Big Fan

Michael and Tiffania had been spending some time in Whiterun lately, he played it off as them having some private time away from their responsibilities in Winterhold, but in reality, Michael just wanted to wait for the Dragonborn to arrive.

Fortunately, after the third day of relaxing, Michael spotted a group of three walking along the road from the window of the inn. Jackle, Shakeesh, and a large Nord with short brown hair and a steadily growing beard.

"Ah, wait here Tiff, I need to speak to someone." he says as he stands and leaves.

"Jackle, Shakeesh! How're you two doing! Haven't seen you in ages!" Michael greets as casually as he can, walking forward and clapping the two Companions on their shoulders.

Jackle hits him in the stomach in response and they laugh it off. Shakeesh isn't so blatant or relaxed, but this was probably due to how he and Michael's relationship was... Even if they were 'friends' neither could forget the fact that he tried to steal from Michael... At least, Shakeesh couldn't...

"Tahlin, didn't think you'd be in Whiterun, don't you live over in Winterhold nowadays?" Jackle asks.

Michael nods, "Yeah, but, Whiterun's got a charm the other cities seem to lack."

The duo sagely nod their head, as if he'd said something profound... "Ah, this is Surtr, we were hired to escort him to Bleak Falls Barrow and back." Shakeesh says while gesturing at the Nord who seems to jump as the attention is drawn to him.

"I-... D-do you remember me, Michael?" Surtr anxiously asks, which is very awkward considering his rather intimidating height, armour, and overall appearance... Acting like a shy school girl definitely wasn't normal.

...

"Er, no?" Michael utters, unsure how to react to the strange atmosphere.

Surtr steps forward, "Back in Falkreath, you saved me from bandits when I left to make a life in Cyrodil." he states.

Ah, the kid who 'wanted to be like him', or something like that... Man, he felt kind of jealous at how big he'd gotten so fast. Michael's growth was slow and steady, but this guy shot up like a beansprout.

"I remember. I see you found your fortune in Cyrodil?" he asks, finding it strange that he'd met the Dragonborn way before canon had even started... Indeed, he'd seemingly had an influence on Surtr's development as well.

Surtr shakes his head, "No fortune, but I learned a lot during my time there. I always intended to come home though, and it seems I was needed with the dragons returning..."

Shakeesh nods, "We heard legends of them even in Hammerfell... I'm unsure why the dragons seemed to stay in Skyrim... Perhaps they just like the mountains?"

"This reunion is great and all, but we have a job to hand in... Important business or whatever." Jackle says as she sends a pointed look to Surtr, "I don't know about you two, but I wanted to clean myself of blood and rest..."

Surtr nods in agreement before looking at Michael, "We'll go and report to the Jarl, but... Could we spar, is possible? I've always wanted to test myself against you... To know where I stand." he earnestly asks.

"Sure, meet me at the Companion training ground..." he glances to Jackle, "I'm still considered a Companion right?"

"Yes, but don't count on staying, all the beds have been taken up by 'To-be dragon slayers'." Jackle chuckles.

"G-great! I look forward to it!" Surtr says, grabbing a hold of the Companion duo and dragging them up to Dragonsreach with fervour.

...

"Partner, steer clear of that one. Sounds like he wants to be the sheath to your sword." Derflinger remarks from his hip.

"Nice one, but, gross."

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Michael makes his way to Jorrvaskr and greets the other Companions while he waited for Surtr to arrive. To be honest, he was very interested to see where he would rank in comparison to the Dragonborn, who'd previously been a weak child not three years earlier.

While there, a few Companions, both new and old challenged him to fight, wanting to test him to see if he matched is fame... Even without the use of his Gandalfr runes, he thoroughly thrashed them. His swordsmanship as drastically improved last he was here, tempered in battle against thousands if not tens of thousands of enemies.

If he used his runes his swordsmanship would rank at Master tier, though, he wasn't sure if there were things above this. His swordsmanship was still 'basic' after all, so perhaps he'd have to find someone to learn more advanced things from?

Regardless, that combined with his ridiculous strength and speed allowed him to easily crush any of the Companions. Even those enhanced by their Werewolf physiques weren't even close to matching him.

This was how Surtr, Jackle, and Shakeesh found him, leaning on a wooden sword with half of the Companions splayed out on the ground, having been defeated despite all coming at once.

"Yo, you done what you needed to do?" Michael casually greets them while prodding his sore opponents with his foot to encourage them to get out of the training field.

Surtr nods, "Uh... We did, took longer than I'd like thanks to some woman the mage was insistent on talking to..."

"Grab a sword then... Are you ready?" he asks as Surtr grabs a two-handed wooden sword and nervously stands opposite him.

The fight begins and... Michael was got disappointed fairly quickly, while not weak, Surtr was far less than he'd expected. The Nord had strength in abundance and was as skilled or maybe more so than most of the Companions... Still, it wasn't on the level of 'legend' yet. He did seem to be steadily improving as the bout continued however, as if Surtr was a sponge constantly absorbing skill and experience.

The spar ends with Michael smacking the side of Surtr's blade with the back of his hand, shattering and splintering the wood while resting his own sword on the Nord's neck. "Good fight."

Surtr nods with not a little worship in his eyes, "You were playing with me... H-how did you get so s strong?" he asks, bringing forth some deja vu from Michael.

"You asked me this before, and I'll give you the same answer. Some people have it, some people don't, just take all the opportunities you can and hopefully you'll reach where you want."