2021-06-08

Always Lost, Always Hopeful (261) Can't Let Go



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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






4-202-05-07 06:34
Vlindrel Hall, Markarth, The Reach, Skyrim



I had a realistic dream of Petrille. My best childhood friend is still married and lives in Northpoint. That's a harbor town in northwestern High Rock.

Auntie Virene is no more, though. May her soul rest in peace.

I know now to whom I'll give my sanctified amulet – my stepdaughter Lucia in Hviterun whom I'm going to leave behind in Skyrim when I sail to High Rock.


Me and my followers continue to make our home a little more beautiful (even though it's really very nice already) and then stroll to the palace.

That's the steward Raerek talking to the wizard Calcelmo:
Laura stands in the Markarth palace looking at two men talking next to a small table ahead
You may laugh, but I feel this place really needs more light.

I don't want to disturb them, so I pay a visit to Moth the blacksmith while they're talking. Then I greet Calcelmo and sit with him for a while. Even though I've decided I won't meddle with that Falmer quest, I still can't help mentioning I haven't been able to find that book Calcelmo told me about. He says maybe it's lying about somewhere in the Dwemer museum he has established here, and I may go and see if I can find it.

I thank him and leave. It probably won't hurt to take a look at the museum and the book while we're here.

No. Something else occurs to me. I really want to make one more trip to Hammerfell and do some thalmor-shooting. Maybe try to conquer that heavily guarded fortress or settlement we saw. That means I'm going to need three expendable followers to temporarily replace the girls with. One of them I can get from the Silver-Blood Inn in this very city. His name is Vorstag and he doesn't look exactly prepossessing, but he'll do for this mission.

The second one I can get from the Windhelm inn, and the third... I'll figure it out along the way. More precisely, I have an idea but I'll tell you about it later.

Right now, I'm dismissing Jenassa to be able to hire Vorstag as my follower. Then I visit Fortune's Tradehouse and persuade Morilla to tell me about her and Inuril.
I learn that Morilla and Inuril were working in competing trade firms in Lillandril and he began to court her. Morilla was very shy, but Inuril was very presistent, as well as gentle and patient. So she eventually fell in love with him. Their relationship lasted about five years until she found out he was only using her to get information about her company which suffered heavy losses as the result, and it was because of Morilla's carelessness. The scandal was so embarrassing to Morilla that she left Summerset. She did find a way to hire some criminals to murder Inuril. However, the assassination attempt failed. Yet, Inuril left Summerset as well, feeling safe there no longer. When Morilla eventually found out he was hiding in Skyrim, she joined Fortune's firm to locate Inuril and eventually get her revenge, which she now has, thanks to me.
It was fascinating to learn how the High Elves, so different from us otherwise, can still be so touchingly similar to us in some respects.

Now I improve our gear. It's already 8 in the evening by the time I finish working, so we'll spend the night here and travel east in the morning.

I walk around in the city with Jenassa. Mostly we just chatter about nothing in particular. I mention I hope I'll be back by the 13th which is Heidi's birthday, but Jenassa, Lydia and Jordis can stand in for me in case I can't make it.

You may be wondering if I'm not afraid to travel with three men, especially when I don't intend to let them have sex with me. At least I'm certainly not going to do it with Vorstag. The thing is, all sellswords in Skyrim have taken the oath to not harm their employers and this is something very serious. So the only thing that threatens me is their stupidity.

There are incredibly many people in the Temple of Dibella. Is it some kind of a religious holiday? Jenassa doesn't know. Might be some kind of a local tradition, she says. I don't want to disturb them and I'm not in the mood for a big crowd to start with. Or rather I want to use the last opportunity to be with Jenassa before our (brief, of course, but still somewhat sad) parting.


The evening is so beautiful and calming. Answering an occasional admiring greeting from guards passing by, we stroll past the palace to our house where Lydia and Vorstag soon join us and we go to sleep. (Jordis is with her boyfriend, of course.) There's plenty of room in this house and even several beds, so we're all quite comfortable.



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