Alone

by Wildroses2009

Sofie is the Dragonborn's daughter. Her daily life is better than her old one on the streets, but it still has it's own problems and difficulties. Trigger warning for dubcon that is between the lines but certainly there but nothing explicit as writing explicit scenes in a story from the point of view of an eight year old was too eww.

1. Chapter 1: Another Day Alone

Part One – Another Day Alone

In the morning Sofie woke up alone. Most mornings she woke up alone. The first thing Sofie did after getting up was to check Mama's bedroom to see if she'd come back last night after she was asleep, although Sofie always slept with her bedroom door open so she'd hear if anyone arrived. This morning, like most mornings, Mama's bed was empty. The second thing Sofie did after getting up was go and check Calder's room just in case the Jarl had kept Mama at the Palace of the Kings for another sleepover. He never wanted Calder to have sleepovers. This morning, like most mornings, Calder's bed was empty as well.

After confirming she truly was alone, Sofie picked which dress to wear. This always took a while. She had five now, each a different colour, making it terribly difficult to choose. Sofie had only owned one dress for a long time before Mama had decided to adopt her. None of the five she had now were the one she'd owned when she lived in the street. Sofie wasn't completely sure what had happened to that one. It had just vanished one day soon after Mama had started bringing home new ones, not that she cared much. The five she had now were much warmer and prettier. The grey and yellow ones even had lace around the collar. Those two were Sofie's favourites.

Once she'd picked her yellow dress and brushed her hair Sofie left Hjerim, carefully locking the door behind her with some relief. It wasn't that she didn't like the house. It was a much nicer place to sleep than Niranye's garden had ever been, or even the house she'd lived in with her father back when he was still coming home occasionally. It was just so large it was easier to remember how alone she was in it, which made Sofie worry she might be alone forever again. Father had been a Stormcloak and had eventually left without coming back. Mama was a Stormcloak too, and a Dragonborn which was even worse. She had to go fight dragons as well as Imperial soldiers which was surely more dangerous. At least Mama had a housecarl to keep her safe. Father never did.Mama was always trying to talk Calder into staying behind at Hjerim with her. Sofie was glad Calder always said the Jarl would have his head if he let the Dragonborn walk out of Windhelm without him even if it did make Mama mutter angrily under her breath about always being a good little elf, which Sofie thought was silly. Mama was not little. Altmer were tall. That's why they were called High Elves.

The wind was cold. Sofie hurried through the streets of Windhelm, glad she hadn't had to sleep outside last night and gladder to reach the warmth of Candlehearth Hall. She went straight to the bar, where Elda was serving. She said nothing when she saw Sofie standing silently by the door, merely served her up a bowl of apple and cabbage stew. She didn't have to pay. Mama gave Elda a large sum of gold when she was in town, and in return she gave Sofie meals three times a day. Sofie took her bowl upstairs to her favourite table to eat. It was near Stenvar and Adonato's favourite tables. Neither of them ever spoke to her, but they often spoke to each other or other people. Sometimes what they spoke about was the war or dragons. Listening to their conversation was a good way to hear about what Mama and Calder were doing when they weren't here.

Disappointingly, today Adonato was busily writing in his book and Rolff was talking to Stenvar. Rolff never wanted to talk about anything but how horrible the Dark Elves and Argonians were, which was useless because Mama was not fighting any Dark Elves or Argonians. Sofie ate her breakfast slowly, hoping Rolff would stop talking to Stenvar. Eventually he did, but only because Stenvar left which hadn't at all what Sofie had wanted. Now Stenvar certainly wasn't going to talk about the war or dragons where she could hear. She sighed. The noise attracted Rolff's attention. "Hey. I know you. Aren't you the little girl who lives with the Dragonborn?"

Sofie swallowed her spoonful. "I'm her daughter, yes."

"She is a Nord then. That makes more sense than her being an Altmer."
"No, Mama's an Altmer."

Rolff looked her up and down. "You don't look like an Altmer."
"I'm not. I'm a Nord."

"The Dragonborn isn't your real mother then."
This was a conversation she'd heard Mama have with the Jarl. Sofie knew how to answer. "Mama says she is now because she's taken charge of my care and education. Mama says lots of people at her home have to pass on their genes but don't want to be parents so they give their children to other people to be their real parents."

"Huh." Rolff took a swallow from his mug. "What does she look like underneath that helmet?"

"Yellow. Her skin and eyes and hair all match."

"Is she hideous? Is that why she's so careful never to be seen without being covered up?"

"No! She's beautiful! She's just scared of the…" Sofie stopped talking before she could finish with 'Thalmor recognising her.' Mama had lectured her for ages when Sofie first moved in about how the Thalmor saw no distinction between traitors and the children of traitors, which was why they'd want both of them killed if they found her so she must be wary of strangers, always lock the door, don't go out at night and never ever ever mention this conversation to anyone. As it was pretty clear the Thalmor finding Mama meant being alone forever again, Sofie had to keep her mouth shut and not tell Rolff what a horrible thing he had said. Sofie wanted to leave right then, but she hadn't finished breakfast. She'd hadn't had to skip a meal since she met Mama, back when she was just Faire and nobody including Faire knew she was Dragonborn, but Sofie's life had featured too many missed meals to willingly leave any food in her bowl. Suddenly realising Rolff must have recognised her because he was Galmar's brother, Sofie was glad she had stayed. "Have you heard from the General how the war is going?"
"Well, the Reach is ours now as well as Falkreath. Galmar said he was at Hjaalmarch last letter I received from him. I haven't heard anything since."

Mama had told her last time she was going to Hjaalmarch. Rolff knew nothing she didn't. "I need to go now. Wuunferth gets mad if I'm late." Wuunferth got mad if she was early and on time as well, but slightly less than when she was late.

When she arrived into his room at the Palace of the Kings, Wuunferth glowered. "You again."

Sofie flinched, even though she had long suspected Wuunferth was also mad the entire time she was there. "I have to come each morning. Mama said so. She'll be mad if I don't."

"And Ulfric will be mad at me if I don't teach you letters and numbers. Years of being left alone to pursue my research and THIS was the favour he asked…Why that elf is so obsessed with some street trash being properly educated I'll never understand. I thought her people were supposed to consider everyone not a purebred Altmer unworthy of attention."

Sofie said nothing. She didn't understand why Mama was obsessed with her learning either, although the question had never seemed worth pondering. The important thing was to not do anything that might make Mama angry. If she got angry she might decide to stop coming home, then Sofie would be alone forever again.

"That elf must be absolutely incredible in the bedroom to have talked Ulfric into this," Wuunferth went on.
"I guess. He certainly insists on having a lot of sleepovers with Mama."

Wuunferth made an extremely strange noise, kind of like a strangled cough, and turned away. Too late, Sofie remembered she wasn't supposed to talk about Mama and Ulfric's sleepovers. Luckily Wuunferth didn't tell her off about it, merely cough some more then said: "Right. Let's start with multiplication today. The sooner you finish your studies, the sooner I can go back to my studies."

Studying with Wuunferth only ever went until lunchtime. Wuunferth was punctual about sending her away at lunch, not that Sofie objected. Sofie wasn't convinced she'd enjoy reading or mathematics even if Wuunferth wasn't teaching her. They gave her a headache. Writing wasn't so bad. The challenge of making the ink form the patterns she intended was absorbing. Still, Sofie was always relieved when it was lunch time and she got to leave. Apart from today. She was relieved when she stepped out of Wuunferth's room, but not when she saw Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak standing in the passage.

Even though she knew intellectually the Jarl lived in his palace the sight of him still shocked Sofie. Somehow Sofie thought he only ever stayed in the receiving hall and war room doing Jarl things like listening to petitioners or deciding where to send soldiers, although presumably he had a bedroom somewhere to sleep in for whenever he had a sleepover with Mama. Sofie's first reaction on seeing him was to try and step back into Wuunferth's room but he'd already closed the door. Sofie did not like the Jarl. Partly it was a lingering fear of those in authority, leftover from living with her father and on the streets when all her interactions with authority meant bad outcomes for her personally, but mostly it was because he'd started the war by killing the King. As the war was the reason Sofie's father had left her alone forever and Sofie's Mama was constantly being sent away to fight in it, raising the spectre of being alone forever again every time she left, it made Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak Sofie's least favourite person in the entire world.

Not that she let that show. Letting people in authority suspect you hated them always ended in pain and tears and besides, Mama had been explicit and firm on how to treat the Jarl. Politeness and gratitude. The Jarl is the reason they had money to buy food and a lovely house to live in and we don't want him to take that away, do we? Isn't Hjerim nicer than Candlehearth Hall or Niranye's garden? So Sofie gave her sweetest smile she'd perfected back when she was selling flowers and curtsied. "Thank you for giving us money to buy food and letting us live in Hjerim. It's a lovely house."

Her words made the Jarl's eyes flicker in what Sofie belatedly realised was recognition. "Now I remember, you're Sofie. I was wondering why a child was wandering around the upper levels. Is my Dragonborn finally back then?"

Sofie shook her head, heart contracting. "I don't know where she is. Is she supposed to be back? When was she supposed to be back? Is she missing?"

"Not as I'm aware. I just didn't think it would take her this long to eradicate dragons from Hjaalmarch after it was liberated. It's such a small province."

That was new information. Mama never eradicated dragons from whatever Hold she was visiting unless it was already Stormcloak controlled. Lately she'd had to arrange for it to be Stormcloak controlled first. If she was eradicating dragons it followed she was no longer in danger from being killed by Imperials, although the danger of being killed by dragons obviously remained.

"What are you doing here if you aren't with her?"

"Wuunferth has finished giving me my lessons."

"He gives lessons to children? Oh that's right, I had to arrange for you to be educated. Not sure why she took such a strong interest in you…"

The opening was too hopeful to let slip. "You could always arrange for me to stop being educated if it's a bother. I wouldn't mind…" Sofie began, stopping when the Jarl laughed.

"I'm afraid you don't get out of lessons that easily. My Dragonborn would mind terribly. I have no desire to give her any reason to stop associating with me. She'd be worth keeping in my army even if she wasn't such a brilliant little infiltrator and warrior simply for the positive impact it had on how the ditherers were viewing this struggle. Liberated Holds are keener on staying liberated with a Dragonborn to deal with their dragons as well. And she can be… surprisingly pleasant company." The Jarl had stopped laughing, but a smile remained.

"I think Mama is pleasant company as well," Sofie ventured, feeling she ought to say something. The Jarl gave her a look that made her realise that in some inscrutable way she had said the wrong thing.

"I think you had better run along now."

Sofie did so, relief that the conversation was over outweighing her worry of any consequences saying the wrong thing might bring.

For lunch Elda gave Sofie a bowl of venison stew, which Sofie took to her favourite table. Adonato was talking to the bard and Stenvar to Brunwulf Free-Winter. Slowly walking to the side nearest Stenvar's table, Sofie focused her ears on their conversation.

"…attacking all sorts of innocent travellers. If you took them out, you would be helping to keep Skyrim safe for all."

"Good deeds won't keep me in mead and gold. If they are truly that dangerous taking them out requires more than a mere…"

Sofie felt like crying. They weren't discussing the war or dragons, they were negotiating a contract. If Stenvar took it, he might leave and then how would Sofie hear what Mama was doing? She edged around the table to Adonato's table to better hear their discussion.

"Well, I still don't think it was nearly as impressive as Fort Neugrad. Infiltrating an armed enemy stronghold to free prisoners before the final assault is always going to be more impressive than forging some orders."
Breathe catching, Sofie dropped her spoon. Fort Neugrad had been one of Mama's early victories. Adonato was talking about her!

"Oh, but consider how she got the orders! She had to intercept the original ones off an Imperial Courier before they could even be forged, and then deliver them in disguise. That required as much courage and stratagem as infiltrating Fort Neugrad!"

"The daring rescue of brave soldiers is always going to make for a more thrilling tale than the adjusting of some paperwork, my dear Luaffyn. That is the story they'll be singing of the Dragonborn a thousand years later, I assure you."

"I might be a bard, Adonato, but I know that not everything about life has to be viewed as to whether or not it makes a good song."

"That's because neither of us are the Dragonborn. Everything about her has to be viewed as to whether it will make a good legend."

"Hey, you made it back from Wuunferth alive," a slurred voice said in her ear, drowning out the conversation. Sofie wanted to scream in frustration, but didn't. She recognised the slurred in Rolff's voice from back when her Father was still coming home occasionally. Rolff had been drinking. Experience had taught Sofie that if males were drinking, you behaved in a certain way. You stayed quiet regardless of how badly you wanted to scream and removed yourself from the room without being too obvious about it unless you wanted to end up bleeding, which Sofie never did. She began eating faster. "I was a little worried when you said you were going to see the Unliving. There are all sorts of rumours about him. Why were you going to see him?"
"He gives me lessons."

"What in?"

"Reading. Writing. Sums."

"Not evil magic?"
"I don't think he could. I can't do any magic. Mama tried to teach me some basic spells but I couldn't do them."

"Are you sure Wuunferth isn't planning to do any evil magic on you?"

"My Mama would kill him if he did." Swallowing the last of her meal, Sofie stood up. "Goodbye."

"You aren't going back to Wuunferth are you?"

"No. Lessons are over now. I'm going to take a walk around the Grey Quarter." Sofie hadn't thought this was unusual. She walked around the Grey Quarter every afternoon there wasn't a near blizzard so she wouldn't have to be alone in Hjerim, and until Mama she'd spent her every waking and sleeping hour there. But Rolff looked even more horrified at her visiting the Grey Quarter than Wuunferth. "You mustn't go there! It isn't safe! That's where all the Grey-skins live!"
"I won't go there again," Sofie lied. Little girls who wanted to avoid bleeding learnt early to agree with everything a drunk man said to them, even if it was bewildering. When Sofie had become homeless and penniless she'd initially tried selling her flowers around the Stone Quarter and Valunstrud as well as the Grey Quarter. She'd soon stopped as she'd found the humans tended to call her street trash and worse, and more likely to painfully ensure she moved along. The Dunmer just ignored her unless she tried to go inside the New Gnisis Cornerclub. She'd tried once on a particularly snowy night. Ambarys had been furious. Slumming Nord scum had been the least terrible thing he'd said to her. Sofie didn't avoid Valunstrud anymore now she lived in it. She'd gotten over her nervousness as the people living there liked the Dragonborn's clean, richly dressed, silent daughter than they had the grubby, ragged orphan trying to sell flowers, but her most bruising experiences had occurred in the Stone Quarter. She still never went there.

Even though she longer depended on finding flowers Sofie still spent her afternoons searching diligently for them in the gardens and walkways of Windhelm. Part of the reason she'd first come up with the idea of selling them to buy food was because she'd always liked flowers. Mama did too. She smiled when Sofie presented her with fresh ones when she came home. As Sofie never knew when Mama would be returning home, it meant her supply of freshly cut flowers needed constant replacing. Today she took a purple mountain flower from the Shattershield's garden, two red mountain flowers she'd found growing behind a barrel and a dragon's tongue growing near the gate to the docks, which was the prize of the collection. The docks had never had flowers growing in it, but they did have Shahvee. Until Mama, Shahvee had been Sofie's favourite person in Windhelm. She hadn't met her properly until after her Father was gone because he'd have been furious at her talking to an Argonian. Even after he had left her alone forever Sofie had planned to remain obedient to his wishes, a plan which had been abandoned the instant Shahvee had seen her looking wistfully at the salmon she was grilling and offered her a piece. While Sofie was wolfing it down Shahvee had kept up a cheerful patter of remarks about the importance of happiness when in difficult situations. By that stage Sofie had been as starved for kind words as for food, so she always visited Shahvee daily after that. Shahvee never had enough gold to buy flowers, and only occasionally had enough food to share but she always gave Sofie kind words. Visiting Shahvee was the only part of her daily routine that hadn't changed after Mama had adopted her.

"Good afternoon Shahvee."

"Good afternoon, Sofie," Shahvee said with a smile, not stopping her work tanning leather. The Shattershields had made a big order she'd been working on for weeks. "I see you found some pretty flowers again today."

Sofie nodded. "Do you think Mama will like them?"

"Of course she will. Has she ever disliked flowers before?"

"No."

"There you are then. You don't need to fret so much about her not liking your presents."

"I don't want her to leave."

"She wouldn't leave because you gave her a bad present, Sofie."

"What reason do you think she would leave me for?"

A rare expression crossed Shahvee's face: a frown. "Now Sofie, don't choose to be miserable. Choose happiness. Why spend ages worrying about something your Mama wouldn't willingly do?" Glancing at her chest where an amulet of Zenithar hung from her neck, Shahvee went on: "Your Mama is a kind hearted soul. Somebody who would go into a den of bandits to return a stolen amulet to someone who couldn't afford to pay her wouldn't abandon a child she'd spent several months caring for."

"What if she dies?"

"No point in worrying about that unless it happens, little one. As it is, I doubt the war will last much longer now Haafingar is the only Hold the Stormcloaks don't control and the dragons don't attack. Do you still make potions to help your Mama stay alive?"

Sofie nodded. "Did you know snowberries and dragon's tongues make a potion that helps you resist fire?"

"No, Sofie, I didn't. That can't be very useful in this cold land."

"It is when dragons attack you. Unless they are the kind of dragon that breathes ice. Some of them do."

"I must admit, whenever I start to feel unhappy I just think about your mother. Then I'm happy I'm not expected to fight dragons, just tan leather and catch fish."
"You catch fish? I didn't know that. What sort of fishing rod do you use?"

"Only humans, elves and khajiit need to use rods. Argonian's catch their fish by swimming."

"You must be very good at holding your breath."

Shahvee laughed. "Not at all. Argonian's catch their fish by swimming because we can breathe under water."

"Wow! I wish I could do that. I could catch my own fish then."

"Is Elda not feeding you properly? If you talked to your Mama about it I'm quite sure she'd feed you more."

"Elda feeds me enough. But fish can be used in alchemy. Except salmon."

"Really? Wait here a second." When Shahvee returned, she handed over several fish. "Here. I went fishing the other day. Make some potions for your Mama from them."

Sofie had originally dragged over a chair to reach the alchemy table in Hjerim and began experimenting out boredom. By the time she finished flower hunting and talking to Shahvee there was an awful lot of time until dinner left. As nobody ever knew when Mama was coming home, it was inevitable flowers found more than three days ago became unworthy of gifting. But dying flowers retained their alchemical properties, if not their beauty. As soon as Sofie became good enough to start producing potions she began giving them all to Mama because anything that increased her chance of staying alive to come home again was worth doing. After she'd finished seeing what sort of flowers did and didn't make a useful potion with fish (mostly stamina potions and poisons), it was time to sweep the floors, her only chore. This was another reason Sofie rather liked having a Mama. Back when she had a Father there had been a lot more chores, with higher standards of completion and harsher consequences when the standards were not met. The worst Mama had ever done was a vague remark that she had forgotten to sweep the corner. The soft sound of the broom swishing and Sofie's little leather clad feet shuffling over the floor were the only noises in the silent, empty house for an hour. It was a relief to lock the door of Hjerim again and go to the inn. At least there were people talking there, even if no one was talking to Sofie.

Dinners at Candlehearth Hall were always more lively than breakfast or lunch. A lot more people came into the inn during the evening. This meant there was a decent chance she'd have to eat in the corner because all the seats were taken. Tonight her usual table had been taken by the Shattershields but there was one free. Normally this would have been a cause for celebration but the table in question was Stenvar's usual table. He must have taken Brunwulf's contract. Now if he has conversations about Mama fighting dragons I'm not going to hear them! It was a blow not even the rich, substantial taste of mammoth steak was able to soothe. It was the advantage of more people being in the inn during the evening; the food tended to be more interesting. While she was eating she did her best to listen to the conversations around her, not easy due to how many of them there were. All the Shattershields were talking about was their murdered daughter, unsurprisingly. The only other thing Sofie had ever heard them talking about was ordering more mead. Death ended up being the theme of the evening. Captain Lonely-Gale spent ages talking about his dead wife to Viola Giordano, who got grumpier the more the dead woman was mentioned. Adonato had gotten drunk. Most people didn't notice because he was an introverted, gloomy drunk, but Sofie was practiced at spotting the signs. Everyone who came within earshot got told all about how he couldn't believe Isabella was gone, such a helpful lass, a pity the Dragonborn hadn't caught the Butcher earlier. Normally Sofie didn't go home until it started getting dark because being alone surrounded by people was better than being alone by yourself, but when Nils responded to Adonato's maudlin ramblings with a remark about how much he missed having Susanna around she decided it was time to go. All this talk of dead people just made her anxious about Mama.

Her hand was on Hjerim's door handle when Sofie suddenly, fiercely regretted the decision. The second she stepped inside the threshold, Sofie would be surrounded the complete silence which only existed when you were completely alone again, with nothing to distract her from the all too real possibility of it being forever. She couldn't go back inside, not yet. But equally she couldn't go back to Candlehearth Hall. There was no point in going back there to escape thinking about being alone forever again listen to all the people talking about their own loved ones who left them alone forever. That presumed Elda would even let her inside. She never had back before Mama adopted her. Sofie suspected Elda still thought of her as street trash, not the Dragonborn's daughter, and only allowed her to come inside her inn because she got paid to do so. With both Hjerim and Candlehearth Hall impossible to go to, it only left Sofie one option.

After arriving at the docks it took Sofie several minutes to find Shahvee as she wasn't in any of her usual spots. Neither were Scouts-Many-Marshes, Neetrenaza or Stands-In-Shallows, which was odd. They were paid by the hour, and none of them liked to forgo the few more septims stopping before sunset meant. Eventually Sofie opened the door of the Argonian Assemblage to peer inside. Shahvee was kneeling on the floor with Neetrenaza sorting a small pile of items into a pair of sacks. Scouts-Many-Marshes was holding several tiny cloth bag arguing with Stands-In-Shallows. "Why did you take these?" Scouts-Many-Marshes snapped.

The ragged old Argonian spread his hands. "It's exactly the sort of thing which is ideal to go missing. Small and valuable."

"What good is something valuable if we can't fence it? It's sugar. By the time we've swum across the White River it will have dissolved!"

"Stands-in-Shallows knows that," said Neetrenaza. "I bet he was hoping to turn it into skooma."

Scouts-Many-Marshes snorted. "Like we have the materials to refine moon sugar…"

Sofie, having no idea what they were arguing about, decided to walk inside. Shahvee hadn't been speaking so she wouldn't interrupt her conversation. "Hello, Shahvee." Her greeting caused a flurry of activity from everyone. Neetrenaza threw the nearby sack haphazardly over the pile of items still on the ground. Scouts-Many-Marshes whipped around, putting the bags he was holding behind his back, while Stands-in-Shallows raced over to shut the door behind Sofie. Shavee didn't move, but she did not look pleased to see Sofie. "Um…Hello. What are you doing here? It's getting late. Shouldn't you be going home? It's dangerous to be on the streets after dark."

"I didn't want to go home yet."

Shahvee stood up, kicking the sack over some still visible rings from the pile of items as she did. "I'm afraid you're going to have to, little one. I'm about to go out. Why don't you come back tomorrow…"

"Where are you going? I thought Argonian's weren't allowed in the city."

"We aren't," Neetrenaza muttered.

Shahvee ignored him. "A Khajiit caravan has set up outside of Windhelm, directly across the river from us. I'm going to see what sort of items they have for sale."

"Can I come too? Please?"

"Little one, you aren't an Argonian. How are you supposed to cross the river with me?"

After a brief pause spent pondering the unjustness of the gods for allowing Nords to be born without the ability to breathe underwater, Sofie had a brainwave. "I can still come. I can go through the city, across the bridge and meet you there."

"No." At the same time as Shahvee spoke, Scouts-Many-Marshes said, "Yes. Yes, you can come. On one condition." The Argonian took his hands out from behind his back to offer her the bags he was holding. "Take these to the caravan in your pockets without telling anyone you have them."

"Scouts! She's a little girl! How could you let her get involved in this? What if she gets caught?" Sofie couldn't help shrinking a little at Shahvee's tone. She'd never seen her angry before.
"There is not any risk for her in this. You said it yourself, she's a little girl. She gets caught with moon sugar in her pocket all they'll do to her is ask who she got it from, upon which she'll tell them. It's no more of a risk to us than we're already taking."

"Plus everyone knows the Dragonborn is completely gaga about that kid," Neetrenaza added. "Even if she isn't sleeping with the Jarl no one would dare mess with her." The Argonian turned to face Sofie after that sentence. "Are those rumours true or not? You'd be in a position to know."

"I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to talk about their sleepovers. The Jarl would be angry if I did." To Sofie's relief, Neetrenaza laughed. She'd been expecting her answer to make Neetrenaza angry. An unpleasant prospect, but better than Jarl Ulfric being angry. Scouts-Many-Marshes and Stands-in-Shallows laughed with him. Shahvee did not. "The Dragonborn isn't here to protect her from any consequences right now. I can't let you involve her!"

Before Shahvee could forbid her to go, Sofie shoved the little bags into her pockets while scurrying to the door. "I'll meet you there!" she called over her shoulder, pretending she couldn't hear Shahvee calling her back.

It was a long walk back through Windhelm, across the bridge and along the river to where the Khajiit were camping. Sofie was panting and terrified she'd taken so long to get there the Argonians would have come and gone. To her profound relief when came close enough to start seeing the features of the figures around the campfire, two of them were scaly instead of furry. Shahvee saw her coming and left the fire to meet her. Her river crossing had been recent enough that her skirt clung to her legs and she left a trail of water drops behind her. "You had no trouble getting here? Nobody talked to you or tried to stop you?"

Sofie shook her head. "People don't talk to me much."

"Good. Now for Zenithar's sake give me that moon sugar. It's not something a child should ever touch. If Scouts-Many-Marshes tries to give you any again, refuse."

Having achieved her purpose of accompanying Shahvee to the Khajiit, Sofie willingly pulled out the bags from her pockets. Before she could offer them to Shahvee the Argonian snatched them out of her hands and hurried them back to the campfire where Scouts-Many-Marshes and one of the Khajiit were sorting a rapidly diminishing pile of things into two smaller piles, one next to the Khajiit and one next to the dockworker. The Khajiit's pile was bigger than Scouts-Many-Marshes. Sofie thought she recognised a few of them from the pile the Argonians had been sorting through back in their Assemblage. As the campfire was also where all the people were Sofie started walking over, only stopping when she was accosted by one of the Khajiit from where he was sitting in his tent.

"Tools, wares and weapons. All for sale at fair prices." When Sofie turned to look at the brown and black striped cat-man, who smiled at her. Sofie had never been so close to a Khajiit before and was fascinated to see he had fangs like a real cat. "Khajiit has wares, if you have coin."

"Sorry. I don't have any coin. I didn't ask my Mama for any allowance when I saw her last." The Khajiit's response to this was to give her outfit a long look, lingering on the lace around her collar and elvish dagger belted to her waist. Before Mama anyone examining her outfit had finished by treating her with dismissive disregard if she was lucky, overt hostility if she was not. This Khajiit responded by widening his smile, another reason life with a Mama was better. "Mama clearly has a lot to spend on her little girl. Come see Khajiit's wares. You are sure to spot something that'll have you running to Mama begging for an allowance."

Some of the items he had sitting in front of him did look interesting. The nice Khajiit, who introduced himself as Ma'dran, let her spend a while holding a pretty enchanted dagger. It was made of ebony, the deep blackness of the weapon allowing the fire enchantment to sparkle crimson as she moved it in the light of the lanterns. He also spent a long time making her admire a ruffled dress which Ma'dran made a point of telling her was the latest creation from Radiant Raiment, whom Sofie had never heard of but seemed to be significant. It was when Ma'dran invited her inside the tent to see his dolls and wooden swords that she spotted the fox, or perhaps the fox spotted her would have been more accurate. The first she realised there was another living creature in the tent was when she felt the wet nose nudging her leg. When she looked down the little red animal tethered to a peg in the ground, it was so thrilled at the attention it reared up to paw her skirt, panting with excitement. When she kneeled on the ground, allowing it to scramble into her lap while she petted the excited panting escalated to squeaking.

"See this dolly? Her eyes are made of real mother of pearl…ah. I see the fox kit introduced itself."

Sofie didn't look up from the fox nibbling her fingers as its ears were scratched. "I think it likes me."

"The kit likes everyone. It's why he's such an annoyance. If it wasn't for the soldiers paying such high prices for leather this one would probably have left it by the side of the road to die. This one counts the days until it is big enough to get a decent amount of leather from its pelt. Soon. Isn't this dolly nicer? It just sits there without trying to slobber on you…"

Sofie bolted out of the tent without waiting to hear the end, not stopping until she reached the campfire where the Argonian's still stood. Shahvee, kneeling to re-bag the small pile of items beside her companion had been Sofie's initial target until she saw the other Khajiit handing over a large handful of septims to Scouts-Many-Marshes. Sofie didn't know the other Argonian's nearly as well as Shahvee, mostly because she was too nervous to talk to them and they'd never shown much interest in talking to her. Still, he'd never tried to hit Sofie or yell at her before she'd become the Dragonborn's daughter which made Scouts-Many-Marshes less frightening than a lot of people in Windhelm.

"Could I please borrow some money? There's this fox Ma'Dran is going to kill soon so he can turn it into leather. I don't want it to die because it's lovely so I need to buy it but I don't have any money. When my Mama gets home I'll ask her for an allowance and pay you back. Please!"

Scouts-Many-Marshes looked at her blankly. "Could you repeat that a little more slowly?"

After she'd explained it a few more times, carefully keeping her temper in check, Shahvee understood. "She wants you to buy her a fox the Khajiit are selling. Why don't you? You can afford to after the price you got from the moon sugar. Don't smugglers normally get a cut?"

This remark caused Scouts-Many-Marshes to flick Shahvee a look that would have had made Sofie quake if it had been directed at her. Judging from her snort, Shahvee was made of sterner stuff.

"Alright. I'll buy you this fox if you agree to the following. I want you to promise not to tell anyone about our visiting the caravan to sell items."

As she'd have agreed to something far more onerous to save the fox the promise spilled readily from Sofie's lips until Scouts-Many-Marshes shushed her. "I want you to understand what that really means first. Don't tell anyone we visited the caravan. Don't tell anyone we had items to sell the caravans, especially not what they were. Don't tell anyone you took anything through Windhelm for us. And when I say anyone, I mean anyone. Not even your Mama or your Mama's housecarl."

This time Sofie's eager promise seemed to satisfy the Argonian because he finally walked over to Ma'Dran. "I'm reliably informed you have a fox for sale. I'm here to buy it."

"This one is afraid you have been misinformed. It is not big enough to provide a decent amount of leather yet. If you want leather this one has other, bigger pelts for sale. You wouldn't even have to kill, skin and tan them yourself." Fearing something irrevocably terrible might happen before Scouts-Many-Marshes convinced Ma'Dran to sell, Sofie ducked passed the caravan leader to clutch the fox while the Argonian convinced the sceptical Khajiit he wanted to buy it alive. The fox writhed joyfully in her grasp, washing every piece of bare skin it could reach and shedding over her dress. It's such a sweet fox. It doesn't deserve to die. I hope Ma'Dran will sell it. Sofie didn't breathe easy until septims finally changed hands and Ma'Dran untied the fox's tether, cursing as it tried to lick his fingers. They weren't the worst curses she'd ever heard, but memories of people lashing out not long after cursing her still made Sofie uneasy enough to keep the fox safely in her arms, where it was extremely happy to stay. From the ecstatic way it was snuggling against her it may have been harder to put it down.

"Thank you, Shahvee and Scouts-Many-Marshes. I'll take the fox home now." Before Ma'Dran can change his mind and kill it Sofie finished in the privacy of her mind. Long, bitter experience had taught her adults couldn't be trusted not to do so. Their minds changed too easily for Sofie's liking.

Shahvee waved her goodbye with a silent smile. Scouts-Many-Marshes spoke. "Don't forget your promise Sofie. If anyone asks where you got the fox from, say I found it drowning in the river and gave it to you."

"Of course. Thank you again. Goodnight."

Sofie didn't put the fox down until she got inside. To open the door she had to tuck the fox under one arm, causing its legs to dangle unsupported which it didn't like much judging from the protesting little whines. While she was closing the door it managed to wiggle from her grasp to land on the floor. Getting dropped didn't seem to faze it in the slightest, to Sofie's relief. The reverse. The fox promptly trotted briskly off to begin a thorough exploration of the sights and smells of the entire ground floor. It didn't seem to mind Sofie following it from room to room, watching captivated. In fact it seemed to quite enjoy the company, frequently taking a break from crawling under furniture, poking its nose into various crannies and batting interesting items around the floor to nudge her hand until she petted it. Once it even rolled over so she could scratch its belly. It was a glorious way to spend the evening. The hours between dinner and bed when Mama and Calder weren't home were usually spent sitting in her bedroom trying with varying levels of desperation to find her training dummy, books and drums fascinating enough to ignore the fact the house was utterly silent with how alone she was. The fox was fascinating without her having to try to make it so, and its constant movement and breathing was noisy enough to completely drown out Sofie's aloneness. To her delight, when her yawning became to frequent to ignore and she went to her bedroom the fox followed her, curling up next to her bed after she huddled under her blankets. Sofie found sleep listening to the soothing rhythm of the fox's inhaling and exhaling.

It was the fox which lost her sleep the next day, jumping on the bed to stick its tongue in her ear to celebrate the arrival of morning. It was several minutes of mutual tickling before Sofie got up to check Mama and Calder's beds were empty, the fox pattering after her crying at the abrupt loss of attention until Sofie started petting it again. After some time spent with the fox she had to grab the first dress easily to hand (her blue one) and race out the door with still tangled hair.

The wind was as cold as it had been yesterday, making Sofie wonder if the Khajiit had been cold last night in their tent outside Windhelm or if their fur protected them. Elda didn't break her usual rule of silently handing her a bowl of stew, although she did give Sofie's hairstyle a frown. Sofie's normal rule in dealing with Elda was to silently accept whatever was on offer but things were going to have to change. Gathering her courage, Sofie opened her mouth. "Is there any of the mammoth steak leftover from last night, please?"

Elda, so used to silence, had already begun to turn away when Sofie spoke. Her voice caused her to turn back with a frown. "Vegetable stew isn't good enough for you, is it?"

"It's good enough for me but not my fox. It needs meat."

"How long have you had a fox?"

"Since last night."

Elda didn't say anything. Sofie suspected she was slowly deciding to say no. Before she could say it, Sofie used her strongest persuasion. "I'm sure my Mama would want you to feed my fox as well as me. She might be angry if you don't."

That decided Elda in Sofie's favour. She could tell from the widening then narrowing of Elda's eyes before she muttered: "You can have some beef. I'm not giving you prime mammoth to waste on a beast."

This was a perfectly acceptable compromise Sofie cheerfully agreed to. When she went upstairs to eat Stenvar and Adonato's tables were empty. Stenvar must still be out on his contract, and Sofie suspected Adonato was sleeping off his hangover, which was what Rolff should have been doing instead of clutching his head in between glowering at the bard playing the flute and muttering about sending all the filthy grey-skins back to Morrowind where they belonged. Sofie kept a careful eye on him as she was gulping down her meal in case his hangover got the better of him and she needed to make a quick exit, but he showed no interest in her.

Getting home to feed the fox then to Wuunferth on time forced her to run. Wuunferth gave her such a look of outrage she thought for a second she was late. "Did you not brush your hair this morning?"

When she shook her head the wizard stalked over to his dresser to pull out a comb. "Well, brush it now. If you have to come here try at least to not look like street trash. When you're done we'll work on your reading comprehension. Read the first three pages of the book on your desk out loud."

For lunch Elda and Sofie were able to keep to silence as the innkeeper gave her some more beef with her clam chowder. Adonato was up now, although Sofie suspected from the way he massaged his temples and the little grunts he gave every time Rolff broke off detailing his plan to dig a hole to throw all the Argonians and Dark Elves into that he wished he had stayed in bed. She successfully avoided all attention until she finished her meal and headed back downstairs.

"…city would be much safer. That girl was wandering around the Grey Quarter. Who knows what the grey-skins would have done to an innocent little Nord child otherwise? You won't be going there now, will you kid?"

"I'm going home now," Sofie said. The truth was always better than being forced into a lie. And it was true. The fox needed lunch.

The fox was equally thrilled with seeing Sofie again as it was with eating the beef. It was fortunate Sofie had no lessons in the afternoons or she certainly would have been late to them. By the end of their play session Sofie's dress was covered in slobber and fur. She nearly kept playing with it the thought of not having fresh flowers to present to Mama in case she came home this evening was enough to drive her from the house.

The fox seemed to realise she was trying to leave it behind yet again and took determined action to prevent this, racing out the door the instant it was opened. At first Sofie was alarmed at the constant running back and forth but stopped when she realised its motivation was not escaping her, merely pursuing particularly curious smells during their walk. After the fear of being left alone by her newfound companion receded Sofie happily began her daily flower search, ultimately locating a bunch of lavender near Candlehearth Hall, a blue mountain flower in Niranye's garden and a red mountain flower near the gates out of the city. Taking the fox to the docks to visit Shahvee put it in a paradise of delectable aromas. "Wow," Sofie remarked, watching it dashing to and fro. "I had no idea foxes thought the smell of fish was so exciting. I wonder why? I never liked the smell much."

Shahvee laughed as the fox's enthusiasm to explore a new corner caused it to misjudge its speed and trip over its feet. Alarm that the fox might have hurt itself never had time to manifest as the fox instantly leapt up and ran at the same speed to follow whatever scent had caused such intense interest. "Animals tend to have much a better sense of smell than people. It probably smells more exciting to the fox than it will ever be for me and you. What have you named the kit?"

Sofie had not realised she was expected to name the fox. Not wanting to disappoint Shahvee she simply repeated the last word spoken: "Kit."

"I am surprised. I thought you might name it after a flower or your Mama."

"Am I supposed to?"

"No, no. If you've picked Kit, Kit is the name he is supposed to have. Has he been a good fox so far?"

"He's been the best fox ever! It was really interested in smelling everything in Hjerim last night but it wanted to play too. We played tug of war…" There was really an awful lot to tell Shahvee about the fox. About Kit. The Argonian didn't get much of a chance to talk after that, although she didn't seem to mind judging by her frequent smiles. "I'm glad Kit is making you happy. Scouts-Many-Marshes did a good deed when he rescued it from the White River, didn't he?" Shahvee had an uncharacteristic edge to her voice at the last sentence. Sofie didn't let herself be alarmed by it. She knew what Shahvee was trying to remind her of. "He did. Kit is lucky not to have drowned."

The edge went out of Shahvee's voice. "Indeed he was, you good girl."

Walking back home took a while because Kit get kept distracted, but was eventually managed. The excursion must have worn it out as it decided to have a nap next to the alchemy lab while Sofie experimented with her potions. She was halfway through a potion to resist frost when she heard the two most glorious sounds in the world: the front door opening and an elvish female speaking.

"Would you stop acting like I plan to completely ignore the Jarl, Calder! I'm doing no such thing. I just want to clean myself up first."

The resist frost potion forgotten, Sofie scrambled off her chair.

"But it won't take long to give the report. You were dirtier after we'd finished in the Reach and he didn't mind…"

Sofie was running through the house as the man was speaking. His familiar voice was the third most glorious sound in the world.

"Because he made me take a bath! If you had to have a bath while someone was watching, you wouldn't be so keen to…"

Sofie had reached the front room by this stage and accelerated towards the speakers to throw her arms around the woman. "Mama! You're home!"