Chapter 8: Enchanting help

[9th - 12th of Rain's Hand 4E 202]

After the events in and around Shimmermist Cave, I had returned to my normal life in Whiterun, specifically including earning money for my house construction. A couple of days ago I had invited Carlotta and Mila to a picnic, and it had been nice to have them around. I had also been to school once more, to review the events around Martin Septim and the Oblivion crisis more than two hundred years ago. Recently I had learned that Silvia, Adrianne՚s daughter, seemed to have a talent for enchanting, and I had been asked to mine some gold or silver ore for her, for some simple jewelry to be crafted and enchanted.

I had slept in the attic of Jorrvaskr, and I had done my usual morning exercises. When I joined some of the few early risers for breakfast, I found that we had a new face around. She looked like a Breton and had a vague similarity with Irene, and this was explained as Irene introduced her:

"Everyone, this is my sister Wulfryn. She has joined me here after our mother died home in High Rock, and she and I will try to find out what her options for the future are."

I had a closer look at the second Breton, Irene's sister. She was about the same size, and her dark hair was cut shorter than that of her sister. However, while Irene had blue eyes, Wulfryn's were like golden, and I thought that this was unusual. She also looked kind of darker than her sister and less friendly, but that might be my imagination.

We had a little bit of small talk, but Wulfryn was not in the mood to share a lot of information about herself; she had just come into Jorrvaskr because Irene had insisted for us to meet her, and the Breton did not tell us what she planned to do in the city and how long she might stay; eventually the group dispersed. Irene wanted to spend the day with her sister, of course, and I hurried down to my site to get one of my housecarls to come with me for my today's task. As it turned out, Antonius was already busy supervising the building efforts, but Jordis was going to come with me, and my two saber cats of course, too.

First we followed the main road west, and just before we reached the Western Watchtower, I turned left. Jordis was a little bit concerned:

"So, Adrianne mentioned wild animals?"

"Yes, she did."

"Any specific ones?"

"No, not really. But look, we should be able to cope, and I have my shout, too."

"Fair enough, but I hope that we're not getting too close to that Giants' Camp, Secunda՚s Kiss. Antonius told me about it, and I don't think that your shout will work on them."

"Agreed, Jordis."

Indeed, approaching giants was definitely not on my agenda for today. For now, we saw a few wolves in the distance, two small herds of elk, but nothing more dangerous. I consulted my map again and looked at the marker Adrianne had added; according to that, the vein should be right south, where the hills started. There was actually a narrow path and barely visible now, and it continued between rocks and started to lead uphill; a battered sign showed 'Bleak Falls Barrow'. Oh, yes, I vaguely recalled that there was a path up to the barrow from around here, and we were obviously now approaching it.

I looked around and noticed that I might have gone too far, and after careful searching and backtracking a little I found the vein Adrianne had indicated. It was indeed not easily visible, and without the good description I had been given, I would probably have missed it. While Jordis kept watch and Hanni and Nanni explored the area, I got the pickaxe out from my large backpack and started mining. From plenty of iron and corundum ore mining at other places before, I had some practice, and it did not take long for the first piece of ore to get separated from the vein. After maybe half an hour of work I had plenty of ore to fill my backpack, and I had even gained a few minor gems, too.

Ore mining required, of course, more than just pressing the 'E' key on the keyboard, and it was some hard work. I did not actually know which material had been used to create a pickaxe, but whatever it was, it seemed to be good and durable enough to work the various veins. Depending on the type of ore it could take between ten minutes and an hour to temporarily deplete a vein, but for some reason the veins actually did replenish themselves after some time, and there was no need to dig deeper and deeper into the hills and mountains; likely this was part of the magical aura of this world, and I did not have to understand it. Sometimes I struggled with that concept; my engineering mind wanted to understand the principles of nature as much as possible, but magic was either totally non-explainable or based on laws of nature I had no hope of even vaguely glimpsing at. Maybe it was like a famous science fiction author had once stated: 'a sufficiently advanced technology cannot be distinguished from magic'. This was likely correct, but did not help at all to understand it. Well, while I probably did not have any chance to understand why magic worked, I could at least get a better idea on how it worked, like the variety of spells and effects, and how to train it. When Isaac Newton had started to understand how gravity worked, he had not known anything about the theory of relativity and the bending of space in the fourth dimension, but he did not need to know that in order to come up with theories and correlations by observation and experimenting.

Jordis, after some time of watching me, offered to help, and for some time she used a second pickaxe and worked the vein from the other side. The vein was large enough to allow that, and there was, contrary to the game, no pop-up claiming that somebody else was already working on the vein. Our work was only interrupted once by a bear approaching, but a 'KAAN' shout from me resolved the problem, and I spent a few minutes taking a break and petting the bear before it left the area again.

On the way back we encountered a small pack of wolves, but with Hanni and Nanni around they did not dare to come closer and attack. My two saber cats were still a little bit smaller than most wolves, at least the Skyrim wolves, but with their growing tusks they already looked quite intimidating, and in previous fights they had already proven that they were more than a match for a single wolf. Like with hunting, my familiar, Spirit, had also helped to teach them fighting, and the three of them were a formidable team. I was looking forward to seeing them grow further, to full size saber cats which was probably going to be like a Siberian tiger or even bigger. We had been together for more than half a year now, after I had found them caught in a thorn-bush as 'little' cubs, after my companions and I had been forced to kill their mother as it had attacked us. When I had seen them first, it had been like love on first sight; they had adopted me as surrogate father right away, and there had not been a single moment when I had regretted taking them in.

Just before noon we were back at Warmaiden՚s, and I was happy to see that I was indeed generously paid for the ore I brought. As Adrianne was busy at the forge and Silvia was not yet allowed to operate the smelter just on her own, I was asked if I could do the smelting together with her, which I readily agreed to. I knew that I was lousy at a forge; I was not a blacksmith, and actually forging an item, even a simple dagger, was way more complex than pressing a key on the keyboard. Smelting ore into ingots was less complex and easier to learn, though, and Adrianne had been able to teach me to run this properly. Sure, the proper temperature in the smelter needed to be maintained and such, but smelting ore into ingots was something I could do reasonably well by now; at least, if something did not work out, the resulting bad ingots could always be re-smelted. Silvia, Adrianne՚s daughter, turned out to be pretty skilled in the task, too, and we alternated in doing the smelting; I did not really have to teach her much at all. Adrianne had made long gloves for her to protect from the heat, and I had some of my own to use. Once we were done, Adrianne assured me that this was enough supply for now, probably going to last a week or two.

"After all", she said, "enchanting also requires filled soul gems, and they are difficult to obtain and expensive, too. For the smaller ones it is not so bad; there are a few hunters skilled in magic, too, and some of them make a business trapping souls of elks, deer, foxes and such into empty soul gems, and they are not too expensive to buy, either. Now, with the few gems you brought as well, Silvia should be able to craft and enchant several nice necklaces, and this will keep her busy for some time. Of course, there is school, too!"

This got me an idea:

"Hm, I wonder if I might be able to acquire some more filled soul gems, too?"

"How would you do that?"

"You know that I am out hunting from time to time, not only for myself, but also for the Companions. If I knew a spell for soul trap, I might able to deliver the occasional filled soul gem."

"That should not be a major problem. I know that Farengar sells tomes for this spell, and I think that it is only apprentice level, too."

"Do you also know how this works exactly?"

"Well, you better ask the court wizard about that. We can get empty soul gems easily, at least the smaller ones, but filled ones are expensive. Yes, if you could help a little with those, that would be great!"

"All right, let me see what I can do."

I stopped at Jorrvaskr for lunch, and afterwards I made my way up to Dragonsreach to find the court wizard. He was in, and we was indeed willing to sell a tome of soul trap. Vaguely I recalled that Athis had educated me on soul gems when we had been in Solitude together, but I needed to get some details from an expert, and thus I asked how this worked. The court wizard explained:

"You can cast the spell on an animal, and if you manage to kill it within a short time after you cast the spell, its soul will be trapped in a fitting empty soul gem, if you have one with you. This simple spell version only works for petty and lesser souls, mind you, not for anything greater than that."

"And this correlates to which animals?"

"Well, basically the smaller and weaker animals. Let me think … yes, like wolves, spiders, rabbits, goats, elk, foxes, mudcrabs and such, but not for bears or atronachs or giants. I think that you might even be able to catch souls from the regular draugr with that, though I have to admit that I do not understand why and how draugr can actually have a soul. I am not sure about Falmer. Scientists and wizards are unsure on how to categorize them, and I do not have information on which level of soul trap might work for them."

"Okay, this should be good enough; I will certainly start with game. Where can I get a supply of empty soul gems and where do those actually come from?"

The wizard smiled and replied:

"It is widely known that empty soul gems can be mined from geode veins, and this is the most known source. I will not tell you, though, where those geode veins can be found. I usually have some empty soul gems for sale, and at least the lower types are normally sold in various shops, too."

The term 'geode vein' rang a bell in my head, but I did not recall where I had heard about those before and where I could find any; instead, I bought a few empty soul gems from the court wizard, plus a tome for the basic 'Soul Trap' spell.

Deep in thought I went out of Farengar՚s big study, but when I was about to turn left to leave Dragonsreach, Irileth, the Jarl՚s housecarl, waved me over:

"B'lushona, a moment, please; Jarl Balgruuf the Greater needs to talk to you."

I stepped to the throne, and the Jarl addressed me:

"B'lushona, I need some of your time to talk to you about an important topic. I am going to be busy today and tomorrow, but can you please stop by after breakfast on the day after tomorrow, on Morndas?"

"Of course, my Jarl. I will be here, and I will be looking forward to talking to you."

He nodded, and I was dismissed. On my way out Proventus Avenicci, the Jarl՚s steward, stopped me and mentioned:

"B'lushona, I just wanted to tell you that most of the stolen goods you and your friends recovered from Swindler's Den have found their rightful owners again. Some are left, probably stolen from people in other holds, and we will keep them for some more time before we sell them off. Thank you again for your effort; that was a big service for hold and people!"

"You are welcome, and you know that our original intention had just been to get rid of the Alik'r thugs and assassins. However, the result was much more than we had expected, and I am happy that I could have been part of the team achieving all of that."

While I walked out of the building, I recalled that he had mentioned that day after tomorrow would be Morndas, so that tomorrow would be 'Sonntag', Sunday, or Sundas as they called it here. Not for the first time I wondered how it was possible that both the name of most weekdays and also their number was so similar to those on Earth, but I would probably never learn the answer to that. But anyway, I had recently purchased this book on the Ten Commands, but I had not had the time to actually read it. Tomorrow would be a good day to start.

Before I went home, I decided to visit Belknar again; together with his brother Irgnar, who was foreman in the city's construction brigade, he worked for the Jarl, and some time ago I had already talked to him about potential options to add a primitive suspension system for carriages. I was not a mechanical engineer, but had some memories in that direction, and when I had tried to explain some of those, he had nodded and promised to think about it. When he say me today, he smiled, waved me into his shed and told me:

"B'lushona, I have been doing some thinking and experimenting, and I believe that what you called a 'leaf spring suspension' might work reasonably well. I made a model in smaller scale, and I have started to reconstruct one of the older carriages. You do have a point – traveling with one of those for is rough on the body, and I don't know how the drivers can take that all day long."

I looked at the small scale model, which was on the ground along one of the walls, and Belknar demonstrated how it shifted when he pushed down with his hand. I could not really tell if this was close to what had been used on Earth, but the concept seemed to be good.

"I will let you know when the carriage rebuilding has been completed, and then we shall see how that works on a real cart; all right?"

"Fair enough; thank you!"

"I thank you, my friend!"

Sunday started cloudy, but that was all right. After breakfast Athis wanted to do some training with me, but I declined and told him that today was going to be a day of meditation and prayer for me. He shrugged his shoulders and went off to find somebody else, and I left the city to get to one of my favorite quiet spots, a big rock west of the city with a nice view. On my way out I met Lucia who was once again walking Andurs' dog, Garm, and of course she greeted me in a very friendly and cheery way:

"Balu! Great to see you this morning! See how well behaved Garm is!"

"Yes, I see that, and he looks much better now that you go for a walk with him on a regular basis. Does Andurs take good care of you, Lucia?"

"Oh yes, he does. He is sometimes a little bit absentminded, but nice – okay, got to run; see you!"

Once I had passed the city gate and turned west, I soon reached one of the locations I liked best. The rock was still slippery from the rain in the night, but the clouds were thinning now, and it looked like the sun might come out sooner or later. I was real happy that I did not have to worry about sunburn and such, as my fur did not allow much light to get directly to my skin. I did not know how some of the pale Nords managed, but likely alchemists had some potions for them.

While Hanni and Nanni happily frolicked around and I had conjured Spirit as additional company for them, I got the book out of my backpack, the one I had recently purchased – 'The Ten Commands of the Nine Divines'. Almost since I had arrived in this world, I had wondered how to classify the local Divines and how they could co-exist with the God I believed in; after all, the first commandment of Christianity demanded that one must not have other Gods next to the one and only true God. When I opened the book, I found a few sentences of introduction first:

Reflecting on the teachings of "our ancestors" (Aedra) the Nine Divines who unlike their Daedric counterparts are personally invested in the human condition. They give us 10 simple recommendations for how to live in peace and prosperity on Nirn.

The book of the ten commandments of the nine begins: "By the intercession of St. Alessia, you may be so filled with grace, and the strength and wisdom that comes from grace, that through these teachings you may come to the true meaning of the Nine Divines and Their glories."

Their words of wisdom should be seen as a gift to men, guidelines which if truly practiced should lead the practitioner of worship into a greater state of grace and glory, to wisdom, peace of mind, and a fair life on the planes of Nirn.

So, the Nine Divines were Aedra, kind of ancestors; they were interested in how humans were doing, assumably also including non-human sentient beings like Khajiit and Argonians, and there was a set of ten commandments, also called recommendations. Was it a coincidence that there were ten commandments in Christian belief, too? Was that a hint indicating that the same one God ruled over both Earth and Nirn? About the term 'Aedra', I had also read a very small book on them before, called 'Aedra and Daedra', and I had copied the main parts into my notebook:

"Aedra" and "Daedra" are not relative terms. They are Elvish and exact. Azura is a Daedra both in Skyrim and Morrowind. "Aedra" is usually translated as "ancestor," which is as close as Cyrodilic can come to this Elven concept. "Daedra" means, roughly, "not our ancestors." This distinction was crucial to the Dunmer, whose fundamental split in ideology is represented in their mythical genealogy.

...

As part of the divine contract of creation, the Aedra can be killed. Witness Lorkhan and the moons.

For me, one of the critical statements here was this: 'Aedra can be killed'. I did not know who Lorkhan was or had been, but a real God could not be killed, right? On the other hand, God's son, Jesus Christ, had been killed on Earth, but risen from the dead again. Maybe there was something similar here? On the other hand, Talos had been added to the Divines by humans, likely St. Alessia as I remembered, so this was maybe something more similar to the saints which the Catholics on Earth adored and sometimes prayed to. I was a Lutheran and thus my knowledge on the Catholic belief was very limited, but according to what I knew saints were special for Catholics. I did not really know if saints there were really worshiped and prayed to, but to a certainly extent they likely were, although they probably still distinguished between worshiping God and worshiping saints, so that the first commandment of Christian belief was not violated. As a Lutheran, I did not pray to saints, but maybe the Divines on Nirn could be something like this? Not exactly as target for worshiping, but as higher beings with special powers?

This was confusing and likely needed more consideration, and maybe I also should talk to some of the priests about that topic. It was also possible that the issue became clearer once I had studied the Ten Commandments of the Nine Divines in more detail. Maybe, at a later time when she was back, I might be able to have a related discussion with Fiona, too. She was catholic, and maybe she could shed a little more light on that, if she was interested in Tamrielic religion at all.

For now, my conclusion was there were Divines with special powers and a very long life here on Nirn, and they got their powers from the one and only God, who was 'in charge' both for Nirn and Earth and for the entire universe.

[Author's Notes: I was asked in an earlier review (for book A), by Petrox, that it would be good to see Balu making use of his SI engineering knowledge. He was an electrical engineer in his previous life, not a mechanical one, but still, I will try to get something more in that direction into the story.

The quote about technology and magic is: 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic' and was stated by Arthur C. Clarke.

Finally, Balu is wrong about Alessia being the key person to declare Talos a god, as Tiber Septim lived in the early Third Era, much later than Alessia. The statement isin there to show that Balu՚s memory is less than perfect.]