The weather as they traveled stayed consistently mild and sunny. If even a bit of cloudy cover showed in the sky, his mistress would shout upwards to clear them away.

Steve personally found the bright weather unsettling, but it kept Alistair from complaining.

At least about the weather.

"Ugh, how far is this place?" the Altmer whined, trudging behind them. He had his arms crossed and looked very much like the tiny mortals his mistress cared for when they were told they couldn't have more sweetrolls.

Briivasa rolled her eyes, "If I lie and say a few minutes, would it shut you up?"

"Ah, a lying Dunmer. How original," he snapped back.

Steve sighed.

He was really getting tired of their arguments.

"If you Mer don't stop it," the Dragonborn said over her shoulder, "I'm turning this Daedra hunting party around and we're going home."

"Excellent." Alistair grumbled. "Going home is exactly what I want to do."

Steve perked up. "Me too!"

Briivasa scowled at that comment, but before he think about it, his mistress pat his heavily armored shoulder.

She flashed her trademark cocky but kind smile. "Don't worry Steve, I think I might have that figured out. Once we deal with this Daedra, that is."

He grinned back.

He didn't doubt for a second that she would fix him being trapped on Nirn. Not only was she smart and powerful, but she was overly nice, too. It was just in her nature to help.

"Speaking of this Daedra," Briivasa said, falling into step beside the Dragonborn. "Care to fill us in on what we are heading off to fight?"

The Dragonborn frowned, "I could, but…where's the fun in that? Aren't you curious about the mysery of it all?"

Briivasa blinked a few times in rapid succession. "No. I prefer to know exactly what I'd heading into when charging to battle."

"Like the haunted house in that stone city?" Steve asked, genuinely confused. She had clearly underestimated that mission. It baffled him she would be concerned with information now.

The Dunmer woman glared at him, while his mistress looked up, "Wait, in Markarth? Er, yeah…probably best to leave that house alone for a bit…"

"So your….Dremora….stated." Briivasa muttered.

The Dragonborn shrugged, "Look, it's hard getting Daedric Lords to abandon a place, unless it's their idea. Hence the crap I'm dumping in there. Molag Bal will get annoyed and move on once it's his idea."

Steve nodded. "Yeah, probably try some new world take over plan or something."

"We are due for another one," she chuckled. "I'm more worried when the Daedra are quiet then when they are all front and center."

Alistair scowled, staring at his feet. "You are insane."

She burst out laughing, "I am! Probably. Most likely. Sheogorath would agree. Sort of. Maybe."

Steve grinned but noticed the two elves exchange another look.

He really wished he could figure out what they were silently saying.

Mortals were weird.

They walked a few paces before Briivasa tried once more. "No information at all? We have agreed-"

"Were coerced," Alistair interrupted at a mumble.

"—to help, but it's hard to help when we don't even know what we're hunting!"

The Dragonborn sighed. "I'm serious about the mystery of things! That's the probably these days, you know. No one wants to find anything out for themselves anymore. There is something to be said for chasing down the truth, for trying to find answers. Quests that begin that way turn into the most brilliant adventures."

"Utter nonsense." Alistair snapped.

She glanced back a him, "Oh? What are the Thalmor really trying to accomplish?"

He hesitated, "I…can't say."

"Or you don't know," she remarked, winking. "But, that's alright. I need a new mystery to keep me entertained. As for this Daedra, we are nearing the borders of Hjaalmarch, and then it's onto Haafingar. We'll be there soon, and you will have your answer."

"These names…" Alistair complained.

Briivasa sighed, hands on her hips. "All you do is complain! I knew Altmer were children, but this is ridiculous."

Steve frowned, ignoring the urge to take the blunt end of his sword to the back of their skulls.

Sometimes Oblivion was a lot easier to be in.

His mistress rolled her eyes. "I should have brought Wabbajack. I could have turned them into chickens."

He laughed, finding the mental image of that hilarious.

Alistair's complaining only got worse when they entered a weird sort of place where water pooled instead of flowed. There was fog and homey feeling tree branches everywhere. It was spooky. Like Oblivion. He liked it.

"Marshland," his mistress explained when he asked what it was called. "Some would say a swamp, but it's not the same thing. Those people have never been to the end of the world, also known as Black Marsh."

They came to a clearing, where the water began to actually move, and his mistress pointed to the side and up.

"Solitude," she said, squinting against the sunlight.

Steve wasn't one to like mortal cities, but he had to admit the way it was perched on the rocky bridge was pretty cool. The sunlight was glinting off the roofs over the buildings to make a very stunning image.

"Wow." Alistair said quietly.

The Dragonborn turned to regard him with a wide-eyed look. "What's this? Our moody Altmer has nothing bad to say? Could it be you found something nice in this…what was it? Divine forsaken land?"

He glared at her.

She elbowed him playfully while Briivasa chuckled at the teasing.

The Dragonborn waved them onward, away from the city. "Come on, we're headed this way. If we survive, I'll buy you all a drink in Solitude."

Sunset was starting to paint the sky as they climbed up hills and out of the marshlands. The path was paved once more, and tall green trees dotted the landscape.

It was getting colder as well, which Steve was glad for. Sunlight made his armor feel weird, and the snowy mountain wind was relaxing.

"I think our Embassy is up here," Alistair remarked, huffing as they climbed a particularly steep incline.

The Dragonborn nodded, "It is. We're not going quite that far, though. We'll be there soon."

"Where exactly, if not the city?" Briivasa asked, adjusting the mace on her belt, followed by the belt around her hips.

"Don't freak out on me," his mistress said, holding her hands up. "We might be heading towards a Daedric shrine."

"What?" Briivasa asked sharply.

"Oh come on!" The Dragonborn said, making a face. "You are a Vigilant of Stendarr. You should really map out where those are here in Skyrim…honestly…"

She turned and started walking again. "Besides, this is one of the…um…not as bad Daedric Lords, and she's currently not mad at me, so it should be fine."

"Currently?" Alistair questioned.

Steve shrugged, "They go in cycles, mistress and the Daedric Lords. One era they are allies of convenience, the next total enemies."

She nodded, grinning. "They are the necessary evil in Nirn, and I'm the necessary evil in their lives."

"Charming." Briivasa muttered.

Alistair slipped on a patch of icy cobblestone and Steve reached out to grab his arm and haul him back to his feet.

The Altmer looked slightly embarrassed, and offered a stiff nod as thanks before fixing his clothing.

The sun was dipping down behind some of the mountains, giving way to an eerie hush falling on the world. The wind still rustled the leaves, and left a few flurries of snow in its wake.

The Dragonborn stopped and frowned.

They all followed suite.

Steve couldn't see or hear anything that might have caused them to halt, but he trusted she knew something he didn't.

"There's no birds." she finally commented, as if reminding she had companions. "We're definitely in the right area."

Without warning, she started walking again, and they all followed behind a few paces.

Steve could see, before long, lights traveling through pillars, sparkling in the night sky.

Briivasa and Alistair saw them too, but no one wanted to ask the woman leading them anything about it. She seemed to be concentrating, and serious.

It was a sharp contrast to her normally sarcastic, carefree attitude.

But, Steve had seen her this way before and knew she was just prepared for whatever battle lay ahead.

And he'd be lying if he said he wasn't excited.

As strange a Dremora as he was, the call of battle still burned in his heart, as it did in all Kyn.

As they got closer, the lights become obviously attached to a ruin, and place atop it was an impressive statue of a Daedric Lord.

But, Steve couldn't tell which one, because it's head was missing.

The Dragonborn started chuckling. "Well, I was right about where this on-the-loose Daeda ended up. Touch break about the statue, Meridia…"

Briivasa glanced at her, then to the sword on her hip, then back to her. "You…don't seem particularly upset about the statue,"

"I said she wasn't mad at me currently, not that we were besties." His mistress explained, waving a hand in dismissal.

Steve spotted Meridia's head over the rim of a nearby cliff. Obviously, something had knocked in clean off the statue, and likely on purpose.

Suddenly, the beat of wings could be heard.

It grew closer, and closer, and before long laughter could be heard as well.

The Dragonborn pulled Auriel's Bow from her back and notched a glowing arrow. "Get ready,"

Steve likewise pulled his sword free, and watched as both elves cloaked themselves in magic before pulling weapons free.

The laughter grew in intensity until the pounding of wings was close enough to stir the trees and dirt from beneath their feet.

Not unlike a dragon, a creature burst into line of sight and circled above them before landing atop the now decapitated statue.

They were still on the ground, looking up at the temple, with a perfect view of the Daedra they had come to kill.

"What is that?!" Alistair exclaimed.

The Dragonborn nodded to it, "That, my friends, is a Daedric Titan."

"A what?" Briivasa asked, never taking her wide red eyes from it.

Steve and his mistress exchanged a glance and she gestured to him to go ahead.

He gestured to it with his sword. "Daedric Titans were created by merging a dragon husk with a Daedric Vestige, within the vile laboratory in Cold Harbor. Molag Bal wanted to mimic dragons completely, but this was as close as he could get."

"I realized," The Dragonborn said, "that Oblivion would have offered something akin to me to Nirn in exchange for the soul swap. The only thing that would make sense, would be something like a dragon."

"You knew this was what we were going to fight?" Alistair whispered, sparing a moment to glare at her.

She winked, "Mystery, my dear Alistair. The surprise is part of the fun."

His glare intensified.

"How do we fight something like that?" Briivasa asked.

For the first time ever, she sounded a bit scared.

"The same way you fight any Daedra," his mistress replied, completely unconcerned.

The Daedric Titan lowered his head and looked right at them.

"Um…" Alistair said, backing up a few steps.

"And we better get to that fight, because he totally just saw us." The Dragonborn said, pulling the bow string back.

Her eye caught his, and Steve grinned.

"I smell weakness…" he said, hefting his sword.

She laughed and returned her attention to the beast.

"Let's do this!"

Author's Note:

A shorter chapter, because I want the next one to be the big final battle!

Sorry for the delay everyone; I've been finishing up writing projects, and then took a bit of a break, over the last few months. Now I'm back! I'm wanting to finish this story soon, as well, so that our buddy Steve can get back to Oblivion ;)

Daedric Titans are from ESO and Morrowind; I've not played Morrowind, so I don't know what backstory (if any) were given to them, but I'm familiar with ESO so used that. They are really cool looking enemies, and I liked the idea that it would be a dragon-like creature they would fight, in keeping with the theme of Skyrim.

I hope everyone is still enjoying this story! A few chapters are left. Thanks for reading!