“Robin!”

Normally, she didn’t panic the very moment Robin wasn’t at her side. He was a crafty kid, precocious as shit, ( six years old and going on fifty, her dad would’ve said, ) and curious as the devil; Janet was constantly chasing him down after he’d found some little alleyway or shiny rock or street cat that demanded his attention. Robin rarely went too far, and half the time he’d discovered a brownie or a good-natured pixie to befriend by the time she found him.

The problem was that lately the number of not-so-friendly strangers had risen sharply— it was enough to make a mother suspect that maybe an old enemy ( say, the courtly Queen she’d outright stolen his dad from ) might be looking for her kid. That’s the kind of thing that makes you a little paranoid.

“Rob—” Janet breathed a sudden, shaky huff of relief when she caught sight of him at the edge of the crowd, bouncing on the uneven sidewalk at the edge of the park. He was chattering away to someone, but the woman —tallish, dark, pretty in a... melancholy sort of way— didn’t look like she trying to take him anywhere, so... Small blessings. “Hey! Robin Eanruig Morse! What have I told you about running off?”

“Mom! I made a friend.” Robin was unrepentant, of course, beaming up at her and grabbing onto the woman’s hand.

“I see that...” Janet skidded to a stop on the sidewalk next to them and took a moment to catch her breath, then flashed the stranger an apologetic smile. “I’m, uhh, so sorry. I hope h—”

  “My job.”

  Or, really, some approximation of it. Part of her job probably shouldn’t be crawling around the underbelly of the city at four in the morning, but someone was missing, and their leads were almost frozen they were so cold.

  It wasn’t quite like Neoma to pull an all-nighter. It was a good deal less like Neoma to give up, though.

  “It’s four o’clock in the morning, what are you doing?” She tries to smile. Part of her lips edge up on one side – and that’s as far as it’ll go.

  She wraps her hand a bit tighter around Bjorn’s leash, metal fastenings turned icy in the weather. He stares up at Bishop with a dopey expression that she could never hope to imitate.

  Not fair that looking so happy could come so effortless to him.

  Well – at least she’s trying.

Bishop wonders what the stranger’s job is. They have to admit, they’re a little turned on by the other person’s tone. They know that they shouldn’t be considering making out with random people in alleys, but hey, Bishop’s an adult and free to make any mistakes they want. 

I forbid you, maidens all, to come or go by Carterhaugh: for young Tam Lin is there — and there’s none that go by Carterhaugh but they leave him a pledge. Either their mantles green or rings of gold, or else their maidenhead.

Rumors spread —warnings, such as they are, spread, — so it isn’t so surprising that occasionally adventurers wander into his wood. Sometimes they’ve been asked by suspicious lairds or overreaching barons to investigate what is really in Carterhaugh, sometimes they’re simply curious souls.

With few exceptions, they are men. ( Conveniently— his geas obliges him only to appear to women. Men and others he can ignore as well as he likes. )

So this dunmer is unusual, and he manages a sighing smile as he steps out of the trees. 

☾    Ashalanera had accidentally strayed too far from her camp. She hadn’t meant to, truly. She had been off picking herbs when suddenly she realized that she had absolutely no clue where she was or which way was back. 

      The first thing that she did was panic. She looked like a frightened deer as she started one way, stopped, turned to go another way, stopped, and continued on in this vein. Pure panic and terror settles into her bright eyes, and her hands gripped tightly onto the basket full of herbs that she was holding. Surely it wouldn’t be hard to find her way back... but what if she went the wrong way and made things worse? Oh, she just didn’t know what to do!

✦   The journey from Riften back to Windstad Manor was a relatively long one. Although Xia didn’t particularly mind. She had been on her own this time — well, Shadowmere was with her, but other than that, she was alone. She had sent Hella to do some errands for her on the other side of the province, much to the older woman’s dismay. She really took her job as protector very seriously. 

      As night was coming, Xia made camp. It was nothing special, just a fire and a bedroll in the middle of a group of trees — not enough to be called a forest, but far enough away from the main roads. She didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself.