"Sheogorath looked on, quietly mirthful, as the diminutive creature picked at a bit of detritus caught in scales betwixt the fiery eyes of the larger beast. With howling fury, the were-thing blinded itself trying to pluck away the nuisance. And so it continued for hours, Hircine looking on in shame while his finest beast gradually destroyed itself in pursuit of the seemingly oblivious bird, all the while chirping a mournful tune to the lonesome range."
I looked at Lissa, interrupting her from our reading. "Oblivious. What does that mean?"
She smiled at me. "Oblivious, well, it means you don't have any idea as to what's going on around you."
We sat at a table in the corner of the mess hall, our chairs pushed close to each other. Close enough so I could look at the pages. Lissa had picked out this book, about a fight between Sheogorath and Hircine. It was good, but it had a lot of big words.
My brother, who sat on a bench nearby, was also listening. "Oblivious, as in 'Farkas is oblivious as to what's happening in the book.'"
Lissa shot him a glance that was almost scary, but Vilkas just laughed and apologized. I tapped the page she was on. "Keep going." I said to her, eager to hear more.
As Lissa continued to read, I looked at my brother. He was watching Lissa read, and every once in a while, he would smile. He didn't even smile at the good parts. Just when Lissa would make a face while she spoke. When she wrinkled her nose, or when she widened her eyes.
Vilkas liked her, more than I liked her. Don't get me wrong, Lissa was quickly becoming my best friend. But Vilkas liked her in a different way. In the way Aela liked Skjor.
Aela had been having a very hard time. She didn't speak for days, but eventually, I got her to talk. Then we told stories to each other. Stories we'd heard, stories we'd lived, stories we'd made up on the spot. It was fun being around her.
"Livid, but beaten, Hircine burned the ragged corpse and withdrew to his realm, swearing in forgotten tongues. His curses still hang in those peaks, and no wayfarer tarries for fear of his wrathful aspect in those obscured heights."
"A good choice in literature, Kara." Vilkas said to her. She smiled, then her eyes focused on something behind me.
Aela walked toward us from the living quarters. The rest of the Companions stared at her with open mouths. She hadn't been out of her room in almost two weeks.
She pulled up a chair next to me and sat down. She smiled, but I could see in her eyes that she was still hurting. Trying very hard not to show it, though.
"Good to see you, Aela." Vilkas said from his bench. "What do you have planned for the evening?"
Aela shrugged. "Whatever you three have planned, if you don't mind." She looked at me, her smile getting bigger. "You don't mind if I involve myself in your reading, do you Farkas?"
I smiled back. "Not at all." I nodded to Lissa, who also had a huge smile on her face as she looked at Vilkas. "Lissa, read the one about Chance. Aela will like that one."
Lissa nodded, then picked up the brown book on the table. "By the time she was sixteen, Minevah Iolos had been an unwelcome guest in every shop and manor in Balmora. Sometimes, she would take everything of value within; other times, it was enough to experience the pure pleasure of finding a way past the locks and traps. In either situation, she would leave a pair of dice in a prominent location as her calling card to let the owners know who had burgled them. The mysterious ghost became known to the locals as Chance."
"Hey there, Lissa."
We looked up from the book to see a drunken Njada standing in front of us. The other whelps weren't far behind her.
"Hello, Njada. What can I do for you?" Lissa did her best to smile at her.
"I'm looking for work." she said.
"Actually, Njada, I don't have any available at the moment. Maybe you could ask another Companion leader."
Njada snorted. "You consider yourself a leader here?"
Vilkas stood then. "Watch your tongue, whelp. You're speaking to a member of the Circle. She is a leader, and she will be treated as such."
Njada wobbled a little, but continued to speak. "She's been here for a month, and suddenly she's in charge of me?" Her words were slurring together. "I've been here for a year. Where's my invitation?"
"Kara has shown valor and promise, and has enough dignity not to conduct a confrontation in a drunken stupor." I didn't know what half of what he said meant, but Vilkas was angry.
Njada was yelling now. "She hasn't any right!"
Vilkas lowered his gaze. "She has just as much right as any of us."
"She killed Skjor!" Njada screamed. "She killed Skjor, and she was promoted?" Both mine and Lissa's mouths were hanging open. Vilkas was just shaking.
Aela slammed her fist on the table and whipped her head toward Njada. The room was silent. "Leave him out of this. Just because you have some petty complaints that you need to air out doesn't mean you have any right to be laying accusations that aren't true."
Njada laughed. "So the rumors were true, then. About you, and Skjor."
Aela stood slowly from her chair. "Want to repeat that, Companion?"
"The rumors, about you and Skjor. They're true. It doesn't matter to me, I just don't see how you can sit at the same table with the girl who got him killed. Or, maybe you played a part in it. You were there too, no?"
Aela jumped across the table and brought Njada to the floor with her. Aela was on top of her, punching her in the face over and over again. Njada screamed, but fought back. She grabbed a fistful of Aela's hair, trying to rip it out. Aela cried out, but brought her elbow down to Njada's nose.
Lissa and I jumped up, and Lissa tried to pull Aela off of the whelp. One of Aela's elbows flew back and hit Lissa in the face, and she staggered backward. I grabbed Aela by the waist, pulling her off of Njada as Vilkas pulled the Companion away from us. Aela spit at her as Vilkas moved to make sure Lissa was okay.
"A beating will be like Sovngarde compared to what I'll do if you ever say something like that again." Aela growled at Njada. "Understood, whelp?"
Njada nodded, her face becoming purple around her jaw. It was the only fight she'd ever lost in Jorrvaskr.
I carried Aela outside, and Vilkas and Lissa followed. Once we were in the training yard, I put Aela down. The four of us stood together in a Circle. Aela leaned her head against my upper arm as she tried to smooth her hair. "Thank you, Farkas."
"You're welcome." I said, smoothing her hair for her. She looked at me gratefuly. I looked at Vilkas, who was wiping blood away from Lissa's nose.
Aela walked toward her, then hugged her. "I'm so sorry, Lissa."
"It's fine, Aela. I underestimated your kick-back." They both laughed.
Vilkas put a hand on my shoulder, and we walked back toward Jorrvaskr. Behind us, I could hear the women talking. Aela spoke quietly.
"You and I have work to do."
I sat with my brother at the long table of food in the mess hall. Vilkas had been on edge because Lissa and Aela had been going on secret adventures.
"Stop worrying." I told him, breaking off a piece of bread.
He groaned. "I can't just stop worrying, Farkas. It would be one thing if they were just, I don't know, wandering through town, or visiting people."
"They're Companions, Vilkas. Not housewives."
He elbowed me. "Don't take me for a misogynist, brother. I'm well aware that they are warriors." He shifted uncomfortably. "What bothers me is that Kara won't tell me what it is. She just says she's doing work for Aela."
"So?" I didn't understand.
Vilkas groaned again, leaning back in his chair. "Kara always tells me what she's doing, even if it's not important. She gives details, even tiny, silly details. Extravagant tales of danger and excitement, even if she just walks across Whiterun. With this, not a word."
"I know what they're doing." I admitted to him with a sigh.
My brother blinked at me for a moment. "That's not funny." he said.
I shrugged. "Not joking."
"What is it? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Don't want them to get in trouble. You'll tell Kodlak."
Vilkas slammed his fist on the table. "You're damned right I'll tell Kodlak if they're doing something that could get them killed."
"Aela asked me not to tell."
"Put your interest in her aside for a moment to tell me what's going on!" he yelled at me.
I smacked the back of his head. "And you put your interest in Lissa aside for a moment to keep your nose out of it."
He rubbed the back of his head, glaring at me. I leaned back in my chair, looking around the unusually empty room. Vilkas leaned back too, looking at me still. "What if they died out there, brother? What if they never came back, and you knew they could be in danger?"
I thought for a moment. I thought about the conversation Aela had shared with me a few days before.
"I'm only telling you because if something happens, someone should know. I hate lying to everyone, but this has to be done." Aela looked up at me. Her eyes were beautiful and blue. "Farkas, you won't tell, right?"
"Not unless I have to."
I thought for a moment about if I had to. I didn't want to betray Aela. Then, I thought about Lissa carrying her back to Jorrvaskr. I thought about Lissa's face. I thought about Skjor's body.
I took a deep breath, then leaned toward my brother, telling him everything.
