Skyrim is the property of Bethesda Softworks. Thanks for the great responses to I Companion and I Dragonborn. Anyone who would like a better idea of who Ieago is and how he came to be lying in the snow on the top of a mountain should check out those stories. Well, that's all I have to say for now and there's a bit of exposition to get over with before the story opens up. Sit back, relax, and let me know what you think.

I came back to Mundus atop the Throat of the World. Everything around me was shades of grey in the predawn light of a snow storm. Looking on my outstretched arm, I saw my wounds were closed and lined with thick beads of scar tissue. I sat up to find Paarthurnax and a large gathering of dragons perched around me in the dim light. It appeared they had been holding a council of some kind, but the issue was resolved by my reappearance.

"Alduin mahlan," said one.

"Sahrot thurr qahnaraan," another.

"Dovahkiin los ok dovahkriid! Thu'umii los nahlot." a third.

"Mu los vomir!" They exulted slowly as one.

I found himself understanding them fluently and wished them the joy of that last proclamation: "We are free!" They cried again and again.

One by one they flew off into the clouds, calling out in the dragon speech and the common languages with their deep voices, "Alduin is fallen! His Voice is silenced! The Dragonborn is his slayer! We are free!"

I turned and smiled to see old Parrthurnax perched on his word wall. His head was pointed and wings slumped to the ground in grief.

"Alduin earned this," I tried to console him.

"Indeed," Paarthurnax looked up at me slowly. "His doom was sealed when he claimed for himself the lordship that properly belongs to father Akatosh. But I cannot rejoice in his fall. He was my brother once. This world will never be the same." He returned his gaze to the ground.

"You're right: This world is free of his menace."

The old dragon looked up at me again and appeared to smile, "Forgive me Dragonborn. Melancholy is an easy trap for a dovah to fall into. You have won a mighty victory-one to echo through the ages for those who can hear. Savor this triumph! This is not the last of what you will write on the currents of time." He stood up and stretched his wings and neck to their fullest extent, dwarfing even the mighty Odahviing. "I have not felt this young in many an age! Many of the dovahhe are scattered across Keizaal. Without Alduin's lordship, they may yet bow to the vahzen... the rightness of my Thu'um! But willing or no they will hear it! Farewell!"

For a moment I was alone in the heavy snow before I felt the thud of a landing behind me. I turned to see a familiar red beak inches from my face.

"I wish the old man luck in his... quest," Odahviing said, "But I doubt that many will wish to exchange Alduin's lordship for the tyranny of Paarthurnax's Way of the Voice."

I shrugged, "Those who refuse may find themselves facing the Blades. Or me."

Odahviing made a sound of derision in the back of his long neck, "The Blades are nothing without a Dovahkiin. History will forget them as they have forgotten their master."

"And what is your choice Odahviing?"

"I choose you Dovahkiin. You have proven your mastery twice over. I gladly acknowledge the might of your Thu'um. Call me when you are in need. I will come if I can."

On an impulse from I knew not where, I reached up to stroke the side of his massive beak, "Thank you my friend. Do not go far: After I speak with the Greybeards below I will have need of a ride to Dragonsreach."

The four monks came to the central chamber when they heard the doors clang shut.

"I can see it in your eyes," Arngeir said, his own eyes bright in the dark, "You have been to the land of the gods and returned. Is it done? Is Alduin truly defeated?"

I looked down at my arm, where Alduin left a spine. Other places on my body tingled in sympathy. I remembered how the blood had soaked through my armor. I thought back to the battle, to one critical detail that troubles me a lifetime later, "I hope so, but I am unsure. I didn't absorb his soul after he was killed."

Arngeir and the others frowned at this news, "Perhaps, perhaps not. Alduin is unique even among dragon-kind. The gods may permit him to come back at the End to fulfill his role as World-Eater. But that is for the gods to decide. For now you have won a great victory and learned to wield terrible weapons. It is up to you to decide how to use them. Lok thu'um: breath and focus. Let the Way of the Voice be your guide and your path will be made clear to you."

With that blessing I bowed to the four monks, "As I can call on Odahviing's aid, you may call on mine. I will come if ever I can."

The multitude of rebuilt structures was the only thing that looked right upon my arrival in Whiterun. Guards in blue livery greeted me as I alighted from Odahviing on the great porch of Dragonsreach. Vignar Gray-Maine stood behind them.

"Vignar," I greeted the aging Companion in surprise, "where is Jarl Balgruuf?"

"It's Jarl Vignar to you," one of the soldiers corrected me.

The old Companion shook his head slowly behind the row of men and said, "I will meet you in your Jorrvaskr office after sunset, Dragonborn." With that cryptic statement, he took my arm and led me from the hauntingly quiet palace.

I spent the rest of my day in a deserted Jorrvaskr. Stale and rotting food was still on the table, surrounded by open bottles and an ash-filled hearth. The many trophies and banners of our triumphs were missing from the walls and rafters. In the living quarters below nothing of value remained. Our armor, our weapons, and the chests we kept the profits of our deeds in were all gone.

The silence of the ancient hall was the worst. I felt like a man sent to some plane of Oblivion, damned to walk the depopulated shadow of the places he loved best. Quiet and withdrawn though I was, the hum of life and laughter of the great hall had long since become music to my ears. Not hearing it in so familiar a place filled me with a despondent loneliness. I leapt to my feet when old Vignar entered my office at last.

The questions tumbled out of me, "Jarl Vignar? What has happened? Where are our siblings?"

The new Jarl put his hands up to slow the torrent of questions, "I am Jarl Vignar by the grace of Ulfric Stormcloak. And much has happened in the weeks you've been gone, too much to tell you now. You need to get to Labyrinthian. You'll find Balgruuf and the Companions there."

My jaw fell to the floor, "Why that horrible place?" He and I glanced up at the sounds of iron studded boots on the floorboards above us.

"They had no choice. When the dragons stopped their attacks, we all saw it as a sign you were successful. Ulfric moved fast. Whiterun was not ready to repel a second assault. The Legion and Balgruuf fled the city."

"Weeks? How long have I been gone?" I could not conceive of my journey through Sovngarde lasting more than a few days.

"It's been three months, Harbinger. Ulfric is poised to win the war when it resumes in the spring."

There were shadows moving in the dark of the Under Hall behind Vignar.

I couldn't believe it, "But he agreed to wait until the dragon crisis had been resolved!"

"Vignar leaned in close to whisper and placed the hilt of a weapon in my hand, "We haven't much time. Just put your hand on my shoulder. I support Ulfric because I see in him the last of Skyrim's honor- get ready to turn me around—he is a king who would fight and die for any Nord. His men are behind me to subdue you while I distract you. Use me as a hostage and get to the Underforge. I left some supplies for you—there's a good lad."

I spun the geriatric man around, igniting Revenant in the process. For Revenant it was; repaired by my friends as a gift for my return—or memorial if I didn't—and held the shimmering blade beneath his chin. To my surprise the blade was a brilliant white instead of its former green. The sudden flash and hiss of the magical blade in the hands of its famous wielder gave Ulfric's men pause. I threw Vignar aside and Shouted. Unrelenting Force shook Jorrvaskr to its foundations. The men and women of the militia flew back and bounced along the floor and off the walls. My mouth was hardly closed before I was running between their splayed forms while Vignar's stunned laughter echoed my Thu'um.

I bolted out the back door and into the Underforge. The backpack Vignar promised was next to the hidden exit. I crept through the narrow passage and dropped down outside the city walls. I caught my breath for just a moment before sprinting furiously off to the northwest.