HOUSECLEANING

(Warning: cluttered, dusty attics and cellars. Old photo albums. *cough*cough* Sorry.)

The ash storm pounded its portside until the ship turned and rounded the coast to where the bulwark of Raven Rock took on the storm and the Northern Maiden dropped the ash from her sails and glided into dock. It was the end of fall and seas were rough. Passengers, Dunmer all, were eager to get onto solid land. Particularly eagers ones jumped the distance between the boat and the dock. It made for some hilarious landings and the Nord crew weren't at all shy about laughing and calling out unwanted advice about how to properly jump ship. One passenger in full head-to-toe, weathered hide armor and who had lounged the last hour at the front of the ship and taking on the full force of the ash storm, finally got to his feet, picking up a pack, and sauntered to the gangplank. As he passed Captain Gjalund, he said, "See you next month, captain. Safe journey."

"And good endeavors to you, Revyn. Oh, wait up, Second Councilor Arano is coming this way. I'll introduce you."

"I've exchanged correspondence with him, but yes, that would be nice." Revyn pulled down his dust veil and shoved the goggles and hood higher onto his forehead.

"Captain Gjalund."

"Councilor Arano. Full shipment despite the storms."

"Excellent." The councilor's gaze slid to Revyn.

"This is Revyn Sadri, Helsette Faro's husband. Revyn, Adril Arano, Second Councilor of Raven Rock, House Redoran."

The look of surprise was quickly was quickly shoved aside, but Revyn was inwardly pleased to see it. Councilor Arano's letters had been stiff and formal, indicating he clearly did not like dealing Hlaalu but only did so for Helsette's sake. Clearly the councilor had not been expecting someone wearing Ashland style hide armor. "Welcome to Raven Rock, Revyn. We've been looking forward to finally meeting you."

"Likewise, my lord. While I enjoy our correspondence, speaking in person is so much better.

"But I'll take my leave now and let you and Captain Gjalund conduct your business. However, may I call upon Councilor Morvayn, you, and your lady later this evening?"

"We look forward to it," said Arano. He pulled a ring of keys from his pocket and extended it to Revyn. "The keys your lady left in our care. I will send an escort for you when we are ready this evening."

"My pleasure." Revyn turned to his right and gestured to the two who had come from below deck and stood a respectful distance away to come closer. "My lord, let me introduce to Savela Nethri, my apprentice, and Tony Scarpelli, an intern of the East Empire Company office in Windhelm sent to assist Master Razelan for the quarter year." Councilor Arano nodded curtly as the two politely bowed.

A few more courtesies and then the three disembarked and began walking westward along the waterfront towards Severin Manor. The waterfront was busy. Old buildings were being torn down to lay foundations for new ones. Temporary living barracks had been built for the influx of job hunters and hastily erected business offices, stores, and warehouses. Another, longer pier was being constructed for larger, heavier trade ships. As they walked along, Revyn was occasionally hailed by those who had migrated some months earlier from Windhelm when word got out that Raven Rock's fortunes were on the upswing.

Severin Manor, for now, was on the western outskirts of town. Outwardly modest sized Dunmer style building nestled up against a hillside. Inside, however, it was carved deep into the hillside. The upper level was primarily a basic hearth cooking area and storage with table and chairs for casual dining. A second level below was even larger and boasted a master bedroom that was also part armor display, a second large bedroom with an ash garden, and then three alcoves for an alchemy lab, an enchantments center, and a forge. Fully stocked when transferred to Helsette, then stacked with even more things she'd collected during her wanderings over Solstheim. Need another more assistant, he thought as he assessed the rooms and junk piled haphazardly in each. A mage or apprentice mage. He could sense magic in the piles but it would take a mage to identify the type and strength.

For now they would set up beds in the upper level. Tony was puzzled about that but Savela matter-of-factly explained that generally it was safer to not sleep so close to so many unidentified magical items. No telling which ones were cursed or had malignant spells. Revyn was pleased to listen at how confident she sounded now.

+—+—+—+—+

The Retching Netch. Upper level. Spacious, uncluttered, a courtesy cooking spot for those who preferred to cook their own food. A young boy attended the area, keeping surfaces clean and the fire stoked.

"Welcome, serjo. You wish to cook something? You can purchase ingredients below at the bar. Master Geldis keeps a well-stocked larder. There's also the menu. Tonight's specialty is nix-hound pies baked today. The meat pieces and steaks have been marinated in spiced flin and smoked with green tandil stalks for sweetness.

"Yes, I can smell the tandil. The specialties sound delicious."

"Best there is," the boy stated matter-of-factly. "You won't regret it, serjo. You can order and pay at the bar."

Below stairs it was packed. Dunmer primarily with about a dozen Nords or Imperials sprinkled about. A bard was off in a shadowed corner singing what must be current popular tunes in Morrowind. Revyn listened appreciatively. He'd listened to Skyrim bards so long that he'd forgotten the different tuning and melodic preferences of his homeland. Winding through the crowd servers in uniform aprons bore trays to customers. Revyn noted approvingly that a numbering system had been set up to match orders to customers so that one could order at the bar, pick up a little numbered flag, and then wander off to a preferred spot to wait. He pushed is way to the bar.

"What'll it be?"

"House sujamma, a specialty pie, and a word with Geldis when he has time."

The barmaid poured him a sujamma and set a little flag next to the tankard. She took his money to Geldis and pointed Revyn out to him. Revyn nodded back and pointed upstairs. Geldis shrugged and made change.

The nix hound pie was superb and Revyn amused himself by trying to pin down the ingredients. A half-mark later Geldis came to his table. Revyn stood. Geldis looked as his wife had described him. Revyn searched the other's face for anything familiar. "Revyn, originally from Vivec City."

"Cousin Revyn. Yes. Helsette's told me about you. Our grandsires were brothers."

"Yes. Eldiig took to trading in the Ashlands. He met his mate from a small clan part Zainab, part Urshilaku. His son, my father, likewise married in that same clan. I spent most of my youth in the caravans and my teen years apprenticed to my aunt learning to run a shop in the Waistworks of Vivec City until being evacuated to Skyrim.

"And Svadik moved to Gnisis to try his fortune trading around the ebony mines if I remember correctly."

Geldis smiled faintly and nodded slowly. "Aye, selling supplies to miners was profitable and we joined with a hostelry family and started running inns alongside the shops. Worked our way from Gnisis to Blacklight and my parents came here to Raven Rock to set up shop. This was before the Redorans took over. I was born here, married and took over the brewery part of the business from my in-laws while my wife worked the inn with her parents."

"And you lost them to the Argonians." Geldis looked hard at him. Revyn looked down at the table. "Oh, I've been doing my own searching. The deaths records in the temples, you know. They'd linked the Sadri name to their Rivuth ancestral records like the Rivuth groom had linked in his bride her family. The records of the local temple and were destroyed in that raid, but the Rivuth had already formalized the link in the records of the main temple in Mournhold before traveling to the wedding site."

"Aye." Geldis waived the serving girl to bring another bottle. "Bad luck. Bad timing for a wedding and their family reunion. Just one of the many small battles before the full invasion." He refilled their tankards. "So you. You ended up in Skyrim. Didn't think anybody from your branch made it out of Vivec."

"The woman my grandfather married was the daughter of the wisewoman, one whom Ordinators frequently hunted for heresy. You know, how the Tribunal murdered Lord Nerevar, how Nerevar would return — all that. The wisewoman told my grandfather to get as many of his kin out of Vvardenfell as he could. Azura had told her the end of the Tribunal was coming, and when they fell, so would all their works. And so those of us who believed joined with our Ashland kin. Some by boats that went to Windhelm, to Dawnstar, to Winterhold, others risked the mainland.

"I was part of the Windhelm group. At that time the Snow Quarter had no room for us and we went north to Winterhold to meet up with those that landed there. I spent two decades mining and hauling rock, building a shrine to Azura. After that, wandered a bit. Eventually went back to Windhelm. By then Windhelm was handling so many refugees that we had taken over the Snow Quarter, renamed the Gray Quarter by the Nords. I've waited there since, hoping to see more of my immediate family come through. Never saw them."

Geldis nodded. "Too many couldn't find boats out of Vvardenfell. Too many were no better than rafts. No sails, no steering. Dependent on tides to get them to Blacklight. Normally, that'd work. But Red Mountain played hell with the tides and changed the sea currents. Instead of Blacklight or the Morrowind coast, boats were swept to Solstheim or joined the Sea of Ghosts. Many boats couldn't make it. Ships from Fort Frostmoth and fishing ships out of Raven Rock risked the storms to aid any refugees they could find. But weren't any safe harbor to return to. Red Mountain took out all the shore settlements, Raven Rock was no exception, but most survived because the majority were working in or able to get to the mine when the main blast hit shore. Fort Frostmoth was destroyed. Those ships still seaworthy set for Skyrim. Those needing repairs had to limp around to the north coast to the secondary fishing port. Those surviving on land and hoping for a ship trekked to the north coast through the ash storms and under constant attack by rieklings. Who made it out, where in Skyrim they landed, nobody really knows."

They fell silent, drinking to their own memories.

Geldis excused himself, saying he had to get back to work. Revyn went back to the manor. Tony was napping over the first volume of the history of Raven Rock. There was still a couple of hours before evening so Revyn strolled further west towards the Earth stone.

People still avoided the area, the pillar etched with ancient, unfamiliar runes. The outer shell rubble of a shrine built by a nightmare. There was immense power in the so-called All-Maker stone but there discordant edge that set his teeth to aching and his ancestor's necklace vibrating in warning. A partially healed wound, raw edges still with the possibility of reinfection.

It was the first stone Helsette had freed when she finally got a dragon soul to fuel the first word of a shout the shaman of the Skaal told her she needed. Then she'd freed the stones nearest the Skaal Village and the one nearest Tel Mithryn. There were three others. Two she knew the location of but hadn't the time or energy to take them, and the third was in the main Temple of Miraak, and that one couldn't be taken down until Miraak was defeated. And until that happened, there was always the possibility that this central stone would reinfect the others.

He returned to the manor and prepared for dinner with the councilors.

+—+—+—+—+

First Councilor Lleril Morvayn, Second Councilor Adril Arano, and the Second Councilor's wife, Cindiri Arano, all lived in a dockside two-level structure fancifully renamed the Morvayn Manor. Severin Manor was much bigger, but then the previous owners had a lot of money to spend on building it. Ever since the mine's closure the town's value to the Redorans had dropped considerably. The only thing keeping Raven Rock going the past 30 years was Morvayn's personal wealth supplemented by a weak hunting and fishing industry.

The town had been in a slow death spiral, Morvayn's coffers empty, until Helsette Faro drifted into town on her quest to learn more about her heritage. The seemingly feckless Hlaalu child, too young to be roaming on her own for propriety's sake, spent her first week just wandering about town asking lots of silly questions and doing small errands. At first they wondered if she was a spy for the Hlaalu Ulen family who'd tried to stage a coup some decades earlier but that idea was quickly discarded; at 18 years she was far too young and artless for such intrigue, and had no shame admitting that she'd been raised Imperial and was only half Dunmer.

And as usual his wife's altruistic streak wouldn't allow her to stay out of trouble. After taking on several hero-type projects — solving the mystery of the ebony mine closure, solving the mystery of the ash spawn attacks on Raven Rock, clearing the local temple of ash spawn allowing proper burial rites to resume, saving First Councilor Morvayn from an assassination plot — she'd become the darling of the Redorans in the two years she'd been there. Lady Cindiri definitely saw herself as a stand-in mother to Helsette while Morvayn and Adril were concerned uncles of a sort who were reluctantly realizing Helsette was far more than a precocious child. The three were at or near the second century mark with Cindiri the youngest at 190.

It was like being looked over by in-laws except this was her Redoran "family" and their critical eyes saw an untrustworthy Hlaalu shopkeeper, not a warrior, and 200 years older than his wife. So, questionable courage, morals, honor. Lady Cindiri handled the initial conversation while the councilors judged. Revyn was a polite as if he were in the tents of his Ashlander cousins.

"... with Geldis being your cousin I expect you'll also be spending time at the Retching Netch," Lady Cindiri was saying.

"Indeed I shall. His branch of the family had separated from mine a couple generations earlier and I knew they had moved to the north, to Gnisis and to Blacklight. I didn't know about Solstheim until my wife mentioned him to me. I do hope our renewed kinship will be a strong one."

"I've little doubt of that," she remarked. "You seem to think alike."

That seemed a good sign that so far they weren't openly disapproving the match. Normally, he wouldn't care what their opinion might be, but they viewed Helsette as family and their goodwill opened avenues that he didn't have. The Morvayn name, though impoverished, still had influence in House Redoran. Arano had an extensive political information network in Morrowind and Cyrodiil. Lady Cindiri had her own network of social contacts.

Light inquiries about his family which he easily gave, knowing they'd be checking with their contacts.

"We had planned to ask her if she would accept membership in House Redoran," Morvayn said, startling him, "for all that she has done for us, but Telvanni beat us to it. "

"Quite a surprise to me, the Telvanni," he acknowledged. "But, Telvanni." He shrugged. There wasn't much to say. The Telvanni lived by the code of 'He who has the power, is the power,' at least within their respective domains. And if Telvanni Mage-Lord Neloth wanted to pay with a House membership instead of gold, he just did it and that was that. Helsette wasn't sure if she should've been outraged or amused, but had settled for amused and asked Revyn for ways to push this new relation to her advantage. "Why delay? Why not make the offer when you gave her the manor and citizenship?" asked Revyn.

"I was waiting to hear from my contacts for information on the Faro line of Hlaalu," answered Arano. "Political affiliations you understand, and what came to light forced us to pass review by the Redoran Council. I found the Faro line an obscure off-shoot branch of the Ra'athim House." He paused as if expecting some reaction from Revyn. When Revyn gave none, the three exchanged speaking glances.

"You have the advantage, my lord," said Revyn, holding his hands palms up to invite further information. "My contacts are primarily in Skyrim and in trade, not political information. Pray, enlighten me further."

After a glance at Morvayn and receiving a slight nod in return, Arano began his lecture. "The Ra'athim of Ebonhart and Mournhold, of course, produced Katariah, the Duchess of Vvardenfell, whom Emperor Magnus Septim I arranged to be married to his son, Jarl Pelagius of Solitude, later Emperor Pelagius Septim III. She ruled as Empress-Regent when her husband went mad, and then as Empress Katariah I when he died. She ruled 50 years until her death and the throne passed to her son Cassynder Septim. The House also produced Queen Barenziah and King Athyn Llethan.

"Of the Faros, the only well-known member was a noted court beauty by the name of Inelisi Faro." Here Arano paused to clear his throat, now showing some discomfort. "She was a handmaid of Queen Ravani Llethan and was dismissed when her nephew Talen Vandas began showing interest in her. She returned to court shortly after the deaths of King Llethan and heir presumptive Talen Vandas as the concubine of Hlaalu Helseth. Then just months before the Red Year she leaves him to abruptly marry Legate Gaius Felix who was recalled to Cyrodiil."

Revyn closed his eyes, his mind a flurry of sorting, reviewing, and reorganizing any scrap of memory his wife had mentioned of her past and her family. What he was learning now had so many implications that were currently beyond his scope to handle at the moment, but he knew it would require intense study at a later time.

"So the Redoran Council balks at adopting a suspected descendant of Hlaalu Helseth and his Faro cousin." He suddenly laughed, puzzling them. "It's a great honor you would show her. But, three Houses? I know she would still hold to House Hlaalu even if it is no longer a Great House. Telvanni shows its contempt of Hlaalu by adding her to his House without her permission."

"You laugh. Why?" asked Lady Cindiri.

"You've given me a revelation. Let me give you one. But, this is not for general knowledge. I would tell you this in confidence but only because a debt is owed — is that so?"

"True," said Morvayn. "I owe her my life, the future of this town, the honor of my name."

Arano dismissed the house guards and the servants who had been attending the kitchen, sending them all outside. "Outside of this room, we know nothing," he stated.

"According to what my wife knows as fact is that the man who introduced his good friend, Legate Gaius Felix, to Inelisi Faro was the Nerevarine. The Nerevarine, as prophecy required, was Hortator of three Houses — Hlaalu, Telvanni, and Redoran."

Morvayn's faint smile looked more a grimace of an upset stomach while Arano seemed to be swearing in a whisper.

"Nerevarine was also required unite the Velothi; the four tribes to call him Nerevarine. There are nine holds in Skyrim. She is thane of three so far, and well on her way to a fourth and fifth. She also is bloodkin to the Orsimer and Champion of Malacath. She is also of recent Champion of Azura. What all this will ultimately make her, gods only know. I do hope they're having a good laugh. I know I must.

"She'd burdened with the Nord prophecy of the Dragonborn. And like the Nerevarine, she's working in a culture that would happily kill her for usurping their precious, preconceived Nord hero by being a Dunmer. I remember the confusion and anger among my Ashlander elders and kin when it was realized Lord Nerevar had returned to us not only an outsider but a human of mixed Imperial and Nord blood."

Lady Cindiri looked at Morvayn. "Then you might as well bring her into the House, Councilor. No better precedence has been set for multiple Houses."

"You know more about Helsette's maternal family than she," Revyn said admiringly.

"How can this be possible?" demanded Lady Cindiri.

"From what I've deduced from stories my love has told me, Inelisi has told them little to nothing of her life before her marriage to Felix who took his secrets to the grave. And if Cheydinhal society knows anything, they've kept their mouths shut around the Faro women. Or, at least around Helsette. I do not know how much the general knows, but Helsette certainly is ignorant of her Dunmer ancestry."

"They cannot be as ignorant as you think if they gave her a name so blatantly derivative." Lady Cindiri wore a stern, disapproving frown.

Revyn shrugged. "Perhaps you are right, my lady. I have no facts on that matter. I've not yet had the pleasure of meeting her parents to ask them. Our courtship was quite unconventional. As unconventional as the woman herself. I've written to them, but have received no reply to date."

"Yes. Your courtship. I've heard Nords often rush into marriage days after meeting." She sipped her wine. The eyes peering over the brim of the goblet held steady on him. And did you rush her in the same fashion? she seemed to be asking.

He mimicked her action. "So they do. I confess to being startled out of my wits when she showed up after only weeks of acquaintance with an Amulet of Mara. The popular way to propose, you know, outside of our people. I pretended not to notice. I was, in fact, hoping she'd worn the trinket by mistake, meaning to ask someone else after stopping in my shop. Third time she came in I finally asked her if she realized what it looked like when she wore that amulet around people."

"And so you accepted."

"No. I told her I was too old for her, but she refused to let that be the obstacle. She won in the end. The only way out was to tell her I never wanted to see her again. Azura as my witness, I did not have the strength to do that."

Morvayn abruptly pushed away from the table and went upstairs. He returned moments later with a book that he set in front of Revyn. Treasures of the Museum of Artifacts. Revyn opened it to a page marked with a silk ribbon and saw a full page reproduction of a royal girl's portrait. Silk, furs, gold crown blazing with 25 blood diamonds — rare gems of power only found deep within Red Mountain — and a gentle, whimsical smile he knew so well, eyes reflecting knowledge one so young should not have. The plate below the picture read, Coronation of Queen Barenziah.

He had never seen his picture before and was acutely aware of the intent eyes of his hosts. He wondered if they could also hear how loud his heart was pounding. "Well." He looked up at Morvayn. "Well, well. And how long have you known this?"

Lady Cindiri answered him. "One of the newer immigrants here was an apprentice to the artist that painted portraits for the royal family and nobles of Mournhold. He brought this book with him. Geldis had borrowed it and when he came upon this picture, brought it to my attention the next time I visited there for a drink. I borrowed it from him to show the councilors. This is our copy we ordered from Blacklight."

"We've never had the opportunity of speaking with her about this," said Arano. "The times she's returned to Raven Rock she stays only long enough to purchase supplies and then heads out. When she returns it's only long enough to sell things and then she's gone again to Skyrim."

"I was beginning to think she was deliberately avoiding us. Then she broke the spell on the accursed shrine," said Morvayn. "Creatures of Oblivion emerge from the pool around the stone." He shuddered. "Waking to find those nightmares and only having a hammer and chisel in hand to fight with. Although, Adril, you handled your shovel pretty well."

"A spear would have been better, but it served," Arano said with a grim smile. "Her arrows were lightning bolts making the creatures twitch with muscle spasms and befuddling their reaction time to where we, though exhausted from hours of mindless work, could strike it with chisels, shovels, pickaxes, or even just throw large rocks."

Morvayn continued. "She told us a mad tale of an undead dragonpriest named Miraak wanting to come back to life to restore his rule over Solstheim. We had no time or space to think of asking her about her possible relation to the last of the Hlaalu kings; we were too busy taking count of our people to see who's missing, inexplicable injuries that we'd never remembered receiving or even having—"

"Suddenly remembering friends, people who have gone missing and never realizing it," interjected Lady Cindiri. "Some we still don't know if they are working on other accursed stones or are dead."

"Yes," said Morvayn. "And working out ways to stretch our overworked guards to cover areas outside the Bulwark to watch for those still bespelled."

"If you find people seem too nosy about where you go or what you are doing," said Lady Cindiri, "please understand that we've developed that habit to keep track of each other because even with this stone free of the curse there are others stones still out there calling through our dreams."

"Sleepers of a dead house," Revyn said flatly.

"Sleepers. Of course." Morvayn rubbed his eyes wearily. "Of course. How could this have escaped me? I now remember my mother's stories of the Sleepers. What next? Corprus beasts? Ascended Sleepers? The constant attacks on the original Manor in Ald'ruhn were the nightmares of my childhood."

"Nightmares for everyone," Revyn said, sighing deeply. "I know when my wife returns lately from Solstheim she is ill from lack of sleep and exhaustion. If she hasn't told you, Miraak is in Apocrypha, a servant of Hermaeus Mora. She's traveled twice there; the first when she found a portal book in Bloodskaal Barrow mine, the second at the Temple of Miraak. The portals will not allow her to take any help with her so she must travel and fight her way free on her own. And even leaving here she gets no rest because his priests follow her into Skyrim to try to kill her. And Miraak pursues in spirit to taunt her.

"But she is determined to find a way to defeat him. If she's avoiding you, then she is probably feeling guilty at how long it's taking her to find a solution."

"She should not," Morvayn said firmly. "I would be grateful if you could convince her to let that guilt go. We will endure and we will gladly aid her if she but lets us know how we can do so."

"We miss her company," Lady Cindiri admitted. "I've written about her to my cousin and he has traveled here to meet her." Seeing Revyn's faint frown she laughed. "Oh, no, he is not here for that purpose. He knows she's married. Happily married." There was the challenge.

"I endeavor to keep it so. She is not one that can be held if she is unhappy." He yawned lightly. "Forgive me. I am more tired than I thought. And the revelations of her House that you've given me are things I must take into consideration in my current and future plan. You understand."

"And that is your role," said Morvayn, a shrewd look in his eyes. "An army does not advance by sword alone. Not even an army of one. Well, I agree; it's time we retire. I look forward to many evenings of interesting exchanges."

Well, that went fairly well he thought as he walked back to Severin Manor. Allies in House Redoran would be a good bolt hole if needed. A darker thought he reluctantly considered was how bad things would have to be if ever he needed to call on the heavily armored forces of the Redorans.