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<\/p>\nThe farther along the road Dagnell walked, the more the scenery changed.\u00a0 The air smelled sharply clean as the road rose through increasingly rocky terrain, a welcome change from the stench of rotten eggs. There were mountains in and around most of Skyrim, and her path was taking them up into some of them.<\/p>\n
Her first night passed uneventfully enough, as she found a niche at the base of an outcropping that gave her some shelter.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t much more than nap intermittently, but the apples from deep in that barrel had put at least something in her stomach so that between them and a bit more healing magic to soothe the aches she wasn\u2019t too uncomfortable. At dawn, as chickadees started their daily discussions, she found a trickle of a stream, had a drink, splashed a bit of water on her face and rinsed out the matted spot in her hair, then set out again.<\/p>\n
She began seeing trees, mostly spruces, first just a few clinging to the steep hillsides and then greater numbers of them, until she found herself walking in a full forest. Her bow would have come in handy if she\u2019d still had it, for the elk and deer that sometimes wandered out onto the road.\u00a0 It was definitely getting colder, as well, a fact that made Dag crankier by the moment.\u00a0 She\u2019d always heard that Nords had some degree of natural immunity to cold.\u00a0 They\u2019d almost have to, to live here.<\/p>\n
It seemed she\u2019d been walking for an eternity when the road she was on topped a hill and turned left, downwards toward what looked and sounded like a large river some distance away, rushing down over the rocks.\u00a0 Straight ahead of her was a smaller cobble path with just the roof of a large building visible, smoke rising from it. A road marker read \u201cKynesgrove.\u201d Civilization, perhaps?\u00a0 She walked along the path, intending to find out.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t much in terms of civilization, this Kynesgrove.\u00a0 The sole large buildings were an inn and a smithy.\u00a0 Just past them were a few tents and outbuildings, a farm, and what looked like the entrance to a mine, just up the hill.\u00a0 There were a couple of very old homes just around the corner from the inn, but that was it. Disappointing, really, she thought, but it was at least a place to rest and get warm, perhaps exchange some work or her gathered herbs for a bite to eat, and get some directions to \u2026anywhere else.<\/p>\n
It was the Braidwood Inn, according to the sign swinging from a post just outside. Inside, much to her delight, it was downright hot.<\/p>\n
A pleasant Nord woman smiled and called out \u201cCome in and shake the cold off.\u00a0 I\u2019ve just stoked the fire.\u201d The perfect greeting; the fire felt good indeed, and sitting down next to it, on a real bench rather than a stump or a rock, felt even better.\u00a0 \u201cLet me know if you want anything.\u00a0 I think I\u2019ve got a clean mug around here somewhere.\u201d\u00a0 Dag smiled in return, wondering how well she would do with bartering in a place that obviously didn\u2019t see a lot of traffic.<\/p>\n
There were only a few other souls in the place: a young Nord with strawberry blonde hair helping stock things behind the bar, two others talking and eating a meal at one of the tables, and a Dunmer \u2013 a dark elf woman, a mage judging by the gray robes that matched her skin — in the corner by herself.\u00a0 After flexing her feet a few times, trying not to emit a full-throated groan in the process, Dag sighed and walked over to the bar intending to ask what she could get for the herbs she\u2019d gathered.<\/p>\n
The woman was busy sweeping the floor, but began chattering away amiably.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Iddra.\u00a0 I run the inn. I hope you\u2019ll stay awhile; we could use the business.\u201d Before Dagnell could get a word in, the woman continued \u201cPoor Roggi.\u00a0 If you\u2019re feeling charitable, buy the Nord a mead.\u00a0 He\u2019s good for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dag glanced around the room, wondering which one she was referring to. \u201cWho\u2019s Roggi?\u201d The young man was busy and didn\u2019t look like he was in any particular need of a drink, the Dunmer woman had one already, and the boys in the back were busy eating. Iddra nodded toward the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been in Kynesgrove forever.\u00a0 Great storyteller.\u00a0 Keeps everyone\u2019s spirits up.\u201d She sighed. \u201cOwes me a lot of coin for drinks.\u00a0 I tell him not to worry about it but he\u2019s got the stubborn Nord blood. He doesn\u2019t have the coin to pay me back.\u00a0 Then the damn fool beats himself up over it, gets thirsty, and it just cycles all over again.\u201d\u00a0 Tsking, she reengaged herself with the broom.<\/p>\n
It seemed little odd to Dagnell that she\u2019d be spilling all of this to a complete stranger, but she was clearly a gossip and it was intriguing.\u00a0 \u201cWhat if I talk to him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Iddra didn\u2019t miss a broom stroke, but answered \u201cIf you can get him to stop worrying about his tab it would certainly make me feel a lot better.\u201d\u00a0 Roggi Knot-Beard worked in Steamscorch Mine, she said, the one Dag had seen just up the hill. She decided to go find him.\u00a0 Why not.\u00a0 It might make Iddra think more kindly about doing some trading later on.<\/p>\n
Two guards patrolled the stretch between the inn and the mine.\u00a0 They looked her over, but neither of them attempted to stop her in spite of her being a stranger in dubious, worse-for-wear attire.\u00a0 Letting herself into the mine, she followed the main shaft down an incline that had tiny patches of malachite embedded here and there in the walls. It was as tidy a mine as she\u2019d seen, and surprisingly much cooler.<\/p>\n
After a moment she came to a side branch with a rough table and benches, at which a man with his back to her was having a meal. Dagnell made sure to make noise walking up to him.\u00a0 There was nothing worse than being startled, especially from behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you Roggi, by any chance?\u201d<\/p>\n
He turned and smiled at her, a large, open, warm smile that crinkled the corners of his clear blue eyes and his curious, peaked eyebrows. \u201cIf you bring mead, you\u2019re welcome here!\u201d he boomed, then chuckled, standing to lean against one of the support beams and face her. \u201cAaah, even if you don\u2019t, you\u2019re still welcome!\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
She couldn\u2019t help but smile back.\u00a0 Roggi was a trim, pleasant looking man with even features, neither young nor old, fit as one would expect of a miner. His long blonde hair was pulled back into a neat tail, and his beard was equally tidy and, true to his name, gathered into a knot at the bottom.\u00a0 This wasn\u2019t the image that had sprung to mind of someone deep in debt over drink.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m here with a message from the inn. Iddra says you should stop worrying about all that coin you owe her,\u201d she began, intending to explain how genuine that wish appeared to be.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
But just as quickly as Roggi had offered a friendly smile, now his face flushed and his eyes flared.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you think I am? A beggar?\u00a0 My family has always paid back every cent it owes, going back to Tiber Septim\u2019s time!\u201d He stepped toward her, in a move that might have been meant to be threatening.<\/p>\n
Roggi wasn\u2019t at all a big man; built like a man who swung a pickaxe all day, to be sure, but not big. She didn\u2019t feel threatened, just annoyed.\u00a0 Iddra had been right about him.\u00a0 A stubborn Nord.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t care much for all the racial slurs one ran across in Tamriel but this one was more often true than not, and here was a fine example.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome on,\u201d she said calmly, trying to damp down her annoyance and be persuasive. \u201cDon\u2019t be stubborn about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0 He glared at her. \u201cI have my pride.\u201d That was obvious; he was clearly upset.<\/p>\n
Dag\u2019s ire was rising. She was tired, and hungry, and was trying to do this man she didn\u2019t even know a good turn, and she didn\u2019t feel like being diplomatic about it any longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do I have to do, beat some sense into you?\u201d she snapped.<\/p>\n
Dag was a good brawler.\u00a0 She\u2019d grown up on the docks, where the boys liked to steal her food and see what else they could get away with, and she\u2019d learned early on how to lay them flat on their behinds when needs must.\u00a0 She was pretty sure she could handle a slender Nord not much larger than herself and, well, if she couldn\u2019t, not much was at risk but a bruise or two. She already had plenty of those; a few more wouldn\u2019t hurt much.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have to take that from you!\u201d he shouted, red-faced.\u00a0 \u201cCome on! Let\u2019s see what you\u2019re made of!\u201d and started throwing punches in her general direction.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take long.\u00a0 Roggi landed a few solid blows, and they hurt; but she landed more.\u00a0 He stumbled back and blustered \u201cit\u2019s\u2026nothing!\u201d He grunted and yelped and punched until the perfect opening allowed her to clock him in the jaw, driving him to his knees.\u00a0 He knelt there, panting, for a moment and then staggered to his feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cUgh.\u00a0 You throw a mean hook. And I\u2019m really out of practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you ready to listen to reason now?\u201d she asked, trying to catch her breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, okay. I get your point.\u201d\u00a0 He rubbed his jaw, opening and closing it a few times.\u00a0 Dag did the same, grinning in spite of what was going to be a fine bruise on her chin.\u00a0 He looked at her grin and laughed, the good humor returning as though he\u2019d not been bellowing at her a few moments earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cAhhh, tell Iddra I\u2019m sorry about being so stubborn about the coin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will,\u201d she said, and then suddenly found she needed to sit down at his table.\u00a0 Her legs were betraying her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you all right?\u201d he asked, sitting beside her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be.\u00a0 It\u2019s just been a bit since I\u2019ve eaten anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roggi pushed his plate of bread and cheese across the table.\u00a0 \u201cEat up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n
He grinned.\u00a0 \u201cYes. That fight was worth a plate of food,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
She started in on the bread gratefully, startled at how ravenous she was, but between bites mumbled \u201cI take it you\u2019re something of a mead expert?\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes sparkled.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I\u2019ve had a lifetime of study, you might say.\u201d She then learned why Iddra had called him a great storyteller. He made a mug of mead into a wonder worthy of a bard\u2019s talents and for a longer time than a song would last.\u00a0 It was a real art, brewing mead. Had she ever tried to make her own? It wasn\u2019t easy, he should know.\u00a0 The best, he told her with great gravity, came from the Black-Briar Meadery in Riften. You could smell the honey on the wind. But he hadn\u2019t been there in years. \u201cAhh. How I wish I had their talent,\u201d he sighed happily, and there was nothing for her to do but smile.\u00a0 She liked Roggi.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, tell me, are you from Kynesgrove?\u201d she asked around a mouthful of cheese.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u00a0 I\u2019ve wandered a bit, but I always come back to Kynesgrove.\u00a0 My clan was one of the first to settle here.\u00a0 Legend says that my forefather Lenne discovered the mine after he stumbled into a dark cave to relieve himself.\u201d\u00a0 He waggled his eyebrows. \u201cToo much mead.\u201d\u00a0 He laughed, and Dag snorted, giggling.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there such a thing as a Nord who doesn\u2019t like his mead? I haven\u2019t met one so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roggi laughed. \u201cMaybe not, maybe not. Of course, there\u2019s another story of Lenne losing the ancestral shield, in a different cave.\u00a0 So it depends on who you believe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of his chatter had washed over her without drawing her attention too far from her food, but that caught her ear and gave her a twinge of sadness.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour family shield is missing? That\u2019s a real shame,\u201d she replied, pushing the now-empty plate away from her. Heirlooms were important; she\u2019d have given anything to have something from her parents, no matter how small or insignificant.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is.\u00a0 At least my grandfather believed in that version of the tale.\u00a0 Even thought he found the right cave. The shield looked something like this.\u201d\u00a0 There was a book on the table; he turned to a blank page at the back and sketched out a rough drawing of the thing. It was a plain iron shield by the looks of it, but it had a distinctive knotted design on the front.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, if you ever stumble across the shield I\u2019d sure be happy to have it back.\u00a0 I\u2019d even show you some of the clan\u2019s favorite fighting moves.\u00a0 They\u2019re all shield techniques.\u00a0 This is where my grandfather said the cave was, but if you go, be careful.\u00a0 They say Lenne was eaten by monsters.\u201d\u00a0 He made another sketch, showing its general location in relation to Kynesgrove.<\/p>\n
Roggi\u2019s smile was a delightful thing to behold, Dag decided. He was even rather handsome when he smiled like that. She had no idea why he would imagine her to be an adventurer like his forbear Lenne, and she certainly wasn\u2019t equipped for a caving expedition at the moment but it would do no harm to humor him. Besides, she liked him and maybe, eventually, she\u2019d be able to recover his shield. When he tore out the page and handed it to her, she nodded and put it in a pocket.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll sure keep an eye out for it, Roggi.\u00a0 And thank you for the food.\u00a0 I really needed it, it seems.\u201d\u00a0 She looked at the plate regretfully. \u201cI\u2019m sorry I ate it all. Maybe I can make it up to you, but right now I have about as much money as you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNever mind,\u201d he boomed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m happy to have the matter with Iddra settled, and that was a fine brawl. I haven\u2019t had such fun in ages.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNeither have I, actually,\u201d she replied, grinning.<\/p>\n
He stretched and grinned back, warmly, his eyes twinkling.\u00a0 \u201cWell, back at it then.\u00a0 Working in the mines is hard work, but Dravynea keeps it going.\u00a0 Well, Dravynea — and the promise of more mead.\u201d She chuckled and started up the mine shaft.\u00a0 Roggi had a talent for laughing at himself. She liked him a lot.<\/p>\n
Iddra was happy to see her when she returned to the inn.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m relieved,\u201d she chirped.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019ll be good not to hear him whining about his debts.\u201d\u00a0 She reached down to the shelves behind the bar and pulled out an iron greatsword and a nice pair of hide boots.\u00a0 \u201cRoggi pawned a few things when he still had things to pawn.\u00a0 Here, take them.\u201d\u00a0 Dagnell was more than grateful; Roggi\u2019s feet were nearly the same size as hers and his pawned boots were going to make her feet much happier than they\u2019d been in J\u2019hall\u2019s boots.<\/p>\n
Iddra didn\u2019t want J\u2019hall\u2019s boots, but was delighted to buy the berries Dagnell had collected, for a decent price. Jazbay grapes, she called them; they were hard to come by, and she knew someone who was always looking for them to use as fertilizer for her nirnroot crops. She could make a good profit on them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks again for helping out with Roggi,\u201d Iddra said after they\u2019d finished their trading.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s really a good man. Just about the only one in town who treats Dravynea half decent,\u201d she said, inclining her head toward the Dunmer mage.\u00a0 \u201cLook, I\u2019ll give you a room for half price if you\u2019re going to stay the night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was no bother, but you\u2019re welcome. He seems like a nice person. And I\u2019ll gladly take you up on the room.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t seen one in a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
She headed to her room nodding to herself. Dag was good at judging people accurately and quickly, had needed to be from the time she was left alone, but it was always good to have her instincts confirmed.<\/p>\n
The room wasn\u2019t much to talk about.\u00a0 There was a bed; plain, it was, but it would be welcome. There wasn\u2019t much else in the room other than a side table. She sat down and kicked her boots off, yawning, and looked into its drawer simply because it was there.\u00a0 Some previous occupant of the room had left behind an iron dagger.\u00a0 Dag stared at it for some time. She truly needed that dagger; but it belonged to Iddra now and she shouldn\u2019t just take it.\u00a0 After several minutes of considering the dagger, though, she shook her head, sighed, and slipped it into her boot. One did what one must do.<\/p>\n
The bed felt divine, a real luxury. She found herself drifting off, thinking about wolves, giants, and Roggi Knot-Beard\u2019s fine smile and mellow voice.\u00a0 She was happy to have met him. A tiny voice in the back of her mind \u2013 one that she was used to, a sarcastic pest of a voice — wondered idly whether it might be fun to share her sheets with Roggi.\u00a0 In her experience it was hard to find a better bedfellow than someone you\u2019d just had a fistfight with.\u00a0 But her eyes closed before she could consider the thought more deeply.<\/p>\n
The farther along the road Dagnell walked, the more the scenery changed.\u00a0 The air smelled sharply clean as the road rose through increasingly rocky terrain, a welcome change from the stench of rotten eggs. There were mountains in and around most of Skyrim, and her path was taking them up into some of them. Her … <\/p>\n