Vilkas drank slowly from the tankard, savoring the warm taste of Nord Mead running down his throat, watching the new arrival and Njada engage in a light sparring session in the back courtyard. Using fake, practice weapons, aside from Njada's hide shield that is, they were going at it with as much intensity as the real thing. They weren't wearing real armor, just the hide gear they had laying around. Not point in dressing in the real thing for a practice match.

Well, Elina was, at least. Njada on the other hand was more or less just tanking every blow Elina gave her with her shield. Occasionally, Elina would roll around, trying to get behind Njada, who, in turn, kept backpedalling and giving ground, forcing Elina to keep attacking in hopes of breaking through the block. Elina's form and technique was...well, rather basic. Nothing but the same repeated swings over and over. Left to right, right to left. Her one handed longsword kept repeating the same arcs over and over. Every once in a while Elina would try to smack the shield aside with her bare hand, but every time, Njada would just smack her in the face.

His attention was driven away from the spar but the sound of the door behind him slowly open ajar.

"Hey Vilkas, how's it going?"

"Ah, Harbinger. It's going well." He nodded as Amelia sat down next to him, "Elina has taken quite a shine to life her, though we've had to increase our food stores by three quarters ever since she came."

Amelia raised an eyebrow, "Elina?"

"Ah, her name. As it turns out, where-ever she's from uses a similar alphabet to ours. Had to get Farengar to help translate it though." Vilkas explained.

"Oh, has she written anything else?" Amelia asked.

"No, not at all, not talkative, that one is. In more ways then one."

"Oh. Alright…." Amelia leaned back in her chair, watching the two duel.

There was a thick silence for a while, the sound only broken by the grunts and thuds of two combatants sparring.

"Hey Vilkas…..Do you think we're holding her against her will? Elina I mean." Amelia asked, a forlorn look on her face.

"What brought this on?" Vilkas asked, not turning his eyes off the duel.

"Just….Well, I feel kinda guilty about having you guys kidnap her and…."

"Hm." Vilkas placed the tankard on the table and crossed his arms, "Well, I thought so too at first. After all, we did drag her here to the city by the arms. But, she seems to have adjusted to life here pretty well, and yesterday, I told her she could leave anytime she wanted. No strings attached."

"Did she refuse or…."

"She left. For a while at least." Vilkas continued, "But, she came back just this morning. I don't know why she came back, and frankly, I couldn't care. It's not my place to pry into a person's personal life."

"Huh. Wonder where she went." Amelia pondered.

"Who knows? Maybe she went to explore the lay of the land." Vilkas shrugged his shoulders.

"Hm, maybe she was on the wrong end of a teleportation spell or something." Amelia guessed, "I saw a monk use it once, so I don't think it would be impossible for her to be from far away."

"Hm, maybe." Vilkas rubbed his chin, "Her armor isn't of Nord make, and Eorlund didn't recognize it, though he was fairly certain he could remake it if given the right materials."

"So maybe somewhere south?" Amelia rubbed her own beardless chin.

"Who knows? Either way, I'm not going to pry. But there is one thing you should know."

"What's that?"

"On her back, in-between her shoulder blades, there's a brand there. A small circle that seems cold to the touch, but holds a faint warmth. At least that's what old Tilma said." Vilkas explained.

"Huh? What do you-"

"Hey! Are you two done chatting, or are you going to going to join in?" The one called Njada called over, causing Elina to stop midstep and letting her blond hair fly in front of her. Oh, were they done already? Shame, she hadn't gotten a backstab yet. She was fairly certain that two good swings to the back of the head would knock her senseless. Then, she could eat to her heart's content. She hadn't eaten anything last night, mostly because the wolf man, Vilkas, had told her that there was some string or something out there and he wanted her to find it. Having nothing else to do, (and not really listening to what he was saying either) Elina ventured out into the night and wandered around for a bit.

It was utterly amazing how much trouble an immortal undead could get into in one night. Those giants will never be able to sleep soundly again, for fear of the lion dressed warrior trying to steal all their stuff.

"No, that's enough for now." Vilkas answered, standing up. Oh, hey, redhead was here, maybe now they could finish their fight, but defender wasn't there. Oh well, maybe another time.

Njada nodded, then turned to Elina, "Next time, try not to embarrass yourself." She said dismissively, causing the Undead to raise an eyebrow. Embarrass? The hell was that? Some kind of armor or something? Oh wait, her sister used that term once….

Sister?

Any further thought was cut off as Vilkas spoke up, "Anyway, Elina, could you come here for a moment?" Vilkas called out as Njada wandered off. Stepping up to the patio, Elina looked to him.

"Listen, just to be clear about this, because I don't think it really sunk into your head last night."

Elina blinked.

Sighing, Vilkas rubbed his head, "Right, Elina, you no longer have to stay here. You're free to go back to where ever it is you came from."

Elina blinked, and rubbed the back of her head. Was...she being held captive until now? She hadn't even noticed. It wasn't like she didn't have the feather Shanalotte gave her at the Dragon's Aerie. Hell, it's not like they could hold her anyway, you can't keep a good Undead down after all. But more to the point, the only reason she had been sticking around was, well, there was literally nothing else for her. Drangelic, was who knows where else, and she was in no hurry to return. There were other Undead after all. Personally, she had her bets placed on Lucatiel then anyone else. And this "Skyrim" place was a lot better than anywhere else. Mostly because of the lack of people trying to gut her, (though she was willing to bet that somebody would get a sword through the stomach pretty soon.) the food, and the fact that nobody seemed to have the curse of undeath, for now, at least.

Anyway, Elina just shrugged her shoulders in response to Vilkas's statement, casually twirling her fake sword in one hand. Amusingly, redhead eye's followed the twirl and soon became enraptured in a trance, her head moving in rhythm with the sword.

"I see." Vilkas said, smiling wryly at the display, "But, the only way you can stay here would be to become a Companion, but you need to be tested by one of the senior members, and an approval from the Harbinger, who is the lass you're entrancing right here."

"Hiiiii…." Redhead said softly, watching the sword twirling.

"Anyway, lass, which is it going to be?" Vilkas asked, crossing his arms.

Elina raised an eyebrow, and shrugged her shoulders.

Good news, I'm not dead. Lately, I've been busy with other things in life, such as college and whatnot, (And playing DSII DLC.) Anyway, it's a really short chapter this time, and there's a reason for that. I couldn't decide what do with Elina. Does she join the Companions? Or does she go off on her own? Either way, after much pondering, I choose to leave it up to you, the readers. Depending upon the majority, Elina will venture out onto her own, or go through the test like the DB did in the main game.

Anyway, please review!

Truly Wandering, Outlaw.