Chapter 19: Finding a bandit

[24th – 25thof Last Seed 4E 201]

In the morning I had visited the Companions, and although Vilkas had quickly defeated me in the fighting test, I had been accepted as a whelp; for some reason Kodlak had decided that I actually might have a 'certain strength of spirit', as he had called it. My acceptance had not been guaranteed; after all, I was not the 'main hero' here, and I needed to remind myself that not everybody and everything was just waiting for me to appear; this was in my opinion actually a good thing, too, as I would not have enjoyed much to be bothered with various quests and tasks left and right, like in the game, where almost everybody seemed to wait for the player character to show up to assist with something more or less important.

Once I had been shown to the bath in Jorrvaskr and had spent some time there, Aela had tried and utterly failed to make me use a bow properly, certainly not due to any lack of patience or expertise on her side. When she had given up on me, Skjor, the one eyed veteran, had approached me and ordered me to come with him, without telling me what that was about.

Skjor had me get a handcart, one of those wooden ones with four wheels and a draw-bar to pull, from a shed, and he lead me down to the Plains District and out of the city. He still refused to inform me where we were going, so I shrugged and accepted this; I was a new whelp, after all. After the stables we turned left, and we passed Pelagia farm and some apiaries; while I did not remember apiaries being around there from the game, this seemed to make sense; wasn't honey one of the main ingredients for mead? Before we reached the meadery, I even noticed a small orchard to our left, protected from harsh northern winds by the city and its walls, and I assumed that they'd grow a few apples or maybe pears over there. Once we got to the Honningbrew Meadery – this time I did read the sign which advertised the name – we turned right again. Now I finally got an idea what this was about, and this idea turned out to be correct when the meadery assistant, an Imperial who was introduced to me as Mallus Maccius – the name rang a bell, but I could not sort it in – greeted us cheerfully and helped to load three big barrels into the cart. The older Companion handed a filled pouch over as payment.

"Mead for the Companions?"

"Of course, whelp. Some of us drink a lot, and it's sometimes hard to believe what a big and tall guy like Farkas can take in; he almost never gets really drunk, though. Now, let's get this load home, shall we?"

The 'we' turned out to be mostly me, of course, and Skjor only helped when we had to turn a corner. Fortunately the road into the city had barely any steps, but I noticed what I was pulling. Naturally the cart was far from a modern handcart with air inflated rubber tires, and the big hard wheels took some effort to get going, specifically as the road was not extremely flat and even either. I could probably consider myself lucky that Skjor had not picked a rainy day; I might not want to find out how much effort it would have taken to draw the cart through mud. Actually, I was reasonably sure that Skjor had just taken me for my strength, but as I was a whelp, I guessed that this was all right. Eventually we had to stop after the market place, though; there was no way to get the loaded car up the long stairs to the Wind District unless somebody knew a levitation spell, if something like that even existed. But on the other hand, wasn't there something like telekinesis? Anyway, nothing like that came up, and Skjor smirked at me:

"Now let's see what you can carry, whelp. Normally I take Farkas with me when getting the big barrels, but you might just do."

The seasoned warrior had me carry each of the three big barrels upstairs and then into Jorrvaskr, into a storeroom right next to the kitchen, and I was very glad about my strong body and broad shoulders now. I estimated the barrels to be about 100 liters each, and getting upstairs without stumbling was no minor feat. I managed, though, and once all three barrels were stored where they belonged and the cart was stowed away again, I turned around and found a smirking Skjor standing next to me:

"I guess I know why we accepted you as new whelp. Come on in, you have earned dinner now for sure."

It was indeed already getting dark, and Skjor and I joined the others in the big hall for eating and drinking. Lunch had been quite some time ago, and as it had been my first meal in Jorrvaskr, I had spend more time looking around then eating, and in addition the strenuous work Skjor had had me do contributed to my appetite, so that I was reasonably hungry now. Inside the main hall Tilma passed close to me; I asked her for a non-alcoholic drink, and she looked at me with surprise but also sympathy:

"Of course I have some, dear. My own tolerance level is very low, and I mostly drink snowberry juice, apple juice, and juniper berry juice. I will bring a few bottles of those and put them on the table over there."

Well, I did of course get some remarks about not drinking mead and ale, but that was all right. That had not been very different back on Earth; sometimes I had been the only one with juice rather than wine or beer in a large group of people in a restaurant, and I had been a target of related comments more than I had liked. For some reason, consuming alcoholic drinks had been a social habit for most adults in Germany, and I had never understood why that was. Here, with the Companions, I also kind of disliked the attitude, and sooner or later it would be nice to find a home for myself, or at least a few friends who also preferred juices and milk over alcoholic drinks.

When Skjor saw me filling my jug from a bottle of snowberry juice, he looked at me like a stranger and asked:

"So, whelp, I had you pull and carry three huge barrels of mead up here and you don't even drink any?"

"Looks like that's correct, yes."

The Nord leaned his head back and started to laugh, and most of the others joined in. Although I was the one they laughed about, I did not feel offended. I did know about Nords and mead, after all, and while I did not even like the smell of alcoholic drinks – that had not changed when I got my new body – I had to live with others seeing that in an entirely different way. I was fortunate to find out that the fire in the center of the room created enough ventilation to pull the smell upwards, so that I only needed to keep some minimum distance to the others.

When it came to the food being served, I could not complain at all. I had found out earlier that, even as a Khajiit, I did not have to eat only meat, but a healthy meal for me was supposed to have a large piece of meat at least once a day. Now, in late summer, the big fireplace in the center of the hall was only partially lit, but there was a long skewer turning with what looked like a whole goat on it. Everybody took turns rotating the skewer, and a side table had additional food, like potatoes, leeks, cabbage, and more. Once Vilkas declared the meat ready, Skjor cut large pieces and handed them out to whoever wanted some, and I got a portion I could not complain about on my plate. Eating here in Jorrvaskr was done in a simpler way compared to the inns I had seen so far; cutlery was optional, and most Companions just took the meat in their hands. For some they had to alternate between their hands or use some kind of napkin as the pieces were quite hot, but I noticed that my own paws were more tolerable to heat, and I could easily hold what I got. I collected some potatoes and leeks on my plate, filled my tankard with some juice Tilma had brought up, and I was happy for now.

I listened to the stories being told for some time, and of course narration of events was mixed with some bragging, but soon I started to yawn, and I decided to make my way down to the living quarters, while almost everybody was still eating, drinking and talking. I found my bed and heard the muted voices from upstairs for some time, and I somehow had the feeling that something was missing. Just before I drifted off to sleep I realized what it was – the room did not have any windows, and I was not used to that. Well, bummer, but it would have to do for now. I was also not used to not having my own bedroom, but again, that could not be helped for now.

I managed to wake up early in the morning, and I needed a few seconds to remember where I was. Right, I had joined the Companions yesterday, and I was down in the basement in the common quarters where the whelps and 'normal' members slept. With no daylight coming in, it was impossible to tell if the new day had already dawned or not, but as I felt rested I decided to get up and see, besides, my bladder demanded attention, and I preferred not to use one of the chamber pots I had seen around.

Guided by a few lit candles and lanterns I stumbled upstairs and out to the back yard, and the first traces of dawn were just visible on the horizon. I found my way to one of the outhouses, and next to it there was a trough with cold and fresh water, which I used to wash some parts of my body. Once this was done, I took a seat on the patio and watched the sunrise; for some time I marveled at the sight and almost got lost admiring it. For now, I liked being here, and when watching the sunrise over the eastern plains with snow covered mountains framing the background, specifically the imposing and dominating one which could only be the 'Throat of the World', one could easily assume to be in a fairy tale or so.

The sudden touch of a hand on my shoulder got me out of my dreaming mood, and when I looked up, I noticed Vilkas next to me:

"Up early, whelp?"

"Yes, I guess. I like the early morning hours."

"Okay, what about some training then?"

"Sure, why not?"

We spent the next couple of hours working together, and I got introduced to the basics of sword fighting. Vilkas did not really like and approve me using a battle axe rather than a 'proper' weapon, but even he realized that, at least for now, I felt more comfortable with it. Even when I swung the axe, though, he was not happy at all about my performance. I did not know anything about proper stances, my reactions were lacking severely and I was way too slow, and I mostly failed to hit where I was supposed to hit, specifically with a moving target. Vilkas told me to hit specific parts of his armor and assured me that his special wolf armor could take my hits, but I learned more and more that cutting wood was one thing, and trying to hit a moving target was another one; in addition, firewood neither tried to hit back nor did any blocking or evading. Yes, I had used my axe to kill people before, but only a few times in the last few days, that had always required some distraction. Vilkas was fixed on teaching me to hit a target without a distraction, but we both knew that this process would take a long time. But, to use a phrase from back home, Rome was not built on one day either, and I needed to show patience and continue training diligently. Becoming proficient with a weapon was something I knew I had to learn if I wanted to persevere in this world, and I had my mind set on not giving up early. Most likely I needed to become a reasonable fighter in order to survive and do whatever I would have to do, even if my future tasks were still somewhat vague.

At the end of the session I was all sweaty and my muscles hurt a little, and I suddenly noticed that I had not even had breakfast yet. Neither had Vilkas, and so we went inside together to eat. Breakfast in the mead hall was not quite what I had had in my previous life, of course. There was not much bread, but a lot of cold meat, some cheese, fruit, and of course mead. Fortunately I also found a few bottles with juice, on the same side table where Tilma had placed them last night, but I missed little things like jam and peanut butter. So, no comparison to what I used to have as breakfast in my earlier life, and specifically no comparison to a breakfast buffet in a good hotel, but it would have to do. My Khajiit metabolism needed more meat than a human body anyway, and here on Nirn I should not have to worry about good and bad ways of cattle breeding and impact on global warming at least; something like industrial livestock farming had most likely not been invented yet on this world, and considering the population level there should not be a need for that either. What I missed most, though, was black tea; that had been something to get me going in the morning for decades. Experimenting with what I had, I learned that slices of cold meat combined with cheese created a taste I liked a lot, and I indulged, and juices made from juniper berries and snow berries went well with that, too. Anyway, food was free here in Jorrvaskr, and in addition to the free lodging I had, I certainly could not complain; I had only spent about a week in this world, and that was quite a good start.

While I was still eating, a female Orc and a male Nord came into the mead hall and sat down on my other side, with the Orc next to me. Without any greeting or so the Orc grabbed some food and started to eat. I had not seen either of the two before, and I wondered who they might be. Besides, my new neighbor was the first Orc I had consciously seen, and I needed some time to take in the green skin, the long teeth and her overall looks. Eventually she may have noticed me looking at her a lot, and she asked:

"What? Oh, I have not seen you before."

"I am B'lushona, the new whelp."

"Ah, I see, that explains a lot. I am Lorgukh, and I have been a Companion for a few years by now. I have been out during the last few days and just came back, together with Borogar here on my other side."

So, they even had an Orc as Companion? Okay, that was reality and not the game – why not? I dared to ask her:

"May I inquire where you are from and why you came to Whiterun?"

"Sure; this is not a secret. I grew up in Mor Khazgur. and my father is Chief Larak. When I was a teenager, I learned what is expected from a chief's daughter, as my older sister Borgakh was trained for this, too. She was told early on that she was going to be married off, likely to a chief in another stronghold. 'A chief's daughter marries who her chief wishes' she used to say, in a compliant way. It may be fine for her, but it isn't for me, so that I decided to run off, and I found my new home here. What about yourself, whelp?"

"Well, Lorgukh, I found myself in Helgen, when Alduin showed up, and although I may look like a capable warrior, I am a scholar at heart and my fighting skills lack; I hope to get some help in that department here, and I found good friends. Besides, it is an honor to be accepted by the Companions."

"That it is, Shield-Brother, it certainly is."

Farkas approached us when he had eaten, and he first asked Vilkas:

"Brother, can I take our new whelp out for a quest?"

"Sure thing, Farkas, go ahead."

The big Nord turned in my direction and asked:

"My friend, are you ready to join me on a task?"

"Of course, Farkas, what is it?"

"One of the guards from Dragonsreach came to me, worried about a prisoner who has escaped. The Jarl has too much on his mind right now; we won't be troubling him with this."

"Okay, how do we do this?"

"We will ask around and find this person – are you with me? We don't know how far we may have to go, so better be prepared for two or three days."

"All right, Farkas – let's go!"

Once I had grabbed my backpack and checked that I had supplies with me, both food and potions, Farkas and I started to move out of the city, and while we did that, I got a chance to look at him closer than before. I had seen him fighting the giant and when he had shown me my place to sleep, but at both times I had been too distracted to pay much attention to him. Now, when I walked at his side, I noticed that he was indeed very tall, almost as tall as I was, and his shoulder width was also close to mine. When it came to strength, I could imagine that we were about on the same level, but of course Farkas had years of fighting experience on me. When I had played the game, I had always being annoyed about seeing most NPCs having the same size, expect for minor racial variations, and once again reality was much different. Farkas was almost a giant of a man, and I was not surprised to see that his normal walking speed was close to mine.

Without explaining his choice of directions to me Farkas turned right after the stables, and not much more than one hour later we passed the Western Watchtower. With Fiona the same distance had taken us two hours, but the Dragonborn was not only much smaller, but she had also been affected by the dragon soul absorption.

The fires around the tower were all out now, of course, and a few guards were around. One of them even greeted me by name, and I realized that he was one of those who had been around when we had fought the dragon. Had that really been just a few days ago? I was ashamed of myself that I failed to remember the guard's name, but on the other hand a big Khajiit stuck out much more than one of many Nords. We asked them about the prisoner, and another one of the guards told us:

"I have seen a person like you say walking past earlier today, in the wee hours of the morning, and he turned north, taking the road towards Hamvir's Rest, I think. Of course I did not know that he was a fugitive, or else I would have stopped him."

Farkas nodded and thanked the guard, and while we walked on, I asked:

"Farkas, how are we going to find that prisoner? Couldn't he be anywhere around?"

The bulky Nord replied: "Maybe so, but those criminals almost always follow a pattern. Either they run and take the roads to get to the next hold, hoping that we will not find them there, or they hide in a deserted cave or mine for some time. It is also possible that he has some cronies waiting somewhere; let's find out, whelp."

We turned right at the road branch next to Fort Greymoor, and Farkas increased his speed now, jogging along the road. Watching his big frame running was almost funny, but he managed to speed up easily enough, and when I hurried to stay at his side, I found out that this was more than just a leisurely jogging speed. Was he testing me?

Once we reached a bridge crossing a small creek or maybe just a series of small ponds, he slowed down and raised a hand. When he saw me looking at him he told me in a subdued voice:

"This bridge is sometimes used by some creatures as kind of an ambush. Besides, one can frequently find mudcrabs in and around the creek below."

"Mudcrabs? Do we care?"

"Yes, we do, as the mudcrab chitin is a valuable ingredient. Don't ask me for what, but Arcadia pays nicely for those. We could as well spend a few minutes to get some. So, keep your eyes open for mudcrabs!"

That made sense. I also did not recall what mudcrab chitin was good for, but if Arcadia paid for it, it was likely something quite useful. Arcadia was, as much as I remembered, an apothecary and the proprietor of 'Arcadia's Cauldron', Whiterun՚s main or even only alchemy store, and she was probably an authority on alchemical ingredients. Spending a little extra time to collect ingredients was certainly something I would not complain about.

We got down from the bridge and indeed found two mudcrabs right away. One of them was smaller and got killed with one hit from my axe, but the other one, the larger of the two, turned out to be much more resilient. The chitin shell was actually pretty sturdy, like that of a turtle maybe, and my first strike did only little damage. The creature snapped with its pincers, and I had to jump back quickly in order to evade them. After I had almost fallen on my back when tripping over a root on the ground while evading the beast, I opted to send flames, and the mudcrab tried to get away as quickly as it could, which was not very fast. While the beast had its back to me, I jumped forward and hit with my axe again, this time using almost my full power, and this strike cleaved the chitin shell and killed the mudcrab. Farkas almost smiled, and I realized that he had me do the fighting on my own, to gain experience and learn about a mudcrab՚s strength and weakness. He now showed me how to extract parts of the chitin, and we stored some of it in our satchels.

Once this was done, we moved on and followed the road in northern direction, and when a small hill showed up left of the road, Farkas stopped for a moment and mused:

"Wouldn't be the first time for them to hide in Redoran՚s Retreat; let's have a look."

I vaguely recalled the name of that place and asked:

"What's in there?"

"It's a small place, which probably used to be a mine in earlier times. For some reason, bandits seem to like the hideout; let's check it out."

There was no side road leading there from our position, so that Farkas just left the road and started to step into the tundra plains. There were not many trees around, but the grass was growing high, much higher than I was used to, and it covered about half of our bodies, up to the hips. We needed to be careful not to stumble on rocks being covered by the grass, so that progress was slow. In addition, dark clouds were also coming in from the west, and I estimated that we might get some rain soon. After maybe ten minutes Farkas stopped and slowly looked around a large rock. When I got to his side I saw that one could see a cave or mine entrance from here, and the big Companion was obviously checking if the entrance was guarded. Except for some foxes and butterflies, though, no living being was in sight, and thus we proceeded to the wooden door which served as entrance to the place. The first drops of rain were coming down from the clouds, and I asked:

"So, are we going in to investigate?"

"Aye, we are" Farkas nodded. "The cave is not very large, and if it turns out to be empty, we can still check out other places afterwards. And see, here are fresh footprints; this confirms that somebody was here quite recently. Let's go in!"

[Author's Notes: Balu, like me, does not have a photographic memory, and for alchemy, without a reference, he remembers only two basic ingredients for health – blue mountain flower and wheat – but that's about it. Unfortunately, Akatosh did not give him an iPad with a local copy of the entire Skyrim Wiki.

For this story I decided that there are a few more Companions in Jorrvaskr than in the vanilla game. A few more may be showing up later in the story. If you have a specific suggestion on names, races or background for those, please feel free to let me know.]