//------------------------------//
// Interlude: Helgen 
// Story: Skyrim: The Faces of Death 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Amaryllis kept her mind focused on what she needed to do, which revolved around figuring out where she was, devising a plan to get back home, and, more importantly, making sure she didn't trip and fall into the snow that was all around her at the moment, which was something she did quite often due to the fact that she wasn't totally used to this sort of body and how all of the bipedal creatures walked. The reason she put walking at the top of her list was because all of the residents of this land that she had seen so far, which was only three right now, had been able to walk with no problems and she was going to need to do the same thing in some capacity so she could pass herself off as a native, though she also had to take a few moments to figure out if her magic even worked in this land. One thing she knew was that if her magic didn't work in this land, and she was stuck in a twisted version of her true form without being able to transform, than she was screwed, as it would mean that she would be forced to stick to the shadows and move at night, not to mention that she wouldn't be able to talk with anyone, which would cripple her changes of figuring out what she needed to do to get back home, but her situation would be worse if she couldn't walk. All she could do right now was try to mimic the movements that the she had seen the minotaurs use in the past, not to mention what she had seen while she was observing the nobles and their guard earlier, as this would prepare herself for when she finally reached an area where there were more people to interact with, because she didn't want her first impression to be her hitting the ground and making the people of this land think she was an idiot. Of course she knew that the ponies had their own methods of dealing with those they considered to be idiots, or at least that was what some of her fellow changelings thought, since they loved to share their opinions when their Queen gave them a bit of time off, but in this strange land she had no idea what the inhabitants did with those that they labeled as fools or idiots, so she decided to make an attempt to avoid being labeled as either of those titles.

Still, her best bet right now was to follow the path that the nobles were currently walking down, though she did so from a good distance so their guard didn't think she was planning on robbing them blind or attacking his employers before they could reach their destination, but she came to a sudden stop when she discovered a flaw in her plan, as there was a fork in the road, something that was revealed to her thanks to the snow that had been cleared from the path, and, since she had allowed the nobles to get so far ahead of her, she had no idea which route they had taken. Based on what she could see of the two paths the one on her left headed up into the hills, no doubt heading back into a snowy environment or something like that, while the path that was directly in front of her headed straight for what appeared to be a fort made out of stone, which might not be the best place for her to go right now, especially since it was possible that the nobles picked the safety of a fort over the snow. If the nobles really were at the fort, taking a moment to make sure all of their belongings were with them and that they hadn't lost some of them along the way, it was in Amaryllis' best interests to head down the other path and head somewhere else, especially since one or both of them could accuse her of stealing this set of clothing from them, hence why she turned to her left and headed down the path that would take her away from the fort. It only took her a couple of seconds to discover that the path she had picked out went up a little, instead of going down like she had seen during her glance down the other path, before eventually leveling out and curved a little as she descended downwards, though this  did give her a chance to practice with her walking and improve her poor skills, allowing her to prepare for whatever might be at the end of the path.

She had no idea who would make a path like this, since it didn't seem to serve much of a purpose, but it got her away from the fort that she had spotted and it gave her some time to think about what she was going to do when she actually found someplace to stop and ask for directions, as she knew absolutely nothing about this land and was sure that anyone she asked was going to think she was weird, but that was something that would have to wait for a time, since she had no idea where the next fort or settlement might be located.

When she reached the highest point of the path, however, she came to a stop again as she noticed that there was another fort, one that seemed to be combined with a village or town of some sort, at the end of the path she was currently walking on at the moment, and based on what Amaryllis could see this one seemed slightly larger than the first one she had seen, despite the fact that she didn't have a chance to actually get a good look at the size of the previous fort. From her vantage point she could tell that she had two options, the first being to either head down the path and hope her magic worked in this world, to form a disguise so she could gather information about the land she was in, while the second was to test the wilderness for some time and see if she found anything that she could use, be it a weapon or some magical items, which would improve her chances of surviving in this world. At the moment she had no idea which option was the better one, as they both seemed to be as good as the other, even if both came with their own risks since she had no idea what lurked in the wilderness, animals to be exact, which only caused her to stand there for a few moments as she considered what she was going to do about the situation she was in right now, before she noticed something interesting that was near the area she was standing in and focused on it. What she found was a small group of people, roughly five or six individuals based on what she could see, walking down a path that the one she had been walking on met up with, one that wasn't the one she assumed the nobles had picked, and they all seemed to be the same type of people that the nobles were, though they seemed to be wearing armor that was identical to the guard she had seen earlier, and as she watched the gate of the fort, one of them to be exact since it looked like there were two, possibly three, of them for this fort, opened up and the group headed inside, though once everyone was on the other side the gate closed behind without delay.

In that moment she decided to test her power, where she closed her eyes for a moment and called up the image of the female noble, before changing the image so she looked younger and had slightly longer hair, though once she was done with that she reached for her magic and hoped it worked out... which was followed by the feeling of her body shifting for a moment, as when she opened her eyes she found that her body seemed to match what she had imagined, but without a mirror it was hard to tell if her face looked different.

"Thank goodness... my magic actually works in this world." Amaryllis commented, as she was happy to see that her powers still worked, while at the same time noticing that she had spoken in a younger version of the female noble's voice, like she was a young adult or something, before deciding that this was good enough for now, even though she would miss seeing her hooves, which had been replaced by she assumed the nobles feet looked like, "Okay, time to put this disguise to the test and see if I can't figure out where in the world I am."

Amaryllis still wanted to get back home, to continue her search for her missing Queen, not to mention find the rest of the scattered changelings, but for now she needed to focus on figuring out where in the world she was, the rules that those in this land lived by, and everything else that she might need to know so she could survive in this place for a short period of time, before even attempting to focus her efforts on how she was going to leave this land. Once she understood that this test was purely for information, and nothing else, she started down the path that was in front of her once more, this time finding it weird to walk without hooves, which only caused her to retreat for a few moments, so no one down in the town saw her, and practiced moving around with her new transformed legs, figuring that the practice would help her if she took to wearing these new forms. After a couple of minutes, where she felt somewhat comfortable walking in this form, like she had in her twisted base form, Amaryllis nodded her head and headed back down the path that would take her right to the gate that the group of soldiers had walked through, which told her that there had to be no password or code to get inside the town and she hoped that the same was true for her when she approached her destination, because if there was such a thing her plan would be ruined. It didn't take her long to connect with another path, which she assumed was the same one that she had avoided earlier, where she found that the two paths formed a single road once more, though it wasn't long before the same thing happened with the path the soldiers had come down, creating a single path that lead her straight to the gate of the fortified town.

She knew that if any of the other changelings had been in her position they would have avoided the town and would have gone off in another direction to search for someone to get information from, ambushing them on one of the roads if they found a vulnerable target to tackle, but right now she didn't have much of a choice in the matter and would have to deal with the guard at the gate before she could move into the city, hence why she was focused on the task in front of her and not much else right now.

"You there, hold and state your business." a voice said, where Amaryllis quickly stopped in her tracks and discovered that the guard she had been thinking about had already spotted her, which made sense considering the fact that he seemed to be stationed on the wooden walkway that allowed one to observe the road she was walking down, even though it did look like he was waiting for her to get close before he said anything else, something that snapped her out of her daze as she continued to approach the gate.

"I'm a soldier from Cyrodiil, sent here to help the garrison out," Amaryllis lied, because while she knew that she didn't look like a fighter, due to being dressed in common clothing, or maybe it was more like the clothing a lesser noble would wear, she was hoping that the guard didn't look too deeply into a single soldier arriving on their own, instead of with a group of fully equipped soldiers, like the last group she had seen a few minutes ago, otherwise she would be in trouble and would be forced to flee before he captured her.

"Is that so? You don't look like an Imperial soldier to me." the guard commented, revealing that Amaryllis' luck had to be terrible, not considering being dropped in an unknown land and her body being twisted into a new form, but for now the thought was about the fact that she might have run into the one guard who investigated and studied whoever came near the gate he watched over, before letting them into the town, but she hoped that he'd say something that would allow her to get into the town, "Where's your standard Legion armor and weapons?"

"Stolen by bandits a few days ago," Amaryllis replied, as she figured that there had to be bandits out there on the roads in this land, attacking unsuspecting travelers when they weren't expecting anything to happen, and that had been the reason the guard had been with the nobles, to protect them from the dangers of the road, something she was going to try to use to her advantage, "along with the horse that I was given, which had most of my provisions and camping gear, so all I have left is what you see right now."

The guard glared at her for a few moments with a frown on his face, which made her wonder if he had seen through her lies, because if he suspected that she was lying to his face, even if some of her lies were possible truths, then that would make things even worse for her in the grand scheme of things, as telling convincing lies, as long as one had accurate information, was a skill that most changelings developed, so losing such a valuable skill like that would be terrible and would cut into her chances of either surviving in this land or finding her way back home.

"Wulfir, open the gates for a moment." another voice said, which caused Amaryllis and the guard to turn their heads for a moment, glancing towards the sound for a second and discovered that there was a second guard up on the walkway that was above her, standing close to where the first one was standing, who she learned was named Wulfir, which was an odd name based on what she knew, and she knew what ponies called themselves, but she said nothing as she waited for either the gate to open or for the pair to tell her to leave.

"And why should I do that, Provis?" Wulfir asked, showing that he might not believe what Amaryllis had told him and that he was more than willing to prevent her from entering the town, which would mean she would have to look elsewhere for the information that she was after, as well as someone to feed on to regain her energy, if she still had that power anyway, before she became weak due to not feeding on any love for a long period of time, but that was when she noticed a shift as the pair glanced at each other.

"Just look at her." the second guard, Provis, replied, showing that he was more than willing to listen to what Amaryllis had told his partner and that he might actually believe her, which meant there was a chance she could get inside the town, get the information she needed, and get out before either of them noticed her disappearance, or at least that was what her current plan was, but she continued to remain silent and listen to them, "Clearly the road from Cyrodiil to Skyrim didn't treat her well, especially since it appears some bandits made off with her horse and the majority of her gear and supplies, so we might as well welcome her to Helgen, get her situated, and put her to work... besides, you don't want Captain Isania to yell at you for preventing an Imperial soldier from reaching their destination."

"Fine, but she's your problem, not mine." Wulfir stated, though that was followed by him walking over to an area where some steps were located, allowing him to disappear from Amaryllis' view for a few seconds, which was quickly followed by the gate in front of her opening inwards, allowing her to enter Helgen, while revealing that the guard in question was the same race as the first one, whatever race that happened to be, "Provis will show you around Helgen, so you can familiarize yourself with where all the buildings are located, and then escort you to the keep, where you'll be outfitted with a new uniform and some equipment, before you join the other soldiers that arrived before you."

Amaryllis would have said something to Wulfir, to thank him for believing her, due to someone else coming along and hearing what she had to say, but before she could open her mouth the Imperial soldier returned to his post after closing the gate the moment she was inside the town, leaving her standing next to Provis, who had come down the moment the gate started to close, to which she decided not to do anything stupid and just focused on listening to whatever she might learn over the next couple of minutes. Provis, true to what his fellow soldier had said, took her on a brief tour of the town, where she found out that a lady named Ingrid happened to own a food shop, one that was run in her own home rested near Helgen's western entrance, which was one of three entrances she had spotted earlier, during her studies of the town before she decided to make the attempt to pass through the gate and enter Helgen, a place that was quite nice despite all of the stone, straw, and wood that went into making the houses and structures. From there he pointed out the house that Torolf and his wife Matlara owned, along their son Haming based on what she learned, as well as a two story building that seemed to be owned by Vilod, who, according to Provis, made some pretty good mead that had juniper berries mixed into it, something that confused Amaryllis for a few moments, but that didn't seem to bother the soldier at all, claiming that anyone who visited Skyrim for the first time had no idea what sort of mead the nords made and that he would ensure she had some at some point before she had to leave Helgen. There was also an elderly miner by the name of Gunnar Stone-Eye that lived near the entrance she had walked through, and he was alone based on what she learned, but from what she could tell the residents of Helgen seemed to enjoy talking to him in their spare time and asking about his past, though at the same time Amaryllis knew that a miner wouldn't have any of the information she was looking for, not unless she was eager to learn about ores and the materials of this land, so she decided to cross Gunnar off the list as they made their way over to where the keep was located.

When they reached the courtyard of the keep Amaryllis found out that there were a few soldiers, where she guessed some had to be from the group she had seen earlier, getting ready for whatever exercise they would be working on, but instead of staying outside Provis lead her inside the door that lead to the barracks, where she found a number of beds lined up on one side of the room, a few tables on the other side, and a hallway that likely lead to the rest of the keep, but before she could really say anything her escort walking over to one of the nearby crates, opened the lid for a moment, and picked up something that was inside it.

"Here, this will do as a replacement for the armor you lost," Provis said, where he turned around and Amaryllis found that he was carrying a leather chest piece of some kind, one that seemed to match what he was wearing, and he also had a pair of pants that matched it, along with the boots, bracers, and a helmet, all of which belonged to the set of armor that the Imperial soldiers she had seen earlier were wearing, meaning this had to be the standard issue gear that all the soldiers wore, at least until they ranked up to the higher ranks.

Amaryllis took the armor that he was holding and stared at him for a few seconds, causing him to turn around and stare at the wall, indicating that some people in this land knew that it wasn't nice or appropriate to stare at individuals of the other gender while they were in the middle changing into something more appropriate, like switching one's casual attire for the armor of someone who either fought in a war or was planning on going on an adventure for some time, similar to the lone guard she had seen earlier, even if it was his job to guard the nobles. With Provis staring at the wall she carefully pulled off the attire that she had been wearing and quickly replaced it with the chest piece and the pants that had been given to her, finding that they went on rather easily, just like the clothing she had picked up on the road, which she carefully folded up for later, in case she needed something that was incredibly common in the future, since she wasn't planning on staying in Helgen all that long. Once that was done she looked at the boots and studied them for a few seconds, where she figured out how to slip her odd feet into the boots and made sure they wouldn't fall off, before turning to the bracers, which also went on easily, as all she had to do was just slip her arms through the straps and made sure they were tight enough, as in to the point so they didn't fall off while she was in the middle of training, walking, or whatever she might be doing at any given moment. Once she was done putting the armor on, and looked like many of the Imperial soldiers that she had seen so far, she let Provis turn around so he could see her handiwork, though instead of doing that the man walked over to one of the weapon racks that happened to be in the room they were in and picked out a steel sword, which he strapped to her belt before taking a step backwards so he could study her form and check her armor.

While he did that Amaryllis discovered something weird, which was that all the Imperial soldiers she had seen so far hadn't been carrying shields, to help them protect themselves from the dangers of this land, and that included the guard that she had seen with the nobles earlier, which was just strange, though the only reason she thought about the shields was due to the fact that a few happened to be resting on the shelves that were near the racks Provis had retrieved her blade from, as she spotted two types that appeared to be made out of a mix of wood and metal.

"There, now you look like an Imperial soldier again," Provis stated, showing that he approved of what he was seeing, even if all Amaryllis did was put on some armor and stood there like she knew what she was doing, though his words snapped her back to the area she was in and focused on him once more, before he turned towards the door they had used to enter the keep and started to walk towards it, "Oh, I'd recommend keeping a closer eye on that armor, because if you lose that set you'll have to pay for a brand new set, though you should be thankful you didn't lose the steel armor that the higher ups get to wear, as that's expensive to replace."

"Noted." Amaryllis replied, though she wasn't thinking about wearing metal armor, given that it would slow her down and make things much more difficult for her to move around, something that would require training to get used to, but even then she had to wonder how expensive a suit of steel armor had to be, especially since Provis said something about it as he walked towards the door they had walked through, before she considered what else she was going to have to do while she was in Helgen.

"Good, then it's time we got you to the training exercises and see how well you fight." Provis said, reminding Amaryllis of what Wulfir had told them when she was at the gate, something that she really wasn't looking forward to since this would definitely expose her as a fake, but she said nothing as she followed the soldier outside and discovered that the rest of the soldiers she had seen had been added to the garrison that was already here, and they were getting ready to start their various exercises, causing Provis to make sure she joined the line before doing so himself.

Amaryllis found herself lucky in the next few minutes, as the soldiers she had seen on the road, that had entered the fort ahead of her, were essentially novices, at least according to the soldier that was in charge of instructing them on how to fight and how to defend themselves, so she actually didn't draw that much attention when she fumbled with the weight of the steel sword she had been given, as one of the others had done the same, which seemed to annoy their instructor, who must have been hoping for more experienced soldiers for whatever was going on in this land. Despite not knowing all the correct motions that someone would make with a sword, which should have given her away immediately due to her lack of experience in such a field, she found that the other six soldiers were at the same level of skill that she had and that caused the instructor to simply sigh as he and the other soldiers, those that knew what they were doing, assisted them in learning how to use the weapons they were holding. This also extended to the other types of weapons that they had on hand, as the instructor made sure that each of them spent a few minutes practicing with the heavier weapons, like the greatsword, a larger version of a sword that needed to be used with two hands, or the warhammer, which was basically a weapon that had a massive metal head at the top of a long wooden handle, and the weight did cause Amaryllis to fall backwards a few times, as she wasn't used to wielding weapons that were as heavy as those were, and the battleaxe, a weapon that had a long handle as well, though at one end rested a curved head that was used to cut into whoever the owner was fighting at the time. Of course there was training with the smaller versions of the larger weapons, as in a single handed axe, which were just as long as one of the swords they had practiced with earlier, thanks to the handle being cut to match the length of a blade, and a mace, which was basically a metallic weapon that was as long as a sword or an axe and had a head that was more circular in nature, or at least had four blade sections which were arranged in the directions of a compass, which had to be painful to be hit with and was a little hard to use, just like all of the other weapons she trained with.

The weapons she found to be the easiest to use, oddly enough, were the bow, as all she had to do was draw an arrow and use it to pull the bowstring back, aim at one of the straw targets that were near them, and loose the arrow when she was ready, and even though her first couple of shots missed the circular straw target that was nearby, she started to get better as time went on, while the other weapon was a dagger, which was a much smaller version of the sword she was carrying, as she found that she could perform more movements with the smaller blade, as opposed to a slower set of movements with the sword itself.

When they finally finished training Amaryllis discovered that the soldiers were gathering for the next meal of the day, as in dinner based on the position of the sun, even though it was odd to see that the sun moved on it's own and didn't rely on an alicorn to guide it through the sky, something that informed her of something she didn't want to think about, that this definitely wasn't her home world and that she was somewhere else, before she pushed the thought to the side and joined the soldiers, even though it was another bad idea. She could tell that there was no love to be absorbed from the Imperial soldiers, as those of them that had loved ones in their lives left them back home and only talked about them to those they considered their friends, meaning she couldn't get any information about what they looked like from the soldiers, but that was followed by an incredible discovery, something that would change how she went about her stay in this strange place, as she was still planning on finding a way home. Whatever magic had brought her to this land, and reshaped her form to be able to walk on two legs, had also messed with her on a deeper level, as she could actually eat the beef stew that had been provided for them and could taste the flavors that went into making the dish, even if there weren't that many based on what she was tasting, while finding that it satisfied her hunger, meaning she might not have to worry about looking for love anymore, but determined that she could test that in the future. She also discovered that the land she was currently in was called Skyrim, the fort they were stationed in rested in the domain of Falkreath Hold, one of the nine areas that made up the entirety of the land, something that interested her as she listened to what they were telling her and learned a bit about the other Holds, and that they, as in the Imperial army, were currently dealing with a rebellion of some kind, as the soldiers mentioned something about one of the Jarls, the rulers of the Holds, murdering another one and starting a war with the Empire, all of which she found interesting as she ate her dinner with the soldiers.

What interested her was that the Captain of the fort, Isania she recalled, joined them after a while and seemed to take a seat at the head of the table, where all the big shots apparently sat while those that were under them sat together some distance away, but she didn't let that bother her, mostly since the hierarchy of the army didn't matter all that much to her right now, though based on what she was seeing it appeared that the Captain had something to say, considering that she was getting up and all the conversations died down instantly.

"Soldiers, I wish to share a bit of good news with all of you... we have captured Ulfric Stormcloak!" Captain Isania stated, all while having a smile on her face, where she paused for a few seconds to let the soldiers process that piece of information and what it meant for them, something that was followed by several of the soldiers cheering as they lifted their mugs into the air, even though it did tell Amaryllis who the commander of the rebellion was, even though it appeared the rebels had taken the last name of their commander, an odd choice to be sure, before everyone settled down as they noticed there was more news to be shared with them, "Right now Ulfric, several of his loyal followers, and a few other minor criminals are stopping at Fort Neugrad for the night, allowing General Tullius and a few other important figures the time they need to get here, so we can publicly execute the traitors and the criminals that were caught on the way here. By the time noon arrives tomorrow the leader of the Stormcloak Rebellion will be dead, his followers will have perished along with him, and the criminals will be gone from this world, restoring the peace to this land at long last, so I want all of you to go to sleep early tonight and wake up before the sun does, as we have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in."

"What sort of criminals did the other soldiers catch?" Wulfir asked, as while he could tell that the Captain was finished with the major part of what she wanted to tell the group, something that Amaryllis caught as well since Isania turned like she was going to return to her seat and enjoy her dinner with the rest of the army, his words revealed that he was also curious as to who else might had been caught earlier, just so they could make sure they were ready for whatever tomorrow had in store for all of them.

"A nord who apparently stole a horse and some provisions, so he could flee to Hammerfell and escape his ordinary life, or at least that's his story," Captain Isania replied, though her tone revealed that she really didn't care about the rest of the individuals who had been captured by the other group of soldiers, as they were criminals and she likely felt that they were wasting their time with them, especially since they had the leader of the rebellion in their hands, before she decided to wrap up her statement so she could get to her dinner, "and a female khajiit that the Thalmor brought with them, one who has been accused of stealing from several of their patrols, one or two of their Embassies, and even killing a few of them while they're out in the field... she's also been accused of stealing supplies from the Legion as well, like horses and armor, and selling them for whatever coin she can get for them."

"Well, it looks like the person who stole your stuff has been caught." Provis commented, where he chuckled for a moment as he tapped Amaryllis with his elbow, reminding her of the tale that she had told him and Wulfir back at the gate, before they let her enter the town and one of them had escorted her to the fort, to get some actual armor so she could replace the common clothing she had been wearing, which had lead to the weapon training everyone had been tackled to the best of their abilities.

"Y... Yeah. It sure does." Amaryllis replied, as she was surprised that there was someone out there that had actually stolen a horse, with some supplies, and Provis was believing that it was the fake person that she had mentioned, though she was also surprised that none of the soldiers had bothered to ask her what her name was, as if they either didn't care or they had been too preoccupied with what they were doing to bother asking her that sort of question, but despite that she did have to wonder if the khajiit had been framed for a number of crimes that she didn't commit, before she decided to put it on the shelf for some time as well.

As they finished eating Amaryllis decided to ask a dumb question, purely to see if these soldiers were as unobservant as she thought they were, and that was 'what's a khajiit', making a few of the soldiers pause for a few seconds, before they started to laugh and said that she pulled a good one on them, like she was telling a joke or something, even though some of them decided to humor her before they left the dining hall. What she got after that was Provis reminding her that the khajiit were basically cat people and were generally thieves or assassins, or at least that was the general opinion on them despite the fact that there were a number of khajiit who had been great warriors and heroes, before telling her about the other races that existed in the world, such as the argonians, the lizard people who could breath underwater and just so happened to be treated horribly by the Stormcloaks, and the nords, who called Skyrim home, even though some served in the Legion and some stayed under Ulfric's banner. She also learned a little about the altmer, the bosmer, the bretons, the dunmer, the orcs, the redguard, and the imperials, who actually made up a great deal of the Imperial Legion, something that she had determined based on what she had seen so far, as the vast majority of the soldiers that were around her were imperials, and so was she thanks to the noble she had seen earlier, but said nothing about that and thanked Provis for the quick reminder. The other soldiers continued to laugh for a few more moments, still believing that she had been joking, and she made no attempt to tell them otherwise, least she reveal that she wasn't from this land or from Cyrodiil, like she claimed to be, but so far it appeared that all of them had bought her story and weren't questioning it, which she was grateful for since it allowed her to gain a good bit of information on the lands of this world and some knowledge of all the races she might encounter along the way, as some of them were interesting and made her wonder when she might meet a khajiit or an argonian for the first time.

When night finally fell, and both of the moons were out, another fact that surprised her since her home world only had a single moon, Amaryllis found that the beds in the room she had gotten her armor from was where the majority of them would be sleeping, even though she assumed that there had to be more beds for the rest of the soldiers, since some of them didn't stop in the room her group ended up in... but, instead of going to sleep, she laid on the bed for a moment as she remained awake, listening to the sounds of the others that were near her, where she waited until she was sure that everyone else was asleep before bothering to make her move.

Amaryllis wasn't planning on taking too much with her, since she was sure that a single piece of gear here and there would be overlooked by the soldiers, especially if they didn't bother to ask her what her name was when she arrived at the gate earlier that day, and she was sure that if she took too much from an area knew they would be looking high and low for the person she had presented herself as. That is why she picked up one of the bags that was resting by the door, a pack that someone could carry on their back from the looks of it, and carefully stashed the clothing she had been wearing earlier inside it, before going down the list of items that she would need later on, a list she created during her time in Helgen, all so she could be ready for this point in time. Since it appeared that the soldiers were letting her keep the armor that Provis had handed to her, which she was currently wearing, and also included the sword that was attached to her belt, she was able to cross the armor and sword off the list, rather she focused on grabbing one of the steel daggers that they practiced with earlier and stashed it inside her pack, before grabbing one of the light brown bows that she had used earlier and a quiver that contained six or seven arrows. She had the feeling that she would be hunting at some point in the near future and found that having a hunting weapon on hand was worthwhile, even if such a thing would require her to learn how to be a hunter at some point, before putting the items away as she looked for the rest of the remaining items on her list, as there was no telling when one of the soldiers would wake up and ask her what she was doing. She considered taking the coin pouch that was sitting on the nearby table, but decided to turn her attention to something that was more important, a map of the land that she was now in, which she rolled up and stuck inside the pack almost immediately, before heading towards the main door once more.

As she carefully opened the door, however, she quickly called upon her magic and snatched the small coin pouch from the table it was resting on, deciding that she might as well take it, due to the fact that she would have to buy some supplies at some point in time, which she slipped into her pack as well before slipping outside, where she closed the door behind her and then made her way towards the northern gate, which she had seen earlier that day. Instead of wasting time looking for the device that opened the gate, like she had heard Wulfir and Provis do earlier, she came to a stop and made sure no one was around to see what was going to happen next, where she counted herself lucky that everyone, as in every guard in Helgen, had gone to sleep so soon after dinner was over, to prepare for the arrival of Ulfric Stormcloak and the rest of his fellow prisoners, giving her the greatest opportunity she could have asked for. Once she was positive that no one was awake right now, and that the coast was clear, she finally undid her disguise and let the flames wash over her once more, finding that she was happy to be back in her natural form, even though it was different than what she had back home, and found something odd, the boots she had one didn't break from her feet turning back into hooves, rather they seemed to have changed shape to better accommodate her true form, meaning that she didn't have to worry about stealing boots all the time. After discovering that change she opened her wings a little and propelled herself over the wall that was in front of her, as she hadn't had the time to test her wings out and didn't want to crash, but so far everything seemed fine and it allowed her to land on the other side of the wall without anything bad happening to her, to which she made sure to hide her wings again, just in case someone was living in the area that was around the fort she had been in earlier, before she braced herself for what she was about to do.

The moment she was sure the coast was clear Amaryllis headed off down the path that was in front of her, leaving Helgen and the Imperial Legion behind, as she needed to start her quest to figure out how she was going to get back to her home world and resume her search for the missing changelings, and that meant finding her way to someone who knew the type of magic she was talking about, something that couldn't be accomplished if she stayed at Helgen with the soldiers or if she joined the Legion, though she had the feeling she was starting the journey of her life.