\u201cBut I thought they weren\u2019t allowed within the city!\u201d She reached out to grab Dardeh\u2019s arm as if for support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey aren\u2019t. The guards were pretty clear about it when I heard them talking to the two at the gates a few days back.\u00a0 But they\u2019ve found another way in. We need to get you out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut where will I go?\u00a0 I can\u2019t keep running forever!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a horse waiting for you, down at the stables.\u00a0 I\u2019ll make sure you\u2019re safe until you\u2019re out of sight, but you have to go now, while it\u2019s still early.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked truly distressed.\u00a0 I can\u2019t stand this.\u00a0 What am I doing? It had better work or she\u2019s going to be justified in cutting a finger off like she threatened.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAfter all this I have to just pick up and leave again?\u201d\u00a0 She shook her head, looking around as though she was saying a quick goodbye.\u00a0 \u201cWell if you really think it\u2019s the only way, I\u2019ll trust you. Let\u2019s not waste any time.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh nodded and followed Saadia out the door. She jogged through the marketplace, down the street and out the gates, her gait telling him that she was no stranger to the need to move quickly.<\/p>\n Dardeh felt for the grips of his swords, making sure they were exactly where they needed to be for a quick draw.\u00a0 I\u2019m only going to get one shot at this, he thought, and I need to make sure I can do it right. It was bad enough that he was wearing his plain steel armor; he\u2019d given the plate over to the smith for repairs.\u00a0 All the more reason to take Kematu down as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n Kematu and his band had been hiding out in Swindler\u2019s Den, a deep cave about halfway between Whiterun and the town of Rorikstead, out on Whiterun Hold\u2019s western edges.\u00a0 Dardeh had crept into the cave\u2019s entrance, overhearing the bandits there. They\u2019d been paid to guard these outer rooms; Kematu and his Alik\u2019r warriors were deeper in.\u00a0 He\u2019d worked his way toward the back by picking off the guards one at a time; but all of the Alik\u2019r had come running together when he\u2019d tried to draw them out.\u00a0 There were just too many of them for him to take on.\u00a0 One of them dropped with an arrow through his eye; Dardeh had used him, and the obstruction he created in the tunnel, as his chance to retreat and bolt for cover outside the cave\u2019s entrance.<\/p>\n Then he had come up with another plan.\u00a0 He made his way to Rorikstead and found the two men who had been in Whiterun, sitting in the inn.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019s at the Bannered Mare,\u201d he had told them. They\u2019d been pleased. \u201cGet her out of the city. Down by the stables should do nicely.\u00a0 Just get her out there and Kematu will take care of the rest.\u201d They\u2019d thanked him, paid him some gold, and left to tell Kematu their news. Dardeh had run back to Whiterun as quickly as he could.<\/p>\n It was going to be just short of cold-blooded murder.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not right, but I have to do it. <\/em><\/p>\n He jogged along behind Saadia, hoping that there wouldn\u2019t be too many of the Alik\u2019r waiting for them.\u00a0 If he was lucky, Kematu would be alone. If not, well, Saadia was quick on her feet and had a knife, they were within shouting distance of Whiterun guards, and maybe one would even be walking his rounds nearby.<\/p>\n Saadia ran forward toward the front of the stables.\u00a0 Dardeh held back, then cut left around the back side of it, creeping as quietly as he could to the back corner of the building.\u00a0 Saadia was facing a lone Alik\u2019r.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is this, Kematu? Why are you here?\u201d she hissed.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t run from us any longer, \u2018Saadia,\u2019 if that\u2019s the name you\u2019re using these days,\u201d the man called Kematu murmured. \u201cCome along quietly.\u00a0 There are people who are \u2026 anxious to see you.\u201d<\/p>\n Now<\/em>.\u00a0 Go! Go! Go!<\/em><\/p>\n He threw himself forward, attacking Kematu from behind, roaring his battle cry as he slashed. He managed to land a single deep cut on Kematu\u2019s left shoulder; but Kematu was wearing the armor favored by the Alik\u2019r warriors, made of a finely woven, reinforced material that repelled a great deal of damage.\u00a0 Dardeh\u2019s scimitar bit into Kematu but not deeply enough to stop him.<\/p>\n Dardeh dropped back a step and blocked with his left sword as Kematu drew his own and turned to attack, slashing over and over with his right hand while using the left, damaged though it was, to block and thrust forward.\u00a0 Kematu was seasoned, experienced, and his every move efficient and dangerous.\u00a0 Dardeh was strong, but not nearly as experienced; he moved to block an attack from Kematu\u2019s right side and failed to see the left sword slashing toward him.\u00a0 It raked across his bicep, leaving a deep slash.<\/p>\n Dardeh hissed with the pain, felt the warmth of his own blood running down the exposed skin of his arm, and staggered backwards several steps. Damn, he\u2019s good.\u00a0 He\u2019s better than I am.\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s no help for it.<\/em><\/p>\n He gathered his energy and Shouted.<\/p>\n \u201cFUS-RO!\u201d<\/p>\n Kematu flew backwards, across the road leading to Whiterun, a good fifteen or twenty paces, and landed on his back, all the wind having been knocked out of him.\u00a0 As he gasped for air, Dardeh barreled into him with all the strength he had left, hacking as hard as he could, and finished him off with a deep slash to the throat.<\/p>\n He wasted no time beginning to heal his arm.<\/p>\n \u201cDamn, that hurt,\u201d he muttered, then looked up as he heard Saadia approaching.\u00a0 She was glaring at him.\u00a0 I\u2019d be toast right now if she could cast flames with those eyes, he thought.<\/p>\n She snapped at him.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could have warned me that you were going to set me up like that, Dardeh!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf I had told you, you wouldn\u2019t have come. Well you\u2019re safe now, aren\u2019t you,\u201d he grumbled.\u00a0 It would be nice to be appreciated once in awhile. But I suppose she\u2019s still reeling from finding out they were so close to catching her. <\/em>\u00a0\u201cThey won\u2019t bother you again.\u201d<\/p>\n Saadia sighed and relaxed.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry. Yes, you\u2019re right.\u00a0 Here. I suppose you should have this.\u201c She handed him a coin purse.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t really expect to be paid, Dardeh thought, but I could really use the money.\u00a0 I\u2019ll give some more coins to Lucia and, well, maybe I\u2019ll rent a room for myself once I get to Riverwood.<\/p>\n He looked around as he continued working on his arm. Aside from himself and Saadia, he saw only two figures, crouching near the corner of the stable, and neither of them in Whiterun guard uniforms. Darned good thing that wasn\u2019t a real emergency, he thought.\u00a0 I would have thought I\u2019d have brought all the guards running, using a Shout like that.<\/p>\n Saadia nodded, almost as if to herself more than to anyone else.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I thank you. Now I can go back to my life in Whiterun.\u00a0 You\u2019ll always be welcome at the Bannered Mare, Dardeh.\u201d<\/p>\n She turned and jogged up the path toward the city gates.<\/p>\n I would hope so, he thought.\u00a0 My coin is as good as anyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n He was looking down at his arm, testing it to make sure it was well enough healed, when the sound of feet crunching on dirt caught his attention. In his peripheral vision he saw a Redguard woman, and wondered what Saadia had forgotten to tell him. Turning, he found not Saadia but one of the people he\u2019d seen crouching by the stable.<\/p>\n \u201cUm, we didn\u2019t mean to be intruding on that,\u201d she told him. \u201cWhatever it was.\u00a0 But\u2026 is everything ok? Your arm?\u201d<\/p>\n This woman had longer hair than Saadia but was roughly the same size and was dressed in leather armor covered with pockets and pouches. She was carrying two steel swords and looked ready for travel.\u00a0 Dardeh took a step closer to her and his heart started accelerating.\u00a0 She had black hair.\u00a0 She had green eyes.\u00a0 And she had a long, pale scar reaching down the side of her face.<\/p>\n By the Nine.\u00a0 Could this be her? After all the searching?<\/em><\/p>\n Sorry to stare,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s just that I wasn\u2019t expecting to see another Redguard woman with a scar in the same city.\u201d<\/p>\n The blonde man had come up beside them; and when Dardeh spoke, he tensed, radiating alarm.<\/p>\n Dardeh glanced at him and his world shifted, as completely as it had when the Graybeards summoned him, but without the slightest whisper of a sound. He stared, hearing and feeling his heart pounding in his ears, as overwhelmed as he was when a dragon\u2019s soul rushed in to merge with his own.<\/p>\n He was a Nord, a big, pale man who could be nothing other than a Nord. Tall, taller than Dardeh and probably ten years older, and he had the bluest eyes.\u00a0 Not an ethereal, icy blue, like those of the Nord he\u2019d followed into Whiterun after the dragon attack, but a deep blue, the blue of a Skyrim sky on a sunny, clear, cold day; the blue of a lake in summer, the blue a man could drown in.\u00a0 He had long hair, very blonde, pulled back into a tail, and a long blonde beard pulled into a knot.\u00a0 He was in leather armor that showed off his solid build and well-muscled arms, built to swing the greatsword strapped to his back. \u00a0He had high cheekbones and a face that, while it wore a wary expression at the moment, had laugh lines and crinkles around the eyes that spoke of humor and a good disposition. \u00a0Not the best-looking man Dardeh had ever admired, certainly not the worst; but something about him grabbed at Dardeh in a way he couldn\u2019t define.<\/p>\n Stop everything. Just make it all stop while I figure out how to know this man.<\/em><\/p>\n He didn\u2019t know why he\u2019d never felt such a thing before, or why it was that this particular person made him feel it. He couldn\u2019t stop staring.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know what this is, but I do know that I\u2019m in such trouble right now. <\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s not like a dragon soul.\u00a0 But I want it to be. <\/em><\/p>\n He blinked and took several deep breaths, forced himself to return his attention to the Redguard.\u00a0 Stop trembling, he told himself. \u00a0Pay attention, he told himself. \u00a0Redguard woman with scar? Maybe your sister? That\u2019s why we\u2019re in this part of Skyrim, remember?<\/p>\n She shook her head and reached out to touch the Nord\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s ok,\u201d she told him.<\/p>\n Dardeh watched him flinch, just the tiniest bit, as she touched him.<\/p>\n She\u2019s the one in charge.\u00a0 All right, now that\u2019s clear. <\/em><\/p>\n She\u2019s really comfortable with him, too. And he \u2026 is not. But he wants to be. <\/em><\/p>\n She looked at Dardeh, and waved her hand toward her scar, grinning. \u201cIt is odd, to be sure. I wasn\u2019t exactly expecting it, either. Can I ask why you were looking for\u2026 one of us?\u201d<\/p>\n He chuckled.\u00a0 One of us, indeed. She\u2019s sharp and she has a sense of humor.<\/em> He found his gaze drifting back to the blonde Nord, and forced himself to look away, look back at her. Her eyes were green, the same green as the single one of his, and they were both cautious but curious at the moment.<\/p>\n \u201cWell,\u201d he said, picking his words carefully, \u201cSaadia there was being pursued by those bounty hunters for reasons that aren\u2019t mine to share. Let\u2019s just say that I couldn\u2019t just leave a kinsman in trouble like that. There were too many of them to take out as a group, so I picked off a few here and there and then figured out a way to lure the ringleader out here.\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed at Kematu\u2019s body, then groaned internally.\u00a0 And here am I, he thought, calling \u00a0Saadia my kinsman when most of the time I\u2019m trying to convince everyone that I\u2019m a Nord.\u00a0 I\u2019ve lost my mind here.<\/p>\n Gods, I\u2019m sore after that<\/em>.\u00a0 He shifted and rotated his shoulders, willing them to loosen up.\u00a0 Something about me needs to relax because gods know my heart rate isn\u2019t. Or my mind. Or the rest of me.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWasn\u2019t expecting him to be quite that tough,\u201d he told her. I should have, but I didn\u2019t. Eventually I\u2019ll learn to not underestimate my opponents.<\/em> \u201cBut yeah, I\u2019m fine.\u00a0 Thanks for asking.\u201d<\/p>\n They were just looking at him.\u00a0 He was superbly, excruciatingly aware of the man\u2019s eyes on him.\u00a0 He\u2019s wondering about the Shout, I\u2019ll bet.<\/em> That has to be it, right?\u00a0 And why am I so self-conscious all of a sudden? \u00a0Damn. Now the neck.\u00a0 My neck is stiff. Every damn thing about me is stiff right now and it\u2019s ridiculous. Come on, Dar, don\u2019t think about it. Think about something else, think about\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n He popped his neck.\u00a0 It made a vivid, resounding crack.\u00a0 By the Nine.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThat sounded awful, didn\u2019t it? As for me, I\u2019m looking for my sister.\u201d\u00a0 Then he laughed and waved his hand up at his own bright blonde hair. \u201cWell, half-sister. Same father, different mother.\u00a0 My mother was a Nord.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGood,\u201d the blonde man said.\u00a0 Dardeh\u2019s head swam. His voice was deep; not as deep as Dardeh\u2019s by any stretch but a good, mellow sound like the warmth of mead at the end of a long day; and Dardeh felt a shiver trying to emerge from the very depths of him, butterflies dancing around in his stomach.\u00a0 Not just good to look at but good to listen to as well. This is bad. I\u2019m just\u2026lost.<\/em><\/p>\n Dardeh couldn\u2019t help himself; he started smiling at the man and couldn\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a Nord,\u201d the man said, just as though there had been any doubt whatsoever about that fact.<\/p>\n Ordinarily, Dardeh thought, I might say something extremely sarcastic right about now but\u2026 but\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cI guessed as much.\u201d\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t stop smiling.\u00a0 The man nodded at him and smiled back, and the butterflies in Dardeh\u2019s stomach danced a little faster.<\/p>\n Dardeh forced himself to return his attention to the Redguard. She was rolling her eyes at her companion. She\u2019s thinking what I was thinking. Heh.<\/em><\/p>\n Pay attention, already, he scolded himself, trying to quiet the tumult of his mind and senses. She could be the person I\u2019ve been looking for all this time.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyway,\u201d he said, \u201cit probably seems a strange thing to do. I\u2019ve never actually met my father, but just before my ma passed she told me about this girl. If she really exists, she\u2019s the only family I\u2019ve got. I was told that she has green eyes and a scar, and you\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026have green eyes and a scar,\u201d she nodded. \u201cBut my family has been gone for a very long time now, since I was not much more than able to hold a sword. I was the only child, unless ma and da were hiding one somewhere.\u00a0 Sorry about that.\u00a0 I guess I\u2019m not the only one who was prone to scratches from sharp blades,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n Dardeh\u2019s heart fell.\u00a0 No?\u00a0 But what were the chances that there would be two Redguard women with scars in the same city at the same time, and one of them with green eyes? And this one\u2026 he wasn\u2019t sure why, but there was something about her that spoke to him.<\/p>\n Dardeh looked at the plain swords she was carrying.\u00a0 They were good enough swords, as such things went, but\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cSpeaking of which,\u201d he asked her, trying not to chuckle, \u201cwhat in Oblivion are those things you\u2019re hauling around?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you have some proper weapons?\u201d<\/p>\n He grinned to himself as she flushed.\u00a0 Yes, a temper here, he thought.\u00a0 Maybe she really is my sister, because that\u2019s exactly the kind of thing that would make me start fuming. And I would tease her, like that, if she was my sister.<\/p>\n \u201cWell I\u2019m sorry they don\u2019t meet with your approval.\u00a0 They were the best I could come up with after mine got liberated by some bandits.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t exactly in a position to head back home to replace them.\u201d She looked disgusted.<\/p>\n \u201cWait a moment.\u201d\u00a0 He walked over to Kematu and wrestled the Alik\u2019r scimitars out of his stiffening fingers. Kematu had been his kill; anything on his corpse was Dardeh\u2019s by right. \u201cTake these,\u201d he said, handing them to Dag. \u201cI already have mine, he doesn\u2019t need them any longer, and I\u2019d hate to see some\u2026 someone who isn\u2019t Redguard have them.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n Damn, I almost said \u2018some Nord.\u2019 What am I thinking.\u00a0 I am a Nord, and so is he. And she\u2019s not a Redguard man. Still, I\u2019d rather have them go to a Redguard woman than one of those sleazy shopkeepers behind the gates.\u00a0 Especially not that Belethor guy. He makes me cringe. \u2018If I had a sister, I\u2019d sell her in a minute!\u2019 Good for you, buddy, but I\u2019m looking for mine and even though this isn’t her, I want her to have some decent Redguard swords.<\/em><\/p>\n The Redguard woman took them and tried them for balance.\u00a0 She looked almost emotional about it, he thought. She hadn\u2019t just had some<\/em> random swords stolen, she\u2019d had a set of these<\/em> swords, important ones, that were stolen from her.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you,\u201d she said quietly, her voice catching. \u201cYou have no idea how much this means to me.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0She cleared her throat and smiled at Dardeh, handing him her old swords. \u201cHere, at least take these off my hands, would you? Run them up to the smithy and sell them off for as much as you can get. Please. Maybe they\u2019ll buy you a couple of nights in a soft bed.\u201d<\/p>\n Ok, he thought, I will.\u00a0 It\u2019ll give me a little extra for Lucia.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be gone from Whiterun for awhile and I don\u2019t want her to go hungry again.<\/p>\n \u201cWell,\u201d he said, wishing he could think of another excuse to stand there and admire the blonde Nord some more, \u201cI suppose I need to go start searching for yet another girl with a scar.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman stopped him with a hand on his arm.<\/p>\n \u201cWait a moment. I really need to know.\u00a0 What that was? The thing you did?\u201d<\/p>\n Her companion sighed and shook his head, shooting Dardeh a slightly awe-struck look. \u201cI told you already.\u00a0 It was a Shout.\u00a0 He Shouted.\u00a0 Listen to me sometimes, woman.\u201d\u00a0 He frowned at her and she glared back.<\/p>\n Dardeh laughed, but his heart sank again.\u00a0 Well, he thought, I can see that these two are a couple. \u00a0Not that I should be surprised. Damn. I don\u2019t know why I should have expected anything else.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u00a0 I just learned that I could do that not long ago.\u00a0 A dragon\u2026 well, never mind.\u201d\u00a0 He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cIt sounds ridiculous even to me and I\u2019m the one that was there. That shout is translated from the dragon tongue as Unrelenting Force, for obvious reasons.\u00a0 I have a few of them now. It\u2019s a strange thing, but it\u2019s pretty handy in a tight spot.\u00a0 It\u2019s a relief to talk to someone who knows what I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWait,\u201d the Nord said, staring at him.\u00a0 \u201cAre you saying that dragons are real?\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh grimaced, remembering the overwhelming size and power of the black dragon at Helgen, its head having rammed a hole in the side of the keep\u2019s tower wall.<\/p>\n \u201cOh very real. Big and nasty, and they don\u2019t like people. Some speak with fire and some with frost, and you can\u2019t get too close to the front end of them, for all the teeth. I\u2019d hate to tell you what the first one did to some of these Whiterun guards.\u201d He remembered the dying guard\u2019s screams, and shuddered. \u201cI\u2019ve had to kill several of them now. I wouldn\u2019t recommend it for a leisure activity.\u00a0 Learning their language is useful for that, though.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman shook her head, looking incredulous.\u00a0 \u201cDragon\u2026 language.\u201d<\/p>\n Yep, Dardeh thought, running his hands up over his braids. I don\u2019t blame you. It does sound absurd.<\/p>\n \u201cI know, it\u2019s bizarre.\u00a0 That\u2019s how they explained it to me, though. You have to, well at least almost everyone has to, study the words for a long time before they can make them work in that way. Unless you have the gift.\u00a0 I just more or less knew how to use the words when I heard them.\u201d More or less, close enough without trying to explain that I absorb them somehow, a thing that still sounds ridiculous to me and I\u2019m the one who does it.<\/em><\/p>\n The Nord\u2019s brow furrowed.\u00a0 \u201cWho is \u2018they\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Greybeards. Well, Master Arngeir, I should say.\u00a0 The others don\u2019t exactly talk.\u201d<\/p>\n The man looked at him, his eyes round, mouth open.\u00a0 The only other place Dardeh had ever seen that look was on the face of the Whiterun guard who had called him\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cDragonborn?\u201d \u00a0the man gasped. \u201cCan it be? Are you \u2026 Dragonborn?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUm,\u201d Dardeh said, embarrassed and yet pleased that he knew what it meant. \u201cSo it would seem. Whether I like it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWould you boys please tell me what in the name of Stendarr you are talking about?\u201d the Redguard girl snapped. \u201cI am lost.\u201d<\/p>\n The Nord told her.<\/p>\n Dardeh stood, watching the man talk, just drinking in the sound of his voice as he explained what a Dragonborn was, and who the Greybeards were, and that he\u2019d thought it was just a legend.\u00a0 All of it. The man knew about all of it, and it was wonderful, and Dardeh wanted to hear him explain it for the rest of the day. \u00a0I know that I can\u2019t have him but at least I can listen to him. And now he\u2019s staring at me.\u00a0 Probably thinks I\u2019m some sort of freak but I\u2019ll take it, he\u2019s looking at me.<\/em><\/p>\n What in the name of Talos is wrong with me right now?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThanks,\u201d he said once the lesson was done. \u201cYou explained it better than I could.\u00a0 I\u2019m still trying to figure it all out myself.\u00a0 The only thing I know for sure is that I can do, well, what I did. I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m not related to any dragons, but then again I\u2019m kind of half and half anyway, so who knows.\u201d\u00a0 He laughed and smiled at the man again.<\/p>\n Cut it out, Dar, you\u2019re smiling at him too much. He\u2019s going to think you\u2019re a creep.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAnyway,\u201d the woman said, looking down at her new scimitars, \u201cwe have a long way to go to get back to Riften.\u00a0 If you\u2019re ever there \u2026 Well I was going to say look me up, but who knows whether I\u2019ll even be there. I hope we\u2019ll see each other again someday, though.\u00a0 It was good to meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLikewise,\u201d Dardeh said. Then he sighed. \u201cIt\u2019s too bad, really. I would have enjoyed having a sister like you, someone tough. And a brother-in-law like you,\u201d he added, smiling at the Nord.\u00a0 No, he thought, I\u2019d rather not have you as a brother-in-law but I would settle for that, I truly would.<\/p>\n \u201cOh no, no, it\u2019s not like that,\u201d the man stammered, looking uncomfortable.<\/p>\n His companion laughed. \u201cWe\u2019re not married, Dardeh,\u201d she said. \u201cI needed a friend to travel with me on a job, and lucky for me that he is, too. He keeps saving my hide.\u201d<\/p>\n That got a smile from the man as he gazed at her and, just as Dardeh had expected, it was a glorious smile. Genuine, one that went all the way up to his eyes and back. Beautiful.<\/p>\n And he\u2019s in love with her. Oh well. A fellow could dream.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI see.\u00a0 Ok then,\u201d Dardeh said, grinning at them. \u201cBe safe out there.\u00a0 And keep an eye on the sky. You\u2019ll probably hear one of those bastards before you see him. And if you do, find some good solid shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n He waved and walked up the path toward Whiterun. He hadn\u2019t gotten too far up the path when one of the city guards barreled toward him.\u00a0 \u201cWe heard a Shout. What is it, dragons?\u201d<\/p>\n He laughed.\u00a0 I shouted fifteen minutes ago and you\u2019re just thinking about checking it out at this late date? Well done, my man. Well done indeed.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cEverything\u2019s fine.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about it.\u201d\u00a0 He turned for another look.\u00a0 The Redguard woman and the Nord man were walking along at a good pace, obviously chatting away, and Dardeh looked at the man\u2019s body language and sighed.\u00a0 Yep. He\u2019s in love with her, alright. She\u2019s pretty taken with him, too, but I\u2019m not sure she realizes it.<\/em><\/p>\n Dardeh went back into the city.\u00a0 Adrienne bought the standard swords; not for much, but there were more than enough coins in his pocket that once he found Lucia he gave her a good-sized handful of them.\u00a0 She grinned and ran into the Bannered Mare to buy herself a warm meal.\u00a0 Brenuin, the beggar and town drunk who at least tried to give her advice if nothing else, asked him for a coin.\u00a0 He knew that Brenuin would take it and head straight for the bar, but he shrugged, told himself \u201cwhy not,\u201d and handed the man a couple of gold septims. Then he went to the Bannered Mare himself, to get something to eat before heading off to Riverwood.<\/p>\n He was sitting at his table, eating, trying to think forward to what might happen when he met the person who had left him the note in Ustengrav.\u00a0 Trying, and failing; because he kept thinking about the tough Redguard girl with the green eyes and the scar.\u00a0 But failing even more so because the image of the tall, blonde Nord with the blue, blue eyes wouldn\u2019t leave his mind.\u00a0 Maybe, he thought, I should just stop being an idiot about it and go find them again, travel with them for awhile, something. At least I could be around him.<\/p>\n Suddenly he stopped short, in the middle of a mouthful of food, and slapped himself on the forehead.<\/p>\n He hadn\u2019t even gotten their names.<\/p>\n Saadia had given them his name by virtue of talking to him just as they\u2019d approached. So they knew who he was.<\/p>\n But their names? He hadn\u2019t gotten them. He hadn\u2019t even done the obvious. He should have asked the woman where she was from, true; that would have told him for sure whether she was his sister.\u00a0 Her name would have, as well. \u00a0But he\u2019d been too preoccupied, too distracted, to do the single simplest thing he could have done.<\/p>\n He wanted to look at that man forever, and he hadn\u2019t even gotten his name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dardeh pushed open the door to the Bannered Mare and stepped inside.\u00a0 There were only a few people there this early in the morning, so it was easy to spot Saadia standing in the side room, stirring in a cooking pot.\u00a0 She looked up, smiled, and beckoned to him. \u201cAny news of the Alik\u2019r?\u201d Dardeh … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2-1-11-1.png\")
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