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“Where is - Which homestead is this?” Cloud turned in a circle to get a full view of the snowy wilderness.
“Windstad Manor,” Djinn answered over her shoulder.
“And that’s near…”
“Solitude.” Djinn walked back to him, held up her map, and pointed to the spot. “There.” Then she pointed over his shoulder to the west, at the grand view of Skyrim’s capitol in the distance. “There.”
“Oh. This one? I didn’t pick this one.”
She was already stalking away again, and didn’t bother to turn back around to answer, “I built three homes on three plots.”
“Oh.”
“So, what, you only built one?” Djinn flicked through her keychain, eventually finding the right one and unlocking the front door.
He shrugged, eying the structure. “Well, it was a lot of work, and I’m lazy. I built one and then decided I didn’t want to do it again.”
Cloud sounded equally defensive and sheepish, and she shot him a tired look. “...Right.” Djinn got the door open and stepped inside. “Anyway, I - oh!”
Her hand went to her blade in a flash, but she relaxed just as quickly with a sigh. “Y’ffre’s blood. Sorry, Fae. Forgot you were here.”
A Bosmer was curled up in a chair near the door, buried in a novel. He offered a little wave and nothing more than a glance to her guest. “No worries.”
Djinn led Cloud deeper into her home. The entryway led into a larger room with a long table; doors on either side opened into other rooms, and stairs led up to a second story.
“My point was,” she continued, “I didn’t think it was difficult at all. Building the houses.”
“Yeah, well, you’re better at this than me.”
Djinn laughed, dropping her knapsack onto one of the chairs around the table and turning to face him.
Cloud jabbed a thumb over his shoulder and lowered his voice. “You married that guy?”
“Faendal? No.”
“You sure?” He glanced back at the elf.
She scoffed. “Why are you so suspicious? He’s my steward. There aren't a lot of Bosmer in Skyrim. I like to have him around."
Djinn got to work unpacking her things, walking around the home and efficiently storing items in various sacks and barrels and chests. Cloud lounged in one of the chairs around the table and looked around. There were a lot of little details to take in; her home was practical, but well decorated as well.
Just then, a burly Nord in iron armor rounded the corner. The men looked equally surprised at each other’s presence.
“What - ”
“Who’s this? ”
Djinn leaned over the balcony to look down at the men, only to shrug. “Dunno. Name’s Valdimar, but he’s not the steward. He’s just kind of… around.”
“...Housecarl,” Valdimar offered.
“Right. Housecarl.”
“Ah, you know what it is?” Cloud nodded knowingly. “This hold doesn’t have a home you can buy, so when you became Thane, this was the only place for him to move in.”
Djinn pondered it as she dropped weaponry into a chest. “That makes sense.”
Cloud made his way upstairs and found where she was unloading swords, daggers, and battle-axes. He leaned against the doorway and watched over her shoulder. “Why do you have so many weapons on you?”
“I was just forging them earlier.”
When she continued pulling them out, he muttered, “My god, you’re like a walking… uh…”
“Arsenal?”
“No, I was thinking of a cooler word.”
She just shook her head. He started looking around, wandering off to another room. She didn’t hear from him until he shouted from the direction of her bedroom. “You have a thousand ingots?! By the gods, you’re rich!”
She rolled her eyes at the accusation. “I keep things.”
“I can see that!”
“That’s why building the house was no trouble, Cloud. I hold onto resources, store them until I need them.”
How had he made it so far without knowing to store valuables?
When she finished unloading, she found him poking around her bookshelves and offered, “Want to see some stuff?”
“Yeah!”
“This is my cheese sack,” Djinn presented proudly.
Cloud peered inside and was greeted by what had to be over a hundred cheese wheels. “Jesus Christ,” he exclaimed. “Why do you need so much? Do you collect cheese?”
She just shrugged, grinning. He followed her through the kitchen and to the Alchemy table, where she had sorted ingredients into a variety of sacks. She pointed to the barrel he was next to. “That’s my potion barrel. And that,” she pointed to the sack on top of it, “is my poison sack.”
He checked inside and, as promised, found it to be entirely full of a variety of poisons. “Holy… why? Aren’t you worried you’ll mix this up with the cheese sack?”
She stopped. Turned to face him. “What?”
“Like, you’re hungry, so you go for some cheese, and then oh no, you’ve poisoned yourself.”
“The... The sacks are in separate rooms, Cloud.”
“Yeah, well. I could find a way to mess that up.”
“I’m sure you could.”
“Shut up.”