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It’d had been the first time in months, my dear friend has never left me alone for more than a day, but this time it seems like forever. Langley is okay company but my love for adventuring was weighing at me, I do hope they did not forget about me? I watched Mr.Dragonfly hover in his jar ‘You should check up on her’ “Mr.Dragonfly I am sure she doesn’t need me, she will be back from her quest soon enough” Inigo said more to himself than to his insect companion. “I do believe that your friend has given up on you Inigo, though I am very happy that you and I have been getting quite close these two weeks” Langley said in his usual I-don’t-like-your-friend tone, it made Inigo’s stomach turn “Something isn’t right, I’m going out for some fresh air, I’ll be back later” Langley looked up from his studies and called after him “dinner is Horker roasts this time so make sure to be back before then!” Inigo had already closed the door on his house mate, causing Langley to sigh. Inigo’s fur stood on edge as the cold winter winds suddenly hit his figure, The smell of ice filled his nose as snow fell lightly clinging to him, Frost was tied to a post beside the house looking up at him from his hay “Looks like its time for another adventure” he spoke, as he untied the horse and strapped Mr.dragonfly onto his belt, slapping the reigns with an initial ‘hyah’ causing Frost to take off down the mountain side. The last thing his friend had told him was they were headed to Markarth to handle a city conspiracy and wouldn’t be gone long, Inigo started to beat himself up for not going sooner as he had to take the rest of the day to make it halfway, resting at Morthal in the Moonside inn, which he did not enjoy, before getting up early with the sun barely peaking over the mist covered hills. As he finally made his way near Markarth he could hear the clicking and whirring underground grow more and more predominate “Faster, Steed, Faster!” Finally he saw the stables in view, and then looking up to see the huge walls that barricaded this strange hold, he quickly dismounted Frost and hiked up the steps to the golden gate, blending in as soon as he took two steps into seemingly the marketplace, he could smell the dried blood and iron from the idle little shops as people called out, boasting about their items to be sold. Inigo would have been interested if it wasn’t for the task at hand, he tried to listen in on any shady whispers that were strung about, as he walked past a couple guards he heard two of them boasting about a prisoner, he slowed and trailed them as they both laughed “Yeah she put up one hell of a fight! Too bad her armor wasn’t as good as she predicted” “You think anyone else is going to come around asking for her?” “If they do we’ll take them right too her, where they both can rot in the mines” they both made their way up a set of stairs but Inigo had heard enough. ‘It may not even be the Dragonborn’ Mr.Dragonfly chatted Inigo’s ear out, but to no avail as inigo had already made his way towards the mines before sneaking inside, he could hear small ticks of pickaxes hitting ore, he could smell damp soil from stalagmites dripping blending perfectly with the amount of rust, making his nose twitch. He eyed his surroundings whilst maintaining a small spot in the shadows as guards walked by, straight ahead he could see a metal gate with a huge lock on it where the presumed ticks were coming from ‘You do know if you get caught you won’t be leaving here alive’ Mr.dragonfly spoke as Inigo simply whispered ‘I know’ he stayed long enough to see the guards clockwork path before he found the perfect time to sneak into the other room, it took a while but he was able to get to the prisoners chest and look at the contents. It seemed to be filled with minor things such as lock picks, hide armor, a couple gold pieces, he suddenly found the items he was looking for, his friend’s custom ebony Ursine armor and ebony bow set were shoved in the bottom of the chest ‘you were right, I’ll admit it’ Mr.dragonfly spoke up as Inigo grabbed it and stored their friend’s items away, sneaking towards the guards quarters. He finally found a set of keys and had to wait because of two guards talking for what seemed to be ages, ‘Gods..will these two just move on already?’ Inigo thought to himself, almost as if one of the divines favored him at this very moment, they left leaving the area wide open for Inigo to unlock the door. His hands seemed to shake as he worked at the lock ‘Relax, like this isn’t the first time she’s been in trouble’ Mr.dragonfly spoke reassuringly but it didn’t help much as Inigo stepped foot into the prison area, seeing a small fire with a man sitting by it while an orc leaned against a wall and picked his teeth with a shiv “Excuse me, I am wondering if you have seen a Breton around here” Inigo spoke to the man by the fire who seems more comforting than the man of muscle behind him “You don’t look like you’ve been in here before, your armor tells me you aren’t supposed to be here..” “I know..and I promise I will go just please help me out” the man looked up at the Khajit as he studied their face “alright, try the left corridor” Inigo smiled “Thank you” he uttered as he headed towards the direction, passing a brunette male who got his attention “Hey, you! You got any skooma on you?” Inigo cringed mentally “I am afraid not.” He quickly took off past them before they continued. He stopped when he saw a familiar ginger color go down a newly dug cave, as he went to follow he suddenly stopped when he saw the sight of his beloved friend, a huge gash on the back of them had seeped blood through their rags as their hair was in a side pony tail, knotted and looking more of a darker orange from oil “Oh, my friend” he said as she turned and saw him “Inigo! Wait, what are you doing here? I told you I would be back, I was just about to get out, it’s only been two nights you should’ve waited longer” she spoke, her voice was dry from being limited with her recourses, her half blind gaze eyeing her friend who she secretly missed “You are mistaken, it has been two weeks..” he trailed off, the guilt weighing heavy as his friend got closer “let’s get out of here before the find you.” She says as she sways a little, clearly malnourished and living off of a few small stale bread pieces and not being able to sleep. Inigo put an arm carefully around his friend, she protested and tried to push him away. ‘Of course she would’ he thought, knowing how his companion saw herself as indestructible and would never want to be treated as anything less because of one minor scrape. He did love that about her though, how she holds her own and only keeps her equals by her side, never leaving a battle no matter the cause. But back to his reality he saw this was no minor scrape, it was clearly infected, dirt sticking to it causing it too look worse than it probably did beforehand. His gaze softened as he grabbed her hand and led her this time, at least then she wouldn’t be as headstrong against it, he pulled her to the steps leading to the gate, checking to see if the coast is clear before dashing to the exit. When they got out Inigo sifted through his things and found a cloak with a hood, he tried to help her cover the wound with it but she moved away from him, biting her lip with pain as she just slung it over her shoulder. ‘Clearly she has no idea how bad it is’ Mr.dragonfly noted sarcastically as Inigo ignored the insect in his pocket. His friend covered her face with the hood and they both tried to blend as much as possible before he heard a stern voice behind them “You two, stop right there” he turned and saw a guard with his sword drawn “where are you off too?” He questioned, his hidden face was stuck eyeing the cloaked figure in suspicion “I was just taking my blind friend out to the gardens, she loves talking to the family there” Inigo added fake peppiness to his tone, as The Dragonborn shut her right eye and looked up at him with her left blind eye with a nod “alright, but watch the skies, dragons could be anywhere” he said, turning and walking by with his sword back in his sheath. Inigo and his friend made their way out of Markarth and Inigo searched the stables for Shadowmere “We’re going to have to leave before we can get you fixed up, my friend” he says as he brings out his friend’s trusted steed of the night who’s red eyes gives him a look of familiarity “And I am sadly certain that riding is going to hurt, would you care to walk instead?” The Dragonborn began to get angry, but not towards him..it was towards her wound, her weakness. As dragons are made to be destruction of man, her soul itches at the very thought of being defeated by man itself. She grabbed the reigns and pushed all of her weight across the steed, inigo standing almost helplessly to the side ‘You sure picked an interesting person to shoot in the back of the head’ Mr.dragonfly teased as Inigo let out a weary chuckle and got onto Frost, they rode towards Morthal and much as Inigo tried to stop at any safe looking field, his friend wouldn’t have it “We are not stopping till Morthal” And everytime she would ride past him completely trying to zone away from the pain of every bump in the road that made the horse jolt, it didn’t take long until she took off the cloak because of the constant rubbing onto the wound making it hard to concentrate. When they arrived at Morthal it was already dusk. The Dragonborn jumped off of Shadowmere, but their legs were too weak to completely hold them as they had to grab onto Shadowmere for support, Inigo felt his heart ache for his friend as he followed her into the moonside inn “Welcome back, nice to see returning customers!” The lady said as Inigo faked a smile, paying for another night at the inn while his friend trudged into the rented room “Woah, she doesn’t look so good” the lady behind the counter said in slight worry “If you have any herbs that might be appreciated” he asked as the lady sold him some items to help. He made his way quietly into the room his friend was in and stopped when he peaked inside, she was sitting with her back arched from touching the chair while she was noticeably shaking, hugging herself close to her chest as she stared ahead, focusing on her breathing as small beads of sweat made their way down her cheeks. The infection was bad and Inigo was going to have to overstep his friend’s pride to make sure he doesn’t loose her “I have returned with everything your wound needs” he said setting the items on the table. She jumped at the mere sound of his voice ‘when was the last time she slept?’ He wondered as he gestured for her to show the wound, “don’t worry about it, I’ve got it” she insisted, trying to grab an item from Inigo’s hand “Ah Ah Ah, not this time my friend, you’re going to have to go let me help you” she glared at him from her hair and held the rags tight against her chest as Inigo had to cut away the back of the cloth. It made an uncomfortable peeling noise as he removed the space that covered the wound it made her flinch and his fur tingle in disgust, but he could finally see the damage as he poured room temperature water over it. “You don’t need to help me, I had it all under control I was going to return back to you soon” she began and Inigo was having none of it, he washed the dirt off of the large cut and ran over her sentences “How did this happen?” Is all he asked, as he put a few healing herbs on it “The whole city is corrupt by those stupid forsworn, and I had been poking around too much for their liking so I tried to fight my way out instead of agreeing.. guess an battle axe to the spine was enough for them to haul my ass up to the mines” she hissed out as he messed about with the wound “And when I got there to see the king in rags, he was killed off by someone before me! My whole plan was ruined after that and with no dead body with no key, I was stuck in that blasted place. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have gotten out soon. You should be finishing your tasks at hand with the impending doom strider not worrying over me” she uttered, before yelling out and slamming her fist on the table as Inigo had pressed a especially infected area “Sorry!” He kept repeating it with every gripe and wince that came from his friend “The doomstrider can wait” he suddenly said after he wrapped the wound, letting her wrap around her front half as eventually the rag of a shirt was tossed and she had bandages covering her top half, he handed her robes that she slid over her head, raising her arms but it was too much strain on her wound and he didn’t want her to bleed through new bandages so he helped her, she felt so small as he did so. The dragon inside of her screaming to do it on her own but for once she’s bending to her equal “Are you sure it would wait much longer?” She said, sitting on the bed as he washed the blood off of his fur in a clean bucket “If it hasn’t done anything this long.. it sure would pick a bad time to strike now” “why’s that?” She asked, tilting her head lightly as he smirked up at her “Because I have a little matter to solve with some guards and I’d hate for them to show up and miss me” his friend smiled genuinely at him “Well, we wouldn’t want that now would we?” She chimes in, feeling that something so minor became something that she would greatly remember..Someone caring for a dragon.