Rise of House Sigeweald Book One (Skyrim Fanfiction)

Ill Met in Riften: Part III

"Wake up! That's right, it's time to wake up you drunken blasphemer."

Lydia's head was pounding as she came around, confused and scared. She had no idea where she was or what she had done. All she knew was that the priestess in gold robes in front of her was livid and that she was in trouble. Big trouble.

"Wha...what happened? Where am I?" she asked, her voice was shaking. Looking around, she could see that she was in a temple. A rather messy temple—baskets and books and bottles were strewn everywhere.

"You are in the Temple of Dibella, in Markarth. I'm guessing you don't remember coming in here and blathering on about marriage or a goat. Which means you don't remember your friend losing his temper and throwing trash all over the place." Senna, the priestess, scowled. "Who are you?"

Marriage? Goat? Markarth? How did she get to Markarth? Lydia scrambled to her feet. She gulped, but before she could respond, there was a crash from the other side of the temple and a man came staggering over. It was Vipir.

"Allura!" he said. "Oh my gods! What did we do?"

Allura? What? Lydia was bewildered but remained silent. She would go along with his ruse for now.

He turned to the Senna to apologize. "I am so sorry," he said. "We just got a little carried away with our friend last night." The priestess seemed unmoved, so he continued. "My name is Sven and this is my wife, Allura. I do want to apologize and make this right. Perhaps if we cleaned the temple and made a generous donation? Surely, Dibella would find it in her heart to forgive a simple night of debauchery."

She continued to glower at the couple but after a few very uncomfortable moments agreed. When she turned away, Vipir hooked his arm around Lydia's waist. "What happened last night?" he whispered, his tone betraying a mix of confusion and amusement. "Did we lose that drinking contest?"

"I don't know," Lydia's voice was still shaking with anxiety. "I just want to get out of here." She pulled away from him and immediately set about cleaning, her face red with shame and embarrassment. She looked back at him as he put fallen barrels upright and her heart sunk a little. Despite his affection just moments ago, she assumed he was terribly angry with her. She couldn't actually recall, but she was certain to have accepted the challenge for them. She was always doing things like that—to prove she was just as capable as warriors like Vilkas and Farkas. But that was always in the safe confines of the Bannered Mare or Jorrvaskr.

"I think we're done here." Vipir sidled up behind her, which startled her.

"Vipir!" she said. "I'm so sorry!"

Her face betrayed genuine sadness and regret, which caused Vipir to catch the laugh in his throat before he asked, "Whatever for?"

"For getting us into this...mess," she said as she looked around the temple.

"Oh please," he said as he put his arm around her. "I've gotten in far worse messes." As they walked back toward the front of the temple, he handed her a note. "Sam left this. It looks like we gathered these ingredients to fix the staff. I think we need to locate him figure out what is going on."

"I don't know," she said. She just wanted to go home and never touch another tankard of mead again. "Although, we should probably find out if we trashed any other temples." She cringed at the thought, but it was the right thing to do.

From Senna, they learned that they had arrived last night with a friend. They were all ranting and raving, and their voices were slurred but there was much chatter about having just arrived from Rorikstead.

Rorikstead was in Whiterun hold. This made Lydia's stomach lurch and she felt dizzy. Vipir suggested going by horseback. She was spun and just looked at him blankly, saying that she would defer to his judgment. When he asked what was wrong, all she could do was shake her head.