Finding the Ancestor Glade empty, I can only hope it's because I got there before the Favored.
Checking the tree gives me a glimmer of hope; it looks the same as it did last time I was here, and considering I came by dragon just half a day after speaking to him, I don't think there's any way he could've beaten me here. I mean, he's a mage, but I've seen no mage actually teleport from place to another. Even the Psijics have to leg it for the important stuff.
So now...I'm back to waiting.
I'm not sure how long it is. Hours, at least, as the angle of the starlight above bends and warps around the glade. I grow so settled, so calmed, that I smell the Favored before I see him--a sudden whiff of old fabric and sour metal.
I get to my feet, instantly wary, feeling every nerve come alive in anticipation.
"Hi."
He stops at the ledge and draws in a sharp breath, hissing like a recoiling snake. "This, now, I had not foreseen. Already can I feel the future, and feel the damage you've caused."
I laugh. "You think you're feeling me now, wait 'til I put an arrow in you." He takes a step forward. "Careful now," I say. "You might hurt yourself."
"Indeed I might. But meet my death at your hands? Quite doubtful."
"I know you said you can see the future, but you know what I can see? An arrow, lined up at your heart. And what you haven't seen is how good a shot I am."
"I do not see the future, Dovahkiin. I have seen the future. It, and many like it. You leave a conspicuous, galling path of absence through all of them, but most else is clear. You are a splash of blood on a white sheet."
"Look," I say, "just because you don't see me killing you doesn't mean it won't happen."
"That would be the case were it not also that I have seen my death."
Now that I wasn't expecting. "Tell me, then, so I can get that ball rolling."
"In my moment of dying, I will wish that I had taken your life with my own hands. There is enough possibility in that truth to encourage me."
"So what, we just stand here?"
"You play at foolishness because you think it hides your vicious cunning."
I laugh again in spite of myself, trying not to lose my aim. "Vicious cunning? No, I'm really out of ideas at this point."
"Then I can proceed."
The sudden rise in temperature is the only warning I get.
I dive for one of the rocks, trying to find cover. I find my footing and voice at the same time. "What happened to not killing me?"
"Killing you is no part of this, Dovahkiin, but for the moment, it remains that you are in my way."
I lunge for another rock; if I can't hide from him, I can at least put something solid between me and his magic. I really hate mages.
Fire fills the air, scorching the rocks, vaporizing the water, mixing with the already steamy air of the glade. Isn't he concerned about hitting the tree?
Unless he came here just for me. Come to think of it, I probably shouldn't put too much stock in his assurances that he won't kill me directly.
Hearing nothing, I notch an arrow and spin out from cover, releasing as I go, a maneuver I've done a hundred times. All I have to do is be faster.
It turns out I'm not.
It's my nose that rouses me again, but this time it's the unmistakable stink of wet cat.
I stand, unsteadily. I can still feel aftershocks of the lightning crawling up and down my spine; my heart doesn't seem to want to march to any particular cadence.
"And where were you?" I demand, rounding on Fai'mar.
"Following the Favored, as instructed. Fai'mar arrived to find the Favored surrounded by many shimmering insects, and the Dragonborn sleeping soundly. Upon spotting Fai'mar, the Favored did not attack but instead disappeared with a spell. Fai'mar could only conclude it was best to attend to the Dragonborn."
It takes me a moment to think it through. "You mean he knocked me out...and let me live."
"That seems the truth of it, yes."
"He's obviously so delusional he won't kill me himself even when I'm lying right in front of him."
"Perhaps the Favored expects to be showed the same courtesy at a later point."
"No, that's not it. He did this to humiliate me, enrage me. Make me lose focus. I'd say it worked."
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