As Amaryllis walked to the west of Whiterun she kept the same pace that she used when she departed from Riverwood a few hours ago, which had allowed her to reach White River Watch and take down the bandit leader who had been leading that particular group, though this allowed her to look at the area that was around her, take in the sights like she was just another visitor to these lands, which she technically was when she thought about it, and make a note of the landmarks that were around her, just in case she came through here at some point in the future. Of course one of the things that she noticed were the farms that were on her left, including the houses that the farmers lived in and the areas that the animals were kept in, while the majority of the stuff that was off on her right seemed to be the wide open plains she had looked at earlier, when she reached the highest point of the path she had used to exit Riverwood, where it was easy for her to spot a number of trees that were scattered here and there. She was sure that there were a number of wild animals in the plains, either facing each other to see who would become the other's dinner, as was the law of the wild based on what she knew, or they could be running from certain danger, such as from a saber cat, or just picking on whoever happened to nearby at any given moment, like hunters and random travelers that were cutting across the plains, to save some time during their travels, but for now she didn't let that bother her as she moved further and further away from where the city of Whiterun rested. She even noticed that there weren't any other travelers on the road at this time, meaning they were either further away from where she was located, as in further along the road in either direction, or she was actually alone right now and that it would be some time before someone joined her on the road, though all of this gave her some time to figure out the locations that Amren told her about so she could find the bandits that took his father's blade, given that she had no idea as to where the camp, Redoran's Retreat, was located, save for the directions he gave her.
While she followed the road that was right in front of her, and kept her eyes open for anything out of the ordinary, one of the structures she made a note of was a stone watchtower that was off on her left, with some stone walls that made it look like a fort of some kind, which was further validated by the fact that there were a few guards walking on the walls and the one that was standing on top of the tower, all so they could keep watch over the land, be it keeping an eye on the bandits and any other dangers to their Hold. It reminded her of the couple of guards that had been watching over the front gate of Whiterun, even if they had stopped Za'kera from entering the city in the process, but at the very least they had been willing to listen to her when she informed them that what the khajiit had told them was the truth, that she had spotted a dragon and that it was dangerous, to which she decided to keep her thoughts to herself and allowed the guards to go about their business, since this wasn't something that needed her attention and was followed by her continuing down the road that she was following right now. Interesting enough there was a larger stone structure off in the distance, which happened to rest off to the right of the road she was on, which meant that it had to be Fort Greymoor, the bandit infested fortress that she should avoid in her quest to find Redoran's Retreat, which was where the bandits that had stolen the blade of Amren's father had wandered off to, though she was sure that someone, at some point in time, would come by to tackle the fort of bandits and purge their evil from the land, hence why she focused on her current task and not something else that would be a distraction. By her estimates the walk from the entrance of Whiterun to the area near Fort Greymoor took her about ten to twenty minutes to make, which was fine in the grand scheme of things, but, from what she could tell, the sun was in the process of setting and night would be upon the land in the next few hours, which she guessed made sense considering she had taken some time in those two bandit infested areas earlier, before heading into the city, though despite what was going on she had the feeling that she would be back inside the city before night fell.
She eventually reached the fork in the road that Amren had described to her earlier and turned to her right, so she could follow the road until she reached the location that the stone bridge rested in, which would tell her that she was close to where the cave was located, as it was supposed to be a short distance from the bridge in question, something she would be able to confirm or deny once she reached her next destination. At the same time she noticed that a few of the bandits that were walking on the walls of Fort Greymoor, to keep an eye out for guards and people they could rob, didn't seem to pay her too much attention, which she was fine with since that meant that she could move on without having to deal with another bandit camp, as this one appeared to be much larger than the ones she had faced today, though the fact that all of them ignored her meant they likely didn't see her or felt that a single traveler wasn't worth the effort to take down. As she walked down the road, and continued to take in what was around her, she noticed a trio of altmer standing near some large rocks, though while one of them was wearing a black robe with a hood the other two were wearing brass armor, or what she assumed was brass armor, which matched a brief description of the Thalmor she had been given, though for the time being she decided to ignore them as she focused on heading towards the stone bridge, as she knew that interacting with them would only cost her more time. When she finally reached the stone bridge she found that there were no foes in this area, as no wild animals or bandits were waiting for her, which told her that the road might be somewhat safer than what she originally thought it would be, before she turned to the left and started searching for the cave that was her true destination, but, at the same time, she kept a hand at the ready, so she could pull out her sword if something attacked her, which she hoped didn't happen while she was out here.
Fortunately it was rather easy to find the cave that she was looking for, as there was a dip in the ground and there was a lone wooden door, resting between some large rocks, that reminded her of the mine she had cleared out earlier, but the moment she approached the door she discovered something else, that these bandits didn't even both to post any guards outside the entrance, to which she opened the door and headed inside, while making sure to start sneaking the moment she was inside the cave, to make sure none of her targets heard her coming.
On the other side of the door she found a few crates that looked like they had been there for a good amount of time, due to all of the webs that were on one or two of them, indicating that the spiders had been given some time to work on each of them, even if said spiders were no longer present right now, before she spotted a cart that likely had been used to take the stones inside this area and transport them elsewhere, as if someone was mining in this area recently, and some lights that revealed more torches or lanterns. She extended her magic for a bit and extinguished the flame that was inside the lantern that was on the wall to her left, just to increase her chances of not being detected, before doing the same thing to the next two lanterns that were along the path she was following, only to pause as she reached a small opening that lead into a decent sized area, an area that looked like the bandits counted and sorted their loot, or a food preparation area of some kind. Regardless of what this particular area was used for she spotted one of the bandits that had taken the blade that Amren's father had used in the past, who appeared to be wandering around right now, though at the same time there was a dog walking beside him as well, which meant that it would likely be hostile towards her and that it would need to be put down if she wanted to find the leader and take him out, even though that wasn't her main objective this time, but she would do it to bring some measure of peace to Whiterun. She was sure that Jarl Balgruuf or Proventus might have placed a bounty on these guys, given their nature to pillage whatever they wanted, but even as she thought about that she finally touched the sack that had the head of the bandit leader she had killed, Hajvarr Iron-Hand she recalled, and laid it on one of the boxes that were near her, as based on what happened when she was in Dragonsreach it appeared that she didn't need the head to prove what she had done, which still surprised her since proof was usually a good thing to have, which just meant that the people of Skyrim accepted one's word and left it at that.
Once that was done she pulled her bow out and nocked one of the arrows that she was carrying in her quiver, as she just remembered that she had the weapon in the first place, before she raised it and aimed at her target for a second or two, which was followed by the arrow flying through the air and struck the dog in the head, causing it to stagger for a moment and fall to the ground, but, oddly enough, the bandit didn't seem to notice what had happened, especially since the animal had been near him when she struck it. Amaryllis was honestly surprised by that, as the dog had yipped in response to her attack, before falling to the ground and going still, but, since the bandit hadn't noticed her deed, and was currently right in front of a small wooden table, she switched the bow for her dagger and sneaked into the area that was in front of her, as it was time to see if she could replicate what she had done back in Embershard Mine. She made sure to stay in the shadows, like any good agent of the Hive would have done in her position, and found that her target made no alterations to what he was doing, meaning he had no idea that she was even there, so when he finally got up and stopped near a tunnel that had to lead deeper into the cave, to where the leader was located, Amaryllis stopped behind him and slit his throat, replicating what she had done earlier. As he hit the ground she paused for a few seconds, as she was also surprised by the fact that killing her foes was getting easier and easier with every bandit she took out, especially since none of the others had made a noise that indicated they had heard what was going on, though once she was sure that no one was coming for her she took a moment to search the area for anything she might need in the future, which included some coins from the bandit, some iron arrows that had been resting on the table that the bandit had stared at once, and a locked chest, which was rather easy to unlock, though all that was inside it was a small coin pouch, a blue potion, and some steel arrows, items she collected and stashed away with the rest of her stuff.
From there she turned around and headed towards the tunnel that the bandit had walked towards before she killed him, a tunnel that was rather short and quickly brought her to a smaller room, where one bandit, a female nord that was wearing a set of fur armor, was walking around at the moment, while the leader of this small group, who happened to have a set of armor that was the exact same that Hajvarr had been wearing, was sitting in front of a fire with his back turned towards the tunnel's opening. Amaryllis found that the female bandit seemed to be tired or angry about something, as she wasn't paying attention to the tunnel at all, so when her target's back was exposed, and the bandit in question had come to a stop for a moment, she emerged from the tunnel and approached the bandit from behind, where she slit her throat as well and made sure the body didn't land on the ground with a loud thud, to keep the leader in the dark. Her plan appeared to work quite well, as the leader didn't move his head to look at the area she was lurking in, meaning he hadn't heard the noise or heard his underling cry out as Amaryllis ended her life, to which she quickly picked the coins from the bandit's body, and a few lockpicks as well, before she sneaked into the area that the leader was resting in, which seemed to be where he stared at a campfire, though she made sure to be as quiet as she could, since there was always the chance he might hear her as she got closer. She was surprised that none of the bandits in this area seemed to hear any of the noises she had made so far, be it the sounds of their comrades dying or the dog yipping in pain as it died, along with the fact that none of her foes even suspected that something might be wrong, but she wasn't about the question it as she reached out with her dagger and sliced through the leader's throat, ending his life in a matter of seconds, just like the others she had faced so far, even if his body fell backwards and rested on the flat stump he had been sitting on while she was working on clearing out the rest of this small cave.
Instead of questioning how she was able to do all of this, since she was sure that someone should have noticed something odd while she was sneaking through the cave they were calling home for the time being, she just accepted it and looked in the large chest that was near her and opened it, where she found a leather helmet that reminded her of the ones that she had seen back in Helgen, even if none of the Imperial soldiers had been wearing it, a decent sized coin pouch, a piece of paper that was like the map she had found earlier, at the first bandit camp, and a silver necklace with a sapphire in it, an item she could get a good price for.
"There you are," Amaryllis commented, where she picked up the final item that the chest contained, a sword that had the same length of an imperial sword, though it's head was curved towards her and there was a guard around the hilt, which protected the wielder in some manner, though given the unique form of the weapon she had to assume this was what she was looking for, to which she slipped it into her pack, along with the rest of the other items that had been inside the chest, to which she stopped crouching and headed for the cave's entrance.
It didn't take her long to reach the exit and head outside, where she stretched her arms for a few seconds and found that she quite liked her khajiit form, especially since it was the closest to her original form, though eventually she lowered her arms and started the walk back to Whiterun, only this time she was going to cut across the plains and get to the gate a little faster than if she had followed the road like she did on the way here. As she walked, however, Amaryllis took a few more moments to look at the area around her, taking in the sights as she wondered if her quest to get back home was one that was even possible, but for now she would have to see if she could find someone to answer the question, because if she was stuck in this world she could make a living being a hero, or at the very least someone who dealt with problems, be they bandits or the occasional wild animal, or even recovering what had been stolen, like she was doing right now, though it was something she could think about if she was truly stuck in this world. Just thinking about animals made her pause as she heard something move in the nearby area, where she spotted one of the mudcrabs that she had heard about, which happened to be crabs that had the ability to hide themselves in the ground, a power to camouflage themselves as stone and granted them to attack unsuspecting prey when something came near one of the creeks that existed in the land, but it didn't seem interested in her and she moved on before it decided to approach her. She had a vague idea why someone might find the mudcrabs to be such a terrifying creature, due to them being able to hide themselves until they were ready to strike, but she wasn't frightened of them, not when she knew about such a skill and could spot them from the area that she was standing in, and that remained true after the first mudcrab found more of its kind and seemed to snap at them, in a form of communication no doubt, where they headed off in another direction and seemed to focus on another creature that seemed to have caught their attention, allowing her to leave before a wild animal came at her and tried to have her for dinner, which she wanted to avoid at all costs.
One thing that caught her interest, after she left the mudcrabs to their business, was the fact that there was a decent sized fire some distance in front of her, something that likely made the other wild animals stay away from the area, though what made her pause for a few seconds were the pair of tall beasts that were wandering around the area in question, but the tusks and snouts on them, including the large amount of fur on them, told her that they were mammoths. That was when she spotted one of the towering humanoid creatures, giants as the Imperial soldiers called them, that was standing near the large fire that she had been curious about, reminding her of what she saw when she walked by one of the farms not all that long ago, which caused her to stop as she considered investigating the camp for a few seconds and seeing if she could find anything interesting before heading to Whiterun, like some coins or stolen property that could be returned to one of the city's residents, even though she knew that she could take the easy route and just head back to Whiterun, leaving the giant and his mammoths alone. Of course, as she came to the decision to walk around the giant camp, since that was what this area appeared to be, she spotted a pair of nord hunters approaching from the direction she wanted to head in, so she could cut through the camp and head to the large city, though they were more focused on the giant and nothing else that might be around this area, especially since they started loosing arrows at the giant. She felt that they were insane for even trying something like this in the first place, because the trio of warriors she had seen walking away from the first giant she had seen, the fallen one to be exact, seemed like they been great warriors in their own right, trained to fight those sorts of creatures and bring peace to the rest of Skyrim, and her thoughts were proven right not a few seconds later, as the instant the first arrow hit it's mark the giant turned around and started walking towards the hunters, lifting its club a few times in a threatening manner, which both of the hunters ignored as they fought it.
Interestingly enough one of the hunters broke away from their partner and headed into the camp, where Amaryllis took a moment to hide herself to the best of her ability and watched as the hunter opened the large chest that apparently was inside the giant's camp, which caused the giant to growl as he swung his club and hit the hunter in the back, crushing the unfortunate nord against the large rock in the process, before turning towards the other hunter and started to advance on his position. As the giant did that, however, Amaryllis decided to see why the first hunter had been so interested in taking a moment to check the larger chest, instead of helping take down the giant, to which she silently approached the chest and opened it, where she found one of the scaled helmets, this time with an enchanted aura around it, a light brown potion, a large coin pouch that had to contain at least a hundred coins, maybe even two hundred if she was lucky, a few lockpicks, a pair of brass gauntlets that reminded her of the elves she spotted earlier, and a white many sided gemstone that seemed important. In the interest of time she grabbed everything that was inside the chest with her magic and stuffed it all in her bag, where she turned just in time to see the giant slam his club into the ground, in front of the hunter, and launched the poor nord into the air, where he disappeared within a matter of seconds, which showed her just how strong the giant was and that one had to be highly skilled to take one of them. That also informed Amaryllis that she had to move before the giant turned around, since she was out in the open right now, to which she quickly moved in the direction of Whiterun and quickly disappeared before the giant could find her, though she eventually stopped after a few moments and hid behind one of the rocks, where she waited to see if the giant was chasing her, but the sound of silence told her otherwise, so she breathed a sigh of relief as she focused on what she had taken from the chest, since some of the pieces she might be able to sell inside Whiterun.
The thing she decided to check out wasn't the armor or the potion, like anyone else would have done, in an effort to figure out what was inside the potion or determine what sort of enchantment was on the armor, before selling them to someone at a later date, rather she focused on the odd gemstone that was the size of her head, or at least it sure seemed to be that size, because it was so odd when she considered all the items that she had found in that chest, to which she gripped it for a moment as she lifted it out of her pack.
A new hand touches the beacon. a loud voice said, almost like it was speaking in her ear, causing Amaryllis to drop the gemstone as she readied herself for whoever was speaking to her, where she drew her dagger in the process as she took a few seconds to look around the area she had hidden herself in, only to find that she was still alone, something that caused her to turn towards the gemstone for a moment, Listen. Hear my voice and obey my decree. A foul darkness, brought about by a necromancer, has seeped into my temple, a darkness that you will destroy in my name! Return my beacon to my temple, at Mount Kilkreath, and I shall make you the instrument of my cleansing light.
Amaryllis stood there for a second or two as she wondered if this was all in her head, if she had finally gone crazy, or if this land really had strange beings that could talk to someone from a gemstone, or a beacon as the voice called it, even though she did know that there were strange stories of what the alicorn Princesses of Canterlot could do, before regaining herself as she picked up the gem and stared at it, wondering if she would hear the voice again or not, even though she had a few words for whoever spoke, if they were still listening to this object.
"Listen, I don't know who you are, but I have no intention of finding my way to Mount Kilkreath, wherever it's located, and returning this stone to your temple, all to fight a necromancer," Amaryllis stated, because there was always the chance that the voice was the necromancer herself, since it was a feminine voice that had spoken to her, and she wasn't about to walk right into the trap like an idiot, and even if this wasn't a trap there was the very real possibility that the necromancer would kill her, something she would like to avoid since she really wasn't used to her new body, before she sighed for a few seconds as she focused on the beacon, "but, since I'm not a heartless person, I'll carry your beacon into Whiterun and sell it to Belethor, so he can find a more worthy hero that will gladly jump at the chance to help you out, all without thinking about what you're asking of them."
Interestingly enough the voice didn't respond to what she said, either because the speaker was so shocked that she had disobeyed the "decree" that had been mentioned or was pleased that the gemstone was going to be passed to someone else, but Amaryllis decided not to think about it and shoved the beacon back into her pack, before turning towards the path that would allow her to reach the front gate. From what little she knew about this land the shops would be open until eight pm, meaning they went from eight in the morning to eight at night, though with the low position of the sun she knew that selling the beacon would have to wait until the following day, as it was getting pretty close to the time that the shops would close at, even though she did know that some of the merchants might go to the inn to speak to each other and have a bite to eat before heading to bed, or to party for a time. At the same time that meant Amren might be heading back to his house, so the chances of her bumping into him again, when night was approaching, were very slim, so she decided that Amren would have to wait until the morning as well, meaning that all she could do right now was return to the city and get inside the walls, before she considered something as she focused on her walk towards the main gate. She knew there was an inn near the shops, The Bannered Mare, so she could either rent the room that was in that building, if one of the other patrons hadn't already done that, or she could curl up somewhere around the city and hope the guards left her alone for the night, allowing her to get some sleep before morning arrived, but even as that idea came to her she decided that she might as well check out the inn and test her luck. Thanks to her decision to run away from the giant's camp, so she didn't get crushed but the club, she was able to make it to the main gate of the city rather quickly, though to be sure the guards recognized her she moved behind the house near the stables and returned to the form she had used to get inside the city, the nord one that the guards had seen earlier, and found that none of the guards seemed to pay much attention to her as she headed back into Whiterun, making her wonder if she could have gotten away with using her khajiit form to enter the city and bypass the guards.
As she walked through the main gate, however, she found that several of the shopkeepers were leaving the places where they worked and were either wandering around the districts of the city, to get a bit of exercise after spending nearly all day standing behind the counters of their shops, or were heading to the inn to socialize with their friends before turning in for the night, and that also included some of the other residents doing the same thing, meaning that this had to be common in Skyrim. Amaryllis found that the only people who paid attention to her presence were the guards, which actually made sense when she thought about it, and as she walked towards The Bannered Mare she found that the other residents were focused on their own problems, so they didn't pay attention to a total stranger in their city, meaning she could take a bit of time to walk around the city and take in the sights if she really wanted, though instead of doing that, like a visitor might do, she just kept walking. It took her a minute or two to reach the inn that she was heading towards, though when she opened the door she found that there were a number of patrons already sitting around the fireplace in the center of the building, with a number of tables near the entrance and a few stools in front of the bar, which the innkeeper was standing behind, a room to the left that had to be where the kitchen and staff rooms were located, and on the other side of the room rested a set of stairs that lead up to a decent sized room, one that had to be the one patrons payed for. The Bannered Mare was an interesting place, that much she could tell at a glance, and the patrons seemed to be having fun already, despite the fact that they stopped working not too long ago, so she made her way towards the bar and took a seat on one of the stools, as she knew that she needed to buy some food before she set out on her quest, especially since she no longer needed to fed on love energy, which she was used to eating in the past, plus, after her encounter with Orgnar in the Sleeping Giant Inn, she knew that the innkeeper might have some rumors to share with those who asked.
Hulda, the owner of the inn, was nicer than what she expected and found that she was more than willing to answer a few questions, believing Amaryllis to be a stranger to the city, which wasn't too far from the truth and she didn't ask why she was in Skyrim, where she learned that the overturned boat was called Jorrvaskr, which served as the mead hall and home of the Companions, an order of warriors that worked all over Skyrim, depending on what sort of work was available for, as it sounded like they killed creatures, like giants and saber cats, while rescuing those in need. There was also the Temple of Kynareth, which rested near the bottom of the stairs that lead the way to Dragonsreach, and the dying tree that was near it was called the Gildergreen, which apparently was a sacred tree or something, but from what Hulda could tell her Danica Pure-Spring, one of the priestesses that lived in the temple and worked there, was looking for someone to help her restore the tree to it's former glory, as the tree had been struck by lightning, hence the current state that everyone saw when they walked by the Temple. Amaryllis had no idea what needed to be done to restore such a tree to it's former glory, but, at the same time, it was something else that she was going to ignore for now, which prompted her to ask about who could teach her about magic, so she could ask one of the mages of this land if it was possible to go from one world to another, before really figuring out how she was going to get back home to resume her search for her Queen. The answer, as it turned out, was that she could either head to Dragonsreach and ask Farengar if he could spare a few moments to help her out, as he had all sorts of spell books that someone could purchase and learn from, which might not happen since he seemed to be focused on trying to learn more about the dragons, or she could head to the College of Winterhold and see if the mages there would admit her to their ranks, though Amaryllis could tell that Hulda didn't think very highly of the College and had a feeling that such a thing was likely on the minds of some of the other residents of the city, given that many in this city didn't seem to care about magic.
Once she had all the information she needed, for now anyway, Amaryllis purchased some food from Hulda, who had her helper, a redguard by the name of Saadia, take the items and cook them, so they would be ready in a few minutes, before also renting the room for the night, which only cost ten coins, something that surprised her since she was expecting it to cost a bit more, but once she knew which room she was renting, as Hulda beckoned to the stairs that she had spotted the moment she entered this inn, she relaxed with the patrons and listened to them, all while enjoying the bread, cheese, and meat she had purchased.
Eventually she turned in for the night, after hanging out with the patrons and avoiding the mead they were in the middle of drinking, mostly to see if they could tell her anything else about Skyrim's Holds, and when she woke up in the morning she made sure her disguise was still on, before heading downstairs to find that the only ones left were Hulda and Saadia, which made sense when she thought about it. Regardless of how many people were here she sat down and ate more of the food she had purchased the previous night, finding that none of it had spoiled overnight, while at the same time she listened to Hulda for a few minutes, who informed her that some of the early merchants who were coming from the east were slightly happier now that Hajvarr Iron-Hand was dead and his group had torn each other apart in an effort to figure out who their new leader would be. Amaryllis was honestly surprised that all of them were dead, meaning either they had done the deed themselves or another hero had come in and dealt with them while they were weakened and distracted by what they were doing, but she paid it no mind and knew that the only way to make the road safer was to find the other bandits along the way and take them all out, though that was something for another day, even though she wasn't too keen on taking out more bandits right now. After that she listened to a few more rumors while she ate her breakfast, where one had been about a giant statue near Winterhold, of a goddess or figure by the name of Azura, another was the state of the war, now that Ulfric was free and at large once more, and a third was a reminder of Aventus Aretino, the boy in Windhelm who was in the middle of trying to contact the Dark Brotherhood, giving her something to think about when she returned to the road, in case she went to the College to see if one could move between worlds.
Once she was done with breakfast, and had some provisions for the road, she thanked Hulda for the information and letting her rent the room out, even though she didn't need to do that since the lady informed her that it was her duty to do such a thing, before heading outside and finding that all of the stalls had their owners back at them, meaning the shops were open and she could sell off some of the stuff she had picked up earlier, when she was exploring the plains and looted those chests. Even though she knew she could visit one of the shops and sell some stuff, to lighten her load, the first thing she did was turn to the right and headed up towards her destination, which was, once again, Dragonsreach, because now that she knew who could tell her about magic, and if it was possible to open a portal back home, she intended to get some answers before she left, but even if she didn't like the answer that Farengar gave her she could always try the College of Winterhold and ask them the same questions. As she walked towards her destination she realized something, that she didn't see Za'kera leave the city, meaning the khajiit had either remained in the city, to gather provisions for whatever the Court Wizard had asked of her, or she had left the city while she was exploring the plains, but either way she wished the survivor of Helgen luck in doing whatever Farengar wanted her to do. Of course she found that the priest or monk that was standing in front of the statue the previous day was still there, preaching to whoever would stop and listen to what he had to tell them, but she paid him no mind this time around as she climbed the stone steps and approached the entrance of Dragonsreach once more, where she focused on what she needed to learn from Farengar, as his words would tell her what she would be doing for the foreseeable future, be it gathering components to return home or figuring out what sort of life would suit her if she was stuck in this place.
When she walked into the massive building, and climbed the short set of stairs in front of her, she found that Jarl Balgruuf and Proventus seemed to be in the middle of another discussion, and that Irelith was adding to what they were saying, but she headed over to Farengar's room and was relieved to see that the mage was already up, working on whatever he had been working on before Jarl Balgruuf introduced Za'kera to him yesterday, though as she stood in the doorway of his part of the building he looked up from where he was standing and noticed her standing there.
"Ah, the slayer of Hajvarr Iron-Hand," Farengar commented, indicating that he had heard what she told Irileth earlier, as in the previous day when she approached her and Za'kera, when she came to collect the bounty on the bandit leader, before he pulled himself away from the alchemy table and faced her, showing that she had his attention for a moment or two, as she knew that he would return to his work in time, "I would have thought that you would have left with your companion, who I sent to Bleak Falls Barrow to recover an artifact for me, something I have determined to be crucial in determining what to do about the dragons and their return."
"We aren't companions, rather we happened to arrive outside Whiterun at the same time," Amaryllis replied, though at the same time she noticed something odd, Farengar mentioned dragons, as in more than one, making her wonder if there had been another dragon attack since the black one destroyed Helgen, even if no one had mentioned a second one since her arrival in Whiterun, before shelving the thought for now as she focused on why she had come back here, "anyway, I was wondering if you could answer a question about magic for me, before I resumed my travels. I was curious if it's possible to travel from Skyrim to somewhere else, such as another world."
"You mean one of the realms of Oblivion?" Farengar inquired, though instead of waiting for Amaryllis to say anything else, or give him a proper answer, he turned to the map that he had on one of the sides of his room and seemed to think about what she had told him, making her wonder if this was a good thing to bother him with, given the fact that he was trying to figure out how to stop the black dragon and any others that had popped up lately, and before she could speak up it looked like he was going to speak first, "Once upon a time such a thing was possible, in fact the end of the last era was when the Oblivion Crisis happened, where the minions of Mehrunes Dagon opened gateways to his realm, the Deadlands, to bring their engines of war to our world and destroy it, but, thanks to the efforts of the Hero of Kvatch and Martin Septim, Dagon and his daedra were stopped, though it is said that the Divines placed a barrier, or something like it, around our world to prevent such a thing from happening a second time. Which, I'm sorry to say, means that opening a portal to one of the realms of Oblivion is next to impossible."
"Is... Is that so?" Amaryllis inquired, doing her best not to show that she was disappointed by the news, as it meant that whatever had brought her here, to this land, had come from Equus, something she couldn't access from this place, which meant that it was just as Farengar said, creating a portal between here and her home world was basically impossible for her to do, though it didn't take the mage long to nod his head, where she thanked him for the answer and excused herself so he could get back to his work.
Her entire plan had been about finding a way back home, doing whatever it took to gather the resources to do just that, but now, with the information she had just received, that plan no longer mattered, as she was now a permanent resident of this world and nothing was going to change that fact, even though she had been hoping she would only be in this world for a short period of time, instead of forever. That also meant that she was going to have to figure out a more reliable way to live her life, maybe by becoming an apprentice under one of the various vendors she had seen in the market, or maybe by joining the guard at some point, if Jarl Balgruuf could trust someone like her, and there was even the change that she could head out and see if she could find Za'kera again, to assist her in figuring out why that black dragon was attacking the rest of Skyrim, or at least Helgen anyway, but the chances of that happening were slim. That thought, however, made her recall what she had learned in Riverwood, about a boy in Windhelm that needed some sort of help, which meant that she could take up the role of a hero or a helper, though she was sure that meant killing bandits and recovering stolen items, which she was sure would grow old after awhile, but this thought was more in the sense of snapping him out of what he was doing and return to a normal life. In the end she decided that, for now, she would head to Windhelm and see what sort of problem the boy needed help with, though as she came to that decision she reached the bottom step of the stone stairs and stared at the dying tree, to which she started to search around the area and eventually found Amren, who was actually leaving his house for the day and was overjoyed when she stopped him, which was the moment that she reached into her pack and withdrew his father's sword, something that he apparently spent months searching for and had been stressing out about since his wife didn't seem to care about it. There was no reward for recovering the sword, as all Amren had to offer was a sword and shield technique that his father had taught him, though she told him that it was unnecessary, as helping him was more than enough for her, even though she counted the loot she had taken from the bandits and the giant's chest as her reward for her deed, though once she was done speaking with Amren she headed for Belethor's shop to sell some things to him.
Belethor, as it turned out, was happy to have a customer step into his store and walk up to the counter, where Amaryllis pulled out the couple of expensive looking items she had acquired from the last couple of chests she had opened and set them on the counter, where she watched as he inspected the items and their quality, before offering her four hundred coins for the lot. Based on the look Belethor had when he was going over all the items she had sent on the counter they were worth a little more than what he was offering, or at least that was what she thought, but in the end she didn't think the offer was too low, rather it was designed to give the customer a good deal and would allow Belethor to make a good return once he sold the items at a higher price. In the end, however, Amaryllis took the trade and was four hundred coins heavier as a result, though as she made sure to add the coins to her haul she considered learning the spell that would let her summon her own personal chest, just so she didn't have to walk around with so many coins on her person, as she had a feeling that it would entice a thief to approach her. Once that was done she made sure everything in her pack was ready for the next part of her trek through the provinces of Skyrim, while at the same time Belathor made sure the items he had bought from her were placed on displace so he could sell them to whoever came to his shop in the near future, but that was when she spotted something she had forgotten, as she noticed the beacon she had found while she was searching the chest that was in the giant's camp earlier.
"Oh, before I go, I found this as well," Amaryllis said, as she had forgotten about the beacon, the main reason behind her visit to the shop, and quickly pulled it out of her pack so she could set it down in front of Belethor, who raised one of his eyebrows as he stared at it, meaning he was studying it and determining how much he could sell it for, after buying it and giving her some coins for the odd gemstone, "When I touched this thing it spoke to me about returning it somewhere, but it's been silent since that moment, so I thought you might buy it as well, just to make sure it gets into the hands of a hero or a scholar."
"Interesting. It's unique, I'll give you that, but all I can offer you is thirty coins for it," Belethor replied, where Amaryllis felt that his tone was suggesting that he could afford to buy it for more than what he was offering, as he could sell it for a lot more than what she thought it was worth, but, at the same time, she really didn't care too much about the item and the being that had spoken to her when she touched it, meaning she basically wanted it out of her life so she could focus on what she might encounter next.
"That's fine." Amaryllis stated, showing that she was fine with the price, as she didn't want the beacon at all and was sure that Belethor would find someone to take it off his hands, for whatever price he actually asked for it when someone tried to but it from him, to which Belethor offered her a smaller pouch with the coins inside it, something that was followed by her handing him the beacon as she claimed the coins, allowing him to place it on one of his shelves and come up with the price he was going to ask for it.
With that done, and she was no longer weighed down by some of the stuff she had been carrying, Amaryllis headed out into the market and made her way back towards the main gate, as it was time to leave Whiterun and see what else the land of Skyrim had to offer, all while trying to find out what she was going to do now that her first plan had failed, even though she was sure she would figure something out in due time.