The Dragonborn's Family

Things You Shouldn't Do...

Set at the end of "Something to Protect" during the year of peaceful life at Heljarchen Hall. Just a bit of parenting fluff.

"Blaise get down! Sofie stop trying to climb the roof!" Vilkas barked half in anger, half in fear as he stepped outside and found his children both trying to climb from the porch to the roof of the second floor of their manor.
"Awww," Blaise groaned as he slid down the shingles and hopped back to the porch. It was a high jump for the child and Vilkas could see Blaise hadn't landed the jump perfectly, but Blaise stubbornly hid any signs of pain. Vilkas struggled to keep his expression stern for a moment as he watched Blaise try to subtly cast a healing spell. He let the boy think it had gone unnoticed, for now. Vilkas was just glad his son was ok, and that Krinna had taught him that magic.
"But Mama climbs up there all the time," Sofie whined as she climbed more carefully off the porch railing.
"Your mother does a lot of things you shouldn't do," Vilkas replied sternly.
"Like what?" His wife asked in mock indignation as she joined them out on the porch.
Vilkas looked over his shoulder and smirked at her. "Like scale cliff sides just because the roads take too long... jump off the side of Dragonsreach instead of taking the stairs back to Jorrvaskr... run ahead off the trail while your husband tries to keep up... jump from the balcony instead of taking the stairs..."
"I like shortcuts," she shrugged, smirking back at him.
"Scale the roof looking for birds' nests..." Vilkas continued, still smirking a little smugly at her.
"There are birds' nests up there?" Sofie interjected excitedly.
"No," Krinna lied quickly. Vilkas clapped his hand to his face.
"Awesome!" Blaise said looking excitedly back toward the roof. Krinna sighed and turned to their children with a stern look of her own now.
"But you two are not allowed to go up there until you're big enough to not kill yourself if you slip," she said firmly.
"Awe, but Ma, I can cast healing spells really well now," Blaise protested.
"Healing spells don't help if you're dead when you hit the ground," Krinna replied, "I don't just rely on my spells when I do reckless things; I've got enough practice with heavy armor I also get some cushioning when I do fall or jump from too high. Because that happens; you do reckless things, you get hurt."
"And it stresses out everyone who loves and cares for you," Vilkas added. Krinna looked back at him a little sheepishly at that.
Blaise sighed frustration, but Sofie looked more intrigued.
"I want heavy armor when I grow up," She announced, "I want to use heavy armor and a big axe like Papa!"
Vilkas chuckled proudly, "I'll be happy to teach you when you're older love." He ruffled his daughter's hair and she grinned up at him.
"I thought you liked archery," Blaise pointed out.
"So does Papa," Sofie shrugged.
"Aye," Vilkas agreed.
"And he's good at it," Krinna said with a smile.
"Well I want to be a battle mage like Ma," Blaise declared.
"You want to learn destruction magic?" Vilkas asked with a raised eyebrow. He looked from Blaise to Krinna and saw she was regarding their son with a thoughtfully raised eyebrow as well.
"Yeah! That would be so cool!" Blaise said excitedly.
"I thought you wanted to learn swords," Sofie shot back.
"Yeah, that's why I said 'like Ma,'" Blaise nodded, "sword in one hand, fire in the other!" He mimed swinging a sword and shooting a fire-bolt.
"Hmmm..." Krinna appeared to be having an mental debate for several moments. "I think you need to practice your restoration magic a bit more first... but then I think I could teach you a few spells for combat..." she answered at last.
"Really?" Blaise asked. The excitement on the boy's face made Vilkas both amused and uneasy at the same time.
"After you convince me you're mature enough to handle it," Krinna nodded.
"Awesome!" Blaise cheered. "How do I do that?"
"For starters," Krinna said, glancing back to Vilkas with a smirk, "stop trying to do things like scale the roof when your father and I aren't looking."