XV: Catching Up

The sun was setting as the cart came to a stop near the Whiterun stables. I was half-sorry we had arrived. Another hour of sleep would have been nice.

"Mama!" I heard two voices call as I hopped out of the wagon. Lucia and Sofia came bounding up to me from down the hill, with Lydia following behind. I knelt down to hug both of the girls.

"So, how do you like your new home?" I asked Sofia.

"It's wonderful1" she exclaimed. "It's everything I could have hoped for! Thank you so much!"

"Where's Papa?" Lucia asked. "And who are they?" She looked at Fultheim and Alea suspiciously.

"Lokir and I had to split up," I said, giving Lydia a look that said we'd discuss the details later. "He's safe back in Riften. This is Alea Quintus and Fultheim the Fearless. Circumstances required us to travel together briefly." I stood and stretched my back.

"I could have come with you, if you'd asked me yesterday," Lydia said.

I shrugged. "I would have, but I was stuck around Morthal all of yesterday."

"Morthal?" Lydia asked. "Then why'd you leave your horse here last night?"

"My horse?" I looked over at the stables, where a familiar dark brown horse was contentedly away at a trough in one of the stalls. I slowly walked over to her and put my hands on her sides, hardly believing it was really her.

"That filthy s'wit knew I'd come back here first," I growled, then clapped my hands over my mouth and looked down at the girls. "Don't repeat that."

Lydia looked as confused as I felt. "What? Who?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Later."

After a brief stop to sell our loot at the various shops, we headed to the Bannered Mare. Breezehome wasn't really big enough for all of us to eat at the table, and I didn't feel like cooking.

Once we all had our food, I asked Lydia, "Anything noteworthy happen while I was gone?"

"Yeah," she said, looking down, "Skjor is dead."

"Skjor? What happened?" I asked.

"He went to scout out Gallows Rock on his own and the Silver Hand ambushed him."

I frowned. "Weren't they going to wait until Lokir and I returned to take that place on?"

"I guess Skjor got impatient." She shook her head sadly. "Once the Companions found out, they asked me to come along, and we cleaned the place out. They're looking for more Silver Hand hideouts, so they should have something else for you and Lokir to take care of." She looked at my companions. "So, care to tell me where you met these two?"

I frowned. "Well, now's not the best time…" I glanced at the little girls, then back at Lydia. "Let's just say we ran into some trouble and decided we needed to stick together. We wound up right outside of Ustengrav, so they offered to help me find the horn."

"Oh, so you can go back to the Greybeards now?"

I growled softly as I pulled the letter out of my pack. "Actually, I found this where the horn was supposed to be."

She read the note over and looked back at me. "This sounds like a trap."

"I know," I sighed, "but whoever left this has the horn. I have to investigate."

"It might not be," Fultheim said. "Why didn't they use your name?"

I shrugged. "Does that matter?"

"What if they really know something related to the Dragonborn? How did they know you'd be sent after the horn?"

I looked at him blankly. "Well… I hadn't thought of that…"

"They could have laid an ambush or a trap for you. I think they must know something about the Dragonborn, but not you specifically, or they would have sought you out directly."

I looked at him thoughtfully. "Maybe… But I'm still fetching Lokir before I go to Riverwood."

"Better safe than sorry," he said, nodding.

I resumed the story, telling them about the attack on Morthal as best I could without mentioning me being a werewolf. Lucia and Sofia enjoyed the story.

"After that, Jarl Idgrod made me thane of Morthal," I finished.

"Only you?" Lydia asked.

"She's the one who killed half the vampires," Fultheim said. "Without her, everyone would have been fighting blind in the dark."

"She also gave me a plot of land in northern Morthal," I continued. "And I have a new housecarl, Valdimar. He knew a bit about construction, so I asked him to stay behind for now and work on a new house."

"Ooh, are we going to move to the new house?" Lucia asked excitedly.

"Well… I don't know. I hadn't thought of it. But it's within sight of Solitude. If I had business there…"

"Are we going to have an oven, so we can bake sweet rolls?" Sophie asked.

"Sweet rolls," I said thoughtfully. I hadn't given this new house much thought, but I certainly could customize it. "Yes, we need an oven. And a storage room. And an alchemy lab… And a bathhouse!" I exclaimed.

"A bathhouse?" Fultheim asked blankly.

"Yes, a bathhouse. That's twice now I've almost died because I was ambushed while I was alone on the outskirts of town, not wearing armor. At least here in Whiterun, they have a nice sturdy bathhouse inside the barracks."

"They have a bathhouse here?" Fultheim asked. "I might want to stop by there before bedtime."

"Yeah, I can show you where it is," I said, frowning at the innkeeper, Hulda. She had walked over to the tavern's bard, Mikael, and was whispering something to him. A moment later, he strode to the middle of the room, carrying his lute, and announced, "This one's a favorite of mine. A legend we all know and love."

I turned my attention back to my food. I thought they were acting suspiciously. Guess I was just being paranoid. "Lucia, Sophie, I wish I could stay here, but I've got to leave for Riften in the morning. Alea is going to stay with you for now…"

"Our hero, our hero, claims a warrior's heart, I tell you, I tell you, the Dragonborn comes," Mikael sang.

I suddenly lost my thought. I looked over at him and noticed most of the other patrons of the Bannered Mare were looking at me. I quickly looked down at my plate, wondering if they could see me blushing under my fur.

The girls didn't pick up on my reaction to the song. They looked over at Alea. "Can you play tag?" Sophie asked.

"Of course," Alea said, smiling and speaking in a gentle tone I hadn't thought she was capable of.

"I'll expect you two to do what she says and not cause too much trouble while I'm gone." I turned to Alea. "And I trust you won't be too hard on them…"

"Don't worry about that," Alea said, sounding mildly offended. "I may not have much patience for adults, but I don't mistreat children."

"Okay. Just remember we're in this mess because someone was mistreating children."

I asked the girls what they had been up to and let them talk while I finished eating. I went back up to the counter to see if Hulda had any empty rooms to rent and cheese wheels for sale, then showed Fultheim the way to the bathhouse. Lydia followed me so we could make plans for tomorrow's trip without the girls overhearing.

"I take it you'll be leaving early tomorrow," Fultheim said as we stood at the entrance to the bathhouse. He seemed like something was bothering him.

"We'll be leaving right after the sun rises," I said. "I really want to join back up with Lokir as soon as possible, and you humans aren't good at traveling at night." I gave Lydia a withering glance, which she returned. I looked back at Fultheim. "You're free to take the cart to Solitude tomorrow. I don't need it. Or you could stay at the tavern and see if anyone needs any hired muscle."

"Ah, about that…" he said nervously. "I don't suppose you… er… well… need another follower?"

"You want to stay with me?" I asked cautiously.

"If… if you don't mind…" He took a deep breath. "I'm a mercenary. That's all I've ever been. I don't work for bandits, but… some of my employers have been… ruthless. Last one wanted us to attack a camp at night. I told him there was no honor in attacking sleeping men, but…"

"And you think I wouldn't ask that of you?"

"You let me live. You let me go. You came back to save Morthal from the vampires, knowing the townspeople were likely to attack you for being a werewolf. I wouldn't mind tying myself to someone with your sense of right and wrong."

I wanted to agree with him and leave it at that, but I just shook my head and said, "I used to think I had a definite sense of what was right and wrong, but I'm not so sure anymore. The line seems to become less clear each day. If I keep going, I know I'll find my line again, but I'm afraid of who I'll be by then."

"I think you're being too hard on yourself…"

"Do you enjoy killing?" I interrupted.

He looked startled. "Well… No, it's just a job…"

"I enjoyed killing the bandits who killed my parents," I said. "I thought that was just my desire for revenge. After that, I was on my own for two years, with nowhere to live. I had to hunt for my food. I got excited whenever I made a kill, but I thought that was just because making a kill meant I'd get to eat that night. Then the dragon attacked, and I found myself on a path where I had to start killing people, and I found it also excites me. In a few months, I might be a different person, one you don't want to follow."

"You said you could control yourself. That's good enough for me."

"Yes, I can right now. But part of me wants to ignore my inhibitions. There may come a day when I can't fight that part of myself anymore…" I shrugged. "You can stay with me for a little while. I'll pay you with a share of any loot we find. If I'm right and you come to find I'm really a monster, you're free to leave. You don't have to swear loyalty to me."

"Thank you. I won't let you down." He gave my arm a tentative squeeze. "And I still think you're being too hard on yourself. I think there's more good in you than you give yourself credit for."

We left around dawn the next morning. Since I was eager to get back to Riften, Lydia and Fultheim rode in the carriage, while I followed on my horse.

We arrived at Riften a few hours before dusk. I dropped my horse off at the stable, looked wistfully at the gray ones, then shrugged and turned away. If I combined the coins I had with me with the ones I had left behind, I might be able to afford one of them.

"Ra'wati!" I heard Lokir call from behind me. I spun around and saw him galloping toward me on his black horse. I ran to meet him, and he jumped off his horse and ran to meet me. We embraced, each trying to out-squeeze the other.

"By the Eight, where have you been?" Lokir demanded.

"I was drugged and kidnapped," I said. "We need to discuss this in private."

He nodded and started to loosen his grip around my ribs. I heard Lydia and Fultheim approaching. "Who's he?" Lokir asked curiously.

I pulled away. "This is Fultheim the Fearless. He's a mercenary. I can't really tell you how we met right now, but he asked if he could stay with me."

He looked Fultehim over, then looked back at me with a grin. "I knew you'd get lonely without me."

I started to protest, then noticed a woman in a long gray hooded robe walking over to us, leading Lokir's horse. She was watching him intently, almost protectively. I looked back at Lokir and poked him in the ribs. "Oh, I was the only one who got lonely?"

He shrugged sheepishly. "She's not following me, I'm following her at the moment. I'm glad you showed up again. We might need your help." He turned and waved for the woman to come join us. He lowered his voice and said, "This is very important and you need to hear her out, okay? This is Serana and she's… Well, she's a vampire."

SOUNDTRACK: "Of These Chains" by Red, "Nothing Left To Say" by Imagine Dragons, "Cain's Blood" by 4 Runner, "Good Man" by Devour the Day, "The Real You" by Three Days Grace

AUTHOR'S NOTE: You may have noticed Ra'wati's repeated offhand references to buying cheese. This is all leading up to something, I promise.

Sorry about the short filler chapter. I hate this one too, but it was necessary.