The Shield Maiden
A story about a girl from Helgen, who would change the fate of Skyrim.
Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived at the edge of the forest, in a small town called Helgen in Falkreath. She lived with her aunt, Siggy, who was an alchemist. Her mother had died bringing her into the world, and her father was a drunk that she hadn't seen in years. Siggy had said the last time she'd seen him was facedown in Rorikstead, in a puddle of Gods-only-know. He had once been an adventurer, but then he took an arrow to the knee, which is just a manlier way of saying that he got married. That arrow was called Elsa, and it was her death, Siggy said, that drove her father to the bottle. The only daughter of this drunken ex-adventurer and her nameless mother, Siggy's sister, had brown eyes, and wheat-colored hair.
One day, in her fifteenth year, some drunk broke into the shop, with wicked intentions against either herself or her aunt. She took the hide shield off the wall and bashed against him. He stumbled. She bashed again and he staggered, and pulled out a knife. She swung so hard, as hard as she could, and swung the shield like a sword, right at his throat, and heard the snap of his neck. Siggy came downstairs to a pool of blood and broken bottles. She propped the body outside the shop with a paper missive nailed to his chest saying: "This is what happens to thieves." The guards let her keep it up for a week, until it started to rot enough for the flies to be a real problem.
She kept that shield for a very long time, and even carved her name in it. She thought about joining the guard, but once she'd reached her twenty-fourth year, Siggy said that her time would be better served as an alchemist. So Siggy let her run the shop while she went south to Cyrodiil for supplies before the winter came. Some winters later, she decided to go to Cyrodill by herself, leaving her aunt to tend the shop, who was now reaching the peak of middle-age.
So she took that shield and some hide armor that she was able to afford, along with an axe at her side. She took the cart and went to Cyrodiil, but when she came back, she was ambushed. Well, she wasn't ambushed, but she just happened to be unlucky enough to be passing by while an ambush for Ulfric Stormcloak. So now she was in prison, with a horse thief, some Stormcloak soldiers, and Jarl Ulfric himself.
Growing up in Helgen, she had known the Imperial rule her whole life. So she had faith in the system, in their process. She was fine to be a citizen of the Empire. But when she stepped up to the Legion soldier, a man called Hadvar, some concern grew.
"Wait," he said. "You there. Step forward." She did. "Who are you?"
"Geeda, of Helgen," she answered.
"Captain, what should we do? She's not on the list?"
"She goes to the block with the rest of them."
"What?!" Geeda gasped.
"By your orders, Captain," said Hadvar.
"Geeda!" she heard her aunt's voice.
"Siggy?" Her eyes frantically scanned the crowd. "Siggy! Help!"
She heard a scuffle of Imperial soldiers holding back her aunt. "Please, stop! That's my niece! She's not a spy!"
"Somebody restrain her!"
"Leave my aunt alone, you bastards!"
"To the block, prisoner! Nice and easy."
Tears formed in her eyes. She went to the block. They would surely kill her aunt if she didn't obey. And so she fell to her knees at the block, ready to look at death in the eye. And then a dragon came. It roared and decimated the whole city. Geeda ran. She ended up under a fortress with that same Nord called Hadvar. He unbound her and helped her escape. She found and took armor, and boots, and a hand axe. Her shield was lost, so she found another. When he got her out of the cave, he said how the Imperial Legion was always looking for women with a strong arm. Geeda blackened his eye, and went north to Whiterun.
R&R