Back outside, Avingard noticed two large Nord men talking to an elderly lady. He recognized the lady as the owner of the stall directly in front of the Bannered Mare, as he remembered seeing her as he passed by. Neither the men of the woman seem to be in any sort of good mood.
He stopped just close enough that he could listen to the conversation. Upon closer inspection, Avingard also recognized one of the Nords as the one talking to Adrianne as he entered Whiterun.
“Foolish old woman!” exclaimed the Nord he didn’t recognize, who seemed older than the other. “You know nothing! Nothing of our struggles, our suffering!”
“Nothing?” asked the woman. “And what of my son? Hmm? What of Thorald? Is he nothing? So don’t talk to me about suffering.”
You son chose his side, and he chose poorly,” replied the younger Nord. “And now he’s gone. Such is the way of war. The sooner you accept his loss, the better.”
“I will never accept his death!” the woman disagreed defiantly. “My son still lives. I feel it in my heart. So tell me, Battle-Borns, where is he? Where you holding my Thorald?”
“Do you believe this old hag?” the older Nord asked as he turned to the other Nord.
“Holding him?” the older Nord asked the woman. “Why I’ve got him in my cellar. He’s my prisoner. Face it cow! Your stupid son is dead! He died a Stormcloak traitor. An you…you best keep your mouth shut before you suffer the same.”
“Come on, father,” the younger Nord said turning to the older one. “There’s nothing more to be said here.”
With that, the two Nords turned and walked away, leaving the elderly woman in tears as she returned to work behind her stall.
Avingard thought about the situation and how the Civil War has created divisions among neighbors and former friends. He stopped the thought we he noticed Carlotta busy sweeping the street behind her stall. He walked over to her.
“Mikael won’t be bothering you anymore,” Avingard said as Carlotta looked up at him.
“Really? You convinced that lute player to stop chasing me?” she asked a little unsure if what Avingard was telling her was true. “I’d thank the gods, but I’ll settle for thanking you. Here’s some coin for you help.”
She handed Avingard two hundred and fifty gold coins. He thanked her for the reward and then headed down the street the Warmaiden’s. Adrianne was busy working outside as Avingard approached her.
“Hi, Avingard,” she greeted him. “What can I help you with?”
“I would like some steel armor to replace this iron armor,” Avingard replied.
“Sure,” she agreed.
Adrianne found some steel armor and sold it to Avingard. The armor fit Avingard nicely, and he already felt better about going into combat with better protection. Not needing the iron armor anymore, and also because it was heavy to carry around, he sold it to Adrianne. Even after selling the iron armor, Avingard still didn’t have enough to replace his iron boots, so he thanked Adrianne for the armor and walked back to the market and the Bannered Mare.
He opened the door and walked up to the bar, where he purchased a room for the night from the woman tending the bar. “I’ll show you to your room, traveler. “Right this way.”
She escorted Avingard to the second story of the inn where are room with a comfortable bed overlooked the main room below. After watching the patrons for a few moments, Avingard ate some bread and then removed his armor. He laid down on the bed and quickly fell asleep.
Absolutely love reading this! May I ask what ENB and mods your using?
I am actually using quite a bit of mods, too many to mention in this comment. I will look at creating a page of the mods I use.
As for the ENB, I can’t remember as I have been experiencing with different ENB settings. If I can figure out which one I’ll let you know.