Mutants Misplaced
Chapter 19
A Day of Celebration
Walking to the north, the mutants had the river they camped next to run in the same direction, so they had plenty of fish and fresh water for their trip. And it did take them quite a while before they even saw the city known as Riften. The river they had followed came from a great lake that lay just south of the city, literary, there were several houses built on wooden platforms with small docks for fishing boats, and those platforms were connected to the city walls.
Walking up to one of the gates, it had already begun to get dark when they were stopped by the guards.
"Halt travelers. Before we let you into Riften, you need to pay the visitor's tax." said one of the guards.
"Visitor's tax? I've never heard of such a thing. What is it for?" Leo asked.
"For the privilege of entering our great city. What does it matter?" said another guard.
"Right... And how much would this cost us?"
"Only some four hundred gold, each. There's seven of you so that's two thousand eight hundred septims."
"What?! That's outrageous!" Raph exclaimed.
"Don't want to pay, then you're not getting into the city. Simple as that."
"I don't like this at all, Fearless. Feels like a shakedown." Raph whispered to his brother, who nodded in agreement.
"Can't you let us in anyway, we've been lost for days." Leo asked the guards.
"Rules are rules, so no money, no entrance. How many times do we have to tell you?"
"What do we do? We don't even have that kind of money." Sephie asked the others quietly.
"Well, we got what we found, but I really don't feel like giving these thieves any of it." said Tyroth.
"Hey, does the rules apply for the Dragonborn as well?" Mikey asked the guards, much to the dismay of the other mutants. The guards looked at each other and then at Mikey, as if he was crazy.
"The Dragonborn?"
"Yeah, you see that big red guy in the back, he who looks like a dragon?"
"By Ysmir, now I recognize him!" exclaimed one of the guards. "I've heard of him taking down the Obsidian Wolves and even shrugging off one of Krax Firestarter's fire spells like it was nothing."
"But, Krax is one of the Skull Splitter mercenaries, that group is like a small army."
"That's right, and he also knocked out a big orc with one punch, so you wouldn't want to get on Tyroth's bad side, would you?" Mikey continued.
"Uhm.. no. He can... enter without paying the tax."
"And so can my friends, right?" said Tyroth, following along with what Mikey had started and walking up to the guards.
"But that would-"
"And so can my friends, right?" Tyroth repeated with a darker tone starring down on the guard.
"Eh.. yes, yes of course. Go on ahead." the guard said nervously while his colleagues opened the gate.
As the mutants walked through the gate, Raph walked closely to his youngest brother.
"Nice going, Mikey." he whispered. "There may still be hope for your brain."
"Thanks... I think."
The city of Riften was an interesting city with its design. The buildings were mostly wooden with a stone base and most were two stories high. Cutting through a large part of the city was a canal that led out to the lake, it was a deep canal but it wasn't more than half full with water, instead there was a second layer of the city underneath the first with a dock like appearance of wooden walkways connected to the upper layer by stairs.
In the middle of the city was what looked like a town market with a big well in the middle and small stalls around it. Past the market area was a large palace like building made almost entirely out of stone. The mutants guessed that it was the seat of power in this city, just like Dragonsreach was in Whiterun.
Hoping to find a place to stay for the night, like an inn, Donnie asked one of the townsfolk, who pointed him to a place called 'The Bee and Barb', a large building next to the market with a sign hanging over the doors with a picture of a bee sitting on the edge of a fishing hook.
Entering the inn, the mutants were met by a rather big hall with lots of tables and chairs. Unlike the inn in Whiterun, the Bannered Mare, this inn didn't have a large fireplace, but what set it apart from all other 'companies' the team had seen so far, was that the Bee and Barb was run by two Argonians, one male and one that they assumed was female.
The male looked a lot like Madesi, but with a more intense green and orange color on his scales, and the feathers were green as well. He wore light tan shirt and slightly darker pants of a rather rough cloth, with thin leather boots. The female was of similar build overall, but did have slightly more feminine proportions, which included a pair of breasts, something that wasn't expected of a fully reptilian species. Her scales were of a sandy color, close to white, and she lacked the feathers on her head. She wore a blue and red dress with a white apron and tended to stay behind the bar counter.
The male Argonian looked at the team as they entered the inn and smiled at the sight of them.
"Welcome to the Bee and Barb, marsh-friends. If I can interest you in one of our special drinks, you let me know." he said with a friendly, but hazy voice.
"Maybe later," said Leo "for now, we are more interested in some food and lodging for the night, but thank you for the offer."
"Of course, you just speak to Keerava by the counter and she'll make sure that you'll get some rooms."
Walking over to the counter, they didn't get an as friendly greeting from this Keerava as they got from the other Argonian.
"If you've got the coin, you're welcome here. Otherwise, hit the road." she said with a hazy voice, it seemed that all Argonian had hazy voices.
"We're a bit low on coin, but maybe these will be enough to pay for some food, a place to sleep and a few drinks?" Sephie said, discreetly placing a ruby, a sapphire and an emerald on the counter. Keerava's eyes widened when she saw the strawberry sized gems, she picked up one and examined it closely, then did the same with the other two.
"Food, drink and a place to stay was it? How many rooms did you need, one each?" she said obviously in a better mood.
"Oh, I think we can squeeze in in three or four rooms, depending on their size." said Donnie.
"Whatever you say, I'll have Talen-Jei show you there after your meal. Now have a seat and I'll make sure that you won't leave hungry or thirsty."
"She sure perked up, giving us the royal treatment and all. Those gems must have been worth a lot." said Mikey as the group sat down by some tables that was close to each other. "Either way, chow time!"
The next day, the mutants were feeling a lot more well rested than they had for quite some time, sleeping in proper beds and eating real meals of food sure make a difference. After having some breakfast, Leo, Donnie and Tyroth went out to get more supplies for the road, including a new map so that they knew where they were.
Mikey, Raph, Mona and Sephie stayed at the inn, taking it easy after everything that they had been through. Mikey was stuffing his face with a sweet dessert, a sweet roll. Not having eaten any kind of sweets or snacks for almost a week, Mikey was as close to heaven as he could at the moment. Mona and Sephie mostly talked with each other, leaving the youngest turtle to his sweets while keeping an eye on him. Raph however, sat on a bench, deep in thought. He had been thinking for the last half hour, and he was troubled. Deciding that sitting around wouldn't help him with his problem, he told the others that he needed to get some fresh air and left the inn, wandering out in the market.
It still felt strange to be able to walk around in broad daylight, though some people still looked at him, but it did have a sense of freedom. Still, it didn't help him with his current problem, he needed to find a way to fix this.
"Hey, Raphael." someone called, snapping Raph out of his chain of thought.
"Over here, marsh-friend." the voice called again, allowing Raph to track it to its owner. Standing in a small stall, was a familiar face.
"Madesi! It's been a while." Raph said happily as he walked over to the Argonian.
"Indeed it has. How are you and your friends faring? And what brings you to Riften of all places?"
"All things considered, we're fine, but it has been a few hard days lately. We got quite lost."
"It seems that way."
"But enough about us, how's business?"
"Could have been better, with the thieves guild being more active lately. And then there's the charlatans that keep tricking people to spend their septims on so called wonder elixirs or something."
"Sounds rough." Raph said, then he got an idea. "Could you do me a favor? I have a little... project, if you will, that I need some help with."
"Of course I'll help you if I can. I still consider myself indebted to you and your friends after you helped me back in Whiterun. What can I do?"
"I need you to make me something, but I'm not gonna let you help me without at least some form of payment, especially not if times are tough. However, I want it to be done before tonight, if possible."
"I'll do what I can, my friend. Just tell me what you need."
Back at the inn, Leo, Donnie and Tyroth had returned, having bought the equipment they needed for their trip, and was studying their new map together with Mona, Sephie and Mikey.
"We sure have gotten very far to the south, it will be a long way to Winterhold from here." said Donnie.
"Yeah, and we have to choose which way to go. Either we take the way past Whiterun and Morthal, or we go straight north to the city called Windhelm, and continue along the coast." said Leo.
"It looks like the latter is the shorter path, but it will most likely be the colder as well. Still, it will save us a day or two." said Mona.
"Then I think we should take that path, the shorter time we expose ourselves to the cold, the better." said Sephie. "Especially if that dragon is still roaming around Whiterun."
The other mutants agreed, but there was one who was missing.
"Have anyone seen Raph lately? It's been almost to calm around here." said Mikey.
"I hope he hasn't gotten himself into trouble." said Mona, slightly worried.
"Who? Me?" said Raph as he walked in on their conversation.
"Where have you been? We were starting to get worried." said Tyroth.
"Just outside for a while. Ran into Madesi by the way, and talked to him, apparently he has a stall pretty much just outside."
"That's great! It's good to know that he made it hear safe and sound." said Sephie.
"Yeah, we'll need to make sure to thank him again for his help before we leave later today." said Leo.
"We're leaving so soon?" Raph asked. "Wouldn't it be better if we stayed a day longer, you know, take some more time to really relax now that we got the chance."
"He's got a point, Leo." said Donnie. "We could use some more time to recover properly. And if we leave tomorrow morning instead, we'll have more daylight. It would also allow us to double check that we have everything we need."
"Hmm. Yeah, why not. Half the day has already passed so, we'll stay a bit longer. But we leave early tomorrow morning, so everyone should get to bed early tonight as well."
Hours passed and the mutants spent most of the time walking around the city or just relaxing back at the inn. Aside from a few clumsy pickpockets, nothing really exiting happened during the day, but after having dinner, Raph left once again, only to return a few minutes later and ask Mona to follow him to the room they rented.
"What's going on, hun? You've been acting strange all day. You're up to something." Mona asked after Raph closed the door.
"Is it that obvious? Heh, you really can read me like a book. Well, babe, I've been thinking and counting a bit."
"Go on."
"If the same number of day that we've been here would have passed back in our world, it would have been a very special day."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Today would be June the 28th, your birthday, Mona." Raph said with a gentle smile.
"No way! And I didn't even think about it, not for a moment, there has just been so much going on lately." said Mona, a bit shocked that she hadn't remembered her own birthday but overjoyed that her mate did.
"If we had still been back in Mutopia, we would have had the public hot spring all to ourselves. I actually walked all over the place to talk this through with everyone so that we could have some private time alone there. But, since we're stuck here I couldn't give you that experience as a present." Raph looked a bit ashamed for not being able to celebrate his mate as he had planned, but Mona gave him a big hug and a kiss to comfort him.
"Oh, honey. Don't feel bad about it, it sounded like a lovely idea, and I'm sure we'll be able to do it once we get back home. Just the fact that you remembered my birthday, despite all that has happened, is more than enough."
"Thanks, babe, but I still felt guilty for not having anything for you, so when I met Madesi, I paid him to make a little something for you."
Raph pulled out a small bag from his belt and opened it, placing its content in Mona's hand. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was a gold necklace with a small pendant, but what really caught her gaze was what was on the pendant. Embedded in the pendant were tiny pieces of amethyst, the pink shards forming the shape of a rose blossom in full bloom. A pink rose. Her favorite flower.
Mona was speechless. Clutching the necklace, she started to cry.
"Oh no, please don't cry Mona. I didn't mean to upset you." Raph said nervously, afraid that he had done something wrong.
"I'm not upset, silly... I'm just the happiest girl alive." Mona said with tears of happiness running down her cheeks. "It's so beautiful, I can't believe that you had something like this made for me. I must be the luckiest girl ever to have such a passionate mate as you."
"Well, it's only fair since you made me feel like the luckiest turtle ever when you chose me as your mate."
"Oh Raph." Mona once again hugged her mate and they kissed passionately. "I'll treasure this forever."
"Happy birthday, Mona."
Finally our heroes have made it to a safe place, but will be leaving shortly. Considering the state of Riften, I guess that's good for them, not to mention the Thieves Guild.
Hope you liked Mona's little birthday celebration, I know I did. Would really like to know what you all thought Raph was up to. I really wished that I could have published this chapter on the 28th of June, but I didn't want to wait another year.
Also, I want to say thanks to Bloodrayne666, for providing the date for her version of Monalisa's birthday. Hope you liked this. :)