We carried on walking for a while in silence, with me stopping occasionally to collect plants to try out in my potions.

"So," Teldryn said after awhile, "You're awfully quiet."

I nervously attempted to tuck my hair behind my ears, as was my habit when I felt on the spot, but instead brushed my fingers along the side of my helmet which I forgot I was wearing. I'm sure it made me look wonderfully awkward.

I shrugged. "I suppose I'm used to being alone...not having anyone to talk to, really," I replied.

"Come on now. You're one of the quietest employers I've had yet. You've got to have some tales. What's the funniest thing you've found in your travels?"

I chuckled. "Well - no, that's a little embarrassing."

Teldryn laughed. "It's a far reach to embarrass me. Out with it."

"Okay, okay. I once was poking around the ruins of a house and there was a chest sticking half out of the ground. I tried the latch, it was locked, a difficult one. But after awhile I managed to get it open, and inside..."

"Yeah?"

"Inside were a couple pairs of...rather soiled underthings...and a sweetroll."

"Ha ha ha! After all that work!"

"It gets better. As I was sitting there staring at it a skeever ran up out of nowhere, grabbed one of the pairs of underthings and ran off."

Teldryn let out a hearty laugh. "And not the sweetroll! It must have been pretty awful!"

"I wasn't about to try it to find out," I grinned. "I also briefly wondered if the underthings belonged to the skeever..."

"Oh, that would be the day. That would. I would so love to see a skeever wearing that," Teldryn said through his laughter.

"So?" I asked, feeling less awkward now. "What about you? Got any stories?"

"Oh, where would I even start?" Teldryn mused, scratching the back of his neck through the lower fabric part of his headgear. "Hmm...well, I was once employed by a man who enjoyed stripping naked and picking fights with whoever or whatever he came across."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "Why?"

Teldryn snorted. "To prove how tough he was without his armor."

"Well... yeesh. That must have been..."

"It was...uncomfortable. Especially when we were in a city. I tried to put a bit of distance between us."

"I'm assuming he paid well."

"Incredibly so."

"Heh. So what happened to him?"

"Orc chief lopped his head off."

"Oh."

Teldryn gave a little snort again. "It's a strange thing, you know, to feel disappointed and yet relieved at the same time."

"I'll bet," I laughed.

As we crested a hill, Teldryn pointed southwest. "There's a fire going over there," he said. I peered into the distance and saw a thin column of smoke rising from the rocky outcroppings.

"That's about where I heard the camp would be," he said. "It's not much farther, so we'd better keep quiet. Voices can carry frighteningly well around these cliffs." I nodded and followed after him.

We picked our way along the rough terrain for another half hour or so in silence, until the sound of faint whistling caught my ear. I ducked down behind a jumble of rocks, and Teldryn pressed his back against a nearby broken pillar. I heard a soft sssssssp as he slowly drew his sword from its sheath.

We waited a couple minutes and eventually saw a rough-looking man in leather armor stride down the path, whistling a painfully out of key tune.

As I shifted my stance, some loose rocks slid out from under my foot and I stumbled, springing back so I didn't fall on my face. The man immediately saw me and a cunning grin spread across his lips. "Well, what have we here? I think I'll have myself a little fun with y-ugggggh!" His words ended in a guttural cry as Teldryn wheeled out from behind the pillar and ran the bandit through with his sword.

"Not on my watch," Teldryn muttered as he resheathed his weapon.

Somewhat embarrassed, I brushed myself off. "I could have taken him, really," I protested. "I'm not a fragile little thing."

"I have every confidence in your abilities," Teldryn assured me. "I just didn't want that lecherous wretch to let another filthy word slip from his mouth before you could take him out."

I smiled. "I appreciate it."

"You'll get your money's worth with me. Let's be silent now. There'll be more up ahead."

We slunk back down behind some of the large rocks and crept along until we heard some talking. I peeked over the edge of the rock and saw a makeshift camp about twenty yards ahead. There was a sizeable fire going, with four bandits seated around it, talking loudly and swilling something, probably mead, and probably stolen, out of tin cups. There was some kind of animal being roasted on a spit over the fire, which one of the bandits was slowly turning.

I silently drew my bow, nocked an arrow and took careful aim. After a moment I released it. A split second later it found its mark, squarely in the center of the spit-turning bandit's forehead. His head snapped back, and then he collapsed on the ground.

His companions froze in place. They looked at him, looked at each other, then were instantly on their feet, running in our direction, screaming in anger, their weapons already drawn.

Swiftly, I took aim with another arrow. This one wasn't as fine a shot, landing in the shoulder, but it crippled the bandit's swordarm. It slowed him down long enough for the flame atronach that Teldryn had summoned in the middle of the fray to noisily incinerate him.

The third and fourth bandits were upon us now. One swung with a heavy mace at Teldryn, grazing him in the ribs. Teldryn let out a painful grunt, but wasn't slowed down; a second later the bandit's head departed from his neck, courtesy of Teldryn's blade.

The last was closing in on me at the same time. I had just enough time to nock the arrow, but not enough to get a good aim. With only feet separating us, I fired, and the bandit stopped still like he had hit an invisible wall, staring at me with a look of horror. He then slowly sunk to his knees. His mouth opened in a giant O, silent at first, but then a thin keening wail rose from his throat and hung in the air. I then realized that my arrow had landed squarely, and deeply, in his crotch.

His wail was cut short as Teldryn approached him from behind and plunged his sword between the unfortunate bandit's shoulder blades.

"I hate bandits, but by Boethiah, I felt sorry for that poor bastard," Teldryn exclaimed. "Remind me never to piss you off."

I half-smiled, also feeling a bit bad for such a low blow, so to speak, despite it being on someone intent on killing me. I placed my bow back in its case. "Are you all right?" I asked with concern. "You got clipped there."

Teldryn lifted his arm and examined his side, which had at least one crushed armor plate and a couple others that were pretty scratched up. "That's a trip to the blacksmith," he lamented. "I'll have a hell of a bruise, otherwise no worse for wear. You?"

"Still in one piece."

"Super. Let's see the spoils." He trotted over to the camp, peeking inside the dilapidated tent, then reaching in and dragging out a battered chest. He pulled his helmet off and looked over at me, grinning widely. "Looks like we may be in luck!"

I smiled and approached, drawing a lockpick out of one of my pouches. I knelt down and inserted it in the lock, but as I began to rotate it, the lock fell off.

Teldryn laughed. "That looked like a tough one," he commented.

"Quiet, you," I jokingly scolded, smirking.

I lifted the lid. It protested with a noisy creak. Inside were several pouches. I picked one up and it jingled, heavy with coin. Teldryn and I exchanged grins. Peeking out from under the pouches was a square brown object. Pushing the coin pouches aside, I uncovered a tattered pile of pages, loosely covered by a fold of leather and tied at the center with some leather strips punched through the edges.

"Hmm," I mused, lifting it out. The cover was blank. Opening it revealed a title page:

Physiologies of Spriggans vs. Burnt Spriggans: A study

By Neloth, Master Wizard of Telvanni House

"Interesting. Looks like a manuscript," I mused, leafing through it.

"Let's see?" Teldryn inquired, holding out his hand. I passed it to him. He examined the title page, then smiled. "Ah, Neloth. I don't know him personally, but I certainly know who he is. Most Dunmer do."

I stood up. "Maybe we should return it to him then. Looks like it might be important."

Teldryn nodded, bending over to scoop up the rest of the bags of coin. "It's a bit of a trek, but there may be a reward in it for us to make it worth our while. Old Neloth likely has more coin than we know what to do with. He may even share some hard-to-find enchantments with us."

I grinned. "Sounds good to me. How long a journey do you figure?"

"Couple days. It's on the other side of the island. You ought to visit one of the vendors back in town before we leave, and grab some woolens. There's not much besides the ash wastes between here and there and we'll likely have to camp out a night or two. Can get chilly."

I patted my leather pack. "Already done. I've spent my fair share of time in the mountains of Skyrim."

"Ah, I should have figured. Well, let's at least go back for a drink and some rest before we head out."