9. Jarl Balgruuf Makes a Decree

9. Jarl Balgruuf Makes a Decree

Sep 30, 2022

When we last saw Eldaline and Aralina, they had finally entered the city of Whiterun, after escaping from a torturer in the employ of Jarl Balgruuf, who had come to the conclusion that the big black dragon belonged to them.

"What?" demanded the Jarl of Whiterun.

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Eldaline stomped the length of the great hall. "Why did you beat me over the head and try to have us tortured to death in a sewer?"

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"I did not think you would get out."

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"Well, I cannot fault this for logic." said Eldaline. "Why didn't you want to hear about the dragon?"

"Not here." The Jarl said. "Follow me."

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Observed by many guards, Eldaline and Aralina followed and arrived upstairs.

"Now. What is the... It is dark in here, isn't it?" said Second Archivist Eldaline.

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She conjured a small magical orb into the air to illuminate the features of Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, slightly contorted with distaste. "That's better. I had to be sure you didn't intend to hit me over the head again."

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"Why did you think I would try exactly the same thing twice?"

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"I don't see why not." said Eldaline. "I did. And after my second attempt, I am standing here, talking to you. How dare you assume that the Thalmor would lose control of a dragon in your province?"

"I don't see why not." said Jarl Balgruuf. "You lost control of a rebellion in it."

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Eldaline said, "Rubbish. Do you want to hear about this dragon, then?"

"What did you see?"

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Jarl Balgruuf walked around his map. Aralina smiled in calm anticipation.

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"Nothing." said Eldaline. "Nothing useful. There was a dragon destroying every building around us. Nothing could withstand its power. We are all doomed and everything is hopeless."

"For an order that says it wants to reclaim its stolen divinity, you are very easily disheartened."

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"That is not true." said Eldaline. "It is simply a very large dragon and no mortal can hope to defeat it."

"If all you can do is spread gloom in my city, and have nothing useful to tell me, you can leave Whiterun."

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Agent Aralina became politely furious. "If you would only listen, and ask better questions, you would find that Second Archivist Eldaline has plenty of useful information that you would not easily get from human observers."

"Be quiet, Flopsy." said Eldaline.

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"I hope you know that I could have you killed for taking hostages in my city." said the Jarl. "I am allowing you to go."

"Don't make me leave, Jarl Balgruuf." Eldaline blurted, louder than she would have liked. "Not out there with that dragon. Not yet. I can do nothing against it while I do not understand it. There is very little I would not do if you allow me to stay long enough to procure an escort to Solitude."

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"I am insulted that you think I would need anything you can give, and that you think your situation is any different to ours. Do you think I know how to fight a dragon? Do you think Heimskr over there knows how to fight a dragon?"

Seizing upon this introduction, Heimskr said, "Jarl Balgruuf, do you have time to hear about Talos the Unerring?"

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"Would you like me to beg?" Eldaline snapped. "Because I will. Do you want me to wash your socks? Because I can."

"You do not look a day older than when I saw you in the Elder Council chambers in the Imperial City," said the Jarl. "and I want you to stop making me believe that my enemy was a coward."

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Aralina shouted: "Jarl of Whiterun, you are trying my patience! The Second Archivist was very close to the dragon, a great deal closer than you will ever be, and requires time to gather her thoughts, as you might, had you even seen it!"

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"Flopsy," Eldaline almost wept as the Jarl made his way around the table again. "Please be quiet."

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"You shouldn't speak so freely, soldier." said the Jarl. "If you don't want your commander to keep embarrassing herself. Very well, stay. You won't bring one more of your number in through the gates, and I won't be helping you find a place to sleep. You can stay with Heimskr."

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"What do you mean, stay with Heimskr?" said Heimskr. "Jarl Balgruuf, I will be murdered."

The Jarl said, "Oh, I don't think you will."

"Come along, Heimskr." said Eldaline. "You can show us your house."

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"What are they up to, Nazeem?" the Jarl grumbled, as he heard them departing the great hall below. "Have I gone soft? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"It was a harrowing experience, Jarl Balgruuf." said Nazeem. "And the guards were no help, as usual."

"I am so sorry. Whiterun cannot afford to lose you. If only they knew your worth as I do."

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"It's just next to the shrine, isn't it?"

"How do you know where I live?" said Heimskr.

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"It must be nice to live so close to your false god." said Aralina.

"Do not come into my house!"

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"This is a little smaller than I imagined, Second Archivist. Are you all right, Madam?"

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Eldaline took off her cloak and hung it over a chair. "I will be, given time. Heimskr lives alone and does not need anything larger. Now, I am going to get a few hours' rest. I hope I shall be able to see things more clearly in the morning, and display the professionalism I would expect of an officer of the Thalmor."

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"Of course, Madam. I shall keep watch, and ensure that the human does not bother you."

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"Get out of my bed, elven scourge!" said Heimskr.

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"Do not trouble yourself, Flopsy. Heimskr is a priest, and though he is misguided, his mind is upon higher things."

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"Very well, Second Archivist, I shall rest too after some of this soup. Good night, Second Archivist."

"Good night, Flopsy. Good night, Heimskr."

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"Get off my soup."

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Very early the next morning, when there was still a pleasant chill on the summer air, Skavild put on a warm hat he had borrowed from the inn's cook, and he wandered across the village to the sawmill. He didn't much like hard work, but sometimes it was inevitable, especially if you had recently done something stupid like working for the Aldmeri Dominion for a couple of years and then turning down a substantial amount of money for it before making a run for the border.

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"Who runs this sawmill?" he asked. "You need any help?"

"The wife." said the enormous man.

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"It's your wife's sawmill?" said Skavild. "Or, you need help with your wife?"

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"We don't like strangers in Riverwood." said the enormous man.

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"Why not?"

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"I'm not sure."

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"Go and chop some wood."

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Of course, Skavild had chopped wood before, and could appreciate objectively that it was good honest work, but it had been years since he had done anything good or honest.

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He had planted evidence on dead kinsmen, stolen ancient tomes from under the noses of respected mages, infiltrated the Windhelm guard, traversed the treacherous deserts of Hammerfell, navigated the winding tunnels of the infamous Scourg Barrow, and always made sure Second Archivist Eldaline had two soft boiled eggs for breakfast.

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He wondered who would be getting her soft boiled eggs in the Summerset Isle.

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A couple of days work should get him, he reckoned, enough money to make his way down to Bruma, and of course, pay that nice innkeeper, who still hadn't charged him a single Septim.

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Skavild had been a roofer for years but had never worked at a sawmill before. He had lived directly next to one, but his mother had warned him that heavy lifting got old quickly, and that he would feel it the next day.

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He had to admit that she was probably right.

"Too heavy?" the enormous man gloated, hopefully. "We work hard here. You'll feel it in the morning."

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"Not too bad." lied Skavild.

"What work you done before?"

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"Oh, a bit of..." Skavild began. He decided to have a ride down the lumber mill on the log. "... everything, you know. Does this thing go any faster?"

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"Hey, you'll get killed." grunted the enormous man.

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Skavild jumped off. "Fine."

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"What's the matter, the work not dangerous enough for you?"

"Nope." said Skavild.

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Although it was rather an overcast day, Skavild was so hot by the mid-morning that he decided to take his shirt off.

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This was much easier, and he enjoyed swinging the wood-axe, although every other person at the mill told him repeatedly that his muscles would remind him tomorrow how much he had been enjoying it.

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"Come on," said the enormous man, who was called Hod. "We all have a break now."

"How am I doing?"

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"Oh, fine. You'll feel it in the morning, though."

"Yeah." Skavild grunted. "Thanks."

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Just outside the entrance to the sawmill, a woman stopped him. "That looks thirsty work. You'll really feel that tomorrow. You want a drink?"

"It's all right, I thought I'd just stick my head in the river." said Skavild.

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He wandered off alone for a few minutes and watched the river run under the aqueduct.

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continues

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