The drunken huntsman was characteristically busy, rife with the loud voices of its inebriated patrons and irritated bartender. The smell of beer permeated the whole area, broken only by the refreshing taste and scent of the drinks that the dovahkiin and her vampire companion had ordered.

"Have you ever thought about marriage?"

The dragonborn asked without warning. Serana looked up from her drink slowly, turning to face her companion. The blood-red eyes of the vampiress gazed piercingly at the blonde before her. She had been expecting, and dreading, a question along those lines since the morning, but tried her best to feign mild surprise.

"Oh, I get it. Is that why you're wearing an Amulet of Mara?"

Serana replied, as the dragonborn took a sip from her own drink. She placed the jug back on the table next to her helmet, a sudden nervousness coming over her. She had defeated a whole catalogue of fearsome enemies, from briar hearts to dragons to Serana's own father, but somehow proposing to the lady before her was more terrifying than any of it. The dovahkiin swallowed quietly before catching the vampiress's eyes and answering her question.

"I was hoping you might want to talk about it."

Serana maintained eye contact in the pause that followed. She had been a vampire for over a thousand years, but not once in that time had she cared for someone in the way that she cared for the dragonborn. In fact, her humanity had been lost so long ago that she had almost forgotten what it meant to be in love. Almost. The memory had faded like a dying fire over the centuries, yet just when the last embers were petering out, the dovahkiin walked into her life and poured alcohol onto them. Love was now a raging conflagration inside her, eating away at her long-dead heart. As the seconds dragged on, she knew that she had to come up with an answer, and so did her best.

"Look, you're great. Really. But I just don't think that's for us. Especially not me. I mean… with my history, I still kind of get a chill just walking by a temple. Can't imagine going in one."

The dragonborn was half-expecting such an answer, but that did nothing to mitigate the pain of rejection. Her self-pity was mixed with a sudden curiosity as to what Serana's "history" with temples had been. The dovahkiin could not help herself from attempting to find out.

"Why is it that you don't like temples?".

"I think we've talked about that enough."

The vampiress replied curtly. She finished her drink, before continuing in a noticeably more amiable tone

"Come on, now, we should get going". The dovahkiin knew better than to press Serana on the issue, and so took her jet black helmet from the table and stood up, after which both women left.