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Chapter Text

Does fate exist? A question hurled at the deep void of time by many worthy scholars and still it is a question not easily burdened by a concise answer. For if it does truly exist, then a great many things must be false and shatter the very preconceptions that many know as truths. If everything about our lives is predetermined by a force so elusive it would mean that such a thing as freewill could not be. No such thing as chance or accident. Everything that happens is what should happen, what will happen. What will always happen. So there is no need to worry, we should all sit on our laurels and just simply do as we do and let fate run its course.

But how can such an intrinsically ubiquitous thing like fate be in every action we undertake that takes us from one point in time to the next? There isn’t a scholar nor bookkeeper alive or dead that could calculate how preposterous an equation it would be to contrive such an intrinsically laced plan. It seems as though our lives are so littered with choices and chances at every cut and turn, how can we say there is only one singular path we are all set on? No. Not in the slightest. If fate does exist, it met its match the day it came for two young wandering souls, on different sides Nirn, whose paths would never have crossed had fate gotten its way.

A deep layer of dust and debris hung in the air, a crackle of falling stones echoed through the small chambers and tunnels of the abandoned mine seemingly the only sound the walls had witnessed in such a long time, but you’d be wrong in thinking it truly abandoned.

“Alright. You've worked out all the kinks, even that last one that set the resonating particle chamber on fire and the weird rumbling thing that made your teeth itchy.” A young elf woman muttered to herself as she fiddled with two copper coils, slotting them back into their sleeves within the oddly shaped metal hunk in front of her, then picked up a stray piece of paper from a nearby desk that was covered in even more stray papers, tools of many preposterous shapes, bits and baubles. 

Sighing, she took another gander at the schematic in her hand, chewing the inside of her cheek in concentration. 

“It’s going to be fine. Glover swore on his mother’s pyre this metal mixture of copper, tree resin, steel and malachite was the closest rendition he’s ever seen.” Taking a deep breath through her nose, she looked up from her diagram. “You’ve got this.” The young Mer whispered to herself as she fussed about her creation like a new mother fussing about her newborn babe.

But this was no bonny looking babe, instead there stood a large hulking mass of dwarven metals, local alloys and ice cold stahlrim plating in parts glaring unashamedly before her. It was essentially a box, the size of a small cart, two wheels for mobility and a steering apparatus at the back of it, with a large spindle on the front most part that had three pick axes and two hammers slotted into a horizontal rotary rod. Underneath was a triangular bumper with grooves on the surface and small chambers that were connected to a harmonic resonator that acted as the machine’s engine on the inside. It was powered by both resonating coils, a very old reworking of the Dwemer method of energy conversion and also with steam and coal to keep the gears turning, another rehashing of lost Dwemer engineering. The invention was a rudimentary attempt at an ancient Dwarven mining tool, but on a much smaller scale and adapted to fill in the blanks of what she couldn't understand or figure out through trial and error in the ruined writings and schematics she'd compiled over the years.

A few more tweaks here and there and the young girl dusted her hands off, pulling out the worn schematic that had been scribbled upon numerous times, using it to do one final nervous checklist.

"Chell." A squeak and small chatter emitted from deep inside the machine, upon looking into one of the steam vents a small spider automaton popped out, giving a toot of questioning. "Can you check line 34D on the leftmost winding coil?" Another squeak of approval and the tiny Dwarven Spider jumped back down the vent, clinking and clanking lightly as it made its way to it's task.

Another sigh left her lips as she wiped the sweat from her brow and ran a hand through her curled ebony locks, sweat clinging to her fringe and sticking messily to her forehead. Penetrating silver eyes darted suspiciously across the schematic, almost not trusting herself, already falling into the hole of self doubt. A whole host of things could potentially go wrong should even one line, one chamber, one gear be out of place. The mine was old, partially dilapidated from its abandonment. She knew the technology she was working on was dangerous and the council already had it out for her from her previous failures, should she destroy this place from such a miscalculation, she’d be out on her ass. Not even her mother could get her out of that one.

You've got this, Khamdi. Shaking the negative thoughts from her mind, Chell emerged from the vent and quickly jumped into her awaiting hand and climbed to rest on her shoulder. Looking over at her little friend she smiled, pulling down her protective goggles over her eyes and covering her mouth with a grey smudged bandana around her neck that she swore had been white once upon a time.

"Ready?" Chell gave a whistle of agreement which made her smile grow even larger under the bandanna. "Ok." Turning two valves and pressing down the lever, she pushed it further down into the mine, setting it in front of a wall of rock and positioning it just so and turned one final valve. It roared to life and began to hum and ticker, the pick axes and hammers whirred to life and began doing as they were supposed to, spinning and cutting through the stone like a hot knife through butter, but it was the triangular bumper in front that was doing most of the work, sending shock waves and small tremors through the stone, loosening the sediment enough that the hammer and pickaxes could make short work of the rocks. 

"Yes, yes, yes! Yes !" Khamdi rejoiced, jumping and flailing her arms in triumph at her victory as Chell held on for dear life while his master jumped and leapt for joy, the automaton squealing in protest having nearly fallen off. "Sorry Chell." She apologized bashfully and picked him up in her hands. "I can't believe it, I did it. I freaking did it! " Chell gave a whizz and an angry curt squeak that said he did not agree with that declaration as he jumped down from her grasp, going to rest upon the desk in the corner of the room, facing away from her. Laughing at his attitude Khamdi followed after him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. We did it." He squeaked irregularly again, still offended and turning away from her as she tried to get him to look at her. "You did all the hard parts. I'd be lost without my right hand man. Forgive me?" He warmed to her only slightly and whirred softly and in a small way yielded to her. "Yes, you're the brains of this whole operation.” She pandered, a laugh in her words when she saw the machine seemed to perk up more at the comment. “Now, are you ready to go see the look on Morvayn’s face when we single-handedly save the town from destitution and start this mine back up again?" She asked, holding out her hand once more. Chell tooted with renewed excitement and squeaked in agreement, jumping once again to her hand, making her grin. Placing a tarp over the machine and collecting her tools, they made their way outside the mine to the town square.

Raven Rock was a quiet, depressingly dreary town that had its own particular charm . It's people were hardy, used to an unforgiving, lifeless ash land that took every ounce of their being to make it even remotely livable most seasons. 

"Khamdida!" Dreyla Alor called, the young Dunmer jogging briskly to meet her soot covered companion. "Somebody needs a bath.." She snorted, tousling her long time friend's unruly curls but instantly regretting it as more ash and soot plumed from it. "Or five." She coughed, squatting away the fallout that was her hair.

"I've been busy." Khamdi defended, crossing her arms in defiance.

Dreyla rolled her eyes and linked arms with her as they walked in the direction of Khamdi's home.

"So, have you heard?" Dreyla questioned, causing Khamdi to chuckle.

"Does it look like I've been staying up to date with the latest town gossip?" She deadpanned in response.

"Hush you! Now where was I? Oh! Word around the square is Galdrus Hlervu is going to be talking to your parents today about a proposal." Drelya nudged her friend, waggling her eyebrows, making Khamdi sputter.

"What?" She asked incredulously, balking at her, open mouthed.

"He was talking about it with my father today at the market. That and gossiping about the ‘tart’ Commander Veleth has been meeting in the mornings at the Retching Netch.” She said snidely. “Bastard. It’s going to make meeting up at all impossible now.” She sighed sadly, kicking a stone rather harshly down the road, Khamdi felt a tinge of empathy for her friend's misfortune.

Dreyla looked back up to her friend but a cat like grin now spread across her violet lips. “Lucky you though, married off to the soon to be new High Priest and Elder Most of Raven Rock eh? Moving up in the world aren't you?" Dreyla teased, which caused Khamdi’s face to sour once more and she scoffed at the very notion.

"I don't even want to get married to some guy I barely know, especially not a pompous knat like Galdrus. Have you seen the way he treats any outsiders or even Glover for that matter? Not to mention his weird obsession with his mother." Khamdi shivered at the memory of his creepily close public walks with the old crone at the crack of dawn.

"Hey, hey now. Could be worse, could've been Elder Otherloth. You know he's got about four other wives back in Vvardenfell? Loves adding to his little collection ." Dreyla cackled, which caused Khamdi to shiver in disgust.

" So not happening. I'm not marrying, not now, maybe not ever." Khamdi declared with a stubborn huff.

"That pretty face won't last forever you know. Another hundred years or so, then the wrinkles set in." Dreyla poked her in the ribs, winking at her as they finally stopped outside Khamdis house.

"To Oblivion with that. I'm perfectly fine with the way things are. Just you wait, I've got something in the works now that's gonna set this town a light!" Khamdi exclaimed beaming at the thought of her work finally getting the recognition she's been craving.

"I hope not in the literal sense, young lady." Aphia’s voice cut between the girls as she opened the door, having heard the two from inside, now giving her daughter a stern look of warning.

"You and me both. I’d hate for a repeat of the automatic ash plough... or... the yam picker." Dreyla shuddered at the memory of that particular catastrophe.

"That wasn’t my fault, it was all just because of a stupid miscalculation of the velocity with which it would throw the yams to-.... I never meant for them to end up in the forge! Or set the canopy on fire.... or most of the market." Khamdi muttered, moving to make her way into the house.

Aphia sighed at her daughter's stubbornness. "Pardon me dear, but would you mind if your father and I had a word with you, it's very important." She requested her daughters quick retreating form which froze at her mother's words.

" Oh, I'll bet..." Dreyla cackled at Khamdi once more, who groaned and turned back to her mother as Aphia bid Dreyla farewell and closed the door.

"How goes the mining contraption?" Crescius asked, entering the kitchen and tousling his daughter's hair. Aphia hissed at the soot that rained from her unruly daughters head.

"Pretty good! I've got everything ready to go and-."

"By Oblivion, how can you even stand all that mess in your hair! You're filthy!" She exclaimed, grabbing a broom to clean away the soot and dust immediately.

"How about you guys let me bathe first and then we can talk about... whatever it is." Khamdi negotiated, sending her father a pleading look, knowing he was the easiest to break.

Crescius in turn looked to his wife pleadingly for answers so Aphia sighed and nodded in agreement. "But straight back here, you understand me young lady?" She warned.

"Sir yes sir!" Khamdi saluted, making her mother roll her eyes and continue to get dinner ready as her daughter scurried upstairs to her room, peeling out of her grimey sweat soaked clothes.

________________________________________________________________________

Chell popped out from her bag and caught socks and other items being strewn around Khamdi’s room, placing them neatly in a basket. Walking to her wash basin she first scrubbed her face raw and free from dirt. Looking at herself in the mirror she sighed.

Stupid Dreyla, stupid Galdrus, stupid town!

Marching into the bathing room next to her room she was happy to find mildly warm water, relatively clean in the copper bath tub. She heated the water quickly enough with some simple flame magic, watching as the water bubbled slightly. When it was heated to her liking she finally hopped inside, immediately dunking her head in the water, scrubbing her hair, when she emerged, the water was now a murky grey. Frowning she continued to clean herself, letting her thoughts wash over her.

She spent much of her free time inside her own mind, ideas and schematics flying about at rapid speeds, theories and other chains of thought whirled like a storm in her mind she could only surrender to and never fight off. A need for understanding and making coherent shapes from the world was what drove these thoughts. She admired her mother's faith in the daedra, and her father's faith in the Nine, but could never find comfort in those doctrines herself. She needed tangibility. She had more interest in this plane of existence and an interest in how she herself could shape it by manipulation of its physical aspects and in creation of her own tools from what was available to her. She employed a bit of magic yes. Some practical bits she’d crafted and read of through the years in order to keep herself alive in this backwater forgotten port. But her studies were always in pursuit of her true goal, the inner workings and machinations of this realm, not pondering the infinite unintelligible possibilities of Aetherius and beyond. And things like marriage for the sake of marriage she felt was a similar casuistry and was the sort of thing done out of fear from dying alone, financial gain or some misplaced notion that everyone was meant to pair up to please the gods. Why couldn't she just be happy as she was? Being who she is? Doing what she loves? 

After drying herself and dressing, she made her way down to her parents, who were sitting at the kitchen table with bowls of ash yam soup, potato bread and ash hopper legs spread on the table. Sitting down she picked up a piece of bread but her hand was quickly smacked away by Aphia.

" Ow. "

"We must pray first!" She hissed, Khamdi rolling her eyes to the supposed heaven and joining hands as her parents who shut their eyes.

"Oh, lordly Oblivion-ites and gods of the realm, let this meal sustain our souls so that we may continue to writhe on your back like the fleas we are for another day!" Aphia sputtered and smacked her daughter upside the head. "Amen?"

"Azura save you child, your bold tongue does you no credit." Aphia bit.

"Now dear, I'm sure Khamdi didn't mean it. Girls, please." Crescius sighed trying to bring some serenity to the table.

"Maybe I did mean it." Khamdi mumbled.

" Young lady -!"

"What? Just get to it already would you? I already know what's going on. And I'm going to tell you now, I'm not marrying that... that... blustering netch of a priest! Not on this plane, or any other, so forget it ." She snarled.

Her parents shared a look with each other and her mother's eyes softened. Aphia reached out and placed a hand on her daughter's, who was visibly shaking.

"Hush my child. I would never force you to do something so opposed to your nature as marry that skutting buffoon." She said softly, smiling at her daughter's surprised expression.

"The pompous ass came here just after you left this morning, trying to buy your hand." Her father chuckled, taking a sip of Sujama. Looking into her eyes he started to make Khamdi's shaking rage dissipate "I always knew I'd be batting boys away from you. The moment you opened those eyes for me I knew I'd never let a single unworthy one near you. And he's all sorts of unworthy." He quipped, also reaching for Khamdi's other hand to give it a squeeze. "We just wanted to let you know, so we could let you have the choice, but if it's not something you want, we stand behind you." Her father grinned.

"Always." Aphia affirmed.

Khamdi's eyes watered a bit and she beamed at her two parents, she pulled them to her and gave them both a hug so iron tight, it would crush a bear.

"I love you two. So much." She murmured, causing her parents to return the hug just as tightly.

It was early morning when Khamdi made her way back to the mine again, seagulls cawing in the distance as the sun shone through the ash covered sky, Chell cosily tucked away in her satchel. She wondered for a moment what a sky that wasn't marred by the ash from Red Mountain would look like, and perhaps if one day she might ever even see such a sight. She had almost made it past the market stalls of the square when a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"My dearest one, I hope you've been given the news!" Galdrus exclaimed, scurrying towards her, which made Khamdi's stomach churn.

Great .

"Galdrus. Yes, I was informed of the offer and I was hoping to speak to you about it at a later date-."

"Nonsense, we have our future to plan!" He wrapped an arm like a serpent's vice around her shoulders and began steering her away to the direction of the Temple. "I have yet to be given the dowry so we'll settle that matter later, but I've been speaking with Elder Othreloth and he's given me the option of either this day week or perhaps the next month. Evening Star is a good month to wed, Azura blesses unions under those stars favorably with sons and of course we'll need to prepare the tailor and get you fitted for wedding robes and-." Khamdi managed to slip from his grasp and back away a few steps from him.

"Galdrus. I'm not agreeing to this union. I'm sorry if this upsets you but I'm afraid I'm just not looking for marriage at the moment. I hope you can understand." Galdrus's demeanor changed quickly and turned to that of a petulant child being denied his toy, nostrils flaring and all.

"Excuse me?" He barked, balling his fists at his sides, glaring down at her.

"I'm just not ready for this. And I don't have any feelings towards you. It wouldn't work. Look, I'm sure you could have anyone in Raven Rock, just, not me ." She asserted, crossing her arms, standing her ground against his seething glare.

"Oh my dear, I don't think you quite understand the situation. I am going to marry you." He declared with a smug grin, this making her hackles raise and her own stubborn spirit balked at his arrogance.

"No, I don't think you understand. I am not marrying you. My family stand behind me on this."

"And what, you're just going to be a spinster is it? You parents won't live forever, who is going to house you, hm? Take care of you?"

"I'm very capable of doing that myself." She stated, not backing down.

"You're already in your nineteenth winter dear girl, and with your... muddied lineage, you don't have the same time frame as most mer do. You have but maybe what? Two centuries? Bah. And you would turn a pure-blooded son of the Dunmer down? You've got some nerve, you little half bred bitch!" He seethed, shaking with unbridled rage.

"If my muddied lineage is such a point of disdain then I can’t find a reason as to why you would even want to marry a half breed. Go find some brainless pureblood that will actually want to listen to your incessant tantrums. Good day." She declared, turning on her heel to continue to the mine, but it seems Galdrus wasn't finished.

He quickly reached out and grabbed her by her shoulders and forcefully turned her to him.

"Don't you turn your back on me you little whore-!" Chell suddenly leapt from his place in her satchel and crawled up to Khamdi's shoulder and let rip a warning hiss and small electric charge that hit the pureblooded Dunmer square in his nose, sending him flying onto his backside, clutching his now smoking nostrils.

"Chell!" Khamdi quickly placed him back in her bag.

"I'll have that abomination decorating my wall!" Galdrus roared, scrambling to his feet, but Chell lept from her bag and hands once again to hiss more viciously and charge an even more powerful electric shock that struck the ground right in front of him, causing the weak necked Dunmer to run back to his Temple in fear. "This isn't over you wench, you mark my words!"

Chell tooted in triumph and jumped back to his master’s hands. Placing a kiss on his front plating Khamdi laughed and deposited him once again in her satchel.

"Thank you Chell, my little knight in gold armour." She laughed, Chell cooing and squeaking at her in return. "He's going to remember that you know." She warned, to which Chell only hummed and squeaked, making her burst into a fit of giggles as she finally made her way to Raven Rock Mine.

"Galdrus is sporting quite the burn, figuratively and quite literally. I imagine that was your doing?" Dreyla announced herself, taking a seat next to her long time friend.

Khamdi pulled herself out from under the mining contraption and dusted herself off. 

"You can thank Chell for that beauty. Bastard should learn to take a ' no thank you ' more graciously." Khamdi muttered, wiping her hands on her shirt, Chell whizzing in agreement on top of the machine.

Dreyla laughed heartily. "Oh I imagine his pride and ego are too great for that to ever happen, he was practically foaming at the mouth. I saw him talking with that sellsword in the Netch earlier and rather animatedly I might add." Dreyla mused.

"You don't think he's going to persist do you?" Khamdi questioned worriedly.

I've got so much to do, and I'm not letting that ass get in the way.

"He's not one to take being shamed like that lightly. What were you thinking? He even went to Modyn with a call for your detainment. But don't worry, they laughed him out of the barracks and he just stomped back to the Temple like a four year old." Dreyla chuckled, cracking open a Matze ale and pouring them each a cup and handing one to her.

She sipped at the rice ale and thought for a moment, a small grain of worry planting itself in her stomach.

"Don't." Dreyla rested a hand on her shoulder in comfort, years of friendship had made Dreyla very good at gauging her emotionally inept. "Modyn knows better than to do anything that pompous ass says, besides, hardly anyone saw what happened. And you know Modyn would never do anything to hurt one of my dearest friends." She reassured with a light squeeze.

"Thank goodness you have the commander wrapped around you little fingers." Khamdi chuckled.

"Bedding the law does tend to have it's perks." Dreyla quipped.

"Poor man, doesn't know you're just using him to take over the island." She giggled, taking another gulp of Matze.

"Oh please, he's well aware, he just doesn't seem to mind." Dreyla smiled at the thought of her paramour and sighed dreamily. Khamdi smirked at her companion.

"Why don't you two just elope already? I know your father doesn't really approve but he should see how much he loves you. The man is smitten. And a commander! Couldn't be too bad." She elbowed her friend playfully.

"Oh you know him. Ever since mother died, he's been so protective of me. Afraid he'll lose me too." Dreyla sighed, staring down into her drink with a far off look in her eyes.

Khamdi felt her heart ache for her friend. She couldn't imagine ever losing one of her own parents, with how dearly she loved them. Dreyla's mother had been one of many casualties of a savage raid on the town by Argonian marauders, who nearly burned the town to the ground. They had only been girls, barely nine winters and suddenly Dreyla's mother was so horribly taken from her. She remembered how long it took her friend to smile again, but it was around that time they both began sneaking off the rock to the further reaches of Solesthiem, when then met their other friend from the Skaal village, Freya. They all bonded over their love for adventure, and although they were Dunmer, Freya and her clan welcomed them from time to time with open arms and the girls played together in the snow, learned to hunt rabbits together, sing old norse songs and go out further into the wilds on adventures to Dwarven ruins. Well, the outskirts of them anyway. Slowly but surely, their time together brought Dreyla's smile back.

"I wonder where Freya is? We haven't seen her since Last Seed I'd say." Khamdi mused.

"Aye, at the basket festival. By Sanguine, we got so besotted I thought we'd never be allowed in the village again!" Dreyla giggled, Khamdi smiling back at her friend thinking of all their mischief.

"The roads to the village are a little hazardous this time of year but, you know we'd probably make it there in one piece if we went together..." Khamdi said with a tinge of hope that her friend would bite the bait.

"Father would kill me if I just disappeared for the day." Dreyla sighed.

"Oh to Oblivion with that. Come on. I've got this contraption sorted, and it would be nice for us all to just... be together, like old times… What’dya say, hm?" She nudged, pleading eyes baring into her friends who rolled her eyes in return and held up her hands in mock surrender.

"Oh... Alright. Come on, before I change my mind." Dreyla sighed in defeat, but grinned at the prospect of seeing their old friend once again.

“I'll get my crossbow!”

The two left the mine, Chell still working away inside. But someone was watching them, waiting for them to leave. As soon as the girls were down the end of the market, two hooded figures quickly entered the mine. 

"So this is what that bitch is wasting her time on." Galdrus huffed, glazing over the metal machine with disdain.

"What is it we're doing here then?" A bored voice asked.

"I told you Teldryn, making that whore pay. Now where's that blasted spider?" He growled.

The trudge to the Skall village was uneventful, this time of year was good to travel since most things that wanted to take a bite out of travellers were either hibernating or frozen solid. It was mostly watching out for sudden rushes of fallen snow from the mountain, or weather turning foul that were their main dangers. However they made it in one piece and were greeted by the lights of the village burning bright against the flurry of snow.

"Freya!" Dreyla called as their friend came into view, standing by a stump near the black smith, chopping deadwood.

"Dreyla? Khamdi? By the All-Maker, my friends!" Freya bounded over to them and enveloped them in a bone shattering hug, lifting the two women off the ground.

Bear.

Freya was like a big protective, soft mother bear when it came two her two friends. It had been too long since she'd seen them, but her duty to the village came first.

"What brings you here?" Freya asked, setting them back on the ground.

"Do we need an excuse to see you? Raven Rock is a boring shite hole. And believe it or not, we missed you." Khamdi laughed.

"They way here is dangerous! You mustn't embark on such a journey lightly!" Freya admonished them, giving the two elves a stern look of concern, to which they only grinned in response.

"We'll keep that in mind next time. Now tell me, how are you?" Dreyla set them walking towards the heart of the small settlement, the other two falling in step.

"Nothing to complain about really. Storn has been expanding my training, which means more duties as a shaman here. I'm sorry I didn't come to visit you both sooner, but my training must come first. And after our... less than respectable display at the Basket Weavers festival, I needed to make a better impression." Freya shook her head at the memory, making Khamdi giggle. "You know I've still been getting quite a few jokes and jabs about the incident from the elders, Storn included. 'Didn't think elves could cause such a scene', he said." Freya laughed.

"Now, now. I seem to recall you being right along with us causing just as much of a ruckus by the bonfire." Dreyla jabbed in jest, Freya sending a playful glare her way.

"Not our fault Skaal booze kicks harder than an ox." Khamdi sighed.

"Or that Skaal boys are damn near irresistible. Well. At least til they open their mouths." Dreyla cackled making her two friends laugh along with her.

The three friends sat near the forge, warming their hands over the embers, the smith off to the side tanning leather as the women nattered among themselves. Khamdi felt at ease, more so than she had in months, happy to have her favorite women at her side again. Part of her longed for the distant years of their youth, when there were no responsibilities, Frea and Dreyla adventuring with her without a care in the world. She recalled the day they found Chell just inside Kagrumez. The girls were only teenagers, but thankfully, even only being fifteen summers, Freya was a formidable fighter with her axes and Dreyla and herself were adept enough in destruction magic and warding that they had little to fear. There was an unusual puzzle inside that had kept her long occupied, the unusual resonating stones had captured her curiosity and she refused to leave unless she had solved the riddle. But an antechamber had caught Dreyla's eye. After poking around she stumbled upon a surprisingly miniature automaton spider, nearly completely intact save for some minor dings and dust and a hollow core.

"Khamdi! Freya! Come and look at this!" Dreyla called, waving her companions over.

With a frustrated sigh Khamdi ceased her fiddling with the resonance stones, sending one final dirty look at the confounding objects and puzzle table, walking with Freya to join Dreyla in the corner room of the chamber. Upon entry she felt a crackle of magicka in the air, unlike any she'd ever felt before but at the same time, unsettlingly familiar. Kneeling down next to Dreyla she took in the small automaton.

"What do you think this was?" Freya asked, keeping her distance as the automatons had always unnerved her.

"I'm... not quite sure..." She picked it up and carefully inspected it. She noticed that there was a slot in the back of the machine. Not for a soul gem as was traditional for the dwarven spiders. The runes and grooves however looked familiar.

Taking out one of the resonance stones she had stashed in her pack, she fiddled with it until it clicked into place, turning it slightly to match the runes.

"What are you doing!? What if it attacks us!" Freya explained, readying her axes.

"Look at the size of it, what harm could it possibly do?" Khamdi questioned as she continued to screw the stone in place.

Studdenly, with a whirr of energy and a whistle from its steam chambers, the machine twitched to life in her palm. It gave a seemingly frightened squeak, jumping down and taking off behind some dwarven steel barrels. Frea raised her axe, ready to strike the thing to bits. "Wait!" Khamdi stood between the two and held her hands up peacefully. "He's frightened!"

"It's a hunk of metal!" Freya objected, moving once again towards the tiny spider. But Khamdi stood her ground.

"Freya, please." She argued, making Freya sighed heavily but holstered her axes once again, giving her a deeply disapproving frown as she crossed her arms and waited for her friend to act.

Khamdi turned to where the tiny machine was cowering, actually shaking slightly causing it's metal to rattle.

"Come now, you've nothing to fear from us. Won't you please come out? I promise we won't harm you." She pleaded softly, holding out her open hands as a peace offering. 

The strange automaton inched out from the barrels slowly, still being wary, keeping it's distance.

"There there now. See, Freya might seem big and scary but she's really quite a big softy. Just suspicious. Happens when you're a Nord." Freya huffed at the comment while Dreyla snorted. "I'm Khamdida. And this is Dreyla. I don't suppose you have a name?" She queried.

"Oh, All-Makers teeth, Khamdi." Freya sighed, slapping her palm over her face while Dreyla snickered at the antic of her friends, watching from the sidelines.

The creature gave a small toot, as if to answer, Khamdi giving a questioning look as he continued tooting and squeaking again and the spider crawled up to the top of the antechamber, to its apex point like a bolt of lightning, he was quick and agile it would seem.

"What's it doing?" Freya asked warily, hands already on her axes.

It crawled over to what looked like an inscription and began pointing its front pincers to a set of glyphs. Khamdi approached them and traced her hand over them in wonder. She stared at the words, and though she couldn't understand what any of them were, it was almost like a feeling, an intrinsic, instinctual premonition took over her as she read them. 

"Chell..." The spider tooted excitedly in agreement and suddenly jumped into her hands. She smiled at it and continued to look at the inscriptions, marveling at their beauty.

"Since when can you read Dwemeris?" Dreyla questioned, sharing a puzzled look with Freya.

"I can't... I don't really know. It's like a feeling or…” She shook the unsettling feeling from her and turned to her friends who were looking at her both in curiosity and worry. “Either way, he seems to like the name.” She smiled. "Chell. I think I'll keep you around, if you'd like that?" She asked, to which he answered with affirmative squeaks and a happy twirl in her palm, making her laugh.

"Wait, we're keeping it now? All-Maker preserve us. Khamdi you can’t be serious?" Freya groaned.

"I gotta say I'm with Freya on this one. It's cute, sure but do you really think the town is gonna be pleased with that thing around? What about your mother, she'll have a fit if she sees it." Dreyla tried to reason.

"Oh calm down you two. He's small enough, easy to conceal. What they don't know can't hurt them. Besides, it doesn't feel right to just leave him here all alone. And I'm not deactivating him, that's just cruel. He might be metal but he's a feeling, living thing." She asserted, placing him on her shoulder and turning to them. "Come on, let's get out of here, that puzzle is a lost cause now that I've used the stone on him. He seems like a far more interesting subject to study anyway, and I can do it from the comfort of my own home!"

"How's the hunk of junk?" Freya asked, rubbing her hands together and wrenching Khamdi from her thoughts.

" Chell is fine, I left him back in the mine to do some work on an invention I've been piecing together. And I might just say, I've really cracked it!" Khamdi proudly exclaimed.

Freya rolled her eyes. "So what is it this time? Not another ploughing death trap I hope." She quipped.

Khamdi threw her a dirty look and huffed, crossing her arms. "It's a mining tool, similar to the ones the Dwemer used to carve into the rocks that made their underground cities in the stone. I got the schematic from Kagrumez a while back and finally deciphered enough to get a rough idea, a few embellishments of my own on it but it's really something! It uses harmonic pulses and vibrations to soften any sediment and make it easier to dig further into the mine! Can you imagine it? If I get this thing right, we might be able to start up the mines again." She grinned, the thought of such a triumph from her creation made her heart swell with pride.

Dreyla sighed. "Or completely sink the mine with you in it." She objected.

"Oh ye of little faith!"

"Oh for the love of... Khamdi, you're a brilliant inventor, that I've no doubt, but we worry . We just want you to be careful. The dwarven constructs, however marvelous they are, they are still an unknown you don't yet fully understand. Just be ready should anything go awry." Freya warned, placing a hand on Khamdi's shoulder.

Khamdi’s face soured and she shrugged off Freya’s hand with mild irritation. "It won't go wrong! I've tested it out and it works perfectly! I'm so sure this time. Beyond sure!"

"Look no ones questioning your competence, but Freya's right, the Dwemer had millenia to refine their trade, but you're still new to this. You have to make sure you're not going to destroy half the town, or hurt yourself. Councillor Arano is just waiting for the perfect chance to boot you out of town." Dreyla reasoned.

Khamdi sighed and nodded. "I know, I know. But I'm really sure this time. I swear, it's not going to go wrong. We need this to work Dreyla. Father needs this to work. He's been going mad since the mine shut down, and mother is working so hard to support us all. I owe it to them...” She said but the two women stared her down, unconvinced. “ Sheesh, fine. Look. I just want to prove to them and the town that I am capable . I’m tired of everyone thinking I'm just blindly tinkering with forces I don't understand! I want to show everyone that new doesn't always mean bad , it could be the betterment of our people!" She defended heatedly.

Dreyla and Freya shared a worried look but chose to say no more, knowing pressing the issue further would only result in an argument and they didn’t want their first meeting in months to devolve so sourly. So instead they simply just stood warming themselves together and reminisced on days gone by. With how quickly things were going, there were scarce few moments the girls could steal together and just be themselves without worry and fear of what the future would bring. They laughed and joked as if there was not tomorrow, the companions fearing nothing while standing side by side.

Little did they know that in their future that was rapidly hurtling their way, was a storm that would tear them apart.

"Where is it!?" Galdrus seethed, tearing through the mine trying to find the automaton. Flicking back another tarp, uncovering more hunks of dwarven metal, and struts and other materials, but coming up with nothing.

Teldryn leaned against a table with his arms crossed, a bored expression hidden by his chitin plate helm.

"You lazy arm for hire, help me damn you!" He hissed.

Teldryn sighed and began to search with him.

"What is it we're looking for?" He asked dryly, looking underneath some tables littered with all manner of tools.

"It's a small dwarven spider. When you see it, stuff it in the bag and bring it to the temple." Gaudrus growled, once again turning up nothing, roaring and kicking the mining contraption in anger which made a clang and crack.

Above them, clinging to the ceiling of the mine, Chell watched the two men comb through Khamdi’s workstation, waiting for the right moment. He slinked just past the two and was almost near the exit when one of his legs hit a particularly weak piece of stone and lost his stepping.

"What was that?" Teldryn asked sharply, pulling out a crossbow and readying it.

"Up there!"

Teldryn loosed a shot at Chell, who quickly tried to flee but once again lost his footing and plummeted to the floor in front of them. Galdrus stood on one of his legs to hold him in place. "Get it!"

Chell then sent a shock to the temple priest’s foot, causing him to release him with a roar. Teldryn dove to try and catch the spider, sending his whole body toward it, sack open in front of him, but Chell was quicker and by but a hairs breath missed getting bagged by Teldryn and hopped over his body. He then jumped up to the desk and attempted to scale the wall to safety but was met with yet another bolt narrowly missing him. Chell scrambled to leap away from another oncoming assault of bolts.

“You idiot, how hard is it to catch a stupid hunk of metal!” Galdrus screeched, still on the floor holding his foot in pain.

Teldryn growled, pulling off his helmet for a better visual, throwing it to the ground and cocking his crossbow once again. Chell looked for anything that might aid him in his escape. He looked to a rickety wooden scaffold off to the right of the workshop and the gears began turning. He made a mad dash to get to them, the sellsword hot on his heels, loosing more bolts at the automaton who zig zagged out of their path like a rabbit scurrying away from a hunter. He made it to the ladder of the scaffold and clambered up, faster than any bipedal person would. Teldryn followed, climbing up after him, but once his head could see the top of the scaffold he regretted his decision to follow immediately. A wheelbarrow filled with pickaxes, hammers and rubble was staring him in the face as Chell gave him a wave with one of his little pincers, quickly disappearing behind it and sending a charge at the wheelbarrow, causing it, and it’s contents to fall onto Teldryn, sending him flying back to the ground with a crash. Chell whistled victoriously and jumped down, hopping over the groaning mercenary and making for the exit, but unfortunately Galdrus was waiting for him from behind a pillar. He threw the sack over him and quickly tied it, sealing him inside. Chell struggled inside and attempted to zap his way out but the charge only backfired on him as there was some sort of lightning enchantment on the sack, a precautionary measure the Dunmer had taken in wake of his previous introduction to the Dwarven spider.

“Honestly Teldryn, you let the thing outsmart you?” Galdrus chastised as the sellsword pulled himself up out of the rubble and mining tools with a pain groan.

“Now what?” He asked, rubbing what was soon to be a nasty lump on his head and silently cursing himself for having removed his helmet in the first place.

Galdrus deposited the sack into Teldryn’s hands and glowered at him.

"Hermaeous Mora’s balls, if I have to keep on explaining every step to you, what was the point of buying your services in the first place?! Take it to the temple! I've one more thing left to do." Galdrus turned to the mining contraption with a cruel glint in his eyes, picking up some rocks he stuffed them into the steam outlets and gave it one more whack with a dwarven strut for good measure. Smiling at the crack he heard from deep within the machine, he turned on his heel and followed after Teldryn.

________________________________________________________________________

The next day, Khamdi awoke with a vigor in her heart but a small nervous ball in her stomach. Khamdi had to remind herself to breathe, lifting her still tired bones from her bed partially regretting her late return from the Skaal Village that night. Trudging through snow while trying to remain aware of their surroundings in near complete darkness was quite the feat for Dreyla and her, but having each other to watch their backs made the journey less harrowing and besides, those few fleeting hours with Freya were worth the slight ache in her knees. Making her way down to the kitchen after dressing, she sat at the table and scoffed some bread with gusto, her cheeks full to the brim and bulging from her gluttony.

"Slow down there or you'll choke." Crescius laughed across from her at the table, lowering his book to observe his child.

"Sorry…” She sputtered, crumbs flying from her full mouth, then swallowing hard so that she might speak more clearly. “I just have to get to the mine, Councillor Morvayne and Councillor Arano are going to be reviewing my invention for commission." She said, barely containing her excitement, but worry still evident in her eyes.

"So today's the day? Mind if I tag along? I've been wanting to see this contraption that's going to save our dying town with my own eyes." He smiled, placing the book on the table.

"If you want to. I can't wait to see the look on their faces." She grinned, thinking of how amazing she will feel when the two sour faced nobles are left speechless at her handy-work.

Crescius smiled at his daughter and leaned forward.

"I want you to know, I'm proud of you child. I have every faith in you." He said, giving her a pat on her hand.

It filled her with renewed courage having her father there with her, but also some worry. 

Let's hope this goes well .

She raised from her seat and grabbed her satchel from the chair. A thought about where Chell might be crossed her mind but was soon pushed down by the nerves of the meeting.  

I'm sure he's fine .

Chell wiggled incessantly inside the bag as Teldryn and Galdrus stood in the temple.

"So... Tell me again why you're not smashing it to bits yet? I thought that was the plan?" Teldryn queried.

Galdrus huffed at him in annoyance. "I'm going to get the stupid bitch in here, show her the wretched thing and ask her again. If she doesn't accept my hand this time, then you smash the blighted thing." He explained, turning from the sellsword. "Turn me down huh? Me ? The next High Priest and Elder of Raven Rock? The fact that half-breed gets any of my attention should be enough for her!" He growled, pacing a hole into the floor.

"Oh of course, all that kind loving warmth you've got in your heart. Why wouldn't she come swooning into your arms." Teldryn retorted dryly, causing Galdrus to glower at the sarcastic remark.

"I'm paying you to stomp the bugger out, not make remarks. Now go put that thing in the inner sanctum til we're ready, and keep an eye on it. Anything happens to it before she gets here, you're getting nothing." He hissed.

Teldryn rolled his eyes and bowed to him mockingly. "Oh yes, great Elder. As you command."

Teldryn slung the sack over his shoulder and walked to the inner sanctum, then dropped it unceremoniously on the floor, sitting down next to it. Cracking open an ale he slugged a mouthful and stared down at it for a long while, weighing something in his mind. Curiosity might have gotten the better of him but he peeked inside the bag, only having gotten the barest glance at the strange creature the day before, having been more occupied with capturing him than studying him.

"What in the blazes are you hm?" He mused at him.

Chell used this as his chance and sprung from the bag onto Teldryns face. He gave a muffled shout in shock and tried to tear it off him, then throwing it against the wall.

Chell popped up and climbed up to the top of the ceiling.

"Oh for the love of... Get back here!" He growled, readying his crossbow and loosing three shots at Chell, which he dodged just in time, jumping onto a sconce chandelier.

Teldryn shot another bolt that grazed his front plating and made the chandelier sway and nearly cause Chell to fall but catching himself just in time. Standing under it, he tried to aim once again at him. Chell then quickly cut the chord of the chandelier and it fell on top of him, trapping him on the floor. With the mercenary now unconscious, groaning on the floor Chell began his quick escape from the temple. Galdrus had heard the crash and came running into the room and growled at the sight, punching the wall in anger and taking off to find where the automaton had run to.

"...So as you can see, it uses sophisticated Dwemer technology, these resonance chambers here charge it with a shockwave blast of harmonic sound energy that loosen any sediment enough for easy removal, then the automated pick axes and hammers make short work of anything in its way." Khamdi finished, the two Dunmer gazing at the contraption in slight wonder.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Crescius looked on his daughter with pride, while the two Councillors, especially Arano, quickly turned their gaze to one of suspicion.

"Is it dangerous? What is the fail rate?" Morvayne questioned, touching the side of the machine in study.

"I've tested it on parts of the mine already, so long as it only goes through slowly and we make sure that the tunnels are secure and ceiling above stabilized and bolstered, it's foolproof." She stated proudly.

"I still think this is a waste of time. How do we even know there's more ore further in the mine?" Arano refuted.

"I've done extensive projections on that very question. The sediment has trace amounts of fresh untouched ebony in it, and if we are to go further I'm sure we can uncover more deposits." She answered.

"I suppose a demonstration will tell us all we need to know." Morvayne sighed.

"Of course!"

Here goes nothing!

Getting her gloves on she handed out goggles and bandanas to the three of them and then donned them herself. Twisting the necessary valves and pulling the lever and getting behind it as it whirred to life, she wheeled it to a marked spot she had already planned to use and just as advertised, it worked on the wall and began digging through quickly and efficiently. Crescius smiled smugly at the two councillors who gaped at its success. However, their victory was short lived and half way through the demonstration, the machine began to sputter and lose power.

"What's happening?" Morvayn questioned warily.

"It's just a little malfunction, one moment." Giving it a swift kick, it roared to life again, but this time, smoke began pluming from it and it started to glow red from overheating.

"Azura's eyes girl, turn it off!" Arano shouted while Morvayn backed away.

Khamdida tried to turn the valves off but burned her hand on them as they were too hot to even touch. The machine then began to sputter and shake, rumbling with the signs of an imminent explosion.

"Khamdi!" Crescius ran to his daughter to pull her away.

"Get back!" She yelled, pushing her father back to turn and start running with him. "Everyone run!" She screamed.

The machine then exploded violently, shaking the mine and causing parts of the roof to cave and rock to fall.

"Go!" Arano shouted as they ran from the collapsing ceiling and out of the mine, a column of dust and smoke chasing after them.

The four made it out unscathed thankfully, all panting and shaking from their brush with death.

"Khamdida! Crescius! Oh thank Azura you're alright!" Aphia called as she ran to them and embraced the two.

"We're ok mother." Khamdi said quietly, eyes cast downward in defeat and shock, only to be wrenched from her thoughts by Arano's yelling, the councillor wasting no time to turn on the young inventor.

"You stupid girl! You could have killed us!" People from the town crowded around them, wondering what the commotion was. "Your daughter is a menace! A damn fool ! Toying with things she barely understands!” He roared, pointing an accusatory finger at her, making her recoil from the venom in his words while Aphia put herself in front of her, shielding Khamdi from the Councilor’s ire. “Why? Why on all the planes of existence did this one have to be dropped into our community!?”

“That isn’t fair, Councillor!She was trying to help, all of this work is a testament to how much she cares for our town..” Crecius defended his daughter, his hands on Khamdi’s shoulders.

“Care? Care ?! The child doesn't care about anything other than those confounding useless contraptions! She can't even do something so simple as make them useful without turning them into bloody death traps!" Arano continued, seething so much his cheeks were purple.

"Now see here you puffed up-!" 

"Silence the both of you." Crescius was cut off by Morvayn, finally after catching his breath. "Crescius, your daughter's hobbies have endangered the lives of our people for the last time." He warned.

"I'm sorry! Please, it was an accident! I've used it so many times now and it's worked perfectly. There must have been something I missed but if you'll let me start again, then next time I promise you-." Arano barked a laugh at her.

"There's not going to be a next time ." Arano growled.

“He's right, Khamdida. I'm sorry, but you've left me no choice. This was a serious incident. You could have gotten us all killed, and your blatant disregard for that makes it clear to me that there is only one option left with you.” His words echoed an ultimatum she knew she was not going to be happy with. “I've been kind, and let your past failures off lightly, in hope you'd give up these useless exploits. But I see now that I was wrong to ever have given you a chance. Either you give up these mechanics... Or you leave Raven Rock." Morvayns words were final as he turned and walked away, Arano casting the family one last look of disdain before following him.

Khamdi felt the air disappear from her lungs. Onlookers murmured and whispered, the looks they gave her made her feel even more an outsider than ever before.

The walk home was silent and somber. Khamdida departed her parents trudged up to her room and when she stood in the centre of her room, staring at all her schematics hanging from the walls, scattered about the floor, on her desk and nightstand, the artifacts from countless adventures to the ruins and all her customized tools she'd spent years refining. All of her work laid bare, all her efforts, everything that she had put her heart and soul into, like she had with nothing else ever , for she had never had a love so strong for another craft as she did for her inventions. Something inside her broke at the idea of never being able to create again. What was she to do? Work the fields? Plough and hoe? Serve drinks at the Retching Netch? Open a some lifeless general store? For the rest of her life, live in a role she would never have any happiness in? Marry some ignorant man and be a mother of three ?

She sat on the edge of her bed and picked up a tool, one of the first she'd ever made. It was a dwarven tool she refined and customised herself that removed bolts from metal struts. She had spent hours combing through ruins to find the struts for just the bolts alone. A labor, but one of love, one that she had meticulously embarked upon because it was the only craft, the only thing she ever felt she was truly good at.

"Your daughter is a menace!" She gripped the tool tightly. "A fool! Toying with technology she barely understands!" With a roar she hurled it at the wall with a reverberating clunk as it knocked over more items and cups on her desk, then rolled to the corner of the room.

A tap at her window brought her back into the room and banished Arano's voice from her mind. Chell's squeaks could be heard from the outside. She opened it and he quickly scuttered into the room, squeaking animatedly at her, but was quickly silenced by her dark aura.

"Where were you!?" She whispered harshly, he recoiled her tone, then tooted and squeaked frantically. "I needed you there today! I needed your help! And now everything… everything is ruined!" She cried and fell to her knees, head in her hands. "I'm such a fool! I'm just blundering around like a child, trying to recreate the machines and works of your masters and everytime I think I've done it right, gotten my head around it and broken through, it's like they reach out from wherever they are and show me just how wrong I am, how useless it is to try and even think I could... I could..." Angry tears burst from her eyes and through her fingers as she trembled.

Chell whistled sadly and crawled into her lap, reaching up with a pincer to lightly touch her elbow. She smiled down at him though her tears and picked him up and held him to her chest, resting her head lightly on him as he did his best to embrace her back.

"I'm sorry. That was unkind, I didn’t mean it. It's not your fault, it was mine ." She whispered sadly.

Chell tooted in disagreement. She looked him over and noticed the new scrape on his front plating.

"What happened to you?" She asked as she traced it with her fingers, pulling a metal shard from the scrape that didn't belong to his casing.

"A crossbow bolt head? How did this happen? Let me look at you." Chell continued to toot and squeak desperately, as if trying to tell her something. "What is it? Dreyla stuck down a well or something?" She chuckled lightly.

"Khamdi?" Aphia's voice came from the other side of the door.

"Hide!" She whispered as she stood, Chell quickly scurrying to the desk and hiding behind some schematics and books. "Yes?" She answered.

Aphia entered the room, taking in her daughter's tear stained face and her heart breaking slightly at the sight. Moving to her she kneeled down with her on the floor. "Are you alright child?"

"Just wallowing in self pity, don't mind me." She sighed, wiping her eyes. Aphia stared down at her, many emotions flashed behind her old eyes.

"Tell me what you're thinking. You know you can tell me anything my sweet little bird, don’t you?" She smiled, lifting Khamdia's chin.

"I just... I know the consequences if I continue my work. I know. But... I can't just stop. This is my life. I've never felt better than when I'm doing this. Call it an obsession, but to me it's more than that. It's like it's... it's a part of me. And just giving it up, I'd be giving up who I am. I don't know how to explain it. I've never felt like I’ve belonged anywhere, more than inside those ruins, unraveling their secrets. I don't know why, it's like... like they call to me. Like they're daring me to try and touch their greatness and every time I feel compelled to answer that call, no matter how hard or how impossible it might be because to me, there is nothing more exhilarating, nothing more gratifying. It may sound mad but even among their bones and their dust, I feel alive when I’m down there." She lamented, looking into her mother’s eyes trying so hard to convey what she was feeling, even though she didn't truly even understand what it was she was feeling. She thought she was going to have to divulge more to help explain why she felt this way, but in her mother's gaze, she saw a sad understanding. 

Why do you look like you're about to cry?

"Do you remember the story I used to tell you when you were a girl? The story of 'Kamdida and the Seed'?" Aphia asked, sitting back on her haunches.

She stared back at her in questioning.

"Oh you used to beg me to read it to you almost every night when you were a girl, I even named you after the heroine!" She smiled, standing then walked over to the bookcase beside the door of her room and searched a moment before pulling a dusty tome from the bottom shelf entitled Ancient Tales of the Dwemer, Part II . Sitting down again next to her she opened it and placed an arm around her daughter, who in turn rested her head on Aphia’s shoulder and listened as she began to read it aloud.

The hamlet village of Lorikh was a quiet, peaceful Dwemer community nestled in the monochrome grey and tan dunes and boulders of the Dejasyte. No vegetation of any kind grew in Lorikh, though there were blackened vestiges of long dead trees scattered throughout the town. Kamdida arriving by caravan looked at her new home with despair. She was used to the forestland of the north where her father's family had haled. Here there was no shade, little water, and a great open sky. It looked like a dead land.

Her mother's family took Kamdida and her younger brother Nevith in, and was very kind to the orphans, but she felt lonely in the alien village. It was not until she met an old Argonian woman who worked at the water factory that Kamdida found a friend. Her name was Sigerthe, and she said that her family had lived in Lorikh centuries before the Dwemer arrived, when it was a great and beauteous forest.

"Why did the trees die?" asked Kamdida.

"When there were Argonians only in this land, we never cut trees for we had no need for fuel or wooden structures such as you use. When the Dwemer came, we allowed them to use the plants as they needed them, provided they never touched the Hist, which are sacred to us and to the land. For many years, we lived peaceably. No one wanted for anything."

"What happened?"

"Some of your scientists discovered that distilling a certain tree sap, molding it and drying it, they could create a resilient kind of armor called resin," said Sigerthe. "Most of the trees that grew here had very thin ichor in their branches, but not the Hist. Many of them fairly glistened with sap, which made the Dwemer merchants greedy. They hired a woodsman named Juhnin to start clearing the sacred arbors for profit."

The old Argonian woman looked to the dusty ground and sighed, "Of course, we Argonians cried out against it. It was our home, and the Hist, once gone, would never return. The merchants reconsidered, but Juhnin took it on his own to break our spirit. He proved one terrible, bloody day that his prodigious skill with the axe could be used against people as well as trees. Any Argonian who stood in his way was hewn asunder, children as well. The Dwemer people of Lorikh closed their doors and their ears to the cries of murder."

"Horrible," gasped Kamdida.

"It is difficult to explain," said Sigerthe. "But the deaths of our living ones was not nearly as horrible to us as the death of our trees. You must understand that to my people, the Hist are where we come from and where we are going. To destroy our bodies is nothing; to destroy our trees is to annihilate us utterly. When Juhnin then turned his axe on the Hist, he killed the land. The water disappeared, the animals died, and all the other life that the trees nourished crumbled and dried to dust."

"But you are still here?" asked Kamdida. "Why didn't you leave?"

"For us, we are trapped. I am one of the last of a dying people. Few of us are strong enough to live away from our ancestral groves, and sometimes, even now, there is a perfume in the air of Lorikh that gives us life. It will not be long until we are all gone."

Kamdida felt tears welling up in her eyes. "Then I will be alone in this horrible place with no trees and no friends!"

'We Argonians have an expression," said Sigerthe with a sad smile, taking Kamdida's hand. "That the best soil for a seed is found in your heart."

Kamdida looked into the palm of her hand and saw that Sigerthe had given her a small black pellet. It was a seed. "It looks dead."

"It can only grow in one place in all Lorikh," said the old Argonian. "Outside an old cottage in the hills outside town. I cannot go there, for the owner would kill me on sight and like all my people, I am too frail to defend myself now. But you can go there and plant the seed."

"What will happen?" asked Kamdida. "Will the Hist return?"

"No. But some part of their power will."

That night, Kamdida stole from her house and into the hills. She knew the cottage Sigerthe had spoken of. Her aunt and uncle had told her never to go there. As she approached it, the door opened and an old but powerfully built Dwemer appeared, a mighty axe slung over his shoulder.

"What are you doing here, child?" he demanded. "In the dark, I almost took you to be a lizard man."

"I've lost my way in the dark," she said quickly. "I'm trying to get back to my home in Lorikh."

"Be on your way then."

"Do you have a candle I might have?" she asked piteously. "I've been walking in circles and I'm afraid I'll only return back here without any light."

The old man grumbled and walked into his house. Quickly, Kamdida dug a hole in the dry dirt and buried the seed as deeply as she could. He returned with a lit candle.

"See to it you don't come back here," he growled. "Or I'll chop you in half."

He returned to his house and fire. The next morning when he awoke and opened the door, he found that his cottage was entirely sealed within an enormous tree. He picked up his axe and delivered blow and after blow to the wood, but he could never break through. He tried side chops, but the wood healed itself. He tried an upper chop followed by an under chop to form a wedge, but the wood sealed.

Much time went by before someone discovered old Juhnin's emaciated body lying in front of his open door, still holding his blunted, broken axe. It was a mystery to all what he had been chopping with it, but the legend began circulating through Lorikh that Hist sap was found on the blade.

Shortly thereafter, small desert flowers began pushing through the dry dirt in the town. Trees and plants newly sown began to live tolerably well, if not luxuriantly. The Hist did not return, but Kamdida and the people of Lorikh noticed that at a certain time around twilight, long, wide shadows of great, bygone trees would fill the streets and hills.

"It's been so long since I've heard that story... I remember it... But why read it now?" Khamdi asked, looking up to her mother's unreadable expression, that slowly morphed to one of slight sadness but a determination in her eyes captured her attention.

"There's... something I should have told you, long ago, but my own fear and worries always silenced the words." She said slowly, deliberately, before sighing and closing the book, turning to look her head on. "I want you to listen and to wait until I'm done to say anything, alright?" She instructed, Khamdida only nodded, waiting for her. 

"A long time ago, a Telvanni wizard came to me in the night, telling me that he needed my services as a healer, a job of the utmost discretion. He offered me a handsome sum of coin for it so even though Crescius had protested, I agreed. We went to his home in the far south east of the island, Tel Mythrin. The Telvanni wizards live in these giant mushrooms of their own creation, sight to behold. He brought me to his study and on the counter in the room, was a capsule, only about the size of a basket. He said it was made from an old dwarven metal called Aetherium, long thought lost to the ages. Inside the capsule was... well. A babe. A small fragile thing, almost like a doll, with eyes of silver steel, unblinking and motionless. He told me he had found it, deep inside the sunken ruins of Nchardack. He had managed to open it, and could tell the babe was alive, a heart beat and all, but unable to be woken. He told me my job was to wake it. I spent days, trying everything I could think of, but all in vain." She grew silent a moment, then took Khamdida's hand. "I had exhausted every technique I knew, every spell, every remedy I could fathom, and then finally, I picked the babe out of capsule, and held her to my chest, I prayed to every conceivable god, my own and others, cradling it with all the love I could muster, and suddenly... You began to stir, and gurgle in my arms." Khamdida's eyes widened at the revelation and felt a thunderbolt of realization to her core. She could only continue to listen. "You were alive , a beautiful mewling thing, and I knew, in that moment, I was to be your protector. I don't know what that wizard had planned for you, and I didn't wait around to find out. In the dead of night, I took the artifacts that had been stowed away with you in the capsule and took us away, back here. I feared he would come after you so I told the wizard by letter that you had died and evaporated to dust in my arms, along with everything inside the capsule with you and been too overcome with grief to stay. I never heard from him again, so I assumed he bought it. But... I always feared he would figure it out, smart bastard. He never came knocking anyway, and I got to raise you, take care of you." She finished.

Khamdi was at a loss. Staring, mouth agape. "What...? Does this mean... what I think it does?"

"You are not a Dunmer, no. You are a Dwemer. One of the last. Perhaps the last. When you started to become so intrigued by their constructs... I feared for you, feared for what you might find or realize but... Now I understand that this," She gestured to her work and artifacts surrounding the room. " this is who you are." She stated the fact so affirmatively that it struck Khamdi to her core, and a realization unlike any other washed over her.

She stood suddenly on shaky legs, her mother following, staring at her worriedly.

"I'm... the last Dwemer on Tamriel... On Nirn? All of this... all my work, the reason those ruins call to me... That's why..." She said quietly, still ruminating over the ramifications of what that meant.

"There's more. Here follow me." 

They entered her parents room and Aphia unlocked a chest, hidden under her bed and produced a rolled map, some other tools and two devices, one spherical object made of a blue gleaming ore rimmed with dwarven metal and other markings, and another compass shaped object with the same metals as the orb. Khamdi took them into her hands to inspect them. Aphia also pulled a fine blanket with a sigil woven into it.

"The wizard said that this was the insignia of a powerful Dwarven clan. affiliated with the last King of the Dwemer, that hailed from Skyrim. That's where he planned on looking for more information, using these tools, but I guess he wouldn't really know where exactly to look now. But, perhaps with these... you might…” She swallowed hard and looked her daughter in the eyes with determination. “You might be able to find the answers you're seeking. The seed has always been there, your body and your soul always knew who you were. But your heart, it could never understand." Aphia smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, I kept this from you, and made you feel this way, all for my own selfish reasons of not wanting to let you go." Tears began to well and roll down her cheeks and her mother cried softly into her hands. 

Khamdi put down the objects and embraced her mother tightly. Aphia gasped into her shoulder.

"You were just trying to protect me. You've always been trying to protect me. There's nothing to be sorry about. I wasn't ready to know, but... now I am, and I'm so grateful to have a mother who loves me so much that you would tell me this, even though you feared the outcome. But there is nothing to fear." She pulled away and wiped her mother's tears. "Thank you."

Aphia smiled at her daughter and embraced her once again.

"Does father know?" She asked.

"Yes." Crescius voiced his presence from the doorway, leaning against the frame. "Your mother brought you here after she fled Tel Mythrin. It took me a while to really believe it, but when I saw the artifacts and really looked at you, there was no denying it. You mother told me that she planned to raise you, that you were our child and that if I had a problem with it I could take a hike. You know I've never been good at denying your mother anything." He chuckled and joined them, placing his hands on their shoulders. "And the moment you looked up at me when she let me hold you for the first time, I knew there was no pair of people on all of Nirn that would ever be able to love you as much as we do." Khamdia pulled them both into a hug and felt a warmth envelop her unlike any other she'd ever felt before.

A squeak by the door brought them from their family moment.

"What is that ?" Aphia questioned, her mouth falling open in disbelief.

"Uhh... This is Chell... My friend who's been living here secretly for the past five years." She smiled sheepishly at her parents, who balked at her wordlessly as Chell jumped onto her shoulder, tooting in greeting and waving meekly with a pincer causing Aphia to nearly fall over while Crescius howled with laughter.

Khamdi had everything she had wished to bring with her on her quest all wrapped up and tucked away in her satchel, and a backpack with all the essential tools she'd need for travelling, kindly given to her by Glover Mallory, as well as a set of simple, but well built armor, consisting of a light bone mold breast plate over her tunic vest, leather greeves, tan boots and fur lined lambswool gloves "Can't have you freezing to death or getting shanked the minute you get to Skyrim kid." He'd said in jest, but it only left her feeling more apprehensive. Her mother had given her a green burlap cloak with a silver securing broach in the shape of a robin holding it closed. Her father had gifted her an old ebony blade that had belonged to his father. She wasn't quite skilled at one handed arms, more reliant on her magic and her crossbow, but a good blade at your side can be a welcome companion on a journey like the one she was embarking on he had said to her, a sentiment she knew she would come to agree with. Skyrim was just as, if not more, unforgiving a land to the underprepared and unskilled than Solsthiem was. She made her way downstairs and took one last look at her home, burning its every wall and frame into her memory, for she did not know when, or if she would ever see it again and that thought weighed heavily in the pit of her stomach. As she approached the doorway, she looked at the notches on the frame. Taking off her glove she traced them with her fingers. Every year from the day she came to them they had notched her height and age on it. She recalled standing on the tips of her toes as her father laughed at her antics and her mother trying in vain to hold her still and chuckling along with them as Khamdia huffed about her growth, or lack thereof. "One day, you'll be big and strong and fly away my little bird, let us record these moments, so we can remember just how small you were and marvel at the wonderful person you'll grow to be." Her mother had said, her voice now echoing in her mind. She gave it one last wistful look and left the house, daring not to look back.

She made her way to the docks, where her family, Dreyla and Freya, as well as the two Councillors stood waiting.

"Promise me you'll write to me!" Dreyla cried as she threw herself at Khamdi, wrapping her in a tight hug. "I'll be living vicariously through you." She chuckled, unshed tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she pulled away, making Khamdi want to cry as well, but she held them back.

"Every day my friend." She promised. “And you, make sure you don’t let anyone stop you from following your heart, not even your father.” She imparted, Dreyla nodding and smiling sadly as she gave her one last squeeze on her shoulder. 

Freya gave her one of her famous bear hugs, nearly knocking the wind from her lungs, making her grin. Never thought I'd be so sad at the prospect of never getting another bone shattering . 

"Skyrim is a dangerous place, and it's people are narrow minded. Don't listen to a single one of those bellyaching milk drinkers, you hear me Khamdi? No uncalculated risks either, don't go into one of those ruins alone, you've had Dreyla and I to watch your back, you won't have us out there now, so find a good companion. And if you're ever in a bind, make sure you punch fist, ask questions later, hm?" Freya's stern instructions warmed her heart.

"Yes yes, and I'll be in bed before ten and I'll eat all my vegetables and wash behind my ears." She mocked playfully, earning her a light punch in the arm.

"Oh, funny. I'll write that on your gravestone. Khamdida Caerellius was hilarious ." She jabbed, giving her one more hug, lighter this time. "You always have a place with the Skaal, so, make sure you don't die, and come back and visit me, alright?" She whispered.

"Alright, but only because you asked." She snickered, they shared one final look and then Freya moved to the side and the two Councillors approached.

"So you've made the decision to leave then?" Morvayn queried.

"I'll not be where I'm not wanted, and I will not deny who I am, not for you, or anyone." She said, crossing her arms and staring through them, as if they were nothing, then walking past them.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish." Arano muttered.

Khamdi paid him no mind and continued to where her parents stood at the edge of the docks near the Northern Maiden. She stopped for a moment to gaze at them. They had their backs to her and her father's arm was wrapped tightly around her mother, as if to hold her together. She felt a pang of guilt for leaving them behind and her heart broke at the thought that this might be the last time she sees them. No, enough of that. This is goodbye for now, not goodbye forever. She came up behind them and they turned to her. Her father pulled a coin purse from his pocket.

"This is for you. I've been saving for a rainy day and... I count this as a rainy day. Use it in good health, and keep yourself safe alright? And more importantly, I love you my daughter. And I'm going to miss you, everytime I pass your room, or find a book you might like, and for every other reason." She almost broke down there as her father kissed her forehead and gave her a quick, but tight hug.

"Thank you father. I love you too."

Her mother was all that was left before her and she had her gaze cast downwards.

"What's wrong?" Khamdi asked, taking her hand in hers, her mother still refusing to look up.

"I don't want this to be the last time I look at you... So I won't look." She mumbled, making Khamdi laugh at her mother's stubbornness. Although they shared no blood, they shared a personality.

"Well don't worry, you don't have to look, you just have to listen to me." She pulled her mother to her and buried her head in her hair. "No matter where my path leads me or what I might discover about who I am... This will always be me home. And you will always be my mother." She whispered, causing her mother to choke on a sob and return the embrace with a fierceness only a mother could give.

"You're my daughter. My little bird. And I love you with all my heart." She sobbed.

"I love you too." She answered, quickly drying her mother's eyes.

"I want you to take this. I know how you feel about worship and the gods, but humor me alright? This is an amulet of Meridia, Daedric Prince of light and life. May it light your path, in your darkest moments and guard you til you return to us." She pulled the glowing amulet from her neck, and tied it around Khamdi's. A tear escaped her own eye and Aphia's thumb brushed it away, she kissed her forehead, and moved to let her board the ship.

As she sailed away from the dock, her family and friends waved her goodbye, until they were little more than tiny ants in the distance. Chell rustled in her bag.

"Looks like it's just you and me buddy." She sighed and she turned to the horizon, where Skyrim and hopefully more answers awaited.

Chell tooted at her remark, making her smile, and though she felt some anguish clawing at her heart, she also felt a determination unlike any other fill her mind. 

"Time for some answers."

Soooooo..... Hope you like!

This is an idea I've been thinking about for a long time. There's some Morrowind easter eggs in this one, and tonnes more to come. I'm a die hard lore fan of the Elder Scrolls so I try to keep with what's believable for the lore, but at the same time, bend the rules for my own enjoyment and yours. And don't worry, Bishop is coming in the next chapter!

This is a project I'm finally getting the chance to work on now that the lockdown is in place so I like to think this is the one semi-productive thing I can be doing while we wait for either salvation or Armageddon.

I was listening to a very wonderful and sad version of the Morrowind theme during that last part of the chapter, I'll put the link to it below because well... feels.

https://youtu.be/Qqcyvjj2ENc - Morrowind Theme

So let me know what you think, if there are ever any lore inaccuracies please feel free to comment so we can talk about it! Or if you just want to talk theories and lore or about this story! Peace and love, wash your hands. <3

IfItAintBroke1997

Chapter Text

Chapter One: We're Not In Solstheim Anymore 

Gulls chatter, crashing waves and whipping sails sang a harmony so loud it managed to find its way right through Khamdi’s head, making her unconsciously grit her teeth in some small attempt to ignore the shrill screams of the sky soaring sea rats. She changed the focus on her magnifying goggles, flicking two more lenses down on her left eye to enhance her view of the strange markings that covered the metal ball in her hands. She toiled over it, hoping there might be an inscription, some inkling to what it did or where it was made. Though most dwarven machinery shared the same craft style throughout most of their once vast empire, slight changes in the metal composition, even the artistry, can vary from different regions and of course different smiths and inventors would put their own hallmark upon their works as a way to distinguish their creations. The dwarves were a prideful people. There was still a purely mathematical approach to their works, there was a tried and tested algorithm that was always implemented within their machines regardless of their creator which made nearly all of it uniform and rarely would they deviate save for minor refinements. 

From what she could deduce, this was a style that fit the bill for the northernmost factions of Dwemera of old. A spark went off in her mind at that finding and she quickly pulled a book from her satchel, ‘The Elder Knowledge’, one of only three she had been able to take with her, but this tome was her most useful encyclopedia over the years when it came to understanding the constructs and how they worked. It detailed some of the few remnants of the dwarves, one such being ‘The Lexicon’ a repository device for the collection of knowledge spanning from the early days of their empire right up until their mysterious disappearance. It had been found in an underground ruin of Avanchnzel, the dwarven library, in Skyrim.

The exact whereabouts of the ruin was lost however and the Lexicon with it. The mage that documented it and the other findings in the tome was a man called Vernarus Deovald, an expert in the field of dwarven engineering and a once world renowned authority on the subject of all things Dwarven, having released countless other manuscripts and books on their culture, engineering and history, though most she felt some of it was pure speculation, trying to put a puzzle together with only half the pieces is always going to lead to some inaccuracies and though he was respected in his field some thought his research was full of recondite information. Vernarus himself had mysteriously disappeared some twenty years after finishing this very book in her hands, in fact it was his protege who published his final findings in his mentor’s stead.

She traced her finger over the symbols of the detailed drawings of the Lexicon within the book and marveled at how eerily similar they were to the object in her hands now, but the markings were where the similarities ended unfortunately. She pondered the probable connection and made a mental note of the ruin, promising herself to investigate it further at a later date when she was actually in Skyrim and had at least one lead.

She had planned to use her time on the boat as wisely as she could and set about trying to get at least some clues as to what these artifacts functions were. The Sphere, so she had named it, was most likely made of the ore, Aetherium, her mother had told her about as it matched the description. It was smooth to the touch and surprisingly warm, save for a small cool part on the top that was flat, covered with glass and intricate slim circles of dwarven metal twined in the middle, but other than that no purpose could be found. She held it in her hands for a moment and tried to get a feel for it and found if she concentrated, she could feel a hum of what might be an energy source inside it, which further intrigued her. She tried twisting it and pressing it in points for the better part of the trip. Solving Dwarven puzzles usually were all in subtle actions or in finding secret buttons or latches hidden expectedly beneath the surface. The Dwarves really were a secretive and nuanced bunch and anything related to them was never that straightforward. Finally, after what felt like the thousandth twist, Khamdi was almost ready to give up and toss the blasted thing to the sea in sheer frustration, but Chell whistled at her, trying to get her attention. Looking down at him in questioning, he reached up for the Sphere. Placing it down before him, Chell's front legs worked quickly over the ball as his pincers pressed lightly around its edges and then a sudden resounding click filled her ears. Khamdi's eyes widened, he had managed to activate something and with a whistle of delight Chell moved away so Khamdi could pick it up and view the now humming metal. 

"Chell, you're a genius !" She exclaimed, making the bashful automaton whirr lightly at the compliment. 

Looking back down, she noticed the glass flat bit on the top had now begun to glow slightly, save for the circular top plate that was covered with metal, it had opened, like the eye of a brass god. An eye, hm? Perhaps for looking then? Taking off her magnifying goggles, she peered into it with one eye, and saw flashes of white pulsing lines, tracing or marking something, but only could see the floor behind it. It was strange as the back of it that she was peering through was covered in the cloudy blue Aetherium shell, she shouldn't have been able to look through it like a glass. But somehow she could, even being able to see her own hand in front of her, but the pulsing lines persisted. She cast her glance at the strange rolled up paper that had been part of the set of artifacts gifted to her. Maybe... She unrolled it, smoothing out the worn linen paper, placing some wooden fragments down on its edges to keep it from rolling away with the rough sways of the ship against the waves. It was a rarity to find anything actually written by the Dwemer, she had found a few schematics in her explorations but had never found anything like this. It was a weathered piece of paper on the outside but its contents were painted dwarven gold and outlined in blue which looked almost like an outline of the continent of Skyrim, further solidifying her theory. Holding the artifact above the presumed map she stared through the Sphere at it and suddenly, the lines began to make sense. They were pointing to a place on the map. 

To what exactly it was marking, she had no clue, but it was a start. Pulling out the map she bought from Captain Galjund on board, she cross-referenced the map with her older one and found similarities. Marking its location as best she could determine, she felt comfortable that she had a very good starting point. Chell looked at the map in curiosity.

“Anything to add?” She asked, hopeful he might have yet another trick up his proverbial sleeves.

Chell only hummed in response, peering down at the map of Skyrim in wonder, looking up to her once again only to twirl and squeak in excitement which made Khamdi chuckle lightly.

"Good to see you're as excited as I am. Looks like it's near a place called... 'Riverwood'? Hm. We'll be docking in 'Windhelm', we can see about getting transport to the village and go from there." She closed the map as she heard the sailors call 'land ho'. 

Chell hopped in her satchel and she packed away her things.

"And so we begin."

Windhelm was freezing . The Skall Village was cold, but there were always fires littered about the settlement to keep people warm. After taking leave of the Northern Maiden and bidding Captain Galund farewell and thanks, she made her way to the gates of the city. Chell rustled in her bag and peaked out at the snowy, depressing landscape, giving a disapproving and worried whirr at their unfamiliar surroundings. Argonians and Dark Elves scurried around the docks to and fro, while Khamdi had buried her nose in her map, already trying to think of the next few moves ahead and ended up walking straight into a pair of guards at the gate. Looking up she quickly apologised but before she could say anything else, they began eyeing her with a cold suspicion.

"Another one of you refugees to feed, eh?" One to her right scoffed, looking down his nose at her like she was an unpleasant smear at the bottom of his boot. "Going to be more of you than us pretty soon." He growled, making her flinch back slightly.

"What is your business in our city Gray Skin?" the other guard asked plainly, but no less colder than his partner.

"I'm just passing through, trying to make my way to Riverwood-." She began to explain but the first guard started trying to grab her at satchel.

"Better have a look, make sure it's not just trying to smuggle skooma or fenced items into our city. Wouldn’t be the first time for your kind ." He said, making Khamdi pull away quickly and pull her pack protectively to her, fearing for what they might do to Chell, or her artifacts if they got their hands on them. "Submit to us Gray Skin, or I'll dump your corpse into the river and let the current carry you back to wherever you came from." He snarled, already putting a hand on his weapon.

"Wait, please, I didn't-."

"Jorg! Hevart! There's been another one!" Another of them came running, a guards woman, almost out of breath, looking to be in a complete panic.

"What? Talos save us, another one ?" The second guard balked.

"Captain needs you both to close off the area, keep citizens away from the scene, come no time to waste! He said if a single civilian so much as breathed on the girl’s corpse he’d have us on the first cart out to the frontlines!" She yelled before running back through the gates, the two guards looking at each other quickly before turning to run after her.

"We'll be watching you elf, keep your nose clean while you’re here, or we'll be back ." The first guard threatened as he too scurried off to join his comrades and Khamdi breathed a sigh of relief, placing a protective hand on her satchel where Chell was. 

"Looks like we need to be more careful.” She watched the guards retreating forms warily, almost certain they would turn back and drag her to some dark dungeon to question her further. “We're not in Solstheim anymore Chell. Be wary." She whispered to her tiny companion as she entered the gates of the city.

The wind howling through the stoney city cut through her bones like knives and she pulled her cloak more tightly around her as she struggled not to chatter her teeth. Looking around she tried to see if she could get any directions to the nearest inn.

"Excuse me, could you point me to-."

"Beat it gray skin." A nord hissed at her before stomping away to the market stalls.

"Could you tell me where-."

"Ugh, elf ." Another spat at her.

"I'm sorry to bother you but-."

"Don't you filthy things belong in the Gray Quarter?" Another nord woman snapped before she too strode away, leaving a very lost and confused elf behind her.

She blinked in shock at the venom with which these nords seemed to speak towards her. Can’t wait to tell Freya she was right about the nords in Skyrim. Looking around she tried to find anyone who wasn't a nord and came up empty. She wandered aimlessly until she came across a tavern sign for 'Candle Hearth Hall', breathing a tiny sigh of relief as she wrenched open the door, eager for some respite from the unbearable cold and damp outside. She felt the warmth from the inn begin to quickly thaw her out, but the icy glares of the patrons banished the warmth from her just as quickly.

"What's this knife-ear doing Elda?" One patron asked the innkeeper, who in turn glowered at her so venomously she could feel a grain of fear sowing into her chest, the guards warnings at the gate echoing in her mind and more patrons filing in from the upstairs to see what the commotion was, all their gazes darkened upon seeing her, and painted her an unpleasant picture of what could happen if she stayed.

Get out before they turn into a mob.

"We don't serve your kind here Gray Skin, crawl back to the Gray Quarter where you belong. Go on now!" She snapped, taking a broom and shooing her like she was some stray cat begging for scraps, the other nords and patrons laughing.

Turning quickly on her heel before more animosity could meet her, she braced herself again for the cold. Hugging herself to try and preserve some modicum of warmth, she stared out at the dark stone city, a small part of her worrying she might just freeze to death right there.

What in Oblivion is up these Nord's asses?

Voices from in front of the inn pulled her from her thoughts, two nord men stood menacingly in front of a petite older Dunmer woman.

"You come here where you're not wanted, you eat our food, you pollute the city with your stink and you refuse to help the Stormcloaks!" A moustached nord wearing a leather cap spat at the woman, who stood like an immovable mountain against the howling man, though she was at least two heads smaller.

"We haven't taken a side because it's not our fight." She tried to reason, glowering back at the two men, matching them in ferocity.

"Hey, maybe the reason these Gray Skins don't help in the war is because they're Imperial spies!" The other bald scarred man exclaimed.

" Imperial spies ? You can't be serious." She scoffed, making the capped man growl and suddenly strike the woman in the face, sending her flying to the cobblestones with a resounding thud, the air being knocked from her as she cried out in shock.

"Maybe we'll pay you a visit tonight little spy, hm? We got ways of finding out what you really are." He smirked, a sickening curl to his lips that set Khamdi's blood alight with rage. He pulled the elf up by the collar of her dress. "Though I might be afraid you'd like it too much."

"Enough!" Before she could even stop herself, she was tearing his arm from the woman and shoving the drunk back so forcefully he fell backwards to the ground. Khamdi helped the older woman to her feet then stood in front of her protectively. "You pair of skrutting, low-life bullies. You have enough dishonour in your hearts that you'd strike an innocent woman? You should be ashamed of yourselves." She snarled, her mind already having enough of this godsforsaken place and its unparalleled cruelty.

"You... You dare ..." the capped man seethed as his friend helped him up, he then pulled a dagger from his hip and raised it at them both. "How about I peel your wretched grayness from you then, and maybe then we might be able to tolerate you-."

"That's quite enough Rolff." A booming voice entered the fray, belonging to an older yet tall and broad Nord man dressed in armor adorned in horns and chipped metal plating that told a story of a well seasoned warrior, he walked down the steps of the inn and came to stand between them.

"This got nothing to do with you Brunwulf!" The bald man spat, he too now drew a weapon.

"I'd speak a little more softly if I were you Angrenor.” He chuckled before lowering his voice. “I would hate to mistake that as a threat against a Thane of Windhelm. Once-Honoured you might have been, but one word to the guards and you'll never be anything again." He warned cooly, crossing his arms and standing his ground.

" When my brother hears about this ..." Rolff seethed.

"Galmar has more important things to do than worry about a loud mouthed drunkard’s wounded pride. Now, why don't both of you slither back to your watering hole, before I show you why they named me Thane of this city." The older man finished, his hand lowering menacingly to this sheathed blade, sliding it up slightly, causing the two nords to sheath their weapons and with one final glare they hastily retreated back into Candle Hearth Hall with their tails between their legs.

He turned to the two elves, his one steel hard eye now softening. She hadn’t noticed just how tall he was before, he held himself not with a sense of pride, but his stance was one of a battle hardened soldier, solid and immovable, but his one good grey eye betrayed a kindness that made his severity less intimidating.

"Suvaris, are you alright?" He asked softly, a surprising change to his early tone, then coming to stand with them and look over the dark elf, his huge hands surprisingly cautious and tentative on the older dunmer’s bruised face.

"I'm fine, Brunwulf, truly. Thank you for that. And you." She turned to Khamdi with an appreciative smile. "Thank you for standing up to them, even when you didn't have to." She thanked her warmly.

Khamdi smiled softly at her, then quickly frowned at the purple blackness swelling around her eye. "Here, let me." She raised her hand, and conjured some healing magic, and after only a few moments, there was no more than a pink mark left behind. The older dunmer starred in surprise, not used to such selfless acts, especially from complete strangers.

"Tell me then, how does a kind soul like you end up wandering alone in this unworthy city?" Brunwulf questioned.

"I just arrived from Solsthiem. I'm here for... a personal journey I'm embarking on. I'm trying to get myself to Riverwood, but more importantly, find a place to spend the night." She admitted, trying to keep as much to herself as she could.

The best thing to do is say as little as possible. People wouldn't understand, or think me mad if they knew of what my quest truly was.

"I think I can help with the place to stay anyway. It's the least I can do." Suvaris offered. "I'll show you to The New Gnisis Cornerclub. Ambarys, the owner, is a friend."

"Hm... Riverwood you say. Well. I've got a horse that's not getting any use anymore since my fighting days are done, poor girl is going mad in those stables. You seem an honourable sort, and I'd be happy to gift her to you, as a reward for your bravery." Brunwulf said.

"You both are too kind... but Brunwulf sir, I can't accept that, it's too much." She tried to reason only for him to raise his hands to silence her objections.

"Nonsense, you'd be doing me a favour dear girl." He chuckled. "Meet me by the stables in the morning at the edge of the city entrance and I'll send you on your way. Good night, dear ladies. Talos guard you." He bid them farewell and wandered off to the western side of the city, while Suvaris escorted her to the dunmer inn.

The eastern part of the city, where more elves and argonians seemed to congregate, was the infamous Gray Quarter, a slum for anyone who wasn't a Nord it would seem. The streets were covered in a thick stink from years of people emptying chamberpots into the streets, and all manner of filth. Suvaris managed to pull her out of the way of one such dumping from a high building above them, the spatter only grazing the side of her boot instead of dousing her head to toe thankfully, but still making her gag. 

"Here we are, this is pretty much our sanctuary from all those ice brained nords. It might not look like much, but it's ours ." Suvaris stated proudly. "Come on in, I'll go in and get Ambarys." She said entering the tavern, leaving her outside on her own a moment.

"The New Gnisis Corner Club. Looks... Like it won't collapse today at least." She sighed though Chell tooted as if to disagree. “Hush, it’s better than the streets.” She whispered to which he only whirred in response. She entered the tavern after a moment, with hopes of a hot meal and a relatively warm and dry place to lay her head for the night.

"Welcome sister!" The bartender invited warmly, standing next to Suvaris.

"This is the one I told you about Ambarys, the one that stood up to Rolff for me and healed me." She said.

"By Azura we could use more like you around here! I'm Ambarys, I own this little haven. Suvaris tells me you need some lodging?" He asked, she nodded wordlessly, fatigue and hunger having stolen all etiquette from her. "We don't really have beds for the public, but there's a bed roll upstairs in the first floor loft, you're welcome to use it and stay for the night. Any friend of Suvi's is a friend of mine." He grinned. "Now, you look hungry."

"Got any ash hopper? Or Sujamma?" She asked, pulling up a stool, the prospect of food made her stomach whine and gurgle causing Suvaris to laugh.

"Not on this side of Tamriel I’m afraid.” He chuckled as he turned to a pot behind the counter and scooped up an untiderminable stew and let it slowly plop into the awaiting bowl, Khamdi stared at the paste warily but her stomach still whined for sustenance of any kind. “Ever tried horker? It's tough as a netch hide, but only tastes half as bad." He chuckled, placing a bowl of the brown and grayish lumpy stew in front of her.

She hadn't realised how famished she was until the stews aroma reached her nose. She dug in heartily, sending the two elves her thanks between gulps as they watched her amused by her gluttony.

"So what's this quest of yours, if you don't mind my asking?" Suvaris asked, pulling up a chair next to her and accepting an ale from Ambarys who leaned against the counter in front of them polishing a cup, but listening in to them.

She swallowed a chunk and looked up to her. "Well... It's more or less me trying to rediscover my roots. My... family was from here and I'm trying to find out more. Riverwood is my first clue." She said, still guarding her secret, not yet trusting anyone enough with something so hard to understand, and probably unbelievable to most people. The last thing she needed were people here to think she was off her gourd and throw her into a cell.

"I wish you luck and hope you find the answers you seek, friend." She said, realising Khmadi didn't much want to talk about it.

"What's with this city? And the Nords?" She asked.

Ambarys scoffed at the question. "Simple, Nords here only like one thing. Other Nords. Everything else is fit for their boot." He said.

"There's some long standing rivalry that even I don't understand. Probably something to do with the Battle of Red Mountain centuries ago, that and they all seem to hate magic." Suvaris sighed.

"Red Mountain was eras ago." Khamdi couldn't understand how that could have anything to do with it.

"Nords have short lives but long memories, they can hold a grudge for quite literally, generations." Ambarys answered dryly as he stared off in thought.

I like the Skaal better.

After finishing her meal, Suvaris thanked Khamdi once more and took her leave. Ambarys showed her upstairs to the bedroll and left her to her privacy. The inn still bustled with people downstairs, but it was muffled up in the loft thankfully. Spreading out her research and finally letting Chell out of her bag, the automaton perched himself comfortably on her shoulder as she reviewed her research. She finally picked up the compass-like artifact and turned it over in her hands, still wondering about how to use it, taking out some more parchment and she began sketching the beginnings of schematics for both the Sphere and the compass. The Sphere being more detailed, with notes and theories scattering the page while the compass' page was rather bare, save for its outline and estimated measurements. After another half hour of spectuating and fiddling she sorted both artifacts away and gathered up her research once more into her bag and laid down on the bed roll, using her cloak as a blanket, Chell coming to rest on her stomach, like her little guardian keeping watch over her and their belongings as she slept. Before sleep could overtake her she pulled out her mother's amulet from under her purple travelling tunic shirt, the braided rope the totem piece was hung on was a simple netch leather strap, but the medallion itself was a dazzling golden circular piece with a brightly glowing centerpiece, illuminating the room better than a candle. She could feel an unknown enchantment pulsing from it that was warm, some sort of healing magic, but very old. She remembered her mother holding her as a girl in her bed on nights where sleep had just escaped her or a nightmare plagued her, and they would read Marobar Sul's Ancient Tales of the Dwemer series together using the amulet to light up the pages in the dark. She would read along as her mother's finger followed the words on the paper. She recalled how safe she felt tucked in Aphia's embrace, slipping off to dream to her mothers melodic voice retelling tales of foolish alchemists, song boxes and brave young girls. The memory tugged on her heart, making her think of her home and her family, and just how far away they all were.

It began to dawn on her that this was her first night in a new land, surrounded by strangers and she couldn't help the loneliness gripping her at that revelation. A quiet hum and whirr brought her from her sad thoughts and she looked down at Chell, standing guard on her which made her smile softly and the feeling of loneliness began to dissipate, knowing that no matter how far from home, her family and her friends she might be, she would always have her little golden knight at her side.

She bid Ambarys farewell in the morning, asking him to thank Suravis and wish her well before making her way to the stables outside the city. It was quieter and the cold less cruel in the morning hours, something she was rather grateful for. She caught sight of the huge old nord leaning against a post and a beautiful tawny brown mare with a white spot on her nose standing next to him.

"This is Brena. She's gotten me through many adventures, and her mother mare served me faithfully in the Great War, may she serve you just as well." He said, handing her the reins.

She looked at the horse, slightly worried, for she had never actually even ridden one before. Brunwulf could sense her unease.

"I doubt you got many mounts like these on that Ash Island, hm? Wouldn’t be much similar to a Silt-Strider either. No matter. Let's see what I can show you. It's not as difficult as it looks, I promise." He chuckled, offering her a hand and a leg up.

They spent a half hour practising mounting and dismounting. Khamdi was a quick learner and soon enough she was walking and trotting the horse with enough ease that she felt comfortable she wouldn't fall off during her travels and kill herself. Now that would be embarrassing.

"You're quick." He laughed. "Now, when you want to really get moving, just kick the sides four times with the sirrup. Watch yourself though, you're still new to this, don't want you going and breaking your neck before you've even gotten to Riverwood now do we?"

"Noted. Thank you Brunwulf... I really appreciate this." She said from her place up on the mount.

"Ah don't mention it. Gotta make sure people don't think all us Nords are hard arsed racists." She laughed at his remark. "Another thing, I don't doubt you're a capable young woman, but Skyrim is filled with all sorts of nasty characters, to think of a kind young woman like yourself out there alone in it all makes my heart feel heavy. Since you're going to Riverwood, see about getting yourself a hired sword, someone who knows the area. If my memory serves, I know of a lad in the village, goes by the name of Bishop Rivers. He's well acquainted with Skyrim, and if you are travelling this land, it is useful to have someone like him with you." He explained.

"Bishop Rivers, hm?"

"Aye, he's rather surly, but an honourable sort in his own right. If you pay him the right amount that is. Tell him Brunwulf Free-Winter sent you to him. If he gives you any sass just say that, ‘Old Brunwulf has still got your tooth and your pride’." He laughed.

"Thank you for the tip. You've been so kind to me Brunwulf, you have my gratitude." She smiled to the man one more time before turning and bidding him farewell, setting off in the direction of Riverwood. 

"Happy trails!" He called, waving as she rode away.

The journey to Riverwood was uneventful, only a few wolves she had scared away with some illusion magic and a bandit camp by a river she gave a wide berth to. She arrived in Riverwood in the mid evening thanks to her detour, the quaint little village was winding down for the night. She made her way to the inn and hoped that she'd recieve a better reception than the one in Windhelm. She made her way to the Sleeping Giant, a cosy inn just by the river. After tying her horse up outside by a water trough, pulling out a few apples and feeding Brena, she then made her way to enter the inn but was met with two large men, Nords. Oh brother . The men leered unabashedly at her.

"Never seen a Dunmer with eyes like that ." The blond taller one said, a smirk plastering his pock marked face.

She looked up at him and gave him a stern glare, trying to walk around him but only having his friend move to stand in her way.

"Hey now, just trying to be friendly." The shorter one laughed, but there wasn't any friendliness and the way they were looking at her made her stomach churn.

"Step aside please. I don't want any trouble, I just want to go to the inn." She warned.

"Perhaps you'll let me buy you a brew? Maybe even tell me your name?" The blond one asked, but it wasn't a question, more like a demand, as he reached out and ran a hand down her cheek.

She could smell the burning musk of stale alcohol on them now and it nearly made her lose whatever remained of the horker stew. She felt her friend protest at her side and put a hand on her satchel to make sure Chell didn't jump out and get them into any more trouble.

"Thank you but no." She tried to move past them again but the smaller one threw an arm around her and pulled her close to him.

"Oh playing hard to get is it?" He slurred, his face too close for comfort now as she tried to break free from his grasp.

"Let me go you oaf!" She spat as she struggled against him, fear starting to well up in her, she knew she could fight back, she could fry them alive if she so pleased, but with the way the guards in Windhelm treated her, she feared she would be the one on the wrong end of the law should she try to retaliate and that was the very last thing she wanted. She cursed her lithe frame and her lack of any real physical strength, but still refused to give up. She pulled her fist back and hit him as hard as she could, but it only seemed to make the brutes laugh and her hand throb.

"Ha ha! Feisty! I like 'em fiery." The blond man said as he too made to grab her, until suddenly an arrow pinned his hand to the wooden column on the stairs of the inn, an agonised howl of pain erupted from him as blood spurted down the pillar and his shirt while his other friend quickly released her, turning to the unknown assailant.

"You two gotta learn to take no for an answer." A tall sandy haired man in black leather armour stood at the door of the inn, another arrow knocked and drawn, ready to loose.

"Bishop! We... We ain't meaning no harm, we were just messing with her! Honest!" The shorter man pleaded, his hands up in surrender.

Bishop?

"Then take your friend and beat it, before I use you both for some target practise." He growled lowly, the shorter of the two helped wrench the arrow from the blonds hand and they both hightailed it away.

She looked over at her unlikely saviour, but before she could even utter a thanks, he glared down his nose at her and turned to head back into the inn. She followed him inside, where he sat alone at the bar, the locals seeming to keep their distance from him. She wandered over to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Scram kid." He bit, taking a long swig of ale.

"I... just wanted to thank you." She answered, but he turned slightly to her and glowered at her.

"Oh, well in that case...! Bye." He finished humourlessly, still refusing to even meet her gaze.

Are all nords so curmudgeonly?

"Actually... I was hoping I could ask you-."

"What do I look like to you, the village steward?" He barked, throwing back another tankard of ale. “Orgnar! Another.” He beckoned the barkeep who was quick to refill his cup.

"I was told by a friend in Windhelm that you're a tracker, and know Skyrim well. I'm new here as you... probably might have noticed." He scoffed at her. "I'm on a quest you see, and I could use your assistance.” He still stared ahead, seemingly uninterested. “Uh, I can pay you and the places we'd be going, you’re welcome to take from them what you like, well at least not the things I'm looking for." She finished, looking at him hopefully, partially not wanting to have to resort to using Brunwulf’s extra little tip, more wanting to do this on her own without any help, already feeling helpless enough between the events at Windhelm and just now.

"Sorry princess, I'm not for hire. And if I was, you couldn't even afford me." He laughed. Ass hat . "Besides, I've got bigger things to worry about.” She pulled up a stool next to him, and he threw her a disinterested look and continued drinking.

“Like what?” She questioned, causing the nord to sigh, seeing his quiet uneventful evening was slowly becoming a lost cause.

“I've been tracking a group of bandits that kidnapped a friend of mine, and that's my main priority. Tracked them to a camp and there's too many there for a frontal attack, so I'm busy planning my way in."

“I’m finding it hard to see how drinking yourself into a grouchy stupor helps you to plan such a feat exactly.” This only earned her a hard glower from the surly tracker. "How about this then. I help you rescue your friend, and then you agree to join me. The offer still stands, you can loot what you want to your heart's fancy, so long as it doesn't pertain to my quest, and you can make off like a... well... bandit, I suppose?" She propositioned.

Bishop howled with laughter, slapping his knee. "You? You're like what? Fifteen? And what is that, a crossbow? Gods. You wouldn't last five minutes out there kid. You'd just be dead weight." He wheezed. 

"Nineteen, actually.” She amended. “What? Afraid I'd show you up?" She growled back, feeling her cheeks flame up in anger and slight embarrassment at his comments.

"That a challenge, princess?" He smirked, turning his head slightly too her, the corner of his mouth arched in a wiry smirk still.

"You let me help you, and if we get your friend back, you help me. And if I hinder you or die, then... You can be on your merry way." She offered.

"Hmm... How about this. I let you accompany me, if I deem you not as big a burden as I’m pretty sure you would be on the road, then, sure, what the hell? But, you end up being a huge liability, get Karnwyr killed or die, then I get to have anything of yours I want, oh and tell you to scram if you’re still kicking after." He replied.

"What do you mean 'anything of mine'?" She asked warily, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Don't flatter yourself, you ain't my type kid . You look like you're carrying quite a bit of loot. I get first dibs on something valuable." He answered.

"Deal."

Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?

"Rise and shine princess!" The nord had kicked open her room door and stode in without invitation. "Wakey wakey!" He all but shouted into her half asleep ear, causing her to jolt awake and unceremoniously fall out of the chair where she had fallen asleep after pouring over her research all night again. She groaned in pain and rubbed her ringing ear while the tracker grinned above her, taking far too much pleasure in her discomfort.

He then began looking through her research and artifacts left out on the table with some interest. He picked up the Sphere and tossed it from one hand to the other viewing it with mild curiosity, making her eyes widen in alarm.

"Put that down!" She seethed, rushing at him, causing him to lift it over his head just out of reach and quirk an eyebrow at her frantic expression as she jumped over and over trying to snach it back.

"This looks valuable." He smirked, still dodging her attempts to take it back.

"It's value is far beyond your comprehension, you wild wolfish brute!" She spat, then suddenly Chell burst from the top of a tall dresser to land on his head then hop onto the table, where he hissed in warning at the tracker. 

"What is Oblivion!?" Bishop dropped the Sphere from his hands which Khamdi caught before it hit the ground.

Bishop then drew a dagger from his back, brandishing it in warning but Khamdi stood between them.

"Put that down!" She exclaimed, a protective hand over her small friend.

"What is that thing?" He asked incredulously, eyes widening in confusion.

"Well... he's a friend. Bishop, meet Chell. Chell, Bishop." She introduced, a worried laugh escaping her lips, as Chell hissed in disapproval at the hunter, making him glare.

"Far be it from me to judge what people keep as pets but... It's not gonna go crazy and attack us, is it?" He questioned, making Chell whirr at him, insulted by the remark.

"He's my friend and if you harm him, I promise you I'll burn you down into nothing." She warned, Bishop rolling his eyes at her and acquiescing. "Now if we're done with all the standoffs, where are we heading, and who are we rescuing?" She asked, her satchel and backpack now ready to go as she pulled her cloak around her.

"It's a cave a few miles north. They're a band of bandits, been trapping wolves to use them for pit fights. They trapped my wolf Karnwyr. I tried to get to him, but they had the wolves in these special cages, no visible front lock, so there must be a release lever somewhere in the compound. The place is full to the brim with bandits and rabid wolves, so this isn't going to be a cake walk. You do what I say, when I say it, and you above all else, better be ready for a hell of a fight." He finished.

"We're taking on a bandit clan for your pet wolf ?" She asked in pure disbelief.

"I'm sorry Ms ‘my best friend is a Dwarven Spider’, did you say something?" He quipped dryly, turning to leave. "And you better keep up." He finished, making Khamdi glare daggers at the back of his retreating head. Chell jumped into her satchel and she threw her back pack on and followed him out of Riverwood.

Khamdi puffed and panted at the unbearable pace the Nord man was setting, but refused to say anything, nor give him any satisfaction by asking him to slow down. They had opted for no horses as to not alert the bandits of their arrival, instead leaving their steeds in Riverwood at the inn’s stable. A decision, no matter how strategic, she was beginning to regret. They had been walking, well more accurately, jogging for a good two to three hours and she was just about ready to collapse but she was not giving in.

"We're here." He announced as they reached a small natural promontory overlooking a clearing and mouth of a cave a little ways in front, causing her to quietly rejoice. "Now, there are three sentries over the mouth of the cave, two cages with two wolves in each of which I'm more than certain they will sick on us if we attack from the front, not to mention the two guys with battle axes. Hey you’re a mage right?" He asked, to which she nodded. "Got any way of distracting those two while I deal with the archers? Preferably before they open the cages?"

She thought for a moment and then nodded. "I'll see what I can do." They broke apart, Bishop heading higher on the ledge while she snuck closer to the warriors, hiding in some tall grass, then silently cast a frenzy spell on one of them, making the warrior begin to attack and hack at his friend and simultaneously distracting the archers. Once he had lobbed the others arm off he buried his axe into the chest of his companion, he then came to from the spell in horror. Wasting no tie, she cast a paralysing spell on him, making him fall rigid with a loud thump to the ground, she looked up and saw the archers were now all lying dead with ebony arrows in their necks and heads. Bishop jumped down and slit the now defenseless warriors throat, and she came from her hiding spot in the grass. She could see the tell tale sign of him being slightly impressed and she thought she might have seen him smile but it was gone before she even had the chance to say anything. He turned from her wordlessly and walked towards the entrance of the cave and she followed quickly behind him.

Once inside Bishop motioned for her to stay low, placing a finger to his lips silently asking for her to step lightly as the cave would cause their steps to echo. They made their way to the inner sanctum with relative ease and hid behind some crates as Bishop observed the pit ring below them and to his horror, saw Karnwyr in it fighting against another wolf in a savage struggle. He growled slightly and cursed the bandits under his breath.

"Is that him?" Khamdi whispered softly, her eyes watching the poor beast having a chunk torn from him by the bigger wolf.

"The black one, yeah."

"So what's the plan?" 

Bishop surveyed the room. Above the ring were three archers, all watching the fight but seemingly still on guard and surrounding the pit were at least five spectators, two guards, one heavily armed Orc and a Nord with a horned helmet and a barkeep. It looked like there was another room behind this one that probably led to where other wolves and other bandits were, so causing a ruckus here would surely attract more, but they were running out of options and Karnwyr was running out of time, evident from the wolf’s laboured pants and cries.

"Another distraction like the one outside might be a good way to catch them off guard." He answered, looking for a good target. "There, the one in the horned helmet. Try and make it last for a while, and I'll dispatch the archers along the top ledge. Then we hack the rest of these assholes to pieces." He said as he snuck to another set of crates closer to the archers.

Khamdi breathed slowly and focused her magicka. With two hands she sent a powerful frenzy spell at the horned helmet warrior, who then began to attack the patrons of the pit ring savagely. Catching most off guard he cut through about three before they began fighting back and Bishop made short work of the archers. Khamdi then inched closer to the pit where the wolves were still fighting and sent a calming spell at the two wolves to stop their battling. Karnwyr slumped down in exhaustion from his wounds, but before she could do anything else, she heard a shout from Bishop as one of the warriors had found him and knocked him to the ground and hammered down his greatsword, which Bishop quickly rolled away from. The warrior kicked Bishop in the gut, sending him flying off the ledge and down into the bloodbath below cashing into some for crates and barrels..

"Chell, find the lever for the wolf cages!" She whispered urgently, Chell hopping from her bag to go execute the task.

 The large Orc warrior that had kicked Bishop jumped down to where he had fallen, and was crawling from, his breath having been knocked from him as he desperately gasped for air, the warrior took this as a chance to stand on his leg, with a sickening crunch, making Bishop groan in pain. He raised his sword above his head and Khamdi rushed to Bishop, charging a strong lightning bolt spell and sending it flying at the Orc, flinging him back into some tables and chairs with a resounding crash. She then pulled up Bishop, a healing spell at the ready in her hands and healed his leg. Bishop looked to her in silent thanks and stood, picking up his dagger, then quickly pulled them out of the way of the now slightly recovered Orcs angry and vengeful swings. Bishop threw her to the side and battled him one on one.

"Get Karnwyr!" He shouted as he ducked from another swing.

She nodded and ran to the cage, using a frost spell on the lock and using the butt of her crossbow to break it and open the cage door, but the larger wolf had now shaken the calming spell. She quickly sent a fireball it's way, and the creature yowled in pain, the stench of burning fur and flesh filled her nostrils. Pulling her crossbow up, she loosed a bolt into the howling creature's head, silencing him for good. She then turned and reached for Karnwyr but he snapped at her hand, his hackles raised and growling at her in warning, the chunk the wolf had taken from his neck dribbling with crimson.

"It's alright." She cooed, calling upon her restoration magic and pooling it in her palm. "Here, please, I can't help you if you won't let me touch you." She reasoned and it was if the wolf understood her intention, he whined weakly and laid down his head. She pressed her hands to his neck and rib cage and channelled the glowing restoring energy into him, his wounds closing shut before her eyes.

The wolf managed to stand and licked her hand appreciatively. "I believe your master could use your help." She instructed and the wolf gave a happy bark and ran off to aid Bishop.

Bishop was still dealing with the Orc warrior and all the other patrons were now running and scrambling away in fear of the other still frenzied warrior cutting down everything in his way. The Orc knocked Bishop on his back once again and laughed, closing in for a killing blow, but Karnwyr launched himself over Bishop's head and landed on the orc, knocking him onto the ground, the wolf lunged for his neck, ripping out the man's throat and savaging his face. Horrified and pained yells turned to wet gurgles and squelches as the wolf finished him off. 

" Att'da boy Karnwyr!" Bishop yelled, the wolf yipping happily at his master, running back to his side and licking his face. Their reunion was short lived however and Khamdi rushed to their side as more bandits rolled into the hall. They were outnumbered four to one.

"You fucking pieces of trash!" The bandit chief roared, baring down at them pointing his war axe towards them.

"We got you now you son of a bitch." Another one shouted, readying an arrow.

"Cornered like rats!"

“Speak for yourselves.” Bishop chuckled, sheathing his dagger, causing the bandits to stare at them in confusion.

"Um. I'd look behind you if I were you." Khamdi laughed gesturing for them to turn around.

Sure enough, a pack of more than two dozen newly freed wolves were filing into the hall now, Chell at the forefront. There was a moment of silence among the bandits, then the little machine tooted as if to sound off for a charge, and the beasts all ran at their once oppressors, howling their battle cries. Chell scurried to Khamdi, who picked him up and the four of them quickly hightailed it out of the cave, the screams of the bandits and angry wolves roars behind them.

Once a safe enough distance from the camp, they sat against a tree in the heavily wooded area. Karnwyr and Bishop shared a happy embrace.

"Thank the gods you're alright buddy." He sighed, patting the black wolf's head, and in return receiving a slobbery lick to his face, which made Khamdi giggle.

Bishop turned to her, an unreadable expression on his face, and she waited for him to speak.

"That was... a pretty impressive display back there." He admitted begrudgingly, and hand on the back of his neck and refusing to meet her eyes, Khamdi smiled at him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Come again?" She mocked, cupping her hand to her ear.

"Ugh, don't get cocky, impressive for a princess I should say." He jabbed, making her face heat up.

"Oh come on, I saved your hide three times back there." She groaned.

" Once , you saved my hide once, princess. Well, you've at least proven you're not going to be dead weight. And as per our agreement, I'll help you on your little quest and as you said 'make off like a bandit' with anything we find." He smirked.

"So long as what you're taking isn't important to my quest. Yes. So?" She held out her hand and he sighed, grasping it and then shaking on it.

"You've got a deal, princess."

"I'm not a princess, stop calling me that!" She seethed at him, making him laugh as she shot him daggers. 

"Well I don't even know your name, you failed to mention it at Riverwood." He stated matter of factly, making her face flush once again in embarrassment.

"Khamdida Caerellius." She answered.

"Gazzoontight."

"Hey!"

"Well that sounds like a mouthful and a half so, hows about, your Ladyship?" It sounded like he was asking, but from his smirk and crossed arms it looked like she didn't have a choice so she just groaned and turned to start walking back to Riverwood. "So, where to, Ladyship?" He asked, falling in step beside her.

"You know this area well right?" He nodded. "Ever see or hear of any Dwemer ruins? Specifically north west of Riverwood?" She asked hopefully.

"Uh, no? I'm pretty sure there are none." He answered.

She sighed, deflated. "You're absolutely positive?" she asked.

"I know this area like the back of my hand. There's no such ruins within about 20 miles of Whiterun Hold." He stated.

She took out her map and frowned. 

"Either way, we need to get there." She pointed to the mark on her map, Bishop looking over her shoulder to see where she was gesturing.

"That is just a clearing off the mountain side, nothing there at all other than some deer, rabbits and a river." He said scratching his chin in thought.

"Just take me there." She snapped, causing him to raise his hands in a show of peace.

"Ok, ok, as you wish, your Ladyship." He japed, once again shooting her his smug grin that made her want to set the bastard alight.

Ancestors give me strength, don't let me regret taking this smug prick with me.

AAANNNND...

Chapter One! Hope you all enjoyed the first meeting of Bishop and Khamdi. The adventure begins! Thanks for the kudos! Until next time!

Chapter Text

Chapter Two: A Light to Break the Night

“Ok, so… The bug.” Khamdi turned her head to look up at her companion, who was ahead of them leading their way through the heavily wooded area, occasionally hacking back fern and bush standing in the way of their path with a slight grunt with each slash.

“You mean Chell?”

He hacked another particularly sinuy layer of shrubbery as she watched his form closely. He had a multitude of weapons, four daggers of varying sizes and shapes attached to his person, a long thin steel blade strapped to his thigh, a shorter but equally thin one in a small brown leather sheath stitched into the bracing strap of his chest plate, and two more strapped to the small of his back placed so that both could find his hands at a moments notice. He had a quiver of home-made wooden arrows with hawk feather flights slung over his shoulder and a menacing black ebony bow under the quiver. She had been looking at ebony her whole life and could practically smell it.

“Yeah, the bug.”

“Chell.”

“Ugh whatever. Back to my question. What’s its deal?” He asked as he cut the last fern standing in their way and stepped over it.

Khamdi followed, lifting her cloak so as not to catch it on any thorns or briars.

“Deal?”

“You know what I mean. Where’d it come from? Does it… understand us? Is it alive or..? Well I don’t know. It’s not every day a Dwarven Spider wakes me up with creep cluster tea and a biscuit is all I’m saying.” He muttered, turning back to see Khmadi’s face ponder his words a moment.

“I found him when I was a young girl in a ruin very far from here. He’s been my companion for a long time now. You understand that most dwarven spiders use a complex design of resonator chambers, soul gems both filled and not filled?” His furrowed brow and perplexed expression was all the answer she needed. “He has none of these hallmarks you see, he’s unique. The stone in his main coil chamber was part of some dwarven puzzle; an infuriatingly inconceivable anomaly, but it could also be used to power him. I would have liked to study it but to do that now I would need to take it out and… I don’t know what that would do to him. I’d rather not hurt him.” She said.

“Hurt him? Can he… feel pain?” He asked, looking down at her shoulder where the metal spider was perched, the creature only tooted an ambiguous response and Khamdi looked back to Bishop with a shrug.

“I’m not cruel enough to test it out I suppose. He’s happy as he is. I at least know he’s capable of being happy anyway. It’s hard to miss when he is.” She chuckled and brushed a hand over his front plating as the spider twirled and squeaked in delight. 

“Right. Well.” Bishop grunted as he pulled back an evergreen branch which Khamdi then ducked under. “We’re here.” Her face fell, to Khamdi’s disappointment it was just as Bishop had said it was. 

“But… This can’t…”

There was nothing but a clearing of tall grass and moss covered rocks sticking up from the ground haphazardly strewn about the green and surrounded by a near impenetrable fortress of tall pine trees. To say she was annoyed was the understatement of the era, Khamdi was speechless and searched every inch of the clearing, leaving not a single stone un-turned, but still finding not a crumb of evidence that the Dwemer had ever so much as sneezed on the place. 

Bishop watched with mild amusement as she huffed and flitted about the clearing, over turning rocks and rustling through shrubbery, searching vehemently for… Something . He was still not sure if she had even thought to mention what the task at hand exactly was or if he had failed to take note of it. He had a suspicion that she was either after forgetting to tell him, much like her name when they first met, or that she rather he didn’t know at all. Her tendency to be secretive about her work was beginning to intrigue him, for regardless of what others thought of his intellect, he was a curious person by his own nature. He had noticed how whenever he had walked past her while she toiled over her scrolls and mechanics she would shy away from him or close everything up and pack it away, she and her bug keeping a watchful eye on him at all times.

Nightfall was beginning to claim the sky, purple and pink smeared the heavens with a dim twinkle of stars beginning to shine while the moons began to rear their glowing heads and the sun sunk lazily down into the treeline. She made a disgruntled noise as she returned to Bishop, who was lounging on a rock with his arm over his eyes, feigning sleep, but peeking out at her slightly as she neared him. Chell was already organising Khamdi’s equipment with a curious Karnwyr watching him scuttle to and fro with rolls of paper and measuring tools, slowly planning out the camp placement. Bishop was still trying to get used to the creature, in his experience, most things old and dwarven were good for two things, target practice and septims. He had made a pretty penny selling some gaudy dwarven vase to Bersi in Riften by just telling the gullible idiot it was priceless and brought good fortune. Historical meaning or any other significance people tried to pull from such artifacts always went right over his head. But the spider had been fairly helpful in the two days he had known it, even surprising him this morning with a cup of tea in its tiny clamps. The fact that the little bucket of bolts could even brew tea by a campfire and serve it of its own volition was quite the notion to digest. 

He watched Khamdi dig into her satchel furiously. Answers were the only thing that would quell her frustration and perhaps another look at the map would bring to light something she missed.

"There has to be a mistake. Maybe I miscalculated where the marker was? Or it’s not here here but this is the start of where to find it? Or..." She muttered more theories to herself as she pulled out her map of Skyrim. “But it’s got to be here. It has to be. I was so sure…” Chell whirred at her, dropping the rolls of paper, the pitter patter of his metal legs muffled by the grass as he began to search the area himself. 

“What did I tell ya, Princess?” Bishop chuckled.

Khamdi turned and glowered menacingly at her traveling companion, who could not have been less interested in her distress, merely stretching an arm over his head as he yawned. She buried her head in the map once again, trying to see where she had gone wrong.

"We should head back to Riverwood for the horses." Bishop's voice cut through her thoughts.

"No, we make camp here. If it's not here then it's close. It has to be." Khamdi insisted, Bishop in turn sighing and letting his pack fall to the ground with a rather unceremonious flump.

"Whatever you say, Ladyship." 

She felt her eyebrow twitch at his tone but said nothing, only depositing her satchel down next to his. Bishop gathered firewood while she set up a ring of stones for a fire pit, her thoughts like a storm in her mind.

This has to be the place. What have I missed?

After setting up the fire and rolling out their bed rolls she sat and retrieved her artifacts once more and unrolled her Dwarven map. Taking out the Sphere once more she tried to see if she had miscalculated where the mark on the map was pertaining to.

Maybe it's not a ruin? Maybe a cache of some kind? Or one of their surface temples? 

She growled in frustration. She felt like even with all these artifacts and maps she was still blundering around in the dark.

Why would they give me all these things and not at least some damned instructions?

Bishop watched her curiously from across the fire fiddling with her little sphere. The two days they had spent together had mostly been in relative silence, the few times they had stopped to rest along the way the young elf had thrown herself into her papers and artifacts, toiling over them with a drive and focus he had never seen from anyone before. He had been silently trying to figure out what the girl was about. What had brought her here, where she even came from and what were those bits and baubles she was so obsessed with were? Not to mention her choice of pet . She was an enigma to him, unlike any young woman he had ever encountered, one he found himself becoming moderately curious about. Only just though. 

"What’s with all that junk anyway?" He asked flippantly, stoking the flames with a withered branch then watching the embers fly into the air.

"It's not junk ." She snapped, glaring over at him.

"Looks like junk to me." He scoffed, making her eyebrow twitch once again in annoyance.

"You're the one who was saying it looked valuable only yesterday." She threw back, quick as a whip, causing Bishop’s to narrow his eyes at her.

"You still haven't told me what it is." He asked.

"I’ll save you the trouble of having your eyes glaze over the moment I open my mouth, shall I?" She snapped again, this time touching a nerve within him that made him want to lash out in return.

"Too complicated for a wolfish brute is it?” He scoffed, throwing the branch to the flames. “Or would you be afraid this brute might be able to shed some light on it and make you look like a fool?" He quipped back.

"Oh please." She chuckled, finally looking up at him from her notes with a smug grin. "Don't make me laugh."

"Wasn’t trying to, kid. What's a stuck up little princess even doing trying to find ancient dwarven ruins in the middle of nowhere anyway? I'll tell you, those dwarven mechs ain't as friendly as your little bug here." He smirked.

"I already told you it's-"

" It's none of my business , yeah I heard you the first time kid. Look. If I'm going to be sticking my neck out for you I'd like to at least know why." He stated, glaring over at her where she was glaring back just as fiercely.

"Oh don't worry yourself about sticking your neck out for me, oh great tracker. I just need you to help me find out where the ruins are. If you're so worried about going in, then you can stay  here." She snipped, which made him laugh out loud.

"You know a few illusion tricks and a few destruction spells, but you wouldn't last an hour in a ruin on your own. I'd undoubtedly have to come in and scrape your ass off the floor. But please, be my guest, I do so love a good old fashioned damsel in distress." He bit, a wolfish grin curling the corners of his lips, folding his arms behind his head.

"Oh, we're talking about scraping asses off the floor now are we?” She threw back, now on her feet. “How about when I scraped your sorry hide up before that Orc sliced you clean in half at the Pit hm? Or have you chosen to forget all about that?" Bishop was standing now too, with each rebuttal they seemed to get closer and closer.

He could see the angry redness forming on her gray cheeks and the ferocity in her silver steel eyes now in a way he had never beheld before and if they weren’t currently locked in a verbal sparring match with one and other he might have even taken a moment to appreciate how unusual and striking they were. They were standing now, inches from each other, their scowls flaming and both stubborn parties refusing to back down as Chell and Karnwyr watched their masters on the sidelines. Bishop's face betrayed nothing, he remained outwardly cool and indifferent as usual, but a blaze behind his molten gold eyes was a sign of just how much she was irking him and finding her way under his skin which was not an easy feat.

"I could have handled it myself-."

"Oh really, and after I healed Karnwyr and had him come to your rescue? You could have done that all by yourself? Good to know for the future, I'll just watch and wait for you next time you're pinned down, shall I?" She smirked at him.

"You-!"

"Face it Bishop, you're not as self sufficient as you like to think. Tracking deer and runaways might be your forte, but I suppose keeping things nice and easy have made you a little soft around the edges." 

"And what? You're going bare down a hoard of angry bandits just you and the bug is it? Who exactly was it that dispatched all those archers and cut down all those warriors and gave you an opening in the beginning? Can't use your illusion spells on metal ones, even I know that much. You can't even swing that gods damned sword of yours, let alone fend off two drunken idiots outside a bar.” This comment made her look away, her cheeks now a shade of crimson he never knew a person could turn, which egged him on, now seeing a chink in her stoney exterior that he was fully ready to exploit. “Seems to me the minute you don’t have any spells or your little spider on hand you’re not that much good for anything. Little princess like you, just another chunk of meat for the big bad world to come chew up and spit right out again." He laughed at her, finally striking something within her that left her silent, her eyes now downcast and unreadable, and for a moment Bishop felt even he might have gone a bit too far.

With an annoyed snarl she picked up her artifacts and stuffed them in her satchel and stormed off.

"What do you think you're doing, huh?" He called after her.

" What I actually came here to do! " She shouted back at him, before disappearing into the tree line.

Bishop turned to see both Karnwyr and Chell looking up at him silently and disapprovingly, Karnwyr whining softly at his master.

"What are you two looking at?" He barked, slumping down to scowl at the fire.

"Stupid Nord and his stupid face with his stupid comments and his stupid... Urgh!" She shouted as she began to angrily kick mounds of grass. "Who does he think he his?" Kick. "Smug over-confident bastard." Kick. "Doesn't even have the slightest notion of how important and complex this whole quest is, what the ramifications and effects this could have on the whole of Tamriel, on all Nirn!" Kick. "Stupid, stupid, Stupi-! Ow!" A hollow metal clang echoed through the clearing and Khamdi fell gripping her now throbbing foot in pain, having kicked something that most certainly wasn't wooden.

She saw that where she had kicked was now slightly uncovered, and whatever was underneath it was glimmering slightly in the moonlight. She began pulling at the roll of earth and grass covering the metallic object, managing to peel it back in almost one motion. Her eyes then widened and her mouth fell open in disbelief. A familiar gold metal shimmered under her. It was an intricately decorated Dwarven trap door, built into the ground. She noticed some writing on the outer edges of the hatch, in Dwemeris, the oldest form of the writing she had ever seen, slightly different from the dialect she was used to coming across on Solstheim.

Geovach baul dechka tavel nal merish. Hlun zvel an nu rezthvek cheln Zel.

She couldn’t help the flutter in her heart at reading it. Something about the words, she had always felt a pull, an abstract understanding, like she could feel the rhythm of the language in her core. She at least understood why now. But this one. The language spoke to her. She was only ever able to confer the bareist of meanings or emotions with the ones on Solsthiem, while the writing here she could almost convey its full meaning by feeling alone.

“Hlun zvel… cheln Zel… the connection city?” It still felt like a mistranslation but embodied what the words felt to her.

She looked back at where she had just come from and thought for a moment to get Bishop and the others but stopped, pursing her lips before turning back to the door.

“ I’ve got this .” She whispered to herself as she pulled open the heavy hatch door and looked down into the dark abyss, steeling herself before taking the plunge and shutting the hatch behind her.

“I mean who does she think she is huh? Little miss ‘I’m on a quest of such great importance your tiny brain couldn’t even withstand the idea’.” Bishop snorted, taking a swig of ale as he paced by the fire. “I mean come on !” He growled, plopping himself unceremoniously on the ground legs crossed, a wayward splash of his ale falling in his lap making him groan.

Karnwyr sat across from him and gave a whine at his master, noticing his displeasure.

“It’s ok Karnwyr, it’s not you I’m angry with.” He sighed in frustration, rubbing a growing pain in his temple, Karnwyr made his way over to him and rested his head in his lap and whined once more, staring up at him with his big doe eyes and Bishop returned his gaze, placing a hand on his head. “I was a bit of an ass though.” He muttered, Karnwyr yipping at him in agreement.

He looked over to see Chell still fussing over Khamdi’s things and the curiosity got the better of him. He discarded the bottle behind him, rose from his place by the fire and approached the automaton cautiously, but upon noticing Bishop, Chell stopped what he was doing and turned to him, eyeing him readily.

“I’m not gonna take anything, I promise I just… Want to know what I’m in for. Is that a crime?” He argued, Chell still making no moves to give him any indication of what the metal spider was thinking.

He slowly reached for Khamdi’s backpack only to have Chell make a whirling sound of alarm and scuttle over to him and ready his shock charge. Bishop threw up his hands in surrender.

“ Whoa ! Hey now! Ok, ok.” Chell hissed again at him, taking the bag and perching on top of it protectively, still eyeing Bishop with his shock charged menacingly. “Gods where in the hells did she get you?” He muttered, resigning himself to sit back down by the fire with Karnwyr and await Khamdi’s return.

It was hard navigating the area by mage light alone. She was beginning to wish she had gone back for her other supplies but there was no turning back now, she had made it this far. The corridor she had walked through was tall, taller than most ruins she had ever seen, and wider too, the smallest of noises echoed throughout the multitude of metal chambers and halls. She had kicked a pebble upon entering and could still hear its reverberations long after, a testament to the sheer size and vastness of the metal city. She had come across more writing but still only emotions and vague musings were deceranable for now. The tone in them was prideful, but restrained. Khamdi wondered why the dwarves had needed such giant halls for this city. The dwarves may not have been as small as what was believed but they certainly did not need this much room. A musing she put away for a later date. 

She had taken rubbings of the particularly emotive ones and continued to move through the halls. She finally came to a huge open room with four paths stretching from them. The room itself was tiered, above it were another three floors that she could see but it most likely reached higher. She couldn’t figure out if the city went deeper than she thought or perhaps it was built into a mountain near the river.

She made sure to mark where she had been so she could find her way out again, she knew all too well how easily one could become lost in these ruins. Upon inspection of the pathways, she noticed above their archways was more writing. The one furthest to her left stood out to her for the distinctly blue stone carving of its letters. Her eyes widened upon recognition.

“Aetherium.” She noted to herself, quickly making her way over. 

It was covered in soot and dust so slightly obstructed. She noticed a metal ladder next to a long set of shelves holding automaton parts and ingots. Pulling it as close to the arch way as she could she clambered up and used a minor wind element spell to cast away the dust and reveal the inscriptions fully to her.

“The Hall of Communications.” She read and this time, she knew her translation was correct, something within the carvings speaking to her in some intangible way.

In her amazement she managed to lose her footing and slip a little, letting out a yelp as she knocked into the shelf and nearly all its contents came crumbling down. She winced at the loud crash and hoped that if there was anything still walking around in the ruin it had not heard her.

But to her dismay she heard the thundering metal footsteps of what sounded like a large centurion coming from the hallway down to her left. Her eyes widened in fear and she reached for her crossbow, only to find she didn’t so much as have a dagger at her disposal and her heart plunged into the pit of her stomach as she began to realise just how under prepared she was. She quickly scrambled up to the higher shelf and hid herself behind two dwarven metal barrels that had not fallen, and clamped her hand over her mouth to quell the sound of her panicked breath so as to not give away her hiding spot and prayed her heart hammering in her chest wasn’t too loud.

A massive metal hand the size of a small wagon held the side of the entry way as the giant ducked it’s head into the room and entered. Standing at its full height in the centre of the room Khamdi’s eyes nearly fell out of her skull. This was no simple centurion, it was a colossus of outstanding proportions. It had the look of a centurion but was at least twice the average size of one, and gilded in aetherium and an interesting looking blue gyro within its core that was exposed at the chest of the creature. Khamdi tried her best to contain her fear and lock it away in the back of her mind, letting logic and pragmatism stay at the forefront. 

The giant machine surveyed the room, reaching down to touch the fallen items, then looking up at the shelf, dangerously close to where she was hiding. It began reaching toward her and her heart screamed in her ears.

I do not have this.

Bishop stared continuously at the treeline where Khamdi had stormed away. The sky was now darkened by nightfall fully, he estimated it had been nearly three hours since he had last heard from her and he began to grow uneasy. Part of him wanted to pack up and leave her there, deal be damned. But something grounded him. He looked back at Chell and Karnwyr.

“She probably fell down a hole and is too proud to scream for help.” He chuckled to himself, but the joking was only to mask some concern that was growing in the bowels of his lower intestine, and when he got that feeling he knew based on previous experience that something was wrong .

“Come on boys, let’s go find her.” He sighed, arming himself with his bow and daggers, then finally noticing that beside her second pack was her crossbow and sword. “Lorkhan’s Eyes , woman.” He groaned, slapping his palm to his forehead then making to pick them up but Chell suddenly accosted him with a minor shock to his knuckles and gave him a warning hiss. “Hey! I’m not stealing it, if she's in trouble, which I have a feeling she undoubtedly is, she’s going to need them. And you can’t carry them.” He tried to reason, but Chell wasn’t backing down.

Karnwyr then presented himself with a bark, nudging the spider with his snout. Chell looked over at him and seemed to be having a silent conversation with the wolfhound. Karnwyr then laid down and Chell began pulling the crossbow and sword over to fasten them to his leather harness.

“Oh for the love of… Really?” Bishop groaned, Chell only hissed in return.

They got moving quickly, Karnwyr using her pack and blanket as a basis to begin searching for her scent. He caught it quickly once they entered the treeline and howled before taking off after her. Bishop picked up Chell, throwing him in his own satchel, much to the spiders' protest.

It didn’t take long for Karnwyr to find the entrance to the ruin.

“Oh no.” He muttered as Karnwyr barked at the door.

Bishop quickly ripped it open and the trio delved down into the depths, Karnwyr at the front guiding him.

“Find her boy.” He instructed, becoming increasingly more worried.

Bishop noticed the charcoal markings leading down the hall and followed them. They entered the chamber just as the giant centurion was searching the shelf, and Bishop caught sight of Khamdi hiding from the beast. He had to think fast so he pulled the wolf behind the shelf opposite to Khamdi and picked up a piece of scrap metal and flung it as far as he could down the corridor to his right with a loud clang. This caught the automatons attention and he pulled away from Khamdi’s hiding spot to go investigate the other sound. Once it had made its way far enough down the hall, Bishop made to quickly retrieve the stubborn mer. She managed to climb down quietly enough and when she stood in front of Bishop she couldn’t help the embarrassment flushing her cheeks as she stared down at the ground. He crossed his arms as her, his face not betraying any particular emotion other than annoyance. He wanted to scold her, berate her, give in to his infuriation but feared that would only draw back the monster from the depths and instead grabbed her arm and began pulling her back to the entrance of ruin, but she wriggled herself free.

“No, we have to keep going.” She whispered.

“Are you mad , woman?!” He rasped back harshly. “You saw that monster. No, no way . This is not what I signed up for.” 

She scowled at him, walking over to Karnwyr and taking her crossbow and sword strapping them to her person and holding out her hand, which Chell jumped into readily and deposited him in her satchel before turning from him and heading down the aetherium archway. She then turned back to him for a moment, their eyes locked in a battle of wills and before Bishop knew it he was sighing deeply then following after her.

This elf is going to kill me.

They made their way down the hall to another grand sized room, there some shelves with a ladder again next to them, but a ramp and stairs that went into a large metal doorway with gears and slide locks that didn’t look like they would be budging anytime soon. Khamdi stood in front of the door and noticed there was a slot with a familiar shape and etchings. She hurriedly pulled the compass like object out, the carving on its rear side matched the ones in the slot hole exactly. Not a compass, but a key! Looking up at Bishop and Karnwyr she thought for a moment on what the possible outcomes might be with opening such a large door that's obviously been sealed for millenia. It would make a lot of noise.

“I have an idea.” She whispered, walking past him. “And you’re really not going to like it.”

“Didn’t think so. So, what’s the plan?”

“I need you to distract him, take that centurion on a wild goose chase while I open this thing up, get whatever it is, meet back at the antechamber we first met in and get the fuck out of here?” She said the last part like a question as she was still proposing the idea, she wasn’t going to force him to put his life on the line for her, but it was looking like the only option.

Bishop’s face paled a little at the idea of that thing chasing him but sighed heavily and nodded in agreement.

“Wait really?” She was shocked to find he wasn’t going to bite her head off for even suggesting he be the bait, but she wasn’t going to turn his help down. “Ok, take the right most corridor when you get to the antechamber, if my theory holds it should loop back to it.”

“Your theory ? You mean you don’t know if it loops back?” He growled.

“Dwemer architecture always shares a common blueprint for walkways for ease of access and-.”

“But you don’t know for sure ? So I could end up at a dead end with that thing on my tail?” He rubbed a hand over his exacerbated face. “If I die, I’m haunting you. For. Ever .” 

“I’ll give you a ten minute head start!” She called quietly after his retreating form to which he answered only by flipping her the finger. “Cute.”

Once the ten minutes were up, all of which she spent sketching the door and theorising its contents, she looked down at Karnwyr and Chell, taking a steadying breath before firmly slotting the piece into the door with a resounding click. The mechanism then began to tumble and whirr loudly, the great gears on the front turning and the sliding bolts retreating. It then began to open slowly with a bellowing groan and the ancient metal screeched as it dragged on the floor. She couldn’t contain her excitement and the moment the opening was big enough she slipped through the door and was met with a nearly bare room, save for a fountain of aetherium with crystal waters flowing from it down into a pool of water under it.

She was nearly going to cry at the sight of the emptiness, she thought it would be a trove of books, or schematics, something tangible. Not a pretty fountain. She approached the fountain, glaring at it for a moment but something in the crystal waters caught her eye.

She stood over it, hands on either side. She saw at the base of the bowl was a curved slot once again, this time with the etchings of her sphere. She picked out the sphere from her pack and quickly placed it, hoping that whatever the sphere was that it was at least water resistant. It slotted in easily and two side chambers she had never taken notice of opened and the water in the bowl began to swirl, the glass looking piece glowed blue, as if calling her to peer through it. She couldn’t remember if she decided to look into it or if a cumpulstion overtook her and suddenly, almost like an electric charge had shot into her body, she became glued, transfixed to it. Images, peoples faces, Dwemer faces, more artifacts like hers, more maps and directions flew through her mind's eye and became burned there. An incessant jumble of words ringing in her ears from voices long forgotten by the passing ages. The last thing she saw was a woman’s face, not too dissimilar to hers, holding a bundle in her arms and placing it into a capsule. Tears fell down her face as she placed a hand over the closing hatch then drifted away. She didn’t realise tears were also falling down her own face until she had slumped to the floor, falling into the shallow water pool with a loud splash before slowly losing consciousness. The room rumbled, like a warning of imminent danger. Karnwyr whined and licked her face, desperately trying to wake her. He pulled her from the pool by her arm gently when she began to cough and stir. Chell was perched above her and had been charging a shock to wake her. Even in her semi-conscious state she was able to be thankful it hadn’t come to that.

What the fuck was that?

Bishop had never run so fast in his entire life. Not from the forsworn outside Karthwasten. Not from the Black Briars Manor after an ill fated night with one of Maven’s daughters. Not even when he stumbled into that spriggan grove after taking a bath in a stream outside Whiterun. No, this was most certainly the fastest, and most terrified he had been running for his life, because this time it really felt like he was indeed running for his fucking life . The Colossus was hot on his heels, but it was only for the fact the beast had to duck under doorways did it give him a little leeway. He rounded another bend, skidding with how sharp the turn was and how fast he was running, then the machine tumbled and  slammed into the wall after him, unable to make the sharp bend, its arm piercing through the wall and becoming lodged in it. Bishop turned around to him for a moment of much needed breath.

“Ha! See that!” He wheezed. “You’re… Not so… Not so hot now... are you!” He laughed though his greedy gasps for air. His moment of levity was short lived however as the behemoth twisted its long chunky metal arm and ripped through the rubble and metal as if it were paper. 

The huge hole however began weeping. Small spurts at first, then suddenly a powerful blast of water began to rush from the opening, knocking the machine over. Bishop’s eyes widened when he realised that this side of the ruins was almost directly adjacent to the river. And now there was a hole in the only thing separating them from a very large rushing unending water source.

“Fuck!” He yelled in alarm turning on his heel as a wave of water came rushing after him.

Bishop took off once again, leaving the Automaton in the dust. He had to get to Khamdi, but when he finally got back to the antechamber a rumbling quake shook the ruin, nearly sending him flat on his face, the sound of a collapse nearby sent his heart racing and he dared a moment to check their exit and was not pleased to find that along with their exit now being cover by crumbling metal and rock, the whole ruin was also coming down, along with filling up with water and quickly.

By the time he made it to Khamdi, the water was up to his thighs. He noticed Khamdi was shaking and kneeling, Karnwyr and Chell standing over her protective in her vulnerable state.

“This whole place is coming down!” He yelled, lifting her to her feet but only having to catch her as her legs felt like jelly. “Hey? What the? What happened?”

She wasn’t responding to him, couldn’t even register that he was there at all just staring ahead blankly. The things she had been shown were still whizzing through her head like a whirlwind.

“Hey, Ladyship? Ladyship! Khamdida , come on!” Bishop shook her and finally she returned to her senses.

“What? What’s happening?” She breathed wearily, while Bishop put her arm over his shoulder.

“This whole thing is collapsing, right now, as we speak. And our only known exit is now a no go.” He replied shakily, only to hear loud sloshing and thuds of metal feet coming their way. “And our new friend is angry we wrecked his house.”

Chell hopped onto her shoulder as Karnwyr swam alongside them.

“We’re trapped.” Bishop whispered.

Looking to the side, flickers of directions, as if someone was pushing her to where she needed to go. There was another door, a small one this time, no way for the beast to pursue them save for smashing the doorway. He’ll smash the doorway won’t he? But it was an idea and the only one left. She pulled Bishop to look at the door and he understood, carrying and half swimming them to it.

The water was getting higher, they moved as fast as they could but the water made the effort all the more laborious. Chell perched on her shoulder now to avoid the freezing water. The hall they were in was covered in near pitch darkness, whatever lighting it had was now failing from the crumbling structures.

“Come on!” Bishop shouted, but as the words left his lips they heard the sound of the doorway not far behind them being pummeled savagely. “Ok, time to go!”

The ceiling began to rumble from the force of the behemoths punches and a decorative strut suddenly came loose and plummeted down before them, along with other stone and metallic debris, and Bishop was right under it. Khamdi shot a blast of wind at him to knock him out of harms way but did so too late. While he wasn’t completely crushed, his leg was now trapped.

“Shit, shit, shit.” He breathed, the pain excruciating as he tried in vain to pull it from the mass of debris.

Khmadi tried to help but the darkness did not help, and the rising water didn’t either. If he didn’t get free the water would get him long before the behemoth could. Her magicka was nearly drained from her ordeal at the fountain and she had used the last of it pushing Bishop out of the way so healing or trying to make a light wasn’t going to be an option. In fact, she wasn’t seeing any options. No quick ideas, no last minute miracle. She was to die here in the dark and never be found. Her parents never to know what became of her. But her mothers last words echoed in her mind.

“May it light your path, in your darkest moments and guard you til you return to us.”

She ripped out her mothers amulet from under her tunic, its light illuminating the scene. The large strut was embedded in the submerged flooring and crossed with another piece of piping, clamping Bishop in place. She tried with all her strength to pull it open but only managed to make it tighter. She winced at Bishop’s grunt of pain. Then suddenly another compulsion took over her, making her turn back to where the behemoth had broken through to the hallway and was marching their way.

“Take Karnwyr and run!” Bishop yelled, resigning himself to his fate.

She stood instead and began wading her way to the oncoming giant.

“What are you doing?! Run! Run you idiot !”

The Colossus came to a halt in front of her, and she should have felt afraid.

“Naey chtar. Subrach anei mae.” The words fell from her lips before she even realised she had said them.

The great giant machine stopped upon hearing her, then knelt before her and she reached up to touch its metal chest plating.

“Subrach anei mae.” And without any hesitation it rose again and turned to Bishop who looked like he was about to pass out, using it’s two hands it effortlessly freed the tracker, then picked the group up in his arms, Karnwyr included and waded down the end of the hall to near their exit, debris and rock crashing around them.

He deposited them there at the entrance they had first entered through and kicked in the blockade, giving them enough room to escape, holding up the collapsing archway for them. It knelt down when another tremor shook the chamber. The water was nearly up to her chin now. It reached into its chest and with one hand it pulled out his core, handing it to Khamdi. She didn’t realise there were tears falling from her eyes as she took it. An unknown connection with the creature tethering her there as it slowly lost power and slumped down, the archway crumbling with it. Bishop managed to turn to pull her back before she was crushed under it and the group made their escape to the surface.

It was the early hours of the morning by the time they reached the camp and the walk there was relatively quiet save for Bishop’s hisses of discomfort. He had been leaning heavily on her as his leg was in bad shape. Once back at camp she placed him down on his bed roll and got to work bandaging him up, not daring to look at him but she could feel the weight of his stare on her. She fumbled with tying the bandage above his knee and his hand stopped her, forcing her to look up at him.

“What the fuck just happened?” His eyes were stern, curious but his expression left no room for short answers.

“You came back to get me.” She stated.

“Of course I came back for you. Leaving you to the ruin would make me a real shitty person, and I’m only kind of shitty.” His attempt at levity calmed her. “But I’d like to know at least what it is you’re doing. That was… That was insane, and that’s me saying that.”

She sighed and sat back on her haunches and set about setting up the fire.

“Hey.” He tried to get her attention, reaching for her but she glared back at him.

“I know you want answers but let me at least make sure we’re alive long enough for it. We’ll freeze to death in these soaked clothes and without a fire I imaging sitting naked would be just as bad. So just… Give me a minute alright?” She pleaded.

It seemed enough for him for now and he lay back down, watching her strike a stone to light the tinder and dry grass. Once the fire was roaring they stripped down, hanging their clothes by the fire. Khamdi sat across from him, turning away so he could only see her back for modesty's sake. 

He hadn’t noticed it before, with all her gear and layers, but she was shapely for an elf. Lithe but broad shouldered and her hips rounded. She didn’t look quite so child like as he had first assumed. And her skin nearly glimmered in the darkness. Not like the ashen grey of a Dunmer, but like grey steel.

“I’m not a Dunmer.” She stated out of the blue, bringing Bishop from his inner musings.

“I figured you were a halfling from the blue eyes.” He answered.

“No. I’m not a halfling either.” She pulled her legs to her chest. Bishop raised an eyebrow in questioning. “I was raised by my mother and father, a Dunmer and an Imperial, but they aren’t my blood relatives.” She was still being cautious, fearing the outcome of telling him what she really was.

“So what are you then?”

Would he think her mad? Surely he saw her with the centurion and had some ideas but to actually say it…

Here goes nothing I guess.

“I was found as a baby by a Telvanni Wizard in the depths of Nchardack. A dwarven ruin in Solstheim in a capsule preserving my life force. My mother managed to awaken me and take me away from him, fearing I’d just be subject for study the rest of my life, if I even was able to live long enough with him. She found artifacts and other things with me and it seems as though they point to something about myself, or will lead me to whatever it is they intended when they sealed me away, or I don’t really know. Something . And I’d really like to find out what that something is so...” She trailed off, not daring to look at his expression now.

It was quiet. Too quiet. She chanced a look back at him and had to keep her breath from catching in her throat. Regardless of what an asshole she thought he was, he was a pretty asshole. Tan skin, broad chest and muscled toned arms and an abdomen that… She shook the thought from her mind quickly as she saw the look of pure unadulterated shock.

“Is that why the bug-... ah, Chell, listens to you? And the big one in the ruin? And the language you spoke… How… What…” He trailed off, his mind racing so fast he could barely make a sentence. “Maybe this is too much for a wolfish brute to comprehend.” He sighed, flopping back down on his bed roll, making her giggle slightly.

She stood, a breast band and her cotton pants the only thing covering her as she sauntered over to him, and sat near his leg. He sat up quickly, eyeing her. She quietly asked for permission and held her breath as he stared, fighting the blush creeping up her neck to her cheeks as he took her in then nodded, his gaze still locked on her. She called on what little magicka she could muster into her palm and placed it on his leg. Her other hand went to her glowing amulet, calling on its healing properties to aid her and Bishop felt a warmth unlike any other envelope him. When it dissipated he wiggled his toes and stared in astoundment at his now fully healed leg.

“I don’t really know where to go next. This ruin was my last lead and perhaps there will be no more after this… But I hope… I’d like it if you stayed. To help I mean uh… I don’t really know Skyrim and your abilities would be most useful and-.” She was silenced by his laughter. “What?”

“N-nothing.” He coughed to hide more laughter but grinned at her. “After us nearly getting crushed by a centurion. Then nearly drowned in the ruins. Nearly getting crushed and drowned in the ruin then getting saved by the centurion. One could say that’s enough trouble for anyone.” Khamdi’s heart sank a little. “But you’re in luck. I happen to like trouble.” He smiled softly at her surprised face.

“Then you’re…?”

“Couldn’t leave you now after all that. I can only imagine this journey getting trickier. And your sense of direction is ah… Leaves some room for me to do what I do best, right? And you can stick to what you do best. All the weird… dwarven stuff. We’ll make quite a team.”

“Yes! Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!” She jumped on him, hugging him ferociously.

“Hey, no hugging! Adventurers don’t hug!” She giggled at him but released him.

“Thank you.” She whispered, beaming up at him before turning back to start dressing herself.

Bishop did his best to hide a growing blush on his cheeks.

If I'm gonna die, at least the view will be alright.

Now. Bitta near death, bitta fluff, bitta Chell being a badass with a taser. I’m aiming for a chapter a month so far. When I get more time I may start releasing two a month but that’s yet to be decided. I hope you are enjoying this story. I’m planning on introducing more characters from mods soon for the adventure!

I love feedback so please let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading <3

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: A Borrowed Contract

“What’s all this, Ladyship?” Bishop had plopped himself down next to Khamdi, watching as she spread out every artifact she had accumulated so far. They still sat in the small grove near the now flooded ruin, the dying evening rays had cast long shadows and the gently flickering firepit was the only thing left illuminating them.

The orb and map, along with the blanket she had been wrapped in as a baby, she had laid out neatly before them along with the newly found Centurion Core which shone dimly against the fire. The empty chamber within the core was housed inside intermeshing cogs that fit seamlessly together and lined with levers and hooks that flipped and flicked when the cogs moved in tandem. But her intuition couldn’t help but draw her to the hollow centre, it looked as though it was meant to cradle something?

“The artefacts all have the same motifs. This hammer, gauntlet and sword. Look.” Khamdi’s fingers traced each piece.

“Looks more like a squiggle.” Bishop cocked his head every which way while squinting in an attempt to either see said markings or just to continue his running theme of irritation.

“The three together signify the royal house I think. The ones responsible for the Dwemer’s disappearance.” Khamdi’s brow furrowed at the implications of this seal being present on everything she had.

“Come to think of it, how did they disappear? They all die out in a war or something?” Bishop scratched his head errantly.

“Yes and no. It’s documented in pieces but from what I’ve surmised, in the first era Dwemer miners discovered a powerful artifact deep beneath Red Mountain. Kagrenac, Chief Tonal Architect and High Priest of the Dwemer, identified the artifact as the Heart of Lorkhan.”

“The heart of a god? They found it under a mountain?” Bishop balked.

“It’s what’s written in about fourteen differing accounts but the only thing that remains the same is the artefact. That and of course, according to the legend, after Lorkhan tricked the Aedra into creating the mortal realm, they tore out his divine heart and threw it down to Nirn, to be hidden forever.” Khamdi grinned. “Kagrenac then forged three scared tools, Keening, Sunder, and Wraithguard, to allow him and the other Tonal Architects to tap into the Heart of the Lorkhan and use it to power a large Automaton, Numidium, this massive artificial god they intended to animate so it would create a new plane of existence for them.” Khamdi explained, eyes alight with wonder.

“No way. That must be bullshit.” Bishop snorted, earning a sharp smack from Khamdi.

“Whatever is or isn’t bullshit, it led to them using the tools on the Heart of Lorkhan at the Battle of Red Mountain, and doing so caused the Dwemer to be wiped from existence. Well, all but their relics and strongholds and automatons…” Khamdi finished.

“Still think it’s dumb.” Bishop muttered.

“Ugh, fine. But you understand now? The gauntlet, dagger and hammer?”

“Are… really important?”

“If I didn’t rely so heavily on your navigation, I would send you to the flame atronaoch plane, to check if the Dwemer maybe got sent there.” Khamdi sighed.

“That’s... not a thing… Right?” Bishop asked warily.

“If it was, I would have tried already.”

“So, threats aside, what now?”

“I complete the puzzle.” She said coyly, flashing him a wry grin.

Khamdi’s gaze rested on the orb finally and a flash of intuition hit her, almost like her compulsion when she was down in the ruin with Bishop but this did not completely overtake her senses, only heightened them.

She pulled the contraption into her lap and expertly nested the orb inside the Gyro Core and watched in fascination as the cogs began to whirr to life.

“Hey what the-!” Bishop began to exclaim, scrambling up to get distance between him and the core.

“It’s alright. Look.” She smiled as the dwarven mechanics glowed blue and she lifted the Core as if it were a lantern, radiating from it were symbols and constellation like dots, they whizzed by their eyes in a cyclone of light, churning so fast Bishop could hardly make them out.

“If I look up I go blind.”

Chell perched on Khamdi’s shoulder, and his tiny pincers reached out as if to caress the filaments of light, whirring softly in awe and Khamdi smiled gently at her tiny companion drinking in the moment. This was why she left. This was what she’s always meant to be doing. She was pulled from her musing by another symbol passing by her peripheral vision once, then twice, then consistently as if refusing to be ignored. A jagged horizontal line with a few dots strewn above. Bishop had been forcing his head not to spin by fixing his eyes on Khamdi, who stood still amidst the lightshow, taking every detail in, then just as soon as the light show had begun, the lights retracted, flowing back inside the Core like water racing back inside a spigot. As the final tail of light nestled inside the orb Khamdi popped it back out of the Core, placing it back down on the ground. The relic seemed to hum and hiss as its glow began to fade until it finally went silent.

“Gods…” Bishop slumped back down on the green, Karnwyr rushing to meet him, licking his face and whimpering worriedly over his pack leader. “Well? Was semi-permanently blinding me worth it?” He groaned, holding his spinning head and lightly pushing away Karnwyr while assuring the concerned wolf.

“I… I’m not so sure.” She chewed the inside of her cheek as her brow furrowed tersely.

“What did you see?” Bishop questioned, only to peak out over his hand when he heard her rustling, then the sound of scratching against the earth.

Khamdi drew the jagged line and dots that had all but been burned into her minds eye. Bishop lifted himself up with a grunt to peer down at the rough recreation and a look of recognition dawned on him.

“I’ve never seen this symbol in relation to the dwarves or well, ever.” Khamdi huffed.

“That’s because it’s not a symbol.” Bishop grinned, causing Khamdi to stare at him expectantly only to be met with more silence.

“In your own time, please.” Khamdi agitatedly crossed her arms, annoyed at the hunter’s antic yet again.

“Seriously? Can’t figure it out, O’ Mighty Dwemer?” Bishop sniggered harder as he watched the vein in her forehead pulse dangerously. “Alright, settle down. Look at it, it’s a mountain range.” He chuckled as her eyes lit up.

“Where!?”

“It looks to me like a mountain line I’ve seen in the South, look, the constellation? The Mage. It looks to me like it’s an area nestled between where the Colovian Highlands meet the Jerral mountains, that’s the only point you see it from with that mountain line. It’s relatively close to Falkreath township. About two days from here.” He explained but Khamdi was already a million steps ahead.

Khamdi almost leapt out of her skin, hurriedly she gathered everything up so fast that Chell rolled off her shoulder. The Automaton shook itself off then hastily followed his mistress and began packing up alongside her. Bishop shook his head at the pair, chuckling to himself as he patted Karnwyr’s head, the wolf groaning as it knew the time for relaxing had come to an end.

“Alright, we’re heading back out boy.” Bishop grunted as he pushed himself up off the grass and into action, ready to face whatever shit show this crazy woman was about to walk them into.

“We’re going to die!” The squeal of the blond imperial reverberated through the stone halls of the Nordic Ruin as he and four other mercenaries ran through the crumbling ruin. The sound of draugr rising from their crypts in their wake only inspired the adventuring party to double their pace.

“How many times Mage!? I told you not to touch the fucking eagle statue!” The Redguard mercenary shouted to the Imperial scholar who was currently running for his life holding up his robes to prevent a severe misstep.

“Hurry! In here!” Another mercenary exclaimed, pointing out a divett in the wall which seemed to lead to another chamber and all the party ensued with little other choice, the entrance they had used already crumbling before them as they made for their detour.

“We… We made it!” The scholar panted desperately, doubled over with his hands on his knees despite being relatively unharmed while the four remaining mercenaries at his side were barely holding to life and in far worse shape. “Is everyone alright, do you need healing?” The response being a resounding set of pained groans.

After healing the small company enough to walk and hold a sword, the self-proclaimed scholar set about studying the walls of the chamber they had discovered.

“This wasn’t on the map.” The navigator panted, still stuck sitting on the cold stone floor, using his sword to hold himself upright.

“What do you mean Galvor?” The Imperial questioned.

“Every nook and cranny of this dungeon should be dictated on this master schematic. Every ante chamber, every sewer, water way. But this? It looks like a story wall? This wouldn’t be something to hide… But…” The navigator winched as he tried to lift himself upright.

“These… Don’t look Nordic…” The scholar trailed off, transfixed by all the ramifications of what he was seeing, what it did to everything this scholar thought he knew.

“Hey, Thorn told us you were just coming to check the perimeter of the ruin, said nothing about having to go inside.” The Redguard seethed as he too struggled to stay upright.

“I do apologise... I miscalculated the risk factor of how fragile the ruins are but I had no idea that the floor would crumble from beneath us upon entering.” The scholar hurriedly apologised but was so captivated by what he was seeing he still busied himself sketching the impossible symbols and murals.

“That’s why we scout before we enter or throw a gods damned stone out to check if it’s safe before you… you… prance into the crumbling ruin like an overly excited milk maid!” The accompanying Nord mercenary growled, pulling the Imperial up by the collar of his robes causing the small framed mage to let out a rather feminine shriek. “You idiot mage! You’ve trapped us here and now we’re all going to get torn apart by those monsters!” He slammed the blond man repeatedly with every syllable against the stonework hard enough that another tremor shook the room, causing the adventuring party to scramble for safety wherever they could find it.

A large, rotting beam groaned as the stone crumbled around it and it began to come down like a felled tree atop them. They shouted in useless protest, their lives flashing before their eyes but as the beam and more rubble crashed down, but it was blocked by a beam on the opposing side also falling. The two logs clashed but held each other’s weight over the shell shocked party.

“Rhudi! Kalis!” The navigator coughed, swatting away the dust and debris permeating the air now in the wake of the collapse.

“I’m alright…” Came the reply of the Nord, Rhudi, who ripped himself from the rubble only to sigh upon the sight of the Redguard, Kalis’ broken body. “Kalis got crushed by a piece of the ceiling.”

“By the eight…” The Imperial stared motionlessly at the gore before him and couldn’t help the retching that ripped through his throat.

“You look, long and hard, Mage.” Rhudi spat, covering over his deceased companion with his Redguard’s cape.

“I’m truly… truly sorry…” The mage croaked.

“Sorry won’t get us out of this mess. Galvor, find us a way out of here. I can hear those corpses; they most likely heard the commotion in here.” Rhudi had armed himself and was taking watch at the crack in the wall they had entered through, the crescendo of draugr roars had the Nord gripping the haft of his blade harder. “Mage, set some wards.”

“Oh! Um… I’ not actually on that chapter yet, I got distracted by a very interesting novella by Twytheill Kathellan an Altmer who-.”

“Lucien…!” Came the exacerbated reply of the remaining mercenaries.

“Right, right…. Shutting up now. Let me get my book...”

“You ride like shit.” Khamdi had to hand it to her travelling companion, he was finding new and increasing ways to cause her eye to twitch so hard she was sure he was attempting to irritate her enough to see if it would pop out her head.

“I had never even seen a horse until I got to Skyrim.” She attempted to right her posture more, follow Brea’s rhythm but her shorter stature was not meant for the stirrups of a man twice her height.

“Where’d you get the mare anyway, fresh off the boat from Solstheim? Not holding out on some grand inheritance you got before getting here, are you?” Bishop quipped.

“A kind Nord in Windhelm actually. The only one I met so far that I could stomach anyway.” Her spiteful reply only made the rangers smirk grow but Khamdi remembered Brunwulf’s parting words and a smile of her own quirked at the corners of her lips. “Brunwulf Free-Winter?” She would be lying if she said she didn’t love watching the blood drain from his face momentarily, that it didn’t satisfy some deep primal urge to absolutely stick it to the sour prick.

“He some… Close family friend…?” Bishop coughed awkwardly.

She took a moment to watch him squirm but finally barked a laughed at his petrification.

“He said ‘Old Brunwulf still has your tooth and your pride’ or something to that affect.” She chuckled as the ranger closed his eyes for a moment before chuckling himself.

“Small world.” He kicked his spurs and jolted passed her forcefully enough that Chell popped out of her pack amoment to toot disapprovingly at Bishop, who only laughed in response.

“So, tell me, ranger.” She grunted, balancing herself again and setting her feet more firmly in the long stirrups as best she could. “Which tooth?” Bishop only groaned haplessly in response but her gaze on his back was like needles, he chanced a look back at her only to regret it.

“Not one that mattered, thankfully. Just hard to go to town on a honey nut treat these days.” He mused.

“Such interesting food you have here.” She chuckled. “Everything’s swimming in butter or honey or fermented for an era or two.”

“Oh, I’m sure you miss the bugs. Ash hopper legs are hard to come by out here.” He noticed the way her face fell for a moment but was replace with that insufferable determination she seemed to have such a surplus of.

“Ash yam stew with hopper jelly… Sujama… I’m a long way from home, I guess. But still… the ‘treat’ bit doesn’t sound too bad.” Bishop couldn’t control the laugh that escaped him.

This Elf.

“So come on… we have another few hours to go before we get to Falkreath, regale me!”

“I stole his old lady’s horn.”

“Excuse me? Come again?” Her steel grey eyes filled instantly with incredulous curiosity.

“Battle horn, Ladyship, get your mind out of the gutters.” He grumbled. “He served with the Imperial Army in the war. Highly decorated and respected and yadda, yadda. Now, I could give two shits about what the Stormcloak’s or the Imperials do, but he has a paramour that… Let’s just say she owns the tavern and was… less inviting to my Khajit associate than was necessary, so after all the threats and shouting were over… I may have decided that the prized battle horn she keeps on display there would look better on an outhouse.” He explained as a branch came into his field of vision and hanging from it was a rose red apple. He plucked the fruit from the branches that whipped back nearly straight into Khamdi’s horse then brushing it against his coat and taking a large juicy bite.

Khamdi calmed her startled mare and shot him a glare but took a moment to regard him, his one hand holding the reins as the thoroughbred lightly galloped along with him. She couldn’t help the kernel of envy taking root, he looked like he’d been born in the saddle, gracefully keeping time with his horse’s trotting.

“You mean that horrible woman in the Candle Heath Hall? He’s bedding that shrew? I thought him to be more principled.” She mused, stroking a hand threw Brea’s dark mane.

“Principals mean trolls shit to you when it’s someone you love.” He declared through chunks of apple as he chewed, Khamdi sighing at his mannerless display.

“So he caught you then?”

“I didn’t get five paces from the city gates before he had me plastered on my ass, flowing down a freezing cold river, hornless.”

“Tooth-less?” She jabbed, only earning her a withering look from her travelling companion, but a tinkling whirr of approval from Chell, who had made his comfy perch on her shoulder.

“Bastard went down and fished me out afterwards though. Thought he was going to beat me bloody some more but he just… Took the horn, apologised for the owner of the Hall’s less than amicable reception, and handed me an ale.” He finished, throwing the apples core off into the dense hedgerow alongside them.

“What about your Khajit friend?” She noticed Bishop stiffen, then return to his expert riding stature in less than a few heartbeats.

“Never you mind, Ladyship.” She sensed his hackles raising from her place trotting behind him and knew well enough not to go poking the boar. “We’re a short distance now from Falkreath. Be about supper time when we arrive.” The conversation shift didn’t go unnoticed and Khamdi couldn’t help the incessant curiosity that was ingrained into her very nature but acquiesced all the same.

“What are we looking for this time then?” Bishop’s question was a valid one, but Khamdi found herself questioning the validity of her course.

“I’m not sure.”

“So we just rode right passed Riverwood just…. Because? I’m feeling more and more at ease about having you as our navigator by the hour.” The sarcasm did not go unnoticed, just unmet, the young elf’s lip pursed firmly in a line as she stared at the horizon.

The heavy woodland broke at the top of the hill to reveal the entrance to Falkreath village not far from them. The morose grey of the gently weeping misted skies painted the small town in a muggy haze in the distance. The bleating of goats and hammering of the Blacksmiths reached their ears from how close they were but it was the sudden rustling of chainmail and unsheathing of swords that pulled both travelling companions from their designs of a warm bed for the night.

“Hold!”

The pair froze, Bishop’s hand instinctively flying to his dagger on his chest piece and spinning round to block the incoming attack. Bishop disarmed the assailant with little trouble but before Khamdi could move a muscle she felt a broad arm ensnare her around her neck and wrench her back.

“Well, well. Do my eyes deceive me, or is this our long-lost Bishop, come to pay us a little visit.” The rumbling laughter was hard to miss with how tightly she was constrained against the aggressor’s chest.

“Let her go Thorn.” Bishop seethed, Karnwyr watching the hunter's back from the bandits at their rear, his hackles raised, and teeth bared.

“Now why would I let this delectable creature go? I thought you were coming with an apology for your failure at Hags Basin.” Thorn sneered, his other free hand beginning to roam over the Mer’s form roughly, while she struggled against him.

“You better fucking hope you kill me this time Thorn.” Bishop growled, watching Thorn’s hand snake down her abdomen, but before he could venture any further, Khamdi bit down as hard as she could on the bandit’s forearm.

It caused the brute to loosen his grip enough that the ever-alert Chell could break free from her pack to do what he did best. The automaton scrambled up atop his mistress’s head and let loose a charged spark that sent her assailant sprawling. In one swift motion Bishop grabbed Khamdi’s arm and positioned her behind him, baring his blade at the bewildered bandits only a moment before dropping it to the ground, striding over to Thorn who was picking himself off the ground only for Bishop to land a kick squarely in Thorn’s jaw. Bishop sat on top of the bandit, who was barely getting his bearings and hammered punches down on the bandit in a storm so bloody, Khamdi almost had to look away, but with a final sickening crack, Thorn’s body went completely limp.

Bishop stood, turning to the remaining crew who were all but quaking in their boots.

“I suggest, you forget you ever saw me.” Bishop spat, reaching down to clean the blood from his hands with the road dust as the bandits scattered save for one, a young man, no, a boy of less than seventeen, shook with fear as his eyes never left Bishop.

He flinched and whimpered as Bishop made his way over to bend down and stare the frightened boy out.

“Bishop, come on, he’s going to piss himself.” Khamdi sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“If I have my way, he won’t be able to piss again.” Bishop’s menacing aura had yet to dissipate and Khamdi would be lying if she herself wasn’t shaken by her travelling companion’s violence.

She had seen him kill bandits before she wasn’t stupid enough to not understand life on the road. She too had done what was need when the time came for it back on Solstheim, but still, she couldn’t stop seeing his eyes, filled with that unknowable blackened hate, thrashing the life from Thorn.

“P-please… I… I…” The boy sputtered.

“Hush now, he won’t hurt you. Just be on your way.” Khamdi softy reasoned, nudging Bishop to lay off, which he did.

“No… I… My brother…” The boy steadied himself.

“Out with it boy.” Bishop growled.

“I'd just hired Thorn… they were going to help me find my brother and their missing crew. My brother is a navigator. He takes crews into the ruins to find treasures… He went out with this mage; said he was from the Imperial City. He hired some of Thorn’s men and my brother to be his guides… That was three days ago now. They should have been back.” He blubbered, face in his hands and Khamdi couldn’t help but wince at the boy’s cries.

“Where were they headed?” Khamdi asked, kneeling to hand the boy a cloth for his running nose.

“You can’t be serious.” Bishop balked.

“It’s less than a day’s walk east, near the mountains the border here and Cyrodiil.” The frightened young man replied, wiping his nose with the cloth.

“You did just kill his hired sword, Bishop.” Khamdi deadpanned, barely looking over at Bishop who only rolled his eyes. “Seems only fair we carry on the contact I say…” Khamdi stood, unrolling her map and showing it to the boy. “Here?”

“Y-yes.. How did you..?”

“Perfect. If we find your brother, rest assured, we’ll bring him back. Or my name isn’t Khamdida Caerellius.” Khamdi beamed, causing Bishop to groan in protest which only earned him another thump in the arm.

“My brother’s name is Galvor. I’m Hroli, by the way… I… I can’t thank you enough miss. I wasn’t looking forward to journeying with Thorn and his men.” Hroli gulped at the thought.

Khamdi and Bishop bid the boy farewell at the gate, promising to find him at the tavern upon their return in a few days. Bishop observed Khamdi silently for a moment, she had her head buried in her map once again and was muttering to herself, a quirk he had become accustomed to in the few days they had travelled together. He could see the proverbial cogs twisting and turning in her head.

“It’s a Nord ruin, by the way.” Bishop chuckled, watching Khamdi’s shoulders fall.

“What?”

“I’ve traversed that area. There’s no Dwarven ruins out there til you get closer to the Jerall Mountains, past the Rift even.” The finality of his tone irritated Khamdi who levelled him with her stony gaze.

“Just like there’s no ruin’s near Riverwood, right?” Khamdi couldn’t help the tiny self-serving cackle at the hunter’s scowl. “If there’s anything that I’ve learned about Dwarven ruins, it’s to never deal in absolutes. You’ll end up locked inside a puzzle room for a few days with only the condensation from pipes to drink and the occasional rodent passing by.” Khamdi chuckled darkly, heading into the village.

“Please tell me that’s not from personal experience.” Bishop shuddered.

“Maybe the next time we get trapped in ruin I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Can’t wait.”

Did ya miss me?

So you remember when I said I was gonna update this every month, like 5 years ago?

…

I’m sorry </3

I have been thinking about this story all the freaking time and always wanted to come back and finish this, not just for me but for the amazing humans that commented and liked this story.

I had some big stupid life stuff hit me like a brick for the last few years, I haven’t known which way is up for quite a while but I’m finally back to a sustainable place. And it was always writing fan fictions that made me happiest, or at least, told me I was in a place to enjoy things freely again.

The world is a messed up insane ball of fuckery right now, I feel like we all could use a little escape to a place where friendship, love and adventure can reign supreme.

I’m not going to make promises about when or how often I’ll release the chapters I’ve written, some revising as I go always holds me back because I’m still an amateur, but I also really care about Khamdi’s story. So fear not, this story will have its end, in the future some far away place, but for now I have about 18 chapters in a WIP folder that I promise you will all see the light of day. <3

See you all in the next chapter!

More introduction to Lucien next time!

 ~IfItAintBroke1997