Please keep in mind that English is not my native language. I use my own knowledge and some programs to translate these episodes, if you find any errors let me know and I will correct it as quickly as I can.
Kaus POV
The houses in Austria are two-story, made of iron and bricks, the more modest ones exchange the brick for wood. Their roofs are tiled, the second floors are surrounded by circular balconies. A solid structure with many windows.
It is a good design considering that Austria is a tropical island, probably a victim of many cyclones throughout the year. The design of its houses allows to resist them together with the humidity and heat of a tropical island.
I let out a sigh of disappointment. I would love to see these houses up close, analyze them better and try to discover the story behind their conception. Too bad, it's impossible, as expected, the local humans don't want the said monsters among them.
Look around the harbor noticing some ships docked, some made for trade, some for combat and some more just for the journey. Odd, I don't see any fishing boats.
I can also see the hundreds of soldiers patrolling the dock, holding their guns tightly and having their piercing gazes on our ship, ready to shoot us if anything that is not human tries to come down. I felt like a prisoner.
I ignore them and focus on the nocturnal beauty the island has to offer. It doesn't look very urbanized, sure it has various buildings and its streets are covered with flagstones, but mostly nature predominates.
Tropical plants of all kinds, some that I do not remember having seen in my life, although I am a historian, not a botanist, so I am not sure if they are new species.
The fauna is also very rich, although I do not see large animals I can observe many types of moths, bats, and other nocturnal animals.
I directed my view to the south where the slums are, I am too far away to see exactly, I notice smaller, less worked, more crowded houses and uncovered paths.
I can finally see what I suppose are fishing boats, they are not very big, it seems they leave the fishing to the poor.
It is curious that from the upper part of the city the lower part can be seen without problem, the capital of this kingdom is not large.
"I can hear how disgruntled you are, my friend" uttered a melodious male voice.
A man with long silver hair and snow-white skin perched beside me.
"Good evening Harbys" I greeted him.
"Good evening, Kaus What has you disgruntled?" I ask.
His face points toward me, but his waterfall-covered eyes don't point in my direction.
"I would have liked to come down, to see this unusual architecture and nature up close, something that, as you know, you can't" I replied.
Harbys is a third generation Falmer. Several years ago, when Juncell created the subway nation with the goal of uniting all the races of Tamriel, he traveled all over Skyrim looking for the least aggressive groups of Falmers, to propose them to live in Fal'Zhardum Din, only one group accepted.
Those were called the second generation Falmers. Wanting to restore them to their former glory, an experiment was made artificially inseminate some second generation Falmers with the seed of a first generation Falmer.
The first generation Falmers were the original ones, those that existed before the arrival of the Norsemen and before the missing Dwemer experimented on them.
You would think it would be impossible to find one, but Juncell is a man who doesn't know the word impossible. He found one and thanks to the seed of this Falmer known as Gelebor, second generation females could be inseminated.
The experiment worked, Falmers were born with an appearance closer to the first generation Falmers, although they kept the blindness of the second generation.
Harbys has long silver hair, snow-white skin and his face is identical to that of most Mer. He is at least 190 cm tall; his body is light and sleek. Cataracts cover his irises.
His face is deformed by a burn scar on his right cheek that took some of his flesh.
"It's for our sake" he said in his soft melodious voice.
"I am aware of this; I was so excited about these new lands and now it turns out I will probably never walk them. This will be repeated to every new nation we go to" My shoulders slumped.
"I don't think so, people will hear about us, they will see that we are not, as they think, at some point someone will let us step on land, when that happens, it will be the beginning of our travels through these lands, we must be patient" I am not very convinced that what he says is real.
"Maybe it will never happen, it took Tamriel centuries to consider us something more than beasts, how long will it take these people?"
"Centuries in which almost no one made the effort to understand us and give us a hand, Juncell did it in the space of no more than 60 years, he managed to get us to be perceived as more than beasts, these people fear us because they don't know us" At no point did his voice rise in pitch.
"They don't seem very eager to get to know us" I replied.
"Because they fear us, at some point fear will stampede and curiosity will take its place" His hands began to glow with a violet light, a clear sign that he is about to use magic.
I didn't need to channel for long before the violet glow in his hands summoned a small orb of the same color, said orb is a portal, it vanished leaving in its place a silver harp finely decorated with eagle motifs.
Harbys took the harp with both hands and began to pluck its strings making a faint but pleasant melody.
"Do you think that's possible?" I asked him.
"I was the first third generation Falmer, I watched Tamriel go from considering me a monster to a being, just another elf" He stopped playing for a few seconds bringing his hand to his scar "It wasn't easy" he moved his hand away from the scar going back to playing the harp "but we made it. We can make it here too"
Now I feel ashamed, what have I suffered compared to what Harbys suffered? Nothing that's the answer.
All my life I only had to deal with words and looks, and here I have a man who has suffered everything bad the world has to offer to those who are different, and I happen to be the only one complaining.
I let out a heavy sigh to regain control of my emotions "You're right..." I was about to say something else, but the words died in my mouth when a large orange glow lit up the night.
Again, I looked to the south noticing with horror how a gigantic fire appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the slums, the orange flames soared for several meters, spreading easily between the wooden houses too close to each other.
"I feel a sudden heat, what is it?" asked Harbys having stopped his harp playing.
"A sudden fire in the slums... It's... It's huge" How could something like that happen out of nowhere? One moment the night is quiet and the next instant an incredible fire appears.
There wasn't even an explosion, the fire just appeared out of nowhere consuming the wood with ease.
"A fire?" asked the confused Falmer, "But up until now the atmosphere was damp."
Falmer may be devoid of eyes, but not ears, in fact, they are some of the finest ears in existence good enough for Falmer to be decent archers. Their other senses also help by allowing them to sense the subtlest temperature changes.
"It appeared out of nowhere, and when I say out of nowhere it's out of nowhere, one instant it was all dark and the next it's like we're at King Olaf's burning" Watch as the soldiers guarding our ship began to scatter running towards the spot.
"What should we do?" asked the Falmer with concern in his voice.
"That is a question we should ask the second in command, the fire is escalating fast and may reach this part of the city in a few minutes" We both started running towards the ship's cabins, as apart from a few others we are the only ones on deck.
How unlucky we are that a fire happens just the day we arrive in this nation, is this what they call Dragonborn luck?
Juncell POV
We took a carriage to get to the castle because it is a bit far from the city. The trip was not long thanks to the fact that the carriage is light, roofless, and pulled by four horses, plus the paths are covered with flagstones that allow a smooth transit.
When we were close enough to get a good look at the castle, I couldn't help but be amazed. Seeing the capital city of the kingdom and the architecture it has, I would not expect it to be so large.
The castle occupies an area of over 5 hectares, is made of bricks and has an architecture that reminds me of the Bretons rather than the Altmer which is what I expected this being a tropical nation as Alinor is.
The carriage stopped just inside the entrance to the castle, where six servants and ten guards await, all lined up and evenly spread out on either side of the front door
"Surprised?" the queen asked proudly.
Edward translated that simple question to me "I am. Far be it from me to wish to offend you your majesty, as you told me on our way here the kingdom is just shy of 100 years old. It is hard to see such a beautiful castle in such young kingdoms" The subtext behind those words is that 100-year-old kingdoms do not usually accumulate the money to build such magnificent castles, not easily at least.
"I was not offended by your grace, my great-grandfather founded Austria with the use of a great treasure he discovered in his youth. As I told you at first the island was intended to be more of a vacation destination for my great-grandfather, the builders he brought to build the castle moved with their families to the island and when the construction was finished my great-grandfather realized he ruled over thousands of people" Mireille explained again.
She is proud of her family and their accomplishments, which is to be respected, after all her great grandfather managed to create a new nation without invading anyone, people came and settled, he was forced to rule them. Or at least that's the version of the story Mireille has given me.
Again, I heard Klaus grinding his teeth, this time louder. I watched him out of the corner of my eye noticing how he tries to control his fury.
On the trip I noticed that the man seems to get angry every time Mireille talks about his great-grandfather.
"Tell me Klaus" I caught his attention with my words which Edward was forced to translate for the admiral to understand "What is the history of your family?" I asked looking only like a curious man and not like someone trying to uncover a mystery.
"M-my family?" He looked rather confused at the question, not like someone who is taken by surprise by a question, more like someone who doesn't know what to answer.
The three of us stood expectantly waiting for his answer, I noticed how the man slowly seemed to become more and more nervous "I-I... I'm sorry, I'm kind of tired" he said holding his hand to his face and trying to pretend to be tired.
From the look Edward sent me, he didn't buy that act either "It's understandable Klaus, you've been working all day. Escort Klaus to his room, I'll explain to Iris why you couldn't join us for dinner" The queen, on the other hand, was fooled.
Even by his tone of voice and his worried expression, I could tell that he had a great affection for Klaus. Some of the servants present accompanied the admiral towards the castle.
"Forgive me for that your grace, Klaus goes to great lengths to maintain the security of Austria, without his work the kingdom would be in trouble. To answer your question, the Ainhart family is as old as Austria, coming from my great-grandfather's adopted son."
"No need to apologize, I understand the situation, thank you for answering my question" He just gave me a smile and nodded elegantly.
"A pleasure to see you back your majesty" Pronounced a male voice.
Said voice belonged to a short and plump old man, somewhat bald and with the little hair he had left already gray "Godwin wasn't there a problem during my absence?" Mireille uttered.
On this occasion I didn't understand anything because Edward knew it was best not to translate for me a conversation in which we have nothing to do with.
"All perfect, Princess Iris did a good job, she is your worthy heir" The old man seemed at last to notice us and as everyone was surprised by Edward's appearance, that is already starting to be repetitive "Forgive my disrespect my good men, I present myself I am Godwin his majesty's advisor" He made a slight bow in our direction.
"Godwin, may I present to you Captain Edward Law and the king of Fal'Zhardum Din, Juncell Sahan. They were coming in the great ship that made its way to the harbor.
They came with the interest of creating a trade route with Austria. They come from Tamriel" The queen introduced us.
"Tamriel, that distant continent that has been talked about so much for some years now?" The queen nodded at the question.
"It is a pleasure to meet you counselor Godwin" I pronounced diplomatically, this man is important to our trade dealings, as he is Mireille's advisor.
"The pleasure is all mine, your grace, forgive me, we didn't know we would be receiving a king, we didn't make any preparations" he immediately became nervous.
"You don't need to apologize for that, we were what arrived unexpectedly" I said with the aim of reducing the old man's nerves.
I find it funny to call him an old man when I'm probably older.
"Maybe we can't offer you a welcome fit for a king, but you can join us for dinner. Please Godwin, forewarn the servants that we will have guests" The man nodded and ran back to the castle "Follow me please" the queen asked us.
We obeyed. As expected inside the castle, the walls are covered with luxurious decorations such as tapestries, chandeliers, paintings, weapons, and armor and many more.
The treasure that Mireille's great-grandfather discovered must have been incredible to be able to afford a castle like this and to be able to decorate it this way.
"My younger sister Iris is my heir until I have children" Pronounced the queen seeking to resume the explanation of how her kingdom works.
"Isn't she married your majesty?" I asked as I quickened my pace a bit to keep up with her. Edward fell in behind the two of them.
I watched somewhat confused as a woman in her twenties blushed like a newly blossoming teenager who you ask which boy, she likes "N-no... Me, I'm still waiting for the one" Those are words you don't hear very often coming from royalty.
Few kings and nobles marry for love, they usually marry for political and economic interests. Even the wedding of Maximus and Ayrenn was motivated somewhat by political interests.
I suppose Austria being a kingdom somewhat far from the rest of the kingdoms of Serenus and with minimal nobility, the queen can afford to marry whomever she wants without worrying about political and economic issues.
"Are you?" she asked.
The question repeated itself in my mind like echoes becoming more and more distant as my vision blurs and warps, creating a landscape that could not be more different than the one that surrounds me. The decorated walls disappeared, and the carpet-covered floor turned to mud. The queen's voice soon transformed into cries of pain and the metallic sound of clashing weapons.
I recognize the place that now surrounds me. A hill that once had a ground covered with grass and flowers and now is only covered with mud, blood, and visors.
Men in Imperial armor fight other men in Dominion armor.
In all this chaos and senseless violence, I am on my knees, desperately trying to stop the blood from flowing out of the wound on the neck of that black-haired Nordic woman.
Her gray eyes rested on me, not with fear, but with absolute resolution "No, please" I begged feeling tears begin to flow down my cheeks "Keep fighting, you can do it, this is nothing we haven't suffered before" I spoke again my voice charged with desperation.
I felt his gloved hand on my cheek, a slight smile had formed on his face "I-I'll wait for you in Sovngarde" They were his last words before I felt his hand drop, saw his eyelids close and his breathing stop.
I stood paralyzed watching her inert body, it's unreal, something that shouldn't happen, she shouldn't be able to die, she fought against dragons, vampires and gods next to me, always ready to stop an attack with her shield, to cut an enemy with her sword, she was larger than life itself... And an arrow, a measly arrow, was what took her from me.
The fury began to rise in me, the pain and sadness had been stamped to give way to the most fulgurant of furies, I looked ahead seeing the enemy advancing looking to meet us.
Forget any promise made to my teachers to my brother, forget the meditations and teachings, forget everything, and just let the dragon out. I opened my mouth feeling the power, the force, coursing through me and becoming one with me, I will push the world harder than it can ever push me.
"FU..." The scream died in my throat as I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, I looked down noticing a blue-gray arm planted firmly on my belly, I looked up noticing white eyes looking at me with a fusion of fear and worry.
All the chaotic scenery faded away returning me to the interior of the Austrian castle.
I looked around noticing the queen in panic with some servants and guards around us "I'm sorry your majesty, I think it's best Juncell rests for today" Edward uttered.
Whatever he told her the queen nodded. She put one of my arms around the back of her neck and helped me walk down the halls of the castle to what would be my room during my stay here.
Edward helped me sit on the bed and quickly went to get something for me to drink, he returned shortly with a glass full of red wine. I gulped it down.
"It's been years since you've had one of those attacks... I thought you were over it" I dropped back on my back on the bed letting out a heavy sigh.
"I thought so too" was my reply.
Edward POV
I had to meet privately with the queen, she wishes to know what happened to Juncell and because we are her guests I preferred not to refuse.
I met with her in what I assume is her work room, for apart from the desk behind which she is sitting I can see some bookcases filled with books and scrolls. She motioned me to take a seat in one of the two chairs in front of her desk, I obeyed.
"I won't beat around the bush What happened to the king? I've never seen a man go from being calm to looking like he was watching hell and then wanting to unleash one" The queen asked.
"He's not far from that. Vera Juncell suffers from what is commonly known as post-traumatic stress disorder or well that's what those experts in the Fal'Zhardum Din mind call it" I explained not quite sure I had translated the word right.
"What is that supposed to be?" she asked showing her confusion.
"I'm not an expert on all that, but as far as I know it's a condition of the mind that develops after a traumatic event and well... Juncell has a lot of those in his life" I explained as best I could.
"What exactly does it do?"
"From what I understand it can cause: re-experiencing the traumatic event, which is what happened to Juncell, nightmares, avoidance of certain thoughts, angry outbursts, trouble concentrating and I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot more."
"Sounds like something I've already seen What do I cause me to re-experience the event?" I don't feel entirely comfortable responding to that.
I feel like it's information that can be used against Juncell and it's something I don't like. He has many enemies too many I would say, plus he makes new ones easily, the gods know that many of those enemies would like to take advantage of any hint of weakness.
"I'm not the one to reveal that information. I'd better ask him directly."
The queen did not seem satisfied by my answer, but I quickly note that no matter what she told me, I will not speak "Captain Edward, I only wish to know if King Juncell may pose a danger. I have seen such symptoms in some of my soldiers before. Some injure themselves and those around them" I suppose it is a justified concern.
"I'm not going to lie, there was a time when it was dangerous to be around when he had those seizures. He hasn't had any for years and over time they had become increasingly milder and less dangerous."
"You haven't answered the question" The girl is perceptive.
"He may be" No use lying, after all, if I hadn't hit him Juncell would have unleashed one of his terrible dragon screams and according to the Fu he uttered before I interrupted him, he was about to not only kill us all, but also destroy half of Austria.
Mireille was silent, she seemed to be pondering.
"Captain Edward, I am being tolerant with you, I allow your ship to enter our island even though you have not announced yourself, I allow you to stay despite the unusual crew you have and now you are hiding information from me that may endanger my subjects" Spoke the queen with authority "I demand to know the truth How dangerous is King Juncell? You turned pale when you noticed that he was about to scream".
It seems I can no longer get away with half-truths. I was about to speak when someone forcefully opened the door of the place. I looked back and noticed a soldier covered in sweat and with a look of absolute horror on his face.
The queen showed an angry expression until she noticed the soldier's face "Pardon the interruption, your majesty, but the slum is on fire!" Said the soldier the urgency present in his every word.
The queen got up from her seat and in an instant was close to the soldier, I must admit being somewhat surprised at how quickly she reacted to having heard that "What, how did something like that happen?" asked the queen, which immediately began to move away from the site being closely followed by the soldier.
I was about to get up and follow her when I felt the communication device vibrate, as I picked it up, I noticed the number of the device that had been left on the ship so that I could be contacted quickly in case there was a problem.
When I answered I immediately heard the voice of my second in command "captain, the whole lower quarter is on fire, it is the biggest fire I have ever seen in my life, the flames are advancing fast, if they continue like this in a few minutes they will be in the upper part" explained the man coming from Akavir.
Due to the volume of the device, the queen stopped walking and looked at me with a confused look "Do you think the ship could suffer because of the fire?"
"I don't think so, but the men here look restless, some of them want to come down to help put out the fire" He explained.
"Okay wait I'll try to get permission for them to come down."
This is obviously not our problem, but... It is an opportunity, a chance to make ourselves well seen by the local people and if what happens here spreads it will also help us to make ourselves well seen in the rest of the continent.
"Your majesty, my second in command, has just spoken to me, he says that the fire is gigantic and is advancing fast, in a short time it will reach the upper part of the city" I explained to the queen, who looked in the direction of the soldier, seeking to confirm my words.
The man nodded with fear.
"By the Goddess" Mireille uttered looking much less like a queen and more like a terrified child "How could something like this happen why wasn't I warned before?" Demanded to know the queen.
"Your majesty the fire came out of nowhere, one moment there was no sign of fire and the next a large part of the lower part was in flames, I came to warn you as quickly as I could" Pronounced the soldier somewhat intimidated by the tone of voice with which the queen had asked him.
The latter approached one of the windows of the castle and looked outside. Her eyelids opened wide when she noticed in the distance in the middle of the night an orange stain coming from the city "Gods... Something like this has never happened before" she pronounced.
She seems quite overwhelmed by the current events, I understand her in part, from what she just said this is something unprecedented in Austria. Besides, if the fire is as big as they say it is, it will be extremely complicated to put it out.
"Your majesty, my crew can help, some know magics that can push back the flames" I pronounced.
My words drew the queen's gaze upon me. For several seconds she seemed to debate whether to believe me or not, in those seconds she looked out the window again and seemed to make up her mind "If any of your crew commits any crime against the people of Austria, all my good will with you will turn into aggressiveness... Warn the soldiers of the change of situation with the crew of the huge ship" The queen pronounced first to me and then to the soldier, who nodded and ran away as fast as he could.
I took the communication device bringing it close to my mouth again "Wait for the soldiers to be informed, you now have the permission to go down to help, but you must wait for the soldiers to know, use Anatashesha to put out the fires" I pronounced.
"Understood captain" Having said that, he waited for me to say something else, which I didn't, since I cut the communication.
Having Juncell in this situation would be good... But the fire brings back bad memories of the great war, even to me, I can't trust Juncell not to fall again and end up making everything worse.
We'll have to make do without the Dragonborn.
The houses: The houses in Austria have the Creole style of Martinique. Because it is a tropical island, I thought of giving it a distinctive architectural style that is found (mostly) on a tropical island.
The castle: it is inspired by Windsor Castle in Berkshire, England. The goal was to make it discordant with the rest of the buildings on the island to show that its inhabitants and royalty are not native to the place.