[A week later!]

Somewhere in this world, a man sat next to his wife in the garden of their home. The man was listening to some report that was carried by his most trusted aide.

"Speak, Falk. What happened in our realm that made these guys send us a red letter."

Falk Firebeard nodded and opened the letter that was sealed with red wax. A minute later he approached the High King and started whispering.

"You said Jon Dare?"

"Yes, the Thane of Winterhold, Jon Dare in the flesh was at the between the Firemane and Bloodsail clans. The rumor of him being adopted by them is true. And he disturbed our plan in Winterhold magnificently."

"Sigh! Such a talent and it goes for the hidden clans… again." The High King sighed deeply.

"Aren't you satisfied with what you have now? You know my clan with always support you." The queen whispered to her husband's ears and he broke into a smile.

"Yes, I know." He spoke in a soft tone and nodded.

"Thank you for the report, Falk. And keep an eye on the situation."

"By your will, my king. Anything else."

"Hmm! Don't give the people of Winterhold a tough time at the docks. Tell lady Vittoria Vici to keep the relationship peaceful with the Dare Dragon Company."

"I will see to it at once."

***

In a quiet room near a fireplace, a woman sat in her elegant Battlemage robe. She was reading a report from a long time ago regarding some incident about the Great War. A man wearing a similar robe knocked on her door and before entering and handing her another note.

"Madam Emissary, here is the report regarding the situation in Eastmarch."

"Thank you, you are dismissed."

"By your orders."

The man turned around and left.

The woman opened the note and started reading it carefully, she read it one more time and sighed.

"Estormo."

"Yes, Madam Emissary."

"Go and summon Ancano. It seems the matter regarding Winterhold will give us a headache sooner than expected."

***

In a closed room inside the Palace of Kings in Windhelm, three men were discussing some matters.

"This will give us a great advantage in the future, now that Skald gave us his allegiance, Korir will soon come running to our door." Galmar Stone-Fist said while waving around the letter that was just delivered.

"I still don't think so." Jarl Ulfric spoke in his deep dignified voice.

"Why is that, Jarl Ulfric?"

"Don't you understand, Winterhold is not the realm of Korir anymore." Jorleif, the steward of the palace, replied to Galmar.

"Not the realm of Korir, isn't he the…"

"The Dare Dragon Company is the one with the final say in Winterhold. Our spies have already confirmed that all the hold guards are loyal to Jon Dare and Korir is currently his puppet too. In fact, Solitude has tried to interfere lately and it was said that Thane Erikur had a candidate that he wanted to push to the Jarlship to keep Jon Dare in check but that man disappeared before even the spies of Solitude reach him." Jorleif said what was in the report.

All the concerned forces in Skyrim has also received a similar report.

"So this will leave us to do what?" Galmar asked with annoyance.

"We will wait and see. Jon Dare is a major power now, not someone we can look down on. His allegiance is useful but no one had any plans regarding Winterhold to begin with. Either he wants to play the game of politics or keep to himself, it is all up to him. The plans will go as usual for now." Ulfric said and left the room.

***

Another conversation around the same topic in the Bards' College.

"Headmaster Viarmo. Did you call for me?"

"Yes, Lisette. Please come in."

"Was that Thane Erikur that walked out pushing everything in his way just now?"

"Yes, it was him."

Lisette giggled and shook her head helplessly.

"What then? Is he kicking us out of the building?"

Viramo furrowed his eyes and glared at Lisette whose behavior was a bit casual. High Elves like him don't like to be talked to like that. Still, Lisette behavior has changed a lot in the past year that he would always glare at her and she would say nothing.

"Sigh! He is disturbed by some matter in Winterhold and Eastmarch. Wants us to investigate it for him."

Lisette wasn't wholeheartedly interested for many reasons. She has lost a lot of her respect to the man in front of her since she started becoming one of his birds following the events of the last year.

"Anyway, it will be your assignment." Viarmo said.

Lisette seemed to be annoyed and wanted to refute but Viramo's words made her freeze.

"Your old friend, Jon Dare. He is doing some daring moves in eastern Skyrim, and it seemed that he had brought down a big project that Erikur had in mind for Winterhold."

Lisette, whose face was motionless with uninterest, became wide awake and listened to Viarmo carefully.

"What is he doing?"

"Hmm! He has involved himself with the great Nordic clans."

Lisette had some knowledge around the topic due to her nature of work. She then asked about some details and Viarmo didn't hide anything that may make her interested.

Lisette thought for a while and made a natural face.

"Maybe Winterhold can be interesting after all. I think their big inn has no proper bard right now. If a town has grown so much then its inn will also grow bigger."

Viarmo smiled and didn't say anything.

"Before you go, how is Jon Dare's friends that we have here?"

"Svidi is a creative bard, she is an interesting person and one of the best we have. Jon Battle-Born doesn't lose to her even though his style is too… classic, according to how Svidi described it."

"Hmm! So, how long will it take them to graduate then?"

"Less than a year."

"I see… That indeed is a record. You may leave now."

Viarmo watched Lisette going out and returned to his book right away.

'Sigh! How long will it continue? This peace…' That's all he could think about.

***

"Sigh! This place is so boring, and the food is so bland."

Jon was whining about the food.

"Hooman! Give me."

"... Yes yes, here you go, your Meowjesty."

The food of Jon was eaten by Nefertiti again.

"Jon, Ongeim has arrived." Jullanar came into the room and reported.

"Let him in."

A while later, Ongeim came in the room wearing a black cloak.

"Boss, did we really have to meet that way?"

"It is okay, I have business in this city and we have to keep a low profile after the recent trouble."

"I see, here is a report from Elishka and the things you wanted from us."

Ongeim took out a note and a small chest.

"I see, you can sail to Winterhold any time you see fit. We will leave Windhelm and will take the road back home."

"As you see, Boss."

Ongeim said and left the room.

In this room, a few figures were gathered around some table, they were Jon, Jull, Wulfur, Alina, Nurina, and Nefertiti.

"So this is…"

"The 'White Phial' and the ingredients to fix it. I will go out tonight and attempt some experiments with a friend."

"And the note?"

Jon opened the note and skimmed through it with his eyes then grinned and shook his head.

"What is that?" Alina asked.

"It seemed that Elishka's girls have discovered some people trying to stir trouble in our town. The troublesome people were showed out and the source of the noise was taken care of." Jon said the burned the paper to a fine powder with his Ashen Flame.

"Show off!" Nurina snorted in disdain. Jon was not humble at all about the new power he possessed lately. The Ashen Flame was the core-power of the Dragon Guardian and a mutation to the normal Flame Magic. It worked the same way but was a bit costly on Magicka.

"Still, give us details." Wulfur was concerned about the matters in Winterhold.

"Some people from Solitude came to stir trouble and find an excuse to replace Korir with a new Jarl using our popularity. Elishka found the guy who was being supported and made him disappear… at the bottom of the sea."

"I see… who was the unlucky soul?"

"Kraldar."

"Kraldar? Wasn't that the unremarkable guy who always tried to make friends with Arch-Mage Savos?"

"Yep, that's him."

Actually, Jon was already very cautious about Kraldar. That man was a citizen of Winterhold and one that could live an easy life during the past times. His family used to be powerful nobility in the past but nothing was left after the Great Collapse to be proud about anymore.

Also, one more remarkable thing about Kraldar that he will be appointed the Jarl anyway if the Empire won in the next Civil War.

Anyone should have had a positive view about Kraldar but Jon knew a small piece of information that made him very wary of Kraldar.

During the Civil War, if by any chance the Empire took over Winterhold then lost it to the Stormcloaks once again, Kraldar, who is the Empire's agent, would simply withdraw from the town and would go to live in Erikur's house in Solitude.

Now, this is a very dangerous piece of information for Jon.

Erikur is one of the people that Jon don't like and he is associated with the Thalmor. Having a tumor like that is something that Jon wouldn't want to have in his turf. The simplest way was to eliminate him a long time ago but he wanted to keep Kraldar monitored to get as much information as possible.

"Well. He was of no use anyway. I better get going now."

Jon stood up, wore a dark cloak and a hood, then carried the chest and went out. Nefertiti jumped in hid herself in his clothes to go with him.

He left directly to the 'White Phial' store.