This is Our Home: A Collection of Skyrim Short Stories

The Breton Innkeeper: Part One (Ylva)

This was a request made by the lovely, Emerald_Parrish, and I must admit that I rather enjoyed writing this. Due to the length of the request (and the fact that I got carried away, as I usually do 😆), this story will be divided into multiple parts. Hope you enjoy part one!

-------

21st of Hearthfire, 4E 201

I ground my teeth as I marched into Riverwood. Gods, was I irritated. It was bad enough that the Greybeards sent me into an old tomb filled with Draugr and other horrible things. But to reach the end and find that the object I had been sent to retrieve had been stolen? Worse still, the thief wanted to meet up with me. I had been stewing about it for days now, and had a lot of time to debate on what I was supposed to do with the thief when I met them.

I stepped into the Sleeping Giant Inn, still silently fuming, and marched straight to the innkeeper. She was a middle-aged Breton with a tight face and an even tighter blonde ponytail pulled behind her head. She was tall for a Breton, standing only a couple inches shorter than me. She wore a blue work dress with a leather corset fastened around her torso.

What is her name, again? Delphine, or something like that.

"You look weary, traveler," she said in a somewhat wary voice. "Here to rent a room?"

"The attic room," I growled, thinking of the letter I had ripped to shreds back in Ustengrav.

"Attic room?" Her eyes showed her confusion, as did the downturn of her lips. "We... we don't have an attic room. But you can take the one on the left. Ten septims, please."

Great. The thief tricked me into thinking he was going to give me back the horn. I was never going to find him.

"Miss?" Delphine held out her hand.

Begrudgingly, I fished out the money and left for the room. I shoved the door open, slammed it behind me, and threw myself into the roughly-hewn chair by the bed.

Gods, I felt so weary. All the frustration I had been feeling lately was just another weight on my already-burdened shoulders. How could I, a dirt-poor mercenary, become the world's savior if I could not even catch a thief? Why was I condemned to bear this? I never wanted this. I never wanted to be anything more than a woman with a normal, comfortable life.

My brooding was interrupted by the door to my room creaking open. I turned in my seat to see Delphine striding into my room and shutting the door behind her.

"Hey, what in gods' names are you—"

"So you're the Dragonborn I've been hearing so much about."

I shot up from my seat, the chair falling to the floor with a crash behind me. "What're you doing in here? Do you make it a habit to barge in on your guests?"

She harrumphed. "You're the exception. Come with me. We need to talk, and I would rather do it somewhere more private."

Against my better judgement, I followed her across the inn to a larger room with a double bed, nightstand, dresser laden with various papers and foodstuffs, and a tall wardrobe. Delphine walked straight up to the wardrobe, opened it, and pushed against the back. The panel slid open with a grating sound.

"Come with me."

I shook my head and followed her down the set of stairs and into a small underground room filled with weapons, armor, and potions. A strong set of leather armor occupied one table, and one of the weapons racks held five identical swords, the likes of which I had never seen. Just one of the potions at the far side of the room would fetch a price fair enough to set me up for weeks. I could not believe this. I had stayed in this inn before, a few years back, and I had no clue that this innkeeper was more than she seemed.