Lydia POV

The rest of the journey back down to Ivarstead had been rather uneventful. The only creature they had come across was a goat that was practically waiting to be blown off the edge of the cliff by winds, or killed by the now dead troll.

Lydia noticed that Resh carried all the supplies a lot more efficiently than she did. She had to strap both the bedrolls and the bag full of supplies to her back to be able to carry them, whereas Resh, being a lot larger and stronger than herself, was able to hold it all together with a single arm that never seemed to get weakened by the constant load.

And with his spare hand Resh had conjured a small ball of fire to hold by himself to stay warm. Lydia wondered why his Nordic blood wasn't keeping him the right temperature, but decided not to ask in case it was an illness or some kind of injury that made him more susceptible to the cold. If it was, she doubted her Thane would like it to be brought up since the thing he seemed to treasure the most was not being weak.

"Why are we going to the College?" Lydia finally asked after an hour of silent walking.

"I need a certain enchantment. Preferably on a ring or amulet," he replied.

"What kind of enchantment?" she questioned further.

"The kind that keeps me from freezing death in this snow."

"Do we have enough food to last the whole journey?" Even though Resh didn't seem to eat very often, she didn't want her Thane to die just because she didn't think to remind him.

"If you want any more supplies we can go back to Whiterun and I'll buy some for you. I don't think I'll bother with food."

"How? We don't have enough money for lots of food. I used up most my own coin when I first met you and you don't seem to have any."

"I'll sell my bedroll to pay for it," he said as if it were the perfect solution, even though he would be losing his sleeping arrangements.

"I can't ask you to sell your own bedroll just for me. We'll sell mine. I don't want to inconvenience you." Even though she was flattered by his offer, Lydia knew it wasn't her place to let her Thane sacrifice something of his just for her. It was meant to be her doing all the 'going without'.

"Have you ever seen me use my bedroll?"

"No," Lydia blushed, remembering the times he had stripped nude in front of her before sleeping.

"Then it's not going to inconvenience me," he said simply.

"Thanks. If you ever need something from me, just ask. And if you feel like sleeping properly for once, feel free to take my bedroll," Lydia offered. She doubted he would need anything. And if he did, he would be even less likely to as. But she didn't want to appear disrespectful.

"Will do," Resh replied. "Just wondering, but how often do you need to eat and drink?"

Lydia was thrown off guard by such a question 'How could someone not know how often a person needed to eat?!'

"You're joking, right?" Lydia asked incredulously.

"No. I just need to know how much I should buy."

"I need to eat three times a day," Lydia replied slowly finding it really weird a fully grown man didn't know how often someone should eat.

"Three times a day!?" Resh wondered how he was going to manage to keep this woman fed. It would either require hunting every day or buying food regularly, neither option really appealed to him. 'How do humans manage that? They must have to go into town every day. How they get anything done is beyond me."

"Yes. How often do you eat?"

"Usually, once a fortnight. That's all I need to keep going. Anything in between would just be a waste of food and water."

"How are you not dead!? If I were you I would die five times between every meal." Lydia couldn't believe what she was hearing. If anyone ate that little they should be dead. Or at the very least shrivelled to a husk. Not a foot and a half taller than her with muscles all over.

"I guess I'm just more durable than you," Resh said. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the full truth either.

"So durable that I beat you in our training." Lydia regretted the words as soon as they came out and expected Resh to take offence. But instead, he laughed.

"True. But don't get too happy about that. I just wasn't expecting you to be so brutal. If I were the same, you would still be at the top of that mountain."

"Why would I still be at the top of the mountain?" she asked looking up and trying to make sense of what her Thane had said.

"Because you would be too busy lying dead in a pool of your own blood to walk back down," Resh replied jokingly.

"Ah. But if you did that, then who would be there to waste all our money on such worthless supplies such as food or water?" she countered, emphasising the word 'worthless'. "Speaking of which, we should speed up if we want to get to Whiterun before all the good stuff is bought."

"Does it really matter how good it is?"

"It's more the fact that there will be less there, so we might have to stay in Whiterun another day to wait for all the supplies."

Lydia could see the panic flash across her Thanes eyes and, without warning, Resh suddenly started walking much faster, causing Lydia to have to jog slightly to catch up. Was her hometown really that bad?

The trip back to Whiterun was a lot quicker than their journey to High Hrothgar had been, and only took a few hours at the most. It was only about midday before Whiterun and its surrounding farms came into view. But that's not all that they saw.

The two were also greeted by the sight of three warriors in the distance trying to take down a giant. Lydia didn't think they needed any help, but obviously Resh had other plans as he drew his sword and sparked lightning in his spare hand. And then, without warning, sprinted down the hill at his new enemy.

Lydia sighed, and drew her own sword. She hoped he wouldn't pick a fight with every giant they saw.

Aela POV

There it was again: that scent. She knew something was wrong about it but she just couldn't put her finger on it. Aela had noticed the same smell a few days ago and she still didn't like it. It was bitter and made her feel like there was something large and dangerous nearby. She wanted it gone.

It wasn't the giant she was firing arrow after arrow into. She had fought them before. This was something different. Something getting closer and its smell getting stronger, attacking her senses.

The Huntress was snapped out of her daydreams by the sound of a huge roar that was torn from the throat of the beast that had now taken a long stream of lightening to the face and had a sword cleave into it leg, staggering it. Aela would have laughed were the situation not so dangerous, 'Foolish man,' she thought angrily at someone who was stupid enough to try and fight a giant that close up. It was like he was trying to be crushed into a thick red paste.

With loud bellow the giant turned and swung its huge club toward the new attacker. If a blow like that had connected the results would be devastating and she and her Companions would have to spend the day collecting the scraps of him left over. But it hadn't. Instead of dodging out of the way, he did something so unexpected that even the giant looked surprised. The Nord threw himself onto the beast's chest and dragged it onto the ground. Aela was stunned. Not even the twins together would be able to pull a fully grown giant to the ground.

Before the giant had time to recover, the mysterious Nord, who was a giant in his own rite, had carved a deep gash in its neck making its eyes widen in fear as it started to choke. Aela almost felt sorry for it as its futile attempt at removing the threat were merely swatted away in vain.

With a final strangled choke the giant stopped struggling and stopped writhing under the blood soaked man. As well as her, Farkas and Njada both appeared to be in great shock at what had just happened, as they were both now staring at the man who had just exceeded what any normal human should have been capable of. Even his follower, who had tried keeping up with him when he ran down from the hills, looked astounded by the bloody scene.

It was remarkable for a single man to be able to do himself what would usually take an entire team of mercenaries with heavy casualties. She would have congratulated him if it wasn't for her wolf howling at her to get rid of him and trying to break free to do it itself.

Kill it. Kill it. Kill it. Kill it now!

Despite the fact that she still felt hostility toward the stranger, she would not murder a seemingly innocent man. Even if her instincts demanded it… at least not in public.

"I believe the words you are looking for are 'Thanks for the help'," The man stated, climbing off the fallen beast. All respect she had for him was draining away. What arrogance to just assume she was happy with what he had done.

"Thanks for what? Taking the glory for felling a monster we were about to slay?" she spat in reply. The nerve of this stranger, waltzing in and finishing off a beast that still had several of her arrows lodged inside it.

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't realise a few poorly placed arrows clearly marks it as yours. I was clearly in the wrong to kill it efficiently. Something you didn't seem to be able to do," he replied sarcastically with a smug look on his face.

Aela narrowed her eyes, clearly considering beating him to a pulp right there to teach him who not to piss off. How dare he insult her archery! In the corner of her eyes she noticed Farkas and Ria visibly wincing at the hole this fool was burying himself in by insulting her. She even noticed his companion, who she recognised as Lydia, a former local of Whiterun, bury her face in her hands at what he had said.

Aela give him a vicious glare, showing just how close she was to hurting him. "I would take that back if I were you," she advised him, almost growling each word in anger.

"Why? It's all true. As well as that, you're quite a lot shorter than me, so I'm not very worried about what little damage you can do." It was like he was trying to drive her to kill him. Something she was seriously thinking about.

You could let me out, I'll rip its throat out, and no one will know it was you. After all it won't be, it'll be me.

Aela pushed down the urge of her wolf. She knew better than to give it dominance. Embracing her instincts and her gifts were one thing, but letting it control her was another.

"Take. It. Back. Now," she snarled in repressed rage, her threats and anger hanging off every syllable, making the whole environment around her hostile. She had all but forgotten the others that were near.

He took a step closer as if to demonstrate how much taller he was than her, and then looked down at her. "Why don't you come up here and say that," he sneered.

Her wolf screamed at her to kill him. To kill it. Whatever it was that was standing in front of her. She could feel the strain of trying to keep her wolf from breaking free and consuming her. She could feel it scratching at the surface but she pushed it down. There was probably nothing wrong with him, apart from arrogance, despite what her instincts thought. But she couldn't help feel on edge. Her gift had rarely been wrong.

"How about I just cut you down a few feet so we're eye level? I would be more than happy to do the cutting myself," she retorted making her point clear, to which she could see his face ball up in anger.

"I wouldn't suggest threatening me," he hissed at her, fire in his eyes. "Otherwise, next time I go out to hunt something, I'll be returning with a few wolf hides in my pack." Aela's eyes widened at the fact he knew what she was. They then narrowed again after realising he had in turn threatened her and her family.

That was the last straw. Who did he think he was to threaten her pack? Even more importantly, how did he know about her pack? All in the space of a few seconds, she lunged at him viciously, ready to break his face. She was actually surprised at herself for holding off attacking him this long considering how much of an arrogant bastard he had been. He barely had a chance to blink before she had jumped on him ready to bring him to the ground.

She had expected him to straight away fall, like so many others, onto the floor after all the weight she had thrown at him. Although he staggered in shock, it had only taken him a few moments to recover and hold her back. He was obviously strong, seeing as he had managed to defend himself from an attack like that, but he still seemed to be struggling when it came to keeping her blows from his face. A few of them even connected before her fellow Companions dragged her off him. She was sure if she was given another few seconds she could have bloodied his nose.

Even though she was a lot smaller than Farkas, as well as the other Nord, he was struggling to hold her still whilst she was thrashing to get loose and break this stranger's face. Aela was so focussed in her haze of anger she could barely hear what was going on around her. But from the small parts of the conversation she had heard, she could have sworn that Farkas asked him if he wanted to join the Companions. Why would that idiot invite that arrogant bastard to Jorrvaskr? Could Farkas not smell him?

He finally released her when Resh, whose name she had picked up from his and Farkas' small exchange, had finally left. The name didn't sound very Nordic, so maybe he wasn't raised around other Nords. No wonder he was a prick.

She considered attacking him again as he had his back turned and was leaving. But instead turned to more pressing matters, and glared at Farkas who was now shifting uncomfortably at her gaze.

"I know you're probably angry at me for suggesting he joins us. But you have to admit, from what we've seen, he could be a great add-" he didn't have a chance to finish before he was cut off by the angry huntress.

"Don't say it," she growled. "If he actually joins us, it won't be just him I'll make regret today." Farkas swallowed and looked at the man who had infuriated Aela so much walk away, silently hoping he wouldn't try to become a Companion and knowing all too well Aela would stay true to her threats.