Lydia POV

His reaction was funny at first. But after a few minutes of watching Resh opening and closing his mouth trying to find the right thing to say, Lydia grew bored. She was about to interrupt him but before she did he finally chose something to say.

"So… what is it I should do in this situation? Am I expected to stay with you or can I just leave early to avoid this thing altogether?" Resh asked, desperately hoping for the latter of the two options.

"No you can't leave early just to avoid me!" Lydia almost shouted, before realising her raised voice and lowering it again, not wanting to put him through too much trauma seeing as this was his first time looking after someone during 'this time.'

Lydia continued, "We can either leave like this, or stay here the rest of the week. The first option will get us back to the mountain, assuming that's where you want to go, quickest. The second will take longer, as we will be here. But it will be easier to deal with me in a town."

She didn't like to explain things so personal that simply. But her Thane was somehow completely unaware of the entire process, so she came to the conclusion it would probably be easier for him, and for her, if she made it as easy as she could.

Resh's face fell at her reply. He didn't want to have to stay with her when she was acting the way she was. Normally she was likable but now, not so much. "Fine. I'll decide when we leave later, but for now is there any way you know of to prevent it altogether? Or at least dull its effects?" he asked, obviously not wanting this recent little nightmare to become a regular thing.

"Short of cutting out my uterus… no." She meant it as a joke, but then she caught a glimpse at Resh's questioning look, as if he was about to ask for permission. "No."

"I don't see why not, you just said it would work," he muttered to himself. Lydia was unsure whether he was joking or not, but made a note to be on high alert when sleeping so that she didn't wake up having been made unable to have children.

Just to be sure he wouldn't Lydia grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip and growled, "Just so you know, if you try to cut anything out of me, Thane or not, I'm going to kill you."

Resh didn't really know what to think about that. Her grip, which she herself might have thought strong, could easily be removed. And although he could sense the sincerity of her words, he didn't think that she could come close to killing him if she tried. Not that she would need to, he had no intention of making her completely infertile.

"I'll try to keep my hands to myself," he replied, not explaining his previous thoughts in case they were to anger her.

"Too bad…" Lydia sighed quietly to herself at his sentence wording. Despite him not meaning it in a 'sexual' way, she still felt sad that it was probably true in that aspect as well, regardless of if he had intended on pointing it out or not.

"What?" Resh asked, not having heard properly.

"It's nothing, it doesn't matter," she hastily replied, desperately not wanting him to find out about her growing attraction to him now of all times.

"Seriously, what did you say? I didn't hear. I'm sure it's not nothing, so why don't you tell me?" he pressed. Probably thinking she had something important to say, but obviously not understanding when to let it go.

Unfortunately his lack of common sense caused her temper to flare up again, "I said it doesn't matter! Can you not let things go?! Stop pressing, you fu-"

"I have an idea," Resh announced suddenly, cutting her off before she finished shouting, "How about I hire someone to travel with us so that I don't have to deal with all of… this…" he finished, gesturing at shouting.

She was about to start shouting at him again because of his stupidity but then she realised it probably wasn't that bad an idea. She wasn't weak by a long shot. She could tell by Resh's wincing whenever she started to shout. And she certainly didn't need someone to follow her around and look after her.

Despite this, having a third person, at least for a while, would probably be beneficial for both of them. It would mean she would have someone to shout at besides Resh, who, because of his rank as both Thane and Dragonborn, really didn't deserve her scorn. And also that she wasn't just going to be talking to someone who was completely clueless about the subject.

"Fine, run along and find someone, I don't care who," she snapped, still annoyed at him for cutting her off, despite his alright idea.

It wasn't until about an hour later when he got back to the tavern with a new companion in tow did she start to regret her words. It was just her luck that Resh picks the attractive Dunmer woman with an aptitude for magic, like himself, to come with them. She let out an exasperated sigh. The last thing Lydia needed was competition from a woman who was likely far more 'on-par' with Resh's academic intelligence than herself.

Resh POV

It had only been a few days but Resh was loving the new addition to the group. Not only was she taking the brunt of Lydia when she got annoyed, but she was also a mage. And a good one at that. It felt nice having someone intellectual around after so long. The best part was that ,unlike Lydia, she didn't seem to want to pry into his personal life and constantly ask him questions. It was almost getting to the point where he wanted to talk.

She occasionally spoke to Lydia but Resh sensed that for some reason the latter of the two wasn't overly fond of the former. Or at the very least had some form of disdain towards her. Perhaps it was due to the Dunmers evident skill with magic when she herself seemed incapable of learning.

Although he was becoming increasingly fond of her, especially when she managed to fry an entire pack of wolves before he had a chance to attack one of them himself. Brelyna wasn't the only thing Resh was enjoying from the College. He also had the ring that the Imperial had made him. He raised it and watched as it glinted in the sun. It was amazing how something so small could be so important and powerful. It had already shaved days off the return trip from Winterhold because he no longer had to keep stopping.

He didn't even have to bask in the sun anymore it was so useful, meaning he could choose to stay awake for days on end without needing any sleep. Of course he still had to let the other two sleep whenever they needed to. But he could handle that, despite the fact it was a good eight hours of the day wasted.

Resh looked behind to see that his two companions were lagging far behind. Probably because they weren't as strong, and therefore able to keep up with him. Still, they both knew where they were heading and he was sure that if they needed to, they could probably catch up with him. So he didn't bother slowing down for them. If they managed to keep up this rate of travelling they could return to the Greybeards by the end of the week. Which, coincidentally, would be right when Lydia's 'problem' would have finished.

Despite that meaning Brelyna's job would be over, Resh still wanted to keep her around. Unlike him she also knew several healing spells that would most likely be very useful considering the lack of potions they had and the amount of times he got injured. He would ask Lydia what she thought about Brelyna becoming a permanent member later. The mage and his Housecarl appeared to be talking now, so Resh hoped they were starting to get along. That way she would be more likely to agree with him.

Lydia POV

Even after three days Lydia was still unsure what to think of the Dark Elf. Naturally she was slightly jealous of her for a few obvious reasons, such as her abilities with magic and the fact Resh had seemed to take an immediate liking to her. But still, the woman didn't appear to have any intentions of taking her Thane from her, so Lydia wasn't too threatened.

Although she didn't overly want her around, it didn't mean she regretted her being there. Being a woman like herself, Brelyna knew exactly what to do while Lydia was suffering, which was without a doubt a big step up from Resh's complete ignorance.

"Resh is quite strange, isn't he?" Brelyna asked casually, snapping Lydia out of her train of thoughts.

"How so?" Lydia replied, paying special attention now the mage was stepping into dangerous waters. Only she was allowed to insult her Thane.

"For starters it's been about three days and I haven't seen him eat, sleep or drink. So that's one thing," she explained. Lydia could see why she would be wondering about that, after all, she was too.

"Yeah, it's weird isn't it? I don't really know anything about that."

"Also, I know Nords are usually larger than other races, but he's massive. Almost a head taller than an Orc. Surely that can't be normal?" Lydia hadn't seen many Orcs, but still she agreed with Brelyna, Resh was unnaturally huge.

"No, it's not. It's true though, he's much taller than anyone else I've met as well," Lydia answered truthfully, feeling threatened by the way the Elf was starting to admire him.

"That's not just it though. He has all of that skill with magic as well. Most Nords are never that intelligent, its amaz-" She was almost starting to sound like she was hero worshipping him, which would definitely be a problem for Lydia.

Lydia stopped her right there, thinking it best to get it out of the way now, "Before we go, on I just feel it right to tell you that Resh is off limits." After seeing the confused look on her face Lydia started to elaborate, speaking in a predatory tone, as if marking her territory, "I've been trying to get his attention for a while now, and I can't let you just waltz into the group and be all 'magicky' and get him to instantly start liking you. So to make things short, he's mine."

"Oh! That shouldn't be a pr-"

"I'm not finished yet," Lydia snapped. "Also, don't tell him any of that, because I don't know if he's interested or not. So just keep it to yourself and think of it as a reason not to go after him."

"I can assure you it won't be an issue. Believe me, Resh isn't my type. The main problem being that he is a 'he'. Besides it was quite obvious from the way you look at him that he was clearly 'someone else's'," Brelyna said, causing Lydia to blush. She hadn't realised how obvious she was.

Even so Lydia sighed with relief. That was a huge weight off her shoulders. Maybe she could actually start to like the Elf now, without the feeling of jealousy clouding her judgement. It would be nice to have someone to talk to who wouldn't try to constantly cover up their personal life and duck questions.

Resh POV

The moment Resh saw Whiterun jut out from the distance he couldn't help but feel a smile creep onto his face. He was, at last, out of that frozen hell. Even though his newest piece of jewellery had solved that problem for him, he still hated the place. For good reason as well. It had almost killed him. Resh shuddered at the idea of dying like that. He didn't even want to think about what that would have been like.

He considered travelling past it and heading straight for the mountain. But after noticing how dark the sky had gotten he realised that his two companions probably needed sleep after a long day of constant travelling.

"Lydia, Brelyna," he called loudly so they could hear even when they were far behind him talking to each other.

After a few seconds he heard Lydia shout back, "Yeah?"

"I assume you need sleep around now, so we're going to stop in Whiterun for the night." Resh smiled when he saw the look of relief that flooded across both their faces because they were finally going to a proper place to sleep instead of bedrolls in the snow. It was going to make the rest of his announcement so much harder to say.

"Unfortunately, I don't have any money left because of how much was spent in Winterhold," he continued, sparing a moment to glare at Lydia for wasting it all on alcohol and sweet rolls. "So you are going to have to find a way to afford a room. Either that or you could just sleep in the streets."

The looks in both the women's eyes were priceless. They were a mixture between disbelief and pure unadulterated anger. He didn't blame them, though. He too would be annoyed if he had to sleep and the only options were to either sleep in the streets or most likely beg on them for the coin to afford a tavern room.

Somehow, Brelyna managed to keep her voice calm when she spoke back to him, "And where will you be sleeping? On the streets like us as well?"

Resh almost laughed, "No, of course not. I don't need to sleep. I'm going to spend the night hunting so that we can actually afford to buy things next time we go anywhere." It would probably only take one deer or elk to provide a night's tavern rent for the three of them. He would have to sell everything, though. Not just the antlers and hide, but the meat as well.

Brelyna clearly wasn't happy with his reply and gestured to the deer grazing in the plains close by, "What about the deer right there? It's only a few metres away. You could take it down easily and then all our problems would be solved."

Resh looked at it for a few moments and shook his head, "No, that would be too easy." He wasn't one to kill something so easily. There was no honour in that. If he had actually used effort and tracked it from miles away, or if it wasn't so passive near the group and tried running then maybe he would have. But grazing like it was he couldn't bring himself to kill it. It would be like slaying an innocent.

"Too easy?! It's a deer! For coming this close to the path I think it deserves death for its stupidity." She looked only to see him shake his head. "Fine, I'll do it then," she muttered, bring up her hands and conjuring fire.

She cursed as it sprinted into the distance the moment her magica pooled in her palms. She hated hunting in Skyrim. It seemed the animals didn't care how close she got, but the moment someone even starts to draw a weapon they bolted. It must be hell for proper hunters.

Resh and Lydia both glanced at each other and had to try holding in laughter. "I guess too easy is too hard for some people," Lydia remarked, causing Resh to crack a large obvious grin, no matter how hard he was trying to hide it.

She glared at Lydia. "Hey! Don't laugh with him. I thought we were meant to be annoyed at him," she snapped, pointing at the suddenly very pale looking man, his smile had dissipated immediately.

"Oh yeah…"

Resh sighed. He couldn't decide whether to just sprint like he had done so in the past or try to zone out to ignore their combined scorn. If he were to sprint he would probably end up being set on fire when he ran, so he decided for the second of the two options.

10 Minutes Later

"-And you just expect us to sleep in the streets! We could get robbed!" Resh was going to answer but decided that telling them that they didn't actually have anything of any value on them probably wouldn't be a good idea. Still, he had to do something. He couldn't spend another second listening to them complain. He would rather they just stabbed him and got it over with.

"I can't believe you didn't even get that deer fo-" the mage was cut short by Resh grabbing the scruff of her robe, as well the back plate of Lydia's armour and wrenching them both off the ground with ease. He didn't want it to come to this but he had no choice.

Resh's solution was met a chorus squeals, shouts and yells of "Resh! What are you doing!" and "Put us down you idiot!"

He quickly drowned them out as he ran toward the city gates as fast as he could, hauling the two women and the supplies with him as he went. Shouldering open the city door and ignoring confused looks from guards on night patrols Resh bolted towards the nearest tavern and barged through. Resh was greeted by several shocked and worried looks from the current patrons. Who wouldn't be worried, though? An extremely large man rushing into a tavern with a woman in each arm wasn't a very common sight.

Dropping them both to the floor, Resh quickly addressed the entire tavern, "I know this may look weird to you, but if you were in my place you would understand. Anyway I don't have any money, and these two need to sleep. So someone pay for their rooms." Resh straightened up as he said this so everyone could see how large he was, hopefully someone would be intimidated enough by his size to help them out.

After being satisfied with the stunned silence that followed Resh finished, "… Also, no one let her drink," pointing at Lydia as he said it. Realising Lydia and Brelyna were starting to rise, he darted back out of the tavern. He was followed by the bewildered stares of the citizens, and the angry piercing glares, and words, of his companions.

It may have been a drastic action on his part, but a minute long sprint and causing a scene in a tavern was definitely preferable to five more minutes of listening to them berate him while they walked. He knew there would most likely be repercussions, but for now he didn't care. That would be a problem for future Resh.