“Hauk, are you in?” – Lena opened the door to Hauk’s house in the Imperial City after he didn’t answer the knock. She heard some rumbling from below, it sounded like he was training. She went to the basement.

Hauk was attacking a training dummy with a sword in his right hand and a spell in his left – shock on touch, she noticed.

“I didn’t think you needed to train any more” – she said after a while. “Surely, you’ve done this often enough already!”

“I have” – he nodded, putting down the sword. “But it never hurts to keep it fresh. It’s good to see you” – he whispered into her hair as her embrace knocked the air out of him.

“I missed you!” – Lena declared, releasing him so he could catch a breath. “That dreadful assassin business is over, it’s time for an adventure!” She poured them mead from the keg and dropped onto the bench under the minotaur head. “Umm, I hope that head isn’t going to fall on me” – she looked up – “like on that poor Bosmer in Bruma.”

“It’s not” – Hauk laughed, settling down next to her. “As long as you don’t cut the strings” – he winked.

“How did you..?” – she started, her eyes growing wide. She never told him about that job. She got no answer though – Hauk just laughed into his mead.

“So, what’s that about an adventure?” – he asked, grinning.

“Mr. Umbacano wants me to accompany him to Nenalata.”

Hauk looked at Lena with suspicion. “And this bothers you – why?”

“Well, I got him an Ayleid crown…” – Lena was staring into her mead. “I actually had to steal it from another collector.” She shot Hauk a glance. “And you know how much I like stealing.”

“But?”

“Well, I did it because that collector suggested I present Mr. Umbacano with another Ayleid crown instead, and that somehow seemed even worse.”

Lena fell silent, still studying her mead.

“And?” – Hauk prompted her. “Come on, let’s hear it! It’s me you’re talking to, remember?”

Lena looked at him, gathering her thoughts.

“That other collector claimed that Umbacano wanted her crown in order to awaken some ancient Ayleid power, something dreadful that would destroy us all. I thought she was exaggerating, but now that he asked me to take him to Nenalata, I’m not so sure. You remember it, don’t you?”

“I do” – Hauk said heavily. “Near Fort Grief. Lots and lots of high level undead, very angry, lots of traps too, and we couldn’t get through to the last chamber.”

“Yeah…” – Lena nodded. “Garrus nearly died several times, and I had to hide from their spells.” She shuddered. “But it’s not that which worries me.”

Hauk looked at her with understanding. “If that was just the welcoming committee, then what is hiding in the locked chamber? And why does Umbacano want to go there, now that he’s got that crown?”

“The Crown of Nenalata” – Lena nodded. “Exactly.”

They sat drinking their mead in silence for a while.

“So, when are we leaving?” – asked Hauk, grinning.

Lena leapt onto his lap, her arms around him again. “Not before we’re done here… I missed you – didn’t I say?”

…

“Does Lucien know?” – Hauk surveyed heaps of clothing thrown off in a hurry around his basement. “What you’re doing to me?” He kissed her again, rolling her over onto her back on the thick rug.

“Well, I never told him directly” – Lena blushed a bit. “But I never denied anything either, and he knows you’re more than a friend. You didn’t send me away” – she looked at him with a smile.

“It’s between the two of you, of course” – he was serious now, sitting up and stroking her cheek. “But I still want to stay your friend – and his, too. So if you don’t tell him, I will. Or we never do it again.”

“You know we can’t promise that” – she kneeled behind him, running her fingertips over the tops of his shoulders and watching his body respond as it always had. “We share too much.”

“I’ll talk to him” – he closed his eyes with a moan, falling back onto her. “Later…”