Two Graves - The Song of Nephiah and Brelyna

Chapter 4: What You Seek

It had gotten dark, the flames of the small campfire flickered calmly against the darkness of the woods. In fear of more pursuers they had left the lake as soon as they were able to walk. But it wasn't long until they had to stop and rest. They were sitting at the fire, opposite of each other, Nephiah was browsing the notebook she took from the body in the cave.

So, um, I'm a student at the College in Winterhold." They hadn't said a word since the lake. Nephiah looked up at her registering the break of silence. "You know? Magic?", Brelyna said with an uncertain smile. Nephiah looked back down and continued browsing impatiently. Brelyna took a deep breath. "Ok, so, I study conjuration magic, which I still have a lot to learn about as you may have noticed. I'm not looking to raise any corpses but a flame atronach would have helped back there, right? " She smiled but got no reaction. "Um, um, my teachers found I have an aptitude for destruction magic as well so I took Faralda's classes on the side. The teachers are really nice, they don't push you or anything. They help you learn a spell and when you can cast it reliably, they move on to the next." She paused to check for any kind of feedback, still nothing.

"You know...", she laughed, "The first week I was there, Faralda had us throw stones at straw targets in the courtyard. For an ENTIRE week! I was so frustrated at the futility of the exercise. 'Practice your throwing arms!', she said. 'The secret to destruction magic is not in the hands but in the shoulders!' I only found out what she meant a few hours ago." Nephiah looked up again. "College?", she asked. Brelyna nodded. Nephiah tossed the notebook over which landed in her lap.

"Hm?" Brelyna looked at her, not sure what to do. She gestured at the book. "What am I supposed to... you can't read?" Nephiah shook her head. "Um, ok then, uh..." Brelyna opened the book. "It's some kind of journal." She read silently for a moment. "A thief by the looks of it. Something about an audition in Riften going wrong and him running from the guards. He hid in that cave eventually. The last paragraph is about how he regretted going in there and how he should have tried to find a man named Siegalf at the Nightgate Inn." Nephiah jumped to her feet, walked around the fire and sat down beside Brelyna who looked at her, trying to figure her out. "Are you looking for that man too?" Nephiah looked into the book that lay in Brelyna's lap. "Where?", she asked. "The Nightgate Inn? Don't look at me, I don't leave the college much."

With a frustrated moan Nephiah let herself fall on her back. However the sound of stepped upon underbrush made her jump back up quickly. She hurried to her side of the fire and grabbed the Falmer sword she had stuck into the ground. The figure in the shadows turned out to be a Khajiit in leathery robes with a backpack and a walking stick. He approached with raised hands. "M'aiq means you no harm, strangers.", he said in a calm voice. "He only seeks the warmth of the fire in this cold night." Nephiah went into a firm defensive stance as he continued to approach. "Nephiah?" Brelyna had stood up as well and extended one hand to Nephiah and one to the cat, which had subsequently stopped moving. "Nephiah!" Her companion nervously looked at her and then at the Khajiit. "He is no danger to us! Right?" She looked at M'aiq, he shook his head. "Plenty of room by the fire, yes?" Reluctantly Nephiah relaxed her stance and let the man approach and sit, so did Brelyna and eventually she herself. She kept her sword in her lap this time.

"So what brings you out this way?", Brelyna inquired after a moment. "M'aiq is a wanderer of the world. He sees. He listens. What about you?" "Us? We, well, we..." She stopped and looked at Nephiah who kept watching the cat closely. "Actually we are on our way to the Nightgate Inn but we got a little lost. You wouldn't happen to know how far that is?" "Yes, M'aiq knows where it is." He looked at Nephiah, then at Brelyna, sizing up both of them. "But what you seek you will not find there." The Dunmer looked at each other, puzzled at the cryptic response." "Um, ok?", Brelyna continued, "Could you tell us where to go?"

M'aiq drew a few lines on the ground. "This is here." He pointed at an X. "Go many steps to the north. M'iaq has fur. You need fur." Nephiah got to her feet. "You're not serious, are you?" Brelyna looked at her in disbelief. "You want to go NOW? Can we maybe sleep a little while? It's been a really long day!" Nephiah sheathed her sword and looked at the drawing again. M'aiq kept sitting with crossed legs. He looked up at her, then over to Brelyna who moaned as she got to her feet.

"You don't have to go, you know." "What, do you mean me?", she asked absentmindedly whilst brushing dust off her college robes. He looked back up at Nephiah. "M'aiq has seen many things. Heard many stories. He has heard your story as well." The flames flickered up as a bit of wind blew through the trees. They looked deeply into each other's eyes. Brelyna stood apart from them, trying to understand what those two seemed to know. "They say that if you embark on a journey of revenge, you should dig two graves. Are you prepared for that?" Nephiah got down on one knee, grabbed M'aiq's coat by the collar and pulled him close to her face. You could see the barely contained fury in her eyes. "I will dig more than two."

She pushed him away so that he almost fell backwards, got up and headed into the woods. "Wait!" Brelyna ran a few steps then stopped and looked back. "Sorry!", she said. M'aiq turned his head to speak over his shoulder, not looking at her. "Where you are going, you will not find what you seek, young one." Brelyna moaned at the repeated cryptic message and began to follow Nephiah. "All I seek is a soft bed!", she said disappearing in the darkness. M'aiq held his hands to the fire. "Yes...", he said now completely by himself. "I suppose you will need more than two."