Chapter XXII: The Negotiator

(General POV)

As day made way for night, the miserable aura of the busy streets of Riften shifted into a more energetic and enterprising one, the number of people milling about barely shifting while their intent and profession might as well have been that of another city altogether.

Even as Reyvin made his way toward the manor near the Jarl's keep he could easily spy three or four deals being made between the different gangs of the city, the wannabe thieves' guildsmen running around in hopes of either getting a good haul for the night or catching the eye of the actual guild, all the while the few honest folks still stubbornly living in this cesspool locked their doors twice over.

Showing a great collective survival instinct, no one decided to bother him or his servant as they walked.

"Surfacers are an odd bunch..." Nightshade mutters as she observes a man getting beaten to near death just because a thug thought he looked at him funny. The ancient-turned-young Falmer still looked at things from the perspective of a tribal shaman and even while she did get a rapid crash course of surface culture and rules she was still having a hard time adapting to the massive shift in her life and surroundings.

Reyvin shook his head in exasperation, he disdained this city more than any place he had yet visited in Skyrim, even the Solitude slum was better as it was well known to be a temporary solution turned disaster. The fact that the Jarl of this shithole dared carry the name Law-giver while all of this happened nearly in the open quickly pushed his disdain into hatred.

"That we are" He shrugs and flips his hand at the diverse scenery of subdued mayhem surrounding them "And this is what happens when no one has the will or strength to keep us honest and in line."

"I do not understand" Nightshade mumbles while still shifting her eyes all over the place, her fascination with the fact she could see now not leaving her even after a week on the surface "If the tribe fights itself then it dies of hunger, how is this kind of thing allowed to happen on such a scale?"

Her master scratches his chin for a moment before answering "Even with your great intellect you still limit your mind to what you know from the caves." He lazily points at a large warehouse belonging to the city's fishery "Food is much less of a problem on the surface, sometimes it is even abundant to the point of people trading it to other places with less."

Now entering full-on lecture mode he goes on "This allows things like industry and culture to develop, so some places do not necessarily have to worry about producing their own food, that in turn allows for people to focus on more and more complex ways of life without fearing for their base survival."

Nightshade shifts around uncomfortably before asking "And how does this lead to people turning into... this?" She scowls as she points at yet another deal gone wrong that quickly turned into a brawl.

"That, my dear Nightshade, is what happens when things develop to such a point that some decide to be less productive and instead take from others hard work, leave such a thing to fester long enough and we get... Riften." Reyvin too shares in his servant's scowl.

"And no one does anything about it?" The Falmer asks almost angrily.

Reyvin pats her shoulder placatingly "Such things take a very long time to develop to this point, and people do not like to disturb the peace of their home no matter how filthy it may be."

"So they just accept this and go on with their lives?" Her bafflement is audible.

The Dunmer shrugs "It takes a great upheaval for people to accept that things might need changing. Luckily for the future of this once-great city such upheaval is imminent and we can only hope its residents will create something better from it."

His follower goes to ask another question but is interrupted by Reyvin rising his hand "We will continue this discussion later, we have arrived."

(Reyvin's POV)

We approach the large, and seemingly heavily fortified, manor house belonging to the Black-briar clan, a tall and tough-looking Nord leaning on the wall next to the door seemed to notice our approach and straightened up.

"Evenin'" He greets me gruffly, completely ignoring my companion "You the mage?"

"Oh? Did the robes give it away?" I ask with light sarcasm.

The man snorts "Great, a jokester... just what I needed tonight" He shakes his head, somewhat amused, and signals for us to follow him inside "Name's Maul by the way."

"Reyvin, but I guess you already knew that much" I return his greeting "I do have to admit, the Black Briar inviting me with such... intensity was a surprise."

He shrugs "Eh, she said you are one of the big players now, wanted to get a measure of you."

"Let us hope I did not bother coming all the way here just so Maven can 'get a measure of me' or I will be just a tad miffed." I retort with a false smile.

Instead of getting offended or provoked the man simply shrugs again and keeps walking. Not an idiot then...

We are quickly ushered into a nice dining room that practically screamed 'long and storied history of an ancient clan'. Different trophies and displays hung all around the place in a crowded yet tasteful manner.

At the head of the table sat a tall-ish middle-aged Nord woman, her demeanor was proud yet reserved as she spoke "Thane Flame-tongue, what a pleasure to have you here." She points across her seat at the table "Please, take a seat."

"The pleasure is all mine Thane Black Briar" I return the greeting with a smile and take a seat while pretending to be completely relaxed. Something I almost failed at when I noticed an uninvited guest with my clairvoyance but my irritation was quickly replaced with glee as I planned on abusing the situation to my advantage.

A servant brings us a selection of drinks and to my great surprise, none of them seemed to be poisoned, who would have thought that the viper of Skyrim was smarter than some brat in Solitude, eh?

"I do have to admit" Maven begins as I make myself comfortable "I never expected to meet an actual dragonslayer in person, or for dragons to even live in the first place."

Starting slow, eh? I sip on some of the famous premium mead of her clan and shrug "To be entirely fair we had an entire army of Falmer to throw him at and I had Lord Ebon-frost there to help me." I smirk "Besides I am not even the one credited with the kill, but you already knew that."

Her own mouth twitches lightly as if suppressing a smile "I guess that much is true, still the tale does sound fantastical." She reiterates calmly "But that is not why I invited you here."

"Yes, you wanted to 'get a measure of me' as it were" I drawl humorlessly "Let us hope that is not the only reason why I am here."

"I will admit that is part of the reason" She smiles "But no, I also wanted to get your support in an endeavor of mine that will no doubt be of great benefit to yourself."

I nearly roll my eyes "I already purchase a large amount of your mead on a regular basis, so it cannot be that... then I must posit that it has something to do with the nice chair of our dear friend the Law-giver."

The way her shoulders stiffen ever so slightly is answer enough.

"How ambitious of you Thane" I drawl "Not that I am judging you there, anyone would be an improvement over your 'friend's' complete and utter incompetence."

It takes her but a moment to compose herself as she relaxes once again and seemingly shifts her perception of me "As uncaring for the unwritten rules as they said you were." She mutters audibly.

I snort "Yes, yes how barbaric of me to ignore the usual way in which nobles waste each other's time by saying a lot of words without actually saying anything." I spread my arms almost welcomingly "By all means, do go on."

"I guess it will save us some time" She agrees easily "I want your support in becoming Jarl whenever the time comes."

"Expecting a shift in power, are we?" I ask cheekily.

Maven huffs and seemingly holds back an eye-roll "Me and the entire damned province."

I make an unnecessarily long pause before answering "Indeed, something of the sort might happen that will allow you to attain such a position with enough effort and some good decisions."

"Obviously, such a thing would not be free." Seeing as I am not immediately antagonistic of her ambitions something in her demeanor shifts once again as she seems to make some kind of decision before speaking up "I am afraid that you aren't the only guest I have invited here tonight."

"Oh?" I tilt my head "Decided to ignore the request of your murderous associates all of a sudden?" I fake gasp "Or better yet, betraying them entirely?"

She stiffens as I reveal what I know but then slowly nods "They were... rather insistent."

I chuckle lightly and continue enjoying my drink without a care, all the while my magical aura makes itself known, making everyone in the manor feel uncomfortable and nearly suffocating the two Nords in the same room as me "Congratulations Maven Black Briar, you just saved your ancestral home from getting completely and utterly incinerated."

As I retract my presence she gasps and takes a deep breath "I see..."

Before she can continue the door behind me opens and I barely hear some very light steps behind me. I turn my chair around with telekinesis and the child-like vampire assassin stops for a moment before smiling cheerfully.

"Hey Aunty Maven" She greets her host and then smiles at me, her vampiric charm slamming into my mind for a moment but I resist it easily enough, the near-torturous training I insisted on finally paying off.

"Hello sir, are you a magician?" She asks with false wonder.

"Why yes I am, sweet child." I smile, immediately pretending to be under her thrall "Want to see a magic trick?" I ask, my voice projecting my false desire to please her.

The three centuries old child claps her hands happily "Oh I would love to see one!"

I smirk and snap my fingers, only for nothing to seemingly happen.

The vampire feels a sudden weight on her right shoulder, the weight slowly turns into pain as she turns and comes eye-to-eye with Scorch, my glorious hawk boy smirking with malicious glee as realization comes to Babette's eyes.

One of said eyes getting rapidly pecked out by Scorch an instant later before he cast a cloak of solar magic nearly skinning the child-looking monster in front of me as she was scalded by sunfire.

To her credit Babette quickly slashed her extended claws at my familiar and dispelled him almost immediately, her eye snapping to mine and a furious growl leaving her throat as she realized I played her.

She leaps across the room in an attempt to skewer me before I can get up.

Yet before she can come too close I mutter "Arise" And the shade of the Reach appears behind her, quickly grabbing her and holding her in place as I lazily overcharge a burst of solar magic while panic spreads on the vampire's face.

"Have fun with Bal, you complete and utter waste of good oxygen." I deliver her obituary as I annihilate her, her ashes, and the creature that held her, all in one spell.

And then as if nothing happened I turn back to the very pale Maven "Now that that annoyance has been dealt with" I smile with the same cheer the vampire had shown previously "It is time for your punishment."

Her eyes snap to mine "But I warned you!" She hisses.

"That you did" I agree easily as I twirl the cup of mead in my hand "As I have said, you saved your home and family from getting incinerated." I rest my cheek on my hand as I hum in thought "Yet at the same time you invited my enemy and granted them the chance to strike me at a meeting of ours, then again at the same time you betrayed them and gave me the opportunity to continue hunting the little shits down."

"Hmmm.... I guess a slap on the wrist will do." I smirk and before she can even respond I telekinetically slam her dominant hand onto the table, breaking every single bone inside.

To Maven's great credit, she only hisses in pain before gritting her teeth and glaring at me.

"Oh don't look at me like that, you thought you could play your shitty little games with me while being a weakling yourself" I explain with a smile "You have a lot of soft power Maven, but that is nothing in front of true might."

"What do you want?" She asks through gritted teeth.

"Now that is what you should have asked me from the start" I smirk "It is simple, when the war starts you will do your damnedest to disrupt supply and recruitment for this hold and use your little army of disposable thugs to harass Ulfric's boys wherever possible." 

I ignore her ever deepening scowl and go on "Once the war is over you will bring this shithole into order or I will continue where I left off, do all that and you will easily be made Jarl."

"That will be much harder now that I have permanently lost my Brotherhood contacts" She argues while holding her hand in pain.

"The Brotherhood will soon cease to exist so your point is moot, yet your problem is one with a surprisingly simple solution" I smirk and clap my hands. Nothing happens for a moment before two shadows enter the room from seemingly impossible angles.

Maven's eyes widening in realization as she signals Maul to not go for his weapon were a treat to watch.

"Has your other task been completed?" I ask the one to my right.

"Indeed it has Serjo" He answers stoically.

I turn back to Maven with a smile, this time one far more malicious than anything I have shown previously "You may use my own... contacts for such work, an improvement over the cultists of the Brotherhood, I assure you as these are actual professionals."

"And have them observe my every move" She rolls her eyes.

"Obviously" I deadpan "You could have achieved far greater lenience from me but you decided to try and sit on the fence until the last moment." I shrug carelessly "You reap what you sow, as it were."

"I can see that" She grits her teeth harder.

I clap my hands with false cheer, earning me a quick glare, and proclaim "I am very happy that you have wisely agreed to cooperate, my dear lady. Now then, let us create a more detailed plan of action before I retire for the night!"

"Could you heal my hand first, please?"

"No."

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Gib le stone.

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