//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Bounties, Odd Jobs, and Lodging // Story: Two Sisters and a Dragonborn // by Spettro138 //------------------------------// The day had rapidly been getting weirder and weirder for Princess Luna. She had found out through various people that she had been transported to an entirely different realm in an ancient land right in the middle of a bloody civil war between three different nations. She also found that her new human friend Ky’ell was an ancient hero that could swallow the souls of dragons. With possible lead on finding her sister finally within her grasp, they must travel together all the way around the tallest mountain in Tamriel  to start their climb up the seven thousand steps from a rural town called Ivarstead, all the way to the summit to a monastery called High Hrothgar. Unfortunately Luna and her new companion were going to have to earn the funds they needed for supplies to make the dangerous journey. Needless to say, she was bewildered and flustered by how complicated her situation to get home has gotten by this strange chain of events. Things were finally beginning to look up, there was finally a hope to find Celestia and return to Equestria. Before she could do all of that, she was going to have to survive her new companions antics. “You are an idiot!” Luna screamed at the man groaning in the water. “Did you have to launch me into the outer atmosphere?” he meekly asked. “You smashed me face first into water while I was splayed out full canary and nearly drowned me!!! you bucking degenerate!!!!” “Don’t you mean splayed out full eagle?” he innocently corrected. “I don’t bucking care, just don’t bucking do that again you degenerate idiot!!” she screamed at the man. “Alright, alright, jeez, sorry,  I didn’t know you were such a buzzkill.” he said slightly annoyed. Ugh, I suppose I will have to take that as closest thing enough to an apology from this moron, she thought as she rubbed the bridge of her snout. “So, where exactly are we going for this bounty?” Luna asked while inspecting her regalia and crown for damage. “Uhhh, let me consult the map.” he quickly said while pulling out a large rolled up piece of parchment out of thin air from behind him. He unrolled the map and held it up to the light for Luna to see. “Shouldn’t...that....thing....be...soaked?” Luna whispered to herself bewildered. “Hm? Oh, yeah the location. Let’s see where we’re going for our first bloody kill.” he replied with glee. As Ky’ell was scanning the map, Luna noticed how detailed his map was compared to the map in Dragonsreach in their tactical room. Thousands of locations in Skyrim appeared to be sprinkled all over the map. There was something different about it though. Only a handful of locations in the southwest portion of the map were legible with clear symbols representing them. Everything other location appeared to be blurred out and illegible as if the map was tampered with. Concentrating closely, Luna found a faint magical aura surrounding the document. “Aha!” Ky’ell cried. “That Silent Moons Camp something or other should be right about here.” He pointed with his index finger to one of the blurred out locations on the map and a tiny drawing of an arrow suddenly appeared right over the spot where he pointed. He pointed to one of the blurred out locations on the map and a tiny drawing of an arrow suddenly appeared right over the spot where he pointed. Then, much to Luna’s confusion, a transparent grey bar appeared a foot in front of  Ky’ell’s face. “Where did you get that map Sir Ky’ell?” Luna asked. “Hm? Oh, this?” he replied raising the map to confirm her question. “I got it off of one of those Thalmor douches while escaping from Helgen. Think she was some kind of general. I don’t think she liked it when I sneaked up on her and felt her up for her “backpack”. I just assumed all magical people could pull large stuff out from behind them.” “Oooo-kay, so what is that then?” Luna asked while  pointing to the bar with the arrow. “Oh, this? I’ve always had this. Think its some kind of magic. Or a perpetual trip from being briefly exposed to Pa’s Moon Sugar, take your pick. It always seemed to help me as a kid. Keeps me focused. I guess since you can see it too I can call it magic. Nobody else seems to see it.” he explained innocently. “You are possibly the strangest stallion I have ever met.” Luna utterred under her breath as she shook her head. “Anywho,” he concluded as he rolled his map back up and placed it back into what Luna remembered being described as his inventory. “Let’s go hunt some bandits.” They made their way past Gildergreen and down the steps towards the marketplace once again down into the Plains District. People swarmed the marketplace and appeared to be on edge as they hurriedly bought out much of the inventory in each of the vendors. Luckily, they seemed to have no problem restocking as they had extra crates and barrels of their products on hand. Ysolda waved hi to the two of them as they passed on through the busy center of commerce. There were a few people who hung around the still appeared to give Luna a suspicious glare despite her new honorary title within Balgruf’s court. Ky’ell noticed her discomfort at their glares and moved to her left side to block her from their sight and proceeded to glare back. His own death glare appeared to work as they went about their business in the marketplace. Before they exited the entryway gates of Whiterun, one of the guards gave Luna and Ky’ell an earful about many potential bounty opportunities within the hold, each sounding more and more dangerous than the last. One of them involved slaying a small group of giants who were attacking local farmers, and another involved hunting down what was described as a pale wrinkled blind gremlin that was seen in a cave east of the city. Luna knew that she couldn’t spend too much time on many various missions just to get the necessary funds that they needed for weapons, so she hoped that this bounty would provide them with the means to get the bare essentials.  Luna politely thanked the guard for his information and walked on through the gates with Ky’ell out into the vast pastures of the hold of Whiterun. The sky still seemed to be covered in a generous blanket of fluffy silver rain clouds that could start raining at any moment. A gentle cold breeze quietly whispered across the valley quietly singing its melodious song to the many animals and people passing across the rivers and grasslands.  A sizeable layer of tule fog blanketed the embankments of the stream leading out of the city, hiding any indigenous local fauna that lived by the water. As they walked along the cobblestone road, a few mud crabs scuttled alongside the muddy portions an oxbow pond where the stream overflowed. One of the smaller ones quickly dove into the mud as the duo approached, trying to use its carapace as camouflage. Eventually they came to a side road which turned somewhat north where the base of a small mountain range with a small layer of snow a few hundred feet, or hooves up in her case was beginning to become visible. Many of the indigenous wildlife crossed their paths, some even looking familiar to Luna. While passing a road sign with the names of various cities, a giant stone structure in the distance came into view sitting at the base of the mountain range. It seemed to be built right into the hillside as a few wide pairs of stairs lead all the way to the top towards a dome shaped ruin. She noticed that he didn’t immediately go straight into the ruins. He knelt down on top of a rock on a ridge somewhat above the ruins where they were able to see a few of the bandits patrolling the stairs leading into the dome at the top and the entrance at the base of of the structure. As she approached her enigmatic companion, Luna noticed something different about her opponents demeanor as the smile on his face disappeared. Suddenly, he silently turned back towards her as if he was about to ask for something. “Uhh, yes Sir Ky’ell?” Luna asked. “Are you a good shot?” he bluntly asked. “Yes, we are. We are the best in our land” she replied. “Good. Shoot towards that storage shack on the outer rim of the ruins.” “What exactly are thou planning Sir Ky’ell?” she questioned. “Just do it.” he coldly replied. Curious to see what he had in mind, she pulled out her bow and an arrow and scanned the ruins for what Ky’ell was describing. After a few seconds, her eyes came upon a stone hut of sorts just outside the perimeter of the ruins. Breathing in deeply she pulled back the string of her bow and took aim at the hut. Letting loose of the string, the arrow flew and hit its mark. Ky’ell tapped her with his elbow and pointed to one of the bandits walking up and down the stairs. “Watch this, these guys are retards” he said with a smirk. As if he knew what was going to happen, one of the guards looked in the direction of the hut and seemed to be drawn to the sound of the arrow impacting on stone. The bandit pulled his sword out of of its sheath and slowly made his way down the first flight of steps. Waving his hand, Ky’ell gave Luna the signal to follow him. He got back on his feet and ran around to the left towards where the hut was staying just out of the line of sight of the guards scanning the ruins. Luna followed closely behind carefully following his lead. When they got close to the hut, Ky’ell signaled Luna to stop and be quiet as he whisked his hand across his neck. They could hear the guard checking the contents of what sounded like a chest opening. Ky'ell crouched down low to the ground and snuck into the hut while the guard was busy helping himself to the mead stashed away in the barrels. The bandit appeared to be younger than most, with just a little bit of hair growing on his face, but old enough to be recruited. He suddenly stood up with an irritated look on his face and smashed the bottle on to his head knocking the young  bandit out instantly. “Wait another year kid. The buzz is a lot better at the permitted age.” he quipped at the unconscious bandit. Luna walked in to the hut while staying low to the ground and quickly scanned the boy Ky’ell knocked out. “Don’t worry, the little duder ain’t dead, just on a first class ticket to sleepy land for a while.” “Good.” she said with a hint of relief in her voice. “But I must ask, what is a young colt doing allying himself with ruthless brigands like these?” “Probably a runaway,” he replied with a shrug. “Some kids think they got it rough even with their lavish lifestyles and think, “hey, maybe  a gang like this will understand me and take care of me a lot better.” Hopefully this little nap will get him to think otherwise.” Luna looked at him and gave him a kind smile. Perhaps there is more to this foolish stallion than I first assumed, she thought. After leaving the young bandit up against the wall of the hut, Luna and Ky’ell pushed on forward and up the stairs of the stone steps towards the dome, trying to take out each bandit without alerting the rest. Unfortunately, in broad daylight their stealth wouldn't last long. One of the guards ended up slipping away down a hatch to alert his chief when Luna and Ky’ell weren't looking. As they made their way into the dome, they had to crouch down to avoid being spot by the three bandits inside to be able to get the jump on them. Circling around the first passageway, they tried to stay as close as possible to the wall without being seen. Suddenly, Ky’ell accidentally knocked into the side of the wall, causing his armor to clank against the stone of the passageway. “What was that?” one of the guards asked startled. “Go check,” another replied. Luna and Ky’ell looked at each other with nervous looks as they heard the sliding of metal followed by footsteps. Luna Ky’ell then motioned for her to quickly go back the other way before they were spotted. Luna nodded as they carefully and quickly scuttled across the passageway back outside. When they made it outside, Ky’ell breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to Luna and leaned towards her ear as to not alert the guards with any more discernable sounds to their presence. “Try going around to the other side Loony, I’ll go back this way and drop that baddie,” he suggested. “Wouldn’t it be quicker just to rush the knaves and get this over with quickly? We really must finish the other request we were given and get up to High Hrothgar as soon as we can.” she silently replied. “Aw, but that wouldn’t be fun. I like being all stealthy. I wanna do that funny stealth neck knocking thing I’ve seen the other bandits do with the handles of their battle axes,” he whined. “Honestly Sir Ky’ell stop acting like a foal, we are in the middle of a bandit stronghold and the longer we stay here, the longer we risk being caught.” “Aw, you’re no fun. Think of it this way then, the stealthier we are, the less likely we are to be caught. I need to level up my Sneak anyway to get the next star in my constellation anyway,” he replied nonchalantly. “What does the buck does that even mean?” she asked annoyed and confused. “A little late for stealth I’m afraid,” two gruff voices snarled from behind each of them. Luna leaned over to find one of the Nord bandits aiming his hunting bow at Ky’ell from a few feet away. Ky’ell also noticed a guard pointing his sword right at Luna’s neck “Tell you what, why don’t you just start running, so I can shoot you in the back?” one of the bandit replied with a crazed look in his eyes. “I'll give him an even better offer than that. Give us your delicious looking companion and we’ll let you live,” the other bandit behind Luna added. Suddenly, he pushed Luna to the side as he expelled a Thu’um, knocking the bandit on to his feet. Taking this opportunity, Luna used her magic to string an arrow and fire it at the other bandit before he could string his own. The arrow met its mark piercing his throat, causing him to gurgle as he drowned in his own blood. Ky’ell leaped up on to his feet and rushed the guard as he was beginning to stand up, pushing him down the stairs. Luna winced as she saw each impact and even gripped her neck with both hands when she heard a fine crunch. They continued into the dome and quickly dispatched the last guard before examining each of the treasures in the center of the structure. The center room appeared to be a forge of some kind, with all of the essential equipment needed for various pieces of armor and weaponry. While most of the equipment appeared to be relatively new, the forge itself however, appeared to be ancient, despite its basic construction. Many various iron and steel ingots were neatly stacked in a corner next to a barrel full of steel swords. “It appears that they were using this place to manufacture swords. There are too many here for just this small group of bandits,” Luna observed. “Oooh! You think we’ll be running into an enemy army? I wanna use that blue burp to mow people down,” Ky’ell happily inquired. “Let’s just finish off the rest of these ruffians down below and return to Proventus to seek out our last task.” she replied sheepishly. “Ooh! Look! Why are those weapons glowing green?” Ky’ell said as he looked past her. Luna turned around to find a large wooden shelf with various iron swords and axes glowing an eerie iridescent green. The glows seemed to pulse from inside each weapon. Luna sensed a familiar magical aura emanate from them as she picked one of the axes up. Suddenly,  as soon as the handle of the axe touched her hand, the glow of the axe illuminated its light brighter. The enchantment that appeared to be on the axe felt extremely similar to her own magic. She looked up and found a book on the armor table with an emerald green cover titled “Notes on the Lunar Forge”. “Did you find something Loony?” Ky’ell said as he fooled around with the petals on the grinding stone. “Perhaps it might be a good idea to keep these weapons for later, I feel like it may benefit us later if I discover the enchantment behind these weapons.” she replied as she placed the glowing axe and book into her backpack. "What about that chest?" Ky'ell asked. "Well, let us see." Luna said as she went over to the large bronze chest on the other side of the room and opened its lid to reveal the contents within. Inside lay a few various unique items. One of the weapons appeared to be a golden axe with a curved handle and blade with a head that resembled an eagle's head. Another appeared to be an iron warhammer that illuminated with an ominous red glow and felt warm to the touch. Ky'ell took the liberty to place it across his back should they ever have use for it Off to the side of the chest lay a few large bottles of Stamina Potion that Luna quickly pocketed before emptying the remainder of the chest's contents. “Say, how do we get into their hideout?” he asked as he was zipping all over the place, tapping on every stone  in the room. “Most likely not how thou are doing it Sir Ky’ell.” she replied awkwardly. “I think there was a door at the bottom of the pyramid. Mayhaps we will find our quarry within.” “You talk funny, but groovy! Let’s get some gold!” “I do not talk funny, idiot,” she uttered under her breath as she rolled her eyes. After a little bit of walking, they finally made it down to the old wooden door at the bottom. Once inside, they came face to face with a swarm of bandits who were waiting to ambush the duo in a large store room with a fireplace lighting up the chamber. They had to briefly surrender as they were lead to a passageway off to the right deeper into the cave to meet the chief of the bandit group. The bandits temporarily subjugated their weapons and belongings as they were held at sword and arrow point. Even Luna's crown and necklace were taken off by one of the greedier members of the bandits, much to her rage. I can’t do a thing. Damn it all. Being banished here must have disturbed my inner magical pools.  Once my magic fully returns to me, these fools will be nothing more than gooey crimson blood stains upon the earth, she thought as she painfully tried to ignite her horn. “You’ll be dead soon Nord, but don’t worry. We’ll take REAL good care of your horse woman. Right boys?” an orc bandit said menacingly. The rest of the bandits chuckled with malice as they continued to lead the duo deeper into the narrow passageways of their camp. As the path began to slope downwards further into the pyramid, Luna noticed something different about this part of the cave. Part of the corridor's ceiling closer to the bottom was covered by a thick wooden panel. It seemed to run down the slope for about 10 feet until it came to stop at the bottom where the floor leveled out. Looking for anything that might help in their escape, she scanned the walls for any weakpoints in the supports along the cave walls. Hidden in the shadows at the bottom, she could barely make out what appeared to be a strand of twine tightly strung across the floor and through some kind of pull lever mechanism. Getting closer to the bottom of the slope, she decided to take a chance and throw Ky’ell down and trigger whatever the wire would activate. “Hey, I’m not a pillow you know!” Ky’ell cried in a disoriented daze as he stumbled, tripped over the wire, and hit his head against the rock wall at the bottom. Luna dove forward as the mechanism activated, opening the panel in the ceiling. A barrage of rocks came raining down killing most of the bandits and seriously injuring others, each of the rocks impacting and ricocheting off of each other with a chorus of thunderous bangs. Luna pulled a briefly dazed Ky’ell down the adjacent corridor to safety while the rest of the boulders tumbled out of the crevice. When she finally heard the rocks stop falling, she peeked around the corner to find most of the bandits crushed underneath. “Hey Luna, that was stupid and AWESOME! But can you please not make me french kiss a cave wall next time you have a plan? I don’t think she’s the right woman for me,” Ky’ell quipped. “Believe me Ky’ell, we will be doing thou’s fair lady a favor once we rid her of these brigands from her passageways.” Luna then raised her eyebrow in confusion as Ky’ell began to hold back a laugh. “What?” “Oh, I’ll tell you later,” he replied dismissively as he spoke through his hand. After helping Ky’ell back up onto his feet, they retrieved their bags and weapons from the now deceased group of bandits including Luna's crown and regalia. To which she was relieved to find undamaged. They then continued on through the cave treading lightly for any more guards or tripwire traps. Along the way they came across a few various bottles of potion and poisons of some sort that she carefully dropped into her backpack. On one table, she found a weathered book with an orange cover and an emblem that bore a striking resemblance to a tree losing its leaves. Seeing as it looked like one of the spell books in Farengar’s collection, she decided to save it for the time being. Propped up against a wall, she also found a quiver filled with 100 steel arrows. She happily took the quiver and placed it next to her own. Before they passed into the next passageway, Luna held her hand to signal Ky’ell to stop. Her ears moved around as if searching for a sound, which caused her to quickly pull out her bow and one of her new steel arrows. Ky’ell then crouched down to the ground to not make any noise as Luna peeked around the corner...and found the Bandit Chief unarmed with his back facing the passageway. To say she was confused was an understatement. She had expected the chief to be full decked out in thick armor and waiting for the two of them to come charging in. There was no way in Tartarus that he couldn’t have heard the trap being activated. Instead, he was talking to himself about turning wood into gold and how he should kill his former girlfriend. She turned back to Ky’ell and gave him an exaggerated face of disbelief while pointing at the bandit chief. Ky’ell simply gave an exaggerated shrug back as Luna rolled her eyes and  proceeded to nonchalantly string the bow, carefully aim and shoot the chief right through the back. The blow instantly killed the chief as his lifeless body collapsed on to the floor of the cave. “That was hilariously easy,” Ky’ell said incredulously. “Very. But at least, we can finally start heading back towards Whiterun.” They searched the room the chief was inhabiting and found more various potions and sacks of gold before moving on to the next corridor. The bandit guarding the corridor was easily killed with a single well placed block and stab executed by Ky’ell. The door he was guarding lead into the final room of the camp. It was a massive brick and mortar room with chests and shelves lining the circumference of the room. Many various objects of varying size and shape occupied the space on each of the shelves. A ladder in the middle of the room extended up to the ceiling where a trap door was placed, presumably leading to the outside. “Jackpot! We found more loot!” Ky’ell cried with delight. “Perhaps we should try to return some of these stolen items to their rightful owners” Luna thought out loud. She looked back towards Ky’ell and immediately scowled in annoyance as he was paying more attention to the contents of one of the chests instead of listening to her. The top half of his body was deep in one of the chests as she could her him rummaging around “SIR K’YELL!” she barked in her Canterlot voice “Hm? Who? What?” he asked as he pulled out two bags of coins. “Please pay attention, we need to gather the last of the stolen items before we return to Whiterun.” she snapped. “Alright, alright. Pocket these first,” Ky’ell replied as he threw the sacks of gold at Luna. Luna yelped as she barely managed to catch the heavy sacks and shrieked as she fell backwards from trying to hold up the sack of jewels and coins. After helping Luna back up on to her feet, Luna placed the sacks into their steadily growing backpack of items. They secured the last of the stolen goods, including a Steel axe and sword glowing with the same enchantment from the forge outside before they ascended the ladder to escape the camp to the outside world. Ky’ell opened the trapdoor and crawled out into a secret exit of some kind that was blocked off by a gate of sorts. “I do hope there is a way to open that,” Luna stated as she pulled herself out of the trap door and on to her feet. “Maybe that pull chain over there does something?” Ky’ell suggested. Luna walked over to the chain and grunted as she had to pull it all the way across the room before letting go. The chain rapidly wound itself back into the hole it came from and whipped around as it did so. They could hear a mechanism activating as the gate opened up, allowing them to pass back outside. Before doing so, they cleared out the other chest in this closed off room of all of its goods. Ky'ell found a banded iron shield that he gleefully replaced with his old beat up iron shield. As they went back outside into the open golden fields of the hold of Whiterun, Luna noticed that it was now late in the afternoon. The duo slowly began their walk back to the city of Whiterun as a strong wind began to brew across the plains. The gale seemed to make the continuous rain fall down even faster as the little ice cold droplets of  water whipped against their faces like little teeth digging into their fur and skin. The clouds seemed to respond to the winds as they swirled in the sky like a monstrous maelstrom. As the weather grew stronger, Ky’ell began to notice that Luna was staring into space as they were walking down the road. He wanted to help out with anything that he could but he figured that she would reveal whatever it was to him sooner than later. “You think it might be a good idea to think about finding a place to sleep Lun? This rain looks like its gonna be a big meaner tonight.” “Huh? Oh...yes, perhaps….” she said very distantly. “Worried about somethin? Or someone?” Ky’ell asked. “.....Yes. My sister," she hesitated to reply. "Ever since we were small, she has always been stronger than me in every way.Ever since the recent attack on our castle by...one of our tribes, I am afraid my long banishment has hurt her. I hurt my sister and now she has to pay even more for my mistakes. From what I understand, my absence seriously hindered her magical abiity. Thankfully though, there have been no serious attacks until I returned.” “You were banished? And why does your sister need you that much? Wait. Just what...kind...of….relationship do you have with your sister exact-” Ky’ell started with a devilish grin. “Let me explain before I “slug thee” for completing that sentence.” Luna interrupted with barely contained rage as a vein was beginning to become visible in her temple. “My sister and I have a unique symbiotic magical connection. Our duality requires us to be in somewhat of a close distance to one another for our magical potential to be at its peak. And when I was in...exile for an extended period of time, our separation hindered both of our magical capabilities, allowing her to be vulnerable to attack to threats from the other...tribes.” "And one of these tribes attacked her I am assuming?" he asked politely. "...Yes, during my niece's wedding. She and I were virtually powerless to stop the invasion. I was sealed in my room and Celestia was brutally defeated and imprisoned by their Queen," she all but spat out. "Alright, I guess I'm followin along okay, but what's up with this...banishment?" Ky'ell innocently asked. "Ya seem a'ight. What could you have done to deserve banishment?" Luna then stopped in the middle and her breathing became shallow for a moment. Many bad memories popped into her head recalling everything from THAT time. A time that she would like to forget with every ounce of her being. She breathed in deeply and exhaled to relax herself before continuing onward. "Maybe another time Sir Ky'ell," she replied softly. Ky’ell decided to drop the subject for now, but he knew that he had to eventually get to the bottom of whatever in her past was troubling her. For now though, they had to focus on finding a place to sleep for the night as the dark thunderclouds began to rage overhead with thunder rumbling like a beating drum. They walked in silence for another half hour back to the city, passing various traders and farmers who were fastening down their goods and covering them from the intense winds. The duo finally arrived back at Whiterun’s front gates. The guards there immediately recognized their Thane and Lady as they happily allowed them entry once again back into the city. The doors opened as they were once again greeted to the friendly sights of Whiterun as the covered torches illuminating its streets flickered and sizzled in the pouring rain. Luna was beginning to feel chafed and discomfort from the rain as it was soaking her clothes underneath her armor. They looked straight ahead past the marketplace and saw The Bannered Mare at the end of the street. The main street of Whiterun appeared to be completely empty, save for the guards standing steadfast at their nighttime posts. Luna and Ky’ell slowly made their way down the street while contemplating the many various things that had happened in that day alone. Luna and K’yell finally arrived at the inn’s front door and opened the door to the warmth inside. A blast of warm air hit Luna’s face as the first sight she came into contact with was an inviting fire in the middle of the inn’s main dining room. The fireplace was accompanied by two adjacent benches that were completely occupied by many of the towns traders. The far side of the room seemed to be filled with smaller tables like those Luna had seen among Canterlot’s various cafes. They were also fully occupied by travelers and local residents enjoying scrumptious looking food and ale, including a woman in steel armor watching the whole room from her corner. A bar made up the south side of the building with an elderly woman passing out food and pouring various drinks. As they stepped across the threshold of the door and fully entered into the inn, everyone looked at Luna and Ky’ell and left the building with an awkward silence for a solid minute. Ky’ell could tell that Luna was beyond uncomfortable receiving this kind of attention by the way she was trying to look away and avoid eye contact with anyone. It was beginning to concern him when she began to shake as she tried hiding her face under her long blue hair. So he did what he knew how to do best. Draw a lot of attention to himself. “What? Do I got something in my teeth? Did spontaneously grow a wart? You know staring is only appropriate on the third date.” he quipped. His antics seemed to work as every person in the room went back to their conversations, drinking and eating except for a bearded man wearing Iron Armor who was sitting by the fire. He continued to gaze up and down at them, not entirely sure what to make of them. Luna still seemed to be shaken up as she was still shaking from behind her shimmering sapphire blue hair. He gently grasped her hand and pulled her over to the bar with him. The old woman behind the counter was busy cleaning up the silver tankards and plates that were stored there. Ky’ell cleared his throat in a semi-polite way to get the woman’s attention which seemed to work as she looked up and immediately gave a glowing smile as her eyes fell on the two of them. “Ah! You must be the new Thane of Whiterun and the newest honorary Lady of the court I have heard so much about in these past hours.” the woman happily said. “Yeah, I’m Ky’ell and this is Luna.” Ky’ell said as he introduced them. “Well it is a real pleasure to meet you two. I am Hulda, the innkeeper of The Bannered Mare,” she replied. “Now, how can I help you?” “Lun and I need a place to stay for the night. We need to get out of this armor. Its chafing in unexpected places.  You wouldn’t happen to have a room available would you?” he asked hopefully. The woman held a neutral face for a few seconds before the smile returned to her face. “Of course. Anything for the heroes of our city. You can have the Nobility Suite for as long as you want.” “How much for the night?” he asked as he pulled out a bag of coins and fiddled around with them. “Oh, don’t be ridiculous. Its on the house dearies. You two look like you need it.” she waved off. “Especially you Princess. You look so miserable in that armor sweetie. I’ll have Saadia bring up some fresh food and water while Ysolda will provide you two with warm clothes to sleep in for the night.” "...Thank you Miss Hulda." Luna replied softly. “You are very welcome your majesty,” she said with a curtsey. “Now, let’s get you to your room”. “Ysolda! Show our guests to the Nobility suite.” Hulda shouted. The woman in question was drinking a small tankard of ale at a corner table when she saw the duo and happily got up and walked over to them. “Hello again! It is good to see that you haven’t left yet.” Ysolda happily greeted. “Let me show you to your room.” Ysolda lead the duo through a side door which lead into a kitchen where a dark-skinned woman was busy cooking various food items. The woman seemed on edge as soon as she layed eyes upon Ky’ell and Luna, but the two of them ignored it. Ysolda then lead them up a staircase which gave way to a short walkway to a few various doors. Ysola took a silver key out of her pocket and used it on one of the more ornate doors. The door opened to reveal a clean, well furnished room with a large queen-sized bed. Ky’ell looked relieved as he took off his backpack, dropped it on the floor and jumped face first on to the bed. "Oh sweet rolls, maybe I should just lay here. I have sore spots on top of my sore spots," Ky'ell mumbled while his face was buried in the sheets. "Before you do that, I will have Saadia quickly finish your food and bring it up to you. I will provide the both of you with clean, suitable clothes for the night. Luna did the same as she placed her own satchel and weapons into a nearby chest, quickly got out of her armor, and sat down in one of the plush chairs right by the bed. As the rain battered down on the roof overhead, her mind was blazing with man various thoughts about all of the many events that had occurred in the last 24 hours. Becoming a member of a royal court in an unknown land, meeting her new companion, Fighting and killing a ferocious fire breathing dragon, and finding out her companion was an ancient chosen hero foretold in a prophecy. She had a lot to deal with that was going to make finding Celestia that much harder. "Do you really think that the Greybeards will have any clue as to the whereabouts of my sister?" Luna asked. "Probably. Who knows? They live on the tallest mountain in the world "supposedly" and their powers "supposedly" are able to see everything and keep the balance of the world...or somethin. I dunno, I hardly payed attention to them. Ass-ennici's voice was so ball-gradingly annoying." he replied. After two days of nonstop stress, exhaustion, and screaming, the final piece of straw finally broke the camel's back. Luna grasped her stomach from uncontrollable laughter as she rocked in her chair. Ky'ell turned his head in confusion for a moment but put on a smile as he turned back to the bed to bury his head in the sheets once again. Her laughter went on for two solid minutes before she was finally able to calm down. "I think I needed that," she admitted. "This whole thing has done a number on my patience and health that I almost forgot what it was like to feel a pleasant emotion." "Always glad to help out!" Ky'ell replied with a muffled yell. Down in the kitchen, while the redguard woman was cooking Ky'ell and Luna's meal, she silently moved to the wall behind the staircase leading to the second level and pulled out a section of the wall, revealing many various documents, quills, scrolls, and canisters, all of which were engraved with the image of a golden eagle with its wings fully opened. She pulled out one of the pieces of paper and wrote down a message. Two strange people have arrived to Whiterun. One is supposedly an ancient Nord hero called the Dragonborn and the other claims to be a Princess from an undiscovered land and species. The both of them slayed a dragon. Will await your orders for further instruction. All hail the Dominion The woman then folded up the message and placed it in her dress for later before getting back to finishing her guests meal. Next time... With Luna and Ky'ell: "Looks like we finally got everything, let us begin our trek towards the mountain." Luna said. "WAIT!" Ky'ell yelled. "WHAT???" "...I forgot my sweet rolls" he replied innocently. With Celestia: "Are you alright? Why were you in that ritual circle?" Celestia asked. K.M: "Hell if I know, I was trying to escape another crazy necromancer bitch when I ended up here."