Today was quiet but busy, and by Talos, Lydia and I nearly died laughing!

  I've never seen Valdimar get that red!

  Well, when I woke up this morning I still felt awful, and I got dizzy when I moved around too much. Erandur insisted that I have breakfast in bed, and the others agreed with him when he said that we should stay here for the day.

  I wasn't mad about it. I was expecting as much, seeing as how that leather-wrapped bitch absolutely painted that shack with my blood!

  I got bored just sitting in bed, so I asked the others if they wouldn't mind helping me organize our books. I knew we had a lot of doubles, and we've been too busy to take proper care of it. We've just been dumping them in a chest, or putting them wherever on the shelves.

  Of course, Erandur and Valdimar loved the idea. Lydia, savvy sweetroll she is, said she'd only help if I made a list. That way, we'd know what we could sell without having to come back here and check.

  So, that's what we did. I stayed in bed for most of the day, and made a list while I was brought stack after stack of books. Once I had a pile done, I would hand it off so they could put it on the shelves.

  At one point I heard Valdimar and Lydia burst out laughing in the downstairs library. Seconds later, Erandur stormed up the steps. He shouted back, calling Valdimar a snow-brained idiot.

  I asked him what happened, and invited him to sit with me on the bed. He flopped onto his back, and said that Valdimar was at it again! I asked what it was this time, and he told me how they were talking about what books they were looking forward to reading while they were organizing them.

  Erandur mumbled that Valdimar said he wanted to read his tattoos.

  I felt bad for giggling, but he turned red when he said it! I apologized, and pointed out that I'm sure Valdimar would stop picking on him if he asked him to.

  He said he knew that, and honestly didn't mind it as much as he let on. He was more annoyed that he didn't know the "correct" response to that sort of thing.

  I was confused, and he explained that before he joined the Benevolence of Mara, no one had ever flirted with him in a joking way before. They'd always been serious! Even if he wasn't interested in a romp, he'd at least flirt back and let them down easy.

  To Valdimar, it seemed like a game! He just had no idea what to say back.

  While I still don't know for certain if Valdimar's serious or not, I said that if it was a game, the goal wasn't to get him into bed, but to get a rise out of him. He raised an eyebrow and smirked at that, so I threw a pillow at him. He knew what I meant!

  Anyway, his first choice was to ignore it, but Erandur admitted that Valdimar was too good at getting under his skin for that to work.

  The only other option was to flirt back even harder!

  Erandur was quiet for a bit. I could tell he was mulling the idea over, so I told him that Valdimar's witty enough that he probably wasn't used to someone being able to sass back at him. He usually keeps his comments pretty tame, too. I said that if he could come back with something even a tiny bit naughtier it would probably hit Valdimar like a mace!

  Erandur laughed at this, and got a sly look on his face. He said he'd give it a try next time Valdimar messed with him.

  Lucky for me, I was there to see it!

  We finished with the books a bit before dinner time, and I felt well enough to go down to the cellar to wash up. Divines, I needed it! Erandur cleaned me up a bit while he was doing his Healer thing, but I still had a lot of dried blood on me. I needed to heat up several buckets of water and get Lydia's help just to scrub it all off.

  Valdimar had grabbed some slaughterfish from the fishery while he took Septim out for a run, so we had that, along with some potatoes and leeks for dinner.

  We just relaxed at the table after everything was cleaned up, like we usually do on quiet days. Lydia was sharpening her sword, Valdimar was working on the chess board, and Erandur was playing the lute. I was reading and drinking wine.

  Valdimar took a break from carving the squares, and I saw him just… Watching Erandur.

  Of course, Erandur caught him and asked what he was looking at.

  I don't know if they noticed, but Lydia stopped and put down her whetstone, and we gave each other A Look.

  Valdimar said he was looking at his hands. Erandur (he hadn't stopped playing) asked why, and Valdimar said his hands were "very elegant."

  Erandur tripped over his strings a bit at the compliment, and gave a shy-sounding "Thank you," before he went back to his lute.

  Lydia and I looked at each other again, then at Valdimar. He had that playful grin he gets, and we knew what was coming!

  "I wonder what other skills they hold, eh?" he asked, in that tone he uses.

  Erandur, to his credit, didn't even flinch. He kept playing, and very slowly turned to Valdimar. Valdimar looked confused, especially since Erandur has a little smirk on his face. Erandur's voice was like smoke as he said, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

  And then, I swear, he WINKED at him!

  Valdimar was so shocked he couldn't speak, and we all burst out laughing.

  I knew Erandur was going to take my advice, but DAMN! I was laughing so hard I almost hurt myself.

  Valdimar was blushing so hard his scalp turned red, but he got over being flustered pretty quick, and joined in. He even started to poke fun at Erandur for saying such things as a priest.

  We all had a good laugh about that, and wondered aloud what Maramal would think if he'd been in the room. The shock probably would've killed him!

  Once we'd calmed down, Valdimar cleaned up his wood shavings and started to put away his tools. He gave Erandur a playful shove as he walked by, and Erandur threw his napkin at him.

  Boys.

  Anyway, I'm in bed, now. It's earlier than I would normally go to sleep, but the others insisted that I get some extra rest before we make the trek to Solitude.

  They're keeping a watch tonight, even though we've always been safe in the house. They're paranoid about assassins, but I don't blame them.

  I just hope nothing happens to them because of me.

  Well, I'm fucked.

  Apparently I killed the LEADER of the Dark Brotherhood.

  Anyway…

  It feels like we hardly did anything today, but I'm exhausted.

  I mean, we did fight a dragon almost as soon as we got into the swamp, so our day didn't start great, and it ended even worse.

  Right now, we're at the Four Shields in Dragon Bridge, waiting for our dinner.

  The others let me sleep in this morning so we didn't get out the door until almost noon. As I said, we'd hardly gotten out of sight of the manor when a dragon attacked us. It spit showers of ice at us, so we fought back with fire.

  Thankfully, it wasn't very big, and we took care of it quickly.

  Well, they did. I summoned an Atronach and threw what fireballs I could. I was still pretty weak, so I didn't dare try to Shout.

  That swim woke me up, though! It's been so long, I'd forgotten how frigid that water is.

  Oh, but the bath made up for it!

  YES! I finally get to take a real bath! There's one at the Winking Skeever, now!

  That was today's good news, and it almost makes up for the rest of it.

  I'm so glad I let Erandur drag me in there to warm up. He insisted that I dry off by the fire and drink some tea before we go trading. Honestly I think that's what he wanted to do, but I sure as Oblivion didn't mind.

  Corpulus took one look at us and said that since we were already soaking wet, why not warm up in the new bath?

  Of course we all jumped at the chance, and soon Corpulus was showing off the new "Cyrodiil-style luxury" he'd had put in. It's down a trapdoor into the basement, but it's walled off from the rest of the cellar for privacy. The bath itself is a little small, but it's nice, and there's room enough for two in the tub. There's some really nice soap there to buy as well, along with benches, towels to dry off with, and baskets for our things.

  Septim wasn't allowed down there, so I gave Corpulus a few coins to look after him and give him a little treat.

  As soon as he was gone I started to peel off my wet clothes, but Lydia stopped me before I could strip down entirely.

  Apparently you don't bathe in the nude here in Skyrim when you're in mixed company. You wrap a towel around your lower half at least.

  I know, that's not how we do it back in the Capital, but I don't want to be rude.

  The others soon undressed, and Lydia hopped in with me while the guys wrung out their clothes and hung them up to dry near the little fire pit.

  This is only the second time any of us have seen Erandur without a shirt, and the first time without pants.

  He really is covered in tattoos.

  There's a snake winding around his left leg, with a shackle and chain around his right, opposite of what's on his arms. There's more Daedric script, as well, with a few more alchemical symbols, and the Destruction symbol. There's some alchemical plants around his ankles and even on his feet. They're mostly ones you find in the Pale, but there were some red flowers that I've never seen before.

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  We tried not to stare, but I think he could feel our eyes on him. He sighed and said that we could look all we wanted, but he would only answer "sane" questions.

  Lydia and I whined at that, but he just laughed and said that he knew what we wanted to ask. Yes, he had more under his towel. No, we can't see them, and he'll tell us about his piercings if that means we'll stop staring at his chest.

  Thank the Divines for that, because I had been DYING to ask him about them for AGES.

  -/-/-/-/-/-

  I feel a lot better, now. Dinner was a hearty stew with some fresh-baked bread. Even the cheap wine's quite nice, but with the Imperial officers stationed here I'm not surprised.

  Anyway, back to Erandur's nipple rings!

  (I never thought I've write those words in that order.)

  While we all washed up, I asked him why he had them in the first place. The earrings weren't surprising, because I've never met a grown elf who didn't have them, but nipple rings?

  Erandur explained that he gave himself the piercings while he was in the Cult. He said he wanted to have a tiny bit of control over himself, and they were the best choice.

  They're small, easy to hide, and he could always take them out before "certain activities." He'd never really considered nipple rings before, but he knew he could just let them heal over if he decided that he didn't like them.

  Either way, it was his decision, and that's what he really wanted.

  So, he swiped some small gold hoops from the loot they took from their sacrificial victims, and snuck outside to do it. He said he was terrified that he'd be found out, but he got away with it, and he was never caught.

  He realized that he liked them, and he's kept them ever since. He said they also serve as a reminder that his body is his own, to do as he wants with, and to "not ever be so blinded by faith that I can't see reason."

  Lydia said that Maramal should get nipple piercings, and we all nearly died laughing!

  I swear, I'll never figure out how she can't lie to save her life, but she can deadpan like she's made of stone! I love it!

  We soon finished, and left to start our errands.

  I wanted to get the trading out of the way, so we headed over to Bits N Pieces to see what we could get for the book haul and a few other small things.

  As Sayma looked over the goods, she picked out a gold ring and said that she couldn't take it. There were words on it in Daedric script that she couldn't read, and she didn't want to sell anything that might be cursed or something!

  I honestly hadn't noticed. We get a lot of rings, and at first glance it was just another engraved gold band. I took it back, and handed it over to Erandur and Valdimar to inspect. They said it wasn't cursed, but that I might want to have a closer look at it outside where the light was better.

  I knew from their tone that was code for "take the gold and let's get out of here."

  I said goodbye to Sayma, and followed the others out.

  As soon as we were out of the shop, Erandur grabbed my shoulder with that iron grip of his and asked, in that tone he uses when he's trying very, very hard to keep calm, why I had a ring that says "Hail Sithis" on it.

  I had no idea where that ring came from, but Lydia said that she'd taken it off the assassin the other day. She didn't really pay any attention to it when she took it.

  Valdimar pointed out that there were names inscribed inside the band. "Astrid & Arnbjorn".

  Yes, it was a wedding ring, and now that I know who Arnbjorn is…

  But more on him, later.

  Since we were done with our trading, we headed for the Blue Palace. I wasn't sure who to talk to, so I told Falk Firebeard what happened, and showed him the ring.

  He went pale when he read the names on the inside, and asked if I really had killed her. I said I did. He wanted to know how, and I said it wasn't easy, but magic and a lot of potions helped!

  Firebeard pulled us aside, and told us that we had to go to Dragon Bridge and speak with Commander Maro at the Penitus Oculatus outpost. He'd explain everything once we showed him the ring, but we had to hurry. He thanked me for coming to him first, and wished me luck.

  Divines, if I knew then what I know now… I'm going to need all the luck I can get!

  We got out of Solitude quickly, but stopped just outside the gate when we spotted Ma'dran and his caravan. He and Valdimar chatted while I looked through his wares. I picked up a few empty soul gems and some moon sugar for potions, then went on our way.

  The trip to Dragon Bridge was quick and thankfully quiet. We got to the outpost, and found Commander Maro having dinner with one of his officers.

  I handed him the ring and explained what happened. He was thrilled to learn that Astrid was dead! He explained who she was, but before I could react, he cursed and said that I had terrible timing. He and his men had been tracking her for months, but with the war, he couldn't spare anyone or even himself to go and "finish the job."

  I'm sure you know what came next: I did something Stupid.

  I mean, I honestly didn't have much of a choice, did I? If I didn't agree to destroy the Dark Brotherhood for Commander Maro, they'd probably come after me like a pack of hounds once they got their act together!

  Well, I'm sure one of them would, at least, quite literally.

  The Commander said that his spies had confirmed a few rumors about Arnbjorn, Astrid's husband.

  Not only had he been kicked out of the Companions in Whiterun, but he's a werewolf, too!

  I'm so dead.

  I think I was looking a little pale at that, because Septim started to whine and lick at my hand. Commander Maro didn't notice; he was too happy to hear that we'd take care of the Dark Brotherhood for him.

  But the others did notice, and Valdimar said we'd better go. We'd need plenty of rest if we were going to fight a whole gang of assassins!

  He agreed, and wished us luck.

  We left the outpost and stared to cross the street to the tavern when the Commander called me back. He'd marked the location of the Dark Brotherhood's Sanctuary on my map (it's near Falkreath) but forgot to tell me the secret password to get in.

  It's "Silence, my brother."

  I said goodbye, again, and as I turned to join the others there was shouting from the soldiers. They'd sighted a dragon nearby and everyone, us included, got our weapons out.

  Lucky for us, it kept going and didn't bother anyone, so we went into the tavern, got ourselves rooms for the night, and ordered dinner.

  Right now I'm just trying not to pay too much attention to the whispering I'm hearing around me.

  Word's already got out that Astrid's dead, but from what I can tell, no one knows who.

  They know it's one of us, though.

  There's a group of guards betting on which one of us did it, and none of them think it's me. I don't know if I should be glad or insulted!

  Anyway, Valdimar's right. We really should get to bed soon. Erandur's a bit annoyed that we have to delay Mara's quest for a while, but he agrees that getting this taken care of as fast as possible is the best plan. We don't want the Dark Brotherhood to hear about it before we get there!

  Here's hoping we get to Falkreath without any trouble.

  This is strange.

  Tonight we're staying in the troop quarters of a place called Fort Sungard, but we've not seen a single soul inside the buildings. The outside was crawling with Forsworn, but we've checked all but one building, and we can't find anyone!

  Don't get me wrong - After all the fighting we did earlier I'm not complaining, but this is just weird. I'm not sure what to think about it.

  Still, there's a lot of supplies in here, and it's pretty fresh, too. We were running low on food, so we all spent the hour before dinner cooking in the massive kitchen downstairs.

  Seriously, this is the biggest fort I've ever seen! I can't understand why it's been deserted.

  But I'm getting ahead of myself. About earlier -

  We woke up this morning in Dragon Bridge, and started on our way to Falkreath. We kept to the road until we came to that bandit camp that has the falling rock trap across the road. It's the same place where we got Lydia's full set of Nordic armor.

  Bandits settle in quick! There were at least five of them this time, if you don't count their leader. We fought our way through them like before, but this was a harder fight. There were more of them, they had better gear, and I wasn't expecting mages!

  We still won (obviously) and we took what we could before going down into the little grotto under the chief's cabin. There wasn't a stash of gold, but I found a few septims and I was at least able to grab some salmon from the water.

  We had that and some baked potatoes for dinner. It was delicious!

  Anyway, we kept going, and not far past the bandit camp, just up the hill to Rorikstead, we got ambushed by another trio of bandits!

  Seriously, it's like the fights just kept coming!

  I'm glad Rorikstead was so close, because we were able to trade what we got from all the bandits with K'irava.

  Now, I was absolutely filthy from fighting all those bandits. Blood, dust, you name it, it was stuck to me. Lydia was even worse off, because she always runs in front when the fighting starts. Valdimar and Erandur weren't too gross since they'd mostly hung back and used magic, but they were still pretty dusty.

  Still, it was bad enough that K'irava made that face Khajiit make when they don't like a smell.

  I apologized and explained what we'd hacked through to get there, and he suggested that we try out the new bath Mralki just installed at the Frostfruit Inn.

  Yes, they installed a bath, too!

  I actually asked Mralki about it when we went in, and he said that most of the innkeepers were building them, now. With Vittoria Vici's wedding coming soon, a lot of nobles and other wealthy types from Cyrodiil were passing through, and some were refusing to stay anywhere that didn't have a bath.

  That explains how Corpulus convinced his father to build it. It's really nice, so it must've cost a shiny septim or two!

  The Frostfruit Inn's bath is… A bit rustic, but I don't know a single Imperial who'd rather use a bucket than that! It's not bad, honestly. The tub is made of wood, and there's no fancy wall hangings or anything, but oh, well. They've got soap, a firepit, hot water, clean towels, a bucket to rinse with, and a place to put your stuff. You can't ask for more!

  Lydia and I went first, but during the guys' turn Valdimar took the opportunity to comment on Erandur's tattoos. There's a little bench in the tub, where Erandur sat, but Valdimar sat on the floor of the tub, with just his head and shoulders above the water. He joked about finally getting to read the tattoos. "They tell an interesting story!" he said.

  Erandur just calmly dumped the bucket he'd been using to rinse his hair over Valdimar's head. He started to laugh, but then he yelped when Valdimar pulled him under.

  He came up sputtering, and Lydia and I were laughing so hard we could hardly stand!

  Once the two of them got the water out of their eyes, Erandur said, "You think that's funny, do you?"

  We were just trying to breathe again, so Lydia and I couldn't say anything. The look on Valdimar's face when he realized what Erandur was going to do, and that noise Erandur made when he got pulled under was just too much!

  I need to be careful or else I'm going to have a giggle-fit and wake everyone up!

  But I should've expected what came next.

  Erandur and Valdimar shared A Look, then they splashed us!

  I was very temped to start a water fight, but I'd just gotten my clothes dry from catching the salmon earlier, and they luckily hadn't been hit. Yet.

  So, I took my waterskin and held it over their clothes. I threatened to dump it, then freeze everything with an ice spell!

  Valdimar accused me of fighting dirty, but Erandur looked impressed. He declared a truce, then we geared back up, and got back on the road.

  The road to Falkreath from Rorikstead follows the edge of the plains, and we could see the Gjukar Monument as we walked along. We also spotted a fight happening ahead of us. There was a bandit attacking a group of Thalmor escorting a prisoner along the road!

  The agents killed the robber, but not before he got some good hits in. Of course, now that they were weakened, I just had to go tell the Justiciar all about my love for Talos!

  We killed them, but the prisoner was mauled by a pack of wolves further along the road as he ran away.

  At least he wasn't tortured to death by the Thalmor.

  Anyway, the sun was starting to get low in the sky by then, and we noticed this fort on top of the hill to our right.

  We weighed our choices. We could camp out here, where we'd hardly gone more than an hour without a surprise fight, or we could come here, and expect to fight!

  So, we climbed the hill and fought our way through almost ten (I think) Forsworn fighters.

  These people ran from Septim, too. There was a point where one got me pushed into a corner, but when Septim ran up to them, snapping and growling, he just turned and ran off!

  Again, I don't think they know how dogs… Work? Is that the right word? I mean, I've never had a dog before, but even I know that they won't chase you if you don't run.

  Oh, I think I know why this place feels so wrong. There's no blood basins or goat heads on sticks. Every other place we've seen the Forsworn occupying, there's been skulls and spikes and blood and heads on sticks. There's nothing like that in here or outside.

  Huh. Maybe they were just staying here for the night like we are? Or maybe they were a scouting party, looking for places to move in to?

  Oh, well. Guess I'll never know.

  Anyway, like I said, the fort itself is huge! There's a big tower, some sort of platform with pillars on it and a big fire in the middle, nice walls, outlooks, and a fully-equipped forge. There's even a little stable out front!

  The place we're in now, the troops quarters, has the huge kitchen I already mentioned, a sleeping area with six beds, a sadly empty armory, and this big dining room. We found a ton of ingredients, wine, ale, and mead.

  There's a tower, with the forge on an outside balcony, and a prison area in a different spot. Just outside, to the left, is that platform ringed with tall stone columns. There's no roof , but there's a big fire ring in the middle, with a well-tended, roaring bonfire.

  It's so strange. Everything points to a crowd of people staying here. I mean, I guess the Forsworn count, but they clearly weren't "occupying" the place.

  It feels like whoever was here before just walked out and never came back.

  Oh.

  You know, if they went off to battle and lost, that's exactly what happened. It explains the empty armory and the full larder. Everything's all set up and ready for them. Either the Forsworn killed whoever was tending the place and waiting for the soldiers to return, or they left when they realized no one was coming back.

  Ugh, that's too spooky! Now I'm hearing things like Erandur was earlier. I know the emptiness was getting to all of us, except for Septim. Lydia wouldn't put her sword away until we were certain we were alone, Valdimar was eerily quiet, and Erandur kept insisting that he heard footsteps!

  I think the only thing that kept me from getting scared was the fact that Septim was acting like his normal self. He was happily trotting ahead of us and just snuffling around in things. Almost scared us to death when he frightened a mouse out of a haybale, though.

  Well, my watch will be over soon enough. I'm going to finish my wine and have a snack before I wake Lydia up.

  Here's hoping I don't have any nightmares!