A/N: Last update of the year! I hope you guys have enjoyed another year of TSD. I'm excited for what's to come in the New Year! Have a great NYE everybody!
Ulfric's large hand was on top of his heart, and he was looking at his daughter with terrified blue eyes. Leola put one hand on his shoulder, the other over the hand of his that was at his heart. She knelt beside him, her tears finally beginning to leak free.
"Father, what's happening?" she asked, terror in her voice.
"L-Leola," Ulfric gasped out, his voice choked.
"Father, please," Leola whispered, putting her hands on the sides of his face. "Stay with me, father, just breathe - you can do it."
"N-no," he stammered out. He fell from his knees, dropping next to all fours before losing the ability to hold himself up. He lay on his stomach on the ground his head turned to the side and his eyes locked on her.
"No, father, no," Leola pleaded, putting her hands on his shoulder. "Please, father, stay with me."
She could hear his breath becoming faint, even over the howling of the wind. "Leola," he groaned, his voice hoarse and ragged. "Leola…"
"Father," she whispered, tears beginning to stream mercilessly down her face. "Father, please don't leave me."
"I - I can't," he responded in his weak voice. "I don't understand - Leola…"
"No, father," she whispered, gazing down at him. "Father, please, please hold on. I can't lose you, please, no…" She was quiet, staring tearfully down at him before realizing that he had stopped responding. She sniffled, carefully reaching down and placing two fingers at his neck where his pulse should be. She felt nothing. She put a hand in front of his nose, and she felt no breath. He was gone.
She burst into tears, sobbing violently as she knelt over his body. She buried her face in his back, clinging desperately to him and wailing as though it might bring him back. It didn't.
She didn't know how long she sat there, sobbing over her father's dead body. What had happened? Everything had been going so well - they'd saved her mother, watched her enter the portal… and then, out of nowhere, he'd collapsed, and within moments, he was gone.
It was beginning to grow dark when she finally found herself unable to cry any more, as though her body was all cried out. She felt weak and tired, and her eyes were red and puffy. She barely had a voice for all the wails and pleading that had left her. She looked around slowly, realizing that she was trapped at this temple. Ulfric, the only person with the ability to call Odahviing to save them, was gone, and she was all alone.
She stood up, her knees weak and wobbly as she rose to her feet. Why was her father gone? She didn't understand. She carefully turned around, eyeing the area around her. The portal had faded away, leaving only a stone hole in the ground like the one they'd seen when they'd first arrived. The wind had died down, though as it grew dark, it escalated into a low whistle through the trees surrounding the temple. She had nowhere to go.
"Father," she whispered, looking down at his body. What could she do? She felt frantic, a pain in her heart as she thought about what might happen. Would she be trapped here forever? Would she die alongside her father? Would her friends try to find them? Would they be lost forever? She began to cry fresh tears that she hadn't thought were there, her chest heaving with pain.
She turned her gaze to the sky, painted a glowing orange and pink by the dimming light of the sunset. What should she do? She looked again down at her father. What would he do?
She took a few minutes to pace back and forth, trying to compose herself. Her mother's soul had been returned to Sovngarde. Her father was dead. She was all alone at a temple that was completely inaccessible by any means other than flight. She had to fly out of here somehow, but how?
"Odahviing," she whispered, gazing up to the sky. But of course, he wouldn't come. She couldn't call the dragon herself. She didn't have the power of the Thu'um. She was helpless.
She collapsed again to her knees beside her father. At some point during her grieving and sobbing, she'd rolled his body to lay on his back, and she must have taken the time to close his eyelids so that his blank stare would no longer be locked on her, though she couldn't remember doing so. She curled up next to his lifeless body, burying her face in her father's chest. The man who could do anything, the High King, was dead. She could feel her heart drop into her stomach at that realization - Skyrim's own High King, its ruler, its leader, was dead. And that meant that she, Ulfric's only child, was now the Queen.
She was quiet for several long minutes after realizing this. She was the Queen now. High Queen of Skyrim. Perhaps not officially, since there had been no coronation, but with her father gone, the title had to go to someone. The Jarls she'd met had all seemed to agree that she would make an excellent Queen one day. She was the High Queen.
Slowly, weakly, she rose to her feet again. Once again, her legs wobbled beneath her, weak and unable to support her weight. Still, though, she had to try. Skyrim needed its leader. Skyrim needed to bury its High King, and the only way to guarantee either of those was to get back.
"Odahviing," she called out into the sky, her voice weak and desperate. She felt pathetic, trying to call a dragon that she knew couldn't hear her. Without the power that her parents had once wielded, what chance did she stand at calling the dragon? What hope was there?
She spent some more time pacing back and forth. By this time, the sky had grown dark. She could see stars twinkling above, and it was almost impossible to see outside the platform that she and her father were on. She thought for a few minutes about the advantages of seeking refuge inside the temple for the night, but she knew that she couldn't lift her father's body. She wouldn't leave him out here either, so there was no way she could retreat inside.
"Odahviing," she called again, her voice louder this time, though she knew that she wasn't loud enough to reach her mighty dovah ally, no matter how close he might be. Had he gone far? After all, he knew that they were going to call him when they were ready to return - surely he wouldn't have ventured too far from the temple, would he? And what if they never called? Would it occur to the dragon to check on them lest something bad might have happened? Or perhaps he simply didn't care. Perhaps he carried them only because Ulfric wielded the power of the Thu'um and had so commanded him to do it. If Ulfric didn't call him back, would he just never return?
She walked towards the site where the portal had been. A few stray wisps of magic lingered about, hanging in the air like loose violet glitter. On the ground beside the ledge was, of course, her mother's soul gem - or, rather, what had once been her mother's soul gem. She bent down and picked it up, holding it close to her. It was cold and hard and lifeless. It didn't pulsate or gleam with magic any longer - there was nothing left within it.
"Mother," she whispered, gazing into the soul gem as if it might let her again catch a glimpse of her mother's eyes. "Mother, what do I do?" she whispered. "How will I get home? How do I get him home? I won't leave father here, won't leave him behind…" Her voice became choked as she spoke, and she had to stop, unable to speak any longer. She was trembling and she hung her head, knowing that she was a fool for hoping that her mother might respond.
She stood upright, turning around. Again, the sight of her father's lifeless body caught her eyes and she cringed. She hated seeing him like that. In the time that she'd known him, he had always been nothing less than a great and powerful man. A strong man, one who could survive anything...but somehow, his life had been drained away. Was it the magic of the portal that had killed him? Or perhaps his heart hadn't been able to handle the impact caused by seeing her mother again? Leola had no idea, and no way of finding out. All she knew for sure was that she needed to get him home.
She was becoming tired and weak. She had no idea if it was safe to sleep here. Nothing had approached her so far, but that didn't mean that the wilderness around the temple wasn't filled with wild animals who would be eager to pounce on an easy meal. No, she had to get out of here sooner than later. She couldn't wait until morning to figure this out - she had to do it now.
Anger was beginning to bubble up within her. This wasn't supposed to happen. They were supposed to deliver her mother's soul to Sovngarde and then return home. Ulfric was supposed to summon the dragon to fly them to Windhelm. This wasn't right, and she felt cheated - cheated by the world, a world that had given her a brief, fleeting sensation of having a family before ripping it away from her. Ripping him away from her.
She turned her gaze towards the sky. Her hands balled into fists, and loose tears trickled down her cheeks. She took a few deep breaths before, calling to the sky in as loud a voice as she could muster, she shouted out, "Od-ah-viing!"
First, there was silence. And then, in the distance, the roaring of a dragon. He had heard her.