It was an average Mondas in the early Frostfall of Skyrim. In the village of Helgen fathers were gathering firewood and hunting for their families while mothers preserved vegetables and herbs to use for the winter. In one house, a simple log cabin like the rest, all the children had gathered and were being watched by a pair of sisters and their father.
Frey, the older sister, was average height for a Nord woman. She had long pale blond locks and stunning blue eyes. Her legs were long and her arms and hands dainty. She had the air of a princess and carried herself much like one. She was married to a soldier, a Stormcloak, who had gone off to war. She is also not the hero of this story.
Rud was an old and retired soldier and hunter; the best in fact. He was a general before he retired and had he chosen hunting as his main profession he would have made a better living than as a soldier. Any weapon became an extension of his body. Despite his retirement he had kept himself in excellent shape and even trained soldiers and guards. His features made him the textbook example of a Nord. They did not, however, make him the hero of our story.
The last was Elsa. She was the youngest of the Hawk-Hunter clan and the one who seemed the least likely to be the hero of any Nordic tale. Now this is not a cliché story that claims the heroine is plain when she is really an exquisite beauty. Elsa was beautiful. She had also taken after her Imperial mother. She was average height for an Imperial woman, which was short for a Nord, and had soft features. She looked, all in all, like she should be the one waiting for the hero's return or at best a healer. She had long strawberry blond hair that flowed in loose curls and flowed like an orange flame to her mid-thighs. Her golden eyes were sharp and un-nerving when she needed them to be; and soft and warm when she wished them to be. She had her mother's dancers figure and stepped very lightly and elegantly even in heavy winter boots. Her bodies curves were average but anything different would take away from her beauty. She truly was beautiful.
But she looked like an Imperial.
The children, and animals, loved her though and the people of Helgen had known her mother.
Elsa had a secret though. At night when it was late Elsa would take her bow and arrows and wander the forest.
Elsa's mother had been a thief of the Thieves Guild. She was the best and nothing, not even Rud, could come between her and the world she loved, except one thing. Something had caused her to leave that world and it was not her children for they were old enough to left home alone before their mother left the guild.
Everyone loved Leliana, for that was the name of Elsa's mother, but Elsa had been especially close to her. Leliana never trusted anyone enough to teach them even her most basic skills, not even Rud or Freya, but Elsa…Leliana had taught Elsa everything she knew. Sneaking, lockpicking, pickpocketing, looting, archery, daggers, hiding, disguising, bribing, Elsa knew them all. Even Leliana's most secret skills that not even the Guild Master knew were taught to Elsa. All of Leliana's skills were Elsa's. All of Elsa's skills were the reason so many survived.
Elsa looked out of the window on this fateful Morndas to see carriages, carrying people, being led by Imperials, General Tullius, and a member of the Thalmore.
An execution.
It was the beginning of the end. Elsa recognized one of the Imperial soldiers, Hadvar, as one of the boys from Riverwood. Then there was Ralof. Ralof was also from Riverwood but he was a Stormcloak.
Then there he was. The leader of the rebellion: Ulfric Stormcloak.
The skies turned gray and dark as a storm approached.
A fitting change in weather.
Elsa quickly finished making the children's' lunch as Freya ushered the children back inside and closed the blinds. Elsa stepped outside, as did Rud, and watched the execution. They didn't want it to happen. They had been secretly assisting the Stormcloaks since the beginning of the rebellion. They couldn't look away.
The morbid curiosity of humanity.
One Stormcloak soldier was beheaded and it was time to kill the next when…
"Elsa look there, that is an awfully large bird. I would take my bow and hunt it if it weren't for those damn Imperials."
That's no bird…that's a…
"Dragon!" Elsa exclaimed before running to the bush beside their house and grabbed her weapons and the sack that kept her gear. She aimed her bow and arrow just as the large black beast landed on top of the watch tower and shouted. The storms worsened and Elsa's arrow missed the eye of the beast and hit it in the snout instead. Fighting in her daily clothes, a blue and white dress and brown boots, would be difficult but she did not have time to change to her hunting clothes.
Elsa could hear her father ordering her to go back inside as he ushered the children and Freya into the tunnel Leliana had built for quick escapes out of the village. Elsa chose to ignore him. Instead she grabbed her dagger and cut the skirt of her dress off at her mid-thighs and used a scrap piece of cloth to tie her hair up as she ran into the fray.
Recognizing an opportunity was the first thing Leliana taught Elsa.
Elsa used her dagger to cut the remaining Stormcloaks free and untied the gag around the Jarl's mouth.
"This way!" Elsa lead the way to the escape tunnel and ripped the hatch open just in time to see that the tunnel had collapsed on itself.
Father! Freya!
Elsa quickly stopped her tears before they began. If she broke down now they would all die.
"The keep! It must have an escape tunnel!" Ralof announced over the loud crashes.
Elsa nodded and they ran to the keep, rescuing as many villagers as they could. That was not enough to ensure everyone's safety.
One of the watchtowers fell and separated the group into two. Ralof and Elsa were on one side and everyone else was on the other.
"Keep going! We will find another way!" Ulfric ordered before grabbing an axe from the rubble and leading the others to safety.
"You heard him! Let's go!" Elsa ran to the keep, Ralof following behind quickly.
Mother's escape tunnel leads to Riverwood.