"First,how much do you know about necromancy?" He asks Elsa simply. "It's the power to raise the dead,right?" She answered,making him nod a bit. "Right,but like most everything else in the world,there's a little more to it,depending on how far you're willing to go for the sake of power." He says calmly as Kristoff joined the group and listens.

"How much more?" He asked curiously,almost dreading the answer. "Let's just say raising the closest corpse is child's play...what Mannimarco did in the courtyard is a parlor trick for some,especially for him. The necromancer that attacked Kristoff had this." He explains as he pulls the strange black gem out of his pack,making Elsa study it curiously.

"What is it?" She asks. "A black soul gem. Similar to it's white counterpart,but these are made to trap human souls." He answers,making her and Kristoff's eyes widen. "Why would they want to do that?" She asked in a stunned tone,making Hjalti shrug a bit.

"What they wanted with his soul,probably doesn't matter,most likely enchanting purposes or making deals with the daedra,something like that. His body,on the other hand,was most likely going to be used for experiments,maybe go towards constructing some kind of weapon." He suggested,making a kind of sick look cross their faces.

He kind of looks between them and Serana for a moment before shrugging his shoulder. "Otherworldly things don't happen here often,do they?" He asked curiously,making Elsa raise her eyebrow. "What do you mean?" She asks in a confused tone.

"Don't take this the wrong way,but both of you are acting like you ain't heard anything like this before in your lives..." He points out simply as she and Kristoff study him curiously. "I don't think we've ever had to deal with necromancers...not during mine or my parents' time,anyway..." Elsa said calmly,kind of hesitating at the end when she remembers the dragon attack three years ago then casting Arendelle into an eternal winter just recently.

Hjalti noticed her hesitation and watched her curiously for a minute. "But,this isn't the first time strange things have happened in Arendelle..." He inquires,making her lightly cut her eyes to him then nod hesitantly. "Not exactly...we can talk about that later,though. If that's alright?" She said calmly,making him nod.

"Fair enough,better that we stick to the situation at hand,anyway." He said before clearing his throat. "To save you all of the gut wrenching details,the pinnacle of all necromancy is a creature known as a lich...have either of you heard of it?" He continues,making Elsa and Kristoff shrug lightly.

"Not that I know of..." Elsa answered hesitantly,making Hjalti nod a little. "Then you ain't gonna like this next part...that's why I'm going to tell you the bad news first,if that's alright." He suggested calmly,making Kristoff look at him curiously.

"Of course..." She says calmly as he leans back a bit. "The actual ritual to create a lich is...complex and vague to put it bluntly,but the end result is an undying...or unliving...?" He debates for a second. "Anyway,the end result is an aspect of undead that can be all,but completely destroyed and wields whatever power and knowledge they possessed in life...and can still learn after death." He continues as Elsa listened intently,raising her eyebrow a bit at the end.

"What exactly does that mean?" She asks curiously. "To make a long story short,while you require a good few different ingredients,rites and tools to complete the ritual,among the most important is the necromancer themselves...in other words,a lich is created when a necromancer rips their own soul from their body and places it in an item of their choosing,in which they'd then have to die to complete the transformation." He answered,making her eyes widen in horror.

"Why would anyone even consider doing that to themselves?!" She blurts out before accidentally hitting him with a blast of ice and making him fall over the chair. He sat up and shook it off as an embarrassed look formed on her face. "Sorry..." She said before looking down,making him shake his head. "I'm used to it..." He chuckled as he sat the chair back up and sits down while she studies him curiously.

Kristoff looked between them with a confused look on his face before just shaking his head while Serana chuckles to herself lightly. "Now...to answer your question,any necromancer can and will tell you about the power of death,undeath especially and you've seen what just a few corpses can do..." He continues simply,making Elsa and Kristoff nod lightly.

"Now take a corpse,give it the intelligence of any mortal man on top of the means and power to pursue infinite knowledge until someone eventually finds a way to defeat it." He added,watching them kind of tremble at the thought. "Some people survive the ritual,some don't...it takes a truly strong individual to undergo the ritual,especially if they intend on killing themselves in some way to bring it to fruition." He said as they study him.

"What does this have to do with Mannimarco?" Kristoff asks quickly. "Do you think it's a coincidence that he's known as "the king of worms"?" Hjalti asked simply,making them think for a moment before their jaws drop when it hits them.

"You mean he's one of those...things?" Elsa asked in a kind of shaky tone as he nods in confirmation. "He's the first to ever complete the ritual...actually,he's the first necromancer in general. Mannimarco was born on Artaeum roughly four thousand years ago,studied with the Psijic order until he started using necromancy and was,well kicked out basically,which eventually led to him discovering the means to turn into a lich...and the rest pretty much writes itself..." He finished simply before Elsa runs her face through her hands and lets out a light sigh.

"How far is he capable of going...?" She asks hesitantly. "The worst thing he's attempted that I actually know of is and event we call the Interregnum when he tricked a group of companions into using the Amulet of Kings,which was a significant artifact once upon a time,so that Akatosh,one of our patron gods,into adopting one of them as a Dragonborn emperor...I'll explain all of that to you later..." He points out when he noticed the confused look on their faces.

"Anyway,it tore the veil separating the mortal realm from Oblivion,which allowed Molag Bal,a Daedric Prince,to send anchors to our world and try to drag it into his realm of Coldharbour." He finished as Elsa shakes her head lightly. "What did he hope to accomplish doing that...?" She asked in a kind of irritated tone.

"Well,the way I heard it,he was trying to steal Bal's power and become a god..." He answered simply,making her head drop in her hand before she looks back up at him. "So...what's the good news...?" She asks simply,making him nod before motioning between him and Serana.

"We're probably the best bet you've got at defeating him and getting your sister back...I can't promise that we'll be able to kill him,but he won't come back here when we get done with him." He said,making Elsa study them for a minute.

"Well,tell us a little about yourselves..." She requests in a calm tone. "Whatcha wanna know?" He asks simply. "I'd be a little more comfortable if I could see your faces...for starters." She asked,making him and Serana look between each other then nod.

"Of course." He says simply before removing his demonic helmet as Serana lowers her hood,revealing her black hair which dropped to her shoulders and was decorated with a braid that wraps around her head and was tipped off with a small ponytail,along with her pale skin and unearthly orange eyes.

Elsa and Kristoff studied the young woman for a moment,their attention moving to her eyes on a good few occasions before they turned their attention to Hjalti,who had slightly darker skin with red warpaint tracing the edge of his face and various designs decorating the trace,along with a light beard,raven black hair that was fixed in wind braids and amber eyes.

She nods contently when she finished studying them and leans back in her throne a bit. "That's better..." She says to herself before turning her attention back to them. Hjalti smirks lightly when he heard the comment and laced his claw tipped fingers together.

"Yeah,I meant to take it off before I came in..." He kind of mutters as he scans the room. "Don't worry about it." She says calmly. "Anyway...what can you do?" She asks in a kind of hesitant tone,making him raise his eyebrow a bit.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" He asks curiously,confusing her for a moment before thinking about what he did last night and Ulfric's call. "Ulfric said you were born with some kind of power...and that you summoned that storm last night...anything you can tell me about that?" She asked curiously,making him nod a bit.

Just gave you the basics,huh?" He said before looking to Ulfric. "You could have went ahead and told her,you know? Ain't no reason to keep her in the dark about that,especially since we're going to be working for her." He points out simply before the high king nods.

"I figured you'd be able to explain the exact nature of our power than I could." He said calmly,making Hjalti shrug a bit. "Fair enough,but it ain't much different than your ability to wield it..." He said. "Except for the fact that you can learn it without effort..." Ulfric points out.

"Well,hard to argue with that..." Hjalti kind of mumbled before turning back to Elsa. "We call it shouting. What that means is that the wielder can speak the as Dragons do and,for example,send enemies flying backwards,breathe fire and ice,slow down time and summon storms...Ulfric trained with the greybeards in his youth and learned a few shouts,however he doesn't use them unless he has to." He begins.

"For most,it'd take a lifetime just to learn one shout,but I have the inborn ability to learn the tongue and use it's power as naturally as the dragons themselves...and to them,shouting is like breathing and there ain't much of a difference between fighting and verbal debate to them." He continues,making Elsa study him curiously.

"What do you mean by that...?" She asked in a confused tone,making him raise his eyebrow a bit. "What,you didn't know dragons could talk...?" He inquired before she looks down a bit,thinking back on the dragon that attacked Arendelle. "It's...not something that I actually took the time to pay attention to..." She answers simply,making him nod lightly.

"Fair answer...anyway,if you pay attention when one starts spitting fire or ice or something like that,you can sort of hear the words,but they wouldn't be as distinct to you as it would me,let's say different pitched roars,make sense?" He explains,making her nod after a minute.

"Yeah...that makes a little more sense." She said simply. "Can...you hear the words in a shout when dragon's use them...?" She asks,making him think for a minute. "Yes and no...I still hear a roar,but I can still make the words out if I know that particular shout." He answered simply.

"How exactly do you learn a new shout?" She asks. "For you,it'd probably take years of meditating on the words themselves,starting with the first and working your way from there...for me,on the other hand,I can read a word of power and use another dragon's knowledge to understand it's meaning and use it." He answers,confusing her again.

"I'll elaborate on that a little more later..." He said simply,making her nod lightly. "Anything else you wanna know?" He asked calmly,making her think for a minute before looking between him and Serana. "What...is she capable of?" She asks as she motioned to Serana.

"I've studied necromancy for a long time,your majesty. I probably know as much as Mannimarco about it,but I won't go as far as he will...and as you saw last night,I know a decent amount of magic all together." She answered calmly,making Elsa nod contently.

"Do either of you have any idea where he may have taken Anna...?" She inquired,making them look between each other for a minute. "The Carin,maybe?" Hjalti suggests curiously,making Serana shrug lightly. "It's possible...but it depends on how long he'd actually want to keep her alive,though. That wouldn't be a really good place to keep her if he did..." She said as their minds raced on the many possibilities.

"Unless,of course he used that same spell you used on me when we went..." He continues,making her nod a bit. "Maybe,but why go through the trouble if he wants to destroy the world anyway...?" She asks before they turned their gaze to Elsa.

"Leverage...he wants to find a place to launch whatever attack he's got planned...somewhere that something like him would be foreign and therefor not have the means to defend themselves against him..." He mutters as Elsa,Serana and Kristoff studied him.

"When he attacked last night...what did he tell you...?" He asks,making Elsa look away for a moment. "He told me that if I relinquish Arendelle over to him...he'd give Anna back to me alive." She answered in a kind of shaky tone,making him nod a bit.

"Arendelle's a means to an end...there's more to this." He said calmly,making her look back at him. "How do you know?" She asked. "Well,the last time Mannimarco focused his attention on one city,it resulted in Molag Bal trying to invade Tamriel with the lich under his banner...mostly. Anyway,case and point,if he's trying to take Arendelle from you,he's planning something bigger than a simple invasion." He explains,making a worried look cross her face.

"Like what,do you have any idea?" She asked in a kind of quick,worried tone. "That's what we intend to find out...knowing what I do about the king of worms,though,it won't be easy,but it is possible. How long did he give you?" He says calmly. "A week..." She answered. He looked to Serana before they give each other a light nod. "We can do that..." He says simply,making a light,hopeful smile form on Elsa's lips.

"Thank you..." She says in a friendly voice. "No problem,your majesty." He said calmly. "Where do we start...?" Kristoff asked quickly,making Hjalti look towards him. "We could start by questioning our friend in the dungeons,if either of you don't mind getting your hands dirty,anyway..." He answers with a light smirk,making Elsa raise her eyebrow a bit.

"Of course...but,I should let the two of you get settled in first,if you don't mind." She suggests,making him nod lightly. "Fair enough...Serana?" He said as he looked to his companion,who nods a bit before they stand to leave.

"Kai?" Elsa calls out before the plump man who greeted Kristoff and Hjalti at the door approaches. "Show these two to their rooms." She requests simply before he bows. "Yes,your majesty." He says as he motions them to the door leading into the hall.

When they left,Elsa and Kristoff looked between each other. "So...what do you think?" She asks him curiously,making the mountain man shrug. "He's strange...that's about all I can say...and the woman with him,Serana...there's something about her that makes me uneasy,she's nice,but...if I didn't know any better,I'd say she wants to eat us or something." He answers simply,making her think for a minute before Ulfric speaks up.

"They are indeed among the strangest individuals that you can meet in Skyrim,but they're capable fighters,determined investigators and both know things about magic that many mages in this era probably didn't even know existed...they can be trusted." He says calmly,making them look between each other again.

"If they can really help,I'm glad to accept it." She says calmly as Kristoff nods in agreement. "I want to know something,though..." She says before turning her attention back to Ulfric. "What kind of methods do they use?" She asked,making Ulfric think for a minute.

"All they've told me is that they're...unorthodox compared to most,but they get things done quicker than many would." He answered calmly,making her nod a little. "Any...unnecessary deaths that you know of?" She asks before he shakes his head.

"No,but I have seen a few with minor injuries...other than that,if he has killed or maimed any prisoners,he's been discreet with it." He answers simply. "Okay...maybe he'll be able to explain more at dinner." She says calmly before leaning back in her throne.

Hjalti had been listening through the door the whole time while Serana followed Kai to their rooms and smirks to himself when he heard her questions. "She's a smart,observant young woman...maybe he ain't after Arendelle..." He said to himself before catching up to his companion.

He found her waiting by one of the rooms and examining the halls. "So,everything's in order?" He asks simply,drawing her gaze to him. "Your room's on the right." She said simply,making him nod. "Okay..." He says as she studies him.

"Did you catch anything...?" She asked before he nods lightly. "The queen's much more observant than she lets on...that Kristoff fella,definitely ain't no slouch...but,on the other hand,he thinks you might eat somebody..." He says,making her chuckle at the end.

"I can't say I blame him..." She says with a light smirk,making him laugh a bit. "Well,you do have those eyes..." He says wittily,making her smirk a little more. "Careful,they maybe the last thing you see..." She says in a somewhat playful tone,making him smirk.

"I wouldn't complain..." He says wittily,making her shake her head a bit while she hides a smile. "Do we...need to get ready for anything right now?" She asks quickly,making him shrug lightly. "I heard her mention something about dinner,but I didn't hear a specific time." He answered,making her nod a little.

"Maybe they'll send someone to get us when it's time..." She said calmly before he nods lightly. "Yeah,maybe..." He says as he looks around curiously. "We'll find out when it's time,right now we have work to do." He says simply,making her nod lightly. "Of course...let's get settled in first,though." She suggests,making him nod before they went to their rooms...

Okay,here it is...I hate that it took so long,but it's been a busy few days and I was fighting writer's block on top of it,so the rest writes itself. (Pun possibly intended...)

Anyway,I'll try not to take too long with the next one and here's the gap filler for the last one...if that makes any sense at all...

And if it doesn't,well I don't know what to tell ya...okay,till next time...