29th of Second Seed

We're back in Falkreath and selling off a bunch more gear from bandits and Forsworn. We're headed to literally the other side of Skyrim, hunting for this animal trainer that Isran wants us to find. This has not been lost on Kaidan who keeps reminding me that I said that this is what I wanted. Damn it, man. It's almost what I wanted. I wanted a nice leisurely trip with some hunting, testing of beds, and plenty of time to lounge around. What I have is a bit of a rush to try to get to someone's last known location before they move on. I've heard he was spotted at Clearspring Tarn, so we'll go check it out. If it ends up being a wasted trip, I may have a few choice words for Isran myself. My limit for crusty jackasses is one and that's spot is already taken up by Galmar. I have to deal with Galmar but I don't necessarily have to deal with Isran. At least spending time on the road keeps me from having to deal with him in person.

30th of Second Seed

We're back at Frostfall and I'm swapping out more of the daedric trinkets. The girls are delighted to see us and pestering Kaidan to teach them some new skills. All three of them are outside now, swatting at each other with wooden swords and laughing themselves silly. Ralof's been busy and most of the emergency escape tunnel is done. They haven't had any problems with vampires or Thalmor, but there have been a couple of dragon attacks. We lost one of the guards to a dragon. We'll stay an extra day so that I can enchant all their armor so that we don't lose anyone else.

I took Ralof and Kaidan with me into Whiterun to Jorrvaskr where Ria finally killed something more interesting than a bear. A dragon attacked Whiterun and tried to burn the Gildergreen. Ria and the guards attacked the thing and killed it. There's some damage to the pergola but that's about it. The new system with the alarm bells to warn everyone to get inside did wonders and this time no one got hurt in the attack. It felt good to to be able to kick off the Chant of Triumph and have a good, mead-soaked party.

Vilkas wants to recruit Ralof and I've told Ralof that if he's interested, he should do it. As long as he can keep an eye on Frostfall, I don't mind and it would certainly get him better training that what I've been able to provide, chasing all over Skyrim, Solstheim and Bruma. Ralof is another one of the people I trust at my back. Ralof snorted and said he's not that famous and that he doubts Galmar or Ulfric even know his name. That's when I had to stop Ralof and explain some things. First, not only did both Ulric and Galmar know him by name but that they were impressed with him. Second, being a Companion isn't about being famous to get in. I can still hear Kodlak on the day I walked into Jorrvaskr, a complete unknown in Skyrim. "Sometimes the famous come to us. Sometimes men and women come to us to seek their fame. It makes no difference. What matters is their heart." Ralof, my brother, you have plenty of heart. Ralof said he'd think about it. I suggested that he do more than just think and he laughed.

31st of Second Seed

We've stopped in Ivarstead at the inn. The Merry Band is having a big feast. We've decided, somehow, that Talesin needs a naming day party. While we were talking at dinner around the fire, it came out that he's never had one. Everyone's been in a scramble to make or get him a present. He's come a long way from being just another Justicar. If I'm being honest, he gives me a bit of hope that there's still some common decency buried in the rest of the Altmer. I've made him an amulet that will boost his magica. I've also told him that from now on the 31st of Second Seed is his naming day party and I hope he has many more with us. Kai carved him a little wooden dragon. Rayya, with some help from Kai, made him a Satakal bracelet. Jenassa made him a nice selection of poisons. Inigo got him a dagger to go with Berwhale the Avenger.

From what he's said about his father, that man is an ass. I somehow need to make sure that he gets included in whatever we do to round up the Thalmor. Talesin thinks that once we start hunting them in their homeland, it will be like chasing rats in Riften. I suspect he's right, but if we can break their back, rub their nose in being not-so-superior hard enough, maybe that's how we save all the Altmer from this. Forcing them to give up their delusions of grandeur won't be easy, but it's better than an Altmer genocide, which was my original plan. Having gotten to know some Altmer at the Mage's College and Talesin, I just can't do it. Not all of them are guilty and many of them have suffered as much as the rest of us from the Thalmor. I'm still wondering what Kodlak's message meant. I can only assume that it will present itself in time.

1st of Midyear

We're in Riften now, at the Bee and Barb. Everyone is drinking and having a good time when that waste of man, Bynjolf started hitting on me and trying to get me to help him frame one of the merchants for theft. Kai was just going to pound him into Oblivion and back but I told Kai to let me handle it. I launched into rather a long rant about everything I thought was wrong with Brynjolf, right in the middle of the taproom at the Bee. I started off by telling him that he wasn't bad looking on the surface, but inside he was ugly and rotten to the core, worse than hargraven. If he wasn't such a rotten, slimy eel, maybe a woman might be interested, but I've scraped more interesting things off the bottom of my boot. Brynjolf had this look like he wanted to stab me, and if I'm being honest, I was hoping he'd try it. Perfect excuse to put that dog down without getting a bounty. I gave him a nasty, wolfish grin and his hand moved away from his dagger. I ended up by telling him to scurry back to his sewer with the rest of the rats down in the Ratway. Brynjolf made the mistake of asking me what I thought I knew about the Ratway. I told him not to make me pay a second visit to the Ratway to clear out the trash. His eyes got a big when I said that and he left.

I'm the Harbinger of the Companions. I'm not a thief and I'm not framing an innocent man. I'll end up dealing with them one of these days. They just haven't made it to the top of my to-do list yet.

3rd of Midyear

We made it Clearspring Tarn and Gunmar is no where to be found. We scoured the place and he's already cleared out and moved on. Fortunately, we ran into a group of hunters who had been hunting with him to kill a big bear who'd been killing livestock and people. They told us that he's left for Solstheim and Horker Island. Kaidan's amused and took the chance to remind me that I'm getting the trip that I asked for. I asked if he was ever going to get tired of reminding me of that and he just laughed. Now we're off to Windhelm to see if we can catch a ship into Raven Rock.

5th of Midyear

We're in Windhelm and back at Candle Hearth Hall, where I suppose in some ways, Kaidan and I got started. We're staying in the very room where I first called him Dov Vahloki. Ulfric sent one of the guards to ask when we'll be going back to Bruma. I had to reply that I don't know yet since I don't know how long it's going to take to get this mess with the vampires sorted out. When I said vampires, the guard said that there'd been a few attacks even in Windhelm itself. He said he was glad someone was doing something about it. Then he mentioned that one of the bar maids from Candle Hearth had been murdered recently and it seemed like it might be a necromancer at work. That might bear looking into. I don't like having necromancers operating that closely to Ulfric. We can do that once we're back from Solstheim.

When we ended up in the same room, Kaidan got this huge grin on his face. "Oh, my beautiful dragon... Now I can do all the things I wanted to do the last time we were here." When I asked what he meant by that, I got another of his sideways looks and lazy smiles. "Oh, lass. I just wanted to kiss you all over until you weren't sad any more." When I asked what he meant by that, he offered to demonstrate and we almost got kicked out of the inn because I was so engrossed in what he was doing that I forgot to change my shout.

Nothing like having half the guards in Windhelm bursting into your room to kill a mood. Ah, well, lesson learned. Now Ulfric's got something else to bust my chops about.

6th of Midyear

I got called to Ulfric's palace, just me and not Kaidan, and he quickly hauled me into his war room and shut the door. He turned to face me, frowning. "What's this I hear about you shouting in my city?" "It wasn't intentional." "How do you shout unintentionally?" "The usual way." Damn that man, he made me explain it. "It's good to see you happy," Ulfric says, laughing at my discomfort, "I was half-hoping I'd be the one to put that smile back on your face."

Wha...

Ulfric laughed at my shock and confusion. "I thought you knew," Ulfric told me, "I was certain that I'd said it loud enough for you to hear, when you were leaving after you punched me in the jaw. It takes some serious stones to punch a jarl. I knew then that if I ever thought I had the slightest chance with you, I'd take it. Your mad run almost brought you here. If you'd made it all the way here, I'd be the one to make you shout unintendedly. I'd have scooped you up and carried you straight to my bed where I'd have kept you until you weren't grieving any more. No matter how long it took."

I just stared at him, "I was still married to Eric." "Bah! I knew that wasn't going to last forever. I knew something would happen, sooner or later," Ulfric shrugged, "I didn't know what but I knew something would. You'd have to be a fool not to see it. Eric didn't make you take care of yourself. Eric was letting you burn yourself out and him with you. You're stronger than he was so you'd have burned him out first. You were too much for him to handle. Maybe even too much for me to handle, but it didn't stop me from wanting to try. I was willing to grab that dragon by the tail. You need someone that's more forceful with you. You'll live longer and we all need you alive, not just me. Plenty of us are depending on you to remain alive. At least Kaidan seems to be better suited to the task."

We talked about the swarming school of slaughter fish and Kaidan for a while before we ended up back on my criss-crossing Skyrim. The reality is that Ulfric can't just pack up and go when I need to go chase something down. It would never have worked. Ulfric waved that off and said that he would've made Galmar go with me. I told him that if he had done that, I might have just punched him again and Ulfric laughed. "That crusty bastard is skilled enough to keep you safe and he's canny enough to keep you out of trouble. Galmar is one of the few people I'd trust to keep you out of more trouble than you can handle." I said something about Ralof and Ulfric laughed. "Definitely not Ralof. Ralof would never tell you no. He would follow you into Oblivion and back again, though."

I told him that if those Silver Blood lout nephews of Thongvar didn't change their ways and I got so much as whiff of a complaint, I'd be challenging them to a duel. If any of the other Silver-bloods had anything to say about it, I'd duel them once I was finished with those two. Ulfric laughed and said he didn't think it would come to that. Then he asked if I wasn't over-reacting a bit, so I told Ulfric, in detail, why I was so angry. "For the love of Talos!", Ulfric growled, "No wonder. Now I'm angry. Leave it with me. I'll handle it."

We talked a bit more about the vampires and why I haven't gone back to Bruma yet. Ulfric's going to put more guards on at night. One of his court came and knocked on the door. Ulfric grimaced, "Duty calls. Go back Kaidan. Tell him I said to take good care of you."