Chapter Two

It Takes a Village (Part One)

Ghorbash, Scouts and Gunjar woke early, like they did every morning to see to the land and house. Scouts was already in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. They looked towards the door to find that The Dragonborn, known by his friends as Ivan, had returned from wherever it was that he had been.

"Ghorbash" Ivan said, "I'm home!"

"I can see that sir" Ghorbash replied as he appeared from the back room, "But you weren't supposed to be back for another two days. What happened?"

Ivan laughed, "You know me. I always get things done early."

Ivan walked through the main hall and into his bedroom where he kept an armor mannequin.

"Ghorbash" Ivan called again, "Can you help me with this?"

Ghorbash rolled his eyes, for he knew that Ivan was just being lazy.

"If you can shout dragons out of the sky" Ghorbash answered, "Than taking off armor shouldn't be a problem."

Ivan laughed and reappeared dressed in normal work clothes. It was then that he noticed Samuel, who was sitting at the kitchen table, patiently waiting for breakfast.

"Ghorbash" Ivan said curiously, "Who is this?"

Ghorbash looked at Samuel and then at Ivan, he saw no reason to lie

"This is Samuel" Ghorbash declared, "He came to us during the night; we gave him a place to stay."

Ivan nodded in understanding, but still kept his disposition

"And when will he be leaving?"

Scouts stopped working in the kitchen; a dead silence filled the room, almost as if the house itself had answered for them. Ivan's brow furrowed in contempt. Ghorbash nervously motioned for Samuel to come closer, he did so. Ghorbash then turned towards Ivan and gave his answer.

"Now before you say anything-"

Ivan cut him off

"By the Nine you adopted him!"

Ghorbash knew that he would jump to that conclusion, so did Scouts, who slowly resumed his work but not so that he couldn't hear the conversation.

"Of course not" Ghorbash said defensively, "We just thought that it would be best if Samuel were to stay here until someone came along. Gunjar already sent a messenger to the Orphanage in Riften, it's been done."

Ivan groaned. He had no interest in being a father, as if he was qualified for the position in the first place. Ghorbash already voiced his opinion on the issue, he was with a mind of Ivan, but his was more on actual reason than simple dislike or unwillingness. Scouts however, was happy to take Samuel on. Brelyna, who had returned to Winterhold, also said that she would be honored to "raise" Samuel until a suitable family came along. Odahviing, who was visiting like he did every morning, chimed in the conversation.

"Thuri" Odahviing chastised, "I think it is practical. Besides it'd be nice to get some cheer in here."

Odahviing turned to Samuel

"Think of me as the fun uncle you've always wanted."

Samuel smiled, Ivan was not amused.

"Are you serious?" Ivan screamed turning to Odahviing, "You can't be his uncle; you're not even relatively human!"

Odahviing brushed him off, "I fail to see why that matters. I mean after all, wolves do it all the time to human young. Who says dragons can't do the same?"

"You're mad!" Ivan exclaimed

"I'm with Odahviing" Scouts replied, he was standing by the kitchen door at this point, "At least until we find someone who wants him."

Ivan rolled his eyes, almost as if he knew that Argonian would be on board. Ivan turned towards the Orc to get his opinion.

"Please tell me that you're not with this" Ivan begged, "Please tell me that. Tell me that you're a vampire, that you're a daedra worshiper-"

Ghorbash cut him off at this, "Does Malacath count as a daedra?"

"Yes" Ivan answered annoyingly

Ghorbash smiled, "Then this boy should be nothing."

Ivan groaned again, personally everyone thought that he was being over dramatic for no reason.

"Let me do something" Samuel blurted out, "Let me prove my worth! I'm the fastest runner in all of Skyrim. I'm a decent scout; I know these woods like the back of my hand. How do you think I got here on my own all the way from Riften? Why I bet that I can-"

Ivan screamed, he didn't scream an actual word or at any particular person, just an audible noise. Ghorbash, in an effort to get him to stop, slapped Ivan as hard as he could.

Ivan stopped, he was so surprised that he didn't even know what to say, his face was of complete shock and disbelief. Odahviing laughed hysterically

"It seems that even The Dragonborn needs to be slapped once in a while!"

Ivan whipped around towards Odahviing and bashed his teeth as if he were a wolf

"Shut up you scale backed overgrown lizard! What do you know anyway?"

Odahviing huffed; he wasn't going to answer if Ivan was going to be childish. Scouts stared at Ivan as if he were a spoiled brat without a sense of how things worked in the world, his eyebrows were neither raised nor furrowed, but somewhere in between, his arms were crossed and his stance, which was normal straight, had leaned and favored the left, his right shoulder towards the kitchen.

Ivan turned towards Ghorbash, who slapped him again for good measure; this caused Ivan to fall into the chair that was behind him. Ivan finally gave up and ran his hands through his hair, which had bits of dirt and blood in it.

"If you're doing this-" Ivan said reluctantly, "do it right! Keep him out of my affairs Ghorbash...and no more than a month. If he's still here by then throw him out!"

Ghorbash nodded in understanding, Ivan's request seemed fair. Scouts and Odahviing relaxed, happy at least to see that Ivan had agreed to the arrangement.

Samuel turned to Ghorbash and Scouts, "What should I call you guys?"

Ghorbash and Scouts thought about it long and hard. They both knew that the moniker of "father" was overstepping boundaries; they had to also be careful not to become too attached to Samuel, for if that happened it was inevitable that they would want him to stay.

"Think of me as your older brother" Scouts answered

Ghorbash nodded, guessing that Scouts would play that part. Ghorbash decided to be the exact opposite of Odahviing.

"Think of me as your uncle who actually cares for your well being-"

Ghorbash turned to Odahviing

"And who won't potentially put you in life threatening situations."

Odahviing laughed, "Come now that's hardly fair is it?" he said, "I'm a dragon. What do you expect me to do, sit on the Throat of the World and meditate like some old mystic? No! I am a cut above that!"

Ghorbash and Scouts became uncomfortable, for they knew that Odahviing was talking about Paarthurnax

Odahviing huffed, sensing their discomfort.

"It's a game we play" Odahviing explained, "To see who can come up with the best insults. All in good fun I assure you."

Ghorbash wasn't convinced, Scouts a little more so, but he was still weary on the issue.

Breakfast was uneventful. Ivan taking his food all the way to the Tower to avoid being seen at the same table with Samuel, who barely even noticed that Ivan was gone, for Ghorbash, Scouts and Odahviing kept him entertained by telling stories, swapping jokes and radiating off of each other's good energy that flowed throughout the room as if it were poisoned with laughter and merriment.

After breakfast, Ghorbash and Scouts decided to work in the orchard, bringing Samuel along to introduce him to the other workers. Odahviing meanwhile, headed for the lake and to Riverwood to catch some fish and to see an old friend.

Flying high to avoid being seen instantly, Odahviing, with a large bundle of fish in his claws, dropped the bundle skillfully down a hallow tree trunk for Ghorbash or Scouts to pick up later. The dragon then reached Riverwood, landing in the river itself, to not cause destruction to the buildings.

Odahviing, and Paarthurnax for that matter, were regulars at Riverwood to the point where the townspeople accepted them as part of the community. Gerdur, the miller, was busy with cutting timber, as if there was anything else that a miller could be busy with. Odahviing made a point to tell Ivan to get lumber from Gerdur, since Half Moon refused to sell.

Hadvar was at his uncle's smith, having an extended ten year leave from the Legion to recover from the war. When he wasn't off fighting rebels or the Dominion, Hadvar helped his uncle. Personally Hadvar thought that blacksmithing was a rather boring occupation, he would rather be on the road or on the battlefield. Odahviing looked to his right, for he was in front of the mill and saw the forge. Odahviing had heard about Hadvar from the stories that Ivan had told him, from these stories, Odahviing judged that Hadvar was a good, decent and honest man.

"Hadvar" Odahviing called, "You look tried, come here and sit with me."

Hadvar didn't so much as look up at Odahviing, he was too focused on his work, at the moment he was making a steel sword.

"Leave me alone Odahviing" Hadvar exclaimed, "I'm working."

Odahviing grunted, "Why? You're not doing anything important. There are no dragons to slay, people to rape or castles and villages to pillage. If I recall that's what soldiers do right?"

Hadvar rolled his eyes and still continued with his work, "Not the Legion. Maybe the Stormcloaks did, but not us, we're dignified."

Odahviing laughed, "Dignity has many definitions for many different people Hadvar. What you call dignity, others might call..."

Odahviing personally had no idea where he was going with this and so immediately dropped the statement.

"Never you mind!" the dragon continued, "Please sit with me" he was begging now, "I'm lonely."

Hadvar shook his head and said nothing, trying to the best of his ability to continue his work.

Odahviing began thrashing the water by splashing his claws around, moving his wings back and forth and slamming his tail against the riverbed. All of these things were loud and incredibly annoying. Hadvar gave in.

"Alright already!" Hadvar screamed, "Gods you're worse than Dorthe is!"

Odahviing stopped and laughed to himself as Hadvar made his way over.

"See" Odahviing said with a grin, "Now that wasn't so hard now was it?"

"You're a spoiled child" Hadvar replied

"Spoiled child!" Odahviing cried, extremely offended, "Why that was mere sport, not spoiled at all. That would imply that I was raised boy!"

Hadvar stared at Odahviing in confusion, "What are you talking about? You have parents don't you?"

Odahviing nodded, "Had" he answered sharply, "I had parents. Weren't exactly the kindest of people, being that they're Stendarr and Kynareth, they barely had time for me."

Hadvar become even more confused, for it had always been said that dragons came from other dragons, like all things and that the first dragon came from Akatosh himself.

"Not entirely true." Odahviing corrected, "Although not entirely false either."

This was all he would say.

"What does it matter where I came from?" Odahviing concluded, "What matters is the here and the now."

Hadvar rolled his eyes, annoyed that Odahviing once again, had no point to anything, he was starting to feel as if the dragon had nothing interesting to say at all, for not having points was a constant thing with him. Hadvar assumed this was with all dragons.

"What are you doing?" Hadvar asked annoyingly, "I have to get back to work."

Odahviing laughed, "No you don't" he said

Before Hadvar could blink, Odahviing flipped him up in the air with a swipe of his claw. Just as Hadvar was about to fall back to the earth, Odahviing flew up and leveled out, Hadvar landing on the dragon's back. Odahviing then headed back to Lakeview, Hadvar was screaming for about five minutes.

When Odahviing returned to Lakeview about ten minutes later, for it wasn't that far from Riverwood, Scouts, Ghorbash and Samuel were in the orchard...