Chapter 89: A detour
[18th – 19th of Morning Star 4E 202]
After the exciting events at Uttering Hill Camp and Cave, where Jordis and I had first been captured by bandits and had later, also aided by Antonius and my saber cats, managed to get free and overcome the bandits, I was happy that a day of rest was coming up before I'd likely travel back to Whiterun. For that opportunity I decided to give Antonius and Jordis the day off; they had earned that. While the Imperial gladly accepted that, the Nord had some doubts and told me that she preferred to stay close to me.
"After all," she said, "we have had a few unexpected surprises lately, and maybe you'll need me."
She did have a point, and thus I nodded, but told her:
"I concede your point, but please, take it easy and enjoy a relaxed day together with me; even a housecarl does not have to work all of the time, you know."
She nodded with a barely noticeable hint of a smile, and I suspected that she believed a housecarl՚s duties to never end, or something like that. As today was a Sunday, prayer and meditation was what I wanted to do first after breakfast, but the weather outside – some snowfall and a cold wind – did not explicitly invite us for an extended stay outside of the walls, although Jordis, as a Nord, might not have minded. But of course, we surely could go to the Temple of Talos. The priests there, Jora and Lortheim, would likely welcome me there. I started the short walk there, with Jordis on my heels, and soon I found myself inside the temple. Lortheim was out, but Jora, the female Nord priestess, greeted me, and replied when I asked to spend some time of quiet meditation and prayer in here:
"Of course, B'lushona, this is what the temple is for. Stay as long as you like, and this of course includes your housecarl as well."
Jordis showed some respect and found a seat a few rows further back, while I was in the second row from the front. There were only two other people in here, but none I knew. Windhelm was, after all, a reasonably big city, on the Tamriel scale at least; I did not know, of course, how frequently citizens would show up here, and Dunmer might prefer different places of worship and likely praying to other Divines. Sadly, my knowledge on Dunmer specific culture and religion was almost zero.
While I sat there and looked at the mighty statue of Talos almost directly in front of me, I could not help myself and compared that statue to what dominated most churches in Germany. Here there was a mighty warrior, depicted as victor over a dragon with a big sword in his hands, as it looked like, and in Christian churches on Earth there was a crucified person with a crown of thorns on his head. What a difference! Had Talos been like this, without any traces of humility, or did temples just shown him like this? Well, did I even care? It was not my religion, but as several Divines had shown themselves to me in my initial vision and 'job description', I wanted to learn a little bit more. While my memory wasn't usually that good, I could still remember word by word what the Divines had said, and Talos' statement had been this:
"Man of Earth, I am Talos, Hero-God of Mankind. It bothers me that my children in Skyrim and some other provinces are no longer allowed to pray to me. If you accept our offer, I expect that you help to restore worship to the Nine again. Be strong for war; be bold against enemies and evil, and defend the people of Tamriel."
Even after quite a few month in this world, the statements the Divines had used in my original vision were kind of imprinted in my memory, and I'd probably be able to recite them correctly until the end of my life. So, I was supposed to help restore Talos worship again, and I needed to be strong for war. Well, war was already upon us, and the Civil War had started before I had arrived. Most likely, even trying to ignore and evade the war was not an option for me. Even if I managed to not get involved on my own, Jarl Balgruuf the Greater would sooner or later be forced to pick a side; either General Tullius would insist to send the legion into his hold or Stormcloaks might attack Whiterun, and both situations, I'd be obliged to support my Jarl. At least, what I had seen and done over the last days here in and around Windhelm was encouraging. More and more I believed that Ulfric was a much better suited person than anybody else to bring peace and unity to Skyrim once again, although I was not fully sure if he was diplomatic enough to be High King. Maybe he did not have to be, but just needed good and very capable advisors, provided that he actually listened to them and allowed them to apply their skills.
So, for Talos I believed to be on a good path, but I still was not sure how to integrate the Divines with and into my own believe, which excluded other deities. How did all of that fit together? I could not find a solution for that right now, but would certainly get back to this topic at another time. For now, I tried to clear my mind from other thoughts and started a mumbled prayer; when I ran out of ideas on what to pray for, I ended with the Lord's Prayer, as I usually did.
Jordis had maybe spoken a few prayers of her own, and she was ready to go when I rose from my hard stone seat. Outside we met Dinaria, and we decided to move on to the Grey Quarter for now. Obviously we had not see all of the corners and niches there yet; as we were about to pass a small shop called 'Sadri's Used Wares', I noticed another sign not far from it, showing a few books. I asked Dinaria, and she explained:
"Oh yes, this is 'Idroni's Used Books'. The two Dunmer ladies are sisters. You like books, don't you?"
"Yes, I do, very much so indeed. Are they open today?"
"I should think so, of course."
Yes, of course, most shops ins Skyrim did not have a regular closing day, as I had learned, compared to Germany and some other European countries, where almost everything was closed on Sundays and public holidays. How did this work for the shop-owners, and when did they get a day off? Anyway, I did not hesitate and entered the book store, and I felt at home almost right away. As it sometimes happened when I was around books, I lost track of time, and I almost got startled when somebody addressed me:
"Can I help, you, Khajiit?"
The speaker was a middle aged Dunmer woman, and she smiled when she saw my reaction:
"Yes, you like books, I can see this. I am Idroni, by the way, and I own this small store."
"Pleased to meet you, lady; my name is B'lushona. Yes, I do like books, but I have neither the money nor the place to buy and store all of them."
"Of course; few of us have. Is there anything specific you are looking for?"
I had not had any specific purchase plans, but I thought that I could asks about spell tomes, too. As far as I knew, after all, most bookstore also sold those tomes, too. I had made some progress with the spells I already knew, and I had at least one spell each for alteration, conjuration, destruction, and restoration; I did not know a single spell for illusion, though. I explained my ideas, and the lady smiled and replied:
"Let me see if I have something for you."
She was gone for a few minutes and then returned with two tomes, looking somewhat shabby:
"Here, I found two illusion spell tomes; one is for 'Courage' and the other is for 'Calm'. Both have been read and used a few times already, but they should be still usable. If you buy both, I will hand them over for fifty septims; new tomes will cost you more than twice that."
"The first is novice level, but the latter is more demanding, isn't it?"
She nodded, and I made up my mind:
"You know what? I will take you up on this offer. I don't know if I am good enough for 'Calm' yet, but I can practice with the other spell first at least."
"Glad to be making business with you, and please come again!"
"Thank you, lady, and I think that I will!"
Dinaria had left a long time ago, but Jordis had patiently waited for me. When she reminded me about the time, we decided to head the short distance to the New Gnisis Cornerclub for lunch. At this time of the day, there were not many customers inside, and Ambarys greeted us warmly. When he had ordered and Malthyr Elenil served our drinks, I addressed him:
"Oh, Malthyr, I almost forgot. I found a ring matching your description in the bandit camp we raided; is this yours?"
I dug the ring out of my pocked and handed it over, and the Dunmer was delighted:
"Yes, this is my ring, indeed! You found it! How can I reward you for that?"
"There is no reason for another reward, my friend. The bandits had collected a lot of wealth, and while the guards are probably still busy getting all of the loot back to the city, my friends and I were able to take a few large coin purses; that's more than good enough. Besides, I really enjoyed getting to know some of the local citizens a little more and doing a few favors here and there."
"I appreciate that, B'lushona. To be honest, I had so far viewed Khajiit mostly as skooma dealers and thieves, and you are refreshingly different."
I almost laughed, and I replied:
"Malthyr, as far as I know, practically all Khajiit in the caravans are honest and righteous people, and I believe that you will find good and not so good people among all races."
"Yes, you are probably right about that. Now, please excuse me, I need to serve some other customers."
When we had eaten and left the inn, we found Kjar, the captain of 'The North Wind', outside looking for us. He beamed and told us:
"You were right! The deserted crew members are all in the dungeon where they belong! Now, I cannot pay high wages so that the reward I promised is not a lot, but anyway, here you go."
He handed over a coin purse and took his leave saying:
"Now I must look after my ship again, and I will have to see where I get a new crew."
We idled around for a couple of hours before slowly returning to the palace, and when we entered, Jorleif approached us and said:
"You are right on time. Jarl Ulfric just asked me to find you, and he wants to talk to you. Please, follow me!"
While my housecarl waited in the main hall, the steward guided me into the war room, where both Ulfric and Galmar stood, and after a short greeting, we got right to the first topic, which was the raid on Uttering Hills Camp and Cave. Today days before, when I had arrived back with the many prisoners, the dragon attack had diverted our attention to other topics. Naturally, the dungeon master had talked to the steward and the steward had talked to the jarl, so that Ulfric was well informed. He shook his head and said:
"What am I going to do with you? You actually make yourself useful, and you prove that you have a heart for all races, indeed. Look, I have thought about what we had talked about recently, and I want to convince my friend Balgruuf that we need to work together. If we can get allied and get Falkreath and Solitude under control before end of this year, the empire will have great trouble getting more troops to Skyrim, as we can easily defend the few mountain passes. I also understand that we need to negotiate carefully, so that the empire grants us partial autonomy. Not sure how this will work out, but we need to try at least. Can I count on your help?"
"As I told you, I am Thane of Whiterun. If Jarl Balgruuf the Greater decides to ally with you, I am in. Until then, I will dutifully report what I have seen and heard here, and I guess I will tell him that I think he should ally with you. I hope that he will see the good reasons as I do, but it's ultimately his decision, of course. I have to admit if Jarl Balgruuf decides to join with Tullius, I'll help him to defend Whiterun against your army."
The Nord nodded:
"Of course it's his decision, and of course you will have to be loyal. He will come around, I am sure; he's a true Nord after all. He knows that his hold is critical for both sides, but he also knows that he cannot stay neutral forever. So, can you travel back tomorrow?"
"This I can and will do, my Jarl, although I may not head home directly. There is another place I shall want to find first, fulfilling a promise I gave before I came to Windhelm, but that should not delay my trip home by more than two or three days. Anyway, it was a great pleasure and an honor to talk to you."
He nodded again and said:
"I have written a long letter to my old friend, and I trust that you will deliver it safely."
"This I will do, Jarl Ulfric."
Antonius, Jordis and I left Windhelm in the morning, and we left it with quite a good feeling. Not only had I had some enlightening discussions with Jarl Ulfric, but we had also managed to help a number of citizens and capturing a large number of bandits; I sure had made some impression on the Jarl, and I was looking forward to reporting all of that to Jarl Balgruuf the Greater. While I did and could not know what Jarl Balgruuf՚s final decision was going to be regarding a potential alliance with the Stormcloaks, I had done my part, and I would have a lot to tell him, both facts and feelings and opinions.
When my two housecarls and I had passed the Windhelm stables, I took the road south towards Kynesgrove, and Antonius looked at me and asked:
"Where are we going? Not the shortest way home?"
"No, indeed not. I had promised Illdi, the bard, to see if we can find the special lute which was stolen from the Bard's College, and the place we are heading to is southeast of here. I expect that we may find other valuables there as well. After all, I believe that Illdi said something like we might be able to find even more stolen goods in the cave if we waited for some time."
"Ah, yes. Are we going to pass though Kynesgrove?"
"I had not planned that, but we can; is there a good reason for that detour? Wait, let me guess – there's a lady there you happen to know?"
"Well, yes, there actually is…"
"All right, fair enough, but we won't stay long."
"I'd just check if she's there and see her briefly, if that's possible."
I nodded, and an hour later we took the turn left towards the small village. The road led us up a hill, and Antonius passed the local inn, but knocked at the door of a medium sized house. We waited outside after the door was opened, and my housecarl talked to an elderly male Bosmer for a few minutes before he came back; he explained:
"I missed her. Ferwen, that's her name, left home. She reached maturity and went out looking for adventures, as I have just been told."
"I guess that she did not expect to find them with and in you?"
"No, probably not. She's not the type for romantic adventures, and each time I met her she proved to be able to resist my charm very well. All right, now I know that she's gone at least. Thank you for giving me the chance to find out."
"You are welcome, Antoninus; off we go!"
For a few moments I was worried about Antonius, as he had just mentioned that the young lady had only recently reached maturity. Did that imply that he had attempted to court a minor earlier? Well, I was not really familiar with the rules regarding minors and legal age and such in Tamriel, and I thought that I knew my housecarl well enough to expect that he'd not abuse a minor or anything like that. While I was still absorbed in my thoughts, we started to follow the southern road out of Kynesgrove, and after sometime I noticed that Jordis had a confused look on her face; I had a hunch and thus I suggested:
"Antonius, you will have to tell Jordis a little more about your lifestyle, I guess."
He nodded, and while we continued to talk, we slowly got out of the snow area. The temperature rose, and soon after we had met the main road again, I decided on a whim to leave the road and turned right.
Neither of my housecarls said something about my deviation from the road until we got to a large depression in the ground. We stopped to look at it, and Jordis suggested:
"Doesn't this look like one of those dragon mounds? It's quite like the one we saw when we were on the way to Swindlers' Den, isn't it?"
"I believe that you are right, Jordis. Let's hope that Alduin does not show up right now."
"No, this we certainly do not need, my Thane."
I guided us further southwest, and about twenty minutes later we found a nice group of small heated pools with a few bushes around. My mind was set, and I announced:
"Jordis, Antonius, let's spend a couple of hours here and relax. I am partial to hot water pools, and I intend to take advantage of the situation. We have sufficient supplies for a few days, so let's all relax in or around the pools here."
I did not wait for a response and quickly removed my armor. Of course there was a risk that some kind of danger might show up, either an angry bear or some bandits or even a dragon. However, Hanni and Nanni should warn us in time, or so I hoped at least. In addition to that, as soon as I was in the very nicely tempered water, I conjured Spirit and encouraged her to scout the area. So, for now, this should be good enough. Jordis had not been here before, and such a hot spring was new for her. However, after some deliberation she followed my example and also got into the water, in her smalls. Antonius, the Imperial, refused; he said that he had been in the area before, but was not in the mood to go into the water right now. That was all right, too; at least he got busy preparing lunch, and after a relaxing hour in nice hot water I was getting a little bit hungry.
Rather than staying in the area and heading south, I decided to head back to the road and follow it, after we had eaten; I was not in the mood for too many surprises and deemed the road the better option. One of those giant camps was located rather close to the road, but the giants were busy with themselves and the few mammoths they herded and did not bother us. I looked at the large animals for a few moments, and I started to think about their presence here. Mammoths were herbivores, and due to their size they sure needed lots of food. What were they actually feeding from? This was the rocky hot spring area, and besides some colorful dragon's tongue and those reddish creeping plants – I forgot how they were called – there was not a lot of vegetation around here. I could understand mammoths living around giant camps in the Whiterun plains, for instance, with plenty of grass, but here?
When I mentioned my thoughts to Jordis and Antonius, none of them had an answer for me, and eventually we continued to head southeast. Just before the road started to rise, we found a nice little patch of soft soil and some grass between some rocks a little bit off the road, and we decided to spend the night here. In this location, Antonius and Jordis claimed that they needed to stand watch, and that was just fine for me. Yes, I was somewhat egoistic here, but I really enjoyed to get a proper amount of sleep, and I did not mind when my housecarls volunteered.
[Author's Notes: Finally heading home again, though not directly; let's see if more adventures await our heroes.]
