Lydia, This Time I’m Really Just Going to Listen and Come Back — The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

※ This essay discusses major quests in the Skyrim base game and Paarthurnax’s story.

They Fed Me, So Just This One Thing

A jolting rattle woke me. I was in a cart. The man across from me asked if I was finally awake. I’d apparently been out for quite a while, though waking up earlier wouldn’t have changed anything. Not judging by my bound hands or the state of the people sitting next to me.

The man in front of me kept going on about how unfair this all was. For the moment, I agreed with him. I didn’t know why we were being hauled off, but starting things off by tying people up seemed a bit much.

Only when we reached Helgen did I find out where we were being taken. An execution ground. I should have kept my eyes shut a little longer.

The soldier checking the list couldn’t find my name. I straightened up a little. Right. There’d been some kind of mistake. Now they’d let me go, we’d share a slightly awkward laugh, and I’d walk out through that gate.

The officer in charge told him to just process me along with the rest.

“Excuse me, he says it’s not there. My name.”

The soldier shoved me toward the line. I was about to suggest we check the list again when the man who’d made a run for it took an arrow and went down. I shut my mouth tight and obediently got in line. I decided I’d think of another way out while standing in it.

At last it was my turn. Just as I thought I really was about to die, a dragon appeared.

Who knew a dragon could be such a welcome sight? With my neck on the block, I very nearly cheered. The people who’d been about to take my head a moment ago started firing arrows at the dragon. I wanted to tell them not to bother, but the dragon began spreading its fire around evenly, me included, so I withdrew my support immediately.

First I got up and ran. Someone yelled to get into the tower, and as I dove inside I asked if this was the right way. Before I got an answer, the wall came crashing down. Luckily, someone was running like they knew the way, so I stuck close behind.

When I made it out of the cave, I had a weapon in my hand. I was wearing someone else’s clothes. Just like that, I’d gone from condemned prisoner to armed and unemployed. In terms of being alive, that was considerable progress.

The people of Riverwood readily offered me food and a place to sleep. After a proper meal, the world looked a little more bearable. They asked me to tell the jarl of Whiterun that a dragon had appeared.

“All right. I just have to go and tell him, then?”

They also wanted me to mention that the village was short of soldiers. I said I would. I needed to find out how I was going to make a living anyway, so a visit to a big city wouldn’t hurt. I would also be paying them back for the meal, all in one go.

Before setting out, I stopped by the shop. The merchant complained that his Golden Claw had been stolen. The word ‘golden’ caught my ear, so I asked a few more questions. The thief had headed for a tomb up in the mountains. All I’d asked was which mountain, and the merchant was already thanking me as if the claw were in my hand.

“I haven’t said I’ll find it for you yet. I was just wondering where it was.”

He added that there’d be a reward.

“How much?”

Outside, I unfolded my map. I now had two things to do. A minute ago, there’d definitely only been one. I’d think about the claw once I had a better idea of the route. For now, I just marked the location. Marking a place didn’t mean I had to go there.

It’s the Same Tomb Anyway

I told the jarl of Whiterun about the dragon. When he said he’d send soldiers to the village, I nodded. That more than paid for the meal. I was about to turn and go when the jarl brought me to his wizard. The wizard said he needed a stone tablet from a tomb.

At first I assumed this was a job for someone else. But even after he’d finished explaining, he kept looking only at me.

“You want me to bring it back?”

He said yes. Resigned, I asked the tomb’s name. When I opened my map, it was already marked. It was the very same tomb I’d have to go to for the Golden Claw.

This was a pretty good deal. One trip into a dungeon, rewards from two people. If I’d gone straight after the claw, I could have ended up climbing the same path twice. Stopping at Whiterun first had really paid off.

I made sure I had my sword and shield. In a narrow tomb, fighting with a shield in front of me seemed like a good idea. After a few swings through the air, the sword felt quite dependable.

I took an arrow right at the entrance, before I even got into the tomb.

I ducked out of sight, treated the wound, and slumped down behind a rock. Up above, bandits were searching for me. They were up high, and I was down low. This wasn’t a problem with my swordsmanship. The starting positions were just unfair.

As it happened, I had a bow I’d picked up earlier, so I took it out. The plan was just to trim the numbers guarding the entrance a little, then go in. Who says a warrior can’t use the terrain? Holding a shield doesn’t mean you have to stay standing for the rest of your life.

I fired from a crouch. The bandit looked around. I fired again. Excellent. At least I didn’t have any more holes in me.

Once inside, I cut their numbers down quite a bit the same way. I crouched in front of doors, and I crouched before turning corners. Eventually, whenever I saw a door, my knees bent before I even thought about it. Oh, I did keep the sword on my hip. It was quite useful for cutting through the webs blocking the way.

After I took care of a giant spider, a man stuck in its web begged me to cut him free. He seemed to know where the claw was. When I said I’d get him out first and then we’d talk, he thanked me over and over.

The moment I freed him, he ran.

“Hey, we were supposed to talk first!”

I went right after him. It was galling enough that he’d run off with the claw, but ignoring someone that completely was a bit much. Luckily, he’d collapsed not far away. I walked over and was taking back the claw when I heard a sarcophagus lid open behind me.

Fortunately, I was already crouching.

At the stone door, I spent ages examining entirely the wrong walls. Then I happened to turn the claw over and found the sequence for opening the door carved into it. The password was helpfully written on the key. And there I’d been, feeling around the walls without a clue.

Beyond the door was a wall glowing with unknown letters. When I stepped closer, a language I didn’t know flowed into my head. I rolled the words around in my mouth a few times. It felt like I’d learned something impressive, but nothing told me how to actually use it. Meanwhile, another corpse got up behind me. I decided to look into the instructions later.

I tucked the tablet and the claw away securely. I also picked up a fair number of swords and helmets that looked like they’d sell. On my way to the exit, I felt sluggish, so I opened my pack and found two plates inside. I couldn’t even remember taking them, but I must have had my reasons at the time. Only after dumping the plates and a cheap helmet on the floor could I walk properly again.

Coming down the mountain, I weighed the sword against the bow. If I sold off the shield too, my load would get a lot lighter.

But I kept the shield. That was how I had started, after all.

I’ve Even Killed a Dragon, So Maybe Now…

I returned the claw in Riverwood and collected my reward. In Whiterun, I handed over the tablet. The math worked out perfectly. One tomb, two jobs finished, and a heavier purse. I figured I could settle in like this, bit by bit.

I was about to head off when a report came in that a dragon had appeared.

The jarl sent soldiers to the Western Watchtower and ordered me to go with them. He said they needed someone who’d seen a dragon firsthand.

“Excuse me, all I actually did then was run away.”

The jarl shot back that at least I knew how a dragon attacks. I did. It breathes fire. So I ran. The two facts were very closely connected, but the more I talked, the more reasons there seemed to be to take me along. In the end, I marched out the gate with the soldiers. I never imagined seeing one up close would turn out to be such a dangerous line on my résumé.

The watchtower was already engulfed in flames. When the soldiers charged forward, I almost ran along with them, then saw the dragon’s open jaws and stopped dead. There were plenty of people out front. Somebody had to take the flank.

I set up behind a broken wall and, every time the dragon landed, waited for an opening and fired. I poked my head out to see if I’d hit it, and flames came rushing at me, so I ducked back in. I only wanted to look for a second, but the dragon never breathed fire for just a second.

Even after the dragon fell, I stayed crouched behind the wall for a while. Only when I saw the soldiers gathering did I edge closer.

Then the dragon’s body began to glow. Its flesh burned away and its bones showed through. And then that dazzling light came pouring toward me.

“Wait, why are you coming this way?”

I backed off, but it was no use. The mysterious light pushed its way into my body all the same. I hurriedly patted down my arms and chest. Thankfully, my skin wasn’t burning. A stunned soldier called me ‘Dovahkiin.’ One who absorbs dragon souls, he said.

I’d seen what just happened with my own two eyes. What I actually wanted to know was whether having that strange energy inside me was bad for my health. But the soldiers were making a fuss, telling me to hurry up and try shouting. I was the only one seriously concerned about my well-being.

I turned toward where no one was standing and shouted the word I’d learned in the tomb. The sound that burst out of my throat shoved the air in front of me hard. The soldiers murmured in shock. I’d only just rubbed my stinging throat when they started pestering me to do it again. I clamped my mouth shut. I’d just brought down a dragon and swallowed its soul. Weren’t they working me a little too hard?

Before heading back to town, I gathered the dragon bones left on the ground. Going home with nothing but a soul I couldn’t even see felt like a terrible waste. I’d killed a dragon this huge; I couldn’t just trudge back empty-handed. But as soon as I’d crammed a few bones into my pack, I slowed down noticeably. I hesitated over leaving one behind, then shoved it right back in. They’d sell for a lot, no doubt. I didn’t know the exact going rate, but surely nothing this hefty could be cheap.

The lightly equipped soldiers left well ahead of me. I dragged my heavy feet along at a crawl. I imagined how they’d report my exploits to the jarl. It would be nice if they at least mentioned the few arrows I’d fired from the side. And please, I hoped, don’t forget to tell him I’m on my way back. That I’m coming, all right. It’s just taking a tiny bit longer.

When I reached the city gate, a voice called to me from the mountainside. A cry of ‘Dovahkiin’ thundered across the plains.

“Yes?”

I answered without thinking, then looked around. Luckily, no one seemed to have heard my stupid reply. When I told the jarl what had happened, he said the Greybeards up on the mountain had called me and that I should go see them. He also gave me a title and assigned me a bodyguard named Lydia.

Lydia swore to protect me and my property with her life. That was very reassuring. Touched, I nodded, then quietly glanced down at my pack.

“Any chance you could carry some of my stuff, too?”

She said of course she would carry my burdens, and held out both hands. My face lit up, and I threw open the pack.

“They’re dragon bones.”

“I can see that.”

“These aren’t just any bones. They’re from the first dragon I killed. Besides, I think they’ll sell for quite a lot later, and I might be able to make some gear out of them…”

While my excuses went on, Lydia silently undid a leather strap to make room for the load.

“How many are there?”

I looked down at the bones piled at my feet. There were still more in the pack.

“They probably just look like a lot because I took them all out at once.”

She waited, empty hands held out, without moving a muscle. I sighed and took out the rest.

As we came down the palace steps, a man approached and asked if I got to the Cloud District often. Then, before I could even open my mouth, he answered his own question: ‘Of course you don’t.’

“I’ve just come down from there.”

Baffled, I pointed at the palace, but he’d already turned away. Just as I was about to go after him and argue, there was a dull clatter of heavy bones knocking together behind me. Lydia was struggling to readjust her load. I quietly lowered the hand I’d raised toward the steps and turned around.

Out past the gate, I looked up at the sheer mountain. Its peak was hidden in thick cloud.

“This time, I really am just going to listen and come back.”

I wasn’t even sure who I was making that promise to. Lydia nodded quietly. At least now someone believed me.

I’m Going Up There Anyway

Up close, the mountain stretched out sideways much farther than I’d expected. I was walking toward the summit, but the path kept leading off in the wrong direction.

Looking back and forth between the map and the mountain, I finally decided to try scrambling straight up the slope. Every couple of steps, I’d slide right back down. Next, I tried planting my feet sideways. That just turned my body sideways while I slid down exactly the same way.

Lydia looked up at me from far below and said:

“The path is this way.”

“I know. I was just checking if I could get up this way.”

Only after hanging on for one more try did I come down. Brushing the dirt off my trousers, I added that finding your way took all sorts of attempts like this. Lydia was already walking, without a reply. I hurried after her and finished what I’d been saying.

Only when we reached Ivarstead did I finally find the steps. Seven thousand of them, apparently. I was looking back up at the sheer mountain after hearing that daunting number when a man nearby came over and asked me to take some food up the mountain. I was going up anyway, wasn’t I?

Just because the destination is the same, just because I’m climbing the mountain, doesn’t mean everything they need up there has to become my baggage.

“How heavy is it?”

Oh, that wasn’t what I meant to ask. Why would someone about to say no ask how much the load weighed?

The man held out a bundle. I took it and looked over at Lydia. She was padding the straps of her pack with cloth so the dragon bones wouldn’t dig into her shoulders. I opened my own pack.

“I’ll carry this one.”

I counted the steps as I climbed, but a wolf jumped out partway up and I lost count. I didn’t start over. Once I reached the top, I’d be someone who’d climbed all seven thousand steps anyway.

A little while later, a troll leapt down.

Startled, I fired an arrow without thinking. It hit, but the troll kept coming. I hit it again, and it came just as fast. A dragon at least flies off into the sky now and then; this thing didn’t stop once. It loomed larger by the second.

“Uh, wait. Wait a second.”

Backing away, I caught my heel on the edge of a step and fell. Even as Lydia grabbed my arm and hauled me up, the first thing I did was hug the bundle of food. We ran blindly downhill. My bow and Lydia’s heavy armor took turns clattering noisily. Stairs really are much faster going down. I didn’t particularly want to count how many steps I’d just tumbled down.

After lying low for a good while, we climbed the stairs again. Fortunately, the troll had moved off to one side of the path. When I pointed Lydia toward the other side, she nodded quietly. This plan didn’t even need much explaining.

Just run.

With every stride, a corner of the bundle smacked me under the chin. Behind me, the sound of heavy armor kept pace furiously. I flung open the monastery door and braced it with my whole body, and Lydia shot inside. Even after we’d barely managed to shut it, neither of us could say anything for a while.

“See? We don’t have to fight every single thing.”

Lydia leaned against the wall, panting to catch her breath. I sagged against it beside her. I’d been about to add a few more feeble explanations, but I was still too short of breath.

Once things had calmed down, I put the food in the box outside the door. The bundle was a little flatter than when we started. As I straightened its corners and retied the knot, Lydia took the other side and helped. With both of us working on it, it looked much as it had before. I closed the lid.

The Greybeard elders watched closely as I shouted, then taught me a few more techniques. One technique could send me hurtling forward. They told me to get through the heavy gate in the courtyard before it closed. I did as I was told, and my body shot forward like the wind, quite literally.

I looked back at the gate I’d just come through, then gave my teachers an aggrieved look.

“Would you ever consider teaching people something this useful down at the foot of the mountain first?”

Silence fell.

“There’s a frost troll partway up the path. Someone coming here for the first time might never imagine anything like that would be there. Of course, I had no idea either.”

After an awkward silence, they went on to explain the final trial. This time, I was to go into a tomb and bring back a horn. I was nodding blankly when I froze. Wait, I have to bring something back from a tomb again?

When we finally reached the tomb, Lydia and I crossed dark water and made our way through some nasty traps. Every time a door into another room appeared, I crouched out of habit, and before long Lydia was lowering herself without being told. Once, she even crouched before I did. Squatting beside her, I whispered as if making an excuse.

“I actually started out with a sword and shield.”

Lydia’s gaze was already fixed on the enemies beyond the door.

“Look, the sword’s still on my hip. See?”

She quietly raised a finger to her lips. Without another word, I shut my mouth and took the bow off my back.

We went all the way inside, but there was no horn. Whoever had taken it first had left a note telling me to come to the inn in Riverwood. I flipped the note over, then looked at it again.

“It says Riverwood.”

“Do you know the place?”

“Very well. It’s where they fed me at the start.”

Muddy water dripped from my squelching boots. I lifted my toes and shook it off, adding:

“Well, at least we won’t get lost on the way.”

Beside me, Lydia was silently draining the water out of her boots. When no reply came, I didn’t bother looking for any more bright sides.

I’ve Done This Much, So Just This One More Thing

The one who’d taken the horn was Delphine, the innkeeper. She said she’d wanted to test what kind of person I was.

“Then I guess you’ve confirmed I’m someone who can make it to the back of a tomb.”

She said she had.

“Next time, could you maybe wait at the entrance? I think you could check on my way out.”

Delphine said she had something to show me. A dragon’s tomb. I had my horn back, so I could have just rested here for a while. But if it had to do with dragons, I felt I ought to hear her out before leaving. There was a dragon’s soul inside my body, after all. I was involved too. The more I thought about it, the harder it was to simply ignore.

Lydia was waiting outside the inn. I explained where we had to go next. As she listened, she pulled over the chair by the door and sat down.

“I’ll rest a moment before we leave.”

I kept explaining while standing beside her, then eventually dragged over another chair. Once I’d sat down, it seemed like we didn’t have to leave right away. Lydia took out some bread and broke it in half. I took my half and explained what Delphine had said all over again from the beginning. Lydia chewed her bread and listened in silence.

When we reached the dragon’s tomb, the dragon I’d seen at Helgen was bringing a dead dragon back to life. His name was Alduin, apparently. He seemed to be the dragons’ boss.

Trying to find out why dead dragons were coming back to life, I ended up in front of an ancient mural with an old man named Esbern. I learned there was a special shout I could use against Alduin, but learning it meant going back up the mountain where the Greybeards lived.

I put a finger on the map.

“I’ve been here.”

Higher, this time, they said.

“This was already pretty high up.”

Either way, I had to climb again. At least I knew the route now. I wouldn’t have to scrape myself along a slope, testing whether I could force my way up. Lydia glanced at the mountain, then stared at me.

“I’m just going to take the path.”

I answered a question she hadn’t asked.

The Greybeards’ teacher was called Paarthurnax. To meet him, I’d have to climb all the way to the summit. Arngeir taught me a shout that cleared away the blizzard. I told Lydia to rest inside.

“This time, I really am just going to listen and come back.”

She set down her pack and nodded. I couldn’t tell whether she believed me, but she seemed to have no objection to resting.

When I shouted into the air, the wind stopped briefly and a path appeared. But after only a few more steps, the blizzard blocked my way again. I stopped and shouted once more. I had to argue with the weather all the way up. Just as my voice was beginning to go hoarse, I finally reached the summit.

And a massive dragon landed in front of me.

I drew my bow by reflex. But then the dragon spoke. I quietly lowered the bow I’d drawn taut. He said he was Paarthurnax. I slipped the bow behind my back and watched him for a reaction. Had he seen me aiming it at him? Unfortunately, I hadn’t yet learned to read a reptile’s expression.

“I didn’t know my teacher would be a dragon.”

At my awkward excuse, Paarthurnax changed the subject, saying dragons had their own way of greeting one another. He breathed fire on a nearby wall, and runes lit up brightly. When I stepped up to the wall, the unfamiliar language engraved itself straight into my mind. Paarthurnax told me to try the greeting I’d just learned on him.

“At your face?”

Paarthurnax just looked at me in silence.

“I only just learned it, so I’m not sure I can control the strength very well.”

Still, he seemed to be waiting without rushing me. I squeezed my eyes shut, took a deep breath, and breathed fire. The hot flames swept fiercely across Paarthurnax’s jaw and neck. To my surprise, he was pleased. I carefully wiped my mouth and stole a look at him. Fortunately, he seemed fine, without a single scale singed. A very good thing, too. If I’d come to meet my teacher and turned him into barbecue, there’d have been no explaining that away anywhere in Skyrim.

I waited for the acrid heat lingering in my mouth to die down. Paarthurnax said dragons recognize one another by voice. He kindly added that this was why, for dragons, conversation and combat are no different.

“Then am I picking a fight when I keep interrupting you with questions?”

“Is there not more you wish to know?”

“There is. I’d like to ask about those words I learned earlier, and about the dragon’s soul being absorbed into my body.”

“What would you like to know first?”

I explained what had happened at the watchtower. I said nothing hurt, but I felt I should check anyway. Just as Paarthurnax was about to speak, I remembered the wall in the tomb and added that too. He waited quietly for me.

Throughout the conversation, he waited for me like that, again and again.

Standing there listening, my legs started to ache, so I asked if I could sit. Paarthurnax stopped talking until I’d plopped down by a rock. Once I’d taken off my heavy pack and set it down, I felt like I could ask as many questions as I wanted.

When dragon words came from his mouth, I asked what they meant, and if I got one explanation mixed up with another, we went back to the beginning. Down below, talking to someone for this long would usually have added several new destinations to my map. But here, I was coming up with questions of my own.

I needed a special shout to face Alduin. Paarthurnax said he couldn’t teach it to me himself. I’d have to glimpse the past, and for that I needed an ancient scroll called an Elder Scroll.

I opened my pack. There were a few rolled-up scrolls inside. I pulled one out, checked the writing at the end, and stuffed it back in. It was a scroll that conjured flames. I’d just learned how to breathe fire from him, so I didn’t need it.

“Then where is this scroll?”

Paarthurnax said he didn’t know where it was either.

I closed my pack. It was a little disappointing that the trail had gone cold, but at least I hadn’t been given some irresponsible line about going somewhere at random because someone there was bound to know. I understood well enough where the scroll had to be used and why I needed it. I asked my few remaining questions and stood up.

When I came back down, Lydia was sorting through our things.

“What kind of person was he?”

“A dragon.”

Her hands stopped dead. I’d have liked to know that before I climbed the mountain, too.

“But he’s a decent sort. I did breathe a little fire in his face as soon as we met, but he really liked it.”

Lydia looked at me in disbelief. I sat down and walked her through everything step by step from the beginning. I saved the headache about having to go find a scroll for last.

No, Not This Time

While wandering in search of the scroll, I learned that maps needed to be read in three dimensions too. I’d come down from the snowy mountain and even reached the sea, but the place where I walked the longest was an underground world filled with glowing mushrooms. I wondered where the path would come out, but for the moment I just wanted to get out safely.

On the way back with the job done, I had a metal-trimmed scroll in my arms. This prize, I carried myself. When I held out a hand to Lydia to share the load, I noticed a helmet in her pack that I’d never seen before.

“When did you pick this up?”

“Earlier.”

“Is it better than the one you’re wearing?”

Lydia took out the helmet and turned it this way and that.

“I haven’t tried it on yet, so I don’t know.”

“Then why did you take it?”

“I just liked it.”

I looked from the helmet to her and back. Now I had one more excuse to keep lugging the dragon bones around. We readjusted our loads and started walking again.

When I unrolled the scroll at the summit, visions of a distant past flashed before my eyes, just as Paarthurnax had said. The moment I learned the shout that brought Alduin down, the real Alduin finally appeared. There wasn’t even time to forget what I’d just learned. I shouted at the top of my lungs.

The shout hit. The evil dragon said to devour the world plunged to the ground.

Then it was back to something I knew. I quickly dodged the end with all the teeth and drew my bowstring. Paarthurnax fought alongside me. Weaving between two enormous dragons, I happened to look up and found the sky full of huge wings. I had to check my target several times so I didn’t shoot my ally by mistake. Just because he’d taken my fire during our first greeting didn’t mean he’d be equally forgiving of a sharp arrow.

After a fierce fight, Alduin fled with his tail between his legs. Only Paarthurnax and I were left on the mountain. I swung each arm and leg once to make sure I was in one piece, then picked up the scattered arrows. Now I had to track down where he’d run off to. I swallowed my complaint about yet another tiresome task. Just a few minutes earlier, I’d come very close to never having ‘things to do tomorrow’ again.

When I came down the mountain and met Delphine and Esbern, an entirely unexpected story was waiting for me. Paarthurnax had once been Alduin’s right hand and slaughtered countless people. Turning against Alduin later didn’t erase his past crimes, they both insisted.

I kept my mouth firmly shut and listened. I couldn’t say they were wrong just because of the brief glimpse I’d had of him.

In the end, the two of them declared that he had to be killed. As usual, I took out the journal where I scribble my ‘things to do’ and silently wrote Paarthurnax’s name in it.

“You mean the Paarthurnax at the top of the mountain?”

They did. Not some other dragon with the same name, or one like him. The very dragon who’d abruptly told me to breathe fire in his face, then praised me for doing such a good job.

For a moment, I counted off what I’d need to prepare. I’d have to buy more arrows and stock up on healing potions and food. Once I’d emptied my pack, I’d climb the mountain again. I knew exactly where to go. Now that I could clear the blizzard blocking the path, I wouldn’t get lost either.

If I went back up, Paarthurnax would think I’d come to ask him something else. I always had so many questions that I’d interrupt him in the middle of an answer. He’d wait until I’d finished, then patiently explain, tying it back to what he’d said before. This time, too, he’d think that was all it was, and wait for me. Right up until the moment I drew my bowstring.

“I won’t kill that dragon.”

Delphine looked straight at me. I took a moment to choose my words.

“I’ve heard what he did. But I learned from that dragon, and I’ve just come back from fighting alongside him. If you’re asking me to go kill him now… I can’t do it.”

Delphine declared that there would be no more help until I killed that dragon.

“Understood.”

I stood there for a moment, then turned away without a backward look. When I stepped outside, Lydia fell in behind me like a shadow. I took out my worn journal and opened it. Among the crowded entries, the name I’d just added, ‘Paarthurnax,’ was wedged precariously in place. I looked at that name for a long time, then folded the page in half.

When Lydia asked where we were going, I gave a short answer.

“Let’s go to Whiterun. I need to eat first.”

All along the road, the words churning inside me kept spilling out. How that old dragon had first welcomed me, how I’d questioned him about every little thing, how he’d told me where to read the Elder Scroll. Lydia, who’d only been nodding all this time, finally spoke.

“You already told me about greeting him with fire.”

“Did I? Then did I tell you this? When I asked if I could sit down on the ground for a bit…”

Without slowing her pace, Lydia opened her waterskin and drank, then passed it to me. I took it with a token show of reluctance, and that finally put a stop to my endless reminiscing.

By the time we reached Whiterun’s market, the sun was already sinking. I bought a chunk of cheese and crammed it into my pack. I’d barely taken a few steps when the weight bore down on my shoulders and stopped me short. With a sigh, I threw open the pack. I pulled out a large dragon bone and glared back and forth between it and the new cheese. Lydia, who’d been walking ahead, came back and stopped.

“Hang on. I just need to do something about one of these two.”

This dragon bone is worth a lot. At least, I was counting on getting a tidy sum for it from a merchant. But that cheese was also food I’d just bought with my own hard-earned money. After a brief but fierce deliberation, I took a big bite of the cheese. It didn’t taste bad. Only after I’d chewed through another mouthful to make room could I squeeze the dragon bone into a gap in my pack.

“Lydia, that bone might look heavy and useless right now, but…”

Before I could finish my sheepish excuse, she silently held out her hand. I broke what was left of the cheese in two and put one piece in her hand. Lydia took it without a fuss and started walking ahead again. I tossed the rest into my mouth and hurried after her.