It had been just a ghastly trek through Hammerfell.\u00a0 Dardeh supposed that he should have felt some kind of affinity for the land, the people, fully half of his heritage, but all he had felt while he was there was hot and gritty.\u00a0 He\u2019d gotten sand in places he hadn\u2019t known sand could go, and had sweat in some of those places as well as others he hadn\u2019t realized could do such a thing.\u00a0 He was, to put it simply, uncomfortable the whole time he was there.<\/p>\n
And discouraged.\u00a0 Even now. He did feel discouraged, and frustrated.\u00a0 With as little as he had to go on \u2013 hair and eye color, a facial scar, a name, and some small amount of background on his father and his father\u2019s wife \u2013 he hadn\u2019t been expecting to find his sister very easily; but he hadn\u2019t expected the travel itself to be quite as unpleasant as it was.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a Nord.\u00a0 I\u2019ll always be a Nord.\u00a0 <\/em>It was even worse in Hammerfell; he looked like a Redguard, he was surrounded by Redguards, and everyone assumed that he was just another Redguard. He wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n He tried to remember his mother\u2019s positive, unflappable outlook on life and wished he could share it.\u00a0 He could, to some extent, some of the time.\u00a0 But the rest of the time he felt\u2026 resentful.\u00a0 Resentful that he was always judged on his surface appearance.<\/p>\n He had gone to the mine, after his mother passed, day after day for months, and had done his work.\u00a0 Then he would come home to a silent house with nothing left of the cheerful sounds and the love his mother had always supplied, and wonder why he was doing it and whether he intended to spend the rest of his life like that.\u00a0 Sitting around on the outskirts of Markath was joyless, alone as he was, and he was young and strong and wanted to see more of the world.\u00a0 One day he found himself visiting a shop in Markarth and buying a map of Hammerfell. Then he found himself speaking to Raj\u2019irr, the leader of one of the Khajiit caravans, asking about what sort of things a traveler might want to take along.<\/p>\n It seemed that he had decided to go in search of his maybe-sister before he was even completely aware of it. The logical place to go was Stros M\u2019Kai, since that was where she\u2019d supposedly been seen last.\u00a0 And Stros M\u2019Kai was south and west.<\/p>\n So he went south and west, through Hammerfell.<\/p>\n In retrospect, he thought, it would have made a lot more sense to have taken a ship from Solitude, the long way around the coast of High Rock down to Daggerfall, and then over to the island.\u00a0 But no, he hadn\u2019t thought of that until about half-past Skaven, with too many leagues beneath his feet to justify turning around, and not enough gold left to his name to book passage if he had.\u00a0 So he kept walking.<\/p>\n In truth, he felt as though he had learned some things on his trek across Hammerfell.\u00a0 He learned that he was a better fighter than he\u2019d thought, because the bandits were at least as much of an issue there as they were in Skyrim. \u00a0He\u2019d learned that even though he didn\u2019t want to kill, he could and would if he was attacked, and could do it easily. He\u2019d learned to appreciate those swords, his father\u2019s swords, for their balance and their sharpness. \u00a0He learned that he had a better sense of humor and a worse temper than he\u2019d imagined, and that he preferred the nice, comfortable, chilly climes of home to a desert.<\/p>\n Mostly, though, Dardeh had learned that he was determined. He meant to find his sister one way or another. He was particularly determined once he\u2019d taken the short passage from the mainland to Stros M\u2019Kai.<\/p>\n One of the merchants near the docks, a white-haired woman selling seafood, had remembered her well.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, of course I remember her,\u201d the woman had said, smiling.\u00a0 \u201cShe grew up here. She was a little troublemaker, that one, always trying to filch bread or fish and thinking that we didn\u2019t see her. Now that I think about it,\u201d she chuckled, \u201cwe didn\u2019t <\/em>see her do it, after a while.\u00a0 She got good at it.\u00a0 Nobody ever minded much, though, her running around without parents. I never knew who took care of her, honestly. \u00a0She and a couple of the boys were always together, so maybe they just all took care of each other. Bunch of little urchins underfoot, but they never did anything really bad, just\u2026 mischief.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey didn\u2019t have any adults watching them?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot that I ever noticed.\u00a0 But we all more or less kept an eye out and made sure they had enough to eat and a place to duck into if the weather turned.\u00a0 Once they got old enough we put them to work.\u00a0 She was a tough nut, that one.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cNever did teach her to keep her hands to herself, though.\u00a0 I wager there were a lot of travelers off the ships who were shy a few coin purses by the time they made it to the inn. Maybe that\u2019s how she got that scar, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t suppose you know where she is now, do you?\u201d Dardeh asked, while choosing some fish to buy.\u00a0 That much information had been well worth a few coins.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I don\u2019t.\u00a0 I wish I could tell you more.\u00a0 All I know is that I haven\u2019t seen any of them in a while.\u00a0 Not her nor the boys.\u00a0 It\u2019s too bad, too.\u00a0 They were good workers, the lot of \u2018em, and there\u2019s few enough of them to be had around here.\u201d<\/p>\n He talked to a few of the older fellows on the docks, even helped them unload one boat as it came in, his strong back helping loosen tongues.\u00a0 It seemed that Dardeh\u2019s sister had suffered fools not at all and had been known to hold her own in a fistfight when needed.\u00a0 That had made Dardeh smile.\u00a0 He could like having a sister like that to balance out his own tendency to be the nice guy all the time.<\/p>\n She wasn\u2019t there any more, though.\u00a0 She\u2019d taken a ship and left, and the people he talked to weren\u2019t certain whether she\u2019d gone west to Daggerfall, or east to Anvil, in Cyrodiil.\u00a0 So he had taken the long way around.\u00a0 It was good to have tough muscles and a solid build, because they got him passage to Daggerfall.\u00a0 Hauling lines at sea was a far cry from breaking ore in a mine, but they both needed bulk and arm strength and he had both. He found that he enjoyed being at sea; maybe it wasn\u2019t something that he\u2019d ever want to do for a long time, but it was a good change from dark, hot, dusty mines.<\/p>\n Dardeh had worked his way up the long peninsula of High Rock, following all of the tantalizing hints he found.\u00a0 Yes, she\u2019d been there; or at least a girl matching her description had been there.<\/p>\n A young mother in Camlorn remembered her vividly.<\/p>\n \u201cOh yes, she helped me around the house for a few weeks,\u201d she said as her twin infants howled.\u00a0 She sighed.\u00a0 \u201cWould you?\u201d and handed one of them, a dark-haired, red-faced boy, to Dardeh, while she turned to the other\u2019s diaper.<\/p>\n \u201cUm, I\u2019m not very\u2026\u201d he sputtered, trying hard not to drop the child.\u00a0 Talos help me, but I\u2019m not experienced with children.\u00a0 I have no idea what I\u2019m doing.<\/em>\u00a0 But he held the baby and bounced him, and the child decided that Dardeh\u2019s blonde beard was the most interesting thing he\u2019d seen, ever.\u00a0 Dardeh ended up giggling at him, and making faces so that his beard would wiggle.\u00a0 The little boy grabbed again.\u00a0 Babies were loud, for certain, Dardeh decided, and kind of smelly, but there was something about holding that little bundle of solid warmth that spoke to him. \u00a0He almost didn\u2019t want to hand him back to his mother.<\/p>\n \u201cYour sister,\u201d said the young woman, swapping out the children and leaving Dardeh holding a delicate but very loud little girl, \u201cwas a real boon to me, what with these two squalling all the time and their da at work.\u00a0 They\u2019re getting big enough now that it\u2019s a little easier but my goodness try to keep a pair of twins fed and do anything else in a day?\u00a0 I might have pulled all my hair out if I hadn\u2019t had her around.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman smiled at Dardeh.\u00a0 She had black hair and blue eyes and, in spite of looking nearly exhausted, she was extremely pretty.\u00a0 A sweet person, he decided.\u00a0 Just lovely.\u00a0 And her baby girl was going to be just as pretty and probably just as feisty as her brother, judging by the way she squirmed and grabbed at him.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t help but laugh. I wonder if my sister was like this when she was a baby.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYour sister seemed awfully sad when she first came here looking for some work.\u00a0 She wouldn\u2019t tell me why, try as I might to get her to talk.\u00a0 Goodness knows it was wonderful to have someone besides babies to talk to, and a woman besides; but she just wouldn\u2019t talk about why she was sad.\u00a0 It bothered me.\u00a0 By the time she left she seemed a bit better, though.\u00a0 I would think it would make anyone happy to be around this much joy, noisy though they are,\u201d she said, kissing her children.\u00a0 \u201cAre you married? Children?\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh smiled.\u00a0 \u201cNo, I\u2019m afraid not.\u00a0 But I have to say that your children are wonderful.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never actually held a baby before.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019ll be an uncle some day.\u201d\u00a0 I suppose I could adopt a child, some day, maybe, he thought. If they\u2019d let me.<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t know where his sister had gone, either.\u00a0 Probably north.\u00a0 The woman thought she\u2019d said something about heading to Cyrodiil.\u00a0 Or Skyrim.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t certain.<\/p>\n It had gone that way, for weeks on end.\u00a0 His sister definitely existed, but she was more than a few steps ahead of him. \u00a0She had worked her way up the length of High Rock, but long enough ago that he wasn\u2019t going to just run across her by accident. Finally, he had found himself back in Hammerfell, in Dragonstar.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t found a single clue there on his way south, but this time he ran into several.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I know who you mean,\u201d the innkeeper told him.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re not some kind of bounty hunter or something, are you?\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh laughed.\u00a0 \u201cNo, not at all.\u00a0 I just found out that I\u2019m her brother and I\u2019m trying to find her. Only family I have left, and, well, it just feels important.\u201d<\/p>\n The man nodded.\u00a0 \u201cWell in that case. She met up with some Khajiit fellow sitting here at the bar and they started talking.\u00a0 Decided to head into Skyrim together.\u00a0 I\u2019m certain of it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow long ago was that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, I don\u2019t know for sure.\u00a0 A month, maybe?\u00a0 Two? The days all run together in this job.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh had made sure to drop a goodly amount of coin on drinks that night. His head complained in the morning, but the man had given him some good information.<\/p>\n That morning he visited the local market to stock up on supplies.\u00a0 It had gotten to be a habit to ask every soul he could ask about the tough girl with the scar and green eyes.\u00a0 The vegetable vendor shook his head.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t listen to the barkeep; he never knows what\u2019s going on any more.\u00a0 I know exactly who you\u2019re talking about. She was around here for a couple of weeks or so, doing odd jobs to raise some coin.\u201d<\/p>\n And helping herself to what she didn\u2019t earn, I\u2019ll bet, Dardeh thought with a grin.<\/p>\n \u201cShe went to Bruma.\u00a0 No doubt about it.\u00a0 The girl talked about going to Cyrodiil every time she was here.\u00a0 How cold was it in the mountains. Was there another way around to get there.\u00a0 That kind of thing.\u00a0 Your best bet is to head east.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh had spent a day pondering his next move.\u00a0 Starting out he\u2019d crossed the border nearest Dragonstar and gone south, and nobody had even hinted at her presence until he\u2019d reached Stros M\u2019Kai. That made it seem less likely to him that crossing back into Skyrim was the best choice.\u00a0 Instead, he resupplied and went east into Cyrodiil, to the city of Bruma, only to find that it was yet another dead end. \u00a0There were plenty of Nords there, but not a lot of Redguards and none that fit her description.<\/p>\n Dardeh was stymied, and disappointed. He had seemed so close, back in Dragonstar.\u00a0 Probably the innkeeper had been right and she\u2019d gone into Skyrim; but where she might have gone from there was anyone\u2019s guess. He needed to head home, find work, make some money and resupply before doing anything else.\u00a0 Maybe someone on the Skyrim side of the border had seen her come through with a Khajiit.\u00a0 So he headed north, into the Jerall Mountains and through the Pale Pass, reveling at being back in the crisp mountain air.<\/p>\n And that was where Dardeh had been, no closer to finding her than he had been months before, when he tried to cross the border into Skyrim, found Ulfric Stormcloak and a dragon instead, and ended up with Ralof in Riverwood.<\/p>\n That afternoon, Dardeh visited the smithy in Riverwood.\u00a0 Alvor, the smith, greeted him warily, with \u201cAin\u2019t too often we get visitors in Riverwood,\u201d but bartered for the few things Dardeh had managed to carry out of the keep: some Imperial swords, some ore he\u2019d picked out of the rocks on the way through the tunnels much to Ralof\u2019s impatience, and a few odds and ends.<\/p>\n Dardeh hadn\u2019t spent his whole life working around miners and smiths for nothing.\u00a0 He was no expert, for certain, but he convinced Alvor to let him use the forge in exchange for some simple jobs \u2013 an iron knife.\u00a0 Honestly, he thought; is there anyone who can\u2019t craft an iron knife except for a child just starting out?\u00a0 He came away with a basic set of steel armor, nothing fancy, but something that really fit.<\/p>\n Taking off the Stormcloak cuirass was like dropping a heavy weight, even though the steel armor was much heavier. \u00a0It didn\u2019t keep him from seeing the soldier he\u2019d killed on his way into Helgen Keep, but it felt like a new life.<\/p>\n He left Gerdur\u2019s house that evening and made a quick trip back up the road to Helgen, hugging the sides of the path and keeping under cover.\u00a0 There were wolves \u2013 lots of them \u2013 but nothing else to contend with. He took their pelts, gratefully; the Imperials had confiscated his pack and everything in it, and he was sure none of it had survived the fires.\u00a0 The wolves would provide him a new one.<\/p>\n Helgen was still smoldering.\u00a0 The air reeked of burned flesh and hair.\u00a0 Dardeh had thought of checking any bodies for coins, or valuables, anything he might make use of, but they were all so badly damaged that he couldn\u2019t bear the thought of violating them any further.\u00a0 He made his way around and through the remains of the houses toward the southern gate, and there he found the charred, overturned cart he\u2019d ridden in.<\/p>\n Almost everything in what had been the chest was damaged or destroyed.\u00a0 There was nothing left of his other gear. But he pushed aside the ashes until two pieces of curved metal emerged from the wreckage.\u00a0 The grips were badly damaged, but the steel itself was not.\u00a0 The fire had burned hot, but not with the heat of a forge. They could be repaired, his father\u2019s swords.<\/p>\n He turned and ran back down the road to Riverwood.<\/p>\n It had been just a ghastly trek through Hammerfell.\u00a0 Dardeh supposed that he should have felt some kind of affinity for the land, the people, fully half of his heritage, but all he had felt while he was there was hot and gritty.\u00a0 He\u2019d gotten sand in places he hadn\u2019t known sand could go, and … <\/p>\n