For the villagers who had lived in Riverwood for generations, the Imperial soldiers were absolutely, positively no reason to welcome them, even though they had never harmed a hair on anyone's head since arriving, nor bullied or harassed the villagers.
In fact, they didn't welcome them at all. They could even be said to harbor a quiet hostility toward them.
After all, it was the Empire's war with the Thalmor—and the outcome that everyone criticized as a victory that was really a defeat—that had led to the signing of the White-Gold Concordat. It had also allowed the Thalmor's inquisitors to run rampant across Skyrim, arresting and persecuting the Talos-worshipping Nords and leaving them furious.
Most Nords in Skyrim knew nothing about the twists and turns of political and military struggles. They simply hated the Thalmor—and even all High Elves—with a passion. They hated the Empire and the incompetents in the Imperial City, and secretly supported and sympathized with the Stormcloaks.
So when the Imperial soldiers fought those fire demons outside Riverwood that morning, the villagers had stayed in their homes and done nothing, watching as the Imperial Army suffered a crushing defeat, left hundreds of bodies behind, and fled toward Falkreath, Lake Ilinalta, and the foothills around it.
But...
Now that the Imperial soldiers and General Tullius had been utterly defeated and forced to flee, the villagers of Riverwood, along with the merchants and travelers stranded there, still didn't dare leave their homes. They remained nervously hidden in their houses and inns.
The evil, terrifying fire monsters from Whiterun—or rather, the new "Fire-Whiterun"—had beaten the Imperial soldiers, occupied the town, and declared that Riverwood had returned to the jurisdiction of its former hold, Whiterun Hold, now known as "Fire-Whiterun Hold."
The villagers didn't want to deal with the Imperials they