Legacy of the Harbinger

Companions

In the days that followed Krinna had gone back to Dragonsreach to speak with the Jarl. He'd named her a Thane of Whiterun for her aid in killing the dragon. That new title had earned her some gold, and a housecarl... 'What the heck am I going to do with a housecarl?' She wondered to herself as she approached the woman.

"The Jarl has appointed me to be your housecarl. It's an honor to serve you." she greeted... so this was Lydia... they were the same height... probably about the same age... the biggest difference between them was their hair color, Krinna noted curiously.

"What does a housecarl do?" Krinna asked in confusion.

"As my Thane, I'm sworn to your service. I'll guard you, and all you own, with my life." Lydia answered respectfully.

Krinna sighed. "I don't really own anything, I've been staying at Jorrvaskr."

"I can always hang out at Dragonsreach until you need me," Lydia shrugged.

"That'll probably be best for now," Krinna agreed.

The rest of that week, Krinna trained with Farkas to better utilize her heavy armor, practiced with her swords, and avoided Vilkas. A few of the other whelps were a little hostile, but almost everyone else in the Companions was pretty friendly so far. Kodlak and Farkas were particularly kind, and Aela and Skjor weren't unfriendly. She couldn't figure out what Vilkas's problem had been.

***

Farkas quickly noticed how fast Krinna learned, and she already knew a lot about Skyrim for a Nord who'd grown up elsewhere.

She quickly surpassed the other whelps he was training... but Farkas noticed she had been avoiding Vilkas, which he thought was a shame. Farkas didn't mind holding a conversation with her, he thought Krinna made for great company, but she wasn't Lydia. She didn't listen in fascination to the more gruesome details of his most recent fight like Lydia would, she had less appreciation for his simple outlook on life than Lydia did. He frequently couldn't help noticing Krinna tended more toward the types of conversation Vilkas would have enjoyed a lot more than he did. Farkas also noticed the fact that he was training Krinna and Vilkas wasn't was definitely putting Vilkas in a lousy mood.

***

One evening Krinna went to the hall for dinner and found Farkas sitting alone.

"Hey," she smiled, "can I join you?"

"Sure," Farkas shrugged and motioned to the chair beside him. "But my brother Vilkas is a better talker than me. He should be around someplace."

"Uh... I'm pretty sure he doesn't like me though," Krinna said raising her eyebrow.

"Nah," Farkas shook his head, "he's always rough on the new bloods, but he had good things to say about you when I asked."

"Really?" Krinna asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Farkas nodded, "you should try talking to him."

That surprised Krinna. She finished dinner talking to Farkas, she asked about the other members of the Companions, and about him and Vilkas. By the time she told Farkas goodnight, he had convinced her to possibly stop avoiding Vilkas... at least a little bit.

***

Vilkas was sitting at the outside table eating a late breakfast when Farkas finished training for the morning. Farkas joined him at the table.

"You know," he said grabbing a mug, "you could be nicer to our newest whelp, she thinks you don't like her."

"I've barely seen her since the day she got here!" Vilkas grumbled.

"Is that why you've been so grumpy lately?" Farkas teased. Vilkas growled.

"How's she doing?" He asked after a moment.

"She's good," Farkas replied, "she learns fast. Skjor thinks she'll be ready for her Proving soon."

That did impress Vilkas... 'damn it,' he thought. Why did he have to be stuck with the whelps that whined and took forever to pick things up?

"I don't suppose she wants to learn two-handed weapons?" He joked.

"She might if she thought you were more approachable," Farkas shrugged.

"Right," Vilkas sighed, "I'll work on that."

When he saw her in the hall later that day, he offered her a friendly nod, "you know, you can come to me with questions," he told her, "I know our history almost as well as Vignar by now, except I can remember it." That earned him a genuine smile from her in response, and a question about the Companions' history. Vilkas did his best to keep his heart rate in check while he told her of Ysgramor and his five hundred Companions.

The following day Vilkas was reading his book in his room again when Farkas walked in.

"What's 'Dragonborn'?" He asked. Vilkas looked up from his book in surprise. He'd been reading the only book he could find on the matter since he'd heard the rumors of dragons. It was also a good distraction from the fact his brother was training the beautiful new whelp and he wasn't. But Farkas had never been one to notice or care what Vilkas was reading about.

"Ancient heroes of legend," he said handing his brother the book, "said to have the soul of a dragon." Farkas took the book in surprise and Vilkas realized he hadn't asked because of the book. "Why?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at his brother.

"Krinna got summoned by the Graybeards," he replied, "she left this morning." Vilkas gawked at his brother as he processed that bit of information... their new whelp was beautiful, she could fight, she learned quickly, and... she was the Dragonborn...