All three of these entries came from none other than by BFF, Liz_Danly. I am in love with all of these stories, and I am so sorry it took so long to post them. I kept meaning to, Lizzie, but then, whoops! Another week got away from me. No matter; I'm posting them now. Hope you all enjoy these stories as much as I did!

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"Can't we stay up? We're not even tired yet!"

Tyra crossed her arms over her chest. By the Nine, these two. Bria was hotheaded and rash, and with Kaleir being only four and having few friends aside from his sister, he was only learning from the best.

Farkas always said that the children were well behaved when he had them. Why couldn't it ever be the other way around?

Because you're the mother, Tyra thought. And mothers are always pushovers.

"I don't care. In a few minutes, you will be. Get to bed. Now, please."

Bria made an indignant noise, stamping her foot and crossing her arms. "No! I don't want to!"

Kaleir sloppily followed her lead, shaking his head. Tyra pursed her lips. She knew the poor boy didn't exactly know what he was doing, just that his sister was doing it and that meant he would do it too.

Tyra sighed.

"All right," she said.

Bria's eyes lit up. "You mean... you're letting us stay up late?"

"No, I'm not."

"Then what?"

Tyra took her children by the hands and led them into their bedroom. "I'm going to tell you a bedtime story."

Bria's eyes lit up even brighter than before, were it possible. She gasped. "Really, Mama? What story are you going to tell?"

Tyra sat down in a spare chair they kept in their room. "I don't know," she said, crossing her arms. "What story do you two want to hear?"

"I want to know how you and Da met."

Tyra stared at her small son, brows raised in surprise. The last thing she would expect Kaleir to request was something romantic. She glanced at Bria, worried that the stone-hearted little girl would scoff at her brother and ask for something else, but she didn't. She seemed even more excited than Kaleir was.

Tyra took a breath. "All right, then. If that's what you want.

"It was a few years before you came along,  Bria. I had made the decision to seek out the Companions and ask to join them. The day I came to Jorrvaskr, your Aunt Ylva was in her quarters with Aela. I don't know what they were talking about, but I asked for the Harbinger, and if I remember correctly, your Auntie said to me, "You're looking at her, girl."

"Were you scared, Mama?" asked Bria.

Tyra smiled. "Are you kidding? I was terrified. I couldn't keep my hands still the entire time Ylva and I talked. She probably thought I was so timid and weak." Tyra laughed. "She even warned me about the dangers of being part of the Companions, as though she didn't believe I could handle it.

"She had your Uncle Vilkas take me out into the yard to test my sword arm, see if I could withstand the Companions' strength."

Bria and Kaleir were both on the edges of their beds, nearly falling off with suspense.

Tyra giggled with nostalgia. "Vilkas... your uncle, he... he broke my sword."

Bria gasped. "He did?"

Tyra nodded. "He did. Cleaved it in two. Though it wasn't a very sturdy blade in the first place. Skyforge steel is much tougher than the tiny stick I brought with me from home. He gave it back to me and told me to take it to Eorlund, up to the Skyforge, to have it fixed. He gave me his own sword to have tempered, too, although it looked perfectly sharp to me. But then, while I was walking up to the forge, I heard a strange sound. I turned, and... oh, well, you aren't going to believe this, I might as well end the story here. Besides, it's late, and you two need to get some sleep—"

Tyra started to rise, but Bria grabbed her hand to keep her from leaving, her jaw set. "What happened next?" she demanded.

Tyra smiled to herself. She had their undivided attention. She sat back down.

"Well, then I turned, and I saw three people in odd masks attacking your aunt. They were saying something about Ylva being the 'false Dragonborn' or some such nonsense. Uncle Vilkas had been hit with something and was down, but Aunt Ylva was fighting back, with help from Ria, who I didn't know at the time. They had taken out two of the attackers already, leaving only one, who seemed to be beating Aunt Ylva. I still had the broken half of my sword, and I didn't even think before I threw it at them."

"Did you hit them, Mama?" asked Kaleir.

Tyra nodded. "I sure did. Square in the back. I remember how shocked Ylva looked. We tended to Vilkas, who was fine, but a little burnt at the edges. I had cut my hand throwing the blade, and Ylva asked me if I was all right. I told her I was fine, and that I used the one skill my father had taught me that turned out to be of some use: dagger throwing. And that's when your father introduced himself to me."

"Was it love at first sight?" Bria was uncharacteristically excited about this.

Tyra laughed aloud. "By the Nine, no. We didn't really talk at all, until a month after the attack when your aunt and uncle decided to travel to an island called Solstheim to see what the attack was about. Of course, word of their departure traveled quickly throughout Jorrvaskr, and your father and I decided to join them. Well, we both decided, and then he tried to tell me that I couldn't come, but I told him he would need a Shield-Sibling as well, and he caved. So we went to Solstheim with your aunt and uncle."

"And then you fell in love."

Tyra laughed again. "No, actually, I hated him even more. He snored through the first night, and what's more, he hasn't bathed before going to bed, so he smelled like a skeever's backside and stank up our room. And then he accused me of hiding his extra clothes, as if I had a reason to. Turns out, he had misplaced them and forgotten about it. Oh, yes, I hated him."

Bria was frowning. "If you hated him so much, why would you marry him?"

"Because of what happened next."

"What happened next?" Kaleir asked.

"Well, you see, while we were in Solstheim, we found out that there was a very bad man who wanted to kill your aunt. He put a spell on a lot of ancient stones there, so that people who touched the stones would go into a state of mindlessness and start to build something. We never knew what they were building, but the second day we were there, we visited one of those ancient stones called the Earth Stone. I fell under the spell, and became mindless like a lot of other people, but there was nothing your father, aunt, and uncle could do. I don't remember anything after that until they found out how to rescue me and came back to break the spell."

"How did they do that, Ma? Did they have to fight anything?"

"Well, Ylva learned a new Shout while I was still cursed, and she used it on the stone. Unfortunately, it summoned a terrible creature from Oblivion. I remember waking up feeling absolutely exhausted and in desperate need of a bath. But I saw all my friends were down, and the creature was about to attack again, so I did what I do best. I threw my daggers."

"Did you kill it, Mama?" Kaleir, despite having asked for the romantic story, seemed more invested in the battles.

Tyra nodded with a sweet smile at her small son. "Yes, Kaleir, I killed it. But afterward, I was nearly faint with exhaustion. Your father had to carry me back to the inn we were staying at. The day after that, your aunt and uncle went out without your father and I, saying I hadn't entirely recovered and that your father needed to stay with me. So while they were gone, we explored." She giggled again. "I remember your father falling into the harbor after I scared him. He climbed out and ran for me, so I fled. He chased me all over the town we were staying in. And when he caught me, he..."

Bria slapped her hands against the bedframe. "He what, Mama? He what?"

Tyra grinned, trying not to blush in front of her children. "He swooped me into his arms and kissed me, right then and there. And I realized I didn't hate him anymore. I found myself wanting him to kiss me again, and my heart raced whenever he was around. Granted, it did that already, but now it was for a different reason. It was a little while later that I realized I loved him, and after we came home, we were married."

"And then I came along." Bria sounded quite proud of herself to be the first to arrive.

Tyra laughed, patting Bria's head. "Yes, and then you two came along, and gave us more trouble than you're worth. Now, was that a good enough story?"

Bria nodded. "Yes, Ma. I like that story."

Tyra smiled. "So do I, Bria. Now, you and your brother need to go to sleep. It's way past your bedtime, and you don't want your father to get angry with you for missing your bedtime the night before he gets back."

Bria seemed disappointed, but she reached up to give her mother a good night's kiss anyway. "Good night, Mama. Thank you for the story."

Tyra kissed her daughter back. "Good night, Bria. Don't you go off having nightmares about bad people."

Bria crossed the room to her own bed, peeling back the furs. "I won't, Mama. You're here."

Tyra tucked Kaleir in before leaving their room and closing the door behind her, heading upstairs to wait for Farkas to return home. He and Vilkas had gone on a contract to clear out a bandit's den, and they had sent word ahead of them that they would be returning that night.

As Tyra came upstairs, she saw that she wasn't alone. Ylva sat at the table, the fire illuminating her dark hair. She smiled as her sister-in-law came into view.

"You too, huh?" Tyra asked.

"Yes," Ylva replied. "I know it's probably silly of me to worry so much, but a wife does what a wife does best."

"Isn't that the truth."

Within the hour, the entrance door to Jorrvaskr opened and Vilkas and Farkas stepped inside. Ylva stood immediately and went to Vilkas, while Tyra stood from her place at the table as Farkas came to her. He smothered her in his bear hug, and she breathed him in, realizing how much she'd missed his woody scent.

"How was the job?" she asked.

Farkas pulled away, clasping her hands. "It went well. Vilkas took a bad turn and nearly led us off a cliff, but we turned out okay."

"That wasn't my fault," Vilkas retorted from across the room. "You had the map."

Farkas shrugged. "You were the one who gave me the map. So it was your fault."

"Enough, you two," Ylva intervened. "Let's all get some sleep. We need it."

Farkas and Tyra stayed where they were as Ylva and Vilkas went downstairs to their shared room. Tyra knew that Farkas was very attached to her, even after years of marriage, and so being away from her was difficult for him.

"How are the children?" Farkas asked.

"They were... surprisingly easy to get to bed."

Farkas' brows shot up. "Really? You usually complain about how they whine when you tell them to get to bed."

"I tried a new tactic today. It seemed to work."

"Did you tell them a bedtime story?"

Tyra gaped in amazement. It wasn't every day that Farkas made intuitive conjectures. "Yes, I did. How did you know?"

Farkas smiled, taking her by the hand and beginning to lead her downstairs. "Easy. That's what I do to get them to sleep."

"Really? What story do you usually tell them?"

Farkas shrugged. "Well, they like hearing about how Vilkas and I grew up, but their favorite story is the one about how we met."

Tyra nearly stumbled. "That's funny."

"What?"

She smiled. "That's the story I just told them."