It was just after dawn by the time Aela woke up. Initially she just laid there with her head on Soteks chest cradled in his arms then she opened her eyes. Sotek was lying there on the bed with his arms around her, holding her, protecting her. His shirt was undone, exposing his torso to the cold, but when she looked down she laughed slightly. He still had his boots on. She shifted her head slightly and just listened, trying to make out the different sounds in the living quarters. Aela could hear the footsteps outside in the corridor and voices from the whelps as they prepared themselves for the day’s training. She turned her attention to Soteks slow steady breathing, she listened to his slow controlled heartbeat. Moments later she slowly eased herself up.
Sotek woke up. She felt his hands move across her back, holding her.
“Are you ok?”
She looked up at him and just nodded.
“Why are you in my room?”. Then a flash of memory hit her. “Oh god the Harbinger, he told you to stay here. He was upset, I was upset…. Why was I upset?”
Sotek looked at her. His voice showed how much he was concerned for her welfare.
“What do you remember, about yesterday?”
She had a faraway stare like she had half forgotten memories trying to make their way back.
“I remember not feeling well… Last night, I went.. To my room?”
“That was the evening”. Sotek sat there patiently, watching her trying to place the events in some sort of fathomable order.
“You were holding me. Farkas and Vilkas… They were there, shouting. You… You were shouting at the temple… I think”. She sat next to Sotek “I can’t remember… Except the nightmare”.
“Nightmare? Here we go’ Sotek thought, ‘She remembers it all’. He dreaded what her state would be when it all came flooding back.
She told him some of the nightmare she dreamt but not the ending just the first part. He tried to explain what actually happened as he went through the series of events. Finally when he finished, Aela looked a bit surprised and upset.
“Are you ok?”
“Ermm yea. I was a... Am a, ermm…. I’m ok… I’m a bit shaken but ok”. She turned to him and smiled.
Then another realism hit home. One she hadn’t thought about what so ever until that moment in time.
“Oh by the nines… The Harbinger and the others… Us, they don’t know about us… They were asking about us!!!”. Her face looked horrified, not knowing where to run or what to do. She got up and went to the door and slowly opened it, half expecting the other three to be standing there. Outside the corridor was empty. She quickly shoved the door, shutting it loudly. Then she stood there looking at it, like it held all the answers.
Sotek got up and walked up to her from behind and slowly wrapped his arms around her.
Aela freaked out on the spot. She snapped at him angrily.
“What the hell… What you doing… Get off..”. She forced herself away from him then she slapped him in the face as she glared at him. Then however she looked into his eyes and wrapped her arms around him. “Hold me, please hold me”. Her voice was just a whisper. Soteks arms moved across her, slowly and controlled as he held her tight. “I’m scared”. She said as she buried her head into his chest.
“Why? We haven’t betrayed anyone, or hurt anyone” He stated reassuringly.
“Ermm, it’s complicated”. Her voice was low but heavy as she thought on the other Companions possible reactions.
“Complicated? Hell when is it anything elsse with uss” he said laughing.
She laughed a little then thumped him in the stomach softly.
“Oww” Sotek moved away, doubling over like he was really winded.
She laughed out loud at him.
“Oh like that hurt, you wussy”.
He stood back up smiling, then reached out and pulled her close again.
“What are we?” she asked meekly.
Sotek looked down at her just seeing the top of her head.
“What do you mean?”
She lifted her head up so she could look into his eyes.
“What are we, if anything, a fling, just company? Am I… Your… Lover..?” her voice was frail and her body shook due to her being terrified of Sotek’s answer.
Sotek motioned her to her bed, and sat her down. He knelt down on the floor facing her and moved his hands to her waist. As he spoke his voice had that slight hssss to it which they all noticed he had when he felt nervous.
“Do you remember what I ssaid to you that morning, after we er… Made love… That wasn’t a lie, that was the truth. You’re my mate, even if you want to sstop this right here and now. There won’t be another. That’ss me, that’s who I am”.
“You know, I haven’t been with anyone else, I don’t want anyone else. You’re the only one I’ve spent the night with. You took my… I gave you ….” She stopped speaking and turned towards the door to stare at it once again.
“Do you want me? To be yours?”
“I meant what I ssaid, I want you... To be my mate, not just a lover until ssomething else. Not for a week, or a month... Not for fun”. He moved his hand to the side of her face holding her.
She turned around and jestingly glared at him.
“Are you saying I’m no fun?” The next moment Sotek received a punch in the arm.
“Oww that hurt”. Sotek exaggerated as he rubbed his arm pretending he was in pain.
“You are a wuss!!!” She exclaimed as she hit him again laughing as she did so. “I want to be your girl, your lover, your…mate”. She tucked herself under his arms and rested her head on his chest.
“Want to be? Or you are?” Sotek stated as he held her. He knew what he was doing. He was basically forcing her to finalise her feelings.
“I am.. I’m your girl, and your mine, my Dragonborn”. As she spoke she pulled his head down and planted a kiss on his lips keeping her eyes closed the whole time. “You are my first you know. Promise me something, right here, right now. You won’t ever go and leave me for someone else, ever… You keep your oaths so swear it”. She broke away from him and stood a few feet away looking at his face.
Sotek reached out and lifted her hands up placing them on his chest and held them there.
“I will love you until my heartss lasst dying beat. I will follow you to the end, protect you and defend you with everything I have”. He then looked at Aela right in the eyes. “Even in death, there issn’t a ssingle daedra that will keep uss apart”.
Aela looked down to the stone floor, a single tear formed in her eyes. “You shouldn’t say that… Don’t say that…”
Sotek hugged her tightly then lifted her head up gently by her chin so he could look at her. “I sswearss”.
“You won’t ever go off with another?”
Sotek just laughed as he pointed to the ceiling.
“No. Anyway I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Once we go upsstairss I’m dead anyway”.
She gave a small laugh, then stared at the doorway.
“I won’t let them hurt you”. At that moment something inside her snapped. “Damn it, if they don’t like it tough… It’s my choice not theirs if they don’t like it then it’s too bloody bad”. She strode over to the door feeling as bold as brass right up to when her hand actually touched the door handle. She froze on the spot and stared into space.
Sotek just stood there watching her as she held the handle.
“Ermm… You gonna open it?”
She looked at him as realism hit her full in the face.
“What!!! Hell no”… At that moment she backed right away to the sanctuary of her bed. “You go... I’ll stay here”. She stared at him then started laughing. “You can bring me food to my door every night”. She cast him a smile like the ones she used to have before Sotek’s second trial.
Sotek walked boldly up to her and pulled her to her feet by her hands.
“You ready?”
She took a deep breath but Sotek could see she was still clearly shaking. Aela nodded as she tried to compose herself.
“Let’s go”.
Half way down the corridor she stopped due to her nerves getting the better of her. Sotek put his arm around her then whispered softly to her. “Follow me ok”.
She held him and looked at his face.
“You’re not even shaking, you’re not scarred of anything are you. You’re my rock, you know that”. Then she gave him a kiss, and watched him go in front heading upstairs.
Sotek gave a slight chuckle as he pushed open the door.
“Only of you... Come on”.
Farkas was sitting at the closest table while Vilkas and the Harbinger were sitting at the far end, all patiently waiting for them both.
Sotek walked into the hall silently, then pulled out two chairs. He turned to offer Aela one but she wasn’t there. After he blankly shrugged to the Harbinger, he headed back to the stairs. There sitting on the bottom step was Aela shaking. He headed down to her and sat alongside her to give her some comfort and support.
“They’re not angry with you, they are just worried about you. That’s all. Come on, jusst sstay behind me”. Sotek took point as they made their way up the stairwell. The moment Aela could see the others she paused. Sotek just gave her hand a slight squeeze and led her to a chair where she sat down. Sotek pushed the other chair back in then stood behind her holding her shoulders.
Everyone else sat there quietly so Sotek decided to start it all off.
“We’ve talked about yessterday, sshe don’t remember much of what happened. Just remember none of thiss iss her fault. Don’t blame her, you want to blame ssomeone blame me, just me, not her. I knew the first night there would be problems. I knew you wouldn’t like it. I sshould have sstopped it then, at the sstart. But I didn’t. Just blame me, not her”.
“The start of what?” Farkas asked.
“Why do you think I knew which was the real Aela, Farkasss? You ssaid your sself they were all identical. They all ssounded like her, all even ssmelled like sshe doess”.
“Well they did, didn’t they?” Farkas exclaimed.
Vilkas backed him up.
“They all had her scent, her ways, everything”
Sotek gave a sigh of frustration.
“Yess they were all perfect copiess, perfect in every way. They looked like her, moved like her, ssounded like her, they even ssmelled just like her. Perfect in every way, hell they even fought like her”.
“That’s what I said” Farkas replied, “But how did you know they weren’t her?”
“I didn’t follow her sscent, there was no way to tell them apart. They were all perfect ‘Aela’ss’ “.
Vilkas got up raising his voice in anger.
“But you killed ‘em. You just walked past one and let her burn… Another you shot out of hand”.
Sotek looked down at Aela. “This is why we need to tell them, you ready for thiss”. Aela just nodded as she held his hand which was still resting on her shoulder.
Sotek’s eyes fixed on the Harbinger as he prepared himself. His throat felt dry and no matter how hard he drew breath, his lungs felt empty, void of oxygen.
“We are… Matess”.
Farkas looked up shock all over his face at the pair of them.
“What? You two?”
“I wassn’t following her sscent. That day, we sslept together”. Sotek’s hands slid down over Aela’s shoulders to her arms where he held her reassuringly.
“I was following my scent. All the copies, the clones were of her not me. Only Aela had my scent on her when we ermm… Yea”
“What was with the howling that day in the yard?” The Harbinger asked tactfully changing the subject.
Aela turned bright red, Sotek saw it and laughed. He couldn’t help himself.
“That’ss down to Aela”
She jumped up out the chair and poked him in the chest.
“No, it’s down to you”. She shouted out as she laughed while she shook her head from embarrassment.
Sotek started chuckling as he playfully gave her a shove.
“Oh no, I might have caused it, but I’m not taking the blame for that one. That’ss all you”.
The Harbinger felt a wave of confusion until the septim dropped. He covered his face with his hand as he glanced at Aela through the gaps in his fingers.
“Oh dear…”
Farkas still felt some confusion himself so he tried to clear up something which had bothered him.
“When did this all come about then?”
Aela replied without thinking and quickly regretted her choice of words.
“Last week, when I took Sotek on the plains… To the plains… Aww crap”.
If anything else Vilkas looked even more puzzled.
“Wait a minute, that wolf I heard the night before Sotek’s trial… That was you?”
Aela just put her hand up and nodded bashfully.
“Sorry”.
Vilkas’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor as he watched her for any indication that she was for some strange reason bluffing or even lying. But everything told him that she had been telling the truth.
“Damn girl… I’ve been with some screamers, but you Howl?”
Farkas’s eyes suddenly shot wide open as if all the secrets of the universe were laid out before him.
“Wait a minute… That wolf on the plains… That was you?”
“Shut up”. Aela shouted as she threw a bread roll at him.
The Harbinger stood up as he raised his hands for silence.
“Aela, it comes down to this.. Are you happy?”
She stopped laughing as her voice changed to a much more serious tone.
“No, I’m not... I hate going behind your back, running around like thieves. Stealing a hug, a kiss... I hate it”. With that her eyes starts swelling up with tears. Sotek moved to her side so he could hold her in his arms. She turned her head to the side and snuggled into his chest, closing her eyes as she did so.
The Harbinger moved across the hall to be near her. As he approached her, Sotek let her go and backed off by a few feet so he wasn’t in the Harbingers way. Aela watched the Harbinger for a few seconds, hardly daring to move before she slowly walks towards him to meet him half way. Kodlak was suddenly startled as Aela threw herself in his arms. He held her like a father would as his hand gently but reassuringly stroked her auburn hair.
“Then don’t… Just make sure your happy”.
She looked up at him with desperate uncertain eyes.
“I got to know… Are you ok with this?” Only then does she turn to Farkas and Vilkas. “Are you all ok with this, It’s important to me. I need to know”.
“Aela you’re a daughter to me, and a sister to them… We just want you to be happy”. With that he gave his ‘Daughter’ a much needed hug.
Vilkas couldn’t help but add to his statement.
“Oh and a lot more quieter at night”. Both he and Farkas started laughing making Aela blush again.
Farkas smirked as he rubbed his chin.
“Well that explains the great ‘Aela mystery’ ”.
Aela’s breathing paused as her mind flashed back the last week or so. After drawing to no conclusion as to Farkas’s meaning, her eyes narrowed as she glanced across the hall at him. “
What ‘Aela mystery’ ”.
He laughed as he pointed at her.
“Why, since we killed that dragon you’ve been in such a good mood”.
Her response was simple and extremely effective. She pulled herself away from the Harbinger, grabbed an apple from the table and threw it at him. Much to her amusement it splattered against his chest.
“You better clean that up. You had it last”. She jestingly commented.
Vilkas however was far from amused. He stood up and angrily banged on the table with his flask, drawing everyone’s attention. His face alone told everyone he wasn’t happy, let alone the tone of his voice.
“Excuse me for asking but… What bloody dragon???” Then he looked straight at Sotek.
Sotek simply pointed to Farkas who broke into one of his tales.
Both Farkas and Aela started talking at once about that morning, her trying to find her clothes and Sotek when he watched the horizon ‘ignoring her’ when he was actually tracking it. Then they talk about the battle itself, Farkas even swung his sword a few times for emphasis.
Sotek just sat there listening then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Kodlak’s owlish eyes peering straight at him.
“And you… Are you ok?”
Sotek talked quietly so the other’s wouldn’t hear them.
“No, not one little bit… Not about us, you gave us your blessing and that I’m thankful… But”.
“But what?”
“Repercussions”
“We have sorted this out. Aela seems none the worse for her ordeal. Thankfully... Things will get back to normal, they’re starting to already”. He pointed to the three companions sitting together, laughing about the dragon, and the last few weeks events.
Sotek smiled as he watched Aela interact with the other Companions but then he shook his head in disagreement.
“Hircine… He’ll have a price, a heavy one. We have business to discuss and I fear it will be on his terms”. Sotek sighed heavily before he continued. “Sheogorath… The gods alone knows what he is up to, he probably don’t even know himself”. Sotek just gazed into the distance. “We have been played, that I’m sure of. Which one? Both? I got no idea, but it’s there, in the distance. It’s waiting, watching. That I’m sure of. They haven’t had their fill yet, how the hell am I supposed to protect her?”
The Harbinger listened patiently then quietly spoke.
“No-one knows with daedra, all we can do is wait, and look after each other.” Then he reassuringly smiled.
Sotek nodded slowly then looked at the Harbinger right in the eyes.
“How long have you known about us? Tilma’s suspected us as well, hasn’t she”.
Kodlak’s eyes dropped to the floor for a few moments before answering as if he was summing up the possible outcomes of the conversation. “We’ve suspected for a few days. Tilma confirmed our suspicions yesterday when she found some of Aela’s hairs in your bed”.
Sotek sighed as he smiled to Tilma who was across the hall.
“Red hairs. That was careless of me”. He then took a deep breath before turning back towards Kodlak. “Harbinger, there’s something else”. Sotek just stood there looking at him.
The Harbinger turned around, facing Sotek.
“You don’t do things by half measures do you. What else possibly could there be?”
“Its Aela, she had a nightmare last night. She wouldn’t tell me much about it though. From what she did say, and from what I heard from her, it had nothing to do with yesterday’s events. It really shook her up… She dreamt she was a wolf. Dreaming of wolves is Hircine, she won’t talk to me about it… She’s going to see you”.
“What makes you think she will see me about it?” He quietly asked.
“Lapsa luna… You trusted me then, trust me now. She will be seeing you about it, probably today, before she goes back to sleep. She won’t go to sleep on this without seeing you”.
With that Sotek turned around and joined the others, not noticing that the Harbinger was watching Aela and Sotek very closely.
Comments
Even Kodak the Hamburger is a bit slow....
Also: awww, what a sw... more
Spotted an error
Then they talk about the battle itself, Farkas seven swung his sword a few times for emphasis