Letting out an annoyed groan, Vaenyr reaches up, trying to wipe off some of the gooey, slightly grey blood covering his face. As he does, the red-haired archer walks toward him with a slight chuckle, putting her bow onto her back as she calls out,
"Great diversion."
Vaenyr gives her a quick glare, then sighs and shrugs, pointing to the dead giant.
"Well, I guess this counts as distracted in a very permanent kind of way. Now, more importantly, who are you guys and what are you paying for my help?"
Knowing the answer to his own question already, he uses the opportunity of her talking to quickly check her out, to which the redhead reacts by raising an eyebrow, following his gaze before crossing her arms.
"First of all, eyes up here, Breton. Now, regarding your question, we are part of the Companions, the Heirs of Ysgramor and his five hundred. We are the true spirit of Skyrim. Honor is in our blood, death in our hearts."
She speaks the latter part with a burning passion in her voice, a proud grin on her face. Listening to her words, Vaenyr lifts his eyes back to her face, smiling.
"Well, that sounds like you have some real legacy. But, I would appreciate getting your name too, lady."
The woman blushes slightly, biting her lip as she looks into his eyes before shaking her head slightly, coughing before speaking.
"You have some attractive eyes; has somebody told you that yet?"
She stares at his face for another few seconds before continuing, pointing over her shoulder to the other two, the young woman currently helping the man to his feet.
"Regardless, I am Aela, also called the Huntress. Those two over there are Farkas and Ria, some of my Shield-Siblings."
Aela motions for him to follow her as she walks over to the two others, where Farkas is currently trying to convince Ria that he is fine.
"...barely dented the armor. I will be fine after a good night's rest; don't worry."
The face of the younger girl twitches with annoyance as she picks up her sword from the ground, sheathing it before she calls out to Aela.
"Hey, Aela, can you tell this idiot that you can't just walk off a broken rib?"
Vaenyr chuckles, spotting the small twitch the archer does, guessing that lycanthropes like her and Farkas can probably do what Ria suggested. Not to forget that he himself can do so as well, considering the pain he felt after the frost troll broke his rib stopped after less than an hour. After listening to Aela find an excuse to divert Ria from their secret, the three Companions turn to him, seemingly waiting for an introduction. Clearing his throat, Vaenyr looks at Farkas and Ria, giving them a small wave.
"Nice to meet you two."
Farkas gives him a nod in return, while Ria's cheeks turn slightly red from blushing as she answers him.
"Yeah, nice to meet you. Aela probably already told you our names, so what is yours, Sir handsome Breton?"
With a mischievous grin, he answers, grabbing the girl's hand and placing a kiss on its back.
"My name is Vaenyr, my lady..."
The young woman blushes a bit harder, while the redhead next to her lets out a loud laugh, clearly very amused by his posing. The man turns to look at Aela before also letting out a chuckle. Still grinning, Vaenyr lets go of the Imperial girl's hand again before gesturing to the giant corpse.
"Now that we've had some fun, what are we going to do with that thing?"
The man lets out a small grunt before lifting his arm and flexing his muscles.
"We could drag it back to Jorrvaskr, mount its head over the Skyforge, and show those weaklings outside how strong we are!"
Aela shakes her head at the man's suggestion, crossing her arms again.
"No, Farkas, we will let it stay right there; Pelagia only paid us to kill it."
The man groans but seems to accept her words, turning around and walking toward the gatehouse of the city.
"Fine, then I will go drink something. We should have some Honningbrew Mead left."
While Farkas walks towards the gate, Vaenyr and the two girls stand there, Ria still blushing embarrassed, while Aela fakes a yawn, trying to hide the fact that she is sniffing the air. He would guess she might plan to go out on a hunt tonight, but he is not quite sure how lycanthropes exactly work. After a few awkward seconds, Vaenyr clears his throat to signal his departure.
"Well, lovely to meet you. I still have to deliver a message to someone, so I will have to leave now..."
Aela gives him a slightly intrigued look but then nods once.
"Sure, I wish you good luck. Feel free to visit Jorrvaskr, should you ever feel like becoming a son of Ysgramor."
Next to her, Ria gives him an eager nod before seemingly realizing her reaction and blushing again, stepping to the side to let him through. With a small chuckle, Vaenyr passes them, walking towards the wall of Whiterun. Behind him, he can hear one of the two whisper something to the other, followed by a nearly silent, embarrassed scream from Ria.
While he walks towards the gate of Whiterun, one of the two guards standing before it takes a few steps towards him, holding out his hand to stop him.
"Halt there, Traveler. The city is currently closed to outsiders, by order of the Jarl."
Vaenyr stops, looking the guard in the face with a small smile.
"Okay, but I am here as a messenger to the Jarl in the first place. I would guess he wants to know what is happening in his domain, right? Or did he suddenly sell Riverwood to the Jarl of Falkreath?"
The guard spits on the ground, clearly not one for sarcasm.
"Don't get cocky with me, you handsome bastard. Even if you are a messenger, you ain't shit compared to me. I was a legendary adventurer once, but then I took an arrow to the knee, so I became one of Jarl Balgruuf's most accomplished men."
Looking the man up and down, Vaenyr turns to the other guard with an amused grin.
"So, can I go in?"
The other guard nods, his face covered by the helmet he is wearing, but Vaenyr can hear the small chuckle that escapes him as he knocks on the gate. A third guard looks over the wall down to the guard who knocked, who looks back and nods once.
"Let him in."
The guard at the top of the wall nods, disappearing again, before a heavy groan can be heard from the wood of the gates as they are pulled open. Giving the two guards a last nod, Vaenyr walks inside, entering the city of Whiterun for the first time since last playing the game.
After the city gate, Vaenyr walks over the tiny bridge that crosses the canalization of the city, stepping onto the small square that holds the Warmaiden's Smithy and the Drunken Huntsman, where he instantly runs into a man in imperial scout armor discussing something with a woman in blacksmithing garb.
"We'll pay whatever it takes. But we must have more swords for the Imperial soldiers."
The woman leans against one of the wooden pillars of the building behind her as she answers the man.
"I just can't fill an order that size on my own. Why don't you swallow that stubborn pride of yours and ask Eorlund Gray-Mane for help?"
The man palms his fist into his hand, letting out a laugh.
"Ha! I'd sooner bend my knee to Ulfric Stormcloak. Besides, Gray-Mane would never make steel for the Legion."
The woman gives him a slightly annoyed glare before answering him.
"Have it your way. I'll take the job, but don't expect a miracle."
The man laughs again, stretching out his hand and shaking hers before turning around and spotting you.
"Ah, hello, are you an Imperial Soldier? I do recognize that armor, although I have never seen that specific version."
You click your tongue, remembering that you threw away half of your body armor after the troll bashed it in.
"It was damaged by a troll. What about you? You are wearing Imperial light armor, right?"
The man laughs and shakes his head.
"No, no, I am Idolaf of the Battle-Born Clan; we are one of the noble families supporting the
Legion in Skyrim. The armor is just a replica, but my family is currently buying up weapons and other goods to equip another cohort; I might join as its commander then."
Vaenyr nods, playing along with the man's belief that he serves in the Imperial Legion. Like anyone who has looked into the ideal solution to the Civil War, he is very much on the side of the Legion, but he doesn't really have time to solve that problem at the moment. As a gamer, he would have played the side quests first, but now that he is really in Skyrim, dealing with a dragon that wants to destroy the world does hold a bit more importance.
The man seems not to notice Vaenyr's disinterestedness and instead continues to talk about how glorious the Legion is and how the Stormcloaks betrayed all of Skyrim, until Vaenyr finally stops him by raising his hand.
"Yes, I fully agree, but I do have to talk to the Jarl now. I wish you a good day, Battle-Born."
Before Idolaf can hold him any further, Vaenyr quickly passes him, walking up the street that leads to the marketplace, where he passes the different stalls. He can feel a few people looking at him, but most ignore him, which is really impressive, considering he is still largely covered in giant blood. The only person who seems to give him a longer look is a rather attractive Dunmer, leaning against a pillar of a shop, her red eyes following him as he walks across the square and up the stairs.
After reaching the top, he enters the Wind District, looking up at the large Gildergreen tree with a smile. He can hear the wind striking against the tree, mixed in with the voice of Heimskr, who is standing in front of the Shrine of Talos and preaching. As Vaenyr walks around the tree, he glances up at Jorrvaskr and then further up to the Skyforge, which reminds him that he should probably get a new sword again, as the ancient Nord sword he currently has is already starting to show signs of breaking again after he killed the giant.
Stopping in front of the long stairway that leads up to Dragonreach, he sighs, slightly annoyed by the number of stairs he has to walk up, but then he remembers that he will probably have to climb the seven thousand steps of High Hrothgar later. So, with a deep breath, he starts to ascend the first of the three stairways between him and the Jarl of Whiterun.
After climbing the first two, he arrives at the actual entrance to Dragonreach, walking over the wooden bridge and opening the door while cracking his neck as he enters the keep. As he steps inside, he feels his eye twitch as he spots yet another stairway, but luckily this one is short, so he manages not to lose his mind. Finally having arrived in the large hall of Dragonreach, he walks around the large fire in the center of the room, being watched by the people sitting at the tables around it, before finally arriving at the dais where Jarl Balgruuf sits, who is currently discussing the Civil War with his brother Hrongar.
"...I need to stay neutral until..."
Vaenyr is unable to listen further, as he is stopped from coming closer by another Dunmer, who has drawn her sword and is holding it out towards him threateningly.
"What's the meaning of this interruption? Jarl Balgruuf is not receiving visitors."