My Random Skyrim Stories

Noticed (Vilkas) 1 Waiting Up

So I was playing around with some mods... and I borked something...
In my most recent play-through (with a character that I thought I was going to have marry Farkas) things glitched and, even though I'd completed the Companions' quest line, Farkas's marriage dialogue wasn't available— no response to an amulet of Mara whatsoever— and then suddenly I couldn't even ask Farkas to follow me anymore.
...Then Vilkas offered the "dragon seekers" quest...
All of which resulted in some inspiration... Enjoy!

***

"Alright, brother, out with it..." Aela's voice pulled Vilkas from his thoughts and he looked up from his book with a scowl.

"Which one are you waiting up for, Farkas or Inga?"

"Who says I'm waiting up for anyone?" Vilkas grumbled indignantly.

Aela raised an eyebrow at that. She looked skeptically around the dimly lit, empty mead hall before looking back to Vilkas with a slow smirk forming on her lips. Then the huntress lunged suddenly forward and snatched the book from his hands before darting back out of his reach.

"Damn it, Aela!" Vilkas snapped, jumping from his chair to lunge after her... but his lithe shield-sister was more agile than he was and she continued to dart out of his grasp.

Vilkas growled irritably, but Aela just looked amused as she looked to the book and quickly skimmed the page he'd been on.

"Who was Uriel the fourth's actual father?"

"What?" Vilkas snapped, looking back at Aela in utter confusion.

"If you expect me to believe you were just sitting in a dark mead hall reading 'A Brief History of the Empire..." she paused to look back at the cover, "Volume Three'... for fun and relaxation, then tell me what you were just reading about..."

Vilkas just glared back at her. He had no response.

Honestly, he hadn't even looked at the book he'd grabbed... he was, in fact, just waiting up for their new Harbinger and his brother to return.

Their new Harbinger had been at the forefront of his mind for a while now... ever since she'd opted to cure her own beast blood along with him.

Inga, the Dragonborn, was a woman few dared cross. She had joined the Companions a few years ago, seeking training after discovering her identity. Vilkas hadn't thought much of her then, but she'd trained as if her life depended on it, and she had certainly proven herself.

Vilkas had only learned she was Dragonborn after Farkas had been forced to reveal their secret to the new blood. She'd handled the revelation surprisingly well... she'd apparently been more worried about having to kill one of them in selfdefense than she was actually afraid of them...

She'd told Farkas she was Dragonborn as a show of good faith after her trial. "You keep my secret, I'll keep yours," she'd apparently told Farkas. Farkas had concluded she was as scary a woman as Aela.

She'd told Kodlak the same thing once they'd gotten back and had spent many hours seeking Kodlak's counsel after that.

Vilkas had never paid as much attention to her back then. Farkas apparently told her he was a better talker and that had directed her to ask him for information. So Vilkas had spent several evenings over the years having casual conversations with her, by the time she was given the beast blood he considered her a worthy shield-sister, and after the tragedy that had resulted in her succeeding Kodlak as Harbinger, Vilkas had even considered her a friend...

But in all of those years, Vilkas had hardly seen her face. He knew she had some shade of light brown hair and fairly typical, fair Nordic skin, but he didn't actually know what color her eyes were. Most recently she had taken to wearing a green and bronze looking mask with a hood, along with an assortment of Nordic armor... when she first joined them she'd been in assorted leather armor with a helmet. Vilkas was pretty sure her eyes were some dark color, but he couldn't be sure... not that he particularly cared...

Occasionally when they trained he would be surprised by noticing the curve of her figure under her armor— without seeing her face sometimes he could forget she was even a woman...

But then she had agreed to help him cure his beast blood— it was right after she'd returned from helping Farkas do the same. She seemed troubled by something, but she'd agreed to turn right around and travel back the next day.

Vilkas had been surprised, grateful, and excited... but Inga was still just Inga... their Harbinger— the Dragonborn in a strange mask who was always angry and serious... she had a temper to rival his own, and yet remained remarkably levelheaded in a crisis...

And then she decided to cure herself as well. They had done battle with their beast spirits together... he had been there to see her drop to her knees in relief once her beast was defeated...

...She had taken her mask off then...

He'd seen her face then...

He'd never expected her to have such an attractive face...

Her eyes were brown... a warm, beautiful shade of mahogany brown... and her hair was actually more of a dirty blond than brown... like a light brown with hints of gold actually...

Her lips were a rosy, light pink, and there was a light dusting of freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.

She had a scar that ran from her left ear to just under her chin, as well a jagged, crescent shaped scar above her right eye, just at her hairline.

She was a fearsome beauty... and Vilkas had only just resisted the urge to tell her that on the spot.

Since then things had definitely begun to be different...

When they sat and talked about things they'd read or battles they'd had, Vilkas found himself remembering her face... and the curves of her body that her armor only mostly hid...

He found himself realizing how much he enjoyed her company...

He found himself wishing she would take him with her on jobs instead of Farkas... wishing he could see her face again...

So Vilkas had finally resolved to ask her to accompany him... he had heard rumors of a dragon causing trouble out near the Reach, and he had consulted Farengar and gotten its most likely location marked on his map. He was planning to ask her to help him kill it... to ask her to show him what a dragon fight was like.

So now he was waiting up for them to return...

"Fine, I'm waiting for my brother," he lied to Aela with an angry scowl.

Aela didn't look like she believed him for a moment.