“I’m...I’m sorry. I should’ve been there. I should’ve lead the way up here, I should’ve been the one to take that sword.” Xira’s voice sounded so shaky. It made her mad that she couldn’t be calm in her friend’s last moments.
“It wasn’t you, though.” Rajan said. “I’m glad it wasn’t you.”
“B-but look at you,” she replied. “I...I’ll never get to…”
Rajan grasped Xira’s forearm tightly. “At least one of us gets out of here alive. The...the dragonstone needs to get to Whiterun.”
“I can’t leave you. I won’t leave you. I can’t...I should’ve told you before.” her voice trembled, threatening to break.
“Tell me what...?” the brown-furred Khajiit narrowed her eyes.
“Rajan, I…I didn’t just come for the pay.” Xira shut her eyes and focused. It felt impossible, trying to get the words out. “I…I fell in love with you when I first saw you.”
The only sound for a long time was Rajan’s rough, shuddering breath. She closed her eyes, and Xira almost thought she’d passed out. Then she opened them again, now staring at her silver-furred friend. She raised her free hand to rest her palm against Xira’s face, tracing her shaking fingers along her muzzle. The young thief shivered at her touch.
“That would explain some things.” Rajan tilted her head back and smiled. A purr rumbled in her chest, though it must’ve hurt. “That’s...that’s part of the reason I took you. You were lovely--you are lovely. I’m glad this is where I get to die.”
“But...you can’t go. How--how did you heal me? Teach me how, I can save you, I--” Xira was stopped by her love’s finger over her lips.
That wistful smile was plastered on Rajan’s face. “It won’t work, love. I didn’t want to have to do it, I...I didn’t want to turn you. But you were dying. You would’ve died, and…”
“‘Turn me?’ I don’t understand.”
There was another long pause. Rajan now looked defeated. “When...when I was bitten, I was dying. Like now, but...slowly. There was illness in an old wound. The smell must’ve attracted it. The...the werewolf bit into my arm. When I was turned, I was whole again.”
“...You turned me into a werewolf.” Xira murmured.
“I had to…”
“No, I know. You saved my life. And I have to save yours.”
Rajan gave her a knowing look. “I’ve known you for two days. You’re smart. You know I won’t...I won’t make it.”
“I...I don’t want to be alone again.” Xira admitted. Her voice cracked and broke. The dam that held her feelings back burst. “I can’t be alone again. I’ll never find anyone like you ever again. You have to fight, just wait for a little while, I can get potions from an apothecary, or we’ll find a healer--”
“Hush,” Rajan purred. For a moment the rumble in her chest stuttered to a halt. She was serious now. “Take my gold, and take the dragonstone to Whiterun. This mission survives in you. The world survives in you.”
“I can’t,” she sobbed. She repeated that over and over. “I can’t. Not without you.”
Rajan made a choking sound. She didn’t have long. “You can and will. You have to forget about me. I love you, but…you need to forget about me.”
The brown-furred Khajiit looked into Xira’s eyes, searching for something she couldn’t explain. She leaned upward as much as she could and pulled Xira down the rest of the way; their lips met in a soft, desperate kiss. It was all too brief; Rajan’s strength gave out within seconds and she fell back against the stone. Her harsh gasping fell away into nothingness.
Xira’s world had never felt darker. The sky above felt like it was going to break under the weight of her loss. She couldn’t imagine life after this day. She could never find something to do with her life. Everything else seemed so...empty. The Khajiit’s body shook with each sob, tears falling down her cheeks and staining her fur. She hunched over Rajan’s body and cried.
By the time Xira returned to Riverwood, three days had passed. It typically only took an hour or two to travel from Bleak Falls Barrow, but she’d made a detour. Wandering the wilds for two days with no mission and no desire to return to civilization left her coated in dirt, and she stank of dried blood. She looked transformed, unrecognizable from her former self. The emptiness that now controlled her gaze caused travelers on the roads to give her a wide berth as they passed, like they were afraid she would rip them apart at any moment. She hardly paid them any mind. She staggered into Riverwood dragging Rajan’s sword behind her. It had been meticulously cleaned of blood so that the silver blade gleamed in the afternoon sunlight. Hooked to her belt gleamed the golden claw. People she knew and called friends watched her pass with wide eyes. Xira had become a strange creature wandering the forest.
She opened the door to the Riverwood Trader and stalked up to Lucan Valerius behind the counter. Xira watched him a moment, eyes narrowed. Lucan stared back, shocked. Then she bent down and untied the golden claw. She smashed it down on the wood counter with a CLANG. Lucan flinched backwards, startled. The claw sat there like a crouching animal, the tips of its pointed toes partially embedded in the wood. The shopowner looked at it a moment, then back at her.
“Is this yours?” Xira asked flatly.
“It...it is. Where did you find it?” he stayed back, examining it as much as he could from this distance. He obviously didn’t want to get closer to the Khajiit than he had to.
“Good.” Xira ignored his question.
“Uh...alright. Here, let me get some coins, you deserve a reward--”
“I don’t deserve anything. Just take it.”
Lucan watched her, his eyes wide. “...are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” Xira almost hissed the last word.
Xira knew Lucan well. She’d honed her thieving skills in this very shop growing up. He’d always watched over her and her sister when they came to Riverwood to sell their harvested vegetables. Sometimes he’d give them taffy treats when they finished their work. Xira’s parents had asked him to be their cubs’ godfather when they were little, and they’d always shared an uncle-niece bond. Until today.
“Xira, you know what happened to your parents’ farm..right?”
Xira stopped halfway out the door. “...What are you talking about?”
“Oh. Oh, dear.”
“What?” Suddenly angry, she slammed her open palms against the counter. “What happened to them? Haven’t I suffered enough?”
Lucan flinched at her outburst. “A dragon. It destroyed everything.”
and thus ends what i have so far. hope you liked it~
Topic: so i wrote a skyrim thing (Read 1715 times)