To Protect the Dragonborn

His Little Rabbit

To Farkas's surprise, despite the late hour, Duna passed the inn and went straight for the front gate. She'd been walking quickly since they left the palace and Farkas suddenly realized her pulse was still racing.

She had refused the stable hands' help, and by the time they retrieved their horses she was practically trembling as she tried to lift the saddle up to Dapple's back.

"You ok?" He asked, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. She nodded but didn't say anything and Farkas realized he could smell tears behind her mask. All hints of anger he'd felt toward her melted instantly. "Duna..." he said gently, his voice filled with concern.

Duna dropped the saddle and turned and wrapped her arms around his middle, letting her mask thunk against his steel chest plate. Farkas was startled for a moment but then wrapped her in an embrace. He just held her as she let out a shuddered sob. Farkas realized he'd probably misread the meaning behind her racing pulse while she'd smiled and responded to the Jarl so sweetly.

He didn't know what to say so he just held her quietly.

After several moments she took a deep breath.

"Divines, I'm going to rust the inside of this damn thing," she grumbled. Farkas let out a light chuckle and kept his arms protectively around her.

"That won't be comfortable," he commented bluntly. Duna gave a small chuckle at that and Farkas smiled.

She pulled back just enough to lift her mask and wipe her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, "I was trying to keep it together, but..."

"Don't be," Farkas said gently. "What's wrong?"

He had several pretty good guesses what was wrong, but he didn't want to assume anything. She took a deep, shaky breath and lowered her mask back into place, then she leaned back into his chest with her steel mask against his chest plate again.

"I... just... that..." she sighed gesturing back toward the city. "I was so stupid and naive to think that would actually do any good... and... and then that prophesy..." she shook her head and shuddered, "I... I was so afraid he wasn't going to accept my refusal..."

"He would've had a fight on his hands if he didn't," Farkas said a little gruffly. He leaned his chin against the top of her head, and kept his arms around her. Her heart was still pounding quickly. He thought about telling her how afraid he'd been that she wasn't going to refuse the Jarl, but he didn't know how she would react to that. He looked up and scanned their surroundings carefully. None of the guards were paying them any attention... the sun had set about an hour ago and it would be getting bitterly cold soon. "We should probably keep movin ' if we're not stayin' in Windhelm tonight," he said in a low tone several moments later.

"Yeah," she nodded, "I don't want to be anywhere near here if Ulfric changes his mind about letting me go."

"Good idea," Farkas agreed. He slowly let his arms slacken enough for her to pull away, but as she did so she paused and looked up at him through the slits in her mask and Farkas wished that mask wasn't there...

"Thank you Farkas," she said quietly.

"No worries," he smiled, "I'm here to help."

As Duna stepped back, Farkas reached to pick up the saddle. He quickly finished saddling both horses and they were on the road a few minutes later. Duna began to sound and smell a bit calmer, the further they got from Windhelm.

They rode south for a couple of hours until they reached a spot Farkas decided looked suitable for a campsite, far enough south that they wouldn't freeze overnight. Duna set up her tent while Farkas built a fire. Then she took off her mask and armor and sat out in front of her tent, wrapped in her bedroll. Farkas finished stoking up the fire and they ate a dinner of bread, cheese, and dried meat.