A/N: Chapter Eighteen Wooooh!

No idea what that was really. Slightly worrying... almost as much so as me writing all this out.

So in this chapter, Stormcloaks being in charge has an effect, Falin gets a daedric artefact, and Liedan gets jealous.

Responses to reviews.

TheGreatJabberyJamie: Thanks, I was rather proud of the last chapter. The way it was said that it works is that 200 is old, 300 is very old. Any older than that and the elf's been using magic to keep themselves alive *cough* Neloth *cough*

MirandaBasilisk: An old English teacher of mine once told me that if everyone thinks the same thing about a character then that character is probably not very well developed. I can see what you mean though, he does have something of a difficult personality, and I agree, Ria does need someone who truly loves her and that person is quite definitely not Ram-Ku and it would be nice to see some romance, a shame that I can't really do romance.

The Dragon of Time: I know, the first few chapters were a bit difficult, at that point this was my secondary story, the primary that it was usurping having been removed on the grounds of being terrible and dead. Anyway, glad to know that you're still reading this.

We proceeded down the passageway on our left, stopping to inspect a locked door which Falin was quite adamant about seeing what was behind it, because apparently, 'why lock it if there isn't anything behind it?' I had to wait whilst she applied flames and frost spells to the lock, causing it to shatter. Opening the door into a small room, Falin found a couple of magicka potions, but not much else, seemingly disproving her locked doors theory. Continuing up the flight of stairs we came to a barred door, fortunately, said bar was on our side of the door, unfortunately, the hinge of the bar was rusted into place. Aela and I both threw our weight against the bar, but it stubbornly refused to budge. Falin meanwhile was just standing behind us, laughing silently at us, eventually, Aela snapped.

"Why don't you open it then, if you think it's so funny?"

Falin merely motioned for us to move out of the way, before hurling an incinerate spell at the hinge, blasting the rotten wood surrounding it to pieces, before lifting the bar out of the way. She then turned to us and bowed mockingly as she held the door open. Aela and I both made a show of pointedly ignoring her as we passed through. We quickly came to another door with what appeared to be a waterfall flowing from under it. This one did not require the use of Falin's destruction magic to open, something for which both Aela and I were quite grateful, as Falin was becoming rather smug about the inability of warriors to open doors.

Beyond the door we went down a small flight of stairs that quickly led to a large room containing a pair of necromancers. Fortunately, there were no corpses in this room for the two to raise to fight us. Falin's magic bouncing harmlessly of their wards, whilst Aela's arrows and my blade passed through easily, meeting no resistance on their paths to the dark mages' necks and chests. As the robed figures crumpled to the floor, Aela grinned at me, "Thank the divines that you don't use magic Ria, imagine if you had been absolutely useless in this fight, your magic bouncing harmlessly off their wards. No, being a warrior is much better."

It took me a moment to work out what she was doing, then I saw the look on Falin's face, and I started laughing. Falin made a gesture at us that I decided not to translate for Aela's benefit, and began scouring the remains of our opponents and the room for loot. She found a couple of gems, some small coinpurses and a book titled 'The Jaws of Oblivion'.

Deeper into the fort, we encountered a solitary necromancer and her pet skeleton in what looked like the old cell block of the fort. Falin, apparently annoyed by Aela's teasing about her uselessness in the previous fight, hurled twin fire spells at the woman before she could even get her ward spell to the ground, sending the woman sprawling to the ground, screaming as her flesh burnt away. One of Aela's arrows ended the woman's life, just as my sword slashed through the skeleton's spine, reducing it to a pile of bones and dust.

A short distance further on, we came across another necromancer and skeleton combination, this time, separated from us by a shallow pool of water in the middle, something Aela did not seem very happy about. This time, Falin blew the skeleton to pieces with her magic, leaving the necromancer to me and Aela. Aela's arrows rattled harmlessly off the stonework as the necromancer dodged and weaved, occasionally hurling ice magic in our direction. Aela, as a Nord, had no trouble in powering through the frosty barrage, I, however, was suffering quite badly from it, so I was quite glad when Aela's arrows brought the man down.

Heading up the spiralling stairs behind the man's corpse we arrived at a large, circular room, containing a skeleton seated in a wooden chair, surrounded by candles and piles of purple-coloured ash and dust. Cradled in the skeleton's arms was a large, broken, star-shaped item. I assumed this to be Azura's star. Falin quickly crossed the room, placing her hands upon the damaged star. I could tell from her demeanour that this was indeed Azura's star, and that she was currently alternating between heartbroken at the state that the star was in, and furious that anyone would do such a thing to the star. Aela placed her hand on Falin's shoulder.

"Come on Falin, let's get this star back to Azura and get it fixed."

Falin nodded slowly, then she turned her attention to the chest next to the skeleton, rifling through a number of sets of robes, she found a couple of spell books, not destruction from the crests on the covers, but she still took them. She also found a book titled 'The Black Star: An Achievement of Magic over Daedra'. This she burnt with a fury, as she did to Malyn Varen's earthly remains. Apparently appeased by this wanton destruction, Falin led the way back out of the fort, burning the remains of every necromancer in her path.

When we returned to the Shrine of Azura in Winterhold, Aranea had been just as upset as Falin to see the state of the star, but she had taken it from us and placed it upon the altar and begun to beseech Azura to purify it and to restore it to its original condition. After a few minutes of this the priestess had turned back to us, "I am afraid that neither Azura or I can cleanse the star as it is, Malyn Varen's spirit is corrupting the star, preventing any outside interference." She held up a hand as Falin began to gesture her complaints, "However, I believe that if one of you were to go into the star and defeat him, then Azura would easily be able to purify the star."

Falin grinned evilly, it was a grin that boded great ill for the target of her wrath, she made a series of gestures that I translated as, 'I will burn that sorry motherfucker to a crisp, he will rue the day he ever crossed Azura.'

Aranea then instructed Falin to place her hands upon the altar and commune with Azura. As we watched, Falin faded from existence until we could see the altar through her body. Aranea was quick to reassure us that this was completely normal for someone being transferred into the star. We watched as Falin stood motionless, her soul doing whatever it was that she needed to do to remove Malyn Varen from the star.

We waited for close on half an hour before Falin re-solidified, the star changing colour from grey to white and blue, broken edges and arms reforming under the power of Azura, before floating into Falin's arms. Falin barely had time to grip the artifact before Aela had flung her arms around her, fiercely claiming Falin's lips with her own. I watched this display uncomfortably for a few moments, clearing my throat when hands began roaming to places that I would much rather they didn't in my presence. When the two ignored me, I turned to Aranea instead. The older elf shrugged and merely offered my friends the use of her bedroll if they wanted to take this to the logical extreme. Fortunately, they chose not to take her up on the offer and instead prepared to leave. As we were turning to go, I felt Aranea's hand upon my shoulder, I turned to face the priestess.

"Azura has given me a vision, you must be on your guard, there are dark times ahead."

I made to ask the priestess what she meant, but she shook her head and returned to the shrine.

When we returned to Whiterun, the other Companions had immediately wanted to know how we had gotten on. Ram-Ku in particular had been rather pleased by Falin's acquiring of the star.

"Now we've got five daedric artefacts in Jorrvaskr."

I tried to work out what he meant; he had the ring of Hircine and the saviour's hide, Falin had the star, and Torvar had the Sanguine Rose, but that was only four. I voiced this, along with my concern for Ram-Ku's mental facilities. Ram-Ku had not been impressed by this. "I can count Ria, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten... erm..." I grinned at his expression as he tried to remember what came after ten.

"Eleven, papa." Lucia reminded him.

"Right, eleven. Anyway, beside the point, Gakken's got something called Volydung, so that makes five."

"It's called Volendrung, Icebrain," Gakken's deep rumble cut across the room, "Sacred hammer of lord Malacath, show it some respect." The owner of the voice, and also the hammer, strode across the room, usual battleaxe replaced by a spiked warhammer with a glowing head. Liedan chose that moment to walk into the room, took one look at the group of us, and immediately began sulking.

"Why does everyone else have a daedric artefact? It's not fair, I want a daedric artefact."

"You are clearly not worthy of the attention of the princes of Oblivion, Redguard."

"Maybe not, but I could still dance rings around you and your warhammer, Orc."

"You want to go then, sandpants?"

"Anytime, tuskface."

Liedan and Gakken stormed out the doors, both drawing their weapons.

"Shouldn't someone go and stop them?" I asked.

Ram-Ku shrugged, "Those two have been at each other's throats for the last week, besides, Vilkas is out in the yard, he should be able to stop them before it gets too out of hand."

"But you're not going to watch?" I asked him.

"Why bother?" Was the reply, "They've fought each every day for the last four days, neither of them can win, they always fight each other to a draw. Gakken keeps missing Liedan, and Liedan can't penetrate Gakken's armour in any way."

"Ria," Farkas' voice interrupted our conversation, "Kodlak wants to see you in his quarters."

"Did he say what for?" I asked.

"Only that it was important." Clearly I was not going to get any more out of Farkas, so I headed down into the living quarters in search of the Harbinger.

I found Kodlak sitting in his usual chair, writing in what looked like some sort of journal.

"You wanted to see me, master?"

Kodlak chuckled softly, "Ria, once again it seems that I will have to remind you that I am nobody's master, my role is merely to advise."

I nodded, I had been reminded of this on many occasions during my time as a Companion.

"What did you want to see me about?"

Kodlak smiled, "Well, Ria, since joining us, however many moons ago it was now, you have shown a great deal of progress. Not only that, but you have proven to be brave and honourable whilst doing so. You have shown a great deal of valour in your dealings in the name of the Companions. I would be most honoured if you were to accept a position amongst the Circle."

I blinked, "You are offering me a position in the Circle?" I asked him, just to make sure that I hadn't misheard him. He smiled again.

"That is correct. It is yours if you want it."

I nodded, of course I wanted it. If the Companions were the greatest warriors in Skyrim, then the Circle were the greatest of the greatest. "I would be honoured to accept, Harbinger."

Kodlak smiled, "Then welcome to the Circle Ria, I hope that you are prepared for the responsibility that comes with the position."

I stood, bowed respectfully, and returned to the main hall.

"So what did the old man want?" Ram-Ku asked when I returned.

I shrugged as I sat down, "Nothing much, he just wanted to offer me a place in the Circle, I accepted of course." I had to laugh at the expression on my friend's face. "Where are Falin and Aela? I want to see the looks on their faces."

"Outside I think, possibly under the Gildergreen." Athis supplied.

Thanking him, I opened the doors out onto the wind district, followed by Ram-Ku, and came upon the sight of an argument. Two Stormcloaks, a man and a woman were arguing with Aela under the Gildergreen, whilst Falin sat on one of the benches behind them. As we drew closer I became able to make out what the Stormcloaks were saying.

"It's disgusting, and you a strong Nord woman, and a member of the Companions no less." The woman was saying, "Could you not have found a Nord to match you."

I was aware of Ram-Ku snarling behind me. Aela responded to the Stormcloak, "Who I share my bed with is no concern of yours Stormcloak."

"I'm just saying that you could do so much better than that." The woman replied, gesturing dismissively at Falin. Aela hissed slightly.

The male Stormcloak meanwhile had turned his attention to Falin, getting right up in her face, "Why don't you fuck off back to Morrowind you little greyskin slut, maybe if you ask nicely I'll fuck you before you go, give you a real fucking for once in your miserable life."

Ram-Ku started forward angrily, but before he could reach the man, Aela pivoted on her back leg and smashed in his lightly-armoured groin, causing him to bellow in pain and collapse to his knees. His female companion drew her sword and swung for Aela, missing her completely and being knocked down by a furious Ram-Ku swinging his fist into her face. The male Stormcloak had struggled back to his feet and yelled for help just as Aela ripped his helmet off and kicked him in the mouth, armoured foot knocking multiple teeth loose from his jaw. . Aela, Falin and Ram-Ku were quickly surrounded by blue-coated soldiers. The woman that Ram-Ku had punched was crouching on the floor, blood flowing freely from under her helmet, mixing with her male counterparts in a large puddle on the floor.

"Arrest them!" She howled, "All three of them. Throw them in the fucking Dragonsreach dungeons."

Wait, all three of them? The guards stepped forward, grabbing hold of Ram-Ku and Aela, but when one of them placed his hands on Falin she panicked, Ancestor's wrath flickering into life causing serious burns to the arresting guard. He fell back, screaming as Falin tried to make a break for freedom. Another guard brought the hilt of his sword down on the back of her head, sending her sprawling her unconscious across the bridge crossing the water channel. With Ram-Ku and Aela already subdued, the guards dragged them up the stairs towards the Dragonsreach dungeons, leaving me standing there, surrounded by numerous passers-by, all of us rendered dumbstruck by the events we had witnessed.

A/N: So, just to recap, Falin has a star, there are dark times ahead, Gakken has a hammer, Liedan is jealous, Ria is in the Circle, and Aela, Falin and Ram-Ku have been arrested. Next chapter: More Stormcloaks being racist.

Please review. Any questions about anything in the stories, anything you think I've portrayed wrong, constructive criticism, character opinions. I welcome them all.

Also, I'm once more looking at including one, maybe two OC's in this story. If you want yours to be one of them, PM me a character bio. Until next time.