Mina stood near the front door, watching as the entire enormous party of undead together with her parents and older brother shimmered and vanished. There was barely enough light to see them by. She'd been tasked not only with watching over the children and making sure the farm chores got done, but going into town later today and requesting that the Steadfast family join the forces that were massing at Bonestrewn Crest for the ambush they all hoped would put an end to the undead dragon attacks once and for all.
Walking back inside the house, she sighed. She was very much looking forward to seeing Dovi again. His forthright declaration, in front of Andi, that she was "his girl" had thrilled her to the core. But with everything that was going on, they'd barely had any time to spend together. She had known him her whole life, but both of them had become different people in the past couple of years. She really wanted to know that commandingly tall and powerful, incredibly handsome man who had claimed her for his own. Maybe when all this was over, there would be time for them to discover one another all over again.
At the moment, though, she'd already been up for hours and half wished she could go back to bed – but there was work to be done. There'd seemed no reason for the younger kids to get up at the crack of dawn, so she'd let them sleep. Later she'd have to feed them all breakfast and probably eat a little more herself, after the cows had been milked. Just in the last day Freydis had started giving more milk – which required more effort on Mina's part. At least she was as sedate and sweet as ever, even if she did look like a new cow.
Hours later, doors locked behind them, the young Dragonsprings set off along the road to Whiterun. The party less resembled a mother hen leading her chicks than a sober young adventuress who had somehow attracted a herd of underage maniacs. Mina had decided to go with her leather armor and a few weapons, liking the way it made her look.
Meri had only been home for a few days after weeks away, and a lot of that time had been spent staying with the Steadfasts. Sigi, who'd been feeling a little lonely in the nursery, now had both his older sister and his dragon brother to play with – the latter human for the first time, and a huge novelty.
Though Vari was a little old mentally to be playing childish games, and Meri too was maturing rapidly with all the responsibility that had fallen on her shoulders, for the moment they were young and gleeful. The serious situation that had sent their elders away didn't seem to bother them in the least. They were whooping and running about, playing a game of tag that sent them racing around their sister (struggling both to maintain her dignity and keep a grin off of her face) and covering three times the distance she did as they burned off some of their youthful energy.
Vari had always been a happy kid, and now despite the threat from Kahluthkrii he felt ecstatic. He could take to the air and fly whenever he felt like doing so, or enjoy the company of his beloved family members and other humans, inside their dwellings. And if it hadn't been for Kahluthkrii and his attacks, Andi would never have discovered this! In the midst of a grave peril to every person in Skyrim, most especially some of his loved ones, he yet felt more joyful than he ever had before in his life.
They approached the guards at the gates of Whiterun with the usual banter. It was Rolf and Jurgen on duty again, but they were taken aback to see that the familiar Dragonsprings were accompanied by an unfamiliar, rather odd-looking boy with bright red hair and tanned skin. Rolf swallowed as he took in Miss Mina in that skin-tight Blades armor. He often seemed to have nearly lost the power of speech when she showed up dressed like that. But this kid was another matter. "Who's your friend, Sigi?" he asked, assuming the boy must be with the youngest of the Dragonspring clan.
"Rolf, don't you recognize me?" Vari asked with a grin. This was such fun! "It's me, Vari!" Rolf's city guard helmet hid his features, but his seeming paralysis suggested he was having a hard time processing that statement. The voice was familiar, but higher in register. "Dragon Vari? Dovarmun? You're human!" he finally got out, stating the obvious. "It's a new spell I got, Rolf. Do you and Jurgen want to see me change back to dragon? I warn you, I'd have to get naked first…"
The four were admitted through the gates and all of them, Mina included, cracked up after they'd closed behind them. "Vari, you are such an imp!" Mina exclaimed. "Bad boy!" He just smiled. The hour was now a bit past nine and Adrianne was out working at her forge. She had Julia with her, training her in the technique for producing Orcish armor. The stuff was valuable, though not to the taste of everyone. But learning how to make it was something every smith must do on the journey toward mastery.
Mina couldn't resist leading her siblings down to say hello. It had been a hoot blowing Rolf and Jurgen's minds with Vari's transformation, and here they were in Whiterun with all sorts of people who had known him as a dragon and had yet to meet him as a human boy. They approached quietly, not wanting to disrupt the lesson. Julia looked up and smiled at her friend. "Hi Mina! Good to see you. Just let me finish this…"
In recent months Julia, who'd originally approached learning the trade of smithing as a punishment, had begun to get caught up in the joy of it as her skills improved. Mina knew that both her mom and Papa Wyll got a lot of pleasure from smithing, making beautiful and useful items with their own hands. And their efforts formed a significant part of the Dragonspring clan's income, as well. She hoped Julia would get into it more and take it up as a career, instead of just marrying some guy and raising children. She could see where raising children wasn't without its rewards, but eventually they grew up and got lives of their own – and then where were you, if that was all you'd ever done in life?
When Adrianne and her daughter were free to take a break, Mina introduced her brother. Both women had been eyeing him surreptitiously. There was a family resemblance, though it was slight. "Adrianne, Julia, I'm sure you remember my brother Dovarmun. He's been away for a few years but he's back living with us now." She drew blank stares. What? "I've discovered how to take human form, just as Andi can become a dragon!" Vari explained. "What do you think?" He turned from side to side as if demonstrating a new product.
Adrianne had been a bit taken aback to be introduced to her friend and business partner Katja's dragon son. Julia had actually spent some time in his company over the early years before he'd become too large to live at Dragonspring Farm, and she'd liked him. Her not-quite-pretty face broke into a big smile, and she swept him up (she overtopped him by several inches) in a hug. "Vari! It's so good to meet you in this form! Haven't you always kind of wanted to be human?" "I'll admit it," he said after she'd released him. "This is something I've always dreamed about. But I still like flying!"
They went next door and found Lydia and Edla at home. Argis was supervising a small construction project in the upper city, the remodeling of a house that had recently changed hands when its owner had died. Dovi was working with them, Lydia said. She and her husband had decided to let their son have free rein, and as his quest with Andi was concluded he'd decided to rejoin the construction crew. It was a steady source of income for him, and something he was becoming good at. He wasn't sure he wanted the life of an adventurer, the life his big sister Anja had chosen. At least not at this point in his life. He wouldn't be 17 for another couple of months.
After Lydia and Edla had gotten over the surprise of meeting Vari in his human form, Mina broached the subject she'd been sent to relay: "That quest Dovi went on with Andi? It was all part of our trying to stop this undead Dragon priest Kahluthkrii. He's been calling up dragon zombies all over Skyrim and siccing them on isolated human settlements, killing everyone and burning their houses. He killed one of my dragon brothers, Rahverid. Did Dovi tell you about Uthzoorlaas?"
"Yes," Lydia said patiently. "Dovi's told us about the whole situation. They came back with a small army of draugr, right?" "That's right," Mina said. "My folks and Uthzoorlaas went with Andi to take the draugr to Bonestrewn Crest over east of the mountains this morning. They're mounting an ambush, and after we get all of our forces in position Vari's father, Odahviing, is going to Call Kahluthkrii. They think he won't be able to resist coming because he wants a better dead body to inhabit than the one he's got now."
"So, you want Dovi to join this team to ambush the Dragon priest?" Lydia asked. As long as Mina had known her, which was her entire life, Lydia had been a wife and mother – and somebody you did not want to cross. Supposedly she had been a warrior woman back before Mom had married her papas, and you could still sort of see that in her. Last year, she'd been part of the team that went searching for Andi and Dovi when they'd vanished with Meri and gone through that Dwemer portal.
"Not just Dovi," Mina told her. "We're hoping that you and Argis can come along, too." Lydia's eyes lit, then a frown crossed her face. "I can't just leave Edla by herself," she said. Edla was 12 now, and Mina was pretty sure she'd have been capable of managing without supervision for the short time that this ambush was supposed to take. But that was beside the point. "I'm looking after Meri, Vari, and Sigi while the mission is going on," she said. "We can have Edla stay with us."
Lydia agreed, conditional on Argis being able to get some time off from his job. In Skyrim, the concept of an annual several weeks' paid vacation had not yet been invented – and as the sole breadwinner for his family, the doughty former warrior labored year in and year out. Mina and her troop left Breezehome, heading for the construction site. It would be a couple of days before the Steadfasts would need to meet at Dragonspring Farm.
The door of the house was standing open, and a trail of small debris told where its former walls had been broken up and carried away. Some of Hegmar's crew, moving around the front of the project, greeted Mina with friendliness. They'd seen the beautiful Dragonspring lass hanging around construction sites many a time. Usually, though, she was accompanied by her cute friends – not a pack of kids including that odd-looking Falmer girl. And that stripling boy with her was scarcely less odd-looking, with his curious coloring.
She barged right in through the front door, looking for her quarry, as the kids followed behind her. They looked around with interest, having rarely had the chance to see the builders' art in action. "Argis?" Mina called out. "Yo!" came the muffled answer from down the hallway. The tall, broad man, now in his late 40s, poked his head out of a room to see who was calling him. He came down the hall, a questioning expression on his scarred face. "Mina? What brings you here? Everything all right?" She smiled to reassure him. "Not exactly all right, but under control I hope. How would you feel about putting down your ruler and picking up a sword?"