Wedding Bells and Drums of War 8

With the feast now over, the reception was in full swing. Guests walked about and made small talk with each other. Nero had hoped that he and Serana would have been long gone, and on their way to their honeymoon. But now he was convinced he was going to need to meet every councilman, dignitary or self important person before then. Jarl Elisif lead him around the palace practically like a show dog. But after shaking hands with one last council member Nero saw his chance and ducked away hoping to find a nice safe corner. He found a corner occupied by Aela who was busy downing a large goblet of wine.

"I didn't think my wedding was so bad you'd need to try and drink your memory of it away."

Aela smirked, "Your wedding is apparently important enough for the empire to bring in the good stuff. I'm just taking advantage of the situation."

"So how many more people is the jarl going to make you talk to" Aela asked as she refilled her cup again.

"Too many. I'm about ready to grab Serana and run."

"More likely you just want to get your honey moon started."

Nero shrugged, "both."

Both stood by each other in silence for a bit. Aela continued to drink her wine while Nero shuffled his feet about. Finally Nero cleared his throat, "Thank you for being a good friend to Serana."

Aela blinked, "Why wouldn't I be? She's a fine warrior, and unlike you she actually has a sense of humor. Why, did you think I'd be so jealous that you picked her I'd be an insufferable bitch towards her?"

Nero found suddenly that his feet were extraordinary interesting. Aela laughed lightly, "Gods Nero, trust me, you are not a good enough lover for that to happen."

"Yes I am. I'm great." Nero said with a grin. Aela laughed again, "You'll never change will you."

Aela put down her empty cup, "Nero, what we had, the time we spent together will be something I cherish for the rest of my days. But you and I both know, ours was a romance never meant to last. You were looking for someone who you could spend the rest of your life with. And we both know that was never going to be me. You've found someone special, and I am happy for you. For both of you."

"Thank you Aela."

With a shrug Aela refilled her cup, "Yes, yes, I'm a true paragon. Now if I were you I'd maybe find a new hiding place. Jarl Elisif is making her way over here."

When Aela turned she found that Nero had taken her advice quickly and was already gone.

Nero kept close to the wall as he moved around the room, thankful that most of the crowd was busy amongst themselves. He slipped into a hallway and leaned against the wall.

"You're acting more like a spy than a groom Legate."

Nero turned as General Tullius walked up next to him, "I just don't want to greet any more self important people. I've shaken so many hands I swear my arms about to fall off."

"I'd say I pity you, but it's not nice to lie to a man on his wedding day. So who all have you had to meet?"

Nero sighed, "Everyone that Jarl Elisif thinks is important enough that she been seen with me. I even got to officially meet the Emperor too. And that came with a nice speech too."

Nero's slight sarcasm wasn't missed by the general, "Yes well, at least it all went smoothly."

"Yes, some council members could stand to copy the good emperor when setting up a meeting."

Tullius frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Do you know a Amund Motierre?"

General Tullius couldn't hold back the groan that escaped his throat, "that snake."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"What did he do?"

"He decided to pay me a quick little visit, along with several of his personal guard to let me know I should expect a dagger in my back. He was very polite about it though, we even got to share a drink."

"I don't suppose there was anyone in the room with you when he made the threat?"

"Oh no, he made sure it was only the two of us, and nothing he said was any kind of direct threat. He was very discreet."

"Of course not. He's a snake. Slithers his way into anything that will get him more power. I guess hearing about you and your dragons has made him feel that his power is threatened."

"Should I expect him to make a move soon?"

Tullius shook his head, "If he's anything he's careful. He'll want to make sure that anything he does against you can never be tracked back to him, and that'll take time."

Nero smirked, "Well I look forward to whatever he tries. Should make for an interesting afternoon."

While Nero and General Tullius spoke, on the other side of the reception, Serana found herself having a lovely chat with several duchesses and other wives who were making a strong effort to let Serana know that while her wedding was indeed a splendid event, it could have been so much better if it hadn't been held in Skyrim. But at least they were being polite. Serana was also being polite by not letting the women know exactly where they could shove their high and mighty opinions. Silently she prayed for something or someone that would send these women scurrying away so she didn't have to listen and play nice with them.

Unfortunately for her, the gods decided to answer her prayer. Just not in the way she would have ever wanted.

Rulindil smirked as he slinked besides her. His presence had the immediate effect of quickly scaring away the other women. "You are looking lovely. You must be having such a grand time."

Serana took a sip of her champagne, "Yes I am. So why are you trying to ruin it for me?"

"Such a clever mouth you have. But perhaps it would be wise for you to shut it and come have a quick private chat with me?"

Serana narrowed her eyes but decided to follow the elf anyway. Even though she could already guess where this chat was going to go, she at least hoped this would be fun. For her. Probably not for him. Following Rulindil, Serana soon found herself in a room some ways off from the party. Lighting was poor, only a few candles near the center on a small table. If she wasn't able to see in the dark, this might be a little scary. She also would have missed the five other Thalmor agents hiding in the far side of the room in the shadows.

Serana smirked, "a little theatrical don't you think?"

Rulindil dropped his well-mannered façade, "I think you need to realize the situation you are now in."

Serana eyes tracked the Thalmor agents as they moved to encircle her from the shadows, and tried not to laugh. If they were going to dig their own graves, she might as well let them go as deep as they possibly could.

"Oh? And what kind of situation is this? Because I can't believe you'd try anything with so many imperial guards here. Not to mention my husband and his dragons."

Rulindil sneered as he walked up to her, "Maybe your husband is out of our reach right now, but you are not. You have also failed to notice that there are no guards here. We are far enough that no one could here you scream. I can have you taken away and no one would know."

"My husband would know and he…"

"He would do nothing if he didn't want you delivered to him in bits. All that power but he'll be undone by the little tart he decided to marry."

"So this is you actually trying to kidnap me?"

Rulindil shrugged, "I did warn you didn't I. That people may try to get to Nero through you."

Serana finished her champagne, so she could hide her smirk, "You also said I was weak. So you think just you are going to drag me away."

She watched as Rulindil gave a slight nod, clearly his signal for his men to grab her. Oh this was going to be fun. And on cue Serana watched as the man to her right reached out from the shadows to grab her. Quicker than him, Serana gripped his arm and yanked him across her, and threw him into the man on her left, sending both agents crashing into the wall.

She easily ducked as another man tried to tackle her from behind and flipped him over onto the floor. She made sure to step on his chest when he landed, which made a sharp crack as she snapped some of his ribs. The final two men tried to grabbed her at the same time, but she side stepped and smashed her champagne glass against the firsts face, leaving long gashes in his face, before taking the stem of the glass and stabbing the last agent in the knee.

With all the agents now on the floor knocked out or too busy groaning in pain, Serana made sure she hadn't done anything to hurt her dress. She smiled seeing that her gown was completely unharmed. Making a show of dusting her hands off, she turned to Rulindil who, she was pleased to see, looked rather petrified.

Serana carefully stepped around the men and opened the door to the room to leave, but turned back to Rulindil, and finally let her mask of civility fall, making very sure she came off as scary as she could, while keeping her polite and kind voice, "I think that proves a point, don't you think? Now I'm going to do you a very big favor, and not tell Nero about what just happened. But if you ever try something like this again, I will kill you. And if you ever, ever do anything to Nero, I will make you wish I had kill you. Understand?"

Serana didn't wait to hear his answer. She didn't care. Still a little violence had apparently been just what she had needed after dealing with some rather boring people through out the day. A little fight was a perfect way to end the reception for her and now, she was going to grab her husband and finally have her wedding night.

-The Honeymoon Ship-

True to her word she quickly found Nero and with little encouragement needed, the two were now in their private suite on the boat taking them to their honeymoon location.

Nero sighed blissfully as he lay on top of the covers. The gentle rocking of the ship as it sailed was almost enough to send him off to sleep. But the promise of a special surprise Serana had told him about was more than enough to keep him awake.

The soft creek of the door caught his attention just as Serana made her way into their room. Nero nearly swallowed his tongue when he saw what she was wearing.

Soft sheer white silk hung loosely from her shoulders, and flowed over her every curve before ending just at her thighs. The silk was more than thin enough for Nero to tell that Serana was a little cold.

Serana leaned against the doorframe admiring the effect she was having on her husband before she sauntered over to the bed, and climbed on. She only stopped climbing till she was on top of Nero and wasted no time in celebrating her wedding night.

Serana cooed softly when Nero attacked her neck, "I like this surprise Serana," Nero whispered softly into her ear. With some effort, Serana pushed Nero back into the bed, so that she could sit over him. With a nervous smile she reached over and opened the small night stand next to the bed. When she leaned back she held up a small glass bottle for him to see.

"What's that?"

Serana fidgeted with the stopper in the bottle, "it's a gift…"

"A gift…from who?"

"From my mother."

Nero eyed the bottle, "ok a gift from your mother. What is it exactly?"

"Well, it's a collection of herbs, roots, and other things she had in her garden."

Nero frowned, "I don't know if I want to drink some potion that your mother made. I'm pretty sure she isn't exactly fond of me."

"No, no, I'm the one that drinks it, and it does…"Serana mumbled towards the end, not finishing her sentence. Nero looked up at her, "Does what? Is it some kind of…aphrodisiac? ...There's something I don't need to think about. My mother-in-law making those…oh I have one of those now, don't I. A mother-in-law…joy."

Serana shook her head, "no not that. Trust me, I don't need any help getting excited for you. Its for something else."

"What?"

"It…lets me, um helps me have kids."

Serana waited for a reaction from Nero, but for a while there was none. Serana began to fear she may have made a mistake telling Nero, but before she could think to much on it, Nero slowly sat up, keeping her in his lap. Serana suddenly felt she needed to explain the whole. So she told Nero about her mother's earlier visit and about the lie Harkon had told her. After she was done she once again began to wonder if now had been the right time to tell Nero.

Nero slowly wrapped his arms around her, "You know this isn't something we have to think about for some time. I don't want you thinking that this is something you would have to do."

Serana smiled, "Nero we've been with each other for some time now. Do you really think you could ever make me do something?"

Nero smirked and gave her a quick kiss. Serana returned his kiss before pulling back, "Nero neither of us can say we've come from good families. But I want that. I want to be part of a family that is filled with love. And I know I can have that with you."

Serana gently pushed Nero back into the bed, and while straddling him, opened the bottle and with a wink, drank it. Leaning down, she brought her lips right to his ear, and whispered, "lets make a family."

-The Thalmor Embassy-

Elenwen sat alone as a raging fire burned in its pit, casting flickering lights, and dark shadows over herself and the room. In her hand a bottle of wine tapped the side of her chair. Around her, broken wood from furniture were scattered about. Shattered glass littered the floor glinting in the fire light, while sheets of paper and parchment drifted and rustled from the draft.

Bringing the bottle up, she drank heavily from it before with a sneer she emptied the bottle and threw it into the fire.

Leaning back, Elenwen resumed staring into the flickering flames. Behind her the door to her room creaked open as a Thalmor agent entered. He walked in but kept a his distance behind Elenwen, "Our agents have confirmed that the Dragonborn and his wife boarded their ship and have left Skyrim."

Elenwen took a deep breath, happy that at least Nero was gone for the time being. With him gone, perhaps she could begin to regain some control over this damned place.

"Contact our agents that fle…left with us from Solitude. We need to regain our hold while Nero is gone. Also double of agents in the other major cities…What?"

Elenwen turned as she spoke and found the agent was doing his best to avoid making eye contact with her, "What is it?"

"Ma'am, um, the dragons haven't dispersed like we had thought that they would when Nero left. In fact, the main horde has stayed in Solitude."

Elenwen swore, "but our agents reported seeing dragons leaving the city!"

"Yes, about that, it appears that those dragons have actually been spotted around the major cities. From some updated reports, one or two stay on the ground in the city itself, while others can be seen circling in the sky."

Elenwen sunk back into her chair, "he knew. The bastard knew and left his damned pets."

"It seems ma'am that we have to kill Nero before we will be able to do anything else."

Elenwen groaned, "Yes, thank you. And since you seem to have such a great grasp of the situation then you must have a plan on how to kill him."

"Actually I believe I do."

Slowly Elenwen turned to stare at the agent, "What?"

"I have heard of a nomadic warrior, one that has fought and killed both man and beast. Because he never stays in one place for long it may take us time to find him. But with our spy network I'm sure our agents can find him."

"What makes you think this man can kill Nero?"

"While many rumors surround this man, one thing in the stories caught my interest. They say that even his voice is a weapon."

Elenwen blinked, "his voice…He can use those dragon shouts?"

The agent nodded, "Should I send the order to find this man?"

"At once. I want this man found as quickly as possible. Tell me, what's his name?"

"No one seems to knows his real name. But people call him, the Ebony Warrior."

-Authors Notes-

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Man things got really out of control these last few months. Something I would like to quickly address, I've gotten several PM's warning me of an author potentially copying my story. First thank you all for the concern. It means a lot knowing you guys are watching out for me. Secondly, I have spoken to the author and everything is fine. And no I won't be posting who he is or the story, since I'd rather not bring any internet hate on him. But the issue is settled so please if you know who I'm talking about don't bring it up against him anymore.

I finally get to address the whole baby thing this arc, which has caused me some issues with readers who like to remind me every so often about the proper lore. Harkon lied to Serana about vampire babies…I win. Now they will have babies that are part werewolf, vampire and dragon.

But yeah, so next up is Dawnguard which will cover the start of the DLC up to the first arc Storming the Castle. I have a good play through to watch as I write, so maybe that'll make writing it a little quicker. Ideally after Dawnguard I'd like to have a two more big arcs, Retribution (Really thinking of renaming this arc) which be a bunch of small arcs rolled into one dealing with the many attempts on Neros life. Kein Se Dovahs the planned final arc that will deal with the dragons. I should also warn you that between this arc and Retribution there is going to be a planned time skip.

But with this arc now finished, I want to thank everyone who has read, followed, reviewed, and faved my story. Thank you for your patience in my slow update schedule and I hope you will continue to read the drivel that I type out.