In truth, i've had this chapter written for almost two weeks. it was stuck behind the previous chapter. anywho, AWAY!

"Hey, you alright Will?" Delphine's voice startled William from where he was sleeping in one of the inn's beds, snapping up to see Delphine leaning in the door.

"W-What are you talking about?"

"You were thrashing about in your sleep all night. People kept bugging me about it."

"I don't know what they're talking about. I slept fine." In truth, he had barely slept at all. To start, he felt like he could hear every noise in the inn, from as quiet as a mouse trying to claw into the cellar, to the bard and evening goers drink and song, even their conversations. The times he managed to block out all of the noise, the moment he slipped to sleep, it was into some nightmare or another.

"Your as bad of a liar as your father was." She shook her head as she bounced herself off the doorway, turning around to head away from the room. "Breakfast is at the bar if you want any!" she tossed that over her shoulder as she walked away.

William rubbed his tired eyes before slowly slipping his equipment back on. Once he had the cloak on atop everything, he grabbed his bow from the corner and quickly re-strung the weapon before slinging the weapon on his back. With the weapon secured, he flipped the cowl on the cloak up, taking one glance at the food up at the bar.

Eh. Not really hungry. He shrugged, heading for the exit to the inn instead. The morning was only just starting, the air still having a crisp bite from the night to it. He took a deep breath of the air, it being cold enough that it nearly burned his lungs.

"You, citizen, have you seen a strange looking Kajiit lately!?" a harsh voice snapped out from the road below him, looking down to see a Thalmor patrol. The lead Thalmor was another mage, male this time, his eyes glaring up at William.

Fuck… they're already here!? He did his best to keep his panic from his face as he scrambled to find a good way to cover her presence.

"Well, you're gonna need to give a man a bit more info than that. Don't think I've ever met a Kajiit that wasn't strange." He artfully placed his hands on his hips, doing his absolute best to sell his hasty ruse.

"Don't play dumb with me! You would not forget this Kajiit!" the Thalmor snarled at him, his tone rapidly darkening.

"Well, musta not seen it. Never met a Kajiit I remembered past ten seconds! Heck, last I saw one was when one of the caravan's rolled this way years ago. 'fraid I can't help ya." He strolled down off the landing for the inn, walking right past the Thalmor on the road and immediately heading to the right and toward the village gate.

"You will inform us if you see this Kajiit!" the Thalmor shouted that after him.

William gave him no response beyond a half hearted wave behind him, doing his best to move in a calm and relaxed manner. No matter how hard he tried, he wanted to run from them at top speed, his heart hammering away inside of his ribs.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. As soon as he passed through the gate, he slipped off the path and slumped against the wall, taking multiple long deep breaths to try and calm his rattling nerves. It wasn't doing anything for them though.

"Why did you not turn her in just now?"

His heart suddenly felt like it was going to explode, his eyes snapping around to the source of the quiet and feminine voice. What he found was hands down the strangest creature he had ever seen.

She looked human, in shape at least, but many of her features were simply… wrong. Her emerald eyes were shaped like a feline's, even the basic structure of her face being off, more similar to one of the elven races than human. She had no normal ears, a pair of Kajiit ears atop of her head, protruding out from her fairly short brown hair. Said hair had a single braided strand on the left side of her face. On top of all of those strange to see features, her skin was totally covered by a short fuzzy fur, a light tan on her nose and face, darkening to a brown at the edges of her face.

Her clothes were in tatters, but was a fairly intricate tunic of obvious value, before reaching this state at least, the deep reds and blues looking like they were once quite beautiful.

At the moment, her ears were pressed down into her hair, nearly disappearing as her eyes bounced between his, a tail flicking back and forth behind her. She was quivering slightly, though whether it was from the cold or fear, William couldn't tell.

"What reason do I have too turn you in to them? I'm no friend of the Thalmor, and you are as much a person as anyone else." He shrugged, trying to not look into her eyes. Something about them just made him uncomfortable. His eyes wandered her tiny frame until he spotted the crude and blood stained bandage on her arm, his heart lurching.

That has to still be hurting…

"Why did you help her last night then with those bad men?" the more she spoke, the more her thick accent became apparent, nearly every 'R' sound being a full on cat trill.

"Because you needed it. And if I'm not mistaken, you still need it. I'm no expert but let's go look at that arm of yours." He gestured at the injury before finally making eye contact with her again.

Her eyes flicked to her arm for a moment, her ears finally perking up a little. "Y-You still want to help her?" her voice quivered slightly as she began to nervously shift back and forth.

"Well, yeah! You clearly need it!"

"She… well…" her ears started twitching like crazy, most if not all of her fur standing on end. "She did not really need your help! She could have handled them! But… she wants to th- errr, she… you were very helpful to her!"

Wow, is that her way of saying thank you?

"Well, come on, let's get out of easy sight, before those Thalmor come back." He gestured for her to follow him as he began to walk into the trees.

She let out a hiss behind him, nearly causing him to stop. "She does not like these 'Talmor'." She let out another hiss after she mispronounced their name, William unable to not chuckle slightly.

She acts just like a cat! Well, I guess that makes sense, she is at least part cat…

"Don't laugh at her!"

"Sorry, you act so much like a house cat it's just cute, that's all." He responded without thinking, only to feel something bat the back of his head. He stopped and looked at her, an eyebrow raised.

She was glaring at him, her ears pressed down on her head again as her tail swished back and forth through the air behind her. "Calling her 'cute' or any other honeyed words will not get her to like you!"

"Well, good, that wasn't my intent anyway. This is far enough." He gestured at her arm, the girl grimacing but presenting it to him. He glanced around for a moment, quickly finding a stump and gently pulling her to it, forcing her to sit down before he gently untied the makeshift bandage and slowly unwrapped it.

"mraow! It hurts! Don't touch it!" her voice had risen several octaves with her pained meow like noise.

"I promise, I will do only what's necessary." As soon as he had the bandage off, the wound started bleeding again. Not fast enough to be life threatening now, but enough to be unsettling. It also had a strong, almost rotten smell, the smell not appearing until he got the bandage off.

I really hope it's not infected… I'd need to find her a healer if it is.

"how are you feeling right now, fluffy?" he tried to sound casual as he slung his small satchel to his front to dig through it. Before he could though, he felt something smack his face, several lines being seared into place. "Ow, hey!"

"Don't call her fluffy! That is not her name!" she was glaring again, her free hand clutching the wound now.

"Well, what is her name!?" he snapped that back as he gingerly felt his face, feeling a series of white hot ridges forming from where she raked her claws across his cheek. Thankfully, they weren't wet, which meant she didn't draw blood.

"It's…" her shoulders slumped as all pretense of anger fell away. "She doesn't know… but there is no way it is 'fluffy'! That is a terrrrrible name!" she perked up as her voice shifted from meek to almost exuberant.

"Well, I won't call you fluffy then. Just answer my question fluffbutt." He gave her the tiniest of smirks as he glared right back at her.

She let out a low hiss, looking away. "She doesn't feel right. Her arm is all warm and feels heavy. And it smells. Not as bad as you though. You smell like a dog."

"Hey, I do not smell like a dog! Anyway, you probably have an infection trying to get set in. I'm going to have to clean out the wound so let go of your arm fluffbutt."

She growled again, but released her grip on her upper arm.

"Now this will probably hurt. Don't flex your injured arm though, it will make it bleed faster. Just… grab my knee and squeeze it, okay?" she nodded as William found his small bottle of antiseptic, dabbing it onto a clean bandage.

Okay… here goes! He gently peeled her ruined sleeve off the wound, doing his best to be gentle as he wiped away the dark red gunk at the edges of the wounds. The moment the cloth touched the wound, the girl whined, her claws digging into his knee. He did his best to ignore the claws though as he gently cleaned the outer surfaces of the wound on both sides, as the small knife she had been stabbed with had gone clean through her small frame. Once done, he gently lifted her arm forward, pouring the antiseptic through her arm. The girl's whine intensified as her claws dug into his knee, feeling blood trickle down his leg as each claw turned into a searing pain.

Ow… please put the claws up! He mentally begged that to her, knowing there was no way she would. Thankfully, he was satisfied with his cleaning job, re-corking the small bottle before digging out a small lidded cup with an herbal mixture ground into a paste inside. He gently lathered the gunky green paste onto her wound, the bleeding stopping moments after he rubbed it on. Once he was done, he used the first bandage to clean as much blood from her fur as he could, then used a fresh bandage to re-cover her arm. By then, she had let go of his knee, her whine dropping out to the occasional small whimper.

"There. Finished. Sorry about how much that hurt…" he spoke as he did his best to scrub her blood off his hands, able to feel that the punctures around his knee were minor at worst.

"It's… she feels… Cleaner. It hurrrts less." She actually smiled as she spoke, her ears perking up, though they were still twitching.

"So… you don't have a name?"

"No… She… She can't remember her name… she can't remember anything…" her ears drooped back down as she looked away, her shoulders slumping as she stared at the ground. It made her already smaller frame look even smaller than she was, almost straight child like.

"Oh… well, that's okay Fluffbutt. We just have to find someone who knows you, and I think I may know just who. Lets get you a fresh meal in you, then we can get some supplies and start he-"

"Err… she lost something a few days ago…"

"Oh?" he raised an eyebrow at her, curious where she was about to take the conversation.

"She had a satchel. She los- errrr, left it at a tower when some dogs cha- err she forgot it!" she stuttered and corrected herself repeatedly, earning her a small eye roll. It was obvious she was trying to sound tough.

"Scary dogs scared you from your satchel? Too easy, just lead the way back there and I'll help you find it!"

"She is not sc-scared of d-d-dogs! She… She just doesn't like them! They smell! Really bad! And they're loud!" she defiantly glared at him, most of her body language straightening up.

"Whatever you say Fluffbutt. Let's go!"

The Kajiit followed after the strange human, pulling the cowl on the cloak as far forward as she could get it. She was very uncomfortable about passing through the human town. Even wearing the human's cloak, she felt like she was going to be spotted for sure. As such, she was following the human so closely she was stepping on his heels, trying to keep the cloak wrapped around herself.

"You know, if you keep stepping on my heels and hiding behind me, people are going to be even more curious about you."

"Quiet you! She doesn't want herrr voice to be hearrd!" she snapped that right back at him. She desperately wanted to be looking around for any possible threats, but her brain was telling her to keep her face pretty well buried into the human's back.

"Ranger? What are you doing back here?" She ran into the human's back as he stopped, causing both of them to stumble, instinctively grabbing his vest with her claws to stay standing. "And who's that behind you in your cloak?"

She peaked out over his shoulder for a moment, seeing another human just a few feet in front of her guardian, a warm smile on his face. He was larger than the boy in front of her, but that had been true of virtually every male she had seen as of yet. His warm brown eyes were fixed to hers. She let out a small startled meow as she ducked back behind her human shield.

"Just… Ranger things. And nobody."

"Doesn't seem like nobody to me. And…. Did she just meow?" his voice was soft and amused, a small chuckle following his words.

"Well, yeah. It's a long story, just drop it will ya? Was there something you wanted or…?" Her human on the other hand, sounded almost annoyed by the encounter so far. That was her guess at least. She was by no means good at reading tones and inflictions.

"Well, I am a little irked you ditched me when we got to Whiterun but… eh, honestly, makes sense. Actually, I saw you and thought I could use your help again." She peeked out past her human's arm this time, seeing the other human shrug.

"Can't. Busy."

"Well, it wouldn't be today. I asked Alvor to forge me some chain. Gonna be a few days before he has something ready for me. So it wouldn't be today… I just don't like the thought of going into a Nordic tomb by myself. Heard some horror stories about them." he was rubbing the back of his head, visibly nervous.

"Sorry, I can't help. I'm already helping someone as is." Her human nearly jabbed her eye out as he jerked his thumb roughly behind himself.

"She thinks we should help him! Her satchel is not that far, and he's all alone!" she snapped that out, her attention focused almost entirely on the person in front of her. That is, until she realized the other human was staring at her again. To which she let out another startled yowl before hiding behind her human again.

"Seems like your friend disagrees with you. There's no need to be scared of me miss!" she could simply feel his words being directed at her. "What's your name miss?"

"She… umm…"

"Just call her Fluffbutt. Its what I'm calling her."

"Do not call her Fluffbutt! It is not her name! And neither is fluffy!" She sprang out in front of him again, not quite shouting. She still didn't want to draw attention to herself, but his use of the word 'fluffbutt' again simply caused her blood to boil. She was hissing at him, desperately wanting to claw him again.

"I take it that nickname and her are the reasons for those claw marks on your face."

"That would be a safe assumption yes. And are you sure you want to help him, little Kitten? If he's going where I think he's going, it's filled with undead Draugr." His eyes bounced between hers for a moment, his eyebrows just ever so slightly closing together in concern.

She really wanted to yell at him again, this time for the kitten comment, but his mentioning of Draugr had all of her fur standing on end, her body trembling despite being unable to recall what a 'Draugr' was in the first place. "She will protect you from those nasty Draugr! She thinks it is only right to help him!"

He rolled his eyes at her, his focus going behind her. "Alright, fine, just give us a day or two. We'll meet you at the inn. Tavern keep and I go back a ways so. Now if you'll excuse us, we have somewhere to be."

"Alright Ranger. I'll hold you to that. And it was nice meeting you, miss." He very calmly and politely responded to her human before waving good bye to them.

Her human didn't wave back, simply stepping around the girl and continuing where they had been going. She yelped and immediately followed along behind him, still trying to hide herself until they were well clear of the small village. It was then that she finally stopped riding his heels, stepping a few feet to his right and walking with him now. She still kept the hood up though.

"So… your name is Ranger?" She only glanced at him as she spoke, fiddling with the tattered cloth of her outfit.

"Well, no, not really. I am a Ranger… I guess… It works as a way to refer to me. Gets my attention if anything else." Most of what he said sounded calm and controlled, but the way he said 'I guess' was odd to her. There was a hesitation to it, a shift in tone she couldn't understand.

"If Rrrranger is not your name, then what is it?"

"Not your concern." he gruffly responded, almost angrily in many ways.

"She think's it's her concern! She cannot simply go around calling you Rangerrr all the time!" she stamped her feet while she walked and glared at him.

"Well, that's where you're wrong." He coldly snapped that back, his eyes scanning their surroundings.

She shouldn't press him. He's helping her without asking for a single thing in return! She looked away from him with that thought, trying to simply focus on where they were going.

"The tower is not far now! Just beyond those trees!" Will listened to the strange girl as she pointed ahead of them, the hood on his cloak, that she was still wearing, pulled down so he couldn't actually see her face.

"Well, why'd you stop then?" he tried to be gentle with his words, but he had spent most of the past few days walking, and even he was starting to reach his limits. Add to it being only an hour or so from sunset and he really wanted to stop and camp. The tower sounded like a great place to camp to him.

"She… She can smell them still…" her ears were pressed back onto her skull, the girl visibly trembling.

"They won't hurt you." He reached over and patted her shoulder, smiling toward her to try and comfort her. She only glanced at him, her trembling intensifying.

"She's not scared! It's not her they will hurt! So she will be sure to protect you!" she squeaked that out, glancing at him before her eyes started to scan the area feverishly.

Will rolled his eyes at her before stepping off, his sword singing out of it's scabbard. It didn't take long at all to cross the line of trees she had pointed at, William keeping his eyes scanning slowly back and forth as he listened for any noise not made by himself. So far though, the forest was almost silent. That in and of itself was concerning to him.

The only time the forest goes quiet like this is when people are around. As soon as he spotted the stone of the ancient watchtower, he ducked behind a tree, making sure to urge the girl behind him as he carefully scanned the area for any signs of movement. With none to be found, he waited for the gentle breeze to shift, taking a deep breath in through his nose in hopes to smell any sign that something was out of place. But nothing was.

Alright. It seems clear. He swiftly stepped out from behind the tree, naturally watching where he let his feet fall for twigs or dry foliage, anything that could make noise he didn't need heard. He was so practiced at this that to any observer, he would have been gliding across the ground. Evidently, the girl behind him had a similar talent for moving quietly, the only sound reaching his ears from her being the gentle in and out of her breath, so faint it likely wouldn't be heard save for a yard or two away from her.

They reached the tower without incident, William leading the way around the structure until he found it's one empty door way. As soon as he saw the door open, he swept straight inside, his sword at the ready to hopefully catch any occupants inside off guard. All his preparation was left useless though, as not a soul stirred in the single room. One quick sweep with his eyes located a small leather satchel, William moving straight for it as he slid his sword away.

As soon as he had grabbed it, he opened it, checking the scant few possessions inside. There were a few strips of dried jerky and a single piece of hard bread, a meager four or five septims, a small yet surprisingly intricate ring, and a single small note. Curious, he pulled the ring and note out before setting it down.

"What does it say?" the girl spoke as she picked up the satchel herself, perusing it's contents much as he had.

He quickly unfolded the parchment, reading it to himself.

Your name is M'rissi. This ring holds the key to regaining your memories. Do not lose it child.

Hmm. So her name is M'rissi? Definitely a Kajiit name, as if it was a question she was part Kajiit.

"Rrrranger?" he was about to inspect the ring further when her voice rang out, almost pleadingly.

"Well, turns out my first guess was spot on! Your name is Fluffy after all!" he couldn't stop himself from playing with her a little, more just as payback for clawing his face that morning.

"WHAT!? Give her that! There's no way her name is Fluffy!" she snatched the note from his hands before he could react, visibly looking over the note several times, her brow furled in concentration. "M… M'rrrissi? Is M'rissi her name?" she glanced up at William as she spoke, the same expression still on her face as she bit her lower lip.

"Well, yeah. That's what it says at least M'ri." It felt nice to finally have an actual name for her, even if his first use of it was an abbreviation.

"M'rissi… her name is M'rissi…" her voice was very quiet as her eyes returned to the tiny note, clearly trying to read it again. There was something different to the way she pronounced it, the trilled 'r' he had already noticed in her speech making it sound almost like a different word. He had to admit though, her saying it made the name sound beautiful.

"Well, it's definitely a fitting name for you. Cute as you are at least!"

Maybe a little compliment will help her feel more comfortable with it?

She looked up at him and smiled for a moment, her ears perking up. "It is a prrretty name isn- Hey! She told you, honeyed words will not make her like you more!" she threw the paper at him as she shouted, William unable to not smile a little at her antics.

"I get it, I get it, no need to throw things at me!"

"Well! She thinks it's a good reason to!" she pouted at him, crossing her arms as she looked away.

While she wasn't looking, he scooped the page up from the floor, scanning the words once more as he inspected the ring. It was a simple silver band with a large green gem on it, something about the gem being strange to William, but he couldn't quite put his tongue on it. On a cursory glance, he couldn't see anything really out of the ordinary though, not even any engravings or lettering.

"So… Err, what else did the note say about her?"

"You couldn't read it could you?" he raised an eyebrow at her, a slight smirk on his face.

"No! she knows how to read! She just… has trouble reading…"

"Well, it mentioned this ring, said it could help you regain your memory. Didn't say how though." He flicked the ring into the air between them, the girl going wide eyed as she moved to catch it.

"What!? Why would you toss it at her!?" she snapped that out as she caught it, glaring at him.

"Oh, I knew you would catch it! Besides, I was kinda hoping you se-" his voice cut out as he heard several loud barks, M'rissi's ears flattening as her eyes widened. "Well, I think that's our cue to leave. Here." He whipped his blade from it's scabbard, handing her the weapon before slipping his bow off his back.

She gulped as she accepted the sword, slipping the ring into her satchel and slinging it. When she was done, she gave him a single nod.

He led the way back out of the tower, slipping an arrow onto the string of his bow as he scanned for movement in the direction of the barking. He wasn't looking long as he immediately spotted a pair of dogs scrabbling out of the trees. He immediately raised and drew his bow, one look at the dogs telling him they were out for blood. In the same smooth motion, he released the arrow, watching it leap out and plunge into the dog's chest, felling it immediately. The second dog was far too close for him to ready another arrow though, already leaping for him. He reacted by stepping to the side and sweeping his bow to intercept the leaping dog. He struck it's neck with enough force to direct it away from him, sending it crashing to the ground. It didn't get the chance to get up, as M'rissi had raised the blade over her head and slammed it down onto it's neck the moment it landed, slicing it's head clean off.

In seeing this, William had a great view of a third dog coming around from the backside of the tower as it leapt into M'rissi, sending both her and the dog sprawling as it tried to go for her throat. It got one of her forearms instead, M'rissi yowling in pain as it bit down, the sword lost from her grip.

William already had another arrow being strung, aiming into the dog's side before loosing the arrow. At the short range they were at, it nearly ripped clean through the dog, immediately killing it.

"Thank you rranger…" M'rissi panted that out as she inspected her arm, no puncture marks even visible.

Wait… no punctures? That means the dog was trying to pin her… which mea- he didn't get to finish his thought as something buried itself into his shoulder, a brilliant spot of pain flaring to life with incredible intensity. He fell forward, both from the impact and the pain in his right shoulder, dropping his bow to grip at the injury.

"RANGER!" M'rissi screamed, scrambling to beside him, William confused as to what she was doing for a moment when she grabbed his bow and one of his arrows. She expertly and smoothly knocked the arrow, drawing the bow back and releasing the arrow in a motion that was visibly practiced and trained. There was a meaty thump in the direction she had launched the arrow, William looking that way to see a man sprawled on his back, a bow of his own a few steps away.

"Ranger! Are you… your…" M'rissi was clearly panicking as she dropped the bow, kneeling before him with her ears pressed flat on her head. Her tail was swishing madly behind her, her wide eyes focused on the arrow in his back.

"I'm alive… I don't think it's that bad." He spoke as he gingerly shifted the shoulder. It sent a stab of pain through the injury, but he could feel the arrow tip just barely resting on his shoulder bone. Which meant his gambeson had taken most of the force from the arrow, and just the very tip had actually hit him. "Go ahead and pull it out. Gently."

"Are you sure?" she sounded as unsure as she looked, biting her lip once again.

"Yes. I'm sure. It's not the first time I've been hurt." He gave her a quick smirk, pain quickly erasing it.

"Okay. She's sorry for this…" she spoke as she gently grabbed the shaft, inadvertently moving the arrow and causing pain to rip through his arm. A moment later, he could feel the tip of the arrow pulling out of his shoulder, gritting his teeth from the pain. There was a slight tearing sound as M'rissi let out a small grunt, sudden relief coming from the pain as he felt the arrow rip back out of the gambeson.

As soon as the shaft was out of him, he gingerly pulled his shoulder bag off, then used his good hand to undue the clasps for his gambeson, pulling the vest off. "M'rissi, I have bandages and a poultice in my bag. You're going to have to apply them." He tried to pull his undershirt off as he spoke, realizing that he wasn't going to get it off one handed with his vambraces on.

"H-Here." She spoke as she helped him remove the shirt, pulling the cloth out from under his vambraces before she dug into his bag. A few moments later, she had the same poultice he had used on her that morning out, applying the crushed herbs to his shoulder before wrapping a bandage around his shoulder. By the time she was done securing the bandages, both tightly and surprisingly well, the poultice was already taking affect, numbing the wound. "She's sorry. She said she would protect you but sh-"

"Stop. You did. You shot the bastard who shot me after all." He smiled to her as he began to tug his shirt back on, doing his best to not move his injured side too much. As soon as the shirt was on, he stood up, looking back at the corpse. "As much as I hate saying it… I think we need to camp in the tower tonight.

"M'rissi thinks so too… M'rissi really doesn't want to though…" she was quivering still, kneeling where she had been while treating William. she had his gambeson in her hands, fingering the damage the arrow had caused.

"We'll sleep in shifts. I'll take the first one. Before that, let's get these corpses away from the tower so they don't attract any predators to us." As he spoke, he offered her his good hand, M'rissi staring at it for a moment before accepting it.