Chapter IV – Hallowed Halls

Darkness fell over the horizon with the twin moons peeking from behind the grand spires, climbing up on the star-lit sky.

It was strange to see a clear night without the northern lights. It was strange to not feel the absolutely freezing air on them as the sun came down – it was just a barely-cold, pleasant breeze. It was strange to have every tree around bloom and the paved road under their feet so wide it could fit three carriages next to each other with no issues.

But the strangest part was seeing this city again.

It hasn't been that long. Two years for her. But it felt like an eternity ago.

Chorrol's chapel towered above the battlements and the roofs of the noble mansions, only outdone by the Castle on the other side of the city, taller than anything else with its numerous towers and complex corridors connecting them, creating an impressive panorama on the horizon.

It all brought back so many memories. Some of them so warm and comforting. Some of them decidedly less so. But most of all, there was still that anxious feeling accompanying her with each step.

What if something was wrong?

There were still no letters, not even after they had spent three days in this Province. Not back during their time in Falkreath. Why didn't Master Therien write to her? Why, when everything was supposed to be 'well'?

But she was going to find out soon. She was going to see him soon, surely. And everyone else too.

It was making her a bit more nervous, for some reason. After everything that happened, everything that she had been through in the last few years, she wasn't sure if she was going to feel like she fit in there again.

Then again, did she ever? She left because she didn't feel like the other clerics – not like she belonged there to pursue priesthood or paladinhood. Not like her purpose was there in those halls. But she did always love staying there in between her travels. She just wasn't sure if it was going to feel the same now.

She and Bishop had agreed to go straight to the temple. Not only did she need to make sure that Master Therien was fine, but they could also stay there for free. At least they hoped so. Aeyrin always could, surely the priests would not mind a tag-along with her. If they would 'behave', of course. Bishop was not happy about that.

The large gate closed behind them, opening the city to them at last. The guards didn't ask any questions, fortunately. The sight of travelers was nothing unusual, of course, not even late at night. There were still people around, the city didn't even look that much different at night. There were street lanterns everywhere, illuminating the place, and there were groups of citizens and wanderers alike, drunk ones and sober ones, all over the large square with the Great Oak towering in the middle, even taller than the city walls with the canopy covering almost the entirety of the plaza. There were decorative lanterns hanging in the canopy of the tree, shining with dark blue lights in the city's colors.

It was just as she remembered it.

Home.

It filled her with an odd feeling. She was so excited to be back here again. The city was just as beautiful as ever. And what was more, she was here with Bishop.

If only she could get that unpleasant feeling out of her gut.

"This place looks better than I remember," Bishop smirked as his eyes roamed over the plaza and the lanterns illuminating the oak. "Then again, I wasn't here much. And only ever on the other end," he pointed haphazardly to the right. The western edges of the large city, past the temple and down the hill. The Chorrol slums.

"Yeah, we can just… stay away from that place," Aeyrin scrunched up her nose. She had certainly had her share of that awful part of the city. As far as she was concerned, this town ended right at the temple doors.

"Hmm… you can," Bishop nodded. "I still need to find someone who can tell me where those assholes have ended up," he grumbled. There was no way that anyone 'scrupulous' would know. His only hope was the slums. Particularly The Oreyn House – a small tavern in the middle of the slums that kind of looked more like it used to be an ordinary house but had a very unstable-looking second floor built on top with 'rooms'. But people hung out in there. Worse people than those that hung out at the Grey Mare. At least the last time he was here that was the case. But there was no need for Aeyrin to come with him. In fact, it was better that way. Some people around might recognize her from the temple.

"Right. I guess that's true," Aeyrin sighed. She wanted to help him with this, but she really didn't want to go back to that place. But none of that mattered tonight, fortunately. This was just going to be a happy night full of pleasant reunions.

"So…" Before she could step towards the western road, Bishop stopped her by sneaking his arm around her waist and pulling her closer, staying under the oak's lights with her. "Were you serious about all that shit? We seriously can't fuck at the temple?"

Aeyrin couldn't help but chuckle. It was a small price to pay for free food, free bed and all her friends and Master Therien around for a while.

"Right," she smirked. She had already explained this to him. These kinds of things were forbidden at the temple. People couldn't even get too… friendly and cuddly over there with eyes on them. It was to be considerate to everyone who had or was going to take their vows of celibacy. It was understandable. And nobody prevented people who weren't bound by the vows to go out of the temple and do whatever they wished privately.

"But it's not like you took those fucking vows. And I'm sure we can find a place. Is there like a private chapel, like at Castle Dour? You remember that place?" He smirked at her teasingly.

How could she forget? It was the place where he told her he loved her. After he had snuck in there illegally. It was a tempting memory, but that was really not possible where they were going now. And besides, it would feel odd in the place she had spent her entire childhood, not doing things like this.

"No private chapels. Just the big one with all the people coming in and out at all times all day and night," she chuckled. That was really not an option.

"And your room's not private enough?" His smirk turned into an annoyed growl promptly.

"It's not even a room. I don't even know if it will still be free, but Master Therien always promised he would keep it free for me. It's just a bed in an alcove. That's it," she shook her head. "There are other beds in other alcoves right next to it. With people in them."

"Well… there's gotta be some place. A bathing room. Or the catacombs," Bishop squeezed her closer to his half-embrace as he pondered. They did start walking towards the temple, but they only made a few leisurely steps, not even stepping out from under the lit-up canopy. "You told me all the stories about playing music and drinking down there. Sounds like a good place to do shit you're not supposed to."

"The catacombs have ghosts in them," Aeyrin giggled. Friendly ghosts, sure, but that didn't make them any different from the residents of the temple. It was certainly not a comfortable place to do what Bishop wanted.

"It's just ghosts," Bishop grumbled. But, granted, that didn't sound too good either. "Bathing room it is then."

"Uhm… I don't know… it's weird thinking about things like that… in that place," Aeyrin stammered a bit. The bathing room might have really been a good place for privacy, but it still felt off to her. And besides, they were capable of keeping their hands off each other for a few days. They surely wouldn't be staying longer anyway. Or… they could always go into the wilderness around the city for a while.

"Fine. But if we're staying for longer than two days, I'm dragging you off into some side alley around here. There's plenty of them," Bishop squeezed her again with a smirk and they finally started to walk towards the familiar halls.

It wasn't exactly as private as she had imagined with her wilderness plans, but the preemptive impatience of him did kind of make her feel all warm and flushed. The imminent frustrations might be fun. But more than anything, she couldn't wait for all the other stuff.

She couldn't wait to introduce him to Master Therien at last.

…

"Hello?"

Aeyrin's voice rang through the large chamber, bouncing off the pillars and echoing around up into the tall ceiling of the cathedral.

The chapel was always open – at any time of day, people could come in and pray or meditate or just seek a moment of quiet here. Masses were held by the Masters in the morning and evening, but beyond those times, the temple was only as full as the people had the need for it. But there was supposed to always be someone there, always at least one priest or cleric watching over the place.

It was always a little eerie in the evenings with how huge the chapel was, but there was light from the lanterns and from so many candles around the walls, lit under each depiction of the Divines portrayed in the stained glass windows. The central altar, of course, had the most candles lit around it. They reflected in the water filling the basin in the middle of the circular altar, along with the large golden statue of Stendarr towering above it. It was a bit of a luxury for the simple temple – but most of them had an expensive tribute to the patron. It was nothing compared to the wealth in Markarth's temple of Dibella, that was for certain.

There was only a soft sound of shuffling in the eerily quiet chapel. And a few moments later, a young Dunmer girl's head popped up from behind one of the pews. She must have been sleeping there. It happened. As much as she tried not to, Aeyrin had dozed off on some nights here too when it was her turn to watch over the chapel at night.

"Uhm… you can just pray without hollering around… uhm… wait… Aeyrin?" The girl rubbed her red eyes tiredly. Her almost equally bright red hair was messy and disheveled and it looked like she had been sleeping for a while there on that uncomfortable pew. It wasn't even that late.

"Sevyen," Aeyrin smiled weakly. She was kind of hoping for someone else. Anyone else, really. Sevyen and her never really spend a lot of time together. The Dunmer girl came to the temple later than Aeyrin, only a few months before Azshan had left for his paladin training. In the remaining two years while Aeyrin stayed at the chapel, they never really became fast friends. In fact, there wasn't anyone else Aeyrin had ever become such good friends with after Azshan, but at least the other clerics and initiates were friend-ly. Sevyen tended to be a little… cold.

But that didn't matter. It was still nice to see her. To see anyone from the temple.

Sevyen collected herself from the pew at last and headed towards the two newcomers still standing by the stairs leading down into the priests' chambers and the catacombs, only a few steps from the sets of entrance doors.

She approached the two of them and her eyes roamed up and down Aeyrin, then Bishop in turn, critically and uncertainly. Her eyes especially lingered on their equipment which they still hadn't disposed of, and on the weapons on their belts.

"You haven't been back in ages," she noted as she looked back at Aeyrin. She somewhat haphazardly reached out and hugged her, almost as if it was an obligation, but she stepped away a mere second later. "I didn't think I'd see you anytime soon."

"We had some… business here in Cyrodiil. I couldn't not stop by the old stomping grounds," Aeyrin chuckled a bit.

"Ah. So you're still going back north then?" Sevyen glanced at Bishop once more. "I thought you just brought back a souvenir," she smirked.

"Oh. This is my… companion. Bishop," Aeyrin inclined her head towards Bishop. She wasn't sure what to call him. She wanted to call him her 'fiancé' but then again, she wanted Master Therien to be the first one to hear the news. Hopefully Bishop would understand, though she did notice that he frowned a bit at her wording. Maybe he thought she was trying to get back at him for downplaying the significance of their relationship to Kari.

Bishop didn't comment though. Through his frown, he merely nodded at Sevyen in greeting.

"'Companion', huh?" The Dunmer smirked again. "As in: you made eyes at the first hulking Nord to get a meat-shield against those overgrown lizards we keep hearing about you fighting? Or as in: you wanted to rub everyone's faces in the fact that you didn't take your vows?"

"W-what? Neither," Aeyrin scowled at her. Maybe she really should have told the truth – it would have been left un-ambiguous. But then the second 'as in' would sound like it was true. She didn't bring Bishop to 'rub their noses' in it. She was just excited to introduce him to the people here. Why did it have to be Sevyen here right now?

"Someone make you take those vows?" Bishop scoffed at her, still with that scowl on his face. Probably still for the same reason as before. But Sevyen didn't seem interested in responding to that question.

"Is Master Therien here?" Aeyrin interrupted before anything more could be said. She just wanted to see him already, both to tell him the news and, more importantly, to make sure that he was alright.

"No," Sevyen shrugged and, in an instant, anxious heat spilled all over Aeyrin's back and neck. That single word almost sent her into a spiral of doom and gloom right away, but fortunately Sevyen explained promptly. "He left a few days ago. One of his usual trips. You know how it is."

Right. Master Therien left sometimes for a week or so, traveling across the Province to the other temples to preach to Stendarr's faithful in other cities. It was common practice. Masters from other temples often visited Chorrol for the same reason, preaching to the worshippers devout to the rest of the Divines. All the chapels were dedicated to the Eight, but they each had a patron and the clergy was mostly devoted to that one patron. The faithful always appreciated the visiting priests that were more versed in the questions of their faith.

It was unfortunate that it was that time right now. It was comforting that he was just out there, preaching, instead of in some peril. Aeyrin still felt a little anxious about him not being here, but she had to remember that this was completely normal. Everything was fine. Brunwulf said so. And this was what Master Therien did from time to time. Nothing to be worried about.

"You don't want me to wake everyone because you're here, do you?" Sevyen interrupted Aeyrin's trail of thoughts with a cringing expression.

"N-no. Of course not," Aeyrin shook her head. She just wanted to see Master Therien. But since he wasn't here… "We were just… hoping to stay. At least until Master Therien returns. Is my bed still free?" She shuffled her feet a little nervously. It felt strange to ask this now for some reason.

"Yes, Master Therien won't let anyone take it," Sevyen rolled her eyes at her but then she looked at Bishop once more. "There's only the one though."

"We need only the one," Bishop smirked. It made Aeyrin even more uncomfortable, but he was right. They did need and want only the one. But now it just felt strange after what Sevyen had said. Master Therien would have been so much easier to talk to.

"Right," Sevyen scowled a bit. "I… think I'm gonna wake up Master Samus. I don't know if… that's alright."

The Dunmer turned on her heel promptly and headed down the stairs, leaving Bishop and Aeyrin standing there in uncomfortable silence.

Her footsteps echoed through the empty grand halls until a careful creak of the doors below signaled her departure.

"Well, she's a charmer," Bishop scoffed into the silence of the chapel.

"Yeah…" Aeyrin sighed. "She's a little… well… never mind. You know… I would have told her, but… I wanted Master Therien to hear it first." She felt like she should explain that. Sevyen's attitude wasn't really important right now.

"Sure. I get that," Bishop nodded. He didn't want to say it, but he was kind of relieved a bit that the man wasn't here. He was relieved for Aeyrin's sake that he was fine, at least Bishop had gathered as much. She would have freaked out instantly if what the Dunmer girl said made her think otherwise. But he was also kind of relieved that he wasn't going to be meeting Therien yet, woken up and grouchy. He was still convinced that the man was not going to be thrilled with him or the news. He couldn't shake that feeling. That was a concern for the future though. There were other concerns to be had now.

"Are they seriously gonna have a problem with us sharing a bed?" He scowled again. That was fucking ridiculous. It was bad enough that there was no good place here to fuck, but they couldn't even share the same bed? Was he going to have to camp out on the floor?

"I don't know, I hope not," Aeyrin shrugged uncertainly. "Master Samus is nice, just… a little strict. But I'm sure it will be fine," she smiled weakly. She hoped so at least. She really wished Master Therien was here.

They waited there silently for a while after that again before the soft creak of the door below reverberated through the chapel. This time, two sets of steps echoed against the stairs until Sevyen's red hair came into view once more, followed by someone with very long sleek black hair.

Master Samus was an older Breton, not as old as Master Therien, but hardly anyone younger than fifty ever rose through the temple ranks to the position of the Master. He had long dark hair, bushy beard and eyebrows and striking eyes, one green, the other light brown. His brows were furrowed, but the eyes were kind and Aeyrin knew that the man was always ready to listen, even if he valued the temple's rules a little too rigorously.

"Our wayward daughter returns," the man's lips quirked up under his beard while Sevyen stood behind him silently, somewhat morosely. But she was likely just still tired from being woken up like that.

"Master Samus," Aeyrin stepped closer to him the second the man outstretched his arms to embrace her. She did miss him. It was nice to see a friendly face at last, even if the one she wanted to see the most wasn't here.

The hug was much more sincere now, but it was brief as well. Yet no matter how tired the old man looked from being roused unexpectedly, he still continued smiling kindly.

"We had no idea you would be coming, child, but it's good to see you," he squeezed Aeyrin under her pauldron as they parted. "Your timing is not very fortunate, but I'm sure everyone will be glad to see you tomorrow."

"Yes. Sorry about that, we had a long journey," Aeyrin smiled wryly. She certainly didn't want Master Samus to wake everyone up now. She and Bishop were quite tired as well.

"Yes, Sevyen mentioned. And so did Therien – that you have found a kindred spirit to share your travels with," the Breton turned his gaze to Bishop and nodded at him in greeting.

"This is Bishop," Aeyrin inclined her head to him once more. This time at least he got a better reception. Master Samus outstretched his hand to shake Bishop's with his smile still unwavering.

"Welcome, young man," he squeezed Bishop's hand in between his palms briefly before he let go and looked back at Aeyrin. "I understand you must be exhausted from your travels. And as was promised, there will always be a place here for you, child."

Aeyrin gave him a grateful smile. That still didn't guarantee anything, but she was hopeful that Master Samus would let Bishop stay as well.

"This is… unorthodox," his eyes darted from her to Bishop and back again. "I wish we had more room to offer. But… you'll remember to behave yourself, correct?" He gave Aeyrin a somewhat stern look. It instantly made her straighten her back almost out of reflex.

"Of course, Master Samus," she nodded hurriedly. One look from that man and she already felt like she had never left and was currently being chastised for staying up late in the catacombs again. He always chastised her and Azshan when they did that.

Bishop couldn't help but grin at her obedient response. Besides, there would surely be some opportunities to misbehave at some point. They still needed to wash off the grime of the road and that creepy cave after all.

"Good. Now come, I'm sure you're eager to rest," Master Samus ushered them to follow and only Sevyen stayed behind, still on her duty in the chapel.

They followed the old man quietly, down the stairs and into the living quarters. The only sound around was the echo of sparse soft breathing whenever they passed a chamber. There were no doors to the rooms, just entrance arches. Though the chambers weren't exactly littered with people – from what Bishop could see, there were only three beds in each one, aside from what appeared to be the mess hall. It was hard to tell in the dark though.

They passed a couple of these chambers before they reached the end of the hall – there were six doors there – that was a little encouraging.

"These are the clerics' quarters, where we'll be staying," Aeyrin pointed to one of them as she whispered. "The Masters have their own room each and that one is for the priests," she pointed to the four other doors next to them until she inclined her head towards the last one. "And that's the bathing room."

"We should probably get cleaned up before we rest," Bishop nodded. He was whispering as well without even a hint of suggestiveness in his tone in front of the old Breton, but that didn't prevent Aeyrin from reacting with a soft blush forming on her cheeks after their previous discussion outside.

"Good idea, young man," Master Samus nodded at him thoughtfully. "Why don't you go ahead? Aeyrin can catch me up at least a little on how she had been doing in the meantime."

Fuck. Well, that backfired. Aeyrin only gave Bishop a slightly amused shrug when his expression turned morose, but there was not much he could do. He had no idea how to act around these people with their rules about this shit.

But they probably shouldn't be too picky about a free place to crash and eat.

…

Aeyrin quickly shuffled out of her clothes and draped Bishop's old shirt over her head. There were always thin and comfortable robes in the bathing room for people to sleep in, but she wanted the shirt instead. It wouldn't feel right sleeping without it. Unless she slept entirely without anything in Bishop's embrace, of course, but that wasn't an option right now.

Everyone in the clerics' quarters was asleep by the time they took their turns in the baths. Fortunately for Bishop, Master Samus opted to go back to sleep after he was done with the bath, so he didn't have to go through any uncomfortable conversations. But it was still a little uneasy, in the very quiet halls with everyone asleep and the utter lack of privacy.

There were three more people in the cleric's quarters – each one in their own alcove with only a bed, a few cupboards, a chest and a washbasin. The last alcove, the one at the very end of the chamber, was empty. That was Aeyrin's old bed, always waiting for her return.

Only soft breaths and what sounded like purring echoed through the room, but they couldn't see anything but lumps in the beds around. Not that it mattered who was currently in the quarters. Aeyrin would get to find out all the changes in the temple tomorrow – who was named cleric, who took their vigil and became a priest and all that. For now, they could finally have some rest.

Bishop was already in the bed and she quietly snuck in to join him under the soft covers. It was still a little hard to believe that she was back in this bed. It was even stranger that she wasn't in it alone.

He wrapped his arms around her the second she got comfortable and captured her lips in an eager kiss. He originally meant to only kiss her good night, but when she flinched away a little too soon from him, he couldn't help but prod.

"Seriously?" He chuckled quietly. "I can't even kiss you here? What the fuck is with this place?"

"I promised to behave," Aeyrin smiled at him wryly. And nobody even knew that she was here, especially not with someone. She didn't want to accidentally wake people up by some strange sounds.

"Hmm, true, we wouldn't want you to misbehave, would we?" Bishop smirked at her and leaned in for another deep kiss, squeezing her closer to himself as his hands roamed around her back and down to her buttocks. "Even if it's much more fun."

Aeyrin pulled back from his kiss a bit again, but when he leaned in once more for another, she couldn't resist. The languid slide of his tongue against hers, the brush of his stubbly chin against hers and the heat radiating from his hands squeezing her.

"Bishop," she let out a quiet groan, but that didn't make him let go of her in the slightest. She tried to concentrate on the other sounds in the room – the soft purring and two other sets of breaths – everyone was still asleep, but that could change any second.

"Shh, you don't wanna wake them," Bishop smirked mischievously again before he leaned in for another kiss. He was wrong – this might be even more fun, when they weren't supposed to. "You need to behave," he chuckled. "Even if I do… this."

Before she could even ponder what he had meant, one of his hands snuck around her hip and slid under her shirt and promptly inside her undergarments. His fingers worked all too quickly as he rubbed for a second between her folds before he entered her with one of his digits.

Dammit. She should have worn those robes. Her whole body shivered at the unexpected escalation and she let out a shuddering breath, barely quiet enough not to carry across the entire room.

"Bishop," she let out an almost silent frustrated growl, but she didn't have any illusions about that making him stop either. She had half a mind to grab his hand and yank it away from her, but another part of her couldn't let her do that as jolts of pleasure shot through her with each of his motions – as his finger penetrated her deeper, his thumb rubbed against her clit and his tongue slid inside her mouth once more to quiet her sighs.

"Something wrong, princess?" He murmured into her ear before he moved his kisses to the side of her jaw and her earlobe.

"They'll… they'll kick us out," she whispered, though the tone of her voice carried much more lust than worry. "And then what… what are we gonna do?" A quiet groan interrupted her mid-sentence as Bishop slid another finger inside her, continuously teasing her with no remorse.

"Get a room at the inn and fuck the night away?" He smirked. It didn't sound half bad just then. But then again, this wasn't bad either. It was so fucking cute how she tried to remain quiet through the teasing. And seeing her writing under his touch always got him going too.

Aeyrin didn't have it in her to answer him anymore. Now that he wasn't kissing her on her lips, she had a harder time keeping silent. She had to shut herself up somehow as her pleasure began to build.

She started to kiss the side of his neck in turn, but the more relentlessly he teased her, the more she needed to release the building tension into her own actions. Her hungry kisses turned into soft bites soon, then harder ones, until she ended up with her face permanently buried in the crook of his neck, her moans muffled by his skin and her nails digging into his bare back. There was still that tinge of nervousness in her about doing this here. The place felt… wrong for it. But in the end, wherever she was able to get lost in his touch was right. Aside from the faint memory of the need to be quiet, she barely even remembered where she was anymore.

She could barely feel Bishop shuffling against her, trying to free himself from his trousers with his other hand, but the first one never ceased its motions. She couldn't even hear the breathing and the purring in the room. Her ears felt clogged with the tension threatening to unravel her at any second.

She was pretty sure that it must have been quite painful, how she bit into his neck and scratched his back next, but Bishop didn't make a sound. A heat spread through her core and she finally felt herself clench intensely, before she could finally let go of him a little and relax after the release. She still felt a little dizzy though and it took a while before she could make sense of everything around her again.

Aeyrin let out one last shuddering breath before she concentrated on the sounds again. Everything was drowned out often by Bishop's kissing right below her ear and his own attempts to control his silence. His breathing was heavy, but he managed to still not make much noise. It only took a second before she quickly snuck her hand between their bodies to help him get over the edge as well. Now that the situation dawned on her once more – the quicker the better.

She quickly rolled up his old shirt to prevent getting it visibly messy and she pressed herself closer to Bishop, gripping his hard cock in her hand, replacing his own while she rubbed her bare stomach against him as well.

Bishop let out a groan at the contact, but he managed to muffle himself somewhat effectively the exact same way she had before when he dipped his head against her neck. She could tell that he was already close. She wasn't sure how exactly long she had been reeling in her own pleasure, but it must have been long enough for him to get himself worked up as well.

She continued to tease him for a few more moments before she felt him finally spend himself onto her stomach. He buried his face into her neck even more as he let out a few quick labored breaths, but he managed to keep himself relatively quiet.

While he was still coming down from his peak, Aeyrin quickly reached back to her pack to fish out one of her washcloths. She promptly cleaned anything that needed cleaning and then, when everything was quiet again, she concentrated hard on the sounds around the room. It sounded like everyone was still asleep, fortunately – there was still the purring and those two sets of soft breaths, despite Bishop still panting a bit by her ear.

That was so risky.

"You are awful," she hissed at Bishop quietly. Such a bad influence. He knew she couldn't resist when he took things this far so quickly. And now all she could do was pray that they really weren't overheard.

A soft chuckle escaped Bishop's lips before he made himself more comfortable on the small bed again with satisfaction, dragging her along to nestle into his embrace once more.

"'Awful'? Barely an hour in this place and you're already misbehaving. I think that's a really promising start," he smirked as he whispered into her ear. And he was so worried about how they would enjoy themselves here. The forbidden aspect just made it better. Too bad they couldn't do anything more – it would definitely be too conspicuous if they actually started fucking there. But he was now sure that they could find opportunities at other times.

"No wonder you're worried that Master Therien won't like you. Such a bad influence, and not even ashamed of it," Aeyrin snickered back at him. Granted, it was really exciting to be suddenly swept up in the forbidden passion. She kind of couldn't wait until they found an opportunity to sneak into the bathing room together for some real privacy. Preferably when it wasn't this quiet around.

"Pfft, he himself thought you needed to live a little," Bishop murmured into her ear, though granted, this was very likely not what the man had meant. "I take it by how calm you were, the fact that he's not here is nothing to worry about?"

"I… I don't think so," she shook her head. She was a little worried, but there was not much she could do about that anymore, unfortunately. It would be ever present until she saw him standing in front of her in the flesh. But still, it wasn't so bad. "He goes to other chapels often, usually for about a week or so, two or three cities. He should probably be back in a few days, I think."

"Alright. That's good," Bishop nodded. He was still nervous about the meeting, but it was good that this was nothing out of the ordinary. "Guess we'll have some time here then. I'm sure we'll figure out how to occupy ourselves," he smirked again.

"Don't even think about it," Aeyrin scowled. Though at that moment, she wasn't really able to think about anything else either.

"Too late, princess. We'll just see how well you can behave with me around."

…

A loud gonging sound echoed through the halls.

Aeyrin felt almost conditioned to it. A thought went through her head automatically – it was just the first bell, she could still doze off for half an hour before she absolutely had to get up. Most of the others got up with the first bell, but she really loved the last minutes of half-slumber in the warm blankets.

The bed was especially warm today.

"The fuck?! What the fuck was that?!"

Bishop's loud exclamation by her ear brought her back to reality. Only a second later he began shuffling and, she assumed, looking around frantically to find the reason for the commotion. She probably could have mentioned the bells. Though to be fair, he had spent time in Cyrodiil. He must have known about the morning bells, even if it had been ages.

The next sound echoing through the room was an amused giggle. That finally forced Aeyrin to open her eyes.

While Bishop still looked confused, wrapped around her back under the covers, the source of the giggling came into her view momentarily when she looked towards the exit from her alcove. A familiar face was grinning there at her, soon joined by another two curious onlookers.

"Hey, Aeyrin," the chuckling Imperial girl waved at her. "Welcome back."

Bishop still had no idea what just happened and why that sound echoed through the entire temple. At first he thought someone was alerting about an attack or something. It might have been because he felt like he had barely slept. It must have been early. It really felt like he had gotten only a few hours of rest. Now he was starting to make sense of what was going on in the room.

There were three people watching him with palpable curiosity and amusement on their faces. A young Imperial girl with short black hair and an oddly shaped birthmark under her eye, another Imperial with brown hair so curly and messy it was almost hard to see his face under it in the dim light and a Khajiit girl with dark spotted fur.

"Luscia," Aeyrin smiled groggily at the Imperial girl. "You're a cleric now?"

"Well yeah, it's been a while," Luscia grinned back at her. "Who's your friend?"

"Right," Aeyrin turned back slightly to look at Bishop. He still looked somewhat confused. Then she remembered his exclamations. It must have really been something to wake up to for the clerics. No wonder they looked so amused. "This is Bishop, my companion." At least now it was pretty clear what it meant, when they were nestled together in the small bed, even if she still didn't call him her fiancé.

"Hi," Luscia grinned again as she waved wryly.

"We don't usually get such colorful wake-ups after the bell," the Imperial man chuckled.

"What? Right," Bishop mumbled, still a little confused. "What was that?"

"The morning bell. It's six. Masses begin in two hours," Aeyrin chuckled at him.

"'Six'? Fuck me. Why?" He groaned instantly, letting himself plop back down onto the pillow. They did only sleep for a few hours. Who the fuck got up at six?

His distress elicited more chuckles from the clerics in the room and he forced himself to sit up again. Very reluctantly though.

"You might want to get used to it while we're here," Aeyrin snickered. This was going to be a daily occurrence. And another bell would summon everyone for the mass, then another at midday and dusk and the eve. It was easy not to pay attention to the bells in the cities, but it was much harder to do so in these hallowed halls. The sound carried a lot.

"This is Luscia, by the way. She was an initiate when I left the last time," she continued to make the introductions, despite Bishop's groan of annoyance about the bells. "And these are Vaselis and M'vari. They were clerics with me before. With Sevyen too."

"Oh yeah, she took her vows while you were gone," Luscia nodded. "Traded up for the priest quarters. And Master Drothi passed. But Selvia became a Master now. And we have three new initiates. One's an adult even."

"Maybe let her wake up first," Vaselis grabbed the sleeve of Luscia's sleeping robes with a chuckle. It was a little hard to concentrate on all that while Aeyrin was still rubbing sleep out of her eyes. "They got here late, let them take a breather."

"Oh. You heard when we… got here?" Aeyrin's eyes went wide at the man. He was asleep, right? Everyone was asleep! Surely he didn't hear… everything?

"Barely. The door just woke me up for a second," Vaselis nodded. "Felt like late."

That was a relief at least. Hopefully that was the only thing any of them heard. This was too close.

"Let us go get dressed, friends, and let them get their bearings. This one is pleased to see you again. And to meet you too, new friend," the Khajiit girl nodded at the two promptly.

"Yeah… sure. Me too," Bishop nodded. He still felt a little bit dazed. But at least these people looked a bit more laid back than that Dunmer and the old man.

The three clerics returned to their alcoves promptly to get ready for the day. It was apparently on the agenda for everyone. But Bishop could only fall back onto the pillow tiredly. The prospect was still a bit outrageous to him. It didn't usually matter to him what time it was, the only thing important was getting enough sleep. But this was far from it.

"Every day. Fucking six?"

…

"I almost forgot how big the temples here were. Not that I've been to many," Bishop mused as his eyes roamed around the mess hall.

He wasn't sure why he didn't expect so many people to be coming in and out all morning to see Aeyrin after her return. That cleric, Vaselis, tried to make sense of it for Bishop when Aeyrin was too busy getting swarmed by her old acquaintances. Apparently there were three Masters at the temple, with one more newly appointed one aside from Samus and Therien. Then there were the priests – Sevyen and some other guy whose name Bishop instantly forgot. The three clerics he had met that morning were there too and then six other initiates – most of them were either children or teenagers, only two adults.

That was so many people.

In Skyrim, the most priests he had ever seen in a temple were like three. Although he was pretty sure there were more of the priestesses in Markarth. Possibly in Solitude too. Still. He had never seen a temple this… lively.

The younger initiates were running around the large breakfast table, trying to grab anything that was even marginally better than simple bread and other pastries. The fruit was gone almost instantly, much to Aeyrin's dismay. But the second one of the present Masters came into the room, the initiates quickly sat back down and pretended not to stuff themselves as much as they could on anything good – they would likely get chastised for not leaving enough for the others.

It was pretty fun to see it all though. Bishop had been a little worried about this place being too stifling with all the rules and shit, but it was nice to see that they were still normal people, normal kids, breaking rules whenever they could regardless of the environment. They all looked so… happy. And so did Aeyrin. Nobody was even spewing some religious shit endlessly at everyone. He thought the temples were just official versions of the insane cultist zealotry that his mother and Kari were messing with, but it was nothing like it.

He kind of suspected that it wasn't that bad from all the stories Aeyrin had told him, but still, it was a little surprising. Not that he would change his mind about all that overly religious bullshit, but… as long as nobody tried to convert him, this was probably gonna be a decent place to stay in.

Even the simple food was tolerable when he saw Aeyrin in her element like this. And the wine was good. At least there was that – wine really was the exception in Chorrol.

"How big are they? Are they as big as this room?" A young initiate girl, no older than ten, asked Aeyrin with palpable wonder in her eyes. Everyone was interested in the dragons, of course. Apparently there had been some attacks on travelers around the Jerall mountains, but the dragons haven't ventured further south. Most of the population of Cyrodiil had never seen one.

"Hmm… some are almost as big," Aeyrin looked around the mess hall critically before she started to concentrate on the girl's rosy hair again, braiding it into a neat do like the girl had asked. Apparently Aeyrin used to do that for her often before she left. It was kind of sweet to see. Bishop had never seen her this comfortable anywhere so quickly.

Not to mention how strange it was to see her dressed like that. Bishop was planning to head to the slums that afternoon to ask around about the clan, so Aeyrin opted to work at the temple for now, for old times' sake. Instead of her regular clothes, she draped one of the soft-blue robes on her that everyone else was wearing. It was kind of weird to see her blend in with the priests like this, but also kind of enticing. Now she really was like some forbidden priestess. He was excited for the first opportunity to drag her away somewhere they could be alone for a while, even though he didn't really want to take her away from reuniting with these people again.

"And you really fight them? Aren't you scared? I'd be scared," the young girl's eyes went wide as she briefly looked behind her shoulder at Aeyrin, but soon enough she obediently straightened her head again not to mess up the braiding.

"Of course I am," Aeyrin nodded. "Everyone is when fighting them. But it's more scary to let them attack people who can't fight."

The girl nodded at her thoughtfully, still a little star-struck by the idea of dragons alone. She continued to turn back again, before she realized herself and straightened up obediently once more, directing more questions about the beasts at Aeyrin.

"I still can't believe she's some kind of a Nordic legend," Vaselis chuckled at the exchange.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Bishop smirked. It was still a little hard to believe sometimes, no matter how long it had been.

"You didn't know when you met?" The young man gave him a curious look.

"No. We met like right when she came to Skyrim. She didn't know back then. Nobody did," Bishop sighed. Not even Alduin, otherwise he probably wouldn't have unwittingly saved her in Helgen.

"That must have been crazy to find out something like that," Vaselis shook his head.

He had no idea. No matter how much time had passed, Bishop would probably never forget that day. He wanted to leave her back then, even if he had a hard time bringing himself to do it. Stupid fuck. That idea just seemed so inconceivable right now.

"Kind of exciting though…" the young Imperial mused. "All those adventures, I can't even imagine."

"You can always do what she did. Go out on your own. All that pilgrimage shit, see the world," Bishop nodded thoughtfully. Honestly, it sounded like the best result of the temple life he could imagine. Sure, this place was… nice. Everyone seemed happy enough, it wasn't nearly as rigorous and stifling as he had feared, but it seemed just like a nice place to return to and relax for a while. Definitely not good enough to live in.

"I… I've been thinking about it. Master Therien is encouraging, of course, just… the others think it's a bad idea," Vaselis sighed. "I'll be eighteen in only a year and I'll have to decide whether to take the vigil. I'm not sure I… want to stay a priest here. But I could always join a paladin order. They travel a lot."

"What? Don't join those fuckwads!" Bishop scoffed.

Instead of Vaselis's answer, a shocked and kind of amused gasp echoed through the room and Bishop promptly looked behind his shoulder, only to see the young girl having her hair braided covering her mouth with her hands. A lot of other people were staring at him too. That may have been a little louder than he had anticipated.

"Bishop!" Aeyrin scowled at him chastising, but there was a hint of amusement behind her voice too. Well… she must have expected this to happen at some point. He kept forgetting that these children were raised a little differently than he and his siblings. He should probably focus more on filtering some of the shit he said.

"Sorry," he shrugged. These kids would hear shit like that eventually from someone anyway. They would be healing people in pain – it was inevitable. Besides, the girl was the youngest there – the rest were definitely old enough to know that and more, he was sure of that. The Altmer boy there was a few years older than the girl and the other two, an Orcish boy and an Altmer girl, were almost fifteen and almost ready to become clerics too.

"Heh, why not join the paladins?" Vaselis brought Bishop's attention back to himself when the novelty of Bishop's exclamation wore off. "What's wrong with them?"

"They're…" Assholes, dipshits, fake bastards only interested in their fucking status. "They're just glorified nobles. It means nothing," Bishop scoffed. That was the tin-head's order at least. There were others, of course, like the Vigil. But those weren't much better either, even though they were more warriors than noble posers. Their zealotry was no winning either and Bishop was still a little disturbed by their last meeting with Aeyrin's friend Vuaerion, when he was being punished by being denied healing. Every order like this was just messed up in their own way.

"I guess I'll talk to the Masters more about this," Vaselis shrugged. He didn't seem too convinced of Bishop's non-biasness.

"Where did Master Therien go, by the way? Which cities? I wonder when he'll be back," Aeyrin piped up from the other side of the table when she overheard what Vaselis had said. She hoped that it would only take a few more days.

"He didn't say," Luscia, who had been eating breakfast by the table as well, answered instead. "He left four days ago, he doesn't usually stay away for more than a week."

"Oh. He… he didn't say?" Aeyrin scowled. That was unusual, wasn't it? Master Therien always told her where he would be going, how he was excited to see that city or the other. But… maybe it was just between the two of them? Maybe it was just a friendly chat and to reassure her. But she was sure that he wouldn't leave without telling anyone where exactly he had gone.

Maybe she should ask the other Masters. Just to be sure.

"So," Luscia changed the subject as she looked back at Bishop. "Aeyrin's going to be helping us out, judging from her outfit," she chuckled. "You too?"

"What? You want me to heal people?" Bishop laughed. "That's not a great idea."

"We don't just heal people. You can join the initiates," Vaselis smirked. "Study religion with them or help cleaning, preparing meals or ingredients for potions and poultices and all that."

"Yeeah… that all sounds really tempting," Bishop scoffed. "But I have some stuff I need to get done in the city." It was the main reason why Aeyrin even volunteered to help out at the temple today – she didn't want to go back to the slums with him and he was kind of glad for that too. He had no idea what he was going to find out there. If anything.

Or whom.