After concluding their rented horses had, unfortunately, run off – either back home or away – Ruby and Lydia made their way to Windhelm, as it was fairly close to the mountain. They first touched the shores of Lake Yorgrim, and then got a ride from a few fishermen passing them by down Yorgrim River and to the Windhelm docks. Their arrival happened to coincide with Weiss', who looked over Lydia and tested out her newfound Aura. Beside her was Onmund, Brelyna, and J'zargo, who apparently had come down to meet with Weiss and Erevan, who himself was currently down in the Gray Quarter, to bring her several parts she was going to use on her new communicators. With Lydia's new development, however, they had been brought onto the subject. Brelyna, in particular, was hovering a spell over Lydia's back while Weiss scanned the housecarl with her scroll.

"It's definitely there now," she concluded while looking at the scanning results on her scroll. "A good bit of reserves for a newly unlocked one, too."

"Oh, my Aura rose again," Ruby noticed as they looked everything over. It was a small increase, not quite what one would expect from adding a dragon to oneself, but much larger than the expected natural growth. "I guess it really is doing something. I'll probably catch up to Jaune soon at this rate." She then groaned as her arms fell to her side and her eyes closed. "I hope there isn't that many more dragons I have to fight, though."

Weiss looked over at her partner. "Didn't you once say there were hundreds or thousands?"

"…Yeah."

"That's a…lot of dragons," Onmund said from the side. "I only helped fight the one, and…" He shivered. "I'm just happy there were a lot of us."

"J'zargo must concede that the idea of a literal army of dragons is a frightening one," the Khajiit stated. "However, he must now ask; can the Aura unlocking be repeated?"

"Well, normally, it would either be personally unlocked by the individual themselves, from someone who knows how to unlock another person's through the ritual, or in a time of extreme need, like near-death experiences," Weiss explained to the trio of mage students. "Nirn isn't exactly a world without dangers, and there are more sorcerers looking for ways to gain power than we can list. We…originally figured Nirnians didn't have Aura, or that it expressed itself in a vastly different way, like how Nords are capable of resisting even magical frost. Or the Birthsigns or something." Weiss rubbed her chin while looking at the screen of her scroll. "Lydia's was unlocked by the danger of her nearly being…incinerated, but we have to recall that we had attempted to unlock her Aura through the ritual before. Yang and Lydia were sure at the time something had happened. I wasn't so sure then, but now…" Weiss looked at Lydia, then over at her magical peers. "I have a theory, but I'd need a volunteer to test it out."

At first no one said anything, and then Brelyna stepped forward with a sigh. "I guess I do owe you. What will…happen?"

"Probably nothing. But if something does happen, it will likely be that you simply have an unlocked Aura."

"Oh! And…what does that entail?"

"Think of it as…a sort of spell that never really wears off. You'll be strengthened. Your senses will be heightened. You'll be faster, and with training you can use it defensively, somewhat like an independent magic armor spell."

"There's also your Semblance," Ruby added excitedly. "Like my rose-bursts, or Weiss' glyphs. And Lydia got some kind of shield thing. Show 'em, Lyd!"

The housecarl nodded and then raised up her right arm while focusing. It took a few seconds and some grunts of exertion before a yellow circle stuttered into existence before her, then it shattered and faded while she caught her breath a moment later.

"That was…harder," she noted.

"Oh yeah, you're usually able to instinctively tap into your Semblance for a bit right after unlocking your Aura. Plus, we were kinda riding a wave of adrenaline while fighting for our lives and then trying to stop a murderous dragon from getting away and plotting revenge. But once the initial rush wears off, you have to figure out how to use it consciously, which is a lot harder." Ruby rubbed her chin. "I guess we'll just have to practice until you can get it. Don't worry. We all had to."

"I'm just happy to finally have Aura at all."

"Well then, I suppose there's no reason not to," Brelyna concluded with a nod. "All right. Go ahead, then. I'm ready."

Weiss nodded and walked over to place her hand on the Dunmer's shoulder, glad that she'd asked Yang for her tips on how to do the ritual ahead of time so she could practice on the way here. Her other hand went to Brelyna's temple, and the heiress seemed to go into a trance before her eyes closed, a soft glow beginning to envelop the two of them. From within and without, Weiss' words began to resound.

"For it is with knowledge that we earn our freedom. Through this, we become masters of our fate and a reflection of all. Exalted in our wisdom and unshackled from doubt. I guide your soul, and by my heart, enlighten thee."

Inside, Weiss pushed harder. Where her soul and Brelyna's met she did her best to pull, feeling her own strain at it. Outside, Ruby looked at her scroll and gasped when she saw Weiss' Aura level dipping toward the yellow, quickly draining from eighty to seventy percent and slowly ticking down towards sixty.

"I," Weiss called out, still in the trance of the ritual. "Free." The glow around them grew brighter, causing everyone to wince or cover their eyes. "Your." Ruby turned from the display and tried to look at her scroll, seeing Weiss' Aura level at sixty-one percent. "SOUL!"

The light suddenly cut off. Everyone turned back to see Weiss' knees buckle under her. Brelyna caught her and lifted her back to her feet, and Ruby rushed in and helped the elf take her partner to a chair to sit down. The heiress groggily groaned and blinked at them with hazy eyes.

"Did it work?" she got out.

"I…think it did," Brelyna said as she looked at her arms. "Something definitely feels different." She suddenly had a smile and punched towards the walls, making a small thud before she drew back and clutched her knuckles. "Ach, son of a n'wah! That hurt!"

"Aura doesn't stop pain, silly," Ruby admonished with a shake of her head. "But it did stop the damage to your body. Also…" She pointed at the wall and Brelyna looked to see a small divot and cracks in the stone.

"Great, you damaged my house," Weiss deadpanned.

"Sorry. Give me a second to fix it." As Brelyna started concentrating on the Alteration magic to repair the stone, Ruby snapped a picture of her face then set her scroll to scan her. A few moments later, she had a reading.

"Yep! Aura active and at ninety-nine… Nope, back at a hundred. Congratulations Brelyna Maryon, you are the first elf to have an activated Aura." Ruby then bore a thoughtful look. "That we know of." She shrugged and then looked at her partner. "Feeling better, Weiss?"

"I'm fine. It's just that the amount I was drained caught me off-guard." She sighed and then looked at her own scroll for its readings. "It took literally twice as much effort as what I was taught. I suppose that's why no one ever unlocked one on Nirn before. Your Aura is so deep within that you'd almost certainly never find it by accident."

"Why do you suppose it is like this?" J'zargo asked while combing a finger through his whiskers.

"I haven't the foggiest. Perhaps magic and the like made it less of a necessity." As Weiss thought it over a little more, Ruby patted her shoulder.

"We'll probably never really know, but what's important is what's right now, and right now we've got two people with freshly unlocked Auras in need of training. Lydia, Brelyna, to the docks!"

"Wait, me?" the Dunmer mage asked in surprise.

"You gotta learn how to work it too. Plus you'll be a good balance between me and Lydia," Ruby explained as she took the woman's hand and started leading her out of the manse. "We'll get you a training weapon and we can test out your limits before we start drilling."

After their classmate was pulled away and looking at them with pleading eyes, the remaining three looked towards each other. Onmund caught Weiss' eyes move toward the door, and then nodded.

"Guess I'll go watch them," he said before leaving as well. J'zargo seemed prepared to follow, but Weiss clearing her throat caught his attention.

"J'zargo, I have…something that I need to get off of my chest." She took in a breath and slowly released it. "When we began…courting, it was a rather exciting moment in my life."

"Yes, there was certainly excitement," he agreed. "But…J'zargo has a feeling this is going somewhere."

"It is, and…I'm sorry. When I asked to date you, it was after coming out of a world with heavy expectations and my name known by nearly everyone. You had no idea who I was, but when we met you saw me as an equal, someone who could rival you even. We grew close and…well… J'zargo, I am a vampire." Weiss took another breath. "I know that you know that, but you don't…really know."

"I am…not sure I understand what you mean," the Khajiit said nervously.

"There's more to being a vampire than it being a simple curse and thirst for blood. I've wanted…things that make my stomach churn, but send tingles up my spine. I've thought again and again about how I would…take you." She gritted her teeth at that. "About how I would dominate and enslave others. A…plethora of fantasies of dominance and indulgence haunt me, and it's gotten more evident as time goes on, showing me what's really going on in my soul." She winced, but refused to look away. "Part of me…wants to break everything about you, and it terrifies me."

He looked down and to the side before sighing and then looked back up at her. "J'zargo was wondering what he may have done wrong when you did not speak to him on the calls."

"I'm sorry."

"Do not be. It is what it is. And it seems to this one that it just was not meant to be."

"Yeah," she muttered quietly. He nodded and straightened himself.

"He was never serious enough for it to go too far in the first place. If things are too much, then let us not hurt ourselves trying to push it."

"Right." She sniffed and rubbed her eyes before looking into his. "Then…it's over? We're broken up?"

"He would not say it is 'over'. For J'zargo, Weiss will still be a friend and a peer." She gave a light smile, and he reached a hand out to her. She took it and they shook on it.

"Friends and peers."

J'zargo nodded, then gave her a wry smirk. "Of course, he still eclipses you in Destruction magic, so peer is a relative term."

"Oh?" she put her hands to her hips and had to stop herself from breaking into laughter. "Maybe, but you can nowhere near match me in Conjuration."

"He concedes the point, but does your Conjuration exceed his Destruction?"

"Perhaps we should find out." Weiss was about to head out, but stopped herself. "Uh, after I put those communicators together. I don't have much time before I have to leave, and we might need them sooner rather than later."

"Ah, yes, that is true. He had almost forgotten those parts we brought. Well then, let us build some devices."

Iron hit iron and Brelyna let out an indignant squeal. A few of the dockworkers had started watching the three training, some of the Argonians apparently greatly enjoying seeing a Dunmer getting thrashed around. Even if it was a human doing the thrashing.

"Don't grip it too tight," Ruby reminded her. "Focus your Aura forward. Feel it extend from you and into the sword. You have to almost take the 'extension of your body' literally for that."

"What? What does that mean?"

"'Treat your weapons as though they are extensions of your own self'," Lydia quoted. "Gaiden Shinji."

"I'm pretty sure it's a more general term, but okay. Here, let's take a break," Ruby suggested. Brelyna thankfully dropped the practice blade and then sat on an old bench. She groaned at the cold then began focusing on heating it with magic in her hands. Ruby looked over the sight and hummed.

"I guess you're really used to just using magic, huh?"

"I never found much reason to use a weapon. I'm not much of a fighter, and if I have to I'd prefer to hit them from afar with fire, frost, and lightning."

"I can understand that, but sometimes you don't really have a say in how you fight." Ruby sat next to her, feeling the seat beneath her slowly going from below freezing to above. "Think about Weiss. She's pretty good at magic, but she also keeps her sword on her. Back on Remnant, even though she preferred Dust and her Semblance, she could still skewer and slice apart Grimm with the best of us."

"I think I'll just stick to more…homestyle magic." As Lydia sat next to them, the mage lifted up her hands from the now warmed bench. "Having Aura doesn't mean I have to fight, does it?"

"I guess not," Ruby supposed. "A lot of different professions can use Aura, but Huntsmen, and maybe soldiers and police, are pretty much the only ones that all of the members need Aura. There are first responders, firemen, and even doctors and medics who have their Auras unlocked for utility purposes. Along with all the heightened physical stuff, some people get a Semblance that works well with their job." Ruby laughed. "There was actually this show back home where a police consultant guy had a Semblance that highlighted specific things concerning a crime scene in his vision. He was so good at solving the crimes with it that he actually convinced everyone he was a psychic."

"Well, that is interesting," the Dunmer admitted.

"A lot of the 'shows' she describes are. I get a little confused though when she mentions something that sounds amazing was 'not that good'."

"In concept, they're amazing," Ruby admitted, "but the execution is so shoddy half the time. Like, imagine a book with a plot like The Infernal City was written more to the beat of The Lusty Argonian Maid." Brelyna blanched while Lydia shivered. "Yeah, exactly."

"Hey, Lopin', you seen Donert?" Cyrigs asked as he walked up.

"(Why are you even asking me? You know I can't pronounce anything in your monkey language)."

"Oh damn it! Why am I even asking you? You can't speak Common, Imperial, or Nordic. I never understood that, anyways. Why can't you speak any human languages?"

"(When I licked the sap and the Hist shaped me, I was formed to… Why am I explaining this to you)?"

As the Nord realized he had just repeated his mistake yet again, their sergeant, Gyaf, and Donert came up with a horse-drawn cart and something in said cart.

"Triumphant return!" the Dunmer declared as he hopped out of the seat. "We finally got the drop on those dirt-eating Imperials!"

"Oh, hey Sarge! You're back already?"

"Quite. I had to bring back the spoils of war to Windhelm itself. On the way we accidentally ran over Donert. It was kinda funny. Just wish it'd been Gyaf instead."

"Whoa, is he okay?" Cyrigs asked in worry.

"Eh, I'm fine. I've been pounded harder than that and got back up."

"(Do you not know how to control your hornless moose creatures? This is why guar are superior beasts of burden)."

"I'm glad you asked, Lopin'. We managed to capture a portable siege scorpion," the Dunmer cheerfully responded.

"It was abandoned and already hitched, so we took it while we ran," Gyaf explained.

"Quiet you! Taking advantage of an enemy force's shortcomings is a part of warfare. This doohickey will be perfect for spearing Imperials from a distance, or dragons, should the need arise."

"(Speaking of which, a couple of the Dragonslayers are here)," Loping-on-Heavily told them. "(Apparently, they are teaching a Dunmer girl how to fight. My brethren and I have found her poor combat performance very entertaining)."

"Yeah, for once the dragons attacking us will feel the burn," Donert mistakenly agreed. "Oh, by the way, Thane Weiss is back, and so's her red friend."

"Well then, maybe we'll be the ones to show 'em how to slay a dragon. Can't wait to shoot one of those lizards right out of the sky. No offense, Lopin'."

"(My only hope is that any dragon we meet speaks Jel, and that he eats you all)."

After taking the salvaged valuables, Yang and Anum-La had them packed and sent to the Beacon along with all the letters and diaries they collected, everything but the Blessed Blade of Stendarr, with the reasoning being that they were going to need it far more in the coming days ahead if the past was any indication. The Couriers' Guild had to get a mule and wagon to haul it, and it cost a good bit more than normal, but Yang believed it was worth it. Right after, they headed up north, trekking through the snow that led through Shor's Stone. The sky began darkening as they neared Vernim Wood, and Yang saw someone waving her down from the corner of her eye.

"Travelers," the man called out as Yang turned her head completely toward him. "Over here!" She saw now that he was dressed in the robes of a Vigilant, and instantly jumped off her horse's back.

"What is it?" Anum asked as she followed.

"Looks like a Vigilant needs help. Geez, you'd almost think they'd been wiped out from all the dead ones we come across." Yang pushed through the underbrush, smelling blood and death. She wondered what had happened as she came into the small clearing, only for the three people dressed as Vigilants to draw their weapons and smile wickedly.

"Ah-ha! Got you!" Several other men and women popped up, two of them dressed in black robes and the rest wearing worn leather. Yang realized that behind the smell of death was the scent of vampires hanging onto the disguised three and the robed ambushers.

"Crap! Watch out!" Yang cried as she drew Holy Ardon and swung it at the nearest vampire. He jumped back and tried to smash his mace into her arm, but she moved it aside and chopped up. He cried out and fell back as his leg was cut and the enchantment took hold, but then Yang was covered in flames from one of his fellows. The ambusher seemed surprised that she'd come out almost unscathed, but only redoubled her efforts. Yang could feel the fire biting into her Aura and unhooked the Helmet of the Unburned from her side and almost slammed it onto her head.

'Knew I should've gotten this thing fitted,' she mentally complained as she took Fiery Kain in her right hand after tossing Ardon to her left. The vampire tried to burn her again, but this time when the flames collided, a roar echoed out from her helmet and something seemed to fill Yang's very being. The fire washed off of her like it was no more than air, and she charged through, bringing Kain down on the mage's neck and chopping down through her chest, severing half of her torso and head from the rest of her. Anum-La had successfully gotten at two of the thralls and one of the black-robed vampires, her blessed sword cutting them down with her swings. An arrow hit her, digging into her gambeson, but Yang could see that it hadn't hit her scaly skin.

As she turned back to the other two disguised vampires, one began spraying her with ice while the other started using a draining spell. Yang suddenly felt dizzy and fell to one knee, and the one she'd injured laughed evilly.

"Now we've got you! You'll pay for…" He trailed off as something started crashing through the forest. For a moment, it looked like a snow bear was charging them, then a Nord sat up from its back and raised up a double-bladed axe while letting out a warcry. He swung the axe as his bear passed by an archer, chopping into the thrall and tossing him through the air with its force. The bear reared back and roared, and the man hopped off before turning and swinging his axe in both hands, catching two thralls and splitting one in half while cutting open the other's chest. The other robed vampire tried to hit him with a shower of lightning, but the man powered through it, raised up his axe like he was splitting wood, and then went through her as though she was a rotten log. The other two had ceased their combined attack on Yang and were in full retreat, but then the bear ran the woman down while the man received a throwing axe in his uninjured leg. The bear ceased its mauling once the female went quiet, then trundled up to the fallen man, pressing down on his back before biting the back of his head.

As Yang rose to her feet and warmed herself back up with a fire spell, the man came towards her. He was enormous, easily a head taller than even some of the biggest Nords she had yet seen. He pulled the hood of his cloak back, revealing an old, weathered face with a beard nearly as long as her hair, once blonde but faded almost entirely to white with age, and a single topknot of hair atop his head. While his right eye was blue, Yang noticed his left eye had a cataract formed over it.

"Are you alright, girl?" he asked her with his gruff voice.

"I'm okay now, thanks." She stood up and rolled her arm, feeling the numbness of the cold slowly fading away. "Quite an entrance you made."

"Sometimes showing the right presence wins you the battle before it's even begun."

"I'm sure swinging an axe the weight of a small child with one arm will also help," Anum-La quipped as she walked up while cleaning her sword's blade.

"Quite. And who might you young ones be?"

"I'm Yang. This here's Anum-La."

"And I am Yngvarr. Well met. You're a Companion, are you not? How is Kodlak these days?" the man asked as he shouldered his axe.

"He's doing well. You know him?"

"Do I? We fought side by side for well over twenty years that man and I, back when I still ran with the Companions." The old man sighed wistfully. "Well, I can tell you more at a later time. I was heading up to my home before I heard the commotion, if you want out of the cold."

"I dunno, how far are we from Vernim Wood?" she asked the Argonian, who immediately pulled out her map.

"Well, from that bridge over there… And there's Vernim… How far is your home?" she asked the old man. He simply pointed up at a nearby set of mountains, and they saw a small bit of smoke rising off its side. "Yep, that's closer than the town," she decided as she put the map away.

"Alright then. Lead the way, but don't get any ideas," Yang warned him.

"The only ideas I have any more are what to eat for supper. Come, Bjarni." The bear responded and waddled up to his side, letting Yang see how massive it really was, being higher at the shoulder than her head. Still, as it followed the big Nord it seemed to act more like a floppy lipped dog than a man-killing beast. As they walked along behind the massive man and started going up an incline, Yang picked up a little more beyond the scent of bear. She took a few quicker strides to pull up beside him and cleared her throat to catch his attention.

"You don't have a second bear, do you?"

"Nope. You don't have a wolf somewhere?"

"Nope," she answered with a grin.

The two women were treated to a good bowl of soup and some mead as they sat by the large hearth in Yngvarr's home. Bjarni was eating a mass of berries and fish and even got a little honey. Yngvarr ate with the two, but with a double portion.

"So you used to be a Companion?" Yang asked, continuing from where they'd paused. He's already told them how he and Kodlak met and had just gotten to the point where they'd joined.

"In truth, I still am. Once a Companion, it takes a true form of dishonor to be thrown out of the ranks. I've…kept in contact, somewhat. They know I'm up here and why. I simply prefer my solitude and my home." Bjarni came up and nosed him on the arm, causing the man to smile and pet him. "And you, my friend."

"Certainly a nice place you got here," Anum said while looking around. "Another room or two, a bar over there, and you'd have yourself an inn. Don't know who'd come up all this way, though."

"The only other thing of note is the Dwarven ruins near the mountaintop. I have the occasional hunter looking to rest, but not much else. I've lived in peace these last few years, but now…my mind wanders, and my eye looks towards the horizon." He suddenly gained a faraway look in his eyes. "Sovngarde beckons me."

Yang felt a pang in her heart when she recalled smelling the lycanthropy – or was it ursanthropy? – on him. She knew from what the others had told her that a werebeast's soul belonged to Hircine and his Hunting Grounds. That included her soul as well, and truth be told she was not looking forward to that. If there were any workarounds, she'd grab hold of them, but she didn't even know where to begin to look.

"Maybe you should come with us?" Anum-La suggested. "Every other time this woman takes me somewhere, we almost die. Now we're planning to go meet her little dragonslaying sister before going to what is possibly a trap intended to kill me at Folgunther. Just on the way here we had run-ins with massive spiders, vampire-filled skooma dens, and enough skeletons to fill a modest graveyard."

"The adventurous sort, heh?" Yngvarr chuckled.

Yang shrugged. "Just trying to do the most good."

"Well then, I wouldn't mind joining you, if you would have me. Perhaps I'll find my way with you two. If not, then I can spend the twilight of my life truly living." He took a large gulp from his mug and sighed as he slammed it down. "Well then, in the morning?"

"Yeah, sure. It'll be good to have your axe around," Yang answered. "'Til then, where can we sleep?"

"Ah, those two on the right are empty. Shouldn't be any dust to worry about."

"Thanks, Yng. Well, we'll need some shuteye if we're gonna try to make it to Windhelm tomorrow." Yang stood up and stretched before heading towards one of the rooms.

"Yng?" the man wondered aloud. "Huh, haven't been called that in…a long time."

Blake arrived at Windhelm in the middle of the night, when everyone else was sound asleep. She checked through Hjerim first to get a solid headcount, then to the inn for a few much-needed drinks. When she'd nearly ordered her fourth she decided to go for a walk, keeping to the shadows and hoping to not be spotted. It was working rather well.

"You seen that knight?" one Dunmer asked another. "The one that goes to the temple every day?"

"Have I? The man is a beauty! Oh, I do hope we share interests!"

"You're out of luck either way," a different one told him. "Seems to be one of those…abstinent sort of knights."

She stopped listening there and moved the focus of her ears, this time hearing something through a layer of stone.

"Ohhhhhh, Hist! Need it. Need it! Neeeeeed it!"

She shifted her ears again, not wanting to hear an addict's jonesing.

"Papa, I miss mama. Why did she leave?"

"She went to go and heal people, dear."

"I know, but… Why heal the Nords? They're always so mean to us."

"She…believes that if we help them, they'll realize how bad they were treating us and start being nicer."

She sighed and flattened her ears to her head while sitting on a cold curb, taking the sword and its sheath from her back. The Ebony Blade shifted a little, and she could feel it cut against the piece of wood and leather keeping it away from the outside world. As much as she hated what it often tried to get her to do, she was focused on a different aspect of it at the moment.

"You warned me," she whispered lowly. "You told me he was hiding something. Why didn't you say more?"

Rather than the Blade, she heard the far more silky voice of Mephala. "You would have learned nothing if you were told everything."

"I was stabbed in the chest. I could've… I almost died." The word 'again' went unsaid, but still understood.

"Yes, it was very close. He led you right into that trap, using you as a shield, fully believing it would kill you. Such a betrayal! Or was it?"

Blake winced at that. "I did trust him, but…the more I think about it, the more unnatural it seems. I always felt weird about it. I didn't think it was much at the time, but I think I know why now. And I'm sure you know why."

"Much of his plans and actions are shadowed from me."

"Those aren't what I was asking about. It's his Semblance." A long pause of silence happened between them. "I think I know what it is, and I know you won't lie to me about it." She put her hand on the hilt of the Blade. "Not when I hold this."

Another long moment of silence passed. After taking in a deep breath, she clenched her hand until the knuckles went white.

"What is Guild Master Mercer Frey's Semblance?"

A slight laugh rose up. "You already know it. He turns the emotions levied towards him in his favor. He calls it 'Shadows Lure You'."

'Then he's manipulated me from the start.' Blake gritted her teeth together and her hands wrung the sword. 'He played me like a damn fiddle!'

"He played everyone, but now you know. How can your feelings change from hatred to admiration?"

'They won't. I… I have to kill him.' Blake tried to take in a breath past her quivering anger, but it came ragged. Some part of her deep inside knew it wasn't her first choice, but she didn't care. 'I have to kill him so that he can't hurt me or anyone else again.'

Mephala and her Blade said nothing as Blake continued on her train of thought.

Weiss leafed through the old journal, not able to understand it, but intrigued by it all the same. Blake was looking over her shoulder while holding the mask Ruby had shown her a while ago, which she said was all that was left of Krosis.

"Rather amazing. Going by the structure of the sentences, he also used the same sort of syntax found in other Aldmeri languages. I've only seen a handful of Falmer writing examples, but this certainly looks like them… A career thief wrote this?"

"Enthir said he was pretty well learned," Blake pointed out to her. "And that he was 'too clever for his own good.' He said my best bet for figuring out what it says is Calcelmo, the head researcher and owner of the Dwemer Museum all the way over in Markarth."

"Well, that is quite the trip." Weiss closed the book and handed it back to Blake. "Do you want to come along with me and go from Solitude?"

"No, first I want to check the Guild. He probably thinks I'm dead, and then told everyone else as much. If that doesn't work, then I'll follow this up." Blake sighed. "Gods damn it all, I only joined the Thieves Guild to get rid of people looking to kill us, now I have to worry about someone in the Guild trying to kill us."

"At least this time, his self-interest will likely override his wish for our death," Weiss theorized, "so if he does get away, we may never have to worry about him coming after you again. He's a thief, not a death cultist."

"Maybe, but I'm not going to pretend I know how he thinks. And something tells me there's more to this than we know. He couldn't have just accidentally unlocked his Aura. Not with what we found out. Karliah doesn't have it, and she didn't tell me how he unlocked his before we split at Winterhold. And I doubt he's from Remnant. He's certainly younger than a hundred, and he would've…noticed things by now."

"Like those human ears you hide under your hair?" Brelyna asked as she walked by. The woman looked a little exhausted – not to mention slightly bruised – as Ruby and Lydia came in behind her.

"Okay, so we got Lydia to be able to bring up her shield for a few seconds," Ruby told the group. To demonstrate, the housecarl held up her hand and summoned her translucent shield. After three seconds, it fell apart and Lydia gasped in a breath. "Haven't been able to break one yet, but I don't know how they stand against something like a barrage of attacks. It might be that Lydia's putting everything behind it, and it's just really strong but costly in general, or maybe it's got some kind of gimmick where it's completely invincible but only ever lasts a couple seconds. Semblances can have weird mechanics like that. We're gonna try focusing on reducing their power and see if they last longer that way."

"Yes, that's actually similar to how I trained with my glyphs, though they were certainly never indestructible. There was always something that could break through." Weiss summoned up a glyph over her hand then turned it around. "Here, let me see something."

Lydia nodded and focused on bringing up her shield again. Weiss then sped her glyph forward and it crashed into the similarly sized yellow disk with a small thunderclap that the people in the room could feel and broke apart. Lydia's shield held for another second then crumbled again.

"Mm, I put a lot behind that glyph," Weiss said with a small wince. "Yes, we certainly don't know where the limits of it are. We'll need to look into it further when we have the time. Speaking of, what time is it?"

"About eleven," Ruby answered. "I think."

"It's eleventh hour, yes," Brelyna answered

"Well, I better get to the docks then. The boat leaves in about thirty minutes."

"My Thane," Calder called as he came downstairs, "is everything all right? I think I heard something."

"Just a magical shield test, Calder. It worked, so no damage. I'll be leaving momentarily, but my friends may be here for another day or two. How's Smells-the-Ground settling in?"

"She got familiar with the rooms really quickly. Are you still sure about…hiring an Argonian maid?"

"She needed the job, and we need someone to keep the place clean, especially with that family moving into two of the rooms later this week. Just make sure to keep the peace for me while I'm gone."

"Absolutely, my Thane," he said with a salute. "Have a safe trip."

Weiss nodded and the group walked out. She winced a little at the sun, but found that it didn't bother her nearly as much as it once did. In fact, if she simply had some sunglasses, she wouldn't have needed to pull her hood up over her head. As she wondered whether that came from her new bloodsire or not, the two male mages looked up from their game of Legends and joined the convoy of people heading towards the far side of the city.

"Were you able to get those communicators together?" Onmund asked in curiosity.

"Yes. There were enough parts for five after putting the first together." Weiss held up a briefcase-sized object to show them. "I have some more ideas for miniaturization, but it will likely take some time to implement, not to mention money." She rubbed her chin in thought before shrugging. "Brelyna knows the workings fairly well at this point, and I have some blueprints written down for you three and anyone else at the college that you trust to assist. I'm also leaving one for you to use on the move and another for Ruby to…give to a contact of ours."

"After he's made that oath, of course," Ruby remembered Weiss demanding. They needed to be able to talk with the half-Faunus a lot quicker and more directly than by courier, as the situation with Horvutokinah showed them. A courier could end up following someone's trail for weeks if they were on the move like Ruby tended to be at all times. Windhelm was also getting a lot more of the news and refugees from the dragon's rampage in the White Shore of the Pale, so just what he'd done before Ruby learned about him was becoming all the more apparent. Still, they didn't want this magitech falling into the Thalmor's hands, so they would have to tie Capric's. "The Bloody Oath is pretty simple, really. Why don't more people use it?"

"In case it becomes inconvenient or outright dangerous to continue holding onto it," J'zargo explained. "It also cannot be changed or altered in any way. Once made, it is a lifelong bind."

"Oh, okay. Yeah, I guess politicians and stuff need a lot more wiggle room than that." There were than a few movie and book plots about how someone on the side of good had to go back on an oath or vow because the other party changed so terribly that the spirit of the promise was essentially dead and gone. "Well, that's why it'll work for something so simple. Just going to make it that he can't share the communicator's secrets to anyone without our permission."

"You guys know he has something similar, right?" Blake asked them. "Remember that conversation he had with the queen I told you about?"

"That's a piece of high-grade magic only the most skilled of mages could hope to accomplish," Weiss explained. "Likely, it included complex rituals and reagents on top of it being a constant drain on his magicka. There have always been ways of communicating across vast distances. This is just the first one that could become widely available to practically anyone."

"Ooh, there was some kind of Dwemer bird machine that Annaïg used to talk to Prince Attrebus," Ruby told them.

"What?" Blake asked, a little confused.

"It's in The Infernal City, part one of the historical novelization of the truth behind the Umbriel Crisis," she further explained. "Annaïg had a mechanical bird her mother gave her that could fly itself around and had a communication ability with a locket that she kept on her at all times, so she could send it somewhere and talk to people with it."

"Huh, interesting. I'll have to read that when I'm done with Mystery of Talara." They reached the docks and looked to see the bustling Argonians and Nords, a few Dunmer interspersed and normally keeping a distance from the reptilian folk. As they came up to the ship Weiss would be boarding, Erevan seemed to walk out from the crowd.

"Everyone," he greeted them with a small bow. "Lady Weiss, it is good to see you off. I thought I may catch you before you depart and share a thought or two."

"Certainly," she replied with a smile.

"I have been in this city a few days now, and have felt the heaviness surrounding it. But knowing I am in your service, the Nords dare not reproach me. And to see one of their own as a knight has given many of the local Dunmer…someone to look up to. I have also been working with Brunwulf Free-Winter and a few others to find out about a group of bandits that have slipped beneath the guards' noses more than once. I think I can do some good here."

"If that's what you want, then go ahead. You don't need our permission to help people." He smiled at this and nodded.

"Then I will. I hope to see you soon. Be careful in that viper's den. They may see you as one of their own, but sometimes snakes will swallow even one another."

"I'll keep it in mind."

Yang read her texts as they rode on from Kynesgrove to Windhelm. Bjarni was able to keep up with the horses easily, the bear having been trained to do so by Yngvarr since he found him as a cub, along with training him to ignore his hibernation instincts.

"Okay, so Weiss is heading off, Ruby and Lydia are planning to head up to Winterhold while training, and Blake's going back down to Riften for info and whatnot." She stuck her tongue out and closed her eyes. "One day, the world will stop being so crazy and we can all just live."

"This traveling common for you and your friends?" Yngvarr asked.

"We've been zig-zagging every which way since we fought that dragon at Whiterun. I think he cursed us with his dying breath or something." Both the Nord and Argonian laughed at this.

"Well, nothing's making you go with me to Folgunther," Anum-La told her. "It's all your own conscious decision. Then again, I can't picture you choosing to stay in one spot for too long."

"Yeah, fair enough. But there's a difference between going out on weekend adventures and living on the road."

"Both certainly have their merits," Yngvarr said as he started stuffing a smoking pipe, "but the road is better spent with friends and comrades to share the journey, whereas I find my home to be a den of solitude. Perhaps some opinions would differ, but that is how I see it."

"I like some alone time once in a while, but I don't know about just being alone."

"Wolves live in packs after all," he agreed.

As Windhelm came into view, the Nord looked upon the statue of Talos in reverence. Their steeds were left at the stable, though the stablehands were even more confused about what to do with Bjarni than they were about the giant pig. At least Toggle had common precedent from Orc travelers and his smaller kith. At Weiss' mansion, they found Ruby and Lydia practicing sword forms.

"Okay, starting to think I should just go one-handed," Ruby realized after having her non-existent block broken through once more. "Then again… Okay, think I've got something. Hit me again."

Lydia nodded and moved in on her. As the strike came, Ruby threw up her new attempt, knocking her strike away rather than blocking it. Lydia struck at her again, coming from the other side, and Ruby's other sword spun and parried her once more. They repeated this two more times before Ruby saw Yang coming up and jumped back from the practice.

"Hey, Yang! Who's your buddies?"

"Right, this is Anum-La, and the big guy there is Yngvarr."

"Trying to learn dual-swords, huh? All the better to slice your enemies with," the Argonian quipped.

"Yeah, sometimes my ba- scythe isn't good for close quarters or enemies that get right up in my face. I'm pretty good with a single sword, but sometimes…" Ruby spun one of the practice swords around as she trailed off.

"Hm, a scythe? Sounds like an interesting weapon to use," Yngvarr thought aloud. "Is it an actual scythe with a stronger blade, or a warscythe?"

"Uh, both and neither," Ruby answered while taking out Crescent Rose and unfurling it. The man's eyebrows went up, looking almost ready to fly off his head.

"That's definitely something different."

"So, we're going to track down whatever's up there, probably another Skyshard, then come back down and figure out our next move. Might go up to High Hrothgar and try to see if they can give me a little more direction on this special Shout Delphine and Esbern think exists," Ruby explained as she sipped the warm tea Smells-the-Dirt had made for them. "Assuming nothing happens between now and then."

"And we'll hopefully get to study it," Brelyna added. "Skyshards are beyond rare. The fact you can track them with your mind is amazing."

"Okay, but only if it's not in a dangerous place. I don't know if it's under the sea, on a rock, or deep underground."

"And Blake's probably going to have to go to Markarth soon." Yang looked over at her partner after saying that. "You sure you're okay for that?"

"I'm fine. Better than I was before, even. Something about Karliah's potion cleared up my blood and seemed to-"

"That's not what I meant. Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?"

The Faunus nodded. "I'll be fine. Besides, I'm not going right now, if I have to go at all. I'm going to check the Guild, and if someone's willing to go with me in the event I absolutely have to go, I'll take them along."

"A thief, from the Guild whose master tried to kill you?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I know who I can… Well, I don't know if I can trust any of them, but I know what each of them are about. I just need someone good at stealth to watch my back while I deal with this Calcelmo guy. None of them I'm even considering are likely to betray me."

Yang sighed at that. "I don't know… I'd prefer someone we know, if not myself."

"Yang, I don't think you have a sneaky bone in your body," Ruby pointed out.

"I can sneak around if I want to. I'm more of a hunter sneak than thief sneak."

"Ambusher. The word you wanted was ambusher," J'zargo told her.

"Thanks, Zar," she sarcastically deadpanned.

"Not a problem." He smirked at her while she rolled her eyes.

"Never had much a need for stealth either way," Yngvarr said before taking a few puffs from his pipe. "Is there a more direct way to get what you need?"

"This is actually the backup plan for if the direct way fails. I'm hoping his past with Gallus works in my favor. If not, I can always try to trade for or buy the info. Getting in to steal it is plan C."

"Hm, I see then. Well, if you truly need it and he's too stubborn to give it…" He waved a hand and closed his eyes a moment, only the movements of his lips on the pipe letting everyone know he was awake.

"What about when you get the translation?" Ruby asked.

"I'm more getting the key to translate it. I could try it myself, but I'm going to leave it to a professional. Karliah told me Enthir would be our point of contact, so once I have what I need, I'll go back to him."

"Back up at Winterhold, and crossing the entirety of Skyrim again," Yang pointed out while shaking her head. "Well, not much better for me. After me and Anum-La check out her 'mysterious friend', assuming nothing's urgent, I was going to see about finding someone named Sorine Jurard for the Dawnguard. She's somewhere in the north of the Druadach Mountains, but likely south of Deep Folk Crossing. Tracking her down…might take a while."

"So you've gotta head to the Reach, too?" Ruby asked.

"Again, that's assuming nothing too urgent with our mystery buddy comes up. For all we know, someone's on their deathbed and needs Anum-La there to save their life, or she's the last heir to some yadda-yadda thing and has to unlock something or another with a drop of her freely given blood."

"Oh, I already did that." Everyone looked at Ruby in surprise. "I'm Dragonborn, and there was a super-secret Dragonborn temple I needed to drip some blood on to unlock."

"What's the reverse of a prophecy? 'Cause that's pretty much what you just did," Anum said with a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah," Yang waved away while taking a sip of her drink.

"Ah, thought I heard you mentioning that," Yngvarr said as he took his pipe from his mouth and looked at Ruby. "Heard a traveling hunter or two mention a Dragonborn cloaked in red and wearing scarlet scales for armor. Hm, I'd say they're more crimson."

"We were going for ruby red, but it wasn't really available. The only other options were a bright red scarlet that was just too much and burgundy, which is not my sister's color at all."

"I'd say that'd be more like if Blake had a sister and she was more cheerful, it'd be her color."

"Don't you dare curse me with that."

"Too late!" Ruby happily declared before moving her fingers around and conjuring up little lights between them. "May you know what it means to have siblings!"

Everyone else was still laughing as Smells-the-Dirt came in, holding a tray of biscuits.

"Okay," the yellow-green Argonian woman announced in a higher than normal voice as she walked in, "they're just out of the oven, so they're still-" She yelped as she suddenly tripped over, but somehow moved her arms just right to keep the biscuits from falling, even catching a couple that went airborne with the tray.

"Oh, are you okay?!" Ruby yelled out in shock.

"I'm fine. Just lost my footing." With that she swung a leg under herself and stood straight back up before taking the last few steps and setting the biscuits down on the table. "Happens all the time."

At night, Blake was one of the last to turn in. Choices were a little more limited since two of the rooms were closed off in preparation for the family moving in. Blake only knew that it was a couple with a pair of boys and a baby girl. Still, the men had taken the cellar, Calder and Smells had their own rooms, and Lydia and Ruby were rooming together. As she weighed between the options of sleeping on the couch and searching for a bed, Yang came down from the upper floor.

"Hey," the brawler greeted her.

"Hey," she evenly responded, putting down her book. She could feel what was coming. Yang walked over and sat down across from her, leaning forward a bit before reclining. Blake waited for her to start talking, but she didn't. For a moment, the Faunus wondered if she had even come for that. She sat up straight and looked at her partner before clearing her throat.

"Are you…okay?"

Yang nodded. "Remember when we talked after you recovered from that Isael woman, then immediately went on a rescue mission despite having to have your guts put back together the previous day?"

Blake's ear drooped a little. "Um, yeah?"

"When Weiss first called us, she could barely get out what had happened. She was crying her eyes out and… We really thought you were going to die." Yang took a breath and looked over to her. "I thought we were going to lose you, Blake. I went out and ripped apart… I don't know, three deer? Kodlak managed to calm me down, but for the next few days I couldn't stop thinking about if you were going to make it, even when Weiss kept sending us updates, telling us you were improving." Yang reached over, pausing a moment, before extending her hand down. Blake nearly let herself jump back, but held still as she felt the blonde's finger brush her scarred belly. Slowly, Blake placed her own hand over Yang's and the two looked each other in the eye, and then their hands were wrapped around each other's.

"I'm only asking that you be careful. I need you to stay alive, Blake. Please, don't let this kind of thing happen again."

She nodded. "I will. I promise."

Yang smiled and then leaned over, settling her forehead against Blake's shoulder as the Faunus held her close.

Several hours later, Ruby came down the stairs yawning, then smiled at the sight of the two lying on the couch together, a blanket over them both.