"Nereus!"

Ria's shout rang through the woods as her brother darted ahead. They were still too young to be out this far by themselves, but that wasn't going to stop them anytime soon. The two of them had already decided they were going to be warriors, Companions of Jorrvaskr, even if she was only six and he was only nine.

And, as Companions spent their lives adventuring, so would they.

"Nereus, wait for me!"

"Slowpoke!" he called back to her.

"I am not a slowpoke!" she yelled, speeding up as much as she could. It was difficult navigating some of the thicker underbrush, with the twigs and shrubs which she herself was only barely taller than, but she managed, trying her hardest to at least keep pace while her brother disappeared behind a tree.

It would all be alright, she knew. Pontius and Maris had taught the two of them important things about the woods. They knew what to do if an animal attacked them, they knew to avoid certain places where spriggans were known to lurk, and they knew a few plants they could eat if they ever got lost. And it helped that Valdr, a boy about ten winters older than Ria, had taught them a few tips and tricks, like how to start a fire with some flint. He was a hunter, and hunters knew these things.

Ria could feel the twigs cracking beneath her boots as she scampered through the underbrush. She had to be careful: if her mother saw cuts on her boots or tears on her skirts, she'd be in trouble for sure. Tears and cuts were a telltale sign that they'd been out in the woods, and, little as Ria was, even she knew that she couldn't hide them from her mother's careful gaze.

And perhaps she really would be in trouble for sure, because she nearly toppled to the ground and tore her dress when she finally caught up with (or, more accurately, bumped into) Nereus. "What-?"

"Shh!" he cautioned, though he was still rather loud himself. "Look!"

Nereus pointed ahead of them, to a glade just a ways away. In it was one of the most amazing sights Ria had ever seen in her life. It was majestic, and enormous, and almost surreal. She'd seen pictures like it before in books, but never a real one, not in person. She wanted to reach out, to see if she could touch it, but there was no way from where she was standing.

There, in the glade, was a bear, the dangerous sort of things that warriors and hunters fought and that her mother always warned her about.

"Wow," she breathed, entranced by the sight. The creature moved slowly through its home, pawing at the ground lazily. It was completely unlike anything she would have ever imagined, and more than anything else, she wanted a closer look.

As carefully as she could muster, she snuck around her brother, ducking under his outstretched arm to get past him. She tiptoed, trying not to scuff up her boots more than she already had that day, making sure not to tear her dress, being quiet as a dormouse.

From behind her, a swallow chirped suddenly, and she nearly fell on her face. Somehow, she managed to catch herself before she hit the ground, but not before she stumbled forward, tripping over twigs and snapping them loudly.

Uh-oh.

The bear looked up, searching around for the source of the noise. Ria stayed perfectly still, hoping it wouldn't see her. What had mama told her about bears again?

Her heart hammered in her chest as the bear's eyes settled on her and Nereus. Be big, she thought to herself. Be big and the bear will think you're too big to eat. That's what her mother had taught her long ago, but all Ria could think at the moment was that she really was very small, probably the smallest child in town.

"Run!" Nereus shouted.

Well, that always worked, too.

Ria ran as fast as her legs allowed back through the underbrush, veering past trees and barely staying upright. It was tough, sprinting and panting and hoping she wouldn't trip, all while trying to remember the way back home in case she had to run that far.

Somewhere along the way, she realized she couldn't see Nereus. He'd gone off a different direction, and she was alone. Completely alone, with neither bear nor brother in sight.

As she tried to catch her breath, Ria searched and listened, hoping to hear something besides the rustling of birds in branches. Really, all she could see were trees. She didn't even know where she was anymore, let alone where Nereus could be or where home was. If she was lucky, she could make it back to the glade, but she didn't risk that. She stuck to her spot, terrified out of her wits. What if the bear ate Nereus? What if she never found her way home?

A growl woke her from her thoughts, and she screamed. The bear couldn't be far off, she knew, but she couldn't see it. All she could do was run, and run, and try not to trip, and hope that she didn't bump headfirst into the beast.

And before she even knew how she got there, Ria was at the edge of the glade again, and she knew where Nereus and the bear had run off to. Her brother, for his part, was scaling a large rock, or at least trying to. The bear was circling him, snarling and growling, ready to climb up behind this easy prey.

Ria didn't have time to think. All she knew was that her big brother was in trouble, and she would be in trouble, too, if she didn't do something. She searched for something, anything at all, that would help her in this fight, that might at least make her big and scary and make the bear run away, as if she weren't the perfect bite-sized snack.

When she looked at the ground next to her, she could see a rather large tree branch. It seemed awfully heavy, but she would do what she needed to right now. She gripped it with both of her hands and heaved until she had it high in the air and stood shaking under its weight.

"Over here, you big milk-drinker!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

From the way the bear turned to look at her, maybe that wasn't such a good idea, after all. Still, she held the tree branch steady while Nereus climbed the rock further. The wind blowing by wobbled the leaves, and her strength faltered. Oh, dear.

The bear charged at her, and Ria puffed up her chest. She raised the branch high as it could go, refusing to run back into the woods. Be big, she told herself again. Be big and stand still and look scary. Be big and look scary and make scary sounds.

Ria did her best to imitate a growl as the bear got closer and closer. She pretended the branch was a sword, and held it exactly the way Lod had taught her. Lod knew these things, as he was going to be one of the Jarl's guards one day, if he got his wish.

And as the bear got close enough to pounce, Ria swung. The thick end of the branch hit the bear on the snout, and it staggered backwards just a bit. She teetered off balance as the branch fell to the ground on the other side of her.

This was it. The bear was quickly recovering, and she wasn't. Six years old, and she was going to be eaten by a bear. And then Nereus would be eaten by the bear. Maybe the bear would go back to Falkreath and eat everyone. Oh, no.

An arrow buzzed through the air, hitting the bear squarely in the skull.

Ria stood in shock for a moment as the bear fell over, quite dead. Now, where did that come from?

"Ria!" A familiar voice rang through the glade. She turned, looking for the source, and saw Valdr quickly striding towards her, a look of confusion on his face. "Ria, kid, the hell are you doing here?"

His voice didn't seem angry, but Ria was having a hard time answering. "Ex... exploring," she stammered, still shaken.

"And fighting bears, apparently. You're lucky it wasn't a big one." Valdr wiped a hand over his face, like he didn't know what to do. "Gave him a good clonk, by the looks of it."

"I did?"

"Yeah." He clapped a hand on her back as he let out a laugh. "Yeah, you did. Your brother over there looks like he might have sullied his pants." Valdr grinned as he turned to the boy clinging for dear life to the rock he'd been climbing. "I guess I'll be dragging the two of you back to your mother."

He pursed his fingers in his lips and whistled loud, and a group of teenagers in armor just like his came running out into the glade. "You two," he said, pointing at a pair of them, "help Pipsqueak over there down from that rock. And the rest strip the bear for its pelt and meat and haul it home. Oh, and bring back the head whole."

"The hell for?" one of the girls called back.

"So we can mount it on a plaque and give it back to this kid here, dumbass." Valdr's hand clapped down on her shoulder once again, encouraging and exhilarating. "Never known a six-year-old who could knock a bear back by herself."

Where once Ria had felt nothing but shock and fear, she now felt a small sense of pride. She beamed at the group of hunters, most of whom continued grumbling as they cut into the bear. It didn't matter if they cared or not. She had done something. The little girl who wanted to tag along with everyone as the smallest child in town had fought a bear and came out unscathed.

Ria, Slayer of Bears.

She rather liked the sound of that.

"You did what?"

Maris' face was a mixture of shock and fury as she looked at Ria, who, for her part, was now trying to hide behind Valdr. She'd almost forgotten about what her parents would say, and she wished the hunter had never mentioned anything at all.

"She did everything right, ma'am," Valdr said, his voice a bit uneasy. "You're supposed to look big with bears and hit 'em on the snout, and she did."

"She shouldn't have been fighting a bear in the first place!" Ria's mother was usually a fairly calm, collected woman, but right now she was positively fuming. Not yelling, not cruel; just very, very angry. "I have told you and you," she said, pointing at Nereus, who was shifting uncomfortably under his mother's gaze, "to stay in town, and to absolutely never go into the woods." Her finger shook in frustration. "And when you don't listen to me, look what happens! You nearly get eaten alive by a bear!"

"But we didn't!" Ria squeaked, and immediately regretted doing so as her mother shot her a look that could cut through stone.

"She's right." Valdr tugged her out from where she'd been hiding behind him. She silently cursed him in her head, using all the words that her parents had told her never to use. "She got him square on the nose. That made it a hell of a lot easier for me, I'll tell you, because it made the bear stop moving around for a minute. Might have missed the mark completely if she hadn't done it."

Slowly but surely, Maris calmed down. "Well, that's something, I suppose." Ria and Nereus each breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't think the two of you are off the hook just yet, though. Neither of you are leaving the town until I say you can, and no sweet rolls for a month, starting tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes, tomorrow." For the first time since Ria had come home that day, Maris smiled. "I think Valdr had a point. "You did stun a bear with a tree branch, and that does count for something. We'll celebrate the fact that you made it home safely. But if you go out in the woods again, I'll drag you both home by the ear. Understood?"

Ria nodded as a smile spread across her own face. Celebrating sounded lovely. She wondered if that was what Companions did after successful fights.

If it was, she could get used to it.