The Day They Met
The warmth of the hearth, the sweet smell of mead, and melody of a lute playing softly in the background, the perfect way to wind down after a long day trekking through the long twisting roads of The Reach. A ferocious crack of lightning brings Telnian back to reality with a jolt and causes him to spill mead all over his lap. With a grumble he takes a cloth out of his satchel and attempts to clean the sticky drink from his lap and throws it onto the table next to his journal. Ugh that storm is going to chase him from sleep the entire night. Rubbing his temples, he sighs in defeat and returns to his journal, documenting the information from the fellow patrons of the inn about the hushed tales of Tiber Septim’s ghost appearing in the room he once stayed in. He hears giggling coming his left and turns to look for the source of it, he finds two young Nord girls staring at him with slightly flushed cheeks, he smiles and winks at them causing them to flush deeper and giggle louder before scampering off to the other side of the inn. He reaches for his tankard and brings it to his lips when, yet another crack of lightning strikes outside and the door to the inn is thrown open with enough force to almost knock it off its hinges. The eyes of every patron were on the Nord woman who was absolutely soaked to the bone with a sour look on her face standing in the doorway.
“Is that the?” Whispered one of the men.
“Aye that’s the Dragonborn!” Replied the man’s friend.
“Ysgramor’s jewels it is her!” Exclaims another.
Telnian’s pointed ears perk up at the mention of the most revered legend in all of Skyrim, Dragonborn? Oh, this is far more interesting than ghosts. With a huff of annoyance, the woman treks to the innkeeper motioning for a beverage, she tosses a few coins to woman and gives her nod before making her way to the corner where Telnian resides. She collapses into the seat at the table beside his own and takes a greedy sip of her mead. She slams the bottle onto the table and relaxes her shoulders, she glances toward him and raises an eyebrow before snapping.
“Can I help you?” She asks a little too harshly.
She closes her eyes and inhales before adding “Sorry, I’ve had quite the long day.”
He blinks at her before clearing his throat and smiling.
“Quite alright my dear, I can understand how taxing it must be to be the Dragonborn.” He says with devilish grin.
She downs the rest of her mead in two final gulps before turning to him.
“Alright I’ll bite, if you buy me another mead.” She says mirroring his smirk.
He beams in delight at her, stands from his seat and saunters over to the innkeeper and returns with a Black-Briar mead in hand and sits it next to her. She grabs it and takes the cork out before raising it to her lips, taking a sip and returning it to the table.
“Alright, what do you want to know?” She asks with a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
His eyes light up and he has force himself to keep a calm composure before clearing his throat and replying.
“Well how about your name?” He replies with a wink.
She snorts and takes a sip from her mead, and mockingly replying.
“What Dragonborn slayer of dragons not good enough for you?” She jokes with a smirk.
He raises an eyebrow at her and crosses his arms in defiance. She sighs defeated before giving him an answer.
“Ylva, Ylva Strong-Sword.” She replies. “Very Nord-y I know.” She adds motioning to herself with her hands.
“Ah yes, what a lovely yet powerful name indeed.” He chuckled, taking a sip from his forgotten tankard.
“What’s yours then?” She inquires resting her chin on the palm of her hand.
“Telnian, just Telnian.” He grinned at her and she shakes her head as she rolls her eyes.
“Now, time for the more obvious questions.” He smiles rubbing his hands together and retrieves his journal and flipping to an empty page before grabbing his quill and inkwell.
“Alright ask away.” She chuckles moving to get more comfortable knowing she will be sitting her for a while.
Quill in hand and beaming with excitement he licks his lips in anticipation before releasing the flood gate of questions he’s been itching to get the answers to ever since word had spread of the fabled Dragonborn.
“How does it work exactly? Does it hurt when you absorb the soul? Can you fly like a true dragon?” He questioned smiling like a kid in a candy store.
She blinks rapidly at him trying to decipher what he just said before replying.
“Um, first I’m not really sure how it works to be honest, it just works? Second It doesn’t hurt but it’s warm, like standing a little too close to a fire and the warmth from the flames engulfs your body.” She takes a breath before continuing. “And lastly no, unfortunately I cannot fly but let me tell you if I could I would never walk anywhere again.”
“Truly fascinating.” He exclaims writing everything down word for word in pristine penmanship that elegantly fills the page.
“Now how about your Thu’um? How does that work?” He inquires not looking up from the page.
She ponders his question for a moment, gnawing her bottom lip before replying.
“Every shout has three words, each making the shout more and more powerful. For example, when I breath fire I am essentially screaming Yol Toor Shul, Yol means fire, Toor means inferno, and Shul means sun.” She shrugs before adding “It’s hard to understand at first trust me.”
“That is just extraordinary, to think that the terrors of the sky we all fear are essentially just yelling at us when destroying our villages is quite humorous.” He snickers setting his journal on the table. She snickers and pulls her arms above her head and stretching her back, an awful pop echoes through her and she winces.
“Listen I hate to cut this short, but I’ve been on the road all day from Ivarstead and I would really like to get some sleep before I have head back to Whiterun tomorrow.” She says trying to stifle a yawn.
He presses him lips into a thin line and nods his head in understanding then begins to gather his things.
“You’re right, I apologize for taking too much of you time, I bid you goodnight and safe travels.” He stands from his seat, does a half bow and turns to the direction of his room. She plays with the amulet around her neck in thought for a moment before calling out to him.
“Wait!” She exclaims, quickly standing from her seat.
He stops in his tracks and turns to face her.
“What would you say to traveling with me?” She questions tilting her head to the side.
Travel with the Dragonborn? Yes! A thousand times yes! Think about all the entries that could be made! All the secrets unveiled! The life of adventure he’d been hoping for! Keeping a calm composure, he pretends to ponder her request for a moment before agreeing.
“Alright Miss Ylva, you’ve got a deal.” He replies with a toothy grin and extends his hand to her. She smiles in return and grabs his hand and shakes it with enthusiasm.
“Aye, we leave after breakfast.” She instructs with a grin.
They bid each other goodnight and he heads off to his room and she to rent one. For this is the beginning of quite the adventure for them both.
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Hehe I finally got around to writing when these two idiots met.