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HELPFUL TIPS
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>When posting prompts, always remember to add kinks you're both looking for and wanting to avoid in a potential fill.
>When filling, please remember to add your story tags: characters, relationship types, kinks, series and universe (ie: skyrim)
>Our character limit here at LJ is 4300.
>If you have any other questions about posting, visit the HOW TO KINK MEME THREAD, under the Page Summary on your left.
A Hero for Skyrim 15/?
Date: 2014-07-25 05:52 am (UTC)"Master Arngeir, are you just going to..."
A hazy thought suddenly came into focus: The girl may understand longing and loss as well as, if not better, than Arngeir and Ulfric. Was it sympathy that gave her such insight? It was a trait not held in high regard by the Nords, for Skyrim was a harsh, unforgiving land. It has been said that only a Nord was stubborn enough to carve a living out of Skyrim's tough soil, and while such a feat was not beyond the other races, the statement was indicative of the Nordic temperament. Stolid resolve in the face of hardship gave them a sense of community like few other cultures, and there were few other peoples you would want on your side when one must weather a crisis.
But this went beyond cultural identity. The Dragonborn was an outsider, one bound to them by the machinations of the gods, at once apart yet belonging to them… The child could have resented them for it. The people certainly made plenty of demands petty enough, even demeaning enough, to warrant it. But she had chosen to accept it all, going so far as to make excuses for her detractors. Such generosity would have been admirable, if it weren’t so painfully clear how little her own well-being meant to her.
“Tell me, Ulfric. Why do you fight?”
Cold fear took root in the old man’s heart. Was the girl simply looking for something to die for? Was she truly without hope?
A Hero for Skyrim 16/?
Date: 2014-07-25 06:10 am (UTC)“Because it’s not freedom you want.” She opened her eyes then, and turned to the man beside her, voice full of sorrow, “You’re looking for salvation. Skyrim is the arena you hope to earn it in.”
A Hero for Skyrim 17/?
Date: 2014-07-25 07:31 am (UTC)“You think me unworthy.” Ulfric trembled with rage, but his voice was choked with an emotion he refused to acknowledge.
“No. If I condemned you, I would have to condemn myself, too.”
“And what do you mean by that?”
“We’re failures, and nothing will change that. But I don’t believe- I can’t believe- that we don’t deserve a second chance! Not after everything we’ve done. I think we might deserve it more than others, but that may be my selfishness talking.”
“What sort of crime would make the Dragonborn of all people wish for redemption?”
The girl turned away from him then. “Please. Don’t.”
“I have a right to know what sort of ‘hero’ Skyrim is getting!” he challenged.
“I never wanted this!”
“With your power, could you choose to be any less a monster than the World Eater himself?”
“You have no right...!” The Dragonborn wheeled around and threw herself at the Jarl. Years of experience caused him to immediately go for his sword, but she was faster than his honed reflexes. She seized his robes with both hands pulled herself to him, “... no right to judge me after what you did in the Great War!”
Both men became as still as the stones around them. Einarth scrutinized the would-be king, looking for any sign of shame, or pride, or anything at all that would help him discern what the Dragonborn spoke of. He simply couldn’t fathom what his former student could have done that would warrant such an uncharacteristically violent response from the girl. Ulfric for his part, stared at her, and though he seemed shocked beyond words, he squared his shoulders as though bracing himself.
It was an attack that would never arrive, for the girl closed her eyes and dropped her head on the man’s chest. “I don’t blame you,” she said brokenly, “I know what Thalmor do to their prisoners.”
Ulfric’s voice was dangerously low, “What could you possibly know of what the Thalmor do to their prisoners?”
“Only what I have seen with my own eyes.” It was almost a whisper, but the old man heard, and anguish filled him. What unspeakable horror had they both shared?
The Jarl was of a different mind altogether. He seized her shoulders and pushed her back far enough to shout in her face. “Then you knew. You knew, and yet you allowed her to stay?!”
“If I sent her away to spare your feelings, that would have only made you look petty and weak.” The girl continued vehemently, “If you could stomach her presence, those in attendance who suspected or knew of your mutual history would not have anything substantial enough to show that she still exerted control over you.”
Ulfric however, was not impressed by such astuteness. “Is that what you call helping?!”
“Do you think I want to face her again anytime soon?”
He had no response to that.
A Hero for Skyrim 18/?
Date: 2014-07-25 08:50 am (UTC)The arrival of the housecarl however, alerted the two in the courtyard to their audience. The girl released Ulfric’s robes as though she were burnt. Ulfric was less hasty, but made no move to back away from her. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully, and perhaps avoid discussing the previous subject in the open.
“I thought you supported the Empire. Why would you help me?”
“The Empire needs Skyrim, but as a whole does not care for her.”
“And you do?”
“Legate Rikke certainly does.”
“Why should that matter to you?”
“I would think it would matter more to you.”
“It matters that you aren’t answering my questions.”
The girl sighed. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.” She hazarded another one of her wry smiles, “I daresay you wouldn’t care.”
“Of course I care about what-”
“-the Dragonborn thinks?” she cut in bitterly.
“Not only that.” Ulfric waited for her reluctant eyes to meet his, “I want to know what you want.”
The girl was silent for a moment. “I think,” she began slowly, “that you and I don’t want very different things, really.”
“And what do you think those things are?”
“Things we’re not very good at.” She tried to laugh it off rather weakly, but Ulfric said nothing. The Dragonborn swallowed before continuing, “Having a place to call home, someone to look up to, and…” the girl hesitated briefly, “a reason to live.”
The Jarl considered her words before he conceded slowly, “I suppose we aren’t very good at any of those things.”
“If it were possible… I would like to be.”
A Hero for Skyrim 19/?
Date: 2014-07-25 09:37 am (UTC)In any case, as much as he would have enjoyed watching them puzzle it out, he was not about to subject the two to his prying and… whatever it was Ulfric’s guard was doing. Exasperated, the Greybeard huffed as gently as he could manage. Ulfric started, reflexively straightening up, before seeming to remember himself. Einarth was amused to see the man struggle to contain his indignation; the man was still a boy, even after all these years, and the elder was comforted by the knowledge.
As Ulfric turned away from her, the Dragonborn reached out to him. She faltered however, but the gesture was enough to give him pause. Her hand fell back to her side, as she spoke the man gently, “You can have it all, Ulfric: Power, Wealth, Freedom... But you have to learn to see and accept truth wherever you find it. Especially when you find it in those you hate.”
“You disapprove of the way I run Windhelm.”
“Whoever and wherever they were, they’re your people now too.”
“And what about you?”
“Show me a king I would die for, and I would give him everything he asked of me.”
“Everything, you say?”
“If it’s you… maybe.”
“Only ‘maybe’ if it’s me…”
“You know what I meant!”
“I’m not certain I do, Dragonborn.” Once again, the words were drawled, but there was mirth this time around.
“You’re insufferable, you know that?” The girl made a small, undignified noise, “I don’t have to prove anything to you.”
Galmar gave a bark of laughter, and while Einarth was less than pleased with the cause, he had no complaints with the result. Namely, that the boy stopped antagonizing the girl and finally made to leave. It was with a small but pleasant surprise that he noted the spark in his once dead eyes, again. Though whether it was due to the arrival of a worthy opponent and a good challenge, or something else, remained to be seen.
Still, the Greybeard could not suppress a smirk when Ulfric’s newfound composure cracked at the sight of his second leering next to one of his old masters. “Master Einarth,” he warily acknowledged. Einarth simply looked pointedly at Galmar, whose leer had turned into something too gleefully obscene for polite company. Ulfric was swift to reprimand his second. The former student surveyed the halls, and finding no one, looked once more to the courtyard. The Dragonborn must have been satisfied with what she saw, for she nodded and turned once more to the view from the courtyard, and Ulfric departed with his companion in tow.
With the last remnants of the warring factions gone, silence descended upon the halls of High Hrothgar. Silence, but not peace. The Greybeard worried; whatever hopes the Dragonborn had in mind for her predecessor must be considered carefully. And while it had affected what might be a positive change, any misstep on her part had the potential to destroy the lost disciple more thoroughly than whatever had broken him before.
The Dragonborn did not move from her vantage point even as he went to stand beside her. She murmured a soft address, “Master Einarth.” For a time, they stood in companionable silence, and he waited as she gathered her thoughts.
Eventually, she drew a breath and turned to the elder. “I suppose you want an explanation.”
He merely arched a brow and looked at her expectantly.
Re: A Hero for Skyrim 19/?
Date: 2014-07-27 10:39 am (UTC)Re: A Hero for Skyrim 19/?
Date: 2014-07-28 08:37 pm (UTC)