Back to Whiterun

As usual, Camilla woke up early in the morning. She had her hands wrapped around Marcus, who was sleeping right next to her. She looked at all the scars on his body and gently caressed them. The puncture one on his left thigh was new, probably gotten from exploring Bleak Falls Barrow, considering the uncleaned blood around it. She wondered how he had managed to heal it so fast. 'Maybe he is skilled with the Healing spell?'

Camilla looked him up and down once more before getting up. She wanted to finish his clothes before he left, and she had a feeling that Marcus wouldn't be staying for long. That saddened her since she liked him. He was good-natured and not a weakling like the rest of the young man from Riverwood. At least that's what she believed. Camilla had inquired from the Whiterun guards about him and learned that Marcus had survived a Dragon attack. That had to mean something, right? Marcus was a perfect candidate for a husband that she would be happy to settle down with, but she had a feeling that wouldn't be happening. Camilla let out a sigh and started working on the clothes rather than thinking of what-ifs.

Marcus woke up from his sleep. For the first time since he arrived in Skyrim, he didn't have a nightmare. Instead, he dreamt about shouting "FUS!" over and over again. A weird dream, but still better than a nightmare. He looked around and saw Camilla sitting butt naked on a chair while working on a pair of linen clothes. Seeing her, he remembered the events from the previous night, and his cheeks reddened. That was his first time sleeping with a woman, and he had barely been conscious.

"And I'm done." Camilla chirped and looked over her work. She then heard the shuffling on her bed and turned towards Marcus, who was slowly getting up. She smiled sadly at him before quickly making a decision. She had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to see him in the near future, so she would make sure that he at least remembered her.

"Morning." They bashfully greeted each other. Camilla stood up and walked up to him. She gave him a peck on the lips, and her hand grabbed his manhood.

"What are..." Marcus couldn't question her since she placed a hand on his lips. "Shush." Camilla got on her knees, and he couldn't resist moaning from her actions.

After Camilla had made sure to please Marcus as best as she could to guarantee that he will at least remember her, she had given him his new linen clothes and a leather bag to put his damaged armor in. Standing in front of the Riverwood Trader, she gave him a quick peck. "Come visit if you have time in the future, Marcus. Don't be a stranger, okay?"

"I don't know if I will be able to, but if I'm passing by, I promise that I will come to visit you." Marcus promised and hugged her for goodbye. He wasn't sure how he felt about Camilla. She was nice and good-looking, but he didn't have any special feelings about her. That made him feel slightly guilty since he felt that he had taken advantage of her. But then again, she was the one that had invited him to her room and undressed.

Marcus walked to the gate of Riverwood, where Lydia was waiting for him with a smirk on her face. "I remember you saying she wasn't your lover. What happened to that?" She laughed, seeing his face. "That's fine with me. At least you didn't try to force yourself on me." Marcus was speechless at her remarks, and Lydia laughed at him once more.

The two hopped onto the horse and made their way towards Whiterun. A few hours later and a safe journey, they reached the city without any encounters. After passing the gates, Lydia stopped the horse, and a guard came to take it away. Before continuing towards Dragonsreach, she walked to the building on their right, the Warmaidens. A dark-skinned imperial woman was hammering a sword in the smithy outside of it.

"Adrianne!" Lydia excitedly greeted her.

"Lydia?" Adrianne looked up. "How was your journey?"

"It was one darn good adventure, I tell you." Lydia said while giving her a hug. "Me and Marcus." She pointed at him. "Went into a Nordic ruin on our own! And we came back to tell the tale of it!"

Adrianne's eyes widened in surprise. "You will have to tell me about it later!"

"I sure will. Meet me at the Bannered Mare by sundown. We can have a drink, and we will see what's gonna happen after that." Lydia said with a wink.

"Not here, Lydia!" Adrianne said bashfully, making Lydia laugh. "Anyway. Are you going to Dragosreach?"

"Yes, we have to inform the Jarl our task was a success." Lydia confirmed.

"Great. Would you do me a favor and bring this to my father? I just finished the sword earlier today." Adrianne asked, pointing at a greatsword nearby.

"No problem, but you do know how I like being repaid for my favors, right?" Lydia asked with a smirk.

"Not here, Lydia! Stop embarrassing me in front of your friend." Adrianne bashfully said and looked towards Marcus, who had an amused look on his face. Lydia laughed at her again, grabbed the greatsword, and gave her a quick hug for goodbye.

On the way to the castle, Lydia asked Marcus. "We got a good haul from Bleak Falls Barrow, are you interested in anything we found there?"

"The sword." Marcus replied. The weapon had a chilly aura around it, and he wanted to at least try it out.

"That's fine with me. I will take the axe then. I will sell the Soul Gems and split all the gold with you. That okay with you?" She asked.

"Yeah, I don't know what they are used for anyway." Marcus said.

"You can use them to recharge the enchantments of enchanted weapons, like the sword and axe that we got, but only a mage can do that. And the Soul Gems looked empty to me, but then again, I know shit about magic." Lydia informed him.

After reaching Dragonsreach, Marcus gave all his weapons to the guards before entering. Seeing them return, the Jarl greeted them with a smile. "Marcus, Lydia! I assume your task was a success?"

"Yes, my Jarl! Marcus has the Dragonstone." Lydia confirmed.

"Good, good. Lydia, you are dismissed. Marcus, follow me to Farengar. He will be happy to hear you found the Dragonstone." They entered the court mage's room, and he looked better from last time, probably due to getting a night's sleep this time.

"I'll leave you two to discuss our Dragon crisis. If you need anything from me, I will be in the main hall." The Jarl said and left to deal with his own work.

Farengar looked at Marcus with sparkling eyes. "You found the Dragonstone? I'll be damned. Finally, some good information."

"It wasn't easy, but yes, we found it." Marcus said while pulling the item out of his leather bag and handing it to the mage.

"I'm sure it wasn't easy. You have to be careful when traversing Nordic ruins. I would have gone there myself, but the Jarl needs me here to look up information about Dragons." Farengar's eyes burned with anger. "And you know what? There is nothing useful! All the Nordic books are all about the heroic adventure of someone who had slain a Dragon or ballads of the same thing! I didn't find a single book about the weakness of Dragons or anything like that. It's all about the hero saving a damsel with his legendary weapon!"

"Then how did you find about the Dragonstone and that it's in Bleak Falls Barrow?" Marcus asked, but seeing the ferocious look on Farengar's face, he thought he should have kept quiet.

"I had to ask a fucking Dark Elf! That damn arrogant bastard! Every time I remember about him, I burst with anger and want to burn something to crisp!" Farengar's face was red with anger. "I still vividly remember my meeting with him! I was exploring an old ruin with a bunch of mages from the College of Whispers. At that time, we didn't know that it was an old dwelling place of an Arch-Mage! Do you know what that means?"

"No." Marcus said, not sure if Farengar even wanted him to answer.

"Neither did we! An Arch-Mage is someone that had mastered at least one of the many magic schools! After no more than an hour, except me, the entire group died to the various traps there! I was on the verge of death when an arrogant Dark Elf, his hands swaying back and forward with a smug look on his face, walked by like he was taking a stroll in his garden!" Farengar started shouting at that point.

"The egotistical bastard walked up to me and said. 'Need a hand, little Nord.' Oh, how much I wanted to kill him, but I didn't have the strength to do it because I was on the verge of death. He snapped his fingers once and healed my injuries, and with a second snap, he teleported me out of the ruins. He is a master of the Arcane Arts, but damn, he was an arrogant shit!" Farengar then pointed at a book with a black cover nearby.

"That bastard gave me that book and told me to write in it WHEN I need help. Not if, but WHEN! I've tried doing everything I can to destroy it, but the fucking book is indestructible." As Farengar was ranting how he will punch the smug look from the Dark Elf's face, the book flew up in front of him. It opened up with a text written inside it.

'That's not a nice way to speak about your savior, now isn't it?' Farengar froze for a moment before cursing him in all possible ways he knew. The book then turned around and flew in front of Marcus.

'My, my. If it isn't the little Dragonborn. Seek me out when you become Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold. I promise you won't regret it.' Marcus's eyes were about to pop out of his sockets, seeing that. He was so surprised at the text that he didn't realize it was written in English. Farengar grabbed the book to see what had caused this reaction in the young Nord, but the text had already disappeared.

"Did the bastard taunt you as well? What am I asking, of course, he did." Farengar continued ranting and cursing the Dark Efl while Marcus contemplated what he read.

Whoever that Dark Elf is, he knew that Marcus was the Dragonborn. So far, the only ones that had called him that were God-like beings that could possess the people of Skyrim on a whim. For a moment, he thought that it might be the madman, but he wasn't sure about that. The Elf had also told him to seek him out when Marcus is the Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold. He wasn't sure how he would be able to achieve that. Farengar had said that an Arch-Mage is someone that had mastered at least one of the many magic schools. That's fine an all, but Marcus didn't even know a single spell, he didn't even know how to use magic.

"Hey, Farengar." Marcus said, snapping the mage of his rant. "Could you teach me magic?" Farengar burst out laughing with tears in his eyes. "Why are you laughing?" Marcus asked, confused at what happened.

"I never would have imagined that a Nord would actually ask me to teach him magic! That's got to be the funniest joke I've heard in a long time!" Farengar answered while holding his stomach.

"I was serious. Can you teach me magic?" Marcus asked him again, and that snapped the mage from his laughing.

"You are actually serious? Well, to answer your question, yes, I can teach you, but I don't have the time to take an apprentice. I have my duties as a court mage, and I still have to try and find more information about Dragons." Farengar shuddered. "And If I can't... I will have to contact the arrogant prick again."

"That sucks. Can't you give me some tips or some kind of reward for finding the Dragonstone?" Marcus asked. Magic was something that most kids growing up on Earth had fantasized about. Now, he at least had the chance of doing it, and he sure as hell wanted to at least try.

"The Jarl will certainly reward you, but..." Faregnar rummaged through the massive pile of books he had in his room. "It's nice to see a young Nord being interested in the Arcane Arts, so you can have this." The mage handed him a book titled The Basics of Magicka.

"Magicka is the energy used to cast spells, but you will learn that in the book." Farengar said, seeing the shocked look on Marcus's face.

"Yeah, thanks." Marcus said and mechanically stood up, making his way towards the Jarl. He opened the book and read the first sentence before closing it. The book was in English, and that more than surprised him. He wasn't expecting that. This also made him realize that he had been speaking English this whole time and never questioned it.

The Jarl was more than happy to reward him for finding the Dragonstone by handing him a pouch filled with gold. "I thank you on behalf of Whiterun once again, Marcus. If I ever need your assistance again, I will send someone to Jorrvaskr. I believe you are being trained by then."

"Yeah, unless they decide to kick me out." Marcus said.

"If they do, come here. I will get you a room and a job. The guard's training might not be the same as the Companions, but it's nothing to scoff at." Balgruuf said and shook his hand.

"I will keep that in mind." Marcus replied, and they said their goodbyes.

Marcus tightly clutched the book in his hands as he made his way to Jorrvaskr. The fact that he had been speaking English with everyone dwelled on his mind, but he couldn't understand if some high-power was translating everything for him, or if this was the actual language of the people here.

Before he knew it, Marcus reached Jorrvaskr and opened the doors to the building with a bit of hesitance. When the Jarl had informed him that he will need to urgently go to Bleak Falls Barrow, he had stormed off without telling them a thing. He half expected that they will kick him out, but he wanted to at least return the armor and weapons they gave him practically for free if they end up kicking him out. He also wanted to repay them for the food and potions, considering he had quite a bit of septims to his name. Or at least he thought he had, he hadn't counted how much gold he had been given.

"Marcus!" Ria happily greeted him when she saw him. "You're finally back. I was getting bored by the stationary dummies." She grabbed his arm. "Let's go train!"

"Give him some rest, Ria. He just came back." Vilkas said. He was sitting on the massive table in the middle and wolfing some food. "Come, have something to eat." The twin said and patted the chair next to him.

Marcus was happy to oblige since he still hadn't eaten anything for the day. He sat next to Vilkas and quietly said. "Thank you." Which only made the twin laugh.

"Heard you were on a task from the Jarl? How'd it go?" Vilkas asked while gulping down a bottle of mead.

"I would say not as expected, but then again, I didn't know what to expect. Me and one of the Jarl's guards had to go to Bleak Falls Barrow and find an item there." Marcus briefly explained and put some food on the plate in front of him.

"The Nordic ruin near Riverwood?" Vilkas asked.

"Yeah, that one." Marcus answered.

"And you cleared it with a single guard assisting you? Oh, do tell of your adventure." Vilkas raised his voice slightly with a glint in his eyes. The rest of the Companions in the mead hall heard him and gathered around the two. Marcus noticed that neither Aela nor Skjor were a part of the many excited faces staring at him, but he still told them about his adventure with Lydia.

"You killed one of 'em Giant Frostbite Spiders?"

"Well, yeah, but it was already badly injured, and Lydia had to save my life."

"You killed hundreds of Draugr and a unique one as well?"

"Not hundreds and Lydia had to save my life against the unique one."

"Stop being modest about it!" Vilkas slapped his back. " Two people clearing a Nordic is an accomplishment in itself. You might be ready for taking the trial to join the Companions."

"Wait, Marcus is not one of us?" Ria asked in surprise. She and the rest of the youngsters had assumed that he is a Companion like them, considering he was trained by those from the Circle.

"Officially? No." Vilkas answered. The fact that they considered him part of their group, even though he wasn't a Companion, made his heart warm.

"Um, Vilkas. Do you know when Aela will be coming back?" Marcus asked. The huntress was the closes thing to a friend that he had here, and he wanted to see her.

"Hah, you would ask about her, but not about Skjor?" Vilkas smirked at him. "She left earlier. Said she had something to do. I'd assume she will be back later today."

"I see, that's good to know." Marcus said.

"You haven't seen her for a day, and you already miss her. Tsk, tsk." Before Marcus could protest, Vilkas stood up. "How about we do some training while we wait for her to come back?"

"I'm up for that." Marcus wanted to rest after the past few days, but he didn't have to luxury for that. To survive in this world, he needed strength, and he couldn't waste any time. "But my armor, is not really usable." He pulled out his armor from his bag.

Vilkas whistled, seeing its condition. "At least you put it to good use. Still, it's nothing old Eorlund can't fix. And if I remember correctly, you still have that iron armor you came with, right?"

"Oh, yeah, It's in my room." Marcus replied.

"Go put it on and come to the training grounds." Vilkas said, and the youngsters cheered. "YEAH! Our moving dummy is back!"

Marcus had almost forgotten how much of a battle-junkies the Companions were. Almost. But just to be safe, they made sure to remind him of that by beating the shit out of him. Literally. Since they all now knew that Marcus could gulp down potions as if they were water, they upped the ante of their spars with him. They didn't hold back at all, and as long as they didn't cut off his limbs or kill him, they struck as brutally as they could. The fact that they cheered after every spar, be it a loss or win for Marcus, didn't help at all, considering he never won.

For hours he fought with all of the Companions currently at Jorrvaskr, and even Vilkas himself sparred with him a few times. No matter how much he thought about it, Marcus couldn't understand how someone wearing a full steel armor could move as fast as Vilkas. Not that he had much time to think about it when the twin was smacking him around with his greatsword. Which again didn't make sense how he handled it as if it didn't weight at all.

At some point during the spars, Marcus had noticed that Aela was amongst the spectators. As much as he wanted to greet and talk to her, for reasons unknown to him, he figured it would be best done after he finished training. He had to learn how to block and deflect attacks with a shield after all. Through experience, he learned that parrying, as cool as it was, wasn't really his thing, considering he had never succeeded doing it even once in a life and death fight. He had decided that he will carry a shield with him from now on, which wasn't as easy it sounded. He was already running out of places where he could potentially carry all the items that he wanted.

A few hours later and drenched in sweat, Marcus finished with his training for the day. The first thing he did was to go and greet the huntress. "Hey, Aela!"

"Marcus." Aela greeted him back, and an awkward silence followed after their greeting. "I... you stink. Go take a shower." Aela said and walked away. That hurt him, but he couldn't really blame her. He really did stink.

Aela frowned after walking away. 'What is wrong with me?' The reason she wasn't at Jorrvaskr was because of Marcus, and that was not how she expected their conversation to go when she saw him. Yes, Marcus smelled of blood and sweat, but that never bothered her since she was used to that. What annoyed her was that Marcus smelled of two women that she didn't recognize. Why that annoyed her, though, was not something she could put into words.

With a tired face, both from the training and being brutally told he smelled by Aela, he went to Jorrvaskr's showers, where a large part of the Companions was already using them. The showers used the cold water from the river passing near Whiterun, but the temperature wasn't a problem for him. It was even somewhat enjoyable.

While Marcus was showering, Aela was drinking her third mead bottle. Still, the alcoholic beverage barely had any effect on her. Not only because of her special constitution, but also because she was a Nord woman. Female Nords were known to be able to drink more than most males from the other races of Nirn.

"Something wrong?" Vilkas's voice came from beside her.

"No." Aela bluntly said without looking at him. She already knew he was smirking at her.

"Really? Marcus's smell didn't bother you at all?" Vilkas's amused voice irked her to no end.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Aela knew that wasn't true. Vilkas was like her, so not only had he heard their short conversation, he had also smelled the scent of two unknown women from Marcus.

"My senses must be deteriorating with my age then." Vilkas mused.

"Probably." Aela kept her answers as short as possible.

"It was also probably my mind playing tricks on me when I saw your eyes sparkle when you noticed Marcus was back." Aela figured it was best to shut up at this point and didn't answer him. Rather she continued drinking the alcohol in front of her. Vilkas laughed out before standing up. "Well, he seems to be coming here."

A minute later, she heard her name being called. "Aela." For a moment, she hesitated. She didn't know what to say. Words were not coming easily to her, especially when she knew that Vilkas was watching with an amused look. Aela stood up and looked towards Marcus, who had a worried look on his face. That didn't make it any easier, but she let out a sigh and said. "Come."

Marcus followed after Aela like a lost puppy, and she led him to her room in Jorrvaskr. She wouldn't give Vilkas the satisfaction of hearing their conversation, even though if he strained himself, he could probably still hear them. Marcus didn't know how to start the conversation, but he figured that an apology would be a good start. Despite no knowing why he should apologize, he just felt like it. "I'm sorry for not informing you that I would leave Whiterun for a day, but the Jarl urgently needed me to do a task."

Aela waved him off. "That's okay. I'm... also sorry for making you do something you weren't comfortable with." That was a lot harder to say than she expected. Granted, she had never apologized to someone before.

"That's something I should be thanking you for, to be honest. If you hadn't brought me on that task to... deal with those bandits, the task from the Jarl would have been a lot harder." Marcus said. Aela was interested in what exactly that task was, but she had something else to do before that.

"I would like to hear about it, but before that." Aela grabbed a composite bow that was nearby and handed it to Marcus, who was visibly surprised by seeing it. He recognized it instantly. It was the same bow that he had made a deal with the Wood Elf. It was quite hard not to notice that considering the bow wasn't made of wood like a standard one, but it was made of animal parts.

"You shouldn't have. It was the most expensive one from what I gathered!" Marcus wanted to refuse it, but his hands weren't listening to him. It didn't help that Aela also shoved it in his hands. "Take it. Gold is not an issue for me, and I wanted to make you a gift."

After she learned that Marcus had left, Aela asked Ria how one would go about apologizing to someone they might care about if they might have wronged them in some way. The Imperial woman had told her the best way would be with a gift, and she remembered how much Marcus liked the bow.

Marcus gave her a quick hug to show his appreciation of the gift. That caught her by surprise, and Aela didn't know how to react. Being hugged was not something she was used to, but it wasn't as bad as she imagined. She shook her head, sat on her bed, and tapped for Marcus to sit next to her. "Tell me about that task from the Jarl. I want to hear about it."

"Well..."