They set out for Riverwood, planning to ride south through Falkreath. Duna seemed to be feeling much better after taking the day to rest, and the horses seemed happier too.
They stopped for lunch by a small stream just before noon. They were almost to Falkreath, but Duna preferred to stop somewhere quiet where she could take her mask off. Farkas was glad to dismount and let the horses drink anyway. The weather was starting to get chilly in the north, but in the southern parts of Skyrim, it was definitely still summer. As the sun got higher in the sky Farkas had begun to sweat a bit under his steel plates.
As soon as Duna dismounted she pulled her mask off with a sigh of relief. Her face was flushed and her hair was a bit matted with sweat.
"How is it so cold in Solitude, and still so hot here?" She complained as she pulled her boots off to dip her feet in the cool water.
Farkas chuckled. He wanted to take his armor off and join her, but he took a moment to focus and take stock of their surroundings first.
It was a sunny day, with a soft breeze blowing through the tops of the trees... it would have been a lovely day if it weren't just a bit too hot. He could smell birds flitting through the trees... the wet dirt at the stream's edge... a few random butterflies and dragonflies that fluttered and darted through the air around them... nothing caused him or his wolf spirit any concern... and he could hear and smell Duna as she splashed in the cool water.
"It is hot," he agreed, as he began to unstrap his armor.
Duna just nodded as she leaned back on one of the rocks and began trying to turn the hood of her mask inside out. She glanced up at him as he took off the last of his steel.
The soft breeze was much more noticeable blowing through his slightly damp under-tunic.
"That looks like an even better idea," Duna grinned. She set her mask to the side and began undoing the straps on her own armor. Farkas tried not to stare... he'd never seen what she wore under her armor... he knew leather needed less padding than steel... for a brief moment he allowed himself to hope she wore nothing under her armor... but he was pretty sure she wouldn't be taking it off now if that were the case...
The dark grey cotton pants under her leg greaves weren't a surprise to him, he'd seen those before, she periodically swapped them out for brown or tan ones... what he hadn't seen before was the cream colored, sleeveless cotton shirt. It definitely made it more difficult not to stare... it was damp with sweat and clung to her curves... and it hung low enough in the front he could almost see her breast band underneath... it was the first time he'd ever been able to actually see any of her cleavage... gods, he liked everything he saw...
Farkas busied himself getting lunch from the trail rations in his gear pack while he tried to rein in both his wolf spirit and his own growing arousal.
They ate lunch in the shade of the trees by the stream, and after lunch Duna rolled her pants up to more easily splash through the water. Farkas just watched her for several moments as she chased a small fish through the shin-deep clear water. The child-like fascination on her face as the tiny fish darted around her was adorable...
"They not have fish in Cyrodiil?" He asked with a chuckle.
"Oh, I'm sure they do," Duna shrugged, "but I was never allowed to leave the general palace area."
"Ah," Farkas understood. Then, with a smirk, he rolled up his own pant legs. "Then you don't know the real fun of these little streams on a hot day," he said as he sloshed into the water with her.
Duna cocked her head curiously at him as he slowly reached his hand into the water... cupped his hand... and splashed a good handful of water, showering Duna with cold water.
"Farkas! That's cold!!" She squealed, and began trying to splash him back.
"That's the idea!" Farkas laughed, splashing her again. Duna squealed and laughed, and they quickly got into a splashing-fight. His larger hands were definitely giving him the advantage and it wasn't long before Duna began running up stream, trying to find a different tactic... making him run after her so he effectively splashed himself as he tried to keep up... but Farkas could run much faster without his armor and with her slowing down as she hit deeper water, he caught up to her much quicker than she anticipated. She screamed with laughter as he caught her around the waist, his large hands brushing across some ticklish spots on her sides.
"Hold your breath," he warned with a wolffish grin as he pulled her into even deeper water.
"What? No!"
She started to squirm in his grasp but Farkas easily lifted her to his chest and he heard her take a deep breath before he plunged them both backwards into the water. He was careful to fall backwards to keep her protected just incase he hadn't noticed any rocks underneath. He only stayed under for a brief moment before kicking back up, a smug grin on his face.
"You ass!" She spluttered as soon as they came back to the surface. For a moment Farkas was afraid she was actually mad, but then she laughed and playfully punched him in the arm, and he laughed too. She reached down and splashed another handful of water in his face, and Farkas laughed again. With his hands still around her waist, Farkas grinned down at her and began to tickle her sides. Duna squealed with laughter and began to squirm in his grasp. Farkas wrapped one arm around her waist to hold her in place while he kept tickling. Duna squealed louder and began kicking, splashing the water. She began reaching around his sides, trying to find similar ticklish spots on him... her hands running across his chest, stomach, and sides did tickle, but it was also incredibly arousing. He shifted to hold her higher so she wouldn't brush against his lap, but she took that as him trying to hide his ticklish spots so she began reaching lower down his sides.
Farkas was just starting to consider listening to his wolf spirit's ideas of distracting her with a kiss, when a sound caught his ear, killing the mood instantly... the rallying howl of hunting pack of wolves. Then he could hear and smell several of them running through the trees, no doubt drawn by the noise they were making.
Farkas swore, firmly stopping their interaction but keeping his one arm firmly around Duna. Duna froze, instantly picking up on Farkas's shift in attention.
Farkas swore again. All of their armor was down stream... along with all their weapons. How could he have gotten them into a situation so stupid? He waded quickly to the opposite bank at set Duna down. Should he transform? Could they run back to their weapons in time?
Thoughts raced through his head as Duna took off at a run back towards their horses and belongings and Farkas followed without hesitation.
There were about six wolves... Farkas would have been more than confident they could defeat six wolves, if they'd had their weapons.
"Divines let this work..." Farkas heard Duna mutter under her breath. Her hands began to glow with a purple light and there was suddenly a glowing, dark purple daedric bow in her right hand, and an arrow appeared in her left.
"Keep going," she called to Farkas as she slowed to take aim at the advancing wolves. By then Farkas could see his armor and gear pack near where they'd been eating and he sprinted to it. He turned back around in time to see Duna shout fire at one wolf, and she had already killed two of the wolves with her conjured arrows. Farkas reached into his pack and grabbed the first weapon handle his hand touched.
A massive fireball shot from the dragon priest's staff, engulfing two of the wolves just as Duna put a dark purple arrow through the throat of the last one.
Farkas just looked at Duna in amazement only find her giving him a similarly surprised look as she walked back to him. Farkas realized she was staring at the staff in his hands and he chuckled a little sheepishly.
"First thing I grabbed," he shrugged.
"That was... effective," she nodded approvingly.
"So were you," Farkas complimented honestly, "was afraid I was gonna have to turn, but that.. that spell... that's a good spell."
"Yeah," Duna agreed quietly looking back down at her now empty hands.
For several moments they just caught their breath. Farkas still needed to force his beast blood to calm back down... Duna was safe... he hadn't needed to transform... but he was still angry at himself for getting them into such a predicament.
"Sorry about that," he sighed, breaking the silence several moments later. She cocked her head at him in confusion for a moment before shaking her head.
"That wasn't your fault," she said. She looked at her feet for a moment and then began fidgeting with her wet undershirt. "I... I shouldn't have run so far... or screamed..." she said quietly with a bright blush spreading up her face. Farkas chuckled in spite of himself... recalling her fidgeting and squirming in his arms... making her squeal with laughter... he grinned slowly.
"Was fun though," he said in a low tone. Duna blushed even more at that but she nodded.
"It was," she smirked. "I... uh... I guess we should get moving if we're going to be in Riverwood by tonight."
"Yeah," Farkas nodded.
Farkas gathered their things and retrieved the horses while Duna collected the wolf pelts. He had been about to point out that they'd be lucky to be in Falkreath by nightfall if she was going to sit and skin six whole wolves, but she explained she actually knew a spell to retrieve the pelts cleanly in a fraction of the time, she'd just been afraid to let him know she could do magic previously.
By the time Farkas led the horses back to where he'd left her, Duna had finished and was beginning to put her armor back on. Farkas was dry enough by then to get back into his own armor.
As he strapped the last of his plates in place he noticed Duna smirking at him curiously.
"What?" He asked, a smile tugging at his lips as well.
"I'm just surprised your warpaint isn't more messed up," she replied, "it's just smudged, and not even that badly!"
"Ah," Farkas chuckled, "yeah, this stuff takes some pretty good scrubbing to get off, a bit of water splashing isn't gonna do it."
"Someone needs to make makeup like that," she retorted as she turned to Dapple.
Farkas just laughed, but he noticed she didn't seem to have any makeup smudged anywhere on her face... then it occurred to him, he'd never smelled the cosmetics on her like he frequently could on other women... it made sense that her eyelashes were naturally as black as her hair, so it didn't surprise him to realize she wore no eye makeup, but he was slightly awestruck to realize that that lovely shade of light pink across her cheeks was her natural skin tone...
Farkas did his best not to stare even more as he helped her into the saddle.
They finally got back on the road and the rest of their day was uneventful. Things were peaceful as they rode through Falkreath, the guards were still talking about the Greybeards summoning a dragonborn to High Hrothgar. But by the time they got to Riverwood that evening, the guards were a buzz with rumors of the attack on the Thalmor Embassy and the dragon attack in Kynesgrove.
They stabled their horses and Farkas could tell Duna was nervous about the conversations they were overhearing.
"I don't like how quickly gossip spreads around here," she grumbled as they walked toward the inn.
"Always been like that," Farkas shrugged, "they don't sound upset about it at least..." and it was true, so far all the guards had simply sounded in awe of the legendary Dragonborn. Farkas smirked a moment later when they heard one claiming she'd heard that the Dragonborn could shout a thunderstorm into existence.
They walked into the inn and Farkas quickly took stock of the fact there were currently no other patrons. Delphine was at the bar, she did a double take upon recognizing them. Since they were currently the only ones in the inn she didn't bother being discreet as she motioned them to follow and led them back to her downstairs room.
"You made it out alive, at least," Delphine sighed once the door was shut. "Did you learn anything useful?"
"Well..." Duna shrugged as she pulled her mask off, "the Thalmor know nothing about the dragons..."
"Really? That seems hard to believe," Delphine grumbled skeptically. "You're sure about that?"
"Why'd you send me if you weren't going to believe me?" Duna snapped back.
"You're right, you're right," she sighed, shaking her head with her fingers at her temples. Farkas realized Delphine didn't look like she'd slept since she'd left them in Solitude... "I just... I was sure it must have been them. If not the Thalmor, who? Or... what?"
"I don't know," Duna said a little more gently, "but the Thalmor are looking for someone named Esbern..." She pulled out three of the four red books she'd recovered from the embassy.
"Esbern?" Delphine's eyes snapped back open in surprise and hope. "He's alive?"
"The Thalmor at least think he is," Duna replied. She handed Delphine one of the books and she began skimming through it excitedly.
"I thought the Thalmor must have got him years ago. That crazy old man..." Delphine laughed. "Figures the Thalmor would be on his trail, though, if they were trying to find out what's going on with the dragons," she added a little more worriedly.
As the two women discussed what all of this meant and what they should do next, Farkas began focusing more on the sounds and smells of their heartbeats and breathing than exactly what they were saying...
He noticed Delphine seemed genuinely relieved and trusting now. Duna relaxed and seemed to be feeling better about explaining things to Delphine as well.