"Are you really going to go tell the Jarl that there's a dragon about?" Vilkas heard Skjor ask as he walked up the steps. When he came to the top of the stairs, he saw the circle members standing near Vignar's room. "I told her I would." Kodlak said with a nod.

"Maybe you'll be able to find out what's really going on when you get up there." Aela said with her arms crossing over her chest.

"You still don't believe her?" Farkas questioned with his eyebrows furrowed.

"I believe that something happened." She told him.

"What? You actually believe that a dragon destroyed Helgen?" Skjor jabbed.

"I do. I don't believe that she'd make something up like that." Farkas jabbed back.

"That's enough, all of you." Kodlak cut in, making them stop.

Vilkas watched them for a moment longer before turning and heading towards the doors. "Where are you going?" Skjor asked, noticing Vilkas's fast pace.

"I have something that needs doing." Was all Vilkas told him before opening the door.

"At this hour?" Skjor questioned with a frown.

"Yep, at this hour." Vilkas replied as he walked through the open door and closed it behind him.

Vilkas walked past the tables that had a few Companions sitting at them, Ria included. "Vilkas!" She quickly jumped out of her chair the moment she saw him. Vilkas stops and looks at her with a questioning look. "Is Hope really awake?" She asked with her hands joining together in front of her chest.

"She was, she's resting now." He told her. "Oh, good." Ria sighed in relief. With nothing else to say, Vilkas quickly walks around her and then walks down the small steps that lead towards the training yard. Ria watches him curiously for a moment before sitting back down next to Njada. "Didn't really say much about her did he?" Njada pointed out as she took a bite out of a loaf of a bread.

Ria didn't respond, she just looked down at her full plate and got lost in her own thoughts and worries. She was there when Hope panicked and said really strange things. 'It was a dragon!' Her frantic voice plays in her head. 'Dragon...' The word repeated in her mind. Could it of really been a dragon that did that to Hope? If so...then what does it mean?

As Vilkas walks past the weapons rack, he only grabs a single sword and ties it to the belt around his thick cotton pants. He didn't bother changing back into his armor or grabbing his great-sword, because he knew the road to Rorikstead was a fairly safe one. One that had a few wolves on it occasionally and that was something he only needed a simple sword for.

He makes his way around the building and then down the stairs. Once he's at the bottom he stops and looks at the setting sun in the distance. He knew it would be well dark by the time he reached Rorikstead, but going there meant a lot to Hope and he couldn't deny her. He wouldn't deny her. So, he looks back a head and continues on.

Kodlak watched Vilkas from the side of Jorrvaskr for a moment, watching him walk down the steps and then making his way over to the Marketplace. Once he was out of view, Kodlak made his own way down the stairs but turned in the opposite direction that Vilkas turned, and approached the many steps that led up to Dragonsreach.

Unlike the others, Kodlak felt that Hope was telling the truth. He believed her words and believed the things she said she went through. He was just unsure if the Jarl would believe him...

Before Hope had returned to Jorrvaskr, a great stream of black smoke filled the sky a great distance away from Whiterun. When it appeared, it drew many others attentions. The Jarl even sent soldiers in the direction it was coming from. So he must of known that something strange was going on, but to say that it was a dragon's doing that caused the smoke? The Jarl wouldn't think it strange, he would think it madness. But still, he had to try. He had to try because it was important to Hope and besides, if a dragon truly did destroy Helgen and it found its way to Whiterun and no one knew of its existence; it would be his doing if the city was destroyed and the lives in it consumed.

So whether the Jarl believes him at the moment or not, Kodlak knew he had to warn him for Hope and for the safety of others; because right then, he felt that there was no greater threat than the unknown.

Kodlak finally reaches the great set of wooden doors leading into Dragonsreach. He grabs their giant handles and opens them with ease. The doors fall shut behind him and as he walks in, he hears a great amount of arguing.

"What do you mean Helgen has been destroyed!?" Jarl Balgruuf's voice booms through the great palace, causing everyone before him to wince away.

"It..it is as I say, my lord." A cowardly guard steps forward. "When we arrived, we could smell the ashes in the air and the burning of flesh." He described.

Kodlak stops at the top of the stairs and notices that the men the Jarl had sent a few days ago have returned. They couldn't of arrived more than five minutes ago.

"The gate was blocked by fallen stone from the buildings, we had to climb up the walls to reach inside the city." Another guard explained. "And when we entered it, everything was...gone, crushed, and...killed."

Jarl Balgruuf shifts around in his seat uncomfortably at the images his guards were putting in his brain. "No one was alive to tell you what happened?" He asked.

"No my lord." The guard bowed his head. "Everyone we saw...was burned into the ground."

"Gods..." Balgruuf breathed.

"What do we do my lord?" Irileth quickly asks with a hint of panic showing in her eyes.

"I..I don't know." He replied as he sat forward in his thrown with his hand rubbing his forehead. "We don't know what happened."

"I can tell you what happened." Kodlak's voice echos through out the palace, making everyone in the room turn their attention towards him.

Irileth quickly sneers at the interruption and begins to charge at him, but Balgruuf stops her with a raise of his hand. She slightly turns to look at him, seeing him stare Kodlak down intensely.

"Well..I can at least tell you what happened to one of my own." He says as he slowly walks towards the Jarl's throne.

"You know something about Helgen, Harbinger?" Balgruuf asked as he slowly leaned back in his throne.

"I only know what I've been told by a fellow Companion, one who was in Helgen when it was destroyed." He told him and when he did, he could sense the tension rise in the air as the guards around him shifted around nervously.

"And where is this fellow Companion? Shouldn't he be telling me this himself?" Balgruuf questioned with his eyebrows furrowing.

"She." Kodlak corrected him. "And she is resting at this moment, she was gravely injured with horrific burns and broken ribs when she made her way back to Whiterun." He explained. "We're lucky we didn't lose her in fact..."

"Burns, you say?" Balgruuf questions as he turns his head towards one of the guards and when he did, they gave him a quick nod. "So then tell me." He turns back to Kodlak and leans forward in his throne. "Just what did she say, happened in Helgen?"

Kodlak swallows hard, readying himself for the story he was about to tell.

"Well, it all starts with our young Hope being wrongly captured by the Imperials." Everyone in the room stares him down and listens closely.

As he tells the story, he hears the guards around him whispering to each other. Then, the moment the word "dragon" leaves his mouth, the room falls silent. No one dared to move and no one dared to breath. Balgruuf stared at Kodlak with wide eyes, a mixture of fear and disbelief swimming in them. The guards quickly look to each other, obviously putting the pieces together.

"Madness!" The steward erupts, his voice echoing through out the palace. "Just madness I say!" He shouts louder with sweat forming on the top of his balding head. "You stand there before us, claiming that it was a dragon that destroyed Helgen and killed all of its people! Just what proof do you have!?" Fear showed in the back of his voice, fear that Kodlak was telling the truth.

"Well, there is my Companion." He told him as calmly as he could.

"Your-your Companion!?" The steward exclaimed.

"That's enough, Avenicci!" The Jarl shouted, making his steward quickly become quiet; although it looked like he had much more to say.

Balgruuf quickly turned to look at Irileth and at the same time, she looked at him. When their eyes met, she gave him a slow nod. Already knowing what he was wanting to do and disagreeing with it. But the Jarl ignored her caution and rose from his throne, approaching Kodlaks down the steps. "Take me to this Companion." He demanded. "I would hear the story from her own mouth."

"I'm afraid that's impossible." Kodlak told him with his eyes staying firm on the Jarl.

Balgruuf quickly furrowed his eyebrows down at him, questioning him on his refusal.

"She's resting at the moment." Kodlak said, already sensing the question coming up. "And I do not wish to disturb her with this any further at the moment."

"Exuse me?" The Jarl tittered. "You tell us that there is a dragon about and is possibly still a threat and you don't want to disturb the one person who saw this beast with her own eyes, the one person that could possibly help?!" He insinuated with a snarl, obviously still feeling the effects of the news about Helgen and what could of possibly destroyed it.

Kodlak stood firm in his place, his eyes meeting the Jarls as he continued to stay calm. "Come to Jorrvaskr in a couple of days." He told him smoothly. "I'm sure she will be up to talk about it then."

With nothing left to say, Kodlak turned on his heel and walked away. The Jarl and everyone else in the room watched him with their hidden fears coming to surface.

The moment Kodlak opened the door to Jorrvaskr, the circle members quickly approach him, eager to hear what happened. "Well, how'd it go?" Skjor asked. "About what you expect." Kodlak sighed as he walked through them and over to the tables.

"So he didn't believe you then?" Farkas asked with a bit of a frown. "He listened to me, but showed a bit of hesitation. He wanted to speak to Hope directly." He replied.

"What did you say?" Aela asked with her eyebrows pinched together. "I told him to come to Jorrvaskr in a couple of days, but by the way he reacted to the story, I wager he'll be here first thing tomorrow." Kodlak said with a sigh as he grabbed at a pitcher full of mead and an empty mug.

"I need a drink." He sighed again as he sat himself down with his mug already filling up with the fresh mead. The others sat down with him and continued to wonder just what was going to happen next.

Darkness fell quickly over Vilkas as he walked down the long road that led to Rorikstead. Luckily it was a clear night, so he had the moon and the stars to light his path. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the small sting the cold Skyrim air sent through his lungs. His wolf blood usually kept him from getting cold, so he enjoyed what he could feel from it, even if it was small. It was strange to think about because many would complain about the cold, but to him, it was actually one of the things he missed the most. He missed how the cold air sent chills down his spine and caused goose-bumps to rise on the surface of his skin. It was something very human and something he longed for.

Lights appearing in the distance had Vilkas snapping out of his deep thoughts. He stopped a few miles away and stared out at Rorikstead. Well, the town was there and there was no signs that anything like a dragon had been near it.

He wanted to turn and head back to Whiterun to be with Hope and to keep an eye on her. But he knew she wanted him to do more than just look at the town. She wanted him to check on her family, see them with his own eyes. So he continues down the road, heading right for Roristead.

When he entered the small village, he saw how empty the streets were, which wasn't surprising given the hour. He stopped for just a moment to look around, in case any one was walking around, but no one was in sight. 'I'll look for them tomorrow.' He decided as he started to head for the Inn.

Even though Hope never really told him much about her family or told him who they were, twins with a set of strong, stubborn eyes (much like hers) came to his mind, giving him a good idea who they were.

Vilkas sighed as he walked up the creaky wooden steps to the Inn before opening the door. The scent of fresh mead hits him like a strong wind, making his mouth quickly become dry. Yes...a drink was exactly what he needed.

"Don't lie Britte! I know you took it!" A loud but familiar child's voice makes Vilkas come to an immediate stop in the doorway. He quickly looks in the direction it came from and saw a father and his two twin daughters sitting at one of the tables eating dinner together.

Vilkas slowly takes a step forward, letting the door shut behind him as he examines them for a moment. "I didn't take it Sissel! And if anyone is a liar, it's you!" The other child shouted back.

"I didn't lie! I know what I saw!" Sissel shouted again.

"Just what in gods names are you two arguing about this time!?" Their father shouted.

"Sissel said she saw a giant bird flying over town the other day, but I know she's lieing." Britte said with her nose wrinkling.

"I didn't say it was a bird! I said that it had wings like one, just...much much bigger wings..." Sissel argued with a nervous tone showing in her voice.

'Gods.' Vilkas felt his heart stop for a moment before slamming against his chest hard. Did she see what Hope saw? Was Hope's fears correct that a dragon or...whatever happened to Helgen was going to happen to her home village? Did this mean that there really was- 'Gods, listen to you.'

Vilkas slowly brought up a shaky hand to his forehead, he rubbed it slowly as he shut his eyes for a moment. 'She's just a child..children have big imaginations...' He told himself, but his heart still slammed against his chest as his stomach turned into sickening knots.

'But Liah is no child, am I trying to convince myself that it was just her imagination?' No, gods no. No imagination made those burns on her legs, no imagination put that fear in her eyes. So does that mean it's real? Does that mean dragons are real? Does it mean that Vilkas is finally coming to terms with reality and seeing the true dangers ahead? Or was he just plummeting into madness and letting his fears take over his common sense? Gods, he really needed a drink.

He quickly removes his hand from his face as he makes his way over to the bar. He forced every thought out of his brain except for the one about Hope's family, and he can see that they are fine and safe. If his guess was right at least and from the familiar emerald green eyes on one of the twin sisters, he felt confident that he was right. When he reached the bar, he looked over his shoulder and watched the two twin sisters continue to argue.

"What is it now?" The father said with an irritated sigh. "Britte took my sweet roll!" Sissel hollered. "I did not!" Britte argued. "Stop lying!"

"She's not lying." The father said, making both sisters quiet down and look at him. "I'm the one that took your sweet roll."

"What!?" Sissel exclaimed. "Hey!" She then shouted as she quickly took her fathers sweet roll as pay back and when she did, rolling laughter came from him.

Vilkas couldn't help but chuckle himself, he remembered that night, when Hope told him about her family and how scared she looked to write them a simple letter. She was worried about how they were and how they reacted when she left; and from where Vilkas was standing. They seemed fine. 'She'll be glad when I tell her how well they're doing..'

"What can I do you for you son?" The Innkeeper asked, startling Vilkas a bit. Vilkas quickly turned his head back, eyeing the Innkeeper for a moment while he regained himself.

"I uh." He cleared his throat. "I need a room for the night." He told him.

"Alrighty then." The Innkeeper said with a smile. "Ten gold pieces."

Vilkas nodded and then dug into his coin purse, pulling out a bit more than ten gold. "I'm going to need some dinner also." He told him.

"Okay, I can do that." The Innkeeper replied as he counted the gold in his hand. "You're room is on the right, by the way." He told him.

Vilkas nodded before pulling a stool up to the bar and taking a seat. "Would you like something to drink as well?" The Innkeeper asked as he placed the gold in his coin purse. "Gods yes, please." Vilkas answered. The Innkeeper chuckled while he grabbed a mug and a pitcher full of mead. "Been that kind of day?" He asked. "That's putting it lightly." Vilkas mumbled as he watched mead being poured into his mug.

When the Innkeeper finished, he placed the mug down and left to get Vilkas a plate of food. Vilkas quickly picked up the mug and took a big drink of the cool liquid. "Careful there." The Innkeeper said as he had already returned with Vilkas's food. "You keep drinking like that, you'll be out before you finish that mug." He joked.

'Only if I'm lucky.' Was all Vilkas could think as he took in a second drink before picking up half a loaf of bread.

He bit into the fresh bread as his eyes wondered the Inn, they first stopped on a familiar looking young man that looked to be around his age who was sweeping behind the bar. Then they trailed back to the Innkeeper, who was still standing behind the bar in front of Vilkas...and staring at him.

Vilkas put the bread down and furrowed his eyebrows down at him in question. "Sorry." The Innkeeper quickly apologized with a half smile. "You just look familiar, have you been through Rorikstead before?" He asked.

"Sometimes, for work." Vilkas answered before taking another bite out of his bread.

"Oh right!" The Innkeeper snapped his fingers. "You're with the Companions! Right? I've seen you from time to time." He said with his smile growing, causing what little talking in the Inn to quiet down. It almost seemed like the Innkeeper wanted everyone to hear him...

"Didn't recognize you without that armor you people usually wear." The Innkeeper stated.

Vilkas eyed him for a moment before slightly moving his eyes to the young man behind the bar, who had stopped sweeping and was looking at Vilkas for a moment but then quickly looked away, continuing to sweep once Vilkas's eyes fell on him. "Uh." He cleared his throat before uncomfortably moving his eyes down towards his plate. "Yeah, I just have small business here. Didn't need my armor for it." He explained.

"I see." The Innkeeper nodded. He then slightly looked up past Vilkas for a moment before standing up from the bar and walking away. 'That was weird.' Was all he could think to himself as he started to pick up the salted meat on his plate.

A stool moving and then being placed right next to him stops him. Vilkas slowly puts the meat back down and then slightly moves his head to the side to see who it was. It was Hope's father, and he was looking right at him. 'Great.'

"Companion, huh?" Lemkil-Hope's father-asked. "That's right." Vilkas sighed as he turned his attention back towards his plate, even though he wasn't eating. Lemkil sat there in silence for a moment, his hands gathered on the bar in front of him with his thumbs strumming on the top of it. Vilkas wasn't looking at him, but he could tell he was doing some deep thinking and pondering.

"Do you-" Lemkil stops to sigh and rub his forehead for a minute. 'Is he wanting to know if Liah is with us?' Vilkas wondered even though he already knew the answer to that question. He was her father after all, why wouldn't he want to know? Gods only know how worried he must of been when she took off.

As Lemkil continues to think again for a moment longer, Vilkas starts to think deeply himself. He wonders if he should just go a head and tell him that she is with them, but would she want him to do that? Would it be the right thing to do to keep it a secret only because Hope wanted him to? He didn't feel like that was the right thing to do, she still had a father, a family. Since he lost his father at a young age and grew up with out one...he felt that Hope would thank him later for what he was about to do.

"Yes." He said before Lemkil could ask the rest of his question. Lemkil looks up and looks at Vilkas with his eyebrows raised as Vilkas stares out at the wall in front of him. "She's with us." He told him.

A shaky sigh left Lemkil when Vilkas told him that. He slightly looked to him and watched him rub the top of his balding head with a small smile on his face. "I knew it." He whispered to himself with relief slipping into his voice.

Vilkas then watched him dig into his pocket and pull out three sealed letters. "Could you give these to her for me?" He asked with his smile remaining. "The couriers never take them because Liah never said where she was in her letters." He explained.

Vilkas slowly took them from him and began to examine them. One had Father written on the back of it while the other two had Sissel and Britte written on them. "The girls wanted to right their own letters, they've been wanting to tell Liah all of the things they've learned to do." He explained again with an amused smile taking over his relieved one.

Vilkas couldn't help but smile also as he dragged his fingers over the badly written names. "Writing obviously isn't one them." Lemkil coughed, making a chuckle escape from Vilkas. 'Yeah, she'll thank me for this later.'

"You know..." Vilkas trailed off with his smile remaining. "She isn't going by Liah back at Jorrvaskr." He told him.

Lemkil quickly furrowed his eyebrows. "She's not? What's she going by?" He asked.

"Hope." Vilkas answered.

Lemkil scoffs. "Hope? Why Hope? What's wrong with Liah?" He questioned. "Liah's a beautiful name, her mother gave her that name." He grumbled.

"It is..." Vilkas agreed as he carefully placed the letters in the small pouch tied to his belt. "Beautiful that is.." He cleared his throat. Lemkil lifts a suspicious eyebrow up at Vilkas at the same time the young man behind the counter suddenly stopped sweeping.

Vilkas saw him slightly look at him from over his shoulder with his eyebrows furrowed before putting the broom down and walking away. "You close to my daughter?" Lemkil questioned. "I uh.." Vilkas clears his throat. "I think we're all close to her. She's been with us for a while now." He explained with his hand quickly grabbing at his mug.

"I see." Lemkil said with his eyebrow still suspiciously raised. 'Gods.' Vilkas sighed before taking a big drink out of his mug.

They both sat there in silence for a moment before Lemkil broke it. "Is she happy?"

Vilkas quickly looked at him, a bit shocked by the question. "Is she where she's meant to be?" He asks again with his eyes now staring down at the bar.

Vilkas stares at him for a moment before slowly looking back down at his plate full of food. 'Is she happy? Is she where she's meant to be?' The questions repeat in his mind and he can't help but think on them. There were times when she wasn't happy, one of those times being now with her injuries and what she went through. Another time like when she had to kill people for the first time pops in his head, showing him another memory where she was very unhappy.

The look in her eyes when she first killed flashes behind his eyes and just like before, it made his chest ache. Gods, was she happy? Is she where's she meant to be? How can he answer those questions? Especially after everything she just went through and her father having no idea about any of it...it was probably best if it stayed that way.

Vilkas sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. Maybe if she never left her home, she wouldn't be hurt like she was. She wouldn't be as scarred as she was and he never would've hurt her like he did. The way Hope looked at him when she told him she knew...about him..again, made his chest ache.

'Gods...' He sighed again as memories flooded his mind. But then, unexpectedly a memory of her smile pushes all the others away. Then her laughter echoes through his mind, before a memory of her working hard with Aela appears. The ache in his chest slowly fades and turns into something warm. Something he always felt when she smiled up at him.

"She's had her good moments with us." Vilkas started to speak, making Lemkil look back at him. "But she's also had her hard ones."

"She's had to learn to do things she probably never imagined having to do, gods know she's done things she's never wanted to do. But she's endured and she's learned. She's accepted that sometimes the hardest things to do have to be done for the good of others. I can't look you in the eyes and tell you that she's completely happy with us, but I can tell you, she is where she's meant to be. She's strong, brave, and an honorable woman. One who has a warrior's blood flowing through her veins." The warm feeling he felt in his chest before increased as those words left his mouth. He didn't know where they were coming from, they just came and when he started, he didn't want to stop.

A deep sigh left Lemkil as he planted a firm hand on Vilkas's shoulder. "Thanks son, I needed to hear that." He said with his eyes falling shut, obviously letting go of a lot of tension and stress he had been holding onto since she left. He then slowly opens his eyes and looks back at Vilkas with his hand remaining on his shoulder. Vilkas turned his head and met Lemkil's eyes. "Watch out for her for me, will you?" He said with a small smile spreading over his lips. "She's my oldest daughter, one who deserves happiness and the life she's always dreamed of. So please, just make sure she's safe."

With out any hesitation, Vilkas plants a firm hand on Lemkils shoulder before giving him a nod. "I will." He promised, and he meant it.