Chapter 18: Interlude Two

[4E 525]

Jomund, the Nord, Alander, the Bosmer, and Bha'jhan, the Khajiit, had managed to find a few hours to get up to the attic once again, without somebody else in the family noticing their absence. Once they had closed the door and were all on their own in the large room with pitched wooden ceiling, they started to read the next chapters of their ancestor's diary in the attic. Well, technically, he was probably not the ancestor to all of them, but the families had mingled for such a long time, that they did not care one way or the other any longer. Sure, with Bha'jhan being a pure blooded Khajiit, he was more likely to be a direct descendant, whereas Alander, for instance, probably came from Fiona's side.

The teenagers did know that there had been Nord, Khajiit, Bosmer, and Redguards in their family lines and that their ancestry reached back to the Dragonborn and some of her companions, but the details were carefully guarded in a large book showing the blood lines, and children were not allowed to look at that yet. However, it was well known that the families had lived together in this large house for a long time, like a few centuries.

"So, they needed to hear her shout until they knew for sure who the Dragonborn was?"

"I think so, yes. Obviously she did not have a sign on her forehead or so, and only the ability to shout in dragon language and to absorb a dragon soul clearly proved that. That book which was mentioned earlier, 'The Book of the Dragonborn', is still available in a few copies; I was allowed to read it, and it does indeed describe a Dragonborn as something like a hero who not only is able to slay dragons, but can steal a dragon's soul after the kill."

"But she did not kill the dragon all on her own."

"No, apparently not. I don't know if a Dragonborn, even with lots of training, can kill a dragon just on their own."

"I guess not; it is probably best to have many warriors fighting together. It must be very difficult to hit a flying dragon with an arrow or spell."

"It requires quite some training, yes, but my Pa has already spent some time with me to teach me about aiming at moving targets" Alander, the wood elf, stated. "So far, though, I have been practicing with animals on the ground, like rabbits and foxes, and I can imagine that hitting a flying object is even more challenging."

"On the other hand, a dragon is quite a large target!"

The others chuckled, and Jomund asked:

"Right. So, she will have to go up to High Hrothgar?"

"I guess so, yes."

The three teenagers stood up and found a small window looking east, and while the top of the Throat of the World was mostly hidden in clouds, the mountain dominated the landscape in that direction.

"It must take days just to get up there!"

"It probably does, and it's all uphill, too. Boy, my legs would give up after a third of the way, I am sure."

"You spend too much time reading books and practicing magic instead of exercising your body, Alander."

"Maybe so, but I do go out hunting at least twice a week, too. And once I learn a spell to restore stamina…"

"Yeah, that might actually help. But, it is probably going to very very cold up there, too."

"Well, that's where people like me come into play" Jomund, the Nord, stated proudly. "I bet that the cold would not matter to me, and I also have lots of stamina."

"Yep, but you are not the Dragonborn, and maybe the Greybeards would not even let you enter."

"But that applies to all of us, right?"

"I don't have a clue. We have only been told that the Greybeards live up there, that there are all wise old men and masters of lore and shouts, but I don't know whom they'll invite in or not."

"What are they actually doing up there all day long, when there is no Dragonborn around?"

"Maybe they meditate about new shouts?"

"Or they just think about the meaning of life and everything?"

"Yes, but once they come up with the answer '42', what then?"

"Why 42?"

"No idea; that just popped up in my mind; forget about it."

"But honestly, it must be real lonely up there; if they usually do not even allow pilgrims into their place…"

"True; nothing for us."

"And way too cold, too."

They were silent for a few more minutes and read on, and then the young Khajiit mused:

"He is still using strange words from time to time."

"Indeed he is – what is a computer?"

"What is a keyboard?"

"And what is a smartphone?"

"And it appears that he is not interested in Khajiit girls."

"Maybe he is not into girls at all?"

"No, I do think that he is. I think that he likes this Freya."

"Indeed, he wrote a few times that he kind of likes her."

"But she is a Nord and not a Khajiit!"

"So what? Hey, look at some of our siblings; this seems to happen from time to time, and why not?"

"Good point, indeed."

"And look here, in Riverwood, he says 'Make love not war!'."

"Hm, is that something you can say to a girl when you hope that she likes you?"

"I don't know; you want to find out?"

"I don't think so, but maybe you could use that phrase when you encounter a young lonely female bandit? Giving her a choice rather than just killing her?"

"Is that what the Companions sometimes do?"

"No, I don't think so. This is like blackmail, and I would not want to get some attention from a woman like that."

"Speaking from experience?"

"No, of course not. But maybe I wish… - now let's get back to our ancestor!"

They talked more about B'lushona՚s potential preference in women and then they found another point to discuss:

"Is it really true that some undead can also shout like the diary claims they can?"

"I heard some rumors about that, yes. Somebody mentioned that they actually can utter different shouts, one of them being that 'FUS', another disarming enemies, and maybe more."

"That's scary; I don't think that I would like to encounter one of them alone."

"Yep, I have heard somebody saying that a full stage 'FUS RO DAH' from close distance can easily kill a person."

The three brothers shivered for a moment, and Bha'jhan told the others:

"I certainly would not want to explore one of those tombs on my own; I am not a coward, but that's too much."

"Of course, and B'lushona was no coward either. See, it tells here that there were four of them in Bleak Falls Barrow, and they barely managed to defeat the final draugr."

"So, I am curious about something. When you go in and defeat all of the draugr in such a barrow, does that mean that they are dead for all times?"

"Well, they had been dead before, that's why they are called undead."

"Yes, but still?"

"Not sure, but I think that I heard somebody mention that defeated draugr can rise up again after some time, but I don't know how long that might take, maybe weeks or months or even years…"

The three brothers shuddered again, and the young Khajiit stated a few minutes later:

"Right. Nevertheless, It might be real interesting to explore such a place with a proper party, like with a few strong Companions around you."

"Well, I guess that is what they sometimes do, isn't it?"

"I will find out soon, I hope" Bha'jhan stated proudly. "I recently received permission to apply as a junior Companion, and the Harbinger has already told me that they will take me as soon as I get permission. In a few days I will officially introduce myself."

"Yeah, and then one of the Circle members will have you show how strong your arm is and you will be disarmed and on the ground within a few seconds, just like we just read it happened for B'lushona."

"Hey, I resent that! I have practiced already!"

"Boy, just make sure that you tell us, so that we can watch."

"No, that is just going to be for the Companions and me. But I hope that I may be going on all kind of interesting adventures with them later on."

"I bet that you will just be serving food and help getting their armor and weapons repaired, just like Vilkas got B'lushona started."

"I sure hope that there is going to be more than that!"

"Maybe later, but you realize that you are going to be a whelp for quite some time, right?"

"Yeah, I know; I may not like it, but that's the way it is going to be."

"So, the Companions were around already when B'lushona came here, more than three hundred years ago?"

"Hey, there are stories about them saying that they were here before the city even existed, and somebody told me that Companions found the Skyforge and settled here already in the Merethic Era!"

"Wow, that's a long time ago, really? Merethic era, when was that now?"

"Umph, that's ancient history, and I am not sure, but a really long time ago anyway. I guess that I will learn more about the history, too, once I am with them."

"But enough for today, we need to go down again. Let's meet again next week and read the next few chapters!"

[Author's Notes: I plan to insert such an interlude again in the future, but not too often. If you have a preference to have them more or less frequently, please do let me know. So far, there may be one of those about every tenth to fifteenth chapter or so, and the interludes will be somewhat shorter than normal chapters, too.

Ted Hsu: I am happy to see that you are reading this story, too; thank you for your reviews. I had not thought much about water quality yet, but at least in Whiterun, where they have a creek coming down from the Cloud District, this should not be a problem.]