(I know the game is all action and often people just clicking through responses without listening to the conversations, but I'm not really one of those people. If anything the discussion with Paarthurnax on the top of the mountain was a conversation I wished could have gone on and on. This isn't the most action-packed sequence and it's rather long, but I tried to get at least a little bit of the conversation between the Elder and my character - and I like to think Dreema visited him often, speaking in the half-dov-tongue, half-Tamrielic which hallmarks Paarthurnax' words)
You may remember I told you that there are only two people in Skyrim who have ever known all they could know about me from beginning to end – and that’s true. Vilkas of course was one. But now I will tell you of the other – and my story isn’t the only one he knows; he’s old enough to know many stories the same as mine, spanning back for thousands of years. I’ve sometimes wondered what it must be like to see so many of us come and go, but the thought only depressed me. I’ve considered whether it is even wise to discuss this part but even though the numbers of the Blades grows, they cannot get to the peak where he sits at the Throat the World sits and contemplates the Word, and that’s fine by me.
Vilkas and I reached High Hrothgar, and once again he took his usual place at the door, watching and waiting. I sought out Arngeir, who was meditating in the main courtyard. ”Elder, I know the name of the dragon who has returned – and I know why.”
Arngeir turned round calmly, with his hands folded into his sleeves. ”I know his name, and I know the World Eater returns.”
This wasn’t exactly how I thought things would roll out, and for a few moments I couldn’t think of anything to say. They knew. They had known all along, and had allowed me to stumble forth, hither and thither, dragons flying and people dying, and had said nothing. My shock turned to seething anger, and I was glad Vilkas wasn’t in the courtyard with me or he may have done something rather rash. As it was, I clenched my hands into fists, my eyes blazing as I stared at Arngeir, getting ready to give him a fair piece of my mind, though I could tell by his benign expression it wouldn’t do any good. He merely raised his hand. ”I know what you are going to say – but understand our view. We have studied the ways of the universe, and its ebb and flow. It is part of what learning the Voice and the Shouts is all about. Alduin the World Eater has destroyed the world several times over already…and if this world is meant to end, and the universe with it, then let it. Another will come.”
“I’m sorry I can’t take your enlightened view,” I managed to say through gritted teeth – at least I wasn’t yelling! ”But I have had the dubious honour of walking amongst people down below rather than sequestering myself on a rock. I have not distanced myself from children who do not have your enlightened view. And I will not condemn them to death through inactivity. Doesn’t it occur to you that if this is part of the cosmic balance of the world there would be no reason for a Dovahkiin at all?”
A shadow passed over Arngeir’s face – maybe that stung, but it was always difficult to be sure. Even so, after a few moments, he met my gaze again. ”What is it you ask of me, Dovahkiin?”
Now we were getting somewhere, and while my fury at the ascetic’s views wasn’t diminished, at least it was down to a low boil. ”There is a Shout which can defeat Alduin, something that can bring a dragon down. Apparently it’s how he was last defeated. I don’t know what it was it, or what it was called. Are you aware of it?”
“Indeed I am not aware of such a thing,” Arngeir replied, both brows raised. ”Although I must say even if I did know it, I doubt I would use it.” He stood back a moment and paced back and forth, his hands clasped behind him. I was somewhat used to the way that Greybeards did things however, and I kept my peace, waiting.
When Arngeir turned back to me, his pale grey eyes were set. ”I believe this goes beyond my skill to counsel you upon. It is time for you to meet the elder of our order.”
“Very well then,” I replied as I turned to fetch Vilkas, but Arngeir raised his hand again as his fellow Greybeards began to appear into the courtyard as well.
“I must ask that you go alone. It would be perilous to take anyone who wasn’t gifted with the ability of Shouts. The winds and weather beyond to the Throat of the World – the highest peak in Skyrim – are beyond the endurance of any mere mortal. You yourself will be challenged and tested to be able to withstand the wind. And for that, you will need a Shout which we can teach you.”
Again a brother of the Greybeard’s stood forward, and whispered a Shout, which appeared on the ground. Again I felt the Word lodge itself in my mind, and again I was given the understanding of a brother’s contemplation on the Shout “Lok”. This Shout could actually clear the effects of the weather – pushing back wind, snow, and cold. For once I was actually happy to have a Shout in my brain – something which could banish cold would be most welcome.
“You must use this Shout to make your way to the Throat of the World,” Arngeir explained. ”Without it, you will be lost – the winds are so strong you would freeze within moments. Even so, you will not go unchallenged. Ice wraiths and trolls abound. Use it well!” He gestured before him – ahead of me was a very narrow path up to the higher peak beyond, and a wrought iron gate with long-worn steps leading on. I literally couldn’t see beyond the first few steps – the winds howled and the snow was coming down almost horizontally in a white sheet. Still, I had done worse than dealt with a bit of weather, and I gathered chill air into my lungs, and gave forth my Thu’um.
“Lok!”
My Shout billowed outward and literally pushed the mist and snow away. The way was clear, and I could see the path curving slightly to the right – I wouldn’t have seen it before! So now I understood how important the Shout would be. I gave my thanks to Arngeir and then turned to the flywalk ahead of me. I travelled as best I could, pausing now and again to get my bearings and gather my Thu’um again. Shouting over and over is very difficult for humanoids to do, and you have to pace yourself – Shouts take energy from your very soul. I fought off a few ice wraiths, managed to avoid the trolls, and staggered somewhat breathlessly up onto the plateau of the mountain peak.
Up here, the weather was not too bad, and while the snow fell gently, there was a bit of light from the cloud-wreathed moons overhead. I blew into my hands, rubbing them together as I turned my attention to one of the Dragon Walls to the far right, just before a rather perilous drop; but I could see no one on the mountain.
Stomping some feeling back into my feet I moved toward the Wall. But as I did so, a large shadow passed overhead and scanned over the snow – a large shape, and massive wings…with a curse, I drew my sword and scanned the skies. I was still recovering my strength from the extended Shouts up the path. I questioned whether I’d have enough to fight a dragon if I had to. Where was that damned elder when you needed a Greybeard with a powerful Thu’um?
Down the dragon came, circling in a wide arc before it lit down in the snow. The dragon was massive, and old – spines along its head were snapped here and there, gone perhaps long along from old battles. I readied myself and gathered my energy and will as the dragon turned its eye upon me. And I hesitated. There was something in its eye – reptilian and cold as it was – that was different. Contemplative. Calm. And when it spoke to me, its voice rolled deep and strong, but there was no malice in it.
“Drem Yol Lok. Greetings, wunduniik. I am Paarthurnax. Who are you? What brings you to my strunmah … my mountain?”
I gaped, holding my sword at an awkward angle – I hadn’t been expecting this at all. Hearing the first Words rumbling through my marrow made me shudder, but I withstood it. It was not vicious, and the dragon was just inquisitive. I made a leap of logic which nearly knocked me sideways.
“You’re the elder of the Greybeards,” I murmured. ”You’ve taught them Shouts, and the dragon tongue.” I was staggered, and the dragon regarded me with the kind of patience I can only guess at – the old are infinitely patient.
“I have indeed, joor, as I have dwelled here on my strunmah for thousands of your years.”
“I see,” I mumbled, even though of course I couldn’t. I was talking to a dragon! ”Anyway, I’m the Dovahkiin, and I’m here because I need to learn a Shout – “
The ancient dragon before me rumbled in his throat – for a moment I thought I was in trouble, but I realised it was its form of chuckling. ”Drem. Patience. There are formalities that must be observed, at the first meeting of two of the dov. By long tradition, the elder speaks first. Hear my Thu’um! Feel it in your bones. Match it, if you are Dovahkiin!”
The dragon turned its head and took in a deep breath, then breathed it out upon the wall, roaring a word I didn’t know yet. Flame belched from his throat into a strong jet and I winced. Was it going to be fire, then? The stone was now as warm as the bottom of a hearth. But as I squinted when the flame faded, I could see a dragon Word etched and glowing upon the wall. I didn’t understand the word yet, but I could feel it there, coiled in my consciousness. It was fire, but it was more than the fire I knew…something stronger, something more.
“Come, then! You will not harm me, greet me as a dova. Aim your Thu’um to me and speak your Word; participate in tinvaak; what you would call a conversation.” The dragon breathed upon me again, and I could feel its understanding of fire – something deep and old, and ultimately foreign. It wasn’t a mortal understanding at all.
Still, Paarthurnax was waiting. I took a deep breath, bracing my feet and then gathered my breath.
“Yol Toor!”
I thought the Shout for fire had been strong before – it was nothing compared to the combined effort. It hit Paarthanax square in the flanks and billowed outward like liquid flame, melting the snow beneath his belly and nearly singing my own eyebrows. I coughed, spat, and coughed again, as the dragon again rumbled his approval. ”Ah, well done! The dragonblood is strong within you, dovah. It has been long since I have had the pleasure of tinvaak with one of my own kind, even if you are a joor! The Wall which had the word carved upon it was a hallmark to the Skyforge below, for she whose heart burned as the Red Forge.”
“Did you build the forge?” I asked hoarsely. ”It’s been there since before Dragonsreach itself.”
“We dov had a small claw in it,” the dragon admitted, shifting on its taloned feet. ”There is little in the world that we have not shaped, for good or ill. There was a time the joor knew our language well.”
“Is that what the Thu’um is?” I asked – it was difficult to speak to a dragon so old that Tamrielic was a bit of a stretch for it to use, but I found myself fascinated. I’m not a scholar certainly, but this was something rather new to me – dragons were old and ancient, and more than just beasts. To then converse with one – not as an equal, but perhaps as a young toddler learning from an aged grandparent – was an experience I cannot possibly describe.
“The battle of Thu’um is a tinvaak, but one which is brutal and meant to harm. That is the Word, but not how I use the Word, or teach it.”
“But you’re a dragon!” I said rather stupidly.
“I am a dragon because Akatosh made me a dragon, and so I am,” Paarthanax responded mildly. ”But you did not come here just to chat with an old dov. What wish you with me?”
“To be fair, Paarthurnax, I think I could chat with you for some time, but you’re right. I’m here to ask about a Shout. A shout to bring down Alduin.”
The dragon’s eye rolled, the inner eyelid closing once and then opening again. ”Ah, yes…I felt it might be so. Alduin, zeymah – he is firstborn, do you not know? The elder, and grasping for power. He and Dovahkiin are forever linked, and return together, as they have before. I know which Shout you seek, – developed and discovered by mortals, and they called it Dragonrend. But as you can well imagine, it is not a Shout I know. To even have it within me, to contemplate it would be my destruction, Dovah Sos.”
“Because it is a Word?”
“Because with us, words are not just words,” the dragon rumbled. ”And well you know this, dova. Thu’um is one’s spirit, from deep within. To use a word you must understand it, must work it within to speak it without. How could I know a Shout to injure dragons?”
That gave me more understanding of what the Thu’um was, although on some level I had already known that. Still, it didn’t get me any further to finding the Shout I needed. ”I don’t think there’s any way to stop Alduin without it.”
“Tell me, dovahkiin,” Paarthurnax said as he regarded me fully with one large eye. ”Why is it you wish to stop him?”
“He’s going to destroy the world,” I said frowning. ”I can’t allow that. There are people down there who didn’t ask for it, and if I can prevent it, then I will.”
“So you say, but is there no other reason? Why you wish to stop him? Qostin sahlo aok – just because you can do a thing does not always mean you should. So, why you?”
He was testing me – I could tell, but I felt he deserved an answer. I was silent for a long moment, thinking of all those I knew below – Farkas, Vex, and my beloved. ”Maybe I am not as wise as you, but I like this world. And I don’t wish to see it end. And as I said to the Greybeards, if Alduin is really meant to destroy the world, I wouldn’t be here at all. I’m the balance; I don’t know, I just think I am. Maybe that isn’t right, but on my head if it isn’t. It’s just what I feel.” I tapped my chest, over my heart. ”In here, in my bones, strong as any Shout.”
“Well considered,” Paarthurnax said with another rumble. ”And yes, you are linked and bound together, it is true. But even so I can tell you I do not know this word - joorla, mortals created it to fight us dov. And well did they need it when the time came. Still, are you certain you will not just be plaything of zek, of fate?”
“I didn’t come to argue philosophy,” I mumbled somewhat testily, and this earned a laugh from Paarthurnax again. “Indeed,dovahkiin, but understand that a lot of what a dragon does is argue – that is what Thu’um is. One long argument. Very well then, I do not have the Shout for you, but I believe I know how you may get it. You will need a Kel, an Elder Scroll.”
“I don’t even know what that is.”
“Then listen, dovah. It is a piece, a fragment of the very world – it is everywhere and nowhere, but it was used here and ripped open a Tiid-Ahraan, a Time Wound, in the very fabric of the world. It’s here, actually – and here they propelled Alduin forward. But if you travel back, heal the wound, you may learn the word.”
This was all moving a bit fast for me, and I rubbed my brow, leaning back against the still-warm Wall. ”Wait, please, back up a bit. Someone sent Alduin forward in time?”
“Yes, dovah, since they could not banish him – they instead projected him on; they saved the world for several thousand years it is true, but they merely postponed the inevitable.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It seemed rather stupid, but perhaps it was a desperate measure to a world which didn’t quite have the way to defeat Alduin. Was there no Dragonborn then? Did they need more to Shout? It was hard to say- but as Paarthurnax had said, they merely postponed Alduin’s rage. ” Qostin sahlo aok,” I said, and Paarthurnax nodded his huge, scaled head.
“Very true, dovah. And I do not know where you could find a kel. You would have to ask another.”
“I may know someone,” I said, thinking of Esbern, but then that didn’t comfort me. They were Blades – I couldn’t imagine they’d be happy I had received the information from a dragon! I studied Paarthurnax for a few moments again, and realised for all my slaying of his kin, and all their destruction, I knew so little about dragons. They weren’t beasts – dangerous, yes, and perhaps rather disgusted to have to deal with us lesser beings. But we had ingenuity, and that had seen us through. Still, I realised I had a thousand questions, and I had no time.
“I thank you, elder,” I said to Paarthurnax, bowing low. ”Can I ask you, would I be welcome to come again from time to time? You might have the pleasure of speaking with a dovah again if I earn the right to speak the words correctly.”
“I would be pleased, yes,” the dragon replied, leaping up on the wall and crouching there with folded wings. ”Your species is short-lived, compared to mine, and I have seen many joor come and go. So I always enjoy the opportunity to share tinvaak when I can. I shall be here, dovahkiin. But for now, I must return to my meditations.”
I left Paarthurnax upon the Wall, my head buzzing. I didn’t entirely understand what an Elder Scroll was, or even how I would find one, but I’d have to ask Esbern about it. I decided at this point I would try to keep the Greybeards out of it for now. They were neutral in any event, and I doubt explaining I was going to leap into a tear in the world on top of their mountain would impress them!
As ever, Vilkas was waiting for me. I didn’t even know what to say to him yet, so I gave him a weary smile. ”Don’t even ask yet,” I said as he rose from where he was seated at the door. ”Mead, boar meat, and warmth.”
“Jorrvaskr, then,” he said, wrapping me in his cloak and leading me down the mountainside.
Comments
Top stuff as always Dreema