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SPOILER INFO
This fanfic novel is largely based on the events that occurred in an actual game of Skyrim I played. Therefore, it's inevitably a spoiler.
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previous day
4-201-09-01 05:25
Frostfruit Inn, Roriksted, Whiterun, Skyrim
We enjoy unhurriedly our nice warm bath. After breakfast, we go out for a leisurely stroll. Guess who decides to drop by? A damned dragon.
In the midst of screaming villagers running away and guards driving each other on, he flies around a bit and then sits down on the roof of a house. He's not dangerously close to me, and at the same time my view is not obstructed by any objects. In other words, a perfect target. So I begin shooting arrow after arrow into him, and observe with pleasure how his health diminishes. (Did I tell you I have the magical ability to see an enemy's health during combat if I focus well?) A couple more shots and he'll be dead... no, the damned beast rises up in the air. Soon he lands again, almost on my toes. I have the feeling he doesn't like me. No wonder. I'm going to kill him.
There. The job's done. I get my dragonsoul, everyone is so amazed – you know, the usual.
[series of 3 pictures you can click through; click on the first picture to make it big, then click again to see the next picture etc.; press Esc to return to the text]
Now I can reequip my followers and sell my loot. A little past 9 o'clock, we continue our journey to the northwest. There's rain and thunder again.
On our way to that Northkeep Camp of Northcamp Keep stronghold where we believe Thorald is being held, we make a stop at a place with an uninviting name Chillwind Depths. It's where one of those Welkynd Stones is supposed to be located, the four valuable relics Nuri of Falkert was looking for, remember I told you? Soaked to the bones, we're infinitely relieved to finally have a cave roof over our heads – only to have to wade through seemingly endless underground streams.
Here we have to defend ourselves against spiders and Falmers. I'll have to tell you more about the Falmers, but please have patience until I've gotten to a place drier and warmer. Right now, I'm not in the mood to talk about anything.
Did I just say "we have to defend ourselves"? Come to think of it, we are the ones sticking our noses to where we don't belong. Are those "Welkynd Stones" really worth it? No time to ponder over it – another group of three spiders has just dropped down as if out of nowhere.
Those Falmers seem to prefer solitude. Too bad for them, because it makes it easier for us to kill them one at a time. They're big, so their weapons and armor are very heavy. We have to leave some of it behind as we're at the limit of our carrying capacity. But it's not so bad, because Falmer gear's market prices are very low anyway.
The dungeon is very big, but we finally get the stone. Fortunately, there's a shortcut to the exit. We have to jump down from a height that makes my girls a bit nervous. I don't mind, but they shriek quite unwarriorlike. Or maybe they're just enjoying themselves. ;-)
We now head northwest to Lost Echo Cave where another one of those stones is supposed to be. After that, we'll go straight to North... dammit, what was it? Give me a second, please... Northwatch Keep. I'll try to remember it. Northwatch Keep, Northwatch Keep...
Climbing over hills, we suddenly see a wooden house down below. We go closer. It's dark already, so we can't see much, but I have the feeling this place is friendly. Yes, more houses. A village. Guards. Great!!
This settlement is called Dragonbridge (sometimes spelt Dragon Bridge). It has an inn. Our timing has been near-perfect. We have dinner and mingle with the people. I find a moment to ask Jenassa about surnames. I've been noticing some people have family names (most notably in Little Vivec) while others have what appear to be patronyms.
Jenassa explains that Nords gave up the use of family names several hundreds of years ago. Today, only very few families keep using them, such as the Battle-Borns and the Gray-Manes in Hviterun. The overwhelming majority of Nords don't even have them, at least in Skyrim. People of other races have family names (mostly), but many who have lived long in Skyrim have taken to using patronyms. For example, Jenassa's family name is Arobar, but in Skyrim she calls herself Jenassa Vadensdotter by her father whose name is Vaden. Lydia doesn't even know the name of her father, but since every person has to have a patronym, she is called Lydia Soransdotter after the city guard who found her. Of course, she doesn't have a family name.
"Do you always add an s to the father's name?" I ask Jenassa.
"Almost. Well, in fact, Nords in different regions used to build patronyms in different ways and that created confusion. Finally, they held a sort of a name conference to which each jarl sent one priest of Arkay. That was maybe 200 years ago, I don't know exactly. And they agreed upon uniform patronym rules for all of Skyrim. When the father's name end with an s, you remove the s and add "son" or "dotter". In all other cases, you add an s and then add "son" or "dotter". If they just added an s to every name, the son of Erens would be "Erenssson" (Erens + s + son). With the removal-of-s rule, it's clear that Erensson is the son of Eren (Eren plus s plus son) and Erenson is the son of Erens (Erens minus s plus son)."
"Why priests of Arkay?"
"Because they register births and deaths, as well as keep track of people settling down in their cities and moving elsewhere."
"Oh. Right. Now, just to make sure I'm understanding this correctly – Adrianne Avenicci would be Adrianne Proventudotter?"
"Precisely. She is married, but she has retained her family name because her husband Ulfberth hasn't got one. Therefore, the population registry lists her as Adrianne Proventudotter Avenicci, and Ulfberth is simply Ulfberth Yavnisson without a family name."
"But I think I have heard him called Ulfberth War-Bear."
"Yes, but that's a nickname, not a family name."
"Okay. So if War-Bear were a family name, Adrianne, being Ulfberth's wife, would be called Adrianne Aventudotter War-Bear?"
"Yes."
I nod with satisfaction. I guess I understand it now.
Rayya joins us. I ask her if she has a family name. Yes she has, she's Rayya Werzhan, but she's long used to being referred to in the Nord way.
"It's actually considered polite to call people by the patronym rather by the family name," says Jenassa, "even when they have a family name. For example, you know that important man Olfrid Battle-Born, don't you?"
"Yes."
"If you wanted to be really respectful to him, you'd call him Olfrid Jurgarsson instead of Mr. Battle-Born."
"That's in fact what the patronyms are for," Rayya explains to me. "In normal conversation, people are called by their first names only. Patronyms are meant for two purposes: 1) to tell apart people who have the same first name, and 2) to demonstrate deference."
Now Lydia seems to have spoken to everyone halfway interesting and returns to our table. I guess it's time for us to go to sleep. It's not cheap – 60 septims per person, probably because the village is close to Solitud, the capital of Skyrim. But I've made excellent money on loot and can totally afford this.
next awakening
