UNBOUND: BEGINNING OF THE TALE OF DRAGONBORN PT 2

UNBOUND: THE BEGINNING OF THE TALE OF THE DOVAHKIIN PART 2

The trip to Riverwood from Helgen had been horrible. It was long and cold, but at least the company had been good. Marilena had decided to travel with Ravioli after they had managed to escape the evil, black (yet oddly sexy) dragon.

They had taken refuge inside the keep and found their way into the basement where the torture room was where they found the horrible (and ugly) torturer and his tall and muscular assistant. They had kicked those guys' asses and then strung them up in a cage together to get a dose of their own stupid torturer medicine.

Ravioli had taken her to Riverwood, a little nobody town where his sister lived. There was a long boring unskippable talk by the river. Marilena mostly focused on catching butterflies and picking flowers for alchemy ingredients because having potions was both useful for fights and making mad bank at the store.

There had been some talk about going to Whiterun to warn the jarl there of the dragon. Marilena wanted to stay with the ruggedly handsome Ravioli because she was scared to go on her own. She had almost cried from the absolute fear that she had felt, but she had managed to keep it in because tears freeze in Skyrim and she couldn't afford to have angry red streaks on her cheeks. Had to keep those good Breton looks until she got a husband after all.

"You must go, Marilena!" Ravioli had declared as he held her hand by the river the town was named for. "I can't go because I must go warn the extremely handsome Ulfric that the dragon might be allies with those nasty Imperials. We have to save time by splitting up!"

"I don't want to leave you!" Marilena cried. Normally she would have wept prettily, but it was still cold out. "I love you!"

"I love you too!" Ravioli said back. He swept her into his arms and they kissed passionately. It was very passionate and stuff that songs are made of. Gerdur and her husband clapped politely at the stunning display before wandering off to whatever chores they had been doing before being interrupted by the duo's news.

"What if I never see you again?" Marilena murmured from within the safety of Ravioli's arms. "What if something were to happen to you?"

"I promise we'll meet again, my love," Ravioli swore as he nuzzled his chin on the top of her lovely, little head. "Come to Windhelm after you deliver the message to Whiterun and join the Stormcloak cause!"

"I will, I will!" Marilena promised. "Immediately!"

She left her lovey, love love by the river. She was about to leave Riverwood when an elf approached her.

"Did I see you talking to Sven? Maybe not. Maybe...nevermind. But I would stay away from him if I were you," the white-haired elf muttered.

"Wut?" Marilena said, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Who's Sven?"

"He's a bard, so he says. Occasionally he finds time to do his job here at the mill. Thinks his ballads and sonnets are going to convince Camilla Valerius to marry him. As if she would say 'yes.' An intelligent, beautiful woman like her wouldn't fall for that nonsense... I hope," the elf explained.

"Oh dear, that's horrible!" Marilena said, clutching her fists to her chest. "How can I help?"

"I don't need your jokes right now, but maybe you have a point. Maybe Camilla needs some help seeing Sven for what he is. Could you... could you give her this letter, and say it's from Sven? I think I've matched that Nord's lack of cleverness perfectly," the elf snickered wickedly as he gave Marilena a note.

"That doesn't exactly seem very honest," Marilena grumbled. "Why don't we just do flowers and long walks in the moonlight by the river?"

"If you do this, I'll train you in archery for free," Faendal promised. "It'll be a little complicated because you'll have to pay me first and then just take the money out of my pocket and give it back to me like I never noticed, but I'll totes do it."

"Done!" Marilena giggled with a cute salute. Seriously, who was going to knowingly pass up free training?

When Marilena went to give Camilla the fake note, she overheard a conversation between her and her brother about them being robbed.

"I'd love to help you get your stuff back!" Marilena offered. It was impossible for her to refuse people help who clearly needed it even if they were having a private conversation.

"Thank you!" they said gratefully! Lucan and Camilla hugged her. "You're the best."

Camilla then escorted Marilena to the edge of town. "There's Bleak Falls Barrow," she said solemnly, pointing to the ominous landmark that Marilena has completely missed on her trip here.

"Oh, thanks, but I'm not ready to leave yet," Marilena giggled. "I have to do some shopping." She showed Camilla the ten sets of Imperial armor she had taken from the corpses she had helped kill during her escape from Helgen. "Gotta sell these and get some good gear."

"That's not dark or suspicious at all!" Camilla agreed. "You even cleaned the blood off!"

"I know! I'm considerate like that," Marilena smiled. "Oh, before I forget. I have this for you. It's from Sven."

Camilla read the note, her face darkening angrily. "How dare Sven talk to me like that! And in Faendal's handwriting! I'll show him." Marilena sort of wished she had remembered to read the note before handing it over. Oh well.

Camilla stomped over to the inn where Sven was playing for the night. He was singing "The Age of Aggression" because that's one of three songs bards are legally allowed to sing in Skyrim.

"Camilla, my sweet," he said, his eyes lighting up happily when he saw her. "How are - oof!"

Camilla had kicked the handsome bard right in the family jewels. "Take that you...you...doo-doo head! We're through!" And then she left.

"Tough break, man," Marilena said as she watched him writhe on the floor, holding his abused groin. "Could you sing 'The Dragonborn Comes'? I love that song."

After Marilena sold all of her excess stuff, she approached Faendal. "Hey, I did the thing you asked. Camilla and Sven are totally broken up."

"Excellent!" Sven crowed. They high fived. It was epic.

"Can you teach me archery now?" Marilena asked as she handed him some money.

"I'll teach you all there is to know," Faendal promised. They had to repeat this exchange about ten times. It was tedious.

"Hey, you're okay," Marilena said when they were done. "Do you want to hang out some more? I'm going to this place to get a thing."

"Sure, sounds legit," Faendal shrugged.

The two of them went up to Bleak Falls Barrow and killed lot of mean bandits, nasty skeevers, gross undead, and one huge, icky spider. It was harrowing. At the end of the adventure, there was a big glowy wall with scratches and some epic music and when Marilena got closer to look at it, it all swirled and went into her.

"Oh no! I hope that's not some sort of weird ghost disease! I can't go through that again!" she wailed. Faendal hugged her and patted her back until she calmed down.

When they returned to Riverwood, Marilena and Faendal were overburdened with all the stuff they had looted off the dead (both recent and not so recent). Seriously, they had everything that wasn't nailed down or part of the background. Even all the useless mummy wraps for just in case.

Lucan and Camilla were very happy when she returned the golden claw to them. Lucan gave her some money and Camilla gave her another hug. A long, lingering hug.

"I really respect someone who does the things you do," Camilla murmured shyly. Her eyes sparkled with admiration. "Maybe we'll see each other again?"

"Sorry, I don't swing that way," Marilena said, stepping away with her hands upraised.

"Oh, I understand," Camilla said sadly. She wiped a tear from her face. "I don't think I'll ever love another like I love you though."

Marilena turned to Faendal who had witnessed the whole thing. "Sorry, I didn't mean to steal your woman."

"Nooooooo!" Faendal wailed as he fell to his knees and raised his fists to the sky. "WHY, GODS, WHYYYYY?"

Marilena shrugged as she stepped outside. He'd get over it. It wasn't her fault that she was just so pretty and loveable. She took a deep breath of the night time air. Man, it felt good to help people.

But she felt like she was forgetting something important. Something she was supposed to do...

Oh well, she'd remember later.

To be continued!