I'm good with directions, so once I found which way was South-East we began travelling that way. We had packed a small amount of food, just in case our breakfast wasn't enough. Solstheim is a beautiful place, filled with brown and red sands and plants creeping across the ground. Farkas didn't think it was beautiful at all, but I liked it.

Finally we reached a place that was yellow and red with light brown coatings in the air. These giant structures stood before us and as we got closer we found they were not trees, but mushrooms the size of trees and buildings. There were small stumps of trees left over and they were shrivelled and burnt, but these mushrooms were perfectly intact.

'Is this…?' Farkas asked.

'I think so. This is the only settlement here I guess,' I said.

We walked forward towards the largest mushroom that sprouted from the ground. Two Dark Elves stood beside the mushrooms, one was trying to cast a spell, but nothing was happening as he tried.

'Excuse me?' I called, walking toward the two. The Dunmer who was having trouble with his spell turned to me and stared.

'I don't think you belong here,' he said, 'Does Master Neloth know about you?' He snarled at us.

'Stop being rude,' the Dunmer woman snapped at him, 'We don't get many visitors, is there something you need?'

'What is this place?' I asked, gawking at the huge structures before us.

'Tel Mithryn, it's the home of Master Neloth,' she said.

'He lives in a giant mushroom?' Farkas asked. The young Dunmer man scoffed and turned away and began trying to cast his spell again.

'In Morrowind, the Telvanni grow buildings from special fungus spores,' she said.

'Oh,' I said, 'Is Master Neloth here?' I asked.

'Is he expecting you?' she asked.

'He should be,' I replied. She pointed to the large fungus and I thanked her and began walking up the stair with Farkas. I opened the door and stepped inside and saw this blue glow flowing upwards in front of me. All around me were vines or something of that sort. Small sparks of light travelled up through the glow.

I stepped into the glow to allow Farkas to enter the mushroom and as I moved into it I began to float upwards, my feet leaving the ground slowly, my hair starting to levitate and then I felt myself moving upwards and upwards.

'What the-' Farkas exclaimed as the same began happening to him.

'Whoa,' I said as I reached the top of the pit and put my foot forward to grasp onto the little wooden ledge.

'I don't feel so good,' Farkas muttered as he landed on the ledge beside me.

A Dunmer man with odd red and gold robes stood with an orb of light above his head. He made a face at us, squinting to see us.

'I don't recall inviting you into my tower,' he said, 'I do hope you make this worth my while.' He sounded arrogant, you could just hear it leaking from his words, and I had even spoken to him properly yet.

'I'm Luna, I've been writing to you about a project I'm working on, about Lycanthropy,' I explained.

'Ah yes, the Breton who thinks she can cure werewolves,' he said.

'Yes. You asked me to bring you some things and you said you would give me Wolfsbane,' I said.

'Wolfsbane? Oh! Yes! I didn't want to have to break it to you through a letter but Wolfsbane is incredibly rare and I wouldn't dream about giving you any for a silly experiment,' he said, pondering through the room.

It was then I noticed that we were actually inside the top of the mushroom. The walls were the mushroom top, filled with small holes that patterned the whole room. It was rather interesting.

'But-'

'Now! Did you bring the Canis root?' he asked.

'Yes, but-'

'Excellent, we'll have some Canis root tea and we can discuss your…project,' he said, wrinkling his nose at the word "project" as if it smelled of something horrid.

'Master Neloth, I-'

'Now, where did I put…Oh ya!' he exclaimed, rummaging through a mess of foreign objects on his table and pulling out a soul gem.

'I need your help!' I exclaimed, slamming my hands down on his table. He peered up with me, not looking amused in the slightest. 'I need to get this cure, now.' He stood up straight and crossed his arms over his chest.

'Very well then, tell me what you would propose to do?' he said, almost challenging.

'You wrote to me telling me you could get Wolfsbane for me, you have no idea how much bother I went to meet your demands, the least you could do is help me!'

'I didn't get your Wolfsbane for you because it wasn't going to work. That type of potion that you're trying to create has been tried and tried again,' he sighed. He began rooting through one of the many crates that hung around his home. He pulled out an old tattered journal that had a broken leather clasp. He opened it and put it on the table in front of me and pointed to a page.

I leaned forward to read and Farkas moved closer to get a glimpse.

'The Wolfsbane trials failed, subject has passed on,' I read. 'Whose journal is this?'

'Mine of course!' he exclaimed. 'The Wolfsbane didn't work so I moved on to much bigger experiments. Although I did find a source but I never had time to follow up on this source.'

'What kind of source?' Farkas asked.

'Some grouping that live in Skyrim. Some Companion grouping. Legal mercenaries or something of the sort,' he said, waving his hand to dismiss it.

'We've heard of them,' Farkas said and I smirked at him.

'I never looked into them much but from what I understand they are lycanthropes. I believe if you speak to them you might find something,' he said.

'Actually we've done that,' I said.

'And?'

'That's why we're trying to find the cure actually, for the Companions,' I said. Neloth narrowed his eyes at us, studying us for a moment and then looking oddly at Farkas.

'I thought the smell was just from you two hanging around werewolves,' he said after a few minutes. 'But having a werewolf with you… well I suppose you could take samples and see.'

'Samples?' I asked.

'Hair samples and see how they react with things,' he said carelessly. 'But I doubt that would work. If you're a member of these "Companions" then I would advise you to speak with your leader and see what he has to say. There was something of a deal with witches, something about serving Hircine and whatnot. I believe finding those witches might be able to help you. I have no other knowledge of these witches,' Neloth told us.

'Would Kodlak know?' I asked Farkas. He shrugged.

'I guess. He hasn't spoken about anything like that before though, but it's worth a try,' he said with a shrug.

'We came all the way here and it turns out all we had to do was talk to Kodlak,' I sighed.

'I assume you're new to the whole researching then?' Neloth teased.

'Yeah,' I said.

'Well, while you're here, you could go visit the pack that takes residence here on the island,' Neloth suggested.

'There's a pack? Here?' Farkas asked.

'Yes, reports of them up in the mountains. I suppose they're trying to stay hidden. I would imagine they'd be hostile toward humans if they're trying to stay hidden, but perhaps they might speak to one of their kind,' he said, indicating toward Farkas.

'Do you think they might have information about a cure?'

'I guess there's no harm in trying since we're here,' Farkas said with another shrug.

'We'll have to find them first,' I said.

'I would take a day or so to get up the mountain, but I imagine with the nose of a werewolf then you should be able to track them easily enough. You may rest here for the night,' Neloth said.

'Thank you,' I told him.

'Now, where is Varona? Varona!' Neloth called as he began stalking around the room to find Varona. 'Varona! Fetch me some Canis Root tea!'

'I hope he knows Canis Root has paralysis properties,' I whispered to Farkas.

-x-

We woke at dawn, just in time to watch the sun make the sand catch fire and turn red and orange. I shook Farkas to wake him and his snoring seized as he woke. I began to put outer part of my robes back over the under part. I fastened my belt and started fixing my brooch on my shoulder. I wandered back out to the main room and saw Master Neloth fumbling around with s pile of soul gems in his arms.

'Good morning,' I said to him as I fixed my belt.

'Where did I put that…,' he mumbled to himself. 'Oh ya!' He began fumbling with some mechanics on his table. He looked up at me and frowned for a minute as if he had forgotten who I was.

'Good morning,' I repeated. He muttered something and began fumbling at his desk again. I was starting to question whether or not this was a madman in front of me. It looked as if he hadn't slept at all.

'Should we get going soon?' Farkas asked with a lazy yawn.

'Yes,' I said. I turned to him and laughed a little.

'What?' he asked.

'You need to fix your hair,' I giggled as he patted down the hair that was sticking up in every which way.

'When should we leave?' he asked, still patting down his black locks.

'Soon, I'll just tell Neloth and thank him,' I said. He nodded and went back into the room we slept in and began gathering our few belongings.

'Neloth,' I said shyly, worried I would be scolded for interrupting him. 'Neloth, Farkas and I will be leaving now. We're going up the mountains. We wanted to say thank you for the help and for letting us stay here.'

'Ah, yes, yes,' he said, still concentrating on whatever he was doing with the odd looking mechanics on his table.

They were a golden colour and had odd shapes but I had seen them before. Dwemer, of course. My father had been fumbling with similar objects, just like Neloth was doing now. I knew I had seen them somewhere before.

'I hope to see you again sometime,' I said.

'Indeed. Do write when you have found the cure, I trust to hear sooner rather than later. If there's anything I could assist with I suppose you're welcome to come back,' he said.

'Thank you Neloth,' I said with a small smile.

'Ready?' Farkas asked. I nodded and we both stepped off the ledge and glided down the air and landed on the floor at the bottom. I looked back up in awe of this wonderful magic before walking out the door of this giant mushroom.

'To the mountains then?' I asked. Farkas nodded.

'We should be there soon enough, I don't think it will take that long to hunt down a whole pack,' Farkas said.

'That's good. But what if they're… well… not friendly?' I asked, wrinkling my nose.

'Don't worry, we'll be fine,' he told me.

'That's reassuring,' I said.

We walked for hours before reaching the mountains where it was cold and bleak compared to the rest of the island which seemed red and warm.

Farkas paused and held a hand out in front of my chest. He sniffed at the air once and I discreetly mimicked his actions to see if I could smell anything but all I could get was the smell of the snow and ice and the dog-like smell from Farkas.

'I can smell them, they're close,' Farkas said.

'Should we keep going?' I asked.

'Unless you want to stop for a while?' he suggested. I shook my head.

'We can keep going,' I said.

'It'll get colder from here on up,' he said.

I put my hands out in front of myself and flicked my fingers out and held two balls of flames in my palms. I held them up and smiled at Farkas.

'Huh, I guess you are useful after all,' he teased.

'Careful, I might set your tail on fire,' I retorted with a smile. He pushed me playfully and then pulled my hood up over my head and down over my eyes.

We travelled up the steep hill, Farkas walked ahead of me to try and find a safe path for us to travel up, but he was a terrible climber so after a while I took the lead and I was able to find a safe path quicker than he was. He followed each step of mine, both of us careful not to step on ice or go sliding down the snow.

We reached a clear area that continued up, but before we could get to explore that clearing Farkas grabbed me and pulled me down into the snow. I looked around us as we huddled in the snow.

'They're close. They can smell us,' Farkas said.

'Are they coming for us?' I asked in a panic.

'No. But they're up ahead,' he said.

'Well there's no point in lying in the snow then, is there?' I said, getting to my feet. Farkas followed and then moved in front of me and walked up the small hill of the clearing. In front of us was a small camp that was sheltered by an overhanging part of the mountain. There were four people sitting around the camp, all of them now staring at us as we approached.

Farkas stopped and held his hand out in front of me again. A large man stood up and moved towards us. He wore fur all across his body and had a sword on his hip.

'What business do you have here?' the man called to us.

'We wish to speak with your pack,' Farkas called back.

'You bring a human,' he called back.

'She's a friend, she brings no harm to your pack,' Farkas replied. I peered around Farkas thick arm to see the distrust in the man's face.

'I see,' he said.

'I am Farkas of Whiterun, this is Luna,' Farkas said.

'I am Majni, Alpha of the Frostmoon Pack,' he said with great pride and power in his voice. Farkas walked up to them and I followed, standing right behind him so I was almost tripping over his feet. As we got closer to the camp I could get this horrific smell of iron, it caught my breath and I realised it was blood. I looked to the side discreetly and saw pools of blood slathered on a few boulders in the corner. I slowly turned around and tried to breath without inhaling the blood.

'This is my brother, Akar,' Majni said pointing towards the other male in the group. 'And this is Rakel and Hjordis.' The two women nodded slightly toward us.

'Sit, you must be hungry,' Majni said, offering us a seat beside the camp fire. Farkas sat and nodded in thanks to him. I sat down beside Farkas nervously, keeping as close to him as I could. They offered us boar meat.

'What brings you to Solstheim?' Majni asked us.

'Luna is helping me search for a cure for this,' Farkas said.

'A cure? For the Beast Blood?' Majni laughed.

'I understand it may not be your choice of life to get the Beast Blood cured, but my family wish to be cured,' Farkas said.

'Why come here if you're looking for a cure?' Hjordis asked.

'We were hoping you might have some information,' I said.

'No, we have no knowledge of a cure,' she replied.

'It's a gift, why would you want to cure it?' asked Rakel, glaring at us slightly.

'We do not wish to hunt with Hircine in the afterlife, we are Nords and we wish to go to Sovngarde when we die,' Farkas explained. I could sense this pack wasn't too keen on Farkas' beliefs.

'I'm sorry we cannot help you,' Majni said.

'Thank you for your time,' Farkas said, 'We had best get back home.' He stood up and I followed.

'Thank you,' I said as we left. The pack nodded to us as we left.

'Not very talkative, are they?' I said.

'Akar, the other male didn't seem too keen on you being there,' Farkas said was we travelled down the mountain again.

'What?'

'He tensed up and he was watching you the whole time,' he laughed.

'Because I'm human?' I asked.

'Yes,' Farkas said.

We reached the bottom of the mountain and we decided it best to set up camp instead of trying to get back to Raven Rock after dark. We were both tired anyway, so it was easier to just set up camp and get something to eat before heading back to the city tomorrow. Farkas went off to find firewood and I pulled out my bow and began searching for a deer to hunt. After a while of wandering around and keeping low and out of sight I eventually found a lone deer.

She was walking at the bottom of the mountains and she hadn't seen me yet. I crouched low in the bushes but I snapped a branch as I drew my bow and she looked right toward me and turned to run. I stood up quickly and took a sloppy aim and released. It pierced the skin on her rump and she squealed in pain. I drew another and this time held my breath and shot her dead.

I hated missing on the first try. Not because I would have to shoot again, but because it wasn't an instant death for the animal. Its last few minutes were in pain, fearing for its life more than ever. I hurried up to the deer and pulled out my arrows from her and put them back in the quiver. I would clean them up later. I grabbed the antlers and began hauling it back to where we would be setting up camp. I heaved and heaved at it, pulling as hard as I could but I wasn't getting very far.

Eventually I managed to get close enough to where Farkas was waiting for me before it was completely dark out and he helped me haul it back to where he had set up the fire. Farkas cut the meat off the deer and I cooked it.