Lastspell Falls [A Skyrim Fanfiction}

Red Flags

Sleep doesn't come easily, and it's interrupted by nightmarish visions of endless white corridors, grainy linoleum flooring, the steady beeping of monitoring machines, the sting of needles and blood pressure cuffs, and the pervasive smell of hospital grade disinfectant.

I wake late, much later than intended. Rajha has left a simple breakfast on the table in my solar, but he and Argis seem to be giving me space for the time being. I appreciate it, and take the time to enjoy the food – better than camp food, always – and catch up on letters. There's one from Killian, who writes about how business is in Riften (and beyond) and how he's heading off to a Dwemer ruin with a couple buddies. Something about tracking down some treacherous bastard who betrayed them and now needs to be eviscerated. It gives me time to reflect on how his life has started to sound like some major crime thriller novel you'd find at a cheap bookstore. At least he seems happy, and he's even got actual friends that he made, for himself. That's something new.

I start writing out my own adventures in reply, but Rajha shows up with a light brunch and reminds me about the motley of weapons and armour I brought back last night. He and Argis are suitably concerned after the confrontation last night, but I reassure him it was just a combination of exhaustion and Ondolemar refusing to take "no" for an answer once again. It does get me thinking, though – there'd have to be a spell or something to protect the home, prevent people entering without my approval, right? I decide to ask Calcelmo or Aicantor when I go up to the keep later.

Rajha and I head out to the marketplace before lunch, first dragging all the weapons and armour to Ghorza, who immediately sets Tacitus the task of inspecting and testing everything.

"Hopefully he learns what good craftsmanship looks like," Ghorza says as Tacitus begins to sort through the three bags I lugged up here. I appreciate that she's not really one for idle gossip, so I get a good idea of the local news that's happened while I was gone.

Rajha and I have a light lunch at the Inn, but it's spoiled a little by Ogmund's angry glares across the room at me. I'm still not sure what I did to him, so I figure maybe paying his tab could help – I don't like to have enemies, and I've found most Nords find it hard to hate on you if you're paying for their mead. I also add an extra fifty septims and tell Kleppr to make sure it goes onto his tab as well.

What I couldn't sell to Ghorza, I trade with Lisbet – Rajha is able to recall all of the foodstuffs and household items we need more of at home, and volunteers to take everything back up the steps. I feel almost bad for letting him do it alone, but he insists.

"Glad to see you're still in one piece," Lisbet comments with a smile. "The whole tower shook last night; we're not prone to groundquakes here, and I can only think of one other time the city shook like that. Anything interesting to tell?"

"Not really," I lie, knowing that she's probing for gossip. Even if I did have any, I wouldn't tell it to Lisbet; she has a tendency of twisting words and making things out to be bigger than they really are.

"Oh, everyone's already gossiping," Kerah tells me as I stop by her stall. In the marketplace. "Hard not to notice when a Dragonborn uses the Voice, and then when the elf came storming back into the Keep last night, furious enough to incinerate one of the juniper trees? People notice, and the Keep has far too many gossips for its own good."

Great. I don't really want the world discussing my private life, but Kerah is always the one to tell me what people are saying behind my back. She purses her lips.

"What else have people said?" I ask, now curious. Gossip is a two-edged sword – sometimes it's awful, sometimes it's great for getting on top of an issue.

Something in Kerah shifts suddenly, as her eyes settle on something over my shoulder. She moves, pulling out a collection of bracelets and holding them up for me to view, smiling as if she's presenting the collection.