Epilogue

Resh POV

In the months that followed the city of Markarth grew massively in influence, with the dragons all but stopping attacking entirely and Resh constantly at the throne the new country experienced tremendous growth and prosperity. Especially now that the Orc strongholds were actively cooperating with the rest of the country with their forges and their mines.

Of course there was a forge and a mine within city, also run by an Orc, Resh was overjoyed when the strongholds agreed to trade with him. He was pretty sure that his guards and soldiers armour was way better than any of the other Holds in Skyrim. Of course some of them protested to wearing Orichalcum plate due to the weight, but it soon stopped when they realised it defended against bandits a hell of a lot better than their old padded chainmail.

Not just all that, but the Dwemer ruins from beneath the city were cleaned out entirely, and although it had costed a fair amount of the treasury the place had been renovated to the standards it would've been in the Dwarven times.

The first occupants were expected to move in in a few weeks, and Resh was considering leaving the largest of the Dwemer buildings for Kayci and Brelyna, the large space would be perfect for them to raise their children, and they did deserve somewhere fancy to live with each other.

Of course their house would have to be smaller than his and Lydia's, who shared the Understone Keep, just so he could rub it in Kayci's face, but it was still a very nice place, and perfect for Tsaesci children. As opposed to the palace that was closer to the surface better for his and Lydia's.

Things between Lydia and Resh had also improved dramatically as time went on, with the truth out and almost no drama anymore there wasn't nearly as much strain as there was before, and it was actually going very well between them. The people of the Reach didn't consider them a couple however due to Lydia having no background, but Resh didn't care about something that trivial.

Nothing was ever perfect so there were still some problems, the Forsworn for one, they weren't outright attacking Resh or his people, but they hadn't joined him yet when he had told them to, and Madanach had also left Resh with no communication whatsoever.

If it wasn't for the Breton savages being extremely good at causing havoc and terrorising Markarth with guerilla warfare Resh would have launched an outright war on them and forced them to act like civilised people, it would actually have been better for them in the long run anyway. But for now, this peaceful stalemate was enough for him, but he was still wary.

Politics regarding the rest of Tamriel had changed significantly too, it seemed that ever since it got out that he and Kayci were Tsaesci all the major players were trying to contact him. The Legion were, predictably, immediately trying to strengthen ties with the new race, sending numerous letters and artifacts from his people and even offering to replace the money spent clearing out Dwemer ruins.

Resh refused the second bit, but had to admit he was greatly appreciative of all the new things, he may not be an avid user of shields, but the ancient ceremonial Akaviri one looked great on the wall behind him, along with two ancient Akaviri swords crossed behind it too.

Were it not for the new sword he picked up when seizing the Sky Haven Temple from the wilds he probably would have used some of the katana's as his weapon, or in the case of his current job, strapped uselessly to the belt of his new Akaviri armour he had also got from the old Blades temple. The temple was also a wonderful piece of architecture and he would have loved to live there, but unfortunately it's distance from the city meant it sat around completely unused as he still couldn't think of a worthy role for it.

He hadn't had a proper chance to use it, but 'Dragonsbane' was really a beautiful weapon, crafted perfectly, it must have been made by some of his kind. And the armour he wore now, it may have probably been worn by one of those disgusting Blades but it had long since been tailored to fit his snake-like form.

It had taken a lot of work, and it would probably have made more sense just to make something new, but it was amazing. Resh had ditched the helmet first off, not wanting it to begin, but they way the armour covered his body and tail in a protective, yet flexible and versatile way was just how he wanted. Those Orcs really knew what they were doing, and he was forever thankful for that. They had even managed to guild it with gold, dragon-bone, dragon-scale and some other expensive materials to really give it a 'king-ly' appearance.

As he had expected the Thalmor had also attempted to message him, sending an envoy to him, offering their apologies for what had happened and assured him that they had sent their Agent to apprehend Elenwen the moment they had gotten wind of the terrible things she had done, the last straw had been trying to kill a pregnant woman. Not just that but they tried to extend the olive branch by assuring him that they could once again have a promising alliance and he would benefit from them if he didn't take one rogue Thalmor's actions as a representation of the entire group.

Unfortunately for them Resh was still spiteful from what she did to him and Kayci so told them to go back and that there is only one Agent he would even consider talking to about the matter, and that all Thalmor in his territory would be killed on sight. They hadn't been pleased, but knew it would be the best chance they would get regarding future diplomacy.

Next there was also a letter from Ulfric Stormcloak, Resh didn't even bother reading it before lighting it on fire. With Legionnaires allowed to be in his country for the war, and the dragon threat gone the Stormcloaks had all of the Empire's Skyrim focused Legion concentrating on them, to the point where the barbarian of a man had only two holds left. So what was likely a plea for help was swiftly ignored.

The Argonians and also Hammerfell independent countries had followed suit as well, but wasn't really bothered about them, so decided not to bother writing back.

Most surprisingly of the mass stack of letters was probably one from some Vampire hunting organisation, Resh had no idea why they would try to contact him of all people considering he had a country to run, but it seemed like a noble cause. They really should have been trying to recruit skilled and experienced adventurers, not people who weren't in the position to help.

Instead of just dismissing it entirely though the king of the reach made a note of where the place was and decided he was going to suggest Kayci and Brelyna go, after all they probably wanted a break from looking after all 14 children, especially considering how all they spend their time doing is trying to fight each other. Resh wouldn't mind taking care of them for a while to give the two a break.

Last of all was something completely unexpected, for one it wasn't a letter, which was most surprising considering Resh had insisted people were no longer allowed to come to him directly.

Resh glared as he watched one of the guards enter his throne room, a strange man in tow. As he had expected the guard looked somewhat terrified, even if he was in a good mood he wouldn't have thought anything different considering his soldiers weren't expecting to see a giant armour clad snake wrapped around their old Jarls seat. But what was strange however was the new comer, he seemed completely fine with the otherwise unusual king, oddly confident.

"I thought I said no one was to bother me today," Resh snapped at the soldier, wondering if he should sack the idiot for going against his orders.

Trying to bail herself out the guard quickly defended herself. "He insisted it was important and that you would definitely want to see him."

Turning to face the strange man Resh asked irritably. "Now why would I want to see you?"

"Well, we heard that you had become some kind of king here…" he started, smirking as he did so. Then an all too familiar scene unfolded and Resh watched him shift into another Tsaesci, frightening the guard. "Those back at Akavir would be very pleased… dragonborn…"

Okay, boom, done. Those Snake Folk is officially finished. The sequel is here though! "The Snake King" which can be found in my stories on my profile, I hope you all enjoy it!

Acknowledgements. (It'll be long but please read it, it's the end of an era and it'd be great if you saw what I had to say)

First and foremost I want to thank all of you, my readers, my followers, my favouriters and my reviewers. I keep going for all of you who enjoy my work, and I am so glad you do as it encourages me to write even more. Regardless of whether or not this is your favourite story or not, you've still stuck with me until the end and kept with me for the ride. So seriously, thank you for helping so much with my first story.

And now I move on to thank the great people I've met along the way writing this, not just regular reviewers I but interesting people I can talk to and who have livened up fanfiction. So yeah, thanks BlueSpartan107, Ny'kle and SpiritOfJazz.

The latter of the three has been especially great regarding getting me to write and talking about fanfiction with me, so much so we even did a collaboration. So thank you SoJ for the great help, and all you readers should thank her too as I may not have gotten this far without her.

And finally, my last thanks goes to the one who deserves it the most, LadyDragon1316. A little over a year ago I was once thinking about writing a fanfiction story, I had been following her work and talking to her for a while and I was suddenly prompted to give it a shot. Although things weren't that easy, I am a lazy guy sometimes, and lacked motivation, and then decided not to bother.

But LadyDragon convinced me to start this thing, and to keep going. And look where it's go me now, it is a huge part of how I define myself and takes up a lot of my time as I enjoy it. Without her I never would've gotten into fanfiction at all, and I would be missing out on so much stuff I now love. So seriously thank you so much for being my beta and the one who got me to write.

Phew, all that is finally done with, again I ask you please read it, as if paying your dues. And I guess, please favourite and review this story one last time. Seriously though, it's the last chance now. Thanks :)