She felt bad for the Argonians of Winterhelm, honestly, shoved up in their little building and forced to sleep in close quarters. It was even more of a shame that whoever had designed the building had neglected to put on a half-way decent lock.

The Argonian was silent, yellow eyes taking in their surroundings without so much as a blink. She checked her paper again and swore underneath her breath. She had to admit, she hated the Night Mother for sending her here, sending her to kill one of the pathetic Argonians in their pathetic little hut. A few of them were curled up together for warmth, and she felt a pang of pity for the little horned female dressed only in rags. Still, at least she wasn't going to die tonight, like one of the others.

"Who's there?" Ah, so one of them wasn't as deaf as she had thought. Male, by the sound of it, with a deep and gravelly voice. She eyed him from her hiding spot in the shadows, admiring the muscle and definition of his scales. Oh, he was a fine one! A pity that he almost perfectly matched her description of the man she was supposed to kill. Oh well.

"I am Karoa of Black Marsh. And who, might I ask, are you? So rude of the owner to not introduce himself to his guests, no?" He turned towards the sound of her voice, and she absently waved her hand, making her presence known. "Shall we step outside? This place is just so… crowded." Again she waved, this time towards the sleeping Argonians still snuggled together. After hesitating a moment, he nodded, opening to door and motioning for her to go first. She smirked. Smart man, then.

As he closed the door behind himself, Karoa fingered her blades. The smart thing to do would be to kill him now, loot his body, and run. Get back to her horse and ride like the wind back to Dawnstar. Still, though, something about her follow Argonian intrigued her, and perhaps he wasn't her target. All she knew was that he was in Windhelm, nothing else. And there she went, trying to find a way to save her target. She hadn't felt this bad since killing the bride in Solitude on her wedding day.

"So, what did you do to piss a guy off, hm?" He looked surprised, then regained his neutral look. She smirked, then fingered her blade again. "I'm just curious; you don't have to tell me. The outcome will be the same, anyway."

"What in Oblivion are you doing? Why were you in our home, threatening us? Don't you know that our kind gets enough trouble as it is? You, Karoa of Black Marsh, bounding about in skintight leather killing people doesn't help us!" She was amused by his observations, but even more amused by the fact that he acted as if he knew what he was dealing with.

He seemed to pick up on her feelings, as he hissed, shoving her against the building and out of curious guard's view. Shoving his face to hers, his voice took on a tone that Karoa had to admit – sadly and regretfully – was threatening. "We all know about Nilsine, Marsh-friend. You fit the description that dearest Shahvee provided me with. Red war paint and markings, brown-red scales… A tendency to finger her blades before attacking."

Karoa shoved him away with a hiss, slipping out from the wall in case he decided to strike. "She saw all that, eh? I must've been careless. Not this time, though. This time, I do things right." She slipped into the shadows, disappearing from view. The nearly blinding snowstorm didn't help matters, and she stifled a laugh as he drew his sword and began to twist and turn in pursuit of the assassin.

There were too many guards around to properly kill the Argonian – what a shame she hadn't learned his name, really – without being caught, so she decided to drag him out onto the ice. "Oh, aren't you brave? Bravery doesn't get you far with the Dark Brotherhood, however. Want to kill me before I kill one of your friends? Fine. Come and get me, hero." She purposefully flicked her tail, hitting him in the leg before taking off at a sprint, ducking and weaving between guards as he stumbled behind her. As she leaped off the dock onto the ice she skidded, while he was perfectly balanced.

Perhaps working at a dock did do a body good.

"It's time to end this, Karoa of Black Marsh." She raised her daggers as he raised his sword. Karoa had decided to make this interesting for him, a fellow Argonian deserved a dramatic, newsworthy death. As they began to clash, she heard an unmistakable roar, a flapping of wings. Her heart began to beat. No, not now!

The sound had distracted him, and it was the perfect time to strike. She was paralyzed, however, searching the blanketed sky for the dragon.

Neither of them saw it coming, crashing upon the ice with a mighty shout. It roared angrily at her, scales prickling as her scent became familiar to him. "Dovahkiin…" With another shout he blasted ice at her, narrowly missing as she shoved her target out of the way. "Fo!"

"Stay back. The contract says that I must kill you with blade only, no other wound." She stared at the massive dragon before her, moving closer and shouting his deadly words. "And I'm pretty sure that 'death by dragon' counts as another means of death." He was terrified, but nodded, not quite understanding her words.

"Yol!" Fire erupted in front of her and the dragon screeched, shuffling back. The ice was beginning to crack under the heat and its weight. As part of it went out from under his wing, he took to the air, retreating as the dock guards finally took notice and began to pelt him with arrows. The icy water caught on his wing began to freeze, slowing him and causing him to fly limp, allowing Karoa time to draw her orcish bow and shoot him.

Too slow to escape, it turned back, clumsily landing on one of the buildings and knocking out part of the roof. With a roar he struck out with his wing and shouted, freezing a guard in place and knocking out another. Karoa cursed. This one was determined to have his way.

As if to make matters worse, her target was charging headfirst at the dragon, slicing pathetically at its head with his sword. The dragon screamed before easily knocking him away, snorting knowingly as he went sailing back onto the ice. More of it cracked around them, but Karoa was too busy shooting at the creature to notice. She managed to shoot it in the eye, and it screeched in terror at his sudden blindness, roaring and collapsing off of the building, taking half the wall with it. As both the guards and Argonian shot it, it collapsed into the water, unable to emerge with its injured wings.

"Karoa!" As the dragon soul erupted from his body into hers, the ice gave way, unable to take the strain of the waves caused by the dragon's collapse. She screamed, falling into the water, feeling herself freeze instantly. The warmth of the soul was enough to keep her fighting against imminent death, but it wasn't enough to actually save her.

"Fus Ro Dah!" The ice erupted around her as she shouted, trying to escape the water. But even that had been too much for her, and she felt herself falling. Her poor horse. Her poor crippled Brotherhood. She had failed them all. With one last desperate grope at the surface, she only saw blackness.

S K Y R I M

"Oh, she is waking up! Good, good! Shahvee's soup is better than she thought!"

"Thank you, Shahvee. If you could go back outside for just a moment, please…?" That voice was familiar to her, though she wasn't exactly sure why…

"Ahh, my friend Scouts-Many-Marshes finally has a lady-Marsh-friend. Shahvee will leave now, not get in the way." The door creaked, then slammed. She finally snapped her eyes open, panting wildly.

"What…?"

"Well, good morning to you, too. So, you gonna kill me even after I saved your life?"

Karoa frowned, pulling the picture of her target out. They were similar… but not the same. She shrugged. "I guess not, Scouts-Many-Marshes, and I ask your forgiveness for mistaking you for another."

He stared at her, brow raised. "You really expect me to forgive you trying to kill me?"

She grinned. "No, I suppose not. Well, I'll be on my way, then. Good fortune to you, Marsh-friend." She leaped out of the cot and slipped out of the door without it making a sound.

A day later, an Argonian beggar that wandered the streets of Windhelm had been found dead by the graveyard. There were apparently no witnesses to the event, and a day after the body had been moved everyone ceased to care.

A/N: I've been playing Skyrim recently and decided to write a fic. It's not anything special, I'm sure, but I figured that Argonians just don't get enough love 3 Huzzah for lizard-folk!

Anyway, this'll probably be multichapter but updated randomly as I get inspired xD;

Reviews are loved as always, for the glory of Sithis :3