Izra loved Riften. She had felt at home from the first time she'd stepped into the city, cold and alone, and she felt more at home there than she had felt anywhere else. She rented her usual room at the inn, browsed the market stalls, and greeted everyone she saw more or less pleasantly. She went to Balimund, gave him the fire salts to help him with his forge. "I made a special trip to Riften just to give you these," she told him, hiding her smile, "In that case, feel free to use anything in my forge to craft something," he told her, and Izra visibly brightened. "I might be back, later, to make something," she promised.

She talked for a few minutes with Madesi, and gave him the best gems she had in the bottoms of her pack. She gave Grelka some armor pieces she had picked up. "I can't use them. Sell them," she'd said, and even the woman's sour nature couldn't spoil Izra's good mood. She was, in a sense, home, and it felt like a warm mug of tea on a cold morning.

When nearly everyone else had gone inside for lunch, Izra slipped inside the Temple of Mara. It was dark inside, cool and peaceful, and inviting. She could almost feel Mara's presence. "What troubles you, my child?" asked Dinya. "I found someone I might love, one day," Izra confessed, and the priestess gave her a knowing smile. "Might that have something to do with your grin?" she asked. "I'm not grinning!" protested Izra half-heartedly, bringing her hand up to hide it. "Tell me all about this person," Dinya said, sitting down on one of the hard wooden benches and patting the seat next to her.

Izra sat, and talked. She told Dinya about Sorex, from how they met to how he'd taken care of her when she'd stumbled back to the Winking Skeever (she had almost said home, how embarrassing that would have been.) Dinya smiled unprofessionally as she listened to Izra talk, saw how bright the girl's eyes were. "I have an amulet of Mara I could let you borrow," Dinya said, a slow and knowing smirk spreading across her face. Izra shook her head, smiling. "It's far too early for that. Besides, I thought maybe I could make one. I'm a smith, after all. And it would mean more. I just...I need advice. Is it okay that I want this? I'm the Dragonborn. Alduin isn't defeated," she said, doubt shadowing her face. Dinya reached out, her hand on the girl's cheek. "Alduin will take much from you in the days to come, child. Don't let him take this from you too," the priestess said, and Izra couldn't stop smiling.

She left the temple, and spent the rest of the day with Balimund and dagger schematics. It wouldn't be anything fancy, but it would be a start.

She was in Riften for a month. In that time, she had done various small things to help the citizens of the Rift. She'd given the beggars a large sum of coin. She'd smithed a dagger of ebony for Sorex. It was the first ebony blade she'd ever attempted, and there were small imperfections, but the edge was razor-sharp and she'd carved his name into the hilt along with her initials. Balimund told her it was a beautiful blade, for it to be her first time working with ebony. She hid it away in her pack and kept it close for the remainder of her time in Riften. She had completely regained her strength, and on the day she left, she saw a wooden box by the gates. It had been full of a litter of puppies, but there was only one left. It was a small thing, with paws far too big for it's body, and soft floppy ears. The fur was a sandy tan color, and Izra fell in love.

The dog went with her. It kept her company on the long journey to Solitude. It bounded around her feet when she let it walk, and curled up sleepily in her arms or in her pack when it had gotten tired. She named him Varen, after someone she'd lost long ago in Bravil. It almost felt strange to say the name again after so long, but somehow it felt right for the pup.

She stopped briefly at a shrine to Talos on her way back to Solitude. She left the war horn, and she said prayers to the Dragonborn-god. "Perhaps you'll help me. We are both of the dovah sos," she murmured, and then they moved on. She was eager to get back to Skyrim's capital.

Sorex had convinced himself that Izra wouldn't be coming back to Solitude. She was an adventurer, and she had spent much longer in the city than customary for adventurers. She was the Dragonborn, and her destiny was bigger than the city. He was content to have known her for the time he had, or, at least he was during the day. At night, he would lie on his bed, and he would dream. Sometimes he would dream that he adventured with her. They would save the world together. He knew nothing like that could ever happen. There wasn't an adventurous bone in his body. He was an innkeeper, through and through, and while sometimes he would get restless, he was happy. Some nights, however, he would dream that Izra wasn't the Dragonborn. He would dream that she was a normal girl who came to Solitude for an apprenticeship with the smith. Other nights, he would dream that the world was already saved and he would get to grow old with her.

He didn't tell anyone about these dreams. His father, though, would give him a knowing smirk some mornings. He would ignore those.

He almost didn't believe his eyes when the door to the inn opened and she breezed in. There was a small dog stumbling after her, and she looked radiant. "Sorex! I'm back!" she called out, hanging her cloak almost carelessly on the hook. Corpulus smiled to himself. He knew what it looked like when someone was finding a home somewhere, and the Winking Skeever was fast becoming Izra's home. "Izra? Where have you been?" Sorex asked, catching her in a hug and spinning her around. Izra let out a laugh, clinging to him until her feet were firmly back on the ground. "I've been in Riften. I had to make a delivery. I...have something for you," she said, ducking her head, and Sorex was curious. "Oh? Perish the thought! I haven't gotten you anything," he said. Izra grinned, sitting her pack on a nearby table gently. She pulled the wrapped dagger out and unfolded the cloth around it before offering it to him, hilt first. "What's this?" he asked, inspecting the blade. His thumb ran over his name beside her initials. "I made it for you. It's a dagger. It's the first thing I've ever made out of ebony. I thought you might like it," she said, holding her breath as she watched him observe it. Sorex smiled softly, and he almost reached up to cup her face in his hand. "I love it," he said, and Izra almost leaned up to kiss him.

"I have to go back to the Blue Palace. Want to come with me?" she asked, later, after she'd washed off the dust of traveling and changed out of her armor. "I'd love to," he said, and linked his arm in hers. He tried to look away, he really did, but Izra was wearing the best outfit she owned, and she looked stunning. It was a blue and white dress, sweeping to the floor, with bare shoulders. The necklace she wore glimmered in the candlelight. "You look beautiful this evening," Sorex managed, as Izra leaned against him. "You don't look too bad yourself," she said, a faint smile turning one corner of her mouth up. Sorex almost snorted. He was in his regular everyday clothes, dirty from a day's work.

"Anything interesting happen while I was away?" she asked, stepping out into the cool air. "Nothing too interesting, no. Elisif placed a large order for some dresses. That stupid Argonian tried to lure me into some criminal work again," Sorex told her, trying to look everywhere but Izra. The curve of her collarbone and the way the dress dipped down was dangerously distracting to him. Izra was dangerously distracting. "Should I talk to him?" she asked, her voice taking on a sharp tone. "I don't think that'll be necessary," Sorex said, and he couldn't keep the smile off of his face. "If he bothers you again, let me know. I'll chop off his tail and feed it to him," she promised, and Sorex laughed.

Going to the Blue Palace to speak to Elisif didn't intimidate Izra, not with Sorex by her side. He hung back, but he was always there with her, and Izra didn't have anything to fear with him there. She even looked the part tonight, with her hair piled on top of her head and that dress she'd bought in Riften. She knew how to act like a noblewoman, and she thought that Sorex looked surprised. She shouldn't have drank all the wine they offered her, though. Izra never could resist a good cup of wine, and thus they stayed late into the night, dining with Elisif and the rest of the Palace.

Afterwards, Izra dragged Sorex down the hall, her fist swallowing her giggles. "What are we doing back here?" Sorex asked, and then Izra kissed him. She tasted like wine and laughter and he pressed her against the wall and tangled his fingers in her hair. She giggled against his lips, nipping him gently before pulling back to look up at him, her brown eyes wide. Her hair was falling down as he let his hands drift to his shoulders. "We shouldn't have done that," he managed, after a short while. "I don't regret it. Do you?" she asked breathlessly, and then he kissed her again.

They made it back to the Winking Skeever long after the moon dominated the sky. When they got there, Sorex tucked Izra in a bed upstairs, and leaned against the wall outside once he had shut the door. He hadn't imagined how hard it would be to leave her there, but she was far drunker than he, and while he'd enjoyed it and she'd instigated it, it didn't seem right. So he walked downstairs to his own room, and left her to sleep off the hangover she'd have in the morning.