Chapter 145: Rock, meet hard place

"Yes?" I answered calmly.

"You have my thanks for the rescue good ser. But the danger isn't past yet." she said eloquently.

I look at all the attackers then back to her "They seem pretty dead to me." I said calmly.

"You jest but these were only henchmen. The first of the dangers. Along the path there is no doubt many more lying in wait to slowly whittle down my loyal protectors until I and my daughter are left exposed and vulnerable." she said seriously.

"Look I only got involved this far because walking away from something right in front of me isn't in my nature. That said I don't want to get dragged into the messy political intrigues of Highrock and you Breton nobles any more than absolutely necessary." I say flatly.

"Oh? I expected more from the Sand tongue spoken with such reverence in the courts of the forebears. Naught but a craven it seems." she said dismissively.

"Really? That's your play? Did you just assume that because of my power I was some brash, prideful idiot that you could goad into doing what you want?" I said with a mocking laugh.

Her face twisted into a grimace at not only having her exact thoughts revealed but ruthlessly crushed.

"What do you want?" she asked dropping the pretenses since they were clearly not going to work.

"I told you. I don't want to get dragged into the messy nonsense that is Breton noble politics. Let me guess, you don't even have a name behind these people do you? No wait you probably have so many names the list includes half the nobles in the province. How close am I?" I asked pointedly.

Her grimace deepened "I cannot deny that. As the Hammerfell ambassador and daughter of the current queen many wish me to push their agendas in Hammerfell and many of those agendas clash. I can not make any move that doesn't displease at least even one noble. Not even pursuing my own agenda." she said frankly.

"That's just politics among a province where backstabbing is a hobby. Why should I help you at all beyond what I have knowing this?" I asked with my arms crossed.

A twitch near her eye "Highrock is not such a savage place." she said defensively.

"Uh huh, sure. So ignoring the thing everyone who has ever spent more than a week there has ever said. You haven't answered my question. Why should I go out of my way to help you more than this?" I pressed.

She frowned deeply for a few moment before brightening up in a way that made my instincts tingle unpleasantly.

"Because I can help you. You hate the Thalmor right? I'm the royal ambassador to Hammerfell. The proposal Skyrim has put forth to create a northern block of power, I can push it on behalf of Highrock." she said proving my instincts right.

The really annoying part is that I knew she was right. Skyrim holding out a hand to Hammerfell was a delicate matter to begin with and since not all the forebears were willing to snuff the Thalmor to their faces had hit a brick wall. Hammerfell didn't have a centralized government. It operated based off a merit and caste system. A truly powerful warrior could have just as much say as one of the forebears that inherited that position and had to fulfill certain conditions first. As a result no one at the peak of Hammerfell's hierarchy was useless or ignorable.-

An entirely different situation to the Jarls in Skyrim who just inherited the title from their parents unless they lose it to a worthy challenger according to the old ways. That was only acceptable if that particular Jarl was considered weak or of poor character for leading their people however. Yes even the process of usurping a Jarl had actual rules to be followed unless you wanted the whole of Skyrim drawing steel on you. The same applied to usurping the position of High king. It was ironically one of the reasons Ulfric's rebellion kinda worked even as little as it did. -

According to the old ways he had followed the rules step by step so his claim was legit, even if rather controversial. Anyways what this meant was that the entire alliance proposal was being gummed up by the forebears who either didn't agree for whatever reason or refused to commit one way or the other. As much as I might dislike the Thalmor even I could admit they were quite good at stoking division. Which was weird in this particular case as basically everyone hated them and they were even forcibly occupying most of the cities and towns of the province.-

Regardless I couldn't in good conscious turn down what may in truth actually be exactly what was needed to break this situation. And this woman knew it too.

"What exactly are you asking for in exchange for this?" I asked with a sigh.

She smiled brightly like she had won this little verbal spar.

I kind of wanted to punch her to be honest.

"I require you to ensure my daughter and I's safety until we reach Sharnhelm. No more." she said simply.

"Shor's beard, you have to be joking!? That's in the dead center of High rock!" I hissed in horror.