V: Priorities

"That wasn't the same dragon," I said wearily. "The one at Helgen must have been twice that size or more."

Lokir nodded. "I barely remember it, but it was enormous. That one... well, it was big, but not that big."

We were seated at one of the dining tables in Dragonsreach. The soldier who had been swallowed was seated beside us, still a little burned from stomach acid but otherwise outwardly recovered from his ordeal. The jarl had ordered his servants to bring out leftover venison stew and warm it for us, so we were having a late supper as we made our report. I had done most of the talking, as Lokir and the soldier were still hollow-eyed from shock. Lokir kept complaining about an odd tingling in his legs, but he was able to walk again now, albeit very unsteadily.

Jarl Balgruuf shook his head sadly. "I suppose it was too much to hope it was only one dragon causing trouble."

"At least we know weapons will work against them," one of the other soldiers said optimistically.

"Yes. We have a hope of defending the city, after all." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Now that that's settled, there is still the matter of the Dragonborn."

I had been eyeing a cheese wheel on the table beside me, but this drew my attention back to the jarl. "I honestly don't know what the deal is with that. I've never heard of the Dragonborn before, or the Greybeards."

"No matter. The Greybeards will explain everything to you, much better than anyone else could. But there could be no doubt they were calling to you. They haven't spoken in centuries, and now they do just moments after you seemingly used the Voice. That's no coincidence."

I frowned unhappily as I thought back to that mountain. That enormous mountain that seemed to graze the heavens. "So I have to climb that mountain now and speak with them?"

"They don't live at the top of the mountain, so I hear. Just near the top. A lot of people make the pilgrimage. I've heard them say it's 7,000 steps to their home."

"Great," I muttered.

"But you don't have to worry about that tonight. Go to the barracks with the soldiers and rest."

"Is there a bathhouse in the city?" I asked as I slowly climbed to my feet and stretched. Rest sounded good right now.

He frowned at me, then laughed. "I forgot how fastidious cats are. Yes, there's one in the barracks. You shouldn't have much competition."

"More's the pity," I grumbled. Nords, I had noticed, were not as keen on bathing as my people.

The soldier who had been swallowed was helped to his feet by several friends, and the jarl waved them out of the room, motioning for Lokir and me to stay. "One last thing. I have decided to make both of you thanes of Whiterun."

"Umm... what's a thane?" I asked, ruining the moment.

"It's a title granted to people of special importance in the hold," Balgruff explained. "You will be respected by the people, and the guards will know to look the other way if you tell them to. They'll still report any crimes you commit, mind you, the guards just won't drag you off to jail for it. And the guards will also know not to challenge you when you try to enter the city."

"Oh. Thank you," I said.

"Also, to thank you for killing the dragon, I will see to it, just this once, that any bounties you have racked up in other holds are paid off," he said, glancing at Lokir, "and I'll have messages sent to the other holds letting them know that you are a thane and should not be challenged if you try to enter the city."

"You are very generous," Lokir said, confirming my suspicions that he had a bounty on his head somewhere.

"Finally, the title of thane also comes with the service of a housecarl, and the right to buy houses inside the city."

"How much does a house in the city go for?" I asked curiously.

"I hear there's a nice little place called Breezehome down near the gates for 5,000 septims."

I frowned. That was a lot, but less than I had expected. "I'll keep it in mind."

"Lydia!" Jarl Balgruuf called, and an armored Nord woman marched up to him. "This is Lydia, your new housecarl. Lydia, show them to the barracks."

"Yes, Jarl," Lydia said, giving us a somewhat disapproving look. "Follow me."

She led us back out the palace doors and down the stairs. As we approached the tree, I looked up at its leafless branches, sensing that there was something special about it.

"Spare a coin, kind lady?" I heard a small voice ask.

A little girl, no more than 10, was seated on one of the benches under the tree. She was looking up at me hopefully.

I pulled a few coins out of my coin purse and handed them to her.

"Oh, thank you! Divines bless your kind heart!" she said enthusiastically.

"Why are you out begging?" Lokir asked. "Don't your parents give you an allowance?"

Her face fell. "They're... dead," she said quietly. "My aunt and uncle took over the farm, but they told me I was useless and threw me out. I had nowhere to go, so I started walking, and I found myself here."

"By the Eight, I'm sorry," Lokir said. He took a few of his own coins and handed them to the girl.

"Thank you, kind sir!" She rose from the bench and gave us a quick hug before skipping down the stairs. I watched her disappear into the local inn, the Bannered Mare.

"That's Lucia," Lydia said sadly. "Sounds like she's from Cyrodiil. I hear the innkeeper feeds her in exchange for doing chores around the inn."

"Why doesn't someone take her in?" I asked incredulously.

Lydia frowned and shook her head. "I don't know. I live in the barracks, so I have no way to help her. There are families here with children who have room for her, but..." She shrugged. "There's an orphanage in Riften where the Jarl could send her, but we've heard rumors that the woman in charge of it is cruel to the children and some have even run away to get away from her."

I frowned thoughtfully. "What about that empty house? If I bought it, could I adopt her?"

"Certainly," Lydia said.

I absently shook my coin purse. "I have several hundred gold now, but I wanted to buy a horse..."

"We could split it," Lokir suggested. "Share the house. It would be handy to have a safe place to store things."

"All right!" I said happily. "We'll need to find a way to make a lot of gold fast..." I trailed off as something occurred to me. "Hey, am I supposed to pay you?" I asked Lydia.

"Not right now," she sighed. "At some point in the future, yes. For now, I'm supposed to guard you and manage your... estate." She said the last derisively.

"Oh. How about you come along on bandit raids and we'll let you pick through the loot?"

She looked surprised, letting me know this was a more lucrative opportunity than she had expected. "Very well, but I can wait until you buy the house."

"Okay. So, any ideas on where we can find some bandits?"

"The Jarl usually has a bounty out on a local bandit leader or a marauding giant," Lydia suggested. "He usually leaves the information with the innkeeper. And I heard the Companions are open for new members."

"Who are the Companions?" I asked.

"Mercenaries, basically," Lydia said dismissively, "but they'll pay you for your help."

"All right," Lokir said wearily, "let's check with the innkeeper and the Companions first thing tomorrow morning. Right now I really want a hot bath and a soft bed."

"I didn't think Nords were that into bathing," I teased.

"Well, none of them have ever been coated with dragon drool."

Once again, Lokir was fully recovered once he got a full night's rest. We rose shortly before dawn and went to the practice yard for another swordfighting lesson. We practiced until the sun was up, then sat down for a break.

"You're getting better," Lokir observed. "A few more lessons and you'll know everything I can teach you." He laughed. "I'm a bit worried about you reaching that point. Then you won't really have a reason to save me anymore."

"I didn't really mean what I said after we fought the dragon," I said quickly. "I was just, you know, I was afraid if I expressed some sort of feelings for you, you might misinterpret them in your injured state and think I have a crush on you, and I didn't want everything to get awkward between us, and…"

"Hey, that's okay," he interrupted. "I know what you mean. If you'd fallen on me weeping and wailing about not wanting to be alone, I'd be wary."

I nodded, relieved. "I hate that we have to have this conversation. It wouldn't be necessary if I had been born male. But I just wanted to be absolutely certain we're buying that house solely as a base and home for orphans."

Lokir laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not after you. I don't see anything wrong with having a female bandit-hunting partner I'm not trying to sleep with."

"Glad we have that settled," I said happily, then asked slowly, "Have you ever heard of a half-Khajiit, half-Nord?"

"No. I really don't know if that's even possible."

"Me neither. Nerevarine Ma'hini spoke of a man who claimed to be half-troll, but… I don't know. There are a lot of things my parents never discussed with me. Maybe they didn't want me running off with a man or mer and abandoning the caravan."

Lydia cleared her throat beside us, making us jump. "I just came back from the inn. The jarl has a bounty out on the leader of a group of bandits in a place called Halted Stream Camp." She handed the letter to me.

I read it over, then handed it to Lokir. "Do you know where that is?" I asked her.

She nodded. "It's a short walk north of Whiterun. You can have it cleared out and be back here by noon."

"So we'll do that first, and then we can check in on the Companions."

"You're not going to see the Greybeards just yet?" Lydia asked.

"No, they can wait. I have important things to do first. That little girl needs a home." I looked over my shoulder, at the massive mountain visible over the city wall. "And I don't think I want to tackle that mountain on foot. I'd rather have a horse first."

"I think we should focus on the horses first," Lokir suggested. "Skyrim's horses are almost as sure-footed as mountain goats. They'd be very useful for getting over the mountains. And if we're going to be raiding bandit camps and running errands for the Companions, it might be a good idea to have horses to ride to our destinations. It would save us a lot of time."

"I suppose so," I said reluctantly. "We ought to be able to afford the horses once we finish with Halted Stream Camp."

Lokir rose to his feet. "Let's get to it, then."

After eating breakfast with the soldiers, Lokir, Lydia and I headed out the city gates and followed the road as it went east around Whiterun's hill and continued north. The terrain around the base of the large hill was rougher than it had been on our walk to Whiterun, so it was harder to see if anything was lying in wait for us. But we saw no predators as we crossed a small stone bridge and passed a couple small farms.

As I was listening for bears or saber cats, a strange high-pitched screaming began to the north. It was too far away for me to make out any words. "Do you hear that?" I asked.

"Yeah, I can hear it this time," Lokir said warily. "Should we investigate?"

"It doesn't sound like a battle," Lydia pointed out.

"It sounds like it's on our path, so we have little choice," I said. "Let's just be careful."

We drew our weapons and continued along the path.

The path up ahead curved around a rocky outcropping. Once we passed that, the land became somewhat flatter, The path up ahead abruptly sloped downwards, and far ahead we could see a single-horse cart with a broken wheel beside the path. A man dressed as a jester was standing beside it, screaming in that high-pitched voice.

I looked back at the other two. "Should we see what's up?"

"Looks like he's the only one," Lydia observed. "And I can see a couple of guards patrolling in the distance. We should be safe."

Lokir led the way down the path to the stranded cart. "Is something wrong?" he called.

"Cicero is stuck and no one will help poor Cicero!" the jester screeched. His voice set my teeth on edge. "Cicero is trying to transport his poor dead mother, but that wheel! That accursed wheel! The Daedra take that rotten wheel!"

I looked at the wooden box on the back of the cart. It looked about big enough for a dead horse, but why would anyone be carting a dead horse around? Wasn't he worried about the meat spoiling?

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Lokir interrupted, as it sounded like the jester could go on cursing that wheel for a long time.

"The farmers," he whined, making me flinch. "Cicero asked the farmers for help, but they will not help poor Cicero! Cicero offered them shiny, clinky gold to help him, but they told him to go away!"

"We'll talk to the farmers," I said quickly, willing to do anything to make him stop screaming. "We'll get them to help you, okay?"

"Oh, you will?" he squealed.

"Yes, right away," I assured him, fighting the urge to put my hands over my ears. I turned and bolted for the nearby farmhouse.

"So… his name is Cicero, not the horse's?" I asked as Lokir caught up to me.

Lokir shrugged. "I think so."

A Nord was tending a row of potato plants in a fence beside the farmhouse up ahead. He stopped what he was doing and watched us approach warily. "I take it the jester sent you," he called.

"Yeah, he can't go anywhere until he gets that wheel fixed," Lokir said. "Is there some reason you won't help him?"

The farmer sighed and shook his head. "I don't like him. There's something about him… It's not that voice or how he calls himself by name, or him carting his mother's corpse around. There's something else about him… He's dangerous."

"He can't go anywhere," I pointed out. "If you leave him there, he'll still be here tonight. Do you want him lurking around your property after dark?"

The farmer winced, then sighed. "All right. Tell him I'm collecting my tools and I'll be down to help him shortly."

We returned to Cicero to give him the good news, bracing for the assault on our ears.

"Oh, thank you1" he squealed at even higher pitch when we gave him the news. "Divines bless you1 Now Cicero can take his mother to her new resting place!" He started dancing briefly, then stopped and pulled out his coin purse. "Here, as promised, shiny, clinky coins!" He gave us each 100 cons, then resumed dancing.

"Thanks," I said as we happily turned to go. "Just… try not to scare the farmer away, okay?"

We headed out of earshot at a fast walk and paused to consult our map, seeing that we should have taken the west route around Whiterun, not east. We were far out of the way. As we started walking again, we saw the farmer heading down to Cicero's cart with a sack presumably carrying his tools.

"I wonder why he's dressed as a jester," Lydia said. "He seemed crazy, but I agree with the farmer, there's more than that going on with him…"

"I doubt we'll ever know," Lokir said.

We had to leave the road now, and our path led us across several small hills and valleys. As we reached the top of the last one, we saw a fence made of sharpened logs planted in the ground, surrounding a small camp.

"That must be it," Lydia said, consulting the map.

"I'm hunting people for money," I muttered as I drew my bow.

"You saw the jarl's bounty letter," Lokir said. "These aren't innocent people. They've been actively attacking and killing innocent people."

I sighed. "I know, but it still seems wrong." I shrugged, thinking back to Lucia. I was doing this to help her, not because I liked killing, right?

We fell silent as we approached the palisade. We could hear people talking faintly from inside, but there were no sentries outside.

Up ahead, I saw a woman appear above the palisade; obviously they had a raised platform for sentries inside. She had her back to us, so before she could turn around, I aimed for the back of her neck and fired. She staggered, and I fired another arrow. She went down and stayed down.

"What was that?" a man called from inside the palisade. Then we heard several people drawing their weapons and running for the entrance to the palisade.

Lydia put away her bow, drew her sword and ran to meet them.

As I exchanged my own weapons, I gave Lokir a wry look and said, "Apparently it's not just me."

"That's still not a strategy I'd recommend," he snapped.

The bandits gave us little trouble, so we were soon picking through their belongings. Lydia gave me a sidelong look and observed, "For someone who didn't want to hunt people for money, you sure seemed to enjoy yourself."

I gave her a troubled look. "I don't know what's up with that. I don't want to hurt or kill anybody normally, but once the battle starts, in the heat of the moment, it's fun. Is that normal?"

"I've heard of plenty of people who enjoyed battles, but I don't know of any of them who were reluctant beforehand. You'll get over it soon enough."

"I don't think any of these bandits was the leader," Lokir called from where he was searching the last corpse across the fenced camp.

Lydia pointed to a wooden door set into the side of a rocky hill inside the palisade. "The others must be inside that old mine."

"Looks like we've gotten everything of value out here," Lokir said, drawing his sword and heading for the door to the mine.

Inside, the mine was a rough-hewn stone tunnel as I'd expected, lit by sconces fastened to the walls. Some fifty feet in front of us, a bandit was standing with his back to us, tending a fire. I drew my bow, once again reminding myself that these bandits were actively harming innocent people, and shot him in the back. Like the sentry earlier, he staggered, and went down with my second arrow.

He didn't raise an alarm, so after listening for a moment to make sure nobody was

coming to check on him, we crept forward slowly.

Lydia stopped at an old mining cart on our left. "Whoa, look at these," she said, picking up a huge curved white spike. "They must be poaching mammoths."

She tossed me the heavy mammoth tusk and pulled two more out of the cart, tossing another to Lokir. "These are worth a bit," I observed, putting it in my pack.

A tunnel led off to the right. Up ahead, we saw a dead mammoth lying on the floor of a large room. There were three other Nord bandits, and a huge Orc armed with a battleaxe.

We drew our bows. I did my best to gesture at the Orc, letting them know I was going to go for him, and they silently indicated they chose two of the other bandits. I took aim and waited until Lokir and Lydia had done the same, then we fired at the same time.

Lokir missed, but Lydia and I hit our targets. The Orc staggered and spun around, drawing his battleaxe, while Lydia's bandit went down on one knee. The Orc and the other two bandits came running for us. Lydia and Lokir put away their bows and drew their weapons, while I tried for one more shot.

I wasn't used to aiming at targets coming in my direction at high speed, so I misjudged it and fired when one of the bandits was only a few feet away from me. It hit him in the stomach, but he kept coming. I dropped my bow and tried ducking his blow as I tried to draw my sword. His sword hit me in the side, but it wasn't full-force as I rolled away. I rolled to my feet with my sword out and shield up.

My wound was forgotten as the excitement overtook me again. I tuned everything out as I clashed with my opponent. He seemed to know how to fight better than the opponents I had faced in Bleak Falls Barrow. I was so focused on my opponent that I barely noticed anything else around me.

"Your left, Ra'wati!" Lokir shouted. I turned and raised my shield just in time to catch a blow from the Orc's battleaxe. The impact seemed to make all of my bones rattle and I almost fell over. He drew back and swung at me again, but he was slow and I just barely managed to stumble out of the way.

I tried a counterstrike, but he swung his axe up horizontally and blocked my blow with the pole, then swung the axe head into my side before I could recover. It didn't have enough force behind it to cut me, but I knew I'd be badly bruised later.

The Orc was much stronger than my previous opponents. While his lack of speed meant his attacks weren't too hard to dodge, those that connected were substantial. I misjudged a few strikes and received two solid blows to the ribs and another jarring strike to my shield-arm. I began to stumble and realized I needed to heal myself soon, but I could still hear Lydia and Lokir fighting off to my right, so I couldn't call on them for help.

I tried striking at the Orc's legs, then his side, but he deflected my blows with his axe pole. I took a risk and tried striking at him with a bold vertical blow. As I had hoped, he held the pole horizontally to block it again, and this time I swung my shield forward and bashed it into his fingers where they gripped the pole. He screamed and lost his grip on that side of the axe, and it gave me an opening to his head and torso. I took it and cut him down before he could recover.

With my opponent dead, I turned my attention back to the others. Lokir and Lydia both had the upper hand against their opponents and didn't need my help, so I wearily leaned back against the cavern wall and slid to the floor. Once there, I focused on healing my wounds while keeping an eye on my companions.

Lydia dispatched her opponent first, then helped Lokir with his. They finished their battles in much better shape than I did, but then, unlike me, they each had more than a few days of experience. They came over and each took one of my hands and helped me to my feet.

"It looks like that Orc was almost a match for you," Lydia observed. "I wasn't sure you were going to make it."

"Good trick with the shield," Lokir said, clapping me on the shoulder. "I'll have to remember that."

"Thanks, but I'm not sure that wasn't a dirty move," I admitted.

"Hey, you're alive and he won't be preying on anymore innocent travelers," Lokir said dismissively. "That's all that matters."

"If you say so," I muttered. Now that the heat and excitement of battle was over, I was starting to feel uneasy with my victory. But I put it out of my head and turned my attention to looting the corpses and cave.

We put all the loot in a pile in the middle of the cavern. Lokir went through it and said, "We definitely have enough now to get two horses, but we'll still have a ways to go before we can afford the house."

I frowned. "Come to think of it, there were only two horses at the stables but there are three of us…"

"Oh, I don't need a horse," Lydia said quickly. "I've spent my life walking and I'll be quite capable of keeping up with you two when you're on horseback."

"Are you sure? I thought horses were fast."

"Maybe the ones from Cyrodiil, but not the ones here in Skyrim," Lokir said. "They're bred for strength and surefootedness, not speed. They can barely outrun a jogging man."

"Okay, if you're sure," I sighed. I started returning the loot to my knapsack. "So let's go sell this stuff and buy those horses, and then we can see if the Companions have any work for us."

SOUNDTRACK: "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson, "They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha! Haa!" by Napoleon's Ghost, "Just A Job To Do" by Genesis,

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hate Cicero's voice.

I also hate that I had to bring up the issue of romance, but they needed to get it out of the way. This story is not a romance. While I like well-written romantic subplots, I wanted to write a story about a man and woman being adventure buddies but not being attracted to each other.