The next morning found Elsa nervously putting on her royal gown. Though she technically had servants to do this for her, Anna helped her lace up the ice corset she had fashioned—she was already so nervous, she didn't need to pass out from overheating—and slide the velvet and cotton dress over her head. The fabric of the bodice was heavy, and the skirt was only marginally lighter, and she mentally made a note to have her tailor remake the dress in something stretchier and certainly more breathable. Anna nearly fell over when she tried to bring the long felt cape to her sister and tripped on the hem, and Elsa paused for a moment of indecision before taking her green gloves and pulling them on, rolling her eyes at Anna's tongue-cluck of disapproval. "Anna, I told you."
"I know. I just think that you'd be perfectly fine without them. You're strong enough not to need them," she said, squeezing her sister's hand before going back to putting up Elsa's hair in the french twist the young queen was fond of. "Hey. I wonder what this 'Morokei' looks like."
"Please don't scare him away within the first few minutes," Elsa managed.
"Pish posh, I would never." Anna dropped the bobby pins and cursed. Elsa fashioned two new ones from ice for her. "Is there supposed to be a ribbon woven into your bun?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Okay, because this looks really nice the way it is and I don't feel like undoing it to stuff a ribbon in. Here." She handed Elsa her crown and smiled blithely when her sister put it on.
"How do I look?" Elsa asked.
"Like a queen, obviously. And beautiful. Very much beautiful." Anna grinned. "I have to go get ready myself. And help Kristoff figure out what he's going to wear. He'd never had to dress formally before. What about Olaf?"
Elsa chuckled. "Olaf is fine the way he is. I think he's outside playing with Sven anyway."
"Okay, good. One less person to worry about." Anna scampered out of the room, her light green bloomers from the previous day still on under her nightgown. "Okay. Should I meet you in the throne room?"
"Yes," Elsa called down the hall, gathering her cape in one arm so she didn't have to drag it the entire way. She heard Anna trip again as she started to make her way down the stairs and couldn't help a small chuckle.
Oh, but she was nervous. She was about to meet one of the sorcerer-kings of Skyrim, a land most people didn't like to talk about in and of itself, nevermind the men who ruled it. Was this really the right decision, to make an alliance with them?
You're not jumping into anything just yet, Elsa, she reminded herself as she descended the stairs and headed to the throne room, nodding to the servants who stopped to bow to her as she passed. That had become second nature; perhaps she was finally starting to become a real queen. You're just discussing the possibilities of an alliance. No more. If the terms aren't to your liking, you aren't obligated in any way to agree to a binding contract. The young queen smiled and thanked the two male servants who pulled open the doors for her, and when she reached her throne, most of her council had already gathered around her. Jorgen was not present.
"Is Jorgen all right?" She asked.
Kai shook his head with a sigh. "I'm afraid not, Queen Elsa. He was stricken with pains last night. He's in bend, being tended to by his wife and servants now."
Elsa's heart clenched. "Oh no. Poor Jorgen. Has the court physician gone to see him?"
"Yes, my Queen. And unfortunately it doesn't look good. His heart has been acting up again."
Elsa tried not to groan. She wasn't sure she'd be able to handle it if Jorgen died. He had for so long been one of the few constant figures in her life. Like Kai and Vulius, he had always been confident in her and had never seemed to balk at her powers, leading her to believe he was one of the few her father had continued to confide in about her abilities, even after the king and queen had reduced the staff and the trolls had taken all memory of her magic away from the town and citizens. "I'm so sorry to hear that."
Deep inside she was full of unease. Did Jorgen's sudden ailment have anything to do with the fact that Morokei's letter had shown itself to him first? She'd heard rumors from the servants once that the Dragon Priests could suck youth and life away without even touching you, and though she had scoffed at the notion then, it suddenly seemed to have credence.
Don't be ridiculous, she hissed to herself, sitting up a bit straighter on her throne. He's old. This has been a long time in coming.
Anna came running into the room at that moment, then spun around and hopped back to where she'd lost her shoe, awkwardly hopping back towards the throne as she put it back on her foot. Kai chuckled, and some of the councilors sighed, but Elsa had rarely been more glad to see her silly little sister. Anna was wearing her royal gown, and she looked just as pretty as she had the night of Elsa's coronation.
Kristoff came in next, holding Olaf's little twig hand as the snowman waddled alongside him, humming blithely to himself. Elsa's smile broadened as they took their places alongside her throne, and her councilors stepped off the dais as well.
"So, when exactly is Morokei coming?" Anna asked.
"I...don't actually know," Elsa admitted. "He only said...'tomorrow'."
"I still don't think this is a good idea, trusting someone from Skyrim," one of her councilors said, shuddering. "There are rumors about that land and none of them are good."
"The Queen has made her decision," Vulius said somewhat testily.
"It's all right," Elsa interrupted before they could start arguing. She was beginning to worry. She didn't even know how he was arriving, much less when. "I'm sure Skyrim's lords would understand if we chose not enter an agreement with them."
"I don't think we have much of a choice," another councilor muttered. Anna and Elsa both frowned at this, and both looked so much like their mother than Kai and Vulius had to chuckle.
"When Morokei comes—" Elsa began.
"ELSA!" Anna exclaimed.
In the center of the hall, a giant ball of purple fire had suddenly appeared without any warning whatsoever. The flames spun in rings that twisted and warped the air around a strange black center that glowed blue with an odd sucking noise, expanded, and then switched direction to form a giant explosion of dark violet fire with no restraint or purpose whatsoever, and a dark blue shockwave shot out from the burst of color. Elsa was on her feet, Kai with a hand on her shoulder, ready to run with her, Vulius's hand on his sword as he stood in front of his queen.
The fire disappeared as suddenly as it had come, leaving no trace of its presence on the floor, and the warped air sucked in on itself and vanished with a pop.
Standing in the center of the space the fireball had formerly occupied was a man.
He was taller than any man she had ever seen and thin as a skeleton, but every inch of his slim, powerful body was covered in fine, trim muscle. He wore long robes of peacock blue and a deep, iridescent green that were loose and billowing, but seemed to cling to his powerfully-built figure in all the right places to accentuate his athletic, lanky form. Dark golden armor covered his arms like dragon scales and ran down his chest all the way to his knees in a line, like interlocking bones or some kind of plates. Dragon heads were carved from the armor and rested upon his shoulders, and the scale armor extended all the way to his hands. The blue fabric, with had the look of satin or silk, ran down his chest like a tunic beneath the armor and down the skirt of the robes in both front and back, and draped from his upper arms to the black sash around his waist, leaving long, floor-length, straight green sleeves underneath that opened at the elbow to free the rest of his arms, which were clothed in tight black material that extended more than halfway down his hand and ended right at the first knuckle of his middle finger. A green scroll of fabric emblazoned with designs that shimmered a lighter green hung to below his knees from his armored hips, the scale armor resting over it, and also down the sides of the robes, and a long and heavy-looking dark cape hung to the floor from his shoulders and trailed out behind him for about two feet. The cape attached to the armor on his shoulders and extended up over his head in a dark cowl that cleanly covered the sides of his face, which was shrouded behind a silver mask that vaguely resembled an abstracted skull. There were no eye holes in the mask, only rounded protuberances where the eyes ought to be with a carved slit that logically no one would be capable of seeing out of. The mask and cowl were held in place by a crown-like golden circlet, and altogether he seemed strange and not completely human, and the hands that were visible under long black sleeves and the golden scale gauntlets were a strange shade of gray, the skin taught over every crease of bone. He gripped a long bronze staff which had a strange bluish-green orb on one end that seemed to pulse with power and glowed a faint smoky white, and the air around him seemed charged with magic.
Elsa saw Anna's mouth fall open, but Vulius did not relax his defensive posture and Kai only released her arm when she gestured to him that she was okay.
The Dragon Priest bowed low, bending down on one knee, his every motion more fluid and graceful than anything she had ever seen. He seemed like a wild animal, and she felt like she was in a cage with him; he seemed to dwarf everyone else with his mere presence.
"Greetings, Queen Elsa."
His voice was as dark as sin, beautiful and rough and seductive but also terrifying in its guttural power. It wasn't a human voice. It was the voice of a dragon.
Elsa swallowed and stood, gently pushing Vulius's waiting arm down. The commander stepped aside, and Elsa curtsied in the smallest of dips, respectful but in no way obsequious. "Lord Morokei. It is an honor to meet you. Thank you for coming all this way to Arendelle."
"The pleasure is mine, beautiful Queen," Morokei replied, standing back up with fluid grace. "I do hope I have not alarmed your councilors."
Elsa heard Anna make some sound, but she was too focused on Morokei, on the terror and intrigue simultaneously flooding her system. "No, no, it's quite fine. We simply were not expecting you to arrive...thusly." Her voice sounded flat and small compared to the harsh echo of his.
"We thank you for your presence here, Lord Morokei," Kai said, stepping forward and also bowing. The other councilors did the same, and Vulius managed a stiff bob. Anna curtsied, but her eyes never left Morokei's masked face, and there was something in her expression that seemed defensive. "You must forgive us for our surprise."
He nodded briefly, and Elsa stepped down from the dais, ignoring Vulius's sound of protest, and came to stand before Morokei. There was an unbelievable chill radiating off him, and the air around him was stiffing and charged with magic; Elsa felt her hair stand on end. She was used to cold, she could feel it but it did not harm her and therefore she enjoyed it, but this was a very different kind of cold. She herself had some degree of body heat, and was only mildly chilly to the touch. Morokei, however, was surrounded by a frigid circle of air that sent waves of freezing cold radiating out from him like tiny, invisible blizzards. It was a cold she had never felt in her life, not even standing on top of a frozen mountain in the middle of the night in an ice castle, wearing a light and rather skimpy dress made entirely of frost. For some reason, she blushed.
Morokei surprised her by taking her hand and bowing again, 'kissing' the lips of his mask to the back of her hand. His skin was like pure ice when she touched it, and a taught hardness that skin was not supposed to have. Heat rose to her cheeks without warning at the gesture and the contact.
"You are far more beautiful in person, lovely queen," he said with something of a smile coloring his voice, and Elsa turned pink right then and there.
"You know my parents?" Was the first thing to (intelligently) escape her mouth. "Knew my parents. Knew. They died." Oh my God, I sound like Anna.
He seemed to smile; she could feel it, even through the mask. "Through a brief correspondence."
"You will have to tell me about that," she managed.
Anna had approached them and was standing rather protectively at Elsa's side, looking more like she was ready to charge Morokei than greet him, and her presence helped clear the queen's head. "Lord Morokei, this is my sister, Princess Anna."
Anna curtsied stiffly; Morokei bowed just as graciously to her as he had to Elsa, either missing her hostility or choosing to ignore it. As subtly as possible, Elsa found Anna's toe and gently stepped on it. To her credit, Anna did not squawk like she usually did, merely stood up straighter and glared a little harder at the Dragon Priest before saying—in a far more welcoming voice than her expression deemed possible—"It's a pleasure to meet you, your excellency."
The councilors had now also approached, Vulius coming to stand at Elsa's other shoulder with his hand still on the hilt of his sword, though his posture was deceptively easy. Everyone was treating Morokei like the enemy and it was starting to annoy Elsa.
"I am the Queen's majordomo, and this is her esteemed Commander of the Armies, Commander Vulius. These are her council members. We all welcome you to Arendelle, and hope you have a pleasant stay." Even Kai's words sounded rehearsed and rather clipped, and as the majordomo, Kai was a fluid conversationalist even to the likes of the Duke of Weselton and Prince Hans.
Was it just her, or had the distance between her and Morokei increased the minute the others had approached? She hadn't seen him back away, but he seemed to have, at some point. Elsa broke the tense silence by gesturing to the doors. "Shall we find somewhere else to discuss matters of state? You've come a long way, surely you must want to get right to business."
"That would be pleasant," Morokei replied. He had an accent, strange and lilting and impossible for Elsa to place—perhaps it was simply a Skyrim accent. She held out her hand, and Morokei offered her his arm, which she took as they proceeded to the study. Anna fell into step behind her and took Kristoff's arm, and the rest of the councilors followed them, Vulius and Kai walking on either side of Anna. Kristoff had to keep looking down to avoid stepping on Morokei's cape, and Anna likewise had to avoid Elsa's. The majordomo opened the study doors for the queen and her guest and the entered the room.
"Kai, please get the lights," Elsa ordered, but stopped when Morokei said, "No need." He held up his hand, and all the candles in the room suddenly lit themselves, and the curtains opened to let dusty light in through the windows onto the tables. Elsa blinked in the sudden brightness, stunned by what she had just witnessed. Magic, whispered in her mind.
Kai looked just as startled, Vulius looked annoyed, and the rest of the councilors and Anna seemed to be unsure of what to think. Kai pulled out a seat for Elsa, who sat down at the head of the tables, and her councilors tentatively took their own seats, leaving a spot for Anna beside Elsa, and Kristoff across from her. Morokei was left a seat at the opposite end of the tables, which he took without complaint and sat with his hands folded on the wood before him.
"Lord Morokei," Elsa began.
"Please, call me Morokei."
"...Morokei." She had never had anyone ask her to call them by their first name—last name? Only name? What exactly was his full name anyway? "Would it be all right if I asked you to take off the mask?"
There were some murmurings among the councilors that she asked so politely. She was the queen, and this was her country; he had no grounds to refuse, but she asked as if he had every right to. It betrayed her discomfort with her role a little too much for this outsider to witness. This dangerous, powerful outsider.
Morokei, however, said nothing, merely reached up with one hand and gripped the mask, long fingers splayed over the face of it, and pulled it off.
Elsa's mouth fell open.
The voice was frightening, and the mask was inhuman and fearsome, but the man sitting across the table from her was...
...beautiful.
His skin was as pale as alabaster, but tinted faintly gray, and smooth and unlined on a powerful, chiseled face, as perfect and angular as if it had been cut from a block of ice, or marble. Every feature was proud and refined, sharp and elegant and dangerous, and his the slight hook to his long nose and the strange arch of his dark eyebrows only served to make him that much more exotic. His lips were narrow and a dark blackish-maroon, as if they had been stained, and his face was clean-shaven, a smoothness most men could not achieve with a mere razor. When he had removed the mask, the cowl had fallen back, and Elsa now stared at a shock of scarlet hair. A deeper, richer orange and auburn she had never seen. His hair fell in luxurious waves down to his shoulderblades, swept back from his forehead in a wild but controlled mane of vibrant, deep vermillion. He was younger than she had expected, and yet strangely ageless, but his eyes were the most unnerving feature of his face. They were beautiful, almond-shaped, slanted eyes, turned up every so slightly at the outside corners to give him an exotic look, but instead of whites, they were pitch-black, and the irises were a brilliant pale gold. The skin around them was darker than the rest, brownish-gray, and his strange eyes were deep-set in his head. No human eyes had ever looked like that. These were the eyes of an animal, a dragon, something dark and dangerous, alluring and mysterious.
She heard Anna make a sound of surprise, and many of the council members gasped as well. Morokei smiled at Elsa, half smirk and half genuine grin, and while he moved so little of his face in that small grin, it changed his entire expression to one of perplexing beauty. She choked on her own saliva for a brief second before regaining her composure and meeting his strange eyes with a smile of her own.
"Thank you," she offered, proud that her voice was not a squeak, and removed her gloves. "Now. Shall we discuss an alliance?"
"We shall," Morokei replied, and it was a very strange sensation to hear that inhuman voice and see the dark lips move. Elsa smiled again.
"Skyrim has forced the Dominion from its borders, and has successfully kept them out ever since," he began, leaving Elsa to watch his lips and hands move even as she tried to pay close attention to his words. "We can offer you that same protection—the protection of the Dragon Priests—as an alternative to having to offer up your throne," he gestured to Elsa, "And your sister."
Anna started. "Wait, what?"
Before Elsa could shoot her a 'I'll explain later' look, Councilor Andersen said, "Both Weselton and the Southern Isles have offered to ally with us against the Dominion in exhange for your hand in marriage, Princess Anna."
Anna made a face that was so comically disgusted even Morokei laughed. "Ex-CUSE me? No way, no chance, no how." She paused. "Why not Elsa? She's the Queen. Not that I'm trying to force you to marry some old scumbag, Elsa. Because I'm not. Wait, am I?"
Elsa shook her head. "They want my abdication and your hand."
"NO, NO, NO," Anna exploded, and Kristoff had to reach across the table and drag her back down. "Heck no! You're the queen! They can't kick you out."
"You flatter me, Anna," Elsa said quietly. "But for a very long while there, I was afraid I had no choice."
"But you do," Morokei interrupted. "The Dominion fears Skyrim. An alliance with us will most certainly shift this power struggle in your favor, and it may not even come to all-out war."
"But what is it the 'Dragon Priests' want in return for our allegiance?" Vulius asked suspiciously.
Morokei fixed him with a cold glare. "The Dragon Priests want nothing. I come alone, acting independently. However, we function as a cohesive unit regardless of our personal interests. If I ally myself with Skyrim, they are bound by ancient ritual to support me."
"So we have no guarantee Skyrim will aid us," Vulius said. "You're an independent party that doesn't represent the collective interests of the the nation. Why should we make a deal with you at all?"
"I said the other priests will support me, and Arendelle through me, should we make this alliance. Did I not make myself clear?" Morokei snapped, effectively silencing whatever Vulius was about to continue saying. "I need not explain the inner workings of Skyrim to you, Commander, so do not concern yourself with them. I am the only one you need to make an agreement with." His eyes fixed on Elsa now, and his expression softened marginally. "If you choose to forge an alliance with me, you ally with Skyrim. I hold it in the palm of my hand."
"So what is it you want, then?" Anna piped up, surprising the men. It was a good question, one Elsa had been too afraid to phrase herself. Anna calmly stared back at Morokei, and did not even look away when he fixed her with his hard, dangerous gaze, as Vulius had. Elsa felt her chest swell with pride at her sister's mettle. It could get her into a pickle and a half, but Anna had more fire than most of these men put together. "You aren't offering this alliance without the support of your country from just the goodness of your heart, if you don't mind my saying so."
Morokei actually smiled, tapping long nails together as he steepled his hands before his chest. "Normally, I would indeed expect something in return. And no doubt my brothers will want to demand something of Arendelle. But I see merely the offer for a strategic alliance between two countries which will likely serve beneficial in the future. The Dominion thrust Skyrim into a bloody war and violently took over, and that prompted a civil war within her. When the Dragons rose again, we were able to unite Skyrim's rather divided people and force the wretched elves out of our home, and the dragons and Dragon Priests have kept them out ever since. It has been roughly a hundred years since we routed them from our lands, and we intend to keep them out. Arendelle faces the threat on annihilation that Skyrim faced so many years ago. The elves detest magic wielders, like myself, like Elsa, and they detest my religion just as much as they frown on yours. Why would I not seek an alliance with a sister country so clearly facing the same situation mine was in not even a century ago?"
"How very altruistic of you," Vulius muttered.
"Vulius, enough," Elsa snapped.
Morokei swiveled his head to glare at Vulius. "If you must know, there has never been a magic wielder quite like your esteemed Queen, especially not one capable at such a young age. I wish only to get to know you and your land and people, and perhaps learn from you, if you will let me. If not, my offer still stands; I can promise you the full support of the Dragon Priests and all our forces against the Dominion and all its allies." His eyes narrowed as Vulius opened his mouth to speak. "And I do not break my promises."
"May I...think about it?" Elsa said after a moment. Morokei seemed surprised, but she couldn't exactly tell by what. "I fear that an alliance with Skyrim will appear to the Dominion as an act of war, and a war is exactly what I'm trying to avoid. If possible, I wish Arendelle to remain neutral."
"But of course," Morokei replied. "I did not come here to demand an answer immediately."
"Will you stay, though?" She found herself asking. "At least for a time? You said you wanted to get to know me, and my people." She blushed. "And with the constant pressure from the Dominion and the Southern Isles, it would be comforting to know I have someone here who might help protect my people, if it came down to it."
"Absolutely," Morokei said. "I am at your command, my Queen."
Elsa paused, then smiled at him. "Please," she said. "Call me Elsa."