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Loredas, 27th of Sun's Dusk, 4E 201

We're back across the water at the Braidwood Inn after a VERY interesting day in Windhelm.

There's been a change of plans.

We're still going to Ivarstead to return the horn, but we're heading for Riften, first. I need to make a quick stop there so I can handle some… Personal business.

The others are on board with it, too, but this is for me. I've been doing what other people tell me to do for too damn long and I'm getting sick of it.

Erandur's a bit nervous, but if he keeps his head down we should be all right.

Anyway, turns out the two doors we didn't investigate in Gallows Rock just connect to each other down a long hallway with nothing in it, so we left for Windhelm to sell the goods.

We stopped at the pond that's on the way to the path down the hill. Erandur asked to see the map and said he'd heard of the place. It's called Mara's Eye Pond, and from above, it does look a bit like an eye. It's not too deep in one spot, so I went out to see what was in the boat tied off at the little island in the middle. There wasn't much, just supplies in a bag, but I did notice a blood-splattered trapdoor in the island.

I called out to the others what I'd found, and Lydia said we should check for more Silver Hand members in there. I agreed, and we went down the ladder.

It's a small cave with some statues like you see in Nord ruins around coming out of a small pool that's down to the lower right. To the left is typical hideout stuff. There were two campfires, tables, chairs, even some beds set up, and there were dozens of barrels, boxes, and bags of loot. Mostly supplies, it turns out, but there were some potions and other nice goodies mixed in.

There were also two vampires and their thralls! They attacked us as soon as we got down there.

Of course, Erandur was LIVID that there were vampires in Mara's Eye! I heard him say, "How dare you defile this place!" as he rushed them, covered in fire and with a sword in each hand. Valdimar joined him with his flame staff and his axe, while Lydia, Septim and I took care of the thralls.

Once everyone was taken care of, I went around to see what I could find. As I said, there was some good loot there, and I found a notebook on one of the small tables.

It was a journal outlining their most recent job. Apparently, this was a smuggler's den that wasn't connected to the Silver Hand at all, despite being practically outside their door. They'd been hired to move some boxes, no questions asked. Of course, curiosity got the better of them, so they took a peek to see what they were moving. Turns out, they were moving bodies.

Obviously, they weren't just any bodies, but vampires, and they paid the price for it. I found two long crates full of straw bedding and soft furs.

I walked down a small earthen ramp into the little pond, and found three cages in the knee-deep water, along with a chest. Two of the cages were empty, but the third held a dead Vigilant of Stendarr.

I told the others that the person was a Vigilant, and Erandur asked Valdimar if he would help him retrieve the body.

While I went through all the containers I could pry open, the other three took care of the Vigilant. Lydia took one of the vampire's coffins and arranged it as best she could for the dead man while Erandur and Valdimar got the body out of the water and up the ramp.

We couldn't bury him, but at least we could lay him to rest in a coffin and hammer the lid shut tight so the skeevers wouldn't get to him.

Erandur said a few words for the man, and we were on our way to Windhelm.

We stopped in at the market to sell off our goods, while Erandur ducked into the Temple of Talos to let the priests know about the dead Vigilant.

Before we left the city, we went to check on Sofie. We found her by the big shrine of Talos near the gate to the docks, where she usually stands. She seems all right, and I bought all she had. I also slipped some extra coins in her basket, just in case.

Since we were by the docks, I wanted to go see what it would take to get to Solstheim in the future, if the boat was even there. We found the boat mentioned in the cultists' orders, the Northern Maiden, but the captain was in a foul mood and said he wasn't going anywhere!

I spoke with the dock workers to see if they could tell me what was up, but they didn't know anything. They're almost all Argonians, but I've never seen an Argonian in the city. I asked one of them about it, and he said the Jarl wouldn't let them in Windhelm.

Ugh, just like the Khajiit.

I'm beginning to dislike Ulfric more and more.

One of the ladies I spoke with, Shahvee, asked us to keep an eye out for her Amulet of Zenithar while we were out wandering. Some thieves made off with it and left the city. I said we would, and she thanked us before going back to work.

We went back into the city, and it was about mid-afternoon. As we walked back towards the main gate, I remembered how I wasn't able to get into the Aretino boy's house last time.

The others thought it would be a good idea to see if he was all right, so we went to his house on the bridge.

This time there was no one around, so I picked the lock and we slipped inside.

We were at the bottom of a staircase, and could hear the faint sound of a child talking, along with a dull thudding noise. Both repeated over and over, the noise following the chanting. Septim ducked behind us, and I could feel a chill that was more than the weather.

We traded glances. I couldn't see Lydia's face, obviously, but she was stock-still. She gets still like that before a fight. Erandur put his hand over his heart and both he and Valdimar nodded at me. They could feel it, too.

I crept up the steps, and came up in a small vestibule-type room. Next to it was a large room with a fireplace, a bookshelf, a table with two chairs, a dresser, and a small bed. Fairly normal house, really. To our right was a small alcove, brightly lit with candles, and we could hear the chanting coming from there. Candlelight threw the boy's shadow across the floor. It looked like he was stabbing something, and we could understand what he was saying, now:

Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear.

I went to look in the alcove, and it was horrifying!

I mean, we've seen some terrible things, but to see a child like that was just… I still can't believe he actually did it!

Aventus was kneeling on the floor, stabbing a dagger into a skeleton while he chanted.

He and the skeleton were surrounded by candles. There was a chunk of human flesh there, along with a human heart, and a nightshade flower next to the book, "A Kiss, Sweet Mother."

I didn't ask him where he got… All that, and I don't want to know.

I crept up to him, grabbed the dagger from his hand, and told him to stop. He was startled, and jumped up. I asked if he was all right, but instead of answering, he got all excited.

He thinks I'm an assassin from the Dark Brotherhood!

Yeah, no. He doesn't know I'm one of their targets, but whatever.

I told him he was mistaken. We were just checking in on him, but he wouldn't listen. He'd done the ritual, asked for an assassin to show up, and here I was!

I couldn't convince Aventus that I wasn't from the Dark Brotherhood no matter how hard I tried, so I asked what happened to his mother. He started to sniffle, and said that she'd gotten sick, and one day, she just didn't wake up.

I hugged him, then picked him up and took him over to his bed. I sat down with him and comforted him as best I could. Septim jumped into the bed with us and snuggled up next to him. I talked with Aventus for a bit, and Valdimar set to work on getting the fire going so he could make the boy a decent meal, while the others cleaned up the horrible mess in the little alcove.

-/-/-/-/-/-

The wash water's almost warm enough, I'm going to get my bath things ready.

—

All right! We're clean, and Lydia's hair is done. I can write while she does mine.

-/-/-/-/-/-

Aventus showed me a letter he got from the steward. I've seen letters like this before, handed in to the orphanage with new kids. They always say they're sorry about what happened, but that honestly makes it feel even colder. The letter expressed Ulfric's condolences, and said that a guard would escort Aventus to Honorhall Orphanage in Riften.

I asked him about the orphanage, and said that I'd heard he'd gone, then come back. Why?

What he said next started another crying fit that quickly turned to anger. He told me all about the headmistress of the orphanage, Grelod the Kind. She's the one he wants an assassin for.

I'll split my quill if I write down exactly what he told me about her.

How could she?! That BITCH! I want to throw her in a pond full of angry mudcrabs! See how she likes the pain of a thousand little hurts.

That hag is as good as dead.

The others acted like they weren't paying attention, but I saw the glares and heard a whispered curse in Dunmeri from Valdimar as he leaned over the soup he was working on.

He came over and handed Aventus a bowl, and told him to eat up.

I told Aventus that I had to talk with my friends for a minute, and we went into the little alcove where he'd been performing the ritual.

It smelled of sandalwood, now, and looked like nothing terrible had ever happened here. Erandur got to his feet from where he'd been kneeling. He'd been praying, "cleansing the place of hatred," he said, and had even brought out his incense.

That, and it covered the smell of rot pretty well.

They'd all heard about what really went on at the orphanage. Lydia said that she found it hard to believe, but for a child to go to all this trouble, it was pretty convincing. Erandur shivered, and whispered that he'd done terrible things when he was the boy's age, too, but he had guidance. There were adults around to help him. Aventus did all of this on his own. Valdimar pointed out that not only had the boy not been eating well - there wasn't much food in there, and Aventus is worryingly thin - he'd not been sleeping well, either.

He held out his hand, and there was a smear of dust on it. He said it was from Aventus' bed. He'd noticed the dust when he came over with the soup, and put his hand on the bed to make sure. I ran my hands over the back of my legs and my hind end, and sure enough, I'd sat in a thick layer of it.

Lydia nodded. That explained the ragged cloak she'd found balled up in the corner of the alcove. He was probably sleeping in here, next to the circle of candles. Valdimar said the logs for the fireplace were covered in dust, too.

I realized something and I must have gone pale because Erandur asked me if I was all right. I pulled out this thing and flipped through to the front of it.

I heard about Aventus trying to hire the Dark Brotherhood my second day in Skyrim.

He's been stabbing those bones, chanting, living like this, for months!

That was it for me. I said we were going to Riften, and the others agreed.

Aventus was getting himself another helping of soup when we walked back into the living area, and he was overjoyed to hear that Grelod would be taken care of.

He said that he hadn't expected a whole team of assassins to show up!

I told him again that we weren't assassins, but he wouldn't have it.

Oh, well.

Valdimar went to get him some more firewood, and Lydia went through our supplies to make sure he'd have enough to hold him over until we got back from Riften. Erandur fixed up the boy's bed, and got him to promise that he'd use it. Aventus confirmed that he hadn't been sleeping in it; he wanted to be ready when the assassin showed up! I gave him some gold, and whispered to him to lay low, but if the guards gave him any trouble, he could pay them off to ignore him. They've got bigger problems.

It was getting close to evening by the time we got him settled and well-stocked, but we're pretty sure he'll be all right until we get back.

Before we left, Aventus said that there was another lady who worked at the orphanage named Constance, and asked me not to hurt her. She was sweet, and actually cared for them, but couldn't stand up to Grelod.

I promised not to hurt her, and we slipped out, back into the city. I tried to keep my mood up around the boy, but when we got to the street, I couldn't help but mutter about what I want to do to that hag when I get my hands on her.

We were soon out of the city and on our way to Kynesgrove. During the march across the bridge, once we were out of earshot of the guards, I let myself rage about how horrible Grelod is, and how Ulfric's useless. He can't spare a single guard to check in on Aventus?! I heard about that kid in RIVERWOOD months ago, for Mara's sake! There's no WAY the Guard didn't know about it!

The others weren't completely surprised by my outburst, but they made sure I quieted down before we reached the guards at the far end of the bridge.

I felt bad for Septim, though. He was worried about me and whining so bad, I had to stop and comfort him and give him hugs.

I admit, I needed the hugs, too.

As soon as we were out of sight of the Windhelm guards, Lydia stopped and dug a sack out of her pack, then threw it into the woods. She saw our questioning looks and explained that it was full of the bones and such from the Black Sacrament. "The forest will take care of it," she said.

What do I always say? She's a savvy sweetroll, she is.

We got to the Braidwood Inn just as the sun set. Iddra was glad to see we were all right, and everyone there was accounted for, which was a relief. So, we ordered dinner and got ourselves rooms for the night.

As we ate, one of the guards came up and said that he saw a bit of what happened the other day from his post down by the mine. He said that he could've sworn that he heard one of the dragons speak our language?

I said that he heard right. And I told him what Alduin said to me.

The fact that they had names was chilling enough to him, never mind that they could speak!

Tell me about it.

Anyway, he thanked us for killing the dragon, and we finished our meal. We took turns washing up in the room Lydia and I shared, and I started on today's entry.

Valdimar is braiding Erandur's hair again!

Erandur came out to join us by the fire, but he didn't grab his comb or anything. He just started running his fingers through it to pull out the tangles like he used to.

Old habits die hard.

So, Lydia got Erandur's things, set them down in front of Valdimar (she did give him a wink) and made Erandur sit down next to him to get his hair taken care of properly.

Erandur tried to resist, but soon gave up and let Valdimar do his hair for him. He made a joke about how if we kept making him neaten up people might start to think he was the important one of the group.

Valdimar didn't miss a beat and said that he was important to us. Erandur blushed and tried to fight the smile on his face, but gave up again. He stammered a bit, then just muttered a "Thank you."

The style Valdimar gave him was nothing as complicated as before, but it looks nice and works with his circlet. Valdimar made two flat braids in the front, right at Erandur's temples, and tied the lengths in the back. He left the rest loose. As I said, very simple, but it looks nice on him!

While he worked, Valdimar asked if we were going to take the horn to High Hrothgar, first.

No, I said. Tomorrow we head to Riften, THEN Ivarstead.

I said that the Greybeards can wait, Sarthaal can wait, Solstheim can wait, Delphine can wait, they can all wait.

Those children can't.

He smiled and said he'd hoped I'd say that.

Well, things are winding down in here, and the others have gone to bed. I'm going to finish my -

-/-/-/-/-/-

Iddra and I just had a nice little talk. She noticed that Erandur looked different, and wanted to know what happened. I told her that he used to spend all of his time alone, and had sort of… Forgotten how to take care of himself.

She nodded and put words to something that I've been trying to but didn't know how. She said that it almost hurts to remember how he used to smile. She had no idea how sad he was, before, until she saw him laughing earlier.

She said she'd glad to know he's with us, and that he looks a lot healthier, too. Like he's finally gotten decent food and rest. Then she told me that I had to get my rest, too.

And I will, soon as the ink dries.

Tomorrow, we go to Riften.

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Braidwood Inn

Miner's Delight

Hearty meat stew with horker, goat, venison, two types of sausage, and potatoes

Salmon pie

Salmon chunks in a creamy dill sauce and flaky puff pastry

Vegetable soup

Served with homemade sourdough and butter

Venison casserole

Minced venison with juniper cream sauce, frost mirriam mashed potatoes, Eidar cheese, and sourdough breadcrumbs

Chicken schnitzel

Extra large and crispy schnitzel from our very own chickens, served with lemon pepper gravy

Gravlax

Slices of sweet cured salmon with dill, mustard, and flatbread

Miner's rolled omelette

Pine thrush and chicken egg omelette with cheese, vegetables, and bacon, rolled into a flatbread

Kynesgrove-style rabbit meatballs

With goat cheese filling and a crispy breadcrumb coating. Served with snowberry jelly

The Fancy Platter

Board with Eidar and goat cheeses, sheep and pork cured and smoked hams, Imperial-style bresaola, and jazbay grapes

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