Chapter VIII: Souls, Realizations, And Plans

"Hate you." The annoyed, grouchy voice of my fellow semi-divine being reaches my ears as she forces herself to get up "Hate you so much."

"You should not just fall asleep in the middle of nowhere then." I shrug my shoulders, ignoring the fact one of her hands was twitching toward her blade while the other was trying to remove the snow from her hair.

It had been a few minutes since she consumed the souls of the twins and once Krein had declared it safe, I proceeded to wake her up in the most expedient way possible.

Namely by throwing a veritable mountain of snow on top of her and causing her to launch herself from the ground to escape the sudden chill.

Marco was still laughing his ass off, which quickly earned him a pile of snow from Minthara who knew I'd just dodge if she tried that on me and simply settled on venting her frustrations on the poor Altmer.

He did not stop laughing.

No doubt nursing a massive headache, Minthara let herself fall into one of the chairs I summoned and palmed her sweating forehead, as she settled somewhat she let out an annoyed grunt "You were right, those two were absolute cowards."

Krein makes a vaguely amused noise "I do believe they called it 'being wise and choosing one's battles' but seeing where their supposed wisdom led them I feel that taking them at their word would be... unwise."

He seems awfully smug at saying that, especially so considering he said pretty much the same thing to me once we were done butchering the two fucks.

The Dragonborn barely even listens to him and almost topples over her seat as her head starts to spin due to the almost visible soul energy surging all around her "That is great and all but I need you to tell me what to pick right now or my head is going to burst."

"It really isn't tho." I point out.

"Reyvin." She pleads/threatens.

"Time." I tell her with no further hesitation "Time fuckery is too powerful to ignore."

She nods weakly and closes her eyes.

"Indeed." Krein hums approvingly "Our Father's children are all granted a connection to time, being spirits of it in essence. A wise choice for any fledgling Dovah." He focuses on the demigod currently stuck in a state akin to meditation "Feel each moment pass as if it were eternity itself, yet the smallest blink of an eye, each moment a grain of sand upon a sea of infinity..."

As he spoke I could see Minthara visibly relaxing, the energy becoming far more focused before finally snapping into place. Her eyes opened, filled with the same clarity of purpose she was imbued with all the way back at Blackreach.

Except now her presence held physical weight, enough to make even me pay attention to an extent.

"So that is how it works..." I hear her mutter.

Krein's head lowers closer to her "You have understood then?" He asks, almost sounding excited.

"Yes." She nods, her voice a tad colder than usual "It all makes perfect sense."

I deadpan "And now you are going to tell me that you somehow got the full shout in mere seconds."

"Your seer powers must be working perfectly because that is exactly what I was going to tell you." Minthara responds with zero hesitation, even sounding a bit smug about it as she imitated my usual signature condescension to near perfection.

"Fucking bullshit." I curse with a laugh and shake my head, though in truth I was neither surprised nor annoyed "I haven't even mastered the second word yet and I've been focusing on that shout for actual years."

"Maybe you should leave it for those more qualified." She jests "Not all are as talented as we dragons." Yup, the memories were already getting to her.

"Do not so easily discount his efforts, my kin." Krein chides "He has advanced far beyond most mortal tongues are capable, and at such an incredibly young age for his own people as well."

Suddenly realizing her own shift in behavior she looks away with shame "I didn't mean it like that..." Almost skittishly she gives me an apologetic look.

I just snort at this "Oh please, if I were so easy to offend half the damn province would be at war."

That earns me some very odd looks.

"Right." Marco nods to himself, wisely deciding not to question my words of enlightenment.

"Well then." I clap my hands and get up from my seat "That has been enough drama for the night, you should all get some rest and meet me in the morning, we have plans to discuss."

My words were met with universal agreement and we soon departed back to the city, an air of excitement following us all the way.

-----

Just as I was about to go to turn in for the day I heard someone knocking at my door, one quick look revealed a Davos with a serious expression on his face.

With a simple mental command, the illusory doors disappeared and the stone wall that stood in their place opened up, letting him inside. Wordlessly he approached and handed me a letter, a report on the war I realized after a quick scan.

Scouts and spies reported that the Stormcloaks were moving toward Dawnstar in numbers, an entire army twelve thousand strong was marching through the many mountain passages known only to the locals who had lived there for generations and now we had only a week to prepare before they managed to link up with the ten thousand strong garrison in Dawnstar and the entire hold was secure in their hands.

"It would seem Ulfric has learned of his son's failure." I muse disinterestedly "And the twat somehow escaped Helgen while I was out of it... for some reason I find myself unsurprised."

"You expected him to?" Davos asks, though even he realized how needless the question was.

"It is of little consequence." I wave it off "Should he return to their ranks, his obvious naivete would lead him to tell his fellow rebels exactly what happened back there which will lead to at least some of the Stormcloak higher-ups losing morale and potentially even the will to fight."

"So even if we lose we still win." Davos chuckles and shakes his head "Exactly how I like it."

"Just so." I allow myself a smirk "That all you had for me, or?"

"I also got a report on our dear friend from Riften." He informs me without preamble "She says that she is almost prepared to take over once we manage to win a big victory. The rumor mill has been singing her praises while absolutely shitting on the 'Law-Giver' so the people are pretty much prepared for a coup should we want it."

"That is for the city, but what about the villages?" I question, Riften and the Rift were too very different things after all.

"There will be some issues after the takeover, but Maven assured me she is able to deal with it." He informs me, sounding pretty confident about it as well "Even the Argonians are in on it, it didn't even take much, she just promised them better conditions and they practically swore their undying fealty."

"Considering how they are treated everywhere outside of Black Marsh I am not surprised." I accept the information easily "After so long living in abject poverty, getting the chance to have a basic lifestyle starts looking like heaven to most people."

"Yeah..." Davos nods and trails off briefly.

"You know, it's quite funny." He huffs at some internal realization "For all our vaunted superiority over the Argonians back in Morrowind, we ended up pretty much the same as them once outside of our own homeland, didn't we?"

"Speak for yourself." I pretend to huff, earning a deadpan.

Shaking my head I give him a knowing look "Are you only now realizing that we are all at the end of the day just mere mortals with most of our differences being superficial and that the true difference between us is status and not bloodline?"

"I wouldn't go quite that far." He shrugs "But yeah, it is funny how little such things actually matter when you are just trying to survive."

"I was paraphrasing, obviously." I shake my head "There are differences but as I've said they are all superficial."

He ponders my words for a moment and finally asks "So are you telling me that if you had a choice between getting Argonian or Dunmer to serve you, you would choose either?"

"Fuck no." I snort, earning a confused look "I would always choose the Dunmer, but not because of any belief of superiority. Quite simply we share a culture and vaguely share a religion, leading to a much more harmonious relationship all around. If I wanted to have Argonians under me I'd befriend a popular leader among them and then place them all under said leader's command and let them serve me indirectly."

"In fact." I resume after a brief pause "I have already done this in the case of the Falmer, so it really shouldn't be a surprise to you."

"Fair enough, Boss." Davos nods "Sorry for wasting your time with this, I just felt a bit lost after seeing the situation for what it was."

"The us versus them mentality is for the peons." I give him a pointed look "It is high time you realize you are no longer counted among their numbers, I already told you this many times."

"Well, that isn't ominous at all." He grouses "Still, thanks for not just waving it off."

"Yeah, whatever." I shoo him away.

He chuckles and goes to leave.

Just as the wall is about to close I call out "Oh and by the way Davos, congratulations!"

His eyes widen in confusion but the wall is already closed.

I am quite happy for the both of them but I can't help but wonder how the first Dunmer-Falmer hybrid is going to end up looking, should be interesting at least.

'You have a problem.'

'A problem?'

Silence is my answer.

"That is what I thought."

-----

As the last of the two hundred and fifty strong company of my most elite warriors passes through the Wayshrine leading to Winterhold I give Oren a folded scroll "These are your tasks while I am gone, your primary objective is getting to eastern Dawnstar without heavy losses at which point I will be joining you. IF you should find a good opportunity to do damage to the enemy, confirm first and then go for it, otherwise I demand caution."

The eldest of the three brothers bows his head and accepts the scroll "It will be as you will it, my lord." He continues the bow for a few seconds longer before straightening up, saluting me, and marching off after his men.

"Still can't believe you have an army." Marco comments with exaggerated fear in his voice.

"Ducal guard force." I correct him with a raised finger, my tone shifting to the proper pomp of a grand nobleman "Can't have the good Emperor accusing me of treason, now can we?"

"But of course, my good sir." Marco joins in on the bit, sounding just as pompous as I "Someone of your renowned honor and respect for authority found to be breaking imperial law? Unthinkable I say!"

I can practically feel Minthara's headache as she palms her face and mutters "Why am I surrounded by damned children?"

"Well excuuuse me, my lady." I drawl "Are not all mortals but children in the eyes of you dragons?" My eyes almost glow with cruelty as the final words leave me.

And they have the intended effect as she shrinks on herself, looking anywhere but at me "I told you I didn't mean it like that!"

"As much as I find teasing our terrifying dragon overlady to be fun." Marco voices from behind me, wisely taking cover in advance "I think it is high time we decided on a course of action."

"Yes." I turn serious as if flipping a switch, taking the wind out of their sails just as they were about to get into an argument "We will be moving to Helgen to check on the repairs before passing through Riverwood to meet up with someone and finally heading to Whiterun, after which point I will be leaving you and heading for Dawnstar myself."

"What is going to happen at Whiterun?" Minthara asks, already suspicious.

"A dragon attack is likely." I for once decide to abandon my usual vagaries "An excellent spot for you to bring a bit of hope back to the people and start earning a reputation."

"Must everything be so calculated to you?" She complains half-heartedly.

"Yes." I answer with zero pause "If you can make use of something you should do so."

"You aren't wrong." She admits begrudgingly "Anything else I should know?"

I tug at my goatee briefly before speaking "You might get an invitation from a bunch of monks sitting atop the big mountain, dumbfucks are going to be announcing your presence to anyone and everyone once the people see you nomming on the scaly fucker's soul so you should be ready for a bunch of dragons to start challenging you."

"Of course, just what I needed." She grumbles.

"Think of it this way." I interrupt her spiral of self doubt "If the dragons are busy chasing you and feeding you their power, they aren't attacking innocent settlements."

Her slumping shoulders straighten immediately but she quickly realizes what I've done and gives me a glare, before accepting her fate "Just... just move us to Helgen already please."

And so I do.

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