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"I don't like this." Meren said quietly, from where he was sprawled on a bedroll. Teldryn glanced over at him, confused.
"Do you not like the soup? I'm not making more. Or the bed? Because that's yours, and I'm not sharing mine." Meren shook his head, and Teldryn rolled his eyes, continuing to clean dirt and dried blood off of his sword.
"I don't like not having a home. I want somewhere to go back to, not just a bedroll in the wilderness."
"We've got one in Raven Rock." Teldryn reminded him.
"You don't want to be in Solstheim, and there's nothing really there for us. I want one here, closer to everything." Meren explained. The Dunmer shrugged.
"How much are houses? There's one in Whiterun for sale."
"If we got a house, could we go back to Windhelm and get Sophie?"
"The girl who found you in a snowbank?" Teldryn's tone was inquisitive.
"Every time we go through Windhelm she remembers us. She sleeps outside, Teldryn." Meren had a note of pleading in his voice as he looked over at the Dunmer.
"I'm not saying no, I was clarifying who you were talking about."
"Can we?"
"Let's look at how much houses are. Then we'll figure out how to adopt her."
The two climbed the stairs to Dragonsreach around noon, the hood of Meren's cloak pulled low over his face. He grimaced as the thick clouds moved away from the sun, while Teldryn simply basked in the light.
Meren hesitated as the two approached the steward, intensely aware of the Jarl's eyes on him.
"We've gotten rid of the giants." Teldryn told Proventus quickly, keeping an eye on Meren.
"Thank you, you've done us a great service. Here is your reward." The man handed him a heavy sack of gold, which Teldryn slipped into his belt.
"If you don't mind my asking, are there any houses for sale?" Meren asked quietly, his hood still up. Proventus nodded.
"Yes, there's one for 5,000 septims, are you interested?" Meren nodded.
"Do we have 5,000?" Teldryn muttered.
"Yeah. From the bandit camp, remember?" He nodded.
"We'll take it." Teldryn said. Proventus nodded, beckoning them to follow. They headed up the stairs into his quarters, where he began writing in his ledger, gesturing to the table for them to deposit the gold. The two began pulling small sacks and stray coins from their belts and packs, dropping the metal in a haphazard pile on his desk. Proventus looked up as Teldryn set the gold they'd acquired from the bounty at the top with a mildly concerned expression.
"Yes, well, thank you. Here is the key." Proventus handed Meren the small brass key, and he curled it in his fist tightly.
"Thank you, sir." Meren told him. Proventus nodded and Teldryn led them out.
Breezehome was small, but the fire pit was warm and the bed was soft. The Jarl had handed Meren an enchanted axe, hailing him as Thane, and he'd reluctantly accepted it, growing more nervous as the amount of eyes on him increased. The Altmer was now hiding in the bedroom, wrapped up in the blankets.
"Meren, you've got someone here to see you." Teldryn called from where he was setting books on the shelf as a woman in steel armour entered carefully. There was a muffled shout and a loud thud, and Meren slowly shuffled down the stairs, wrapped in the blankets like hooded robes.
"My name is Lydia. I was appointed to be your housecarl." The Altmer nodded, relaxing slightly as she didn't show any signs of confusion or concern over his state of dress.
"Welcome to the house. I'm Teldryn Sero, his… what would you call it? Lover? Partner?"
"Partner works." Meren said, his voice muffled, and he sat down on the stairs, his bony feet poking out from under the blanket.
"Few things to know-- one, he doesn't always talk. It's not because of you or anything you said, he just doesn't. Two, we'll be wandering in and out at weird times, so we don't expect you to adhere to a schedule. Three, I think we're bringing a kid here."
"She's sweet. From Windhelm." The mass of cloth said. Lydia smiled.
"I can handle whatever you need me to handle." She said.
"Great. Meren was there anything else?" Teldryn glanced up at the stairs.
"I don't like bright lights or loud noises."
"I can move very quietly, that won't be a problem." Lydia assured the two.
"Do you think she'd be alright with you mentioning the--"
"I'm a vampire." Teldryn turned around to face the Altmer, taken aback by his bluntness. "I wouldn't hurt you, though." Teldryn watched her reaction, waiting for terror to cross her face and his having to defend his partner from an angry Nord woman.
"I'm sworn to your service. You don't have to worry about me." Teldryn sighed in relief as Lydia spoke.
"One more thing, he has night terrors." Teldryn told her. "Which means he ends up screaming and thrashing around."
"I know what night terrors are, and rest assured, unless you need my assistance I will leave you alone." She made eye contact with the blankets, which appeared to nod.
"Thank you."
Windhelm was dark and cold, and it was snowing. Meren headed through the streets quickly, looking for the small Nord girl with increasing fear. Teldryn trailed behind, looking for her in the small alleys and crevices between pillars and walls.
"Found her!" Meren said, walking towards a small huddled figure. He crouched down a respectful distance away, his eyes on her.
"Sophie?" The girl stirred, looking up curiously. She recognised the two elves and her face broke into a smile.
"Hello." She said.
"It's too cold out here for you, why aren't you inside?" Meren asked.
"No one bought my flowers, so I couldn't."
"What if I told you that there was a way you could stop selling flowers to survive?" Teldryn asked. Sophie looked up at him, confused. "You helped us, a while ago, and we've never forgotten it. So we decided to offer you something in return for that."
"We have a house. There's room for you, too. You'd never have to beg for money or go hungry or sleep outside again." Meren said quickly.
"A house? You mean, come live with you?"
"I know we can't replace your parents, but you'd be safe." Meren told her carefully. Sophie slowly stood up, shaking the snow from her shoulders.
"You'd really be willing to take me in?" Meren stood up as well, nodding. "You'd be my parents?"
"If you're comfortable with that, yeah." Teldryn told her.
"I'd be comfortable with that."
"Welcome to our family, then." Meren said. Sophie grinned, looking up at the two elves.
As evening fell over Whiterun, three figures entered, exhausted but focused. Meren opened the door to the house as Sophie slowly stepped inside, taken aback by the size of it.
"This is larger than the house my ma and pa lived in." She breathed.
"I guess this is our home, then." Meren said.
"Thank you. Thank you so much!" Sophie said, turning and hugging Meren and Teldryn tightly. They returned the hug, dropping to the ground as the girl wrapped her arms around their shoulders.
"I'm just scared I'll wake up and this will be a dream." Sophie said.
"Well if it is, we'll come find you and make it a reality." Teldryn told her.