It was well after dusk when Rabdom had finally met Dolniir at the inn. Dolniir was actually quite grateful that the elf knew where to go; he had only seen him once since they had parted ways, and that was at the market where he had been buying supplies. The elf barely managed a quick hello to the Nord before scuttling off with an armful of arrows. Dolniir hadn't been sure if the elf heard him shout where to meet him or not, he'd been off in such a rush.
His appearance, nonetheless, had been sudden. Dolniir had been sitting in the upstairs of the inn, reading contently and drinking mead, when the table in front of him shook with a startling force. Dolniir jumped, and was about ready to stab at the fool who had done that, when he realized that it was Rabdom. The foolish elf had happily thrown his bow on the table in front of Dolniir, a plate of food and a cup of some sort of liquid following it.
"Hi, Dolniir!" Rabdom greeted happily, plopping down in a chair next to the Nord and pulling his legs in with him. Dolniir gave a ragged sigh.
"You really need to learn some manners, you stupid elf," Dolniir muttered as he went back to his reading. He seemed to have missed Rabdom pouting intensely.
"Would you rather me sneak up on you and scare you?" Rabdom asked. Dolniir raised an eyebrow at that.
"Not that you could," Dolniir sighed, "but, yes, I would rather you not do that." Rabdom smiled widely and reached for his food. For such a small looking man, Rabdom nearly gulfed down the meal as if it had been his first all day. "So I take it your little rendezvous with this mysterious friend of yours was entertaining?" asked Dolniir after a long bout of silence. He didn't even try to look up from the book he was reading.
Rabdom, not seeming to even care that he wasn't paying much attention, nodded enthusiastically. "We gotta look around the city some," Rabdom replied with his mouth half full. "I even told him about the adventure I was going on with you! He really seemed to want to meet you, but I said you probably wouldn't want to wait around and do that; you seem really into wanting to get to the college quickly!" Dolniir couldn't deny that.
"Perhaps another time," Dolniir mumbled. "Seems like a charming lad, though, if he can deal with hanging around with you all day." Was it sad that Dolniir didn't seem to have to worry about offending this elf? Dolniir almost did.
Rabdom happily nodded, and took another bite of his cooked venison. "We had lots of fun! Though he seemed sad that I had to leave in the morning. I told him we could probably come back through here when we were coming back down from Winterhold!"
At this, Dolniir finally had to look up. Did the poor fool already forget, or was he simply in denial? He seemed a little clingy, in Dolniir's opinion. Clingy and stupid. But, at least he had some common sense. He hadn't gotten himself gutted yet, which was a plus.
Dolniir went back to reading, only half listening as Rabdom went on and on about his time with this mysterious friend of his. Neither had seemed to notice – or care – that a few of the other patrons were watching them – or, rather, watching Rabdom – with minor annoyance and agitation. There wasn't much to worry about; most would be passed out drunk by nightfall.
Rabdom was the first to awake. He was really used to this; he often times slept outside during his travels, mostly because he didn't like feeling trapped at an inn [or, in some cases, he wasn't even moderately close to one]. As such, he became accustomed to waking with the sun, or even before that on the rare occasions. Stretching much like a cat, Rabdom carefully rolled out of bed – pausing when his feet landed to make sure Dolniir was still asleep.
Initially, Dolniir had assumed that the two would sleep in separate rooms. Rabdom, as Dolniir had quickly learned, didn't like sleeping in strange places alone if he had the choice. So after much whining and pleading, the Nord paid for one room – on the condition that one of them would sleep on the floor. Rabdom happily obliged, and even offered to sleep on the floor himself. That didn't last long, though. As soon as Rabdom was sure Dolniir was asleep – he could tell by the man's heavy snoring – Rabdom sneakily crawled into bed [which had been big enough for two], lying with his head at the foot as to not make Dolniir any madder if he awoke. He hadn't, of course.
After a long pause, Rabdom was assured that the man was asleep and quickly went about gathering his things. He had left his bow, quiver, and satchel next to the makeshift bed he had originally occupied, and quickly went about sorting them to make sure everything was there. After changing the night clothes he had put on before for his leather armor, boots and bracers, he added his weaponry and items. Minus his dagger, of course; he had kept that on him all night just in case. Once he was assured that everything was on him – he had a bad tendency to accidently leave things behind if he wasn't careful – he stood and stretched. A high pitched yawn escaped his lips.
"Awake already?" Rabdom jumped and turned. Dolniir had already woken up, and, rubbing his eyes, was slowly sitting up and attempting to get out of bed. "I thought you'd be sleeping in," the Nord went on as his feet touched the floor, "what with how much we've been doing the past couple of days." Rabdom smiled and shrugged sheepishly.
"I can't help it!" he said. "I'm used to it! Besides, it's easier to hunt if you get up the same time as your quarry does. Sometimes, it's even easier to get up before, so you surprise them." Dolniir grunted and stood, still rubbing his eyes as he stumbled over to the desk where his items lay.
"You could have at least given me a few more hours," he mumbled. Almost haphazardly, the Nord began trying to get his stuff together. There wasn't much of a point of going back to sleep now, was there?
With some sort of happiness only he could have, Rabdom set to work as well. After another inventory check, the elf happily made up his 'bed' and set it up where the owners could find it. Dolniir had just made sure that had his own things together when Rabdom had finished making the actual bed. Giving it a test bounce – who didn't like bouncing on a bed? – the elf jumped off the bed merrily and headed towards the door.
"By the way, Rab," Dolniir spoke up as he put his satchel back around his waist, "if you're going to climb into bed like that again, try not to make so much noise."
It took a moment for Rabdom to realize what Dolniir was talking about. The damned elf was still blushing when they had exited the room.
"It's cold," Rabdom whined. Dolniir grimaced.
Snow crunched endlessly beneath their feet. The White River ran to their right, bubbling and gurgling without a care in the world. The wind howled, and though there was no snow falling, it was freezing, just as Rabdom had pointed out. Dolniir tried not to complain; he had grown up in the north, and his people were much accustomed to the weather. Rabdom, on the other hand, seemed just the opposite. The elf had given no indication as to where he had come from or grown up at, though given the fact that he had his arms wrapped around his frame and was shivering and shaking so much that he was rattling, he must not have been up north. He didn't seem accustomed to the snow, either; he kept his pace behind Dolniir simple and slow, and seemed to be walking in the larger man's footsteps to make it easier for him.
"Welcome to Skyrim," Dolniir snorted, bowing his head as another gust of wind blew at them. He heard a squeak, and, glancing back, saw Rabdom stumble backwards. He regained his balance swiftly, and was quick to try and catch up with the Nord again.
"Are we gonna find shelter soon?" Rabdom asked. "I don't like being in the cold very much."
"I can tell," Dolniir muttered under his breath. "We'll be past the mountains soon. Hopefully, we'll reach the sea before nightfall." Rabdom gave another whine, though didn't attempt to complain anymore.
Due to the mountains that rose up in the southern parts of Winterhold Hold and the constant cold, wind, and snow, Dolniir found it better and more efficient if they traveled along the White River to the ocean, and then walk along the coast to Winterhold. It seemed like a daunting task, but considering that his goal was to stay as far away from trouble as possible, this seemed like the more likely route. Though even that seemed unlikely, considering the elf that he traveled with was just as insane. The poor fool seemed to attract trouble and oddities wherever he went.
"Do you think we can get some sweet rolls when we get there?" Rabdom asked. "I like sweet rolls, but I haven't been able to buy any yet!"
"You've been talking about sweet rolls as if they're Skooma," snorted Dolniir. An unseen patch of ice under the snow almost made him slip.
"Skooma tastes funny!" Rabdom nearly complained. "I don't see why anyone would like it. Besides, sweet rolls are much better for you; they don't make you all drunk and weird!"
Right, so it wasn't drugs that made the Dunmer look sickly and frail. There was another thing to cross off Dolniir's list.
"We'll get some sweet rolls at the next inn," Dolniir promised after a hesitant moment.
Rabdom gave a happy squeal – only for it to turn into a squeak and a sudden – though light – thud. Dolniir stopped and turned – and then tried not to laugh. The poor elf must have slipped and fallen, for he lay nearly face first in the snow. At least he had something to break his fall.
"By the Nine, Rab," Dolniir said with a chuckle as he went to help him up, "you've got to watch your step out here! You could, well, fall." A snort escaped Dolniir before he could even attempt to stop it.
"I'm sorry," Rabdom squeaked, brushing the snow off of himself as he stood. "I really don't like snow. Or ice! I wish it would get warmer."
"You're not from Skyrim, are you?" Dolniir asked. After a quick look over and assurance that Rabdom hadn't miraculously injured himself, the Nord turned and continued walking. "Up here in the north," he continued, "I don't believe it's ever stopped snowing."
"It's kind of like that in Solstheim," Rabdom said. His pace sounded slower than it had been. Dolniir really couldn't blame him. "I've only been there once," Rabdom went on, "but even then, only a part of it's cold! I find that kind of funny." He stumbled once, however quickly managed to catch himself. "Everything gets warmer when you're close to Red Mountain, though! I think that's why it gets so warm." Dolniir hummed.
"I'm assuming you're from somewhere around there, then?" asked Dolniir. Rabdom nodded happily.
"Ald'ruhn!" Rabdom said with a chirp of enthusiasm. "I think that's kind of close to the mountain. I remember when I was younger; we used to get really bad earthquakes because of the mountain. My mom, she used to get really worried, because she thought that the mountain would fall right on top of us. But my dad, he always told us that everything was gonna be okay!" Dolniir hummed.
"And your parents are alright with you just walking right in to Skyrim?" the Nord asked.
"Well," Rabdom said, now a little bit more slowly, "considering they're both dead, I don't really think they can have much of a say on it. I'm sometimes good at talking to dead people, but I'm not that good." Oops. Dolniir tried not to flinch.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Dolniir finally managed. "Losing a parent can be a very traumatic experience."
"Oh, it's alright!" Rabdom assured happily. "I know they're in a better place. My ma, she was really sick since I could remember. I'm sad that she's gone, but now she's not sick anymore, and that makes me happy again!" There was a pause, and then Rabdom asked, "Do you have any family? You sure don't seem like it. You seem like you prefer traveling, like me!"
There was another pause, and Rabdom was sure that, for a moment, he might have offended Dolniir in some way. He didn't like offending people, honest! Rabdom went to speak up, to try and make it all better again, when Dolniir finally decided to speak.
"My parents are dead as well, if that's what you're asking," Dolniir spoke. He almost sounded a bit hurt.
"Well what about marriage?" Rabdom said swiftly. Hopefully, he wouldn't be upsetting Dolniir even more. Ahead of him, and before Rabdom could continue, Dolniir gave a short laugh.
"If you're going to ask me something like that," he said, "you might as well buy me dinner first."
Rabdom paused in his tracks and thought. It took a long moment, however Rabdom was quickly lost in a fit of giggles and laughter – and a bit of pouting – as he attempted to catch back up with Dolniir.