"Thank you for coming, Patriarch Sigurd." Tormund Firemane spoke in an intimate tone to the man sitting next to him.
"Uncle Tormund, talking to me like that makes me embarrassed. Please, don't mind the titles, we are all one family here." The man spoke in a polite tone.
"Fufu! Sigurd, you are one of the most influential men in Skyrim now, earn your title." Jenna Firemane was also talking intimately to the man.
"Auntie Jenna, I am earning it every day, I just came here to spend time like the old days." He spoke to her with a smile.
The man who was setting with Tormund and Jenna Firemane was a tall man with a jet black long hair and light grey eyes wearing a white robe and carrying two swords on one side. Those who look at him would see a calm man of culture and someone that would give a strong aura that makes the others respect him despite how young he looked like.
"Old Sigurd, you haven't grown white hair yet?" A hand was put on his shoulder and the man looked behind him with a smile.
"Old Jonrad, I would never grow white hair before you do."
"You two won't stop arguing about that." Another person joined the conversation.
"Hilda, tell him to give up on it already, the title of the 'Most Handsome Man' in the clans already belongs to me." Sigurd said while laughing quietly.
"That's only because half of them wants me dead and the other half thinks I am dead. If it was the old days you wouldn't have ran your mouth like that." Jonrad found a seat beside Sigurd.
"I say there is a new rising star that will take the light from you two old geezers." Hilda said as she joined in. Her eyes were looking at a young man on the other end of the hall.
"Oh! Now, I am excited." Sigurd said with a smile.
"Tch! The kid is just talking big." Jonrad was looking in the same direction as Hilda. Sigurd's light grey eyes also followed.
"So that's Jonhild." He said.
While observing Jon who was eating in the hall with the other boys, Sigurd's light grey eye pupils started to change from normal round pupils to vertical slit pupils.
"Hmmm! I see." Sigurd muttered to himself silently and changed the topic.
"I received a report about the current situation of the Bloodsails, should I order the men to secure the coastline between Dawnstar and Winterhold?" Sigurd spoke to Tormund.
"Let's leave that to the Dare Dragon Company, you can help with the areas near Dawnstar as the coastline will be too large for their small fleet." Tormund replied.
"Speaking of their fleet, I heard that my cute daughter was on that rumored fire-breathing ship." Sigurd spoke with interest.
"Yes... to tell the truth, I still can't believe the stories. Even after some snooping around to not upset the kid, we heard that this 'Roaring Flame' is something akin to the god of the sea by now. Even the Imperial Fleet is sending spies to investigate it." Tormund said.
"... Will it be alright? The kid may cause himself to be investigated thoroughly."
"I am sure he is under the eyes of many forces for a long time now. A new player like him that no one knows how what cards he can play will cause the scene to change. But it seemed he is prepared for that too."
"Interesting! I was getting bored with all that fake peace anyway."
"Peace, huh? Speaking of that, did you receive a message?"
"A message? Aye, I got one. Will the Dare Dragon Company receive one too?"
"I am sure they will. Ulfric Stormcloak is not going to give up easily after all what he has done, even the Empire is not pleased with him anymore. This fight will start one way or the other."
"Let's just hope it ends well."
"Yeah! Let's hope that. But I guess we have kept the kids waiting long enough. Let's go!"
The Elders of the Firemanes and Sigurd Moonblade stood up on Tormund's words. Today's matter was about to begin.
On the other side of the hall, Jon was sitting with the Firemanes younger generation listening to Zend and Gunmar sons of Njord who were in their twenties, these two kept explaining to the young ones how they gained the recognition of the Hawk and the Bear each.
"We are about to begin." Hafthor pointed at the Elders who stood up.
Jon who was in deep thoughts about the report he received this morning from Winterhold was a bit not focusing. He stood with a sigh and joined the others.
"Listen up, kids! You eight will be treated as adults from now so better do it with bravery. Whatever stories you heard about the challenge just forget them. The test is easy, the boys could finish it with ease in my days. So man up and don't worry. Which one of you will go first?" Tormund made a spicy speech to encourage the participating eight.
These eight were Jonhild, Frejya, Vladimir, Hafthor, Veka, Vilkar, Bjorna, Ragnar. There was also Alina but her challenge will be different than that of the Firemanes.
"I'll go first!" Surprisingly, it was her who wanted to go first.
The elders looked at each other and nodded.
Jenna stepped forward and Sigurd followed her. Alina walked to them and handed her flask of 'Ice Wraith Essence' to Jenna who took it and walked to the side. There was a table and some tools were on it. Jenna started to mix a potion with the essence and another flask of blue liquid.
Jon focused on that blue liquid be he couldn't identify it.
"What is that?" He asked the ones around him.
"Bitter Frost." Frejya replied.
"Poison?" Jon has heard of Bitter Frost, one of the few things that can make a Nord suffer a frozen death.
"Yes, mother told me that they drink the poison and the antidote together. Once they poison start showing its effect, they will start seeing visions of frost and snakes then they will have to duel someone to get pressured and forcibly activate their bloodline ability."
Frejya's explanation made Jon raise his brows. Looks like it is as extreme as Alina said it would be.
Alina who stood in the middle of the hall was facing Sigurd.
"Ready, girl?"
"Yes, father." She spoke with respect.
Jon had his suspicions about the man who looked like the Moonblades and thought he is someone important, and that was the Patriarch himself and Alina's father, Sigurd Moonblade.
Legends were said about that man that stopped Hilda who went on a blood rage for five years, and he battled and slew three patriarchs of the hidden clans alone sixteen years ago during the unification of the clans against the Firemanes. He is also a known friend to the King of Ash Jonrad Firemane and together, they fended against a Thalmor execution team and put it down during a daring move the Thalmor attempted to take in Eastern Skyrim.
It seems this gathering will be fun from Jon's point of view.
"Can we have some able young ones to help us, please." Sigurd Moonblade asked for some assistance.
It seemed that the young men around were well aware of what kind of help he asked for. Hafthor told Jon to follow and handed him a shield. The shield has one and a half meter tall with two snake eyes printed on it.
The shields seemed to be a lot, most of the boys and girls were carrying one and made a large circle around Alina and Sigurd. they then put the shields forward and made a fighting ring with them.
Sigurd walked around to check the shields and hit on every shield with his bare hand. Most of the shield bearers would retreat back a step from the hit. Once he hit the shield held by Wulfur, Wulfur didn't budge one bit.
"Oh! Good shield." Sigurd commented and continued checking. The same happened with Vilkar and Hafthor. He then arrived at Jon's.
Sigurd smiled widely and all of a sudden, his Aura surged up. One could see a silver hue covering the man. Instead of hitting Jon's shield nonchalantly, he punched with some strength.
Jon noticed what was about to hit his shield and activated 'Energize' with his Aura that gave a green hue. He wasn't late when the punch arrived.
*boom*
A booming sound came out when the fist smashed into the shield. Jon felt the heaviness of the punch and clenched on his teeth.
'This old man!'
He tried to inner-cast a force controlling spell and he didn't fail completely. He then channeled all the force he couldn't handle through his arm and moved it to the other arm then released it with a palm attack to the back of the shield.
All this happened in an instant.
"Fufu! This kid doesn't show the elders any face at all." Sigurd was taken aback from the attack that got reflected at him and blocked it with ease.
"... Ouch!" Jon said after a short pause as if he gave Sigurd some face.
Sigurd sighed and shook his head, he knew this meant that another troublemaker is entering the scene with an attitude on top of that.
From Alina's point of view, this clash was a disaster that Jon avoided with a style. She smiled outwardly but was crying in her heart.
Her father kept going around to check the safety of the ring until he got handed a flask by Jenna.
He took it and went to Alina.
"Here you go, kid. Cheers!"
'For a father to say that to his daughter while giving her a flask of poison to drink! It seems my attitude is not that uncommon.' Jon was snorting.
Alina took the flask under her veil and closed her eye for a second and took all that's in the flask on one go.
Sigurd nodded in approval and unsheathed his twin moon sabers. Alina retreated back a few steps and threw the flask out of the ring and took her twin moon sabers too. This will be a duel between father and daughter that they had many times before.
Sigurd eyes changed from the natural shape to the vertical slit shape once again, it was the first time for Jon to see this change.
He heard about the changes in the eyes of the adult Moonblade clan members when it changes into this serpent-like eyes. The clan had an Akaviri origin that goes back to the First Akaviri Invasion. Some of the powers that the Moonblade Clan members have are normally associated with a strong poison immunity and strange eyesight.
Alina whose eyes were a unique case among her clan as those eyes only appeared in the history of the clan a few times and each time it was a sign of a great change. It was also said that the power of the red eyes are unique to themselves and it was proven that Alina's eyes were the source of her Mysticism talent.
The reason why Alina's challenge was being held her and not in her clan was a mystery but the elders kept it a secret.
The challenge was about to start Sigurd was just standing there and observing, Alina was standing but the effect of the poison was starting to appear on her. She staggered a bit but she kept her eyes open and swords up. It was the moment to start!
