It was around midday when Eorlund was working at the Skyforge. He was repairing a piece of armour, or rather trying to repair a piece of armour, when he ran into a slight problem. He looked down at the training area where Ebony, Sam and Sabre were training with Farkas.
“I need one of you Whelps for a simple errand”.
Ebony stuck her hand up way before anyone else had the chance to even look up.
“I’ll do it”.
“There’s a good lass. Get down to the Warmaiden’s and ask Adrianne if she has any steel bars spare. I’ll need five if possible”.
“I’m on my way”. She sheaved her weapons then headed off around Jorrvaskr and made her way down the steps. Soon enough she was waiting at the Warmaiden’s for Adrianne to sort out the steel bars when Kul-et and Veezara entered through the main gate.
“Hi Kul-et. We weren’t expecting you back”.
The moment Ku-let saw Ebony she literally ran over to her and threw her arms around her. She felt her eyes swell up as Ebony held her.
“Oh Ebony… It’s good to see you. Are they back yet?”
“Ermm who?”
“Sotek and Aela? I need to see him”. Kul-et said as she crunched up her face. She turned back to the gate despairingly.
Ebony gave her a strange look.
“No, they’re not expected back until tonight. The Harbinger reckons they’ll actually be here tomorrow”. She immediately saw that Kul-et was worried, she could see it in her eyes. “Tell me, what’s up?”
Kul-et glanced over to Veezara then looked back at Ebony.
“Nothing I’m ok, I just… What are you doing here?”
Ebony pointed over to Adrianne who was working at the smelter.
“I’m waiting for five steel bars for Eorlund”.
Adrianne called out to them as she bought the steel bars over to Ebony.
“Here you go. Tell Eorlund I’ll see him later”.
Veezara took the bars from Adrianne.
“I’ll carry them”.
Ebony smiled at him then took hold of Kul-et’s hand.
“Thanks. Come on sis. Maybe you’ll talk to the Harbinger”
Kul-et suddenly found herself being dragged through the market as Ebony pulled her along. Within moments they were walking through the doors of Jorrvaskr.
“Harbinger, Kul-et needs a word with you”.
The Harbinger looked up from the papers he was going through and looked straight at Kul-et who seemed to back away from him.
“Harbinger, I don’t need a word with you”.
“Yes, she does” Ebony stated. “She was upset in the market, but she wouldn’t say why”.
Panic set in and Kul-et snapped. Before she knew it, she was shouting at Ebony.
“No, I wasn’t. Ebony, it’s got nothing to do with you. You’re always sticking your nose in other people’s business. You… I… Harbinger I’m…” She burst into tears and ran down stairs to her room, moments later they all heard a muffled bang as she slammed her door.
Ebony stood there stunned by Kul-et’s verbal attack. Veezara himself didn’t know what to say or even do for that matter. He just stood by the door. Sighing, Kodlak called him over.
“Veezara, take a seat. Tell me what’s happened, and please don’t leave anything out. Ebony you sit down as well. We’ll sort her out, don’t worry”.
Both Ebony and Veezara sat down as the Harbinger had requested. Ebony gave Veezara a hard stare as she fought back the anger she felt inside.
“She was fine yesterday. What the hell have you done to her, you bastard?”
Veezara slammed his hand on the table with a loud bang.
“Xuth! I know just as much as you”.
Ebony pointed across at him as she shouted.
“You liar”.
The Harbinger snapped straight back at her before the situation escalated.
“Ebony, silence! Let him speak”. He then cleared his throat and took a sip of water. Once he was ready he turned back to Veezara. “Start from the beginning if you would be so kind Veezara. And Ebony, shut up”.
Veezara poured himself a glass of mead and took a large gulp of it. Once he wiped his mouth on the back of his arm he cast Ebony a hard stare. As he talked the Harbinger got the impression he was actually telling Ebony the story rather than himself.
“Hmmm… It happened yesterday, whatever it was. Once she saw the others off, I showed her around the shop. We started in the bedroom…”
Ebony shouted out at him.
“See? It was him! You pervert”.
The Harbinger rolled his eyes as he held his hand up to Veezara to stop him responding.
“Ebony if you can’t be quiet then you’ll have to go outside”.
“But Harbinger…”
He looked over at her owlishly, stopping her dead in mid-sentence.
“Then be quiet”. He then asked Veezara to continue.
Veezara paused for a few seconds then turned to Ebony.
“I know you two are close, but please. I’m as much in the dark as you are. Like I said, after I showed her the bedroom, I then showed her the kitchen and then the living area. Finally, we headed to the shop. There’s no supplies there yet to sell. Sotek said Farkas is going to bring us some for when the shop opens. Kul-et looked a bit fed up, I suppose. She said that ‘the others were going off on one of their adventures’ or something like that. Well, while she was seeing the others off, I was told about a bandit camp, so I thought she would like to help in dealing with it. That way she gets to go on an ‘adventure’, as she puts it. And we show Sotek and you, Harbinger, that we’re not just prepared to sit back and let the Companions do all the work”.
Kodlak nodded at him.
“A noble idea, but don’t think you need to prove yourself. We all know the risks you took to save the Emperor. What happened at the camp?”
“Well, before we got there she was in high spirits. We were attacked by wolves. If attacked is the right word. She killed them both easily. You and the Companions have trained her well”.
“Thank you for that, but the camp?”
“Oh sorry. Well what can I say, we killed the bandits, then she seemed chuffed that she found a chest to loot. She opened the chest up joking with me as she did so, then called out to me”.
Ebony suddenly started listening to him instead of just blaming him, far more than what she had been previously.
“What did she call out?”
“Ermm have a look at this, I think”. Veezara said as he struggled to remember the exact details of the event leading up to Kul-et being upset and disturbed.
Ebony realised that Veezara was just as concerned as they were, her anger dissipated as she asked another question.
“What was it?”
Veezara sighed then got up from his chair.
“This”. He then pulled out from his pocket the gemstone and gave it to the Harbinger.
Kodlak looked at it blankly.
“A garnet?”
“Yes, the moment she saw that she screamed then promptly burst into tears. After that all she kept on about was getting back here and talking with Sotek”.
The Harbinger dropped the garnet on the table then spoke softly.
“Is that everything?”
“Yes, there’s nothing more I can say”.
Kodlak shook his head grumbling loudly.
“Bloody typical. It’s the first time someone’s prepared to tell me the whole truth, and he can’t tell me anything. Sotek, what the hell have you done, and where the hell are you?”
Ebony looked up at him.
“Shall I fetch him?”
“Fetch him? He’s not exactly out in the training area, or in his blasted room, is he?” Kodlak stated as he rolled his eyes at the girl.
At that point Kul-et came up stairs. It was obvious that she had been listening to them.
“It’s nothing to do with the garnet, it’s something else. Harbinger, Ebony, Veezara, please”. She walked over to Veezara and pushed her head into his chest. “Hold me…”
Veezara held her tightly, as he did so Ebony heavily scrutinised him. She very quickly realised she was wrong about him.
“Veezara, I’m sorry I blamed you about why Kul-et’s upset”.
Kul-et looked across at Ebony through Veezara’s arms.
“I’m sorry I snapped at you”.
Ebony got up out of her chair then went over to Kul-et. Kul-et broke away from Veezara then both her and Ebony hugged each other. As they held each other Ebony spoke softly to her, as she tried to get Kul-et to open up.
“I just whished that you would say what was wrong. Then we can try to help”.
“I know, it’s just, last time he was angry with me when I didn’t go to him. He was right, Harbinger, I need to see him. I’m sorry I can’t explain why, I just do”.
Kodlak got up then walked over her and held her like he did with Aela when she was upset.
“You can always talk to me, you know that”.
Kul-et suddenly pulled away from him angrily.
“No, you’re not listening! Why don’t anyone listen”. The next second she found herself shouting again. She tried to control it, but her fear just took over. “No one’s listening to me! I need him, not you, not any of you. I… Need… Him… Leave me alone, all of you”.
Veezara went to reach over and hold her, but she snapped at him before he could do anything.
“Fuck off, don’t touch me, don’t you bloody dare”. The next moment she started crying again. All of them could see she wanted to hold Veezara desperately, but instead she just ran to her room.
The Harbinger called out to Ebony as he pointed to Veezara.
“Take his gear and store it in the spare room. Veezara it would seem you’re here until Sotek gets back. I suspect that’s the only time when we’ll get our answers. Grab a plate and get yourself some food, we’ll let Kul-et calm down then see about her eating. There’s no point in you starving yourself until then”.
As Veezara sat down, the Harbinger watched his expressions. He could tell that Veezara felt useless, and his voice confirmed it. When he spoke, he sounded desperate.
“What are we going to do?”
“Well, Vilkas and Farkas are off hunting at the moment. When they come back I’ll send Vilkas off”.
“Off where?”
Kodlak sighed, “Off where? Oh, my dear boy, off to find Sotek, and with some luck… Bring him back”.
That evening Farkas and Vilkas returned to Jorrvaskr. The moment they entered the hall, Kul-et who was now sitting at a small table by herself, suddenly turned to the doorway. Her head lifted from the pit of despair which she found herself in, just momentarily, until she realised it was them.
“Oh, for fuck sake, where the hell is he?”
“Oh, hi Kul-et, we missed you too”. Farkas stated jokingly.
Kul-et snapped at him, catching him completely off guard.
“Shut up, damn it. Why can’t any of you leave me alone?”
Both Farkas and Vilkas just looked at each other then slowly turned to the Harbinger.
Farkas called out to him.
“Ok, what the hell have we just walked into?”
The Harbinger shook his head then called Vilkas over.
“Vilkas, I’ve a job for you”.
“Anything Harbinger, you know that”.
“Good, although you might wish you said no. Go to the stables, once there, hire three horses and find Sotek and Aela. Bring them back here, if they can’t come back then bring Sotek back alone. Either way, you find him and return him here”.
He cast a look at Kul-et then at Farkas.
“Ermm… When do I leave?”
The Harbinger gave him a cold, hard stare.
“Half an hour ago”.
Vilkas groaned out loudly.
“Oh, damn it”.
Soon afterwards he found himself leaving the stables with two horses in tow. Several hard hours of riding later, he was rapidly approaching Falkreath. From there he headed southwards towards Cyrodiil’s border. He slowed the horses up then dismounted. Two guards exited the tower and approached him, so he called out to them both.
“Hey, any sign of Sotek and Aela? They passed through here a day ago or so”.
One guard started laughing at him.
“No, they didn’t. They passed here no more than two hours ago”.
Vilkas groaned.
“Oh, bloody hell. Where in Cyrodiil will they be now?”
“Cyrodiil? No, Skyrim actually. They passed from Cyrodiil a few hours ago”.
“What? Where were they heading to?”
The guard shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know, but he changed to his werewolf form. She jumped on his back and rode him out past Falkreath towards the lake to the north”.
“The lake? Oh, those bastards. That’ll be the plains. For fuck sake, why the hell didn’t I go there first?” He mounted up then trotted back towards Falkreath after guessing that they were at their overhang. He didn’t rush as he knew they would spend the night there and besides the horses were tired after the long ride to the gatehouse.
Comments
Not really sure Sotek is the best person to work on this problem. I doubt he's very knowledgeable in the sphere of Meridia. I'd rather ask Urag at the Colle... more
Not really sure Sotek is the best person to work on this problem. I doubt he's very knowledgeable in the sphere of Meridia. I'd rather ask Urag at the College about it, if anything.