17th of Last Seed 4E 201

The dawn was just beginning to break and the sky was a perfect gradient of purple and blue. Glowbugs and Luna moths still floated lazily in the air and dew was starting to form and soak through her cheap boots. The Breton had been walking for a couple hours already, sleeping only for a few hours earlier in a desolate farm's stables. It had been close to a fortnight since she fled the Imperial City, all on foot and alone.

The sky was getting lighter and the air less crisp, but she still needed to wrap her arms around herself to keep warm, her cloak now too ratty to keep in any body heat. She was close to Helgen if she remembered, only a little further until she was able to buy some more food and supplies. She had half a mind to just steal them and keep the small amount of coin she had in case something more important came up, but she knew the last thing she needed was a bounty in the very province she was seeking sanctuary in.

Out beyond the pines she suddenly heard shouts and instantly fell to the ground, her senses straining harder than ever in her exhausted state. She crept forward, towards the sound of clashing steel and battle cries, being ever so conscious to not step on the pine needles that littered the soft earth. She was close, and crouching, peeked behind a tree to view the scrap before her.

She recognized the Imperial uniforms instantly and grew tense, and it took her a few more seconds to deduce that the opposing forces had to be the Stormcloak rebels. There were a lot of Imperials, a lot more than Stormcloaks, and she knew the battle was already won. A loud thunder that seemed to split the air made her jump and retreat behind the tree which quaked. Regaining her balance she looked again and saw that a Nord, wearing a different outfit of gray furs among the Stormcloaks, was unleashing powerful sonic waves out of his mouth with each war cry, Imperial soldiers flying backwards in its strength. She had never seen anything like that and became scared, she needed to get away immediately.

A crunch of needles behind her made her snap around before receiving a sharp blow to the head, knocking her unconscious with a small grunt.

A/N: Well hello there, reader. Welcome to whatever this shit is.

To delve a little bit deeper into my story than my summary does... Years ago I was an avid fanfic reader and I basically wanted to write about a Skyrim adventure that was a tad bit more immersive than the game. Bethesda gave us a skeleton of a world full of barely developed characters, I wanted to flesh everything/everybody out. I wanted to deal with themes regarding addiction, mental illness, sexuality and slut shaming, and ultimately recovery and healing.

I wanted to write a more realistic depiction of what would actually happen if someone had joined organized crime as a child (a trope I saw everywhere at the time) and wanted a female love interest who wasn't a mysterious, naive maiden who always had her "first time" with Vilkas or Farkas or whoever (another trope, thankfully this one has died out a bit since then). I wanted to write a romance where characters didn't fall in love within weeks. And I wanted ALL of the Thieves Guild thieves to be developed and involved in the story, not just Brynjolf and Delvin and Vex.

My characters aren't white knight thieves, they aren't evil and heartless either. Like real people they exist in the middle.

I hope my ramble hasn't turned too many people away, this is mostly stuff I've been wanting to explain to my readers/haters forever without ever having the chance to.

Hope you enjoy, I personally think the first few chapters are quite boring, but there are bits and pieces that will come into play later. Things start picking up around Chapter Four.

Give me constructive criticism/constructive compliments! And thank you SO much for reading!