As soon as the door was pulled open the smell of ale, musk, and smoke from the numerous fires came billowing out. He scrunched his nose as he made sure his coin was safely secured on his belt loop. He wasn’t about to lose his money to some crook who wanted to press their luck in the overcrowded inn. The door slamming shut couldn’t be heard over the usual inn atmosphere, the drunks yelling and threatening fights, the loud conversations and bolstering laughter from the nearly packed to the brim tables scattered around the room. He was beginning to question if there was any room for him to buy for the night.

          After a few moments of shifting and twisting to get through the crowd, he made it to the bar, where he hoped the man behind it was the innkeeper. “What can I do for ya?”

          “I’d like to rent a room for the night.” He had to almost holler to be heard over the other patrons.

          “We’re all taken up now.” The innkeeper pressed his lips together. “I can offer ya a hot meal and food for ya travels, but I can’t sell ya a room I don’t have.”

          “Well. Thanks anyway.” He thought about taking his offer on that hot meal, especially when his stomach began to growl, but he needed a place to sleep and if he tried hard enough he could make it to the next town over by complete nightfall.

          “I may have a room for you,” Came a deep voice from behind him, “For a price.”

          Slowly he turned, searching the area for who could have spoken. His eyes fell on a mage sitting by the fire against the right wall. His robes were covered in threaded patterns, dark blue in color with a bit of silver along the sleeves. His fingers were covered with expensive looking rings, silver and gold glinting in the firelight as they lifted from holding his mug to push back his hood. He was staring at the fire, watching the flames flicker against the rough stone. Still, without eye contact of any kind, Jonghyun was sure he was the owner of the voice. “And what might that price be, Mage?”

          The mage chuckles, deep and breathy, looking at him from the corner of his eye. “Just a simple , Warrior.”

          “You seem more than capable enough to take care of yourself.” Jonghyun crosses his arms over his chest, his heavy metal armor clinking as it moved against each other.

          With a soft hum, the high elf replied. “Usually, but some khajiit stole my horse a few towns over and it’s by far longer on foot.”

          “If I accept your offer where’s your destination?”

          Finally, the deep eyes of the man make complete eye contact with his own. “College of Winterhold. I have business with the Archmage there.”

          “What’s to say I don’t take your room and refuse to you?”

          A smirk pulls at the man’s lips as his hand rose from his thigh. Flames appear and flicker around his fingers as he calmly says, “I doubt you want to test that theory. Even heavy armor melts in the heat.”

          After a few moments, Jonghyun walked over to sit on the other side of the fire, extending his hand out between them. “My name is Jonghyun. I’d gladly take your deal.”

          The flames were extinguished from around his fingers before he took the hand in a soft, yet firm, handshake. “I’m Jinki. You can have the bed in the room, but I do request you let me sleep on my bedroll in the corner.”

          “I think I can manage that.” Jonghyun smiled softly for a moment before gesturing, “Do you mind showing me where it is? I’m beat and all this armor is heavy.”

          “Ah yes, of course.” Gracefully he rose from his seat, crossing his arms loosely in front of him with his hands hidden within the sleeves of his robe. He nodded his head carefully to the left of the main counter. “I often forget the uneasiness of being a warrior.”

          As he followed a step or two behind, watching the way Jinki’s robes swished as he walked, almost fascinated, he commented, “You sound like you’ve experienced this before.”

          “Well, before one learns a spell or two, one must defend themselves with a weapon like the common folk.” Jinki glanced up after unlocking the room. “I apologize. I shouldn’t have made ill of your style of living.”

          “It’s quite alright.” Jonghyun quickly walked toward the bed, carefully removing his belt and bags, before moving onto his armor. “Fighting with a sword or ax IS what common folk fight with. That being said, you are actually capable of taking care of yourself, right?”

          Jinki chuckled, from deep in his chest. “I can handle myself quite well. You need not worry about having to carry me through the trek. I just need you for when the journey depletes my energy. It’s hard to rejuvenate on the constant move, and my matter with the Archmage is somewhat urgent.”

          As soon as his plate was off, Jonghyun took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders a little at the weight being lifted from them. Once his boots were kicked off and scooted under the bed, he jumped onto the mattress and grabbed an apple from his pack. He gazed over at Jinki carefully, trying to read him at all. “What brought you here to Skyrim?”

          “I was born here,”  Jinki laughed when he noticed the disbelief upon Jonghyun’s expression. “Honest. I am a High Elf, but my parents were here, exploring.. Traveling… When my mother had me. Grew up in Markarth until I was a young boy before my parents relocated to Winterhold to have closer access to the college. They taught there until their deaths.”

          'I was born close to here in Riverwood. Mother was the daughter of the lumber mill owner. Father was a traveling merchant in a caravan just passing through. He stayed long enough to learn my mother was expecting before running off with Grandfather’s horse.” Jonghyun paused to take a big bite of his apple, munching on it as he continued. “When I left I was on a mission to find my father. Never did catch up to him.” With a soft laugh, he shrugged. “He did have some 16 years of a head start.”

          “That’s rough man.”

          Jonghyun shrugged, hair falling into his face a little, curling slightly from the dampness of the humid air. He continued to eat his apple, watching Jinki roll out his bed mat in the corner. “What brings you this far south?”

          Jinki looked up from the scroll he was glancing over with a hum, “There were a few rare tomes in a secret room in Falkreath Hold.”

          “Is that the important business you have with the Archmage?”

          “Mmm, no.” Jinki grinned, “They’re for my own personal use. Can never know too many spells.”

          Once he was sure there was no more apple to be eaten, he tossed the core into the woven waste bin by the door, making it wiggle as the fruit spiraled into the container. He makes it over to the provided bowl of water to rinse off his face and hands before climbing back into bed. He’s wiggling under the covers for a moment, before settling all comfortable. He turns onto his side and softly says, “Listen, if you plan to kill me tonight at least let me sleep a few hours before doing so. Thanks.”

          There are quiet sounds of rustling and the clinking of coins before the floorboards can be heard squeaking. Then all sounds of movement stop and when he opens his eyes Jinki is curled up in his bedroll, trying to sleep. He wishes there was a window in this room. Traveling so much has given him a deep love of seeing the moon as he fell asleep. It was almost too difficult to fall asleep without all the extra light of stars above him.

—-

          As he slowly woke up he faintly heard the loud bustle of the inn for a moment before it was shut out once again. He squinted as he awoke and grumbled a little as he shifted onto his left side to look at the other man in the room. Jinki was slowly sitting on his bedroll, going through the bags in front of him that Jonghyun could swear weren’t there the night before. Just when he was about to ask what the man was doing, Jinki looked up with a little smile. “Good morning. You sleep like a bear.”

          “That’s a new one.” He groggily stated before smacking his mouth a little. “What time is it anyway?”

          “A little after sunrise.” Jinki was taking out food from the bags, going through them and seemingly organizing his things. “I hope you like fruit. I got enough for us until we hit the next big town.”

          “You get up super early?” When Jinki nodded Jonghyun frowned, covering his face with his pillow. His voice was muffled by the fabric when he continued. “No wonder I hate mages.”

          “You’re more than welcome to sleep more if you wish.” Jinki scuffed a little at the end. “I have to charm my bags anyway.”

          “Charm?”

          “Do you think I can just hold all this stuff in normal, untouched, bags?” Jinki snorted. “I’d like to not hurt my back carrying all that weight thanks.”

          “Mages are weird,” Jonghyun mumbled, sleep already pulling at his consciousness.

—-

          By the time Jonghyun woke up, ate something and got dressed in his armor, the mid-morning sun was almost at it’s highest point in the sky. He made sure his ax was secure on the back of his pack before putting his hands on his hips and turning toward Jinki. “Do you always have your hood up?”

          “Is your armor always that reflective?” He shot back quietly.

          “Metal usually is yes.” He squinted a little off to the right of him. “Shall we be off?”

          “Might as well.” Jinki grabbed his small pack from the ground and curled his fingers around his staff, which Jonghyun was sure he hadn’t seen the night before.

          The dirt crunched under their feet, some billowing up as dust in the air, as he asked, “Where’d the staff come from?”

          “My bag.”

          “Uh huh.”

          Jinki shook his head, glancing at him from the corner of his eye. “You don’t travel or encounter a lot of mages, do you?”

          “I try not to, honestly.”

          With a hum, Jinki responded. “You must have really wanted a room last night.”

          He paused long enough to give him a glance before continuing up the now cobblestone path. “Very.”

—-

          At the crossroads, Jonghyun glanced at the map in his hands before going around the post and into the woods. Jinki leaned to the left to peer at him and ask, “Where are you going?”

          Jonghyun didn’t even turn around or slow down as he called back. “Towards Whiterun. Aren’t you coming?”

          “You’ve gone off the path.”

          Finally, he paused, After putting his map back in the tube on his belt he turned to raise an eyebrow at the mage. “Yes, very perceptive of you. Brings me back to my question, are you coming?”

          Jinki bit his lip a few times before it popped out from his teeth and followed with a deep sigh. “If we get lost I’m throwing you off a cliff.”

          “Good thing we won’t get lost, huh?”

          He failed to notice Jinki’s nervous eyes flicking back and forth as they walked deeper into the woods.

—-

          “You are not stopping to pick flowers right now.”

          Jinki smiled as he pushed back his hood and kneeled to pick the flower. “I need some for my potions.”

          “No wonder it would take you forever to get to Winterhold.” Jonghyun leaned against the trunk of an old tree, arms crossed over his chest. “You’d stop for every different type of flower along the way.”

          After getting all the flowers he needed, Jinki picked the last one and placed it behind his ear. He kept his hood down for once and beamed when Jonghyun rolled his eyes at him. “You keep being all brash and rough. Flowers are pretty and delicate.”

          “Just like you light armor wearing spellcasters.”

          "Did you just call me pretty?" 

          Just when he was about to retort Jonghyun put a finger over his lips as his other hand reached to get his ax. “I hear something.”

          “Wha-” But then the first shot of webbing flew toward them. Both dodged it and it landed on a tree somewhere behind them. Jinki cursed under his breathe, fire forming around his fingers. “It just has to be a spider.”

          In a blur of movement, Jonghyun’s ax is being pulled from the back of the spider, liquid dripping from the blade. Jonghyun was wiping it off on the grass when a rush of heat and light rushed past him. He jumped back out of reflex, before relaxing. He placed his ax blade down and leaned on the bottom of the handle as he watched Jinki shoot a constant stream of fire at a clearing already dead spider. “I think it’s dead.”

          Jinki straightens, fire disappearing from his hands as he moves to wipe nonexistent wrinkles from his robes. He nods lightly and clears his throat. “I had to be sure.”

          “Uh huh.” He swings his ax onto his back and smiles, “Someone’s afraid of spiders.”

          “I am not.” Jinki tightly says as he walks around the dead spider in a wide arc. “I was verifying the kill.”

          “Uh huh, sure.” Jonghyun’s grin grew for a moment before he was yelling. “, Another one!” His laughter erupted from his throat when Jinki proceeds to jump in various directions, shooting fireballs in random placements at the slightest movement. He pressed his lips together when he realizes Jonghyun was joking, snatching his bag from the ground near the flowers, and then going invisible. “Oh, come on it’s a joke.”

          Just then a flurry of ice falls on Jonghyun’s head out of nowhere and he presses his lips in a thin line before calling out, “Yes, got the message. No teasing about irrational fears.”

—-