The story of one of the greatest, fiercest heroes of Skyrim started on just another day in Whiterun. The sun was shining, people were going about their business in the marketplace, and the charming Nazeem was going around bragging about his access to the Cloud District. Nothing was unusual, nothing was out of the ordinary. Maybe this normalness wasn’t a bad thing, but it was certainly boring. This was why Adrienne, the Nordic daughter of Jarl Balgruuf, and Catticus Finch, the Breton apprentice of Farengar Secret-Fire, were outside of the city racing their horses. Though, it wasn’t really much of a race, considering that Adrienne’s horse was younger and more suited for sport while Catticus’s was an old farm mare.
“Hya!” Adrienne called, laughing gleefully as she observed the considerable length between herself and her friend. It was never fair, but it was always fun. There was almost nothing more thrilling to Adri than victory. Meanwhile, Catticus urged her horse to speed up, though it seemed quite impossible.
“Come on, old Mary, come on!” she tried, already feeling the inevitable defeat. At least she was used to it by now. However, Adrienne wasn’t going to let the race be concluded so quickly, obvious win for her or not. She slowed her horse down to a steady trot, weaving behind the cover of the first layer of trees so Catticus wouldn’t spot her when she sped around the corner. A few hoofbeats later, as planned, Mary and her rider galloped by, unsuspecting of what was to come. Suddenly, with a shout of impending victory, Adrienne and Glacier shot out of the hiding place without a moment’s hesitation, closing the distance between the two horses and their riders slowly. The crossroads where the river coming from Riverwood split was in sight, and Catticus was already around the bend, passing Honningbrew Meadery with renewed vigor.
“I’m gonna beat you this time, Adri, accept it!” Catticus taunted loudly, twisting to glance at her friend, her short brown hair whipping around her head from her horse’s movements and the slightly windy day. Truly, it did seem as though the scholar would finally be victorious and that the noblewoman had judged her trick wrong. But just as Catticus had finally started to taste sweet victory, Adrienne slapped the horse with the reins. Glacier sped past Mary and Catticus at lightning-speed and closed the distance between Adri and her opponent with loud hoofbeats and by the time they had passed the farm beside Honningbrew, they were neck-and-neck. It was bound to be a tie.
“Not a chance, Cat!” Adrienne shot back with a smirk at her opponent, and just as they were about to reach the stables, she forced Glacier to jump the fence instead of going around it, reaching the yard of the stables before Catticus could even dream of doing so. Her horse reared up onto its back legs, seemingly neighing in victory, though it might have been in protest of the harsh ride.
“Haha! Sixty-eight wins in a row!” she whooped loudly, carefully sliding out of Glacier’s saddle and patting the animal’s side with a grin. She gazed over at Catticus who stood with her arms crossed and a sour expression by her mare.
“You cheated.” she spoke, before beginning to tend to her horse who seemed to be on the brink of exhaustion. Adrienne did the same. While they did so, a guard jogged up to the stables.
“Hail, Lady Adrienne, Catticus. You’re needed at Dragonsreach.” he told them, trying to catch his breath. The women set their saddles down on their racks and left the stables, telling Skulvar to finish tending to the horses before heading up to Dragonsreach. As they walked into the gates, they heard multiple ‘good day’s and other greetings like such from the townspeople.
“Gee, I wonder what Balgruuf wants?” Catticus asked, running a hand through her wild, windblown hair as the two friends wandered through the Whiterun gates. Suddenly the usual obnoxious bragging of Nazeem could be heard. Catticus narrowed her eyes as she watched him insult Brenuin.
“Do you get to the Cloud District often? What am I saying, of course you don’t.” he scoffed, beginning to walk past the beggar. Adri could see Catticus getting mad.
“Stupid urchin.” Nazeem said when the two passed him, glaring at Braith who’d ran into him on her way past. And as much as the brat deserved the insult, Catticus snapped. Suddenly Nazeem was trying to put out the flames covering his coat, and Catticus was smirking. Adri shook her head at her friend, but laughed anyway when Nazeem tripped and hit his head on the well. The guards were just watching, and two of them clinked bottles of ale as they enjoyed the scene.
When they finally reached Dragonsreach, Adri was practically dragging the lazy wizard’s apprentice who was out of breath from climbing stairs and whining about how she wished she could use her horse in the city.
“Shut up, Catticus.” Adri said, walking into her home, scowling at that rude servant as she strolled past. The old hag attempted to tell Catticus to stop whining, but shut up when she saw fire in the mage’s hand.
“Good, you’re back. Your father was looking for you.” Irileth informed Adri when the girls reached her usual spot. Catticus excused herself to go bother Farengar, calling his name in a singsongy voice. His usual groan of annoyance followed.
“Good luck, Farengar!” Adri yelled in the direction of the aggravated wizard. Then she made her way to where her father was leaned over a map on a table. He looked up when he heard her approach.
“You called, father?” the girl spoke, calmly coming to a stop on the other side of the table.
“There’s going to be a meeting at High Hrathgar about the dragon threat, and I want you to come along.” Jarl Balgruuf informed her. Her eyes widened in surprise.
“Really? The Greybeards are holding a meeting?” she questioned. He nodded.
“Also, tell Catticus she is to accompany us as well. It’ll probably be her dream come true, considering her fascination with dragon lore.” the Jarl mused, chuckling. Adri rolled her eyes, knowing how hyper the Breton girl could get the moment someone mentioned dragons. Still, she was glad her best friend was coming along for the trip.
“And when is this meeting to be held, exactly?” She asked.
“Well, today is Mundas so… Three days from now. We’ll set out the day before so we’ll get to Ivarstead by nightfall. You can pack tomorrow. Tell Irileth if you need gold for supplies, you can save your own.” He replied, before looking back down at his map. Adri left, walking at a brisk pace to go deliver the news to her best friend. When she reached the wizards’ (study, office, room, quarters???), she was met with a familiar sight.
“Farengar, I’m out of quills! Do you have any? Farengar!”
“Go away, Catticus! Can’t you see I’m busy?”
“But I need a quill!”
As usual, the apprentice was out of quills, and the old wizard was busy. It was almost comical as the short-haired girl pleaded with him and he slowly started to look madder and madder, his eyebrows scrunched together.
“Catticus, how about we go shoot a bird and get you some quills!” Adri called into the room, distracting her from her begging. She nodded before going to grab her satchel.
“Thank you, she’s been at it since she got back.” Farengar grumbled. Adri chuckled. Catticus appeared from where she’d run off to, stepping past Adri, who followed her back out of Dragonsreach. Sometimes it seemed like the mage never got tired, at least, not until she encountered upward stairs.
“So back to the woods, then?” she asked once they got outside. Adri nodded. Once they reached the part of the stairs that overlooks the pool of water, she took off her coat and handed it to Catticus.
“Oh, not again, you’ll be-”
Adri leaped into the air, laughing as the wind whipped her hair around until she landed in the water. She was still laughing when she resurfaced.
“-Soaked.” Catticus finished unenthusiastically. She huffed before descending the rest of the stairs and meeting her drenched friend at the bottom, throwing her coat at her. It landed on her head, and she willingly pulled it over her shoulders, shivering a tiny bit.
“Why do you always do that?” Catticus asked, shaking her head.
“Oh come on, if it was summer you’d do it too.” Adri replied.
“But it’s only mid-spring. Anyways, what did your father say?” was the mage’s next question.
“I’ll tell you once we get to the shrine. Let’s hurry, I’m freezing, and I’d rather be dry in my armor than wet in my dress.” the other girl replied, walking a bit faster. The guards payed no mind to them or the water left in Adri’s wake, as this was an often occurrence. After the long walk out to the stables, the girls were surprised to see a new horse, and the horse’s owner. The horse was a Riften dappled mare, and it’s owner was a dark-skinned redguard girl with long dark brown hair in a low ponytail that went to the bottom of her shoulderblades. She had on some vaguely familiar brown leather armor, but neither girl could place what kind. The girl strode past them on her way into the city, waving at them with a smile.
“Who was that, Skulvar?” Catticus asked when she reached her own horse. Adri shook her head at how her friend was staring the mystery girl’s mare down like it was a work of art. Though she couldn’t complain, it was a nice horse.
“Said her name was Kyerra or something.” he replied, going back to brushing the horse he’d had for sale for a while. Catticus nodded, climbing into the saddle, before riding Mary out into the yard. Adri followed behind. They weren’t in much of a hurry, but they still rode at a trot because Adri was cold. It was still a nice day out, and it had only been about two hours since their race. When they arrived at the hidden shrine of Talos, Adri jumped off of Glacier’s back and darted over to the locked chest she kept by the shrine, pulling out a worn but well-cared-for suit of leather armor, leather gloves, and leather boots. Catticus searched the area’s trees for birds while her friend changed into the dry outfit.
“I think I need a new suit of armor soon, this one’s getting tight.” Adri commented as she came to stand beside Catticus, a bow on her back and a dagger at her side. Catticus looked it over.
“Well, you’ve had it for what, three years now? You were sixteen then. No wonder.” she replied, earning a shove and a scoff from her friend.
“Anyway, my father said that there was going to be a political meeting and he wants us to go.” Adri revealed, earning a scowl from Catticus, as expected.
“Well that’ll be boring!” she grumbled, stepping closer to a tree where a bird was perched. She lined up her shot and was about to fire a slim shard of ice at the creature when Adri continued talking.
“It’s at High Hrathgar. About the dragon threat.” she added, and Catticus’ shot blasted into the wrong tree, scaring off the bird, and she wheeled around to face Adri, a shocked look on her face.
“What?” she questioned, obviously not believing what her friend had said.
“The High-and-mighty Greybeards have called a meeting about the threat of dragons at High Hrathgar in three days’ time.” Adri repeated. Honestly, it looked like Catticus was going to pass out, as she leaned against a tree.
“No way, you’ve got to be joking! What if the dovahkiin will be there? Surely! I mean, you heard them call for him! Oh, I wish I’d met him that day, but we were out riding…” she started going on and on about the idea, and Adri just turned away, scanning the treetops for another bird. She found one, and pulled her bow off her back along with a steel arrow. She drew it back, squinted her eyes to make sure her aim was good, and fired. The arrow whistled through the air and hit the bird right in the eye. It dropped from it’s branch with a thump.
‘Cat’ll definitely have enough quills to last a while, now.’ Adri thought to herself, going to retrieve the bird. She reached down and grabbed it, then took a look at the sky. It was turning pink. Only an hour until dark.
“Come on, Catticus, we’ll be late for dinner.” Adri called, stuffing the pheasant in her saddlebags and quickly changing back into the only-slightly-damp dress from earlier and stashing her armor in the locked chest. She swung up on Glacier and with a smirk, a wink, and a nod, the two horses shot forward, and the race back to Whiterun had begun.