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Chapter 7 - Blizzard in Sun's Height
It was perhaps six weeks after the prophecy had been found - on the fifth of Sun's Height, to be exact - that Yssha woke to an unusual chill in the air. After going through her morning clean-up routine, she dressed in her armor and headed for the kitchen and her morning tisane with Rayya.
The housecarl handed her a cup of the steaming beverage. "You're going somewhere, my Thane? You didn't say anything yesterday."
"I am not planning to, but it is chilly for midsummer, and I refuse to wear a nightshirt outside the bed- and bathrooms." She sipped her tisane briefly, then stood back up. "I will return shortly - I want to check outside."
When she opened the front door, she cursed. It was snowing! Not much, barely a dusting on the ground melting swiftly, but a wind was coming up and it felt like the temperature was falling. "When did this start? she asked the guard dragon.
"About half an hour ago, thuri," he replied. "This should not be happening."
"No - one of the prophesied 'storms out of season'. What direction did it come from, do you know?"
"South-west, thuri."
"Dovgrahaak!" Yssha Shouted.
Minutes later, the Skyguard commanders landed. "Geh, thuri?"
She passed along what the guard dragon had told her. "See if you can determine its track, then issue warnings to take shelter. I would like to know where it originates, but it is more important to get the warnings out ahead of it, if possible."
Dovgrahaak took off, climbing steeply. Shortly after he disappeared into the clouds, she heard a full-throated Call. "Odkest nol Valzapor*! Naav* pal! Wah spaal*!" [Blizzard {snow tempest} from Summerset Isles! Warn all! To shelter!]
The guard dragon's team ran out of the stable and mounted. "We'll warn Helgen!" the team leader called as they took off.
Moments later, Odahviing landed. "Where will you shelter, briinah?"
"With my people in Helgen. I am their Jarl, and that is Skyhold's capital, so that is my place. Let me get the rest of the family up and moving, then I ask that you take me there."
"Of course."
Yssha ran back inside, finding Freyr and her team stumbling into the dining room, half-dressed. She told them quickly what was going on. "Get dressed, then pick Bandit Den Inn or Helgen, your choice. I will be going to Helgen."
Freyr and Rayya chose the Inn, the attraction the cavern below Pinewatch had been turned into, so he could play with his friends; the rest opted for Helgen, with Yssha. The clearing work there was done, the Keep repaired, the Riverwood end of the escape tunnel turned into a city gate, and the foundation for the palace had been laid, but otherwise, construction had concentrated on the hydroponics system. That, because of the water supply, had been set up in the tunnel, which was surprisingly pleasant with grow lights added and frostbite spiders cleared out.
By the time they got to Helgen, it was snowing harder, and cold rather than just chilly, and as they entered the Keep, the wind began to strengthen.
"I think we're going to be here for a while," Marcurio said. "How are the food supplies?"
"They should be good," Yssha replied. "Remember, I asked Marcus Jannus, our acting mayor, to stock up until the hydroponics could supply our needs. If he did so, which I trust he did, we should have plenty of dried meat and stored root vegetables to last us for several months, especially with as small a population as we still have. And a few farmers from Falkreath and Whiterun have moved here to tend the hydroponics - Marcus says they like being able to farm indoors out of the weather. Which I cannot blame them for."
Nevan chuckled. "Me, either."
"I just hope everyone who needed shelter got to it in time - the storm was moving fast."
"We can hope, but at this point, that's about all," Marcurio pointed out.
The unnatural storm didn't subside until past noon the following day. When it did, the temperature began rising as quickly as it had fallen the previous morning, which Yssha feared would mean flooding. As soon as they were able to get the Keep doors open, she called Odahviing and asked for transport to Pinewatch.
She grinned when they landed. She hadn't been here since Karl and Ingrid had moved in, though Rayya had told her about the cavern being converted to an inn, and that the couple were making improvements, with excavation assistance from a couple of the guard dragons.
There were three buildings here now, Pinewatch itself and a smaller building marked Bandit's Den Inn - Office. The third was a stable with two carriages parked outside, which was a bit surprising. She waded through the snow to the original cottage and knocked.
"Come in, it's open!" Ingrid called, and Yssha did so, to see her tenant smiling. "Good greetings, Ysmir - it's wonderful to see you again! Or should I say my Jarl?"
"I prefer Ysmir, please. You have done well with this place. Tell me, how is the Inn doing? It seems an odd place to open one."
"Oh, it is," Ingrid said. "We wouldn't have considered it except for the cavern having been a notorious bandit's headquarters. We get guests from all over Skyrim who are both curious about that and in search of novelty, and we're usually full or close to it. If you ever decide to sell Pinewatch, we'd appreciate a chance to buy it. The children really love it here."
"And you are good neighbors. Certainly I am willing to sell it to you. What would you consider a fair price?"
"More than we can afford just yet. Considering the cavern is a good income producer, though, in a few months we should be able to pay you twenty-five thousand."
Yssha's ears twitched. That was five times what she'd paid - the Inn must be doing well! "Consider it yours, if you can afford a twenty percent down payment."
Ingrid smiled widely and said, "I'll be right back." She went downstairs and returned moments later with a heavy coin purse. "Here's eight thousand. We'll pay you the rest as we get it." She paused. "So I can plan for operating expenses, what will the taxes be like?"
The standard here in Skyrim seemed to be ten percent; at least that was what the Jarls deducted when someone left her an inheritance. "The usual ten percent, I believe, would be proper."
"Good, I'd been making tentative plans on that amount." She looked relieved. "I should have known you wouldn't be as greedy as Jarl Siddgeir."
Yssha chuckle-purred. "He is ... not the sort of example I care to follow. Balgruuf, as both Jarl and High King, is far more to my taste." She paused. "Speaking of whom, I should go see him, and find out how bad the storm was elsewhere, and if there is an adequate number of shelters. Then as soon as I return home, I will sign the deed to Pinewatch over to you and Karl."
"Thank you, Ysmir. Not that there's any rush; we trust you."
"Thank you, Ingrid. That means much to me."
Yssha decided to get Odahviing to land just outside Whiterun rather than at Dragonsreach, so she could chat with a few friends on her way up. Adrienne was busy, so she went next door, where an obviously-pregnant Lydia greeted her with a smile. "Come in, my Thane! Let me get you and yours something to drink."
"Thank you!" Yssha and her team settled at the small dining table, and Lydia pulled up a chair for herself. "You are looking well, my friend - and better yet, happy."
"I am," Lydia said. "The healers are a bit of a pain, but I want a healthy baby, so I tolerate them. May I ask a favor?"
"Always," Yssha said. She might not grant it, but ...
"If it's a girl, may I name her after you?"
"I would be honored," Yssha replied. "You will let me know when the babe is born, I hope. I plan to be an indulgent auntie."
Lydia laughed. "Certainly, my Thane - how could you think otherwise? And I understand you're a mother yourself."
"Adoptive only, so far. But Freyr is a good boy ... well, most of the time ... and eventually I will be free to have kits of my own." She smiled. "I am sure you can understand that desire."
"Easily. Did you know Arcadia has managed to snare Farengar?"
"No!" Yssha managed an almost-human-sounding laugh. "She was threatening to test a love potion on him, the first time I visited her. So it worked, did it?"
"If that was how she did it, most definitely. She's only a week or so behind me, baby-wise. She still owns and runs the shop, but now she actually lives in Dragonsreach with him."
They traded more news for about half an hour, then Yssha and her team left to continue their trip up to Dragonsreach.
She chatted with various people, buying a few things for Rayya and Freyr, selling a few others, until she got to the park around the Gildergreen, where the statue and shrine of Talos stood, with Heimskr doing his usual impassioned speech.
Well, not quite usual. When he caught sight of her, he tossed in something she'd never heard before. "And we thank You for returning to walk among us again! We know you love us, but we did not expect this grace!"
She turned and approached him. "Heimskr, stop that. I am not Tiber Septim returned; I am myself, and I will not have Talos' worshippers misled!"
"But ... but ... " he sputtered. "You died and returned, and when you did, so did that!" The priest pointed to a shrine that now shared space with Talos' at the feet of the statue.
Yssha groaned. She had been warned of this, and it looked like her divine zeymah had decided to save her from a shrine as inaccurate as his combination of sword and axe. This was a blatant adaptation of his statue, with a dragon-headed Khajiit in dragon-scale armor braced on a mace.
"Please, tell me it does not work as a normal shrine," she came close to begging.
Heimskr looked almost smug. "I can't truthfully say that, Ysmir. Your blessings are sought almost as often as His."
Yssha muttered under her breath, invoking curse-words that would have shocked even a Legionnaire - at least coming from her - then turned her attention back to Heimskr. "All right. It seems I must accept that. But if you try naming me as a Divine, which I am most certainly not, I will return and beg my zeymah to convince you of that."
He looked frightened. "Very well, Ysmir. I will be careful. But ... you cannot blame me for what people may choose to believe on their own."
"I will not. We are agreed, then."
It was a relief to enter Dragonsreach, out of hearing of Heimskr's preaching, but thinking about priests reminded her that she still hadn't found out what Danica had wanted, that day she had avoided the priestess because she had been feeling overwhelmed by all the tasks she'd aready taken on. She still had a number of obligations, but she also felt guilty for her neglect. After all, look what Danica had done, and was still doing, for Lydia. But that could wait until after she spoke to Balgruuf.
He waved her forward as soon as he caught sight of her. "Skyrim owes you yet another debt for the Skyguards' warning, Ysmir. We lost livestock, but I haven't had any reports of other deaths, just a few injuries. The lack of deaths is probably too good to be true, but as of now, that's the case - and even if there are a few, that's far better than we'd normally do in such a storm."
"I am very glad of that," Yssha said. "I was concerned - were there enough shelters?"
Balgruuf nodded. "Enough and to spare. People were happy enough to have a safe place for themselves and their families that there was only a little complaining about loss of livestock. And the meat from those is being preserved and stored."
"How widespread was it?"
"All of eastern Skyrim," Balgruuf told her. "The western part only got a little light snow, but from Falkreath to Windhelm, it was the full strength of the blizzard. It did taper off before it got to Solstheim, though."
"Bad enough, but not as bad as I had feared," Yssha said.
"I feel the same way," Balgruuf said, then changed the subject. "What are your next plans?"
"I believe Danica Purespring has something she wishes of me, from shortly after I came to Whiterun. I will see what it is, and if we can, take care of it."
Balgruuf smiled. "I'm pretty sure she wants you to restore the Gildergreen. It got hit by lightning during the Civil War, and she's been too busy with healing since to do anything about it."
Yssha knew better than to say that shouldn't be too difficult, so she didn't. "I know nothing about healing trees, but I shall speak to her anyway. Perhaps Kynareth has given her special knowledge."
Yssha waited until Danica was finished with her patient, then approached. "King Balgruuf believes you wish me to restore the Gildergreen. But I know nothing of tree cultivation."
"The Gildergreen, yes." Danica sighed. "It's a bit of an eyesore at the moment. More of a problem for the pilgrims than for me, but not many of them around anymore."
"What do pilgrims have to do with a tree?"
"The Gildergreen was planted as a seedling in the early years of Whiterun. Disciples of Kynareth could sense something holy in it, and traveled far to hear the winds of the goddess in its branches. They built the temple. Of course, not as many pilgrims these days. A big dead tree isn't very inspiring if you're coming to worship the divine of wind and rains. Kynareth gives life, and we need a living tree to be her symbol."
"How can that be done?"
"We need sap from the Eldergleam. That's an old tree. Very old. They say it was a seedling when the first men were arriving from Atmora, thousands of years ago. The sap is precious. It can restore barren fields or bring life to rocks. I can use it to repair the Gildergreen, so we can worship properly again.
"Trees like this never really die, you see. They only slumber. I think if we had some of the sap from the parent tree, we could wake up its child. But even if you could get to the Eldergleam, you couldn't tap it. Not with any normal metal."
"Then how can it be done?"
"Eldergleam is older than metal, from a time before men or elves. To even affect it, you have to tap into the old magic. You'll have to deal with the Hagravens. I've heard about a weapon they've made for sacrificing Spriggans. It's called 'Nettlebane.' The hags terrify me, or I would have gone after it myself."
"Hagravens. I am not terribly fond of them myself, but they are not as much of a problem as some others. We will retrieve Nettlebane for you."
"Your spirit is strong, Ysmir. Kynareth's winds will guide your path. It's held in a Hagraven nest called Orphan Rock."
"We will go there in the morning," Yssha promised, then she and the team left.
