Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Arrow, Bequeath my Heart ❯ Chapter 13

Helping her brother and parents move their belongings to the nearby wagon heading out of Winterhold was surreal to Sara-Li. Her items were remaining untouched and fixed in the room that Thunderhawk had lent out to her parents out of generosity. So this is it, she thought with a lidding of her eyes as she looked out at the room that was growing emptier by the moment. They truly are going back without me… To stay in Winterhold was what she wanted more than anything, but the loss of her parents and brother was already making her heart squeeze with sorrow. She would have gladly gone with them, but something inside of her demanded that she stay within Winterhold.

Her fingertips slowly pulling from the wooden frame of the door, she sighed and made her way back outside to find her father working on hauling the last few things they would need into the carriage. Her hands folded before her gown, she walked forwards with a heavy heart. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked her brother, Cyrus, who was standing there and overlooking the movement of their belongings as Thunderhawk had sent some of his guards to help them.

Cyrus greeted his sister with a smile that was brief as he was doing his best to hide the pain of the idea that he would be leaving his youngest and only sibling behind. “I think we have everything in order, sister.”

Sara-Li looked away. She wanted to say something witty to break the tension, but she was lacking words as they got jumbled in her throat. Completely unaware that tears were crawling down her cheeks, her brother's hands touching her own were enough to make her realize how sad she was—yet, she still unable to find the courage to look him in the eyes. Her forehead touching his, she found gazing at the ground easier at that moment.

“Are you sure you don't want to come home with us?” Cyrus asked once more as he squeezed her hands tightly.

Sara-Li was quick to answer, oddly enough, as the word `no' swiftly exited her lips. “No…I…I know it will be hard without you or mom and dad here, but I just feel this is right for me…”

“We will miss you,” whispered her brother in return as he kissed her on her head before hugging her tightly.

Thunderhawk had been driven away from Winterhold earlier in the morning to tend to a situation further from his home, but found himself returning just in time to see Devon and his family packed up and about to leave. As he steadied his steed, Silverstar, he looked about the area to find Sara-Li nowhere in sight.

“I see packing and everything went well?” Thunderhawk questioned as he continued to gaze about the courtyard of the college, still finding no sign of the periwinkle furred female anywhere.

“Aye, that it did, and I have you and your guards to thank for that,” responded Devon as he noticed the guardian looking about curiously. “Stop your searching, your Highness. Sara-Li went off to town to wait for us to pass through and see us off one last time before we depart for good.” He was trying to ignore the gentle sobs of his wife as well as the desire to cry himself over leaving his daughter behind, but it was hard. “All I ask is that you take good care of my little girl. If I find out something has befallen her, I will not be afraid to come back here and throw a punch or two at you.”

While Thunderhawk could tell he was joking, per usual, he saw and heard the seriousness all the same. “I promise. I won't let a thing happen to her.”

Devon struggled to find the right words as he heard the driver insist that they would be heading out soon. “I thank you, my Lord, for everything you've done for me and my family all these years. My son wouldn't have lived as long as he had without your kindness and the guidance that you gave my daughter.”

There was only one thing that the guardian had to say to Devon, it seemed, and that was to correct him in his name: “`Thunderhawk'.”

Managing to laugh at being corrected for the hundredth time on the jarl's name, he shook his head. “You would say that,” he scoffed with a playful narrowing of his eyes.

Thunderhawk merely bowed his head. “Because you should know by now. But, all the same, my friend, you and your family are welcome.” Before he could hope to say more, the carriage rider smacked the reins on the horse pulling the wagon, and it slowly started to move. Making Silverstar walk beside it a bit, he continued: “If you ever need a place to stay, and you find yourself back in Skyrim, just let me know.” Stopping his horse as the wagon began to catch speed, he yelled over the winds, “Safe journey to you all!”

All Devon could do was wave back. Making his way to the back of the wagon where his wife and son were, he did his best to be cheerful. “She promised she would at least be at the entrance of Winterhold. At least we can see her once more.”

Jade-Li shook her head as she blew her nose and tried to dry her eyes as she had been all day. “She better write me every day!” she said as her throat burned from her sorrowful words.

As the wagon was making its way to the exit of the Winterhold, Sara-Li slowly pulled from where she was waiting there near one of the broken lampposts just near the entrance of the town. Resting against it with a somber wave to her family, she did her best to be upbeat and attempted to smile through her tears. I will see them again…I know I will, as the Goddess cannot be that unkind, Sara-Li thought to herself as she watched the wagon slowly disappear out of sight.

With her family gone, she sighed and rubbed her upper arms as the chill began to set in a bit. She had slightly adjusted to her time at Winterhold and her fur had grown a bit thicker since then to accommodate the different climate. However, it would seem focusing on the temperature was the only thing to take her mind off of the pain that her family was going back to Morrowind without her. I just need a moment alone, perhaps, she sniffled as she wiped her tears from her face, as they were beginning to sting.

Thunderhawk waited patiently for Sara-Li to return back to the college, but he found himself waiting for several hours to the point that he ventured from the stronghold out of worry. “Sara?” He called out through the chilly winds of Skyrim, gazing about the courtyard to find not a trace of her. I don't wish to leave her be, as such sadness should at least be checked upon, thought the elder as he continued his search.

He was just about to give up his search when he saw someone lying in the snow near the bushes just out of sight. “Sara…?” he pondered, sounding a bit worried, but as he approached the body, he saw that the female was merely lying there gazing up at the sky as the snow continued to speckle her dress, colored in different hues of green as well as caress her gentle features. Staring upon her then, he felt his chest tighten and he inhaled slowly.

Her legs slightly crossed and one hand near her forehead to adjust the rays of the sun while the other rest across her belly, Thunderhawk found himself admiring more than just gazing. He felt a rush as he saw that her dress parted slightly near her knees to show a part of a woman he wasn't used to seeing unless more intimate with her, and that was her bare legs. His stomach doing flip flops, he tried to speak to her, but the words got caught in his throat.

Realizing that there was a shadow casting upon her and feeling someone's gaze, Sara-Li snapped from her concentration and looked over at Thunderhawk slowly. “Oh,” she said gently, as she pushed herself up from where she was resting. “I didn't know you were there, my Lord.”

Thunderhawk's mind had shut down for a period, and he hadn't heard her words clearly. They were a mumbled mess. He hadn't even realized he was looking directly at her breast at that moment since the movement caught his eyes.

“…hawk…?... Thunderhawk…!” Sara-Li finally called with a curious tilt of her head.

“H-Hu…!” Snapping back to himself, he blushed feverishly as he realized what he had been doing. “S-Sara-Li…! F-Forgive me, I—!” He paused and rubbed between his eyes.

“Oh my—your nose is bleeding, sire!” Sara-Li pointed out, as she tried to push herself to her feet now to aid him.

“I-What?” Touching his nose, he realized she was right. Dammit! He mentally swore, as he was quick to try and wipe away the blood. “It's just a nosebleed…nothing else!”

“Here, let me help you at least,” Sara-Li insisted as she reached for his nose to try and dab away the blood with a handkerchief she kept with her.

“N-No, no, no—I'm fine! I promise!” He blushed even harder when Sara-Li got too close and touched his nose all the same. The elder felt as though he were a young boy falling all over himself again when it came to his first love many centuries ago. The feeling was so foreign, and yet, welcomed.

“Stop being a baby,” teased the young maiden as she stuck her tongue out at him, as she wanted to go back to being happy once more. “See? There now. That wasn't so bad, was it?” Folding up the handkerchief, she sighed softly to relax the pain that was still there in her body. “I can wash that later.”

He continued to touch his nose to be sure that nothing else would happen before addressing her. “I thank you, Sara-Li, but what were you doing out here in the cold?”

She shook her head with a weak smile. “I just needed a moment alone was all. The last thing I wanted to do was go back to that empty room, so, I just stayed out here.”

“You'll catch a deathly cold if you do so,” he warned, regaining his composure somewhat as he furrowed his brow in worry. “I know your body is adjusting, but you need to remember you're not a winter echidna, so your fur isn't as thick.”

Sara-Li merely smiled once more for a brief moment. “I know…”

He could see the pain easily in her eyes, and, even if she would wish it so, being alone probably wasn't best for her. “Why don't you come back to my room with me…?” When Sara-Li gave him a funny look, he thought he had said the wrong thing. “I just know going back to your room will be a bit lonely was all I meant!” Said the guardian in a quick way to defend himself.

“Perhaps,” said Sara-Li simply as she brought her finger to her lips to ponder on what to do. She desired to be alone, as she didn't want her emotions of depression to flood all over her teacher—the man she admired and adored since she was little. Gathering up her courage in one big sigh, which she let out through her nostrils, she forced another smile and nodded to him. “Alright. I will come with you.”

Thunderhawk felt relief as he reached for her to put his hand on her back and guide her back to the college. If anything, he felt her being out of the cold was a start.

Upon her getting situated and warm near the fire in his room, Thunderhawk had sent one of his guards to talk to the chef about a hot tea for them both. “Normally I would make the tea for us, but that old bear will slap me harder with that ladle than a dragon could with its tail,” he teased as he joined Sara-Li near the fire.

Sara-Li was still at a loss for words, and he could tell it was hard for her to even think of speaking of anything funny or joyful. He was lucky he even got a teasing comment out of her earlier.

“It'll get easier, Sara-Li,” insisted Thunderhawk gently as he reached across the table hesitantly to hold her hand.

Her eyes widening slightly to his touch, she looked down at his fingers and felt her stomach knot up with a feeling she was becoming rather used to whenever she was around the elder of Winterhold. She hesitated for a moment, but shortly after her hesitation, she turned her hand a bit and curled her fingers to gently grip his hand. Sara-Li was blushing so hotly that she was praying her periwinkle hair was covering it. “I thank you.” Her words were broken and heavy with her emotions, but she was honest in her feelings.

The same emotions of love and excitement washed over Thunderhawk, but given the situation, he was able to wait for them to ebb away slowly since the woman he was adoring was in pain. “I am…here for you, should you ever need me.” He was hoping his words weren't coming out as awkward as he felt they were, but the thought was pushed aside when Sara-Li brought her other hand to her mouth and began to sob against her palm.

Wrinkling his brow in worry, he got up from where he sat across the table and hurried to her to hug her in a comforting way. “Shhh,” he shushed as he cradled her head near his chest. “If you ever desire to return home, I can aid you in that…” Thunderhawk wanted to be selfish and keep her there in Winterhold, but to see her so hurt was more than he could stand.

“Neither…neither choice would be easy for me…my Lord…” Sara-Li hiccupped through her sadness as she rest her head against his chest to hide her embarrassment in letting her sadness show.

“Remember that I will be here for you—always,” whispered the guardian.

When the tea had arrived, Sara-Li had managed to talk to the jarl of Winterhold about other things to distract her mind. “You don't still have that frost dragon burn on your back do you? Admittedly, I never got to see the damage there,” she said, as she was talking of the time Thunderhawk had saved her from the attack when she was a child.

“Well, the mark is kind of permanent,” he laughed. “I didn't die from the attack, no, but that scar will be there for years to come.”

“How bad was it?” Sara-Li asked, holding the mug close to her as it added warmth to the cold about the college.

“I am pretty sure you saw it before when you were a child,” he smirked as he took a sip of his drink.

“I was a child!” she emphasized. “I don't remember it that well!”

He sighed with a roll of his eyes. Placing his tea to the side, he grabbed onto his shirt and pulled it up and over his head so she could get a better look regardless of how nervous it made him now. “There? You see it?” Thunderhawk asked as he showed her the massive burn mark on his back that had even parts of his fur missing from where the skin was too badly damaged to grow anything there.

“Gracious…it's a lot worse than I remember,” Sara-Li said, as she reached to touch the uneven skin that was exposed.

“Thanks!” Thunderhawk said sarcastically with a laugh until he felt her palm touch his back. “In the end, what matters most is that you lived.”

She blushed a bit at his words. “You hold my life in such high regard…I wish Troy would do so at times.”

Hearing her mention Troy, Thunderhawk put his shirt back into place as he was painfully reminded that those two were seeing one another. “Oh? What is wrong with him, if you don't mind my asking?”

Sara-Li sighed as she placed her palm upon her cheek. She couldn't mention the fact that Troy nearly raped her, and she knew Baltheer never spoke a word of it to anybody, so she dared not say it now. “It's nothing, Thunderhawk. Lately, he just acts like…it feels more like it's lust than love…like he wants me for one thing only, you know what I mean?”

“Sad to say I do. There are women who try to romance me, but they only want my power and the title I can give them more than anything.” His fingers drummed upon the table as he fondled his beard in thought. She's far too young for you. Thunderhawk reminded himself as he looked back at her and debated what to say with the idea of love in the air. Stop it! Just drop it! Let them work it out themselves! Don't interfere!

“I am sorry that women treat you so unfairly,” said Sara-Li, breaking Thunderhawk from his train of thought. Her fingers fondled the mug before her a bit before she felt like burying her muzzle into the tea to hide her embarrassment on talking about such a subject. “You deserve better.”

“Don't think you deserve any less, Sara-Li,” said Thunderhawk in a sweet manner. “If you feel the relationship with Troy isn't going anywhere, why don't you tell him?”

The thought of speaking with Troy again alone made her fur prickle, but she forced an uneasy smile all the same. “I will speak with him, but…maybe I should try and see if he'll change for me a bit? If not then, maybe I am not meant for him and vise versa?”

He swallowed his emotions and forced them back into the pit of his stomach before nodding at the suggestion. “Sounds best to me.”

Sara-Li gazed at the nearby sundial and noted the time. “He will be at work most of the day. I told him earlier I just wasn't in the mood to spend time with anybody, so I hope he doesn't think me biased when or if he finds out I am with you.”

“I won't tell a soul,” Thunderhawk whispered between them as he leaned across the table only slightly, so she could hear his words better.

Finishing the last of her tea, she smiled to him. “I thank you. For now, I think a nap might be lovely.”

Her words were heavy, and he could tell she was still grieving and depressed just in how she spoke. “Take my bed,” Thunderhawk said as he finished his own drink shortly after her. “I won't be using it till later anyways.” Getting up from where he was sitting, he reached over to take her mug as well.

“Thanks again for your kindness, Thunderhawk. It means the world to me,” Sara-Li said weakly as she pushed herself from the chair and made her way behind the curved wall to where his bed hid out of sight.

I promised I would be here for you, and I won't fail to live up to it, thought Thunderhawk as he removed himself from the table to take care of the dishes they had.

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As the months went on, Sara-Li gradually pulled from her depression and was able to venture back to the room she once shared with her family. She had taken time to talk to Troy more and more out in the public eye so that there would be something there to keep him in check in case he unleashed upon her again. While he was still as pampas as ever, Sara-Li learned to ignore the quirks he carried and try to take him as he was. When she got a bit bolder, she started to invite him to her bedroom now and again to talk in private.

Thunderhawk would watch their interactions from his window and seeing them disappear out of sight to her room made his heart nearly break bit by bit. Sighing to himself, he shook his head. “I've got to get her out of my head…” he said as he rubbed his face. “She isn't mine to love…”

He had to do something. The more he sat and thought about it, the more he felt his bitterness and anger nearly drive him to madness. Hearing a knock at the door, he turned his head slightly over his shoulder. “Enter!” Thunderhawk demanded more than welcomed.

Opening the door slowly, Floral-Ca blinked at the aggression that she heard from the jarl. “Forgive me if this is a bad time, but I heard you desired something from me…?”

“Accept my apologizes,” he sighed as he pulled himself from the windowsill to make his way to her. “I am such a stranger for these sort of requests, but could you bring Lily-An to me? I know she was in town, but I require her presence here…immediately if possible…”

She was confused as to why he would require his servant so direly, but instead of asking, she merely bowed and said, “Yes, my Lord.”

He never had the idea set in mind to just sleep with a servant in order to get out his inner desires, and the idea made his palms sweat, but he knew if he continued to watch Troy and Sara-Li from his window, he would go mad. Just waiting seconds after Floral-Ca had left his chambers, he felt as though he would get sick from the anxieties.

As he worked on trying to occupy his mind some other way, Lily-An would arrive sometime later with a knock at the door. “You needed to see me, my Lord?” asked the timid woman as she peeked inside.

“Yes.” Thunderhawk struggled to speak his mind as he turned to her and nodded at her attire. “Remove…,” he swallowed harshly, “…Remove your clothing, please.”

Lily-An could tell in his words that he was nervous, and she herself felt her heart nearly stop from what he had just asked. “O-Oh…Y-Yes, of course…” While the idea made her blush, she worked on slowly untying her corset, allowing her breast to fall where they would before the rest of her off-white attire followed. Her clothes just a pile about her feet, she slowly stepped out from the center to stand there in nothing but her fur. She wrapped her arms about her chest as Lily-An couldn't find the courage to look at her jarl as he was there seeing her completely from head to toe. “Does it please you?”

Thunderhawk wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't a bad looking woman, no, but his mind kept drifting back to Sara-Li. He didn't answer her. Reaching for Lily-An, he kissed her aggressively and felt his body react to the idea of another woman so close to him. “Come to my bed, and keep me warm,” he demanded, as his kissing lead down to her neck where he began to bite upon her fur gently, but in a dominate manner.

The feel of his breath upon her lips and of his teeth teasing her flesh and fur made her gasp in excitement. “Y-Yes, my Lord…!” she moaned as she followed him to his bed where she lies upon the covers in a submissive way to let him know that she was ready to accept him. Her heart was pounding so loudly that he could no doubt hear it, but her mind went blank as the jarl came upon her once more to barrage her with kisses of lust.

No matter how he fondled her, and no matter how he kissed her and held her, Lily-An couldn't distract his mind from where it continued to wander. He was finding it difficult to even get into the mood, and after a moment, he just rolled over onto his back with a sigh of disgust at himself.

“S-Sire…?” Lily-An asked breathless as she reached for his shoulder. “D-Did I do something wrong…?” She was a bit worried she may have displeased the jarl in some way.

“No,” he sighed as he rested the back of his hand on his forehead. “It is me. I am a fool to think I can disguise the way I feel like this, and I apologize for my behavior, Lily-An.” There was silence, and he could feel it growing more intense by the moment as he gestured towards the door. “P-Please leave…”

Without another word, the weight on the bed lightened, and Lily-An quickly took her leave after grabbing up her clothing and putting it on out of sight.

What am I doing? Thunderhawk asked himself as he covered his face with his hands for a moment. I need to distract myself from her someway, somehow…