Knocking made Sylvi jump and clutch her book to her chest. She opened the door to see Aegon waiting as he leaned against a wall with a look of impatience.
"I've never heard of a king waiting for a maid," Aegon snarked as Sylvi closed the door behind her.
In reply Sylvi wrote, "And I've never met a king shorter than me." It wasn't exactly true… The Emperor was about the same height as Aegon, but it didn't have to be true to make him mad.
Sylvi watched Aegon's face redden as he read her writing. He tried to snatch the book out of her hand, but she held it up just out of his reach. Aegon grasped at her arm to try to pull it down. With a smirk, she easily held the book aloft despite his best efforts. A chuckle made them freeze. They turned to see Ser Cole raising an eyebrow at their antics.
"This… maid has insulted the king!" Aegon whined and took a step back.
"Merely stated a fact," Sylvi wrote before lifting her note for Ser Cole to read.
Ser Cole rested his head in his hands for a moment as Aegon moved a couple steps to read what she had written. Before Aegon could make another fuss, Ser Cole spun the two of them around and sternly pushed them to the small council room. Lord Hightower watched them enter with a look of amusement. Since Sylvi had fought off the Thalmor and helped find Mysaria, the King's grandfather had been much more tolerant.
As Aegon took his seat, Sylvi stood next to his chair. Lord Hightower went back to speaking with the other members. Sylvi watched Aegon sink further down into his seat as they waited for the meeting to officially begin. When the Queen Dowager entered with Prince Aemond, the room went quiet. Prince Aemond watched Sylvi with curiosity as Lord Hightower started to tell the room what Sylvi had told him. Everyone's eyes were soon on Sylvi.
"Ser Cole testified that these 'Thalmor' used magic. In fact, only magic could explain how one of the city guards had his hand frozen down to the bone. However, that does leave me with a different question… How did you fare so well from the sudden blizzard?" Lord Hightower asked as he focused on Sylvi.
"The blood of the Nords runs hot," Sylvi wrote, and a servant ran over to her to read her words aloud to the room.
Lord Hightower raised a brow and asked skeptically, "Are you sure that it has nothing to do with you being the 'Dragonborn'?"
The room went eerily silent as they waited for her reply.
Lord Hightower continued, "Mysaria revealed that the Thalmor refer to you by that name. Is she correct?"
After thinking a moment more, Sylvi wrote, "Yes. That is one of my names. I have many names and titles in my homeland."
"And those are?" one of the council members asked.
Sylvi gave the servant an apologetic look before listing, "The Last Dragonborn, Stormcrown, Ysmir the Dragon of the North, Thane of Whiterun, Thane of Eastmarch, Thane of Hjaalmarch, Thane of The Reach, Thane of Haafingar, Thane of Falkreath, Thane of The Rift, Thane of The Pale, Thane of Winterhold, Archmage of the College of Winterhold, Harbinger of the Companions, member of the Dawnguard, Legate of the Imperial Legion, Member of House Telvanni, and Qahnaarin."
"Qahnaarin?" Aegon asked in confusion.
"A name given to me by a dragon."
Lord Hightower smirked in amusement and said, "I didn't know that we had such an illustrious person with us. You said that you are an 'arch mage' as well… Could you show us proof?"
Sylvi focused her magicka for a moment before summoning a Storm Atronach. Queen Alicent let out a scream as Aemond gripped the table. The Atronach looked to Sylvi for direction, and she gestured for it to move across the room.
The council members watched in silence as it slowly floated to where she had pointed. Sylvi noted with satisfaction that Lord Hightower's smirk had been wiped clean off of his face. The room remained silent until after the Atronach disappeared with a loud crack. The council members talked loudly to each other. Each one trying to advise Aegon of something different.
"Why didn't you use magic on the Thalmor?" Ser Criston asked, and the room fell silent.
"Too many people. If I miss, then I kill one of your soldiers. My blade won't miss," Sylvi held up her book with a shrug. "And the Altmer are naturally inclined to magic and quicker at casting spells."
"What is an 'Altmer'?" The Queen Dowager asked as she looked from her father to Sylvi.
"A race of Tamriel. My homeland. Skyrim is a kingdom of an empire… Our Queen, or King, answers to an Emperor… The Emperor of Tamriel. The Thalmor are a group of Altmer that believe the Altmer are superior to the other races and should rule us all."
"And so you believe 'Nords' are superior?" one of the council members asked.
"No. No one is 'superior.' Every person has their own gifts. I fought for the Imperial Empire in the war against my fellow Nords, who believed that Skyrim only belongs to the Nords. We are all stronger together. The Altmer seek to divide and conquer us, and they may seek to do the same to you and your people."
Aegon stood up suddenly and walked away from the group as the council members began to once again argue. A strange coldness went up Sylvi's spine as she watched. Using the detection spell, she noticed a red figure behind the wall creeping toward the door to the room. Sylvi ran for Aegon. As she grabbed him and pulled him to the ground on top of her, she saw an arrow narrowly miss them.
Loud screams and yells echoed through the room as Ser Cole beat the attacker into submission. The attacker's limp body was soon dragged out of the room. Sylvi gently pushed Aegon to the side, so she could stand. After checking to make sure there was no one else, she offered Aegon a hand. Aegon looked at her hand and then her face with wild eyes. Suddenly, he got up off the floor and ran out of the room. The other council members continued to argue amongst themselves and hadn't even noticed that he'd left.
Sylvi quickly followed the king out of the room and to a small storage room. Aegon paced back and forth. After checking for threats, Sylvi waited for him outside of the room. Every couple of minutes she checked for threats and soon saw the blue glow of an ally approaching the room. A hand grabbed her wrist, and she turned to see Aegon holding onto her.
"How did you know?" Aegon asked, wild-eyed and confused. "You… You knew… but how?"
"Enemy detection spell," Sylvi wrote after she gently removed Aegon's hand from her arm and led him inside the room. "Someone is coming now. A friend."
Footsteps echoed from just outside the room, and Aemond soon appeared inside the doorway. Aegon suddenly grabbed his brother by the shoulders and pleaded, "Take it! Take the throne. I don't want this! Please."
When Aemond said nothing in reply, Aegon let go of him and turned to Sylvi with desperation in his eyes.
"I don't want to live in fear… I'm not good enough for this… Father never wanted for me to be king. Please… help me leave here."
Sylvi looked into his pleading eyes for a moment before turning to her book. Hesitating slightly, she considered his circumstances before she wrote, "Safety may not be an option. If your enemy is willing to have your child killed, then they may kill you even if you give up the throne… to make sure that you are no longer a threat."
Aegon's face fell, and his shoulders slumped in resignation. Aemond and Sylvi shared a look as Aegon took a seat on a chair with his head in his hands.
"If you hadn't killed Luke…" Aegon muttered, and Aemond winced as though he'd been struck.
"You did not seem to mind at the time!" Aemond snapped back with an edge to his voice. "You are only concerned now that it affects you!"
Sylvi backed away from the brothers. As they glared at each other in silence, Sylvi busied herself with another detection spell. The sight of a blue figure approaching made her sigh in relief. Ser Cole peeked into the room. Sylvi watched as he separated the brothers and led Aemond out of the room. Judging by the nod Ser Cole gave Sylvi on the way out of the room, he clearly expected Sylvi to look after Aegon.
Sylvi held in a frustrated sigh as she listened to Aegon mutter from his chair. She briefly wondered if he'd notice her waiting outside.
"What would you do?" Aegon asked quietly. He still had his head in his hands, but she knew that he knew that it was just the two of them in the room.
Sylvi took a seat and looked at her book for a moment before she found the answer, "If someone tried to hurt my children, I'd kill them."
Aegon laughed but stopped as soon as he saw that she wasn't joking.
"You have children?" Aegon asked nervously. "How many? You look like you're my age."
"I am 20 years old. 8 children," Sylvi wrote and smiled with amusement at his shocked expression. "Skyrim had a war. Many parents died. They are not my blood, but they are my children."
"And you would kill a man to protect them?"
"I fought Alduin, the dragon son of the god of time who was prophesied to end the world, to protect my family. A mere mortal queen does not scare me."
"So… are you really a 'Dragonborn'?"
"The last, yes."
"What does that mean? To be 'Dragonborn'? Is one of your parents a dragon?"
"No. Voice and Soul of a dragon."
"Voice?" Aegon asked with a raised brow.
"Injured during a fight with Thalmor. Not sure how to fix it. Must be a seal."
"So you can roar like a dragon?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes."
Aegon chuckled before he let out a sigh and sank further into his chair. "Maybe I should just leave to your world with you."
"No thank you," Sylvi wrote with a playful smile, hoping humor would cheer him up.
Aegon once again tried to grab her book, but she gently held him back with a firm hand on his shoulder. After letting out a sigh of frustration, Aegon went back to lounging in his chair.
"Your mother would miss you," Sylvi wrote, and Aegon scoffed.
"Mother only wants me here so I can be king. She didn't even come to see if I'm injured," Aegon said before looking away. Seemingly wanting to change the subject, he asked, "What about your parents? Are they proud to have a Dragonborn child?"
"I don't know… they died before I discovered that I am the Dragonborn. The Thalmor… they raided the town we were in, saying that they were looking for worshippers of Talos. My mother was a Nord, but my father was an Altmer. They did not approve. While they were arguing with my parents, a group of Nords took the opportunity to attack the Thalmor. My mother died protecting me, and my father was only able to grab onto me and run away."
Aegon read her words as guilt started to show in his eyes. Unable to stop himself, he asked, "What happened to your father?"
"One of the Nords found us. I guess he believed that my father was one of the Thalmor… he seemed to believe that I was a kidnapped Nord child. My father was killed, and I killed the Nord man."
Sylvi looked away as Aegon read her words. She had only shared this with Serana… Part of her wondered if she had made a mistake in telling Aegon, but she knew how it felt to be alone.
"You did nothing wrong," Aegon replied, trying to reassure her. "He killed your father. You were only trying to protect your family."
"I stabbed him in the back," Sylvi wrote after a moment. "After my father was murdered, the Nord bent down to hug me. To reassure me. And I stabbed him in the back with his own knife. I don't know if what I did was wrong. I can only tell you that it felt wrong."
"You were scared… and young," Aegon said, grabbing onto her charcoal stained hand.
"Mistakes happen," Sylvi wrote and paused to make sure he'd read her words. "And those mistakes can be terrible ones. We can't live in the past, but we need to remember them for our future. To learn from them. To use them so we can prevent them from happening in the future. Your brother made a mistake. He was overconfident, and now he will live with that. Blaming him will help neither of you."
Aegon slowly nodded before he stood up with a groan. "Well, come on then. If I'm going to talk to my brother, then I want my guard. After all… he does have a temper."