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I had never been so happy to leave a quiet and well lit room in all of my life. Stepping out onto the blinding white ice of the Sea of Ghosts cleared my soul of the vague anxiety that Septimus's oppressive lair instilled in me. I was the last up and found Lydia and Aela waiting by the ladder for me. Red and Blue had gone a little further and I saw them speaking to a small winged creature that Blue had summoned. A few words later, the creature flew off to the south toward the college and the two mages turned and looked expectantly toward the three of us.

"I appreciate your help guys. I hope you learn what you need to at the College," I said.

"It's taken care of," Blue said.

I felt the awkward moment coming like watching a flying bird defecate above me. "You're not going back?" I asked, already dreading the answer.

They looked nervous, "Arch Mage Aren said we had much to learn that the College couldn't teach us," Red explained.

"So you were told not to return?"

"Not in those words, but yes," Blue said.

I stood there staring at them for a long while. Blue stood looking at his feet indifferently while Red fidgeted. I had just opened my mouth to speak when Aela cut me off. "Harbinger, we need to talk. Now."

We went further onto the ice sheet out of earshot of the other three.

"Ieago, what are you doing? You've seen how they behave. Those two will be a liability on this hunt! You can't be taking them with us."

"Aela, look at them," I replied, "Tell me what you see."

"I see a pair of kids who..."

"Exactly! They're nearly Lydia's age yet the three of us think of them as children. If we cut them loose now they'll get themselves killed."

"Let's take them back to Winterhold then! From there they can get a cart to wherever they need to go."

"It doesn't matter where we send them Aela. Blue, with his skills and attitude problem, he's going to be a great criminal. He'll probably wind up with his throat cut on the floor of a shack in the marsh. And Red with her confrontational shit, it'd be only a matter of time before she bit off more than she could chew."

"And it would be their own fault! Let them find whatever fate they earn."

"If they were anything else I would agree completely. But they're mages. If we leave them like they are now, I can't begin to guess how many lives they'll destroy before they finally die. Can you?"

She still wasn't happy. "Fine," Aela said. "But if they get out of line, I'll kill them myself."

I sighed in relief that the argument was over. "Thanks Aela."

"This is a bad idea, Love. But I'll be there to drag your ass away when this blows up in your face," she replied, taking my hand and letting me lead her back to the others.

Two days later we were approaching the great ice fields that enveloped the city of Alftand and made a camp for the night. The night was old and I was sleeping soundly when someone murmuring troubled my sleep. I rose slightly from my place next to Aela. I looked down to see her fast asleep on her side. She growled in her sleep while her face twitched rapidly.

I looked around and saw Blue sitting upright next to his volatile companion. His eyes glowed cerulean as he held his hands above her, whispering a spell under his breath. He glanced up at me and put a finger on his lips to command quiet.

"What's she dreaming about?" I whispered, having crept over to crouch next to him. Whatever was playing through Red's mind must have been brutal; tears streaked her face and wouldn't stop.

"I don't know," he replied. "I've tried looking, but she keeps it too deep. I can't hold on to the memory long enough."

"Are you trying to look into her dream now?"

He shook his head slightly. "Not while she's asleep. She resents it. Every time I do she picks up on it. Something happened to her and it hurt badly. When she's like this I try to project feelings of empathy and acceptance. I don't think she knows. Sometimes a piece of it gets past her defenses and lets her calm down. This used to be a whole lot worse."

"You two met before the College then?"

He shook his head, "She'd gotten herself kicked out and took one of Urag's more valuable scrolls with her. One of my first tasks when I joined was retrieving it. I came away with the scroll, wiped her memory of it without making her a vegetable, and nobody got hurt," he huffed a quick laugh. "I thought I had won the confrontation."

We heard Aela huff and whimper behind me. "Your girlfriend's dreams are much easier to understand," He remarked, a rare and dry attempt at humor.

I shook my head as a warning, "Are you going to sleep tonight?

He shrugged, "Once she settles down."

I turned over that cryptic discussion as Blue led us to the ruins of Alftand through the eroded channels in the glaciers over the next week. Without Blue's help in the trenches of the Hsaarik Glacier, we would soon have been at a loss. Aela, Lydia, and I had traveled through them with difficulty on our quest to rescue Kodlak's soul, but Blue was far more at ease in the frozen river delta than we. It was like he possessed some natural affinity with the ice and water around us. It also gave me an opportunity to speak with Red alone and learn more about the volatile duo. She in particular was chafing under my "no fighting or I'll let Aela hurt you" policy. I figured she would be ready to open up after the last few days.

"So what's the deal between you and Blue?" I asked the redhead. She had lingered behind the rest of the group while the other mage divined a good path up through the ice field. Perusing a professional interest, Aela and Lydia were examining a mammoth frozen in the ice with Dwarven spears surrounding it.

"His name is Ghent, gods damnit," she growled, "And I am Morgan."

"You need to lighten up. I get called a lot of things," I replied, "But really, what's your deal with Ghent?"

"Ghent has his head jammed up his ass. With how full of shit he is, I'm amazed there's room," Red told me. "I would be shocked if he's ever thought of anyone but himself.

"So how did you two even wind up working together?"

She shifted uncomfortably, "A few of the others decided they didn't like me so I left to join a group of independent mages. I took a scroll from the library as a way in."

I nodded, "And Blue was sent to retrieve it."

Red frowned deeply, "Like their personal dog. Without the scroll or my memory of it, they threw me out. I had to beg Faralda to be let in out of the snow."

"Yet the Hound is the one you dragged away from that last fight at the College and just found us a way out of the ice," I said, raising my chin in Blue's direction where he was waiting patiently for the four of us to follow him.

"Somebody has to pull him out of the shit he gets himself into. Hell, I dragged his ass out of a cave the second time we met," she growled.

Aela waited for me at the end of the group. "Making progress?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.

I smiled, "They look out for each other. I wouldn't want either next to me in a shield-wall just yet, but yes. Progress is being made."

"He's a head taller and much stronger than you, Love. I'd much rather he be next to me in a shield-wall than you."

"I'm big enough and strong enough to take you on," I said, moving in to steal a kiss.

"Only when I'm on my back," she answered, returning it.

As always thanks for reading. More to come, and more action to come before the end of the week.