Thankfully, the road to Riverwood was uneventful and it wasn't long before we arrived at the town's modest gateway. I was relieved to see the town. I was starting to become famish and I desperately needed a bath.
I followed Hadvar to the smith's shop, where a man was hammering away at the anvil till, he noticed Hadvar and I walking up the to his shop.
"Uncle Alvor," Hadvar called out as we approached the shop
"Hadvar," he seemed surprised to be seeing him there. I could guess why easily, "What are you doing here? Are you on leave..."
He then noticed the burns, dirt, blood, and soot covering Hadvar's armor, "Shor's bones, what happened to you, boy?"
"Shh, uncle keep your voice down," Hadvar said in a muffled voice. I tried to look...well relaxed as much as I could but I was starting to sway on my feet. 'By the nine I need a nap.'
"Are you in some kind of trouble," Alvor asked in a lower voice.
"It's best if we talk inside," Hadvar simply replied.
"And who's this fellow," Alvor asked gesturing to me.
"She's a friend," Hadvar replied, "Saved my life in fact. Come on, I'll explain everything, but we need to go inside."
"Okay, okay," Alvor nodded to us then motioned us to his house, "Come inside then. Sigrid will get you something to eat and you can tell me all about it."
"Thank you," I gave a small bow in thanks. He did the same before leading us into the house. As we went inside, I heard an older lady across the road exclaiming to her son that she saw a dragon, black as night, head towards the old barrow. I glanced at Hadvar as the womans son dismissed her as seeing things. We both stayed quiet and just went inside.
As we went in, Alvor called out to his wife announcing they had company. A little girl came running up from the basement and rushed over to Hadvar jumping up to hug him.
"Hadvar, I've missed you so much," she cheered as he lifted her up so she could give him a proper hug.
"I've missed you too, Dorthe," Hadvar smiled hugging her.
Another woman then came up from the basement, she looked just as surprised as Alvor did when we came up the road, but happily greeted us. She then sat us down at the table than gave us both a bowl of vegetable soup and half a loaf of bread with it. The food smelled amazing, making my stomach growl even more as it reminded me how empty it was from traveling.
"Thank you, my good lady," I thanked her before digging in. It was a little salty but was the best soup I'd had in a long time now.
"Oh you're welcome my dear," she smiled back at me, "And you can just call me Sigrid."
I nodded back before continuing to eat. Hadvar ate beside me, seeming to also be happy for the warm meal after all we went through. After we finished our food and Sigrid took our bowls to wash Alvor spoke up, "Now then, boy. Helgen was destroyed? How did you get away?"
"I don't know where to start," Hadvar sighed as he took a tanker of water from his aunt, her daughter gave me one as well, "You know I was assigned to General Tullius's guard. We were stopped in Helgen when we were attacked... by a dragon."
"A dragon," Alvor gasped at his nephew, "That's ridiculous. Your aren't drunk, are you boy?"
"Husband," Sigrid interjected him, "Let him tell his story."
"Honestly if I hadn't been there myself and saw it Id be thinking the same thing," I said before taking a big drink of water.
Hadvard sighed a little before continuing, "Not much else to tell. The dragon flew over and just wreked havoc on the whole place. Mass confusion. I'm not sure if any others made it out alive. I doubt I'd have made it out alive without the help of my friend here."
He patted my shoulder at that. I smiled back with a small smile, "I'd probably wouldn't have gotten as far without your help either."
He smiled back at me before turning back to speak with his uncle, "I need to get back to Solitude soon. I thought you could help us out. Food, supplies, a place to stay.
"Possibly a decent bath as well," I added.
"That would be nice too," Hadvar agrees with a small smile.
"Of course," Alvor smiled back, ""Of course! Any friend of Hadvar's is a friend of mine. I'd be glad to help however I can. Sigrid can help you with the bath."
"Just give me a bit to warm up the water for you dear," she smiled at us.
"You can go first," Hadvar patted my shoulder, "I can get our armor cleaned up while I wait."
"Thanks," I replied with a nod. Sigid motioned me to follow her down to the basement. I followed her before Alvor took my hand as I passed him, " Like I said, I'm glad to help however I can. But I need your help. We need your help.
"What is it," I asked, "After your hospitalty to me I'll be glad to help in anyway I can."
"The Jarl needs to know if there's a dragon on the loose," Alvor explained, "Riverwood is defenseless...You need to get word to Jarl Balgruuf to send whatever soldiers he can. If you do this for me, I'll be in your debt."
"I can leave first thing in the morning," I nodded to him. He gave a relieved sigh at that. I contiued down to the basement.
"Hadvar, did you really see a dragon," Dorthe asked her cousin as I went down the stairs, "What did it look like? Did it have big teeth?"
I chuckled a bit as Dorthe bombarded her cousin with questions about what happened. In the far back corner of the basement was a decent sided barrel Sigrid was filling with water from a pump. A small stove fire place underneath the barrel to warm the water.
"The water will be warm in just a bit," Sigrid said as she finished filling the barrel, "It's not as fancy as other baths but it works."
"It'll be perfect," I smiled, "Better than bathing in a cold river."
"That's true," she chuckled back at me. I slipped out of my borrowed armor before climbing into the barrel. Sigrid helped wash my hair and back, adding some herbs to help with the small scraps on my back. Afterwards she gave me a dress of hers.
"Here, I think this should fit you well enough," she said showing me the dress as I dried off. It was an older green simple dress. The sister to the one she was wearing now.
"Thank you, very much," I gave a greatful nod as I took the dress.
"You're welcome," she smiled back, "If you want I'm sure Alvor can improve your armor for you."
"It's not really mine," I replied, "More borrowed without permission in an emergency."
Sigrid gave a small chuckle at that, "Well then how about a set of your own then?"
"That would be nice but I hardly have the coin to pay for such a thing."
"I'm sure you and my husband can work something out for payment," Sigrid smiled at me patting my shoulder as I got dressed. I smiled back to her before heading back up the stairs. Sigrid set's the armor under a counter before following after me. Alvor was finishing up his own meal as we came up, letting Hadvar have his turn with the bath.
"Guess I should get back to work then," Alvor said as he finished his food.
I went over to him, "Would it be alright if I barrowed your forge for a time?"
"Wanting to craft your own set," he smirked at me.
I chuckled back with a nod, "Actually yes. It feels kind of wrong continuing to use Imperial Armor. Not really a soldier, and I'd rather have something I know."
"Understandable," he nodded back, "Here I'll take it off your hands and give you some good iron armor you can have and even give you some material to improve it if you'd like."
"Thank you," I smiled, "That'll be such a big help. I could even make a few daggers and leather plots for you as well."
"No need," Alvor shook his head with a small smile, patting my shoulder, "You are already doing us so much. I'd be all too happy to lean you my forge whenever you need it."
I gave him a grateful nod before going out to the forge. First improving the weapons, I already had before Alvor showed me the armor he'd give me. It wasn't bad and I was even able to tailor it to fit me better. Alvor was impressed by my work even.
"Where did you learn to craft smith," he asked as I sharpened a dagger for him.
"Oh, my father taught me when I was little," I explained as I finished, "Came in handy when I was low on coin, and I could work at the local blacksmith shop. Is there somewhere I can sell some other stuff."
Alvor nodded back to me pointing across the street, "The trading post is just across the street. I'll sometimes sell items to them at times. They'll give you a fair price for anything else you have."
I stood up from the grindstone, "Thank you."
I grabbed my backpack and went across the street to the shop. As I entered, two people, a man and a woman, seemed to be in the middle of a spat around the counter.
"Well one of us has to do something," the woman said.
"I said no," the man countered to her, "No adventures, no theatrics, no thief-chasing!"
"Well, what are you going to do then, huh? Let's hear it!"
"We are done talking about this!" They then noticed me standing in front of the shop.
"Oh," the man cleared his throat, "A customer. Sorry you had to hear that."
"Am I interrupting," I asked, "I can come back later."
"Oh no it's fine," the man shook his head, "My sister Camilla or I will be happy to help you with anything."
"I have a few things I'd like to sell," I said stepping up to the counter.
"Of course, let's see what we can do," he smiled at me as we began making several trades before I asked if he had any spells for sale, "I think I have a few old spell books lying about. If you want more, you'll have to go to the College of Winterhold."
"Thanks," I nodded back, "I'll have to visit sometime. If you don't mind me asking but did something happen?"
"Yes, we did have a bit of a... break-in," the man replied, "But we still have plenty to sell. Robbers were only after one thing. An ornament, solid gold. In the shape of a dragon's claw."
"I could help you get the claw back," I offered to him.
"You could," he gasped as he began to get more excited by my offer, "I've got some coin coming in from my last shipment. It's yours if you bring my claw back. If you're going after those thieves, you should head to Bleak Falls Barrow, northeast of town."
I nodded to him before his sister spoke up, "So, this is your plan, Lucan? Send someone else to get it back."
"Yes," Lucan gruffly replied to his sister, "So now you don't have to go, do you?"
"Oh really? Well, I think your new helper here needs a guide."
"Wh...no...I.."Lucan stuttered.
"I am new to this part," I say with a small smirk, giving a wink to Camilia. She hid a giggle at that.
"Oh, by the Eight, fine! But only to the edge of town!"
"Excellent," I clapped my hands together, "Just give me some time to get some things together then you can show me the way. Just meet me at the Blacksmith's across the road."
Camilia nodded back to me. With that I gathered my coins and purchases, leaving the shop and heading back across the street to tell Alvor about the job I'd taken and asked him if he had map, I could borrow.
"I think so," Alvor said scratching his chin.
"Great it would be a big help," I said putting on my new armor, "If possible, I want to explore that burrow a little and see if there is any sign of that dragon then go warn the Jarl."
Alvor nodded back to me, "Sigird can help you that, she's been around the mountain a few times to gather herbs for me."
With Sigrid's help, we plotted a path around the mountain I could take to Whiterun afterwards. Sigird even gave me directions so I could easily climb down the mountain to Whiterun and warn the jarl before returning to the trading post with the claw. After our plan was set I got my pack of supplies ready.
I said goodbye to Alvor and his family, wishing safe travels to Hadvar on his way back to Solitude. He wished me the same wherever my path took me. I met up with Camilia outside. We chatted a little as we walked to the bridge at the edge of town, thanking me for the help, I thanked her for the escort before heading across the bridge and following the path up the mountain.
