Always Lost, Always Hopeful (199) Inheritable Prejudices

———————————————
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.
———————————————




previous day






4-202-03-06 07:47
Thoromhel's House, Sunhold, Summerset, Aldmeri Dominion


Thoromhel and I cuddle in the bed, too lazy to get up. With my face resting on his shoulder, I close my eyes and stroke his body with my left hand while his right caresses my back and buttocks. I'm not noticing how my breathing gets faster, but after some time I start turning myself slowly so he could touch my side and then my front. His hand brings delight all over my belly, yet always stops short of my breasts and pubes. Even though he's been hard all along, he doesn't seem to be in a hurry. It's not like he's waiting for my permission. He's actually teasing me! I turn my back on him, making an animalish sound which is supposed to mean I want us to be closer than this. I can't wait any longer, yet I can't ruin the mood by talking.
Thoromhel gets the hint and we make love, and now his hand is no longer just teasing.

"Can elves and humans have children with each other?" I ask afterwards, reluctant to leave. I know I can't get pregnant today and I hope Thoromhel is not taking this as some kind of a suggestion. In fact I shouldn't have asked something like that in a situation like this, but I already did.
"Yes, but there's a catch."
"A catch? What do you mean?"
"Do you know that the Dominion scientists believe a child gets genes from his mother as well?"
Um... no, I barely know the word. I haven't the foggiest idea what anybody believes about genes.
Thoromhel enlightens me while his fingers play with my left nipple: "Well, all anthropologists agree that genes are contained in the sperm and they make a baby grow in the woman's body when certain other circumstances are right, and they are the reason why newborns, even girls, tend to have faces similar to their fathers'. Now what about the fact that some newborns look like their mothers instead? Humans and Dark Elves ascribe it to the fetus growing in a woman's body. The mother is obviously where the unborn baby's body gets all its building materials from, so to speak. That explanation sounds reasonable, but our scientists consider in insufficient. They believe that a child gets genes from both the father and the mother."
"So?" I fail to understand what relevance that scientific dispute has to my question. "Can a human man make a baby grow in an elven woman's body or vice versa?"
"Yes, they can, but I haven't yet come to the point. It is known that people have characteristic traits from both parents, not just the father. Your scientists explain the child's similarity to his father with the genes, and his similarity to his mother by being grown in the mother's body and nurtured by her in childhood. Our scientists think that everything comes from the genes. The genes are not only in the sperm, a woman has them too. When a man's and a woman's genes happen to get together, they mix, whereby some genes, the so-called dominant ones, suppress the others which become latent. That is the reason why some children look nothing like their parents, but are remarkably similar to a grandparent or grand-grandparent."
This is getting interesting, although I still don't understand most of what Thoromhel is saying. I ask him to go on regardless.
"Now, what I was getting at is this: for the reasons yet unknown, male genes are usually dominant over female ones, and that is why a newborn usually looks like his father, but becomes to a greater or lesser extent similar to his mother during his childhood, thanks to spending most of his time close to the mother. However, studying the elven-human couples, the scientists have found out that human genes are usually dominant over elven genes. Tell me, Laura, haven't you noticed people who have a light brown skin, something between Nord and Redguard?"
"Certainly. In fact, I am half Nord, half Breton, and I look generally Nord-like, but I have a slightly darker skin and I've seen a number of Breton women who have features similar to mine."
"Great. And have you seen elves by the looks of whom you can't tell if they're Bosmer or Altmer?"
"Yes, now that you ask, there are quite a few in Summerset."
"Those are people of mixed ancestry. Not an everyday sight outside of bigger cities, but not too rare either. But have you ever seen people who look a little like human and a little like elf?"
"Not that I can recall at this moment. But I know lots of humans married to elves."
"Yes, we have them here as well. The thing is, children of two human parents or two elven parents tend to be a mixture of both parents. However, when an elf and a human mate, then in 90% of cases, the child looks like a human, and in 10% of the cases it looks like an elf, but never like something between them."
"Hold on for a moment. What are these genes anyway?"
"Nobody knows. The correct scientific term is actually "inheritable material". "Genes" is a popular word. Don't ask me where it comes from. It's considered proven that inheritable material is contained in the sperm, because there's never been a case of a woman having a child without sperm getting into her body. But what exactly inheritable material is is unknown. And as I told you, it's disputed whether all inheritable material is transmitted by the man to the woman during copulation, or women have inheritable material of their own as well. The belief in Aldmeri Dominion is that the fact that the child of a human man and an elven woman can be an elf proves that your scientists' theory is wrong – it's not just childhood influence that makes children adopt traits from their mothers, they actually get genes from their mothers as well."
Yeah, I don't care much one way or another. Science is way over my head. But one question occurs to me. "Then if humans and elves mated on a massive scale, elves would go extinct?"
"Many elves indeed fear that, but the scientists are not sure, because the elven genes aren't destroyed by the dominant human genes. They merely become latent. This means that the human child of one elf parent and one human parent will have human children, those will most likely have have human children as well, but a few generations later, an apparently pure-blood human parent can have a child with another human and the child will look like an elf. And everyone is baffled, not realizing that one of the parents has an elf among his ancestors. The dormant elven genes have somehow become dominant for one generation. And the child of that elf may again be a perfectly normal human."
"Wow. I can see how this can create awkward questions."
"Indeed that's the reason behind the humans' hatred of elves."
"What are you talking about?"
"When a Nord man marries a Nord woman and they get an elven child, what will he think?"
Oh my... He's right! "That she's cheated on him!"
"Exactly. Did you really think Nords hate elves just because the elves destroyed Saarthal many thousands of years ago?"
"No, I didn't. I mean, I haven't thought about it. I thought they hate elves because of the Great War and the thalmor terror after it."
"But why do they hate Dark Elves a lot more than they hate High Elves or Wood Elves?"
Good gracious! I had never realized that. People hate thalmors, but High Elves who are not thalmors live among humans and no one bothers them. Yet the Dark Elves are really hated in the eastern Skyrim, the area closest to Morrowind... and they weren't even our enemies in the Great War.
Thoromhel goes on: "For all those millennia during which Nords and Dark Elves have lived side by side, an occasional Nord man has had to observe with dismay how his wife gives birth to an elven child. He is furious that the woman whom he has loved and trusted and assumed she loved him as well has in fact spread her legs for another man, and of another race at that. Nobody has explained him anything about latent genes, therefore he has no idea the child is an elf because his wife – or possibly he himself! – has an elf among their ancestors. That's what's been creating bad blood between Nords and Dunmers and still is."
I find this hard to believe, but I can't find any flaw in Thoromhel's reasoning.
"That's the reason, Laura, why there's no such hatred against Dunmers among Imperials, Bretons and Redguards, nor among Nords against the Altmers and the Bosmers – because there haven't been such a large-scale interaction and so much intermarriage. Although, of course, a part of the humans can't tell the three elven races apart and so hate all of them."
Wow. I'm not at all sure if what Thoromhel told me is true, but it's obvious he believes it. I'll have to find an expert on... what was it, anthology? Anthopology? In the immediate future, though, it seems we'll have to do something about Thoromhel's penis which I've been fingering absent-mindedly while we talked. I look at him questioningly.
"Are you not too busy?" he asks. "I mean, it'll get soft again, obviously, but heaven knows when we'll have an opportunity to meet again..."
"Not too busy, no." I lie back, spread my legs and raise my arms above my head. Thoromhel gets on top of me. I feel like telling him he doesn't have to mind me, he can do it as quickly as he wants to. But I'm not saying anything. He's a man, let him make his own decision.
He does it quicker this time indeed. I'm happy regardless. He's given me so much to think about. Maybe even more importantly, it's been such a delight to idle a couple of morning hours away lying in bed.

As we start putting our clothes on, I remember something. "Are there men in Valenwood who fancy men rather than women?" I ask cautiously.
"Heard it in Morrowind, didn't you?"
"No, in Skyrim, actually. But from a Dark Elf."
He nods. "Such men usually leave Valenwood. That's probably the reason why we have a bad reputation. Not that Dark Elves need a reason to besmirch us."
"What are those men like?"
Thoromhel grabs my still bare breasts with both hands and pushes me onto my back. "Would you believe if I told you I don't know and don't care?"
I have to smile. "Yes, I would."
He kisses me, forcing his tongue into my mouth, and then lets me get up.

I won't stay for breakfast. I really must show myself to my followers, lest they become worried. Well, not really. I'm just not hungry and so full of energy I feel if I jumped up I would actually fly.

I walk around in the town until I see the girls. They tell me the folks from Holly Falls are here. They live in a tent camp outside the southern gate. It would appear that Lord Ish was able to spare some guards and send them to Holly Falls to protect them on their way to Sunhold.

We walk over to say hello. That is, I say hello. My girls have already done it.

It's rather cramped here, but at least they have a lot of fresh air and a really beautiful view of the ocean. I mean, I'm just being witty. I still can't understand why they are not allowed to use the Vacant Houses. Jenassa says that maybe they have become averse to closed spaces, having lived underground, constantly afraid of the monsters invading from the surface. Yeah, maybe. Or Lord Ish is stingyish.

Khal, that strong and handsome Orc turns up and eyes me up and down. Well, sorry, pal, I say to him in my thoughts, I already have a boyfriend in this town. You should have grabbed the opportunity when you had one.

Pretending not to notice Khal, I motion to the girls that we're leaving. We head for the courthouse to see if the ruler has already gotten out of bed. He is and he says that, having done such a great job helping the good people of Holly Falls, me and my followers have earned the honor of accompanying him on a hunting trip. I'm not exactly over the moon, but it would be rude to decline, and who knows, it might even turn out interesting.

Ardhil comes with us, too. Lord Ish seems to like her.

We travel eastwards and encounter a legendary hulking troll . We let Ish have some fun fighting the beast and then we put some arrows into it as well. Ish is happy and looking forward to meeting us again. Well, thanks. We can use every influencial friend we can have in this technically hostile country.

We now head north with Ardhil to hopefully find that elusive cave. I wouldn't be too surprised if it existed only in her imagination, and I wonder how long it'll take her to realize she'd better give it up and how long are we going to play along with her game. I'm enjoying the sightseeing, though, and I'm still highly energized from Thoromhel, and Ardhil's presence prevents the girls from pestering me with their questions, so all in all I don't mind this wild goose chase.

We travel quite far, to a place east-northeast of Holly Falls. We're attacked by a pack of swamphounds along the way. That's quite entertaining, and in case you didn't know, their meat tastes pretty good roasted, too.

Well, surprise – here, not too far from the southwestern end of that big lake west of Shimmerene, Ardhil is finally satisfied that this is the place she's been looking for. She even gives me a reward.

Lord Ish was right. She has beautiful eyes.

Well, you're welcome. With such nice weather, I don't care much where I am.

By the way, girls, don't you think that section of that rocky hillside over there seems strangely smooth?

We step closer to that place that looks more like a stone plate than natural rock. Indeed it can be moved and reveals a tunnel into the mountain. Very carefully, we turn around a corner and see a man standing in front of a small campfire. I feel he's hostile and, remembering my very painful past experiences in Summerset, I shoot him dead rather than step closer and find out for sure.

We sneak forward along the passage and end up in a hall with some wooden platforms, walkways and furniture. A furious magic battle is in progress. It's quite a sight.

One side is clearly hostile to us, so we start shooting at them. Then the other side attacks us and we kill them too. It was mages against bandits.

Further passages take us to a smaller cave where a smaller battle is going on. We let them fight it out and then shoot the last survivor.

There are beds, shelves and barrels with various items in them. The place is called Lnibali. Come to think of it, it wasn't strictly necessary to kill all those people. It's just that I dislike mages. They're frightening and unpredictable.

We have gathered so much loot by now that I want to do a crafting session. The nearest place with all the necessary facilities is Cloudrest. I felt all along I'd like to pay a visit to Corgrad anyway, to take a look at our friends the cute goats. Now I have a valid reason, Corgrad being about halfway between here and Cloudrest.

We run past a small seemingly abandoned graveyard in the middle of a forest

and soon reach the village of Riverfield on the lakeshore.

I've been thinking: if we run through here many times, then maybe the locals will get used to us and become friendlier? I so wish they would. It's such a nice village.

On our way to the northwest, we admire some adorable elks

and run past Ebon without going in this time. In Corgrad, we do a little shopping. I ask the soul gem trader Othanaro if he knows any soul gem mines on this island. He looks strangely confused and falls silent for several seconds. Then he says he has never heard about such a thing. I'm sure he's lying, but there's nothing I can do. All I can do is go with the girls and pat Dothiel's goats, say hello to that cool and mysterious Khajiit blacksmith Ra J'Dar and move on towards Cloudrest. A little bandit attack hardly even slows us down, and before seven o'clock we've reached the first houses of Cloudrest.

Smithing and enchanting lasts past 3 in the night. I completely lose track of time and forget about my followers waiting up, but they don't mind.

I think we'll spend the night in the nearby royal palace which should be empty on account of the king residing temporarily in Shimmerene as a dog.

Well, not quite. Sylwia is there. She stammers something about happening to be in Cloudrest on some business and just having decided to take a look at the palace for no special reason. I'd very much like to know what she's been looking for, but I'm too tired to bother. We just go to sleep, me and my followers.



next awakening






return to the table of contents

Always Lost, Always Hopeful (198) And That's What We Came Here For?

———————————————
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.
———————————————




previous day






4-202-03-05 07:53
Windpeak Inn, Dånstar, The Pale, Skyrim


Gregor is already awake. "It would seem I have a choice between three girls this morning," he says.
"No, you don't!"
He raises himself a little and looks me in the eye. "Do you mean you have someone specific to suggest to me?"
"Yes. You're going to fuck me."
"What if I don't like a woman who orders me around like that?"
Yes, I remember the rule. When we're naked, he's the boss. "I'm sorry. Please."
"Please what?"
"Please fuck my cunt."
"I can't hear you."
Screw him, the perv! "Please fuck my cunt!" I repeat so loudly that my followers would certainly hear it if they were awake.
Gregor gets on top of me, I open my legs. I look at Jordis and Jenassa's beds. They are either asleep or pretend to be.

It doesn't last very long this time, but I tremendously enjoy Gregor's pleasure. I can't help it. Whenever I observe a man have an orgasm on top of me, it fills me with enormous pride.

The girls woke up while we were at it, but they were courteous enough to put their clothes on quickly and leave the room quietly. I hug and kiss Gregor to prolong the sensation of his strong naked body against mine, and to coincidentally give Jordis and Jenassa some privacy in the bathroom.

When we get out of the bed, I kiss Gregor's penis and say "Thank you!"
"Next time it'll be your butt," he says.
He called it butt!!
"Okay." I kiss him gently on the mouth.
"Say it."
Dammit, does he enjoy it or something? "Next time you'll do it in my butt. May I get dressed now?"
"Yes."

We have a bath together. Jordis and Jenassa have already left.
"When we're in town and I happen to have my period, you can have one of my girls, as long as she agrees," I tell Gregor. "Except Lydia, of course."
"Yes, of course. That's very kind of you, Laura." Yeah, I want to be kind to him even though he likes to embarrass me a little bit at times. His, er, skills are out of this world. I shall really miss him when I'll be married and can't be with him anymore. Well, can't be helped. Family is far more important than sexual pleasure. But that's in the distant future. Right now I do some shopping and then I run with the girls to Winterhold.

The weather is good today and Winterhold looks a lot less morose than usually. At the College, Tolfdir tells me another rupture  has appeared east of Windhelm. Real bunglers, those psijics! (I guess I shall call them "psijerks" from now on.) Why did they assume responsibility over the Eye of Magnus  if they are incapable of keeping it under control? Or are they playing games with us again?

Never mind. We're still going to Summerset today, no matter what.

I buy a few things, have a little chat with Ertzebet, and then we're ready... Wait, there's Master Drevis. I promised Ertzebet I'd grab the bull by the horns this time. So I go and make some small talk with him.

Having chatted about this and that, I ask Drevis directly if he has a girlfriend. I make it sound like innocent female curiosity and he answers he hasn't, and I ask if there are any girls at the College he finds attractive, and he's like "it wouldn't really be seemly for me to have a relationship with a student", and I'm like "but what if the woman wasn't strictly a student", and I end up telling him that I suspect that Ertzebet likes him and maybe he should try and make some innocent conversation with her someday – because she is, naturally, a decent shy girl who wouldn't approach a man even if she wanted to.

I think this went really well. (Although Lydia says I should have been a little more subtle.) But right now my thoughts are on the tropical sunshine of Summerset. Speaking of which, me and my followers really have to get going if I want to get anything done in Holly Falls today.

So I summon the girls and cast the spell that takes us to Shimmerene Mages' Guild. We say quickly hello to Quillinda and I tell Dulizar I'm terribly sorry I have no time to stay.

After a little shopping in the Shimmerene village,

we head west. We see some cute elks, and a little later I practically run into a pack of swamphounds. No difficulties killing them, of course. Then we see half a dozen walking skeletons. They're quite far and not noticing us, because they're busy attacking a group of rockbugs. We shoot the skeletons dead and take their weapons. The rockbugs are, of course, not aggressive.

Halfway between Holly Falls and Riverfield is Red Beggar's Hole where we need to get a Finely Crafted Bowl  from, hopefully the last ingredient needed to enable Master Bolwing to turn the dog-king back into a human. The "hole" is a small cave. In it lives an elven woman who isn't interested in talking and could well be even crazy. I can see the bowl we need, but I'm not sure if she would let us have it if I asked. So I find a moment when she's looking the other way and steal it.

The massive ruins of Holly Falls are just a little way to the south from here.

We do the arduous climb to their underground village only to find there's no one there. Apparently they made bold to leave without our protection. I hope they're all right.

Now we're going to Alinor to help that mage Ardhil. After that, we'll be pretty much done in Summerset. With the war between the Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire potentially breaking out any moment, I doubt it's a good idea for us to hang around here very long. Although I want to find some time to talk to those Breton girls (and why not guys as well) at the Mages' Guild one more time.

It's already past 7 in the evening by the time we reach Alinor.

The sun is low, but I'm sure we'll have decent light for some time, and the mysterious cave Ardhil is looking for shouldn't be too far.

We let Ardhil lead us to the southwest, almost reaching the ocean shore. Ardhil realizes this is not the right place. Her mysterious cave might be between here and Sunhold instead. So we run east. The moon comes out and the scenery is quite beautiful. We discover a small fortress called Glenview. There's a female guard outside who is friendly but says she's not supposed to chat with travelers.

We proceed southeastwards. In a nice spot overlooking the beach, we have a little rest. Now, where has Ardhil disappeared all of a sudden? I shout her name. She comes out of the bushes, looking embarrassed.

Don't worry. We all do that. Next time just tell me. It's nothing to be ashamed of in a female-only company.

As to this location, Ardhil thinks this is not the right place either and we'll need to go further northeast.

Well, maybe so, but it's so late that we'll go to Sunhold for the night. And I'll get to be with Thoromhel!!

Thoromhel is happy to see me and he makes me very happy in turn on the bed upstairs.



next awakening






return to the table of contents

Always Lost, Always Hopeful (169) Worse than Mudcrabs

———————————————
SPOILER INFO
This fanfic novel is largely based on the events that occurred in an actual game of Skyrim I played. Therefore, it inevitably reveals a lot about the game.
———————————————




previous day






4-202-02-03 05:40
Lillandril Palace Quarters, Lillandril, Summerset, Aldmeri Dominion


We wash ourselves with Spriggan Soap and eat breakfast. It's clearly too early to bother the queen, so we go out. I've been curious about the small islands near Lillandril and this is a suitable opportunity to go and check them out.

Before swimming to the islands, we take some pictures on the coast of the mainland:

One island is very close to the shore. It's got nothing but grass and some rocks. Further ahead is a group of three islands. One of them is really a huge sharp-spiked rock (left in the picture below; it's separate from the the sandy island, although you can't see the water between them from this angle), the other two are relatively flat and sandy. On one of them, I believe to see a standing human. As we swim closer, I realize it's a statue, much taller than people.

There's a battle going on. It looks like two mages are fighting a mudcrab. Upon closer inspection, they turn out to be ghosts. Unexpectedly, one of them runs to my right flank and attacks me with fire magic. With almost half of my health gone, I realize this is serious.

If you look closely, you can see my arrow fly (just below the eye symbol).
I drank one of the strongest health potions a moment ago,
but I'm rapidly taking more damage while I haven't hit my enemy even once.

Fortunately, my followers are wide awake and kill the ghost. I take another health potion and we sneak closer to what appears to be a female ghost. I don't like her bothering the mudcrab, so I kill her. The mudcrab keeps running around nervously (I mean "running" in mudcrab terms) for some time and then calms down and digs itself about 3/4 into the sand near the base of the statue which seems to be its resting place. It doesn't attack us – because of the Spriggan Soap, I presume.

The top of the crab is visible between me and Jenassa, halfway to the farthest palm trees.
In the background, across the water, is (of course) Lillandril.

This place is called Shrine of Sheogorath. He's a daedra – I don't know of what, but it's something crazy, I'm sure.

We check out the farthest island which is called Abandoned Island. It's mostly covered with grass. In the grass lies a dead creature whose name is Silence. He looks like a man in the kind of armor I've never seen before. It's very beautiful.

There are no hints as to who he is or how he died.

We admire the vast expanse of the sea on the northern coast, and then we return to Sheogorath's island. That big rock thing doesn't seem to be accessible from anywhere, but I go check it out anyway. I swim around it and dive underwater several times, but there are only stones, nothing like an entrance anywhere.

The water is so delightful, as is the scent of the sea. I noticed recently I've become a really good swimmer. I don't know how it happened, but I feel like a fish in the water here.

We swim back to the shore by a slightly different route, checking out the island with a lighthouse on it. There's a fire burning on top and the view is beautiful, but there's no one about and it's impossible to go inside.

I love lighthouses and this one is particularly nice.

After another short swim, we're in Lillandril harbor and return to the palace. It's past 11, but the queen is still not there. We go and hang around in the harbor, look at the ships, talk to people and such. Harbors are fascinating places.

We pay a visit to the other brothel ship, the one where Restavee, that Argonian woman who walks around naked, is supposed to work at evenings. My followers have been eager to see it, but they're too shy to go without me.

I presume this man is a guard:

We walk around with utmost curiosity, looking everywhere. Of course, this isn't exactly Alinor Lounge.

Although, come to think of it, I believe to remember the toilets in Varlais Manor were no better than the ones here.

Around four in the afternoon, we return to the palace. Her Bitchiness still hasn't turned up. Now I've had it. I'm going to find her even if I have to fight the guards and kill them.

I spare you the details, but we catch her in her bedroom and I report on the mission completed.

She gives me another assignment – to go to Alinor and get a very special weapon called Poetic Blade  the blacksmith has been making for her.

Although we didn't kill anyone, our invasion of the royal chambers has caused an outrage in the palace and we have to leave hastily. Could be we won't be welcome here ever again. If so, screw them.

We're headed for Ebon. On the northern end of the bay, west-southwest of Corgrad, we discover a Hidden Cave in which there is nothing to be found. I'm in a foul mood and feel fed up with Summerset and its weird customs. I'd like to think I don't go nuts when premenstrual, but I have to admit I've been feeling bad about most things these last few days.

That's why I call a rest in front of the cave entrance (behind us in the picture below).

I tell the girls something's going very wrong. A minute ago I remembered how immensely happy I used to be with Aranath, and began wondering how come I began to hate him. And I was getting along really well with Quillinda. Why did I start to dislike her all of a sudden? Why did I screw things up for us in Lillandril earlier today? Maybe I even screwed us up on this entire island.
"You don't want to hear it," says Jenassa.
My followers look at each other in a way that leaves no doubt they have been discussing this.
Lydia examines my expression thoroughly and then says: "I think she does."
She turns to Jenassa and Jordis as if seeking confirmation. Jenassa shrugs. Jordis makes a hint of an agreeing nod.
"It's that Dragonborn mission of yours," Lydia explains to me. "That unknown whoever or whatever that wants you to put an end to the Skyrim civil war won't let you enjoy Summerset. This someone, by the way, could be your own subconsciousness. Or it could be those psijic jerks. Or some force you or me can't even conceive. But that's not the point. It doesn't matter if it's the disappeared Dwemers." (This one gets a modest laugh out of me.) "The thing is, no matter how beautiful it may be here, no matter how good the people may be to you, you feel bad because you're away from Skyrim, doing things not for your people."
"The good news is, the solution is very simple," says Jenassa. Lydia continues her thought: "We'll proceed with our plan. We go to Sunhold, Dusk, Mana Grove and Shimmerene, and from there to Skyrim, exactly as planned. And you'll feel better."
I nod. That's obviously the right thing to do and for that matter I knew it when I made the plan.
"We might even catch Vera's birthday," adds Lydia.
Right! Vera's birthday is on the 7th. That'll be 4 days from now. We talked about it once, but of course we weren't going to alter our plans for her sake. But when we travel to Winterhold maybe tomorrow evening or the day after, we'll be headed for Solitud anyway, which means we'll be passing through Dånstar. And instead of going across all that grim water and marsh and poison gas flowers between Dånstar and Solitud, we can just as well travel by road via Hviterun, spending only one day more and surprising Vera by showing up on her birthday. She'll be immensely flattered.
I hug Lydia, making her breathe out audibly. "Sorry," I say, ruffling her hair. "You made me feel a lot better. Just remind me not to kill people without a good reason, okay?"

We get up and move on, a team of fine warriors once again.

"We have to bring Vera some kind of a souvenir of Summerset," I say after we've crossed the bridge northwest of Ebon.
"Maybe a bloody skeleton?" suggests Jordis.
"Or that red dress," says Lydia. We all burst out laughing. "Guess the skeleton was a better idea," she admits.
"What might she like?" wonders Jordis. "You guys know her better than I do."
"Do you think one of the local blackmiths can make us some kind of a figurine out of that beautiful coral?" I ask. "There's nothing like that in Skyrim."
"A blacksmith or a mage?" wonders Jordis.
I look questioningly at Jenassa. "A blacksmith, rather, I think," she says.
"Whatever," I say. "How about a statuette of a pahmar?"
The girls agree with me that it's a good idea. I'm sure we'll find someone in Shimmerene who can make a thing like that. Either at the guild or in the village.

Ebon is very peaceful and beautiful, and we could just sit and chat the evening away looking at the lake, but somehow we've all become so excited by the prospect of reaching Hviterun by Vera's birthday that we can't sit still. So we do a little shopping and proceed to Alinor.

The trip itself is eventless, but right at the gate of Alinor we're stopped by the guard always on duty there. We've broken the law in Lillandril, she informs us, and must pay a fine. The amount is equal to 1015 septims in Empire money. She's all alone, but obviously I don't want any more trouble, so I meekly pay up. In fact, I'm glad we were able to get this problem settled so easily.

I now go looking for that mage whom Quillinda has instructed me to help. She lives in one of the non-floating houses with her husband.

She says she's looking for a certain cave that has never been explored. She presumes it to be southwest from here, almost on the ocean shore in an area that is blank on my map.

I explain to her as gently as I can that I will have to leave Summerset for a while, but I won't fail to return to her someday.

Then I spend considerable effort locating the blacksmith. I'm not sure if I even want to help Queen Marawyn, but I guess it won't hurt to get that Poetic Blade thing while we're here.

The smith turns out to be a middle-aged woman Gelwyyn. She has come out to have a little evening stroll around her house.

She says the Poetic Blade was stolen and she suspects a certain famous smuggler who lives in the northern part of the island.

I was going to ask her if she can make a coral statuette of a pahmar for me, but the way she curses like a drunken sailor while talking about that smuggler makes me change my mind. I'll find someone in Shimmerene.

I go to say hello to that likeable Khajiit man Ma' Sana. Turns out she's got a wife. This is not my lucky day.

It's dark already, so I just join my followers and we go to the temple to get some sleep.



next awakening






return to the table of contents