Snow fell lightly outside the stone city of Windhelm. People skirted in and out through the large gates, most walking quickly in an attempt to get to their destination without freezing. Most were Nords, but every so often, a Dark Elf or, though it was rare, an Argonian, would be seen pulling their coats tighter around their bodies to shield themselves from the cold as they headed off to wherever they were going. Since most would prefer to not stop unless absolutely necessary, many of those people simply passed by a Khajiit caravan that had been set up near the stables without so much as a second glance.
Two adults and an adolescent boy occupied the area around the caravan; the oldest looking one, a male with brown fur that was beginning to grey, sat in front of a tent. The other, a female with black fur, was sitting on a nearby rock. She wore steel armor that looked well taken care of but was dented in a few places. The boy had light brown fur, blue eyes and a gold hoop in his right ear. On his head was a shining gold circlet, adorned with emeralds. He sat by the fire, looking bored.
"D-damn it..." the boy growled, moving closer to the fire. "Why is it always so cold here?" Windhelm was hard enough to deal with without the judgmental Nords, let alone the freezing temperatures. Even his fur did little to keep him warm this far north. The female warrior laughed. Her voice was rough, even for a Khajiit.
"This is Windhelm, Desharo. You would expect sunshine and warmth?" she asked with a grin.
"You are wearing armor. It is not as bad for you as it is for me," Desharo responded, trying to warm up his hands.
The older Khajiit looked back at both of them and sighed.
"You do not have to stay with us, you know," he said. The younger Khajiit rolled his eyes.
"Yes, because I obviously have a choice, Ja'grano."
Ja'grano sighed again and turned back around as a Dark Elf woman passed in front of them.
"Ah, hello friend. What can Ja'grano get for you today? A jewel? Some armor?" he purred.
"No thank you. I am not buying today," she said carelessly, starting to walk away.
"Ja'grano understands. Perhaps next time, you can see the enchanted Ebony Sword we have," he said with a sly smile. Despite being thoroughly unhappy, Desharo couldn't help grinning as the woman stopped and slowly turned around.
"….you have an enchanted Ebony Sword. How in the world did you find that?" she asked skeptically, walking back over to him. He pulled out the sword and showed it to her. The edges were razor sharp and the dark sword itself was long, giving a good reach. Red marks curved around the blade, repeatedly glowing brighter and fading away again.
"We found it in a chest outside a Nordic Crypt while traveling. As far as we can tell, the enchantment is "Fire Damage" and a powerful one at that. Besides being tempered to such a sharp edge and point that it can easily cut through a thick wall of stone, it will also leave your enemies blazing," he explained while the woman ran her hand across the blunt part of the blade.
"I am no fighter, but I could certainly have a use for this. How much?"
Ja'grano set the sword down and smiled again. "Usually, the price would be ten thousand Septims for such a rare and powerful sword. However, Ja'grano will sell it to you for only eight thousand."
The woman contemplated for a few minutes before pulling out a large coin purse and handing it to him. "Alright. Here you are, then. Eight thousand Septims." She picked up the sword and sheathe. "It was a pleasure doing business with you. I will certainly make a habit of coming out here more often if the caravans always sell this sort of thing, even if the temperature is unbearable."
"Very good as always, Ja'grano," grunted Do'zefen as the woman walked away. "I see you managed to scam another person out of their gold."
"There is no scamming. The sword is actually worth much more than ten thousand, and Ja'grano should have sold it to her for as much. However, about nine thousand is the limit for most people, and there is little chance of her having much more than seven thousand. Ja'grano took a risk and was lucky to get this much. No matter the item, most will not pay anything higher than ten thousand, however. Watch. Hello, friend. Can Ja'grano get you anything today?" he said to a Nord man in rather expensive looking attire who was walking by.
"That depends. What do you have?" he asked curiously.
"Actually, we have a very nice, and very rare, item in this time," he said, pulling out a beautiful golden necklace with a stunning diamond in the center. "It has an extremely powerful sneak spell on it. While wearing it, you are completely undetectable and will even become invisible. It is normally worth fifty thousand Septims, but since Ja'grano is feeling generous, it is yours for only eleven thousand."
The man took the necklace in his hand and looked at it closely. "Hmm…invisible, huh?"
"Yes and you know that Ja'grano cannot lie about such things; having the guards chase the caravan would not be good for business," he answered with a short laugh. The man stared at the necklace for another moment before shaking his head and giving it back.
"Eleven thousand is too much, even for this. I would love to see what else you have, but I cannot waste any more time. Maybe when you come back to Windhelm," he said, going into the city.
"See?" he said, grinning at the Khajiit warrior. "If even a noble such as him will not pay it for a useful necklace, a Dark Elf certainly will not pay as much for a sword. Granted, the necklace was not actually enchanted, but he probably did not know that."
She rolled her eyes but did not reply. Instead, she turned to Desharo. "Please tell me you will not end up like him, able to convince a beggar to give up their last Septim."
He laughed. "I can only hope to be that good of a merchant someday."
"Alkosh help us," she muttered.
The rest of the day passed without many more people stopping by until it was nearly time for them to leave.
"Can we go, now?" Desharo asked, drawing in the snow. "I do not think we will be getting any more customers today."
Ja'grano nodded and stood up. "I suppose you are right. It is nearly time for us to leave anyway. Do'zefen, start-"
"Look. A group of kitties. How cute." A group of Nords walked up to the caravan, sneering at the three Khajiit. Two of them wore steel armor, while the other wore expensive looking clothes. Judging by the fact that the others seemed to follow him and by the way he held himself, the one not wearing armor was the leader of sorts.
"Good evening. May we interest you in something?" asked Ja'grano politely, though Desharo could hear the impatience dripping from his voice. He wanted them gone as quickly as possible.
The Nords laughed in unison, the two behind the nobleman stopping as soon as he did. "We don't care what you have. We want that circlet that the little kitten is wearing," said the Nord, pointing to the boy's circlet. "It's not every day you see a circlet made from gold and emeralds." The caravan leader shot Desharo a quick glance that said "This is your problem now, not mine" but put a hand on the dagger he always kept with him.
"I am sorry but the circlet is not for sale," he said, trying to keep his voice as calm and polite as possible. "There are others, however, if you are willing to buy." The Nord grabbed the front of the young Khajiit's shirt and pulled him forward.
"Listen, cat. I said we want it, so give it to us. You beasts have no right to be in Skyrim anyway, so it is the least you can do for all the trouble you've caused," he snarled, ignoring the sword and dagger now pointed at him.
"If you want it, you will have to take it from my dead body," Desharo snarled back, all attempts at being polite abandoned.
The Nords behind the man pulled out their own weapons. "You really do not want to mess with us, cat," he growled. "Now give us the circlet, and we'll be on our way."
"And why should I do that when Khajiit are naturally faster and better warriors?"
"Because if you don't, your friends here might be lying on someone's floor as carpets. And if you tell anybody, they won't believe a word you say. So I'll ask one more time: give-us-the-circlet."
The boy narrowed his eyes, wondering how he could get the man away from him without giving up the circlet. He didn't have a weapon and there was nothing in the area he could use, so he raised his right claw and scratched the man as hard as possible. He swore and let go of the Khajiit, clutching at his torn and bleeding face.
"Filthy beast!" he roared, drawing his axe. The other two did the same and began swinging at Ja'grano and Do'zefen. The two blocked their swings but with difficulty. As much as he hated it, the boy knew there was only one way to get them to leave.
"Stop!" Desharo exclaimed, taking off his circlet. "Fine, you want it? Take it! Just leave us alone!"
The Nords put away their weapons, grinning. One of them snatched the circlet from his hand and walked back to the other two.
"Thank you. We will be on our way now," sneered the Nord whose face had been cut. He glanced at the ground; Desharo's drawing was still there. The Nord went over to it and erased it with his boot rather violently. He then turned around and went back to the city with the other two following closely behind him, all three laughing.
"Are you alright?" asked Ja'grano, sheathing his dagger and walking over to the boy.
"I am fine, thank you," he responded, smoothing out his shirt. "He did not hurt me. I wish he did not erase my drawing, however. It was not important, but it was very rude of him to do so."
The caravan leader nodded. "Ja'grano is surprised that you are not upset about losing your circlet. It is the only thing you have left of them, after all."
"Do you really think I would just let him take it? I am planning to steal it back from him before we leave," he replied with a small smile. Ja'grano looked as though the boy had just said that he planned to jump off the top of the Throat of the World.
"Is there something wrong with you?" he snapped. "Ja'grano will not allow you to go into that city and become a thief! We have a bad enough reputation as it is!"
"I am not going to become a thief." His smile faded and he looked away, slightly hurt. He wasn't stealing anything…that belonged to someone else, anyway. "It does not count as stealing if you are taking back something that is your own."
"Ja'grano does not care. Pack your things, Desharo. We are leaving in one hour and do not even think of running off into that accursed city"
"Do'zefen, please tell me that you agree this is necessary," Desharo said, turning to the female warrior as the older Khajiit began packing up. She shook her head.
"No. I thought we taught you better than this, Desharo. I understand not wanting to lose your circlet and if I was in your place, I would likely want to do the same. However, we cannot allow grief to cloud our judgment. You would die if you went into that city, even if we went with you. Now do as Ja'grano says," she ordered with an air of finality.
True to his word, the three of them left Windhelm an hour later. Desharo knew better than to try and go back while they were traveling, but that did not mean he had let it go.
They finally stopped after a few hours. The tents were set up and Ja'grano and Do'zefen fell asleep almost immediately. However, Desharo could not sleep. The idea of letting those Nords go free made him sick and the thought that they still had his circlet made it even worse. After all, it is the last thing he-
He got up from his bed as quietly as he could, shaking the thought from his mind.
It is all over. There is no point in thinking about it.
The teen didn't care what Ja'grano said; he had to get it back. He slipped away from the tent and began running back to Windhelm.
He was just thinking of how lucky he was to not wake the others when he heard a gruff voice from behind him say, "He only has your best interests at heart, you know."
Desharo stopped running and turned around. Do'zefen was sitting on a rock, looking down at him. He assumed that he had been so intent on getting to Windhelm that she was unnoticed when he ran right by her.
"Why are you out here? I thought you were in the tent." He stayed where he was, preparing to run if she tried to stop him.
"Ja'grano knew you would do this, so he told me to stay out here and stop you. He even said to knock you out if necessary." She jumped off the rock and went over to him. "Desharo, I know how much you want to get it back from them, but it is dangerous," she said with a more gentle voice than one would usually hear.
"I know, but I have to do it. Forgive me, but you cannot stop me, Do'zefen," he said, looking into her eyes. She chuckled lightly.
"Who said I was going to stop you?" she asked. "That circlet is all you have left of them now. I will let you go and get it back, but I must come with you. Someone has to make sure you do not get hurt. Is this agreeable?"
"Of course," he said instantly.
"Alright. Before we go, take this." She pressed a sharp Elven dagger into the boy's hands. "I know we never really trained you how to use it, but, if something happens to me, at least you are not totally defenseless."
Desharo nodded, sheathed the dagger and thanked her. With that, the two of them ran off into the night towards the cold, stone city.