I swung the axe over my head, bringing it down hard onto the log in front of me. The wood split in two with a satisfying crack. I leaned forward to pick up one of the halves, then hacked it into equal quarters to make sure it would burn easier.

Despite Danilaith's protests, Farkas and I had risen early to help with some of the chores before we headed back to Windhelm. After a quick but delicious breakfast of bread, eggs, and baked potatoes, we had started our work. The children gathered eggs, picked berries, and milked the cow while Farkas and I took on the more laborious jobs like chopping wood and repairing the chicken coop. It was the least we could do after everything that this family had done for us.

While we may have been on something of a schedule, one day wouldn't make that much of a difference. We had found our old home weeks faster than I had expected to find it, and while we still had a long journey ahead of us, I couldn't just up and abandon the family we'd already found.

Once Ylva brought our child into the world, we'd see them again, but I was still loath to leave them behind.

"Thirsty?" asked Dani as she approached with a pail of water. She set the bucket on the ground, scooped out a ladleful, then handed it to me.

I gratefully took it, drinking my fill before handing it back to her. "Thank you, Dani. How are the others doing?"

"Farkas has already finished working on the coop and agreed to give the children some training in swordplay. Samuel and Hroar have said they want to join the Companions as soon as they come of age, but I hope to the gods they change their minds."

I grinned as I bent down to pick up my discarded shirt to wipe the sweat away from my face. "Many young ones want to join up with us when they meet us, but most don't have the stomach for it. Very few of our recruits actually make it through our initiation."

Her face paled. "How do you mean?"

"It's nothing like that," I assured her, tossing my shirt back to the ground and picking up another log. "Most of those who come to us are seeking fast fortune and fame. They believe that they only need to want it badly enough to run with us. They receive a rude awakening when I test their skill."

"Farkas told me that you are the Master at Arms there." Setting the bucket down, Dani crossed her arms. "How did you ascend to that station?"

"Hard work, diligent studies." A speck of dirt flew into my eye as I chopped the log in two, and I set the axe down to rub the heel of my hand against my face. "Years and years of dedication. I became the next Master at Arms about nine years ago, shortly before Ylva came to the Companions."

"Quite an achievement for someone so young."

I scoffed. "Not so young anymore. I dread what I will feel like when I have to keep up with another toddler."

Dani patted my shoulder. "Yes, but you have at least a year before your little one starts walking, so you shouldn't worry about it now. Besides, I'm sure your wife will be a wonderful help, even if she has to take some time to rest after the birth."

Nodding, I turned to give her a smile. "You're right, and it's only one child this time. Even if I am eight years older than I was when I did this the last time, it should be a little easier to watch one rambunctious ankle-biter."

She removed her hand from my shoulder, then turned to face the clouded sky. Wisps of her fiery hair danced around her freckled cheeks, catching in her auburn eyelashes. She balled her hands into her skirts to keep them from flapping in the gentle breeze, and her fingers began to play with her apron strings.

"What?" I asked after she'd been quiet for a span.

Danilaith shook her head and let go of her skirts. "Just still trying to wrap my head around this. How you and Farkas made it here after all of these years. Mother will be furious with Father when she realizes she should've delayed their journey to Solstheim for six months."

I chuckled under my breath. "Well, we're traveling to see her. And, since there is only one ship in and out of Solstheim, she won't have to worry about missing us."

"It'll mean so much to her to see you soon." Then, she exhaled deeply. "I'll let you finish up here. It'll soon be time to start preparing lunch, anyway. Cooking for six–now eight–people can be a bit of a daunting task."

"You should ask our housekeeper in Jorrvaskr, Tilma, how she does it." I stooped, grabbed another log, placed it on the block, then choked up on the ax. "Thank you, again, for feeding and sheltering us. I hope we can repay your kindness someday."

"You already are." She gave me a tight smile before picking up her water bucket and returning to the house.

I lost track of how long I'd been chopping wood, but I only lacked a few more logs before I noticed Farkas and Rosie walking down the path with a man in merchant clothing. It looked as though Farkas had left his armor behind and only carried my one-handed sword with him.

I wondered if the boys were still playing with his greatsword, then turned my focus back to the chores in front of me.

But just as I started to bring the ax down to quarter a log, a group of four bandits slithered towards the house. Each of them were armed, and they all wore a haphazard mix of furs and leathers as armor. All had their eyes on the house, not seeming to know that I was behind them.

They must think that the house is undefended.

Holding the woodcutting ax in one hand, I padded forward, following the closest bandit to me. I took a few quick steps to close the distance between us, and without a word, I brought the ax down on the top of his skull. Blood spewed from the wound, dotting my face and chest with its sanguine coloring. His bones cracked, a sickening crunch, under the blunt edge of the ax, and he dropped without a sound.

I grabbed him around the chest and lowered him to the ground so as not to alert the others, then picked up his dagger, dislodged the ax from his head, and pressed on.

Using the knife, I slashed the second bandit's throat, but he let out a gurgling cry as he fell to the ground. The others in his group spun around, and I had lost the element of surprise.

Godsdamn it.

Out of desperation, I threw the dagger at the further bandit. She let out a cry as it zipped past her leg, grazing her thigh and opening a gash there. She grabbed the wound with her hands and went down on one knee, groaning.

But I didn't have time to worry about her. I raised the ax to block the blow from the other bandit's mace as he tried to club my face in. The impact sent shockwaves through my bones, from my wrist all the way into the base of my skull. For a moment, I wondered if any of my teeth had rattled loose.

I broke away from the bandit and dropped down to sweep his legs out from under him. Even though I had a weapon, it seemed more cumbersome than useful. In close combat like this, I couldn't swing the ax with enough force to do any damage. It served better as a shield for now.

I had to change that, especially now that the female bandit was starting to recover.

The closer bandit recovered from the kick to his ankles and swung his mace again. I rolled to avoid the blow, dirt and grass flying in clumps around me and sticking to the blood and sweat covering my body.

Shooting upright, I put some distance between me and the bandits, snatching up the iron mace that the second bandit had dropped when I slit his throat. I only had enough time to raise it in defense before the other mace-wielding bandit tried to strike me again.

"Who are you?" he asked as we kept our weapons locked. "I ain't never seen a farmer fight like you."

"I'm not a farmer," I grunted, spinning the ax handle around so the blunt side of the ax head faced the bandit. "I'm a Companion."

A spark of recognition flashed in his bloodshot eyes just before I let out a yell, swinging the back of the ax into his exposed ribs. The sound of bones turning to powder inside his chest cavity echoed around us, drowned out a moment later by his chilling scream of agony.

I cried out again, smashing the mace into his face. More blood sprayed across my body, some even getting in my face, but I ignored it so I could deal with the last bandit.

She raised her own war axe over her head and charged closer to me. Her mouth bent into a snarl, but her green eyes almost seemed frozen with fear. Like she had ot avenge her fallen friends but knew she'd soon be joining them.

With only a second's hesitation, I threw the woodcutting ax at her, grimacing as it lodged in her face. She dropped like a stone only a moment later.

Panting, swearing under my breath, I sprinted toward the house to make sure that no one else was coming to hurt Danilaith and the children. My only guess now was that the "merchant" that Farkas and Roseranna had followed was a distraction, a ploy to get them away from the house so the other bandits could move in.

I hoped Farkas hadn't walked into an ambush.

I made it to the front of the house, and I kicked the door open with enough force to nearly send it flying off its hinges. I took one step across the threshold before I heard a scream to my right, and caught Dani swinging a kitchen knife down towards me.

I grabbed her wrist before the blade could touch me. "Hey, it's me!"

Her eyes blew wide open, and she dropped the knife at our feet. "Oh, gods, Vilkas! Thank the Divines it's you!" Then, she looked up and down my body. "Are you hurt?"

I finally took a moment to glance at myself. Blood and gore mixed with the sweat and dirt across my bare torso, and I could only imagine that my face looked the same. When I licked my lips, the taste of rust exploded on my tongue, and when I furrowed my brow, my skin felt sticky.

"None of it's mine," I admitted, letting go of her arm. I was a little surprised that I hadn't been hurt at all in that fight, but thankful to be in one piece.

Her face paled a little, and her expression tightened, but her shoulders relaxed just a bit as she stepped away from me. "You'd best clean up before the children see you. They're hiding upstairs. We heard the sounds of fighting outside, and after Farkas and Rosie left–" She dropped her jaw. "Farkas and Rosie! They walked right into a trap!"

I started to turn, to run out the door and go after them now that I knew the others were safe, but I didn't have to.

Up the path they came, Farkas bloodied but upright, and Rosie shaken but unharmed.

"Damn bandits," muttered Farkas as he got within earshot. "You, too?"

I nodded. "Did they get you?"

"No." He handed my sword back to me. "Sorry I borrowed this."

"As long as you didn't blunt it. How many were there for you?"

"Just two. Easy pickings."

I smirked. "I got four, and all I had was that woodcutting ax and whatever the bandits dropped."

"Not everything has to be a competition," he said with a scowl. "I need a drink and a bath, not necessarily in that order."

I nodded in agreement before stepping out of their way. "Do bandit attacks happen often out here?"

"Not often," said Dani as she led us back to the kitchen, "but one attack is too many. I've never seen a force that large out here before. Usually, it's just two or three, and they only want some money and goods."

"We always give them what they want," added Rosie with a scowl. "Send the children upstairs and let the bandits claim what they can find."

"Which isn't much because we had the good stuff in the chicken coop." Danilaith grinned before handing Farkas and me each a damp cloth. "Still, I fear that one day, they'll take more than money. Living out here can be worth the effort, but the danger it puts our children in...."

"When we return to Windhelm, I'll speak to the Jarl about increasing patrols out here," I said, wiping the blood off my face. "The war made the roads more hazardous for bandits and thieves, but without soldiers patrolling all the time, it's become easier for dangerous men and women to prey on the innocent."

"You said it," scoffed Rosie.

"You'd really ask for the Jarl's help?" asked Dani with wide eyes. "You could do that?"

Farkas nodded, dropping his dirty cloth in an empty bucket. "Ulfric owes us after we helped him get a serial killer out of his city. Besides, he wouldn't be the Jarl if it weren't for Ylva's intervention."

Dani smirked before taking my soiled cloth from me and dropping it next to Farkas's. "You have friends in high places."

"You have no idea," I said while I leaned against the counter, arms crossing over my chest. "It might be a good idea for you to purchase a guard dog, too. Just to alert you should anyone unsavory tries to sneak into your home."

Dani and Rosie glanced at one another.

"He has a good point," said Rosie with a shrug. "The kids would love having a dog, too."

"But the smell," whined Dani. "Once a wet dog rolls around on the rugs, you can't get that smell out."

"We're getting a dog?!" shouted Runa as the four teenagers raced down the stairs. "Really?!"

"Can we?" asked Samuel, folding his hands together and dropping to his knees in front of his mothers. "Please?"

The others followed suit, falling to their knees and begging at various volumes for a dog.

"All right!" shouted Dani over the noise. "Get off the floor, all of you. We can get a dog–"

The teenagers erupted into a round of hearty cheers, and I as well as Farkas and Rosie grinned at their enthusiasm.

"But!" continued Danilaith, motioning with her hand to get the children to be quiet. "You four will be in charge of it. Any mess it makes, you're cleaning it up. You'll feed it, water it, and play with it. It will not be allowed to sleep in your beds, and if it's raining, it will not come inside...."

Farkas and I sidled away from Dani's tirade and headed back outside. The bodies of the bandits needed to be rounded up and disposed of before the children saw them.

I walked past all the bodies and back to the pile of firewood I had been cutting so I could retrieve my shirt. I slipped it on, then rejoined Farkas as he worked to stack the bodies in one area, far away from the farm so we could burn them.

"Went a little feral on them, didn't you?" he asked, carefully moving the one with the ax wound in her face so the two halves of her head didn't separate.

"They were going to hurt out family," I said, "and I didn't have my normal weapons. It would've been cleaner if I'd had a bow or my sword."

"You did what you had to do, and that's all that matters."

When we finished with the grisly task, Farkas went inside to retrieve some fuel for the blaze while I piled as much kindling as I could find around the bodies. I even went back to the firewood and peeled bark off the pieces to help get the fire started.

"She's still going over rules," chuckled Farkas as we doused the bodies with the fuel and let them ablaze. "By the end of it, the kids aren't going to want a dog."

"Sure, they will," I replied, stepping back from our work. "The dog is just one part of the solution, though. I can't travel to Solstheim without making sure they're safe here. It wouldn't be right."

"We'll do what we can." He rested his hand on my shoulder, gaze focused on the flames lapping at flesh and bone. "You know how the Thieves Guild has marks they carve into buildings to show whether they're worth stealing from? Maybe we can carve one into one of the fenceposts, letting the world know that this place is defended."

I nodded. "There's on carved on the front of Jorrvaskr, a diamond with two circles around the middle points. I'm sure that means 'protected' or 'danger.' Not a bad idea, anyway."

"We can give the boys lessons, too. Teach them how to fight as best we can before we head to Windhelm."

"And Runa can use a dagger to defend the house," I added. "No reason to exclude her."

He smiled. "Of course not. We know better than to doubt the little women."

I laughed under my breath, momentarily sinking into memory. I went back to the day I told Ylva that I didn't think that the Dragonborn was a woman, not knowing I'd been speaking to the Dragonborn all along. It was a foolish thing to say, and a moment I remembered with nothing short of embarrassment. Sometimes, Ylva would bring it up in an argument just to remind me to stay humble and watch my tongue before I spoke.

Shaking the memory away, I turned my attention away from the fire in front of us and to my brother instead. "We need to leave for Windhelm tomorrow. One of us can find out when the ship leaves for Solstheim while the other speaks to Ulfric about an increased guard presence out here. We don't have much time to spare before Ylva gives birth, especially if we stay with our mother in Solstheim until her husband finishes with his mining excursion."

Farkas nodded. "We'll be back in Whiterun in time, I'm sure. I think you're worrying too much."

Maybe, but I can't miss this, Farkas. Not even for our mother.