It had been a few days since the High Elf came in. Nelcara was what the guards said her name was. I still couldn't believe she was actually dragonborn. Gods, help us if that clumsy thing was suppose to take down dragons.

I moved the blade I was currently working on from the water to the anvil and took the hammer to it. I had an order for guards' swords due by the end of the week.

BAM. Startled by the sudden noise I jerked and lost focus on the hammer, chipping the blade.

"Damn it" I muttered to myself as I tossed the blade aside. Looking towards the door that had been thrusted open I wasn't surprised to see Nelcara. She cringed as she saw the blade now lying on the floor.

"Sorry" She apologized as she walked in. She got midway into the room before she stopped to rummage through her satchel. "Guess what I got you!" She exclaimed as she pulled out a daedra heart.

For a moment I just stared. How had she managed to get a hold of one of those so soon?

"What?" she said interrupting my thoughts. "Did you dare doubt the abilities of the arch-mage?" she smirked.

Arch-mage? I suppose I had underestimated her. As she handed it to me I couldn't help but ask, "How?"

"Oh, I just took it off a hagraven I hunted down." she shrugged as if it was no big deal.

I looked up to thank her and noticed the claw marks across her cheek and chin. But they were no fresh marks. An old scar that couldn't have been from the hagraven. She must have noticed my gaze because her hand suddenly went towards the marks.

"That's old. The hagraven never got close enough. But that wolf did. It caught me by surprise one evening. Never saw it coming until it jumped in my face" she laughed. And I couldn't help but laugh with her.

"Well, as promised here's your new ax." As I handed her the weapon she tried to pull out some coin. "Let me pay you something for it" she argued. But I grabbed her hand away from the coin purse.

"You more than paid for this. Just take it."

She looked at me, with those big green eyes, and smiled as she squeezed my hand. "Thank you" she said as she took it. "Well, I've gotta go see the Jarl. I took care of the Forsworn camp he wanted."

"Really?" I said as I sat down to get back to work. I should have know better than to ask. She pulled up a chair next to me and began to tell me the story. Apparently, she had taken Vorstag with her. It was a large camp and they had to cover a lot of ground.

"...and then I blocked them off with a wall of fire as Vorstag went along back..."

As she talked, I continued to work, and noticed that time went by much quicker with her there. As she finished her story she got up, axe in hand. "Thanks again. I'll see you next time." she smiled as she left...it was nice.

True to her word she did come back to see me. Everytime she was in Markarth in fact. She would come up to the Keep to talk before she'd go down to the Inn. She would visit every couple of weeks due to business with the Jarl. He even made her Thane.

But today, she did not seem to happy about that.

"I hate this city" she exclaimed as she fell into her usual chair.

"Then why do you bother living here?" I asked. I had grown practiced on being able to concentrate on my work as we talked. So, I didn't even look towards her when I asked.

"It was either here or Riften. One's as bad as the other." she scoffed. "You know when I first walked into this city there was a lady getting stabbed. I tried to investigate and got threatened. And they threw me in prison just a few weeks ago!"

"I heard. You made it back out it seems. And pardoned."

"Yeah. I had to shank a bitch. Wasn't too fun." she crossed her arms in frustration. I had to try my best to hold back a chuckle.

"And still, you're here. Why?" I asked, suddenly curious. It was true. This city had given her no reason to love it. Truth be told if I was here I would have left long ago.

"I have my reasons" she said casually. A moment later there was a knock on the door as a courier entered.

"Message for you, Nelcara" he said handing her the note. "Thanks, Alyan." She took the note and began to read over it.

"Do you know all the couriers by name?" I joked.

She laughed. "It feels like it" she said as she stood.

I stopped my work as I turned towards her. Was she leaving already? That was strange. She had only been here ten minutes at the most.

"Well..." she hesitated. "I guess I have to go. I know you must be so disappointed" she chuckled. "Urgent business in Solitude. It would seem the dragonborn never gets a break. I need to go get ready. You lucked out this time." I started to tell her to stay a few more minutes. What would a few minutes hurt? But no. With battles and dragons every minute counted. So, I wished her safe travels instead.

"May you conquer your enemies"

"And may you vanquish your foes" she started to turn but quickly stopped herself. "Oh, and if you see my housecarl send him home. I'm going to need Argis' help but as usual he's no where to be seen. Freaking useless." And with that she spun on her heels and hurried out. However, now my only foes consisted of the forge and weapons in front of me. As I worked during the rest of the day, I continued to look at the door half expecting her to walk back through before she left. But I shook the idea from my head. What I couldn't shake though was the question of why I wanted her to stay in the first place. She interrupted my work every time she came in. But over the past few months it had begun to bother me less and less. She was nice company. Her stories were definitely entertaining but it was more than that. She made me feel... happier, but that wasn't quite it either.

Whatever she's doing is strange and I'm not sure I dislike it.

On a side note, does anyone else have the problem with Argis never showing up? I've never had this happen until my third play through. Oh well, new head-cannon :)