//------------------------------// // Chapter 19: Tensions at Riverwood and A New Quest // Story: Two Sisters and a Dragonborn // by Spettro138 //------------------------------// Needless to say, everyone was distraught and annoyed in their own ways. Some hiding their irritation at lot better than others. After so much walking and expecting to find their first significant quarry in the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, they found a note in the cavernous ancient Nordic tomb of Ustengrav. The note was incredibly vague, but it appeared to be a message from the individual that had taken the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller. The fact that they knew where it was at the very least was besides the point for them. Walking and fighting for two days on end just to reach Ustengrav from Whiterun was exhausting and the absence of their objective that they spent so much work to find created a variety of mixed emotions from the party. Katia and Luna were the most enraged of the bunch, throwing things and breaking ancient objects all over the tomb. For a moment, Celestia had to calm Luna down just to keep her from blowing up the tomb. Ky'ell and the sun princess in question were more weary and tired than irritated that they would now have to trek all the way back across Skyrim and up the Throat of the World one again just to deliver a horn. "Look. All we can do at this point is bite our tongues and go to this Riverwood to see what this is about." Celestia stated begrudgingly. "I urgh, concur sister. However, the fact remains that this could very well be a trap." Luna replied. "If we are to go into anywhere, we should probably make sure we have an advantage over our potential opponents." Katia stopped her rampaging for a moment to stop and try to calm her own nerves. "So what? Come up the back way?" Katia asked still clearly angered. "Prolly yeah," Ky'ell shrugged. "If we find a carriage, maybe we can pay them to take us to Riverwood down the East Road." "I would imagine that if people still think this area is surrounded by dense swamps, heavily guarded necromancer fortresses and bandits, that would be highly unlikely to find around here." Katia added. "We shall just have to leave this area then. The bandit tribe at the bridge has been dealt with, so we shouldn't have too much problems going back the way we came." Luna concluded. Making their way out of Ustengrav, they watched their step, so as to not accidentally activate any traps. The door into the tombs, they locked tight with a key Katia had found in the main treasure room so that nobody could ever risk disturbing the Draugr there ever again. The group trudged back through the muck, slime, and sludge of the swamps towards Morthal where they voted to sneak around the village through the trees in order to avoid any more confrontation with any of the town's people. Katia nearly gave away their position when her expressive tail kept knocking over crates and slapping into the sides of houses. "Can you do something about that monster?" Ky'ell urged motioning to her tail. "My own monster doesnt whack into that many things." Celestia held in a snicker while Luna raised an eyebrow at the man. "May we refrain from the vulgar comments please?" Luna whispered while rolling her eyes. "Sorry," Katia whispered back sheepishly. "This think kinda moves on its own." "Can you tuck it into your armor or something?" Ky'ell asked. Grabbing her tail, she carefully wrapped it around her waist to keep it from moving around. She kept it loose enough so that she would not be painfully pulling on it every time that she simply moved around. "That's gonna get sore REAL quick if we can't get out of this crazy town in a few minutes," Katia added. "We should be out of here soon. I do wish to return to help these people with their monster problem, but unfortunately our own world must come first. We have already wasted enough time being lost and coming here falsely." Luna stated. Suddenly, two patrols with torches on either side started coming their way. They didnt want to be caught sneaking around in a town that was already on edge, so they tried their best to come up with a solution. Looking around, Katia found an old bucket a hundred feet away which gave her an idea on how to draw their attention away. Reaching out to the Aetherial plane, she sensed the unseeable matrix of magic, and activated it. She lifted the bucket with her telekinesis and shook it around all over the place, knocking things over and hitting people with it. Sure enough, the two patrols heard the commotion and moved away, allowing the party to continue on in safety. Ten minutes later after avoiding another patrol of guards and a few of the villagers, the group snuck back up the hill and back on to the icy mountain roads of Hjaalmarch. Their trek back was somewhat uneventful, other than passing by Fort Snowhawk once again, doing their best to avoid the attention of the necromancers that lived within its walls. Celestia and Luna preferred to not directly instigate any more fights with anyone in Skyrim unless absolutely necessary. The road winded back around the Northern mountains and through the foothills as the part moved to lower altitudes where ice did not dominate the surrounding landscape. The same remnants of raided carts and slaughtered travelers were in the same place as before. However, after a few hours of going through Morthal and Ustengrav, the corpses began to reek, forcing the girls to give them a wide berth. Luna noticed that Ky'ell barely registered the smell at all. Seeing any sort of corpse or rotting carcass didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. Thinking on it, Luna decided to speak with him on the matter at a later time. Soon the rushing river cutting through the western side of the province came into view as the road turned, running alongside it. The party stopped to refill their water skins and quickly wash off. Heavy globs of mud had caked and hardened to their armor and fur and it was making walking a rather difficult endeavor for each of them. They found a small spot where the river had diverted from the main path and led into a closed off lagoon where they could take off their armor and clothes for a few minutes to clean themselves before getting back on to the road. The ice cold water shocked their senses at first, most likely being melt water from the nearby mountains or water flowing in from the Northern Sea of Ghosts. Within a few minutes, the girls acclimated to the temperature and began to clean all the blood, mud, sweat, and other substances that had soaked into their fur. It was refreshing to bathe after days of running, fighting, and trudging through the most hostile terrain imaginable. For Ky'ell however, he would not be joining them. "Do I have to stay like this?" Ky'ell whined. "It was an accident, I swear!" "Yes you have to remain in that position, we cannot trust thou to not act like Tom of Peeping," Luna said matter of factly. "That's Peeping Tom Luna, but close enough I guess." Celestia giggled. All he could hear was the sound of the girls moving around in their private pool. "Though art lucky that I didn't kick you through a rock wall," Luna scolded. "Our bathing time is our sacred time." Ky'ell had volunteered to be the lookout just in case there were any more bandits in the immediate area. Unfortunately, after twenty minutes of standing around, hearing and seeing very little, boredom began to quickly set in. The only occasional activity was from either a rare animal that wandered close to the river for a drink, or the foreign women behind him speaking in hushed tones. With boredom sinking in, Ky'ell decided to take a risk looking in on the girls. They were off in separate parts of the lagoon washing themselves. The firs thing the Nord noticed was that Katia's fur pattern was rather unusual for most Khajiit he had seen. Her bathing suit areas were dark and brown, in the shape of undergarments, as if they were drawn that way. Upon further inspection, her body was covered by scars in various places and sizes. Her right side had what appeared to be a scar in the shape of a bite mark. Moving his eyes over to Luna, he had forgotten how beautiful she was without any armor or armor to cover up her natural form. What astounded him though was the giant blue wings attached to her back. This newly discovered feature came at such a shock that he didn't notice himself screaming obnoxiously while leaning over the lagoon wall. His screaming continued for ten seconds as the girls just gawked at him in embarrassment and surprise. Rolling her eyes, Luna threw one of her daggers at his helmet which knocked him down thirty feet off of the rocks and painfully on to his back at the bottom. He felt blood streaming out of his forehead from the force of Luna's impromptu attack. "If you want to sneak up on somebody, don't scream your head off like an idiot," "Oh come on Loony. It's not like I'm gonna tell anybody that I saw you and your sister's knockers. They are fucking fantastic, I'll give you that. I've heard of blue balls but never blue boobs." "Our what?" Luna became confused when Katia and Celestia began to giggle like crazy. When she raised her eyebrow at them, they began to laugh even more. The whole situation was giving Luna a feeling of indignation. "I don't see the humor in any of this. I am just now confused." Luna asked. Wading over to her sister, Celestia leaned forward and whispered into one of Luna's ears. Her face went from confused, to embarrassed, to mortified in only a couple of seconds. "THAT'S WHAT THESE ARE FOR?" Luna asked in a state of shock. "Well what did you think?" Celestia chuckled. "I didn't know what humanoid mammary glands looked liked were when I first visited Earth on the other side of the mirror, but I had a good idea when I first saw them. What did YOU think they were?" Her face heated up and turned red as a ripe tomato as she began to stammer and make up excuses. "W-we merely thought that they were extra protection for this race from any outward aggression." "Wow, Loony that's kinda silly even for you," Ky'ell chuckled. "Be silent!" she snapped, clearly embarrassed. Grabbing a nearby stone while humorously covering herself, she chucked it over the rocks as it hit his helmet with a clang. After that debacle, they gathered their clothes and weapons and re equipped their armor as they moved back down the road to Riverwood. Soon they once again came across Robber's Gorge which was still thankfully completely abandoned due to their efforts. Celestia thought it would be a good idea to send word to the guards of Whiterun that the route was bandit free for the moment. The road became steep once again as they finally passed the border back into the Whiterun Hold and rocky terrain began to give way to more open flattened landscapes and rolling meadows. Their brief respite was interrupted as another small group of bandits on the crossroads of border tried once again to ambush them. "Don't you notice that a lot of these bandits look pretty similar?" Katia asked nonchalantly while dodging arrow fire. "I blame the poor attention span of gamers. There's so much content here, that players probably wouldn't even notice," Ky'ell retorted. "What in Tartarus are you talking about Ky'ell?" Luna asked. "Patches. Lots of them that this version probably needs." he replied calmly. She turned her attention back to her attackers to avoid being distracted by Ky'ell's nonsense. Afterwards, the party soon made their way back to the small hamlet of Rorikstead. The guards there greeted Luna and Celestia as if was the most natural thing in the world now to see them walk around. The Sisters loved how accepting the people of Whiterun were, even after everything that had happened. Katia unfortunately still garnered the usual jeers and suspicious accusations due to the complicated reputation of her race. Fresh, crisp wind blew across their faces, refreshing their senses and sending a chill down their spines. Once in a while, long strands of grass would be uprooted by the wind and be blown over the road. With their coats of fur still damp, the temperature of the wind seemed that much colder. Their eyes perked up and their postures straightened as they kept a watch for anything approaching on their journey. A few people coming from Markarth crossed their paths, who had their houses destroyed by dragons or the Imperial Army. It was clear that their destination was Winterhold to join Ulfric Stormcloak's army. War was looming on the horizon and it made Celestia and Luna uneasy. As if something even worse was just around the corner. Meanwhile, in an uncharted forest far west of anything populated by ponies, the day was starting to wane as the sun slowly began to sink below the horizon. A thin layer of fog began to develop on the forest floor, making the dirt and moss wet and slimy. Dirty green leaves, every now and then were plucked off their branches by a gentle breeze as they drifted down, floating to and fro through the trees until they finally softly landed on the wet ground among the other decaying branches, leaves, and pieces of bark that had long since fallen off. The silence in this place was so prevalent, it was as if that this place had been enchanted to be that way. The only sign of life in this whole place was a small figure propped up against a large tree. The orange figure was injured as evident by the bruises and wilts on her body, but she was thankfully still very much alive. Her chest slowly rose and fell, in a pattern that would suggest that she was in a very deep sleep. Suddenly, a breeze blew through the forest from one specific point. Followed by a wheezing groaning that echoed through the trees. A tall blue rectangular shape began to blur in and out of existence as a light atop it steadily flashed on and off. The shape landed on the forest floor with a thud. A door on the front side of the shape opened up with a loud creak, followed by a tall man with curly ash grey hair stepping into view from somewhere behind the door. Adjusting the sleeve of his black suit, he stepped out on to the leaves of the forest floor and began to look around. "I think this is the place. I hope so at least. Those Potential Conflict alarms I placed here were never very reliable." the middle aged man stated. "Well I guess anything with that kind of name ought to not work quite right. I was kinda cooky even back then. Patchwork clothing and question mark pins." He comedically shivered at the disturbing memory as his striking blue eyes continued scanning his immediate surroundings. "So where are we exactly?" a female voice in the blue shape asked. "Equis I believe," the man replied. "Last time I was here, it was a bit more...chaotic. The princesses took a liking to me, so I helped them with their problem. Celestia, Luna, and Amore. Nice girls. Unfortunately, I had to book it when Amore became a bit too forward for my tastes, if you catch my meaning. The bloody name says it all." "So you think there's a problem here again?" "Enough of a problem for the old girl to pull me back across the Medusa Cascade--ohhhh, hello there!" he exclaimed as he scuttled over to the tree where the orange figure was laying. He pulled out a small device that gently buzzed like a little bug as he glided it across her body. Holding it up to his eyes, he shook his head in disapproval. "Mild concussion, several contusions, and a slight subdural hemorrhage. And quite a few broken bones. Now what nasty thing could have done all this to you?" he asked the sleeping mare. "You caught me at a bad time you know? I was tuning my Stratocaster when that awful buzzing went off." Noticing something under her sleeping form, he gently pushed her over, revealing what appeared to be an old Stetson with some dirt and dust that had caked on the brim. The man smiled in remembrance, thinking of the times that he used to love fooling around in Stetsons and all manner of strange hats. Picking it up and gently placing it back on the mare's head, he wrapped his left arm around her and lifted up her hind quarters with his right and proceeded to carry her off somewhere safe. "Why don't we get you somewhere out of this forest eh? I bet its not easy being the only one left out in the cold," he said the unconscious mare. "Clara! Pull out my mattress out of the third compartment on the left won't you? It seems we have a guest that needs my attention. Along with a few ponies to find." "I..didn't know you had a bed," the woman said with surprise. "And did you say ponies?" "I sleep too you know! I just do it when you aren't looking." Back in the hold of Whiterun, Ky'ell lead the party back down towards the crossroads to Whiterun. Luna suggested that they break off from the normal route so as to throw off any who might be waiting for them. They soon came within view of Whiterun City as they passed over the bridge and down the Western road. At this point, they broke off of the main road and followed closely alongside the bank of the river, moving another mile upstream. Soon the small hamlet of Riverwood came into view, forcing them to move more slowly since the sun was still high in the sky. Passing the bridge, they circled around to the other side of the town and trudged across the water to the opposite shore. The guards posted at Riverwood's Western Gates recognized the Sisters as they allowed them passage inside. "I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow--" one of the guards started. "In the knee, yes, in the knee," Ky'ell finished. "Dont you guys ever get hit in the face or the elbow or something?" The other guard glared at Katia and her unusual robes. "Stay--" "Out of trouble Khajiit, yeah I know." Katia interrupted. "Khajiit seem to be the only race guards look out for in this country!" "Makes me glad our guards are given breaks and a social life," Luna whispered to Celestia who giggled. Once inside, Celestia and Luna pulled out their cloaks to cover up their appearance as Ky'ell led them across the village towards the Sleeping Giant Inn. He had the two hang back closely so they would appear to be two separate groups. "You and I are the only ones who won't stick out in there Kat," Ky'ell explained to Katia. "Just stick to me and let me do the talking. Keep your hand on your axe too. Just in case ya know?" "You?" "Hey, I may be an idiot, but I know how to deal with difficult people," he replied confidently. "I'll believe it when I see it," she retorted with a raised eyebrow. "What about us?" Celestia asked. "Hang by out here for three minutes, then head in. Just in case somebody might be following us," he instructed. "...be careful in there won't you?" Luna asked with concern. "Hey, I'm indestructible!" Ky'ell and Katia went inside, feeling once again that comforting rush of warm air that could only come from the fireplace of a Skyrim Inn. Ky'ell seemed to recognize somebody as he went up to the counter where a blonde bartender in a simple dress was cleaning tankards with a cloth. The Nord could feel the eyes of over a dozen people who were currently there drinking. He didnt know what their intentions were, but regardless he knew he had to keep his wits about him if he wanted to leave in one piece. "You're that stranger who's been poking around," she stated matter of factly. When Katia gave her a look, the woman laughed slightly. "I'm the innkeeper. Its my job to keep track of strangers." "I'd like to rent the attic room. For me and my housecarl here." he said pointing behind him to a now fuming Katia with his thumb. She looked between the two with an expression that Ky'ell couldn't read and then smiled. "Attic room eh? Well...we don't have an attic, but you can have the room on the left. Make yourself at home." she greeted cheerfully. "Thanks." Ky'ell moved over to the room and closed the old door behind him. He motioned to the bed where Katia sat down on the edge. The Nord himself sat down in an old chair by a small table the room had been provided with. "So what now?" she asked. "Now, we wait for Little Miss Innkeeper to get in here and drop the innocent act." A few seconds later, the door opened revealing the Innkeeper who stared right into their eyes before she closed the door behind her. "You're pretty sharp. So you're one of the Dragonborn that I've been hearing so much about. Where's your royal blue friend? The other Dragonborn." she asked. When Ky'ell gave her an accusing look, she smiled. "I saw you two skulking around Whiterun. Kind of hard to miss a blue horse woman with a horn sticking out of her head and a black crown to match." "Oh, she's close by. Fetching some herbs for our potion stock," he lied. She didn't seem to believe him for a moment, but she pulled something out of her pouch and presented it to Ky'ell. The Nord grabbed it and looked at the item. It was an ancient looking horn made out of what appeared to be part of a hollowed out dragon's horn as opposed to a ram's horn. His nature allowed him to clearly feel the power emanating off of it. "The Horn? How did YOU get your hands on it unless you...." Katia said as she put two and two together and began to feel enraged as fire magic steadily started to glow in her hands. "We need to talk." the Innkeeper said sternly. "Follow me." He looked at her suspiciously for a few seconds before he stood up and decided to take the risk. Nodding to Katia, she followed him and the mysterious innkeeper who led the two across the Inn to the more expensive room on the other side. Right in the corner on the far side of the dining hall, Katia recognized two familiar figures in robes who looked like they were waiting for something. It was Celestia and Luna, both waiting for the perfect opportunity to come charging in should anything become complicated. Celestia just looked at Katia and with a noticeable smile from behind her hood, she nodded comfortingly. Going inside the room, they found that it was indeed a lot nicer than the rest of the inn. The floor and walls were adorned with expensive hides and ornate rugs. One of the walls to the right displayed what appeared to be a dead Mudcrab the size of a dinner plate. Two tables of differing sizes were placed in opposite corners of the same wall, one for wine and mead, and the other appeared to be a work desk for scholars, writers, people using a journal, or any businessman or noble. A large two person bed snuggled up against the left wall stretched halfway across the room. The most noticeable item in the room however was a suspicious looking wardrobe that appeared to be built into the wall. "Close the door," she commanded. Ky'ell complied as he closed the door and locked it. The woman's expression softened somewhat as she pulled a key out of her dress pocket. "Now we can talk." Placing the key into the lock of the wardrobe, she opened the door showing the empty insides. Katia was temporarily confused before the woman activated a mechanism inside, which sent the backside of the wardrobe inwards. A secret stairway was revealed, as the woman walked downstairs with the duo following suit. Back outside in the dining room, Luna and Celestia waited for a few more minutes before standing up and heading towards the door. Unfortunately, the shady men in the dining room all stood up and blocked their path. All had evil and menacing faces on. Luna and Celestia were uninterested and unintimidated by their transparent tactics. Most of them seemed to be looking at Celestia. "Where do you think you're goin sweet things?" one of the burly men asked in a slimy voice. "You put a lot of our boys in the ground back at Cragslane Cavern horse skank! We know its you!" another said angrily. "The only way you are getting out of here is in a black hide bag with buttons up the front." "A body bag," one of the smaller men added. "SHE KNOWS WHAT IT IS!" he yelled at the smaller man. Celestia with a blank expression, grabbed a nearby jug of milk, and began to down the whole thing right in front of the bandits who just stared at her in confusion. Luna smiled mischievously, knowing full well where this whole situation was going. The whole jug was empty in only ten seconds as she swished and moved the last bit of the milk from one side of her mouth to the other before drinking it down. Slamming the jug back down on the table, she undid her sword, hammer and the rest of her equipment, allowing it to fall to the ground. An uncomfortable atmosphere seemed to grow as she cracked her knuckles and gave the men an evil smile from under her hood. "Okay boys, let's dance," she said with disturbing glee. Many a passerby could hear the violent commotion coming from inside the Sleeping Giant Inn. Giving it a wide berth, doing their best to avoid what could be a nasty fight. Little did they know, how one sided this fight was turning out to be. Screams of pain and the sound of furniture breaking could be heard all the way down the street. BREAK! BLEED! "OW! MY BALLS!" a male voice cried out. Below the Inn, Katia and Ky'ell followed the woman into a rather large basement room that was filled with all manner of weapons, books, maps, and very ancient looking artifacts. In one of the corners, there were three clearly beaten bales of hay lined up next to two practice dummies for archery and sword practice. In one corner, there was a potion making station equipped with a shelf right beside it with all manner of different ingredients and template potions should anyone want to make a copy. Ky'ell spied a map of Skyrim on a table in the center of the room. It appeared to have many different check marks and notes inscribed upon it. Next to it lay a familiar black book that he had seen many times over the years, but never really payed much attention to until now. It was the Book of the Dragonborn, which detailed the story of the prophecy of the Last Dragonborn. Up until a few weeks ago, he could never fathom that the legendary hero inside that book was going to be himself. The woman walked around the table and looked down at the map in thought before turning her head up at Ky'ell and Katia. For a minute, they could hear a muffled scuffle along with some screaming coming from upstairs, but she just assured the two of them that it was probably just another fight between drunk villagers. "The Greybeards seem to think you and your...princess friend are Dragonborn. I hope they are right," she stated. "Why in fucking Oblivion did you take the damn Horn?" Katia snapped angrily. "We spent two days walking to and from Ustengrav through ravenous bandits, racist swamp villagers, impaling booby traps, and butt feasting gremlin draugr! Only to find the fucking thing we've been fucking looking for, isnt fucking there!" "The Greybeards are right, I am Dragoborn," Ky'ell stated sternly. The wardrobe door broke open, with an angry Luna stomping down the steps and Celestia following closely behind. The woman pulled out her sword for a moment defensively, but sheathed it when she seemed to recognize Luna. "I am also Dragonborn, and I would like to know why you are doing all of this? Sure, our festivities were quite fun, but I would like to know why our quarry was stolen from us! And why you sent those men upstairs to attack us!" "I sure hope you two are Dragonborn. Forgive me if I don't assume something just because the Greybeards say so." she snidely replied. "I just handed you the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, doesn't that make me a friend of the Dragonborn too." "Answer the damn question. Normally, I would be looking around at all the shiny and pretty lookin stuff you got in here, but I'm tired and just slightly annoyed," Ky'ell commanded. "I didn't go to all of this trouble on a whim. I needed to make sure that this wasn't a Thalmor trap." she replied defensively. "Those gold armored guards?" Celestia asked. "I think I met one just outside Whiterun." "They are no guards, I can assure you of that. I am not your enemy. I already gave you the Horn. I'm actually trying to help you. I just need you to hear me out." The party looked between each other silently with unsure expressions for a few seconds before Ky'ell spoke up. "Go on. We're listening. Don't mince words or give us a run around." Ky'ell said harshly. "I'm REALLY sleepy and grumpy." "Like I said in my note, I heard that you two might be Dragonborn. I'm part of a group that's been looking for you...well, someone like the two of you for a very long time. If you really are Dragonborn that is. Before I tell you any more, I need to make sure that I can trust you." "YOU are the one who stole the Horn, wasting two days of our precious time and then sending those bandits upstairs after us! WE are the ones who should be having a hard time trusting YOU!" Luna pointed out. "Fair enough. Also, they were supposed to hold you. Why did those thugs attack?" she asked. Celestia stepped forward giggling sheepishly. "That would be my doing," Celestia admitted. "I killed their boss. I believe he was some outlaw named The Butcher. They thought we were helpless girls, so we may have treated them a little roughly". "That was you? Wow, I guess you two aren't just exotic looks and all talk," she said referring to the Sisters. "Alright, I knew the Greybeards would send you to Ustengrav if they thought you were Dragonborn. They're nothing if not predictable. When you two showed up here, I had a feeling that you were the ones the Greybeards sent and not some Thalmor plant." "The Thalmor are after you?" Celestia asked. "Yes, we're very old enemies. And if my suspicious are correct, they might have something to do with the dragons returning to life. They also seem to be working with not only the vampires, but the daedra too. Their activities in Skyrim have become a lot more active as of late. However, that's not the most pressing issue right now. What's important is that you might be Dragonborn." "Why are you so desperate to find a Dragonborn anyway?" Katia asked. "We remember what most don't--that the Dragonborn is the ultimate dragonslayer. You two are tge only ones who can permanently kill a dragon by devouring its soul. Can you do it though? Can you devour a dragon's soul?" "Yes, that's how Sir Ky'ell and I first found out that we were Dragonborn," Luna explained. "Although, I do not think that I was meant to share that distinction with him. My sister and I were banished from our home. Ky'ell is the only true Dragonborn here. I am merely his friend that just so happened to unlock similar abilities." "Don't sell yourself short. You'll have the chance to prove yourself to me soon enough." "So what's the part that you aren't telling us?" Katia asked. "Dragons arent just coming back. They are coming back to life. Full on necromantic resurrection. They weren't gone somewhere all these years. They were completely dead, killed off centuries ago by my predecessors. Now something is happening to bring them back to life. And I need the four of you to help me stop it." "This sounds kinda crazy, you know that?" Katia replied. "Ha. A few years ago, I almost said the exact same thing to a colleague of mine. It definitely turned out that he was right and I was wrong." "What makes you certain that dragons are coming back to life that way?" Luna asked. "I know they are. I've visited their ancient burial grounds and I've found them completely empty. There seems to be a pattern to these resurrections, and I've figured out where the next one will come back to life. I plan on going there. If you come along with me, and help me kill that dragon, I promise I will tell you anything you want to know." Ky'ell looked at the girls and they seemed reluctant to the idea, naturally, since they want to go home, but he also knew so far the only way they had to return home was to help him on his quest. They nodded, ready for whatever that was to come next. "Alright, we'll bite. Where do you want us to go?" Ky'ell said. The woman smiled and showed them a point on the eastern side of the map. "Kynesgrove. There's an ancient dragon burial mound there. If we can get there before it happens, maybe we can learn how to stop it." "Let's go do it to it then," Ky'ell said excitedly. "Hold up," she chuckled. "Let me get into my traveling gear first. Give me a minute and then I'll be ready." The woman slipped upstairs back into the main bedroom, allowing the group to speak amongst each other. "So, what do you guys think? Should we do it?" Ky'ell asked. "We don't have any leads as to how we are to fulfill your prophecy Sir Ky'ell, so maybe this might work to our advantage," Luna said thoughtfully. "Perhaps, but I must admit that there is something about that woman that doesn't feel right. If thousands of years have taught me anything, is that there are people with ulterior motives. If we are to accompany her, I suggest that we keep an eye on her. Just until we find out what her true motives are, and if they are virtuous as she claims them to be," Celestia said suspiciously. "I'll go along with you anywhere Celestia." Katia said with a hug. "As long as I can get away from this forsaken place." "There is one definite pressing problem with her though," Ky'ell said. "What's that?" "We don't know her name or anything about her personally." The door up at the top of the stairs opened up, as they heard armored footsteps coming down. The woman had her blonde hair done up as she wore a new set of reinforced leather armor. Several plates of steel were placed in strategic places so that she would have extra protection, but she would not sacrifice mobility. "I'll tell you then. My name is Delphine. Its an honor to meet you Dragonborn Ky'ell and Dragonborn Princess Luna."