After the girls were caught up on the history of the Simulacrum, they sat in quiet contemplation for a moment.

"So," Yang began, breaking their awkward silence, "when Jagar used the Staff, he probably sent Uriel VII to Remnant."

"I don't think it was Remnant he was sent to," Weiss explained. "For one thing, he would have mentioned something about it if he had, but instead he kept everything to himself, as though deeply affected, perhaps traumatized. Him being sent to the Deadlands would perfectly explain that."

"True," Yang conceded with a nod before Weiss continued.

"Also, I think we would have heard something if he had come to Remnant. He might not have been the greatest fighter or mage, but he would have known the basics behind magic by virtue of royal tutors and the like. Even Lydia knows how to cast basic flame and frost spells for fire-starting and putting fires out." Ruby nodded as she recalled the times she saw Lydia use the low-powered spells to accomplish those very things. Sometimes it took her a minute to concentrate on using them, but she could do it. It just wasn't very useful for fighting at her skill level.

"Yeah, word would have gotten around if someone was able to show people how to use magic without Dust," Blake agreed.

"Problem with that," Yang spoke up. "I've been talking to Vald about magic, trying to get better at it, and he says that magic comes directly from Aetherius. More specifically, the big hole in the sky Magnus made when he nope'd out of there to escape Mundus' creation. We've already figured out that Remnant is outside of the Aurbis, and he says that anything in the Void is cut off from it. Ergo, no magic. So, it very well could be that he did go to Remnant, he just couldn't use any magic.

"Even if that's not the case, it could be that he ends up in our future. Maybe way in our future," Yang argued. "Heck, we might get back and run into him with how wonky the time stuff is. We know Team JNPR was still at Beacon watching Zwei the day before we ended up at Solitude, and I'm pretty sure they would have mentioned stopping a demon invasion, so they poofed close to the same time or after we did. But apparently they popped up two hundred years ago."

"I'm sorry, what?" Valdimar asked. He had walked over when he heard Yang say his name. She smiled and waved him off.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Vald. We're talking about planar travel and how to get back to our world."

"…I think I'm going to go make sure the perimeter is secure."

As Vald hastily walked away, Yang let out a small chuckle. "He's a good guy. Pretty in shape, too, for fifty-eight."

"Back to the discussion at hand, it doesn't really matter whether or not Uriel ended up on Remnant for a time. Fact of the matter is, there's some sort of connection between Nirn and Remnant. It probably has something to do with how we got here, and the Staff of Chaos is our one physical clue." Weiss began to twirl a lock of hair while she contemplated different ideas. "Azura's clues point to Lorkhan, who's usually depicted as a serpent or a man. He was considered a Padomaic being, or a being of change, so something like chaos would be right up his alley. Sheogorath has some sort of relation to Lorkhan, and would also appreciate chaos and disruption. Neither of these are good prospects in looking for a way home, as Lorkhan is the 'Missing' God and Sheogorath is the Mad God."

"What if we got this Staff?" Blake asked. "If using it is what caused the connection, then maybe it can send us back."

"Not a bad idea, but the problem there is we have no idea where the Staff is, should it still exist." Weiss blew out a puff of air. "There are contradicting statements on the Staff's fate. Some say it was destroyed, but that's likely not an insurmountable obstacle considering Eternal Champion Talin was able to repair it once. Others say it was cast into Oblivion, and searching for it there would be like looking for a needle in a haystack if the haystack was the size of a major city and eternally on fire in some places. Even if it's only locked away in the deepest vaults of the Imperial City, they have no reason to give it to us and every reason to keep it locked up."

"So that's basically a dead end," Ruby concluded with a groan. "We're still only running on partial info. We've got to find something solid if we want to get home. Weiss, if another one of those guys comes up, you need to make sure he tells you everything. I'm not saying grill him, but do it if you have to. He said the connection has been around since forever, but the Staff only made it visible or something? How the heck do they know either of those things? If they know about us, do they know about JNPR? Do they know if anyone from Nirn went to Remnant? Are any of those people still alive? If they can figure out the thing about the Staff then surely they should know some of that stuff too."

"Yes, you're right." Weiss nodded and hummed. "I practically have a list already written up. I don't know if another Psijic will ever come up, but if they do, I'll try to get clearer answers."

"That's pretty much all we can hope for. All right. So, plans right now: Blake's getting on a boat first thing in the morning. Right after that I'll head down to Morthal to meet up with you, sis. Then we'll drop by Ustigrove so I can put the Horn back."

"Ustengrav," Lydia's voice corrected from the room over.

"Right. Then me, you, Lydia, and Valdimar will head back to Whiterun together."

"Awesome. Sounds like a plan."

"When I get a chance I need to meet up with you, Ruby," Weiss added in. "It's getting really annoying having this tick in my brain. Also, the Magna-Ge might be able to help us further as well."

"That's true. All right, after I swing through Falkreath we'll find a way to meet up. Everyone good?"

"Yeah."

"Yep."

"All right. Good luck finding that thing, Weiss. See ya later, Yang."

Ruby hung up, and Yang right after. Weiss sighed and placed her scroll back in her robes before looking down into the icy depths of the Midden. She walked down a small tunnel and saw a door before her, but when she reached to open it a voice echoed out.

"Your perseverance will only lead to disappointment." Weiss went still for a moment, but then took on a resolute expression. She reached again and tried to open the door only to find that it was locked. "Still you persist? Very well, you may enter."

"That wasn't too difficult," she muttered before the door opened before her. There was a sort of large hearth-like structure taking up the center of the room, but the material within, rather than burning wood or the like, was some sort of gel-like substance that had a blue glow spread throughout it, giving it the appearance of embers. As Weiss approached, a transparent orb coalesced above the strange place. "You're the Augur of Dunlain?"

"I am that which you have been seeking," it answered. "Your efforts are in vain. It has already begun. But those who have sent you halve not told you what they seek. What you seek."

"Story of my life," Weiss groaned. "Well, I was told to find you, and here I am."

"Indeed. You have come, but you do not know why. Like others before you, you blindly follow a path to your own destruction. The Thalmor came seeking answers as well, unaware that they will be his undoing."

Weiss eyes went wide at that revelation, the slight anger building in her from the Augur's accusations fading away.

"Your path now follows his, though you will arrive too late."

"You mean…Ancano was here?"

"Yes. He seeks information about the Eye, but what he finds will be quite different." Weiss tried to think back if she had seen Ancano coming down to the Midden, but couldn't recall seeing him. Before she thought too far about what he could've come for, the Augur of Dunlain continued. "His path will cross yours in time, but first you must find that which you need."

"And just what do I need?"

"You, and those aiding you, wish to know more about the Eye of Magnus. You wish to avoid the disaster of which you are not yet aware."

"Avoiding disaster always sounds good."

"Then, to see through Magnus' Eye without being blinded, you require his staff." Weiss blinked, wondering just what kind of staff he was talking about. "Events now spiral quickly towards the inevitable center, so you must act with haste. Take this knowledge to your Archmage."

"I will. You wouldn't happen to have any other information I could use?"

"There are three other major events concerning you occurring at this moment. Follow the Marker's instructions, and lead the Red Intercendent along the path. More information will become clearer as you do this, though your actions in this path will lead to various consequences, great and small.

"In assisting the Black Shadow, you must trust in her choices, however wrong they may feel." Weiss wondered just what kind of choice Blake could make to make her question helping her, then decided not to think about it just yet. "Her reasoning will be founded, and the path she walks may yet brighten for her and the others who follow her.

"You all wish to find your way back to your world. It is strange. I know nothing of this world, but others may yet know slivers of details. The Goddess of Dusk and Dawn predicts all shall return, yet there may be more far more to put back into place than yourselves. This is all I can know."

"Thank you for that much then. I…suppose I'll go back now. Tolfdir said hello, by the way."

Yang smashed the Marshborn Blight against a spider's head, crushing and ripping off part of the exoskeleton near its many eyes. The creature hissed and chittered as it backed away and seemed to dizzily drop and pick itself up.

"Damn it," Yang muttered. "Yeah, I'm just no good with this thing. Vald, you wanna have a go?" she offered while holding out the mace's hilt to her housecarl.

"I suppose I'll try," he said while taking it. He took a few steps towards the dazed spider and then swung up, hitting its face and destroying the head. "Hm, good weight to it, actually. Mayhaps maces aren't your thing?"

"Guess not. I'll just stick to my fists and axes then." Yang spied another spider nearby, but then someone popped out from behind a tree and plunged a sword into the joint between the head and abdomen. Curious, Yang began walking over towards the stranger, noting it was an Argonian by the tail. They were wearing an old black robe that seemed more suited for a funeral than an outing, steel cuffs, and a hood, with scales that were a rust red color bordering on orange. The Argonian looked up at her as she came near and seemed to focus in like a predator as Yang stopped a few feet away.

"What you want, stranger?" the reptilian person asked in a feminine voice, cluing Yang in that this was a woman. "I have a date with the marsh, and the chaurus that call it home."

"Just giving a new weapon a test run. Supposed to be effective against pests and bugs."

"Pests, heh? Maybe you should be careful, or it'll hurt you too. At least the bugs don't talk to strangers."

Yang could practically feel Valdimar growing angry as he came up to stand behind her. She let it roll off her shoulder, though, and decided to leave it be.

"Sorry about bothering you. I was just hoping to be civil."

"And the politeness continues!" the Argonian exclaimed. "Perhaps I'm speaking to a noble! My apologies, my lord!" She made a raspy, somehow enunciated, laugh. "Don't worry travelers, I meant no offense. There are simply so many bandits here in Skyrim, and such few persons of character. As for my name, my clan once called me Anum-La, but fighting folk call me the Swamp Knight."

"Nice to meet you Anum-La. I'm Yang Xiao-Long. This here's Valdimar."

"Valdimar Bear-Feet," the housecarl greeted, his anger and tension slowly melting away. "I am huscarl to Thane Yang." Yang was slightly surprised at Valdimar's use of Nordic, but took it in stride.

"Oh, so I was speaking to a lord. Or something close to one. The whole Thane thing seems quite confusing. At least Bretons and Imperials have a set system."

"Meh, I just killed a bunch of vampires and saved the town. They had to give me something." Yang waved it off like it was no big deal, and the Argonian laughed. "So, why do folks call you Swamp Knight?"

"Well, it's a short story. I carry a sword. I'm from the swamps of Black Marsh. Do you need me to continue or can you piece it together from there?"

"Come on," Yang goaded, deflecting Anum-La's sarcasm. "There's got to be more to it than you being an Argonian."

"You're a clever one! Saw right through my glib response." Yang smirked at the compliment, even if it was likely meant to be backhanded. "Alright, I'll tell you, but it's a long story, so you might want to sit down for this one."

"Well, we can walk and talk. You're going to Morthal, right?"

"Certainly better than sleeping in that old tomb up north." Anum-La began heading south, Yang walking alongside her and Valdimar behind them. I was hatched in a small, tribal village, lost in the swamps between Thorn and Helstrom. In other words, in the middle of nowhere. As the hatchling of a small and pitiful clan, I could afford to travel to the city and train under the guidance of the tribal guard."

"You would've had to go by boat, right?"

"Right you are. But few boats stopped by my village."

"Was it just that isolated?"

"There were visitors. In fact, every few years a recruiter from the city would come to the village and conscript those in the clan who showed promise." She made a sound that Yang figured was the Argonian equivalent of a scoff. "Only a handful of hatchlings were chosen. All of them males. Males I had bested in combat a hundred times over. I'd figured the only way to be a soldier was to train on my own. So one night I went out into the deepest swamps with nothing but a Hist branch."

"What'd you do?" Yang asked, a little fearful of where this story might turn.

"I committed myself to killing a feather serpent. I thought, on the second night, I'll vanquish three. By the first hour, my only goal was to survive." The Argonian woman shook her head. "Somehow, I managed. I labored through the bog and hid inside a hollowed out tree. I waited and watched for predators. And as I watched, I learned."

"What'd you see?"

"I saw how the serpent camouflaged itself into the foliage. How the leviathan waded effortlessly through the swamp, simply by refusing all effort. I saw how on bright days, the lizard used the hackwing's own shadow to scuttle around unseen, and how on dark days all creatures clung to the mist. By the time I was grown, I could slay five feathered serpents with a single slash, and do it with my eyes closed," she declared proudly.

"Nice," Yang drawled with a thumbs up. "Still, that just tells me why, but not how. Might've gotten Swamp Hunter or Swamp Fighter, but Knight?"

"True enough. The name came when I joined a company of fighters, many of whom were celebrated warriors from all over Tamriel. There were members who served as honor guards for tribal chieftains, and those who trained under guild masters and various regiments of the Empire. There were even retired assassins from the renowned Shadowscales of legend. But none knew of who I was, or why I was recruited to join the company."

"Really? How come?"

"The truth was I was never supposed to be there. I found the invitation on a courier while traveling west towards Gideon. Undaunted, I told them the story of how I trained to become a knight. I used the exact word. In truth, I had only heard the word "knight" in passing. But when travelers from strange lands used the term, their words spoke with a heavy tone with reverence. That's how I wanted them to speak about me."

"Wow! I think that's…the most primal reason everyone feels when thinking about knights or becoming one."

"Ain't it, though? Heh, well, the company, of course, laughed uproariously at my expense. They dubbed me "the Swamp Knight," and I've been that ever since."

"Well, not every origin story is sunshine and family outings. Sometimes it's swamp water and bad jokes. Gotta ask though, did they ever question you coming with them?"

"Oh they did, but Dalum-Ei assured them I was on the up and up. He was our leader, and the one who assembled the crew. I never asked him why." Anum-La shrugged with her hands held out. "Maybe he was just curious. Maybe he ascribed it to fate. Maybe he thought he could make a wife out of me." She made a couple of raspy laughs at that. "Poor fool never had a chance."

They came upon Morthal just as the sun was beginning to touch the tree and mountaintops in the distance. Yang looked over at the Argonian woman and nodded at her.

"Well, it was good to meet you. Maybe sometime we can bash some heads together. Probably not going to be my last time in Morthal."

"Maybe. Hope you're better with your axe than you are with a mace."

"Hey, you saw that?" Yang laughed. "You really are observant."

"And you're a good listener. Maybe next time, you can be the one to explain your life in ten sentences. Might even be interesting to hear. Have a moist- Wait, you humans don't like that. Have a good one."

"You too."

Ruby watched as Neriro sharpened up the last piece to a silvery, razor edge. He held it up and rubbed a thumb against it before humming and nodding, then set it on the table next to the others.

"There you go. You sure this will work?" He stepped back, allowing Ruby to step forward, Crescent Rose in hand.

"Worked with steel, it should work with pretty much anything." Ruby set Crescent Rose, bereft of its blade segments, on the table then began assembling the black pieces. As she quickly fitted each one into place, Neriro watched with interest that reflected Ruby's earlier curiosity. With the last, still warm component bolted onto the end, Ruby lifted her scythe then folded and unfolded it a few times. When there didn't seem to be any kinks or complications, she smiled, folded it back up and hugged the weapon.

"Good to have you back. Thanks Neriro. You're a lifesaver."

"It was some hard work, but worth it if it means you're back at full power."

"And boy was that hard." Ruby set Crescent Rose at her back, feeling the weight difference in the weapon compared to before. "I didn't even have to be that careful with malachite, and that stuff's actual glass."

"It wasn't that I had to be careful. It's just that beating away on ebony won't do any good. Hit it as hard as you can, it's only going to shift and change so much. The real key is patience. You work with ebony, expect to take a long time with it. We're just lucky you had that scythe and could make those molds."

"Yeah. Uh, feel free to keep the old pieces, by the way. And thanks again for helping."

"You're welcome. Take care, Ruby."

The young girl nodded and began heading back to her new house. More of a mansion, the place was large, three stories and a basement, with three main bedrooms, and another in the basement as a servants' quarters. Ruby barely knew what to do with so much space. She walked in to see Jordis cooking something and Lydia looking in a book nearby.

"You're sure it says a leaf of nirnroot?" Jordis asked, apprehension in her voice.

"It's pretty clear. I suppose it gets diluted by the tomatoes or something…" Lydia sounded confused, and scratched her head.

"Since when was cooking alchemy?"

"Whatcha makin'?" Ruby asked as she came up to sniff the pot.

"Hello, my Thane," both housecarls said at the same time before looking at each other in surprise. Lydia shrugged and Jordis turned back towards her.

"We're trying out a recipe from one of the Gourmet's cookbooks. We're…a little concerned about one particular ingredient."

"I think nirnroot is used in invisibility potions. Hold on." Ruby took out her scroll and texted to Weiss.

Hey is nirnrootsafe to eat in a soup?

After a few moments, a response pinged up.

In very small amounts, I am told. It's supposed to add a 'zing'.

Another message pinged up a second later.

Onmund just explained that you're supposed to remove the actual plant after it's done cooking. He normally boils it separate in a small amount of water and then adds the broth.

Ruby tapped a message back.

Ty BFF! Ill let Lyd know33 ;)

"You're supposed to boil it then remove it." Ruby put away the scroll, and the housecarls turned their attention back to the pot.

"That's what it says in the book."

"I'm still not too sure…"

"We can always make separate portions so that we can try it with or without," Ruby suggested. "That's what me and Yang used to have to do when she kept putting way too much pepper in our mac and CHEESE! WHY DOES SHE PUT SO MUCH DANMED PEPPER IN MAC AND CHEESE? IT'S SUPPOSED TO TASTE LIKE CHEESEY PASTA NOT PEPPERY!"

Jordis looked on with wide eyes before Lydia patted her shoulder.

"It's fine. She calms right back down."

"Phew! Sorry about that. Bad memories of me practically choking to death on some of Yang's cooking. Anyways,where's the pots and stuff?"

After trying both versions of the Tenth Province Stew, with and without nirnroot, Ruby found she liked the kick it gave, but not when so concentrated. So, she mixed a little of the 'with' into the 'without'. It was almost like eating spicy food, but more electrical than fiery. While eating, she noticed Lydia descending into a despondent look then pick herself back up, only to fall right back. Wondering how to approach the situation, Ruby pushed her empty bowl away and turned towards her housecarl.

"Hey, everything okay, Lydia?"

"Everything's fine, my Thane. Just thinking."

Ruby wasn't convinced. She looked over at Jordis, who seemed to figure out what was needed and stood up and began collecting the dishes before taking them down to the kitchen. When she was gone, Ruby looked back at Lydia.

"Seriously, what's up? Is this about when we were headed down Potema's tomb?"

The housecarl released a sigh. "It's just… I've been hurt far worse than that, before."

"I'm sure, but the thing was we weren't even halfway through. The next horde was way worse. I almost got overwhelmed by them. If I didn't have my speed and Dawnbreaker, it wouldn't have gone half as well as it did." Ruby's tone was serious, and had Lydia's full attention. "And then there was the draugr lord. Whoever he was, he was a skilled scythe wielder. He fought almost like my Uncle Qrow, but with a Thu'um of his own. Against a normal person, he would have cut them apart. Aura was pretty much my only advantage there, along with knowing how he moved. If you had come with me…you might have really died down there."

Lydia's eyes dropped at that, causing Ruby to feel a pang in her heart.

"Look, don't beat yourself up over it. You're a great fighter, and strong warrior, but… Look!"

Ruby reached down and grabbed Lydia's chair. Before her housecarl could make any objections, she lifted both woman and chair up into the air, earning a yelp from the Nord. Jordis came back in and stared wide-eyed at the scene before her.

"This is barely straining me," Ruby explained before she gently set the chair back down, Lydia's eyes as wide as dinner plates. "Between my Aura getting boosted with every dragon killed, the Sleeping Tree Mammoth's blessing, and who knows what else, I can throw you into the air in full armor. You're not weak, Lydia. You just got set with a girl who's almost freakishly strong."

Lydia looked over to her, questioning in her eyes. "Then how do I get that strong?"

Ruby opened her mouth to answer, before she realized she didn't really have one. "I don't know… I unlocked mine when I was really young. I spent years training before doing it." Ruby paused, and raised her finger idly in the air. "There is a ritual, of sorts, where one person with an unlocked Aura can unlock someone else's…"

"Can you do that, then?" Lydia sounded hopeful, but Ruby shook her head.

"I can't. I don't know how. I think Yang does. Weiss mentioned learning it." Ruby sighed. "But…Weiss and Blake are afraid of diving into this too soon. I can definitely see their reasoning, but I don't feel like we've made any progress determining whether or not we even can do it here."

Lydia nodded at that. "I see. What sort of…training was it?"

"Um, sort of a cross between exercise, art, and meditating. Kinda hard to explain. Everyone did theirs differently. Mine was a lot of running, singing, and looking through old photo albums with my mom in them. Yang's was more punching stuff and some dancing. I'm not really…a good teacher for this stuff. My dad could've probably gotten you set on some training regime a week after meeting you." Lydia looked down then back up and nodded.

"I understand. I'll try asking the others for help when I get the chance."

The door opened and closed the level below them. Jordis snapped back into the real world and went about her duties as Blake walked up the stairs.

"Hey Blake, we were wondering where you were. There's some stew left in the… Are you okay?" Ruby asked when she noticed the blank look on her teammate's face. Then she noticed that the black, red-detailed armor Blake had taken to wearing was fully displayed. "Where'd your over-clothes go?"

"Too much blood," she muttered. "Too much… Damn cults." She shook her head and then knocked on the side of it. "Sorry, Ruby. I only meant to take a walk, but then I came across a cave where a spriggan was dying. I went in and there were people planning to kill two others. I stopped them, but…" She sighed. "It was messy. On the bright side, the spriggans gave me an old helmet that happened to belong to some veteran." She shrugged and then headed over to the pots next to the fire. "There a difference?"

"Right side's spicy, left is plain."

Blake took up a bowl and began spooning up some stew into it.

"You're not still worried about the Thalmor woman, are you?"

"I'm going to be worried about her until we manage to stop her for good. It looks like things might come apart under her feet, so we've got that going for us, but we still need to avoid her until then." The Faunus sat down and took a spoonful of stew before nodding. "Spicy. I like it."

"...If I may ask," Jordis' voice was strained, "can one of you explain just what 'Aura' is? I am completely lost."

The others went silent, but before Ruby could speak up to answer, Lydia got out of her seat and escorted Jordis downstairs. As the tops of their heads disappeared beneath the stairs, Ruby looked at Blake, still eating her stew. She wondered how Jordis would take it.

"They're WHAT?!"

She got her answer.

After Ruby and Blake said their goodbyes at the docks and Blake took off back for the east side, the young Dragonborn headed back into the city, planning to stop by and say goodbye to Neriro as well. On the way there, she noticed Jordis giving an awfully hard glare at a couple of Bosmer hunters shopping at the hunting supply store.

"Uh, what gives?" Ruby's question caused Jordis to slightly jump.

"Huh, sorry my Thane, lost in thought." Jordis was admittedly a little jumpy upon learning her charge came from another world, but soon accepted it, just as Lydia had. Still, Ruby suspected her current disposition had nothing to do with that, with roots stretching back much farther.

"You were staring at those elves like they killed your dog," she pointed out. "Wood elves, specifically. You seem okay with others, but every time we go by Bosmer you get all stiff and start glaring."

"Sorry. It's just an…old habit."

"Staring at wood elves is an old habit?" Lydia asked.

"Look it's… It's a bit of a long story. I'm maybe a little older than you, twenty-eight."

"I'm twenty-six," Lydia answered.

"Right, so I was only a baby during the Great War. My elder brother was already grown by then. He was a housecarl to an old Thane of Haafingar. The two went to war, and the next my family heard, they were dead. My mother and father kept pressing them to return his remains, and after being dodged for months, they took the case to the High King. When he said the Legion should return them, they then explained what happened. They had been fighting a Bosmeri unit. Noth-," she choked up, biting back tears. "Nothing was left. They ate them, turned their hides to leather, and carved their bones into tools and arrows. All I could remember was…rage. My father nearly choked an elf to death the next day."

"Gods..." Lydia gasped while Ruby remained silent in shock and horror.

"It's been that way for a while. I try to remember that not every Bosmer is that way, that the ones living here in Skyrim likely had nothing to do with it. But every time I see one of them, my blood just boils at the memory."

Ruby saw the grief and shame on her face, and nodded. "It's okay to feel bad about it, just don't let it get to you, okay," she said in a soft tone. "At least you try to be understanding. I don't understand myself why so many Bosmer live like that, but we can always keep in mind that the ones here are usually pretty good people." Jordis didn't seem fully convinced, and then Lydia grabbed her shoulder and turned Jordis to look at the hunter's stand.

"If I might make a suggestion," Lydia put in. "Look at their bows. What do you see?"

"Um, strings and wood?" Jordis hazarded a guess.

"Yes, wood. If they have bows made out of wood, then they aren't followers of the Green Pact. Green Pact Bosmer will always have bone-made bows."

Jordis blinked and hummed. "I never thought about that. Sorry, but it's just hard to let go of this."

Ruby nodded and then walked into Castle Dour's forge. Neriro was currently placing something into the furnace, while another blacksmith, a Nord man, was over at a table going over something that looked like plans for a ballista. The Minotaur saw Ruby and beamed.

"Come to see me one last time, heh?"

"Yeah. Didn't want to go without saying goodbye. Any idea where you'll be?"

"Yes actually, I'll be attached to a contubernium heading for Falkreath. We'll join up with them in about two weeks, I believe. Until then, I'll be helping out around here."

"He's pretty good help," the other blacksmith said. "If he were a bit smaller, he'd be perfect."

Ruby and Neriro laughed before sharing a look. "Well, it was good meeting you, Neriro. If I'm ever in Falkreath I'll try to look for you."

"And I'll keep an eye out for you. Keep being a hero, Dragonborn. Never stop."

Neriro saluted to her and Ruby returned it with genuine feeling behind the gesture. She left soon after and Jordis headed back for Proudspire. As Ruby and Lydia rode away, Ruby looked back at the city and took in a breath of fresh air, glad to have made the place that much safer for the thousands living there.

Weiss looked over what she could only call a vanity with a crystal ball. A horn with a wire was connected to it, with a glass cone attached to a spring in a box connected on the other side. She sighed and crossed her fingers as she inserted a Common Soul Gem to a slot near the mirror, then hooked an enchanted com-piece onto the crystal ball's stand.

"If this happens to work…" she muttered. Numbers showed up on the crystal ball and she tapped them in an order she had memorized. There was a small trill from the speaker, and then the mirror glistened before an image of Inigo's face showed up.

"Wow, it worked!" the Khajiit cheered. The speaker was certainly low quality compared to what she was used to, but she heard him loud and clear. "Look everyone! I can see Weiss from the Hall of Attainment!"

The vampire held the horn up to her mouth. "Can you hear me?" she enunciated into it.

"Yes, I can. It was a little muffled, but I heard."

"M'rissi hears as well," the Khajiit woman announced as she popped her head up from under Inigo's arm. "Does this mean we can talk from anywhere now?"

"Mostly. I want to refine this and miniaturize it before that. Carrying around a full-sized vanity isn't exactly convenient."

"Alright, hand it here," Brelyna said before receiving the scroll. "So it really worked. That cone and spring contraption of yours is really making sound?"

"Yes. It's very basic, but it's working. Normally there'd be magnets involved, but it seems magic is able to skip that step." Weiss shrugged. "I'm not sure how a simple horn and wire is carrying my voice. I was ready to have none of you hear me and try to figure that out next."

"Well, no need to worry then. Like you said, we just have to refine it."

"Yes. Alright, let's meet back at the Hall of Elements and see if we can figure out the next step."

"Meet you there."

Weiss nodded and pressed the ball where a red dot was. The mirror shimmered back to a reflective surface to where she could see herself. For a moment she focused on her own face, noticing how she looked like a starved model. She sighed, realizing she needed to drink some blood soon. Unless someone was willing to open a vein for a minute, that meant bottled, bland, animal blood. The memory of tasting fresh, mortal blood tingled her mind for a moment before she shoved the thought back. She reached under the vanity and pulled out a bottle of cow's blood, downing it quickly.

As she stood and went towards the Hall of Elements, she took out her map and looked once again where Mzulft was. She had yet to go into a Dwemer ruin, and the closest any of them came was when Ruby went through Shimmermist, but that was like pointing out Blake going into Whiterun's Hall of the Dead was her going through a Nordic tomb. She had heard stories, though, and they had her interest immediately. Maybe...

She shook her head. "I should probably work on the Marker's request first." At that thought, Weiss felt an annoying tug on her brain. "Ugh, definitely need to, just to get rid of this. It's almost like the stupid spirit cursed me."

Weiss slowed her steps when she saw Ancano walking by, muttering something to himself as he flipped through pages in a book. The Thalmor attaché had been more irritable than usual lately, and she wasn't entirely clueless as to why. Keeping in mind to be on the lookout for him, she continued on to meet up with her friends.

Yang stared at the Redguard 'blacksmith' for a long moment, making the man begin to shift uncomfortably.

"Whatever," she finally gave out. "Doesn't affect me in the slightest. My sis is going to be disappointed though."

"Well, she'll be able to get one someday. Just wait and see."

"Sure, sure," Yang waved off as she walked back into the town. Al'Hassan might have been lying about his blacksmithing business plan, but he didn't seem a bad guy to Yang. He even stood up for Falion, who seemed hated by most of the town on account of being a mage. The terrible rumors about him were the worst as well, especially the ones concerning Agni. Yang had knocked a man's jaw loose for those sorts of accusations, and then started healing him with magic, just to really rub it in.

Her scroll rang and she took it out to see an 'unknown caller'. Confused, she hesitantly answered it to find Weiss on her screen, holding what looked like a ram's horn with a string tied to the end up to her mouth.

"Yang, can you hear me all right?" she asked in a low quality.

"Yeah, but you're kinda muffled."

"Okay, that's good. Distance doesn't seem to be an issue then."

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"Calling from…let's call it a magic phone booth."

"Cool, so you were able to expand on the enchanted communication devices and make a fully independent system?" Weiss stared at Yang, not expecting her invention to be summed up so easily.

"That…is… Yes. I had to recreate a speaker from scratch, but thankfully I remembered the basics. If it can get this refined, then I can make a handheld version, and then we can communicate with anyone anywhere. It'll also improve the general quality of life in this land. We just need to be careful about how it distributes."

"Right. Don't want to knock the whole war off balance and have it end," Yang voiced flatly.

"Yang, seriously?" Weiss shook her head. "Alright, what side do you want to win?"

"I don't know! I just feel like we're stepping around eggshells whenever it comes to something like that. One wrong move and suddenly the Stormcloaks have Markarth and the Empire has Riften."

"That would be just ridiculous. How would the… Never mind that. I'm going to call Blake now. She should be at sea right now, and I want to test calls with moving devices."

"Tell her I said hi."

"I will. Goodbye."

"Bye." Yang hung up and then suddenly something hit her from behind and grabbed her around the shoulders.

"Hi," Ruby said from behind Yang before her elder sister reached behind herself and threw her over. "Wah!"

"Hey yourself," Yang greeted with a smile. Her sister smiled from her position lying on the ground, and Yang heard footsteps rushing towards them. She looked up to see Valdimar with the Marshborn Blight in hand.

"My Thane? Oh, is that your sister?"

"Yeah. She a bit shorter in person, isn't she?"

"Hey!"

Lydia walked up to them and nodded. "Yang, good to see your reflexes haven't suffered."

"Was that a joke? Is the world ending?"

"Probably. Dragons are burning up the countryside."

"Okay, now it's creepy. Two jokes?"

"Yang, Lydia can be funny when she wants." Ruby jumped up to her feet. "Anyways, let's get going."

"Already? You just got here."

"Yeah, but I really want to get out of Hjaalmarch, and I still have to drop off the Horn of Jurjen."

"Jurgen."

"Damn it! Thought I had that one."

"Well, I guess that's fine and all. I'll go get Lucky Day saddled up. Then you andme can finally have some adventuring together."

"Aw, what?" Yang complained as Ruby led her down the shortcut.

"I mean, we already killed all the stuff that didn't give up the first time, so there wouldn't be anything to do but walk." Ruby then squealed and hopped back. Yang caught up with her and looked to see a corpse with maggots dotting it and large bugs half the size of her hand ripping into it with sharp pincers.

"The heck are those?"

"I…think they're ant chaurus. They look just like the bigger ones except…not big." Ruby took a stick and poked at one. "Funny, I don't remember a body here." The insect turned and snapped at the stick, leaving tiny gouges where its pincer hit.

"Wow, you could lose a finger to one of those little guys."

"Yeah." Ruby tossed the stick aside and went deeper into the tomb. The two came upon the Altar of Jurgen and Ruby took the Horn from her pack and set it in the hand meant to hold it. Ruby looked at the setup proudly before streams of energy suddenly leapt out from the altar and into her. She froze for a moment as Yang stared in shock, then the lights ended and they were left as they were before.

"Uh, what just happened?" the elder sister asked.

"I…think I just got insight from Jurgen Windcaller," Ruby answered slowly. "It's going…to take a while for me to sort through it all. It happened so fast. It's like I'm remembering a hundred lessons all at once but I can't pick any one of them out. You remember that movie with the weird aliens and the memory syringes? The one scene at the end?"

"Okay, so like the dragon soul thing but without an actual soul?"

"Kinda. Yeah, there's nobody else in there."

"Wait, what?"

"I said yeah. Anyways, let's go on back up."

Yang found herself a little dumbfounded by what had happened, but decided that there was little she could do at the moment about it. The two emerged onto the surface to see their housecarls watching over the horses and conversing.

"So it turns out that Khajiits are harder to slow down than Bosmer, but Altmer are complete pansies when it comes to frost spells. I saw a Khajiit take three spikes to his gut before he went down fighting it. One spike into a high elf and he dropped like his head had been taken."

"Interesting..." Lydia nodded. Once the two noticed their thanes, they ceased their discussion and looked at them.

"All right, let's head down to Whiterun! Lydia, which-a-way we goin'?" Yang stretched out her fingers and rolled her shoulders.

"Ah, Valdimar mentioned he knows a way around the Labyrinthian's main way, so we can avoid the frost trolls. We should head south and stop at the Stonehills for the night."

"Still kinda bummed that we didn't get to do any adventuring together," Yang complained as she mounted atop Lucky Day. "Next thing you know, we'll be at Whiterun and you'll be readying up for your next adventure without me. Then I'll have to go to work."

"Your work is being a Companion Circle member. That's like a more Mountaineer version of your dream job."

"A Mountaineer?" Lydia asked. She hadn't heard the term before.

"Type of people where we come from," Yang answered. "Native to the mountains of northern Mistral. Basically Nords but more mountains, less coasts. My mom's one, and so's my uncle."

"And our friend, Nora," Ruby chirped in.

"Everything I learn about these girls paints a stranger picture," Valdimar said. "Well, if you really want some adventuring before Whiterun, you could always go troll hunting." He laughed at the idea, but both Yang and Ruby began to consider it.

"They are a bit of a problem," Ruby mused.

"Yeah, that could be fun. Heck, let's make it a contest. One who kills the most trolls wins."

"You're on!"

Valdimar looked to Lydia for help or answers, but his fellow housecarl seemed to be offering neither.

As the group settled in to the mining camp that was slowly turning into a village, Yang went for a short walk with her armor off, enjoying the weightless feeling she would get after having started wearing it regularly. As she stretched out in the dying light, Lydia came up alongside her, also out of her armor and in everyday clothes.

"'Sup, Lyd?"

"Thane Yang," she greeted respectfully. "I need your help. And a favor if possible."

"Well, all right. What do you need?" the young woman asked, curiosity taking hold.

"It's about Aura," the housecarl began. Yang understood where this was going instantly. "I know it lets you four do some amazing things, and survive blows that would otherwise be fatal. Just last night, Ruby lifted a chair with me in it. And while the Sleeping Tree may have something to do with that, you yourself held a dragon's mouth shut for several seconds."

"Yeah, uh, I did, didn't I?" Yang hissed in a breath while rubbing the back of her neck. "I think I know where this is going."

"Ruby said you might know how to unlock another person's Aura."

"I do. Learned it last year, actually. It's a very…intimate ritual-type thing."

"What do you mean by…intimate?"

"Well, that's the word my dad used when describing it. I mean, to use it, you basically have to touch souls. My soul would literally have to come into contact with yours and bring it forward. It drains my Aura a little bit in the process, how much depending on the size of the locked Aura. But, so long as we're not in active combat, I should be fine. It never takes more than twenty percent."

"I suppose that would be rather close. Then, you can do it?"

"I could, but…Weiss and Blake want us to careful about this until we know for certain that it's safe. If it were up to me, I'd give it a go. Especially with you. If there's any one person in Skyrim, or all of Nirn really, who we could trust to have their Aura unlocked, it's you." Yang smiled briefly, but it quickly faded away. "But right now, we're in a pinch. Blake's running against the clock ahead of some Thalmor goons, and apparently Weiss has some Magnet-genie thing to worry about on top of sort kind of magic orb. If we could just get things to calm down for a moment, I'd be harping on Weiss about hurrying up and figuring out whether we could or not." Yang briefly scowled, then shook her head.

"As it stands though, we don't know what it'll do. Ideally, we just unlock your Aura. But for all we know, I might accidentally rip your soul out. Or your Aura makes you explode from some kind of overload. Heck, you might become an actual god, which is apparently a thing here. Then Ruby came up with some weird theory that might have your whole existence erased retroactively, which… How would that even begin to work?" Yang finished speaking, but Lydia hummed in thought and looked as determined as ever.

"So even if I'm willing to take these sorts of risks…?"

"I'm still not going to go behind my teams back on it. Tell you what, next time we have a four-way call, you bring it up with Weiss and Blake and convince them. If they okay it, I'll do it. But…do be warned, I've never unlocked another person's Aura before."

"But you know how, right?"

"Oh, I know how. Just haven't done it. So, if we do, it'll be my first time." Yang's face tried to copy innocence, but completely failed thanks to her smirk. "Promise to be gentle?"

All the tension was immediately lost and Lydia shoved against Yang's shoulder as both broke into laughter. They started towards the tents and Yang threw her arm over Lydia's shoulder.

"Try not to feel so gloomy, 'kay? Everything will turn out just fine."

Blake hopped off of the boat as soon as the dock was within jumping distance. Argonian dockworkers stopped and stared when she almost ran into a woman with a quill and logbook.

"Sorry Suvaris! I'm in a hurry!" she called back as she ran over and began scaling the bridge rather than walking through the city.

"What could be bloody- What are all you lizards staring at?!" Some of them went back to working immediately, but one of them closer to her pointed at her chest. Worried, Suvaris looked down to see ink stains on her tunic. "Damn it this was my nice one!"

Blake hopped onto the bridge, much to two of the guards' surprise, then ran to the stables while pulling a few coins from her pocket. She handed them to the stablehand and then quickly saddled up Patches before leading him outside.

"I'll have your change in a moment, ma'am."

"Keep it. In a hurry." She hopped onto the horse's back and started down the road to Winterhold. The young Dunmer look at the coins in his hand and smiled.

"Praise Azura! My prayers really have been answered!" He set aside the coins owed to Ulundil and then pocketed the four denars and two malks extra.