My eyes narrowed a bit at these two as I couldn't possibly fail to recognize them. Skjor and Aela of the companions. Skjor's armor in particular was the wolf set that they wore from the game and famous across the whole of Skyrim. The problem however was that the companions inner circle members all shared one secret, they were werewolves. Considering I had just killed one a day before and these two happened to show up so soon afterwards I was suspicious that I might have killed a companion which would not be good for my health.-
"Hail travelers! We would like a word if you can spare the time!" Skjor called out to us as he and Aela approached.
"How can this one's humble caravan be of service?" Dar-La asked calmly from the wagon seat.
Aela looked confused and stunned at this but Skjor barely flinched.
"Me and my shield sister here are on the hunt for a werewolf with a bounty on it's head that we've tracked to this area. We were wondering if any of you may have heard any wolf howls recently on the road and if so roughly whereabouts?" he asked seriously.
"This werewolf happen to be blonde and male?" I asked relaxing considerably.
"That's right but how'd you know that?" Aela demanded curiously.
"Because I killed it about a quarter days ride that way. Thing tried to ambush me on my way back from wiping out the bandits in Northwind mine. Don't know if the bodies still there or a beast dragged it off but you can't miss the blood, I stabbed an artery and bled it out before finishing it off." I said honestly while pointing out the direction of the fight.
"That's quite the tale friend. How'd you walk away uninjured from a battle like that?" Skjor asked surprised but not dismissive as he sized me up.
I shook my head and pulled up my shirt to show the gnarly scars on my chest.
"I didn't but I'm a skilled healer and adept with restoration magic so I could put myself back together after the fact." I explained before putting my shirt back down.
"Makes sense. Hope you don't mind if we still want to verify the kill." he said with a nod and a look of respect.
"To kill a werewolf in single combat you must be quite the warrior too. Why not put that skill to proper use? Why not join the companions?" Aela offered seriously.
I shook my head "Grateful for the offer but I have other plans already. Headed to Winterhold for the college. Only place I can find the knowledge to go past adept in any magical field without leaving the province." I said honestly.
"Mage eh? Never had a taste for magic myself but it's as honorable a path as any other. I wish you well on that. Come Aela, lets go find that body and head home." Skjor said and they left just as fast as they arrived.
We also didn't tarry overlong and set out as well for Kynesgrove, it would be a long trip. We'd be following the main road and that would take us through the valley between the mountains, across the sulfur hot spring covered region beyond that and then through the snowy wooden region after that. The whole trip would be framed by the Velothi mountains at our right as they marked the edge of the province. Beyond those mountains were the province of Morrowwind that was NOT doing great right now.-
With Red mountain at the center spewing ash and blistering heat even still most of the land was ruined. As if that wasn't bad enough the Argonian royals from Blackmarsh at the provinces southern border were invading with raiders as pay back for centuries of slavery and abuse. The place couldn't feed it's people so the natives were trying to immigrate to anywhere that would take them. I won't say Skyrim's natives had been the best neighbors all the time but our borders were mostly open to helping these people at the moment though it was not pleasant for anyone.-
The fact of the matter was in order for these immigrants to get a leg up they needed jobs, jobs that as a result weren't being done by Nords. A good deal of people didn't like it, really stoked the racism that. Calling it tense would be a massive understatement, not hostile or volatile yet but definitely toxic. I had a fairly good idea about why Red mountain had erupted a little under two hundred years ago thanks to my Earth knowledge but would need to check to confirm it. See as it happens that particular volcano had been the resting place of the literal heart of Lorkhan since the very dawn of this world.-
It was a whole lore thing with Lorkhan getting ganked by the other gods after he tricked them into creating this world and being proven impossible to kill because his very heart was now intricately linked to the world. Akatosh had apparently tied the heart to an arrow and shot it into the sea where Red mountain swelled up from and that was that for a long ass time. Then came the fucking Dwarves. Masters of fucking with things they should have left the hell alone they found the heart while digging in the area.-
Of course rather than leaving it alone they were all like "lets use the heart to make a new god that's all ours" and for obvious reasons that didn't go over well with the Chimer who found out. These golden skinned elves warred with the Dwarves to stop them when the grand tonal architect Kagrenac used special tools he fashioned to harness the hearts power to try and do something no one seems to agree on exactly. But what we DO know is that what he actually accomplished was making every Dwarf currently on Nirn vanish from the face of the world all at once.-
Anyways the war was won for the Chimer and Nerevar and his wife and generals, Almalexia, Vivec and Sotha sil respectively found the tools and Nerevar was betrayed by the other three and murdered before they used the tools of Kagrenac to achieve a sort of pseudo godhood not godhood type state, lots of debate on that one, with the heart. Lasted a long ass time too until Dagoth Ur, a friend of Nerevar turned out to not only NOT be dead but had been feeding off the heart himself to achieve something similar as he cursed literally the entire province with a plague called Corprus.-
Through a prophecy and a LOT of daedric shenanigans by part of Azura Nerevar was reborn the Nerevarinne and defeated Dagoth before supposedly destroying the heart, you guessed it, a little over two hundred years ago. My theory was that the heart was displaced rather than destroyed and this caused the volcano to destabilize and lead to the current situation.