Loredas, 4:33 PM, 72nd of Second Seed, 4E 202
Riverwood
Gelebor couldn't have been happier to see this place once again.
It had been twenty-four days since he and Teldryn had visited here last, and thirty-one days since they had parted ways here with Vidrald. And as comfortable as his rapport with the Dunmer had become, he had come to deeply miss Vidrald's company also. If they were to wait any longer, they would soon have spent as much time apart as together.
But now, as he rode into Riverwood at Teldryn's side, he knew they were about to be reunited. And it couldn't possibly have been under more satisfying circumstances. After all the tasks they had undergone, after all their arduous journeys, the turns of fate had quite truly smiled upon them. Gelebor was riding in with the fourth Aetherium shard in tow.
This was the one that they should have found in Arkngthamz, but for Alduin's interference. And for a time, the shard's fate had been left beyond Gelebor's control, in the hands of the Jarl of Dawnstar, of all people. But there were others working to save Mundus also, far beyond the reach of Gelebor and his companions—and just as they had delivered the shard from Raldbthar, they delivered this one as well.
In this case, it had involved some frighteningly opaque political machinations that Gelebor didn't dare to try to unravel. All he knew was that it had resulted in one Jarl Noster becoming the High King of Skyrim, and that in turn had resulted in Noster personally delivering the Aetherium shard to Gelebor later that same day.
For his part, the snow elf couldn't have been happier. After that ill-fated excursion to Dawnstar, his hope in his mission for Auri-El had faltered badly. Now, his journey resumed with a renewed purpose, and it seemed destined to finally succeed. With the help of all the other heroes in this world, nothing was insurmountable.
He'd even finally come up with a name for his horse. That had been excellent as well.
As an aside: Her name was Sunset. A plain name, in a sense—but after spending so long riding her, Gelebor was made to think of the sorts of beauty that all races could enjoy, from all eras. The sight of a sunset was a joy that everyone knew.
Except for the Dwemer. They'd lived underground. And they hadn't deserved the beauty of sunsets either way.
Obviously, Gelebor was satisfied with his choice of name.
This evening was a cold, gloomy one, with dark clouds all through the sky above, drizzling intermittently. He had been expecting the rest of the rain to descend upon them at any moment, but it hadn't happened. With any luck, they'd make it indoors essentially unscathed.
As they passed in between the first of Riverwood's buildings, Teldryn said, "I missed this little village. Truly, I did."
Gelebor nodded thoughtfully. "It seems far from the worst place to live, although, ah… I doubt either of us intend to start looking for someplace to settle down."
The Dunmer snorted. "Not a chance. I have plenty of years of adventure ahead of me yet."
Perhaps that was true of them both. Gelebor intended to serve Auri-El wherever he was needed, but his companions had never been in this endeavor for the same reason as him. But it raised a question that, in hindsight, should likely have been rather obvious.
"What are you planning on doing, Teldryn? Once the Shadow Unending has been dealt with, that is. I'm realizing now that I've never asked."
"Well, I can't predict the future quite that accurately, but…" Teldryn smirked. His penchant for the theatrical continued to serve him well. "I suppose it depends on whether Vidrald still wants me around. He's been a pleasure to work with so far. Knowing him, he'll have some task or other to pursue even after the Shadow Unending is done, so perhaps we'll stay together for a while longer yet. Though, uh… of course, all of this presumes that we're all going to survive our mission."
"One can hope, at least," Gelebor said mildly. "All in all, I'd say fate has been lenient so far in giving ill turns to our journey."
Naturally, at that exact moment, the rain resumed.
And this time, the rainfall was quickly growing. After the first five seconds or so, Gelebor could tell already that it wasn't going to stop. It was a pity, too. Even with their destination well in sight, this sufficed to dash his hopes of an entirely unscathed travel. So close, and yet so far.
Teldryn glanced up at the gray sky above, then said, "So. The inn."
"Well, the inn is quite welcome," the snow elf replied. "Though I think any structure will suffice if it has a roof and… ah, and at least two walls."
He was happy to ignore the look that Teldryn was giving him at this moment. Sunset still needed guiding down the road.
As with the Jarl's hall in Dawnstar, the Sleeping Giant Inn had a few stalls outside for travelers' horses. By the time Gelebor and Teldryn arrived at the building, however, the rain had already progressed to a constant shower. They dismounted and put the stalls to use as quickly as they could. No guards were around to help this time, but in Riverwood, that scarcely seemed to matter.
By the time that was dealt with, and they were free to head for the inn's front door, the rain was at the point of a torrential downpour. This—or the aftermath of this, if it didn't last too long—would be an ordeal to travel through later. But right now, Gelebor didn't want to put his cloak to the test any longer. He wanted nothing more to get inside. And so he and Teldryn went for the door without even a word.
The inn's interior was exactly as the snow elf had remembered it. The moment he walked in, he was met with a rush of warm, dry air. Courtesy, of course, of the hearth burning away in the center of the room. Even after that brief time in the rain, this was a welcome respite. The few guests sitting at the various tables seemed content to remain right where they were.
And there was Vidrald. Sitting directly across from the hearth, wearing his Dawnguard armor, facing the rest of the room. He had a book laid open on his lap, and was reading it in the firelight. But when the door opened, he looked up—and immediately broke into a joyful smile.
"Vidrald!" Teldryn exclaimed, then hurried around the hearth to give a more proper greeting. As he did, the Nord put his book aside and stood up—and then all of a sudden, they were right against one another, embracing and laughing, without a care in the world for anything else. It was as though they had been separate for entire years, for how visible their joy shone.
Gelebor quietly closed the door behind himself. He could still hear the rain on the rooftop above. It was a pleasant sound, he thought—few sounds better evoked a feeling of shelter, and one of those better ones was right here in the form of the hearth.
There couldn't have been a more fitting backdrop to this reunion. Out there, the world was an unforgiving place. But in here, they were together. These were the people who had shown Gelebor the world.
He decided to circle around the hearth at an easy, walking pace. That gave his companions time to have their fill of squeezing each other breathless. He looked between the two of them, and then asked Vidrald, "Do you have one for me as well?"
Vidrald answered by stepping forward and quite simply grabbing the snow elf in his arms. It was an embrace most eagerly returned. The metal and leather of their armor left only the sheer pressure of one another's contact to be felt, but that mattered not. Their group was divided no longer. Gelebor couldn't help but laugh a little himself.
When Gelebor finally let go, he became rather aware that the other guests in the room were all staring at him. He politely ignored them. "It is a pleasure beyond reckoning to see you again, Vidrald. The expanses of Skyrim simply aren't the same without you."
The Nord chuckled and looked over at Teldryn. "So, you've been teaching him your trade of flattery, then?"
"I am an elf of many trades, and you would do well to remember that," Teldryn replied primly, then held his expression for a long few seconds. "… Maybe."
Before his companions could get further entangled with one another, Gelebor decided to intervene. "Normally, I might suggest we go outside to talk," he said, "but considering the weather, perhaps that would be, ah…"
"I have a perfectly good table here," Vidrald said, glancing behind himself at it. He promptly picked up his book from where he'd left it on the seat, so as to make room.
Teldryn asked, "Wait, what is that thing?"
"It's a book." Vidrald did a fair job of ignoring the Dunmer's resultant facial expression. "I borrowed a few from Lucan, over in the Riverwood Trader. Simply to pass the time while I was waiting for you. This one is a supposedly complete biography of Queen Barenziah. It's a terribly sordid story, in all honesty."
"Well, now you have our company to occupy your attention once more." Gelebor unslung his pack and then sat down at one end of the table. "You are now free to rejoice."
Teldryn did much the same, but where the book had been a moment ago. "This is what you get for leaving Gelebor with me, by the way," he grinned.
Vidrald was not perturbed. "I'll live with it somehow, I'm sure. Hold on a moment. I'll go get some drinks for us, and then we can begin telling one another our stories."
With that, he stowed his book away in his own pack on the floor, then headed off towards the counter at the far end of the room, where the innkeeper was. Teldryn and Gelebor were left sitting across from one another in silence.
There wasn't even very much to say. Honestly, Gelebor was more interested in simply listening to the sounds of the inn around him. He was sure the time of day had yet to progress beyond mid-afternoon, but everything in here was so warm and tranquil that he could have been lulled to sleep anyway.
Still, Vidrald returned quickly enough, with three metal tankards clutched together between his hands. He set them all down on the middle of the table, then sat down between Gelebor and Teldryn. "Here we are," he grinned. "So. Shall I go first?"
"Indulge us," Teldryn said, before picking up one tankard and taking a sip. "Mmm. Ale? I expected mead."
The Nord shrugged. "The day is still young. I'd rather you two not fall off your seats already."
Gelebor cleared his throat. "That story, then?"
"Yes. Here we go." Before he began, Vidrald claimed a tankard for himself. But he didn't bother to drink from it at all, because he was already busy with continuing to talk.
"After you left for Whiterun, Sorine and I took a brief journey of our own, to fetch some armor for you. I was surprised to find how close by her extra supplies were. It seems the Dawnguard are in the habit of storing supplies all across Skyrim, specifically for cases like this. But that took a few days, and we returned only long enough to drop off the gear here in Riverwood."
"Thank you for that," Gelebor said.
"You're entirely welcome. In any case, we were still curious about the incident with the Mythic Dawn agent. So we went investigating that for a little while. Ended up fighting some of those red draugr, which was fun. But mainly, all we learned was that the flow of Time is on the list of things being attacked by the Shadow Unending. And seeing as we're still on the 9th of Second Seed, that's hardly a surprise. Sorine eventually left for Fort Dawnguard once again, which left me on my own.
"Then I returned to Riverwood, and found that message from Kamian regarding the fourth Aetherium shard. Since Lucan said you had received that message as well—as well as the armor, thankfully—I had little to do but wait. Sorine has off been pursuing her own devices, and I've been staying here and keeping my guard up. It is a relief to see you both, by the way.
"Oh, and in the midst of all this, not long ago at all, I received a surprise visit from none other than our ghost friend, Katria." At this point, Vidrald leaned over and started fishing something out of his own pack. "She had some advice for us, for when we've finished collecting the shards. There's a fifth location we'll need to take them to, southeast of Ivarstead. It's on a map in here, now."
While the tale unfolded, Gelebor was taking slow, careful sips of his ale. It had been some time since he had imbibed any drink at all, and he hadn't been yearning to repeat the experience, but he wasn't about to refuse something he had been offered. It was likely meant to go well with the hearth's fire and the rain above. Perhaps it did. It still rather bit into his tongue.
In any case, it was pleasant news to hear that Katria had come by once again. Gelebor still had her bow, Zephyr, slung on his back.
"What a sweetie," Teldryn murmured.
Vidrald extracted a large, rolled-up piece of paper from his pack, and then laid it on the table just beyond his tankard. "Yes. Well-put."
He unrolled the map with one hand. It was obviously a purpose-built item, with wooden dowels on either end to let it remain open, in a fashion not altogether unlike a scroll. Unsurprisingly, the map itself was excellent in quality. Perhaps somewhat more surprisingly, though, it was not a complete map of Skyrim. It was only a map of the Rift, and the immediately surrounding areas. Ivarstead was in the upper-left corner, and there was a sizable X in red ink just to its lower-right. Even in the dim, shadowy light from the hearth behind them, all of this was plainly visible. It wasn't a bad map at all.
Teldryn's map was still better. The one that had been torn in half and used as proof of identity. But that was only Gelebor's opinion.
"This is it," Vidrald said, tapping on the X with an index finger. "We have to bring the shards here. And then we can finally end this."
Gelebor said, "It's fortunate, then, that we now have all four shards."
A smile immediately spread across Vidrald's face. He sat back somewhat and took a deep swig of his own ale, as though to make up for lost time. "All right. I've told you my story. Now it's time for you to tell me yours."
"You do it, Gelebor," Teldryn said immediately. "You're much better at doing the talking."
The snow elf raised his eyebrows in amusement. "So I've been told! All right, then… where to begin?"
He began in Whiterun, where he and Teldryn had first traveled, and where they had received the news that the Shadow Unending was the doing of Alduin. The purpose of that journey, of course, had been to relay the message of the missing Aetherium shard from Arkngthamz—and Vidrald had already seen Kamian's reply. At this point, Gelebor mentioned their new horses, Sera and Sunset. The ones that were in the stalls outside at this very moment.
Next in his retelling was the encounter in Dawnstar. The only fruit borne by their conversation with Jarl Skald had been the news of the upcoming Moot. There was a man who would rather see Skyrim burn to ash than let it be saved by the wrong people. How he had become Jarl of Dawnstar was anyone's guess.
And then, finally, was the Moot itself. For this part, it was just as well that Gelebor was doing the talking now. Teldryn had had to wait outside—in fact, everyone had. Gelebor had been the only person in that room not to have a hold of Skyrim to his name. But it ended with the crown going to the completely unexpected candidate of Jarl Noster of Blackreach. Or, at least, unexpected from Gelebor's perspective—the five jarls involved seemed to have planned that one in advance.
Still, nothing had made him more guiltily satisfied than watching Jarl Skald react to being ordered to surrender the Aetherium shard. It had been such a beautiful reversal of what had happened in Dawnstar. Gelebor ended his story with a smile on his face.
"I was wondering if Noster's coronation was tied to this somehow," Vidrald murmured. "We received a rider bearing that news just this morning. They must have left Whiterun shortly before you."
Despite that Gelebor had done his best to maintain a discreet speaking volume, he was once again aware that his companions weren't the only ones paying attention to him. He decided not to address that unless someone approached him. At this point in their mission, secrecy wasn't quite a top concern. All four Aetherium shards were in this one same room.
Which led him to another thought: "I wonder if Alduin can see us right now. He seems to be aware of things beyond what his draugr can see, if he deliberately moved the Aetherium shard to the hold of someone who wouldn't share it."
"Well, if an army of his undead suddenly breaks down the door, we won't have to be surprised," Teldryn answered idly, before grinning. "I doubt that will be much of a concern. Alduin could have attacked us at any point on the road—not simply from Whiterun to Riverwood, but at any time after our escape from Arkngthamz. Either he has some mysterious greater plan for us, or he's simply lost track."
"And if he were to attack Riverwood, he wouldn't need to wait for you two to have arrived," Vidrald added.
At that moment, another one of the guests intervened. A woman, perhaps Imperial, with tight and pursed but delicate features, and black hair tied neatly back. She was wearing very new-looking leather armor from the neck down. She stood up from her table by the counter, and walked over to the group carefully. "Wait, hold on," she said. "Did you just say Riverwood might be under attack?"
Gelebor gave her a careful look over. She was no one he recognized, but somehow, she looked somewhat familiar anyway. She also looked a slight bit threatening, with a steel mace hanging from her belt and glinting in the firelight. Still, the look on her face was less one of aggression and more one of concern.
"We're saying it's not under attack, Camilla," Vidrald replied, before the snow elf could have the chance to. "Oh, uh… Gelebor, Teldryn, meet Camilla Valerius. The sister of Lucan Valerius, owner of the Riverwood Trader."
That would explain the familiarity. She had something of her brother's features. Still, it was interesting that they hadn't met before now, despite Gelebor's multiple visits to Riverwood. Perhaps she didn't spend a great deal of time here in the village.
"Nice armor," Teldryn said.
Camilla glanced down at herself sheepishly. "Oh, well, um… This is new, actually. You can probably tell. I do a lot of traveling to help procure things for the shop. But with the Shadow Unending going on… well, the roads aren't as safe now."
"Not that they ever are in Skyrim," Vidrald commented dryly. "No, that's a good idea. But you don't need to worry about Riverwood. Uh… Would you care to join us?"
"Oh, no, that's all right. I don't want to get in the way of your little meeting." The Imperial smiled good-naturedly, biting on her lower lip somewhat. "We can talk later, I'm sure."
Vidrald returned the smile. "Whatever you say, Camilla. Just remember to stay safe."
Camilla promptly switched to a melodramatic look of disgust. "Ugh, now you're sounding like my brother." But she obviously didn't mean it with any genuine reproach. She turned away to head back to her seat, parting with a friendly wave over her shoulder.
The three companions were left sitting at the table as before. A few seconds passed in silence as Camilla sat back down across the room. It wasn't clear whether they were supposed to continue to pay attention to her.
"So," Teldryn said.
Gelebor took a long breath in. "Well… she seems nice, doesn't she?"
"I like her," Vidrald grinned. "She has a good spirit about her. She, ah… she's been in and out of Riverwood these past few weeks. Business, and such."
The snow elf nodded slowly. "Perhaps we can find time to speak more with her later. I'm always happy to find new friends, having had the chance to discover anew their value. Which, ah… Which reminds me. I'd been meaning to ask this. Vidrald, what do you plan to do once we've finished our mission?"
"Assuming we survive, of course," the Nord said.
"Yes. Assuming that."
"Well… I'll admit that I've spent a fair deal of time pondering that, during my time of waiting here in Riverwood. I've enjoyed it here, but I don't think I'm quite ready to settle down. There will always be some call to adventure in the world. For all I know, it may take me beyond my homeland entirely. But working with the both of you has made me… well, made me feel like I'm truly alive."
"That's quite a statement," Teldryn said softly. "… But one that I couldn't agree with more. This has been a tremendous deal of fun. And I must say, while my time as a mercenary has given me quite the variety of experiences… it does feel good to be a hero, doesn't it? Making a difference for the better in the world? The gold could be a little more, but it's all for a good cause."
"Yes, continuing to have a world to enjoy your gold in seems like a good cause to me," Vidrald replied, before taking a sip of his ale. He certainly seemed comfortable enough.
As usual, the Dunmer was not deterred by the commentary. "In many respects, what I've been doing with you is very much like my typical work. A great deal of traveling, punctuated by brief moments of breathtaking adventure and mortal danger. But besides that I simply enjoy you as an employer—" He glanced briefly at Gelebor. "And you as a colleague—I've also enjoyed quite the sense of purpose. It's rare that I find myself personally caring about the missions I'm assigned to. But I can't think of a better exception than having a hand in saving all of Mundus from Alduin's wrath."
"All we have to do is actually save it," Gelebor said.
"Ever the optimists, we are," Vidrald smirked.
Another stretch of time went by with nothing spoken. The three of them simply sipped at their drinks and took in their surroundings. Up above, the rain was pounding hard on the roof, but in here, it was perfectly dry. It was very fortunate, Gelebor thought, that the first time they had seen such weather was when they were in a safe shelter. A storm like this could have befallen them just as easily on the road—not simply on the way from Whiterun to Riverwood, but anytime since Gelebor's beginning in Darkfall Cave.
What a time that had been. Receiving the vision from Auri-El, stepping out into the barren ash of the Reach, and stumbling upon his future companions' footsteps. He had understood so little of Skyrim then. The world in which he had lived had been simply… different.
"We've come a long way," the snow elf said, quietly. "Haven't we?"
Vidrald replied, "I imagine we'll come a long way yet before this is over. But it will be an honor to face the end of this task at your side, in victory or defeat."
"Let's stay with victory," Teldryn said mildly.
The Nord took the remark in stride. Obviously, this sort of rapport went both ways. "All the same, we must approach this one step at a time. There is little sense in trying to depart today. With this storm, we would only give ourselves more delay to recover from, to say nothing of our safety. So I suppose now we have time enough to rest. I'm sure you would appreciate that. Your horses, also."
Gelebor opened his mouth to speak, and was promptly interrupted by a distant rumble of thunder. He sighed. "Perhaps we shouldn't talk about the weather. It seems to get worse every time we do."
"It could be another magical anomaly caused by the Shadow Unending and Alduin is using it as a world-spanning device of destruction," Teldryn remarked, all in one single breath. Then he waited for a couple of seconds, then smiled. "There. See? We're fine."
Vidrald held up a fist, and started opening fingers one by one. "And the draugr will break down the door in one, two, three, four… ffffour…" He glanced over his shoulder at the door. Nothing was happening. "Uh…"
"Four and a half," Teldryn said, in the same counting monotone.
"Yes, I believe we're safe for now," Vidrald grinned, turning back to his seat and promptly downing his drink. "Would you care for some dinner? The food here is quite hot."
"That doesn't mean it's good," the Dunmer replied mildly.
Gelebor was content to simply watch this exchange. He wasn't bothering to so much as hide his smile. These were his esteemed world-saving companions.
Vidrald, for his part, nodded gravely. "Yes, I do believe Orgnar told me something to the same effect. The innkeeper, that is. But shame on you, Teldryn. To imply any ill will towards the food in this establishment, you must have forgotten the provisions that kept us through the Reach."
Teldryn made a revolted face. "Ugh. Vidrald, don't do this to me. I had all this time to try to let go of those memories."
"Never let go of memories like those," the Nord said, with mock sharpness. "They let you realize all that you've taken for granted. Decent food, for example."
At this point, Gelebor had to speak up. "I don't know about you, but if there's truly this much grief about the food served here, I'll stay with the ale."
He dearly hoped this Orgnar fellow wasn't listening to them right now. Whether an exchange of gold was involved or not, it was terribly imprudent to insult one's own host. After all, it was still raining outside. Gelebor wasn't eager to be ejected from the building.
Naturally, the moment he thought of this, another crack of thunder rippled through the air outside. This was uncanny. It reminded him of Bthar-zel, almost, in the fashion of things being inadvertently controlled by his own thoughts.
For the sake of indulging his curiosity, the snow elf took a few seconds to imagine a clear, sunny afternoon, with singing birds and breezing wind. A nice warm day, where he could feel the grass under his feet, and enjoy the peacefulness of the outdoors.
No change. The rain continued falling on the roof above. At least the imagery had been pleasant.
Teldryn asked, "Well… before we settle down for the evening, I do have one question for you, Vidrald. Did our ghost friend tell you anything about what's waiting for us in the Rift?"
"You mean for our final stop for the Aetherium?" Vidrald paused. "Not very much. We're looking for a very small ruin by the name of Bthalft. It sounds as though it hasn't been opened since the Aetherium Wars. So, I suppose, uh… much like Bthar-zel, I'm expecting quite a lot of automatons, and likely no Betrayed at all. But beyond that… no, beyond that, I have nothing."
"That should suffice," Gelebor shrugged, before taking a sip of his own ale. It bit at his tongue as much as ever. Someday, he might understand how Nords abided this, but it might not be soon.
It was strange, to think that their journey was coming to its final steps already. It had lasted only for a span of weeks. After so many centuries alone in Darkfall Cave, Gelebor had expected something more. But at the same time… these weeks had been so full of change. If they continued much longer, he might have risked forgetting what his life had been beforehand.
He had been concerned only with his own corner of existence, once. His Chantry, his family, his race. His legacy. And he had thought himself enlightened under Auri-El's guidance. But it had taken this journey, this fleeting journey through the endless expanse of Skyrim, for him to begin to truly learn what was important in the world. And there would never be any going back.
He was lucky that he had such gifted companions with whom to carry out Auri-El's world-saving command. Without them, this mission surely would have ended long ago with his own death.
"We did survive Bthar-zel and Arkngthamz knowing just as little, I suppose," Teldryn said.
"That's the spirit," Vidrald smiled reassuringly. "Now, let me go talk to Orgnar and see about getting you some beds for the night. I'll be back in a moment."
The Nord proceeded to swing a leg over the table's bench seat, step out into the room—and then snag his other foot on the seat, and fall flat on the stone floor. He landed with a heavy, metal-crunching thud.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
"I'm fine," he said, from his sprawled position on the floor. His one foot was still hanging on the bench. "I'm fine, don't worry."
Gelebor grimaced and turned his attention back to Teldryn. "Oh… We're all going to die, aren't we?"
