Nothing to Fear

(A/N: I'm sorry for the hiatus this story had been on. I have no excuse for it. I'm not lacking oneshots. Just schooling and life in the way. Lot happening lately that's kind of hard to deal with, but hopefully I'll be able to put up the oneshots I have over the next few days. Have a lot more to do, but at least a decent few have been written up. Anyway, sorry again for the delay. Three chapters will be posted today. Enjoy.)

Svidi read over the poetry she had found, tears shining in her eyes and slipping down her cheeks. She'd known it… She'd known it… She gasped back a sob and threw the poems down, throwing herself onto her bed and giving way to weeping. Her lover was cheating on her for another. A bar wench no less! The man who had vowed to marry her, who had given her the ring and his vow of undying devotion, had now just as easily betrayed her.

Given who he was, she supposed it really shouldn't have been much of a surprise. Sibbi Black-Briar was not to be trusted. He was to be spurned and despised… But she neither spurned nor despised him. She loved him… To her he would open his heart. To her he would share so much. To her he would write poetry and songs. To her he would vow his love and loyalty… No more… It was all gone… He loved her no more… He loved her no more, and had in fact threatened to kill her when she'd confronted him. She didn't know what to do anymore. She was so scared and so hurt.

"Svidi!" her brother's alarmed voice said as he ran to his sister's bedside and sat on it, caringly placing a hand on her back. "Dearest sister, what's wrong? You must tell me!"

"He has betrayed me!" she sobbed. "Wulfur, he has betrayed me! He loves another. He has vowed his love and loyalty to-to Svana!"

"What?" Wulfur hissed, eyes narrowing dangerously. Surely she wasn't serious. "He did that? Sibbi?" Svidi could only nod, shaking. Fury darkened Wolfur's eyes and he scoffed in disgust. "That worthless piece of horse... How dare he when he vowed his love and life to you?! This is unacceptable! Svidi, oh Svidi please stop crying, please," he begged, drawing his sister near and hugging her lovingly.

"He threatened to-to kill me when I confronted him," she said, shaking.

"What?" Wulfur whispered. Oh he didn't think so. His eyes narrowed and he drew back from his sister, reassuringly and protectively looking into her eyes. "I will make this alright, I promise you. I'll go talk to him. I'll try to reason. Oh sister, you will be happy again, I swear it," he said, gently brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. She nodded through her tears, clinging tightly to her dear brother again… It would be the last time she ever did…

ES

Svidi was as white as a ghost when the news came to her… and the body… Her brother-her brother's body, still and bathed in blood… "We found him in an ally," the guard stated. "I'm sorry for your loss."

The words were false, she knew they were. The guards in this city were corrupt, and the few that weren't did not last long or kept under the radar. She could only gaze numbly at Wulfur's corpse so still, his eyes open in death… And she could almost hear his voice in her head whispering, Run. He will come for you. And so she ran… She didn't even wait for a funeral, for she knew that if she did, that would be when Sibbi would strike out against her… She ran… She ran as fast and far as she possibly could… She changed her name, she changed her hair, and she fled to Ivarstead. It was close. Close enough so as to be so obvious they wouldn't believe that was where she'd gone and they wouldn't bother looking. There she stayed for months and months on end under the name of Lynly Star-Sung, a bard. All the while reports of Sibbi's search for her constantly reached her ears, and every day she waited in dread for the moment he would come for her…

ES

"I know who you are, Svidi," the man declared, eyes cold and impersonal and perhaps even cruel. Whether it was a front or a mask she didn't care to know.

"No, I'm sorry. You must have me mistaken for someone else. I've never even heard that name before," she replied, forcing down the panic and staying calm. She couldn't hide the uncertainty in her eyes.

"Stop lying or I'll beat it out of you!" the man viciously yelled, seizing her arm roughly and shaking her.

She gasped, but didn't scream and didn't beg. She would not be intimidated. "I've been hurt worse before," she replied.

The change was immediate. The Dragonborn started and paused. His grip on her arm loosened ever so slightly and he blinked at her. The cruelty in his eyes became surprise and perhaps curiosity. It was apparent his intimidation tactics had not failed him before. She glared defiantly up at him. He raised his fist suddenly to strike! She closed her eyes, bracing herself. He stopped. After a moment he lowered his arm and threw her own roughly down. She backed away from him, rubbing it. Tears threatened her eyes but she wouldn't show it. The Dragonborn continued to watch.

"You have nothing to fear from me," he suddenly said.

She looked up at him. Silently. After a moment she answered, "I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do," he answered. He turned his back and left. She watched uneasily after him. What if he returned to Sibbi? No, he wouldn't… would he…?

ES

Fear came over her when she noted, the next night, the Dragonborn sitting and drinking mead, watching her performance silently. He would confront her again, she knew he would. She would deny. She wouldn't tell him, she wouldn't! If Sibbi ever found out… She shuddered to think of what would happen to her. The patrons went to bed, as did the innkeeper Wilhelm. All that remained was her and the Dragonborn sitting in the shadows, watching coldly.

She tried to ignore. She tried to pretend he wasn't there. No matter how she tried she couldn't. She was terrified… Had he been sent to kill her in Sibbi's stead…? She suddenly turned, tears burning in her eyes. "What are you waiting for?" she yelled at him. He said nothing. "If you are here to kill me, kill me!" she insisted. "It will not change the fact I am not the one you seek!"

He rose. He approached, removing his helmet and shaking out his blond hair. He placed it on the table. He removed his weapons, dropping them, and he removed his armor so that all he wore was his tunic and he was completely defenseless and unprotected. He was handsome, she saw, but she couldn't read him… Was he evil? Was he good? Was he wicked or was he kind? Not knowing frightened her more than knowing ever could have hoped to. She drew her knife.

He paused in front of her, looking her over, then lifted his head ever so slightly, leaving his throat completely open to her. He made no move. She swung her blade. He didn't move. She stopped, knife against his skin and fear and uncertainty in her eyes. She tensed up then gasped, withdrawing her blade from him and bowing her head. "Lynly, you have nothing to fear from me," he said again. Anyone else, yes, but this woman… She intrigued him. More so than even the maiden in Solitude had. Sibbi's boasts of how beautiful her singing was had not been false. He was favorably impressed. That was a rare feat indeed. She had… amusement value.

Her mouth quivered and she covered her face. "Please, I beg you, don't tell Sibbi where I am. He'll kill me!" she exclaimed in dismay, sobbing. She couldn't do this anymore. She couldn't keep it up! She was so tired. She didn't want to run anymore. "Sibbi's been spreading lies about me, you must hear me out."

The Dragonborn listened quietly. "Tell me your side of the story," he replied.

Svidi nodded. "Sibbi and I were to be married. We were supposed to be happy together forever. Then I found that wretched poetry from Svana. When I confronted Sibbi about it, he threatened to kill me. I was scared so I told my brother Wulfur. He went to talk to Sibbi for me and… and… Sibbi killed him. My brother wasn't even armed! When I heard what Sibbi did, I fled. Now you've found me, and you're going to tell him where I am."

The man ponderously looked at her then nodded. He retrieved and dressed in his armor again, he took his weapons, and he left without another word. She sank to her knees, bursting into tears and shivering. Her time now, she knew, was limited. She would die… Her fate had been sealed.

ES

He took his time returning to Riften. A very long time. Months, in fact. She was a bar wench. He had no use for her. Perhaps he should offer to keep quiet in exchange for more… intimate favors… Except the one time he went back to act on that, he hadn't been able to find the words. He had left. She hadn't even noticed he'd been there. It was a curious thing to him. For so long he'd acted the part of the lecherous pervert he was starting to genuinely think it… But for her he couldn't speak...

The time came he couldn't put it off anymore. He needed to return to Riften, but… much had happened between the time he had first found her to now. Things were… different… He couldn't explain how, they just were. And still he didn't know what he would do. He returned to Sibbi. "Have you found Svidi yet?" Sibbi demanded from his cell.

"I have some information about her," the Dragonborn confirmed.

"Good, good. Just point me in the right direction and I'll do the rest," Sibbi stated. The Dragonborn was quiet. Sibbi frowned, waiting impatiently.

Tell him the truth or lie? Truth or lies, truth or lies… lying was not a strange thing to him. He lied more often than told the truth. At least early on. He had been… changing since… He tried to speak truth now. This land he had always loved. These people not so much, but now… Now they had come to mean something to him, and he hardly knew how or when or why. She was no different. He could lie once again. For her sake.

"She's made her way east into Morrowind," he answered.

Sibbi smiled, eyes sparkling dangerously. "So, the whore thinks the Black-Briar reach ends at the border of Skyrim, eh? She'll soon discover her mistake," he replied. "You've done me a great service, my friend. Allow me to compensate you for the information." He handed over the key to a chest. The Dragonborn took it, smiling cruelly, and left.

He looked back at the jail then ahead in the direction of Ivarsted. And Svidi. She was beautiful, he couldn't deny, and her singing… It was rare, these days, when he felt soothed and calmed. Rare when he felt his dragon soul eased. It was such a relief when it was… And it only happened when he listened to her. Perhaps… perhaps it was time to go there once more.

ES

He sat in the inn in the back, leaning against a wooden column and watching her from the shadows. She knew he was here. Her eyes hadn't left him and they were a mix of curious, scared, and interested. As she sang he closed his eyes to relish in it. Her voice… It was like that of a nightingale, and for a moment he felt at peace. It reminded him of his childhood in this place. Before the war, before the horrors, before everything. It made him feel for a moment as if everything would be alright again. He breathed a sigh as the song finished, and opened his eyes. She was watching him curiously. He nodded to her, lifting his mug in her honor and drinking from it.

Svidi's eyes stayed on him. Why was he here? Her song finished, she approached him. Resignation came to her eyes. "You returned to him," she deduced.

"I did," the Dragonborn answered.

She looked down and away. "How long before he comes to me or sends his people?" she murmured.

"He has sent them," the Dragonborn answered. "To Morrowind, that is." She looked quickly up at him, eyes wide. "Live on, Lynly. Is that the name you will go by from now on?"

She was quiet. "I miss hearing my first name," she answered.

"Live on, Svidi," the Dragonborn stated, nodding to her and drinking from the mug again.

"Thank you," she said to him.

"Do not remind me of my pity," he answered in something of a growl. She tilted her head but determined not to press for more information.

"Very well," she agreed. "But every time you see me you will be reminded."

"Hmm…" the Dragonborn muttered. He finished his mead and set the mug down. "Play me your special song. Please."

She smiled at him gently and did just that. He sat down on a chair and listened. A smile pulled at his lips. He could have listened to her music forever. He went to bed in the inn that night, still hearing her songs played and sung in his dreams.