Serana had almost desperately wanted to stay with me and Ondolemar as we began the hike up the path to the Embassy, but Isran pulled her along with the rest of the left-over Dawnguard, muttering something about not getting involved in 'nasty elven business'. The rest just waved their goodbyes and heartily thanked for my help in all the business of vampire extermination.
The sun slid down behind and overcast horizon, or presumably it did - storm clouds were brewing in the west, obscuring both land and sky in what by the looks of it was a terrible blizzard. Odd for this time of year.
Nothing hindered our walk, except a pack of wolves that ended up as a pack of charred blobs of 'yuck'. It was a good conversation piece though, as most of our talk otherwise centered on Ondolemar still refusing to explain his intentions involving me. It wasn't like the good old times. It never could be. Those times were past and we were different people entirely, but the new times were just as good, if not even better.
Nightfall found us trembling in the freezing blizzard in front of the Embassy gate, where I tried to hit my personal key in the lock with cold, numb hands.
There was not a guard in sight, which was extremely disconcerting. There was one supposed to be at the gate, two more at the main building, one at the guard house and at least four patrolling. I looked at Ondolemar questioningly as the snowflakes fell in stark silence, darkening the evening even more, but he shrugged. Obviously his plan had gone wrong already. Though he probably wouldn't admit it.
I decided to poke my head in the guardhouse first, to see if anyone was there. No sooner had I opened the door there was a scream, which was actually a rather distressed squeak, and a figure bolted towards me. It was a young elf, dressed in a rough tunic and good boots, not more than forty, without the ageless eyes of an elder. I summoned fire, but the girl seeing this threw herself away again, curled up on the floor and started sobbing. It took me a moment to understand what she was saying.
"Pl-, please, please, leave. You must!" It was unpleasant seeing an Altmer in such a miserable state, and generally, we didn't go into such a state. Something had scared the girl terribly.
I knelt down by her, took her by the shoulders and forced her to look at me "You will give me no orders, girl. What is it? What has happened?"
"Please, just go! I will arrange matters so you will not have been seen."
"By the Eight, girl, what is it with you? Tell me at once." I glanced at Ondolemar behind me. He was studying the girl curiously, but had not readied for a fight.
"It, it's ... please, don't make me tell you! Please, Lady Aineliah, go!"
This couldn't be good. I pressed her again for information, "So you know who I am, and you know what I can do. So tell me now all that has happened, or I swear to Daedra and Divines I will summon the very monsters of Oblivion to rip you apart for not speaking to me properly!"
Ondolemar sniggered behind us and muttered, "As gentle and caring as I remember."
The girl, wrecked already by sobs and hiccoughs, started crying even harder. I let her go and stood up. Obviously we weren't getting anywhere this way.
As a spell came to my hands, glowing with the eerie light of a hole into Oblivion, the girl quieted and looked up. Her face, young and still fresh, was blotchy and covered with red spots, but her amber eyes showed a spark of understanding.
She stood up too and began speaking quietly in a voice still trembling. "Your mother is dead."
Emotions raged up in me - anger, sorrow, joy - all mixed up, setting unpleasant thoughts coiling in my mind. But I had to keep hold of myself now. Crying could wait until later, as would laughing.
"Oh? Well, that changes matter considerably." I turned to Ondolemar. "What now?"
He shrugged again and made a face, then focused on the girl. "Who is in her place?"
"Mayena. She-"
"Mayena? That way-faced, glutinous, OLD BITCH!" I couldn't contain the scream of rage. My mother, my own experienced, smart mother, deposed by that harlot! She wasn't even a proper Academy-trained mage, just some upstart guard with mediocre magical abilities and an enraging ego you could bounce rocks off. Right of birth wasn't practised much in Altmeri rulings, but I should have been First Emissary after my mother ...
No, that's not right. Who was Second Emissary?
Deep in my thoughts, my face had taken on a ruminant expression, but as recollection dawned together with utter disbelief, understanding clicked into place.
"Ondolemar, would you care to step outside for a moment?"
The girl on hearing his name spoke reflectively and more calmly than I would have expected, "I knew working here would be a lot of politics, but I certainly did not expect this. Good luck to you, and I'm off to try my luck as a tavern wench." She slung a pack over her shoulder and sauntered out of the house, grabbing a sweetroll on the way. The change from trembling nerves to perfect composure was extremely disconcerting, but I suppose when serving Thalmor one gets used to the oddities. At the door she turned back to me and added as an after-thought, "And Mayena has put a bounty on your head. Something about 'the right of magic'."
When the door clanged shut, Ondolemar turned to me and grinned. "Do you still want to step outside, or will you try to kill me right here?"
"What ... what is it with you? Did you want to kill my mother? Are you working with that disgusting hussy? What do you want from me?" I prodded him pointedly in the chest. "It's time to come clean."
"Here and now? Where any moment a guard might come in?" The damned elf was right, I was losing my sensibilities.
But what to do now? Go and try to kill Mayena? Sneaking past the guards wouldn't be too hard with all the magic just waiting for my call. And what then? Take control? I didn't want to rule, and most here wouldn't even let me.
I was so deep in my thoughts, too late I noticed the tell-tale pang of magicka summoned, and looked up at Ondolemar just in time to see the green flash of a spell racing towards me. I tried to duck, but it was too late - a paralysis spell hit me full in the chest, and I thudded against the floor, not able to even stand. The fall knocked all the air from my lungs. The door slammed open and guards filed in the room, their armour clanking forebodingly in the silence. A moment later a face appeared in my vision where I was staring at the ceiling. A face I despised. Unbound black locks tickled my face as Mayena pried my mouth open and emptied in it a small flask of thick, slightly salty liquid. Even my boiling emotions couldn't keep me awake, and my consciousness streamed away as the sleeping potion ran down my throat.