I don't own anything except the OC and the plot.

7

"No, not like this! Here, let me show you..."

Borkul heard Aoife giggle from the other side of the camp. In the last few days they had been at Lost Valley Redoubt, he had noticed that he heard her everywhere and always knew exactly where she was. He tried to blame it on Madanach tasking him with taking care of his daughter and ignore the fact that most of the time all his senses were focused on her. His eyes followed her around the camp all the time, he couldn't ignore her scent whenever she was around him and listened to her soft breathing when they settled for the night even if they were separated by the walls of the tents. He had even made her continue her training just to be around to correct her posture and touch her.

From his place by the fire he saw her with a woman in an elaborated headdress. Busy with something on the ground, they sat in front of one of the tents.

Curious about what they were up to, Borkul set the mug aside and got up. When he got closer, he could see some of the things the women had spread between them. Bones, crimson roots and a bowl full of something that looked suspiciously like blood.

"No... you have to... no, what did I just say? Oh girl, wash it off", the woman sighed and pointed towards a filled bucket.

With a little huff, Aoife dipped her hand into the water and washed away the blood on her arm.

"Maybe if I don't do it on myself? Hey, Borkul, come over for a second!", she called when he was just a few steps away.

Beaming up to him, she pointed at the ground beside them. "Come, sit with us."

"You shouldn't do this on someone else if you can't do it properly on yourself!", the woman threw in and shook her headpiece. The decorative feathers rustled at the movement. Borkul lowered himself to the ground.

"This is Tiae", Aoife said and the woman waved shortly as a greeting. "She's the shaman here."

"And as shaman I'm telling you, that you shouldn't let her practice on you", Tiae said to him and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Oh come on... Borkul, will you be my test subject?" Aoife took his hand between hers.

"Yes, of course, princess", he heard himself say before he could think about it. His hand seemed to burn between her fingers and right now, she could've asked if he wanted to fight six rabid wolves for her and he would've agreed as well. Borkul furrowed his brows at the thought, but was quickly distracted when Aoife laid his hand on her knee with his palm facing up.

He felt the shaman's eyes on him, but by now he was used to it. The Forsworn at Lost Valley had welcomed him just like they had welcomed Aoife, but sometimes they looked strangely at him. He knew he was still an outsider here and most of them didn't see him as one of them even if he wore the armor.

Aoife placed two small bones in his palm and curled his fingers around them. They felt fragile and light-weighted, bird bones, he assumed. Dipping the fingers of her left hand into the bowl, her right hand traced up his arm like she was searching for something. He heard her mutter something, but he couldn't make out words and didn't care either – he was too focused on her fingers on his skin. Just before she reached the crook of his arm, she stopped and drew a small line of blood across his skin, before her fingers started searching again.

A few minutes later he had several lines and a few circles on his underarm, the blood looking nearly black on his green skin. Borkul watched the woman while she fully concentrated on whatever ritual she was attempting. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and her lips moved constantly as she mumbled words under her breath. After the drawings followed a simple leather string with more attached bones which she bound right above his elbow with three knots.

In the end she looked pleased at her work and waited for the shamans approval. Borkul already missed her fingertips hovering over his skin.

Tiae took a closer look and the feathers on her headdress nearly tickled Borkul's nose when she leaned over. "That looks about right. You need to be more confident with the words, though. And you, you can move your hand now."

Reluctantly Borkul lifted his hand from Aoife's knee. He opened his hand and the shaman took the bones from him. "What did it do?", he asked.

"Just... improving strength, that sort of thing", Tiae answered and absently dipped her fingers into the bowl of blood.

"Maybe you should have used my sword arm then?" He turned to Aoife who looked embarrassed.

"Yes, that would've been better.. ah well, I'm still learning", she said and laughed.

"If you want to practice some more...", he said to which the shaman beside him shot him another strange look.

"But not now", Tiae said and gathered the ingredients. When she picked up the roots, she took a hearty bite from one of them before she got up. "Can't look after you kids all day, can I?"

Borkul frowned at her words. She didn't look much older than Aoife, which made her still younger than him.

"That's okay, I will show you how I'm doing the next time I visit."

"I'm looking forward to it, sister", the shaman said and stroke Aoife's hair gently. "Now, shoo! Leave me to my tasks, I have to prepare a few things for tomorrow."

They left the shaman's tent and Borkul was about to tell Aoife that she hadn't trained yet, when she was distracted by a blonde man calling her name. It was Niall, Borkul had met him briefly on the first evening. With a frown he let Aoife leave and made his way over to the tents they had been provided with. They were on the edge of the camp on the middle level, just beside the big pool where the waterfall from the top level ended. He had heard that the waterfall and the cliff top where it started were called Bard's Leap, but he couldn't imagine someone actually being crazy enough to take a leap from there. Sitting on the edge of the pool, he let his feet dangle into the cool water and closed his eyes.

Niall took her to the very top of Lost Valley. Up here was where his Briarheart ritual would be performed tomorrow and Aoife could tell by the way he talked that he was both exited and nervous. Not afraid though, it was what he had wanted as long as she could remember. Even when they had been little children, he had already talked about becoming a Briarheart one day.

Aoife smiled sadly. Niall had always been someone who would do everything for his people and sacrificing his heart to lead them to a better future was only the logical conclusion for him. She wasn't trained enough in the ritualistic magic to fully understand what it did to the people, but she knew that Cathal had changed a lot after the ritual was over. Getting one's heart cut out had to do something to the soul, right? Sometimes she wasn't even sure if the men were themselves at all, but maybe only a host to the spirits of the Reach. It didn't matter. The ritual wasn't forced upon them and all of them willingly accepted the gift the hagravens offered them, who was she to object?

They walked over the crossed bridges on top of the ruin and turned right. They couldn't visit the actual ritual site, the hagravens were already in preparation and couldn't be disturbed. Instead, they went to the very end of the bridge where the waterfall rushed into the valley.

Aoife sat on the edge and waited until Niall took a place beside her.

"I'm so glad you made it", he said with a gentle smile. She returned it and took his hand affectionately.

"I'm glad you wrote. I'm surprised your hands weren't too big to hold the quill, though." Even though they were nearly the same age, he had outgrown her by the age of twelve and they had always teased each other about the height difference. According to him, Aoife had just stopped growing after she could reach the berries on the juniper trees while she mocked him about being the offspring of a giant or worse – a Nord. Which, of course, wasn't true since she knew both his late mother and his father and neither of them had any giant's blood in their veins. For the Nord part, though... Aoife stiffled a laugh. They watched the camp below them for a while.

"Do you think it will hurt?", she finally asked into the relaxed silence.

Niall stroke thoughtfully over his beard. It was longer than she remembered it to be, long enough to be tied into a small knot. "Yes. Yes, I think it will", he said quietly.

"Oh.." She looked at him from the side and her eyes furrowed with worry.

"Nothing I can't take. Don't you remember the time I stepped into a bear trap?", he said with a wink and nudged her.

Aoife laughed at the memory. "Yes, they heard your screams in Markarth, I bet.."

The man beside her curled his lips into a sulk, but his bright eyes sparkled with laughter. "It wasn't that bad."

"Yes, it was. I remember Kaie asking me if the trap just got your leg or your balls as well."

He nearly knocked her of the bridge with his shoulder. "How's that though lady doing?"

"She's alright, I think... she shaved off most of her hair, you'd like it." Aoife let her eyes wander over the horizon. "And I think she and Duach are quite fond of each other."

"Good for her!", Niall said with a wide grin. "What about you? How is it to have Madanach back?"

"It's wonderful... strange... sometimes irritating because he treats me like I'm a child, but yes... it's wonderful to have him back with us", she said thoughtfully. "You have to visit us someday, I'm sure my father would love to see you again."

"Maybe I will", he said. "One day. Must be nice to have your father back, though..."

He looked into the distance and she knew he was thinking about his mother. Niall never talked about her, but when she had died in Markarth, it had ripped a wound into his heart that had never truly healed. She was sure that, other than her, he remembered most of Markarth.

"Alright", Aoife said and clapped her hands. She had to change the subject before her friend got all tangled up in his own dark thoughts. "Enough talk of this. The thing I really want to know... did you ever jump down?"
He laughed and carefully looked down between his legs. "No."
"But... why? It's right here! How can you live here for nearly five years and not being tempted to take a leap?"

"It's pretty high."

"Oh, you're scared!"

"No, I'm not", he said with another pout and Aoife laughed even louder.

"Do it now", she said, her eyes gleaming mischievously. "Now, while you still have a heart to feel the rush."

Niall held her eyes for a long time and she could literally see his brain work behind his forehead.

"Only if you do it with me."

The young woman got to her feet and held out her hand callengingly. It had always been like this, they got each other into trouble because none of them was willing to back down. When they were eight, Niall had challenged her to steal a skull out of the lair of a bear. She had succeeded but his screams had filled the whole cave when Cathal got hold of him. Another time, around the age of eleven, Aoife had made him eat a whole bucket of deer intestines and he had thrown up all over Dana's head. She could still hear the shrieks.

Niall took her hand and together they stepped to the edge of the bridge. The waterfall was thundering below them and Aoife felt her heart nearly jump out of her chest. She took one step into the air and felt Niall do the same. Then they fell.

A loud splash let Borkul open his eyes. It took a moment until he found the source and the two bodies below the pool's surface. When they broke through and gasped for air, he quickly stumbled to his feet.

"ARE YOU CRAZY, WOMAN?", he roared at her. Aoife and that man, Niall, were laughing and nearly didn't made it to the edge of the pool. The future Briarheart was the first who got out of the water and while they still giggled, he pulled Madanach's daughter out after him.

Borkul stood tall before them, his fists at his hip and glowering down at them.

"Right.. I...", Niall tried to hold back his laugh. "I think I have to be...uh.. somewhere else..."

"You fucking coward! Some Briarheart you are!", Aoife called after him as she tried to get up. She was dripping wet, but her eyes gleamed with exitement.

"I don't want to mess with your father's extended wagging finger, love. Sorry, you're on your own!", he called back while he jogged over to the camp, leaving a trail of water behind him.

"What were you thinking?!"

"Have I startled you? Sorry, didn't mean to." She didn't look sorry at all and the amused twinkle in her eyes made him even more furious. Normally he wasn't the cautious type, but jumping of that waterfall was just suicidal and stupid. There were many rocks they could've hit on their way down, even if that didn't kill them right away, it could knock them unconcious and leave them to drown or... he could go on and on.

Borkul leaned down to the dripping young woman until their faces were on the same level.

"Having too much energy, eh? To the training ground."

"But..."

"Now."

Aoife pouted but she turned around and walked, wet as she was, over to where she had been training the last couple of days. Borkul knew, that he couldn't order her around and was a little bit surprised that she hadn't resisted more. But if she wanted to act like a child, he would treat her like one.

The moment he had recognized her, still underwater, he had actually feared she might be hurt. Even if she hadn't crashed against the rocks on her way down, the water could've still broken all her bones and until the moment she reemerged, he had felt panic. A feeling he wasn't used to and not one he wanted to experience again any time soon.

However, once she had been gasping for air and was apparently in the best of health, he had gotten angry. Really angry. She could have died just because she tried to prove to that fucking man that she could make the jump.

Borkul growled lowly. That Niall had been a thorn in his eye the first time he had seen how he and Aoife acted around each other, the way they had hugged and how he had lifted her and hadn't set her back down for several minutes. It was intimate. And he didn't like it. If the hagravens didn't cut out his heart tomorrow, Borkul would gladly take the job.

Still growling, he stumped after her. He found her at the secluded place they had declared their training ground. Having shooed out the goat that normally lived there, it was now an empty court surrounded by wooden sticks and large skins stretched between them to make some sort of wall. A sack filled with straw serving as a temporary training dummy was already maltreated by Aoife who hacked at the sack more than she was performing any of the techniques he had shown her.

Borkul unsheathed his sword and with a growl, he halted one of her hackings in mid-air. Her eyes darted towards him and he saw the anger in them. Good, at least he wasn't the only one who had to get this out with a fight.

She pulled her sword away from his and nearly immediately attacked him with a low charge. Borkul blocked it easily and pushed her several steps back. With a snarl she charged at him again, their swords collided a few times until he tried to kick through her defense and made her jump backwards. He pursued right away, pressed into her defense and forced her backwards one step at a time. They both knew that she didn't have the strength to block his attacks for a long time, her body wasn't build for this. When they reached the wall, Aoife ducked and his sword hit stone, leaving a large scratch on the old ruin. She dodged his left hand that tried to hinder her from escaping to the side and Borkul had to duck himself when he heard her sword cutting through the air.

He growled loudly and turned. Aoife had already regained her distance from him but he saw her panting from blocking his attacks and he knew that soon her speed would also be depleted. Maybe they had fought too often already. Both of them knew the others weaknesses by now and all that mattered was who made the first mistake. It was always her, though, he was still more experienced in fighting.

He saw her make a bold, maybe desperate attempt to charge at his legs by dropping down to her knees, but however she had thought this would go, she clearly hadn't expected his fist this time. While he blocked her sword with his, he let his hand slam down to the side of her face, bringing her off balance and then down to the ground.

Aoife gasped at the surprise and pain when her body met the ground and her sword was ripped from her hand by the impact. She tried to reach it, but it was too late. Borkul was already on top of her, pinning her arms to the ground and holding her down solely with his body weight. Any other day he would let her go right away, help her stand and congratulate her on the fight, but this time, he was still angry.

"Let go of me!", Aoife snarled and tried to pull her arms free. Borkul lowered his head to hers and was pleased to see her push back to the ground.

"Not until you understand how stupid that was!", he growled back. She held his gaze stubbornly and he saw in her eyes that she was feverishly thinking about a way to get out of the situation.

"You're right", she backed down way to quickly and looked at him with wide eyes. "It was foolish. I'm sorry, I truly am."

Borkul lowered his face even closer to hers and his voice was nothing more than a low growl. "I don't believe a fucking word you're saying, princess."

She bit her lower lip to hold back whatever she thought about throwing at him and instead tried to stare him down. The minutes stretched while none of them said a word – Aoife, because she would probably rather bite her own tongue than apologise properly and Borkul, because he tried to ignore the way she smelled now that they were this close. It was like rain after a summer day, burning embers and something he couldn't name, something that was entirely hers. He tried to keep his breathing shallow but he couldn't ignore the warmth of her body beneath him that seemed to grow even warmer every second that passed.

He closed his eyes for a second and tried to shift his body to bring some distance between them without letting her go. It was just slightly longer than a blink, but it was all she had waited for. Pain exploded between his legs when her knee broke loose and shot up.

The Orc let out a deafening roar and she felt the grip around her wrist come loose. Her hands were shaking when she gathered all her strength and rolled the heavy body off of her.

"You little... fuck.." His voice was a pressed mixture of pain and rage. Aoife took a few steps back.

"You should've seen that one coming", she said and tried to keep her voice from shaking. Her ears were still ringing from his roar. "It's okay to play dirty, remember?"

"Just... wait until I can walk again, bitch", he groaned and hunched on the ground before her. Aoife felt her heart beat heavily in her chest. Maybe she had gone too far. She had known that the thin leather of the Forsworn armor offered no protection, but she had just taken advantage of a weakness, right?

Her bad conscience kicked in and she took a step towards him. Borkul's hand was clutched over his groins.

"Fuck off!" A feral growl let her stop again. His eyes were threatening when he fixated her and despite the pain he tried to get to his feet.

"You better start running, princess", he grunted when he managed to get to his knees. Aoife stepped backwards towards the gate. He sounded really serious. The fight had let her anger ebb away, but she couldn't say the same about his. If anything, it seemed to be only increased by the pain.

Borkul set one foot to the ground with a sharp hiss, his eyes never leaving her. They were announcing all the suffering he planed on unleashing upon her. She was sure, he wouldn't calm down once he got to his feet and definitely didn't want to be around when he managed to do so. So she turned around and ran.

Borkul needed several minutes until he felt able to get to his feet. The pain was still there, it pulsed through his body with every heartbeat, but he could finally let go of his balls. That little harlot would pay for this, he swore. Once he got his hands on her, she would regret it!

He searched the camp for two hours, growling curses under his breath that made the Forsworn get out of his way as soon as they spotted him, but he didn't find the woman. She knew this camp better than him and wherever she was hiding, she stayed successfully out of his reach. Even though her scent seemed to linger everywhere, he couldn't tell where it originated from. His sense of smell was maybe more developed than that of most races of men and mer, but he was no hound and definitely not able to track down a scent trail just like that.

Grudgingly he returned to his tent. She had to get out of hiding at one point to return to her bed roll and then he would be waiting for her – or at least he thought so.

Aoife didn't return this night. While Borkul cooled himself in the pool and hoped that her knee hadn't caused any lasting damage, his eyes constantly checked her tent. It remained empty.

With a frown he thought about where she could've ran to. Probably to that Niall since he hadn't seen the man around the camp either. Borkul spat on the ground and tried to think about something else than Aoife spending the night at the soon-to-be Briarheart's tent.

The ritual would be tomorrow at nightfall and the plan was to leave Lost Valley the day after. Apparently the clan had planed a huge celebration to welcome a new Briarheart among them and from that Aoife couldn't hide. Even if she managed to avoid him the following day and attend the ritual in the evening, she had to cross his way after that at one point. Definitely when they had to leave the settlement to head back home, but he doubted that her luck and skill in hiding from him would last that long. She was probably already bored.

He went to sleep late this night. The princess hadn't shown up and he was sure, she wouldn't for the rest of the night. Still he kept listening into the darkness that had settled over the camp like he expected to hear her moan somewhere. After hours of tossing and turning, he dozed off.