![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2-2-20-1.png\")
<\/p>\n\u201cHey, Roggi, come over here for a second, would you?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dardeh had just pulled his helmet off after the sweaty work of fighting off half a dozen persistent and very tough frostbite spiders, and was staring down into the floor of what probably was a very nice stable when it wasn\u2019t full of thick, sticky webs.\u00a0 There were several web-covered packages dangling from the roof and lying on the ground, and one of them looked decidedly human-shaped.<\/p>\n
Roggi walked around the corner of the building and approached.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing else down by the water,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s a nice little outbuilding down there, though. Looks like it might be a sauna.\u00a0 Can you imagine? Wouldn\u2019t that be just the thing?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dardeh looked up at him and grinned.\u00a0 \u201cIt sure would.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019d been on the way to talk to the Jarl of Falkreath about the possibility of buying some land in Falkreath Hold to build on.\u00a0 Dardeh wasn\u2019t wild about moving out of Whiterun Hold, but Balgruuf didn\u2019t have any property available at the moment.\u00a0 They\u2019d stopped to chat to the smith in the crossroads town of Gavrostead, and had heard about a house that might be available if they could just get to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlace has been overrun for some time now and nobody\u2019s seen hide nor hair of the previous owner, Melchior,\u201d she told them.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m guessing if you can get in there you can just have the place.\u00a0 At least take a look around.\u00a0 I hate to see it just sittin\u2019 there empty.\u00a0 It\u2019s technically in Falkreath Hold but they always paid taxes and such down here.\u00a0 Pretty sure folks would be happy to see it in use again.\u201d<\/p>\n
So they\u2019d headed up the hill to the south of the crossroads.\u00a0 It hadn\u2019t taken long before they\u2019d started seeing spiders.\u00a0 Picking the few stragglers off from the side of the road wasn\u2019t much of an issue but by the time they were adjacent to the house they were able to see why the place was empty.\u00a0 The spiders were everywhere, they were big, and their webs covered every part of the home\u2019s outbuildings.<\/p>\n
Dardeh wiped the back of his hand across his brow and pointed at the bundle at his feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cHuman?\u201d<\/p>\n
Roggi nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYep, definitely.\u00a0 Poor sod.\u00a0 Now what about this fellow?\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Dardeh had found the body of a Dunmer man near the bundled, desiccated corpse, and had pulled it out from under the pile of webs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to guess this is our man Melchior in the cobweb dressing and this is some previous hopeful for the house who spent a little too long trying to get the key out of his pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roggi knelt down and went through the man\u2019s pockets.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good enough guess for me whether it\u2019s correct or not,\u201d he said, grinning, as he pulled a key out into the open.\u00a0 He stood and stretched out his shoulders.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you say, shall we look inside?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shall,\u201d Dardeh agreed.<\/p>\n
When they stepped inside, Dardeh caught his breath.\u00a0 There were a few cobwebs and a lot of dust, but basically the home was in perfect condition.\u00a0 He wandered slowly around the first floor, smiling.\u00a0 There was a large dining table next to a good-sized kitchen; a sitting area with bookshelves and a fireplace, and a door opening into a workshop.<\/p>\n
Roggi yelled from across the way, from a room into which he had disappeared.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s great, Dar.\u00a0 This room is almost as big as the living room in Breezehome and it\u2019s for kids.\u00a0 There are two beds. Easily three times as much space as they have now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCheck the downstairs, would you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, dear,\u201d Roggi agreed, chuckling, and disappeared.<\/p>\n
Dardeh smiled and walked up the stairs to the top floor.\u00a0 To his left were an enchanting station and an alchemy table; he stopped and looked around at the expanse of open space and smiled.\u00a0 It was perfect. \u00a0A balcony ringing three sides of the level led past ample shelving into one of the most spacious bedrooms Dardeh had ever seen.\u00a0 It was half again the size of his room in Breezehome, and it had everything he could imagine wanting in a bedroom.<\/p>\n
And it was private.<\/p>\n
Breezehome had become something of an issue in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
It was bad enough that Lydia\u2019s little room was on the same floor as Dardeh and Roggi\u2019s room.\u00a0 They tried to be quiet, they truly did; but the looks that Lydia gave them almost every morning when they emerged told them that they were failing.\u00a0 Dardeh shook his head just thinking about it.\u00a0 It\u2019s embarrassing.\u00a0 A guy wants to make love to his spouse.\u00a0 There\u2019s only so much quiet that can be had. <\/em><\/p>\n And of course there was Lucia.\u00a0 Her room being on the first floor and at the opposite end of the house was a good thing; but Breezehome was tiny and he wasn\u2019t convinced that she didn\u2019t hear them making happy, as well.<\/p>\n And then there was Sophie.<\/p>\n Dardeh had asked Roggi about her as they readied themselves to leave Riften after the wedding, as they stood in Honeyside\u2019s bedroom reluctantly dressing each other.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s up there in Windhelm, Roggi, selling flowers out by the gates to the waterfront.\u00a0 It\u2019s freezing cold up there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know it is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have another bed, Roggi.\u00a0 I want to adopt her.\u00a0 It\u2019s not right for Lucia to be the only one her age in the house.\u00a0 She needs a sibling.\u201d\u00a0 He smiled.\u00a0 \u201cI was an only child.\u00a0 It\u2019s\u2026 tolerable, but it\u2019s lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDar,\u201d Roggi had said, stepping close and slipping his arms around Dardeh\u2019s waist, \u201cyou may have whatever you like, my love.\u00a0 If you want another child that\u2019s fine by me.\u00a0 I\u2019ll help raise her.\u00a0 I told you.\u00a0 Your family is mine now.\u00a0 I will be happy to be Papa Roggi to two girls.\u201d<\/p>\n My love<\/em>. Every time he says it I just melt. I waited almost thirty years to hear someone say those words to me, and I want to hear them for the rest of my days.<\/em><\/p>\n Once they peeled themselves apart, they had made their way to Windhelm, staying just long enough for Dardeh to have a talk with Sophie.\u00a0 They\u2019d found her at Candlehearth Hall, trying hard to get warm and shivering even though she was sitting in front of a roaring fire.\u00a0 Dardeh sat on the floor in front of her and talked to her, quietly.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t be Windhelm, so it would no doubt feel strange to her, he told her, but she would have her own bed, and a sister, if she wanted. She accepted with a hug around his neck that he thought would strangle him, and a second one for Roggi once he managed to disengage her from him.<\/p>\n And so Dardeh had found himself with another little girl who called him Papa, and another set of ears listening to things little girls probably shouldn\u2019t be hearing. In short, Breezehome was getting crowded.<\/p>\n He reached the ground floor just as Roggi was coming up from the lower level.<\/p>\n \u201cWell?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great.\u00a0 There\u2019s a little room with mannequins and such but also a nice big bedroom that Lydia can have to herself.\u00a0 It has to be at least the size of our bedroom now. Two beds, but I suspect they could be rearranged easily enough in the event that she wants to have company.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRoggi. I\u2019m shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi laughed.\u00a0 \u201cWell you know I think about these things. I can\u2019t imagine Jorrvaskr is a lot more private than Breezehome.\u00a0 Unless it\u2019s one of the twins she goes to visit. They have their own rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n Lydia did disappear, some nights, and neither Dardeh nor Roggi had been able to figure out who it was she was visiting, aside from the fact that she went to Jorrvaskr.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I can\u2019t see it.\u00a0 I think they\u2019re otherwise engaged, both of them.\u201d\u00a0 Farkas \u2013 for that was the name of the huge, dark-haired Nord Dardeh had admired on his way into Whiterun that first day \u2013 had a twin brother, Vilkas.\u00a0 Both of them were exceptionally attractive, and both of them had been seen spending a great deal of time in the company of a stunning young girl with white-blonde hair.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe\u2026 maybe Lydia goes to see Kodlak.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKodlak?\u00a0 Are you serious?\u201d\u00a0 Roggi chortled.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy not?\u00a0 He\u2019s old, not dead.\u00a0 Maybe she likes an experienced man. Not that I think she\u2019ll ever tell us who it is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy are we even talking about this, Dar?\u00a0 Seriously, I thought I was the one with the dirty mind.\u201d\u00a0 He grinned at Dardeh.\u00a0 \u201cAnyway, it\u2019s nice, the room.\u00a0 I think she\u2019ll like it.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh walked over to Roggi and wrapped his arms around him.\u00a0 \u201cAnd what about you, husband?\u00a0 Do you like it, this place?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do,\u201d Roggi said.\u00a0 \u201cCompared to my little house in Kynesgrove it looks like a palace. But I like this even more.\u201d\u00a0 He cupped his hands behind Dardeh\u2019s head and pulled him into a kiss.<\/p>\n A few moments later Dardeh took Roggi\u2019s hand and smiled.\u00a0 \u201cLet me show you the rest of the house,\u201d he said, pulling Roggi along toward the stairs.<\/p>\n Dardeh and Roggi spent a couple of days at the house, removing spider webs, corpses, and dust.\u00a0 They tried out the sauna, and jumped into the chill waters of Lake Ilinalta once they were so warm they couldn\u2019t stand it any longer.\u00a0 They sat on the deck in the evening, drinking mead and talking about what they would do with the place.\u00a0 And they reveled in their privacy, in having a moment of time free from war, free from dragons, free from anything other than each other.<\/p>\n Dardeh felt like the most fortunate man in the world.<\/p>\n You are, Dar<\/em>, he had heard the whisper of his mother\u2019s voice as he drifted off to sleep wrapped around Roggi.\u00a0 And so is your big blonde Nord.\u00a0 Be happy, my sweet boy.<\/em><\/p>\n They were confronted by a thief, on their way back to Whiterun.<\/p>\n \u201cHand over your valuables, or I\u2019ll gut you like a fish,\u201d the Argonian hissed.<\/p>\n \u201cWalk away, right now, and I won\u2019t kill you,\u201d Dardeh replied calmly.<\/p>\n The thief looked into Dardeh\u2019s eyes and saw what Master Arngeir had seen in them.\u00a0 Dardeh didn\u2019t know what that was, exactly, what his eyes revealed now that they hadn\u2019t before he had been to Sovngarde, but he knew it must be profound given the way the thief\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n The thief gulped.\u00a0 \u201cI, eh, see that you\u2019re not one to be trifled with.\u00a0 Well, ah\u2026 let this be a lesson to you, then.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh grinned at Roggi and then turned to watch the thief scamper down the road and up into the ruins of the Western Watchtower, where the very first dragon had appeared.\u00a0 Dardeh shook his head.<\/p>\n \u201cIdiot.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShall we?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n They sprinted for the base of the watchtower, arriving in time to give the Whiterun guards a hand finishing the Argonian off.\u00a0 One of the guards looked at Dardeh and did a double-take.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re the one who convinced the Jarl to trap the dragon in the Keep.\u00a0 You\u2019ve saved us all.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh shook his head and started to respond, but the second guard interrupted him.<\/p>\n \u201cThe word is spreading like magefire.\u00a0 We all owe you our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi grinned and poked Dardeh\u2019s arm.<\/p>\n \u201cTold you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUm\u2026 thanks,\u201d Dardeh finally said.\u00a0 \u201cI just did what I had to do.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad you\u2019re both all right.\u201d<\/p>\n —-<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is this? The truce isn\u2019t holding?\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh was shaking with fatigue, and lowered himself onto a rock to rest.\u00a0 He pulled out a waterskin and drank deeply from it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt sure isn\u2019t,\u201d Roggi answered, frowning at the group of dead Imperial soldiers at their feet.<\/p>\n Several days earlier, they\u2019d made their way to Whiterun and talked to the girls, and Lydia, about their new home.\u00a0 Lydia had been a little reluctant to leave Whiterun, but when Dardeh had offered to release her from her duties as his housecarl, she\u2019d quickly put her misgivings aside and agreed to come with them.\u00a0 They\u2019d spent a day arranging to have a cart carry their things to Mammoth Manor, and packing everything up to go on it.\u00a0 Dardeh had spoken to Jarl Balgruuf; while he was at first displeased he had understood that a household suddenly grown from two people to five needed more space than Breezehome could provide.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll keep Breezehome up and pay the taxes and so forth,\u201d Dardeh had reassured him.\u00a0 \u201cAfter all, Lydia will need to have a place to stay when she comes to visit.\u201d<\/p>\n Balgruuf had agreed, eagerly, and Dardeh had tried not to stare at him.<\/p>\n Is he the one Lydia meets? Could it be? <\/em>Balgruuf had children by more than one woman, but he was unattached now as far as Dardeh knew.\u00a0 He\u2019s much older than she is, but I know she admires him a great deal. Could it be? It would make sense that they would meet someplace that wasn\u2019t Dragonsreach, and maybe they\u2019d met at Jorrvaskr…\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n Dardeh had tried not to giggle at the thought.\u00a0 Instead, he\u2019d gone back to Breezehome with the Jarl\u2019s blessing and gotten the women of his family underway to their new home.<\/p>\n He and Roggi, however, had gone in search of one last dragon word.<\/p>\n Arngeir had occasionally given him ideas about where he might find more words of power, and he had given such a hint not long before Dardeh had gone to Sovngarde.\u00a0 The place to search, he had said, was called Volksygge, at the west end of Haafingar Hold.\u00a0 He and Roggi had promised Lydia that it would be the last such trip, and that it would be as brief as they could make it, and they\u2019d headed out.<\/p>\n And it had been horrible.<\/p>\n Volksygge itself wasn\u2019t horrible.\u00a0 There were bandits, and spiders, and a great many draugr to kill; but after having been through Skuldafn, Dardeh wasn\u2019t concerned about draugr, especially not with Roggi at his side.\u00a0 The word wall itself was outside the barrow, high on a frozen mountainside, guarded by the shade of a Dragon Priest, Volsung.\u00a0 That had been a more dangerous battle than anything inside the barrow but Dardeh knew how to fight Dragon Priests, and it didn\u2019t take long for them to defeat Volsung.\u00a0 Dardeh absorbed the word \u2013 Nah, the second word of Whirlwind Sprint — and they made their way back toward the south.<\/p>\n And then there was a dragon.<\/p>\n A frost dragon, to be exact, attacking them as they approached the river.\u00a0 Dardeh hadn\u2019t been anticipating any dragons any time soon, had expected Paarthurnax to have some measure of control over his brothers, and thus the sudden blast of cold to his legs accompanied by the familiar keening roar of a dragon shout caught him completely off-guard.\u00a0\u00a0 He cried out, rolled into a ball and ducked behind a tree to heal himself, cursing as he heard Roggi screaming in rage and running forward.\u00a0 He hung back, emptying as many arrows as he could into the beast until he was able to move his legs properly again; then he Shouted Dragonrend at it and rushed forward with his swords once it was down.\u00a0 They finished it off, and Dardeh shouted at Roggi about risking himself.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not immortal, Roggi! I\u2019ve seen dragons bite a man in half! I don\u2019t want to lose you that way!\u201d\u00a0 I would explode.\u00a0 The world would not be safe from me. I need you with me, to save me from myself.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAnd what do you think it\u2019s like for me, eh?\u201d Roggi bellowed in return. \u201cEvery time you step foot outside the house, I wonder if you\u2019ll be coming back!\u00a0 If I\u2019m going to die, I\u2019m going to do it fighting beside you. Don\u2019t tell me what to do!\u201d\u00a0 Roggi\u2019s face was red, the veins prominent on his temples.\u00a0 He turned on his heel and strode away.<\/p>\n They continued south in sullen silence, each of them angry at the other for taking risks, until the silence became too much and they clung together for long moments, realizing how very little it accomplished to be angry with each other.<\/p>\n And then there was another dragon.<\/p>\n As they\u2019d travelled south, Dardeh had remembered a place called Dragontooth Crater, just west of south from where they were, that he knew of from his youth.\u00a0 Just one more, he had said, convincing Roggi to go.\u00a0 One more word. I\u2019ll never be doing this again, he told him.\u00a0 I promise.<\/p>\n It was a fire dragon, and it was very strong.\u00a0 The battle might have been Dardeh\u2019s last if not for the dragon being distracted by several cave bears, and if not for Roggi rushing in like a man possessed, his sword flying, while Dardeh used everything at his disposal to bring it down.<\/p>\n When the last flicker of the dragon\u2019s power had flowed into Dardeh, as he stood there feeling the addictive, immense sensation of knowing yet again that he was more than he had been a moment before, he looked up and heard Roggi say, quietly,\u00a0 \u201cDragonborn.\u00a0 Nobody can deny that you are truly Dragonborn.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh stood looking at Roggi, a man with no special powers, equipped only with a greatsword, and thought again of the way in which time and again he rushed into battle \u2013 and won.\u00a0 He took a long, slow breath and then exhaled, smiling.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you,\u201d he said, \u201care magnificent.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi looked at him in surprise, and then a smile emerged, slowly spreading across his face and up into his eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd,\u201d Dardeh added, \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n They had camped that night, packed tightly together in Dardeh\u2019s small tent not out of necessity but out of a desire to stay as close as they could, as if they feared being torn apart again by forces at work in the world and would do anything in their power to prevent that.<\/p>\n And the next day there had been the patrols.<\/p>\n First were the Thalmor.\u00a0 Elenwen may have been at the meeting at High Hrothgar but she hadn\u2019t promised anything herself, and clearly she hadn\u2019t told her people to stop hunting Dardeh. There was a group of them, one Justiciar and three soldiers, all but one of them hurling fireballs at him and that one firing elven arrows.\u00a0 It was clear that it was Dardeh they were trying to kill; Roggi had circled around to flank them and they\u2019d ignored him.\u00a0 Dardeh, though, was in deep trouble; there was not much cover aside from a few dirt banks along the side of the road, he wasn\u2019t close enough to the nearest trees to duck behind them, and each time one of the fireballs hit him or struck the ground near him his movement suffered more, the smell of burning flesh rising from inside his ebony armor.<\/p>\n At last, tears of pain running down his cheeks, he reached in desperation for the one thing he knew that he could do that would, doubtless, surpass the Thalmor.<\/p>\n \u201cOH-DAH VIING!\u201d<\/p>\n It had taken just a moment, in which he\u2019d scrambled for what little cover he could find, but then he\u2019d heard the familiar rushing of dragon wings, and the roar of Ohdaviing\u2019s fire breath, and the screaming of the Thalmor as they tried but failed to escape him.\u00a0 He took several passes over the Thalmor, but the outcome was inevitable; Roggi and Dardeh had each damaged them and dragon fire was too much to overcome.<\/p>\n Ohdahving settled to the ground for a moment and spoke to Dardeh.<\/p>\n \u201cDovahkiin.\u00a0 I have come, as you wished.\u00a0 I have slain your enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, Ohdahving. I really needed your help.\u201d<\/p>\n The great red beast nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cDahmaan hin hahnu.\u201d<\/p>\n He launched himself into the skies, fighting his way up to the clouds, circling, and then made his way back to the southeast.\u00a0 Dardeh stood, watching him, his mouth open.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did he say just then?\u00a0 It sounded like a rumble but I know he was talking to you.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh shook his head.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said \u2018Dahmaan hin hahnu.\u2019\u00a0 It means \u2018remember your dream.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi looked toward the diminishing speck which was all they could see of the retreating dragon.<\/p>\n \u201cWhich dream?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d\u00a0 Which dream, indeed? The dream of my father? Or the dream of my mother, as a young woman, telling me not to become lost on my path?<\/em><\/p>\n Dardeh and Roggi had continued south, toward Rorikstead. To Dardeh\u2019s horror, in a surreal repeat of the trek he had made on his way to Sky Haven Temple, there had been a third dragon.\u00a0 It hadn\u2019t been difficult to take down, between his Dragonrend and the arrows of half a dozen city guards, his Shouts, and Roggi\u2019s sword, but it had been a third dragon in two days when he hadn\u2019t expected to see any at all.<\/p>\n And then there was the Imperial patrol.<\/p>\n They\u2019d spotted Dardeh and Roggi just north of the junction of the road they were on and the road west into the Reach and had changed their course to attack.\u00a0 Dardeh stood there for a moment, not believing it possible that these soldiers were coming after him; there was no reason for this to be happening, none at all.\u00a0 But attack they did, and it took him and Roggi much longer than it should have to defeat them, tired as they were from just having fought a dragon or two.<\/p>\n And thus, he sat on a rock, sipping water and trying to get his legs to stop shaking.<\/p>\n \u201cBut why did they attack us?\u00a0 What possible reason did they have?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure I know.\u00a0 It\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh looked up at him in confusion.\u00a0 \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi shook his head and pointed to one of the soldiers, an older man than the rest, one that he had taken down with a ferocious vertical stroke of his greatsword.<\/p>\n \u201cThat man.\u00a0 I recognize him.\u00a0 We\u2019ve fought before.\u00a0 He recognized me as a Stormcloak.\u00a0 It\u2019s been years, but he had no way to know I\u2019ve been gone from Ulfric\u2019s troops so long.\u00a0 The truce isn\u2019t holding.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo what are we going to do?\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi took Dardeh\u2019s hand and pulled him up.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to go home.\u00a0 Ulfric is someone else\u2019s problem now, Dar, as you said. \u00a0The war \u2013 his war \u2013 it\u2019s his problem. \u00a0I am taking you home and we are going to be with our family.\u00a0 And we are never going out to look for dragon words again.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh looked down at the ground.\u00a0\u00a0 I know.\u00a0 It\u2019s my fault.\u00a0 I shouldn\u2019t have fallen prey to it again, that desire for more power.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBecause, Dardeh at-Dadarh, I remember my<\/em> dream,\u201d Roggi said, pulling him close.\u00a0 \u201cAnd my dream is that you and I will be together until we are little old grey-haired men shuffling around the house, making each other tea.\u201d\u00a0 He leaned in and brushed a quick kiss across Dardeh\u2019s mouth, and then grinned.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd don\u2019t forget.\u00a0 I have ways of making things happen if they aren\u2019t going the way I like.\u00a0 I do still carry my tools with me.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh laughed.\u00a0 He still hadn\u2019t looked at those tools.\u00a0 Maybe one day Roggi wouldn\u2019t feel as though he needed them.<\/p>\n Then he thought about making his mother her favorite tea, and smiled.<\/p>\n By the time they arrived at their home, Lydia had the place well in hand.\u00a0 The goods from Breezehome were put away aside from Dardeh\u2019s and Roggi\u2019s personal items.\u00a0 Lucia\u2019s fox was wandering around the ground level, sniffing in all the corners.<\/p>\n Dardeh walked slowly up the stairs, thinking about how good it was going to feel to shed his heavy armor for once.\u00a0 Lydia and Lucia were in the work area, chatting, and he smiled at them as he approached.<\/p>\n \u201cHello, girls.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHello, Papa!\u201d Lucia smiled, for once not hurling herself at him.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve been practicing with my sword.\u00a0 I figured somebody needed to protect the house until you and Papa Roggi got home.\u201d<\/p>\n He swapped a quick grin with Lydia.\u00a0 Of course, because the woman from Balgruuf\u2019s personal staff who is good enough to serve as a housecarl couldn\u2019t be counted on to do the job herself.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s very good, Lucia!\u00a0 You should show Roggi \u2013 Papa Roggi \u2013 how you\u2019ve been doing.\u00a0 Maybe we can find a greatsword for you somewhere.\u00a0 Maybe I can figure out how to make one.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA real sword?\u201d\u00a0 Her eyes got very round.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce Papa Roggi and Lydia say you\u2019re ready.\u00a0 How about that?\u201d<\/p>\n Lucia looked at Lydia, suddenly serious.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you know how to fight with a sword, Lydia?\u201d<\/p>\n Lydia chuckled.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, my dear.\u00a0 I do indeed. I\u2019m glad that I haven\u2019t needed to do such a thing for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n Lucia nodded, and then ran down the stairs.\u00a0 Dardeh sat and talked to Lydia for a few minutes, then went to his room to change.\u00a0 When he returned to the ground floor, he stood, smiling, taking it all in.<\/p>\n Sophie was sweeping the floor.\u00a0 Lucia had been practicing her swing, but stopped to smile back at him.\u00a0 Roggi was having a bite to eat.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a family. It\u2019s\u2026 my family.<\/em><\/p>\n Dardeh stepped outside for a time, chopped up some firewood, and then stood looking out over Lake Ilinalta, smiling.\u00a0 He went back into the house and checked the workshop to see that everything from Breezehome was in a place that he could remember, and smiled. Lydia\u2019s sense of organization was impeccable, and he sensed that she\u2019d been doing a bit of smithing herself before they\u2019d gotten home.\u00a0 He put away gems, and armor, and weapons he\u2019d collected along the way; and later, quietly, after Lydia and the girls had gone to bed and while he was alone in the room, mounted his father\u2019s matched Alik\u2019r scimitars on a weapons plaque near the main entrance of the home.\u00a0 He looked up at them and nodded.<\/p>\n I won\u2019t use them in the way you want, father, but there\u2019s no arguing with it.\u00a0 I\u2019m half Redguard.\u00a0 Half of me is you.\u00a0 I will honor your memory in this way.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m glad you did that, Dar,\u201d came a quiet voice from near the fireplace.\u00a0 Dardeh turned to see that Roggi had slipped quietly into a chair next to the fire, and was sipping from a tankard.<\/p>\n Dardeh walked over to him and smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seemed a shame to hide them away.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll always be a true Nord, my love, but you\u2019re more than just that.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cSo are you, Roggi.\u00a0 So are you.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi smiled up at him.\u00a0 \u201cDo you need anything, my love?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 Dardeh reached down and took Roggi by the hand.\u00a0 \u201cI need to go to bed.\u00a0 And I need my husband to come with me.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi grinned at him and rose, and together they walked up the stairs and quietly made their way to the large, private bedroom on the top floor of their new home.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, Roggi, come over here for a second, would you?\u201d Dardeh had just pulled his helmet off after the sweaty work of fighting off half a dozen persistent and very tough frostbite spiders, and was staring down into the floor of what probably was a very nice stable when it wasn\u2019t full of thick, sticky … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2-2-20-3.png\")
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<\/p>\nPart II: Duality<\/a><\/div>\nPrevious<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"