We arrived in Riften after a six-hour ride. Elizabeth slept most of the time, while I read a book I had bought from Belethor.
We city without paying the fee, thanks to my knowledge of the city from playing the game so much. We go through the back door of the Black-Briar meadery during its happy hour just walk out the front door without really being noticed, thankfully, then spent the night at the Bee 'n Barb. The next morning, however, was quite a bit more eventful...
"I can't believe you killed that man!" I yell at Elizabeth as we ride on the back of a horse that wasn't exactly ours.
"Well, I wasn't about to climb the seven thousand steps on foot! You should be thankful," She responds.
Because we couldn't afford our own, Elizabeth thought it'd be a-okay to kill a traveling peddler for his horse. I huff in annoyance and cross my arms over my chest. We rode on in silence until we reached Ivarstead.
"What should we name her?" She asks me.
"Who? The horse? You can't be serious," I say, clearly still salty about the peddler.
"I think I'll name her Belle!"
Barely around the first trail bend on the way up the mountain, a lone wolf attacks us. Belle whinnied and reared up, me fall off and land in the dirt with a thud. "Fuck!" I yell in shock.
Elizabeth tried to calm Belle as best as she could while I scramble to my feet and draw my sword from its sheathe. I run at the wolf and bashed the steel blade on its skull a few times until it stopped moving. "This is why... we don't need... a fucking horse," I say out of breath.
Elizabeth rolls her eyes and gestures for me to get back on. I sigh while mounting our noble steed and wrap my arms around my friend and hold on for dear life as she sends Belle into a full gallop.
As we neared an overhanging cliff I tap Elizabeth on the shoulder, "There's a troll up ahead." I warn.
Elizabeth pulled the reins to slow Belle down to a slow trot.
She guides Belle to walk under the overhang, the horse is clearly anxious. Just as we were about to step out from under the cliff, a frost troll jumped down and landed in front of us from above. The beast roared and thumped its chest like a gorilla.
"Uh, Elizabeth," I ask, "You you know any fire spells?"
"I was hoping you did," She answers concerned.
"We can sacrifice Belle and run!" I suggest a little too enthusiastically.
"What?! No!" Elizabeth shouts in dismay and causes Belle to panic and run straight at the troll.
"No, no, no, no, no!" we yell as we brace ourselves. Belle rears up, whinnies, and kicks the troll in the face with her hooves.
As the troll staggers back, Elizabeth dismounts to draw her greatsword and charges at the beast before it can recover its health. As she deals with the beast head-on, I attempt to pelt it with arrows from Belle's back.
The troll let out a final roar as Elizabeth ran her blade through its stomach. She leaned on the hilt of her sword to catch her breath before returning to my side. "Have you changed your mind about Belle?" She asks hopefully.
"... I guess," I sigh. "But that doesn't mean you can kill people for their animals! Do it again and I'll kick your ass!"
|
"KK, wake up. I can see High Hrothgar," Elizabeth says, waking me up from my nap. I open one green eye and hum a response before closing it again.
I can feel Elizabeth slow Belle to a trot as we near the monastery.
When we reach the staircase to the old rundown fortress, we both dismount Belle. Elizabeth ties the steed up to a nearby tree before we both head inside.
When we entered the ancient monastery the place was dead silent; you could drop a piece of thread and hear it hit the ground.
"Hello? Anyone home?" I call out, letting my voice echo throughout the dark stone halls.
Soon, Elizabeth and I heard multiple sets of feet approaching us. The Greybeards stood before us in silence, waiting for their speaker to do his job and speak for them. An older man stepped forward and addressed us.
"So," He begins, "a Dragonborn appears at this moment in the turning of the age."
"Two Dragonborns actually," I correct him. "I'm Kayleighn and this is Elizabeth. We are answering your summons," I say with a bow of my head, elbowing Elizabeth to do the same.
"I am Master Arngeir, speaker for the Greybeards," He introduced himself. "We will see if you truly have the gift. Show us, Dragonborns, let us taste the power of your voices."
I looked at Elizabeth out of the corner of my eye. I was the only one who has absorbed a dragon's soul, so I'm not sure how this will turn out. Time to come up with a clever lie.
"I will show you my voice, master, but Elizabeth here has a sore throat and cannot demonstrate her Thu'um at this moment," I lie with a strained smile, hoping to high heavens that Elizabeth would play along. I don't wanna find out what the penalty is for lying to monks.
"I understand your situation," Arngeir says to Elizabeth, "But when you next return, I wish to see the power of your Thu'um as well."
I resist the urge to sigh in relief and half smile instead. "Now, Kayleighn, please demonstrate," Arngeir requests.
"With pleasure," I say stepping a few feet back from Arngeir before shouting at him, "FUS!" I shout.
The force of my Thu'um was strong enough to knock over a few decorative pots, and make Arngeir stumble back a few feet.
"Dragonborn, it is you," Arngeir said after he regained his composer. "Welcome to High Hrothgar. Now tell me, Dragonborns, why have you come here?"
"Well, like I said before, we're answering your summons," I answer. At this point, Elizabeth decided to act her part and stay quiet for a bit and sat on the stairs while I did the talking.
"We are honored to welcome two Dragonborns to High Hrothgar. We will do our best to teach you both how to use your gifts in fulfillment of your destiny."
"What's our destiny?" I ask the old man.
"That is for you both to discover. We can show you the way, but not the destination," He answers.
"Alright, well I'm ready to learn!" I say getting pumped up.
"You have shown that you are Dragonborn, you have the inborn gift. But do you have the discipline and temperament to follow the path laid out for you? That remains to be seen. Without training, you have already taken the first steps towards projecting your voice into a Thu'um; a Shout. Now let's see if you are willing and able to learn," Arngeir explains, walking to one side of the room. "When you shout, you speak in the language of dragons. Thus your dragon blood gives you an inborn ability to learn words of power. All shouts are made up of three words of power. As you master each word, your shout will become progressively stronger. Master Einarth will now teach you 'Ro,' the second word of power in Unrelenting Force."
As he said that, Master Einarth stepped forward to the center of the room and whispered at the stone floor, creating the word in Dovahzul. Arngeir continued his lecture, "'Ro' means 'balance' in the dragon tongue. Combine it with 'Fus,' 'force,' to focus your Shout."
I stepped up to the glowing scripture on the ground and let it's light flow through me, just like in Bleak Falls Barrow. I'm still not used to that buzzing feeling.
"You truly do have the gift," Arngeir says. "But learning a word of power is only the first step. You must unlock its power through constant practice in order to use it in a shout. Well, that is how the rest of us learn new shouts. As Dragonborn, you can absorb a slain dragon's life force and knowledge directly. As part of your initiation, master Einarth will allow you to tap into his understanding of 'ro.'
I face master Einarth as he bow and let his knowledge flow through me before stepping back.
"Now, let us see how you've mastered your new Thu'um, Dragonborn. Use your Unrelenting Force shout on the targets when they appear," Arngeir say before each Greybeard took their turn shouting to summon a spectral figure.
"Fiik lo sah!" Mirror, Deceive, Phantom. The first spectral figure appeared.
"Fus ro!" When my shout hit it, the figure faded away.
This process repeated a few times before Arngeir approached me.
"Impressive. Your Thu'um is precise. You show great promise, Dragonborn. We will conduct your next trial in the courtyard. Please follow master Borri."
*Elizabeth's POV*
Once the Greybeards started to file out of the building, I quickly walk up to Kayleighn to talk to her. "Hey, can I learn the next shout," I ask her in a hushed voice.
"But what about your 'sore throat?' They might get suspicious if they aren't already!" KK says.
I give Kayleighn my infamous puppy eyes. Most of the time she is immune to my cuteness, but this time she seemed to understand that this was important to me. She rolls her eyes and sighed before nodding her head 'yes.'
"Yay! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I say while pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.
"Elizabeth, I can't breath..." She wheezes.
"Oops, sorry!"
When we walked outside into the cold night air, the Greybeards were waiting for us ready to begin the next trial. Kayleighn approached Arngeir to tell him I would like to try.
"Master Arngeir, Elizabeth is feeling better and she would like to try to learn this shout," I hear her tell him.
"I see. I suppose if she is feeling well, I see no harm in it," The old man responds. Heck yeah!
Kayleighn walks over to me and pats my shoulder before going to sit on a nearby rock. I walk up to Arngeir and Borri so that they can teach me.
"Are you prepared to learn, Dragonborn?" Arngeir asked me.
"Yeppers!" I say enthusiastically.
"We will now see how you learn a completely new Shout. Master Borri will teach you 'Wuld,' which means 'Whirlwind.'" Arngeir explains. Just as Einarth did inside, Borri whispered the word of power at the snow-covered ground. The word appeared just as Ro did in the scratch mark alphabet. I absorbed the word's light like I did at Shearpoint then let master Borri share his knowledge. "Good. Now we will see how quickly you learn a new shout."
Arngeir, Wulfgar, and I walk over to stand in front of a large iron gate. "Master Wulfgar will demonstrate Whirlwind Sprint, then it will be your turn. Master Borri," Arngeir addressed Borri and signaled him to pull a lever to open the gate.
Once Borri had done so, Wulfgar shouted and passed through the gate before it closed behind him. Now it's my turn.
"Stand next to me," Arngeir instructed, "and Master Borri will open the gate. Use your Whirlwind Sprint to pass through before it closes."
"Will do, Arnie," I say. I could feel Kayleighn facepalming behind me.
As soon as Borri pulled the lever, I shouted. "Wuld!" A split second later, I was on the other side of the gate. I try shouting again, but then I remembered that there is a cool down, so I just walked back to Arngeir's side instead.
"Your quick mastery of the Thu'um is... astonishing," Arngeir complimented as I stridden over to his place in the courtyard. "I'd heard the stories of the abilities of Dragonborn, but to see it for myself..."
"I thought it was this easy for everyone," I say, faking a cough to keep with the act that I'm sick.
"No. Indeed not. But beware that your skill does not outstrip your wisdom," He warned as we walked to where Kayleighn was still sitting. "You are now both ready for your last trial. Retrieve the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, our founder, from his tomb in the ancient fane of Ustengrav. If you both remain true to the Way of The Voice, you will return."