AN: So we've made some mistakes in the past, but this is why we post the story on a forum first before here, because on the SB forum, people can discuss back and forth what's happened in the story, and then me and Trest can realize what we did wrong, and do something to fix the problem, or make it better then next time. So, if you ever feel like something going off, just let us know there. I promise you, while you may not be immediately answered, we take every comment, review, and criticism seriously, and use them to better the overall story Of Elder Scrolls and Huntsmen.

With Masser and Secunda providing ample light, Yang nearly threw up as she watched the reddish-brown werewolf tear open the dead man's chest and then rip his heart out in just two, direct bites. Aela swallowed, and then looked over at Yang, who was struggling to keep her eyes on the werewolf.

"So...this is how...stay beast longer." Like Farkas, Aela's speech was broken, but her voice was definitely more feminine. Yang nodded, feeling pale in the moonlight, and then looked up at the ruins at the back of Silent Moons. A lot of the bandits camping here had fled upon seeing Aela as a werewolf, but the Companion quickly ran after and took every one of them down. It didn't matter how far they got, with Aela's heightened senses and enhanced speed there was nowhere for the bandits to run. A Redguard had managed to get a mile away before Aela started tracking him down, and it only took her a minute to catch up to him. Although impressed, Yang had wanted to object to it, but as Aela had told her, they had witnessed her and a werewolf working together, and they didn't need the rumors to run wild.

"Makes...some things...stronger. Sight, smell,...hearing. Track better...after eating heart."

After hunting down each bandit, Aela then demonstrated something that a werewolf would always feel the urge to do: eat their kills. She explained before changing that there was no harm to it, that it was the beast eating, not the man, otherwise Vilkas would have popped after his first time changing back from the five deer he'd eaten. It still unsettled Yang, though. The thing about eating just the hearts wasn't much better. Like eating people, it was avoidable, and could be resisted, but eating a heart specifically made it to where they could stay in the beast form even longer.

"I wouldn't have to, though?"

"No. Your choice. But...sometimes...hard choice."

'So's becoming a werewolf at this point.'

Yang thought about it more and more as Aela went on ahead, looking for the bandit leader, who she planned to turn the head of in to the guards. Apparently, he led a raid that killed a Jarl's nephew, and now everyone in the Empire (and a little beyond) wanted him dead. Separating from the werewolf, Yang headed up the stairs leading to the Silent Moons' main building and was surprised when she came upon a forge, surrounded by some crudely made iron and steel weapons. On a workbench sat a few swords and a mace, each rusty, but with a strange, green glow to them. Yang picked one up and tried to read the enchantments, but came up blank. It felt odd, though, like they were connected to the moonlight. She sheathed one of the swords, figuring that she could find out more from Farengar or Eorlund, and then went over to where two books were laid down. One of them was Light Armor Forging, which she figured might be some beginner's book, and recently written words inside of a notebook.

Reading the notebook quickly revealed that someone had restored the forge to working order, and was trying to recreate whatever had made the 'special' weapons forged here. The idea sounded intriguing to the blonde, and she decided Eorlund, and maybe even Adrianne and some other blacksmiths, should be informed about this place. She turned to see Aela padding up the steps, a severed head held in her jaws like a dog with a macabre tennis ball. She set it down and looked at the forge Yang was wandering around. Seeing they were done here, Yang sighed and closed the notebook, putting it in her bag before approaching her Shield-Sister.

"Well, you've certainly given me a night to remember," Yang admitted, her thoughts jumping through her head.

"Scared?" Even as a wolf, Yang observed, Aela still managed to sound concerned.

"A little. But, like you said, I don't have to do anything like that if I'm not comfortable with it, right? And I can always just hunt animals?"

"True. Not as strong, but works. Hearts too. Not as strong."

"That's good. Is there anything else I should know?"

"Know...Hircine?"

Yang recalled short glances at Weiss's book on Daedric Princes, mostly on Molag Bal, given Weiss's condition, as well as what she heard here and there. "Supposed to be the Daedric Prince of the Hunt. He made the first werebeasts, right?"

"More." Aela placed a claw over her chest. "Soul...goes to...Eternal Hunting Grounds. Will be...hound of Hircine. Forever hunt."

Yang blinked at that. "Wait. You guys had to sell your souls for this?"

The werewolf shook her head. "No. Belong. When changed...werebeasts belong...to Hiricne. Some hunters...give themselves. Hircine has..." She huffed and shook her head. "Not rules...requirements. Good hunters, honorable, give fair sport to prey...hunt alongside him. Bad hunters...become prey...forever hunted."

Yang nodded at that, but then another worry came up. "But what about the...other afterlives? Does that mean I'll never see my family again?"

Aela whimpered, but then pointed up. Following the outstretched claw, Yang looked to see a patch of stars. "Most souls...Dreamsleeve. Forget their...old lives. Reborn. New life. Special souls...get afterlife. Sovngarde. Far Shores. Lunar Lattice. Connected...to certain races...have requirements."

Yang was stumped by that. She didn't know where she could likely end up in for the afterlife if it was connected to race. Humans stopped caring about their different races generations ago on Remnant, and religion had fallen out of most people's minds as well. She rubbed her chin in thought, and then looked at Aela.

"So you won't go to Sovngarde, even though you're a good warrior?"

The werewolf shrugged. "Mother was...Circle. Want to...be with her. Worried? Sometimes...exceptions. Tales of...non-Nords...reaching Sovngarde. Story of...Breton reaching...Far Shores."

Yang nodded, and then looked over as the sunlight began to poke out from the treetops. She looked to see that she was gripping her shirt collar and let go slowly. Being able to hunt alongside a bunch of werewolves and skilled hunters for eternity did sound interesting, but she hoped there were spaces of rest, otherwise it'd get tedious, if not torturous. She imagined there would, as people in Tamriel seemed to like a good sit at the fire to swap stories. She could almost imagine some giant godly thing with a hunting spear listening to dozens of men and women trying to one up each other after chasing down hundreds of who knows what.

The only thing wrong with that was Ruby.

"What about my sister?"

Aela whimpered again. "Maybe one day...join. Maybe...you are...exception. Hircine is...different. Would let...prove her worth...to have your soul. Maybe."

Yang huffed at that. There seemed to be a lot more maybes when it came to this Lord of the Hunt.

Still, as she saw Secunda sink under the horizon, she couldn't help but be reminded of her baby sister breathing fire after reading a little inscription. How Blake had told her about the cursed sword in her possession that cut through flesh like butter and iron like cheese. Then there was Weiss, learning magic at a magic school and turned into a vampire. Her soul was trapped as well, stuck under the thumb of the most evil being they'd ever heard of unless they could find a cure.

'A cure,' she thought. 'Maybe it could work. God, this is a heavy decision.'

"Thanks Aela, for showing me, and being honest about it. You've given me a lot to think on."

"Happy to...help, sister." Aela's tail wagged, and Yang nearly burst into laughter seeing it.

With the sunrise directly behind her, Blake rode into Riverwood, looking around for any Khajiit she could see. When none were obvious, she hopped off of Patches and led her over to the trough in front of The Sleeping Giant, where she tied her up before heading inside. Orgnar was behind the bar, cleaning mugs and glasses at the water pump sink, while a man sat at the bar looking through a book, possibly a ledger. Blake walked up and cleared her throat, getting Orgnar's attention.

"Ah, hello. Haven't seen you in a while, but when the guards came everyone'd figured you all made it." His eyes went to her ears for a moment, but he just seemed to shrug it right off. "What can I get ya?"

"I'm looking for someone. A young Khajiit, most likely. They're in a bit of danger, and I'm looking to help."

"A young Khajiit?" the man at the bar asked. "Might be that odd Khajiit girl that comes around in the morning and at dusk. Orgnar's been putting food out back for the pretty thing."

"Don't get the wrong idea," the Nordic innkeeper said. "Girl just doesn't seem in her right mind. Wouldn't do to let her go starving. Besides, Delphine saw her before she went on her trip. She didn't mind her. Well, after a while. Think she was just scared she might try to steal something or break in. Never did either of those things, so the girl's harmless enough." He looked back at Blake. "Maybe you can talk to her. She's skittish, but perhaps one of her own could get closer. Was hoping someone from the next caravan could talk to her, but that's a few weeks away at the earliest."

"Might want to be careful," the other man warned. "A group of rough-looking mercenaries came looking for her as well, earlier today. You may have trouble with them."

'Mercenaries?'

"Don't try and frighten the girl, Albret."

"Only giving some advice."

"Thank you both. I'll see if I can't find anything." Blake nodded, tossing the innkeeper a few cents for the information.

Exiting the building, Blake turned and then went around to the back. Sure enough, on the back porch, just past the emptied vegetable patch, was an empty plate with the scent of fish on it and a pair of empty pewter cups. Blake's ears flickered as she started picking up someone speaking, and headed towards the wall. She spotted some tracks, including three sets of boots, what looked like dog paw prints, and the distinct semi-human foot prints that a plantigrade Khajiit would leave.

"Have you ever seen anything like it?" Blake heard as she crept closer.

"No, never. How does she look…so human? Even those ,er, Onnies look more like elves. Doesn't even smell like a Khajiit. Usually you can tell."

Blake began to hurry a little more as she picked up the scent of blood. She was growing deathly worried now.

"Damn shame, too. Wouldn't mind having her as a pet." Blake felt her teeth bare. "I say we get a little payback for Laars and Lauri."

"Get your head on straight. If we don't take her back, we don't get paid."

"Not saying we don't take her back. I'm just saying I'd like to enjoy her first."

Blake came out from the underbrush as she pulled out Gambol Shroud, huffing slightly, more in rage than any form of tiredness. Two men were standing over a small, cowering form, next to the body of another man and a dead shaggy dog. The two looked at her, startled, before reaching for their own weapons.

"You won't be enjoying anything!" Blake hissed at them.

The man in ill-fitting steel armor drew a warhammer. "What's with that one?"

"Don't know," his partner admitted as he took out his bow. "Looks odd, herself. Might be with her." He then smiled sadistically. "Better catch them both, just to be safe. Then, we'll have one for each of us, huh?"

"Hm, not a bad idea."

"You have no idea," Blake muttered darkly before she charged forward. The man tried swinging for her, but he was so slow he may as well have not even tried. Blake's sword dug into his side, straight up into his rib cage, as her cleaver easily held back the latent momentum of his bronze hammer. As he fell, choking on blood, she dodged out of the way of an arrow and sped after the other one. His eyes went wide as he tried to draw again, but then his head was removed from his shoulders by a double swipe of Blake's weapons. Done with the would-be rapists, Blake went over to the Khajiit girl, who was beginning to stand back up.

"Are you-"

"She didn't ask you for your help!" she interrupted as she turned away. "Leave her alone!" With that, she sped off into the trees nearby.

"Wait!" Blake yelled as she tried to chase after her. It became apparent very quickly though that the girl's stealth was impeccable. She lost sight of her quickly, and couldn't hear her at all. Blake frowned and backtracked to the bodies, where a quick search of them gave her a few septims she had no qualms with looting from them, and a bounty note that described the girl. Blake sighed and headed back to the Sleeping Giant Inn, hoping that maybe there was a little more the men could tell her while she waited for the girl to come back for food again.

As she stepped back in, the men looked at her with some surprise.

"So, did you find her?" Albret asked as she came over and sat down.

"Yeah, and you were right to be worried about those mercenaries. By the way, Orgnar, we need to tell Gerdur that there're three men's bodies and a dog out just past the corner of the village."

Orgnar sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Well, that's going to need some explaining."

"Self-defense against rapists."

"…Well, at least the girl's a bit safer then," Albret said as he wrote something down.

"Does she always act so…?"

"Cold? I believe so. Won't even talk to Orgnar. Just eats her food and leaves."

Blake huffed. "Don't know much about her?"

Both men shook their heads. The faunus groaned a bit, but decided that it wasn't a big deal. She'd just have to try again later. Perhaps mentioning the other Khajiit would get her attention. And maybe she wouldn't be so…frosty when men weren't planning on capturing her.

"Thanks anyways. I'll be back later. Don't worry, I'll tell Gerdur about the bodies." Orgnar nodded in appreciation as Blake moved towards the door, only to stop as Albret's voice rang out.

"Oh, if you ever want a look at my wares, let me know," the merchant offered as Blake left. She just nodded and headed out, but stopped when she saw three Altmer standing outside, questioning the villagers. Three were clad in glass armor, and one was wearing the same purple Thalmor robes the woman from before had. The robed Thalmor saw her, and walked up the steps to face her.

"You there, I'm looking for an unusual Khajiit. Have you seen her?" he asked, neither softly nor very roughly. Blake inwardly sighed in relief when she realized he didn't actually suspect her specifically of anything.

"Unusual Khajiit? Well, I guess that depends. Most people say all Khajiit are unusual, and a lot have pointed out I'm pretty unusual for a Khajiit. I hope it's not me you're talking about."

At that, he puffed. "No, you're not the one we're looking for. You'd not be able to mistake this one. So, tell me if you've seen anything," he demanded.

"Sorry, but as far as I know, I'm the only one here. Might be the only Khajiit in the Hold, now that I think about it."

"I'm not surprised," he remarked. "She is a slippery little cat. Very well, you may go." He turned back and walked over to the three justicars. Blake watched as the inquisitor held out his arms and gathered magic into them before throwing his hand forward, surrounding him and his guards in a dense, violet burst of magic. The four Altmer then disappeared, and the small gathering of villagers began to disperse. Blake nearly wanted to chuckle to herself. He may have been the same one the wizard from last night had spoken of, and it looked like she hadn't told him anything.

As she walked down the steps, she saw something coming from the gate at the corner of her eye. Her head turned, and she saw the girl from earlier coming towards her. Blake smiled, relieved that maybe she wouldn't have to track down the odd girl. As she neared, Blake finally got a good look at her. She looked like an Ohmes-raht, but her face was mostly free of the fur that covered her forearms, hands, and feet. Only six tiny stripes of fur existed on her forehead, just above her eyebrows with the top two meeting at her hairline. Her eyes were more catlike than Blake's and an almost golden yellow. Like people had been pointing out though, her face was more human than Blake had seen on any other Khajiit. The most human like she had seen had been Ko'ari, but she looked more like an elf with catlike ears, and other Ohmes simply looked like Bosmer. Like the man had said, she even smelled different. Blake was told she 'smelled lightly' but still like a Khajiit. From what she was picking up, the girl smelled totally different.

The girl looked at Blake with a sort of curiosity. "She saw what you did," she stated. "You didn't turn her in. Why?"

"I know what it's like to be on the run," Blake answered honestly. "I don't know what they're after you for, and I'd rather hear your side of everything before I make any kind of decision like that. Now, are you all right? Are you hurt from earlier?"

At that, the girl sighed, almost in disgust. "She's fine. She does not need your bandages, or your silly potions."

"Alright. Just asking." Blake raised her arms to placate the young Khajiit, an action that apparently worked as the young woman visibly relaxed.

"She wants to know, why are you concerned with her. Why help a person you do not know?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," Blake answered simply. "I saw someone in need of help, and so I helped them. Besides, a cute, young girl like you would be in danger all by herself."

At that, Blake saw another thing she hadn't seen any Khajiit do: blushing.

"Gah! Flattery will get you nowhere with her! So don't even try it!"

"That's not what I meant," Blake brushed off. "I'm just saying what other people have seen. Now, why don't you tell me your side of the story?"

"Her story?" At that the girl looked confused. "She… she doesn't know. Not even her name! Why can she not remember anything?" she asked in honest curiosity and confusion as her ears lowered.

Blake was stunned by that revelation. For a moment, the two remained silent in thought.

"Well, what do you remember?"

"What DOES she know…" The girl thought it over for a moment. "There was a kind elder that helped her, but with what? After that, she was running! Briars, bushes, and dogs!" Her eyes were filled with fear as she recalled the scene. "Loud dogs barking after her! She HATES dogs!" She then seemed to think her words over again. "Er, she means, she was terribly angry at them! They made her mad but she had to run, because… because it was raining, and she hates being wet! She's not scared of anything terrible!"

Blake held back her laughter as the girl tried to cover up her fear of the animals. "It's okay. I hate dogs, too."

"Yes, hate them! But not scared. Not terribly scared, no!"

"Don't worry, I understand," Blake chuckled. "So, someone was chasing you?"

"She thinks so, yes. She found some shelter, an old tower, and spent maybe a week there hiding. From the rain!" she quickly added. Blake began to chuckle again, which only increased when the Khajiit puffed up her cheeks in anger. "Don't laugh at her! When the bar- rain had stopped, she left from there and ran until she ended up here, in this town."

"More of a village, really. Well, is that all you can remember?"

"She remembers a satchel. She left it in the tower because she was in a hurry. Maybe that can tell her who she is!" She brightened up at that. "You can take her there! And she will keep you safe from the mean, old doggies around there!"

Blake thought it over quickly. Yang was expecting her back today, which was the only reason Yang had let Blake go on her own, but neither of them could have foreseen this kind of thing happening. The tower couldn't have been far if the young girl had run all the way from it. Patches could probably get them there fairly quickly, and then they'd both be back. A little late, but not terribly late. It may have been faster than Blake's original plan to stay until she'd come out for her supper.

"All right. Lead the way there, then."

Ruby smashed apart her last skeleton and looked around at the old cemetery they were at. Ancient gravestones dotted the area, worn with time to the point their words could no longer be made out. Nightshade flowers grew next to each grave, almost too perfectly to be coincidence, and at the back stood three stone alcoves with coffins inside of them, the coffin in the center standing. Ruby, wondering if this place was on the map, pulled it out, only to find a blank.

"Hey, Lydia," Ruby called out to the housecarl, who was swiping down the last skeleton, "do you know what this place is called?"

Having heard her name being called, Lydia walked away from the pile of bones she'd made during the short-lived battle and towards her. "If I had to guess, we're at Hamvir's Rest."

"Hamvir's… How far is that from Rorickstead?"

At Ruby's question, Lydia could only look at her Thane incredulously. "You do know which way we're going, right?"

"Um, we should be somewhere along the White-Green Road." With a blank look on her face, Lydia looked over Ruby's shoulders, took the map, turned it ninety degrees, and then set it back in her hands. Seeing her mistake, Ruby sighed at this. "I knew we should have taken a left at Fort Greymoor. Sorry, I'm really terrible with maps."

"We're still going along the right direction," Lydia reassured her, pointing at where Hamvir's Rest was. "However, I doubt we'd want to continue straight to Morthal. With autumn closing, frost trolls will be moving into the Labyrinthian in droves for shelter. Even the caravans will go around at that point. I suggest going along the plains to the west."

"Ooh, there's a Giant camp way out there!" Ruby pointed out excitedly. "I actually bought a couple Giantspeech talismans, in case we ever needed to talk to one of them, from Ysolda before we left. We can try them out there."

"I…suppose. Never really thought about talking to Giants before."

"Well, why not? They're just really big people, right? Besides, they're like, the only people anyone can buy mammoth milk, cheese, or steaks from."

"Or poachers."

"Well, poachers are bad people, and we shouldn't buy things from them." She patted her horse's neck, whom she now called Chocolate Hooves, before jumping atop its back. Lydia followed suit, the map now safely in her hands. "All right, going west!"

"That's east."

"…I knew that. Stop laughing!"

After nearly a day of seeing only shades of green, the sight of waking up to see blue was the most beautiful thing Weiss had ever beheld. That joy quickly turned into anger as she was reminded of the cause of her predicament, who had begged her for another chance. Weiss remembered all of this while looking at her classmate with a slight amount of angry annoyance.

"You're sure that you've worked out all of the kinks this time?"

"Yes. I'm certain it will work now," Brelyna reassured Weiss, who remained unconvinced.

Weiss sighed. "All right. But I better not see everything in shades of yellow for several hours."

"No, no. It should work. Trust me." Brelyna prepared the spell, and then loosed it into Weiss. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, then Weiss felt her whole perspective go wonky, and it felt as though she was on her hands and feet, even though she was now a head taller than Brelyna.

She tried to ask what had just happened, but all that came out was a "Neihehehefrrtthth."

'Did she just turn me into a horse?!' Weiss mentally shrieked as she frantically looked around to find that she had, indeed, turned into a white horse.

"I'm so sorry! That wasn't supposed to happen at all! One second." She prepared another spell and let it hit Weiss again. Her perspective changed again, and now she was looking at Brelyna's waist before looking up. Rather than words, what Weiss tried to say came as barks and one short 'boof' when she realized she was a dog.

"No! Here, I got it this time!"

'No! Not again!'

Weiss changed, and this time her perspective matched back with Brelyna's face, but now she felt incredibly heavy and more than a bit hungry for something leafy.

"Agh! I swear I have it this time!"

'Just get a teacher!' Weiss attempted to scream at the Dunmer.

"Moo!" was the only thing that came out of her mouth. If she could blush, she would have. To her credit, Brelyna looked increasingly frantic as she tried to fix the problem, launching another spell towards the vampire.

As Weiss transformed, she felt herself on her two legs and her arms out to her side. She began patting herself down to find that she was back to human again. She sighed in relief, and then checked her teeth with her tongue to find, to her annoyance, that her fangs were still there.

'Guess it wouldn't be that simple.' Seeing how she was back to normal, Weiss turned to look at an apologetic Brelyna, her blue eyes now a golden yellow from the anger she felt.

"We never speak of this again." At Weiss' command, Brelyna could only frantically nod.

"I'm so sorry about that, Weiss. I guess I should really take more time to work on this spell."

"Yes, yes you should. And now you owe me big time." Sighing, Weiss let go of her anger, though not her annoyance. "That still only counts as one, I suppose. Which means you owe me two now. Just for curiosity's sake, what was the effect you were looking for?"

"Oh? Well, it's a little embarrassing. See, it's for a friend in Solstheim."

"Uh huh. And the spell for the friend is…?"

"Well, see, he's always seen himself…as a woman in a man's body, so I was trying to create a sex changing polymorphic spell. The theory behind it is solid, but no one ever bothered to make the specific spell, for some reason."

Weiss felt her eyelid twitch. "You mean you were trying to turn me into a man?"

"Well, I would have changed you right back," the Dunmer offered, which did nothing to please the annoyed vampire, who quietly stormed off.

"This is why someone should never come up with new spells while drunk..." Weiss muttered to herself as she entered her room, ignoring the inherent hypocrisy in her words. As she sat down on her bed, she eyed a bottle of mead on her desk, a bottle that was worryingly not there before. A note was attached to it, complete with a little red bow. Wearily, Weiss opened it and read its contents:

Dear Snow Angel,

I hope you are enjoying the Rose! I must say, seeing that Mazken arrive in my realm, terrified of a threat to be turned into horse dung, was quite amusing.

What was not was being asked to deliver a message, like some lowly courier. You are lucky that I happen to like you, otherwise I would have refused. At best. Keep that in mind in the future, for I shall not do so again.

But, even though I did end up delivering that message, I am not a delivery service, much less one that delivers for free. I hope you enjoyed that Dunmer's experiment. I know I did. Consider this to be your payment, for services rendered.

Your friend,

Sam

As Weiss put the letter down, her eye twitched with anger. Picking up the mead bottle, she was tempted to take a swig, only to find it empty. Placing it down, she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"...Gods damn it."

"There! There it is! She was in that tower."

Blake groaned. They were all the way to the southwest of Lake Ilinalta at this point, and it was starting to get dark. The two hopped off of Patches and headed towards the tower to see three people in iron and leather armor standing around. They went to prepare themselves, but Blake held up her hands.

"We're not here for a fight. Just looking for something we left behind."

"Well, whatever it is, it's ours now!" a Nord man declared. His female Redguard and male orc companions didn't seem as stringent though.

"Ah, whatever it is let them get it," the orc said. "No use fighting over anything in here, except that bag of gold and gems behind the door. Now that's something."

"No, her satchel is up the stairs," the Khajiit girl claimed.

"Hey, that's my new satchel now!" the Nord claimed, only to receive a slap to the back of his head.

"Oh shut up!" the woman told the man, still rubbing his head. "You didn't even notice it until I asked you about it earlier."

"Besides, don't you see that one's armor? Her weapons? I've heard of her," the orc pointed out, his eyes wide in realization. "Folks in Falkreath calling her the Butcher of Assassins, the Brotherhood's Bane, Shadowkiller."

"Wait, you mean the one…who killed all those assassins of the Dark Brotherhood?" Now the Nordic man gulped. "A- all right! Sorry! I was just being…a little irritable. We had a problem with a pack of sabercats recently. Think a pride of cave lions migrated up from Cyrodiil and pushed them around."

"Uh huh. Guess that's why you're so…catty?" As soon as the words left Blake's mouth, she cringed.

'Dang it, Yang! You did this to me!'

The orc began bellowing in laughter and the woman soon joined him. Their fellow just looked devastated as the two felines went past them and into the main room. Quickly seeing the item in question, Blake opened up a satchel and pulled a piece of paper from it, a hastily written note adorning it.

Dear M'rissi,

I'm afraid this is the only chance to send you a message. I've packed the satchel in a great hurry. Too bad I couldn't gather everything we've talked of. Here is some money- everything I was able to get. Run. Never trust anyone of our kin. The only weapon I could find was this knife, though it's better than nothing

One more thing: I give you this ring. For you to always remember who you are.

The girl picked up the satchel and looked to Blake, who was reading the note once more, carefully.

"Well, what does the note say? Don't keep her waiting and hurry, would you?" M'rissi tapped her foot, something Blake found to be adorable and childlike.

"It says your name is M'rissi." Blake stated, handing over the note. M'rissi quickly read over it before handing it back, apparently not comprehending the words.

"M'rissi…" she tested, rolling the 'r' in the way most Khajiits do. "She likes it. It's a very pretty name and fitting for her, no? But…she still does not remember."

"It also mentioned a ring. Maybe it's a clue?"

"A ring?" M'rissi dug through the satchel and pulled out a ring with an oval, blue gem inset on it. Blake figured it was a sapphire by a glance, but she wasn't exactly skilled in telling gemstones apart. "This… She remembers that it belonged to her, and that it is special, somehow."

"Anything else?"

"No, nothing. She gives up," M'rissi sighed. "The ring has no hint, and she cannot remember." She perked up though, and her ears came back up. "But she knows her name now! M'rissi."

"Yeah, it is a pretty name."

"Mew!" M'rissi went, frightening Blake slightly. The way she did it was more catlike that anything she or any Khajiit had ever done. "What has she told you about the flattery!? It gets you nothing!" She smiled. "But, it is nice of you to notice."

"I was just agreeing with what you said earlier. Remember?"

M'rissi's ears perked up as she thought. "Oh! Yes. She remembers."

'Oh my god! She's tiny and adorable like Ruby, but has an attitude more befitting of Weiss. I swear if she's abnormally strong and what I said earlier starts her down a road of puns I know there's a god behind this doing something to get a kick out of the situation.'

"Well, let's not give up just yet. That ring's pretty unique looking. If we can find someone who can appraise it, we might be able to get another clue. Just gotta find someone who can make it talk."

"Talking from a ring? Now she knows you have gone insanely crazy."

"Figure of speech, M'rissi. An experienced jeweler might see something in it we can't."

"Oh! She understands you now! Quick then, let's find a jeweler so she can remember herself!"

Blake was about to suggest starting back to Riverwood to see if Albret was one, going by how he talked about his wares, when the two heard a catlike roar outside. The three bandits started screaming as metal clanged and a bowstring twanged. Blake rushed outside and saw something horrifying going after the Nordic man before pouncing at him. It reminded her of the werewolf from Falkreath, but this creature was feline-like in its appearance, with a mane of red hair on its neck. It was like a lion, if a lion had decided to stand on two legs and beef up to the size of a large bear.

"Werelion!" the man screamed as he tried to bat it away with his axe.

"What's it doing this far north?!" the orc asked as he came at it with his greatsword.

"I don't know! Just kill it before it-" the werelion suddenly pinned him down and bit down on his neck before ripping it out. The orc shouted and swung his sword down hard, but the beast managed to jump out of the way of the blow.

"What- what is-" M'rissi began stuttering out. Blake looked for a way to escape, but only saw the cage gate on the ground level. She quickly took out her lockpick and set onto it, unlocking it within seconds. She beckoned M'rissi inside, and then moved to shut the gate before the Redguard started running towards them.

"Please don't let-" Her words turned into screams when the werelion suddenly pounced onto her and bit down onto her side. She screamed as she tried to claw away, but the werebeast lifted her up and gripped both halves of her body as it bit down and pulled. The woman was ripped in half and the orc came running again with a battlecry. The werelion roared as it batted him away with half of his companion, then jumped onto him and clawed open his chest before gorging on his innards. As Blake set the lock for the cage, the rattle redirected the werelion's attention towards the two felines, and then it charged on all four with a lion's roar. It smashed against the cage door and bent it inwards, but it held. The werelion began trying to pry apart the door, while Blake frantically tried to look for a way out. The trapdoor was too close to the werelion, and she wasn't risking either of them getting close to those claws. She looked and saw the open window behind them.

"Out the window! Quickly!" M'rissi nodded, and slipped through the opening. Blake readied her bow and fired an arrow at the werelion, but the shaft barely sank a few inches into the beast's muscles. It roared at her, rage in its eyes, and then Blake turned a slipped out the window as well. A few seconds later, the werelion's head popped out from the hole, but its body was too massive to fit through. That didn't stop it from trying as it rammed itself against the opening several times as the two girls made their getaway.

When Blake didn't come back by afternoon, Yang assumed she was just taking a little longer than she'd expected. When night nearly came and she still didn't see any sign of Blake, she decided that, assumptions or not, she was going to go out right then and find her wayward friend. She went down to the stables and got Lucky Day, and immediately set him going full tilt towards Riverwood. She reached the sleepy village maybe before midnight, and went straight to the inn to see if she could find any information.

"Yeah, your friend came earlier," Orgnar explained before yawning. He was about to give the shift over to Sven for the night, but Yang caught him just in time. "Found the girl. Got her to trust her, somehow. Folks talked about there being some Thalmor asking her stuff, but she didn't tell them anything, and so then they teleported away. Some scary wizards those Thalmor are packing."

"Well, what about after that? Where is she now?" Yang asked.

"Oh, she started heading southwest, below the lake. Said something about going to a tower. Could be the Falkreath Watchtower, or Bannermist. The girl didn't know which, just where it was. Couldn't even find it on a map. Poor thing apparently lost a lot of memories. Couldn't even remember her own name."

Yang winced at that. Blake was somewhere out there trying to help an amnesiac girl find some clues, something that would obviously have delayed them. They might have camped for the night, but Yang had already come this far, she wasn't stopping until she laid her eyes upon her partner.

"Thanks, Orgnar. You get you some sleep, now, ya hear?"

"I will. I will. You take care, Yang."

The Huntress left the inn and went right back onto her horse. He was a little tired, but she knew he could at least keep a trot until she reached the bottom of the lake. As she went, she occasionally used clairvoyance to make sure she was headed right for Blake. After a couple hours, she began to hear a distant roaring, as well as shouts and screams. She spurred Lucky Day faster and headed straight towards the sound of battle. As she drew nearer, the roars became increasingly louder. Just when she was nearly at the right place, something flit across the road and Yang pulled her horse to a sudden stop that kicked up dirt and gravel. She looked and saw a young Khajiit gasping for breath while clutching her chest. Yang was about to ask her what was going on, but just then Blake appeared from the forest, rapidly firing three arrows in the direction she'd just left. Blake saw her partner and went wide-eyed.

"Yang?!" Blake yelled out as her partner quickly jumped off her horse and ran towards the two felines. Just she made it to them, a loud roar rang out from where they had come, and a creature burst out from the forest, continuing to roar ferociously. As it pounced, Yang socked it across the jaw and got a good look at it to see that it was a werelion, something that should've only been in southern Cyrodiil, Valenwood, and Elswyr. That either meant this one had migrated a long way without being spotted, or its counterpart purposefully came here. The beast roared at Yang and she prepared herself for battle, putting herself in front of Blake and the young Khajiit.

"That the kid? Get her somewhere safe." Blake nodded and went to help the young Khajiit up to her feet. The werelion turned on them, but Yang came in with a haymaker to its face.

"Oh no! You have to deal with me first, pal!" The werelion responded by clawing at her, which Yang was able to block, but was still sent skidding back by. She jumped back and ducked as it came at her again, far quicker than the werebear had been. Yang uppercut into its jaw and noticed how there were a few arrows sticking from its shoulder, though it didn't seem to bother the beast. She went with a jab then a hook, smacking the werelion back, but it came right at her quicker than she expected, and bowled her over. Its sharp claws landed on either side of her head, and it went to bite down on her face. Yang caught the beast's jaws in her hands and tried to hold it away, but it was slowly pushing closer and closer to her. She could feel the teeth pressing against her Aura until it weakened enough to slip through and cut into her fingers. She screamed and shoved the head upwards, and then a black blade flicked out and sliced cleanly through its neck, sending the head away and through the air. The body collapsed and Yang pulled herself out from under it as she looked to Blake, who was staring forward as the blood from the werelion seeped into her weapon.

Blake sheathed her cursed weapon and assisted Yang in standing up. The blonde brawler was about to thank her when she hissed in pain and looked to her cut fingers. Her recovering Aura was slowly healing them up, but the injuries were far more worrisome for other reasons.

"We've gotta get to a town or something."

"It's okay Yang. I don't think there's-"

"Blake, it bit me," Yang pointed out as she showed her bloody palms to her partner. "I don't know what the chances are, but if we want it certain I don't become the next cat girl on our team we need to find someone who can brew up the cure for this."

Blake stared at her wounds for a moment before nodding. "I'll try to get our horses. Just sit tight with M'rissi for now." The faunus then began running towards where Lucky Day had sped off to. Yang huffed and then looked to the Khajiit girl.

"Doing okay, kid?"

"Sh- she is not too terribly frightened now that the big cat is dead. Are you…oak-y?"

Yang laughed to herself a bit. "Yeah. Totally 'oaky'."

"So you guys were running from that thing for hours?" Yang asked as she tried to down the anti-lycanthropy concoction for the second time in her life. Blake watched her partner drink it in sympathy. After the attack, she also had to take one of those foul potions. "You couldn't kill it?"

"No, I had to make sure M'rissi was safe, so we kept our distance, but arrows only seemed to slow it down rather than really hurt it."

"I'm just glad you girls made it out alive," Gerdur commented as she set down some beef stew for them. Yang sighed happily as she smelled the cooking and Blake happily spooned some up. M'rissi looked at her spoon oddly and tried to mimic Blake's actions, but it became obvious fairly quickly she was unused to the implement.

"Here, like this," Blake instructed as she rearranged M'rissi's hand. The young Khajiit puffed her cheeks, and Yang giggled at the sight.

"Things got pretty exciting here today. Thalmor, dead mercenaries, and now a werelion attack not too far from town," the village leader said as she sat down to her own bowl, her husband next to her.

"Aye, so is the whole of Skyrim, and maybe even the whole of Tamriel." Hod looked thoughtful for a moment. "Might be the dragons. Ever since Helgen, everything's gotten more dangerous. Wolves and sabers have been attacking far more brazenly. Some giants have broken from their clans and become like bandits. There's even talk of vampires coming out in droves in the northwest. Heard some fellow is going as far as gathering vampire hunters at an old fort, planning to meet them in force."

"Don't be scaring the girls with your rumors and tales, now."

"Well, I've heard about the same with the vampires," Blake admitted. "We ran into one before coming down here the first time. I think I heard something about how a whole village in Hjaalmarch disappeared, and only a few were left, talking about vampires enslaving the healthy, and draining the sick or elderly. Don't know how much is true, but something's going on up there."

"I know Vilkas actually went out to hunt down a few vampires at a place called Mara's Eye." Yang smirked at the thought of him taking down evil vampires as a werewolf. It seemed fitting for some reason.

"So, there is that," Hod pointed out, much to Gerdur's displeasure. As the two began to bicker like the married couple they were, Blake's ears suddenly jumped up as she remembered something.

"Oh, I spoke with Albret," Blake said to M'rissi and Yang. "He knows a guy who can help us find out about the ring. An Argonian named Salthazar. Luckily, he's right where I'm headed, in Riften." Blake made a sign with her fingers as she said that, and Yang mouthed a silent 'oh' to her.

"Now that's where I heard some interesting things. Some crazy story about a dragon highwayman," Hod stated, with Blake beginning to squirm.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's...just a rumor..." As Blake continued to squirm, Yang and M'rissi, who was copying Yang, looked at her with narrowed eyes before a large grin broke out over Yang's face.

"How much did he take from you?" Yang began to chuckle, with M'rissi again copying her.

"...fifty septims. He'd only accept gold, so I had to get change from the driver..." at Blake's confession, Yang began to loudly laugh, M'rissi joining in while not fully understanding.

Gerdur blinked unbelievingly at that. "World really has gone mad. Starting to think Sheogorath has taken an interest in everything."

"I hope not," the two Huntresses muttered, not wanting another Daedra dragged up into their lives.

Ruby, high atop Chocolate Hooves like a mounted Oobleck, looked at the ruin's walls as they passed them by, gazing in wonder at the structure. As they went past the more sheer part of the mountainside, they could then see the rest of the ruins, which appeared to have several layers of stairs and a large entrance at its front. Curiosity driving her, Ruby slowed and Lydia with her.

"Hey, is this place on the map?" Ruby asked, her eyes never leaving the ruin.

Lydia made a quick check and nodded. "Rannveig's Fast. I'll admit, it is fairly-"

"Whoa! Wait!" Ruby yelled as she pointed towards an oncoming figure, near transparent with a slight glow. "Is that an actual… Oh geez!" Seeing that the ghost was somehow armed, Ruby hopped off of Chocolate Hooves and took out Crescent Rose, Lydia quickly following.

"I'm sorry!" the ghost called out with a pained expression on its face. "I don't want to attack you! I'm sorry!"

"What are you-?" Ruby ducked away from a strike and swiped at the ghost with the back of her scythe, only for it to pass through him like he wasn't even there. The girl stared dumbfounded, opening herself to an incoming hit, but then Lydia came forward and stabbed a shining sword different from her normal, steel sword into the specter. The ghost shouted as he stumbled back, and then seemed to fall apart and melt.

"Forgive me!" he shouted before turning into a puddle.

"Wh- What just…"

"A ghost can't be hurt by normal weapons," Lydia explained. "You'd need silver, enchanted, or daedric weapons to harm them. Otherwise, only magic will do it."

"Oh, right. Weiss mentioned something like that." Ruby looked back up at the ruins and frowned. "He said he didn't want to attack us. That's not normal for a ghost, is it?"

"No. Usually, if a ghost doesn't want to attack, it just doesn't. If they're attacking against their will…"

"Then something must be forcing them," Ruby finished for her. "I'd bet my next sword whatever's doing it is in there. We have to stop it!" With that declaration, Ruby began heading forward, but stopped in sudden realization. "I don't have any enchanted weapons. You wouldn't happen to have another silver sword, would you?"

"Sorry," Lydia said with a shake of her head. "Your sister just gave me the one. Apparently she found a bunch when those Silver Hand bandits attacked her and Farkas."

"Oh yeah, that." Ruby knew the truth behind that tale, but it wasn't her place to tell Lydia about it, even if she was sure that she'd keep it a secret as well as she did about Weiss.

"Don't you know a few offensive spells?"

"Um, sorta?" Ruby put Crescent Rose back and focused her magicka into her left hand. After a moment, a jagged, ghostly blade appeared in her grip. "Would this count as magic or daedric?"

"... Both, I guess," Lydia shrugged. The two tied their horses and headed up to the ruin. As they neared the entrance, two more ghosts ran at them, both apologizing for attacking as they did. Now equipped with an appropriate weapon, Ruby blocked the blade of one while Lydia went in with a swipe against the other. As Ruby fought her foe, her bound blade suddenly flickered away, leaving her suddenly unarmed. She gasped as the ghost swung for her, but then her breath abruptly felt hot in her throat, and one word came to mind.

"Yol!"

The ghost was covered in flames as they poured from Ruby's mouth. She held the Fire Breath for a few seconds, but then ran out of steam just as the ghost melted down. Lydia had already decapitated hers, the head melting into a separate puddle of ectoplasm, and watched her Thane with a raised eyebrow.

"You're not very experienced with that spell, are you?" Lydia noted, putting away her charge's lack of unarmed skill for later.

"No. I didn't really care for it too much, to be honest. Nothing too interesting about it once you've done it once, and there's no kind of challenge in making a weapon out of nothing." She looked at her hand. "I guess the challenge comes in keeping it."

"I can see that. Nothing beats the feeling of actual steel in your hand."

"Exactly!" Ruby rapidly nodded her head before regaining her composure. 'Now is not the time to geek out over weapon materials, Ruby!'

Inside the entrance, Lydia now taking point, the two found that the roof was open enough for some sunlight to filter in through most of the day, and dew and melted frost had dripped within. This created a perfect, moist environment, making the built-up soil inside something of a natural garden, filled with ferns and a few small tree saplings. Past there, still on edge, they went downstairs into the old crypt and through a bit of a zigzagged hallway, but stopped when another ghost turned toward them, drawing a ghostly axe.

"Please, no! Get away! I don't want to hurt you!" he yelled as he swung his axe at Ruby's neck. The girl backstepped and took in a deep breath before releasing her voice again.

"Yol!" she Shouted, holding the word as long as her lungs allowed. The ghost had staggered back, and seemed to be melting like ice cream on a hot day, but he was still intact enough to try and make another attack. This time Lydia cleaved through the gooey ghost, reducing him to ectoplasm.

Further into the tomb, they saw a Word Wall up ahead. As before in Bleak Falls Barrow, Ruby felt the Wall calling out to her, and a sense of giddiness began to fill her. She wasn't quite close enough to read it, but she could catch a few words here and there. However, she paused when she saw another ghost, who also spotted her, but before he could charge she summoned up her bound blade and leaped for him. His ghostly blade clashed with hers, but she made a slight twist, pushing his sword over before disengaging their deadlock and then swiping upwards, slicing through ectoplasmic flesh.

"Thank you," the ghost got out before he fully melted down. Ruby grimaced, and then looked back up at the Word Wall. The chest was also of interest, but not her focus. She walked forward and began reading it as she went.

"Something's not right here," Lydia mused, scanning the room until her eyes rested on a trap door leading to the Word Wall, with Ruby, in a trance, about to walk right onto it. "RUBY!" Lydia called out in warning as she rushed to her Thane, who was unable to hear her cries.

"Nonvul bron dahmaan daar rot-" Ruby chanted, barely feeling Lydia's hand grasp her shoulder. Suddenly the ground gave way beneath her and her housecarl, and the two fell with a shout. Their feet landed on something, but that gave way as well and then they hit a foot deep puddle of water with a splash. A quick glance around them showed that there were several bodies in the water, some of them looking bloated. Ruby had to hold back her gagging reflex at the smell, but then someone chuckling caught her attention.

"Oooooh yes, yes," A Redguard in black robes said excitedly from outside of the round cage they were in, a Nord woman lying dead at his feet. "You've fallen for my trap! Greed makes a great lure. Odd you didn't die from the fall, though. Most do."

"What the- You're the one enslaving all of the ghosts!" Ruby accused, anger rising as Lydia struggled to her feet, dazed by the fall but otherwise unharmed.

"Oh, was it that obvious? Heh, don't worry, though. Soon, you'll get to experience just how they feel." With a dark chuckle, he headed over to a table on the other side of the room. "All right, let's see if we have something here to end this as quickly as possible. Don't worry though. It'll be relatively painless. Relatively," he emphasized.

Ruby bared her teeth in anger, and she could feel the dragons within her baring their own alongside her. "I'll show you what's relatively painless! Fus! Ro!" With the two words of the Shout uttered, a ball of concentrated force hit the gate of her cage, blowing it off its hinges and away. The man yelled and stumbled back, trying to charge a spell, only to be interrupted when Ruby sped out of the cage and kneed him directly in the face with a jump. Unprepared for the attack, his back smashed against a bookshelf and he fell to the ground with a groan. Ruby took in a few breaths to calm herself, then looked at the table, seeing several vials of what she was certain was poison, as well as a journal. Curiosity once again filling her, she turned it to a random page and began reading:

13th of Evening Star, 4E 200

I haven't captured a soul for days, and the last victim died on impact. Of course I was still able to reclaim his soul, but without the thrill of killing, or any kind of torture, the process lacks that special something. The reclaimed souls I've summoned make decent targets, but taking a mortal's life is so much more...sweet.

Ruby snarled again. "You sick-"

The man, having silently recovered, screamed as he lunged for her, his hands aglow with a magic spell, but Lydia's shield slammed against his face, throwing him back against the round cage before running him through with her sword. He twitched and grasped at the sword, his eyes pleading for mercy that was not offered, and then fell still.

"Thanks Lydia," Ruby told her housecarl as she pulled the blade free and wiped it off on the dead mage's sleeve, "but I was hoping to arrest him and take him to prison somewhere."

"They would've either taken his head from his shoulders or hung him by his neck until death," she stated evenly and without an ounce of regret. Ruby silently closed her eyes and took a breath before nodding.

"I guess so. Just reading a little of his journal… He had it coming, sooner or later." Ruby began checking around all of the cages, seeing a dead person in a few of them, including an orc, a wood elf, a human, and a dog. Ruby moaned sadly at the sight of the dead Northern Shaggy Hound, but continued on, pausing at the table with the poison and alembics to see an odd gem in an open case, which she quickly took. Lydia had taken a key from their foe, likely unlocking the cages and the doors.

"Whatever spell he used might still be in effect for any ghosts left," Lydia warned as she took an iron dagger with a slight glow on it and handed it to Ruby. "Weak fear enchantment, but it'll do the trick. Do you want us to check and make sure we free them all?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. Let's free them."

"Well, I hope everyone learned something new today," Master Tolfdir said to his class as the lesson on magic armor ended. "Wait a moment," he called out as some students began to leave in a hurry. "There was something… Ah, yes! The dig at the ruins of Saarthal has recently excavated the site to the point it is now openly accessible and mostly safe. Safe enough that we've decided to invite some of you students along to join us in a few days. It will be a wonderful opportunity to study a piece of history up close, and gain a little experience in the field. If you're lucky, you may even find something no one has seen an example of in eons. Please see me, Madame Ervine, or Arniel Gane if you wish to join or gather more information. Thank you. You're all dismissed now."

The normal chatter at the end of a lecture was raised by several octaves after that announcement, and Weiss's group of what she was beginning to think of as her friends gathered together.

"Ooh, this is exciting!" Brelyna declared. "I don't think anyone's set foot in Saarthal since the Falmer sacked it during the Night of Tears."

"Wait, I'm a little lost on the history," Weiss admitted. "What exactly happened? Last I heard Falmer were frightening, but not exactly a powerful force to be reckoned with."

"Oh, I can help with that," Onmund said excitedly. "I studied the Falmer pretty in-depth a while ago. See, back in the Merethic Era, before people even had a dating system, so no one knows the exact years, Saarthal was the capital of Skyrim, established by Ysgramor, the ancestor of all Nordic kings, Harbinger of Us All. He wasn't just a warrior, though. Some say he developed the first Nordic writing system and was a skilled historian-" A quick cough from Weiss snapped Onmund out of his tangent, and he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Back on topic, Falmer were once the Snow Elves, who populated all of Skyrim before the Atmorans came. At first, things weren't too bad. Certainly much better than it was for the people in Cyrodiil with the Ayleids. Then, one night, for a reason no one has been able to figure out, the Falmer just suddenly attacked Saarthal, sacked the city, and killed everyone there. Only Ysgramor and his two sons survived to make it back to Atmora.

"After that Ysgramor led the Five Hundred Companions against them in a war that nearly killed off the Falmer, but the fighting seemed to have died down after the death of the Snow Prince. The Falmer fled to their Dwemer cousins, but the Dwemer were probably even worse for them, as they enslaved them, and forced them to drink a poison that blinded them. It wasn't until thousands of years later that the Falmer of today started appearing. Kind of sad, really."

"Yes. Men decided to kill off a whole race, and when it did not work out, their mistake comes back to nip at their descendants' heels," J'zargo mocked.

"Well, it wasn't that simple," Onmund defended. "Okay, maybe they went a little overboard, but that seemed to happen a lot back then. To them, it wasn't so much a war of extinction as it was just another war, like with the Ayleids and Cyrods."

"Even then, from what I read, the Ayleids had it coming. Based off what you said, you can't really say the same about the Falmer," Weiss argued. "The Ayleids oppressed the Nedes of Cyrodiil relentlessly for centuries, including torture and sacrifice. So when the Nedes finally rose up, they were suddenly able to release centuries of justifiable, built-up anger." Weiss paused as she let the implications of similar events back home sink in. "The Falmer attacked the Atmorans once, and in retaliation they get wiped out. Kind of disproportionate, if you ask me."

"Ah, now that much is true," J'zargo agreed.

"I- I mean-"

"No one's saying that Nords are evil or that Ysgramor was a bad guy," Weiss affirmed for her taller classmate. "Like you said, it's practically prehistoric. And we don't know all of the facts. It could have been that the Falmer wouldn't surrender even when they should have. Or maybe it was exaggerated and the Falmer were evacuating their noncombatants to the Dwemer the whole time. I can't imagine that they would have killed every Falmer to the last and come out feeling like the good guys. Even the Cyrodiilics spared some Ayleids that helped them against the majority. Though, the Alessian Order ended up chasing all of those away much later."

"Yes, there is a lot more nuance going on to every war, no matter how we paint them as good or bad," J'zargo added. "After all, did they not bury the Snow Prince in one of their Nordic tombs with honor?"

"Yeah, they did, actually," Onmund confirmed.

"You see. Wars are just terrible things all around. But, there are some things worth fighting for. It's all in how you fight."

"Oh, like how you always use the Token Mage deck whenever we play Legends? Because that's certainly fair," Weiss accused with her left hand on her hip and pointing at the Khajiit with the other.

"You could counter J'zargo if you tried," he teased back. "Instead you always go for the Swamp Leviathan or the Midrange Assassin deck."

"Well, perhaps if someone were willing to teach me, I'd be a little better."

"Oh, then maybe you should ask. J'zargo is certain that there is someone around here with skills in the game willing to teach a lovely young woman."

"Oh no," Onmund whispered as he and Brelyna slowly backed away. "It's… It's begun, hasn't it?"

"I knew this day would come," the Dunmer mage pouted, slightly scared. "But I still wasn't ready."