Man, thank god I have this chapter done. I had a fight with Oriana about 45 minutes ago, and she pulled out 3/4 of my hair. That's okay, I'm not thinking' about it.

Oriana: Don't run! You know you stole my man! punches me in the nose

What the heck are you talking about, ya loony...

On with the story! cries like a bitch

Disclaimer: I am fine with owning absolutely nothing. I got my three buds (well... two) and that's all that matters.

The both were now in Cheydinhal, after a couple of hours on horseback, and Ariel enlighten with thankfulness. It was around the afternoon time, and during the ride they had been in conversation over what led Ariel into waling her way over to the town. She revealed to Marion about the whole Indarys crisis, and that he wanted to meet her at the Thorn Lodge, a building where all of the factions' do-abouts take place. Never actually having any knowledge of its business, she wasn't sure where the place was located at, since there was no description in the note given to her. During the conversation, he mentioned once about her awkward behavior at the pond area, but she never gave an absolute answer. But Marion was oblivious; his attention was all on her intentions with Indarys.

"Let me get this straight," he figured. "You're here in Cheydinhal, and the reason- just to meet Farwil, or whomever his name is?"

"Well yeah..." Ariel agreed. "I mean, I didn't have to, but I did it anyway."

Marion was dumbfolded. "What about you friend; didn't she want to accompany you?"

"Oriana?" she presumed. "She said I could do it all by myself, or something along the lines of that." Thinking about her friends' light-hearted remarks, she sighed. "How clumsy one can be."

"Obviously, you are bored," he guessed. "And you have nothing else to do today, except chasing after men you don't want to take seriously Marion snickered. "You're going to have a lot of fun choking the life out of your victim."

Agitated, Ariel leaned her head over his right shoulder, speaking in a mental-weary tone. "I love you, but please-- shut up."

Marion laughed, and they didn't speak to each other for the rest of the way.

TESTMONIES

After a period of time, asking for directions, and shameful humiliations later, they arrived outside the Knights of the Thorn Lodge. It was, in fact, not that difficult to locate, so it didn't really take in much of the duo's time. It was a pretty decent building from the looks of it, with a fence built surrounding it and a neat decor. But Ariel wasn't fooled; she knew, by the time they would walk inside, that the real quest was just beginning. She sighed anxiously, jumpy about having to step inside and endure the harassment from the... gitwit waiting to... she didn't even want to imagine.

"Well, this is it," enlightened Marion, trying to make the best out of the situation. "There's no cowering around now."

Ariel broke out of her thoughtful trance, glancing at her brother.

"I'm not following you any further, if you want to know," he reminded.

She lowered her head down, feeling awfully confused that she was really here. It never occurred that Ariel would - in all of her days - find herself outside of somewhere she didn't want to be. And by her own choice, too. That's when she brought her face up laughing, suddenly finding the whole thing hilarious for once. Looking over at Marion, who was giving her a blank stare, she shook her head.

"This was uncalled for."

"Very uncalled for," he agreed nervously.

Ariel crossed her arms, doing her best to appear confident. "I'm wasting time, so I might as well go over and see what he wants. Thanks for the helpful ride; appreciate it."

She mounted off the horses' back, making her way over to the front of the lodge. Before leaving, Marion called after her.

"Don't worry about him," he assured her. "But if he gets on your last nerves, you know what to do."

Snickering, she called back after him. "That's too bad; I forgot to bring my bamboo stick."

He and his horse traveled away from the area, leaving Ariel alone in the misting fields, and to fiend for only herself. Waving good-bye, she continued to the front door. A feeling of resentment rushed through her spine, and even though her brother ensured the best, she still wished that letter never reached in the first place. Why the hell did that Imperial bastard follow me? she thought to herself, enraged. As she pounded carelessly on the wooden door, waiting for a response, Ariel gazed back, hoping Marion would turn around and rescue her.

It just can't get any worse.

Unfortunately, she was wrong.

Finally, the door opened, and as Ariel faced toward it, her expression was startled.

There, with a beer in one hand, stood an Imperial man. The same one whom she had bumped into yesterday.

She tried to make a sound, but couldn't even muster up a 'hello' or 'excuse me'. Obvious to the situation, the Imperial looked rather awkwardly at the surprised Dunmer. He recognized her dark green skin, her blood red eyes and auburn colored, natural length hair sparking a difference in the air. Abruptly, he was the first to speak. "Farwil's been pacing for you to come."

Ariel gave him a blank, cold stare, and spoke back in an unenthusiastic tone. "I would be so glad."

"Well, you should be. I didn't go all the way to give you that silly note for nothing."

"And I didn't want to be insulted by an ass, but I am."

"So are you coming in or not? We have things to do, too, you know."

Getting frustrated, Ariel didn't adhere of his inpatient attitude, while the Imperial didn't adhere to her dominance. But, he admired it all the same, and decided it would be better to drop the attitude. If things were to be over and done with, she hopefully needed to meet his friend. That was only if... she meet his friend. Suddenly, Ariel turned and started to walk away, caring less about who was inside, but was immediately stopped in her tracks as the man quickly called after her.

"My name is Bremman."

And in spite of herself, she was intrigued by his introduction.

"I'm Ariel Evelyndus." She glanced over her shoulder at him. "And I wish someone could be a little more polite every once in a while. No respect; that frightens me."

Bremman shrugged. "Can we make that come true?"

Stepping inside the lodge, Ariel felt a sudden relief. It had a rather quiet atmosphere, with no noise or disruptions like she thought it would be. And everything was neatly groomed; the living room and whole first floor cleaned up, with not a track of crud in sight. But even as the lodge looked pleasing to her eyes, it didn't take but a second for her to realize that she'd have to confront her despised one, sooner or later.

"He's in the basement," informed Bremman, coming up besides her. "We have a stock load of wine, so you know–"

"Basement?" Ariel broke him off, vocals becoming serious. "In the basement? With wine?!"

Glancing at his Dunmer guest, he noticed her shocked expression, trying to better explain everything. "It's not what you think is going to happen, so relax. I, myself, think about that kind of stuff if Farwil ever had any female company." Bremman snickered at the thought of it. "Note when I said 'if' he had any."

Ariel calmed down. "So," she grinned mischievously. "We can honestly say that he's a hopeless romantic?"

"My point exactly."

"Wonderful. Um... don't tell him I said that."

"You have my word, young woman."

TESTIMONIES

The sunlight was glowing yellow with delightfulness , as a happy breeze whispered in the trees, creating the scene of the day. All was calm in Cyrodil, with no illusion of evil in sight.

Marion was heading back to Imperial City, traveling alone on horseback. Still being daylight time, every thing was unusually quiet. It couldn't have been more strange, but it didn't worry him too much. Taking the same route from which they arrived from, he knew it would be long until he came back. He thought about his sister's confrontation with her secret admirer, and laughed to himself as he wondered if Ariel had beaten Farwil to death any time soon.

Along the way, Marion instructed his horse to stop as he heard strange sounds hollowing through the air. He was suspicious at first, peering out around his surroundings to find the person - or thing - responsible. But to no avail, he found nothing.

"Never mind," he mumbled as they trotted away.

He didn't turn back around...

If he had, he would have noticed the shadowy figure emerging from out of nowhere, hovering quickly into the grassy terrain before disappearing.

TESTIMONIES

Bremman opened the door with a key, leading to the lodges' basement.

Following him from behind, Ariel felt a string of regret chilling down her spine. She would finally meet the count's son, face to face, unknown of what his reaction to her would be. The possibilities seemed endless, especially if they were down here, surrounded with a large supply of wine.

Finally, the both of them were in the basement. Bremman opened his mouth to speak, but unexpectedly, Ariel beat him to it before he could get a word out. "Okay everyone, you've got me," she surrendered loudly. "I'm down here, I've took time out of my busy schedule to get here, so what in Oblivion do you want? This isn't funny to me as it is to any of you. Let me guess, is it a bet or something? The first one to convince a foolish girl and follow her down to Farwil's place for absolutely nothing, gets fifty gold?"

She didn't care that everyone was sitting around, staring at her indignantly and stopping their drinks of wine. But there was one figure, snickering but doing it loudly enough for everyone to hear.

Ariel, hearing the laughter, looked around to find the potential outcast. Then she gasped.

A/N: Like it? Well you should. I'm staring to add more to the story than just a single, typical day of their lives at hand. There's more to it than just that, like a surprise plot or something. I also changed the last names for Ariel and Marion. Just couldn't go with Winchest, it's so common and so... unelvish like. Seeya next update, that's if Oriana doesn't mess it up.

Oriana: Not even in your dreams...