Chapter 58: Blue Palace Gardens

[14th of Evening Star 4E 201]

After Janina, the Redguard we had rescued from Wolfskull Cave, and I had spend the night together in my room at the Winking Skeever in Solitude – same room, but separate beds, of course – we had had breakfast together and then met our companions from the day before to check out the collected loot we had managed to get; Janina had been able to get her armor, weapons and most of her other belongings back.

While the others were busy getting rid of excess lot and making quite some money, I guided Janina to the Blue Palace, to find the steward; I had to tell him about what we had found and done in the cave, after all. I had to wait until he had finished a conversation with somebody else; was that Erikur, Thane of Solitude? Not for the first time I wished that my memory for faces and names was better, but on the other hand the people looked at least slightly different from the game anyway. Eventually the steward turned to me, but before I could say something he asked:

"Who is that beautiful lady next to you? I do not think that I have seen her before in our city, and as steward, I usually know about our citizens and visitors."

"Steward Firebeard, may I introduce the Lady Janina. Janina, may I introduce Falk Firebeard, steward to Jarl Elisif the Fair."

The steward bowed and was clearly impressed, and while he had obvious trouble turning his eyes away from Janina, he asked:

"So, you have returned. Good. What did you find at Wolfskull Cave? Mostly bandits and some wild animals, I guess?"

"Well, not quite. Some necromancers were attempting to summon and bind Potema."

"What? Really? Potema herself? So there was actually something behind the rumors? Please tell me that you stopped them."

"We interrupted their ritual and killed the conjurers; it's done."

"You have done a larger service to the realm than you could possibly know. A resurrected Potema... I shudder at the thought."

We chatted a little more, and the steward handed out a significant reward for my services. Janina had a few question on her own:

"Excuse me, steward Firebeard, I am new to Skyrim, and I lack a lot of knowledge on the background here. I have heard that the Jarl՚s husband was killed; are you in a position to elaborate on that?"

"High King Torygg, husband to Elisif, was murdered by Ulfric, Jarl of Windhelm, not quite half a year ago."

"Oh. So, is she respected by people and by the legion?"

"Of course she is. I admit that there's been some loose talk among the people, but you'll better pay those rumors no heed if you wish to retain your welcome in this city. She may be young but Elisif is the Jarl by right. And here in Skyrim, if nothing else, we respect the traditions of our father's fathers. You'll do well to remember that."

Falk Firebeard almost got himself into a rage about that, and I suspected that some people had indeed questioned Elisif՚s qualifications as Jarl.

We both decided that we had talked enough and were on our way out again. Janina and I rested for some time on a bench in the palace gardens, and we admired the beautiful flowers and the butterflies around them.

"It is quite beautiful here" she sighed.

"I agree, and why shouldn't it? This is the Blue Palace, and Jarl Elisif probably employs a gardener or two to keep it that way."

"That's not what I meant, well, not only."

I looked at her, and she continued:

"Look around, people are walking without haste and without fear; they feel safe behind the city walls, and the guards probably make sure that it stays that way. It's peaceful and seems to invite to rest. I have not been in such a lovely and peaceful environment for quite some time."

I was not sure if I was supposed to ask for more information, and I was about to state that the environment was not quite as peaceful, with the Civil War being on an all, but she talked on anyway:

"I was a member of the guard in Hammerfell, and a respected one, too. I had been female champion of unarmed combat for a few years, and then a few nobles decided to visit the neighbor province of High Rock; I was chosen to be a member of the guard detail going with them. For a few days all went well, but then one of the nobles in the city we were in cornered me alone, and he tried to sweet talk me into some very intimate relation. I refused, he tried to rape me, and I injured him – badly. When he woke up with the healers, he claimed that I had assaulted him without reason, and it was my word against his. I was just a guard and he was a respected noble, so that most people believed him. I was imprisoned and waiting for my trial, but a few of my fellow guards were on my side and helped me to escape. I had to run, and I thought that most would have expected me go south, back to Hammerfell. I went east instead and tried to get into Skyrim. Crossing the mountains was tough, but I managed. Nobody was looking for me in this province, and I thought I was going to get away when the bandits got me."

"And yet you decide to trust me, just like this?"

"I know, it's hard to believe. My mind warns me, but my gut feeling knows better. When I look at you, I feel like I have known you for years, and you guarded my sleep last week; it was so comforting for me, and I am surprised about myself, as I am not usually so trusting. I know that this sounds crazy, and you probably want to get rid of me soon anyway; you have done more than enough for me as it is."

"On the contrary, young lady. My feelings for you are similar, and I would not mind to have you around for some more time at all. As a matter of fact, you did mention that you had planned to get to Whiterun, right?"

"Indeed, I do plan to get there. A distant relative of mine is supposed to be there, and I hope that she might be able to find a place for me to live somewhere, far away from trouble."

"I do not know about the latter, but my home is in Whiterun. I would be honored to travel to Whiterun with you once my work here is finished. Athis and Antonius are good comrades, but not comparable to you at all."

She giggled a little, smiled at me and responded:

"My dear sir, I gladly accept your offer. I can wait a few days, provided that you can keep me safe in this city here."

"If you keep sharing a room with me, that should be doable" I could not resist to state. "Besides, Hanni and Nanni seems to like you as well."

Rather than replying she smiled again, and her smile looked just wonderful to me. What was wrong with me? Since when did I talk like this, and why was I so smitten with her? Was I going to get sick, or was I developing a crush on her? Wait a second – a crush? Could it be? Did Khajiit have crushes, like human beings? But wasn't a crush more a thing of the mind than of the body anyway? I tried to remember when I had last been in love, and it had been a long time ago. When I had attended university, I had had a girlfriend for some time, and she had been my first love; as far as I knew, I had not been her first love, though. Later, I had had a few affairs with women, but nothing coming close to that, more affection and hormone driven lust than love, and none of them had lasted longer than a few months. For the last ten years or so, there had been nothing at all, and I had more or less given up. Now, of course, with my rejuvenated and wonderful Khajiit body, everything might be possible again; of course, I did not have a clue how intimate relations worked when being a male Khajiit. If I managed to find a nice female of my race, she might know, but with a human female, I could only hope that we were compatible enough. Before I'd even think of going there, I'd have to love and trust such a woman enough to want to find out together, though.

I forced myself to stop those thoughts for the moment; after all, a gorgeous young lady was sitting close to me, very close actually, and I had this sudden urge to kiss her, forgetting all of the concerns I had considered and pondered just minutes ago. Tentatively I moved my head closer to her, and she lifted her own head and offered her wonderful smile again, having her eyes partially closed. Not being good at all in interpreting female body language and facial expressions I could only hope that this was a good sign, and I continued my move. I could clearly smell her now, and my whiskers started to make contact. It appeared that she was actually giving me a chance, and I felt my heartbeat accelerating.

My mouth must have been only a few centimeters from hers, when the main door to the Blue Palace was opened and two men stepped out. Janina jolted away from me like she was found doing something wrong, and the mood between us was gone entirely. I did not dare look at her and thus had a look at the two men; one of them I suspected to be Erikur and the other one was Falk Firebeard, the steward. They were involved in some discussion, and I heard Erikur saying:

"I've heard the Empire plans to levy a tax on our trading ships. Falk, you've got to do something about this."

"General Tullius needs more money for the war effort. We need the funds to arm and provision more troops."

"Then let's increase the taxes on the farms and merchants. We can't afford to lose the loyalty of the ship captains."

"We know full well about your investment in shipping ventures, Erikur. I've also heard troubling rumors about dealings between you and the crew of that pirate ship, the Red Wave. Thankfully, Jarl Elisif cares far less about your lost profits than she does about winning the war!"

"The Jarl would be wise to remember that it is her Thanes―and my profits―that are paying for this war."

I could not hear more as they walked down to the city and were soon out of hearing range. That had actually been quite interesting; Erikur had some business with the crew of the Red Wave? I should talk to my new friends about it.

While I had been distracted by the two men, the opportunity with Janina was gone, of course. The opening of the door had made her jolt away from me, and the mood was ruined. Maybe I should try again at a better place and time? She was going to share a room with me again, wasn't she? But, on the other hand, about the kissing, what had I been thinking? I did not really know how a Khajiit could properly kiss; I had a snout rather than a plain mouth after all. The untimely interruption by Erikur and Falk had probably saved me from some big embarrassment. No, things like kissing and potentially more intimate activities had to wait until I found a female I was fully comfortable with and so much in love with that potential embarrassment was not an issue, on both sides. I started to suspect that Janina might eventually turn out to be the right one, but it was way too early to be sure. We had just met for the first time yesterday!

On our way back to the market area we met the others again – my housecarl Antonius and the pirates from the 'Red Wave', who had been busy selling all of our loot; we had found many valuables in the cave. As a matter of fact, we had found much more than what we could carry, so we'd had to focus on the most valuable items, and, technically speaking, those items with the best value to weight ratio.

We sat together and counted the septims we had found in the cave, added what they had received for selling the excess loot and my reward from the steward, and divided evenly among all of us, including my housecarl. Initially he refused to take anything, but I told Antonius that I'd occasionally expect him to pay for food and accommodation, and that he needed some funds to be prepared for that. Janina had of course not been entitled to a share, but I promised that I'd pay for food and lodging until I'd bring her to Whiterun. Athis was still not with us, but I kept his share and would hand it over at a later time.

When we were done, I mentioned what I had heard from Erikur, and Sabine chuckled:

"Yes, indeed, we are sometimes doing some business with him. He is smart and thinks that he can make good deals with us, but in reality it's us getting the good deals. Our captain can outsmart him on any day, don't worry."

For now, it was time to say good bye. The three pirates made their way back to the ship, and only Antonius, Janina, my cubs and I stayed in the city. Athis, my Shield-Brother, had not shown up again so far after he had mentioned something about a visit. As we did not have any specific plans and also Janina had not fully recovered, we decided to take it easy and stroll around. One of our stops was to enter Angeline's Aromatics, the city's alchemy shop. The place was run by Angeline Morrard, a Breton apothecary, and her niece, Vivienne Onis. While we looked around, I might have mentioned that I was from Whiterun, and the proprietor told me:

"Wonderful. I hadn't really hoped to run into someone who had been in Whiterun."

"And why would that be?"

"My daughter, Fura, was assigned to Whiterun after she joined the Imperial Army. I was hoping you might have met her. I haven't heard from her lately. I've tried talking to Captain Aldis, but he hasn't been any help."

"I'm sorry, I've never met your daughter. However, I could try to get more information."

Why had I offered that? I should have kept silent, but now the lady added:

"Oh that's very sweet of you. Anything you can find out from Captain Aldis would be welcome news."

"Do you happen to know where we can find this captain you mention?"

"He is usually somewhere around close to Castle Dour."

Well, we did not have any other specific plans, and so we strolled up to the castle, where a guard pointed out an Imperial captain who was training soldiers in the courtyard. In my mind I tried to compare the fighting style to the one the Companions applied, but I lacked the expertise to come to a judgment. When we approached the captain and asked him about Angeline's daughter, he sternly responded:

"Information like that is 'need to know' only. We cannot just hand out details on soldiers to anybody who asks."

My Imperial housecarl did not let this pass, though:

"Oh, come on, we are talking about her mother. She needs to learn; sure you understand that?"

I didn't think that I could have been that persuasive, but for some reason it worked, and the captain caved in, after a few moments of pondering the issue:

"You may be right about that. What was the name again?"

"Fura, Fura Morrard."

"I... I've been trying to find the time and place to let Angeline Morrard know. Her daughter was sent to Whiterun, the skirmishes there have been violent. The Whiterun legate, he needed to know the Stormcloak positions. He sent out a party to scout the area. They happened upon a large force... I'm told none of them made it back. Private Morrard… Angeline's daughter was in that scouting party. She needs to be told, and I would not mind at all if I did not have to do it."

Whiterun was neutral but had an Imperial legate? Oh, he was probably not stationed in the city, but in the Imperial camp in the hold, wherever that actually was. I almost chuckled when I realized that the captain's willingness to hand out sensitive information like that to total strangers would have been in full contradiction to European data protection laws, but we were not in Europe here but in Tamriel. I just could not resist the temptation to think about comparisons like that from time to time.

We promised the captain that we'd tell her, thanked him for providing the information, and returned to the shop. When we told the proprietor about what we had just learned, she just sighed and nodded:

"I told her. I told her the Imperial army would kill her. That this was a war of Jarls and Imperial Generals and we had no part in it. She just wouldn't hear it. It was brave of you to come to me with this. I can't thank you for it, not for this, but you have done me a service."

We left her alone to grieve her daughter and entered the street again. Back in the market area I enjoyed the sight around, with maybe a dozen market stalls and many people around just looking or actually shopping. We talked to some of the vendors, and one of them called herself Evette San. She sold wine and other beverages, and when I had asked her about her supply of non-alcoholic juices and such, she mentioned:

"You wouldn't have a few minutes to run down to the docks would you?"

I raised my eyebrows, or rather I tried to make my face look like a question mark, and although I was so totally not sure if I actually looked like that, she elaborated:

"I've got a shipment of Spices the East Empire Company is holding up. I need someone to convince them to release it."

Spices, like for spiced wine? That did not convince me, but Janina agreed:

"Oh, sure, we will get down to the docks and ask."

I looked at her, and she smiled:

"I know, I should have asked you first, but a walk down to the docks will be nice; come on!"

And she was already walking, but not quite in the right direction. I called after her:

"Janina!"

"Yes? Are you coming?"

"Do you know how to get to the docks?"

"Oh – no, I don't."

She stopped, and I got to her side.

"Come on, let's do this together. Antonius, can you please lead the way, and we will follow."

[Author's Notes: If you like to read the story, would you mind writing a few more reviews? I'd really appreciate to receive some feedback, positive or negative.]