Chapter 10: The first quiet day
The trio entered their new home in Whiterun. What they found was more than enough for them. In the middle of the main room was a fireplace, and behind it was a kitchen. Near the entrance were bookshelves, normal shelves and a weapon rack. In the back of the room was a door, that led to a little alchemy lab. Stairs let up to a second floor, where the bedrooms were located. Wendy took the one with a single bed, while the twins chose the bigger one with two beds in it. Next to the stairs was another door, that led into a small toilet, which consisted only of a hole in the ground and a bucket below it. Under the stairs were Barrels, sacks and chest to store food and other goods. The walls on the upper floor had multiple weapon racks.
Everyone took off their armor and stored it in the drawers, which was more difficult for Dipper and Wendy than for Mabel, and were happy to wear their normal clothes again, without the weight of the armor. Mabel set Squiggels down in her room, and told everyone to close the door all the time.
Dipper had thirst and looked into the kitchen, only to find out that they lacked any food. Thus, Wendy left the house to get some food, and Dipper followed. With the lab in the house, he wanted to buy some ingrediants and test around a bit.
Mabel was alone now. She pulled out the book Farengar gave her and read it. The same thing as with the other two happened. She 'selected' it and tried it out. A small dot appeared in her hand, not to different from the healing spell, and she tried to throw it. The little dot flew into a corner and levitated in the air, generating light. Although the spell was neither offensive or defensive, it looked handy. And could probably save some money.
A short time later, Dipper returned with a little satchel.
"And, what did you buy?" She asked, while reading one of the two books that already were in the bookshelf
"I'm not quite sure. Arcadia said she would give me the beginner's pack. Want to look with me?" She nodded and they entered the backroom. Dipper opened the satchel and put the ingredients on the table. He had some flowers and berries, a feather, some dust, salt, scales and a claw. "That... doesn't seem healthy."
"How much was it?"
"Forty-five Gold."
"For that? We could've gotten that stuff in the forest." Mabel said.
They heard the door opening, and looked out of the room. Wendy came back, carrying a backpack and sack. She threw them on the table.
"What did you get?" Dipper asked while opening the sack.
"A little bit of everything. Vegetables, fruits, fish, meat. I've tried to stay under fifty Gold."
"Did you?"
Wendy shrugged. "Close. fifty-four."
"So, who of us can cook?" Mabel asked. They all looked at each other.
"I've know how to use a micro wave." Wendy said.
"Yeah. This isn't helping." Mabel replied and began to cast her flames at the fireplace. "And when Dipper cooks, we're gonna be poisoned for a week."
"Hey!" Dipper yelled.
"And you know how to use a fireplace?" Wendy asked the girl.
"Kinda. I know how to make a soup in it." Mabel explained. She walked to the table and looked at the food they had. After a small discussion, they settled for a simple potato soup.
After it was ready, they sat down around the fireplace and started to eat. It wasn't anything special, but surely better than the bread or simple fruits they ate for the last two days.
"So, what are we gonna do tomorrow?"Dipper asked his friends while eating a bit of potato.
"I think we should wait with this Hrothgar place. I could use some peace for once." Mabel said.
"Me too. The last three days, we either ran through the woods, climbed mountains or fought monsters. Some nice, quiet rest would be great." Wendy agreed.
"It's settled then. High Hrothgar can wait." Dipper said. "So Wendy, how is the life as our bodyguard?" He asked as a joke.
"It seems like I can't escape working for your family. Seriously though, you won't let me do your chores, right?"
"Don't worry. This is just something the Jarl said you to do. That doesn't mean you have to do it." Mabel answered.
"Isn't he, like, the King of this land?" Dipper pointed out.
"Well, yeah. But as long as he doesn't know." They shrugged. Even if someone were to ask about it, they could lie.
After they finished eating, and simply putting the dishes on table, all three of them got to bed.
In the next morning, Wendy was the first one to get up. She just now realised that she wouldn't be able to drink a cup of coffee in the morning, and was in a pretty bad mood because of that.
After Mabel woke up, she ate a bit of bread and left to look outside for mail. She opened a little box next to the entrance and took the two letters inside. One was simple advertisement, while the other on came from Farengar.
Dear Dragonborns.
As the court-wizard at Dragonsreach,
it is my duty to help a new mage to set foot.
This is why I invite Mabel Pines to Dragonsreach.
I'll look forward to our meeting.
With thanks, Farengar Secret-Fire.
Mabel was intrigued. He probably wanted to teach her some stuff about magic, maybe even a new Spell. She thought about it for a moment and decided to go. The Dragonborn went back into the house, and saw Wendy sitting at the table. "Hey Wendy. Im going to Dragonsreach. Farengar wants to teach me something."
"Whatever. I don't care." Wendy replied annoyed.
"Everything all right? You seem a lot grumpier then usual."
Wendy stared at her, and flipped her off.
"Okay. Geez. Calm down."
Wendy sighed. "Sorry. I'm just tired."
"Didn't sleep well?"
"No, not really. I think I need some time to get used to the beds here. I mean, they are just wood with straw and a piece of hide on top."
"Just go to bed again then. We don't have anything to do today anyways."
"Maybe. Good luck with your magic."Wendy said, and yawned.
Mabel waved and left the house.
Half an hour later Dipper woke up. He went downstairs and took an apple. Wendy wasn't around, and neither was Mabel. He guessed that they were in the city shopping and decided to finally mix around some potions. He sorted the ingrediants, and began to mix the ingrediants randomly, hoping for the best.
In the meantime, Mabel stood in front of Dragonsreach. Opening the gate, Farengar was already waiting. They shook hands and walked into his study.
"So, what do you know about magic?" Farengar asked her.
"Well, it makes me shoot fire, heal myself, makes light and I can learn it through books. Oh, and it's bend to something called Magicka."
"Okay, that are at least the basics. Best we start with magicka. Were it actually comes from is unknown, and a much discussed topic among the scholars. Some say it's a manifestation of ones soul, other say it is what's left of Magnus' power on Nirn. Wherever it comes form, it is directly bend to your ability to cast spells. Luckily, if you get better with magic, your Magicka pool will expand too." Farengar explained.
Mabel had begun to get impatient. "So, can we get to spells now?"
"You don't care about the very fabric of magic?" Farnegar asked, dumbfounded.
"Nah. I would forget it again anyway."
The wizard sighed. "Very well. I have decided to show you two spells. The first one is the lesser ward spell. It will cast a ward in front of you, blocking weak magical attacks and effects. The second one would be lighting bolt. It will make you cast lighting, and throw it at your opponent. This will not only damage him, but also drain his own Magicka."
Mabel was excited. Those new Spells sounded awesome. The ward can save her life, and the lighting bolt could potentialy be used to power something. "So, how does this work? You are going to show them to me and I need to repeat them? Or do I have to meditate about them."
"No. Even though that are the normal methods, thanks to the dragons we don't have much time. Thus, I'll give you the Spell tomes." He handed her two books.
"How many of this things do you have?" Mabel deadpanned.
"A lot." Farengar shrugged.
She opened them and learned the spells. "Now I will cast a fireball at you, and you will use your defense spell to block it, understood?" She nodded, and his hands ignited and a fireball shot towards Mabel. She put up the ward and the fireball exploded as soon as it made contact, leaving her unscathed. "Great. You seem to know how to use this one. Now I'll put up a ward, and you will shock me."
Mabel chose her other new spell. Her hands sparked, which tingled a bit. "Great. Now channel the lightning and throw it." She did like he told her, and the sparks changed into an ball of electricity. She closed her hand and opened it, with the palm facing Farengar. A bolt of electricity left her hand and hit the ward. "Well done. You learn fast. It is important to note that stronger spells cost more Magicka. The lightning bolt for example costs more than the flames spell. You need to keep that in mind. Now, let's move on to enchanting." He led her to a strange table. It had an pentagramm on it, with a different symbol in every spike. An skull looked over the station. "This is an enchantment table. Here you can use filled soulgems to enchant equipment like weapons, armor and attire. Give me your circlet."
Unknown to the twins, Wendy walked around in Whiterun, wanting to get a grasp of the city. There was one thing she found particularly interesting. To the left side of the building that looked like a boat, was a giant stone eagle overlooking the city. While going there, she heard someone yelling. Wendy turned left and saw someone wearing a robe preaching about Talos. She remembered the name from the conversation with Balgruuf, and wanted to get a bit more info. Afterall, knowing about the local culture isn't to bad, especially if you don't know if you can executed if you do something said culture doesn't agree with.
The preacher had noticed her coming closer and instantly turned toward her. "The truth, child of Talos, is that dragon's children have come! To purge the world in fire and righteousness!" And he seemed like a nutjob. Did he really believe the dragon situation was a good thing?
"Uhm, sorry, but who exactly is Talos?"
"Hello, my friend. If you seek knowledge about mighty Talos, you have most certainly come to the right person. In mortal life Talos was a Nord possessed of unmatched tactical skill, limitless wisdom and the power to see into men's hearts. Talos mastered the power of the Voice, and with it he united the lands of men into a great empire. In southern lands, he was known by the name Tiber Septim. Here in Skyrim, we honor him by his proper Nord name. So great was his reign in life, when he ascended to the heavens he was made lord of the Divines. If you want to know more, I'm sure you can find a number of tomes on the subject."
"If he's that famous, why are you preaching here? Shouldn't he be known by, like, everyone?"
"Indeed he should, but his worship is outlawed." The preacher answered with sorrow in his voice.
"What? Why?" Wendy asked and raised an eyebrow.
"Because the so-called Emperor is a coward! That's right, I said coward! Oh yes! He agreed to banish the worship of Talos at the tip of an Aldmeri sword. They called it the White-Gold-Concordat. Well, I call it blasphemy! A true son-" He got angrier and angrier, only to be interrupted by the last voice Wendy wanted to hear right now.
"Heimskr? Spreading your preachings again?" The Companion they encountered on the way to Whiterun came down the stairs leading up to the boat.
"Aela. I was just telling this young girl why they outlawed the worship of the Mighty Talos."
"Yes, I figured." she looked at Wendy. "Hey, didn't I meet you some days ago? Down at Pelagia Farm?"
"Yeah, and I'm still pissed about it." Wendy replied angry.
"It's okay. I've heard you helped killing that dragon? Pretty impressive." Aela said.
Wendy was surprised. She thought Aela would talk down to her even more. "Uh, thanks."
"Listen. You seem like you can be turned into a capable warrior. If you are interested, the Companions still have room."
"Are you offering me to join you?" Wendy asked, even more surprised then before.
"Yes. If you want to accept , go to Jorrvaskr." She pointed at the turned boat. "Like I said, go to Kodlak Whitemane."
"Sorry, I'm flattered and all, but I have to watch out for my friends. And I'm not sure if I like being a mercenary." Wendy said while rubbing the back of her head.
"Your friends are the Dragonborn, aren't they?"
"How do you know that?"
"Things like that get around fairly quick. I know your job is important, and if you don't wanna join us, maybe we can give you some fighting lessons." She turned to the preacher, who was quiet the whole time. "And Heimskr. Please stop. You know as well as I do that both of us would'nt exist without the Concordat."
She left again, letting Wendy stand alone there with Heimskr. He coughed in his fist. "Where was I? The mighty-"
"Yeah, yeah. You are getting annoying." Wendy said and left towards the eagle, letting the preacher stand there. Aela's offer was intriguing. Getting better at fighting could only help her, and once the whole dragon situation is dealt with, maybe she could even join. That way she could make money while beingstuck in this dimension, and at the moment it didn't seem like they would get home any time soon.
When she walked up to the monument, she found something unexpected. Instead of being a place of worship, or an tourist attractions, it was a smithy. Weapons were laying around, and all kinds of material was scattered across the place. Under the eagle was a firepit, which was used to heat and meld the metalls. One man was working there, currently sharpening a sword.
"Hey. What's up with this place?" Wendy asked him.
"Hmm?" he looked up. It seemed like he just noticed her. "The Skyforge? Aye, my clan-fathers have worked it since the first Gray-Manes came to Whiterun. Skyforge Steel is all the Companions will use, for good reason."
"Anything el-" She saw that he was back to sharpening the sword. "Okay, thanks for that." She left, disappointed that this wasn't something special. Just a very expensive forge.
Dipper tried to find a bookstore, so that he could buy a book about alchemy. The closest thing he found was Belthor's shop, who sold a couple of books. There was none about alchemy though, so he decided to buy one called "Uncommon Taste", so that they could cook something else than potato soup.
When he left the shop, he saw two warriors talking to a guard in the distance, near the city entrance. With nothing better to do, he decided to overhear the conversation. He snuck up behind a barrel at the smithy. The two warriors clearly were not from Skyrim. They looked like they were from the old middle east, and had a darker skin tone than the people here usually had. Their swords were scimitars. He also realised that they didn't simply talk, but were in a heated debate with the guard.
"Look, you've already been told you're not allowed here." The guard said, trying to stay calm. "Turn around and go back the way you came."
"We're causing no trouble. All we ask for is to look for her." One of the warriors, wearing a hood over his head, replied.
"I don't care what you're doing, after what happened you're lucky I don't toss you in jail. Now get lost." The guard answered.
"We will be back. This is not over." The other warrior said, and the guard walked away.
Dipper was curios about what was going on. There seemed to be some kind of problem here, and judging from the conversation, the warriors were looking for a criminal of some kind. As he came out of his hiding spot to talk to the warriors, the one without the hood approached him by himself.
"You there. We are looking for someone in Whiterun, and will pay good money for information."
Even though he techincally wasn't from here, Dipper wanted to help. It could help catching a criminal, and pay well. "Yes, I've overheard your debate. Who are you looking for?"
"A woman- a foreigner in these lands. Reguard, like us." Although Dipper at first couldn't make anything of the word 'Redguard', he figured that it was the name of their ethnicity, like the people from Skyrim were called Nord. "She is likely not using her true name. We will pay for any information regarding her location. We are not welcome here in Whiterun, so we will be in Rorikstead if you learn anything."
"Rorikstead. Got it. What did she do anyway? Steal something? Homicide?"
"It's none of your concern. All you need to know is that we we're paying for information. If that doesn't interest you, feel free to walk away."
"Uhm. Okay. I'll come to you if I find anything." Dipper said. He thought that they didn't want to tell what she did was very suspicious.
"Great. And remember: We're looking for a fugitive from Hammerfell. A Redguard woman. She may be somewhere in this city."
"I got this the first time, thanks. Bye."
"Goodbye." The hooded Redguard said and they left the city. This was definetly something Dipper would have to investigate. The whole situation didn't seem right. But for now, he wanted to go home and continue with his alchemy.
After returning home, he went into the laboratory again. The one potion he made was a total failure, and didn't do anything. Without a way to find out recipes, he just began to mix them randomly again. Of course, he could just ask Arcadia, but after the last time he did, he feared that she would charge him for it every time.
An hour later, he heard the entrance door, and went into the main room.
"Hey Mabel. Where have you been?"
"Dragonsreach. Farengar invited me. Look what I can do!" She casted a lightning bolt at the ceiling, and then created a shield in front of her. "He also enchanted my circlet. It somehow strenghtens my armor now. What did you do?"
"I made some potions."
"Which ones?"
"Well, that's the problem. I don't know what they do. Someone would have to try them."
The door opened again, and Wendy entered the house. "I'm back."
"Wendy? Would you have any problem with drinking a potion?" Mabel asked.
"Mabel! You can't just drink them. Who knows what they could do to you two."
"Please. I've got a healing spell, and we still have a couple of healing potions left."
Dipper sighed and walked back into the lab, only to come out again with two potions in his hands. He gave both one.
Wendy opened the bottle and downed the drink with one swig.
"And? Feel anything?"
"Not really. It tastes like orange juice though. Oldorangejuciebythewaydidyouseethatgiantstoneeagleabovethecitythereisasmithyupthere." Dipper and Mabel looked at each other worried while Wendy continued speaking without breathing. "Andthenthere'sthatconcordatthatsaidnooneshouldworshiptalosandithinki'mgoingtosleepnow." She fell over and the twins instantly ran to her. Dipper put two fingers on her wrist.
"She's okay. Just unconscius."
"Phew. Please tell me mine has other ingrediants." Mabel said.
"Yep."
"Alright." Mabel drank her potion, and her face changed to green.
"Everything okay?"
"I- I think I'm gonna throw up." Mabel said and ran into the closet.
While she was gone, Dipper pulled out a note where he wrote the recipes he used, and scratched the one he made for Wendy. After a minute, she finally woke up again.
"Ugh. What happened?" She asked, holding her head.
"Let's just say my potion didn't work."
"Last time I try one. Where's Mabel?"
The door opened again, and Mabel came out of the closet. She looked tired. "Are you alright?" her brother asked.
"Your potion made me throw up." Mabel answered.
"Did it do something else?" Dipper said, trying to find something good in the situation.
"Yeah. It gave me diarrhea."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I'm just- I'm just gonna go to bed." Mabel replied and slowly stumbled up the stairs.
Dipper scratched the potion too. "None of them worked." He muttered disappointed.
"I wouldn't say that." Wendy answered. "I think the last one could be used as some kind of poison."
"I guess. We could avoid battles."
"Exactly. Just don't use it on a dragon."
"Why not?" Dipper asked.
"You want a dragon with diarrhea flying around?"
"Fair enough."
"Was that the last potion?" The redhead asked.
"Actually." Dipper walked into the laboratory, and came out again with a white flask. "I think I'm just gonna drink that one myself."
"You sure? None of them did work."
"It's all for science, Wendy." he drank it, but felt nothing. "Hmm. Weird."
"Dipper?"
"Yeah?"
"Your arms."
"What are you-" He looked at his hands and arms, only to see that the were invisible. "Nice. Invisibility potion. When I tweak the recipe a bit, it could work."
"Please, don't turn your side to me. I can see inside your shoulders."
"Oh. Sorry." Dipper walked over to the counter and picked up the new book. "So, what do you want for dinner? In here are the recipes for a Sunlight Souffle and something called Pontage le Manifique."
"First off, I have no idea what either of those are. Second: Is that french? Why do they speak french here?"
"Why do they speak english here?" The dragonborn pointed out. "Also, it's written here that you need an oven for the souffle'. I guess it is the second one then."
"I thought you can't cook?"
"Please. Everything is in here. Step for step. I just need to go to the market." He took his bag, and left the house, leaving Wendy alone. She shrugged, took a book out of the shelf, and sat down.
I actually ran into the problem that there is not one toilet found in Skyrim (Or any Elder Scrolls game, as far as I can recall) while writing this. So, I thought I'd add a little room dedicated to that to Breezehome, and basically every place people live.
Elder Scrolls belongs to Bethesda; Gravity Falls belongs to Disney.