(AN: A whole new adventure awaits, one into which I have not frequently delved into until now. One reason was that I love this story and would like to add my name to those who have taken up this adventurous tale. Another reason is that one of the characters in this story been poorly neglected by the fan-fic authors on here, so I thought why not?)
Chance Meeting
The Rift was one of the most beautiful places in all of Skyrim. White-barked aspens rose their shining heads into the rising sun, glowing golden with the captured light on both leaf and floor, where the leaves fell every autumn. In the south-eastern corner of the Rift, the wide Lake Honrich sat peacefully still. Sitting upon the south-eastern end of the lake, just behind the heights of Forelhost Mountain, was the lake-town of Riften. Upon its stone and wooden foundations sat a town of wooden logs and planks that was a marvel of Nord architecture.
It was to this town that a lone figure galloped along atop a bay stallion. It was a strong figure, tall and clad in fur, leather and chain-mail. Upon his head was a cap of steel, and upon his back was a greatsword little more than half his height. From the back of his helmet there flowed a braid of light brown hair that flowed down to the mid of his back. Quite an impressive figure, and a credit to the Nords of Skyrim.
The tall Nord rode up to the stone-made northern gate of Riften, protected by two city guards. He checked his horse at the stables nearby and handed a few gold septims to the stable-boy to keep his horse there for the night. He then walked up toward the gate, but halted as one of the guards approached him.
"You there, stranger," the guard said to the Nord. "All visitors to Riften are required to pay the visitor's tax."
The Nord said nothing, but eyed the shorter guard suspiciously. For a moment the guard seemed almost threatened by the silent stare of the giant Nord and placed his hand upon the hilt of his sword. It was a flimsy thing, two cubits in length, held by one hand: if it did come to blows, the Nord's greatsword would have little trouble shattering this one-handed blade.
"Are you deaf?" the guard returned. "I said, all visitors to Riften are required to pay the visitor's tax!"
"Whatever for?" the Nord asked.
"Why, for the pleasure of visiting our fair city, of course!" the guard returned, keeping his shrouded eyes on the deep, dark brown eyes of the tall Nord. "Are you going to pay up or not?"
"I'm not paying any toll," the Nord said.
"And why not?" the guard challenged.
"I've been to Whiterun, Helgen and Riverwood," the Nord stated. "They don't charge visitors to enter their cities."
"Well, this isn't Whiterun, is it, friend?" the guard retorted. "This is Riften. Things are different here, now pay up!"
"This is obviously a shake-down," the Nord returned.
The guard looked over his shoulder at the other guard, then to the stable boy nearby, then looked back at the Nord.
"Alright, alright, not so loud!" he hissed. "Do you want everyone to hear you? Just give me a moment, I'll unlock the gate."
With a resigned sigh, the guard walked over to the gate and unlocked it, allowing the tall Nord to enter the city of Riften.
Riften was quite large, built almost entirely out of wood. The streets were boardwalks built over the lake, and most of the buildings were of food. The stone that was there belonged to the stone arch that made the northern gate, the city square and Mistveil Keep, home of the Jarl of the Rift. The city sat upon three levels, with the lowermost level at the water's level, and the main level, that upon which the Nord now walked which was on level with the northern gate, above it. The next level towered above that, with ladders and wooden bridges overhead. The smell of fish and mead met the Nord's nostrils as he passed by the tall buildings. Obviously, fish was the greatest resource of the city.
While the Nord was walking down the street, he heard two people speaking nearby. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two of the strangest persons speaking together. One was a thin-framed, dark-haired Cyrodilian, or Imperial. He was dressed in a faded orange surcoat and had at his belt a short dagger in a sheath. But it was the one to whom this little Imperial was speaking that drew the eyes of the Nord.
He saw a Nord woman, tall of stature and with the body of an adventurer. She was clad in a rusty old breastplate of iron, with a simple fauld, iron wrist-guards and boots of iron. Upon her back was a great battle-ax, almost as big as the Nord's great-sword. When she spoke, the Nord forgot the voices of any other women he had heard until then.
"I had another run-in with the Thieves Guild," the Nord woman said to the small Imperial.
"Be careful, Mjoll," the Imperial replied. "The Thieves Guild has Maven Black-Briar on their side. One snap of her fingers and you could end up in jail, or worse..."
"I won't ignore them, Aerin," the Nord woman said. "They represent the reason I'm here."
"I know, I know," the young Cyrodilian sighed. "I just don't want you to leave. You're the only good thing that's happened to this city in a long time." He then looked up and cleared his throat as he saw the newcomer approach. The woman turned and the Nord saw her face rightly for the first time. She had long hair, like red gold, and her eyes looked amber. The left side of her face bore a single stripe of blue war-paint, in the midst of which, on her cheek, were three tiny scars like the scratches of some beast.
"Hello, stranger," the Nord woman said, turning to the Nord man. "Welcome to Riften. We don't get many visitors here."
"I'm here on business," the Nord man replied stoically.
"Where are you headed?" the Cyrodilian asked.
"Wherever the inn is located," the Nord man stated.
"That would be the Bee and Barb, in the city square," the Nord woman replied. "I'm headed that way myself. If you would like to join me, your company would be most welcome."
"As you wish," the Nord replied.
(AN: So, what do you think so far?)
(As far as story-objectives go, I'm going to arrange the story that is told so that those who are new to Skyrim don't necessarily need to play the game to know what's happening [you should, just because it's amazing]. Like most epics, it starts in the middle of the story [yay, for following the epic formula set down since Homer!], but there will be detailed back-stories which will tell about what happens before.)
(Don't forget to review, it helps with chapters getting published faster.)