4E 181, 16th of Sun's Dawn, Heart's Day...

Thunder booming. Lightning cracking. Waves pounding against the ship, thrashing it back and forth. Dark skies. Cold, pelting rain. Searching, crying out for help. Scared, so scared. Ship crashing, screaming below deck. Icy water. Dazed, confused. Vision going black, pushed further away from the ship. Someone's calling... Gwen... cub... Gwen... Gwen..!

"Gwen, wake up!"

Gwenethra Mae, a young woman with honey gold hair and eyes as blue as the sky who usually went by "Gwen", sat up as she was shaken from a nightmare. She looked around, seeing she was still in her room, the man who had rescued her so long ago looking at her worriedly. "Da?"

Torsten Cruel-Sea, the owner of Hollyfrost Farm and the man who had found Gwen washed up on the shore near their farm, touched her cheeks and smoothed back her hair before pulling her into his arms. "You had us scared..."

Gwen buried her face in his chest, trying to shake the nightmare from her mind. "I'm sorry... it was the nightmare again..."

Torsten looked down at her. "Of the shipwreck?"

Gwen nodded. What he spoke of had happened twelve years ago and all she could remember from before she was taken in by the Cruel-Sea clan was a raging storm that bashed against a ship she had been aboard. The storm caused the ship to wreck and she was thrown overboard into the icy waters. She had been searching for someone, her parents, when she was thrown overboard and she could hear them calling to her before she blacked out as she clung to bits of the wreckage. When she had washed up onto the shores near Hollyfrost Farm, Torsten and Hillevi found her unconscious, cold and wet, near death. They took her in, fed her, cared for her, and gave her a home and family when she had nowhere else to go. They themselves had been trying for years to have a child and feared they would never be blessed with one, but when they found Gwen they took it as a sign from the Divines and adopted her.

"I'm sorry, Gwen..."

"Papa, is Gwen OK?"

Gwen looked over to see Fjotli, her little sister and Torsten and Hillevi's first birthed child. "I'm OK, cub." She smiled, opening her arms for a hug. The young girl ran to her, throwing her arms around her neck. "I didn't mean to worry you."

Hillevi stepped into the room. "Fjotli would like to go with you to the festival today." She said, looking at Gwen with a smile.

Gwen's smile grew and she looked at her little sister. "Shall we get ready for the festival then, cub?"

"Oh, please Gwen? Can we please go?"

Gwen chuckled and nodded. "Of course."

Torsten stood and went over to where his wife stood. "We'll leave you two to get ready."

Gwen nodded as they closed the door to the bedroom she shared with Fjotli. "Come on, cub. Let's get dressed."

Fjotli clung to Gwen's hand as they walked through the streets of Windhelm, visiting the stalls and saying hello to the other residents, but at some point she got separated from her older sister.

"Gwen?" she called, searching for her sister. "Where are you?"

"Are you lost, little one?"

Fjotli looked behind her, seeing a young man dressed in expensive furs, and nodded. "I can't find my sister."

"What does she look like?"

Fjotli beamed up at the young man. "She's really pretty and has honey golden hair and eyes as blue as the skies!"

"Well, why don't you come with me and we can look for her."

Fjotli held the man's hand, calling out for her sister as they walked through the streets.

"Fjotli! Where are you, cub?"

Fjotli turned the corner with the young man as they left the Stone Quarter and smiled when she saw her sister standing on one of the ledges at the Candlehearth Inn. "Gwen!"

Gwen tried to find a place where she could look over the crowds, stepping up onto one of the ledges near the inn. When she heard her name, she turned to look towards the Stone Quarter and smiled in relief when she saw Fjotli. She leaped down and ran to her sister, kneeling down and hugging her.

"You had me worried, cub!"

"I'm sorry, Gwen..." Fjotli looked at her sister when she squished her cheeks playfully together. "Someone bumped into me and I lost you." She looked up at the young man who had helped her. "But this nice man helped me find you!"

Gwen stood, her hands on her sister's shoulders, and looked at the young man who stood a head and a half taller than her. "Thank you for helping her, sir."

The young man smiled. "It was my pleasure." He looked her over, seeing a young woman in her late teens or perhaps early twenties with honey golden hair draped over her shoulder and eyes as blue as the skies- just as her sister had described. He chuckled and looked down at Fjotli. "You were right, little one. Your sister is very pretty."

Gwen blushed and offered him a smile when he returned his gaze to her. "We should find Mum and Da, cub." She said, looking down at Fjotli. "Thank the nice man for helping you one last time."

"Thank you!"

The young man smiled and bowed his head to them both. "It was my pleasure, little one. Enjoy the rest of the festival." He watched as the two sisters disappeared into the crowd.

"Jarl Ulfric, there you are!"

The young man, a twenty-six year old Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak, turned to his Steward, Jorleif. "Sorry, I was helping a child find her sister."

Jorleif sighed. "Really, my Jarl, you shouldn't disappear like that. We have business to attend to."

Ulfric chuckled. "Relax, Jorleif. It is a festival after all." He looked back towards where Gwen and Fjotli disappeared into the crowd. 'I wonder who she was...'