Evelyn doesn't dream often, when she does they normally don't seem real. However it feels as if she's reliving a memory, but not her own. She finds herself in a mountain range. The area reminds her of where Skuldafn was located. She can hear fighting and she slowly follows the sound. She sees a group of Blades, facing against a small dragon. Strangely the dragon doesn't fly away, it seems to be guarding something. The dragon seems desperate, but it won't fly away. She wants to steps in, but a faceless warrior gets in her way. She wants to Shout him out of her way, but before she can she feels the sharp pain in her stomach. She lets out a gasp, the taste of blood fills her mouth. She glances down to see a sword thrust right through her stomach. She slowly looks up, trying to get a look at the Blade, but all she sees is his armored helm. "Die beast!" She stumbles back to see her body is that of a dragons. The only sound she makes is a wear roar before everything goes to black. She jolts awake, letting out a deep gasp. The sudden movement sends a wave of pain through her body. She winces as she clutches her stomach, looking down. At least this time when she looks she's not drenched in blood. She lets out a low sigh, holding her pillow close to her. The pain would fade on it's own, but it still knocks the crap out of her. She hates this feeling, it's so rare, but when it does hit, it hits hard. She's almost asleep again, when she hears her door open. It takes her a moment to remember she's still in Honeyside. No doubt Artemis is wondering why she's still in bed.
She normally rises earlier then this, but she can't will herself to move. "You look extremely pale..." He's not sure if he should be concerned or not, but she does not look good. Her eyes open slowly as she lets out a weak laugh. "I bet I look like hell, I sure feel it.." She lets out a low groan. "I'll be fine.." She's never had a dream like that before, was that the reason she went through this? Did she somehow die in a past life? Or was she over thinking this? It takes her a minute or so she slowly sits up. She doesn't want to go into the grand details of what she's dealing with. "It's just something that happens from time to time...it's not as bad as it used to be.." She hears the sound of a chair being moved across her floor. She blinks to see he's parked himself not far from her bed. She chuckles slightly, shaking her head, he's a stubborn one she'll give him that. "It started a little after I turned twenty-one. I woke up one morning to one of the worst pains I ever felt. I honestly thought someone tried to kill me, there....was a lot of blood." She pauses, but he says nothing so she continues. "I wasn't stabbed...but honestly I'm not sure what happened." She waves her hand a bit. "All I really remember is dragging my sorry butt out of bed and making it out my door....I think.." She's still not sure, most of her trip down the stairs were a blur. "Mernon found me, I think he was coming to check up on me. I just remember waking up in a temple like three days later. Not even they could figure out what went wrong. They just know the damage left me completely unable to have kids of my own." She shrugs slightly, trying not to move to much. It takes Artemis a moment to figure out what she was talking about. Once he does his brows go up, down, then he frowns. "Oh."
"Hey it's fine, a side from the rare moments it still hurts like hell I'm just dandy. Really the thought never bothered me. Hell I ended up adopting kids so who says they have to be blood?" She's more then happy to take in any child that needs a home. She wonders if she should count that as a hoarding problem as well. She purses her lips as she thinks. "I'm going to have my own army of kids, teach them to go for the ankles. Or kidney...always go for the kidney.." She chuckles slightly as she lays herself back on her pillow. It's still going to be awhile before she can move properly. "But enough on me, I still wouldn't mind hearing more about you. That is if you're willing to share. You sort of left off at the whole going after this Regis fellow." He crosses his arms, his eyes looking at the floor. "Pook wasn't the first Pasha I worked for, Basadoni taught me everything I know." His mouth twitches as he gives some thought to what to really say. He's not one to really give out a lot of information about himself. However unlike Jarlaxle she seems genuine in her curiosity about him. "Catching Regis should have been an easy job, but he was good at hiding. When I did manage to figure out where he was, he was already on the road with a small group of adventures." He glances up slightly, she's listening careful to every word. "I managed to capture a woman, Cattie-brie in order to find out where the thief was heading. Mithral Hall, that's what they were looking for. Fells like I traveled half of Faerûn just to catch up to them. It only got more completed from there, between his friends, the shadow dragon, I'm surprised I made it out in one piece..." He still recalls his first fight with Drizzt, it' been awhile since he's given the elf any thought.
She holds up her hand to slow him down a touch. "Back up there, you have Mithral?" He rises his brow. "I take it there's none here.." "Used to be, but it faded over time. I think after the whole Oblivion Crises hit. Not many people gave it much thought but I remember way back when there was a small lead. Old tunnel that run through one of the Ayleid ruins." She lets out a low sigh as she rubs the side of her head. "It really didn't start off that bad, but as we got deeper we started running into a lot of undead. Well we sure as hell found the source. A lich that was in the middle of it's.." She tries to think of the right way to explain it. "I guess you'd call it a transformation, where it ditches it's body, but yeah we ran and collapsed the tunnel for good..." His eyes go wide, he knows exactly what she's talking about. "What was this Oblivion Crises?" He hasn't heard about that. "Oh that happened well over two-hundred years ago, cult's, the death of an Emperor, said cult's opening portals into Oblivion itself. It's.." Again she pauses to think of a way to explain it. "Another plane of existence, where the Daedric Princes reside." She slowly gets up, holding her stomach. The pain wasn't as bad, but she needed to move. Standing seems like a horrid idea, but she's close to wetting the bed if she doesn't. There's a built in bath not far. "I'm going to take a bath, and with any luck I won't drown." She passes him slowly as she leaves him for the time being.
They don't leave her home till well afternoon. She decides to take the same path as before, but without Shadowmere. Walking seems to help and if she has to she can summon her own horse. Plus she just loves coming down this way. The path follows Lake Honrich, it's the same path that lead to Darklight Tower. There's something relaxing about watching the leaves here fall. It always reminds her of the later months of the year. She likes taking her time, listening to the sounds of nature around her. As they got close to Angarvunde, Artemis pauses to look at the old ruins. She takes a few steps back to join him. "Nordic ruins, you'll see them a lot up here. I already cleared out this one, looking for more Word Walls.." He turns his head at this. "Word walls?" "Walls etched with a set of words in the Dragon Language. I can't read off of them, but some of them have words of power I can learn, Shouts, it's how I know so many." He's still a touched confused, but he nods anyways. "It's like reading a spellbook, that only I can understand." That makes more sense, for him at least. "You don't carry a spellbook." Most mages he knows carry large tomes full of spells they use. "I have extras, but I doubt you'll be able to make heads or tails out of it." He doesn't look like the type to use magic. He shakes his head at this. "Mages back home carry tomes of spells they use. They study them endlessly to prepare for battle, unless you are a sorcerer." But they learn magic differently from mages. "Most I know is up here." She points to her head. I can use whatever spell I know in a blink of an eye. Guess magic works differently where you're from.."
She turns and starts to head down the path again. Artemis quickly follows after her. "How'd you even find out you could use magic?" She takes in a deep breath as she thinks about it. "I was...sixteen I think I was trying to gather wood for someone and I managed to catch it on fire....with my hands. It's possible someone in my family line used magic, but I wouldn't know for sure. After that I had a few tutors so I wouldn't catch anything else on fire." She pauses for a second. "Well now that I can breath fire I might have to watch how I sneeze, but luckily that hasn't been a issue." He takes a step back and she can't help but laugh. It's seems like no time had passed as they got close to the old shack that stands near the road. As they continue the path she hears yelling. She turns to him before heading off toward the sound. There's a small group of Thalmor, lead by Justiciar. They always wore black robes, laced with gold. The others with him are dressed in elven armor. The mage kicks at a man on the ground, making him cry out in pain. "I know you're hiding something, we'll drag you in for questioning if you don't answer me." The poor man lets out a groan, unable to respond. Which earns him another kick in the gut. Her Thu'um rumbles as she steps in. "Leave him alone!" Even Artemis jumps when she shouts. The elves stop what they were doing as the leader turns to her slowly. He sneers when he sees her amulet hanging freely.
"It's illegal to worship Talos, you'll be coming with us after we deal with him." The elf kicks at the wounded man again. "I do as I damn well please and you can't stop me!" This gives them pause and soon they all draw their swords. "Then you'll die!" The Justiciar unleashes a powerful lightning spell. But it arches away from her, to Artemis, he had slipped on his gauntlet while they were arguing. The elf was about to say something, but Artemis uses the gauntlet against the elf, hitting him with his own spell. She jumps back, her eyes wide, so that's what he meant. She smiles wide as she pulls out Charon's Claw. "Let's dance!" She parries one hit as Artemis goes for the other elf. She swings out her new blade, creating a opaque wall between her and the elf. She wonders if she can use the ash as a weapon, but she's still learning how this sword works. However as she knocks the elf down, a strange thought enters her mind. "GolHahDov!" The Bend Will Shout hits the elf and he jolts, unmoving. "Kill him." She points to the other elf about to attack Artemis. He struggles for just a bit, but can't fight her Shout. He attacks his fellow elf and soon they're fighting one another. Artemis uses Chillrend against the elf fighting against him. It's cold chill seeps into the elves armor, slowing him down bit by bit. He turns fast and slices his neck with his dagger. Once the elf falls he turns to see the other two fighting against one another. Evelyn is just watching from the side line. "I've always wondered if I could use my Bend Will Shout on people, seems it works, kind of I can't say I've really use it often." She only used it to go after Miraak.
However the one she used the Shout on, wins the fight. He now stands there, eyes wide. "Are you aware of what you've done?" The elf scowls at her, but nods. He has no choice but to answer her. Her Shout wasn't going to fade for some time. "Interesting, drop your weapons.." He drops his sword. She turns her gaze to the man still on the ground. She helps him up, poor fellow looked to be just a normal farmer. "Thanks ma'am, was on my way to sell my goods when they stopped me, questioning me. I swear I did nothing wrong.." She just pats him on the back. "There there my good sir, you're free to go." He bows his head, making a run for it as she turns to the elf. "Now, here's an interesting situation, what shall we do with him?" She smirks as she turns to Artemis. "I'm guessing you can just will him to stay here forever.." She shakes her head at this. "The Shout will fade and he'll be able to move again on his own. There's a cave of bears not far from here." He shrugs, not really caring that much. So she orders the elf to walk. It's a bit fascinating to see the man struggle, but he can't fight her commands. She gets him close to the cave and soon a lone bear mauls him down. She really didn't want to watch someone get eaten alive so she heads back to the road with Artemis. "I have to admit that was an interesting experiment. Sort of opens the door to a list of possibilities of things I can get people to do. Maybe I should try it more often, see what it's limits really are.." Artemis just walks slowly at her side. He finds himself having to remember just how remarkably dangerous this woman really is.
Her natural personality is so, kind, open, happy. The complete opposite of his own personality. But when she really gets down to business, she's not someone to mess with. She's every bit of an assassin like he is, she just deals with things far differently. Not that it's a bad thing, but it is interesting. She chuckles softly as they walk. "I should use it on Elenwen, see what I can make her do.." Watching her smirk sends a chill up his spine. It's hard to over look her beauty when she does that. He quickly shakes the thought away however. Doesn't help it's followed by the sudden though of trying to picture her with a lot less clothes. He really needs to think of something else, and quickly. "Why do these Thalmor have a thing against Talos?" Talos is a God where he's from, but from what he's read they're very different. "Their argument is that Talos was a mortal. When he was alive, he was known as Tiber Septim. When he died he became the Ninth Divine. So in their head it shouldn't be allowed, that it should go back to the Eight Divine." She spits at the ground as she scowls. "I don't care what they say, I may not pray to the guy but I have every damn right to wear my amulet if I want to!" It's really the only thing she has left of her fathers, so for her it's irreplaceable. She's passionate he'll give her that much. "It's been years, the fact they still think they have a say on such things pisses me off. Which is why I've been thinking of dealing with Elenwen herself. She's not in charge, but she is their First Emissary. So I imagine if I did take her out of the picture it might shake up the Thalmor a touch.." Her head tilts to the side. "However if she were to have an 'accident'." She uses air quotes as she smiles.
It takes a few hours to reach Riverwood. By then she was a bit tired. She finds a nice grassy spot near the river and sits herself down. She makes some room for him and he slowly joins her. He normally doesn't walk this much, but he finds he didn't really mind it. Seems to have helped her out a bit. Even if she looks drained. It's getting dark outside, but she gazes at the stars. "I've been out here for awhile now, but it never fails to take my breath away at how beautiful it is. It's why I love taking that southern route from Riften. Something about watching the leaves fall is so relaxing. Even here with the sound of the river." She just takes it all in, a few ducks were near by, swimming in the more calmer waters. Artemis just sits back, not really thinking much about his surroundings. He's not one for nature, it's just something that's there. But the way she speaks of it, it's not that bad he figures. "We might still have to stay a few days in Whiterun, but with any luck we'll return to Dawnstar.." She lets out a deep sigh. "No doubt Cicero is going to have questions as to why I was gone...but he'll understand." He just nods slowly, keeping his gaze at the sky now. Maybe he can learn to appreciate the little things like she does. Though he doesn't want to admit the twin moons is throwing him off a touch. It's hard to remember just how different this place really was compared to home.
