A Tactical Retreat

There was nothing but the sound of her thudding heart echoing through the void. Time, space, things, places, ideas, and existence itself was all meaningless in this empty place.

She hated it. The nothing. She was trapped here, by her own will, admittedly, but even then she couldn't allow herself the freedom she so craved. She was… weak. Freedom, as she was, would mean nothing but death and destruction. Unbridled, unmitigated, she couldn't control herself, she had enough self-awareness to admit that, but that alone wouldn't have been enough to keep herself in check. Not before. But things were different now. She had a reason to control herself. She had her.

So she slept on, locked away in the deepest part of her soul, always watching, alway waiting, never acting.

Then he appeared, ripping through her soul, tearing deeper and deeper, dragging her consciousness with him until they found her wreathed in the darkness, radiating unquenchable rage. She rejected him immediately, but his taint remained, a foul stench occupying what shouldn't exist. She was livid. She wanted revenge. She wanted to escape this damnable prison, find that loathsome creature and tear him limb from limb.

But then the rest of her, the part that wasn't locked away, stayed behind, just for a moment, and reminded her of what was important. Reminded her why she hid herself away in the first place.

She slept then, reluctantly, but did not try to wake again. Not when she devoured another of her kin's soul, not when she made sweet love to her wolf, not when she cheerfully slaughtered dozens of men, and not when she slipped through a crack in the universe and fell onto an island floating on nothing.

Not even when a god slithered into her soul.

She almost didn't notice at first. Her intrusion was nothing like his. Less like crashing through several metal walls and more like carefully slipping under the covers, making every effort not to jostle her.

But it was impossible to miss that mad grin, inches from her face, closer than even he dared to get.

She snapped her jaws, but the god easily flitted away from her sharpened teeth. Laughter rang through the air, filling the emptiness around them.

"It's you," she said breathlessly, an air of incredulity in her voice. "It's really you."

She growled threateningly, not caring for whatever nonsense the god had for her. Her tail whipped around and tried to strike the white-haired visage but by the time it reached there was nothing there to hit.

"I didn't think… I didn't dare to hope…"

Fire, white as snow and hotter than lava burst forth from her jaws and engulfed everything in her sight. Anything caught in it would turn straight to ash.

"Why do you attack me?"the god questioned, sounding curiously amused.

She roared in rage, beating her wings and swiping her claws.

"Do you not recognize me?"

A flurry of ice, black as coal and sharper than daggers.

"Has madness changed me so?"

And then she stopped, her wings halfway raised to crush the insufferable cretin. Something jolted in her, a half-remembered memory from a time before she was even aware of her own existence.

"It's not so bad, really, going mad. Everything is an adventure that way, always new and exciting. Sometimes I worry, though. That I'll get swept up in it all and forget who I am. Forget why I'm here."

She lowered her wings slowly and looked again at the woman intruding in her soul. She took in her ethereal, silver hair and her piercing, cat-like eyes. Her pale-white skin and her colorful clothing.

Something was missing.

"Oh?" the god asked coyly. "Noticed something?"

Sheogorath was a cursed being. A powerful entity of order and logic, a being so strong the other Princes worked together for perhaps the only time in history to curse him into becoming the very thing he hates. Chaos and randomness. Still powerful, but fickle and unpredictable. Too erratic to pose a threat to anyone but the hapless mortals.

And yet…

The god's grin grew. "Figured it out, yet?"

At the end of every era the curse would lift, and order would return to chaos. The Greymarch. It was inevitable. It's what he was, after all, at his core. Order surrounded by chaos.

And yet Sheogorath was standing here before her, in all his (her? It didn't matter.) divine glory.

So where was Jyggalag?

Laughter filled the air once again. "It's wonderful isn't it? After all this time I've finally rid myself of him! No more knights! No more crystals! No more Greymarch! Ah Hahahahahaha!"

That was impossible. It should be impossible. Jyggalag was as much a part of Sheogorath as she was with the rest of herself. The two were one and the same, there was no separating them.

"Separate? Oh no, no, no, no, no, my dear dragon, I did nothing of the sort! It was him who was cursed, you see, so I just had to break that curse! Simple as could be!"

What? No, that didn't make any sense. Breaking the curse meant Jyggalag would be released, and Sheogorath would evaporate into nothing. She couldn't be here now if the curse was broken.

"Ah, but that's the best part! It was really quite simple once I realized. Jyggalag was Sheogorath. So all I had to do was make sure the Sheogorath wasn't Jyggalag."

"Not too long ago I was someone else entirely. So would that make me someone else now that I'm me?"

Silence, cut only by her maddening grin.

Who are you?

The grin vanished in an instant. "I find it funny," she said in a way that suggested she didn't find it funny at all, "How worried I was that I'd lose myself, and yet here you are, having forgotten everything that you are."

It was tempting, so very tempting to shrug off the words as that of a madwoman.

"Or maybe," she added, tilting her head curiously. "You never knew in the first place?"

But this was a god. Even in madness her words held wisdom.

Who am I?

An aberration.

"Go to where the world turns inside out." The mad god ordered. "I cannot give the answers you seek. But perhaps you'll be able to find them there. After all, in order to discover who you are, you must first find out who you are not."

Her grin returned then, and she reached out a hand to touch her nose, and she hesitantly allowed it. She smelled strange, otherworldly. Familiar. "Do come find me once you've figured it out." she said. "We have so much to talk about, you and I."

Then she turned away without another word and vanished from her soul.

The silence returned once more. The emptiness. Nothing but the beating of her heart.

There were certainly worse ways to wake up, Aila thought, as she felt the gentle kisses run down her neck. She let out a soft sigh of pleasure and threw her arms out around the body above her and pulled her closer as they continued to press her lips on her collarbone.

"That feels so nice," she mumbled happily.

"That's the idea," came Kathryn's muffled reply.

Aila smiled into Kathryn's hair, rubbing her back in return. For a good while, they enjoyed each other, and things were getting increasingly heated when the door suddenly loudly and rudely burst open. Kathryn let out a growl as she rolled off her and Aila gave an embarrassing shriek and tossed the nearest pillow at the intruder as she attempted to pull up the covers over the both of them and only partially succeeding.

Sheogorath deftly caught the pillow with one hand and blinked puzzledly at them. "You're still here? I thought you would have left by now."

Aila glared ferociously at the Mad God and honestly debated Shouting at her for a short moment before logic won out. "We would be if someone didn't forget to let us out. Not all of us can create interdimensional portals, you know."

"Really?" Sheogorath said, apparently baffled. "Have you tried?" she asked innocently.

Aila slowly took a deep breath to calm herself. "No," she bit out. "I have not tried."

Sheogorath grinned satisfactorily, as if that had solved the problem. "Well, there you go then. You've just gotta put a little umph into it, like so." She raised her hand off to the side then sharply cut downwards, and a space seemed to tear itself in two at her fingertips as a jagged portal opened up right in the bedroom. Aila gaped at it for a moment, looking through and seeing dusty furniture and cobwebs on the other side. The abandoned wing from before.

"Voilà," Sheogorath cheered. "One made-to-order dimensional portal, ready for use. I'd hurry though if I were you, it won't last you long and I can only be so generous."

Aila and Kathryn each let out a curse and threw themselves out of bed, ignoring their nakedness for now as Sheogorath laughed while they scrambled to grab their things that were scattered about the room, much to their annoyance. In no time at all, they were dressed and packed (which mostly meant the clothes they were wearing.) They were all too ready to jump through the portal and return to the real world, but Sheogorath called to them once more.

"Oh, one more thing before you go."

Aila groaned. "What now?"

Sheogorath pouted ridiculously. "So eager to leave? After all we've been through together? Do I really mean so little to you?"

Aila could've sworn she saw her lip quiver.

Kathryn snorted. "Don't act like your feelings are hurt. We all know you don't have those."

The quivering halted and the Mad God let out a long, pondering 'Hmmm' and said, "True. Regardless, it wouldn't do to leave before you've received your gifts."

Aila raised a brow. "Gifts?"

"Of course. It is your birthday, after all."

"Still?" Aila couldn't help but wonder. She remembered the time displacement between the times when Kathryn arrived to the Shivering Isles and she did, but they'd spent so much time here she figured that at least one day had passed out in the real world.

"Yes," Sheogorath answered. "Still. Here, take this." She held out a sword the Aila knew for damn sure wasn't there just a moment ago and presented the handle to Kathryn.

"I thought they were Aila's gifts, not mine?" Kathryn asked.

Sheogorath blinked at her. "What's the difference?"

Kathryn opened her mouth to respond, then paused, and shut it a moment later. "Not much, I supposed," she eventually conceded, taking the sword in her grasp. Holding it out in front of her to get a good look at it, she let out a whistle. "This is one hell of a sword," she commented, and Aila found herself agreeing.

The blade was cut down the middle with sharp teeth on the inside, resembling a fanged mouth. The handle was adorned with fiery orange gems that glimmered like the sun. All in all, it was a very intimidating blade.

"Dawnfang," Sheogorath announced proudly. "For now. It's subject to change."

"The name?" Kathryn asked.

"The blade." Sheogorath corrected, prompting the two of them to give her a look before deciding that the statement was not worth responding to. "I yoinked it off an orc who had the audacity to delve into my own hand-made dungeon that I had built for the specific purpose of welcoming adventurers to the Isles. Honestly, the nerve of some people. I quite enjoyed driving him insane."

Aila didn't bother hiding the roll of her eyes at the contradictory statement. It was frankly tame compared to some of the other things that have come out of her mouth.

"He had quite the weapon on him though," Sheogorath continued. "Very sharp, and very enchanted. I used it myself for a good while until I quite suddenly found myself without the need for a blade."

"Why would you ever need a blade in the first place?" Aila wondered.

"I had my reasons," the Mad God answered noncommittally, and Aila had the distinct feeling that further questions would go unanswered, so she changed the subject back to the gift.

"What does it do then? You said it was enchanted?" she asked.

"Oh yes. I think you'll quite enjoy it."

Aila let out an annoyed sigh. "But you won't tell us what it does," she guessed.

Sheogorath laughed. "What fun would that be? You'll figure it out soon enough; it's all very straightforward. But enough of that, on to your second gift! I had some trouble figuring this one out, you know. At first, I thought I'd balance out such a deadly weapon with something nice and fun, like the Dagger of Friendship, but then I had a much better idea!"

Aila looked over and silently mouthed Dagger of Friendship in disbelief to Kathryn, who merely shrugged.

"Why go for balance when you can instead go for complete overkill?" Sheogorath continued cheerfully. Then, much like the sword, she produced a black bow from nothingness and held it out to Aila, who tentatively took it in hand. She liked bows, but she was wary of anything Sheogorath described as 'overkill'.

It seemed to be made out of ebony, its limbs sporting a ribbed design. It was fairly light and felt very good in her hands, but there was something else too. It seemed to thrum with magick, almost vibrating in her hand. She held it closer to get a better look, and let out a startled yelp when the section just above the grip split open to reveal a single, golden eye.

"Ruin's Edge," Sheogorath informed them with a grin. "It can enchant your arrows with nearly every enchantment under the sun, but good luck getting it to pick one you'd actually want. But who knows? Maybe you can teach it a little discipline."

Aila stared wide-eyed as the eye darted around, gazing at every one of them for a few moments before eventually closing again. "Is it… alive?" she questioned.

The Mad God just shrugged unhelpfully. "Yes, no, kind of? Who knows? I never cared for the logistics of such things."

"Right," Aila muttered. Possibly against her better judgment, she holstered the bow over her shoulder. Regardless of its living status, a bow that could enchant an arrow with anything was bound to be useful. "Well," she said, glancing back at the portal. "Anything else?"

"Just one," Sheogorath answered. "Here." She held out a small, hand-sized mirror.

Aila took it curiously. The decorative frame matched the motif of the rest of the Shivering Isles, with one half being bright and shiny till it deteriorated to dull and rusted on the other side. But other than that, it seemed like it was just an ordinary mirror. She looked into it, seeing her bright blue eyes staring back at her.

"What's this?" she asked.

"A mirror," Sheogorath said simply. "Smash it when you get tired of looking at yourself."

Aile looked up at the entirely unhelpful answer with an exasperated expression. "What in Oblivion is that supposed to mean?"

Sheogorath merely smiled that maddening grin at her.

Aila let out a huff. "Fine." She looked to the portal, then back to Sheogorath. "So that's it then? We're free to leave?"

Sheogorath grinned at them. "Indeed. Plenty to do, you know, for the both of us. You've got your adventures to get back to, and I've got an arena to restock."

Aila nodded, smiling a bit as she remembered the assortment of monsters she killed in there. "Well. See you around then."

Her grin widened. "I certainly hope so."

Aila looked at Kathryn and the two of them stepped toward the portal. The two of them glanced at each other and Kathryn said, "Guess I'll go first," and hopped forward, landing neatly on the other side. Aila watched her look around for a moment and say, "Well, that was easy," before turning back to the portal and saying, "Ready to go, love?"

Aila nodded and took another step closer, but then hesitated. She looked back at the grinning God's piercing yellow eyes and felt the need to say something. She didn't know what, but as she opened her mouth she found the words simply tumbled out.

"I can't even fathom the reasons you felt the need to do all this for some hapless mortal, what with the party, the arena, and the presents, but… I've never celebrated my birthday before. I didn't even really consider that it was something I could celebrate, and despite all the… surprises… I had fun. A lot of fun. So… Thanks."

Throughout her impromptu speech that surprised even Aila, Sheogorath's grin slowly turned into something soft and tender, a warm smile that was impossible to decipher.

"It was my pleasure, little heart," was all she said.

Aila nodded back, feeling strangely flustered, and turned back to the portal, hesitating one last moment before stepping through.

There wasn't so much as a breeze to indicate that she had just crossed dimensions, and as she turned back to the portal she caught only a glimpse of it before it sealed itself up and vanished.

"Well," Kathryn said. "That was one hell of a ride."

"No kidding," Aila responded, staring at the empty space where the portal once was. Eventually, she shook her head to clear her thoughts and looked around the room they were in. She recognized the abandoned wing of the Blue palace, but she wasn't sure exactly where they were. Well, it hardly matted. They'd find their way out with enough wandering.

"I wonder what she meant by that," Kathryn said as they started walking. "'I certainly hope so.' Do you think that means she plans on kidnapping us again at some point?"

Alia blinked. "I… don't know. To be honest, I kind of just assumed we'd come across her again at some point, whatever the reason may be."

"Really? I'd figured this was the once-in-a-lifetime sort of experience that we were frankly lucky to have made it out of alive." Kathryn told her.

Aila frowned in thought. "Something tells me that's not the case." She wasn't quite sure what made her so certain, but she knew this wasn't the last they'd seen of Sheogorath.

"Would that make us friends then?"

"Huh?" Aila asked, looking up at Kathryn questioningly.

"With Sheogorath. Do you think she'd consider us friends after all this?"

The idea was so ludicrous that Aila snorted aloud. Calling a Daedric Prince one of your friends was just so outlandish, but at the same time… "You know… I think she actually might."

Kathryn laughed. "Great. I can't wait to tell Aela. She definitely won't think we've gone crazy."

Aila laughed along with her at the image. Insanity was probably more likely than either of them were willing to contemplate, considering where they just left, but it wasn't something worth worrying about.

Sure enough, it didn't take much time to locate the exit to the main section of the Palace and they were happy to finally return to the real world. They headed straight for their room, ignoring all the strange looks they gathered from their torn-up and dirtied dresses. Once they had found it, they were incredibly relieved to discover that their armor had mercifully been left in storage, rather than simply disappeared into the void, as they had worried. They quickly changed into their armor, feeling more at ease than they had in what felt like weeks doing so.

"Finally," Kathryn exclaimed as they buckled their last belts. "Everything's back to normal."

"Mostly," Aila said, eyeing their new sword and bow. She examined the mirror Sheogorath gave them for another moment, but continued to find nothing unusual about it, and so ultimately put it away for safekeeping.

"Mostly," Kathryn agreed, inspecting the impressive blade. "Sheogorath was right, this thing is enchanted to high hell. You can feel the magic it gives off. I wonder what it does."

"Same for the bow," Aila added. Then she gave Kathryn an eager grin. "Want to go test them out? We've got to be getting back to Riften anyway, there should be plenty of wildlife on the way to make test subjects out of."

Kathryn grinned back at her. "Sounds like fun."

They didn't have much in the way of belongings so it didn't take long for them to get all packed up and ready to leave the city for good.

That was the intention, at least, however, as they were leaving they came across Falk Firebeard, the steward, who noticed their things and called out to them.

"Oh? Are you preparing to leave the city?" he asked them.

Somewhat annoyed by the interruption, but not willing to cause an incident just yet, Aila merely let Kathryn respond in affirmation.

"Indeed," she said. "We've finished our business here, so it's time we get going."

"Well, in that case, why don't you stop by the throne room and say your farewells? I'm sure Jarl Elisif will want to see you off."

Aila couldn't care less what the Jarl wanted, but there was no real way to refuse without appearing rude. Again, Aila wouldn't normally care, but Jarls were sensitive creatures, and must be dealt with delicately.

"As long as it gets you out of our hair," she accidently muttered aloud.

The Steward raised a brow at her and she let out a small yelp as Kathryn roughly elbowed her side.

"Sorry about her. She woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

The Steward nodded amicably. "I suppose it happens to the best of us every once in a while. Come, I'll accompany you to the throne room."

He started to move away, and Aila reluctantly followed along with Kathryn. She didn't see the point in all this, but Kathryn was right when she pointed out that there was no reason to needlessly antagonize the Jarl. It would just bring unnecessary heat to them.

When they reached the throne room, Aila frowned. It wasn't very impressive. It was a relatively small room overlooking an only mildly interesting entrance hall, filled with scant decorations and a plain throne. Then Aila realized that she was comparing it to Sheogorath's throne room, and silently conceded that such comparisons were likely somewhat unfair.

Annoyingly, they had to wait for the room to clear, as the Jarl was currently in the middle of some sort of petition with a peasant who was complaining about a cave, or some other nonsense that Aila didn't care to listen to. When he'd finally been dismissed, and Aila and Kathryn ushered forward, The steward announced them and their intentions to leave.

"Is that so," Elisif responded with a false tone of sadness. Aila figured that she didn't actually care one way or the other, but appearances must be kept. It was starting to grate on her nerves, all the civility. Everything would be so much easier if nobody pretended to care what they were doing. They could already be on their way, that way.

"I'm sorry to see you go so soon, but I suppose you must be very busy. Before you go, however, won't you accept a gift of ours, to once again show our appreciation for slaying that dragon. Sybille?"

Aila rolled her eyes, but luckily no one seemed to see. She was receiving a lot of gifts today, but somehow she doubted Elisif's would even slightly compare to Sheogorath's.

The Court Mage nodded her head and stepped forward, holding out an amulet of some kind. Kathryn had apparently picked up on the fact that Aila's fuse was slowly burning away and stepped forward to receive it. She gently grasped the amulet, but when moved to pull it away she found it clasped tightly in the Court Mage's hand.

An uneasy feeling suddenly formed in Aila's gut, and she looked under Sybille's hood to see her blood-red eyes widened in surprise, shortly followed by a cruel grin.

"You're a werewolf," the vampire announced to the room.

Chaos. Several nobles cried out in fear and surprise and the guards all drew their weapons and moved to block the exits. Aila cursed under her breath and moved closer to Kathryn while Kathryn abandoned the necklace and stepped back with a furious frown.

The Jarl let out a shocked gasp. "Sybille, what are you saying?"

"There's no mistaking it, my Jarl," that traitorous vampire said, hiding a victorious grin under her hood as she moved back next to Elisif. "It's her eyes. Those silver eyes are a sure sign of Lycanthropy, my Jarl, I am ashamed I didn't notice it sooner."

Kathryn let out a low growl, "Yes, I'm sure it was the eyes, you damned leech." She shouldn't have gone anywhere near the vampire, but they were both too preoccupied to even consider that they might be outed.

Unfortunately, Kathryn's outburst was mere confirmation. Elisif stood from her throne in a righteous fury that enraged Aila. "So it is true. This whole time… I was housing a werewolf." She turned to Aila. "Did you know? Were you aware of your companions… affliction?"

Aila's mouth opened then quickly snapped shut again, her teeth biting her tongue. She was so, very close to Shouting the hypocritical Jarl into Oblivion. Fiery rage poured into her veins at their treatment of Kathryn, talking of her like she had some kind of sickness. She was shaking with anger but she somehow managed to hold herself back before she made everything even worse for them than it already was.

But something in her body language must have tipped off the Jarl, for after a moment's silence she scowled and said, "You did, didn't you? You knowingly brought this danger to my city. Guards! Take the werewolf away while I decide what to do with the girl."

The guards began to close in on them, and Kathryn let out another growl, fiercer than before, startling the few nobles who hadn't fled the room. Aila grit her teeth in an effort to restrain herself. She needed to solve this somehow. She was sure they could just fight their way out and escape, but that would have… consequences.

Aila stopped shaking and loosened her jaw. Her angry frown was replaced by a pleading look and she stepped forward. "Wait, Jarl Elisif, please. Don't do this," she called in a sad, sweet voice.

"Excuse me?" Elisif cried.

"Please, Jarl Elisif," she called again. "Yes, it's true I knew of her…" her teeth clenched hard for a moment before continuing, "condition, but we're very careful. She hasn't hurt anyone. She can't help what she is, please don't throw an innocent woman in jail for something she can't control."

Elisif looked uncertain for a moment. She stared at Aila, then at Kathryn, and then looked over to Sybille. The vampire lightly shook her head.

"I'm sorry," Elisif said, "But such creatures are just too dangerous to be left unchecked. There's no telling when an accident might occur; it is better to take no chances."

Aila's gaze turned blank and she gave the Jarl a hard stare before her face twisted into a furious glare, startling Elisif by the sudden shift. "Kren sosaal," she spat out, her voice vibrating. "Have it your way."

She lunged forward, darting past the two guards in front of them before they even had a chance to react. A flurry of snow engulfed Kathryn's arms at the same time, as she lifted them to the side and fired two streams of razor-sharp ice particles at the closest approaching guards. Elisif's bodyguard rushed in front of Elisif, blocking Aila's way, but that hardly stopped her. She felt a power in her body surge, magic filling her body as he swung his greatsword down on her.

"Su!"

She twisted around his blade with laughable ease, jumping up past him and hooking her arm around his neck before giving a powerful yank. There was a loud crack, and a scream, and the bodyguard fell to the ground as let him go and Aila quickly closed the distance on the frightened Jarl. With a swift kick thrown to the back of the Jarl's knee, Elisif was brought down to to her height and Aila quickly grabbed a fistfull of her hair and pulled her head back, ignoring the cry she let out as she revealed one her her daggers and brought the tip of it to the Jarl's now exposed neck.

"Everybody freeze! Or I slice open your precious Jarl's neck!"

She heard several curses and some more screaming, and the guards all paused in their movements, unsure what to do. "Let her go!" someone shouted at her, along with various other similar threats and demands. She made eye contact with Kathryn who was growling ferociously at the nearby guards, miniature ice storms raging along her arms. She looked very attractive right then, but this wasn't the time for such things. The guards had blocked off nearly every exit, so Aila nodded her head toward the only one left she could see. Kathryn stopped growling and raised an eyebrow. Aila raised one back, silently asking her if she had any better ideas. Kathryn let out a defeated sigh, and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

The whole exchange only took a moment, and Aila turned her attention back to the room, or more specifically, the vampire who was approaching her with lightning crackling in her hands.

"What are you doing?" the vampire exclaimed. "Are you insane?"

"Me?" Aila retorted. "I warned you. I warned you not to go against me, and then you pull this little stunt? Did you think I would just silently sit by while you people attempt to imprison my wolf?"

"Why are you doing this?" Elisif weakly cried from under her blade. "Aren't you the Dragonborn? You're supposed to be a hero- ah!" She cut off as Aila yanked on her hair.

"Shut up. I couldn't care less about your people's ridiculous myths and legends. All I care about is my beautiful wolf, and you," she pressed her dagger against the skin of her neck, enough to draw a drop of blood, causing the Jarl to let out a small whimper. "Just tried to have her thrown in jail. You're lucky I find you too vapid to bother killing, unlike your soon-to-be-deceased Court Mage."

"You are crazy," the Court Mage said, her voice full of disbelief. "Do you honestly think after taking the Jarl hostage that there's any possible way that you can make it out of this alive? Even you can't fight off the entire city's guard!"

There was a moment of tense silence and everyone awaited Aila's response. Several guards held bows in their hands, arrows nocked and ready to fire at a moment's notice, while the rest were standing a short ways away with their swords drawn, wary of approaching lest Aila harm their Jarl. The flurry of ice surrounding Kathryn's arms had lessened as she focused on preparing their escape.

Then Aila threw her head back and laughed. The sound pierced the air for several long seconds as everyone stared at her incredulously, shifting uncomfortably, unsure how to respond. Even as her laughter died down, giggles cut through her speech as Aila answered the vampire. "You really think that, don't you? Oh, you poor, pitiful, little bloodsucker." She paused as another fit of giggles overcame her, before finally calming and giving the vampire a cold stare. "It's really too bad," she told her, "That you won't be around long enough to see just how wrong you are."

Then, unexpectedly, the woman she was holding captive shifted suddenly, and Aila looked down to see what the annoying Jarl was doing only for the back of the woman's head to crash into her nose. "Argh!" she cried in surprise, pulling back and clutching her nose. She hadn't expected the Jarl to be the first one to make a move, apparently she had more of a spine than she thought.

"You bitch!" Aila roared, raising her foot to kick the woman in the back, sending her flying across the floor with a cry. At the same time, every guard in the room fired an arrow at Aila, but she had expected that.

"FEIM!"

The arrows slipped straight through her incorporeal form as Aila darted forward, past the advancing guards and straight for Sybille Stentor. The vampire's eyes widened in surprise at her ghostly form, and threw a panicked lighting bolt at her, only for it to pass harmlessly through her. Aila saw the bloodsuckers face turn from surprise to terror as she got closer, and she couldn't help the grin that made its way to her face as a result. She raised her dagger and the vampire desperately threw her hands out in a vain attempt to protect herself, but Aila merely passed straight through her, flashing back into corporeality behind her a mere moment after. The vampire turned in confusion, only for a dagger to impale itself deep into her eye.

Pain-laced shrieks filled the throne room as the court mage clutched at her eye, blood gushing from the dagger embedded almost hilt deep in it. Aila grinned victoriously, but was slightly annoyed that the bitch was still alive, thanks to her vampire resilience.

No matter.

"YOL!"

The room lit up, and the sheiking intensified. The vampire fell to the floor as fire engulfed her, as well as a couple others who got caught in the crossfire, but the vampire had it worse, her vulnerable skin lighting up in flames. Aila took a moment, just a moment, to savor the undead's screams, but it was a moment too long and a sharp, piercing pain shot through her back. A growl tore through her throat, and she turned around, seeing one of the guards hurriedly drawing another arrow, but Aila's Voice was quicker.

"FO!"

With a storm of ice, the guard dropped his bow, yelling in pain as the icy frost cut up his skin and sucked the heat from his body. Aila reached behind her back and pulled out the arrow with a grunt, but she didn't let the pain slow her down. "Now!" she called to Kathryn. Then she let out a cough, her throat straining, but she ignored it as another pair of guards approached with their swords up.

Kathryn's eyes snapped open, her irises glowing golden. The flurry of ice around her arms condensed and coelesed into a single spear of ice which shot past the guards into a window, shattering the glass on impact. Several guards tried to stop her as she bolted for the now open window, but she barreled past them, deftly avoiding their blades and shoving them to the side with unnatural strength before diving through the window.

"Don't let them escape!" someone shouted, and Aila ducked under a sword swinging her way and ran after Kathryn, leaping through several arrows shot at her and out the window. Twisting her body in the air, she fell toward the lower roof of the castle, and landed with a grunt onto Kathryn's furry back. She looked up with a victorious grin, seeing guards looking out the window and shouting furiously, then back down at Kathryn in her wolven form, gripping her fur tightly. "Let's go!"

Kathryn let out a reverberating bark in response and bounded off. "Whoa!" Aila exclaimed as the sudden jolt in speed nearly tore her from Kathryn's back, but she managed to cling on as Kathryn jumped down from the roof to the grounds below. Screams erupted all around them as Kathryn tore through the city streets, and a moment later a bell sounded throughout the city. In moments, they reached the city gates, but it was too late and the guards were already closing the doors. Kathryn began to slow, growling in frustration, but Aila shouted, "Don't stop!" and her pace resumed, although with a confused whine that increased in urgency as they grew closer.

"Just keep running," was Aila's only response. Even as the gate doors slammed to a close, Kathryn barked in acknowledgement, jumping side to side as she dodged arrows shot their way. Magic that was beginning to feel familiar sparked within Aila and filled her body, pouring into her veins and making her feel unstoppable. The frightened and furious shouts of the guards became audible as their flight approached its goal, and Aila took the power rising within her and focused, not just on her, but on Kathryn as well. The gate drew closer and Aila saw Kathryn bracing herself for impact, and Aila breathed in deeply.

"FEIM!"

Mere moments before they crashed into the gate, a flash of light enveloped the both of them, and instead of colliding headfirst, the two of them passed seamlessly through the wooden structure. Emerging on the other side, Kathryn stumbled slightly in surprise before gazing all around them, trying to figure out what just happened. She caught sight of herself and saw her transparent, ethereal fur glowing softly for a moment before it snapped back to its usual corporeality with another flash of light, but her wonder was quickly cut short.

A whine of concern came from Kathryn as Aila brought a hand to her hand to cover the sudden onslaught of violent coughing. Her throat was rough and sore, like she'd screamed herself hoarse, and she felt weak, drained of all her energy. "I'm fine, just-" she began to say as her cough subsided, only to be cut off by another attack. "Just run!" she choked out.

Kathyrn let out another whine but obliged, just in time as the guards realized what happened and turned their bows towards them, but by then Kathryn had bounded off, leaving their range in mere moments. Aila held on tightly as she ran, pressing her face against her fur as she tried to control her breathing. The pain in her throat was gradually lessening, thankfully. She'd felt the strain from Shouting before, but never like this. It was almost surprising, but then, she had never Shouted as much at a time as in these last few minutes. And that last Shout… She hadn't realized extending the effect of feim to another person would take so much out of her. She hadn't known such a thing was even possible until that moment, really. It worked, at least.

After some time, when they were sure Kathryn had run far enough that no one would be catching up anytime soon, they slowed to a pause and Kathryn looked back at Aila up on her back, tossing her another worried look. By then her cough had completely faded, though her throat still ached something fierce, so Aila just reached out to pat Kathryn's head, stroking her fur gently. "I'm fine, Kat. Really," she added at Kathryn's skeptical look, though she doubted it was very convincing given how hoarse her voice sounded. "That just… took more out of me than I expected. I'll be more careful in the future." If anything, that seemed to worry her even more, for she let out a small whine and nudged their pack with her nose.

Aila hummed questioningly before realizing. "No, I'm fine. We should save those for when we really need them." But Kathryn wasn't having it, growling lightly and nipping at her side. "Ow, hey! Alright, alright, I get it. I'll take one, okay? Sheesh." With that, she opened up the pack and pulled out one of their few healing potions. Somewhat hesitantly, she uncorked the small bottle and quickly emptied it with a grimace. It tasted awful, but the relief that came as the magic liquid soothed her throat was immediately worth it. She sighed in relief, massaging her neck as the potion worked. "Okay," she conceded to Kathryn. "Maybe you were right."

Kathryn gave a vindicated snort which Aila politely ignored and began looking back at the path they took, as well as the way forward, considering. Aila mimicked her, silently wondering what they should do next. She didn't recognize their surroundings, not that it was particularly surprising in the wilderness, but Kathryn really was fast. They must've made good progress back to Riften without even trying. If they continued like this, they could be back in no time at all.

Aila looked back down at Kathryn with a challenging grin. "Feeling up for another run?"

Kathyrn barked happily and launched forward, Aila laughing in delight atop her as the wind rushed past her and the trees blurred around them as they made their way back to Riften.

She was reminded of Kathryn's incredible endurance as the hours passed. Even when the novelty of speeding along with Kathryn slowly wore off and the monotony of travel inevitably set in, she continued to run, her rapid pace not slowing in the slightest. If anything, she seemed to genuinely enjoy the rare chance to truly stretch her legs, grinning as much as a wolf could as she ran.

There was no point in taking the long way around when they could just cut back through the Labyrinthian so they first made their way back towards Morthal, staying a good distance from the road so no travellers would see them.

Aila, for her part, was surprisingly comfortable where she was, mostly lying flush against Kathryn's warm and furry back. The rhythmic flexing of her muscles as her legs moved was unexpectedly relaxing as well, and she found herself being lulled for a good chunk of the trip, and before she knew it, night was beginning to fall.

It wasn't until they fully stopped that Aila took another account of her surroundings and realized that the mountains that the Labyrinthian cut through were towering just ahead, mere hours away on foot. Kathryn stretched beside her as she stared up in amazement, shaking away the strain of running all day and looking quite pleased with herself, from what Aila could see. "You're not changing back?" she asked as she began setting up the campfire while Kathyrn paced the area. She paused, eying Aila for a moment as she seemed to consider the idea before giving an odd-looking shrug.

"I guess there's not much point if you're just going to change back in the morning." Aila said, and Kathyrn huffed in agreement. "What are you going to eat, though? You must be hungry, running all day. I doubt the rations we have are going to fill you any like that."

At that, Kathryn gave a wolfish grin and barked once before suddenly bolting off into the woods. Aila blinked after her, silently baffled, but she shrugged it off in favour of getting the fire going. It didn't take long, only a few minutes to gather the wood and a quick yol to ignite it, and by the time she was done Kathyrn had returned, dragging along the corpse of a large elk with her. Aila couldn't help but smile at the sight, especially when she tore off one of the creature's legs with her jaws and presented it to Aila, presumably as her portion of the meal.

"Puppy," Aila said affectionately, causing Kathyrn to huff irritatedly, tossing the leg at her. Aila laughed as she caught it, but happily began skinning the leg in preparation to cook it.

Roasting the leg over the fire, Aila watched as Kathryn tore into the elk. She wondered absently if eating it raw like that really tasted any good, but she seemed to enjoy it well enough. Once the two of them had eaten, Kathryn padded over next to the fire with Aila and curled around her, laying her head on her lap as Aila leaned against Kathryn's body. Aila smiled and placed a hand on Kathryn's head, gently stroking her fur and occasionally scratching her behind the ear. Minutes of peaceful silence passed and as Kathryn's breathing evened out, Aila realized she had fallen asleep.

It wasn't surprising, really, considering she had literally just finished sprinting quite possibly the world's longest marathon, but it was still such a rare occasion that Aila marveled anyway. "So cute," she whispered down to her snoozing wolf. "So gorgeous. I love you so much." She let herself lean against Kathryn's side, feeling the soft hairs brush against her cheek, still gently stroking her head with one hand. She let out a happy sigh, contentment filling her soul. It didn't matter what went on in the world, everything was right with Kathryn by her side.

And to think, they had tried to tear this peace from her just hours ago, all because of a petty bloodsucker.

Burning resentment bubbled up inside her for a moment, a white-hot hate shooting up her spine as she remembered the look of sadistic glee on the vampire's face as the realization of Kathryn's true nature washed over her. But she huffed and shoved the feeling to the side. The leech was dead, face split open and burned alive just like she deserved for trying to take her love away from her. Granted, now the whole of Solitude wanted her head, but it wasn't like she ever planned on returning in the first place. Mercer wouldn't like it, but he could go suck a giant's toe for all she cared.

So she merely closed her eyes and enjoyed the still calm of the night, cut only by the gentle breaths of the only thing that mattered in this world.