After being thanked for retrieving the pickaxe, Glover Mallory added a key to his house and secret basement into my inventory. There's plenty of thievery supplies up for grabs- lockpicks, poisons, and potions at our disposal, along with some gold and food. Conlan decides to fill his inventory with valuables that aren't essential for survival, such as gems and sweet pastries. While he does that, I catch myself subconsciously emitting balls of fire in my hand, then immediately extinguishing them before a fireball attempts to escape my grasp. Conlan notices, lowering his eyebrows.

"Summer?" He carefully asks, eyeing my hands.

"What?"

He raises his brows. "Might I ask what you're doing?"

"I'm not entirely sure," I admit. "I think I've developed a new habit."

Conlan approaches me. "Or maybe," he places his hands on my shoulders, immediately causing me to extinguish the flames in my hand, "you're anxious?" His hands crawl down my arms, until they find my hands. They're as hot as a lit candle's wax, but Conlan holds them anyway.

"I… uh," I immediately feel awkward in front of the last person I should feel awkward with.

"It's okay," he gives an encouraging smile. "I would be more worried if you weren't anxious right now."

"I can either be dead from a vicious battle in the next day, or be awake and in pain in a hospital bed," I claim. "I'm not looking forward to either."

Conlan makes an involuntary chuckle of laughter, then proceeds to squeeze my hot hands. "You may not be looking forward to waking up in that bed, but I'll be there to witness it, and it's not something I want to miss."

I lower my head, and try not to pout. To be honest, I don't want anybody to witness me awake from a coma. But, considering the only thing I have to lose is him, the least I could do is wake my ass up so we can finally start our lives together.

"I'll do my best to make it happen," I look up at him, and search for some hope in his eyes. Thankfully, hope was there.

"I know you will," he hugs me, then kisses the top of my head, making me feel like I'm untouchable. I can't help but to look up at him, the only person who I can look at without thinking of the horrificness of the situation. Every moment I'm here is an opportunity for my death; I can't help but to forget that tiny detail when I'm with Conlan. He's a reminder to me that no matter how terrible a situation might be, there's always some good that goes with it. When I'm with him, I can feel safe while knowing I can likely die in a few hours. Only he can do that to me.

"Do we need anything else before heading out?" He asks as he lets go of me, allowing me to check my bag.

"More health potions," I state, without checking my inventory. I have plenty of health potions, but I refuse to miss the opportunity to have more than what I need. If I have any chance of surviving, I'm going to have to be prepared for the worst. I should stock up on as many health potions as we can assemble.

"I recall seeing an alchemy stand in the marketplace," Conlan mentions. "I'm sure the vendor has some healing potions for sale."

"Alright, then let's head there," I declare.

We leave Glover's house, and approach the small alchemy table. The woman running the stand appears to be a fairly young dark elf.

Before we could say anything to her, she speaks to us. "Looking for any potions? Ingredients? Alchemical supplies?"

"Yes, actually," I state. "How many health potions do you have?"

"Not a whole lot, but they're all for sale," she blinks.

"I'll take all of them," I say as I reach in my pack for one of my bigger gold purses.

"Can you afford it?" She questions. "It'll cost 443 gold pieces."

"We can afford that," Conlan mentions. "Trust us."

"Or, we can give you more than 443 gold, so you don't have to count," I suggest.

The vendor stares at us as we pull out five large gold purses, each with 100 gold coins.

"I won't ask how you got this much money," she mutters. "Take the potions, they're all yours."

"Thank you," I say to her. After filling our bags with the health potions, we set off to the questmarker on Conlan's map. I'm betting money it'll take us to the Temple of Miraak, the first location players go to when they encounter a Black Book.

"Remind me, the questmarker is in the middle of the island?" I ask.

"Just about," Conlan states, clarifying my suspicions.

"Okay," I sigh. "Expect to make a new friend."

Conlan turns to me, and raises his infamous eyebrow of curiosity. "Who, exactly? Hermaeus Mora?"

"Well, yes," I sarcastically roll my eyes. "But there will also be a warrior from a local village. She shall assist us through the temple, if I'm not mistaken."

"Assist us?" Conlan questions. "What exactly will she be assisting us with?"

"She will fight against draugr inside the temple," I guess. "How else would she really assist us?"

"I don't know," Conlan shrugs. "Maybe she has some information we could use."

"Conlan," I sigh. "We're about to leave this game, what information could we possibly need now?"

Conlan shrugs again, "I guess I wouldn't know, would I?"

"I-" I don't know what to say to him. Did I offend him?

Conlan probably noticed my new face of slight dismay. His hand pokes mine, so I gently take it. After a moment of silence, I carefully smile, then weakly frown.

"Sorry."

His eyes roll, and he awkwardly chuckles with a single breathe. "Don't worry about it," he lets go of my hand, and puts his hand on my shoulder. "We've got bigger things to worry about, but time's a-wasting."

"I agree," I smile. Without another word, we jog towards Miraak's Temple, and I mentally prep myself for one of my final runs.