Delphine POV:
We find the elf named Faendal in The Sleeping Giant Inn (no surprise since it's the only inn in Riverwood and everyone always came there) tossing back a bottle or two of mead. I walk over to the man, roughly drag him into the room that I use to hide my secret room, and lock the door behind us. The man knows me and begins sputtering off insults, but he quickly falls silent when Esbern snarls at him. I descend the stairs and return with a suit of armor that will fit the man nicely. As I put the armor on him I explain the situation to him.
"The Dragoborn has been captured by Thalmor agents, and we're heading to go get her back. You're going to help us.". I finish fitting him with the armor and he screeches his discontent.
"I most certainly will not help you!". I shrug and simply lay my proverbial cards out on the table.
"Alright, that's find. I'll just tell Camilla the 'note' from Sven is a lie.". When his face pales I continue pushing him.
"The Dragonborn told me all about how you're so low as to make up something bout Sven to get the woman you want. Now, are you coming with us, or is Sven going to have Camilla warming his bed tonight?". The elf curses me, but adjusts his armor and takes the blade that I offer him. I smile at him, turn to Esbern, and try to stay positive.
"One down. Two to go.".
It's not too hard of a task to find Uthgerd sitting at a table at The Bannered Mare. Esbern and Faendal stick right behind me as I enter the inn. I walk over to the woman, sit down across from her, and begin telling her what's wrong.
"The Dragonborn has been captured by the Thalmor-". I'm cut off of saying anything else by the woman's loyalty and courage taking over.
"What can I possibly do to help?". I blink once, motion for Esbern to hand her her new armor, and tell the woman what I need.
"Go put this armor on, then return to us.". She nods, stands, and leaves to go put on her Blades Armor. As we wait, I look around the bar. I smile a little when I realize this place is absolutely filthy compared to my old inn. Although, I shake my head in disgust when I see a rat scuttling about. When Uthger returns to us she's fully armored, and the warrior gladly takes the sword I offer her. I rise from my seat and ask the three people in front of me a question.
"Any ideas where the Dragonborn's house is in the city?". Uthger nods and tells me where.
"Beside the smith's shop near the entrance to the city.". I nod at her and begin walking away. All three of my fellow Blades follow closely behind me. As we walk, Faendal and Uthgerd exchange words with one another.
"How in the actual Oblivion do you know where the woman lives, anyway? Even I don't know that about her.". Faendal almost seems upset as he talks to Uthgerd. The woman clears her throat, gives a small chuckle, and explains.
"She showed me her home at one point, but when she showed me I only cared about the bedroom.". Faednal has a delayed and idiotic response.
"Oh. Oh.". I roll my eyes before tuning out their idle jabbering. I truly don't care how Uthgerd knows where the Dragonborn's house in Whiterun is; I'm just glad that she knows. The door to the house isn't locked and I easily enter my friend's house without a struggle. Instantly, I hear a commotion upstairs as a dog resting beside the fireplace leaps up and begins barking at all of us. The gigantic hound doesn't charge or attack, but everyone in Whiterun probably knows there's someone in the Dragonborn's house now. The animal barks his lungs out and begins drooling, but stops it when a woman comes charging down the stairs. The Housecarl snarls in rage when she sees us and begins to draw her weapon, but stops when Uthgerd takes off her helm and explains.
"Calm down, Lydia. We're all friends here. This isn't a break-in or robbery.". Lydia slowly calms down, but still keeps her sword loose in her scabbard when she sheaths it. I step forward and speak to her directly.
"Your Thane is in dire trouble! She's been captured by the Thalmor. We need your help to save her and bring her back home.". Lydia looks over all of us, goes over to sit beside the fire with the dog, and gives me her answer.
"Absolutely not. I don't know who the Oblivion three of you are, and I haven't seen hide nor hair of Uthgerd for months now. If my Thane needed my assistance, then she would have actually taken me with her. She left me in that damned inn in Solitude for three whole days. She obviously didn't want me following her anymore, so I came back home. My Thane is strong, and she can handle herself. Now, get out of her house before I call the guards or kill you.". I sigh a bit, slowly approach the woman (making sure she sees me and doesn't react), and try to reason with her.
"I"m sure your Thane is a strong woman, but she can't handle the Thalmor by herself. I sent her in there, she got captured by them, and now I need to go get her out. The fate of Tamriel depends on her.". The woman still looks extremely skeptical of me, so I keep talking.
"I know how close the Dragonborn and you are to one another. She wouldn't stop talking about you when she traveled with me. The Dragonborn wouldn't make you stay at that inn for three days without telling you why. We both know that.". Her face slowly begins to soften as she sees the truth. I just need to tell her a little more evidence to convince her.
"She could be in real danger right now. Being tortured, beaten, starved, and raped as we speak. We need to retrieve her, but we can't do that without your help.". I take the Blades Armor from Esbern and offer it to her.
"Say 'no' and we'll simply leave, but your Thane will still be imprisoned.". Slowly, Lydia reaches out to take the armor before heading upstairs. The dog follows her and yaps the entire way. Actually, the damned beast won't shut up. I hope the Housecarl doesn't plan on taking the beast with us. Lydia swiftly comes back down the stairs. She's armored in the style of the Blades. I smile and her and offer her a sword. She takes it and my group is complete. I ask the Housecarl an important question.
"Do you mind if we rest here for the night and talk about our current plans in the morning?". The woman nods and tells us where the beds are located.
"There's a double bed in my Thane's room, my own bed in my room, and two children's beds in the small room located underneath the stairs. I'll take my bed because it's mine, you and the old man can sleep in the double together, and those two will sleep in the kid's bed because they can fit.". We all mumble our agreements at that and go to bed. Although, Esbern makes sure to keep his distance from me in the bed. As I try to fall into a nice sleep, I think about the Dragoborn and feel pity swell in my heart. The poor woman is still suffering.
She's probably naked, alone, and afraid of everything. I should have been prepared for this to possibly happen, or have sent someone far less valuable to Tamriel. Whatever has happened to that poor woman is my fault. I open my eyes, give a deep sigh, and close my eyes once again. As I finally fall asleep, I feel guilt begin to gnaw deeply into my stomach.
When I wake and dress I head downstairs and see Lydi has prepared a breakfast big enough for all of us. I sit down and begin eating. The food laid out before all of us is like a feast after weeks of nothing besides the food we could scavenge from the wilds of Skyrim. When everyone's done eating I make an announcement.
"I already have a plan formed. We all ride in a carriage to Solitude, and I'll pay for it. Then, I'll purchase property with some of the funds I've saved up over the years. The property I buy will serve as our base of operations. From there, I'll train all of you while we all work together to plan an infiltration mission into the Thalmor Embassy, and further our knowledge of the enemy we'll be facing. Our main enemy in all of this will be Elenwen and her Altmer lackeys, but when that's done we'll need to focus on the threat the dragons pose. Any objections or questions about the plan?". Lydia is the only person in the group to raise her hand. I point to her to give her permission to speak.
"Is this a permanent gig? I want to rescue my Thane, but I don't want to be forced to leave her when we finally get her back.". I shake my head at her and explain further.
"Feel free to permanently join our ranks after we free the Dragonborn if you want, but we aren't going to force you into our ranks if you don't want to.". Lydia nods in satisfaction, but Faendal raises his hand and asks a question before I can point at him.
"Yeah, how long is this going to take, exactly?". I throw a cup resting beside my hip at his face and snarl my answer at him.
"As damned long as I want it to take! You're a lying bastard, so you have to go along with it. It'll take roughly two months before I deem you all fit to actually see battle, three months before I have a decent amount of information about the embassy after you're fully trained, and four more months after that before I feel we're ready to go free the Dragonborn. It's a long time, but it'll seem to fly by us once we finally reach Solitude.". Uthgard asks a question next.
"What if she's dead when we get there?". I shrug a tiny bit and think of something.
"We'll slit Elenwen's throat and bring down as many of her damned lackeys as we can before we're killed or they're all killed. Any more question?". When they're all still and silent I start our journey.
"Good. Now, let's go.".
Elenwen POV:
My lowly slave practically moans in pleasure as the elves work their (figurative) magic on her to make her into a creature I'm proud to call my very own. Her long pelt is being trimmed into an even coat, her remaining teeth are being cleaned until they shine, and her skin is being massaged with a thick, foamy perfume whenever her pelt is done being trimmed. I can understand why my slave enjoys this so much since the entire experience is rather relaxing and enjoyable.
When my slave is clean I have the workers dress her, snap her collar back on, and hand her leash to me for me to tug on. Easily, the woman follows after me on my room. The room I'm in is rather small, but fits my uses. A bed is in one corner, a desk takes up another corner, and a table with chairs sits in the middle of the room. No windows are in the room, so my slave can't use them to escape. I point near the table and give her a simple command.
"Sit on the floor. Don't you dare move a muscle.". She sits down and I leave to go get us both some dinner. The kitchens are easy enough to find, and when I arrive every single cook asks me what I want to eat. I put in a large order and patiently wait while thinking of all the things I can do to my slave now. When my large order arrives I thank the cooks and walk away with it, but I don't take it to my room. The healer once again stands before me and bows as I enter her room. I roll my eyes at her, put my food down on her desks (sitting on some of her papers), and question her.
"Do you possibly have a potion that tests for pregnancy at a month pregnant? Is there even one for that?". She glances down at my stomach and I yell at her.
"Not for me, you idiot!". She jumps a bit and answers my question finally.
"Yes, I have some. What kind do you want to use, though? I have one that turns the drinker's urine purple if positive and red if negative, one that makes the pregnant person aroused if positive and impotent if negative, and one that makes the person vomit if positive and itch if negative.". I don't think it'd be possible to explain purple or red urine to my slave and I don't trust the second potion, so I tell her to give me the third potion. Quickly, she hands me the potion.
I uncork the bottle, pour it into some porridge, and stir it. Thankfully, the food looks the same. I toss the empty bottle at the healer's face, pick up my tray of food, and leave her room. My slave is still sitting in the exact same spot and in the exact same position as when I left when I enter the room. I sit down at the table and begin eating the gigantic dinner laid out before me. When I've finally finished my meal I question my slave.
"Are you hungry? Would my little bitch like some food?". She nods and looks at me with begging eyes. I push the bowl of porridge at her. My whore scarfs it down without a second thought and, apparently, the potion didn't alter the food's taste. The warning on the bottle claimed it would take around twenty minutes before the Khajiit either vomits, or begins to itch. Suddenly, I realize there's a possibility she could vomit. I snap her collar on her, start tugging, and make an excuse.
"Time for a midnight walk before bed.". Happily, she trails behind me completely unaware of the potion coursing through her system that's testing her for pregnancy. The keep is large, crowded with guards, and I lose my way once. I get my Khajiit out in the nick of time because the second we're outside she begins to violently cough. My slave does the best she can to hold down her dinner, but soon enough she's on all fours and hacking. I look away as she retches and the potion confirms my fears. Damn the male whore who fucked her to oblivion and back.
My one and only slave (I can't possible handle getting another slave as long as I have her) has a whore's bastard in her belly. I take the shaking woman back to my room, clean off her face, feed her a tiny bit of chicken still stuck to the bones on my plate, and put her into my bed before I climb in after her. The woman looks startled I'm sharing the bed with her like she's an equal, but (smartly) stays quiet and just accepts it. I want the whore to trust me now, and I want to know where she is at all times. I can't afford to let her escape now. I close my eyes and let out a tiny sigh. Now new fears are running through my head as I drift off.