Morning sunlight streamed gently through the high windows, resting on the beautiful face of his lover. Bishop lay there, watched her sleeping face and wondered how he got so lucky. In his arms lay one of the most powerful women in the world, naked as the day she was born.
He watched with interest as her nose scrunched up, a clear sign she was about to wake. One of his hands caressed her shoulder, waiting for her eyes to open.
His Ladyship blinked the sleep from her eyes, her fingers twitched on his bare chest, then she turned her face up to look at him and-
"What the hell, Bishop?!"
He howled with laughter at her disgruntled face, rubbed his sore side where she elbowed him and righted the mask of Hevnoraak on his face. Aaah, sweet revenge!
"What's wrong, Ladyship? I thought you liked your mask?" He asked innocently.
"Oh, ha ha, very funny," she grumbled but he saw the smile she couldn't hide. "I don't like to see it first thing in the morning. ...You can be so mean sometimes."
"Me? Never!" He laughed as he pulled it off and sat up on the bed. "As if I'd ever tease you about the fact that you made me wake up to Hevnoraak's face every morning for over a month."
She lost the fight with her smile and laughed too. "Point taken, ranger-danger. Guess I'll just have to wear the Amulet of Disease Immunity I brought from Taarie yesterday..."
He paused and looked back towards his Ladyship, sprawled on her, their, bed with a mischievous smile on her face. "You-"
"Don't plan to put it on again, now when I have a beautiful and kind lover who wants to kiss me. Buuuut if he insists on wearing a mask himself..."
He threw the mask on the bedside table and jumped back into the bed and open arms of his beloved.
Two months later, Windhelm
"Well, I can safely report that the mission was a success, Dragonborn," Quintus rubbed his hands together with a grin. "I've been getting orders from all over Skyrim, from Windhelm all the way to Solitude. We even had a couple from Riften! Despite Maven Blackbriar's stranglehold, the Bee and the Barb are all too happy to offer it as well."
Hildur smiled and leaned against the counter. "I'm glad to hear that. Oh, and if Maven ever gives you trouble, let me know. I'd very much like to deal with her."
"Err, haha, as you say, Dragonborn," Quintus nodded, but both he and Bishop knew his Ladyship's 'dealing' with Maven would probably be painful. Possibly permanent.
Bishop for one was looking forward to it.
"Oh, and I have a message from you! Queen Madrigal sends her regards, an order for over a hundred bottles and a letter that asked me to tell you that 'both your tastes remain excellent'. I am not quite sure what it means, but we're going to need more Jazbay."
"I can do that!" Hildur wiggled. "I needed some more Hagraven feathers anyway and there's always a lot of purple mountain flowers around Eldergleam Sanctuary..."
Bishop shook his head, fondly. "Sure, I can help you shoot some Hags, Ladyship. But don't ask me to carry your flowers, I don't want to smell like a girl."
"You already smell like me, Bish, and I'm a girl. But don't worry, we can go kill some bears afterwards. Maybe a nice little bear-smelling cloak would assure you of your manliness?"
"Oh, you wench! As if I needed any assurances. Just you wait, the first thing I'm going to do with that cloak will be to lay you down on it and-"
Quintus coughed into his hand and gave them a look.
"Sorry," she grinned, not sounding sorry at all.
"It's quite alright, Dragonborn. But if I may interest you in these calculations, you will see that the prognosis is quite-"
Bishop rolled his eyes and stopped paying attention. He will let his Ladyship deal with all that boring stuff, while he looked around the alchemy shop for something more interesting to do.
There was a crate of used potion vials in the corner. From the look and smell of them, it was the glasswork for Hildur's cold-resistance tonics.
He sighed, set a nearby cauldron full of water on the fire and started dipping the vials in to clean them.
The conversation behind him paused and he turned to look at them. "What?"
Both the shopkeep and his Ladyship were knowingly smiling at him.
He just rolled his eyes. "Don't look at me like that! You were going to do it anyway. I'm just... saving us some time."
She chuckled. "If you say so, Bishop, if you say so."
"Ugh." Let them think what they wanted. He was just going to... continue cleaning. Yeah.
As soon as they were out of the surprisingly sweltering shop, they turned to each other. "Fish chowder?" they asked as one and laughed.
"On to the Docks, then!" Bishop put his hand on her waist and led her to the gate leading to their Argonian friends.
The Docks were surprisingly quiet for this time of the day. Bishop had the feeling there were even more ships than usual. And... where were all the Argonians? Or the guards?
"You there! You're the one they call Dragonborn?"
Uh-oh. Bishop smelled trouble. Masked strangers were never good news, his Ladyship excepted of course, and these looked especially murderous.
He readied his bow as surreptitiously as he could.
Hildur turned, for once not smiling, though she tried to play it off. She sighed, "This is what I get for not wearing my mask. Yes, I am the Dragonborn."
"Your lies fall on deaf ears, Deceiver. The True Dragonborn comes... you are but his shadow. When Lord Miraak appears, all shall bear witness! None shall stand to oppose him!" The masked strangers readied fire spells. "Time to die!"
Bishop shot the one further back in the eye then jumped away from Hildur and covered his ears, now very much used to her fighting style. Hildur predictably shouted, "IIZ-SLEN-NUS!"
He shook the remnants of the shout from his ears, and turned to see the female masked whoever, cultist by her speech, frozen in a block of ice. Huh, that was a new one.
"No Dragonfire, Ladyship?"
She shook her head, suspiciously serious. "No, I wanted to check their pockets, see who sent them."
"Best get to it quickly then, before the guards come. There's no way they missed the Shouting." He approached the frozen bandit and kicked her as hard as he could in the chest. The body shattered, together with the ice. "I'll check the other one."
She only nodded.
"Hildur?"
"Yes?"
He looked at her, uncertain. She looked almost... sombre. "Is something wrong?"
She sighed and stared down at the shattered corpse at her feet. "This... I don't know. This smells... big." She started digging through the remains, not noticing Bishop's frown.
When she stood up, one of her hands held a bloodied note. Their eyes met, then Bishop nodded to it, silently asking her to read it.
She sighed and started reading.
"Board the vessel Northern Maiden docked at Raven Rock. Take it to Windhelm, then begin your search. Kill the False Dragonborn known as Hildur before she reaches Solstheim.
"Return with word of your success, and Miraak shall be most pleased.
"Not signed, of course."
There was a moment of silence.
Several guards rushed in to see what the commotion was about. When they saw the Dragonborn and her lover standing over mutilated corpses of strangely-dressed foreigners, they wisely kept their distance and all but joined the slowly gathering crowd of onlookers.
Bishop tried to play it cool. "Heh. They didn't even ask for your head on a pike. Amateurs. You just can't get quality cultists these days."
His ladyship's lips twitched, but she continued to stare at the note in her hands, thinking hard.
Bishop couldn't help the sudden shudder of apprehension that ran down his spine. "Don't tell me you actually want to go after this murderous pen-pal of yours..."
She lifted her eyes, looking lost for the first time since he'd known her. "I... I think it's time for us to part ways."
"...What?!" Bishop exclaimed, then stepped up to her to grab her around her shoulders. "You can't be serious! As if I'd leave you to deal with this alone! No way! Out of the question!"
"I don't want to risk you!"
"And I don't want to risk you!" He wanted to shake her. "You promised me, Hildur! No more suicide missions!"
"This... This might not be..."
"Don't play me a fool, Ladyship! You damned well know this will be too dangerous, that's why you want me to leave you! To face it alone!" He couldn't help it and pulled her into his arms, hoping against hope he'd be able to shield her from the dangers ahead. "I refuse! I won't let them have you."
"Bishop..."
He squeezed her harder. His throat felt clogged. "Please, Hildur. I'm begging you. Don't go. Don't do this to yourself. To us. This is not worth your soul."
Her breath hitched. "What- what do you mean?"
"Just look at them. The way they're dressed, the note they carried, the dramatic speeches about True and False Dragonborns... Ladyship, they are obviously cultists. And who do cultists usually follow? That's right - the Daedra."
She stiffened in his arms, hiding her face in his chest.
He caressed her back, soothing. Pleading. "Just this once... let it go just this once, my love. Let's just leave and let it solve itself. Don't answer some idiotic Daedra worshipper's summons and leave them to it until they get themselves killed by their own Gods."
Hildur snorted. "You make it sound so easy."
He smiled, feeling that she was seriously considering it. That's his girl! She might just figure out when to save her own skin yet. He hoped. "Why shouldn't it be easy? Leave them to it and if they really want to challenge you, let them come to you, not the other way around. That way you can set the trap instead of walking into one of their own making."
She laughed and relaxed, burying herself deeper into his embrace.
They stayed like that for a while. The crowd slowly dispersed when there were no further attacks.
Bishop slowly breather out. "Come away with me, Hildur. Let's live together, as we've been doing. Let's marry and settle down together, if that is what you wish to do. Hell, sweetheart, I'd even open a shop and become a merchant for you. Anything. Just please, don't go."
She snorted. "Bishop the Merchant. Might have to marry you, just to see that."
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." He rolled his eyes. "But better not - I'd probably shoot them if they tried to haggle with me."
She was openly laughing at him how. "At least you'd keep your skills sharp. We'll need someone to teach our child how to shoot a bow, after all."
"Yeah." He smiled and hugged her tight. "You'll stay then?"
"I'll stay."
And then he registered what she had just said. "Wait, what do you mean, 'our child'?"
Hildur pulled back, grinned, and wiggled. "Surprise! I'm pregnant."
"You're what?!"
THE END
*Bishop's cries echoing in the distance, "Ladyship, whyyy? Why do you always do this to me? You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days!"
"Oh, quiet, you! You know you enjoy it!"
Shahvee calmly stirred her cauldron full of Fish Chowder and shook her head. 'Humans!'
At the pier, unnoticed by all, the wind picked up a blood-stained note and carried it into the cold waters, where it sank to the bottom of the river, forgotten.
THE END (For real, this time)
EPILOGUE
Song: Disney's Gaston. I think we all know the melody :D but just in case: watch?v=jGW0FOifmWc
8 years later, The Rift
His Ladyship was dressed once again in her old Archmage robes, Dragonbone Katanas at her side. The robes might fit her more snuggly now, but she still cut an imposing figure, not to be taken lightly.
Their enemies, however, looked even scarier.
Three huge, terrifying serpentine dragons; and sitting on the back of one, a man, oddly blurry around the edges, dressed in armoured robes and a Dragon Priest Mask that seemed to be melting off into unnatural metal tentacles.
"And so we meet at last!" boomed the voice of the ungodly monstrosity that might have once been a man. "The one who has slain Alduin... Well done. I could have slain him myself, but I chose a different path."
The serpentine dragon under him obediently bowed its head, allowing the traitor-priest to dismount.
Bishop felt a shudder of revulsion pass through him. He was not a dragon fan but to see them treated like this... It was wrong. Just plain wrong.
"Could you have? Vahlok and an army of angry dragons say otherwise. Did they not chase you into Apocrypha with your tail between your legs?"
Bishop grinned despite himself. Maybe not the most diplomatic opening line, but he loved his Ladyship's style.
"How dare you! I am Miraak, the First Dragonborn, I will not be mocked by..."
His Ladyship got an evil smirk on her lips, then opened her mouth and before Miraak could continue his angry rant, started singing. Bishop sighed fondly and readied his bow.
"~Noooo oooone runs like Miraak,
Hides from world like Miraak,
No one fails to rebel then cries 'Foul!' like Miraak!
For there's none on Nirn half as dragon-ly,
Perfect; a failed demi-god!~"
The would-be god let out a scream of wordless rage and ran at Hildur without any thought of strategy, combat or even shouting.
Twang!
Miraak took one more step, his hand rose half-way towards his face where an arrow protruded from one of his mask's eye-holes. Then the priest collapsed, dead. Bishop lowered his bow, arrow still at the ready.
"Yes!" shouted a surprisingly young voice from the nearby bushes.
"Julian! What did I tell you about sneaking?"
The bushes rustled. "To not get found?"
"And what did you just do?"
"Got found?"
"Exactly!" She put her hands on her hips, while Bishop put the arrow away and palmed his face. "You're so grounded, young man!"
"Aww, but mooom!"
"No! Grounded until you learn to stay silent when you're sneaking!"
The bushes rustled, then Bishop, Hildur, the dragons and a group of curious onlookers and guards could see a small form run towards the woods, flanked by two wolves.
Hildur turned to check the fallen Dragonborn. "Aah, Nords. Atmorans too, I guess. Always works like a charm..."
The dragons shifted. Not much, by their standards, but considering their size, it was immediately obvious and caught their attention.
Hildur and Bishop watched them warily. Yet when neither side attacked, Hildur relaxed and sheathed her Katanas. "Drem Yol Lok, Dovah!"
The dragons exchanged glances, then the one who carried Miraak on his back answered for them, "Saraan uth, Dovahkiin. I am Sahrotaar. I give you my name in honour of you and your kin freeing us from Miraak's control - "
"Yes, thank you. I am not one for ruling anyone, though, thank you for the offer. Let's skip the pleasantries - do I have to kill you all, or will you go to grandpa Paarthurnax to learn the Way of the Voice?"
The dragons exchanged subtle glances with eyes the size of a dog. Then they all nodded and turned back to Hildur. "We'll go to Paarthurnax, Dovahkiin-Thuri. ...We're only glad that we didn't end up as Miraak's health potions. Thank you for freeing us from his control."
With that, the three great dragons rose into the skies as one, and flew away.
"Well, that went better than expected."
Bishop laughed and pulled his wife to his side by her waist. "What did I tell you? It's better to lay traps than walk into them."
"I stand corrected, my love. Now," she grinned at him mischievously, "how do you feel about going on a lovely vacation to Solstheim? I hear the weather's beautiful this time of the year."
Bishop groaned, shook his head and went to pack a tent that would allow them to have some 'private time' and not have them swim in ash.
The things he did for love...
A/N: That's it, folks! I hope you enjoyed it :)
Explanation about the, perhaps unexpected, last chapter and epilogue:
I always planned to have Bishop convince the Dragonborn to abandon the quest. The DLC is amazing and I love it but it doesn't fit Hildur's profile. Also, I wanted the relationship between DB and Bishop to be on a more equal footing.
I believe that relationships should be/are a 'give and take'. But in the game, the 'give and take' is... very unhealthy. Basically, the Dragonborn gives Bishop sex and Bishop gives the Dragonborn a support fighter. That's kinda cold, don't you think? I wanted to change that, and find something 'worthy' that the ranger could give to his demi-god girlfriend and vice-versa.
The Dragonborn was easy - Hildur can give him better, healthier contacts with the outside world, both a lover and a friend. To make him want to be a better man.
But what can Bishop give her?
The best thing that Bishop could give the Dragonborn is a little bit of healthy selfishness. The ability to put yourself and your interests first, because no matter how noble one's intentions are, there are times when following the 'hero's path' only leads to your suffering.
If Hildur went ahead with it and finished the 'canon' Dragonborn DLC questline, she'd feel horribly guilty about herself, her faith, her life, the shaman's death,... She's not someone who could ever accept the fact that she's now a 'Daedric follower', because she carries Black Books and has been to Apocrypha. It would only hurt her in the end.
Bishop understood that, and gave her reason and ability to put herself first and say no.
Let me know what you think in the comments! :) I love to hear from you.