Volund burst through the door to his house, still laughing. Lydia followed, her smile only widening when she saw the new furniture already in place. She ran ahead of Volund, up the stairs, and saw that the new mattress, too, was in place. The housecarl pulled off her leather boots and jumped onto the soft bed, pulling her bare feet under her.
The Bannered Mare had been packed with bodies, celebrating the victory of the day before or seeking food and shelter to replace their own that had been lost. It had quickly grown hot, and Lydia had at some point rolled up her sleeves. Her arms were still bare now, and Volund admired them. They were shapely, strong looking but not unattractively so. Her skin was pale, flawless, and had no hair.
His housecarl watched him stare at her. In addition to her meal, she had had a glass of mead; it was not enough to make her drunk, but she had quickly become relaxed and talkative, laughing easily at Volund's jokes.
The Dragonborn, on the other hand, had had considerably more than one glass. His sheer size protected him from the worst of the effects, but he was happy and carefree as well. He had talked constantly except when he was laughing, and had made many friends in the inn during the night.
Suddenly tired of watching him watch her, Lydia threw her head back and sighed.
"Are you ever going to sleep with me, my thane?"
Volund could not have been more shocked if she had turned into a dragon in his living room. His mind, somewhat slowed by mead, couldn't react except to say, "What?"
"It was the part of the job I never looked forward to before I saw you, but then, you showed up, and you're easy on the eyes, and the Dragonborn, and you're… you're you, andyesterday before the battle, all I could think about was why you'd never taken advantage of your rights as thane. You've certainly hinted enough that you find me pretty!"
"Lydia, what in all of Nirn are you talking about?"
She stared at him blankly for a moment, then flopped back onto the bed and laughed helplessly, her stomach shaking.
"So that's it! You aren't avoiding me, you don't fancy men, you just have no idea!" She sat up, forced herself into a straight face, then lost it again as she giggled. "I'm sorry, my thane, I thought you knew! You seemed to respond to my… subtler hints about it. Plus, haven't you seen the other Jarls and housecarls in Skyrim? Haven't you wondered why all of them have housecarls of the opposite gender? Well, not all. Ulfric and Skald are too focused on playing war to have any time for such things, and Siddgeir… prefers the company of men. But surely you've heard about Jarl Balgruuf and Irileth?"
Volund shook his head slowly. His world was turning upside down.
"Let me spell it out for you, then. Divines, I should have had another mead. Housecarls are to help and serve their lords. Anything that can make your life easier, happier, more comfortable, more enjoyable, I'm obligated to do. Most jarls interpret that as including sex, whether or not they already have a wife or mistress. Balgruuf, to his credit, never did until after his wife died. And anyway, Irileth was always madly in love with him."
Volund laughed. "Now I know you're joking. Irileth in love?" He chuckled some more. "You might have had me up until that."
"I'm not joking, my thane. She doesn't show it, obviously, because she's, well, her, but she cares about him more than anything. Why do you think she fought so hard to become his housecarl in the first place? But whether or not you believe me about her, I'm not joking about the rest. The customs of Skyrim say you have a right to be with me. And," she added slowly, another blush creeping up her cheeks, "I don't object to your exercising it."
Volund's mind swam. "Lydia, I've never been… never done…"
"Well, neither have I!" she cut in. "You have to be a virgin to be assigned as housecarl. Well, you're supposed to be, anyway, and I am one. And don't worry," she said, "I won't get pregnant. Part of becoming a housecarl, for a woman anyway, is undergoing several magic spells. We have to always be ready to serve, in bed or in battle, so I can't get pregnant anymore – or have any monthly periods. I can't say I'll miss them," she laughed.
Shock and nervousness had snapped Volund almost entirely awake, free of the mead's effects. His mind reeled at what she had gone through, what she had sacrificed in her life to become his housecarl. He scrambled for the words that matched his thoughts. "Lydia, you're beautiful, and strong, and supportive, and everything else I could ever want from a woman, but if we do this, it's because I want to, not just because I can; it's because I have you as my housecarl, not just because I have a woman as my housecarl. And above all, only if you want it, too."
"I do," she said softly. She rose and began to take off her thane's shirt.
The first time Lydia said Volund's name was in a whisper on the top of the Throat of the World. The second time was considerably louder.
Author's note: So, I'm really not a huge pervert, but SO MANY of the housecarls in the game are the opposite gender of the noble they serve that this conclusion just sort of jumped out at me. In a society which glorifies action and passion and manly prowess in battle, and in which marriage, to say nothing of sex, is common after a few days or weeks of attraction, this seems like the only plausible explanation. Otherwise, wouldn't all the jarls just try to give you the beefiest, manliest Nord possible if a housecarl was just a bodyguard?
Once I had realized this (apparent) fact about Skyrim, I knew I would have to have a scene like this, and this seemed like the right time; as one reviewer mentioned, these two definitely deserved a break! I've been building up to it slowly, trying to weave in the tracks which lead up to it without giving it away too soon. Hopefully I did that for you all.
Also, for anyone hoping for a more… detailed account of the evening, sorry, but this story is never going to have detailed descriptions of sex, for a couple of reasons. And anyway, even if I wanted to include it, I'm not good at that sort of writing.