Roggi nodded slowly.\u00a0 \u201cSo what does this have to do with your father?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dardeh met his eyes again.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure what to say, wasn\u2019t sure he trusted his voice.\u00a0 It was the same sort of feeling he\u2019d gotten fighting Alduin, when the Fire Breath shout had erupted from him almost without any thought on his part, an overwhelming blaze of anger that wanted to consume everything in its path. This was not quite as overwhelming, but it had been building ever since he started talking about Miraak, and it threatened to take over if he didn\u2019t get it under control fast. He had to take several deep breaths to damp it down.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father.\u00a0 Dadarh at-Jine.\u00a0 I saw him.\u00a0 He said we\u2019re from a long line, and when men stand in our way, we kill them all.\u00a0 He told me to kill Miraak. \u00a0I saw another ancestor, too.\u00a0 Jine af-Avik.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know whether he was my grandfather or farther back than that, but he said the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2026 uh\u2026 thought you liked being a Nord,\u201d Roggi said quietly.<\/p>\n
Dardeh frowned.\u00a0 \u201cI am<\/em> a Nord, Roggi.\u00a0 It\u2019s all I know.\u00a0 But I\u2019m a strange Nord, aren\u2019t I. I don\u2019t like killing. That\u2019s why I won\u2019t take a side in the war. It\u2019s all so needless.\u201d\u00a0 He met Roggi\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry. I know you did take a side but I just can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi shook his head. \u201cI did.\u00a0 But then I left.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh nodded.\u00a0 \u201cThis is different, somehow. I don\u2019t know why. But I have to do it. Miraak has to die, and every one of his Cultists along with him.\u201d He found himself speaking through gritted teeth, almost growling, by the time he reached the end of his statement.<\/p>\n Except that I do know why.\u00a0 I have to kill Miraak because he almost took you and I won\u2019t have it. I simply won\u2019t. Those Cultists died for it and so will he.<\/em><\/p>\n Roggi\u2019s reaction surprised him.\u00a0 His eyes narrowed, and he looked at Dardeh for several long moments, scanning him.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t seem surprised, or shocked in any way.\u00a0 Finally he nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI understand,\u201d he said softly. He looked up at the ceiling and sighed.\u00a0 \u201cYour sister said the same thing.\u00a0 About needing to set things right. I know that feeling too. Sometimes that is just what has to be done. I can see it in you.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked back at Dardeh and gave him a lopsided, sad smile. \u00a0\u201cWell I guess that\u2019s it, then.\u00a0 I had hoped I\u2019d be travelling with you for a while longer, but I guess I\u2019m just not cut out for it.\u201d<\/p>\n What is this? Does he think I\u2019m discarding him or something?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou will be, when I get back.\u00a0 That is, if you haven\u2019t come to your senses and thought better of it by then.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi nodded, but Dardeh thought he seemed sad.<\/p>\n \u201cHow long will you be gone?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have any idea.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m going to face there, and I don\u2019t know the island at all.\u00a0 I barely knew it existed until recently.\u00a0 Heck, I was more or less prepared going to Hammerfell \u2013 maps and everything — and it took me near forever to make it back to Skyrim.\u201d\u00a0 He tried to smile, but felt how false the attempt was even without seeing it.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t take long.\u00a0 There\u2019s this small business of a black dragon.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d Roggi said, his gaze wandering away from Dardeh.<\/p>\n He\u2019s really sad about this, isn\u2019t he?\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cLook, you know I\u2019m going to come looking for you the second I get back, right?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRoggi, I\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo are you going to let me feed the patient? Do I have to kick you out?\u201d\u00a0 Dardeh hadn\u2019t even heard Lydia come back.\u00a0 She was standing in the doorway, holding a bowl of something that had steam rising from its top.<\/p>\n \u201cMove out of the way, Papa,\u201d Lucia said.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re being ridiculous.\u201d\u00a0 She was carrying a small board with sliced bread and cheese on top.<\/p>\n Dardeh grinned.\u00a0 \u201cRidiculous is the word of the day, I take it.\u00a0 Okay, okay, I\u2019m moving.\u201d\u00a0 He got off the bed and stood nearby, watching the two women fuss over Roggi just as though he was part of the family.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not really hungry,\u201d he started to protest.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you\u2019ll eat anyway, because you know better.\u00a0 War wounds require protein to heal, and something filling, and you\u2019ll eat every drop of this or I\u2019ll sit here until you do,\u201d Lydia said.\u00a0 Lucia nodded and solemnly put a slice of bread with cheese under Roggi\u2019s nose, and finally he smiled at them, chuckled, opened his mouth, and took a bite.<\/p>\n Dardeh smiled and went downstairs to start preparing.\u00a0 Roggi would be fine with them to watch out for him.\u00a0 And, he thought with just a twinge of jealousy, he\u2019ll probably enjoy looking at Lydia.\u00a0 And who knows what else might happen. He sighed. I suppose I would have to be happy for them, wouldn\u2019t I.<\/em><\/p>\n He readied himself for the journey.\u00a0 Lydia was none too pleased that he was leaving again but seemed to understand it when he explained that the Cultists would continue to be a danger to everyone around them until he was able to take care of them. \u00a0If Roggi got restless and wanted to return to Kynesgrove she was to make sure he took the carriage to Windhelm instead of trying to travel the whole way on foot. He would send messages as often as he could.<\/p>\n He sat with Lucia for a long while, talking to her about his going away, promising that he wouldn\u2019t be killed the way her real father was and feeling horrible about the fact that he had no way to know that and was making an empty promise.\u00a0 What if I am killed? Will she hate the memory of me forever? Will she even remember me, after a few years? I\u2019ve been gone more than I\u2019ve been home since I adopted her.<\/em><\/p>\n He decided to leave in the middle of the night so that there would be no opportunity for tears, or recriminations, or anything else.\u00a0 He stood at the foot of his own bed and watched Roggi snoring gently, wincing when he moved and the wound pulled the wrong way.\u00a0 Roggi\u2019s a good bit older than me, he thought, and it\u2019s going to take him longer to recover because of it.\u00a0 But I\u2019m coming back for you. Don\u2019t doubt it for a second.\u00a0 I\u2019m coming back for you and I\u2019m never letting you out of my sight again. Unless\u2026it turns out that you want me to.<\/em><\/p>\n He stood for a long while watching Lydia sleep, thanking her silently once again for taking care of his household.\u00a0 The two of them would make a good couple, if it turned out that way.<\/p>\n His face fell for a moment.\u00a0 Well I\u2019ve thrown them together, haven\u2019t I.\u00a0 And both of them deserve a little warmth and companionship.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really have any standing to complain if that\u2019s what happens.<\/em><\/p>\n We\u2019ll see how it goes.<\/em><\/p>\n And then he stood in the doorway of Lucia\u2019s room, smiling at the fact that she was there, warm and safe, and at the fact that her pet fox also stood guard over her slumber.\u00a0 I\u2019m not a very good Da, little one, but I will do everything I can to make you a good life.<\/em><\/p>\n He was about three-quarters of the way to Windhelm when another pod of three Cultists attacked him.<\/p>\n He never knew what, exactly, happened.\u00a0 He remembered pulling his swords and roaring, a great, incoherent sound that washed over him, filling his ears with the rushing of his own blood; and then there was one charred body, another in ribbons from scimitar wounds and a third without a head.<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t certain what he, himself, must have looked like after that battle.\u00a0 What he did know was that in Windhelm, Captain Gjolund Salt-Sage, who wasn\u2019t keen on the idea of sailing back to Solstheim, gulped and changed his tune quickly when he said \u201cYou brought those people to Skyrim.\u00a0 They tried to kill me, and they almost killed my friend.\u00a0 You\u2019re taking me to Solstheim.\u201d<\/p>\n He settled at the bow of the ship and faced into the wind, hoping that the salt air would do something to cool the flames.<\/p>\n Lucia was sitting on the edge of the bed, talking to Roggi, when he went to check on them the next day.\u00a0 She was giggling at his stories and he, propped up on several pillows, looked pale still, even for a pale, blond Nord. They\u2019d been lucky, the healer had told him.\u00a0 The sword had … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2-1-22-1.png\")
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