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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
4-202-04-12 09:51
Silverlode, Mines of Moria, The Rift, Skyrim
Somehow Silverlode looks especially beautiful in the morning. I can't tell if it's because the outside light is entering this place somehow, or am I simply in a better mood after a good night's sleep.
There doesn't seem to be anything to find here, so we return to the Mine Shaft where the scenery is far from heartwarming:
Beautiful as some parts of Mines of Moria may be, I still generally hate it. We've been all over it and there's no one to talk to and nothing valuable to find and not even a way out. More precisely, there is an exit where we came in from, but it's inaccessible. The only place left for us to go is that Southern Abyss. But maybe there's no exit there either and we'll just end up massacring an enormous amount of Falmers and end up none the wiser? I don't want to do that and potentially risk my followers' lives for nothing. So I beg Bardslayer to get us out of here. He lets us access that inaccessible exit that brings us back to the lakeshore near Heartwood Mill.
The sky and the trees and the birdsong and the splashing of the water work wonders on my despondent mood. Even before we've reached Sunguard City, I feel exultant. The whole world suddenly seems nice.
During our round of shopping, I notice I've picked up this charming pitcher somewhere:
I won't sell it. I'll take it home to Hviterun.
We now head for Ivarsted and even reach it before dark.
We visit the shop first and then the inn. That jerk Bassianus... I really can't tell you in his own words what he says to me, but it amounts to a promise to sexually satisfy all four of us.
"Okay," I reply and point towards the nearest room with my jaw. Together with my bewildered followers, we walk into the room where I turn to Bassianus and say:
"I have an offer you won't be able to refuse."
It must be something in the tone of my voice (or maybe it's my facial expression) that makes his hands stop in the air halfway to my breasts. His vulgar grin remains on his face somewhat uneasily. "What?"
"You leave Ivarsted right now and never come anywhere near here. As a return favor, I won't kill you."
He's no longer grinning. He knows any words would be useless. He's stepped over the line one too many times. Jumped far over the line, in fact. "Okay," he says meekly.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Are we supposed to open the door for you?"
He comes out of his trance, mumbles "No," and leaves hurriedly.
The girls just stare at me.
"Wow," Lydia finally manages to say.
Jenassa is the next to regain some of her composure. "I didn't know you could be so..." She seems to swallow the word that was on her tongue and continues: "...persuasive."
I'm at loss for words. "I was actually going to threaten him with something else, but then I found I couldn't say it," I explain somewhat gingerly.
This seems to have relaxed the mood. I can see the hint of a smile on Jordis and Jenassa's faces. Lydia asks: "Shall I follow him and make sure he doesn't go to see Fastred?"
"Yes, please." I walk to the bed while she leaves. "Let's sit down for a while."
I'm exhausted. Mentally, that is. I've been wanting to kill Bassianus for a long time. I'm sure if he had gone away with Fastred, he would have dumped her in two months, if not sold her to someone like Dar'Jidarr. I mean, Sibbi Black-Briar was at least charming, but Bassianus is just... Poor Fastred! Whom can she find in a backwater like this? She ought to be living in a place like Hviterun.
"Can you imagine Bassianus wooing Carlotta?" asks Jordis after I've told them all this.
"He'd drive her right into the arms of Mikael," I reply, after which we howl with laughter for some time. But I actually wanted to discuss our plans. We'll be traveling west through the mountain pass, that's certain. I think I want to go to Falkert first, to bring all those Ayleid artifacts to the collector Nuri. Then we might take a trip to Dreamborne Isle. However, as I've told you in the past (even several times, I think), going to such a stunningly scenic place, we really ought to take a man with us. Apart from which, I want to do a round of crafting, and we can't do it in Ivarsted because it doesn't have an Arcane Enchanter.
"There is one in Falkert," says Lydia who has returned in the meantime.
"Yes, but there are no good men in Falkert... I think."
"I suppose Lorm is absolutely out of the question?"
This enquiry from Jordis that strictly speaking should be qualified as a very bad joke does in fact leave me silent for ten or twenty seconds. (Lorm, in case you have forgotten, lives in Aurora which is halfway between Falkert and Aulbryn's House.)
"I guess so," I finally reply. "Come to think of it, fetching Valdimar from Hviterun isn't actually too much effort."
Lydia agrees. "Doesn't compare to finding one's way out of Moria."
I find this a very bad joke, but with the girls laughing, I can't help doing the same.
Before we leave, I hug the girls and say I'm sorry I brought them to those Dungholes of Moria. They know it's not my fault (and so, for that matter, do I), but they know me long enough by now to just keep their mouths shut.
Back in the taproom, I exchange a bright smile with our friend, the bard Lynly-Svidi. The next moment I realize I really ought to go and talk to Fastred, but I can't. I have no idea what to say to her.
But Lynly owes me a favor, doesn't she? And she knows just as well as I do what kind of a scumbag Bassianus is. So she agrees to explain Fastred that Bassianus was no good. Maybe it's even better that I won't tell Fastred myself. I hate Bassianus too much.
Lynly is disappointed I want to proceed towards Falkert today, but she makes me promise to make time for chatting with her (and maybe Fastred, too) the next time I'm here.
We visit briefly the two military camps between here and Helgen. It's snowing west of the mountain pass, but we're lucky to still have decent visibility.
We pass by Helgen without entering (even though we can hear there are bandits inside, but I'm just not in the mood for fighting right now) and reach Falkert when it's not even completely dark yet. The innkeeper Valga is most eager to hear where we have been and what we have done.
My boyfriend, the traveler Shasien is also at the inn, and I wonder if he would agree to come to Dreamborne Isle with us, but I am too preoccupied with the question if this town really has an Arcane Enchanter in the jarl's house like Lydia said. Yes, it has. This means I can do my crafting here and sell our loot tomorrow. I leave the girls to fill Valga in on the news while I set to work, which lasts until half past 4 in the morning.
next awakening
