"Are we almost there?"

Vilkas walked along the stone path towards Dragon's Bridge, a very exhausted Kaiah trailing a couple feet behind him. Vilkas placed his hand above his brows and peered towards the distance, spotting the ancient stone bridge that resided just outside of the small settlement. "We're about to hit Dragon's Bridge."

Kaiah let out a dramatic sigh, "It's so fucking cold out here…" It was towards the end of First Seed; nearly spring but still winter. The air was dry and frigid near the border of Haafingar, and Kaiah was not used to Skyrim's unforgiving weather patterns. "I offered you my cloak." Vilkas said matter-of-factly, not not taking his eyes off of the stone bridge in the horizon. Kaiah scoffed and crossed her arms, "Your cloak smells like a dog!"

Vilkas hid the grin he had formed on his face, "Glad to see you're doing better."

The two Companions walked for another hour before finally reaching the small settlement. Walking through the village, Kaiah noticed how militarized it was compared to the other smaller settlements. The Penitus Oculatus made their headquarters in the small village, presumably to be closer to the Imperial capital of Skyrim, Solitude. She saw horses bearing the Empire's insignia, with Penitus Oculatus soldiers tending to them. 'How curious.'

"Woah! Are those curved swords?"

Kaiah's attention was diverted when she heard the voice of a small child call to her. She looked down and saw a young boy with a small goat behind him, staring at her with curious eyes. The little boy must have noticed the scimitars she had strapped to her back. Vilkas stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking at both Kaiah and the child.

"Yes, they are," Kaiah smiled, grabbing one of them by the hilt, "You wanna see?"

"Yeah!" the boy exclaimed, nearly jumping from excitement.

She gently pulled the sword from its sheath and knelt down on one knee, holding it in front of him. The boy looked at it with awe, fascinated by the craftsmanship. She looked up at Vilkas, who was standing a few feet away with his arms folded across his chest, a small grin on his face. "Where do you get these?" the boy asked curiously.

Kaiah grinned at the boy as she leaned it closer, "I got them from killing an evil pirate."

"Really?" the boy's mouth gaped open in shock. Of course, it wasn't a lie, but not necessarily the truth either. Stealing doesn't sound as epic as killing. "Yeah," she exclaimed, "can you do me a favor?"

The boy nodded his head and Kaiah whispered to him, "Can you make sure that no more of those evil pirates come through here?"

"Yeah!" the boy exclaimed, "I'll protect the town from bad guys! You can count on me!"

Kaiah smiled in approval as she ruffled the boy's dark curly hair. The little boy ran off towards the stone bridge and the two Companions watched in amusement. Vilkas snickered, "You probably just made that boy's day."

Kaiah turned around to face him, smiling silently. Vilkas dropped his arms and gestured to her to follow him, "C'mon, the steward is expecting us tomorrow morning, so we need to reach Solitude tonight." Kaiah followed suit as the two made their way north towards the capital.

It was nearly nighttime and Masser and Secunda were rising from the east. Vilkas and Kaiah made their way through the city gates and to the tavern, the Winking Skeever. Solitude was the largest city in Skyrim, and had a lot of Imperial influence. It didn't look like a Nordic city, in fact the city had housed many High Kings and Queens who shared the Septim bloodline, leaving a Cyrodiilic imprint. The current High King, Torygg, resides in the Blue Palace and governs the entire province.

The tavern was full tonight and the two warriors had a difficult time navigating their way to the bar. The innkeeper, Corpulus Vinius, threw a dirty rag over his shoulder and leaned against the bar table. "Welcome to the Winking Skeever, friends! What can I do for you?"

Kaiah could hardly hear the Imperial what with all the loud music and yelling in the background. Vilkas spoke up, "We need two rooms." Corpulus sucked his teeth and shrugged, "Sorry, I only have one room left, we're damn near booked tonight."

Vilkas let out an irritated groan, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Fine, we'll take it." The Nord handed the innkeeper a bag of gold and ordered some food and drinks for himself and Kaiah. The two of them wandered through the tavern to try and find an empty table to sit at. The only table left was in a dimly lit corner of the main room. The two set their knapsacks under the table and sat down, waiting for their food and drinks. A short time later, a beautiful server came over with their food balanced on one arm and their drinks in the other.

"Enjoy…" the woman trailed in a sultry voice, gazing at Vilkas flirtatiously as she placed their food and drinks on the table before walking away. Kaiah snickered as she started to pick her food apart. "What?" Vilkas cocked a brow at the Redguard, who was grinning, "She was fucking you with her eyes."

Vilkas scoffed, taking a bite of his food, "Well it's unrequited."

Kaiah raised her brows facetiously, choosing not to say another word. Vilkas was an interesting character to her. He never stood for platitudes in any conversation and chose to keep to himself when physically and emotionally possible. A polar opposite to his twin brother, Farkas, who always jumped at the chance to interact with anyone when possible.

"You are such a misanthropic man." Kaiah blurted, taking a sip of her mead. Vilkas smirked, "That's an awfully large word to describe me."

"Distrusting, aloof…" Kaiah licked the mead from her lips, leaning back in her chair, "un-friendly."

"I know what the word means."

"Why?" Kaiah asked him plainly, prompting the Nord to give her a curious look, "Why so… sad?"

Vilkas scoffed, "I am perfectly content-"

"Are you?" she questioned in disbelief. Vilkas wiped his mouth with a rag and leaned back into his chair, staring at her with disdain. Kaiah continued, "Forgive my arrogance but I think that you're lying to yourself."

"Is your goal to get a rise out of me?"

"No, of course not," Kaiah grinned mischievously, "I want to take this opportunity to get to know you better. The real you, not some fake brooding persona that you insist on showing everyone all the time."

Vilkas shook his head, "You know, I brought you on this job with me to get you out of Jorrvaskr, not to learn my life story."

"Is there anything else I can get for you?"

Kaiah and Vilkas looked up and saw the same server from earlier, looming over the table and twisting one of her blonde curls with her finger. The woman was a wench, that much was certain, her clothing left very little for the imagination and it was very clear that she was advertising her services. Kaiah scoffed and Vilkas lifted his hand from the table, "No thank you, we're okay."

The woman glanced at Kaiah, who was glaring daggers at her, and then looked back at Vilkas. She leaned against the table, her back towards the Redguard, and placed a gentle hand on Vilkas' armored glove. "Are you sure…?"

Before he could answer, Kaiah pulled on her shoulder and off of the table, "He said no, now get lost." The woman glared at her and scowled, "I wasn't talking to you, desert-crawler."

Kaiah's eyes widened and she stood up from her chair, ignoring Vilkas' attempt to get her to back down. "What did you call me? I didn't fucking hear you." The blonde wench sucked her teeth and spat at her, "I said, I wasn't talking to you, you filthy desert-crawler."

"Oh?" Kaiah narrowed her eyes, "Well you're talking to me now, slut!"

The blonde woman slapped Kaiah in the face, hard enough to make her lose her balance and nearly fall to the floor. 'Shit!' Kaiah cursed herself, placing a hand on her now red cheek. She quickly composed herself and punched her right in the jaw, causing the wench to fall back into the wooden pillar behind her. Vilkas got up from his chair and tried to stop the two women but Kaiah barked at him, "Stay out of this!"

The wench charged at Kaiah and tackled her to the floor. 'Gods, this lady can fight!' The woman started punching Kaiah half-hazardly before being flipped over. Kaiah was on top now but the wench started to pull at her hair, forcing her to fall on her side. Everyone in the tavern stopped what they were doing to watch the two women fight. Some yelling words of encouragement while others cat-called.

The women rolled around on the floor for a while, taking turns punching and slapping each other. While Kaiah was exceptionally talented with hand-to-hand combat, she was exhausted from their day of traveling, so the wench was giving her a run for her money. "You crazy psycho bitch!" Kaiah yelled, pulling on her opponent's hair. The wench scratched the Redguard's face which forced her to crawl off of her, leaving the other woman to get on her feet.

"Enough!"

Everyone's heads turned towards Vilkas, who yelled at the two women to stop. Kaiah sat on the floor, her hand held to where the wench had scratched her. She moved her hand and saw small amounts of blood, inflicted by the long and sharp nails that the wench apparently had. "What's everyone staring at? Mind your business!" Vilkas scolded the crowd, earning a low grumble of disappointment from bystanders. He knelt down and picked Kaiah up by her shoulders, causing her to fight back. "Let go of me! I'm not finished with her-" He dragged her over to their table and picked up both of their knapsacks before proceeding upstairs to their room.

"Yeah you bitch, you better run!" the wench spat at her. Kaiah glared at her, acting as deadweight so Vilkas would struggle to pull through the hallway. "You're lucky he stopped me or I would've cut your fake tits off!"

When Vilkas and Kaiah made it to their room, he let go of her and threw their knapsacks on the floor before shutting the door behind them. Kaiah sat on the double bed angrily, refusing to look at the Nord warrior. Vilkas glared at her and rested his hands on his hips, "What in oblivion was that?"

Kaiah glared back at him, crossing her arms across her bust, "She struck me first!"

"You are a Companion!" Vilkas exclaimed sternly, "You are supposed to be the bigger person."

"So I should've let her beat the shit out of me? Who do you take me for?"

Vilkas held his tongue and his expression softened. Kaiah had never acted so harshly before, so this behavior was unusual for him. He didn't understand why the wench upset her so much, he had the situation under control. Silently, he walked over to the nearby table and grabbed a clean rag and uncorked a bottle of wine, dumping the contents on it. He then walked over to Kaiah and sat down next to her, placing the rag gently on her scratched cheek.

"We need to clean this wound," Vilkas said softly, rubbing the dried blood from her cheek. Kaiah grabbed the rag from his hand angrily, "Yeah, bitch probably has syphilis on her nails."

Vilkas laughed at her remark, shaking her head before getting up from the bed and walking over to his knapsack. He started unhooking his bedroll and laying it out on the floor. "You can have the bed." He said plainly, rubbing the wrinkles out of his bedroll. Kaiah didn't object, so she mumbled the words thank you, knowing full well that he heard her. The Redguard stood up and started taking off her leathers, leaving just her undertunic to sleep in. Vilkas did the same, leaving his black undertunic and steel boots on before laying down on his bedroll.

"Hey Vilkas."

The Nord looked over at Kaiah, who was standing next to the double bed with the green covers in her hands. She smiled softly, "Thank you for bringing me with you."

The Nord smiled back before closing his eyes and resting his head on his hands, "No problem, whelp."

Kaiah grinned as she blew out the nearby candles, eliminating all light from the room. She crawled into the bed and tucked herself in, closing her eyes and drifting into a deep sleep. Vilkas opened his eyes and stared into the wooden ceiling, thinking about the Redguard. It was true that he brought her to get her out of Whiterun, away from the trauma she had endured there some weeks prior. But another reason lingered in the back of his mind that he tried so desperately to suppress.

He wanted to spend time with her, to protect her from whoever it was that hurt her. After seeing her fight today he knew she was more than capable of defending her own honor. He even admitted that seeing her do so made him all the more attracted towards her. Her passion and fire, something that had been gone before, came back in an unforeseen and rather comical way. She was so quick to stand up for him, to fight his battle for him, it made his chest almost… flutter?

'Hircine's ass…'