Her name was Elyna. That was all she knew of herself.
And as she walked through the gates of Riverwood-the first actual town she'd seen in her short memory-with only a potion of minor healing, a gold coin, a journal and a dagger, Elyna was fairly certain she was in over her head. But Grannie Anise had told her that it was time for adventure. That the little cabin in the woods was only meant to hold a single old woman, not a young soul yearning for more. Yet she couldn't help feeling so very alone.
Though truly she wasn't alone, not really. She felt her companion squirming restlessly. A quick panic stirred her insides, and she scanned around her to see if anyone noticed as her shadow moved of its own volition. It moved as if picking its nose. The shadow made an audible 'oof' after she stamped her foot down right at its crotch. She wondered for a second how such a powerful beast could be so very childish. Yes, a beast. The beast who hid in her shadow.
Gran called him a daedra. But Beast proved to be a benevolent daedra, and only turned his anger on those who attempted to harm Elyna's person. She'd seen it happen only once, when she was in the forest on her own and a pack of wolves attacked her before she noticed them hiding in the brush. Beast tore the creatures apart until they were all bloody masses of meat. Of course, Elyna was entirely grateful to still have her life, but at the same time...he was so very scary when he was in that state of mind. That knowledge did not keep her from reprimanding her companion.
"Beast, unless you truly believe that these people will not cause harm to the both of us when they realise what you are, you will do well to keep your churlishness to yourself." she hissed under her breathe. The beast stuck out a tongue, but placated itself into following her movements once again. Such a child. Of course, there was nothing she could do about it-he was her only friend.
The small village of Riverwood wasn't much of a village at all. It seemed to be composed of six or seven structures, and only one cobbled road cutting through from one end to the other. There was an inn, a trading post, and a mill but not much more. Yet to Elyna, who spent the past four months in a one room shack in the middle of the forest, it was a veritable city.
Four months...she was still amazed that that was all she could remember of her life. So much had happened since the first moment that she opened her eyes. She woke without a lick of knowledge-even the moon in the sky and the sound of rushing water was new to her. Gran found her in the woods, naked, afraid and so very cold. She was the one who taught her everything she knew. From how to detect threats before they attack and assessing when to hold your ground-or run- to cooking herself a good meal and making a comfortable bed. The most valuable knowledge Gran supplied was about magic. Alchemy, destruction spells, restoration spells, conjuration spells, all at the novice level, but still it was a lot of learning within a four month period.
Gran said to her, 'go to Whiterun. It is there that poor souls like you can learn to make something of themselves.' She instructed her to first go to Riverwood, then move on to Whiterun which was much bigger and much more intimidating. And so, as her Gran instructed, Elyna was determined to see Whiterun with her own eyes and 'make something of herself' there.
The first order of business-finding food at a low cost. She'd left with a dozen apples, but in the course of the morning's travel they disappeared, no doubt stolen and devoured whole by Beast. He was a hungry creature-and an impatient one-her greatest trouble would be to find him enough food to satiate him. She thought about hunting, but with what weapon? And she couldn't bare to kill something herself, to watch an animal's life drain from its body.
So she looked toward the Inn, hoping to find something small for a tiny sum. But before she could take a single step in its direction, she was stopped by a shrewd voice.
"No more foreigners! No more foreigners!" She turned to an old woman standing on her porch and staring at Elyna with a squinted gaze. Pinched was the only word she could use to describe this woman. Pinched in her expression, pinched at the cheeks where her face flushed red, and pinched by the gods at the shoulders which hunched forward, rounding her back into a little hump. Elyna looked around, wondering if maybe her words were meant for another, but when she didn't notice anyone standing within earshot she turned back to the woman and pointed to herself.
"I'm sorry good woman. Are you speaking to me?" she said.
"We already have Imperials and a filthy elf here, we don't need the likes of you too." Mystified, Elyna stared at her for a second. She learned quite a bit from Gran, and what she didn't learn straight from her mouth, she learned from her books. She read many about and written by Nords-the natives of Skyrim-and in some there was a subtle hint of ignorance when it came to other races. But that she was a Nord, she'd never doubted. Gran after all was a Nord, and she was found in the native land of the Nords, so it was obvious to her that she must then be a Nord herself. But as this old woman peered at her with pure hatred, she began to doubt.
"You must be mistaken Miss." She said regardless.
"You think I can't tell a Breton when I see one? All your people are tiny twisted things with your filthy dark complexion and that scraggly brown hair," then she raised her broom up above her head and waved it at her. Elyna took a step back, startled by her aggression. Fear stirred in her stomach, but it was not fear of this woman she felt. No, it was fear for this woman as her shadow stirred restlessly behind her. "Out with you! Go on. We don't need anymore of your kind making trouble here."
"I want no trouble. I am just passing through to Whiterun. I won't be here for more than an hour." Elyna reassured her.
"And that is an hour too long!" The woman scrambled down from her porch, broom raised higher and angled to bear right down on Elyna's head. The Beast quickened. She felt him beginning to creep up from the ground to stand his full height and purposefully took a few steps back to keep him where he was. The old woman began to cry out a mantra, "Out! Out! Out!" She screamed.
"Come now ma'am. No need to be so harsh. This young lady has given you no reason to shout." Another voice said. Before her was the largest woman Elyna had ever seen standing at six feet at the very least, over a foot taller than herself. She looked every bit the traditional Nord as Gran's books depicted it, blond and blue eyed with the build of a warrior. Bright steel armor glinted on most of her covered skin-it moved with her as if it were her skin-and a sword sat at her hip.
"You! You're the one who ruined my sweet boy's betrothal!" The old woman declared, broom still raised against her former adversary.
"I'm sorry, I know not what you mean." But there was a mischievous curl to her lips which spoke the opposite of her words.
"You told dirty lies about my Sven and now Camilla Valerius will scarcely look at him." The old woman was so angered that each word was punctuated with a spray of saliva.
"Ah. I see, you speak of the bard… on my honor I can attest that I have never breathed a lie. Any word I spoke of your son was the truth as I knew it." The young warrior assured her. The old woman lowered her broom now, and she didn't look half as intimidating as seconds before. Something about this new woman caused her to hunch her shoulders deeper, and cower back a few steps toward her porch. This did not keep her from speaking harsh words.
"You are worse than these foreigners! You, a Nord, favor them over your own kind."
"Faendal is a good man ma'am, and an even better archer-elf or not. And from what I heard your son was never betrothed to Camilla, nor pledged to her in any way." She bowed, low and graceful with all the honor of a man and the delicacy of a woman. "But I appologize if I caused you some sort of distress. It was not my intention."
"You don't fool me with your false honor…" As she continued on with her insults Elyna realized this was a good time to take her leave-to slink off while everyone else was occupied was safer for them all. So she did just that, silently thanking the warrior woman for her distraction. She crept toward the Inn, resolving to spend less than ten minutes there to buy a few bits to nibble, and speeding out of this little town as quickly as she could. As she climbed the steps she felt the beast wriggle impatiently beneath her.
Then she remembered that in order to buy food, one must have coin to pay for it. Untying the strings to her purse, she realised coin was something she did not have. A single glinting gold septim lay at the bottom, mocking her. What could she buy with that? Half an apple? A quarter perhaps?
The beast stirred again, this time drawing itself up and grabbing onto the railing of the Inn's steps. It gripped two pegs in his shadowed hands and shook as if calling to be released from a cell. She quickly shoved it down.
"I know you're hungry, but you must quit this squirming and wait." Elyna muttered under her breath.
"Talking to yourself young one?" She whipped around, startled. It was the warrior from before, the one who stood up against the prejudiced old woman. She stood with her arms crossed, waiting expectantly for a reply. There was something good natured about her face-perhaps it was her easy smile and the twinkle in her narrow eyes. Elyna thought quickly for a reasonable answer.
"Oh no! Not myself...to my stomach in fact!" she wrapped her arms around her middle, moaning softly for good measure, "it refuses to quiet."
"Well, you're not the first to go hungry in Skyrim, nor the last." She paused and took a good look at her, up then down. "You're a scrawny little thing eh? Not a stranger to going hungry?"
It was true. Gran didn't often have enough food to feed the two of them, and the beast. It was more important to see the beast full than to have full bellies of their own, so they allowed him the food while they survived on whatever they could spare. The result was a thin body of nothing but bones and skin.
"I eat whatever I can get my hands on." Koldeer nodded in acknowledgment, then glanced back to where the old woman stood moments before.
"Well, it seems my kind have caused you unwarranted distress today. The least I can do is feed you." Elyna's first reaction was to refuse the offer, but her stomach growled its acceptance before she could utter a word.
"Thank you, milady. I would be honored to share your table."
"I'm no lady little one. They call me Koldeer, the Seven-mouthed! None of which I know how to shut."
"Thank you...Koldeer. You are very kind."
"And you are too formal! No miladys and thank yous here, I only require the grunts one makes while devouring a good meal as my thank you." Before walking to the inn's entrance she turned once more. "Oh! And your name? I cannot share table with someone I cannot call by name."
"Elyna."
She nodded. "A sweet sounding name that fits the face."
The Sleeping Giant was the largest building in town and it was fairly full of people eating and wetting their tongues with drink. Music rang above the chatter of the room. At the corner of the inn was the bard singing ballads a plenty and strumming at his lute. She peered at him from the corner of her eye and saw the pinched resemblance to the woman who'd just berated her moments before. Skirting along the wall of the inn, she was sure to keep her head down lest he inherited his mother's tongue along with her looks. Koldeer though made her presence known to the man, throwing a gold coin his way at the end of the song. He looked at it with disdain, but hid it in his pocket when she turned away.
"Two plates and two large mugs of the best ale you have!" Koldeer called out to anyone who would hear her.
"You are kind, but I must refuse the ale. My Gran frowns upon drinking, says it clouds the mind." Elyna replied humbly.
"And your Gran isn't here. One mug on me, and once you've downed the first tell me that you mean to follow every rule your Gran ever plied on you!"
The merchant of the inn was a taciturn man, mild tempered and gruff. He brought a heaping plate of food out for them, which Koldeer immediately set on, swallowing her portions as if she were starved three months. Elyna's own stomach growled angrily but Beast was still hungry, and while he hungered she had no thoughts for herself. Beast meanwhile had no care for her stomach, he only thought of his own and he wriggled beneath her for food. But this wasn't the place to feed her companion, someone would notice. Her satchel was good for slipping portions of her plate into for later while she ate the rest at a controlled pace.
"Any news Orgnar?"
"Heard the Stormcloaks are moving west, thinking about taking Whiterun." The merchant glanced up at her as he spoke, talking just barely loud enough to be heard.
"This war has got the whole country out of sorts. People starving, good men and women dying for no reason. There's no need for the bloodshed. It's just a show." Koldeer ripped a chunk of meat away from her drumstick, talking around the flesh in her mouth. "It's a bunch of men with too much time and a too much pride."
"So they're whipping out their cocks to see who has the bigger one." A haggard man called out from a few paces away.
"Aye friend!" Koldeer agreed, pointing her drumstick his way.
"Doesn't seem like either side is letting up though. The Stormcloaks will keep protecting their land while the Legion will do everything it can to keep power." Orgnar replied.
"War? What war?" Elyn had been listening intently, but this was something her Gran never taught her.
"You don't know?" "Where are you from little one?"
Something in her stomach told her that telling these people the truth, that she didn't know her origins, was a mistake. Elyna thought about it for a second. Her assumption had always been that she was a Nord-afterall Skyrim was where she was found-but that angry woman had called her a foreigner...a Brenton. What did she know of Bretons, not much.
"I'm a Breton born, just moved here from High Rock." By the gods, she hoped they would not ask her more. Thankfully, Koldeer with her seven mouths had more words to speak than Elyna.
"Then you and me both. I've only been here a few weeks. Grew up in the Capitol with my family. They're dead now, and there was nothing for me there. I thought I'd come back to the land of my ancestors, see if they have some excitement in store for me. Even sold all my family's possessions for this beauty here." She gave a fond pat to the sword on her hip. "What unfortunate timing. I came here for adventure and glory. Instead I get swept up in this stupid war. First day I came here I almost had my head chopped off, all because that stupid Olfric Stormcloak had to get himself captured and drag me down with him."
"You almost had your head chopped off? What did you do?"
"Nothing! I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, mixed up with all the rebel soldiers. And those imperials didn't care that my name wasn't on their holy death list. They were going to take an innocent woman's head off without any care."
"How did you manage get away?" At this Koldeer paused and looked off into the distance, as if watching a scene in a play that no one else could see. She seemed to prepare to tell a long tale before she shook her head and turned her gaze back on Elyna.
"No matter. I got away, and my head is thankful for it!" At this she turned to the rest of the room and raised her mug to the ceiling. "I came here for adventure and glory, and I will have it, war or no war." Her cry was met with approving shouts before she turned back. "How about you little one. What have you come to Skyrim for? Glory and adventure, wealth and power, maybe just looking for a comfortable life?"
"I'm going to Whiterun to...to make something of myself."
"Aye...a noble goal. Well, I'm headed that way myself. Why don't you join me? Road's dangerous that way, and you look like you could use some protecting."
"I would be honored."
"Haha! No need to be honored little one. I'm no great warrior, no Thane or Jarl. Just another girl looking to make something of herself, just like you."
"Then I would be pleased to be your follower." The Nord laughed heartily, slapping her in the middle of her back,the force of her mit knocked the air from Elyna's lungs.
"Always so formal with you! But it is endearing. I like you little one. There's something about you that pleases me." Raising her glass, Elyna followed suit, clunking the metal hard enough that mead sloshed out the sides. "We shall be great friends, you and I. I can see it now. Great friends!"
Elyna smiled widely. "I must agree, Koldeer the Seven-mouthed. I must agree wholeheartedly."