Chapter 27: School excursion

[15th – 20th of Hearthfire 4E 201]

Fiona, the Dragonborn, had agreed to my suggestion to travel to Falkreath together soon. We wanted to try to get her installed as Thane there, too, to get an additional housecarl as protector. She clearly was more comfortable with ladies around her than with me. However, in order to achieve the next steps, my help would likely be required. For now, though, we had to wait a few more days to make sure Lydia was fully recovered; as her broken and mutilated arm had not been properly treated for several days, setting the bones right and restore full functionality took longer than it usually took after such wounds, even with an expert healer.

I used the opportunity to visit Riverwood for one day. I recalled that we had traveled for several hours between those two settlements a few weeks earlier, and I was curious how fast I'd be able to get to the town where I had found shelter first after the events at Helgen. So, on that day, I skipped my run around Whiterun and started to jog east once I had left the city. I had some food in a small backpack, and I planned to stop for breakfast on the way. When I reached the crossroads, I nodded a greeting to the guards and turned right, and soon I had to quicken my breathing as the road went uphill. I refused to slow down, and I was grateful for the fresh air in the early morning, with the rising sun barely warming it. I passed the bridge to Riverside Lodge without stopping, and only later, when the road leveled, I found a nice rock to sit on and stopped for breakfast. About a quarter of an hour later I was on the road again, and when I arrived in Riverwood, I estimated that I had taken less than two hours. My body sent signals telling me about the exercise, but I did not feel at all like I had overdone it.

In the town, the sawmill was of course already operating, and despite the starting rain, people were about to do their business. I met Faendal, who apparently just came back from his morning hunt, and we talked for a few minutes, and I stopped at Alvor՚s smithy to see what he was working on. He was just about to heat the smelter for the day, and when I saw that, I dropped my backpack there and went for a long swim first, to get rid of the sweat I had accumulated. Alvor laughed when I came out of the river, dropping wet, and he pointed to the bellows, knowing well what I needed. Slowly working the bellow and standing right next to the hot smelter was perfect to get dry again, and half an hour later I was ready to move on.

The blacksmith had pointed out that his wife was busy in the small garden behind the inn, and I went there now. Sigrid was also happy to see me again and invited me to lunch right away, which I accepted, but offered my help. She raised a brow and asked:

"Can you cook, B'lushona?"

I nodded and replied:

"Yes, I can, but I am a little bit rusty. Maybe you'd give me a chance?"

"All right, why not? What do you need to prepare a meal?"

"I do like to use lots of vegetables, and I love to make a casserole, if you have a large dish for that which I can put into the oven."

I got that and more, and soon I found myself in Sigrid՚s kitchen, cleaning and cutting vegetables and potatoes, adding some small pieces of chicken and some spices, and filling that into a large casserole dish. The dish was pushed into the oven, and now I had to wait. When it looked like almost done, I pulled it out and added lot of cheese on top and pushed it back, and I announced that lunch was going to be ready in ten minutes. Sigrid laid the table in the house, as the rain outside endured, and soon Sigrid and Alvor, their daughter Dorthe and I sat around the able and ate.

I was curious to see if they liked it, and I had had to improvise to prepare a casserole recipe like I had done many time in my previous life. Back on Earth, I had originally acquired some cooking skills from my grandmother, and as I had lived on my own for a long time, I had had plenty of time to enhance those. I did not like eating out on my own, and cooking just for myself was something I had done mostly on weekends, whereas I had used the company restaurant on week days. Here in Skyrim, at least some of the ingredients were similar or practically identical to those on Earth, like tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and more, and the meat also tasted almost the same, so that I should be fine. In my earlier life, I had frequently used some pasta, but pasta was apparently not an available food here, or at least I had not seen any yet. The wood fired oven was something I needed to get used to; I had always used an electrically powered one, and here I missed a temperature control and thus had to improvise and watch carefully. However, I somehow managed, and obviously I had done well; when I saw happy faces around me, I was determined to find some time to cook again, sooner or later. If I ever got to build or buy my own house, a good kitchen was going to be a requirement for sure.

After lunch I enjoyed a break and rested for half an hour, and when the rain got less, I took my leave and started to jog back to Whiterun. This time, a couple of wolves tried to intercept me soon after I had left, but I simply increased my speed to a full out run, and the wolves failed to catch me. This was good to know; I could outrun wolves if needed. The same might not be possible with other predators, like saber cats, though.

When I was in my bed again in the evening, my muscles clearly told me that they had had quite some work out, but that was a good feeling.

On the next day I decided to visit school once more, to the delight of the children there. I arrived at the school early around start time, and today Minolewen and Nazdura were both there; they suggested:

"With you around, I wonder if we can dare to take the kids outside of the city for a short time, not far, but to show some plants and such. What do you think?"

I replied:

"I think that this is a great idea. Do you think that the parents would agree?"

"Come on, most children live on the farms anyway. Children are used to being outside of the city, though not without guidance and protection."

"Good point."

We quickly announced our intention to the children, and there was a lot of shouting and cheering for a few moments. We had them file out of the building, and we all proceeded towards the gate. Before we road turned left after the outer gate, I lead the party across the rocks to follow the start of the path I frequently used for my morning round, While the two teacher ladies were a little bit skeptical about that initially, the kids had lots of fun climbing on the rocks, and some of them even tried to slide down on the other side. From there, though, we did not keep north along the city wall, but turned left, so that we did not get too far from the gate area. After about half an hour of very slow progress around many rocks and making sure that no kid ran off, we reached a series of small pools, located northwest of the stables. While the first children started to run towards the water, I cautioned them:

"Wait, wait! Have you learned anything about dangers which might lurk there?"

They stopped right away, and one girl asked:

"Fish?"

"No, I don't think that this pool is large enough for any fish, at least not for dangerous ones."

"Maybe some snakes?"

"Possible, but not likely either" Minolewen replied.

I carefully searched the area around the first pond, just to find nothing. However, when I slowly proceeded towards the second one, I heard the noise I had been expecting, and a small elevation which had looked like a large stone lifted itself and turned out to be a small predator.

"A mudcrab!" one of the boys recognized it.

"Indeed, a mudcrab" I confirmed.

The animal hissed and crackled and crawled in our direction, which made the children step back quickly. While the animal itself was particularly large, the pincers were lifted and turned towards us. Fortunately the mudcrab was very slow, and I had time to ask:

"Does anybody know which spell might work here?"

The right answer came quickly from one of the older girls:

"Flames, I guess. Mudcrabs live close to and in water, and it sure won't like fire."

I nodded, raised my hands, and blasted flames two-handed right into the mudcrab. It was a weaker variation and succumbed quickly, but before I allowed the children to approach, I made sure that no other mudcrabs were around.

Of course, the children played for some time at the small ponds and got dirty, but nobody cared. Minolewen now guided us west, and we approached a small copse with some bushes and a group of taller and smaller trees. Two of the smaller trees had some light grey structures hanging from branches, and the teacher asked:

"So, does anybody know what that is?"

One of the older boys knew:

"This is a beehive."

"Right. Do you also know what we need bees for?"

"Of course; they are needed to make mead!"

"Well, this is correct, but that's not all."

"Aren't bees also making honey?" a girl suggested.

"Right, also correct. Anything else?"

When none of the kids had further ideas, I took that:

"Bees are also needed for many flowers and other plants, for pollination. Many plants rely on insects so that they can grow seeds and multiply, and the growing seeds are also what we sometimes eat, like from apple trees. No bees, no apples, mostly at least."

The Altmer teacher nodded:

"That's exactly right. Without the bees, most of the nice flowers in our hold would not be there, and most of the trees would not bear any fruit. That is a good reason not to disturb the bees."

"But we won't disturb them anyway – they sting!"

"Yes, they can sting, but they rarely do, only when they are attacked. Now, does anybody know other animals which also do some pollination?"

None of the kids knew that, and Minolewen explained:

"There are a few other small insects also doing that, but the most prominent ones are the butterflies. You have seen them before, right? Which variations of butterflies do you know?"

"The yellow and the blue one!"

"That's right. The yellow one is called 'Monarch Butterfly' and the blue one is just the 'Blue Butterfly'. There are also some variations which come out during the night, like the 'Lunar Moth'."

From the bees we turned south and found the main road, and here the two teachers used the flowers along the road for explanations. We had almost reached the branch at the stables, when one of the children pointed at something:

"Look, what is this, is this a wolf?"

Indeed, a lone wolf had somehow dared to approach, maybe assuming that one of the kids might be easy prey. Nazdura, the Orc teacher, though, had her mace out very quickly, shouted "I got it!", and before somebody else had a chance to do something, she had the wolf on the ground, dead and with a broken skull.

She had reacted so quickly that none of the kids had had time to get scared, and the guard at the stables had barely noticed that something was going on.

"This is one of the reasons why you should not leave the city unattended" Minolewen instructed the students. "Normally, predators don't get so close to the city, but it can happen. If you are ever out here and see a wolf, call out to the guards and have them deal with it."

The event which had just happened reminded me of a TV series which had been on in Germany when I had been a child, one about a Viking boy called 'Wickie', who was different from other Viking children by being afraid of wolves and running from them rather than facing and fighting them. He compensated by being smart and helping out his fellow Vikings with unconventional ideas when they ran into problems. Well, here at least we had a few people who quickly and with determination attacked and killed wolves straight one when they got too close.

From there we walked back into the city and back to the school building, and everybody agreed that we just had a wonderful morning together. I was asked to come back when I had the time, but responded that I was probably going to embark on a journey soon, which might take a few weeks. I'd be happy to show up again once I was back, I added. From looking at the students' faces I deducted that they'd really be happy to see me again, and I liked that a lot. It was kind of strange, though; back in my old life, I had not had any kids of my own and no nephews and nieces either, as my only brother was gay; here in Skyrim, I suddenly found myself being a good friend and likable teacher for a whole group of children, all at preteen age. Of course I was almost certain that any girl would no longer like me that much once puberty started; older teenage Nord girls and young women certainly would not want to have a Khajiit boyfriend.

After lunch I picked up Fiona and we visited Lydia in the Temple of Kynareth together. The housecarl՚s recovery was finally confirmed by Danica, the temple's chief priestess, and so the Bosmer and I picked up Lydia, made sure that her equipment was complete, and transferred her to the Bannered Mare. We made our round through the market area and completed our own food supplies, too, and we agreed that we did not want to waste any more time and start our journey towards Falkreath early on the next day.

One the same afternoon we also stocked up on potions for health and magicka, and that was it, I guessed. Before Fiona retired to her room in the Bannered Mare, though, she asked to talk to me once more, and we found a bench to sit on. I looked at her and she said, while looking down at the ground:

"I think that I should let you know why I have been reacting the way I do when I am close to you. See, when I was a little girl, I used to go to the zoo a few times per year with my parents. There was a separate building for African and Asian predators, and you had to enter by crossing a short bridge. Inside the building there was an almost overwhelming stench from the lions and tigers they had in there, so that I found it hard to even cross the bridge. One day I was leaning forward more than I should have, as a tiger had a pup with her, and the adult tiger put its paw between the metal rails and almost touched me. I can still see the claws when I think back about that day, and although there probably still was enough safety distance, I got totally scared. Since that day I had not been able to cross the bridge to the building any longer, and the predator stench still drives me off."

I nodded and did not reply for some time, and she continued:

"I have to admit that your smell is by far not that bad, but it still reminds me of that day and that event, and my body reacts with extreme caution; I just cannot help myself."

I nodded again and told the wood elf:

"Actually, I can understand that. I also disliked the predator stench when I was a boy and was at the zoo, but now, probably because I am one of those myself, or related at least, that's not an issue any longer. But thank you for explaining."

The young Dragonborn had another issue to discuss:

"B'lushona, I wonder about something, too. Since we have been in Helgen, you look like you almost feel at home here in Skyrim. I mean, it's a totally different world, full of magic, but lacking some amenities, and yet, you seem to cope much better than I do. Why is that?"

I was not yet ready to tell the full truth and thus circumvented it a little bit:

"You see, Fiona, like you sometimes did medieval role playing, I read tons of fantasy books and played many fantasy related computer games, starting as early as thirty years ago. Being in a land of magic for real almost feels normal to me, honestly. But sometimes I am not quite as confident and brave as I may look like, I have to admit. Well, I just hope that they don't start industrialization, pollution and global warming here any time soon."

The petite Bosmer laughed and nodded:

"Yeah, that's something we don't need for sure. Okay, thank you for telling me."

In the evening I decided to get dinner at a different place. I had been in the 'Bannered Mare' quite a few times, and mostly I had grabbed something to eat at Jorrvaskr during the last weeks, as food was free for Companions there. However, there was at least one other inn in the city, the 'Drunken Huntsman'. When I had entered, I was greeted with the words:

"Hello Khajiit, in the market for some hunting supplies?"

The speaker was a male wood elf, and judged by his words it appeared that the inn not only provided food and drinks and maybe beds for customers, but also offered hunting supplies. I nodded and replied:

"Good day to you. My name is B'lushona, and I wonder if I could get some dinner here."

"Of course, of course. What would you like?"

"My preference is venison, if you have some."

"Sure, there's some venison stew in the cauldron. What about drinking? Honningbrew Mead, Black-Briar Mead, Ale, Alto Wine, something else?"

"Actually, I prefer snowberry juice or juniper berry juice instead."

"What, are you sick?"

"No, it's just that I prefer not to drink anything with alcohol in it."

Now the Bosmer raised his brows and frowned, and after a few seconds he replied:

"Khajiit, this is an inn for adult and normal people. Maybe you want to come back when you behave like that?"

I understood the hint; for some reason it appeared that those with a preference for non-alcoholic drinks were not welcome in this tavern. Well, I was probably in a very small minority with my attitude and preference, and for today at least, I decided to not force a confrontation. Thus I stood up and told him:

"Alright, no problem. I have other sources for food. Good bye."

Just before I left, I heard somebody else, another male Bosmer, say something like "What's wrong with that cat?". I ignored the comment and went straight towards Jorrvaskr. Sure, some Companions also found my drinking likes odd, too, but at least they accepted me as I was. I could not really expect just everybody being totally friendly and open, and what I had just experienced was indeed an exception, at least in Whiterun.

Early in the next morning, just after sunrise, I picked up Fiona and Lydia in the inn and we set off, heading east and then south. Fiona was still yawning a few times, but she had understood that it made a lot of sense to start early; for me, getting up early was natural and a pleasure, although I understood that others had different preferences. I had trouble staying awake late in the evening, on the other hand, when some others just started to party. In Jorrvaskr, for instance, noise from the mead hall sometimes could even be heard down in the sleeping area in the basement; when I was tired, most Companions had barely started to have a great time.

While we walked I asked Lydia how she was feeling, and she confirmed that she was fit again:

"Well, maybe my muscles are a little bit weaker after those days of inactivity, but that can be corrected easily by exercising."

For the first part we walked to Riverwood and passed the Riverside Lodge Inn in mid morning. When I looked across the bridge, I almost thought that I'd see a kiosk selling ice cream and snacks; the setup reminded me a lot of a scenic place in the Alps in Earth, where people could rest from a strenuous hike and get some refreshments. At some other time I'd really need to stop here and enjoy, but we were on a mission today.

Just before noon time we crossed the bridge into Riverwood. As I normally did when passing the bridge, I looked down into the river and watched the fish down there for a few seconds, but again, swimming and fishing would have to wait for another day. We entered the town, and when passed the smithy, Alvor noticed us and came out for a greeting. Dorthe was with him, and when she saw me, she shouted:

"Hello again, Mr. Bear!"

I laughed back and told her:

"I am just passing through town today with my companions. But I guess it's about lunch time, isn't it? Would somebody like to join us, like for a picnic or so?"

Alvor heard that and suggested right away:

"You are right about lunch time, and I am mighty hungry, too. Come on, all of you, let's sit together in the gazebo behind the forge, and put together what we have!"

We all liked that idea, and ten minutes later we were all comfortably sitting around a huge wooden table under a tree, which looked somewhat similar to an oak; the river was right next to us, and sometimes we could even see a salmon swimming in the clear and clean water. Sigrid, the smith's wife, had had a big pot with stew prepared, and while she shared with us, we also shared some of our food with them, so that nobody needed to go hungry; we mostly drank clear water from the river.

While we ate, Sigrid talked to her daughter:

"You know, Dorthe, with all those vegetables I've been growing lately, making a nice stew is something you should also learn to do. Maybe we can do it together tomorrow?"

"Oooh. Ahhh... Well, mom,... see, the thing is…"

"Shor's crown! There are things ladies like us are supposed to do. We've talked about this before!"

"Yes, but, it's just that papa promised I could make something at the forge, and that's just way more interesting! So maybe we could do something together, hmmm... next week? Is... that okay for you?"

"I have heard that before, and next week you'll have a different excuse, won't you?"

"Mama, please don't try to change me. I'm growing up, and learning how to become a smith is so much more important for me than cooking and gardening. And don't tell me that this is nothing for women; Adrianne can do it, too."

"What am I going to do with you?"

I almost started to laugh, but managed to focus on my meal instead. I hoped that Dorthe would be allowed to grow up learning what she wanted, and I assumed that her father would at least find out if she was gifted for smithing and related trades. A few minutes later we were all done with eating and drinking, and we took our leave again, thanking the good people for the meal they had shared with us. Hospitality like this was something I really appreciated.

[Author's Notes: The TV series being mentioned is called 'Wickie und die starken Männer' and was produced in 1974 for German TV; the English language version is 'Vicky the Viking'.

I have received some comments about Freya's death, and indeed, she will be missed. Let's see who might contribute to 'get the heroine up to speed' now.]