Hello ladies, gents, and variations on the sort. This is a part of a greater series (actually, more of the middle of a series), but can be read as a stand-alone. I'm taking some liberties with Skyrim lore in this one. I hope you all don't mind.

Warnings: N/A

Word count: 943

Constructive comments are more than welcome.


Chapter 1: Omen

He looks young- too young, if Kodlak Whitemane were to be honest, but Kodlak Whitemane knows better than to judge one by their appearances. The boy before him is not the Twins, who were born into this. The Dunmer boy looks too young for the fever that grips him in the jaws of a wolf and he struggles to free himself from. The priestesses and priests of Kynareth form a half-circle across the altar from the Harbinger, their healing magic flowing ineffectually over the boy's slowly-breaking body.

He looks young- too young, if Kodlak Whitemane were to be honest, but Kodlak Whitemane knows better than to judge one by their appearances, and being too young does not mean he need go through this alone.

Priestess Danica is confused but not questioning when Kodlak takes the boy as a Charge of the Companions. The Companions have their own healers, after all, ones more versed in the wild illnesses. Besides, Danica is a smart woman, and she knows when her magics are doing more harm than help to the afflicted; at this point, she is desperate for anything that might save him. Kodlak only wishes that the cure were as simple as Danica seems to believe.

Aela carries the boy, as she is the only one between the three of them (the young recruit that they had brought included) both strong enough and unoccupied to do so. The recruit carries the boy's equipment, liberated from the temple, and spends the entire walk trying to peek over the pile of leather and metal and over Aela's shoulder to get a look at the boy who has captured the attention of the best of the Companions.

Kodlak and Aela spend the walk in distinct discomfort. Aela is nervous, uneasy, always shifting, and Kodlak knows that she sees it too; there is a wolf that prowls at the boy's side, large and as red as the markings that paint the boy's face, and ready to strike at a moment's notice. It does not trust Aela and holds only the barest amount of respect for Kodlak. The Harbinger understands that is it only through the wolf's good graces and its concern for its partner that they are allowed to touch the Dunmer at all. Kodlak can relate, to a point; it has been very much the same for himself as a young pup, and for the twins when they were brought to the Companions. Through affection and careful coaxing they had been taught loyalty, and to trust, but Kodlak has his doubts as to whether or not that would work for this one.

The wolf is wild, lithe as a saber-cat and muscled and fanged like a dragon, and Kodlak prays that there is one among the Companions that can bring it to heel.

Their entrance to Jorrvaskr is met with a certain amount of confusion and alarm; confusion on the part of the younger members, most of who had never seen anything like this before, and alarm on the part of the members of the Circle- of the pack. The boy's scent is strange, even for a pup, and it sends their nostrils flaring. The wolf at his side is wild and vicious in the presence of so many elders of its kind. Vilkas's head snaps up at the scent, and Kodlak can see a certain fury in the man's eyes that is at odds with the instinctive protectiveness the scent invokes, and Kodlak knows that they are all as conflicted as he.

There is a room set apart from the others that Kodlak keeps empty for situations like this, as rare as they are, and he is glad now that he did not allow one of the up-and-coming Companions to take up residence in there. Aela lays the Dunmer on the bed with all the gentleness one would not normally attribute to her, and hardly a moment passes before the members of the Circle all try to crowd their way into the room at once. It is only the Harbinger's presence at the door and the red beast that snarls from the foot of the bed that stops them in their tracks. A whimper of pain invokes whimpers of sympathy from those gathered, and it is easy to see that it's all some of them can do to keep from rushing forward in the pup's defense.

There is disapproval on his face when Skjor looks Kodlak straight in the eye, but the man turns to leave nonetheless. Skjor is well old enough to have seen many pups pass through these halls and knows the mixtures that will ease the pain; he also knows the risks of new pups, to themselves and to others. But, if anything, he is loyal to Kodlak, and trusts his judgment. If that means taking in an injured pup, so be it.

It takes all the time of Skjor nodding and Kodlak turning back to the room for the Twins to have made themselves stoic gargoyles on either side of the bed. Their wolves sit obediently on either side of the Dunmer's. Their black fur frames the virulent red like the night sky does fire. Aela has disappeared somewhere into the mead hall (no doubt poking and prodding at the younger members until one of them starts a fistfight with her), leaving only Kodlak to witness the sight that is the Twin Wolves, the two that have always been exclusive to one another, allowing an elf into their fold.

It is an omen of change, Kodlak supposes, though he cannot possibly know if it is for good or for ill.