Within the hour the trio presented themselves in the flame-lit interior of the Highmoon Hall, feeling the sensation of eyes and watchful gazes of those few present. A handful of lesser nobles of Hjaalmarch were present with their various Housecarls and guards but for the most part they seemed content on ignoring the trio who had made their entry with little fanfare or announcement.

"Good evening." The shuffling figure looked over the three of them with little concern despite the way they were heavily armed and armoured. Compared to some of the others present in the Entry hall they were almost underdressed for protection. "If you've business with the jarl, I'd ask that you speak to me first."

"Good evening." Kaius thumped his fist lightly over his heart with a deadened clank of metal and leather. "My name's Kaius Desin."

"Thane of Whiterun Hold." Lydia added automatically, ignoring the stifled sigh from Sofia as she turned and rolled her eyes at the housecarl.

"Thane of Whiterun?" Well past his middling years, the elderly man lifted his head to look up at Kaius' face and considered whether there was truth in the words. Age may have been taking a toll on his body but his eyes were still bright and calculating. "I greet you Thane Desin. I'm Aslfur Ravencrone; Steward of Morthal."

"My companions and I heard that the jarl may be offering work." Kaius continued, giving a slight bow to the aged retainer and ensuring that the proper respects were given.

"Ah." A surprising amount of weight was added to that single word, and Aslfur gave them all another glance that was precisely taking their measure. "Not much in the way of mercenary work in Hjaalmarch, but my wife has said to send everyone to her anyway."

Motioning them to follow him, he turned and shuffled his way carefully past the few local Thanes quietly talking amongst themselves. Surprisingly they weren't met with the usual sullen stares from the minor collection of nobility but with a mild interest instead. The northern holds of Skyrim were a harsh country, and those who lived in them mirrored their holdings and they had eyes well accustomed to identifying strength.

The main hall was impressively large, the walls and support beams heavily decorated with innumerable carvings in both the stone and the wood. Even the floors, long worn smooth from centuries of feet still showed hints of the artwork depicting the long history of Morthal.

But it was surprisingly empty, devoid of most ornamentation that seemed to be part of most halls of the other lords of Skyrim. A single throne sat on pair of steps faced towards the entrance with the hearth occupying the space between it and the doors. There were no trophies, no statues, armour stands or weapon ranks other than the three crossed swords and shield arranged on the wall behind the throne. If anything, this particular longhouse was extremely spartan and yet more of a home than a symbol of authority.

Standing near the fire, Jarl Idgrod Ravencrone turned her head slightly towards the doors as Aslfur pushed them open and allowed the trio to enter. At the sight of their armoured forms, the hulking brute dressed in fur lined plate twitched and lifted himself from the wall, mutually staring at Lydia as the two bodyguards immediately sized each other up.

In the glowing embers of the fire and the flicking shadows it cast, the haggard and drawn expression on the Jarl's face may have passed for recognition if only for a moment. Years of rule had bent her spine and much like the fur lined cloak and robes she wore, the authority wrapped itself tightly to her flesh.

"So… Life has brought you to Morthal, and to me." she said, the voice crackling and rough from years living within building permanently filling with hearth smoke. "What purpose this serves, we will no doubt see."

Kaius lowered his gaze for a moment in respect and ignored the way Sofia was looking at him with the slight trace of unease at not only the Jarl's simple rhyme but the way she had stiffened when Kaius had first walked through her doors. Judging by the way that Lydia held herself, she too was feeling the same tickle of unease.

"Thane Kaius Desin of Whiterun, my Jarl." Aslfur said formally, presenting them with a wave of his hands. "and his companions."

There was a solid clank of metal on metal as Lydia rapped her knuckles on her breastplate. "Lydia Storm-sword."

"Sofia Mojaldottir."

Jarl Ravencrone turned her gaze on each of them as they announced themselves in turn, watching Kaius as he stood facing her with a back as straight as an oak. "Welcome."

"Jarl Ravencrone," At the sound of Kaius' voice she focussed her attention on him and in the light of the fire they could see the way her eyes seemed to glow with more than just amusement. "We hear that you want someone to look into a recent fire."

The years had taken their toll on her and the gradual clouding of her eyes was even more evident as they narrowed. "Hroggar's house fire." It was a statement rather than a question and she turned and began moving very carefully towards her throne.

With supreme willpower, Aslfur stood at their sides without a single twitching muscle despite the desire to help his wife ease herself into the throne. Very carefully she leaned back, obviously feeling the twinges of ancient bones and the creeping sensation of arthritis in her joints. "He lost his wife and daughter in the blaze."

Before Sofia could even open her mouth, Kaius had moved forward very slightly with a tiny gesture directed at her. "That's also what we heard."

Seated in her throne, the Jarl had to raise her head slightly to meet Kaius' deadpan expression that did little to hide the seriousness of his tone. "My people believe it to be cursed now. Who am I to gainsay them?"

"What happened?"

A shrug, almost too small to be noticed shifted the furs covering the Jarl's shoulders. "Hroggar blames his wife for spilling bear fat in the fire." Darkness entered her voice, a tone shared by many of similar rank and power that could spell the end of a life with a gesture or order for execution. "Many folk think he set the fire himself."

Completely ignoring Kaius, Sofia couldn't help but speak what they and everyone else in the town must have been thinking since the fire. "Why would he do that to his own family?"

Amusement raised the wrinkled expression that had been sour with distaste and the eyes, slowly clouding with cataracts fixated themselves on Sofia. "Lust, can make a man do the unthinkable. The ashes were still warm when he pledged himself to Alva."

Looking between the Jarl, her husband and her bodyguard, Kaius scowled at the thought while grinding his teeth. "Why haven't you arrested him?"

Jarl Ravencrone snorted, waving a hand in the direction of the doors and the town beyond. "On rumour and gossip? No." she leaned forward ever so slightly, pressing her gnarled hands together and pointing them directly at his heart. "But you, strangers, might find the truth for us."

"Hasn't the guard conducted an investigation?"

"Hah." She paused for a moment as phlegm caught in the back of her throat from the snicker of amusement. "My guards wouldn't be able to find their own arses with two hands and map." Leaning back heavily she waved off the sudden advance from her bodyguard and husband as they made to go to her assistance. "All the bright ones have been conscripted by General Tullis and the most of the others have left to join the Stormcloaks."

Again, the trio felt a sudden chill as she looked over them with a gaze that was penetrating in its intensity. There was no doubt that she was laughing internally at some secret that only she knew. "Besides, it is not eyes that reveal another's true nature. It is the heart."

"What would you have us do?"

"Sift through the ashes that others are too fearful to touch. See what they tell you. Should you prove him guilty or innocent, I will reward you."

"Your will, Jarl Ravencrone." Kaius said carefully, making a simple bow of respect and waiting for Sofia and Lydia to turn before he did so.

"You are quite lively for a dead man." There was a distinct tone of amusement running through the Jarl's voice but the almost pneumonic chuckle was somehow terrifying. "I suppose that's what comes of being Dragonblood, rather than Dragonborn…"

Both Lydia and Sofia stood in amazement as they saw Kaius shocked for the very first time. For several moments he could only stand there, eyes opened and blinking while openly gaping at the smiling Jarl. Lacking a response, he simply bowed again, deeper this time and moved with an unseemly haste towards the doors.

"What was that?" Hissed Sofia, seeing the stilted way that Kaius was walking.

Aslfur, performing his duty and escorting them back to the entry looked as pleased as they did at his wife's passing comments. "Jarl Ravencrone and her lineage have a connection." He said quickly and they got the feeling that it was a response that he had learned by rote. "The pools of magicka runs deep in their veins. She would tell you that the Divines reveal things to her, but there are some who are not so sure."

"She knew that you were Dragonborn." Sofia turned and saw the way that Kaius seemed uneasy. It was not at the way the Jarl had known of his 'title', but rather the exact words she had said.

Lydia shook her head in such a way that it left the collection of braids swinging in the evening chill. "Half of Skyrim knows that the Thane slew the Wyrm of Whiterun."

Sofia wasn't so sure, and in fact the more she stared at Kaius' expression she knew that both of them realised that there was much more meaning to the words than what the Housecarl realised.

Bidding their farewell to the steward, and gaining directions to the burned down building from the Longhouse's guards they moved quickly through the streets. Kaius in particular seemed hell-bent on reaching the house as quickly as possible and for once both Lydia and Sofia shared the same concern for him.

Where Whiterun was expansive and home to tens of thousands throughout the year, and Solitude was comparatively teeming with men and mer alike, Morthal was a hamlet. Only a few thousand lived within the narrow buildings or in the vicinity of Highmoon Hall, and the rest lived further away either on the edges of the marshes or in the smaller settlements dotted about the Hold. In a township of those seeking a quiet life in a quiet place it was still overly noticeable the lack of noise or habitation in one specific street.

"Well, when they said it had burned down they meant it."

Kaius stood on the lower steps of the tiny house set between a handful of its kin, nodding his agreement for Sofia's statement. Only the lower portions of the walls still remained standing and only from their sturdy construction and the fact that they were mostly made of stone. Both the floors and the foundation itself were nothing more than blackened stones sitting out of the ground like gravestones in a sea of ash.

"It's not surprising that the guards didn't find much." Coals and the burnt remnants of furniture, support beams and the roof crunched underfoot as the three of them moved into the ruin. The door itself had fallen as the flames had eaten through the wooden frame and released the hinges but the heavy post leaning across the doorway left them feeling extremely uncomfortable as they ducked beneath it. Sometime shortly after the fire had started the beam had collapsed and taken most of the roof with it, blocking the door and keeping it firmly shut.

"Just what are we looking for?" Sofia stepped over some unrecognisable collection of wood burnt into a pile of charcoal. It could have been part of the roof, a table or even an entire cupboard for all she knew.

"Anything that looks suspicious."

Sighing loudly, she made a point of staring at Kaius as he carefully picked his way through the ashes with a hunter's grace. "The building burns down with his kin inside and immediately shacks up with the local floozy? This whole situation is suspicious."

"Yeah… But there's a lot that the guard missed."

"Oh? Like what?"

Carefully, with a gloved finger he tapped on the outer wall before wiping it down the stonework. "The roof was thatched and the outer layer was coated in tar. Normal building standards for Skyrim all things considered." He motioned to the other houses nearby whose roofs had their tiles coated in light layer of tar to keep out the moisture and cold.

"No wonder the place burned down."

"That's not the interesting part." Grimly, he looked at the powder on his gloves and rubbed his fingers together in thought. "The pitch on the roof was flash burned and it takes a lot of heat to burn pitch quickly. That's why the Legion uses it in siege warfare so much."

"So… not started by spilling bear fat on a fire?"

The expression he gave her told her all that she needed to know, and the glance that he stared with Lydia who was standing near the ruined doorway was as dark as the gathering clouds that heralded the approaching night.

The house itself was small in comparison to those of Whiterun and the cities of Skyrim, but it had been built for comfort. Three rooms, possibly bedrooms led off a small hallway from the living and dining area and in a far corner near where the stone fireplace still stood proudly a cavernous hole yawned as an entrance to the basement and larder. All in all, it was two dozen metres wide, half as deep and would have been a nice home for a small family.

Moving about, head and eyes constantly shifting and studying the details Kaius moved from one end of the building to the other while Sofia and Lydia contented themselves watching. Neither of them seemed to be able to notice or see anything as interesting as what Kaius did as he sifted through the ashes and moved some of the ruins aside in his travels.

As he moved back into the living room dusting his gloves on his armoured greaves, Lydia nodded in her usual formal manner. "Found anything interesting my Thane?"

"In a manner of speaking." Stomping through the ashes he moved directly over to the hearth and stood over it, looking down over the blacken fireplace and the crumbling chimney that had fallen in the heat.

Gesturing, softly chanting to himself his fingers twisted almost of their own accord and a ball of light sparked into existence in the palm of his hand. The tiny ball of magelight flickered softly and lit up the deepening shadows of the encroaching evening in sharp blue hues, highlighting Kaius' armoured form in stark contrast as he pressed it onto the stonework.

"This was no ordinary fire."

Sofia moved over to him, wincing and trying not to show the tension she felt being so close to magicka. "How can you tell?"

"It burned too quickly and it was far too hot." There was a clunk of his armoured knees as he knelt down at the fireplace before scraping his gloves through the ashes.

Clearing as much as he could from the rough stone floor and the raised blocks around the fire pit, he motioned for Sofia and Lydia to step back slightly. With extreme care he willed himself to stillness, visibly controlling his breathing before whispering a single word.

"Fus."

Even whispered, and with Sofia and Lydia standing behind the speaker, the force of the Thu'um was enough to feel like a slap. Both women tensed as the word blew away the last of the ash in front of Kaius' kneeling form and filled the air with the taste of charcoal.

"Isn't that misusing your mystical, godly powers?" Coughing and spluttering, Sofia injected as much sarcasm and annoyance into her voice while trying vainly to wave the billowing clouds of soot away from her face. Close nearby, Lydia lost her battle against the floating ash and began explosively sneezing with almost as much power as Kaius' shout.

"If I'm the Dragonborn then how I utilise my powers is up to me." He replied, with his own brand of bitter sarcasm. "But, you tell me what you think of that…"

Exposed by his clearing of the ash from his hands and the use of the Thu'um, both women could see what he had uncovered. Etched into the stonework was a series of curved lines roughly forming a circle, containing a handful of archaic appearing runes. The lines were only a millimetre or two deep and unless they were pointed out they would have been almost impossible to notice.

"What is that?" Lydia asked carefully, kneeling down herself and running her gloved hands over the thin, tiny grooves.

"That?" Clicking his tongue, Kaius rose to his feet and stared pointedly at the markings. "That is an activated fire rune."

Looking over it carefully, Sofia couldn't help but agree. Her short time in the College of Winterhold hadn't been long enough for any serious studies even if she had been inclined to do so. Tolfdir's focus on safety meant that all students were taught identification of the various runes and their knowledge regularly tested. Too many students had been burnt, electrocuted, suffered frostbite to extremities or simply left paralysed on the floor from a result of practical joke or two. The rune had been magically cast onto the stone, but like most runes when it had activated the burst of energies had imprinted itself into the surface. In this case, the magical flames had bubbled and eroded the stonework almost imperceptibly.

In front of them, the magelight dimmed and vanished in upon itself and Kaius gestured once again. This time her proximity made it impossible to shield herself from the stab of pain into the back of her skull or hide the way she winced from Kaius' ever watchful eyes.

Pressing the ball of light against the stonework he gave her an expression that she was unable to identify, mostly because it seemed to be a mixture of suspicion and the usual calculating one he wore when he was mulling something over in his mind. "Just how long have you been having headaches for anyway?"

Sofia felt the surge of apprehension wash through her that somehow managed to drown the pressure in her mind from the nearby magelight. "Headaches? What headaches?"

An eyebrow raised itself and he made a specific point of staring her in the eyes as he cast another magelight. This one he purposely held in the palm of his hand like an apple, watching the way that she squinted and involuntarily shied away from it.

"Oh… Those headaches."

The ball of light in his hand flickered and died with a single gesture and he stood silently for a moment, as if making his mind up on something. "That's something we're going to have to work on."

Sighing loudly and grinding his teeth he looked about the ruins of the house, ignoring the way that Sofia watched his every movement as she rubbed at her temple and the way Lydia looked distrustful at the use of magicka. "The only people who really know what happened are Hroggar and his family." He stated flatly.

Desperate to keep the topic away from her headaches and aversion to magicka, Sofia shrugged and took a couple of measured paces away from Kaius. "Well, we can't ask his missus and kid. That's for sure."

Seeing the expression on his face and feeling the invisible tug of ethereal energies as he carefully gestured in the air her guts clenched. "Can we?"

"A woman and child were murdered here. A lot of this doesn't sit well with me and the fact we have evidence of magicka being used has made things a lot more complicated." The slow mesmeric gestures had both women's full attention until he snapped his fingers closed into a fist. "Their spirits still linger here."

"Spirits?"

There was the tiniest of nods, and Kaius blew out a massive breath, closing his eyes and concentrating. Sofia felt a chill that had nothing to do with the approaching darkness, a chill that was accompanied by the sudden, agonising punch of a migraine into the back of her skull.

"Athiyk, d'l'elghinyrr, voen'llyl ussta lar'e." he breathed, both hands slowly twisting almost of their own accord. "Usstan quarth dos ulu ku'lam lu'tlu'guuana."

The sensation of falling made Sofia squeak and the sudden drop in temperature from the spell leeching the energy from the air left their breaths fuming. Lydia staggered backwards with a snarled oath, her own hands making a gesture against her breastplate as a ward against evil and calling upon Stendarr's benediction as she realised the purpose of Kaius' spell.

He ignored them both, breathing out carefully but this time his breath condensed into a cloud of vapour, growing and building impossibly larger as it spread through a majority of the ruin's interior. For several long seconds they stood there, watching as he carefully opened his eyes and ceased the twisting motion of his hands.

"W-Who's there?" called out a tiny voice from the depths of the mist that swirled around them. "Is that you father?"

There was no mistaking the way that Kaius flinched as though struck before he pulled his own emotions in check. The mist was fading quickly, but in its place a tiny figure remained.

"Talo's hairy nutsack Kaius!" Sofia spluttered, viably jumping and almost falling over a lump of burnt wood in her shock. "What the fuck!"

Lydia staggered backwards, her face a mask of horror and she didn't stop until the shield hanging over her back slammed into the exterior wall. She was staring, not blinking as she tried desperately to comprehend the sight before her.

Kaius didn't remove his eyes from the tiny spectre, giving a single sharp gesture at the both of them and growling wordlessly for them to be quiet.

The ghost was of a young girl, not even old enough to have reached her tenth winter and she was looking about fearfully at the three of them. It was difficult to say who was the more frightened; the spirit or the two women.

Carefully, and quietly, Kaius knelt down, lowering himself to the ghost's height and giving her a warm smile. "Hello little one. Who are you?"

"Helgi, but father says I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." The look of confusion was painfully evident as she looked between him and the pale expressions of the two women. "Are you a stranger?"

Smiling further, Kaius carefully sat down in the ash, ignoring the way that it clung to his cloak, furs and armour. "No. I'm Kaius. I'm a friend." A gloved hand motioned to the burnt out remains of the house. "Do you know what happened to your house?"

Helgi looked around herself as though seeing it for the first time. Even of the tiniest of movements left her hair floating as though she was underwater. "The smoke woke me up. I was hot and I was scared… So I hid."

Floating across the floor she moved closer to Kaius, turning her head at how Sofia and Lydia shuffled slightly away. "Then it got cold and dark."

The silence was almost more painful than her appearance, and while they didn't know it, both Sofia and Lydia were amazed at how Kaius was sitting with the ghost of the young girl less than a metre from him. Pain, deep and terrible was shredding his soul but he wasn't letting any of it show to Helgi.

"I'm not scared anymore." She said proudly, bouncing as she sat down in front of Kaius. "But I am lonely. Will you play with me?"

There was no mistaking the sudden waver in his voice. He didn't seem to need to force himself to smile honestly but he did have to force the emotion in his eyes with nothing more than sheer willpower. "If I do, will you tell me how the fire started?"

Helgi nodded, her waifish face bobbing up and down with an enormous grin breaking out. "Okay! Let's play… Hide and Seek! You find me, and I'll tell you!"

Hesitating for a moment, her joy abruptly changed to fear and she twisted around, looking about the ruins and up into the darkening sky. "We have to wait for night-time though. The other one is playing too, and she can't come out until then."

Lydia and Sofia shared an expression of unease that was even greater than that they felt at Kaius summoning the dead.

"The other one?" With a voice as cold as the grave, Kaius furrowed his brow in wary expectation. "What do you mean?"

There was no mistaking Helgi's fear as she shook her head, twitching it back and forth and leaving strands of her hair floating in the otherworldly breeze. "I can't tell you. She might hear me. She's so close!"

Leaning in close she whispered directly into Kaius' ear as he tilted his head closer. "If you can find me first, I can tell you."

"You have a deal Helgi." There was no mistaking the smile on his face as he regarded the expression of excitement on the spectre's face. "Where are we going to play?"

She was quiet for a moment, casting her gaze quickly around the burnt out interior but still smiling. "The graveyard. After it gets dark. Don't take too long to find me!"

Swirling like oily water, the coursing energies twisted and weaved around them as Kaius lessened his grip on the spell. Giggling and twirling away through the ruins of the home, Helgi's spirit vanished into nothingness in a handful of steps leaving Kaius, Sofia and Lydia standing alone once more.

Making her own short steps, Sofia stomped her way through the ash and burnt remains, shoving Kaius as hard as she could with both hands. "What the fuck! Seriously! What the fuck was that!"

From his position on the ruined floor where she had pushed him back down, he looked up at Sofia and glanced between her and his housecarl hovering at her shoulder. "What?"

"Um, the dead? Are you just going to rip the soul of a little girl out of the afterlife? Just like that?" the snap of her fingers nearly made them all jump but their gazes never wavered from each other.

"Necromancy isn't banned. Or at least it wasn't the last I checked." Staggering to his feet he began bushing the layers of soot and ash from his legs and back. "Besides, I didn't summon her from Aetherius. As far as I can tell both her and possibly her mother's spirits still reside here, trapped in the barriers between Nirn and Oblivion."

"Summoning the dead... It's just not right." Lydia said somehow managing to keep her voice cold and devoid of emotion.

"Neither is burning down a house with a little girl and her mother inside." A tinge of steel was in Kaius' voice and for a moment both Lydia and Sofia were left wondering at the signs of emotion rising to the surface. It was unusual to say the least and outside of a fight he gave Lydia a run for her septims for being the most silent and foreboding warrior in Skyrim.

Running his fingers through his hair and then realising that all he had done was rub ash into his scalp he sighed loudly. "Look, whatever happened here is not as simple as some arsehole deciding to move in with his new squeeze and get rid of his family. That," A finger stabbed in the direction of the fireplace and the engraved rune in the stonework. "shows that something else is going on and now we have something else to go on."

"By summoning a spirit of a little girl to play hide and seek with?"

"That spirit…" his voice had dropped and the chill within it was as cold as the sea of ghosts. "Is trapped here. Unable to pass on until she is properly laid to rest. If we hadn't come… If I hadn't done what I just did, then there is a damn good chance that she and her mother would be stuck here until the ending of the world."

Both women stared at him and could sense the surging emotions lurking just beneath his stern exterior. It was beginning to make them both uncomfortable with more than just his actions.

"It's an hour or so until night properly falls. You both can come with me or meet me at the graveyard or go back to the tavern. It's your choice. I'm going to go and see if there is a mage in this town and get an idea of the number of practitioners of destruction magicka in the area. Then I'm going to go find Helgi and find out just what the oblivion is going on here."

Sofia and Lydia shared a glance, both uncomfortable and unsure of what to do. Lydia especially seemed to be warring against her oath to serve as his Housecarl and her dual distaste for magicka and what he had done.

After their continuing silence he shrugged. "You know where to find me." He said, picking his way towards the door and leaving them standing there.

"What the fuck just happened?" Sofia spluttered, seeing Lydia shrug her armoured shoulders while nervously tapping her fingers on the head of her axe.

"Sofia, may I ask you a question?"

Making her own way out of the ruin and ducking under the fallen beam in the doorway, she spared the housecarl a glance out of the corner of her eye. "Sure, I'm all ears." There was a moment's pause as she hesitated. "Well, not literally of course."

"Just how much do you know about the Thane?"

The honesty struck home as they both wandered down the short steps and the tiny footpath onto the street. Several times Sofia opened and closed her mouth, thinking and yet unable to transform the thoughts into words.

Seeing the way she was uncharacteristically tongue tied, Lydia moved alongside her, instinctively keeping in step with the smaller woman. Kaius had already stepped around the street corner two building in front of them and without any other ideas they wandered vaguely after him.

"You've been travelling with him for what? Six months now?"

"More or less." Sofia replied, chewing her lip. "We met last Autumn just before the snows started."

"Since he killed that dragon."

"A month or so before that, but yes." The flint like eyes of the housecarl bored into the side of Sofia's skull. "Look, I know what you are asking but I don't have any answers. We met in the Whiterun stables, he gave me some clothes to stop me from being arrested… Again. We did a few jobs around town, ran an errand for Farengar and the next minute I'm watching him go toe-to-toe with this great big lizard that killed two dozen of the guards we were with. But before that? Nope, I don't have a clue."

Trying desperately to keep her true thoughts hidden, she stole a glance at Lydia who scratched idly at the shaved portion of her skull. It was something of an unspoken agreement between herself and Kaius about not revealing his true nature to anyone, and there were other things about him that no one else knew. The night they ended up sharing drinks with Sanguine was close to the top of the list of things she couldn't tell another soul about.

Keeping secrets had never been something she had ever been good at. In fact, keeping her mouth shut was almost an impossibility but she had somehow managed it so far in this case.

"So you know nothing of his previous life? No family? No friends? No home? No explanation on what he was doing in Skyrim?"

Their pace slowed. Kaius had faded into the streets and they lost sight of him shortly after he had spoken to one of the locals. Whatever he had asked had left the man looking a little wary of the armoured stranger as he made a pointed gesture and provided a very specific set of directions.

"He has me as a friend. But, everyone needs someone like me." Again, those cold eyes burned a hole in her skull and the unease continued building. Keeping secrets was hard. "I know that he was at Helgen and that despite what everyone says, so was Ulfric and a whole buncha Stormcloaks when a dragon burned it to the ground."

"Is he a Stormcloak? I've seen the…" Lydia's voice trailed off and she lightly tapped a gauntleted hand against her chest.

Thinking for a moment, Sofia went to shake her head before thinking better of it and shrugged instead. "No… At least I don't think so. He's got that Legion tattoo under those scars of his, but he never takes that amulet off." Heat rushed to her face as she remembered that trip to Bleak Falls Barrow. After he had slaughtered that detachment of elves they had stopped alongside a stream for him to wash away the blood he was drenched in. Despite her best attempts she had managed to make things extremely awkward by walking down thinking he had finished bathing when he most definitely hadn't.

Night was fast approaching and as they walked in the direction of the Tavern the handful of guards and residents were lighting and hanging lanterns outside their doors. The guards were changing shifts and lighting the handful of tiny braziers and lanterns hanging from tall poles along the streets, illuminating them in the warm flickering glow.

"So you really don't know."

There was something in Lydia's tone that made Sofia twist and her anger bite. "Look, miss all-high-and-mighty. Some people don't like talking about their past, and especially don't like asking others about theirs. So he's all mysterious and neither of us know a damn thing about him but he's looked out for me. Which is more than I can say about most people."

Sofia saw the way that Lydia had shied back a little and her mood softened a little. She hadn't intended putting such acid into her tone but it seemed that she hadn't lost her touch in angering people.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it specifically."

The polished metal breastplate covering Lydia's chest raised and lowered visibly as she took a deep breath and released it. "He is a capable warrior."

"Well duh. Anyone who punches on with a dragon and eats its soul is a bit of a hard arse."

Looking over at Lydia she saw something in her expression that she couldn't quite put her finger on. They continued on in silence until the end of the street, standing on the corner of the Moorside Inn and seeing how much of the town was wreathed in darkness.

"Wait. Do you mean that there is something wrong with him being able to handle himself in a fight?"

The stare continued, but there was an obvious hint of something further in the mask of an expression the housecarl wore. Something in her mind clicked and Sofia sucked in her cheeks in thought.

"That is a problem for you… Isn't it?"

Lydia shrugged, and it struck Sofia that it was the most expressive action she had ever seen the dour woman perform.

"I'm his housecarl." Her thick accent turned the word into a growled húskarl. "I am oath-sworn to carry his burdens whether they be metaphic- metamor-…" she shook her head in frustration and brushed her braids out of her eyes. "Be real or not."

"So you don't understand how you are meant to protect someone who is in no need for protection."

The nod was almost imperceptible.

"And I'm guessing you have trained you entire life to be bodyguard to some thane or another."

This nod was more distinct but Lydia didn't turn to look at her. "Most of my entire life, as soon as I was able to lift a weapon I have trained. As housecarl I am sworn to his service, to guard him and all he owns with my life. I was honoured to have been chosen by Jarl Bulgruuf to serve the Dragonborn. But to find out that my entire life has been wasted and that my skills I have spent in preparation to serve someone who utterly outmatches everyone else in their prowess? I… I just don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Hey." the dulled clank of Sofia's elbow into Lydia's armoured ribs was audible and for a second or two she was left rubbing at the limb. Lydia had a penchant for wearing every bit of armour she could. "Your life and whatnot hasn't been a waste. You were chosen right? Out of everyone else, you were the one who old Gruffy chose as being the closest in skill and ability to a living legend! Me? I got drunk, lost my clothes and woke up in a puddle of horsepiss after he dropped his pack on me. You at least will have a mention when they sing songs about him in the years to come."

"You've been by his side all this time though. You were there when he fought the dragon. You climbed the 7,000 steps together."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Her shiver was exaggerated and she found herself unconsciously scratching at certain parts of herself. "I was chafed for a month after I got back down that damn mountain. I'm not even sure why I followed him in the first place."

"To see the Greybeards?" Lydia suggested.

"Phfft? What?" Shaking her head, Sofia leaned against the outside of the closest building, fumbling with her travelling pack and rummaging in it. "Fuck… No... I followed him because I was curious, and in case you hadn't noticed he's sorta my meal ticket."

An eyebrow raised fractionally and was the closest expression to disbelief that Lydia would show.

"Fine. I didn't want to be left alone."

The eyebrow remained.

"He owed me a foot rub."

Still no change.

"Fine. I like him. He's strong, brave, adventurous, good looking if you are into scars…" Seeing the way the trace of a smile plucked at the corners of Lydia's mouth and realising what she had said, she nearly dropped the bottle that she had retrieved from her pack. "Er… I like him as a friend. He treats me like a person and equally shares the loot…" She hurriedly added.

For a moment it was almost as though Lydia was going to roll her eyes but instead the flat expressionless gaze returned.

"Ah… Whatever." Using the bottle of mead to underline her words, she pointed it at the Housecarl's chest. "He still owes me a serious foot rub though."

"So what are you going to do now?"

The wall thudded as she plopped her back against it. "Now? Now I'm going to keep following him, find this blowhards horn and then wait for him in the tavern at Ivarstead while he goes up the mountain and sits in the snow. Or sleeps or a rock. Or whatever the Greybeards got him to do for that month he was up there."

"I meant now." Lydia said with the hint of annoyance.

"Oh. You mean now, now." She eyed the bottle of mead she managed to 'acquire' while Kaius wasn't looking. "I was contemplating on getting drunk."

"To stop the headaches?"

This time the stare that she afforded the Housecarl was deadly and jagged like a broadhead arrow. "I get drunk because it is fun and I enjoy it. Not because I feel sore or get headaches or whatever else you think. Certainly not because of Ma popping me out in the middle of the summer solstice."

Realising that she had said a little too much, she quickly took a massive swig from her bottle and felt better with the taste of mead on the tongue. "Never mind me though, what are you going to do?"

The silence was deafening and Lydia looked up the street and towards the inn's front door. Only the rap-tap-tap of her fingers on the head of her axe hanging in its loop of leather at her waist showed any sign of her thoughts.

"I'm going to go find the Thane." She said finally.

"Why?"

"Because it is my duty." Their eyes met each other's for a heartbeat. "And because I think that despite how we feel about that before…" The tiniest of twitches ran down her body. "I think that he is right."

"You two really have got being killjoys down to a fine art. You know that right?"

"Are you coming?"

"No. Why would I follow you?" Seeing the way that Lydia had actually turned in shock Sofia laughed, startling herself with how loud it echoed in the street. "I'm just kidding of course."

Her pack went back over a shoulder and she continued sipping away at her bottle as she stepped alongside Lydia's steel-clad figure. "Let's go see what trouble we can stir up."