I had fun surprising Lydia with my loot-stashing spell. I was certain that if she was now sworn to defend me and my belongings with every ounce of strength she had, then I could definitely trust her with my secrets as well. Which also meant I was going to help her master the self-cast Alteration spell that would allow her to control her pussy's inner walls as I did with mine... heh-heh...
The morning was another browse in the market for jerky, fruit, and other minor supplies. I already had some stout Ebony armor, and weapons, so there was no need to buy that. My loyal housecarl showed me an easier way of fitting furs over the battle armor. She mentioned that the home of these 'Greybeards,' the 'Throat of the World,' was the peak of massive mountain east of Bleakfalls, which made the wind-blown, snow-dusted ruins look like they were sitting on a low hill. The route up, was apparently called, "The Path of the Seven Thousand Steps." After hearing that, I asked Lydia about it as we started walking down the road.
"Why do your people favor such extremes in the cold anyway?"
She seemed to think about it, but answered as we continued beneath the mountain's northern flank.
"I don't know exactly, speaking for my people, but the nords originated from the continent of Atmora, thousands of miles to the north across the Sea of Ghosts. The land there is covered in ice and snow all year long, its as though it has no summer. Perhaps my ancient ancestors had a 'comfort' of a sort with such cold, and is still there, hidden in our spirits. After all, why do your people favor the wild, hot swamps, filled with all manner of aggressive, dangerous predators?"
"Good point."
We spent several hours walking along while I thought about what I wanted for my life in this land. It was immensely beautiful, though very harsh, even to the nords who, as Lydia said, migrated from an even harsher land. I was still mystified by how I could barely notice the cold, when I knew that other argonians would be slowing down, and feeling tired. It's a holdover of my race, from when the Hist helped us develop from the salamanders that lived on the trees in the Merethic Era.
But... perhaps if, as my village shaman said, my soul wasn't argonian, then what about my physical body? I looked like any other argonian, and was hatched along with the others in my mother's clutch, but did my soul, being a different kind of soul, did that somehow affect me physically?
"My Thane," Lydia roused me from my thoughts, "I know that the main road goes straight ahead, but these stones stacked here," she pointed to them off to the side, "they often mark something for travelers in Skyrim. In this case, there is a trail that leads up to the village below the mountain. It's not as steep as the switchback ahead, and it bypasses the Valtheim Towers. I've heard they've become a bandit hideout. The trail is cold though."
"Sounds like the trail up is the better option, though I would enjoy a fight with those bandits..."
Lydia was surprised to hear that, as I smiled to myself. When I was younger, I was always confused with why people were surprised with why I liked to fight. The thrill, the triumph of victory, the prospect of profiting from my opponent's belongings, as long as I didn't resort to banditry or thieving, who wouldn't enjoy it? But as I matured, the longing of battle never faded, but my understanding of it grew. Most good people preferred to avoid fighting, because of the concern of injury, or worse, death. There's also worse things than death too, but such things as those are the study of conjurers, and those involved with the daedra, whether such business is good or ill.
Still, I always enjoy the surprise my genuine excitement of a fight elicits. I was feeling like there was something extremely important I needed to know about from the Greybeards, and even if I didn't have any idea of what, I wanted to find out as soon as possible.
We trudged up the steep switchback, using a couple magical staves made of aspen. Even if neither of us were seriously practiced in using offensive battle-magic, they did double as good walking sticks, and not all staves used Destruction magic anyway. These, Belethor, that smug breton merchant back in Whiterun, had told me, created a type of Alteration spell effect that I hadn't heard of until I got into Skyrim. A "skin" spell that worked in a way similar to my Ebonyflesh spell, in that it temporarily altered my body's flesh, but instead of making it more harder, I would be made more resistant to the cold of the elements, and this mountain was, according to Lydia, the highest in all of Skyrim, perhaps even higher than Red Mountain before it erupted. The breton who sold it to me openly admitted that he'd do anything to get my patronage, but that I could be sure that he would never cheat me, because he said that if customers had little reason to trust him, he wouldn't sell much.
Lydia had assured me that even though he was a weasel of a man, he had always been honest as a merchant, so I decided to rely on my investment in these new staves. After only a half hour of climbing, the ground was already giving way to dusted snow, and we still had a lot of mountain ahead.
About three hours after that, I was surprised to find an old, weathered pair of stone towers flanking the trail. No one seemed to be around, but it felt like an ambush could happen here.
"I thought you said the towers were down by the road below?"
"Yeah." Lydia replied. "I don't remember these, and I don't think I've ever heard of any hunters telling of them. Are you, uh... are you thinking of checking them out?"
"Only if the night was drawing close," I answered quietly "it's still midday, but I'm sure that there's probably a chance of bandits hiding here. Since this place is quite a bit off from the main road, then I think they wouldn't expect anyone here, but that it's isolated and generally unknown, also means that town guards or soldiers probably won't ever come out here, making it appealing for bandits. Stay alert, but let's keep moving. It's important to me that I find out what the Greybeards have to tell me."
"Of course my Thane."
I rolled my eyes. "Remember, Lydia, I want you to not be so formal, at least with me. You're not 'just' my housecarl to me..."
"Oh yes, my- ah, Scarlet..."
The amused affection in her tone made me feel like kissing her again, but we needed to know if the area was clear first. I cast my Detect All spell, and as I expected, there was the cloudy aura of two bandits showing in my spell's visual range. Usually, I would be happy to track them down, but I was more interested in getting to the Greybeards than wasting time.
"We know you're there," I yelled "so unless you want us to track you with my detection spell, I suggest that you leave us alone, and we won't have to kill you!!"
Lydia and I saw a wood elf's head pop up from behind a big boulder on the right. He seemed to appraise our armor and weapons, then called back.
"You might kill us anyway, and we don't want the guard after us, if YOU don't! How do we know that letting you two go, is in our best interests?!"
