-Hello again everyone! Time for the next chapter of 'Housecarl Lydia's Dragonborn Thane'! Lol jk, a certain anime is really rubbing off on me, can you tell?-


"Illia?" Siffre questioned. She and Lydia looked out at the edge of the tree-line, where an attacker of theirs had seemingly been flushed out. In their place, a hulking construct of ice had stood, only to have fallen mere moments afterward. Now standing it its place was a very familiar image.

The mage Illia stood there, looking down at the two women. Her hood was drawn up to conceal most of her head, but it did little to hide the expression she wore upon her face. Despite being literally above them, her face was still held nervousness as when the two had first met her. Her hands, once brimming with the misty effect of her ice magic, were clear once more and lowered back down to her sides.

The two sides looked at each other, studying the other. Moments passed felt like an eternity, until Lydia broke the silence,

"You? What are you doing here?" There was decent enough distance between both sides that Lydia did not immediately feel the need to tense up as she watched the witch. Illia herself slowly and carefully made her way down the upper ledge of land she stood upon and jumped down to the lower ground.

"I... happened to be nearby, and..." Illia paused, considering what to say next, "I... couldn't help but notice something was going on, then I saw you two."

"Wait a minute... did 'you' make that... that big ice thing? That walking ice creature?" Siffre asked.

"'Frost Atronach'," Illia answered and clarified at the same time, "And yes, I did that. Though, it took a little more effort to produce than I thought. Nearly drained my magicka..." The witch continued to speak, and the more Lydia heard, the more she seemed to perceive as boasting from her. She gave a quick glance all around her to make sure there wasn't anyone else, least of all those black-garbed attackers, that might still be around nearby. She then slid her sword back into the sheathe at her waist.

"Well then, you have our... gratitude, and whatnot, for 'happening' to appear when you did," Lydia spoke, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "But, we'll just be on our way now. My thane?"

"Um... alright...?" Siffre replied. Her eyebrow raised and her head tilted, clearly in confusion as to this sudden promptness to be back on their way. In fact, she nearly hesitated to move at all, before proceeding to walk and join back up with Lydia.

Behind them however, Illia was even more confused. Her head perked up as she watched after them as they began to walk away.

"W-Wait! You mean, after all that, you're just going to leave...?" Illia called after them.

"That is precisely the plan," Lydia replied off-handedly without even looking back, "I'd also prefer not to linger around these parts, in case we're visted by those... those..." The housecarl's mood soured a little as the black-dressed warriors were brought back to mind again. They way they had so brazenly challenged the two of them, the audacity in demanding she hand over her sword, as well as nearly getting the better of her in a fight! Frustration began to well back up within her from before, which was only augmented by the fact that on top of what they were trying to do, there was absolutely no way to tell what their identities were! They were just concealed that thoroughly! It was frankly enough to make one-

A stinging pain in her side shook Lydia of her mental fuming. She brought a hand to her side where the pain was felt, but was confused when she felt something liquid where she placed her hand. Looking down, she was shocked to see that her hand was coated in a thin layer of blood. Her blood!

"Lydia? You're bleeding...!" Siffre exclaimed, the vibrations felt in full between the two women.

"Ugh, it was a lucky hit..." Lydia was forced to admit. All from a stupid mistake on her part no less, "I should be fine though, if I keep my hand over the wound..."

"Illia?" the Dragonborn suddenly spoke. Lydia's head shot up and turned to face the person in question. Illia was making her way towards them, closing the distance with a head tilted forward and curiosity gracing her face. Lydia herself took an alarmed step back, not expecting the mage to approaching her, let alone coming so close.

"Please? Would you just calm down for a second?" Illia practically pleaded with her hands held up, "Why are you so insistent that I mean you harm? To either of you?"

"I hope you don't mean that as a serious question..." Lydia spoke lowly, almost to a tone she thought neither other women could hear. Siffre pursed her lips in response, while Illia shook her head.

"Just listen! I would like to help!" she said, "Would you please just let me see it? The wound...?" Lydia's own teeth gritted, in part also from the persistent stinging she felt from her bleeding injury. Cautiously, she removed her blood covered hand from her side, allowing Siffre and Illia to see it. The mage looked upon the site with furrowed eyes, but nothing anymore extreme than that.

"Hm, it doesn't look that serious..." she said. This earned her a quick glare from Lydia, "W-what I mean is, it doesn't look that 'untreatable'! I'm serious, I could fix this!"

"How? You have a healing potion...?" Siffre asked.

"No, no healing potions on me," Illia shook her head, "But... I do know a healing spell." She held her right hand up and before the two women, showing them that she appeared to be 'holding' a small, glowing ball of orange-yellow light. Lydia's eyes narrowed- that was absolutely a healing spell, having seen Farengar himself perform them once or twice. She'd had cuts and bruises along her body when she was younger, and was sent to either him or the healers of the Temple of Kynareth for treatment.

After hesitation, she gave no resistance as she allowed Illia to move her healing hand closer to her wound. The moment the spell itself made contact with it, Lydia's side was awash with a numbing, yet cooling feeling. Illia's face this time didn't even appear to be overtaxed in her ability to perform this spell. She held a calm expression as she allowed her healing spell to do its work. The three women watched the wound itself as it slowly began to grow smaller underneath the red layer of blood. Finally, the bloody gash had vanished completely, with only dried blood staining Lydia's bare skin over a small scar line as a marker of what had once been.

"Lydia...?" Siffre softly spoke.

"It's... it's better!" Lydia said, gently rubbing her right hand's fingers over her new scar. There was no longer any sensations of pain nor stinging from the site, replaced instead by a light cooling feeling of being exposed to the air and the wind. Almost coincidentally, Lydia's previous grudge-bearing thoughts against the one who had injured her in the first place had seemingly faded a little as well. Instead, she was left to look back up at the one who had done this for her, "Um, thanks."

"Hm, I suppose I'll take what I can get with you..." Illia remarked. Lydia's eyes narrowed at her comment. Before she herself could reply, Siffre spoke up before her,

"How exactly 'were' you around to assist us...?" Illia hesitated in that moment, as if thinking how exactly to answer her.

"Like I said, I happen to be nearby, in these woods!" the mage stretched an arm back behind her to indicate the nearby tree-line she had come from, "I was just out 'hunting for fish', like you Nords would do! It was breakfast for me."

"Hunting for fish...?" Lydia spoke those words the mage had just spoken. She herself almost repeated them herself as if to confirm she had heard that correctly. She tried and almost failed to keep a smile of amusement from her lips as she processed them, "And... how exactly did that go?"

"Oh... you know!" Illia spoke with strange, uncharacteristic confidence in her voice, "I caught me plenty and ate them all up! Was even considering seconds-"

GROWLLLL-!

All three women were silent in the span of a few seconds. Each one was almost in disbelief of what had just happened, what they had just heard. As reality began to sink in, Illia's façade of confidence quickly devolved into mortification. Siffre's eyes widened in surprise, while Lydia's smile she had previously tried to repress was now upon her lips in full.

"Um... what was that...?" Siffre asked with a tilted head.

"N-nothing! You didn't hear anything!" Illia cried out while placing her two hands over her stomach.

"Really?" Lydia said, "Cause it sounds like someone might be-"

"I said it was nothing!" Illia cried out again, "It was... er, well, j-just, I mean!" The two Nord women continued to stare at the mage.

"Are you... hungry...?" Siffre asked. Illia's stammering persisted as her eyes snapped between looking at the dragonborn and Lydia. Her nervousness could not be plastered any clearer across her face.

"Oh, by Juliannos!" she suddenly exclaimed, "YES! I am hungry, alright?! I haven't actually eaten anything since last night! Nothing! I tried catching fish at a nearby river, like what I'd heard Nords would do! You know, how they'd throw something really sharp into the water to try and catch fish?"

"Spear-fishing?" Lydia asked, truly surprised now, "My kind haven't fished like that since the old days, when they'd first settled Skyrim!"

"Hadn't you tried using... a rod, with bait?" Siffre asked.

"I don't have one!" Illia replied, "Not that I would've known how to use it anyway. And... I've only managed to catch one fish this morning, that I never even got to try and eat. It's probably rotted away by now..." The mage took a moment to breathe in between her ranting, "That's not all... living outside, in these wild outdoors? It's terrible! I hate it! How can anyone live like this, without a roof over their heads?!"

"If it bothers you that much, maybe you should go back to that tower we found you at-?" Lydia spoke.

"NO!" Illia cut in rather forcefully. The edge in her voice from that reply actually caused Lydia to take a small step back in surprise. The mage, having realized what she'd said, or at least 'how' she'd said it, let out a small sigh, "No... I will never go back to that place. I've told you before I want nothing more to do with it, with them..." Her eyes suddenly locked with Lydia's, and the latter could see them narrowed in anger, "But why should you understand? You've done nothing but assume that I'm just like them!"

Her comment actually stunned Lydia. It was equal parts from the aggression the mage was exhibiting in contrast to her previously neurotic demeanor. But also yet again, Lydia was forced to reconsider. The entire time that she had known this mage, she'd completely assumed she was little more than some 'witch of the wilds'. A magic-wielding criminal that would do all sorts of Oblivion-cursed things to anyone who came across her, or even who she managed to find herself. After all, her only experience with mages in general was Farengar Secret-Fire, who personally devoted his services of magic to Jarl Balgruuf. And any other type of mage that did not hold similar beliefs of loyalty had to be of some wicked mindset, right...?

Within a few days, following Lydia's departure from her home of Whiterun, she had met another mage out in the wilds who had challenged her initial beliefs of what she had come to accept as reality. This witch was... well, she did not appear to be wicked as she thought. This was made all the more clearer in comparison to those 'other' witches that were present with her at that tower. Not only did she not attack her and Siffre as they did, but she didn't even seem to bear the same attitude that they held. She never actually made any attempts upon neither hers nor her thane's lives. There was of course that whole incident of when she made her invisible, which Lydia was still certain had been some grand trick on her part. However, insistence from both Illia and even Siffre constantly challenged that notion as well.

Lydia looked back and forth between the two women. She was also reminded of her thane's less than humble background. Her blatantly criminal background in fact. Not only that, but her thane had relayed to her her previous life's story with a feeling of reluctance. A guilt in her voice, likely that she'd been holding with her for a long time.

And now with these two women standing her before her, in this very moment, it completely shamed Lydia to admit it. There was little difference between Siffre, the once-criminal-turned-Dragonborn that she had sworn her own life and sword to, and this mage Illia, who sought nothing more than to escape her own criminal-like past. A serious question stabbed at Lydia, harder than any blade had before: She had found it in herself to forgive Siffre for her past, so why exactly 'couldn't' she do the same for Illia?

Lydia's tightly-clenched fist slowly opened.

"You... you are right," she spoke, "You are absolutely right."

"Huh?" Illia said, "I'm... right?"

"You say you aren't like 'them'," a light gesture of Lydia's hand in the vague direction towards Riften was all the indication required, "And... you even healed me," her hand indicated to the light scar that now graced her side, "So... I'm prepared to accept this. You say you're really not some 'evil witch' or something? So... I'm prepared to believe you now." Lydia had the other two women's full attention. Between the two of them, Illia's eyes widened wider than Siffre's. The stammering came out much less frequently compared to before, until finally she gave a sigh of her own, looking at Lydia with renewal-filled eyes.

"Well, even if it did take you long enough to realize this, I... am still grateful to hear it," she said. In turn, Lydia held her arm out towards Illia. The mage looked at it for a moment, almost unsure of what to do. A look between her, as well as from Siffre, and she tentatively reached her own robed arm out as well. Lydia acted first, taking the other's arm in a shaking motion, similar to what she and Siffre had done a couple days ago.

"And... thank you again for healing me..." Lydia added.

"Oh, yes, of course," Illia acknowledged. With that, the two women released each other's arms from each other, "So... what happens now...?"

"Well... what were you doing before?" Siffre spoke up. Illia's previous low-spirited mood returned again upon hearing the question.

"I don't really know...?" she said, "Like I said, I was barely trying to get by in these woods by myself. I can't catch food like fish, the way any Nord can, and I don't have anywhere else to stay. What proper 'hardy Nord village' would accept a witch like me anyway...?" Lydia gave a sigh. But it was not a sigh of exasperation, which admittedly she might have done before when she'd first met Illia. There was one solution she could think of for this. She reached a hand down towards her waist, where her coin-purse was tied to. As she tried to remove it however, Siffre's voice spoke up,

"Maybe... you could come with us?"

"WHAT?!" Both Illia and Lydia's voices practically shouted in unison. Both of their widened eyes practically leveled at the Dragonborn, which Siffre herself almost flinched from. As if the insanity that built up could not possibly build any higher...

"R-really? You'd... you'd let me go with you?" Illia asked, "I... I'm flattered..."

"Sif- My thane..." Lydia spoke, pinching the bridge of her nose with closed eyes, "Do I even need to remind you of-"

"No- Lydia, listen to me now," Siffre suddenly spoke up forcefully. The air between them vibrated ever so slightly this time, "What exactly is there that says she can't come with us?"

"How about that she just now said 'hardy Nord villages' wouldn't accept her? Her words," Lydia replied.

"But, we're not 'going' to some village... are we? We're going to find... that Word of Power, that's said to be in a remote place. Right?" Siffre countered. In light of everything that happened today, Lydia had nearly forgotten what it was that they were even doing! Admittedly, this was a good point, "And besides! It'd be better and safer for us this way... She's all alone, and the two of us were attacked... We can watch each other." Lydia glanced out of the corner of her eye back to Illia. The shocked expression she'd had on her face had diminished to her usual nervous look. The numbers would certainly be helpful...

"Very well my thane, I understand..." Lydia conceded.

"Good," Siffre said with a smile and a nod. However, Lydia quickly turned to face the mage again. Illia nearly yelped as she was being rounded upon again so suddenly.

"Make no mistake though: I am her housecarl, her protector," she forcefully spoke to her, while a pointed hand behind her indicated to the dragonborn herself, "As such, I will guard her, as well as all she owns, with my very life if need be. So keep that in mind: you try anything, ANYTHING that would endanger her, and I will run you through on the spot! Am I clear?!"

"Yes, yes, YES! A thousand times yes!" Illia practically begged and sweated before her, "I swear to you, I won't do anything to actively harm you or kill you! Either of you!" Lydia pulled herself back a little to put more space between them.

"Hmph, good... so long as we have an understanding..." Outwardly Lydia maintained her stern face, but inwardly, she couldn't help but smile in amusement. She was already confident that no harm would be coming to her thane on her watch, but it was still fun to put on a menacing face before her like that!

"Yes, you've made your point very, VERY clear...!" Illia said, barely managing to control herself, "But um... is it at all possible... that- Oh by the Divines! Do you have any food?!" Lydia's stern face broke, replaced instead by confusion. Confusion at this sudden, yet completely random outburst from the mage.

"Um... we don't have any food on us..." Siffre said, "I don't think... Lydia, do we?"

"I don't think so," Lydia recalled, "I don't think we even had that much to eat this morning..."

"Oblivion CURSE it...!" Illia muttered under her breath while also kicking a rock on the ground near her.

"I'm sure we'll find something to eat along the way," Siffre assured her, as well as addressing the other two women before her in addition, "We should get going too... before anything else might show up."

"Yes, good idea," Lydia agreed. The two of them began to walk back down the path that led away from Riften, with Illia running a little to pick up the pace and close the distance between her and them.

"But-! Where are we going?" she asked, "Where were you even going before... before I saw you?"

"We're going to-" Lydia started, but stopped short. The nature of this topic was subject of discussion before, in which it was probably best if Siffre herself disclose anything, "Oh, um... My thane?"

"We're... we're looking for something," Siffre explained, looking over her shoulder back towards the mage.

"Some 'word of power'?" Siffre returned a full look at Illia upon hearing this, "S-sorry! I just heard you mention something like that. Where exactly are you going though?"

"South of Windhelm," Siffre answered.

"Windhelm...?" Illia breathed, "Oh, so not actually 'to' Windhelm itself?"

"Probably not if we can help it," Lydia said, "You not wanting to go there or something?"

"Well as you already know, I am a witch," Illia's hands indicated to her front and the obvious black robe she still wore, "But also, I've heard Windhelm is full of Nords? More than that, the very Nords that support Ulfric Stormcloak and his 'rebels'?"

"Oh, and also wouldn't take kindly to the sight of Imperials as well..." Lydia glanced once more back at Illia herself, "I see, you've made your point."

"Well like I said, it's not there that we'll be needing to go," Siffre spoke softly, reminding them. As she said this however, Lydia couldn't help but tilt her head as something occurred to her.

"But my thane, after we find what it is we're look- er, I mean 'you're' looking for... what then?" Siffre's walk slowed a little, and she looked back at Lydia behind her.

"What?"

"I mean, what happens after you find it?" Lydia asked, "Where do we go after?" Siffre's eyes lowered a little and her brow furrowed as she considered.

"I... I don't know... I hadn't thought of that..." Just then, the familiar light rumbling could be heard from Illia again. The two Nords looked towards her again, causing her to flush with embarrassment again, even as she covered her stomach with a single hand again. Siffre herself smiled, but instead of speaking some jest or joke, "Heh, I guess... we're all a little hungry, aren't we? We'll find some place to... to rest and eat. Agreed?" Lydia and Illia nodded in approval, the latter more emphatically. With that, the trio resumed their walk along the path.

The path itself was in a constant, steady decline downwards. This only further accented the fact that it felt like the hold of the Rift itself was on a rise of natural landmasses, slightly higher above Skyrim itself. The descending decline itself was nowhere near as dramatic or obvious as walking down from High Hrothgar however. This was something that Lydia, as well as her calves, could take comfort in knowing. The path itself wound side to side a couple of times, each time the trees they passed appeared to have fewer and fewer leaves upon their branches.

Eventually the trio were forced to a halt, as the path they walked split into two directions: one left and one right. This was different from the previous fork in the road however, as the two directions almost appeared perpendicular to the path they currently walked upon. Looking directly in front of them, there were no signs nor landmarks. What could be seen however was thanks to there being no trees in front of them. The three women were granted a bare, unhindered view of stretch of land before them.

Green could not be seen anywhere. The land itself was flat, for the most part, with occasional rise and bumps here and there. There were also small pools of water seen in small locations as well, with hints of steam rising off of them? In fact, there were also spots where bursts of steaming water errupted out of the ground and straight into the air. That persistent chill in the air felt noticably lesser as well, instead a faint warmth could be felt.

"Mmmm..." Siffre said to herself as she looked outward. Lydia looked out across this new land as well.

"This is it? This is where that 'Word of Power' will be found?" she spoke, with a bit of skepticism, "Is this really the right place?" It was true, all that could be seen before them were bursts of steaming water and small pools of water that built up on the uneven ground. This general type of landscape stretched out a couple of miles before them.

"What... kind of place is this?" Illia remarked from beside them, "It's so... steamy! How could anything be here?"

"You've been in this area longer, doesn't this look familiar to you?" Lydia asked.

"No!" Illia exclaimed a little, "Mo- Sylvia kept me and my witch-sisters restricted to the tower, never letting us venture out and beyond it..."

"You were kept there? " Lydia said, followed by shaking her head, "That sounds like a terrible way to live..." Illia returned her look with a look of her own. Her eyes were narrowed, but just as quickly her expression softened.

"Yes, it was..." she said.

"Lydia, let me see the map...?" Siffre asked. Lydia fetched forth her map again and handed it to Siffre. The Dragonborn opened it up and scanned indicated area that Arngeir had marked. She brought a finger to the mark, while also noting the 'Darkwater River' directly west of it, "Do you two see a river out there...?"

"A river?" Lydia asked, looking out at the land herself, "Um... yes, there it is!"

"The map says the location is... east of 'Darkwater River'..." Siffre looked back up to see where Lydia was pointing. She brought her gaze eastward more and more, finally stopping upon a rise in the ground. It appeared to be a miniature mountain in itself, with a pointed tip of rock stretching up, "I think... I think that's it right there."

"Hm, it's a good a place to start looking I suppose," Lydia said with a shrug, "But now, which of these two ways takes us there?"

"... This way, right," Siffre pointed. She handed the map back to Lydia and the three women resumed their walk. The path this time stretched out and gradually curved to the left, all the while maintaining its steady descent as it had before. Eventually it finally leveled out with the ground below it, with the trio walking on a more flattened ground this time. Well, about as flat as could be; the surrounding area still had natural dips and bumps here and there at the edges of the new dirt path. By now the crisp chill in the air was replaced entirely by a warmth from the steam. Illia had to pull her hood completely back to expose her full head.

"Hey... Illia?" Siffre spoke up, causing the mage to look at her, "I was wondering... We know you're a mage, but... what all can you do... exactly?"

"Oh, well um...Ice spells are what I know; I'm pretty decent with Ice Spikes, among other things..."

'So, she can cast a few spells, am I supposed to be impressed?',' Lydia thought to herself. Despite not being addressed herself, Lydia still listened in to the mage speaking. As she was speaking, the warrior's gaze casually drifted to the side as they walked. Her eyes narrowed in alarm, and her arm instinctively reached for her sword.

"My thane! Off to our side!" she declared as she drew her sword. The other two women snapped their heads to the side at what Lydia indicated to, and both could see it. A large creature, orange in color, with eight massive legs, and a pair of massive fangs on at its front. The frostbite spider's eight unblinking eyes could be seen from the angle it no doubt saw them at. It stood next to a nearby tree, until catching sight of the three women caused even more venom to drip from its fangs. It's strange yet familiar sound of snarls could be heard on the gentle breeze.

"Frostbite spider... It's all alone though; should be an easy-"

Before Lydia could finish, something shot past her and towards the spider. Two sharp objects, brightly colored blue raced out and embedded themselves deep into the spider's body. The large arachnid jerked up once from the initial impact on its underside, with the second one killing it completely by burying itself into its head. It then fell to the ground lifeless, making no further movements.

Lydia was forced to shake her head, almost uncertain as to what had just happened. She looked behind her to see Siffre herself had only drawn her great-sword midway before pausing. But Illia on the other hand was standing with hands coated in icy mist and a strange smile on her face. She lowered her arms, as well as her smile as she looked back at Lydia.

"Well, that takes care of that, I think..." she said, clapping her hands dramatically. She gave both Lydia and Siffre a look before proceeding forward along the path again. The two Nord women spared looks of their own to each other as well before rushing up to join her.

"Impressive," Siffre commented to the mage.

"Thanks," Illia replied. The two didn't say anything further, so Lydia simply shook her head and continued to walk on as they did.

The Velothi mountains appeared that much closer to the three women, despite the vast distance in between them still. Every once in a while they would glance to their right and look upon them. The looming mountain range wall was brightly illuminated thanks to the sun's position in the sky. Light reflected off of the snow-covered tips and seemed to make them glow that much brighter. To think on the other side of this natural barrier was Morrowind itself. Lydia sometimes wondered what the land of the Dunmer was like...

On the path before them, the smaller rock formation that Siffre had identified drew ever closer to them. It remained far on their left side despite how much closer they advanced towards it. Finally, they reached the section of the path where it was more or less directly across from them.

"Um, if that's where you need to go..." Illia said, looking at the ground on the side of the path, "How exactly do you get there? There isn't any pathway to walk on..."

"If there's no other way... we'll just walk there... from here," Siffre said. Lydia nodded in agreement, but Illia was not of that mind herself.

"What? You're going to 'walk' there?" she pointed out at the wetter sections of land, where the steaming water built up. A geyser of hot water suddenly burst up from a hiss, making her yelp in surprise.

"It really doesn't look 'that' bad..." Lydia noted while scanning the immediate area, "As long as you stay away from the steaming hot water..."

"That part is obvious!" Illia said in an almost pouting tone.

"Just... follow me..." Siffre said. With that she broke off of the path and walked west, taking extra care to tread on the elevated sections of land. Lydia and Illia followed behind, as closely and precisely as they could to how the Dragonborn herself traversed. Around them the lower sections of the ground held small pools of built up water. Even from below them their heat and steam could be felt up in the air. All three women were aware of what would happen from a careless stumble...

Finally, after a minute of off-road walking, Siffre made it to the base of the landmass, with Lydia and Illia directly behind her. All three women were panting slightly from the close proximity they had been to the steamy water.

"Oh! Finally...!" Illia said, wiping the sweat from her brow, "We actually made it...! So, where now...?"

"Here..." Siffre pointed towards the landmass they stood upon. The majority of its shape consisted of hard, dark, and jagged rocks. Which made the strange worn-in pathway they stood upon stick out even more.

"Looks like this was... worn down," Lydia noted, looking closer at the smoothness of the rocks along this 'path', "A waterway? That'd be my guess." The three walked up along the sharp inclining pathway along the landmass. This unfortunately brought back painful memories for both Siffre and Lydia; painful memories of their calves burning that is, when they had ascended the 7,000 Steps. Thankfully, the walk up this rise did not last nearly as long, as within the next minute of walking along the winding path, the three women had reached the summit.

The area they stood upon now was much smaller, yet flat as the land below. A couple of jagged rocks still stretched upwards into the air, forming the 'point' that the three women had seen from a distance. They did not cover the entire edges of the area however, allowing the world below to still be seen. In fact, one of the open sections allowed a breath-taking view of where the geyser-filled drylands of this area met with the snow-covered lands of the far north.

Before the three women however, the area they stood upon was much more barren. There were hardly even any vibrant plants of any sort growing near them. The only thing of note was the massive bony structure of some long-dead creature's ribcage. The sight of this alone was more than enough to send a chill down Illia's spine, and even Lydia gazed upon it in awe.

"What is that A mammoth...?" she said to herself. There was movement out of the corner of her eye, and saw that Siffre was moving. Slowly but surely moving forward.

The bones of some long-dead creature were not what she was looking at. Instead, she was staring straight forward, almost transfixed upon something. There, directly before the three of them, a rock structure stood at the edge. While it appeared the same color and texture as the rising rock around it, that was all it had in common. This rock itself was shaped almost deliberately: a massive, hollowed out half-circle, with a jagged broken top end adorning it.

Something else stuck out to Siffre as well. She could see something... two things. Two sources of glowing light upon the face of the rock itself... beckoning her... calling her...

"Huh?!" she felt something on her right arm, and she practically jumped in surprise. There stood Lydia, having snapped her hand back in equal surprise of her own.

"My thane?! Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm fine..." Siffre answered, shaking her head, "Why did you...?"

"You were just... staring out; not answering me," Lydia clarified, before looking out to where Siffre herself was looking, "What are you even looking at?"

"There!" the dragonborn pointed out at the glowing points on the wall, tiny vibrations filling the air, "Right there- They're definitely Words of Power...! Don't you see them?"

"I... I don't see anything..." Lydia said, looking back at the ordinary-looking stone, "There's just a bunch of scratch marks on that wall..."

"You... don't see it...?" Lydia shook her head. From the other side, Illia gave a shrug of her shoulders as well.

"Still... Siffre," Lydia said while placing a hand on her shoulder, "If there's really something there, even if only you can see it... then I guess, do what you need to." After a moment's pause, Siffre nodded her head. She slowly began to approach the scratched wall, leaving Lydia and Illia to stand and watch her.

"And, what exactly is it that she needs to do?" Illia asked.

"That... I don't know," Lydia watched on as well.

Siffre slowly advanced forward towards the wall. Before her, the glowing, beckoning Words before her continued to glow. She could also hear it; she could hear the faintest of whispers. Somehow they were coming from the direction of the Words themselves, growing ever stronger the closer she got to them. What Siffre could hear of them was something... familiar. Something just as she had came to recognize in Bleak Falls Barrow.

She finally came to a stop in front of the wall with the scratches directly before her. The glowing sections continued to glow, but their their intensity had reduced a little. Just as before, Siffre looked upon these 'words', watching them, studying them. In her mind's eye, they appeared to slowly shift and change. They reformed into something different, yet something all the more familiar to her. Eventually, she saw them, as clearly as if she were reading Cyrodiilic on parchment:

'Fo', and 'Krah'.

They were both vastly different Words, and yet they both held a similar relation with each other. 'Fo' meant 'Frost', and 'Krah' meant 'Cold'.

"Fo..." Siffre silent sounded out, "Krah..." She this time spoke the words freely, rather than making sure she held proper volume control when speaking at all. She let the words flow freely from her mouth, as naturally as they were meant to be. They became a part of her, a part of her knowledge. Or perhaps, they were there all along, and Siffre had been simply 'reunited' with them...

The glow of the scratches that were the Words on the wall before her slowly faded their light until they were gone completely. All that remained before her were the weird, unfamiliar shapes that all these scratches formed; that strange, yet somehow familiar language...

Slowly, Siffre turned around, looking back towards Lydia and Illia. Both met her gaze with expectant stares of their own. She walked forward to reunite with her two companions.

"So, is that it? You've learned new words, or however it goes?" Lydia asked, to which Siffre nodded.

"What you were doing, and what you came here to do," Illia suddenly spoke up, "Does this... does this have to do with that strange 'voice magic' you have?" Siffre and Lydia both gave her looks, before sharing looks with each other.

"Sif-"

"It's fine, Lydia... I guess she has seen it before..." the Dragonborn cut in. Lydia effectively silenced herself as Siffre looked back to Illia, "It's true, Illia: I have... the Voice. I am... Dragonborn." The mage's eyes narrowed in thought, then they widened.

"Dragonborn?" she asked, "Wait... Sylvia said you had some 'ancient power' in you... So, you're like a 'more' powerful mage, or something? I have never seen any mage create magic the way you have before."

"Well... I'm not sure if what I do is 'magic'..." Siffre said, "It does feel like it... I can 'Shout' Words of Power."

"Shout?" Illia tilted her head, "Hm... then, is that why you always seem to talk so softly all the time?" Siffre felt her upper body tense up in response to the question. Her lips broke open to reply, but she hesitated as she found herself struggling for the correct response. From off to the side, Lydia gave her a narrowed-eyed look of her own. Siffre finally gave a sigh.

"No, that has... nothing to do with it..." she said, returning to speaking in her usual soft tone as well, "Let's just say... this power of mine... it's very much new to me. And that finding these 'Words' here are my best chance at growing it."

"I um- Was that a... sensitive topic? What I'd asked...?" Illia cautiously inquired. Siffre gave a gentle nod, "Right, I understand. I apologize if I pried a little too much. I didn't realize it was a... well, something you didn't want to talk about..."

"It's alright, don't worry about it," Siffre assured her.

"So anyway," Lydia spoke up, "My thane, I assume you've done... whatever it is that you'd needed to do?"

"Ah yes, I learned them. I'd learned the Words of Power." She turned back to look at where they were posed before her, "They were... glowing there, right there on the wall, to see..." She then turned to look back at Lydia and Illia, "You two really didn't see anything there yourselves?"

"Nothing," Illia shook her head. Lydia shrugged her shoulders as well.

"Like I said, there wasn't anything to see," she said, "You were just walking towards that wall with the scratches on it. It was almost strange how hard you were staring at it. What did you even see?"

"They were strange shapes at first, but somehow... I could 'see' what they meant... if that makes sense," Siffre explained, "'Fo', and 'Krah' they spelt, in the Dragon Tongue. Fo means 'frost', and Krah means 'cold'.

"Frost and Cold?" Lydia said. How her thane was able to discern meaning, let alone legibility from those strange markings on the wall, was completely beyond her.

"So, you can now make cold mag- er, no; 'Shout' ice magic?" Illia asked. Upon hearing this, Lydia's eyes appeared to light up ever so slightly.

"You can now, can't you?" she said, "Well, go on! Try out this new Shout of yours! There's plenty of open space around here to do it!"

"I'm sorry, I can't..." Siffre said with a shake of her head. Lydia's eyes narrowed.

"What? Why not?"

"It's not that simple..." Siffre explained, while pointing a finger back towards the wall, "You see, I've 'learned' the Words, as in I know 'what' they are. But now, to be able to... 'Shout' them?"

"This is intrinsically tied to you being this 'Dragonborn', isn't it?" Illia asked. The two Nords looked at her, "I mean, you said those Words there were in this Dragon language. So that means..." Her eyes looked back at Siffre, where a hint of fear could be seen within them again, "Don't tell me... what, you'll need to find a dragon? Like, an actual dragon from Mythic Times?"

"Just like when I first met you..." Lydia breathed. She recalled that day outside of Whiterun. When that dragon had first appeared and attacked the watchtower. How Siffre, her thane, had leapt forth into the fray and slain the beast herself. And in the process, appeared to 'absorb' something from the massive creature itself, leaving it little more than a skeleton. Siffre's eyes met hers as she concluded, "You need to actually slay another dragon, don't you?"

"W-what?!" Illia exclaimed, waving her hands side to side in front of her, "But, but I-I was just joking when I suggested that! You can't actually mean that, can you?!"

"It is true: dragons have appeared in Skyrim. Haven't you seen them?" Lydia said.

"No!" Illia nearly exclaimed, "It's certainly not like I ever would go looking for-" In the middle of her talk, Illia's eyes suddenly glanced upwards towards the sky. She felt wise for having done so, because otherwise she might have been taken completely by surprise by what she saw. There, up in the sky, and in their direction and growing in size at an alarmingly fast rate, was a giant scaled creature with a massive wingspan. Pure, terror-gripped instincts took over her as she dropped flat to the ground on her stomach and cried out, "Get down!"

A mere moment later, the roar of a dragon filled Skyrim's air.


-Yes, I am very much aware that I'm putting more than one word to find at a word wall, in Bonestrewn Crest. This was a completely artistic change on my part, but also not something completely unheard of. I'm sure you all remember finding not one but all three Words of Power for the Throw Voice Shout found at that one location? This simply tells me that doing something like that is in fact possible, compared to how every wall ever only seemed to have only one word for some reason. But for those of you thinking I bent lore too much in having two Words at the Bonestrewn Crest wall, never fear! I've thought that far ahead and researched how to creatively 'tweak' it.

The dialog on the wall in my story would read- 'Pah WERID SONaaN LUNERIO WEN YUVON LOVaaS MeyZ FO HET KO BRIT KRah VULON', which would translate to- 'All praise Bard Lunerio whose golden music became frost here in the cold night.' I'm just saying, why not go the extra mile when you wanna be creative and stay in lore? But anyway, that's all I have to say about that. Do all the standard stuff, read, review, favorite, whatever pleases you, and I'll try and be back real soon!-