Northbound Pilgrimage III

Chapter LIX - New Life

After their first night in Dawnstar, Bishop and Aeyrin were happy enough to enjoy the city a bit longer.

Especially since most people already made peace with the fact that Aeyrin was there and those who wanted to ask something did already ask. The rest stopped staring – mostly. Some of them still did, but it was not nearly as bad as it was in the beginning. Though some still had some jibes about how she should be doing something about the dragons instead of lazing around the city. She usually solved that with a challenging stare and prompting them to give her suggestions exactly on what she should be doing. Aside from 'go kill Alduin', they had no answers. And they especially had no answers when she asked if they knew where Alduin was just then.

Other than those annoyances, their stay was so far uneventful. They really needed something uneventful. They didn't even have any adventures planned – just rest and recuperation.

The second day they headed back to the smithy to see if the hairpiece was finished. The Nord blacksmith greeted them eagerly and directed them into the house the moment they approached.

When they entered, the Redguard was sitting there by a small cradle, rocking it steadily and the only reaction to their entrance was a prompt gesture as she put a finger in front of her lips, shushing them silently.

They quietly waited for her while they looked around the room. It was an ordinary house, except one end had crates full of metal, armor and weapons, and the other one where the Redguard was sitting, had a bed with an inordinate amount of thick fur blankets on it. They had probably never seen that many in one place. The woman must have really been suffering in the cold.

She rocked the cradle for a while longer before she stopped, very carefully retreating not to wake the baby, and then she approached them at last.

"I finished the piece a few hours ago," she whispered. "I think it turned out really good. Come on," she ushered them towards a large table by the wall. There were numerous tiny tools there and pieces of jewelry – chains, gems, rings, all unfinished components that were clearly waiting for her masterful touch.

She opened a small strongbox and retrieved the item. It was a silver ornament on a delicate hair clasp. It was beautiful. There were so many intricate squiggles and curves along with tiny leaves on it and it was all made into the shape of an irregular teardrop. At the widest part of it, there was the pearl in the middle – set inside a small silver 'prison'.

"Wow. This is beautiful," Aeyrin whispered back. She didn't have any images in her head about how she wanted it to look, but this was breath-taking. And it looked so delicate. Nobody would wear this for anything but a very special occasion. It was perfect.

Now it just needed to be blessed in Windhelm and then she needed some flowers from Falkreath. Actually, some pretty flowers could be put behind this hairpiece. It would look amazing. And she really couldn't wait to see her dress.

This was all making it more and more real as they progressed with the preparations. Well, they didn't do anything much yet. Should they do more? Maybe they should write to people and invite them already – make sure everyone knew where to go. And shouldn't they get the boats for the lake somewhere too? What if those actually needed to be made?

Alright, she was getting a little nervous. Right now, she should really concentrate on how pretty the hairpiece was. After all, the wedding was still a month away. There was a lot of time for everything.

"I'm pleased you like it," the Redguard nodded and outstretched her hand expectantly. Right. The money.

They paid her what they agreed before and left as quietly as possible while she went back to the cradle.