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<\/p>\nSayma knelt down and held her arms out as the little boy came running out of the bedroom toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cMama!\u201d\u00a0 His face held an ear-to-ear smile, and his green eyes sparkled.<\/p>\n
Just like his father\u2019s, she thought as she gathered him up into a tight, warm hug.\u00a0 It was somehow more difficult to think about that, now, which surprised her.<\/p>\n
All the months he\u2019d been alive she had been able to look at those green eyes, brush that red hair, and do so without any sort of sadness.\u00a0 He was just her son.\u00a0 She\u2019d carried him as all mothers did, for the better part of a year. She had endured the fear and pain of birthing him with only Babette in attendance, and enjoyed watching him grow to this point. She had done so in what had felt like a separate world, almost completely apart from what had once been her life as Dagnell.\u00a0 It was a strange existence, a dark world in which she lived as the Listener, responsible for Skyrim\u2019s assassins; an uneasy, unsavory place to raise a child. She had been happy that he was too young to understand what was all around him, and had worried as his native intelligence began to manifest itself because she didn\u2019t really want him to know what things went on in the Sanctuary. Still, through all of it he had been just her son Brynjolf, and looking at him had brought no particular sadness or pain \u2013 only love.<\/p>\n
But looking into her husband\u2019s eyes again, touching his face as she and Andante had frantically tried to bring him back to consciousness, watching him move from anger to grief and back again as he slipped back into his old role as Guildmaster had revived feelings she\u2019d thought that she had safely packed away.<\/p>\n
She pulled back from her son and smiled, and a part of her ached remembering that she had created this little boy with the tall, sad Nord in Riften.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are you, sweetheart?\u201d she asked.\u00a0 \u201cHave you been a good boy?\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded vigorously, and smiled over her shoulder. There was a deep rumble behind them as Dardeh approached.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been wonderful.\u00a0 His cousins have been very entertained,\u201d he said. \u201cI won\u2019t say it too loudly but so has his uncle Roggi. I think he\u2019s been enjoying having a younger child around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sayma turned and grinned at Dardeh, rising to her feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad he\u2019s been behaving.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMama, come,\u201d little Brynjolf said, tugging on her hand. \u201cDoggie!\u201d<\/p>\n
Sayma raised one eyebrow in question, and Dardeh started snickering.\u00a0 \u201cGo look,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI think Lucia\u2019s trying to sleep, but\u2026 go look.\u201d<\/p>\n
Young Brynjolf led her by the hand into the children\u2019s bedroom.\u00a0 One of the girls was stretched out on her bed, and the other was standing next to it, hand on hip.\u00a0 Brynjolf looked up at her and grinned.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoggie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Standing over Lucia, on the bed, was a small, protective fox.<\/p>\n
Sayma started to giggle.<\/p>\n
\u201cSweetheart, that\u2019s a fox, not a doggie.\u00a0 But he\u2019s very cute, isn\u2019t he?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He grinned at her, a tiny one-sided grin that stopped her short for a moment because it looked so much like his father\u2019s.\u00a0 She ruffled his hair.<\/p>\n
\u201cOk, you play a bit more.\u00a0 I need to talk with Uncle Dardeh.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOk, Mama.\u201d\u00a0 He skittered across the room and started tickling Lucia, who obviously hadn\u2019t been asleep at all.\u00a0 She giggled, the fox squirmed around on top of her, and what had been a quiet bedroom became a riot of children being children.<\/p>\n
Sayma and Dardeh returned to the kitchen, to be greeted by a smirking Roggi.<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard all that,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cAnd you\u2019re right, Dar, I really like having a little one around.\u00a0 I actually enjoyed Kjeld the Younger a lot.\u00a0 When he was, you know, younger and less a great useless lump. Someone had to help Iddra watch him while his father was off on his trips, and so I spent a lot of time with him, playing at being a father myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sayma laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell I\u2019m glad you\u2019re both enjoying him because\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Roggi\u2019s eyebrow rose. \u201cBecause?\u201d<\/p>\n
She sighed.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I need to do a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dardeh tilted his head to one side.\u00a0 \u201cA \u2026 thing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. \u00a0A thing.\u00a0 Can we sit down and I\u2019ll tell you about it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roggi snickered. \u201cI\u2019ll get the mead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot too much of it, Roggi,\u201d came a feminine voice from the other side of the room.\u00a0 Sayma swiveled in surprise, to see an attractive woman emerge from the stairwell.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t badger me, Lydia,\u201d Roggi grumbled.\u00a0 \u201cI know enough to behave myself.\u00a0 Couldn\u2019t very well get away with anything with the two of you around, could I?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dardeh leaned over and kissed Roggi on the cheek.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. You couldn\u2019t. That\u2019s exactly the way I want it to be.\u00a0 And you know I always get my way, Roggi, because\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 it\u2019s your house and you\u2019re the Dragonborn, yeah I know.\u201d\u00a0 Roggi whined, but his eyes gleamed as he gazed at Dardeh, and he smiled. She watched him reach for Dardeh and run one hand down his arm, then squeeze his hand.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t let go for several long heartbeats, and when they finally did the gesture was lingering, as if tendrils of feeling continued to connect their hands even as they walked to opposite sides of the space.<\/p>\n
My gosh, they really are in love, aren\u2019t they?<\/em><\/p>\n I would think you\u2019d recognize something like that.<\/em><\/p>\n Oh be quiet. It was a rhetorical question.<\/em><\/p>\n Her other voice hadn\u2019t offered its snide commentary very often in the past two years or more but when it did, it was every bit as annoying as it ever had been.\u00a0 It seemed to emerge, in particular, with comments that would cut as painfully as possible, that would remind her of her own shortcomings.\u00a0 This was no exception.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to take our collective kids down to the lake,\u201d Lydia said, coming around the guardrail and turning toward Sayma.\u00a0 \u201cHi. I\u2019m Lydia, Dar\u2019s housecarl.\u00a0 I used to be a part of Jarl Balgruuf\u2019s household in Whiterun, but he assigned me to Dar a couple of years ago and I\u2019ve followed him out here.\u00a0 Someone has to keep these two honest.\u201d\u00a0 She grimaced at them, but then chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve really been enjoying little Brynjolf.\u00a0 He\u2019s such a good child.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a relief to hear. He hasn\u2019t actually grown up in the best surroundings.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the reasons I was so glad to send him here with Roggi and Dardeh.\u201d<\/p>\n Lydia shook her head. \u201cNot that they are much better, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n For a second Sayma didn\u2019t know how to react.\u00a0 She looked at Roggi, who rolled his eyes.\u00a0 Dardeh snorted.<\/p>\n Lydia started chuckling.\u00a0 \u201cI just like giving them a hard time.\u00a0 These two are the best dads in the world, Sayma.\u00a0 I think the children are very fortunate to have them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they\u2019re fortunate to have you, too, Lydia. And so are we.\u00a0 And you know that already, so don\u2019t give me grief about it,\u201d Dardeh said, grinning at her.<\/p>\n While Lydia herded the children out the back door, Sayma sat down and took a moment, and a sip of the mead Roggi had handed her, trying to judge exactly what the situation was in the house.\u00a0 She remembered the sensations of good-natured ribbing and pretended grumbles, all surrounded by a shared love.\u00a0 She remembered that from her youth, racing and wrestling and laughing with Coyle and Daron along the docks in Stros M\u2019Kai; and she smiled to herself at recognizing that same warmth here in this home.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are<\/em> lucky to have Lydia here, you two.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, we are,\u201d Dardeh told her as he lowered his bulk into one of the chairs. \u201cI didn\u2019t quite know what to do with a housecarl.\u00a0 But I do know what to do with a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d Roggi grumbled, taking the seat next to him. \u201cLet her torment your husband.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh laughed, and swatted at Roggi.<\/p>\n \u201cWhiner.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDragonborn.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma sat and watched Roggi, and smiled.\u00a0 He\u2019s happy.\u00a0 He\u2019s so very happy.\u00a0 I could never have done this for him, not if I had tried for a thousand ages.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cSo what is the Thing, Sayma?\u201d Roggi asked turning to face her, the smile he\u2019d given Dardeh still lingering on his face.\u00a0 \u201cThe thing you have to do?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it\u2019s complicated.\u00a0 It involves Brynjolf, and in some way I\u2019m not sure of it involves Andante, and that Dynjyl fellow Bryn was mentioning to us, and it\u2019s all very confusing to me.\u00a0 But the bottom line is that I need to know whether little Bryn can stay here longer or I need to take him back to Dawnstar.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh and Roggi exchanged a look, and she had no idea what it held.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy don\u2019t you tell us what this is about, then,\u201d Roggi said quietly.<\/p>\n They talked for a long time about the Nightingales, and Nocturnal and how Brynjolf had gone to see her for Dynjyl\u2019s sake and Andante had gone to her for Brynjolf\u2019s sake.\u00a0 She described the problem as best she knew it, and then shook her head.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 and so I don\u2019t know what to do. I don\u2019t even know where to begin looking for this couple.\u00a0 All I know is to try.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi reached for her hand and squeezed it, and then smiled.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re going to take this on for him?\u201d<\/p>\n She looked into his blue eyes and smiled back.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat else can I do, Roggi?\u00a0 It\u2019s fallen to me. I\u2019m the only one left.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd?\u201d\u00a0 One of his eyebrows rose, and he smirked at her.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, you know me too well.\u00a0 I care about him. I want to do this for him.\u00a0 Is that what you want to hear?\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi grinned at Dardeh, and then back at her.\u00a0 \u201cNo, and you know that as well as I do. But it\u2019s a start. So,\u201d he continued, looking back at Dardeh, \u201ccan we keep little Bryn here for a while longer?\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh nodded slowly. \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi frowned.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh shook his head.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNo, sorry.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that I was remembering something, from years back.\u201d\u00a0 He turned to look directly at Sayma. \u201cWhen I was a kid, a teenager that is, there was this odd husband and wife up in the hills east of Dushnikh Yal.\u00a0 We used to make fun of them because they had an odd accent.\u00a0 They always talked about waiting for something special.\u00a0 I wonder.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReally?\u201d\u00a0 Sayma eagerly grasped for this tiny crumb. \u201cCould you give me the general location? It\u2019s not much but it\u2019s a place to start and that\u2019s more than I had before.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure. Got a map?\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma dug her well-worn map out of her pack and handed it to Dardeh.\u00a0 He peered at it for a few minutes and then drew a fairly substantial circle on it.\u00a0 He handed it back to her, shaking his head.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry I can\u2019t be more specific than that.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t exactly set out to remember them, back then, but it\u2019s somewhere in there, the general area around Dushnikh Yal and Valthume.\u00a0 If you go up there be careful, though. It\u2019s really easy to turn an ankle and there are bears absolutely everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma smiled, thinking of Shadowmere\u2019s agility and grace.\u00a0 She\u2019d be fine so long as she didn\u2019t get completely lost.<\/p>\n She nodded, and was opening her mouth to speak when there was a frantic hammering on the door.<\/p>\n \u201cDragonborn! Dragonborn!\u201d came a muffled shout from outside.<\/p>\n Dardeh rolled his eyes and sighed.<\/p>\n \u201cHere we go again,\u201d he said, rising from his chair.\u00a0 Roggi followed suit, reaching for the greatsword he\u2019d leaned up against the wall.\u00a0 Sayma also stood, not quite knowing what to do.<\/p>\n Dardeh opened the door to a frantic farmer. His eyes were wild, sweat dripped down his face, and he was panting.<\/p>\n \u201cDragonborn! There\u2019s a\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDragon?\u201d Dardeh asked, calmly, with a smile.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, down across the road from the mill.\u00a0 It\u2019s killing everything! Freezing them! Dragonborn, you need to come now!\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh\u2019s voice was steady, soothing.\u00a0 \u201cOf course. We\u2019ll be right there. Now go back home and keep under cover, OK?\u201d<\/p>\n The man nodded and turned, sprinting down the walkway to the road and then north, down the hill toward Gavrostead.\u00a0 Dardeh closed the door and turned to Sayma.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to take care of it.\u00a0 Or at least I do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe,\u201d Roggi said, adjusting his sword\u2019s positioning.<\/p>\n Dardeh grinned. \u201cAlright, we.\u201d He turned to Sayma. \u201cAre you coming with us?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Sayma swallowed, remembering the only previous time she\u2019d come face-to-face with one of the enormous creatures, in the hills just south of Eastmarch.\u00a0 She\u2019d been terrified and her heart hadn\u2019t stopped pounding for hours afterward.<\/p>\n Can I do this? <\/em>\u00a0She frowned at herself.\u00a0 Come on now. Andante killed dragons and he wasn\u2019t Dragonborn. How many times did he tell me about those? I can at least toss an arrow or two at it. I want to see Dardeh at work.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYes. I\u2019m coming with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi dashed to the back door and yelled out it \u2013 \u201cLydia! Dragon!\u201d \u2013 and then returned, and the three of them ran down the road toward Half-Moon Mill.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t long before she heard it, and she shuddered at the sound.\u00a0 It was the same hollow, enormous noise she\u2019d heard several times before; a roar with something else inside it, something she\u2019d never quite put a finger on. \u00a0She listened; and her mind strained to make sense of it but couldn\u2019t. \u00a0She cast her memories back to the day she\u2019d first met Dardeh, when he\u2019d told her about dragons while staring at Roggi like a starving man taking the full measure of a feast laid out before his eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cDardeh!\u201d she yelled to him as they approached the small bridge south of the mill.\u00a0 \u201cIs that dragon saying something?\u201d<\/p>\n He shot her a sharp look, and slowed to a stop.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah it is.\u00a0 It\u2019s yelling the words for Frost Breath.\u00a0 Can you\u2026 hear the words?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUm, no, you\u2019re the Dragonborn, not me.\u00a0 You\u2019re the one who told me they have a language, remember? But there\u2019s something about the sounds they make.\u00a0 It gives me such an odd feeling. Like a tickle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA tickle in your head? Like you can almost but not quite tell what it is?\u201d\u00a0 He reached for her arms and peered intently into her eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s all this, Dar?\u201d Roggi asked, coming up beside them.\u00a0 \u201cWe have to go kill that thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh waved Roggi off with one hand.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019ll be on us soon enough, Roggi.\u00a0 This feels important.\u00a0 This is what it felt like for me, when I first encountered Alduin.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d Roggi\u2019s eyes widened.\u00a0 \u201cAre you saying that Sayma is\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n What? I\u2019m what?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Dardeh said, still frowning, as he released her and straightened up. \u201cBut that\u2019s exactly what I felt like when I first encountered dragons.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCan there be more than one Dragonborn, Dar?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRoggi, you know there can.\u00a0 Miraak was Dragonborn.\u00a0 Arngeir told me I was the only one they knew of at the time, but that doesn\u2019t mean there can\u2019t be another.\u00a0 And there are a number of people who can Shout, you know that.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi stared between them, back and forth.\u00a0 \u201cAnd you two are brother and sister.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, half anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma felt the hair on her neck rising.\u00a0 \u201cNow wait a second.\u00a0 Just because I\u2019ve had this weird feeling when I heard dragons, or heard you, Dardeh, or Ulfric\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi\u2019s head snapped around and he stared at her.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve heard Ulfric Shout?\u201d<\/p>\n She suddenly felt afraid, and wasn\u2019t sure why.\u00a0 This is all too strange. Are they trying to suggest that I am\u2026 or might be\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d she answered. \u201cBut I\u2019ve heard him speak, as I told you before. And there was something about his voice that gave me the same strange feeling as I\u2019m\u2026 getting right now,\u201d she finished, as the dragon roared again, this time much closer to them.<\/p>\n \u201cCome on,\u201d Dardeh said. \u201cWe\u2019re about to have company. We\u2019ll sort this out later.\u201d<\/p>\n And then things got frantic.<\/p>\n It was a smallish dragon, as such things went, but was still the largest creature Sayma had ever encountered.\u00a0 Not even a mammoth was larger.\u00a0 And mammoths didn\u2019t swoop overhead, strafing the area with intense bursts of cold and frost that stopped muscles from working and hurt desperately.\u00a0 With a part of her mind she admired the creature, its silvery-blue scales and spiral-patterned horns beautiful to behold; but it took every bit of fortitude she possessed to pull out her bow and string an arrow to it, and every bit of strength she had to hold the bow steady as the creature flew overhead, its passage buffeting them in the currents of air it created.\u00a0 Both Dardeh and Roggi were already busy firing their own bowshots, and Roggi was screaming at it to die.\u00a0 They were having some small success, bloodying its head.\u00a0 Sayma loosed her own arrow, then; it flew straight and buried itself in the dragon\u2019s side.<\/p>\n Something about that calmed her, steadied her.\u00a0 I can do this, she thought.\u00a0 I know how to kill things.\u00a0 This is easy.\u00a0 She drew back on the string a second time and let fly another arrow that caught the beast in the underbelly.<\/p>\n The dragon screamed and rose back into the air, circling the area and roaring.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s none too pleased with that,\u201d Dardeh laughed.\u00a0 \u201cSwearing up a storm.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCan you bring it down, Dar?\u201d Roggi asked.\u00a0 \u201cThe forest\u2019s too thick here to rely on the arrows.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I\u2019ll ground him when he comes around again. It\u2019ll be easier to get him with the swords anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma stood well back from them and drew her Bosmer shortswords.\u00a0 These were the tools she used to take down her targets; a deadly sharp matched set she\u2019d had made because they were easier to conceal and to wield than the bulky Alik\u2019r scimitars she\u2019d grown up with \u2013 and because the scimitars might have given away the fact that she was Dagnell.\u00a0 She heard the dragon screaming at them as it circled back around and her heart started pounding; but she drew her consciousness down, close, into a small, focused place in her center.\u00a0 This was the way she approached all exterminations and she did it without conscious thought.<\/p>\n The silvery beast soared across the clearing once more, frost gushing from its maw.<\/p>\n \u201cJOOR\u2014ZAH FRUL!\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma heard her brother Shout.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t quite understand the words but knew that they were words, in the dragon tongue, and she saw what happened next.\u00a0 The dragon was enveloped by power, glowing blue, and it settled unsteadily toward the ground.\u00a0 Dardeh laughed and ran forward brandishing a very long double-edged sword and a smaller, more slender blade that seemed to glow with an energy of its own.\u00a0 The dragon hovered just above Dardeh and drew its head back, inhaling. Then it settled slowly to the ground.<\/p>\n It\u2019s going to kill him!<\/em><\/p>\n Sayma didn\u2019t stop to think; she rushed the beast, hacking and pounding at it as hard as she could, not noticing that Dardeh had deftly stepped aside and was doing serious damage to the dragon\u2019s body with his own swords.\u00a0 She was so intent on what she was doing that she didn\u2019t realize the inhalation was in fact going to become a roar in spite of its being down.<\/p>\n The frost breath caught her full on.<\/p>\n The pain was immense.\u00a0 Sayma had never been good with cold.\u00a0 It had even been a running joke between her and Roggi that she was hopeless in the cold and against enemies who used cold-based attacks.\u00a0 She screamed and tumbled backward, down onto one knee, curling up into the smallest ball she could achieve.\u00a0 The dragon began moving toward her, its jaws snapping.<\/p>\n I\u2019m going to die.\u00a0 Make it stop. Make it stop.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u201d she heard from behind her, followed by the sound of rushing feet and the meaty smack of sword striking dragon.\u00a0 She fought to raise her head and saw Roggi standing between her and the dragon, fighting like a madman, his greatsword laying open enormous gashes in the beast\u2019s face. Dardeh, to the side, was stabbing and slashing in the whirling style she remembered seeing her father use, when she was a very small girl.\u00a0 She thought she saw Dardeh smiling as he did so.<\/p>\n The blue glow around the dragon started to fade even as it snapped at Roggi, its teeth missing him by a whisper.<\/p>\n \u201cGet him again, Dar!\u201d Roggi screamed.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s about to take off!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJOOR\u2014ZAH FRUL!\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s keeping the dragon on the ground. I don\u2019t know how but that\u2019s what is doing it.<\/em><\/p>\n Sayma fought her stiff muscles, willing them to move.<\/p>\n I have to at least stand up. I can\u2019t let Roggi die because of me.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll die this day, dragon!\u201d he shouted, his huge arms sweeping the dragonbone greatsword back and forth in deadly attacks.<\/p>\n Sayma managed to reach her feet just in time to watch Dardeh, laughing maniacally, stab into the dragon\u2019s neck with the smaller, slenderer sword.\u00a0 Its head and neck snapped backward and then, with a thunderous crash, the entire creature fell to earth.\u00a0 Roggi scrambled backward, neatly, his movements revealing the extent of his practice and experience.<\/p>\n Sayma, standing just uphill from her half-brother Dardeh, then saw something she\u2019d never witnessed before. \u00a0She\u2019d heard people talk about it \u2013 had even heard Dardeh talk about how he absorbed the energy from a dragon \u2013 but it was a different order of magnitude altogether between hearing about the experience and witnessing it. There was a small, muffled boom, followed by the dragon\u2019s skin beginning to smolder.\u00a0 It began to crackle.\u00a0 Flames erupted along the beast\u2019s length. Dardeh stood in front of the dragon, his face raised toward the sky, eyes closed as golden, whirling tendrils of energy began to rise from it and stream toward him. His arms spread to either side, as though embracing the energy.<\/p>\n The dragon burned faster and faster and the energy rushed from it, around Dardeh and, it seemed to Sayma, into<\/em> him.\u00a0 Stranger yet, it seemed as though some few streamers of the golden light continued up the hill, past Dardeh, and around her. She could feel the energy brushing her skin, reaching for her the way Roggi\u2019s caress of Dardeh\u2019s hand had lingered, stretching out far past the limitations of physical touch.<\/p>\n That\u2019s just crazy. I\u2019m just seeing the light from the dragon. Right?<\/em><\/p>\n There was a rushing, roaring sound as the final wave of the dragon\u2019s energy broke over Dardeh and entered him.\u00a0 And Sayma stood, frozen, as she felt her own skin tingle, her body warming, filling, as a fraction of that energy flowed around her, her mind leaping to full alertness as she struggled to grasp what she was seeing and feeling.<\/p>\n The swirling energies died down; the golden glow surrounding Dardeh slowly subdued.\u00a0 He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, smiling.<\/p>\n \u201cThat never gets old,\u201d he said, grinning.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re a glutton,\u201d Roggi said.<\/p>\n \u201cI am, it\u2019s true; and you love it and you know it.\u00a0 But\u2026\u201d he said, turning around to look up at Sayma, \u201cI think something else just happened, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma started to tremble. This is too much. It\u2019s just too much.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou absorbed<\/em> it, Dardeh.\u201d<\/p>\n He smiled. \u201cCall me Dar. I\u2019m your brother, after all. We have things in common.\u201d<\/p>\n What is he saying? Tell me I\u2019m imagining things.<\/em><\/p>\n You\u2019re not imagining things.<\/em><\/p>\n Shut up.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBut you absorbed that dragon\u2019s \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSoul. Yes, I did that. That\u2019s what I do, as Dragonborn.\u00a0 That\u2019s why, when Roggi and I kill a dragon, it stays dead.\u201d<\/p>\n She looked over at Roggi, who was smiling at her.\u00a0 \u201cYou really are strong enough to kill a dragon now, Roggi.\u201d\u00a0 He nodded, the smile growing wider.\u00a0 \u201cYou saved me. Again,\u201d <\/em>she added, chuckling.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh took a step closer.<\/p>\n \u201cYou felt it, didn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma felt the hair on her neck rising.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, you do.\u00a0 I know it because I could feel it, too.\u00a0 Some of that energy just went right on past me, up the hill.\u00a0 It ended up in you, didn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi\u2019s mouth fell open.\u00a0 \u201cAre you saying that Sayma\u2019s Dragonborn?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, no, I\u2019m sure that\u2019s not right!\u201d\u00a0 She almost had to sit down, her legs were trembling so badly.<\/p>\n Dardeh grinned.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know for sure, but\u2026\u00a0 Ok, Sayma, tell me what this is.\u201d\u00a0 He turned toward the trees and Shouted.<\/p>\n \u201cFO– KRAH DIIN!\u201d\u00a0 The sound reverberated, filling the entire clearing and bouncing off the forest surrounding it. A large cloud of frost flew downhill from just in front of Dardeh and dissipated harmlessly.<\/p>\n She blinked.\u00a0 It was almost as though someone had placed a book with the words written out on its pages into her hands, something that had been in a strange tongue translated to her own.\u00a0 She knew the words and she knew what they signified.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s\u2026\u00a0 \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cYeah?\u201d\u00a0 He turned back to her, grinning from ear to ear.<\/p>\n \u201cDar. When you Shouted at the dragon, I just heard a huge sound.\u00a0 I could tell there were words in it. Just like when the dragon roared. But I didn\u2019t know what the words were.\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded vigorously. \u201cBecause I was Shouting in Dovahzul. Dragon language.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust now I heard you say three words. Fo. Krah. Diin.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYup.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt means Frost Breath. Roughly. That\u2019s what the dragon was roaring, too, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYup.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma\u2019s legs gave out on her, finally, then, and she sank to the ground.\u00a0 Roggi rushed to put an arm around her, but Dardeh stood laughing.<\/p>\n She felt dizzy for a moment.\u00a0 Did I really just hear dragon language?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cDardeh, it\u2019s not funny.\u201d<\/p>\n He chuckled and sat down in front of her.\u00a0 \u201cI know. I\u2019m not laughing at you. I\u2019m remembering what it was like for me, the first time it happened.\u00a0 I was probably paler than Roggi.\u00a0 Can you Shout, do you think?\u00a0 It just kind of happens, when you can.\u00a0 You\u2019ll know it.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma closed her eyes and took stock of everything going on inside her.\u00a0 She felt stronger, somehow; warmer, more complete.\u00a0 But she had no idea how to form the words she\u2019d heard into something like a roar that would produce frost.\u00a0 She opened her eyes and shook her head.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi stood up, pulling at his beard in an unconscious gesture.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t understand, Dar.\u00a0 How can Sayma be Dragonborn and not Shout?\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh rose to his feet and held out a hand to pull Sayma up.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think she is<\/em> Dragonborn, Roggi. Not really. Not completely, anyway.\u00a0 But there\u2019s no question that she took some of that dragon\u2019s energy and she can understand Dovahzul, and it has to have something to do with us being brother and sister.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi frowned.\u00a0 \u201cIt still doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh shook his head. \u201cThink about it. Andante could Shout, but he wasn\u2019t Dragonborn, was he?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 Thank the gods. Can you imagine?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSee? It seems to me that there are different degrees of being able to use this power. Some people can understand Dovahzul but can\u2019t use it. Others can use it but aren\u2019t Dragonborn. And then there are people like me, and Miraak, who can absorb a dragon\u2019s soul.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Talos,\u201d Roggi murmured.<\/p>\n Sayma\u2019s mouth fell open. Talos? Talos could\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, he was Dragonborn too, when he was a man,\u201d Dardeh breathed quietly.\u00a0 \u201cWe seem to be rarities. But this is something different.\u00a0 Sayma can understand the language even though she can\u2019t use it \u2013 but she can absorb some of the power.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDar, that sounds crazy,\u201d Sayma said.\u00a0 My brother. My brother is in a category that includes Talos. I don\u2019t know what to do with that.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt does, but think about this: how much sense did it make when Jine appeared to me in dreams and started talking about a whole line of men with power? And then Dadarh saying \u2018I\u2019ll have to use the girl.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou mean there\u2019s something in our background?\u201d Sayma said.<\/p>\n He nodded vigorously. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m saying. \u00a0Something in our blood, on our father\u2019s side. It would fit with everything that\u2019s happened here in real time and also in my dreams.\u00a0 And whatever you call the time I spent on Solstheim and Sovngarde.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do I do, then?\u00a0 I have no idea what to make of this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell,\u201d Dardeh said, starting to move toward the road, \u201cI\u2019ll tell you what my mother used to tell me.\u00a0 \u2018Be patient, Dar,\u2019 she would say. \u2018You\u2019ll know when the time is right.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 He smiled at Roggi, a brilliant smile that lit up his face and made Sayma\u2019s heart ache. \u201cShe was right about that.\u00a0 I\u2019d be willing to bet that you\u2019ll know what to do with this when the time is right, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi grinned.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re turning into a regular philosopher, Dar.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I\u2019ve had to do a lot of thinking about it, you know?\u00a0 Otherwise I think I might have lost my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho says you haven\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHa ha, husband.\u00a0 If I have that doesn\u2019t speak well of you either, does it.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma followed along behind them, listening to their banter, wondering whether Dardeh was right, or was actually crazy, or whether she was.\u00a0 How could it be that she could have absorbed energy from a dead dragon?<\/p>\n Well how could it be that the corpse of a woman who was supposedly married to Sithis speaks to you and gives you assignments to kill?<\/em><\/p>\n Shut up.<\/em><\/p>\n Even as she snapped at her other voice, though, Sayma had another thought.\u00a0 How can it be that Nocturnal speaks to me, as well?<\/em><\/p>\n She looked at Dardeh, strong and confident, striding along beside one of the people she loved most in the world, and smiled.\u00a0 That man is my brother.\u00a0 I am very fortunate. And I think he is right.\u00a0 For whatever reason, our father\u2019s lineage has had an effect on both of us.<\/em><\/p>\n She shuddered.<\/p>\n And then she saw in her mind\u2019s eye the sad figure of Brynjolf, leaning up against the wall of the Cistern, murmuring \u201cand that\u2019s another person I\u2019ll never see again.\u201d\u00a0 She looked back at Dardeh and Roggi, so clearly in love with each other, and her eyes started to sting.<\/p>\n I want that for Brynjolf.\u00a0 I want him to look at someone and smile like that, to touch that person and want the touch to last.\u00a0 I want him to be happy.<\/em><\/p>\n Maybe it\u2019s not me. Maybe it\u2019s someone he\u2019ll meet long after all this is done, and he\u2019ll just be little Bryn\u2019s father when he can be. Andante is gone. Dynjyl is not alive. But maybe, if I can do this thing for him, maybe seeing Dynjyl put to rest will help him live again.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n So many strange things have happened to me since I met him.\u00a0 I have so many connections in powerful places now, and who knows what this thing with the dragons means.\u00a0 But if I can use it all, somehow, to help Brynjolf, well\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Roggi turned and looked over his shoulder at her, and smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a start,\u201d he told me.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n She smiled back at him.<\/p>\n Yeah, it is.<\/em><\/p>\n Sayma knelt down and held her arms out as the little boy came running out of the bedroom toward her. \u201cMama!\u201d\u00a0 His face held an ear-to-ear smile, and his green eyes sparkled. Just like his father\u2019s, she thought as she gathered him up into a tight, warm hug.\u00a0 It was somehow more difficult to think … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-1-4-2.png\")
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<\/p>\nPart I: Sayma Sendu<\/a><\/div>\nPrevious<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"