TALES OF SOVNGARDE
Disclaimer: I do not own Anything other than the name Jenna. Skyrim and all it entails belongs to Bethesda, as much as I wish I at least owned Farkas :(
"What was it like in Sovngarde?"
Jenna looked up from her book, startled out of its woven tales. There stood a rather bothered looking Farkas, his hands clenching and releasing at his sides.
She looked at him, it had been nearly a month since she had returned from the afterlife and unlike everyone else he had yet to ask.
"Why do you want to know now? It seems kind of late to be asking about it, others believe it to be old news, moving on to the rumors of the Dawnguard if I'm not mistaken." Jenna said with a slight hint of humor.
Farkas glared at his feet, he knew the tales the others had repeated of her time in Sovngarde, he had heard them a million times from just Torvar alone. But he hadn't wanted to hear it from her. Just the thought that she had been where only the dead were meant to roam set his teeth on edge. Until now, he hadn't wanted to know.
"We didn't know that when you rode off on that dragon, there was a possibility that you would not return." He finally said.
Jenna looked confused.
"There you were, grinning like a cat who got the skeever, hopping up onto that beast like you were about to win some kind a prize. With little care in the world, and then you were gone."
Farkas stopped for a moment, needing to breathe through whatever was going on inside of him. He was never one for words, that was all Vilkas, but there were things that needed saying.
"I guess I didn't really think about what it meant for you to go after the World-Eater. It didn't really click with me that where he dwelt was the one place where people literally die to get to. All I could think about was how glorious your victory would be. It wasn't until you returned that what you had done really started to sink in." He growled a little.
Jenna watched him, she could see frustration in every muscle. She hadn't realized that her trip would have bothered him so. But she couldn't really understand why he seemed so upset, she was back, wasn't she?
"I just want to know what Sovngarde was like, you know? If you had gotten stuck there, would it have been a place you would have enjoyed? Found peace? Or was it a place that made you afraid? Were you tempted to stay there and forget about coming back to us? All I could think about was if you would be happy there, and if when Vilkas and I got there if we would find you singing songs of triumph or be something like those draugr we find in tombs."
Shaking, Jenna noted, Farkas was shaking. This man before her, who feared very little, had not feared for her death, rather he feared for her will to return to the living. She didn't really know what to say to that. To be honest it made her smile just a little, knowing that she would have been missed. She knew he was very much a man, but she sometimes thought that he resembled a sweet little puppy, requiring the love and approval of those around him. This was one of those times she thought.
As she thought, Farkas had remained silent, with nothing left to say he was waiting for her. There was a few moments where all that could be heard was their combined breathing, and the drunken sounds of the whelps above them.
Finally, Jenna broke the silence, "There was a deep fog at first, so thick that I could barely make out my own hands." She lifted her hands in example, "There were people lost in it, soldiers from different sides, hunters, mercs, all wondering around afraid of what lurked in the mist."
Farkas was staring at her, silver eyes zoomed in on her like a hawk, completely silent, completely still.
"I could hear him, Alduin, somewhere out there in the mist. His voice a constant taunt just out of sight. I cleared the fog around me, but it would fold back at me again in moments as I moved along. It felt so easy to get lost like the others, to roam in fear and darkness..." Her voice hitched a little, eyes becoming sightless.
Her male companion raised a brow at her. Never had he heard this from the others as they had retold her tale to him, something told him that she hadn't admitted this part to anyone at all.
"It felt like an eternity of walking, but I had finally found a path that didn't seem to follow the endless circle I was walking. There in the fog was a man, guarding the whale bone bridge. The relief I had felt nearly brought me to my knees, knowing that I was finally exactly where I needed to be." She chuckled here, mockingly at herself, remembering how embarrassed she had been to feel so weak, nothing more that a milk-drinker in that moment, with only yards away from the greatest warriors known to all of Tamriel.
"He was the test, to cross over into the Hall of Valor, I had to fight him to prove my worth, it was in a moment of weakness that I faced him, I had thought for sure I would not be able to pass and that he would send me back out into that unforgiving fog." Her eyes became wild, "I couldn't go back to that! I would not go back to that haunting mist that enveloped the light, that squeezed the very breath from my lungs, I wouldn't!"
Farkas moved to sit across from her. He didn't dare touch her, would not show her that he thought her weak. He would not dishonor her in this moment with soothing reassurances, no matter how much he wanted to. Instead he sat there quietly, waiting for her to finish her tale.
Jenna was quiet for a moment, trying to shake the chill she had felt then, trying to seep back into her bones. She tried to hide the shivering, if Farkas had noticed he did not say, to which she was grateful.
"I swung at him with all that I had, he was so strong, it was like hitting a wall, but there was no way that I would allow myself to be defeated. It was a battle I will not soon forget, nor will I ever forget the moment when his sheild hit the stone as my blade rested against his neck." She smirked, "I was granted permission to cross over and enter the Hall."
The tension that had been in her, seemed to ease with this statement and Farkas relaxed marginally as well.
"I've never seen such big doors in all of my life, you could feel the warmth from the fires inside, smell the meats roasting and hear the voices of champions singing their victories... Just standing there was humbling, and I felt unworthy to stand even at the door. What true Nord would I be if I didn't strive for the feast, but once you are there... Especially how I had came to be there... It was all I could do, not walk back."
She closed her eyes, reliving that moment. Farkas could see it! He could see the doors with her, taste the fragrance of meat on his tongue, her words opened his minds eye to that moment and he felt just as unworthy. They were silent for another few moments, however this silence was one of reverence.
When Jenna finally spoke again, it was quietly, "I opened the doors, there was a warm glow all around, hearty laughter, a peace that embraced me like nothing before. Aye, Sovengaurd would indeed be a wondrous place to spend beyond this mortal realm."
A disturbing notion to Farkas in that moment.
"There, waiting for me, in all of his glory... Was Ysgramor! The statue in his tomb did not give him justice. He told me of the emptiness of their door's thanks to Alduin, how Shor forbid them from venturing into the dark mist themselves. His hands were tied it seemed. For a brief moment I felt as though I had ventured forth for naught. Then he told me that three were awaiting me, prepared to unleash their own fury upon the World-Eater. There was hope yet in those halls."
The look on her face was one Farkas had seen often. There in her eyes laid the fire of combat, the lust for a challenge, her grin he could only describe as feral.
"These warriors were the ones who originally sent Alduin away, they had the power of the voice as I do and we joined together in a song that would bring Alduin to our feet. We left the warmth of the Hall, and crossed back over into that horrid fog. We were as one in that moment, our voices rang clear, combining into a shout that banished the mist to the plane of Oblivion from whence it came. There was no longer anywhere that Alduin had left to hide, and he held no more terror over my soul."
The room was becoming charged, the energy around them sparked and Farkas could swear she was breathing smoke. It was a thrilling sight, an addictive feeling, his hair standing on end. She looked like a divine, in her memory, the power she had felt in that moment in Sovngarde echoed in the here and now, and it was palpable.
"We waited for him, and his dark shadow soared over us, shouting flames down around us. As he got closer in his circles I shouted Dragonrend at him, binding him to mortality for a short moment in time. His wings no longer able to grant him flight lashed out from the sides, his teeth turning my armor into butter. But we had him, and as his corpse burst into flames and his soul raced into me I felt a fire within that caused all others to pale."
Jenna remembered the ecstasy in it, her breath caught slightly and Farkas blushed a little at the look of rapture on her face. He cleared his throat awkwardly. Jenna's eyes snapped open, becoming aware that she was not alone. She smiled sheepishly at Farkas to which he chuckled and motioned for her to continue.
"Once it was all over, those lost in the fog came forth, finally free to face the challenge and cross over. Kodlak was among them... To see him again, and to know he would be joining the songs of heroes was a wondrous sight. I finally looked around me... Farkas, the sky! Oh, the sky was beyond anything in this plane! There were colors you could never imagine and more stars than you would ever see. I could have looked upon that sky for an eternity and never tire of its beauty."
Here she paused. She looked over at Farkas and could tell that he was worried about what she would say next, and if she was honest with herself then perhaps he would have had cause to worry. It would have been easy to stay there, to join in the song and lay underneath that sky...
"When it was over, there was a great rejoicing. I bet even at this moment they are still feast over this tale. My job was done, my destiny completed, and I was told it was time to return to my mortal plane."
Farkas thought she looked a bit disappointed when she had said that. But he didn't want to voice it, in fear that she would acknowledge the truth of her wanting to remain in the afterlife.
"I... Was glad to be home... Am glad to be home. To be here with my shield-siblings, to be here with you, Vilkas and Aela. Shor! I'm even happy to be here with Torvar!" They both laughed at this, some of Farkas' tension easing.
"The thing is, Farkas... I am not ready to give up the songs that we have still to sing here. There are many left to sing and who am I to deny them? The Songs of Sovngarde can wait, for the Songs of Jorrvaskr have yet to be sung!"
Farkas grinned widely at that and chuckled.
"Well if that's the case sister, then we best get to it! Those songs wont write or sing themselves!"
Jenna looked at him slyly, "Why Farkas, are you going to write me a song?"
He blinked at her, then smirked. Before Jenna knew what happened, Farkas lifter her out of the chair and over his shoulder, sauntering down the hall.
"I have the strength of Ysgamor, so I'll leave the song writing to Vilkas. What's say you and I go slay a troll and give him something to go off of?"
Jenna laughed outright, "That sounds about perfect to me! Onward my faithful stead!"
Their laughter filled the Halls of Jorrvaskr and carried on into the realm of warriors where it echoed among the honored dead as they continued to feast in the name of Dovahkiin.
End.