Thank goodness for a quiet day.

  We got up and out of Folgunthur as quickly as we could, but I did try something before we left. I had an idea, so I took a deep breath, and Shouted at the wall.

  An icy wind rushed forward, and froze a small section of stone!

  Everyone (the dog included) jumped at the sound. Lydia asked when I’d learned that trick, and I told her that I thought I learned it from the magic wall.

  We talked as we left the ruin – Turns out one of the closed sarcophagi we’d come across near the entrance was actually a secret door leading out of there! – and decided that must be the case. If the language on the wall was that of dragons, perhaps this was how they learned different Shouts. But how would they get down into the crypts?

  Speaking of dragons, there was a big red one circling over Solitude as we left the tomb. We watched it for a bit, but it didn’t attack. It just circled a few times, roaring, before heading southwards, towards the mountains.

  Once we felt safe, we swam across and went straight up the long staircase into the city. We made a beeline for Beirand’s. Not only did we have a lot of weapons and armor to sell, but we took a little while to dry off by the forge.

  With that done, I headed over to Bits and Pieces to sell the other things we’d picked up to Sayma, and buy some building supplies. I know I’ll need them eventually, and I don’t want to spend all my time running back and forth.

  We were getting hungry at this point, so I hit up the stalls in the marketplace for some lunch. Evette San complained that she was waiting for a shipment of spices for her famous Spiced Wine. The East Empire Company was refusing to release it. She asked if I could go down to the docks and convince them to let her have her goods. She promised that she’d make it worth my while, and tapped on some of the bottles next to her.

  I knew Lydia was going to complain about my eagerness to help, but when I mentioned that some bottles of spiced wine were in our future, she and the others quickly agreed.

  We followed Valdimar down to the docks, and soon found Vittoria Vici, an Imperial woman in charge of the shipments. She said that she would gladly have Evette’s spices delivered to her… Once she paid the 2000 gold pieces worth of tariffs she owed.

  That’s worse than highway robbery! Trust me, I would know! At least my friends back in Cyrodiil would leave you with the shirt on your back!

  I pleaded with her to let the shipment go. Evette hardly had enough money to keep her stall open. How was she going to afford such a fee? I’d overheard earlier in the market that Vittoria was busy planning her wedding, and I made sure to add that no special event in Solitude would be complete without the San family’s famous spiced wine. If Evette can’t make more of it until she gets enough gold for the shipment, she’ll have to raise her prices, wouldn’t she?

  At this, Vittoria relented, and told me to let Evette know that her shipment would be brought up later today.

  So, we hiked back up the steps (again) and told Evette what Vittoria had said. She handed over two bottles of wine to me, and I bought two more, so we all have one.

  Even though it’s early, we’ve come to the Winking Skeever to secure some rooms for the night and have a nice, big dinner. We’ll need to fortify ourselves for this evening. I promised Lydia that she’d get her chance to be stupid, and by the Eight, I’m going to DELIVER!

  -----

  You know what I luv? I luv the musik her in Soltude. And the spiced wine. And evryone else. Even the creepy Argonian guy who keeps wanting me to work for hims nice. An I learnd that Erandur has, like, ALL the Lusty Argonian Maid memoried! Ther sum bards here, an they had a bet to see who new more, an Erandur won us a round! He can evin do the voices!

  He told me a sekrtet – Don’t say anythin, but he went to the bard’s collige until they found out he used to be in the spooky bisch cult, then they kicked hem out. But he learnt to play lots of instrummments, and he’s got a rlly pretty voice anyway, so their lost I gues.

  Im witing it down beacuase I don’t wantto forget. I wanna hear him do it again when im not drunk and can remebers. Lydia knows lots of it too, but she’s nevvr been here before, so I dunno where she learnt it. I ask her later. Shez busy mixing a big drink in Valdmer’s helmmit cause he finishd the last wun.

  Thats all! Good nihgt, sober Bronwin! I had lots of fun wifmy friends. I lov you!

  XXOO – Me!

  Drunk Me is a terrible, stupid, no-good bitch.

  I thought I’d left myself a cup of water by the bed this morning.

  It was more liquor.

  Right now, I’m back in bed, trying to use this to focus and make my head stop spinning. I took a second to make myself decent and poke my head over the balcony to order up some breakfast and water for us all. I hope Corpulus or whoever gets here soon.

  I only remember bits of last night, but from what I can make out on the last page here it looks like we had one hell of a time! At least Drunk Bronwen did one smart thing - I woke up alone. I do not want to get tangled up with anyone in this town or anywhere else just yet. Even for a night.

  -----

  Damn. Drunk Me might have done something really stupid, but no one’s said anything, so… No harm, no foul? I noticed a makeup smudge on my face while I was washing up after breakfast that sure as Oblivion didn’t come from me! I have no idea who it came from, though. Oh, well.

  Lydia looks tired and a bit worn, but not that bad, all things considered. I know I was telling people that she had earned a night of partying, and the bar just... Went with it! I think she got free drinks the whole night!

  She asked if I woke up with another fiance (or fiancee?), and Erandur almost choked on his tea.

  Sweet Divines. I’d forgotten! I hope I didn’t get engaged again or worse. Erandur’s a priest of Mara. He can marry people!

  Erandur said he didn’t recall officiating any weddings last night. At least, he doesn’t think he did. His memory’s as hazy as mine. Right now he’s finishing up a cup of tea with his hood pulled low over his eyes. He muttered about how he hasn’t woken up like this in well over a decade.

  Lydia’s telling him about the last time we got this drunk while we wait for Valdimar to finish cleaning out his helmet. Apparently it got passed around so people could try it on, then used as a communal drinking bowl.

  Well, we might not remember much, but at least we had a good time, and I (probably) didn’t get married.

  _____

  I thought I would start crying again once I finished the main part of the house, but I barely have any energy to write.

  I realized something, though. I have to write. Putting my day in here helps me sleep. It’s like setting down a burden I’m carrying in my head. I like it.

  Today I need it.

  Once we got over our hangovers (more or less), we gathered our things and left Solitude for the Manor. Aside from a few mudcrabs and getting turned around in the mist, getting here the first time was easy.

  I built what I could, and finished the entryway before I ran out of logs. So, we trekked our way back over the swamp to the mill just outside of Solitude to buy more.

  I’ve never stopped at that mill before, so I didn’t know the route back. We found a creepy ruin on our way over here, but there wasn’t much to it. Just a walled area with an altar-looking table and wall in the middle, with a chest stashed behind it. There was a bit of gold and some armor inside, but that was it. Still - Easy money!

  The other thing we found was… Terrible.

  We noticed the smoke first, then the smell as we got nearer.

  All I could think about was Helgen. I instinctively put my hands up, spells at the ready, and the others pulled their weapons as well. Then... I froze. It wasn’t a spell or anything; I literally couldn’t make myself take a step towards the smoke until the dog barked and snapped me out of it.

  We rushed forward, ready to fight, but there was nothing there to fight. Just a house on the edge of the swamp, barely in the treeline, mostly reduced to ruin but still burning. There were scorch marks on the ground all over, and a body next to a wagon out front. It was so burned I couldn’t tell you anything about it other than it had been a person. Inside was no better. There was a burned body on the floor, but I could barely see it through the fire and smoke.

  Inside the house, memories from Helgen came back again. The screams and that terrible dragon’s roar – Divines, I hear it now – and the smell of blood and burning right in front of me…

  It was too much. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, like I would die if I stayed there, so I ran.

  I bolted through the swamp, straight for here. I have no idea how I knew where to go, but I got here in minutes, it felt like, and fell to my knees in the clearing in front of the house.

  The dog got to me first, and I just hugged him while I broke down.

  When the others got to me, they helped me up and got me inside.

  There’s still not much in there, but I had built a fire pit to cook at, so Valdimar started work on some soup while Lydia and Erandur got me settled on a sabercat pelt they put on the floor. They sat on either side of me and Lydia started asking questions, but Erandur stopped her. He simply held my hand and said that they were here for me, and that I was safe.

  It’s been a long time since anyone’s said anything like that to me, and if I’m not careful, I’m going to start crying again right here at the dining room table.

  Of course, I started crying even harder then, but I almost stopped from shock because Lydia hugged me! She gave me a big, tight hug and said that it was healthy to cry. Even if I was the Dragonborn, a thane, and the “Hero of Helgen.”

  That’s what stopped me.

  I asked her what in Oblivion she meant by that, and she said that’s what they called me at Dragonsreach before they learned I was the Dragonborn. The Jarl had sent me with Irileth because I had experience fighting the dragon at Helgen. I explained that I never told him that, I just told him I was there and I saw it. When the dragon attacked the western watchtower and he asked me for help, I didn’t have time to argue. I just went and did it!

  Valdimar brought us all some bowls of potato soup and asked why would the Jarl think I’d fought a dragon? I was about to ask the same thing, but then I remembered an important detail.

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  I had been wearing Imperial armor I’d looted in Helgen. The Jarl probably thought I was stationed there, and had fought with them when the dragon attacked. Erandur said that made sense. An Imperial woman with a Cyrodiilan accent, wearing Imperial armor, coming from a Legion outpost – He’d think the same thing.

  Then Lydia asked the big question. The one I’d been able to dodge for almost a month.

  If I wasn’t with the Imperial Legion, what was I doing there?

  So, I took a big drink of the water Valdimar offered me, and I told them most of it. I started with being captured trying to cross the border, and told them about meeting Ralof and Ulfric Stormcloak in the back of the cart on the way to Helgen. I told them how the Legion decided to execute me, even though they’d just picked me up in the woods and I hadn’t done anything wrong.

  That got a round of particularly nasty curses from them. Erandur said a few things that surprised even me!

  I told them about the dragon and a bit about my escape, but when my hands started to shake so much the spoon was rattling in my bowl, Erandur patted me on the back and said that was enough. Valdimar took the bowl and Erandur took my hand again, and reminded me that I’m safe. Lydia started to ask why I was trying to sneak into Skyrim, but Erandur stopped her.

  She was clearly not happy about being shushed, but Valdimar loudly suggested that he and her go out and patrol the perimeter. He said he wanted to make sure there were no wolf dens or spider nests nearby. She agreed before he could haul her out of there (I know he would) but I caught her mouthing something to Erandur before she left.

  He said she told him to take care of me.

  As soon as we could tell they were out of earshot, I apologized. I don’t know what happened. He shrugged and told me that it was all right. He’d seen it before, dozens of times.

  We sat in silence for a bit, and I don’t know why, but I told him what happened in the Capitol. He just listened, and nodded as I talked. I mean, it’s not a long story, and when I was done he agreed that I did the right thing. He said I was just defending my friend, and honest men don’t keep daggers up their sleeves. He would know; he pulled back his sleeve and showed me an old scar on the underside of his left forearm.

  He’d been careless sheathing his blade.

  He asked if I was feeling any better, and I was, mostly. He told me how he had some training about getting through fits like mine when he became a priest of Mara. He offered to teach me how to meditate or do some special breathing to calm my nerves, but I didn’t want to. I can’t sit still long enough, and I was starting to get antsy.

  Erandur suggested doing something repetitive and simple. He said a lot of priests take up handcrafts or gardening if they can’t meditate. I know I need a lot of nails, so we went outside and I hammered out nails until I felt better. He talked a bit about his time at the Bard’s college, and mentioned he got high marks for memorization. I said I figured as much, given his performance last night!

  I would pay a thousand Septims for a painting of his face at that moment. He didn’t remember anything about the bet with the students, (I couldn’t remember either, I just read what I wrote from last night!) but when I said he re-enacted “a certain play” for all of us he cringed and tried to disappear into his hood! He did his nervous laugh and was trying to explain his actions away when Lydia walked over and commented that I looked like I was doing better.

  She’d come over to help me with the building, and we worked on the main house while Erandur wandered off to the water’s edge to where Valdimar was standing with the dog. Lydia mentioned that there was a pack of horkers out that way, and that she’d found some iron ore and stone I could quarry if I needed it. They’d also spotted a ruin not too far off.

  That’s good to know, and soon enough, we finished the main building! We got some beds put together, along with a dining table, too.

  It’s nice to eat at a table with enough room for all of us. I’m just writing here while the others clean up. It was a long day, and I worked later than I meant to, but I needed to do something with myself, or else I know I’d feel worse.

  I’ll have to tell Lydia and Valdimar why I came to Skyrim some day, but at least I was able to tell Erandur. I did tell the dog, but it’s not the same.

  Time for sleep. I’m going to go crawl into my soft, newly-built bed, in my second new house.

  Is it strange I feel good after a day of exploring a crypt and fighting the undead?

  I got up this morning not feeling like working on the house, which is just as well. I’m out of logs again.

  I checked our gold and couldn’t help but sigh. Outfitting and supplying all of us is expensive! And lumber isn’t cheap, either.

  I remembered what Lydia had said about the ruins she and Valdimar had spotted nearby, and suggested that we go and see what we could find.

  So, we headed northeast and just over the rise of the hill I could see pillars and arches. Outside the door, we found a dead draugr in the snow.

  We were a bit confused, but we kept going, into the ruin.

  We found more dead draugr, and after a little ways we came to a room with a Nord woman in it, muttering to herself.

  Her name is Anska, and she asked for our help finding a scroll. She said she needed the scroll to prove that her family line can be traced all the way back to Ysgramor himself. She was a bit miffed when I asked who that was, and explained that I only knew that name because Valdimar says, “By Ysgramor’s axe!” sometimes.

  Anska said that he was the first High King of Skyrim, and one of the most powerful Nords to ever live. Lydia and Valdimar promised to tell me some of the legends they’d heard later on.

  Anska explained that she needed our help getting to the scroll because it was guarded by the spirit of Vokun, a powerful undead Dragon Priest. This was his crypt.

  And I thought the swampland and vampire dens were what kept people from building nearby.

  I was already going to say that I would help her, but Anska added that I could take whatever I wanted from the tomb. All she wanted was the scroll.

  The others nodded their agreement, so we set off.

  At first glance, the ruin’s a lot like the others I’ve been in. Same style of carvings and such, but there were traps everywhere! It was hard keeping the dog off of them! I’m not sure what they all did, but we did accidentally set off a poison dart trap, and we avoided a spiked gate like the one that killed Arvel the Swift back in Bleak Falls Barrow.

  The place was absolutely crawling with draugr, though. And these were stronger than the ones I’ve faced before. I did figure out they were using Shouts in addition to regular magic, and this time I was able to respond in kind!

  Anska was surprised, but got excited when I said I was the Dragonborn. She said it must have been fate. The Dragonborn and a scion of Ysgramor, going to defeat Vokun! Just like the old stories!

  Lydia huffed and told her not to write the ending before it’s finished. We still had to survive.

  She quieted down at this, and we kept going.

  There wasn’t much interesting as we went along. I did find a room that looked like where they prepared bodies for burial. There was a still draugr on a table, and lots of linen wrappings and alchemy ingredients. There was also an enchanting table, and after another look around, Valdimar suggested that the place might have been used to raise the dead, rather than put them to rest.

  We looked warily at the draugr on the table. It didn’t move, but Lydia wondered what we should do about it. It could rise up and attack us from behind. So, Erandur said a prayer, and even if the prayer didn’t lay it to rest, it eased our minds enough that we could continue.

  There was also another one of those animal symbol “puzzles”. I swear, the ancient Nords must have thought anyone coming in here was dimmer than a torchbug.

  It was a new type of puzzle, but very simple. Four stone faces in a row, each with animal symbols in their mouths, and there’s a series of levers with the symbols on them. We pulled the levers in order, and the grate over the stairwell in the floor opened up to let us down.

  We eventually got to Vokun’s tomb, and it reminded me of Mikrul Gauldurson’s from a few days ago. I don’t know when all these things happened, but maybe they happened around the same time to have these ruins be so alike?

  Anyway, we went in to the chamber and he burst out of his crypt.

  I’ve never seen an undead like him before! He was floating, like a ghost, and he wore a mask over his face that at first was hard to see, but almost stopped me in my tracks when I got close. Lydia balked, too.

  It’s almost identical to that creepy wooden one we found in Labyrinthian.

  It was a hard fight, even with Anska’s help! Vokun summoned a storm atronach, threw fire and lighting – It was mayhem. But we won, and I got the mask, along with a nice staff of fireball to use.

  Anska was eager to find the scroll. It wasn’t on Vokun or in his coffin, so we kept looking. There were a lot of urns to loot in the place, and as I finished up the ones along the back wall, near the archway leading to a back room, I could hear the distant chanting of a dragon wall in my head.

  That’s what we decided to call them – Dragon Walls.

  The others saw me look up and tilt my head, trying to locate it. I saw Lydia pat Valdimar on the arm and point. Anska had been practically hanging on my elbow, eager to look everywhere I did in case I found the scroll, but she backed off when she looked at me. She raised her hands and got some spells ready, but Erandur got in front of her and assured her that it was all right. It was a “Dragonborn thing.”

  I didn’t know my eyes glowed a little when I heard the chanting. Apparently, they start as soon as I hear it, and they get brighter the closer I get. Makes sense. My vision gets more strange and the chanting gets louder the closer I get to the walls. The runes get brighter, too, until the light rushes out to get in my head.

  Anska saw the light in my eyes, and was afraid that I was getting possessed by Vokun or something! I can’t say I blame her – It panicked the others the first time they saw it, too.

  Valdimar had gone through the door to the back chamber and called for me to join him. He’d found the wall, and the runes were glowing faintly. Instead of letting myself get pulled in like a fish on a hook, I marched back there and put my hands on the wall to brace myself as the Shout filled my mind. I could hear crackling, and Valdimar, who was right there, said that my eyes sparked, and bits of lightning crawled around the edge of my face.

  The Runes:

  Valdimar ran up and kept me steady as I came back to myself, and they all made sure I was good before we went to look for the scroll. It wasn’t hard to find, though. It was right there on a table. Anska asked me to pick it up for her, and I obliged.

  She didn’t have to say it, but I know she was afraid that it might have been trapped or cursed or something, but it was fine. Erandur didn’t sense anything evil, and none of us could feel any magic. It was just a dusty, brittle scroll, with a dried-out wax seal barely holding it closed.

  I handed it over, and she thanked me. She confessed that she didn’t really have any money; she’d spent most of it on her quest for the scroll, but she did have something of value. She handed me a spellbook: Conjure Flaming Familiar.

  Neither Valdimar nor Erandur had ever heard of that one, and Anska just smiled. She’s not a conjurer, but she’d picked it up in a cave a while back and knew it was something special.

  I’m excited to try it, along with my new Shout, but that’ll have to wait until tomorrow. We have a pile of loot to sell off in Solitude, so I can test them out in the swamp on the way there.

  Anyway, Anska opened up the scroll and saw that it was encrypted. She’ll have to decode it, and said she would stay in High Gate while she worked on it. We bid her good luck, and said that if she needed anything to just come over and get it.

  We’re neighbors, after all!

  Now we’re back at the manor and relaxing a bit before bed. The others are laughing and joking, trying to piece together what happened back at the Winking Skeever. Lydia and Valdimar only remember that Erandur recited something dirty, but not what. I think I’ll give them some hints!

  Thank goodness for a slow day.

  We got up early and headed out to Solitude as planned. The trip there was easy; not even a slaughterfish nipped at us. The only bad thing was the weather; the rain was coming down in sheets and we were getting soaked!

  We went to Beirand’s forge, and chatted with him while we traded and warmed up. I asked if he’d ever consider joining the war, and he said he’d like to, but Sayma’s wrath would be scarier than the Imperials and Stormcloaks put together! We all had a good laugh, and I walked off to see Sayma and do some trading with her.

  Afterwards we left to the mill again to buy some more lumber, then headed back here.

  The way back was a bit more exciting! We got swooped by an ice dragon, and we tried to fight it, but it kept healing itself? I think? It’s hard to say. At any rate, we were getting worn down when it got distracted by a group of horkers that were bellowing at it, and I gave the order to run.

  The Manor was in sight, so we made a break for it and got inside without any trouble. I poked my head out after we’d caught our breath, and it was nowhere to be seen.

  So, I spent the rest of the day working on the library addition. The others stopped to help me here and there, in between chatting amongst themselves and tending to whatever they thought needed doing. Erandur came over to help while I was getting more stone, and he thanked me for inviting him to join the group. He was grateful to have us as friends, and for the opportunity to spread the word of Mara.

  It’s sort of funny how he drops the fancy accent when we’re alone, but I’ve heard him slip up around Valdimar, too. Maybe he’ll drop it entirely once he tells the others about his time with the cult of Vaermina and Nightcaller Temple.

  I wonder if he ever will. I know I’ll have to tell the others about my old life in Cyrodiil, but he doesn’t have to tell them anything if he doesn’t want to. I’m no stranger to secrets; I’ve kept so many I’ve forgotten most of them.

  Oh, well. I’m sure it’ll happen when the time is right.

  I didn’t manage to get anything done with the library aside from the building itself, but I did make an alchemy table! I’ll have to go to Whiterun to pick up my ingredients and my books to bring here. Breezehome is nice, but it’s a bit cramped for my tastes.

  Look at me – The girl who used to have no problem sleeping three or four to a bed growing up is complaining about not having enough room in a whole house!

  Well, to be fair, I was a lot smaller then, and I didn’t have three other adults and a huge dog with me!

  Speaking of bed, it was a long day of building and my bones feel tired. I’m going to sit down with a book and some wine before heading to bed.