Work Text:
4th Era, year 202, 14th of Second Seed
If there was one thing that was bothering Ulfric for a while now, it was this, Ava talking briefly about her parents back in Bruma and how she and her sister were raised. Besides how she and her sister were raised, what he also wondered was what ultimately led her to leave Cyrodiil in the first place, but how he was going to talk to her about all this was going to take some time, as in, he had to wait for the right moment to talk to her.
He finally got the right moment to talk to the Imperial Dragonborn when they were at the old Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in Falkreath. The reason why they were there was because Ava wanted to restore it, not for the Dark Brotherhood, but to turn into a hidden home for her to use.
As they were taking a break in the now cleared out kitchen from moving all the dead bodies to a large pile and removing all the miscellaneous objects that were destroyed, Ulfric then said, "Ava, I've been wondering," He started, trying to find the right words as the young woman turned to look at him. "Ever since Heart's Day a few months ago, you briefly talked about your parents, about how your father was a jerk towards you and how manipulative your mother was to you. Exactly what was it like for you back in Bruma and what led you to leaving your old home?" He asked.
Taking a deep breath, Ava started, "It's a long story if your fine with that."
"That's fine." Ulfric said, patiently waiting for Ava to start.
"Where to begin?" Ava questioned herself. "Growing up in Bruma wasn't exactly the best. Well, being in Bruma was fine, it was my family that I didn't care for. To start out, my parents conceived me out of wedlock, which led to them having to get married right away so that I could be born through wedlock, then around a year later, my sister Haily was born. Growing up, at first, I wasn't able to tell we were raised different, but as we were getting older, that was when I noticed how we were treated by our mother.
"While our dad would treat us about the same, granted he was more lenient with Haily, our mom on the other hand treated Haily like she could do no wrong and would always praise her for her accomplishments and brag all over Bruma how beautiful Haily is and how she was blessed by Dibella herself and would always rub into my face about how great my sister is. And when it came to me, my mom would always do whatever she could to bring me down and make me feel bad about myself and for not being like Haily and not even acknowledge my own accomplishments, along with complaining to all of Bruma how ugly I was and how I will never find anyone to love me for my looks, even though I'm the prettier one. And above all, our parents, mainly our mom would always spoil Haily with constant attention, weather she was ill or upset, she would drop everything she was doing to comfort her, and as for me, she ignore me and if I was ill or upset she wouldn't comfort me and would either tell me to 'suck it up' or tell me that I know how to make soup and that I have to make my own."
"And then, when I was eighteen and Haily was seventeen, the Imperial City had a special schooling that only a certain amount of students could attend to learn about battle strategy, which I told my parents I wanted to sign up for, only my parents were against it, saying women don't learn battle strategies. I still went anyway to the Capital, and not only I arrived just in time, I got the last opening and was the only woman that signed up, and lucky for me, I didn't have to pay for anything for the next two years."
Before she could continue, Ulfric interrupted her. "So that's how you planned the battle for Solitude so well."
Thankful for the interruption, Ava then continued, "As for Haily, she was also eighteen when she went to the capital, meaning we got to see each other during my second year there, with her schooling being a type that helps couriers with spreading news all over Cyrodiil, with her writing the latest news which mostly consists of just gossip, with her schooling being two years like mine. Since my schooling was paid for by Empire, since it was sponsored by the Empire, I done mercenary work to help my sister pay for her schooling, and thankfully, she worked as well, and while the both of us payed for half of her schooling, our parents agreed that they will pay for the other half. But when mine was done with, I went back home to Bruma and joined up with the Fighters Guild, with my mom constantly saying how its too dangerous for me to join the Fighters Guild and how easily I could get hurt."
"Was there ever a time all the attention and care was on you over Haily?" Ulfric asked.
Answering him, "Once, about a month after Haily finished her schooling, I was twenty-one and Haily twenty, when during a mission with the Fighters Guild, we were called to take care of a few minators, and when one of them charged at one of my shield-siblings, I took the hit and the horn of the one charging badly cutted my thigh." And thanks to her wearing her favorite armor, the Savior's Hide armor, she showed Ulfric the long scar on her thigh. "One of my shield-siblings went back to Bruma to alert the head priest of St. Martin Chapel about my injury, while the rest of my shield-siblings quickly fixed my wound to keep me from bleeding out, then they carried me back to Bruma. It took me nearly four months for me to fully heal, and during the first month alone, I could barely walk, and during that time, my parents, mainly my mom was doting on me and caring for me, and above all, telling Haily that my health was far more important than her, for that first month that is. Then by the second month, Haily had a miscarriage and she was back to being number one, and by then I could at least hobble over to the Guild where my shield siblings cared for me while Haily was being spoiled like always."
"I wouldn't be surprised that Haily wasn't too thrilled at being pushed to the background for once." Ulfric said, causing Ava to laugh at that.
"The look on her face was the best thing ever." Ava responded.
Then something Ava said had the Nord confused. "You said that you and Haily had to pay for half her schooling. What about the other half, did your parents pay their share of Haily's schooling?"
Ava then started laughing in a sarcastic way, a way that Ulfric knew meant one thing, her parents paid nothing. "My parents, paying for the other half? As if. When I thought they were paying for the other half like they agreed to, our parents would say that they couldn't afford the amount needed, which left me to pay for that share, when in truth, they had plenty to spare, but chose to have me do all the pay instead." Ava said, once she stopped laughing. "And when I found out, I was so furious at them that all three of us were yelling and cussing at each other that in the end, I sold some of their things to pay myself back and took from their secret stashes, when they weren't home of course."
"Was that the main reason that led you to leave Cyrodiil and into Skyrim two years ago?" Ulfric asked, wanting to know the reason for Ava leaving her homeland.
Answering the Nord, "That was a reason, but that I got over once I got even with my parents. As for the reason why I left, it was Haily's wedding, and I was going to be there for her, but when I got to the Chapel, all dressed up with my hair fancy and makeup on, our parents stopped me before I even entered the building. They told me that Haily didn't want me there to 'up-stage' her on her big day and take all the spotlight onto me. Upset, angry, and hurt by what our parents told me that Haily said, I left Bruma, wanting to get away, and unknowingly, I crossed the border into Skyrim, and you can figure out the rest, got caught up in that ambush and taken to Helgen."
Taking it all in, Ulfric said, "Somehow, I can believe your sister saying that and doing that to you."
Laughing again, but in a tone that was humerus this time, "Your not the only one that thinks that."
Eventually, the two started talking about more things that helped them to get to know each other more, not even noticing how much time was passing, but they both could tell they had a very strong friendship growing.