It was a long night of explanations. The first thing Quintus had to do upon returning to Fjori's house (which apparently had been Sofie's friend's house all along) was give Lydia the basic run-down of what had happened. Now that he'd gotten all his emotions out of the way, it was significantly easier to tell. When he finished the part about being tossed out, he could see Lydia's apprehensive look as she watched her Thane's face. No doubt the practical housecarl was worried Fjori would be starting some kind of rampage in Windhelm. Whatever her reaction had been the first time he told her, this time it was stone cold. Then, he got to the parts he hadn't told Fjori: how their Dunmer friends had helped abscond many of his materials and potions for later, how Wunferth had found him Sofie to help carry more of his things, how everyone had come out to give him a send-off. Those were the more hopeful parts of the story, and he felt almost guilty he hadn't given them to Fjori earlier when she needed to hear them most. As it was, the tension seemed to melt off of her as she heard the good people had done to help him. Perhaps she wouldn't burn the entire city to the ground now…

Then, once the girls came in from playing, there was a break for everyone to eat. The little house had never been as full as it was that evening, with five people crammed in the dining and living areas. The two girls sat in chairs by the fire pit while the adults sat on the bench along the table. Finally Quintus's appetite had returned, and he dug into the venison chops with gusto despite the chewy consistency of the preserved meat. Fjori also threw some potatoes over the fire, and pulled out some apples from the barrels in her kitchen. He, and everyone else for that matter, devoured everything.

Once they were sated, Quintus resumed his story, telling of his and Sofie's journey to Whiterun and what they had been doing since their arrival. Now that the girl was here, she added her own details to his narrative.

Lastly, it was Fjori's turn to recount what had happened with her battle against Alduin. She admitted her lack of victory, her depression at the thought of needing to continue growing stronger to defeat him once and for all, and her trip to Riften and Yngol's Barrow before returning to Whiterun via the same carriage Quintus had taken. She omitted the part about being afraid she wouldn't be able to see him for a long time. That was a promise with terms that might be changing, at least she hoped so. Instead, she presented him the copy of Sinderion's speech, which he accepted with keen interest. Some new reading material was just what he needed, he declared.

When all was said and done, both girls and Quintus looked like they could barely keep their eyes open. The girls she sent to bed with a firm command, and they were too tired to argue. The man she took by the hand and guided upstairs, which he had never seen. She led him to her bedroom, threw back the covers, and directed him to lie down. For a moment it seemed he would protest, but given everything that had transpired, he was too exhausted to do so. She wasn't certain, but she suspected he was out as soon as she pulled the covers back over him.

"Sleep well, Quintus," she murmured, leaning down to kiss his forehead. He didn't stir.

Satisfied that everyone was taken care of, Fjori returned downstairs where Lydia was waiting. She'd stolen Lucia's spot by the fire, poking at the coals absently. "Now that that's taken care of, I believe you and I need to talk."

"Yeah. Didn't see this coming, did we?"

Fjori took her spot in the chair next to Lydia. "Look, I know what I promised, and I don't want you to think this is just an excuse for me to break it. However, we talked, and even though it doesn't make a lot of sense, he wants to stay in Skyrim. For me. Obviously he will live here in Whiterun until further notice, but I am a Nord of my word. As much as it would kill me to leave him here alone for several months, I will do it to honor our deal. He'll have the girls, and the people here in the city will take him in, I'm sure of it. Does that sound fair to you?"

Lydia stopped what she was doing, letting the poker fall to the ground. "Fjori, tell me the truth. You love him, don't you? I may not be an expert, but I can see the way you look at him, the way he looks at you. Do you deny it?"

"I don't." She admitted it much more readily than Lydia had expected. "I love him, without a doubt."

Lydia sighed. "Then I suppose holding you to this promise is silly. You've struggled with keeping it, but you have all the same. It makes you absolutely miserable, and let me tell you, you are difficult to deal with when you are miserable. I think you'll get better work done if your morale stays up."

"You mean it, Lydia?"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "I hereby decree that Fjori may visit Quintus no more than five days out of the month, while spending the other twenty-five to twenty-six training to defeat Alduin."

Fjori's arms wrapping around her shoulders excitedly was the last thing the warrior expected. "Thank you, thank you, thank you Lydia! You're the best!"

"My Thane, stop this. You are embarrassing yourself…"

"No, I'm embarrassing you!" She let go with a big grin. "I mean it, Lydia. You won't regret this!"

"You do know that you are the one in charge, not me, right?"

"Hey, Nords always honor their promises. In this matter, you're the one calling the shots."

"Hmm, and they call us barbaric!" Lydia waved her Thane away. "I suppose you'll go crawl into bed with Quintus now?"

"Yep. He's so sleep-deprived I doubt that me crawling in next to him would wake him. Tomorrow, we'll get him established here in town, make sure everyone knows he's with me, and then we can worry about our next destination."

"Sounds like a plan."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Quintus followed them out past the city gates and to the stables. Lucia and Sofie had already given their goodbyes before running off with their friends. A refreshing breeze swept around them, tugging playfully at his new tunic; she'd insisted on buying him another outfit before leaving, and he chose to wear it immediately while seeing her off. "I'll make sure they eat well. When you come home, I'll have a nice, hot meal ready. And don't worry about buying any health potions; I'll make you some very effective ones with the ingredients you left."

"You know you don't have to make it up to me, right?" Fjori turned and gave a pointed look.

"I know. But I'm still going to try." He shrugged with a small smile. "What else can a man do besides earn his keep?"

"Teach Arcadia, from the sounds of things. I guess you never let on how much you knew until today, did you?"

"Well, I don't like to brag…"

"It's good. It will keep your academic edges sharp." Fjori turned to her trusty companion. "Are we ready?"

"As usual, my Thane, we were waiting for you."

Quintus couldn't help a snort of laughter. "Lydia's got you there."

The sound of his laughter, far stronger than it had been yesterday, made her indescribably happy. For the first time since she'd contemplated feelings for the Imperial alchemist, she interrupted him with a deep, heartfelt kiss in plain sight of anyone and everyone. "As usual, we'll be back. I promise to be safe." Leaving him a parting caress with her cold, metallic gauntlets, she beamed and took off down the road, leaving Lydia chasing behind with a shout. He just stood there with a dazed grin on his face for several moments as he watched them disappear on the horizon.

No sooner than he'd turned around to head back inside, he heard a different voice utter his name. "Quintus Navale?"

"Yes?"

When he looked back behind him, he saw the voice belonged to a courier. Who could possibly have sent him a message? "Finally I've tracked you down! You were very difficult to find. I've got this letter for you. Well, letter and something else. It feels a bit heavy." The man held out his delivery, which Quintus took curiously. "Looks like that's it. Got to go." With no further comments, the courier headed back to the main road.

He told the truth; something heavy was included in this envelope. With the flames of his curiosity fanned even further, he tore it open where he stood. The ring inside nearly fell to the ground, but he caught it just in time. This was no cheap thing, he quickly realized in shock. The band was made of gold, and inlaid with a sapphire. There was even an enchantment on it; he could feel it as he held it in his hand. Who in the world had sent him such a thing? Finally he opened the letter.

Dear Quintus,

I wish I had good news to give you. I wish I could tell you that everything went according to plan and that Alduin is dead, that I will be returning to you shortly. I'm sorry to say that it has not, he is not, and I will not. I've severely injured him, but failed to kill him. Now I need to get stronger and hunt him down once again. I made a promise not to let my feelings for you interfere with my mission, but I never thought I could regret it this much. Every little thing reminds me of you, from the book I acquired (I'll give it to you in person the next time we meet), to the nightshade in the Velvet LaChance, to the Argonian waiter that wants to give his girl a ring to represent their love.

On that note, you've no doubt realized there is a ring included here. See, that Argonian got me thinking. Nords are not the most, well, romantic. I wonder what an Imperial expects when their relationship gets serious. We didn't have time to talk about that. Regardless, I want you to know without a doubt that I value what we have and want to remain yours even if I will need to be away for a long time. So, I made you this. The craftsmanship is decent if I do say so myself, though the enchantment turned out to be spectacularly pathetic. I think it will boost your alchemy skills by like 1%... Even if it is pretty useless, I hope it will remind you of my feelings for you.

You have been and always will be my motivation for finishing this damned quest. I want to wake up next to you again. I want to have all the time in the world to make love properly with you. I want to taste your cooking, hold your hand, and a million other things I don't even know I want yet. I'll give this my all so I can hurry back to you. Please wait for me.

Only yours,

Fjori

Quintus sank to his knees as he clutched the letter to his chest. It was dated several days ago, meaning she'd sent this while being completely oblivious to his plight. Sweet Mara, these were her true thoughts, untainted by any pity! Given how much he had cried yesterday, how was it even possible for more tears to be forming?

With trembling hands, he moved to put on the ring. "I'll be waiting right here."