Serana eventually crawled into her sleep roll, exhaustion showing in every line of her body. Reliving what her father had put her through had wrung her out like a dishrag. I hoped that letting it all out had been good for her as well. I had heard that soldiers of the war tended to heal faster when they shared their stories. I hoped that it was the same for Serana.

I glanced over at her. She was turned to the wall of the tent now, her body limp and drained, but breathing slowly and deeply. She had fallen into a deep, and hopefully healing, sleep the instant her head hit the pillow.

It was a bit harder for me to relax enough to sleep. My anger on Serana's behalf still churned below the surface. I had heard many, many disgusting stories that detailed the sick, twisted things that vampires were capable of. I had been a personal witness to quite a few of my own. And still, Harkon topped them all: mostly because his most heinous crimes had happened before he had turned. At this point, his vampiric degradation was just the proverbial icing on the sweet roll.

By the time I finally relaxed enough to sleep, I was certain that the time was well past midnight.

The next morning, we both got up late. My body still felt the effects of the soul trap spell, and I was sluggish. Serana was somewhat subdued, but also seemed… lighter. Although she wasn't initially up for conversation, she seemed to move about like a woman who had let go of a large burden.

Breaking down our camp was an uncomfortable experience. Inside the tent, we could pretend that we were in our own little world while waiting out a storm. Stepping outside was a hard slap of bleak reality.

I made a face at the swirling sky and the landscape around us. "Serana, this feels stupid to bring up now but… are you sure Valerica has the other Elder Scroll?"

She lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug, "No, but there's no way she would have left it in Tamriel. She wanted to get it as far away from my father as possible. I can't imagine a safer place than here with her."

"True…"

"If she doesn't," Serana continued, answering my unspoken question, "then we'll find out where she hid it. If she's still alive... well, as alive as she was before. Or is now. Or... you know what I mean."

I nodded and waved a hand a little to show I knew what she meant. "Let's just put aside the 'undead' part of you both, and agree that calling you 'alive' means that you're up and walking and talking," I suggested with a smile. "We'll both agree to understand the context."

"Thank you," she said in relief. "I don't know what her full plan was, but I would hope that she had planned farther ahead than to just... stick me in a hole indefinitely." Her tone darkened briefly and I paused in the middle of us folding up the tent to give her a sorrowful look. Yes, there was bitterness there, and hurt. She'd done some processing last night, and a lot of things had fallen into place that she didn't like. She took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and continued with forced optimism. "Since it's been over four thousand years, I can only suspect that whatever her plan for the future was, it's been knocked off course. We won't know for sure what else she had hoped to do until we find her."

There was a path, of sorts, leading away from the portal. It was the only place where it wasn't clogged with dead foliage, dotted with fissures, or covering rough terrain. With no better ideas or directions, Serana and I decided to follow it. The path kept close to the various structures, which meant the lightning struck the buildings rather than us. I was also silently grateful for this small chance to be lazy, as I still felt thoroughly worn out. I knew I wouldn't be feeling any better than this for a while. Given the option, I would rather try to conserve my energy rather than wander in this mess of a landscape.

We ended up passing several souls along the path; see-through specters in human form that loitered in lost confusion on the broken landscape. So this is where people are sent when their souls are used to power enchantments, I thought bleakly. Millennia pass, and only a dozen or so souls stand here. How long since the Ideal Masters last decided to consume souls to satisfy their hunger and to make space? How long till the next?

I glanced upward at the sky, still swirling around that all-consuming void… and shuddered.

After a few hours of travel along the path and we came to a massive stone wall with an open passageway through it. It was wide enough to be able to drive two carriages through, side by side… if carriages could be drawn up a short flight of stairs. On the other side, we were able to make out the outline of a massive castle-like structure in the distance. It was larger than Castle Volkihar by far, stretching toward the horizons as far as the haze-shrouded distance would allow us to see, and looming several stories tall.

Approaching what appeared to be the front door of the place, we found ourselves standing outside of a double-wide entrance, though the porch had been sealed by a glowing field of energy.

"Mother?" Serana called, "Mother!"

For a moment, I wondered what in Oblivion we would do if Valerica was inside the structure where we couldn't be heard.

Then, a voice exclaimed in shock, "Maker... it can't be. Serana?"

A Nord woman walked into sight and stared at us in shock. Her clothes were similar to Serana's in the ancient style, though their color was considerably more faded. The vampire woman's long back hair had been split down the middle and pulled back into twin buns at the back of her head. Glowing yellow eyes appraised us keenly. They landed on the sun medallion at my throat for a few seconds before turning to her daughter.

Serana's voice was hopeful, rapidly turning to excitement as she said "Is it really you? I can't believe it!"

Valerica was less enthusiastic as she said, "Serana? What are you doing here? Where's your father?"

"He doesn't know we're here," Serana promised, "How do we get inside? We have to talk!"

Valerica shook her head in dismay, "I must have failed... Harkon's found a way to decipher the prophecy, hasn't he?"

Her mother's lack of joy at seeing her again was definitely putting a damper on Serana's mood, but she continued earnestly. "No, you've got it all wrong. We're here to stop him… to make everything right."

"Serana, you brought a stranger here." The vampire woman's eyes flicked to me again, "Do you have any idea what this human even is?" Valerica's eyes rested on the sun sigil at my throat again, her expression twisting with distaste. "She's a vampire hunter. And you've brought her here. Have you lost your mind?"

"No, you don't…" Serana tried to protest, but the other vampire made an abrupt gesture that demanded silence.

Serana's mother glared at me with all the hatred that Isran had aimed at Serana when he first met her. "So how has it come to pass that a vampire hunter is in the company of my daughter? It pains me to think you'd travel with Serana under the guise of her protector just to hunt me down."

I snorted and shook my head, "I promise that this is no ruse. I want to keep her safe as much as you do."

"Coming from one who murders vampires as a trade, I find it hard to believe your intentions are noble," the woman sneered.

Calm, calm, calm! You don't want to get into another yelling fit in front of Serana. Not after you saw what it did to her last time. Through clenched teeth, I growled, "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, Valerica."

From her expression, Valerica had never heard that proverb before. She was, however, smart enough to figure out what I was saying well enough to look thoroughly offended. "Excuse me?" Ice practically dripped from her words.

"I'm well aware of the horrendous things you've done to people in the past. I saw the remains on the way to your lab. I'm also well aware that you fed these Ideal Masters the souls of your thralls. You're not exactly a paragon of innocence yourself." I folded my arms, refusing to let this ancient queen sit on any pedestal of moral superiority above me.

"I did what I had to do!' Valerica snapped, "Choices had to be made, as did sacrifices. I would have expected Serana to explain that to you."

"She did explain it," I replied, my voice growing cold enough to match hers. "She explained a lot of things, actually. Probably more than you expected her to. And a lot of things I've seen with my own eyes. They don't paint your husband, or you for that matter, in a very favorable light."

Fury rose in the woman's eyes as she faced me through the magical field that separated us, "How dare you?! Serana and I have sacrificed everything to prevent Harkon from completing the prophecy."

"Oh do tell!" I said with mock excitement, holding back from sarcastically clapping my hands like an excited child by the barest thread of my restraint. I figured that gesture would be a smidge too far. "Did you give your daughter a choice in the matter?" Valerica froze, looking as though she had been shocked to her core, and I let my faux excitement drain away. Flatly I added, "...Or did you just snap your elegant fingers and expect her to hop to obey?"

The vampire seemed to be struck speechless.

I nodded shortly, as though confirming a suspicion, even though I had learned the facts long before. I wanted Valerica to face up to her screwups. She had had thousands of years to convince herself that she had done what was right. I wanted them to be thrown back at her. "As for me? Yeah, I chose a nasty, vicious life, but I swore myself to the Divine of Mercy, as well as the Daedric Prince of Life." Surprise and a little curiosity sparked in the vampire matriarch's eyes, but I continued, unwilling to discuss my oaths with her. "Add to that, I saved her from that hole you dumped her in."

Valerica's scowl quickly darkened. "I find your choice of words quite interesting considering that Serana is in far more danger now than she was 'in that hole I dumped her in.' "

"Wrong," I leaned against a stone column, and stared at her with icy recrimination. "She was in worse danger there; she had no one to defend her. Your rather foolish plan was on the brink of failing when I came upon the scene. I ended up killing Harkon's minions on the island where Serana was entombed. They almost got to her; a thrall had already bled in that nightmare contraption you installed to uncover her."

Valerica's eyes widened in horror and fear, for the first time realizing how close she had truly come to losing her daughter... and never knowing it.

That sign that she did genuinely care softened me a little toward her. A little more gently, I said, "We had a moth priest read the Elder Scroll Serana was buried with. We have part of the prophecy…We need to know the whole of it. We need the other Elder Scroll… the one you have."

Valerica crossed her arms, fingers drumming. "I didn't put my daughter in that tomb for the protection of her Elder Scroll alone. The scrolls are merely a means to an end. The key to the Tyranny of the Sun is Serana herself."

"We got that," I replied, "We figured Harkon would use Serana to corrupt Auriel's Bow and affect the sun, somehow. All we need to learn is the 'how' of it."

"You're far more clever than I expected a mortal to be," Valerica said with grudging respect. "My scroll declares that 'The blood of Coldharbour's Daughter will blind the eye of the Dragon.' Assuming the 'eye of the dragon' refers to the sun…"

I nodded curtly in understanding, "... Then Harkon could bleed his daughter the way you vampires bleed humans."

Serana made a faint, horrified sound behind me.

Valerica spoke as though she hadn't heard her daughter, though I knew her hearing was perfectly fine, "Good. You're beginning to see why I've kept the other Elder Scroll as far from her as possible. If Harkon knew that Serana's blood could be used to taint the weapon, the Tyranny of the Sun prophecy would be complete. The kindest thing he would do would be to kill her quickly and drain her blood for his use. There are far crueler ways for him to get what he needs, especially as a wholehearted minion of Molag. In his eyes, she'd be suffering or dying for the good of all vampires. Greater good, and all that."

"I don't intend to allow that to happen," I told her, holding back the snarl of hatred that echoed in my thoughts.

Valerica gave a bark of scornful laughter, "And how exactly do you plan on stopping him?"

"I'll kill him, if I have to."

The vampire matriarch shook her head. "If you believe you can do that, then you're a bigger fool than I originally suspected. He's powerful, cruel, and brutal. He had mastered his vampiric powers long before we separated. A simple swordswoman could never hope to compete with him. Don't you think that I weighed that option before I enacted my plans?" she demanded.

"I think you only considered things that actually occurred to you," I replied. "I think you missed many other options. By not asking for outside help, and not even asking for Serana's opinion in this entire debacle. You made your decisions alone, and missed out on some very important key factors."

"Don't try to criticize me, human." Valerica's voice was hot, "You're still a vampire hunter at heart. You care nothing for Serana or our plight. You're here because we're abominations in your mind. You think we're all evil creatures that need to be destroyed."

I took a slow, deep breath and reined my temper. "Look, your distrust of me isn't entirely unfounded, considering who and what I am. Allow me to give you some perspective, ma'am... When I saw your daughter, I knew that killing her was the wrong thing to do. Every word, every action... every single thing I've observed about her has only driven that point home all the more clearly."

I met her gaze squarely, "We've been together for some time now. I've had dozens of opportunities to kill her. Likewise, she's had just as many opportunities to kill me. Instead, we've become friends. I see her as an equal, a partner, and maybe something more, if she'd like."

Emotions raced across the vampire matriarch's expression; shock, skepticism, and then a very, very brief expression of... tentative wonder. It was gone as quickly as it had come, and her distrust came right back to the forefront. "Don't joke with me about that, human. Regardless of my own mistakes, I do care about my daughter's well-being. I find it extremely unlikely that you could harbor any real feelings for her."

"I'm not joking," I told her calmly and clearly, "and we've already had a few small moments."

Valerica spun to face her daughter again. "Serana, this stranger aligns herself with those who would hunt you down and slay you like an animal. Why should I trust this stranger? And why do you? Honestly, you seem to be more naïve than I thought."

Now it was Serana's turn to grow angry. She crossed her arms and glowered. "This 'stranger' has a name. Lasirah has done more for me in the brief time I've known her than you've done in centuries!"

Warmth spilled through me at her words, and I gave her a small smile.

"How dare you!" Valerica flashed back, "I gave up everything I cared about to protect you from that fanatic you call a father!"

"Yes, he's a fanatic... he's changed. But he's still my father. I couldn't turn to you after… after Molag changed us! You did nothing to comfort me, and every word out of your mouth was venom that you spit into my ears while I was hurting! Why can't you understand how that makes me feel?"

Valerica shook her head in disapproval, "Oh, Serana. If you'd only open your eyes... The moment your father discovers your role in the prophecy, that he needs your blood, you'd be in terrible danger."

"For Kynerath's sake, I know that! Stop treating me like a child who is incapable of understanding the world around me!"

Valerica and I both blinked in mild surprise at Serana calling upon the Divine for the first time. Huh. Sounds like she found a better focus for her worship. Good for her!

Serana continued, "Your best plan to 'protect me,' involved you deciding to shut me away from everything I cared about! Lasirah is right; you never asked me if hiding me in that tomb was the best course of action, you just expected me to follow you blindly. Both of you were obsessed with your own paths. Your motivations might have been different, but in the end, I was still just a pawn to you, too. All I wanted us to be was a family, but both of you have made sure that we could never have that. Maybe we don't deserve that kind of happiness after accepting Molag's so-called gift."

I walked slowly over to Serana and rested my hand on her shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze.

She didn't turn to me, but she reached up with her hand and covered mine in wordless gratitude for my support. "Mother, we have to stop him before he goes too far. And to do that, we need your Elder Scroll."

Valerica stared at us both, her eyes drawn again and again to where our hands joined. Slowly, she bowed her head in apology, "I'm so sorry, Serana. I didn't know... I didn't see it. I've allowed my hatred of your father to estrange us for too long. Please forgive me."

She looked at me, an odd expression on her face. "Your intentions are still somewhat difficult for me to believe. But for Serana's sake, I'll assist you in any way that I can. If you want the Elder Scroll, it's yours. I've kept it safely secured here ever since I was imprisoned by the Ideal Masters. Fortunately, you're in a position to breach the barrier that surrounds these ruins."

"What do we need to do?" I asked warily.

"You'll need to locate the tallest of the rocky spires that surround these ruins. At their bases, the barrier's energy is being drawn from the souls that have been exiled here. Destroy the Keepers that are tending them, and it should bring the barrier down."

I nodded slowly and thoughtfully, "Okay. We'll return soon."

"There's a dragon that calls itself Durnehviir roaming the Cairn. Be wary of him. The Ideal Masters have charged him with overseeing the Keepers. He will undoubtedly intervene if you're perceived as a threat."

I felt the blood drain from my face. A dragon?! There's a dragon here?! How?! And how in the name of Aedra and Daedra alike am I going to fight off a freaking dragon?! The dragon skulls we had passed were longer than I was tall. The very idea of taking on something that could literally swallow me whole sounded very much beyond my skill level.

"How did you become imprisoned here?" Serana asked.

"When I entered the Soul Cairn, I had intended to strike a bargain with the Ideal Masters," Valerica grimaced.

"What was the bargain?" I asked, as Serana's expression turned to disapproval.

"I requested refuge in the Soul Cairn, and in exchange, I would provide the Ideal Masters the souls that they craved." I could feel my expression darkening, and Serana didn't look any happier. Valerica sighed, "If I had foreseen the value they placed on my own soul, I would never have come here."

"So, in a move that surprises no one, they tricked you," I said.

The vampire matriarch simply nodded in resigned agreement, "The Ideal Masters unleashed their Keepers and sent them to slay me. Fortunately, I was able to hold them at bay and retreat into these ruins."

"Where you then became trapped."

"Unfortunately, yes. Since the Keepers weren't able to claim my soul, they constructed a barrier that I'd never be able to breach. Thanks to the Elder Scroll, I have not needed to feed, so time has had very little meaning to me. Consequently, it has little meaning to the Ideal Masters as well. I suppose you could call this the ultimate waiting game, each watching the other to see which will give in."

"What do the Ideal Masters look like?" I asked, half curious, half wary of what I would be encountering while looking for these… Keepers.

"Well, some necromancers believe they are the crystalline structures dotting the Soul Cairn. You know... the ones sucking in energy atop the buildings. I believe there's more to it than that."

"How so?"

"I think they transcend what we perceive as a physical form. Perhaps they were once corporeal beings, but they've reached a point where they no longer require a tangible presence."

Because I'm not completely creeped out enough by the idea of soul-sucking necromancers… now we have invisiblesoul-sucking necromancers… "And the crystals?"

"Conduits through which the Ideal Masters speak to their underlings and feed on their victims. They draw in soul energy. The human souls you've likely seen, belong to those who are wise enough to keep their distance from the crystals. But take this warning; if you get too close, they will suck your soul clean out of your still-screaming body."

"Oh," I said weakly. "Well, thank you so very much for contributing to my nightmares. We'll just... uh... go after those Keepers now."

Valerica's mouth twitched into a slight, sardonic smile, "Be careful, and keep my daughter safe."