Things got strange as he approached Whiterun. Well and truly strange.
He was turning onto the roadway that led up to the city gates when the ground shook, enough to knock him sideways. There was a huge boom, like a crack of thunder. In the midst of the sound was a word, clear as any word could be.
“DOVAHKIIN!”
Dardeh felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. Dovahkiin. That’s what the dragon had called him. This huge sound, that shook the earth, this was calling to him.
The horses at the Whiterun stables shied and reared and ran around in their enclosure. Dogs started barking. A large Nord with shaggy dark hair, dressed in heavy armor and fur and carrying a greatsword slung over his back, had been lumbering toward the gates just in front of Dardeh, but stopped and looked up toward the enormous mountain behind them.
“Huh,” he mumbled, as though he was mildly interested but not especially concerned. He turned further and looked Dardeh over.
Dardeh looked back, and smiled. The man was formidable: perhaps not quite as wide around as he was but taller, and the arms that swung that greatsword had to be solid muscle under that armor. He also had the bluest eyes Dardeh had ever seen; just like ice, they were. It was hard to look away from them.
Apparently the man was making the same sorts of judgments about Dardeh, if not for the same reasons.
“You look strong. Come to Jorrvaskr, and be a Companion,” he rumbled, his voice nearly as deep as Dardeh’s. Then he grinned and headed back toward the city.
Well now, Dardeh thought. I could certainly be convinced of that. Yes, I could. He watched the man’s retreating form for a moment, then shook his head and turned to take his own look back at the mountain. What am I thinking? How foolish. And if I’m not mistaken, I just got – summoned.
He shook his head as he rounded the corner to push open the city gates. Enough of this. I need food. And rest. And I need to start looking for my sister. Then he stepped through the gates and groaned. After I talk to the Jarl again. He will need to know what happened.
Things continued to be strange all the way to Dragonsreach. One of the cityguards was arguing loudly with a pair of Redguard men. Alik’r, if I’m not mistaken, Dardeh thought, based on their armor. He had run across several groups of them in the past few months. They were highly trained swordsmen, assassins, some said. He would steer clear of them.
He had made it as far as the well in the marketplace when he heard something that caught his attention.
“Mister? Can you spare a coin?”
It was a little girl’s voice, and Dardeh looked around for its source. Just past the well, sitting on the ground outside the apothecary shop, surrounded by nightshade and dragon’s tongue, was a brown-haired girl with the saddest face he’d ever seen. He approached, and she looked up at him wistfully.
“Could you spare a coin so I could buy some food? I’m so hungry.”
Dardeh was stunned. Here she sits, across from all the food stands, and she’s hungry and nobody is helping her? Ma would have scooped her up, bundled her into the house and stuffed her full of the warmest food she could put together.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out several gold septims, then knelt down, closer to her level, to hand them to her.
“Here you go, little one. This should at least buy you something to eat. Why are you begging?”
She smiled up at him, her eyes shining. “Oh thank you! Divines bless your kind heart!” Then her face fell. “Well, it’s what Brenuin said I should do after… after my mom…after she died. I’m all alone, and I don’t know what else to do.”
No. No, no, no. It’s not fair that such a small child should be left alone like this. Like my sister was.
“I’m so sorry,” Dardeh murmured, reaching out to cup her face with his huge hand. His throat was tight. “I know it’s hard. I just lost my ma, too. We miss them, don’t we?”
The little girl nodded, her mouth trembling as she tried hard not to cry.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Lucia,” she murmured.
Dardeh sighed. Damned war. Look at what it does to people. And I can’t take her in, I have no place for a child out in Markarth and even if I did, who would allow such a thing, a grown man and a small child?
“Lucia, get yourself something to eat. I’ll bring you more coins whenever I can, all right?”
She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a huge hug.
“Thank you, Mister. You’re the best!”
Dardeh rose, and trudged up the stairs to Dragonsreach. He tried not to let anyone see him wiping his eyes.
Things got even stranger in Dragonsreach, where once again Dardeh felt as though events were rushing along like a river’s flood, carrying him forward regardless of his own wishes. Balgruuf and his brother Hrongar both had words with Proventus Avenicci about what it meant to be Dragonborn, and whether Dardeh was Dragonborn, and what the thundering sound had meant. Balgruuf told him to go to High Hrothgar, near the summit of the Throat of the World, at once; the Graybeards – the monks who lived in seclusion high on the mountain – had called to him in that sound. He learned all about how Balgruuf had walked up the mountain once. Balgruuf liked that story and had clearly told it a hundred times. By the time they got to the end of that tale, Dardeh was trying not to squirm. My feet hurt. I want food. I need to get back to it.
And then Dardeh found that because he had slain the dragon he had been named Thane of Whiterun and given a special axe and a housecarl – a person specifically assigned to guard him and all he owned. I wasn’t the only one beating on the beast, he thought. Then he shook his head. I was, however, the guy who … absorbed it, afterwards. He met his new housecarl on his dazed path toward the door to leave. Lydia was a beautiful woman who looked like a capable warrior, dressed in steel armor, and she was clearly going to take her responsibilities very seriously as she blocked his way to the exit.
Dardeh stood staring at her, and ran his hand up over his braids.
“Listen, Lydia,” he began. “I … don’t have a house for you to guard. Well, I do, but it’s all the way out in Markarth, and I’m probably going to leave it. It was my ma’s and I don’t really have anything in it for you to guard. I don’t know where I’m going, and I don’t…” He sighed.
“You don’t need me to guard you,” Lydia said, smiling. “It’s all right, my Thane. It will be an honor to serve you in whatever way you wish.”
Dardeh knew that kind of smile.
Not going there, Lydia. Sorry.
“Look, Balgruuf gave me this axe and I have no place to store it. But it’s the Axe of Whiterun. I can’t just sell it; I’d be dishonoring my position and the Jarl deserves more respect than that. Would you…”
“I am sworn to carry your burdens.” She grinned at him.
Dardeh smiled. Lydia seemed to have a sense of humor, at least.
“All right. In that case, take this axe and see if you can help Balgruuf somehow. I’m sure he’ll be happy for some extra muscle with everything that’s going on. I have a trip to make up the side of a very large mountain.”
Lydia made her way toward the back of the keep, and Dardeh left, feeling slightly guilty about having rejected such a generous offer. Thane, is it? he thought, shaking his head. The Thanes he was aware of were in Markarth, and they all wore fancy clothing, took themselves entirely too seriously, and couldn’t do a day of physical labor to save their lives. Thane. Well, if that and a day breaking rock will get me a bite to eat and a warm bed, I’m all for it.
As he started down the steps toward the inn, he passed a man in Whiterun city guard armor going the other way.
“Dragonborn! It is an honor.”
Dardeh whirled to look at him. It was the same man who had urged him to Shout, out by the western watchtower. I don’t know how to respond to that, he thought. He nodded, and continued toward the inn.
It was dark out, now, and getting cold, but Dardeh had one more stop to make. At the foot of the long stairway from Whiterun to Dragonsreach, off to one side, was an enormous likeness of Talos, envisioned as he had been in his human life, armored and triumphant, one foot atop the neck of a slain dragon. Before it, resting at its base, was a shrine. It was a brave thing, Dardeh thought, for the Jarl of Whiterun to keep this statue on display, in such a prominent position, in a time when the worship of this particular god of the Nine had been outlawed. Many of these shrines existed in Skyrim, usually tucked away in secluded corners; there were, he had heard, more of these statues at wilderness shrines. Most cities, though, had removed them with the signing of the White-Gold Concordat – the treaty that ended the Great War — and the coming of the Thalmor, the elven supremacists who held that no man could be a god. Not Whiterun. Its Talos statue still held a place of prominence, in a carefully tended courtyard.
Dardeh touched the shrine, felt its soothing warmth flow through him. Then he knelt before the shrine and the statue, silently, for several long minutes. He heard people passing behind him, but none approached, all respectful of his meditation. “Talos guide me,” he whispered. For I need guidance tonight, more than I could ever have imagined.
____
The Bannered Mare, as the inn was called, was noisy, warm, and full of the smells of burning wood, roast meat, and spilled mead. Now this is more like it, he thought, grinning. The bar was tended by an older woman who looked up at him and smiled as he approached.
“What will it be? I have drink for the thirsty and food for the hungry.”
“Both, if that’s all right.” Dardeh ordered up some venison stew and a full loaf of crusty bread, some butter, and a tankard of mead to wash it down and slid, gratefully, onto one of the bar stools. The food was good; warm and filling, and he was very hungry. It wasn’t more than a few minutes until he had eaten it all, drained his mead, and called the woman over for a refill.
“I have a question for you,” he said as she returned with his drink. “I’ve been looking for someone for some time now, and people keep telling me to check in Whiterun. She’s my sister. About my age, maybe a couple of years younger. A Redguard girl, dark hair, a scar down the left side of her face. You wouldn’t have seen anyone like that, would you?”
The woman smiled. “Oh, you mean like her?” and pointed across the room.
Dardeh nearly hurt his neck turning to look. On the other side of the firepit, dressed in a serving wench’s outfit and carrying a tray, was a Redguard woman who looked about his own age. He looked back at the innkeeper, yelped “Thank you!” and stood to approach the Redguard.
Dardeh’s heart was threatening to pound its way out of his chest. Could this be her? Have I finally found her?
The girl was stunning. And she had a long, pale scar on the left side of her face. She looked at him and smiled.
“Hello, handsome. What can I get for you? Thirsty? Hungry? Both?”
Dardeh felt certain he was blushing. Please don’t tell me my sister just started flirting with me.
“I know this is going to sound odd but, well, I’ve been looking for someone who matches your description and…can I ask you what your name is?”
A shadow passed across the girl’s face, for just a moment, almost a look of fear, before she returned to smiling. “Saadia,” she said. “My name’s Saadia.”
Dardeh sighed. Another dead end.
“Are you sure?”
Again, she looked cautious, almost startled.
“Yes, of course I’m sure. Who are you and why are you asking me this?”
“I’m sorry,” Dardeh said. “I know it must seem very strange. My name’s Dardeh. I found out just a little while ago that I have a half-sister, and she has black hair and a scar on the left side of her face, and green eyes, and yours are… blue,” he said, sighing, as he got close enough to look. “I’ve been looking for her and you’re obviously not her if your name is Saadia.” He grinned. “And I sound like an idiot.”
Saadia smiled at him.
“No, not at all. I’m sorry to disappoint you. I work here at the inn and my family is … back in Hammerfell.” She looked sad, for just a moment, but then smiled again. “Are you sure I can’t get you something?”
Dardeh stretched. “No. Thanks, though. What I need more than anything else, I think, is a good night’s sleep.” He started toward the bar to rent a room but then turned back to Saadia. “On second thought, if you could fetch me another mead? I think I’ll sit down here for a bit.”
He found an empty chair at a table near the door, and sat there for some time, nursing the mead and contemplating his next move. He was warm, and feeling mellow, when the door opened just enough to admit a small figure, shivering from the cold.
“Lucia?” he called to her.
She looked up and smiled at him. “Hello, Mister! Thanks again for the food.” She moved closer to the fire and stood there, rubbing her hands together, shuddering and yawning, nearly asleep on her feet. He watched her for a moment, frowning. This just isn’t right, he thought.
Dardeh stood and moved over to her. “Come with me, Lucia,” he said, taking her icy-cold hand, and pulling her to the bar. Saadia was rustling around behind it.
“Saadia, I want to rent a room, please. And as many extra blankets as you can rustle up.”
Saadia looked at him, looked at Lucia, and raised her eyebrow. “Um…”
Dardeh snorted. “For her, Saadia,” he hissed. “Good grief. I’ll use my bedroll and camp out somewhere outside the walls. I’m used to it. She’s practically frozen.”
Saadia called for Hulda, the innkeeper, who took Dardeh’s money and led him upstairs, tsking disapprovingly. She’d no sooner left the room when Saadia slipped in, carrying at least three blankets.
Lucia was yawning.
“All right, sweetie,” Saadia told her. “Get yourself into this bed and we’ll tuck you in.”
Lucia did as she was told, while Dardeh and Saadia got her situated, with two of the extra blankets over her. She was asleep before they’d finished.
Dardeh reached for the third blanket, but Saadia shook her head. “This one’s for you,” she told him. “You can sleep out on the balcony. There are some chairs, but if you want to spread your bedroll out there I’ll make sure nobody bothers you.”
She smiled and left the room.
Dardeh smiled down at Lucia, who was already snoring softly. Well, I can’t bring back her ma, but at least she’ll have a good night’s sleep in a warm bed.
He spread his bedroll out on the balcony and used the third blanket to cover it over. It only took a couple of moments before he was sound asleep, as well.