A/N: The sequel to Fire and Lightning is finally here! For those who are new to this series, Fire and Lightning was my first story about Onmund and his friends. It chronicled his early days at the College of Winterhold, the Eye of Magnus Disaster, and how he fell in love with and married Danielle. While that story is not a prerequisite for this sequel, it does help in understanding some of the more subtle details of this story. But either way, I hope you enjoy this new story, and please let me know what you think either via a review or PM!

Onmund missed the warmth. As he lay awake in the hide tent, he could still hear J'zargo snoring away beside him. A cold, wintery breeze was blowing outside, and every time a gust of wind blew into the tent, he shivered. He thought about home- the warm hearth where his mother cooked venison stew and his father coming in from working outside, his breath steeped with the strong scent of mead. Onmund would be sitting in front of the fire reading his books and trying to channel magicka into his hands. A puff of frost would rise up from his fingertips and his mother, Aska, would scold him sharply, "Onmund! Don't do that in here."

"You would put those hands to better use if you helped me build that goat pen," his father, Handalf, said in a tired tone.

Onmund was used to his parents' heckling, but he quietly retracted the frost and went back to reading. And that's how life had once been for him. Normally, he rarely ever thought of home or his family. But lately, they had been on his mind more than ever. It all started when he and Danielle had made a trip down to Half-Moon Farm to visit them. He had just taken her as his bride and was ecstatic about introducing her to them for the first time. They took the carriage from Winterhold and after two days, reached the tiny village on the southern banks of Lake Ilinalta. When Onmund stepped out of the carriage with his wife, he had expected to see the village bustling with life- children running in the streets, peddlers milling about, and his family working in the large communal field. But instead, he saw a ghost town. The village was completely empty and quiet.

As Onmund and Danielle walked up the eerily-silent street, he saw that all of the crops and trees in the large field had been burned down to the ground. His family's little cottage- the home that he grew up in, was all boarded up. He remembered kicking the door down and stepping inside. Everything- the floor, the walls, the hearth, had all been stripped bare. The dining chairs were stacked up on top of the table in the corner.

The two mages stepped back outside in disbelief. Something had happened there in the village. Something had happened that had left the entire village devoid of life, and they were bound of find out what. The carriage-driver was just as surprised as they were and offered to take them to the big town of Falkreath, so there they went.

The only person there who seemed to be knowledgeable and willing to tell the mages anything was a man by the name of Dengeir the Stuhn. He had previously been the jarl of Falkreath before his nephew, Siddgeir, succeeded him, and what was interesting was that while the current jarl was a staunch supporter of the Imperials, Dengeir was a Stormcloak. However, he told the mages more information than anyone else in town could. According to him, there had been an invasion on Half-Moon Farm by the Thalmor. The fascist elven faction was bent on ridding Skyrim of all worship of Talos, and their tactic was to kill or take all suspects as prisoners. This of course greatly alarmed Onmund, and he became worried that such a terrible fate might've befallen his parents, but Dengeir comforted him by saying, "They knew beforehand that an invasion was forthcoming and probably went into hiding."

Remembering his family's abandoned home, and how neatly and orderly things had been left behind, Onmund concluded that Dengeir was probably right. His family was okay- he hoped that they were okay, and that they were in hiding somewhere.

"If you want to find them, I suggest you do anything but ask the Empire for help," Dengeir told him. "If they had it their way, all of us sons and daughters of Skyrim would be driven from our homes and stripped of our freedom. They are nothing but the Thalmor's puppets."

"What can we do then?" Onmund remembered asking.

"Can?" the old Nord questioned. "If you truly have the fire in you then you can join up with Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak's men. I've never met the man myself but I can tell you that he has the fire and know-how to free this land from our oppressors."

There was more said during that conversation, but the rest of it was unimportant to Onmund. He and Danielle headed back up to Winterhold, but on the way, all he could think about was his missing family and what had become of them. It now made sense why they hadn't responded to his letters that he had written to them. Onmund had never met Ulfric Stormcloak, but Danielle had. When she had first come to Skyrim about a year ago, she had gotten lost in the mountains along the southern border and was captured by Imperial soldiers suspecting her of being a Stormcloak spy. Her fellow captors were three Nord men which included the Stormcloak jarl himself. One of them was killed upon their arrival in Helgen, but the other two men and Danielle escaped execution when a dragon invaded the town and wreaked havoc. Since then, Danielle had actually came to be on friendly terms with the Imperials who let her roam free after they had learned that she had only come to Skyrim to join the College of Winterhold- not overthrow the Empire.

Despite being a Nord himself and having witnessed the hostility of the Thalmor firsthand- he had even killed one with his own two hands once after being threatened, he had neither Imperial nor Stormcloak sympathies. He really could side with neither; he did not like the fact that the Empire wanted to outlaw Talos worship and oppress his people in general, but he also did not like the fact that the Stormcloaks were grossly intolerant to non-Nordic races and, to a lesser extent, mages. But now that his family's lives were possibly at stake because of the civil war, he was no longer sure how much longer he could remain on the sidelines of it.

Once again, Onmund mused over these things as J'zargo stirred awake in the tent next to him. It had been several months since the discovery of his missing family. He turned to the awakened Khajiit and asked, "You ready to head back to the College?"

"Give this one a minute or two," J'zargo replied. "He just woke up!"

Onmund and J'zargo were camping out in the mountains south of Winterhold after spending the past few days collecting alchemical ingredients in the Rift. The two Destruction Adepts had taken it upon themselves to learn Alchemy from Drevis Neloren and this was their first field-training mission.

After a few minutes, J'zargo finally got up and together, he and Onmund made the trek back up to the College, arriving there by midday. Drevis was in the Hall of Attainment, so the two students went into the hall and upon going inside, they saw that Tolfdir, Brelyna, Danielle, and a couple of others were there talking in the middle of the room.

"Ah, you've made it back!" Tolfdir exclaimed.

"Onmund!" Danielle exclaimed and ran over to him.

Upon seeing his wife, a big smile broke out upon his face and he welcomed her into his arms. They embraced tightly and then she pulled back and looked up at him with a huge smile. He had missed her so much; he had never been gone from her for this long. He wanted to kiss her so badly and just hold onto her tightly for the rest of the day, but with everyone there, they had to both let each other go for now and join their friends.

"We have a new student!" Danielle said to him.

When Onmund approached the group, he now noticed the tall stranger among them wearing Novice Robes.

"Onmund, J'zargo," Tolfdir addressed them. "This is Simon Bear-Skinner, our newest addition to the Destruction school!"

He's a Nord! Onmund thought excitedly. He looked back at the new student, who removed his hood, revealing short, light brown hair and piercing, ice-blue eyes. "Nice to meet you!" Onmund exclaimed, extending his hand. "I'm Onmund."

"Well met, kinsman," Simon replied with a smile and shook his hand.

After he shook J'zargo's paw, Onmund asked him, "Where are you from?"

"Whiterun," Simon replied. "And you?"

"Falkreath," he said. "From a village called Half-Moon Farm."

"Ah, I'm from the city proper."

"How about that. So you're learning Destruction magic? What's your specialty?"

"Pyromancy."

"Ah, fun! I'm doing electromancy." Onmund was ecstatic. Ever since joining the College, he felt like the black sheep of the whole student body because he was the only Nord. Now with another Nord on campus, he no longer felt alone- not that he felt lonely, though. He had a loving wife, plenty of good friends, and a slew of mentors who liked him. But with a kinsman in his midst, he felt a new sense of belonging there at the College, and it was a great feeling. He wanted to continue getting to know Simon some more, but for the time being, there were more important things to do. Now that he was reunited with his wife, he couldn't wait to have a moment alone with her so that he could show her how much he really missed her.

He and Danielle bid Simon and the others farewell for the time being and hurried over to the Arch-Mage's Quarters. After they stepped in and closed the door behind them, Onmund gathered his wife up in his arms and began inundating her with kisses, as did she. "Oh, I've missed you!" he declared in between their kisses.

"I missed you, too," she uttered. "I thought you'd be excited to meet another Nord here, by the way. What do you think of Simon?"

Onmund slowed down with the kisses and answered quickly, "He's great. And I am excited. But…" He now paused and tilted his head to kiss her along the side of her neck, "Right now I'm more excited about seeing you…"

"Mmm," she murmured, and began pulling him with all her might, trying to get him up the stairs. After all, they were still at the bottom of the stairwell right in front of the door.

He finally got the message and stumbled up the stairs after her, and when they got to the top, he lifted her up into his arms and she had to hold onto him with her legs as he carried her over to the bed. He then set her down on it and threw off his satchel before climbing on top of her and showering her with more eager kisses. They began removing each other's robes in an urgent fashion. They hadn't seen each other for several days and all of that desire that had been building up had to be released at this point. They made love wildly for several moments before collapsing together on the now-tousled blanket, their breath coming out in gasps. He gazed at his beautiful wife from where he lay exhausted. Danielle was the first and only woman he had ever shared such intimate moments with, and for him that was perfectly fine. She was his first and only love, and someone whom he had pledged to spend the rest of his life with. They had been living together in the Arch-Mage's Quarters ever since Tolfdir, the headmaster, generously gave them the quarters in order to accommodate their married life. The College still had a vacancy in the Arch-Mage position ever since Danielle had left the post months ago, but Tolfdir either saw no one fit to fill that position or just didn't have the time to select someone new. Either way, Onmund and Danielle had made the abode into their own private lovenest and enjoyed passing their free time in it together by eating sweet rolls in bed, reading each other stories, and leaving love notes for each other to find in various locations.

It was already evening and Onmund was exhausted, having traveled for the past several days. However, he was also very hungry. Danielle knew this and grabbed some food from the dining hall for her husband, for which he was very grateful. After he scarfed it all down, they changed into their nightshifts and she climbed into bed with him and he talked about his time away and she filled him in on all of the College news. After talking about the more mundane subjects they got to talking about more casual, intimate matters. At one point she asked him, "Do you have any fantasies?"

"Like what kind of fantasies?" he asked back.

"Oh, you know…" she shrugged. Biting her bottom lip, she reached out and traced his sternum down to the top edge of his shirt. Then, lowering her voice to a whisper, she continued, "Sexual fantasies."

Onmund felt his face grow warm at her question. She was his wife, and he thought by now that he was used to her straightforward way of asking questions, but this one caught him slightly by surprise since they had never really talked about their lovemaking extensively before. He responded, "No. Not really. Do you?"

"Really?" she questioned incredulously. "You don't have any fantasies at all? Nothing you'd want to…do to me?"

He gulped as he gazed into her obsidian-like eyes, which were shining earnestly. She was obviously probing him for something deeper but he suddenly felt very shy and didn't know what to say. So he answered, "I'd love to do everything to you. I mean, not everything. Just good things, of course." For some reason, he was feeling nervous, so he decided to let her do the talking now. "Do you…have any fantasies?"

"Well…" she started, her face transforming into a mischievous smile. "I think I'd like it if you…one day surprised me and took me from behind." Her mouth spread into a huge grin. "You know what I mean?"

He looked at her tentatively and slowly replied, "I…I think so. You mean, just…sneak up on you when you least suspect it?"

She nodded, gazing at him eagerly. "Without a word. I'd want you to just bend me over, grab my hair, and start fucking me."

Onmund felt his nerves bristle as she said this- it was so graphic and direct. But he had to admit, it also drove him wild to no end when she did this. For a brief moment, he brought the image of what she requested into his mind and it ended up turning him on greatly. Part of the reason was because he had never done such a thing before to her. He was used to treating her with nothing short of tenderness and respect, and even their bedroom antics, despite how urgent and rough they could be at times- especially earlier today after not seeing each other for so long, were still conducted very lovingly and affectionately. What she was proposing was so raw and animalistic- it was as if she really wanted to tap into the true Nord in him. It greatly intrigued him. Resting his hand on the curve of her hip, he said to her in a husky voice, "I can do that. Just you wait. I'll surprise you like that someday."

She grinned and said, "I can't wait."

Now, he no longer felt nervous. Talking about this was getting exciting. He then asked her, "You wanna know what my fantasy is?"

She nodded vigorously.

"I've always wanted to do it in the Arcaneum," he said in a more hushed voice, as if he were afraid that someone else might hear him.

Danielle's eyes went wide and she asked, "Really? Onmund, I never thought you'd be so mischievous. Where in the Arcaneum?"

"Anywhere," he answered. "But wouldn't it be something if we did it right in Urag's work area? Like on his desk or something? Man, he would have a fit!"

She laughed incredulously and remarked, "Onmund! You really are a naughty, naughty boy! And how do you propose we do that without getting caught?"

"We can't," he quickly answered. Feeling his face grow warm again, he stated, "That's why it's just a fantasy. I would never have the guts to do something like that. In fact, we probably shouldn't even think about doing it."

"Mmm," she replied. "That's a pretty wild fantasy, though. I like it."

"Yeah…" he said hesitantly, and then continued, "I guess I can't think of any other fantasy that we could easily make come true like yours. I feel like a terrible person for even having such a wicked fantasy."

"I don't think you're a terrible person," she said.

"No? I feel guilty, though," he admitted.

"Don't," she assured, gently caressing the side of his face. "I don't feel guilty about mine. Because I know they are just fantasies."

He managed a smile and took her hand into his own, kissing it. He knew that he wanted to be the very best husband to her, and as far as his love for her was concerned, he wanted to fulfill every fantasy that she could dream up. He then pulled her close to him and she snuggled up to him and they fell asleep that way.

A/N: For those who are new to this series, Half-Moon Farm is where Onmund is from. It's nonexistent in the game but in my head-canon, it's somewhere near Half-Moon Mill. Also, Danielle is not the Dragonborn, despite having gone through the events at Helgen.

For those who read Fire and Lightning, the mystery about Onmund's parents is finally solved. Well, sort of...their whereabouts are still unknown but now you know why they hadn't answered any of Onmund's letters.

I won't be able to update this story on a daily basis like I did with Fire and Lightning, but I will try to keep updates to at least once a week! Because of the holiday weekend, though, expect Chapter 2 to be posted before this weekend is over!