(14) - Preparations - Journal entry -

Loredas 29th of Last Seed 4E201

As I had feared I woke up late this morning, so no trip to Whiterun today for sure. After a few quick bites from an apple I went to Alvor. First I bought a hide shield to replace my current battered one. Then I worked on repairing my armor, fixing the cuts in it from the thief attack yesterday. I also added some extra padding, and at the end of the morning I was pretty satisfied with my work. I wouldn't be surprised that in its current state it would offer even more protection then before.

I went for a bread and goat cheese lunch at the inn, and allowed myself some wine as well.
Then off to Lucan Valerius. Though I still didn't feel like selling my items for such a low price to that Imperial, I had little choice as I wanted to empty my backpack as much as possible for tomorrow's travels.
All I basically wanted to save were my books, all gems and other light valuables, and some potions of health.
I kept selling Lucan the rest until he was clean out of gold. By then my money pouches were bulging with over 3600 gold inside.

As I walked out of the store I got talking with Faendal, the Elf working odd jobs at the sawmill. I never paid much attention to him, but this time he practically blocked my way to get my attention. As he told me, he and Sven, the bard from the inn, were competing for Camilla Valerius' attention. He had set up a scheme where he wanted me to deliver a letter to Camilla, by his hand, but supposedly written by Sven.

Riverwood's sawmill

Well, I was going to deliver the letter to Camilla alright, but if he thought I was going along with his dirty elven scheme he was dead wrong. This Elf was an archetypal deceiving no good elf for sure, nothing like Leanawen. As soon as I entered the shop again I told Camilla about Faendal's dirty trick, and showed her the letter he forged. In her typical Imperial righteousness she immediately wrote off Faendal, and asked me to inform Sven as well. That should teach the Elf!
I went to the inn to inform Sven, and he handed me 25 gold as a token of his gratitude. He was actually so grateful he offered to accompany me on my trip, but a singing companion was the last thing I had in mind for my trip.

After that I left for Gerdur's house, where I had a thorough dinner of beef and a leg of goat roast.
After Gerdur, Hod and Ralof returned home I informed them of my impending trip to Whiterun. We discussed the civil war and the Stormcloaks, and Ralof kept pressuring me to join the latter. However I didn't want to get caught up in a province wide battle yet, for I have other plans for myself.

After saying goodbye, as I want to leave before dawn tomorrow, I turned in and since it was still quite early in the evening, had a read in 'Chance's Folly'. I must say it was a great book, with a lovely plot, and ironically the plot was similar to Faendal's fate earlier today. Serves him right...