Gods, I'm so tired. It's past midnight and we've fought frost trolls, giant Frostbite spiders, a bandit, draugr, TWO dragons, Jyrik Gauldersson, and apparently I am, ONCE AGAIN, the only person who can… Avert disaster? Or something? The guy in my vision was pretty vague.

  It's been a LONG day.

  Okay, so, we got up early and made our way to Saarthal. It's actually not too far from the city. There's a little path behind the Jarl's longhouse that goes up and through a narrow break in the mountain. On the other side is just this wasteland of snow and ice, with little rock piles marking the path. There were fresh tracks in the snow, so we knew we weren't the first to head out this morning.

  A bandit attacked us and he was no trouble, but the three frost trolls who jumped us all at once hardly ten steps past that almost got me!

  It wasn't even mid-morning and I nearly died! Maybe I should've taken the hint and gone back to bed.

  Anyway, Saarthal is near the base of the mountain, just sticking out of a big break in the ice. There were some wooden platforms with bridges slung between them and staircases leading down to the bottom of the pit. Tolfdir was already down there, along with my three classmates from yesterday.

  He said I was just in time, and wanted to know why I'd brought other people with me. He seemed annoyed and wanted to know who they were, but then Valdimar piped up and said, "Just another student."

  Tolfdir was thrilled to see Valdimar, and just as surprised as everyone else that he was back. I caught him whisper that he never thought he'd ever see him in Saarthal, before he introduced Valdimar to the class as one of his star pupils. He called him a "shining example" of what an Alteration mage is capable of.

  He asked Valdimar what he was doing here, with me, and Valdimar explained how he'd been called to meet with Savos, and the whole Thane thing. Tolfdir's a Nord, so he understood, but he was curious about Erandur and Septim. Valdimar introduced Erandur as a Priest of Mara, and a healer, and Tolfdir was very happy to hear that. Safety's a big thing for him.

  Tolfdir was less sure about letting Septim in, but Valdimar whispered something and the old man nodded. Later, Valdimar told me that all he had to say was "Spirit Wound," and Tolfdir understood.

  So, we went inside and Tolfdir gave us all things to do. Saarthal doesn't look much different from other Nord ruins we've been in. The first room is a large, cavern-like space with wooden platforms, some old, some new, with ramps going to the stone floor far below.

  Once we got to the bottom, he had the others look over the wards that sealed tombs, or explore dark corners. He asked me to go find the scholar Arniel Gane, and help him. Tolfdir said he was a bit deeper in the ruins, so it might be smart for all of us to go, just in case anything happened.

  Arniel wasn't very far, just down a short, twisty tunnel, and he was busy reading a book. He said that cataloguing all of these artifacts was going to take forever, and asked me to go hunt for "anything enchanted" in the surrounding tunnels.

  He didn't seem to recognize Valdimar, and Valdimar told me later that Arniel had been a scholar there before he joined up. He said that Arniel would disappear for a while, return for a bit, then disappear again, always muttering about his research. He kept to himself and never told anyone what he was working on, but he did once recommend some books on the Dwemer to Valdimar.

  A cagey guy with secret research?

  Interesting.

  Anyway, we found a few enchanted rings on the floor, none of them terribly powerful, along with an amulet set in a niche in the wall. It reminded me of the pieces of the Gauldur amulet, but I couldn't sense much coming off of it. Valdimar looked it over, and said I was right; it was pretty weak.

  When I took it off the wall, a row of spikes came out of the floor and almost skewered Lydia! Valdimar and I were trapped. Lydia, Erandur and Septim were stuck on the other side of the spikes, and Septim started barking his head off when he realized he couldn't get to me.

  Tolfdir came over to see what happened, and we told him. When he suggested that I try putting on the amulet, Erandur grumbled and rubbed at his face, and I know Lydia was rolling her eyes.

  I know, I know - It's ALWAYS me, isn't it?

  Valdimar assured me that he'd do his best to keep me safe, so I put it on. Tolfdir spotted a strange, magical… Something right in the alcove where the amulet had been resting. He called it a"resonance", and told me to cast a spell, any spell, at the weird disturbance.

  That did the trick! The spikes opened, and the inside of the alcove crumbled, revealing a narrow tunnel going down. Tolfdir was excited to explore further, so we followed him, into a small room with three coffins set into the wall. We all immediately got out our weapons, and just as Tolfdir was about to say something, I had a vision.

  It was like time stopped. Everything went all… Blueish white, and a figure appeared in front of me. It was an Altmer man in strange robes, and he said he was part of the Psijic Order. He said that I'd set things in motion that can't be stopped. They didn't judge me for that, because I had no way of knowing, but they will judge how I handle "the dangers" I'm going to face?! He said that the Order was warning me because they believed in me, and because I'm the only one who can stop whatever it is that's going to happen.

  Then, he vanished, and things went back to normal. No one else saw or heard it, but Valdimar, Erandur and Tolfdir all said they felt something strange, and Septim was barking and growling at the place where the man had appeared. I told them what I'd seen, and Tolfdir was very confused. The Psijic Order, far as he knew, had nothing to do with Saarthal, and hadn't been seen in over a hundred years.

  He had no idea what they'd want with me, and didn't think there was anything that dangerous about Saarthal. From the legends he's heard, the Order only contacts mages it feels are worthy of being spoken to. He said I should consider it a compliment!

  Says the guy who's never been part of a prophecy.

  Anyway, he said we should investigate the tombs, and as soon as we got near them, they cracked open and draugr came out! Lydia ordered Tolfdir to get behind her. She hadn't spoken the whole time, and I think the only reason he listened was because he was too shocked to argue!

  They weren't hard to handle, and once they were dead, we saw that the center coffin was open in the back.

  Tolfdir ran forward without a second's hesitation, and we all hustled after him. For a guy who goes on about safety, he's really reckless! It's a miracle he didn't trigger any traps.

  We kept going through some catacombs until we got to a large, round room with a bridge going over a floor grate. There was a solid floor around the edge of the room, and the walls were lined with coffins set into the wall. On the other side of the bridge was a huge gate over a door, with an extra layer of spikes in front of it.

  We didn't have to say anything as we looked over the coffins. I ran up the bridge (it's not very tall, about shoulder-height) and summoned a Flame Atronach, then got my Firebolts ready. Lydia went right, towards the first creaking of stone, Valdimar went left, and Erandur took up position behind me, guarding Tolfdir.

  As expected, several draugr came out of the coffins. They were tough, but we managed to finish them off before any of us got really hurt. Tolfdir had never seen anything like it in a ruin!

  What ruins has he been exploring?!

  Anyway, he wanted to stay there and investigate the tombs that didn't open, and asked us to go on ahead.

  There were two pull chains, one on either side of the door. One got rid of the spikes, and the other got rid of the gate. We asked him to please be careful, then went though the big door.

  As far as tombs go, it wasn't anything too special. The only weird things were the Fire Runes on the floor. We usually don't see those, but there were some normal poison dart traps, too. We also found two of those spinning pillar puzzle locks, but once again, the answers were literally RIGHT THERE, so I have no idea who the ancient Nords thought they were keeping out.

  Oh, well. We found another big gate, and this one had a lever right there. That's when Tolfdir ran up, calling for us to wait for him. He was done in the other room, and wanted to catch up.

  I opened the gate, and Tolfdir ran forward, down the wide steps, and into a large chamber.

  In the back of the room was... A pillar of magic, I think, and inside it, there was a huge, floating ball, covered in strange magic runes and symbols. In the center of the room was a table with a throne behind it, and in the throne was Jyrik Gauldersson. He woke up, and attacked us!

  We fought him, but for some reason, out attacks weren't doing anything. He had a strange shield-thing around him. I'm not exactly sure, but Tolfdir realized that we weren't able to hurt him, and said that he must be using the magic orb for power or something. He shouted for us to keep him busy while he went to deal with the source.

  Lydia said she'd cover Tolfdir, and I ran after the others to make sure they didn't go down while they were fighting Jyrik.

  At one point, Erandur used his Flame Cloak ability, and rushed towards him. Jyrik Shouted at him, and I recognized it. It's the one that can tear weapons right out of your grip, and it was STRONG.

  Erandur's sword went flying, but he didn't stop. Instead, he just punched Jyrik in the face and staggered him!

  That's when Tolfdir managed to "break" the magic pillar surrounding the orb, and he told us to really start hitting the draugr. With all of us on Jyrik, he didn't last long.

  Once Jyrik was dead, I took the final piece of the Gauldur Amulet off his body, along with a Writ of Sealing.

  Lot of good that did.

  Still, there was the orb to deal with. It was just floating and spinning there, with bits of magicka shining out from between the seams. It looks strange, and sort of Dwemer-like, but not quite.

  Tolfdir just stared at it, and told us to go back to the College to tell the Arch-Mage what we'd found.

  There was a door in the back of the room, behind the orb. Tolfdir asked why we were going that way, and Valdimar said that we'd spent a lot of time in Nordic ruins lately. He told him that they usually had a "back way", and promised that we'd get to the College as fast as we could.

  As we'd suspected, it was the way out.

  We found a chest in a small chamber not far past the door, along with a Dragon Wall!

  After all the strangeness of the past few days, hearing that chanting was almost a comfort, if not for that pull that makes my feet want to move on their own. I was too tired even then to fight it, so I just let the Wall take me.

  Oh, that one was bad. My vision went white, and I felt a chill shoot through me. My fingertips hurt with the cold, like I was frostbitten. Valdimar caught me when I fell, and Septim licked bits of frost from my face! I could even see my breath!

  I think I know what this one does.

  Once I could feel my toes and stopped shivering enough to move, we kept going.

  We came out back in the first cavern. The other students had gone back, and we realized that it was already well past nightfall. They probably figured that Tolfdir would spend the night here.

  So, we headed back to Winterhold and ran into a pair of Frostbite spiders on the path. They were just an annoyance, luckily, because I was getting cold and felt a little sick.

  Still do, actually.

  We stopped in the Frozen Hearth so I could warm up and down a Cure potion. We were all dirty, hungry and thirsty. We didn't have time to eat or anything, but we grabbed a quick drink and Valdimar apologized for not being able to stay and chat. "College business," he said.

  Guess what happened as soon as we got out of the Inn? TWO dragons attacked Winterhold!

  Yes, two! And there were only two guards on duty, so of course we stopped to help them!

  The one dragon died on the road coming into the town, and the other died in mid-air. Its body crashed down the hillside, and into the sea.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Oh, well. I got one soul out of it, at least, but had to lean on Septim afterwards in order to walk.

  It was midnight when we got here, and the Arch-Mage was asleep. Valdimar woke him up, and introduced us.

  I met Savos Aren, the Arch-Mage, while covered in grave dust, spider guts, and dragon blood.

  We told him what happened in Saarthal, and I didn't know how to describe the spinning orb thing as anything other than that to him. He wasn't very happy about being dragged out of bed for something like that, but since Tolfdir was busy, he said that he'd have to look into the matter himself.

  Then he gave me an assignment! He wants me to go to the Library once it's open tomorrow and find out everything I can about that orb thing.

  Still, he appreciated what we'd done, and gave us a Staff of Magelight in case we needed it to explore any more ruins in the future. I asked him about the Psijic Order before I left, and he said that he hadn't seen any, not for a hundred years. He'd never met one, but a member of the Order used to advise the Arch-Mage here when he was an apprentice.

  We bid him goodnight, and left to go get some sleep.

  We ran into Faralda at the bottom of the steps. She said that Ancano was looking for us, and warned me not to tell him anything. She thinks he's a Thalmor spy, too. She said that Savos might not take him seriously, but the rest of them do!

  She explained that the dragon fight woke a lot of people up, including Ancano. He watched us come in and go straight to the Arch-Mage's quarters.

  She knew that no one would dare wake the Arch-Mage at such an hour if it wasn't important, so whatever it was, we should keep quiet.

  I thanked her for the heads-up, and said that I just wanted to wash up, and get some sleep.

  I'm glad she warned us, though! Lydia spotted him as we were crossing the courtyard, and we were able to sneak around the pillars and into the student's quarters before he saw us.

  From the direction he'd come, it looks like he was just in here.

  Valdimar assured me that there were spare beds for guests, so we took turns washing up in my room. There's an alcove with a table, dinner ware, and food on the other side of the tower, so we had a very late dinner while I wrote.

  Valdimar said that he and his friends used to have meals here. He had a sad smile on his face, but again, not like before. He was rubbing his thumb at a spot on the table, and I peeked at it after he went to wash.

  There's a letter carved into the wood, a lopsided "W" with one side bigger than the other, and the center lines overlapping.

  "W" for Winterhold. I'll bet the big side is supposed to symbolize the tower or something.

  Either that, or whoever carved it did a bad job.

  Lydia's telling me to get some sleep, so I'm going to wash up and go straight to bed. My room has a lock on the door, and Septim's with me, so we're all going to get some rest tonight and meet up here in the morning.

  VALDIMAR HAD A FIANCE!

  Well, not technically, but CLOSE ENOUGH.

  Poor guy. I know he wasn't ready to tell us, but it's not like he had a choice after THAT.

  Oh, well. At least I learned something at the library today.

  Anyway, we're sleeping in the Frozen Hearth tonight. The beds here aren't as nice as the ones in the College, and it costs money, but not having to keep an eye out for Ancano is more than worth it.

  Seriously, he's one of those guys that would give anyone the creeps, even if he wasn't one of the Thalmor.

  Dammit, I'm getting ahead of myself again. Back to this morning!

  So, we got up, and I still felt like I'd been stepped on by a mammoth. Lydia noticed, and had Erandur give me a look during breakfast. I thought I was just under the weather because of the long day in Saarthal, but apparently I 'd eaten something bad.

  Again.

  The potion did the work it was supposed to, but I still have to recover.

  Lydia can't figure out why I'm so bad at telling what food is past its prime. I just made a joke about it at the time, but I think the others understood.

  I don't think she would.

  Anyway, I was feeling lucky about only having to do a bunch of reading today. I was really looking forward to just relaxing with a stack of books, a glass of wine, and a happy Septim on my feet.

  Yeah, nothing's ever that easy.

  When we were done eating, we went to the Arcanaeum.

  The Arcanaeum is a large, circular chamber, and the walls are lined with bookcases. The center of the room is sunken in a bit, with a handful of well-lit tables and chairs. At the far end of the room is a large desk, where (I'm told) you can usually find Urag gro-Shub, the head librarian.

  We barely got into the room when a man, Phinis Gestor, walked up to us. He was one of Valdimar's old friends, and was clearly excited to see him. Phinis is older than Valdimar, and we learned that he was a scholar here when Valdimar was a student.

  After they talked for a bit, Phinis asked how Falion was doing. Turns out, Falion used to be a teacher here, and was Phinis's mentor. Valdimar even attended one of his lectures! Falion left the college a while ago because he and the Arch-Mage don't get along, so Phinis took over his position as Conjuration teacher. He'd heard that Falion had settled "somewhere" in the Hjallmarch, and remembered that Valdimar was from there.

  Valdimar told him that Falion was settling in all right, and Phinis was shocked to learn that he'd adopted a child!

  Valdimar laughed and said that Falion was still as gruff and grouchy as ever, but he was a good father to Agni. He'd seen himself how the man spoiled her, and they had a laugh about that. Phinis said he'd spread the word amongst Falion's old friends, then we went to ask the librarian for help finding some books.

  Valdimar warned me that Urag was a bit stern, but the old guy threatened to have me torn apart by Atronachs if I did anything to the books!

  I reassured him that I just had some research to do for Savos, and asked him if he had any books that talked about mysterious floating orbs. He'd heard about the discovery in Saarthal, and grumbled that he used to have what I needed, but not anymore. An apprentice named Orthorn stole a bunch of books when he ran off to join up with a group of rogue mages.

  He said the mages were rumored to be holed up in Fellglow Keep, and that if I wanted the information for Savos, I'd have to get the books myself.

  The name Fellglow Keep sounded familiar, so I took a second to flip through this thing to find it. Fellglow Keep is that rundown fort near Whiterun where the mages were experimenting on Vampires and dissecting them.

  While I was looking through my old entries, Urag squinted at Valdimar and asked if he knew him.

  Valdimar wasn't offended. Urag doesn't seem like the type of guy that pays much attention to students.

  Valdimar gave him his name, and that's when Urag remembered him. He said he never thought he'd see him again, not after his fiance died.

  Of course, the place went DEAD quiet. I mean, it's a library, but you know there's a difference between a bunch of people quietly doing their own thing, versus trying not to make any noise so they can eavesdrop.

  I didn't say a thing, and was looking anywhere but at Valdimar. Lydia was also trying to look like the floor was the most interesting thing she'd ever seen, but Erandur was staring at the back of Valdimar's head. He looked… I don't know. Shocked, yeah, but hurt, too? Maybe?

  Anyway, Valdimar cleared his throat and said that they weren't engaged. Not officially.

  There was a heavy silence, then he turned around and started to walk away. Lydia asked where he was going, and he said he was going to go get some air. Then he went up the stairs, and we were all left standing there, looking uncomfortable.

  He did NOT sound good. His voice cracked.

  An Altmer woman sighed and scolded Urag for being insensitive, and he started grumbling back at her. I didn't pay much attention to them, though. We didn't know what to do! Erandur was looking towards the stairway, with his hand over his heart. I couldn't see his face in his hood. He took a deep breath, then said he was going to speak with him.

  Lydia and I said we'd take Septim and go down to the Hall of the Elements to practice my Wards or wander around the courtyard or something. Either way, we wouldn't be hard to find.

  Erandur nodded and took the stairs up, while we went to go down.

  Right then, Ancano came up the steps and almost ran into me! He said he'd been looking for me, and wanted to know what happened in Saarthal. He said it must have been important. No one would dare interrupt the Arch-Mage at such an hour!

  I don't know what it says about me, but I'm really good at playing dumb. I was able to dodge his questions to the point where he gave up! He huffed about grilling Tolfdir when he came back, then let me go.

  We went down to the Hall, and one of my classmates, Onmund, came over to chat. He's a Nord, and he asked us about Valdimar. He'd heard people talking about him, and said that it was strange to see another Nord there.

  He asked if I knew if his family approved, and I said that as far as I knew, yes?

  I confessed that I didn't really know much about his parents.

  We don't really know much about him, actually. He told us a lot earlier, but there's more to it, I can tell.

  Anyway, when Lydia pointed out what a strange question that was, Onmund said that his family doesn't approve of him doing magic. He then asked if I'd be willing to help him out.

  I wasn't going to agree to a job before I knew the details, and he said that he'd seen me talking with Enthir earlier. Onmund picked up that I seemed to be on the same page as Enthir, and told me how he'd made a trade with the mer. Onmund wouldn't name what he got, but he gave Enthir an amulet from his family. Even though they don't approve of him being here and don't understand him, they're still his family, and he knows now that he shouldn't have done it.

  He asked us if we could talk to Enthir for him and see what it would take to get it back.

  We didn't have anything else to do, so I said why not?

  As luck would have it, Enthir wandered into the Hall right then, and Onmund made himself scare.

  Typical.

  Enthir was annoyed that Onmund sent me to do his dirty work, and at first said that all trades were final! Eventually, either because of my charm or Lydia looming behind me, he agreed to give it back, so long as I did something for him, first.

  He traded a staff to someone who might "misuse" it, and wanted it back. If I can get him his staff, he'll give Onmund back his amulet.

  Fair enough. So, he marked on my map where he thought it was (someplace west of Whiterun, not too far from Fort Sungard) and Lydia and I went out into the courtyard to let Septim run around.

  I was just getting chilly enough to suggest going back inside when the guys came out of the Hall. They both looked a little rough, and I could tell that Valdimar had been crying.

  Still, his voice was steady as he said that he owed us all an explanation. He said he'd rather talk here at the inn, so we left and got ourselves some lunch so we could talk over food. Valdimar was whispering with Dagur and Nelacar while he waited for our drinks. I heard them sound surprised, then Nelacar clapped him on the shoulder in that manly way that guys do when they don't know how to say they're here for you.

  You know the one.

  Anyway, Valdimar came back with drinks and told us about his "not-quite" fiance, Vedryn Raviro of House Indoril.

  Admittedly, there's not much to tell, and it's not like we pried for details. Valdimar's had a rough enough day, so we didn't ask many questions.

  Vedryn was from Morrowind, and came here to learn magic because he and the Arch-Mage are cousins.

  I heard somewhere that House Telvanni is the one that mages come from, so maybe he and Savos had to come here because they're not from that House?

  Whatever, the point is he came here to learn not long before Valdimar showed up. They weren't friends at first, because Vedryn didn't like how he'd tricked the Arch-Mage, but you know Valdimar. It wasn't long until they became friends, and Vedryn taught Valdimar all about the Dunmer, including the language.

  Lydia wanted to know what he looked like. He said Vedryn was about average in height and build for a Dunmer, if maybe a bit on the shorter side. He laughed when he said that his hair made up for it! Vedryn had red hair, and he kept the sides trimmed very short, and let the middle grow. The hair on top was spiked up, and the back was long.

  I've seen that hairstyle on a lot of Dunmer guys. It must be a popular one.

  Valdimar went on to say that the thing people remembered most about Vedryn were his eyes. They were a pale violet, and all three of us were surprised. I've seen a lot of Dunmer in the Capital, and I've only ever seen one, a lady at a fancy party we crashed, with eyes like that.

  Anyway, their friendship grew, and they became a couple. They were together for almost two years, which is AGES for a Nord, but hardly any time at all for a mer. Valdimar said that even though Vedryn worshiped Azura, he wanted to get an Amulet of Mara so he could propose "the Nord way."

  He died before that could happen.

  Valdimar explained that Vedryn went on a solo outing to test his Alteration skills. He specialized in Destruction, but knew that he'd need to be good at things like Wolfskin and Bask to survive the wilds. He was only supposed to be gone for a night, but he never returned.

  A search party found his body near Saarthal, surrounded by dead frost trolls, wolves and a sabercat.

  Yeah. Saarthal. Explains things, doesn't it?

  Anyway, no one knew if the animals or the cold killed him, but it's not like it mattered. He was dead, and Valdimar took his body back to Morrowind. Valdimar tried to continue his studies when he came back, but he couldn't, so he went home to Morthal and offered his services to Jarl Idgrod.

  I could see Lydia doing some math in her head, and she asked if he was 23 when he left, and she was right; he was. He added that he and Vedryn were the same age.

  Things got quiet after that, and I know we were all thinking about what we just learned.

  That's young for an elf. I mean, it's young for everyone, but for an elf that's really young.

  Later on, when Valdimar and Lydia went outside to let Septim have a run and "check for assassins", Erandur and I talked. He'd hardly said a word while Valdimar told us his story, but that's because he already knew. I figured as much.

  He said that Valdimar told him everything when he followed him up to the top of the wall that surrounds the College. He said there's a little walkway up there, and a covered area with benches.

  I was surprised that Valdimar would go up there in the first place, especially given the sheer drop, and Erandur said the same thing to him. Valdimar told him he wasn't afraid because he feels safe up there.

  It was their favorite place to relax.

  Anyway, about then Valdimar and Lydia came back with Septim, and I started writing.

  It's been quiet since then. Erandur's still working on that book he borrowed, and Lydia's gone back to sharpening our weapons. Valdimar's catching up with Nelacar and Dagon like he promised, and Dagur's daughter, Eirid, is playing with Septim.

  I wonder if Valdimar's had any other boyfriends since Vedryn? I mean, it obviously still hurts, but-

  And there's my answer! Haran, Dagur's wife, just smacked Nelacar upside the head for asking the same question, and Valdimar said that yes, he did.

  Just a few, but they either weren't serious, or didn't want to be.

  Ouch.

  Erandur heard it, too. He's sitting across from me, and I saw his eyes leave his book and look in Valdimar's direction.

  Well, I'm going to relax for a bit. I think I'll go have a soak before dinner.

  -/-/-/-/-/-

  Okay, a note before I crawl into bed. Lydia's already asleep.

  After the bath (Lydia joined me so we could talk) it was dinnertime, so we sat down to eat and make some plans.

  It didn't go as I expected, but I have no complaints about heading to Riften tomorrow!

  We're going there because Valdimar made an excellent point.

  We started out with Erandur showing us the book he borrowed. It's all about Gauldur the Arch-Mage. He's been trying to find a way to put the Amulet back together. Earlier I tried just… Sticking them together, but they don't lock into place or anything like that, so that didn't work.

  He thinks we should go to the Arch-Mage's tomb, where the amulet was separated. Near as he can tell, it's in a place that we now call Reachwater Rock, near Markarth. That makes sense, so we're going to investigate there once we have Urag's books.

  I'm pretty sure the Gauldur Amulet is the last thing on Ancano's mind right now, so hopefully he's forgotten all about it, if he ever thought it was there in the first place. Tolfdir didn't seem to know who Jyrik was, so maybe everyone thinks Jyrik was just another draugr?

  Anyway, Lydia started to plan out a route to Windhelm, and Valdimar asked about Riften. He pointed out that we still have a lot of deliveries to make for people, not to mention our mission from Mara. Why not head South, then go to Whiterun? We could go by Fellglow Keep on the way.

  Lydia and I weren't sure, and when he looked to Erandur, the priest just shrugged. Love is patient, and so is She, he said.

  Valdimar scoffed. Erandur may be right, but Valdimar asked him if he honestly thought Mara didn't have a hand in this? None of us could really argue, him least of all! I mean, we're supposed to be out here helping people with their romance problems. Erandur prays in Dunmeri. For all I know he's been asking Her for help on our behalf!

  Oh, and then Valdimar said, and I quote, "Why else would Mara send someone with a broken heart on a quest to help people find love?"

  Erandur got the strangest smile on his face when Valdimar said that. There wasn't pity or sadness, it was… Understanding? I don't know, but he was doing that Warm thing he does.

  Then Erandur said, "Well, I guess we're going to Riften," before he finished his wine and left to say his prayers and get to sleep.

  The rest of us finished our drinks not long after that, and now I'm almost ready for bed.

  We have a long walk in the morning.