Before leaving Riften, Keolah stopped by the Ragged Flagon to check if Vex and Delvin had any jobs for her in Whiterun. They were quite eager to complain to her about wanting a job in a specific place, but really now, what did they expect her to do, run all over Skyrim just for their schemes? They wound up wanting to send her to Windhelm instead, and she just took the jobs after getting tired of arguing about it.
While she was there, she showed Vex a shiny gem that she'd picked up somewhere but wasn't sure what to do with. Turned out, it was some fabled stone of something she couldn't pronounce, and she'd need to find twenty-four of the things if she expected anyone to buy them. She grumbled a little at that, wondering just where she was going to track down these things, and if she was just going to haul them all around until she got them all.
"So," Marcurio said as they headed out the secret entrance to the Thieves' Guild in the cemetery. "Want me to remind you about those jobs when we get to Windhelm?"
"I've already forgotten them," Keolah said lightly.
The two of them headed out the gates of Riften and past the stables. As they caught wind of the smell of horses, Marcurio suggested, "Maybe it would be quicker to take a cart?"
"That costs money," Keolah said, waving off the suggestion. "Besides, I've been to Whiterun before. I know where we're going."
"Walking it is, then," Marcurio said with a shrug.
They headed out along the road, which quickly got distracted by Keolah rushing off to pick mountain flowers and catch a couple of blue butterflies. After trudging off the road for a bit, they came upon a path leading beside the lake and headed along that instead.
As they passed by an old, half-ruined fort, some bandits started shooting at them and unleashed some dogs. Once the bandits and canines were down, Keolah glanced over to see Marcurio still zapping at something. She could sense there was something still nearby, and it was no bandit. A gout of icy cold set her to shivering as frost formed rapidly on the ground around her.
"Oh," she said, looking up at the sky. "A dragon."
Still a bit winded from the bandits, she hurled lightning bolts at the dragon as it hung in the air, along with Marcurio's fire and lightning. The dragon roared and flew over to the other side of the ruined fort, and although she couldn't see it over there, she heard it land on the ground with an earthy thud.
"Oh, stay still and let me kill you," Keolah said.
She circled around the stone walls to send another lightning bolt at the creature. With a final shriek at the sky, the dragon collapsed. The body burst into flames, and swirling energy surged in her veins as she absorbed its power.
"You know," Keolah said, catching her breath afterward. "Maybe I shouldn't be so afraid of these things after all."
"Why should you be afraid of them in the first place?" Marcurio said. "You're the Dragonborn, after all."
"Hmm, I think you might have a point there," Keolah said. She went over to pick at the corpse. "Hey, carry these bones for me, will you?"
Marcurio huffed at that. "I am not a pack mule!"
"Yeah, but I'm the Dragonborn!" Keolah said with a grin. "Besides, you might not be able to carry as much as a big, strong Nord with more muscles than brains, but you can certainly carry something, and think about how valuable these are!"
"True," Marcurio conceded, reluctantly gathering up what he could.
After crossing a bridge and passing by a mill, a Khajiit with a knife ran up to them and said, "Hand over your valuables!"
Keolah looked at the cat like he was crazy. "Seriously? You're trying to mug a couple of mages, in broad daylight, even? Admittedly I'm not dressed like a mage at the moment, but Marcurio here is totally wearing mage robes."
"You look like you're swimming in gold!" the would-be robber said. "Now hand it over! I am not going to ask again."
"Besides," Keolah said. "I'm with the Thieves Guild. Don't you recognize the armor I'm wearing? They handed it to me just for joining, although I'm sure they just wanted to get rid of some old rubbish that was laying around and collecting dust."
"Oh," the Khajiit said, lowering his knife and relaxing. "Sorry, my mistake. Have a nice day." He turned to walk off.
Keolah muttered to Marcurio, "I'm half tempted to shove a lightning bolt up his tail anyway."
It was growing late as they crossed another bridge and arrived in a village, and Keolah figured it best to hole up here for the night.
"I'll take it by the fact that you haven't protested any of my directions that we're going the right way," Keolah said.
"Yes, this route will get us to Whiterun," Marcurio said, then smirked at her. "I thought you said you knew the way."
"I do!" Keolah protested. "I totally do. I just, um, get lost sometimes."
"Uh-huh," Marcurio said.
Keolah headed into town and glanced about for something that looked like an inn, and headed inside.
"Don't get many visitors up here," said the innkeeper. "Unless they're heading up to High Hrothgar, of course. You don't look like a pilgrim to me, but I suppose I've seen stranger things."
"I'm not going to High Hrothgar," Keolah replied. "Well, not yet anyway. I'll probably head up there sooner or later, but I have other things to do first, you know? I'm just on my way to Whiterun at the moment."
"Of course, of course," the innkeeper said. "Can I get you a drink, something to eat, a room for the night?"
Keolah opted for all of the above, and quickly retired to her room to get away from everyone in the inn wanting to talk about High Hrothgar and assuming that she must be on her way up there. In fact, the only one who didn't want to talk about High Hrothgar just wanted to complain about bears and offer a bounty for bear pelts.
In the morning, she headed out with Marcurio, intending to take the road to Whiterun and hoping to be there by nightfall. A trio of hired thugs showed up wanting to teach them a lesson just outside the inn.
"What was that all about?" Marcurio wondered as they stood over the three corpses. The thugs hadn't lasted long.
"I have no idea," Keolah said.
"What, don't know anyone you've annoyed lately?"
"Not that I remember, anyway..." Keolah said, looking off thoughtfully, then shrugged. On the body of one of the thugs, there was a contract from someone named Wujeeta. "I don't even know a Wujeeta!" She stuffed it in her bag anyway.
On the way out of town, they ran across two men talking by a bridge.
"Heading up to High Hrothgar again, Klimmek?" said one.
"Not today," said Klimmek. "My legs aren't what they used to be, and I'm just not up to climbing the Seven Thousand Steps much anymore."
"Aren't the Greybeards expecting some supplies?"
As Keolah drew close, Klimmek noticed her and said, "Good day. You passing through on the way up to High Hrothgar?"
"Why does everyone assume I'm going up to High Hrothgar?" Keolah wondered.
"Because you're the Dragonborn?" Marcurio suggested helpfully.
"Don't see why else you'd be here," Klimmek said. "There's not much in Ivarstead for anyone. Well, if you are heading up there, I have a bag of supplies to be delivered up there."
Keolah's eye twitched. She didn't really care to climb any Seven Thousand Steps, but... there was a delivery to be made. And, she supposed, she ought to talk to the Greybeards sometime or another anyway. Learning about these Shouts might be nice.
"I'll take them up for you," Keolah offered.
"That's great!" Klimmek said, handing her the bag. "Just put them in the offering chest outside. I'm sure they'll be grateful for them."
"Right," Keolah said.
She shoved it into her pack and headed up toward the mountain with a sigh.
"Change your mind, huh?" Marcurio said with a smirk.
Keolah grumbled under her breath. "Let's just go and get this over with."
It wasn't difficult to find the path up to High Hrothgar, with broad stone steps being set into the dirt along the slopes of the mountain, and of course, etched stones alongside the path that babbled entirely more than Keolah cared about the history of dragons and whatever.
As they ascended the mountain, the air grew steadily colder, and soon there was a layer of snow along the ground.
"You know, there's one good thing about snow," Keolah commented.
"What's that?" Marcurio asked.
"Snowberries," Keolah said brightly, going to pick some.
Marcurio snorted softly. "If you hate snow so much, what are you doing in Skyrim?"
"Got lost," Keolah replied with a shrug.
"Why does that not surprise me?"
Keolah tried to keep herself warm against the biting wind as they climbed the steps.
"I think as many of these steps go down as go up..." Keolah commented. "Whoever built this path was really not in a hurry to get to the top of the mountain."
She stopped and talked briefly with a pilgrim who was sitting in the snow meditating at one of the etched tablets, who thought it was exciting that the Greybeards had called for the Dragonborn. Not really wanting to stand around in the snow and chat, Keolah continued on quickly.
After a bit, Marcurio said, "Um, Keolah? We're back at the third emblem. That woman back there was meditating at the fourth one."
"You're actually reading these things?" Keolah wondered.
"They're interesting," Marcurio said with a shrug.
Keolah sighed. "I must have gotten turned around. And I was wondering why the snowberry bushes looked like they'd already been picked clean."
She headed back in the other direction, really not wanting to spend anymore time on this mountain than necessary. She stayed well away from the edge of the path. It was quite a long way down, and she was kind of grateful for the clouds at least partially obscuring the view.
Finally, mercifully, they reached the top of the mountain around midday. With fingers numbed by cold, Keolah put the supplies Klimmek had given to her inside the offering chest, then headed up the final steps to the doors. Hopefully, it would be warmer inside, maybe even have a nice fire going, but if nothing else, it would be out of the wind.
Inside the vaulted stone temple, a tranquil silence hung over the place, and their footsteps echoed like thunder within the halls. Keolah relaxed upon realizing that it was fairly warm inside, and a number of blazing braziers lined the walls.
"So, a Dragonborn has come, at this fateful time," an old robed man said, approaching her.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm here," Keolah said. "You called?"
"We must see if you truly have the gift," the Greybeard said. "Let us taste of your Voice."
Keolah raised an eyebrow at him and gave him an odd look. "You know, that sounds kind of bad."
"Oh, just Shout at me," the Greybeard said.
"Why didn't you just say that?" Keolah said. "FUS!"
The old man staggered back under her Unrelenting Force ability. "So, it is true. Welcome, Dragonborn. I am Master Arngeir. I speak for the Greybeards."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Keolah. I go places and do things."
"Now, tell me, Dragonborn, why have you come to High Hrothgar?" Arngeir asked.
Keolah gave him another look. "You asked me to come, didn't you? Although you kind of called me in a bit of an earthquake or something. You know, yelling so loudly that all of Skyrim can hear the word 'Dovahkiin' isn't really very subtle." She paused. "I was meaning to put it off, though, but somebody wanted me to deliver some supplies." She jerked a thumb back toward the entrance. "Some salted meats and stuff out in the chest out there."
"Ah, excellent!" Arngeir said. "We're almost out of pork sausage. I hope you brought some. It is most delicious."
"I didn't look," Keolah said. "So, did you call me up here to teach me stuff? Because I wouldn't mind learning a bit."
"Provided you can pay attention long enough," Marcurio said, absently roasting a bit of sausage over a brazier.
"Oh, like you can talk," Keolah retorted.
"Let us see if you have the capacity to learn," Arngeir said.
He started going on about her dragon blood, words of power, and so forth, but she wasn't really paying attention by that point and was trying to sort out in her head all of the things people had asked her to do. She was sure she was forgetting something that may or may not be important, but couldn't quite put her finger on what.
"Are you listening, Dragonborn?" Arngeir asked.
"Oh, yeah, of course," Keolah replied.
They taught her the second word in Unrelenting Force, "Ro", and asked her to demonstrate that she had learned it properly. That shouldn't be too hard, she thought. It was a little disorienting to learn things directly from their minds like this, but not all that much different from what happened when she killed a dragon.
"FUS-RO!" Keolah shouted at Arngeir.
Arngeir staggered back against the wall. "Yes, that is the correct Shout. But I meant that you should demonstrate it on the target, not on me."
"FUS-RO!" Keolah shouted at some pots, sending them scattering.
"No, the target..." Arngeir protested.
"FUS-RO!" she directed at Marcurio.
He fell back onto his bottom and said, "Hey! You almost made me drop my sausage!"
Arngeir sighed. "Never mind. I suppose that will be sufficient. Let us move on. Follow Master Borri to the courtyard."
One of the Greybeards headed toward the large doors at the far side of the building. Very slowly.
"You guys aren't in any great hurry to do anything up here, are you," Keolah muttered. "Master Boring is more like it."
Borri didn't respond.
"Although I don't really blame you, I suppose," Keolah added. "I'm not that eager to get back out into the cold and wind, either."
When they stepped outside, Borri shouted, "LOK-VAH-KOOR!" The effect was immediate. The cutting wind calmed to a gentle breeze, the snow ceased to fall, and the clouds parted to allow warm sunlight to spill down from the sky.
"No fair," Keolah said. "I want to learn that Shout!"
"In due time," Arngeir said. "When you are ready."
"Aww," Keolah said. "Come on!"
"Master Borri will teach you the Whirlwind Sprint ability," Arngeir said.
Keolah sighed. "Alright, alright..."
The Word of Power for this one was "Wuld". Keolah impatiently listened and absorbed the knowledge, not really caring or paying too much attention. She wandered off to see if there were any snowberries growing up here.
"Dragonborn?" Arngeir said. "Over here. Come and demonstrate your knowledge of the Whirlwind Sprint."
"Oh, right," Keolah said, heading over to a spot in front of a large metal gate.
"Master Borri will open the gate," Arngeir said. "Use the Whirlwind Sprint to get through it before it closes."
"Right," Keolah said. "Let's do this."
"Bex!" Borri said, and the gate opened.
Keolah stared at him at that. She was expecting that he would just open the gate, not speak a Word of Power to open it. She was hardly one to speak of using magic or other similar powers gratuitously, but these old men seemed to take their power more seriously than that.
"Dragonborn?" Arngeir said once the gate had closed. "Focus."
"Oh," Keolah said. "Oops. Right. Sorry."
"Bex!" Borri said, opening the gate again.
"FUS!" Keolah shouted, sending snow flying from the ground in front of her.
"No, no," Arngeir said. "Use the Whirlwind Sprint, not Unrelenting Force. You've already demonstrated that you can use Unrelenting Force."
"Sorry, got confused for a moment there," Keolah said.
"Of course," Arngeir said. "Let us try this again."
"Bex!" Borri said a third time.
"WULD!" Keolah shouted. The power propelled her through the air, and she slammed into the rocks to the right side of the gate. "Umph..." Using that ability was definitely a little disorienting, but... kind of fun, actually. Provided she didn't hit something. That just stung.
Arngeir sighed. "I think we shall call this good enough."
Marcurio finished up his lunch and yawned boredly.
"For your last trial, you must retrieve the horn of Jurgen Windcaller from the ancient fane of Ustengrav," Arngeir said.
"Okay," Keolah said, not really caring who Jurgen Windcaller was or why they wanted his horn. She handed her map to him. Arngeir looked at her questioningly, and she said, "You're going to have to mark where that is, or I'm never going to find it."
"Ah, of course," Arngeir said, and made a note of a location on the map.
"Let's go," Keolah said, tilting her head toward Marcurio. "If we get moving, we can get back down this mountain again before dark."
As they passed through the temple, Keolah knocked over a number of pots and sent some books scattering with Unrelenting Force. The Greybeards didn't react in the slightest, and she quickly got bored of that and headed out the front doors.
"Hmm," Marcurio said, looking off the edge of the path. "I think I can see Whiterun from here."
"Really?" Keolah said. "I can't see anything. But I'll take your word on it. Say, that would be a much shorter path than the way we took up."
She walked over to the edge and hopped down to the rock below.
Marcurio looked at her incredulously. "You're going down here?"
"Sure, why not?" Keolah said. "Come on, it's not even that steep."
"Uh..." Marcurio said, suddenly looking uneasy.
"Ah, don't be a sissy," Keolah said.
"You were the one who seemed afraid of falling on the way up," Marcurio said.
"Bah, you sound like Ralof," Keolah said.
Marcurio sighed. "Fine, let's go. You certainly keep things interesting. But if I get killed, I'm coming back to annoy you."
The mountain slope turned out to be not that difficult to descend, and it put them down near the pair of bridges near Whiterun. Keolah cheerfully strode toward the city.
"See?" she said. "That was an excellent shortcut!"
"I should have asked for hazard pay," Marcurio muttered, looking a little ill.
"What, climbing down a mountain was worse than fighting dragons?" Keolah said.
"At least I can solve that problem with lightning bolts."
As they walked through the gates of Whiterun, there were pair of Redguards arguing with one of the guards, who was apparently throwing them out of town. As they were leaving, one of them stopped to address her.
"You there," said the man. "We're looking for someone who may be in Whiterun, and willing to pay for information."
"Who are you looking for?" Keolah asked.
"A Redguard woman. She's probably not using her real name."
"So, what, do you want me to accost every Redguard woman in Skyrim on the offhand chance that she might be the one you're looking for?" Keolah said, rolling her eyes.
"No, just the ones in Whiterun," the man said. "We can get the rest of Skyrim ourselves. If you learn anything, you can find us in Rorikstead."
Keolah snorted softly. "If I happen to run across the one you're looking for, I'll think about it."
More likely, she thought, she'd warn the woman about them, because they annoyed her.
"There's my house," she said to Marcurio as they passed by Breezehome. "You can go drop the stuff you're carrying there. I need to go see the steward real quick. I'll be right back."
Marcurio grunted. "Good. These things are heavy."
She headed up to the keep and forked over entirely too many septims to the steward for home upgrades, then made her way back home again. It was dark by the time she located first the keep and then her house, having spent more time getting lost in town than she'd spent coming down the mountain.
When she walked into Breezehome, she found Marcurio and Lydia huddled around the firepit. The place looked cleaner than it had before, but the new furnishings the steward promised hadn't materialized yet.
"Hey, I just paid a lot of money for renovations here!" Keolah said, looking around and pouting.
"You just went up there and paid for them," Marcurio said. "You expect them to be done immediately?"
Keolah grumbled. "I never let reality get in the way of my complaints." She sat down on the floor with them. "What's for dinner?"
"Roast mountain goat, my thane," Lydia said.
"From all the target practice you were doing on the way up that mountain," Marcurio added. "And you didn't mention you were a thane!"
"I forgot," she said.
Lydia muttered under her breath, "I can believe that."
