7 Chapter 7

"~What will we do with the drunken bosmer, what will we do with the drunken bosmer, what will we do with the drunken bosmer early in the morning~"

Auri's singing filled her pod. That lulling voice that normally soothed worsened the headache pounding away at his skull, each word like nails to a chalkboard.

"Please, sing a little lower Auri." Athias groaned out. He couldn't even be bothered to open his eyes; light would be just as bad as noise. Laying here, wherever he was in the pod, sounded good.

Damn. Had he drunken so much that he didn't remember falling asleep?

"Hmmm? Finally awake?" He heard some shuffling followed by steps closing in on him. "You make for a funny drunk, did you know that?"

He groaned. Last night was no more than a distant memory; like a dream the finer details escaped any attempts at recollection. He remembered drinking, singing a few songs with Auri, an ungodly heat then nothing.

"What happened?"

"A little -well- a lot of drinking, a little bit of singing, some dancing." That didn't sound so bad. "Then, you decided to mix some rotmeth into your drink. I think the spices in it might have a greater effect on humans."

"So I passed out?"

"After getting naked and singing something you called a sea shanty." Auri said with a laugh. "Are you sure you never met any of my people before? You would've fit right in at one our parties."

Athias groaned. Maybe it was better that he didn't remember any of that. Drunk him sounded even more reckless than he already was; what kind of idiot would drink something that may or may not be poisonous to them?

Him. He was that kind of idiot apparently.

"Here, drink up. We wouldn't want the tale of, Athias the foolish adventurer, to end with dehydration."

Despite the painful aftereffects of last night's foolishness, Athias cracked open his eyes. He was in Auri's bed, his pride saved by a covering of furs. She stood over him, his water-skin in hand.

He down its contents in a few painful gulps. The faint tingles of rotmeth remained within his mouth, nearly numbing any feeling he had in it.

"Are you going somewhere?" Athias asked. Auri's bow and quiver were on her back alongside her pack and whatever other equipment she deemed necessary.

"You'll need the day to recover, so I thought I'd take this chance to catch some food for our journey and get what I need to make more arrows."

Smart.

Auri left shortly after that explanation, the quiet pod all his. He would've let himself drift off to sleep but he couldn't pass up the perfect chance to use some of the perk points he'd been holding on to.

And check his status effects; all his bars were far lower than usual.

A quick thought and the dark blue window appeared over him. Luckily, the faint light it generated didn't hurt his eyes.

[Hungover]

[Description: Excessive drinking has its consequences.]

[Effects: Magicka and Stamina have been reduced by 50% along with their regeneration speed.]

[Rotmeth overdose]

[Description: Your body is ill adjusted to the contents of rotmeth and overconsumption has caused a minor case of poisoning]

[Effects: Maximum health reduced by 10%. Health regeneration reduced by 25%]

Yeah, it's safe to say he wouldn't be drinking anymore of that stuff. This was a good chance to get an answer to a question though.

He raised a hand and -after an unusual mental struggle- he gathered up his magicka, bathing himself in the golden light now held in his hand. It did absolutely nothing. Nothing other then drain his magicka and reignite the pounding against his skull, that is.

The basic healing spell he knew didn't eliminate poison in his body. He'd have to find something for that, be it a potion or spell, before they encountered something that made use of it.

Backing out of the status effects menu, he switched to the proficiency window.

Athias sat up straight, interest renewed. Instead of the constellations that usually greeted him, the dark blue window displayed boxes with two names.

His and Auri's.

A click of her name revealed a menu with a single constellation in the shape of one massive tree who's branches spiraled upwards. The tree didn't contain anymore perks than a single one of his constellations.

[Perk: Evolutionary Resistance]

[Description: As a bosmer, Auri already sports a resistance to poisons and diseases. As denizens of Greenshade where some of the most exotic of animals have been hunted, her clan has exposed themselves to substances completely undocumented leading to gradual changes in many of them]

[Effects: Auri's resistance to poisons and diseases will rise to 75%]

That's a massive number. It could certainly come in handy while they didn't have a reliable answer for poison; as long as one of them remained unaffected, their demise wouldn't be a forgone conclusion.

Athias hesitated to unlock it. Auri didn't have any perk points shown on the window. He could only assume that the price was a perk point he could've spent on himself. What's worse, he couldn't jump around her proficiency tree the way he did his. Hell, he couldn't even preview the names and effects of future perks.

Did he focus solely on himself or invest into his would be party member?

Screw it. While he had invested a few perk points over the time he spent training with Auri, he kept three on standby until he got access to the other magical proficiency trees. It wouldn't hurt to drop one into this constellation.

Besides, he liked Auri.

The more resilient she was the better. He didn't want to dampen his carefree adventure with the death of someone he's come to consider a friend. A very real possibility in a world this brutal.

He used one of his points to unlock the perk.

Athias fell back, utterly exhausted. The sweet embrace of sleep took him within seconds.

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Athias pulled on his newly acquired horse's reins and managed to bring the resistant thing to a begrudging stop.

He hadn't decided on a name for the pure white steed but already knew he preferred travel by foot. There was something….intimate about having his boots in the dirt, able to turn at a dime to investigate anything that nabbed his attention. On horseback it felt like he was missing out on so much by diligently following the fragmented stone pathway laid out by others.

It wasn't the horse's fault. He could always lead it off the beaten path and explore but this was hardly the time for that.

They had to get out of the hold soon.

Without a civil war to spread chaos across the land, even a territory as minor as Falkreath had the manpower and funds to chase down criminals. Ones who lied straight in the face of the Jarl and stole a horse would be high priority targets.

Perhaps that hadn't been his brightest moment. Still, the petty satisfaction Athias got out of it was more than worth it. He didn't get reincarnated to be pushed around by others.

"Should we find somewhere to stop for the night?" Auri asked, coming to a stop beside him, atop her own mount.

An antelope she called Thistlefoot. While sizable, the furry brown creature fell short of the Skyrim's horses, Athias still having to look down to make eye contact with Auri. It's head resembled that of a cow with two curved horns growing out the very top, the fur of its underbelly a clean white, and a combination of leather and animal furs to make up the saddle Auri sat on.

She said it followed her from Valenwood, a faithful friend rather than a tool to be used.

"Maybe." Athias said, looking straight ahead.

Lake Ilinalta sat before them, it's dark blue waters calm and inviting. Deceptive considering the slaughter-fish that likely hid beneath its surface, laying in wait for prey foolish enough to brave their territory. Just beyond the lake was Brittle Hills: a mountain range, that while not as tall as the ones that separated Skyrim from Cyrodiil, rose high enough for snow to cover it.

The sun was beginning to set, falling west of the hills.

They had already chosen to head to Whiterun. Now, with Falkreath's lively forest at their backs, they need only chose a direction. The trail to the east was a more direct path, leading through Riverwood. The west trail would have them circling around the lake and hills then righting their path back to Whiterun. It was a roundabout way but filled with more opportunities to explore.

Athias narrowed his eyes, trying to peer further down the west trail. He could see something dark wafting above the trees that lined it. He sniffed.

Was something burning?

Auri was already preparing her bow, looking towards him expectantly. Whatever was going on, she wanted to get involved and make sure the source of the smoke weren't trees.

Athias took hold of the reins with one hand, directing the horse towards the smoke, flames dancing across the palm of the other.

Whatever awaited them, he was sure they could handle it. The new spells under his belt would go a long way in ensuring that.

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A bit of a short one but combat is the majority of the next chapter, plus some other interesting things. Felt right to split it.

Anyways, I'm happy to see so many people are enjoying my writing, feeling more skilled than I actually am. I hope to keep improving as we embark on this journey together.

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