Skyrim: Rise of the Dragonborn

Chapter 23: Seven Thousand Steps

Both he and Lydia stood up and looked at their surroundings. As Beric started taking in his surroundings, he started to hear a river flowing. They had to be close to one. Looking up, Beric could see that the sky was starting to light up with the rising sun. He looked behind him and saw a road. As he walked toward it, he started to catch a glimpse of buildings through the trees. They had to be near a village somewhere.

"Do you know where we are?"

"I have a hunch," Lydia said peering upward through the trees. The closer they came to the buildings, the more glimpses Beric got of a mountain peak. It looked familiar.

"Ivarstead?" Beric asked as the trees opened up.

"I think so," Lydia nodded, "I guess he knew where we were headed,"

"I told him while you were unconscious," Beric remembered, "I wonder why he didn't come with us," Beric said as he thought deeply, "He could have escaped too, but he stayed there,"

"Perhaps he had a score to settle," Lydia said as they walked across a bridge that crossed a river, "From what I understand, he left the Aldemeri Dominion because of how they manipulated and abused everyone. I'm not sure if you could tell, but he has some dark memories that haunt him. He was definitely hiding from the Thalmor, much like you,"

"Troleck and I are not the same," Beric raised his eyebrow, "He used to apart of the Aldemeri Dominion. He said himself that he used to be a monster,"

"I doubt he started that way," Lydia shrugged.

"No, but he definitely became it," Beric answered, "No one forces you to be evil. You become that yourself," Beric added critically.

"Better to make mistakes and learn from them than to never be aware of how you could stumble," Lydia responded casually.

"Yeah, but he was a Thalmor agent," Beric shook his head as the townspeople started eyeing them as they walked through, "To make mistakes is one thing, but there's a point where mistakes become unforgiveable,"

"And what point is that?" Lydia asked curiously.

"I-I don't know," Beric shook his head as he began to think, "But we're obviously past that point when we're talking about a Thalmor agent,"

"Hm," Lydia nodded obviously unconvinced.

"What?" Beric asked as he feared he probably stuck his foot in his mouth again.

"I believe there is a point when someone's actions are obviously wrong, and should be confronted," she said looking up the mountain, "I also believe that there is great evil in this world that should be fought with every ounce of effort," she said carefully, "I think everyone believes that...but to say that something is unforgivable is to make a large claim,"

"How so?"

"To say that an action or group of actions is unforgiveable is to say that you would rather have died than do anything remotely similar while in the same position," she said thinking deeply and shaking her head, "And that conclusion assumes a lot,"