Fighting Fate

10-Greybeards

After a few days' journey, a couple of fights with bandits and one mudcrab, we finally reached Ivarstead. And then was the long, grueling walk to the Greybeards' temple. You'd think being a hero of legend wouldn't be so much work but it is. I also collapsed halfway through, right before we had to fight a frost troll. I did not want to do this at all.

In the end, it took an invisibility potion for each other to run fast enough away from it. We finally reached High Hthrogar. I had never been happier to enter the place. I know I had to smell horrible and I longed for warm water and soap.

An elderly man with a kind face walks up to Lydia and I. He must be a Greybeard. There are others behind him.

"So... a Dragonborn appears, at this moment in the turning of the age." he speaks to me.

"It is good to meet you. My name is Severine and I'm answering your summons." I respond, straightening out my posture.

"We will see if you truly have the gift. Show us, Dragonborn. Let us taste of your Voice." the old man speaks.

I relax my body and shout, "FUS!" The old man smiles at me.

"Dragonborn. It is you. Welcome to High Hrothgar." The old man speaks, slightly bowing. "I am master Arngeir. I speak for the Greybeards. Now, tell me, Dragonborn, why have you come here?

"I want to find out what it means to be Dragonborn." I say. There has to be more than me just being a hero of a country that despises me and my kind.

"We are here to guide you in that pursuit, just as the Greybeards have sought to guide those of the Dragon Blood that came before you." Arngeir speaks.

"You mean I'm not the only Dragonborn?" I knew of Queen Alessia and the Dragonborn Emperors, but I never really paid attention to that part of my lessons.

"You are not the first. There have been many of the Dragon Blood since Akatosh first bestowed that gift upon mortal kind. Whether you are the only Dragonborn of this age... that is not ours to know. You are the only one that has been revealed thus far. That is all I can say." He responds.

"Without training, you have already taken the first steps towards projecting your Voice into a Thu'um, a Shout. Now let us see if you are willing and able to learn. 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 in Unrelenting Force. Ro means "Balance" in the dragon tongue. Combine it with Fus - "Force" - to focus your Thu'um more sharply."

An old man shouts in a low voice, "Ro..." Some sharp words appear on the ground. I walk towards them, feeling a strange vibration as I engrave the word in my mind.

"You learn a new word like a master... you truly do have the gift. But learning a Word of Power is only the first step... you must unlock its meaning through constant practice in order to use it in a Shout. Well, that is how the rest of us learn 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." Now let us see how quickly you can master your new Thu'um. Use your Unrelenting Force shout to strike the targets as they appear."

The men shout as targets appear and I use my newly learned shout to hit them. We then walk to the courtyard and I learn a shout that can send me flying to where I need. Finally, they tasked me with getting a horn from their founder's grave. Wonderful. As we're leaving High Hrothgar again, I look at Lydia.

"So, you wanna stop somewhere and get some rest? If I walk anymore, I think my legs might walk away from the rest of me." I speak to her.

Lydia chuckles, a smile on her face. "Of course, my Thane. Whatever you need." I look at the map Lydia had taken with her. The nearest town was Ivarstead. That would work for now, seeing that we already had to make another grueling climb down and camping up here was not really an option.

"Ivarstead it is." I groan. I wish I had taken a horse with me when we escaped Helgen. But it's too late to regret that. We start the long descent down.