4E 180 - twenty-one years earlier, in the city of Whiterun
"Come on, mother. Stop adding tomatoes to the basket, we have everything we need," Milla said as she almost dragged her mother away from the wooden box with the unnormally large tomatoes.
"We can never get enough food, you know that," Milla's mother, Inger, told her.
"Okay, pay for the food. I'll go find dad."
Milla's dad, Eirik, was at the blacksmith's forge near the city gate, buying a brand new armor for his daughter. "Here. Try this on, Mill," he said and handed her the heavy steel armor. She went behind the tanning rack by the forge, and not long after, she came out from behind the rack with the shiny piece of metal all strapped on.
"Wow…" Eirik said to himself, while he studied his daughter's armor.
"It's a bit… tight, isn't it?" Milla complained, not sounding very impressed as she adjusted the shoulder pads.
"I can fix that," Adrianne Avenicci, the cheerful blacksmith, interrupted. Milla went back behind the piece of leather on the tanning rack, undressing the steel armor and putting her old leather armor back on, and Adrianne began working on the straps on the back of the armor.
"Have you met my father?" she commented as she worked. "He's about to become the Jarl's new steward up at Dragonsreach."
"Oh, we're just passing through Whiterun, collecting the most necessary," Eirik answered. "And besides, I wanted to give my daughter her birthday present today."
"Oh yeah? From where are you traveling? And to where are you going home?" was Adrianne's next questions, as she finished the last strap that needed adjustments.
"We actually decided to make Whiterun out final stop before heading back home, to Shor's Stone. We're having a hard time, Frostbite Spiders are infesting the mine." The devastation in Eirik's eyes was nothing but obvious, and Adrianne noticed that right away. "But, when this fresh-faced warrior is ready for adventures, we have nothing to worry about."
He poked Milla's arm, startling her. "Hey, don't tease me. My birthday was yesterday, and like you said, I'm about to become a warrior, so you better watch out," she laughed, and hit her father's chest gently, to not actually hurt him.
"Yeah, about that. You said your birthday was yesterday." Adrianne lifted the armor up as she said. "If I'm not too rude to ask, how old are you?"
"I'm eighteen."
"Ah, I remember when I was eighteen. My father used to call me 'Warmaiden', because I always played with swords all the time. That was before I became a blacksmith for a living, and before I opened the shop. Now I am happily running it with my beloved Ulfberth," she looked at Milla, who once again went behind the tanning rack to try the armor. It was perfect.
"Here you go," Eirik handed Adrianne the one-hundred Septims and said.
"Keep them. Consider the armor a gift from me."
"Thank you so much," Milla and Eirik both said, before Inger finally joined them.
"There you are!" she shouted when she noticed them by the pole Adrianne leaned against. "Oh, Milla. You look great." She could not help it but to comment after seeing the armor Milla wore.
"Yeah, I love it."
"Well, I hope to see you all later sometime, maybe if you're back in Whiterun," Adrianne commented and sat down on the grindstone with a dull iron sword in her hand.
"We hope so too. Bye!" they all waved and disappeared through the city gate.
"It's getting dark… Maybe we should settle a camp," Inger suggested and looked at the darkened sky. Secunda barely touched Masser as the two moons appeared brighter and brighter over them.
"Look, mother. Darkwater Crossing. Maybe we can stay there," Milla commented, with a finger pointing at the wooden sign just a few steps ahead of them.
"Good idea. Come on, Inger. We have our own personal bodyguard now. There is nothing to be scared of. I don't think anything can get past our daughter in her new armor," Eirik giggled.
"Dad… You're so funny! But you're also right, nothing can get past me," Milla jumped off as houses and bonfires came to sight.
"Hi," Milla said when she approached Annekke Crag-Jumper, the first person she noticed when entering the area between the houses and tents. "Is it alright if my family and I put up our tents here for the night?"
"Yeah, sure. There's a free spot right there, by the river."
As Inger and Eirik put the three tents up, Milla had already placed herself on a big rock on the other side of the river, patting a mountain fox. The light brown pelt was shining in Secunda's white light.
Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves drowned all the other sounds, and a pack of horses came galloping from the road towards Riften. They seemed important. The horses wore banners with the head of a bear on it. Milla now recognized them, Jarl Stormcloak and his men, probably on their way back to Windhelm.
"Hey, Bear! What owes this surprise?" Annekke grinned as the horses stopped and a layer of sand flew threw the air. By the way she called his nickname, it seemed like she knew him quite well.
"Good evening, Ann! Do you have a place for us?" the Jarl asked as he stepped down on the ground.
"I always have, Jarl," Annekke then took the Jarl's horse to the nearest fence and tied its rein to it.
"Mom, look! There's Ulfric!" a little girl shouted as she noticed the young man next to another horse.
"Hi, Bjork. I have missed you," he said as he walked towards the girl to hug her. She was about half his size, and almost disappeared in the pelt he wore around his shoulders.
Milla on the other hand had seen enough of the hugging and greeting, and walking into the massive forest behind her to explore it.
"Now, who is this?" the Jarl wondered when he noticed Eirik and Inger sitting in front of their tents, making a bonfire.
Eirik hurried onto his feet to introduce himself and his wife. "I'm Eirik, and this is my wife Inger. We're staying here for the night."
"Ah good, the more the merrier!" the Jarl laughed and clapped his hands, before turning around to find Ulfric. "Come on, Ulfric, don't be so shy. Come here and say hello."
"Yes, father," Ulfric sighed and placed himself next to the man.
"But what about the third tent and bedroll?"
"Oh, that's our daughter's. I haven't seen her since we got here, really. I don't know where she is," Eirik explained, looking around the area to locate Milla.
"This is not like her, Eirik, to just... disappear like that," Inger said worried. "We have to find her." After a few minutes, everyone looked for Milla. Even the Stormcloak guards looked for her on their rounds.
Not long after, Milla popped out of the woods behind Annekke's house with a bear pelt on her back. "What are we looking for?"
"Milla, where were you?" Inger exclaimed, wiping the drops of sweat away from her forehead.
"Mom… Come on, stop worrying."
"Yes, yes. Just.. tell me where you're going next time, please," Inger followed Milla to her tent, which Milla placed the large pelt in, forming a mattress.
Eirik stood next to the big tent the Jarl and Ulfric were staying in, with a tankard in his hand, laughing and chatting with the others. Inger joined the chat before they went inside Annekke's house, leaving Milla alone in her tent, where she admired her new armor. She wore her old one now, the leather armor she got from her mother and father two years ago.
Her curiosity struck when she heard someone outside the tent, and peaked out through the tent curtain. There was Ulfric, inside his and his father's tent, poking the ground with a wooden stick. She did not really care about him though, she studied the tent instead. She had never seen a tent that big, but without noticing, Ulfric was looking at her with a discreet smile on his face. When she finally noticed, she closed the tent curtain with embarrassment, her cheeks becoming one shade darker crimson.
Ulfric could not stop smiling to himself, before he heard Bjork outside the tent. "Ulfric, Ulfric. Come play!" She grabbed his arm, trying to drag him with her outside.
"Not now, Bjork. Maybe tomorrow. Could you do me favor?"
Milla heard his voice. His masculine voice, humming through her ears.
"Yes, yes. What is it?" Bjork eagerly asked, jumping up and down to get her energy out.
"Can you go to the tent over there to your left and get to know the girl inside it?" Ulfric requested, still with a smile on his face.
Bjork sighed and put her stubborn expression on, crossing her arms. "Only if she'll play."
"Bjork…"
"Okay, okay. I'll do it," she then had to agree, and stumped over to Milla's tent. "Hello! Someone there?"
Milla, who heard their entire conversation, played along with Ulfric's game. "Who is it?"
"Bjork, like the tree. Because of my black hair," she answered proudly.
Milla held her hand over her mouth to avoid letting Bjork hear her giggles. "Come in, then."
Inside the house, however, the elders laughed and drank. The Jarl kept talking about how disappointed he was that his son did not like any of the women in Windhelm. "I mean, even though he came back from the Great War five years ago, he can still find himself a woman. He even studied with the Greybeards when he was younger, but he dropped out of the lessons when he went to war. I… I am giving him the title of Jarl when I die."
His last sentence made everyone stare at him, but Annekke was the first to react. "You aren't… dying, are you?"
"I am keeping myself alive, if that is what you want to know," the Jarl confessed. "I haven't seen Ulfric smile since before the war, before he studied with the Greybeards. Before… his mother died."
"But he smiled when you arrived earlier, I saw it," Annekke explained.
"Yes, and I saw that too, but I recognize his smiles. I know when he smiles over a girl. When I see that smile, I can die peacefully, knowing my son will be alright."
"But, Jarl…"
"No… Don't. I can wait." The Bear then continued drinking and laughing like he did before his confessions.
"So your name is Milla, you live in Shor's Stone and you're about to become a warrior," Bjork said to herself to remember every little detail.
"Tell me.. Bjork.. Why do you need this information?" Milla asked, even though she knew the answer.
"Ulfric wanted it."
"Did he, now?" Milla raised her eyebrow to seem surprised by Bjork's response. "Well, why don't you go tell him?"
With her incredible speed, Bjork was now on her way back to Ulfric's tent. "I have so much to tell you!" was her first comment when she arrived, and jumped into Ulfric's lap.
"Ouf, you're heavier than last time..." he had to comment, tickling her waist. Once Ulfric stopped the tickling, she was ready to tell him what she knew.
"Okay, the girl in the tent is Milla, she lives in Shor's Stone and is about to become a warrior."
A wide grin then appeared on Bjork's face.
"Good job. Now go inside to your mother," he said and practically threw Bjork out of his tent.
He smiled again.
He tried to peak, but he could not see Milla through the tent curtain of her tent. But he saw movements when Eirik and Inger walked out of the house and towards their tents.
"Good night, Milla!" Inger shouted to her daughter before crawling inside her own tent.
"..Good night, mother."
Ulfric had now finally heard her voice, and it got stuck to his brain right away. Her voice was the last thing he thought of before falling asleep, and that was what he dreamed about that entire night.