'Well... whatever I guess...' thought Volfir with a shrug and started slowly walking towards the woman who stopped and was looking at him impatiently, waiting for him to catch up
"Hurry up brat, I ain't got all morning" she complained, expecting a submissive reaction from the kid, but was unceremoniously and completely ignored
As Volfir slowly walked, he decided to pull the backpack off his shoulders and take out the sheathed iron dagger he had inside
"Put that away" ordered the now angered woman as she tapped her fingers across her forearms that were folded under her big chest
"No" answered the kid in an emotionless tone as he finally reached the woman's position
The answer made a visible tick appear on the barmaid and she was ready to aggressively take the dagger away from the insufferable kid's hands
"I am going to shave my head" he decided to clarify his aim, making the woman sigh in defeat and go ahead with where she was going before
They walked for a few minutes in complete silence before reaching a rather big room full different sized tubs, stools and washing equipment such as brushes and rags for towels
"Sit, I'll go get some water" the woman said and Volfir complied, simply opting to sit on the floor and resting his back against the wall near the entrance to the room
The woman again sighed in defeat, but didn't comment, walking off to a different room, probably to grab some buckets of water in order to fill a tub
-A couple of minutes later-
The woman was standing by a medium sized tub, half full with water, waiting for Volfir to undress as he did so rather slowly for somebody who only had rags for clothes
When he finally did, the woman could see that the body wasn't as dirty as the kid's face or the hair, but she was internally shocked with all of the badly healed wounds and scars adorning it
Volfir didn't wait for an invitation, just as he didn't mind the woman's conflicted glances at his wounded body, as he entered the tub of freezing cold water
"You ever bathed before, brat?" asked the woman when she got her senses back
"Un..." the boy nodded and voice a sound of affirmation
"Well... get to scrubbing then, I'll shave your head I guess" she said as she looked over the infected bite marks on his hands, not wanting to get anywhere near them
Volfir passed her his knife and took a brush from her offering hand, completely soaking his body before emerging back from underwater so that he could start the process of cleaning himself
The woman in turn, took the knife and pulled back the dirty hair of the boy after he emerged from the water, starting with the head shave
The room became filled with the sound of scraping skin and painful groans of the kid, but both of them didn't pay any attention to them as it was natural for bathing to be painful and unsavory
The woman didn't waste any time and cut off the hair as close to their roots as possible, then throwing away the glob of hair into a bucket she had close to her
"Don't move if you don't want me to cut open your head" she commanded as if Volfir wasn't already washing himself as still as possible
The whole process didn't take long, but the results were pretty grim, the boy was bleeding from his opened wounds and due to the 'dry' shave, his newly clean shaven head still had a few cuts here and there. Some time before they finished up with the bath, another barmaid came in, carrying two large buckets of boiling water, placing them on the floor and leaving to get more buckets of cold water
After they finished, Volfir got up and left the tub, while the woman who was attending him, first gave back the dagger, then dragged the tub to another place in order to empty it, bringing it back a couple of minutes later
Volfir was shivering due to the cold and the painful itching of opened wounds, but he stayed in place, waiting without any complaints
Then came back the barmaid that went to get the buckets of cold water, she repeated the process of simply placing them down on the floor and leaving the room without acknowledging the boy's presence, who reciprocated in kind
A few moments later came back the woman who was shaving him, she again placed the tub in its place, then filled it with cold and hot water, making a warm bath for soaking and relaxing
"Get in, I'll go wait for Erikur to get your clothes if he hasn't done so already, then I'll come get you out after the time is up" ordered the woman yet again
Volfir didn't reply in any way, simply getting back into the tub full of slightly hot water and closing his eyes, making the woman scoff in disapproval at his behaviour, followed by her leaving the room and closing the door
-Some time later-
Volfir was still lying in the tub of now chilly water, his eyes closed and his mind filled without any thoughts, a much needed rest in a comfortable bed the only part missing to his start of a new life
'I bet Ravund would be vocal about his happiness' Volfir's subconsciousness interrupted the moment of relaxation with a wistful thought, bringing the boy's mood back down to how it was before and getting his body tense
Before his mind could go back down the spiral of depressing thoughts, it was interrupted by the door opening and the volomptious woman entering with a set of clothes
"Erikur said they should fit you nicely, even if they are slightly bigger than you would like. You should be grateful to his kindness brat, now get out and wipe yourself with that rag and dress yourself, I have a bed ready for you" she said in a condescending tone, which once again went over Volfir's head as he simply got out of the tub and started wiping himself down
"Tonya, that's outside of this room, will lead you to your bed and Erikur will come get you once the time comes, or at least that's what he said" she said as she got closer to the tub in order to repeat the process of emptying it again
"Okay" the woman finally got a verbal response from the boy, as he started dressing up in the slightly oversized fabric and well fitting leather boots, lined with fur inside them
After he finished, he left the room only to be met with a judgemental gaze of the woman that brought buckets of warm and cold water before. After a few seconds she nodded in affirmation of something to herself and started leading the boy to his room
Once inside the room, Volfir noticed that it was one of the smaller and less tidy ones, but he didn't mind as it at least had a proper bed. Not wasting any time he went ahead, sat on it, took off his boots, tunic, backpack and belt that had an attached pouch, placed them on a chair close to the bed and lied down, covering himself with a fur blanket, while the woman left the room and closed the door behind her
Not long after, Volfir entered a blissful sleep, one he hadn't had since he was sold into slavery. Although eager for what awaited him next, he couldn't spend much time in his head due to him being too tired to think about his future and what recently happened
-A couple of hours later-
*Bang, thud*
Repeated loud knocks on the door woke Volfir up, making him bolt into a sitting position confused. As he was ready to reach towards his backpack to take out his iron dagger, he finally let his drowsiness slip away, as he regained his senses and remembered that he is inside an inn in Riverwood
Grunting with dissatisfaction, he got up from the warm embrace of the bed, put on his boots and walked towards the door, opening it
There stood Erikur and Vosnyak, both showing surprised expressions at the new look of the ghostly brat that was accompanying them just a few hours ago
"Good choice kid, there was no way to save that hair besides cutting it off" said Erikur with a nod of approval, as he crossed his hands in front of his buff chest
"You don't look so gloomy and dead now! Guess only living up those scary eyes of yours remains!" Vosnyak spoke loudly with excitement, making Volfir grimace with the amount of noise he had to hear right as he woke up
"Bahaha, look Vosnyak, you always manage to annoy everybody in record time, hahaha" started laughing Erikur
"But I was complementing him!" Vosnyak continued to talk loudly, completely oblivious to the problem that made the kid annoyed in the first place
"Anyway, put on your clothes boy, we are going to get you armoured up a bit, then we are going to Whiterun"
"Un..." answered Volfir along with a tired exhale, before turning around and going towards the chair that had the rest of his belongings, starting to dress up, while the men waited for him to finish
-Scene break-
A group of three were standing before a smith, who was tanning leather on a rack, waiting for him to finish what he was doing
"Hey Erikur, is there something you need?" asked the smith as he finished with his task
"Morning Alvor, we need to get the kid here some equipment for the march to Whiterun" answered the guard captain
"Hm... I see... well then, what do you need?" Alvor glazed over the boy, before asking him directly
"Five pairs of foot wraps, a mail chestpiece, hm... a hooded fur cloak, also lined with mail" started listing Volfir while the smith listened and nodded along
"The foot wraps are no problem, the mail chestpiece will be a bit big for you, but considering that your clothes are oversized anyway then it's no problem, as for the hooded cloak... I need some time trimming the ends off, come back in a bit later and I'll have everything ready" said Alvor, turning towards the other two
"Anything for you two?" he asked
"Oh! I need a hunting bow and a quiver of iron arrows, put it on the kid's tab as well, I'll be teaching the draugr some archery!" Vosnyak said, brimming with excitement
"Get him an iron axe as well, one that could be attached to that backpack" added Erikur as he pointed to the pack that was over the boy's shoulders
"Sure, I'll see you later then" said Alvor, as he started going towards his workbench
"Wait! Wait! We have some wares to sell!" shouted Vosnyak
"Stop shouting Vosnyak, I can perfectly hear you, bloody idiot" complained Alvor as he turned back towards the group
Volfir took off the backpack and placed it on the ground, opening it and showing the stuff that was inside, making Alvor crouch down to take out a few things that caught his interest
"Ooh... good dagger, enchanted" he said, making the group raise their eyebrows
"It is..?" asked Volfir, unsure
"Aye, look at the light blue glow around the edges... it's either for stopping magika circulation or has a frost effect" answered Alvor while inspecting the dagger
"I shaved my head with it and didn't feel my skin getting cold or frozen in any way" answered Volfir
"Then it's designed to get rid off mages... I will buy it for 150 septims, if you add 10 more then that would cover your order" offered Alvor
"Don't kid around Alvor, we all know that the dagger costs around 300 septims with that kind of enchantment" spoke up Erikur not taking any crap
"...Fine... 280, that's my final offer" Alvor made a sour expression, but didn't argue
"That's alright, anything else makes you interested?" said Volfir, much to Erikur's dismay, as Vosnyak simply shrugged his shoulders
Alvor made a shrewd smile, "Good doing business with youngings" and looked towards the backpack's insides again
"I can take those rings and amulets, but I bet that Lucan will give a better offer for them" Alvor accidentally contemplated aloud, catching himself in the act and giving a wry smile while scratching the back of his head
"Nah, we are going to Whiterun anyway... Belethor's will buy them up in a batch for a good price" chimed in Vosnyak
"Well, whatever you want... There's nothing else for me to get, those books look like they would interest a mage or an alchemist though"
"Alright then, thank you for your help" said Erikur as he signaled for Volfir to put the backpack back on
"We'll go have some food and return for the order, you better not swindle your way out of those 120 septims you need pay on top of that" warned Erikur
"Bahaha, I'm no Breton or Imperial, Erikur, no need to warn me" Alvor laughed off the comment and went back to work
"Let's go kids, I want some meat and mead" said Erikur as he turned away and started walking towards the other end of the village
"I'm not a kid! And are we going to Gerd's place?" asked Vosnyak, not appreciating the way his captain addressed him
"Ha, yeah you are and yes, apparently Ingrid cooked up a feast for the men" commented Erikur with a light chuckle
"Bless the divines! Her food is the best!" exclaimed Vosnyak for all to hear, making some passerbyes chuckle at his antics
"Stop being so loud, stupid brat!" loudly complained an old woman
"Oh stop your whining, old bat Hilde!" answered back Vosnyak with a sour expression
"I'll show you old bat!" she exclaimed, getting ready to throw a mug, she was just drinking from, at him
"Yiek!" exclaimed Vosnyak as he started running off into the distance, away from the smithy and Hilda's house
Volfir just watched the whole scene with tired and dead eyes, as he contemplated how idiotic somebody could be
"Bahaha! No self preservation in that troublemaker, a good hunter though, hunts most of the game for the village" Erikur laughed off his subordinate's stupidity, praising him a bit in the process after noticing the tired gaze Volfir shot at the young man
"Let's go brat"
"Un..."
The two slowly followed the disappearing figure of Vosnyak, eager to have some food and drink to soothe the digestion down
-Scene Break-
"Looks alright, here are the remaining pairs of foot wraps" said Alvor, reaching out his hand to give the items he was holding to the kid in front of him
Volfir took and placed them inside the backpack, having one pair already wrapped around his feet, making the process of wearing his boots much more comfortable
"And the gold?" asked Erikur
"By the divines, Erikur, I would not swindle my way out of a deal, especially in the presence of a captain guard" said Alvor exasperated, as he threw a pouch of gold to the same kid he just gave the foot wraps, which he caught and opened
Alvor stared, dead eyed, as the walking corpse in front of him counted the septims with absolutely no show of trust towards him
"Good kid, learns fast" commented Erikur
"It's because you kept on incriminating Alvor as a swindler, captain" said Vosnyak with a wry smile
"Well, what if he was?" countered the guard captain
"We have all known each other for ages though..." chimed in another guard, making Erikur turn around and look towards the ready for moving group of men that accompanied him to the Embershard Mine
"Better be ready for what could happen, then get into that situation and be swindled out of a handful of septims" patiently explained the captain
"Aye, a good lesson you all musclebrains should learn" agreed Gerd, his comment making Volfir's body tense for a moment at the mention of the word 'musclebrains'
"Let's move then, there's seven of us here, we'll take three horses and rotate during the travel" ordered Erikur, he then looked at Volfir
"You can go the whole way on horseback with somebody else rotating as the rider... or you could march with us and rotate when it gets too difficult, what do you choose?" he asked, making everybody's attention turn towards the boy
"I'll march" Volfir answered almost instantly, earning nods of approval
"Alright, tell us if it gets too hard, it would be much worse if we have to drag your unconscious body for a whole day then simply have you regain your strength and stamina while riding" said the captain
Volfir nodded in understanding and the group started moving towards the stables, the sun was already past the point of dawn, the day getting closer to noon as the men full of energy were excited for the rare travel to Whiterun, eager to experience the Hold capital's luxuries and services