Turdas, 28th of Last Seed

	We’ve made it as far as the carts can take us. Before we hoof it the rest of the way, we’re stopping in the Bannered Mare in Whiterun for an hour to get our spirits back up. The guard almost wouldn’t let us into the city, the man said it was closed because “dragons” are about. While I know that there was one dragon, I also know you can’t close a city over it. Not if you want to keep the populace calm that is. Never the less, I had to toss gold to get the gates moving, and I can’t help but think this only goes on because the city has yet to commit itself to the empire and thus has nobody to enforce proper laws where corrupt officials that extort can be punished. Same thing happened in Riften too, only that might be worse with the fact that they’re Stormcloak land. Maybe that’s proof that Ulfric’s rule is doomed, he’s too busy fighting for the Nords and can’t enforce proper rules and regulations on his holds. The Empire may not be glamorous to the Nordic lifestyle, but you can’t deny that it’s a working system that’s been around long enough to merit some respect.