The long table was filled. Leola sat between her father and Erith. Across from them sat Aventus, Sond, and Bottar. Galmar was there too, along with a small handful of Ulfric's most trusted, elite Stormcloak soldiers and guards. All had been briefed
"If we are going to do this," said Ulfric, "we all need to be fully honest. About everything. I need to know all that you know about the Daedric princes."
"Honest about everything?" Aventus asked, quirking one dark eyebrow.
"Everything," nodded the King.
"I am an agent of the Dark Brotherhood," Aventus said boldly, and his friends all shot him a mixture of stunned, confused, and scolding looks.
Ulfric simply gave Aventus a nod. He hardly seemed surprised, even though Leola had expected that he would be. "And you guarantee that we can trust you?" he asked slowly.
"You can," he replied. "Leola is one of my closest friends and she is under our protection."
Another nod from the King. "Very good," he replied. "I'm glad we got that out of the way."
Leola only stared around in awe. She hadn't expected her father to take that news as well as he did - she hadn't even expected him to receive that news at all. Ever. Yet here she was, hearing it with her own ears. It seemed almost too easy. She looked around at the others to see whether or not they seemed as awestruck as she felt, but there was strict business on all their faces.
"Boethiah's shrine is near here," Erith spoke next. "We already went there and returned her artifact. Her cultists weren't hostile, though they came much closer than we would have liked. We'll have to go back there if we want to speak with Boethiah."
"The Orcs in the nearby stronghold told us to travel to the stronghold near Riften in a little under a week with Malacath's hammer," said Sond, running a hand through his blond hair. "So when we go there we can ask Malacath about his piece of the soul."
"Leola and I visited the shrine of Molag Bal when we went to Markarth," Erith continued. She paused, looking at Aventus. "Have you seen Runa?" She hadn't yet had a chance to ask him, as this was the first time she was seeing him upon returning to Windhelm.
"No," he replied. "I went straight to Niranye's after I got your letter but she said that Runa and Samuel had already left for Riften – apparently it had seemed urgent."
"You should have gone after them," Erith said, frowning.
"Why?" asked Bottar, looking at her questioningly.
"Because we're worried about her," Leola replied. "Samuel…might hurt her."
"Samuel?" asked Sond disbelievingly.
"He attacked me," Erith said in a soft voice. "And while we were in Markarth he attacked Leola. She was knocked out for hours."
"What?" exclaimed Ulfric, and all eyes turned on him instantly.
"I'm fine, father, really," Leola said quickly. "I'm more worried about Runa and Sillina right now."
"Would you like me to send someone to Riften to find them and make sure that they're alright?" asked Ulfric, frowning.
"Samuel is with the Guild," Aventus replied, and Ulfric winced.
"Ah," he murmured. "So he'll be hard to find."
"Exactly," Erith replied. "Especially since he knows that Leola and I are after him. Even Molag Bal asked Leola to kill him."
"What? You spoke to Molag Bal?" exclaimed Ulfric, his head snapping in his daughter's direction once again.
"I did," she replied softly. "It's okay, he was kind to me. He warned me about Samuel. He says that I have my mother's strength and he would like to see me reach my full potential."
Ulfric shook his head slightly. He lifted his calloused hands and rubbed at his temples. Barely a few minutes had passed and he had already learned more than he had ever wanted to know from his daughter and her friends – any more confessions and he was going to be faced with a full-on heart attack. "That is only if you can be tricked into using that potential as a conduit for his will," he said softly. "So far we know where to find Boethiah, Molag Bal, and Malacath…is that it?"
"I'm waiting on news regarding Vaermina and Azura," Aventus said. "I'm told that Vaermina's shrine is near our sanctuary, our leader is just confirming its location."
"And Azura?" asked Leola, looking at him.
"Nazir said that he may be able to find her shrine as well," said Aventus with a shrug.
"Do we have any other liaisons that could help us find the rest of them?" Ulfric asked, and Erith shook her head.
"I scared away our liaison with the Guild," she said softly.
"We can head to Whiterun and see if the Companions know of any Daedric shrines," suggested Sond suddenly, a childish grin on his lips. Erith gave a roll of her eyes.
"Alright, you two can head out in the morning and try to do that," she said, a reluctant, somewhat sarcastic tone in her voice.
"Why don't you want them to?" Leola asked in a soft voice, reaching over and gently linking her fingers in Erith's.
"The Companions can't stand them," Erith said with a smirk. "They're not likely to get the information we need."
"That's not true!" Sond exclaimed, dramatically putting his hands on his hips.
"What if they took a letter from the High King of Skyrim?" asked Leola suddenly, and Ulfric smiled.
"That could help," he said. "Very well, we'll send these two to Whiterun in the morning with a letter."
"I could travel to the College of Winterhold," Erith said suddenly, smiling. "Although I haven't formally studied there I have done some training with them, so I'm sure that they would welcome my inquiries."
"Would you be travelling alone?" Leola asked softly, concerned.
"I don't have to if you don't want me to," Erith said softly, squeezing Leola's hand.
"I can go with her," Aventus suggested. "The couriers here are excellent, they'll find me no matter what. If they come here looking, you can just take whatever they bring for me and hang on to it until I get back."
Leola gave Aventus a nod. "I'd like that," she said softly. "Thank you."
Aventus smiled, nodding slightly. "Then we'll leave for Winterhold the same time that Sond and Bottar leave for Whiterun. We'll be home first, of course."
"If we find any, we should refrain from visiting them until we know where all of them are, unless they're relatively close," Ulfric said, looking at Leola. "You went all the way to Markarth just for one Daedra when I'm sure there are other shrines and temples that are close to Markarth. You're just going to have to go all the way back again – if not for others, then to visit Molag Bal again."
"You're right," Leola agreed, nodding. "We have a map where we've been marking them down – we'll wait until we have it as filled in as we can before we start going. Unless they're close. We'll go to Boethiah's temple again when Erith and Aventus get back from Winterhold, and then straight to Riften to visit the Orcs with Volendrung."
Ulfric nodded. "It sounds like we're getting somewhere," he said with a laugh.
"We don't have an artifact to return to Hermaeus Mora, but we'll need his piece of the soul anyways," Erith murmured thoughtfully, and Ulfric furrowed his brow.
"The Dragonborn travelled to Hermaeus Mora's plane of Oblivion," he said. "She told me about it. It was to defeat Miraak – the First Dragonborn, he was attempting to take over Tamriel or something of the sort…he was in Apocrypha, she called it, and she used books to travel there."
"Books?" asked Aventus, quirking a curious eyebrow.
"Yes…she said that they were special books, and when she was in Solstheim, all she had to do was read them and she would be transported to Apocrypha."
"Does that mean we have to go to Solstheim?" asked Leola, frowning.
"Unfortunately, I think it does," her father responded with a small nod.
"We can take her," Aventus said. "After Riften. We don't even have to get off the ship – just as long as we're there, I'm sure it will work."
Ulfric nodded. "I appreciate that," he said. "So we have a solid plan?"
"We do," said Erith with a firm nod.
"Excellent," Ulfric replied. "Then let's all get ourselves well-rested…and Erith?"
"Yes?" asked the brunette softly.
"You're welcome to stay in the palace tonight. Just in case that Samuel comes looking for you at the inn."
A grin came to Erith's pretty lips and she gave a nod. "Thank you, Ulfric," she said softly, giving Leola's hand another squeeze.