I had stood there watching the ancient white dragon land in front of us, I could feel the splitting headache that would arise when Delphine found out. So Paarthurnax was a dragon, it made sense.
Both men had drawn their bows, but I waved them down. I had already ticked Master Arngeir off once, I didn't really need to do it again by fighting with the head of their order. I closed my eye's against the windblown ice as he landed, opening my eyes to see him extend his head in my direction. Signar and Nelthas backed off and found a place to sit, Tex stayed at my feet looking up at the Dragon.
"Drem Yol Lok Dovahkiin, greetings Dragonborn" His voice was gravely, but easily understood and I had always been good at learning languages, I had to be.
"Drem Yol Lok Paarthurnax, greetings Dovah". I only hoped that would be proper, but I bowed as I said it.
I replayed some of the conversations in my head as we headed down the mountain. Another trip through time, this one backward, usually it was forward, but it would be interesting if nothing else. Kelle, an Elder Scroll, if I remembered some of the things that I read over the years, I might actually be able to see some of my past, present, and the most important part for me, the future.
I thought hard, no one would just have an Elder Scroll laying around, but it seemed to me the best place to look would be the College in Winterhold. Paarthurnax... Paarthurnax.... Paar Thur Nax, wind of kynareth, Ambition Overlord Cruelty, Delphine is going to go crazy.
He had been waiting for thousands of years for Alduin to return and not once in any history I could recall, was his name brought up. The Blades, they would have information if anyone did, but I really could not ask Esbern. Yeah, the College was the place to go, I needed information.
I would see his friends, the first Nords to learn the Thu'um, he taught them, so he betrayed his own kind. He betrayed Alduin, who was cruel even to his own kind. Time... I needed time... time, something that seemed to be running out.
"STOP IT".. I yelled at the top of my lungs. This kind of thinking would get me nowhere.
"My Lady?" Signar sounded concerned and he had every right to. I turned and looked at him, Nelthas right by his side, both men looked worried. I closed my eyes and took a huge breath in, then let it out slowly, opening my eyes and looking at the two of them. Tex was sitting on his haunches, looking at me with that silly doggy grin, I smiled weakly back at him.
" I will catch both of you up to what is happening when we get back down to Iverstead, my thoughts are going in a thousand directions at once. Plus I need to speak with Arngeir, I need some answers from him."
"Why the head of his order is a dragon? That would be one wouldn't it." Nelthas said.
"No, that in all actuality makes some sense, there are other things that I need to know. Just know this, we are on a long journey. It's turning dark and dangerous, I know I will be walking a fine line." I turned and started back for High Hrothgar. " Arngeir said that the Thu'um that I need was created in a dark, cruel time, by people that were desperate to depose their Dragon overlords, Alduin being the highest. I need to sort some of this out in my head. Just...please give me some time."
"My Lady, take all the time you need. I would follow you through the Plain's of Oblivion." His voice was quiet and firm.
"I too Muthsera, The Lady Azura pretty much told me to follow you to the end and I will." He said that in a tone, that said, he wondered at his own conviction, but he would do as he said.
I talked to Arngeir when we got to High Hrothgar, I even asked him about the Elder scroll. He was not happy that I would be messing with it and that, as I had figured my best bet would be the College. I did ask him about more Words, the ones I knew were very useful but I wanted more, not simply for the power, but because one never knows when something that you don't have will come in very handy.
It was late into the night when we made it to Iverstead and both men said they would rather talk over breakfast, as they were tired. I think they just said that because they knew I was mentally exhausted. We got the same room as the last time, meaning there wasn't a lick of privacy, but that was alright.
In the morning I told Signar and Nelthas what Paarthurnax had told me, I also told them what his name meant and who I thought he was. Tex whined when I said that I thought he had been Alduin's second in command, but that he changed sides and helped us, humans, in the end.
"Delphine and Esbern aren't going to care that he helped people, that he has been waiting all these years to again help humans and see Alduin defeated, all they will care about is that he is a dragon and hurt people thousands of years ago." I rubbed my forehead, I really could not be getting a headache from a conversation that might be weeks in coming.
"We will be heading to a peak on the other side of Riften, according to Arngeir there is a word wall over there and I want to see it, to learn the word, while my mind is clear. Then we'll take the carriage to Winterhold, leaving the horses with Hofgrir. They need rest and while I hate the idea of walking all over Skyrim, I would prefer healthy horses when we need them."
We made it to the peak that held the Word Wall, three days later. I wasn't really surprised at the dragon sitting on top of it, he would not speak to me and I felt a slight sadness at that. The second dragon was a complete surprise, he was older and stronger and while he still would not speak to me, he did hurl insults at us. After I absorbed both dragon souls, I walked towards the Word Wall, it started its humming, and writing appeared on it in glowing letters.
At first, I did not understand what the word meant, but when I dug deep and found one of the dragon's souls and laid it open, I understood completely. Before I had really explored all the meanings of that word, I felt another and turned to look. There, across the valley was another Word Wall, overlooking a barrow.
That must be where the other dragon had come from. I noticed smoke and narrowed my eyes, yes it looked like a camp. I pointed across to the Barrow and told the men that we would be going there next, but we could set up camp closer to the valley floor.
After the camp was set up and I told Signar that I wanted a bath and that even if that pond on the other side of the trees wasn't deep enough to swim, the water had looked clear and I wanted to be clean. He had already taken off his Plate and was in just the Gambeson, but he followed me to the pond.
Both men had drawn their bows, but I waved them down. I had already ticked Master Arngeir off once, I didn't really need to do it again by fighting with the head of their order. I closed my eye's against the windblown ice as he landed, opening my eyes to see him extend his head in my direction. Signar and Nelthas backed off and found a place to sit, Tex stayed at my feet looking up at the Dragon.
"Drem Yol Lok Dovahkiin, greetings Dragonborn" His voice was gravely, but easily understood and I had always been good at learning languages, I had to be.
"Drem Yol Lok Paarthurnax, greetings Dovah". I only hoped that would be proper, but I bowed as I said it.
I replayed some of the conversations in my head as we headed down the mountain. Another trip through time, this one backward, usually it was forward, but it would be interesting if nothing else. Kelle, an Elder Scroll, if I remembered some of the things that I read over the years, I might actually be able to see some of my past, present, and the most important part for me, the future.
I thought hard, no one would just have an Elder Scroll laying around, but it seemed to me the best place to look would be the College in Winterhold. Paarthurnax... Paarthurnax.... Paar Thur Nax, wind of kynareth, Ambition Overlord Cruelty, Delphine is going to go crazy.
He had been waiting for thousands of years for Alduin to return and not once in any history I could recall, was his name brought up. The Blades, they would have information if anyone did, but I really could not ask Esbern. Yeah, the College was the place to go, I needed information.
I would see his friends, the first Nords to learn the Thu'um, he taught them, so he betrayed his own kind. He betrayed Alduin, who was cruel even to his own kind. Time... I needed time... time, something that seemed to be running out.
"STOP IT".. I yelled at the top of my lungs. This kind of thinking would get me nowhere.
"My Lady?" Signar sounded concerned and he had every right to. I turned and looked at him, Nelthas right by his side, both men looked worried. I closed my eyes and took a huge breath in, then let it out slowly, opening my eyes and looking at the two of them. Tex was sitting on his haunches, looking at me with that silly doggy grin, I smiled weakly back at him.
" I will catch both of you up to what is happening when we get back down to Iverstead, my thoughts are going in a thousand directions at once. Plus I need to speak with Arngeir, I need some answers from him."
"Why the head of his order is a dragon? That would be one wouldn't it." Nelthas said.
"No, that in all actuality makes some sense, there are other things that I need to know. Just know this, we are on a long journey. It's turning dark and dangerous, I know I will be walking a fine line." I turned and started back for High Hrothgar. " Arngeir said that the Thu'um that I need was created in a dark, cruel time, by people that were desperate to depose their Dragon overlords, Alduin being the highest. I need to sort some of this out in my head. Just...please give me some time."
"My Lady, take all the time you need. I would follow you through the Plain's of Oblivion." His voice was quiet and firm.
"I too Muthsera, The Lady Azura pretty much told me to follow you to the end and I will." He said that in a tone, that said, he wondered at his own conviction, but he would do as he said.
I talked to Arngeir when we got to High Hrothgar, I even asked him about the Elder scroll. He was not happy that I would be messing with it and that, as I had figured my best bet would be the College. I did ask him about more Words, the ones I knew were very useful but I wanted more, not simply for the power, but because one never knows when something that you don't have will come in very handy.
It was late into the night when we made it to Iverstead and both men said they would rather talk over breakfast, as they were tired. I think they just said that because they knew I was mentally exhausted. We got the same room as the last time, meaning there wasn't a lick of privacy, but that was alright.
In the morning I told Signar and Nelthas what Paarthurnax had told me, I also told them what his name meant and who I thought he was. Tex whined when I said that I thought he had been Alduin's second in command, but that he changed sides and helped us, humans, in the end.
"Delphine and Esbern aren't going to care that he helped people, that he has been waiting all these years to again help humans and see Alduin defeated, all they will care about is that he is a dragon and hurt people thousands of years ago." I rubbed my forehead, I really could not be getting a headache from a conversation that might be weeks in coming.
"We will be heading to a peak on the other side of Riften, according to Arngeir there is a word wall over there and I want to see it, to learn the word, while my mind is clear. Then we'll take the carriage to Winterhold, leaving the horses with Hofgrir. They need rest and while I hate the idea of walking all over Skyrim, I would prefer healthy horses when we need them."
We made it to the peak that held the Word Wall, three days later. I wasn't really surprised at the dragon sitting on top of it, he would not speak to me and I felt a slight sadness at that. The second dragon was a complete surprise, he was older and stronger and while he still would not speak to me, he did hurl insults at us. After I absorbed both dragon souls, I walked towards the Word Wall, it started its humming, and writing appeared on it in glowing letters.
At first, I did not understand what the word meant, but when I dug deep and found one of the dragon's souls and laid it open, I understood completely. Before I had really explored all the meanings of that word, I felt another and turned to look. There, across the valley was another Word Wall, overlooking a barrow.
That must be where the other dragon had come from. I noticed smoke and narrowed my eyes, yes it looked like a camp. I pointed across to the Barrow and told the men that we would be going there next, but we could set up camp closer to the valley floor.
After the camp was set up and I told Signar that I wanted a bath and that even if that pond on the other side of the trees wasn't deep enough to swim, the water had looked clear and I wanted to be clean. He had already taken off his Plate and was in just the Gambeson, but he followed me to the pond.
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