“You didn’t tell her about that whole Imp business did you?” she asked her partner as the wagon trundled over the rough path towards Anvil.

The ever-so-slightly darker Khajiit tightened her grip around Rajirra’s waist and the wagon’s frame as a particularly jolting bounce threatened to toss her out.

“Raj, of course I did. I told you I wrote her everything! But don’t worry, I explained what happened, and how we made up. She’ll understand.”

Rajirra shook her head. “This one thinks you have made a mistake. Your Argonian surrogate mother will not approve.”

Katia kissed her lover’s cheek. “You don’t know her. She helped me when I had nothing.”

Rajirra smiled wanly and looked away. “She will not approve.”

“Oh, you’re such a downer Raj. By the way, did you ever read that book I gave you?”

“This one does not enjoy these fictional tales. Khajiit should study practical matters.”

Katia lay down on the bench seat, using Rajirra’s lap as a pillow and watched the clouds go by, but keeping a firm grip on the rough coach’s framework all the same. Rajirra looked down at her affectionately.

“I’m not a practical matter,” Katia said quietly.

Rajirra considered this for a while, lazily stroking Katia’s ear before responding, “No, you decidedly are not. This one did not expect to feel affection for such as you.”

Katia tugged Rajirra’s tail. “Hey, I didn’t even know I liked girls!”

“It was the bug musk. You know this is the only explanation.”

“I suppose so. At first anyway. That was cruel of Sigrid. But it did bring us together, after all. In the end she did us a kindness!”

Rajirra’s face darkened and her stroking stopped.

“Raj? What is it?”

Rajirra swallowed hard, her eyes beginning to glisten. “Kat, you don’t think that might still…”

Katia sat up and hugged her friend close, “What?”

“Oh Kat, this one has been so happy in these days with you. What if it is just the bug musk? How would this one know? How could you know?!”

“Raj, I love you and we haven’t been near Sigrid for weeks. This isn’t magic anymore.”

Rajirra kissed her long and hard unexpectedly, then pulled back. “It is magic, Beautiful Kat. It must be. But maybe it can last a lifetime?”

“A lifetime sounds just about right to me,” Katia said. Then she opened the bag at Rajirra’s feet and pulled a book from it.

“Now, if you won’t read it, I’m going to have to read it for you.”

“That would be pleasant,” Rajirra said as Katia resumed her place on Rajirra’s lap.

“What, my voice no longer rapes your ears with a thorny cock?”

“Only when you try to speak Ta'agra. This you should not do.”

“You could always tutor me you know!” Katia suggested as she flipped the book open to the first page.

Rajirra stroked the fur from Katia’s snout to her eyes, saying, “Beautiful Kat, some things in this world are simply too broken to fix. Your Tamrielic will suffice.”

“That bad eh?” Katia sighed. “Well, then you can listen to my Tamrielic. Now stop that so I can read. Okay… ‘Red Crater’ by Quill-Weave. It was a dark and stormy night…”

Rajirra sighed and looked up the path in front of the wagon as her lover’s voice rolled on, almost like lyrics to a song counterpointed by the rhythmic squeak and rattle of the wheels. She had never been to Anvil before, and she was not looking forward to this trip to see this mythical author that Katia was so enamored with. Yet Katia had insisted that they marry with her blessing, and if that meant meeting and befriending this odd Argonian, it was worth it. She did worry often if the last few weeks of bliss with Katia could be real. It certainly had started off as a prank by that 'mage’ Sigrid. The woman had apparently planned it as a way to humiliate Katia. And it was certainly the bug musk that had led to that first night of carnal bliss between the two.

Yet that couldn’t explain the rest of it, could it? Surely the effects of such a potion were limited in their longevity? Once the two Khajiits had awoken the next day and realized what had happened, they confronted the witch point blank. She certainly didn’t deny it, and had a pretty jolly laugh at their expense. But that didn’t explain why they left hand-in-hand afterwards. Nor why she still felt something pull at her heart whenever she looked into the eyes of the crazy Khajiit loner that she’d finally found. She prayed that whatever they had together now, that it was real. The pain would be too much if it turned out to be less than true. Even Sigrid couldn’t be that cruel.