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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a nasty one,\u201d Roggi said, wiping his brow. \u201cThank the gods for this little tunnel or we\u2019d both have been goners.\u201d He sheathed the massive dragonbone greatsword and pried a couple of fresh bones from the creature\u2019s carcass, as he always did.<\/p>\n
Dardeh smiled at him through the mask of Dragon Aspect and waited for the dragon\u2019s skin to begin smoking and sizzling, waited for the intoxicating rush of power that he knew was coming next. It didn\u2019t matter how many different ways he\u2019d tried to explain it to Roggi; there were no words adequate to the experience. Roggi said he understood, said that the reasons he\u2019d carried a set of carefully maintained torture tools around with him for more than a decade were similar, had to be similar \u2013 but as Roggi walked back up the hill and Dardeh stood in the whirling, pulsing flow of the dragon\u2019s soul, closing his eyes to experience it, he once again shook his head.<\/p>\n
There is nothing else like this. Nobody else in the world has this. Not since I helped destroy Miraak. <\/em><\/p>\n The place his mind went next always made him a bit uncomfortable, and that part he had not shared with Roggi or anyone else. The last person aside from Miraak that he knew of who could do this, who had shared this power, was Talos. Tiber Septim, the man who had united the Empire, known by many names but worshipped throughout Skyrim as Talos, the Dragonborn who became divine.\u00a0 Dardeh shared this ability, this power, with the very god he worshipped, and every time he thought about it he had to talk himself down from the height of it.<\/p>\n I am not a god. I will never be a god. Even having that thought run through the fringes of my mind is nearly blasphemy. I am a miner from Markarth and that is all I am. <\/em><\/p>\n But I do have this ability. It\u2019s hard enough to control how much I want more of it, all the time, without becoming some kind of monster like Miraak was. Some hungers are better left unfed.<\/em><\/p>\n Thank the gods for Roggi. I don\u2019t know what I\u2019d do if I didn\u2019t have him to keep me grounded.<\/em><\/p>\n The last tendrils of energy flowed into him and he opened his eyes and smiled. Then he knelt, quietly, casting his thoughts toward that other entity he knew could absorb the soul of a dragon.\u00a0 He\u2019d begun doing so some while ago, each time they slew a dragon, and felt the warmth of what he could only hope was some tiny wisp of Talos\u2019 favor when he rose to his feet again.<\/p>\n \u201cReady?\u201d Roggi called back to him from up the hill near the word wall.<\/p>\n \u201cYup. I\u2019ll be right there.\u201d Dardeh trotted up the hill and stood before the wall, learning the word SLEN from it. \u201cHuh,\u201d he said, grinning. \u201cFlesh. That\u2019ll be handy if I combine it with the word for ice.\u201d<\/p>\n He ran his hand along the carved surfaces of the wall, reading the words. It still left him a bit awestruck to think that not too long before, relatively speaking, he had not known any of the dragon tongue and now could translate an entire wall of it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s it say?\u201d Roggi stepped up behind him and slipped his arms around Dardeh\u2019s waist.<\/p>\n \u201cIt says \u2019Noble Nords remember these words of the hoar father: Even best steel may bend and break, but flesh of true men is unyielding.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 He snickered, and turned around inside Roggi\u2019s grasp to leer at him. \u201cI don\u2019t know about that. You\u2019re a true man, last I checked, and yet your flesh yields very nicely indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi snorted in mock dismay even while his eyes twinkled. \u201cBy Ysmir, Dar. You\u2019re beginning to rival Andante. You may even manage to shock me one of these days at this rate, and I thought I was beyond being shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh laughed; but then his smile faded. \u201cWell, keep me in line, Roggi. Some days I wonder whether I can do it myself anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi dropped his hands and nodded toward the trail. \u201cLet\u2019s get going. We need to get back home. I don\u2019t want to saddle Lydia with all three of them any longer than we need to.\u201d\u00a0 He grinned at Dardeh. \u201cBesides, even if I can\u2019t keep you in line she surely can.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s more truth than fiction in that, Roggi.\u201d\u00a0 Dardeh trudged southwest along the snowy hillside, smiling at the thought.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a fortunate man to have them both around. <\/em><\/p>\n He rolled the new Dovahzul word around in his mouth, experimenting with how it would feel to Shout two words of Ice Form at an opponent and watch as he toppled to the ground, frozen.\u00a0 A tiny shudder ran up his spine.<\/p>\n Rival Andante, indeed. I begin to understand what drove him. Power is a dangerous thing to have.<\/em><\/p>\n The rest of the world is fortunate I have both Roggi and Lydia around, as well.<\/em><\/p>\n __<\/p>\n They\u2019d just passed the Loreius farm when something just barely visible in the road ahead, between the farm and Whitewatch Tower, caught Dardeh\u2019s attention.\u00a0 There appeared to be carts in the road, but without horses to draw them. Dardeh broke into a jog toward the carts and saw barrels and sacks and crates thrown from them to the ground.\u00a0 And as they drew closer to the place he saw the bodies.<\/p>\n Great pools of blood stretched across an expanse of the ground, and above them \u2013 and in them \u2013 were bodies. Imperial legionnaires face down in the dirt, Stormcloak soldiers with their arms and legs bent at strange angles and others, bandits judging by their armor, were scattered amongst the remains of what had clearly been a brutal skirmish. There were far more corpses in Stormcloak armor than in Imperial.\u00a0 Most if not all of a patrol lay in front of them dead. Flies buzzed around the carcasses, dancing their dance of death and life over dulled but opened eyes and gaping wounds.<\/p>\n Roggi moved silently among the bodies, his face somber, his mouth set into tight lines. Dardeh glanced at him, and then back down at the Stormcloak soldiers at his feet. The nearest of them was young, very young, younger than Dardeh; and he looked as though he had died in pain, and in fear. Dardeh felt the familiar stab of loss; these weren\u2019t his friends, or his children, or his brothers, but he imagined the shared pain of those who would mourn these men.\u00a0 He thought of the patrol he\u2019d seen on a very cold night near Stonehills, a night that felt like another lifetime ago, and he felt tears welling up behind his eyes.<\/p>\n Dardeh squeezed his eyelids closed, but rather than shutting out the face of the young dead soldier he saw in its place the face of the soldier he\u2019d promised to guide through Alduin\u2019s mist in Sovngarde to the Hall of Valor.\u00a0 The man he\u2019d lost, the most vivid in his mind of the faces of those he had not been able to save but not, now, the most recent.<\/p>\n At least\u2026 at least they are safe in Sovngarde now.\u00a0 They died warrior\u2019s deaths, all of them, and they are safe in Sovngarde.<\/em><\/p>\n He turned and looked at Roggi and at Whiterun not far beyond them.\u00a0 Roggi was facing him but his eyes were unfocused, seemingly a thousand leagues away.<\/p>\n \u201cThey would have been my brothers in arms,\u201d Roggi murmured.<\/p>\n Dardeh took a few more paces among the dead. He could see the battle play out in front of him, based on the positions of the bodies, the places where dropped weapons had fallen to the ground, the angles at which blood had sprayed out from violent wounds to soak the ground.\u00a0 It had to have been a horrible thing.\u00a0 Roggi had seen its like many times in the past, he knew.\u00a0 Perhaps, he thought, that was part of the reason he\u2019d retired from the front lines to work for Ulfric privately.\u00a0 Then, for him, the bloodshed had been under his control, and confined to small numbers and small spaces. He\u2019d have been the one in power.<\/p>\n Dardeh stopped, and shook his head.\u00a0 I can\u2019t go down that road. I can\u2019t think about that.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI thought I had stopped it, Roggi. I truly thought I had negotiated peace. But I failed.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi gradually focused his gaze on Dardeh.\u00a0 He nodded, slowly. \u201cThis close to Whiterun, Dar,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be war.\u00a0 We need to get home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d Dardeh said. \u201cAnd then I\u2019m going to stop it. I failed before, but I won\u2019t fail again. I don\u2019t know how, but I\u2019ll figure something out.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n It was setting up to be a beautiful, sunny day on Lake Ilinalta, as far as Dardeh had been able to see.\u00a0 He and Roggi had made it home early on the morning following their finding the dead patrol, and had made certain that the children, their two girls and Sayma and Brynjolf\u2019s little boy, were fine.\u00a0 They\u2019d had a lovely day, full of laughs and good food, mead for the adults and sweets for the children.\u00a0 They\u2019d all gone swimming in the lake, and even Dardeh had admired Lydia\u2019s lithe form as she ran, laughing, and dove from the docks into the cold waters.\u00a0 They\u2019d all done their chores: he\u2019d chopped enough wood to supply the household\u2019s fires for days, Roggi had tackled laundry, and Lydia had spent hours chopping vegetables and stirring the contents of the cook pot.\u00a0 Sofie had swept and dusted, assisted somewhat reluctantly by Lucia; and even Brynjolf the Younger had done his small part, tidying their room and then brushing the fox.<\/p>\n Once the evening meal was done, the dishes cleaned, and the children put to bed, the three adults had sat around the fire drinking mead and talking quietly.\u00a0 Lydia had given Roggi a hard time about everything, as usual, and he\u2019d teased her, his eyes twinkling in good humor and affection.\u00a0 Dardeh had laughed, and marveled once again at his good fortune. Lydia had smiled at him, several times, that smile that told him as it had from the very first that she would always consider him more than just her Thane. And at last they had all said goodnight, and gone to their beds, and Dardeh had held Roggi close and said a silent word of thanks to Talos that he was able to do so when so many others no longer had such a luxury of their own.<\/p>\n On this morning, he stood laughing at the fox on the floor and wondering how he\u2019d ever let the girls talk him into it back so long ago at Breezehome, when he heard Lydia\u2019s quiet voice from the kitchen behind him.<\/p>\n \u201cDardeh,\u201d she murmured. \u201cCould you come here for a moment?\u201d<\/p>\n He turned, smiling, and then stopped cold.<\/p>\n Lydia was standing quietly in the kitchen.\u00a0 But in place of the dress and jeweled circlet he\u2019d gotten used to seeing on her was an equally-familiar full set of steel armor.\u00a0 She gazed at him, calm but serious, and his heart fell.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s this, Lydia?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does it look like, Dar?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like you\u2019ve had a message from Whiterun.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d she whispered. \u201cAs we expected, Jarl Balgruuf has rejected the overture from Ulfric. He\u2019s called me back to his service. The message came yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh shook his head, feeling the cold fingers of dread clawing into him. \u201cPlease don\u2019t do this, Lydia. Please don\u2019t leave us.\u201d His voice, usually the largest thing about him, was barely audible.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know I have to, my Thane,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t call me that, Lydia, you know it makes me crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell,\u201d she said calmly, \u201cit may be the last time I\u2019m able to call you that. Balgruuf\u2019s calling in the Imperial troops from General Tullius. Unless, of course\u2026\u201d She stared at him, questioning, the hint of a plea dancing in her gaze.<\/p>\n Unless what? Unless I go to Balgruuf and agree to serve the Empire? Agree to help them enforce the White-Gold Concordat and wipe out worship of the one and only deity who has ever meant a thing to me?\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n No, I won\u2019t do that.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cLydia.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDar.\u00a0 Come outside with me.\u00a0 I have to leave and I don\u2019t want to upset the children.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh nodded, and followed Lydia outside.\u00a0 He swapped one glance with Roggi, who sat quietly in his chair looking stricken.<\/p>\n Of course he figured it out as soon as he saw her. He\u2019s smarter than me. And the only time Lydia\u2019s worn armor since I met her was the day she rode to Riften for our wedding.<\/em><\/p>\n It was, in fact, a beautiful day outside in Falkreath Hold, but Dardeh couldn\u2019t see past the mists in his own eyes. Lydia had been by his side since he\u2019d first come to Whiterun, and he was having a hard time imagining life without her there.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand why you\u2019re doing this, Lydia, but I wish you wouldn\u2019t. Is there anything I can say that could keep you here with us?\u201d<\/p>\n She glanced at him and then away, and Dardeh blurted out the only thing he could think of to say.<\/p>\n \u201cWith me?\u201d<\/p>\n What am I saying? I could no more be with Lydia than I could be with\u2026 the Night Mother.<\/em>\u00a0 He shuddered, thinking of the desiccated corpse he\u2019d seen briefly in Dawnstar.<\/p>\n Lydia chuckled. \u201cDar. You know better than that. I<\/em> know better than that. You\u2019ll never be with anyone but Roggi. I\u2019m going to pretend that those two words never happened.\u201d\u00a0 She took his hands and squeezed them.<\/p>\n He felt himself turning red. \u201cYeah. Just as well. That was stupid and ridiculous. And insulting. \u00a0I\u2019m really sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m<\/em> sorry, Dar.\u00a0 You know how much it has meant to me to serve you. And to be your friend.\u201d\u00a0 She smiled, and her eyes glistened. \u201cYou truly are my friend.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know what to expect when Balgruuf assigned me to you, but a family was not the thing that came to mind.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to miss the girls so much,\u201d she said, swallowing, her voice dropping.\u00a0 \u201cAnd little Bryn as well. But Balgruuf is my Jarl. I owe almost everything I have to him. I can\u2019t refuse his summons.\u201d<\/p>\n Then she dropped Dardeh\u2019s hands and nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to go now, to report for duty.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh ground his teeth, not wanting to say anything else stupid. Then he realized that there was one more important thing he needed to tell her.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand. You do know, I hope, that Breezehome is yours. I\u2019ve long since let Balgruuf know that.\u201d<\/p>\n Lydia\u2019s eyes got wide for a moment. \u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, really. I wanted you to have a place that was yours when you went to visit… whoever it is that you visit.\u201d He grinned at the flash in her eyes. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, I\u2019m not prying. That\u2019s your business. Um\u2026 you remember the document I wrote before I went to Skuldafn? I changed it a while back. The new one is there in the safe. It has your name on it, as the sole owner of the house.\u00a0 Please, take it with my gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDar. Thank you. I hardly know what to say.\u201d For the briefest of moments Dardeh thought that she looked undecided, like she might relent; but then she took a deep breath and blew it out, and smiled at him.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been an honor and a privilege, my Thane.\u00a0 I hope we will meet again in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh wanted to cry out for her to stay.\u00a0 But he wanted to honor her service, her forthrightness, her friendship; and so he simply nodded and watched as she walked down the path toward Gavrostead and the road that would take her back to Whiterun.<\/p>\n Gods. Just like that, everything changes. Now what? <\/em><\/p>\n He walked back inside.\u00a0 The children had gone to their room and were giggling and playing with toys; but Roggi was at the table writing furiously.<\/p>\n \u201cRoggi, she\u2019s left us. She\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi paused in his writing for just a moment, frozen.\u00a0 Then his shoulders drooped, and he went back to the letter.<\/p>\n \u201cI know,\u201d he said, never looking up from his paper. A moment or two passed before he added, \u201cAre you alright?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes. Well, mostly. No, not really but what can I do? What are you<\/em> doing?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWriting to Brynjolf. He told me to get in touch if things went from bad to worse, said that he was working on an idea. I think this qualifies as worse, don\u2019t you?\u201d He folded the paper up and turned to look at Dardeh, his eyes dark with concern. \u201cAnd what are you going to do, my love?\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh looked around at their home and sighed.\u00a0 There was no way that he could justify staying here, in comfort, while the rest of the world burned in open warfare.<\/p>\n I am Dardeh at-Dadarh, born of a Nord woman to a Redguard man. I am called the Last Dragonborn. I defeated Miraak the Dragon Priest, called the First Dragonborn, in Hermaeus Mora\u2019s realm of Apocrypha. I travelled to Sovngarde and, in the company of three great heroes, defeated Alduin, the World-Eater, Firstborn of Akatosh. And yet, my efforts were inadequate to forestall this civil war that is about to engulf us all.<\/em><\/p>\n There\u2019s only one thing I can do.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI think you know, Roggi.\u201d<\/p>\n Roggi nodded. \u201cWell let\u2019s hope Bryn has a good idea. Because I\u2019m coming with you, and there\u2019d best be no arguments from you. I don\u2019t know how the Thieves Guild would feel about housing three children but that\u2019s where they\u2019ll be if Bryn has no better ideas. Karliah helped raise one Brynjolf, I\u2019m sure she\u2019d be willing to help raise another.\u201d\u00a0 He stood and headed for the door. \u201cI\u2019m off to find a courier.\u201d\u00a0 Then he grinned.\u00a0 \u201cAt least they\u2019d be underground and out of the line of fire. Those people are absolutely fierce if they\u2019re threatened.\u00a0 I suppose we could do worse.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh watched the door close behind Roggi, then sighed and walked heavily up the stairs.\u00a0 He started going through the potions chest, pulling out things that would likely be important to have along.<\/p>\n Keep busy. Then it won\u2019t hurt so much. <\/em><\/p>\n He thought about Ulfric and his stomach roiled. He frowned.\u00a0 He still hated Ulfric, hated his arrogance, and his cruelty, and his narrow-minded views toward all people who were not Nords, and his self-importance. Most of all he hated what Ulfric had done to Roggi.\u00a0 But the fact remained that Ulfric had beaten the High King, in a legitimate challenge, and he more than anyone else alive could claim to be the new High King \u2013 if they could only get him to that place where he could claim it.<\/p>\n And I could Shout him down. I have Shouted him down. Easily.<\/em><\/p>\n As soon as the though ran through his mind Dardeh shook his head.\u00a0 It was not worthy of him, to think such things. His mother would be cross with him if she knew it.<\/p>\n I hate him for his arrogance? How amusing. Look at me.<\/em><\/p>\n Perhaps I was the arrogant and willful one, thinking that my status as Dragonborn was enough to prevent the war from continuing, enough to sway people\u2019s minds. <\/em><\/p>\n He walked into the bedroom and pulled from his strongbox the amulet of Talos he\u2019d stored away, fastening it around his neck.\u00a0 It would serve as notice to any who saw it that he stood with those who would not accept the Thalmor\u2019s restrictions on them any longer.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know whether this is the path you warned me against, Ma, but it\u2019s the only path I can travel now. I\u2019m going to have to participate in one evil in order to prevent an even greater one.<\/em><\/p>\n Again.<\/em><\/p>\n He stood staring around himself at the room he had thought would be the place he\u2019d spend the rest of his life, peacefully and uneventfully, with Roggi.\u00a0 It occurred to him then that it had been a very long time since he\u2019d been nothing more than a miner from Markarth.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Brynjolf looked up from the parchment and fished a sizeable handful of coins out of the purse in his pocket, handing them to the courier who\u2019d made his way down to the Ragged Flagon. The young man nodded and scurried away; and Brynjolf ran his hand through his hair.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething up, boss?\u201d Delvin asked him.<\/p>\n Something up. I\u2019d say so. I guess I\u2019m going to have more of a family than I\u2019d bargained for and sooner, to boot. I\u2019d best go see Maven right away.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAye, Delvin. It looks like it\u2019s to be war after all. Roggi\u2019s sending the children here.\u201d<\/p>\n Delvin had been taking a sip of mead as he\u2019d said that, and nearly choked on it.<\/p>\n \u201cIs he out of his mind? Children, Bryn?\u201d<\/p>\n Brynjolf smirked. \u201cYes, children. My boy and their two girls. They can\u2019t very well stay out in that big house in Falkreath on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n Delvin looked almost panicked for a moment, and Brynjolf had to fight the urge to laugh. \u00a0He decided to play it out a bit longer.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat, are we going to take care of them here? Kids, boss?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll like my son. He\u2019s a little young but he\u2019s smart. If you start working with him early\u2026 Besides, can you think of a safer place in Skyrim?\u201d<\/p>\n Delvin squirmed, his eyes shifting back and forth uncomfortably.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Brynjolf laughed.\u00a0 \u201cNot to worry, Delvin. I\u2019ve been thinking about this.\u00a0 It\u2019s time for me to have a bigger place than Honeyside anyway, and the place I\u2019m going to buy from Maven couldn\u2019t possibly be better, especially now.\u00a0 Besides,\u201d he said, leaning forward and dropping his voice, \u201cas it turns out, I\u2019m going to be a father again.\u201d<\/p>\n Delvin stopped moving for a moment. His eyebrows rose just slightly, and then dropped back to their normal position.\u00a0 He set his tankard down very slowly and carefully, and then raised his gaze from it to Brynjolf\u2019s face.<\/p>\n Poor Delvin. I really should have prepared him at least a little bit. <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re going to\u2026 with Sayma?\u201d<\/p>\n Brynjolf smiled, and nodded. He hugged the warm feeling that spread through him at the thought close inside while trying hard not to show quite how excited he was at the prospect.<\/p>\n \u201cYes. We\u2019ve mended our fences and, well\u2026\u201d He stopped, and snorted. \u201cDon\u2019t give me that look, Delvin Mallory. The woman is my wife<\/em>, after all. We\u2019ve just\u2026 sort of\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTaken up where you left off, I take it?\u201d Delvin smirked. \u201cWell. I suppose nobody is ever going to get any work out of you ever again.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never seen the like of it. It\u2019s not like you was a complete hermit before you met Dag, boss, but ever since then you\u2019ve been like… I don\u2019t know. A jack rabbit.\u00a0 First Dag, then Andante, and now Sayma. And that\u2019s only the ones I know of.\u201d<\/p>\n Brynjolf tossed his head back and laughed. \u201cA rabbit, is it?\u00a0 Do I detect a slight hint of envy there, old man?\u201d<\/p>\n Delvin gave him a lopsided grin. \u201cMaybe a bit.\u201d\u00a0 He glanced sideways across the room at Vex, who was sitting across the table from Tonilia, deep in discussion.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t give up on her. You never know. But behave yourself, you old goat.\u201d\u00a0 Brynjolf pushed back his chair and stood. \u201cNow, I\u2019m off to see Maven. If I were you I\u2019d be checking on our supply lines. And get in touch with Torsten up in Windhelm; make sure he\u2019s still good. If it\u2019s going to be war we could come out either very rich or in a world of hurt depending on how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m on it.\u201d<\/p>\n He left the Flagon through the Ratway.\u00a0 The humor that had been with him talking to Delvin evaporated.<\/p>\n Damn. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll survive this, in the Guild. I\u2019ll make sure of it, one way or another. But I\u2019m worried about Roggi and Dardeh. <\/em><\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n \u201cWell, here it is.\u201d\u00a0 He and Sayma stood before the long, low building filled with large windows. It had taken all the money he\u2019d intended to spend on Proudspire, but this entire, secluded estate was his now. He thought back to the days when he\u2019d not wanted to spend a septim of his wealth, and couldn\u2019t help but laugh.<\/p>\n \u201cBryn, this place is huge!\u201d<\/p>\n He grinned at her. \u201cYes, it is. Come on inside.\u201d<\/p>\n He led Sayma into the home and watched her look around with a blank, half-stunned expression.<\/p>\n \u201cIsn\u2019t this a lot of space for just you and me and little Bryn?\u201d<\/p>\n Brynjolf pushed open the door to one of the side rooms and waited while Sayma stepped in and surveyed the six children\u2019s\u2019 beds arranged along the walls.\u00a0 Her hand went to her stomach for a moment, and then she turned to look at him.<\/p>\n \u201cBryn. Six beds? Why in the world do we need this much space?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t. Not right yet. But there is wee Bryn, and another on the way, and\u2026 well\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Her eyes narrowed. \u201cAnd what aren\u2019t you telling me? You\u2019re never this sweet unless there\u2019s something going on or you want something.\u201d<\/p>\n Got me there, doesn\u2019t she?<\/em><\/p>\n He nodded, chuckling.\u00a0 \u201cYou know me too well. I got a letter from Roggi.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it\u2019s about to be war.\u00a0 Lydia\u2019s left them, to go back to Balgruuf.\u00a0 Dardeh\u2019s going to fight. They can\u2019t leave the children there alone, lass.\u00a0 They\u2019re sending them to us.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma\u2019s frown deepened.\u00a0 \u201cBut Bryn. I\u2019m going to have to be on the road a lot of the time, you know that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor now, yes.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll have one of the lads travel with you, especially if things start heating up the way I think they will. I\u2019m sure Thrynn would be overjoyed.\u00a0 But soon enough you\u2019ll need to stay put for a bit.\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of a safer place to hide the children away, can you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell\u2026 the Sanctuary comes to mind. Or the Cistern.\u201d<\/p>\n He chuckled. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve been over that before. You know those are no places for kids to be. But this \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed out the windows, toward the gardens, and the small house with room for visitors to stay. His hand swept out toward the impassible mountains in which this valley was hidden, close to Riften and yet almost completely safe from intrusion.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody is going to get in here without us knowing it, lass. Delvin knows we\u2019re going to have the family here. He\u2019ll have eyes on it when I don\u2019t.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve made arrangements.\u00a0 Maven\u2019s given us Iona again. She\u2019ll stay here and watch the young ones, the way Lydia did for Roggi and Dardeh.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIona! I thought she was long gone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know you did. But she stayed at the keep, even after Maven took over as Jarl.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have to twist Maven\u2019s arm very hard.\u00a0 She doesn\u2019t trust having someone around who she didn\u2019t hand pick. Iona was easy to convince. She always wanted to serve her \u2018Thane.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma\u2019s nose wrinkled. \u201cDon\u2019t remind me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCome over here, I want to show you something else.\u201d\u00a0 He led her to the cabinet with a false back.\u00a0 \u201cThis is the other thing about this place that makes it such a good find.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the lodge was a long basement, packed with chests and mannequins and safes, and all manner of carefully designed displays.\u00a0 He sighed, thinking of all the wealth he\u2019d had to leave behind in Proudspire, and how he might have enjoyed seeing it all arranged here in this elegant room.<\/p>\n But we can get more.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI think that between us we can fill most of this space.\u00a0 Eventually.\u00a0 If things start getting dicey and it looks like Riften is going to get hit we can move almost everything the Guild needs to hide down here and nobody will ever find it.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma nodded, slowly.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is<\/em> perfect, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAye.\u00a0 It\u2019s not as cozy as Honeyside, but \u2026\u201d He ran his hand through his hair.\u00a0 \u201cFace it. People have seen so many comings and goings from Honeyside in the past few years that they are starting to associate it with the Guild. It could be a real target. And while you and I and our children could live there, still it\u2019s going to be cramped, and not necessarily safe. And\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what, Bryn?\u201d<\/p>\n And what.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAnd we need to protect them, Sayma. I<\/em> \u2026 need to protect them.\u00a0 They\u2019re the thing that\u2019s going to get us past all of this, and maybe, somehow, they\u2019ll be able to have the lives we weren\u2019t able to have. They\u2019ll have family, real family. You, me, Roggi and Dardeh.\u00a0 And all our children. Together.\u201d<\/p>\n And they won\u2019t end up feeling as though nobody cares for them, or they\u2019re less-than, somehow, or that they\u2019ll never amount to anything. Nobody will hit them. They won\u2019t be deserted. And they won\u2019t have to sell themselves to the highest bidder to survive.<\/em><\/p>\n That\u2019s what.<\/em><\/p>\n Sayma smiled at him.<\/p>\n \u201cYou surprise me sometimes, Guildmaster. Who knew you were such a softie?\u201d<\/p>\n Besides Roggi, you mean?\u00a0 He knew. He\u2019s known all along. He knew I needed family.<\/em><\/p>\n He grinned.<\/p>\n \u201cYou did, for one.\u00a0 Now let\u2019s go see what we need to do about moving. It\u2019ll have to be done quietly and at night, but Iona\u2019s already on her way to pick up the children.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma swatted at him. \u201cYou\u2019d already decided, before you even asked.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAye.\u201d He grinned at her. \u201cYou wanted me to be the Guildmaster, so now you get to deal with me making decisions.\u00a0 Don\u2019t feel bad, Delvin doesn\u2019t much like it either. But you\u2019re all stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma\u2019s laugh filled the space.\u00a0 He grinned.\u00a0 This was the way it was meant to have been, even during those months when she\u2019d been gone.\u00a0 The two of them were meant to make each other happy.<\/p>\n He couldn\u2019t help smiling as they left the vale and made their way back to Riften.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a nasty one,\u201d Roggi said, wiping his brow. \u201cThank the gods for this little tunnel or we\u2019d both have been goners.\u201d He sheathed the massive dragonbone greatsword and pried a couple of fresh bones from the creature\u2019s carcass, as he always did. Dardeh smiled at him through the mask of Dragon Aspect and … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/4-2-1-2.png\")
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<\/p>\nPart II: The Storm<\/a><\/div>\nPrevious<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"