THE BLUE PALACE, SOLITUDE, 4th of Last Seed, 4E 203

Aurora slowly covered her yawn with her right hand.

"Can't you hire me?" Olfina asked.

"No! What do you know about governance?" she continued in an surprisingly calm manner.

The Jarl had reached the stairs of the Blue Palace. Just as Aurora was about to set her foot on the first step, she noticed that a man with two enormous packages was descending and jumped to the side in order to avoid him.

"Well... what do you know?" she heard Olfina's voice behind her.

"Nothing! That's the point, Olfina! I need someone who knows what she's doing."

Aurora looked up. The stairs were now free of people, except for the pair of soldiers who were raising the flag of the Kingdom of Skyrim from the ceiling. Her knees hurt as she walked towards the upper floor of the palace, and this brought her concern over her general condition. She had been ordered to take her position in Solitude as soon as the news of the peace had reached King Ulfric, and the woman had arrived at the palace a month thereafter. Ever since her ride from the Imperial City, her body had been resting from physical ordeals, yet she was more exhausted than ever.

It did not help her that her sleep quality grew worse and worse. The nightmares she had been experiencing for half a year were now barely manageable. There were days when she, merely for a moment or two, thought herself to see the monsters of her sleep in the Blue Palace, the marketplace or at the building sites. It had reached the point where the woman wondered if she was still sane.

"What about the army then? I can even be city guard, just give me a job!" Olfina exclaimed.

Aurora sighed and turned around. Olfina was standing four steps further down, dressed in a pretty, but basic dress. The woman's long, straight nose was slightly red, as were her cheeks. Her elegant eyebrows were wrinkled, and she had a pitiful expression on her face.

"I am not the one deciding over the army, I'm sorry. You'll have to write to Ulfric," Aurora said.

"He's cutting back on manpower, and besides... he doesn't want women."

Olfina threw her light brown hair to the back and looked at Aurora.

"That's not true. I can write you a recommendation, but I doubt that you'll be successful. We need people who work, not fight nowadays. Take a job as a barmaid again or something."

"I can't! Haven't you been outside of the city walls? There are people everywhere and not enough jobs!"

"Well I'm sorry, Olfina," the Jarl said and continued up the stairs.

"Don't you understand? Now I'll be dependent on my uncle again!"

"At least you have somewhere to live. You are nobility," the Imperial answered and turned around. "If you're bored, come and help me empty the eastern wing."

Olfina bit her teeth together. During the war, she felt that she and Aurora had grown rather close. In fact, she considered the Jarl to be her best friend, and that was primarily the reason to why she was so hurt. Olfina felt that she had been abandoned and knew perfectly well that the rules of Nirn were changing.

The few septims she had accumulated during the war against the Thalmors would run dry within barely three months. Solitude had grown into a very expensive town, and the situation was not that much better anywhere else. Skyrim lived through an enormous migration wave, and there were jobless people in each town – something that was unheard of before the war.

Olfina understood that these were the times when the rules for the noble class grew stricter. Even though marriages between commons and nobles were uncommon for the past five years, they still existed. After such an eventful time as the Civil and the Great Wars, heads of houses would do everything in their power to secure deals between counties and holds, and Olfina knew that this included her.

Her uncle had no children of his own, and even though her own father worked as a blacksmith, she would be but a tool the Head of the Grey-Mane family. Olfina had seen Aurora as an obvious resort – a powerful friend who would use her influence to ensure that Olfina could support herself. The woman remained at the top of the staircase with tears of anger burning behind her eyelids. She can go to Oblivion with her principles, the Nord thought.

Aurora reached the top of the stairs and saw Bryling and Erikur standing in front of a table, leaning in over it. The Jarl tiredly walked up towards them.

"No, I think we should..." Bryling began.

"Oh, but only because all of these companies are in debt to you, and the only way you'll get your gold back is by giving them this job!"

"Says the woman who owns a mine!"

"Stop squabbling like children!" Aurora demanded. "Are the two of you incapable of performing your duties?"

The man and woman turned around and looked at their Jarl with surprise. Aurora sighed and viewed them before turning her gaze at the throne. The woman utterly disliked the idea of sitting on it.

"Well this is ridiculous. I need a cabinet, not a throne," Aurora said and placed her arms on the back of her waist.

"I can arrange one for..." Erikur began.

"Good, because I don't have time for that today," Aurora said. "I have an interview with a potential new steward."

Bryling looked upset. Her narrow eyes were turned towards the floor, and the heavy eyebrows brought downwards. Aurora had fired her thane's lover about a fortnight prior to this day, as she had found out of the affair. The Jarl could not have two thanes who tried to outmaneouvre one another by involving other members of the court. She may not have been a noble by birth, yet she felt that she had learnt to understand what was going on in their heads. They were constantly fighting for influence over the Jarl, other nobles, the local industries and markets. This was, however, to Aurora – merely an annoying matter which she had to take into account when making decisions based on her thanes' recommendations. It was something Elisif had never thought of, and this was the reason to why she was but a doll in the hands of the Empire and her thanes.

"Brynling, will you inspect the new buildings?" Aurora asked.

"Yes, my Jarl," she said and immediately turned around.

Aurora glanced at the table, which was filled with parchment. In the middle, they had a map of the town and the new buildings. Aurora had a hard time attracting workers from all over Skyrim for the ambitious new city she was raising, and she had no extra gold for corruption – everything had to flow exactly as planned. The gold Ulfric had given her as war reparations from the Empire and Thalmor was running out, and she needed to fix the bad cash flow as soon as she could. This was only possible by raising more taxes – something that was rather impopular.

Aurora had asked for the thanes' advice, and they had agreed on that the best thing they could do was to impose a land ownership tax in Solitude. This was used for building a rental house next to Vittoria's manor; a concert hall in the shape of an amphitheatre with the stage at the bottom, and a half circular area for the audience, which was situated on the opposite side of the road; a theatre next to the Hall of the Dead; and two rental houses that would be built along the road which was currently leading into the town from the south. Aurora had abandoned the idea to move the walls by taking down one stone at a time and carefully moving the construction further south – towards the stables, and instead, she had opted for allowing people or organisations raising their own houses between the first and second walls, creating a new street.

It was a lot to think of, and she desperately needed a steward she could trust. Aurora sat down by the table and covered her face with her hands. The sleep deprivation was taking its toll on her, and what was worse – she was sometimes thrown into a state of fear and anxiety where she had trouble to breathe. It usually occurred late at night, when she was alone, and often, she felt paralysed.

"Who are you?" she heard Erikur's stern voice.

Aurora looked up and saw a short Nord with nervous blue eyes and an elegant hairdo. Her face was oval, but her cheeks were round like a child's. Her eyebrows were almost black, and her forehead was a bit too short to be fully proportional to her face. The woman wore a beautifully decorated green dress with golden details.

"Nilsine Shatter-Shield, daughter of Tova and Torbjorn of Windhelm," she presented herself. "I'm here for the post of stewardess," she spoke with a formal tone.

"You're the sister of Friga," Aurora said.

The Jarl gestured with her hand for the woman to sit down and straightened her back.

"Yes."

"I am sorry for your loss. The King always spoke highly of your family," Aurora said as Nilsine sat down. "Well, what kind of experience do you have?"

"I've been taking care of the family matters ever since my sister's death, milady. My mother turned to the bottle, and I was left to fend for the work."

"And why do you want to live in Solitude?" Aurora asked, leaning her head against her knuckles.

Nilsine chuckled a little, nervously smiling. She looked at the table before meeting Aurora's gaze.

"I need to get away from Windhelm, to be honest. And besides, this is the place to be nowadays, isn't it?"

Aurora liked the woman the first time she saw her all those years ago. She was easy to read, and the Jarl felt that Nilsine would perform a Stewardess duties immaculately. The woman had been thrown into work ever since her sister's tragic passing that had caused so much misery for the family, and Aurora felt for her.

"When can you begin?" Aurora grinned.

Nilsine, obviously taken by surprise, could only smile for a few seconds.

"Well, I have a lot to do and very little time, so you better start soon."

"Of course, I'll... I'm ready now," Nilsine spoke.

"Good. Your bed quarters are the one furthest in into the eastern wing. We are clearing it today, actually."

Aurora stood up and smiled at Nilsine's surprised expression. The woman followed the Jarl as she began to walk away from the table.

"Let's say the previous occupant never moved out," Aurora said, turning her head towards Nilsine and laughing.

"Olfina, this is Nilsine, my new Stewardess," Aurora said and turned towards her Stewardess. "Olfina is a pain in the arse, don't pay much attention to what she says."

Olfina showed her tongue before looking out over the catastrophe that was the eastern wing. There were all sorts of furniture – chairs, benches, tables, wardrobes, beds and even an old bathtub, which all lay in piles on the floor, covered in spider web. The windows probably had not been cleaned in dozens of years, perhaps even a century, or maybe at all since the castle was built.

"We don't have much time before the people move in, and Ulfric refuses to hand me more manpower, so this is on us, girls," Aurora said.

"Why isn't Harrald here?" Olfina asked. "I'm sure he only sits on his arse, that bastard..."

Harrald, the heir of the Rift had followed the women to Solitude in the hope of securing a position within the regular army. Since the House of Law-Giver had much influence, Aurora regarded this matter more of a formality. Ulfric had close ties to them and would most probably appoint Harrald as an Officer serving in Solitude, which housed Castle Dour.

Speaking of the trolls, Aurora thought as Harrald entered the wing.

"Gods, what is this place?" he asked, removing spider web from his hair.

"Pelagius wing," Aurora smiled.

"The old Emperor's?" the man asked.

"Yes."

"The madman?" Nilsine asked.

"Well, yes. I need this and his memory will have to move," Aurora stated adamantly. "The builders will be here tomorrow," so hurry up.

Once again, the door opened, but this time, a servant entered.

"My Jarl, there is someone here who wants to meet you," he said and stepped away from the door.

A rather tall woman with shoulder length brown hair leaned forwards, looking at the surroundings with astonishment. Her nose was crooked, her eyes heavy and her lips plump. Her skin had a healthy shine to it, and she wore a lot of colours on her face – her eyes were painted black, her lips in an almost silvery nuance, and her cheeks brown. It was slightly bizarre.

"Hello. Who are you?" Aurora asked.

"I'm Ingun – an alchemist," the woman said and bowed her head.

She appeared a lot more confident than Nilsine, judging by her body language. Some would argue that she came across as too ecstatic, but it made Aurora smile, and she liked it.

"Where're you from?" Aurora grinned.

"From Riften, my Jarl."

"Well... what experience do you have?" Aurora chuckled as the rest of the group looked at Ingun with blunt astonishment.

"None, your Majesty. Well... I've recently finished my training at Elgrim's Elexirs, but I have a heartfelt passion... And a recommendation from..." Ingun began.

"Why did you become an alchemist? Were your parents in the business?" Aurora asked, knowing the answer pretty well.

"No, my Jarl. My parents did not approve of my choice..."

"That's all I need to know. I like young talents," Aurora grinned. "For now, take these gloves and help us clear this place."

Aurora threw the woman a pair of leather gloves before pushing Olfina forwards, receiving an annoyed stare in reply.

"By the Nine, what happened here?" Ingun asked as she walked further into the room.

"A madman lived here before, but I now I've repossessed it," Aurora stated happily.