Lakeview Manor
8th of Heartfire, 4E 201. Morndas
Katla tilted her head and raised an eyebrow as Ra'shall came walking up to her with an armour.
"Considering how worn the one you're wearing is getting you could do with a new one, and this is a complete set," he said as he placed the breastplate down on the floor. "I could use some help grabbing the rest of it."
The brunette chuckled. "Sure," she said, "let's get me geared up properly." She pushed off the wall she had been leaning against and followed the feline.
They had to make several trips before they had gathered all of the stuff that could be of use to them from the small armoury the feline had found. Katla moved up to where young Harry was sleeping and ran a hand through his hair carefully. "It's time to wake up," she said softly. Green eyes opened slowly. The teen had fallen asleep after his fit the day before. They had just let him sleep. "Wha's goin' on?" he asked tiredly.
"We are getting ready to leave," Katla informed him. "You should get up and eat some breakfast. There's stuff on the table, and then we need to go." She stood up and walked over to her new armour. It fit surprisingly well she realised as she put it on. She pulled the breast- and backplates up so she could fit them on. Ra'shall moved up and started fastening the straps at her sides as she started working on her gauntlets.
It was obvious to Harry that they were used to doing that. They didn't speak to each other, yet both of them knew what to do – and it went fast. He had barely finished eating the bread that had been left out for him when she stood before him clad in full armour. She looked really intimidating like that. No one in their right mind could possibly be willing to challenge her. He grabbed the apple that lay on the table and stood up. He could eat it while they walked.
"Let's take a look out the doors up top before we leave. If there is a way for us to get down that way I'd prefer taking that," Ra'shall said as he walked up in front of the other two.
Harry nodded to himself before he walked over to the bed and looked down at the strange scroll lying there. He reached out and picked it up hoping that he wouldn't get the same reaction as the day before. He didn't.
"Ah, that reminds me you had some stuff with you when we found you. It's over there," Ra'shall said as he waved over towards a chest. "You should pick up anything that's important to you. Not that I can see why you'd want any of that stuff. It looked like a bunch of junk to me."
The raven moved over to the chest and blinked in surprise as he saw his wand. He reached down and lifted it up. Raising it above his head, he said, "Lumos." An orb of light appeared at the wand's tip. His magic felt a bit strange. He didn't know what it was but something was off.
"So it's not just a stick then I take it," the feline man said as Harry came walking up to them with his glowing wand. The raven's eyes widened. He hadn't even considered if these two were muggles or not. Taking into account that they didn't go nuts at him he guessed it was O.K. to use magic around them. He shook his head as he answered Ra'shall, "No it's a wand."
The man shrugged. He didn't really care. The light would be practical for Katla though. He reached out and touched the glasses the raven was wearing. "What are these huh?" he asked. He snatched them from the teen and held them up in front of his eyes. Everything blurred something awful. "Why the hell do you wear these things? It's impossible to see anything through these?" he said mockingly.
Harry bit his lip. "Give them back," he said. He reached out for the glasses. "I can't see without them."
Katla raised an eyebrow. "We'll have to see if we can find a healer that can fix that for you," she said. "That is really unpractical." She looked up at Ra'shall. "Give them back Ra'shall. He needs to be able to see," she said sternly.
"Geez, Katla I know," the feline responded. He handed the glasses back to the young man before heading up to the doors.
…
Their trip outside was short. There was nothing but old ruins out there. No safe path down and nothing of value.
Katla bid Esbern and Delphine goodbye as they passed the two persons that Harry had noticed the day before. "They are Blades," she told him. "During times of need they have served the Dragonborn as dragon hunters. Right now they are helping us figure out how we're supposed to kill Alduin the Lord of Dragons. He's trying to reclaim ownership of these lands by raising dragons from the dead."
"What are Dragonborn?" Harry asked. The term seemed familiar to him somehow.
"Dragonborn are individuals born with dragon blood running through their veins. They are capable of absorbing dragon's souls when they kill them which happens to be the only way to permanently kill a dragon," Katla explained. "It still sounds a bit unbelievable to me, and I'm supposed to be one."
Harry nodded slowly as he processed what he'd been told. The sky above was lighting up slowly. Day was dawning. "So basically you are the only one who can kill the dragons and everyone is pressuring you to do it," he said after a while. He looked up at the warrior.
Soft laughter passed through Katla's lips. "Something along those lines," she said. "I don't really mind though. At least as long as people leave me alone in general, and it's not like people just know that I'm Dragonborn when I show up. Most just think I'm another mercenary."
"That's nice I guess," Harry said. "People can get so annoying when they know you're 'different'."
Katla smiled down at the boy. "You sound like you have personal experience," she said.
The raven nodded. "I was sort of famous for something I had nothing to do with, and people where I come from hound me because of it," he said.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Katla asked.
Harry shook his head. He didn't, at least not yet. Maybe he would trust them with that later.
They had finally made it out of the caves and were standing above the Forsworn camp once more. In the east the sun was slowly making its way up over the mountains. The sky was nearly cloudless which held promises for a beautiful day. Faint tickles of smoke still rose from the fires that the Forsworn had kept going.
Harry moved up closer to Katla as they walked down the stone steps and passed by several dead bodies. The woman lifted an arm and placed it against his back reassuringly. "We need to head west from here. The closest way would be to walk around this island to the south," she said.
"I'll scout ahead," Ra'shall said before he started running. He was going to make sure that there was nothing in their path that could hurt the child.
"How does it not bother you?" Harry asked as they passed another dead body. The very sight of the man's unseeing eyes made his stomach turn.
Katla looked over at the Forsworn. She tried to figure out the best way to answer the boy before opening her mouth. "You get used to it eventually," she said. "That isn't necessarily a good thing, but out here the general rule is that the strongest or most adaptable survives." She helped the raven down on the river bank next to her. "If you want to live a life without that your best bet is to live in a city. Death is a natural part of life. Out here everyone knows that. If we could have talked to those people to get access to the temple we would have, but the Forsworn pretty much attack anyone who gets close to them and isn't one of them."
The raven nodded slowly. "I understand the fight to survive mentality, I guess," he said. "I've sort of done that myself." His eyes travelled over the slowly flowing river next to them. He was wondering why he'd ended up where he was. Katla was nice and Ra'shall was … well he wasn't sure what to think. But there had to be a reason. Right? He couldn't have just been pulled away from Hogwarts for no reason.
They kept walking in silence.
Amber eyes made sure that Ra'shall hadn't missed anything that might be dangerous. The feline himself was waiting for them by a set of twin bridges leading over the river. "The road on the other side leads to Markarth," he said. He looked down at the raven. "How are you doing kid?" he asked.
"I'm alright," Harry said and he was. Sure he could feel the strain in his legs from walking, but it wasn't that bad.
The feline nodded. "It's a long way to go. You think you'll be O.K.?"
"He'll be fine and if he gets tired we'll rest. It's not like we're in any hurry," Katla said not liking the man's tone.
Ra'shall rolled his eyes. "Sheesh woman calm down I was just asking," he said.
The brunette tilted her head to the side slightly and smiled sweetly at the man. "What was that dear? I didn't quite catch what you were saying," she said innocently.
Ra'shall took a step back. "Hee, nothing Katla. Nothing at all," he said nervously. He might be a lying cutthroat, who could sneak up on almost anyone, but Katla was not so easily dealt with. And she scared the fur off him. He turned around quickly, fast determined to just keep going and led the group over the bridges.
They passed a cascading waterfall. Harry half smiled half grimaced as the mist created by the fall swept over him. It was beautiful.
The road started inclining and their pace slowed. The raven wasn't used to walking around like they were. He was starting to really feel it now. He didn't stop though. There were a lot of people that had called him stubborn before now, and he wasn't about to change that because of some hill.
They came upon another road sign. The path they had been walking on had slowly been turning northwards but the sign that read Markarth pointed to the left.
"It isn't much further now," Ra'shall said. "Just up this hill and then it's pretty much flat until we get to the stables." He turned his gaze to Katla. "Is there anything we need from the city? Should I go on ahead and get some stuff?" he asked.
The brunette considered it for a moment. "We could do with some food for the journey, and Harry really needs some warmer clothes. He'll freeze when we travel up to High Hrothgar otherwise," she said.
"Sure. I'll fix that," Ra'shall said before heading off.
One set of amber and one set of green eyes followed the Khajiit as he moved on ahead of them swiftly.
"He's insane," Harry groaned. "How does he keep going like that?"
Katla laughed good-heartedly. "Years of travelling by foot. To him and to me it is second nature. You keep much healthier that way," she said. Then her gaze softened. "I'm not surprised you are having trouble though. You're way too thin," she said.
"Yeah, so I've heard," Harry said. People tended to comment on his small size. No one ever seemed to really care about helping him fix it though. He was hoping that things would be different with Katla. Maybe she would actually do more than just talk.
Slowly but surely the two of them made their way up to the city. Katla walked over to a man standing by a sturdy carriage. She spoke with him for a few minutes before looking back at the raven. "Come over here, dear!" she called.
Harry moved up to her uncertainly. There were more people around there, and the city ahead was huge. He felt so out of place. The fact that nothing looked like he was used to also played in. The place looked medieval. Where had he ended up really?
"Here we go," Katla said as she grabbed him and lifted him up into the carriage before climbing up herself. "Now we're just waiting for Ra'shall."
Harry nodded. He looked back up at the thick walls of the city. He was desperately trying to remember what had actually happened. Why had he gone to meet up with Hagrid? What had they done? Maybe it was all just some sort of elaborate dream. He didn't really believe that though. Was he going to lose his magic because he wasn't around for the tasks in the tournament? It had sounded like that would happen if he didn't participate. What was going to happen to him now?
Soon enough the golden doors to the city opened and the feline man slipped outside.
"Let's hope he didn't get caught stealing something. That is always troublesome," the brunette said quietly so only Harry could hear her.
"He does that?" the raven asked. What kind of people had he ended up with? A warrior and a thief. Were they good or bad? 'Isn't that very unreliable,' he thought. Good or bad was really subjective. He guessed he would see with time.
"A lot," Katla answered. "That is actually how we met." She turned to the coachman as Ra'shall climbed up into the carriage. "We're all here now. You can leave at your leisure," she told him. Turning back to the raven she started telling the rather interesting story of how she'd first met the thieving Khajiit.
.
.
Somewhere half way through the journey Harry had fallen asleep with his head in Katla's lap. The brunette had taken her gauntlets off at the start of the ride and had to and fro been running her fingers through the boy's raven locks.
Night was falling as they came upon Falkreath. There was an entire gathering of guards by the gate. Katla turned to her companion. "Please don't tell me they are waiting for you," she said.
"I have nothing whatsoever to do with that mess," Ra'shall defended himself.
The sudden break in silence had the teen in Katla's lap moving. He sat up slowly and yawned wide. "What's going on?" he asked tiredly.
"I have no clue," Katla said. "But we are about to find out." She moved down from the carriage and held her arms out to help the teen down.
One of the guards came walking up to them. He kept looking left and right as if searching for something. "Have you seen a dog?" he asked.
"No, some wolves in the distance but no dog. I'm sorry," Katla said.
The guard sighed. "It belongs to an old friend of mine," he said. "He is offering a reward for the person who finds it."
"We'll keep our eyes open," she promised.
The guard nodded. "He'll appreciate that ma'am," he said.
"Insane," Ra'shall muttered as the man moved away. "Who wants to have a dog?"
Harry giggled softly. He wasn't surprised that the feline man didn't like dogs. It would surprise him even less if dogs didn't have the best reaction to him. He held Katla's hand as the woman led them into the city. It was a strange feeling. He'd never had the opportunity before. It was really comforting to know that she was right there beside him.
As he understood it, they would be spending the night in the city before travelling to the adults' home. Falkreath was nothing like Markarth. The big stone city with its high walls had felt intimidating and dangerous. Falkreath looked more like someone had bunched a couple of houses together and then built a wall around them because it seemed like a good idea. They entered the Dead Man's Drink – an odd name for an inn.
A woman greeted them as they entered. She didn't make the raven feel any better about the place. He wondered if all inns in Skyrim were the same or if this one was just among the worst. Loud dirty men and scantly clad women moved around. Most of them had goblets filled with mead and were drinking merrily.
"Do you mind sharing a room with me tonight?" Katla asked him quietly. "I don't want you to be alone around here, and I'm getting the feeling you would feel safer with me than Ra'shall."
The raven's cheeks burned red as his eyes widened. He really wasn't sure that was such a good idea. Though, he really didn't like the idea of being alone either and sharing with Ra'shall was just… he shuddered. He didn't know what to say. Being offered safety and comfort was not something he was used to.
"Don't worry we'll be fully clothed," Katla said with just the hint of a laughter in her voice.
Harry bit his bottom lip and nodded embarrassed. He hadn't even thought about her naked until she had said that. That hadn't been what had been holding him back before. He didn't even know how to voice the problem to himself. He would just let her decide what to do for now. He didn't feel brave enough to make any kind of comment.
Katla moved up to the innkeeper swiftly and ordered a room and some food. She led the young man next to her away from the general crowd as fast as she could. There were a couple of questionable men around that evening. She wouldn't trust them as far as she could throw them and even that was generous. She grabbed the door and closed it before she started pulling at the straps that kept her armour in place. A set of much smaller hands joined hers as Harry came up to help her. There were some straps that were just really difficult to deal with on your own. "Thank you dear," she said gratefully before she grabbed the breastplate and pulled the armour over her head.
The armour clattered as it fell to the floor. "Stupid thing," the brunette muttered as she grabbed the armour and moved it so it wouldn't be in their way. She sat down on the bed heavily before starting to work on her boots.
There was a knock on the door.
"Can you let her in please Harry?" she asked as she managed to pull a boot off.
The raven moved over to the door and opened it up. There was a lightly clad brunette on the other side. She carried a platter filled with food. The raven moved out of her way and let her into the room. The food smelled good at least.
Katla thanked the girl and gave her a few coins. She'd finally managed to get out of the stupid armour. Sure, she wouldn't feel complete without it when they were out there travelling. That didn't mean that she liked wearing the stupid thing in cities. "Come here dear, eat before it gets cold. You need every last bite. We can have a bit of a sleep in tomorrow. We're just going home after all," she said as she picked up a grilled leek and bit into it.
Harry sat down on the other side of the table and grabbed a fork before attacking a chicken breast. One thing was for sure. Walking around raised his appetite something crazy.
They ate in comfortable silence. Well as silent as they could be. The noise made outside the room did make it inside, and the people out there were quite loud.
Once done with dinner the two of them retired to the bed after Katla had moved around the room putting candles out. Harry curled together in the thick furs covering the bed. The part of him that had been wondering since the previous day if this wasn't all just a dream finally had to give up. He had somehow been transported from Earth to Skyrim. How, he did not know. Why, he had no clue. He shifted to his side and looked up at Katla. The woman smiled down at him. "Just try not to think about them and you should fall asleep in no time," she said softly.
Harry nodded slowly. There were so many questions whirling around inside his head that he wasn't sure he'd be able to sleep even if it was dead quiet.
Eventually he decided to just go with the flow. Worrying about how he'd ended up in Skyrim wouldn't give him any answers. Hopefully he would figure things out eventually. His biggest worry was that he would lose his magic. Then again maybe he could learn other ways of defending himself. Katla and Ra'shall both used weapons after all. Green eyes blinked closed. His breathing evened out.
Next to him Katla turned and started up in the ceiling. She hated inns. People just never shut up in them. 'I do wonder if you aren't a Dragonborn young one,' she thought as she looked down at the raven. 'It would explain at least a few things.'
9th of Heartfire, 4E 201. Tirdas
Harry sat up in bed slowly. He reached out and grabbed his glasses from the bedside table. He was alone in the room. 'Wonder where Katla went?' he thought. He really hoped that they hadn't left him all alone. Looking down at himself, he realised that he was still wearing his school uniform. As he understood it, Ra'shall had bought him clothes, but since they hadn't really had any good chance to clean up yet, he hadn't been given them to wear. There was a soft knock on the door. "Are you awake Harry?" the voice was male.
"Yes," the raven answered in relief. That had to be Ra'shall which meant that he hadn't been abandoned. He moved off the bed as the door opened. He noticed that Katla's armour was gone as well as the woman as he placed his feet on the floor. Ra'shall walked into the room with some breakfast on a tray. "You should eat all of that," he said. "We'll be leaving as soon as Katla returns."
Harry looked up at the feline confuse. "Where is she?" he asked.
Ra'shall shrugged. "On her way back from the Manor probably. She left rather early this morning. Inns never really let her sleep, and she wanted to buy some things from the blacksmith. Carrying ore or metal or whatever it is she wants is tough with the armour on. She'll also have cleared the way for us so there won't be anything that thinks young boys are yummy out there," he said.
Harry rolled his eyes. He'd met plenty of huge rather monstrous creatures that wanted to eat him. He was still around despite that. Whatever they had around here couldn't be worse than the Cerberus they had hidden in the school during his first year or the Basilisk that had been crawling around the pipes his second. He was way more afraid of being left all alone then he was of some monstrous creatures. He ate his breakfast quickly before leaving the inn with Ra'shall.
The Khajiit had been right. They did find Katla by the blacksmith's. She was bartering with him when they got there. "That is ridiculous," she said. "I will pay you fifty a piece no more. Don't even consider swindling me by giving me that half done stuff either."
"You should have kept your armour, Katla," Ra'shall said. "He wouldn't even attempt tricking you if you had."
The blacksmith looked up at the woman before him. "You are Katla?" he said. He looked a bit apprehensive. Harry wondered why he was reacting like that. What had Katla done to instil that kind of reaction in the man?
"Yes," the brunette said kindly. "I am Katla."
The blacksmith looked down at the ingots that she wanted to buy. "Fifty a piece sounds good," he said no longer interested in earning extra money from this woman. He had heard what she was capable off. Nord or not he wasn't about to make her irritated with him. He accepted the gold as it was placed out before him. "Go ahead and take what you need," he said. He'd rather the woman and her companions left as soon as possible.
"You shouldn't have paid that much for them," Ra'shall said as they walked out of town. "Fifty was far too much."
"You wouldn't have thought that if you'd heard what he was demanding for them to begin with," Katla said. "I'm good at haggling but not that good." She looked down at Harry. "Are you up for carrying some of this?" she asked him. The raven nodded and she grabbed a piece of cloth that was quickly made into a makeshift shoulder bag for him. She placed it over his head before lifting one of the orange bars of metal up. "You have to tell me when it's getting heavy," she said as she placed the bar into his bag.
Harry shifted a bit as the third bar was placed into the shoulder bag. He wasn't sure how far they'd be walking so he didn't actually know how much he could take. "I see that's enough, huh?" Katla said before she kneeled down and gathered the rest of the ingots up in two different bags so she could carry them.
…
They had gone some ways up the road leaving Falkreath behind when they came upon a gray skinned person with a big underbite and long fang-like teeth. "You look weary travellers. I have something that could help you relax," the person said in a rough voice.
Katla placed an arm around Harry and moved him away from the person as Ra'shall said, "We have no need for your moon sugar, woman. Take that poisonous dust and go elsewhere." They didn't stick around to hear what else she had to say.
Harry looked back over his shoulder at her.
"Don't pay attention to people like that, dear," Katla said softly.
"Why does she look like that?" the raven asked hoping that they wouldn't get angry with him.
"Hmm, what do you mean dear," the brunette asked a bit confused.
"She's an Orc they all look pretty much like that," Ra'shall said from in front of them. He looked over his shoulder. "You've never seen an Orc either I take it. Just like Khajiit they are one of the races of Tamriel. Most of them live in High Rock to the west but they have holds here in Skyrim as well. When we get home I'll show you a map. Someone has to teach you about the world."
"It's not my fault I don't know anything about this place," the raven muttered. He wanted to learn of course but the tone that the feline man used with him wasn't very nice. His eyes turned to the tall trees on either side of the cobblestone road they were walking on. There were flowers growing by the wayside. "Mountain flowers," Katla said as Harry picked one of the purple flowers up. Its petals grew asymmetrically and looked a lot like feathers. The flower smelled sweet.
As they continued along the road, Harry could see big boulders much darker than the rest of the stone around them spread out over the road. He could feel Katla's hand landing on his shoulder. "Let's wait here while Ra'shall checks this place out. It is a good spot for an ambush even if the trap has been triggered already," she said. They watched as the Khajiit disappeared up along the side of one of the cliffs lining the road. It didn't take him long to appear on top of the bridge that hung suspended between the two cliffs. He waved them forward. The place was empty. Katla had foreseen that since she'd been by the area already. She hadn't used the road though.
Harry was breathing heavily as they finally made it up another hill. Why was this place so full of hills? Up and down, couldn't it just be straight for once. He looked up and saw a small house out of the corner of his eye. He bit his lip. He didn't want to come across as whiny but he really wasn't sure how much longer he could go on. "How much further until we reach the Manor?" he asked.
Katla smiled down at him. She reached out and ran a hand through his sweaty locks. "We're going off the road here, and the house is just up past the next hill. You'll be able to see it soon," she said reassuringly. "Do you want me to take those?" she asked as she pointed down at the bag he was carrying.
The raven shook his head. "I can get them to the house if it isn't much further," he said. He didn't want to give her even more to carry. He'd seen how many ingots she had packed down into her bags before they left. He didn't want to seem useless. As far as he could help he would. Maybe they would let him stick around if he helped them.
They passed a small pool of water. Ra'shall was standing a bit further up the hill holding some sort of long black things. "What do you say about crab for lunch?" he asked.
Katla smiled. "That sounds good," she said and the feline nodded before he moved on ahead.
"Why wasn't Ra'shall carrying anything?" Harry asked curiously. His eyes fell on the corner of a building. That had to be it. It wasn't far at all.
"If we had met bandits or something similar it would have been really stupid if all of us were weighed down with things. I can rid myself of these pretty easily, but it would still have given others an advantage I'm not willing to give them," Katla said. "Ra'shall's job was to keep us safe." She dropped her bags down by a sturdy looking wooden bench before she reached out and freed the raven from his burden. "This is Lakeview Manor," she said proudly. "We're still working on it, but it's liveable these days. We even have an extra bedroom so you can have your own spot."
Harry looked over at her as she piled the ingots up next to the worktable. He bit his lip before asking something that had been going through his head since the day before, "Why? … why are you being so nice and…" He didn't quite know how to word it. He was being taken care off. The Dursleys had never cared as much as Katla and even Ra'shall were doing. He was even going to be given a room of his own, and he'd only known them for two days.
Katla was smiling softly as she looked back up at him. "There is something about you…" she said. "Something that makes me think you're safer with us than anywhere else. Ra'shall and I try to help every child in need we come across. But… do you remember the first day me met. You collapsed?"
Harry nodded. He could remember.
"You said something… in dragon-tongue. There are only a few people I know who can actually speak dragon-tongue. I only know a couple of words myself," she said. "I'm wondering if you aren't Dragonborn, Dovahkiin."
Harry looked down at his hands. "I heard a voice before I …collapsed," he said. "It was speaking in a language I didn't understand, but it said that word… Dovahkiin."
"Can you remember exactly what it said?" Katla asked.
"I think so… why?"
"Once we leave here again we're going to travel to High Hrothgar and meet with the Greybeards. They can speak dragon-tongue. They could probably translate what you were told for you."
Harry looked up at the woman wide eyed. "You think so?" he asked. Then maybe he would find out how he had ended up in Skyrim.
Katla nodded. "I remember what you said when I picked you up, and I was planning on asking them about that," she said. "Come one let's go inside." She reached out for him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "I think we should take a trip to Lake Ilinalta after lunch. We could all use a bath," she said as she smelled the general muck and sweat that was sticking to him. She could imagine that she didn't smell too good herself either. Wearing full body armour tended to do that to you.
Harry raised an eyebrow as he walked into what he'd expect to be the entrance hall. There was a bed standing there. "Someone sleeps out here?" he asked disbelievingly. Hadn't she said they had an extra bedroom?
Katla's laughter was clear as it rang through the room. It took her a little while to calm down. "Oh, honey that tone," she said still laughing. "This used to be all there was to the house before we started expanding it," she explained. "When we made it bigger Ra'shall decided he'd rather stay down here. He's a bit paranoid, and the upper floor makes him nervous for some reason. My bedroom is up there and so is the one you'll stay in."
"Oh, O.K." Harry said. He guessed that Ra'shall could do whatever he wanted. He was glad as long as he wasn't in the way. He would have felt really guilty if he'd kicked the feline-man out of his own room.
They had moved through the first room and into a dining hall with a long table that was big enough to seat ten persons easily. There were only four chairs though. The raven guessed they didn't see any point in having more chairs than that when they weren't likely to ever have a big amount of people over. Half the table seemed to be used for maps. There were several covering the dark wood.
"Go through that door and turn right; there is a washbasin in there. You need to wash you hands before we eat," Katla said. She was pointing to the right ride of the room. "Will you tell Ra'shall I'll be right down to help him, please. I just need to drop these off." She held the cloth they had used to carry the bars of metal home in.
"Sure," Harry said as he walked through the door she'd been pointing at earlier. Ra'shall was in there by a huge open fireplace. He was staring into the flames. "Katla said she'd come help you in a second," the raven said softly. He wondered if there was anything he could do to help. He didn't want to be a burden.
The feline man looked up at him and nodded. "Good, good," he said before his eyes moved back to the fire.
Harry walked over to the filled washbasin and quickly rinsed his hands off. He turned back to the feline-man a bit unsure of what he was supposed to do now.
"Here Harry," Katla said as she came walking into the room. "All washed up?" He nodded. "Then you can set the table. Goblets are kept here and plates here. Cutlery is kept over in that drawer over there," she said as she showed him around. Then she walked past him so she could wash up as well. "Were doing steamed mudcrab legs and …?" she asked.
"And garlic bread and some grilled vegetables," Ra'shall filled in.
"Sounds lovely," the brunette said as she walked up to him. She sniffed the air. "The bread should be done soon, yeah?" she said.
The feline man nodded. "Any minute now," he said.
"I'll deal with that then… I was thinking we'll go to Ilinalta after we've eaten. None of us smell like roses," Katla said she hunched down in front of the oven and looked inside. The bread looked golden. Grabbing the peel, she moved back so she could bring the warm bread out. "Harry!" she called glad that the place wasn't so big that he wouldn't hear her even if he'd disappeared upstairs. It didn't take the boy long to show up. "Yes," he said. "Can you grab a bread basket from over there and bring it here so we can put these in it," she asked.
The raven nodded as he walked over to one of the counters. The baskets were too high up for him to just pick one down.
"Here." A dark furred arm stretched out over his head and picked a basket down.
Harry looked back at Ra'shall. "Thank you," he said as he accepted the basket. He walked back to Katla and held it out so she could fill it with crispy golden-brown bread. Once all the bread was in the basket he carried it out to the kitchen table. His stomach rumbled hungrily.
"You can sit down," Katla said as she came out of the kitchen carrying a serving platter filled with roasted vegetables. She walked back into the kitchen and picked up a couple of bottles of Honningbrew Mead. The low alcohol content wouldn't harm the boy, and they didn't have any water that was fit for drinking right now. She'd have to remind Ra'shall of fixing that later. Walking back out into the dinning room, she smiled at Harry where he'd sat down. The boy was a puzzle. Sometimes he was open and energetic and even a bit cheeky, and then there were times like this when he looked like he didn't know what to do with himself. He was shy and detached like his mind was somewhere else. The way he was acting sometimes made her wonder what he'd been through.
Green eyes looked up at the brunette. She had stopped walking and was just standing a couple of feet away from the table. Her eyes were clouded like she was thinking about something. "Is everything alright?" Harry asked carefully. He hoped that she hadn't changed her mind about him.
Amber eyes refocused. A smile spread over Katla's lips. "Yes, dear everything is fine. Just got lost in thought that's all," she said as she placed the bottles down on the table. She sat down as Ra'shall walked into the room carrying another plate. He placed it down and looked at the seats. "You know what? Why don't I sit on the end of the table so we all are placed together," he said before walking over and grabbing one of the chairs. Katla grabbed his plate and goblet and placed them down where he'd decided to sit.
"Garlic bread?" she asked as she held the basket out to Harry.
"Thank you," the raven responded as he took a piece of bread. He placed it down on his plate before grabbing some vegetables. It all smelled really good. Ra'shall placed some kind of crustacean on his plate. "It's good," the man said as he noticed the raven's facial expression.
Harry grabbed his fork and reached out toward the reddish legs.
"Wait a bit and then eat them by hand. It's much easier," Katla said. She picked a crab leg up herself and broke it apart with her hands. Soft white meat became visible and she ate it easily.
"Stone skin," Ra'shall muttered. "Almost nothing actually burns her it's really annoying," he whispered to Harry. He looked back at Katla and his ears moved back. She was giving him one of those looks. Lowering his gaze, he went back to his food. He really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut.
The rest of the meal passed in relative silence.
Harry's mind was whirling again. Had he just become a member of a somewhat dysfunctional family? Or was he just a stranger looking in. They seemed to want to include him. It left him feeling a warmth in his chest that he'd never felt before.
"What do we do with the dishes?" he asked once they had finished. There was no food left on the plates - only crumbs. He was full. The crab had been way better than he'd first thought.
"We'll take them with us to the lake and wash them off there," Katla answered. She moved through a door and came back with a big basket. "Place everything in here, will you. I'm going to gather some clothes and towels together, and then we can leave. We want to get there before it gets too late. Even this far south the nights are rather chill especially this time of year," she said before she disappeared upstairs.
When she came back downstairs the basket was filled and there was nothing left on the table. She smiled at the raven-haired boy. "Good," she said. "Ra'shall we're leaving now!" she called out.
The feline man showed up with a knife in one hand and a bag in the other. "It's his clothes," he said as he handed the bag to Katla. "I should head out and make sure that the shore is clear. There are some measly necromancers that like to hang out down there," he said.
Katla nodded. "Try not to kill them. We don't need corpses lying around down there," she said. It was so near their home that she didn't want the dead stench anywhere near the place. It worked well enough when there were animals around that would eat the bodies, but she didn't really want to get into that with young Harry there.
"Sure whatever I'll just scare them away," Ra'shall said with a wave of his hand as he walked out through the front door. He made his way down towards the lake swiftly. Just like he'd expected there was a young lady walking around by an old ritual table down there. Figuring that the easiest way to deal with her was to administer some fear poison, which wouldn't hurt her just make her scared of anything and everything, he picked a small black vial out of a pouch by his belt. He uncorked it and sneaked up behind the woman before he poured the liquid over her. It wouldn't be quite as potent that way but considering how good he was at Alchemy it wouldn't be a problem. He moved back a bit, waited for a few seconds, and then he reached out and grabbed her, "Buh."
The woman screamed as she started running away from him terrified.
Ra'shall laughed. That was always fun to do and not nearly as messy as killing people. He continued down to the water edge and moved over to a more secluded area where a big tree and some parts of an ancient wall stood between the road and the shore. Not that he himself cared if people saw him really, but it did mean that there was less of a risk of losing your things to passersby. That and… he was pretty sure that the little Breton wouldn't like the idea of people seeing him. Heck, the boy probably wouldn't be comfortable with them seeing him.
He grabbed his belt and started undressing. He might as well get into the water. He could always scout for Slaughterfish. It wouldn't do to have Harry bitten by one of those.
He let his mind wander as he waded out into the cool water. A big part of him was seriously questioning the idea of bringing the boy they had found with them. Children died in the wilds of Skyrim. 'Sure we can protect him but still. He'd be better off in a city,' he thought. He knew Katla wouldn't change her mind though. She'd even given the boy a nickname in dragon-tongue. She only did that with people she really cared about. And she'd known the boy for two days… TWO. He stood up and shook water out of his fur. 'O.K. so the kid might be Dragonborn. That would make two of them,' he thought. He knew that Katla felt a bit lonely in a way. The Greybeards weren't that good company, and they were the only other people who knew anything about how she felt.
Teal eyes travelled over the hills leading up to the house. He could see Katla and Harry now. The two of them were making their way through the trees that grew beneath their house. He studied the raven for a moment. He might not think this was such a good idea, but that wouldn't stop him from teaching the boy how to defend himself. He somehow doubted that the kid would ever grow big enough to handle the battleaxes and greatswords that Katla used, but a one handed weapon should work just fine for him. And that … was his area of expertise.
"Any trouble?" Katla asked as she and Harry got close enough to the feline-man not to have to shout.
"There was a magic user of some sort over by the altar. I used some poison and scared her off," Ra'shall answered. He moved up towards the shore slowly and reached out for the dishes' basket. "I can deal with that," he said. He took the basket and moved away some before he sat down. He made sure that the water wasn't flowing towards Katla and Harry. They didn't need food scraps to come floating by while they were cleaning up.
Harry looked down at the water. He knew why they were there, but he wasn't sure he felt comfortable dressing off with the two adults there – especially Katla. He'd shared a bathroom with four other boys for a little over three years after all so he was used to other people being around. But, those people had not been thirty-year-old warrior women.
He shuffled his feet and looked up instinctively as Katla stepped into the water. His cheeks burned. Her long brown hair covered most of her back, but it was still obviously clear that she was naked. She waded out to a couple of small islands, walked over them, and disappeared on the other side. The water had to be deeper over there.
"You should get cleaned up," Ra'shall said calmly. "Katla will stay away if that's what you need, but it really would be better if you got used to us at least. There is no reason for you to fear us seeing you naked. We aren't going to judge you. I know it won't happen right now. I doubt you trust us enough to be that comfortable. But you need to give us a chance. We're fine with you testing us. Whatever it is that you have been through before this…"
Harry bit his lip. They would see the scars if he took his clothes off. He might as well… "They beat me," he said quietly. "Not often. Mostly they just wouldn't let me have any food when they got angry, but sometimes…" He looked down at his hands. "When I used magic around them, they would beat me."
Ra'shall's ears had moved back over his head. Child abuse wasn't something he forgave. He'd dealt with more than one person who had done that kind of thing. He could understand the boy's behaviour a bit better now. If he was used to getting punished for doing something that the grown-ups around him didn't like, it wasn't that strange that he was so apprehensive. It would also make it harder for him and Katla to actually get close to the boy. "Thank you for telling me," he said. "Can I let Katla know? She won't be happy about it, and it might be better if she hears it from me right now. She really cares about you so her reaction might be violent. I don't want you to get scared of her," he said.
Harry was shocked, pleasantly so, by the fact that Ra'shall actually asked him if it was alright for him to tell Katla. Most people would just have run off and told stuff 'for his own good' without thinking about how that made him feel. He nodded slowly. He didn't want to see Katla angry. At least not right now. He wasn't sure himself if he'd be able to connect that it wasn't him she was angry at. "You can tell her," he said. He reached down and pulled his shirt off. It really was time for him to get washed up.
"Good," Ra'shall said. He let his eyes move over the boy's torso while trying his best not to be obvious about it. He could see thin scars. "I can also make sure she won't ask questions you aren't ready to answer yet," he said. "Keep her off you back."
Harry actually chuckled at that. He shuddered as he stepped into the water. It was cold. He waded out until he could sit down so the water covered him. He dipped his head down beneath the water surface. 'Cold,' he thought. Ra'shall was standing next to him when he'd wiped the water out of his eyes. The feline-man held out a small white bottle. "It'll help you get clean," he said. Harry blinked a few times so he wouldn't get water in his eyes as he reached out for the bottle. "Thank you," he said. His eyes followed the man as he walked out to deeper water.
The bottle opened with a, pop! He poured the lavender smelling substance out in one hand before closing the bottle once more. He let it sink to the lakebed as he moved his hands up to spread the soap-like cream through his hair. He wasn't sure if it had been smart to tell the Khajiit about how he'd been treated by the Dursleys, but the man had seemed to believe him. 'Of course they did tell me they were good at telling when someone lies to them,' he thought. He ducked his head back down below the water surface so he could rinse the soap out. 'Either way there is nothing they can do about it,' he thought. He'd taken a quick look at the maps lying on the dinner table and nothing had been familiar to him. Had he somehow been transported to another world?
He grabbed the bottle of soap and stood up. 'What were the chances of me ending up somewhere where they speak English in that case?' he wondered. There was of course the possibility that they weren't speaking English, but in that case he had learnt a language he'd known nothing about just by coming there. How was that possible?
'Magic,' he answered his own question. Magic could do a lot of things that weren't logical. Maybe it had something to do with that strange scroll. He shook his head. Either way talking to those Greybeards seemed like a good idea. Hopefully they could spread some light on what had happened. He sat back down in the water and cleaned the soap off his body.
One thing was certain. He would be busy the following couple of days. Katla wanted to teach him how to use a bow, and she had said something about swords and Ra'shall.
"Can you pass me the white bottle please, dear," Katla asked.
Harry turned around without thinking and handed her the bottle. Then his eyes and brain caught up with him. A bright blush spread over his cheeks. Katla wasn't wearing anything… she had really nice boo… 'Shit, get your head out of the gutter,' he thought as he turned away from her.
A clear bell-like laughter rang through the air.