They had managed to travel all the way to the standing stones before it became too dark for them to continue towards Riverwood.
"We should camp here. The ground is flat and sheltered" Ralof said as he pointed to the stones. The party nodded in agreeance and set about gathering some wood to make a fire with. All the collected wood was piled in the centre of the three stones.
"So… anyone got a flint?" Hadvar asked the group.
"Don't need one. Ferdinand here is a mage remember" Ano said as he gestured to the mage.
"How many times do I have to say it? My name is Fjrgeir! F. J. R. G. E. I. R" Fjrgeir said as he spelt it out for the Dunmer.
"Is that how you spell it? No wonder I can't remember your name! It makes no sense!" the Dunmer argued.
"What does the spelling have to do with remembering how a name is pronounced?" Ralof asked as he lent against the warrior stone.
"You know what? I don't know. I like illogical things, but your name makes no sense. Maybe you should put a 'Z' in it. Yeah, that's what it needs, a 'Z'. F-J-R-G-E-Z-I-R. That's better!" Ano said as he spelt out the new spelling.
"How in Oblivion does that make it easier to remember? If I spelt it like that my name would sound like 'freegarzir'! How does the 'Z' make it easier to remember?" Fjrgeir said as he lit the wood on fire with a spell.
"No. No. No. Your name would still be said the same, the 'Z' is silent!" Ano said cheerfully.
"What is the point in it then?!" Fjrgeir said as he sat away from the fire, leaning against the mage stone.
"What's the point in anything? The point is, is that there is no point!" Ano said as he beamed at Fjrgeir.
"I swear you are touched by Sheogorath" Fjrgeir said with an exasperated sigh. Ano brought his hands together and rested his chin on them.
"Yes. Yes, I suppose I am" Ano said with a wiry smile and a small chuckle. All three Nords stared at him with perplexed looks on their faces, not understanding why Ano was chuckling.
Ano looked at their confused faces and his smile grew, but when he noticed that Ralof was leaning against the thief stone, and thus all stones occupied Ano's smile fell into a small pout.
"So you don't leave anywhere for little ol' me to lean, huh?" Ano said in half feigned sadness.
"First in, first serve" Ralof said simply, making a show of leaning against the stone in comfort. A cheeky smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. Ano let out a huff and continued to sit on the ground with crossed legs.
"So… anyone actually have any food?" Ralof asked when a growl came from his stomach.
"No" Hadvar said in defeat.
"I don't have any" Fjrgeir said with an equal tone of defeat. All three Nords looked at Ano, expecting the same reply, but were confused at the sly smile the Dunmer gave them. Ano pulled his pack in front of him and opened it, pulling out a wheel of cheese he had put in there earlier. He waved the wheel in front of the Nords, making a show of the cheese. Ralof reached forward to grab it but missed when Ano pulled it out of his reach, waving his finger disapprovingly at him.
"Uh, uh, uh" Ano teased. "First in, first serve. Maybe you should have planned ahead and grabbed some food back in Helgen. I know I saw some cabbages in that keep" he continued, then took a large bite out of the wheel, over exaggerating the taste of the cheese with moans, that if you had shut your eyes, you would have thought you walked into something rather private.
"Can you please never make a sound like that ever again?" Fjrgeir said in a disgusted tone. Ano gave another over exaggerated moan when he took another bite. Fjrgeir shuddered. Hadvar and Ralof looked extremely uncomfortable.
"I'm not making any promises" he said slyly.
"Do you think you could share?" Hadvar asked looking greedily at the cheese, "even just a little?" Ano put his hand to his chin in contemplation.
"Why should I do that?" he asked.
"So we don't starve" the imperial soldier replied shortly.
"Well the way I see it, only Frederico" Fjrgeir didn't even bother correcting him, "here, actually earnt any food" Ano said as he tossed a chuck of cheese at the mage. "He actually helped in the escape and the setting up of camp. He fought, collected wood and started the fire. Ralof you fought and collected wood, but you were too smug about your spot against the stone there. And Hadvar, you didn't help at all when we were escaping, and you only collected wood. So out of you three only he deserves any food" Ano said as he jerked his thumb at Fjrgeir.
Hadvar and Ralof stared at the mer in anger. "This is why us Nords don't like your kind" Ralof muttered under his breath. "Think yourselves all high and mighty. Like all the other elves. Just like the Thalmor. I bet you're just like them and don't 'believe' in Talos" Ralof said louder in a venomous tone.
"Actually, I know for a fact that Talos is one of the divines" Ano said as he shot the Nord a dark look. "I don't know much about the Thalmor, but they sound like a bunch of dicks. I might have to do something about them, but then again who am I to defend Talos, he can stand up for himself. And you say that us Dunmer are too high and mighty. You Nords are just the same as us, taking pride in your history and ancestry. So don't assume stuff about people or your innards might become outards" Ano said with a very cruel grin.
A chilling silence fell over the small camp. Ralof looked ready to attack the mer, but was managing to hold himself back, knowing he would not fare well if he was to attack the mer. Ano stared at the Nord, his eyes almost begging him to attack him, just so he had an excuse to kill him, but when the Nord did attack, and sunk back towards the thief stone, Ano laid down on the cold, hard ground and closed his eyes. Every looked at the mer, wondering what he was doing, but when they heard light snoring coming from the Dunmer they realised that he had fallen asleep.
Fjrgeir still held the large chunk of cheese Ano had given him. He hadn't taken a bite yet, but when he realised that Ano wasn't going to give the other two Nords any food, he broke the chunk into thirds and handed to pieces to the other two. The resulting size of the pieces was nowhere near enough to fill them up, and soon Ralof was starting greedily at Ano's bag.
"It's unfair that he won't share! He ate an entire wheel and we were left with nothing until you shared it with us" Ralof said in a harsh whisper trying to not wake the mer. Hadvar nodded in agreeance. Fjrgeir was unsure at what they were getting at. But he soon figured it out when Ralof edged closer to Ano. More specifically Ano's bag. It was resting very near the mer's head. Ralof grabbed the flap on the bag and opened it. As he pushed his hand into the bag he felt the cool touch of metal at his throat.
Ano was no longer asleep in front of him, but behind him with wild looking yellow cat like eyes. Ralof was completely frozen with fear. The mer's eyes were otherworldly, something a mortal should not possess. Hadvar and Fjrgeir were standing behind Ano, stuck between wanting to pull the mer's sword away from Ralof and wanting to live. They seemed to have chosen to live when neither moved to help Ralof.
Ano's horrible eyes were boring into Ralof's eye that was visible from his half turned head. A chill ran down his spine, but his body still didn't move. Ralof's fear and Ano's anger made the air hard to breathe. The Dunmer was completely still, and silent. No one moved. You could have mistaken them for statues. But the silence was eventually broken by Ano.
"YOU DARE TRY STEAL FROM ME?!" the mer's voice boomed. Resting birds in nearby trees scattered. The mer normal voice was gone, and was now replaced with a voice that induced so much fear that it put the dragon's roar to shame. Fjrgeir and Hadvar took slow trembling steps back, away from the Dunmer. Ralof knew he should be shaking by now, but his body refused to move at all. Ano bent at the hips and put his mouth near Ralof's right ear.
"You really shouldn't have done that." The mer's voice was now a low growl. "Now what to do about those sticky fingers of yours. What to do, what to do. Perhaps I should chop them off. No! That's too dull. So very dull, dull, dull. I should make you eat your own fingers. It would stop you from stealing, and solve your hunger. Two birds. One stone." Ralof could feel the malice in the mer's voice. He knew there was no way he was going to make it out of this alive. The fucking elf can turn people to paste! He could finally feel his body begin to shake.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Ralof pleaded to the homicidal Dunmer. He screwed his eyes shut as he pleaded and so he didn't see the sword be taken away from his throat. But he heard the mer move to be facing him directly. Ano slowly stooped down to where Ralof was hunched on the ground. He placed a hand on to Ralof shoulder. Ralof flinched at the touch, but when no pain came he looked at the mer. The mer's eyes were no longer yellow and cat like, but back to the normal blood red eyes of Dunmer eyes. Ano's other hand grabbed Ralof's hand as if to help him up off the ground. However, just as he went to stand, Ano's grip on his hand grew tighter. The hand that had been on his shoulder also went to his hand. He then felt the new hand grab hold of his index finger. Ralof was confused with what the Dunmer was doing, when suddenly he felt white hot pain lance through his hand with a resounding CRACK.
He looked down at his hand and his index finger was now completely bent backwards, and definitely broken. Ano walked away from Ralof, but gave him a pat on the shoulder as he passed. Ralof was cradling his hand when Fjrgeir walked up to him.
"You're going to want to set the bone, or else you will lose all use of it" Fjrgeir stated matter of factly. He didn't like what Ano had done, but they all knew about his psychopathic tendencies, and Fjrgeir had known that stealing from Ano would not end well. He helped Ralof put the finger back in place then cast a healing spell over his hand. Ralof's eyes were glaring daggers at Ano, who was now leaning against the thief standing stone. Just as Ralof went to open his mouth, to insult Ano, Ano spoke first.
"If you don't like travelling with me, we are not far from Riverwood. Wolves shouldn't eat you before you arrive."
"Where do you get off doing this to people?!" Ralof spat at Ano.
"Where do you get off stealing? Go on, report it to a guard. I was just protecting my belongings from a thief." A smug grin settled on Ano's lips. Ralof was torn between attacking the mer, and leaving for Riverwood, but when reason returned to him, he scooped up his scarce belongings and stalked off towards Riverwood. Hadvar lingered for a moment, then he also grabbed his belongings and followed Ralof to Riverwood.
Now that the two soldiers were gone, Ano sat down, leaning against a standing stone. Fjrgeir had been keeping his distance from Ano, his displeasure apparent on his face. When Ano noticed this he asked the Nord what was wrong.
"It's what you did to Ralof. I know that he shouldn't have tried stealing from you, but he was hungry and you had food, what did you expect to happen?" Fjrgeir said, voicing his distaste in Ano's actions.
"I knew that he was most likely going to steal from me, that's why I didn't go to sleep. I was waiting. If half an hour had passed and no one had tried to take the food, I would have shared it. It's just most Nords don't like Dunmer, I don't know why, maybe they don't like our finger nails."
"What?"
"They must not like our finger nails. That's all I can think of."
"So, nothing to do with your attitude or anything like that, right?"
"No definitely not" Ano said with a smile. Before he reached into his pack and grabbed some cheese out and chucked it to Fjrgeir.
"You gave your share to the others, so there you go. Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll hit the sack, or vine covered stone. We shouldn't need a watch, so you can go to sleep as well. We'll head to Riverwood in the morning" Ano said as he shifted a little, trying to get comfortable. He closed his eyes and soon there was a faint snoring coming from the mer, completely different to his 'snoring' before, and Fjrgeir realised that he was genuinely asleep this time.
Fjrgeir quickly ate the cheese then nestled himself up against a standing stone. The events of the day had finally caught up to him and within minutes Fjrgeir was asleep, his dreams filled with flying cheese; walking, talking swords; and bright yellow cat eyes.
