Chapter 1.2 Cold blue skies
The sky was clear above the buzzing city, the kind of blue that you only ever see after a snowstorm, and because of it the air was even colder that usual. Ekali nodded to the guard on duty, and upon seeing the legions' mark on her shoulder, he let her through to the city itself.
It was a big city, though she'd been told it'd long ago been both larger and better kept. The southern part of the city, the area now on her left, was the huge slums where the largest part of the population lived. It was named the old quarter, because that's the part of the city which have barely changed since the Oblivion crisis. Old and run-down hovels dominated the old quarter, and of those with any money, only fools went there at any time of the day.
Even in the rest of the city it wasn't uncommon to see the foundation of a house which no one had ever bothered reconstructing. The merchants quarter was the one closest to where the khajiit stood at the present moment. That's where you went to have your things repaired or to buy new ones. Next to the gate through which she'd come there was a small tavern, the cheapest in town. Only travellers ever lived there.
From where she stood Ekali could see the chapel standing in the middle of the city. It towered over all buildings but the castle, to bad then that no one had ever bothered repairing it. Broken glass and dirty stones, even the priests only ever wore ragged robes. She wondered sometimes how the town looked 200 years ago, before the beginning of the Oblivion crisis and the end of the third era, but she still was happy that she came to Bruma. You grew accustomed to the cold after a while.
Taking a new grip on the sacks she'd got flung over her shoulder, the woman pulled her hood tighter around her head in a vain attempt to get warmer, then she forced her feet to move over the snow crusted stones. The only people outside were beggars at 2 pm, and she longed after a cup of Nordic ale after a long time in the snow. But duty required her to leave the sacks with the outlaws' equipment to the arms master in the barracks, and so that's where she headed.
The barracks had been relocated to the side of the northern gate just after an accident several years back, before she came to Bruma. It laid just between the north gate and the towns only bakery in the merchants quarter.
Ekalis' steps took her for a while along the White Road which went straight from the east gate to the castle, and through the square situated outside the chapel of Talos. Then she turned onto Axe Avenue towards the northern gate and zigzagged through the crowd. The avenue was by far the largest of the five streets going parallel to each other of which the Merchants quarter consisted and was thus the most trafficked of the roads. Here stood one of the branches of Divine Elegance as well as the Sparkling Pearl, without a doubt the most lavish inn in town. These where only two of the many buildings lining the street however, most of them so exclusive that she'd never put a foot within the door.
Because the road was so wide she got through the throng of people rather quickly, silently thanking the gods that it was the end of the week.
It didn't take long before the northern gate and walls met her eyes, and with them the barracks. Being one of the very few stone buildings within the city it was quite a sight, and every now and then guards entered and left the building.
Stepping up on the porch of the building she kicked the snow of her boots and reached out to open the door. At the same moment though, someone else opened it from inside and she stood where she was when one of the city watch stepped out. He recognised her rather quickly once he looked up.
"Ekali," He said and both of them put their right hands to their chests in the customary legion greeting. "The captain was just starting to wonder whether you'd disappeared."
"Janus. I was caught in a snowstorm a few days up the mountains after tracking the bandits and taking care of them," she answered and he smiled, rubbing his hands together for warmth.
"It's almost so that I regret asking to be posted here in Bruma, it's so cold all the time." He shivered slightly, and then looked at her again. "Well, me and a couple others are headed to the Spotted Snow-bear in a while, you coming?" It was first then that Ekali noticed that instead of wearing his guard armour the imperial wore the common wool breaches and shirt, mittens, fur boots and a wool scarf that he'd wrapped around his neck.
"Sorry, can't. I have to get these bags to the quartermaster and then I intend to take a warm bath. Maybe later though." She hefted the bags up for him to see them better, and he nodded.
"Al right, we'll probably be there for quite a long while anyway. I heard a caravan just arrived from The Imperial City and would like to know what news they bring. Someone ought to have talked to them. Just don't take too long will you. I think Felix's got a crush on you. He's been absolutely miserable this last month," he said and smirked.
"Felix don't ever get a crush, he just gets sick all the time. And when do I ever take long when I do something?" She said and he stepped down from the porch with a shrug.
"True that. You do take quite a long time tracking in the mountains though."
"Well, at least I catch what I set out to catch. Not like the last forester up here. You told me he never got anything done and spent a third of every month in town. And then he went and killed himself in a snowstorm because he couldn't dig a proper snow cave. I read the report on his death." The khajiit shook her head in disgust and Janus snickered.
"I'll see you later I suppose," He said and walked away from her along the eastern road when she stepped inside the door to the barracks.
The Bruma barracks were divided into three levels. The cellar with storage and practice area, the ground floor held the dining area and that's where the captain of the guard had his office. The second level was where everyone slept and took care of other business. It looked quite a bit like the Fighter's guild hall, though there wasn't any ornaments around.
She turned to the cellar door and walked down, hailing the quartermaster and putting her load on the table before him.
"You had a good hunt?" He asked when all of the formalities had been taken care of and he'd stowed away the equipment in the room behind him.
"Yeah, I got caught in a snowstorm on the way back, but otherwise it was a quite calm trip. If you don't count on the fact that I spent a lot of time hunting outlaws and making sure they didn't see me that is." He smiled and shook my hand.
"I'm sure it wasn't to hard for you. Now I've got some paperwork to do, and I imagine you'd like to take a bath. We can talk more later," he said and she smiled before walking back up the stairs.