Chapter 3 The True Adventure Begins

When we got out I was almost blinded by the light! My deep red eyes almost could not take it. Being underground for several hours was so exhausting! I really need to find a place to sleep, I signed and looked at my, now official, friend Ralaf. He looked as tired at I had felt and could tell he was relieved to be out of there and away from that black dragon. Now we just need to figure out what to do from here onwards.

"We should be leaving before the Imperials starts flooding the place. I'm not sure if anyone besides us happened to make it out alive," Ralaf started saying while he starts to walk down the path, "my sister owns a lumber mill in Riverwood, she might be able to help you." I looked at him and realized he wanted to split up, sad how I was actually growing attached to him and even liked him a bit. Just a bit. "I had forgotten to ask, but what is your name?" Ralaf said as he stopped to look at me.

"Andexa...Andexa Bledzi is my name," I said and smiled just a bit. This will be odd if I become too attached to him, which is a rare event for me. He turned around and started running down the path to which I followed behind him. After a while I stopped him because I wanted some questions answered which have been bottling up inside of me. "Ralaf...was that big ass dragon on your side?" I asked crossing my arms looking serious.

He started saying how it wasn't and that not even Ulfric Stormcloak could pull such a thing off; then, I asked my next question, "Why were YOU being executed?" to which he replied, "because I was with Ulfric Stormcloak remember?" I thought about it and nodded when I understood, "I was assigned to be one of his guards and they ambushed us, we fought, but Ulfric told us to stop. He didn't want us to die for nothing," I heard a low sigh come from him and he continued, "I thought they were taking us to Cyrodiil, but then we stopped at Helgen and...you know the rest." When he finished I simply nodded.

But, I was not finished questioning him, I had one final question to ask to which I already know the answer to, "Should I join up with Ulfric Stormcloak?" I smiled when he said this, "Damn right you should! We could use a strong woman such as yourself, so what do you say?" I shrugged and said, "Who knows I just might." He gave me a smile so sweet and gentle it almost startled me, this is rare for me to see such a smile like that. "Good," he said, "now let's hurry up!" and then he ran off with me following him again.

After quite a ways of running we saw three Guardian Stones. "These three are the Guardian Stones out of thirteen of them. Go ahead and pick one," Ralaf said and I slowly walked over to them. I looked closely at them and said what they were to myself, "Mage, Warrior, and Thief stone...hmm..." I went over to the Warrior Stone and picked that one. "Warrior good! Those stars would guide to honor and glory," Ralaf said with a smile to me. I happened to smile back this time, which would be funny if one of my friends saw me, I was not much of the "happy" type and this just might scare them.

I started to run passed him following the path we've been taking this whole time. After only a few minutes of running we hear the familiar howling of wolves. Oh goodie! I love hunting wolves! They are so much fun to hunt and kill and eat. I took out my iron mace and got ready to fight. It took only a manner of seconds to kill the small pack of them and I made sure to have quick work of they're meat and hide. Another several minutes later we made it to Riverwood. It seems no one knows what happened in Helgen just yet.

I followed him behind the lumber mill to talk to his sister, Gerdur. "Gerdur!" Ralaf said as she came in sight. Gerdur was an okay looking bitch, but I kept my thoughts to myself as she talked to her brother, "Brother. Mara 's mercy, it's good to see you! But is it safe for you to be here-" she was suddenly interrupted by Ralaf, "Gerdur," but she continued speaking, "We had heard that Ulfric had been captured..." she had a worried look on her face and I just stayed quiet while they kept talking. "I am fine, now, " Ralaf said and his sister looked him over, "Are you ok? Are you hurt?" she suddenly looked and me looking confused with the situation, "and who is she? A comrade if yours?"

He looked at me and simply said, "Not a comrade, yet, but a friend. Actually, I owe her my life." I could feel my cheeks get a bit warm with that and hope he does not notice the change. "Is there somewhere where we can talk? There's no telling when the news from Helgen will reach the Imperials." He just kept looking at me, which makes me think he noticed and maybe...enjoyed it? Oh FUCK I don't know what to think of this! I keep freaking out in my own head that I almost did not hear Gerdur asked about what happened in Helgen. When I got my head together she was just telling us to follow her.

She seemed to have called Hod for help with something as we made our way by a tree. A little boy, her son maybe, came to Ralaf and asked a lot of questions. Gerdur told him we have no time for games and he should go out of town and keep an eye out of Imperials coming this way. Her son, said how he wanted to talk to Uncle Ralaf and a hidden smile slowly formed from my face. It seemed to have crept up on me and I forced it to leave as soon as it showed up. I don't need to be gawking over someone who I might not be able to have and hurt my pride in the process, so I quickly threw away the thought of us ever being together.

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After a while he explained everything that had happened so far to Gerdur and Hod. When everything was said and done Ralaf asked Gerdur if we could stay at her home for a while, even though it may put her family in danger. "Nonsense! You and your friend can stay as long and you need to" and she gave us a slight smile on her face as she said, "any 'friend' of Ralaf's is a friend of mine." Okay, now I KNOW she thinks we're together, when we're not. I just pretended not to notice and gave a slight smile which made me look even more serious. She gave me a key to her house and said to come to her if I needed anything, which I actually might.

She gave me quite a bit of supplies which would come in handy among my travels. While we were walking to her house I talked to her for quite a bit and was able to get a better understanding of the place and how Riverwood is run. After sleeping for a few hours I went to go see Alvor, the blacksmith. When I asked he gave me permission to use his forge, which would be great to be able to upgrade all my lovely weapons and the like.

I walked inside the Riverwood Trader and saw two of the people arguing. I got curious and asked what it was about. "We were..umm...robbed by a thief...stole a solid gold ornament in the shape of a dragons claw." It took me only a second to think about it. If I do this there's a chance I could get some money I smiled and said, "Alright I could get it back for you." He seemed to have looked surprised that a dark elf would choose to help. "Oh wow...you could? That's great!" and when he gave me the directions of where to go I bought a few things from him and walked out to start the quest.