Questions at Home: Solitude
"And just WHEN were you planning on telling me we nearly lost the War?!" Elisif snapped at General Tullius.
Elisif sat crossly in a high backed chair at the end of a large table, on which a large map of Skyrim was sprawled with markers in different places.
Tullius stood off to one side, leaning on the table with both hands as he eyed the pieces, pretending not to be bothered by Elisif's outburst or the stress behind the reason for it as he stared in a dispassionate manner at the units symbolized by markers on the map.
Legate Rikke stood off to the other side, also leaning on the table with both hands, but her gaze the whole time had been riveted on the back and forth exchange between Tullius and Elisif.
"We took Fort Dunstad back...and rebuilt Fort Felhammer to reinforce it" Tullius answered in a measured tone, as if he was explaining it to a child.
"Not before allowing Ulfric's men to route the Third Legion from both of them as well as the encampments further north and west of Dawnstar!" Elisif snapped back.
"Losses happen in campaigns. You can't let them make you lose your...strategic goals" Tullius made visible effort not to snap back at her.
"These losses put our troops to rout and nearly put Ulfric's forces on our doorstep. As it is, he controls most of the eastern side of Skyrim. If you concede the Pale, Hjaalmarch would fall easily since it is so lightly defended. That would have allowed Ulfric to cut off supplies from the south and lay seige to Solitude itself!" Elisif barked, rising and pointing at the different places on the map, wondering why Tullius was so stubbornly unwilling to admit how bad the situation had been.
"Yes, but that didn't happen. Did it?" Tullius sighed with barely veiled impatience.
"So I was just going to wake up one morning and find Ulfric's army encircling the city? Is that how I was supposed to find out?" Elisif refused to budge.
Tullius glared his response at Elisif before looking at Rikke, as if making a silent appeal.
Rikke simply eyed him with concern before looking back at the map.
"I was avoiding troubling you with matters of war. You have matters of the hold to deal with already" Tullius explained, some of the fire gone from his tone.
"If I am to lead Skyrim as a whole, I need to know what is happening beyond my own hold. You chose me as interim ruler, named me so before the Imperial Council upon my husband's passing. Since it will apparently become a more permanent job than either of us expected, I expect you to begin informing me more diligently of the goings on" Elisif declared before slowly sitting back down.
She had deliberately couched her declaration of intent to rule as a foregone conclusion on purpose, and was pleased with the reaction of both Tullius and Rikke, who's eyes both grew wide with surprise for a second, staring at each other for a moment before looking down at the map again, trying to remain stoic.
She was daring Tullius to betray his own intent. If he was so bold, let him speak now, but in doing so, he would only reveal his own plans. Something she was sure he was loath to do.
"Some replacements for our losses are making their way north from Cyrodiil, even as we speak. With the bolstered, full strength of the Third Legion, we can push the Stormcloaks out of the Pale completely" Tullius declared confidently after clearing his throat, avoiding commenting altogether on Elisif's declaration.
"And what has the Sixth Legion been doing this whole time?" Elisif snapped immediately.
"Half is encamped down near Falkreath to keep the pass to Cyrodiil and the road north from falling into Stormcloak hands. Legate Sven Skulnar commands them" Tullius explained as he pointed to the marker near Falkreath.
"And the rest?"
"Two of their cohorts are here, east of Rorikstead under Legate Quentin Scipius, and the other three are split up along this area. Legate Hrollod has a cohort controlling Broken Tower Redoubt here. Legate Fasendil has another cohort to hold down Fort Sundgard, and...the last cohort is camped somewhere in here, near the Sundered Towers" Tullius sighed as he waved his hand at the locations on the map.
"Who commands it?" Elisif quipped, noting the absence of mentioning a Legate associated with it.
"It was...commanded by Legate Shiria Lasirius. Now, Tribune Kranen has temporary command until I decide which Legate to send as a replacement after Legate Lasirius' death at the hands of forsworn marauders" Tullius stared at the map more ponderously.
"Why break up the Sixth into so many places?" Elisif queried, already knowing part of the answer, but wanting Tullius to start divulging his strategy without her having to pry or enable him to withhold any details from her.
"We can't leave the middle so free of troops, or Ulfric could outflank either or both Legions in the north or south. Additionally, as soon as the war broke out, the Forsworn decided it would be a good time to start trouble again, and have started attacking settlements and encroaching further and further north and east" Tullius frowned a bit, the thought of the Forsworn visibly annoying him.
"And those are the only reasons?" Elisif tried not to sound smug, knowing all three groups of separated cohorts were sitting on Whiterun's borders and of Tullius' expectations of Balgruuf.
Tullius paused a moment and exchanged another glance with Rikke before speaking.
"Balgruuf...can't...remain neutral forever. With cohorts stationed near his borders, it gives us the quickest possible route to get to Whiterun if Ulfric forces his hand, or...if worse comes to worse and Balgruuf inconceivably JOINS the Stormcloaks, then at least we will not be caught by surprise by Stormcloak troops moving quickly across the plains" Tullius gestured with a sweeping hand motion to the plains around Whiterun on the map and extending west nearly to Rorikstead.
"A prudent strategy...I suppose" Elisif made sure she didn't sound impressed "What were your plans then for the extra Legion you requested?" she eyed Tullius as she settled back in her chair, waiting for the explanation.
"If I had another Legion, I could deploy them south...here near Falkreath" he muttered, thumping the map "With those kinds of numbers, we could easily drive the Stormcloak southern army presence from Falkreath Hold. That would free up most of the cohorts already holding the pass. Ulfric doesn't have the might or cunning to fight the war on two fronts. With a Legion and a half in the south slowly pushing its way north and east and the Third Legion campaigning in the North, defeat would only be a matter of time...probably months" he finished with a wave of his hand as if it was a foregone conclusion.
"Well, it seems we aren't going to get that extra Legion. We cannot fight so defensively and expect to gain ground" Elisif declared, rising and sweeping her hand across the map at the Legion units.
"I expect you to come up with a more productive strategy besides hunkering down and expecting Ulfric to thin his own troops out by attacking your own strong points" Elisif continued before whirling and departing Tullius' barracks to the stunned expressions of both Tullius and Rikke, who were so surprised that neither said anything.
As Elisif plodded into the hallways of the Blue Palace, she had to admit that despite surprising Tullius with the order from High Chancellor Magnus Olaren, he hadn't seemed that bothered by her questions, nor had he been particularly more outgoing about the campaign besides what she had compelled him to divulge.
Entering her room, she carefully closed the door and moved to her writing desk.
Even though she knew she was alone, she still cast a wary glance around before taking a seat and eyeing over the letters that had come in that morning from Dispatch riders.
She didn't like the fact that her mail passed through several hands before getting to her desk, but she worried that changing things up now would tip off any other spies she didn't know about.
Lysi and Bolgeir were...compromised. Lysi had looked to have been co-opted against her will, but Bolgeir had looked completely at home in his role as Elisif cast her memory back to the secluded meeting in the Gardens.
The question is...were there more?
She supposed some in the Legion would have their own designs since there were several Legion names on Hassuldor's list, but they were rarely in the Palace itself, and mainly kept to the Barracks or the City itself.
As she carefully eyed the seals on her letters, she heard a brief flutter off to her side, and quickly glanced to see a Pigeon sitting on the edge of the veranda.
Elisif's eyes homed in with excitement on the small scroll of paper attached to its leg.
Gently coaxing it to her with a piece of breadcrust, she carefully clutched it and extracted its message before releasing it and watching it consume the bread before it flew away.
How exactly the Dunmer were able to train the birds to do this, Elisif had no idea, but she was too excited about the contents of the message to worry about it.
Scurrying around her quarters, she retrieved the necessary powders that she had been instructed to use to read the coded messages that would be sent to her.
She'd had to hide the powders in different places since any spy versed in such things would recognize them if she left them out together somewhere.
Once she'd locked her door and assembled the different ingredients, she carefully unfurled the message, which to the naked eye was a blank slip of paper.
Remembering the order she had been told to memorize by the House Redoran Spymaster, she carefully sprinkled some glow dust on the parchment and waited a moment as a message in bluish letters began to appear.
"Frostfall 4th Fredas: Dragonborn rumored to be in Riften - Unrest in Whiterun, people want Balgruuf to choose a side"
Elisif was a little disappointed at the brevity of the message, but remembered it was only a message from the spy in Whiterun. The others were yet to be deciphered.
Disposing of the glow dust remnants, she slowly sprinkled dust derived from ground blue moth's wings across the same parchment.
Again, scripted letters slowly appeared, this time in yellow glowing form.
"Frostfall 2nd Thedas: A strange temple outside Dawnstar inflicts madness on all who go near - both armies have taken casualties from it - Jarl Skald threatens to cut off all non-Stormcloak shipping, threatening the loss of income for many - most in the City grow tired of him and the Stormcloaks"
After a moment of contemplating the implications, Elisif noted the script starting to fade.
Discarding the dust on it, she sprinkled the next batch on, some powdered Orange dartwing dust.
"Frostfall 1st Fredas: Mage's College in Winterhold at risk of being closed down - Korir and most Winterhold residents despise them - Korir has recently forced the College to train Stormcloak recruits, even though the Mages declared themselves neutral - Situation grows worse by the day"
Sighing with frustration, Elisif couldn't say she was surprised since Korir had always had a poor attitude about the Mage's College ever since becoming Jarl.
Dumping the dust off, she scattered the Orange Butterfly Wing Dust on next, eager to see what new information would present itself.
"Hearthfire Last Fredas: Situation in the Reach worse than feared - Forsworn control nearly everything south of Markarth and east to Rorikstead and continue pushing north - Attacks on settlements and farms are now a weekly if not daily occurrence - Jarl Igmund behaves strangely - most in Markarth do not trust him - He seems to believe as long as the City is safe, that eventually the Legion will drive back the Forsworn and does little to stop them himself - Situation will grow dire if no intervention is made soon."
Elisif sat back and pondered over the new information in tandem with what she now knew about the placement of the Empire's forces. She would have to find some way of convincing Tullius to deploy some of them to Markarth, or they might lose the Reach again...just like the Markarth Incident from before.
Fidgeting with frustration, she hurriedly dumped off the dust and applied some Moon Sugar across the parchment, waiting for a moment as green scripted letters began to appear.
"No report from Riften, Windhelm or Falkreath yet. If this continues, we will investigate- M"
Elisif's heart fell, upon reading the message. She knew that it might take some time for the spies to get themselves into the locations they were supposed to be scouting, but still, she had been so intent upon learning about Windhelm and hopefully get something on Ulfric's plans or weaknesses to use against him.
Her disappointment was interrupted by a gentle knocking on the door to her private quarters.
"My Lady? My Lady? Are you well?" came the muffled entreaties of her maid, Lysi.
Elisif quickly hid the jars of powders in her writing desk before slipping the parchment report into the fireplace.
She then took a moment to collect herself before moving to the door and slowly unlocking it, as if deliberately taking her time.
"Yes, what is it?" Elisif asked, acting as if it was completely normal for her to lock the door on her own maids, something she never did before.
"I...my apologies, my Lady" Lysi curtsied, casting her gaze down at the floor "I came to change the bed linens and...th-the door was locked. S-so I thought something might be wrong" she murmured, avoiding Elisif's gaze.
"Nothing is wrong. I simply found dealing with General Tullius this afternoon very taxing and wished to retreat to my own quarters for some peace of mind. Since I did not wish to be disturbed, I decided to lock the door" Elisif explained as if it were a very sensible thing to do.
"Oh..." Lysi replied, still avoiding looking Elisif in the eye, but also confused at Elisif's behavior.
"In fact, in the future, I might try it some more as the isolation calms my poor nerves" Elisif continued, seizing the opportunity to make the practice a more normal occurrence.
"Oh...of course, my Lady. I will let Erdi know" Lysi replied with her head still bowed.
"You may continue, though" Elisif waved into the room, taking a seat back at her desk as she pretended to eyeball some letters while instead watching Lysi scurrying around as she changed the bed linens.
Elisif felt conflicted.
Lysi had seemed like she was so unwilling at the secret meeting in the Garden, but during their trip back to Solitude, it had occurred to Elisif that Lysi might not always have been unwilling, and may only have been unwilling once she was asked to do something unpleasant or once she realized the depth of matters she was involved with.
Her loyalty was impossible to be sure of without knowing more.
Momentarily overcome with her concern for the young, Nord lass who'd been a maid in the Palace for two years now, Elisif approached her as she was about to leave with the dirty bed linens.
"Lysi..." Elisif carefully reached down and tipped the young maid's chin up to look her in the eyes "Is everything alright?" she asked, searching the frightened green eyes of the Nord lass.
"O-of course, my Lady...why wouldn't it be?" Lysi blurted out, involuntarily shaking her head loose from Elisif's finger on her chin before bowing obediently again, robbing Elisif's scrutiny of those frightened green eyes, and instead, presenting only the obedient blonde head of hair, with braids around the sides.
"I just wondered. The trip to the Imperial City was a rough trip on all of us. You know you can always talk to me about anything" Elisif tried to reply in a comforting tone without sounding too worried.
"Thank you...my Lady. You are most kind" Lysi bowed before backing away and moving out of the room and closing the door.
After watching Lysi leave and close the door, Elisif turned back to her desk and froze in horror.
Somehow, she had forgotten to put the jar of Moon Sugar away, and it was sitting on the edge of the desk by her writing materials.
Had Lysi seen it? Would she know what it was for if she had seen it?
Elisif cursed her own ineptitude as she put the Moon Sugar away and then one by one, removed the other ingredients from her desk and hid them in their proper places again.
Sighing in frustration, she sank into her chair and contemplated what to do.
It was bad enough to have enemies elsewhere. Having people working against her inside her own Palace would simply not do, especially if they undermined everything else she was trying to accomplish.
But were Bolgeir and Lysi the only ones working secretly for others...either willingly or not?
Elisif surmised there were others, particularly given the number of names on Hassuldor's list.
What were they after? Surely they weren't all after the same thing?
Would prying into the lives of those near her alert them to the fact she knew they were spying?
There was one person in the Palace that Elisif knew she had to have on her side and assured of her loyalty if she was going to get anywhere.
Looking at the time, she hurried out of her quarters and down the hallway, knowing this was about the usual time Sybille Stentor would be back in her quarters.
Author's Notes:
1. IMPORTANT: THIS FIC, ALONG WITH MY OTHERS, IS BEING MOVED OVER TO AO3. YOU CAN FIND IT THERE UNDER THE SAME NAME AND I HAVE THE SAME AUTHOR NAME AS HERE. AO3 WILL GIVE ME MORE FREEDOM TO WRITE (ACTUALLY HAVE APPROPRIATE CATEGORIES FOR GRAPHIC MATERIAL) AND HOPEFULLY FEWER TECHNICAL PROBLEMS THAN THIS SITE HAS GIVEN ME. Sorry if that is an inconvenience, but it is very easy to get an AO3 account setup, though there might be a waiting period of a few days since there is a backlog of requests.
2. I have tried to make the Campaign strategies, locations, and politics as accurately as possible, but it is time consuming. Feedback is helpful if you notice something off.
3. There isn't much about spying that is actually visible in the Elder Scrolls universe, but it is mentioned plenty of times. I figured that based on what else was possible with magic in the Lore, that it would make sense for invisible runes to be sent via messenger, and that only ones instructed with the specific ingredient or spell would be able to reveal the message. If you're aware of any other "spy stuff" from the Elder Scrolls world that I have somehow overlooked or am not aware of, message me plz.