About an hour goes by before the sun finally decided to set. Sonmia started to get anxious, seeing as she hated being out doors in the dark.
"Wow, would you look at that," Hadvar said, breaking the long silence between them. He pointed in the direction of a giant ruin sitting on the side of a nearby mountain. Sonmia distracted herself from her anxiety and focused on whatever it was Hadvar was pointing out. From where Sonmia and Hadvar were, it just looked like a row of triangular arches.
"Oh, that's Bleak Falls Barrow," Sonmia informed. "That place used to give me nightmares as a kid. To be honest, I still don't like the look of it."
"It's incredible," Hadvar whispered.
"If you think so. Oh look, up ahead. There's the three Guardian Stones." Hadvar carried Sonmia to the three stones and let her climb down so she could get a closer look. "There's thirteen of these ancient stones plopped around different parts of Skyrim. Now let's see...this one," Sonmia started tracing the drawing etched in on the right stone with her finger, "this is the Warrior Stone. Supposed to make you stronger, if you're able to activate it. And this one," she turned to the middle stone, "this is the Mage Stone. It makes you able to learn magic spells faster, or something like that. And then there's the Theif Stone. It somehow makes you more stealthier, harder to detect."
"How do you know all of this?"
"...my dad taught me everything I know," Sonmia said quietly. A pang of sadness pierced her heart as she started to remember the good days of her childhood. The days where Sonmia's father would take her and her brother Damien out on some of his hunting adventures; the days where he would take them out to practice their archery; the days where they would just go out and wander the area, to have a picnic by the riverside, and then come home late in the evening to a nice homecooked meal; the good days when their mother was alive. Quickly the sadness turned into anger. Sonmia stood up and requested they continue the journey. Hadvar scooped her up back onto his back and they continued onward towards Riverwood.
A few hours later, when the moon was fully visible in the sky, they finally arrived. The small village was quiet. Not a person or chicken to be seen or heard. The only people that were out were the few guards that walked about the village. As Hadvar set her down, Sonmia felt a familiar, warm feeling inside. Everything about this town was familiar. The smithy, the trader, the inn. Sonmia could walk this small town with her eyes closed.
"My uncle should still be awake. Come, his house is just over here." Hadvar lead the way, with Somia quickly limping behind him, doing her best to keep up. Panic quickly swooped in when Sonmia realized Hadvar was walking towards the smithy.
"Wait, who did you say your uncle was?"
"I didn't. His name is Alvor, he's been the smithy here-"
"I know who Alvor is," Sonmia snapped. "I'm sorry. I just..." Sonmia sighed, "some bad shit happened in my family, in which your uncle was involved. I'm kind of nervous to see him. It's been years since I have, but...I'm sure he'll recognize me."
"My uncle is a forgetful man. I'm sure he won't remember you. Come on, it's getting late. The sooner we see him, the sooner it will be over with." Hadvar held his hand out. Sonmia grabbed it and let Hadvar lead the way. Sonmia was glad Hadvar didn't ask what happened with her family, what his uncle was involved in. She wasn't ready to explain everything to him.
Hadvar climbed up the steps to the smithy, which was also Alvor's house. He knocked on the door three times, and waited. When no one answered, Hadvar knocked again, this time harder. Shuffling could be heard inside, then footsteps towards the door. Finally, the door opened, and there stood Alvor. Alvor was a somewhat tall, very built man. His light-brown hair was grown out past his ears. He had a beard, which was the same colour as the hair on his head. To Sonmia, he hadn't changed. He still looked the same to her as he did when she was a child. A harsh wave of nervousness flooded Sonmia's body. To herself, she prayed to the gods that Alvor wouldn't recognize her.
"By Shor's bones, Hadvar!" Alvor finally said. He gave Hadvar a good look up and down and could see that Hadvar was in bad shape. "Gods, what happened to you boy? Are you in trouble?"
"Shh, Uncle, please keep quiet. I'm all right, but we need to go inside."
"What's going on? And who is this young lady with you?"
Sonmia shot Hadvar a pleading look. Hadvar looked at her with sincerety.
"Her name is Adisla Smallblade," Hadvar lied. "She's a friend. She saved my life, actually. But please, Uncle, let us in. I'll explain everything once we're inside."
"Of course, come in. But be quiet, Sigrid and Dorthe are sleeping." Alvor stepped out of the way to let Hadvar and Sonmia in. Inside, there was one double bed and a single bed, both with end tables next to them and chests in front of them. Next to the double bed, a fire place, which had a fire that had been dying down for a while, and empty cooking pot hanging above it. Next to the door, a table with six chairs sitting around it, adorned with empty wine and ale bottles and plates of bread. To the very far left of the house was a set of stairs that led to the basement. Alvor locked the door behind him, and sat down at the table with the two. Sonmia looked at him and saw that he was focused on her. She could see that he knew who she was. He could see that she was, in fact, the daughter of the love of his life. "You know, girl, you look exactly like a little girl that used to live in this town a long time ago."
"I can promise you, sir, I've only been in this part of the White Hold for a short while. No longer than a month." Her voice shook as she said that. Sonmia was never good at telling lies.
After a moment, Alvor finally focused his attention to Hadvar. "So, what happened to you two? You two look like you lost a fight with a pack of skeevers."
"Man, where do I start? Well, you know I was assigned to General Tullius' s guard. We stopped in Helgen when...a dragon, black as the night, attacked the town."
"A dragon? Nonsense, boy." Alvor poured himself and Hadvar a mug of Nord ale. Alvor offered some to Sonmia, but she turned the offer down, politely.
"No, really, uncle! This...dragon, he flew over the town and wrecked the whole place! The only person we know got out alive was a torturer's assisstant, he actually escaped with us. We never asked him what his name was. I probably wouldn't have made it either if it weren't for my friend here."
"So what are you two doing in Riverwood?"
"We need to go to Whiterun and let the jarl know what's happened. But Adisla's ankle...it's in pretty bad shape. She can't walk properly. Is there any way you could fix it?"
"Well of course. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. Let me take a look at that ankle, girl." Alvor dragged his chair next to Sonmia. She lifted her foot up onto his lap so Alvor could get a better look. He slowly and carefully slipped off Sonmia's hide boot; she winced as it came off. "Hadvar, boy, bring that lantern over here. I can barely see." Hadvar did as he was told; Alvor's eyes widened a bit as he saw how bad her ankle was. "Oh, girl...this is bad. Really bad. You probably shouldn't walk on this for a few days. Here, let me go get you a healing potion, that should help speed the healing process." Alvor went down into the basement, and a moment later, came back up with a healing potion. Sonmia took it with gratitude, but hesitated to drink the bitter concoction. After a moment, she chugged the potion, gagging once the liquid was in her stomach.
"Thank you, sir," Sonmia said, after a minute of trying to hold the liquid down.
"Of course. What else can I do to help you two?"
"Could we possibly stay here for a couple of days, while her ankle heals?"
"Yes, my boy. My home is your home. You two can sleep in the extra bed in the basement. There's a cupboard down there with extra hide blankets. It's late, we should all try to get some rest."
"Thank you, Uncle. This is much appreciated. Come on, girl. Let me carry you downstairs." Hadvar picked Sonmia up out of her chair and proceeded to go down into the basement. He then layed her down onto the extra double bed, and got and extra blanket from the cupboard for both of them. He then layed down on the other side of the bed with her, trying to give her as much personal space as possible.
"So where in Oblivion did you come up with the name 'Adisla Smallblade'?" Sonmia whispered, hoping Alvor wasn't listening from upstairs.
"When I was a young boy, there was a girl my age that lived on a farm near the one I grew up on. She was the most beautiful girl anyone had ever laid eyes on. The prettiest silky dark brown hair that went down past her shoulders; the most beautiful complexion; eyes so blue that if you were looking into them, you couldn't tell if you were swimming in the river or if you were actually just looking into her eyes. She was the sweetest, most caring girl you'd ever meet. And that was her name: Adisla Smallblade."
"Were you in love with her?" Sonmia turned over on her side so she could look at Hadvar while he spoke.
"I wouldn't say 'in love,' but I was sweet on her. All of the boys in the village were."
"So what made you say her name?"
"You remind me of her. Get some sleep, girl. You've had a long day."
Sonmia rolled back over onto her back and stared at the wooden ceiling above her, letting the silence of the house consume her ears until she finally fell asleep.