Resh POV

The Tsaesci didn't even want to wait for Brelyna to get back, he already knew what was coming, it was obvious, Kayci was never going to like him again and it would be better if he and Lydia just left now instead of hearing the news from another soon to be ex-friend.

Of course Lydia was having none of that though, not only did she not want to travel today, but she also seemed insistent on trying to rebuild broken bridges between him and Kayce like Brelyna was.

And it's not like he could argue with her either, for some reason she was being really unreasonable and everytime he opened her mouth she would just get stressed and tell him she needed to rest, whatever was happening he wasn't a fan of, and hoped it wouldn't last much longer.

Long story short he wasn't really sure what to do, he didn't particularly want to join Lydia in purchasing a tavern room considering her newest state of mind, and going into the halls Brelyna and Kayci were would be an act of complete madness. So for the moment he was merely pacing around in the courtyard aimlessly, the other College goers must think him as a creep for acting so strangely but he had nowhere else to go. The rest of the College would most likely be reserved, for students, staff, or people looking to buy something, for which he was not any.

Fortunately he seemed to be the only person around, so at least it meant not many people would see him, and subsequently be uncomfortable at his presence. There was that Thalmor who didn't seem overly fond to see him, but after a glare the Altmer nearly sniffed vainly at him and entered the halls, probably to sleep.

Resh got the feeling that leaving Lydia alone by herself probably wasn't going to turn out well for him in the morning, but he really wasn't in the mood to have to deal with anyone today. Were it any other day he would have happily tried to calm her down from whatever was affecting her personality, and then be 'rewarded' for making her feel better, but after all that had happened recently he wasn't even in the mood have his most natural desires satisfied.

Going hunting was also out of the question, due to the downright disgusting weather of this horrible snow filled region there was a blizzard raging so hard it would be an impossible endeavor. Not only would all the animals be too scared to even come out of their nests but Resh would probably wind up getting lost too seeing as the cold and snow didn't tend to affect his sense of smell in the best of ways. And even with the miraculous ring he had bought the Tsaesci still felt the bite of the cold even if he wasn't dying from it.

His musings were cut short when the Mer from earlier strode out of the halls he had only entered 15 minutes ago, "You there," he pointed rudely, grabbing Resh's attention, although it was not in a fashion he particularly cared for, "Rash? Ress? whatever it was your name is, tell me everything you know about the burned woman staying here."

Resh could have almost laughed at him were it not for how angry he felt at the way he was being addressed and how the Elf was trying to order him around, "It's 'Resh', just to let you know. And I don't care what you want so just go fuck off somewhere and do whatever it was you pointy eared Thalmor pricks do when you're not pretending to be better than the rest of us."

Somehow the Altmers expression turned even more venomous than it had been before, and his eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "Don't you speak to me like that you Nord! you're kind aren't even worthy to breathe the same air I do, now tell me about her or you've made an enemy with the Thalmor, which is something I do not suggest!"

"Surprisingly idle threats like that don't bother me, so why don't you run along, and go bitch about me in some letter to some other Thalmor arseholes and then do your usual job of getting nothing done except complain about anyone who isn't following your irrelevant orders," Resh spat, usually he probably wouldn't have been so verbally insulting, but he couldn't be bothered to think about the consequences, though it was very true messing with the Thalmor wasn't a particularly good idea, he still wasn't scared of them, although perhaps he should have handled the situation with a bit more tact.

"You'll regret this! I know your name and the Ambassador will not be happy to hear about your refusal to aid the superior races. You mortals need to know your place, which is at the bottom, you live shorter than us so aren't nearly as important, and we came directly from Aetherius where we should be immortal-" the Thalmor rambled on, Resh had heard it all before so it wasn't anything new to him, he knew all about the High Elves superiority complexes and how the didn't like other races just because they weren't as long living, or because the worshipped some half god.

But the Tsaesci couldn't help but feel echoes of his own views in the insults he spewed, that's exactly what he thought about the lesser races, even the Elves as well seeing as they weren't truly immortal, unlike the Tsaesci. He stopped himself from thinking about it though, considering Resh wasn't going to bring up his true species to the Elf it seemed unnecessary to think about what made his race and culture better than this Thalmor's, although he knew there were likely a tonne of reasons.

It took almost five minutes until the Elf finally shut up, and that was only because Resh told him to as well, much to his annoyance. But it was for his own good, if Resh had to go one more second listening to that idiot talk about Nords the Elf would likely not be able to boast about his life's longevity.

Resh sighed, he still had nothing to do though, after a few moments of considering he decided he might as well go and find Lydia, it's not like there was anything else worth doing, and she would be pissed at him if he didn't go over at least once during the night.

That was until Brelyna dashed out of the room Kayci was kept, she seemed to be in a good mood though, which could only mean one thing. And suddenly Resh was in a good mood too.

Kayci's Letter (I apologise in advance, it was painful to write, but needed to be done. Please bear with it)

hi resh

sory abowt taking so long to rite this, brelyna dusn't hav time to do this for me, so i tride to lern to rite miself so we can talk long distanse. i think iv dun pretti well on mi first try, im self torght too.

It's reelllllyyyy boring here, brelyna and i arnt having neerly as much sex as i thort we would, and i never c her cos she wurks alllllll the time. I can move now wich is good, but i dont reely hav anywhere to go but the colleg, and then thers this falmor im hiding from, so use the fake name 'krizia' in thees lettars.

I get to speek to J'zaggy tho, he's nice but brelyna dosnt like him, or me talking to him. Probably the skooma, dont wory tho i havnt started it agen, brelyna seems to think i hav so you shood hav seen how pleesed she was when they all went to sum ruin for an, 'xcavashun' she called it, mi gess was she was hoping he wood dy there.

so wat hav you been doing the past few munths? even with pregnant lyds it has got to be beter than the shit i hav to put up with.

from "krizia"

Kayci POV

Kayci gave one last look at her magnificent piece of work, before sealing the letter and giving it to the local courier. She was so glad she could finally write, of course she knew she wasn't perfect, there may have been one or two errors, but hopefully Resh wouldn't notice.

In fact, she didn't need to hope, she had spent so long writing that so there wasn't a chance he could find something wrong with it. The months she had spent learning to write would be well worth it knowing she could now communicate with her best friend again.

Although she was able to walk around and move again, her muscles still hurt if she strained them too much. That much was clear, and the healer said it wasn't going to get any better, so ever fighting again would be out of the question lest she get seriously injured, and tear a load of muscles.

Walking and jogging was fine though, which for the moment in the College was all she needed. It had almost ruined the couples sex life though, usually Kayci liked it rough, but due to the need to be gentle for the rest of her life Brelyna was never as hard as she could be in case it hurt her, for which Kayci was thankful, it meant a lot Brelyna was so considerate.

It occurred to her that she had spent so much time worrying about the actual injuries that she had almost forgotten what she looked like. When people first saw her they cringed away from her ruined flesh, and winced when they saw her single eye. It was bad enough before when people were turned off by her nine fingers, but now, this was too much.

Fortunately practically everyone was still out at their excavation thing so no one would see her slip out, she had made a lot of friends in the College despite first impressions, and none of them would like to see her leave in case she got hurt even more from the cold or wild animals.

And usually she would agree, but this time was important, there was no way she could shed in the College, she'd never find somewhere secret enough and everyone would hear her roar in pain. Shedding wasn't meant to be painful, but due to the nature of her skin burns there was no doubt that it would hurt, it would be worth it though when it made her look normal again, bar the eye of course.

It didn't take a long walk until she reasoned she was far away enough and out of sight to get started. The shifting to her snake form itself was painless, it was what came next that would be, she didn't have any regrets though as she looked her true body over. Her previously perfect and beautiful golden scaled were now gnarled and out of place, the trimmed hair she prized was friend away completely, and her body shape was clearly misshapen in points.

She was so glad she could sort out at least one of those problems, and look amazing again like she used to. Right now she thought she looked disgusting, how Brelyna could touch her now was beyond her, the only thing Kayci had was beauty, and she would not allow it to be taken away from her.

Kayci screamed as she clawed away at the ruined skin, it hurt so much, like she was on fire again but ten times worse. She was encouraged to carry on when she saw the new scales beneath, looking just as they had before the whole incident, so she cried out in pain as she tore further, 'My species is awesome...'

Two Days Later

Brelyna couldn't wait to tell Kayci all about the trip, so much had happened in the excavation it was almost unbelievable, and as she had some free time now it had stopped, they could take the time to reconnect and bond… among other things.

She was so excited that she practically knocked the doors off it's hinges as she ran through, being apart from a lover was a hard thing indeed. Heading into her room the Dunmer had to stop herself from pouncing on Kayci right there, knowing it would hurt her.

A moment after having looked at her girlfriend the Dark Elf blinked, did a double take, and rubbed her eyes, Kayci's skin had miraculously repaired while she was away.

"Kayce!" the Elf yelped in shock after seeing it, "How did your skin get better?!"

Kayci looked down and remembered she'd shed recently, and how Brelyna would have no idea how she healed her skin. Trying to think of an excuse Kayci looked up at her and suggested, "Oh yeah… I, uh, got... better…"

Lydia POV

Would she go so far as to say that she had taken advantage or Resh? Lydia would say 'no', but that didn't mean she wouldn't get him to do things for her at every opportunity. Of course 'no' was only Lydia's opinion, in actuality she was treated like a queen.

Ever since her bump appeared around three months in Resh had bent over backwards trying to tend to her every need, he had absolutely no idea what to do, so whatever Lydia said he just obeyed, it was brilliant really, for her at least.

Resh was scared out of his mind, he had no idea Nord women were meant to 'swell' when pregnant, Tsaesci didn't do that, and those were the only pregnant race he had ever been around. Even if it was only the unfertilised eggs Kayci sometimes laid he still knew how to handle it in that situation, now though? the first time he noticed Lydia start to get bigger he thought she was going to explode eventually.

Knowing how clueless he was only terrified Resh even more, hence the reason he was just following Lydia's orders knowing she would know more what to do that he. When it came to the whole live birth thing he was completely out of the loop, how could something even give birth if it's not from an egg? that just sounded painful, and messy with the baby squirming around. It made him almost feel like throwing up.

"Resh?" Lydia asked, not bothering look up at him as she lay down next to the fire, he immediately ran up to her like a dog at the beck and call of its mistress. Resh knew it was extremely degrading for him, but it was either that or potentially endanger the mother of his child.

She didn't even check to see if he was actually there before waving him off and saying, "I asked Arngeir to order more sweet rolls and chocolate, it should be here now, can you run along and go fetch it? that courier guy is pretty fast so should be here."

The Tsaesci sighed in annoyance but left to do it anyway, he hated to say it, but he knew it to be true, he was Lydia's bitch. Even the Greybeards in the temple knew it, he could hear them whisper about it, they shook the entire building when they did.

He almost 'wanted' to learn those shouts Arngeir constantly went on about, of course that was a lie though, he had already made it clear he was never going to speak that tongue, much to the monks dismay. It was the reason they had spent so long in the temple, trying to find another way up which didn't involve shouting away winds seemed an impossible task.

Still, that was now a secondary task, caring for Lydia was the main thing on the list. It seemed to be all he did now, and if he didn't Lydia would get either angry, upset or just downright cruel. And of course since he had no idea what to do he just got scared about what to do and felt really guilty that he hadn't done it. The human races were such a pain to be around, their bodies were so badly made it was insane.

Tsaesci's hormones didn't really affect them very much, but humans on the other hand, let's just say Resh officially hated every single chemical that was running around in Lydia's bloodstream with a vengeance.

Not just had the hormones affected her public personality but the private one had changed too, especially when regarding their sex life. Needless to say Lydia was a lot more 'active' than she used to be, but not in a good way. Whatever it was making her selfish in conversation was also true when fucking, so when Lydia was having the time of her life, it almost seemed she was trying to make sure he didn't. He had now resorted to not even bothering to think about himself and only use his mouth and fingers, it's not like she ever put in the work recently to get him off anyway.

The courier was almost smirking when he saw Resh, clearly the Tsaesci looked worse for wear, and soon everyone would know about it. Resh could have strangled the Nord to death right there right then, but unfortunately this man was apparently 'needed'... plus Lydia would get annoyed.

"I have the food you ordered, also a letter too, from some woman in Winterhold, she didn't give her name but she covered in burns," the Nord chucked him the sack of food-stuffs and the parchment before running down the mountain to do any other jobs he had.

He growled in anger, but suppressed it as he walked back to Lydia, it was best she got what she wanted as soon as possible, he wouldn't want to disappoint her. And from the way she wolfed down impossible amounts of disgusting sugary foods she was content, Resh averted his eyes from the disgusting scene, and went to read Kayci's letter, which was just as bad.

Resh paled as he read the letter and he looked like he could almost throw up. Even though Lydia was focused on her own mood she still wanted to make sure he was okay, whatever was written must have been serious, maybe Kayci had died.

The Nord suddenly whitened with worry as well as she waited for the verdict, "Read this," Resh whispered, still looking horrified at what was written at the letter as he handed it over.

Lydia read the letter for a few minutes, before looking up at him confused, "What's wrong with this?"

He looked at her in shock, before pointing at the parchment again, "How can you say that after looking at that 'thing', it's disgusting. I'd have rather she had vomited over it instead and forced me to eat it!"

"So she's changed her name, big deal, at least she's a decent writer now. Definitely fit for a place in the College," Lydia explained, having not noticed any of Kayci's numerous mistakes in writing which had driven Resh into such a frenzy.

And from her most recent words, Resh looked like he was going to pass out. He quickly collected himself and hastily pulled a quill from one of his pouches and started furiously writing all over her work. It seemed Kayci would both have to regret being illiterate, and also trying not to be illiterate.

I'm going to say sorry now for Kayci's letter, but all the grammar and spelling mistakes was needed even if it was annoying to read. Don't worry though, any letters from our favourite couple in Winterhold will be handled by Brelyna, so no more purposeful errors from now on.