Chapter 47: School again

[28th – 29th of Sun's Dusk 4E 201]

My success in getting a replacement for the destroyed Gildergreen tree together with some other achievements, like helping to kill another dragon, had made Jarl Balgruuf the Greater to name me a Thane of Whiterun. Together with that honorary title I had been assigned a housecarl – Antonius, a male Imperial.

In addition, I also found the time to go to school for one entire morning. At this time of the year, more kids were there, as the farm work was no longer that demanding; most of the harvesting had been done. The two teachers introduced me to the children who had not met me yet, but it turned out that almost all of them had at least heard of me. Well, that was not really a surprise; not only was I quite noticeable with my size, but also I had recently gained my Thaneship. I met a few children who had not been to school during summer and early fall, but were now here, like Dorthe and Frodnar from Riverwood; they had recently arrived as they told me. There were also some from the farms in the hold, and I had seen some of them before, although I mostly had not remembered their names. In the break, I played some games with the kids, and once I tried to keep standing as long as I could while all of the boys 'attacked' me at once; that was fun.

Today the plan called for learning about another hold from the book 'The Holds of Skyrim' which we had used before. Like for Eastmarch earlier, we were going to read the description for a specific hold and then discuss the words the kids did now know and, if possible, come up with easier wording. Minolewen asked first:

"Which hold is right north of ours?"

Frodnar answered right away: "Winterhold!"

"Well, yes, but not directly; there is another hold in between."

"Dawnstar?"

"Almost correct, but this is the name of the hold's capital city and not the name of the hold itself."

Nobody knew the proper name, and the teacher explained:

"The hold is called 'The Pale', children."

"Strange name."

"Maybe so, but now let's read what the book has about that hold. Mila, would you read the first paragraph, please?"

The Pale is a barren realm covered by vast fields of ice and snow. Its boundaries stretch from the center of Skyrim all the way to its northern coast. Here, at the capital city of Dawnstar, can be found one of the busiest ports in the province.

"All right, now, Dorthe, the second paragraph."

With access to the coastal waterways of Skyrim, Dawnstar could prove vital in the war effort. Should the Stormcloaks choose to attack Solitude from the river, this port would make a tempting target due to its close proximity.

Of course, the two girls had trouble pronouncing some of the words properly, and now there were questions on the text coming up:

"What is 'barren'?

"This word means that not much grows there."

"And what is a 'realm'?"

"This is another word for 'area' or 'region'."

"If Dawnstar is one of the busiest ports in Skyrim, what are the other ones?"

"Good question – let's look at the map here on the wall and see what other ports our province has."

All children looked at the big wall map, and one boy suggested:

"Solitude is on the coast, too, right?"

"Yes, and it is also a major port; another one?"

"Winterhold maybe?"

"No, not really. The waters up there are too icy and treacherous for ships, and the coast is not even easily accessible from the city. But we got one more!"

"I don't see another city on the coast!"

"What about a city on a major river?"

"Ah, Windhelm?"

"Indeed, here we go; Windhelm is on a river, but this is Yorgrim River, and together with White River flowing into it, it is more than wide enough for ships to pass between the city and the Sea of Ghosts."

An almost inevitable question followed:

"What is the Sea of Ghosts?"

"That's the name of the ocean north of Skyrim."

"Are there actually ghosts there?"

I did not know that, but Minolewen had an answer:

"I would not rule that out, but I believe that the name comes from an infamous pirate who ruled the sea a long time ago; his name was Haknir Death-Brand, and he also got called 'King of Ghosts'. Maybe we can talk about him at another time. So, back to our province and our ports – the three major ports in Skyrim are Solitude, Dawnstar and Windhelm."

"Morthal is also on a river, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is, but this is a small and narrow river and not usable for larger boats and ships."

"And what about us here? Whiterun does not have a port, right?"

"No, it does not. The White River, which passes east of the city, has too may rapids and cannot be used by boats."

That was certainly correct. In general, the river was somewhat wider than it had been in the game, but the many rapids clearly prevented it from being used for water transport of any kind. The teacher suggested:

"Now, can we try to write this sentence on The Pale in an easier way?"

There was lots of discussion about that, and eventually we came up with that for the first paragraph:

The Pale is a hold with lots of snow and ice, and not much grows there. It is located north of Whiterun and has a long sea coast; the capital city, Dawnstar, has one of Skyrim՚s three major ports.

Nazdura, the Orc, also explained something about the second part of the hold's description, the one about military significance; she did not go into details, though, and this part was not very interesting for young kids anyway.

Lars actually had another question: "So, if The Pale is north of us, where is the border between our hold and that one?"

"Excellent question. Of course, we have quite a long border with The Pale, and on the road along the farms, Loreius Farm is close to the border and, I believe, officially belongs to The Pale already. As Pale guards normally don't get there, though, Whiterun hold guards sometimes end their patrol only close to the farm rather than stopping at the Whitewatch Tower."

"And further west?"

"In the west, Rorikstead and the lands around are fully in our hold. As we are at peace with all other holds, there is no need to man border fortifications, and at most borders we don't even have any."

"And south of us is Falkreath, right?"

"Correct, Frodnar. Riverwood, your home town, is still in our hold, and the border is close to the Guardian Stones."

While the kids were not really familiar with the legends around the Standing Stones, most of them had heard about them and knew the location of the Guardian Stones at least. With that explanation, the current lesson ended, and at the end of this school day both teachers, Minolewen and Nazdura, assured me that I could start as teacher here in Whiterun anytime I wanted. That was certainly not the career and life I had in mind, but I promised to show up from time to time when I was in the city. After all, there was always something I could learn there, and I really enjoyed spending some of my time with the kids, too.

I liked the concept that at least a public elementary school was available in the city, and I asked Minolewen if the other cities had one. The response was:

"Most major cities have one, yes. There is certainly a school in Solitude, in Markarth and in Windhelm, but I am not sure about Dawnstar, Morthal and Riften; Winterhold and Falkreath do not have a concept like this, according to what I know. In my opinion, at least all hold capitals should have a school, but some Jarls seem to have other priorities. There are, of course, some parents who teach their kids on their own, with varying success."

In the afternoon, when I strolled through the city after I had eaten lunch in Jorrvaskr, I watched a few craftsmen working on the roof on one of the houses in the Wind District, the main residential area at least for the more wealthy people. The large house of Clan Grey-Mane not only needed a new roof on one side, but also some of the large beams supporting it needed replacement. The house was close to the Gildergreen, and during the dragon attack if had been damaged. I watched as several of the artisans connected ropes to the two ends of one of the large and heavy beams, and I was delighted to see that they were pulled up to the roof by using tow pulleys. As far as I knew, the concept of a pulley had been unknown in Skyrim until had built one to help craftsmen get some heavy stone block up the long stairs from Plains District to Wind District; Irgnar, the foreman in charge of city wall repairs, had willingly adopted the concept in the month of Hearthfire, and it appeared that the basic idea had spread; most likely the artisan in the city were connected and had some kind of guild house or so. Yes, 'inventing' a pulley was probably a good idea, but I would need to be careful and make sure that I did not introduce more dangerous concept, like maybe a laser gun or a railgun so. For those, I was probably safe, as I knew the basic scientific concepts, but lacked the finer understanding of the construction details. Above and beyond that, Tamriel lacked too many of the basic requisites, of course. I did have some vague plans for the future, though; sooner or later I wanted to have a house with a shower and maybe even a water closet. For the summer months a refrigerator would be convenient, but I imagined that frost magic could be used as substitute.

In the early evening, after a nice and mostly lazy afternoon, Vilkas called me into his room, and he showed me a series of books he had on the history of the Companions.

"Every Companion," he stated, "learns about our history, and, and as you know well, we sometimes narrate some related stories in the mead hall. This book here, volume seven of the 'Songs of the Return', tells about the founding of this place here, and maybe you'd want to read the details, when you find the time."

"Thank you, Vilkas, I would indeed. But say, the volumes you have here on your shelf have many gaps, and next after volume seven is volume nineteen. Why did you not also get the other ones?"

"Sadly, the ones I have here are all I have been able to find so far. Some others probably exist in few copies only, and I have not located them yet, and others yet maybe be entirely lost or destroyed."

"I see. All right, let me get this one and start reading it soon."

For today, it was already too late to read, as I preferred to have daylight for reading books; however, I was not in a hurry.

On the next day I decided to go for a walk outside of the city with Antonius, my new housecarl, and I told him about my past; not everything, but at least about my initial vision, the requests and statements from the Divines, and that I was originally from another world rather than from another part of Nirn, having lived there for more than fifty years. With him being my housecarl, I wanted to be able to talk to him freely, and I could be reasonably sure that he would not gossip with other people about my secrets. On the other hand, even if he told somebody about that, who would really believe it? It turned out that Antonius was less surprised than I had expected; after he had listened to my story he just nodded and said:

"All right, the Divines do strange things all of the time. At least it's not one of the Daedric princes playing a prank or worse. The way you tell your story, it really looks like they have some plans for you, and I will be happy to be at your side for those. Wow, when I was training to be a housecarl, I expected to get assigned to some dull Nord, who somehow managed to make the Jarl believe that they deserved the honor to become thane, and life with him or her would be boring, they'd make me carry all of their stuff all of the time, and such. I have a feeling that being with you might be a lot different, and I am looking forward to seeing that, really."

I liked his attitude and his open speaking, and it appeared that he wouldn't much repeat the standard phrases from the game, like 'I'm sworn to carry your burdens' or 'As you wish, my Thane'. With a smirk I asked:

"So, would you have preferred to be assigned to a female thane, Antonius?"

He grinned and replied: "Honestly, that depends. Getting a pretty one who asks me to 'have her back' from time to time might have been quite entertaining, if you get my meaning, my Thane. On the other hand, if it was an elderly lady who'd consider me more like a servant, probably not."

I could relate to that a lot. After all, when playing, I had frequently enjoyed looking at Vilja՚s back for some time, when I had suggested that she run ahead a little rather than staying at my side or just behind me; the sophisticated user interface the 'Vilja' mod had actually allowed for settings like this, and I had done some experiments on the settings, specifically also with the outfits assigned to her for different occasions. I had resisted the temptation to install one of those 'bikini armor' mods, but I had usually played with mods providing at least slightly more skimpy armor and clothes, specifically those being sold in that house on the road to Markarth, the 'Apachii Divine Elegance Store', and I had probably spent hours to see how the various items from there looked on my female followers, from my very specific male perspective. One of my favorite follower outfits had turned out to be something which was not even very skimpy, really, and I recalled that it had been called the 'Linkle Outfit'.

Antonius had likely noticed that I was thinking about something, and when I looked at him again, he asked:

"So, are we going to search for the Dragonborn lady again?"

"No, not really. The way I see it is that we'll meet again anyway, sooner or later, and it will be her call if or when she may want to have my assistance again, or maybe not; I am not going to force my help on her. I have a feeling, though, that she and I are destined to find each other again, one way or another; Akatosh will probably make sure that I am there when she needs me."

"Fair enough, my Thane. I have not yet met her in person, but I saw her from a distance a few times when she was in Whiterun; is she a good person?"

"Antonius, it depends on the definition of a good person. From my point of view, certainly yes. She is clearly not what many people expected a Dragonborn to look like; she is a petite young female Bosmer instead of a big burly and strong Nord. However, she has accepted her fate, and there is probably a good reason why Akatosh chose her rather than somebody else. Yes, she is a good person, and I don't mind helping her when needed."

I did not think that I should tell Antonius that Fiona was also from Earth; it would be up to her to tell him later or maybe not.

"Just helping her? According to what some people say, you have saved her life a few times. Some people mention you as well when they talk about the Dragonborn, as her ally and protector and maybe more."

"True, I have saved her a few times, but mostly not alone. But that's all right; this is one of reasons I am here, and I owe Akatosh. Yes, maybe I will save her life again in the future, but she is the Dragonborn after all, and she is very important for the province and maybe for the entire planet, as I understand."

"If the legends are true about the World Eater, she may well be, indeed. You got any feelings for her, my Thane?"

"Feelings? Are you talking about romantic feelings, housecarl?"

"Sorry, my Thane, this is too personal, I guess. Some people talk, and I guess that seeing a tiny female Bosmer and a huge male Khajiit doing things together triggers some thoughts. Two of the citizens of Oakwood were here a week or so ago, and they reported in all detail how the two of you defeated that dragon over there, working closely together."

"They likely exaggerated, but do some see us as 'the beauty and the beast?"

Antonius laughed, and I joined in, and then he replied:

"I am not familiar with that expression, but some may see it like this, yes, sorry."

"No, that's all right; I just did not expect that question. And no, I do not have romantic feelings for Fiona. She is a nice person, but at best I see her like a little sister or a cousin, and I don't think that this is going to change. She is also not so very comfortable with me being around, and I need to respect that."

For a moment I felt tempted to explain about the 'beauty and the beast' reference, but I realized that my good housecarl would not understand what a movie was and that I'd have to explain a lot of different background, and thus I hesitated. For now, Antonius seemed to notice that I was not feeling comfortable to talk about that topic a lot and thus he asked something different:

"So, another question: How do you feel about being a Khajiit rather than an Imperial or whatever it was you were before, in your previous life?"

"Good, Antonius, very good. My former body was not very impressive, and I don't want to change back. I mean, I am not good at some things like alchemy and lockpicking, but I love the strength and stamina I have now. I am very grateful to Akatosh for giving me this chance, and I am happy to see that you are not prejudiced against my race."

"No, I am certainly not, but you may have noticed that some people are. Most people in Skyrim have come to accept the elves more or less, but with what some call the 'beast races', it's still something different, in some regions at least."

"Maybe so, but I have actually seen an Argonian being a fully accepted community member in at least two towns."

"Yeah, I guess that this is improving, too, but some holds handle that better than others. By the way, my Thane, do you have any plans to get involved in the civil war?"

"No, not yet at least. However, considering that it was the Imperials trying to kill me at Helgen and that Talos was one of the Divines addressing me in my vision, I tend to lean towards the Stormcloaks. Ralof has been a good friend so far, and I certainly intend to talk to Jarl Ulfric at some time in the future and find out more about his motives and listen to his side of the story at least. With you being an Imperial, would you see a problem there?"

"No, not really. I know that General Tullius has treated many people unfairly, and he is not very popular, even among the legion. With myself also being a Talos worshiper, I have to admit that the Stormcloaks have a point. It is a pity that Skyrim people have to fight against themselves, though; this province could achieve so much more without the internal struggles."

I nodded, and I guessed that he had a point. Was there going to be a way to end the war and have peace again in the province? Well, if there was one, I should not simply assume that I'd be able to make a major contribution; after all, I was not the 'main character' or 'player character' who got to decide almost everything. Maybe, though, I could at least try to influence some events and decisions; the future would show. I concluded the topic by saying:

"Anyway, I owe my allegiance to Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, and unless there is a very good reason to change my mind, I will follow his guidance, which implies that I am, at this time at least, as neutral as he is."

A few minutes of silent walking later I asked:

"Antonius, I asked you about your weapon proficiency before. Could you shed some more light on your education and training, please?"

"Sure, my Thane. I actually started to wander around as a mercenary as a young adult, but after a couple of years I managed to get in conflict with the law, here in this hold. Nothing real bad, but I was thrown into the dungeons. Command Caius had heard about some of my earlier exploits, and he offered me a deal; I could enlist to the hold guards, and if I behaved, my earlier transgression would be forgiven. I accepted, got proper training, and soon I was able to distinguish myself, not so much in combat, but more in talking. It appears that I got more than my fair part of the Imperial racial bonus of charming, and eventually Jarl Balgruuf the Greater realized that my abilities were something he could benefit from. A few times he had joint a delegation to negotiate some trade deals with adjacent holds, and soon I was promoted. I was given a choice to stay with the guards, enter the housecarl program, or even leave, or for a reason I don't fully understand, maybe an inner hunch, I decided for the housecarl program."

"So you got around a lot, right?"

"Actually, yes, I did. There were the delegations, and even after that, as a housecarl should know something about all holds, I spent some months in every hold in Skyrim. This was a good time; I could stay at a city's guard barracks, train with the local guards, got to know many of the people, and more. Yes, it was a good time. I had just arrived back from Dawnstar when the Dragonborn was made Thane, and I knew that I was going to be one of the next candidates. But, of course, getting a new Thane is not a regular event, and I could not have known if it would be just a few months or maybe many years or even never until I was needed and selected. Meanwhile, though, I had my place in the guards. I missed the first dragon fight, as I had been assigned to the Dragonsreach guard detail at that time."

So, he had been around a lot, and that might be useful for me and us at a later time.

[Author's Notes: The mentioned mod 'Linkle Outfit UNP PORT for SkyrimSE' is amod I actually like to use, indeed,and the clothing provided by it is one of my favorites for my female followers, including Vilja.]