Chapter 8: Serana, the Companions, and the College

[Second Seed 4E 207]

When we arrived in Whiterun the day was almost over, and all of the Companions who were not out on some quest or task had already gathered in our big hall. Myself entering the hall of Jorrvaskr with the beautiful vampire lady at my side stopped the conversation abruptly, and all eyes were on us all of a sudden.

Vilkas was the first to comment, after a pregnant pause of silence:

"Harbinger, you sure know how to pick them. A few weeks ago you showed up with that young clumsy Nord girl who did not even speak our language, and now you found..."

He was not able to complete his sentence, as Serana was suddenly next to him and stared at the big and sturdy Nord with her orange colored eyes:

"You were saying?"

Those who knew him well could see signs of Vilkas being intimated by her, although he'd probably never admit to that.

Serana continued, while showing the tip of he tongue playing with her lips:

"How would you happen to know that he found me? Maybe I found him to get to you? I am getting thirsty!"

That was not quite true of course; she had had plenty of opportunities to feed on our way here, but Vilkas did not know that, and he looked very uneasy now and stuttered:

"What? Are you a vampire or something like that?"

Serana nodded slowly, got even closer to Vilkas, showed her big orange eyes and confirmed, with her best scary voice:

"Yes, I am a vampire, indeed."

At this time I decided to cut in:

"Listen up everybody! The beautiful lady who came in with me is my friend Serana, and she is not just a vampire, but a very powerful vampire lady from an old dynasty. Please keep in mind that she is on our side, and she does not intend to harm you. She is very strong and not much used to human company, so please don't provoke her or tease her."

A lot of murmuring started now, and I understood that the concept of a friendly vampire was something alien to most of us. However, I had emphasized the term 'my friend', and they got that. I encouraged Serana to tell the parts of her story she was comfortable to share, and while we ate and drank, she did so.

After some time of silence, Ria finally offered a comment:

"Blotting out the sun seems like a serious threat, I guess. But I wonder about something. Let's assume Lord Harkon and his vampires actually manage to succeed and get rid of sunshine for longer periods of time. This would imply plants would die, animals would not be able to feed any longer, and people would die from starvation, and the vampires would have less humans to feed from, right?

"Good point, Ria" I nodded at her. "I wonder if they actually thought it through."

"Knowing my father", Serana sighed, "he may have contingency plans to feed the humans he need with mushrooms or so. But anyway, with some help, his plans will fail."

"And we will help with that, right?" Farkas suddenly said.

"Yes, we will, or more likely, I will" I confirmed. "For what Serana and I plan to do, there's no need for an army, and more people would only increase the risk of being detected. However, I may have to be absent from Whiterun for an extended period of time, and I hope that you can cope without me."

"Sorry to question that" Athis now chimed in, "but why does it have to be you going with her? Couldn't she just get a few Dawnguard fighters with her instead? They are trained for such missions, aren't they?"

Athis had been at Fort Dawnguard with me, and he had a point. I though about a proper reply for a few seconds and explained:

"You do have a point, Athis, but Serana does not make friends easily. I am the one who set her free from the tomb she had been in for a long time, and it appears that I am the only person she currently trusts, at east to some extent. We have talked about that, and Serana insists that I am the only one she'd be comfortable with to stay with her for the upcoming mission."

"And how do you feel about it, Harbinger?" Ria wanted to know.

"Ria, I have been focusing on my tasks here for many months, and while I really like to be here and take care of all of you, I can feel the adventure calling for me. Maybe it is time to move on, for a week or two at least."

"That's not what I meant. Do you feel safe with her?"

"You have a point, but oddly enough I do, yes. Serana is a good person, and I trust her. She will sometimes have to fight her instincts, but I am not a weakling either. Yes, I do feel safe with her."

Now that this was covered, my best huntress decided to raise her voice:

"Harbinger, I think that we can cover for you just fine, but I would like to ask a favor first, if you don't mind."

"And what would that be?" I asked her with some curiosity.

Aela turned towards Serana: "I have never hunted with a vampire, and I would like to do that at least once. Serana, if you'd go hunting with me for a day or, if you prefer, for a night, I'd very much appreciate that. We can go for game or bandits, and I won't mind at all if you feed from them."

Serana looked back at her, clearly surprised by this request, but then she asked back:

"Does that have anything to do with that strange smell of yours, the same one I also smell on Vilkas and Farkas?"

Aela grinned and nodded. I understood that she had noticed Serana smelling the werewolf scent on her, Vilkas, and Farkas, and she obviously thought that she needed to explain by doing rather than talking. Aela also glanced at me for approval, and I nodded to her. Indeed, if Serana did not mind, that might be good; we should try to avoid keeping secrets like that from her.

Ria had, as I learned, decided to not become a werewolf, so that, for now at least, only Aela, Vilkas, and Farkas had the werewolf blood in them. At times, the two twins felt a little bit uneasy about it, but since Kodlak՚s death and when they had learned that there actually was a way to get rid of it, if needed and wanted, they coped much better.

Aela and Serana decided not to waste time and use this night for hunting. They came back early in the morning through the Underforge, and I did not ask for details. It was obvious to me, though, that Aela had hunted in her werewolf form, and as both of them looked happy, that was good enough for me.

I needed a day to talk to the Circle members about various details, and Serana and I decided to leave on the day after. During the next day I also asked the vampiress if she had ever thought about enchanting her hood to provide some protection from sun damage. She looked at me almost like crazy and asked:

"No, I have not even thought about that. Is that even possible?"

I scratched my head and responded:

"I am not quite sure about that, and I am certainly not a master of enchantments. If were to find out, our best chance would be to ask Sergius Turrianus at the College of Winterhold; he is the best enchanter I know, and if anybody can do this, it's him, I guess."

She thought about this for a minute or two and replied:

"Being able to travel during the day more easily might outweigh a delay. Yes, let's go there first."

So, that was decided, and we would visit the College first.

Later in the day Aela took me aside and mentioned with a grin:

"You know, Serana likes you a lot."

"I know she likes me, or else she would not want to have me as companion for the upcoming tasks and quests" I replied, obviously not getting the point.

"No, she really likes you, in a very personal way" Aela insisted.

"How would you know about that?"

"Well, when you hunt as a werewolf, certain smells are much more easy to identify, and each time she mentioned you, there was this specific smell radiating from her. No human could have noticed, but I did in my werewolf form. She clearly has a thing for you, and you have feelings for her, too, I know."

When I had been a werewolf for some time, when being adopted into the Circle and before becoming Harbinger, I had always tried to change as little as possible, and I had not investigated the special werewolf skills much. Rather, I had been eager to get rid of what I considered more of a curse, like Kodlak had seen it in the final years of his life, as early as I could.

I nodded and acknowledged Aela՚s words, without elaborating further. Yes, I had feelings for the beautiful vampiress and I felt attracted to her, but I still needed to figure out to what extent I was going to follow and trust my feelings.

One the day before we left I also took care of another issue. Originally I had hoped that Bella could have helped Tilma with kitchen duties, but Bella was in Winterhold now, and she was going to stay there for quite some time, as I assumed. I recalled that there was a young girl in Whiterun who was looking for work in this direction – Mila Valentia, daughter of single mother Carlotta Valentia, who operated a market stall selling food. Since I had helped Carlotta a few years ago to get rid of the unwanted attention from the bard Mikael, I had been friends with both Carlotta and Mila, and the girl was now old enough to find some occupation.

I met Carlotta and Mila in the market, and I asked the girl right away:

"Mila, you are still looking for work, aren't you?"

"Yes, Rick, I am. Do you know something for me?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. Tilma is getting older, and she will eventually need some help taking care of us companions. If you want, you can help out and assist her in the kitchen and with cleaning. Keeping Jorrvaskr clean is no minor effort, but we can see if this is something for you. You can still sleep at home and start by working a few hours a day, while you are still a minor."

Mila beamed at me and looked at her mother: "Mom, can I? Please?"

Carlotta was a little bit concerned: "I don't know, with all of those men..."

I addressed her: "Carlotta, please rest assured that we Companions may be a little wild, but we are honorable and know how to behave ourselves. There could be some rough words, but not more than that. I am sure that Aela and Ria will make sure of that, believe me."

"Okay, let's try it."

"Thank you, mom!"

So, that was settled, and I went back to Jorrvaskr telling Aela, Tilma, and Ria about the new kitchen assistant.

On the next day, Serana and I decided to walk rather than taking a carriage. A carriage driver might be uneasy about driving a vampire, which was understandable, although Siggar had been fine with it. I had been able to delegate my Harbinger tasks to the Circle, and all four of them had promised to take good care of the tasks and the fellow Companions, continue the whelp training and such. I was sure that they would, and I should be able to focus on my quest with Serana. Anticipating a longer time we were going to stay and work together made me feel happy, and I sure hoped that she also felt a little like that, although I was not sure at all about my own feelings and, in particular, if or when I should talk about those with the vampiress.

Traveling with a super strong vampire ensured that there was not really anything we had to worry about when being on the road. We had our usual share of wolves, bears, and bandits, and when we passed Fort Kastav on the second day of travel, after we had rested in Nightgate Inn, Serana claimed a couple of necromancers for herself to feed from. I had long passed the stage where I might be disgusted about that; it was her nature, and she was very careful to only feed from bad people.

Eventually we walked through the city of Winterhold and stepped on the walkway towards the College. Faralda was in her usual position on the walkway, close to the access from the city, and she teased me:

"What do I see, Rick? Another girl today? Another student for us?"

"Not quite," I replied, "but I will need to talk to the Arch-Mage about that."

Turning to Serana I asked:

"Serana, can you please demonstrate your capability to use magic by blasting some spell into that circle Faralda is standing a little too close to?"

The vampire did not hesitate to comply; I had warned her beforehand about what would be expected from her. Serana՚s fire blast, though, was significantly more intense than Bella's weak spell had been some time ago, and Faralda jumped back very quickly when she realized that.

She looked up at my companion and mumbled:

"Not just a student, really, I guess – please pass."

I grinned and lead the way, with Serana following me. I introduced her to Tolfdir whom we met on our way in, and I asked if the Arch-Mage was in. He was, and he was not busy, and so I climbed the stairs to his quarters and knocked at the door. I heard no response, but that was not unusual, as he was sometimes tending his plants or reading a book and not paying much attention. Thus I just opened the door and walked right in, dragging Serana with me, and Savos Aren was indeed right next to the plants in his beautiful indoor garden. When we saw me he looked up and smiled, welcoming me, until he noticed my companion. Savos Aren was well educated and experienced, and he realized right away that Serana was a vampire. While his eyes showed confusion for a moment, he must have also realized that I knew that as well and that I must have had a good reason to bring her with me, and so he just said:

"I guess that there is something to talk, my friend. Welcome to you, too, vampire lady."

"My name is Serana" the pretty vampiress said, "and I appreciate your welcome. Not many people welcome me at first sight once they realize that I am a vampire."

"You know," the Arch-Mage replied, "I have seen all kinds of sentient beings here in the college, and you are not the oddest at all. Of course, many vampires have proven to be dangerous, and we have had isolated reports from humans being killed by vampires. One needs to be careful, but obviously my friend Rick would not have brought you in here unless he trusted you to some extent at least, and his friends are my friends as well."

I used the opportunity to relate the events since I had first visited Fort Dawnguard, including how and where I had found Serana and the encounter with her father, the moth priest and the reading of the Elder Scroll. He nodded, and apparently he needed some time to digest that all. We sat in silence for a few minutes, sipping from the tea which had been served by now, and then I continued:

"It appears that we'd better search for that additional Elder Scroll her mother probably has. I am not sure if I am actually needed for that, but Serana seems to trust me, and for reason I do not fully understand, I feel very comfortable in her presence, too."

"But you are concerned about your duties as Harbinger, aren't you?" the Arch-Mage pointed out.

"Yes, of course I am. It is not like me at all to embark on a dubious quest which may keep me away for weeks or even months, just like this. I just have a feeling that this might be really important. And, fortunately, I know Jorrvaskr in good hands."

"You may be right about the importance, my friend. Like when you did your duties as Dragonborn not so long ago, this one might be almost as important, and time will tell. Sometimes one needs to follow one's heart, I guess."

I was surprised to hear the Arch-Mage phrase it like that. Had he somehow noticed that I was kind of attracted to Serana?

"And you, young vampire lady?" he turned towards Serana. "What is your motivation, if I may ask? I mean, you could as well do nothing and give your father a chance; what have you got to lose, being a vampire yourself?"

"You do not know my father" Serana responded. "It's not just the age old story of 'little girl who doesn't get along with her father', it's much more than that. He's obsessed with the prophecy, and from what I could tell, a thousand extra years of obsession haven't made him any better. I don't even think he sees me as his daughter anymore; I'm just... a means to an end. Finally, I trust my mother much more than I ever trusted my father, and at the very least I need to talk to her first. Finding the Elder Scroll she probably has will allow me to 'kill two birds with one stone', to use one of your human phrases. Does this help you to understand why I strive to stop my father's plans and work together with Rick, if not with the Dawnguard?"

The Arch-Mage nodded, and he added:

"I bet that there are more reasons, and what I have heard about the rituals Molag Bal forces his favorites to go through, you probably do no to want to talk about that."

The vampiress stared at him, and I had to admit that I did not really know what he was talking about. Sure, I had heard about Molag Bal and that he was something like the patron of vampires, and there were some rumors about him being bad, but that was it. Judged by Serana՚s looks, she indeed was not going to talk about it, at least not for the time being, and I accepted this. I did not know Serana well enough yet to go in this direction, not at all.

Just before we left the Arch-Mage's quarters, he added a comment:

"Oh, by the way, Rick, your brother arrived here just after you left the last time. He did not want to advertise that he's the Dragonborn՚s brother, but I know of course. He is out right now, but should be back in a few days. Maybe you'll have a chance to see him soon. I have to admit that you were right about that, too – his classes in body exercising and martial arts are good for the students."

Before we moved on to see Sergius, we ran into Bella in the hall, literally. She almost fell, and I grabbed her arm to keep her upright. When she recognized me, she beamed and hugged me right away, and I introduced the two ladies:

"Serana, this is Bella. She was brought to Skyrim by a very special dragon, as it looks from another world, and I have helped her getting settled in our country; she is now a student here in the college. Bella, this is Serana, and she is investigating a vampire threat together with me. As it happens, she is a vampire herself."

Bella's reaction to getting Serana introduced as vampire was very much unlike that of almost anybody else. She turned around to face her, looked at her more closely, and finally asked:

"You are a vampire? Cool! I may have imagined vampires to be even paler, and I think that I always expected the teeth to be showing even with the mouth closed. Your orange eyes suit you well, by the way. But wait – did Rick really say that your name is Serana?"

The vampire lady was quite surprised about Bella's casual and friendly attitude and just nodded, when Bella continued:

"So, you were asleep in Dimhollow Crypt for many years, your father is Lord Harkon, and you are a Daughter of Coldharbour?"

"How could you possibly know that?"

"So it's really true?" Bella jumped up and down from excitement.

"It is true, Bella" I confirmed, and addressing Serana I added: "Serana, Bella is kind of a seer and has some knowledge about things."

"How many Elder Scrolls have you got yet?" Bella wanted to know.

Making sure nobody else was around to listen I told her: "We have mine, the Elder Scroll of Dragon, the one she had with her, the Elder Scroll of Sun, and we need a third one, and this is what we are currently working on."

"So you are going to find Valerica, Serana՚s mother?"

Serana nodded, looking surprised to hear that from the student, and I told Bella: "We are going to search for her at least, and we hope that she might at least know where the third scroll is."

Bella smiled and responded: "Yes, you are doing the right thing. Just one hint: When you are in Castle Volkihar in the abandoned courtyard, look for the missing moon discs. Later on, do not forget to find Arvak!"

That was quite a cryptic remark, but maybe I should remember her words later on; I nodded. We talked a little more about how Bella was doing as a student here, and she smiled:

"It is so great to be here, and I think that I have found my place for now. Everybody is super nice, well, maybe except for J'zargo, who teases a lot and is kind of arrogant, and of course Ancano, who gives me the creeps, and I really love magic!"

"And you have made more progress in mastering our language, as I hear; you speak it almost like a native now!"

"Yes, this is great, and I do not feel like an outsider any longer. By the way, you are lucky to still find me here. Day after tomorrow we are starting our field trip to Saarthal, and I am so excited that I can participate!"

With a smirk she added: "Saarthal will prove to be quite interesting, and I am curious to find out if it will be as interesting as I foresee – I can't wait!"

Now we went to find Sergius Turrianus. He was known as gifted enchanter, and if anybody knew about a sun protection enchantment, it should be him. We found him in the 'Hall of Elements', where he usually spent his days, and once I had introduced my companion, he told her proudly:

"Enchanting services are one of the few things that keep us in touch with the rest of Skyrim. I think we could blow up half of Eastmarch, and people would still come to us for enchantments."

I mentioned that we were looking for something to better protect Serana from sunlight, and he responded:

"This is quite an unusual request, but I think that I can help you with that. Please understand that I need to check with the Arch-Mage first, though. Enchantments protecting vampires from sunlight should not become common, for obvious reasons."

I understood his concern. If larger group of vampires got access to that enchantment, we'd have to worry about them in daylight, too.

Sergius looked at us again and asked:

"As it happens, this enchantment, once the Arch-Mage approves, is one of the more complex ones and will require a few soul gems. I am nearly out of them and will have to use my last ones for that task of yours, so may I please request your assistance to restock?"

That sounded fair, and Serana nodded in my direction. I asked back:

"Do you need any specific sizes?"

"Actually, all of them, whatever you can find."

"Do you have clues about nearby sources?"

"You may want to talk to Urag about that; I have heard that he knows something helpful in that direction."

We left Sergius to get his approval form the Arch-Mage and went to see Urag gro-Shub in the library. The Orc librarian was his usual friendly self, of course:

"You are now in the Arcanaeum, of which I am in charge. It might as well be my own little plane of Oblivion. Disrupt my Arcanaeum, and I will have you torn apart by angry atronachs. Now, do you require assistance?"

Serana looked at me, unsure if she should be amused or intimidated, and I replied to Urag:

"Urag, my friend, Sergius told us that you may have some news about a place where to find soul gems."

"Oh, that one, yes, of course. Some time ago somebody came along from Windhelm, and they gave me a note suggesting that a smuggling operation operating out of Eastmarch may have a branch around here, using a place called 'Sightless Pit' as base. The note I got specifically mentions a huge stack of various soul gems, if I recall properly."

"That's quite interesting, and I would not have expected that. Thank you for letting us know."

"As a matter of fact", the Orc added, "I've heard whispers of more of Shalidor՚s work having turned up, maybe in the same place, reachable from the Sightless Pit. If you can track it down, it may prove useful to all of us."

We left the library again, and I asked my pretty vampire companion:

"Say, do you feel up to a small excursion? Getting more soul gems seems to be fair payment for Sergius' effort, I should think."

"Sure, let's have some fun before we head out to find my mother, why not."

So that was settled, and we decided to head there on the next day, as I needed some sleep first.

Traveling to the place called 'Sightless Pit' was not a problem. We traversed the ice and snow southwest of Winterhold, and Serana took care of any threats faster than I could react, but there were just a few snow bears and ice wraiths, nothing special really, until a larger group of ice wolves noticed us and approached. I had rarely seen such a large pack together and estimated about a dozen adult animals, and they had apparently decided that we were prey. For almost any other small group of people they would have been a serious threat, but Serana laughed when she noticed the prowling pack, and it turned out that we were quite a good team. The wolves split up into two groups approaching from different directions, and when they were close enough the vampiress blasted fire into one of the groups whereas I shouted 'YOL TOOR SHUL' into the other one. The few surviving wolves ran off as quickly as they could, and that was that. This must have been the first time Serana had seen and heard me shout in dragon language, and she was quite impressed:

"Wow, was that a dragon shout?"

"Yes, it was; I have learned quite a few of them, and sometimes they are really useful."

"I bet they are. You know, I really have fun traveling with you."

In an unexpected movement she hugged me briefly, blew a cold kiss on my cheek, and stepped away again.

In mid afternoon we had reached our target, which was located west of the Shrine of Azura and south of Saarthal. The entrance was not much more than a hole in the ice, and it was obvious that once we had gone down, it would be difficult to leave again the same way. We would need to find a separate exit, but at least Urag had told us that such an exit indeed existed, although he had hinted at some dangers.

There was a single deserted Falmer tent outside next to the pit, which provided an early hint at what kind of enemies we might expect.

[Author's Notes: Bella will be off to Saarthal – guess what's going to happen there?]