Lydia POV

Resh regretted his previous words with every fibre of his being, because of them he had been answering Lydia's incessant questions for the entire walk back to Morthal. It had taken him ages to convince her that she wouldn't birth like a Tsaesci, and even after that she was still worried, afraid that it might change forms inside her.

He had tried to tell her that it needed training to know what to do, and how it wasn't so simple to just shift forms, he even demonstrated that it took a small amount of effort when changing back to a Nord again, but Lydia wasn't having any of it. And once she was scared of one impossible prospect, she feared them all.

"-What if it bites me from inside and I get poisoned? If it sheds inside me will I have to pass that out too? Would not coming out in an egg be bad for the child? Will-" Lydia was quickly cut off when Resh decided that he could bear listening to any more of her questions.

"First of all it can't bite you, with venom that is, it won't develop venom glands for at least another three years if it's anything like me. Also it's not going to shed either, once it's out and starts to grow it will. And finally I doubt it, if it comes out in human form it should be fine," his plan had worked luckily, and Lydia had got the message to stop asking questions about cross breeding.

"So tell me, what are you doing in Skyrim anyway? I'm assuming where you're from isn't Tamriel and is pretty far away," Lydia asked, confused as to why some race from another continent would even bother travel over if it was going to spend all it's time in hiding.

Resh sighed, "I've told you about what happened last time one of my kind came over haven't I?" Lydia nodded, "Well it's that… again."

"So you're just going to try and take over Tamriel? Wouldn't that be quite difficult now? I can only imagine it would be harder nowadays than it was back then," Lydia said, from what she remembered of the last conversation she had with Resh about Tsaesci all it took for them to be repelled was their leader to be assassinated, although in fairness he did become emperor of Tamriel first.

"You're right, last time out armies didn't even succeed in their attack, to be honest though it was quite a small army. We only took power because the emperor died and the Tsaesci Potentate was the successor. Now the Empire is far larger than it used to be, and we are much smaller, and there are the Thalmor as well. In order to achieve a strong control of the region almost every one of us would have to sail over and fight, which wouldn't be good for us back home," Resh explained.

"So again I ask, Why come over?"

"To see if we can do it the same way as the first, not really through brute strength but politically. Me and Kayce are just scouts, but also very well trained, we were also meant to see if there were any openings for us to put ourselves in charge," Resh told her. He didn't want to boast or anything, but he had always suspected that it was him, the smart one, that would become the next Potentate rather than anyone else in the group.

Lydia chuckled slightly, "I swear this is the sort of thing you shouldn't be telling me. It can't be good for a Nord to know all your plans, is a 'if you tell anyone and I will have to kill you' kind of thing?"

"Believe me, were it not for the fact you seem insistent on making me a father I wouldn't be telling you anything, but as you are, I feel you have the right to know everything."

Lydia was incredulous usually Resh kept himself so guarded. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," he confirmed, nodding.

'Huh, I should have peoples children more often...'

Kayci POV

Tracking her friends wasn't particularly hard, Kayci was easily able to pick out their scents in the snow due to there being nothing else around. Although she did get the strange feeling that Resh's felt stronger than usual, almost as if he had actually changed forms. Although she knew that couldn't be true, Lydia was with him and he usually seemed so obsessed with making sure people couldn't find him.

Despite her great locating skills it still took a while to actually find them. Brelyna didn't trust her abilities very much and kept challenging her every time she suggested a direction, even though the Elf didn't know she was a Tsaesci and had superhuman senses the lack of faith she had still hurt her slightly.

Brelyna seemed dead set on using her magic to try and locate them, but Kayci knew that wouldn't work, the two they were looking for were at least half a mile away and her lovers detect life spell could only reach about 30 feet.

It was quite funny though to watch the Elf stumble around in the snow holding her magic covered hand up and getting increasingly angry when she would see nothing. Although she kept herself from laughing, not just because there was bound to be some form of punishment if she did, but because she probably looked even more silly as she was trying to smell the area around her, and listen to things Brelyna couldn't hear.

"Found them!" Brelyna shouted out loud to her companion jolting her out of her train of thought. Kayci watched the Elf run into the snow, only to sigh when she noticed she was heading in the wrong direction, towards two people she didn't even know.

She debated it a bit before heading on after her, afterall, it wasn't her place to let her mistress get killed by bandits was it?

The bandits Brelyna had chased after were considerably easier to fight than Kayci was hoping, usually scum like them would normally put up a decent defense but instead the Tsaesci was able to easily tear through them without any trouble. Where was the fun in that.

It wasn't like she could torture them either, she had Brelyna with her, and she doubted that her Dunmer lover would enjoy watching people skinned alive, unlike herself. Nor was she even able to have a decent meal afterwards, because she knew Brelyna probably wouldn't be open to that either. What was it with mortals and their aversion to cannibalism?

She reminded herself to next chance she got go hunting with only Resh so she could have an opportunity to feast properly. Although, then again Resh had made that ridiculous promise to some close minded fool who thinks it's okay to restrict someone else's culture. 'Oh well, more for me then.'

"Are you going to trust me to know where we're going now?" Kayci called over to the brooding Elf, in silent irritation about being wrong in her directions.

"Fine," she ground out, "But I still don't see how you could know where they are without any magic yet I couldn't."

Kayci smirked, "Well I guess there's a difference between those who have talent and those who dont-"

The angry glare Brelyna shot her quickly made Kayci correct her words, "-... who don't… not have talent, but just in other things."

Appeased, but still slightly annoyed the Elf didn't bother to snap at her, and just followed instead to wherever Kayci was thinking the other two were. Secretly wishing she would be wrong too just so she could gloat too.

Unfortunately she was not though, and after only a few minutes of travelling Kayci's way they met up with their friends, who were walking the same way, just in the opposite direction back to the city.

"Hey Resh! Hey Lydia!" Kayci shouted, waving her arm as upbeat as ever, grabbing their attention.

"What are you two doing out here?" Resh asked after nodding his greeting and walking over.

"Looking for you two."

"But why?" Resh continued, "I assumed you would be with Brelyna in the tavern."

"We had to leave…" she replied, her response made Brelyna blush slightly.

Resh grinned, and he chose this as the perfect time to tease her, "Honestly Kayci, I thought you could control yourself a bit better than that. It only took you that long? I thought you could last longer than that before getting tired out."

The other Tsaesci's response was what looked like a glare, but the huge size difference, and the fact Kayci was smiling slightly at his joke made it completely unthreatening. She was going to think of some witty comeback but Resh cut her off by raising a hand before she spoke, "Yeah yeah, I know the real reason. Too much noise… like usual. I know better than to doubt your skills."

"Damn right. So what were you doing out here? I know you probably didn't want to hear either, but was a two miles away from the city really necessary just to escape being near the couple?" she laughed in jest.

"No, I just had to… show Lydia something," the way he said 'something', and then the serious look the two shared, as if a non verbal communication passed between them, let Kayci know what Resh had left unsaid. Lydia noticed it too, and was slightly worried about what Kayci would do, although she liked the other woman it was rare to see her look relatively serious.

That look quickly faded though and Kayci went back to normal… or as normal as she got. "So are you two over that whole 'not fucking' thing? I hope so."

Lydia blushed slightly but composed herself enough to answer, "Well, maybe with any luc-"

"No," Resh quickly butted in much to the annoyance of Kayci who was hoping the two would get together.

"Why not?" she asked, "You like each other, there's already a kid involved, you've been intimate already. I can't think of a reason why not."

"Because I say so," he said slowly, not wanting to have the conversation, mostly because he couldn't think of any reasons not to himself.

"That's just another way of saying not today. The point is you're going to want to get together sharpish, especially as you'll probably be getting married soo-"

"What?!" both Resh and Lydia blurted out at her words, stunned at how she managed to jump to the ridiculous conclusion of a commitment like that.

Kayci looked perplexed at their reaction so elaborated, "I just assumed that's what would happen now, you're having a child together, I thought that usually ends in marriage. Especially due to your naming convention Lydia, I doubt you want your baby to be called 'whatever it may be of Whiterun' do you?"

She hadn't considered it before, but Kayci made a very good point, she didn't really care if the child was a bastard or not, Kayci was wrong about that much, as no one else would really be bothered, apart from maybe nobles if Resh's title of Dragonborn put him in the spotlight eventually.

But the naming thing was an issue. Lydia had no maiden name so she'd rather it not be named after her city like her. She'd rather it have Resh's weird Tsaesci name 'Skaraviak' than it be called 'of Whiterun'.

"I don't think we're going to be getting married anytime soon," Lydia muttered as she glanced at Resh's stern face, "Although his name would be better than mine…"

"What's your last name Kayci," Brelyna asked, she had been quiet the whole conversation, not really having anything to add up until now, and also having thought something about the topic seemed slightly 'off'.

Kayci flushed slightly and looked rather awkward for a moment, before exchanging a look with Resh, who seemed to have a small spark of some form of anger or irritation rekindle in his eyes, before dimming down again.

"Do you really need to know?" she asked, trying to back out of the conversation.

"Yes, I should think so, it's not an issue is it?" she replied, emotion seeping into her tone at the end just in case it was.

"Well it is, kind of. I'd really rather not go into this topic again," she glanced at Resh again who was clearly disconcerted at the topic, but was trying his best not to show it, "I'll tell you next time we're alone."

Brelyna didn't know what to say, it wasn't everyday your girlfriend refused to say her last name. Even more weird were all the looks she was shooting Resh's way and the fact she wanted to be alone when she said it. Obviously any discomfort Kayci had on the topic was Resh's fault, and it was up to her to rectify this, even if it meant setting him on fire...

Right when he wasn't expecting it Resh felt a sharp tug on his hair, and he grunted in pain as he was pulled down, "We need to talk," he heard Brelyna whisper coldly in his ear.

Resh hated that voice, it was the voice that said, 'I'm going to rip you a new asshole regardless of whether you do what I say' and he had heard it way too many times from way too many people.

When she let go Resh started to straighten out the hair she scrunched up when grabbing it, 'I should really cut this short, it gets pulled way too often...'

First Kayci, (probably Lydia as well, I can't remember) and now Brelyna, it seems everyone has it out on Resh's hair when they get pissed off. Don't worry though, it will continue to remain long, I would never let something as hot as that get cut down in my writing.

Brelyna POV

"You should really cut that short," Brelyna said when she let go.

"I was literally just thinking that, although then everyone would see my birthmark. It would be a lot better if no one pulled on it, in public that is," Resh muttered, slightly annoyed it seemed to be everyones method of getting his attention.

"Well too bad! Kayci is ashamed of her last name because of you, and you're going to tell me why," Brelyna hissed at him, making him almost flinch despite the fact any fight would be no contest at all judging by the size difference.

"You wouldn't understand, the reason has no relevance to you whatsoever," Resh dismissed.

She didn't relent however, "Tell me anyway."

"Fine, I'll tell you some of it. She's ashamed because where we're from a last name like hers isn't something you want people to know or else you'll be judged or worse killed for it. And I too thought that way when I first heard it. Not as much now, but the name still sparks up instincts," Resh explained regretfully, guilty about the way he had treated his friend in the past.

"You're a dick," Brelyna stated bluntly.

Resh sighed, muttering. "So I'm told…"

She would have asked him what her name was, but remembered Kayci said she was going to tell her so decided not to bother and turned to leave. She was stopped by Resh however.

"As you're already angry at me I might as well get this out of the way. I'm the reason Kayce only has nine fingers," she froze one off when I tried to teach her magic.

Brelyna bristled slightly with her own magic in anger, but managed to keep it down, just. "You owe Kayci a finger, remember that."

"I will, she never lets me forget it. Besides I paid for it, I'm just lucky she didn't start kicking me after I got knocked out," Resh laughed uncomfortably, subconsciously rubbing his head at the memory.

Morthal

Resh groaned as he looked at the snowy town, he'd only been in it for 10 minutes last time and now he was here again he could remember why. "Morthal is a shithole."

"Morthal is not a shithole," Lydia replied, despite her words she felt inclined to agree with him.

"Morthal is a shithole."

Lydia had however had too much of a draining day to listen to any complaining, "Resh, we only just got back here. Can you reserve judgement on Morthal until we've fucking seen the place?"

"You can tell it's bad just from the sheer fact it has no walls, I bet bandits could take the whole place over and no one would care."

"Well it hasn't happened yet so I doubt that'll be an issue," Lydia said.

"What are we going to do then? You two," he gestured to Kayci and Brelyna, "have already got us kicked out of the tavern and it's getting too dark to travel anywhere. So we're just stuck in this pointless little cluster of houses."

"You weren't missing anything in there. Just some terrible Orc bard and a cold room," Kayci pointed out, she had come close to hitting the guy, luckily he stopped singing when she stared daggers at him hard enough.

"Maybe so, but that still leaves us with nothing, I don't plan on waiting another 12 hours doing nothing just so I can hope to do something tomorrow."

"I guess, well anyway. Me and Brelyna are going to split off for some 'alone time' we were interrupted last time," Kayci grinned, not quite knowing where they would have it, but determined to find a place anyway as she bounded off, an exasperated Brelyna in tow.

"Is she always like that?" Lydia asked, Kayci seemed to have absolutely no discretion when it came to anything, and seemed constantly excited too much so to be able to hold it in.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"How she got promoted to a higher rank than you is beyond me," the Nord commented, much to Resh's delight.

"I know! I should be miles ahead of her. I'm older than her as well," Resh explained, almost shouting at the indignity of it all.

"By how much?" Lydia assumed that due to his reaction it must have been years, maybe even centuries considering his race.

"Two weeks… but that doesn't make my point any less valid," he argued, noticing Lydia's amazement at the age gap, along with her understanding of his plight, disappear completely with the realisation.

"It kind of does... on another note when actually were you born?" Lydia queried.

"Why do you care?"

"It was you who was complaining about having nothing to do, either have a pointless conversation or have none at all," she replied.

Resh spoke, definitely not liking the alternative she brought up, "13th Sun's Dusk was when I hatched. How about you?"

"I don't actually know as I was found after I was born, and no one recorded the date," Lydia thought about what he had said for a moment, "Are you aware your… 'hatching day thing' is tomorrow?"

"No I wasn't. How do you know? You don't have a calender of any kind," Resh asked, slightly puzzled about the Nord woman's knowledge.

"You can't read the stars? I would've thought that'd be one of the many things a snake-person like you would learn," Lydia said, proud of herself for having at least some knowledge that he didn't.

"I didn't even know such a thing existed, it's quite a skill. Although in our current situation not that important," he muttered.

"You don't seem to care much about your day tomorrow, don't your race celebrate birthdays?" Lydia inquired, last time she had a birthday the Jarl held a large celebration for her considering her high up title, and she woke up the next day with the biggest hangover she'd ever had, and one of the Companions twins in each arm… Not that she was proud of the last part.

"When you have lived almost 413 years and can't die of old age you stop caring about the little things like hatching days. It's merely a mild point of interest if anything," Resh went on, seemingly completely uninterested.

"Well as long as you don't go asking for any special birthday sex I'm fine," Lydia joked, chuckling slightly. Until she just repeated what she said in her head and stopped immediately. She hoped he hadn't heard but the stunned and slightly agitated look on his face proved that hope wrong.

Letting out a small noise, Resh couldn't quite decide upon what it was, she blushed a dark red and looked away.

"I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that…"