A Dreamer in a Dream (chapter 17)

Really, what did I expect? After my bender across Oblivion, there probably wasn’t a solitary Daedric Prince that wasn’t aware of me now. So I sighed and dropped the shit-eating grin in favor of something more miserable.

“I didn’t pick the name,” I insisted firstly. I had Meridia’s shiny ass to thank for it.

Skadi’s eyes were impossibly blue again as she stared at me. Silently. Judgingly.

“I tried to explain back in Whiterun,” I continued weakly.

She snorted. “It seemed more like a puzzle I would find in a Dwemer ruin than an explanation.”

Harsh. But deserved.

Even my go-to excuse felt paper-thin now. Because I knew it wasn’t only her potentially zero-summing that had me talking in riddles. It was being seen by her as some kind of thing, some kind of abomination, that had me shying away.

I couldn’t even claim ignorance… not anymore. I forced myself into this story like some kind of parasite.

I offered her my hand and tried for a smile anyway. “Can I try again?”

Skadi took my hand so quickly I might have gotten whiplash. “It will take more than a few words from Mehrunes Dagon’s whore to frighten me.” That grin of hers quickly followed. “There’s nothing you can say that can get you out of your promises to me.”

Well, she maybe seemed less sure about that last bit, but that’s not what I focused on right now. Everything about that was so very her.

Was it any surprise why I had fallen for her hook, line and sinker?

“I can still hear you, Dragonborn!” Daedra Girl’s feet touched the ground again, though Skadi only sent her the stink eye this time as she pulled my hand after her.

When we were far enough away for her liking, she slowed down and gave me an expectant look, still firmly holding my hand. It wasn’t like I was going to disappear.

“What had you said that time? That sometimes I felt like a half-remembered dream? Well, maybe you weren’t that far off the mark.” I let out a nervous breath as I went for it. “I’m not from around here. Not Tamriel or even Oblivion. Further and farther.”

Her brows scrunched in that adorable way I loved.

“How did you know anyway?” I had a few theories, maybe.

She tugged at her strawberry blonde locks with her other hand awkwardly. “Maybe it’s the dragon in me, but I’ve always seen more than others did.” Her very blue eyes caught mine again. “And I have never been as uncertain as when I look upon you.”

“I believe you also mentioned you didn’t dislike it.”

“To a point,” she said with a haughty sniff. “A Daedric Prince saw fit to name you an abomination, Russ.”

The peanut gallery was surprisingly quiet today.

“They’re not that much different than the mortals they look down on.” I raised one of her hands to kiss her knuckles. My flesh was still like stone, though she didn’t seem to mind too much. “What’s important is I’m not going anywhere.”

“Are you saying you came all this way just for me?” she teased.

I could tell she had doubts still, but she didn’t seem too keen on voicing them. I wasn’t going to tempt fate by asking either. 

“Something like that. And somehow I’m still terrified of meeting your parents.”

She snickered this time, followed by something more thoughtful. “I think we leave this out when I introduce you. It will be enough of a shock once I break the news to them…”

“I’m sure they’ll be proud of you.”

“I was talking about me finding a husband, Russ. Not the Greybeards.”

“Ah.”

She snickered again, at least until she seemed to catch sight of something behind me. I assumed it was Daedra Girl having caught up to us, but instead she was staring at what looked like pools of steaming water. Hot springs. The real deal this time.

They seemed to almost glow under the twin moons in the sky as we neared.

Skadi knelt down to poke her fingers into the water, giving a slight pout after a moment. “Too hot.”

“Is the dragon afraid of a little heat?” a booming voice asked mockingly. For someone covered head to toe in armor that looked like it weighed a ton, she was surprisingly quiet.

Skadi threw her another glare, but Daedra Girl ignored her as she neared one of the pools. Suddenly all her armor started to slough off of her like mud, revealing golden skin and hair so red it looked like paint as it kissed her shoulders.

Skadi crinkled her nose as she stared. “You High Elves tend to have more shame.”

Her armor had coalesced into a sphere of shifting red and black as she shrugged. “I have never seen the Summerset Isles.”

While she also towered over me, she was lithe and slender where Skadi was the opposite. My wife-to-be gave me a look when she caught me staring, but what was a guy to do when he had a very naked golden elf prancing around in front of him?

I distracted her by pulling her to another of the steaming pools. “I have an idea.” That idea was dropping a couple oversized ice cubes into it.

Skadi didn’t even take the time to check the temperature again, instead staring down Daedra Girl as she divested herself of her own armor like she had something to prove. I only stopped her when she tried to do the same for me.

“We should tell the others.”

“I suppose,” she admitted, trailing a nail down my arm. “Hurry back.”

“Try not to murder one another.” At least I didn’t have to try and retrace my steps. I had magicka to spare after choking down some potions earlier, and my spell pointed them out just fine.

I also broke the news to them before a certain someone could again. There wasn’t really any way to soften the blow when telling someone you’re a fuckmothering alien, so I didn’t bother. It might even keep those three on the straight and narrow.

Bright-Like-Dawn somehow seemed even less bothered than Skadi, but Lydia? She didn’t so much say anything, but the look she sent me was a weird one.

Skadi was still staring daggers at Daedra Girl when we returned, though she quickly dragged me into the hot springs with her, seating my lap like a throne. I was just happy that things seemed to have worked themselves out, even if I would be a moron to think that was the end of it.

Lydia was still sending me glances when she thought I wasn’t looking, for one. And she was really bad at it, almost turning around completely when I so much as turned my head in her direction.

I couldn’t help noticing the scars on her back like from a wild animal when she did.

Her cousin meanwhile had returned to sending jealous glances at me, his hair like a curtain on the water around him. Earlier he was looking at me like I had three heads that were all having a riveting conversation with one another. That was great.

It still wasn’t as funny as Yanadz’jo steadfastly refusing to get in the water. Even hissing at it. The complete opposite of a certain tiny Argonian that was splashing around like a hyperactive chipmunk.

It probably reminded her of home.

My eyes eventually landed on Daedra Girl, her own eyes as red as her hair. “You have a name?”

Skadi’s nails bit into my thigh, probably unhappy that I was talking to her at all. But it was kind of awkward just watching a staring contest that just went on and on and on.

“Amur,” she answered softly. She seemed much more subdued now than she was earlier.

“You’re missing a few,” Skadi snarked. I did vaguely remember something about Altmer having overly long names.

“There is power in names. The Daedra know that best of all.”

A certain someone’s nails dug even deeper into my thighs, only amusing the Mehrunes Dagon fangirl. I should have kept them as stone.

“You are wondering why I remain where I am not welcome? Lord Dagon bid that I be here, and so here I shall remain.” The water in her pool got even steamier at her words.

Skadi wasn’t the only one who wasn’t thrilled to hear that. Which, yeah, no surprise there. It hadn’t been that long since Big Red tried to eat the whole world.

The only one that seemed unbothered by her presence was Bright-Like-Dawn.

“You can try and chase me away, little dragon, but will your eldest brother wait for you to pursue your petty vendettas?”

I touched my hands to hers to try and calm her. If she dug in any deeper into my thighs, I’d be hard-pressed to sit still.

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” I whispered in her ear. Something told me she would be on her best behavior anyway. At least as much as a fangirl of Big Red could be.

Just thinking about the two of them in bed together… the sheer hate would probably set it on fire.

Skadi glared at her a few moments longer before she leaned back into me and closed her eyes. Or until she noticed a part of me had come to life beneath her.

I was only surprised it took so long for her to notice.

That just got me dragged back into the woods, where she quickly went to work venting her frustrations out on me. And seeing as it was partly my fault, I just took it with utmost poise and dignity.

Well, as much as any guy could when seven feet of woman was riding his hips to pieces…

The morning found us back on the road to Ivarstead, though not before the mother of all awkward breakfasts with ‘Amur’ back in her armor that might as well be screaming ‘I am evil’ at everyone in her vicinity. Not that she was even using the road, as she lazily floated through the air after us instead.

Had nobody informed her that the Empire banned levitation? And no, I wasn’t jealous.

Skadi only spurred her monster of a horse faster when Ivarstead appeared on the horizon. It like everything else here had been embiggened, though it still looked positively tiny next to the Throat of the World looming over it.

Her eyes were looking elsewhere as we entered. “They’re a little ways to the south.”

I nodded, pulling on the reins until she stopped me with some red on her cheeks.

“Let me speak to them first.” She also gave the disguised Amur an unhappy look.

The Mehrunes Dagon fangirl had joined us back on the ground, and she gave a cheeky wave back, the sundress she was rocking now having already given everyone whiplash. I just assumed it was an illusion.

“I’ll wait for you in the inn then.”

Skadi sent a grateful smile my way as she and her stallion left us in the dust. Her housecarl looked like a sad puppy at being left behind, but Lydia was already distracting him.

I wasn’t sure if I should even bother renting a room, but it only cost a few septims anyway.

Orryn ambushed me almost as soon as I left said room. “Tolfi and I were thinking we could explore the town, Thane. She’s never been to Ivarstead.”

“Yeah, sure. You don’t have to ask, you know.” Or maybe he didn’t know. “Just keep an eye on the cat. I think I trust her even less than our new friend.”

“She’s not so bad. She’s…” He scratched at his heavily freckled cheek at my doubtful look. “I’ll make sure she stays out of trouble.”

He made himself scarce as I continued on my way to the room Amur picked for herself, expecting something out of a nightmare. Instead I found her still rocking the farmer’s daughter look, her eyes closed as she sat on the bed.

“Have you come to rut with me as well, Abomination?”

I tried not to choke on my spit. “No?” Though she didn’t have to look relieved!

“Have you not grown close to Sanguine?”

I took a seat in the chair opposite her after a moment. I liked to think I knew how to play the game of chicken pretty well now. “What other Daedric Prince has dared to approach the thing that I am?”

The smell of smoke suddenly wafted into the room. Something told me Mehrunes Dagon was unhappy with the implication.

Probably Sanguine chuckling huskily into my ear for it.

“Mehrunes Dagon is not opposed to you, Abomination.” It was spoken through her lips, but it had a burning husk to it that made me think a certain someone was speaking through her. “The chaos you have left in your wake has been a delight.”

The stench of smoke left the room as she rubbed at her throat, though her eyes remained closed.

“Not one for conversation, is he?”

“Lord Dagon demands of us all action, not conversation.”

“Right.” I might as well just ask. “Then don’t you show me a few magic tricks?”

It wasn’t like I had much else to do while I waited on Skadi. Bright-Like-Dawn had already vanished somewhere, and I kind of got the idea that Lydia was avoiding me.

“I cannot teach you, Abomination. You mimic the steps, but it is without understanding.”

Big Red must have been whispering a lot of shit in her ear.

“Indulge me.”

Her eyes opened with a sigh, staring into me like two glimmering rubies. “If that is your wish.”

And here I was expecting to have to talk her into it.

“I will try and teach you that which is closest to my heart.” It didn’t surprise me to find out she meant the school of Destruction.

It also turned out to be exactly as much of a pain as she warned me, but through sheer stubbornness I still managed to learn a few things. And the more I learned about it, the more it started to look like the magic of entropy.

Then she suddenly snatched my arm, holding it like it was a rattlesnake. “Not even the Mad God’s Daedra cobble together magicka like this. It is grotesque, and a poor disguise against any but the blind.”

It was just my luck that Skadi picked that time to barge in, her eyes quickly finding Amur clutching at my arm. Their eyes met for a moment, red clashing with blue.

Then Skadi took my other arm as she dragged me away. Truly the women here were all one of a kind.

“I was only making sure she didn’t burn the town down,” I piped up after a moment. “You never know with Mehrunes Dagon.”

She snorted softly as we left the inn, and Ivarstead as well, heading for the seemingly endless farms that stretched to the south of it.

“Ever heard the saying about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer?” I tried again.

Her eyes turned on me. “That whore of Mehrunes Dagon will not be joining us in our bed if that is what you’re hinting at.”

“I wasn’t!” Such an unjust accusation… “More hinting at my keeping the Ebony Blade safe and sound.” I scratched the tip of my nose innocently after. “Fine, maybe I did think it would be a pleasant sight to see, but can you blame me? What better way to resolve our differences?”

“I could take her head.”

I was ready for that perfectly rational argument. “And he would just bring her back. But she can’t forget you spanking her for being a bad girl, can she?”

That she was seriously considering it now made me love her all the more. I was only trying to keep my mind from circling the drain anyway.

The sun was beginning to set when we happened upon a  very cozy looking farm. It wasn’t anything to write home about, but I could see Skadi looking upon it fondly.

Then I saw them. Play it cool, I reminded myself. Play it…

God, her father was just as much of a unit as I feared. He must have been eight feet tall easily. What were they feeding this guy? Elves?

“Leman Russ,” I introduced myself smoothly. My voice didn’t break at all.

“And Thane of Whiterun,” Skadi quickly added.

“What she said.” Fuck. What the fuck was that? ‘What she said?’ Seriously?

“Not a Nord, are ye?” He even sounded like half a giant.

Someone who could only be Skadi’s mom seemed to agree. “He has the look of a Breton about him, don’t you think?” While she looked like a dwarf between the two of them, she was only maybe an inch or two shorter than me, her sky blue eyes so very Skadi.

“He's not got that air about 'im. What are ye', boy?”

Skadi did not look happy with either of them, but she trusted me to navigate my way out of this. Yeah, piece of cake.

“A man.” I bit down the ‘I think’ after. My mind was my own worst enemy sometimes. “A man that wants to make a wife of your daughter and love her until the end of my days.”

Her father’s great bushy eyebrows rose at my awesomeness. Then he laughed and gave me a smack on the shoulder so hard my knees almost collapsed in on themselves.

“You didn’t lie, my sweet daughter. He’s a funny one.”

I smiled through the tears, turning my limbs to stone just to stay upright.

Skadi’s mom hurried over to fuss over me, giving her husband a glare. “Henrik doesn’t know his own strength sometimes.”

“I’m fine,” I croaked out. I was not fine.

Someone else barged out of the house then, her long tresses reminding me of a certain someone, though where Skadi’s hair was blonde with a hint of red, her hair was red with a hint of blonde.

Her sister, and she immediately gave me the stink eye. “You said he was short, Skadi, but if he was any shorter the townsfolk would have mistaken him for one of the children.”

Who was she calling a brat? Especially when she looked like half a teenager still. And yeah, she was taller than me, but she wasn’t as tall as Skadi and she sure as shit wasn’t as tall as her father.

Still, I had to be the better man. “I’m aging gracefully then.”

“It wasn’t meant as a compliment,” she harshly replied, like a dagger in the heart.

“Eir,” Skadi finally warned.

Her sister vanished back inside the house with an irreverent flip of her hair. Now that was a brat.

“Don’t take her words to heart,” their mother commented with a grin. “She’s only jealous of her sister’s attention.”

“I am not!” a muffled voice insisted behind the door. Did she seriously make an exit like that only to listen at the door?

Skadi still had a fond smile on her lips when I looked. No wonder she said her sister had a heart of gold. She was as blind as a bat.

I was quickly ushered inside after that. With how firm her mother’s grip was, I was starting to wonder if she was worried I would escape…