Chapter 6: Patience

As she'd predicted, most of the remaining money that Katie had left from her woodcutting job went into food, drink and a warm bed for that night; particularly since she decided that it would be best to pay a few extra gold for the royal suite, and she wasn't disappointed. The drinks were delicious, the food was filling and tasty, and the bed was one of the most comfortable that she'd ever slept in. The one thing that bothered her was that bard, who kept singing as people ate. She had some problems with him and his whole style of singing, but didn't raise a fuss over it that first night, or the following morning, when she left the Bannered Mare and headed down the road of Whiterun with just enough money left in her pocket to pay the blacksmith.

Ulfberth looked a little tired that morning, but he'd done all the work that Katie had asked him to do. Her armor was not only repaired; it actually looked a little better than it had when she'd first found it. She was more surprised, however, by the spear.

The spear had been expensive to make; special projects often are, but Katie was still amazed by the job that Ulfberth and his wife had done on it. It was the very size and length that she's asked for, with a sharp, two-edged spearhead on the end, which would make not only an excellent jabbing weapons, but would cut things when swung as well. There were grips along the handle too, making it easy to grab onto the spear in a number of different spots. However, what really amazed Katie was that the entire handle was made, not of wood; but of a very strong, firm metal of some kind, which resembled tempered steel. Try as she might, Katie couldn't bend it, even when she braced it against the floor, and leaned against it. It was everything she could have asked for, although for sentimental reasons, she did miss the one that her father had given her. Needless to say, Ulfberth got his money.

However, the big surprise was still to come, as Katie stepped into the Golden Needle at almost nine o'clock in the morning. She hadn't been sure what to expect from Jonus after their last meeting had started and ended so awkwardly, but she certainly hadn't been expecting the whole first four yards of the store to have been rearranged. The imperial and dark elf clothes were still in basically the same place, but the wooden dummies that displayed some of them had been moved back, and a thick, wooden display board had been erected in their place, with the paths through the store branching off in two directions around it. The sight of that display board took Katie's breath away almost completely when she saw it.

It looked as though a master weaver had just gone to town, designing a dozen different outfits, all based around her unique shape and size, and most of which didn't even look as though they had seams. There was a purple shirt and a pair of pants of a color that was only slightly darker spread out across the left side of the board, and a bright blue wizard's robe on the floor beneath that, along with some very thick, blue boots, designed to match her feet. Just to the side of those was a dark green shirt and an even darker green jacket with brown fur trimmings, and below those, thick, brown pants and boots. These were followed by a series of belts, satchels and pouches that actually looked like they would be useful, and last of all, there was a green casual dress and brown apron, very similar to the one that Arcadia had been wearing. Each outfit came with its own set of matching shoes and gloves, and, Katie was amazed to see, each was designed for a different function. One was a mage's outfit, one a hiking outfit with optional warm coat, one a casual dress, and the last one a casual shirt and trousers.

However, in just a second, there was Jonus, carrying another large pouch, attached to another leather strap, and when he saw her, a nervous look came into his face again. She wasn't sure why. He'd obviously outdone himself, and made good on his promise to give her something special. She'd only been expecting one nice outfit; not a beautiful selection like that. Still, she let him speak first.

"It's... uh... That should be all of it, Miss Katie." he said, apparently struggling to keep up his smile as he continued to stare, but those words sent a chill of awe through she as she pondered their meaning.

"Wait a minute!" she exclaimed in amazement, "Are you saying I can keep them all?"

"Well... Well, yes. Of course. You paid full price. But, you may want to try some of them out, to be certain that they're comfortable."

Of course, Katie was delighted to be receiving such a wonderful deal; not just a large selection of clothes for various occasions, but some extra bags to carry them in. She did, however, spend a few minutes in the closed-off rooms in the back of the shop, trying the different outfits on, and found that they were not only comfortable, but miraculously-so. Not one was even an inch too small or too large, and as she'd suspected, they didn't have any seams; at least not in noticeable places. There was no question about it. Jonus Cartorus was either the greatest clothesmaker who Katie had ever met, or else a wizard of some kind, and she made sure to tell him so on the way out. After that, he gave her the usual pitch about how she should return if she was ever in need again, but she could tell that her compliments had made him very happy.

By the time that Katie left Whiterun, it was almost 9:30, and she was feeling a lot better, in spite of her failure to get any help for her village, or any definite answers about the three months she'd lost. She'd met a lot of nice people, and gotten a lot of help from them. Whatever else it may have been, Whiterun seemed like a friendly sort of place, and it had given Katie some hope, which was what she really needed as she left town by the main gates, heading off across the plains in the direction of Riverwood; the direction of Bleak Falls Barrow.

Ralof had briefly pointed out Bleak Falls Barrow to Katie while the two had been on the way to Riverwood, or rather, he'd briefly pointed out the mountain that it was located on. That narrowed down the number of places where Katie would need to look for the place, so she started out at once, searching for a spot where the path would take her up the mountain. After all, she was no kind of mountainclimber, and she knew that perfectly well. Either she would find Bleak Falls Barrow along the path, or she wouldn't, and would turn back for Riverwood to get directions and give Gerdur the news about what Jarl Balgruuf had said.

The path from Whiterun went quite some distance towards Riverwood without a single break or fork; almost up to the very gates, in fact. However, as Katie reached the stone bridge just outside of Riverwood, she noticed a fork in the path, just behind a nearby boulder, which went up the foothills of the mountain in a winding path before turning towards the peak, to the west.

The path went on for a long ways, though fortunately, it wasn't a very difficult commute. The toughest thing about it, for the longest time, was a wolf that leapt out to attack, but its teeth only glanced off of Katie once, before the creature had fallen to her spear, and she continued on her way, until the path became rocky, and the grass was covered in snow. Sure enough, the path had taken her right up the mountain, and into a minor snowfall. It continued going straight for quite some distance, but even through the snow, Katie was starting to notice some kind of structure in the distance; a tower of some sort.

Of course, it had gotten colder and colder as she'd gone up the mountain, so that was her cue to get her fur-lined coat out and put it on, still marveling at just how cozy it felt, even in cold surroundings like those, when she heard the sound of a whistle in the distance. Even though she was still unfamiliar with the customs and peoples of Skyrim, Katie had a hard time imagining that that whistle might be a good thing. She drew her spear out quickly, preparing for combat as she stared out through the snow, waiting for some sign of an enemy. Still, it wasn't long before that sign appeared.

Katie hadn't taken a single step forward since she'd heard the whistle, and it was just as well, since a moment later, a nord woman, almost as tall as her, and better armored, emerged from behind a curve in the mountainside, swinging a hand axe, with a bloodthirsty look in her eyes.

However, she had her spear at the ready, and its reach was quite a bit longer than that of her enemy's weapon. Seeing that her new enemy had no intention of backing away, Katie jabbed with her spear once, delivering a clean blow to her enemy's midsection, then drew back to attack again, and was just able to get in one more strike before her enemy slipped to one side and attacked.

The axe dug in deep, but Katie struggled to keep on her feet, lashing out with her spear again, though her next attack didn't do as much damage, and her enemy was already ready with another swing.

However, the lady bandit wasn't the only one attacking. By that point, an archer had emerged from behind the mountainside, and fired an arrow right into Katie's side. She winced in pain, taking careful aim with her spear, and hurled it through the lady bandit who'd been the first to attack her, with so much force, that it kept going clean through her, and hit the archer, who'd been behind her, in the chest as well. His hand dropped the arrow that he'd been holding in shock and agony, and before he could recover from the attack and draw another, Katie had yanked her spear back out of his well-armored torso.

The first bandit was clearly dead, which seemed to have made the remaining, injured one even more furious. He was trying to use his bow again, arming it with another arrow, but that one didn't dig in as far, or hurt as much, and Katie made another clean jab with her spear just a second later, lunging forward, to put her full power behind the blow.

Fortunately, after another couple of exchanges, the second bandit; a male nord, also lay dead, but Katie had been hit by several of his arrows before he'd gone down, and the pain alone was enough to inform her that the two bandits she'd just killed had both been a lot stronger than the soldiers she'd fought while escaping Helgen. In fact, she was convinced that she'd only won because she was using a weapon that she was familiar with, as well as a little good luck.

For a moment, the idea occurred to Katie to try searching the dead bandits for valuables. After all, the very fact that they were out there; robbing and pillaging pretty much indicated that they'd left their families and their civilized way of life behind them, which meant that the issue of legal heirs and such wasn't a problem, and she certainly could have gotten a decent price for their armor.

However, just as she was unfastening the armored boots that the female bandit had been wearing, she heard a shout of rage, and in a flash, was under attack again.

Katie was just barely able to get back to her feet, as her enemy's axe dug into her hard. He was just as strong as his buddies, and wearing even more armor, but fortunately, her first shot with her spear dug deep, cracking his armor in several places, and shoving several shards of metal into his flesh. Once again, though, he got a good shot in just a moment later, and Katie could feel her strength giving way under the continual assault. She lashed out once more with as much force as she could, but she was losing strength a lot faster than her enemy was. The third bandit was injured, but not as badly as she was, and in just another moment, he'd driven his axe into her side again, and everything went black.

For what felt like a very long time, Katie couldn't see or hear anything. It felt as if she was floating in an ocean of tar; unable to move, and surrounded by pain that she couldn't sufficiently react to. However, after a time, she started to notice voices; soft and distant at first, then gradually growing louder, until she could just begin to make out what they were saying.

"...what would have happened if she had been chosen."

"You're forgetting; many will have our blessings."

"Are you suggesting that any one of the blessed has a chance to succeed?"

"Why do you say 'one?'"

Then, the voices faded, and that was all that Katie could make out, until she felt the feeling returning to her arms and legs, and a warm light seeming to bathe her whole body.

Katie's eyes shot open in alarm, staring in amazement into the light that lay before her, though she soon found that she had to squint, for the sake of her eyes, because she was staring into a campfire, which had been set up only a few feet in front of her; most likely to keep her warm. However, what really amazed her wasn't just the presence of the campfire, but the fact that she was still alive.

Katie was still wounded. She was cut and bruised all over, and felt like at any moment, she might fall back asleep, and never wake up again, but she was still better off than the bandits she'd been facing. The two who she'd killed with her spear still lay on the ground; dead, and since she'd fallen unconscious, the third had also been killed; apparently by some kind of thick broadsword, to judge by the cut that had driven itself through his neck, separating his head from the rest of him.

Her rescuer, it seemed, had taken something in exchange for saving her life. All of the armor and goods that had been on the bodies of the bandits had been removed, but Katie didn't mind. She was just glad to have survived. What disappointed her was the realization that in spite of her best attempts, she hadn't even been able to reach Bleak Falls Barrow. The kind of work that the Jarl needed done; the kind that might have saved her family and her town, was beyond her power.

Still, she reasoned, she needed to accept the truth, and if there was still a hope of saving her family, it didn't lie in getting herself killed. Slowly, she turned back south, to look towards the town of Riverwood, the nearest potential source of a warm bed and good food; a chance to recover from her injuries.

Katie didn't remember much about the journey back down the mountain after that. In fact, her next memory was of waking up in Gerdur's house, in a pile of straw, very similar to the cot she'd slept in back home. There was no one else around when she woke up, but most of her wounds had healed, and the ones that were still aching had been bandaged and washed. In fact, she realized, the bandages reminded her of Ralof, and the way he'd saved her life back in the cave. He might have been responsible for those bandages as well, but he probably hadn't been the one who'd rescued her on the mountainside.

Still, her head had finally cleared, and she was starting to think straight again. Her failure on the mountain had been devastating at the time, but having taken a moment to think it over, she realized that there had been one major asset that she hadn't used in her fight, and that was her potion-making book. In fact, she hadn't used it at all, since leaving Arcadia's shop in Whiterun, and it was clear why. Apart from the minor prejudice that she'd always had against magic use in any form, Katie had been in a big rush to get help for her village since she'd first arrived in Skyrim. Even when the worst obstacles had surfaced in her path, she'd never treated them like they were anything major, and always used the same tactics against them; just try to power through them and hope they gave way.

The problem, she realized sadly, was that her desperation to help her folks wasn't really helping anyone. She'd been frantically trying to rush through her journey; get to the goal as fast as she could, just so she could go back home and put everything back to normal again. That, she realized in shame, had been her real motive, and her real problem. She missed her old life in Karohad. In fact, she missed it so much, that it was making her impatient, and that had been causing her all sorts of problems.

As much as Katie hated the idea of having to remain on her journey any longer than necessary, she realized sadly, no amount of speed would undo the dragon attacks, or bring back the Slow Sabrecat. No matter what she did, some of her old friends were most likely dead, and it was only then, in Gerdur's house, face to face with her own failures, that Katie came to grips with the most sobering fact that she'd ever had to face.

Her old life was done. It wasn't coming back. Even if she found guards to protect Karohad; even if she rebuilt the Slow Sabrecat; even if she could make her mother proud, and go back to the same routine she'd always had afterwards, just like she wanted, it would never be entirely the same. Things would never be the way they'd been before.

Katie had never in her life felt so sad, yet she didn't cry. It wasn't that kind of sadness. She knew that she'd have to keep working; keep trying to make things work out, for the sake of the people of her hometown, and that would still involve a lot of sacrifices, but the time had finally come to grow up, and face her problems with a patient heart. She had to start taking things one step at a time, just the way her father had always said.

Slowly, she got to her feet, being careful to avoid aggravating her remaining injuries, and pulled her bottle out of her pack, which had been left on the floor, beside the straw that she'd been resting in, then moved it around in front of her eyes as she stepped outside, looking for potential potion ingredients. It was the first step on her new path to adulthood.

Katie spent over an hour finding ingredients, and ultimately, the only reason why she stopped was because some of the Riverwood kids had noticed what she was doing, and wanted to help. Soon, she was back in Gerdur's house, with the book open on a table, and her ingredients spread out across the chairs that surrounded it. Over the hours that followed, she'd managed to make quite a few potions, taking some of them to help heal the rest of her injuries, and selling some of the others at the local general store in exchange for more ingredients, bottles and money. Katie kept it up for hours. However, it seemed that Ralof had been busy outside the village; probably with hunting, or something similar, because it was only after she'd spent five hours making potions at that table, when he finally entered through the front door, looking in astonishment at the mess that was starting to fill his sister's house.

As he closed the door, it was clear that Ralof wasn't sure how to feel about the sight in front of him. On the one hand, he had a good reason to be glad that his friend was up and about again. On the other hand, the various, flowers, mushrooms, animal parts and empty bottles that littered the surrounding floor and furniture were clearly going to be murder to clean up when she was done.

"I'm glad you're recovering so quickly." Ralof observed aloud, starting off with the positive, "You were a wreck when you arrived. You didn't even have enough strength to speak."

"I know." Katie replied, not looking up from the table where she was mixing and grinding ingredients, "I made a stupid mistake, but I'll try not to let it happen again."

Ralof paused for a few moments, although it was obvious that there were still a few things that he was eager to discuss.

"A compliment of guards arrived from Whiterun yesterday, while you were in bed." Ralof informed her, "Never thought I'd be glad to see non-Stormcloak militia, but as long as Gerdur's safe, I'm happy."

"She seems like a good girl." Katie observed, starting to smile just a little; a feat which had grown harder since she'd made her big decision, several hours before, "I'm sure she'll be alright. I don't expect the dragon to come back this way anyway; at least not for a while."

"Even if it does come back, what good would a few arrows do?" Ralof asked sadly, leaning against the table for a moment, "Times like these are pretty terrifying, you know? I don't mean the rebellion. People always need to fight for their rights. Freedom is never free. It's just... No matter who wins, what does it mean if we all get devoured by some firebreathing creature? Really makes you think... I mean, about your life, you know?"

Ralof sounded pretty sincere when he said those words. However, after all that the two of them had been through together, Katie had no intention of lying to him about her own feelings.

"Listen, Ralof..." Katie remarked a bit sadly, "I've been thinking about what I want for my life since I was twelve, and I'm sure I know what I want, but if you mean that times like these make you reevaluate your life; think more about how you do things... I guess that's true, but for me, it wasn't the dragon."

Ralof seemed like he was about to ask about that, but changed his mind a moment later, after looking at Katie for a second. At last, however, he did ask another question; though not along those same lines at all.

"Is this all alchemy? I've never seen anyone make potions without an alchemy station before."

"Yes." Katie replied, though she was still distracted by the mixture that she was working on as she spoke, "As near as I've been able to figure out, there's something about the magic in the finished potion that suffers when an alchemy station is used to make it. That's also why I've been using empty bottles."

Ralof had paused, just as he'd been about to speak. It seemed that that would have been his next question.

"When you make potions with a station, the bottle materializes around the potion, then shrinks and vanishes when the potion is used." Katie continued explaining, "It's convenient; sure, but it gobbles up a lot of magic, and doesn't leave as much for the potion itself. According to my book, the ancient alchemists always used real bottles, flasks and jars to hold their potions in; back when warriors were faster and magic was stronger."

"I'm no alchemist myself," Ralof admitted in reply, "but I thought the point was to draw on the natural properties of the ingredients, and extract them into a formula that one could drink."

"Actually, it's interesting." Katie observed, just as dispassionately as before, "The first few pages of my book have become clear just recently, and they seem to indicate that that sort of alchemy was only the most basic method, and even that method, in older magic, tended to involve a lot more experimentation and preparing of ingredients, and produced stronger potions on the whole. It's weird. It's like if you spent your whole life in one, tiny house, and then suddenly, you discovered a basement door, leading down into a huge castle underneath it. So much has been lost over the centuries, and I'm still not much good at stage one alchemy, even after all these hours. I've only been able to make three really good healing potions in the last five hours, and a bunch of mediocre ones."

As she said that, Katie gestured to a pair of small bottles with a red-colored liquid inside, which seemed to glow just slightly, with the aura of the potions that they. Of course, she'd used one of her finished potions to heal the rest of her wounds, but still, Ralof was very impressed.

"Making top-quality healing potions isn't easy; even for the best alchemists." he said at last, "You just need a little practice, and that's going to take some time. Don't worry about it."

However, Katie was still looking at the scattered bottles and ingredients sadly, as though they were just making the situation worse, somehow.

"I guess, but I can't stay here forever, just practicing and practicing, until I get this right. You've really given me a lot of help, and I'm grateful, but I don't want to have to depend on you."

Ralof seemed like he was about to reply to that, but no words came out of his mouth for several seconds. Finally, when he did speak, it made her frown just a little.

"Katie, you're pretty tough; even stronger than most of the warriors I know about, but nobody can make do without a little help now and then. I know that's probably not what you meant; that you probably just want to find some way to make a home for yourself; find your own food and shelter, instead of using ours. I appreciate that, and you're right, but everyone needs help. You know what I mean. The whole reason I joined the Stormcloaks was because I knew that I needed help, for what I wanted to accomplish."

"Yeah..." Katie replied, however, "I know. I just have some things that I have to do. I don't know if two healing potions will be enough. Maybe I should stay here for a while longer. Maybe I should try to survive in the wild for a while, or go back to Whiterun. Maybe I should head out right now, and try with what I've got..."

She'd been running over her options aloud, even as she finished mixing the rest of her ingredients, but things looked pretty rough. She was fairly certain that she wouldn't be able to survive alone in the wild, or find enough ingredients by herself to keep experimenting with potions, and although she'd gained over two hundred more pieces of gold from the potions she'd been making, and selling at the local shop, it was only just barely enough to live on. Without help from the neighborhood kids, she never would have been able to make that much money, that fast. Then, of course, there was the fact that she still wanted to find some way to make some alchemy apparati for herself, or maybe buy the ones that Arcadia had let her use, and that would take even more money. Finding some safe place to put all of her things was another problem, and would most likely require even more coins.

It was hard, because Katie was starting to realize just how bad her own situation had become. Even without her mission to help her family, finding some way to survive in Skyrim was going to be difficult by itself.

For a moment, she thought about telling Ralof that she was planning on making another attempt at Bleak Falls Barrow, and maybe even offering to let him come along for a share of the profits, or some such deal, but the truth was that as skilled as Ralof was, he wasn't a much stronger fighter than her, and she didn't want to put him in any more danger if it could be helped. She knew that he would absolutely want to follow her if he realized that she was going back towards that tower, where she'd almost gotten killed before, and into Bleak Falls Barrow, which was probably even worse, and she wasn't going to give him the chance to object.

That was why, a couple of hours later, she'd finished her experiments, packed up her remaining bottles and ingredients, as well as her new potions and gold, and headed back out of town on foot, and across the stone bridge, then back up the path she'd taken last time, preparing herself for another attack.

As Katie neared the tower, however, where she'd heard the whistle before, and fought those three bandits, who'd nearly killed her, no further signal seemed to be forthcoming. In fact, there was no sign that any living person was there at all. Slowly, she gathered up her courage, getting within twenty-five yards of the tower, then fifteen, then five. At last, she was at the very door of the place, knocking lightly on the walls with her spear, and sure enough, there was no sound of rage, or even dissatisfaction from within. For a moment, she found it hard to believe that those three bandits had been the only ones in that tower, but there didn't seem to be anyone else home. There weren't even any dead bodies. However, as she stepped inside the walls of the small, stone tower, and began looking around the inside of the place, she could see that they'd left many of their possessions behind.

Right there, on the very first floor, sitting on a table in the middle of the tower, Katie found a pair of boots, which were even stronger than the ones she'd taken from the imperial captain, as well as a small, iron shield and helmet. The helmet was inferior to the one she had, but she took the shield, slinging it over one arm. It reminded her of the way she'd practiced with her spear back home; a shield in one hand and her weapon in the other. At the very least, she had what she needed to use the fighting technique that she was familiar with, though she still would have been happier to have some real armor for her torso.

Apart from the armor, there was also a little gold, and Katie took even the inferior armor with her as she proceeded up the tower stairs. They were wooden, but made from thick, strong boards, and bore her to the second floor without difficulty, where she hesitated as she looked outside, through an archway at the very top of the stairs. The sight filled her with dread.

That archway opened right out into the open air, revealing a drop of at least fifty feet. There was a wooden ramp, built along the outside of the tower, and she was sure that the bandits had used it to climb up to the upper floors of the tower, but unlike the stairs she'd just climbed, the ramp didn't look sturdy. Its boards were thin, and she had no way of knowing what other supports, if any, were holding it up. It was as if she'd just been asked to cross a rickety, old bridge with rotten planks in the middle. Even if the bandits had used that ramp, there was no guarantee that she could.

Then, another thought occurred to her. What if she made it up the ramp, but couldn't make it back down? What would happen then? Would it come to a choice between trying to jump down or just starving to death, up on that tower? The thought was a terrifying, and yet, distressingly-vivid one. Still, she wanted to know what was up there, and that may have been why, a moment later, she was removing her armored gloves, boots, helmet, putting down her shield and weapon, and removing every heavy item from her pack. There was still a risk, of course, that the ramp might not be able to support her, but, she decided, if fully-armored bandits could walk up and down it without fear, she was willing to give it a shot.

Katie's first step onto the ramp was cautious and gradual, to say nothing of being very, very cold, without her boots to protect her feet. The next couple of steps weren't much faster. However, she soon found that while the ramp creaked and groaned, it also held firm, and in only a few more seconds, she made it up to the next floor of the tower, where she found some barrels full of fresh vegetables, and a couple of flagons next to a small keg, with a little mead still left inside. However, there were two more wooden staircases leading further up, so she left all of those useful items behind, and finally, at the very top of the tower, there was a chest. As expected from the one place in a bandit's tower, that was hardest to reach, the chest was filled with gold. There was also a stamina potion inside, which Katie took with her, although she didn't trust herself to be able to lug all of that gold, and all those supplies back down the wooden ramp. For a few minutes, it was a puzzle, just how she was going to get it all back down the tower. However, soon enough, she came up with an idea.

The many pouches and small bags that were attached to her hiking gear by thick straps had suddenly become useful. One by one, Katie began removing them from her clothing, and one by one, she filled them with gold and supplies, then, when they were full and tied shut, she dropped them off the edge of the tower, aiming carefully, and waiting until there was no wind, with the intention of making sure that they all landed on the bridge at the base of the tower. Six bags were dropped over the edge, and five made it to the bridge intact. The sixth, unfortunately, fell into the abyss, costing Katie a bag and some potatoes, but she got safely back down a few moments later, and found that she'd managed to save about a hundred and fifty pieces of gold, a large supply of food, some flagons and a potion bottle; which she'd carried downstairs herself, although she'd needed to leave the mead barrel behind. Still, it was a nice haul, considering that she hadn't needed to fight anyone since her first battle with the bandits.

Katie wasn't in a hurry to eat any of the vegetables until they'd been cooked, and the rest of the treasure that she'd found felt relatively light, once it was all packed in her bag. In short, it didn't take her long to decide that she should continue up the mountain right away, and hope that she didn't run into any more strong enemies.

The path turned almost back the opposite way, at the very end of the bridge, then went in a steady curve around the side of the mountain for quite some distance. However, pretty soon, Katie found that she could see some sort of structure about a hundred yards away, with large, stone steps leading up along it, and lookout posts around the edges of it, as though it had been intended to be used as a fortress during hard times. Unfortunately, Katie was soon to discover that it -was- being used as a fortress.

In just a second, a shout rang out. Unsurprisingly, she'd been spotted through the snow, although she still couldn't make out the person who'd been shouting. For a moment, the thought occurred to her to stay right where she was and wait for the enemy to approach, but that idea vanished into thin air a moment later, when an arrow buried itself in a snowdrift near her left ankle.

In a very short time, Katie had her spear drawn, and was heading towards the attackers as fast as she could; which wouldn't have been much of a sprint, even on a clear day, and she was being slowed down even more by the snow. Still, she made it to the base of the stone steps before another arrow could be fired at her. It did, of course, manage to make contact with her, but it was only a surface-level wound.

Naturally, the stairs themselves were an obstacle as well, but she'd gotten up them before too long, with only one more surface-level arrow wound to show for it, and she'd already spotted the archer who'd been shooting at her. He was, she was pleased to see, also within range of her spear.

In a flash, Katie's spear shot out, getting a clean jab into her enemy's chest, although he was apparently a strong-willed sort of fighter, and had already fired off another arrow at her. It didn't do any more good than it had before, and in just another moment, she'd leaned into her spear, driving it into him with her full power. That was clearly too much for him, and he'd collapsed to the ground a moment later, completely dropping his bow in agony. However, it was just then that his buddies started their own attack.

There were, in fact, three bandits in that place, though they didn't look quite as tough as the ones she'd fought before, and they hadn't been doing as much damage with their attacks. The weakest-looking one was an orc with an axe, who'd already reached Katie's position, and was swinging his blade as fast as he could, while his other buddy had begun firing arrows from his own bow, from the top of another flight of stairs. However, the orc's axe barely glanced off Katie's helmet, and his friend's arrow did very little damage when it wedged itself in her left hip.

Reacting to the more immediate threat, Katie spun her spear around, driving it into the badly-armored orc, who looked both stunned and horrified by the force that his enemy was putting behind her weapon. It didn't stop him from attempting a counter-attack, but neither that attack, nor the next arrow fired by his friend was able to penetrate anything vital, and in just a moment, her spear had not only struck the orc with much greater force, but knocked him back through the air and into the hard stone behind him, forcing him to drop his weapon. He looked like he was on his last legs, but unfortunately, that was when the first archer managed to retrieve his weapon.

The next thing Katie knew, she was being fired at from two sides, though once again, the damage done by the arrows was minimal. It still hurt, though, and Katie was beginning to look like a bean-shaped pin cushion. She tried to counter-attack against the first archer again with her spear, but wasn't able to get a clean hit, and she could tell that her attack hadn't done much damage, and her enemies were still unloading arrows.

Fortunately, she was still strong enough to drive her spear into the first archer again, and that was that. The bow fell from his arms in a shower of blood, and the first archer was dead. The other archer hesitated in his attack for a moment, as his comrade fell, but the death of the first bandit had only enraged the orc, who'd already grabbed his axe again, and charged back towards her with a howl of fury.

Apparently, the orc had gone into a berserk frenzy, because he got a good hit in against her. However, as before, it barely managed to scratch the surface, and although she was already feeling sad over the person she'd been forced to kill, Katie knew that she still had to defend herself. In just a moment, her spear had swept out again, and down went the orc in a spray of green.

Even after all of that, she still would have accepted a surrender from the remaining bandit. However, Katie had never met many bandits before her journey to Skyrim, and she didn't understand the kind of impulsive, emotional mentality that drove them. The last bandit wasn't going to back down, and he'd unloaded another two arrows right into her stomach by the time she managed to reach him and go on the offensive.

She fought with the bandit for a minute or so, but it was obvious that he wasn't getting the better of the fight, and after only a few blows from each side, he was down too, and the battle was over. Katie was aching all over as she slowly, carefully began removing the arrows from her flesh, where they'd stuck, but she felt as though she could have fought another group, just like that one, if she needed to. It was odd; just after having come so close to death; to suddenly find that she was so powerful; almost ready for anything. Yet, it didn't make her happy, she realized; not really. Having the power to fight multiple, armed opponents was a comforting thought, but actually having done so just made her feel sad, even as she searched the bodies of her attackers, collecting several pieces of light armor, some weapons, a little gold (though not much,) and, to her surprise, a rather expensive-looking ring with some kind of orange gemstone set into it. It wasn't much. In fact, it was clear that those bandits, at least, had been very weak and inexperienced, since they clearly hadn't stolen much of anything.

Still, Katie had managed to clear the way to the barrow itself. As she'd suspected, the large, stone structure was right outside the entrance to Bleak Falls Barrow; the place that she'd been asked to investigate by Jarl Balgruuf's highly-unpleasant mage. She still wasn't sure that she wanted to do him any favors, but if nothing else, Katie had managed to survive another day, and gotten both food and money out of her recent adventures. It was, at least, enough to survive on.

Then, however, she remembered her parents, and the urgency of her quest. She also remembered the two healing potions that she still had; a security against any further attacks, and she knew that after all her preparations, it would just be lazy to turn back then and there. She wanted to. Something inside of her seemed to be pulling her back away from those great, iron doors, leading into the mountainside barrow, but she was determined not to give up, and she definitely didn't want to hike up and down the mountain any more times than was absolutely necessary. It would be better, she reasoned, if she could fully explore the entire barrow in one trip, and just get it all over with.

So, in another moment, Katie's hands pushed open the front doors of the barrow with a loud, creaking noise. She had no idea what she was about to encounter in there, but she knew it wouldn't do any good to worry about that. Her plan for the future was finally beginning to take shape. She just needed to prepare as best she could with patience, make plans as best she could, and then just deal with the rest as it came. That, she reasoned, was the most mature way to deal with her situation.

Soon, the doors had closed behind her with a clang, and Katie of Hammerfell was descending; the darkness growing more oppressive as she moved gradually on.

Beyond the mods addendum; Things you can't do in-game

1. The Golden Needle gives Katie some fine clothes to fit her. None of these clothing designs are available in any size whatsoever in Skyrim.

2. Katie survives her encounter with a group of bandits after they overpower her, because she's rescued and healed by a passerby. This -never- happens in Skyrim.

3. Katie has an insightful, and yet mysterious dream. This doesn't happen in Skyrim, although I believe Nehrim did something like it.

4. The kids in Riverwood join in the fun and help Katie gather ingredients for alchemy. They will never do this in Skyrim, no matter how in-character it would be for young children.

5. Katie is able to do alchemy in Riverwood, without any sort of alchemy table. Not possible in Skyrim.

6. The wooden platform outside the tower can only support a certain amount of weight, so Katie needs to drop many of her possessions and armor in order to traverse it. As cool as a gameplay mechanic like this would be, it's nowhere to be found in Skyrim. No platforms will ever break in the game, and the weight of what you're carrying has no effect on bridges and platforms that you're traversing.

7. Katie is able to lower loot from the top of a tower in bags. If this can be done in Skyrim, I've yet to find a way.

8. Once again, we see mechanics in the second fight that are not present in Skyrim; of note being the hesitation of bandits over the death of a comrade, and over being hit hard enough to keep them from reloading their bows, or to knock the weapons from their hands.