Chapter Twenty-Eight:

The Old Nord's Tale

It's obvious that it was long before your birth that I met your mother. Like I said, she'd gotten sidetracked during a mission of hers. The Silver Hand was even a problem back then. As the new Harbinger for the Companions, it was my duty to ensure that my fellow shield-brothers and sisters were protected. I went alone though. I always figured I was better alone, despite the comradery I had with everyone.

I snuck into one of their fortresses at night and began to kill them, one by one. With my steel warhammer, no less! In my arrogance of my skills, I didn't see a member of their order sneak up on me. I was in the jail, taking care of their jailor, when I heard someone speak.

"Behind you."

The voice did not come from behind me, and yet I whirled around, swinging my warhammer with all my might. A Silver Hand member died by a blow to the head from my attack. I was grateful for the help, else I'd have been dead.

So I looked around and eventually found her in a cell. An Imperial, by the looks of her, with long brown hair tied back into a ponytail, vibrant green eyes, and she had the most curious frown on her face. Her arms crossed disdainfully.

"Etch the image into your brain with magicka," she growled. "It'll last longer."

I was snapped out of my stupour and smashed the lock on the cell. "Sorry," I said quickly as I opened the door.

Her frown vanished and was replaced with a smile. "Wow. Chivalry really isn't dead. Thank-you." She strode from the cell and offered her hand. "What's your name? I'm Elana."

I shook her hand, which showed surprising strength despite her petite figure. "Kodlak," I replied. "Kodlak Whitemane, Harbinger of the Companions."

"Heard of them," she remarked. "Good order. Fights well. Not very good at sneaking though."

I wasn't an idiot. I could tell that was a blow to me. "I enjoy surprising my enemies and being able to get away with it," I admitted. "Thank-you, by the way."

"Not a problem. So what's a Companion doing all the way out here?"

"I was searching for the Silver Hand—."

"You deliberately went after these idiots?"

"Yes, but I'm not the idiot who got captured by them."

Elana smirked. "I have the worst sense of direction. Touche, Koddy."

"Kodlak."

"Oh, I know. I'd just prefer to call you Koddy."

"I'd prefer it if you called me by my name. How would you feel if I just called you... What would your nickname be?"

"Don't have one. That's why I give people one." Elana grimaced suddenly. I realized that she hadn't been putting much weight onto her right leg until she got comfortable speaking with me. "Oh, Mara's knickers! I guess I hurt it a bit more than I thought..."

"Where are you headed?" I asked.

She smiled. "Whiterun. Not far from here, which is good. How many of the Silver Hand are dead?"

I looked at my most recent kill. "All."

"Great. Then I can rest here for a day before I head out—."

"The Silver Hand doesn't like leaving their fortresses without anyone," I interjected. "They could come back within the hour, for all we know."

Elana smiled at me. "Then what are you suggesting, Koddy?"

"If you lose the nickname, I can carry you to Whiterun."

She pretended to think about it. "All right. I promise."

I had carried her back to the Jorrvaskr, where Tilma (who was still old) took care of her sprained ankle. Even though she advised that Elana didn't walk on it for a few days, the stubborn Imperial was up and about, attempting to continue a training routine she did every morning.

I watched her struggle for a few minutes before I chuckled. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Bed is for people who can't move at all." She stood up carefully. "I can move!"

"You're going to fall."

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you will."

"Kodlak!" Skjor slammed the door open and marched out into the courtyard. Only the Companions were allowed in such a place. Even the guards left us alone there. "Your damned warhammer is taking up too much space! Move it!"

"Why don't you move it, if it's such a concern?" I asked, smirking.

"Damn you to Oblivion! That thing is insane!" Skjor glanced at Elana and pointed at her. "This is the one you carried here?"

"Elana, this is Skjor," I introduced. "My fellow Companion."

She waved at him, and then began to fall over. I'd told her she would, and so I was prepared to catch her. When I did, her face was red like a tomato.

"Chivalry really isn't dead, it seems..." she grumbled.

All I could do was smile.

A few days later, Elana finished her mission in Whiterun and returned to Cyrodiil, but I suppose she kept finding reasons to come back. "Only I can carry these messages." "I'm the only one with enough experience." Every excuse was, quite literally, a bad one, but I didn't mind.

It wasn't long after, about three months after our first meeting, that Elana figured out what I was. You see, she was a spy for the Empire, and very good at her job. Her deductive skills were excellent, and it shamed me. As a Companion, my secret had been discovered. As a Werewolf, I wanted nothing but to get rid of the loose end. That terrified me the most.

But when she found out, and I admitted it, she just smiled and said, "Good. I've never been much of a cat person."

On the spot, I asked if I could court her. I'd never seen her wearing an amulet of Mara, but I decided to take that chance. Well, she said it was okay. Probably one of the best moments of my life.

Though she still worked for the Empire, Elana moved to Skyrim with me. We spent eight months together before I finally worked up the courage to ask her to marry me. Like all who live in Skyrim, we were wed at the Temple of Mara in Riften. Another great moment in my life.

But none of those compared to the moment I experienced four months afterward. Elana, as usual, came to the Jorrvaskr where we lived and kissed me. She had just returned from Cyrodiil, but her trip had taken a day longer than usual.

"What was the hold-up?" I asked her.

Elana smiled mischievously. "I wasn't feeling well, so I went to see a physician. And he sent me to a healer."

"You're not feeling well?" I practically jumped out of my seat, scattering the notes I'd been working on; reports of members of the Silver Hand who'd been spotted near Whiterun. "Maybe you should lie down! I can get the bed made up—!"

"Koddy!" Elana stopped me by grasping my arm. Her eyes were smiling at me. "I already know what's wrong with me. Or what's right, I suppose." I didn't get it. She smiled at my cluelessness and got me to sit down at my desk again. "I'm pregnant, Kodlak. We're going to have a baby."

She was right to sit me down. My knees would have buckled, otherwise. "A... baby...?"

She nodded. "Isn't it great? We'll have to find a place it can be. I suppose I might actuall have to invest in a house now, since I don't want the Companions to wake up if the baby can't sleep. Mara help us if Skjor gets angry at it for wailing during his beauty sleep!"

Panic flooded through me. I was terrified. "Elana... I'm a Werewolf..."

Elana's eyes were soft as she gently ran a hand down my cheek. "It's all right, Kodlak. Maybe the baby won't get the gene. If it does, we'll deal with it."

"Then we condemn the child!" I stood up and started to pace. "Elana, what will we do if a hereditary Werewolf is running around? What if the baby actually kills someone?!"

"That won't happen and you know it," Elana said firmly. "Maybe it will be like you, and can call it at will!"

I shook my head. "Elana, when one becomes a Werewolf, they give themselves to Hircine. In death, they cannot go to Sovngarde, and instead are dragged to the Daedric Prince's hunting grounds by their Wolf Spirit for all eternity! Can we really do such a thing to our child?!"

"Kodlak!" Elana frowned at me. I regarded her finally, snapping out of my train of thought. "It. Will. Be. Fine. We're going to have a baby, for Talos' sake! A baby!"

I hung my head. "Yes, of course. You're right." I took her hands and leaned my forehead against hers. "But would you allow me to try and find a cure? Just-in-case?"

She sighed and then met my lips with hers. "Very well. The baby won't come for a few months, at least. I'll need some help then, and I can't work for a while. Call it 'maternity leave'."

"I like the sound of that."

The months passed in a blur. We purchased a house inside of Whiterun, Breezehome, it was called, and began to settle there. We bought the essential things and prepared for the arrival of the baby.

But it seemed that Elana's work within the Empire's spy network hadn't gone unnoticed. The Thalmor were issuing a warrant for her arrest for "disrupting the peace". She stayed indoors a lot to evade the Thalmor, and that took a toll on her.

Unfortunately, pressing matters came to my attention, and I had to leave her for a time. I got one of my trusted confidants, Jorgen, to take care of her while I was away.

The Thalmor, only a few hours after your birth, Taryn, found her. Jorgen protected Elana, helped her to get away, and paid for the action with his life. I returned only a day after your birth, and Tilma told me of what had happened. I gathered the Companions, and we went in search of you. We got all the way to Ivarstead and were told of a woman matching Elana's description with a baby who had began the climb up the Throat of the World. I chased after her, leaving the Companions behind, and made it all the way to High Hrothgar before I realized that you both were gone.

There weren't any bodies. I assumed the frost trolls had taken you.

In my grief, I locked myself away in my study. I was more determined than ever to cure myself of Lycanthropy and meet you both in Sovngarde. The years passed in a blur. The children of my comerades grew up to become my new Companions as their kin died. Hiemdall being one of them, as Jorgen was his father.

And then you came, after twenty years, you came to Skyrim without a clue of who I was. To be fair, I didn't know who you were. You struck me as familiar, but it wasn't until I looked at the dagger your mother once held that I realized who you could be. I asked Hiemdall to take care of you, as I had asked his father for your mother. I knew he would not let me down.

I admit, I had hoped for a better reunion. I wish we could have known each other as a father and daughter should have. I had hoped we could have a family.

How unfair of me to give up on you and then leave you, Taryn. I only wish that you find the happiness that I could not. Just remember that I love you, and that you mean the world to me, despite how short we've known each other.

I hope we can all be together in Sovngarde.