Author's Note: Hello, all, and sorry for the wait! I know the last few chapters have been a bit short, but I'm hoping on catching up soon. Thank you all for reading. ❤

"She's breathing."

Breathe. Every breathe hurt. Inhaling sparks, exhaling smoke, slowly surfacing to the sounds and sensations of the world. A hushed, constant pattering, dancing with cold feet along my skin – rain. Racing down my cheeks, tracing my cracked lips, my heat-seared eyes.

I'm not dead.

A cold hand on my brow brought me back to reality. I forced my eyes open, the world blurry and colourless until a face swirled into view. White hair, blue eyes, a face etched with age and worry, then relief. "There you are. It's alright." I stared dumbly up at him, trying to find words. "Just breathe."

I breathed, inhaling, exhaling, collecting myself in fragments. I knew I was alive. Wet, skin prickling in goosebumps from the cold, but alive. And so very thirsty. I slowly parted my lips, stretching out my tongue to let a few cold drops race down my throat and quench the burning inside. Soft, sad laughter and a waterskin was pressed to my lips. I drank greedily.

"How did you end up out here?"

Out here. Where was here? On a cobblestone road, surrounded by rolling plains and fields, murky blue in the dimness. In the distance was a city – or what remained of one. Blackened, crumbling towers, naked trees and pillars of smoke that refused to be drowned by the rain. The man followed my gaze before glancing back to me, frowning. "Did you run from Kvatch, then? Not the only one. But you were alone here."

Kvatch.

I wasn't in Kvatch, but I had been. Mum had been.

She wasn't any longer.

"Captain Phillada?"

The clop of hooves, an unknown voice. The man beside me shook his head, placing a gentle hand on my back. "Can you stand?" I nodded and he helped me to my feet where I teetered.

"We haven't found any others, Captain, down either side of the Gold Road."

I'd been found alone. Lucien was gone, then, but where? And mum – mum was gone. I half-wondered gone where, even as the knowledge of it made me numb.

"Not Captain any longer, Roland." A soft sigh. I felt eyes on me, but didn't look up. "I think this one is in shock. We'll take her to the camp and leave in the morning." He sighed, guiding me towards one of the white horses I'd seen at the city. "I chose a poor time to retire, it seems."

"You've more than earned your retirement, sir."

"It isn't about what I deserve, but what the people of Tamriel need." I was moving again – being lifted astride the horse, the man, Captain-not-captain behind me. He took the reins and the world began to bob around me, colours and shapes bleeding together in soft-hued blues and shadows. I was helpless, mindless. A single thought flared in my mind, making me wince.

"You must go to Bravil, grand-daughter."

I felt it, then, a pull in my chest like hooks had sunk into my ribs and were pulling as hard as they could. The name, chanted in my head over and over by a voice, Her voice. Bravil, Bravil, Bravil.

I couldn't have fought it, even if I had the will. The words forced themselves from my throat, a croak. "I have to go to Bravil."

An exchanged glance between the guards, then an accepting silence. "You can travel with me, then, as I make way to Leyawiin. Do you have family in Bravil?"

Laughter in my head, soft and cruel. I laughed, too. And then, I think I cried.

I don't remember much of the journey back to the camp, or the night I spent there. I remember wondering about Lucien, knowing I should be worried but unable to dredge up the energy. Seeing my hand, the white, raw flesh where I'd held the soul gem so tight, facets impressed onto the flesh of my palm. Mostly, though, I remember the pull. The tug in my body, urging me onwards, making me restless and shuddering until a potion was forced down my throat. I remember laughing again, because the potion was one of my own.

Then, at last, sleep.