2 years later - 4E 182 - In the Jarl's Quarters in the Palace of the Kings
"Shh!" Milla hushed quickly, placing her index finger in front of her mouth. "Don't wake him up."
Galmar stood next to Milla with a big plate full of sweet rolls in his hand, and a bottle of mead in the other. The two of them and the servants had assembled around the bed in the Jarl's Quarters to surprise Ulfric on his birthday.
"Happy birthday!" They all shouted, and Ulfric's eyes opened widely by the sudden noise. He covered him face with his hand and mumbled something.
"Come on, Ulfric," Milla said. "It's your birthday, and a beautiful day for adventure." She sat down on the edge of the bed and smiled to her husband, grabbing his hand, making their wedding rings touch.
"Come join us for breakfast," Galmar suggested and started walking towards the door, discreetly telling the other to go with him.
Ulfric rolled over to his back, still tired after the late night the night before. He had to go to bed alone, Milla was running around in the kitchens, being awfully secretive. "Ugh, I can't believe I'm thirty years old today." He stood up and got dressed slowly as Milla watched him, his tired expression, his body, his scars.
"Well, four days from now I am no longer nineteen, but twenty. We can feel old together."
Ulfric chuckled, "Yeah."
People laughed and drank mead from goblets in the main hall, bigger banners were put up over the throne to celebrate the Jarl's birthday.
Galmar approached Ulfric and Milla at the throne, holding a goblet in his hand to give to the Jarl. "Are you ready?" he asked.
"Ready for what?"
Galmar looked at Milla, leaving her to explain their plan. She smiled, taking a sip of her cup. "We're traveling. I.. We are going to the Reach. Just to make sure the rest of those Forsworn aren't destroying the place. And besides, you have been busy lately, you could need some time off."
"You have thought about everything, haven't you?" Ulfric laughed, thinking about the trip. "I haven't been near the Reach since I got rid of the Reachmen.. I can't wait." He kissed Milla's temple while holding his arm around her.
Milla's mouth formed a smile. "I want this day to be just as romantic and adventurous as our wedding day. "
Ulfric's smile slowly disappeared as he thought about their destination. "But the Reach is so dangerous. I don't want you to get hurt, or to get into any kind of trouble with the Forsworn. I have seen you in battle. You're not exactly gentle.."
"Come on.. Come with us," Galmar engaged. "Like old times, eh?"
Ulfric understood what Galmar meant right away. He remembered their hunting trips, with Galmar's brother Rolff and Ulfric's father, and he did not hesitate to join them outside.
Milla and Ulfric sat next to each other on the bench on the carriage, studying the mountains on one side, and the giants and mammoths on the other side. Galmar sat on his horse behind the carriage, and two guards rode in front of it.
"Skyrim seems so… different without all the snow," Ulfric commented, leaning over the edge of the carriage and towards the ground to pick a thistle branch for Milla.
It began to darken as they reached Rorikstead. A man greeted them as the horses stopped by one of the farms. "Ulfric!" he approached them and said. "I haven't seen you since the war!"
Ulfric jumped off the carriage and chuckled. "Rorik! Finally founded the town you always wanted?" He then hugged his old friend.
"But what about you?" Rorik continued. "You're the Jarl now? The word sure is traveling fast."
"I am, yes. Right after my father died.. It's been two years now."
A woman from the farm they had stopped by took care of the horses, tying the reins to the fence. Ulfric looked around the place, then at Rorik. "We need a place to rest for the night before we continue our journey to the Reach. Do you have any rooms available at the inn?"
"Of course, I'll have someone ready a bed for ya," Rorik agreed.
Ulfric laughed for a second. "Make it a double, will you?"
Rorik just stared at Ulfric, trying to catch his drift. "What are you up to, eh?" His eyes narrowed, and he sighed heavily.
"Well, I wouldn't want my wife to sleep on the floor, would I?" Ulfric laughed again, placing his hand at Rorik's shoulder.
"Ulfric Stormcloak!" he yelled out of impression to his friend. "A lot has happened in seven years, I must say.. But where is she?"
"Oh, she is right he-" But when Ulfric turned to the carriage to introduce her to Rorik, she was gone. "Milla!"
Galmar and the three guards were already inside the inn, but Ulfric had to look for her. He walked back and forth on the road, studying the road they came from. "Milla!" he kept yelling.
"Yes?" Milla cheerfully said as she peeked out from the inn's backside.
Ulfric sighed relieved. "You have to stop scaring me like that!" He grabbed her and held her tight as if she had been gone for a long time without telling him where she was going or why.
"So this is the lucky girl who snapped your heart?" Rorik grinned, then showing them inside.
All the guards held a tankard in their hand and the room was filled with laughter. Rorik showed Ulfric around the inn, while Milla made jokes with the guards. Joking was her specialty after living with Eirik for eighteen years.
She soon noticed two boys in the corner, whispering to each other about the Jarl's visit. The sight of the young boys triggered Milla's memory, and she suddenly remembered all the fun she and Sylgja had when she lived in Shor's Stone.
What Milla also noticed was the female Altmer by the fire, who seemed oddly bored. Milla stood up and slowly walked towards her, casually slipping down in one of the chairs. "You seem… bored," she asked quickly, taking a sip of her bottle.
The elf looked at Milla, but did not answer. Her forehead frowned into tiny wrinkles as she supported her head. Milla studied the elf's eyes; they were colored yellow, similar to the elf she encountered in Windhelm the first time she was there.
"I…" the elf started. "I should not be here." She then hurried outside to avoid Milla's gaze.
The sky was completely darkened and Secunda's white light lit the road towards the Reach up. Milla ran after the elf as fast as she could to catch up with her. "Hey, come back!" she yelled from the porch. The elf stopped in the middle of the road, her back facing Milla.
"I cannot be here.." she mumbled. Milla barely heard what she said, but did not interrupt her in case she continued speaking. "Not with him here."
"Who, Ulfric?"
Ulfric's hatred for other races than Nords immediately came to Milla's mind. She remembered the first time she saw his scars, and when he told her how he got them. "I'm sorry.." she then mumbled quietly.
The elf smiled. "It's not your fault. I know what the Thalmor and the Aldmeri Dominion did to him."
Milla's expression changed, and she chuckled a little. "Yeah, I.. I'm Milla, by the way."
"Reldith," the elf smirked.
The door opened slowly and without a sound behind Milla, and there was Ulfric. "Milla, come back inside now!"
"I'm sorry," Milla whispered to the elf, making sure Ulfric did not hear it. She ran towards him, and inside the inn again. Reldith took off, leaving Ulfric to stare intensely at her until she was gone.
Ulfric closed the door eventually, giving Milla a disappointed look as he joined her at one of the tables, similar to the one her father gave her when she told him how much she loved Ulfric Stormcloak.
"Don't give me that look.." she mumbled fiercely, avoiding eye-contact.
"Ulfric!" Rorik called, standing behind the counter next to another familiar face. "You remember Mralki?"
"Of course. I would never forget a face like that," Ulfric laughed.
"Mralki was my first choice as innkeeper at the inn, and he hasn't made me regret it."
Milla walked towards them slowly, almost feeling embarrassed. Ulfric noticed her in the corner of his eye and put his arm around her fast to introduce her. "This is Milla. She's my wife." He nearly covered her face his arm, kissing her temple.
"You managed to snatch this one's heart, did ya? Good job," Mralki chuckled, turning his gaze to the rest of the inn to locate someone. "Here, let me introduce my son. Erik!"
The blonde one of the boys in the corner came running when Mralki called him. "Yes, father?" he mumbled.
"I want you to meet an old friend of mine. We fought together in the War, before I quit working as a Legionnaire. This is Ulfric Stormcloak. He's the Jarl of Windhelm now, and his wife.. Milla, was it? Did you and Lokir ready their room?"
"Yes, we did," Erik said. His voice was somehow childish, but he seemed to be well-raised. He then stared at Milla, slightly pointing at her and Ulfric. "Wait.. You're married to him? How old are you, fifteen?"
Milla only laughed her usual sarcastic laughter. "And you're what? Ten? Doesn't matter, I am older than you anyway." She attempted to hit him, but Ulfric held back by her arms.
"Stop it, Milla!" he said in a hurry, before placing his mouth to her ear to whisper, "He's not worth it.."
Milla released herself from his grip, heading to the rented room. "I'm going to bed."
"What was that for, Erik?" she could hear Mralki ask Erik before she shut the doors behind her, but Ulfric entered only a minute after.
"Is it true?" Milla asked before Ulfric managed to say anything. His questioning expression triggered a tear in the corner of her eye. "Do I really look like I'm fifteen?"
Ulfric wiped the tear away from her cheek with his pelted sleeve, and stroked it. "Of course not. Don't ever think that!"
He then guided her into a kiss. A kiss so soft, and more passionate than all the other kisses he had placed on her, and it felt like she was dragged into a crimson portal. Her hearing faded, and in her mind, the kiss lasted forever. Only a moment after, they separated, and Milla slowly went back to normal.
Ulfric studied her thoroughly; her dark blonde hair, her blue eyes and dark red lips, her steel armor and the necklace, the Amulet of Talos. He loved his wife's tough looks, she was the warrior he had always wanted as his wife, and not one of those despicable mages, or wizards. He simply hated those Altmers who gave him the scars.
"Ulfric?" he heard from a distance, but the distance was not longer than a foot away from him. "Ulfric…"
He found himself pulling away from Milla as she touched the scar on his arm. "I'm sorry.." he responded quickly, before giving Milla any signals he did not mean to give her.
"You don't have to apologize to me. I know I can't take back the fact that Elenwen.. tortured you." Those words fastened like big lump in Milla's throat, which seemed impossible to swallow. "I know it's not much comfort, but I will always look after you."
She giggled a little, before grabbing her satchel to find her journal. "Here, take this." She handed him the leather-covered book, but refused to let go for a second. "I know how much you have wanted to read it.. Take it. I am now giving you all my childhood stories."
Ulfric held the book in his hand, looking utterly shocked as Milla left the room. He sat down on the bed and slowly opened the journal on the first page, reading the drabblings.
'My father just gave me this journal. I have always wanted one, and finally he got me this. It was meant to be a birthday present for my seventh birthday, but he had to work. Mother and I celebrated my birthday, though, and we had a great time.' He remembered his seventh birthday, Milla was not even born at that time. His father had arranged for him to go to High Hrothgar to study with the Greybeards the year he turned thirteen years old.
Milla sat by one of the empty tables near the counter, sipping mead of a tankard. Erik joined her discreetly. "Look, I'm sorry for the comment.. Lokir and I made a bet; If I said what I said, he would give me his iron dagger.."
"All that because of a dagger?" Milla mumbled, but saw the look on Erik's face. He was truly sorry. "Here, take mine. It's steel. It will probably last longer, and besides, I don't need it."
Erik's eyes lit up like burning torches. "Thank you! I promise to use it well."
"Oh, and give that friend of yours, Lokir, a proper hit in the face for me. You owe me that at least," Milla chuckled.
"You got it!"
Ulfric walked out of the room again, finding Milla with some of the guards. He could see her looking at Erik with his new dagger, and smiled to himself by seeing Milla smile.
"What are you so very cheerful about all of a sudden?" Ulfric asked as he placed himself close to his wife.
"Well, Erik apologized. It turned out to be a bet over an iron dagger, so I gave him my steel dagger instead."
"I don't feel good about reading your journal.." Ulfric commented quickly, and snapped the tankard out of Milla's hand to have a sip of it.
Milla only chuckled, but on the inside, she screamed as if someone slowly pierced her with something sharp. She did not know why she was scared, but the thought of Ulfric reading her stories and learning more about her calmed her down. The only problem left was that all her childhood stories, everything she wrote when she had argued with her parents, every little drabble.. It all was now in Ulfric's hands.
Later that night, Ulfric sat on the bed again, reading the journal. Milla was already sleeping, and her hair was all over the pillow. He stroked it as he read, flipping the pages back and forth until he found a story that stood out from all the others.
'Hello, journal.
I discovered something weird today, on my neck, right under my hair. I don't know what it is, but it looks like a.. dragon. Not that I have any idea what a dragon looks like, only the description father gave me in one of his stories.
Anyway, I'm celebrating my thirteenth birthday in only two days. I am so excited!'
Ulfric then out of curiousity removed the locks of hair in front of her neck and noticed a mark with the shape of a dragon right by her hairline. He knew exactly what a dragon looked like.
Milla opened her eyes discreetly without Ulfric noticing, as she knew right away what he had just read.
He put the journal on the end table next to the bed, blowing out the candle before getting comfortable under the pelt. He crawled up as close as he possibly could to Milla, kissing her temple as his heavy eyelids shut, and he fell asleep. This was the best birthday he'd had in many years.
