Amelia huffed as she delivered the striking blow to the Blood Dragon that was crouching before her with Wuuthrad, effectively crushing it's skull. After absorbing it's soul and collecting it's bones and scales she swung Wuuthrad over her shoulder and walked through the gates of Whiterun, ignoring the hushed "it's the Dragonborn!" comments and pointed fingers. She sighed inwardly at the faces of her passerby's, either full of amazement or fear. Why couldn't people look at her as a simple person? Sure, she was born of the Dovah but that doesn't mean she didn't have a certain craving for normalcy. No one ever gave her a simple "Hello" or a "How's your day?" anymore. Of course, they never really did before. Amelia wasn't exactly "normal", and it wasn't only for the Dovahkiin fact. Amelia was half Kahjiit half Nord. It was a strange mix, not one you usually see around Skyrim. The Kahjiit in her caused her to have sand furred ears protruding from her head, along with a furry tail to match. Her eyes were a startling green with slitted pupils, and granted her teeth had a rather fang like look to them. She never had been treated as an equal, but never has she been more separated from everyday people than when she had been revealed as Dragonborn, but she was used to it by now. Unlocking the door to her Breezehome she could still hear the whispers of her neighbors. The Dovah in her growled in annoyance and she turned on her heel, letting out the weakest "FUS!" she could manage, she wanted to disperse the crowd not murder them. Many people fell backwards onto their bums, others stumbled forward and dropped whatever items they were holding. Smiling smugly, and ignoring the yells of annoyance from the Whiterun guards, she stepped into her home and stripped herself of her armor, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Rough day?" her housecarl, Lydia, asked with a smirk.
"You have no idea." Amelia grunted, plopping herself in front of the fire. She laid her ax over her lap and began to scrub the dragon blood off of it's blade, but only caused it to smear around the blade ineffectively. Lydia sighed and took the ax from her.
"You can never clean your own weapons...This isn't the blood of some innocent passerby is it?" Lydia asked with a glint of humor, peering over at Amelia.
"No it's the blood of children, I saw a group of them playing down the road and couldn't resist. You know how my lust for murder can be a bit overpowering." Lydia chuckled and shook her head. "It's the blood of a Blood Dragon, Lydia. Didn't you hear the commotion? It quite literally attacked right outside of the gates."
"I was taking a nap." She said with a shrug.
"Aren't you supposed to, oh I dunno...be my bodyguard or something?" Amelia asked, leaning forward to take a sip of the broth that was boiling in the cooking pot above the fire.
"You seemed to have handled yourself rather well. I don't see any missing limbs."
"I thought you were sworn to carry my burdens, I think being attacked by a dragon is pretty large burden. This is very tasty by the way, what's in it?"
"Human flesh." Amelia laughed. She appreciated what Lydia did for her; packing her bags for her when she went on long trips (sometimes adding a little home made sweet for her as an extra), polishing her blades clean of all the dried blood, tidying up her home, and always having a fire crackling in the pit whenever she came back from the freezing mountains of Windhelm. Armella was positive that Lydia would follow her blindly into the most vicious of battles if only she asked her to do so.
"I have to travel to Windhelm tomorrow. Present Ulfric with the an axe. Gonna be an exciting time." Amelia said with sarcasm as she poured herself and Lydia a bowl of the "human flesh" stew.
"Are you needing any company on this trip, my Thane?" Lydia asked with a look on her face that was practically begging Amelia to tell her no. She knew Lydia despised Windhelm, the dirty streets, the poverty stricken Dark Elves and Argonians, and especially Lydia despised Ulfric. Granted, Amelia had a certain distaste for the power hungry Jarl as well; he was, after all, looking to drive out every non Nordic species from Skyrim. But Amelia had a duty to do, and she never turned down a journey. She was an adventurer, traveling was her life, she could care less where she was traveling to as long as she was out on the open fields.
"It's okay, Lydia, I won't force you to come. You can, however, polish my weapons while I'm gone." Amelia said, batting her eyelashes lovingly at Lydia.
"My Thane, if it gets me out of traveling to that scumbag of a province then I will polish your entire house with honor."
XxXxX
Amelia woke before the sun had even risen. Groaning she rubbed her eyes and stepped out of her bed, shivering at the cold wooden floor beneath her feet. She looked over to the table that stood in the corner of her room, smiling when she saw a fully packed bag and a note.
My Thane,
I have taken it upon myself to pack your bags, knowing that you would wait until the last minute to do so. Inside you will find dried herbs to season any meat you may hunt on your trip (along with a few sweet rolls for the sweet tooth I know you have), a set of fur armor for those wintery winds of Windhelm, and a bear skin to sleep on. Wuuthrad downstairs, polished and ready for any of your enemies. I have also taken the liberty to give pack your Dragonbone Dagger.
Be safe, My Thane.
Lydia (forever carrying your burdens)
Amelia smiled at the note, Lydia was more motherly towards her than anyone has ever been. What would she do without her sarcastic housecarl?
XxXxX
Amelia crinkled her nose at the foul wreak of Windhelm. Everywhere she looked she saw poverty and filth. There was a reason the Imperials didn't want Ulfric on the throne of the High King, and this was it. He couldn't even manage his own province, let alone the entire rein of Skyrim. With obvious distaste Amelia walked through the streets, occasionally stopping to drop a few Septims into a poor beggars tankard, up to the Palace of Kings.
"Jarl Ulfric, I have a message for you from Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun!" Amelia bellowed as she walked into the palace. Ulfric looked up from his throne, he looked exhausted, obviously this war was taking it's toll on him. Good. Sneered Amelia in her mind, The bastard deserves it.
"Ah, Dragonborn... to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" The Jarl asked, a slight poison in his voice. Amelia knew that Ulfric had major problems with the fact that the great Dragonborn was half Kahjiit. Ears flat to her head in anger she thrusted the axe into his arms, her tail flicking in annoyance. "So... Balgruuf has made his decision. I had not wanted to do this but..." Ulfric looked up at Amelia. "If you wouldn't mind, I would appreciate you to leave my Palace, Dragonborn. I have business I must attend to..." Amelia was more than happy to oblige, the faster she got out of this disgusting town the better. Walking down one of the dirt streets of Windhelm Amelia heard the soft cries of a child, her ears twitched a bit. It was coming from a small house, walking up she jiggled the handle. Locked. She took out her Skeleton Key and had the door unlocked in less than a second. The child crying was a young boy, sitting in the middle of a room where a rather disturbing scene was being held. There was a skeleton, chunk of human flesh and candles strewn about the room. The boy looked up and broke out in a grin.
"Oh you came, you came! It worked, it actually worked!" He cried, hands in the air in glee.
"Wh...what?" Amelia mumbled, not sure what to do exactly.
"You're an assassin from the Dark Brotherhood, here to help me! ...aren't you?" His face fell slightly. Amelia sighed.
"What do you need help with, kid?" She asked.
"I need you to kill Grelod the Kind."
XxXxX
Amelia wiped her dagger clean of Grelod's blood and started her way back to Windhelm. She had done what the boy asked of her out of pity for the boy, he was motherless, much like her.She could relate to the poor kid. And she couldn't resist slitting the throat of that bitch Grelod.
Once back in Windhelm Amelia made a beeline to Aventus's house, not wanting to be in the province for any longer than necessary.
"You're back! Did you... is she..."
"She's decaying as we speak, kid." He grinned and hugged Amelia. She found it sweet, but then realizing that Aventus thought her to be an assassin she found it slightly foolish of him to hug her.
"Here, take this. As thanks." He handed her a plate. "It should get you tons of septims!" She smiled at him and observed the plate, it would only get her a couple hundred coin.
"Kid, I couldn't take thi-"
"No, you have to! I couldn't bear to think of not properly thanking you for doing this for me!" She sighed and put the plate in her bag.
"Promise me you'll go back to the orphanage as soon as possible, kid. Okay?"
"I promise." Ruffling his hair a bit Amelia left Windhelm. Mounting her horse, Frost, she set off for home.
XxXxX
Amelia had been riding all day, Frost was exhausted and her ass was rather sore from bouncing on her dragon hide saddle.
"Alright buddy, we'll stop for the night." She patted her horses neck and hopped off. After setting up camp, which consisted of a small fire and a bear hide laid out as a makeshift bed, she laid down for the night, Wuuthrad laid close to her in case she was ambushed in the night. Deep in sleep she could have swore she felt someones light hands lift her up and carry her off.
XxXxX
Amelia blinked a few times, she was no longer on the soft bear hide but instead on a cold stone floor.
"Wh..what? Where am I?" She frantically searched for Wuuthrad, locating it on a shelf beside a woman dressed in blood colored armor.
"Ah, finally awake, are you?" Amelia couldn't see it behind the woman's masked cowl but she was sure she was smiling.
"What do you want with me?" Amelia growled, the Dovah in her getting prepared to be released if needed. She may not have Wuuthrad but she could shout the void out of this woman if she had to.
"You killed Grelod the Kind, did you not?" The woman asked, cocking her head slightly.
"What if I did? The woman was dreadful." She sneered defensively, ears flat on her head and pupils dilated in anger.
"Calm down, kitty. I'm not here to cause you harm or turn you in. If I had wanted to do so I would have done so while you were passed out." Amelia pondered this and found she was right. Why wait til she was awake to kill her?
"Why am I here then? Who are you?" She asked, all anger out of her voice, she was simply curious now.
"I'm Astrid, from the Dark Brotherhood and Aventus was meant to be our client. You stole him from us, so now you must make up for that. A life for a life. I have three people there," She pointed to the corner of the room where three figures sat, head covered in a sack and hands bound behind their backs. "One of these poor sods has a contract out on their life. Which one is it?" Astrid tossed her a simple iron dagger to do the job.
"Will I be released afterward?" Amelia asked with a raised eyebrow as she twisted the dagger around, examining it's sharp edge.
"Of course." Shrugging Amelia stood and walked to the three people. After giving each a short interview she decided to kill two of them, Alea Quintus, the sharp tongued old bitch, and a rude Kahjiit named Vasha. "Hmm. The fearless wife and mother, and the underhanded Khajiit. Had to be one of them, right? Interesting choice."
"I didn't like either of them, so I killed them."
"Do you want to know which one had the contract on their head?"
"No, because all of them had one, didn't they? Why bring an innocent in, when you can bring in the guilty? You wouldn't want to risk the chance of me killing someone with no contract." This time Amelia knew Astrid was smiling.
"Clever. So very clever... We could use you in our little family, you have the mind of an assassin. So.. what do you say? Want to join?" Amelia's heart twitched a bit at the word family. She couldn't help it, no matter how sappy it was, she wanted to be a part of someones family. And... she loved killing. She couldn't deny it, she loved it. She could start over new... no one would know she was Dragonborn. No one would treat her differently... Astrid didn't seem to even care that she was half Kahjiit.
"I'll... think about it." Astrid gave a nod and tossed her Wuuthrad along with a key to unlock the door of the shack.
"If you wish to join the The Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary is located almost due south of the Abandoned Shack, near the southern border of the province of Skyrim and just west of Falkreath. When you activate the Sanctuary's entrance, The Black Door, it will ask,"What is the music of life?". Answer with the password "Silence, my brother." Till we meet again."