Lullabies
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the canon characters; they belong to Bethesda Studios, as does 'Ragnar the Red'. Asta is my female Nord Dragonborn. I was inspired to write this when I heard Malukah's cover of 'Ragnar the Red' for the first time a few days ago. Enjoy!
Raising her right arm, the Dragonborn slams the sword down with as much might as she dares, not expecting her combatant's blade to intersect with her own.
"Very nice parry, Alesan!" Asta triumphantly tells her oldest adopted son with a proud smile on her face. "You've been practicing since we last dueled," she brings up as she sets the wooden sword down on the end table before taking her hand and affectionately ruffling his dark brown hair.
"Papa and Uncle Vilkas have been teaching me swordplay while you've been on quests, Ma!" Alesan smiles as widely as he can, pride on his face that he impressed his mother with his skill using his wooden sword she gave him. "I'm getting really good now!" the boy announces, taking his sword in his hand and showing his mother the different forms that Farkas and Vilkas have been teaching him back at Jorrvaskr when Farkas take the boys to visit and train whilst Asta is out on quests.
"I can see that!" Asta smiles back at her son, watching as he dances with his sword, pretending that there is an army of enemies around him that he must defeat to protect his mother from their evil intentions. "But, what has Lydia been teaching you while I've been out with Uncle Hadvar? I'm sure she's taught you something," the Dragonborn inquires, thinking to just how grateful she truly is to have Lydia as her housecarl.
She could not ask for a better protector for her children when she and Farkas travel together on Companions quests, to fight dragons with one another, or do anything else that demands the couple's attention and adventurous spirit. When Lydia was first assigned as Asta housecarl, they became fast friends and quickly Lydia became Asta's confidant and seemed very much like a sister to the Nordic Dragonborn of legend.
"I've been teaching the boys how to make health potions, my Thane," Lydia speaks up from across the room where she has been watching the mother and son pair bond while practicing Alesan's swordplay skills.
After all, someone had to be there to monitor the Dragonborn in case she forgot that she was merely sparring with her child and not an enemy. (Though Lydia firmly believes Asta would never forget whom she was sparring against.)
"I cannot thank you enough for all you do for me, Lydia," Asta says, coming over and wrapping Lydia into a short hug to thank her best friend. "The boys most certainly need to learn not only how to fight but how to heal themselves if injured," she agrees, and it is then that flashbacks from the Battle of Fort Dunstad come to Asta's mind.
That had been the night where Lydia nearly died in Asta's arms during the attack they assisted in against the Stormcloak army. Asta was promoted by General Tullius to the position of Prefect after the battle, but it would have been all in vain if she had lost Lydia that dreadfully cold and stormy night.
"Your boys are quick learners, my Thane," Lydia praises the two young boys, coming over and ruffling Alesan's hair before moving past him to head upstairs. "I am going to retire for the night if you need me. Sleep well, Asta and Alesan," the housecarl announces, a tired look on her face as she walks towards her bedroom.
"Goodnight, Lydia. Farkas and I are going hunting in the morning, so it will just be you and the two boys, if that's alright with you," Asta reminds.
"I shall look forward to it. Perhaps I can show them a thing or two more while you and Farkas are out in the morning."
Realizing that it must be late if Lydia is going to sleep, Asta gives a soft command to her oldest son.
"Alesan, go wash up for bed. I'll go find your brother and father, so Blaise will join you shortly," she softly says, and Alesan immediately obeys his mother, rushing to wash his face before bedtime.
Farkas and Blaise were outside practicing archery when Asta found them. With a quick, yet passionate kiss to Farkas' cheek, Asta told Blaise it was far past little boys' bedtimes and that he and Alesan needed to get ready for bed where they could be rested for the morning when she and Farkas returned from hunting. The family would be returning to Whiterun after the hunting trip in order to see the Companions at Jorrvaskr. Blaise and Alesan are particularly excited to see their Uncle Vilkas again; the boys love spending time with their father's twin brother because the more outspoken twin would always dote on his nephews and try to improve their battle skills to the best of his ability.
"Archery, huh?" Asta smiles up at Farkas as he wraps his large arms around his wife in a bear hug, pressing her back close to his warm chest. "I always thought you favored two-handed swords," she laughs, knowing her husband only fights with a bow and arrow when it is absolutely necessary, such as when they are hunting certain prey items in the woods or they are being attacked by dragons in the mountains.
"Yeah. Blaise wanted to learn, and you know I can't deny our pups anything," Farkas admits, sighing contentedly as he presses a kiss to Asta's forehead. "Gods, I love you. You know that, right?" the Circle member breathes, staring down at the woman in his arms in awe as he continues to hold her.
"Aye. I know that," Asta grins back, crinkling her nose as she stares into Farkas' blue eyes that shine silver in the moonlight. "But, I have a secret for you," she whispers in a hushed tone, mischief sparkling in her blue eyes.
"A secret, eh? And what might that be, love?"
"I love you to the ends of the Empire and back."
"Love, if that's a secret, then I'd hate to hear what all you consider too private to ever share with me," Farkas jokes, and Asta can't help but laugh.
"You always make me laugh, darling. Come," Asta softly says, taking Farkas' large hand in her much smaller one. "I'm sure the boys are ready to be put to bed now."
They enter the boys' shared bedroom to find Blaise and Alesan both underneath the covers with their heads on their pillows, something highly unusual. Their sons must be up to something, though neither parent knows exactly what that may be.
Neither Asta nor Farkas expects the question when it comes out of Blaise's mouth.
"Can we have a song before we go to sleep?" the younger son of the Dragonborn and Companion asks, his eyes lighting up in excitement as he entertains the idea in his mind.
"Please! Can we?" Alesan joins in, casting a silent plea at his mother and father.
"You pups want a song, do ya?" Farkas questions with a chuckle. "Well, I hate to break it to ya, but I don't sing," he smirks, teasing his boys as he knows who they really want to sing them a lullaby.
"We didn't want you to sing, Pa," Blaise admits, and if Farkas didn't know his son meant nothing ill-intentioned about that, he would have felt a bit insulted.
"Mama, can you sing for us?" Alesan inquires, holding his mother's hand and giving it a light squeeze.
"Well…" Asta begins, only for her dearest husband to cut her off.
"Come on, love. I've heard you sing," Farkas reminds with a dreamy smile on his lips as he thinks of the one night he has ever heard Asta sing. "You have the voice of an angel, Asta. Sing for the boys," he propositions, that same silver shine appearing in his eyes as he lovingly looks at the woman he is lucky enough to call his wife.
"Fine! But only if your Papa accompanies me with the lute," Asta agrees, a twinkle of mischief in her pale blue eyes.
Farkas chuckles before he stands up and heads into his and Asta's bedroom to obtain his instrument that has long stood waiting to be played again.
"This is a favorite of Nords all over Skyrim," Asta smiles at her children as she sits at Farkas' feet while he holds the lute in his large hands.
"What's it called, Mama?" Blaise questions as Alesan lets out a yawn.
"Ragnar the Red," Asta reveals, and the two boys' eyes widen in excitement, having heard a story of Ragnar from Vilkas on one of their latest trips to Whiterun with their father.
"A fine but bloody tale!" Farkas adds in as most bards would when requested to play in an inn.
"Oh, there once was a hero named Ragnar the Red who came riding to Whiterun from ole Rorikstead," Asta begins, her voice soft and smooth like that of an angel's or a fairy's.
Farkas skillfully plays the lute behind her, being careful to play the music softly enough to not overpower his wife's vocals but also loudly enough to offer her the proper accompaniment.
"And the braggart did swagger and brandish his blade as he told of bold battles and gold he had made," Asta continues the rather bloody lullaby to her sons, pretending as if she is pulling a hulking sword from behind her back like Farkas and Vilkas do with their weapons. "But then he went quiet did Ragnar the Red when he met the shield-maiden Matilda who said," and here the Dragonborn pauses, allowing Farkas a few seconds to play the lute in otherwise silence where the boys could hear their father's skill on the lute just as well as their mother's singing skill. "Oh, you talk and you lie and you drink all our mead! Now I think it's high time that you lie down and bleed!" Asta nearly shouts, leaping to her feet from her spot on the floor before pretending that she is about to enter in a swordfight with Ragnar the Red.
Farkas joins in her act and stands across from her as if he is Ragnar the Red and pretends that he brandishes his lute as a sword while Asta grabs Blaise's wooden one from the top of his end table.
"And so then came clashing and slashing of steel as the brave lass Matilda charged in full of zeal!" the Dragonborn sings loudly, watching the awe on her sons' faces as they are drawn both into the story of Ragnar the Red and their parents' reenactment of the great battle of legend.
Together, the married couple act out the fierce battle between Matilda and Ragnar the Red, all while Farkas continues to play his lute to help keep the song in a lullaby format. Eventually, Farkas kneels down and Asta mimes finishing Ragnar off, though she doesn't use decapitation like the song implies, thinking that showing her children that she actually knows how to decapitate a man might scare them or potentially scar them in their formative years.
"And the braggart named Ragnar was boastful no more," Asta continues to sing as Farkas falls to his knees and stops playing the lute momentarily to mime the fact that Ragnar died in his battle with Matilda.
"When his ugly red head rolled around on the floor!" Farkas and Asta shout out together, making both of the boys laugh when Farkas leaps from the ground and grabs Asta in his muscular arms, hoisting his wife off of the ground and onto his shoulder.
After a slight squeal, Asta wraps her arms around Farkas' neck as her chest presses against Farkas', their two hearts beating in time with one another as they look lovingly at one another even while singing this bloody tale at the request of their children.
"And the braggart named Ragnar was boastful no more when his ugly red head rolled around on the floor," Asta barely whispers, which causes Blaise and Alesan to erupt into cheers and claps for both of their parents.
"Wow, Ma! Your singing voice is amazing!" Alesan grins, kissing his mother on the cheek once Farkas sets his wife back down on the floor.
"Thank you, Alesan. It must be because of my mastery of the Voice," Asta blushes, not used to getting compliments on her singing voice.
"Papa, how did we not know that you could play the lute?" Blaise inquires with a yawn as his father tucks the blankets around the once stable boy from Solitude. "You're really good at it!"
"Thank you, son. I stopped playin' because your Uncle Vilkas got annoyed with it really quickly," Farkas admits, having to use 'Uncle Vilkas' instead of just 'uncle' because Asta made Hadvar an honorary uncle to their boys after the redheaded Captain of the Legion had served at her side for most of the Civil War.
Not to mention Brynjolf and the members of the Thieves Guild were trying to gain uncle status with the boys. Farkas would let that happen over his dead body….
"Your Uncle Vilkas can get quite grumpy when something isn't his idea or someone is better at something than he is," Asta grins, making Farkas chuckle warmly at his wife's short, yet accurate, description of his twin brother.
"Can you play for us again sometime, Papa?" Blaise whispers before Farkas stands once more.
"Of course, little pup. But only if your Mama accompanies me with her singing," Farkas smirks, and Asta can't help but laugh in pure bliss at the antics she and Farkas get into with their boys.
"Goodnight, you two. Sweet dreams, my little warriors," Asta smiles, pressing kisses to each of her sons' foreheads before blowing out the candle on their bedside table.
"I don't think Vilkas would like that we spoiled the ending of Ragnar's tale for them," Farkas reveals to Asta as they lie down next to one another in bed.
"Oh, who cares what your brother thinks?" Asta laughs, curling up in Farkas' arms, sighing contentedly as he cards one of his massive hands through her light brown hair. "He's ruined many a good story that I was planning on telling the boys," she reminds, and Farkas hums in agreement.
"You should sing more often, dear. You really do have an amazing voice," he compliments, pressing his chest against Asta's back as they curl together like two pieces of a puzzle.
"Only if you play the lute alongside me. You have real talent, Farkas."
"Deal."
Author's Note: And there it is! My fifth Skyrim story already! Originally, this was meant to be a shorter one-shot, but I got very carried away. This game is inspiring me so much! I already have so many other stories for it planned surrounding Asta's adventures in Skyrim and the adventures I wish she could have in Skyrim! I noticed the lute in Farkas' room at Jorrvaskr during this playthrough with Asta. (Long story short if you haven't read my other fics, my game broke about five years ago and I just recently got a new disk, so I'm living the life I remember Asta having in my past game.) So, I thought to myself 'What if Blaise and Alesan were to ask their parents for a lullaby?' And, of course, with Asta and Farkas being two hot-blooded warrior Nords and Companions, they would choose to turn 'Ragnar the Red' into a lullaby for their boys. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Until next time, dear readers! Have an amazing day, afternoon, or night!