Dreaming through the noise.

“Septim for your thoughts,” Ulfric said.

“I haven’t seen my children in weeks.” She’d kept the thought at bay, but being around Mira and her new family had brought back the heavy feeling in the pit of her belly. That feeling that she was not doing right by them, the little children that had come suddenly into her life, borne on the winds of a storm, the tide of blood spilled in war.

“How old are they?”

“Three and six.”

“Young.”

“Young enough that the grief of losing their parents still makes them cry every time I leave them. Young enough to not understand why I must be gone so often. I’m not sure I understand it myself… Especially now. Alduin is gone. The Empire is out. The war is done. We’re at peace. Or as much as we ever can be.”

“And why must you be away so often?” Ulfric asked, drinking from a water skin before offering it to her.

“My duties to the College, mainly, at this point.”

“I imagine you won’t want to step down from your position as Archmage,” he said and she nodded. “Is delegation not an option?”

“That’s my next step. Mirabelle and the others aren’t keen on an Archmage who isn’t often in residence, but I’m working on them. Now that the war is over, post travels far faster and, well, let’s just say, as mages there are other ways of getting messages to each other that we should be working on.”

A slight smile curled Ulfric’s mouth, faded away as he looked into the fire. “Windhelm is quite a lot closer to Winterhold than Solitude.” He burst out laughing as she stared at him. “Spare me the dragon’s glare, please. I only mean, there’s a house for sale in the city. It’s a good house. Plenty of room for the little ones. You’d have Wuunferth close by for discussions of spells, potions, hexes. And you can make the trek to Winterhold in under three days.“

She opened her mouth, shut it just as fast as he gave her the same steely look from that morning. “Would you say no, just because I offered the idea? I want you close, it’s true. I’ve made that desire known and if the conversation we had at your College is any sign, I would think we were getting somewhere with that. But this is not just about me or what we might have. Would you not make life easier on yourself and those children just because it means living in my city? I know you’re stubborn, Dragonborn, but there comes a time when stubbornness becomes spite.”