A/N: A/N: I'm back! Hello! I'll keep it short and just say that this one is a little on the short side again. I'm moving soon, so things are hectic. Speaking of, there is a possibility of delay in the next chapter or two coming out because of the move. I hope not, but I thought you deserved a warning.

Please leave a comment or a review with your thoughts and ideas! I love to see them!

Hearthfire

Chapter 44

Loki

"Your move, Kali." Tione's cocky voice sounded just behind Loki. The goddess herself bore a rather self-assured smirk on her own face as a terse silence filled the room, only broken by the sound of Kali's teeth grinding. Behind the short goddess, her two amazonian guards were tensed like coiled springs. Just waiting for a signal to attack. But then, so were Loki's own people.

Bache and Argana, the two Level 6 amazon women stood on either side of Kali. Meanwhile, they were outnumbered by Loki's members. Tione and Ais were directly behind Loki while Tiona and Lefiya stood to either side. Mama Riveria, wreathed in all her magical glory, stood in the doorway looking pissed. Loki allowed part of her brain to be distracted.

"What pissed Riveria off so much?" The redhead thought. Not that she allowed any distraction to show. No, she kept her confident, condescending smirk firmly rooted on her face.

Kali looked almost frozen by indecision, though it was hard to tell given the mask that covered part of the child-like goddess' face. Only her scowl and clenched teeth gave anything away. It appeared, however, that Argana had made up her mind.

With unbridled aggression and lacking any seeming acknowledgement or command from Kali, the scantily clad amazon burst forward, screeching out a roar. With Tione directly behind Loki and even the rage-fueled amazon unwilling to attack a goddess, Argana went straight for Tiona.

"Hold!" Kali shouted, trying to stop her. Unfortunately, it was too late. Bache froze, heeding her goddess but Argana was moving too fast to halt her charge.

Twin lighting bolts sprang from Lefiya's outstretched hand and Riveria's wand, crashing into the charging woman. At the same time, Tiona thrust her Urga forward, slamming it into the roaring berserker. Simultaneously, Tione and Ais leapt onto the table in front of Loki intending to charge while the fireball Riveria was charging in her other hand grew larger, filling the room with a red glow. A dagger leapt from Tione's outstretched hand, aimed directly at Argana before she landed on the table.

At Kali's word, everyone stopped short, but it was too late to stop the attacks from connecting. The two bolts of lighting crashed into Argana at the same time as the dagger and Tiona's Urga, sending the woman careening into a wall. She crashed painfully into the wooden structure and then through it into the adjoining room. Screams of fright echoed up from downstairs at the noise though thankfully the rooms next to them were unoccupied.

Argana sat up and winced in pain, her hand flying to her shoulder where Tione's dagger had become lodged. Crimson blood leaked from the wound and down her chest, staining the white and green cloth that was barely covering her bust. She'd seemingly tanked the blow from Urga, but the twin lighting bolts left her clothing and hair lightly singed and her tan skin looking a little red.
"Stand down, Argana!" Kali shouted, forestalling any attempt to charge again.

"Lets all just keep a cool head." Loki told her girls, waving at them to back off. Slowly, the five members of her Familia relaxed their aggressive stances. Argana too stood down, but far less willingly. "The innkeeper is probably about to come charging up here after that, so why don't we just settle down and come to a conclusion, eh?" The redhead turned to the shorter goddess. "What'll it be, Kali? We gonna fight or are you heading home?"

Kali stared at her from behind the white mask covering her face, grinding her teeth in anger. After a second, she sighed and nodded. "We will return to Telskyura." Kali bit out. "However, we will require a day or two to reprovision before we set sail again."

"I'm sure that can be arranged." Loki nodded, leaning back in her seat and putting her feet up on the table. "Just talk to Njord or the Guild if you need supplies. I'm sure they'll be eager to send you on your way. Though, just so you're aware, we will be keeping a close eye on you till you go. Security concerns. You understand?" The trickster goddess smirked with glee at the angry and indignant expressions on the faces of Kali and her brutes.

Torrhen

Torrhen raised a hand to shade is eyes from the bright sun as the Hestia Familia stepped out of the Dungeon entrance and into the sunlight. Their expedition to the 18th floor had been a great success, with neither he nor Aisha having to interfere or rescue a single one of their members. Not even the inexperienced Haruhime. All his students performed beyond his expectations, and he could not be prouder.

Ahead of him, Bell was stretching before the boy turned to face the group. "Right. Lili, you and I will head to the Guild to drop off our magic stones and drop items. Everybody else, you should head back to the Hall and tell Goddess Hestia that we're back."

"I think I'll stick around the tower for a bit, if you don't mind." Welf chimed in. "I want to check in on my shop while I'm in the area. I'll head home once I've gotten a status report from Batson and Paula."

"Mmmmmgh" Mikoto let out a tired groan, stretching her arms high above her head. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm heading straight to the baths. I feel like I'm drenched in monster dust." One of the unfortunate side effects of being a melee fighter in the Dungeon was the unfortunate fact that monsters tended to explode into dust right in your face. This usually led to front line fighters being covered in the stuff after only a short time. It didn't last for very long, but it did leave one feeling a little bit dirty.

"Before we all separate," Torrhen chimed in, "I'd just like to say that each and every one of you performed exceptionally well during the expedition. I know that for some, this wasn't exactly your first time diving that deep, but this was a major milestone for the Familia. I'm proud of you all."

With that, they began to go their separate ways, although the vast majority headed straight for Hearthfire Hall. The gleaming mansion was a welcome sight as the group rounded the corner. It was a little astonishing how quickly the formerly dilapidated church had become a warm and comforting home not only for Torrhen but all the members of the Hestia Familia.

Hestia herself, decked out in very nice casualwear, welcomed them at the front door. Once inside, they each and all divided to their individual interests. Some like Mikoto, Haruhime, and Chigusa departed for the baths. Others like Ouka, Cassandra, and Daphne simply changed out of their armor and found themselves lounging either in their rooms or somewhere else around the mansion. Aisha headed to the baths along with the other girls but made her intentions to hit the town once she was finished very clear.

As for Torrhen himself, he simply changed out of his armor and found himself relaxing on a couch in the 'executive' lounge outside the offices on the upper floor. Opposite him, nursing a glass of some kind, was Hestia.

"So?" she asked, one eyebrow raised. "How did it go?"

"It went well." Torrhen replied, leaning back. "Bell conducted himself most admirably as a commander. Better than I expected, really. He's still not quite used to leading so many people for so long but he's learning. The new kids have meshed well with our longer standing members, so there were no real personality conflicts to identify. Though, Haruhime did start to have some trouble once we hit the 14th floor. We'll need to see about getting her level raised to 2 when we can."

"Hm." Hestia nodded. "I'll update everyone's status over the next few days so we can see where everyone stands. Hime might have gained a bit of a boost since she's still fairly new to combat but I doubt the others have improved more than usual after a dive. It doesn't sound like this one was very stressful for them."

Torrhen shook his head in the negative. "No, they didn't face much of a challenge. Frankly, they didn't need to have a group that large to handle the trek to 18. Though, it's a good idea for them to stick together in a group that big once they start hitting 19 and down."

"You still planning on doing a deeper dive with Finn and the Loki executives?" The short goddess took a sip of her drink and put her feet up on an ottoman.

Torrhen hummed in agreement. "Yes. Once Loki and Riveria are back from Melen, if they aren't already, I'll start planning with them. Though, we aren't likely to go below 25 or so, considering time constraints. Speaking of, are they back yet?"

"Nope." She shook her head. "I haven't heard anything. Though, I did have an interesting visitor yesterday."

"Oh?" The dragonborn sat up. "Who?"

"Freya decided to stop by unannounced." Torrhen tensed. Goddess Freya was a thorn in their collective sides, and one Torrhen suspected of quite a few more misdeeds than the one they could prove was her. He was still a little pissed about the Minotaur incident.

"What did she want?" he asked, bitingly.

"She's worried about how jumpy the guild is since the war game, so she came to me to suggest a general non-aggression pact between us, her, and Loki. Basically, our Familia's just ignore each other both in the city and in the Dungeon."

"That… that's it?" Torrhen asked, a little baffled. "What did you say?"

"Well, I didn't agree to anything just yet. I told her any agreement would have to wait till Loki was back so we could all discuss it together. It was pretty obvious she only wants peace so she can build up the strength of her Familia. And to get the guild off her back, of course."

"I suppose a peace agreement would be best for everyone." He admitted. "The city has been shaken up enough times recently. The citizens don't need to worry about the three strongest Familias duking it out in the streets. Did Freya want anything else?"

"Yeah…" Hestia hesitated. "She wants to talk to you. Face to face."

Torrhen narrowed his eyes at her, suspicious. "Why?" he asked, his voice low and tone dangerous.

The goddess grimaced. "Ostensibly, she wants to request your enchanting services for members of her Familia. Ottar specifically, if I guess correctly but I just can't shake the feeling she's up to something. If that was all, she could have just asked me to relay the request, but she specifically mentioned asking you in person."

"I see." Torrhen frowned, thinking deeply. There could be any number of reasons for why she'd seek to meet him. Chief among them being an attempt at recruitment, but Freya had to know that was a lost cause by now. He was certainly not about to up and join her after she tried to get his student killed. Nor was he willing to leave Hestia and all he'd built in her Familia.

"I know you're resistant to mind control…" Hestia hesitated, "but be very careful. Freya can charm people just like Ishtar could but she's far more powerful. Even gods can't always resist her."

"You think she'll try to charm me?" Torrhen asked, seeing her worry. It was true that he had some decent resistance to mind control, but he'd never tested the ability against the charms of a goddess. None of the Aedra or Daedra used such powers to control mortal, so he'd never really had the opportunity.

"It's the only thing I can think of." The goddess nodded. "Why else would she want to speak to you in person, rather than just send a message or a representative? What I can't figure out is if she's genuine about only wanting you to enchant something for her or if she'll try and recruit you."

"I'll be careful." Torrhen replied, consolingly. He didn't know exactly how Freya's power worked, but he did feel fairly confident that he could at least feel it taking effect. If he could feel it, and be aware of it, then he could fight it.

Loki

"So?" Loki asked, still lounging at the table in the partially destroyed room. "What's got you all in a twist, Riviera?"

It was just the two of them in the room at the moment. With Kali, Bache, and Argana gone, she'd sent the twins to keep an eye on them. Then sent Ais and Lefiya to keep an eye on the twins. Hotheaded amazons needed supervision after all. Oh, and she'd had to give the innkeeper a promissory note for payment to fix the damaged wall. Argana might have been the one to charge first, but it was her kids who technically broke the wall.

The green haired elf across from her let out an aggravated sigh. Leaning forward, she rubbed at her temples. "I've been given nothing but deflection and feigned ignorance all day!" Riveria growled. "The branch head clearly knows something, but refused to speak about it. He just kept trying to change the subject! And don't even get me started on the governor! He didn't even have the courtesy to respond! The fat bastard just called me a dog and slammed the door in my face!" Her voice had gone from an aggravated growl to full blown shouting alarmingly fast.

"Yeesh." Loki winced. "Sounds like you've had a rough afternoon. Still, at least you got something. If the branch head is hiding something, then at least we know who to investigate."

"True." Riveria sighed, resting her forehead on the table. "Still, something isn't adding up. The Violas are obviously there, so why didn't he just admit that? Wouldn't it have been less suspicious if he'd admitted to knowing about them but didn't know where they'd come from?"

"Yeah… nobody said he was bright though." Loki sat in thought for a moment. "Come to think about it, when I asked Njord if he'd heard of them, he said the same thing. But that's not possible. His Familia are in charge of keeping track of the monster population in the lake. He should have been one of the first to know they were there."

"Lord Njord?" Her companion asked, quietly. "I don't understand. Why would he work with the branch head to hide monsters in the lake?"

"I don't know." The redhead admitted, rubbing her chin before sighing. "Let's head to the docks. I need to have a conversation with Njord."

It didn't take them long to reach the docks. Off in the distance, they could see the crew of Kali's ship loading things onto the deck. Loki nodded in satisfaction as she watched them for a moment. She could even see her own kids keeping a close watch on the proceedings from the wharf but didn't stay to chat. Soon enough, they'd reached the fishing docks where they'd found Njord just after they'd arrived in town.

"Yo! Njord!" Loki called out, getting the attention of the buff god. "You got a minute?"

"Oh, Loki!" He replied. The other god didn't seem nervous or twitchy, but Loki just couldn't shake the feeling that he was hiding something. "How did things go at the cove?"

"Mah." She waved her hand dismissively. "They went well. Listen, you got a private space or something? We need to talk."

"Talk?" Njord asked, a little hesitantly. "Um, sure. Let's use the warehouse." The brunette god led them into a building just off the docks. Inside were stacks upon stacks of boxes containing everything from fish to nets to all kinds of other fishing related items.

"What did you want to talk about?" he asked, leaning up against a crate.

"I want the truth Njord." Loki replied, going for a direct confrontation. "Two of my kids were attacked by those plant monsters. The ones you claimed to not know about. The head of the guild branch said the same thing, but that's not possible. Their existence is public knowledge, or the rumors wouldn't have reached Orario. Plus," she poked him in the chest, "you're the one in charge of tracking the monster population! There's no way you don't know about them. So, you're going to tell me what's going on, or I'm getting Uranus and the main branch involved in this!"

Njord's eyes looked wildly around the room. "Loki, I… I really don't…"

"Don't lie to me Njord!" Loki shouted over him. "I know the head of the guild branch is involved and I'd be willing to bet the governor is in on it too! They couldn't get more suspicious if they tried!"

"Alright!" He shouted back, slumping against the crates. "I just… you have no idea how bad it was getting. The monster population in the lake was just too high for us to deal with. My kids are fishermen, not fighters! They were eating all the fish, and my boats were under constant attack. That's not even mentioning how dangerous it was for the trading ships coming up the river from the ocean! The idea was to put those things in the lake to keep the rest of the monster population low. That way the fish would come back, and the shipping lanes would be safer."

"Who put them there, Njord?" Loki growled. "Who's involved?" She couldn't believe this! He might not have been the wealthiest god, but it would have been nothing to him to commission a Familia from the city to come clear out the monsters if things were getting that bad. Hell, she'd have done it for half price, considering all the other god had done for her over the years!

"I first learned about them when one came up into the lake out of the sewers. At first, I just thought it was a new type of monster but then this hooded man showed up at my door. He offered to lend me the monsters to clean up the lake if I turned a blind eye to him smuggling some goods through the docks." Njord sighed and sat down on the floor. "Murdock and I only participated because it seemed like it was the only way to deal with the problem. When we asked the guild to send in an extermination request, the branch head turned us down. Of course, it didn't help when we found out later that Rubato Ryan is in bed with the smugglers. It wasn't like we could argue after that. We'd already agreed to the deal. If we turned Ryan in, we'd have to turn ourselves in too."

"Who transported them here?" Loki sighed. "Was Evilus involved?"

"Evilus?!" Njord gasped, startled. "N…no! I never heard anything about Evilus being involved! I just thought it was a deal between Ryan and Ishtar! It was the Ishtar Familia who brought the plant monsters here but everything kind of shut down after Ishtar died. We've been hoping the few Violas left in the lake would last long enough for us to find a new solution."

Loki leaned back and sighed in relief. It looked to her like Njord was telling the truth, and he wasn't involved with Evilus. Though, it sounded like Ishtar had been, along with the head of the guild branch.

"Riviera." Loki said, addressing the green-haired elf who'd been standing menacingly behind her. "Go to the Guild and arrest Rubato Ryan. Throw my name and weight around if you have to but don't let them argue. Search the bastard's office. If Evilus really was involved here and he's really in bed with them, we need evidence."

"Right." Riveria nodded, before running out the door.

"Do you really think it was Evilus?" Njord asked, quietly. "I thought they were all gone."

"So did I, for a while." Loki admitted, sitting on the floor with her fellow god. "But now I'm starting to think we missed a few. They could have spent the last few years rebuilding in the shadows, and we're only just starting to catch rumors of them."

"I'm so sorry…" he whispered. "If I'd known, I would never have agreed. We were just so desperate."

"I don't totally see why." Loki told him. "I mean, I get being upset about the brach head denying your request, but why didn't you just send me a personal request? It's not like I don't owe you a few favors after all."

"I… I don't know." Njord admitted. "I never even thought about it."

"Well, from now on you should." She bumped his shoulder with her own. "My kids would love a vacation, and it'd be a great opportunity to get used to underwater combat. We've recently acquired a few potions of water-breathing and even some enchanted items that let you breathe underwater. My members would all jump at the chance to try them out here in the lake."

"I…" he sighed and gave her a smile. "Thank you, Loki."

Riviera

"My, my, you have been busy." Riveria mused, looking over the documents in her hands. She'd arrived back at the guild branch just in time to discover the branch head, Rubato Ryan, attempting to dispose of a rather sizable number of documents. Giving them a coursory glance, they appeared to dictate his profits, expenditures, and general involvement in quite a few smuggling and trafficking deals in and around Melen. Quite dishonorable for a member of the Guild. Especially a branch head.

"Damn you, you elven bitch!" The incompetent slime ball muttered from his place on the floor. The sleazy man was trussed up with sturdy ropes and tied against a pillar. It was quite impossible for him to escape.

"Oh dear." An eery voice cut through the air. Seemingly from nothing, the air next to the bound criminal shimmered, revealing a black cloaked figure. "It appears you were up to no good after all, weren't you, Rubato Ryan?"

"G…g…ggghost!" Ryan screamed in terror.

Riveria froze. Although she'd never actually seen him, she knew that figure. Very few in Orario were privy to much of what went on behind closed doors at the Guild, but Riviera was one of the rare few who'd heard about Lord Uranus' mysterious agent. A black robed figure, involved in guild business, appearing out of nowhere? Dead ringer for the figure in the rumors.

"Um," she started to talk, but the robed figure cut her off.

"Not to worry, Riveria of the Loki Familia. A group from the main branch is already on their way to collect him."

"Wait…" the bound criminal stuttered. "You…. You're lord Uranus' right hand…"

"Hm." The figure hummed. "I'm very annoyed at having to come all the way out here for this, you know? We were so hopeful that you'd be able to do good here." It sighed. "Some of your accomplishments are even praiseworthy. You did, after-all, try to clean up the lake and ocean for the traders and fisherman but you just couldn't hep yourself, could you? Smuggling and lining your own pockets? Blackmail? I'm afraid you'll have to be disciplined most harshly for this."

"Please! No!" Ryan started to plead with the figure, but it quickly released a stream of green particles from one of its sleeves. The instant the particles made contact with the downed figure; he slumped over. Completely unconscious.

With one last sigh, the figure vanished. Leaving Riveria alone with the unconscious branch head and a stack of incriminating documents. She stood there for a moment, trying to process the events she'd just witnessed. The elven woman would, of course, relay all that happened to Loki, Finn, Gareth, and probably Torrhen but she'd refrain from telling anyone else.

The existence of Lord Uranus' 'inquisitor' as the rumors called the figure was just that. A rumor, and not one she was keen on spreading. It was a very bad idea to find yourself crossing Uranus for any reason. Grimacing, she turned back to the papers. Hopefully, she'd find a direct connection to Evilus somewhere in the documents.

A/N: That's that! I'm sorry it was on the short side but I nearly missed the deadline entirely. I hope you liked it! Please leave a comment or review with your thoughts and ideas!

That's the end of the Melen arc and I could not be happier! It's been such a slog to write and I just wanted to be done with it. I chose to include it because I wanted to take a look at Kali, but I just found myself getting bogged down with the whole Njord/Rubato storyline. I'm very much looking forward to doing some stuff thats not as close to canon as this was.

Still, we're finally back to Torrhen! It felt very weird to not have a chapter with him in it for so long. I know it was only 2 chapters, but still. I'm looking forward to writing his talk with Freya and her talk with Hestia and Loki. Oh, and we'll be getting back to Naaza soon too! I can't wait!

Answers to Questions

On FFN

MonkeyD. Conan: Thank you! I wanted to show Kali as being at least slightly reasonable but there was no way I wasn't going to let Tione get at least one shot in on Argana. I thought about doing a full on fight, but I felt it worked out better this way.

Backpack Bandit: They didn't exactly get their shit kicked in, so I'm sorry about that but I do hope you liked me getting Argana sent through a wall.

Darkmaster10000000: I'm sorry, but I don't really want to use her. Her death feels like too much of an established even for me to bring her out. Plus, I don't really know what I'd do with her character in this setting.

Walkmanapprenticewordsmith: Glad you liked it!

LionLordEscanor: No spoilers! It may take me a bit to make the reveal, but I'll try to drop a hint or two.

Imperial Superior: We shall see! I've got some storylines I want to wrap up before I really get there but I'm hoping it won't be too long.

NinjaFang1331: Glad it's interesting!

Guest: Maybe! And yeah, with Loki's increased levels, it was almost unfair to Kali.

VirusZyX: I have plans in my head for how the battle with Alduin will go. We shall see if they pan out.

Frostwolf3227: I imagine that Torrhen has had a conversation or two with Riviera about the differences in magic. As for Bell, I'm a little weary of giving him more magic. He's really not suited to it. For Lili, I honestly hadn't thought of having her transform into a monster but it's a good idea. As for Freya… I'm undecided.

Lacyt21: I imagine he has a few things from the anniversary addition, sure but I based him on a playthrough I did before that version came out so I'm not sure what exactly to give him aside from spells and armor but he doesn't exactly need to wear any of those armors.

On Ao3

MagnustheRed: I don't know where they'd be familiar from except from Sword Oratoria. They're canon to that story.

FrankTHaddock: Y'know, I think I'll keep that to myself. We'll see if I use it and on who!

Fofonte123: Yes. He now has access to his shouts again, but he doesn't have access to Sovngarde or to other dragons now.

CyberGoblin: We shall see who it was at some point.

Jhenlemonlove: I'm thinking about pairing her with Loki.

Chiki270: Thank you! I'm glad you like it!