Chapter 59: Spices and more

[14th – 15th of Evening Star 4E 201]

Janina, the pretty and tall Redguard, and I had been at the Blue Palace to report about events in Wolfskull Cave, where my companions and I had been able to stop the summoning of Queen Potema; naturally, I had been given a nice amount of septims as reward. After inquiring about a soldier in the legion and bringing the bad news to her mother, we now headed towards the docks to check for a shipment of spices.

Janina, the Redguard warrior lady, had accepted this task and started to leave from the market, but she lacked proper directions, so that I had asked Antonius to lead the way. My housecarl smirked and almost laughed, but he turned around and walked ahead. I offered my arm to Janina, and we went towards the gate, out of the city, and turned left, following the road downhill. We paused at the top of the steps to give Janina some time to enjoy the scenery, with the docked ships, the many birds flying around, and all that, and before we proceeded down to the docks and the East Empire Company office, I suggested:

"Look, it is about noon; what about we eat something before we proceed?"

Both Janina and Antonius agreed, and after looking around for a nice spot I led them in the direction of the sawmill, and we waded over to a small island in the bay. I vaguely remembered the area from playing the game, and I thought that this might be a nice place to spend an hour or so. We found a nice spot in the grass, and I got food and drinks out from my backpack; I was glad that I had purchased some food earlier at the market. Although we were approaching winter, the climate in and around Solitude seemed to be milder than in other regions, and with the sun shining brightly, it was a good day to be outside. I enjoyed to be in good company; fortunately, none of them were one of those people who preferred to have a proper meal served on a table all of the time, and they did not hesitate to help themselves quickly. I actually had to remind Janina to not overindulge; as she had been without much food for a week before, she needed to adjust her body and stomach to regular nutrition once again.

However, I did not have enough food for my cubs, and I felt sorry for them. When looking around, my eyes caught some movement in the water, and upon close examination I saw a lot of fish swimming in the narrow and shallow channel between river bank and island. I had tried myself in catching fish a few times before, but did not really want to go swimming for that today. The time of the year suggested cold water, probably colder than I liked, and this was not a small creek from a sun warmed lake here. However, there were a few rocks very close to the island, and for some reason fish seemed to like swimming around those. Very slowly I got closer, and after a few attempts I managed to catch a veritable salmon, followed by a second one a few minutes later. Hanni and Nanni got a salmon each, and they were both happy again. After they had eaten, they both tried to follow my example and catch fish; this was unsuccessful for quite some time, but after many attempts one of them actually got one; watching and observing their effort was quite amusing.

Even after lunch we spent some time on the island and watched the sky and the many birds up there, the ships at the docks, and the peaceful scenery around us. Only when a large cloud started to hide the sun, we decided that we were ready to move on, got back to the river bank and proceeded towards the docks to find the East Empire Company office. We found it without big trouble, and I explained the situation to the lady there, mentioning that the vendor at the market stall was waiting for the spices to be released. The lady at the office responded:

"Ah yes, Evette San. If she wants to pay the two thousand gold tariff than we will be all set. Now if you'll excuse me. The East Empire Company has several accounts, and it's up to me to balance them."

I was silenced for now – a tariff of two thousand? Really? – but Antonius stepped forward and continued the conversation in his own very special way:

"My lady Vittoria Vicci, have you ever tasted Evette՚s spiced wine?"

She turned around again when she heard her name – did Antonius know every lady in the province by name? – faced my housecarl and seemed to reconsider:

"Why, yes, and I do like it, actually."

"I have heard some rumors that you intend to serve quite a few bottles of that very special wine at your upcoming wedding. Now, I am sure that Evette is going to deliver, but there's no way she can afford such a tariff. Wouldn't it be a pity if she had to close her stand and find another city where to sell her fine wine?"

I was not quite sure if Antonius knew all that or made it up, but the lady's name and the upcoming wedding rang a bell. Wasn't that one of the events where one could, if being a member of the Dark Brotherhood, do something real evil, like an assassination or so? I did not really know for sure, as the Dark Brotherhood questline did not fit my preference for being a good guy, and I had never bothered to pursue it; rather, when Astrid had tried to recruit me, I had always decided to kill her instead of one of the unfortunate prisoners she had offered as targets. Yes, I had been kidnapped by her not only once, and usually it had been for 'liberating' the Riften orphanage from the tyranny of the evil minded matron who called herself 'Grelod the Kind'. Mia, the alchemist, had confirmed some time ago that this person did actually exist and that she was in charge there.

Vittoria Vicci had listened to the arguments my housecarl had presented, and she appeared to be clearly affected by his words; after some consideration she replied:

"I suppose I could make an exception; I actually do like her spiced wine, and I am looking forward to having some bottles available at my wedding. Fine, tell Evette San that her shipment will be brought up to Solitude shortly."

"I thank you, my fair lady" my housecarl told her and bowed his head in her direction.

When we had walked away some distance, I asked him:

"How do you get away with things like that?"

"What? About what I said to Vittoria? Most of is was the truth, actually, and in addition, I have to admit that few ladies can resist my charm."

"Well, I can" Janina chimed in.

Antonius nodded towards her and acknowledged that, but stated with a smirk on his face:

"If I could not see that you are somewhat close to my Thane and under his protection, I might be tempted to find out about that."

I shook my head, Janina looked away, and we slowly climbed the stairs again. Before we reached the watchtower, we heard horses whinnying, and Janina pulled me towards the farm and stables. She stopped close to the horses and looked at them longingly. When she found somebody to talk to, a female Nord named Fridrika, she asked:

"Do you think it's possible that I ride one of your horses a little?"

Fridrika snorted:

"Do you know how to handle a horse? Are you willing to pay?"

Janina confirmed the former but had to admit that she was out of money and thus looked down, and the Nord told her:

"Well, if your two companions help with the harvest, that can be arranged, I guess. We are helping at Katla՚s farm right now, and we can use a few more helping hands."

Janina looked at me with something I felt tempted to identify as 'bedroom eyes', and she had quite long eyelashes indeed. On Earth I would have thought them to be artificial, but that was not really an option here, at least in my opinion, although I would not be totally surprised if some alchemist knew a potion to achieve something in that direction. Her scheming worked, on me at least, and I asked my housecarl:

"Antonius, let's do some harvesting for a change, right?"

Fridrika helped Janina to pick a horse, and she was off in almost no time. We were lead to the field and got busy harvesting cabbage, leeks, potatoes and wheat. I still did not understand how all of those were ready to harvest at the same time, and I wondered if there was some magic behind it. Based on what I had learned in Dragon Bridge, there actually was; a farmer there had told me that they sometimes helped warming the ground and speeding up ripeness with heat spells. Maybe some magic experts had more spells to keep plants growing under adverse conditions? I seemed to remember that there were a few farms even close to Windhelm, and surely they could not grow a lot without magical help?

While we worked, Antonius smirked at me and said:

"She's got you wrapped around her little finger."

I had not expected a comment like this and needed a few moments to get back from my thoughts on magic, so that my response showed my confusion:

"What?"

"Hey, no offense meant, just stating a fact."

"Are you talking about Janina and me?"

My housecarl nodded, and I thought about that for a moment before I replied:

"You may be right; I am somewhat smitten with her."

"That's putting it mildly, my Thane. But that's all right; she is really pretty. If you get laid anytime soon, I will be happy for you."

I opened my mouth and closed it again. As a matter of fact, he had a point, and maybe I was headed in that direction. And then, maybe not. Maybe Janina was just thankful and liked me close, as a good friend, but not as a lover? What did I know, after all? My experience with women and their needs and desires had been very limited in my previous life; I did want to find out more about that topic, but I'd have to go very slow unless I found a female partner I could really trust. I was also a little bit surprised to hear my housecarl talking like that. This was not at all like an obedient humble housecarl, but I liked his attitude. He must have noticed the look on my face, as he asked:

"My Thane, you don't mind me talking freely like that, or do you?"

"No, Antonius, that's all right. I do appreciate your candidness, and I prefer your openness to a humble housecarl who just says 'Yes my Thane' left and right. Please continue to let me know what you think."

Antonius smiled, and he was obviously happy to get this confirmed. I was not sure if I was doing the right thing in allowing him to be frank, but in the long run it was probably better to get honest rather than polite responses and comments from him. And there certainly were some areas where getting advice from somebody who was much more experienced could be really valuable.

About one hour later Janina was back from her ride, we handed over what we had harvested, and left the farm and the stables. The Redguard՚s face was glowing, and it was apparent that she had enjoyed riding. The way she looked got me confused, and despite the effort of harvesting I felt a need to let off some steam; what Antonius had claimed about Janina and my feelings for her troubled me, and I urgently needed to get distracted. I knew exactly what to do about it, and I lead my companions to a quiet corner not directly adjacent to a road. Once there I told them to give me a few minutes to work out with my cubs. Janina questioned that:

"How can you work out with your cubs?"

"Sit down and watch, if you like."

I had done something similar before, like when I had played with them in the courtyard of Jorrvaskr, and I was very happy that Hanni and Nanni seemed to be very smart, but maybe they just liked to play with me. I dropped my weapons but kept my armor on, found a position close to the center of the area I had found, and commanded:

"Go!"

They immediately got my intention, and the first cub jumped in my direction. I evaded, turned around, and barely managed to also duck from the other cub's leap. They alternated jumping at me, and most of the time I managed to get away, but a few times they got me. Once they managed to coordinate their jumps and hit me almost at the same time, and I had to spend some effort to stay standing. After about twenty minutes or so I started to sweat, and I decided to change roles. Rather than my two cubs jumping on me, I tried to catch them, but I did not stand a chance; they were way too nimble for me to grab them when they were keen on evading me. We continued that for a few minutes, and then I decided that this was good enough for a distraction, and it was indeed. Both my mind and my body had been able to focus on playing, and I got down to the ground and opened my arms; we spent another five minutes or so cuddling and licking.

When I looked up again, both Janina and Antonius looked amused, and my housecarl asked:

"Having fun?"

"Oh yes, that was nice. I consider them almost like my kids, and we need to make sure that we have some time for bonding on a regular basis. But wait, we are not done just yet."

After the previous exercises I got down on the grass on my back, lifted my legs, and carefully placed each of my girls on one of my feet, before I alternated stretching my legs, so that the cubs were lifted up and got down again. Once I had done this for a few minutes, I got up again, lifted Hanni and threw her up into the air as high as I could before catching her again. She squeaked and loved it, like a human child might as well, and a few minutes later I repeated the process with her sister Nannie a few times.

Once this was done, I had indeed calmed down, hugged my girls closely and announced that I was done now. Janina looked at me in an odd way and commented:

"I am almost getting jealous here; I wish that I had somebody for cuddling when I need it."

"Have you ever tried to conjure a familiar?"

"No, I have not; conjuration was not part of my magical training."

"Maybe you should give it a try; there is a chance that you might get a small cuddling buddy. Besides, Hanni and Nanni seem to like you; I am sure that one of them will gladly receive some hugging and fur scratching."

She looked at me again and nodded slowly, but I failed to interpret her facial expression.

Back in the city, we first told Evette about our success in negotiating the tariff for her latest delivery of special spices, and she was quite happy about it:

"Thank you so much. I swear it's a fight with them for every shipment, and sometimes the tariff is just crazy; one might almost think that they are rolling the dice to determine the proper amount. I am so glad that this is taken care of; here's something for your troubles."

She handed over a small coin purse, and I nodded politely. I used the opportunity to ask what else she had for sale, and I was a little bit disappointed to find out that she only sold bottles with wine of different brands, her own included of course. Just when we were about to leave, Evette San sighed and said:

"Now, if my father just wouldn't drink that much."

"Trouble with your father?"

"Well, kind of. He drinks more wine than what is good for him, and he sometimes gambles. Both has driven him into debt multiple times, and as he's too old to work, it's usually up to me to get him out of there again."

"Can we do something to help?"

"Now, as you managed to convince the clerk at the East Empire Company, maybe you could also have a word with him. I doubt that it will work, but still…"

"Sure, we will do that; where can we find him?"

"He usually spends his afternoons and evenings at the Winking Skeever. His name is Octieve, and he usually sits in a corner."

"All right; good by for now."

The day was almost over, the first market vendors started to close down their stalls, and from the market area we went back to our inn. There we found a message from Athis waiting for me; he informed me that he'd be back in the morning tomorrow. When we had dinner in the taproom, we looked around, and an old man fitting the description from Evette sat alone at corner table. Antonius excused himself and joined him; for half an hour or so they talked, and when my housecarl was back, he just nodded. Apparently he had managed again to talk another person into something, but of course we could not know how long that might last.

After dinner, we retired to our room, and I gave Antonius the night off again. Same as before, Janina and I shared a room, but today she did not have any nightmares, or at least none which woke me or the cubs; we slept peacefully into the early morning.

On the next day both Athis and Antonius joined us for breakfast in the taproom, and Athis told us that he had visited some relatives of his in the area. For today, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go for a longer walk, nothing too strenuous, but longer than just a couple of hours. After looking at my map I suggested to turn north first and follow the coast line, and later get back via Meridia՚s statue again. On a nice and warm day like today that promised to be a nice and scenic hike, and everybody agreed. Janina claimed that she was almost fully recovered and felt up to the plan, and she changed into her armor today. Clearly, the quiet day yesterday and a few potions had helped a lot.

As planned we left the city and followed the coastline north. We passed right under the Arc, and we marveled about that special natural construct. A ship was approaching the docks right at this time, and it was dwarfed by the Arc. Maybe sailors more than two thousand years ago had also been impressed like that when they had approached the harbor of the city of Rhodes on the island with the same name and passed the 'colossus'? I was not sure, though, if that colossus had been constructed just at the side or in a way to have ships pass between its legs.

After the Arc the road turned away from the waterfront a little bit, and we had some rock walls on our left. After about half an hour a side road branched off on the right side, apparently leading to a small dock with a ship close by and a lighthouse further in the distance. Janina was getting curious:

"What about that ship over there? Why is it out here rather than at the city docks?"

Antonius replied:

"This is a pirate ship, or I guess they call themselves corsairs. The crew of the 'Dainty Sload' are mostly harmless unless you get too close to their ship, but I have to admit that I do not really know what kind of business they do, if one can call it so. Even Safia and her crew from the 'Red Wave' don't have any contact with them as far as I know."

Rather than going there, we stayed on the main road which slowly turned west. Not much was happening on the road, and we just had a good time while enjoying the scenery and the smell of the sea. As it turned out, Janina was indeed almost back to her normal self, whatever that actually was, and she did not need any help in normal walking at least. In her special blue and red colored armor she looked both formidable and cute, but I did not actually say so.

We passed close to a cave entrance, but did not want to take extra time to get in today; the sunshine out here was just too nice. My map told me that this was 'Shadowgreen Cavern', and I vaguely recalled that one to be a very scenic cave; I should certainly plan to come back at a more opportune time to explore it.

Later on the road started to climb, and we got into colder weather for the time being. After all, we were close to the end of the year and what I'd consider the start of winter, and there sure was some snow on the ground and on the road. The city of Solitude itself probably benefited from some warm current in the sea, and I had not seen any snow in the city yet, but up here we got some, and I felt tempted to ask if somebody was up to a snowball fight. I resisted that temptation but gave in to another one, and all of a sudden I stepped into the snow next to the road, dropped down, moved my arms and legs up and down and created a 'snow angel'.

Janina giggled when she saw that, and Antonius laughed out loud, whereas Athis just smiled. The level of amusement my companions showed increased further when Hanni and Nanni, my two saber cat cubs, tried to do the same; they failed to create a recognizable pattern, but had a lot of fun romping around in the snow. I used the opportunity to form a few snowballs after all and threw them at my unprepared girls. Once they got hit by the first one, they paid attention and managed to evade almost of the following ones, and I continued to have lots of fun with my saber cat cubs until I got hit on my back. After turning around I saw Janina sporting a wide grin, and she threw the next snowball, hitting me directly on my snout now.

When Antonius saw that, he almost dropped to the ground from laughing, and I started to laugh, too. I needed a few minutes to calm down, and so did Antonius, and Janina asked curiously:

"Say, are you really an adult Khajiit?"

I laughed again and replied:

"Janina, technically I guess that I am, but sometimes I do feel like a boy, and getting to play with my two girls makes me feel very young indeed."

Before I could stop myself I added:

"Besides: Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it."

Nobody around got the reference, of course, but Janina looked very thoughtful, and after a minute or so she replied:

"I don't know why, but I have a feeling that I have heard those words before."

That could not be true, or could it? Eventually we managed to continue our leisurely walk.

After we had turned sharply left and approached another turn to the right, we saw another cave entrance, which was not quite as obvious to notice, as it was mostly hidden behind some larger bushes. Right when we were about to pass, I started to hear some noise, and suddenly two people were running out of the cave, turning left and racing down the road in southern direction. They did not really pay attention to us, and I only noticed in passing that one of them was a Bosmer and the other one a Breton, both of them male. They looked scared and ran like they were pursued and fleeing from someone of something, and a couple of minutes later another person emerged from the cave exit. Somehow this person looked familiar, and when I looked again I was very surprised, as I recognized Fiona, the petite Bosmer and Dragonborn. Where had she come from?

[Author's Notes: Yes, indeed, where did she come from? Can you guess? If you can, please feel free to write a review!

The phrase 'Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it' is a quote from the Holy Bible, Mark 10, verse 15.]