Chapter Four- Ulfric

A Son's Vengeance

Ulfric was stunned. Did he just say that Alduin had returned? Suddenly the situation had gotten even more ridiculous…If that was possible.

"Alduin? But he was vanquished centuries ago. That's impossible."

"Is it?" Paarthurnax contemplated, "Alduin was never vanquished…only delayed." A few moments of silence followed. What did Alduin mean: delayed? Elisif then decided to speak up, "Delayed? How was he…delayed?"

Paarthurnax looked confused by the question, "Only the gods know. He has returned...I can feel it."

Ulfric was starting to get annoyed. Paarthurnax would never stop talking in riddles like this.

"But…How can we defeat him?" he said, Ulfric always did get straight to the chase.

"Defeat him?" Paarthurnax said, "I don't think it's likely to defeat Alduin without a Dovakiin. Almost unattainable." Another question? Ulfric's temper flared, he was reminded of all those years ago, studying with the Greybeards. When he had been finally brought to see the mighty Paarthurnax, he had been utterly disappointed. Paarthurnax never answered the questions you brought to him. He only gave you more to answer.

"Enough with the riddles! We need a resolution! What we don't need is more problems!" Elisif and Arngeir both winced at Ulfric's temper flare. They were both fully aware of Ulfric's short temper. Ulfric sighed for the millionth time and breathed an insincere apology toward the dragon. At least he wasn't indulging in that infernal habit of using the dragon-speech every five words. That would be even more exhausting.

Paarthurnax lips curled into what Ulfric assumed were a smile. "Always the angry one, weren't you Ulfric." Ulfric nodded. How true that was.

Paarthurnax then continued in accordance to Ulfric's temperament. "The Nords, all those years ago, used something along the lines of a shout to weaken Alduin. They obviously did not kill him, but I believe they did something to send him into the future. Thus he is here now, unscathed." The Jarl of Windhelm considered the possibility. It seemed as probable as everything else that had happened so far.

Paarthurnax then spoke of how Ulfric would be able to see through the time rift with an Elder Scroll. "If you see of how the time rift was formed, then you may be able to see how the Nord heroes sent Alduin into the future and duplicate what they did."

Ulfric could finally feel a sliver of hope for his cause, "Where do we find this Elder Scroll?"

Paarthurnax sighed. "I do not know...you must figure that out on your own."

After making the trek back down to High Hrothgar, Arngeir had said that their best bet for finding the location of the scroll was at the Mages' College. Elisif and Ulfric knew that the mages may know where the scroll was, and continued to make a plan so that they could save the most time. They agreed that it would save the most time if Elisif were to ask the mages, and Ulfric was to gather a force to retrieve the scroll and rendezvous in Dawnstar.

Arngeir had invited them to stay in High Hrothgar for the night, seeing as how it was getting dark outside. The Greybeards let them sleep in their beds and walked off to sleep on mats a short distance away.

Elisif and Ulfric had the chosen beds that were farthest from each other, mainly because they both acknowledged that when two unmarried people of high-ranking social class, while also the opposite gender slept in the same room: it was indecent. "At least she isn't acting like a complete princess," Ulfric thought, "She's becoming more loose with her manners every day."

Ulfric chuckled to himself when he remembered seeing Elisif wildly swinging her puny dagger at the enormous ice-wraith. Two months ago, Elisif wouldn't have even gone up the steps with them. "I guess people change with time," Ulfric reasoned.

Ulfric was reading a book that was titled Dwemer Inquiries, even though he had no interest in the subject. Elisif was re-braiding her tangled hair. Ulfric peeked his eyes over the top of the book and secretly looked her over. She was in the middle of a sad attempt to make her hair look pretty, but it didn't seem to be working. Her hair was so tangled it wouldn't braid correctly. Her clothes were torn and stained with dirt and mud, while the exposed parts of her body were covered in scratches and bruises. "But even with all of those ragged features," Ulfric speculated, "She still looks as beautiful as ever."

Elisif took a deep breath and muttered a curse under a breath. She threw back her half-braided hair and looked at Ulfric. Ulfric pretended to read the book that was in his hands despite the fact that he hadn't read past page one.

"May I ask you a something?" Elisif questioned. Ulfric completely abandoned the boring book and set it next to his bed. "I don't see why not," Ulfric said.

Elisif leaned back in her bed and stared at the ceiling. "Why did you form the Stormcloaks? Why did you have to fight the Empire? Why didn't you just attack the Thalmor?"

Ulfric was doing the exact opposite as what Elisif was doing. He sat hunched over, staring at the floor. "It's not just about the Thalmor. The Empire is unfair and unjust in its rulings. It sends Skyrim's soldiers to battle for them while it only sends its own soldiers, not when the people of Tamriel wants or needs them, but only when it can benefit themselves. I could not stand to see the people of Skyrim bleed for an Empire that would not bleed for them!" Ulfric was right in his justification. He knew it. But he knew that this was only a minor reason. He knew that the real reason he had started this war was because of what the Thalmor did to his mother, "However, a large part of it is about the Thalmor." He exhaled loudly. Was it right to tell her his secret? Why he had vowed vengeance against the Thalmor? "When I was eleven years old, my mother was murdered… Right in front of my eyes. A bandit group was sent to invade the Palace of the Kings and kill my mother and father for allegedly conspiring against the Thalmor. My father was away at the time, but my mother was with me in the Jarl's quarters. The guards tried to fend them off…but there was too many. One of the bandits broke in and stabbed my mother in the heart while I hid under a bed and watched. It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen. When the dark elf bandit was sure she was dead, he fled. The entire bandit group was made up of Argonians, Khajjit, and Dunmer. It was only eight years later, when I hunted down the bandits, did I learn the Thalmor had sent them. The leader was the one who had tried to kill my mother and in a desperate plea for mercy he confessed that the Thalmor had sent them and why. I still killed him."

Ulfric looked up from the floor and into Elisif's eyes. What he saw was sheer pity. That loathing in her eyes that always seemed to be there whenever she looked at him was gone. "I am still seeking my vengeance. And I will only stop seeking it until every last member of the Thalmor is dead."

Elisif nodded in a silent gesture of respect and sank under the single blanket that was on her bed. Ulfric put his head on his pillows and tried to sleep; but he couldn't. He was too busy trying to suppress the feelings that were growing inside him. He tried to block and strangle them with his hatred and need for vengeance, but he couldn't. His love for the only other person in the room was too big to stop. Ulfric knew he would only get hurt by his feelings for her, but he couldn't deny them. He had fallen in love with Elisif.

He was unaware, though, that Elisif was quietly falling for him.