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Spoiler:
Aejiri reached the border of the Imperial Province. A few more steps and she would be entering her homeland for the first time. And so she did. "So, this is Skyrim. Snow and what's that? more snow." She muttered to herself as she travelled through Pale Pass.

A few days later, she arrived near a strange source of water. Steam was rising from it. Aejiri moved closer to it and discovered it was pleasently warm. "A great place to set up camp." She muttered to herself as she put her kapsack on the ground and then procceeded to strip down to her undergarments. She dipped a toe into the water and discovered it was warm. Warm as a hot tub but outside and natural. "I wonder how much I could charge for, nah, they would have done it if it could be sold." She said to herself. She sat down in the water and felt very relaxed. After a few minutes, she fell asleep in the warm hot spring. By the time she woke up, she had discovered someone had stolen all of her belongings.



"[&@%!]." She said in both an embarrassed and annoyed tone. To make things worse, it was night and would end up freezing to death unless she found a way to keep warm. So, she spent the night in the hot springs.

The following day, she walked towards the nearest settlement but without a map, she had no clue and accidentally walked into an ambush. The last thing she saw was an Imperial shield bashing against her face.

Spoiler:
Name:Aejiri
Age:24
Race:Nord
Sex:Female
Main Skills:Speech,Smithing,Alchemy,Enchanting,Alteration,Stealth,Illusion and Restoration as well as lockpicking
Minor Skills:One handed.
Background:Aejiri grew up in Cyrodiil. She lost her parents at a young age and had to take care of herself. She sold whatever she found and would offer her services to make a small living. From creating potions to creating iron daggers, she did it all. Apart from the Dibella arts. At the age of 20, she opened her own shop and sold almost anything. She didn't care if it had been taken from the dead or just something to be sold to her, as long as it wasn't stolen, she would buy and sell it. She got introduced to Skooma at the age of 16 but never became addicted to it. To her, it's just something to drink. She travelled to Skyrim after getting fed up of the Thalmor harrassing her.

Spoiler:
Aejiri reached the ancient nordic ruin of Bleak Falls Barrow after killing every bandit on the way up. And had gained some things to sell as a result. The cold wind attacked her but her blue robes and nord blood kept her warm. She entered the ruin and crouched after seeing light emitting from a bonfire. She overheard two nords speaking. "Claw?" She whispered to herself and wondered how much she could get for it. She spotted many dead skeevers and a dead bandit. She couldn't help but giggle due to how easy Skeevers were to kill. Unfortunatly, the bandits heard her and attacked her.

"Oh [&@%!]!" She exclaimed as she got her bow ready and fired two arrows. One hit the charging nord straight in the forehead and resulted in him falling like a sack of bricks. The other grazed the shoulder of the female nord. The nord fired an arrow in her direction but Aejiri jumped out of the way and got her sword out. She hid behind a pillar and said "Tell me about the claw and then sod off if you want to live." She called out to the nord. "Just shut up [&@%!] and die." the nord replied as she slowly walked towards where she was hiding. The nord made the mistake of getting close to her hiding spot and had her head chopped off. "Always the same story. Why can't they be reasonable?" She commented before searching the dead bodies.

"Why thank you and what's this? a dagger that I can sell?" She said as she put the small items into her backpack. She had a habit of thinking aloud when she was exploring ruins. After aquiring several items that she could sell, she made her way deeper into the ruin. Time had not been kind to it. Entire rooms were blocked off by rubble. The air stank of death and decay. And it was very cold. Aejiri put her fur guantlets on to warm her hands after a few minutes of venturing deeper into the barrow.

She saw a bandit and crouched. She slowly followed him and saw him getting killed after using a lever. "Idiot." She muttered as she stood up and saw 2 large symbols on the wall above. "Really? That's it? Man, my ancestors were morons." She said before letting out a small laugh. She solved the very hard puzzle within minutes. Well, it was hard if you had the brain of a Skeever. She noticed a book called Theif ontop of a tomb and was surprised. "How on nirn? Meh, probably interesting." She said as she picked up the book and slid it into her pack. She also rescued a lonely Soul gem. She walked down the stairs and saw 3 skeevers heading towards her. She got out her sword and casted Oakflesh.

"I." She said as she killed the first one. "Am." She said after killing the second one. "starting to hate your kind!" She stated after finishing off the last one then chopped off their tails. She spotted a dusty scroll lying on a table in front of her and walked over. "Firestormeh? Could get 500 septims if i was back in Cyrodiil. Probably be lucky to get half that." She commented as she stowed it away in her pack and continue walking.

She heard a dunmer calling out to his recently deceased companions. "Anyone? Anyone at all?" He called in desperation. Aejiri encountered a thick layer of web and knew what laid on the other side would not be good. She swung her sword several times and made her way through it.

A giant wounded frostbite spider descended on her and she let out a frightened scream before fleeing. It wasn't that she was scared of them. It was just that she was just scared of spiders that were bigger then Skeevers. And Skyrim seemed to have a lot of them. She hid behind the wall and heard the dunmer's screams of fear as the spider stared at him. "Get it away" teh dunmer shouted in fear. She whispered the name of the nine divines under her breath and closed her eyes for a few moments. "I hate myself." She groaned as she came out of her hiding place.

She fired an arrow at the wounded spider and it hit it's Thorax. The giant insect turned around and spat poison at her. she jumped back and fired another arrow. Whilst she was out of reach of it's pincers, she was still within spitting distance. THe arrow pierced it's eye and the following arrows robbed it of it's sight. She fired another one and it killed it. "Thank Talos that's over." She said in relief and had just noticed that her legs were both wet and warm. "Oh." She muttered in an embarrased tone. She knew taht she couldn't do anything about it unless she wanted to find the dragonstone in just her undergarments. And freeze on the way. So she walked towards the dunmer, who had been put in a large web by the spider.

"Good, it's dead." Arvel said to Aejiri and asked her to cut him down."Only if you give me the claw first." She told the dunmer. "Of course but I can't give it to you whilst i'm still in a web!" he replied. "So you do have it. Okay, I'll cut you down but you had damn well better give me the claw or I'll feed you to another giant spider." She threatened him. "Okay, okay." The Swift said to her.

Aejiri carefully used the steel sword to cut the Dunmer down. "As if i'm going to share the reward with you." the dunmer said before running. "Son of a [&@%!]." She said before giving chase to him. She tried to tackle him but he was too quick for her and she ended up smashing into the stone stairs. She stopped chasing him to rub her head and heard sounds of battle followed by silence. "Fool. On the plus side, the claw is mine." she said as she got up and slowly made her way to the Swift's location. She saw a draugr and killed it with a single arrow. "Why can't i go into a ruin and not encounter the undead?" She said as she rummaged through the Swift's belongings and found the claw as well as a journal. A draugr slowly crept up on her whilst she read it and alerted her by walking into the dead dunmer's sword. Aejiri rolled to the side as the draugr swung it's axe down and was easily killed by her.

She spent the next few minutes checking every dead body in the room to ensure no more were waiting to kill her and avoid the trap. She made her way through the ruin and came accross a hallway of swinging axes. "Oh for [&@%!]'s sake!" She said in a very annoyed tone.

She waited for an opening and ran like Oblivion through the swinging axes. She missed the first two but felt a sharp pain in her back and fell to the floor after the third one. She let out cry of pain as she placed her hand on the wound and could feel her own blood. "Now that's just great. [&@%!] and blood. What's next?" She shouted as she healed the wound. Turns out that next would be more draugr. She killed them all by knocking down a fire lantern with her arrows onto the oil below.

She walked into a natural cavern and decided to sleep there. She rested put her stuff down after sitting against the wall of it then ate an apple before drifting off to sleep.

Aejiri reached the shore of the Sea of Ghosts, just outside of Winterhold. She knew that her best chance of getting an Elder Scroll was in a cave. Which was located in the Sea of Ghosts and on a fairly remote island. Unfortunatly, the only way to get to it was to swim.

"Okay, you can do this. Just remove the furs." She told herself as she stared at the cold sea in front of here. "It's just a bit of water. I can do this." She reassured herself but she remained fully clothed. It took her an hour to convince herself to take the plunge into the icy waters.

She removed all 4 layers of fur clothing and clothes. And her boots. She stowed them away in her pack and felt the harsh weather attacking her body. "Th-this is a m-mistake." She said as she retrieved a resist frost potion from her pack and downed it. She felt warmer inside but knew that it would just stop her from freezing to death within minutes.

She slowly dipped a toe into the water and let out a long gasp before walking deeper into the icy waters of the sea. "Th-this w-was- mistake." She said as she struggled to swim. The waters were colder then the heart of Molag Bal. Every muscle within her was screaming and her legs were starting to feel heavy. And this was just within seconds of entering the water. She had an entire hour of swimming ahead of her.

Half an hour later, she reached the halfway point and was very cold. She barely managed to keep kicking her legs and moving her arms but she did so anyway. She went under several times due to the freezing waters and always spluttered and coughed when the water entered her mouth. Another half an hour later, she reached a thin layer of ice and saw a cave. She barely managed to drag herself out of the water and looked down at her feet. They were blue and started to bear the signs of frostbite. Her hands were also reaching the point and she just wanted to fall asleep but she forced herself to push on.

She discovered a cave and entered it. Luckily, it was devoid of life. She wrapped herself up in 4 layers of fur after using the voice to create a bonfire. She was shaking a lot as a result of the swim but the furs were warming her up as well as the bonfires. "Please don't let me end up doing anything stupid." She muttered as she got out a small bottle of Skooma and drank it. She felt much warmer and fell asleep a few hours later. The next day, she would reach the cave on foot and she barely managed to avoid frostbite.

Aejiri stood at the edge of the ice and looked at the dark icy waters in front of her. "Okay, I can do this. I got here in one piece so I can make it back in one piece." She told herself. She knew that if she stayed another day in the cave, she would run out of food and the Skooma would end up running out. It had been a week since she crossed the sea of ghosts.

"Just take them off and sit down. That's all i'm asking." She muttered to herself but made no effort to remove her furs. "Come on! You're a dragonborn, and a nord so act like one!" She told herself but again, she made no effort. She had done this every day during the past week after finishing her bussiness with septmius.

Half an hour later, she slowly started to remove the furs and stowed them away in her pack. She took off her boots and shoved them into her pack before removing her clothes. "M-mistake. Wh-why do I i-insist o-on do-doing this?" She gasped as she felt the brutal cold attack her.

She slowly sat down on the ice and felt the ice attacking her bottom. "Argh, to-too co-cold." She muttered as she slowly edged her legs towards the sea. "J-just d-do it sl-slowly." She said as she shoved the clothes into the pack.

It took her a few minutes but she reached the edge of the ice and started to slowly lower herself into the sea. The cold was brutal. The sea attacked her and every part of her screamed as the icy waters spread their gift through her body. "Sc-screw th-this." she muttered as she pulled herself out of the water and ran back towards the cave.

She wrapped herself in her furs and relit the bonfire. "Pre-prehaps to-tomorrow." She told herself as she shivered. She slowly uncorked a bottle of Skooma and drank it. The contents filled her with warmth and made her feel very happy. It also gave her an idea. One that could keep her alive. "Wa-water, of-of co-course." She muttered to herself as she started to come up with a plan in her head. One heavily influnced by Skooma and would prove to be very embarrassing. She drifted off to sleep a few minutes later.

Then again, she was just alone so chances were, that no-one would watch her enact her plan.

Aejiri woke up in the cold cave. Her furs were wrapped around her tightly and the nord felt very warm. She helped herself to some roast horker meat and sighed. "Damn, last of the food." She muttered to herself.

She stayed by the fire for several hours and had consumed a lot of drinks as part of her plan. "This had better work or it's no Skooma forever. Oh and death." She told herself as she packed her things away.

She put the fire out and got up. She left the cave and felt the cold air again. "Hope this works." She said to herself as she moved towards the sea. She stopped and removed all 4 layers of furs then her clothes. She placed them in the pack and picked up a bottle of Skooma.

"Do this and it's yours." She muttered to herself as she closed the pack before walking towards the edge of the ice.

"Do it or starve." she told herself as she sat down on the ice. She took several deep breaths as the cold gripped her and plunged into the icy waters. "Th-this...to-to c-cold." She gasped before using the drinks she had consumed to warm up her lower half. It made little to no difference as she slowly swam away from the ice.

Within minutes, every muscle ached. Every breath felt like she was breathing in fire. The waters of the sea threatened to drag her under but she forced herself to move on. "M-m-mistake." She said and returned to the ice. She shivered as she climbed out of the sea and barely managed to drag herself out.

"Stupid idoit. That was bound to n-never w-work." She told herself as she rummaged through her pack and spotted the skooma. "O-of co-course." She said as she picked it up with her right hand. Parts of her body were starting to bare the signs of frostbite.

"Cra-crap." She exclaimed and realised that she would lack the strength to swim tomorrow if she stayed here without any food. "Ple-please w-warm m-me." She said to the bottle before downing it in one go. A bit of warmth filled her frozen body and gave her the courage to deal with the cold.

She got up and shut the pack then ran straight at the sea. She dived into it and felt it assaulting her but the Skooma dulled the cold and the pain.

It took her 3 hours to swim across the sea and most of her body was sucumbing to frostbite but she made it back to the mainland.

She immediately put on her dry furs after chucking the freezing undergarments away. She lit a bonfire fire and sat close to it as she set up a small tent for herself. She was exhausted but was glad to be back on the mainland.

"N-never do-doing th-that aga-again." She told herself as her teeth chattered as a result of the cold. It took her the rest of the day to warm up.

The following day, she made her way to her quarters in winterhold.

"So, how bad is it?" She asked the healer. "The fact that you're talking to me is a gift from the nine. You should be dead. Most of your body has suffered severe frostbite and you must be in a great deal of pain."
The healer informed her.

"I am but i've... i've been using a potion to dull the pain." She informed the healer. "Sensible. Okay, here is what i want you to do. Stay in bed for the next few weeks and drink this potion every few hours for a month." The healer informed her as they gave her a small blue bottle. "With luck and if the gods are kind, we can save every part of your body. But for the love of talos, don't swim in the sea again." The healer told her. "I had to. The only way to reach the person was to swim and as dragonborn, i can't ignore my duties." She replied.

"And you're no good to Skyrim at the moment. Rest you stubborn girl." the healer told her.

It took her a month to fully recover from her trip but she did what no-one had done. She had swam in the sea of ghosts and lived to tell the tale. Or get drunk and have some skooma. depending on her mood. Or if she made an excellent deal.

Aejiri woke up. The cold foul smelling air greeted her in the same manner as it did every day. "Morning." She said to herself as she sat up and crawled towards the half eaten cooked rat. "What's for breakfast? More rat. And to drink? More water." she told herself as she tucked into the cold rat. She drank the remainder of the water and burst into a violent coughing fit.

It lasted minutes and had been affecting her for the past few months. "Must get that seen to. As well as these rashes. Oh and find clothes that actually cover all of my body. Yes, but we need coin and no-one has died down here recently. I know that but we could go fishing. Yeah and get eaten by the fish. Fine, what do you prepose. Hunt for rat and avoid crapping yourself today. It wasn't my fault. It was just a dodgy rat I ate. I know, hon. Anyway, let's see what we have left." She told herself.

She got up and looked at her stash of food. It was empty. "Damnit. Well, looks like it's time to go hunting. I'll get the dagger, you'll get the lure. Oh wait, we're out of bait." She told herself as she picked up a very rusty iron dagger and coughed. "And find something for these bloody rashes." She angrily remarked as she scratched her bottom then her arms.

"Remember, we're in the room that only smells like a little bit of [&@%!]. Unlike the rest of these sewers. Gods, i hope someone died down here yesterday." She said as she walked away from her home.

Her home consisted of a very thin ragged bit of cloth, a makeshift cooking pot and various useless junk.

She came to a small stream of sewage water and saw a rat nibbling on some moldy cheese. She crouched and slowly walked towards it. The rat remained unaware.

She entered the foul water and stabbed the rat in the skull. "Aejiri 10,000, i think. Stupid rats, 0. And I've just stepped in some Imperial waste. Yuck." She said as she raised her foot out to see what she had stepped in. It wasn't pleasent. She was living in a sewer after all.

She dumped the dead rat into the tattered small sack and continued her hunt.

A few hours later, she saw a flicker of hope. "Yes! Someone's dead. I can have more then rat for supper." she exclaimed in delight before coughing again. "And get some medicine." She added afterwards as she walked towards teh dead body.

She started to search the dead imperial. "Useless but may keep it. Sword should go for around 100 septims. 75 at least. Boots, if they were in much better condition, I'll sell them. Could use them if they fit me but i doubt it." She said to herself as she searched him.

After 20 minutes, she discovered a small purple bottle. "What's this?" She asked in a curious tone and tried to read the label. Unfortunatly, she could barely read and the writing was too hard to read.

She uncorked it and sniffed it. It smelt strange and welcoming. "Later, hon." she told herself as she stowed it away and felt a sharp pain in her stomach.

She keeled over whilst clutching her stomach and let out several cries of pain. "Come on, I can do this. Ignore it. Pl-please." She told herself as the pain continued. She rolled onto her side and felt a familiar thing entering her loincloth. "N-no, not a-again." She begged herself but her illness prevailed.

Every day, she would get these stomach pains and soil herself. It was caused by her diet of rat and barely clean water but she didn't know that.

After 10 minutes, the pain subsided and she cleaned herself up by using the imperial's blooded shirt. "Sorry." she told the dead body. "Okay, same time tomorrow?" she told her stomach as she left the dead body and started to make her way to a water source.

She came accross a deep pit of water with a stone bridge on it. She had dubbed it "Waterstones". "Waterstones, how nice to meet you. I trust you have no surprises for me this time? No. Good." She said as she dumped the sack on the bridge. She got several empty vials and got onto her knees. She submerged them in the filthy water.

it wouldn't kill her but it was a cause for most of her health problems.

"Wait, is that? it is! The gods are smiling on me today." She exclaimed in delight as she spotted a dead body at the bottom of the well. "Stay here, stuff." she told her sack and vials as she stood up and dived into the flithy water.

She swam towards the body at a fairly fast pace and saw a gold necklace around it's neck. She removed it and placed it on hers. She also found another sword. It was steel. And found some beef. It was dirty and wet but it didn't bother her.

She swam up to the surface and said "Tomorrow, we'll go shopping. But let's go home." as she swam towards the stairs. She scooped up a handful of water and drank it before gathering her stuff.

She made her way back to her home and dumped the stuff in the corner. She used the two worn down flints to start the fire and dumped the beef into the iron pot.

She retrieved 10 dead rats from her sack and dumped them in the wooden crate. It had many holes in and was barely useful for storing food but it keep her rats clean. Well, a little bit clean.

She sat close to the fire and watched as the beef cook. She coughed several times and looked at the floor before throwing up. "In the kitchen? Really? Well, you're cleaning it up. Stupid rats making me ill. Why can't we ever have mudcrab? Oh that's why. because the dagger can't pierce their shell. And yet, it works on rats. Figures." She said to herself.

She got out a dirty plate and placed the beef on it. "Here's to finding a lot of good stuff." She said before tucking into the food. She picked up the purple bottle from earlier and sniffed it.

She drank it and loved the contents. She felt warm and fuzzy. The sewers began brighter and her bed turned into a queensized one. "Of course, i'm queen of the sewers." She said to herself before giggling uncontrollably.

She kept on breaking into fits of giggles for the rest of the evening. In the morning, she regretted eating the beef and was very ill. Luckily, it took her a few days to recover but her rashes had gotten worse and her coughing got worse.

Aejiri reached the ladder leading up to the streets of the Imperial City. She checked herself to make sure she didn't smell bad. Well, at least, at a level that would be tolerated by the citizens above.

Her sack was over her shoulder and her rags were very stained. She had washed them to get rid of most of the foul stench but it smell a bit nasty.

"Should be okay. If not, just dive into the lake. May just do that anyway." She told herself as she climbed up the ladder. Her rashes were causing her a lot of annoyance due to how itchy they had become and more had appeared during the past few days.

She started coughing as she reached the halfway mark on the ladder and stopped her ascent. She threw up and said "Okay, that's not good." in a concerned tone as she climbed up to the streets.

She popped into the nearest shop and said "Morning sir, I have some things to tr.." She coughed again and started to feel weak. "Are you okay?" The shopkeeper asked the teenager in front of him. "Yes, Just a bit under the weather but back to bussiness."

After half an hour of inspecting the goods, the Imperial gave her 300 septims for her items. She left the shop and leaned against the wall.

"Urgh, what's... head hurts." She groaned. She continued to walk towards the nearest alchemy shop and broke into a coughing fit. Blood came out of her mouth. "Oh gods, that's n-not go-good." She uttered and felt a sharp pain in her stomach. "Please not now." She said as she held her stomach and ended up throwing up.

She collapsed onto the streets.


She felt a soft linen carrassing her back and a warm fire. She felt a soft fabric behind her head and opened her eyes a bit. She could barely make out the moving figures in front of her. "Poor kid." one of them said.

"The guards haven't found her parents yet but i doubt she'll be alive in the morning." another figure said in a sad tone. "You musn't lose hope. We can heal her and give her a home. We need to get that fever of hers down and apply salves to the rashes. And give her potions for the diarahea every day for the next few months." The third figure told the other two.

One of them walked towards her and she saw it was an imperial woman. The woman applied a wet cloth to her forehead. "Whe..a..i?" She asked the woman. "Save your strength, child as you are very sick." The priest told her in a soft tone. "si....si...sick?" She uttered weakly. "I'm afraid so. It's very severe. The guards are trying to find your parents but so far, they've had no luck." The Imperial told her whilst dabbing Aejiri's forehead with the cloth. "Th..th...dead" She told the woman before passing out.

It had been a year since Aejiri had collapsed in the street. She had spent all of it in bed due to her illness but thanks to the priests at the temple of the one, she made a full recovery. They believed that the 8 had smiled on her for no-one else could have survived it. She still had a few rashes but they were minor and would fade in the next few weeks. Her coughing had ceased to exist.

"And that's my life." Aejiri told the priests. "You poor child." the woman uttered and hugged her. "Poor thing." another uttered.

Aejiri was wearing a blue robe and had gone from eating rat to eating a varied diet.

"So what's happening to me?" She asked the priests as she greedily tucked into the venison with her hands.

"We'll find a loving couple to take care of you and to give you a chance in life." A priest informed her as he handed her a sweetroll. She devoured it within seconds.

"But why? I've done nothing to earn it and have nothing to offer them." She told the priest. "Child, they will take care of you out of love and kindness. We have a couple that are itching to meet you and we've told them that if you want to, they can meet you tomorrow." The priest told her in a kind manner.

"You mean, i could be living in a nice house with a bed? And clean water? And no stupid rats?" She asked the priest. "Yes." he replied.

Later that evening, she paced up and down in her room. "This is great. No sewer, no living in my own rubbish. But what if they want to use me as a slave. Nah, that's just silly. ooh, what if they teach me how to read and write. What if they are shopkeepers and can teach me some skills?" She said as she scratched her bottom. "Oh boy, i can't wait." She said as she drank some water.

"Aejiri, this is Jod and Hiri." The priest said to the teenager as he introduced the two middle aged nords. "He..hello." She said in a nervous tone. "Nice to meet you, Aejiri" Hiri told the girl and offered a sweetroll.

She took it and thanked the woman before ramming it into her mouth. Jod chuckled and said "How would you like to come home with us today?" Aejiri ran towards him and hugged him. Tears of joy flooded down her face. "There, there child. We'll take good care of you. I hope you like your room." Jod told her as he stroked her head.

Aejiri came to love her new parents in the next few weeks. Jod taught her how to smith at the age of 18. Hiri taugh her how to cook and make basic potions and she repaid them by being the best daughter she believed she could. It was they who helped her to open up a shop and she gave them a 90% discount as a thank you.

Aejiri left Brittleshin pass and came to a bank. The cold air greeted her and she noticed a lake in front of her. "I think this leads to Riverwood." She told herself. "But wait, no. that can't be. It is. It's a sinking fort!" She said in a delighted tone as she walked towards the edge of the lake.

The fort of Ilinalta 's deep was sinking. The locals ignored it and only knew that it collapsed one day without any explaination. It had been left to rot.

"Must be abandoned and that means, i can take whatever's there!" She said to herself as she removed her hide boots. She took off her robes and shoved them into the pack before wading into the water. "Not as cold as it looks." She commented as she swam towards the fort.

It took her a few minutes to arrive at the fort.

She climbed onto the damaged pier and sat down at the edge. She put her robes on and decided to have lunch before entering the fort.

After she had eaten her lunch, she got up and walked towards the trap door. it was located on the roof of the doomed fort but due to it sinking, it was at teh same level as the pier.

She slowly opened it and looked down into it. To her relief, it wasn't flood. "Thank Talos for that. Otherwise, i would have been really annoyed." She said as she climbed down the ladder.

Water was everywhere. Not one inch of the floor was dry and she knew it was pointless to wear her boots. They would just end up getting soaked if the fort was flood. She noticed a skeleton hanging up in front of her and realised it was a prisoner.

"Don't suppose you have any welcoming gifts?" She asked the skeleton before letting out a small giggle at her own joke as she searched it. It had nothing. "Shame." she commented and walked through the hallway.

She came to a large room that was mostly flood. Two large cracks were on either side of it and water was pouring it but it was just a little bit. "Hmm, may want to avoid spending too long. Damn walls could collapse any second." She said as she walked into the room.

She searched the room and found odd bits and bobs. From minor potions to septims. "Better then nothing." She said as she walked towards the nearest hallway. The bottom of her leather trousers were soaked as a result of the water but it didn't bother her.

She came into another room and encountered a nercomancer. The woman attacked her but was killed by Aejiri with her sword. "Guessing you don't like visitors." she said as she checked the dead woman. The corpse only had 100 septims on and her robes bore the sign of nercomancy. "Can't sell that." she said as she stood up.

A few hours later, she had cleared the fort of the nercomancers. Well, most of them.

She had seen several flooded rooms and some were completly underwater. She entered the living quarters and easily dispatched the two nercos by firing an arrow into their skulls. "Why live here? Oh yeah, i can't speak." She said as she retrieved the iron arrows from their corpses. "Stay and keep your stuff clean." she told the dead nercos.

She crouched and entered another large room with a bridge. It was raised and she saw a nercomancer with her back turned on her. she noticed two skeletons. Both were holding two axes and she dispatched them. The woman lowered the drawbridge and attacked her with a spell.

She blocked it with a ward and withdrew her sword. The nercomancer knocked it out of her hand with telekiness and grabbed her by the throat. She punched the nerco in the eye and was released by her. The woman tackled her to the ground and grabbed her by her hair. "Time to die, little [&@%!]." the nerco said as she dragged her to the bridge.

Aejiri tried to break out of the woman's grip but the grip was too hard.

The woman forced Aejiri's head under the cold water and pushed down on it. Aejiri knew that she was trying to drown her and knew that she would be dead in within a minute.

She kicked and punched at the woman. On the 9th punch, the woman's grip released from her head as she recoiled in pain. "You'll pay for that [&@%!]." as she held her bloodied nose. "No, you will." She retorted as she gasped for air. The woman went to grab her by her head but Aejiri was quicker.

She grabbed the nerco by the hair and forced her head into the water. She applied a lot of pressure to the nerco's head and intended to drown her. The nerco kicked and punched but after a minute, she went limp.

"Too close." Aejiri remarked as she made her way to the quarters.

She woke up the next morning and retrieved her pack. "At least the beds are dry." She commented as she felt the water hitting her from above.

She ransacked the room and took anything that would fit into her pack. From books to potions. It was taken by her.

She spent a few hours creating some potions by using the alchemy lab in the room and said "Okay, let's see what lies below. It's going to be cold. Damn fort is colder inside then it is outside." She approached the flood room with the recently deceased nercomancer and removed her robes.

She dumped her pack on the ground and took a deep breath before plunging into the unnaturally cold waters.

She discovered a closed door. It was locked. She retrieved her lockpick and slowly picked it. It took her 5 attempts. She breached the surface after the failed attempts before attemping it again.

She found an apprentice level enchantment on a set of robes and lots of potions inside the chest within the closet. The robes were soaked but were in excellent condition. She found a bunch of expensive items in the chest in the flooded room and was very pleased.

The fort had proved to be worth the trip and nothing was left untouched by her.

She swam towards Riverwood and continued on foot after reaching the standing stones.

Aejiri woke up in her soft bed. She had been living with Hiri and Jod for the past year and loved every second of it. She knew that they loved her and she loved them back. Under their care, she had gained several new skills.

"Aejiri, breakfast's ready." Hiri called to her adopted daughtered. "On my way ma!" She called back as she got up. "I hope it's salmon with eggs. Nah, we had that yesterday and ma said we're out of them." she told herself as she threw on a green shirt. she walked down the wooden stairs and saw her parents at the table.

Jod was reading the latest edition of the Black Horse courier and Hiri was dishing up the breakfast. Which was porridge with honey and apples. "Smells nice, ma." She said to her adoptive mother. "Thanks dear." She replied.

Aejiri sat down at her usual place and tucked into the meal.

After breakfast. She asked Jod "Pa, can I help you at the forge today?" "Of course." He replied.

"Remember, your reading lesson is at noon." Hiri reminded her. "Yes ma." She replied as she poured herself some water." She had made a lot of progress during the past year. She had gone from struggling to understand the simplest of words to being able to read entire books. Her smithing was constantly improving and her potion making was at a novice level. Not bad for someone who had spent most of their life living under the city.

Aejiri woke up and looked at the cavern wall. "Okay, let's find this and get to Riverwood." She told herself as she got up. "At least that's dry." She said as she looked down at her robed legs.

She picked up her stuff and drank from her flask. She slowly made her way forward and spotted a draugr. She readied an arrow and killed it with one direct shot to the head.

"Not today." She said as she walked towards the natural bridge. She spotted a chest at the bottom of the cavern and walked towards it. She let out a gasp of surprise when the icy water hit her and saw a waterfall. "Why didn't i see that?" she said after moving out of waterfall.

Her robes were fairly wet as a result and had resulted in her being a bit cold. "Just my luck." She muttered as she went to pick the chest's lock. It was very easy and she recovered it's contents.

"Not much but better then nothing." She said as she stowed the items away.

She walked up the path and made her way forward. She took care of any draugr that got in her way by killing them before they saw her.

An hour later, she was down to her last arrow and was in a long hallway. Strange carvings were carved into the wall and at the end of it, a door with a strange mechinism.

"Must be what the claw is for." She said as she wiped her bloodied hands. She had ran foul of another swinging axe trap and had recieved two deep cuts in her back. They were healed afterwards.

She inserted the claw into the holes and saw that it did nothing. She looked at the symbols and realised what she had to do.

"So simple." She said as she moved the symbols to the ones that matched what was on the claw.

The door slowly opened and bats flew out of it.

"At least it's not spiders." She said as she entered the chamber.

A strange wall was at the centre of it and faint chanting was emiting from it.

"What the?" She uttered as she searched for the dragonstone. And helped herself to what was lying around.

She felt herself being drawn to the chanting and placed a hand on the word. "What are you?" She asked it and felt a strange sensation. Something entered her but it did nothing. It felt natural and unnatural. She slowly backed away from the wall and heard a stone lid falling onto the floor.

"oh no." She uttered as she heard a Draugr get up. But this was no mere draugr. this was an overlord. A powerful draugr with the power of the Thu'um. "FUS RO DAH" it shouted.

Aejiri smashed against the wall and let out a cry of pain. "Ow." She said as she got up and withdrew her sword.

The overlord walked towards her and swung it's greatsword at her. She jumped sideways and saw the sword sorching the stone.

"that's worth a lot of septims." she muttered as she got up and casted Oakflesh on herself.

After a very close battle, she recovered the sword from the draugr and the dragonstone. "Just a useless slab. Won't even get a septim for it." She muttered as she shoved the stone into her pack.

"But you and your brothers are worth plenty." She told the greatsword of fire and the axe of frost.

She walked up the stairs and discovered a hidden exit.

She left the barrow and saw she was on a ledge natural edge. "Just great." She muttered as she looked for a spot to climb down.

She carefully navigated her way down the rocks and rested for an hour. "Guessing they are not fans of stairs." She said after eating her lunch,


She walked west and saw Riverwood. However, there was no crossing over to the other side without going throw the river.

"Could just walk futher. Yeah but i rather not do that and doesn't look deep." She said as she sat down and debated with herself what to do for the next half hour.

She removed the hide boots and stowed them in her pack. She slowly walked through the river and was surprised that it was just cold instead of freezing. Her lower half was engulfed by the water but her top half remained dry.

It took her a few minutes to cross the river and she rested on the bank. "Damn these robes." she muttered as she looked at the soaked bottom half of the blue robes. She had nothing else to wear. "oh well, at least i can buy some more today." She said as she got up and walked towards the village of Riverwood.

She purchased a dress at the Riverwood trader and gave Lucan his claw back. But little did she know that the next few hours would change her life forever. For it was foretold that the Dragonborn would return.

"Home sweet home." Aejiri said as she walked up the road to Whiterun. It was night and the weather was calm. Her pack was full of valuable items and she was tired. "Go to sleep as soon as we get home and do nothing." She told herself as she entered the city.

She entered Breezehome and dumped the pack on the table. She took off her hide boots and left them at the door.

She entered her bedroom and fell asleep after getting into the bed after stripping down to her undergarments.

She woke up in the morning and said "Morning." to herself out of habit. She got up and walked down to the kitchen. "What to have for breakfast?" She mused as she looked at her food supply. "Well, apple cabbage soup sounds nice. Let's have that." She said before gathering the ingredients.

It took her half an hour to make and cook the soup. She ate it and thoroughly enjoyed it.

She went up to her bedroom and opened the dresser. "What to wear today?" She said as she looked at her clean clothes. "Maybe a dress? A top prehaps? How about the robes?" she muttered to herself as she looked for something to wear. "This will do just nice." She told herself as she got out a white shirt and a pair of black trousers.

After she had gotten dressed, she walked back downstairs and retrieved her pack.

"Good haul." She said as she emptied the contents on the small wooden table at the back of the house. She got out a parchment and quill afterwards.

"Three fur helmets, 20 iron daggers, 2 iron helmets, 3 steel shins, a horned helmet, an ebony ore, 2 bottles of wine, which i'll keep, fresh bread, carrots, cheese and taters, several soul gems. One common one, more books. All of them to be kept. Plenty of alchemy ingredients, a skull of a troll with two gems in, may just keep that for myself. A lute, should get a fair amount of coin, 3 wolf pelts, a journal, keeping that, mead, may keep it and a silver necklace, already have one but could use it for enchantments, Nah, it's worth selling." She said as she wrote down the contents. "Should make 400 septims today." She said as she placed the stuff she was going to sell into the pack.

The lute was near the door.

She retrieved a fairly big pouch from the pack and took it into the alchemy lab. It contained all of her ingredients. She dumped the contents on teh table next to it and poured herself a drink.

She rolled her up sleeves and spent the next few hours creating potions.

BOOM!

One of the potions blew up but the worst it did was slightly blacken her face. "Note to self: Avoid that combination again. Oh man, it's ruined my favourite shirt. Well one of them." She said as she threw the remains of the potions into the basket.

After a quick lunch of steamed mudcrab legs with honey and venison stew, she put her boots on. "Lydia, just poping into the market after put her knapsack on. Want anything?" She called to her loyal housecarl. "No thanks, my Thane." The woman called back to her from her bedroom.

Aejiri had given her the day off.

Aejiri walked towards the market and encountered Nazeem. "Do you get to the cloud district often? Ah of course you don't." The reguard told her. "Actually, you stupid arrogant insufferable man, I do. I'm just the freaking Thane of the city, slayer of many dragons and bandits.Whereas, you do nothing but constantly tell me that i've not been there when i have. So shut up and stop talking down to people or by Talos, I'll use the Thu'um to shove a fork so far up your arse that it'll come out of your mouth and procceed to do the same." She angrily told him.

She had enough of the insufferable Redguard and walked off before he could respond.

She entered Belethor's store. "Afternoon, Bel." She said to teh Breton. "Ah, what can I do for my favourite dragon slaying customer today?" He said in a welcoming tone. "Buy these items off me." She replied. "Ah, of course. Show them and I'll decide how much they are worth." He told her. She showed him the contents of pack.

"400 septims for the lot." He told her. "Thought so, oh and do you have any silks in stock yet?" She asked him. "Nope. But as soon as I do, i'll send word to you." He informed her. "Take care." She told him and left the store.

She entered Arcaadia's wares. "Afternoon." She said to the Imperial. "Afternoon, Aejiri. Here to buy more potions and ingredients? Also, you look pale, could be ataxia as it's quite a problem back home in Cyrodill." The woman told her. "A bit of both. And I have a lot of potions that you may sell. Oh and I don't have ataxia but I do have this rash. It refuses to go away and i've tried everything." She told the Imperial.

She wasn't lying. She had the rash for a few weeks and all of her knowledge about restoration failed to rid her of it.

"Have you tried rubbing a salve on it?" Arcaadia asked. "I am such a moron." Aejiri said after realising that a salve could rid her of it. "I've got just the thing and because we're friends, you have it for free." Arcaadia told her whilst trying to stiffle a laugh.

After selling the imperial a lot of potions and purchasing a lot of ingredients, Aejiri returned home. She dumped the boots on the floor and locked the door.

She dumped the ingredient pouch in the room with the lab and made herself some supper. It was just tater soup.

She went up to her bedroom and closed the door with the salve in it's small glass vial. "This may sting a lot but it should stop the itching." She told herself as she pulled down her trousers. The rash was big and on her right thigh. "Last time I'm tasting ingredients." She told herself as she uncorked it and poured it into her hands.

She rubbed it into the rash and it stung like Oblivion! She let out a long gasp as she did it. "Why?" She asked herself as pulled up her trousers. "Oh stop being a baby. It'll be gone in the morning." She scolded herself.

She retrieved a few books from her vast collection and spent the next 4 hours reading them whilst consuming a bottle of alto wine. She went to bed around 10pm.

Aejiri woke up. "Morning." She said as she got up from the thin cloth that served as her bed. She scratched her bottom for a few minutes. "I hate this rash. I know but we can't do anything about it." She told herself as she got out a small dead rat. "That is not enough. I know but you need to keep your strength up." She said as she dumped the rat into the makeshift pot.

She lit the fire and a few minutes later, began eating the rat.

After she gathered her sack and rusty dagger, she started her hunt.

She hunted for food twice a week.

She spotted a fat rat chewing on some cabbage and crouched. "Now, that's a meal." She said as she slowly snuck up on it. She killed it by forcing the dagger through it's head. "Rats 0, Me, something something." She said as she chucked the rat into the sack.

An hour later, she came to a room with a deep pool of water. "Careful." She said as she crawled along the thin plank that served as the bridge. She got out a jug and submerged it under the filthy water. "Clean enough but this can't be used much longer." She said as she put it into the sack. "I kno..argh!" She said as she felt a sharp pain in her stomach and felt something damp in her undergarment. She looked down at her leg and saw a bit of blood coimg down it.

"Not now." She said as she tried to crawl away but the plank gave way.

She was plunged into the dirty water and starting to sink. She started to panic as she struggled to keep her head above the water.

"Must get out. Damnit, why didn't I teach mysel.." She said as she sank under the water again. She kicked and moved her arms wildly as she tried to avoid drowning.

Her head breached the surface of the water and she accidentally swallowed a lot of the water. "Help! Oh wait, It's just me." She said as she struggled to keep her head above the water. The pain in her stomach had gone.

After an hour of struggling to keep alive, she eventually made her way out of it. She collapsed onto the hard stone floor and gasped. "THat's....it... teaching...swim." She said as she stared at the ceiling.

She made her way back to her home whilst shivering. She dumped the rats she had gathered in the corner and immediatly went to work on starting her fire.

"So-so co-cold." She stammered before sneezing. It was winter and the sewers were very cold at the time of year. She was used to it but the cold water had taken it's toll on her.

"St-start." She begged the fire as she banged the flints together.

After 20 attempts, she had a fire going and was in front of it. She felt a lot warmer. "Tomorrow, we'll go down to the lake and start our swimming lesson. But it's cold! I know but that was too close. Besides, we may get a few mudcrabs." She told herself and felt a small cramp in her stomach. "The corner now!" She ordered herself as she got up whilst clutching her stomach but it was too late.

"Oh great. Just what I need. But it's probably just a dodgy rat. Okay, clean yourself up and find another pair of garments. Yeah, we're out of them. Remember. How? Well, remember when you tried to wash them? Oh yeah, so what to do? remain in them for the evening or take them off? Or use a bit of cloth to clean yourself up. Okay." She said before looking for a bit of cloth.

She went to sleep after cleaning herself up and after having a supper of rat.

Aejiri picked the lock to the iron gate with a makeshift lockpick and left the sewers. She saw the lake ahead and felt the cold winter wind. "Too cold, i want to go back. No, it's now or drown tomorrow. But I don't wanna. Tough. Besides, there's a mudcrab in it for you. Okay but how do I swim? I think I just move my arms and kick my legs. Try that." She told herself as she walked towards the shore of the lack.

The ground was very cold and it a bit windy but the day was perfect for Aejiri.

She dumped her sack onto the ground and took off the rags that barely covered her body. She dipped a toe in the lake and said "Talos! that's cold. Just get in. And it's clean, I know but it's cold and I don't wanna. Do it or die. Fine, you big meanie!" She told herself as she walked into the lake and stopped when her lower half was submerged in the water.

"C-cold." she said as she leaned forward. She moved her arms forward and kicked her legs. "I'm doing it! I'm swimming!" She exclaimed in delight.

But she started to sink and she returned to her previous spot.

She coughed and said "Okay, try it again." She attempted to swim again.

She sank.

It took her several hours and she was very cold but she had taught herself to swim. Granted, it was very basic and she would struggle to swim more then a few metres but it was better then nothing.

"I-i'm pro-proud of Y-you." She said as she left the cold water. "Now, kill that mudcrab and go home."

She saw a mudcrab nearby and threw herself on it. Using her dagger, she killed it and stowed it's body into her sack.

She put her rags back on and was shivering a lot. "T-time to-to g-go." She said as felt the cold wind assault her.

She returned to her home in the sewers and had mudcrab for supper that day. She enjoyed it but she ended up with a cold due to her time in the lake. It would last months before disappearing.

Aejiri woke up in her modest bed. "Morning." she said to herself out of habit as she got up and went down to the kitchen.

She made herself breakfast, which consisted of Lamb stew and bread with a jug of grape juice.

After washing herself, she put on a pair of black boots and put on a blue outfit, which consisted of a skirt and top. She walked downstairs and unlocked the front door to her stores.

"Today's going to be a good day, i can feel it in the air." she said as she straightened up the staves. She removed the dust from some of the books. Some had been in her shop for almost 2 years. Some were brand new and had been sold to her.

The morning was very busy. She had sold a lot of items and had bought some off travellers.

"Enjoy your stay." She said to a leaving customer.

Three elves entered the store in elven armour. A fourth one entered. He was wearing the robes of the thalmor. A justiciar.

"Do you have a license to sell weapons and staves?" He asked her in a demanding tone. "I do, sir." She said as she retrieved the licenses from a wooden draw.

"There is a new tax on weapons and you are overdue on yours." The Thalmor told Aejiri. "I wasn't informed about this at the guild meeting." She said as she retrieved a pouch of coins from underneath. "Ah, it's not coin we want. All of your weapons and staves are hereby property of the Thalmor. We will arrange for them to be transported to our embassy and you will co-operate with us or face being closed down." The elf told her as he gave her the notice.

"I don't understand, my licenses are still valid and... " Aejiri said before the elf interrupted her. "Silence, woman before i decide you are being unco-operative." He threatened her. "Good day to you." He said before leaving with his men.

"Just great." She said angrily as she threw the paper onto the counter.

An orc entered her store. "Do you have swords for sale?" He asked her. "I don't. Damn Thalmor have banned me from selling them." She informed him. "That's the third store today." The orc said before leaving.

Around 8pm, she closed the shop. It had been a fairly profitable day. She took off her boots as she entered the living room and got out a bottle of Skooma.

She made herself Cyrodiilic Fish steaks with apple pie for supper and ate it. "Here's to being successful." She said before downing the skooma. She felt very happy as she swallowed it.

"Those cats sure know how to make a good skooma." She said as she relaxed. She burst into giggles an hour later and was very happy.

She went to bed at 10pm. Or rather, she had giggled herself to sleep due to the skooma. She loved the stuff but had kept it a secret from everyone.

"Stupid rats. Why are there none? I know, it's because it's winter and we've eaten them all. Oh shut up. You shut up." Aejiri told herself angrily as she trudged through the imperial sewers. "But I'm so hungry. I know but something is bound to come up." She said as she turned the corner.

"Yuck!" the 12 year old nord said after stepping into some imperial waste. "Nice one. Why don't you just roll in the stuff? Yeah let's do that. Oh wait, i forgot, that is disgusting and I'll kill you if you do that. I told you to shut up." She said as she wiped her foot on the stone floor.

She was half crazed from hunger and loneliness.

"Is that a rat? oh, it's just nothing." Aejiri said in a disappointed tone after catching a glimpse of what she thought was a rat. "Pull it together, girl. I am!" She scolded herself before slapping her face. "OW! You meanie! She said.

She eventually came accross a dead imperial. He was fat and had recently died. "So hungry." Aejiri said as she rummaged through the dead man's pockets. "He is fat and we are hungry. What are you saying?" She said as she stashed 3 coins into her cloth that served as her bag.

"That a fat thing would last us months. No, I can't eat him." Aejiri said before backing away in horror at the thought of her own idea. "Fine, starve. Let the rats eat you whilst you can barely lift your dagger. But... I can't. Well, starve to death. I don't think there will be any more rats for a while and he is made of meat. I know but.." The starving child told herself.

She debated with herself for several hours before giving in to the hunger and struggled to drag the man back to her home.

She chopped off large pieces of the man's fat arms as tears silently rolled down her cheeks. The guilt was unbareable but she knew that it was this or starve to death.

She threw the chunks into her makeshift pot and cooked it.

She bit into the warm arm and forced herself to swallow it. She felt very sick as she took another bit of the chunk. "I hate you. I know, dear but we have no other choice." She said as the tears continued to flood down her cheeks.


"ARGH!" Aejiri said as she sat up in her bed in Breezehome.. Cold sweat was all over her body. She was breathing rapidly as she stared in horror at the wall opposite to her bed. She had just remembered her darkest secret. One that she had buried 12 years ago but her recent encounter with Eola had caused it to resurface.

She had been having these nightmares for the past few days. They were always the same. Her resorting to eating that imperial.

Aejiri felt the harsh cold assault her face. "C-cold. T-too... c-cold." She said as she walked towards Winterhold.

The blizzard was very harsh and was unrelenting on the woman.

She forced herself to continue walk through the snow and every inch of her body was shivering. "D-damn t-th-this c-co-cold." She said as she saw a fort in the distance. "P-please b-be fri-friendly." She said as she walked up the road.

She slowly made her way towards it and barely dodged an arrow. An ice spike came flying at her face.

She ducked and ran.

She was too cold to fight and the blizzard was disguising their locations.

After running for a few minutes, she was nowhere near the fort. "N-n-note to-to self, cl-clear out, D-dragonborn du-duty." She said as she shivered. She continued walking and wished that she had chosen thicker trousers and better robes.

The bottom of hers were damp from the snow.

Half an hour later, she saw a building in the distance. "Pl-please be t-that" She said as the bitter cold continued it's assault on her.

She resumed her walk and heard a growl from behind. She froze in fear and slowly turned around to see a bear charging towards her. She got out her steel sword but the cold had dimmed her reactions.

It swiped her to the floor and left two rips on her torso. She could feel her warm nordic blood flowing down her chest.

It proceeded to bite into her left arm and she let out a painful scream. She stabbed wildly at the beast as it bit through her skin.

The bear let go of her arm and slashed her face with it's claws. Then procceed to give her stomach a slash. She screamed out in pain as more blood flowed from her body.

The beast walked towards her face and growled as it looked into her eyes. She knew it was going to kill her but the beast had made a fatal mistake. She rammed her swordi into the beast's head and forced it through into the skull. It collapsed on top of her.

"C-cra-p." She uttered as she slowly felt weaker by the second.

She passed out from blood loss but before she did, she saw two figures walking towards her.

"Talos!, Hrok, give me a hand with her." A male voice said. "She's as good as dead." Another said. "No she isn't. Just because you want to get out of the damn...." She didn't hear the rest.

She felt a soft bed carressing her back and was very warm. She opened her eyes and saw an old nord smiling at her. "Child, I'm glad you're awake. When they brought you to us, I feared that you had died. It brings hope to this old man to see that you are alive." He said as he checked her bandages.

"Where am I?" She asked weakly. "At the College of Winterhold, my dear." the man told her as he changed her bandages. "But please get some rest. Colette informs me that you have a very high fever and several infections. Just rest dear." He told her in a kind, almost fatherly manner. "Who are you?" She asked as she stared at the ceiling. "Tolfdir." He informed her as he poured a goblet of water for her. He lifted her head up and helped her to drink it.

"Aejiri...drago..." She said before passing out. "Poor child." Tolfdir sadly remarked. He hated seeing the young in pain or in an injured state.

Aejiri walked down the stairs towards to the market district. "Do you get to the Cloud district often? Oh what am I saying, of course not." Nazeem told Aejiri. "Nazeem, shut up before I use the voice to send you to akaviri." She threatened him before walking towards the market district.

The market was lively despite the civil war and dragon problems.

Aejiri entered the market and walked towards Breezehome. "Aejiri!" A familiar voice said. "Quintus!" Aejiri said as she walked towards him. They hugged each other.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Came to trade with Arcaadia and learn more restoration potions." He said as he put his arm around her.

"Just that?" Aejiri asked as they walked towards Breezehome. "And to see you, my lovely dragonborn." He said as he gently tapped her on the nose.

They entered the house.

"Lydia, I'm home." She called out to the nord. "Welcome back, my thane." Lydia said as she walked down the stairs. Lydia looked at the imperial and said "So, this is must be Quintus. It's an honour to meet you." as she extended her hand.

Quintus shook it and said "And you must be Lydia. I've heard a lot about you. All of it good." "Quin!" Aejiri exclaimed. "What?" He replied. "She is going to get a big head now." She joked. "At least I'll be able to headbutt your enemies to death." The nord said.

Aejiri took off her boots and Quintus did the same. "Lydia, where are your boots?" She asked the woman. "In my room." She replied. "Lydia, i've told you 100 times, you can keep them in the living room." She told the stubborn nord. "I know but i prefer to keep my stuff in my room." Lydia said as she went to work on setting a fire in the cooking pit.

"Welcome to my home. It's not much. Well, not this one but I hope you like it." Aejiri said to Quintus as she sat down. "I love it!" The imperial said as he sat down in the chair next to her.

They had lunch and spent the entire afternoon chatting. It had been 2 months since they had last talked. Mainly due to her being busy with saving the world.

"Night, my thane." Lydia said as she walked up to her room. "Night." Both Aejiri and Quintus said.

"So, you're going to kill Alduin tomorrow." Quintus said as he rested his hand on her knee. "Yes and..and.." She said before bursting into tears.

"What's wrong?" Quintus said as he got up and hugged her.

"I can't take it anymore! All this. Me being the dragonborn. Everyone looking up to me and expecting me to be this warrior of legend." She told him through her tears.

"There, there." Quintus told her as she held onto him. "Why me? Why must my life be so hard?" she asked him as she sobbed into his shirt.

"I don't know, my love but what I do know is that you are a kind and caring woman. You've been chosen to save the world and I know that deep down, you know that you can do it." He said as he gently helped her up.

"But I don't want to! I just want to be a merchant!" She protested. "And you are. But being the dragonborn is a very big honour and you are an extraordinary woman. Who is very pretty, if you don't me mind saying." He said as he rubbed his right thumb on her cheek in a comforting manner.

"But..but.." She said before succumbing to the tears.

She cried for 2 hours and Quintus finally managed to calm her down.

"Quin, thank you." She said as she wiped her tears on her sleeve. "I mean it. Thank you for everything. You, I don't deserve." she said. "Nonsense. It is I that I don't deserve. Here you are, killing dragons as if they were flies whilst I just worry about the latest potion exploding or not." He said as he rubbed her back. She chuckled.

She looked into his eyes and said "I love you." The imperial smiled and said "I love you too." The two kissed for a few seconds. They kissed again and share a passionate moment together before retreating to her room.

"Are you sure you want this?" Quintus said as he rubbed her foot. "Yes. I mean, i think. I mean you are my love and I love you. It's not that I er.. yes. Just er.." She said before blushing. He chuckled. "But why do you ask?" She asked the imperial. "I want to make sure that our first time together is perfect." He said as he kissed her smooth legs. "Why don't you kiss me here?" She said as she slowly removed her top.


She woke up the next morning and stared into Quintus's eyes. "Morning." She said. "Morning, my love." He replied before kissing her on the forehead. "Thank you for being there for me." She said as she sat up. "There is no need to thank me. I love you and seeing you upset is unbareable." He said as Aejiri got out of bed. "Right, time to kill Alduin." She said causally. "Look at you, the dragonborn merchant." He joked to her.

She threw a cushion at him. They had breakfast together, which was made by Quintus.

After preparing herself for the long day ahead, they made their way to Dragonsreach. They shared a long kiss before she departed on Odaviing. "I love you, Quintus!" She told the imperial as the red dragon carried her towards her destiny.

Aejiri opened her eyes a bit and saw a stone ceiling. She felt a bit weak and parts of her were sore. "Morning my dear." Tolfdir said to Aejiri as he placed a cold wet cloth on her forehead. "W-where...am.....I?" She asked.


Each word sounded like it had travelled from Akaviri. She had been in bed for the past 2 days due to her fever getting worse and her injuries. A bear had attacked her 3 days ago and she barely survived it.

"In the College of Winterhold but please save your strength, my dear." The elderly nord told Aejiri in a caring tone.

"H-how?" She asked. "Aejiri, please don't talk. Just rest." Tolfdir told her as he held the cloth on her hot forehead.

A Dunmer woman entered the room whilst carrying a wooden tray. It had a salve made from the fat of Horkers and a bottle of a restoration potion on it. It also had some fresh bandages.

"Thank you, Brelyna my dear." The nord said to the dunmer. "Is she going to be okay?" The young elf asked Tolfdir.

"Of course, my dear." Tolfdir reassured Brelyna. "But could you help me to change her bandages?" He requested. "Yes." She told him as she placed the tray on a table.

Tolfdir rolled up his sleeves and said "Brelyna, can you please remove the bandages?"

"This will sting for a bit but it will prevent you from getting infected." He told Aejiri. Aejiri nodded and stared into the ceiling.

He picked up the bowl of the salve and began rubbing it into Aejiri's wounds after Brelyna had removed her bandages.

The wounded woman let out an ear splitting scream as soon as the salve touched the wounds and tears flooded down her cheeks within mere seconds. "I am sorry." Tolfdir said as he rubbed the last of the salve into her last wound.

Brelyna wrapped the fresh bandages around whilst Tolfdir opened the potion. "This will keep your strength up." He told her as he gently poured it into Aejiri's mouth.

Aejiri didn't resist and passed out. "Poor girl." Tolfdir said.


Aejiri woke up a few hours later and saw that the room was on fire. She climbed out of bed and fell onto the floor. "Wh-what's ha-happening." She asked herself as she crawled out of her room. She couldn't see anyone inside the hall but saw a lot of skeletons and a dead imperial.

"You! You ate me! How could you!" He exclaimed as he rubbed the missing chunks of his fat arms. "I'm sorry!" She cried as she backed away from him. "But why?" He asked her as he walked towards her.

"Stay back!" She warned him in a scared tone as she backed towards the doors.

She left the hall and saw that entire sky was on fire. Many dragons were circling the tower and the bodies of hundreds, if not thousands of people littered the ground. "No!" She gasped as she got up and ran towards the bridge.

The bridge collapsed and she fell. She screamed as she fell.

She landed in filthy sewer water and saw several bodies of the fat imperial. "I'm sorry!" She cried as she tried to avoid drowning.

But all of this was just a nightmare bought on by her fever.

She woke up gasping for air and was covered in a cold sweat. "Wh..nigh..oh.." She said whilst shaking from fear and realised that she had soiled the bed. "Tolfdir?" She said before passing out again.

It took her a fortnight to fully recover from the bear attack and she was accepted into the College of Winterhold. Where another destiny awaited her.

"Just do it." Aejiri told herself whilst staring at the ceiling in Candle hearth Hall. "But what if he doesn't feel that way? Of course he will. He's kind, charming and cares about you. Yeah but as a friend. What if he doesn't feel that way about me?" She said to herself as she sat up.

She had fallen in love with Quintus of Windhelm during the past few weeks and had yet to inform him of her feelings.

"Good thing we have potions." She said as she picked up her knapsack and went to have breakfast. Which consisted of hot honey Beef with grilled Leeks and a goblet of Alto Wine.

She left the inn and felt the harsh Windhelm cold attack her face. "Damn this hold." She said as she pulled her hood up.

She rarely left the College of Winterhold without her Arch-Mage Robes. And often conducted bussiness for the College. And exploring the odd ruin.

The weather was awful. A blizzard had choosen Windhelm to attack and it was very hard to see in front of you.

"S-so cold." Aejiri said as she marched through the blizzard and the thick snow that had recently formed in the streets of the city. It took her longer then usual but she arrived in the Merchant's district.

"Fresh meat for sale! Get your meat here." "Need a sword for Ulfric's cause? or an Axe?" "I have items for sale! From gems to battleaxes, take a look!"

Despite the awful weather, the market was just as busy as it always was. If not, slightly more lively.

"Damn Grayskins! We should kick them out." A nord said. "They come into our city, eat our food and refuse to help the true High King, Ulfric Stormcloak." He said. "Oh put a sock in it." Another nord said. "That is something a milk drinking Imperial would say." The nord replied. "Oh just shut it and stop sprouting your racist views." The other nord replied before getting punched in the face.

It was a common occurence in the city and the guards always reacted the same way. They would throw the people involve into the city's dungoens for a few days. Unless you were a Dunmer. Then they would take them before the Jarl.

Aejiri approached Quintus(formerly the late Nurelion's) shop and started to feel nervous. "Just do it." She said as she opened the door and entered the shop.

"Morning Aejiri. What can I do for you today?" Quintus said to his friend as she closed the door. "I-i-i.." She said before suddenly losing the power to talk. Why is this so hard? Why can I take on dragons without [&@%!] myself and countless hordes of Draugr but not do this? Talos, i'm a coward She thought to herself.

"I-I-I" she said before falling silent. "Is something wrong?" Quintus asked the nervous woman. "N-n-no." She said before blushing. "I-I...I.." She repeated before feeling something warm moisten her loincloth. "oh." She said. "Aejiri!?" Quintus said in a shocked yet concerned tone as he noticed her having an accident in his shop.

"I..I l-erm.. this?" She said as she felt the liquid running down her legs.

It wasn't that she was scared or had a weak bladder, no. It was that she was very nervous and had a tendecy to have accidents whenever she was this nervous or scared. Her years in the sewers had a major impact on her confidence and this was unknown terrority to her. Deep down, she was still a child. Abeit, a dragon slaying child.

Quintus ran towards the door and locked it before looking at the nervous nord. "Aejiri, what's wrong?" He asked as he watched the woman create a small puddle in the shop. "I..i." She said before bursting into tears.

Quintus hugged her and did not care about getting his feet in the foul smelling puddle. She rested her head on his shoulder whilst crying. "Aejiri please tell me what's wrong?" He said as he patted her back.

"I..I..." She repeated whilst blushing. I'm such a coward and a milk drinker. Why is drinking milk bad though and deemed weak? She thought to herself.

"L-l-lo.." She tried to speak in between the tears before losing her voice. Quintus held her tightly to comfort her. "I love you!" She said quickly before crying harder into his shoulder. "Aejiri, I..." The imperial said as he rubbed her back to comfort her.

"I am glad you feel this way. As I love you too." He said to Aejiri. "You...you... d-d-do?" She cried into his shoulder. "Yes. I apologise for not telling you sooner but I didn't want to risk harming our relationship." He said. "You sh-should have to-told me!" She said as she removed her head from his shoulder and looked into his eyes.

"You are a beautiful woman." He said as he leaned in to kiss her on the lips. Aejiri didn't stop him and felt a lot better as the Imperial's lip met hers. "Thank you." She said before looking down at her own puddle of filth. "I am er... sorry about er..." She said in a very embarrassed tone.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure it was just your nerves and i want you to stay here whilst I'll get you a clean pair of trousers." He reassured her. "But your store? You can't close it just for me." She said. "Too late for that, but i'm sure everyone will make an exception for the dragonborn." He said as he scooped her up. "What are you doing!?" She exclaimed in surprise. "Take good care of you. Now, promise me that you'll keep yourself warm and rest for a bit." He said as he carried her up the stairs.

Half an hour later, Quintus returned to the White Phial and was surprised to see it open. He entered it and saw his new lover at the counter. "That's 100 Septims but in this weather, it is worth every single coin." She said to a customer. "Damn you." The nord said in a joking tone as he handed her 100 septims for a resist frost potion. "Quintus!" Aejiri said in a very happy tone

"Aejiri, i told you to rest." He said as he walked towards her with a pair of new brown leather trousers. he had purchased it in the Grey Quarter and had also picked up a bottle of Surile Brother's wine. "I know but i thought I'll help you. I've already cleaned up the mess." She said as the nord left the store. "Oh and i've hung them up to dry. Sorry about the mess." She said in an embarresed tone.

"Aejiri." Quintus said to her. The two spent the rest of the day together and she gave him all of her potions to him for free. Little did they know that this was the begining of a wonderful relationship and that Mara had conspired to get them together. A few years later, they would tell their children about how they got together.

"And that's how I became the Archmage." Aejiri told Quintus of Windhelm as they walked through the forrest.

The weather was surprisingly nice. The sun was out and there was a bit of a breeze and it was warm. Well, as warm as one can get in Skyrim.

"Aejiri, I.. I don't know what to say." Quintus said as they walked together. "That i'm the luckiest woman alive?" She replied. "Yes." He said as they stepped over a fallen log.

"Quintus, i'm rambling on about myself again aren't I?" She said after realising that she had been talking non-stop about herself since they had left the tavern. "Yes but I love learning about you." Quintus told her as he held her hand as they continued walking through a forrest.

"How's Nurelion?" She asked 10 minutes later of silence. It wasn't that they had nothing to talk about, they both felt it was time to remain silent.

"There's been no change. He's almost dead and all of his potions are of no use." The imperial said as they saw a lake on the horizon. "As it's just old age and he has just given up." He sadly told Aejiri. "I've had people work on the Phial and they can't fix it without the missing piece." She informed him as they approached a shore.

"Beautiful." Quintus said as he took off his large knapsack and bedroll then dumped it on the floor. "Me or the lake?" Aejiri asked. "Both but nothing is more beautiful then you." He told her as he kissed her on the cheek.

They spent the rest of the day talking after setting up a camp for themselves and Aejiri had learned a lot about the imperial.

Later that evening after having a small supper of roasted goat leg with a side of sweetroll and two flagons of mead, they retired for the night.

"Night Quintus." Aejiri said as she went into her tent. "Night my love." He replied as he slipped into his.

Quintus woke up in the morning to find Aejiri hugging him. "Morning Aejiri." He said as he held her tightly. "Morning Quintus." She replied as she rested her head on his shoulder.

She had slipped into the tent after having a nightmare about losing him.

Quintus started to make them some breakfast an hour later after Aejiri decided to let him go.

"What do you want to....do...today?" He asked the nord and froze in fear as he heard the sound of wings flapping.

A roar broke out of the forrest.

"NO!" Aejiri screamed in horror as she ran out of the tent.

"Dragon!" Quintus exclaimed in horror as a dark green one emerged from the forrest. "Quin!" Aejiri exclaimed as she saw the dragon head towards him.

The Imperial had frozen in fear and it seemed that he would end up becoming the dragon's breakfast.

Aejiri threw herself in front of Quintus and cast a greater Ward. The dragon's fire was repelled by her magic and it flew over them.

"Quintus, we need to run!" She told the imperial in a scared tone.

She was scared of losing her lover.

"Er.. right." He said before running towards the forrest. Aejiri joined him after summong a Fire Atronauch.

The dragon chased them through the forrest. It ignited anything that stood in it's way.

Aejiri used her small selection of shouts to stall it but the trees hindered her.

The dragon was catching up to them fast and half of the fire had been turned into a bonfire within seconds.

"Quintus, get out of here!" Aejiri said as the smoke filled her lungs. It burned her and she gagged on it. "N-no." The scared Imperial said. "Get out of here. I'm the dragonborn and it's my duty to kill it." She told him as they ran through the forrest.

"I can't." He told her. "Do it!" She told him. "But.. I.." He said but Aejiri had stopped running. THe dragon had descended on her and he had no choice but to run.

"LEAVE MY BOYFRIEND ALONE!" She shouted at it as she casted Stoneflesh on herself.

The dragon let out a deep laugh as it advanced on her as her skin became as hard as rock. A frost atronauch was summoned and the dragon killed it.

But in doing so, the dragon had let itself get distracted. It heard something flying through the burning remains of the forrest. Dragon's Fire.

Dragon's Fire was Aejiri's elven sword. She had enchanted it with the power of fire and many foes had fallen to it.

She caught it with her right hand and using Greater Ward, she charged towards the dragon. The dragon tried to roast her alive but the ward prevented her from being burnt. She slashed it's right eye and sunk the sword into it's neck.

But it threw her to the side and took off. But the damage was done. She jumped onto it's head and killed it by sinking Dragon's fire into it's skull.

"I really need to go to the Greybeards. Then do it." She told herself as she absorbed it's soul.

She caught up with Quintus and the pair resumed their date.

Aejiri had just recently retired from the role of the Archmage of the College of Winterhold.

She felt she wasn't good enough and had worked with Tolfdir to select a new one.

She had spent the past few months exploring ruins, selling goods. Both goods that she had crafted herself and purchase crafting materials. And killing the odd hostile dragon. It had been 4 months since Alduin had fallen to her. 3 months since Miraak was prevented from returing. She had adopted Luica of Whiterun, Alesan of Dawnstar and Sofie of Windhelm.

She also possessed a house in every city and had achieved something almost unheard of.

Thanedom of every hold.

Aejiri woke up and saw the smiling faces of her adopted children. "Happy birthday!" They said in unison and hugged their adoptive mother. "Thank you children." She said as she gave them a kiss on the forehead. In a motherly manner.

"Let's make you breakfast." She told the children. "We've taken care of it." Alesan told the dragon born. Well, the merchant turned dragonborn turned archmage turned merchant and traveller and mother. Oh and if one were to brag about it, Thane of Skyrim. More or less.

"Did you now?" Aejiri said in a curious manner whilst lucia and Sofie went to retrieve the breakfast from the table downstairs. They returned with 4 bowls of mudcrab soup. "Thank you, Alesan." Aejiri said as she accepted her breakfast.

Alesan used to cook for the miners of Dawnstar.

"Mum, i made this for you." Sofie told her mother and presented Aejiri a circlet made out of flowers. "It's beautiful!" Aejiri told her in a loving tone and put it on her head. "I didn't get you anything." Lucia mumbled and looked at the ground.

"Lucia, it doesn't matter. Just knowing that you are all happy and safe is the perfect gift for me." Aejiri told her daughter.

After breakfast, Aejiri and her family spent the entire morning together.

Lydia had taken a week off. She had informed the Jarl that she had a personal matter to attend to and Balgruuf, being the fair Jarl that he is, allowed her to take leave.

"Then I tickled all of the children!" Aejiri said and began to tickle the children. Meeko was lying on the floor and observing the goings on.

He was fairly young and got a lot of excerise. And the children always played with him.

Someone knocked at the door. "Just a second!" Aejiri said as she stopped tickling Lucia. She walked towards the door but Alesan and Sofie had beaten to her and opened it. "Afternoon Quintus and Lydia." They said together in unison.

"Quinnie!" Aejiri exclaimed in surprise and hugged him. "Happy birthday my love." He said to her as he hugged the woman back. He entered the house and got down on one knee. Aejiri wondered what he was doing and discovered the answer in the next few minutes.

"Aejiri, you're a lovely woman. Every day I wake up, I always think of you. You're caring, brave and always do what is right. Aejiri, will you do me the honour of marrying me?" He asked her as he got out an amulet of Mara. Aejiri fainted.

A few hours later, she woke up and saw her beloved Quintus at her side. "Yes." She replied to the imperial.

He was wearing a very fine outfit.

"Are you okay?" He asked her and didn't realise that she had just accepted his preposal. "Of course I am. You just took me by surprise and the answer's yes." She told him. Quintus hugged her and said "Thank you Jir."

Jir was a nickname he had came up with.

"So this is why you had to leave." Aejiri said to Lydia a few minutes later. "Nope. I had other things to attend to. But he wanted to be escorted to here, so i did." the nord informed her Thane. "Balgruuf is holding a feast in your honour." She informed Aejiri.

An hour later, Aejiri, Quintus and Lydia in Dragonsreach. Her children were at her side and everyone was in their finest clothes.

The feast was large and consisted of every food imaginable.

Aejiri was presented with many gifts from the people of Skyrim. From necklaces to books.

"Maven apologises for being unable to give you this in person." Lydia said as she put a crate full of BlackBriar wine.

"More like doesn't care and trying to bribe me." Aejiri muttered under her breath. "It's wonderful!" She told Lydia.

After more feasting, the companions entered the keep and formed a line. Eorlund Graymane walked towards her and presented her with a fine sword.

"Happy birthday dragonborn. This sword is made from the finest steel and crafted in the Skyforge. The gems are imported from Cyrodiil and it was an honour crafting it for you." He told her. Aejiri accepted the sword and got up.

"Everyone, I am honoured by this feast and your gifts. I... I don't know what to say. But I would like to make an annoucement." Aejiri told everyone.

They were all focusing on her due to her being the guest of honour.

"Me and Quintus are engaged!" She informed the people and was met with thunderous applause.

Everyone started to return home around 1 in the morning. Quintus and Aejiri retired to Breezehome and had entered the bedroom. They were both drunk.

"Aejiri i love!" Quintus said to his dragonborn lover in a drunk tone. "I does too. She told him as she leant forward and kiss him. She felt his hands wrapping around her sides and said "lets give you a gift." in a drunk tone and the pair shared a very late night of passion.

They both woke up with hangovers from Oblivion. Almost all of Whiterun had hangovers.

It is the land of the nords after all. The champions of meaddrinking.