Northbound Pilgrimage II

Chapter CXXXVI - Little Victories

"Alright, so we have a plan?"

Bishop nodded with satisfaction after he finished chewing the last bits of roasted pheasant leg. That very morning Aeyrin woke up in her temporary 'cage' again, just as she had wanted, no matter how much it irked Bishop that he had to lock her up there again.

Another very interesting thing happened because of that though.

He was trying to lock her in there, but it was so much fucking harder to move the lever up with the use of the branch. He tried for a long time, but he couldn't get it. Aeyrin was just watching him, still looking a little wary, but she must have realized what he was doing. She walked towards the center of the lift after a while of his endless struggles. She looked for a spell like she would try to escape her prison, even though the chains wouldn't let her, but then, she did something much more unexpected.

She pulled the lever, locking herself in on her own.

It only reinforced his theories on her behavior. Just like in her true form, she was afraid of getting out, afraid of hurting him, and she wanted to take precautions. Even though her instincts might have been urging her to hunt and kill.

Too bad she didn't remember any of it though. She was so morose, even after all this time, that she had to go through this. Not that he didn't understand. Losing time was frustrating and kind of scary. But still, he did tell her that she was getting much calmer, much less aggressive, but that didn't make her any less disdainful about what she had become.

He would tell her the full scope of what was happening through the nights eventually, but there was no reason to open up those issues right now, not when this was still how she thought of it all. Besides, it was finally time to put everything out of their minds and truly recuperate.

They caught up on some sleep through the morning hours and they headed to the Nightgate Inn right away. As long as they kept the Elder Scroll wrapped tightly in Bishop's cloak, nobody would be the wiser in the inhabited areas. They wanted to regroup, to have a warm bath at the inn, some food Bishop didn't have to bother cooking, and of course, a comfortable bed.

So after the bathing and the dinner, they finally started to discuss their next course of action.

"Yeah, I think so," Aeyrin smiled softly as she finished her own serving of spiced beef. Bishop had surprised her with how easily he included Markarth when he mentioned the plan he had been concocting. Though there were stipulations, of course.

"Fine," he placed his hand on top of her own on the table and brushed his fingers over the onyx and amber ring briefly. Then he gave her a somewhat mischievous grin. "Tell me."

"What? Bishop!" she scoffed as she withdrew her hand promptly and slapped his own with it. She didn't need to repeat the plan like she was repeating what she had learned in her classes at the temple. She didn't want any trouble either!

"You will have that shit ingrained in your brain or we'll have to go back to the rules. You know, those that included me not cooking if you do something reckless or butt into any shit involving the Forsworn," he smirked at her and he only earned a disgruntled sneer in return.

"Fine. We're going to Windhelm in the morning to get healed properly and give Sinderion's research to Quintus," she smirked at him after a spell.

"That's not the part I wanted to hear and you know it," he shook his head, but he couldn't help but grin at her pouting. Besides, he was sure that there would be more rumors running around Markarth, all too tempting for her. They really shouldn't get involved, especially now. It was not only their previous issues that made the Silver-Bloods dangerous. Bishop had sent assassins to Thongvor. He had no idea how that would play out. But they did need to see Calcelmo and also the smiths there. If Bishop's armor was salvageable, the young apprentice there knew how to work it at least.