The three were now a few hours out of Solitude, they had distributed the supplies evenly between the three of them and had left immediately. Raynor rode in front of the two women, leading them along the road. For the most part, the trio had been silent, only occasionally discussing their task. Raynor was both lost in thought and focused on the road and surrounding trees, watching for any sign of trouble. With the guards and soldiers spread thin patrolling the hold's borders, bandits were becoming more and more active. With no one to stop them, they were attacking merchants and inattentive travelers almost at will with only an occasional reprisal from a handful of people such as himself.
While he was just far enough ahead for them to whisper to each other, Bryna had gone over their whole conversation with Jordis. Bryna, even with so little knowledge of him, she felt that she could trust him to do complete this task and then some. Jordis had as of yet refrained from forming an opinion of the young warrior. "He definitely seems to know where he is going." Jordis whispered to Bryna.
"I definitely got the impression that he has a little more experience than he lets on." Bryna replied. "He has a confidence I wouldn't expect from someone inexperienced." She stated while staring at him riding ahead of the pair. He for sure rode like someone who spent a lot of time on a horse and seemed completely comfortable in his chain mail.
"I would agree." Jordis said slowly nodding and glancing at Bryna. The younger woman was staring at Raynor with a thoughtful expression. "What's on your mind my thane?" she asked.
"I find him…intriguing, there is definitely more to him than meets the eye or that he is willing to show. I'm not sure what it is but I'm interested to figure it out." Byrna replied with a slight smile.
"So it has nothing to do with the fact that he is a young handsome warrior who volunteered for a potentially dangerous duty without prospect for assistance?" Jordis asked.
"Well there's that of course." Bryna responded only half joking.
The older woman smiled and pulled her cloak tighter around herself. She remembered when she had been Bryna's age. There had been this young companion she had worked with to clear out a group of bandits, his name was Vilkas. She laughed remembering the events afterwards and wondering what had become of the man. At the sound of her laugh, Raynor turned back and gave her a questioning glance. "It's nothing" she said with a smile. The young man shrugged his muscular shoulders and turned back to the road. She looked at Bryna and saw a quizzical expression on her face as well. "Just made me think of when I was your age, I found it amusing." She explained.
Bryna smiled and responded "You will have to tell me about it some time."
Jordis smiled "Maybe I will, but the moment isn't really the time." She looked at Bryna again to see that her eyes were once again locked onto Raynor's back. "You could go talk to him you know."
Bryna smiled without taking her eyes off of him, once again looking thoughtful. "I tried once already. As you know, he was rather formal and vague."
She laughed and turned to look at him "Young Raynor, why don't you slow down and ride next to us for a little while." Needing to shout due to the fact that he had pulled further ahead. His only response was to stop his horse and wait for them to catch up to him. He could tell they were having a conversation, so he had pulled farther away to give them space, not wanting to intrude. Once they had caught up to him Jordis addressed him again "Are you always this anti-social, or just when women are involved?" Bryna was surprised that Jordis' comment actually got a grin out of him.
"I'm just not used to having company, normally I'm out here on my own." He responded with a laugh.
"How often are you out here?" Bryna asked him.
He immediately sunk back into his formal attitude "I don't come to the western side of the mountains often, I mostly stick to the east M'Lady. I come to this side maybe once every few months."
Bryna sighed "Must you really address me as my lady?" she asked.
"It is only proper M'Lady, but if it truly bothers you I will endeavor not to. What would you prefer I address you as?" he replied.
"Just by my name if that doesn't bother you." She responded, somewhat relieved. The fact that he spoke to Jordis almost like a fellow warrior but spoke to her in that uptight formal manner was not lost on her.
"I can do that Bryna." He said, enjoying what it felt like to address her by her name.
"Thank you I appreciate it. Everyone is always so formal to me because I'm Toryyg's ward. It definitely gets old quickly." Bryna stated hopeful that he might actually say something about himself.
"I can understand that." He laughed "If you don't mind me asking, why you choose to join me?" he asked, his expression becoming thoughtful.
"For many reasons." She said thinking about how best to answer. "I feel that I haven't earned my title as a thane. It was just given to me, I'm the youngest thane in Skyrim without having done anything to have earned the title so all people see when they look at me is my age." She answered honestly.
He slowly nodded "Believe me when I say that I understand the way that feels." He replied, once again looking thoughtful.
Jordis, who had been just quietly listening to this exchange piped in "If I am understanding this correctly, both of you chose to do this for the same reasons." She said, guessing at Raynor's thoughts.
He gave a humorless smile, still looking thoughtful "It would seem so." He looked ahead of them at the road seeing that it was beginning to wrap up around the mountain and was no longer wide enough for the three of them to ride abreast. "If I have your leave" he said, gesturing ahead of them.
"By all means." Bryna responded and without another word, the young man rode back to his place ahead of them. He once again moved far enough up that he couldn't hear their conversation refocused on the surrounding woods. The odds of them being ambushed by bandits were slim at this time of year, but he didn't feel like taking chances given his current company.
Bryna watched him ride back up in front with a thoughtful expression. After a few minutes she sighed and shook her head. "He has a rather frustrating way of speaking without revealing anything about himself. You can ask him a direct question and he'll give you an answer that seems satisfactory at the time but you don't notice until after the fact that he really didn't tell you anything at all." She said turning to Jordis, looking rather frustrated.
Jordis didn't answer immediately, deciding the best way to answer. "Yes, but I doubt that it's intended." At Bryna's puzzled expression she continued. "Instead of looking at his words, pay attention to what he's not saying. Look at him right now." She said gesturing towards his back. "He's not just riding ahead, look at his posture: he is alert, watchful, yet the way he carries himself gives me the impression that it's not so much a conscious choice as instinct."
"Hmm" was Bryna's response. "Regardless it is still rather frustrating." She laughed "So why did he speak to you in a relaxed manner but be so formal to me?"
Jordis laughed again "Now that I think has a very different reason. I think he is quite taken with you."
Bryna looked surprised and opened and closed her mouth two or three times before just closing it and remaining silent for a while. "Do you really think so?" she asked in a quiet, almost embarrassed tone. The only response Jordis gave was a laugh.
Raynor heard the two women's occasional laughter and couldn't help feeling that they were talking about him, he felt his face flush at the thought. What had he done that they found funny? He shook the thought away and once again focused on the surrounding trees, letting his mind slowly clear itself. After a while he saw that the sun was beginning to dip below the leaves and so he hauled back no his reins, stopping his mount and waiting for the other two.
"We should start looking for a spot to stop for the night, it gets dark quickly out here and we don't want to be on the road after nightfall." He stated and dismounted from his horse.
"You are right of course." Jordis responded following suite and gesturing for Bryna to do so as well. Raynor turned away from them and led his horse into the trees and the two women followed. They wandered through the woods after him as he led them out of sight of the road and found a small depression next to a creek.
"This will do" he said and began to take the saddle off of his horse and tied the reins on a thick branch. The three of them then began to set up camp, Raynor went out to collect firewood while Jordis and Bryna set up the tent they would share. They worked quickly and quietly and by the time he returned, they had the tent set up and had cleared a spot for a fire. Without a word, Raynor started the fire and once it had gotten hot enough, he began to cook a meal using the provisions from his bags. The two women moved to help him and they quickly prepared and ate in near silence.
When they finished the meal, they sat around the fire in silence for a time before Bryna spoke. "When do you think we will reach Wolf Skull?" she directed at Raynor.
He thought for a minute before answering "We covered a lot of ground this afternoon, if our pace holds we will be there by tomorrow evening."
"Well we should start at first light then" Jordis added. "We should keep watch tonight."
"I agree." Raynor responded "I will take first watch." He volunteered, standing and clearing away the remains of their meal. As he worked, he saw Bryna and Jordis talking quietly and then Bryna entered their small tent, having to crawl to get under it.
Jordis walked over to Raynor as he finished and asked "Would you mind we talked for a minute?"
"Why not?" he replied, gesturing for them to sit.
She sat before she spoke "Why did you volunteer to do this?" she asked as she pulled her blade from her sheath and began running a whetstone down its length.
Raynor did the same before he answered "I had a few reasons." He sighed "Part of it is that in Dragon's Bridge I just pick up the crumbs that the guards miss, and well…." He stopped and laughed. "I'm not sure how to explain that one."
"I think I may be able to. You are a young aspiring warrior trying to prove your worth to the world and so spending your time dealing with what the guards don't have time for frustrates you. You want to do something more. Am I right?" His cheeks flushed but he agreed. "I know the feeling, I've been there."
He laughed "I'm sure you have."
She smiled in amusement "You said that there was more than one reason?" she asked.
"Yes I did." His smile faded as he thought about it. "There is something going on in there. I don't know, I just feel it. My gut tells me it's not just superstition, that if we don't go and put a stop to it, something terrible will happen. I have no idea what it could be, but I feel we don't have a choice but to send someone, so if not me, then who else?" he continued staring at his blade.
"Fair enough." She responded, looking concerned. "And if you are wrong and it's nothing?"
He shrugged "Then I'm wrong and it was a waste of time. Honestly though, I feel that wasting a few days to check this out and finding nothing is preferable than not investigating and there being something in there."
"I agree. Though I'm not so sure that if we find nothing that the days would be a waste." She stated with a sly smile and glanced at the tent. Raynor looked confused at her comment and asked her what she meant. "Oh nothing, just a thought is all." She laughed. "Well I will take second watch." She stated and rose to her feet. Before turning in for the night.
Raynor walked a little ways away from the fire so that its light wouldn't ruin his vision. He found a small concealed spot where he could watch the woods and sat down. He watched the trees in silent thought and glanced up at the moon. His thoughts eventually wandered back to the tent, Raynor couldn't help but agree with Jordis, no matter what they found, this trip wouldn't be a waste. He wondered if they both felt that way for the same reason.