[Author's Notes: This is my first published fan fiction story at all. I have loved to play TES IV Oblivion and TES V Skyrim for several years and still do, and after browsing and reading many wonderful Skyrim stories, I could not resist the temptation to try one of my own. Reviews are most welcome, and the story is still being expanded and more chapters are written. The story starts with the main quest and the Companions, and the College of Winterhold gets involved later on. Several side quests and some out of game events are worked in as well.

Thank you to Bethesda for creating the great and amazing Elder Scrolls games, and I acknowledge and respect that the game and all characters in there are owned by that company. Only the main characters in my story – Timotheus and T'mara – and a very small number of others, like M'lissa, are my own.

Special recognition to:

o 'Smartbluecat' on Nexusmods for the SE mod 'Inigo' (IMHO the second best follower mod ever – my personal favorite is 'Vilja')

o 'Lupus' on Nexusmods for the SE mod 'Riverside Lodge' (really nicely done, but not big enough if you have many followers and/or adopted children)

o 'Queen Mist777' here on ' fanfiction dot net' for allowing me to use her characters Marine and Glacier from her story 'DovahTwiins' (I recommend to read that story, too) - the girls first appear in chapter 40 here in my story

o The 'Beyond Skyrim - Cyrodiil Development Team' and their mod 'Beyond Skyrim: Bruma'. This one is used from chapter 68 on, and it is a really fantastic and superbly done mod.

In addition, also thanks to the large modding community for providing many wonderful mods. I am eagerly waiting for the completion of huge fan projects such as 'Beyond Skyrim' and 'Skyblivion'. I appreciate the attention to detail lots of modders spend on improved textures, weather, ENB, and much more, and I do wish that Bethesda put a higher priority on TES VI.

What you should and should not expect: A long story about the Dragonborn and her companion, doing the full main quest and more, with some canon and lots of individual dialog, and occasional humor. A romance will be blooming, but the story is rated 'T' rather than 'M' for a reason; no hidden cameras in the bedrooms. I also keep violent language within limits.

Note: A minor rewrite of the earlier chapters was done; I added some more details and worked on diversifying/improving some dialog, but the plot is not changed at all.]


Chapter 1: A vision from Akatosh

[16th of Last Seed 4E 201]

During the night I had another vision from Akatosh. Well, at first I was not entirely sure that it was a vision and not just a dream, but I still recalled all details in full clarity when waking up, which does not normally happen with my dreams – most of the time I just remembered that I had had dreams, but forgot what they had been about. Also, my family had prayed to Akatosh for many generations, in our earlier family home in Kvatch in Cyrodiil and in the chapel dedicated to the 'Dragon God of Time' there, before the city had been destroyed by Mehrunes Dagon՚s forces in the year 3E 433, and later on again after Kvatch had been rebuilt. The Hero of Kvatch and Champion of Cyrodiil, who I had been told was one my ancestors, had resolved the Oblivion Crisis together with Martin Septim more than 200 years ago, guided by Akatosh. Those events had led to the decision to officially start the Fourth Era, with no emperor on the throne of Tamriel, though.

Thus, I really trusted Akatosh, whereas I would be somewhat less familiar and less trusting with other Divines.

The Imperial religion and most important religious order in Tamriel was the 'Pantheon of the Nine Divines', with Akatosh (Dragon God of Time, regarded as 'Chief Deity of the Nine Divines'), Arkay (God of Life and Death), Dibella (Goddess of Beauty), Julianos (God of Wisdom), Kynareth (Goddess of the Elements), Mara (Goddess of Love), Stendarr (God of Mercy), Talos (God of Might and Honor), and Zenithar (God of Work and Commerce). In Cyrodiil, where I grew up, each of the large cities had the local chapel dedicated to one of those Nine Divines, and the chapel of Kvatch was favoring Akatosh. Praying to Talos, the divine form of the famed former general and Emperor Tiber Septim, was later on officially outlawed by the 'White-Gold Concordat' after the Great War, so that officially those who believed in Deities nowadays prayed to the Eight Divines now.

However, many citizens specifically here in Skyrim still prayed to Talos and the Nine Divines secretly, although the Thalmor tried to find and capture as many of the illegal Talos worshipers as they could; in the last years, I had heard unconfirmed reports about suspected Talos worshipers getting kidnapped and even tortured by the Thalmor, without permission or even knowledge from Jarls and hold guards. This was also one of the main motivations for the Stormcloak rebellion as far as I knew – they claimed that everybody should be allowed to pray to Talos freely, and High King Torygg had given in to the Thalmor too much; this was something I strongly believed in, too. The Stormcloaks also claimed "Skyrim for the Nords!", though, and despite being a Nord myself, I considered that slogan to be quite racist and unfair. After all, in my opinion, everybody else, be it Elves, Argonians or Khajiit, also should have a chance to live here if they wanted to, unless they came to Skyrim with bad intentions.

Anyway, in the vision – the more I thought about it, the more I was sure that it had been a vision rather than a dram – Akatosh told me, Timotheus, to be in Riverwood day after tomorrow before sunset and meet a girl called Tamara, who would be coming down to Riverwood from Helgen in late afternoon. I was to get acquainted with her and offer my support and assistance, for a start. I also was supposed to believe her story, even if it sounded more like fantasy and legends than reality; I wondered what that would be about. Akatosh strongly suggested to be gentle with her, as her recent past had been quite turbulent and exhausting, and the tasks he had planned for her would be demanding as well – that's where I'd come in. He further told me that Tamara would be given a major and important task, more like a vocation and mission, and she'd need a lot of help to fulfill her role.

That was not entirely surprising. I had had visions from Akatosh a few times before, and a couple of times, starting with my teen years, he had been preparing me for a big task and mission coming up when I was 25 years old. It just so happened that my 25th birthday had been a few months earlier, in Rain's Hand, so that I was expecting something to happen soon. The part about 'meeting a girl' also sounded promising and enticing, as I was not attached and did not even have a girlfriend. A couple of years ago I had thought that I had something going with Saadia, the beautiful Redguard who used to work as barmaid in the 'Bannered Mare' in Whiterun. Soon after, though, it had turned out that she was a fugitive; her real name was Iman rather than Saadia, and she had apparently been responsible for some serious crimes in Hammerfell. Alik'r warriors had come searching for her and had told me her real story, something like betraying Hammerfell to the Aldmeri, so that I had felt compelled to deliver her to them in the end.

Changing my situation was one of the goals in life, but although I knew many girls and women, I had trouble talking to them about personal things and found myself stuttering when I tried. In addition, none of them seemed to have 'potential' in my eyes, and my heart had not yet spoken. For instance, I sometimes spent time with Mila Valentia, when her mother Carlotta was busy, but Mila was nine years old – I found that it was easy for me to spend time with young girls like Mila (well, not quite all of them – Braith scared me a little), but not at all with older girls of about my age; maybe I was really too shy, as Inigo used to tell me. He would speak from experience, as I knew him to have some kind of relation with Lydia of Whiterun, a young, athletic, and well trained Nord serving in the personal guard of the Jarl.

I wondered if this girl I was to meet was a Nord, like myself. I had been raised in Cyrodiil, thus also my Imperial name, but I had inherited mostly Nord genes from my mother's side and fewer Imperial ones from my father. From a side line in the family I also had some Altmer heritage in me, and this had pushed both my magicka and tallness; besides, Imperial and Altmer genes has also impacted my skin color, which was significantly darker than the pale one typical Nords had. With having a mix of races in my body, I did not really have a prejudice against any race, and I was also aware of the fact that there were plenty of mixed race couples in Tamriel, mostly men/mer combinations. Having an Argonian as mate would probably not appeal to me, though, and I did not know – and probably did not even want to know – if this was possible at all.

"Inigo", I called out in the morning after breakfast, recalling the vision, "tomorrow we're going to Riverwood at least for one day. Make a list of things we need to buy and of those we might be able to sell and should take with us, please".

"Of course, my friend" Inigo replied; over the years we had found an easygoing comradeship, and he rarely called me 'Thane' any longer, which was just fine for me. "It's about time that we meet our friends there again. Do you know for how long we'll stay there?"

"No, I do not know for sure," I responded, "but the town is not far, as you know, and I expect that we will be back here for the night again."

Inigo, a Khajiit with a very special and untypical blueish fur, had been my housecarl since I had been bestowed the title of 'Thane of Whiterun' a few years earlier, and he was more a friend and companion than a servant to me. Being assigned a Khajiit as housecarl was something very much out the ordinary in Skyrim, and normally Khajiit were not even allowed to enter most cities. However, since I had picked up Inigo after finding him in Riften jail, he had been supporting me in many tasks and quests, and he had contributed almost as much as I had to helping citizens of Whiterun, clearing bandit lairs, fighting dangerous beasts, rescuing the occasional 'damsel in distress' and keeping the roads of the hold safe. Even Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, the hold՚s supreme ruler, could not avoid recognizing this, and when he had declared me 'Thane of Whiterun' – a title of great honor and respect – in appreciation of my many services to him and the hold, he had asked me if I wanted a formally trained housecarl or rather have Inigo elevated to that position, adding the privilege for him to enter city and Dragonsreach at any time. Although the formally trained housecarl would have been Lydia, an athletic Nord woman and capable warrior of about my age, the same one Inigo was in some kind of relationship with, I had picked Inigo over her, and I had never regretted that choice.

Later in the day I told Inigo about my vision, and he smirked when he heard the part about meeting a girl, teasing me about it:

"Wow, it does not happen every day that a God decides to play matchmaker, and it's about time for you, I should think."

"Inigo," I replied with a look of reproach, "we don't know if that is what's going to happen. Most likely I'm just going to be some kind of sidekick or bodyguard without any romantic aspect. However, knowing Akatosh, at least my task should be neither boring nor useless."

"I bet it's much more than that" he smiled. "But at least, you can afford to spend some time on any kind of mission."

"Yes indeed," I nodded, "You are right about that."

I did not really have a dedicated profession per se, but made more than enough money by doing occasional quests with the Companions, smithing, and selling of potions prepared at home. A lot of people needed a constant supply of potions of healing, stamina, and restoring magicka, and as I was somewhat skilled in Alchemy, I always kept a constant supply running and sold the potions mostly to Arcadia in Whiterun, who did not have much time to collect ingredients herself. I also made sure that the potion larder at Jorrvaskr was always refilled. Many Companions were Nords and mostly unwilling to use magic, and healing potions were always needed. A simple 'Restore Health' could be made from ingredients which were easy to find, such as 'Blue Mountain Flower', 'Butterfly Wing', and 'Wheat' - for the latter, farmers were more than happy to provide some if I helped with the harvest.

So, yes, my friend was right – I could decide to leave this place and go for an extended journey without being bound by any obligations and without having to worry much about financial resources.

I spent the rest of the day speculating on what the following day would show, and I was really looking forward to the short trip to Riverwood I had on my agenda for tomorrow. Hopefully the task Akatosh had planned for me would be one I was good enough for; gods sometimes expected the oddest things, and we mortals found ourselves not always able to fulfill their demands, even when trying hard. However, Akatosh being the honorable chief deity, he would at least not expect something immoral or illegal, not like what some Daedric Lords might go for.

Soon after I fell asleep in the evening, I had a weird dream about a Khajiit with an odd fur color and a black dragon, and the dragon spoke something like: "I have returned, arrogant mortals – this world is mine!". What a nonsense – no dragons had been seen for many centuries, and what would a Khajiit want to do with a dragon anyway?

[Author's Notes: For those who just start to read this story, please write a quick review on how you like it so far. If I get reviews pointing out some issues or errors, I am still willing to react and correct, although I have published more than 80 chapters by now.

Chapter last edited July 2021.]