Chapter 3: The Merchant of Whiterun

I didn't know where he came from. I just crossed the bridge when I heard the sound of rapid footsteps. I quickly turned and a young Nord came to a sudden full stop right in front of me. He gasped and heaved for a moment, then he took out a potion with green liquid and drank it down. He threw the potion bottle away and finally presented a letter with an unmarked seal on it.

"I have a delivery for you. Your eyes only." he said...oddly, he didn't even sound like he was out of breath. It had to have been a vitality potion he drank. They were known for giving the consumer great bursts of energy. Such a thing was an obvious boon to a courier; but this couldn't have been a usual occurrence. I was a courier for a bit when I was living in Hammerfell after fleeing home. Before I could even ask who sent it, he took off again at full speed. I called out to him and he turned.

"Do you know who gave this to you?!" I shouted. The young man turned around and humped his shoulders.

"I'm not sure. He was a hooded man, but he sounded like a Redguard probably."

The courier ran off towards Riverwood then. My eye twitched a little, then I opened the sealed letter.

If you are reading this, then you are alive and there is yet hope I can find you. I cannot divulge my identity in this letter, but I am one of your mother's old allies. I too am being hunted by the Rose Coterie, but I have information that will save your life. Your father's group is trying to dig their claws into Skyrim, but you should be safe in Whiterun for now. I will contact you again soon.

Stay alive.

A Friend

I wondered how this individual knew I was even in Riverwood. If a Redguard knew Sophia...then it made sense. The Coterie always left correspondence with their unique seal; however, in some cases, their operatives had forgotten to burn the letters. He had to be someone mother trusted, because he didn't use our names. Mother didn't really talk about her own past much. All I knew was that she worked for the Imperial Legion once. Given her talents, it must have been something clandestine. Whoever this man was knew about the Rose.

The Rose Coterie, that is. The confederation of noble houses that overthrew House Swyn back in Evermore. They controlled my homeland now. There was no confirmation that all the members of House Swyn had been killed the infamous "Mansion Incident", however. I knew of only two, but that wasn't the reason I was hunted. Evermore fell into chaos under the new Count's rule.

After I walked down the road, I torched a few wolves that came out of the bushes. As I got to the hill that led down into Whiterun, I picked some mushrooms off the side of a tree. When I looked in my bag, I remembered I had some purple flowers. I choked a little and I quickly closed it.

Claire always loved purple flowers. I didn't cry this time though. I was done grieving months ago. I kept running, I wanted to forget about it all.

It was funny that the unknown man said Whiterun was a safe place. Why? I was halfway to Whiterun. To the left was some kind of meadery, as I understood it. I'd heard some commotion up the road and I went to investigate, when I accosted by three Imperial soldiers. They were searching for a Stormcloak prisoner that had run off when they were attacked by bandits. I guessed the escapee was from Helgen. That had to be embarrassing for the Empire, Ulfric Stormcloak, their prized prisoner, escaping due to a legend come to life.

"Wait, wasn't she from Helgen too?" one of them said. My mouth was agape.

I started to run, but they drew their swords and ordered I surrender. With the realization that this adventure of mine was about end a second time, I panicked. I drew forth my illusory powers and hit one of the Imperials. It didn't do anything Initially, except annoy the guard...then, he started screaming. The other two turned to him and I swear to Julianos, the afflicted guard ran the middle soldier through. I couldn't believe it. My hands were shaking.

Then all of the sudden, a ragged Nord leaped from the bushes and tackled one of the surviving guards.

"Victory or Sovengarde!" he shouted.

It seemed the prisoner they'd been looking for was waiting in ambush. He quickly picked up the sword the dead soldier had dropped, stabbed the motionless, shocked soldier in the back...and then took his sword and threw into the neck of the man I'd enchanted! As he choked, stumbled, bled and eventually fell and rolled hilariously down the hill into the trees, he faced me with a smile. I was speechless. It was impressive work.

"Thanks friend. Thought I was a goner there." the man said. "Never thought I'd see you again!"

I thought I recognized him from Helgen, but it wasn't quite clear. He did recognize me though.

"Uh...you're welcome."

"No one's around, help me with these." he said, looting the first corpse.

"They're still looking for Helgen escapees, right?" I said, looting the second corpse, but my head jerked around as I watched for any other guard members around. I found only a pouch of coins and apparently what was a better grade dagger made of steel.

We drug the bodies off the road and they rolled down into the woods. The former prisoner answered me.

"Not really; I just had some...misfortune just north of Whiterun, they were taking me along the east road when some bandits from White River Watch attacked. I made my escape in the confusion. I'm heading back north to Windhelm, you should come with me...we could really use someone like..."

"No thanks. I've got business in Whiterun. Wait, you said they came from White River Watch? I believe..." I said, whipping out a piece of paper, "...I have a bounty available over there."

I remembered Orgnar, the barkeep in Riverwood, gave me the Jarl's letter wanting them wiped out. I wasn't even sure where it was at the time. However, I needed some valuable practice with my new spells...and this White River, was where it would happen.

"Yes. It's just over there." he said, pointing up the hill, "They killed two of the guards but didn't go in since I managed to get away. So, if anyone asks...these poor Legion soldiers met their end due to bandits that..."

"...I tracked down and eliminated." I concluded.

"Anyway, good luck and may Talos watch over us both."

As he walked off, I felt a bit guilty about the Imperials...but they were going to arrest me. I'd been imprisoned twice in my life. I couldn't really blame anyone for the second, except that damn Legion woman...I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I took off running towards White River Watch. I wanted to forget the first time I was imprisoned, but it was a festering wound that I never fully recovered from. I still bore the scars. I wanted to make fun of everything, but I couldn't block out the memories of a year ago.

I did nothing wrong. I broke no law. I killed no one. All I did was lose a tournament. And my father just watched as I was dragged away. Forty-seven days. Forty-seven days of an almost endless nightmare. All the things I ever did since then, I did to forget the horror. It worked...sometimes.

White River Watch wasn't much of a destination. When I got there, there were two dead bandits, a man and woman, and a dead Imperial soldier. I found a diary on the man's body.

Reading it, I learned the bandit's boss seemed to take issue with this Rodulf, the dead bandit male outside. Apparently he was taking advantage of the bandit's poor uncle. I snuck in and there was an older man in the cave at a table. He looked straight at the cave wall, which was odd because he was the watchman.

"Rodulf? Is that you?" he said. He was blind.

"Uh...yeah." I said in my best masculine voice.

"Boss was looking for you. Said he'd be at the summit. Wouldn't want to keep him waiting."

I walked up to him and he didn't move or react to my footsteps at all. I even got to within touching distance and saw he had a book in front of him. The pages were blank. That proved it. These bandits were dumber than rocks. I actually felt sorry for the poor guy.

What I found was comical was the effect my new-found spell had on the enemy. Watching three bandits who, I assumed, were friends at some point, fighting it out among themselves was hysterical. The people who robbed and killed people for a living suddenly killing each other, while I looted their stuff, was pure irony.

The humor reached new heights when I quietly came across two bandits who were discussing a wolf they had in the cage. The man wondered if it could be trained. I wondered why there was a chain lever right in front of where I was crouched. Flush with courage and confidence I put my Fear spell in my left hand, then pulled the chain. The chain released the wolf's cage door!

The man started talking, "I just hope it doesn't get out and start biting me in the ass. Or the throat. That would be bad...by Talos! He's actually biting me in the ass! Not the..!"

I looked up and quickly hit a bandit who was up higher in the cave with the Fury spell. She jumped down and broke both her legs before I finished them all off with my hands filled with Fire. Then I realized that...may have not been the best solution. I needed "sufficient, tangible proof of the kill" by the bounty order. Obviously, I couldn't burn their leader. Nords were resistant to ice. That only left my Shock and Fury spells...and if he was alone, then Fury wouldn't do much.

There were some chests where I found some useful items, but no potions that could restore magic pool. I found a hunting bow, arrows, and some interesting books as well. I quietly made my way out to the summit, which led out from a small cave exit, and saw the bandit's leader. I readied the shock spells, but he must have heard me charge up my spell, because he was suddenly bearing down on me!

A sustained burst of magic may not have been enough to bring him down and I was unarmored against a greatsword wielding maniac. I realized I might have made a mistake. But his attacks were slow as he swung around the massive sword. Even as a Nord, big weapons were big weapons. I ran away form him, blasting him with the Shock magic when I could, and I easily dodged his first two attacks. The third was a damn close one as he cleaved the table in half. He was quite resilient.

I was near the edge of the mountain and I had to do something fast. I backed up, prepared to dodge and...and tripped on a rock! I quickly tried to move and I got my legs out of the way just in time, as the momentum of the attack carried him clean over the cliff!

He hit a rock outcropping with a bloody thud, then just slid all the way to the bottom. I let out a huge sigh of relief and sat down on the ground. Thank Julianos my mother wasn't there. She'd have given me quite the tongue lashing for going into such a place alone. But she said, a bad idea that works is never a bad idea. I just hoped there was enough of him left to claim the bounty.

After taking a rather unique looking iron sword from the chest of valuables the Bandit Leader had, as well as the journal he kept, I ran down to the bottom of the mountain as fast as I could. After clearing up some confusion with a local guardsman, I headed into Whiterun. He was rather taken aback after a body almost landed on him. I told him that I wanted to claim his bounty and the guard let me search him...or what was left of him. The armor was crushed; he was nothing but meat. His face was...well, nevermind about the face. The only thing that did survive, oddly...was a set of gauntlets. I could sense the enchantments on them. They'd fetch a nice price, I thought. I took all the "evidence" and put it in a small bag I'd looted form inside the cave.

"Pretty impressive wiping out those bandits," the guard said, "One of the guards found three Imperial soldiers dead in the woods. Probably their doing."

"Yeah...yeah, exactly that. Well, I need to go. Thank you for the help and I promise I'll be a little more careful next time." I said and walked away from as quickly as I could. However, I'd forgotten one thing. I felt horrible at that point. I turned to the guard.

"Oh, in that cave, there's an old blind man that needs some help!" I shouted. Then I continued to put distance between me and him.

It was a few hours until sunset and I had no idea what to expect when I entered the city. As I walked along the final stretch of flowery road to Whiterun, I remembered I often thought of Evermore. I missed home so much, but how could they miss us? Everything we built as a family was destroyed. I remembered seeing our home, the last embers fading and mother dragging me away.

Whiterun didn't look that impressive from the outside. The walls were old. They weren't like Evermore's high and coral-colored battlements. It was beautiful outside the city though. There were a group of mercenary-like individuals who were walking from a farm; why, I couldn't tell. I kept my distance though. There were some Khajit merchants who'd set up shop. I did some trading with them, sold off some of the loot from White River. Apparently, this Ri'saad, was the leader or one of the leaders of a group of caravans who were traveling Skyrim. We traded a few stories of our homelands. Eventually, he just wanted to stop talking about Elsweyr and I wanted to stop talking about High Rock. We both missed home.

The guard at the gates wanted to know why I was there. The dragons had made them on edge. I didn't see the problem initially...the city looked strong. I told them I had news from Helgen. They bought it and they let me in.

I knew something was up when I walked into the city. There was something odd and familiar about Whiterun. The houses were sturdy and quaint, wooden and strong. Gray, blue, green and brown colors were the order of the place. The streets were cobbled and uneven. The grass grew out a little between the stones. The homes had statues of dragon heads on their roofs. Ironic.

However, it all felt like I walked back in time. I had walked back in time to a place where I knew the places I wanted to see. Buildings were in different places, the outlying farms were closer to the city, but Whiterun welcomed me home. The city was warm and inviting. Whiterun was home for so many; yet for me, home was so far away...and right in the middle of Skyrim.

I walked up two, maybe three flights of stairs to Dragonsreach. It didn't look as impressive as Gerdur said it was. I remembered the captivating blue and white Chateau Seraphine, the grand estate of Aries Swyn, the Count's eldest son. It was the most beautiful, massive place I'd ever seen. Two years before I wound up in Skyrim, I was brought to that place as a contestant in the Tournament of Blue Roses along with eleven other women.

I turned to my father and said, "If I win this, we're all going to live here." A year later, me and mother...accidentally-on-purposely...burned that place to the ground. I shook my head as I got to the door. I didn't want to remember that day anymore. The point was, Dragonsreach had nothing on Chateau Seraphine.

I remember mother telling me a little about those dragon legends when I was little. They said that dragons were the size of buildings and had enslaved humanity long ago. I didn't believe her. I should have. I didn't make it ten steps in before a leather armor wielding Dumner drew her sword and walked towards me. I quickly remembered that nobility and royalty were areas I was terrible at worst, middling at best. She asked me what I was doing there.

"Umm...uh, well, Gerdur in Riverwood asked me to come here. They're requesting aid for their village...you know, because there's, I don't know if you've been following the rumors but, I saw a giant dragon attack Helgen and..."

"You were at Helgen!?" the Dumner said. She sheathed her sword and I actually breathed again. "Come with me. The Jarl will want to hear this personally."

The Jarl was a big man, like all Nords were, but he was much different than any ruler I'd seen. He slumped down in his chair, almost annoyed at the proceedings. This was a little...concerning. Gerdur had mentioned how he didn't favor either side in the war. Or perhaps he was just bored. I wasn't sure, but it didn't feel good. Next to him was a straight faced balding Imperial. He asked me if I was at Helgen. I wasn't sure how to answer at that point. I knew what had happened, but I couldn't get my mind to make my mouth say the words I wanted.

"Yes. I saw it, it looked right at me. It was big...and black...and it destroyed...everything. Just...every...where. Fire, blood, arms, legs, eye..balls...just carnage. I saw it fly this way, but..."

It was amazing how I kept finding more ways to embarrass myself in front of important people: Soren, Count Sywn, Aries, Salah, Octavian, General Tullius, and finally Jarl Balgruuf. To my shock though, it seems I only confirmed what they already knew. The Imperial, Proventus, turned towards the Jarl to speak. I noticed he was eying me up and down, unimpressed with me. I didn't blame him; I did look silly trying to talk. The man looked like a bald squirrel to be honest. Strangely though, when the Jarl asked me to accompany him to his court wizard, he mentioned something about rumors of dragons.

Rumors, I scoffed. I met with the elf. He wanted me to go into Bleak Falls Barrow to recover something known as a Dragonstone. It was apparently, a map that told where ancient dragons were buried. I asked him about the Dragon War. I didn't know was that the Nord ruins were more than likely temples dedicated to the Dragons. If the they were indeed revered as gods, whatever inside was dangerous indeed.

The odd thing was how quickly everything had changed. It happened so fast I didn't even realize it. Just two days before, I was a prisoner. As I walked out the wizard's study, I had important jobs for the Jarl of Skyrim! Then I realized...

"Oh, I almost forgot!" I walked back to Proventus, the steward, "I'm come to claim the bounty on White River Watch. Here's the bounty letter, umm...a finger...two letters, an ear, a journal, a bloody iron sword, some wolf hair...their leader's body is on the road right around the bend umm..."

"Oh yes...um...that'll do." Proventus said, recoiling a bit, but regaining his composure, "You have done this city a great service. Here's your reward. And take this, the Jarl wanted to personally reward you for the information on the dragon."

He produced a giant greatsword that was taller than I was.

"Umm..thank you." I replied.

What am I going to do with this thing!?

I sold the greatsword as quickly as I could. Of course, I had to carry the damn thing down to the Imperial who ran Warmaiden's, the blacksmith shop. Turned out she was the daughter of the steward...a smug woman at that.

It was getting late and I was extremely tired from walking, slaying bandits, inadvertently getting Legion soldiers killed, walking, and carrying greatswords. I walked up to the counter and rented a room for the night. Along the way to my room, I saw a Redguard woman with graying, brown hair. The other was a bard who sung some song called "Ragnar the Red", which would have been nice to sit down and hear if I hadn't already heard Sven sing the damn song back in Riverwood! To make matters worse, my room was right above the main floor. I had it for the day, so I plugged my ears and fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up and a had a breakfast of two apples, some fish and a light ale. I didn't say much to Hulda, the owner of the inn apart from a few words of cordiality. I paid for the meal, then walked out the Bannered Mare and into the market. The first thing I needed to do was not repeat the same mistake I made in White River Watch against a heavily armored foe. This Bleak Falls Barrow was obviously a step up from a bandit lair. I needed assistance, but I didn't have much money to hire a sword; most of it went to potions, spells and a new pair of shoes. Hulda told me the going rate was five hundred Septims. It wasn't enough to have a hired sword to help me, but I had to have one who knew Whiterun Hold very well. Then I remembered the wood elf in Riverwood. He knew the land very well and I talked to him about that silly love triangle he had with Camilla. And since Camilla already showed me how to get to Bleak Falls anyway...

I was looking at one of the stalls when I suddenly looked to my right...and saw another woman near me.

Her hair was a red and brown; the same length as mine and much more perfect. There was a slight smile on those pinkish lips. Her eyes, brown and gold, were focused on everything. She was only about an arms length from me. I didn't move from her, but my eyes watched.

She was peerless. Her dress was blue, but it was stitched together. She'd altered the style so that some leg would show, along with the leather boots. The dress neck was down for the same reason she'd altered the dress. The woman was the only one who dressed for showmanship.

The Nord owned the merchant square and was invisible at the same time. However, she was not so invisible, however, when I quickly looked away to avoid her gaze. I was a little too late. We were both looking at jewelry some old woman was selling. The Nord let out a tiny laugh.

"You know what's odd? I've noticed that no one ever negotiates for anything here. They just pay whatever price the merchant offers. No wonder this city is flush with gold. It's a seller's market."

My eyebrows arched. I quickly turned in surprise, not expecting such words to leave the lips of a Nord. She had a full foot on me, but for the first time in Skyrim, I didn't feel as small. She still made me slightly nervous...initially.

"I can tell you're new here. I know everyone in this city."

Her voice didn't seem condescending. Something calmed me and I relaxed my stance a little.

"If I placed a golden sapphire necklace here and a grand soul gem here and charged the same amount for them, which would you buy?" she asked me.

"The soul gem." I answered. I knew about soul gems, of course; but that wasn't the point. The point was, I answered without fumbling my words. She was actually asking me intelligent questions!

"But what if that necklace had an enchantment that resisted against flame...what would you pay more to have?"

"The necklace." I answered. It was like she was reading my mind. I wasn't sure if she was a expert at anything, but I knew one thing. She knew about specific magical enchantments. And of course, I would pick the necklace. As much as I liked fire magic and how common it was, protection against flame was obviously the smarter choice.

"See, you're smart. You realize that the soul gem has one thing over the necklace...it has the potential for use in more practical matters. It's guaranteed and so is the enchanted necklace has more use than that. It's guaranteed and it's constant. Now, if a man bought me a necklace, I'm not assuming anything unless there's some kind of emotional connection."

"What if a woman bought you that thing?" I asked. I didn't even know why I asked that. It just came out like I'd thought of it long before I even heard the statement. But, it only hit me a moment after how bizarre such a response would be to any other woman! The fear came back.

"That would be rare. But, again...emotional connection and all. I am a woman of...experimental taste."

I laughed. I couldn't believe it myself. "Ah...I see. I guess it's about what value you place on it." I said.

"Everything is about value." she replied.

I finally turned and faced her. She turned and extended her hand.

"Ysolda." she said. I shook her hand. Her touch...I started shaking a little inside. However, it was more of a rush of blood than fear. I quickly calmed myself down. I simply exhaled.

"Annabelle. Pleasure." I said, smile on my face. It almost surprised me. It was a different kind of smile though. Fear melted away. I felt...normal again. I wondered though, why wasn't she doing the selling? In Dragonstar, the best merchants usually dressed the best. Why wasn't she on the other side of the stalls? We walked down to another stall where a Bosmer was selling a variety of game he'd hunted. The Nord purchased some raw beef and began to talk.

"This is what I do, study the merchants of this city. I want to learn their secrets. When I get some more coin, I'm going to buy that tavern over there. My goal is to be the best merchant in Whiterun. I told my parents I would before they died."

The Bosmer put the beef into a basket Ysolda carried.

Ambition. "So that's why you're not on the other side."

Her response was sharp. "Don't mistake that for lazyness. I do a lot of trading with the Khajit caravans. Not many people in this city want to deal with them."

"Why?" Ysolda scoffed.

"Because no one trusts them. Everyone looks at one of them and sees a thief or a pickpocket. They have a lot of talents no one knows about." she said, her voice angry.

Then she turned towards me again and her mood changed back to normal, "My dad taught me that you had to be good at three things to succeed in life. For me, it's observation, negotiation, and calculation...at least, that's what someone told me once. What about you? What three things are you good at?"

That caught me off guard. "Um...I'm good at lighting people on fire."

Ysolda burst into laughter. She stopped when the Bosmer began looking at her strange. She walked and I followed her to the well. She turned, set the basket down on the ground, set her hands on the well, leaned back on it and crossed her left leg in front of her right.

"And the other two?"

The other two. I knew what they were, but as I responded, "I really can't discuss it openly."

She straightened herself, picked up the basket and walked towards me. The smile she had was more pronounced. Her voice softened a little. I noticed she'd leaned in much closer than she was last time. She smelled like berries.

"Ah, you want to make me earn it then. Smart woman. Me and the woman over there," she said pointing at a longer, black-haired Nord woman who operated a fruit and vegetables stand across from us, "we're going to the Bannered Mare tonight. Come with. Drinks. Music. I'll not have it said that I didn't show a new traveler a good time."

I didn't hesitate.

"Done." My answer was flat, but sufficient.

"Just one warning though...watch out for that bard Mikael. He's...quite the windbag about his imaginary conquests of us women."

I thought I smiled when I said that, but I wasn't sure. I know she did though...or maybe it was because I smiled when saw she did. With her though, it was a genuine smile. It stayed when she left, only vanishing when she finally turned her head in the direction she walked. There was no concern about what she said before about that bard. I drew a deep breath and let it out; I almost lost my footing. My mouth was open and I did not question my behavior. I weighted like the wind. I wasn't nervous, I wasn't stuttering the entire time I talked to her. Free, loose...happy. That was something foreign to me until that moment, even when it was familiar.

For the first time in a year and a half, I actually felt truly happy. In a moment after that thought, I was almost knocked to the ground. My alchemy component bag fell to the ground, or was it knocked off? I couldn't tell. Arms around my shoulders and I felt myself face to face with a young Redguard man. He had my bag in his hand. He quickly spoke before I could protest...given my annoyed reaction. He wore a mage robe of gray as well as a hood.

"Excuse me...my apologies." he said, handing me the bag. "Oh you dropped this by the way."

He walked up the stairs towards the center square and didn't look back. I usually didnt get upset about being bumped into, and I did not as the man walked away. Then I quickly realized the entire thing when I felt a piece of paper underneath my component bag. I quickly opened it. A single purple flower fell out the folded note. I was shocked as I held the flower in my right hand, and read the letter holding the other.

Your mother told me to enclose this as a sign of faith. Meet me after midnight behind the Temple of Arkay.

If I had doubt before, it was gone. Whoever this man was knew had knowledge of a fact my father never did. Mother was still recovering from her terrible wounds in Bruma. She went through all this trouble for a reason. This was something I needed to know as well...and quickly.

Next: Chapter 4: Put a Spell on Me