When I woke up, I was under a tent. That wasn't right. I hadn't been under a tent when I had-

Oh, right, I had passed out. Silver. My hand pressed against my side where the cut had been. It didn't feel as bad as it had. There was also padding there. Someone had bandaged me? Where was Serana?

The tent was a large one. There was also blood spattering the ground and the walls, but none on the bedroll I was on. It didn't quite look Khajiit, and it smelled more like sweaty human than cat. There was a knife near me on, on the floor. I grabbed it, feeling somewhat safer now. If I had been taken captive, they wouldn't have been stupid enough to leave me with a knife.

"You're awake. Good."

Serana stood in the entrance to the tent, a gentle frown on her face. I sat up as well as I could, and quickly realized my armor was gone. "Just for a minute," I said, clearing my throat when the words came out hoarse. "How long have I been out?"

Her voice was hard when she responded. "Three days. I wasn't sure you were going to wake up."

That explained the gnawing hunger. And the lack of pain from the gash on my side. It had probably even healed already. "I'm sorry," I said, smiling in what I hoped was a placating manner. "I would have warned you, but I can never tell how I'm going to fair with wounds like those."

"I thought you were going to die," she said quietly, and the expression on her face finally registered. Oh crap.

I shoved the furs off my legs and stood, barely stumbling. "I'm fine," I told her, ripping off the bandaging. She made a move to stop me, but the sight of healed skin stopped her. "There'll be a nasty scar there, but I'm fine."

She stared at me, silent. "There's food over the fire," she said finally, before leaving me in the tent.

I groaned, frustrated and annoyed. Another wonderful thing about travelling alone and as a wolf was that things like this weren't a problem. I never had to care about upsetting someone, and if anyone upset me, I ripped their throat out. Dealing with Isran I could have done whatever I wanted, but with Serana it was different. My human side was against leaving, and my beast-blood agreed. Serana was a packmate, and you didn't leave your pack behind.

I buried my hands in my shaggy, cropped hair. I really wanted to go and make sure she was okay, make sure she wasn't angry at me, but I wasn't sure how. I had tried earlier and it hadn't done anything but make her upset again. I dressed in sharp movements and stalked out into the snow when I was done.

There was stew heating in a pot above the fire, it smelled like venison. Serana was sitting by it with her legs tucked up, her arms resting on her knees, and her chin resting on her forearm. I sat next to her and ate, silent. If she wanted to talk, I'd leave it to her to tell me.

Or so I thought. When I finished my third bowl of the stew, she still hadn't said anything, or even looked at me. I scrubbed out the bowl in the snow, set it aside, and shifted my body to face her. She glanced up, once, before looking back at the fire.

"I'm sorry I scared you," I told her, as earnest as I could be. "I really am okay."

"I know you are." She still refused to look away from the fire.

"Then why are you so upset?" I asked, fighting to keep my voice low. "Werewolf, remember? I'm not used to guessing games, or actually giving a damn if someone is hurting. I'm not going to be able to figure it out."

She looked up, amber eyes glistening. "That's the problem. You care. My own mother didn't care about me, not really. She just wanted to spite my father. I'm not used to..." She exhaled raggedly. "And I care about you. I'm not used to that either. And you nearly died."

I reached forward, slowly, and took her hand in mine. "I'm still alive. I'm not going anywhere." I tilted her chin up, silver eyes meeting gold. "I won't leave you."

I shifted again so I could pull her into a hug, and she let me. It really hit me how small she was, especially for a Nord. And while she might have been centuries old, most of that seemed to have been spent in a castle watching her parents descend into obsessive madness, or locked in a tomb.

I started to hum, a song that I had learned as a child, before my pack had been decimated. The fire burned down to cinders about the same time as I finished. She pulled away gently and I let her go. "We need to get back to Isran," she told me, her voice less pained than before. "He'll notice the Priest arrived before you did."

I climbed to my feet, shaking off pins and needles from sitting so long, and glanced around. "Was this... was this a bandit camp?"

The corners of her mouth twisted up a little. "There may have been a few Forsworn here."

"Uh huh." I smirked. "I'm not even going to ask where they are now. C'mon, we're wasting moonlight." I shouldered my pack again, and we set off toward Solitude.

From there, we took a carriage to Riften. The driver looked more than a little suspicious when I approached him, and even a little scared when I smiled. Clearly the one I had bullied into taking us to Dragon Bridge had been talking. This one definitely seemed more than happy to see the back of us.

As cold as winters in Skyrim could be- not that I really minded, my beast-blood kept me warm- it was fortunate that one was upon us. The days were short, leaving plenty of time for walking. Then again, that meant that the vampires trying to kill us would have plenty of time to move about and try to kill us, but the world wasn't perfect.

Isran, of course, demanded that we step into the sunlight that he directed into the circular chamber, but I was able to argue my way into making him look at my eyes. There were still a brilliant silver, something that couldn't be faked. It helped that Serana was the only one who knew where she had stashed the Elder Scroll that the Priest needed to read.

When he was assured that I hadn't been turned, or enthralled- kind of impossible since vampires couldn't really feed on werewolves- he came down to meet us. "I'm impressed that you found a Moth Priest so quickly," he said gruffly.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, you were such a big help; we were bound to find him in no time. Is he ready to read?"

"Have the vampire give him the Elder Scroll and yeah, he's ready. Just let him know." Isran stalked away before I could say anything else, and I allowed myself a small, smug smile for stinging his pride like I had.

The Moth Priest was in one of the sleeping rooms. He looked up as we approached and smiled kindly. "Ah, my rescuer! It's good to see you again."

"Have the Dawnguard made you feel comfortable?" I asked, doubting that they had with every fiber of my being.

Dexion hesitated. "It's not exactly the hospitality that I'm used to, but once your leader was assured I had not been turned, he saw to my needs well enough." He looked around, studying the room. "I must admit, this is a remarkable fortress. I have colleagues back in Cyrodiil that would love to study this place."

"I wouldn't suggest you bring them here," I told him dryly. "Visitors make the old Redguard jumpy. Are you ready to read?"

"Most certainly!" he said eagerly, rising to his feet. "I would be happy to learn what secrets the scroll can tell." His face fell slightly when he didn't see the scroll. "Where is it, exactly?"

"Here," Serana said from behind me, making me jump. I looked back to see her carrying the heavy thing. When she had slipped away to get it, I had no idea.

Isran and a few more of the Dawnguard had followed her into the room. Dexion took the scroll and frowned at them disapprovingly. "Quiet, please. I must concentrate."

He opened the scroll slowly, and the thing began to glow gold, as well as his eyes. "I see a vision before me, an image of a great bow. I know this weapon! It is Auriel's Bow!"

He paused. "Now a voice whispers, saying, 'Among the night's children, a dread lord will rise. In an age of strife, when dragons return to the realm of men, darkness will mingle with light and the night and day will be as one.'"

He appeared uneasy, but continued. "The voice fades and the words begin to shimmer and distort. But wait, there's more here. The secret of the bow's power is written elsewhere. I think there is more to the prophecy, recorded in other scrolls. Yes, I see them now... One contains the ancient secrets of the dragons, and the other speaks of the potency of ancient blood."

With that, he closed the scroll and shut his eyes. "My vision darkens, and I see no more. To know the complete prophecy, we must have the other two scrolls."

He handed the scroll to Serana, eyes still firmly shut. "I must rest now. The reading has made me weary."

Isran appeared at his side, hand on his shoulder. "Come on, old man. You should sleep."