This is Love
Fira Wolf-Hunter could not sleep that night. She lay beside the little campfire, looking up at the stars, arms folded beneath her head. She sighed loudly. How was she ever going to tell Jordis?
"What's wrong?"
Jordis' voice made her jump, and she instinctively made a grab for her bow before she realized who it was that had spoken. "Oh! Jordis! You scared me to death!" she said, putting a hand over her chest as it rammed quickly against her ribcage.
"Sorry. I suppose you thought I was asleep."
"Yes. I did." Fira resumed her position beside the fire, staring up at the sky. She listened to the sounds of a thousand crickets chirping away happily, and sighed again.
"Fira… You never told me what was wrong," Jordis pressed gently. "It's not like you to keep things bottled up. You're normally the type to start screaming expletives when you're upset. That means something must really be bothering you… Was it something I did?"
Fira quickly said, "No, Jordis. You didn't do anything wrong!" Except, she thought to herself, for making it extremely difficult for me to not love you.
"Then what is it?"
"Can I ask you something?" Fira said, quite suddenly.
"O-of course, my thane."
"Enough with the my thane crap. You haven't called me that since day one, when I immediately told you that I would have none of it."
"Sorry. Force of habit. I meant of course, Fira."
The Bosmer smiled. "That's better. Now…" She sat up and folded her knees to her chest. "What sort of qualities would you look for in a person if you wanted to get married?"
"Well, this is sudden."
"It's just a question," Fira replied, even though she knew that was a lie.
"Well…" The blonde-haired Nord sat and thought for a moment. "I guess I'd want them to be brave, strong, loyal, someone who knew what they were doing in a fight. But I wouldn't want some brutish Nord man telling me what to do all the time. I wouldn't put up with being told to clean up his messes or anything like that. I'd still want my independence."
Fira was proud of Jordis for her free spirited answer, but also extremely disappointed. "Are you saying the only race you'd marry into is Nord?"
"Oh, no!" Jordis said, waving her hands in a negatory manner. "I'm not racist or anything. You should know that by now! We've been traveling together for a year now. I mean… I probably wouldn't marry a Khajiit or an Argonian, but that's just because I think that would be really… odd. Not that I have anything against Khajiits or Argonians, but –
"It's okay," Fira interrupted. "I probably wouldn't marry someone of those races either."
Jordis sighed with relief. This was turning into an awkward conversation. "Why do you ask, by the way? You're not thinking of marrying someone, are you?"
The Wood Elf blushed and turned away. It was odd for her, feeling so embarrassed and sensitive like this. Normally, she was almost cold in her daily routine of things. After all, she was the best archer in all of Skyrim, and Dragonborn to boot, which, to be honest, she was still confused about. The legend of the Dragonborn was a specifically Nord-related legend, so how in the world a Bosmer, born and raised in Valenwood, turned out to be one, was still an utter mystery to her… She shook herself out of her thoughts, just in time to hear Jordis say,
"By the Nine! You are thinking of asking someone, aren't you?" The Nord woman clapped her hands in delight. "Who? Is it someone from the Companions, or the College of Winterhold, perhaps? I mean, you have no shortage of candidates. You must have been all over Skyrim by now. You had already helped out plenty of people before you and I met. So who is it?"
Fira could not take the pressure anymore. She jerked her head up and looked Jordis right in the eye. "You, Jordis!" she said loudly, emotion taking over reason. "I was thinking of asking you!" Immediately, she could see Jordis' eyes glaze over in confusion, and then shock. "Oh, but it's hopeless, isn't it?" she whispered, as if to herself. "You would never say yes in a million years. Not only am I an elf, but also a woman. I know that there's nothing wrong with same-sex marriage in Skyrim, but… I don't think you're a lesbian… are you?"
"I…" Jordis was silent for a long while. "I don't know… I've never thought about it… I mean, you are the nicest thane I've ever had. I grew up in the Blue Palace in Solitude from birth, since I'm an orphan. One morning, a servant came outside and saw me on the steps. Ever since I was a little girl, I've been working as a housecarl. I've had plenty of thanes before you. All were Nords, and all were men. Some were kind, some were not, but none of them ever took me out with them, to go on adventures.
"You, on the other hand… From the moment you became thane of Solitude, you immediately requested that I come with you. I was so nervous, since I'd never even been outside of Solitude before. And all of a sudden I was being thrust into an entirely different way of thinking. Here was this Wood Elf woman, who specialized in stealth and archery, and who loved to collect alchemy ingredients wherever she went, going so far as to chase butterflies for minutes on end just to have their wings to make more potions.
"And yet, anytime there was danger lurking, you would give me your signature hand signal, drop into a crouch, and become this feral, deadly creature with shocking aim and precision. Not once have you ever accidentally hurt me with your arrows, even when you were aiming just inches away from me. Not once did I ever feel afraid… except for that one time with the Frost Troll, but we were both scared then."
Fira laughed at this. "By Yffre, that Frost Troll was fucking terrifying."
They had a good laugh, and then Jordis continued. "Look, my point is that… You've always treated me like an equal. You and I always carried loot in equal shares, and you never ordered me around like a slave. And the first day we ever met, you immediately told me to never refer to you as my thane because you said I wasn't some mule to be led around on a leash. That really got to me. The other thing is… you always tried to do the right thing, no matter who you were talking to or what you were doing. It didn't matter if you were helping out an old High Elf to get his staff back from a cave, or if you were retrieving a long-lost helmet from the ruins of a battlefield for that old Nord general. It didn't matter to you what race or gender the person was. All that mattered was that you help anyone you could and beat the crap out of anyone who genuinely deserved it.
"So…" Jordis paused and took a breath. "To answer your question… yes. Yes, I will marry you, Fira Wolf-Hunter. Lesbian Bosmer and all." She smiled. "If that's okay with you?"
In response, Fira went over to her, took Jordis' light-skinned face in her olive-skinned hands, and kissed her. Jordis fell back onto her sleeping roll and wrapped her arms around the elf. She had never felt happier, being where she was right this minute. A Nord, kissing a Bosmer. Who would have ever guessed?
Forget this whole war about the elves, Jordis thought. This is right. This is love.
Forget this whole war against the Nords, Fira thought. This is right. This is love.