Chapter 2: Old and new friends

[21st – 22nd of First Seed 4E 202]

In the first few weeks of this year, 4E 202, I had been in Windhelm to meet Jarl Ulfric, with the purpose to get some good and current information on his policies and views, as Jarl Balgruuf the Greater had asked me to do. During my time there, I had not only had several conversations with the Jarl of Eastmarch, but also got acquainted with some of the citizens in city and hold, even helping them with some of their problems; this had culminated in a raid on Uttering Hills Cave, with the result of Jordis and myself being captured by bandits for a short time before we could get free, arresting the bandits and collecting the loot, including some special items Windhelm citizens had missed. Once I had completed this task, the Jarl of Whiterun had been happy about my achievements, conversations and investigations; as Khajiit were not normally allowed in many cities, including Windhelm, he valued my report more than that from, let's say, a Nord, although I had to assume that he had other sources as well. Contrary to the game, changes had happened in Windhelm, and living conditions for the local Dunmer and work conditions for the Argonians at the docks there had actually improved in the last few years, at least partially driven by Brunwulf Free-Winter, who was now a Thane of Eastmarch.

As he had promised before, Jarl Balgruuf the Greater had sent his steward with me to scout for building sites close to the city in the last week of Morning Star. My requirements, or better wishes, had called for a site outside of the city, but not too far away, with some access to water and to the plains, so that my cubs could go hunting whenever they wanted. The Jarl had further asked me to plan the house big enough so that there was a set of rooms for the Dragonborn whenever she needed it, which implied space for her housecarls as well; eventually she might even 'acquire' a third or even fourth housecarl. Fiona herself had not mentioned something in that direction before she had left to Riften, but I assumed that she'd happy to also have a home. With her business she would likely not have much time to build or buy a house of her own, and I promised to oblige. As a compensation for planing additional space for Fiona and entourage, Jarl Balgruuf promised to make sure that I got most of my building material for a good price with some rebate. In addition, he was going to send the city's master carpenter from time to time to supervise the construction itself.

After some deliberation we – Jarl, steward and myself – had agreed on a site which was located just west of the Whiterun stables and north of the main road, nestled between the two roads there. There were remnants of a couple of small fields there, now mostly overgrown, and a small hut, and I had been told that the previous owner had left and moved to another hold, and since that time nobody had bothered to maintain or cultivate the area. It was more than large enough, there was a small pond at the back fed from some of the water which came down from the city's Cloud District, and there were plenty of options to have a garden or even a small field for planting something. While I had done some gardening in my previous life, I was not very familiar with tending to Skyrim plants, but Mia, the alchemist, or one of the farmers, maybe from Pelagia Farm on the other side of the road, could certainly help me with that. Mia had mentioned a few times that having a special herb garden for plants which did not usually grow in the area, but had desired alchemical effects, would be something she'd love to have. The plot's west side bordered on the tundra, and my two saber cats would be able to go hunting on their own whenever they wanted without having to cross any cultivated land or so.

When I came close to the site today, after my morning run and meeting Alvor and Faendal from Riverwood on the road, work for the day had been already started and the excavation was in full progress. I wanted to have a basement, and a basement I would get, even if it took quite some effort in the beginning; a floor plate would have been cheaper and easier, but that was not what I wanted. Most of what the workers removed was soft soil, partially even sand, with only few rocks, and it might not have been a good idea to build a house directly on that anyway. About two meters down we hit solid rock, but there was no need to dig deeper; I wanted to have the ground floor a meter or so above ground anyway just to be safe, in case of flooding or excessive snow or so. The excavation for the basement was more than 90% done at this time, and I had started to bring big stones over from the quarries, so that wall construction could commence as soon as we were ready. I had, though, decided that the basement did not need to stretch beyond the entire area of the planned house. Originally I had thought about house mods like 'Elysium Estate' and 'Skyfall Estate', and those had huge basements, mostly used a trophy rooms and bedrooms for followers. For me, the cellar did not have to be that large, but there should be sufficient space for storage at least. So far I had kept some special items I had found in the Jorrvaskr attic room on a few small shelves, but I was soon going to run out of space there. While I did not know yet if it made any sense at all to store some items, I'd certainly want to keep some of them, like the dragon claws for those special doors. Also, there might be a need to have a kind of trophy room for the Dragonborn, if she felt inclined to actually use such a room. All bedrooms, though, were planned above ground, more precisely on the upper floor, except for housecarls – I would want to have at least some of them have their room on the ground floor, close to the main entrance.

Getting enough stones for the main building would not be an issue, as there were a couple of quarries at the foot of the hills to the south, so that I thought I had the basics covered. One aspect had bothered me for some time, and that was plumbing. Most buildings did not have any of that, and at first I thought that plumbing by itself, with pipes for transporting water, was more or less unknown in general, but there were those massive pipes in Dwemer ruins, although I did not really know what purpose they served or had served. Had nobody thought about replicating that, on a smaller scale at least? When I had asked my housecarls about that earlier, Antonius had replied:

"No, this is not used in general, and it seems not to be common knowledge. In Whiterun, people help themselves to fresh water from wherever they can get it, like from the ponds close to the temple or the creek flowing down from Dragonsreach; at least here in the city, access to water is not a problem."

"But what about waste water?"

"That's a different issue, I believe. I'm not really an expert on those things, but I believe that I know somebody who could help."

"You do, really?"

"Yes, have you ever been in Markarth?"

"No, I have not, but I have heard about the city. It's the capital city of The Reach, right?"

"Indeed, and it is partially built on top of a Dwemer ruin. For some time, at least since the end of the Third Era, some people have researched the Dwemer technology, and they have been able to adopt at least some of it, specifically in the Understone Keep. There is a scholar called Calcelmo there, court wizard to the Jarl, and he has studied the Falmer and the Dwemer language for a long time. He is a high elf, and he has probably spent a couple of centuries on that topic at least. His nephew, Aicantar, has focused more on the practical aspects, and I happen to know that he is eager to find a chance to implement some of his expertise in a building outside of Markarth, too. The Jarl insists of only using proven methods in his city and hold, though, and Aicantar has been searching for a place where he can apply some unconventional methods, too. I bet that he would not mind working here, if we asked him."

"Would he be willing to leave Markarth for some time?"

"For the right opportunity, probably yes, but I'd need to ask, of course."

Of course Antonius knew somebody; he knew a lot of people, most of them females, too. This one, however, turned out to be a relative of Calcelmo, the court wizard in Markarth. I had not been to that city yet, but of course I knew Calcelmo from the game, known for his knowledge of Dwemer and Falmer language; he had a large museum in Markarth, dedicated to Dwemer artifacts of all kind. While Calcelmo, as Antonius had told me, mostly focused on theoretical research, his cousin, Aicantar, specialized in practical applications. As a matter of fact, as I had just heard, this cousin was looking for a larger object he might used to demonstrate his skills, but the good citizens of Markarth seemed to be happy with what they had.

Antonius had traveled to Markarth, and when he had been back a week later, he had two Altmer with him, and he had introduced them as Aicantar, Calcelmo՚s cousin, and Cinwiril, Aicantar՚s wife; they had only recently got married, as they had claimed, although 'recently' might have a slightly different implication for Altmer. Cinwiril was, as I got told, working with Aicantar and sharing the same interests, and they both wanted to talk to me and discuss my plans and options. The four of us had talked for hours and days, and eventually Calcelmo՚s cousin had decided that my plans were going to be more than good enough for what he and his wife had in mind, and I was happy to work with them. Soon he was gone again, and he told me that he'd need to get some of his equipment plus a lot of pipe parts, and he'd return with one or two carts, while Cinwiril stayed for now.

The two Altmer and I had been able to make a deal about the financial side, too. I was going to provide food and beds for them, and during construction and also later, once the house was done, I was going to allow occasional visitors so that the Altmer՚s work could be shown properly. As he was eager to work on such a project, he was not going to charge money, and he was to provide most of the raw materials we need, mostly Dwemer metal. He claimed that he got most of that for free from some Dwemer ruins in and around Markarth. In order to prepare the metal properly, a forge was required, and I had started to build one in the backyard, at a safe distance to the house. Originally I had not planned a forge, as Warmaiden՚s was not far, but I understood that the good man wanted to do the preparations himself on site. Smelting of scrap metal could be done there, however, so that an additional smelter was not a requirement.

For now, everything seemed to be on track at my site, and when lunch time came up, I went into the city and made my way to the Bannered Mare, the larger and more popular of the two inns in Whiterun. Alvor and Faendal had concluded their business and were already inside, and I joined them at their table. Hulda, the innkeeper, smiled when she saw me:

"B'lushona, the salmon is almost ready; just a few more minutes."

"Great, thank you, Hulda. How is life for you today?"

"Quite all right, B'lushona. In general, I enjoy this work well enough, but sometimes I wonder if I'm ready to retire; I have been running this inn for a long time. I've been thinking of selling the inn to Ysolda, maybe."

"Really? The Bannered Mare wouldn't be the same without you."

"True, I guess. Well, maybe I could at least take Ysolda in as some kind of junior partner; not sure yet. But look – Saadia seems to be bringing out the salmon now!"

Indeed; I had arrived right on time, and our dishes were served by the pretty Redguard maid; she actually smiled when she came to our table. With others around, I could not talk freely, but I did ask:

"So, Saadia, you plan to stay here for the time being? Found your home here?"

"Yes, I'm going to stay. Hulda is a good surrogate mother and boss, and I could not ask for much more. Besides, I've grown to love cooking, and Hulda՚s given me some freedom for experiments. Whenever you feel like you want to taste something different, just let me know."

For a moment I wasn't sure if she was taking about food only, but I guessed that she probably was. Anyway, we dug in, and once again I indulged; salmon with sides was really great, specifically when expertly prepared in an inn. In my earlier life I had frequently had rice with fish, but rice, if it did exist at all on this planet, certainly needed higher temperatures than those in Skyrim. Eventually, we were done eating, and I shook hands with my two friends; they were going to buy a few wares they needed and travel back to Riverwood.

For today, there was not much I could do, and so I got back to work I did on the side to help financing my house construction. I had some money reserves, sure, and my share from Swindler's Den plus the money I had found in Stony Creek had helped a lot. Most of the money was already gone, though, and in the last couple of months I had started to search for profitable work. With the civil war and all, demand for armor and weapons was always high, and while my skills in smithing and such were not good, I could help to supply the blacksmiths with raw material, in particular ore. Both Eorlund and Adrianne were more than happy when they did not have to get their ore from the veins, and while there were some iron ore veins conveniently close to the city, the next usable corundum ore veins were just a little bit further away. I had managed to get a handcart built which was suited for my size, large enough to take a significant amount of ore, but small enough that I could pull it even across uneven ground or slightly uphill, like into the city. As often as I could manage, like on this afternoon, I took my cart out to one of the veins, got ore enough to fill it, and pulled it into the city, right to Warmaiden՚s or the Skyforge. The former was easier, as it was located right after the city gate, and the latter was challenging, as I needed to park the cart in the market area and hand carry the ore pieces up to the Skyforge. Eorlund knew about that effort, of course, and he paid extra for that. I almost felt bad about taking money from him, as I was a Companion, but he assured me that most of his work was not for the Companions, but for the guards, and he got paid for that work, too.

I had some additional income as well. Once or twice a week I went hunting on the plains, with one of my housecarls and my cubs. We usually went for elk, and most of the time we managed to kill a properly sized one. Sometimes I used my crossbow, and sometimes I hunted the old fashioned but funny way with my saber cats. Anyway, the elks we got were too heavy for most people to get back into the city, but I usually draped the dead animal around my shoulders and off we went. Naturally, fully grown elks were way too heavy to be carried, but we went for adolescent ones anyway. First stop was always Warmaiden՚s; Doria, Adrianne՚s assistant, was an expert in skinning animals properly, and they could always use the hide for leather and other purposes. The meat I sold either to Anoriath in the market or to Hulda in the Bannered Mare, and of course I got nicely paid for my effort. At times I also delivered some meat to the kitchen in Jorrvaskr, for free of course.

With all of that my days were quite full, and in the evenings I could feel the day's working in my muscles, but that was not bad. However, I still found the time for some other activities, too. At least once a week I bought some nice bread from the city's bakery, and I also made it a habit to browse the local book store on occasion. I probably should have done this earlier, but eventually I decided to ask for the book related to the commandments of the Divines, and Tiberius Dravarol, the store's owner, pointed out a book called 'Nine Commands of the Eight Divines'. Wait, Eight Divines? But of course, he was not supposed to show and sell books where Talos was mentioned. On the other hand, there was this priest of Talos publicly speaking all of the time, and this was apparently tolerated; for some reason the Thalmor had not arrested him yet. I kept my voice low and asked:

"My dear sir, wouldn't you have an older copy with all Ten Commands in it?"

The proprietor smiled and asked me if I wanted to have the simple version or one with some illustrations and additional comments, and I asked for the latter. He excused himself, and when he was back a few minutes later, he gave me a wrapped book without further comments, asked for 35 septims, and requested that I did not tell anybody that I had bought the book here. I understood; he was concerned for his safety, and he did not want the Thalmor to learn that he sold 'heretical' books. More than thirty septims was a lot of money for a book, but I decided to spend it; I intended to learn more about the Tamrielic Divines and compare their commands to those of my own God and my own religion, when I had some time. I had what I had come for, and I was looking forward to finding the time to read the details and think about them. After all, I was almost sure that some of the Divines who had shown themselves in the vision I had had back on Earth had used phrases from that book.

It turned out, though, that reading my new book would have to wait. In the next morning, after I had spent another night in Jorrvaskr, Vilkas found me, and he said:

"Shield-Brother, there have been disturbing reports from some of the farms east of the city. During the night, the farmers sometimes see strange creatures approaching from the east, and a few have been attacked by them already. The farmers believe that those creatures might come from Shimmermist Cave, and a few farmhands have gone missing; in addition, the farmers claim that some of their valuables have been stolen. So, the Jarl wants us to investigate. I want you to go with Aela, Ria, Farkas, and our whelps; Aela will be in charge of the group."

"Of course, Vilkas, I will be honored to join the group. When do we leave?"

"The others are already getting ready."

"All right, I am on my way."

Just on the day before I had mused about the nice time here and no quest pressure. However, as I was a Companion, I had to expect the need to do Companion quests occasionally, and I had to admit that it was good to go out with my Shield-Siblings from time to time to do something good. Besides, I had been mostly in Whiterun since my extended trip to Windhelm earlier this year. We'd see how this might work out.

[Author's Notes: I am not even sure if the books 'The Ten Commands of the Nine Divines' and 'The Nine Commands of the Eight Divines' exist in the 'Skyrim' game, and thus I simply adapted some lore from the 'Oblivion' game and ESO in here.]