Skyrim

Morwen had almost forgotten how much outsiders disliked mages until the Bosmer's anxiety was made clear. Up until just this last day or so, she had either been in the company of other mages or had been being paid for her services by adventurers who valued them. Well, that was as it was. Given a chance to know her better they'd soon learn she was decent enough.

"Excuse me," she said, gently but firmly. "I'm Morwen, Morwen Argall." She didn't feel the need to state her profession again - it was obvious enough from her robes. "I wondered if you might permit me to join you? I understand you have an interest in solving this pamphlet as well? I'd happily share what I have at least ruled out. Perhaps, if we were to put our heads together, we might have more of a chance of finding the key?" She waited for an answer with tankard and bowl still in hand, aware that the edgy Bosmer might well decide to refuse.

Listening to Sillivren intently as she spoke, her head spun due to how much she had to drink but she was still very able to understand what was being said by the Bosmer but, as she questioned why the months had been bad, a frown appeared upon her face as she thought intently about why the months were horrible for her. "It is nothing." She replied plainly with much sadness within her voice, staring into her drink as she thought once more as she shook her head. "It is just that..." She let her words fade out due to the sadness but let some silence overtake her as she thought about her father and all that she had lost, looking quickly back up to Sillivren with surprise upon her face as she spoke the code-word. "Did you just say..."

Before she could finish speaking, Morwen had approached the table and began to speak up causing her to finish speaking and look over her shoulder to see Morwen standing behind her and introducing herself to Sillivren. She reached for her tankard and took a very slight sip from it as she moved it to her mouth, listening to the Breton with a new thought appearing in her. As Morwen finished speaking, she looked back over to Sillivren with a slight smile upon her face, glancing down at the septims that she had left there when she built the small table out of them. Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out seven more septims and placed them before Sillivren with the smile remaining upon her face, speaking very quietly hoping that only Sillivren could hear her. "Use this money to pay for a room. I want you to stay around as we must speak more soon." Through her words, the word 'must' was emphasized as if it were very important.

As soon as she finished speaking, she slowly stood from her chair and picked the platter of Venison and the only full tankard from the table, looking back to Morwen with a smile. "Take my seat. I must meet with someone." Those words seemed to be filled with a sort of joy and kindness within them, none of her words making it even seem as if she were drunk. Lightly nodding to Morwen, she slowly walked away and over to the bar, leaning upon it as she reached it. Placing her platter and tankard down upon the bar, she looked over at Silgvar causing her smile to fade from her face. "It seems we have gotten many new faces in Solitude these days. What is your name?"

The inn was now beginning to feel heavy with the air of food and drink as everyone conversed away from Silgvar.

By this time the bard had taken a brake herself and was sitting at the opposite corner of the room where she had set up a small place for herself. On the other side of the room Silgvar was now finishing up his meal, the last of the meat had been eaten and his fork hauled the last of the potatoes into his mouth. He followed with a large swallow of mead from his mug, which by this time was now his third though that amount barely effected him at this stage in his life.

It only took a small creak of the wood under the approaching imperials arm to get his attention as she leaned in not far from him.

"What is your name?" She asked him.

He took a moment to right himself, wiping his mouth and sitting up away from his plate. Unbeknownst to him he had sat and eaten the last few minutes like a sabre cat did while guarding its own kill and now his face somewhat resembled the same in turn. But a few small passes with his napkin was enough to remove the image from him, only so he could look back and speak.

"Silgvar..." He answered turning his head to the young woman.
She could see what time had done to him over the years and now from seeing his right side just what an effect that can have on a man. His eyes were cold and distant like the view of the nighttime sea, however there was the bright beam of a strange full moon in his injured eye.

"How is it that I can be of service to you..? imperial.." The break in his voice showed that somewhere within him there still sat some amount of discontent for her people. Though not for her personally, it was still there and present easily seen or heard by those with the mind for it.

Silgvar took another draw from his mugs contents as he awaited her answer.

Somewhat annoyed at how Silgvar responded to her simple question, Valia shook her head and tore a piece of her venison from the rest before placing it in her mouth. Slowly chewing the venison, trying to stall some time in order to rid herself of the annoyance held within her, she let the taste sink in causing the annoyance to be replaced by some joy as she loved the taste of the venison. Quickly picking up her tankard, she took a large drink from it in order to, not only, wash the venison down but to also stall a bit more Knowing that she could not stall anymore, she looked over at him with a sort of plain expression and began to speak. "Be of service?" She questioned with a sort of feigned confusion in her voice and upon her face, shaking her head to deny his words as she began to speak once more. "All I was trying to do was get to know those who are new to the city and, as I did not recognize you, I assumed that you were new here."

Despite being quite drunk, Valia's words seemed to make it sound as if she were completely sober and only had a few sips of her brandy but her swaying as she stood there. Slowly moving onto the stool next to her, Valia rested herself upon it in order to make sure that she did not fall and leaned heavily upon the counter. "I am Valia Mallius." She spoke as she looked back over to Silgvar to finally see the scars and injuries upon his face causing confusion to enter her. "There must be many stories behind those scars. Are they from your days in the stormcloaks?" Despite having much respect for Nords, when Valia drinks too much, she seems to speak before thinking which explains her comment.

Silgvar wiped his mouth once again to make sure he was rid of his meal and leaned back in his seat, sliding his axe out of the way with a free hand. He gave a deject sigh before returning to her "Silgvar Star-stone and I apologize" He turns on the stool to face her.

"My last few encounters with any imperial or guard in the passing months have been less then favorable. So I am sorry for my somewhat instant frame of mind." He stands and greets her properly, not forgetting to at least be civil about himself.

"I am not new to Solitude but it has been some time since I last made the trip and if not for this riddle I would not be here even today." He then runs the fingers of his right hand over the marks on his face and smirks for a moment, as if the memory was playing back slowly in his mind. "As for the stormcloak business.. No"

"I love my home and kinsmen as much as the next nord but you'll not find me so willing to take up arms against those very kinsmen." He slides the silver choker from under the furs in his armor and shows them to Valia. "My time with the silver hand is where these were earned."

Shaking her head once more with a sigh, Valia closed her eyes and hung her head low in disappointment for herself, opening her eyes to stare at the counter with another sigh exiting her lungs. "Now I apologize..." She spoke plainly as she leaned against the counter with her elbows, placing a lot more weight upon it with her hands moving up to her head, holding it tight as she closed her eyes once more. "I should not have assumed you were a stormcloak due to you being a Nord..." Some of the words within that sentence were slurred as the alcohol finally took over her voice. Still holding her head in, failed, attempts to stop feeling dizzy, she opened her eyes and looked up at the bartender. "Please tell me you have something that can cure my drunkenness." As she finished speaking, the bartender shook his head and she sighed once more.

Looking back over to Silgvar, she thought intently about what he had said but couldn't quite figure any of it out until his mention of the riddle and the Silver Hand jumped into her head. Shaking her head once more, she looked away from him and down to her food, tearing a chunk out of her barely warm venison before plopping it in her mouth. "Please tell me you do not think I am the guard in that riddle. It is hard enough dealing with crime in both the city and hold and having people come up to me daily spouting the number three makes it even more difficult." Just after speaking, she stared at her food and seemingly zoned out for a few moments before looking back to Silgvar.

"The Silver Hand?" Her question seemed quite delayed as he had mentioned them before she even began to speak, the question being somewhat filled with astonishment, surprise, and intrigue. "I have only heard rumors about these... warriors and never thought they were real." Letting herself be silent for a moment as she thought, she shook her head with a skeptical expression growing upon her face. "You are not trying to tell me that beasts called werewolves are real... They are only a myth!" Her voice grew in volume, somewhat, but was not loud enough to overwhelm the sounds of the people in the tavern. Just after speaking, the bartender slowly slid a key to Valia that unlocked the door of a room in the inn for her to stay at. Seeing the key, she let out another sigh and slowly pulled out some septims to pay for the room, placing them upon the table. "Thank you..."

Silgvar only stared ahead as Valia let all of her words fly, there was a sheer irony in the moment he was seeing since he was could remember the very first time he spoke about them with his father, reversing the two roles in his mind. She was most assuredly drunk though so it could be attributed to her current haze of mind. He looked up at Vinius for a moment after he dropped the key off on the counter for her. "Could I get a loaf of dry bread and some water for her please?" With a nod from the bartender he walks away to the other side of the counter and reaches below before returning with both the items in question.

Silgvar slides them over in front of her. "This should at least lessen the blow."

"But if it doesn't, I have some dragon tongue in my satchel which will help but I wouldn't plan on going to sleep tonight."

He still was on the fence about her if she was telling the truth about not believing in werewolves. Even in Riften there have been physical sightings and in Whiterun as well. But then again she is here in solitude and he has known the holds to suppress such things in hopes of keeping the people at rest. But he felt the temptation of being snide for a moment as he speaks. "Well the silver hand was somewhat secretive in where they stayed and operated, even when I was with them. But you can somewhat say the same of the Vigilant of Stendarr or the Dawnguard as well." He takes another swig from his mug and looks back at her.

"Then again we could always go hunting and speak to Hircine himself.. you could ask him then if werewolves exist."

He returns his eyes back to the back of the bar as he catches himself in the act of being an ass.
"No.. I'm not that overzealous about this riddle." He tells her after a moment of collecting himself.
"I would rather make sure to explore all reasons for this riddle before going out and bother someone in such a manner."

Vinius passes by and fill Silgvar's mug once more while collecting his plate as well, only collecting whatever was not being used at the time. After a moment of collecting everything and setting them at the far end of the counter he disappears away from the bar for that time, either into the kitchen or behind the bar Silgvar could not tell.

As Silgvar spoke about the Silver Hand, Valia listened intently but, when he mentioned the Dawnguard and the Vigilants of Stendarr, he became even more intrigued as she had heard amazing things about the two latter groups. "So the Silver Hand is the Werewolf counterpart of the Dawnguard?" She questioned as she looked down at the bread and water in front of her, picking up the bread with her left hand before looking back at Silgvar, thinking much more intently about the three groups. "Why do they not merge all together to rid Skyrim of monsters overall? They sound to have similar goals but different enemies..."

Letting her questions fade into her mind, a bit, she took a bite out of the bread and looked down at her plate of cold food. "You can take this..." She spoke quietly as she looked up to the bartender with a slight smile upon her face. "I think I left it here for too long to get cold." Quickly glancing over to the tankard with some brandy left in it, conflicted thoughts ravaged her mind whether or not she should keep it or not; a war between her alcoholism and who she truly was. After a few thoughts, she looked down in a sort of despair as she flicked her hand in a sort of dismissal. "You can take the tankards too." It seemed as if, at that moment, she won the war against her alcoholism causing her to lift her head once more to see the water in front of her, hastily, yet still casually, taking the glass with her right hand before taking a large drink of it.

Slowly lowering the glass from her lips after drinking from it, she looked back to Silgvar and remembered that he spoke about the riddle. "You're the first, then." She spoke with a light chuckle before taking another bite of the bread in order to hopefully make her less drunk, even though she knew it would never work. She had too much for dry bread and water to cure. Nodding to herself slightly, she began to speak up once more. "What have you gotten so far with the riddle? Have you come close to solving it?"

Silgvar looked at Valia with a wry smile as she mentioned the three group should join forces, to which he just remarks.
"Yes.. while that may seem a good idea in thought. It doesn't help that having such groups with similar goals working together, also means you would have to deal with the size of their own needs in the same room." He takes another swig from his mug and lightly wipes his lips. "They would argue over more problems then they could get fixed.. which was the case last time the hand and the vigilant tried to come together against one of the daedric princes." He rolled his eye's for a moment. "From what I read it was nightmare."

But as the conversation came back to the riddle at hand he looked back at his own copy and gave a slight deject sigh.

"I must admit I have not gotten very far.. no more then most at least." He flips the slip of parchment over as if done with looking at it for the fact of overindulging on that same look in the last few days. "Barrow.. Solitude.. Skeever..One.. Guard.." He motions around towards certain aspects of their surroundings as if to emphasis the words he spoke, only to point at Valia when he said guard. "I'm only missing what links them.."

"I am really beginning to miss the small puzzles from the old nordic barrows.. at least they dealt with images and phrases that one could understand without having inside knowledge."

Looking down at the counter as she listened intently to Silgvar's words, Valia closed her eyes in order to, hopefully, concentrate through the drunkenness she caused herself. Tearing pieces from the dry bread, she plopped them in her mouth but opened her eyes not too long after closing them as she felt herself drifting away it sleep causing her to reach for the glass of water. Letting his words fill her mind, she nodded a few times but when the conversation was brought back to the riddle, she looked back over at him in some curiosity as she wondered how far he had gotten. Noticing that, so far, only the Bosmer completed the riddle, she shook her head lightly as she realized that she made it much too difficult.

Taking another drink of water, Valia let her eyes scan down to the piece of paper in front of Silgvar as he mentioned the words that he figured out. Knowing that there were more words necessary to completing the riddle, she decided to help him but first waited until he finished speaking, letting out a chuckle as he mentioned the picture puzzles of the nordic ruins. "I have only been to one nordic ruin before but did not get too far in before reaching a door that none of the legionnaires with me could open." Not realizing that she just gave away her involvement in the Legion to a Nord, despite most of Solitude knowing she was in both a Captain in the Legion and that her father was a Legate, she continued to speak. "This ruin was down near Ivarstead but we did not have the key so we could not enter. I do know what you mean by..."

Letting her thoughts fade out as she realized that she digressed, she shook her head once more and let out another chuckle as she looked back down at the paper in front of Silgvar. "May I?" She questioned but, without waiting for an answer, she took the paper and slid it over to her and looked at the intentionally placed dots upon the back of it before flipping it over. Letting her eyes scan across the page, she read each word and made it seem as if she was trying to figure it out as well, quickly speaking up. "It seems you are missing some words. And... Hall... Wink... Three..." Letting her voice fade out as she spoke the last word, she nodded slightly and looked back over at Silgvar. "Wink seems to have brought you here and Hall may be the overall destination. What do And and Three mean?"

Silgvar runs his hand over his chin for a moment as he leans on the bar top.

It was obvious that she was drunk by the way she moved and how her voice was slowly dropping from time to time. Though she had the sense to keep herself stable as well has keeping her mind about her. He on the other hand took another drink before turning to look down at his flier that she was now looking at. He could tell that she was well used to seeing these damn things as she slightly loomed over it for a quick moment before inquired about the other three words near the end of the riddle.

He on the other hand just shrugged his shoulders for a moment.
"Like I said, I am just not used to this kind of riddle. Besides it seems that whoever wrote it may have missed to point something else out in the first place to make the riddle really work." He adjusted his weapon before sitting down again and sliding his feet up to the bar. "Anything from a color, sound, or person.." He drinks once more finishing off his mug and sliding it across the bar top to the other side. "A guard is rather brash.. making more trouble then it helps, while three could mean anything.. three forks, mugs, even people."

He leaned in on his elbow while he harked back to a better time in his mind. About fighting and searching for treasure, while complicated and dangerous surely has this riddle beat in effect through his point of view.

Listening to Silgvar as he spoke and was unable to understand the letter, Valia cursed herself in her mind due to the fact that she wrote it to make it difficult but it ended up being too difficult. Of course, she did not want the Thalmor to understand it and that is exactly what she got as the Bosmer at the other table was the only one who had gotten it so far. Keeping her eyes locked down on the flier, with her eyes following each portion that he was saying, she shook her head and slowly pointed to the word guard. "I do not think guard is too difficult. This riddle brought you here, to the Winking Skeever, and..." As she spoke, she spun herself around on the stool and looked around the bar causing her voice to fade out a bit with her eyes drunkenly moving from person to person before looking back to Silgvar. "I seem to be the only guard here." Realizing that she had almost given away that she was the contact, she pushed herself to spin back to the counter and shook her head drastically as she stared back at him. "But I am not the guard in this riddle." Her voice was very stern but it was obvious that she gave away being the person that he needed to contact.

Closing her eyes for a moment, as she knew she screwed up, she took another drink of the water in the glass in front of her but opened her eyes back up with them moving to the flier in front of him, pretending she did not imply that she was the guard of the riddle. Reading the riddle all the way through, again, despite not needing to, she let her eyes scan over each of the words as they began blurring together due to her drunkenness causing her to rub her eyes with both of her hands, lowering her hands from her eyes as she heard the bartender sliding a key across the bar and over to her. "I suppose I am not to walk home in this state...?" She questioned to the bartender to see him nodding in response before reaching down into her pouch to pull out some septims to pay for the room with.

After paying the bartender, she looked back to Silgvar but looked almost immediately back to the flier, speaking up quite quickly as if it was unrealistic for her to have read the flier so fast. "What do you think 'read One line" means?" Emphasizing the 'one' as she spoke, she looked away from the flier and over to Silgvar with a false confused expression upon her face. It was likely obvious, by then, for Silgvar to know she wrote the riddle or, at least, knew who did.

Silgvar returned to his seat for a moment as she pored over the flier like she did before and he started to lift his drink once more.

But he could see how she was already looking at it, seeing a good amount of the drink that she has taken ride across her face like a pale expression. It was easy to see that she was letting something on. But if she knew anything in the first place; why would she be so adamant in the notion that she was not the one he would be looking for?

This thought ran across his mind as he let the mug fall from his lips and be placed back on the counter top.

He can hear as the door of the inn opens and the hinge swings wide for a few moments, only to be shut once again as several patrons enter. Silgvar has the strange urge to turn his head to see but he could hear them clear enough. Three of them in together with one another and heading to one of the outer tables.

It only took a few moments for Valia to finish and that told him more then enough even though it left him quite conflicted. Why and how would she be the contact if she was refusing it in the very first place. That is when he realized his own misunderstandings, because it was his fault for not seeing that one possibility. The puzzle was too simple and he had spent the last few days looking it over in quiet frustration having not even seen it.

Silgvar rolled his eyes for a moment as he quickly downed the last of his drink and ordered another just as fast. He motioned for her a moment though "I suggest you get yourself to bed then if your in no shape to walk.. We have plenty to talk about in the morning."