Prologue
Thick drops of cold rain were pouring down onto the dry, cold soil of Haafingar. It streamed down from the many hills, formed puddles in between the worn out stones of the road to the Thalmor embassy. With Evening Star on the doorstep, this precipitation was bound to change into snow within a couple of hours.
A one horse carriage had just made its way to the entrance of the immense building. The carriage driver nonchalantly tugged on the reins and the horse halted, fuming at the mouth from the exertion of an almost uninterrupted uphill journey from Solitude. The carriage came to a stop, and the rattling of wooden wheels on stone died away.
The driver turned around. "That'll be 10 septims."
His passenger, a tall woman in finely woven hooded green robes, cautiously lowered herself from the back of the carriage and handed the Nord man a handful of septims before making her way to the stone steps of the entrance.
The driver counted them quickly and scoffed. "I'm sure a Mer of your position could have spared a little more."
She ever so slowly turned her head around to look the man in the face, but didn't utter a snide remark. Instead, she just shook her head and faced the two Thalmor soldiers guarding the entrance to the Embassy.
Chapter one- An unusual request
It had been 19 days since anyone had heard from Estormo.
Elenwen massaged her forehead with her index and middle fingers. Normally she would have declared a state of emergency long ago when a captain of the Thalmor force would have gone missing, but she knew he was sufficiently experienced to handle most situations, no matter how young he might be.
Nevertheless she had felt slightly alarmed when he had volunteered to aid Ancano in- what was it again? She couldn't recall what the advisor at the College of Winterhold had asked for in a short, somewhat mysterious letter, only that whatever he desired was believed to be located somewhere deep inside the bowels of Labyrinthian..
Estormo set out for the ruins on the 20th of Frostfall, the same day they had received Ancano's letter. Elenwen admired the young captain for his discipline, but this had been a tad overzealous. He had never taken the time to discuss his all of his plans with the three Emissaries and he had left in a hurry, with only one soldier by his side. He even postponed his planned sabbatical back to the Summerset Isles for it.
Elenwen had received a letter from him when he had reached Morthal, a letter that was sent on the 4th of Sun's Dusk. Morthal wasn't far from the ruins of Labyrinthian, and even if Estormo had needed a week to travel there and back to the capital of Hjaalmarch, he should have returned to the Embassy by now. The more Elenwen thought about it, the more an uneasy feeling started clawing inside her chest. He should have returned to the Embassy by now.
Her sorrowful pondering thoughts were disturbed by Brelas who knocked on the opened door, waiting on the doorstep for Elenwen's approval before entering the room.
"Emissary? We have a visitor who demands to see you."
Elenwen sighed and started rubbing at her temples again. "I would prefer to not be disturbed, Brelas. I have… quite a lot to keep myself occupied at the moment."
The Bosmeri female nervously folded her hands and her sharp features were briefly distorted by nervous fear. "Well… The visitor insisted it was urgent and wanted to wait in the great hall. She's Altmeri… And judging by her clothes she's quite wealthy."
Elenwen had already risen from her seat when she heard that the visitor was of the same race, but the mention of wealth made her place towards the door. She slowed down when passing by Brelas.
"Did she state her name?"
Brelas shook her head, lowering her glance. "We inquired, but she refused to give her name. She allowed us to search her person and her belongings, but no name was provided. My sincere apologies, First Emissary Elenwen, but I-"
Elenwen sped her stride up again, not interested in Brelas' attempt to make up for her mistake. Although, she couldn't blame the Bosmeri servant for allowing the stranger to enter, given that the soldiers at the front door had forsaken their duty, not Brelas, at least, not directly.
Brelas, whimpering with anxious anticipation, followed closely as Elenwen went downstairs. The Emissary was annoyed by her behaviour, but she figured that this physiological torment, the sheer anticipation of gruesome punishment would be sufficient to teach her a lesson. Any future mistakes on her behalf would not go unpunished. Elenwen sincerely hoped it would not have to come to that.
An Altmeri woman had been waiting impatiently in the great hall, even though she never lost her composure.
"State your name," Elenwen spoke as soon as she entered the large room.
"Ruthhwen." The stranger's voice was hoarse, letting the agitation her appearance was hiding, seep through. "I am Estormo's fiancée."
Elenwen felt as if an Ice Wraith clawed through her insides upon hearing the stranger's name, and even more so upon hearing the latter. She pursed her lips and managed a wry smile. "I'm aware of that. He had informed me of that. Yes." No, he hadn't. Estormo had informed her of his plans present an Amulet of Mara to his dear Ruthhwen, but not of his actual proposal.
"Good. I look forward to meeting him again. I came from Solitude, you see. We are supposed to travel to the Island together for our marriage." Ruthhwen smiled lightly, yet her young face didn't show genuine happiness.
"Well, my dear, you see…" Elenwen started, "We haven't heard from him. Not in almost three weeks. He wanted to complete one more mission before going on sabbatical, but we haven't heard from him since he left Morthal."
Ruthhwen breathed in forcefully during the last sentence. Her haughty facade started to crumble, her left eyebrow twitched and her hands were shaking. "Morthal? What business does he have in that godsforsaken town?"
Elenwen gave her an apologetic nod. "He wanted to complete a mission for our advisor at the College of Winterhold. That's all I can provide. We are as much in the dark as you, milady. I'm afraid we cannot aid you in this."
Ruthhwen opened her mouth, closed it again, trying to speak up but failing, like a fish on the land gasping for air. When she finally spoke up again, her voice cracked multiple times. "But we are getting married."
Elenwen wanted to encourage her by telling that Estormo was a mer of his word and that he would never abandon his fiancée, but she didn't. "I know, Ruthhwen."
At that moment, Ruthhwen broke down crying. She sunk to her knees, wrapped her hands around herself and weeped as if Nirn would cease to be that very day.
The young Altmeri woman needed twenty minutes to recompose herself, after that there were no traces of her previous emotional breakdown, only a keen eye could spot the slight red discoloration of her nose and her puffy eyes.
Elenwen had stood next to the scene as it had unfolded, and she hadn't moved. She didn't need to, because as soon as Ruthhwen had collapsed she had been consoled by one of the two guards in the hall. Elenwen wasn't even sure whether she'd have been able to do the same. She silently vowed to promote the man. Otherwise she would have had to lie about what she thought happened to Estormo.
She normally did not mind lying, not at all, but since she held the ferocious young Estormo dear to her heart, and since his fiancée seemed honest (and, more importantly, she seemed to be wealthy) she wouldn't want to risk lying about how she thought Estormo would return soon, for that could lead to some serious complications. Elenwen was very influential in Skyrim, but her power couldn't hold a candle to the power of the many wealthy families back home. After all, she had started off as an interrogator here, and she could be degraded to being one again if she made any major mistakes. The second or third emissary would happily take her place. The sheer thought of it made her shudder.
"I demand an expedition to Labyrinthian." Ruthhwen's voice was clear and void of emotion once again.
And there you have it. Elenwen sighed. "I understand your concern, but we are by no means equipped right now to-"
"I'll join you," Ruthhwen interjected, "There must be enough skilled Thalmor agents here to accompany the expedition."
"Ma'am," Elenwen sternly spoke, "This is the Thalmor Embassy, not an army base. We can't simply dispatch our justiciars and captains here on an expedition. They are stationed here for confidential reasons. Besides, not enough of us are present on the Embassy at the moment anyway. I'm afraid we cannot aid you. You should try the Thalmor headquarters in Solitude."
Ruthhwen lowered her head, yet she didn't seem defeated, contrarily, she seemed empowered. Elenwen started to like her less and less. "Dear Emissary, you know just as well as I do that they have less authority than you. They recruit justiciars and mages, they aren't even qualified to command them!"
"Neither am I", Elenwen retorted. "Or rather, such trivialities are beneath my level of operating. For that matter, you should talk to commander Ondolemar, who is currently stationed in Markarth."
Ruthhwen straightened her back. "If I correspond with him, or rather, if I make him correspond with you about this matter, would it change your mind?"
Elenwen was growing tired of this confrontation, so she obliged. "That would work. Although I have to warn you, he's a lot less keen on laymen interfering and trying to dictate his decisions for him." She emphasized the last few words with underlying anger, but this completely went over Ruthhwen's head, at least, she made it seem that way.
Ruthhwen gave the Emissary a haughty nod. "You'll hear from me. Come the expedition, I'll give notice."
Elenwen waited until the young elf had left the room, then she stepped back and lowered herself onto one of the wooden benches in the Great Hall. She leaned her head back against the wall, closed her eyes and let out a guttural groan.
"That kid has absolutely no idea of the consequences and risks of a mission like that," she mumbled to herself. "How can someone be raised to be so naive, and then live in a country like Skyrim? And how in Oblivion did Estormo end up with her?"
She felt eyes piercing her personal space, and she quickly sat up. Brelas had watched the whole scene from the shadows in a corner of the room, with wide-eyed fear.
"Brelas, you're dismissed for now. I have some issues to consider," Elenwen said. The wood elf on the other side of the room nodded quickly and disappeared into the shadows.
The emissary slouched back on the uncomfortable bench once again. She surely hoped that Ondolemar would indeed decline Ruthhwen's idiotic request, as was to be assumed. He was a mer of his word. Then again, so was Estormo, and look what that had brought her.
A/N: Thank you for reading! Just a heads up: this story is going to contain numerous OCs since the Thalmor force doesn't have a lot of named members in Skyrim. Also, Estormo needed a fiancée so that's why I created Ruthhwen, the whiny naive rich kid. Estormo has poor taste in women lol. The OC's will be plot devices, but the whole story isn't going to revolve around them, don't worry! If you enjoyed this chapter, please do leave a review!