21st of Last Seed - Leaving Whiterun

Okay, I’ve slept, eaten and washed now, so maybe I can try and make some sense of what happened yesterday.

I came to Whiterun on the evening of the 19^th and went straight to the Jarl to tell him about the dragon attack on Helgen. He was arguing with his advisor about whether to send troops there when I arrived. Seems the advisor is more concerned about keeping everyone in their place than about the safety of the hold. The Jarl did decide to send troops, tough. He seems like he actually cares about the people of his hold. After I had told him about what I knew about the dragon, which is, admittedly, very little, he thanked me and sent me on my way. I rented a room at The Bannered Mare and caught up the sleep I haven’t gotten the last few days.

Yesterday started quietly. I went to Dragonsreach, that’s the Jarl’s hall, to talk with his court wizard about the College of Winterfell and learning more about magic. We hadn’t spoken much, though, before we were interrupted by the Jarl’s housecarl, Irileth. Apparently, a dragon had been spotted near the city. The Jarl decided to send Irileth to find out what was going on. He also decided to ask me to accompany her, because of my extensive experience fighting dragons, I presume. Hah. Okay, to be fair, since no-one has seen a dragon in a few thousand years, I guess, technically, I am one of the most experienced dragon-slayers around, even though my experience is limited to panicky running, trying to avoid being eaten.

The western watchtower outside Whiterun was almost destroyed. There were burning remains of guards strewn about, and the stench of burned flesh lay heavy on the area. And, just our luck, we’d barely arrived and gotten a glimpse of the situation before the dragon came back for afters. I am happy to report that I was more active against this one than the last one. My longbow wasn’t the right weapon against such a fast moving target, though, so I grabbed a fallen guard’s crossbow and used that instead, and whoa! did those bolts tear through dragon flesh! Believe it or not, but we actually managed to kill the dragon with very little loss. Of course, that’s when the weird things started happening.

Dragonborn

 Grinning and laughing, we approached the corpse of the dragon. We’d actually done it! We’d killed a dragon! As I came close though, I stretched out a hand to touch it… And it started vaporizing. The skin and flesh of the dragon just… Became ethereal, gathered in a swirl above the dragon… And was absorbed into me. 

Yeah. I absorbed the soul of a dragon. At least, that’s what some of the guards said. They started talking about being Dragonborn, that some Nord heroes of old used to slay dragons to absorb their souls, gaining power in doing so. And I did feel very, very powerful. Especially so after one of the guards told me to Shout. I had no idea what he was talking about, but it seems that something inside of me did. That word that entered my mind in Bleak Falls Barrow, FUS. It almost sprang from my lips after the guard told me to Shout, and it carried power with it. So much power, in fact, that the guards closest to me were almost pushed off their feet.

I don’t know if Irileth noticed how dazed and amazed I was, but she told me to head back to Whiterun to tell the Jarl about what had happened there, and I was more than happy to do as she asked. I hadn’t gotten all the way to the city, though, before the sky was rent by a crashing peal of thunder. Not unusual in itself, but it was a clear day, and it was followed by a voice shouting “Dovahkiin”. This, you see, made it unusual.

Things didn’t become any less unusual after I came to Dragonsreach and told the Jarl about what had happened. Both he and his brother insisted that I was indeed a Dragonborn, and the voice had been that of the Greybeards, calling for me to come to them. Turns out that Greybeards are some sort of old mystics living on a mountaintop to the east of Whiterun, and they’re supposed to know about being Dragonborn. He also appointed me to be a Thane of Whiterun; I admit I wasn’t really paying much attention by now, so as soon as he was done, I made my way out of there and back to The Bannered Mare.

"By my right as Jarl, I name you Thane of Whiterun. It's the greatest honor that's within my power to grant."

 The sun is coming up now, so it’s time I made my way out of here. I still have a lot to learn about magic, so I’m heading to Winterhold and the College. Let the Greybeards stay on their mountain. I’m not a Nord hero of old. They can find someone else.

I just remembered that the Jarl said something about a housecarl that came with being a Thane. I know housecarls are supposed to be like personal guards, but I’m not going to have some stuffy Nord following me around. He’ll just have to do whatever he did before I came.