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There was a heavy mist hanging over the hillside as Frina hurried forward, grumbling to herself, scrambling over the loose rock and trying not to catch her feet in the low shrubs so as to avoid twisting an ankle. The dark rocks of the hillside ahead of and above her slowly took shape as the towers of Fort Sungard, looming over this southernmost part of the Reach. Not long afterward she started hearing the sounds of battle, muffled but increasingly distinctive.<\/p>\n
Damn it. Late. \u00a0Gods damn the stupid saber cats for slowing me down!<\/em><\/p>\n They\u2019d been everywhere, leaping out at her from behind rocks and from under junipers.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t as though Frina wasn\u2019t accustomed to fighting the big beasts, but it took time that she\u2019d have preferred to spend in travel.\u00a0 She was here now, though, and tried to join her allies as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n The largest group of Stormcloaks she could see was already advancing up the steep hillside toward the heavily-barricaded entrance, clearing the way with archery. Imperials emerging from the fortifications slipped around the several layers of barricades, pushing down the slope toward them with blades drawn and shields at the ready.<\/p>\n Frina drew her bow as she caught up to the Stormcloaks and squinted ahead. A ball of fire from the hands of an Imperial mage gave her a first target; the arrow flew, and while she couldn\u2019t see its progress she saw the mage stumble backward when it struck him. She hadn\u2019t killed him, but she was not going to stop trying.<\/p>\n \u201cA pox on the Empire!\u201d she heard just behind her.\u00a0 A pair of Stormcloak archers pushed past on either side and dashed into a knot of three legionnaires in front of them. While she shot several arrows at the Imperials, the battle was close and she was afraid of hitting her own people. She watched in dismay as the Imperials overpowered the Stormcloaks in their flimsy armor and then turned to find the source of the arrows. All three of them ran toward Frina.<\/p>\n She was fumbling to swap her bow for her war pick and axe when the first of them, a woman, reached her and swung wildly with her sword, clipping through Frina\u2019s leather armor and opening a long slash in her side.\u00a0 She shrieked and turned, running downhill and away from the battle, healing herself with one hand and preparing to swing with the other.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t run away! Don\u2019t run away, this is what you came for!<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI think\u2026 you\u2019re bleeding!\u201d a voice to her left growled, and she swung around to find a Stormcloak archer picking away at her pursuers, giving her just enough time to heal herself and to find firm footing. The archer beside her took down the woman who had attacked her first, but a dark-haired, growling man bore down on her with his shield.<\/p>\n Frina swiveled and managed to avoid the shield strike; and as he pulled back to attack with his sword she swung her pick in behind the shield, opening a matched set of gashes across his chest. He stumbled backward and down onto one knee; Frina stepped forward to take him down, but the archer was faster and finished him off.\u00a0 Frina caught the archer\u2019s gaze for just a moment and grinned, nodding at him; then as he ran ahead she took a moment to heal herself further.<\/p>\n And I haven\u2019t even made it into the fort yet. This is going to be interesting.<\/em><\/p>\n There were arrows clattering down onto the stones all around them as they pushed up the hill.\u00a0 Frina saw what looked like a dozen archers atop various levels of the fortress, but knew she could not reach them from so far back.\u00a0 Just ahead, though, was a wooden watchtower with one archer in it.\u00a0 She fired at him and missed; then again, three times in quick succession until the final arrow caught him in the throat and he dropped backward over the side of his nest.\u00a0 She and the remaining group of Stormcloaks she\u2019d been with rounded the corner and approached the first set of barricades. A lone Imperial swordsman hurtled toward her, snarling; but she was ready for him. Planting her left foot behind her she waited until he was within arm\u2019s reach and then opened his face and his neck with paired attacks from her two weapons.<\/p>\n Frina zigzagged between the staggered barricades, dodging arrows as she went. When she reached the stone archway of the fort\u2019s outer wall she hammered down at the final wooden obstacle.<\/p>\n Bone-Breaker, they said. They should have called me Wood-Chopper instead. This is getting to be a habit.<\/em><\/p>\n There was a single archer waiting just beyond the barricade, but she rolled left as soon as the wood splintered and just managed to avoid the arrow.\u00a0 The Imperial was flailing about trying to swap weapons; she was able to dart forward and take him down as he tried to unsheathe his sword. Frina ducked out of the way for a moment, catching her breath as the other Stormcloaks surged past. \u00a0Then she followed them up a short flight of stone stairs into an open courtyard. She tsk\u2019d.<\/p>\n It would be nice to have a Dragonborn with a big voice in the area right about now.<\/em><\/p>\n They were everywhere. The Imperial archers she\u2019d seen before were still in their elevated vantage points, raining arrows down on them.\u00a0 But there were also swordsmen, and a few mages, and they kept emerging from every opening both above and below the Stormcloaks, so many of them that it was hard to know where to strike next. In fact, just in front of her were so many soldiers of both colors that she didn\u2019t dare wade in with her axes; instead, she pulled her bow and began picking away at the three archers on the lowest wall beyond them.\u00a0 One of them dropped just as the knot in front of her broke up and the Stormcloaks surged around the corner to her left.<\/p>\n A small, quiet part of Frina\u2019s mind noted how loud it was, with weapons and shields clashing, people shouting insults at each other, screaming as they were hit, thudding or splattering as they hit the ground.\u00a0 As it had been in Whiterun the walls surrounding the battle seemed to amplify the sound until it was a solid, constant, white-hot roar of fright from which individual noises erupted here and there.\u00a0 It was all Frina could do to keep her eyes moving, and her feet moving, and while she struggled to take cues from the sounds it was almost too overwhelming to track.<\/p>\n Frina shot a few more arrows at the array of archers, but they were changing position too rapidly for her to hit.\u00a0 She followed their movements and swung around to look behind her and up to where the rest of her group had gone only to have her heart drop in dismay. There were at least five Imperials against three Stormcloaks, and only the application of a deadly warhammer by one of the Stormcloak men with massive arms was keeping them all alive.\u00a0 Frina managed to drop an archer who was approaching on the outside and hit at least one of the other Imperials, but a sudden burning pain in her arm had her whipping around to look behind her.<\/p>\n She hadn\u2019t been moving enough. She was too open. The archers that had been on the first wall had moved back and one of them had caught her; the arrow had sliced through her sleeve and while the cut wasn\u2019t deep it burned horribly, probably the effect of some mild poison.\u00a0 She took a deep breath and fired back at the man, sending the arrow through his eye. She ran forward as he dropped from the wall onto the ground beneath and took shelter behind some barrels placed next to the stone wall, healing her arm and searching in her pack for an antidote to poisons.<\/p>\n Gods damn it, that was stupid.\u00a0 Just a bit to the left and I\u2019d have been gone. <\/em><\/p>\n She wished, suddenly, that Roggi was there. The three of them \u2013 she, Roggi, and Dardeh \u2013 had made an efficient team, working together with only a glance or a motion between them.\u00a0 The Stormcloaks with her were all fighting hard, and fighting well, but they were a team of which she had never been a part.<\/p>\n Well, they\u2019re not here. Nobody to back me up and I should never have expected anything else. Briinda would be ashamed if I didn\u2019t just go in there.\u00a0 Time to move.<\/em><\/p>\n Three Imperial swordsmen rushed past and onto the next stairway, apparently not seeing her next to the barrels. She grinned and ran up behind them.<\/p>\n Her pick caught the leg of the first soldier.\u00a0 He fell face down onto the stones, his head making a ferocious crack as he struck them, and was still.\u00a0 Frina slipped up behind him and slit his throat with her axe, not waiting to see whether he was alive or not.\u00a0 The other two soldiers turned at the sound; she barreled into the nearer of them with both weapons and finished him with a few blows while somewhere behind her and to her right an archer sent the last man stumbling backward.\u00a0 She stepped over the corpse at her feet and brought her pick down into his chest, ending him.<\/p>\n It went on like that for what felt like an eternity.\u00a0 Each time they made a few feet of progress forward another group of Imperials came out from the fort, or down from the towers, or around the next corner.\u00a0 Every few minutes Frina had to fall back for a moment, heal a fresh wound, look around for the next spot to shelter in while trying to pick off archers from the high walls.\u00a0 She would step up behind an Imperial and take him down, saving a Stormcloak from almost certain death, only to have one of them save her a moment later.\u00a0 Her arms were burning; her throat had gone raw from the guttural shouting that had no meaning other than \u201cI will kill you!\u201d \u00a0Once she clipped a Stormcloak woman who yelled at her, \u201cWatch it!\u201d \u2013 but there was no time to check on her sister in arms because yet another Imperial was bearing down on her.<\/p>\n She heard an Imperial yell \u201cSend Ulfric my regards!\u201d and focusing on the sound saw, ahead of her and on the far side of a doorway, a lone archer. She saw red, and sprinted across the distance between them, laying into the man with a fury. \u201cI will!\u201d she screamed. \u201cI\u2019ll send him your head, too!\u201d The archer fell, and she hammered away at him for a few moments until blood splattering into her eyes made her stop.\u00a0 She looked down at what she\u2019d done and shuddered; but there was no time to ponder the situation.\u00a0 There was another Imperial running past her, looking frightened.<\/p>\n He\u2019s running away.\u00a0 Is it over?\u00a0 Have we done it?<\/em><\/p>\n She chased after the man and barely dodged an arrow from one of her Stormcloak sisters who also had her eyes on him.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t make it very far.<\/p>\n Frina stopped, and looked around, dazed.\u00a0 The other Stormcloaks were doing the same, healing wounds, checking the dead for valuables, and slowly breaking out into smiles.\u00a0 She walked slowly toward the edge of the wall.\u00a0 One level below her was a smithy, its smelter sending plumes of steam up into the air.\u00a0 Something near it moved.\u00a0 She pulled her weapons once more and dropped down, twisting her ankle a bit, but unwilling to let even one of the enemy get away.\u00a0 Sure enough, a lone Imperial soldier was trying to hide behind the mass of the smelter; at his feet was the body of another Stormcloak soldier who\u2019d been trying to stop him.\u00a0 She grinned and stepped up to him, taking a swing with her axe that cut half through the man\u2019s throat.\u00a0 She lifted his body up and dumped it over the side of the fortress.<\/p>\n She made her way back through the fort and out into the courtyard.\u00a0 There was nobody here to whom she needed to report, that she knew. Her orders had been to get back to Ulfric with news of their success.\u00a0 Galmar hadn\u2019t even wanted to consider any other possibility, a fact that made her grin even as she remembered it.\u00a0 But before she hit the road, she wanted to help, here, as much as she could.<\/p>\n There were so many bodies.\u00a0 So many. Most of them wore Imperial armor, but a good number of them, far too many, were in Stormcloak blue.\u00a0 She quietly helped drag them to a location outside the fortress walls, where they would be burned later.\u00a0 There was really no other choice at this location atop the stony hills, not with this many casualties.<\/p>\n Frina worked until she was so exhausted that her body refused to move any longer.\u00a0 Then she found her way into the fort, and had a bite to eat, and fell onto one of the empty cots in the muster.\u00a0 Before she fell asleep, her mind took her back to the lone archer she had mowed down as though he\u2019d been one of the saber cats that had delayed her passage across the Reach, or a draugr from the depths of Korvanjund.\u00a0 She hadn\u2019t just killed the man; she had splattered him across the walkway on which he stood.\u00a0 And then she thought about the sounds she had heard emanating from the dungeon in Windhelm\u2019s castle.<\/p>\n Is there really anything so much better about what I did today than what Roggi did there?\u00a0 Really?<\/em><\/p>\n She was trying to grapple with that question, but the fatigue rose up from within her like a blanket of stones, heavy and unyielding.\u00a0 She closed her eyes and slept like the dead she had just helped to create.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n She ran the length of the throne room, slowing to a walk only as she neared Ulfric.\u00a0 Galmar had, he was telling Jorlief, once more asked for troops in the Reach to be doubled.\u00a0 Jorlief agreed that it was a reasonable strategy, but when Ulfric pressed him he pointed out that Falkreath Hold was potentially more vulnerable, blocking the only route in from Cyrodiil.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be sure, my lord,\u201d he added, \u201cI am not skilled in the arts of war or military tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n And who is, exactly, under this set of circumstances?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure anyone knows what to expect with dragons adding to the mix. <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBut you\u2019re able to see the whole from the parts,\u201d Ulfric said.\u00a0 \u201cAnd for that, I\u2019m grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n And there\u2019s the difference, Frina thought. Ulfric actually listens to his advisors, no matter how far removed their experience and skills might be from the matter at hand. He\u2019s taken that observation and he\u2019s going to weigh it before he does anything else. Balgruuf just basically overrode the advisors he didn\u2019t immediately agree with. Proventus is a smarmy thing, but he wasn\u2019t entirely wrong in advising caution.<\/p>\n She smiled at Ulfric, admiring him even more than she had before.<\/p>\n \u201cSir,\u201d she said after waiting carefully to be sure his conversation with Jorlief was over.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve retaken Fort Sungard.\u00a0 We lost some good people, but not near as many as they did.\u00a0 And while Jarl Igmund and his uncle are still in charge of Markarth, we had from them a large cache of weapons and silver.\u00a0 I do believe that Raerek understands that we have something to hold over his head if things go poorly in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Ulfric didn\u2019t stop staring upwards, toward the ceiling, as though addressing some higher power while still speaking to her.\u00a0 It seemed a bit odd, but Frina decided that he was juggling so many things in his mind that, possibly, not focusing on any one person might help him concentrate.<\/p>\n \u201cNow that the Imperials have been driven from the Reach,\u201d he said quietly, \u201cwe can put a stop to the raping of her silver mines. That silver belongs in Skyrim.\u201d\u00a0 His gaze lowered to her, slowly, and he smiled slightly. \u201cMultitudes of our enemies are buried in an avalanche of pain and retribution delivered by your hands. I shall call you Snow-Hammer now.\u00a0 You show great passion for battle, and compassion for those we fight for. \u00a0You are becoming indispensable to our cause.\u201d<\/p>\n It seemed to Frina that Ulfric\u2019s eyes glittered with pleasure as he gave her yet another title.\u00a0 Her own excitement rose, and she was certain that she was blushing under the scrutiny of his stare.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do what we do out of love for our brothers and sisters,\u201d Ulfric continued.\u00a0\u00a0 He reached down beside his throne and pulled up a sword, this time one of gleaming ebony. \u201cHere. Take this as a token of such love reciprocated.\u201d\u00a0 He handed it to her, smiling, and Frina felt her throat tighten up and her mouth go dry even as her heart began racing.<\/p>\n I know that\u2019s not how he means it, but there\u2019s something about hearing him say the word \u201clove\u201d \u2013 it just\u2026 I can\u2019t even\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThank you, my lord.\u00a0 My Jarl.\u00a0 Sir,\u201d she stammered, willing herself to stop blushing as his hand brushed against hers. \u201cWhat\u2019s next?\u201d<\/p>\n Ulfric chuckled. \u201cWell, what\u2019s next is Hjaalmarch. I need you there. There\u2019s much to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir. I\u2019ll be on my way.\u201d<\/p>\n Frina was about to leave, but Ulfric rose and stepped down from his throne, blocking her way, standing so close to her that she could feel the heat radiating from him. She nearly began to tremble.<\/p>\n \u201cWait. It\u2019s late and I have not yet dined. While you were in the Reach, word arrived that Riften has been retaken, and thus Jarl Laila and her household have returned to the south. \u00a0Come take a meal with me. I would like your company.\u201d<\/p>\n Frina did start trembling, now. \u201cSir? Me?\u201d<\/p>\n Ulfric nodded. \u201cIt\u2019s altogether too quiet here now and it would be good not to dine alone for once. If you wouldn\u2019t mind, that is. This is hardly an order.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, sir,\u201d she said, following him toward the map room.\u00a0 Dinner with Ulfric? Really? <\/em><\/p>\n He led her through the war room to a door, which in turn led to a dark and unwelcoming set of stairs that felt almost like a tunnel with its close, arched roof. At the top of the stairwell the passage turned to the left and emptied into a hallway along which many doors were placed.<\/p>\n Where is he leading me? This looks like\u2026 bedrooms. Chambers for guests or the rest of his household perhaps.\u00a0 Is he taking me to\u2026?<\/em><\/p>\n She hesitated a moment and saw Ulfric\u2019s broad back disappear up a second set of stairs at the far end of the hallway.\u00a0 She scurried to keep up with him.<\/p>\n Sure enough, the stairwell opened onto Ulfric\u2019s private quarters. It was an enormous chamber, finely appointed with blue banners and draperies matching those in the throne room.\u00a0 Ornately carved stone pillars both supported the ceiling and served to highlight the massive fireplace, holding at the moment a roaring blaze that threw heat well out into the stone room.\u00a0 There was an area with a writing desk, several chests, wardrobes and bookcases, and a small, round dining table.\u00a0 Massive arched windows afforded what must be an exceptional view of Windhelm during the day. There was a dark wood inlay that framed the center of the room and called even more attention to its dominant feature \u2013 a large bed resting on a triple-tiered platform.<\/p>\n Frina gulped.<\/p>\n He\u2019s brought me to his bedroom. Talos help me. What does he want with me?<\/em><\/p>\n Ulfric smiled and waved at the table. \u201cPlease, have a seat. I\u2019ll be with you momentarily.\u201d\u00a0 He stepped out the doorway and spoke to one of the guards.\u00a0 She heard the man say \u201cright away, sir;\u201d then Ulfric returned and settled himself in the chair opposite her.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve asked for them to deliver meals for two,\u201d he said, stretching out his shoulders. \u201cMealtimes get to be so unpredictable in the middle of a war.\u201d When she didn\u2019t answer, Ulfric cocked his head to the side and gave her a curious glance.\u00a0 \u201cAre you uncomfortable, my Snow-Hammer?\u201d<\/p>\n Am I uncomfortable? What kind of question is that? I\u2019m terrified. I wasn\u2019t this frightened with a mass of Imperial archers firing at me. <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWell, sir, it\u2019s just that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n He chuckled. \u201cYou don\u2019t need to call me \u2018sir\u2019 when we\u2019re alone. It\u2019s just the two of us and there\u2019s no need to stand on ceremony. My name is Ulfric.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, my\u2026 sir\u2026.\u201d She stopped, shook her head, and tsk\u2019d. \u201cGods damn it. Ulfric. Sir.\u201d<\/p>\n He laughed, a big, open, friendly laugh that she\u2019d never heard before, and she found herself breaking into a smile at the sound of it.\u00a0 This was a laugh she could happily hear much more of.<\/p>\n \u201cAh, don\u2019t worry about it. This room is a bit imposing, I\u2019m afraid, and there\u2019s nothing to be done about the fact that the bed is in a position of\u2026\u201d He shook his head and raised his hands. \u201cI didn\u2019t design the place. Nor did my father before me, or his. We are shackled to the pretensions of the past.\u00a0 But this is also my private and, as I\u2019m sure you can see, rather lonely dining room.\u00a0 Thus, I am happy for your company.\u201d<\/p>\n Frina found herself unable to stop smiling. Instead, she just nodded.\u00a0 A pair of servants arrived with platters of food and goblets of wine; and after waiting for Ulfric to dig in she eagerly attacked the perfectly roasted venison, potatoes, and garlic carrots on her plate.\u00a0 She hadn\u2019t realized quite how tired of trail food she\u2019d been.\u00a0 It was quite a few minutes of silence before she looked up and realized that Ulfric was watching her, quietly, with a small smile playing around his lips.<\/p>\n She swallowed quickly and stammered, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, sir. Ulfric. I don\u2019t mean to be rude, but this is delicious and I guess I was hungrier than I thought.\u201d<\/p>\n He laughed again. \u201cIt\u2019s quite alright. You\u2019ve been in several battles and marching across the province. Of course you\u2019ve worked up an appetite. But tell me about the Reach. Tell me all about what happened there.\u201d<\/p>\n So Frina launched into the tale. She forgot who she was talking to, really, as she spun the story, waving her hands for emphasis, sometimes standing and miming the sort of blow she\u2019d given an assailant, then sitting back down and continuing.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish you could have seen Raerek\u2019s face when I pulled out that amulet of Talos,\u201d she giggled at one point, enjoying the glimmer of good humor on Ulfric\u2019s face as he sipped his wine and listened. She didn\u2019t stop there, either; at one point she found herself laughing about Ralof, and how Roggi thought he liked her, and\u2026<\/p>\n Ulfric laid one of his massive hands over hers, stopping her short.<\/p>\n \u201cRoggi said that, did he?\u201d<\/p>\n Frina froze, suddenly coming back to herself and realizing to whom exactly she\u2019d been spilling all of these confidences. \u201cUm, yes? \u00a0Is that a problem? I mean, Roggi was my brother-in-law at one point. I still consider him part of my family even though it\u2019s been many years since we\u2019ve seen each other.\u201d<\/p>\n Ulfric nodded, but didn\u2019t remove his hand from hers.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I know that\u2019s the case. I wanted to talk to you about that, a bit.\u00a0 You no doubt have noticed that Roggi and I have a closer relationship than many others.\u201d<\/p>\n Frina wanted to pull away, but didn\u2019t dare, and this question made her suddenly uncomfortable.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I did sense that. And, well\u2026 may I speak frankly?\u201d<\/p>\n Ulfric smiled again and nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t seem to like each other that much.\u201d<\/p>\n Ulfric laughed again.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know what I said that was funny, but I\u2019ll do it again if I can hear that laugh more.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI have the greatest of respect for Roggi, and I would like to think that he does for me, as well.\u00a0 But no, there is no great love lost between us.\u00a0 I suppose I should tell you why that is the case, since I have grown to trust you.\u201d This time he did remove his hand from hers, and used it to raise his cup to his lips as if giving himself a moment to collect his thoughts.<\/p>\n \u201cFrina, your sister is the reason that Roggi and I had an unpleasant parting of the ways many years ago.\u00a0 You have noticed that I am not married?\u201d<\/p>\n Frina was caught off-guard by that question.<\/p>\n \u201cUh.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t really given it much thought, but now that you mention it\u2026\u201d\u00a0 But what does this have to do with Briinda?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWell,\u201d he continued slowly, staring at her as if to gauge her reactions, \u201cthere is a reason for that. I was truly drawn to your sister. Her fire. Her beauty. I thought I might take her for my bride. I tried to capture her attentions, but she refused me. She had eyes only for Roggi.\u00a0 And I,\u201d he said, standing and walking across the room to glance idly out the window, \u201cwas, much to my embarrassment, jealous of that.\u201d\u00a0 He stopped and was quiet for what felt like a very long time.<\/p>\n Frina didn\u2019t dare interrupt him.\u00a0 It seemed as though he was about to tell her something important. Finally he shook his head and turned back to her.<\/p>\n \u201cRoggi is a fierce man. A fine fighter. He has talents that go far beyond those he shows to most. He could have had anyone in the world \u2013 he doesn\u2019t believe that, but I assure you it is true – but instead he chose the only woman I had ever truly considered a match. Or, rather, she chose him.\u201d\u00a0 He looked down at the floor and chuckled. \u201cAnd she made quite certain that I understood that, as well.\u00a0 I was exceptionally angry.\u201d<\/p>\n Frina was suddenly seized by a fit of giggles. \u201cI can just hear Briinda saying so. I\u2019m sorry, my lord, I don\u2019t mean to laugh, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n He smiled at her. \u201cUlfric.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUlfric, then. I can hear it. She never left anything to doubt. You do know she loved Roggi more than anything, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I do,\u201d he nodded. \u201cI did try to change her mind about him. And\u2026 his mind, about her. I tried for a long while. It didn\u2019t work. And a certain amount of \u2013 resentment, shall we say? Built up between us.\u201d\u00a0 He returned to the table and sat down, sighing heavily. \u201cI never have found anyone else who captured my interest that way. But don\u2019t be deceived. I am so very pleased that both Roggi and his husband have rejoined us, no matter our trivial disagreements over small issues. They are both invaluable. As are you.\u201d\u00a0 He reached out and took her hand again.<\/p>\n At the same time a thrill rose from Frina\u2019s core at his gentle touch, an unpleasant thought pushed into her mind.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t help but frown.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is it?\u201d Ulfric said quietly, his voice a low rumble.<\/p>\n \u201cSo you\u2019ve taken an interest in me because I look like my sister. Is that it?\u201d\u00a0 She stared at him, certain that her eyes must be betraying her own disappointment.<\/p>\n Ulfric sighed.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was hard not to notice that, truly. I would be lying if I told you otherwise. But you are not Briinda. That\u2019s been hard not to notice, as well. You have a different level of devotion than she did. Every report I have of you is that you are the fiercest of fighters.\u00a0 I watched you dealing with Roggi and the Dragonborn\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDardeh,\u201d she murmured.\u00a0 If I have to call you Ulfric, you can at least call him by his name as well. <\/em><\/p>\n Ulfric laughed again, loud and strong. \u201cYes. You see how it is; once more I have been put in my place. Dardeh<\/em>,\u201d he continued, grinning. \u201cI watched you with them. I know how complicated things must be among the three of you and yet after your initial surprise, you went about your business without hesitation. You impress me, Frina.\u201d<\/p>\n She smiled. \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n Ulfric stood, and pulled her to her feet.<\/p>\n What\u2019s this? <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI wanted you to share a meal with me because it has been a very lonely existence here in this castle, for a very long time.\u00a0 And I find you very beautiful and very much to my liking. And I was hoping\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t dare move.\u00a0 Ulfric reached out a hand and cupped it behind her neck and leaned forward, studying her eyes, and then gently met her lips with his own.<\/p>\n This time there was no mistaking it for anything else; Frina began trembling from top to bottom.\u00a0 She closed her eyes and focused on the sensation of his warmth, the sweet and gentle kiss that was the first she\u2019d ever had, trying to meet his movements with her own. Her head swam, fire burned within her, and then ice, and longing, and fear.<\/p>\n After a moment Ulfric pulled back and studied her face.<\/p>\n \u201cYou tremble.\u201d<\/p>\n She felt her face go red.\u00a0 What an embarrassing thing to have to say, but\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve\u2026 my lord Ulfric. You\u2019ve just given me my first kiss. Ever.\u00a0 I\u2019m ashamed to admit that I\u2019m afraid.\u201d\u00a0 She pleaded with him, with her eyes, and wasn\u2019t entirely sure what she was pleading for.<\/p>\n Ulfric\u2019s eyes widened. His hands dropped to her shoulders.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are a maid, then? Is that what you\u2019re telling me?\u201d<\/p>\n Frina nodded, miserably, not knowing what he would do next and in part hoping that he would continue doing whatever it was.<\/p>\n He sighed and stood back from her. \u201cAnd I am old enough to be your father. Or more. \u00a0I cannot possibly\u2026 I am a foolish old man, and I hope you will forgive me my lapse of judgment. My dear Snow-Hammer, I would not dream of asking you for more than you are willing to give. I apologize for having taken liberties that were not mine to take.\u201d<\/p>\n He smiled, though; a genuine smile that warmed his eyes. \u201cI am honored, though, to have shared your first kiss. Truly honored. Thank you for keeping my company this evening.\u00a0 It has been a moment of pleasure the likes of which are few and far between these days.\u00a0 Now I will let you go. I do still need you in Hjaalmarch as soon as you can manage it. Talos guide you, my dear.\u201d<\/p>\n He stepped back and walked to the windows again, leaving Frina completely speechless and utterly confused.\u00a0 It was clear, though, that she\u2019d been dismissed.<\/p>\n She walked down the stairs and made her way out of the castle in a daze, feeling as though a page had turned for her that was as important a page as ever had been written. She would stay at the inn for the rest of the night and leave in the morning. She reached up and touched her lips.<\/p>\n My first kiss.\u00a0 And it was Ulfric.\u00a0 I can\u2019t believe it happened. <\/em><\/p>\n There was a heavy mist hanging over the hillside as Frina hurried forward, grumbling to herself, scrambling over the loose rock and trying not to catch her feet in the low shrubs so as to avoid twisting an ankle. The dark rocks of the hillside ahead of and above her slowly took shape as the … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/4-2-13-2.png\")
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<\/p>\nPart II: The Storm<\/a><\/div>\nPrevious<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"