21st of Heartfire, 4E201


I had to pour a bucket of water on Marcurio's face to wake him up this morning. My shaking and yelling  hadn't worked. Apparently, the townspeople had been buying him ale all night, and he'd had too much to drink. He'd only gone to bed a few hours ago. I helped him to a table in the inn's common room, and got us some breakfast. I also gave him a few potions to clear his head and wake him up. After breakfast, we got our gear together and went outside. I told him that it would be cold in Windhelm, so if he wanted a bath he needed to take one here where it was warmer. I let him borrow my soap, and he went to the river to bathe, leaving his stuff on the inn steps next to me. I went through my notes and did more writing while I waited. After Windhelm, we really needed to go to Winterhold. I still had to tell the College about what I'd learned about the Staff of Magnus. We could take the carriage in Windhelm to get there though.

Marcurio seemed more awake after his bath, and he was wearing his circlet again. Apparently he'd taken it to the river to wash it properly. It was much prettier now that it was cleaned up. It still looked a little silly, but it was starting to grow on me. I had a few circlets that I wore because they were enchanted, and one had even been given to me by the Arch Mage. I checked my map to see which way would be best, and we started on the road.

Not far from Ivarstead, I got to prove to Marcurio that I really was the Dragonborn. A dragon swooped down and attacked us. We managed to kill it without too much  trouble, though Marcurio was freaking out the entire time since he'd never seen a dragon. When the dragon started burning like they always did after they died, he ran and ducked behind a rock. I just stood next to it, waiting for its soul to surround me. After it was over, and only the skeleton remained, Marcurio came out of his hiding place. He stared at me in shock, and was speechless. At least until I pointed to the small pile of gold coins that had been in the dragon's belly. He excitedly ran over and picked them all up. I took a few of the dragon's bones, since they seemed to sell well in my experience. I had no idea what the merchants in towns used them for though. They were a bit heavy, so Marcurio offered to carry them for me if I'd split the money from selling them with him. I promised that I would, and we continued on our way to Windhelm, leaving the dragon behind.

Our bags were nearly as full as we could get them, so we  couldn't travel as fast as I wanted to. Hopefully we would at least make it to Windhelm before nightfall. I also hoped that it wouldn't rain, since it had been overcast for all of our walk so far.

We passed by the ruins of Mzulft early that afternoon, and I half hoped to see Jenassa there, sitting out on the steps waiting for me to come back. I knew that would never happen though. I'm sure that her spirit was there, and terrorizing any Falmer that we hadn't managed to kill. Not far from Mzulft, an Altmer mage came out of nowhere and attacked us. At least she had a few gems and a nice staff on her.

We had our lunch on the road, and managed to make it to Windhelm around sunset. The market was still open, so we decided to sell some of the things we'd picked up to make our bags lighter. I also stopped by the blacksmith to repair and improve our weapons and armor. I left Marcurio in the market so he could do some shopping, and went to talk to Aventus. I had told Marcurio that I was just going to run an errand. I didn't want him thinking I was a murderer or anything. Aventus was so happy to hear of Grelod's death that he hugged me and and thanked me for saving him. He rewarded me with a family heirloom, which happened to be a plate. He then assured me that he would return to the orphanage soon, but he'd allow time for them to "clean up the mess". I told him goodbye and went to get Marcurio from the market. We had a carriage ride to catch. I decided to get some sleep in the carriage, so I'd be able to stay awake when we got to Winterhold to talk to the Arch Mage. Hopefully he wouldn't be asleep yet.