Part Two: Hearthfire
Chapter One: Serving Solitude's Citizens (Morndas, 1st of Hearthfire)
Steffen had truly fallen in love with the city of Solitude. He'd never really felt at home anyplace other than the small city of Mathiisen he had grown up in, but Solitude was quickly becoming home to him. He spent his days studying or exploring the town, and his evenings reading and bonding with Illdi.
His relationship with the woman still hadn't surpassed friendship. Because of his own worries and confusion in regards to how quickly his heart seemed to be replacing Catrin, he was hesitant to make any move toward a romantic relationship with the young Nord, and he gathered, as shy as Illdi was, she wouldn't be making the first move either. He spent more time than he would like to admit thinking over the subject and how he should handle it. Ultimately, he always decided to just continue as they were. After all, they'd been in each other's lives for less than a month. If things were meant to develop into more, he imagined they would do so naturally after a time.
The townfolk were friendly, and though Illdi was still the only person Steffen would consider a friend, he had made several acquaintances. He had spoken with Vittoria Vici, the Imperial woman who managed the East Empire Company (and apparently a cousin to the Emperor himself!) and used his charm to convince her to lower the tithes she was charging Evette San for the ingredients she used to make her spiced wine. Evette had been immensely grateful, and they'd spoken at length about ways in which she could make her wine available to a larger market across Skyrim. Steffen planned to fund the venture, thanks to the small fortune he now possessed after recovering King Olaf's verse. They still had some logistics to figure out, but he felt they were making headway.
Steffen had always had a soft spot in his heart for children, and that was no different in Solitude. The half dozen or so children that roamed the streets of the city had become quite fond of the elf as well, and he spent many an afternoon amusing them with songs and participating in their games of tag and hide-and-seek. Sometimes he could even convince Illdi to join in on the games, and the bright smile and genuine laughter she had when letting her guard down around the children warmed Steffen's heart.
A little blonde girl named Svari, especially, had wormed her way into Steffen's affections. She was the niece of the man Steffen had witnessed being executed when he first arrived to Skyrim, and he did whatever he could to make the sad, little girl smile. She was worried about her mother, Greta, who seemed to be having a very difficult time with her brother's death. Steffen actually found himself sneaking into the Hall of Dead to retrieve Roggvir's Amulet of Talos off his dead body. He sent up a quick prayer to the Divines to forgive him for robbing the dead, telling himself that if Greta hadn't been afraid of retribution from the authorities, she would have requested to keep the amulet before her brother's burial. Steffen was actually a bit surprised that the amulet hadn't been removed from his person anyway, considering Talos worship had been banned within the hold thanks to the Thalmor.
Steffen had been pleasantly surprised at the lack of Thalmor presence within the city. Being that it was the capital of Skyrim and sympathetic to the Empire, he had initially worried that there would be a constant Thalmor presence within the walls, but there wasn't. Apparently, according to Illdi, the Thalmor possessed an embassy within the mountains not far from the city and a fort along the coast to the north. Their visits to the city itself happened only every so often, during which time they would meet with the Jarl and her advisors as well as General Tullius whose headquarters were at the military encampment within the city, Castle Dour.
Aside from himself and Viarmo, there were two other Altmer who made their home within the city, a pair of sisters known as Endarie and Taarie. Together they managed an upscale clothing shop, Radiant Raiment. They had both come on rather strong with Steffen, clearly pleased with the appearance of a handsome, eligible, young man of their race within the city and made certain he was aware they were both on the market and willing to marry. Steffen found them both rather horrid to be around, however. They were conceited and rude and, like most of his race, saw themselves above the other races who made their home within the city. He did his best to avoid them whenever possible, though he would admit, only to himself, the bit of jealousy he saw on Illdi's part when they encountered the women and their endless flirting thrilled him.
Steffen spent a great deal of time in the local apothecary shop, Angeline's Aromatics, if only because being so close to the merchandise within the shop gave him a feeling of warmth and nostalgia for his mother. Angeline was a kind, elderly woman, and she was more than happy to spend some time teaching Steffen the things he regretted not having had the patience to learn from his mother when she had been alive.
There was still no news on his sisters. Though he knew it was too soon to expect word from Lami and Jorgen in reference to their help in the search, each day that passed without news of his family filled him with more concern that, perhaps, they hadn't survived Helgen. He refused to believe they were dead, however. He had never met women as strong as his sisters, and he had to believe if they were no longer in this world, he would be able to feel it somehow.
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, you guys. Life has been crazy hectic between work and the holidays, and I admit I've had a little bit of writer's block in reference to Steffen's part of the story. I have some written ahead for his sisters (who lead a bit more exciting lives) but want to make sure I get his Hearthfire portion of the story published before I post any of that. There will be a half dozen or so chapters in this portion of his story, and I hope to post an update weekly, but please bare with me if it takes me a little bit longer. I promise, I'm not abandoning this family of stories. This is a little bit of a filler chapter. I've got some more excitement planned for Steffen during this month as well as an eagerly anticipated reunion. If you haven't read the stories of his sisters, all five of them have been updated through the end of Hearthfire and can be found on my profile.
