This story is another based on the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. If you haven't played the game, there are minor spoilers. If you've read 'Time Heals Wounds', I would consider this a prequel companion piece to that.
Usual disclaimer. All characters etc owned by Bethesda.
*****
I'm sure the first time Aela the Huntress laid her eyes on me, she wasn't particularly impressed. Sure, I'm a tall, broad man, a trained warrior, and was soon to be the Dragonborn. But I wasn't him then, and that first time, I had just escaped with my life as a dragon laid waste to Helgen as I was about to lose my head. Dressed in the armour of the Empire, it was ill-fitting, the sword and shield in my hands of dull iron, and I was probably covered in soot, sweat and dirt as I journeyed from the ruins of Helgen through Riverwood to the outskirts of Whiterun. However, while she might not have been impressed, she still suggested I head to Whiterun and think about joining the Companions. She told me they were, in some ways, similar to the Fighter's Guilds you would find elsewhere around the Empire.
After visiting the local lord to inform him of the dragon attack, for which I was thanked and given gold and another job to do, I made sure I stopped in at Jorrvaskr first. It was there that I met Kodlak Whitemane, Harbinger of the Companions. He asked me a few questions, and must have liked what he heard, as after a sparring session with one of the warriors, Vilkas, I was accepted into their ranks, though as nothing more than a runt, or 'whelp' as some liked to call me. I took it on the chin and quickly adapted to life with the Companions, while also learning more about myself. I learned after a visit to High Hrothgar, a monastery inhabited by the Greybeards at the Throat of the World, that I was Dragonborn, and that my role was to end the Dragon Crisis by killing Alduin, the World-Eater.
Proving my worth by retrieving a piece of an ancient axe called Wuuthrad, I was accepted as a full member of the Companions. That is when Aela first showed signs of interest in me, though I had already been made well aware that she was with Skjor, a fellow Companion and a member of the Circle, a group of five Companions who guided the rest. Or, at least, that was the rumour doing the rounds around Jorrvaskr. I never asked her up front about it as her private life was none of my business, but I'll admit I never saw either come or go from each other's room, so figured it was just a rumour. I did notice them disappear for an evening more than once, apparently to go hunting, though how anyone hunted at night, I'll never know.
The first time I worked with Aela was during a mission to take out a group of bandits who had taken up residence in a nearby fort and were now harassing civilians and merchants. As the Companions didn't keep horses, and generally walked everywhere, Aela and I took advantage of a rather warm day to stroll along, as she knew where the nearby fort was located.
"So, what brought you to Skyrim in the first place, Ragnar?"
While we had spoken numerous times, we didn't really know each other. "I was run out of Cyrodiil by around a dozen jealous husbands. Sound worse than it was, but it was made clear I should leave lest something bad happen to me."
That made her laugh. "What?"
I shrugged. "I had no idea any of them were married. But word must have spread that I was the one who was bedding all their wives, as a group of them was waiting for me when I returned to Cheydinal. At least half were serving men of the Empire, so trying to fight them all would have only ended in me being put in jail, or worse, critically injured if not dead. So I did the sensible thing and withdrew. So I figured since I'm a Nord, I might journey to Skyrim and find my fortune here."
She remained quiet a little while before asking, "A dozen?"
"Sure you want to know?" She nodded, so I shrugged again. "I had three women in Cheydinal. Four women in Chorrol. One woman in Anvil. Three in Bruma. And one woman in the Imperial City. I made sure I took the jobs that led me to those cities. I didn't see them all constantly, but all I'd have to do is knock on the door and I'd generally find myself dragged upstairs."
"Did they know about each other?"
"Whether they did or not wasn't the issue. Since I didn't know they were married, I had told them I wasn't after anything serious. It was always, 'If I'm in town for work, I'll give your door a knock and keep you company for a while'. Granted, I did also take payment for a job or two in sex instead of coin. That never impressed the Gulidmaster, though I certainly felt better for it."
"So you like to fuck?"
"Aye."
"Good to know." I met her eyes and there was the twinkle that I recognised, though didn't think much of it. If she was interested, great. But if she was with Skjor, I wasn't going to do anything stupid. I didn't sleep with women that I knew were in relationships. I'm a bastard, but not that much of a bastard.
I'll be honest, though. Aela, who called herself 'the Huntress', was a fine looking women. No, not just fine. Very attractive. Rather beautiful. Her hair was a mix of red and brown, with light grey eyes and an athletic build that any man would appreciate. Her best asset were definitely her legs, which I could get a good look at as she woke boots that stopped well below her knees, and her leather skirt barely covered her arse, her back also completely exposed though the front was slightly more modest. I have no doubt Aela knew she was good looking too.
Having not fought alongside each other before, I'll admit to showing off a little as we put the bandits in the fort to the sword. After growing up on the streets of the Imperial City, and having been a rather good thief for a long time, I eventually started working for the Fighter's Guild, ensuring I learned everything I could about the blade. If I wasn't working or fucking, I was training, always willing to learn something new.
The bandits were a miserable bunch, their weapons poor compared to the Skyforge steel I carried. Aela usually worked with a bow, and could put an arrow into whatever she was aiming at from a hundred metres away, but when entering the fort building itself, she switched to a pair of short swords, and the pair of us worked well together, barely having to verbally communicate. I may have been distracted more than once as I watched her move.
The fort emptied, now just full of bodies of the dead, we wandered back to Whiterun, both of us covered in quite a bit of blood. She laughed at me, as I didn't cover my face in war-paint. "You're quite good with a sword, Ragnar."
"Thanks. You're not so bad with a pair of sword
or
a bow."
"I prefer a bow, but sometimes I like things up close and personal."
I just gave her a look as she returned a sideways glance. I probably misinterpreted her tone and her words, but if she wanted a bit of flirting, I wouldn't say no to that.
I liked working with the Companions, the work a reminder of that I had done with the Fighter's Guild. But I found myself wrapped in other events, so found myself pulled away from Whiterun from time to time. However, after meeting and working with a woman named Delphine, who was a member of an ancient sect called the Blades, I found myself in Whiterun again, as Delphine needed to track down information an old colleague called Esbern. She said that I might as well do whatever I wanted until she sent word.
