The Adventures of a Dragonborn – Sixty Years of Solitude

by Systemfel

The Second Great War is over and the time of noble intrigues has arrived. Aurora is now Jarl of Solitude and does her best to control a changing Hold, fighting Thanes and her own nightmares which has only grown worse since defeating Alduin. Olfina/Harrald/Nilsine/Idgrod the Younger/Ingun/Cyrodiil nobility

21. 4th of Frost Fall, 4E 203

p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"em4supth/sup of Frost Fall, Blue Palace/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora was just about to leave her office and head off to Proudspire as Nilsine entered the cabinet and stopped her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Aurora, there is an envoy from Hammerfell here," she said, slightly out of breath./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora smiled. "From King Iskander or Canpolat?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""From King Canpolat," Nilsine said. "They request an official audience tomorrow, so you will have to accept them in the throne room."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Sure," Aurora said. She remembered both the kings fondly, and was happy to welcome either one's envoy. "What do you think they want?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I can only guess, but I assume it's some kind of trade matter."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Great," Aurora smiled. "I'm off to Proudspire now. I'll try to get some lunch with the guys before the interview with Aifur Blue-Quill."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She was just about to pass her stewardess as Nilsine hesitantly stopped her. "Oh, Aurora?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The Jarl turned around. "Yes?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Olfina asked me to see if the two of you and Harrald could arrange a sword training session."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Oh, I can't today," Aurora spoke, trying to sound as disappointed as she could./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It doesn't have to be today, she said."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt;""Well, I'll see when I'll have time," Aurora replied without much /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"keenness/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;" before she set off./span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She quickly jumped down the stairs, two steps at a time. She was in excellent mood and was looking forward to meet her friends at Proudspire Manor. She was early for her appointment with Aifur Blue-Quill, who was planning to interview her for his book about the Second Great War, but there was a reason to it – she enjoyed spending time with the Drunken Poets, as they were now known in town. She had planned to have lunch with Egor and Bogdan./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt;"She walked through the palace doors and drew her cloak over her shoulders. The chilly weather had become cold, and she probably had to do something about her shoes, she thought. Fine /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"moccasins/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;" made of silk were not suitable for the damp cold of winter in Solitude, and she began shivering before even reaching Erikur and Gisli's house. /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"As she entered the manor, she immediately saw the back of Egor, who was standing with his hands on his hips. He turned his head as he heard her open the door. The front of his light brown hair, which usually was swept to the side over one of his eyebrows flung in the movement./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What's going on?" Aurora asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"That was when she saw it. There were bottles absolutely everywhere – stapled on top of one another in at least six layers, covering the entire living room floor. There were bottles on every side table, chair or other available surface. Some hay was also to be found all over the place./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""There was an error in our wine order," Egor said. "I think we asked for five dozen bottles and sent them the same amount of gold as always, but this is what we received."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"There were at least a hundred and fifty bottles. Perhaps two hundred. Or more, it was impossible to tell for certain. Aurora looked at Egor and grinned from ear to ear. His voice was not alike anyone she had ever heard. He articulated very clearly, yet it was as if the sounds braided together in a silky manner, swimming from one word into another. It had a vibration to it, as if he recreated a nasal tone from the back of his mouth. It was like hearing music. He was fun to hang around with too, and based on how he moved, he must be a real womaniser, she thought. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He appeared confident, but very down to Nirn. His eyes were blue, intelligent and very much alive. They were not as intensive as Vilkas's, but they were cheeky and positive. Like Ratibor and Vecheslav, he wore an earring, but while the latter two wore gold rings, Egor opted for some kind of silvery stone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""And it is shitty wine," Bogdan said, suddenly emerging from the kitchen. He opened a bottle with the help of his teeth and dawdled towards Aurora and Egor. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Well..." Egor began. "I could use it for my art exhibition, but it feels wrong to combine great paintings and awful wine," the man grinned. "Hey! We could always invite the Book Club ladies over."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Bogdan threw him a gaze which expressed every sigh possible. The Book Club ladies Engrid and Aggrippina were only popular with Vecheslav, who was civil with them, perhaps due to the fact that they ran a publishing house. Everyone else found them unbearable./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What are we supposed to do with this then?" Egor exclaimed, holding his arms out to the sides./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt;"Bogdan lifted the bottle far up in the air, leaned back and poured a little into his mouth. He moved slowly, as always. His knees were bent to enable the back to take a position so that most of the wine ended up in his mouth. That day, he was wearing a full red /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"ensemble/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;" consisting of a worn-down /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"oversized/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;" tunic and loose trousers. His massive sideburns picked up a significant amount of the spillage and stopped the drops from reaching his clothing./span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What does it taste like?" Aurora asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She walked up to Bogdan, but he stopped her, smiled and held the bottle far up into the air, spilling drops all around him. He took a grip of her neck and made her lean her head backwards while pouring into her mouth, which he partly missed. With wine splashing onto her dress due to Bogdan's wobbly aiming, she laughed. This caused a cascade of wine to jump out of her mouth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Give me that," Egor said, taking another step closer to the pair. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Bogdan clung to his neck from behind and stuck the bottle down his throat. Egor managed to keep up with gravity for only a few seconds before he had too much wine in his mouth, coughed and straightened up, pushing the bottle away. "Oh," he spitted. "It's drinkable, but I would not put it on a dinner table."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora giggled and placed both her hands over Bogdan's right shoulder while he used the left arm to cling to Egor. "I haven't slept an hour tonight, so I'm all in the clouds as it is."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She had placed her face close to him while smiling. Bogdan observed Aurora for a short moment. He then handed her the bottle, let go of Egor, reached for some more wine on the floor and opened the bottle with his hands. In the movement, Aurora lost her footing and narrowly avoided falling over./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What am I supposed to do with this?" Aurora asked, now holding a bottle with only two inches of liquid left in it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Stick it down your corset," Bogdan smiled cheekily./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora grinned but remained still for a moment. Then she smiled even more widely and pressed down the bottle between her breasts, as the guys laughed at her reaction. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It's cold!" she exclaimed and giggled as she struggled to fit the bottle into her corset./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"As she managed to tuck the wide part of the bottle inside, she brought her arms straight out to the side. The neck was still reaching her collar bone, but stood out about two inches from her body. Bogdan reached for the bottle with his mouth, and as he latched on, Aurora leaned forwards in order to enable the liquid to escape the container and reach its designated spot. She did not quite reach the necessary tilt, though, and Bogdan tipped backwards, landing on his back on the floor. Aurora straightened out as she and Egor laughed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Egor took the barely touched bottle Bogdan had been holding into his right hand and put the same arm around Aurora, bringing the bottle to her lips in order to let her drink. She took a few mouthfuls before leaning back, making Egor stop pouring more. She looked at the man and smiled as she brought her arms out as if to offer the bottle between her breasts. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He chuckled as he shook his head. "Bogdan fell on his back, I'm not doing it!" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora gave him a grimace before having a splendid idea. She took a step closer to Bogdan and stood over him. Apparently, he understood where she was going with it, for he leaned back on his arms, after which Aurora took yet another step closer and placed herself just above him. She leaned over him as he got down on his elbows to get the angle right, however, they still spilled quite a deal as Aurora tried to aim the bottleneck in the correct angle./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It doesn't work, you fools!" Egor grinned./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Bogdan lay down fully on his back, and Aurora sat down over his stomach and leaned forwards on her palms in order to get the last bit of liquid out. Bogdan closed his eyes, exposing the large upper eyelids. His forehead was completely relaxed and smooth and he had an almost tranquil grin on his lips. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora poured and missed spilled a little. In that moment, Bogdan let out a short chuckle and smiled even wider as he leaned his head as far back as he could. He reflexively placed his hands on her hips as the wine drops hit his chin, and the woman's heart jumped. She was in an almost drunken state due to the lack of sleep, and felt as if in the clouds. The light touch of his fingers on her skirt was enough to send a tickling feeling through her body. She began to laugh, deep in her chest, and calmly. She felt an immense sensation of happiness in that moment and wanted to embrace someone. Either Egor or Bogdan, she thought./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"There was only a little left in the bottle, perhaps two or three small sips. Aurora had to move down Bogdan a little in order to create an angle steep enough for the wine to escape the part where the bottle narrowed just before the neck. The woman leaned closer with her collarbone to the man on the floor. Bogdan put his lips to the bottle and moved his hands onto her waist to push her slightly more upward. This caused her to lose her balance, and she barely avoided giving Bogdan a black eye by falling forwards. In the last moment, she managed to get her palms to stabilise her body, however, she had hit him slightly on the lips with the bottle. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Another one!" Bogdan yelled as Aurora leaned forwards and he thereby was able to speak./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Egor casually walked up to the pair on the floor and handed Aurora a new bottle while keeping another one for himself. He squatted and nearly sat down on his heels while observing the Imperial man lying on the floor. In that moment, Aurora felt the scent from his hair. It smelled of snowberries, just like Ratibor's. They must use the same soap, Aurora thought./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Can you handle two?" Egor asked and grinned toward Bogdan./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Bogdan was smiling widely and gestured for his friends to continue. Egor held the bottle five inches above the Goldwine's mouth and poured lightly. Aurora did the same, which caused the streams to collide on the way down, and thereby spilling all over Bogdan's neck. All three of them were laughing, making Egor and Aurora spill even more as they could not hold their bottles steadily. A pool of dark red colour grew on the floor around them. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Suddenly, they heard another man chuckle. They turned toward the door and saw that Vecheslav had walked in. He crossed his arms and grinned upon seing the scene unfolding in front of him. "Are you alright, Bogdan?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt;"Bogdan raised two hands in the air while spilling even more wine all over his face. Apparently, some got in the wrong throat, for a second later, he begun /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"coughing/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;". The woman still held her bottle hovering above Bogdan, but Egor retracted his. He looked at Vecheslav and got back up to his feet./span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'll put this in water," Egor said, pointing at his blue jacket with golden details, which had suffered some stains. "Sort yourselves," he laughed as both he and Vecheslav went down the stairs./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt;"Aurora sat up on Bogdan, /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"straddling/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;" his stomach. He kept his eyes closed and had wrinkled his eyebrows while separating his lips in some sort of combination of grin and grimace. /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Are you alright?" she asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I've got cheep wine in my eyes!" he laughed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He tried to get it out with his fingers and then shook his head. Then, in a sudden and quick motion, he pushed Aurora to the side of him, then on her back. He ended up on top of her as, they both laughed, for Aurora now had wine all over her chest. The bottle she had stuck between her breasts let go of the last drops, causing her to shriek./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt;"As she did so, Bogdan he quickly put his lips to the bottle again, but there was no longer any point in it. He laughed /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"wholeheartedly/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;" as he looked down on her with his bedchamber eyes./span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She had felt his scent. It was not snowberries, but his own, and Aurora quite liked it. Once again she felt drunk on lack of sleep and seeing Bogdan's ever so tranquil face. Even when he smiled due to excitement, there was an overwhelming calm in his expression. This captivated her, for it was exactly that feeling she enjoyed – being calm, not worrying about her nightmares or work problems. She knew Egor had left his bottle close to them, and without taking her gaze from Bogdan, she reached for it and began emptying it on the back of his head. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Bogdan opened his mouth as if receiving a cold shower, then let out a momentary chuckle. It reminded of the word "oh", as did his small twitch. He closed his eyes as wine poured down his hair, which, by the way, was of almost identical colour. His mouth was now only slightly open, but he had brought his head slightly upwards, creating a stream of wine running down his forehead and narrow, straight nose. The liquid formed a bridge reaching Aurora's face. She opened her mouth, tasting the drops. She increased the angle of the bottle, emptying all of it in Bogdan's hair. The wine then covered their entire faces, most of their upper clothing, and had soaked their hair. Bogdan opened his eyes, looking drunkenly at the woman./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"" emSomewhere there/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Where it all ends./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"On the verge/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Where time wends./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"emOn the edge.../em" he wrinkled his brows. "em Our feet hanging over,/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"emFrom the ledge, from the ledge/em."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora opened her eyes and carefully placed her hands on his shoulders. He humphed, grinning as if he was in his own world. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""How comical... It is fun... Astronomical... You and" he continued in a lower tone. "I, you and wine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He had a trace of wine in his breath. Even his eyebrows were tinted slightly red. The man smiled even more widely and got up. He was not an agile man, so it took a little while of clumsy movement. Then, on his feet, he gave her a hand. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""How about a bet?" he asked as she stood up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I was on my way to Aifur," she said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Whom?" he asked, as if awoken from his distant thoughts./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""The old tenant."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Oh, right."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I think I will have to get changed, I can't turn up to the interview like this," Aurora smiled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"*/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora had walked up the stairs to the living room sat down in the sofa. Her head felt heavy from the long interview with Aifur, but she did not feel like returning to the Blue Palace. She was tired, but felt that well-known sense of tension which could only mean nightmares would visit her as soon as she fel asleep. In fact, she was exhausted, not having slept the previous night, but at the same time, she was anxious about going to bed. The woman was sitting down and contemplated what to do, until she heard the door open a few minutes later./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Ratibor stepped in, all dressed in black. Only his face caught the light from the candles placed around the chamber. "Hey, Aurora, how about dinner?" he asked, walking up to her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The woman was following him with her gaze as he approached her. The light was very dim and warm, and most of the first floor of Proudspire Manor lay in shadows. Ratibor placed a cauldron on the table in front of Aurora. "I thought there would be more of us here, so I brought this from the Winking Skeever," he said. There was quite a lot of food, probably enough for at least five people. "What have you been up to?" he asked. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora straightened up in her sofa and placed her palms together between her knees, driving her shoulders upward. "Aifur Blue-Quill has interviewed me for his historical work. The Great War, you know," she said as she slowly rubbed her hands together. "It was a long day, I've been here for at least nine hours, including eight and a half in that cellar," she continued before looking down to the floor. "Where is everyone?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Bogdan and I have been working on the play. For the theatre opening, you know," Ratibor explained while remaining on his feet in front of the table./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""In the Winking Skeever?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yes, we had a good flow."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora smirked a little. "Does that mean you drank?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Bogdan did," Ratibor chuckled. "I've written the whole day, look."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He brought his arms forward and showed Aurora his hands. They were covered in ink stains. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Where is he?" Aurora asked, looking up in Ratibor's eyes./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""He went to the Dockhouse with Egor," the older Goldwine brother said. "Probably to bemoan the fact that I forced him to do actual work today," he grinned./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""So all you've done is to write?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yes," Ratibor replied before hastily drawing more air. "Oh, no, I had a short conversation with Illdi from the Bards Collage. And I've eaten lunch, but that was before Bogdan joined me," the man said with a contemplating look. "He was covered in wine by the way. Said you had something to do with it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora laughed. "My dress looked worse than his tunic."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Ratibor had been observing her for a while. He nodded at her last comment, before remaining in front of the sofa table for a few more moments. He then walked around it and sat down with Aurora, rather close to her. The man continued to observe her, almost as if he wondered whether he could see a mosquito on her skin. A moment later, with a stern expression, he stroke her cheek with his thumb. It was a quick movement up and down, like a father stroking his daughter./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You look tired," he said with a caring expression on his face. "Do you want to sleep in my bed? Bogdan and I can share his," he added in a neutral manner. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Thank you. I don't know yet, but my mouth waters looking at that stew you brought," Aurora replied, looking at the cauldron./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yeah, I have to return the cauldron, or that child working at the Winking Skeever… what's her name? em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Minette/em it was, I think. She will kill me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt;"He threw a /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"quick/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;" gaze at it before getting up on his feet again. Aurora followed him with her eyes as he walked across the room and into the kitchen. "Do you mind if I just give you a spoon?" he yelled from across the room. "The maid will only be here the day after tomorrow, and the dishes are not cleaned."/span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora chuckled. "Sure."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Ratibor brought a bottle of wine and two spoons to the sofa. While he sat down, he managed to quickly open the wine – one could see he was experienced in that field. He placed it in front of Aurora. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""One can really see you are a bachelor," she chuckled as their shoulders were rubbing against one another's. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Hey, I brought you food, don't complain," he grinned as he leaned over his knees, wiping ink from his hands with a wet cloth. His sleeves were drawn up to the elbow, exposing his wide bones in his lower arms. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Did you plan that… what, five of you would eat out of one cauldron?" Aurora asked as she held her spoon, looking into the stew. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""So? It's food from the Winking Skeever, not exactly like dining in the Blue Palace," he grinned, still wiping his hands clean to the extent that was possible. He gave up after a while and threw the cloth to the floor, with it making a splashing sound as it hit the stone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora looked at the man. He was in high spirits and smiled at her before leaning over the table and scooping some stew onto his spoon. She did the same./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He ate what was on his spoon, looking at her. "What?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You look content," she said. "More so than I've seen you in a while."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I managed to get a lot of writing done," he smiled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Why is it so important to you?" she asked, looking at him with her eyes half closed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Because I have a few plays I want to give birth to," he said. "There is no theatre director around here, and I want quite a few plays to come to life. Work adds up when you're both the one writing the play and setting it up. And my father is almost sixty, I don't have many years left before I must put all this on the shelf." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora looked at him. He had spoken quickly, not having to put much consideration into his reply. Aurora, on the other hand, realised she had never thought of it like that. She never imagined it was a race against time for Ratibor. "I look forward to seeing the one you're working on at the opening of the theatre," she said. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He smiled towards her and brought the wine bottle to the level of their eyes. The next moment, he placed that arm around the woman's neck and pulled her towards him while rubbing his hand on her upper arm. Aurora took the wine from him and took a sip, tilting her head backwards to do so. Ratibor chuckled as he looked at the woman. She too felt how her mood was improving. She leaned back in the sofa, but pushed slightly towards the man, leaning her head against his shoulder. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Hey, clingy," he grinned, looking down at her while keeping his left arm around her shoulder. "Are you tired?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She shook her head./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Well, if you fall asleep here, no one in Proudspire will be able to carry you upstairs, just so you know. I think that was made evident at the Burning of Olaf Festival."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora chuckled. "I'll lose all muscle mass in just a few months if my lifestyle doesn't change," she said. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He loosened his grip of her shoulders a little and looked her in the eyes. "Missing the old days?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""No," she said. "No one misses war. "I'm trying to learn my new trade, if one can call it that," she chuckled. "And it's not like anyone questions my ability to fight."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""No one ever questioned my inability to fight," Ratibor grinned./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora laughed. "Yeah, I've heard the Kvatches are terrible warriors."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Right, you've even met my father."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Didn't know you and Bogdan were his sons then," she said. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Perhaps that was good," he laughed. "We've lied too much to him so you would've been bound to give something away," he grinned. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What have you lied about?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Ratibor looked up. "I can't even remember them all, but the major lies include that Bogdan graduated university, I'm on first name terms with the Emperor and have a wide network of influential people in the Imperial City," he spoke with a smirk. "Each month I send a report to his steward, Cyril, of what I've been up to, and what's going on on the social scene."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""So you just make it all up?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Not the last part," he grinned. "It helps to be a welcome guest in most households, and to have mistresses who are married to influential people. You have no idea how much information women leak when being particularly fond of one."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Does your father know you're such a ladies' man?" Aurora asked. She grinned and leaned her head against his shoulder again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I doubt it," he said. "But all Goldwines have been such, to a certain extent." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""We have something in common then," Aurora said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Ratibor laughed and pulled away. "You are not a maneater!" he chuckled. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I have had plenty of men."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I haven't seen you with anyone!" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I… may have been inactive lately," Aurora defended herself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Alright," he smiled. "How long since you last had sex?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora thought for a moment. She was counting the months since the battle of the Imperial City, then to the last time she had been with Vilkas, which was around the time she returned from Morrowind./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Too long," Ratibor said. "… If you have to think about it for that amount of time. Alright, who was the last one? The High King?" he asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""No," Aurora said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Ratibor appeared surprised. "Oh, really?" he asked. "So when was the last time you…?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A year. It had been a year since Vilkas. But she did not want to talk about him with Ratibor. He was in a good mood, and so was she before that name returned to her memory, and she wished to keep the atmosphere positive./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A while ago," she said before quickly continuing. "So when was the last time you slept with anyone?" she asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He remained quiet for a little while, observing her with a grin that conveyed the fact that he had noticed her not wishing to answer his question. "Last night," he said, as if changing subject. "Her name is Olivia and she works at the dockhouse."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He took another bite of the stew. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Is she good?" Aurora asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Ratibor grinned cheekily. "em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"She's/em a maneater. Either that, or she pretends to be."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""So… going back to the dockhouse tonight?" Aurora asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Gods no, I have a good flow in my writing. I will probably be up most of the night after I've finished eating and walked you home."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora looked at him as he was chewing. "Actually, I'm waiting for Bogdan," she said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Ratibor looked at her again and swallowed. "Yes… I've noticed you've grown close," he said, seemingly pleased. He took another bite of the stew. "Saw you dancing at the festival," he said, lifting his right index finger from the spoon. "He actually made an effort, dancing with you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora smiled. "I didn't know he could waltz."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Ratibor sighed. "Bogdan knows most things," the older Goldwine said. "He just refuses to put his talents to good use most of the time," he said before swallowing. "He has an intellect way above most people I know, perhaps he is em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"the/em most intelligent person I know. Anything he wishes to learn, he does. Fast. Including dancing," he grinned./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora chuckled. "Yes, he usually does this thing," she said, moving her arms like a snake. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt;"Ratibor laughed. "He obviously likes you, if he found joy in waltzing with you," he said. "You are part of a small club of /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"confidantes/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;" together with Eupaxia."/span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora smiled. "Did he only waltz for my sake?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I don't think so. I think Bogdan is fond of ballroom dancing, but not so much of the idea it implies – class and high society," Ratibor answered casually./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I see," Aurora said. "Well, it was a surprise to me that he knew the steps."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You know he has an incredible control of his voice too?" Ratibor said, leaning forward to the cauldron with his spoon. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I've noticed when he reads his poems. He does this thing where he slips from one note to another one far away on the spectra, making it sound like a slip on a lute."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt;""I know what you mean," Ratibor said. "Yes, and I don't know where he learnt the technique. But obviously he picked it up somewhere." He swallowed again before making sound indicating that he was about to continue that /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"sentence/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;". "Gods, you know how magnificent his novels are?"/span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora looked at him. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt;""He creates these truly deep and complex characters – ones the reader both understands and treasures, but at the same time /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"despises/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;"," Ratibor said. "They are far better than mine," he continued before reaching for another bit./span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Harrald is a big fan of yours," Aurora spoke coquettedly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'm not as good as Bogdan," he said, brushing off her comment and hiding his mouth with his hand before swallowing again. "I guess my talent lies within being a playwright, but my brother is a master of meaning."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Speaking of Daedra," Aurora said. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She had heard the sound of the door being opened. She recognised the sound of Bogdan's steps, and expected for him to occur in the shadows within a few seconds./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Bogdan jumped as he saw Aurora and his brother, but quickly found his calm again. He casually walked up to the pair in the sofa as Ratibor and Aurora were grinning widely toward him while sitting close together. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Aren't you asleep yet? You should be exhausted."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""No... and yes," Aurora smiled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Ratibor looked at Bogdan. "I'll go upstairs and continue my writing. Good night, Aurora," he said happily as he got up. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Bogdan and Aurora both inspected Ratibor as the man walked up the stairs. His body movements exposed the fact that not as agile as Egor, who seemingly leaped up or down the steps. The Goldwine brothers moved as if gravity had a stronger hold of them./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Had a good time?" Aurora asked, changing the subject and getting Bogdan's attention./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yes, thank you," he said, sounding slightly absent-minded. "Do you know Illdi?" he continued a while later, still standing some three yards away from her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""From the Bards Collage, yes," Aurora said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""She has a thing for Ratibor," Bogdan quickly spoke./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""She sat there for hours looking at him. Then suddenly Egor came by, and she found the courage to walk up to my brother together with him. That was when my dear friend and I ran away to the Dockhouse," he grinned sardonically. "It was quite amusing, you should have been there."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Still grinning, and appearing absent-minded, Bogdan sat down next to her. He did not place himself as close to her as his brother had, leaving a foot between them. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Anyway. You haven't slept for... at least 36 hours," he spoke in a deep and low voice. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'm used to it," Aurora said. "I sometimes go two days without any sleep, and then I take a ten-hour rest."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt;"Bogdan looked at her with an expression Aurora could not quite decipher. His permanently drunken eyes were almost half closed, and he had pulled his upper lip ever so slightly to the side, dragging his nosetip downward. The woman looked at it. From a slight angle, it looked very sharp, but when sitting straight opposite him, she could see that it was slightly rounded. It was not as pointy as it appeared from certain angles. Ratibor's tip was more bulbous than his brother's, but his nose also had a very slight bump in the middle which Bogdan lacked. Both brothers' noses had a sharper appearance, but Aurora figured it was due to their length and being more to the narrow side. Their nosewings were straight and also contributed to the sharp impression, while the tips were rounder. While sitting closely to Bogdan, Aurora realised that his face was rather eventful – the mouth, nose, eyes and eyebrows took up a considerable amount of space, making his chin and cheek part look more to the smaller side. In a way, his massive beard /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"camouflaged/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;" this feature./span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I have nightmares too, albeit a different kind to what you have," he suddenly spoke./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The man put his hands together. "Have you always been a heavy drinker?" he asked swiftly, as if changing subject. "Or just since Sovngarde?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora chuckled. "I am a warrior, it sort of comes with the job."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He smiled for two seconds, thinking of something before turning serious again. "Imperial or Redguard?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Sorry?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Oh, why am I even asking? Egor drinks all the Imperial one."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Bogdan got up, reached for a side table and brought two bottles of wine. This was some good wine, not the one delivered earlier that day. Gripping the cork with his teeth, he managed to pull it out. The bottle made a sound as the cork left it and Bogdan, still biting onto it, grinned widely, exposing his teeth. He handed the bottle Aurora and went for the other, which he quickly performed the same procedure with once again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora thought Bogdan was out to get drunk and therefore emptied half of it in one go. Bogdan was grinning when she realised that he had not even put his bottle to his lips yet. He laughed, lifted his bottle, hit it against hers and drank a little. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt;""Sleep issues, eh? That really destroys a person. Why do you avoid it, what horrid creatures do you see when closing your eyes?" he asked calmly. His voice was almost sleep inducing – he spoke from deep within his chest, warmly and /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px;"monotonously/spanspan style="font-size: 13pt;"./span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aurora looked at him. She did not want speak of it at first, but it felt alright to tell him. In a way, she wanted him to know. He had a calming effect on her just by being in the same room as she, by speaking to her, or simply by looking at her. His gaze was mesmerising, and she felt anyone could drown in his drunken eyes. She felt that there was a possibility of him being able to understand her without judging or considering her to be strange or irrational. She wanted him to embrace her, knowing what haunted her, and still respect her… She…/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Death. In all its forms. The World-Eater, Sovngarde, the faces of Imperials and Thalmor I have killed," she began rambling, emotionally and hastily, before suddenly coming to a stop, regretting the outburst of emotion. She looked at Bogdan with horror, not knowing how he would react./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Bogdan chuckled before getting to his feet. He stood straight in front of her, between her knees and the sofa table, still holding the bottle of wine in his right hand. He held out his right arm toward Aurora./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Do you know how to kill an enemy?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"What you need is war and rape./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"But my consciousness won't let me, and my sword arm will quake."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She took his hand and he pulled her up, simultaneously moving to the side so that she could stand up without ending up in his face. He spoke the poem calmly, with a small smile on his face, but he stressed it in a manner that it sounded more like song./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""To stop the trembling, bring a pint of ordinary Skooma – then my soul will be bold./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"For me to drink a pint of ale, I need to get hold,/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Of a cup made of thin glass for the dawn to drawn in it, to the sun to shine in it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"For the sun to shine, I'll have to drink and drink and drink. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Otherwise, I will not survive/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"And Talos will deprive/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Me of the sun that falls into the boundless sink."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The pair were standing a bit away from the sofa. Bogdan had continued to tell the poem in the same manner as he begun. He was looking at her with his drunken, half-closed eyes and cheeky, slightly mysterious expression. Aurora stepped closer to him. She felt tired and craved company. "That... Vecheslav read that to me..." she said. "In the Imperial City." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Bogdan raised his bottle with the right hand while letting go of Aurora's hand with the left, and placing it on her mid back./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Good evening, Talos, isn't it me you see?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Why won't you have a glass with me?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I have found, it was em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I/em who found another way of praying/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It's my new way of communicating." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He stressed it in a way to sound like a drunk man, making Aurora giggle. She stood close to him and felt the softness of his chest. "People have said that you are very talented too. Your work..." she began with the purpose of making him feel good about himself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I care not for the work. It's simply my way of surviving," he interrupted with a stern expression. "No, that was not entirely true. The Skooma, the wine and the Nightshade save me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He looked at her with his lips slightly separated, with a nuance of annoyance. He remained calm, though, as always. Perhaps he was more stern than irritated, for it did not feel like he pushed her away. "Same as you. The wine makes you intoxicated, and then you don't suffer nightmares when you fall asleep. You don't remember them at least. Imagine now when the nightmares are the every day life, and the only escape is to sleep."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He was obviously talking about himself, and that made Aurora relax a little. In fact, it was as if a wall had burst and water was leaking everywhere. She felt tears burning behind her lids and realised she was immensely tired, for her reaction was beyond proportionate. "I wouldn't want to get out of bed if that was so..." she said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He raised his bottle again and brought it to his lips. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Is it like this... all the time?" she asked lowly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Periodically," he said and put the bottle down on the floor. "Then there are interludes that are great or... ordinary." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"For some reason, Aurora began crying. She did know what exactly pushed her over in their short conversation, but she was unable to control herself. Exhaustion was probably a considerable part of why, but it was also a feeling of being understood. Aurora knew she had barely told him anything, but him being able to relate to her, and the fact that he told her… She thought that perhaps she was seeing things she only wished, rather than the reality, but nonetheless, she felt overwhelmed in that moment. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Bogdan embraced her. She put her head against his chest, sobbing silently. He was warm and soft, and his curls tickled her neck. She breathed in his smell and held her breath for a while to stop crying. Bogdan placed a hand on her head while keeping the other on her back. "Would… you like me to read to you?" he asked. /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif;"She nodded. /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif;""Let's go upstairs," he said, but remained still, probably waiting for Aurora to retract. /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif;"She did so slowly, looking him in the eyes. He gazed at her softly and calmly, with his characteristic expression. Aurora gave him a short smile before turning around and heading for the stairs. She hurried up and opened the door to his chamber, forgetting to bring a candle. Bogdan followed her a few yards behind, chuckling at the fact that she could not see anything in the darkness. As he reached the top of the stairs, she was waiting for him by his door. He entered the room first, and she jumped in bed. Bogdan took a book and handed her the candle as he sat down next to her. /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif;""This is a novel called em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Dreams/em," he said. "Ratibor is currently re-writing it to the play which will premiere at the opening of your theatre," he said, looking at her. "This way, you will hear it before my brother castrates the characters."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif;"Aurora took a pillow, placed it behind her back and curled up, holding the candle for him. /span/p