[Ulfric POV]
When I rose from my bed this day I did not foresee the scenario I found myself in. My guards had kept me appraised of anyone worthy of note and among them was a young boy I had heard much about the past few years. A prodigy by all accounts. Quick mastery of language and a studious nature that seemed unending. The sort of child all Jarls worth the name watch for to see if they become powerful allies or dangerous threats. The curious thing about the boy however was his prodigious nature didn't just extend to pursuits of the mind but martial mastery as well.-
It was rare to find someone so talented, rare and troublesome. The thing about these sorts was that they always had some form of eccentricity, something that stood out as odd. The boy was no different in this regard. I was mostly free of duties today and chose to summon the boy to get a feel for him in person and perhaps see what his opinion of the empire was. His age was right at the sweet spot between before that damned concordat and after.-
When he walked in I immediately discarded any thought that the rumors of his skill with a blade might be fabricated. You could see it in his stride and the way his hands remained steady as he walked, he knew the blade well. His size was considerably larger than most Nords and even Altmer reach but not outside the realm of possibility for the elves. I had fought one of the so called "royal" elves during the war and knew from that experience the boy was roughly the same in stature. The biggest difference was his bulk.-
The elves were narrow, lithe and dense in shape. The boy had a Nords built however as his muscles sat on him largely and with impressive definition. I had little doubt that he'd be a menace in heavy armor. A few features stood out to me as unusual even still. The first was his skin that had an almost gleam of oiled leather to it, it reminded me of fine ivory. The second was his eyes, there was no fear or unease in them. Most who get summoned before a Jarl have at least some unease but the boys gaze was steady and sharp as he scanned the entirety of the hall. -
Finally was his voice, I had to stop myself from flinching when he spoke. Despite his youth the boy had a voice like the rumbling of a mountain when stones came loose or thunder booming in the sky. I had only ever heard a voice of similar nature in one place, a place I knew for certain the boy had never been. I briefly pondered if the boy's mixed parentage had caused some ancient power to awaken in him. It had happened before after all if legends were true.-
It was a rare thing for mer and man to join bloods, especially in this age. The few that grew to maturity were more one side than the other in most cases but it wasn't unheard of for both sides to fully manifest. In those cases the person was superior to both races. The boy seemed to fall in this category if the rumors were true. Whatever the case I made note of his voice and started to test the boy. He was proud and didn't kneel even when called out on it. His will was strong I deduced from this, a good thing in my opinion.-
I praised him freely for it and moved on to seeing if his wit was as sharp as rumored. As I soon discovered it was indeed, almost frightfully so in fact. He almost completely deduced my intentions in the short time between being summoned and arriving. I chose to finally move on to the final test and pressed him about his thoughts of the empire and Skyrim. To my intrigue and surprise he showed an open and blunt disdain for the empire. What's more he seemed to have given Skyrim's situation long thought and required a map of Tamriel to explain it.-
I had Jorleif fetch a map and took the boy to the war room, a place I imagined I'd be spending a great deal of time in in the future. After Markarth I truly understood that the sons and daughters of Skyrim were truly forsaken by the empire. I was now merely contemplating the best way to bring Skyrim away. I had my honor still and wouldn't sully it with subterfuge or skullduggery. The boy greatly surprised me however as he laid out his vision for Skyrim's independence using the map.-
I can't lie, the idea appealed to me both politically and personally. As the boy was willing to admit the idea would take some work to get going but if successful Skyrim and her right and left neighbors would be something to see. I almost rejected the idea of allying with Morrowwind because of their situation but realized the boy was right. They had many mouths to feed and idle hands with no purpose, idle hands that could just as well hold a weapon as any other. Hammerfell was in dire need of precisely that as they fought the Thalmor even still.-
Skyrim between them was also in the perfect position to train these idle hands into soldiers while feeding Morrowwind in exchange. All parties would grow a tight bond through this that would unite the north in a way not seen since the second era. The boy even made me feel slightly ashamed when he pointed out that Torygg truly cared for Skyrim but stuck with the empire because he couldn't see a better way. In my haste to see her sons and daughters freed of the empires oppression I had almost condemned one of them to death unjustly. Even more so I almost enabled Skyrim to fall into civil war.-
It was a darkening prospect that if I challenged Torygg in the old ways without the other Jarls present the empire might twist my actions into cold blooded murder. I ended up dismissing the boy as these thoughts weighed heavy on my mind. I was grateful for the new direction he gave me but I knew he was all but washing his hands of the matter. I suppose that more than anything proved his wisdom, politics like this always made a mess. Not wanting to get involved was something I couldn't begrudge him for doing.-
If this worked the way he seemed to strongly believe however I'd happily drag him into the mud with me, a talent like his deserved to be used even if he'd prefer not. I assigned my guards to watch the boy, observe his daily life after that to see how he functioned normally. What I learned made me confused. According to my men he meditated in the open in front of the inn. Long periods of complete stillness even as snow fell on him and piled up. I got this eerie feeling of resonance from this like my memories of a certain set of old men on the Throat of the world had moved to my city.