Chapter 23: Whiterun School

[29th of Last Seed – 3rd of Hearthfire 4E 201]

On the day before I had been hunting with Aela, with partial success, and when I finally decided to find out what the Dragonborn was doing and if she had any plans to travel to High Hrothgar anytime soon, I had been told that she had already left. I did not believe that it made sense for me to run after her and the two ladies with her, so that I stayed in Whiterun for now. I had managed to talk Mikael, the bard, into staying away from Carlotta, I had made friends with her daughter Mila, and I had been in a brawl with Uthgerd, the latter on behalf of the Companions.

For the next few days I followed the same plan more or less during my day. I got up early, worked on my fitness either by jogging around Whiterun or by doing some training with whoever was available, mostly Vilkas, and joined some other Companion for a small quest or two. I was happy to see that the real Skyrim Companions were not as rushed as the ones in the game. When playing the game, you joined on one day, got accepted a full member on the next, did a couple of more quests, got to talk to Skjor and Aela about joining the Circle, and almost within the blink of an eye you were Harbinger. That was something I had not liked so much about the game, and in my opinion at least this had been implemented in a more realistic way in the previous game, 'TES IV Oblivion', where you actually needed to prove yourselves in the guilds; I had particularly enjoyed the mages guild, where you had to collect recommendations from all local branches before you were even accepted into the Arcane University. Here, in Skyrim, one could just travel to Winterhold and get into the college there with a single test, well, in the game at least.

I got to see more of the city as well, and I was very much surprised to see that they had something like a school, too. I had passed that house in the Wind District on one day to see a group of about a dozen kids of various ages playing around outside, and I had heard something like a bell ringing calling them inside, like for the next school lesson. When I asked about that later, Aela explained:

"Yes, we have a school building. The Jarl՚s brats are not mingling with the others, of course, but even the homeless and orphaned children get to learn for free, for a few years at least. It's not much, but at least all of them can learn how to read and write and how to count, and they learn the basics about plants and animals in our hold, too. Sometimes children from the towns in the hold are also sent here for learning, usually during the winter, when they are not needed in the towns for farming, and there are a few rooms on the upper floor of the school building for them."

So they had something like a public elementary school at least, and once kids grew beyond that age, there were likely needed to help on the farms or with whatever their parents were doing. That was something, and my respect for Jarl Balgruuf the Greater increased. There had been nothing like this in the game, but it made sense; surely a basic education and at least the ability to read, write and do simple calculations was something all children should get.

When I got into my bed after that day, I had a lot to think about again. Within a few days I had met two interesting ladies of Whiterun, a young girl had become some kind of friend, and I had found out that there was a school in town. The more time I spent in Whiterun, the more I liked the city, and if there wasn't my big background task, to assist and protect the Dragonborn, I could easily fall into a nice routine. Alas, the Dragonborn, her housecarl and her shield-maiden had left without me, and until they got back, hopefully wiser after their visit to High Hrothgar, I might as well enjoy my time here.

On the day before I had learned that there actually was a school in Whiterun, and this was something I liked and was interested in; thus I decided to have a closer look today. When I got up in the morning and had had my breakfast, I walked around the city once more, and out of curiosity I passed the building I assumed to be the school. To my surprise I saw an Altmer lady walking towards the big house, and when she noticed me looking at her, she addressed me right away:

"I know, what's an Altmer doing in Whiterun? That's what you're thinking, aren't you, stranger?"

We clearly had not met before, and she had been partially right about my thoughts. However, I encountered:

"Guilty, I admit, but mainly I came here to admire the school building. I am a scholar myself, and I am interested to learn what they actually teach in here."

"You are a scholar? Really? All right, my name is Minolewen, and I am the teacher here. My assistant teacher is sick today. I know that this is really short notice, but would you be available this morning, and can you spend a few hours to help me out? Would that be too much to expect?"

"My name is B'lushona, and I'll be happy to. I do not have any experience in school teaching, but I am willing to learn."

"All right, fair enough; come with me; let's find out if the children accept you."

Now that was a surprise. I had only intended to stroll around, see more of the city and meet more people, and all of a sudden I was hired as assistant teacher for the day. All right, why not? Maybe I'd make more friends today?

Minolewen lead me into the building, and almost all of the ground floor was taken by a very big room; the Altmer lady explained:

"We have all children in one classroom together. It can be a challenge to have them all focus on tasks suitable for their age and knowledge, but it's the best we can do. Normally, they behave, at least."

"So, what's on the agenda for today?"

"I had planned to teach them more about numbers and counting; is that an area you are familiar with?"

"Indeed I am, my lady."

I had already been able to confirm that the numbers they used here were the same I was used to. The did not use the metric system, but at least the digits and numbers were familiar for me, and I sure knew how to to do simple calculations on a sheet of paper, without electronic help. I had grown up at a time when even simple electronic calculators had not been available or at least affordable yet, and I had learned basic calculations at school, in the old-fashioned way.

"Oh, just to mention it, at this time of the year the classroom will not be full. During the summer month we usually only have the kids of the city in here, and there not too many of them. Starting end of Frostfall, more kids come in from the farms around and even from other villages, when they are not needed there, and they can use the rooms upstairs for sleeping during the week. On the weekends, they're home, of course."

A few minutes later the first kids came in, and of course I got interested glimpses. None of them said anything in my direction, until Mila Valentia showed up; she looked at me, recognized me, shouted "Balu!" and jumped into my arms right away.

The Altmer teacher chuckled and asked: "You already got a friend?"

"Mila and I met just a few days ago, and yes, we are friends."

The next one to greet me was Braith, the Redguard girl. She did not hug me, but she shook my hand and told me:

"B'lushona, I have to thank you for your advice. The sword you mentioned was indeed Papa's family sword, and since he got it back, he is much more open to talking with me again."

"I was happy to help, Braith."

Naturally, I did not ask about her quest to get kissed by Lars with so many others being present.

Mila՚s behavior towards me broke the ice, and some of the others now also approached me and asked a few questions, and they even shook my hand, although my comparatively huge paw fully wrapped around the children's much smaller hands. When the school bell rang a few minutes later, the kids all seemed to be somewhat excited about my presence, and they were delighted to find out that I was helping to teach them today.

Minolewen managed to calm down the children for the start of the lessons, and she explained:

"Today we have a special guest. B'lushona will help out, and he claims that he is a scholar. Shall we find out together what he knows about numbers and counting?"

Almost everybody shouted "Yes!", and we got started. The first questions were about multiplication tables, and even the older kids were impressed when I could tell the answer to something like 'how much is seven times twelve' right away. Of course they wanted to know:

"How do you know all of that, and that quickly, too?"

"I had to learn, same as you do. My teachers insisted that we needed to learn how to handle the lower numbers quickly and reliably in order to be able to handle the higher numbers."

"Higher numbers like what?"

"Like thousands, and more."

"What do we need those numbers for?"

"Now, not everybody may actually need them, but what about that empty house in the city? The one close to Warmaiden՚s? Have you seen it?"

"Sure, that's Breezehome."

"It's empty and for sale, isn't it?"

"It sure is."

"Does anybody know how much one would have to pay to buy it?"

Silence around, until one of the boys replied:

"I have heard somebody mentioning that the house goes for five thousand septims."

"Okay, good enough. I do not even know, but that's a good starting point. So, does anybody know if that includes furniture and decorations?"

One of the girls knew that it did not and said so, and I continued:

"So, if you want to have a bed for starters at least, you have to either get the furniture from somewhere and wait or have the Jarl՚s steward take care of that. Let's assume that he wants 300 septims for the bedroom equipment, and another 300 for the kitchen, and 250 for the dining area. So, you sure want to know if you can afford all of that, and you want to know what the price is for everything together."

"But the steward will calculate that for you!"

"He sure will, but won't you look dumb if he mentions an amount you don't have available?"

"But how can you add up those large numbers?"

"Same as you do for smaller numbers. Let me show you."

They fortunately had a black board and crayons available, and I slowly and carefully demonstrated how to add numbers in a systematic way, saying:

"See, that's how it works. With that system, it does not matter how large the numbers are; you can also add them easily, if you have something you can write on. Smart people can do this in their heads, too."

All of them had to practice that now, with very small numbers for the younger children and slightly larger one for the older kids.

In the second half of today's lessons, after a break, Minolewen announced that we'd have a look at the flora of the hold.

"Why is it important that we know at least the most common plants and flowers and can recognize them?"

"So that we can impress others with what we know?"

Some laughter, and the next attempt:

"We need to know what we can eat and what we cannot?"

"That's a good one. When you go hungry out there, it is good to know that you can, for instance, eat snowberries."

"But they grow only up north, where there is snow and ice mostly, and I am not allowed to go there on my own anyway."

"Sure" I replied, "but one day you may actually find yourself an adult person, once you go there on your own, you may be glad that you learned about that at school earlier."

"No way; I am going to be a farmer, like my Pa, and I am going to stay around here."

"Okay, but even as a farmer, you need to know if whatever grows between the crops is good to keep or should be removed."

"Why that?"

"Because there are some plants likely to grow faster than your crops, and if you don't pay attention, your harvest is not going to be that great. Other's, though, may even increase your harvest, as they keep bugs and such away."

"Really?"

I nodded but admitted:

"For those plants I do not know examples, but your Dad, as a farmer, might know some. Why don't you ask him about it? He may like that you care about that."

"And what about magical effects?" another student asked.

"Good point" I agreed. "This is actually something I have a little bit of knowledge about, and I also know people who are experts in that area."

"So, what about it? I am a Nord and I do not care about magic."

"Do you also consider Alchemy as such?"

"I am not sure; my Ma sometimes brews some potions, and when we get tired, they help to feel refreshed somewhat."

"So those might be potions to restore stamina. I always make sure that I have some potions in my pack when I travel, specifically those to restore health, like when I am getting injured. Wolves seem to like to bite me, and those potions help a lot."

There was some chuckling, and one of the boys asked:

"When you have wolves going for you, why don't you use a sword or so to fend them off?"

"Oh, I do have a large axe for that, but sometimes my reactions are a little bit too slow, you see. Being tall and strong does not imply that you are invincible, and I do need to work on my fighting skills. Healing potions and a little touch of restoration magic help a lot when I am too slow once again."

Some of the children seemed to be unsure if I was serious or not. I guess that my stature also made them assume that I needed to be an excellent warrior, and I explained a little more, trying to be honest. We talked about some common flowers, and close to the end of the lessons I added:

"You know that other hold and other provinces have different plants, right? Now, has anybody of you ever been in Cyrodiil?"

Lars Battle-Born nodded and replied:

"Yes, a few years ago my parents traveled to Bruma with me."

"Nice. Have you seen anything further south?"

"No; we just stayed in Bruma for a week and then came back here."

"Bruma is similar to Skyrim; it is the northernmost city in Cyrodiil, and the flora around there is not so much different from here. Further south, though, the climate is warmer. I have not been there yet, but I have read books and seen illustrations, and according to what I have read and heard, there are areas with really beautiful flowers like around Skingrad, showing many variations of yellow, red, blue, and purple. This is something I would love to see one day, and I wish that I could show you."

"Hammerfell also has nice flowers!"

That was Braith, the Redguard girl, and she obviously needed to call attention to her home country as well. My own knowledge on Hammerfell flora and fauna was slim to nil, and I carefully asked:

"Braith, of course, there are also interesting variations of plants and flowers in other provinces as well. Have you been in Hammerfell?"

"No, not actually, but my Mama sometimes talks about the time when she was there, and she mentioned that there are areas where palm trees and cactus plants grow. She also said that it's never really cold in those regions, not even in winter."

"No, I guess it wouldn't, as those plants need warm temperatures. But are cacti actually flowers?"

"Yes, they are! Mam told me that they do not bloom often, but when they do, like after some of the rare rainfalls there, it's quite beautiful!"

"I guess that it must be. Thank you for your contribution, Braith!"

"What is a palm tree and a cactus? What do they look like?"

Of course, most other children would not know those plants at all. I did not either, at least not the Tamrielic versions, but I could assume that they'd resemble their Earth counterparts, so that I started to describe the two plants. Braith, though, was doing better than that, and she sketched a palm tree and a cactus on the black board; together with my verbal explanations the students got an idea at least, and I tried to explain with simple words how a cactus could store water to endure long periods of time with no or very little precipitation. The kids in the classroom clearly enjoyed hearing about plants in other parts of Tamriel, and Minolewen was clearly impressed by the way this lesson had turned.

And yes, it would be very nice to be in one of those areas, have a latest generation iPhone and make a few photos and videos to show. On the other hand, it was likely that other areas also had their own dangers, like goblins, ogres and minotaurs in Cyrodiil. Until further notice I could only dream.

At this time the bell rang and school was out for the day. Both the teacher and some of the kids asked me to come back again, and as I learned that the assistant teacher would still be missing on the next day, I promised to be back.

After a lunch break in Jorrvaskr, I took advantage of the pleasant weather and strolled around in a section of the Plains District close to the city gate, admiring Adrianne՚s work at the forge for a few minutes. There was some construction or related work going work close to the city gate, and I watched a few strong men pushing and pulling a large cart filled with three large stones, more like boulders, inside. They stopped next to the stairs leading up to the Wind District right across from Warmaiden՚s; obviously, the cart could not go up there. I heard one of them talking:

"Now comes the hard part, people; let's get those stones up there."

I saw that this was hard work indeed. For some reason the heavy stones had to be moved to the higher district, and there was no way to avoid the stairs. The big stones were too heavy to be carried, and so they attached a number of ropes and pulled from the upper end. They had placed some planks on the stairs to move the heavy load over those rather than the stairs themselves, but there was still a lot of friction, and those who pulled on the ropes had a real hard time. Clearly nobody had thought about a smarter idea on how to do that, and with me having an engineering background, although this was more electronics than mechanics, I had a few ideas on what could be done to make the job easier. The first approach which came to my mind was to use a pulley, but this was probably not available; constructing one might be possible, at a later time. However, I did have a few more ideas, and I could not resist the temptation to get involved and thus greeted them:

"Hello there, can I help you?"

They looked at me, and seeing my tall and strong body, there was approval:

"Sure, you seem to be strong. Help us pull the ropes!"

"Gentlemen, maybe there is a way to make that a little bit easier?"

"What do you mean?"

"Now, you already placed some planks on the stairs, but the wood is quite rough, isn't it? What about we apply something on it to make moving the stones easier, like soap or oil?"

The men, Nords and Imperials I thought, looked at each other, and one of them nodded:

"Sound like an idea, yes; we should be able to find some oil."

One of them ran off and came back with a can of oil, and I helped him to spread it on the planks. For the next attempt, pulling was easier, specifically when I also helped with that. Then I came up with my next idea:

"So, what about wrapping the ropes around the huge pillars of the gate up here? If we do that, you can pull downwards and add your own weight; what do you think?"

We tried that, too, and indeed that was even easier. I worked with them for a few hours, helped to get all of the stones up to the Wind District, and when they ended their work day, one of them said:

"Now, Khajiit, that was really helpful. Will you also be around tomorrow when we bring the next load?"

"My name is B'lushona, and I may be around tomorrow afternoon as well."

The man nodded and introduced himself:

"All right, I am Irgnar, and I am the foreman here. It was really good to meet you, and your advice made our work a little bit easier. Working on the city wall fortifications is nothing we do frequently, and we really don't have a good system to get the stones to where they are needed; thank you very much for your assistance!"

Okay, so this was not done on a regular basis, and there had been no need to find out how to get the stones up more efficiently. I asked nonetheless:

"So, no work on the walls had been done recently?"

"No, not in my life time at least. Whoever built those walls a long time ago built them to last, but the tooth of time does some damage, I guess. Nobody told us how to get the big boulders up here; we were just ordered to do it."

I nodded and asked another question:

"So, how many more loads are going to come?"

"I think six or seven, at least. We try to work from outside as much as possible, but we do have to get some of those boulders inside, too, in areas which are not easily accessible from outside."

Hm, maybe it still made sense to get some kind of pulley constructed? I mean, how hard was it? For a simple implementation, it was probably enough to have a metal ring with the ropes from the load attached to one side and the pulling rope through the opening, with one end attached to a sturdy pillar and the other being pulled on, right? That should give a 2:1 ratio, and it would be a good start, if it worked.

Thus, my next walk was to the Skyforge, and when I got up the stairs I saw him standing next to the forge, while another person was actually operating it. When I stepped closer I could see that this person was a young Nord woman, and Eorlund must have recognized the surprise on my face as he told me:

"B'lushona, good to see you. May I introduce: This is my niece Sigva, and she assists me from time to time."

The Nord looked up and nodded in my direction, but continued to work the forge; apparently she did not want to ruin whatever she was working on. From the side, she looked somewhat similar to Freya, with her very bright, almost white hair, and in my opinion she was quite pretty. I managed to focus on the older Gray-Mane and asked him if he might be able to forge a sturdy metal ring according to my specification. He did not have something like this in store, but he promised me that it would not be much effort. We waited until Sigva was done with her weapon, and then Eorlund got to work; within less than half an hour he forged a metal ring of about 20 cm diameter, made of Skyforge steel of course. It looked sturdy enough, and I took it to my quarters, planing to introduce it on the next day.

[Author's Notes: I just couldn't resist the temptation to introduce an elementary school; I hope that you like the concept and my ideas of lessons!

In the Skyrim SE mod 'Pandorable's Heroines' there is a person called 'Freya' working the Skyforge with Eorlund; as I had already used the name 'Freya', I use another name for her. I may add one or two more females from that mod later on. Kudos to the mod author, 'Pandorable'. There is also a separate older mod from the same author called 'Freya Gray-Mane – follower or Olfina replacer', and this seems to suggest that she is indeed a Gray-Mane; I made her a niece to Eorlund.

Ted Hsu, thank you for your latest reviews, and indeed, carrying an adult saber cat might have been too much even for Balu.]