Legacy of the Harbinger

Homestead

Lydia and Farkas were excited about the idea of Vilkas and Krinna building a homestead. It solved all of the problems Farkas had been worried about and even a few he hadn't thought of. It was more than he would ever have asked of his brother, and he and Lydia were still surprised and grateful they had offered.

It was agreed they would build a homestead large enough for all of them, but Lydia and Farkas would move into Breezehome so they could be closer to town while the baby was young, and then they could move out to the manor when they were ready.

Vilkas and Farkas had been together their whole lives, and Farkas had always thought himself to be the more clingy and sentimental one, so it surprised him a little that Vilkas was the one who first suggested they could all live together on a homestead. He was honestly a little surprised their wives had agreed, but the plan did make sense; the more adults they had to take care of the children, the easier it would be for all of them to continue working as a Companion. None of them wanted to completely give up their adventurous lives...

***

Krinna and Vilkas took the next few days to relax at home; playing with their kids, feasting with the Companions, and enjoying being back in the privacy of their own bedroom. Then they took a day to walk up to Dawnstar, and they purchased the land the Jarl had offered to the Dragonborn. The Jarl also gave them a book on the basics of homesteading, so they had a useful guide to get started with. As soon as they got back to Jorrvaskr, though, Krinna went to her study and wrote a letter to Sudia, updating her on their success against the vampires, Lydia's pregnancy, and their purchase of land for a homestead. Sudia's response came three weeks later with congratulations, several tips on homesteading, and a book from her local midwife. By then Krinna, Vilkas, and Farkas had managed to get the foundation laid for the manor they were planning. Lydia helped as much as Farkas would let her, which usually meant she sat in the shade reading the instructions and building plans for them. She was just getting to her second trimester, and officially didn't fit in her armor anymore, so Farkas was a bit over-protective. Fortunately Lydia seemed to find his behavior endearing, and agreeably avoided all the heavy lifting.

As it got on into Skyrim's summer, work for the Companions slowed down and a couple of the other Companions came to help build as well. Steadily the walls went up, then the second floor as well. Krinna decided she was building a surprise for Vilkas on the east side of the manor, so Vilkas was suddenly restricted to building the bedrooms on the west side of the manor. On several occasions, when they all returned to Jorrvaskr for the evening, Vilkas tried to get information out of his wife about what she and Farkas were building, but she stubbornly gave him no response except a mischievous smirk, and "you'll see when we're done." He couldn't even get information out of Farkas...

"Don't look at me," Farkas had shrugged, "I do what I'm told."

After about two weeks of this Vilkas, Ria, and Athis were finished with the bedrooms. Vilkas was putting the finishing touches on the second floor balcony that sat on top of the bedrooms when he looked over the manor roof and saw Krinna was just finishing putting the shingles on the roof of a spire that stood taller than the manor.

"You know love," he called up to her with a smirk, "it's a little difficult to keep me from looking at something when you build it that tall, and put something so pretty on top..."

Krinna turned to look over her shoulder and down the other side of the roof at him. She laughed, hammered one more shingle into place, then turned to hop down. She landed on the main house roof, and then jumped to the second floor balcony.