The great hall of Dragonsreach -- the one place Aldkar didn't think he'd see with his own eyes anytime soon. The very room that they were now standing in was where the Jarl sat daily to attend to his duties. Above their heads were large wooden beams that held up the entire roof of this very room, and the wind outside was beginning to pick up as it whistled its way through the cracks of the shutters that were attached to the windows. Some of the others who came to Whiteruns aid had started up the large fire that sat in the center of the room to warm up the place. They were going to be here for a while if a storm was heading their way tonight. With the flames crackling, and other voices talking in the background, Aldkar thought about his brother even before Einar's question.
"I'm an only child actually. Alive. But no, no brothers. Just sisters. What about you? Any siblings of your own?" He knew he once had a brother, an older brother, but he wasn't sure where he was, or if he was even alive anymore.
The very last time he saw Draymar was the night he woke and witnessed his brother leaving their home.
"Where are you going?" he had asked, and began to rub his eyes while sitting up to get a better look at his brother.
"Are you leaving us?" Aldkar was only young at the time, but he had never forgotten it.
"Just go back to sleep, little brother. Do you want to wake mom and dad?" Aldkar shook his head.
"I need you to look after mom, okay? I will be gone until Spring. That is when I'll return.""You promise?" tears were about to pool up around his little piercing blue eyes. He felt deep down that it was his fault Draymar was leaving in the first place because he was always giving their mother a hard time while she was pregnant with their baby sister.
"Can I not come with you, Draymar? I promise I will be good, and listen to everything you say." he wanted to take Aldkar with him, but it would be far too dangerous.
"When you're older and much stronger, I will take you with me on my next travels. Alright?" Aldkar sulked, and Draymar kissed the top of his brother's head before helping him back into bed.
"Goodnight, little brother." were his last words before he left, and disappeared into the night with one their father's horses.
"I had a brother," Aldkar finally answered Einar after a couple of seconds in thought, his gaze on the fires flames.
"I waited for him to return from his travels. I waited every day at my bedroom window, waiting for Spring to come... and when it did!? my brother never returned. I do not know to this day if he is alive or not, but I do hope that he remembers me." Their conversation was cut short as Velirhi and Bjorn had entered the main hall. So this silver-haired woman was the mage? at least she was easy on the eyes, and not some old man with a beard that smelled of onions like the last mage he had encountered.
“How deep is that?” She had asked in astonishment, and even though it was obviously a rhetorical question, Aldkar wouldn't have been able to answer that even if he wanted to. Velirhi leaned her hands on the table and looked between Einar and Aldkar who had politely averted his eyes quickly else where. He didn't want to glance down the front of a Lady's outwear (Especially not while married to his wife. She'd castrate him for sure.
“Well I don't mean to lack sympathy but I'm not ripping it out of him.” Well someone had to pull it out before any infections start creeping into his wound.
While paying attention to their conversation, Bjorn had spoken about how Aldkar needed Elf protection. Aldkar turned his head slightly and glared dangerously at the Nord. Clearly that man was hiding behind the skirt of a woman, and forgotten how capable his own people were of handling themselves. If Aldkar wanted protection!? he'd use Einar or his shield. Besides, Aldkar had gotten arrowed deliberately to save another. The second Einar took the arrow out of him with some force, Aldkar snapped his attention to his shoulder and called out in pain before biting back his tongue that was about to fly with all kinds of curse words, and began to growl to himself with his eyes tightly shut. He was waiting for the pain to pass.
When it did pass, Aldkar blew out his lips with his forehead gathering sweat.
"Damn that hurt." he pointed out to himself while looking at where the arrow used to be. He was holding his shoulder still of course because he wasn't fully healed yet.
"Thanks for the warning." he added to Einar, which was also Aldkar's way of saying thank you in general.
"Nobody knows what draugr are doing so far from their ruins." He answered Valirhi.
"There has been no foreshadowing of what it means or what's to come.""Einar's right, but I for one feel as though a war is coming. A war that is much larger than any other that will end the world for good. Alduin never succeeded with the last Dragonborn, so maybe he's creating followers to ensure the outcome he's always wanted." Men in the room looked at Aldkar with stunned looks on their faces.
"What? I read. Most of us aren't going to like it, but we have to work together or we'll lose."
