I was the first to bed and the last to get up, as usual. I could never manage to get up before Kharjo. About the only person I was surprised to see up was Shay. He was leaning against the table in his chair, but his eyes were bright as he laughed at something Kharjo had said.

I smiled, curling my tail in satisfaction that he was recovering as quickly as he was. I looked around to see if there was anyone worth taking note of and saw a Khajiit with dark brown fur and long whiskers. He wore robes that were probably taken from a priest of some kind. I walked over and sat down across the table from him. "Greetings my friend," I said.

The Khajiit nodded and smiled. "M'aiq knows much, and tells some. M'aiq knows many things that others do not."

I tilted my head at him and flicked my tail up onto the table. "Such as?"

The Khajiit, M'aiq, took a bite of bread. "Some say Alduin is Akatosh, some say M'aiq is a liar, don't believe either of those things."

I frowned. "Okay... Anything important?"

M'aiq grinned and his tail curled up in amusement. "M'aiq was soul trapped once, not very pleasant. You should think about that once in a while."

I'll admit that Khajiits are indeed very annoying, but M'aiq took that to the next level. "Anything useful?" I lashed my tail, almost knocking a plate off the table.

M'aiq sighed. "M'aiq is tired now, go bother somebody else."

"I thought you said you know things that others do not!"

"M'aiq is tired now, go bother somebody else."

I hissed in annoyance and stood, stomping over to where Shay, Archer, and Kharjo were sitting. Shay didn't look up as I approached, all of his attention rested on a platter of boiled creme treats that sat in front of him.

"Those are going to make you sick," I warned as I sat down next to him, unfortunately the only seat left around the table.

Shay took a bite of one of them, breaking it in half. "No they won't. They're great for regenerating health."

I glanced at Archer and he shrugged. "They seem to be working so far."

The innkeeper came over with another platter piled high with sweetrolls, honey nut treats, and long strings of taffy. I raised an eyebrow at Shay as he took the platter and set it on top of his now empty one. "You're sure that's not going to make you throw up all the way to Ustengrav?"

Shay laughed. "I won't, I promise."

Kharjo smirked. "I guess sugar makes him feel better."

Archer shook his head with a smile. "You should try it sometime, it actually does make you heal faster. I don't know why. Maybe it's the extra energy from the sugar."

I took one of the sweetrolls for myself. I studied the sweetroll carefully.

"Hey!" Shay tried to grab the sweetroll but I jerked it away and took a big bite.

Kharjo laughed. "Let me guess, someone stole your sweetroll," he said in his best imitation of a guard's bored voice.

Shay gave me a slightly annoyed look. "What did you do that for?"

I started to respond before realizing that my mouth was too full to say anything. I couldn't help but start laughing, which didn't help my ability to swallow. Shay also started laughing, that didn't help either. I could tell that Archer and Kharjo were trying not to laugh for my sake.

After what seemed like a very long time, I was finally able to swallow. "You're not the only one who gets hungry in the morning!"

Archer and Kharjo both started laughing. I smirked at Shay's annoyed sigh and took another bite, making sure it wasn't to big this time. 

After we finished breakfast, with three more stolen sweetrolls on Shay's part, we were on our way again.

Shay rode on Shadowmere again, Archer scouted ahead to prevent any unexpected surprises, Kharjo was behind, and I was next to Shay, with Vigilant walking happily at my side.

Archer must have known where we were going. He didn't falter in choosing directions at forks in the road, leading us south, toward Morthal.

Despite what I had expected, south didn't bring warmth and sun like I had expected. Instead, we walked right into a windy, cloudy, and cold storm of rain mixed with snow. Making us cold, wet, and grumpy. Especially in my case. The wetter and colder I got, the more short tempered and less patient I became, a soggy Vigilant leaning against my leg didn't help either. Shay eventually stopped making comments about our surroundings when he realized that I didn't want to talk.

To make things even worse, just when I thought things couldn't get worse, Archer veered off the road and marched right into the woods.

Archer stopped suddenly and crouched. Without thinking I did the same, moving silently to his side. "What is it?" I peered through the bushes to try and see what Archer was looking at.

"There's an apprentice ice mage and three bandits camped out to the right of Ustengrav," Archer pointed. "I could probably take them out with my arrows without being noticed, but I don't know if there are others around."

I looked where he was pointing and saw a hastily erected wooden ramp with a bedroll under it. Four people were sitting around a fire roasting something that looked like a rat. "What are they doing?"

Archer narrowed his eyes and pushed a few branches out of the way. "Cooking something. Skeever would be my guess."

"What's a skeever?" I asked, feeling a little silly.

"I've found them in caves mostly," Archer said. "They aren't tough, but that doesn't make them any less annoying."

That would explain why I hadn't found any. I tried to limit how often I entered caves. There was a quiet rustling behind us. Archer and I turned at the same time to see Shay and Kharjo coming over cautiously.

"Lets do a sneak attack," Shay suggested. "We'll be able to see any others and we won't get noticed."

Archer grinned at his brother. "You haven't been over here for a minute and you already know what to do. You should've come over sooner."

Shay grinned back. "I know. That's why I waited. Kharjo, would you like to lead?"

Kharjo flicked his ears in response and started creeping through the grass. I did my best to be quiet even though the grass was colder than the air, and there was slush piling up in my ears. I flicked it out quickly, before it could make my ears freeze.

We reached the ramp-like shelter and Kharjo turned to us. "We attack at the same time. I will go for the farthest one. It will be easy."

"What if there are others?" Shay hissed.

Kharjo shook his head. "No others. Go."

I targeted the ice mage. Knowing that Kharjo would go for the furthest bandit made the rest easy. As long as Shay and Archer didn't also go for the mage. I drew my twin daggers.

Kharjo flicked his tail and we all charged. Thankfully I was the only one who went for the mage. I tackled them. Slitting their throat before they could cast any spells. There was a clash from behind. I looked to see Archer duck under a sword. He slapped his hand, palm first against the bandit's chest. There was a quiet snick, like the one Kharjo and I had heard when we first met Archer, and the bandit fell.

Archer pulled his hand back and I noticed something flash at his wrist. I didn't bother asking about it though.

Kharjo stood at the lip of a round hole. Archer walked to his side and looked down. "Welcome to Ustengrav. This is our destination."