Fated (Kaidan x female dragonborn)

Chapter One

Fate was something Juniper hated with every fiber of her being. Without it, perhaps she could have remained a naive child for the rest of her life. Because that was the greatest envy she had of the young children she watched running down the sparsely bricked road - they did not yet know the insultingly unfair consequences of existence. 

The unforgiving sun of summer beat down on the streets of Whiterun as Juniper passed through, her bones ached with every step, one hand wiping the drops of sweat from her brow while the other held tightly to the rough canvas of a sack - the contents of which she knew would give those naive children nightmares for life. The city buzzed with traders wandering the markets, the cobbles familiar under June's boots. 

Whiterun had felt like a second home to Juniper, with it's stout, wooden buildings topped with yellow tiled roofs, the open stone streets an inviting welcome to explore every nook and cranny the city had to offer, the towering mountains just peaking over the high walls that crowned the entire place. Having spent so much of her childhood among the market with her father selling animal pelts to the vendors, it was easy to imagine her younger self running from stand to stand and learning about the various people who lived there. They would stay the night at the local tavern, her father allowing her to drink a small cup of mead under the promise she never mentioned it to her mother. 

Now, walking these streets came with a wave of unwelcome memories.

Blinding light reflected from the polished wooden planks of the city's keep, the crashing sound of water underneath the connecting bridge made June wince; she was glad to step through the grand doors of the towering building and ease her sleep deprived mind of the outside. 

Her eyes scanned the large hall of Dragonsreach, observing the settling smoke from dozens of candles. The room never failed to amaze June - carved wooden pillars rose high to meet the rounded roof that dominated over intricate woven rugs and embellishments of dragon adorned almost every surface. At the far end of the room stood the Jarl's throne, a delicately constructed piece of fine emerald fabrics and beautifully carved wood.

Before the throne stretched two long rows of dining tables, and sat at the head of one of them, stuffing his mouth with a generous amount of eggs, was the very person June was looking for. 

"Avenicci, I brought you an early morning present." She called. Proventus Avenicci was a falsified man, with what was left of his hair almost completely grey and wrinkles forming on his permanently slightly frowned face. June rather liked the man, if not purely for the humor of infuriating him.

Juniper strode up to the head of the table and threw the sack onto it's top, flexing her hand in gratitude to finally be rid of the thing. From the hem of the sack rolled the swollen, purpleing head of her last bounty. 

Proventus' eyes grey wide as he spat his breakfast back onto his silver plate. "By the nine, get that thing off my breakfast table!" His lilt voice horrified as his face paled.

Juniper decided to ignore his request, "I handled that bandit out at the plains. Which, by the way, had ten followers - not three." The soreness of her joints and the growing bruise on her shoulder were testament to that.

Proventus cleared his through, his eyes scanning the ceiling - far, far as possible from the rotting severed head. "A - apologies, Juniper. How about an extra one-hundred gold for your troubles?" 

June scowled, "You will pay me double what you were going to, and that's still less than what the trouble was worth." 

"You're being impertinent, I can give you three-hundred and no more." 

June rested her hand on the nearby chair and loomed over Proventus. "Double."

Proventus sighed, his narrowed eyes tore from the ceiling to meet hers. "Three-fifty, the other fifty to pay the poor servant who has to clean up your mess." His hands gestured blindly to the head that was now leaking red-tinted fluids after sitting close to the roaring fire in the center of the hall for so long.