Making a decent living is hard work. Roliand spends most days routing bandits or other undesirables from locations that “civilized” folk want for their own purposes. He’s killed more bandits, more forsworn, more monsters than he’s capable of counting. Most nights, he’s tired and dirty.
When he’s very lucky, he gets a warm meal or a soft bed. Sometimes he gets both. He can count the times that has happened on one hand. But he understands that with the country on the brink of civil war, times are hard for everyone, so he does his best to ensure that he pays what he can. He’s not making money like he did when he was a bandit, but he’s getting by, and he’s doing the right thing.
He’s trying hard to lose himself in the work, trying to forget about Kathryn. When he’s busy, and his sword is in his hand and he’s fighting for his life, it’s easy.
But nights like this, when it’s quiet and there is no danger on the horizon, he can’t keep her out of his mind. He’s been keeping track of her ascent to glory. He’s heard stories of her, songs of her. Whenever anyone mentions the “Dragonborn” or the “Dovahkiin” his ears perk up, and he lingers a little longer than is really necessary. At first he hadn’t been sure it was her, but as he heard more about her accomplishments, he became more and more certain.
It’s his Kathryn out there, fighting the bad guys and protecting the world. He’s so proud of her his chest feels ready to burst. He wishes she could be with him, that he could be by her side.
He listens to stories of her doing the dirty work for soft Jarls, of her fighting bandits and forsworn. It’s sad, but he’s pleased to hear that she’s doing the same things he’s doing. Sure, her work has more glory, but his name could be out there too, if he wasn’t so determined to keep a low profile. And since he’s nobody as exciting as the Dragonborn, it mostly works.
Even as he makes a point of sitting in taverns and listening to gossip, he’s always a little afraid of what he’s going to hear. Roliand fears the day that he hears about her getting married, about her having children. He doesn’t think he can bear the thought of her settling down with anyone else. It’s going to take a very special sort of man to deal with a woman as powerful as she is becoming. She’s never quite going to settle down the way another woman might, and she’s going to need a husband who understands that.
One who lets her have her space. One who goes with her when she wants the company. A husband who has her back and doesn’t mind if his wife is more famous than he is. Sometimes it takes focused effort to resist thinking about how he’d be that husband. He misses her. He wants to be by her side again. Wants to kiss her again, to feel her warm and soft in his arms.
Sometimes Roliand thinks back to the day he left her behind, and wonders if he made the right choice. Would she have become as great if he had stayed? Or would he have held her back, and kept her from reaching her full potential? Sometimes he wishes he had stayed, thinking that it would be alright for her to live in obscurity if they were together. But it’s not true, and even in the deepest moments of self-pity he understands that she’s got a greater destiny than he does.
She’s going to save the world, and he’s just an ex-bandit who makes his coin bashing heads together.
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timeasmymeasure
"Bandit: A Love Story" -- 9a/11 -- F!DB/M!Bandit
Date: 2013-02-01 03:02 am (UTC)Making a decent living is hard work. Roliand spends most days routing bandits or other undesirables from locations that “civilized” folk want for their own purposes. He’s killed more bandits, more forsworn, more monsters than he’s capable of counting. Most nights, he’s tired and dirty.
When he’s very lucky, he gets a warm meal or a soft bed. Sometimes he gets both. He can count the times that has happened on one hand. But he understands that with the country on the brink of civil war, times are hard for everyone, so he does his best to ensure that he pays what he can. He’s not making money like he did when he was a bandit, but he’s getting by, and he’s doing the right thing.
He’s trying hard to lose himself in the work, trying to forget about Kathryn. When he’s busy, and his sword is in his hand and he’s fighting for his life, it’s easy.
But nights like this, when it’s quiet and there is no danger on the horizon, he can’t keep her out of his mind. He’s been keeping track of her ascent to glory. He’s heard stories of her, songs of her. Whenever anyone mentions the “Dragonborn” or the “Dovahkiin” his ears perk up, and he lingers a little longer than is really necessary. At first he hadn’t been sure it was her, but as he heard more about her accomplishments, he became more and more certain.
It’s his Kathryn out there, fighting the bad guys and protecting the world. He’s so proud of her his chest feels ready to burst. He wishes she could be with him, that he could be by her side.
He listens to stories of her doing the dirty work for soft Jarls, of her fighting bandits and forsworn. It’s sad, but he’s pleased to hear that she’s doing the same things he’s doing. Sure, her work has more glory, but his name could be out there too, if he wasn’t so determined to keep a low profile. And since he’s nobody as exciting as the Dragonborn, it mostly works.
Even as he makes a point of sitting in taverns and listening to gossip, he’s always a little afraid of what he’s going to hear. Roliand fears the day that he hears about her getting married, about her having children. He doesn’t think he can bear the thought of her settling down with anyone else. It’s going to take a very special sort of man to deal with a woman as powerful as she is becoming. She’s never quite going to settle down the way another woman might, and she’s going to need a husband who understands that.
One who lets her have her space. One who goes with her when she wants the company. A husband who has her back and doesn’t mind if his wife is more famous than he is. Sometimes it takes focused effort to resist thinking about how he’d be that husband. He misses her. He wants to be by her side again. Wants to kiss her again, to feel her warm and soft in his arms.
Sometimes Roliand thinks back to the day he left her behind, and wonders if he made the right choice. Would she have become as great if he had stayed? Or would he have held her back, and kept her from reaching her full potential? Sometimes he wishes he had stayed, thinking that it would be alright for her to live in obscurity if they were together. But it’s not true, and even in the deepest moments of self-pity he understands that she’s got a greater destiny than he does.
She’s going to save the world, and he’s just an ex-bandit who makes his coin bashing heads together.