Day 143 – Training

By the time I got back to town this afternoon, I was so hot and yucky smelling that I would have gladly waded into the canals of Riften to get clean….and that's saying a lot considering that those are filled with raw sewage.  But at least now the blacksmith has his smelted ore, I know how to smelt, and I got some more septums in the process.

The Elusive Smelter

While I was in Shor's Stone, not only did the blacksmith show me how to smelt but when he noticed a few wolf hides in my bags, he demonstrated how to tan them using the tanner that sat on his front porch.  I gave him the tanned hides as a thank you for all of the training, even though I didn't have to.  I felt like I owed him something.

Helpful Blacksmith

Elgrim's wife was very happy when I returned with that ore sample from the blacksmith in Shor's Stone…so happy that she offered to show me some of the alchemy stuff that she knows.  She warned me that she didn’t know much but that she knew enough to get me started.  I was thrilled at the invitation and watched as she showed me how to make a health potion.

She let me try to make the same potion afterwards.  It wasn't until the end that I realized her husband had been watching us.  He seemed to be happy with my results, even mentioning that I seemed to catch on much faster than his current apprentice, Maven Black-Briar's daughter, Ingun.  Too bad Ingun heard the comment.  She slunk out of the shop with her head down.  I wonder if I'm going to have trouble with the Black-Briar family now.

Talking about trouble, I made a friend today.  Her name is Svana Far-Shield and she works at her Aunt Haelga's bunkhouse.  I asked her how she liked her job and she grimaced and told me that she hated it – the men that stay there won't keep their hands off of her.  I'm suddenly very thankful that I have a "job" that doesn’t require me to work in such a place.

Svana was amazed that I was daring enough to go out by myself and collect supplies from the wild.  I asked her if she'd ever gone outside the wall and her eyes widened at the thought, "No!  Never!  Aunt Haelga says that the wilderness is filled with wild animals and evil men.  I'd never go out there, even with the guards escorting me."  Maybe one day I'll be able to talk her into coming outside the wall with me and at least seeing the beauty that is outside.