Resh POV

They had been walking for hours into the night and Lydia was exhausted. Yet Resh just seemed to be able to keep walking on and on without sleep. Lydia was starting to wonder if it was his magic keeping him awake but she doubted that even magic could power a whole person relentlessly.

"Can we please stop to sleep?" Lydia asked breaking the long silence between the two of them. She knew that her thane didn't take well to signs of weakness and that she wasn't meant to be the person to ask for things. But she couldn't keep going on like this. She needed some form of rest or she would collapse.

Resh stared, contemplating if he should just keep on going and leave without her because she was starting to slow him down. He already had to carry the supplies. In the end he decided it would probably be easier for him to find safe places to sleep if he had someone to guard him when basking in the sun.

"I'll take first watch," Resh told her, clearly not liking the idea of having to stop for sleep every night.

"We're in a fairly safe area. You really don't need to stay up to watch."

"No. Now sleep. I'll wake you when we should swap roles," It wasn't open for argument. He chucked the bedroll he had been carrying roughly onto the floor and turned his back to start his watch for anyone who might try and attack them.

It might have sounded rather petty. But Lydia couldn't help but notice that her thane had no inclination to look at her when she was pulling off her armour to sleep. She wasn't naked but she still felt rather self-conscious at the fact that Resh didn't seem to care at all about the fact that there was a woman stripping behind him. Instead of trying to look, like even the most honourable men would do, he just kept his back turned and stared off into the distance.

'Perhaps he rides his horse on the other side of the path,' she wondered, thinking of the only reason that he wasn't the least bit interested in her.

It wasn't something that Lydia wanted to dwell on though, and she tried to get to sleep in the bedroll that she had now laid out. Usually a sleeping arrangement based on swapping turns for taking watch meant only having one hours sleep every two. But when Lydia was woken up by her Thane kicking her, the sun was raining down hard on the two of them, hot enough to burn skin. He probably meant to kick her lightly to jolt her, but it still hurt.

Lydia pulled herself out of the bedroll, leaving it open on the ground for use. But instead of taking it, he just rolled it back up so it could be carried again.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" she asked, gesturing to the bag he was packing.

"No. I will. I just don't need to be coddled in my sleep by a bag made of fur," he said, almost aggressively, "Take watch now. I'll only be asleep for a few hours,"

Suddenly, with no warning, whilst she was still watching , he pulled off all of his clothes. Not just his armour, but everything, leaving him completely bare obviously not caring who saw. And then he lay down on the ground with his arms and legs spread out as if he wanted to get burnt by the morning sun. Lydia quickly averted her eyes, blushing uncontrollably at what her thane had just done. She was meant to be a battle hardened warrior and now she was reduced to a lusty teenager. She reminded herself that she had to remain professional and had to wait for these feelings to pass.

She tried to keep watch, but she was very distracted by what had just happened. Furthermore, every so often he would roll in his sleep onto his back displaying everything, and she couldn't help but peek and see what the dragonborn was like under his armor She was not disappointed. He was definitely a fighter, as he had ridiculously well-toned chest with a large scar stretching across it, and unknown from beneath his armor his arms and shoulders were extremely muscular.

Probably why he could carry all the supplies she struggled with without breaking a sweat. Finally, she knew she shouldn't have looked at all of him, but let's just say he had a second sword big enough to slay a dragon with. If this was how each night was going to be, getting a ton of uninterrupted sleep and having the dragonborn strip naked, she didn't mind one bit.

After Sleep

Resh awoke after a surprisingly good sleep to the sight of his newfound follower reading when she was supposed to be taking watch.

"How could I possibly have slept so well when I had this Nord guarding me so poorly? If people had attacked in my sleep I would be so unprepared they would most likely kill us before she had a time to alert me."

"Just another sign of human inferiority," Resh thought, regretting his decision to allow this Nord to follow him. She was only holding him back. But he knew that even if he tried to leave her, she would only follow as she is sworn to never leave his side.

This woman was meant to be watching over him. Yet she didn't even notice him stand up and start packing the supplies until he pulled on some of his armour and the metal plates clanked against each other.

She turned to look at him but instantly snapped her head back around, seeing he was not fully clothed. Resh wondered why she had averted her gaze, but thought no more of it, donning the rest of his armour.

"Gather my stuff, we're going now," Resh stated, striding off, obviously not waiting for her.

"May I ask where we're going?" Lydia replied, packing up the supplies quickly and running to catch up with him.

"After killing that dragon whilst returning to Dragonsreach," Resh conveniently left out the shameful part of being dragged there as he was too weak, "I thought I heard shouting in my ears, I didn't know who it was but I heard where it came from, it was all the way from the mountains."

"If it came from the mountains it could be the Greybeards. They have a monastery near the top of the tallest mountain," his follower told him.

Instead of replying Resh just carried on walking in silence. But this time faster, as he had a place to go to. He wondered if he had been rude to his companion by not replying to her but then disregarded his thought in shock. He'd actually thought of this primitive creature's feelings over his own. He mentally slapped himself, knowing he couldn't allow himself to show weakness like that.

The peaceful silence that had gone on for several minutes was disrupted by his companion speaking up. 'Can she not comprehend that I don't want to talk to anyone and actually want to walk in silence?'

"Why are you called Resh? That's not a Nordic name. In fact I've never heard of anyone called that," she asked.

"It's a family name," Resh replied trying to keep his answer minimal to make sure the conversation stopped.

"What was your family like?"

'This woman's just going to keep dragging this on'

"They were strong fighters and they trained me to be as well," Resh replied bluntly.

"That couldn't be all they are to you. What were they actually like? You can open up to me," she informed him, causing him to scowl even more than usual at her annoyingly nurturing comment.

"Why would you even want to know?" Resh asked, sighing with frustration.

"I'm travelling with the Dragonborn. The Dragonborn. Why would I not want to know more about a living legend I have the honour of travelling with?" Every time she said the word 'Dragonborn', Resh cringed with anger and hate.

"Don't ever call me that again," Resh hissed furiously.

"What? Dragonborn? Why? It should be an honour to be the Dragonborn."

At the mention of that word again Resh snapped. As quick as the lightning he could so easily conjure, he grabbed the woman by the throat, lifting her up above him. Resh didn't really know what to do from here. He had never killed a female in cold blood before. And she hadn't done anything directly to him to earn an execution. She just looked down at him with shock. He wondered if it was the fact that he had reacted so violently or that he was lifting a fully armoured woman with only one arm, something that no normal Nord could do.

"Don't. Ever." He finally spat before throwing the woman on the floor in anger and pacing off, sadly knowing that she would just run up to follow him again.

"So… about your family?" Lydia asked once her breathing restored and she had caught up with him.

"I must admit, I admire the fact she doesn't quit. No matter how irritating it is."

"Fine, what do you want to know?" Resh sighed in defeat.

"What are your parents like?"

"They were great hunters and warriors like me, and you mean what were they like?" Resh told her.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Why?" he asked, genuinely not knowing why she would be sorry for his own loss which barely bothered him.

"Surely it must have been hard for you. Death in a family is always upsetting."

"Not for me. They died fighting so it was an honourable death."

"So you feel nothing, just because they died in combat?"

"I'd prefer them to be alive but it wasn't up to me. I was barely hatch- born, I mean. I can remember their death but I wasn't able to help them. And if I had tried, I would most likely have been killed as well."

"Why were they killed then?"

"We were hunting and at the same time we were being hunted. It's not uncommon where I come from. And then they attacked," Resh explained.

"How did you survive?"

"Me and my sister were unarmed, so they just let us go."

"They just let you go? I'm surprised. Especially about letting your sister go unharmed."

"Why? What did you think would have happened?" Resh asked, oblivious to what Lydia was hinting at. Then he realised. "You people are so barbaric," Resh muttered with spite after remembering his experiences of human behaviour towards innocents after a battle, ending the conversation.

"We should set up camp here. It's getting dark, and I'm getting quite tired." Lydia stated.

"How often do you need to sleep?" he thought with annoyance.

Lydia POV

Lydia's morning started much as the morning the day before had; being roughly kicked awake by her Thane and having the wrapped up bedroll thrown at her as Resh started to strip down and lie on the floor.

"Can you please not kick me awake in the mornings?" Lydia quickly asked, looking away from the stripping legend.

Resh merely grunted in reply before lying on the ground, seemingly taking in as much sunlight as possible. And when he started to sleep, Lydia started to take in something else as much she could find possible.

The hours went by really slowly. She had gotten bored of shamefully admiring the Dragonborn and nothing else had happened to keep her interested. Bandits were usually the most common group to attack travellers. But it was quite clear that today they weren't doing so, as it was the morning and the two weren't near any bandit controlled territory.

The morning in Skyrim were always very quiet, the only sounds were from the fluttering of insects and the occasional rustle of leaves. That and, of course, the sounds of Resh hissing viciously in his sleep and thrashing every few minutes. Lydia would have almost found it funny if it were anyone else but this, combined with the fact her Thane was a very angry man, made her genuinely worried.

Resh's eyes suddenly snapped open and in a fraction of a second he was on his feet. Lydia couldn't believe that her Thane was the sort to have night terrors but all these signs pointed to it.

"Someone seems awake," Lydia smirked. "I think you may have had a bad dream," she soft heartedly mocked.

"Yeah, sure," Resh lied, not really caring about how weak it made him appear. It was easier than explaining the truth, which was that Resh's skin was constricting him and he needed to shed it sooner rather than later. Worst of all, being in human form wasn't going to relieve any of the pain, only make it worse. But Lydia didn't need to know that.

"If we start going now, we can get to a local village called Ivarstead in less than an hour," Resh told her, grabbing the supplies and walking off with his usual angry tone.

"You are aware you're still naked?" Lydia pointed out looking away from the fully nude man. Resh sighed pulling on his armour. Lydia noticed he seemingly shuddered in pain when the leather and metal plates rubbed against his skin. 'My Thane is a very odd man,' she thought.

They had been walking for the better part of half an hour and it became apparent to Lydia that Resh wasn't the type to strike up a conversation. So it was up to her to try and make her travels interesting.

"So… what brings you to Skyrim? I heard you were caught crossing the border, so why did you try?" Lydia asked him trying to pass the time.

"Travels," he replied, keeping it as short as possible, trying not to start a conversation. 'It's like pulling teeth,' Lydia thought.

"Why were you travelling?" she questioned further.

"Can we just walk in silence?" It wasn't really a question so much as a demand. Lydia deflated at her Thanes blunt remark, offended that he would turn down a conversation that quickly.

They just walked the rest of the journey in silence. Or at least what came close to silence considering Resh was now scratching his skin up with his nails.

"Are you okay?" Lydia asked after he growled, alerting her to the fact he was tearing visible deep cuts into his skin.

"I'm fine. Let's just keep going," he told her with the usual bite of anger in his voice.

"You're obviously not fine, otherwise you wouldn't be trying to pull your own skin off."

Resh almost smiled at the words that she used, 'Is it really that obvious?'

"Believe me, there isn't anything that you or anyone else can do to try and help me. So just carry on going to Ivarstead. I'm going to stay here and I'll be there later," he told her. Lydia highly doubted that Resh would actually meet her there. As far as she knew he had hated having her follow him around the last couple of days. But then again if he had wanted to abandon her he could have easily done it while she was sleeping so she didn't know what to think.

"How do I know that you won't just leave me and go off on your own?" Lydia asked. This remark actually shocked Resh. He started to wonder why he hadn't already done so, because he has had plenty of opportunities he hadn't taken.

"I promise I won't," Resh replied and with that he left half running much to Lydia's confusion. This had been the first Lydia had seen Resh not angry. Instead he seemed pained. And not pained like when his legs had been injured because he was still angry. This time he didn't seem angry at all.

Lydia didn't really have much to do from then on, apart from head on to Ivarstead. Her Thane was already out of sight, so even if she wanted to she probably couldn't catch up with him.