King-Fall

IV. What We Could Have Been

I liked the ocean, the rocking of the ship on the waves helped me sleep. This night, with everything that happened however wasn't a night to sleep on. I liked my son's presence as well but him having to throw up constantly was getting tiring. I sighed and groaned,

"Boy," I mumbled while getting out of the hammock and casting a candlelight spell, "come with me. I'll help you get your sea belly."

"I'm-" he couldn't even finish he was so seasick. Paarthurnax obediently followed and the night was cold to the point that frost drifted down from the starry sky. With no wind, the mariners rowed and sang native ballads as I stood with my son at the railing.

"Look towards the horizon. That's what I did and it kept me from losing my stomach once."

"You-" he spat the taste out of his mouth and coughed, "never got seasick?"

"Oh I didn't say that!" I answered in all seriousness, "The first time I sailed towards Solstheim the captain probably thought I was some delusional milk drinker. I never threw up though and he knew then and there I meant business." I air quoted, "Divines, you're either the toughest or stupidest man on earth. I've never seen someone beat seasickness."

Paarthurnax laughed.

"I didn't want to say, hey I've killed dragons. Then he would have worried about me getting drunk on sea water."

Paarthurnax laughed and then coughed.

"You did good today, boy."

He smiled and spat overboard, "Your Thu'um was..." he struggled with thinking of a word, "loud. Very loud."

I stiffened.

"Did I scare you?"

"N-no," he mumbled, "I was scared for you. You're my father and there was so many of them."

I laughed in relief, "You should have been scared for them. Though I appreciate your concern, you don't know that my armor repairs itself, I have more than a dozen more shouts, and I am adept in all, and expert in some schools of magic." I bobbed my head in self-debate before adding, "Except alchemy, I'm okay in it but enchanting and crafting was more my flagon of wine."

Paarthurnax was quiet with a question in his eyes and asked,

"Will I have to do that when I get older?"

"Kill? Of course, I may be Dragonborn but I am only one man. Even if I did bring complete peace there's still going to be plenty of murderers for you to execute the death sentence on."

The boy frowned but it was the truth. I sometimes forget how young he is, he's much more mature than his peers at his age. The boy even beat Finnian at Deadman's Chess once. Now that is a day Finnian will never live down.

One of the admirals aides came to me and handed me a potion in a wine bottle. Looking at him the Nord's eyes were green, night-vision potion, I deduced. He spoke casually, like we were being watched and he was trying to hide that he knew to those watching,

"Sorry, to interrupt but our Khajit in the crow tower spotted something."

I sniffed the potion before taking a swig. I closed my eyes and felt them change behind my eyelids with a tingling sensation at the base of my skull. Once I opened them I saw a Breton in black, his face hidden by the hood of his cloak just standing there. It took another moment to realize that he was standing on the water.