All Roads Lead To You (A Skyrim Romance Mod fanfic)

Chapter Seventeen

Bishop and Karnwyr camped outside of town that night. Bishop realized it was the first time he and Karnwyr had been on their own in a week. It felt a little strange without Aruna, even though they'd only been traveling with her for a short time. It irked him that he had already grown accustomed to her presence.

"What do you think, Karnwyr?" he asked the wolf, who was lying nearby. Karnwyr pricked his ears and rolled his amber eyes in Bishop's direction. "You like her, don't you?" Bishop said.

Karnwyr lifted his head and gazed at Bishop, then wagged his long tail briefly as if in reply.

"Yeah," Bishop sighed heavily, turning his gaze back to the fire, "me, too."

The next morning, Bishop met Aruna as she was coming out of Falion's house. She had her pack and wore her armor, her sword at her hip.

"Going somewhere, princess?" He asked.

She turned to him and smiled. Her face was still pale and she had dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn't slept at all, but she was on her feet and didn't seem to be in much pain.

"Just coming to look for you, actually," she said, "if we go now, we can make Solitude by evening."

Bishop frowned, "what are you talking about? That mage said you couldn't travel for a while. We're staying here."

"Don't be ridiculous," she said, brushing past him and walking down the steps and onto the dock that served as a walkway between the buildings, "the wedding is only a few days away, and I wanted to spend some time exploring the city before then."

"Trust me, ladyship, it's not that interesting a place," Bishop fell into step beside her, as Karnwyr trailed behind, "you look like you're about to collapse. There's no way I'm hauling your ass through the swamps between here and Solitude."

"Chivalrous of you," she said, "but I'm fine. I've walked further with more severe injuries before. This is nothing. If you're too tired to go on, just say so."

Bishop rolled his eyes, "I've never had a dick measuring contest with a woman before, and I'm not about to start now," he reached out and grasped her arm.

Aruna stopped and turned toward him, "Bishop," she said warningly.

"Ladyship, you look like shit," he said, ignoring her glare, "an injury is one thing, but you were poisoned. Even I know that takes time to recover from. Now if you insist on going to Solitude right now, you're going alone. I'm not going to tag along and watch you kill yourself over some spiced wine," he let go of her and crossed his arms over his chest, "so you can either run off and see how far you get before you're face-down in the swamp, and a dragon or bear or bandit comes along and ends you, or you can stop being an idiot and come have breakfast with me at the inn."

She stared at him a moment and then raised her eyebrows, "you know, Bishop," she said, "you're sexy when you're reasonable."

Bishop began to laugh, "finally noticed, did you?"

She smiled, "I may be an idiot, but I'm not blind."

"Oh-ho," Bishop leaned toward her, "careful there, princess. Keep talking like that, and I'll have you in my bedroll before you know it."

Aruna scoffed, "don't mistake that for a proposition, ranger. You're still more trouble than I need right now."

"Yeah, but I'm the kind of trouble you'd actually enjoy," he said, nudging her playfully.