Chapter 9: Interlude nine

[4E 526]

Several months after their last diary reading session the three teenage boys sat together in the attic of the huge multi-family mansion, and once they had made sure that the door to the lower areas was properly closed, Jomund, the Nord, sighed and said:

"I am so glad that we finally managed to find the second volume."

"Yeah" Alander, the Bosmer replied. "That has been a long and tedious search, and I had not expected that it would take into this new year."

"But hey," Bha'jhan, the Khajiit added, "we made it and found the book, and if it is as good as the first volume, we'll have quit a few hours of nice reading ahead of us."

"Sure, but who would have expected the book to be hidden between the big stones of that old well."

"Yeah, we searched inside the house mostly, but fortunately one of our sisters mentioned that one of those stones was a little bit loose."

"Do you think that she noticed that we found something there?"

"I don't think so, but I'm not sure. We've been up here many times, and maybe one of our sisters noticed that we aren't exactly cleaning up."

"Besides, it's quite cold up here, and us being here once more might look suspicious."

"Could? I don't know what you mean."

"Easy for you to say; you're a Nord, after all; for a Bosmer, it's really cold."

Alander had fortunately thought to being a warm cloak with him, while Jomund shrugged it off and Bha'jhan, the Khajiit, had his body fur.

"Now, let's start reading, shall we?"

There was silence in the attic for sometime, only interrupted by the occasional turning of pages and the background noise from the cold winter winds blowing around the house. After some time Jomund said:

"It starts kind of slow, doesn't it?"

"What's wrong with meeting friends?"

"Yeah, and we have those scribbled notes again, like this one: 'Nice slow, easy start to this book. Nothing too strenuous, which was comforting, in a way.'"

"Agreed; I am certain that there will be many adventures later on."

"And there's a note about the house plans here: 'You know, it is funny that with the Dwemer tech available, hardly anyone takes advantage of it'."

"Good point. I am glad that people did start to take advantage of that, eventually."

"Right; what they call plumbing sure makes life a little more comfortable."

"Doesn't help much when being outside on a quest and such, like we do at the Companions" Bha'jhan added. "But look, here in the story, they have new whelps at Jorrvaskr!"

"But Irene was already introduced in the first volume, wasn't she?"

"Yes she was, but I like the idea that her magic is accepted. Here, like another one of those notes claims: 'Y'know, it does seem odd that the Companions didn't have at least some sort of healer hanging around Jorrvaskr, even if it was just an alchemist who could mix them potions and tend to their bandages. Never thought of that. I guess they'd expect their members to walk off an amputation or something.'"

"But it's true – the Companions can really benefit from having healers and spell casters among them."

"Yes, but at that time the traditional Nords did not like the idea, I guess."

"And this is different nowadays?"

"It sure is. At Jorrvaskr, they have a full time healer, who can brew potions and also cast restoration spells, and she sometimes even joins the team on larger missions."

"Impressive!"

"Sure is, but let's find out what the next adventure in the diary is!"

Once again there was silence in the attic, and occasionally there was an uttered comment on the events in Shimmermist Cave.

"This Irene lady is cool!"

"She sure is!"

"But Erik is not."

"Why not? He's brave, isn't he?"

"I wouldn't call it brave, but stupid, and there's another comment in the same direction: 'Erik is also a good example of someone who needs to get smacked down a little before he gets in over his head'. Fully agree with that!"

"Hey, aren't Companions supposed to fight bravely?"

"Not like this; Companions are also supposed to survive and to support their comrades."

"Oh, yeah, not quite what he did when he suddenly attacked that century thing…"

"Dwarven Centurion!"

"Why do you know such stuff?"

"Because I paid attention at school."

"They told you at school?"

"Well, not at the regular school, but our private family teacher. He used to be an adventurer when he was younger, don't you remember when he mentioned that?"

"Not that one, no. But, let's keep reading!"

A few minutes later there were a few sighs heard, and Jomund said:

"Wow, he really died? Guess he had it coming, being reckless like this."

"Right, look at that scribbled comment here: 'A tragic end for a bold character, but it was his fault of course. Too much of wishing to impress his father is my reasoning for why he did what he did.'"

"Impressing his father? But his father was in Rorikstead, right? Not sure if this was his main motivation for being like that."

"Maybe more like another comment here: 'Alas, poor Erik, I knew him not well, good of heart but not of brain, he let his need for loot get the better of him and it cost him his life.'?"

"I guess that's more like it. But, this indicates that not all comments were written by the same person?"

"Hey, good point; also judged by the different handwriting, I guess that at least three different people added notes."

"Wow! I haven't noticed that before! Was it like this as well in the first volume?"

"I believe so, yes."

"Maybe that's a sign that a few other people read the diaries before us?"

"I guess that it is, yes."

"Hm, should we also write some comments?"

"No, let's keep the books as they are."

"All right, but I'm curious to read what happens next."

Again there was silence in the attic for some minutes.

"Wow, he's even having a nightmare; was it that bad?"

"Maybe he's just worried and thinks that he could have doe something."

"But at least he's found distraction,with suddenly finding out how some women look at him; took him long enough, if you ask me!"

"Of course, Bha'jhan, you'd say something like this. As if Nord women would even remotely consider a male Khajiit attractive."

"Hey, some do, that's a fact!"

"Jomund, Bha'jhan's got a point, you know? Just look at our family here, and the mix of races we have in here."

"Between men and Khajiit?"

"Yes, that, too. Hey, our sister Irzaba – you have noticed that she is not a pure blooded Khajiit, right?"

"Well, yes, but Khajiit are born in many different forms, depending on the moons and such; we've learned that in school."

"Sure, but Irzaba has some Nord or Imperial blood in her, I'm sure."

"You really think so?"

"I'm positive brother."

Once more that three brothers had something to think about and were quiet for some time, until they eventually read on. Jomund started grinning all of a sudden and laughed:

"Some seems to consider ore mining funny!"

"Why that? It's hard work."

"But look at that scribbled note here: 'HAH! "Ore mining was more than just pressing 'E' on the keyboard." That got a laugh out of me.' "

"Honestly, what is a keyboard?"

"Another one of those strange words, I guess, but at least Balu and the person who commented seem to know."

"So, what now? Is Balu going to stay in Whiterun and taking care of the house construction, and the rest of the book will be boring to read?"

"I can't imagine that, really. I bet that further adventures will find him if he wants them or not."

"I agree."

"And don't forget that Jarl Balgruuf wants to talk to him on the next day – maybe something exciting coming up?"

[Author's Notes: The next couple of updates will likely be delayed or skipped due to my upcoming vacation; I will get back to a weekly schedule before mid October.]