My Random Skyrim Stories

An Arrow in the Knee

"I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee," one of the guards on duty commented fondly as Victolia and Vilkas hurried past, eager to get out of the rain.

Vilkas quickly hauled the door to the inn open and held it against the driving wind as his wife limped inside. Thunder rumbled overhead as the door slammed shut behind them.

Lia had been briefly envious of the guard, standing underneath the awning and keeping dry, but but the warmth of the tavern was far nicer than the guard post.

"Why," she grumbled as she pulled off her sopping cloak, "does every other guard we see feel the need to tell me he's taken an arrow to the knee?"

"They probably don't realize you have too, love," Vilkas chuckled, taking off his own wet cloak.

"Yeah, I have, and it's stinking miserable," Lia complained grumpily sitting down on the bench beside the hearth.

"Wait... what?" Vilkas's head whipped around and he was suddenly regarding her with a confused, almost offended look. "Miserable?" He repeated with a furrowed brow.

"I mean, it's not the worst injury I've ever had, but it's up there," Lia shrugged defensively, feeling confused by his reaction. "Especially since it still bothers me when the weather gets like this," she added, picking up her leg to prop her aching knee out on the bench.

Vilkas's brow immediately relaxed into a relieved, slightly exasperated expression. "Love," he sighed, "'an arrow in the knee' is an old Nordic metaphor for getting married," he explained patiently, sitting beside her.

"Oh," Lia's eyes went wide as she realized why he'd just looked so hurt for a brief moment. "No, I meant literally getting shot in the knee is miserable, not—"

"I know," Vilkas cut her off with a gentle chuckle as he leaned in and kissed her forehead, "I gathered what you meant. I was going to say, 'and here I've been trying so hard not to make you miserable,'" he shook his head teasingly.

Lia sighed. "You, my love, make me anything but miserable," she assured him with a fond smile.

"I'm glad," Vilkas smiled back, but then his brow furrowed in concern as his attention shifted to her propped up knee. "When did you actually get shot though?"

"Back in Skuldafin," she replied with another sigh, "before I got to the portal to Sovengarde."

"That was years ago," Vilkas said, looking more concerned. "You've had enough potions and healing magic to revive a draugr since then, and it still bothers you?"

"I'm not sure I ever actually got the whole arrowhead out," she admitted with a grimace.

Vilkas moved to her other side, gently shifting her leg with her sore knee across his lap. He moved the skirt of her armor up so he could see her knee.

"Have you never had a healer look at it?" He asked in concern as he took his gauntlets off.

Lia sighed a little grumpily. "I tried," she grumbled, "Danica said it was probably just phantom pains from the stress of the fight, and that I wouldn't actually be walking if I still had an arrowhead in there. And the healer I saw in Cyrodiil when I went back to visit my brother basically said the same thing and and accused me of exaggerating the pain."

Vilkas's brow furrowed again, "I've never known you to exaggerate pain... the opposite usually..."

"I've just been dealing with it the last couple of years," she shrugged, "it only gets really bad when the weather is like this."

"But it always bothers you," Vilkas surmised with a frown.

"I usually ignore it, but yeah," Lia nodded.

Still frowning, Vilkas began to gently massage her knee, moving her kneecap slightly from side to side. Lia flinched and had to grit her teeth at the grinding sensation that made her think there was still an arrowhead in between the bones.

"That shouldn't do that," Vilkas said in concern. "I wish you'd told me sooner love. Something's certainly not right."

He actually sounded angry, Lia realized.

"I'm sorry," she grimaced.

Vilkas looked back to her cocking his eyebrow in surprise, "I'm not upset with you," he shook his head, "I'm angry with the damn healers who didn't believe you— I know what phantom pains are, any one with any training in healing would see that's not what this is if they'd bothered to actually look."

"So... you believe me?" Lia blinked in surprise.

"Of course I do," Vilkas nodded, "I'd believe you even if all I had was your word to go on, but even I can tell something's wrong just by looking at it."

Lia felt suddenly emotional at that. After the way two healers had dismissed her complaints she'd been afraid of sounding weak or whiny if she continued to complain so she'd simply tried to live with it and ignore the pain. And, she'd at least partially convinced herself it was just phantom pains— all in her head, like the healer had said... part of her had actually begun believing she was just weak or crazy, so she'd never wanted to mention her pain to anyone else— least of all the Companions when she was supposed to be their Harbinger...

But here was Vilkas, possibly the toughest of them all, believing her, and not for a moment thinking she was weak.

"None of that now, love," Vilkas whispered, reaching up to wipe away a tear that Lia hadn't even realized had begun to run down her cheek. "Let's take the carriage home once this rain stops," he suggested softly, "and then I'm going to carry you up to the temple, and demand they look at this."

"Thank you," Lia smiled appreciatively.

To Lia's grateful surprise, Vilkas did exactly that and more. He got their food, and then carried her to their rented room for the night, and he distracted her from the pain in the delightful ways that only her husband could. Then he carried her to the carriage the next morning after breakfast, and then up to the temple of Kynareth once they got back to Whiterun.

The Harbinger of the Companions being carried by the Master-at-Arms into the temple was a quick way to get everyone's attention, and after a bit of scolding from Vilkas, Danica begrudgingly examined Lia's old knee injury... and then very sheepishly operated to remove the old arrowhead.

The next time a thunderstorm rolled in, Lia was thrilled to realize the old injury finally didn't hurt anymore, and she finally had a good story to quip back at all those guards with.