Author's Note:

Here we are. The last ten chapters of the second book, the last plotline. And as you all know, we've come full circle with this one and returned to the same place the first book ended. Now you can only wonder if it will end in a similar angsty tragedy or if Bishop and Aeyrin manage to reclaim the forests like they plan to ;)

It's been an amazing ride to share the second book with you all and I know the last ten chapters will not be an exception. Thank you all so much for your continued support and readership.

I hope you'll enjoy reading the final days of the second book as much as I enjoyed writing them :3

Chapter CXLI – Full Circle

The decision has been made.

Falkreath. Their journey would continue there. They would reclaim the area as they were planning – they would move on from the painful memories lurking in those forests and come out stronger for it.

It may have been a little naïve. Bishop certainly thought so. It didn't work like that, not in his experience. Not this fast. It took him years to walk around the Rift without painful memories reminding him of the past there. They still sometimes invaded his mind. But Aeyrin's enthusiasm was contagious. And he was pretty confident that it would help at least a little.

He was already planning on how to make their stay there more pleasant.

But first things first. They needed to get there.

After their unfortunate, and at the same time unbelievably lucky, encounter with the old mage assassin, they had agreed on their next course of action. They set out shortly after they decided – along the Jerall mountains again and towards Ivarstead. They would probably take the same route again, though they could pass through the mountains, it usually took even more time than bypassing them with all that snow and uneven terrain.

Usually they passed by the Treva River and Lake Geir, but this time, they opted to stick to the mountains. Even though they had a destination in mind, it was still nice to pass through some less explored areas. And besides, it was much less uncomfortably open. They still hoped that the assassin attack was more or less a coincidence – that the man had spotted them and decided to take a chance. That the Brotherhood wasn't actually actively looking for Bishop. They had better things to do, surely. But it was still a little disappointing, naïve as that may have been to think otherwise, that he just outright wanted to attack.

Maybe he didn't though. Maybe he was going to light the fire with that spell.

That was the absolute stupidest, but still oddly comforting, idea Bishop had all day.

There was not much to do but go onwards anyway. There were no places that would be safer than a city. And there were no other tactics they could employ in their travels. They had no idea how to be even more careful and alert.

They had a letter ready for Commander Maro to send out from Ivarstead. That was all they could do now. That and trying to concentrate on their journey instead.

Another small surface Dwemer site provided a welcome distraction. A group of bandits have taken interest in it, likely though only as their opportune camping spot. Just like with the last one, there was nothing of value there. It was no wonder. Even first chambers of underground Dwemer cities were usually long picked clean, let alone sites like these.

The sun was slowly starting to set. It was late afternoon already and it could have been a good time to set up camp, but they were determined to make it to Ivarstead for the night instead. An inn full of people might not be foolproof, but it would be a bit safer, even if the Penitus agents weren't stationed in the hamlet.

If only it weren't for the dark distant shape gliding through the skies near the mountain peaks that caught their attention.

"Another one? Really?" Bishop let out an exasperated sigh. That seemed to be the downside of travelling near mountains all the time – twice in such a short span of time? That was annoying. And he could already guess what Aeyrin was going to worry about.

"That was… pretty close to Ivarstead," she scowled, gazing into the direction where the dragon had disappeared. It flew into the mountains towards a structure laden with old crumpled towers.

"Not that close," Bishop shrugged. Though granted, Paarthurnax had mentioned that some dragons were getting… impatient. Like the one that burned down Karthwasten. If it attacked the town unexpectedly, it was always harder to deal with, even with a few guards there to help.

Aeyrin only gave him a look that said it all. Not that he had expected anything else. But on the other hand, the dragon killing was getting into a less daunting routine again and it really was more comfortable to not have one of the beasts circling around while they slept nearby.

The towers were relatively close and even from the distance, they eventually spotted the dragon resting on top of one of them. It didn't notice them yet so they still had the chance to catch it off guard. Bishop ran ahead a bit, as subtly as he could, scouting the structures.

He managed to scope out the access points to the tops and, in a few minutes, he returned to Aeyrin to go over their approach plans.

The dragon was still resting, so Bishop lent Aeyrin the muffling ring so that she wouldn't wake it instantly with her heavy footsteps on the stone towers. That should give them some advantage.

They entered the first tower and made their way all the way to the top. Someone had obviously already thought that the structures needed connecting – some of them had remnants of half-crumbled stone bridges from one top to another, some had only wooden planks there. But there was a way to cross and that was important. The second they emerged on the top, Aeyrin rushed forward, for a change unconcerned about the excessive noise that would have ordinarily followed.

The dragon still didn't notice her as she crossed one tower, then the next. Before she got to the next one, however, she finally noticed the familiar Wall behind the dragon.

Another one?!

She hadn't expected it. They usually found these Walls deep underground. Who knew there were so many up on the surface? Maybe they should concentrate on the mountain ranges more often.

It was unfortunate that they seemed to always be guarded by the dragons. And it was even more frustrating for her to realize that it was just a battle inconvenience with no benefit. Not now at least. No matter what Word she would learn from it, it would be useless.

That just made her mad.

She heard the faint drums, she saw the distant light, but she concentrated all the frustration of her current situation on the dragon alone. She was almost there, still rushing silently across the last two towers. She could still do some damage before she got overwhelmed by the sensations.

Bishop spotted the Wall as well, but he had to hold himself back not to shout at Aeyrin to run. It was pointless anyway. She saw it. She knew that he would cover her. It was more like a reflex. Instead, he knelt down for a better aim from the distance and notched an arrow, ready to let it loose right into the dragon's maw. But not before Aeyrin got the first surprise blow.

She got there momentarily. As she stepped onto the larger structure that the dragon perched upon, right in front of the Wall, she lunged at it. The beast stirred before she reached it, but it seemed unprepared for any attack at all. She managed to get to it promptly and she smashed her mace right into its head – it was still low enough for her to reach.

There was a sickening sound of crunching bones and her blow left a spot of frost covering its entire nose. The flames barely grazed it, but the frost stayed, along with the soft crackles of lightning appearing around its scales and making it visibly agitated.

Before she could rush closer to the Wall, an arrow swished by her side the next second, hitting the dragon square in the side of its jaw.

Despite the more and more intense drumming in her ears, Aeyrin could hear as it only let out a soft rumbling roar, nowhere near the usual volume that they were used to. It still seemed shocked and groggy. Bishop had said that he saw it sleeping during his scouting, but Aeyrin wasn't even sure if dragons did sleep at all. She knew they curled down and closed their eyes sometimes, but she wasn't sure if they were actually asleep. Now she was starting to think that they were, judging from this one's reactions. But that only gave them the edge they needed.

Aeyrin didn't hesitate. She rushed right towards the Wall – it was only a few steps away before she could see the Word properly. It didn't take long at all with her considerably darkened vision before the runes started to form in front of her face properly.

LUN

It was over soon and she turned herself towards the battle again. The dragon was attempting to get up from its curled position, but just as one of its legs stomped onto the stone and it tried to put its weight on it, an arrow hit the very leg. It wavered and stopped its motion, letting out another exhausted rumble from its throat. The battle had barely changed since Aeyrin had left it and she didn't wait for it to happen. She ran as fast as she could, back to where she had been, and she smashed her mace into its head again with force, practically pinning its head down against the stone beneath.

Another arrow hit its neck and this time, the dragon did roar in pain. It was starting to get up on its feet at last, but Aeyrin was determined not to let it. She smashed into its head again, doing as much damage as she could. With each blow, she could feel the hard bone of its skull crack a bit more. And when Bishop's arrow flew a little too close to comfort, she was sure that it would be it. The arrow burrowed right into the damaged flesh and scales of its forehead area and with that, the dragon slumped down at last.

That seemed easy. Even with the Wall there. The dragon's groggy state was certainly to their advantage, but it was still encouraging how quick and painless this was. There was still one problem though. The dragon didn't even Shout. She had no idea what awaited her next.

Bishop rushed across the towers the second the dragon's head fell back onto the stone. Aeyrin didn't even manage to turn away from the corpse before he was by her side, with his bow already clasped back onto his back and his arms free to pull her to himself.

No matter how many times he had seen this, he fucking hated this part. He was always so worried. He knew that it technically should be easier and easier for her to withstand this, but he wasn't so sure if that was the case. And fuck, probably even if she barely flinched when this happened, he would still worry at least a little.

Aeyrin turned in his embrace and buried her head in his chest as they both lowered themselves to sit on the ground together. The dragon's corpse was already getting consumed by that light. It would happen soon. Bishop always felt like closing his eyes as well, but another part of him forced him to look on, to see the exact moment when it happened. He wasn't sure why. She seemed to conclude that not seeing it helped bear it. Maybe he should try it sometimes. But he really couldn't tear himself away.

The strings of bright light sprung from the dragon within a few seconds and shot right into her. This time she did scream. The piercing scream that made his heart clench every single fucking time. He clung to her, pulling her tighter into his embrace, while he watched her whole body start to shake. Sometimes he could tell what the effect was. Sometimes her body felt cold, sometimes heated. Sometimes she took green like the Bosmer that were actually from Valenwood sometimes were – that was usually when she was hit with that strange acidic Shout. Sometimes though, he couldn't tell at all. This was one of those times.

He tried to hold her so tight that she would stop shaking, but it didn't work. He couldn't stop it. He never could. All he could do was cling to her and hope that she wouldn't go limp in his arms, terrifying him to death.

It took a while before her shaking started to ease. He began to stroke her hair gently, wishing that she would open her eyes already. It was always so fucking frustrating. He knew how long it usually took, but when the moment came, he could never stop wondering if it was longer than usual, if it was somehow different.

But soon, her eyes fluttered open, looking at him with that very familiar glint – the confusion of sudden consciousness started to creep in.

His hand stroked over her cheek for a while before she roused herself. At these times, he always did his best to seem calm and unconcerned. He felt like it made things better for her. At least she didn't have to worry herself over worrying him on top of everything else. He knew that she would.

"You alright?" It was almost an obligatory question, and as always, she only nodded slowly in response. "What was it?" he asked after a few more seconds.

"R-remember that… that one near Morthal? With the… the strong wind and all?" she stammered a bit, still shaking herself off from the experience.

He remembered. All too well. That fucking thing managed to throw him around between tree branches and it broke both of his legs in the end. He didn't even want to imagine what it felt like to have this relived, to have it internalized like that. He never really properly knew what that meant, but her descriptions of the absorptions were enough to send a chill down his spine.

"It's alright," she let out a sigh after a while of silence. "I'm fine."

She still seemed a little rattled, but that was kind of the norm. She disentangled herself from his embrace soon enough, ready to put the experience behind her.

"What about the Shout? You wanna look it up or something? Or try it?" he suggested as he got himself off the ground too.

"Hmm, later. I just wanna get to Ivarstead now that the thing is dead," she gave him a wry smile.

That was a good idea. They had plenty of time to test this shit out later after all.

Bishop nodded and, after a brief search through the area, in case there were any treasures left in the towers, they grabbed their packs from the first tower where they had left them and they finally set off back onto their trail.

Just as they had emerged from the tower though, something interrupted them.

A voice, calling out.

"Hello! City folks! Over here!"

They turned around to locate the source of the noise – there was an old Nord, up on a small natural ledge some distance away from them, calling out to them with both his hands on the sides of his lips as if to make the sound louder.

"Did he just call us 'city folks'?" Bishop smirked. He certainly didn't consider himself a city person, no matter the fact that he was kind of being forced into spending too much time in the cities right now.

They shared a brief look and shrugged before they headed over towards that man. He clearly wanted something.

They stopped below the outcropping he was standing on. It wasn't very visible yet, but from down below, they did note the roof of some cabin behind him. It was hidden even from the view from the towers by the mountains. The man likely lived here.

"I heard the noises and I saw you coming down from the towers," the man scowled at them. "What were you doing in there? There's no treasures there. You just came to scare my boy?"

'His boy'? What was he talking about? There was only one thing to 'scare' in those towers.

"The… dragon?" Aeyrin gaped at him. Did he make friends with it? Did they just kill a peaceful dragon? Oh Gods! That might have been why it was so easy to kill. It didn't want to fight back!

"Pfft, not the dragon," the man shook his head and Aeyrin let out a relieved sigh. That would have never stopped eating at her. "My boy. I have a boy now. He's scared of the thing and you're just making it worse."

"We killed it," Bishop scowled at him. It was not gonna be scaring anyone anymore.

"Yeah, yeah, we've seen that before. I told those city guards down there that it was scaring my boy," the man pointed towards the direction of Ivarstead. It was a little generous to be calling the village a 'city'. "They came and 'killed' it," he scoffed. "Then it got up again and flew around even more and kept making noise. My boy barely sleeps as it is. You proud of yourselves? You make your precious Divines happy, scaring a child?"

"O-oh, no," Aeyrin quickly shook her head. "We really killed. It's dead. Really dead. It won't get up again."

"You think, but it will get up again, I'm telling you," the man still frowned fiercely, clearly exasperated about having to explain himself.

"No. It's fucking dead," Bishop sighed. He didn't want to say it outright – Aeyrin never liked being presented as the Dragonborn to anyone. But maybe the man wouldn't believe anything but his own eyes anyway. "Come here," Bishop gestured to him and took a few steps back, enough for the towers to be visible again around the corner of the cliffs. The skeleton of the dragon was plain to see there.

The old man looked very skeptical, but he hopped off his ledge surprisingly deftly and followed Bishop until he reached the vantage point as well.

"Did it look like this the last time?" Bishop pointed to the skeleton. If the man had seen the dragon dead and seen it rise again, he must have seen that it wasn't stripped of its flesh and scales like this one was.

"Hmm…" the man studied the sight for a while. Bishop wasn't sure for a moment if he was even able to see that far in his old age. Then he wondered why the fuck he even cared about any of this. They could just leave. Why the fuck were they reassuring this guy? He would find out eventually that the thing was really dead. Who cared?

This pointless 'selfless hero' behavior just became so automatic with Aeyrin around. It still tended to make him feel a bit unsettled at times.

The man turned his attention to Bishop then, and then to Aeyrin. He narrowed his eyes a little at her before he finally spoke again. "You're that lass that can kill them dead then? I heard some of the city folks talk of it."

"You live like an hour away from that 'city'. Stop talking like you're some forest man in the middle of nowhere here," Bishop mumbled, but the man didn't seem to even hear him. Or maybe he just ignored him.

"Yeah. That's… that's me," Aeyrin gave him a nervous chuckle.

"Well…" the man let out a sigh. "Maybe the boy will sleep a bit tonight. Come. You tell him. And he knows your city folk maps so he can show you where the other one is."

"What?" Aeyrin gave the man a startled look. 'Other one'? As in dragon?

But the man ignored her entirely. He walked right past her and towards the cliffside where he could get back onto the ledge. He expected them to follow.

The two of them shared another look, this time more confused than before. Bishop kind of wanted to leave. That guy was annoying to deal with. They could just let him do whatever, calm down his boy or something. It was probably just gonna be some skeever he tamed here or something. He seemed a little out of it.

But it was kind of tempting just to find out what he was on about. And he could see that Aeyrin wanted to. He kinda did too, just to get some clarity.

They followed the man up onto the ledge and inside the small cabin perched there. It was a bit dark when they entered. The only light seeping in was from the setting sun through one simple window. All the candles around were extinguished. But it was a very small space. With only two beds, one at each side of the room, a single chair and a single cupboard, and a modesty screen at the back, likely hiding a lavatory. There wasn't even any kind of a kitchen there, but maybe the man cooked outside on a campfire.

There was a boy there though. A young dark-haired Nord boy, probably no older than ten. He was crouched by the modesty screen, as if he was hiding, with his arms wrapped tightly around his knees and palpable fear in his eyes.

"Froki?" the boy's eyes widened when all three of them entered. "What… what's going on?"

"The city folks here just killed the dragon," the old man, presumably Froki, only shrugged at the boy as he made his way towards the one chair in the room and sat himself down.

The boy's only reaction was a frustrated groan as he hid his face into his hands. Why didn't the old man explain further? This clearly just upset the boy.

"Uhm… it's… it's really dead. It won't scare you anymore," Aeyrin tried to sound comforting as she spoke to the boy. He looked so terrified, it was heart-wrenching.

"No! They don't die! They just get angry," the boy snarled. They were luckier than they knew in this cabin if the dragon got angry after it was killed. It was so close to the towers. No wonder the boy was so scared.

"It's dead, boy. Really dead," Froki finally spoke. At least he would be hopefully more credible than strangers.

The boy shook his head at those words, but when only silence followed, he looked at them again, carefully, first at Froki to gouge his expression, then at Aeyrin and Bishop, very slowly.

"R-really? You really killed one for good? I… I didn't think anyone could," he sniffled a little. Trying to calm himself from both the shock and his previous state.

Aeyrin threw Froki a confused look. He knew about her. He said so. Why did he let the poor boy believe this?

"Why didn't you tell him they can be killed?" she raised her brow at the man.

"And then what? Get his hopes up for nothing?" Froki scoffed. "I thought it was poppycock anyways. All the city folks keep blabbing about blessings of that Divine of yours. That dragon one. There's nothing but Kyne's will – nature's rules. They're hunters. Not much to do if they're better ones than mankind."

"Not better than all mankind," Bishop smirked. He kinda got the logic. The boy would probably be just asking endlessly why nobody can kill the dragon outside his door, when they can be killed. It did sound like it was just fucking worse to leave him so scared though.

"You really killed one…" the boy gaped at them incredulously, almost reverently. He stood up from the ground at last, as if to leave the fear behind over there. "Can you… can you kill more? Is that possible?"

"Sure," Aeyrin had to chuckle at his excitement. It was good to see him perk up a bit. "We've killed a lot of them over time."

"Really? Like really killed?" he still looked so incredulous.

"Go look for yourself, boy," Froki nodded at him while he took out some chunk of wood and a knife from his pocket almost in a bored fashion. He was likely about to whittle something while he sat there. It was sort of strange to be intruding on them like this, but Froki wanted them to come. And they still hadn't heard anything about that 'other one'. "It's up on those towers."

The boy didn't hesitate for a second and he bolted past Bishop and Aeyrin, out of the door. There were several seconds of silence before the sound carried inside the cabin again.

"Whoa!" There was unmarred astonishment in his gasp.

"My boy Haming," Froki cracked a small smile as he explained before the boy returned again. "Grandson. Been here with me nearly two years or so."

"We're… glad we could get rid of the dragon for his sake," Aeyrin smiled a bit, still a little uncertain about being in this place, but it did feel good to see the boy so excited. "You said something about another one? Did you mean another dragon?"

In the meantime, Haming ran back into the cabin and past them. He must have overheard Aeyrin because his eyes were wide in astonishment.

"You would kill the other one too? Kill it dead like you did this one?" he gasped.

"We didn't see any others anywhere near Ivarstead," Bishop shrugged. Though it was quite possible that there were more around this place. They were mostly spending their days in the eastern parts of southern Rift after all and they didn't really come here much anymore to 'thin the herd'.

"It's not near the city. It's deeper into the mountains," Froki explained as he continued to whittle away at the chunk of wood idly.

"I have a map! I can show you where I see it the most," Haming perked up and he instantly went towards the cupboard. It was full of things when he opened it, some even fell out onto the floor. It looked like everything was just tossed there with no rhyme or reason. But eventually, he located a parchment in that mess and brought it over to them. "It gets close sometimes. One time it fought with the one in the towers, but neither died. But I see it over here all the time."

He pointed to a spot in the mountains, south from the Throat of the World. It was near the passes that Aeyrin and Bishop often avoided in favor of the roundabout through Ivarstead and around Valtheim Towers. But the passes were still a viable option.

"Well… we could take the mountain roads tomorrow instead to get to Falkreath," Aeyrin gave Bishop a wry smile. She looked like she was asking him for a favor or something. As if he didn't expect this the second the old man mentioned another dragon. And besides…

"You won't hear me complain about avoiding Whiterun. And you won't hear me complain about the snow and the cold," he chuckled at her, earning only an indignant scoff in return.

"Wait, so you will?" Haming's eyes widened at them again, full of astonishment.

"We'll go through the mountain and we'll kill any dragons we see there," Aeyrin winked at him.

"Wow," the boy gaped at her. "How many have you killed?"

"Well, that's my cue," Froki let out a little chuckle, almost too subtle to notice. "Boy's calmed down and I can make us some food. You stay. I'll make more. The boy wants to talk your ear off anyway."

Aeyrin and Bishop looked at each other in surprise while Froki got up from his chair and walked past them. They were staying for dinner now? They had planned to go to Ivarstead for the night. This would delay that quite a bit. They wanted to tell them that they couldn't stay, but Froki was out of the door within seconds and Haming eagerly patted his hand onto one of the beds.

"Come on, you can sit here on my bed," he ushered them eagerly. It felt a little like he was familiarizing a new pet with its surroundings. But he was kind of cute with how excited he got, as opposed to his previous state. He was hard to say no to.

Bishop just gave Aeyrin a shrug and, surprisingly enough, he was the first one to actually obey the boy as he stepped towards the bed and sat on it.

He wasn't sure why. This situation was always a little hard for him to detach from. Maybe from all the times he looked after Jules, after all the shit they've been through when they were kids, it felt good to see that same look of admiration in this boy's eyes.

Aeyrin joined him on the bed momentarily with a soft smile. It still felt a little strange to be in this cabin all of the sudden with the man and the boy they didn't even know, but she kept telling herself that it was the same as joining people in mining villages for an evening meal and some tales. They did that a lot. And she always loved how excited little Hrefna in Darkwater Crossing got about their tales. There was always something more gratifying about telling them to children.

Haming sat himself onto the ground again, right in front of them and this time in a much more relaxed manner. "How did you kill it? You need armor and weapons like this to kill one?" he checked out their equipment curiously, particularly Aeyrin's armor.

"No, you don't need stuff like this. But it helps," Aeyrin smiled at him. She decided to ignore the first question a bit. Froki didn't tell the boy anything about her or that the dragons could be killed. It seemed strange, but she didn't feel like it was her place to do that in his stead. He would tell the boy himself if he wanted to.

"We actually killed one without any armor at all," Bishop smirked. It had been more out of an unfortunate necessity than in an attempt to challenge themselves, but that wasn't important.

"Wow," the boy gaped at him in astonishment. "Did you… did you kill a lot of them?"

Bishop and Aeyrin shared another look. At some point, they kind of lost count. It was both a disturbing and a proud realization.

"I don't know, like a dozen? More?" Bishop shrugged with a palpably smug grin on his face

"You're real live dragon slayers," Haming's eyes shone brightly at them. It was a tiny bit uncomfortable to be the subject of such unadulterated admiration for Aeyrin, more so because she never knew how to act in these situations, but Bishop was surprisingly at ease as he indulged the child. She couldn't help but imagine how he interacted like that with his younger siblings. Well… Jules at least.

"That's right," he grinned at the boy. "They're not so scary. Just overgrown lizards that make a lot of noise."

Haming giggled at that, but his face fell again after a bit and his brows creased, deep in thought.

"Do you… do you think…" his voice was quiet and he avoided looking at them directly. "Do you think I could kill one?"

Bishop and Aeyrin looked at each other again. Technically he could. Not 'kill it dead' though like he wanted to. But again, they weren't sure how much to tell him about all this mess. And by the time he would be old enough to kill dragons, he would probably know more on his own. Maybe by that time, the dragons would be gone. They could only hope.

Aeyrin had no idea how to answer him, but Bishop jumped in again.

"You know, you need to practice to take something like a dragon. A smart hunter starts small. With animals and shit," he gave the boy an encouraging smile.

"I wanna!" Haming whined. "But Froki says I'm too young to hunt. Even though he keeps bragging about his own hunts at my age. It's not fair!"

"I'm sure he'll teach you one day soon," Aeyrin tried to comfort him, but he only huffed in indignation. He shook his head a second later, as if he was trying to chase away the annoyance, and he concentrated on his new opportunity instead. He wanted to know everything about fighting dragons.

"I wanna hear about the battles. Tell me some stories," he shuffled on the spot in excitement again.

They had plenty of stories. Even if they needed to leave some things out.

The last thing they needed was to scare the boy more.

…

Froki's food wasn't the best. They would have almost preferred rations.

But Haming was just so excited about all the stories. They indulged the boy, and the old man, until the sun actually set, burying the mountains in darkness at last. And Haming himself was starting to yawn tiredly, even though he tried to hide it constantly so that Froki wouldn't cut the recounting of tales of adventures short.

It was about high time they got to Ivarstead. They didn't want to camp outside again, not after last night.

"So… thank you for your hospitality, but it's getting late and we should really…" Aeyrin broached the subject at last, but she was quickly interrupted by Haming.

"No! Don't go! You can stay here. Right, Froki? They can stay," he shook his head vehemently before he threw a pleading look at the old man.

"Oh. No, we couldn't impose. Ivarstead is not far and…" Aeyrin tried to interject quickly, but Froki's grunt interrupted her again.

"The boy wants you to stay. You stay," he shrugged, as if it didn't matter to him a single bit.

"There's… not even enough room here," Bishop protested. There were only two beds there. And it was already cramped.

"I'll sleep on the floor! Please!" Haming gave them a look that was very unfair and very hard to resist. "What if the other dragon flies by before you can kill it tomorrow? You need to stay to protect me because I can't even hunt yet."

"Just stop pussyfooting around and stay. You can take the boy's bed," Froki grumbled. "You can return to your precious cities in the morning."

That was much less convincing than Haming's performance. But it was late. They were offered the bed and if they stayed, they didn't even have to make the detour to Ivarstead in the morning. They could just go straight to the mountain passes. The letter for Maro could just as well be sent from Falkreath.

"Do you go to the… 'city'?" Aeyrin turned to Froki with a defeated sigh. "They need to know that the dragon is dead. The bones shouldn't stay there like this. They can sell them or something. You can too, if you want. Just… someone should."

"I'll tell them," Froki nodded noncommittally.

"Does that mean you'll stay?" Haming beamed at them, though it was accompanied by another yawn.

Aeyrin and Bishop nodded at each other briefly. It didn't matter all that much, even if the inn was more comfortable. They were a little too tired to be trying to weasel out of this while Haming kept convincing them. And, based on what Froki had said, the boy didn't have a decent sleep for a while now. Anything that would help him with that was a good thing.

"Alright. But you need to go to sleep. We'll tell you more tales in the morning," Aeyrin smiled at him warmly.

"Aaaw… alright," Haming sighed a bit, but he did rub his eyes tiredly. He just curled on the floor where he was, much to their surprise. They could give him their bedroll. Or just sleep on the ground themselves – it wasn't that big of a deal. Though the boy didn't seem to mind either.

"Boy, don't be daft," Froki scoffed at him and he nudged him with his foot. "Get up. We can share the bed for the night."

That was a solution. Haming got up from the floor with a tired, wry smile and he shuffled towards the second bed.

Bishop and Aeyrin were still fully armed and armored, but since they weren't going anywhere else, it was time to get out of the constricting equipment. Soon enough, they were all in the two small beds, cramped in the tiny cabin. But it wasn't as uncomfortable as they had feared.

Haming's soft breathing reverberated through the room almost instantly before anyone else could fall asleep. And Froki let out a seemingly affectionate and relieved sigh at that sound. He must have been really worried about the boy's sleep.

"He's resilient," the old man noted quietly into the silence of the night. "Brave too. It's just those dragons. He was in that city across the mountains when it happened. Right across the mountains, what'd you call that one?"

"Helgen?" Aeyrin asked, almost silently. The man said that the boy was here almost two years. It made sense. And it was no wonder that he would be so terrified of the dragons if he actually witnessed the town's destruction.

"That's the one. His folks didn't make it, but he did," Froki continued. Ran all across the mountains to his grandpop. All on his own."

"That's impressive," Bishop mumbled. Necessity sometimes built character. It really reminded him of the shit he and Jules had to endure and get through when they were this young. They were tossed into impossible and dangerous situations all the time without any help from anyone.

"He'll be even more impressive once he learns how to live here properly, care for himself," Froki mused. "He'll do good now with the lizard gone. And the second one, I hope," his tone was almost threatening. As if he thought that tactic would ensure that they go kill the second dragon.

But regardless of his attitude, they had already decided.

And hopefully they would actually get to Falkreath the next day, as they had been planning.

…

The wind howled through the gorge as Bishop and Aeyrin collected themselves off the ground.

Another dragon slain in such a short time.

This one was rough. It was one of the smaller colorful ones that used the dreaded purple Shout. The two of them made it through the battle unscathed, but the absorption was… a lot. Aeyrin just tried to concentrate on the fortunate fact that she didn't pass out from it like she sometimes did.

Hopefully this was the last one for a while. But travelling through the mountains didn't fill them with much confidence for that.

There were still some upsides to this, aside from clearing the area for the people of Ivarstead as well as Haming and Froki.

"I didn't wanna say that before," Bishop smirked as he looked over the snowy plateau with remnants of ancient Nordic ruins scattered around. There were grand arches, sarcophagi, and crumbled structures around. They had slain not only the dragon, but a few draugr around too. It was definitely a less peaceful journey than it would have been through the familiar path, but it was not without its benefits. When I was back there," he pointed to the spot some distance away where he had been shooting at the dragon from. "I saw another Wall there in the distance. At least I think I did. I didn't wanna have you noticing that in the battle though." He knew how this went. Once she knew it was there, she noticed the effects of it too much and she needed to get to it before anything else.

"Oh… alright," Aeyrin nodded absentmindedly. She didn't wait before she started to walk in that general direction. They were done here with the dragon dead, they needed to go through there anyway and, now that she knew, there was no time to waste, even if she couldn't really see or hear anything yet.

Bishop caught up with her promptly. She felt a little less eager than she usually was about the Walls. When she wasn't panicked by their presence in the middle of the battle, that is.

"So many of them in a short time," he mused as they both walked around the rocks and cliffs. "That's pretty lucky."

"Right," Aeyrin merely scoffed in response. "They're useless anyway." She tried the last one already. Nothing happened. Again. She found out that the word meant 'leech', but that told her nothing. Entirely pointless.

"Well, not entirely. They'll work eventually, right?" Bishop nudged her, but she only let out a sigh in turn. There was no more time to cheer her up anyway. The second the Wall came into view, she started to rush forward, eager to get it over with.

GAAN

By the time her vision and hearing cleared, Bishop was already by her side again, tugging at her pack as he tried to locate her book on the dragon language.

"Try it out," he nudged her, still rummaging around on her back.

She did. She didn't even wait and she didn't give this more than two tries. But she tried.

"Nothing?" he asked when he finally pulled out the book.

"Is that surprising? You didn't even step back or anything," she smirked. He was so sure, just like her, that it wouldn't work, he didn't even consider it.

"Right," Bishop scowled. He wouldn't have even realized that if she didn't say it. "Well… it doesn't matter anyway. We'll find out eventually," he tried to sound encouraging as he handed her the book. He knew there was not much he could help with. He knew that these things weren't really filling her with a lot of optimism right now with the whole werewolf thing. But there was not much to do but wait.

"Stamina," she interrupted his pondering with a word he did not expect. In fact, he had completely forgotten what he was waiting for her to say.

"What?"

"Stamina. That's what the Word means," she shrugged. She had no idea what it meant for the Shout. Maybe it increased one's stamina, made them capable of running or swimming for hours without tiring. That sounded nice. But there was no way to make sure now anyway.

She only shrugged and passed him the book again so that he could put it back into her pack without her having to drop it.

"Come on. Let's get to Falkreath already. I'm sick of dragons," she grabbed him by the wrist when he was done putting the book away and she tugged at him a bit. Bishop didn't need to be told twice. He was eager to put this all behind them for a while too and to get away from the mountains.

Fortunately it didn't take too long. The snow in the passes wasn't nearly as bad as it would have been in the winter and the two of them managed to make some good time crossing the mountains.

Much to both of their relief, there were no more dragons. There were only a few stray trolls and wolves that Bishop was able to take care of from afar.

The closer they were getting to the forests, the less despondent the mood seemed. Aeyrin was gradually forgetting her moroseness about the Shouts and the experience from the soul absorption and she was instead starting to get more excited for their upcoming adventures. She was still optimistic about pushing the very painful memories of the place way behind some new ones, much more exciting and pleasant ones. There had to be a lot to do for them there.

They stopped for a while when they reached the last peak of the mountain passes. The road ahead, as well as the large confusing forests, spread out in front of them. A lovely sight from afar, though they knew how dangerous it could be from up close.

"Coming full circle looks like. Helgen. Falkreath. Whichever one of them," Aeyrin mused a little wistfully. The ruins of Helgen still looked the same, even though they were crawling with bandits. She could see the burnt black buildings from all the way here. And beyond that, the smoke of the numerous chimneys from the town itself peeked from atop the tree-tops, signaling the location of the town.

"Fuck, I hope not. For either of those," Bishop snorted.

"No one says it's gotta be the same the second time around," Aeyrin bumped into his shoulder encouragingly.

"Isn't that the point of circles?" he chuckled in response.

"You're ruining it. It was a poetic moment. Besides, circles have no points."

"Well, you got me there," a smirk decorated his face as he looked over the sight in front of them.

He fucking hated this place. So much bad shit happened here.

He really wanted to echo her optimism.

But only time would tell whether 'reclaiming' this place was even something that would be possible.

Or if they would just end up trapped in its vicious circle of disasters again.