A/N: So here is a Christmas update. Why? Because I'm bored and this seemed like a good idea. Also, I've left this story far too long without an update, so sorry about that.
Upon leaving the cave we headed towards Falkreath, intending to meet up with Falin's sister and to stay the night. However, once we arrived we discovered that all the rooms in the inn were taken up by travelling revellers, and that Gabriella had disappeared, seemingly into thin air. Faced with no other options, we decided to leave immediately for Whiterun, so as to return to Jorrvaskr before nightfall. Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan. Before we even got halfway home, the heavens decided to open up above us, soaking all of us to the skin. To prevent our armour from rusting, we made for a cave opening in the cliffs ahead of us. We all hurried inside, eager to get out of the rain to prevent our armour from rusting solid.
The cave we had chosen to enter already contained a large campfire, and a large Redguard sitting at it, steel scimitar at his hip, shield on his arm, and his back to us. Ram-Ku instantly went into a crouch and approached the man slowly. He drew up short when the the Redguard laughed loudly, "You sneak like a mammoth blundering through a river, my friend. Come, share my fire, and some mead, and bring your friends with you."
I stood up, "He has a point Ram-Ku, you do sneak like a mammoth in a river, and the armour doesn't help much either." My friend looked incredibly put out. "Although how he could tell that Falin was there is beyond me."
"Living rough most of your life tends to do that to a man. Having to constantly make sure that you're not about to be jumped upon by a pack of bandits or wolves tends to enhance one's senses don't you think?"
"How did you know we weren't bandits?" Ram-Ku asked, curious.
"Three of you, one of me? If you were bandits you wouldn't have bothered sneaking, you would have just charged in and tried to hack me up. Now sit down, you must all be soaked, it takes ages to dry off after a storm like that one."
I was vaguely aware of Falin grinning beside me. I had absolutely no idea what she found to be so funny, even when she signed to me that 'It wouldn't take that long for her.' right up until the point when she snapped her fingers and wrapped herself in fire. I fell back in shock, issuing a small cry. I heard Ram-Ku telling Falin that Ancestor's Wrath was cheating.
"Oh a Dunmer," the Redguard said.
"Yes, a Dunmer," Ram-Ku hissed in response, "Got a problem with that?"
The Redguard seemed slightly taken aback by Ram-Ku's hostility, "No, none at all. It's just strange to see an Argonian and a Dunmer travelling together, that's all.
"Believe me," I said, "That was my third though upon meeting them."
"Third thought? What were the first two?"
"Thought one: Thank you for stopping that giant caving my head in. Thought two: I would probably be dead if you didn't know healing magic."
The Redguard laughed. "Sounds like an interesting story, just the kind to be told other a few pints of mead." He gestured to a few bottles sticking out of his pack.
Ram-Ku sat down opposite him, "You first, what's your story?"
"Well, the name's Lidean. I'm from Dragonstar, in Hammerfell. Lived there until I was about twenty, then I got bored and decided to leave home, to go and seek adventure elsewhere."
I nodded and sat down next to Ram-Ku, "That's pretty much what I did as well. Although I lived in Bruma, not Dragonstar."
Lidean was an imposing figure, whilst not as bulky as Vilkas, Farkas, or Ram-Ku,he was certainly tall. Clad in much-used steel armour that looked like it had been all over Tamriel with its owner. He had long, black hair that he had fashioned into dreadlocks and then tied together at the back of his head. His beard on the other hand was neatly trimmed in the style known as a goatee back in Cyrodiil. He had a couple of streaks of white war paint over his left eye which stood out against his dark skin.
"So I started travelling," he continued, "went north into High Rock, climbed the Direnni tower, just so I could say that I'd done it. Since then I've been pretty much all over Tamriel, apart from Morrowind, Black Marsh and the Summerset Isles."
"So what are you doing in Skyrim?" I asked.
"Travelling's all well and good, but I'm thinking about settling down. I'm going to Whiterun, I hope to join the Companions of Jorrvaskr there, surely you've heard of them? The legendary warriors of the nor- What's so funny?"
Ram-Ku and I had both dissolved into fits of laughter at this. Wiping a tear from his eye, Ram-Ku held back a chuckle before replying, "Sorry, it's just the idea that we might not have heard of the Companions."
Lidean looked thoroughly confused, "I don't get it."
I sighed, seeing as Ram-Ku was clearly to caught up in the joke, it was left to me to explain the situation to the perplexed Redguard. "We're all Companions, and Icebrains here is a member of the circle."
At the expression on the Redguard's face, we both fell into a renewed fit of laughter.
"You three, are Companions?"
"Of course. What were you expecting? A party of burly Nords?" Ram-Ku inquired.
"Well actually, yes."
"So does everyone, it seems." I said, and it was true. The number of times that I had told Hold Guards that I was on official Companions business only to be greeted by laughter and disbelief was ridiculous, not to mention the statements that they thought I'd be taller. I rarely felt that being an Imperial was any impediment to my life, but being half a foot shorter than anyone else at Jorrvaskr apart from Falin was slightly irritating.
"Sorry about that."
"Hey don't worry about it," Ram-Ku told him, "Besides, it looks like the rain's clearing up, we can all travel to Whiterun together."
Outside, the weather was indeed clear, not fine weather exactly, but far more pleasant than it had been before we entered the caves. We set off once again for Whiterun. Shortly before we reached the small village of Riverwood, we encountered a couple of Nords on the road, Liedan bade them a good day, and they returned his greetings in the name of Stendarr. We passed them without incident, then they stopped and turned around.
"Hey, you, wait."
"What do you want?" I asked. They ignored me, their attention focussed entirely upon Ram-Ku.
They started whispering to each other, I caught the words 'Saviour's hide' and 'Hircine' in the conversation. Seeming to come to an agreement they both placed their hands on the hilts of their weapons, readying destruction magic in their spare hands. The evidently more senior of the pair spoke to us. "If you three step away from the Argonian, you will not be harmed."
"What's going on?" Liedan asked.
"This man is a worshipper of Hircine, Stendarr wishes for him to be cleansed, and we, the Vigil of Stendarr will do the cleansing. Step away, and you will be left alone."
Falin made a series of gestures at the men.
"What was that?" The younger man demanded.
Ram-Ku grinned before translating, "She said, 'May the Reclamations take you'"
Neither I nor Lidean had any idea what the Reclamations were, but it was clear that the Vigilants did, drawing the weapons, they charged at both Ram-Ku and Falin, who beat them back with blade and magic. The Vigilants were no match for the two of them, first the younger then the older falling to the ground, dead.
"What the hell was that about?" Lidean was thoroughly confused, and admittedly, so was I.
"The Vigil of Stendarr," Ram-Ku explained, "They make it their mission to seek out and eradicate daedra, and daedra-worship, wherever they find it."
"I see, and they went for you because?"
Ram-Ku grinned, "Simple, I am the Champion of the Daedric Prince Hircine, and Falin worships the Reclamations."
"Riiiight," I said, "And what, exactly, are the Reclamations?"
"You've clearly never been to Morrowind then." he replied, "The Reclamations is more or less the state religion, the Daedric Princes Azura, Boethiah and Mephala. Falin worships all of them, especially Azura."
"Are all the Companions daedra worshippers?" Lidean asked.
"No, just me and Falin." Ram-Ku replied cheerily, "Most of the others don't give a shit for religion. Apart from Vignar and Njada."
Whilst passing through Riverwood, Ram-Ku took offence to some half-crazed old woman stating that we were what was wrong with Skyrim, apparently everywhere you looked it was filled with 'lizards, elves, and milk-drinking Imperial scum.' Fortunately the presence of a nearby guard was enough to ward of any violence that may have occurred, and, as Lidean put it in an unnecessarily loud voice as we passed the woman, "You can't sort out all the narrow-minded, racist bigots in Skyrim, shame really, seeing as how they're the real problem with this country."
The look of indignation on the old woman's face was absolutely priceless. I decided that I quite liked Lidean, and hoped that he would be allowed to join the Companions.
Unfortunately Riverwood had an Inn, that was fully booked, that was willing to sell mead to random Argonians and Redguards, willingly to sell quite a lot of mead in fact. The two men disappeared inside the building, leaving me on the street with an increasingly nervy Falin, as I realised that we were surrounded by Nords, at least one of whom was incredibly racist. "Falin," I said softly, "Falin, it'll be ok, no-one's going to attack you. They're not warriors, you're going to be fine."
My words seemed to have the desired effects as Falin calmed down somewhat.
Ram-Ku and Lidean soon emerged from the inn, both carrying sacks filled with clinking mead bottles. "Lidean, can you just walk on ahead a bit? I need to have a word with Ram-Ku." Lidean looked at me, shrugged, then walked a short distance ahead of me.
"What did you want?" Ram-Ku asked me.
"I'm just wondering why you thought that it would be a good idea to go into the inn?"
"I don't understand."
"Leaving Falin alone."
"Oh."
"In a village full of Nords."
"Yes, I can see why-"
"One of whom spent the whole time glaring at her and muttering curses under her breath."
"I'm sorry."
"So Falin was panicking, while you went TO THE BAR!" My voice rose as I let my anger out."
"Look I said I was sorry, what more do you want?"
"Don't apologise to me, apologise to Falin. She's the one who was having trouble."
"Ermm, guys." Lidean's voice interrupted our arguemnt.
"What?" I snapped.
"You should probably take a look at this."
We both hurried forward to where Lidean was standing at the crest of the hill. We looked out across the plains that seperated us from Whiterun, plains that were dotted with Siege engines and soldiers. I saw a tent flying a blue banner emblazoned with the white bear of Eastmarch. Stormcloaks! As we watched, one of the catapults hurled a blazing rock skywards, towards the city, from which smoke already billowed. I could not tell from this distance if Jorrvaskr had been hit. A thud from behind me drew my attention away from the city, Falin had collapsed upon the ground. I realised what this meant, for the Stormcloaks to be here meant that she no longer felt safe. I turned my gaze back to my home. I could scarcely believe it. In the few short days that we had been away, the civil war had come to Whiterun.
A/N: War doesn't stop just because there is no Dragonborn to lead either the Imperial or Stormcloak armies to victory. Which side do you think will win, and which side would you prefer to win? Let me know, I find it interesting to see what people think of my stories.