having to release his grip. Anything I did, did not help, only tired me out and when I stood there once again lungs popping and finally giving up, Gair let me go. With a calm undertone, he began to tell me how to do it.
First how to get myself out if somebody's holding me from behind, where to try and take a hit if it's possible but always to try and keep moderate distance between me and the opponent. The third rule, aim to protect your vital organs.

Then we picked up the swords yet again and practiced for the first time combining the use of a weapon and body. The whole deal was harder than I could have ever thought and I had to truly focus my all on it. Yet, I managed to do more than a few successful rounds. Even the man had his share of sweating in the process.
"Hm, this is a beginning," Gair answered at my look and a half-assed smile crept on his face. "Don't let it get to your head, but you didn't completely fail, there might be a promising development happening. In the next five years, that is."

My eyes rolled hard at his statement but I couldn't stop the feeling of real accomplishment having me. Perhaps, there is a chance he is not a completely cold-hearted case and somewhere in his black soul there's hiding a sliver of that positive encouragement I was talking about?
"The last thing you have to remember," He dropped down his sheathed sword on top of our bags. "You'll need to figure out how to use your own attributes for your gain. Smaller and lighter means also faster and more adabtable, just something to think about."
When I stopped drinking the last of my water from the flask, Gair had taken care of our camp preparation. I dragged myself next to him as he rose from ground after building a fire for the ready - we'd be needing that not far in the future. The man dusted his hands onto the fur belt hanging from his hip and I gained his attention by giving waiting glances towards the pond on our right.

"Is it the time?" I said with a hopeful glare.
"We are done. So yes, it is time." FINALLY.

No seconds wasted. I hopped to the edge of the water, my armor being the first to go. It was likely that I had never before managed to take the whole thing off so fast than I did here. One strap, three straps, everything opened.
"Gods, I thought this would never happen," I mumbled inside my shirt, almost tangling it on the way. When I got myself free, my hair flew all over the place and I saw Gair standing there, his face twisted into some kind of mixture of amusement and confusion. Ready or not, I was ready for a swim, so the next to go were my boots and pants, which I also ripped off upside down while jumping on a single leg. Obviously, I would leave underwear on me, since I didn't happen to quite have that level of exhibitionism ingrained into my system.

"What are you gawking at, haven't you seen a woman before?" I humorously snapped at the man whose brains got over the error, a system not working- message. A wide grin appeared on him after.
"Oh, I have, more than a few but I don't think any of them were in such a hurry to throw their clothes away in front of me."
"Tsk, You really shouldn't keep paying for such a low-level service. " I smirked back at his displeased face. "Now come one, the last one is a loser!" Taking a run, I dived into the sweet, warm water.

When the spring flushed over me, the heat spread through like a wave of good feeling I had forgotten exists. The crisp air and steaming water were the perfect combinations of a hot tub and when I rose to the surface, wiping my eyes clear from the water I turned to look at Gair who gave up on my demands. With the camp all set up and nothing better to do, he started to strip off as well. I knew he couldn't resist.

Also without shame, I had to admit I must have sneaked a peek or two when the man removed his shirts, throwing them into a pile next to mine. Don't get me wrong, of course he'd changed his clothes more than once in my presence since we did sleep in the same room but like any decent person, I hadn't exactly observed with all my might every time that happened.
Gair was a muscular man, that much we had established. When he stepped into the water my gaze flew over his torso and chest but not because his muscles which to say the truth would have been fitting for a calendar. Anyone could have those but in the regular daylight, I could see various scars spotting parts of his body.

Most of them looked quite old, matching his skin tone but still visible throughout. Couple looked like slashes and some which could have been caused by other than a blade and in the middle of my frowning, I became aware he knew I stared
"I'll be more than happy to enlighten if you're interested where they came from," he said before diving as well and surfacing around the middle where I splashed around, floating on my back.

"So you can flex your epic battles? Maybe when I'm bored enough," I chuckled and sighed in a relaxed tone. "Nothing wins this one." With that statement I let myself sink into the pond, blowing up bubbles on my way down.
Realizing the fact we didn't have much need for hurrying up right now, the hot spring offered the perfect place to be after an intense training and a long traveling. Whatever sore muscles I might have had disappeared into a scene of relaxation along with the sweat and as long as you stayed underwater, the air couldn't get to you at all.

After some forty minutes or so of swimming and diving, I decided to use the opportunity for having a soap with me. The minute it took from me to run at my bag and return to the water felt like a minute too long as I bounced back, arms wrapped around me. Gair had found a rock to sit down at on the edges of the pond and observed my shenanigans of washing.
"When you're done, throw that to me." The man said, shifting on his seat while I opened the other eye towards him, face covered in light foam. I mumbled an answer behind the wall of wet hair and splashed my whole head underwater to rinse everything out. The Nord let the soap hit the water before catching it.

Watching as the man started scrubbing himself clean on his behalf, I made my way on the edge where my feet touched the bottom. Letting my limbs fall on the stone, I curiously remarked Gair washing his hair or at least trying to. Whatever he called washing turned out to be a few sloppy wipes back with soap on his hands and without even proper foaming first.
"What on earth do you think you're doing," I plunged my hands under the surface and not long after Gair raised his attention in my direction. "That's not how you wash hair!" with an amused huff, I swam up to him with one push and received a suspicious welcoming party from the guy who furiously backed off.

"What, Why? What are you planning? No, not today!" The Nord skillfully swiped my approaching arms in different directions when I tried to reach the soap but the struggle only fueled me more.
"Just let me.."
"No.."
"It's gonna be real quick, let me.." He moved the white slump out of my reach. "You're doing it all wrong! Going to need this, thank you." Speaking the words through a laugh, I partially collided with the guy after snatching the smudged bar slipping from his fingers. He didn't even have time to protest before I had circled behind him and rubbed the soap into his wet hair with a fury like never before. A deep sigh of frustration left his chest as Gair reluctantly settled under my fingers but regardless of it all, I saw a smile under the brooding facade.
"Who am I kidding," He started. "As if I can stop you from ever doing anything. Since when there's a wrong way to wash hair?"

"Since now when I'm telling you there is. If you're going to wash it, you gotta wash well and not whatever you were doing," I lectured. "And you really need to shave, have you seen yourself? People will start to think I'm traveling with a beggar.." Gair burst out laughing before answering and scratched his way too long beard in the process.

"Yes ma'am I will, any other orders?"
"Nah, I think that's pretty much it."

Gair turned around to face me in the shallow water, while my hands were still scrutinizing his long dark brown hair, through his scalp. I had managed to foam the soap enough to lump it all together. We stood on shallow water up to a stomach and our skins were warm enough to have occasional steam rising. My head focused on my self assigned task way too ambitiously to notice the man's staring for some time but when I did, I stopped and let my soapy hands fall down on his shoulders.
"Done?" He asked, eye corners wrinkling in a humorous way. I pursed my lips and gave the result some thought before raising a finger and twirling a nice bird nest on top of his head with a grin.

"Now it's done."
With an ambiguous grunt, Gair splashed my face as an act of revenge, leaving me spitting pond water before submerging to get rid of the soap and my free artistic measures. What a shame, there could be a future for me as a hairdresser.

Deciding I had had enough of soaking, I left for the shore before the man, scrambling up the uneven stone. The far less pleasing air temperature hit my body like a truck and the next best thing on sight became the fireplace ready to go, along with the clothing left next to it.
For whatever reason I assumed the Nord would have left as well but instead he sat at the familiar underwater seat, hair pushed back down his neck. Water drops tickled me, falling along my back while I raised my brows at his stillness.

"You coming or what?" I asked, waiting for myself to dry some before dressing. Gair grimaced at my question but did not move.
"I think I'll stay a while longer." He weighed and I blinked once.
"Okay, suit yourself." Shrugging my shoulders at his decision, I got back to the clothing objective.

Our encampment time didn't turn out to be long.
We had a fire going on for long enough for us to get yourselves warm and moderately dry again but after collecting our stuff back up we left downhill, leaving behind all the natures wonders.
The swimming and training had left me drowsy, reluctant to reap much effort anymore but for once our goals weren't half a country away. When the clouds overcast the sky and the east wind died down, the magnificent towers of the ancient dwarves, deep elves appeared on our view, closer by every step taken. Soon there were people wandering along the roads.

Miners shouted something at each other from the distance when me and Gair approached the way to the city. The outskirts were so busy I had to restrain myself from ogling at everyone while dodging horses. Well I'll be damned, there existed an actual life in this country and right now the man seemed as intrigued by the dwarven style of building as I was.
"Might do you some good to get away from the bushes huh?" The Nord said, tucking discreetly his amulet better under the clothing and guided me forward, toward the last guard outpost before the city. I had trouble watching ahead of me while absorbing everything in. The massive stone city, carved on and inside the solid rock stood in our front and the first voice of a stranger talked to us when we had ascended the steps. A horse neighed in the distance and I smelled straw. The guard with olive skin and light hair took off his helmet, signing the others to open the gate.

"Welcome to Markarth travelers. This, is the safest city in the Reach!"