5th of Hearthfire, Fredas
A day of drinking and being back on solid ground again, has done me some good. I have finally lost that rocking motion that spending a month on the water had given me.
I still sometimes feel like my balance is a bit off, but at least I can blame it on the mead. Oh blessed mead, how smooth thy taste, and the nice aromatic finish of the honey. How I have missed you.
I sent my Indoril guard out to check for any sign of Titanborn in the city, but they found nothing. I did ask them not to make obvious inquiries, so they simply had a walk about the city.
They reported that they were given many a dirty look and felt pressured to appear as though they were considering entering the Bards College in order to not be accosted by the guards.
What has happened to Solitude? Truly.
Talk of the Bards College gave me a desire to stop by the old place and see what had become of things since my last visit. It must be 30 years? No, 50? Who can recall?
I admit, I placed a large order of mead and made as though I had gotten far too deep in my cups too fast and had to retire to my room. I feigned sickness and asked not to be disturbed until I had slept the whole ordeal off in the morning.
Then I put on a disguise and slipped out into the city.
I thought about my last trip here. Oh, it was when I was still with Qau-Dar. That was the trip where he discovered Little Khes! My poor daughter, kept as though she were a pet! How big she must be now.
I have to leave such thoughts for now, it hurts my heart too greatly otherwise.
I went to the Bards College, saying that my father had graduated there and I was considering enrolling. I gave my alias at the time and was surprised to be introduced to a far older Galuf. His once golden hair, now a pale, straw grey.
For a moment, he looked about to drop his book upon my arrival. Once I was introduced as son of his once classmate, he seemed to calm. He told me that it was a shock, for I looked so very like my father.
I laughed and agreed that I was often told as much. That he was playing in Valenwood now, but that I had come to learn more about his time at the college, hoping to create something special for his next nameday, that he was turning 100 and so I wanted to learn all I could to make the celebration truly special.
After hearing some stories and sharing my "father's" version, replete with extra embellishments, Galuf asked if I had any musical or oratory inclinations. I said that my father had instructed me in singing and that I had taken a few lessons with the lute.
So he sat me down with a lute and asked if I knew Frelytte and Pular. Of course I did, Galuf and I had to work on an alternative arrangement of the song for some teacher that thought we were not skilled enough to succeed in his class.
So I performed the arrangement that Galuf and I had come up with. Well, I performed my portion of it.
To my great joy, he joined in. I had to hold back tears as I saw him come to life, from the stiff-jointed old man he was now, back to that vibrant young man who used to get into arm wrestling competitions with anyone who would look at him, even though he had his arm broken more than once doing it.
When we finished, he thanked me, told me to give his best to my father, and to come back anytime. To ask for him. That if I ever wished to join the college, he would write a letter of introduction himself and see to my admission.
Once we had parted, I returned back to the inn. I cannot help but find myself drawn to the past. What a different mer I was then. How would my life have been if I had simply committed to my alias and remained forever in Solitude as a bard? Or traveled for life? Who would I be if I had left the House before I could have ever been married off? What a different person I may have become.
No sense dwelling on these things I suppose.
