Winter of Intent: An Elder Scrolls Tale

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 25

Turdas the 8th of Evening Star 4E71 Afternoon

Departing Castle Daggerfall's Grand Hall for the midday break, Edwyn and his Wayrest compatriots were once again joined by their bodyguards waiting outside. The group continued onward back to the southern wing of the castle and then eventually parted company in pairs at each of their respective guest suites.

After Edwyn had dashed off to the guest suite's bathroom and then returned, he soon found himself dealing with the arrival of their ordered meals at the door. After that, he waited for Yurma to check over the food and drink before they settled down at the small table. The notion of any immediate discussion initially remained subdued, in favour of eating.

Yurma waited until Edwyn had nearly finished his meal before prompting him with a question. "So, anything said about last night?"

Edwyn shook his head slightly as he finished chewing on a bite. "Well, yes and no."

Yurma's silent frown served as further prompt.

Edwyn continued. "Well, the Consul tried to stay rather tight lipped over the matter of those disturbances of last evening, but that wasn't sitting well with some. Some of the delegates staying over in the north wing wanted to hear more than his assurances that everything was in hand. From that, I gained the expression that the trouble wasn't just over this side of the castle."

"Pretty much heard the same." Yurma was still chewing on the last of her food as she responded.

Edwyn sipped at his water before going on. "Yes well, once there were some further pointed questions… concerns over Camlorn… well, Minister Vicci stepped up to speak. He tried to reinforce calm and touch upon how everything was perfectly under control."

"What? About what's going on here, or Camlorn?"

"Well, both… and more."

Yurma shook her head, frowning.

Edwyn clarified. "Well, the Minister mentioned meetings with Crown Prince Gothryd, Inspector Attius, a Legion commander… and others. He indicated that everything here in Daggerfall was properly in hand, and as soon as the summit was over… other matters in Camlorn would also be looked into."

"Camlorn?" Yurma shook her head, indicating her scepticism.

Also shaking his head, Edwyn finished his last bite. "I'm not… I'm not sure that I completely understand. Minister Vicci seemed to be making a point of insisting that the rumours of problems in Camlorn were an exaggeration. He maintained that it was all nothing more than a… a minor resurgence of rogue vampires… and that it wasn't anything related to a fresh uprising of organised clans of vampires… like during the old days."

Yurma opened her mouth, but didn't speak. It seemed she expected to hear either something more, or something different.

Edwyn shook his head again. "At the same time, he was talking about making additional Legion resources available to Camlorn. I couldn't easily decide whether he was really trying to convince everyone that there was nothing to be concerned about… or possibly suggest the exact opposite."

Yurma affected a sneer. "Reckon it sounds like something to do with Attius. Maybe trying to get out the idea that they believe the trouble here is coming from Camlorn… cos he actually knows it's about some other place… or something like that."

"Yes, you mentioned something like that before, so I considered that… but I'll readily concede that I really have no idea. In fact, I think I'd rather not know. Did… did any of the other bodyguards have anything to say… about last night?"

Yurma shrugged. "There was talk about how it had to be guards chasing down whoever was behind the attacks in the castle. Whether it really was more vampires or not… dunno. No one seemed to know any more than that. Or if they did, they weren't saying. More likely, they just don't know."

"It seems that nobody was harmed last night… or attacked."

Yurma appeared less certain of that. "Dunno. Wouldn't be a surprise if some of the guards or someone got injured… or worse. They ain't saying. Ain't saying whether they got who they were after either. Caught or killed… or whatever. We dunno."

Edwyn shook his head again. "I do hope that the threat has passed."

"Can't be all done with, since Dalric is still escorting Flyte about."

"Well, I suppose that there is something to that. Without knowing what's best, I have remained somewhat anxious of having to speak with Lord Flyte. So far, I haven't needed to. Not since yesterday."

Yurma maintained a thoughtful and serious expression. "Must be some reason that Dalric and Flyte are still going on with regular business. Either Attius must be using them to find someone else… or maybe just to get bad information back to… to whoever." She waved a hand in a dismissive fashion.

Edwyn released a heavy sigh. "I'll be glad once we're done and on our way back to Wayrest. Lafont is planning to organise passage for all of us this afternoon. With luck, we'll be sailing for home by either Loredas or Sundas."

Yurma expressed her agreement with the sentiment of Edwyn's comments, then went on to pack up dishes and trays from the meals to be left outside for collection. It was not all that long afterward that Lafont and Dantien again arrived at the door. Soon enough, they were again on their way, stopping to meet with Kingsley and Hans and then the larger group continued onward across the castle, bound for the Grand Hall.

After enduring the ongoing ritual of guarded checkpoints along the way, the group eventually arrived at the anteroom outside Castle Daggerfall's Grand Hall. Without saying anything or making it appear terribly obvious, Edwyn had prepared himself to avoid looking toward Lord Flyte's armoured bodyguard as he entered the area where all the bodyguards gathered while their respective charges attended the summit. He was just mildly surprised to learn that Sir Dalric was not actually standing there. Presumably, that meant that Lord Flyte had not yet arrived. It was only slightly unusual for him to be a little late. He was generally one of the earlier individuals to arrive, except for that morning that Inspector Attius delayed him.

As Yurma and the other two Guild Fighters shifted off to the side, Edwyn and his fellow Wayrest delegates continued onward to display their papers to the guards at the doors.

Only peripherally, Edwyn noticed that Dantien declined to take a seat with Yurma and Hans. Presumably, the Breton Guild fighter was planning on heading off toward the docks on that errand for Lafont. Given that they'd probably be inside the Grand Hall for a good three or four hours, Dantien would have plenty of time to attend the task.

Inside the Grand Hall, Edwyn observed that most of the other delegates had already arrived and taken to their seats, but for a few. Another couple of individuals came in just after them.

It was only perhaps a few short moments after Edwyn had settled into his seat, when he noticed Lord Flyte finally coming in through the doors. Since he was on his own, it was not immediately obvious what might have caused him any delay. Evidently observing that nearly everyone else was already in their proper places, the Lord of Anticlere headed directly for his seating in the second row.

The representative from Daggerfall's Mages College came in just after Lord Flyte and also made her way directly for her assigned seating. As far as Edwyn could tell, she appeared to be the last person expected to arrive.

Once it seemed that everyone was present and settled, Consul Carvain attended the podium upon the dais and called the afternoon session to order. Following the pattern of previous days, the session resumed with those remaining discussions outlined on the schedule to be attended first. Afterward, the latter portion of the afternoon had been set aside for both related and unrelated negotiations to take place at the rear section of the hall.

By Edwyn's reasonable estimate, the topics tabled for discussion really were beginning to represent the last and least engaging things of the entire summit. It seemed clear enough that interest was waning among many of those present, save for the few who actually did hold specific vested interest in those matters being raised.

In each case, Edwyn found that he was struggling to hold his attention upon the matters at hand. Of course, he wasn't the only one. Several others also appeared prone to distraction. At one point, a sharp snorting noise coming from the row where some of the Daggerfall delegates were seated drew eyes toward Andre LaBlanc. It seemed that the portly banker had again momentarily nodded off in his seat.

In due course, the remaining topics of discussion were completed and various delegates were encouraged to split off into groups to pursue negotiation or renegotiation of trade arrangements.

By Edwyn's observation, even that activity seemed to represent only more of the same. For the most part, no one was really seeking sweeping changes or looking to establish exciting new opportunities. It was really more of another exercise in shoring up the current state of affairs and seeking some assurances that future change remained gradual and somewhat predictable. If those things represented the primary expectation, then at least that was met easily enough. If one were hoping for anything remarkably different, then disappointment might well be likely.

Since Edwyn understood all of that well enough, he was neither terribly disappointed nor unexpectedly taken by surprise.

Just as Edwyn thought that he was likely finished, after speaking with his Daggerfall counterpart once more, Antonia Verus from the East Empire Trading Company came over to speak with him. She said that she just wanted to touch upon general details of grain shipments from Wayrest to Solitude.

Edwyn was aware that the East Empire Company sourced those supplies from a variety of other locations, but Wayrest remained equally important to the mix. As reasonably expected, she just wanted to be sure that current arrangements were likely to be met.

Though Edwyn hadn't expected her to suggest any different, she casually mentioned that the idea of trade shipments from the Orc region wasn't on the table at that point, but did say that she'd like to hear of it, if things changed in that circumstance over the coming seasons.

After that, Edwyn thought that they were done, but it appeared that Verus still had something else on her mind that she wanted to add.

"One of my people returned from Cyrodiil just recently. He had some… some possibly interesting things to say about the Imperial Province."

"Oh?" Edwyn didn't really know what she might be getting at.

Verus lowered her voice just slightly. "I can't say that I'm sure of what it means just yet, but there's some… some uncertainty… over the shape of produce trade about the central province."

Edwyn frowned. "Why is that?"

Verus continued. "I don't know if you've heard, but the drought across some northern parts of Cyrodiil has finally broken. It wasn't quite as serious as the long droughts of the latter Third Era, but was still causing some concern. Fortunately for some, it wasn't quite as bad over in the Colovian West. They've always been used to some drier seasons over there. Down in the south, Bravil and Leyawiin weren't directly affected at all. In fact, those southern counties managed to profit quite a bit from certain shortages."

"I wasn't really aware. My eldest sister and her husband have a small farm just outside the Imperial City… at the village of Weye."

"If they're that near to Lake Rumare, they wouldn't have fared too poorly. In fact, they might have done well from it. It was mostly Bruma and Cheydinhal taking the worst of it… and some parts of the Eastern Heartland as well. Though I did hear that both Chorrol and Skingrad were beginning to be more affected just before the turn, but not quite so badly."

"But that drought has passed?"

"Looks like it. Much heavier snowfalls during the previous winter dropped a lot over the northern Valus Mountains and over the Jeralls… and then there were also much better rains over those northern parts throughout this year. With the melt from the Jerall Mountains flooding Reman's Mirror and then the continuing rains afterward, the streams are flowing again down through County Bruma."

"Reman's Mirror?" Edwyn wasn't familiar with that name.

Verus clarified. "A mountain lake… not far from Bruma… With all the downstream erosion and landslides over the past year, the Legion needed to assist with work on parts of the Silver Road… even shifting some sections… and even had to start building a new bridge along the Red Ring Road."

Edwyn silently shook his head. Since he'd never been there, he wasn't at all familiar with what she meant.

"County Cheydinhal is doing much better again as well. For the first time in years, the Corbolo is flowing all the way from Cheydinhal down to the Niben. Of course, it's still only a mountain stream from the city… not a navigable waterway, but it's a sign that the long dry had passed. All the Eastern Heartland, from Cropsford to Cheydinhal… it's all doing much better."

Edwyn shook his head slightly. "I'm not quite following. You mentioned some uncertainty?"

"Well… it wasn't like the Imperial Province was in famine. There was enough to service the needs of the Imperial City… with the broader distribution of trade. It's still too soon to predict, but if the wetter seasons continue, there could be some unexpected changes on the horizon."

"Changes?" Edwyn prompted her.

"Well, there's a likelihood of some oversupply of certain crops. That could mean that some supply contracts might be renegotiated over coming seasons. It's still too early to say, but it's something to think about."

Edwyn nodded, but with a frown. "Minister Vicci had not mentioned any of that."

"No, I noticed that. Like I said, it's still too early to make any assumptions. Even so, there are some likely possibilities. I can see Cheydinhal looking to export more over the Valus Mountains into Morrowind. I can also see Bravil and Leyawiin looking to ship more produce southward instead of up to the Imperial City. All of that could lead to a reduced demand for certain imports… but like I said, it depends on the coming seasons… and how things play out."

Edwyn nodded again. "I'll keep that in mind."

With that, it seemed that Verus had decided that she was finished. She offered a pleasant farewell and moved off on her way.

Immediately after Verus had departed, Edwyn decided that he was finally done for the day. He casually noticed that Lord Flyte was still in negotiation with the trade delegate from Camlorn. Throughout the afternoon, without it seeming particularly obvious, he had managed to successfully avoid the Lord of Anticlere. He hadn't needed to go out of his way at all to do so. It was just the case that their paths had not intersected for any reason.

Edwyn noticed that Kingsley and Lafont were already done and waiting back at their seats in the fifth row. He headed over toward them with the intent of departing the summit room.

Since it was likely after five and both of those two were ready to go, they readily agreed to leave the Grand Hall behind and return to the southern wing of the castle.

Departing through the main doors of the Grand Hall, the three Wayrest delegates again met with their bodyguards outside in the anteroom. Evidently, Dantien had returned from his errand down to Daggerfall's Harbour Town and had successfully achieved what was expected. Responding to Lafont's casual query he said as much, patting his hand on the satchel that he carried to indicate papers inside and also adding that passage was arranged for everyone for Loredas.

Though Edwyn expected more to be said, passing conversation fell away as they made their way back along the halls and corridors of the castle. Of course, they again needed to negotiate each of the checkpoints remaining in place along the way.

Before too long, they'd made it back to Kingsley's quarters, where passing farewells were exchanged, before Kingsley and Hans headed inside. A similar exchange passed as Edwyn and Yurma arrived at his guest suite and Lafont and Dantien continued onward.

Once they were inside, Yurma waited for Edward to go visit the bathroom, before heading back there herself. As soon as she'd returned to the sitting room area, she affected an expectant expression.

"So then… out of here some time on Loredas."

Edwyn returned a neutral glance. "Yes, so it seems."

Yurma affected a grimace. "Just need to get through two more nights without any trouble. Then… hopefully there's no trouble on the voyage home."

Edwyn frowned. "Are you expecting some sort of trouble?"

Yurma shrugged. "Wasn't expecting any real trouble when we first headed here from Wayrest. Neither was you. But there's been plenty of it going around… most of it, just near enough to keep things on edge. And then, only just far enough off that I never needed to get to any actual fighting." She finished with a breathy sigh.

From her tone, Edwyn wasn't quite certain whether she was glad that direct threats remained at bay, or whether she was somewhat disappointed. He released a sigh of his own. "I had expected that the summit would have been a… a rather tedious affair, for the most part. I hardly expected anything more than a few arguments over trade deals and the like. Certainly nothing of the kind…" His words trailed off.

After setting down her main weapon and shield, Yurma settled onto a sofa. "Yeah well, if things can stay 'rather tedious' til we're outa here and on the water, that'll suit me fine."

Edwyn nodded absently, taking a chair at the small table. "Before we arrived here, I had thought I that might have looked forward to taking a proper look about Daggerfall while we were here."

"You said that the stuff in the Grand Hall would be done by tomorrow morning… if that's what you want…"

Edwyn shook his head. "No, no. As much as I've wearied of feeling trapped within the walls of this castle, I think it best to just stay put. At least until it's time to head down to the port on Loredas."

Yurma shrugged. "Fine by me."

Edwyn's expression indicated that something else was on his mind. A knock at the door interrupted before he had opportunity to give voice to whatever he'd been thinking. He initially remained seated at the table as Yurma rose to attend the door.

A member of the castle staff was passing by, taking orders for the delivery of evening meals. Once Edwyn had attended the task of placing their orders, he returned to sit down at the table again. After locking the door, Yurma returned to the sofa.

After a quiet moment, Edwyn asked Yurma whether Dantien had advised her of anything regarding what he'd arranged at the port on Lafont's behalf.

Yurma shrugged. "Not exactly. Said that transport was arranged for the four of us… and cargo… to head out on Loredas."

Without passing comment, Edwyn thought that 'cargo' might have meant Copperton's body. "Dantien didn't say when we set sail?"

"Didn't get to that. Got sidetracked when Hans interrupted with something. Don't remember what, but he never got back to mentioning any details about the arrangements."

Edwyn nodded slightly. "I expect that Lafont will ensure that we are properly informed well ahead of time."

"Figured… figured that…" Yurma's attention was drawn toward another knock at the door.

It certainly seemed far too quick for the evening meal orders to be arriving just yet and Yurma's expression carried a measure of reserved suspicion. Once she'd unlocked the door, they learned it was just a Breton lad of the castle staff coming to check on the water, oil lamps and other amenities.

They waited quietly as the lad went about his task, and then Yurma locked the door behind him once he was done and on his way. As they were again waiting about in the sitting room area, Yurma prompted Edwyn over whether anything of interest had passed inside the Grand Hall during the afternoon. He'd firstly responded with relaying the tedious nature of what remained on the schedule. After that, he'd thought to speak of what Antonia Verus had shared with him regarding certain parts of Cyrodiil.

That conversation was eventually interrupted when another knock at the door signalled the arrival of the ordered meals. Once they'd taken possession of their food and drink and Yurma had thoroughly checked it over, they settled down at the table to eat.

Toward the end of the meal, Yurma posed a couple of questions about what had been said about Cyrodiil. Of course, she'd never been over there either. What she knew of that region only came from books and from things that her uncle had told her.

After swallowing a bite, Edwyn responded. "I understood that parts of the Colovian west sometimes suffered dry seasons, but I didn't even know about drought affecting the north and east."

Yurma shrugged. "Happens like that everywhere, I expect. We sometimes get bad dry spells up around old Orsinium area… and at the same time, it's nothing like that down around Menevia and Wayrest."

"Yes, I suppose so."

"Over in Cyrodiil… they got like nine big counties, don't they?"

Edwyn nodded as he finished another bite. "Er… ah… eight counties, I think… and the central Imperial region. I do believe that each one of those areas are individually larger than that administered by rule of Wayrest. Though, I couldn't speak to how much of each region remains as wilderness and what portion is populated and developed."

Yurma wrinkled her nose. "Point is, I figure that if only one or two areas have bad seasons, all the others make up for up for it. Plus the fact that the Empire imports a lot of stuff."

Edwyn nodded again. "Well yes, up to a point. The Imperial City does import a great deal of produce, from nearby, as well as from further afield."

"And a lot of stuff comes from around here?"

"Well, some. Grains and tea, of course. And certain wines and cheeses. As for those more perishable goods… well, only those things that can survive a good week or more of frosted transport in cargo vessels."

"Has the trade of all of that stuff been up over past seasons?"

Reaching for his glass, Edwyn frowned. "No, not notably."

"Then that northern drought can't have been all that bad, or else… like I said, there musta just been enough to go around across the spread of that area."

Edwyn nodded as he chewed upon the last of his meal. "Yes, I suppose so. As I think I mentioned before, my sister and her husband… they have a small farm at the village just outside the Imperial City. In previous years, I think they've made passing mention of dry spells followed by rainy seasons. As well as warmer seasons and some cooler seasons. What seems like usual fluctuations. From what I recall, the last correspondence implied that everything was well. So, I suppose that the drought in the north must have been fairly isolated… and not such a problem for the rest of the Imperial Province."

Yurma had finished her food and nearly finished her drink. "So what was that Verus trying to say then?"

After taking a sip, Edwyn shook his head slightly. "Well, I'm not completely certain of what she was trying to say, or that she fully knows herself. Only that she suspects that some sort of change might be ahead and that it's too soon to predict what that might be. Also that it was notable, that throughout the week, Minister Vicci had made no mention at all of any of it."

"Yeah well, you gotta figure that… that…" Yurma's words were interrupted by yet another knock at the door.

Edwyn affected a frown as he looked toward the door. Given that each of the reasonably anticipated interruptions had already passed, he couldn't easily guess at who might there that time.

Yurma rose and looked to unlocking the door. She found that it was one of the castle guards standing outside in the corridor. The guard was a younger Breton lad, not someone immediately recognisable.

The guard tried to maintain a neutral expression as he found himself facing an armoured female Orc in the doorway. "Delivery for Edwyn Northwind and bodyguard… from the office of Imperial Consul Carvain."

Yurma looked to the tied off bundle of parchments the guard was holding. The slightly bulging satchel hanging from his shoulder seemed that it possibly contained other bundles.

Edwyn called out as he rose from his seat. "What is it?"

The Breton guard appeared slightly uncomfortable. "A… a delivery of papers. I couldn't say what it's about. My task is only to deliver… to your hands."

Yurma stepped aside as Edwyn arrived at the door. He took possession of the parchments with a curious expression.

It seemed obvious enough that the guard was only a junior in rank. "I'd… I'd expect that the papers would explain."

Edwyn returned a nod. "Yes, I expect so. Thank you."

Recognising the dismissal, the guard took his leave. Yurma closed and locked the door as Edwyn examined the bundle of papers. It seemed clear enough that nothing on the outside of the bundle provided any indication of what Carvain had sent.

Yurma prompted him. "So, what is it?"

"No idea." Edwyn untied the string binding the parchments.

He then found that he held three folded parchments. One was thinner than the other two seemingly identical papers. He unfolded the lesser document and examined what it said.

"So?" Yurma remained impatient.

"Yes well, it ah… it says that… that we are expected to read and sign the attached documents provided… and ah…" He trailed off as he sat down and continued reading.

Yurma released an irritable sigh, waiting for Edwyn to make proper sense.

Shaking his head, Edwyn quickly unfolded the other two parchments, glancing only briefly at what was on them. "Here, perhaps you should see for yourself." Edwyn handed over one of the parchments.

Yurma took the paper and scanned it, with a frown on her face. Only a short moment passed before she commented. "Seen this before."

"You've seen this before?"

"Same sorta thing. Pretty much the same as any standard Penitus Oculatus agreement. Same as when they contract Fighters Guild on jobs for them."

"Contract? Fighters Guild?"

"Yeah… same sorta thing." She read out and paraphrased certain parts of the document. "Swear by contracted agreement with the Penitus Oculatus… so on and so on… not to speak of details of direct or indirect dealings with agents of… and so on… goes on about the penalties. Basically says, don't say anything about what you know about in relation to any dealings with the Penitus Oculatus… or else."

"I thought you said that you hadn't needed to deal with the Penitus Oculatus."

"Not directly. Usually, Guildhead Wickfield deals with them, but I've seen the contracts… and done a couple of jobs. Only thing different about this is… is we ain't getting paid to do a contracted job. Just have to agree to keep our mouths shut."

Edwyn shook his head. "But… but we don't really know anything… do we?"

"Not much. Either way, they want us to agree that we don't say anything anyway."

Edwyn returned to reading the document in his hand. He didn't look up or speak again until reaching the end of it. He then noticed that Yurma had disappeared behind him. As he'd been reading, she'd moved over to the writing desk and had already finished putting quill and ink to paper.

Edwyn was shaking his head again. "So, does this mean that… that all the threats are over… for us, I mean?"

Yurma shrugged as she handed over her signed parchment. "Wouldn't say that. I'd s'pose this is just what it looks like. Official warning… to keep quiet. If trouble don't come looking for us, I figure the rest of it won't be our problem."

As he got up to go looking to signing the document, Edwyn still wasn't settled over whether he should feel either more or less concerned over the circumstances. He hoped that the evening might pass without any further threat of calamity, remaining fully aware that his hopes could no have no influence over anything that came to pass.

~O~