AN: Sorry for the wait, Things are crazy at work to the point most days I'm going in at 8 am and not leaving till 9 or 10 pm by the way I've got a poll up trying to find out who your favorite OCs are the top few will be featured more often in the story so on with the tale.

The next morning Amaliea helped her Pa take apart her armor to remove the damaged chest piece, while the others got ready for the day. Once their task was completed Pa sent Amaliea inside to get ready, then gather the others while he put his tools away. She got ready and came back downstairs with her sword belt clasped about her waist and her bow and quiver strapped to her back. She was wearing a set of armor that she had thought too girly to take to Jorrvaskr, it was emerald green and silver with darker green vines embossed on the gloves and chest piece. Briella had her hair in a ponytail and was wearing armor that was cut identical to Amaliea's only in of all colors pink and silver with darker pink flowers where Amaliea's had vines.

The guys came down not long after the girl's in their usual but freshly cleaned armor, Ma following them in a cream-colored dress with her healer bag on her shoulder. After a few minutes, Pa came in dressed in copper-colored traditional bosmer armor with his Warhammer across his back and his elders pin stuck to his shirt collar,

"Everyone ready?" he asked and at everyone's nods lead the way out the front door and towards the festival.

Once they reached the edge of where the festival was being set up it wasn't long before they ran into Eirkir, a white-haired woman who was head of the elder council. As they approached she looked over Farkas, Vilkas, and Athis noting weapons and armor assessing them. Then she spoke

"Good morning Garson, Mariea, I see your children are back and the brought friends." Pa nodded while Ma smiled in response.

Amaliea quickly saluted saying "Good morning Ma'am these are some of our fellow Companions Vilkas, Farkas, and Athis."

Amaliea was glad to see that the others had mimicked her, Jon's, and Jhan's salutes as Eirkir said

"Ah, my grandson mentioned some of you. I understand he caused some trouble at your mead hall and you had to remove him from Whiterun."

"Your grandson?" Farkas asked

"Torano." she answered her face a study in exasperation, Amaliea's friends cast each other glances as she continued "Well are you going to joining us in the games it would be interesting to see our young warriors compete against some of the warriors of Jorrvaskr?" she smiled dryly

Vilkas answered for all of them "It would be an honor to compete in your games."

Eirkir nodded once before continuing on her way

" Come if you lot are going to compete we need to get there before they start," Pa stated setting out again towards the practice fields.

The group attracted a lot of attention as they approached the training field, thankfully they got there just in time to join. As soon as it was clear they were competing Ma and Pa left to join the spectators and judges across from the gathered competitors. The rest of them waited among the competitors. It wasn't long before Jon, Jhan, and Briella were met by their friends who at the most acknowledged Amaliea with a quick hello before moving off with the additions of her siblings and Athis in tow. Amaliea sighed quietly watching them leave she had grown up here but beyond her family, no one was truly happy to see her, just then Farkas and Vilkas stepped to either side of her in a now-familiar gesture causing her to smile softly at least she was not completely without friends.

"I take it you were not joking about not having any friends here?" Vilkas asked turning his head to look at her.

"Nope as you can see," She answered her smile faltering

"Their loss," Vilkas responded grinning

"Besides you've got something even better," Farkas said

"What?" She asked wondering if this was fixing to turn into a joke

"You've got us!" they answered in tandem with matching grins each tossing an arm around her shoulders clearly mimicking Jon and Jhan, and nearly knocking her over in the process

She couldn't help but laugh at the two's antics, but her laughter was quickly stifled as Eirkir stepped onto a raised platform across the field followed by the rest of the council.

"It is time for the games to begin, the first event will be archery so archers step forward!" Eirkir announced to the assembly.

At her announcement, Amaliea stepped forward onto the field alongside her siblings and six others. As soon as it was clear no one else was going to come forward Eirkir began giving them the instructions for the task at hand.

"The rules are as follows, you will form four lines at the shooting marks. You will take turns shooting at the targets. You miss you're out after each round those left will move down the field and go again we will continue until only one remains. Begin."

Within minutes they were lined up and shooting. Jhan was out within three rounds and Jon was eliminated about halfway across the field, leaving the field to Amaliea, Briella, and one of the twins' friends a guy called Dorodir. It took two more rounds to eliminate Dorodir leaving the field to Briella and Amaliea. In the end, Briella got first and Amaliea second which didn't really surprise her Briella had always been the best archer in their family. They rejoined the others to everyone's cheers and as Farkas and Vilkas congratulated Amaliea on a good showing she realized that the only cheers she cared about were the ones coming from the throats of her friends and family.

The next competition was wrestling which both sets of twins and Athis joined in enthusiastically. At first, the competitors from the village were rather cocky, their mistake. Jon and Jhan's first opponents were both guardsmen who they had lost to in last year's games. It was clear that they had made the mistake of thinking the twins were still on the same level they had been. What they failed to realize was that the twins had spent the winter training with the most well-known warriors in Skyrim the village warriors didn't stand a chance. The warriors of Jorrvaskr took the wrestling Jon and Jhan tied for fourth, Athis came in third, Vilkas was second, and Farkas won First. One thing Amaliea noticed though during the fight was that they had been holding back while fighting the village warriors but going full out with each other guess they didn't want the others to get hurt.

The next few competitions were in magic so none of their group entered them though Amaliea did overhear Athis commenting on the rarity of warriors and mages getting along in Skyrim. After all the mages had finished it was time for the hand-to-hand competition only Athis and Amaliea stepped forward from their group alongside eight others from the village, including Torano. Athis and Amaliea were quickly pitted against villagers, needless to say, it wasn't long before the field was down to just four fighters. In the next to last round Athis was paired against one of Briella's friends a girl named Cyldra who was obviously trying to flirt with him, then again Cyldra tried to flirt with every guy she met. Amaliea's opponent was Torano, the goal was to make the other person call yield, Amaliea smiled as she thought Intimidation Job. Just then Torano opened his big mouth

"What are you smirking at were-girl your brothers aren't here to back you now nor are your stupid friends." He sneered

Amaliea didn't even dignify that with a response, his words were nothing but pointless noise. She felt nothing but pity and contempt and she let it show her face going cold and blank, he was nothing but another blustering braggart and that's how she dealt with him. When Eirkir called for the round to begin she let him make the first move then took him down, within a minute he was calling yield giving up. Once he had Amaliea walked to the edge of the field to await the outcome of Athis' fight, but Torano had to take a parting shot

"You didn't prove anything you're still just a stupid were-girl that nobody wants around, the ice-brains you hang around with are probably grateful whenever you leave for a job, then again the lot of them are probably too dumb to realize how useless you are!."

He spoke just loudly enough to be heard by those standing near them. Out of the corner of her eye Amaliea saw Vilkas start forward only to be stopped by the twins and Farkas. After his declaration, Torano stalked off ever the sore loser, while Athis began his bout. It wasn't long before he had won and they were facing each other. Before Eirkir called begin he gave Amaliea his customary smirk saying

"That blond's a real ass."

"Ya think," She smirked back her voice dripping with sarcasm

"You're not going to hold back are you?" He asked teasingly still smirking

"Wouldn't dream of it." she grinned back

"Begin!" Eirkir shouted and they were off

They treated it like a training session back home, They joked and teased as they spared, laughing and having fun even as they dodged and threw blows. They had the longest match, but in the end, Athis won taking Amaliea down with one of her own moves. Once she yielded he held out his hand to help her to her feet, and she took it teasing him

"So it seems you were paying attention in training."

"Of course as you said in practice always do the unexpected." He teased her right back as they walked back to their shield-brothers.

The next competition was swords and the Companions sent a wave of excitement through the assembled bosmer when the six of them stepped onto the field. They had proven themselves to be skilled fighters and they all carried ready blades. All the competitors once more stood in a stretched out line waiting to be paired up by the judges, when Vilkas whispered to Amaliea

"I hope I get to meet Torano with my blade I'm getting tired of his mouth."

Until then she hadn't actually noticed Torano, but sure enough, he was at the other end of the line, acting like his usual stuck up self.

"Don't do anything rash," she whispered back just before they were both paired with guardsmen and split up to their respective battles.

As the competitions progressed it became clear to all watching that the six companions were holding back, while still thrashing their opponents. It wasn't long before Vilkas got his wish and he was paired against Torano. As they approached the center Torano was strutting waving his bared longsword to the crowd, while Vilkas made a stark contrast to the spoiled boy. He strode to the center before drawing his blade from it's sheath across his back it's edge gleaming with sharpness, he did not wave it foolishly but held it steady in a ready stance. Vilkas did not smile, his eyes were cold as granite and his face could have been made of ice. He was angry, Torano was about to be in a fight he wouldn't soon forget. Eirkir called for them to begin and Amaliea saw Torano's mouth move obviously smarting off, but she was too far away to hear what he said. As they circled she saw Vilkas' response, he was giving the idiot a wolfish smile even as Torano made his first mistake, he tried to fence with Vilkas, how dumb can you be you can't fence a great sword. Vilkas' response was to dodge the lunge, allowing Torano's momentum to carry him past and then hitting him across the backside with the flat of his greatsword. Torano was making a fool of himself, it was obvious to everyone that Vilkas could take him down whenever he wanted he was merely toying with the boy. Every time Vilkas dodged or deflected one of Torano's attacks he would strike him across the backside with his blade, each time it happened Torano got even angrier and made even more mistakes. After ten minutes of this Vilkas finally grew tired of the game and tripped Torano. Once he fell Vilkas held his blade over him inches from his face and said something, Torano's face quickly paled and he hurried to call yield. With that Vilkas sheathed his blade walking away leaving Torano laying in the dirt and a crowd of stunned onlookers.

By the time the competition had been weaned down to the top eight all that was left was the six companions and two village warriors. Vilkas and Amaliea were each paired with a village warrior, Farkas got Jhan, and Athis was paired against Jon. It took a while but Jon and Jhan were put out of the competition while Vilkas and Amaliea beat their opponents. The next to last pairings were announced Farkas vs Vilkas, and Athis vs Amaliea. Athis and Amaliea were up first, once more laughing and teasing even as they battled. It took a good ten minutes but in the end, Amaliea came out the victor and they walked off the field side by side to give way to Farkas and Vilkas. The twins got set grinning and easily holding their swords, this was a match they had fought a thousand times. At Eirkir's signal, the two began laughing and joking all the while, after some time Vilkas won. As they came to join Athis and Amaliea though she heard Vilkas bluntly ask Farkas

"Why did you let me win?"

Farkas' grin got even wider when he answered "Cause I've wanted to see who would win in a fight you or Amaliea."

"She beat me on her first day." Vilkas pointed out raising an eyebrow

"Yeah, but you weren't expecting her to be good now you are," Farkas answered quickly before going over to see if he could get Athis, Jon, and Jhan in on a betting pool

Vilkas locked eyes with Amaliea and jerked his head at Farkas and they both rolled their eyes before sitting on a bench so he could rest before their match began.

"Aela's going to love this," she said smiling watching as Eirkir called the finalists from the mage competitions to step forward.

"How come?" He asked turning to look at her his eyes gleaming silver in the sunlight.

"Oh after our match on my first day, I ended up taking her shield to her as a favor to Eorlund she wanted to know if I thought I could beat you in a real fight," Amaliea smirked

"And what did you answer her?" He asked his lips twitching slightly

"That I didn't know cause you had not been expecting me to be any good. Why was that?" she responded trying not to laugh at his expression.

"You had looked so sweet and vulnerable when you stood before Kodlak, Most warriors seeking entrance to the Companions are boastful and strutting trying to look as fierce as possible. You had looked terrified and timid, so helpless, like the kind of people who we are normally hired to protect. As well as pretty nothing like the usual ice-brains that come our way. You definitely proved me wrong in a hurry, except the pretty part." He answered nervously running a hand through his hair.

Amaliea had to admit she had not been expecting that answer, but it was sweet, and looking at his face she couldn't resist. she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, startling him before she told him

"That was for calling me pretty but if you ever call me helpless again you'll find out exactly how little that applies to me."

He simply lifted his hands in surrender

They watched the mages compete for a few minutes before she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see Vilkas putting his helmet on.

At Amaliea's curious look, he smiled saying "My head ached for days after our last bout. I'd rather be safe than sorry."

She smiled back and began twisting her braid into a bun at the back of her head. This time it was Vilkas who gave her a curious look. she smiled and said

"Just getting it out of the way."

With that, they sat in comfortable silence until the mage finals finished and they were called back onto the field.