Her stomach growled at her as she sat on the edge of Skyforge, she wasn't sure if it was the lack of food or the smell of Kodlak on his funeral pyre. The the thought disconcerted her, she had much to learn still about the beast that she now shared a body with but she took it as a good sign the idea had only crossed her mind and not lingered.
The cold wind across the forge chilled her far passed the bone but the weight in her chest had dulled her nerves hours ago. First Skjor, now Kodlak, people were starting a habit of dying around her. Not just here, she reminded herself, but in Helgen too. She knew she should not have returned to Skyrim, it had always been a harsh, cold, and unforgiving land that since her birth had given her nothing but death. Idly she touched the Amulet of Mara hidden beneath the new Nord armor Aela had gifted her when she entered the circle. Fjori laughed to herself, now the shield-sisters almost looked like twins. The thought of twins brought another set to Fjori's mind. Farkas and Vilkas were amazing examples of Nord men, with broad shoulders and thick corded muscles beneath skin toned dark by harsh weather and outdoor training. Vilkas stood beside her then, as if her thoughts had summoned him, but she was no mage with magick to to command the will of others.
"You'll catch your death out here." Vilkas grumbled at her as he wrapped a thick bear fur around her shoulders and sat beside her on the stones. "Why are you here and not in the Hall?"
"I don't feel much for merry making at the moment, Vilkas", She said holding the fur tightly to her once exposed throat.
"None of us truly do, but Kodlak was a great teacher and a fine owe him this." Vilkas explained standing, "Come embrace us and we will embrace you in turn, shield-sister." Eorland wishes to speak with us on the morrow. Come celebrate our Harbinger's life with us." He held his hand out to her and she looked down at what he really offered her, a home and a family that came with it. As a Companion she was part of that family, surrounded by shield-siblings.
Fjori took his hand and began to stand, not realizing that the hours of sitting had put her lower body to sleep. She wobbled curiously and Vilkas held her hand to steady her, for a moment she did well, until she took a step forward and Vilkas had to catch her before she landed on the stones around the forge.
Becoming red in the face Fjori looked down embarrassed and found that the fur Vilkas had brought her was now lying on the ground dirty. She raised her hand to her chest to find that her amulet of Mara had fallen out of her armor and she had drawn Vilkas' attention directly to it.
"Is that an amulet of Mara?" he asked retrieving her wolf skin and shaking it out before wrapping it back around her shoulders.
"I'd rather not talk abut it," she said looking away from him and tucking the pendent back in. "I may need help down all these damn stairs." she said nervously. Nodding Vilkas helped her to Jorrvaskr in silence.
Once they crossed the threshold Fjori was very aware of hoe cold it had been outside and once again her stomach protested to her. Stepping casually away from Vilkas she retired momentarily to what used to be Skjor's room. She was uncomfortable about moving into the dead Companion's room but she quite liked having a room of her own. She stowed the fur in the chest at the foot of the bed and quickly looked at her features in the shield that hung from the wall. Her dulled reflection looked back at her and assured her she would pass as viewable. Leaving the room she came face to face with Aela who's room was across the way.
"You've finally decided to come down and join us I see." Aela cocked her head to one side and leaned closer to Fjori giving her a small sniff. "Vilkas? He really coerced you in?" She shrugged, "Come and eat, you need it."
The two, in matching armor, entered the roaring common hall in the middle of a tune Fjori vaguely remembered from her youth. Within no time she had put everything but the feeling of that moment out of her head, as the men sang and the women danced she felt at home.
The idea had no more than settled on her mind when she bent in two with a violent, painful lurch. Her ears rang and her vision tunneled. She saw Aela stop abruptly, Ria running into her whilst keeping step, and she heard the deep baritones of the twins stop as well. Concerned and a little scared, but unwilling to make a scene, Fjori made her way out the door so as not to attract any more attention.
Outside the air brushed against her skin and she collapsed into the training yard. Every twist of her body drove the pain deeper in her skin and cut her without drawing blood. The pain was unlike anything she had ever conceived and she had been in battle as well as being through the Circle's transformation ceremony. She writhed and screamed without a sound as Aela and the twins surrounded her.
"Get her in the Underforge." Aele commanded firm and calm.
Farkas tried to lift the girl causing her to actually scream in to the held her as carefully as he could manage but still pained her. Fjori's skin was on fire, every breeze froze her and Farkas' armor caused her even greater pain to touch. The short walk across the courtyard seemed to take them forever,once in the cavern Farkas chose to set her back down. "Aela she's yours, what is wrong with her?" Farkas asked his silver eyes wild in fear.
"Leave, both of you." Was Aela's only answer and despite a few confused and mildly frantic looks they did as she told them. When the heavy door closed Aela began to strip Fjori. "When did your courses start?" She asked. Fjori had difficulty answering but held four semi-curled fingers up from her chest. "Think of it this way," Aele said stripping off her own armor, "your wolf has smelt it's own blood for four days now, the beast thinks you are wounded and it's fighting you for control. Turning you from the inside out, exceptionally painful." Aela stood beside her naked now and made Fjori stand as well.
"What do I do?" Fjori choked out, her eyes as wide as Farkas' had been.
"You change. It will hurt less and with your wolf out it will know the two of you are safe." Fjori shook her head violently. " I will be with you, you will harm no one."
The change was never an easy one, even if she willed it herself, and it never happened the same way. Her knees changed first this time; reversing direction and toppling her back to the ground, taking her off her feet as her legs lengthened a foot or more each. Bones crunched and sinew torn as her arms elongated also, breaking and reforming. He spine stretched then to compensate for her limbs new length. Her muscles ripped and swelled as her skin crawled in waves with dark, coarse fur molding over her tender new flesh. Her pained moans were the last thing to be silenced as her jaw broke and elongated into the beast's lupine mussel.
She lay on the floor and tremor for a bit as the wolf moved to take up the or front of her mind. Aela stood over her fully transformed as well and when Fjori did not stand Aela nudged her with her mussel. Sluggishly Fjori stood and gave a great shake, as though shedding her predecessor's haze, and followed Aela out the Underforge's back and into the night woods.
Fjori awoke in a bed not her own, if it had been her own there would not be a man snoring in a near by room. While laying on her side she opened her eyes to see Farkas and Aela sitting at a bar in the same room, surmising she was in Farkas' room and she could see the others it must be Vilkas that woke her with his snoring. She sat up and feeling a slight draft held the blankets to her as she sat straight and looked at her shield-siblings.
"You're awake," Aela said. she nodded to Farkas and dismissed him from his own room. "You'll be better now. Next time," she said jamming a finger at Fjori, "find me and we will run together on your first night. Your wolf will have quieted for the most part."
"For the most part?" Fjori asked eyebrow raised.
"Some senses will be heightened and certain," She paused searching for the right words, "basic impulses maybe as well. The others understand and may help with such if you request it." Aela finished uncomfortably quickly.
"You aren't implying that the men are eager to have sex with me are you?"
Aela shook her head, "Better you be rough on one of them than to harm someone whom doesn't know what we are. You may not need them, you may be fine in time. I no longer need to turn to anyone." She finished sadly.
It was then that Farkas returned and stayed all of Fjoir's questions in her throat. He held out her armor and underthings and turned his back to her so she could dress, Aela assisting when needed. After having dressed Fjori sat on Farkas' bed and began to plait her hair back into it's war-maiden's knot, Farkas turned and faced Fjori, in his slightly out stretched hand was her amulet of Mara. She took it quietly and put it back beneath her armor. Unlike Vilkas, Farkas only gave her a curious glance; proving to Fjori that Vilkas was not always the smartest brother.
The main hall was quiet as they ascended the stairs, after the drunken ruckus last night today was a quiet day of mourning; as much about Kodlak's death as last night had been about his life. Fjori took a leather knapsack and headed back to the supply room to retrieve provisions for their upcoming travels. Her pack laden with hard bread, cooked meats, and cheeses; she ventured to the Underforge with Aela to meet Eorland and the others. They entered to an argument of brothers. "Kodlak wished to be free of the beast blood, now he cannot even have that!" The argument continued on with Aela joining as Fjori took to leaning on a moisture damp section of cave wall.