Chapter Text
Taeko scratches at the ground, catching the attention of the blacksmith and signaling Meeko to approach as well. Taeko drops the book he was carrying in his mouth, gesturing to Meeko with his muzzle.
The blacksmith blinks at him, then kneels down, grabbing the book and extending a hand for Meeko to sniff.
“Poor guy’s owner died, then? Mmmm… I can take care of ya if ya want, Meeko.” He says seriously to Taeko’s friend.
Meeko, who’s a little skinny for the dogs around here, shakes his fur out before barking happily.
Taeko nods, then walks away, letting the new dog and owner get to know each other. Meeko already knows not to follow him, and the blacksmith will watch over the younger dog.
It’s time to find his owner.
—~—
Midori stares into the tavern below the room where Lydia is staying for the night in the Bannered Mare.
It was quiet for a while, but now the din is starting up again. Lydia walks out with a huff, already in casual clothes. “It’s the Night People. A lot of kids below twenty end up awake at night and become unable to sleep during it afterwards. A lot of town guards are Night People who never ended up being able to stay awake during the day, which is good, since they can keep watch while the Day People can sleep. It’s why the inn rooms are all soundproofed.” She yawns.
“Anyway, go and join them, you’ll probably find a sort of kinship with them since you don’t sleep much at all.”
Midori smiles and nods, walking through the room and quietly shutting both the doors to let Lydia get proper rest.
She notices the din quieting as she gets to the bottom of the stairs. A lot of the people coming in just stare at her. She shrugs. “I can’t sleep except for when Masser looks away from Nirn.” She says, already a little used to speaking like the people of this world.
A few people raise tankards, eyes having noticeable bags under them. She sits at the bar and the young man at the counter smiles. He looks like an elf. “What’s your want?”
“Not much of a drinker, anything you’d recommend?”
“We don’t like being too rowdy, Night People like the quiet that comes with it a lot of the time, so do you know your tolerance?” He asks.
Midori shrugs. “Lydia said what I drank last time was called honningbrew? I downed a tankard of that and didn’t feel anything.”
The young man gives her a hum. “So not a drinker, but a strong tolerance anyway… You sure you ain’t got orc blood in ya? Maybe Argonian or Khajiit?”
Midori snorts. “Nope, Dragon.”
“Oh, the esteemed Dragonborn is one of us Night People?” He asks, not even sounding or being condescending, just genuine curiosity.
Midori smiles. “Yeah, though like I said, I just Don’t Sleep.”
“… That wasn’t a joke?” The man asks, and Midori shakes her head. “That sounds tiring, how do you stay sane?”
“Good company, crafting to pass the time, and a healthy dose of staring off into aetherius while I think. Plus my body is made for it, so it’s not like I suffer the same effects you all do. The most I need is some time every day to think and process what all’s happened.”
“Hm, well you’ll fit right in with us Night People. Honningbrew is the best drink we’ve got, you’ll want to head to Riften for the strongest drinks, since it’s fishermen and argonians that tend to stick around there.”
She shrugs. “It’s all water to me, but this doesn’t feel like drinking mud, so I like it better.”
He pours her a tankard. “Well, since you’re a Thane of Whiterun I might as well introduce myself. I’m Hulda’s Night Counterpart, Oengvir.”
“Midori. Used to be a hunter and hermit, now I’m an adventurer it seems.” She takes a swig, and once again, while it does still taste a little of alchohol, she can’t even feel the burn and it tastes pretty good.
She hears a tune start to kick up, and turns around. A young woman is playing the lute now, humming a tune along with it. A much lighter and calmer song than any the previous bard played.
“That’s Menlette, Mikael’s Night Counterpart. Nobody’s better at playing the quiet tunes.”
Midori turns back around after swaying to the tune a bit. “… So is the Night Counterpart some kind of euphamism or just literal?”
“Literal. We’re hired by businesses to keep things operational during the dark hours.” Oengvir shrugs. “Night Counterpart is just what we call it to keep things simple. Might be different in other towns though. I heard Breton countries have called the Night People ‘Nocturnals’. But the bretons do worship Daedra a lot more than most cultures.”
“Hm.” Midori hums noncommittally.
“Well, I’ll leave you to your drink, unless you’d like to hear about the rumors?”
Midori shakes her head. “Sadly I can’t stick around much. Got a thing to do.”
Oengvir nods, and Midori quickly drinks through her tankard. “I’ll see you around.” She puts ten septims on the counter before leaving.
—
The next day, Midori stretches her arms to the sky as she walks alongside Lydia, walking towards Ivarstead. “So, ready for the climb?”
Lydia nods, yawning a little. “As I can be.”
“We got this.” Midori says, and thus they start the climb.
—Early Afternoon, Whiterun Gate—
Honestly, it’s a bit dissatisfying for Taeko. In the more advanced world he’s had to go through nearing on a year of travel to get to his owner. Before appearing in the rainy forest place, he couldn’t even get to his owner.
But in this world he has a feeling that he should just… Wait outside a city? Hide until he smells his owner close by. So he does that, he calmly walks over to a group of cat-people traders and sits down just outside their camp.
One of them looks over at him with curiosity after a while.
“Frrrm? This one did not hear you approach.” The womanly figure states. “You a hunting companion?”
Taeko shakes his head.
“Ah, but a faithful one to your master.” The woman says. “Must be someone great for you to go through such painful trials to find them.”
Taeko tilts his head and whines curiously.
“Some of the Khajiit, this one’s people, are born as actual cats and cannot talk in natural tongues until they reach a certain level of maturity. We Khajiit have developed workarounds for these issues. Talismans that let us speak to and understand animals to a much greater degree than even a mage studying for years could not achieve.” She lifts her wrist to show a wooden carved bracelet.
Taeko nods, and the Khajiit laughs. “Though this one does not think she has ever heard of a dog that could understand that explanation before.”
Taeko lets out an amused bark, laying down a little, still alert, but letting his front legs relax. “26 years? In dog or in human?” He barks again. “Wow, yes, this one supposes one would learn a lot living long past their natural lifespan.”
He barks again, feeling his head tilt. “10 - 13 years. You’re nearly doubling that already and you still look like a young pup.”
Taeko makes a bark of amusement and curls his body around a little. “Yes, yes, rest all you like. I’ll tell the others to leave you be.”
—~—
Midori stares. “Okay, what’s with bigfoot?” She asks, turning to look at Lydia, who seems a bit pale.
“It’s a troll, one of the hardest beasts to fight, due to their thick hide and fast regeneration. Burning them is our best bet, but neither of us are fire mages.”
“I mean, I can use fire. I just prefer lightning.” Midori says. “I think we can beat it either way, you keep it’s attention while I find a weak point to attack at?”
Lydia sighs and nods, recalling the instructions Midori had given her on how to use magical effects through her shield, she pushes magicka into the ebony and feels it reinforce somehow.
Midori taps her on the shoulder and she suddenly feels stronger. “That should make it hard for the troll to knock you around. I’m going to try for one of the weak spots I can already see when you have it’s attention.”
Lydia nods and walks out from their cover, holding her shield steadily as the troll spots her and makes an animalistic roaring sound and starts charging at her.
Before it can even get within striking range, a green blur darts around, then a flaming spear made of dragon bone pierces up through it’s throat and it goes limp.
“Figures. It is human shaped, after all.” Midori says, twisting a little and slashing to the side, the firey blade carving out most of the Troll’s neck. She then stabs through the rest of the neck when it falls into the snow, completely beheading the troll. “Just to be sure, since you seemed frightened by them.”
“What?” Lydia asks.
“It’s human shaped. Y’know how a lot of ‘Killing’ techniques either aim for the neck or heart?” She asks, the spear fades in green light as she does.
Lydia nods. “Because it causes a lot of bleeding.”
“Yes, that. But also, if you pierce the spine at the base of the skull, the brain is no longer connected enough to the spine to keep all the electric impulses going. Thus even if the brain still functions for a while, the body won’t be able to move until that gets healed, or if the person uses some electronics to work through said issues.”
“… I understood two of those words. Otherworld knowledge, or blessing knowledge?”
“Otherworld.” Midori replies. She taps the troll’s corpse with a foot and it disappears in a flash of green. “Basic biology, I’m pretty sure.”
Lydia decides not to admit that she has no idea what Biology means.
The two continue along the path, and once they reach the monestary, Mirdori huffs. “So it’s actually 748 steps.”
Lydia blinks, then snorts, realizing what her charge meant. “No, ‘Seven Thousand Steps’ is actually the total number of steps it takes someone to walk from the town center of Whiterun all the way up here. It became a term for the stairs after so long of there not being an established village here. So when Ivarstead was established the stairs were still called that.”
“Huh. Honestly I think seven hundred stairs is just as significant, but it’s not my place to judge…” She steps over to a brazier and brushes a hand on it, making it flare green. Midori then looks at Lydia. “So the question is… Do we go in now, or tomorrow?”
“… Well, the funeral for the guards is soon. I feel like the Graybeards may take up a lot of our time.” Lydia says, and Midori nods.
“Then after the funeral?”
Lydia nods, and thus the pair decide to return to Whiterun.
—~—
Midori feels her ears twitch as she hears a bark. Flashes of familiarity going through her brain. She looks to the animal to see a pure white husky that has a tough-looking leather collar. She kneels as the dog runs at her and hugs it as it jumps into her arms.
She giggles as she pets the dog, giving it scratches and lifting it up before letting it jump from her chest. “Good to see you again, Taeko.”
She then has to hold her head with a hand as memories flood.
As a little boy, smiling and petting the dog while in the care of a travelling group of caravaners. “Ah, finally found a name for you.” He says in a slight rasp. The bullet had hit his voice box so it was still a little hard to speak sometimes. “Taeko.”
The dog barks happily and Izuku smiles, scratching his neck.
Various other flashes pass through her mind. Teaching the dog tricks, digging up treasure and valuable items when the dog started barking and digging stuff up. Laughing at the reaction of a heavily muscled woman when Taeko dropped a Hollow Man’s head in front of them.
She hisses a little in pain, but still snorts as the image of her companion stuck in her head. “Teresa did say that you’d find me until the end of my days. Still working on finding me back home?”
“Woof!” Taeko briefly chases his tail, meaning ‘yes!’
“Midori? Who’s this?” Lydia questions, kneeling down to let the dog sniff her hand.
“Taeko. My dog since I was a child. From a different place.”
“Explains why he’s so different.” Lydia says, smiling a little as Taeko presses his head into her hand, allowing her to pet him.
“Right?” Midori questions, then scratches behind Taeko’s ear. “Anyway, let’s get going. Still need to sell all the stuff we got on the way.”
Midori clenches a fist and feels Mara stir from her confusion. “I… I truly have no idea what’s going on here. I tried to look into it, but one of my… cousins, I believe would be the appropriate term, told me to stop while I’m ahead.”
‘The more I try to think about it the more confusing it gets.’ Midori thinks, eyebrows drawn together outside of her telepathic conversation.
“That would be the domain of said cousin.” Mara says, sighing.
With a sigh herself, she smiles at Taeko as he looks at her with a tilt of his head. “Don’t worry about it, boy. Just worrying over nothing.”
The dog brushes against her leg in a show of support but also as a joking prod at her inability to do anything else. “I know, I know.” She rolls her eyes. “Anyway, meet Lydia, boy, she’s a friend.” Taeko barks and hops a little. “He says it’s nice to meet you.”
“You two developed an entire language, hm?” Lydia questions, raising a bemused eyebrow.
Midori snorts. “I just taught him tricks and he was smart enough to use them to communicate.”