Chapter 70: All-Seeing Eyes
As it turns out, while General Tullius was responsible for negotiating with Lady Volkihar for space for a spy post at her castle, the ones to be staffing the post were the Emperor's Penitus Oculatus. Tullius had the authority to negotiate rental fees but couldn't promise any control over the P.O. personnel if Lady Volkihar complained.
"Gaius Maro now commands the Penitus Oculatus operations in Skyrim after his father died at High Hrothgar. He's currently in the Imperial City and should return by the end of the next month with a team to monitor Dominion activity and one or two specialists to handle the undead."
"Their job is to watch the Dominion," Curtis said, worried. "And bringing in undead handlers? They better not be planning to play games with Lady Volkihar or any of her servants."
"She should expect it," said Tullius harshly. "By rights, all her kind should have been wiped out, and that castle burned to the ground. It's only by the insistence of the Dragonborn and the previous Arch— No. It was all the Dragonborn's authority," he corrected himself with a tight smile. Right. The world had believed the Dragonborn and the Archimage of Winterhold were separate entities until both disappeared to fight Alduin, and a devastated Revyn Sadri confessed his wife's masquerade.
"Lady Volkihar is doing important work for me and the Dragonborn." Curtis wondered how much was safe to reveal to Tullius. The man was clearly a supporter of the Felix family. But he still had to work wearing the choke collar of the still-in-effect Concordat, which meant cooperating and sharing information with the Dominion Ambassador if he asked. Lady Elenwen had arrogantly believed in the superiority of her spies and rarely asked Tullius for anything. This new ambassador, however, invoked the Concordat to demand regular reports and took advantage of Tullius's information network, which was better because of the majority of Nords assigned to this Legion operation. Tullius tried to demand reciprocal reports of Thalmor activities; however, they cited religious and cultural reasons to hold back using the Legion's comparatively liberal rules that demanded respect for a legionnaire's religion and cultural rites. The Dominion, of course, were not legionnaires. Nevertheless, that was their justification for withholding information.
Rules for thee, but not for me. Curtis could only shrug sympathetically.
Tullius stared at him silently, waiting to see if Curtis would volunteer any other tidbit. When Curtis stayed silent, Tullius sighed and imperceptibly shrugged. "If it doesn't threaten the Empire, then it is likely too technical for a mere soldier like me to understand," Tullius concluded aloud.
"Oh, I promise you, it has nothing to do with politics or usurping the power of the Empire or the Dominion," Curtis said. What the heck, he thought. Why not give the man something since he's willing to back off first. "She is doing cooperative medical research with my Colette, the Restorations Master of Winterhold College. Any useful medical knowledge and medicines developed will eventually be released for public use. As a vampire and skilled necromancer, she can explore many avenues of research Winterhold and other magicka and traditional faith-based healing institutes can't see or won't consider." Tullius grimaced in disgust.
"Understood," he grunted. "There is a legitimate necromancy unit in the Legion, and they are useful in investigations involving dead bodies and no answers."
"Yeah." Curtis thought of animal experiments and cadaver farms. The graverobbing of bodies for autopsies, the medicines that came out of the inhumane experiments on prisoners done in concentration camps, prison systems, and even unsuspecting poor and "lesser race" citizens desperate for healthcare.
"Same price," grumbled Tullius. "Live death row criminals for experiments." He shrugged, clearly and metaphorically washing his hands of responsibility.
"Yeah. I hope the Penitus Oculatus team understands they are not to interfere with her. I'm willing to talk with them. Can I ask you to arrange it with them?"
"If it was only Maro, I could guarantee it. I'll do what I can."
"Thanks, sir."
X—X—X—X—X—X—X
"Fascinating. And this device enables you to maintain a precise measure of vitality to enable keeping the subject's brain alive for response testing?"
"Yes. Master Curtis and his people could better give you the details of its construction, but I've found it invaluable. As you can see from my papers, the results achieved could not have been done without it."
Anaron Chamire, the Penitus Oculatus commander and necromancer, glanced at Curtis with profound respect before diving into the papers in the ring binder that Lady Volkihar handed him.
Tullius had forewarned him that the Penitus Oculatus had fielded an Empire-sanctioned necromancer to this watch detail. The necromancer happened to be an Altmer. The second in command was a Cyrod and not a necromancer. Curtis had expected hard-assed military/secret service types but had been taken aback by the gentlemen meeting with him. If it was an act, they were damn good at it.
"Huh. These paper holders, might we be able to buy more of them from you?" asked the P.O. second-in-command Lucius Albus.
"If you don't mind dealing in Stormcloak lands, send your order to Winterhold. They're being manufactured there at this time."
"Urk," said Albus, making the mistake of glancing over to see what his superior and the vampire were doing with the corpse of one of the military criminals the commander had insisted on bringing as "gifts" to their hostess. Curtis passed over a menthol-smeared cloth scrap.
"Hold it to your nose. Breathe deep," he advised. Albus started coughing.
"Thanks," he said.
"I take it you've haven't worked with this guy for long?" asked Curtis.
"First time assigned with him," admitted Albus. "Never expected to have Mannimarco assigned spy/sentry duty at the snow post. When Crown Prince Felix asked him to take special consideration when fielding a necromancer for this post, no one expected that the department chief would step down to take the assignment for himself."
The sharp-eared Altmer looked up, scowling. Curtis shrugged apologetically. The poor guy must be heartily sick of getting cracked over the back with that Mannimarco label.
Curtis led Albus to the poison garden, where they reminisced over the Dragonborn's raid on Northkeep when it was an illegal Dominion post for kidnapped political prisoners. And then the battle at Volkihar.
Curtis hadn't been a part of that battle. This had all happened before he'd transitioned to Mundus. Albus remembered from the perspective of all security scrambling as the Dominion kicked up a fuss over losing a military unit. Such a fuss over a unit they wouldn't name or identify because it was an illegal operation at an old, long-unused fort on the coast between Solitude and Dawnstar. Tullius was of no help. His orders from the Emperor were that the Dominion wouldn't be operating outside the Concordat; therefore, there was no Dominion base. No base meant no reason to provide assistance.
The elves were worried that Ulfric had found himself an exceptional stormblade warrior, as their postmortem investigations suggested the unbelievable slaughter was done by a single spellsword. In that same year, Dominion gilded moonstone armor and glass armor, stripped from the bodies and armory of Northkeep, were abundantly available for purchase in Windhelm. The Legion did look into this, having the same fear that Ulfric had found someone dangerous to throw against them.
It all came down to an independent Dunmer mercenary who lived in Windhelm and sold her loot through her husband's second-hand shop in the Gray Quarter.
She called herself Faro or Faro-Sadri. Right.Faro-Felix, the missing daughter of General Inanna Faro and Legate Antony Felix. She'd disappeared at 14 and then turned up in Skyrim, of all places, the 18-year-old child bride to a 200-year-old shopkeeper in the slums of Windhelm. That had been quite a storm through the security departments of the Penitus Oculatus and the Legion. Tullius kept watch on her as the daughter of friends. The Penitus Oculatus watched the husband, suspecting the old mer of taking advantage of situations in his wife's tumultuous wake. At the siege of Volkihar, he showed his face as he drew his network together to bring disparate organizations from both sides of the civil war and the neutral powers to fight at Volkihar.
The Godslayer married to the Kingmaker. Volkihar remains at their indulgence, and the Penitus Oculatus had orders from the Emperor not to cause trouble for the vampires of this isle.
He hadn't expected that. Curtis was both grateful and dismayed. It was nice he didn't have to worry about the P.O. compromising Lady Volkihar's safety. But now he was feeling a touch paranoid. Was there a P.O. spook among the people around him?
"Wow. You people are much more reasonable than I'd anticipated," Curtis confessed. "I like being wrong like this. Um, here. A token of my appreciation. If you like it, I can give you a price break on a larger, more powerful version for watching Northkeep." Curtis handed over his binoculars.
The soldier removed the binoculars from its case and seemed to understand right away it was something to look through. "By the gods, this is magnificent!" he exclaimed, making himself a little dizzy as he kept turning around to look at parts of the castle and the sky.
"Like it?"
"I'd be insane to say otherwise. You have such a magnificent reputation as the Dwemer master at Winterhold College for regularly coming up with engineering marvels, so I shouldn't be surprised you'd come up with something like this. Dare I ask how much more powerful is the device you're thinking of selling us?"
"Well, it's called a telescope. It'll have its own stand. You could also mount it to a ledge facing Northkeep. Once it's in place, you could probably pick out the eye color of the Dominion soldiers or count the mountains of Masser. At the College, the wizards use theirs to study the stars. Ten thousand is the price I'll give you. It's what I'm charging the College."
"What if I also wanted to buy more of these devices?"
"Six thousand."
"So expensive."
"Smaller means more work, which means higher price. That's always been the cost of miniaturization. But if you want to switch to monoculars, that'll be four thousand. Monoculars are compact and have a narrower field of view. Some find it more fatiguing because you can use only one eye, unlike the binocs, which allows a more natural view using two eyes. But for quick spotting scopes, the single-eye view is good."
"I… see."
"Right. Well, if you want to look at the scopes before buying, I'll give you an intro letter to my company, Staerk-Skjold Consultants in Whiterun. They can show you the models I'm willing to sell you. They'll be the ones fulfilling the order anyway."
"Ah, yes. Whiterun. I can manage that," said Albus, brightening.
"What's your price for microscopes?" asked Legate Anaron, entering the garden.
"Depends. Standard or custom? The ones the Lady uses are all custom-built."
"Yes, so she told me. She also told me you provided them free because of the projects she works on for you. And while I am quite keen to help her with her projects, I understand I cannot because I am Penitus Oculatus. And my ultimate loyalties will not allow me to keep your secrets. Which is also why I am out here now. She has to hide things from me before allowing me back inside."
"Huh. Well, three hundred to thirty thousand. Usually depends on required magnification and other options like lighting, recording capability…"
"The Lady said it would be most helpful to entrust me with monitoring cell samples and bacterial progressions. She offered to loan me a device, but I have my own particular research interests that I had to put aside for various reasons. But coming here, I am reinspired to pursue them again. I will set up my own lab, and I should buy my own equipment."
"Ah. Didn't think you would need an electron scope. So, a good medlab scope with recording. And, if at least half your studies are for her, then I can give you a big price break."
"These are high-power lenses?" asked Albus. He handed the binoculars to his superior, who immediately tried them.
"Tens of times more powerful."
"But you are pricing them less."
"Because field scopes are meant to be portable, have a wider view, and withstand some rough conditions. The scopes the Lady uses are delicate and meant to sit on a desk in a controlled environment. Their focus narrowed to objects large as a hair and smaller."
"What your pricing on bulk orders for these?" asked Anaron, still peering around the courtyard and the clouds through the binoculars.
"None. Because we have no plans for future mass production. But, as I told Albus, I'm willing to sell you some scopes for watching Northkeep. I know I could get rich by creating a dedicated workshop and supplying the Legion and the Penitus Oculatus. Even the Dominion would buy through their agents. And you may even be planning to construct your own knockoffs by taking apart one of the scopes I'll sell you. That's fine. I'm expecting that. This world has no patent laws, so people are already doing knockoffs. Just don't say your knockoffs are from my workshops. We seeing eye-to-eye here?"
"Penitus to instructus," said Anaron, bowing. "To learn by watching. Yes, we agree to your terms."
Related Shopkeeper's Wife story(s): #33 House Arrest; #55-56 Assassins; #98 Tides of Time