Skyrim: The Nightshade Assassin

Trust in the Chef?

Chapter 24

5th of Sun's Dawn, 4E 202

Kaito disappeared to help a talking dog on the road. Well, that'll buy me some time to buy ingredients. I hope an Apple pie is enough to thank him. It isn't even an ordinary pie. Apparently it's an original from the Gourmet, supposed to be made with 'love.' Sithis only knows what that is supposed to mean. Or not.

"Bad Shadowmere!" I snap, softly kicking his side with my heel, and he stops grazing in the meadow. He huffs and goes back to sniffing a mountain flower. "At this rate, I'll never get to Whiterun..."

The morning breeze dance through the sky once again, and I pull the cloak over my head. Frostfall is getting colder and colder by the day, starting off with the morning. One can only suffer through Evening Star. If I had stronger Nord blood in me, I wouldn't be piling up on the furs like this. I stroke Shadowmere's mane, which has thin flakes of snow on the tips.

I drink yet another frost potion, and I feel my body heat only slightly. It isn't healthy to take three frost resistance potions in a span of three minutes, but I'm freezing, even if the air isn't that humid. I wanted Gabriella to make a dress similar to Mikasa, like in the painting, so it'll be much more of a surprise. Adjusting my red scarf, Shadowmere trots to Whiterun, a clear space for him to relax in the stables. A decaying corpse of a Giant lies in front of a farm. How lovely.

I enter the gates of Whiterun, first entering the Plain district. I fiddle with the button on my satchel, both for amusement and to cure my boredom. Now to find the main ingredient: apples.

It took a load of time to get to Whiterun, possibly three hours once I departed from the sanctuary. That, and another hour of Shadowmere's useless idling.

"Five apples," I tell Carlotta, handing her a bag of septims. She thankfully accepts the coins and gives me the sack of red apples.

"Oh my, that's a beautiful dress!" she exclaims, noticing the replica of Mikasa's apparel.

"Thank you," I reply, and she looks down at the white pinafore overlapping the pink dress. It's rather girly, but still adorable. Soon after she stops examining my clothing, she frowns to particularly nobody.

"What's wrong?" I ask her, snapping her train of thought. She blinks.

"Oh! My apologies, I forgot you were here. Some man I admire is coming to visit me, but the bard of the Bannered Mare keeps pestering me. I'm afraid he'll scare away the man I want to confess my love to," Coletta explains, resting her elbow on the stand. "His name is Mikael. He's truly a bother."

I shrug. I have all the time in the world, and perhaps I can help her. It's getting boring in town, anyway. I need something interesting to do.

As I stroll to the tavern, I find Mikael singing the Dragonborn Comes. Now that Kaito is here, the song is overplayed, and I can't hear it without mentally groaning. As soon as the song is over, I approach the inn's bard.

"Hm? What can I do for you?" he asks me, holding his lute by his side.

"You know, you should stay away from Carlotta," I tell him, shrugging. I know how it feels to be pestered by an affectionate boy, so why not help her out? Solving problems isn't my specialty, but when some resorts to violence, I'm in for it. And I have a feeling Mikael will put up a fight, so might as well humiliate him in front of everyone.

Mikael shakes his head with a loud, noisy laugh. "Oh no, I can't possibly do that. I'll make that woman mine, whatever it takes." Well, I'll give him points for determination. Time to damage his pride.