"If this girl is your daughter, you need to tell her."
Ulfric hung his head as he heard the words that left Galmar's lips. It was exactly what he had expected to hear from the old man, and he gave a slight nod.
"I know," Ulfric said in a low voice. "I want to tell her."
"Then why don't you?"
"I'm afraid that she'll resent me." Ulfric turned his head away, ashamed as he continued to speak. "I knew nothing of her existence. I'm afraid that she will think I abandoned her, or that I didn't want her. I'm afraid she won't believe me when I say that I didn't know. I'm just…I'm afraid."
He hated admitting it. He was supposed to be fearless, the brave and courageous Nord leader and High King of Skyrim, but his own beautiful daughter struck fear in his heart.
"The longer you keep it from her, the more likely she will be to resent you," said Galmar sternly. "If she finds out that you've known since the night she arrived and haven't said anything – and if she's anything like her mother - she'll probably be furious."
Ulfric gave a slight nod. "You are right," he agreed. "It leaves me no less fearful that she will reject me, though."
"Then at least you will both know the truth finally, and you will have peace of mind knowing that you tried. Perhaps she will change her mind later on, when she has had time to herself and thought about it," Galmar said with a knowing grin.
Before Ulfric could even so much as open his mouth to respond, the majestic palace doors opened and Leola slipped inside. Her blonde hair was drawn into a loose braid that ran down her back, and she wore a simple blue dress. Ulfric couldn't help but to smile when he saw her.
"Good evening, Leola," he said.
"Good evening, Ulfric," she responded with a smile. "Good evening, Galmar."
"A girl was here looking for you," said Galmar to the blonde, and both she and Ulfric looked at him in surprise.
"Really? Who was it?" asked Leola curiously.
"Not sure. She said she was staying at the Candlehearth Inn though, so for you to just drop by when you got the chance," Galmar replied, and Leola nodded curiously.
"I guess I'll go there in the morning, then," she said. "Is there anything ready to eat before bed?"
"Pheasant roast and potato soup in the kitchen," said Galmar, moving to stand up. "I'll go and get you some."
"No, let me do it," said Leola with a warm smile, hurrying off to the kitchen before Galmar could object. The old man smiled after the girl as she walked off, shifting his attention back to Ulfric.
"You have an amazing girl there, Ulfric," he said approvingly as he stood up. "You'd best let her know where she got that."
"From her mother, no doubt," said Ulfric, and Galmar laughed.
"You underestimate yourself, High King of Skyrim," said the old man before heading away. Leola emerged from the kitchens just as Galmar disappeared into the sleeping quarters.
"This smells good," Leola chimed as she headed to the table, seating herself beside Ulfric and setting down the plate that held her roasted pheasant and the bowl of soup.
"Be sure to tell Nilsird in the morning that you enjoyed it, then," said Ulfric with a small smile.
"Of course I will," chimed the young woman sweetly before beginning to eat the soup. Ulfric's eyes fell upon the large tankard beside his hand, half-full of mead. A handful of empty bottles littered the surface of the table, and a line of bottles waited nearby to top off the tankard if he needed more.
"Do you want a drink?" Ulfric asked, glancing over at her.
"No thank you," Leola said softly, her gaze following his towards the mead bottles. "I don't drink alcohol."
Ulfric raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. He remembered watching her mother drink, downing bottle after bottle of mead like a true Nord warrior. But then, of course, their drunkenness had been what caused that fateful night so many years ago, so perhaps she had quit drinking when she had Leola. It made sense.
"Well, I see you're not a true Nord, then," he said in a teasing voice, offering her a friendly smile. Leola shrugged.
"I don't even know if I'm all Nord," she said softly. "I never met my father. For all I know, he could be a dark elf." A light laugh escaped Leola's lips, and Ulfric shook his head, smiling.
"Your mother was a good person, but not the type to bed an elf," he said. "I knew your mother, I'm…I'm almost certain that your father had to have been a Nord."
"Do you…do you have any idea who it was?" Leola asked softly, looking up at him. "If you knew her as well as you say you do, I'm sure you knew the types of people she spent time with."
Ulfric remained silent for a moment. To a degree, he did know who she had spent her time with. She had been a Stormcloak through and through, so he knew that she had spent a great deal of time with the troops, and with himself and Galmar. However, he also knew that she had loyalties lying in other places, with people unknown to him. After the Emperor's assassination, rumours had spread that she'd been seen in Solitude the day it had happened, yet many ascertained that the Dark Brotherhood was responsible for his death. There were many times that she would leave Windhelm, refusing to say where she was going and refusing to say where she'd been when she returned. He had often suspected that she was in some way affiliated with the Dark Brotherhood, but until the day came that she came to kill him, he had decided not to question her about it.
"To a degree," he said slowly. "Your mother spent a lot of time here. She did live here, after all, and I believe that Windhelm was her favourite city. She did often leave, though. I don't know where she went, or with whom she travelled. She went all over Skyrim, and even to Solstheim, I'm told."
"Why did she go to Solstheim?" asked Leola, clearly curious.
Ulfric smiled. This adventure was one that she had detailed to him, so he was more than happy to tell Leola all that he knew.
"Well, she was in Riften – Talos only knows why – when some strangers came up and questioned her about being the Dragonborn. She was Dragonborn, I know this for sure, so when she told them this, they attacked her. She killed them, and she found a letter on one of them with instructions to come to Skyrim and kill her before she reached Solstheim, so naturally, she went to Solstheim. She discovered that an evil, ancient Dragon priest – the first Dragonborn, a man called Miraak – had enslaved much of the island and intended to take over. She never did find out why, whether he wished to rule all of Tamriel, or to destroy it."
Ulfric gazed towards Leola, who was listening intently, and smiled slightly. For a moment, he felt like a father – a true father, telling his little girl stories of heroes and villains, good and evil, and the fate of Tamriel.
"So he was Dragonborn like she was..?" Leola asked softly, and Ulfric nodded.
"He was. He could absorb the souls of dragons for more power, just as she could, and he wielded the power of the thu'um. She got the help of a handful of people in Solstheim – including the Skaal, a Nord tribe living on the island – and travelled to Oblivion, where she fought and defeated Miraak and saved Tamriel."
Leola smiled up at him as she listened. She gave a slight nod, though there was a slight falter in her ever-present smile when he said that her mother had travelled to Oblivion. As his story reached its end, Leola gave a small nod.
"That's amazing," she said softly. "So my mother saved Tamriel many times in her life."
"Many," said Ulfric with a smile. "She saved us from dragons, from all sorts of villains bent on destroying us…she saved Skyrim from the Imperial influence…"
"You know, Ulfric," said Leola suddenly, smiling over at him, "I know that with her gone, I'll never find out who my father was, but if I could, I would hope that it would be someone like you."
"Like me?" Ulfric asked, startled.
"Brave and strong and kind, and someone who admired and respected my mother and her accomplishments the way you do. You can really hear it when you talk about her," she explained. "I think you'd be a great father."
"I… er, thank you," Ulfric said, at a loss for words.
Leola stood, but before she began to walk away, she leaned down and laid a soft kiss on his cheek.
"Thank you, Ulfric," she said softly. "For everything. For letting me stay here, for taking care of me until I get back on my own feet, and for telling me about how wonderful my mother really was."
With that, she turned and headed in the direction of the sleeping quarters, with Ulfric staring intently after her. A slight pain stabbed at his heart as the door closed behind the beautiful blonde. Galmar was right. He should tell her, he should be honest with her and let her know. After what she had just said, he had a feeling that she wouldn't resent him for it – if anything, she would probably understand why he was hesitant to say anything.
A sigh left his lips and he shook his head. His blue eyes fell upon the half-filled tankard of mead in his hand. He hesitated a moment, and then brought it to his lips, downing every last drop in a single go before letting the tankard hit the table with a thud as he stood and walked briskly from the table.