Here's chapter 37, fresh off the rack. This one took a lot more editing than normal, so let's give thanks to xTRESTWHOX and NaanContributor for their efforts.

"So, long story short, Niri will be traveling up to Solitude by carriage tomorrow morning. She should arrive within a few days," Yang spoke into the scroll. " Rayya elected to go with her, given how it has more room and Ruby owns Proudspire and all. Got to admire the Housecarls' dedication. Anyway, they'll be up there soon. Too bad they're going to miss you guys."

"We might have to come right back," Weiss said. "It all depends on how this works out in the end. Oh, before I forget, I've also interviewed some likely tenants here, so the investments in these properties should begin paying off soon. What about you?"

"Uh, was I supposed to be asking people or something?" Weiss sighed at Yang's clueless look.

"I'll work on it next time I'm in town. I think there was a woman, an enchanter I believe, staying semi-permanently at the Bannered Mare. I've just never been able to catch her sober. I know she does some business with Farengar, Belethor, and the Grey-Manes. She should be able to afford a room, and I'm certain I could convince her."

"You mean Eldawyn? I thought she was a goldsmith."

"She knows how to make jewelry, but that's it," Yang heard Ruby say from the side. "She's really good at making rings and pendants, then she enchants them."

"Oh, okay," Yang mumbled as the picture came together. "Yeah, I can see that."

"Regardless, I'm sure that she can make the rent with her private business funding her."

"All right. I'll see about mentioning it. You two be careful working for the gods and stuff."

"We will. Take care."

"Love ya, sis!"

"Bye Weiss. Love you too, Ruby," Yang said before hanging up. After sitting still for a moment, Yang stood up and headed out to Jorrvaskr. Entering the ancient mead hall, she smelled the scents of cooking, sweat, and the doggish scent of werewolf. On the far side of the hall, Yang could see Aela talking to a young Breton man, likely a new recruit by the unfamiliar scent. She then noticed Farkas nodding to her, having seen the blonde entering the mead hall.

"Hey, we got a letter back from those vampire hunters."

"We did? What's it say?" Yang asked, her attention now focused entirely on the larger twin.

"Don't know. Kodlak went to go read it. Hasn't come back up yet."

"Actually I came up a minute ago." Farkas spun around in surprise and the Harbinger chuckled. "Even at this age I can still get the drop on you youngsters."

"Heh, guess that's one thing about you that hasn't gotten rusty."

"Oh, you're saying there are things?" the two laughed at each other before Kodlak turned to Yang. "I'm glad you came up here. I would've sent for you in a moment."

"About the letter?"

"Yes. This Isran does seem to want to work with us, which could only be good for everyone. The vampire attacks recently have caused the Jarls to, for once, agree on something, and so a guild charter was granted to them. It's valid throughout Skyrim, in both Imperial and Stormcloak holds. They have the right to take charge in all vampire related incidents. There are limits, of course, but with their official status things are that much simpler for them to move ahead. More pressing, though, he's asked to meet with you."

"With me?" Yang asked in surprise.

"He wrote that one of his trusted lieutenants met you and remarked on your ability. I suppose he wants to see it for himself." Kodlak hummed with a nod and began stroking his beard. "I think he wants you to be the liaison between our two guilds. I wouldn't argue against it, but I'm not sure what they're all about just yet. So, in this situation, I trust you to look into them. See just how aggressive they are, what tactics they employ, and whether or not they might expand out of the boundaries set forth by their charter." Before Yang could ask exactly what was in their charter, Kodlak's face brightened as he realized her next likely question, pulling out a piece of paper from his bag. "Ah, yes, a copy of the charter was also sent, so we know where their limits are supposed to be."

"Thank you," Yang said as she took the parchment from Kodlak and began to read it over. "So, you want me to head down there and make sure we really don't have another Silver Hand rising up?"

"Essentially. However, you might be able to get a deal for some of their resources. Like you said before, we could use anti-vampire weaponry. If another vampire attack hits Whiterun, I want all of the Companions prepared as much as possible."

"No problem, sir. I'll scope 'em out good then let you know how everything looks." Yang crossed her arms and nodded. "Huh, guess I left an impression on Durak."

"You tend to do that when it comes to Nord and Orc men," Farkas said before letting out a small laugh. Yang raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Oh, something you need to tell me, Farkas?" Yang asked in a slightly sultry tone while brushing some of her hair back, putting her other arm under her chest. The Nord blushed and cleared his throat as he looked away. Kodlak shook his head as a laugh rose up at the young woman's antics.

'Hm, wonder if Blake's got that house down there yet? Better call and ask before I go.'

Despite looking like part of the sewers, the Ratway was actually a fairly clean place, the Cistern itself actually being where the cleaned water flowed through from the old fashioned filtering system before going into the lake and river. If anything, the main portion of the Ratway was cleaner than most of Riften. In fact, much to her immense relief, Blake had discovered the water was clean enough to wash herself with. After a quick shower of magically heated water, she got dressed in some of her better clothes, a black and white silk dress Ruby had Radiant Raiment make for her, and began heading back up to the surface. She hadn't had the chance to wear it before now, and she had to say that the garments were extremely comfortable. They felt like they could actually breathe. Blake made a mental note to repay Ruby during her birthday, which if she remembered correctly was around a few weeks away on what would be Halloween on Remnant and the thirty-first of Frostfall.

"Its footsteps are like thunder," she suddenly heard, causing her to spin around and see a Cathay Khajiit with black-grey fur and red hair dressed in sleeveless guild armor behind her, "scaring the dust and making the floors scream for mercy. Gnives does not think it is truly a cat."

"Gnives," Blake muttered. The Khajiit never spoke to her personally before, but always looked at her and the other two with a curious glare, likely because there weren't that many Khajiit in the Thieves' Guild. "Obviously, I wasn't trying to sneak around. We're safe down here."

"It develops bad habits, being noisy one day and quiet the next. Gnives thinks it best to always walk softly, so that stealth is as natural as breath."

Blake's ears flicked up as she thought that over. It actually sounded like good advice, all things considered.

"Fair enough. Still, I wasn't that loud. Your ears are just sensitive. Most people wouldn't have seen me."

"It is a Khajiit, so it should not depend on the eyes," Gnives explained with a pointed gesture to her face. "The others, they can only see what's in front. But we Khajiit, we hear." Gnives own ears moved slightly. "Twenty paces to the east, a thief scratches his ears." Blake looked over, slightly behind Gnives, and saw Rune doing just that. "Fifty paces further, a beggar sighs and counts his coins." Now she was leaned over, catching one of the more bedraggled denizens of the Ratway going over some cents and diems in his hand. Amazed, Blake looked back to the Khajiit as his ears moved again. "Two stories above, a couple says their vows, while underneath in the catacombs, a widow weeps for her husband." Blake looked up, not able to hear what was going on beyond the stone, unable to really tell if Gnives was actually hearing these things or not.

He laughed at her bewildered expression. "The cat hears, the mind knows, minutes before anything is seen. Their eyes can only see the past and present, but the ears of the Khajiit know the future."

"That's…incredible." She was a little skeptical on the last two, but a quick check with a couple of priests would tell her whether or not Gnives was being honest with her.

"Maybe to them, but to the cat, it is mundane. Gnives tells you this, and to listen closely. This one is interested in you."

Blake's head jerked back at that. "What do you mean by that?"

"It is interesting, so Gnives is interested. He hears about the death of the Dark Brotherhood, done by Khajiit. He hears about dragon slayers, one a Khajiit. A black-haired Khajiit joins the guild and begins stirring things. Assassin? Warrior? Thief? Now it robs dragons and brings down skooma dealers. Mercenary? Agent? Rogue? Does it know what it is? Does it think itself Khajiit?"

Blake sighed. "I'm not an it."

"All are it, and it is all. See, it does not know what it is. Gnives knows, and wants to teach."

"You…want to teach me how to be a better thief?"

"This one wants you to be a Khajiit rather than have Khajiit ears dangle uselessly on a mannish-meric head." His ears moved again and his tail flicked. "Odd color and odd smell are coming. It will be going to play hero soon."

"I'm not playing at anything. Just trying to do as much good as I can."

Gnives chuckled. "It still doesn't know."

The enigmatic thief drifted away, completely silent to Blake's now focused ears despite his proximity. And the Huntress frowned, his parting words reminding her of an eerily similar line of questioning, from a completely different source.

"And what about you Blake? You seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose."

"There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality, corruption. Somebody has to stop it."

"Very well. How?"

"I..."

She still didn't have her answer.

On the surface, the three cat people quickly received the thanks of the Jarl and were rewarded with a hefty sum of money, as well as the right to purchase property. In all honesty, Blake could have purchased Honeyside right then and there, but given Ruby's experience with Lakeview Manor, she decided it was best to see it herself first. She needed to ensure it was in decent shape before finally purchasing it. Before she did, though, Blake made quick stops by the Temple of Mara and the burial crypt to find that a wedding really had just occurred, and a widow had visited her recently deceased husband.

'Man, that's more creepy than anything.' Blake closed her eyes and tried to pick out voices from the crowd. Her double pair of ears probably gave her an advantage on any single-paired being, but she could still only pick out specific things rather than disseminate the full range and let things come to her like Gnives seemed to do almost effortlessly. She could pick out an apologetic conversation between Madesi and Brand-shei, but she knew their voices well as it was. On the other side of the market, she heard Sapphire and Shadr arguing about some sort of payment and a lost shipment, it sounding like she had tricked him and robbed his cargo. She made a mental note to talk with her about that and set it straight. Brynjolf did make it a point of not robbing the poor, as it was pointless and, of course, bad for business. Near the main gate into Riften, she could hear Mjoll the Lioness converse with Aerin about why the Nord warrior continued to stay in Riften. While Blake hadn't yet interacted with her yet, being part of the Thieves Guild and all, the Faunus had nothing but respect for the woman. If there were more people like Mjoll in Riften, things would be so much better for everyone. Maybe not Maven, but again, Blake could care less about her. She tried to listen in on something more difficult and refocused on the Bee and Barb. She could definitely hear the din of voices and some wood and pewter dishes clanking around, but she couldn't pick anything out of the muffled voices.

"Blake, are you okay?" M'rissi asked in concern, breaking Blake from her concentration.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just…listening."

"Listening to what? It looked to her like you were straining."

"I was getting a bit concerned myself," Inigo admitted. "It looked like you were in great pain. Either that or you really need to use a restroom."

"I'm just…trying to pick out sounds better. I had a talk with Gnives, and, apparently, he can hear through two stories worth of stone floors and ceilings to pick out people making their wedding vows."

"That…sounds extreme," the blue Khajiit admitted. The look on his face betrayed his thoughts, as he was clearly thinking about trying it for himself.

"Were you trying to hear a wedding too? Wait, the wedding is over. Were you trying to hear the moon-honey?"

Blake blushed at that and shook her head. "No, nothing like that. Just…trying to get better at stealth."

"That is good and all, but maybe stealth training should wait until after you're done house shopping."

Blake laughed a little. "Yeah, guess so. I'll always have time to-"

A loud bell began ringing and the three looked up to see a guardsman hitting the massive alarm bell with a hammer. Blake's eyes widened, recognizing the one thing the ringing bell could mean.

"Oh, no..."

"Dragon!" another guard shouted as he ran the length of the wall then slid down a ladder. "Dragon coming!"

"Everyone get below or in the palace!"

Blake heard a roar and turned as M'rissi pushed her into an alleyway. Just before they were hidden, Blake saw the grey-striped, bronze dragon soar in and land on the wall, knocking over a few guards. Many began aiming their bows at him, but then he took in a breath.

"Zun! Haal Viik!"

Bows flew out of hands all around as he Shouted the words while sweeping his head around. Disarmed, the guards could only look up in fear as the dragon growled down at them.

"Thieves!" Vulgahrotru yelled into the city. "I know you are here! Come out now, or I will dig up this whole city to find you! I know your den is below! I know you have my gold! Give yourselves up and return it, or face my wrath!" Almost relieved they weren't the subjects of his ire, the guards all ran in every direction, one going so far as to jump over the safety railing into the canal below.

"Damn it," Blake muttered. "Damn it!"

"I didn't think he'd track us here," Inigo hissed.

"She thought he would give up and go back," M'rissi muttered as she hugged her knees to her chest.

"I did too, but I guess we were wrong." Blake winced. "Damn! What do we do? I don't think the guild will want to give up that gold."

"The choices are giving him his gold, fighting him off, or the city being uprooted by a dragon," Inigo laid out before them. "We can fight him off, yes? You've fought dragons!"

"I was never really that effective against them! I clipped one's wing and helped set up attacks, but I never killed one." Blake's ears twitched as the sound of steel armor clanking and a sword unsheathing hit them. A growl came from the dragon as she turned her head around the corner.

"I won't let you harm this city, beast!" Mjoll declared in defiance as she held herself in a battle stance. The dragon's eyes narrowed at her as he shifted his position.

"This does not concern you, kendov. This is between the thieves and I."

"As far as I'm concerned, you're a thief yourself," she countered as she readied her greatsword. "I don't care about them, but I do care about this city. Like I said, I won't let you have your way."

There was a shake of the ground as he hopped down from the wall, then the sound of something steel hitting something solid rang out as Mjoll swung her blade, only for Vulgahrotru to meet it with his rhino-like horn. The Nord woman's sword slid off the horn with a tug, and then the dragon swung his head so that it smacked into her before she could block, knocking her back and into a wall. He took in a breath, looking as though he was about to Shout. Wincing, Blake braced herself and jumped out of the alleyway.

"Blake! What are you-!"

"Vulgahrotru!" Blake shouted at the top of her lungs. The dragon halted and looked up from where Mjoll stood. The Lioness herself turned around and saw her standing in the abandoned street.

"You," he muttered as another growl rose up from his gullet, morphing into a roar that gave way to flame arching over much of the district. Blake took a step back from the sight, and readied herself as he glared back down at her. "You should have known better!"

He leaped up and glided towards her, but Blake was already moving, hopping up onto a rooftop then dashing across it towards the lake. Vulgahrotru turned to follow her, roaring as his tail smashed into a rooftop, shattering it into splinters and allowing the screams of the people inside to spill out. Blake looked back to see him closing in, and narrowly dodged him before she reached the wall separating the city from the docks. She jumped downwards and rolled as the dragon passed over her. He immediately winged back as Blake took a moment to sigh and try to figure out her next move.

"Wuld!" Suddenly Volgahrotru zipped back to the docks, surprising Blake as she made to get away, only for his tail to crash into her and launch her into a stack of crates, out of which several moonstone weapons fell about her. "You should have known better, kaaz. I know you. I remember you. You should have understood. And yet you stole from me."

"All of that…gold was stolen by you," Blake spat out as the dragon winged down, his feet gently landing upon the docks.

"None need travel through my hofkiin. No poor travelers pay. But you stole from one who works. I have swept my territory clean to make it safe. Even the Dovahkiin approves of my methods. Your territory writhes in paak ahrk dunaar, yet you still take from them and others." Blake winced as she struggled up, then gasped when she remembered a conversation they had some days ago, right before the Isael incident drove it from her mind.

"Just be careful about Vulgahrotru, guys. Me and him have a kind of deal going on, and he's actually a nice- Well, he's not killing anyone. If you do run into him, just mention me, put me on call, and I'll handle it. Don't hurt him or anything." Ruby's words echoed in Blake's hollowed mind, and after a moment, she came to a sullen conclusion.

'I…screwed up.'

Just as Blake got to her feet, something slammed into her torso and then pinned her against the stone wall of the city. She looked up as her lungs struggled to take in air to see Vulgahrotru face to face, his nose horn being used to hold her in place.

"I will ask you once. What did you do with my gold?"

Blake grimaced as she reached behind her and drew her Daedric dagger. She brought it up quickly and stabbed down hard, sinking most of the blade into his snout. The dragon roared and he flung her away, her grip being lost and the dagger flying through the air before hitting a post and sinking in. Blake rolled a moment before getting to her feet and started running again. Vulgahrotru moved to pursue her, but then a black arrow sank into his neck, eliciting another roar of pain.

"Take that, you big, smelly lizard!" Inigo taunted him before drawing back another one. M'rissi came up to his side and pulled out her own bow, but the dragon took a deep breath while looking in their direction.

"Strun Kun Qo!" he Shouted, a blast of lightning leaping from his mouth. M'rissi grabbed Inigo by his belt before yanking him off the roof with her, barely getting out of the way in time before the part of the building they were on exploded into a shower of sparks and splinters. The dragon shook his head and slid his tongue around before looking up to see Blake going back into the city.

The Faunus ran straight for the back entrance of the Thieves' Guild, hoping to use it to hide for a moment, but then something hit her back and sent her careening through an alley and back into the main street, toppling over a cart of cabbages as she came to a stop. Vulgahrotru leaped over the buildings, kicking off one roof and leaving gouges in it, and landed near her before bringing down his head. Using her Semblance, Blake barely got out of the way of the head slam that caused much of the street to crack apart. Vulgahrotru glared down at her as he picked himself up and shook his neck. Then, to Blake's suprise, Mjoll ran at him from the side with a battlecry, but the dragon merely flicked his wing up and caught her in his claw.

"I told you I wouldn't ask again," he growled as his grip on the Nord tightened. Mjoll cried out in pain as the single finger crushed her. "Now-"

"Stop! Look, we didn't want to steal from you," Blake began, picking herself up off of the ground while holding her sore ribs. "We were desperate! We- Maven Black-Briar told us we needed to prove we were worth her time."

"Black-Briar?"

Suddenly, Mjoll pulled an arm loose, grasped a malachite dagger sheathed at her shoulder, then stabbed directly into one of his knuckles. Vulgahrotru roared and cried out in pain before tossing her aside, smacking her against the wall of a house where she fell limp. His open jaws turned upon her, and Blake, reacting with barely a thought, grabbed Gambol Shroud and threw it in sickle mode. It wrapped around and stabbed into his horn, and then Blake yanked his head away from the unconscious woman. Vulgahrotru looked at her, and then growled before yanking his head up, tossing Blake into the air. She shouted for a moment before she readjusted herself and reached back for the cleaver that wasn't there out of sheer reflex, instead grasping the hilt of the Ebony Blade.

Go for the throat.

With a cry, Blake drew the sword as she pulled herself back down, using gravity and momentum to add force to her swing. As she passed by, Vulgahrotru made to move out of the way, so rather than his neck, she cut deeply into the crook of his left elbow. The dragon roared in pain as he jumped back then fell onto his chest. He roared again as his feet and uninjured wing scrambled to push him away, his wounded limb dragging across the ground as blood splashed out and leaked. Blake felt the draconic blood on the Blade sink into it and then into her, and suddenly the feeling of euphoria returned. Her arms wobbled a moment before everything about her went ramrod straight, and then she was looking up at the wounded dragon, now moaning in pain about fifty meters away. Inigo and M'rissi came up and looked at Blake, and the blue Khajiit froze at the look in her eyes.

He's a threat to everyone. He has so much gold yet threatened a city for a sliver of it. Kill him.

For the smallest of moments, Blake was in agreement with the Blade, but her mind quickly straightened itself.

"Don't hurt him…" Ruby had told them.

Blake swallowed, cursing herself for not thinking about the whole thing thoroughly. The Blade tried to whisper to her, but her own feelings were swirling about so that anything it might have said was lost in the whirlwind of thoughts.

"Deyra," Vulgahrotru mumbled in fear as he looked at the Ebony Blade in her hand. "Deyradu'ulzun! Luntuz!"

Blake looked at the daikatana with clear eyes, part of her wanting nothing more than to turn and throw it towards the lake as hard as she could. She may not know how put a stop to everything wrong with the world, either of the two. But she knew it wasn't through this. With a grind of her teeth, she turned the Blade in her hand and stabbed down into the ground, leaving it standing there as she let go of the hilt. She held her hands out to her side before slowly walking towards the dragon. Vulgahrotru's breathing began to slow, his wide eyes and tense posture relaxing. Purple-garbed guardsmen, who moments earlier had been cowering in whatever corner they could find, came out and tried to surround him with weapons drawn, but Blake waved them down.

"Stop!" she commanded them. "Just stop. He's not a threat."

Blake stopped a few meters away from Vulgahrotru, and the two's eyes met. The dragon let out a low moan, wincing as he shifted his wing. Blake took in a deep breath, and for a moment she felt like the world was moving in slow motion. The rumble of a dragon's breath passed by her feet. The soft breeze flew in from the lake. Behind her, she could hear steel plate shifting as Mjoll managed to pick herself up off of the ground. Her gaze never leaving the dragon's, Blake finally managed to speak.

"I'm sorry."

Weiss had only known Ruby to get angry a handful of times, though it was usually spectacular, in an odd sense of the word, to see. Besides their partnership's "growing pains" during Initiation, she saw her blow up over someone calling raisin oatmeal cookies disgusting (they weren't her favorite, but she still liked them), one time over the ridiculousness of steampunk, and at one of Team CRDL's members when he tried to insinuate that she was adopted. That last one had both sisters angry, but it wasn't as surprising with Yang.

Now, Ruby was blowing up over the scroll at Blake. Weiss didn't remember much being said about a dragon named Vulgahrotru aside from Ruby meeting him and the whole thing not devolving into a battle, however, he was apparently one of the friendly dragons. And Blake had both robbed him and injured him when he came to demand recompense. Now Ruby was detailing to both their teammate and the dragon how they were going to speak to Jarl Laila Law-Giver and then go up to Windhelm to finally have Vulgahrotru cleared up with Jarl Ulfric.

"Seriously! It's been more than long enough! He already got my letter a while ago, and I even got a response that he was totally considering it!" she yelled at the visibly browbeaten dragon, his expression comically cross-eyed as he squinted down his bulky snout at the Scroll's relatively tiny screen.

"But..."

"Silence!" Ruby shouted into the scroll, and the dragon visibly backed away and Blake's ears flattened.

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'stranger than fiction'?" Weiss asked Lydia, who was tending to their breakfast. The housecarl looked at her thoughtfully.

"Sounds familiar. And, honestly, more than a little apt to life as of late."

"My teammate is berating a dragon for procrastinating over meeting with a nobleman to make his position as a toll master official."

"Honestly, after everything that's happened, I wouldn't be surprised if next week we were settling a dispute between Centaur farmers and Harpy nomads."

Weiss looked over at the housecarl again. "Harpy?"

"Birdfolk. Mostly women, from what I hear. Most of them live in the Aldmeri Dominion, but a good few traveled into Cyrodiil just before the Great War. Rumor says they were fleeing Thalmor persecution."

"I know what they are, but that was an odd choice for an example."

"A month ago, would you have expected us to have come across a Minotaur blacksmith about to be sacrificed by Forsworn Reachmen?"

Weiss went silent for a moment. "By the gods, we're destined for strange things to happen." She noticed Lydia scribbling in her sketchbook, and wondered briefly about what she was drawing. "Don't suppose you've made one of me?"

"Um…" Lydia slowly clutched the sketchbook to her chest, an embarrassed blush on her face, causing the vampire's eyes to widen.

"Oh dear, you're making one of me right now, aren't you?"

"I'll take it out if-"

"No, no, just make sure you get my good angles." Lydia hesitated a moment before nodding, then continued with her drawing. Ruby's phone call ended moments later, and then the youngest of the three stomped over with her arms crossed and sat down on a warmed rock near their campfire.

"Those dummies have probably got half the Hold spinning in circles," she muttered before poking at the embers.

"So, is everything straightened out?" Weiss asked her partner.

"Sorta. Vulgahrotru's going to have something going on with the Thieves' Guild. He's kind of become an associate to them, and what they stole from him is going to basically be his payment to cover his fees for years to come." Ruby took the hot tea kettle from near the fire then poured herself a steaming cupful. "Also, now all of his anger's redirected. He said it in Dovahzul so only I understood, but he basically promised to find and destroy some black briar stuff. I don't know what he meant by that."

"The Black-Briars are one of the most influential families in the Rift," Lydia explained. "They're an old clan with large tracts of land and dealings with everyone and anyone of importance. They're comparable to the Battle-Borns and Grey-Manes of Whiterun, only…not as honorable."

"Oh! Right, I remember some people talking about them now. Wait, wasn't that one lady named Black-Briar?"

"Helen is the proprietor of Sunny Shields. She actually doesn't have much to do with the main family, which is headed by her cousin, Maven. Last I heard, the two weren't exactly on speaking terms."

"Huh, wonder why Vulgahrotru's mad at them?" As Ruby thought over the situation between sips of tea, Weiss felt a ticking in her brain and looked down the road. Squinting, she could see a shape in the distance coming towards them.

"Looks like our objective is coming to us," she said before standing. The other two stood up with her, Ruby still nursing her cup of tea, and watched as the form showed itself to be a man, and then the man turned out to be a Cyrodiilic in priest robes. Once he spotted them, he ran up to them excitedly, Weiss confirming in her mind that the psionic guide was pointing to him.

"Praise be to Merid!" he exclaimed when he stopped before them. "Finally, we meet!"

"So we do," Weiss stated with no enthusiasm. "Um, who are-"

"Forgive me, I am Seletar, priest of Merid…ia, and adept of the Magne-Ge." He laughed a little at his slip of the tongue and rubbed his neck.

"You're a…priest of Meridia?" Weiss asked with a hesitant step back.

"Of course!" If the man noticed her paling expression, he didn't show it.

"Oh cool! You know about the temple here, right?" Ruby excitedly began, subtly placing herself between the priest and her partner.

"Yes, and I believe my coming here may now serve a doubled purpose." He happily nodded then blinked as he took in Ruby's features. Almost at once, he smiled warmly in realization. "Ah, you must be her. Dragonborn, Champion of Merid, wielder of the Dawnbreaker."

"Yeah, I guess they told you about that," Ruby replied, faintly embarrassed. "Wait, if you're a priest of Meridia, then why are you doing stuff for the Magna-Ge?"

"Ah, you see, Merid herself is a fallen Magne-Ge, cast from the heavens after the Breaking, which she foretold."

"Oh. Guess that makes sense then." The Dragonborn nodded, not truly getting it. She would have to ask Weiss for more about that later. "Okay, so they sent you to meet me?"

"Yes, indeed. Tell me, Dragonborn, did you see a shooting star?"

"You mean the Skyshard?" Ruby remembered having to dive under the sea several times to find that thing and groaned. She nearly got an ear infection from that, but luckily the kind old alchemist lady had a good cure for it. "Yeah, I saw that. And touched it. Then absorbed it."

"Ah, so blessed you are. Most mortals cannot see them. It is a great honor to be chosen by the Magne-Ge! Shooting stars are the shards of the Breaking. Through them, you can commune with the Signs. I, myself, was shown a small one, in order to further help you on your path." He raised up his hands. "May I?"

"Uh, go ahead," Ruby offered hesitantly. Seletar reached over and placed his hands on Ruby's temples. Weiss felt the psionic connection in her own mind fade away, and when his hands left Ruby, the young girl was looking towards the east curiously.

"Oh, wow, so this is what you were feeling?"

"What exactly is she being pointed to?" Weiss deduced that he had somehow transferred the Magne-Ge's mental indicator from her to her partner, and pursed her lips at the implications.

"To the shards. There are more, scattered about the face of the land. The psionic guide will lead her towards them."

"Oh, that's cool! I guess you don't have to worry so much about it now, Weiss."

"It is a relief not having something so annoying going on in my brain." The vampire tried to hide the slight guilt that came with that relief. Hopefully Ruby wouldn't find the experience as irritating as she had. "Now though…where is this one leading?"

"Uh, that way," Ruby indicated with a point.

"I do not know exactly where the guide will lead you, but I trust that you will be able to complete the request given unto you by the Magna-Ge. Oh, yes! I must give you something else! Here," Seletar reached into the bag at his side and pulled out an old, worn book. "This can explain the Pantheon and the Signs to you far better than I could alone, written by a great historian and prophet, the likes of which we may never see again."

Ruby gingerly took the thick book, seeing the title Pantheon of the Magna-Ge on the front of it. "Oh, uh, thank you very much. I'll be sure to give it a read."

"May its knowledge sharpen your mind. Patterns guide you!" With that, the priest looked up at Mount Kilkreath and began heading that way. Ruby watched him go for a moment, then opened the book and started reading.

"Pantheon of the Magna-Ge, by Lord Kirkbride," she began aloud. "Chapter one, the Pantheon. Huh, sounds interesting. Weiss, want to read this with me?"

"Sure, why not. How bad can it be?"

After several long, agonizing minutes of reading, they finished the first section and Ruby finally closed the book. Lydia and Weiss stared at her with blank eyes. Occasionally they would drift down to the book, but then they would forcibly tear their gazes away and back onto Ruby.

"So..." Ruby began, struggling to find the words. "That was... How do I put this?"

"He was completely insane," Weiss interjected.

"Oh, thank the Gods, I wasn't the only one!" Ruby exclaimed. "I mean, just...what?! How does someone...?!"

"I don't know, Ruby," Lydia sighed and buried her face in her hands. "I really don't know. And frankly, I don't want to know."

"My Thane," Iona announced stiffly, walking up into Blake's new room, "you have a visitor."

"Tell 'em I'm coming," Blake groaned as she put away the book Analyses of Minotaurs. "Who is it?"

"It's me!" she heard Yang yell from across the house. By the time she got to her feet, Yang had already come in and walked over to her new bedroom. The Companion looked it over and whistled. "Nice! Hey, mind giving me and my partner a minute?" she directed towards the housecarl. She looked over at Blake questioningly, who nodded.

"It's fine. Go see about helping M'rissi with the chickens."

"Very well. Honor to you, my Thane!" She saluted and then headed outside. Yang watched her go for a moment then looked back at Blake with a raised eyebrow.

"She, uh, seemed a little…" Yang waved her hand around, trying to find the right words.

"She's new to the job."

"Riiiight." Yang lidded her eyes and slowly nodded her head. "Anyways, congratulations on getting the house. Oh, Ruby told me to give you something."

"What?" Yang then bonked her upside the head. "Ow!"

"Okay, she didn't tell me to do that, but I did hear about the problem with Vulgahrotru. What the hell, Blake!"

"I… I was just trying to fix up the problem I caused," Blake feebly defended herself while rubbing the new sore spot on her head.

"And your first thought was to steal from a dragon? Without so much as calling us and telling us about the problem?" Yang countered with a pointed stare.

Blake looked to the side and twiddled her thumbs together. "I didn't think about it."

"You tend to do that, sometimes. Look," Yang said as she pulled Blake in and held her with an arm over her shoulders. "We're a team. And we might get split up a lot lately because there are more problems here that need fixing than there are Grimm in the average forest on Remnant, but that doesn't mean we can't rush over to help each other when we need to. As long as no lives are on the line, I'm willing to drop pretty much anything to help you with whatever. If that means finding a way to get a million septims, I'll do it! Let's just not get one of the very few dragons on our side angry at us in the meantime." She patted the Faunus' shoulder and then let her go. "I'm guessing he headed back home by now?"

"To Windhelm, actually. He's going to go through with his end of the deal and make a pact with Ulfric. He already has one with Riften now, but it depends on Ulfric signing another for Eastmarch."

"That's good." Yang nodded, figuring that it was about time he finally got around to it.

"It's actually what got me Thanedom. That, and stopping the skooma trade. She even gave me an axe." Blake pointed out an ebony war axe mounted against a plaque on the wall. "Black Whisper. Has some sort of effect where it blocks someone's ability to cast spells if they're hit with it. You want it?"

"Do I want it?" Yang raised an eyebrow at her partner. "You sure you can just hand off something like that?"

"Didn't you give a mace to your housecarl?"

"Yeah, but he's my housecarl."

"And you're one of the greatest friends I ever had. Also, you've been getting a thing for axes lately."

"True, but that's mostly because we needed more reach and cutting power. That and the no ammo thing. Shotguns tend to not work well without shells." Yang hummed and walked over to the wall plaque before taking the axe down. "Ooh, neat etching! Wait, is this a rune-enchanted weapon?"

"Uh, I guess?" Blake shrugged. "I didn't ask. There a difference?"

"A little. Tell you about it later." Yang looked the axe over a moment longer before putting it LYnext to her holy axe. "Oh, I should mention this! I brought S'ahara with me after you texted that you got the house. She's outside with M'rissi. Why do you have chickens, anyways?"

"M'rissi wanted them. I told her she was going to have to pay for all of the feed and stuff." Blake paused and looked to the side, slightly embarrassed. "I…kinda forgot that she has her own money and that wasn't a problem. Inigo hates them though. I want to say it's one of his…tics, but he seems to seriously think they're spies or something. For a bit, I was afraid he was going to kill them, but then he said that would only bring everyone in Riften down on us for murder."

"Eh, he says all kinds of crazy stuff." Yang waved her off, idly wondering as to what kind of town would hunt someone down for slaughtering a chicken. "Well, you going to show me around town, or what?"

"Sure, but watch your pockets."

While Yang looked through some bits and baubles on a street stall, she looked back and saw a man who was heading toward her turn away ever so slightly. She could see from the look in his eyes that he was annoyed, marking him as the third person that had tried to come up and pick her pockets.

"Sheesh, I know the Thieves' Guild is based here, but this is ridiculous."

"It's mostly because they don't want to head out to the other Holds," Blake began to explain. "Brynjolf said there's some sort of bad luck streak going on and that it's like Riften's the only place that's safe, and only because of numbers. People going out on their own still tend to have slipups. Just the other day one guy got caught and made a run for it, only to end up in the canals with three arrows in his back."

"Ouch! Anyone you know?"

"No, but Gnives did. He hated him, but Gnives hates a lot of people."

"Wait, is that really his name?"

"No clue. There's a lot of people in the Guild with names like that."

Yang suddenly whipped around and caught a hand, only to see M'rissi smiling at the other end of the arm.

"She's just practicing," the Khajiit said with a hint of amusement. Yang merely stared back, unimpressed.

"What's going on here?" a guard demanded as he marched across the plaza.

"Playing with my buddy," Yang declared before pulling M'rissi in and hugging her. "She lost."

"Right…" the guard muttered before moving on with his patrol. Yang bonked her on the head once he was clear.

"Ouch!"

"Don't go doing that in broad daylight, you hear!"

"She was only joking with you!"

"Well, that was a bad joke. Also, why did you get so into thievery? You didn't become someone's catspaw, did you?"

"Frrro? No, she has her own paws! But she became okay after Inigo read her a book about a famous Khajiit tapestry maker Cherim. And she only steals from mean and rich persons. Or dead ones. Especially dead ones, since they don't need their valuable things anymore."

"Mean and rich, all right." Yang looked over to a blacksmith and looked into his furnace. She narrowed her eyes and focused on the flames. They were more intense than most other forges she'd seen, almost as strong as the Skyforge. "Huh, that's weird."

"What's… Oh, right. That's Balimund, Riften's master blacksmith. He's almost as good as Eorlund, actually."

"I heard that," the blacksmith called out to her before laughing. "Well, I suppose being called second to Eorlund Grey-Mane is as good a compliment as any, especially if you're saying it to a Companion." Yang shrugged and rubbed the back of her head.

"I just thought your forge looked different from normal."

"That'd be the fire salts," Blake pointed out. "We helped him restock on those recently."

"Oh, neat! Do you think that'd help with-" A scream cut her off as someone fell off of the roof of the shop behind the smith, clothed in leather gear and a hood. The woman picked herself up slowly and rubbed her back.

"Haha!" she nervously laughed. "I suppose that's the last time I take that kind of shortcut." As though waiting on her words, a bag fell from the roof and clanged on the ground, opening up to reveal several high-quality swords.

"Why you no good, lousy-" Balimund began while wielding his hammer threateningly. The thief instantly took off.

"I never saw any of that stuff in my life!"

The blacksmith was about to take off after her, but stopped when he saw how far she'd already made it. Grumbling, he went back to pick up the bag of weapons, hardly noting M'rissi picking one up except to take it from her hands.

"Damn thieves! Ain't got nothing better to do than rob us honest working folk?"

"To be honest, some of them really don't," Blake whispered and shook her head.

"Well, that was something else. Who was that, anyways?" Yang asked as she plopped onto Blake's bed.

"No idea. I've only seen her a time or two." Blake sighed and pinched her brow. "She's just lucky Balimund was more stunned than anything. He could've brained her right there and the law would've been on his side."

"If she were lucky, she would not have made such a dramatic fall," Inigo said as he came from the kitchen. "Hello, sunshine."

"'Sup, bluebells."

"I started to make dinner, then S'ahara chased me away from the cooking stuff. Probably for the best. Not because I can't cook, but because she is just that much better at it."

"Heck yeah, she is! Valdimar said he was going to miss that almost as much as her." Yang stuck her tongue out and winced. "Bleh! Just reminded myself of Ruby's mac and cheese. Stupid, bland pasta."

"So, what are you doing down here?" Inigo asked as he sat down on a chair. "If it's to visit and bring us the best maid, that is good, but usually trouble happens whenever one of you goes to another Hold."

"Well, I'm supposed to go over and speak to the Dawnguard's leader and stuff. I'm going to do that in the morning."

"Well, that's all fine then. Only vampire stuff will happen."

"We can set up one of the spare beds for you," Blake suggested.

"What's wrong with this bed?" Yang asked.

"It's mine."

"Even better!"

"Yang, I'm not sleeping with you."

"Come on, I don't bite."

"Yang…" Blake rolled her eyes at Yang's mirthful look. She knew her partner was merely playing around, but her dignity would remain intact.

"She does not understand what the problem is," M'rissi said as she slipped through the doorway and under Blake's arm. "Yang is not a loud sleeper."

"See!" Yang laughed as she pulled the Khajiit into a half-hug. "M'rissi agrees with me!"

"That's not what- Ugh, what am I doing arguing this with you?"

"Fighting your feelings?"

"No, Yang."

"Do I sleep loudly?" Inigo asked as he walked in behind Blake. M'rissi turned her head to look at the Khajiit, a thoughtful expression on her face before finally answering.

"You snore loud, but it is rhythmic enough to put her asleep. Does she snore?"

"No, but sometimes you kick, and mewl, and claw at things. One time those things were my tail." Inigo smiled and chuckled.

She let out a small groan. "She is sorry, but why was your tail so close to her?"

"Because there was only one tent with no holes and it was raining."

"Heh, you guys are cute." Yang's statement immediately caused M'rissi to angrily shake herself out of Yang's arm, followed by a glare Yang could only see as adorable.

"Mew! What are you saying?!" M'rissi yelled out at her.

"The truth." The Khajiit suddenly pounced on her and Yang laughed as the two tussled. Blake sighed, but let out a smile.

"I understand if she means her, but I know I am not cute."

"Yeah, you're really not," Blake responded almost immediately.

"Oh!" Inigo grasped his heart. "You were not supposed to agree with me!"

After backtracking to Solitude, Weiss, Ruby, and Lydia were able to buy passage on one of the ships leaving to Windhelm. While trade and travel between the two Holds was restricted thanks to the war, a handful had access to charters allowing them to continue business in exchange for a large amount of government oversight, restricting them to carrying solely civilian goods. As the simple ship sailed from Solitude towards Windhelm, Ruby looked out across the horizon, watching a dark green dragon in the distance that was flying around an island's shore through a spyglass. She had spotted it earlier and had one of the sailors hand her his spyglass to take a closer look. That had been nearly thirty minutes ago, and by now she had come to her conclusion.

"Well, he doesn't seem to be causing any trouble," she decided before folding it back up and handing it over to the sailor. "Thanks for that."

"No problem, miss." As he went back to his duties, Weiss calmly walked over to her and looked across the way at where the dragon was.

"Ruby, I've been thinking lately…" Weiss slowly began, immediately drawing Ruby's undivided attention.

"What's up, Weiss?"

"Well, this whole dragon thing…" She looked over at her partner from under her mage hood. "Aren't… Shouldn't you be trying to figure out where this Alduin went?"

"I am. We are, I should say." Ruby shook her head. "Delphine's supposed to be looking for a way to get into the Embassy. She's sent me a letter about it, actually. It was coded of course, and in ancient Nordic, but Lydia was able to decipher it. Apparently, she's close to getting a way in." Ruby then paused to glare at her partner. "Can't believe you and Blake forgot about that while you were in there."

"We were a little mentally occupied," Weiss quickly got out. "But that's not what I meant. Shouldn't we be actively on the lookout for him?"

"We could be, but there's not much we could do if we somehow caught up to him." She looked away from Weiss and stared at the ocean. "Remember back in Helgen? When we first ran into Alduin? I was using my highest velocity gravity rounds, the strongest rounds I have. The ones bought after Initiation so that I'd be able to punch through Giant Nevermores and even Ancient Deathstalker carapace if needed." Ruby paused then turned her head back to Weiss. "They just bounced off of him, not even a scratch. Ebony might do the trick, but I still need the force behind my swings or I'll just be scratching his scales."

"Do we have the kind of time it'd take to prepare for him in that case?" Weiss pointed out. "More dragons are appearing every day."

Ruby sighed. "Look, the Greybeards told me two things. One, the thing that's going to beat Alduin more than any weapon or magic is the Thu'um. Fo Krah!" Frozen air left Ruby's mouth and hit the waters next to the boat, freezing the seawater it touched and leaving behind a trail of thick ice. "And that's going to take time to strengthen. If I go too fast, I could lose myself, or Shout my throat apart. That's happened before."

"And if you're too slow?"

"That's another thing, both the Greybeards and all the dragon souls I have tell me Alduin's not in any rush," Ruby explained. "He's going to try and raise all of the dragons killed by anything that wasn't a dragon before he moves to invade, kill everyone, or whatever it is he wants to do. And there are well over a thousand of those dragons, and not all of them were in Skyrim, so he might go over to Morrowind, High Rock, or Hammerfell for a while. I need to take the time to prepare, get my Voice ready, and fight back anything looking to take advantage of these trying times." As Weiss began to ponder over what she was told, Ruby reached over and pulled her close. She initially stiffened up at the contact, but then her tension faded.

"What's up with you, anyways? What's got you so worried about the impending doom of the world?" Ruby asked, her concern causing Weiss to sigh.

"Time to think, mostly," Weiss admitted. "In the college, I was always trying to get better at magic or working on my projects, including getting us home. Despite being a place with no grading system, there's still this underlying push to do well in everything. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but when we're traveling on foot, there's not much chance for anything except getting where we're going. Time I'd spend on experimenting now goes into...thinking."

"It'll be okay." Ruby patted her shoulder. "I'm getting better at this all the time, just like you're always getting better at magic. Speaking of which, I figured out that Scattershock spell. Look!" Ruby held a hand forward, lightning magic beginning to concentrate itself into her palm. After building for five seconds, a barrage of electric orbs began firing out rapidly, with Ruby struggling to hold her arm straight to ensure she cast them forward. Weiss watched as the orbs fired forth, hitting the cold waters in a line as their ship kept going along. After several more orbs flew out, Ruby cut off the spell and began huffing before grinning at her partner.

"Well done!" Weiss congratulated her. "That couldn't have been easy. Keep expanding your magicka and working on firing it faster and you'll never be without a trick up your sleeve."

"Thanks, I had a good teacher." Ruby smiled. "Oh, I also figured out how to use a Word for Lightning Breath."

"Oh, you have? I remember having to jump out of the way of that one."

"Yeah, but I probably shouldn't use it on the ship." Ruby locked her fingers behind her. "Kinda bad at aiming it."

"Well, you'll get it, I'm sure." Before Ruby could respond, something broke the surface near the ship, and suddenly a spray of air was fired straight up. Ruby gasped and leaned over the railings. A few others looked over as well to observe the creatures.

"Weiss! Weiss!" she called out excitedly.

"I see them," her partner answered as she saw more surfacing to breathe. One whale poked its head up and splashed back down and Ruby nearly squealed in excitement as she jumped. Weiss couldn't help but smirk at her reaction as well as the sight itself.

"I wonder what kind they are!"

"Well, they aren't too big. Maybe minke whales?"

"Those aren't big?"

"A blue whale is much bigger. In fact, a minke whale is only a little bigger than the size of a blue whale's head."

"Whoa!" Ruby kept watching in wonder even as she mentally pictured what Weiss was talking about. The heiress smiled and looked back out across the sea. "When we get back, we should go whale watching. I wanna see a blue whale."

"Maybe."

Sitting on a crate, Lydia sketched the details of the scene before her, looking up every few seconds to take in the sight of a whale breaching the surface. Soon, she had drawn down a few of them, as well as many of the details of the ship's side, including her Thane and her teammate. With the picture mostly done, she set it aside for a short break. There was far more detailing to be done, but she got the basic outline down.

The Nord calmly watched as the whales slowly swam back down, one of them making a large splash with its tailfin as it went. Ruby was glowing with excitement, and Weiss was smiling brightly herself. Lydia had to crack a smile at the scene, even as she searched for the feeling deep within her. Trying to find clarity, she attempted to peer into her own soul for a clue.

'I know it's there,' she told herself. 'I just know it.'