Rastislav
patreon
Arc 8 Chapter LXXIX: Maddened Messaging
🕑 Added 2025-02-08 23:10:06 +0000 UTCA/n: Previous chap has been edited slightly for better flow.
The politicking bits will be over with soon enough, next on the list shall be... gasp! some actual peace and quiet for our boi!
Dreadful, I know.
------
(Reyvin's POV)
Of course, even with everyone's nominal agreement pretty much secured the meeting went on for most of the rest of the day as we discussed all the proposals we could send, the negotiating tactics, and what we actually wanted out of the negotiations themselves.
The part of me that was still the young elf feared being perceived as a traitor by my friends and allies in the Empire in favor of my new subjects, but the old farth within understood such fears were nothing but childish idiocy.
This was just politics, pure and simple.
Even if said politics would inevitably end up more amicably than most other such meetings, but that was what one got when most of the sides in the negotiations were part of a similarly minded clique of politicians.
Aaand I've officially internalized calling myself a politician.
Ugh.
Shoving those thoughts for exactly never, I finally found myself freed from the burden of rule and was now walking to the tower the Falmer had repurposed for their worship of Auri-El.
A surprisingly accepted thing among the Dunmer, but I suppose you can only deal with injury and sickness for basically free so many times before even the most stuck up of Telvanni mushroom sniffers accept you as worthy allies.
Besides, I made it rather known how fucked someone would be if they bothered them, and after my little display above the Thornmarsh no one felt like testing the extent of fuckery I was capable of inflicting upon them.
I was drawn from my thoughts as the two Unmourned guards tasked with guarding the Falmer tower saluted me "At ease gentlemen" I raise my hand slightly "Everything in order?"
"Perfectly boring, my lord" The one to my left bows his head.
The other one chuckles "Just how we like it." And opens the door for me.
The Falmer within the first floor, used as their common area, greet me as I inter but they had long since learned to accept my presence and quickly return to whatever it was they were doing, leaving me to ascend up the tower in relative silence.
A silence that was broken as the voices of the two people I came here for in the first place reached me, with the more gravely one speaking first "You still haven't fully centered yourself, what is stopping you?"
"It is not as easy as you make it out to be." Comes the reply "Accepting my mortality was one thing all those ages ago, but feeling it in truth and living on despite it is not nearly as simple."
"Not even after months of contemplation?" The first one asks.
The second scoffs "You know damn well it is not that eas-"
"Anondor" I cut them off with a greeting as I approach and turn to the other "Nerevar. Doing well I hope?"
Nerevar's rarely helmet-less face greets me with a slight smirk "Just peachy your hortatorness." He offers a faux bow "You bless us with your presence."
My eye twitches "You knew exactly how irritating it would be."
"Yup" He smacks his lips with the utmost satisfaction.
I naturally give him the finger and turn to my Paladin "Still having issues I hear?"
He winces and quickly bows his head "Do not worry, my lord. I will be more than able to perform my duties, no matter how... out of balance I may be at the moment."
My relaxed expression shifts into a frown "Pardon me, but did I not tell you you would be taking a very long vacation after the war was done?"
He visibly holds back a sigh "My lord I-"
"I don't want to hear it" I interrupt, still a bit irritated by how pigheaded he was being. Still, I do make a point of switching tactics as I approach him and pat him on the shoulder "Anondor, you fought to the death for me, quite literally died for me."
He looks away, unable to actually make a counterpoint.
"You have more than earned a long vacation" I go on "And I will be hearing none of it, go back to Silruhn Fell with honor, find a hobby, maybe even build a family, and once you finally feel like you are comfortable within your own skin come back to protect me once more."
"But-" He goes to protest before halting himself and shaking his head "Forgive me, but I have no other direction save for my sworn duty. It has been... so very long."
"Maybe it is finally time to remind yourself why life is worth living and duties are worth having, eh?" I ask with only a slightly forced chuckle before patting his shoulder once more "Think on it at least."
Unwilling as he may look, he still nods "I will listen to your wisdom, my lord."
"Thank you" I give him a small bow of respect and finally get to my actual point for coming here "Apologies, but I am going to need to steal your companion now" I give Nerevar a sideways glance "We have some things to discuss."
"Don't let this old elf stop you then" Anondor tries to jape but it comes out more miserable than anything. He stands there awkwardly for a moment before pointedly turning to his slightly glowing shrine and ignoring us utterly.
Shaking my head in amusement I give Nerevar a look and jerk my head towards the stairs, and we both leave.
"So" My predecessor begins as we are greeted by the night sky "What does my glorious successor want to discuss?"
"How about I throw you to the wolves so you can deal with all the whining?" I ask with a wry grin.
He snorts "Should have thought of that before trying to threaten me back in the mountain."
I raise a finger to complain... and then slowly lower it.
"Heh" He shakes his head "What did you want really?"
Right "What are your plans now that Morrowind is safe?" I ask bluntly.
He raises an eyebrow "I am guessing that question is leading somewhere?"
"It could be" I nod lightly "But if you want to retire I will not be stopping you, you've done more than I could ask of anyone really."
His bemused expression shifts "You know, child, talking to you really is irritating."
"Oh?" I lean on one of the battlements "And how so?"
"Whatever the thing going on between you and Mephala is really fucking with my perception" He points out bluntly "I am not sure if you actually believe what you are saying or are just manipulating me into wanting to help you despite how tired I am."
I can't help but chuckle at his expression "So what you are really saying is that my concern for the elderly is so charming you want to keep fighting for me?"
He scoffs but the noise lacks any true heat "What do you want, really?"
"Exactly what I have already said" I spread my arms "The world will not slow down no matter how tired either of us become and I could use someone I know can be relied upon." I raise a finger as he goes to speak "But. Should you choose to fade into obscurity and retire, doing whatever the fuck you want to as a reward for everything you have already done for the world I will ensure you are not disturbed."
He stares at me for a long moment before shaking his head with a huff "You are truly serious, aren't you?"
"As serious as my disdain for idiots" I grin "So, what do you say?"
Instead of answering he turns to the city, the very same city currently still lively with celebrations and loud with commerce even after the sun had set "I remember the time this city was only starting out, and how it had fallen while I was forced to chase my once friend... And yet I had never seen Mournhold as lively as it is right now."
He smiles at the sight and turns back to me "Fuck it, I am in."
"Knew you'd think peace boring" I grin and offer a hand.
And thus with a simple handshake my power grows yet again!
-----
As giddy as I was to ensure Nerevar's future aid, I still had one individual to deal with before the day was over and I could finally slink back into my chamber to scheme and plot and cackle or whatever it is people believed I tended to do these days.
I found my way to the basement of the palace, told everyone to vacate the premises and promptly warded the ever loving shit out of the place, ensuring I could annihilate anything and anyone stupid enough to try anything while within.
Well, if they were a Daedra at least.
How very convenient then, that that was exactly who I had invited to join me.
"Well, well, well!" The irritating voice of Sheogorath greets me as I finish the summoning, the silver haired old man grinning ear to ear at the sight of me.
Naturally instead of greeting him back I blasted him with my divinity, instantly jolting his true inner self into action as his form twisted from dapper old fart into redhead amazonian, the very same amazonian currently staring down at me with an utterly unimpressed look.
With a lazy wave of my hand, the empty room is filled with seats and a table and, pretending she was not staring a hole into me, I politely waved for her to take a seat, doing so myself mere moments later.
"Well" She spoke after a few moments, her voice lacking her the booming quality of our previous meeting "You certainly took your time."
"You said it yourself." I shrug "I had a job to do and you found it reasonable."
"I did" She nods "The fact you did war to protect your people is not the issue however, but that you needed to be reminded of our deal to call for me."
Instead of being cowed by her metaphorical wall of judgement I tilted my head "Try ruling my bunch of prideful chucklefucks and you will quickly find your time disappearing as like so much ash in the wind."
"Yes, yes, the eternal complaints of those responsible in power." She drawls "How very typical."
My face turns utterly deadpan.
The edge of her lip makes the slightest twitch upwards "I do not care to listen to your complaints however so let us move on to a topic we both care for" I notice her eyes taking on a familiar glint "I hear you are planning on negotiations with the Empire soon."
A sigh leaves me "I am just going to pretend to not care about how you found that out."
"Very smart of you" The once heroine smirks down at me "But that is not my point and you know this. What are your plans with my delightful little descendant?"
Here we go again "That is between myself and her, kindly do not but your nos-"
"Is my blood not good enough for you!?" She slams the table, her eyes dilating to ridiculous proportions "Actually you should stay away! Knife ears like yourself should watch their own business and not bother the rest of us." She nods rapidly to herself.
Pinching a bridge of my nose I dryly point out "Need I remind you that your delightful descendant is part elf?"
She pauses, her manic energy retracting in an instant "True enough."
A low groan leaves me as I let my chin flop onto my hand "Can you please control that side of you while we talk, I was half a moment from snapping you out of here just then."
She makes a face as if to tell me to 'bring it on' but reins herself in "Very well, I will ensure our conversation is not further interrupted..." Her narrowed eyes doing more than enough to deliver the unsaid 'And you will keep your mouth shut about my lack of control OR.'
"I see you can take a Daedra from a domain but you cannot take a domain from a Daedra." I quip after a silent moment.
She pointedly does not sigh at this but I can feel the reaction in the air "Yes, getting used to that fact has been... difficult. Even with your short bout of help."
"Pretty much why I only stole power from certain forces while leaving the rest well enough alone" I say while mentally patting my sword "Just imagine taking something like Molag's mace and trying to wring that thing under control. The cleansing light is a mightily useful concept" I explain further "Meridia is just a bitch about it."
"Ha!" She lets out a bark of laughter "True enough, but do not try to fool me boy. You stole the sword because you were furious, and would have done it no matter which of my new... siblings were involved. As it should be for a warrior of any worth."
"Why thank you for the praise" I grin cheekily and incline my head "And may I say, my lady, your perceptiveness is quite scary."
Her grin is an almost perfect mirror of Minthara's, except utterly terrifying.
"Now then" I clap my hands, promptly distracting myself so that I may forget that particular association "How about we start on Project Cheeseless."
I have to admit, no matter how much she glared at me for hours afterwards, making a Daedra groan in despair was more than worth it.
------
The days following my reopening of relations with a certain cheese merchant turned death by snu snu bait passed in a blur as council meetings became more frequent and my own proactive actions took on a far more frantic rhythm.
I passed law after law, using a mix of both practicality and morality to turn Morrowind from a somewhat meritocratic aristocracy into a meritocratic aristocracy but with everyone fucking loving it.
Which is to say I used the massive influx of land and that very same land's potential to ensure everyone had a chance and a bare minimum of existence in the future.
Oh I was more than aware my idea of a 'modern' Morrowind would take years and decades to implement but even now I could see I was turning what was effectively a wasteland into a prosperous frontier rich with resource and opportunity.
And I only needed to have a dozen fools begging me to reinstate slavery whipped to near death for the rest of them to get the message that no, I was not turning a place under my rule into colonial America!
Fucking elves sometimes, I swear...
The blatant immoralities of high medieval/very early renaissance schools of thought aside, the rest of my time in that one week was taken by messages coming and going between Mournhold and the White Gold Tower, thankfully sped up considerably by the glorious Orb™.
Titus was more than happy with organizing a meeting as soon as possible, both because of the obvious opportunity and his own desire to build political impetus within the Empire once we concluded negotiations.
The old man was practically dancing while we talked.
And of course the freshly revealed Crown Princess, utterly exhausted by her position as she was, was just as delighted by my victories and conquests, ignoring the little fact I did not invite her of course, and she showed it quite plainly as her voice would have made me rather worried for the future of my bones.
If I still had actual bones that is.
My victory over physical suffering thus assured, an agreement was quickly reached and a meeting spot arranged in a place that would both favor us strategically and still offer the perception that the Empire could in theory come and go to and from Morrowind without issue.
That is to say we would meet where it all began.
Kragenmoor.
Comments
Ryan Helmbold
Ehh a bit o slice o life will be good for a change before things get hectic again
Hakkira
Thank you kindly for the chapter 😁
