Of Elder Scrolls and Huntsmen: Dragon Rose

by JessesanMan

Team RWBY finds themselves in a strange, new world where Grimm are nonexistent and magic is commonplace. They journey to find a way home, but along the way are caught up in several ancient prophecies and must save this world they find themselves in. As time goes on, they adapt to the dangerous land of Skyrim and fight against its foes be they small, large, or godly.

31. Words to Anger

Despite having crossed it a few times in the past, the sisters still were able to look at the titular Dragon Bridge with an amount of awe. The large stone structure, emblazoned with a stone dragon head, ancient and weathered yet still standing, all of it caused the girls to let out small gasps of amazement as they walked across the bridge. Neriro was stunned by it as well, running his hand along the wall of the bridge as he passed by.

"This thing might be from the First Era, yet here it still stands, worn down but not worn away," he mused, continuing to run his hand along the wall. "The stories this could tell. If only."

"Those ancient people really built things to last, didn't they?" Yang asked.

The Minotaur smiled and nodded. "Seems so. Well, I'm going to check in with the Penitus Oculatus outpost. Hopefully they can give me some direction to work with." As he went into the village, Ruby and Yang both found themselves looking along the road that went eastward.

"Well, here we go again," Ruby said with a small laugh. "I wish I could go with you."

"Me too, Rubes." Yang backed up Lucky Day and then reached over to pull Ruby into a half-hug. "But Blake's done gone off on her own and she could really use the backup this time. Call me if anything goes wrong, though. No crime scene is more important than helping my family."

"I will. But you stay focused on the case." Ruby nudged her head against Yang's shoulder and let her go. As the elder sister rode away, she looked back at Lydia, who nodded before dismounting. Ruby joined her on the ground and the two led their horses to the stables.

---

Weiss looked over a choice between some elven daggers and Dwemer metal ones. One of the elven daggers had a beautiful topaz inset into its pommel, but it was also a lot more expensive. She hummed in thought while looking them over once more, then went to look at armor pieces nearby, holding J'zargo's hand all the while. Some people had been glaring at them since the moment they came down from the college to window shop and pick up some general supplies. Whether it was because they were mages or a mixed race couple was probably different for each person. Some might have hated both facts.

"They're still staring," Weiss grumbled. 'Honestly, is our relationship that interesting?'

"This one does not mind," J'zargo chuckled. "Let them stare. You are much more interesting to look at, anyway."

"Oh, stop," Weiss blushed. Before she could continue, there was a slight boom in the distance. Everyone, both in and out of the store, went still out of confusion and fear, but when the world was obviously not sliding into the sea and the College hadn't toppled over, everyone went back to their day.

"... What was that?" Weiss idly wondered if the explosion was the result of a spell, enchantment, or potion gone wrong.

"This one has no idea. Must have been an experiment," J'zargo dismissed with a shrug. Shrugging as well, Weiss went back to shopping. After gathering a few rings, necklaces, and other jewelry to enchant and sell back for profit, Weiss and J'zargo began heading back, discussing dinner plans when a Khajiit came running up to them, a wild look in his eyes. Weiss tensed when she felt that even J'zargo was readying himself.

"Ra! Khajiit has something important to tell you!" the stranger yelled when he came close, stopping just short of them and then gasping for air. "The heavens fell from the sky!"

Weiss looked back to J'zargo, who shrugged, his eyes betraying his state of confusion.

"What do you mean?" she directed toward the Khajiit stranger.

"The spheres! They broke into millions of pieces above the Sea of Ghosts!" he exclaimed while gesturing wildly. "Panic! Panic! Nirn is ending! Khajiit needs help, Dragonslayer!"

"Calm down," she insisted while lowering her hands, silently pleased at her growing reputation. "What exactly happened?"

"Shards of the stars! Magic everywhere! Boom! Lhajiito!" The strange Khajiit threw out his arms as wide as he could in emphasis.

"Uh, okay." Weiss looked back at J'zargo again before turning back to the strange Khajiit. "We'll look into this."

"Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! Khajiit thanks you!"

"Yes…you did." Weiss looked back to J'zargo once again as the stranger walked away in the direction of the inn. "What was that about? It looked like he had some skooma or something," she whispered to him

"This one is uncertain. Perhaps he ate a little too much moon sugar and saw himself too far into the sky. Skooma is also a possibility, especially among my kind." J'zargo mournfully shook his head before looking back at her. "But I did not see the more physical tells. Should we take a look?" Weiss contemplated for a moment, weighing the options in her mind, before shrugging.

"It might be nothing, but it will give us a chance to get some exercise at the very least. Let's see… North? Uh, let's ask him for more specific directions."

---

"This confuses her," M'rissi confessed while looking at the chart for moon phases as they pertained to the months. "Why must she learn this?"

"Well, there isn't really a 'must'." Brelyna admitted. "I just figured it was a good idea that you learn it while we wait to get your original memories back. It's supposed to be very important for the Khajiiti peoples."

"So she does not need to learn it right now?"

"I…guess not?"

"Then she will not bother." She made to toss the papers away, but then stopped herself and set them down. "She was already born and has her own form."

"I suppose that's true, but what about if you decide to have your own children?"

"Let M'rissi worry about her future kittens on her own. Besides, it does not matter what her children are. When they are born she will love and care for them and keep them safe and give them wonderful names. That is all that matters."

Brelyna blinked a moment before nodding. "I suppose that is true. Sorry, I guess I'll leave these kinds of things to J'zargo. He'd be more knowledgeable about these things by default."

"She thinks so, too. For now, she will go and see what Inigo is up to." As M'rissi gathered up her books and headed downstairs, Weiss and J'zargo came up.

"Brelyna, we're going up to the Sea of Ghosts to investigate something," Weiss began with little fanfare as she went into her room, emptied a bag of jewels and jewelry into a locked chest, and began gathering a few supplies. "Some Khajiit was yelling about a star falling, exploding, or some other nonsense."

"Stars can't actually fall. They're holes through Oblivion into Aetherius. Everyone knows that." Brelyna took a sip of a drink and shook her head. "Falling stars are a misnomer for odd pieces of creatia and magic that fall back onto Nirn."

"Yes, well, if it is a meteorite then we can have it for study, and possibly even get rare materials from it." Weiss slung her pack onto her shoulder. "And if it is somehow related to the stars that could be even better. Back home we could never study the stars much, though some scientists theorized that they're all massive orbs of burning gas that could be bigger or a little smaller than the sun, just very far away. While studies here show that's not the case, it's not as though people have flown up on a ship and gotten near them."

"Actually…"

"So, would you like to join us?" Weiss interrupted, not hearing Brelyna.

"Shouldn't someone stay behind to guard your friend's…friends?" the Dunmer pointed out.

"They'll be fine with Onmund. Besides, we aren't going that far. Just a few miles onto an ice sheet and then back."

"J'zargo?"

"It is interesting." He shrugged. "He wonders if we will find a true discovery or just a mad Khajiit's tall tale."

Brelyna sighed. "I should refuse, stay, and study for my project, but I'm feeling like going on a little trip. I think you infected me with some sort of nonsensical thirst for adventure."

---

"Inigo, where do kittens come from?" M'rissi asked with all of the innocence of a child. Inigo, however, paled and began to sweat.

"I feel trapped, like a wolf in a net. I am suddenly jealous of the bears that can get away by gnawing their paws off."

"Inigo!" she pouted, causing him to sigh.

"All right, I will explain, but not in detail. Basically, a mother gets with a father-"

"Haha, fooled you!" the girl suddenly called out before jumping onto the couch next to the chair Inigo was in. "Of course she knows where the babies come from! She just wanted to see you embarrassed."

"Well, she succeeded." Inigo laughed a little himself, then noticed an odd expression on M'rissi. "Are you okay?"

"Mostly. She misses Blake a little. She forgot what it was like to not have her. She is not alone now, but M'rissi has been with Blake almost as long as she can remember. That's not very long, but it's all she has until Blake gets back. At least she has you."

The male nodded. "True, at least I am here. That is something. But I feel like there's more to this."

"Her memories," the Khajiit girl whimpered. "What if she remembers so much she doesn't care about all of you anymore?"

"Oh, do not worry. Once you remember things, you won't forget us. In fact, you'll probably feel even better. Especially when it comes to Blake. Imagine how much you'll care for her when you know she's the reason you have your memories."

"That…is true. She did not think about it like that." M'rissi purred and whipped her tail up a bit. "She will feel better, assuming her memories aren't too bad. But…what about when she remembers her family? Does she have family to remember?"

"Oh, I bet you do." Inigo set aside his notebook and leaned forward. "In fact, let me make a few more bets. I bet you have a brother and a sister. Your sister, I bet, is a big and powerful Senche. Maybe even a Senche-raht. And she has a great sense of humor, and is shy around the boys. But your brother is the opposite."

"Then he is like Inigo, only smaller," M'rissis teased, earning a laugh.

"Yes. He's probably a Dagi. Perhaps when you were all kittens, he would climb up fruit trees to get you all a snack. I bet he tried to teach you a bit of magic as well, knowing that one day it'll be useful for you."

"And she would catch fishies to go with them." M'rissi giggled and then lowered her head onto the armrest. "Thank you, Inigo. Even if her memories are something completely different, she's glad that you would make up stories with her. She can only hope that they are real and great, maybe even greater."

"It's hard to be better than someone like me and with magic skill, but yes. I hope it's all better than suspected as well."

"Was your brother also great?"

"Oh, he was. I'd say he was the best brother I could've had." Inigo laughed. "You know, my mother used to call us Sky and Sun. Because of my coloring and markings," he explained, pointing out his white facial marks. "My brother, on the other hand, was golden-furred and a little round."

M'rissi laughed with him, and the two fell into a pattern of swapping tales, jokes, and stories. After a few hours, Onmund came in to search for a snack to eat, and saw Inigo asleep on the couch with M'rissi lying down, her head resting in his lap.

"Huh, guess they're taking a cat nap," he joked to himself as he looked around the pantry.

---

While Ruby was stretching out her legs just outside the Four Shields Tavern, she heard a clopping sound and looked to see Neriro, now wearing the standard Imperial leather armor, rushing over to her. He looked around worriedly as he closed in, causing Lydia to stand up with a suspicious glare.

"Ruby, there's a, uh, bit of a situation. You… The Penitus said you're a dragon slayer?"

"I've killed a few dragons, yeah," she confessed while Lydia's tension melted. "Why?"

"They told me to get you as quickly as possible, but not to let the word out. There's a dragon nearby. It's been attacking farms and villages, always aiming for their livestock first, leaving wrecked carcasses everywhere, then capturing people and pinning them on trees or leaving them strung up on buildings." The Minotaur snorted, and then shook his head. "Apparently the damn thing's been increasing the frequency of his killings, and now he's been at it for two days nonstop. A scout just got back, and they think they know exactly where he's going to be for a while. When they heard you were here-"

"Tell them I'll be right there. Come on Lydia. We've got a dragon to stop." Ruby rushed to the stables and got her mount ready in moments. As she was leading Chocolate Hooves towards the Penitus Oculatus outpost, she saw a Bosmer in uniform talking to two of the Penitus agents while holding the reins of a much slimmer horse, likely bred for short distance speed rather than endurance. As Ruby approached, the older looking Penitus agent nodded.

"You're the Red Dragonslayer, then. Right, so Smith Woodpad told you the situation."

"Dragon doing evil stuff. Gotta stop him."

"You've got to be kidding me," the Bosmer mumbled. "Sir, with all due respect, that is a child, even for humans."

"Hey! I'm almost sixteen years old!" Ruby objected.

"And I'm three-hundred and forty-two."

"Glaundal, that's enough. She might be young, but we know what she's capable of. This won't be the first dragon she's killed," the agent chastised, halting the Bosmer's protests. "Look, just lead her to where the damned thing is at and hopefully we can finally kill this dragon before it does any more damage."

"I you don't mind, I'll be tagging along." Ruby turned to see Neriro bringing up an ox with a saddle and a wide-ended steel warhammer in one hand.

"You're not a combatant," the younger agent began, only to get cut off.

"I'm off-duty right now until I'm given a new assignment. Plus, I owe these women for saving my life. If anything happened out there when I could've stopped it, I'll never live it down. Besides, this'll be the first time a dragon and a Minotaur have met face to face in a long time."

"Just don't get yourself killed, Woodpad," the elder agent said. "We need swords as much as we need soldiers."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Well, just when I thought we wouldn't get much slower," the Bosmer complained while he jumped up onto his mount.

"You worry about your speed, we'll worry about ours," Neriro threw back at him while hopping onto the massive ox.

"Godspeed, warriors."

---

Glaundal rode fast, but Ruby and Lydia never lost sight of him as they followed. Surprisingly, the ox Neriro rode was fast as well, though he was still a bit behind them. After a while, they began to see smoke filling the air, and Glaundal slowed his pace down. Once they started tasting the smoke, everyone had slowed their mounts into a trot. Just as it started to sting Ruby's eyes, they came upon a group of soldiers ushering citizens one way and trying to get situated in the other. An orc in steel centurion armor was trying to direct them with barked orders, only for a roar to cut him off followed by the bottom half of a cow coming out from the trees and smacking down several people in its path.

"Damn thing's toying with us!" he screamed. "Do we have any ideas how it's moving around so fast?!"

"I don't know, captain!" a man shouted back. "It just pops up wherever it wants!"

"You mortals could not comprehend my power even if I explained it to you!" a deep, gurgling voice called out from several directions at once. "Time is my wings! My scales can withstand any metal! My claws will rip any armor! My teeth will tear through any hide! My Voice will rend any flesh!"

There was a loud beat of wings and then the dragon zoomed by overhead. As it disappeared behind another treeline, something fell into the crowd and citizens began screaming. Ruby looked and saw that it was a man, only he was mostly ripped in half, only a spread of guts between the two halves connecting them. The smell of death came in with the smoke and Ruby growled.

"Dragon!" she yelled. "Dragon! Dovah!"

Suddenly the forests went still. Nature itself became so quiet that the fear-sickened civilians took notice and went silent as well.

"Who said that?"the dragon's voice called back.

"I am Ruby Rose, Dragonborn, Dovahkiin!" she declared as she dismounted. "You've brought too much suffering to these people! I challenge you, nameless dragon!"

There was a roar that made trees bend from its force. Many people had to cover their ears while Ruby stood resolutely against the force of the raging voice.

"You dare!" The dragon popped out and hovered, practically frothing as he stared down Ruby, giving her the first clear picture of him. He was mostly dark red, with black stripes running down his spine and making up his underbelly, a little larger than Mirmulnir, but more streamlined. "I am Volvaazvey! I am the terror that makes warriors and kings tremble like children! I am the one who rips and tears asunder all that displease me! You dare to call me nameless! I will destroy you, Dovahkiin! Not for any thur, but for your own slight against me!"

Ruby flicked out her scythe as she snarled at her foe. "Come and get me, then!" With that, she sped off towards the empty field west of the refugees and soldiers. The dragon came after her, roaring and raging with his mouth wide open to catch her. Ruby leaped over Volvaazvey and turned in mid-air, cutting at his neck as it passed by before jumping off of one of his spikes. Dragon blood hit the blackened field with a sizzle as Ruby turned back to face her opponent. Arrows flew through the air, but the dragon paid them no mind as he zeroed in on Ruby and began blasting balls and streams of fire in her direction. The girl dodged around the attacks and countered them with Frost Breath when necessary, all while trying to get herself in a position to attack. When he swooped down near her, she jumped up in a flurry of rose petals and cut his flank. The dragon roared and smacked her away with his tail before he flashed away in a Whirlwind Sprint before he began turning.

"My Thane," Lydia yelled out as she came to Ruby's side. "The soldiers… They said they have a scorpion, but it's the only one left. They might be able to kill him with it."

"Maybe, but he's fast," Ruby said as she stood. She looked across the smoking fields until her eyes landed on a cliff wall that made a small box. At about twenty feet high and with an incline leading up one side, it was almost perfect.

"Tell them to get it over there. Don't bring any attention to themselves while they do it."

"Are you sure you'll be all right?"

"I've got this. Don't worry. Go, he's swinging back!"

Lydia saluted her and began running back to the forces of Imperial soldiers. Ruby readied herself, and began running at the dragon coming her way. Volvaazvey roared before unleashing Fire Breath upon Ruby, only for her to dodge to the side and then jump up. She managed to hook her scythe onto the side of his mouth and swung onto his back, cutting the edge of his lip as she did. The dragon looked back at her, and tried to shake her off, but Ruby held herself in place while he shook, spun, climbed, and dove. She kept her eyes to the treeline, watching as several Imperial Soldiers moved the scorpion into place. Counting down in her head, Ruby jumped from the dragon's back and then raked her weapon's blade against one wing shoulder and membrane. Volvaazvey roared in pain, but managed to keep himself airborne a while longer as Ruby ran to the boxed area.

In between the two cliff faces, Ruby looked from side to side for anything that could further improve her plan. She saw a large boulder and smiled at how it had sank in to the higher ground. The sound of heavy footsteps started pounding closer, and then she saw Volvaazvey staring at her from the mouth of the miniature canyon.

"This is your grave, Dovahkiin!" the dragon snarled before coming at her, limping on his injured right wing. Ruby just smirked and then took a deep breath, feeling her energy coursing through her Su'um.

"Fus Ro Dah!" she Shouted. The dragon ducked, the concussive force passing over his head as he did. When it was clear of him, he smiled and laughed at her attempt.

"Were you even trying, mortal?"

"Not to hit you, if that's what you meant. I'm just tipping the balance." Ruby smiled with confidence, despite her back being against the wall.

Volvaazvey narrowed his eyes at her, before they widened at the sound of earth shifting. Before he could pull away, the large boulder fell and landed on his left wing, crushing and pinning it. He immediately began trying to push it off with his head while roaring, tugging hard against it. As he did, the soldiers finally crested the hill and aimed the scorpion down at him.

"Fire!" the captain screamed as the dragon turned his attention back. The large bolt was shot out and the dragon tried to pull himself out of its way, but was only partly successful. He roared in pain again as the bolt pierced through his leg, almost pinning it to the ground. The dragon thrashed about for a moment, while the soldiers rushed to try again.

"Reel it back! Reload! Reload!"

Volvaazvey collected himself and stared at Ruby with vitriol and hatred. He growled and then snapped towards her, forcing the girl to put her attention back onto the dragon and back away. He continually snapped his jaws, trying to pull himself closer to her even as it tore at his trapped wing.

"Oh no," Lydia muttered, taking out her bow and firing it as fast as she could. Some soldiers began doing the same. Soon, nearly everyone that wasn't rushing to reload the scorpion was shooting the dragon with a bow or crossbow. Even as arrows and bolts bounced off or sank in to turn him into a pincushion, Volvaazvey ignored them and even Ruby slashing Crescent Rose at his face as he tried his best to bring his teeth closer to crushing her. As the dragon's maw inched closer and closer to Ruby, Neriro looked down and shook his head clear before taking out his warhammer and running for the side of the cliff. Some people tried to reach out to stop him, but he was already over the cliff's side and headed down by the time they could touch his tail. The Minotaur let out a massive bellow that shook the air as he came down and brought his hammer to bear upon the dragon's skull. The contact rang out like a smith hitting an anvil as hard as he could, marking the end of the bullish battlecry as the dragon's head was slammed into the ground. Dust was kicked up, but cleared moments later to show Volvaazvey's head unmoving against the ground, a visible dent at the top of it and many scales and spikes broken off. Just as the soldiers were beginning to think it was over, the dragon started moving, only for Ruby to jump in with a spin, screaming as she stabbed Crescent Rose into the dragon's head. After a momentary thrashing, Volvaazvey's eyes rolled into the back off his head and his body began burning.

"What in the N- Eight?"

"Kynareth's breath…" Neriro mumbled as the dragon's body conflagrated. The wisps of energy began flowing into Ruby, filling her with visions of violence and fearmongering across generations, but they were easily looked over as Ruby rejected what they were and took in the power of her foe.

When it was done, only a dragon's skeleton, some scattered scales, and spatters of blood were left of him. The skull had a noticeable hole in it where Neriro's hammer struck, but besides that the bones were pristine. The soldiers began shouting in victory, and Neriro lifted up his bent hammer and let out a victorious bellow. Ruby looked to the celebrating men and women and saw the civilians coming up to see the aftermath as well. The Huntress smiled and lifted her scythe up and let loose her own cheer, and the people who had seemed so frightened to death only moments ago felt their spirits rise as they let out their own jubilations.

---

"Maybe we should have gotten a boat," Weiss said as she rolled her shoulder. Thanks to the location of the mystery thing they were looking for, Waterwalking had to be used often, lest they swim through the icy cold sea. While she wasn't entirely sure about what they were looking for, a shape in the distance seemed to stand out to her. The three began walking along the black sand shore, the shape they were looking at becoming clearer and clearer as they went.

"Is…that a face?" Brelyna squinted her eyes, trying to get a clearer picture.

"Or something close in likeness," J'zargo answered, just as perplexed as she was.

The three stopped when they were near the object and stared at it. It was entirely blue, and had the appearance of a face wearing a headdress of some sort, floating above a pyramid. Weiss began moving around, but paused in her steps when the face seemed to follow her. She took a few steps back, forward, and even ducked, all while looking at the strange object.

"Weiss?"

"It…the face of it, it's always directly towards me from my perspective. What about you two?"

J'zargo looked back at the object and made a few motions himself, Brelyna moving the other direction. "This one sees what you mean. It…does not seem real. An illusion?"

"I'm getting the same feeling," Brelyna added, stopping behind the vampire.

"Hmm, I wonder," Weiss mused as she took a few steps forward, looking at the pyramid structure underneath the floating head. Suddenly the blank eyes glowed.

"Discordant waveform detected," the face announced in a voice that somehow sounded both robotic and organic to Weiss' ears. "Please identify yourself."

Weiss looked back over to J'zargo, who seemed too stunned and focused in on the thing, his fur raised up on end everywhere she could see. A quick glance told her Brelyna was feeling the exact same way.

"I am Weiss Schnee," she offered to the mystery. "Who or what am I speaking with?"

"I am the Marker. Created to explore and enlighten. To bring wisdom to the people of Time. To further the cause of the Pantheon."

"Pantheon?"

"The Pantheon exists beyond the Spheres in the Untimes. You call us the Magna-Ge."

Weiss felt her lip drop and her mouth gape. As far as she knew, Magna-Ge were basically the third kind of original spirits, separate from Aedra and Daedra, who created the stars when they ran from the creation of Mundus. Even though she'd spoken with and even met Daedric Princes before, she never would have thought she would speak with any sort of Magna-Ge.

"A disruption event has destabilized the Pantheon," the Marker continued. "We have need of the support of an intercendent being. The Dragonborn was selected, and contact was planned to be established. You are the next phase of the mission plan."

"Next phase… So you want me to get Ruby to you?"

"That is correct. The Dragonborn, also known as Ruby Rose, is vital to the completion of this mission." Weiss felt something almost caress her mind as a soft glow fed its way from the Magna-Ge to her. "I have established a psionic guidance algorithm for you to guide the Dragonborn. You should establish contact as soon as Time-Fate allows." The Marker grew silent and Weiss remained unmoving, an expression of shock blooming on her face.

"Weiss?" J'zargo asked in concern as he came over to check on her.

"It's fine. It's just…" Whenever Weiss thought about telling Ruby about where the Magna-Ge wanted her to go, she felt an almost indescribable tug trying to pull her one way. She looked over to the west and wondered if that tug was towards the goal or Ruby. She tried to clear her mind of it, but found that to be harder than she thought. "Damn. Is this what birds feel like in winter migration? Okay, Marker, why should I even do this for you?"

"We can provide substantial rewards, including, but not limited to, items of value, unique collectibles, powerful tools, previously unknown and/or forgotten magic spells and rituals."

Weiss felt intrigued, but at the same time didn't want to seem too eager in front of the being. "I suppose that can work for now. I'll try to…guide Ruby to whatever it is, and we'll go on from there."

"Acceptable." When the Marker seemed to offer no other words, Weiss, J'zargo, and Brelyna looked at each other.

"Do you suppose this counts as a discovery?" Brelyna asked, silently wondering why this sort of stuff happened every time she went with Weiss.

"J'zargo's mind is still reeling from what he has seen and heard. We should probably figure this out after we return."

"Right. I'll call Ruby and let her know in a minute about this."

---

After getting back to the College just before dusk, Weiss' mind was still trying to sort itself from what it had just gone through. The tug came back every once in a while, but it was always when she thought about showing Ruby to wherever the Marker wanted them to go. While she thought about calling Ruby on her scroll, she passed by the alchemy rooms and then paused before heading back into them to see a massive, frozen liver sitting on one table while Tolfdir work on a slice of it.

"Is that the dragon's liver?" she asked, getting the old man's attention.

"Oh, hello Weiss. And yes, it most certainly is. There seem to be some very peculiar properties to it. Why, I think I'm getting closer all the time to figuring out how these dragons can fly despite their wings not being large enough to give something with that much weight lift, but some others have found different uses from the samples. One person, er, I forgot who, figured out that the spleen can apparently be used to combat alcohol poisoning or even just hangovers."

"That's…interesting." Weiss wasn't lying. It was simply the memory of her worst hangover coming back at her.

"Have there been other discoveries?" J'zargo asked in interest.

"Well, for one, dragon bones have to be one of the hardest, yet most flexible, materials we've ever come across. Why, it's probably stronger than ebony! There's also the blood samples, which we've had…mixed results with."

"How mixed?"

"Well, some of the students thought it'd be a good idea to chug down a cupful of the stuff," the teacher said with a groan. "They had to be rushed to the Hall of Healing and Collette had to watch them for days. The poor things were wailing in agony for hours. If we hadn't been treating them the whole time, they might have died." He sighed and shook his head. "But, each one of them bounced back and suddenly just had new skills or ideas. A boy who could never get the hang of dual-casting suddenly seemed to just get it. One of them understood the basics of advanced steel armor forging for some reason, despite never being at a forge before in her life. And another still could create dual enchantments. A sudden leap from a skilled protégé to a complete master of the art! Don't get any ideas though," he directed towards J'zargo, who certainly looked like he was getting them. "The effect seemed random, some of the new skills not useful to a mage at all. You might drink it and barely survive, only to wake up knowing how to sew shirts. Or you might not survive at all."

"Seems like a shortcut that is not worth the risk," the Khajiit concluded. "This one will become great by his own merit. He just wonders how dragon's blood could cause such things."

"We're not quite sure. We've been trying to see if we could somehow dilute it or mix it with something to cancel out the poison, but nothing seems to mix with it besides itself. It's not even dissolvable in water, which should be impossible."

"We'll figure it all out in time, I'm sure." Weiss gasped and looked down at her scroll. "If you'll excuse me, there's a call I need to make really quick."

"A call? I had thought you two were an item now," Tolfdir aimed at J'zargo.

"She means that she's going to begin a magical communication with someone."

"Oh? Right. I forgot about those things. Let me know when you make more of them. Something like that can only be useful, after all."

---

As Ruby and the Legion cohort made their way back to Dragon Bridge leading the refugees, she felt her scroll vibrate as her ringtone sounded. She took out the device and opened it to see Weiss calling, then answered.

"Hey, Weiss. How's everything?"

"Well, we figured out dragon blood is both poisonous and causes some kind of random increase in skill. Also, I talked with a Magna-Ge."

"Aren't those things up in the stars or something?" Ruby asked her partner as several soldiers walking near her turned to look at them speaking.

"Well apparently one came down to Nirn, and it wants you to do something for them. Now I have this thing in my mind trying to lead me towards some location, and I'm supposed to guide you towards it."

"Like a pigeon?"

"That…is probably not entirely inaccurate." Weiss looked down in thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Anyways, once Blake is finished with her task we should meet up so that we can get to the bottom of this."

"All right! Besties on an adventure!" Ruby cheered while Weiss merely stared unamused. Her eyebrow then perked up once she noticed a curious face peeking around Ruby's shoulder, wearing a familiar helmet.

"Are those soldiers behind you?"

"Oh, yeah. Killed another dragon. He was tormenting civilians and killing people horribly. A squad had to stay behind to try and get the bodies out of the trees. It was…awful." Ruby frowned a moment. "But, it's over now. We-" Another beeping started, showing Ruby that Blake was calling. "Oh." She answered and the screen adjusted to have both teammates on. "Hey Blake."

"Hey Ruby. Hi Weiss. Well, the ship's about to pull in to Solitude. We should be docked before night comes. How far out are you?"

"Um, we're coming back into Dragon Bridge right now."

"Dragon Bridge? You're still there?"

"Had to rescue people and kill a dragon. Sorry, Blake."

"No, don't be sorry for that. Just wish you had sent me a message. Anyways, that's maybe half a day away, so it's not that bad. I just got here first instead of the other way around. I'll look around while I wait for you to show."

"Okay. Oh, hey, Neriro will be coming with us. You should meet him, he's pretty cool. He helped out with the dragon, and actually cracked its skull. Like, he literally hit him so hard the skull cracked and caved in. Then I stabbed him in the brain."

Both girls flinched at that, Blake sucking air in through her teeth.

"What? If anything that's probably one of the most painless ways to die."

"Nothing. Just not a nice mental image," Blake brushed off. "Anyways, like I said, I'll be looking around until you come."

"All right. I'll see you then. I'll call once I get to the gates."

"Just be safe, both of you," Weiss warned them. "I don't want to have to stage some grand rescue operation because one of you got yourself thrown into some tower."

"No promises," Ruby joked, earning a smile from Weiss before she hung up. Blake nodded with a small smile as well before she too disconnected. As Ruby pocketed her scroll, a man suddenly came up to her from the village, wearing a courier's sash. He was wearing simple clothes and a hat, a far cry from the Courier she ran into before, likely meaning he was just the local mail man equivalent.

"Excuse me," he began, "are you Ruby Rose?"

"I am. What's up?"

"I've got something for you. Your hands only. Let's see here...," the medieval mail man rummaged through his bag a bit before pulling out a letter. "Courier station just got a letter passed through from Solitude Court. It's marked as urgent. Someone said you were around." He handed over a letter to her and walked away, and Ruby gently broke the seal before opening it.

Ruby Rose,

Over the last few days we've had some disturbing information come to light regarding the events at Wolfskull Cave and the summoning and binding ritual you interrupted there.

Given your involvement with that event I'm asking you to return to Solitude to help us once more. I'm wary of putting all the details in print, please come see me at the Blue Palace.

Sincerely,

Falk Firebeard

"Cheese and crackers," Ruby mumbled. "Well, at least we're headed that way."

"Everything all right, my Thane?" Lydia asked.

"Yeah. Just gotta make sure we drop by Falk when we get to Solitude. Looks like there's something to do with…" Ruby paused when a stray thought crossed her mind. "Actually, Lydia, let's see if we can head out overnight. I won't push it if you or Neriro don't think we should, but…this might be more urgent than we think."

---

As Blake stepped off the boat, she took a moment to rediscover her balance and slowly walked as her land legs came back to her. She started heading up to the city, but stopped when she saw a familiar, horned head.

"Last haul for today, mates. Get 'em up and barreled," a Redguard said as several men pulled up a net and sorted through its catches. "Movver, much better today. We'll make a fisher's grip out of those farmer's hands yet."

Blake focused in on the Argonian and approached him. He saw and recognized her, his eyes darting about as he took her in. Blake felt her blood boil at the memory of what Weiss had gone through thanks to him, and then the idea of how easily she could kill him came up.

The Blade could easily slice into his shoulder and through-

'No! I…am not a murderer.'

"Grelod's corpse and all of those slain assassins beg to differ."

'Grelod was an accident! Manslaughter at worst! And the assassins were criminals. Killing them was self-defense and…summary execution. He… Ruby said she talked to him already. He had his reasons.'

"Ah, hello…again." Blake wanted to scream at him for his plain looking expression, but then recalled how Saxhleel couldn't physically express most emotions without a good deal of effort, and so focused on his eyes, which did show a degree of sadness.

"I…don't know what I want to tell you," Blake admitted. "I'm angry, but…"

"I understand. I'm afraid there's not much I could do to make it up at this point. Your friend said you were all fine, but one of you was hurt?"

"She's fine, but there was…a while there that we were scared." Blake sighed and put her hands to her hips. "I shouldn't be the one to talk to you about it."

"I suppose you could always hit me like the red one did?"

"No. I'm afraid I might accidentally kill you." She wasn't lying. She really feared the possibility.

"Thank you for not doing that, then."

"Yeah." Blake moved past him and continued on to the city.

"For what's it worth, have a good day." Blake ignored him and just continued on.

The Faunus walked through the gate and into the winding down marketplace. Her eyes scanned crowds while she did her best to look natural and flow along with them. She broke off near the ramp that led up to Castle Dour and went up and to the side of it. Remembering the directions she'd gotten from a few sources, she found her way to the Thalmor Headquarters and headed straight towards them, recalling one piece of advice she'd picked up from Delvin when he wasn't acting like a condescending ass.

"Act like you're supposed to be somewhere, and almost no one will question you. When someone does, act surprised, lead 'em on to thinking you genuinely thought it was allowed or you were told. Just keep your story straight, and nine of ten times they'll just put you back out with none worse for wear. Best way I ever found how to scope a mark."

Blake already had a fabrication in mind. She was simply a Khajiit serving a justiciar, not an uncommon thing to be found among the Thalmor. Altmer may have made up the ranks of the Thalmor, but their servants were often either Khajiit or Bosmer. She even wore a dress more befitting a servant over her armor. She walked into the headquarters, doing her best to look as demure as possible, even as she noted the place to be almost entirely empty. She stepped in, and an Altmer sitting to dinner, wearing clothes more associated to Nordic nobility and high class looked over at her.

"Who are you then?" he asked, eyebrow raised in curiosity and not suspicion.

"Ah, this one is a simple servant, milord," she answered, making sure to keep her false accent at a manageable level in order to avoid overdoing it. "She was sent to prepare for her master's arrival."

"About the only one who bothers coming here besides me is Isael," he mumbled. "She left a while ago, and probably won't be back for a while either. She's never here for long. Probably like the rest of them; can't stand the Nords or their practices."

"Standing their barbarity must be a great task," she pretended to agree.

"Oh, it can be at times, but there are things to learn, even from backwards, self-destructing savages like them. Besides, learning to use their own methods to our benefit has only worked. Take your people for example. Why, you were all wandering about in the desert and jungles almost aimlessly before we set you up straight."

"This one is very grateful for your guidance." Blake wanted to gag, but the Altmer kept going.

"And then there's our 'shared' kin. Being carnivorous is one thing, certainly, but to go to the lengths Bosmer do… Why it's simply atrocious! You and your kinsmen are almost totally carnivorous as well, only eating a few fruits and your moon sugar, yet you don't have to fall back on eating each other when food is scarce."

"We…certainly do not."

"Makes elven kind look bad. Why, I'd almost prefer we have the Dunmer or Orsimer rather than those cannibals, if only they weren't Daedra worshipping heretics." He shook his head and scoffed. "You know, there is some evidence that points to Orsimer almost converting back to worshipping Trinimac and rejecting that blasphemous shadow Malacath. But of course it didn't happen. Now had it, the very face of history could have been changed forever. I mean, simply imagine what it would have been like to have Orsimer guided by the hands of their superior Altmer cousins."

"Very formidable, she thinks."

"Yes, exactly! Perhaps even over time they would have found themselves becoming more like their original ancestors. Not to our pedigree of course, but certainly much better than what they are now. Might even lose those ugly tusks along the way. But as they are? Might as well try to make elves out of goblins."

Blake nodded. 'Okay, guess I should…'

"Then there are those goblins, or Mulukrin as they call themselves now."

'Son of a bitch!'

Blake kept herself calm as the mer continued on his rant.

"We have goblins back on Alinor, you know. They're still savage like the old ones in Cyrodiil used to be, up until that Nord convinced them to try and join civilization. It makes sense when you think about it. Nords are about a level above where goblins once were, on average. A rather decent bridge to where the Cyrods are. And now it seems like goblins and ogres are improving where men are failing. It only makes sense. Goblin-ken are related to elves. Far off, of course, but closer than mankind can hope to be."

Blake internally groaned as she forced her assumed persona to continue smiling and listening.

---

Yang walked through the town that seemed to be built on a near-still lake. If it had been built on a swamp like most people accused it of, the water would have been a lot more fetid and the smell would have been worse. As it was, the body of water was connected to the river, it just didn't really flow in or out from the looks of things. Perhaps it seasonally changed, but Yang had no way of knowing that for certain right now.

Her attention was, instead, drawn to the burnt out house just down the dock/road from the inn. Jarl Idgrod Ravencrone had told her about the circumstances around it: Hroggar, the owner, had been out the night the house caught fire, by most people's accounts, with Alva. Now his wife and daughter, Helgine and Helgi, were dead, and he was staying with Alva. Perhaps if he hadn't been with her before the fire Yang would have figured it was just a neighbor letting him stay at their place after a tragedy, but from what she saw and heard he didn't even seem to be mourning their passing. She tried to question him, but he just brushed her off, saying he was trying to not think about it. It was suspicious, but Yang needed hard evidence or she might convict an innocent man guilty of nothing but unlucky circumstances.

"Hey, you there," she heard and turned to see an orc wearing a dark brown brigandine over a leather coat, a crossbow at his back and a stylized steel hatchet at his side. "You're a member of the Companions, right?"

"Armor give me away?" she asked with a smile. "What's up? You got a question?" The orc looked confused for a moment before nodding his head in understanding.

"Yes, a few, actually. You here about the vampire activity?"

"Nah, murder investigation," she said while pointing a thumb at the ash-covered house ruins. "Don't suppose vampires did that?"

"Not likely," he shook his head. "They don't like attention, or fire. Unless one of them screwed up something major, they wouldn't have done that. Especially here." The orc began to look around, scanning the area.

"So...interesting armor you got there," Yang observed. "You don't look like a soldier. Who ya with?"

"I'm with the Dawnguard," he declared. At Yang's look of confusion, albeit slight, he slightly shook his head. "We're a group of vampire hunters located out of Fort Dawnguard, southwest of Riften. We got reports of vampire activity in the area, and I'm pretty sure a coven is based somewhere nearby. Possibly even in the town itself." Yang suddenly snapped her fingers as she finally recognized the group.

"Oh, I remember now! Kodlak said something about a group of vampire hunters forming out east. Huh, small world," Yang smiled with mirth, her mind going over the possibilities, both good and ill. "I don't think I got your name."

"The name's Durak."

"I'm Yang." The woman offered her hand over and Durak took and shook it.

"Good to meet you, Yang. Tell you what, if you happen to find anything about some vampires, let me know. I'll do the same if I come across anything relevant to your murder case."

"Sounds like a good idea. Hope we both get to the bottom of everything going on around here. This place is all gloom and doom. They could use some good news."

"Like a pile of dead vampires." Durak laughed and then nodded. "All right. I'm going to be looking around the hills right in the east. I reckon you'll be in the town most of the time. Good luck, Companion."

"You too." As the two split up, Yang wondered just how likely vampires being behind the fire could have been. Obviously vampires didn't like fire, if Weiss was any indication, but that didn't mean they couldn't use or utilize it. Motive was still a big factor as well, and there were easier, less-likely-to-fail ways to cover up a death by vampire bite, again, something she learned from Weiss.

She stepped into the house and began to look around. There wasn't much, likely as a result of the simple passage of time, but she still had to check. At the very least, the Jarl had ordered the site to remain undisturbed, with a constant guard posting to ensure no trespassers. That meant nothing, presumably, was missing. She walked over to the side of the house, near where she assumed a window would be, and noticed that the soot was in larger quantities there than everywhere else. This was likely where the fire started.

'No signs of forced entry,' Yang shook her head. None of the walls were caved in, no shards of glass indicating a window broken from outside. Whoever did this started it on the inside, and either snuck in or, worse, expected to be here. Hroggar was starting to get a bit more suspicious to the huntress, but nothing was conclusive. She walked over to the other side of the house, near a collapsed bed frame, only to stop once she noticed some scratch marks on the ground, almost as if something got thrown. She sniffed, picking up the trace of three people thanks to her enhanced nose. There was definitely a struggle.

An image was starting to form in Yang's mind. Hroggar had become enamored with a young, attractive woman, and decided that he'd rather be with her than his wife and daughter. But, divorce laws were nonexistent in Skyrim, as far as she knew, so he couldn't simply divorce her. So, in a leap of logic that defied expectation, he decided to try and kill them, making it look like an accident. The wife caught him and tried to fight back, but a fire started and the two died.

'That doesn't seem right...' Yang shook her head. She could, somewhat, understand a man, or woman for that matter, deciding to go to someone new, current partner be damned. She had a few friends from Signal who did that. Called it "upgrading". She wasn't friends with them after that, but still she knew it could happen. But to immediately jump to murder? By all accounts, Hroggar and Helgine were happy together until their demise. Ruby had even played with Helgi when she was in town, albeit briefly and based off of what Lydia told her was a horrifying experience for all involved, but Ruby had nothing but nice things to say about them. It made no sense.

"What am I missing?" Yang sat down next to the broken bed, contemplating her next move, only to feel a chill run down her spine, the hairs on her neck standing upright. Something was wrong. She slowly turned around, only to see a pale, ghostly form emerge from under the bed. She jump back, slightly afraid, only to cock her head as the form changed into that of a little girl.

"Who's there?" the little ghost asked, whimpering. It... She was afraid. "Is that you, father?"

"No, no…" Yang began, trying not to freak out over what she was seeing. "Um, can I have your name?"

"Helgi, but father says I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." Helgi took a step back, still afraid although getting calmer by the second.

"Well Helgi, I'm Yang. See, we're not strangers now," Yang calmly said, taking a few breaths to calm herself. "I'm with the Companions, you see. Do you know what happened to your house?"

"The smoke woke me up. It was hot and I was scared, so I hid. Then it got cold and dark. I'm not scared anymore." Yang felt tears building up from behind her eyes, but held them back. "I'm lonely. Will you play with me?"

"If I do, do you think you can help me figure out who set the fire?"

"Okay! Let's play hide and seek! You find me, and I'll tell you! We have to wait for nighttime though. The other one is playing too, and she can't come out until then."

"Wait, what other one?" Yang wondered if she meant another ghost, her mother's, or something else entirely.

"I can't tell you. She might hear. She's so close. If you can find me first, I can tell you."

The child ghost then dissipated before Yang's eyes. The woman reached out towards her, but paused and looked around.

"Have to wait for nighttime." Yang looked over to the setting sun and nodded. "Right. Just a little while then."

---

Searching around the town didn't reveal much else to Yang. Night was about to roll in and she was beginning to think she would have to just search every inch of the damn town to find where Helgi was hiding when the time came. As she started thinking of a search pattern she could follow, she heard small footsteps behind her and turned to see a young boy, maybe a little older than Helgi had been.

"Hey kid, it's getting late."

"Late?" He blinked and looked up. "Oh, it's almost night. Hey, you're the one my mother set to look into the house burning down."

"Yeah, that's me. Wait, you're the Jarl's son?" Idgrod looked like she was around sixty, yet the boy couldn't have been older than twelve.

"Yes. My name's Joric. I… Well, you're looking for something, right? You should try the graveyard. It's to the west, in the hills."

"The graveyard?" Yang looked west, but didn't see any grave markers. "Where exactly is it?"

"You have to go up the hills, then it'll be between all of the crowns. It's hidden like that. Easy to miss. Easy to forget. I guess people don't want to be reminded. But I think they need to. Remembering can hurt, but it can heal too. Hroggar can't heal if he's not allowed to remember."

"Man, kid." Yang rubbed the side of her face. "You didn't have to go so deep. All right. I guess I'll start there." The Huntress looked forward and let out a sigh while standing up to her feet. Her eyes were caught for a moment by a man holding a lantern and walking down the road.

"Thonnir Stofleid misses his wife. She went missing a while ago. He hopes she just went to join the Stormcloaks and will come home, but a lot of people think she's gone for good." The boy suddenly gained a faraway look in his eyes before they seemed to go still and glassy. Yang waved her hand in front of his face before snapping her fingers near his ear, causing him to shake his head and look around confused.

"Sorry. I get lost sometimes. I'm not sure where I go, but I'm not… I'm not here." He looked back up at Yang and turned towards her. "You know, you're not like anyone else here. You're different, but that can be good too." The boy then started walking away, towards the Jarl's longhouse. Yang watched him go for a moment before taking in a deep breath.

"Weird kid. Still…" She looked back over to the graveyard. "Good advice."

She walked through the town as everyone went home for the night, trying her best to sniff the air as well as keep her eyes open. She stalled as she heard the sound of metal sliding against earth, then kept heading up the hill until she crested it. Like Joric had said, the graveyard was placed in between the hilltops, hidden from view, but now that she was looking in, she could see someone digging up one of the graves. Ready for whatever came up, she slowly approached the digging woman. As she came closer, she saw that the coffin was mostly uncovered and that it was small. The woman tossed her shovel aside and reached in before pulling up at the casket, partially dislodging it before seeing Yang and stopping, drawing a sword from her side.

"I- I'm warning you," she stuttered out. "Back off or- or else!"

"You're the one grave robbing here. I could easily take you in for that." Yang kept one hand near her axe as she stood her ground. "So what are you doing out here?"

"I- I-" The woman seemed to be shaking in her boots, then grimaced. Yang's eyes widened when she saw her teeth included a set of fangs and that her eyes were red and glowing. The Huntress prepared herself, not knowing how exactly this would down as she gripped her weapon tightly.

"Do you have anything to do with the burned house?" Yang slowly asked. As the vampire flinched and winced, she took in a deep breath through her nose, smelling a scent she'd come to partially relate to Weiss, only weaker.

"No one can know," the woman whimpered before her eyes shot open, her pupils turning into pinpricks. "No one can know!"

She charged Yang with her mouth open in a scream and her sword reared back. The Huntress prepared herself, drawing out her axe, only for something to fly by her and strike the vampire in her mouth, knocking her back and to the ground. Yang blinked, then looked behind her to see Durak reloading his crossbow.

"Found one," he quipped before walking forward and then nudging the corpse with his foot. "Just like I suspected. Cyrod Court vampire."

"Hold on a second," Yang said as she came forward. She looked at the exhumed grave's tombstone and saw the name Helgi Waterborn before placing her hand on the coffin.

"You found me!" she heard from the casket. Durak slightly jumped at the unexpected voice, but he quickly recovered and directed his attention to the casket. "Laelette was trying to find me too, but I'm glad you found me first." As Durak came over to listen in, the ghost's voice went sad. "Laelette was told to burn mommy and me, but she didn't want to. She wanted to play with me, forever and ever. She kissed me on the neck, and I got so cold that the fire didn't even hurt. Laelette thought she could take me and keep me, but she can't. I'm all burned up. I'm tired. I'm going to sleep for a while now."

The orc looked over to Yang and shook his head. "Damn! So there were vampires behind it. Almost took that little girl's soul, too."

"What the hell is going on?" Yang asked. "Why would the vampires want to burn a family to death, but then miss…" Yang went quiet as she thought back to Hroggar, only for her thoughts to be interrupted as a torch came into view and a man rushed through the graveyard.

"Laelette? Laelette!" he yelled as he came to the woman's side. "What have you done, you- By Ysmir…" he whispered as he lifted up her face to see her fangs and red eyes. "She- She's a vampire!"

The man pushed himself back and began shaking as he dropped his torch. Durak picked in the burning wood and stomped on some of the grass that had caught.

"Hold yourself together, friend," the orc told him. "You'll do her memory no good if you let it break you. Trust me, I know how you feel right now. I lost both of my wives to the abominations," he said with genuine sympathy.

"I- I always thought she'd left to join the Stormcloaks. My… My darling." He began to sob, holding his face in his hands, while Durak rubbed his shoulder in an attempt to provide comfort.

"Did anything weird happen before she left?" Yang gently asked. "What was she doing?"

"She…started seeing Alva often. Yet, only the week before she despised her. She said they'd had a heart-to-heart, and got to know one another better. She said she was going to see her the night she disappeared, but Alva told me later that she never showed. I never…got to tell her good-bye." He began sob again, while Yang got a contemplative look.

"Alva," Yang whispered. "It all leads back to Alva." Durak looked at Yang, his eyes showing he understood where she was going.

"Wha- What do you mean?" Thonnir asked, his eyes red from the tears. "You don't think that Alva could be…a vampire, do you?"

"It's certainly worth looking into," Durak contemplated.

"She couldn't be! Not- Not her!" Thonnir looked back over at his wife's corpse. "Laelette must have met her fate out in the marsh. I refuse to believe Alva of all people could have done this!"

"Well, I don't need you to believe it," Yang told him with a shake of her head. "I just need evidence. Believe what you want, whatever. I'm getting to the bottom of this." She looked back to Durak. "Think I found some evidence for your investigation."

"Seems so. Let's go."

The two headed out of the graveyard and back into the town. Durak started heading towards the inn, but Yang caught his shoulder.

"What're you doing?" he asked, confused as to why she was stopping him.

"We can't go in there and just shoot her in the head. There's a very, very slim chance we might be wrong. Even if we aren't, people are going to try to kill us before we can hold her mouth open and let 'em see the fangs. We should look into her house first. There's probably something incriminating there. If not, we'll catch and question her."

"Unless she's some kinda buffoon of a bimbo, she wouldn't just leave evidence lying around," he pointed out. "But I do see your point. How do we know which house is hers though?"

Yang gestured him to follow as she walked over to a patrolling guardsman. "Excuse, me, can you point me out to where Alva and Hroggar live? We need to ask one of them some questions."

"You're the one on that case, right? Well, Alva's house is over in the corner there, with the docked porch that leads onto the land, right next to that open space."

"Thank you, sir. Have a good night."

"You too, Companion. Good luck. Oh, by the way, Alva would be working right about now."

"We'll see her soon then. First we wanna talk to Hroggar."

"Ah, I see. All right then. Take care."

"You too." As the guard walked away, Yang turned back to Durak, who nodded.

"All right, I see. So now we've basically got the go ahead to investigate. And an alibi should things get ugly."

"Honestly, I was just getting directions. Those are bonuses." The two went over to the house the guard mentioned and Yang tried the knob only to find that it was locked. She thought a moment about picking it or just busting in when Durak went in and fit something into the keyhole.

"Lockbreaker. When you wanna be discreet, but have no patience for picking." He tapped it in with a hammer and then pulled it out, causing the knob to fall off.

"I was going to try knocking to see if that'd work," Yang said as she pulled the door open and stepped in. An iron axe came at her face, but she caught the arm and then jabbed Hroggar in his gut before shoving him back and ripping the axe from his grip. The man tried to scramble to his feet and Durak pulled out his hatchet, but Yang raised her hand to halt the orc before going in and then quickly putting Hroggar into a hold.

"He's been enthralled," Durak warned her as they struggled. "He won't give up even if it costs his life."

"Don't need him to give up. Just need him to give out." She quickly switched to a sleeper hold and held down the pressure. The enthralled man thrashed about, trying to get loose from her, only for his struggles to gradually weaken until he slumped in Yang's arms. She caught him and set him onto the nearby couch before letting out a huff.

"Okay, you get any rope or something?"

"Um…" Durak looked around and then took some leather strips from a tabletop. Yang looked at the length of them and then nodded.

"That'll do." She went over and began tying the man's hands behind his back and to his feet.

"You know, he'll keep struggling as long as Alva lives."

"Then we'll fix that, as soon as we go get her. First, let's look downstairs. I wanna set the record straight on all of this." Yang headed down into the basement and opened the door. The first thing she saw was how there was some bedding sitting in a coffin, then a little notebook sitting next to it. She picked it up and started reading it, at first sticking her tongue out when she read what sounded like some lovesick teenage girl's wishes for a prince charming, then stopped when she reached something about meeting a man who then 'showed her the truth.'

He has promised me a feast of blood if I do his bidding in Morthal.

"It's like a villain in a dumb, young adult novel," she complained before handing the diary to Durak, who read it a little and nodded.

"Yeah, definitely a vampire. And behind the murders, too."

Yang looked at the part Durak pointed out and felt her blood heating up, barely restraining herself from growling.

Hroggar's family is becoming inconvenient. I've told Laelette to kill them all, and make it look like an accident.

"Oh, I am so killing that home-wrecking skank!"

"So, what do we do next then? You seem to have this all figured out."

"First we tell the Jarl. Get some guards to arrest Alva or kill her on the spot, whichever works out. But first, you think we can get the location of this Movarth guy from her?"

"If he's her sire like this book indicates, then she'll feel an insane amount of loyalty to him. Laelette was a Court vampire, which means so is Alva and this Movarth." Yang was confused. Vampires formed groups? The only one she encountered was, by all accounts, extremely isolated. Durak picked up on this, and began to explain. "Courters are some of the tightest knit groups, just because of how slavish the childers become to the sires. Whether it's genuine or a side effect of the strain, we don't know. Never cared to learn, in any case. Funny thing is that Courters usually stick to Cyrodiil, which means these moved in. Vampires in Skyrim are usually Volkihar. Tougher, but much more individualistic."

"So she's not gonna betray him? That's just swell." Yang shook her head, idly noting how knowledgeable he was on vampires. He certainly knew more than she did, possibly even Weiss. "Okay, new plan. Tell the Jarl, let Alva think she's slipped away, track her back to her master."

"Hah! I like how you think, friend. Right then, let's go."

The two left the house, Yang telling some guards that Hroggar had gone mad and needed to spend the night in prison while the cure she gave him set in. They believed her, and took the man to the prisons figuring his yelling of how Alva was in peril to be a madman's screaming, one of them fitting a gag over his mouth to keep him from waking the neighborhood.

Yang and the vampire hunter came in right as the Jarl was leaving her courtroom to head to bed, catching the elder woman's eye and making her and her husband pause in their steps.

"Well, is Hroggar innocent or not?" Idgrod asked as Yang approached.

"Hroggar's innocent. Alva was the one who orchestrated the murders."

"Alva?" Idgrod raised her eyebrow. "Didn't think she had it in her."

"She does," Durak continued for Yang. "The woman's a vampire. She turned another woman named Laelette and sent her to kill them."

"A vampire? I assume you have proof of all this? Can't go making accusations like these without proof."

Yang passed over the diary and the Jarl began speed-reading. Her eyes moving along the lines quicker than Yang could think of them.

"That traitorous bitch!" the Jarl spat upon finishing. "Morthal owes you two a debt for this. And now we've got a vampire problem to take care of. You'll be rewarded, Companion, as promised, but we'll need your help again. Yours too, vampire hunter. This journal mentions Movarth, a master vampire I thought was destroyed a century ago. Take some guards with you to bring in Alva. I'll have some able-bodied warriors gathered together so that we can clean out Movarth's lair."

"You know where he's laired up?"

"Going by the words here, and by history, sounds like it's the same lair he was last seen in. Go on, we've got work to do to make Morthal safe again. You two, go with them. Aslfur, come on. We've got defenders to raise up."

As the two left with the guardsmen backing them, Durak went ahead and readied his crossbow while Yang drew her axes before sheathing the larger one. As they entered the inn, several folks gave them odd looks while both noticed the same thing.

"What's the big idea?" one patron asked.

"Looking for Alva," Yang explained as she sniffed the air before turning back to the door. "She's not here."

"She left a little while ago when a guard came by to tell her something," another customer explained. "Don't know what it was, but she got all worried."

"Damn it!" Yang muttered.

"Well that bit us in the ass," Durak grumbled. "She must have ran back with her tail between her legs."

"Well, we'll get her either way. It's just now we've gotta worry about them being ready."

---

Blake felt her eyes open and then suddenly sat up in alarm, a blanket falling from her back. She looked over herself and realized that she had fallen asleep at the table while listening to the Altmer, Orondil, prattle on about every other subject under the sun. She probably got too invested at one point, now that she thought about it. He had compared her and Khajiits to cats which made her, even in her servant persona, get defensive about it, but at least his point about it wasn't the worst she'd ever heard. Even some Khajiit called themselves cats, though most preferred not to be called such as it suggested they were more like house cats rather than something majestic like a lion or tiger. Lions and tigers happened to be his examples though, and then he went on to compare humans to apes and trolls, pointing more towards trolls for Nords and Bretons with apes for Cyrodiilics and Redguards. Then they discussed Imga, which Blake had never met but had read about, yet Orondil had met before. He said it was somewhat adorable how some of them wanted to be more like the Altmer, but that he would remind those he knew that they were not, and should, instead of shaving themselves to look like them, focus more on doing their best at being Imga for the Aldmeri Dominion. It was the closest thing to progressive he said since she stepped foot in this place.

"Ah, you're back in the land in the living," she heard and turned to see Orondil nursing a cup of something. "I was going to show you to a guest room, but you were out like a light after only a few minutes of silence. Travels can be quite tiresome."

"Yes, they are." Blake allowed herself to yawn and looked to a window to see the morning light starting to pour in. "If you do not mind, this one will just take a look around for a while and then be on her way. This one's master would like to hear back before she arrives."

"Of course. Go ahead dear."

Blake nodded and then headed up the stairs. Part of her wanted to check every room, but a practical part of her said to start from richest looking and work her way down. After all, Isael was the second or third highest Thalmor in Skyrim.

The first room she went into was extravagantly and disturbingly decorated. On one shelf, there were three different sized Khajiit skulls, two from humans, and another that she guessed was an orc's going by the tusks. She grimaced at them all and then rested her eyes on a small chest. Listening for any incoming feet, she took out her tension wrench and a lockpick and began working with the lock. As she kept going, she counted around nineteen tumblers before she finally pushed the twentieth into place and sighed as the lock turned. She opened the chest and reached in to find nothing except for a thick journal. As she put the journal into the inside of her disguise and went to continue searching, she felt her limbs go heavy and stiff before her body started being dragged back towards the center of the room where a malachite ring had popped up. Blake fought against the spell taking hold even as a purple shield appeared around her and her entire body froze.

'Oh god,' she thought in horror. 'Oh god, no!'

---

Yang, Durak, and a load of townsfolk armed with random implements turned weapons came up to the mouth of the cave as the sun began peeking over the horizon, but at the feeling of bone-biting chill, many of them began slowing down.

"Um, this place looks dangerous," someone commented.

"And it looks creepy too."

"And it's full of vampires?"

"Cowards!" Thonnir yelled as he walked up to the front of the group, an axe in his hand. "We have to go in and kill them before they kill us! We have to make them pay for what they've done!"

"Yeah, but," an orc in well-to-do clothes began, "how about those two go first? A trained vampire killer and a Companion…"

"Fine, all of you can stay out here and quiver. I'm going in."

"Not in front you're not," Yang said as she stepped ahead. "Let the tank, tank, okay."

"The…tank is you?"

"What's a tank?" someone whispered as Yang led the way in. It wasn't long before they were accosted by a few frostbite spiders, functioning a guard dogs, if she had to guess. Durak pulled up his crossbow and fired, nailing a frostbite spider right in-between all of the eyes, making it fall back dead, while Yang leaped down and cleaved the smaller one in half. They then ran further in, where Yang saw someone getting up from a chair and pulling up a battle axe. Yang clashed with the dead-eyed Redguard, then punched up into her gut, making the woman groan before falling over unconscious.

"Another thrall," Durak commented. "Looks like your everyday bandit, but who knows."

"You said when the vampire dies they get released?" Yang asked for clarification.

"Yeah, but it doesn't always mean they become good." The three paused as they heard someone humming up ahead.

"Well, seems like you have a little bit of gold left in your pockets, don't you, my friend?"

Yang jumped around a pillar and saw a man putting bodies into a freshly dug hole in the ground, searching around the pockets of one of the deceased. He looked up, only to take a bolt to his chest and stagger back. The thrall yelled in pain, but still managed to run out and at them as another one came from nearby. Yang blocked the one coming at them with a greatsword while Thonnir charged the injured thrall. Yang smacked the sword away before cleaving into the man with a heavy chop while Thonnir managed to cut the throat of his opponent. Another face popped in, only for Durak to fire and send a crossbow bolt through the person's eye. She went down like a sack of bricks, and Durak kicked her over as they went.

"That was another vampire. We're probably close to where most of them are."

"Then we're close to killing them all," Thonnir added.

The three came out in a wide, open cavern and saw a table set in the center as though it was presenting a feast. A quick sniff was all she needed to determine just what they were feasting on, and it made her blood boil. Three vampires stood up from its side while one stood at the head, a thrall by his side.

"Kill the intruders, my children," the head vampire declared before Yang hopped down and held her axe at the ready. One charged her with a powerful downward swing, but she blocked and kicked at one of his knees. As he went down from his knee going backwards, Yang cut sideways and removed his head. One vampire took a crossbow bolt to his chest before Durak came down at him with his hatchet, slicing through his undead flesh almost effortlessly, the runes etched into it glowing while he did. The head vampire came at them and Durak squared with his thrall while Yang shoulder-checked the katana wielding vampire.

"So, you're the one Alva warned me about," he hissed. "I guess I should have paid a little more heed."

"You realize I'm about to kill you, right?" Yang asked as she heard Thonnir yell while chopping into the last of the others.

"Oh, I'll survive. You, however…" The vampire yelled while coming at her swinging fast, his katana flashing about as she dodged. Just as Movarth's expression began to change into disbelief, Yang grasped the blade beneath her right arm, holding it between her arm and armor.

"Were you saying something?" she quipped before taking her waraxe and burying it into his side. The axe suddenly glowed white and Movarth let go of his weapon as his face shifted into one of pure fear. He tried to back away, and the axe ripped out of him and caused much of his blood to spill.

"No! No!" he yelled in fright as he tripped back and tried to crawl backwards away from Yang. "Help me!"

"I've got your help, right here!" Thonnir yelled before he ran up and buried his axe deep into Movarth's skull. The vampire's eyes roll back into his head, and then Thonnir twisted his weapon free, splitting open the skull. Just as the three were beginning to catch their breath, they heard a scream and turned to see Alva.

"No! You… You ruined everything!" she yelled as she ran at Thonnir, her fangs bared. Yang, acting on impulse and instinct, brought up her waraxe then threw it as the crazed vampire woman jumped the table. Its head sank into her guts and knocked her up and down into the feasting table as it began glowing white. Alva began screaming again, this time as though a massive monster was about to eat her, and then Yang swung her other axe down and chopped through her neck, catching the body and the table on fire from its enchantment. She pulled the axe loose from the burning corpse, and then looked at it in curiosity.

"Okay, what the heck is with this thing?"

"Let me see," Durak offered before Yang handed it to him. "Hm, feels like it's been enchanted with Turn Undead. Not only that, but it's a strong enchantment. This thing's just short of a holy artifact." He handed it back and Yang looked at it with a new sort of respect.

"Wow, that's pretty cool for something we found in a hole in the ground. Then again, it's a hole in the ground my sister found while being led on a spirit journey."

"What?" Durak looked at her oddly, while Yang merely shrugged.

"Thank you, friends," Thonnir said, getting the two's attention. "Thank you, for helping me to avenge my wife."

Yang reached over and patted him on the shoulder while Durak nodded.

"No problem at all."

---

He watched as the moons slowly drifted across the night sky.

"Looks like you didn't get much from them either," a familiar voice said. He looked back to see the same person from the ship, now at least with a shirt and a pair of boots.

"I was told to head to Balmora and deliver something to a man named Caius Cossades," he explained before turning back and looking up. "I haven't a single penny to my name, and only a handful of rations and a water canteen. They said I would be paid for it."

"You going to do it?"

"There's not much else to do, unless I wanted to become a bandit." He shook his head. "But I won't fall to that kind of low."

"Yeah, this is a new start. I might not know what you've done, but I'm glad my past is behind me. A whole new life… I think I'm going to make something of myself this time."

"Make something of myself…" He hummed. "Maybe."

---

Weiss woke up, and the first thing she did was touch Azura's Star, hoping for some answer to her strange dreams, but nothing was forthcoming. Giving up on solving it now, she took out her journal and jotted down what she could remember. One page had the first dream, and the next had a quick sketch of the Dunmer's face. Sighing, she put the journal down and laid her head back. Something patted nearby, and then a body shot up from seemingly nowhere and landed on her with a shout. Weiss felt the air knocked out of her and began struggling.

"Good morning, Weiss! Brelyna told her to wake you up!" M'rissi greeted, smiling at Weiss, who was practically smoking from how angry she was.

"I'm going to get her for this," Weiss seethed. Meanwhile, Inigo and Onmund laughed from outside the door.

"What if she finds out it was us?" the Nord asked.

"She won't if you don't say anything, because I certainly won't."

---

Blake figured she was stuck for close to thirty minutes. Testing, she found she was still able to talk, but didn't want to call for help just yet. Orondil might have been relatively nice about some things, but he was still a member of the Thalmor, and would more than likely turn her in to his higher ups. So the last half hour or so had mostly been Blake attempting to move her hand towards her pockets so that she could get her scroll and call for help. It was slow going, but she had gone from having her hand in front of her chest to next to her waist after all this time, so she felt like she was relatively close to her goal.

Then her ears caught the sound of footsteps coming. Her breathe hitched for a moment, before a pale Altmer woman in Thalmor robes walked in and observed Blake with amusement. She knew who the Thalmor was immediately. It was Isael!

"Well, well, look at what the Khajiit dragged in," she started off condescendingly. "So wonderful to meet the one who's been hindering my search parties."

Blake growled. "You've been sending those people after her. I don't care what you want, you're not going to get her."

"That little beast belongs to me. Of course I want it back. Tell me, how is my toy faring?"

"She's not…a toy!" Blake growled out, clenching her teeth as her body strained to move. "And she isn't yours! She's a living, thinking person!"

"Oh please! You're just animals meant to be hunted and toyed with. And your shrieks are much more delightful than a stray housecat's." The elf giggled as Blake felt her rage only increase by the second.

"You're a monster!"

"Hardly. I just see the reality of things, while a bunch of soft-hearted fools walk about wasting time and effort trying to help the lesser creatures of Nirn. Now, you're going to explain why you were in my private chambers rooting through my things."

"Go die in a hole, save everyone else the trouble of digging you one."

"So rude! I feel like I should punish you for that." The Thalmor agent twirled one hand while rubbing her cheek with a finger. "Hm, well, I could always save the good ones so that my dear little pet can watch. Oh, wait, now I know. It must want her memories back." She laughed to herself and leaned her head. "It might be amusing to look at its distorted face! Yes, I'm positively impatient to see such fear and pain!"

Blake's expression shifted. "Wha- what?"

"To watch it recalling everything I graciously took from it: the death of its family, the death of its hopes, the death of its trust… Marvelous! All that humiliation and slowly increasing pain! Ah, I barely can control myself, mmm…"

Blake looked forward with absolute disgust. "I was wrong. Monster's too good of a word for you. There is no word for something as twisted as you."

Isael just laughed. "Ah, you managed to entertain me. As a reward, I'll tell you the password. It's 'Power'. But it does you little good, where you are now. You're in my clutches, with no way out. I have another cat to catch, but don't you worry, I'll be back for you." She turned and began sauntering towards the door. "And since you seem to care so much for one another, it will be extremely pleasant to watch you suffer together."

After Isael was gone, Blake felt her anger steadily increasing, even as she continued to push to reach her scroll. She didn't know how far out Ruby was, but she needed to get a hold of her and hopefully get her to help her escape. She didn't even know if Isael knew where M'rissi was, in which case she'd have to warn Weiss as well, in case they couldn't be able to intercept her. Every muscle in Blake's arm pushed itself to the limit, trying to reach to her pocket.

'Come on! Come on!' she thought. 'I have to escape! I have to…get out of this!'

Blake looked around herself, at the fluctuating purple prison.

'Can my Semblance get me out of this?' she wondered. 'I've never been in this kind of situation before. But, maybe, if I try-'

Suddenly she felt something happening to her. A blue magic began to wrap around her from within the bubble before she saw herself beginning to flake away into nothing.

"Am I-

-being teleported?"

Blake blinked and looked around herself. She was somewhere out in the wilderness, among trees, mountains, cliffs, and a nearby river. There was smoke in the distance, and a small boat in the river. She wasn't sure exactly where she was, but she was pretty certain that most places in the wilderness didn't sport wooden pedestals with paper notes set on them, usually. Cautiously, she walked over and picked up the note to read it.

I'm sure by now you've realized you stand no chance against Isael on your own. Lucky for you, there are others who would see her destroyed. If you truly care for your friend, you will meet with me as soon as you can. We will provide you with the key you need to put an end to things once and for all. You'll know how to find us when the time is right.

Ulquarrion

"Ulquarrion?" Blake wondered aloud. Thunder sounded out and Blake looked up to see storm clouds heading over from the north. Blake felt something against her side and the reached in to feel the book she stole from Isael's room. She took it and opened it up to see it was written as belonging to Isael, which she'd labeled as a casebook. Flipping to the first page, she saw that across the face of it was a sketch of three Khajiits, a female, older than the other two but still young; a young male, maybe a five year old going by the size; and another girl with her face hidden behind the boy against the elder girl.

Amongst the group of captives, an interesting individual attracted my attention. A very young female Khajiit stood out from the yelping multitude. It actually seems curious. I do wonder how it can still enjoy the world, which has, by no means, treated it kindly, considering all that happened to its clan, the death of relatives, and so on. None of this has forced this young beast to withdraw into itself, unlike so many others of its kin.

At that very moment, it dawned upon me: what if I test this specimen? Eventually it could dispel my tedium! I bought the promising creature along with its younger siblings, two mere whelps, male and female, into my home. There was something affecting in how it clasped them to its bossom. I wonder how those two will become useful for me.

As Blake read on, she could only feel her anger growing more and more palpable as the situations worsened, as the games became crueler, and as Isael's sadistic treatment of them continued to grow.

At last, the moment I've been waiting for! M'rissi loses itself and, pushing the saved male whelp aside, dashes for the hopeless female prey to help. It doesn't know that all its efforts are in vain. The little Khajiit bitch was being kept alive only by my good will, well, keen will, at least- and the moment M'rissi moved from its male sibling, I stopped pumping life energy into the female one. The body falls to the cold stone at her feet with impeccable timing, at almost the exact moment she reaches it.

As ruthless and rage-filled as a pureblood Dremora lord, M'rissi pounces upon one of the dogs. Khajiit claws and fang might be a tough weapon, and the poor loyal wolfhound feels it badly right now. However, rage dims feline vision, and the test subject just loses sight of the other dog, who immediately changes his aim and rushes for the just 'saved' male whelp. M'rissi's brother clings fast into its corner and cries. The test subject at once realizes its mistake, and the horror of this realization freezes it in its place.

After that point, Blake dropped the book and roared into the heavens, promising in her mind that she would make Isael pay dearly.

---

After a night of riding carefully up the mountainside from Dragon Bridge to Solitude, Ruby, Lydia, and Neriro finally dismounted near the stables at Katla's farm. Letting Lydia take Chocolate away, Ruby headed straight for the gate of Solitude while pulling out her scroll and calling Blake. After about seven rings, no answer came, and Ruby stopped the call. She hummed and checked to make sure the magical attachment wasn't loose or anything before trying again. As she passed the inner gate and entered the city proper, she hung up her second try and sighed.

"Might still be asleep," she reckoned and so headed towards the Winking Skeever to ask if Blake was there, only to receive an all-around negative. As she started calling her again, she focused on casting and brought up a clairvoyance spell. She followed the blue light trail as her scroll ringed for Blake once again. Some people gave her odd looks, but for the most part continued on with their day as Ruby followed her only lead past Castle Dour and to a door with a plaque next to it that read "Thalmor Headquarters".

"Blake," she groaned, a little mad that her teammate went ahead without her. She opened the door easily and looked inside to see an Altmer cooking at a fire.

"Excuse me," she began as she entered the room. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. Young woman. Black cat ears. You wouldn't have happened to have seen her?"

"Oh yes, the Khajiit girl. She went upstairs to look around the rooms for a bit. Do you…" The Altmer looked her up and down for a moment. "Are those…dragon scales? You're wearing dragon scales for armor, a red cloak…"

"Oh, so you heard about me?" Ruby asked with a smile.

"By the gods, I'm not sure whether I should be excited, afraid, or appalled. Uh, please, go and…see your friend while I collect myself."

"Appalled?" Ruby thought out loud as she headed towards the stairs.

"No, appalled was the…wrong word for that. Shocked, maybe? Yes, that's actually far more accurate. I am shocked."

Ruby shook her head slowly and rolled her eyes as she climbed the stairs. "Blake?" she called out as she started opening doors and looking around. "Blake?"

After looking into every room, Ruby began to get worried. She went back to one of the larger ones then looked towards a table of food and walked over to it before noticing a sketch. She picked it up and realized that it seemed to be M'rissi in a dress, but drawn from behind. Ruby folded the sketch back and immediately headed downstairs.

"Where'd she go?" she asked, catching the elf's attention.

"Your friend hasn't left. I've been here all morning, and she hasn't-"

"Who else has been here?" she demanded, her tone growing angrier. "Did anyone else go upstairs?"

"Anyone? I… That's Thalmor business. I honestly don't have to tell you as much as I already-" His words were halted when Ruby lunged forward and lifted him off the ground by his belt before tossing him over herself and across the room. The Altmer rolled and made a face of pain as he clutched himself before Ruby walked over and stood above him. She drew Dawnbreaker and gripped his shirt collar before pulling him close and holding the blade parallel to his neck, her eyes completely focused on his fearful face.

"You're going to tell me exactly who came here and where they went!" she hissed.

"I- i- it was Isael," he groaned out. "She…came by for a short time, but I didn't even think they'd run into each other. I don't kn- know where she went! Honestly! She said something about following a trail from a toy! I don't know what that even means!"

Ruby seriously thought about driving Dawnbreaker into his cheek for giving her useless information before she gritted her teeth and blinked before letting him go and standing up. Part of her were yelling to discipline him for disobeying her in the first place, while another part was telling her than she needed to remain calm. She tried meditating, focusing on bringing herself under control, then she heard her scroll ringing. She whipped the phone from her pocket and sighed in relief when she saw it was Blake calling her.

"Blake!" she cried out, actual tears coming when she saw her friend safe.

"Ruby, you called me three times. What's going on?"

"Blake, I'm in Solitude. Where are you?"

"I think I got teleported somewhere south of Dragon Bridge. I was trapped in some magical force field Isael made. Ruby, that woman's completely insane! I've only glanced at her casebook on M'rissi and… Gods, it's made me sick to my stomach!"

"I'm just happy you're okay." The girl looked down at the Altmer she had threatened and then helped him up to his feet. "I'm so sorry about that, mister. I'm a little tired and I let my temper got the better of me."

"Then please, get more sleep," he begged as she helped him into a chair.

"Ruby, did you accost Orondil?"

"I- Yeah," she sighed. "Again, I'm really sorry for that whole thing. It obviously wasn't your fault."

"I'm all right. Just a bruise to my ego…, and a few ribs."

"Here," Ruby offered while funneling healing magic into him. "Oh, Blake, he said that Isael is following some kind of toy trail."

"M'rissi. She wants her back. She wants to torture her. She talked about causing us all kinds of pain like…"

"So, there were some merit to the rumors," Orondil said as he adjusted himself. "Thank you, miss. I'm well now."

"Again, I'm so sorry."

"Apology accepted."

"Wait, what rumors, Orondil?" Blake asked, causing Ruby to turn her scroll towards him.

"You sound different through this thing," he mentioned before shaking his head. "Well, the rumors have mostly been variations of how much of a sadistic sociopathic psychotic narcissist she is, and before anyone thinks 'oh, so your common Altmer', she's at the degree that some of the most corrupt officials wish to have her removed as well. Unfortunately she never goes quite outside the boundaries. Always brushing them. At least, as far as anyone can prove. I'm certain that if there was a serum that forced people to tell the truth to any question asked she'd admit to crimes punishable by Soul Capture and Consignment to Oblivion."

"You mean you take people's souls if their crimes are horrible enough?" Blake asked in utter shock.

"That's the Imperial version. It's only been used six times in the last two centuries, and three of those were people who committed the worst of offenses, like premeditated child murder, without remorse. Each Death by Soul Capture needs unanimous approval by a specially convened council. Then, once the deed is done, the Black Soul Gem is given over to whichever Prince's summoning day is closest. At least the Aldmeri Dominion just tosses the Soul Gem into a portal to nowhere and be done with it."

"So you've heard that Isael is bad enough people would be willing to do that to punish her?" Ruby asked.

"If they didn't just slay her to avoid the mess. I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet. She's been a detriment, if nothing else. Elenwen's probably been looking for a reason to send her back to Alinor since she arrived."

"We can't let her get M'rissi," Blake said resolutely. "I won't let her."

"I'd love to help you, truly, but I'm afraid I have no information to help you with."

"Then I'll just need to get back to Winterhold. Ruby, I'm headed there. Ship's the fastest way between the two, and Solitude's the closest port city. Just hang tight."

"Sure Blake. You be safe getting up here." As the two hung up and Ruby put her scroll away, she looked back at Orondil. "I can't tell you how sorry I am about that whole thing."

"Oh, do stop. You were able to throw me across a room with little effort. If anything I'm more embarrassed than angry. Just go get that sleep you need to not bodily toss grown Altmer around like playthings. And don't worry, I won't say a thing. As far as we're concerned, this talk never happened."

Ruby nervously chuckled and left the headquarters before going downstairs. She recalled the letter from Falk and decided the one more quick stop before a nap wouldn't hurt, and so headed towards the Blue Palace. As she did, Lydia caught up to her, Neriro having split off into Castle Dour proper.

"Well?" the housecarl asked.

"Looks like Isael is insane enough to where the Thalmor are willing to turn a blind eye to us going after her. So, nothing new there."