Chapter Nine
It was obvious to Avyanna that Farkas was trying to make it up to her from the lie. He often stopped by and chatted with her and today, he offered to escort her to collect more flowers to sell. It was strange, but she didn't mind, in fact she enjoyed his company.
As Avyanna carried the empty basket in her arms, she waited for Farkas at the city gates. A couple of guards smiled and chatted with her, offering to escort her themselves, but she declined politely.
After two minutes, she spotted Farkas coming down towards the gates and she smiled warmly. "There you are, come on; we need to get them before it gets dark."
Farkas gave her a weird look, glaring at her slightly. That's when she noticed he was shorter, less built and even his hair was cut shorter. "I'm not Farkas." He snapped, walking past and out of Whiterun. She had noticed before he left, his eyes were void of any emotion. It was as if he was dead inside and the white part of his eyes were red, like he'd been drunk the night before.
Avyanna was frowning just as Farkas called her name.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," he apologised. "I wanted to talk to my brother before he left for a job."
Avyanna frowned. "Is he short tempered and rude? And just happens to look like you?"
"….You ran into him didn't you?"
Avyanna nodded. "I didn't know you two were twins." She admitted, surprised at the fact, but also embarrassed that she had mistaken Vilkas for Farkas.
He sighed, rubbing his chin. "Sorry about Vilkas, like I said he's not himself lately." He told her as they began to walk out of the city and towards the fields.
"You've mentioned that before. What exactly happen?" Avyanna asked curiously, finding a few lavenders and started to gather them into the basket. After this, she'll probably smell like lavenders by the end of the day.
"Remember when Einarr told you how most of the Circle drank the beast blood willingly?" he asked and she nodded as she sat down on her knees. "Lassarina was the only one who was forced. Vilkas had to give her his blood to save her life and that formed a blood bond between them. Because of this, the two of them can sense the others emotion and know where the other one is. It's a common thing between a werewolf and their forebear."
Avyanna paused and looked at him. "Isn't that an invasion of privacy?"
Farkas chuckled. "When you look at it that way, aye it is, but they're in love so it just made their bond stronger. Their wolves guided them, sensing that the other was their mate." She noticed his eyes flicker with sadness and bitterness for a brief second, but it was gone as quickly as it came.
This caught Avyanna's attention and she looked up at him hesitantly. "What does your wolf say about me?" she asked curiously, blushing only slightly.
"That you smell nice."
Avyanna tried to not look crestfallen as she turned her attention back to the lavenders. Farkas didn't notice and picked up from where he left off.
"Lassarina cured herself so the bond's broken between them," Farkas continued and then sighed. "And now Vilkas is thinking about curing himself too."
Avyanna stood up, brushing the grass and dirt off of her simple light blue dress with a white apron at the front and a brown belt tied around her waist. Farkas picked up the basket and followed her as they went further away from the hold.
"What about you? Do you want to cure yourself?" she asked, ignoring the fact that Meridia's mark was giving off a faint glow. It always did this whenever the other members of the Circle were around her and she pretty much ignored it.
"I've thought about it," he admitted, as they walked past the western watch tower, or what was left of it anyway. "But I'm not sure. Being a werewolf gives you so much power! But then again, I'd like to go to Sovngarde."
Avyanna gave him a sympathetic smile. "Farkas, you have a chance to rid yourself of a Daedric Prince. I'd take it if I were you."
"What about you?" he frowned, glancing at her as she spotted some white lillies in the distance.
"What about me?"
"Can you cure yourself?"
Avyanna sighed, shaking her head as she came closer and picked some lillies. Farkas placed the basket down next to her and she gathered them into it.
"I've accepted the fact that I'll never be free from Meridia," she shrugged, holding one lily in her hand and twirling the stem around with her fingertips. "I'm hers now, there's nothing I can do about it."
Farkas looked at her sadly, knowing how much pain she was going through even if she didn't want to admit it. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and she smiled at him as a small breeze past through the meadow.
Avyanna suddenly laughed, and he looked at her curiously. "So many tiny fairies could be running around, listening to our problems."
Farkas grinned. "Fairies?"
"My mother, she used to tell me all sorts of stories about how the fairies would grow and take care of the flowers," Avyanna smiled warmly. "There's even a song for them."
"Could you sing it for me?" Farkas asked, recalling Rohan's discussion with Kiraya about his sister's voice.
Avyanna nodded, continuing to sit on her knees in the meadow, the grass covering the lower half of her body. "Fairy, where are you going? I'm holding, all the light on to your way; this light will shine upon a brand new day!"
"Oh yeah, now can you hear the voice that's calling out to you? Oh yeah, though I know its shouts have caused its overuse. Oh yeah, but will it stay until your heart can hear it though?" Avyanna pictured her mother singing this to her as she braided her hair when she was younger. "The sun and moon have joined in celebration; have you forgotten our affiliation? When you're not here to share you laughter with me, I just can't find my inspiration, but now it's:"
"Snowing, keep going, be honest and smile as we're approaching, evoking, the clock to keep repeating over, but fairy where are you going? I'm holding, all the light on to your way; this light will shine upon a brand new day!"
Avyanna grinned at Farkas. "Don't say goodbye!" she finished and Farkas grinned, helping her up and looking at the flowers.
"Damn, no fairies." He said in mock pout and she laughed.
"Not when a brute like you is hanging around," she teased, picking up the flower basket and handing it to him. "Come on, I thought I saw some red mountain flowers on our way past."
Farkas followed her as she ran ahead, Avyanna finding some red mountain flowers and grabbing three handfuls, placing them into the basket and Farkas looked surprised at the amount picked.
Avyanna pulled up her sleeve and sniffed herself, rolling her eyes as she indeed, smelt like lavender mixed with lillies. "Great, this will be fun to wash out."
"I think it smells nice." Farkas shrugged, walking ahead of her and towards the gates. Avyanna blushed slightly, following him and keep her head down as they walked back into Whiterun. Farkas dropped her basket off at her stall before heading to Jorrvaskr.
Carlotta noticed the giddy smile on Avyanna as she organised the placing of the flowers and making the bouquets. "Someone's in a good mood."
Avyanna looked up from her work in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"You've got that look, the same one I had when I met Mila's father."
Avyanna blushed slightly, rolling her eyes and shrugging it off although Carlotta had a good laugh at her expense. She began to hum 'Snow Fairy' as she worked; it was one of her favourite songs in her mother's song book. It was a collection of songs from Miranna's time as a song dancer, even a performer before she met Dillon.
Just as she finished, Avyanna recalled Aela mentioning white lillies were her favourite flower and quickly made a smaller bouquet from the left overs before heading up to Jorrvaskr.
"Avyanna," Einarr greeted warmly from a table. "What bring you here?"
She held up the bouquet. "I though Aela might appreciate these, I had some left over from earlier."
Einarr smiled at the sweet gesture. "She's out the back training Kiraya and Rohan."
Avyanna nodded and walked out the back, finding Rohan watching as Kiraya demonstrated her skill in archery while Aela sat on a table, her hand on her swollen belly.
"Aela," Avyanna greeted and handed her the bouquet. Aela's face widened in surprise and then smiled warmly, taking a sniff at the flowers before placing them onto the table. "How are they going?"
"Your brother should stick to throwing knives." Aela answered bluntly and Avyanna laughed just as Rohan walked up to her, pouting.
"Anna can you show me? Aela's not good at explaining." He grumbled, shooting a look at the huntress who just smirked.
"I believe in learning on the job." Aela defended herself and Avyanna chuckled, grabbing the bow and pushing Rohan in front of her.
"Clip the wing," she instructed, showing him how to put the arrow onto the bow. "Pull it back, take a deep breath," she helped him pull it back and he took a deep breath. "Then let the bird free."
Rohan released the arrow and it hit the black circle, but he grinned, having finally hit the target and Kiraya grinned.
"You still stink Han!" she poked her tongue out and Rohan did the same but continued to grin.
"So what? Now I can catch up!" he declared as Avyanna stepped back, allowing him to take over and Kiraya gave him a few pointers. Aela and Avyanna watched from the table, as Aela rubbed her belly.
"This one's going to be a little warrior, I can tell." She grimaced as she felt a hard kick and Avyanna gave her a sympathetic smile.
"Have you tried singing? My mother used to sing to Rohan and Roran when she was pregnant with them since they wouldn't stop kicking." She smiled at the memory, her mother often sitting on the rocking chair and rubbing her swollen belly, singing softly.
Aela snorted. "I can't sing to save my life."
"Anna can!" Kiraya piped up and Aela gestured for her to give it a try. Avyanna blushed in embarrassment before thinking of one. "What sort of dreams lie beyond this sky? Continue on forever, believe in the future and hold your hand up high,"
"What do I wish for in these tiny hands? At this moment where are you? What do you see? What do you feel? Hey, no matter how many light years away it is, the future is not far off!" Rohan's eyes sparkled, along with Kiraya as the two children long abandoned their little archery game and stood in front, listening to the song. "Of course I'm well aware it's not a unit of time. Our sparkling wishes will overtake even light. What holds this world together is love. It's not a pipe dream, wherever you are…What sort of dreams lie beyond this sky? Feel it carefully, send out the excitement in your heart through this song…"
Avyanna flicked her brother's forehead lightly. "We can meet with a smile…"
Aela had a relieved smile on her face, rubbing her belly. "You need to teach me that one," she said and Avyanna smiled.
"My mother used to sing it since it was the only way to get he and Roran to stop moving." Avyanna explained and Rohan frowned.
"I don't remember that one." He said and Avyanna chuckled, along with Aela.
"Of course you wouldn't you were only a babe and not born yet." Aela's eyes twinkled in happiness.
Just as Avyanna came to pick Rohan up from Jorrvaskr, Farkas almost ran into her. "Farkas!" Avyanna snapped, stepping away as he caught himself and grinned.
"There you are, I wanted to ask you something?" Farkas said and she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Sure, what is it?"
Farkas took a deep breath before looking at her, eyes serious for once. "Could you come with me to cure myself?"
The first song is the translation from Snow Fairy from Fairy Tail and the second one is Beyond the Sky from Doki Doki Precure. Go listen to them and enjoy it :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Einarr, Kiraya or Fang as Mirage159 owns those nice folks :)