Chapter Text
Introduction
Royal Palace in Vizima, Kingdom of Temeria
Yule 29th, 1264
Having worked at Temerian Royal court ever since Foltest came to power, Svorad was proud of his job. Through decades he worked as the Royal scribe, he sat through numerous audiences, ceremonies, negotiations, proceedings and other memorable events, meticulously taking notes with the aid of his exceptionally quick hand. At his age, pushing fifty winters, he thought he'd seen it all.
The most recent meeting of the Royal Council sure did prove him wrong on that account, though.
It wasn't every day that Royal Council would come together to deliberate, as they only discussed matters of war and peace. When the news reached him that another such meeting was to be held, he feared the worst. It had been only a couple months since the end of the war with Nilfgaard and the kingdom was still repairing the damage; there was little chance Temeria could withstand another assault.
Much to his surprise, the subject of the meeting was far simpler... yet surprising all the same.
Just like about everyone else in Vizima, Svorad heard rumors of a mysterious she-elf that appeared in the Market place, as in 'simply materialized out of thin air'. Then she promptly got arrested and dragged into jail, probably on the grounds of practicing some kind of forbidden magic or something... Though he didn't personally have anything against elvenkind, he wasn't overly fond of them either. Since the mysterious intruder seemingly vanished after this incident, the rumors have eventually ceased. It made him think that the she-elf was probably rotting in the dungeon somewhere, completely forgotten.
Yet now, over a month after, she received summons from King Foltest himself, no less, to 'explain herself' or some such... Well, it wasn't his place to question His Majesty's judgment.
Though admittedly, Svorad had a hard time hiding his surprise when he saw the enigmatic intruder for the first time. It was a she-elf, alright... but unlike any Elf he'd ever met in his life.
For none of them had so strange, outlandish features like skin color like pure gold, angular face, large slanted eyes, very long ears, high pronounced cheeks, pointy chin… and she was impossibly tall for a woman, rivaling even Bronibor in height – and damn it if he wasn’t a mountain of a man – and she literally towered over all the women present in the King’s study where the audience was about to take place. It was a good thing everyone was seated for this, otherwise quite a few people might’ve felt inadequate, to put it mildly.
Regretfully, being the Royal scribe, Svorad didn’t have the time to marvel at the sheer strangeness of the she-elf – if she even was one, that is. When King Foltest commanded him to transcribe the entire exchange, he was going to do it, his curiosity be damned.
The meeting began with the customary mutual introduction. The she-elf – Elaith was her name – spoke in thickly accented, but surprisingly good Common, Svorad noted. Some scathing remarks were exchanged, coming mainly from Willemer the Arch-priest. After the guest explained how she ended up in Vizima – an accident with some kind of insanely powerful artifact, that was the gist of it – the King himself took interest in the she-elf’s world and in herself… and demanded to hear all of it.
And that’s when Svorad knew his job’s become a lot more challenging.