'Are you leaving?'

I turned and saw Brelyna standing at my door, a concerned look on her face.

'Just for a few days. I have to get some things for some research and possibly get my head chopped off in the process,' I said with a smile. I put the book from Vilkas in my knapsack and tucked in a few notes on some spells I wanted to practice.

'Hey, you wouldn't know anything about alchemy ingredients?'

'A little I guess, just basic ones, why?' she replied.

'I'm looking for a Jarrin Root. I've never even heard of it,' I told her.

'Jarrin Root? I've heard of it. It's from Stros M'Kai. It's really powerful. That's all I know. I guess if you know the right people you could get it.' Brelyna shrugged and we both looked at each other with confused faces.

'So where are you headed?' she asked.

'Whiterun. I have friends there,' I told her.

'Whiterun is beautiful,' she said with a smile.

'You can come along if you'd like?'

'Oh no, I have so much research to do here. Perhaps the next time,' she said with a smile. 'Actually, I wonder when you return could you help me out with something I've been working on. I think I almost have it right. I imagine by the time you return I should have it right.'

'Of course. I'd love to help you out,' I said.

'Excellent!'

'I had better get going. I'll see you in a few days Brelyna!'

'Stay safe.'

I hurried out of the College with my knapsack and my arrows and bow. I pulled up my hood and continued down the bridge to Winterhold where I saw Farkas standing at the beginning of the bridge, eyeing up the College.

'So this is where you disappeared to.' I turned and saw Njada with a disgusted frown on her face. She was leaning against the bridge of the College.

'Nice to see you too Njada,' I said, trying to mask the sourness in my voice. I looked up at Farkas and smiled.

'I don't remember it being that far away,' Farkas said.

'What? The College?'

'Yes.'

'It's not really.'

'Should we leave?'

'Ugh, thank Talos,' Njada said, marching off, trying to warm herself in the process.

'Actually, I was wondering would you know where I could get Jarrin Root? I don't want to go the whole way to Whiterun only to find out we passed the place on the way,' I said.

'What's that?' asked Farkas. Njada turned around and looked at me.

'Try an alchemist,' she said poisonously.

'I would, only it's rare and I don't think they'd sell it.'

'Sounds like you should head to Riften then,' Njada scoffed at me. I frowned.

'Why's that?'

'Because they'd sell you anything down there.' She turned and walked ahead.

Before us on the road stood a man in very odd attire with a cart and a large box on the cart. He was pacing around, bouncing high on his heels. Farkas began to tense up and pick up his pace a little. Njada began to slow down, allowing us to catch up to her.

Njada looked at Farkas and he nodded at her to continue walking. The man spoke with a high pitched voice. He wore a jester suit, hat and all. I noted that one of the wheels on his cart was broken off. He turned to look at us with maddened eyes as we approached.

'Agh! Bother and befuddle! Stuck here! Stuck!' he exclaimed. We stopped in front of him. 'My mother, my poor mother. Unmoving. At rest…but too still!'

'Are you okay, Sir?' I asked, leaning forward. Farkas and Njada looked at me angrily. I guessed they were thought not to talk to strangers.

'Poor Cicero is stuck! Can't you see?' he said in a panic. He was mad, definitely mad. 'I was transporting my dear, sweet mother. Well, not her. Her corpse! She's quite dead…' He giggled manically at the end. 'I'm taking mother to a new home. A new crypt. But…Agh! Wagon wheel! Damnedest wagon wheel! It broke! Don't you see?!' He growled low in his high voice.

'Can I help you fix the wheel?' I offered. Njada and Farkas both tensed and looked at me again.

'No, we have to go,' Njada insisted.

'OH! Oh yes! Yes, the kindly stranger can certainly help!' he began jumping and dancing with glee at my response. He seemed to completely ignore Njada, just as I did. His face lit up and he gave a scary smile, his eyes glowing with madness. 'Go to the farm –The Loreius Farm. Just over there, off the road. Talk to Loreius. He has tools! He can help me! But he won't! He refuses! Convince Lareius to fix my wheel! Do that and poor Cicero will reward you. With coin! Shiny, shiny coin!' His sudden change of spirit throughout his conversation was a little disturbing to me, but nonetheless I would help him.

I walked up to the farm, leaving Njada and Farkas to stand with Cicero. 'Just stay here,' I told them quietly. I hurried up to the farm and saw a man digging in the field.

'Excuse me,' I said.

'Oh, for the love of Mara, what now?' he snapped.

'Are you Loreius?' I asked.

'Yes,' he snapped.

'The, um, little man, Cicero, he really needs your help. With his wagon?' I said awkwardly.

'Not him again. Tell me something I don't know. Crazy fool's already asked me about five times. Seems like he's not satisfied with my answer. Why can't he just leave us alone?'

'So what's the problem? I'm sure he'll pay you if you just help him out.'

'Pay me?! You think this is about money?! Have you seen the man? He's completely out of his head! A jester? Here in Skyrim? Ain't been a merryman in these parts of a hundred years. And he's transporting some giant box. Says it's a coffin and he's going to bury his mother. Mother my eye,' he spat at me venomously. 'He could have anything in there! War contraband, weapons, skooma. Ain't no way I'm getting involved in any of that.' He crossed his arms over his chest.

'He's a stranger who needs assistance. Please do the right thing,' I pleaded.

'What! And just who in Mara's name are you anyway? Hm? Come here, telling me my business. And for what? To help a…a…a fool!'

'You know you should help him,' I said sternly. He sighed.

'You're right. You're right. Feller might be nutters, might not. But fact is, he needs help. I turn him away, what kind of man am I, hm? Look, um… Thanks. And I'm sorry for my unneighbourly reaction. If you talk to Cicero, be sure to tell him I'll be down to help soon.' I nodded and thanked him and returned down the hill to Njada, Farkas and Cicero.

'Poor mother! Her new home seems so very far!' he cried.

'Um, Cicero? I talked to Loreius. He said he will help you fix the wagon wheel,' I told him.

'You… you did? He has?! OH! Stranger! You have made Cicero so happy! So jubilant and ecstatic! But more! Even more! My mother thanks you! Here, here! For your troubles!' He pulled a large coin purse out of his pocket, and as he did so Njada and Farkas both went to grab their weapons but seized when they saw it was only gold. Cicero stuffed it into my hands and I smiled at him.

'Shiny, clinky gold! A few coins for a kind deed! And thank you! Oh! Thank you again!' I bade him farewell and we continued on our road to Whiterun.

'Are you insane?' Njada snapped at me once we were out of earshot from Cicero. Although I doubt he would have noticed because he was rambling to himself and to the coffin on the wagon.

'No, but I wanted to help him,' I said.

'You could have gotten us killed!' she growled.

'Njada! Leave it!' Farkas ordered.

'You're not going to take her side in this are you?!' she hissed.

'No, I'm just telling you to shut up,' he growled at her. She turned and marched on toward Whiterun, storming off ahead of us. Farkas looked at me with a disapproving look.

'Oh come on,' I said.

'You should know not to talk to strangers.'

'Farkas he was in trouble. What if there were no kind strangers to help me when I was stuck at the side of a road? What if they had just left me there and carried on with their own business? Where would I be now? I know he probably wouldn't have ended up dead like I would have, but I wanted to help him. Who knows what the guards would have done to him, had Loreius reported him for something he mightn't have even done?'

'Alright, alright,' Farkas said.

'Besides, he's harmless,' I said.

We walked through the gates of Whiterun and I caught the smell of the blacksmiths just inside the gates. As we proceeded the scent of freshly baked bread grew stronger and stronger as the market grew nearer and nearer. The voices of the people in the market place and the laughter of the children as they ran around the city, it was such a comfort to be in such a lively place. I enjoyed Winterhold, but it was so dark and gloomy as if the end was coming to swallow the city up.

'So you need to get all of these things for the Elf in Solstheim?'

'Pretty much,' I explained, 'I also need to get to Fellglow Keep to get some books back.'

'What?'

'Some guy took some books from the College and they're very important right now. They could explain something about what we found. He ran off with them when he left and he's in Fellglow Keep at the minute apparently. I need to get them back. I was hoping you'd help me out.'

'Well I'd hardly let you go by yourself now would I?'

'I want to ask the alchemist about some of the things for Neloth. I'll meet you in Jorrvaskr,' I told him. He nodded and left the marketplace. I entered the alchemy store on my right and closed the door behind me.

'Welcome to Arcadia's Cauldron,' the woman behind the counter said.

'Hi,' I said nervously. I walked up to the counter. 'I'm looking for some things. I was hoping you could help me out. I won't be able to buy them today but I was wondering if you had any of them.'

'Of course, what are you looking for?' I noted that she was an Imperial and she looked aged, but judging by the sound of her voice she wasn't as old as she looked.

'Chaurus eggs,' I began, 'Luna Moth Wings, Taproot, Briar hearts –two if possible, Canis root, Soul Gems and I was wondering if you had ever heard of Jarrin Root?'

'Well, I have Chaurus eggs, I don't have any moth wings but you can catch them yourself if you'd like. I have some Taproot hidden around here somewhere, I have plenty of Canis root. I don't have any Soul Gems or Briar Hearts, but I think Belethor has some Soul Gems. If you're brave enough to go hunting Forsworn you might catch a Briar Heart. I thought I heard you say Jarrin Root too?'

'Yes, I was wondering if you could tell me about it,' I pondered.

'Well I don't know a lot about it. You can't grow it here and I've never encountered it. I understand if you know the right people in Riften you might be able to get some imported for you,' she said.

'Who exactly are 'the right people' and how can I get in contact with them?'

'In Riften, there's a Nordic woman. She's head of the Thieves Guild apparently and she has ties with the Dark Brotherhood. Word has it that if you're daring enough and impress her, she'll get you anything you want,' Arcadia told me.

'What's her name?'

'Her name is Mithra and you heard none of this from me. I don't want to be branded with spreading rumours. Besides, they're just rumours. I doubt she even exists, probably just a diversion to hide the real leader of the Guild.'

'Thank you. I'll be back soon to get some of those ingredients from you,' I said.

'Do come back,' she said with a smile.

I left the store and walked up to Jorrvaskr, feeling quite at home as I saw the building. I pushed through the doors and felt the warm glow hit my face. The heat of the fire and the delicious smell of bread and meat and the sweet smell of mead and wine, it was just perfect to me. Farkas sat with Vilkas and Ria at the dining table, huddled together talking about something. They all hushed up as I approached, and I wondered what was going on. Vilkas gave me a strange look before welcoming me back.

'Nice to see you again,' he said in his same dry tone.

'Nice to see you too Vilkas,' I said with a short smile. I nodded at Ria and smiled and she did the same in return.

'Did you find what you're looking for?' Farkas asked.

'I know where to get some of the stuff. The alchemist, Arcadia, she told me there's someone in Riften who can help me out with the Jarrin Root. She's head of the Thieves Guild,' I said. Vilkas choked on his drink and began coughing and spluttering. He looked up at me and blinked largely at me.

'I hope I misheard you there, what did you say she was head of?'

'Thieves Guild,' I repeated.

'You're not to go looking for the Thieves Guild, especially not in Riften. I thought you needed your hands for doing magic,' he said.

'What do you mean?'

'If you go looking for the Thieves Guild, you're asking for trouble. If you go asking for trouble in Riften, by the Gods, they'll give it to you. I don't think the guards will hesitate to cut off your hands if someone asks them to do it.' Vilkas glared at me while Farkas looked from Vilkas to me and back again.

'You're not to go asking about any of these guilds again,' Vilkas warned, 'Not around here,' he muttered before taking leave from the table. Ria looked away from me and took leave as well, walking out the back door, probably to train in the yard.

'Farkas, I need these ingredients,' I said quietly as Vilkas disappeared from earshot.

'Luna, the head of the Thieves Guild has ties with the Dark Brotherhood. You don't go getting involved in those,' he said.

'Farkas, this is really important. It could be my only way of getting help from Neloth.'

'Who?'

'The Dunmer in Solstheim.'

'Oh.'

'Farkas, I will be going to Riften for help,' I warned.

'At least wait a while. Stay here for a few days and then get the other things and then we'll talk about Riften.'

'Why can't we talk about Riften now?'

'I'll tell you tonight,' he said and brushed me off. I let out a heavy sigh and shook it off. I was, least to say, annoyed at their responses. I wondered if I explained to Vilkas why I would need these ingredients from this person in these associations, would he tell me and would he help?

'So what do we do now?'

'Tell me about the research you have so far,' he asked, pulling mountains of meat onto his plate.

'Do you really want to be bored with my notes?' He nodded at me and I smiled. I took my notes from my bag and spread them across what little of the table I inhabited.

'Okay, firstly I wanted to understand what exactly the whole thing is. It's a disease and obviously you know the effects. It was created by Hircine and that's why when a werewolf dies they go to hunt with Hircine for eternity. Sort of like paradise for those who actually like the, uh, illness for lack of a better word,' I explained awkwardly. 'There's also theories that if you contract vampirism that basically destroys the Lycanthropy. But that's extremely hard because werewolves are immune to contracting diseases. But there was one case that I was reading about, someone in Hammerfell was kidnapped by vampires and he was used for blood. At the time he was a werewolf and he fought back against the vampires, but they all attacked him and basically jumped on him and bit him. I guess trying to feed on him. He got away, but apparently he lost the werewolf ability and turned into a vampire. Whether or not he rid himself of lycanthropy or just silenced it is still unknown for definite.

'But this made me wonder about what lycanthropy actually is and what it really affects. Vampirism that you catch by being bitten is involved with the blood. It infects your blood and eventually reaches your heart, that can take up to three or four days, depending on your time zone,' I said with a chuckle, looking up at Farkas who had his face stuffed with a little bit of everything. He stared at me and I put my head down and continued.

'Because vampirism is got to do with your blood and it basically stops your heart from beating, but doesn't kill you, I was wondering why that might stop lycanthropy, if you were to believe that the Redguard man was cured when he contracted vampirism. So, keeping this in mind, I also discovered from that horrible book by Reman Crex, that the heart swells and gets larger when a werewolf transforms. So vampirism and lycanthropy are quite opposites. Vampirism makes you an undead, while lycanthropy makes you larger than life really.' I shuffled through my notes to gather the next few pieces of information.

'Crex also mentions how he applied some known cures to the bones and blood of the werewolf. I presume direct contact with these things don't work very well because she died after he did this. But, I looked into the ingredients that he mentioned; Wolfsbane petals and belladonna berries. I'm more so wondering about the Wolfsbane because I have a potion recipe that I think might be able to help and from reading about the effects of the ingredients I think I can work from it. All I really need is the Wolfsbane. That's why I wrote to Neloth in Solstheim, it grows there, but from what I've heard it's incredibly rare so I don't think I'll be able to just make a trip to Solstheim or Morrowind and find it myself.

'Once I get this I can start making the potion. From what I can tell it will mainly just temporarily stop the transformation, until I can make a permanent potion. I just have some minor notes left on werewolves and about how it began. I can't find much, only that it was made by Hircine. I did want to speak to some werewolves, so if you could help me with that…'

'You want to talk to the Circle,' he stated, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

'If they'll talk to me. If they have any knowledge that might be of use, or even if they know how this came to be in the Companions. Anything of use,' I said.

'Don't ask Aela and Skjor. They'll be mad that you want to cure it. They think it's some kind of gift. Kodlak says it's a curse. It bothers him because after he dies he'll be with Hircine. He's a Nord, so that's not what he wants when he dies,' he explained to me. I looked up at him and for the first time I noticed how silver his eyes were, how they shone like the moonlight.

'Were your eyes always that silver?' I asked, slightly gaping up at him.

'No. They changed when I turned,' he said dully.

'What colour were they before?'

'I can't remember,' he said. I could hear a drop of sadness in his voice. He looked down slightly and I tilted my head to look at him.

'Don't worry about it,' I smiled. He gave a sad smile and stood up from the table.

'Come on, let's go bother Vilkas,' he said.

-x-

'If you're here to talk about Riften, or if you're here to talk, go away,' Vilkas ordered as Farkas and I knocked at his door. Farkas rolled his eyes and opened the door anyway. Vilkas lay back on his bed, immersed in a large book.

'Was I not clear?'

'You were,' Farkas replied, 'but Luna has questions.'

'If this is about the Thieves Guild or anything along those lines, don't bother asking. If this is about your study for a cure, I would like to help but I don't know anything that I would think to be of use to you,' he said plainly.

'I wanted to know if you knew how it came to be in the Companions,' I asked.

'You're better off talking to Kodlak about that,' he said, putting his book down.

'Is that you saying you don't know or that you want us to go away?' I asked.

'Both,' he muttered. He sighed and closed his book, pulling himself to the side of his bed, he sat with his legs over the bed, his feet placed on the floor. He leaned forward a little and indicated the chair across from the bed. I sat down and Farkas nodded at me and left, probably to go sit in his own room. He shut the door on his way out and once the door was shut I pulled out my notes and an ink pot and a quill. I placed the ink pot on the floor beside my foot and dipped the quill into it before looking up at Vilkas.

'Hircine created this curse. From what I know there is a coven of witches that worship him and they know the cure. I'm sure you can ask them what it is, but I get the feeling they won't tell you,' he said.

'Do you know what they're called?'

'Glenmoril witches,' he said, 'they reside everywhere really. Skyrim, Cyrodiil, High Rock. I don't know much else. Kodlak knows more, but don't go bothering the old man about things like this. He's disturbed by this matter recently.'

'Disturbed?'

'Kodlak does not want to hunt with Hircine for eternity when he dies. He wants to go to Sovngarde and see the Hall of Valor. This curse has disrupted his life enough, he would rather not have it follow him in death,' Vilkas explained. He stood up from his bed. 'Why are you doing this? What benefit do you get from this?' I looked up at him and stood up to face him, knocking over my ink pot in the process, but I did not look down, I kept my eyes fixed on his.

'I know you don't care much for me Vilkas, but I care for your brother. He is kind and he wants help and I will do what I can to assist him. I know that you are kind too, and I know you want help with this. I know you don't trust me because I don't belong here, but I wish you would.'

I took my bag and my notes and walked out of the room and shut the door quietly behind me. I took in a deep breath and gathered myself. I hoped Vilkas didn't get mad at what I had said and murder me in my sleep…