From now on I'll be writing by a pen name of Lazzarus. The previous name SilentFly was mostly used in games and didn't fit here.
Enjoy the new chapter!
Leiah woke up to someone nudging her side. She opened her eyes and saw the young girl restlessly fidgeting next to her. As she shifted herself to sit higher the girl opened her eyes and dreamily looked up to Leiah, she then sat up and moved a little bit away from her.
"How are you feeling?" Leiah asked softly.
"I uhh... where am I? And who are you?" she asked in response and rubbed her eyes. She probably didn't remember much from last night because of the shock.
"Are you hungry?" Leiah quickly changed the topic, hoping that the girl would regain some memories of what happened latter on.
The girl nodded and took a loaf of bread which Leiah broke in half, taking a bite from the other half.
They sat in silence. The air touching their faces was chilly but the blanket kept their bodies warm. They both finished their bread simultaneously and Leiah pulled an apple from her pouch, then handed it over to the girl who looked at her if she was asking a permission to accept the offering. Leiah replied to her with a warm smile.
"I still don't know your name." Leiah said, "How should I call you?"
"My name's Raffael, but everyone calls me Flaere" she said after swallowing a bite.
"I like it, I mean the shorter version. Why did your parents gave you such a boyish name anyway?"
"I haven't really cared to ask but mother said it's fine to call myself Flaere, Raffael is more symbolical to her... well was at least." She turned her gaze on to the ground and swallowed another bite.
"So you remember what happened to your parents?" Leiah asked after a short pause. She didn't want to bring back the painful memories to the girl but making sure she has regained her memories was the first step to choose the right path to solving the situation.
"I do remember now" Flaere said. Leiah was surprised that she could say it so easily. Her reaction was way too calm and mature for a young girl who had just lost both of her parents.
"Exactly how old are you" Leiah asked.
Flaere saw the confusion in Leiahs eyes and released a light smile. "I'm nine but everyone back in the village used to say that I act like a grownup sometimes. The barkeeper said that I got the trait from my father. He was a Stormcloack captain."
Cold and calculating father might pass the same traits to her daughter, Leiah mused to herself. "But how was he killed so easily by a single bandit when he was a soldier" Leiah finally found and error in the whole story.
"How do you know that he was killed" Flaere asked her.
"The man who brought you here left his diary behind when he escaped. He was in the middle of writing a new entrance when I arrived. Everything what happened was written down there."
"Oh... Okay, well the man killed was my stepfather. My real father died in a battle with Imperials". Flaere had now finished the apple that Leiah gave her.
"What about you, who are you and what are you doing here" Flaere asked Leiah.
"Ugh, I'm sorry, I totally forgot to introduce you myself. You can call me Leiah and to be honest I don't even know myself what I'm doing, but I'm on my way to Windhelm and I seeked cover from the wind here, when I came through the mountains." Leiah explained as she stood up and gave her side of the blanket to Flaere.
"So you're an adventurer" Flaere asked in awe. She has always enjoyed the stories that other adventurers told her when they passed Ivarstead to climb the Throat of the World.
"Well you might say so, but that would be an insult to all the other adventurers out there." Leiah chuckled. "Actually I'm an archeology student from Cyrodil..." Her sentence was cut off by Flaere who jumped up and seemed extremely exited.
"CYRODIL?" Flaere exclaimed. "You must have at least few good stories if you've been that far away."
"Well... yeah, I might have few" Leiah said, she was stretching her cold muscles to return on her journey to Windhelm. "By the way. Since your parents are no more, do you have anywhere else to go to?" She asked.
Flaere thought for a second and then shook her head. Her puppy like green eyes locked with Leiahs, who then sighted. "Well maybe you could come to Windhelm with me and if you like we can go back to Ivarstead to see if there's anyone who could help you". Leiah actually liked the idea of having a travel companion along with her.
The girl who seemed a bit more cheerful now wrapped the blanket around her and followed Leiah out of the cave.
The weather outside was beautiful. Aside the frosty air which filled the valley, the skies were clear and sun seemed to shine bright behind the mountaintop.
Leiah who walked slowly, not to tire Flaere too much had now picked up the pace to walk next to her. Last thing she could have expected was the girl to be so cheerful and energetic in the morning. If it would have been her in Flaeres place, it would have taken much longer for her to mourn. Leiah just hopped that the girl was really fine and not just putting up a brave face.
They didn't have to walk too long to reach the forest and out of the mountain range. The air was getting warmer and Flaere gave back Leiahs blanket. They were getting closer to Ivarstead. During the whole time they had been traveling, Flaere was listening Leiahs story of how she returned to Skyrim and how she isn't and actual adventurer. To Flaere the story of Leiahs arrival and the dragon at Helgen seemed so fantastic and unbelievable that she didn't care if Leiah was a real adventurer or not.
"I can't believe you saw a dragon". Flaere said after Leiah had finished her story. "This story was so much cooler than any of the stories I've heard from real adventurers. Speaking of dragons..."
Flaere suddenly fell silent. They had reach Ivarstead or what's left of it. Only some stone structures were still standing in the ashes. After a short stop Flaere walked up to where her house used to be. It was burned to the ground, Flaere stood where her door used be. Leiah was staning behind her, she could see a burnt corpse lying under the ashes.
Flaere felt tears returning her eyes again. She turned around to Leiah and put her arms around Leiahs waist.
"We don't have to stay here any longer if you don't want to" She said to the crying girl whos head she was stroking. Flaere stepped away and wiped her eyes.
"You're right. We should keep moving" Flaere finally answered and started walking towards a way sign which had Windhelm on it. Leiah who envied how well Flaere could control her emotions, had to pick up the pace again.
The sun was already setting behind the mountains when Leiah and Flaere arrived at the wide bridge that lead to the Windhelm gates. Windhelm is located in the much colder part of Skyrim and a heavy snowstorm has been building up since they passed Kynesgrove.
People working in the stables next to the bridge didn't seem to be bothered by the strong winds, also the horses seemed to be used to with the extreme weather. Leiah and Flaere went up from the stairs. There were three guards standing together and chatting next to the wall. Even though the trio looked cheerful the atmosphere around the city was dark and gloomy.
As they were getting closer to the gate, a loud roar echoed over the valley. They stopped for a second to look into the storm but they couldn't see anything, so were the guards and other people gathered on the left side of the bridge to have a chance to see what made the blood freezing sound.
Leiah knew exactly to whom the roar belonged to. An image of a creature, black as night passed through her memory. She grabbed Flaeres hand and started walking faster. When they reached the gate a lone guard stopped them.
"You two seem to adventurers, have you seen any Imperial scouts on your way here" She asked Leiah, who shook her head in response.
"Very well then," she said and knocked on the large iron gate that was at least three or four times of her height. "You may enter the city but don't cause any trouble."
The large gates opened before them and they entered the city.
It was Leiahs first time to Whindhelm but the initial sight wasn't impressive. The entrance of the city looked just a bit larger than the other alleyways routing from different directions.
"So this is the great city of the kings" Leiah chuckled to raise the mood.
"I was still much younger when my father was alive but the stories whichI remember described this place much more differently." Flaere said. In a conversation with a random person Leiah would have said something much more sarcastic but she didn't let her personal view of the Stormcloacks get in the way. Much less did she want to hurt Fleres feelings in any way.
"I suppose the war has left it's mark" She said after looking around for a little longer. She then started walking towards an inn which was right in front of the city entrance.
Closing the door behind her, Leiah found herself in a nice and cozy room. There was a lovely fireplace burning on the other side of the room, where the fire was lively burning inside. It was already dark outside and some of the stools were put onto the tables.
The barkeeper waved them over to the counter.
"Glad to see a nords face here." an old Nord woman said as she was cleaning a tankard with a rag. "Lately there are only those damned elves around here and I'm not even going to talk about the stray cats with their drugs."
Leiah furrowed her brow at the innkeeper. She had just insulted two of her best friends. The fact that one of them was recently murdered made it all worse. Discrimination was the number one reason she disliked the Stormcloacks.
"I think that anyone who comes here has money to pay for what she wants, more or less." Leiah said and took few gold coins from her pouch. She placed them on the counter but didn't remove her palm.
"Indeed my dear girl" The old woman continued. "In the times of war nobody here can refuse a paying customer. Well except the old Oengul. He's the best blacksmith in this city. And every new recruit for the Stormcloack means he will have some more job to do. Other than that, what may I offer you?"
"I'd like to order a dinner and rent a room for two." Leiah said and removed her hand from the cold coins.
"Susanna!" The innkeeper called over a blonde woman. "Please lead those two young ladies to their room." She then looked at Leiah and said "Your dinner will be brought to your quarters soon."
"Finally a comfortable bed" Leiah cheered after she had thrown herself on to the bed. Her new snow-white assassin outfit was changed to a light green nightgown that was thin enough to reveal Leiahs pants and sarashi. They had just finished their dinner and were now getting ready for sleep.
Flaere was already lying in the other bed and had pulled a cover over herself. She looked at Leiah with admiring eyes. Leiah was crawling under the blanket and then pulled it on. She turned on her belly and looked at Flaere to see if it's alright to distinguish the candle.
"I love how your skin looks so light and smooth." Flaere said when her gaze met Leiahs. Leiah stretched out her arm and slid her fingers across her wrist, to check if it really is as nice as her new friend claims.
"Back in Cyrodil I spent a lot of free time in hot springs. Maybe when you grow older I might take you there." She finally said with a smile.
Flaeres eyes lit up with excitement. "I'd love that. But I've heard that there are hot springs somewhere in Eastmarch too."
Leiah mused for a second and then distinguished the candle. "Yes, probably there's a bigger chance that we might go there sooner."
"Of course …. goodnight." Flaere yawned and turned around in the bed.
Leiahs thought's drifted away to her old life in Cyrodil and her chances of ever returning there.
After spending the whole day with Flaere she had almost forgotten her real reason for coming to Windhelm in the first place. She had no clue how to contact the people who sent the letter but her best chance was to find Ralof.