[Skyrim Crossover] As if Skyrim wasn't already hectic enough, with its inhabitants fighting both the Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire. Now there's dragons, too, and Emmet finds himself unwittingly roped into the whole mess. What else could go wrong?
"Alfred!" Lloyd shouted as he slammed the door open. The housecarl made his way out of the room he had been working in, quirking an eyebrow at the young man's behavior. "The Black Knight hasn't left again, has he?"
"I believe he is still here."
"Good, I got a really important message from Lucy!"
"Do please close the door behind you, Lloyd, you're letting the snow in."
"Oh, sorry." He closed it as requested before sprinting to their hidden headquarters, shouting for attention once again. He was pointed in the right direction, and soon found the Knight. "Sir!" The Black Knight turned his attention to Lloyd, gesturing for him to speak. "I know I was supposed to go check out that dragon mound, but I ran into Lucy on my way down there. She said the Imperials have the Dragonborn, and she's heading on to Solitude."
The Knight fell utterly still at that. Then, after a moment, 'thank you for bringing this to me. We might have to alter arrangements, now. Return to your assignment. You'll be reporting to Penn when you come back, instead.'
"Yes, sir." He gave a clumsy salute before bolting out again. The Knight sighed to himself, then left to look for Bruce and Mayhem. It didn't take long to find either of them.
"Is something wrong?" Mayhem asked.
'I just received word from Lucy that the Imperials have the Dragonborn. She should still be able to handle her assignment at the Embassy, but she may be in over her head, trying to extract him from Solitude. I'll need you two to come with me, and perhaps the Captain and Kitty as well.'
"So you're taking all of upper command with you," Bruce remarked.
'Her Majesty, Penn, and Alfred will be able to handle anything that happens in our absence. Storming Solitude with all our forces would be suicide; it will be easier to get a small team of our best in and out. We can't afford to lose the Dragonborn to the Legion.'
"Not that we even have the forces to storm the city in the first place." Bruce grumbled and scrubbed at his face. "I guess this is as good a plan as we're going to get. At least Kitty will provide a damn good distraction. And maybe even he'll deign to help out."
'One can hope.'
"I'll go find them," Mayhem offered.
'Thank you. We'll fine-tune it along the way.'
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Emmet walked into the Embassy, holding his breath. The guard at the door had barely spared him a second glance when he showed her his invitation, simply waving him in. As excited as he was to meet new people, he also worried he would say something stupid that would reveal how much of a commoner he was. Every other guest at the party was obviously from either a wealthy or noble family. He glanced up as the First Emissary approached him. He was tall, though not quite as tall as the other High Elves around the place. "You must be the Dragonborn," he greeted.
"Yes! That's me," Emmet confirmed. "I'm Emmet!"
"I'm Sirius."
Emmet tilted his head. "Um. So am I?"
The Ambassador rolled his eyes. "No, that's my name. After the star?"
"Oh! Gotcha. Nice to meet you!" The elf quirked an eyebrow at Emmet's outstretched hand. Emmet slowly withdrew it. "Uh. Okay. So... I'm... kind of new to these sorts of parties?"
"Obviously."
Emmet glanced around, spotting Lucy at the far end of the room, talking to some lady. She didn't look in his direction, but he was certain she was aware of his presence. Right; he had to figure out how to make a distraction. "So... What do people usually talk about, here?"
"Politics, business, how far back they can trace their blood lines, that sort of thing," Sirius answered dismissively. The Dragonborn made a face.
"You don't really seem like the kind of guy that enjoys making boring small talk. And I don't know anything about any of that stuff anyway." Emmet glanced around the room again, this time taking in its décor. There were a lot of very old-looking artifacts lining shelves or hanging on the walls. "This is a very nice collection. Can you tell me about it?" The Ambassador glanced back at him, startled by his surprisingly astute observation.
"You... are the first person who has ever asked me that."
"Really?" Emmet tilted his head. "Don't you ever talk to people about it? I'd be proud of a collection like this, it must have taken a lot of time to find it all." He bit back a laugh as the Ambassador preened at the compliment, and tried very hard to look like he wasn't.
"I suppose I could tell you a little bit. It would take all day to cover the entire collection. Some of it was inherited, but most of it I did track down myself..." Emmet didn't even have to pretend to be fascinated as the Ambassador rambled on; he did genuinely find it all interesting. And Sirius seemed very smart; from the way he spoke, Emmet guessed he'd had to do all the hunting down and retrieving himself.
It was as he spoke of a relic dating back to the Three Banners War that something clicked in Emmet's mind, and he gasped. "Oh!"
"What?" the Ambassador asked, looking put out at being interrupted.
"Sorry, it's just- living in Helgen, we had a lot of travelers pass through on their way into Skyrim, you know? One time there was a priestess passing through, and she taught me a song she said was about that war. I didn't really understand what she was talking about at the time, I've never been good with history... It's called Beauty of Dawn, have you heard of it?"
The Ambassador gave him an amused look. "I'm familiar with it, yes. Why?"
Emmet scratched at his head, embarrassed. "Uh well... Sometimes? I'd go to the inn if I was too tired to make my own supper, and- people would ask me to sing. We didn't have a bard in town, but I guess they liked my voice well enough. And I just- I feel bad I haven't really had anything to add to the conversation?"
Sirius studied Emmet for a long moment. He'd never met anyone so... eager to please, before. He chuckled softly, and gestured toward the young man. "Very well then." Emmet grinned brightly at him, and took a deep breath.
"A serpent lights the ancient sky; a threat of tainted stars. Evil stirs and in its wake the souls of mortals sway. Sorrow reigns over fields of red. Spirits pace through the shadows cast by their graves..."
Every head in the room turned toward the source of the sweet voice. Even the Ambassador's jaw dropped in shock. Lucy was equally speechless as she stared, and was jolted out of her stunned state when Malborn quietly cleared his throat and tilted his head toward a door. She nodded, slipping away from the party while Emmet had everyone distracted.
She'd have to ask him to sing it for her again, sometime.
