With Hadvar's help, Valierus and Elwyn manage to escape Helgen with their lives. Now having no where else to go they agree to travel to Riverwood and meet some friends of Hadvar's.
We leave behind the tunnels and step out into Skyrim, on our own two feet for the first time. The winter sun casts gentle rays of light onto the world around us, giving light to the snowberries and mountain flowers. The trees whisper quietly to each other, sharing the news of the day. A rabbit bounces onto a rock alongside the path and stares at us, wondering who these outsiders trespasing his territory are. I feel a great sense of relief, We made it, I tell myself joyfully. Suddenly, a dark shadow swoops over us blocking out the sun. I duck instinctively, pulling Elwyn down with me, and Hadvar throws himself against the rock the rabbit just vacated. The dragon soars across the sky headed northwards. It disappears behind the mountainside, moments later the birds resume twittering and life returns to the forest.
"I think its, gone for good this time," Hadvar says straightening, rubbing his head ruefully. "Lets not wait around for to check. What are you guys gonna do now, where will you go?" He asks starting down the mountainside.
"Not sure...," I reply hestiantly. I glance over at Elwyn, and she shrugs, rubbing her arms for warmth. "We don't actually know where we are, and we didn't pick up enough supplies in Helgen to really survive out in here in the open." Unsure of what to say I stop there, but he nods seeming to understand.
"You should come with me to Riverwood, its not far from here and my Uncle would likely be willing to help you with supplies." We come to a stop at the edge of a ridge and nestled in a valley between the mountain we're on on and the one the dragon disappeared behind is a small settlement, barely more than a dozen buildings. "There it is. Really, you might as well accompany me, since you'll be passing through anyways."
We resume our trek back down the mountain. I survey the land around us, finding amusement in something from my past. The nobles always said that Skyrim was a harsh and inhospitable place for the civilized. They never once mentioned what a beautiful land Skyrim is. My eyes follow the slopes of the mountains on the otheride of the valley. At the top an ancient structure stands tall and indomitable, glowering down at us. "That's Bleak Falls Barrow." Hadvar says, following my gaze. I've never much liked the look of it myself, Druagr climbing down through my window at night and such. I must admit, I still don't much like the look of it."
"Druagr?" I ask intrigue.
"Yeah, their basically the risen dead. Ancient nords, who use to serve the Dragon Priests. Don't quite understand why they awaken, but they do." He shrugs and draws to a halt in front of three stones. "These here are the Guardian Stones, three of the thirteen ancient Standing Stones that dot Skyrim. See for yourself."
Elwyn and I draw near the stones. I inspect each of them and determine them to be this. The one closests to Helgen is the Warrior Stone. The one furtherst is the Thief. And the one in between, but slightly seperaed from the others is the Mage Stone. "What do they do?" Elwyn asks.
"For those they react to, it bless your abilities helping you to become better at the skills blessed by them. Choose carefully though because once you choose you can't pick another for almost two weeks. Pick whever you want, I don't judge."
"You know which one you want?" Elwyn asks holding her hand near the stone of her choice.
"Yeah." I reply, standing by another. "On three?" She nods.
"One," I count.
"Two," She replies.
"Three."
After selecting our respective stones, we descend the final slope of the mountain and walk alongside the river. "As far as I'm concerned you two have earned your pardons, but until we get that confirmed, however, try to steer clear of any Imperial patrols. You two should join the Legion as well." Hadvar proclaims.
"How can you say that to us with a straight face?" Elwyn asks incredulous. "After what the Legion tried to do?"
"Look, I know today wasn't the greatest introduction to the Legion but we could use a pair like you." Hadvar says slightly apologetically.
"Elwyn," I look away from the river and meet her eyes, her eyes clearly display misplaced anger. "You know as well as I that the Legion was being used by the Thalmor. Blame the Thalmor for the attempt on our lives, don't blame the Legion."
"Your just saying that because you grew up with the Empire." She argues halfheartedly.
"If Tamriel is to have any hope of over throwing the Aldmeri Dominion, then it needs to present a united front against them. As of now the Empire is Tamriel's best hope." I say mildly. Course even then it isn't looking good, we need to strike at them from inside Skyrim, but how?
"Yeah, you're probably right. What I've heard about the Stormcloaks isn't very flattering anyways. I'll think about it." She shrugs noncomittally.
"Here we are." Hadvar says breaking half an hour of silence. We stand outside a wooden wall suronding Riverwood. At the base of the wall a large gate, two wagons wide, stands open permitting us entry. "Its good that we arrived during the day. The gates close at night due to problems with Werewolves and Vampires. We would have been made to wait until sunrise if we'd arrived at night."
We follow him through the gates and down the road to a blacksmith's forge. Working the forge, is the blacksmith, wearing red woolen clothes and a black, smith's apron. the hammer in his hand clashs with molten steel, sending up sparks as it shapes the steel. He pulls the steel from the forge and cools it in a bucket full of snow that he keeps near the forge.
"Uncle Alvor!" Hadvar calls.
"Hadvar? Is that you lad? What are you doing here? And why do you look like you've lost a fight with a cave bear?" Alvor asks pulling the blade from the water, tossing it onto an anvil, before rushing to Hadvar. He sweeps Hadvar into a bear hug, before noticing Elwyn and I. "Who are these two? Friends of yours?"
"Yes, Uncle. Can we talk about this inside please? I can explain more then."
"Of course lad, follow me." Alvor leads us inside, and invites us to sit down. "Sigrid, we have company!"
A tanned skin Nord woman climbs upstairs from the basement and greets Hadcar with obvious delight. " Hadvar! We've been so worried." She returns Hadvar's hug and shoos al of us to the table. "Come, you two must be hungry. Sit down and I'll get you something to eat." She goes back down the stairs and returns moments later bearing plates of food. She places a plate down in front of Alvore before retreating to a chair on the otherside of the room.
"Alright boy, start explaining." Alvor says digging into his food.
"I'll try, but where to begin..."
Hadvar explains how he came to be in Helgen, revealing that he had been a part of Tullius's personal guard, but doesn't mention that Elwyn and I had been in line for the chopping block saying only that we had been in town at the time. He soliders on through the dragons attack, the burning of Helgen, and ends after we escape the tunnels. "To be honest I likely wouldn't have made it if it weren't for these two. I owe them my life."
"Well any friend of Hadvar's is a friend of mine. You're welcome to stay as long as you like. I'm just glad the dragon's gone. If you'd like you can help out around the forge, I could use some extra hands.
Later that night as we settle down for the night in two spare beds they set up for us downstairs Elwyn sits with me on my bed as we discuss the events of the day. "I'm glad everything worked out so well." Elwyn sighs, "To be honest I'm surprised we survived."
"Yeah." I recline on my mattress and turn my head towards her. " I think we should hang out here for awhile, I could help out around the forge and learn more about smithing and you could use your skills to help Hadvar hun in the surronding lands."
"That would be nice." She replies. "It would be great to not have to flee anymore." She whispers, crawling into bed.
"Choose your own Dez." I say holding out a finger.
"Choose your own Dez." She says touching the tip of my finger.
