The moment Aela woke up, she was in a bad mood, far worse than usual as to the fact was that she had hardly slept. Her cheeks felt sore, and her eyes stung from the crying the night before. As she threw her bedroom door open, she swore that she wouldn’t cry; not today. The Huntress just wasn’t in the mood to show any weaknesses. As she went along the corridor, she passed Soteks room. Initially she walked past it but then backtracked her steps and pushed Sotek’s door open.
“Wake up you bastard”. She paused as she realised he wasn’t there. “Where the fuck is he?” She mumbled to herself as she headed upstairs.
In the main hall, everyone was as quiet as a mouse, mainly due to the fact that they all heard Aela heading up the stairs. As she reached the top of the stairway, she glared at the steps which her and Sotek spent many a day sitting on, like they were mocking her, then she turned her attention to the hall.
“Where’s that bastard of a reptile?”
Kodlak shook his head at her, but he expected it to be a bad day. Sotek had already let loose his wrath as he entered the hall, so the Harbinger was far from surprised when Aela did the same.
“He’s gone out”.
Aela froze and turned towards the Harbinger, forgetting her place for a moment, before pulling in her own reins.
“I know that, mor.. Where?”
Kodlak pointed to a chair, basically telling her to sit down. Aela looked across at the others then stormed over to Kite. Within a few seconds Aela’s dagger slammed into the table just in front of the Khajiit. She looked half petrified as Aela stood over her.
“Where is he?”
Kite gulped loudly then whispered.
“The training yard”.
Aela shook her head.
“Humph! You’re a coward Kite, it only took a second”. The next moment Aela shot Kul-et a look, almost daring her to intervene. Kul-et wisely looked away, but that only enraged Aela more. “But then Kite, you’re not the only one”.
She then pushed the two doors hard and entered the training yard. Aela broke into a smile as she heard Sotek swearing to himself. She looked up at him at the Skyforge with Eorlund, who was standing a good few feet away from the Argonian. Aela almost laughed as she called up to him.
“What’s up lover? Having problems?”
Sotek threw a scale across the yard then yelled down to her.
“Go fuck yourself”.
Aela burst out laughing then headed back inside after shouting back at him.
“If I did, it’ll be a better fuck than what you could give me”.
Moments later a second scale slammed into the deck a few feet away from her. Aela simply tutted back at him, deliberately mocking him even more. “Temper, temper, the truth hurts I guess”.
The feeling of scoring such an easy victory, especially so early in the day, gave Aela a sense of euphoria, pushing her emotions to an almost unparalleled high compared to the emotional trench she had been foot slogging through all week. Feeling pleased, having witnessed Sotek’s thunderous storm, she headed inside.
The ’new’ Huntress sat down happily the turned to Kite and the others.
“So Ebony, Kul-et what are you three gonna do today? Training or you gonna take Kite and show her around a bit more? There’s plenty of deer out on the plains if you wanted to do a bit of hunting”.
Upon noticing the change in Aela’s demeanour, Kodlak eyed her suspiciously.
“And how come you’re in a much better mood?”
Aela’s eyes flicked to the training yard door as she smiled vindictively.
“Sotek’s having a worse day than me”.
Within a minute, Sotek entered the hall and slumped down on his step. He turned towards the Harbinger as his frustrations boiled over.
“I’ve bloody had it. I can’t do that today”.
Kodlak refrained from reacting to Soteks tone, but instead he tried to Coax Sotek into calming down.
“What’s the problem? Eorlund said it was something to do with the cooling?”
Soteks voice lowered as he faced defeat.
“Yes, I’ve tried ice water, adding salt to make the water even colder. Using snow, you name it. It’s just not cooling down fast enough”.
Aela laughed.
“You thick bastard. Now if it was me, I’d use...”
Had Sotek been his usual self, he would have waited to see what Aela had to say but Sotek’s emotions ran to the fore, unwisely cutting the Nord off before giving her a chance to speak.
“You? Ha... You can’t even sharpen a weapon, let alone make one. Daft mare”.
Enjoying the fact that Sotek had lost the battle of wills, Aela smiled at him then blew him a kiss, further adding to his turmoil.
“Yes, and I can’t cast any ice spells either, but I’d use them to cool the scales. Moron”.
Sotek stopped dead and just stared at her. Aela instantly knew she had won. She triumphantly walked over to Vilkas and held his arm briefly.
“I’ll meet you at the stables”. As she walked across the hall, she swung her hips with every step, especially when she walked past Sotek then she exited the hall and headed towards the main gate.
Sotek growled at her but then he turned to the Harbinger.
“Red and Scarface, it’s gonna bloody happen. You do know that don’t you? Kul-et, come to the forge with me, I need to borrow you”.
Kul-et hurriedly followed Sotek towards the training yard and in the similar manner to Ebony, she blurted out a rather rhetorical question, one she would have been far better off by not asking.
“Was Aela right?”
A sadistic thought ran through Sotek’s mind. He envisioned grabbing Kul-et by the back of her head and shoving her skull into the closest wall. Rapidly deciding that killing the Argonian girl was counterproductive, he chose the lesser of the two evils and snapped back at her instead.
“Yes Kul-et, the bitch was right. Move it”.
As soon as he left the hall, Farkas called out to the Harbinger.
“What the hell, now they’re even worse”.
Kodlak nodded in defeat.
“Yes, but with some luck Aela will be gone for a few days and Sotek might calm down. I hope at least”.
Sotek picked up the two scales which he had thrown in anger earlier, then walked up the ramp towards the Skyforge. Kul-et silently followed, not entirely sure what was expected of her. As the scales were already boiled, all Sotek had to do was heat them on the forge then work them to the shape he wanted. Over the course of the next half hour two crude looking disks gradually took shape.
Once Sotek was satisfied, he called down to the whelps in the yard.
“Is Vilkas about?”
Without giving anyone else a chance to answer, Kul-et lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
“Don’t forget he went off with Aela”.
Sotek grumbled to himself but then turned-on Kul-et once more.
“Are you determined to piss me off?” He stared at her for a few seconds then called out to no-one in particular. “Tell Farkas I need him”.
Once he finished working on the scales Sotek quickly dipped one in the icy water, but the second one he had Kul-et cast her ice spell on. She cast the spell and kept the icy blast on the scale for a good few seconds. At that point Farkas came over to them and peered over Kul-et’s shoulder. He glanced at the scales and shrugged his shoulders in a half-disinterested manner.
“What’s up?”
Sotek rested the two scales on the ground then positioned Kul-et on the opposite side of them.
“Farkas, we’re going to cast some spells but then I need you to hit the disks as hard and as quickly as you can”.
Kul-et targeted a scale then cast her ice spell upon it. Following her lead, Sotek’s flame spurt spell blasted the same target. The surge of heat rapidly tore through the icy remains of the frost spell, quickly super heating the scale. They repeated the process four times in a row, quickly cooling and heating the scale. After the fourth blast of flames Sotek shouted out.
“Now!”
Farkas hammered the first disk three times but then it cracked. Sotek picked it up and smiled as he examined it.
“That was the one I cooled in the water, now we’ll try the one Kul-et here cooled down with her spell”.
They repeated the process, but this time the scale didn’t break at all. After Farkas hit it seven times he stopped as he started to feel tired. Kul-et picked up the scale but then shook her head.
“It’s starting to crack”.
Sotek snatched it from her hands then examined it himself.
“Oh, for the love of… This is ridiculous. Why in oblivion is it cracking? I can’t cool it any faster than that”.
As Kul-et examined the other broken scale, she made her suggestion.
“Why don’t we both cast our ice spells at it, maybe that’ll work”.
By now Soteks emotions were pushed past his limit and well beyond the red line. Without meaning to, Sotek shouted at her.
“No Kul-et that won’t work. It’s still the same level damage”.
Ebony stopped slashing at a training dummy and shouted up to the forge.
“Don’t you yell at her you bastard. Since you and Aela split up you’ve been an arrogant bully. It don’t suit you”. She then stopped suddenly as realism dawned over her that she was shouting at Sotek. Her bravado failed her. She backed away, behind the other Whelps, futilely hoping that they would hide her.
Sotek moved the edge of the Skyforge and stared down at her.
“Ebony, what did you say?”
Initially she shook her head.
“Nothing…I said you were turning nasty, please don’t”.
Sotek eyed her up for a few seconds but then he smiled.
“You said don’t shout, and yet that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Kul-et heat up a scale. Ebony, go fetch me a stamina potion… Farkas is going to need it”.
Sotek and Kul-et heated up the scale and worked it to a rough disk like shape before resting it against the wall. Moments later he shouted out at it, utilizing his frost shout.
“FO KRAH”. His shout roared out like a wind that had frozen in a hundred winters. Near instantly the ground and wall glistened with icy particles as they became entombed in ice. Immediately on impact, the scale cooled well beyond what their ice spell could do.
Kul-et went to pick up the scale but she had to drop it due to the icy temperature of it which burnt her. She yelled out as she held her hand.
“Ahhrg. Damn it”.
Sotek huffed at the situation and examined her fingers before casting his healing spell on her. At that point Kodlak burst out of the hall.
“What the hell is going on?”
Sotek called down to him as he, Kul-et and Farkas headed to the training area.
“Just an accident. Between Kul-et and Ebony here, I might have the answer to the scales. Farkas, would you be so kind?”
Sotek and Kul-et cast their spells on the scale until Kul-et’s mana ran out. Farkas then bashed away at the scale until he couldn’t lift the hammer. Sotek gave him the stamina potion and at the same time he gave Kul-et a mana potion. Then they recast their spells and watched Farkas bash the scale with his Warhammer. When he finally stopped, Sotek examined the scale exuberantly.
“That’s it. Look”.
He threw it to Kul-et who scrutinized the edges of the scale. “But it’s not even blemished”.
Sotek smiled at her.
“No, it’s intact. All that spell casting and Farkas’s hammer, they never even touched it”.
Kodlak took the scale then looked at it himself.
“So that’s why you shouted. You only shouted two words though, didn’t you?”
Sotek nodded then turned around towards Dragonsreach.
“Yes, I only know of the two words. Now if I know the three frost shouts, imagine how strong it would be then. I need to see Farengar, I need to find that third shout”.
Ten minutes later Sotek and Farengar was in Farengar’s study. He pointed to Soteks map then told him about what he found out so far. After thanking Farengar for his help, Sotek returned to Jorrvaskr nearly half an hour later.
The first thing on his agenda was to seek out Farkas.
Sotek found him in the hall talking to Ebony and Rikke.
“Ahh there you are, tell me. Have you heard of a place called Skyborn Altar?”
Farkas looked over to him with some surprise on his face.
“What? You mean you haven’t been there? I would have thought Aela would have taken you already. No matters”.
Sotek was taken back a bit he paused as he thought about Aela and himself lately.
“Why would she?”
Rikke gave him a sympathetic smile as she explained.
“Well, for one it’s at the end of a long, beautiful valley. You know? Trees, shrubs, a really scenic area. Then there’s the fact that the valley leads into the mountain side to which there’s a path at the end taking you up the mountain to Skyborn Altar. The view from there’s really impressive”.
Sotek found himself growing impatient.
“But why would she want to take me there, when there’s loads of places like that?”
By that time the Harbinger had entered the hall. He decided to join in with the conversation.
“I presume the reason why that they thought Aela would have taken you there Sotek, was because the view overlooks the plains and a certain pairs hunting grounds”.
Sotek slowly walked over to his step then slumped down heavily on it.
“Yes, well. Rikke, things are a bit rough with us at the moment”.
Ebony, without thinking, leaned over to Rikke and whispered rather loudly.
“Things got so bad with them that the Harbinger told them both to end it. They’re both single now”.
A loud growl resonated across the hall originating from Sotek’s direction, making Ebony sit back quietly. She sat there nervously watching Sotek as his eyes fixed upon hers. She discreetly moved behind Farkas and muttered to herself.
“It’s true”.
Sotek stared back at the fire pit as his mind wandered across the plains then he looked up at Rikke and Farkas.
“Could you two show me how to get there? There might be a word wall there, the last word to my frost shout”.
Rikke cast a confusing look at Farkas.
“Frost shout? You don’t use frost shouts, at least from what I remember”.
Ebony once again butted in.
“He uses it to cool the dragon scales. Or at least he wants to. Ermm I’ll shut up now”.
Kodlak looked over to her as he shook his head.
“That would be best”.
Rikke watched her disappear in the chair under the watchful gaze of the Harbinger, then she put forwards her proposal.
“I was hoping Vilkas would give me a hand with some bandits. It’s nothing major though. Kodlak, Sotek won’t need the two of us for the trip to Skyborn Altar. Why don’t Farkas take Sotek with him, and if you don’t mind, I’ll pay for the aid of the Whelps. I’ll take Ebony, Kul-et, Kite, Sam and Sabre”.
Upon hearing this, Sam immediately spoke up for himself and Sabre.
“No offence Rikke, us two poor souls with you four girls, no way. We’ve got some furs to get”.
The Harbinger and Tilma both looked at Sam with a confused look however it was Tilma who spoke up first.
“I don’t remember asking for some new furs”.
Both Sam and Sabre nodded furiously.
“Oh yea, you asked us yesterday. We’ll get going”. Before anyone could stop them, Both Sam and Sabre ran out the hall and headed off towards the gate.
With nothing on his agenda, Farkas slapped his leg and rose to his feet.
“We’ll it’s only a few hours there, we’ll be back later today”.
Sotek spent the next fifteen minutes preparing for the trip, but as he exited the gate, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat odd at not having Aela by his side. Farkas gave him a reassuring slap on his shoulder.
“She’ll be fine. Everyone argues, hell I remember many a night listening to the Harbinger and Tilma arguing. Mind you that was about Aela as well. When you see her next, I bet you she’ll come running up to you and jump in your arms. She’s crazy about ya, you’ll see”.
Sotek sighed as the last few days played over in his mind. As he looked across the plains at the deer and mammoths, he couldn’t escape the feeling that the plains were so empty, void of life. Seeing the worthless creature in front of him, Farkas gave Sotek a shove in the back, forcing him to move a few paces forwards.
“Come on you, you wanna get there or not?”
Sotek initially huffed, but then he smirked as he accepted the fact that Farkas was just trying to cheer him up. He forced his feelings deep inside himself then quickly caught up with Farkas as they started the journey across the plains.
