Chapter 7: A nice picnic

[7th – 8th of Rain's Hand 4E 202]

The Companions and I had returned from Shimmermist Cave, and on the way back we had lost Erik to a saber cat attack. I started to have nightmares about that, and I had tried to distract myself with work, like delivering ore to the smithies in the city. As advised by Ulfberth War-Bear, I had also started to pay more attention to the environment, in particular women, around me, and I had noticed that there might be some who actually found me, or maybe just my body, kind of attractive.

The next day started with some rain, but the sun was expected to come out around noon or early in the afternoon. There weren't any modern meteorologists around, and there was neither weather radar nor weather satellites, but some people in the city had observed local weather patterns for decades and could predict such things with confidence. Some time ago I had learned that Jarl Balgruuf the Greater even employed a couple of weather experts, and I could understand that this was important for something military campaigns, but in particular for farming. Local farmers had probably gained their own understanding of weather patterns over time, though.

I spent most of the day making money, this time by helping workers to get large boulders to some section of the city wall which was supposed to be reinforced. Today, a section close to the ground needed repairs, and so I helped pushing a cart with stones to the right location and lift the boulders into place, while the workers fixed it in place. The pay for that was not great at all, but it was always good to do something which could be considered community service; as a Thane of Whiterun, it did not hurt to be seen helping with such tasks.

Later on, when I was already getting a little sweaty and was thinking about a quick bath, a large cart approached the city, just passing the stables when I had just quickly looked at progress on my site, and just before the cart approached the first outer gate, the horse was spooked by something, maybe a bird, made a couple of quick steps sideways and caused one of the wagon wheels getting stuck in a depression filled with mud. The rain of the morning had made the mud quite wet and slippery, and the horse pulling the cart was unable to get the cart out of that place, even with lots of prodding. The driver got off and looked at the situation, and naturally I offered my help. Two of the workers on my site and I pushed from behind and helped the struggling horse, and after some attempts we managed to get the cart back onto the road. Now I had a look at the load, and when the driver noticed this, he told me:

"You are curious what's so heavy? Here, have a look; that's a load of coal for the smithies in Whiterun. Well, Warmaiden՚s mostly; the Skyforge doesn't need it."

He pulled the cover back, and indeed there was a load of black coal, or at least it looked like that. I had seen similar carts before, but never paid much attention. It was really amazing; I had been in Skyrim for more than half a year now, but I still found details I had not thought about before. I was curious about the coal:

"So, where is this coal from?"

"Sorry, I am not talking about that. The Jarl wants to keep this a secret, and he does not want to have people swarming one of those places; you will need to talk to him if you want to know."

"All right, I understand."

Well, probably there were not so many known places, likely mines, where black coal could be mined, and I really did not have to know where they were. I could have offered my help for mining, but working underground was not my preference; this was assuming, of course, that black coal could not be found above ground, easily available for surface mining, here in Skyrim. In Germany, black coal had been available mostly in the Ruhr area, but deep underground, whereas some other locations on Earth, like parts of Australia, had it close to the surface. Deposits here on Tamriel were unknown to me, of course; I did not recall that the game lore had covered that.

After a quick and relaxing bath in mid afternoon I strolled through the city's market area and saw that Carlotta looked tired and worried. I wasn't a good reader of people's feelings and facial expressions at all, but Carlotta and I were kind of friends and had brief talks with each other frequently, with many of those initiated by her daughter Mila, who seemed to adore me. Carlotta looked weary, and on her face I could see that something was bothering her; thus I approached her and asked:

"Carlotta, is something bothering you?"

"Oh, B'lushona, no, not really, but it has been one of those days. I shouldn't really be complaining to you, but sales have been slow, some men made rude remarks, one of the wooden boards at my market stall broke, and I am just feeling exhausted and ready to rest."

I pondered that for a few seconds and then just decided to suggest:

"Carlotta, I wonder if Mila and you would like to spend the evening with me? I would enjoy having some company for supper, and there is a nice patch of grass on my construction site where we could eat. The sun has been warming the grass during the last few hours, and I believe that we could sit outside for a little while together."

Her face lighted up and she asked:

"Are you serious about that?"

"Yes, I am, of course!"

"That would be lovely! Mila, what do you think?"

"Of course, Mama! Balu, will Hanni and Nanni be with us there?"

"They are hunting right now, but I am sure that they will be back soon."

That was that, and Carlotta decided to close down her market stall a little early. I helped her to carry some of the leftovers into her house, and then the three of us walked out of the city towards my place, with Mila smiling and holding one of my paws with her hand. Although I had not known that I'd invite Carlotta, I had had vague plans to find somebody to spend the evening with, and I had tasked my housecarls to make some preparations. A few blankets were placed on the grass, and in the center there were plates will all kind of food and drinks. On the north side there were a few rocks one could lean to, and the sun was still shining brightly, so that sitting outside for an hour or two should be comfortable enough.

Hanni and Nanni just returned from the Whiterun plains when we arrived, and when they noticed Mila, they both jumped her so that the girl fell backwards into the grass. She giggled, and the three of them had lots of fun together frolicking and cuddling. Mila and my cubs were best friends, and I was happy to see that. Carlotta asked with a little bit of concern:

"Say, are your saber cats still safe to play with?"

"Oh yes, for Mila at least. Strangers might better want to keep their distance, but Hanni and Nanni have been friends with Mila for a long time, and they'd never hurt her."

My two 'cubs' had grown a lot, and each of them was probably at least twice Mila՚s weight. By now, they were fully able to take care of themselves; they could just run off into the Whiterun plains and find something to hunt, and recently they had started to go for larger prey, too. When I had found them, they had usually gone for rabbits, but now they were keen on small deer, like single smaller animals which had separated from a herd for some reason. Those might still be difficult to catch for a single adolescent saber cat, but they always worked together. Sometimes I conjured Spirit, my familiar, as well, and she seemed to be able to even teach my cubs something about hunting. I had to admit that I was amazed at the sight of my two real saber cats and the conjured one hunting together as a team. I had also noticed that Spirit seemed to grow at about the same speed as Hanni and Nanni were growing, like they were siblings, which was not something I had observed in the game, but seemed to fit. They mostly drank water from a creek or pond, but they still enjoyed the occasional bowl of milk when it was offered. Adopting Hanni and Nanni had been one of the best decisions I had ever made.

Right here and now, Carlotta and I sat on the blankets together with my housecarls Jordis and Antonius, while Mia was still busy with Hanni and Nanni. While Mila was at times almost fully buried by the two saber cats, I could see and hear that they were tickling and fondling each other. Mila used her hands and bare feet to scratch the cats' bellies, necks and shoulders, while Hanni and Nanni used their paws and tongues to 'attack' almost every part of bare skin they could find on the girl's body. Fortunately, both of my cubs had good control over their claws and were well able to keep them retracted when playing. Judged by looks and sounds, the three had lots of fun together; Mila giggled and laughed almost non-stop, while the two saber cats could be heard purring.

While the housecarls had done the picnic preparations, I had explicitly invited them to sit with us. As soon as we started to eat, Carlotta՚s daughter joined us as well, and the saber cat cubs got busy with what they had caught before. Carlotta seemed to be content just sitting, eating, and closing her eyes for some time, and she did not appear to be in a mood to talk much; her daughter, on the other hand, was a real chatterbox. When she was not cuddling with Hanni and Nanni, she asked all kinds of questions and made all kinds of remarks on many different topics, and eventually Jordis took her on her lap and started to talk to her. I did not get all of the conversation, but Mila seemed to enjoy the attention she was getting, and I could see and hear that my housecarls also seemed to enjoy talking to the girl.

"Oh Mama," Mila mentioned after we had eaten, "I so wish that Daddy could still be with us!"

"And so do I, girl, so do I" her mother replied.

I looked at her with a raised brow, indicating that I did not fully understand; after all, I had no information on Mila՚s father. Carlotta apparently realized that and explained:

"You may not be aware of that, but it is not a secret. A couple of years ago my husband, also an Imperial like me, joined the Imperial legion, and a few months later I got word that he had died in a skirmish between them and Stormcloaks. I never learned any details, but later somebody told me that he had been caught in an ambush; General Tullius might have been aware of the risk, but refused to send more soldiers. I cannot know if all of that is true or now, but my husband won't be back. Since that time, I have tried to cope, and running my market stand and raising Mila can be a challenge. Fortunately she is in school on some days, at least."

I nodded, and I understood that being a single mother could be tough. In addition to that, potential suitors for Carlotta might not be willing to accept a child, though Mila really was a nice and friendly girl. I certainly would not mind to get a girl like Mila added to a good looking woman like Carlotta, but I knew quite well that my own opinions and preferences frequently deviated from mainstream. Above and beyond that, my interest in Carlotta was not really an erotic one. I valued her as a nice person to talk to and a friend, and her daughter and I had a very special friendship. A man could have a good friendship with a woman and her daughter without ending up in bed together with said woman, right?

The sun was almost about to set now, and the Imperial lady decided that it was about time to get back to her own home. Mila and Carlotta said goodbye, and Jordis insisted to walk them back to their home, while Antonius and I stayed. As soon as the three were gone, my Imperial housecarl looked at me and asked:

"Not the right one for you, correct?"

"Right one for what?"

"You know, for your bed."

"Antonius! Not everyone thinks like you do! But no, I don't have those kind of feelings for her."

"Having fun with a woman in bed does not actually require special feelings, you know."

"For me, it does. Yes, I realize that many think different, but getting a woman into my bed without actually feeling very special for her and knowing that she feels special for me is not something conceivable for me."

"Well, then you will have to wait, I guess."

I nodded, and once more I was glad that Antonius was brave enough to speak frankly with me, as I had encouraged and asked him to do. It had been good to spend time with Carlotta and her daughter, and indeed, I saw her as a friend, and not a potential bed mate. Deep in my thoughts I started to clean up the remaining food. Some of that should have been placed in a refrigerator, but of course those devices did not exist in Tamriel. Maybe one could have a well isolated small room and add frost salts or just cast frost on the walls? I should ask somebody on the options for keeping food cold. I kept that thought in mind while I prepared for going to bed.

In the next morning I decided to visit the local school again. I had made it a habit to go there at least once or twice a month, and most of the kids loved to see me there.

On this day there was a history lesson, and it just so happened that Minolewen and Nazdura, the school teachers, had planned to talk about the events in Cyrodiil at the end of the Third Era. This was perfect, as those events were part of the 'Oblivion' game and thus well known to me, unless, of course, history was significantly different here. Minolewen showed a book titled 'The Oblivion Crisis', and once she had started to mention the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim VII, I offered to take over and tell the story from the perspective of the Hero of Kvatch. I had done the main quest in the 'The Elder Scrolls IV' game frequently enough, and while some details might not be exactly like they had really happened on Nirn, I could see the kids listening to me attentively. I covered the hero's escape from the prison area, his conversation with Jauffre in the Weynon Priory, and his first encounter with an Oblivion gate close to Kvatch. While I tried to not elaborate too much on the eerie atmosphere in the Oblivion realms and the scary fighting in there, I could still see some of the children shuddering. Naturally, I did not get the entire story done, and when I had finished the part where Martin Septim had safely arrived in Cloud Ruler Temple, the teacher stopped me:

"B'lushona, it is really amazing how you can tell such a story, almost like you experienced all of that on your own. However, let's stop for today, and, if you'd be so kind, continue tomorrow, please?"

"Oh, of course, I guess that I lost track of time."

So, I did have to come back on the next day, and I tried to skip more details, specifically the ones less suited for kids. I managed to get to the attack on Bruma, and I completed the story, ending with Martin's fight against Mehrunes Dagon, on the third day. I was kind of impressed by myself, and I had not realized that I could tell stories like this, specifically in a way to make them interesting for kids to listen. Minolewen was apparently very much impressed, too:

"I don't know how you do that, but I would not have been able to spin and tell the story like this just based on that book here. How do you manage to do that?"

I really could not tell the truth; less than a handful of people in Skyrim were aware of my background, and I planned to keep it like this; thus, I just claimed a vivid imagination and fantasy, which was not a lie, either. Before I left school on the third day, Silvia, Adrianne՚s daughter, asked me if I could find the time to show up at the forge at a time of my convenience, and I promised to stop by in the afternoon.

When I had eaten lunch in Jorrvaskr and rested a little bit, I walked to Warmaiden՚s, and Silvia, who was standing outside next to her mother, beamed at me and said:

"Mum, Balu here told that story about Emperor Uriel Septim VII and the Hero of Kvatch in such a great way! It was fun listening to him for the last few days!"

"So, you have been at school again? Looks like you made friends there once more; not only my daughter seems to be quite fond of you, I have heard. Now, there is something Silvia and I would like to talk to you about. See, my daughter not only learns tanning, but she recently found out that she has some talent for enchanting. We have an enchanting table in a shed behind the house, and while none of us can really make it work, Silvia can."

The girl chimed in:

"Yes, I have already put some enchantments or iron daggers, and it worked! Now, I'd love to practice enchantments on some jewelry, like rings and necklaces, too."

"And the problem is," her mother added, "that we don't have silver or gold ingots around. We are focused on weapons and armor, of course, and for those we don't need silver or gold. Occasionally we can buy a few pieces of ore or ingots from a trader or a caravan, but we need more."

"So you'd like to get me fetch some silver or gold ore for you?"

"Yes, that would be appreciated. We don't have spare time to collect the ore, but I know that we can smelt the gold and silver ore, as I have done this a few times before. Jewelry does not sell well in general; few people are willing to spend money on that, but with enchantments this is somewhat different."

"Like farmers appreciating a ring to fortify stamina for their hard work on the fields?"

"Yes, like that, or a soldier to fortify heavy armor and such. If Silvia can improve her skills, we might be able to sell enchanted weapons and armor, but she needs more practice first, and simple jewelry might be best for that."

"Well, I'd have to ask your father, the steward, about known veins for silver and gold, I guess, and there is the matter of payment, too."

"Don't worry about the latter; even unenchanted gold and silver rings are valuable enough to allow plenty for the ore itself, if we can find buyers. And about the locations, I know about a silver ore vein southwest of the city to get started, but be careful, as I have heard that there are plenty of wild animals around."

"Fair enough. I do not have specific plans for tomorrow yet, so that I might as well start there."

"Thank you so much, B'lushona!"

That had been unexpected, but not unwelcome. Unless things were different from the game, silver or even gold ore should be worth much more than iron ore, and I might get paid nicely for bringing some. Maybe Silvia could indeed also learn to enchant armor, and this would be something I'd love to have on mine, for better protection. That was enough motivation for now, and I hurried back to my site to join the craftsmen and help with some of the tasks which needed lots of heavy lifting and such, where my muscles could be properly used.

[Author's Notes: Indeed, Balu will have to wait, as Antonius stated.]