Chapter 34: Hanni and Nanni

[13th of Frostfall 4E 201]

We, that is Fiona and I, had spent two weeks in High Hrothgar, and while Fiona had learned what the Greybeards were willing to teach her, I had started to meditate on the 'KAAN' shout. In addition, Master Borri had been more than happy to do some combat training with me by conjuring his spectral targets, which I could try to hit with a weapon or a spell. That had actually been quite some fun, for both of us. Lydia and Rayya had been down in Ivarstead to bring more food twice, and after they had returned the second time, about two weeks after we had first arrived at the monastery, we were ready to leave this wonderful place. I had been able to spend about two weeks up here, and I certainly planned to come back to High Hrothgar when I could. The time up here had really been great; for the entire time nobody had attacked me and nobody had expected or at least asked me to help them with anything. I almost felt tempted to ask the Greybeards if they were willing to take me in as an apprentice, but I also realized that I did not really want to live up here on the mountain for an extended period of time; I would miss warm temperatures, the Companions, green grass and forests and more. Last but not least I was supposed to protect and assist the Dragonborn, and although she was not feeling comfortable having me around for longer times and would certainly use the next best opportunity to get rid of me again, I was likely not destined to opt for the path to stay up here for a longer time.

Going downhill was, naturally, much easier and quicker than going up, and although the icy wind still blew with a vengeance, we made good progress downhill. When we approached the canyon where the frost troll had lurked, we were very cautious, but there was no beast waiting for us this time; from that location onward, we had at least a little bit protection from the harsh wind, as the mountain was to our north now. Later on, we had to deal with a couple of ice wolves, but Lydia and Rayya dispatched those easily and quickly. We had a short lunch break still in the snowy area, close to the place where we had made our camp on the way up, and once we had eaten and continued our descent, Lydia and Rayya mentioned that they had actually been in that ruin called 'Shroud Hearth Barrow' just east of Ivarstead:

"Can you imagine that a person was searching for treasure deep in the barrow, and when he realized that it would take lots of time, he was concerned about being disturbed by the people from town. He came up with a mixture to make him appear like a ghost, and he sometimes walked around the ruin's entrance and waved his arms, succeeding to scare the villagers away and make them believe that the barrow had a ghost wandering around. We found a journal of his, and one entry showed that clearly: 'Had a close call today with that fool Wilhelm. He came close to entering the barrow, but I was able to scare him off by rattling some pottery shards in a bag. These people are far too superstitious for their own good.' I guess that he succeeded, and the people in town indeed seemed to be convinced that the barrow was haunted and cursed."

"So, did he find the treasure he was looking for?"

"No, he wasn't able to get access to the deeper areas, as they were protected by a door which could only be unlocked with the Sapphire Dragon Claw, and Wilhelm, the innkeeper, had that one."

"With that, you could get in?"

"We could and we did. For the second expedition there we had Siona with us as well, a Redguard lady who resides in Ivarstead; Rayya is friends with her. Once we figured out how that claw worked, we were able to unlock the sturdy door, but we had to kill the man; at the end he was not much more than the ghost he had been pretending to be anyway. The treasure itself was a little bit underwhelming, but we got quite some coin; we shared some of it with Siona and Wilhelm, and the innkeeper was quite grateful. By the way, my Thane, in the deeper area of the barrow there was a large curved wall with some faded inscriptions, and we did not know what that was. Do you happen to know?"

Fiona thought about that for a few moments and then replied:

"Oh, maybe that was another word wall?"

I nodded:

"That is quite likely, Fiona. At some time in the future you might want to visit that place to learn whatever shout it might offer."

"Word Wall?"

Lydia and Rayya both did not know what that was, and I explained the background, mentioning the word wall we had found in Bleak Falls Barrow and the 'FUS' shout Fiona had apparently learned there.

"Is there a way to learn which shout it might teach me?" Fiona wanted to know.

"No, I do not think so" I responded. If my memory had been better, I might have recalled from the game, but it wasn't and I did not. "You will probably have to go there to find out. I am not even sure that the Greybeards know which word wall teaches which shout. On the other hand, legends say that there are quite a few of those word walls to be found in all kinds of places, some of them even outside, and the Greybeards likely can give you some hints how to find some of those. I believe that I heard about some word walls being located in areas where dragons lurk, and maybe they guard those places."

"And does each word wall teach a shout?"

"I think so, yes, and you should be able to learn the shout just by reading the inscriptions. However, in order to use the shout yourself, you will have to unlock it with a dragon soul."

"Like the ones I seem to absorb when I am involved in getting a dragon killed, with that colorful swirl moving into my body and making me feel dizzy?"

"Yes, indeed."

During that conversation we had made quite some progress downhill, and just before the region of eternal snow ended, we heard some fierce growling from an area between some rocks and bushes not far from the steps, interrupting our discussion. A huge predator cat approached, and I identified it as a snowy saber cat. I heard Fiona yelping a little, and I was not surprised about her reaction, as the beast was looking really dangerous with the two big fangs, and its size was easily that of a Siberian tiger on Earth or even more. In my opinion, it looked even more threatening and intimidating than the frost troll, and it was probably much faster and more agile, too.

Lydia and Rayya got their weapons ready, and I unsheathed my axe as well. For a few seconds we were not sure if the beast was actually going to attack, but it did and jumped right on Lydia with a huge leap. The Nord warrior lady could not fully evade on time, but Rayya and I immediately started to attack the saber cat from both sides. It turned out that, just like in the game, those animals were very strong and ferocious, and after I had inflicted a deep cut with my axe, I found myself thrown back with one sweep of a paw; only my robust body prevented me from getting seriously injured.

Fiona had recovered from her surprise and shouted 'FUS RO' at the beast. This shout managed to shove the animal and Lydia in slightly different directions, so that I could run over and do my quick healing on the housecarl, at least managing to stop the worst bleeding. Fortunately, the Nord՚s heavy armor had prevented more serious injuries. Rayya used the opportunity and renewed her attacks, and when Fiona could land hits with a few of her arrows, aided by a shock spell, the cat was finally done for and perished. As far as I saw it, the Redguard՚s dual wielding scimitar attacks had made the difference; when she swung her weapons, they almost blurred, and I certainly would not want to be the target of her attacks; I was glad that she was on our side.

"That cat was as strong and dangerous as the frost troll!" Fiona claimed.

"Even more so, I should say" Lydia confirmed. "It took all four of us to overcome it."

We rested for a few minutes from the exhaustion of the fight, Lydia swallowed a potion to fully restore her health, and just before we were ready to move on, I noticed that my bladder needed attention, so that I excused myself and stepped behind a low bush at some distance from the path and the steps. When I was done with my business, my sensitive ears caught a strange noise, like some whimpering from a small animal or so.

Naturally I was getting curious and explored in that direction, off path, and between and underneath some low bushes I saw two animals, quite obviously baby snowy saber cats, mostly off-white with some dark stripes, like a white tiger on Earth, except for the fangs. The small saber cats, about the size of a medium dog, maybe like a Spaniel or a Border Collie, seemed to be hurt, and when I looked closer I noticed that they were caught in a thorn-bush and were apparently unable to move much without getting hurt even more. There was no way I would leave them just like that, and I started to approach very carefully, trying not to scare the little animals. When I was close enough I stretched out my left hand and allowed the two little saber cats to lick it, and only once they seemed to be all right with my presence I started to cut branches away with my dagger.

The others had been getting curious about my prolonged absence and had eventually followed me; they arrived now, and Rayya told me sternly:

"Khajiit, what do you think you are doing here?"

"I am going to help those two little saber cats; they're hurt and caught by the thorn-bush. I suspect that the big saber cat we just killed might have been the cubs' mother."

"Yes, you may be right about that, but you should kill them right away."

"What? Seriously? I cannot kill such small and cute animals! Don't you see? They're just babies!"

"Yes, but without their mother they're most likely going to die anyway. Even if they survive, they will grow into full size saber cats and attack people. Better kill them now and save the trouble later!"

She had a point, of course. But I felt like a voice in my head telling me to take care of the cubs anyway, and my heart did not give me a choice; the two cubs looked very adorable, even considering their species. In addition to that, I clearly recalled Kynareth՚s request 'Show respect to the animals and do not kill them just for fun'; above and beyond that, we were still on the Divine's holy mountain, and we had only killed the adult saber cat because it had attacked us and we had not had a choice. I made my decision and replied:

"I understand your concern, but I will claim them as my pets."

"Nobody can tame a saber cat!" Lydia insisted.

"Well, maybe not a grown up one, true. Has anybody ever tried to raise a saber cat cub?"

"Eh, I do not know" she had to admit.

"See, I am going to try, and I hope that Kynareth may help."

"Well, we can't keep you from doing it, but I certainly will not want to be around for that."

I could not really blame her. Back home I would not have dared to raise a lion or a tiger, not even a smaller predator, like a cheetah or even a lynx, but here in Skyrim I had a feeling that this was the right thing to do, maybe with a little assistance from Kynareth. Besides, as a Khajiit, wasn't I related to wild animals as well?

Fiona looked at me, and I could see that she seemed to feel uneasy about something. Eventually she made up her mind and said:

"B'lushona, maybe this is the right time and place to go our separate ways. I am supposed to get this horn Arngeir told me about, and I hope that you don't blame me for wanting to do this on my own, just with my two housecarls. No offense, but I feel better with my two warrior ladies than with a fierce Khajiit. I hope that you'll understand."

Of course I understood her preference. She was likely to be much more comfortable with her two warrior ladies around, not having to worry about a potentially ferocious male beast as well, even as this 'beast' had saved her life already a few times. In addition to that, I had been preparing myself to split from the three ladies anyway, unless my assistance was asked for; as it was, that was clearly not the case, at least not for now, and that was just all right for me.

"Fiona, that's all right" I replied. "It is certainly your prerogative as Dragonborn to decide whom to take with you for your tasks, and I am not offended at all. Actually, now as I have found those cute saber cat babies, I don't mind at all having lot of time for them rather than hurrying around."

The tiny wood elf looked quite relived when she heard that, and I added:

"I believe that we will eventually meet again. If you need to find me for anything, you can send a message with a courier. They have an odd way to find people almost anywhere. You do know where Ustengrav is located, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. Lydia has a pretty good map, and Master Arngeir marked it there."

"All right, Fiona. Please stay safe, and I wish you all the best for your upcoming tasks; may the Force be with you!"

She smiled when she heard my last words; quite obviously she knew where that was from, while Lydia and Rayya looked a little bit puzzled, and she even replied with a smirk:

"Well, with your size, maybe you are Wookiee Chewbacca in disguise?"

Yep, the size was about right; the actor who had taken that role must have been about as tall as I was. I laughed and hugged Fiona carefully, under the watchful and scrutinizing eyes of her two housecarls, and the three of them proceeded down towards Ivarstead. My eyes followed them on the path, and just before they turned around the next corner and were gone from my view, Fiona actually turned around for a moment and waved. I waved back, they were gone, and I was feeling good; we had separated on good terms, and she had two formidable warrior ladies with her for protection. I knelt down once more and continued my effort to set the saber cat babies free.

Dusk was close when I finally succeeded with my task. Not only had I removed the branches which got the saber cat cubs stuck, but I had also picked the thorns from their fur and healed their wounds, and they both started to purr when the magical healing flowed into them, licking my hands and arms. While working on and around their bodies I had also found out that both cubs were girls, probably twins as they were the same size and very much looked alike. Well, I guessed that I had two new friends now, and I was surprised that their smell was not strong and like the stench predators on Earth spread, but more soft and pleasant, almost like a beautiful flower mixed with lemon scent. That was odd; in my former life, I had always disliked predator smell, judged by the few occasions I had been exposed to it in a zoo. I could clearly remember times when my parents had lead me into the big building which had lions and tigers in cages behind metal bars in the zoo closest to my hometown on Earth, and the stench had been strong enough to almost make me feel sick. However, now I was kind of a predator myself, and maybe my Khajiit senses or the brain section evaluating them registered the smell as related and friendly and thus pleasant.

All I needed was a name for the cubs, and after some deliberation I decided to call them 'Hanni und Nanni'. I had read books about those two twin girls back home, and the names were easy to pronounce; they just seemed to fit somehow.

I completed the trip down the stairs mostly in darkness, but thanks to my Khajiit eyes, that was not a problem, even with none of the moons being up and only stars glimmering in the night sky. Nonetheless I needed to be careful, as the steps were slippery and barely visible against the background of rocks and soil; but at least I was soon out of the snow area. The two saber cat cubs followed me without hesitation, and for some reason the few wolves who got close to us decided to not attack; maybe they were afraid that the saber cats' mother might be around.

When I finally arrived in Ivarstead during the night, the cubs did not shy away from entering the town and getting onto the main road which was dimly illuminated by a few lanterns. When we passed the Fellstar farmhouse, the door opened and a person in a cloak stepped out. The person looked around and saw me and my cubs. When I faced them and my cubs started to growl, the person quickly vanished into the shadows off the road. I could be mistaken, but that person had looked like that female Dunmer I had seen in Helgen, the one who had been lead out from the Keep to the execution area. What had she been doing, and who was she? I would not get an answer tonight; I was very tired, and thus I just walked the few more steps to the inn. Despite the late hour, Wilhelm, the innkeeper, was still up, happy about getting another customer, and he readily told me that the three ladies had arrived hours before and were now asleep in their rooms. He offered a small supper from leftovers and asked what I wanted to drink. My answer was:

"Wilhelm, can I please get a large bowl with milk?"

He looked at me with a smirk and asked:

"I had not expected you to be a milk drinker, my friend."

I smiled back at him, not feeling offended in any way, and I replied truthfully:

"Believe it or not, Wilhelm, but I actually do like to drink milk. Right now, though, I need it not only for me, but also for my new friends here."

I pointed down to the floor behind me, and Wilhelm noticed the two saber cat cubs for the first time; he almost got alarmed:

"By the Eight, are those two saber cats?"

"Yes, they are, and the cubs are mine. They will need some milk, please."

"All right, but I sure hope that you won't be around with them when they grow up."

Wilhelm shook his head and looked worried, but he allowed me to sleep in the barn again and actually carried a large bowl of milk out there, and I paid him plenty. I poured the milk into a bowl, and the two cubs started licking from the dish. I was getting tired after the long hike, even as it had been downhill, and found a nice place in the hay; Hanni and Nanni soon cuddled up to me, being perfectly happy to accept me as their new caretaker and friend – or so I hoped at least. I was very happy about them, too. Back on Earth, I had liked pets, but never had had one for myself for various reasons; maybe this might out work well here in Skyrim? I was likely going to find out, and I was looking forward to seeing my two new friends grow.

[Author's Notes: 'Hanni und Nanni' is taken from a book series written by Enid Blyton in theGerman translation; the original title is 'St. Clare's', I believe. 'Hanni' is a nickname for 'Johanne' or 'Hanna', and 'Nanni' is a nickname for 'Marianne'. 'Hanni' is pronounced like the English word 'honey', and 'Nanni' in a very similar way, just replacing the leading 'H' with an 'N'. When Balu findsthe 'cubs', they are about the size of a Cocker Spaniel or a small Border Collie, with a shoulder height of about 40cm and a weight of about 15kg. I imagine an adult snowy saber cat to be like the extinct 'Smilodon populator', with a shoulder height of about 120cm and a weight of about 400kg. Hanni and Nanni will have to grow a lot before they reach their full size and weight.

I have to admit that I am not quite sure about the proper term for a very young saber cat. Would that be a 'cub' like I call it or rather a 'pup' or 'whelp' or something else? If somebody is familiar with the correct term to use, please do let me know via PM or review!]