Chapter Summary: Miranja and Faendal help solve two mysteries.
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Miranja had assumed the watch after she and Faendal had finally – temporarily – gotten their fill of each other. When the sun had been up for an hour and Faendal was still asleep, she got into the bed and pressed herself against his back, kissing his freckled shoulders, mentally pinching herself that she could finally do this without fear of negative consequences. She stroked his arm almost reverently, then worked her arm between his arm and his body and stroked his chest and belly.
Faendal groaned and looked over his shoulder toward her, squinting. She moved back as far as she could without falling off the little bed, giving him room to turn onto his back.
"What time is it?" he slurred, pressing his hand to his eyes to block out the light.
"Time to get back on the road," Miranja told him gently, propping herself on her elbow to kiss his face. "The sun's been up for about an hour now, unlike someone I know."
"I'm so tired," Faendal murmured.
"Me, too," Miranja agreed. "The excitement kept me awake for another hour after you went to sleep, but after that, it got really hard to keep my eyes open. I had to get up and walk around the building once in a while to stay awake. Did a little night fishing. Even splashed my face with cold river water a few times. But it was worth it, finally getting to make love with you, and watching you sleep. I think we might just have to make up for lost sleep tonight – get a decent room at the inn in Windhelm and sleep in tomorrow morning. But right now, we have errands to run. At least, we have to deliver Sondas' message to Quintus. I also want to ask around at the docks and see if anyone knows about this Pride of Tel Vos shipwreck that Brand-Shei told me about. I really want to help him find out about his real parents and his heritage."
Miranja had put her fur armor back on before standing watch last night; it was chilly at night even there near the hot springs, and they were going further north, anyway. Windhelm, she had heard, was the snowiest city in Skyrim. She recommended that Faendal, too, wear something warm. While Faendal got dressed, Miranja started cooking the fish she'd caught during the night. They ate quickly, cleaned up and packed their supplies, and continued up the eastern side of the river toward Windhelm.
They hadn't been walking very long when Faendal spoke up. "Miranja, I have a confession to make."
"About what?"
"I followed you. Sundas night."
For a moment, Miranja's blood ran cold and she worried what Faendal must think of her if he saw everything she had done that night. But then she remembered his passion last night and wondered if it was fueled by what he'd seen.
"Why did you follow me?"
Faendal shrugged as he walked. They were passing from the hot springs into the snowy northern end of the river. "I don't know. Partly because Lydia asked me to make sure you were okay – she thought it should be me instead of her because Bosmer can disappear into the forest better than Nords – and partly because I was curious. I wanted to know who you were meeting, and see what you were up to."
"So… how much did you see?"
"All right, hand over your valuables, or I'll gut you like a fish." The voice came from behind Miranja, and Faendal's eyes turned in that direction, his face a mask of irritated disgust. Miranja rolled her eyes and sighed, turning to face the robber with one eyebrow lifted in disdain. She was, quite frankly, bored with running into these useless pricks. They were more a nuisance than a threat.
"Do I look like I have any gold?" she sighed, quite convincingly.
"No, I guess not," the Dunmer man said, disheartened. "Well, get out of here before I change my mind."
Miranja shot daggers at the thief with her eyes as she turned away, and he stole back into the thin pine trees by the side of the road to await his next victim. But there wouldn't be a next victim. When they were a safe distance away, Faendal turned and, with his keen eyes and well-honed archery skills, shot the thief through the head with his bow, and he and Miranja watched him fall to the ground and stay there.
Faendal picked up the conversation as if they'd never been interrupted. "Everything," he told her with a meaningful sidelong glance. "I saw everything." A faint smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.
Miranja smiled and nodded, but walked along silently, thinking. He must have enjoyed the show. If he'd been disgusted and thought her a whore, he wouldn't have spent half the night making love with her last night. The light suddenly came on in her mind as to why he'd been so warm and sweaty Sundas night when she'd come home and checked in on him. He'd gotten home just ahead of her, hadn't had time to cool down, and had certainly been feigning sleep. That sly dog!
"So, you're not angry with me?" Faendal asked, a bit perplexed at her enigmatic smile and lack of any other response.
"Not at all," Miranja told him. "I'm partly flattered that you and Lydia were concerned about me and maybe just a tiny bit insulted that neither of you trusted that I could take care of myself. I know I'm fairly new to Skyrim, but I'm doing much better already. And I have a confession to make, too. All day yesterday I was thinking about what it could have been like if you had joined in with us, and how I would have had my hands delightfully full trying to please all of you at once."
Faendal looked at her with pleasant surprise written all over his face. "I wasn't lying last night when I said I was thinking of making love with you and Camilla together. But what I didn't tell you was that I was also thinking about what I saw Sundas night. It was so damned arousing to watch you getting nasty with two of my fellow Bosmer. I like that you're so in touch with your sexuality and that you're willing to talk so candidly about sex – now that everything is out in the open between us. I wonder if you could teach Camilla to open up a bit. She seems a bit uptight in that area."
Miranja inwardly sighed at Faendal turning the conversation toward Camilla again, but she humored him. "I'll be honest, Faendal. My impression of Camilla is that she is a virgin who likes to dangle her virtue before men like a carrot before a horse. Don't get me wrong; I don't judge her for that, but I am concerned that she's playing with fire and might end up getting burned when she least expects it. There could be someone besides you and Sven who wants her, someone who might not be above taking what he wants if he feels she's taunted him long enough, or if he feels she's wronged him by not paying him enough attention."
Faendal looked alarmed. "Do you know something I don't know? Who are you talking about?"
"No, no, no," Miranja quickly assured him. "I don't have anyone in particular in mind. I don't even know the good citizens of Riverwood well enough to come to that sort of conclusion. And I don't know what other traffic comes through the Riverwood Trader. I'm just saying that she could accidentally end up teasing – or ignoring – the wrong man. Yes, she's beautiful and has an active imagination, but she does seem naïve when it comes to sexual things. I know I haven't known her as long as you have, but to me, as another woman, it's obvious that she's been a 'good girl' all her life, and I think she wants to break free of the leash of propriety. You just have to find a way to get her alone and slowly coax her to trust you. Let her know that you're all for her being adventurous and that you won't judge her and you'll keep her secrets. I bet she could be pretty wild if she had the right instruction and encouragement."
"I'm not trying to talk you into doing anything you don't want to do," Faendal stressed, "but I just think she'd be more comfortable learning from another woman than learning from a man. I think she wants to explore her sexual side, but she might be intimidated – either because she wants to maintain her good girl reputation or because she's afraid a man might think she doesn't know what she's doing."
"Or maybe both," Miranja suggested. "So, what exactly are you asking, Faendal? You want me to seduce her, or just give her pointers?"
Faendal smiled and gave a little shiver. "I guess I was talking about giving her pointers, but thinking about you seducing her does give me a thrill. You're not Sven, after all. You're not competing with me to win her affections." He seemed momentarily unsure of his own words. "Right?"
Miranja laughed and pressed her head and shoulder playfully against his shoulder as they walked. "I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to do naughty things with her," she told him, "but I'm not interested in anything serious or long-term with her – least of all marriage."
Faendal sighed in relief. "In that case, I stand by what I said. The thought of you two enjoying each other is definitely thrilling."
"The thought of you and Camilla enjoying each other turns me on, if you want to know the truth," Miranja told him. "And just imagine the three of us all playing together…
"That's another confession I have to make, Faendal. Last night while we were making love, the first time I came I was simply marveling about finally getting to make love with you, having you inside my body, but my second orgasm was helped along by thinking about having a threesome with you guys. I could imagine watching you pleasing Camilla."
Faendal looked askance at her and smiled slyly. "Now we've both thought about it. Think we can make it come true?"
"Do you really want to?"
"I think it would be amazing."
"But in the end, you'd marry her and I would be on my own, huh?"
The smile faded from Faendal's face, and he stopped walking. Miranja stopped, too, and turned to look at him.
"I think you're amazing," Faendal said sincerely. "But I have known Camilla longer, and she's the kind of woman who I know would be… safe, for lack of a better word. She has her flights of fancy, but she's not prone to leaving her home and family and security. Do you know what I mean? I wouldn't have to worry about her being maimed or killed at any given moment. You, being the Dragonborn, are at risk at every moment, in every setting. If you're not dredging through crypts and fighting draugr to get to dragon walls or being attacked by dragons themselves, you have cultists and gods-know-who-else out to get you. I mean, we still don't know who contracted the Dark Brotherhood to assassinate you."
Miranja nodded and smiled sadly. "I understand where you're coming from, Faendal. Let's just play it by ear, and see what happens. I'll just enjoy the ride in the meantime." Her feelings were certainly hurt, but she still harbored hope that she could eventually change his mind. After all, it wasn't like he and Camilla were already engaged or even truly courting yet.
They spent the rest of the day and most of the next day in Windhelm. On the first day, they delivered Sondas' message to Quintus, learning of Nurelion's quest for the White Phial after which he had named his shop, and offering to help. They learned that sweet Susannah from the Candlehearth, who had called Miranja "my beauty" and unapologetically hung out with the Dunmer in the Gray Quarter, had been murdered by someone Viola Giordano had dubbed "The Butcher." Miranja took it upon herself to help the city guard with the investigation, finding out that the handsome and mild-mannered Calixto was the demented culprit trying to resurrect his dead sister through necromancy. Wuunferth had believed that the Butcher would strike after dark, but to Miranja's horror, she caught him right in the middle of the market square in broad daylight, as she was scoping out a good location to hide and wait! She managed to stop him just before he killed Arivanya, the stablemaster's lovely wife.
During the course of the investigation, she discovered mysterious stones in the Shatter-Shield house and in Wuunferth's quarters – just like the ones she'd found in Stony Creek Cave, the Dwemer Museum, and Reeking Cave while traveling with Lydia. Miranja was normally not one to steal, but those stones were absolutely irresistible in their mystery, and she couldn't stop herself from guiltily pocketing them.
By the time she'd finished with the messy business of the Butcher, it was late evening and she had just enough time to get to Sadri's Used Wares to see Revyn Sadri for some trading and another speechcraft lesson. It pleased her when Revyn was so obviously happy to see her, and she enjoyed his gentle, soothing voice and mannerisms. The mysterious stones in her pocket whispered tauntingly the whole time she was with Revyn; what would he think of her if he knew she had stolen goods on her person?
Faendal wanted to buy himself some nice elven gauntlets with his share of their acquired gold, but Miranja insisted on buying them for him. He wouldn't always be traveling with her, and she still had a lot to do and was sure to amass a lot more money, and she wanted to give him a tangible gift of gratitude for all the time he'd spent helping her by covering her ass and carrying stuff for her. The gauntlets would suit that purpose, and would also be an innocuous expression of her love for him.
"Save your money for retirement or something," she joked.
Revyn closed up shop at eight o'clock and bid them good night so he could take his customary nap. Miranja and Faendal went to the New Gnisis for supper and chatted with Ambarys and her other friends. They stayed long enough to see Revyn one more time when he came in at eight-thirty, then called it a day and retired to the Candlehearth. Miranja was a little annoyed that the Candlehearth only had a room with a single bed in it and that Faendal offered to sleep on the floor so they would both have room to move, but in all honesty, she wasn't feeling like getting frisky, anyway, after the disturbing events of the day and seeing Susannah's mutilated body and the macabre scene in the hidden room at Hjerim. She slept rather fitfully that night.
The next day, before they could even go inquire at the docks, they heard from a guard about a shipwreck near Winterhold: the Pride of Tel Vos. This excited Miranja.
"Brand-Shei mentioned something about a Telvanni servant escaping Morrowind after the Argonian invasion on a ship with that name. He said he'd never been able to find it himself. Oh, we have to go check it out. He'll be so excited if this is the clue he's been looking for."
They found their way to the wreck, and after taking out some bandits who were preventing them access, Miranja poked around in the icy water to find a waterlogged but still legible journal in a chest. She read it aloud to Faendal, and by the time she'd reached the end she was crying and so choked up she could hardly speak.
"His name is Brandyl," she whispered, stroking the last page tenderly and gazing at the blurry words through tear-filled eyes. "He really is a Telvanni. I wonder if one of the invaders found him and took him home? It seems like a miracle that one of them would take him in instead of killing him with everyone else in the household. Or did his father somehow manage to hide him? He somehow seemed to know that Brandyl would survive. Such a sad situation, but I guess it turned out sort of okay in the end… Brandyl did survive, but obviously not in the way his father would have liked. Lymdrenn almost sounded like he was sympathetic toward the Argonians. I wonder how he would feel knowing that his son ended up being raised by them?"
Faendal gently took the book from her, closed it, and tucked it into his pack. "The world may never know," he said quietly, "but at least Brand-Shei will have some closure. Let's head back to Windhelm before it gets dark. That way we'll be a little closer to Riften and we can start heading there in the morning. I'm sure you're dying to get this back to him, bless your tender heart."
He embraced her and kissed her forehead, and she melted into his warm arms for a few moments. She realized she'd started to shiver from wading in the cold water and slowing down after all the walking and the fighting with the bandits. They needed to get moving and warm up again.
Back in Windhelm, they had supper at the New Gnisis again, asking Ambarys what he knew of the Telvanni, then they went back to the Candlehearth, where they made their bed together on the floor and made love sweetly and tenderly before getting a sound night's sleep.