Later, after escaping Helgen. Jesper's POV
Bethany, Ralof and I manage to escape from the dragon and the imperial troops, and we are making our way to Riverwood. Ralof sais he got a sister who can shelter us for a few days.
As we walked down the road, we came across three magical stones that Ralof said were called Guardian Stones. Bethany seemed fasinated with the mage stone.
"So if i get this stone's blessing, it can help me get better at magic?" She asked
"Yeah. Dont ask how it works through" Ralof answered.
She touched the mage stone and got its blessing, same as i with the warrior stone.
"Im curious Bethany, what school do you practice most?" I asked as we made our way to Riverwood.
She looked confused at me and asked "School?"
"You know, destruction, illusion, conjuration, alteration and restoration" I told her.
"Well i mastered the use of fire, ice and force" She answered
"Oh so you are under the destruction category. Wait what is force?" I asked with great curiousity.
"Where i am from, i learned how to fight like a force mage. I can lift a group of men slightly in the air and then pummel them to the ground. I can spread them out or pull them into each other. And final i can redirect the gravity around them, making them move slower" She informed us
"Wow sounds usefull" I said, surprised of how powerful this woman was at such a young age.
We arrived in Riverwood, a small and quiet town next to the river. Ralof introduced us to his sister who were very happy to see him alive and well, and thanked Bethany and I for returning him safely back.
"If there is anything i can do for you, all you need to do is ask" Gerdur informed us with a smile on her face.
"Through im not ashamed of wearing this armor, i think it would be best to have something neutral to wear" I said. I got plans of traveling a bit, a dangerous thing to do, and even more when you wear the colors of a faction in a war torn country.
"I understand. I think i got my husband's old iron armor from the days he used to adventure" She said.
"What made him stop?" Bethany asked
Gerdur just looked at the young mage with a smile and said "He took an arrow to the knee"
This clearly shocked Bethany "What! of my im so sor-" I caught her off by poking her shoulder and whispered "Its an old nord saying for getting married"
"Oh, well im glad he took an arrow to the knee then?" She said awkwardly. We all laughed a bit while Bethany blushed and looked down.
"I um think i go around town" She said quickly and ran off.
"And let us get you into armor, you can store that uniform here if you want it back" Gerdur told me as we walked to her house.
Bethany's POV
Oh maker, this place is one arrow short of a blight. With a war and dragons and weird sayings around, im not sure which will finish me off first.
But the bright side is, that mages seem to be more free then in Thedas. I just wish Garret was here, he always knew what to do in strange places. Now i am here, in a diffrent world and knowing only two people and one of them is going to this Windhelm place soon. I hope Jesper will let me tag along with him, he seems nice enough and more acceptable of me being a mage then Ralof.
But first i need to survive the day to day basis, so i need money and more information around here. Maybe the shop keeper can help me.
I walked inside and saw to lightly dark skinned people argue over a break in they had, and stopped when they spotted me.
"Oh um welcome to Riverwood trade, what can i do for you?" The man asked me.
"Hi, i was wondering if you had any paying work i could do?"
He thought for a moment and looked down on his counter and then looked at me again.
"Well the thing is that, my sister and I got robbed lately and all they took was a golden claw. If you can get it back from the bandits then there is some coin in it for you" He told me.
Great, first job and it requires that i storm some bandit lair.
"If she is going after the claw, then she needs to know where to go right, and i know where" His sister said looking at him.
"Well that is true, but its to dangerous" He said worried.
"Listen Lu, i am just walking her to the bridge and point her where to go" The sister Camilla said and began walking out with me following.
"Sorry for my brothers behaviour. Since bandits manage to break in at our store, he been a bit over protective of me since" She apologized.
"Its okay. I used to have an older brother looking out for me. He mostly did it with a two handed sword through" I told her while smiling.
She giggled a little and said "Family eh"
"Not to insult you my friend, but how are you going to get the claw back with no weapons?" She asked
"Im a mage and i never had any kind of combat training with swords and such" I told her
"I still think you need a blade, or someone who knows how to" She said
Then it said click for me "I know a guy who can help me with that" I said in hope of that he will want to go.
"Do you know where i can find Gerdur's house Camilla?" I asked
She pointed me the way so she could get back to the store before her brother do something stupid. I walked up to a little cozy house, that Camilla said that was the house of Gerdur and Hod. I walked up to the front door and knocked.
"Who is it?" Asked Gerdur.
"Its me Bethany. Can i come in?" I asked
"Sure, the door is open" She said and then i entered. The house itself was okay enough for a village as small as this. I then saw Jesper and Gerdur at the far side of the house, by the bed. Jesper had put on the iron armor he asked for earlier. He looked at me and smiled.
"Hey there Bethany. What ya think of the town so far?" He asked
"Its cozy enough if you want to settle down. But i kinda came here to ask something of you" I admitted while looking down on my hands twiling together.
"Oh, what of?" He asked
"I went into the store and found out the owners had a recently break in by some bandits, and i kinda told them i get back what the bandits took" I confessed
"And you want me to come along?" I nodded
"Im terrible with weapons, and i work best with people i know" I confessed right away.
"Okay, well what did they take and where are we going?" He asked curiously.
"A golden claw, in the mountains. Bleak falls barrow i think it was" I said, barely remembered what the name was. It seemed to widen Gerdur's eyes up.
"Bleak falls barrow?! That ruin is crawling with monsters and bandits!" She warned us.
I looked at Jesper if he could clarify it and he did.
"It is said that ruins like Bleak falls barrow got traps, frostbite spiders, draugrs and sometimes bandits, roaming about in there" He said.
"What are draugrs?" I asked
"Cursed undead nords" Gerdur answered. "Legends say, that they were a part of the dragon cult, who got cursed after the dragons were defeated. Now they are killing everyone they see, entering their tomb" She warned.
"Hmm, remind me a little of darkspawns" I told them. Jesper raised a brow in confusion "What is a darkspawn?" He asked
"Its a tainted and corrupt race. Its a long story on how they came to be, i rather not talk about it now" I requested
They nodded and then looked at Jesper to see if he was ready. He seemed to have been given a sword and a shield by the nice family here. I was handed a steel dagger by Gerdur, and she said that i had to have a weapon if some thing came to close.
We got outside and made our way towards the mountains. Halfway through and i already could feel the cold set in so much i was shaking. Jesper who walked ahead of me, stopped and saw that i was freezing.
"Hey, its okay if you wanna go back" He told me with a worried tone.
I shook my head and said "I-im fine"
"I sure hope so, cause this aint the coldest place in Skyrim" He said.
I haltet right there and looked up at him in total disbelief. "And how can you take this so w-w-well?!"
He gave smirking smile and said "Easy, my nord blood gives me an advantage in this climate"
"But did you not s-said you are a halfbreed?"
"True. And i think that my redguard blood gives me an resistence to poison" He said. Then he stopped walking and crouched. I did the same and hid behind him.
"Ya got any ranged spells lass?" He asked while still looking at some bandits.
"A few" I said.
"Ok, see that worn down tower there? There is a couple of bandits there, one of them got a bow, it be best if you killed him first" He orded
I charged an fireball and threw it straight at the archer, who manage to turn and see it coming before it was to late. The fireball exploded right infront of him and it burned and knocked him down on the cold ground.
The rest of the bandits began to charge at us with swords and axes, but i redirected them into each other. Jesper took the chance and began to kill them with his sword. After the short fight he looked at me and smiled.
"Nice work lass" He said, and made me blush a bit. "Let's get inside that ruin, least it wont be as cold inside"
