A/N: Hey! Hey you! I see some of you reading my story and not reviewing it. Please, please, please let me know what you think! ANY feedback whatsoever, whether it be negative or positive, maybe I got some of the lore wrong, things you'd like to see happen, ANYTHING, feel free to let me know. There may or may not be virtual waffles involved.
As always-thanks to Lisa, alyssacousland for the review, and to those who favorited my story. That's right, I see you too. O_o It really humbles me to know that you like what I'm putting my heart into.
Oh, sorry for the grammatical error at the end of the last chapter. I don't know how to fix it. D:
Bethesda owns it.
Chapter 4: Riverwood and Beyond
Laryn awoke feeling refreshed but freezing cold. She stood up, rotating her arm and bending her leg experimentally. Well, I suppose I'm as put together as I can be, she thought when there were no twinges of pain. She pulled the blanket up around her shoulders like a cloak and pushed the tent flap aside, stepping out into the cold bright morning. Ralof was sitting on the log, staring idly at a pair of rabbits roasting on a spit over the fire and absentmindedly stripping the bark off a twig.
She walked up behind him and asked, "Did you sleep at all?"
He jumped, dropping the stick. "Blood and ashes, woman! Are you always that quiet?" Laryn smiled and sat down next to him, wrapping the blanket around her legs. Ralof laughed at himself. "Aye, I suppose you are or you'd be the worst thief in Tamriel." He picked the twig up from the ground and continued dismantling it, avoiding her eyes. "I, uh, didn't sleep, actually. You lost a lot of blood and I wanted to make sure you were okay. Besides, Riverwood is just a couple hours down the road. I can nap at Gerdur's house."
Laryn reached her hand out from under the blanket to touch his. "Thank you, Ralof. That was very kind of you."
He blushed slightly and cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, don't tell anyone. Oh look, breakfast is ready!" Clearly uncomfortable at her gratitude, he quickly stood and took the rabbits off of the fire. Laryn watched as he waved the spit slowly trying to cool off their meal then turned her gaze across the clearing at the matted down spot in the grass where the fox had been.
"Did my friend leave?" she pouted as Ralof handed her one of the roasted rabbits. She accepted it gratefully, ripping into the piping hot meat. It burned her tongue but she didn't care. Intense healing such as hers left a person ravenously hungry.
Ralof watched as she voraciously dug in to her meal. She looked over at him expectantly, grease dripping down her chin. He found it endearing, which startled him. "He left around daybreak, but I caught him watching me when I was chopping more wood." He started to eat his breakfast as well. "He's probably around here somewhere. He seems to like you."
As if knowing they were talking about it, the fox trotted into the clearing and sat on the opposite side of the fire, eyeing the rabbits in their hands and licking its lips. Laryn laughed and told it, "You can have my leftovers, friend but I am HUNGRY!" It stamped its foot impatiently. Laryn snorted. "You can always go find your own, you know." It finally lay down and huffed at her, content to wait for the easy meal.
They continued with their breakfast, Ralof watching the interaction between his friend and the animal. I've never seen a fox act like this. Sure they're smart, but is it that she's a Bosmer or does it just see the kind of person she is? He ripped a leg off of his rabbit and took a bite. "So, where are you going now?" he asked between bites. "I could go with you. You know…show you around? I've been all over Skyrim."
Laryn chewed thoughtfully. She enjoyed his company and since she had no idea where she was going, thought his presence would help. "Well, I really don't know where I'm going. I'm really only good at one thing. Is there a guild here?"
Ralof nodded as he swallowed. "I know a man in Riften you should talk to. Scuttlebutt says there's a guild hall there." He tossed his leftovers to the fox. It looked over to Laryn, who nodded to it before it stood and started picking the meat from the bones. "Wow, he really doesn't like me. Anyway, we can head to Whiterun from Riverwood and take the carriage to Riften. We have enough things to pawn to afford it, I think."
She looked over the carcass in her hands trying to find more food but found she had picked it all clean. She tossed the bones over to the fox and reached over to her pack, digging out a large chunk of cheese. "Gods, but I'm hungry. Did you have to use the potion? I don't remember much towards the end." He said he did as he stood. "You'd think after all this time; they'd have fixed that problem with potions." He walked behind her and started to take the things out of the tent so he could break camp. She took a large bite of the cheese then stood up to gather her things. She smiled when she saw that Ralof had cleaned the blood from the inside of her armor.
"You said some of the funniest swears I've ever heard before you passed out," he replied as he walked around the tent removing the stakes from the ground. He looked up at her as she picked up her armor from where he had left it after cleaning and polishing it as best he could. "I force-fed you that potion, then had my way with you." He saw her grin and shake her head as she stamped her feet into her boots. "I also saw the tattoos on your leg." She stiffened and turned to gaze at him wide-eyed. "I don't know what they mean but maybe someday you'll like me enough to tell me?" he asked quickly, seeing the fear in her eyes.
Laryn thought for a moment, expressly frightened at first that he knew her secret but then realized that he did not and softened her gaze at the man who had saved her life the night before, disregarding his own needs to make sure she had lived. "Someday, my friend," she replied quietly as she pulled a bar of soap from her pack. "I'm going to bathe, if there's time." He had seemed anxious that he had offended her before, but then smiled and told her there was as he began to roll up the tent. She picked up the water skins sitting by the fire to refill them and took off to the stream, the fox trotting silently behind her.
ooooo
They came upon the Guardian Stones around mid-morning. Three large stone plinths covered in pictographs loomed before them, sitting on a rocky ledge over the wide river below them. Laryn had never seen the like before. "What are these?" she asked, looking to Ralof.
He touched the one on the left, running his hands across the fine markings on its surface reverently. "These are the Guardian Stones. They grant you the ability to gain the knowledge of certain skills faster." He stepped back and pointed at the one he had been touching. "Warrior," he said as he pointed to the next, "Mage, and Thief. I assume you will want the knowledge of the Thief stone. It will help you with lockpicking, pickpocketing, sneaking…not that you need any profits of that. You almost gave me apoplexy this morning."
Laryn grinned as she pondered the Guardian Stones. "I'm confident in those abilities, Ralof. And…I know a few spells, but that's not something I really care about. The healing spell is my saving grace but I can't control the fire spell I know well enough to use for more than a distraction, not even enough to light a fire with. Would the Warrior stone help me with my sword work?"
Ralof peaked an eyebrow and laughed. "From what I've seen, you don't need any help with that but yes; it will help your knowledge of swordplay and your archery as well."
She thought for a moment and nodded to herself. "What do I need to do?"
"You see the hole in the middle? Stick your fist in it, and the stars will grant you knowledge," he replied. Laryn obediently shoved her arm through the hole of the Warrior Stone and felt warmth and a tingling sensation over her body. She shivered.
"That…was strange. Have you done it?" she asked, looking over at Ralof as they turned back down the path to Riverwood. He said he had and they followed the beaten pathway in silence, seeing a bright orange spot flit in and out of their line of sight along the tree line. Laryn's fox friend had followed them after breaking camp, only disappearing when a pack of three wolves attacked them. They easily dispatched the creatures and the fox soon reappeared along the path.
They quickly moved along the trampled dirt that ran straight along the river, and they came across a patch of wildflowers. Laryn remembered Ralof's embarrassment at her thanking him for helping her earlier, and smiled as she stooped down to pick some orange and blue blossoms. She caught up to Ralof and handed them to him, bowing. In her best noble voice, she proclaimed, "I bestow this gift upon you as a symbol of my appreciation for saving my life." She looked up at him and laughed at the look on his red face as her took the flowers from her. She didn't know why it embarrassed him so but it amused her to no end. She gave him an evil grin. "And also…for having a rump worth pinching!" Laryn giggled as she tried to pinch him as he danced away, crimson faced.
"No rump pinching! What the blazes is wrong with you!" Ralof laughed and dodged away from her, slapping at her hands. Their fun spooked a deer and it ran across the path in front of them and down into the river.
"Aye , you noisy ragamuffins!" a voice came from over the ridge above the path. A tan elf looked over the edge of the rock above them. He wore simple leathers, his blond hair pulled back into a tail away from his face, bow in hand. "That was my dinner!"
"Faendal!" Ralof exclaimed, spreading his arms open. "It's been a long time, my friend!" Faendal hopped down from the bluff and briefly hugged him. Ralof turned to Laryn. "This is the friend I told you about!"
Faendal regarded Laryn solemnly before embracing her as well. "Greetings, sister Bosmer." He looked over at Ralof and back to her. "I trust this great buffoon isn't troubling you?" he asked, smiling.
Laryn smiled at the other elf. "Aye, he is troubling but I don't hold that against him." Ralof mocked offense and Faendal laughed. They walked along, chatting companionably, heading toward the small village. They spoke of many things, Ralof and Laryn telling him of the trouble at Helgen. Faendal told them of some troubles he was having wooing a girl in the village, showing them a note he wanted someone to give to her as if it was from the other man who was clamoring for her affection; bidding her to be his wife, clean his house and cook his dinner. Laryn read it over, and shook her head. "This is a smart ploy but you can't win her over through deceit, brother," she told him. "Such a thing doesn't prove your love for her." Faendal hung his head as she chastened him, then looked to her hopefully. The woman was the sister of the general store's owner, the other man a bard at the inn. "I have business at her brother's store and I can stop by the inn as well. Let me speak to them first and see what I can learn." Relieved, he thanked her and clapped his hand on her shoulder as they walked through the tall wooden entrance of the town.
Ralof pointed the store out to Laryn, on the right from the main road. "You can go sell all the junk you collected over there. Come meet me at the mill when you're done." He took off down the road between the few wooden buildings of the town, and Faendal said he would wait for her outside the store. She went inside, and sold her goods for a nice profit while hearing a tale of need from the owner, Lucan. She told him she would help him find his missing goods if she found the time and asked after his sister, Camilla. After speaking to the Imperial woman and finding out her feelings for both Faendal and the other man, Laryn left the store. Faendal didn't ask what she had learned inside but instead decided to instruct her in archery as they walked to the mill.
The mill sat across a short bridge, on a small island in the wide river that ran along the western edge of Riverwood. Laryn could see Ralof speaking to a blond Nord woman up in an open wooden structure that housed the mill's saw and raised her hand in greeting to him. She turned and focused on the helpful information coming from Faendal. They both took their bows off of their shoulders and proceeded to aim and shoot arrows at a stump under a tree close to the mill, chatting amicably as they waited for Ralof.
ooooo
"She has beautiful hair," Gerdur said as she and Ralof watched the elves take shots below them. Laryn's long red hair blazed like fire in the dappled sunlight as she walked over to the stump to retrieve their arrows. Ralof had spent the last few minutes telling her of their capture, the dragon, escaping Helgen and anything else he could think of. Gerdur had admonished him to take their information to the Jarl in Whiterun, thinking the town needed protection from the dragon, before commenting on Laryn's looks. Ralof knew what was coming next. She turned to him and asked, "What is your interest in her?"
Ralof groaned. "Blood and ashes, sister! I know you pretty much run this village, but is marrying me off all you can think about?" He leaned his elbows onto the wooden ledge next to the saw, overlooking the two Bosmer. "We've only known each other one day and yesterday at this time, we were running away from a giant dragon!"
Gerdur pushed her long blond hair behind her ear and smiled at Ralof, putting a hand on his arm. "I only wish you to be happy, Ralof. You smiled as soon as you saw her approaching."
"Of course I did! I do really like her, just not…like that." He stood up from the rail and turned to Gerdur. He sighed and pulled her into a hug. "May we rest at your house?"
She snorted and waved her hand at him. "Why do you even ask me that, brother? You may take all you need from our house. Delphine will give us a room at the inn if you wish to stay at our house, or would give you and your friend rooms as well. You know this."
"We won't be staying that long, Gerdy. We'd like to make it to Whiterun by nightfall and take the carriage to Riften."
Gerdur wrinkled her nose. "What do you want to do there? That town is all thieves and scoundrels!"
He shrugged as they turned to descend the steps. "That's where Laryn wants to go."
Gerdur laughed and poked him in the stomach. "She already has you wrapped around her finger, brother."
ooooo
Ralof rested at his sister's house for a few hours after introducing Laryn and his sister. They seemed to get along and he had fallen asleep listening to them talk. When he woke up they were both gone so he gathered some supplies and headed to the inn to find Laryn. He found her sitting on a bench in the dark inn across one of the tables from Faendal, who had his arm around a pretty brunette Imperial. They were talking softly, ignoring Laryn completely. He sat his pack down and slid onto the bench next to her, eyeing the forlorn bard across the room that was slamming down ale.
He looked at Laryn, over to the couple across the table, then back to Laryn who smiled. "I'll tell you later," she whispered and swallowed the last of her drink. "I've been busy while you've been lying about." She gestured with her empty tankard across the table. "I also found out I'm pretty good at forging weapons."
"You met Alvor? He's a good man. I apprenticed with him. You remember Hadvar back in Helgen?" Ralof asked as he stood to approach the barkeep. Laryn nodded. "That was Alvor's son. Faendal and I ran around with him as children. I suspect that's why he let us leave." He walked over to the bar and returned with a bowl of stew and his own tankard of ale. He sat them on the table and started to sit, and Laryn grabbed the ale.
"Thank you so much!" she grinned and took a sip. Ralof stood again, grumbling at her and went back for another.
"You two get along well," Faendal remarked, finally turning away from Camilla. "Ralof was always moody growing up but he seems very happywith you. You're good for him, sister."
Laryn shook her head and replied, "It's not like that Faendal, though I do like him very much."
"You like who very much?" Ralof asked as he sat down with a new tankard.
Laryn blushed into her ale. "Faendal seems to think we're together."
Ralof snorted and took a bite of his stew. "My sister thought so too. What is wrong with you people?" They finished their drinks and meals and stood to leave. Faendal embraced them both, bid them to have a good journey and to please return soon. Leaving the inn, they turned down the road to Whiterun, crossing the river. Laryn told him about how she had solved Faendal's problem. The other man had wanted her to deliver a letter to Camilla much as Faendal had. She found it funny that the two men had the exact same idea to try to turn the tables in their favor. Laryn had returned to Camilla and showed her the note, explaining that it was not from Faendal but was written by the other man. Camilla had stomped over to the inn and yelled at the man, then sought out Faendal. Laryn didn't stay for their conversation but when she returned to the inn and had seen the love in their eyes, she knew she had done the right thing.
Shortly after leaving the town, she spotted a red shape scampering along the rocks next to the river. She pulled a chunk of venison that she had bought at the inn out of her pack and tossed it to the fox. "You'll have to stay here, little friend. We have a long way to go." The animal blinked at her, then picked up the venison and ran off.
"Aw, why'd you do that?" Ralof asked as they rounded a hill and saw the city of Whiterun in the distance.
Laryn shrugged. "I just don't want him to get mauled by one of the beasties we seem to attract. Those wolves earlier could have killed him." They followed the road, farms springing up around them. Ralof pointed out that one of the buildings was actually a meadery and stated that he would rather have good strong ale like a real man. They made it to the city just as night was falling. Below the gates of Whiterun, close to the stable, was a man sitting in a rickety wagon with a horse already bridled to it.
"How much to get to Riften?" Ralof asked as they approached.
"20 gold," the old man replied. "Ought to be there by morning, maybe. Can't get the wagon over them mountains, you know." Laryn dug in her coin purse and handed him the gold. "Climb in then."
They hopped in the back, the old man clucking the horses into motion. He chattered away, telling them about the city they were going to. Laryn watched the dark countryside go by, and soon saw a small dark shadow trailing the carriage. "I don't think our friend listened," she whispered as she pointed the shadow out to Ralof before leaning back and closing her eyes, nodding off as she listened to the carriage driver drone on and on.
"Name's Thad just so ya know and I been to Riften before lotsa times. Got this horse right here at the stable. Good horses they got there, I say. Never go in though, all them thieves'd take my gold. Ain't got much but they'd sure take it. I 'member this time the Khajiit caravan were there…"