"I Would Stand At Her Back, That The World Might Never Overtake Us..."

Beast Blood

To Farkas's disappointment, Skjor and Kodlak has both frowned on the idea of him going out with Aylin for larger missions. Kodlak thought it unwise while they were trying to find the cure for their beast blood, and Skjor hadn't given a reason. Farkas considered ignoring their advice, no one was the master of anyone in the Companions after all... but Kodlak had always been like a second father to him, and he respected Skjor, even when he made him angry.
So for the next two weeks, Aylin fell back to almost the same routine she'd had. Farkas no longer had the monopoly on giving her jobs, but he was still her favorite training partner. Vilkas started sending her off to retrieve stolen items or to rescue people kidnapped by bandits, and she occasionally took extermination jobs from Aela. She didn't always make it back from those jobs within a day, but when she did come home with time to spare, it was always for training with him. Farkas loved his time training with her, and he loved hearing about the details of her latest job over dinner in the evenings.
Lydia came with her more often than not, which of course made Vilkas happy. It also meant there were more frequent occasions for the brothers to meet in Farkas's room to have a drink and discuss their women. The beast blood had them both in an awkward position; the wolf wanted to claim its mate, but the man wanted to be honorable and marry first, but how could they marry when that would risk giving the wolf control of their wedding night... and there was also the unlikely possibility that their affections were entirely a product of the wolf wanting a mate...
Farkas was at least comforted to learn that Vilkas had the same problems with his wolf wanting to mate, and that he was of a similar mindset on the problem. And so for the weeks after Aylin's initiation Farkas and Vilkas both maintained a flirtatious friendship with their respective interests. They were both worried the women would get tired and leave for a man who was more forthcoming with his interests...
Farkas had heard Torvar invite Aylin to get some mead with him on several occasions, and he knew several of the guards in Whiterun were also sweet on Lydia. But, for the time being at least, both women seemed content enough, or at least stubborn enough, to maintain their pseudo-platonic relationships.
Farkas had gotten a flustered, heart racing reaction out of Aylin enough times now that he didn't question so much if she wanted him, but whether he could control his wolf enough to be worthy of her... he had distinctly noticed that Torvar got no such reactions from her when he attempted to ask her on dates. In fact, Aylin seemed to hardly register that Torvar was flirting with her; that gave Farkas a smug feeling of satisfaction.
The other thing that had come to concern the brothers was the legends of the Dragonborn... they had both read the books Vilkas had on the matter, and Whiterun was still rife with rumors of dragons. They both feared the day Aylin would go off with her housecarl to face some epic destiny, and neither would return. The brothers both devoted as much of their time as they could to secretly helping Kodlak search for their cure.

Then one autumn evening, Aylin came home from a job, not with enough time to train, but in time for dinner. She had Lydia with her, who quickly excused herself to go find Vilkas. Farkas just watched her from a seat at the corner table as Aylin approached Aela to report her mission success. He knew she'd come join him when she was done. He watched a little surprised and confused as Skjor approached and said something quietly to Aylin. He'd actually spoken quietly enough that Farkas's keen ears couldn't hear him, which was unusual. Farkas watched as Aylin looked confused and asked a question at the same volume. Skjor had a smile on his face that Farkas wasn't sure he liked.

"What was that about?" Farkas asked, nodding in Skjor's direction when Aylin joined him a few minutes later.
"Not sure," she shrugged, "it sounds like Skjor's actually got a job for me... I'll tell you when I find out what it is," she added with a smirk. "What'd you do today?"
"Took Torvar and Athis on a hunting trip," he shrugged. They settled into their usual pattern of comfortable conversation; Aylin listened with interest as Farkas told her about his hunting trip, and then Farkas listened to Aylin tell him about the troll she and Lydia had gone to kill.
When he told her goodnight that evening he had no indication that anything was amiss...
The next morning she was gone. Skjor and Aela were gone too. Lydia didn't know anything about where they'd gone either. Vilkas and Kodlak were concerned by the news as well. Farkas remembered Skjor approaching her the night before... then he remembered what Aela had said a couple of weeks ago about taking Aylin hunting... he knew what kind of hunting they did in the middle of the night...
Swearing to himself, he ran to the underforge... he could smell that Aylin, Aela, and Skjor had been there... there was still blood in the basin in the center of the room. Farkas dropped to his knees as the realization hit him... they had taken his beautiful, honorable shield-sister, and made her a beast like him... he was angry, he was confused... his wolf was excited... but most of all, he was worried. How had her transformation gone? Was she able to control it? Had they actually explained what she was getting into? Where were they now? Why weren't they back yet?
With questions and worries still spinning in his mind he slipped out of the underforge to return to Kodlak. Vilkas and Lydia were on the back porch. Farkas caught Vilkas's eye and with a grim expression he gave a nod toward the underforge. Vilkas's face darkened with understanding and he gave Farkas a nod in reply.
Farkas hurried back to the Harbinger's chambers. Kodlak was not pleased with the news, but like Farkas, he was mostly worried.

Farkas spent the morning walking around Whiterun listening to the guards gossip... most of it was the usual. At least there was nothing about the guards killing a werewolf, or about someone being mauled to death in the middle of the night... but Farkas did hear two guards discussing how one of the night watches swore he saw a huge beast like a giant wolf vault over the city wall and take off across the plains being chased by two more similar creatures. The two guards discussing it seemed to be of the opinion the night guard had had too much to drink before taking his post.
Farkas was relieved to hear it sounded like she'd had enough control to get out of the city and not kill anyone, but where were they now?

Farkas wondered and worried all day with no answers. Then, late that night, when the whelps had all gone to bed, and long after Farkas would have normally been attempting to sleep, the front door to Jorrvaskr opened. The scent of honeysuckle, steal, and leather, now mixed with the musky forest smell of the wolf met Farkas's nose. His heart hammered wildly as he rushed to her. Her scent now being that of a wolf like him drove Farkas's wolf spirit near crazy with desire for her. But Farkas quickly overrode those thoughts of desire with thoughts of concern when he saw the state she was in. She looked exhausted, she was covered in grime and dried blood, and there were tears streaked down her face.
"Aylin?" He said gently, placing his hands on her shoulders and leaning down to look her in the eyes. The dark blue eyes that looked back at him now had a silver sheen to them like his own.
"Skjor has fallen to the Silver Hand," she said quietly.