Still-Born Shout [#wattys2017]

Chapter Eighteen

Sif's eyes shot open.

The light was white and blinding at first, flooding her vision and preventing her from discerning any shapes around her. As her eyes adjusted to the sudden light, she could begin to see four dimly lit walls that enclosed the room around her. She felt the scratching of rough straw against her bare skin and looked down to realize that she was wearing only her underclothes, which were soaked with sweat and matted against her skin.

Her hand went up to enclose the ring around her neck. It was still there, but it felt more brittle than she remembered, somehow. The normally cold metal was warm against her fingers.

She took in her surroundings more carefully as she came to, realizing that she had never before slept as deeply as she had just slept... Or was it sleep? She couldn't remember. Her memory was normally clearer than anything she had ever known, but where the events of the previous day should have been easily pictured was only a dense layer of fog. She had no idea how she ended up where she was.

She remembered Farkas. She remembered his warmth; she remembered finally accepting it as his fingers connected with hers, closing the final gap between them. Looking around, she realized that she was in his room, lying in the bed that she assumed was his. Something akin to relief washed over her when she realized that they had indeed made it back to Jorrvaskr from Ysgramor's Tomb.

Still, she couldn't remember exactly why she was laying there, slightly disoriented. She didn't like that.

She swung her legs over the side of the straw bed noticing that her feet were bare. Looking around the room, she saw her armor in pieces against the opposite wall. She put her hands in her lap for a moment, staring down at them, looking for some evidence as to why Farkas's touch had affected her so. She knew for a fact that he didn't practice in any school of magic.

Perhaps Vilkas was right, and they were connected.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the heavy wooden door opened and the face of Savos Aren peered in.

"...Savos?" Sif asked, in disbelief that the Dunmer would be as far from the College as Jorrvaskr was. "What are you doing in Whiterun?"

He shut the door behind him as he stepped into the room and walked over to where she was sitting, squatting in front of her. His crimson eyes searched her face carefully.

"I'm here for you, actually," he said, his tone carrying just as much disbelief as hers had. She stared back at him, evenness always present in her yellow eyes.

"Do you have any recollection of what happened when you arrived in Whiterun?" he asked, after staring at her a moment more. She shook her head from side to side.

"You've been asleep for four days. They sent an escort to bring me here from the College. I didn't see exactly what happened to you-" he paused for a moment. "-but I got an accurate account from your wolfish friends."

"Did Mora break through?" she asked, before he could continue.

"Yes."

Savos spoke without hesitation; it was something she always enjoyed about his presence. He felt no need to waste time with his words.

"But the ring?" she said, her hand coming up to clasp Farkas's ring hanging on the cord around her neck.

"Never in all my years have I seen an enchantment as strong as that," he said, looking away for a moment in thought. He looked back to her, and his black eyes settled on hers. "Somehow, it held. But it won't hold for very much longer."