It has been a while, but I am still writing. took a while because of,... well¨life¨ to put it mildly.

But here is the next chapter, hope you like it as much as I do.

I'm afraid i may take a while until the next one because of, as i said, ¨life¨ but it will come sooner or later.

Let me know what you think.

The Temple of Mara

"It was Mara that first gave birth to all of creation and pledged to watch over us as her children. It is from her love of us all that we first learned to love one another. It is from this love that we learned that a life lived alone is no life at all. We gather here today, under Mara's loving gaze, to bear witness to the union of two souls in eternal companionship. May they journey forth together in this life and the next, in prosperity and poverty, and in joy and hardship. Do you agree to be bound together, in love, now and forever?" Maramal preached, the priest of Mara, with both hands clutched in the air in praise to the goddess.

"I do. Now and forever." Her smiling amber eyes were locked into mine.

"I do. Now and forever." The words came easy for me.

"Under the authority of Mara, the Divine of love, I declare this couple to wed. I present to the two of you with these matching rings, blessed by Mara's divine grace. May they protect each of you in your new lives together." Maramal finished as he lowered his hands to present two rings, one in each hand.

I placed my ring on her finger and she placed hers on mine.

As we turned towards the crowd we were met with cheers and applauds. It felt a bit awkward. But I was happy.

In the front right row sat my parents. My mother was crying with joy as she clapped her hands and wiped her cheeks of tears. My father looked prouder than ever. He too had tears in his eyes as he clapped, though he tried to hide it. Never thought I'd see him cry again. At least this time it was from joy.

On the second and third right row sat all the Companions, Ria and Torvar loudest of them all. Skjor and Aela had even decided to stand up as they clapped. That was odd.

On the left side's first row sat Ysolda's close friends, Carlotta with her daughter, and Anoriath.

On the second and third row, sat the Khajiit caravaners Ysolda had gotten to know even before we met. We had to get special permission for them to enter the city of Riften, but Kodlak as the Harbinger of the Companions had pulled some strings and somehow made it work. Perhaps me being the representative in Riften had some weight as well.

And in the back on the furthest row sat Balgruuf, the Jarl of Whiterun, and his personal housecarl Irileth. Balgruuf always tended the weddings of his people. He cared for his people in that way.

Life in Skyrim was harsh and short, and death at a young age had never been something uncommon. Most people, therefore, married at a young age for the sole purpose of getting married and have children before they died. So their children could take over family farms or lands. Very few people had the luxury to find love, and even fewer to marry for it. But we had.

We were truly blessed.

And so life went on.

Shortly after the wedding, I moved in with Ysolda. Leaving my bedchamber in Jorrvaskr to serve as my workplace and armory, as I still had my responsibilities as a member of the Circle. And as much as I hated paperwork, the stacks of requests from Riften always seemed to grow. And with them, my monthly visits to Riften lengthened from, what used to be a day or two, to nearly a week or two at times. But we made it work.

I usually took or sent Torvar on those contracts. For some reason, he fit right in with the people of Riften. And he always, to my delight, brought back a keg or two of Blackbrier mead; Farkas can complain all he wants, I always found Honeybrew mead too sweet for my taste.

"So you know that ¨they owe me money¨ contract you sent me on?" Torvar said to me, making gestures on the ¨They owe me money¨ part, over the full dining table in the mead hall. He had clearly been drinking already.

"Still haven't gotten paid for that one." Vilkas quickly interrupted before I could ask, pointing his fork with a grilled potato on it towards Torvar.

"I have your gold right here," Torvar said annoyed as he threw a heavy pouch of Septims on the table in front of him.

"It's not my gold." Vilkas corrected him. "It's gold for the food you're eating!" Vilkas continued, annoyed at the drunken ¨waste of air¨ he sometimes considered Torvar to be.

"Calm your horses, calm your horses…" Torvar gestured, shooing Vilkas away from his mind.

This ought to be good.

"So I came to Riften…"

"I was there too!" Athis interrupted, smacking the back of Torvar's head with his left hand as they sat next to each other.

"Enough!" Skjor exploded, twitching the entire dining hall to a standstill. Even Kodlak sat, open-eyed, with his fork frozen in his mouth. Skjor always had a short temper. But lately, I had felt his fuse was shorter than usual.

"So... what happened?" I asked Torvar, interrupting the silence.

A twitch in his shoulders as he turned his head towards me and returned to his excited self. "So I… We… came to Riften" He continued, giving Athis a look at the ¨we.¨ "But it was late, so Athis went to the Bee and Barb to get us a room." He gestured as he spoke. "But not too late… so I figured…"

"Something dumb as always?" Athis interrupted.

"So I figured,…" Torvar continued as he gave Athis a glare as he raised his voice. "…that I should meet our client!" He almost shouted the last words as he turned his head back to me. "So I went to the market place, as it said in the letter, to meet this Bjerolf guy."

"Brynjolf…" Athis corrected.

"But he wasn't there!" Torvar continued, his gesturing tuning for the worst. "And guess where I found him?"

"In the bee and B…" Athis began.

"IN THE BEE AND BARB!" Torvar shouted over Athis, arms in the air.

Aela looked clearly annoyed by his volume. But she kept on eating.

"Turns out, Athis had been speaking with him all along!" He continued with excitement. As if it would have been a major plot-twist in his story.

"So you met the client. That's good." I said out loud as I broke myself some bread.

"Yeah! So there were these three people owing him money." Torvar continued his story "Some old shopkeeper, a blond chick who owned some ¨Bunkhouse¨ and, guess who, the very Innkeeper who's serving us Blackbrier mead as we went over the details of the contract!" Torvar again nearly shouted for excitement at the end.

"What then happened?" Ria asked curiously over the hearth fire as she was sipping mead.

"Well, it was late… and we were in Riften," Torvar answered her as if the answer had been obvious. "So we dran…"

"You drank…" Athis again corrected him.

"Yeeah, I drank, while old-man Athis here went to bed." Torvar patted Athis on his shoulder before he leaned back over the table to continue his story. "So I met the people, heard the rumors… did what I do best." He gestured away. "Earned quite a number of coin playing dice as well! I tell you it's all in the wrist…"

"The Contract!" Aela shouted over the table.

"Okey okey…" Torvar cleared his mind. "So, next morning we had three targets. Athis wanted the Innkeeper because…"

"I didn't feel like walking around Riften, extorting people for money…" Athis finished Torvar's sentence.

"So I had the shopkeeper and the blond!" Torvar continued in sync. "So after breakfast, I headed for the shop. Dusty old place. Can't remember the name. Nothing of real value anywhere... who even buys anything in Riften?..." Torvar trailed of.

"Hey!" Njada shouted to get him back on track.

"Yeah! So guess what? He doesn't want to pay up." Torvar continued and made a face of ¨storytell-surprise¨ across the table. "So I grabbed my hammer and smashed…"

"Smashed his face in?!" Farkas intervened eagerly, suddenly taken by the story.

"Nooo…" Torvar continued as he gave Farkas a look. "I smashed his,… Vase… in." he finished with a prideful ¨tadaa¨- look. "And it worked! That brejolf g…"

"Brynjolf" Athis added.

"…uy had said I should smash his vase if he refused to pay!" Torvar continued as if Athis had never interrupted. "And he paid right up! ¨Don't destroy it. Worth more than the house.¨ Jadidadida..." Torvar gestured as he mimicked the shopkeeper in humor. "Broke an old vase, 400 Septims, right there!" Torvar triumphed.

"What about the blond?" Njada asked. I couldn't tell if she was curious or if she simply sought a continuation of the story.

"Oh I'll tell you bout the blond…" Torvar responded, suddenly turning serious as he leaned even further over the table. "I walked into her fine establishment… Stops at the bar to order mead… And up to me walks this Gorgeous Nord woman. Hair flowed like silk, skin smooth as butter and eyes as deep as the night sky itself!" Torvar's gesturing turned frantic. "There was no way I could extort her! She was far too beautiful!"

"So you smashed her face in?" Farkas interrupted in excitement.

"What? No!?" Ria Shouted innocently in belief with her eyes wide as we all started laughing.

"Of course not!" Torvar snapped. "I sat down to drink my mead, in peace, and wondered how I should get the coin… and that's when I saw she had a statue of Dibella in a corner." Torvar looked around at us in sudden excitement. "And let me tell you the curves on that thing curved my hammer as well. And the bosom was wide enough Eorlund himself would trip backward into the Skyforge for its glory. And the buttocks, ooh, the buttocks were firm enough…"

Njada gave Torvar a sudden glare that nearly pushed him of his chair for the indecency in his words.

"Eah, uh statue, she had a f, she had a fine statue is all…" Torvar's voice broke. His face was suddenly red as the atmosphere turned even louder with laughter.

"So what did you do?" Skjor asked, suddenly open to the rest of Torvar's story. It surprised me.

"Well,… I've met maidens studying under the ¨Dibellian Arts¨ before." Torvar continued as he gave Skor an eyebrow-raising look. "So I walked up to her. Pointed towards her statue and said ¨I'd like to Dibella all over you¨" he finished with a self-satisfied look.

"Wha?... What does that even mean?..." Njada asked both confused and cynical. But Ria looked as if she knew what he was talking about, hiding blushed cheeks behind a mug of mead.

"By Shor if I know! Trick I learned from some Dibella worshippers long time ago." Torvar answered as he placed his hands behind his neck. "But it worked. Two minutes later, she was on top of me wearing nothing but Deardric boots and a smile." He finished with a smirk.

"And where in the name of Azura would she had gotten Deadric boots from?!" Athis burst out in disbelief.

"Oblivion? Shagged a Deadra for them?! How should I know?" Torvar answered.

"So you're telling me…" Athis continued. "A follower of Dibella's darker arts. Somehow managed to get in touch with a Deadra for the sole purpose of shagging his boots off?" Athis made a face as his eyes twitched. "Actually… That doesn't sound too farfetched."

"You're lying!" Ria laughed over the table.

"Am not!" Torvar turned to her as he shouted back. "She had Deadric boots! I swear on Stendarr himself! And she wielded them so skillfully I even left her a note!..." Torvar calmed down. "Even signed it ¨Your Secret Lover¨" He finished as he gave Ria a wink.

"Did you at least get the coin?" Vilkas interrupted.

"That's the best part!" Torvar turned to Vilkas proudly. "I never asked, yet she paid me! For my services! Gave me a blue gem, and all."

"She did not!" Njada applied.

"Like I said,…" Torvar turned towards Njada as he threw a Saphire on the table. "Sometimes a ¨Bent hammer¨ works better than a straight one."

"Next time you're in Riften…" Kodlak suddenly said as he started slurping the remaining soup from the bottom of his plate. "Bring me those boots."