( In my other story, my character had adopted Sissel, but I didn't actually do that. I found out that if I did, Britte would be part of the package. So I adopted Blaise and Lucia instead.)
Farkas smashed in the bandits skull with the hilt of his sword, and kicked him to make sure he was dead. He was coming home from a very long journey, and wasn't going to let some petty thief ruin his good mood, or steal the gifts he was bringing for his family. For his eldest daughter, a handsome golden dagger; for his son, a very well made elvish helmet, as he had promise to take him on a low level job; a doll made of fine silk that he assumed would catch his youngest daughters eye; and for his beloved wife, a... He stopped cold. His wife. He had completely forgotten to look for anything for her!
He cursed himself. That entire fort, and he didn't even grab a bowl. He always brought home a gift for his family if it was a good job. How could he have forgotten? He dropped the sack of items he had 'collected' from the fort, and sifted through the treasures, hoping to find something she would like. A pair of steel boots? She had better, and these were too big for her anyway. A clump of iron ore with a few fragments of amethyst in it? What would she do with that? Smithing wasn't a hobby of hers. Someones undergarments? Whoops, how'd that get in there? He searched almost frantically in the bag for a gift, and had no luck.
Giving up, sat on the ground and thought. "Well, she could always use more lockpicks. I'll just give her that.", he decided, digging some lockpicks out of his pocket and throwing them in the sack. He picked it back up and went merrily on his way. It took a few hours before he got to Whiterun, it was dark when he got home, and he was tired and longing for a hot meal. "I'm home!", he said as lightly as he possibly could with his gruff voice. Blaise and Lucia were still up, but Orsola was asleep in Seirye's arms, and as soon as he walked through the door she wrinkled her little nose and started to bawl.
Seirye held the baby close and bounced her as a mother will, trying to quiet the baby, and when that didn't work, she fed her.(I'm not going in to detail with that, I just like to fill out my story. This is a bit slow, but trust me, it's coming...I feel kind of silly writing parent experiences, seeing as I'm not one, and hope not to be for a good ten, fifteen years.) "Poppa!", said Blaise and Lucia, jumping up from teasing their pet mudcrab to hug him. "And you've got gifts!", said Blaise. Farkas and Seirye rolled their eyes.
"Yeah, I've got gifts. For you, Blaise.", He said, pulling out the helmet. Blaise's eyes sparkled with bewilderment, as he pulled the helmet over his head. "It's a little big, but it's great!",Blaise exclaimed. "For you", said Farkas taking the sheath and dagger out of the sack, and handing it to Lucia. Lucia took the dagger out of it's sheath, and gasped at it's intricate beauty. "It's so gorgeous! Thank you sooo much! I promise I won't beat you when we play a game anymore! Wow!", Lucia said jumping up and down. "And for you, little one...", he cooed at the little bundle in his wife's arms, which was a strange sound coming from him.
He sat down with them and pulled from the sack once more, the little doll, and gave it to Orsola, who grabbed it and held it, gurgling happily. Seiyre gave him a confused look. "This was at a bandit fort?", she asked. "No, I went to Dawnstar on the way and asked Taarie and Endarie to make it. You should've seen their faces.", He replied. "I, uh, found some lockpicks. Here." Seriye smiled and took them. "We don't needa gift every time you go out. Your safe return is always enough.", Seirye said.
(**************)
Farkas was hanging up his armor for now. He wanted to stay home for awhile, so he could spend time with his family. Then he noticed something was missing. His sword wasn't in the sheath! In his foolish floating mood, he must've dropped it after looking at the goods he had found. He sighed, exasperated, and put on his armor again. "I left my sword just outside the walls, I'll be right back.", he called to Seirye. "Okay." He walked out the door and out the gates, and along the road until he came to the place he dropped it. Sure enough, next to the body of a bandit, his sword was glinting in the moonlight.
He walked over and picked it back up, when there was a sudden burst of blue, and it sucked him in. The blow, as odd as it seems as it wasn't a solid form, knocked him cold out, and the vortex became black.
(**************)
"Huh. That was weird.", Grace said aloud. "What?", said her sister, Wynn. "That flash of blue light. Didn't you see it?" "No." Grace rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm gonna go check it out." "Grace! You know how in the movies, when you go to check out the loud noise or the weird thing, something bad happens?" "So?" "So, if you go do that, somethings going to kill you, or jump out, or whisk you in to a magical world of talking lions and crap!" Grace stared at her sister. "What have you been smoking? It's just a flash of light. Come on, don't be such a baby." Wynn reluctantly folled her little sister out the door.
"You know, if I die, and I don't get to go back to college tomorrow, mom's going to hold you PERSONALLY responsible for paying off my student loans.", stuttered Wynn. Grace ignored her sister, and kept walking toward where she saw the light. She stopped cold. "Grace? Grace are you okay?", Wynn yelled, catching up with her thirteen year old sister. And she knew why she had stopped. Laying on his side, was a huge man, in armor, and in his hand was an enormous sword.