Disclaimer: I don't own The Elder Scrolls or any of the characters from the game.

Prior to reading this story, please note; Even thought this story doesn't follow the exact storyline of the game there there are things that could be considered as spoilers. This story is only following my OC and her interactions with The Companions in general and Vilkas especially. ENJOY!

ALSO: I am currently going through this story to re-write and general fixes, hopefully it'll lead to me being able to finnish. I'm so sorry to have kept you all waiting.

1. Uncommon One

'Oh, that's just great,' Keilah thought to herself when the rain started to pour down. Luckly, she was seeing the town she was heading for. Even so, her hood and leather armor were soon enough soaking wet and she picked up the pace in hope to of getting to the town before nightfall despite the rain and the wind.

She made it to the city gates just as the shops were starting to close. To her immediate right she noticed a blacksmith and hoped she would at least have some luck that day and that there still was time for some trading.

"Hi, are you still open?" She asked the woman standing outside.

"Looking to buy, traveler?" The woman answered. She was tall, blond and beautiful as every other Nord woman Keilah had ever met. She always felt ridiculously small and plain when talking to them.

"Yes, but sell mostly. I have some leather and pelts. I also do wish to buy some small things, like lockpicks if you have them."

"Lockpicks?" She eyed Keilah suspiciously. "You know, I'm not to keen on selling lockpicks to strangers. I'd hate to sell them to you and find out tomorrow that my neighbors have had uninvited visitors during the night."

It was better not to argue about it. She had enough lockpicks and if she proved herself she knew she would be allowed to buy them later on. "Fair enough, I would still like to sell to you if that's ok?"

The big Nord woman looked at her with a smile, "What's your name?"

With a smile in return, she answered. "Keilah, I just came here from Riverwood."

"Nice to meet you Keilah, I'm Adrienne Avenicci and this is the Warmaiden's."

"Is it named after you?"

"Yes. It was my fathers nickname for me. If I'm not around you can always deal with my husband Ulfbert, he's usually inside the shop though."

The deals were quickly settled. With a few more golds in her purse, some information and gossip about Whiterun, she headed to the inn that - according to Adrienne - was quite alright. Keilah was still soaking wet, and she still had a hard time understanding what had happened just in the last few days.

She had almost been executed, saved by a dragon and then almost killed by the very same dragon. The nice man that helped her, despite the fact that she obviously wasn't a Nord, he hadn't even flinched when she used magic. He only commented on the fact that it wasn't common that someone who was using magic and a sword at the same time. And finally, the kindness of the people in Riverwood.

Keilah had spent most of her life traveling, her dad was always on his way to one battle or another. They had been trading their way forward, and he had taught her everything she knew about fighting and generally getting by.

If she just closed her eyes she could hear his voice as clearly as if he was standing next to her; 'Magic is useful Keilah, but a sword is just as useful. Use magic on them as they come towards you and finish them off with your sword and remember; your most powerful weapon is always your head. People our size needs to be smarter and quicker than our enemy because we will never be stronger.'

She missed him everyday. He had been dead for two years, since she was nineteen, and she woke up every morning thinking about him and fell asleep missing him. She hardly knew anyone, she had no close friends and made a living by selling and trading the way she and her dad always had. She had no memories of her mother who had died giving birth to her. Her dad had been her entire world.

When she was arrested she had lost everything she had on her, but the only thing she missed was the horse. By her calculations it would probably take her a couple of months to afford a new one. Nothing else bothered her, she always traveled light and held no sentiment towards possessions. But the loss of the horse meant she couldn't carry as much with her. Less to carry meant less to sell. Less to sell meant less money.

As she walked up the street she looked at the women. She would never get used to them. They were tall, fair haired, with blue eyes and curves she envied so hard she almost felt like punching them in their beautiful faces.

She herself was mistaken for a young boy on a quite regular basis. She barely reached up to the shoulders of most of these women, her breasts were close to non existing, her hips straight and she was skinny. She was strong, but still skinny. Her hair and eyes were dark brown, almost black.

As a child she used to look into the mirror trying to will her eyes to at least become green, but they were never anything but brown. She actually started off trying to make them blue, but thought that green would be more likely a successful attempt. It wasn't, of course.

Her father had told her that she should be proud of being a Breton, she still wasn't. She wasn't ashamed of it either, what she was held no bigger meaning to her.

She entered the inn and looked around. 'The Bannered Mare, what was it with Skyrim and the odd names for shops and inn's?' She walked up to the counter and asked for a room, a meal and mead.

"Is it possible to use the fire to cook some food here?" She asked the inn-keeper.

"Sure, just talk to the cook. If you're charming enough you might even be able to get a good price for the ingredients."

Keilah just smiled, she could be charming enough when she wanted to.

A very drunk man came up to her. Reeking like a brewery, he leaned close to her.

"Now here's pretty girl! You don't see many Bretons here in Whiterun. We have a a man, Belethor, he owns the general store. Calls it 'Belethors general store', boring name if you ask me. Good stock, though." He leaned over even closer, whispering and spitting into her ear. "The elf blood makes you people so small, but gracious. I bet you are really flexible."

Keilah hardly gave him a glance, took a sip of her mead and the looked at him.

"You'll never know." She heard a muffled laugh coming from somewhere behind her.

That didn't seem to put him off though. He smiled. Or rather tried. He was so drunk it looked a bit skewed and he held himself up against the bar counter.

"I heard you paying for room, you can stay in my house for free, what smart little girl wouldn't want that?'"

That was pretty much alls he needed. She knew the kind of man this was, there was one on every inn. The very drunk man that had tried to pick up every local girl without any luck and now just tried his luck with every strange female that walked through the door, hoping to catch them before they found out who he was. Or rather hoping they were desperate enough to accept his offer of a free bed.

"Look ,sir. I know for a fact that nothing is free, and every smartgirl knows that. Now. Get. Out. Of. My. Face"

She was tired and in no mood to dodge his breath and feeble attempts for hours, so better to piss him off. If he was smart he'd notice the sword on her back. Just as the thought went through her head she could see him clenching his fist. Not smart then.

"Now, you listen to me little girl, no woman talks to me like that."

"Really? I would have thought it wasn't all that uncommon." And just as she anticipated, he took a swing at her.

Keilah had noticed that if you took out the big drunk that hardly anyone liked the first night in a new town, the other big drunk, or any men, tended to leave you alone for the rest of the stay. That suited her just fine.

She avoided his swing easily, sidestepped and hit him in the face with an open hand, she heard another muffled laugh behind her.

"See how easily I did that? It will not get any harder for me to hit you as this fight progresses, I will only hit harder. Are you sure you want to keep this up?"

As she anticipated, that sent him over the edge and with a roar he started to swing his fists and rushed towards her. She avoided his hits and sidestepped his charges, and shortly he was flat on his back on the floor panting.

Keilah leaned over him, smiled and said: "Are we done? Can I get back to my mead or do you want another dance?"

He muttered something as he got up and moved toward the table in the corner, rubbing his jaw.

"I take it you don't want another dance then." she said, mostly to herself.

A woman with a tattoo over her face leaned forward with a laugh Keilah recognized as the muffled laugh she'd heard while talking and fighting with the drunk.

"Impressive. That's the most fun I've had at this establishment in months. I'm Aela. Why don't you sit and share a tankard of mead with me and my friend here."

Next to here was a huge man, one of the biggest Keilah has seen here in the north and that was saying something. She looked at them, smiled and agreed. It wasn't something she did often, but a woman with a tattoo on her face and an absolutely massive man wasn't what she usually found at the inns either. She was pretty sure it could be interesting.

Aela pointed at the big man and said, "This is Farkas". Keilah nodded at him with a smile.

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Keilah."

"Did you just come into town?" Aela asked.

"Yes, I have a request to the Jarl from Riverwood. I thought I would get up there tomorrow. I came into town a bit later than I had expected, the rain took me by surprise."

"I have to say; your fighting is very impressive," Aela smiled, "But I only see a one-hand sword on your back, you don't use a shield or a second sword?"

"No." Suddenly Keilah became insecure. Magic wasn't something Nords liked or understood, they viewed it with suspicion, but then, what the heck, "I use magic with my other hand when I fight". Both Aela and Farkas raised their eyebrows.

"Really?" Farkas extremely dark voice took Keilah by surprise. She had suspected it was down there, but boy, that voice made her entire body vibrate when it hit her.

''I've never seen that, mixing weapons and magic." He wrinkled his eyebrows once more like he was thinking really hard, "I can see how that could be useful though."

"What kind of magic can you use?" Once again, very surprised, Keilah realized that Aela looked interested as well.

"Destruction and healing mostly."

"Fascinating! If you use your sword and your magic with the same skill you use your bare hands, it would certainly be something to see. You know, we're Companions, and Companions are always looking for good people. We've never had someone that uses magic before, but there's a first time for everything." Aela smiled when she said it, but not a mocking smile. "Listen, I realize that you're new in town, and maybe even new to Skyrim, ask people about us, see what they say and see if it's something that would interest you. You get a free bed."

Keilah nodded. "I'm actually thinking about heading up north to the college in Winterhold, I once promised my dad that I would try to get in."

"You could do that even if you're a Companion. I wouldn't mean that you're forced to stay with us, there's a lot of us around Skyrim on different assignments or just walking around trying to stumble upon them. The only ones that really stick around on a more permanent basis are the inner Circle. There's no pressure though. If you don't think it would suit you that's okay, stop by at Jorrvaskr to say 'hi' before you leave anyway."

Aela smiled while getting out of the chair and put her hand forward. Keilah stood up as well, took the hand and nodded once again.

"It was really nice to meet you, Keilah. You're an uncommon one and those are always nice to meet."

Farkas also smiled as he took her hand. "One-hand and magic, I would really like to see that. Be sure to come by and visit us. If we have an assignment it would be worth taking you with us just to see it. Especially if you use ice, I always wanted to shatter an iced bandit. That would be fun!"