I am not using my mother tongue so I apologize for any errors/mistakes. Hope you enjoy!

If you wish to visit my DA page for any fanart, my username is "artemide68"


Chapter 6: Drink Like a Nord

It was all raging in fire. I could hear the screams of villagers, running as a rain of death fell over their heads. Alduin's red eyes were over me, trying to plunge into my very soul. I felt as if I was being dragged away.

Suddenly, I saw myself in third person as I was fighting my way through Imperials and enemies alike. Fierce, scary, as if I wasn't myself. One of the Imperial heads I had severed rolled across the floor towards me. It stopped, looked straight into my eyes and after that, it talked:

"Good morning Diana, had a nice sleep?"

I woke up with a violent reflex, and knocked my head over Raelof's chest. He had been standing right next to me and was trying to awake me quietly. I was sweating and breathing heavily.

"Ouch, calm down girl, it's just me"

I cooled down and tried to bring myself down to earth, though I realized, in this case it was still Tamriel..

"I'm sorry, I was having a nightmare"

"I can see that" He said slightly worried. "Gerdur has made you some breakfast. Why don't you eat and then have a little tour of the village?"

"I'd love to" I answered with a smile at the prospect of free food "And thank you again for all you are doing"

"Don't worry about that, now go eat something before you faint again"

I got up from my haystack and pushed away the feelings of wrongness this picture was giving me. Why wasn't I back in my world? In my bedroom? Why was I still here? And yet, the warm, comfy feeling this family was giving made me decide to just act normally. There was no use in stressing when I didn't even have any idea on how to fix this. If this really was a long dream, I might as well take it all in stride... act like I was a normal citizen... maybe even prepare for adventuring later on...

The breakfast consisted of a sweetroll, some cheese, apples and honey. I had not eaten since at least 24 hours , so I was obviously starving. Everything was delicious. Gerdur watched me eating, pleased, and once I had finished, handed me one of her dresses (I was still in some ragged clothes) and showed me around the streets. Raelof stayed in the house as he did not really want to be seen by villagers.

I was dropped at the Riverwood trader shop, as Gerdur had to continue her work at the mill. I had offered my help as a mill worker in exchange for hospitality but she had refused, stating that as her guest, the only help she could get was for me to stop worrying about being a hindrance.

As I entered the shop, I noticed Lucan and Camilla Valerius fighting over what I hypothesized was the theft of the golden claw. As soon as they saw me get in, though, they both regained their composure and Lucan asked me if I was looking for any goods.

"Actually, I was looking forward to sell some, if you are interested"

"All right, show me the merchandise, and let's see if we can do business…"

I had the brilliant idea of cleaning most of the equipment I had gotten in the nearby river before actually heading to the shop and barter. What would have Lucan said if out of my magic satchel came some bloodstained imperial uniform. It was already hard for me to convince him that the items were acquired legitimately and not through the horrible means I had been using recently. Thankfully, Lucan was quite a bonehead, and easy to barter with. I sold most of the stuff I had, and made a pile of money. At the end of the day, Lucan was happy, thinking he did some good business, and I finally had some money to pay my own living.

I wandered around the streets and made friends with Frodnar and his dog, who kept wanting to play games with me. I met Faendal and asked him if he could teach me some archery while I was still in Riverwood. It was the first time I had seen an elf since I had been dragged into this strange world, and I was quite curious about him and his elven traits. He seemed pleased to have made a new friend, and I set up with him to meet the morning after for some training. Then I headed to the blacksmith and asked Alvor if he needed any help at the forge for a short time. He gladly accepted me and we agreed I would help him out every afternoon during my stay, in exchange of some training in smithing. Last but not least, I paid a visit to the inn, and met Sven and Delphine. Sven irritated me straight away, with his Hedonistic look and slightly too high self esteem. I had not liked Camilla either when I met her at the shop. She acted like a spoiled noble wannabe and kept arguing with her brother about the most useless topics. I smiled to myself as I thought those two were made for each other, and wondered how could Faendal ever fall for such a brat.

I decided to play it cool with Delphine and just pretend I did not know about her and her bloody past. I bought some good mead from the innkeeper, and brought it home to Raelof and Gerdur's family for dinner.

"Thank you! This will be a happy evening" Said Gerdur, excited at the sight of Black Briar Reserve. "This must have cost you quite some coin!"

"It is nothing, the minimum I can do to repay your kindness.."

"I told you not to worry darling" said Gerdur happily. "But I guess having a little party with the finest mead in Skyrim is a benefit to everyone.

We sat around the table for dinner and began eating and drinking like a bunch of Nords. I actually had a low toleration for alcohol, and could not drink much of the delicious mead.

"You definitely are not a Nord by habits" said Raelof surprised at the lack of alcohol in my mug.

I tried to reply sensibly but was already quite drunk, so I said

"Pfsssshttt I am the greatest Nord that ever existed! Mr Stormcloack!"

"Oh yeah?" Said Raelof standing up, drunk almost just as me. "Well I can bet my sweet behind you won't last two seconds out there in the wild"

I stood up too. "You just wait and see, I'll slay a dragon some day!"

And everybody laughed.

The cheers and drunk happiness continued all night long. Then we got to bed. My head was spinning like a merry-go-round. After a while, I felt a warm feeling on my back. Raelof had moved from his haystack to mine, and was hugging me while mumbling something unconscious. He was asleep. It felt weird and yet it was very cute. I was embarrassed, was this his drunk way to express his feelings? I did not want to wake him up so I just stood there, waiting. But he wouldn't move, so after a while, I just managed to sleep.

The next morning, I would have quite a busy schedule.