The events in this novel begin approximately one year
after the end of DragonSon I: Secrets of the Dwemer
It was midafternoon in early summer, and the weather was not unusual for this season in Whiterun: rain poured down out of skies thick with dark nimbus clouds. On the road below Dragonspring Farm two figures suddenly shimmered into existence, unnoted by anyone on the deserted stretch of highway. They were clad nearly identically in fine fabric trousers, leather tunics, polished leather boots, and light cloaks; but one was head and shoulders taller than the other.
"Damn!" Andi Dragonspring exclaimed, holding his hands over his head and crouching as he ran through the mud for the house. Whooping and laughing, he and his companion hurried inside to stand dripping on the polished wooden floor inside the farmhouse's front door. In the long, low house's front room, which did duty for kitchen, dining, and relaxing, four faces looked up from around the table. Katja had been knitting, Mina reading a book as Wyll and Sigi played their favorite card game.
Katja jumped to her feet, face wreathed in a smile, and went to greet the newcomers. "Andi, Mothris, you're finally back! How did it go in Mzinchaleft?" Realizing they were soaked, she settled for squeezing their hands instead of giving hugs. That could wait for later. "Pretty well," Andi said, hanging up his dripping cloak as Mothris did the same. Is there anything to eat?"
"Sure," she smiled at her son and the Falmer boy who had become like another son to her. He had gotten released from his position as an acolyte of Auri-El at the Chancery shortly after they'd all returned from their adventure in Mrzhgradfendz and its mirror city Mrzhandtham, late last summer. He'd been living with the Dragonsprings since then, though he and Andi were often away on business. The two of them had become an outreach team, contacting Falmer tribes across Skyrim and working with them in the effort to bring them into human society once again.
The boys sat at the table, where they were greeted and hugged by its other occupants. Mina liked Mothris and was glad he'd become part of their family. He was nice, respectful, and a little shy – though his personality and manners were beginning to loosen up a little after more than a year of hanging around with Andi.
For Wyll and Sigi, so alike in spirit, it was "the more's the merrier." They were happy to have their loving family increase still more, and Andi's close companionship with the Falmer boy helped to make up for the fact that he and Dovi weren't able to spend as much time together these days. His best friend since earliest childhood had been sent right back to work on the construction crew, his parents more than a little miffed at him for running off with Andi on that harebrained quest – even if the ultimate result of it had been a new life of freedom for thousands of formerly enslaved Falmer.
Katja hastily whipped up a platter of Dragonbites (what, in another universe, were called sandwiches) and a bowl of potato crisps, along with a couple of tall glasses of milk. Mothris had never tried the stuff before coming here, but he'd acquired a taste for it. He was already a couple of inches taller than when they'd first met him, making Katja wonder just how long the mer adolescent growth spurt might be.
She sat down and put her arm around her tall son, giving him a squeeze, as he seized a Dragonbite in both hands and practically inhaled it. He was well past his 16th birthday now and the constant hunger that had plagued him a year earlier was beginning to ebb; but they'd just fast-traveled a long distance, and he was still a very active young man.
When the boys had assuaged their hunger and nothing but crumbs remained on the tray, Mothris was the first to speak. "We've got Lambris installed there teaching Common, working with the sentries and foragers first, and Syendor is training in city living. I'm afraid there are going to be Deep Falmer in the undercroft of that place for another generation at least, but the younger people are eager to embrace the new ideas we brought. Not to mention the trade goods!" he grinned.
Andi smiled, too. The bold plan heartily embraced by old Arctoris, when Katja and Anders had proposed it to him during their first visit after the closing of the portal to the Dwemer "paradise," had proven so far to be mostly a success – and he was proud of his part in it. Starting within Mrzhgradfendz, they had gotten Kziintke to conduct classes in the Common tongue until there was a core of people (both the original residents and their recently freed kin) with some proficiency in the language. Now teams were moving throughout Skyrim with maps provided by Anders, contacting the Falmer tribes that lived in or beneath nearly every Dwemer ruin in the province.
Not every tribe had welcomed the idea of occupying their cities in the way that the Mirskhrazana had theirs. Many cities were at least partially ruinous, their Falmer residents camping inside them sheltered by yurts made of chaurus chitin. But the contact teams spoke their language, so were usually at least provided with hospitality and a hearing. Trade goods were the bait, and what they sought in every tribe was a foothold – people willing to learn the Common tongue and begin trying to interact with the Sky People instead of just shooting them on sight.
The cities the Falmer tribes had occupied for millennia, since the Dwemer who were once their masters had abandoned them, were in truth by the laws of the Empire their property. But they had in a way forfeited their rights, falling prey to any adventurer able enough to kill the sentries and steal the treasures therein. What the Dragonsprings were trying to do, working with many of the leaders of the Mirskhrazana, was to get the Falmer race to rejoin human society, and claim their rights of ownership once more.
"Have you heard from Meri?" Mothris asked the room at large. Like Rezira, he'd finally adopted the Common convention of shortening people's full names into nicknames. Wyll smiled his angelic smile, mirrored on the faces of Mina and Sigi. "We got a letter from her just a couple of days ago," he rumbled, pride in his voice. "After they met the bigwigs at Elisif and Undwin's party, there's been a flood of inquiries about their trade mission – including a couple of offers of quarters to rent. Looks like she and Liamdor will be setting up shop pretty soon. Oh," he added, eyes twinkling, "and she really hit it off with young Arnwin."
Arnwin, the son of Jarl Elisif of Haafingar hold and her second husband Undwin, was close to Sigi's age. Elisif had long been friendly toward Katja and had attended her wedding, so it hadn't been hard to get her to agree to throwing a party for the elite of the hold at which Meri and the plump Chanter of the Mirskhrazana had been the guests of honor.
This was the other half of the outreach effort, bringing Falmer presence to the cities of men and mer. Once people got used to seeing Falmer walking around dressed like them, speaking their language, and engaging in the same pursuits of daily life as themselves, they would be a lot less likely to assume they were fair game.
"That's great!" Andi remarked, wiping his mouth on his sleeve and getting a reproving look from his mother. "Say, is…" "…Rezira around?" Mina finished for him with a knowing grin. Her brother's romance with the beautiful, exotic Dwemer girl was the source of some amusement for her, an opportunity to tease him – and the source of occasional sighs as she considered the utter barrenness of her own love life. So far, it seemed that the boys were mostly afraid to speak to a red-gold beauty standing over 5' 8" tall. And still growing.
Andy's expression told her that was exactly what he'd been going to ask. Mina relented. "She's right down the hall in the craft room, working with Papa Anders, Gylabris, and Kziintke on some project. Why don't you…" "Thanks, sis!" Andi exclaimed, and was out the door to the hallway before she could finish her sentence. The rest of the people gathered around the table exchanged grins.