How Fascinating

     With a nod she turned and trudged on at his side, blindly trusting his judgement as she could hardly retrace her steps back a couple hundred yards. Direction was far from her strongpoint, and she was thankful that Faendir was the one in charge of leading them anywhere, otherwise they would be stuck in an eternal circle of confusion.

     Relief fell over her once they eventually caught sight of the cave. It was ridiculous how quickly this snow was falling, and even she was beginning to have to struggle through it. She was fortunate enough to not be sensitive to the cold, at least.

     Huffing, she stomped ahead of Faendir and the fox, motioning for him to stay back behind her a little ways. “I can enter first and see if there is any danger,” she offered, drawing one of her hefty axes from where they were sheathed behind her back. A bear or sabercat would be fairly easy to take care of- hopefully there would only be on, if any at all.       At least a little bit of luck blessed their day, for the cave was long abandoned by any animal and was completely devoid of life. The icy stone walls failed to make it much warmer than the open air, but she was willing to settle into anything that would keep them from those harsh, howling winds. She turned to Faendir and nodded. “I believe we will be safe here. I can sense no life, and there are no fresh scents.”

       Relief was all he could say he felt upon finding shelter from the howling winds and whining snowstorm, though he was still trembling in cold shoes; holding a weak flame in his hands hoping that the little breath of warmth it gave would be enough to keep him from freezing over entirely.

       Faendir was never the most prepared, he was a light packer and didn’t feel the need to have many personal possessions, much less gear for such an occasion as so- leaving the two of them to not have anything suitable for a fire, as he failed to consider that it would be difficult to find kindling and wood so far up in the mountains. That, or he thought he was resilient enough to the cold that they wouldn’t need one. Either way he was starting to see the flaws in his initial plan, he hadn’t even brought something warmer to wear for the journey.

     A small bout of satisfaction settled in her gut as the fox took the meat then went to hide behind her companion to eat it. It was perhaps the second time she has ever offered sustenance to something that actually ended up accepting it, the first being a dehydrated butterfly. She’d allowed the little bug to cling to her finger and promptly set it down on some damp dirt near a pond, thus developing a soft spot for the tiny winged animals.

     It was time for her own share of the meat, but not before she paused again at the question. It had been a little bit clueless of her not to expect to be asked for a name in turn, but then again not many chose to sit and socialize with a Daedric being.

     “I have no name, Faendir.” She answered this simply, as if it were just as normal as having a name. To her it was, but to anyone in the mortal realm this was likely very unusual. “Daedra of no importance are not given names. I never climbed the ranks, nor did I ever have any desire to do so.” The thought sickened her, truly. Never would she willingly go out of her way to be noticed and promoted by the horrible tyrant who ruled over her birthplace, though a name would be nice… 

       A look of pity took over the elf’s features when the other stated that she did not have a name. It was such a saddening concept, filling his chest with a dreadful fleet of emotion that left his heart feeling heavy. He didn’t want to just call her Dremora or something akin. It just didn’t sit right with him to call someone who he had just met anything but their name.

       Glancing back to his little companion, unsure on how to address the other without a name, “Well that’s... a little sad,” He finally managed to find some words to cough up. That pitiful look still taking hold as he moved his gaze over to the Daedric being, wanting to have something to call her. 

This is the only drunk doodle I got to last night before crashing

     Briefly she turned her head back in the direction gestured towards, truthfully unsure of whether or not they’d even be able to find it again. They would need to move quickly if they were to escape the snowfall before night time. By the looks of Faendir, however, she didn’t think that swift would be possible.      “Alright,” she agreed, beginning to trudge onward. “Let us hope that it is not already occupied by some surly animal.” Admittedly she was growing weary, but felt confident that she could at least defend against a bear or two with the assistance of Faendir and his magic. The long trek upward through snow and wind while dawning hefty armor and weaponry wasn’t exactly easy.

     “Will your legs carry you to our destination before giving out? You are up to your skivvies in powder.” Mortals—most of them—were fragile creatures. It would be rather tragic, she thought, if they were to locate a cave only for him to still freeze because of how much snow soaked his clothing.

       Truthfully, Faendir wasn’t sure if he would be able to push on or if he would simply collapse from the cold and endless drudging. Snow could be quite unforgiving, especially to one who wasn’t used to it. The wood elf had severely underestimated how heavy of a weight it would be- the Nords made it seem like it was no big deal.

   “I’ll be fine, let’s just not take longer than we need to,” Speaking confidently despite his uncertainty of his ability to do as he said. 

     It was almost a shock to hear that this little fellow had traveled into ruins, successfully obtain whatever information he was searching for, and emerge with his life still intact. Sneaking past draugr- at least they lay asleep for the most part, though easily roused. What skill it would take to trek through and entire tomb without being detected… Interesting.

      “Let us hope. It would be a shame to see a kind soul get slaughtered by those beasts. They are a rarity around here.” Spoken bitterly as she suddenly hacked off a shred of meat. The juices from it trickled down her hand and onto the ground; it was an appetizing sight for any carnivore, but perhaps not so much to an individual who doesn’t have a savage desire for raw flesh.

      At his announcement her gaze flickered towards the little white fox, who was still cowering beside its beloved master. The loyalty was rather impressive, for the animal had never left his side throughout this entire endeavor thus far. A lot of creatures would have fled upon the first sign of potential danger. With a dip of her head the chunk of meat was tossed in their direction, thudding into the ground next to Faendir and his animal with a rather unpleasant squishy crunch onto the leaves.

     “What do you go by, elf?” The Dremora questioned suddenly. Though not much of a thing in her culture—save for those of Hugh importance—she did know that names were extremely important among most others.

       A slight blush was painted across the elf’s face at the other referring to him as a kind soul, he did his best to be humble and kind even when things tested that notion. There was also a small hint of sadness in his sights at the bitterness that laid in the Dremora’s tone. He supposed it was well earned, as Oblivion couldn’t be a very nice realm- nor was Skyrim, really. Terrible and awful things plagued these lands more than any disease or illness would.

       At the drop of meat the little fox perked up, afraid as she might be she was also a simple creature with simple needs; the desire to eat being one of them. Cautiously, as if afraid that the Dremora would attack her as soon as she moved, the fox slowly made her way over to the raw venison. Grabbing it in her small mouth and quickly dragging it back behind Faendir where she felt safe enough to start tearing into it delicately.

       As he watched his small companion Faendir’s ears twitched when the Daedric being spoke to him, returning his attention to her as she queried.

The Khajiit held her breath as the fox continued to stare and as the Bosmer drew nearer. She found herself unwilling to move; perhaps if she pretended to be a mangy, friendly dog…

With the wolf internally gagging in disgust; M'nari let out a low whine from her throat and tentatively crept from the underbrush. Her eyes peered up at the Elf; mouth still coated in blood from a recent feast, though innocent-looking enough.

What was it dogs do? She thought, peering over her shoulder at the limp, slender tail - and began forcefully wagging it, returning her gaze to the stranger.

       When there was movement and a whine the elf tensed a bit, the air seemed to grow cold around him. Getting ready to shoot if whatever it was were to be hostile... as much as he would prefer not to. Spilling blood was perhaps his least favourite of happenings- though he would do what he had to do to survive.

       A wolf crawled out from beneath the brush. Not just any wolf it seemed upon further investigation; this one was far bigger and shaped a bit differently than they usually were. It seemed heftier, lengthy arms and a frame that looked to be more man than beast. Despite never seeing one in the flesh before Faendir couldn’t help but know that this was a werewolf. 

       The first instinct that came to mind wasn’t to shoot, it was more along the lines of fleeing in fear. He didn’t though. Instead he lowered his bow, gently placing it on the ground and holding his hands up in a passive manner. He didn’t know if these things could understand speech, didn’t know if it was a good idea to put down his weapon; what he did know is that he was a pacifist, and would choose to use soft words over aggressive actions.

       Was this weird? Perhaps. Not that anything of the likes had ever stopped this little elf. He was foolishly friendly when it came to strangers and was the type to accomplish whatever goal he had. Today it was approaching people who seemed to be the adventuring type to see if any would accompany him to a rather dangerous cave as he searched for a book that some crazed wizard told him about... It was a hard sell, not many were super willing to delve knee deep into bandits and pit wolves to find a book that might be there.