Into Skyrim

Chapter 11: Cutting Through The Bullshit

"I can't believe someone would leave all that awesome loot behind," My sister says, referring to the boss chest in Ustengrav. It's taking me a while to get used to seeing her as an Orc. "Look at this necklace! Who would leave it behind?! Well, I guess it doesn't matter, 'cause it's mine now!"

We rode into Riverwood around nine in the morning. Shops were opening, people were shopping, children were playing. Just a beautiful morning!

I tie Belle up to the Inn's railing and tell Meeko to wait outside before heading in to join Kayleighn and Elizabeth. When I stepped in, we all walked up to Delphine the innkeeper.

"We'd like to rent the attic room, please, Ma'am," I say politely.

"Attic room, eh?" She says, "Well, we don't have an attic room, but you can take the one on the left. Make yourself at home." She says taking ten septims from Kayleighn. We look at each other before going to our room, shutting the door behind us.

And now we wait.
"Anyone wanna play a game while we wait?" Kayleighn asks.

"Nah," I answer, "But I do have a thought I'd like to run by you guys."

"Zep, I swear to the Lord if you ask KK and I to-"

"No!" I say quickly, "I was gonna ask if you two have ever thought about cutting through the bullshit?"

"What do you mean?" Kayleighn asks, listening intently.

"What if we try to call all the bad guys out on their shit? Or just straight up kill 'em? It'd make everything go back a lot faster and we don't have to sit through monologue after monologue," I explain. "Harkon tries to blot out the sun, we kill him! Mercer Frey's fake ass tries to frame Karliah, we call him out! Ancano, you get the idea."

Kayleighn rests her chin on her fist and stares intensely at the floor to think for a minute. "... I think... you may be on to something," She says slowly. "I'm all for skipping the fucking monologues and shit, but! We're not skipping anything in the Thieves Guild quests! You know they're my favorite."

"Alright," Elizabeth says enthusiastically, "Time to call Delphine out on her BS!" As Elizabeth said that we all heard footsteps coming towards our room

"Wait for it," Kayleighn says, "In three... Two... One-"

Kayleighn snapped her fingers and Delphine opened the door and walked inside. "So you're the Dragonborn I've been hearing so much about. Here, I think you're looking for this," She says handing me the horn of Jurgen Windcaller. "We need to talk. Follow me," She states before walking out of the room.

"Dragon-freaking-borns," Elizabeth grumbles in annoyance.

We follow Delphine into her own room where she stopped in front of a wardrobe.

"Close the door," She says. Kayleighn shuts the door behind us and Delphine unlocked the wardrobe and walked down the stairs behind the false back. "Good. Now we can talk." We follow her down to the secret basement. In the dimly lit room was an alchemy lab and lots of ingredients, weapons galore, and a table in the center. Delphine leaned on the table and began speaking to us in a serious tone. "The Greybeards seem to think you're Dragonborn. I hope their right." She said.

"The Greybeards are right. We are Dragonborn," Kayleighn says, emphasizing 'we' for Elizabeth's sake.

"I hope so, but forgive me if I don't assume something is true just because the Greybeards say so. I just handed you the horn of Jurgen Windcaller. Does that make me Dragonborn, too?" She asked. She makes a fair point.
"I didn't go through all this trouble on a whim," Delphine explains, "I needed to make sure it wasn't a Thalmor trap."