Alrighty, minor recap so yall dont have to go back. this story has been following three sets of characters as they traverse skyrim and their stories intertwine. Previously, we've seen the first dragon to be slain, learned that Max is the dragonborn, (seen something fishy with our jolly ol' nord by the name of Jorge) met sophia, and left M'rissi and the Ranger in the Whiterun tavern. hopefully thats enough to get yalls memories working!
PS, i have two more chapters after this one written, i'm just working on editing them

M'rissi groaned, not having any desire to get up, despite the fact that someone was trying to shake her awake. She still had a killer headache, and her only real relief had been her sleep. "Stoooop ittt. M'rrrrissi wants to sleep…" she moaned that out, trying to snuggle deeper into the blankets.

"I know M'rissi. but we need to get ready to move. The cities alarm bells are ringing," Ranger's calm and steady voice, despite it's gentle volume, still caused her head to pulse with each word. Now that she was actually paying attention to her hearing, she could faintly hear the tolling bells herself.

"Okay Rangerrr…" she grumbled that out, wanting to curse the world for forcing her to awaken so early. Of course, she wasn't even sure it was early. Nor was she sure when or how she ended up in a relatively comfortable bed. Relatively being to the ground she had been sleeping on. She couldn't place how she knew, but she simply knew the bed she was on was not of particularly high quality or comfort for that matter.

She forced herself to sit up, glancing around the dimly lit room through eyes she had barely even cracked open. Even so, the one candle burned at her vision, making her head hurt even worse. Ranger was visibly inspecting his sword just moments before he slid it away in its sheathe, his bow leaning on the wall and already strung. Her satchel, stuffed to the brim with the furs she had been wearing on the mountain, was lying against the wall, her own bow and quiver along side it. The small dagger she had been given, she didn't see.

"Where's M'rissi's dagger?" she blearily blurted that out, doing her best to stretch out her sore and stiff muscles.

"Under your pillow. You wouldn't let go of it last night and stuffed it there." Ranger responded very calmly as he scooped his bow off the wall.

"ohh… she doesn't remember…" her ears drooped as she did her best to recall anything from last night. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not. The last clear memory she had was the trio stopping for an afternoon meal while it was still bright out. She let out a soft pained growl, the act of trying to remember both painful for her head and irritating at the same time.

"Here." Ranger's voice drew her attention, seeing him holding her boots out to her, a subtle smile on his face.

She wasn't sure what kind of emotion he was trying to convey to her with that weak smile, staring into his eyes for several moments to try an discern what it was. A small grunt slipped out of her as she gave up in trying to understand his facial expression, accepting the boots and slipping them on.

"Stay here and finish getting your stuff together. I'll be back in a minute." He spoke just before slipping out of the room, not even giving her a chance to rebuke him.

Her ears fell back against her head as she watched the door, hugging her knees to her chest as fear started to creep into her heart. She had almost forgotten what fear felt like with him around, but with him leaving her so abruptly, all of the fear and anxiety she had been feeling before meeting him started to seep it's way back into her. It made her muscles quiver incessantly, her heart hammer in her chest, any small noise able to startle her. The situation was nerve wracking and immobilizing, her instinct to run and hide wanting to overpower her.

M'rissi needs to trust Ranger. Ranger has never done anything but help her! She almost shouted that thought out in defiance with her forceful thought, even managing to perk herself up with it a little, but even that small upswing in her mood was not enough to calm her, slowly sinking back to where she had been. After what felt like a lifetime, she slipped off the bed and slipped her things on, instinctually slipping an arrow onto the string of her bow as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Please come back soon… M'rissi really doesn't like being alone…

William gingerly walked down the stairs onto the empty main floor of the tavern. The sole occupant of the tavern was it's owner, oddly catching up on cleaning tasks despite the ringing alarm bells. She was so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn't react at all to William approaching her.

"Excuse me, do you know what's going on?" Ranger spoke as calmly and softly as he could manage, but the woman still let out a small shriek, startled.

"By the divines! You nearly scared me to death! And some absurdity about a dragon being spotted nearby. Probably just a flight of fancy if ya ask me. That was a good while ago that they said something and the bells started ringing, where have you been?" she shook her head as she returned to her cleaning.

"Trying to get my companion to wake up. She's a pretty stubborn one."

"Hmph. Seen plenty of those around here. Anyway, if you're not buyin, git movin! I've got enough work to do without a bunch of idle gossip." She snarked that out, more focused on cleaning than him.

William shrugged, making his way to the door and stepping through. Despite being nearly mid day, there wasn't a soul in sight, likely all taking shelter or joining the guards in preparing a defense. It made the center of the city feel like a ghost town though. Before William could take more than ten paces outside, the alarm bells suddenly stopped ringing.

Hmm. Odd. Usually ringers don't stop ringing until they are told to… unless they've been killed… Will moved to the well in the main plaza, leaning against it as he waited. A few moments after the bell stopped, a series of three rings rang across the area, the middle ring being a vastly higher pitch than the normal rings. If his guess was right, it was Whiterun's all clear signal. Which he himself had never heard but most of the larger cities with an alarm bell had something along those lines as a way to tell the citizens it was indeed safe again. Helgan's had been two shortened tolls of it's bell, followed by a single normal toll.

As he waited, more and more people started to appear around the plaza, all chattering back and forth, some with curious tones and little idea of what was going on, others with excited or nervous tones. With the jumble of noise, it was hard to pick out individual voices, but it seemed like no one had a clear idea of what had been going on, or what had caused it to be called off. It varied from person to person what that reason was, from a false alarm, to a drill of some sort for the guards, even as outlandish as some sort of Imperial or Stormcloak scheme. The one thing that seemed to crop up was mentioning's of the greybeards shouting from the mountain. He personally hadn't heard any kind of shout, though he admittedly had been pretty preoccupied with trying to get M'rissi to wake up. The frequency in which he was hearing it showed that it was the one thing that was solid between all of the conversations.

"Attention citizens! I bear a message from the Jarl!" a guard, fairly young one too as he had taken his helmet off, shouted over the small den the people in the area had created, stepping up on a small raised dias near the path leading up into the upper tier of the city. "The threat has now passed, the dragon attacking the western watchtower has been slain! The jarl will be holding a feast tomorrow night in celebration of this momentous event, all are welcome to attend! That is all!"

Alright, if the Jarl is putting out an official announcement like that, I guess there was a dragon at the watchtower. I wonder who felled the beast? William shrugged, slinging his bow as he kicked off the well and headed back into the tavern. At least a dozen others were forcing their way in with him, William wishing there was another way in. once inside, he immediately headed up the stairs and to the room he had rented over night. He was about to step right in when he stopped himself.

I shouldn't just burst in. Between the alarm bell and being left alone M'rissi is probably pretty jumpy right now. he let out a small sigh before he gently rapped his knuckles on the door.

"Hey Fluffbutt. It's just me. I'm coming in there!" he called through the door after he knocked, just before opening it. As soon as he entered the doorframe, he was greeted by a pillow slamming into his face with enough force to nearly knock him off his feet. "Hey! What was that for!"

"That was for calling her 'fluffbutt' again!" M'rissi was glaring at him from the edge of the bed, her arms crossed. She was fully dressed now, her bow lying atop the jumbled blankets, an arrow beside it.

I'm glad I knocked first, she might have shot me otherwise!

"Too bad, Fluffbutt. Now come on. Coast is clear, and I want to make sure that head of yours is fully healed." He grabbed the pillow and tossed it back to the head of the bed.

Meanwhile, she growled at him, scooping her arrow off the bed and slipping it into it's quiver while slinging her own bow. "You're not taking M'rissi to another healer are you?"

"Well, yeah, I am. But trust me, she's a good person, won't hurt you."

Plus, I left that friend of yours with her, so maybe we can actually find out a little more about you. And I can finally be rid of you. He almost spoke that thought aloud, though it ended up confusing him. As much as he wanted to be done with helping her so he could go to Rorikstead as he had planned, he liked having her around. She at least made his days a little less quiet. At the same time, he wanted her to feel safe again, and able to live her life. He still had no idea why the Thalmor were even after her, and was absolutely certain that reuniting her with the Kajiit that sent him to find her in the first place would do nothing to change that. He found himself conflicted as to what the appropriate course of action would be then.

He let out a quiet sigh as the pair left the room, just trying to quell those thoughts for now. once he had more information, he could easily figure out what to do from there.

"Rrrrangerr? Is something wrong?" M'rissi's voice slipped out from her, very soft and delicately. Her brow was furrowed as she stared at him, her ear's cocked in curiosity.

"What? No, nothing. Just thinking about some things." He gave her a small smile, hoping it helped to deflect her question, and hoping she didn't press for more as they slipped down the stairs.

"What sort of things?" her expression softened as her voice strengthened.

"Future plans. Nothing interesting." He shrugged as he slipped through the room, keeping his eyes off her in hopes the curtness and lack of attention put an end to her questions.

"What are Rrrangerr's plans?" she spoke as they left the tavern and stepped out into the bright sunlight. "Mrrraow! Go away sun! it's too early for you!" Ranger couldn't help but chuckle at her, as she was now glaring up at the sky in annoyance every few seconds or so, only to be forced to blink and look away as glaring at the light source made whatever about it that was annoying her annoy her even more.

"I don't think the sun cares about your thoughts on the matter M'rissi." William shot a playful smirk at her.

"Quiet you! She doesn't need your jokes too!" M'rissi snapped that back, glaring at him now, but she was still trying to blink the sunspots from her eyes, all intimidation that could have been found in the action lost because of the blinking. Every time she blinked, her ears would twitch in annoyance.

"Whatever you say fluffbut." William sped up as he spoke, leading the way up into the city. It didn't take them long to move through the now bustling city, finding the temple of Kynareth after only a few minutes. Not that it was hard to find as it was along the main path to Dragonsreach, the main castle of the city. It was on the corner of one the main crossroads in the town, being the last portion of the path before more defenses and the castle grounds. In the center of the square before it was a massive dead tree, the tree split in two along the center. By the black charcoal lining the edges of the split, the tree had been struck by lightning.

He ignored the tree though as he led her into the temple, having seen it in such condition already. He hated seeing the tree like that, partly because he knew how the tree had been before, being as vibrant and full of life as the town usually was, and partly because it's condition somehow reminded him of Helgan.

Once inside, he looked for the head priestess, shocked that he didn't see her. There were several priests and priestesses in training though, only two occupied with healing townsfolk. One of the unoccupied ones he actually knew, making his way toward her where she was praying.

"Hilda!" he called out to her as he approached, having known her by name for half his life. She was a few years younger than himself but had been training to be a priest her whole life, much as he had been learning from his father.

"Oh, William? I didn't see you come in!" she leapt up the moment she heard his voice, a smile lighting up on her sharp Nordic features. Despite being younger than him, she was a good half a hand taller than him. She slipped her hood down as she spoke, her blonde curly hair not being contained by it anyway. "What brings you to the temple? And who's this… girl?" her eyes found M'rissi only moments after finding Ranger, curiously scanning up and down her.

"Her name's M'rissi. She got concussed a few days ago, think you could take a look at her?" William spoke calm and curtly with her, seeing her reminding him of all the times he spent playing with her as a kid. His father came by the temple quite often, as many rangers considered themselves as devote followers of Kyne.

"Of course! Come here M'rissi!" she beckoned the half-Kajiit to her as she moved to a padded bench nearby, gesturing for M'rissi to sit. M'rissi ducked closer to William instead, almost hiding behind him.

"It's alright M'ri, you can trust her." he gently pushed her away from him and toward the bench, M'rissi not fighting him.

She did move cautiously however, her ears pressed back against her skull, her tail curling between her legs before she sat down. The moment she did, she shriveled up, trying to appear as small as possible.

"It's alright miss. I swore an oath to Kynerath to never hurt any living thing. You needn't be afraid of me." She spoke as she raised her hands, golden light slipping forth between them and M'ri's head. "You definitely had a rough day. Your skull has some hairline fractures, and you brain has most certainly suffered some trauma. That said, someone did a very good job healing you. Give me a minute and you will feel like you never hit your head in the first place!" she spoke very cheerily as the light at her hands intensified for a moment.

M'rissi visibly shook with fear though, her eyes darting about the room, but she didn't try to shy away.

"Thanks Hilda. I do have a question for you too."

"Sure, what is it?"

"There was a Kajiit woman brought here a few days ago. No more than a week or so ago. She was in pretty rough shape. Do you know what happened to her?"

"Oh… some elves came and took her yesterday… said she was under arrest for crimes committed against the Dominion. We couldn't stop them from taking her I'm afraid." Her voice fell from it's normally cheery tones as she responded, the light falling away from her hands. "How do you feel now M'rissi?" her second statement though was still as bright and cheery as ever.

"Betterrr… tha-" M'ri's voice froze in her throat, the sound of the main doors crashing open drawing all of their attention.

Three Thalmor came striding in, the lead female mage being the same woman William had encountered just the other day at the start of this whole fiasco. Her arm was in a sling now as she pointed at M'rissi and William. "Those are the fugitives, seize them at once!" the two armored soldiers with her already had blades drawn, splitting up to approach them from different angles.

Son of a bitch… they must of have found the other Kajiit and stuck around to see if I came looking for her… William yanked his blade from his scabbard with that thought, M'rissi springing to her feet and drawing her bow. In an instant she had an arrow knocked and had placed herself between the Thalmor and Hilda, Ranger doing the same with M'rissi.

"There is no point in struggling. It will only lead to your deaths. I already have my men surrounding the building. There will be no escape for you." The Thalmor spoke with cold confidence, a smirk spread on her face.

"Let's test that then, shall we?" Ranger returned her small smirk, pulsing magicka into his hand as he held his hand straight up. There was a brilliant and blinding flash from his hand, accompanied by an ear splitting bang. The only one not effected by the spell was Ranger himself, everyone else staggering away and crying out. As soon as he released the spell, he rammed his blade back into his scabbard, spinning on the spot and grabbing M'rissi by the arm.

M'rissi didn't fight William as he dragged her toward the back of the temple, her bow lost from her grip as she yowled in pain. Which was not surprising for William as his stun spell had only been a couple of feet from her highly sensitive ears. She would likely be totally deaf for at least a few minutes because of it.

As he approached the back wall, William scooped a book off one of the many benches, chucking it at the glazed window behind the statue of Kynerath as hard as he could. The stained glass shattered from the impact, opening a sizable hole in the window. Without missing a beat, he forced M'rissi to look at the window before standing below it, his hands cupped for her to use as a step. Despite being off balance and probably as blind as she was deaf, she seemed to understand what he was suggesting, stepping on his cupped hands as he shoved her up. Even with her feet at William's shoulder height, she barely reached the window sill, William having to shove her even higher with every ounce of strength he could muster to get her through the window.

As soon as she was clear, he took two rushed steps toward the statue before leaping, using it's rump to give him a higher launch point and his momentum to give him enough purchase to leap toward the window sill. Even with that action, he barely made enough height to grab the windowsill.

"Damn it! Quit blubbering around like fools and stop him!" the female Thalmor was still blinking furiously, dazed and dizzy from the spell as she shouted at her comrades, both of whom were still picking themselves up off the floor. That was the last William saw though as he hauled himself up and through the window, nearly landing headfirst into the back garden for the temple.

"Let's go M'ri!" he shouted that almost directly into M'rissi's ear as soon as he was on his feet, dragging her from her crumpled state as well. His hand slipped down to grip hers as he dragged her staggering form after him.

Though the Thalmor hadn't been lying about there being more outside the temple, they clearly hadn't the numbers to fully surround the building. Instead, they had merely been blocking the entrances. Even so, at least four saw William and M'rissi fall out of the window and were already giving chase, forcing William to sprint into out of the small garden and into the city streets. This brought them into view of more Thalmor, who started shouting for the others as they moved to also pursue the pair.

Damn it! Where the hell can we go!? He thought that as he dragged M'rissi through the relatively empty streets, aiming to take her down to the market district. At least there would have more crowds that they could try and disappear into. As much as he would want to, the main gate was probably already sealed by the Thalmor, which meant they would have to find another way out of the city.

We could try over the wall… he immediately dismissed that thought, nearly running straight into another Thalmor group. They were blocking one of the two gates between the upper and lower city, nor did they move to give chase, remaining in position. Which meant the other gate was likely guarded as well.

The only chance of dropping off the wall we had was in the lower city, where the walls are not as high off the ground. The walls in the upper city would be lethal falls… he audibly cursed about that, his mind racing as fast as his limbs as he whipped through the alleys and streets of the upper city. He could still hear the Thalmor clamoring after him, their shouts and armor echoing down the streets.

Ranger risked a glance behind him as he slowed a moment, mostly to see if the Thalmor could actually see them. M'rissi's eyes were red and tear streaked, but she was clearly no longer dazed, their hands still clasped together. There also wasn't any visible sign of the Thalmor, but he could most certainly still hear them.

Before he could come to any kind of decision as to what to do, M'rissi let out a terrified shriek, about a second before a massive tanned hand was grabbing the arm that was holding M'rissi, and dragging him into the side street he was passing. This inadvertently dragged M'rissi with him.

William immediately yanked his hunting dagger from the small of his back when he was grabbed, beginning to twist himself around to try and jab whoever had grabbed him or slash their wrist if they were armored. Their rushed voice stopped him though.

"Whoa there lad, follow me! No need to stick yer friends!" the speaker, and owner of the massive fist that had dragged them this way, was the same nord that had escaped from Helgan with Ranger, a broad grin on his face.

Ranger simply nodded to him, letting the man lead him away, a female nord taking up the rear. The whole time, Ranger never let go of M'rissi's hand. He could hear her gasping for breath, the girl likely being unable to keep up for much longer.

Come on M'rissi, hang in there! He had that thought as he followed Jorge on yet another sprint, this one far more controlled and directed. He led them higher into the city, skirting around the square the temple was at and up to Jorvaskr, Ranger wanting to stop him, but deciding to simply trust the man. As they were arriving, the alarm bell was beginning to ring, several of the companions rushing out of the hall to greet them.

"Jorge, what in the divine is going on?" one of the companions, a female with a bow and war stripes, snapped that out, her voice slowing the group to a mere walk.

"Long story short, these two need a spot to lay low or a way outta town! No time to explain!" Jorge nearly shouted that back at her, the armored nord barely even breathing hard.

Ranger's heart was pounding in his ribcage, his breath coming in ragged gasps himself. M'rissi behind him let go of his hand as she fell to her knees, nearly collapsing right there. He let out a curse as he dropped to her side, still focusing on the nord woman before them to see how she responded.

"Do you know them?"

"Like Kin Aela."

"Alright, head into the city with the others, act normal. You two, follow me." The nord, Aela, beckoned Ranger to follow her, turning and striding into the grounds around Jorvaskr.

Jorge gestured at Ranger to follow her, giving him a simple head nod. Ranger simply nodded back before he slung M'rissi's arm over his shoulder and dragged her back to her feet. With in moments, they were at the wall of the cliff that the Companions forge sat upon, Aela pressing on one of the rocks. When she did, part of the cliff groaned and swung inward, revealing a small cave.

"Tell no one of this place's existence. Jorge is one of us, and we protect our own. There's a back exit that leads out of the city. May your feet be swift strangers."

"Thank you." Ranger spoke between ragged gasps before rushing into the cave, the entrance sealing behind them.

Jorge marched into the city, finding the main square with the temple and Gildergreen a buzz with activity. There were at least a dozen guards spread across the area, weapons drawn. The captain of the guard was speaking with a trio of Thalmor, one armored soldier, a female mage in a sling and a male mage. He quickly and purposefully strode in their direction, one hand resting on his axe.

"Oy, what's goin on 'ere and how can we help?" Jorge spoke as soon as he was close enough to be relatively polite about it.

"Who are these… vermin?" the female elf snarled that out at Jorge, shooting a cold glare his way.

"Companions. Renowned fighters. And there are a pair of fugitives these elves are hunting in the city. We've locked down the upper city, and know they are somewhere in it. I'd be more than willing the compensate the companions for your services." The captain of the guard spoke calmly and clearly. After felling the dragon, Irileth, the Jarl, and the court wizard had all left to inspect the remains. Which made the captain the highest order of law in their absence.

"Of course! I'll send Sophia to round up the rest, just hand us some marching orders." Jorge grinned as he spoke, happy that he could be getting more coin for booze out of this whole affair, and knowing for a fact that the 'fugitives' in question were Ranger and his odd friend. Those 'fugitives' were also long gone by now.

"We don't need the help of your rabid dogs! Nor do we need your guards, just stay out of our way!" the female Thalmor snapped that out, snarling at the guard captain. Something clearly had her pissed off, and if Jorge had to guess, that something was his little pal.

"Calm yourself Eleria. The willing help of others is never a burden to any operation. In any event…" the second male mage spoke this time, raising his hand and casting some sort of spell. It's purple light seemed to dance and shift, but was slowly dimming. He turned on the spot, the light shifting and changing until he seemed to be satisfied with something. "Besides, it seems our prey is no longer in the city. Seems this boy she's recruited is a fair bit craftier than we expected."

"Are you positive Ulquarion?"

"Quite."

"Fine. Cease your damned bells. Sergeant, go retrieve the men, send an advanced party after them. Bring Arissa. She can use the tracking spell. If they capture the girl, bring her to me at once. Feel free to kill the boy." Eleria spoke calmly yet vehemently at her underling, the sergeant rushing off into the city, the two mages following at a calmer pace.

"Well, I guess the city doesn't need your services companion…"

"Well damn. I was lookin forward to some more drinkin money!" Jorge snarked that out, his grin fading.

"Hah, you and me both!" the captain clapped Jorge's shoulder as he left, marching off toward the main keep.

Well Ranger, can't really help you now… Good luck to ye…