The Bound - A Tale Of Tamriel

17

17

i. Revna.

It had taken another week before Tilly was well enough for them to even consider travelling onwards. She still wasn't completely healed, but she could walk unaided now. She was even able to complete more strenuous tasks, but these tired her sooner and more than they would under normal circumstances. Whether she could fight or not, if the need arose, was a different matter. Revna kept a close eye on her, either way.

"Sanguine's filthy flagon! Why don't you try drinking it for once!" The dark elf pulled a disgusting face as Revna tried to get her to drink her medicine. "It smells like piss and shit boiled together with a rotting skeever carcass and it tastes worse!"

"Nevertheless, it's that stuff that's healed you." Revna leaned over from her horse and tapped the bottom of the bottle held by Tilly. "Drink up."

Tilly made a petulant look towards Revna but drank as ordered. Revna tried to hide her smile as the colour of Tilly's dark skin darkened and she retched after drinking. She'd smelled the concoction once and that had been enough. It was foul, but the Argonians had sworn it would make the Dunmer healthy again.

They had been riding for days towards the second tomb and Revna had been the only one to continue speaking with the dark elf. The others were ignoring her completely. Revna didn't have the heart to ignore anyone, especially after Tilly had finally explained her reasonings.

The dark elf had not gone into details about her dream, only that it had predicted that she would betray them. Revna didn't like hearing that, but she reasoned that anyone that was about to betray someone would be among the biggest fools alive if they told the people they were about to betray. Still, she let Tilly know that she would be keeping an eye on her, to be safe.

"Do you think they'll ever talk to me again?" Tilly nodded towards Itagaki and Öenthir riding a few yards ahead of them.

"No." Revna held her face straight as Tilly's head snapped around.

"Well, thanks for being gentle with me about it." Tilly had descended into even more sarcasm than usual since the incident at the Argonian village. It was, most like, her way of coping, but, to Revna, it meant that she wasn't brooding about it.

"You asked." Reaching down, Revna lifted her water skin and took a drink. "Honestly, I don't know. I've never been in love and I've never been in this situation, so I really don't know."

"You've never been in love? What, ever?" Tilly turned in her saddle to stare at Revna.

"Not ever." It wasn't awkward for Revna to talk about. It was the way it was. "There was one lad, back in the old village, but he was never interested in me, no matter how many times I beat him at wrestling."

"So, wait, does that mean you're a virgin?" It was obvious to Revna that Tilly was about to have a field day with this news.

"Yes." She prepared herself for the expected onslaught of jokes and insults.

"Still a virgin." Tilly murmured to herself and had a serious look upon her face. "I'm sorry. To go through life without ever ... well, I'm sorry."

This was quite unexpected and Revna had no idea how to react. She decided to carry on riding in silence for a while, but, it seemed, Tilly was having none of that. The dark elf leaned over and tapped Revna's arm.

"Well, we're going to have to rectify that, eh." The Dunmer winked at Revna.

"We're really not." Rolling her eyes, Revna continued riding. She was sure she didn't want to know how Tilly wanted to rectify it.