Whiterun Market, Last Seed 25, 4E201

It had been a long time since he had seen stone walls, especially ones that were as expansive as those of Whiterun – the walls even had crumbled remnants out in the plains where the city had relapsed and withdraw, but even then the walk to the main gate and into the city was impressive and boasted a strong defense, depilated or not. Aenar wasn't the only one walking up the mixture of stone path and dirt, indeed there was many other travelers, merchants and farmers moving with him, across the bridge and then into the final courtyard before the main gate, which was held up by large wooden blocks and guarded on either side by what appeared to be your typical guard; lazy, stomach bulging in the uniform and not paying heed to much except the odd woman who walked by.

Aenar entered through the sprawling entrance and was immediately greeted by the sounds of a city, the clatter of its citizens, the smells, the noises of the shops and the crowded walkways. It appeared he had two choices, a walkway that went pass what appeared to be a tavern and up into a hill, which if he recalled correctly was the city's district for homes and then straight ahead, but his target was already here, the smithy on the right the minute you entered. It was your typical shop set up, a moderate sized wooden building with two floors and a wooden roof painted a faded yellow, and on the side was where the forge, a set of workbenches and some other equipment lay, all being worked by two individuals; a tall woman, Cyrodilic by the color of her skin Aenar guessed who was pounding out on a raw blade of long sword and then a brute of a man, holding the sword in place as the smith worked her craft. Aenar walked up from behind and began approaching the store, but did not wish to disturb and so waited on the end of the walkway right before the crafting area began and did not speak until the woman stopped hammering and stuck the blade into some water "Ho there, I am looking for a smith of considerable repute, a Adrianne"

The two people stopped and the man nodded towards Aenar, the smith setting down her hammer while the man just stood in place, fixing Aenar with a shrouded glare. The woman approached Aenar with a comfortable look, wiping her hands on the front of the thick black apron she wore "Well then you've found me mister, now what is it you need?"

Aenar grunted and pulled the sword off of his back, where it had been wrapped up in leather – the hilt of the blade nearly falling off, the effect of an attempted bandit attack on his carriage from Falkreath, he had parried a strike right where the blade met the hilt and snap it went; a rookie mistake and his fault for not keeping up with his blade, but up until now he had no need to but to continue this trip without was foolish, and he felt awkward without a blade. "I damaged my sword in a bandit attack, was hoping you could repair it."

Adrianne took the sword pieces in her hand and looked them before shaking her head "Normally, I would but I'm behind on a large set of repairs the Companions just placed with me and they're going to take me a few days. Can you wait three days or so?"

"Afraid I can't, have pressing business up north and I need to continue on today. Do you have anything for sale I could pick up now?"

Aenar was silently swearing in his head, he didn't have much coin left after he paid for the carriage and steel was expensive these days and all – thank the war for that.

Adrianne motioned to follow and Aenar took a few steps forward while the young lady rummaged through a chest underneath one of her benches, sorting through what appeared to be an assortment of weapons and pulled out a dark colored blade, she looked it over, and then turned back to face Aenar "All I have blade wise is this iron sword, I bought it used off of fellow while back. I can sharpen it up here for you real quick and let's say the steel sword pays for it?"

Aenar nodded his head in agreement and Adrianne let out a quick smile and set to work on her grindstone, working over the blade by detail, spinning the grindstone with the pedal her foot was on she slowly would advance the length of the blade, inch by inch, and then would flip to the opposite side and repeat the process a few times, over the course of about ten minutes before handing it in a very worn faded brown leather scabbard to Aenar, who quickly tied it onto his leather belt and nodded before walking away from her and out of the city, back down to the awaiting carriage that was parked outside the Whiterun stables and took off the minute he climbed into the carriage, it containing about three other passengers who were heading for Rorikstead, a secondary stop for them. Not really in the mood to get dragged into the chatter of the other three passengers, Aenar slouched slightly in the covered carriage and dozed off into a sleep, dreams of quiet days filling his head.


Last Seed 28

Outside of Solitude

"First time inside the capital city?"

The carriage driver didn't even take his eyes off of the road as they passed underneath the large trees covering the short rest of their trip, talking to Aenar to try and cover the time they had remaining "Yes, I have only heard stories of it from my mother, I myself live and have remained in the south by Falkreath"

"It's a wonderous city, full of life and glamor, very much the capital of the province. How'd your mother get to see it, she from here?"

"No, she's had seen it when here with the Legion."

With the delivery of the last answer in a gruff tone, the driver caught on he had hit a sore subject with Aenar who was sitting hunched over, his arms on his thighs supporting himself. The cart only was allowed to travel to a guard tower that stood on the road right before it traveled up a hill to the gates of the city, and so it stopped within a minute and Aenar paid the final amount to the driver, only leaving himself with a few dozen septims, and then grabbed his pack and threw it onto his shoulders before beginning his walk up the hill. He hadn't lied to the driver, it was indeed his first trip to the large city and already the clearly Imperial-styled design of the buildings, wall and grandeur was beginning to fill the landscape before him, and before long he was in front of the massive gatehouse that served as the only entrance to the city, it's bronze studded gates were nearly twice the height of the ones at Whiterun but lacked the same width and there was a large cluster of people Aenar had to wade his way through to get in. At first he had thought it had been because it was early afternoon and people were hurrying to get back to their homesteads or do their business, but as he shuffled into the city he could see off to the right a large number of guards, a prisoner from the looks of it and what appeared to be a public execution. He turned his head away and back northwards, towards the massive stone citadel that sat in the middle of the city, Castle Dour which served as the home to the Legion in Solitude and also where he was told to head for this General. He waded his way through the crowds which got thinner as most seemed to be headed towards the large path that took them towards the houses of the city and the Blue Palace, and he climbed up the rampways to the citadel.

Once he had passed the armorer shops, he made his way through the initial gate and found himself in the large courtyard and then turned left, towards a castle door flanked by legionnaires in either side, judging that to be the door he wanted it, but both approached him as he grew nearer "State your business citizen, travel here is limited to those with official business."

Aenar nodded and took the scroll out of his pack and showed it to the guard who grabbed it and began reading it, Aenar briefly talking "I was summoned by General Tullius, he is expecting me."

The guard handed the scroll back to him after a minute and both parted to resume their former standing positions "So he is indeed. Head inside and walk straight, you'll see his room."

Aenar gave his thanks to the man and then proceeded through the door, it held open by the guard and then shut the minute Aenar entered. He had to blink a few times as he entered, the castle lighting was much dimmer then the bright sun shining down on Solitude, but the foyer that lay before him was mostly empty, two Solitude guards sat at a small table eating food and drinking quietly, while straight ahead on a rug walkway was to another door, and into another room, where Aenar could see a number of people in Legion armor, so Aenar made his way to the door, walking at a normal pace, and he could hear a man talking, definitely Cyrodilic but he had that twangy Nibaeanese accent slightly "How many blasted times do I have to tell people how to do things properly Rikke!? Damnit, that's the third patrol lost this week. Find me that new kid Alvis keeps recommending, a Sigvar or something, and have him take eight men out to Snowhawk. It's a ruin but it's right along the road to Morthal and we need to keep that road open, hard enough to get supplies there."

Aenar walked into the room and his presence was immediately noticed by the two people in the room; one was a woman, Nordic by her strong build and stature, with short braided brown hair that was leaning on the map table in the center of the room while the Imperial was at the far side of the room, appeared to have been pacing, in fine gilded armor, covered in Imperial insignia and screamed general, at least to Aenar. "Who are you, this is off-limits to normal citizens! Explain yourself!"

Aenar bowed his head in respect, and took the scroll in his hand and extended it outwards "Sir, I was summoned by a Adventus Caesennius to appear before you before the new month began, something about help in a rebellion."

Tullis stepped forward while the Nord woman turned to face him, her hand straying towards the sword on her hip, and he took the scroll from Aenar, read it and then set it down on the table, looking Aenar up and down. "So you are this Aenar Wolf-Heart he told me about. He told me you served with distinction in Black Marsh, and I investigated with the Legion back in the Imperial City, said you were decorated by the Emperor, but never showed up and left. That's technically desertion, but appears they just let you go. Why did you leave?"

" I wanted peace and quiet, something that's rare in the Legion."

" So why come back now?"

Aenar shifted in his stance and for a moment his sky blue eyes darted from Tullius and then returned "For most of my life I've either ignored my heritage or I've done nothing for my people, and I wager its time I changed that. No time like the present."

Tullis walked back over to a chair on the opposite side of the table from Rikke and took a seat, dusting off his pants as he did "Well, I'll be honest, I do need your help if you're as good as Caesennius says you are. This rebellion has been going on for far too many years and it needs to end, and we need good people in the Legion. I'll let you back into the Legion, but if you try to just walk off without a word in the middle of the night, I will hang you like any other, are we clear? "

"Very clear, sir."

"Good. Now, Legate Rikke here will see to your assignment and other things, Legate, he's all yours."

"Follow me legionnaire"

Rikke walked back out of the doorway, brushing by Aenar and he turned on his heels and followed her, towards a set of staircases leading downwards and into a room with beds and a small kitchen, and then directly in front of them a bar gate-door, which led into what Aenar believed to be some sort of armory. Rikke opened it with a bronze colored key she produced from a pouch on her belt and led Aenar into it, before turning around and addressing him "I for one welcome a Nord whose good at war. Tullius is re-instating you at your previous rank of legionnaire, and we'll outfit you with your armor and weapons, that rusty crap you can just leave here. We'll have you brought up to speed on your training with Alvis, he drills everyday with the fresh recruits and then we'll have you placed in a unit, welcome to the 3rd Legion soldier."