Unfamiliar Faces

A/N: As I stated at the end of Chapter 1, I am not fluent in Dovahzhul, or Dragon language. I use a translator website to do the translations of key phrases from English to Dovah. Now just so you can understand the speech in this fic, here's a legend:

"Dovahkiin" – People speaking normally

"Dovahkiin" – Dragon speaking

"Hi los Dovahkiin" – Humans speaking Dovahzhul, or thinking

"Fos los hin uth, Thuri" – Dragon speaking Dovahzhul

"FUS RO DAH!" - Dovahkiin using Thu'um (Shout)

Also, since I play Skyrim on PC, I use a ton of mods, from armor mods, to new houses, and body textures. I'll list the mods I use in a note at the end of this chapter.

Chapter 2: A New Crisis

After reappearing back at Honeyside, Mikkel quickly left the house, and Riften altogether. He walked out into a clearing a good ways outside the city and shouted to the heavens, "ODAHVIING!" The roar of the dragon could be heard over the rift as the enormous Dovah circled the clearing and landed in front of the Dovahkiin.

"Fos los hin uth," the dragon said, "What is your command, Thuri?" He then felt the magic coming from the gem on Mikkel's armor. "Zu'u vis fraan suleyk do bormah voth hi. I can feel the power of Akatosh with you, Dovahkiin. Has he made a new Rahvariin covenant with mortals?"

"He has Odahviing," Mikkel answered, "I'll explain that later. Right now, I need to get to Dragonsreach in Whiterun, ol nel ol nunon dovah vis brud, as fast as only a dovah can carry."

Odahviing lowered his head, allowing Mikkel to climb on. As the dragon ascended into the skies, he said to his ally, "Ruz voz mii kos vau. Then let us be off, Thuri."

There usually isn't much excitement in Dragonsreach. Well, not since Whiterun's thane, who also happens to be the Dragonborn summoned a dragon, and trapped it there. He later released said dragon and rode off on it's back, on his way to his ultimate confrontation with Alduin.

However, that is not the case this day. While Jarl Balgruuf was discussing his plans for the coming moot with his steward, Proventus Avenicci, a strange woman appeared out of thin air. Obviously an Imperial, she had very long blonde hair that stretched down past her waist, green eyes, and a very toned and beautiful body that was only highlighted by the daedric armor suit she wore. She carried an Akaviri longsword, Dragonbone bow and a quiver full of daedric arrows. No sooner had she appeared, Irileth, the Jarl's dunmer housecarl, had her sword to the strange woman's neck.

"For the love of Mara, Irileth," the woman stated, using her gauntleted hand to move the sword from her neck, "You don't need that."

"How do you know me?" Irileth inquired of the Imperial newcomer.

"I can explain that," came a voice familiar to the Jarl and his court. Everyone turned to see the Dragonborn, Mikkel, enter from the great porch. He walked over to the strange woman and said, "Dreh ni uful. Zu'u mindok wo hi los, Dovahkiin Riala. Do not worry. I know who you are."

The now identified Riala looked shocked. "Hi tinvaak ko dovah vun. Hi los Dovahkiin? You speak the dragon language. You are dragonborn?"

Mikkel nodded. "I've spent a great deal of time with Paarthurnax to learn the dragon language, after defeating Alduin."

"All that aside, Dragonborn," the Jarl started, "Where did she come from?"

Mikkel then turned to Jarl Balgruuf. "We really should take this discussion to the great porch," he advised, "Odahviing is out there, and he needs to hear this, too." He led the group out to the great porch, and the waiting dragon.

"This involves the dragons, too," asked Farengar Secret-fire, the Jarl's court wizard, before feeling the magic coming from the gem on the Dragonborn's armor, "Where did that gem come from?"

"The gem came from Akatosh himself," Mikkel informed everyone, "It's part of a new covenant between him and man. As long as my line wears this gem, then man will have an ally in dragonkind."

"The last time something like this was done was in the time of Saint Alessia," Farengar said, shocked.

Mikkel walked over to Riala and looked her in the eyes. "Her statue didn't do her justice," he thought to himself, "This woman is beyond beautiful." He then took her hand in his and said, "Riala here is a dragonborn from another world like ours. Akatosh brought me to his Shrine of the Dovahkiin to have her brought here. He had taken an interest in watching you, Riala. When you fell to Miraak, after interference from Molag Bal, he decided to have me bring you to this world."

"Did Akatosh tell you anything else?" came the obvious question, again from Farengar.

"Not directly, but he did identify himself as chief of the NINE Divines," the Dovahkiin stated, "The Thalmor are wrong to enforce the ban on worship of Talos. As it stands, from what I could glean from Akatosh, the divines are none too happy."

"To go against the Thalmor is to break the White-Gold Concordat," Irileth noted, "All of Skyrim would have to be unified in purpose to drive them out."

"The whole of the Empire will have to be unified to send the Aldmeri Dominion back to Summerset Isle," Balgruuf added, "We should discuss this with General Tullius at the Moot."

"Dov fen mindok do rahvariin nix jul, stahdi, ahrk dovah," Odahviing said as he again rose into the skies, "Dragonkind will know of the covenant between man, divine and dovah. I go to tell Paarthurnax. Call if you need me, Thuri Dovahkiin."

The Jarl dismissed everyone, but Avenicci, so they could continue their discussion about the coming moot. So, Mikkel led Riala out of the Palace and into town, where he reintroduced her to the people of Whiterun, and even got a chance to catch up with the heads of the Battle-Born and Grey-Mane clans, who were trying to make peace, after the death of Ulfric Stormcloak, and the end of the Civil War. After a while, Mikkel noticed that Riala was looking a little overwhelmed, so he offered her his hand, and led her out of the city, past the stables, and to an impressive mansion, right beside the Pelagia farm.

"This place wasn't here in my world," Riala said to Mikkel, "I can see there are a few differences between our worlds."

"Not a lot, but there probably are," Mikkel replied, opening the door to the mansion for her.

When Riala entered, she saw an impressive statue of a dragon standing on a ledge over the fireplace, and two display cases, carrying different weapons. In one case was Auriel's Bow, and Dawnbreaker, the sword that is the daedric artifact of the daedra lord, Meridia, as well as a Daedric and Dragonbone dagger. In the other case was the staff of Magnus and Dragonbane, the Akaviri longsword that Mikkel had used in his battle with Alduin, along with an elven and dwarven dagger. On mannequins flanking the two staircases in the center of the room were several distinct armor suits. One was the armor of Arch-curate Vyrthur, and another was the armor of the Vampire lord, Harkon. She also noted a suit of armor from the Blades, and the Imperial Legion. Two more mannequins, also clad in armor, one from the Whiterun guard, and another from the guard of Solitude were just a few steps further inside. Further in, when she looked to the right, she saw a portal, and another mannequin with a suit of elven armor. To the left, she saw something she had to get a closer look at. It was a rather impressive pool. She removed her gauntlet and knelt down, getting a feel for the water's temperature, which was rather warm. "How does the water stay so warm?" she asked.

"I had to talk to Tolfdir at Winterhold about that one," Mikkel answered, "The previous owner had asked the College to come up with a special sort of fire rune for this pool. It generates enough heat to keep the water at a comfortable temperature, while not boiling over. They actually call it a flame seal, as it uses fire magicka to generate the heat, but it doesn't actually generate fire itself."

After hearing that explanation, it didn't take Riala long to strip completely out of her armor, and walk into the pool, letting the warm water relax her, as she lied back. Mikkel noted the outright beauty of this woman again, before doing the same. He had spent a long time travelling around getting information about the status of Skyrim's previous crises, and he needed a break. He lay down in the shallow, warm water. He didn't know, nor did he care, if it was just spur of the moment, or if there was some sort of chemistry between him and Riala, but she put her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder. He put his left arm around her waist and allowed himself to relax.

A couple of hours later, Mikkel stood up, and picked Riala up from the pool, before carrying her to the master suite, and laying her on the bed, letting her sleep. He then put on a new suit, this time just a basic tunic and pants with a pair of boots, and went to pick up their armor, putting it all together in a chest, then prepared a hearty dinner for the two.

A couple of weeks passed, and Mikkel and Riala had spent that time learning more about each other, and their own adventures, which didn't see many differences, except for a few key things. First off, Riala did try to cross the border out of Skyrim, headed back to Cyrodiil. However, she was trying to get back to her family in Leyawiin, after a message from her father told her that her mother was dying from a mysterious illness. Also, while the Serana of this world had not cured herself of her vampirism, Riala's Serana had, which was the reason for Riala's death in her world, as this action had angered the Daedra lord, Molag Bal.

This particular morning, Mikkel and Riala were sitting at the breakfast bar, eating when Irileth joined them. "The Jarl wanted me to ask if you could join us on the road to Solitude," the Dunmer stated.

"When do we leave?" Riala asked

"In four hours," Irileth answered, "We will take horses from Whiterun stable to Solitude."

"I have a place in Solitude," Mikkel noted, "I actually own Proudspire manor, and am thane of the hold, as well as a Legate of the Imperial Legion. Do we need to carry armor?"

"We've got a group of guards coming with us," the dark elf responded, "Bandits should be no problem. Jarls Balgruuf and Elisif want you to be there, so we decided to include you in our entourage." Mikkel nodded.

"We'll be ready," Riala advised Irileth, and the Jarl's housecarl left the house, "I think we should go armored and armed. We are dragonborn, after all, and it will allow us to better protect the Jarl. The guards are good, but we're better. Besides, it'll allow me to break in that new armor suit I crafted the other day." She gave Mikkel a flirty smile before grabbing the armor suit out of their armor chest. Mikkel grabbed the suit of Nordic armor he had also created not long ago, along with the Amulet of Akatosh, which he created with the gem he got from the divine, fashioning an amulet for it from an alloy of gold and quicksilver. The two suited up, and Mikkel was pleasantly surprised at how the almost ornamental steel armor suit that Riala had on really seemed to not only protect her, but also enhance her beauty. Mikkel gave her a smile as he went and grabbed his dragonbone sword, and bow, with daedric arrows, and handed Riala similar weapons.

Four hours later, the group from Whiterun left from the stables, headed to Solitude. They traveled for several days, before finally arriving at Katja's farm, where they stabled their horses, and walked up to the city gates, through the city, and right to the Blue Palace, where Jarl Elisif greeted Jarl Balgruuf with a warm handshake.

Mikkel, on the other hand, had greeted General Tullius with a salute, before shaking the elder soldier's hand. "It's good to see you, Mikkel," Tullius stated, then noticed Riala, "Who's she?" Mikkel then went on to explain to Tullius the same thing he told Balgruuf and his court, which surprised the general, but in a way, he wasn't surprised at all. The dragonborn had made a habit of performing the impossible. "Then we really need to talk," Tullius told the two Dovahkiin, sounding more serious, "Things are getting bad in Cyrodiil." He led the two into a different room of the Blue palace, where a man in a different armor suit sat. "Mikkel, Riala, meet Commander Caro of the Penitus Oculatus," the general said, introducing the three. Caro shook Mikkel and Riala's hands.

"Tullius told me about you right after you finished the Civil war against Ulfric," Caro said, greeting the three, "And now, the Empire needs help. This goes no further than us." Caro's face had a deadly serious look. "The Dark Brotherhood has assassinated Emperor Titus Meade II," The commander notified the group, "We've got feelers out, trying to find the leadership of the Brotherhood, but we need help."

"If anyone can help us find the Brotherhood," Mikkel noted, "It would be the Blades. General, send a courier to Sky Haven temple and deliver a message to Delphine."

Tullius nodded. "You told me that amulet came from Akatosh," the general noted, "We haven't seen anything like that since the time of Alessia."

"Farengar said the same thing," Riala replied, "I was starting to wonder about that. He had Mikkel bring me back to life on this world, and gives him what could ultimately be a new amulet of kings."

"Excuse me, Mikkel," Caro interrupted, "After Tullius told me about you, I had looked into your past. You're from Chorrol, right?"

"Yes," Mikkel answered, "I came to Skyrim 5 years ago to learn more about smithing from the nord smiths, then just started wandering over the province."

"We looked at your ancestry, which is actually documented in the archives of Chorrol,"Caro explained, "You're descended from a woman named Lina, who had a son outside of marriage. When she was asked about the boy's father, she only said his name was Martin. This woman, Lina, was the Champion of Cyrodiil, and the Divine Crusader of the Knights of the Nine. She helped save Cyrodiil during the Oblivion Crisis, and defeated the Ayelid king, Umaril the Unfeathered. After the death of Martin Septim, she retired to Chorrol. What we didn't know is that, before the end of the Oblivion Crisis, she and Septim shared a bed. Mikkel, we think you are actually a lineal descendant of the Septim Dynasty. This new covenant with Akatosh just gives us more proof of such."

"We'll handle that after we deal with the Dark Brotherhood, and ultimately the Thalmor, Commander," Mikkel stated, matter of factly, "If you think I should be emperor, I'm going to earn that title, on the field of battle against the Thalmor, and drive them back to Summerset Isle."

"Such determination," Riala thought, "If anyone can do it, it'll be Mikkel." She then put a hand on his shoulder, saying, "And I will stand with you. Ahrk Zu'u fen kriist voth hi."

End Chapter 2

A/N: I said I would give you a list of the mods I use on my copy of Skyrim on PC, so here's a few of them.

Caliente's Beautiful Body Edition (CBBE) v3

No More Blocky Faces

Warglaives and Silverlight Armor for CBBE

Sovngarde Steel Armor by LustDesigns for CBBE

Female Daedric Armor Replacer by LustDesigns for CBBE

Apachii Skyhair

Better female by Bella

Better Males

Better Vampire Fangs and Eyes

BVFE – Serana and Family

Whiterun Mansion

Riverside Lodge with Sauna

TERA armor collection for CBBE

UFO – Ultimate Follower Overhaul

SkyUI

Familiar Faces

And that's just a selection of the mods I use.

Also, on another note, I never played the Shivering Isles in Oblivion. It just didn't go with the way I Roleplayed my character as a heroic character. That's the reason that the Champion of Cyrodiil isn't the new Sheogorath.

Next time – Chapter 3: Tracking the Brotherhood.