Rona's Story: An Epic Skyrim Romance

Chapter 31 My Heart Beats for You

Rona found the exit and left alone. After everything that had happened she just wanted to be alone. She felt emotionally and mentally exhausted. Once outside she began her sprint across the marshlands, running at top speed back to Solitude. She knew they would be fine, she'd already cleared the way.

Back in Solitude Rona didn't even bother stopping by the inn, instead she headed for one of the turrets connected to a large bridge and archway separating the marketplace and the city homes. She climbed the stairs leading up to the overlook and leaned against the low block wall watching the city gates, making sure her friends had made it back alright. She must have been leagues ahead of them because she didn't see anyone for a good two hours.

Finally, they appeared, Casavir running into the inn to look for her, the others following close behind. Bishop came in last and leaned against a wall, rubbing at his tender nose before settling back and crossing his arms.

It wasn't long after that, that Serlas came bursting out of the inn and calling for her. She hated worrying them all, but she couldn't deal with anymore fighting or talking or anything at that moment. She knelt down and sat back against the wall, pulling her knees to her face. There was so much to process.

So Bishop had killed his own brother, which explained why it pained him to speak of it. Casavir had a hand in his death too. She didn't know what to make of it. She wanted to ask Bishop, to know the truth finally, but knew he'd never tell her. So she sat, brooding by herself.

The sun set and Rona started dozing. The last few days had taken so much out of her. Enough talking, she thought to herself. Something Bishop would always say when he couldn't take it anymore. She smiled faintly as her mind wandered to him, reminiscing on their adventures together. They'd been through so much. Dragon after dragon. Threats and conspiracies, they'd had their petty squabbles and spats, but they'd also had love. She missed him and though he was so close to her physically, just over that wall, he was so far away emotionally.

It had been several more hours of just sitting there in the dark, head in hand when a red light suddenly illuminated the stones around her. She sighed and stood up, looking down into the marketplace. Her father had sent off a red signal spark, high into the sky. He was getting desperate looking for her. The others were all wandering around calling for her too, Bishop however stood in his usual spot, he knew he didn't have to worry about her, she could take care of herself. She figured she'd worried them enough and cast her own signal spark into the sky. They looked up at it as it illuminated her outline and Serlas raced towards the tower, clearly telling the others to go back to the inn. Bishop stood by, staring up at her. It was too dark to see his expression, though she guessed that he probably looked pretty miserable.

Her father came up the tower and crossed the landing, embraced her and said in Aldmeri, "(Please don't do that again velvyn! I thought I'd die of fright!)"

"(I'm sorry Father,)" she stared down at her boots, "(I didn't mean to make you worry, I just wanted some time alone.)"

He sighed and stood beside her, a hand on her shoulder. "(Charissa told me what happened.)"

Rona said nothing, just stared down at her ranger, his face was tipped up in the dark, still watching her.

"(Would you like to talk about it?)" Serlas asked her, leaning forward against the stone wall, lacing his long fingers together.

She hesitated. She'd been so exhausted of talking and discussing these things with everybody, she wasn't sure if it would help to involve her father now, not to mention how embarrassing it would be to discuss her love life with him. She relented and asked him, "(Father... have you ever loved anyone?)"