Chapter 6- But we do need the Stormcloaks

First Emissary,

You have to believe this one when he says that the person responsible for Ancano's death left the College mere hours after receiving the title of Arch Mage. No one knew that particular man well. This one already told you that he didn't trust the stranger, and that he even attempted to… get him out of the way by sending him to test some faulty scrolls that this one made specifically for that purpose. He was more skilled than expected, and returned with a disgruntled expression and only two of the ten scrolls.

The stranger appointed J'zargo as the new Arch Mage before he left, with no indication if this would be permanent or temporary. This one is very pleased with the title, and you should be too, dear Emissary, since you now have a great first hand source of information about the college who will not fight with a colleague about earning the affections of a superior.

The stranger could be a major problem in the future. This one thinks he might be affiliated with the Stormcloaks, since he is a Nord and wore an Amulet of Talos.

J'zargo

Elenwen lowered the letter onto her desk and repressed the urge to roll her eyes. It was good to have a somewhat more professional person as a source at the College. She had tried to contact her two undercover agents Nirya and Faralda, and only Faralda had replied. The reply had been incoherent though, so Elenwen had taken action that she had hoped to never take: she contacted her Khajiiti agent at the College. J'zargo had come to work for the Thalmor years ago, just like almost every Khajiit that roamed the continent of Tamriel. It had something to do with the orientation of the moons or what not. Anyhow, it was fortunate to be able to count the cats as their allies, even though they didn't exactly have a reputation of being reliable.

Everything was better than the personal drama that had unfolded between the two actual Thalmor agents. J'zargo had informed her in earlier correspondence that Nirya had not taken Ancano's death well and that he had not seen her around in a while. Faralda acted like it didn't impact her a lot, but she would completely lose her temper over the smallest inconveniences.

So, Elenwen had to count on the Khajiit, there was no other option.

She had been back in Haafingar for about a month now. She had ordered that Estormo's body be transported back to the Summerset Isles by ship. Ruthhwen had joined the convoy. No matter how much Elenwen had hated the young elf, she felt horribly guilty when she saw her again, when she had visited Ruthhwen's residence in Solitude to offer her condolences.

Ruthhwen had turned into naught but an empty shell of the spoiled, yet vibrant, young Altmer she had been. Her eyes were dull and puffy, and her face was gaunt and almost grey with misery. Luckily for her, a traditional Altmeri funeral didn't gather a large crowd, Altmer didn't like being reminded of their own mortality.

Come to think of it, Elenwen didn't like that either, but for entirely different reasons than the majority of the ultra-conservative high families on the Isles.

But it was all over now, the part that had weighed down on her shoulders the most had been taken care of, thank Auri-El. Her mind numbing guilt was starting to subside. She also stopped dreaming about the young agent every other night.

Her mind was cleared of emotion once again, which would be good, if it weren't for the fearful writhing in gut that told her that the stranger was going to be a nuisance, to say the least. The fact that he was properly affiliated with the Stormcloaks didn't ease her feelings.

She kept interaction with Ulfric to a minimum. But this, this was something else. If the stranger was indeed affiliated with the Stormcloaks, Elenwen ought to send out word to Windhelm about her concerns. Ulfric couldn't directly assassinate the stranger, of course not, but he could send him on a… dangerous mission. A mission that could never be completed. By Oblivion, she could order Ulfric to send the stranger into some old Nordic ruins, like Korvanjund or even…

No, he had already been there, and by the Eight, he survived it.

Elenwen swallowed thickly. If the stranger was responsible for both Ancano's and Estormo's death, that meant that he was the one who cleared out Labyrinthian before the expedition got there. If that was true, then the problem was a lot, lot bigger than she had anticipated. Even if he had not been on his own, an undead dragon priest had presumably been slain in those ruins, that was a task that couldn't even be completed by a village of talented warriors.

She felt very, very uneasy suddenly. The stranger was out for the Thalmor. The Embassy had very few soldiers and mages present at that moment. That, along with the numerous dragon attacks that had been reported from the larger cities and by their patrolling forces, called for action.

"Brelas," she called out. Within mere seconds, the wood elf showed up at the door of her office.

"Yes, First Emissary?", she asked, nervously eyeing her superior.

Elenwen sighed. "Get Rulindil and Malreith in here and make sure nobody listens at the door. That includes you. Just inform them that I want to see them and do not return to this room."

Brelas nodded quickly. "Yes, Emissary."

A few minutes later, her two subordinates arrived at her doorstep. Rulindil actually had the presence of mind to close the door behind him after entering.

"I have some important matters to discuss," Elenwen said, rising to her feet. "Confidential matters."

"If this is another expedition," Rulindil said quickly and nervously, "No, I'm not joining. I think the both of you are perfectly capable to join it, yes. Yes, you are almost veterans when it comes to exped-"

"Rulindil, please recompose yourself," Elenwen said, averting her eyes, although she could understand his concern. He had witnessed how five well-trained Thalmor agents had left somewhat optimistically, and seen them return completely burnt out, transporting the corpse of an agent they had expected to find alive. Why, looking back, nobody besides Elenwen had expected to retrieve him alive, but that was besides the point. Anyhow, being called into another meeting after an incident like that wouldn't have excited an enthusiastic response from her either.

"We are not organizing another expedition. We are doing the opposite. I want all Thalmor agents that aren't undercover at this moment from the adjacent holds present at the Embassy. In fact, I'll have a letter sent out to all holds inviting any Thalmor force member to come into the Embassy, if they wish to."

This seemed to amuse Malreith. "How are you planning to do so? It will certainly draw a lot of attention, which will make the Embassy a target for whatever you are worrying about."

"If you would have let me finish, I'd have explained it," Elenwen said sharply. "It will not draw a lot of attention if we disguise it as another reception. And should it still draw attention from those who are out for us, then we will be with sufficient numbers to eliminate them."

The two other Emissaries nodded lightly, they did not seem convinced in the slightest.

"It seems a tad counterproductive," Rulindil said. "The Embassy would be the main target, that is, if anyone is out for us, like you imply."

Elenwen leaned back against her heavy wooden desk and sighed. "Besides dragons? Someone is out for us. And they should be eliminated easily if we gather the entire Thalmor force in this building and wait for them…" She couldn't suppress an evil smile. "In fact, we wouldn't have to worry about them hearing about the reception. Rulindil, invite some of our associates too. In fact, call in some high mages from Alinor. Make sure the word gets spread."

She turned around as Rulindil left the room, taking his halo of unsatisfied anger with him. Malreith didn't comprehend Elenwen's gesture, or more likely, she deliberately ignored it, because the second Emissary stayed in the room.

"Malreith, when I choose to turn my back towards you, it means I intend to end the conversation," Elenwen said without turning around.

Malreith gave a deep chuckle. "I'm aware of that. I didn't intend to end the conversation just yet, that is why I haven't left the room."

Elenwen sighed and reluctantly turned around to face the second Emissary. She was met with the expected arrogant smirk.

"We have so many crises happening at the exact same time, yet you seem to be focusing exclusively on that pesky stranger here, from whose existence you have only learned through a letter from a Khajiiti agent and allegedly through the death of a Thalmor. You are aware that this not without risk, I hope? "

The first Emissary leaned her hands on the desk and slightly lowered her head. "Yes. I am. Yet, this is something we have to face. If we do not, it could mean that the Thalmor force in Skyrim would be decimated by this stranger. We need not worry about the Stormcloaks just yet, we could contact Ulfric as soon as they become as much as a nuisance, but the stranger doesn't know that. He is affiliated with the Stormcloaks, and as far as we are concerned he means to serve them, to do everything he has to in order to be able to glorify… the enormous insult to our religion that is called Talos." She almost spat the hated name out. "We cannot let that happen. We are going to reign over all of Tamriel and we are not going to be stopped by this inferior maggot."

She started pacing across the room, her chest whirling with emotion, her eyes flashing with pure fanaticism. "We are the Altmer. We naturally deserve to reign them. We…"

She caught the ever so sightly disapproving look of Malreith in the corner of her eyes and turned around to face her.

"You are only worried about the Embassy, about your own well-being," she hissed to the somewhat younger elf.. "We are dealing with something far more grave that you can imagine. We indirectly created the Stormcloaks. If this stranger acts fully convinced that siding with them means destroying us…"

She blinked slowly and shook her head at the realization. "That means we could have created our own demise."

Malreith had silently waited until Elenwen had finished her lengthy monologue, only then she spoke up. "It almost seems as if you are giving up the belief that Altmer are superior, by the way you suggest that one man could mean the downfall of the Thalmor in Skyrim."

Elenwen shook her head and gritted her teeth. This subject always brought her an immense feeling of iniquity, because maybe, very deep in the silenced crypts of her subconscious, she did feel that way. "That is not what I am saying."

"Yet that is what you mean, isn't it?", Malreith retorted, folding her arms. Elenwen suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. After Ondolemar had returned to the reach the Second Emissary had given everyone in the Embassy a good impression of Rulindil's general attitude. Elenwen couldn't be too bothered by it at first, but now, more than a month later, the other stubbornly kept it up, which was extremely agitating. Malreith had already aged past her first century, and she barely acted like half her age right now.

Maybe I should have brought Rulindil on the expedition after all.

"What I am saying is that only an opponent we created could be our demise," Elenwen snapped, "since it would be meticulously created, well thought out and literally our equal. This is especially true for an opponent that is not aware that we created them."

"Well, at least Ulfric is aware of that," Malreith chuckled. "Very much so. Elenwen, you were the one who broke him, who bent him to our will, to create a movement to rival the Imperials. You should be the one to tell him to cease the Stormcloaks' activities for the time being."

"The Stormcloaks aren't the problem inherently," Elenwen said, and she felt how a vein in her temple started to pulse with anger, "It's the stranger. No, no, we do need the Stormcloaks. We just do not need the stranger, he is interfering with our plans."

Malreith just shook her head. "I don't follow you anymore, Elenwen. I just hope you know what you are starting here."

She then turned around and started to pace towards the door. She briefly stopped in her tracks when she walked through the door opening. "I hope your reception will have fine brandy."

Then the door closed behind her.

Elenwen rubbed one hand across her face and uttered an extremely indignant grunt. This plan of hers, it was going to be hard. And yet, it was going to be worth it. At least, she sincerely hoped so.

That, and she hoped that the reception wouldn't have fine brandy.

A/N: For those who are not aware, in Skyrim, if you take all the documents from the chest in Elenwen's Solar during Diplomatic Immunity, it says that Ulfric Stormcloak is actually a Thalmor agent so yes, that's actual lore, not just a figment of my imagination. Also there's a tad too much dialogue in this chapter, I hope it's not obnoxious. And again, I done f'ed up with the time this took, hee hoo ha ha. I'm not going to make any more promises regarding time. What did you like about this chapter? What did you hate? What do you hope is going to happen next? Please tell me! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.