Both Hadvar and Ralof came to catch me when one of the town guards appeared from the above bridge sounded a kind of alarm to the other guards and we were soon surrounded by them with their weapons drawn. "What is your business here?" asked one of the guards as they prodded us with the hilt of his sword. I looked to both of the men who stood in front of me and watched as Hadvar advanced first.

"Gentlemen, we are here because of our families. We are both here on leave and have decided that visiting would best before we begin the attack on the stormcloaks. My friends here are refugees from Helgen and don't worry about what this one is wearing. We were looking for anything to put him in until we got him home and this armor was the only thing around other than a potato sack. Trust me when I tell you that he would blind you if he was in the sack," Hadvar said winking at one of the female guards. She momentarily giggled before being glared at by her superior.

"Alright. You may enter Riverwood but we will be watching you. You make a wrong move and you will immediately be brought to the jailhouse in Whiterun," he said turning and signaling to the guards to return to their posts. Ralof began to laugh quietly at first but it soon grew until it was echoing off of the stone and the trees but he was silenced when Hadvar cuffed him. I watched the two as they pushed and shoved at each other into the little town but an older woman caught my attention.

"I saw it! It was a dragon black as night fly over. Didn't you see it?" she asked loudly and looked in my direction as her son coarsely answered her. "You saw it. You saw it fly, didn't you?" I was transfixed by her as her son walked up and gently shook me from my stupor.

"Don't mind my mother. She doesn't know what it is she's talking about," he stopped and watched me as I began to swim back into reality. His eyes widened slightly and the man began to flush. "My name is Sven. I'm the towns bard and that was my mother," he said pointing towards the house where the woman was currently standing. Sven took my arm and began to guide towards what looked to be a tavern. "Did you come here by yourself or are you traveling with your husband?" he asked quietly and I slowly pried his hand off of my arm and looked at him squarely.

"I didn't come here by myself, Sven. I came with Hadvar and Ralof from Helgen," I said walking towards the tavern but I turned to see his reaction when I was plowed over by Ralof. I reached for Sven's hand as Ralof began to pull me in the direction of the tavern but was stopped short by Hadvar who was yelling something from the porch of one of the homes before he joined us on our small journey.

"This is quite the troupe you have here, Miss. May I become an official member too?" Sven asked still holding my hand firmly and he raised his eyes to Ralof and Hadvar who were beginning to turn a strange shade of red. I attempted to drop his hand but was caught off guard when he pulled me closer. "Say you'll let me join?" he asked blowing air into my ear and the warmth of his breath made me feel uneasy. Hadvar stepped towards us and gently pried me away from him before Ralof took to Sven and dragged him behind the lumberyard. I stood wide-eyed as I watched the two men disappear as Hadvar strolled up to me and took Svens place beside me.

"Nikolai, let's get you a room and some drinks. We have some things to discuss about your next step," Hadvar said walking ahead of me to the tavern. He held the door open for me and walked me to one of the benches before turning to the innkeeper and paying for a room and a few rounds of mead. One of the barmaids brought over a tray filled with a different types of mead and a variety of foods. Her dress cut lower then it should and when Hadvar returned to the table she pushed herself against him and began to whisper things into his ear but he didn't seem to feel the same way about this vixen. He gently pushed her away and thanked her for the mead and turned to me smiling sweetly. "Don't mind her. We were very good friends when we were younger and she still believes that we are," he said pouring four mugs of mead and sat down in front of me. "The other two clowns should be here any time now and we'll be able to move on with our business." Before he had even finished saying this, the inn door opened. Ralof and a heavily bruised Sven walked in smiling apologetically to us.

"Sorry we're late but Sven decided that he wanted to pick Nikolai some wild flowers," he said laughing and I watched Sven as the color rose more prominently to his face. I began to scrutinize his face when I noticed that everyone was watching us. Sven carefully sat down next to me as the barmaid rushed over to us and began yelling at Ralof.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Ralof? What did Sven do to deserve this?" she asked pawing at his face and glaring harshly at me. "You know what? I doubt it was your fault. This posh little girl probably put you up to it, didn't she?" A smug smirk played on the girls lips as I rose from my seat and reached to my side which held the only weapon I've come to know. I unsheathed it and placed the tip of it in the tender flesh between her collar bones and watched with grim satisfaction as her smirk vanished and was replaced with fear. I heard someone calling my name as I dropped my weapon and placed it back into its sheath. Hadvar's hands rested on my shoulder firmly and Ralof's held my arms to my sides from behind.

"You need to walk away from this now, lass." Hadvar watched the barmaid as she backed away and escaped through the front door. The hands that were holding me in place released me and I carefully sat down again watching the three men around me huddle together. I could hear them whispering quietly but urgently and found that Sven had decided to sit on the opposite side of the table with the other two men. "Now is not the time for us to mince words with you, Nikolai. We need you to go to the Jarl of Whiterun and warn him about the dragon. Easily, Helgen was larger than Riverwood and it took mere minutes to destroy the town. Ralof, Sven, and myself need to stay here and help the guard the best we can but you have no ties here and need to get the word out. We have all of the supplies you will need in these two bags," he said pulling two larger satchels from beneath the table.

"These are all items that our families have donated to help your cause including a few new weapons and a modest amount of gold. It's not much but it's all we could do," he said motioning to the three of them. I felt myself beginning to trace that scar that sat on my thigh when the men stood up with their mugs and watched me as I carefully stood up and raised my mug to theirs. "We wish you all the luck the Gods' can give, Nikolai. Be successful in your journey and return to us in one piece." Ralof clinked our mugs together and we were more then happy to drink down the contents.

I finished my drink and watched the men as they began to goad Sven to sing for us and laughed as he drunkenly picked up his lute and began to sing.