She had taken from the cave only what she could quickly find. Nari discovered four more bodies before she finally escaped into the open air, the open frigid air of Haafingar in Winter. The sun was setting on a land that was still devoid of snow, a rare blessing this late in the season, a land that Nari stopped to consider once she had reached the road.

Nari's thoughts had been entirely taken up with fleeing the sight of her dead brothers and sisters. Now that she had done that she had no idea what she should do next. She could not simply walk to Solitude and report the death of almost everyone she knew in Skyrim, not if it would brand her as a priestess of Potema; it would be tantamount to a death sentence for her. The sounds of men on horseback approaching from the east caused a wave of fear to propel her in the direction she was facing: south, down the mountain side and away from the road and approaching men who she feared could be the men who had attacked her home. The combination of her fear and the incline of the mountain side carried Narissa a fair distance. She stopped finally, her breath coming in gasps and gulps, at an ancient shrine. Were either Nox or Neve here they would have already launched into a lesson on the history of this shrine and its importance to Skyrim, but Nox was away and Neve was dead, and Nari's ignorance of both those things remained intact. But, whatever its history, it was at least a refuge from the biting wind and cold if an entrance could be found.

It was during her search for some sort of doorway or entrance that the woman spoke to her.

"Child, what is it that you seek?" The woman asked her.
She had not seen or heard her approach. The woman was beautiful, wearing a gown that in no way protected her from the elements, and her feet were bare; yet she seemed unaffected by the weather.
"I am sorry," Nari began, "I was seeking refuge from the cold."
"Refuge I can provide," the woman answered, "but only for a short time. It were best if you continued on your way. Your destiny lies elsewhere."
"Who are you that you know my destiny so well?" Nari asked. She was not sure why, but the thought that she had any destiny at all in her future gave her some comfort.
The woman's beautiful face adopted a slight smile as her eyes met Nari's.
"I have been know by many names." She answered. "You may call me Merid. As for your destiny, child, I know many things."
"My name is Narissa." Nari replied, almost ending the statement with the words I am not a child.
"Do not tarry too long here, Narissa." Merid said. "This shrine attracts too many men and women who seek their fortunes within, and that sort of man and woman would not treat you gently. A door has opened for you. You may rest within overnight, but you must be away when the sun rises. Until then I can protect you, but not longer."
A gust of wind caused Nari to close her eyes and shield her face with her cloak. When she opened her eyes again the woman was gone.

The rising sun did indeed observe Narissa as she continued her journey south. The moons had begun to climb the night sky, and were high enough and bright enough by the time that Nari arrived on the outskirts of Dragon's Bridge that the large number of ill kept, hard faced men in mismatched, ill kept, armor wandering the village streets and alleys were clearly visible. Nari need no further incentive to quickly change direction as she turned from the main road onto the side street that bypassed the center of the village. She would have turned back completely but she feared it would have drawn attention. She kept her gaze down and the hood of her cloak up, the sack containing her supplies slung across her back, and walked as fast as she dared away from the sights and sounds of so many men who could certainly have been the same men who had killed her brothers and sisters. The story that she had been building in her mind, that she would use to explain to strangers how she came to be out wandering Haafingar so late, evaporated quickly, replaced by the fear that was never far below the surface.
Narissa crossed the bridge that lent the village its name and followed the road east until exhaustion halted her progress. She huddled underneath a small outcropping of rock that was not quite a cave but provided some buffer against the cold and wind. Nari had no illusions about her ability to continue in this fashion, but she also had no idea what to do or where to go. She sat underneath the outcropping before curling into a ball that much resembled her position within the cedar chest that had hidden her from the attackers that had killed Garreth and Neve and everyone else she knew.

Nari was shivering, her teeth chattering, her hands too cold to attempt to relight her small fire.
The empty sack that until yesterday held her small supply of food now held only her hands, and was clutched to her chest under her woolen cloak which was too little to stave off the winter cold.
She had taken the Merid's advice and not tarried too long in any one place, but continued east, rejoining the road but ready at a moment's notice to abandon it at the sound of armed men. She still did not know who to trust, but she was sure she could trust no one with the full truth, not in this land that hated Potema and anything associated with her. It would profit her nothing to attempt to explain her indifference to Potema and the cult that had spent the better part of the last two decades first researching her and then planning her return.

Her mind was so taken up with her plight that she almost failed to hear the footsteps approaching her.

Nari stared up at a man from where she crouched in her makeshift shelter, and the man stared back at her. He seemed to forget that he held an ax in one hand, a hand which was attached to an arm that by all appearance spent a good amount of time welding the ax it held.

Neither spoke for a few seconds.

"Are you alright?" He asked her.
Nari simply nodded quickly.
"You do not seem alright." He answered. "You have not much more than the cloths on your back, and this is not the season to be caught outside unprepared."
"I had food, but it ran out yesterday." Nari replied through chattering teeth.
"Gods, you are half frozen already." The man said before handing her the cloak that he had been carrying but not wearing.
Nari hesitated for a moment before accepting the cloak and wrapping it around herself.
"Thank you." She said. "I fled in haste and took only what I could find quickly. I was of no mind to make any kind of search."
"You fled from someone?" He asked.
"In a manner of speaking." She answered. "Our home was attacked. I hid, which is why I am still alive."
"No others survived?" He asked.
"I found no one else alive." Nari answered as a tears began to flow down her face.
"How long ago did this occur?" He asked.
"Four days ago." Nari answered. "I arrived here yesterday."
"Who attacked you?" He asked.
"I do not know." She answered.
"Where do you travel to?" He asked her.
"Nowhere." She answered before looking around at the frozen landscape. "Anywhere, preferably somewhere warmer than this."
"You know no one nearby who would take you in?" He asked.
"Everyone who I knew in Skyrim is dead." She answered.
The man was silent for a moment.
"I may be able to help you." The man said finally.
Nari did not answer him for several seconds, and she spent those seconds studying his face, and considering what she was willing to trade in order to survive.
"I will not harm you in any way." He said, answering her unasked question. "I do not place any conditions on my help. I ask nothing from you. You incur no debt to me."
"Why do you help me then?" She asked him.
"I help you because you are in need of help, and my help is all that is at hand." He replied.
She stood there for several seconds, looking at him as her body grew warmer under his fur cloak.
"Thank you." She said.
"What is your name?" He asked her.
"Narissa." She replied.
"My name is Horgeir." He answered. "Come. There is a shack a short distance from here. It is not much, but it is certainly warmer that your current accommodations."
Narissa's stomach chose that moment to make an appeal for food, which brought a smile to the bearded face of the muscular lumberjack.
"And we should also find you something to eat." He said.