The silence was unnerving.

As Erissare Silinus stood atop Mistveil Keep, looking out over the pale waters of Lake Honrich, the quiet that had pervaded the city since she had arrived with her cohort pressed in from below her like still and quiet waters that wished only to pull her in and drown her.

Riften was a ghost town. Some days ago, before she and her forces had arrived, the whole city had packed up and just abandoned the place. No doubt to join this army she'd heard about amassing in the west. She didn't know what the Nords thought they could accomplish. How could they hope to stand alone against the might of the Aldmeri Dominion, not to mention their new allies. Erissare smiled at the thought of the faces those foolish humans would make when they saw their doom descend on them.

She supposed it was a mercy that they would not have to suffer for long. When the Snow Throat Tower was broken and Mundus failed, these children of Lorkhan would be tossed to true Oblivion while she and the other true children of the Aedra ascended to their rightful place. She imagined the warm glow of Aetherius, bathing her in its brilliance, its pure unsullied light. The thought almost brought tears of ecstasy to her eyes.

'Lady Erissare?'

Her blissful reverie was cut short by the arrival of one of her soldiers. She had no idea what the boy's name was but he kept his head decently low as he addressed her.

'Yes?' Erissare hissed.

'They have arrived, my Lady. Scouts have reported their procession coming up the Dayspring Road. They will be here shortly.'

Erissare nodded and dismissed the soldier with a wave of her hand. The time had come. Finally, the time had come.

She was positively giddy but she knew she had to control herself, wear the mask of the ambassador. Today, she would represent the whole Aldmeri Dominion.

Descending through Mistveil keep, she glided through the empty audience chamber and out the front doors into the dull sunlight of the late morning. She curled her lip in distaste. Such a bleak country this was.

Alinor, the place the humans named the Summerset Isles, might be flawed for it being part of this existence, but it was at least a place of vibrancy. Its warm sun reflecting in the deep blue of the Eltheric Ocean and the clear glass of the cities. This northern waste was just wet and cold and fog and snow, with crude buildings that looked like they'd been chiselled by a blind fool straight out of the mountain.

Erissare wondered if she would see the place of her birth again before their ascension. Probably not. A shame, she supposed, but not a great one.

More guards were waiting by the eastern gate, ready to escort her to meet their honoured guests.

Erissare did not have to say anything, the guards opened the door and filed out as quickly and silently as if they were clockwork.

They made their way quickly, passing by the farm that was as abandoned as every other human settlement in the Rift. It took a little over two hours to reach their destination, and in all that time not one among them said a word.

It was just as Riften had dropped out of sight altogether, as their party was passing by the small road that Erissare knew led to the Black Briar Lodge, that they finally heard it. The sound of a multitude of footsteps marching in precise unison up the road. Erissare called her entourage to a halt.

Let this emperor come to her, she thought, a self-indulgent smile creasing her lips, she was happy to wait.

The wait was not long. From out of the gloom of the forest that all but overgrew the road, the great procession came into view.

The most prominent part of the procession, the thing that immediately drew the eye, was the great palanquin. It was an enormous thing, supported by six of those brawny, striped khajiit.

No, not khajiit, she reminded herself. These were the Ka Po'Tun, the people of the Tiger Dragon Empire. She had not gone with the army the Dominion had sent to Akavir, so she had never seen them before, but she had heard of them. They were the pre-eminent force on the eastern continent, especially now that they had taken care of their only rivals. In the letter she had received from Marshal Estoriil, he had said that nearly five hundred of them had set up camp near Falkreath. The advance guard, apparently.

And here were the rest, marching in a steady column out of Morrowind and into Skyrim. Erissare could not even see the back of the column, it stretched back so far and into the depth of the forest's gloom. It seemed to be made up mostly of more of striped Ka Po'Tun, though unlike the palanquin bearers, who wore nothing but simple robes, the others wore armour that had been lacquered black so that it glistened in the sunlight. They each also carried a long spear and, at their waists, each wore two long, thin, single edged swords that seemed all too familiar to Erissare and, indeed, would have to any who had ever had a run in with one of the Blades.

They were not the only ones who made up the procession. On either side of the Ka Po'Tun column, marched a line of shorter people, each of them dressed in leather armour and carrying a bow, a quiver of arrows and a short sword. From their faces, Erissare would have taken them for humans had it not been for the long, prehensile tails that each of them had. The Tang Mo, she assumed.

Marshall Estoriil had said that the Emperor's party would consist of a third people, called the Kamal but she saw no sign of them.

The procession reached them and, without any signal that Erissare could catch, came to an immediate halt. The six bearers gently lowered the palanquin to the ground.

This was it, Erissare thought, time to discover just how much truth there was to the rumours about the so-called tiger-dragon.

The curtains parted to reveal a person who was decidedly not a dragon.

The Ka Po'Tun who descended from the palanquin, flanked by half a dozen Tang Mo attendants, was certainly an impressive specimen. They were tall and imperious, dressed in a sleek black silk robe which had been embroidered with golden stripes. Still, they were quite clearly only another mortal.

Erissare was sure to control her face so that no hint of contempt could show there. "Dragon Emperor" indeed.

But then she was surprised when the person she had presumed to be the Emperor met her eye and bowed low. Erissare might not know much about Ka Po'Tun custom, or about Akaviri customs in general, but she knew enough to be certain that the divine emperor of the Ka Po'Tun never bowed to anyone.

'I am Li Yangshen Zui'Ka,' said the Ka Po'Tun, in a feminine voice, straightening and again meeting Erissare's gaze, 'I am the mouth of the Divine Tosh Raka. He speaks with my voice. I am commanded to give greeting to the Aldmeri Dominion and also give thanks for meeting his representative here.'

Erissare said nothing for a moment, too taken aback by the most formal greeting, before remembering herself and straightening up, determined to match Li Yangshen in formality.

'Erissare Silinus,' she began, bowing in imitation of Li Yangshen's, 'emissary of the Aldmeri Dominion. I speak for the High Council, my words are their will.'

This seemed to satisfy the Li Yangshen for she bowed again.

'I understand there is a city nearby?' she said, her tone decently respectable. 'Will it be possible to rest there? It has been a long journey to get here and His Divine Majesty wishes his army rested before continuing to the great mountain.'

'There is indeed,' Erissare nodded, 'though I am not sure it will be enough room for your entire army.'

'That is well,' Li Yangshen replied, almost before Erissare had finished speaking, 'the army would not be permitted to reside within the same walls as the Divine Emperor. They shall make camp outside, on the banks of Lake Honrich.' She pronounced the name carefully, clearly unsure of the pronunciation.

Erissare looked around, obviously.

'So, the Divine Emperor is here? He will be staying in the city?'

Li Yangshen regarded Erissare coolly.

'Wherever the Mouth of Divine Tosh Raka is, so too is he.'

Erissare did not miss the fact that she had not actually answered her question, but decided not to press the issue.

'So, will anyone else be staying within the walls? I ask only to ensure I know what to tell the kitchens.'

'You and your soldiers will be permitted, of course,' Li Yangshen answered, 'you are honoured allies of Divine Tosh Raka. His personal guard will also rest within this Riften.'

Erissare's anger was at risk of boiling over. "Permitted"? As if Riften wasn't theirs and they were the ones allowing this up-jumped foreign king to make use of it. But her heated response died in her throat when she saw the Emperor's personal guard.

They had emerged, at Li Yangshen's word, from behind the palanquin and advanced, in step, until they stood in a square, thirty men across and ten deep. Erissare could hardly breathe. They were Blades. At least, they looked just like Blades. Their armour was near enough identical and they each carried the same single-edged longswords she had noticed on the Ka Po'Tun earlier.

'The Dragonguard,' Li Yangshen said, approvingly. 'Divine Tosh Raka re-founded them after his transformation.'

She supposed it made sense, really. After all, the Blades were supposed to have been inspired by the Dragonguard of the Second Empire and since they had been Akaviri, it surely followed there would be a resemblance. Besides, now that the initial shock had worn off, Erissare could see there were, in fact, some differences between the Blades and these Dragonguards. The most noticeable was that each guardsman wore a mask attached to the front of their helmet, enamelled black and red like their armour, and sculpted into the shapes of roaring sabre cats or snarling demon faces or other things clearly meant to inspire fear. Also, the pauldrons that covered their shoulders were longer and the Dragonguard bore a golden crest on the front of their helmets, shaped like a dragon's claw.

'They are the best and most loyal warriors from across the Empire,' Li Yangshen concluded, the pride in her voice unmistakable, 'taken from almost every race of Akavir.'

Erissare could see that clearly. There was a good deal of difference in size between the various guardsmen. Some had the tall, broad build of the Ka Po'Tun while others the lither bodies of the Tang Mo. Some were somewhere in between and conspicuously had no tails. Humans? The ones that were really noticeable were the ones that seemed to have small patches of frost around the eye-holes of their masks. Erissare didn't want to ask about that.

'And is there a commander of these warriors?' Erissare asked. Her voice was not hoarse. Surely not.

In answer, Li Yangshen gestured forward a guardsman whose helmet bore the snarling head of a dragon as its crest. By contrast the mask was no ferocious beast or demon, but rather a plain, featureless face. It was, curiously, more unnerving than any of the others. Erissare noticed that the captain was one of those who did not have a tail.

Curious, she thought, the captain of the Emperor's personal guard was not of the Ka Po'Tun.

The Captain bowed then removed his helmet. Erissare started. He was a Dunmer.

'Indoril Nammu,' he introduced himself, his hand resting on his sword hilt, his red eyes levelled at Erissare. 'It is an honour to meet you.' He stood tall and straight, shoulders back, his black hair tied into an elaborate top-knot. The Dragonguard armour, so similar yet so different to that of the Blades, seemed to fit him like a second skin. This was undeniably an experienced warrior. Erissare had never been good at telling the ages of Dunmer, their curse made even the youngest of them look ancient sometimes, but she would guess this one was in his middle years, perhaps two hundred or more.

'Erissare Silinus,' she responded, touching the tips of her right hand's fingers first to her lips then to her left breast, just above the heart, the formal greeting of the Dominion, 'a pleasure.'

She could not say it was an honour to meet him, that would imply that this guardsman was her equal. But some show of respect was required.

'I am surprised to see a Dunmer as captain of the Emperor's personal guard. Are there many of your kindred in Akavir?'

The guard captain, Indoril, smiled a small smile.

'None that I've met,' he answered, in a tone that was much too impudent for Erissare's liking. 'I left the shore of Golseyolos many years ago to sail east but I was born here in Taazokaan.'

It seemed the guard had adopted Tosh Raka's habit of naming places in the Dragon Tongue. Erissare had heard about this from Marshal Estoriil so was not taken aback by it. Not by much anyway.

'Captain Indoril has been a loyal servant of the Divine Majesty for many years,' Li Yangshen purred, 'it must fill your heart with pride to know that one of your kindred is granted such high honour.'

Erissare's anger, which had been well stoked, suddenly boiled to the surface again at that remark. One of her kindred? How dare this ignorant, striped freak say such a thing. She caught the captain's eye. There was a look in his eye that told her that he knew exactly what had just passed through her head. His mouth twitched with amusement.

Swallowing her anger, with some difficulty, Erissare instead smiled her most ingratiating smile.

'It is indeed,' she said, her teeth clicking together as she spoke. 'I am glad that the Emperor found someone of such worth to protect him.'

Li Yangshen tittered at that. Indoril smiled that same small smile.

'Have I said something amusing? Erissare asked.

'Not that amusing,' Indoril replied, shooting a quick and frosty glance at Li Yangshen, 'it's only that the Divine Emperor hasn't truly needed guarding for some time. Ever since his transformation.'

Erissare bit back the urge to ask if this transformation had truly happened. She guessed that might be taken as an insult. Instead, she spread her arms.

'Most honoured allies, the day is wearing on and you have travelled far. Let us lead you to Riften where you shall find your beds for the night. There we may speak more comfortably.'

Li Yangshen nodded her approval, clapped her hands and climbed back into the palanquin which was then lifted by its bearers who began carrying it up the road towards the city. The rest of the army followed behind.

Indoril, after giving Erissare a quick nod of farewell, replaced his helmet and commanded the Dragonguard to follow behind the palanquin.

Erissare watched the procession for a moment before gesturing for her soldiers to follow her as she led them back to Riften.

In the gloom of the forest, where none of the Akaviri or their Thalmor allies could see, two pairs of eyes watched the procession head up the road towards Riften.

'Looks like we evacuated just in time,' one voice whispered, sounding amused.

'Aye lass,' the other replied, his voice hard and sounding concerned, 'would be hard to slip out of the city with that lot sniffing around.'

'We should send word of this to Llirvalie,' the first voice said, sounding thoughtful, 'she'll want to know that they're here already.'

'Who do you take me for, Karliah?' the second voice was now the one sounding amused, 'I sent Vex running hours ago, since we first saw them. Llirvalie should know first thing tomorrow unless something trips our little Vex up.'

'Nice work,' Karliah replied, sounding impressed. 'Where are the others now?'

Brynjolf tore his eyes away from the column to look at her. There were so many of them, all here to help the Thalmor, the gods help them all.

'Most are in the surrounding countryside. I think Cynric and Niruin said something about checking out the Blackbriar Lodge. The Blackbriars have always been chummy with the Thalmor, wouldn't surprise me if they knew something or had something we could use.'

Karliah nodded.

'So, there's no one left in the city?'

'Sapphire stayed behind in the Cistern.'

'What?' Karliah exclaimed before she could stop herself. Both the Nightingales remained quiet for a long time. It didn't seem like they had been heard by anyone.

'If these Ka Po'Tun are holding anything useful, we're not going to see it if we can't get into the city,' Brynjolf explained. 'You know Sapphire, she'll be careful. There's no one better at moving around at night, then she can wait for them to move out and then come meet us at Nightingale Hall. And if there's anything we need to move, so be it. The three of us will move a lot faster than those bastards.'

Karliah was gritting her teeth.

'You should have told me about this.'

'I'm telling you now,' Brynjolf retorted. 'It will be fine, don't worry yourself.'

'I hope you are right.'

Together, the two Nightingales slipped silently away, back towards Nightingale Hall.