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JASH
A serving maid took Alex’s empty goblet and shoved a full one into his hands. I chuckled as my husband nearly dropped it. Everything had been perfect tonight. The Bards College had sent out their finest students to sing in the streets in preparation for when the Olaf effigy would be burned.
And, most importantly, the Spiced Wine had not stopped flowing. I sipped my Spiced Wine and closed my eyes from delight.
“I think that young woman seeks to bed you.” I said and gave my empty goblet to the nearest serving maid. “No one moves like that without being taken aback by someone’s beauty.”
Alex rolled his eyes before aggressively drinking his wine.
“The Burning of King Olaf is a worthy celebration.” I said as I looked at the city full of merriment. “It is a good thing High Queen Elisif decided to make it a weekly festival.”
“Didn’t you make up some ******** about Olaf so Elisif wouldn’t make this festival illegal?” Alex asked dryly.
I opened my mouth to give a retort but then a group of children approached. Unlike in most cities, towns, and villages these children were well dressed. They also had much less dirt on them than most in Skyrim. Of course why would I expect any less when living in Solitude meant you had to have more than a few handfuls thick with Septims on your person?
“What do you want?” I asked as Alex gave his half-finished goblet to a passing serving maid.
“A song!” A little girl shouted.
What song would be perfect for this moment? It needed to be a song that radiated both happiness and hope in the future.
“Alduin's wings,” I began and brought to my mind the grandeur of that dragon. “They did darken the sky.”
“Not that one!” A Khajiit boy shouted to the agreement of the other children.
“Which one, then? It has been awhile since I’ve been to the Bards College so it is not ours to know the latest ballads.”
“We want to hear one of your road songs!”
I grinned at the suggestion. It wasn’t often that I sang anything not hailed by the Bards College inside city walls and so most who had heard me sing songs from Earth did so when passing me by on the road. Since I let my animalistic nature loose in such a setting, hearing me sing could be deadly.
“Do you have a request, my love?” I asked Alex.
He had given everything up to be here with me. If he wanted to hear a song he had enjoyed while on Earth, it was ours to give him a little piece of his homeland.
Alex merely shrugged in response.
I was suddenly taken over by the need to remind myself of the journey it had taken to get Alex back by my side.
“I name the stars over your cauldron and all that lies beneath your waves!” I sang and allowed the Anderson brothers’ song to flood my veins. “Throwing my voice into your shadow. The underworld, the darkest place!”
“Let him go!” A familiar voice that shouldn’t be here said.
I stopped my song and turned to look at Saga Anderson. We had only known each other a short time but her clothing gave her away even in such dim lighting. But there was none of the kindness I remembered in her eyes or how she held the gun.
After the initial shock went away, I realized that this was not the same Saga either me or Alex knew. There was no recognition of me in her eyes. And if our Saga had come to get Alex, she wouldn’t have returned in such an antagonistic manner.
“Go back home, hatchlings.” I said calmly. “The streets are no longer safe for you.”
“What about you?” One of the Nord children asked.
“If Alduin failed to kill me, what hope does one dryskin have?”
That answer was good enough for them and they rushed back towards their homes. Or at least I hoped they were wise enough to lock themselves away and not go into the distance merely to watch this conflict.
I looked at the crowd that was slowly gathering around us. If Saga decided that the best course of action was to kill me, innocent blood might be spilt. Maybe the myth of my strength had made people feel as if they couldn’t be harmed once I was around.
The moment no children could be seen, Saga wasted no time in shooting me. My muscles reacted long before my conscious mind could so the bullet missed its target. Instead of going into my chest it hit my ring finger, right below the Ring of Hircine, and my appendage clattered to the ground along with the ring.
I caught the bullet right after with a Telekinesis spell and threw it over the city walls. Hopefully it would only spook whoever was close to where it landed.
Alex dropped to his knees and picked up the Ring of Hircine. He wiped as much blood as he could off of it. When we returned home Jordis could give it a proper cleaning. As my love focused on cleaning the ring, I cast a healing spell to heal my finger. Or at least I tried to. For a reason that Colette Marence would have probably understood by now.
“Alex, get away from him.” Saga said and started to pull the trigger. “He’ll only get you killed.”
“Saga, put the gun down.” Alex snapped as he stood up and Saga lowered her weapon. “I still miss you but I made my choice.”
I looked at Alex and he gave a curt nod. He knew that this wasn’t the same woman who had been his FBI partner. Yet he couldn’t help but talk to her as if she was. She looked too much like the Saga he had known.
Even though I knew this was a different Saga, I felt compelled to explain everything to her. I wanted her to understand what had happened and the truth of how reality actually functioned. But there wasn’t time as the crowd grew larger and I was unsure if she would make another attack.
“Saga, you are in a dream.” I said. “If you want to you can wake up from this nightmare.”
She looked confused but her latent Seer abilities were confirming this was the truth. She might not know how she knew, but she would take it as fact by the mere fact that Skyrim didn’t conform to her idea of reality.
“Wake up.” Alex said in as kind of a tone as he was capable of.
Saga still looked confused but my love’s voice seemed to give her the guidance that was needed. She closed her eyes and in the blink of an eye she was gone.
“****.” Alex said and he took a step towards where Saga had been. “Did she…did she have a dream like I used to?”
“Go back to the festival.” I snapped to the crowd as I tore off part of my clothing to bandage my finger.
A few of the people in the crowd flinched but they all walked away. This would be talked about for years to come. It was entirely possible Saga’s appearance would worm itself into the festival soon enough.
“Yes.” I replied once the crowd was far enough away. “That echo of Saga must have been drawn here like you before.”
“Why?” Alex asked. “What possible reason could she have to be pulled here?”
I took the Ring of Hircine and put it on my thumb. By some magic the ring fit itself around my thumb as if it and my ring finger were the same size. Even though my finger wasn’t able to be healed, the closeness to my Prince helped ease my mind.
My mouth had barely opened to reply to my love before the city was engulfed by screams.
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