Eclipse

Eclipse: Chapter 8

Eclipse: Chapter 8

by

Spottedleaf9 and Dracanoth Dereal

(Valisilwen)

I had long since run out of the medication Sayma had given me. I couldn't believe that through all that, I had still felt the after effects of my massive pain game with Dracanoth. Bored, and unable to adventure very far from our make-shift camp, I took to modifying the maps when Dracanoth and Michael weren't looking. I added a few mountain passes where they hadn't remembered to and put a few false trails in just for something to do.

I was still marking Break Shin pass on the map when Michael returned with firewood, followed by Dracanoth. I quickly put down the charcoal and slunk to the corner; acting like I hadn't done anything at all; just like the past few days. "What took you guys so long? You know, it's funny. Watching you struggle to remain warm. I'm so used to this climate and you're both just...having the hardest time adjusting." It wasn't funny. I didn't mean that at all. Nothing was funny because I knew Farkas could find us any minute. I thanked the Divines that tracking was not one of his strong suits because it gave us a little more time to move on and get away from him. Still...he must have gotten lost because it had been a bit longer than I expected.

I'm glad we're together on this mission. My sense of direction is so bad it got lost. I flinched, despite remembering how hard I had laughed when Farkas said that to me. We'd been wandering about in a ruin for a day and a half and hadn't gotten anywhere. It had been my own maneuvering that saw us out safely and with a completed mission. I had saved us and in that time, come to realize that I was experiencing love. My warrior's heart, used to feeling nothing more than burning compassion and the will to fight for Skyrim and Erith, didn't know what to make of it at first. More confused to anything, my heart had floundered with this feeling; unable to find a way to fit love in my busy life. To do so, I would have to take time off from helping people and actually do something for myself for once.

Another voice broke into my conscious and I was aware that Dracanoth was repeating something, trying to get my attention, but I was simply staring ahead; walking through my memories. Ma, do you mean...I'll have a pa soon? That's great! What's he like? Tell me all about him! Is he nice to you? Does he like kids? A single tear rolled down my cheek as I remembered blushing and hugging Erith to me. She hadn't sounded so excited in a long time.

He doesn't know. But...he is a very nice man. Dracanoth had given up on answering me and had gone back to doing his research. He probably thought it was too much wasted energy to get my attention when I was only a tool. Just a tool? I was starting to believe it. I hadn't rebelled and I hadn't fought with them again. My actions were slowly becoming of the aiding nature through the fact I was taking none.

I'd had enormous good luck with evacuating Erith so well and managing to get some small help from Sayma so I felt sure that it was just about time for my luck to run out. If Farkas gave in and used the beast blood to take wolf form; his nose would lead him right to me. I'd been doing everything I could to throw my scent off; to change it in some way, but I knew better. To a werewolf such as him, who knew me better than most, it would be no challenge to find my muddled scent among hundreds of others in the Solitude woods. It was only a matter of waiting and worrying. I decided that it might actually be a better option to call it quits and go to sleep in the middle of day. Perhaps it would even tempt Dracanoth to feel something like worry that his tool was coming down with an illness. Perhaps I was. Does heart and homesickness count? My thoughts swirled endlessly as I struggled to go to sleep with the two men chatting about the maps in the corner of the room. It did not help that Vaermina visited me briefly to drop a nightmare upon my deeply troubled mind.