Northbound Pilgrimage II

Chapter CL - That Was All

Author's Note:

Here we go! Are you ready? The very last chapter of this insanely long book :) And our heroes are finally free to leave all that mess behind.

But aren't there still some questions unanswered?

Was that really all? ;)

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Staying in Falkreath longer than necessary was a sickening prospect.

All Bishop and Aeyrin wanted to do since they left the temple of Arkay was to be alone again at last and try to make sense of everything that happened.

Bishop seemed probably even more angry than her when Aeyrin told him everything that happened.

He fucking hated that that asshole sent her into a vampire den, he fucking hated that he orchestrated all of this and had her so conflicted about what she was doing. He fucking hated that she almost died, that she went through all of this shit. He fucking hated that he had her do that fucking speech, especially with all that bullshit that insinuated her taking any stance in the war.

But most of all, he fucking hated that she had to do this all because of that damned bounty.

At least it was done. It was over once and for all. He hoped. He had two pardons – one form Elisif and now one from that fucking dickbag. Maven was still on his side, at least he assumed, so she was hopefully blocking any attempts at the same shit in Riften. And Whiterun... well, that was just a lost cause. No more shit could be piled up on that dung heap.

He just wished he knew what fucking asshole did this – who was it that kept sending these out to the jarls?

But that was not something he would figure out there and then. The most important thing was to leave that fucking mess behind and get out of Falkreath.

It wasn't that simple though. First of all, they were both exhausted. They were both still sore and Aeyrin was still wounded a little – her healing in the fort was more expedient than it would be wise, her bite marks were barely closed and she was just ignoring the worst with healing potion numbing effects. Fortunately though, she could heal herself properly again without the need for a priest.

Once they got some peace and quiet.

As much as they wanted to leave right away, it was impractical. Bishop still had his pack in their room at the inn, which they kind of didn't pay for during the two nights that Aeyrin was gone. Valga, the innkeeper that Bishop was quite well acquainted with after their last visit of Falkreath, and not in a good way, was not pleased. After all, first, she had to deal with Bishop drinking away his sorrow of Aeyrin leaving after that Thorn shit. Now he came back, got arrested right in her inn, and left the room with his shit without paying.

But the woman did accept the pay for those two nights. She could have just taken Bishop's pack out – they weren't using the room anyway. She could have stashed it somewhere until he returned. But neither him nor Aeyrin complained about her demanding money instead. They didn't have it in them to argue about this shit. And on top of that, they paid for one more night. They needed to recuperate – to sleep, to heal. It was really not smart to leave right then.

It was quite harrowing to spend another night in that room where this all started. At least the exhaustion did its job and they both fell asleep soon, but the nightmares didn't go easy on either of them.

But they survived. They survived it all. It was something to cling to as they finally left that awful place behind the very next day.

It was time to move on from bad experiences. And maybe look at them in a new light.