The Aldmeri Dominion isn't known for mercy. When they kidnapped Lena, Farkas and Vilkas assumed the worst. They learned to live without her, but her loss broke hearts already damaged by betrayal and abandonment. When Lena returns and embraces her bloodline, she accepts the challenge of stopping Alduin and keeping the world spinning. But at what cost? As Lena grows in her power, she begins to understand that destiny isn't all it's cracked up to be, and that sacrifice and love are concepts all too often misunderstood in Skyrim.

Who will walk with her in her quest? Can Vilkas allow the walls he's built around himself to crack a little for the sake of an old friend? Can Farkas and Lena come to terms with what they are to each other and become not just lovers, but true partners?

Comments and constructive criticism greatly appreciated! If you're an author and leave me a comment, I'll find your work and do the same for you.

4E 176, Rain's Hand

On the veranda outside Jorrvaskr, a small, dark-haired boy looked up from his book. Someone was calling his name. Lena. Vilkas tried to ignore her, as he'd done since the day they met, but it was impossible. He'd seen mud-crabs less tenacious.

"Hey, come out with me. There's a fox outside the gate. Farkas is feeding him snowberries!" Lena ran up the stairs and skidded to a stop in front of Vilkas's table. She braced against it, trying to catch her breath.

"Um, no. If Ice-Brain is letting pests eat from his hand, I think I'll pass, thanks."

Vilkas turned back to his book. Lena stomped her foot and looked around for help. Kodlak and Vignar were nowhere to be found, and the other Companions whacking away at practice dummies (and each other) didn't notice the children anyway.

She should have sent Farkas. She'd tried, knowing he'd have more success in recruiting his twin. But the fox they'd found outside the city gate wouldn't come anywhere near her, and Farkas would be sad if it ran away. She hated to see Farkas unhappy. "But he really wants you to see this. You know how he feels about animals."

Vilkas sighed, watching the spring breeze blow the pages of his book. Farkas and Lena were always running off after something stupid or dangerous, and had been since Lena's parents had dumped her at Jorrvaskr a month ago. Hammerfell still stood against the Aldmeri Dominion, and her parents, former Companions, had joined the fight. Kodlak had insisted she'd be safe with them, and happy, with two built-in playmates.

Worst day of his life, Vilkas thought, frowning. He slammed his book shut. "You can tell Farkas he and I need to start training. We'll never be ready to join the Companions if we don't."

"We're only six," Lena countered, Vilkas's snub sailing over her head. "I don't think Vignar's ready for us to train with them yet. Come on, Adrianne said she wanted to see too…" Lena cajoled, pulling every stop as she bounced up and down on the stone floor, her black curls aloft in the wind.

He wanted to go. If the palace steward's cute daughter was going too…but no. Farkas and Lena would eventually leave him out. He weighed the book down with someone's abandoned tankard and walked down to the training yard. At least his pride would stay intact.

Lena frowned, sniffed, and ran back through the village and outside the gates to let Farkas know his brother wouldn't be coming. He'd be disappointed, but Lena felt sure she'd win Vilkas over eventually. Maybe she'd check out that book he'd been reading. She and Farkas couldn't read yet, but it was worth a try. And Vilkas could help…

4E 186, Sun's Height

Lena's arrow pierced the elk's neck and the beast dropped like a stone. She heard a whoop from Farkas, and grinned. Her parents were going to kill her, but damned if she didn't care. One last hunt with her best friends was worth a bit of scolding.

"Does your mom really think she can keep you away from us for two years?" Vilkas hefted the elk onto its back and made the necessary cuts for field dressing. "She definitely doesn't know you at all," he said, cringing at his own harsh words. "It's not her fault. I know Soldiers do what they have to do, but-"

"No," Lena said, pulling her arrow free and checking it for nicks, "I get it. She's been gone for ten years, and you're right - she doesn't know me. But she will. If she imagines I'll go home and marry some healer she's picked out for me, someone I've never met, she's got another think coming." Lena blushed, thinking of Belethor. The handsome shopkeeper's apprentice was the only real point of contention between the trio, and Vilkas and Farkas never missed an opportunity to rub Lena's face in the fact that her crush didn't notice her existence. "I'll finish my studies. That's a good compromise. But then I'm coming right back here."

Farkas looped a rope around the elk's antlers and tied it to a low branch, blinking into the rising sun. For a moment, he watched the rays sweep across the city to the tundra, and creep up to the edge of the woods. They'd planned a daring pre-dawn sneakout, but as they'd tiptoed through Jorrvaskr in the inky gloom (having stashed their leathers and weapons under the verandah), they found their stealth unnecessary.

Every Companion was still abed after celebrating into the wee hours with Lena's parents. Hammerfell was finally free of Thalmor, every last trace, and Lena was going home. Farkas cleared his throat and swiped at his eyes, taking a seat between Lena and Vilkas. "You'd better. I – um…"

Vilkas huffed and rolled his eyes at his soft-hearted twin. "We'll both miss you," he said, slinging an arm around Farkas.

"Two years!" Lena groaned, and passed around a packet of sweetrolls. "I don't know if I can go without seeing your grimy faces for two whole years." She looked from brother to brother with barely unshed tears. "I hope you're both prepared to write. And tell everyone what I write so no one will forget me. Wait, you can write, can't you?"

"Stop. You're hilarious," Vilkas said, the pastry suddenly dry as sawdust in his mouth. "But...no one will forget you. I know we won't. You have Vignar wrapped around your finger, and Kodlak can't stop telling everyone he sees how much better you are with a bow than Farkas. Ow!" He flinched as his twin elbowed his ribs, a little harder than necessary. "Ok, you're better than me, too."

Lena wrapped her arms around Farkas's broad torso and squeezed him, her smile warm and bittersweet. His body stiffened, and his smile faltered. He was going to miss her, damn it. Maybe she'd forget about Belethor before she returned. Two years was a long time.

"You guys are going to carry that elk back to the city, right?" Lena lay back against the soft mossy ground and closed her eyes. "My parents might forgive me for making them late, but I doubt they'll be ok with riding all the way to Dragonstar in a bloody coach."

4E 187, Heartfire

"Vignar, any letters?" Farkas came in from a grueling practice session, sweaty and exhausted, but never failed to check with the old man for the post. For the past eight months, it had been nothing but a source of fear and disappointment. After a hastily-scrawled note assuring the brothers she'd arrived safe in Hammerfell, there'd been no news from Lena.

"No, lad," Vignar shook his head slowly, his eyes downcast. "I'm almost as upset about this as you are, son. I cannot imagine what could be keeping our girl from writing us. I promise you will know immediately, as soon as I have word."

Farkas slowly nodded, and went back outside with his sword.

4E 191, Sun's Dusk

"Lads," Kodlak began, his voice breaking, "We have had word from Hammerfell."

Farkas and Vilkas felt their hearts leap, and then plummet to their boots. Kodlak and Vignar's faces were both pale and drawn. This couldn't be good news. After five years with no word, they'd given up on good news. Especially once they'd learned Hammerfell wasn't free of the Dominion as everyone thought.

"There has been nothing about Lena specifically, but we do know the Dominion has been terrorizing those who speak out against their treaty violations, and we know where Lena's people stood. Many have been taken from their homes in the dead of night and never heard from again." Kodlak folded the letter he was reading, stood up, and faced the twins. He cleared his throat and sniffled. "My contact from Dragonstar confirmed Lena's family vanished four years ago. No one saw anything, so nothing was reported. Given the fighting, it has been difficult to send news. This is all we have to go on. I'm sorry, boys."

Farkas placed a heavy hand on his brother's shoulder, but Vilkas shook away and stalked out the door. A few moments later, they heard a door slam. Farkas looked at Kodlak and Vignar with hollow eyes. "People grieve in different ways," Vignar said, "and Vilkas has always found it easier to be angry than to give in to sorrow. Give him some time."

Farkas slowly nodded, and went outside. He grabbed a sword out of the weapons rack, but the practice dummy was too blurry to hit. Maybe Vilkas was right to get mad. Slumping down on a bench, he stared at the outline of the distant mountains. Was Lena was really gone, or still out there, somewhere? Maybe it was wishful thinking, but he could almost feel her presence as the mountains faded slowly into the black, starry night.

4E 201, Heartfire

Kodlak clapped his hands from his chair before the firepit. "Vilkas! Farkas! There's a giant outside the gate, close to the farm. I don't know why he's ventured so far from the herd, but he's threatening citizens of the Hold, so go take it down," he ordered, dismissing the breathless city guard with a nod.

"Can Ria come?" Vilkas joked as he strapped on his shin guards. "She killed a bear last week, and hasn't shut up about it yet. Maybe this will humble her up a bit," He grinned as he imagined the eager new recruit's mouth drop at her first up-close view of an actual giant.

"Just go," Kodlak shook his head, amused and a little worried. The twins could generally handle their own, but giants were unpredictable fighters, and even stronger than Farkas. And…he'd never heard of one straying so far from camp before. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what could scare a giant away from its home.

As they jogged, clanking with armor and greatsword down the streets of Whiterun, the brothers discussed their strategy, which was minimal, given the lack of weakness apparent in a giant. Basically "hit it until it dies" was all they could come up with. "So, you distract and I attack, and then we'll switch?" Farkas asked.

"It'll work. We can't shoot it, but the bastard's got to fall down eventually," Vilkas agreed.

Outside the gate, they could hear the giant roaring, although… the twins thought his roars seemed much less threatening, and much more threatened. Sure enough, a woman wearing dented Imperial armor was already out at the farm, shooting at the giant. Arrow after arrow, each one hitting its mark with accuracy and speed that had Farkas and Vilkas staring, open-mouthed.

They ran toward the giant, and began hacking and slashing wherever they could get a hit while avoiding his deadly club, and it wasn't long before the behemoth fell with a crash, flattening part of a field of cabbage, but luckily nothing else. The archer fell back, and the brothers moved in and finished him off.

Task complete, the brothers walked toward the archer, planning to compliment her skill, maybe ask her for a drink to celebrate. The archer stood where she was, and took her bloody, leather helmet off. Vilkas and Farkas both stared, stunned and speechless for the second time in one afternoon. She was a Redguard, her long hair braided over one shoulder, errant curls springing around her face and blowing in the breeze. Her green eyes widened as she took in the dark-haired, Nord warriors.

She ran, dropping her bow, and as she did, Vilkas backed up a few paces, shaking his head in disbelief. Farkas, however, gave a shout and, reaching the woman, lifted her up and twirled her into his arms. Lena had returned to Skyrim.