I just finished making adjustments to my shield when Brienne appeared in the ruins of the forge I occupied.
"I would like to apologize for losing my composure during the battle last night." the Dragonborn stated.
"Apology accepted, Tater Tot." I told her as I strapped the dragon bonemold spiked pavis to my arm, "Seeing Ria get cooked would be hard for anyone, let alone a girl who was a stable hand two months ago."
"And yet you and the others seem so strong." Brienne shook her head, "Like you were all ready to get back on the road as soon as the funerals were over. You all knew them better than I did, and yet Athis almost seemed happy for Torvar."
"All you manlings have a bit of Nord in you." I explained to her, "And if you believe in Shor and live a life of battle and honor you will have a place in Sovngarde when you die. "While all of us are down here eating trail dust and struggling he is up there where the mead flow never ends and the fists are always flying furious. Ria too. Athis can only hope that his true heart will see him born to Sovngarde, where he will join them again."
"But you won't be there?" Brienne asked the question she already knew the answer to.
"If I die, Ria and Torvar are going to have to invade the spirit realm of the Hist and snatch me up from the godtree's cycle of reincarnation."
"If?" Brienne scoffed, "You think dying is an 'if' for you."
"If you ever get as tough as me, you'll start to wonder if you are immortal too." I told her.
"I didn't know immortal's felt the need to run from dragons." Brienne needled, "You took one look at Sahloknir and ran for help."
"Had a very squishy Dragonborn with me." I told her, "You got good fast kid, but that fight was way out of your level."
"It felt like it was over everyone's level." Brienne looked down, "And he wasn't even the strongest dragon… if Alduin had fought we would have been done for."
"You're right, kid." I agreed, "If he had stayed that would have been the end for us and for the whole world, and for that… I am sorry."
"What do you have to apologize for?" Brienne looked at me in surprise, "You and Jack took on a dragon all by yourselves and helped with the other two."
"I got complacent." I shook my head, "My whole life I have taken every advantage I can get, but after coming to Skyrim, I felt like I could just brute force my way through everything this world could throw at me. But don't you worry kid, after I drop you off with the monks at the Throat of the World I'll chase down a lead on a hammer that should help make future fights way more simple."
"Sounds like one incredible hammer." Brienne grinned, "What were you doing before I interrupted?"
"Just getting my shield into a hands free configuration. So I can do this." I raised my shield activating my blocking powers and made the hand gesture for the healing spell, covering me in a warm light.
"I thought you and Jack couldn't use magic?" Brienne said in confusion.
"We used the Atronach Stone to switch birthsign powers." I told her, "We still have weak magicka pools, but the dragons' fire and frost attacks are purely magical, meaning the Atronach power absorbs half of its potency and turns it into usable magicka. We use the healing spell to boost our impressive natural abilities and we should be able to sit tight under their full power without too much issue. The solutions are there, we just have to think."
"I think I'd like to change signs when we go back south." Brienne told me.
"Good. We always have to be pushing forward, never letting the world push us back." I patted her shoulder and went back to adjusting Jack's shield.
Our trip south was mostly quiet except a brief stare down with the giants of the Steamcrag Camp and a detour trip up the Northwind Summit where we quickly took down another brown dragon and Brienne communed with the word wall. From then on it was a fairly normal journey for the roads of Skyrim. Brief tangles with the wild life and a couple of bandit parties that ran from the sight of us.
We arrived in the small farming community of Ivarstead in the afternoon and found a cheerful welcome from the denizens. After booking rooms for the night at Vilemyr Inn, we sat down to a hearty dinner where I addressed the Companions.
"We part ways tomorrow." I told them.
"Why leave when we are so close to the end of our quest? When the hour comes when we are needed most." Aela asked me.
"I've got a few leads on on things that will be of great use to us in the fight against the dragons, and you all are going to spend a fair bit of time up on High Hrothgar, training Brienne and making those old monks train her too. Don't let them bullshit their way out of teaching her the Thu'um."
"We won't." Skjor grinned.
"What do you seek?" Kodlak asked.
"Got a lead on the Hammer of Might south of here." I told them, "One of the ancient masked dragon priests as well."
"Volendrung in your hands would be a weapon most potent." Kodlak nodded in approval, "And denying the enemy a powerful spell caster is always a wise choice."
"I don't know how long it will take to make Brienne into a deadly warrior and a master of the Thu'um." I said after taking a big draw on my mead horn, "I plan to take a route west to Markarth, and then to Solitude and Dawnstar when I have finished in the Rift. If you finish her training before I return, send word to those places and I will cut our campaign short."
We spent the rest of the evening enjoying our friends, and set out for our own adventures the next morning.