"How do you know your wolf is still alive?" Sophia said.
"I can sense him. And I know he's close." Yew said.
"Ah, with magic I'm guessing. Always wanted to learn a bit of the art myself. Never got the chance." Sophia said.
"Yes. Specifically I'm a druid, and members of our order can cultivate bonds with animals." Yew said.
"And yet you haven't named your wolf yet?" Sophia said.
"A name hasn't presented itself. Once it does, I'll call him by it." Yew said.
"Fair enough." Sophia responded.
"You're an Imperial right?" Uthgerd asked.
"Yes." Sophia said.
"What brought you up here? Don't seem like a second generation." Uthgerd said.
"I came here to start a new life. You can probably tell how that turned out." Sophia said.
"Well...your with us now. We can help you out." Greta said.
"Thanks, Priestess. But I don't know if that will truly be enough." Sophia said.
They passed beneath the shadow of the throat of the world. The day unfolded fairly peacefully, considering all that had happened that morning. Sophia seemed surprisingly willing to talk. Yew was pretty sure he'd read some stories with characters like her, and they typically were a bit more standoffish then this. This was an odd world he had fallen into and he wasn't exactly sure how to approach it. Like a game? Like a story? And what kind of game? What kind of story?
In any case, he knew he'd have to prioritize his growth and survival, as well as that of his party. Yew longed for sleep, not because he was tired, but because he wanted to level up. He was sure he had made some progress over the events of that day.
Yew hadn't let up on his tracking. Guided initially by his instincts toward the general location of his wolf, he soon spotted wolf tracks alongside a set of boots. Likely to be those of a grown man. They had been following those for about two hours when they stumbled upon a hut, a ways off the beaten track.
"So this is where that old man set up camp." Sophia asked.
"It would appear so. Do you think there will be trouble?" Yew asked. Sophia shrugged.
"I doubt it. But if he does he won't have a chance. He's a skilled enough fighter, but not good enough to make up for the numbers advantage." Sophia said.
"Good to know." Yew said. He went up and knocked on the door. To Yew's surprise, the door actually opened to show the older man from the tower.
"Ah. I see you've found me. Guessing you've come to an accord with Sophia?" The older man said.
"We've been hired." Sophia said.
"Good. Good. Well, come in. Your wolf missed you." The Older man said.
Inside the room was Yew's wolf, safe and sound, gnawing on a bone.
"Always was good with animals. In my experience, they tend to be a lot easier to deal with than people, even the mean ones." The older man said, as he took a seat near the house's hearth.
"I'm inclined to agree. Now then, could you explain to me why you ran off with my wolf?" Yew asked.
"Didn't run off with him. The creature followed me. Thought he meant to kill me, so I tossed him some meat. But then he just kept on following." The man said.
"I suppose this can be taken as a lack of a harmonious realtionship with my animal companion. Thank you for taking care of him. I'll be taking him off your hands then and we can part ways as friends." Yew said.
"Hold on there. You hired on Sophia and her muscle. What job do you have?" He asked.
"We've got a few bandit heads the Jarl of Whiterun wants apprehended. They are making for Riften." Yew said.
"Aye. Alright then. I'd like to offer my services to you. I'll even wait on payment til you get your reward from the Jarl. Man like me has less jobs in front of him then he has behind him. So I'll take what I can get." The older man said.
"Sounds fine by me." Yew said and looked over his companions. They all gave the nod.
"Alright then. Let's shake on it." The old man said, and stretched out a hand. Yew shook it.
"My names Yew." Yew said.
"Oden." The old man said.
"Now then, is this your house?" Yew said looking around.
"Not as such. I found it abandoned a bit ago, seemed freshly abandoned. Probably because of the war. Claimed it as my own." Oden said.
"I suppose we might as well bunker down here for the evening. Not going to make much more progress today." Yew said.
"It'll be a bit cramped to fit all of us..." Greta said.
"I'm willing to sleep under the stars." Yew said.
"As am I." Uthgerd said.
"Gunther can stay outside as well. Myself, Oden and Greta can stay in here." Sophia said.
"Fine by me. My wolf can keep you company." Yew said. He didn't believe the bandits turned mercenary would betray them, but it couldn't hurt to balance out this wolf and sheep puzzle somewhat.
Sophia nodded and Greta looked a bit grateful. They all ate dinner together. Shortly afterward, Yew and Uthgerd, accompanied by Gunther, made their way out of the house.
"It's a starry night." Uthgerd said. She'd had a couple of drinks and seemed a bit more open.
"Yeah. It's beautiful." Yew said.
"So are you." Uthgerd said.
"Why thank you. You are quite appealing yourself." Yew said.
"Coming from you...I believe that. Most men only say such things to use me for relief, not because they are actually interested. But you look at me like I'm something special." Uthgerd said.
"You are." Yew said.
"I'm glad you have such faith in me." Uthgerd said, her voice sounding more melancholy then her words would imply.
"Keep traveling with me and you'll see why I have such faith in you." Yew said. Uthgerd gave Yew a look, then turned away again.
"I think I will." Uthgerd said.
Yew fell asleep and once again his menu popped up. Druidism and Tracking had leveled up. As had Archery, Tracking, and Speech. Through this, he had achieved a general level up and thus an additional perk.
Yew took a look at the list of relevant perks and felt a bit overwhelmed. He wasn't exactly sure what his build should be truth be told. A lot of the perks were utility and there were some different branches he could go down. For instance, he started the avenger perk tree in Druidism. That lead down several different paths that could benefit different aspects of his spell casting. He could become a master of crowd control or he could combine spells for different effects and more. And that was only one potential path of one skill tree.
So choosing to rest over figuring out his options, and wanting time to think it over, Yew decided to save his perk.
In the morning, Yew and Uthgard woke up at near the same time. Gunther was already gone. Yew and Uthgard headed back into the hut. The party had breakfast and then headed back out on the road.