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Inigo sat in an uncomfortable stone chair, his tail swishing angrily behind him as he watched the Dragonborn pack their bag. They were packing wood and books, as well as some food.“My friend, do you really need to go to the Throat of the World again today? You’ve been up there almost every day this week!”The Dragonborn sighed. “I know, but I promised Paarthurnax that I would visit him! It really lonely up there.” They sounded like they were upset at the idea. Inigo wondered if they had thought about it being lonely down here.“Then why does he not come down here? He has legs does he not?” They put down the book they were holding, and turned to look scathingly at Inigo.“You know why he can’t. What if he gets seen? What if he gets killed?” The Dragonborn seemed horrified at the idea. Inigo stopped himself before he rolled his eyes. That would not go over well. “I think we both know that they Greybeards aren’t going to kill their leader.” The Dragonborn still glared at him.They started putting things in their bag again while saying, “But what about other people? Sometimes they come up here, and its dangerous if they see him outside of the monastery.” They finished packing their bag, and secured its straps before turning back to Inigo.“It’s easier if I just climb up the mountain. You’ll wait for me right?” They asked expectantly.Inigo looked at them for a moment, before sighing. “Don’t I always?” The Dragonborn nodded and turned to start walking to the door, before they suddenly faced Inigo again.“Thank you for waiting. I know it’s annoying, but we can go adventuring later ok? You’re the best!” Inigo nodded and crossed his arms.“Yes I am, and you’d better remember that.”______“They have been gone for hours.” Inigo groaned. It was already dark outside, and Inigo was getting tired of having to wait with the stuffy Greybeards in High Hrothgar. Master Arngeir just sighed before glaring at Inigo.“Well Mister Inigo, that is a sign that you must be patient.” Inigo had already been told this four times today and he was getting tired of it.He looked pleadingly at the Greybeard. “Can’t you take me up there?”“No.”“But what if something happened while they were up there?”“I promise nothing has happened—““But how do you know?” Inigo interrupted. Inigo was beginning to think that Arngeir’s face was going to get stuck in a scowl with how much he did it.“I know because there are very few ways to get up that mountain, and only one is accessible to anyone without wings.”Inigo frowned, and Arngeir continued saying, “I know you are worried about them, but they are safer there than anywhere else. Paarthurnax would not hurt them, and I’m sure he would help them should any trouble arise.” Arngeir turned back to the window to continue his meditation“Perhaps Mistier Inigo, it is not the time to blindly complain, but the time for you to try and understand what makes them stay up there.”_______The Dragonborn slammed the door open, yelling, “I’m back!”Inigo looked up from his book and gestured to the chair opposite him.“Good. Can we talk?” The Dragonborn looked worried for a second before nodding and walking to put their bag down by the bed.The sat in the chair, before looking at Inigo properly.“Yeah? Is everything ok? Did something happen?”Inigo shook his head as he said, “No, no, nothing happened. I just wanted to apologize for my recent behavior. I wasn’t being a very good friend.” He did feel slightly ashamed. He had been thinking about what Arngeir had said. It was probably comforting for the Dragonborn to have someone to talk to about their whole dragonblood thing.The Dragonborn gave him a confused look before asking, “What are you talking about? You’re a great friend! You’re always there for me, even when I make questionable decisions. Why would you think you’re a bad friend?”“I was mad that you were spending so much time up there with Paarthurnax while I was stuck down here. I shouldn’t have been. I’m sorry.”The Dragonborn looked surprised for a second, before it melted into an expression of shame.“You were? I’m sorry I hadn’t noticed, I’ll do better.”They looked disappointed in themself as they said, “I just... lose track of time when I’m up there. It feels just feels right to be up there. I’ll start making sure to come down sooner.”Inigo smiled. “Thank you. What do you even do up there?”The Dragonborn smiled while they said, “Just talk and meditate mostly. Sometimes we look at the view, but I think after centuries sitting up there Paarthurnax is pretty over it.”They seemed to suddenly remember something that made them very excited.“Oh! And guess what I saw today!”“What?”“I said guess dummy.” Inigo hated when they did this.“Fine, was it a bear?”“No!”“A hawk?”“Nope!”“Was it a dragon?”“Yes, but that’s not what I was talking about. Try again!”“I give up. What did you see?”“I saw a comet!” They were very excited, and Inigo could understand why. Comets were hard to find in Skyrim. If the trees weren’t blocking your view, you were too busy defending yourself to notice.“Really?”“Yeah, the view up there is great because you sit just above the clouds.” The Dragonborn was quiet for a moment as they thought about something.“You should come with me next time! You’d love it!”“Are the Greybeards going to allow that? They didn’t seem to want you going up there, let alone me.”“I’m the Dragonborn, I can do what I want! And if they were really causing trouble I’d just ask Paarthurnax to tell them to let you up.”“He’d do that?”“If I asked yeah!”_______Arngeir was in the middle of a standoff with the Dragonborn, and gods did he look uncomfortable. They had gotten into an argument over Inigo going up the mountain, and he was holding up fairly well. Inigo had seen Jarls cave faster than this when faced with the Dragonborn.Arngeir huffed and said, “Absolutely not.” The Dragonborn crossed their arms and shifted to be face to face with Arngeir.“Why?”“Because no, Dragonborn. That’s why.” Inigo saw the Dragonborn clench their jaw as they somehow became even more intimidating.“And how are you going to stop me from taking him up there? Are you going to shout at me Master Arngeir? Because we both know who would win that contest.”“But what if your so called ‘friend’ attacks him? What then?” The Dragonborn rolled their eyes.“Why would he attack Paarthurnax?” They turned to look at Inigo.“You dont plan to attack him do you?” They asked, though their tone made it more of a ‘you will not attack him’ than an actual question. Either way, Inigo hadn’t planned on fighting a dragon anytime soon.“No?” The Dragonborn nodded, turned back to Arngeir, and said, “See its fine! Now go back to meditating so we can go up the mountain.” ______The Dragonborn was practically shaking with excitement as they walked. Every so often they would use their Clear Skies shout. They didn’t even seem to notice the cold, despite them wearing thinner armor.“You’ll love it up there! You can see for miles! And there’s LOTS of snow, it’s great!.” They were waving their arms as they talked. Inigo hadn’t seen them this excited since they had pushed Vilkas into the river outside of Whiterun.Inigo was less excited. It was so cold he couldn’t feel his toes. The fur on his armor saw frozen solid, and it hadn’t even been wet. Inigo wondered if their dragonbood gave them more resistance, or if it was something else.“Is there a cave or something? Or are we to freeze for several hours?” Inigo hoped the Dragonborn had planned something besides freezing.They looked at him and smiled before saying, “Paarthurnax let me built a fire put up there! That’s why I pack so much wood every time I go up there.”“That’s better than nothing, I guess.” Inigo was not looking forward to sitting in the snow.“Well tail, I hope you like the cold!”______“There it is!” The Dragonborn said, pointing as they saw the end of the path. They started running and Inigo sprinted to catch up with them.As they reached the summit they turned to Inigo saying, “Welcome to the Throat of the World!”It was very white and snowy. There was a broken word wall with claw marks on one side, and a small stone fire pit close to the edge of the mountain.Inigo looked around for a moment longer before saying to the Dragonborn, “It’s very nice! I see there’s a broken word wall. Can we put fire in that fire pit now?” They nodded.“Yeah, just give me a second!” They started walking over to the fire pit, while Inigo continued looking around. He noticed that there was a severe lack of dragon.“And where is your dragon friend? Didn’t you say he lived up here?” The Dragonborn looked back at him before saying, “He’s coming! He’s usually out flying when I first come up here. Can you help me clear the snow off of the fire pit? There’s more than I thought.”Inigo walked over to help. When they finished the Dragonborn set up the wood and used the magic to start a fire. Inigo immediately felt better. _____“Drem Yol Lok, Dovahkiin. Hi Drun Fahdon Wah Aav Un Grind.” Both Inigo and the Dragonborn jumped at the sudden voice. The Dragonborn's face lit up as they realized who it was. They quickly got to their feet and made their way to the word wall. The large white dragon landed, scattering the snow from the stone. It put its head closer to the ground as the Dragonborn got closer. Inigo was almost surprised when they responded, he hadn’t known they could speak dragon.“Grind, Paarthurnax! Daar Dii Kaaz Fahdon, Inigo!” They gestured to him as they said his name. He waved at Paarthurnax, wondering how one was actually supposed to greet a dragon. He figured a good start would be to move closer, so he got up and started walking towards the wall.As he got closer he heard the dragonborn say, “Zu’u Drun Tey! Tinvaak Wah Inigo. Zu’un Fen Siiv Niin.” Before they turned around and smiled at Inigo while walking back to the fire pit.Paarthurnax turned his head toward Inigo as he stepped closer to the wall saying, “Paz Shul Grind, Nice to meet you Inigo. I am Paarthurnax, what brings you to my Strunmah, my mountain, today?”“The Dragonborn asked me to come and see the view with the both of you.” Paarthurnax made a huffing sound that Inigo decided was a laugh.“Yes, they are very fond of looking out at the land below. I do not blame them.” Inigo nodded as he glanced back at where the Dragonborn was croucheding. They were rifling through their pack for something.“I admit that, while it it very beautiful, I prefer being down in the rift to being so high up.”Paarthurnax nodded his head. “Vahzah. I do not expect you to understand. We Dov see things very differently.”Inigo looked back at Paarthurnax while asking, “But they are not a dragon?” Paarthurnax huffed a laugh and shook his head.“Nid, No. They are merely grounded. Their Zii, spirit, remembers what it was to be free.” Paarthurnax turned to watch the Dragonborn again, and Inigo glanced back at them. They had stopped digging through their bag, and were staring longingly at the sky. Paarthurnax sighed almost sadly and said, “It is a painful thing for us Dov to be like the mortals. I do not envy them.”_____It had been several hours since Inigo and the Dragonborn climbed the mountain to meet with Paarthurnax. The sky had become dark, the flattened ground only illuminated by the light from the fire pit. Paarthurnax had climbed down from the word wall to sit closer to the fire after the Dragonborn had started shivering. They had fallen asleep looking at the view and their head rested on Inigo leg as they all sat together.
Inigo had continued talking with Paarthurnax, and honestly, he could see why the Dragonborn like being up there so much. It seemed that Dragons were just as weird as the Dragonborn when it came to conversation.
Suddenly Paarthurnax stretched his wings and said, “Tiid Bo Viing, It is time for me to leave.” Inigo looked back at him, trying to avoid moving. Paarthurnax looked down at the and huffed his laugh again.
“It seems that it is also time for them to rest. Pruzah Wundunne Inigo. Farewell.”
“Goodbye Paarthurnax.”And with that Paarthurnax launched into the air, scattering ash and snow all around. The Dragonborn woke with a start, startling Inigo with their sudden movement. They both paused for a second, before laughing and starting to head back down the path to High Hrothgar.