A/N: This chapter covers the dragon fight and the birth of the Dragonborn. I know right now this is Skyrim Canon and you've been through this story tons, but I am also adding details to plant a seed to grow later. Shorter chapter though.
Solene followed Irileth out of Dragonsreach in a hurry. Einar, who had been waiting outside just to be safe, hurried to catch up. He grew worried after a Whiterun soldier had burst through the doors calling for the Jarl and she hadn't returned for some time after. He was surprised that the guards at the gate had even let them in. It seems though that Solene has a way with words when she is bound and determined to see something done. He had considered going in after her, but then Irileth had stormed out with a determined Solene following behind her. He didn't like the look in her eyes when she had run passed him. He knew what it meant. This simple task of delivering a message just got that much worse.
He finally caught up with her as the dunmer housecarl was addressing Whiterun guardsmen. He reached a steel gloved hand out for her arm and pulled her back a few paces. "I trust we're done with our errand and can be moving on now." Solene pulled her arm out of his grasp and straightened her leather armor. She kept her eyes forward, but forward had nothing to hold her gaze. She was avoiding him. "Solene…" he chided before he heard the worried murmurs of the soldiers. His attention turned to them.
Irileth paced back and forth in front of her men. When they broke out in protest to her affirmation, she quieted them with an impassioned speech. "You heard right! I said a dragon! I don't much care where it came from or who sent it. I care that it made the mistake of attacking Whiterun!"
"But Housecarl… how can we fight a dragon?"
Einar gripped Solene's arm much harder and pulled her towards the door of the barracks. "What are you thinking?!" he chided again in a hoarse whisper. "You can't possibly think you are going to help them fight a dragon!"
"Jarl Balgruuf asked it of me. I won't let them go alone."
"Oh yes, yes you are. Jarl Ulfric has requested you in his city. He has offered you protection. You can't go gallivanting off like some hero of legends and think you can go around slaying dragons! You'll get yourself killed! You of all people should know. You saw Helgen! One of those things turned an entire fort into rubble."
Solene's eyes changed from a child's look of avoidance and bashfulness to a fire and a fury that caught Einar off guard. She tore her arm out of his grasp and stood up straighter, looking him in the eye. "You're right. I was there. You weren't! You didn't see the chaos. You didn't see how easily it destroyed Helgen and then flew off without so much as a scratch. Now, for all I know, it could be the same dragon attacking now. I won't sit by and watch it destroy more homes, more families!"
"Listen to yourself!" he hissed, trying to not be heard over Irileth's speech. "You saw what it had done and how little they had managed to do against it. Why are you throwing yourself at it now?"
"You don't understand. I have to go with them." Solene's eyes glistened with tears of resolve. Even though the woman formed tears before him, Einar could see that it didn't crack her determination at all, only fueled it.
He sighed heavily. "Fine, we'll go, but when we get there you will do exactly as I say, understand?" he demanded, pointing at her for extra effect.
Solene couldn't help the smile tugging at her lips. "Deal." Einar huffed and turned away in annoyance. How easily this girl could tug at his emotions and then snap them back into bitter annoyance, but he was on an important mission and he had to do whatever it took to get her to Windhelm. Somehow this girl was important to the Jarl and he would not disappoint.
"Messenger!" called Irileth from the gate, having not particularly cared to learn the girl's name in all of the commotion. "Are you coming?"
"Remember," Einar added, pointing at her again. "You follow my instructions when we're out there. I won't have you getting killed." Solene nodded and the pair, along with Balgruuf's housecarl and guardsmen can west for the burning watch tower.
As they ran, Solene kept pulling at her armor and shifting it around her person. Einar nudged her back, reminding her to hasten her step. "Stop playing with it. It's an excellent fit." He glanced sideways at her. "I… I must say I was impressed at how well you managed the craft. I daresay better than Alvor at his own forge. Thanks…" He sighed, finding it both difficult and easy to give the compliment. "Thanks for my armor as well. It is sturdy-built and will serve me well."
Solene blushed and looked down, both surprised and delighted by the compliment. Back home she only apprenticed under her father and even when she had completed orders in his stead he always got the recognition for it. It was new for her to see her work and deeds become highlight. It was almost intoxicating. Einar grabbed her arm again, a little more gently this time, and sped up. "Hurry, we have fallen behind."
They approached the tower and the company slowed their pace. Before they reached it they stooped low behind some rocks to assess the situation. The tower lay in rubble and fire. It was quiet. No birds or animals even dare come near the site of the wreckage. Solene's heart dropped thinking that they were too late and that the dragon had moved on to terrorize some village next.
Irileth covered her gaze from the bright flames nearby and scanned the area. "No signs of any dragon right now, but it sure looks like he's been here. I know it looks bad, but we've got to figure out what happened. And if that dragon is still skulking around somewhere. Spread out and look for survivors. We need to know what we're dealing with." Irileth drew her sword and approached the tower, her guardsmen and Solene following after her.
Einar gripped Solene and pulled her back against the rocks. "You stay here. If there is a dragon around, you will remain behind this rock. You understand?" His eyes were fierce and Solene knew she would find no compromise this time. She silently nodded her head and turned and leaned into the rock to watch him and the guards investigate the tower. It wasn't long to find any signs of life however. A man from inside the tower came out, shouting and waving his hands. A roar thundered from the mountains to the south and all eyes turned towards it as a dragon came into view making its way back to the tower.
Solene fought against herself to stay hidden behind the rock as the guardmen, Irileth and Einar clashed with the dragon. Arrows flew everywhere as fire rained down upon them. She felt a pull in her chest, feeling guilty that they fought while she hid. She examined the scene more closely. The tower was too far away for her to accurately fire from her position. There was no way she could help and follow Einar's orders at the same time. She would have to disappoint him, but if it saved his life, then he'd have no room for complaint later. She had hoped. She resolved herself to this plan and stepped out from behind the rock and ran down the path towards the tower. As she got closer, she nocked an arrow, took a deep breath, aimed ahead of the dragon's path and fired.
The arrow missed and the dragon swooped low instead to pick up a guardsman and throw him. Solene cursed and nocked another arrow. She took a deep breathe again, calmed herself and waited. The dragon had turned and flew to the east, towards her making her target as static as it would be. She fired and caught the dragon on its scaled head. It roared and whipped its head around causing it to falter in its flight. It plummeted to the ground towards Solene who ducked and rolled out of the way. The dragon crashed into the ground and slid through the terrain. She stood up to catch sight of Irileth and Einar running towards her. Einar had a look or fury on his face, but his eyes showed something else. He waved at her madly, sweeping his hand down, telling her to move out of the way. She heard a roar behind her as the dragon recovered and with a giant stride made its way to her quickly. Einar reached her first. He pushed her to the ground and ran forward to meet the dragon.
Einar slashed at the dragon with his sword, trying to stay quick on his feet and under the beast. The dragon was much too quick however and had taken a large step back and with its massive head hit Einar like a battering ram and threw him to the side. Enraged at his assault, the dragon stalked towards the Nord now lying in the dirt and made to snatch him up in his dreadful maw when an arrow sailed past its head and buried into its shoulder. It turned towards the girl in leather wielding a bow of orcish craft, but she was fast. Another arrow met its mark in its eye. It roared and shook its head, but faltered. Solene approached now at a steady rhythm, reading another arrow and loosed it upon the dragon who fell from the onslaught. The dragon stared at the girl with hateful yellow eyes, swearing an unspoken oath to return for her and her kin as soon as he awoke again.
Then something happened. Its cry was clear to all who had stood witness as it reared back up and roared with the words: "Dovakiin, no!" It slammed back into the earth and a fire blazed from within causing a low murmur from those around and they stepped back in fear. Einar, who had recovered, grabbed Solene in his arms and turned away to shield her from the flames. But the fire did not burn as it ate away at the dragon's body and burst forth and covered them both in flame. Einar stepped back, looking down at himself, but stepped back further, looking on in awe as he realized the flame was surrounding Solene.
She stared down at her hands and body which should have burned in the fires engulfing her, but it did not. Instead her body hummed with power and in her head she heard the voice of the dragon, of the dovah. She had understood now. Those markings on the wall. It was the language of the dovah, the dragons. The meaning of the word she had learned in Bleak Falls Barrow hummed in her head as she felt knowledge and power run through her. Something in her had changed, had awoken and she suddenly knew that she was meant to be here, in Skyrim, at Helgen, and here now. Something was guiding her here and she had a burning desire to find out what.
The guardsmen all rushed around Solene, but they did not approach too closely. Irileth was slow to join the crowd. "I can't believe it!" they muttered amongst themselves.
"What's going on? What happened?" she asked confused.
Solene looked to Einar who had a similar look of awe on his face. "So it is true then…" he muttered.
"You are… dragonborn!" cried one of the guardsman in excitement.
"Dragonborn? What do you mean?"
"In the very oldest tales," offered Einar, "The dragonborn would slay dragons and steal its power."
"That's what you did, isn't it? Absorbed its power?" asked a guard.
"I think…" Solene remembered the rush of knowledge that flooded her when the fire from the dragon surrounded her, the sudden knowledge of the word she had learned. "I think so… I mean, I could hear its voice in my head and suddenly I could understand some of its language."
"They say that a dragonborn can use the power of the dragons in the form of a shout. Show us! Show us what the dragon showed you!"
Solene remembered the word she whispered in Bleak Falls Barrow. When she whispered it she could feel the latent power of it. Now she tried it again. As she shouted the word, the power pulsed through her body, the air became still, and a great force flew from her mouth. Einar and another guard had stumbled back as it hit them. "Sorry! I'm so sorry!"
The guard broke into a laugh. "It is true! She is dragonborn!"
"What do you say, Irileth? You've been quiet."
Irileth pushed through the crowd of guards and inspected the girl with a critical eye. "I don't know of this talk of dragonborn, but I know what I just saw. There is a dead dragon and that is what I care about." Irileth approached Solene and offered her arm. Solene took her hand in hers and the two embraced in a warriors greeting. "You surprise me, girl, but I am glad to say that you faught for Whiterun tonight. Go and return to the Jarl and tell him of what happened here. I am sure he will be more interested in Nord legends than I."
Solene nodded to the dunmer and said her goodbyes to the guards. She looked to Einar who nodded and turned back for the road. The walk back to Whiterun was silent and tense. Solene felt like a child again waiting to be scolded. She finally took a deep breath and confronted the tension. "You're mad, aren't you?"
Einar considered this question in silence for a few moments before answering truthfully. "Yes, I am." Solene lowered her head and watched her feet as they walked down the road. He glanced at her and let out a short laugh. "It seems as though you are going to make it very difficult from now on for me to keep you alive." Solene looked up at his half smirk and smiled back at him with a wicked grin. He laughed out loud as they walked in the darkness.
Solene's smile grew sincere. "That's the first time I've heard you laugh."
Her observation caught him off guard. "Really? I guess this has just been a stressful mission."
Solene's gaze dropped down the ground again. "I'm sorry," she replied softly, hurt lacing her words. She was more hurt than anything to be referred to as 'a mission.' "I wish I wasn't so much trouble for you."
Einar's voice softened as he tried to correct his mistake of words. "No. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that you were trouble. It's just that this was actually my first mission from Jarl Ulfric. Truly I've been nervous about it since I left Windhelm."
"Nervous? Why?"
"Retrieving you and bringing you back safely to Windhelm was important to the Jarl. The Jarl sensed something important in you back at Helgen and didn't want a girl like you wandering alone in Skyrim."
"Did he know? That I was… Dragonborn?"
Einar shook his head. "I don't think so. At least he didn't mention it to me."
"So what should I do? Will he know more about me and what I am?"
"He did train for years to master what you just did by that tower. I'm sure he would know something to-"
Suddenly the ground shook and words traveled through the air like thunder. "DOVAHKIIN"
"Those are the same words that the dragon spoke before it died." Solene turned towards Einar. "What does it mean?"
"That was the voice of the Greybeards from the mountain," he said looking up to the Throat of the World, Solene's gaze following.
