Volund led the way down the steps from the palace. When they had passed out of earshot of the guards, Lydia spoke.
"My Thane, may I serve you best by keeping my silence unless spoken to, or by offering my help when I can? I would not presume to ask, except that you seemed pleased when I spoke out in the palace."
Volund stopped walking and turned to face her. "Why would you not speak when you wished?"
"Many nobles who have housecarls wish them to simply be silent and serve, my Thane."
Volund grunted derisively. "Speak any time you wish, about whatever you wish. You don't need to be so formal, either. I don't always need to be 'my thane'-ed. Just call me Volund if you need anything."
Lydia's eyes widened and she spoke almost in a whisper. "My Thane, it would be most improper for me to address you by name." She paused. "At least, in public." Her cheeks grew slightly rosier, but a cold wind was blowing and Volund assumed it to be the cause.
"Well, then, do whatever is proper in front of the nobles and such, but feel free to be yourself around me." He started walking again, and she hurried to catch up to him.
"Let me just say, then, my thane, that I'm pleased to serve you. I wasn't quite sure what I might be getting into. Being a housecarl is always an honor, but not always a pleasure."
"I can imagine, if most aren't even allowed to talk," he said, stepping around the wilting Gildergreen tree. "How do they get volunteers for the job? What made you want to do it?"
She hesitated a moment.
"Some become housecarls under orders, my thane, and not as volunteers. But most recognize the honor that it is and the duty that they owe, and enter their service willingly. Each of Skyrim's holds owes much to their Jarl, and it is not too much to ask for one person to lay aside their desires in life in order to bolster their ruler's safety and happiness."
"And what about thanes? They don't rule the hold."
"Most thanes are not given housecarls, either, my thane. Only those who have truly and greatly served their hold are given the honor. You, for instance, likely saved the lives of everyone in Whiterun, my thane. You are owed much for that. And even if you hadn't, you are the Dragonborn." Her eyes sparkled and she smiled softly. "Skyrim owes you much more than the service of a girl from Whiterun. I suspect that when you come to the attention of the other Jarls, they will be tripping over themselves to provide you with rewards and desirable housecarls."
Volund only shook his head. The pair had made it to the marketplace outside the Bannered Mare, and he stopped to examine some food in one of the stalls.
"I don't want rewards I haven't earned," he grumbled as he looked over the wares. "And I am entirely satisfied with you as my housecarl." Lydia's blush was unmistakable this time, but Volund was too preoccupied to notice it.
"I'm honored, my thane," she stammered. "I… I could not ask for a better thane to serve."
He laughed. "You don't even know me, Lydia!"
"I know that you're kind and respectful to me, my thane. That alone means a great deal."
Volund set the food that he had selected onto the market stall, paid for it quickly, and began to place it into his pack.
"My thane, allow me to carry that for you…" Volund shook his head and shouldered the pack himself. Lydia drew back.
"Lydia, did you want to be a housecarl?" he asked suddenly.
She was silent for a moment, and when she spoke, it was slowly.
"I don't know, my thane. It was the highest position I could aspire to growing up, and of course I owe Irileth everything. When I was little, I certainly wanted to be exactly like her. Then as I got older, I realized that if I would be a housecarl like her, it would likely have been for the Jarl in the event of her death. She's not nearly old enough to die of old age, and I've never seen her lose a fight, so I never really expected to become a housecarl. I certainly never expected the Dragonborn to appear and save our city!"
"Why do you owe everything to Irileth?" Volund had noticed some relationship between the women, but nothing that would have made him suspect this. The pair began to walk again, slowly, toward the city gates.
"She raised me, my thane – she and some of the other guards. Irileth did the most, though. I was orphaned as a baby, and Irileth found me. She took me in, trained me to fight. When I showed promise as a fighter and it became clear that I would be at least…" she squirmed, "… somewhat attractive, Irileth began to train me as a housecarl – I think to be a replacement for her just in case anything ever happened. She started to become more distant then, though she had never exactly been warm and gushing."
Volund laughed. "No, I don't suppose she would be. I'm surprised to hear that Irileth cared whether you were attractive or not. She seems all business to me."
Lydia seemed taken aback. "Well, my thane, of course she didn't personally care, but obviously the more attractive a woman is the more desirable she is to the jarls and thanes as a housecarl."
"I suppose that makes some sense. It doesn't hurt to have the prettiest woman in Whiterun at my beck and call." Before Lydia could answer, Volund had spotted Adrianne, who was almost finished with yet another Imperial sword, and called out to her. "Adrianne! Have you got a moment? I need a bow, the strongest one you've got."
"Give me just a moment to finish here. I think I have something that will be worth the wait." After she quenched the finished blade, the busy smith wiped her hands on the cloth beneath her leather apron and disappeared into the shop. When she emerged again, she was carrying an ugly-looking bow made of orichalcum.
"I can't claim to have made this," she said. "An orc passed through town a year or two ago. He was desperate enough for coin to sell this to me. It's a fine weapon, obviously orcish craftsmanship." She paused, noticing the armor that Volund had made. "You did some quality craftsmanship of your own on that armor. Still, I'd wager this bow could put an arrow through it."
"I'm insulted," he said, feigning anger for a moment before letting out a quick laugh. "But I'll take it." He counted out most of the remaining money the jarl had given him. Adrianne gave him a simple leather quiver and a dozen steel arrows free of charge.
"Least I can do for a good customer and a good worker," she muttered. Volund thanked her and put the weapons on his back. To make room for them alongside his pack and sword, he had to remove the shield which had hung there and sling it on his arm, ready to be used.
The guards opened the city gates for the new thane as he and his housecarl approached them. Lydia's former train of thought had been interrupted by Adrianne's comments, and when they were out of the city and far enough away from the city guards to speak without being heard, she spoke up again.
"Did Adrianne say – did you really make that armor yourself?" She missed a beat and then hastily added, "My thane!"
"I did make it myself. My old armor had seen too much action to be useful anymore. I had done a good bit of work for Adrianne yesterday, and she agreed to let me use her equipment to make new armor."
Lydia's face shifted rapidly between indignation and awe. She settled on indignation first.
"My thane, you should not have had to work for a common blacksmith! Surely the jarl would have provided you with armor…" Her brow cleared after a moment. "Perhaps you trust your own handiwork more than another smith's?"
Volund smiled at that. "No, not at all. I simply don't wish to be a burden on the hold. The jarl probably would have given me armor had I asked, but that money can be put to better use elsewhere. Besides, there's something satisfying about using your own handiwork – my father's words, but they seem true enough."
"I couldn't say, my thane. I know how to maintain armor and blades, but not how to make them. Was your father a smith, then?"
"Smithing was his hobby, but it did go hand-in-hand with his trade. The old man was a mercenary – not some lowlife bandit who thinks 'mercenary' sounds better than 'murderer,' though. He made all his own gear and he did honest work, mostly guarding travelers or clearing roads of beasts. I think he was always trying to do something heroic to catch up to his own father. Granddad fought in the Great War, died retaking the Imperial City in fact. My old man was only 16 at the time, so he couldn't fight in the army. Missed the war by just a few years. He had been an errand-runner for granddad's legion, but he came home to Dragon Bridge after granddad died. Then he fell in love with a barmaid from Solitude, made me, and married her before it was obvious to everyone else that she was pregnant. She died when I was born – no healers in Dragon Bridge at the time, I guess.
"Dad did right by me. Taught me to fight and hunt, how to work a forge, how to survive Skyrim's weather and land. That was all when he was home, of course. Most of the time he was away on a job, trying to make money to support us, so a lot of the time I was on my own. Then he died about five years ago, so I was really on my own, but I was 18 by then and looking for my own path anyway. I had been working as a smith for my father and some of the others in Dragon Bridge, but without the old man I didn't really have anything to tie me to the town, so I started wandering Skyrim. I took odd jobs or sold weapons I got from bandits who attacked me. Then the other day I became the Dragonborn and a nobleman. Funny how life goes sometimes."
Lydia nodded absently, still processing the story. "I'm sorry for your losses, my thane. How did your father die, if I may ask?"
"Frost trolls. He took a job escorting a merchant caravan through Labyrinthian; they were trying to get to Whiterun before the really cold weather hit, but it got colder faster than they thought, and the trolls were out and active. A couple of the men escaped and ran all the way back to Dragon Bridge. Said my dad had killed a few trolls before he died, so at least I know he got a good death. It's long enough ago that I've come to terms with him being gone."
He turned to face Lydia with a mischievous grin, his somber mood from a few seconds earlier utterly gone.
"You might have a hard job as my housecarl. Seems my family has a tradition of dying in battle, and I'd hate to disappoint them."