[Alina’s POV]

  I don’t remember Auntie looking like this.

  He face was stiff and her expressions were shaken.

  What in the world……

  I never have seen this strong woman like that. She was either furious like an angry beast or silly like doting parent.

  I saw all her expressions, all her emotions, all her rage, and all her happiness. But she was never shaken.

  She was the most amazing person I ever knew when I was a child.

  Time stopped in my head and I remembered old memories. Some of the best memories and the saddest memories I ever had.

  My mother died when I was young. I was so young that I can’t even remember her face anymore. They said she was so beautiful and everyone loved her. But since the time I was born, she became sick and weak.

  When she died I became the young mistress of the house. I don’t remember much since then but I was never liked by the clan that much. Something about my eyes made them wary. The eyes of Masser, different from the eyes of Secunda that all my clan has.

  When I reached the age of five, the Firemane Clan sent people to request the aid of our clan for apprehending a member of theirs that went rogue!

  My father refused to send the men yet he carried his swords alone and went down the mountain. He said he alone was enough.

  After a week! He returned with a strange woman that was covered in blood. He told the Firemane steward to return as the woman would stay with us until her matter is over.

  Since that day, I’ve got to know that woman as Hilda. She was a large woman taller than any man in our clan. She lived in the castle with us and never appeared too much.

  One thing we had in common, everyone was afraid of us!

  She never talked and glared at people all the time, but she didn’t glare at me. Since that time, we started to get to know each other.

  I brought my dolls and started playing in her room, in time she started to get close to me too. Months passed and I was always with her, I slept in her room and ate with her. During that time I got learn her story.

  She had a child. A son she named Jonhild. A son that everyone in the world wanted to see him dead.

  In order for him to live. She had to give him to someone else in a far away place so he can grow up in peace. Her father, the one I knew later as Grandpa Turmond Firemane, forbade her from going to see him. He also didn’t want anyone to find him.

  Auntie Hilda always cried when she was alone so I stayed with her most of the time. I didn’t want to see her crying anymore.

  By the time I became seven, my father started teaching me the sword art of our clan, I was praised in every swing I made. Auntie Hilda also trained me many times.

  When I became ten years old, Auntie said that her son has also become ten. She cried bitterly that I couldn’t stop her anymore.

  All I could do is help her escape from our clan to go see her son.

  The clan caught me as I really didn’t put up much resistance. They tried to ask me about her whereabouts many times but I never said anything.

  They gave up as they seemed to have understood what was going on.

  A month passed and Auntie came back once again. She has changed a lot.

  She was smiling all the time since then. She said that she could see her son. He was very smart and had a very unique personality.

  She said many things that time but everything about Auntie changed. She became a very happy person.

  Grandpa decided that it is of no use to keep her anymore. She won’t go on a revenge spree once again judging by how she changed.

  Auntie started doting me mercilessly ever since and sometimes it turned scary. She also took me outside the clan many times and showed me the glade where here clan lives, the sea in the north, her ship, the animals she raises, the hot springs in Eastmarsh. She showed me the world I never knew. I got to have many friends since then and the world became so much easier to live in, I even started to get along with even my stupid clan.

  All these memories went through my head in a few seconds. During these few seconds, Auntie was beside me no more.

  She was there, hugging that young man who just came.

  Just like her, he was tall and strong. Just like her, he had that red fiery hair and gleaming blue eyes.

  I heard her crying something just a second ago.

  She was saying…… "Jonhild!"

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  [Jon’s POV]

  Almost six years have passed and that woman never changed.

  She has no control over her strength!

  She cried my name and hugged me so fast that I couldn’t even have the time to dodge.

  Well, I wouldn’t have dodged her anyway!

  She was…… she was crying!

  "I missed you, Jonhild! Mother missed you so much!"

  Yeah! I missed you too.

  I didn’t say that but I hugged her back.

  By the time she let go, I could see no one in the room. They all must have left.

  "You have grown a lot, Jonhild." She said.

  "Well, thanks to a certain annoying bloodline, I had to give all of my clothes away."

  "Pffft hahaha! Well, we all did that at some point!"

  "Ahaha! You haven’t changed at all!" I said as I looked at her. She was the same as I remembered her.

  "Hehe! The perks of being Firemane, we grow up as slow as elves!"

  "Seriously?"

  "Yeah!"

  "Damn! I should prepare for a slow life from now on!"

  Hilda and I started laughing mindlessly.

  "Come, let’s sit!" She pulled me over and sat on the sofa.

  She was smiling brightly and warmly. My heart was being healed from seeing her smile. Rays of sunlight came from the window behind the sofa and added more warmth on this cold day.

  Hilda was a beauty! I could only be thankful to her for giving me the genes to be this devilishly handsome.

  Her red curly hair and shining blue eyes were just the starts of our similarities. My hair was one degree darker and straight but it was nothing to consider different when we compare the rest of the features! Even our height was almost similar.

  "How long has it been?" She wondered.

  "Five years, eight months and fourteen days." I said.

  "Woah! Someone was counting the days!" She said with a smile.

  "Well, can’t blame me for being awesome!"

  "Hehe! Still the arrogant brat!"

  I kept looking at her bright smile until she spoke again.

  "Now tell me, during those five years, eight months and fourteen days, how was your life?"

  "Hmmm! Let’s start from the day you left……"

  ***

  Time passed.

  And more time passed.

  It was already sunset!

  "Oh boy! That was the longest catching up I ever had!" Hilda said as she stretched her arms left and right.

  "We still haven’t heard your turn!" I said.

  "Come on! There is plenty of time, and I am hungry!"

  "Yep! I am hungry too."

  "Where have they gone?"

  "No idea!"

  "Nurina took the wine barrel with her!"

  "You brought Nurina a wine barrel?" I said as I felt a sudden headache in my head.

  "Sorry about that!" She seemed to know what she has done.

  Good grief!

  "Let’s go look for them."

  Hilda and I went out of Nurina’s room and I locked it.

  We took the stairs to Faralda’s room but no one was there, Laaneth didn’t know where they are either.

  That only left one place possible.

  "Let’s go to my house!" I said.

  "Fufu! My son has his own house now."

  "Well, if Nurina has a barrel of wine and took it to my house…… well, at least the basement may survive."

  We headed out of the College and reached the town. On the stone bridge of the College, I saw the Firemane ship in the sea.

  "That’s one huge ship!"

  "Hehe! That’s my ship, the ’Guilty Crown’! It used to be the flagship of the ’Blood Fleet’."

  "The Blood Fleet? The fleet of the Bloodsail Clan!"

  "Hehe! Ten years ago, I infiltrated their clan, freed a lot of prisoners and workers from enslavement, beheaded their patriarch, and stole the ship. The Bloodsails never dared to sail far away from their port ever since that day. All they could do is to use other names like the ’Blood Horkers’ or whatever to avoid me now!"

  Daaaamn!

  Well! I guess that was one angry Hilda back then.

  "You are not causing a ruckus anymore, right?"

  "Nah! I was stopped by a childhood friend of mine. It was not my finest moment but it was the time when friends act to save each other’s hide."

  We kept talking until we reached the town. There were a lot of people gathered around some place.

  "What is going on there?" Hilda asked.

  "Oh! That’s the notice board. It must be the announcement!"

  "Announcement?"

  "Come! You will like that one!"

  I walked to the crowd which moved to the left and right once they saw me.

  "Hmm!" Hilda hummed as she started reading the announcement!

  ____________________________

  It is with a great pleasure that we announce, to the good people of Winterhold, the establishment of the ’Dare Dragon Company’ under the management of Thane Jon Dare, Thane of Winterhold.

  The company has taken the permission to invest in all the public resources around the Hold.

  The company opens the door for a lot of major Departments that will work day and night for the prosperity and the protection of Winterhold and all its people. The Major Department are; Construction, Real-Estate, Security, Exploring, Industry, Trading, Transportation, Investment, Insurance, and Entertainment departments alongside other minor service departments.

  Another series of recruitment announcements and requests will be announced on a later date-

  Jon Dare (Chief Executive Officer)-

  Wulfur (Industrial Department)-

  Ongeim (Transportation Department)-

  Elishka (Financial Department)-

  Trudvar (Security Department)-

  Mjoll (Exploration Department)

  ____________________________

  "……" Hilda was speechless.

  "Do you like what you see?" I asked.

  To tell the truth, I was showing off what I have done.

  "There a lot of complicated words but it is no wonder that the Bloodsails were afraid of you!" She said.

  "Hehe! You liked my gift last night?"

  "Fufu! You rascal! You really made a score on them. They won’t forgive you even though you managed to pin the death of their son on us."

  "Well, from this day onward, I would love to see them doing something about it!"

  "Are you prepared for them?"

  "Heh heh! I have a plan in motion, it would take time but they also need a lot of time to recover. The Hold is now completely mine."

  "Winterhold is mostly a wasteland, you know. You sure you can find anything useful?"

  "Fufu! You have no idea, Hilda! You have no idea!"