Chapter 45

Both Gar and Lily saw the worried look that their Uncle Brynolf gave to their father, they had always listened raptly to everything their father's friends told them, and little went unnoticed by them now even at their young age. Lily put a hand on her brother's knee and gripped it tightly, Gar caught his twin looking at him from the corner of his eye and placed a hand on hers, giving his twin a smile. Both of them also hid just out of sight of their parents and his friends to listen in, lately they had rarely heard anything good.

"Alright little ones, what should I tell you about this time?" The smooth voice of their uncle interrupted the look the twins shared, snapping their attention back to the Nord.

"What about the time you and daddy hunted down your old guild master!" Lily exclaimed, knowing it was a favorite for the both of them.

"Alright lass, that's a good long one, your father should be a while though." Brynolf smirked, he loved telling the two children about their father's exploits, he could see the spark of a good thief in both of them and looked forward to the twins joining the guild, so long as their mother didn't know that is.

"Your father had brought back to the guild a familiar face, and while I was ready to attack her, your father's word even then held a lot of sway with us." Brynolf started, remembering the Dunmer woman, it had been years since he and spoken to her in person, he knew he would need to change that.

"Are you sure you're ready for this little one?" Aela's voice broke through Sofie's thoughts. "Your first real mission as a Companion will not be easy."

"I'm ready." Sofie swallowed down the fear that lurked just below the surface. Toothless rubbed up against her legs, giving the young woman a boost to her waning confidence.

The two women and the saber cat stood on a hill overlooking a small encampment, the morning sun just starting to break through the peaks of the mountain range behind them. The two women where sent to take care of the bandits in the camp below them. They had been tracking the group for the better part of two days, and the entire time Sofie's nervousness grew. Against her mother's wishes, but with the support of her father, Sofie had joined the Companions and sought to walk in part of her father's footsteps. Despite the years of training she'd received from her father, her mother, and the other older members of the Companions, she had yet to take part in her first real battle or fight against men or mir. She knew what to expect, and she knew how to handle her bow and her greatsword, but she knew that her life would be on the line like never before.

"We'd best get to it then, soon they will all be awake and the fight will be that much more intense." Aela spoke, her voice held a cold steel to it.

The older woman pulled her bow from her back and knocked an arrow. Sofie hastily did the same, and took a deep breath to steady herself. The two women stood in silence and waited for their respective shots. One moment passed, then two, then three. On her fourth breath, both Aela and Sofie let loose their arrows. Aela, with the trained reflexes from years of battle pulled another arrow and knocked it while Sofie watched her arrow fly true and strike an unsuspecting bandit in the back of his neck. Aela let loose another arrow and a horrid feeling of sickness welled up in Sofie at seeing the bandit she had shot clutch his neck before falling face first into the campfire.

Sofie saw the third arrow fly from Aela's bow and drew her second, trying to keep the feeling in her stomach down and find her next target. She took aim at a Bandit that had grabbed a weapon and was running up the hill towards the women with a battle cry. Let her arrow fly, and for the first time in years her arrow missed it's mark, she had aimed for the bandit's chest but her arrow went wide, soaring over his shoulder.

"Draw your sword Shield-Sister!" Aela commanded, dropping her bow to the ground and drawing her shield and long sword.

Aela charged forward towards the half dozen bandits that were now racing up the hill towards them. Sofie dropped her bow and fumbled to draw her greatsword from it's place on her back, before she could get the weapon free, she was forced to dodge away as the bandit she had missed had reached her and swung his battle ax at her. Toothless let out a roar and pounced on the bandit, bringing the man to the ground. Sofie froze in fear and nerves and could do nothing as another bandit charged her and tackled her with their shield, bringing them both to the ground. On their own, Sofie's muscles reacted and before she knew what had happened, she was staring into the eyes of the woman that had pinned her to the ground with her shield. Time seemed to slow down as the woman's sword plunged down towards her. Sofie's eyes widened as she watched in horror as her own dagger raced towards the woman's neck. Sofie, despite her fear, was faster than the bandit. Her knife cut a sickening gash across the woman's neck, forcing the woman's life blood to come rushing out, drenching the young Dragonsbane.

Time sped back up when Sofie heard a roar of pain from Toothless. The young Dragonsbane rolled out from under the dying bandit she had slew and saw Toothless flanked by two attackers. The deep gashes in the saber's sides and blood coating the beast's pelt caused Sofie to fly into a rage. The young Nord pulled her greatsword from her back and rushed to aid her animal companion. In a flash of steel, Sofie swung her sword in a wide arc when she neared the first bandit, the sword cut into her foe's flesh like a hot knife through butter. The bandit's body fell to the ground nearly cut in twain. The second of Toothless' combatants was quickly turned on by both the young Nord and her saber cat. The two stuck at the same time, Sofie swinging high, a battle cry escaping her lips, and the saber pounced at the foe's legs. In a matter of seconds, both attacks struck. Sofie watched her blade cut through the bandit's neck while Toothless' pounce brought the now headless body to the ground. The bandit head fell to the ground with a sickening thud and the world seemed to stand still.

"Are you hurt?" Aela's voice jolted Sofie back into focus. The younger woman jumped away from the older woman when Aela's hand touched Sofie's shoulder. Sofie's breathing was ragged and she could feel the adrenaline racing through her veins.

Sofie looked down at herself and saw herself covered in blood that was not hers and she dropped to her knees. Aela knelt down next to Sofie and placed both hands on her shoulders. Aela could see the same conflict in the woman's eyes as she had seen in countless other trials to the Companions.

"I killed them." Sofie muttered out.

"Yes you did. It was your life or theirs. Toothless' life or theirs." As if on cue, the saber cat padded over to Sofie and nuzzled her head into the young Nord's chest.

Sofie felt tears coming to her eyes at seeing her beloved animal companion injured. She felt a warm feeling wash over her, unlike any she had felt before. Sofie looked down at herself and saw her arms alight with a soft yellow glow. Tho she could not see it, she felt a motherly pair of arms wrap around her and hold her tight. Sofie placed her hands on Toothless, and watched the yellow glow wash over the saber. Before her eyes, the wounds on the large cat sealed shut and aside from the blood matting her fur, Toothless looked like she had never been scratched.

Fear not my child, I am watching over you. A warm voice invaded Sofie's mind and she felt her fear and shock fade from her mind.

"So you truly are blessed like your father is." Aela mussed.

"What happened?" Sofie looked up in confusion.

"It seems that Lady Mara has blessed you, just as she blessed your father. She's watching over you. She let you heal Toothless. Unless I'm mistaken, neither your Serana nor Garen taught you restoration magic."

Sofie shook her head, she had never been taught any magic by her parents, she never had any interest in such things, not like how Lily had shown interest in magic anyways.

The doors to Dragonsreach opened and all inside looked up from the large table that had been placed in front of the Jarl's throne. All in the hall looked to see the black leather clad form of their thane and savior striding up the steps. A smile that had been on the man's face quickly faded at seeing the assembled military advisers to the Jarl.

"Ah, Garen, glad you could make it." Jarl Balgruuf spoke up, his usually warm voice weighted and heavy. "Come closer and join us."

"So this is what you wanted my advice on?" Garen questioned when he looked to see a map of Skyrim that had several markers and flags set up on it. Garen had seen plenty of battle maps during his time in the legion.

"I'm afraid so my friend." The Jarl's voice somber. "You are the best one here at being able to help us with this."

"What has happened?" Garen questioned, crossing his arms and studying the map.

"Stormcloak is forcing the hands of all holds that have not yet chosen a side in this war." Irileth informed with a sigh. "He has come demanding our side, he says that if we remain neutral, then we are siding with the Empire."

"You are." Garen responded with harsh steel in his voice. "Ulfric has caused enough harm to our homeland. The upstart needs to learn his place. He sees such a small picture of what is going on."

"What is going on?" Jarl Balgruuf questioned, genuine curiosity in his voice.

"The empire needs Skyrim. Needs her people, needs her fighters, needs her support. The races of men are weak divided and fighting among themselves."

"Who is it that would capitalize on this weakness?" Balrgruuf questioned, hoping his answer was not right.

"The Thalmor, the Aldmeri Dominion." Garen's voice was steel and a fire of anger reached his eyes. "And Ulfric is a fool for seeing that the Empire is not a force to be fighting, they offer more help than harm even without the Thalmor tampering in Empire affairs."

"Then I need your help training my men to fight dragons." Balgruuf looked to the Dragonborn with a sigh.

"They won't need to. I will deal with the dragons before the fighting even starts. I need to make preparations." With a nod to everyone at the table, and a slight bow to the Jarl, Garen stepped away from the map and made his way towards the doors.

"May Talos Guide you Dragonborn." Balgruuf called out after him.

"May Lady Mara protect us all." Garen responded before stepping out into the crisp air of Whiterun.

Gar sat in a corner of one of the class rooms of the College of Winterhold. He watched his mother in boredom playing with a coin by rolling it through his fingers back and fourth. Ever since Uncle Brynolf had shown him the trick Gar had kept practicing the trick at every chance he could. In only a week he had managed to get it down and was now doing it absentmindedly.

While Gar and his twin Lily were similar in almost every way, the one thing they differed on was magic. While Lily was always watching their mother with rapt attention, always asking to go to classes with her, Gar could not seem to focus on the tasks required to preform magic. Both his mother and father had told him they could sense magical ability in him, the young boy couldn't concentrate on preforming any of the simplest of spells. He would be able to feel the energy, but then the mark on his hand and arm, the mark he had been born with, would start to hurt and he would fail the spell.

Gar looked up at his mother teaching a small class of new students to the College and spotted his twin at the front of the class. Lily had always said she wanted to be a powerful mage like their mother and her studying magic at every chance would make that reality after a while. Gar smiled at the back of his sister's head, he hoped he would be able to do what he could to fulfill his twin's dream.

Gar's nose twitched when a new smell suddenly filled his nose. It had been a while since he smelled it, but the familiar sent of ash and orchids filled his nose. From the way Lily looked around, he knew his twin could smell it too.

"Always at the back of the class my child?" A soft warm voice spoke next to Gar. The young boy looked to his right to see a lithe Dunmer woman sitting in a chair next to him. The woman smiled warmly to the boy and put a hand on the boy's cheek. "Only a few months and you've still grown so much."

Gar smiled brightly at seeing the woman and reached out to hug her. The Dunmer woman pulled the young Nord close and returned the hug. When the two pulled away from each other, Gar began signing quickly to the woman.

"Grandma Night! I'm happy to see you again! What brought you here, are you watching Mama's boring class too?"

"No little Gar, I just wanted to see you." The Dunmer woman chuckled. "You really should try to watch your mother's classes, you'll figure out your gift one day."

"What gift?" Gar signed back, a confused look on his face.

"All in good time little one." The Dunmer smiled. "I need to go, but please, try and learn something, you'll be surprised what you can do when you put your mind to it."

Gar nodded and after blinking his eyes, the Dunmer woman was gone. He always forgot to ask her to teach him that trick.

AN: Hope you all enjoy, I wanted to put this out before I forgot while working on updating older chapters. Let me know what you all think.