I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth, impatient for my time in jail to be over. I wandered near the cell door to see if the guards were coming, but instead was greeted by the worn face of a dark elf. My name, you ask?

H'lunras, a purebred Khajiit through and through. I am a female, by the way. Would you like to know why I was here, rotting in a cold prison cell in the Imperial City rather than romping about in Elsweyr? Good question. Truth to be told, I don't know either.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty."

My ears pricked up at the sound of the dark elf's voice. It was unusually high to me, since I wasn't used to hearing grown men with the voice of an aristocratic twelve-year-old. I eyed him hungrily, hoping he'd back off sooner or later.

"There's a nice juicy rat in my cell…" I paid no further attention to his taunts, although they echoed loudly in the prison corridors. With a twitch of my whiskers, I thought, Geez, when will this dude shut up?

Suddenly, I heard voices and the clanking of armor. Not cool.

"You hear that? That's the guards, coming for you! Yes, you!" I turned, baring my teeth at the insufferable wretch in the cell across from me.

"If you utter one more stupid word from that rip in your head that you call a mouth, I swear—"

"Why is there a prisoner in this cell?"

My ears swiveled as I peered at the guards out of the corner of my eyes. They were wearing unusual armor for the normal prison watch. Deciding against a decision I had long since made before, I hid my single lock pick in my shirt. The guards kept talking amongst themselves.

"I told you there was not supposed to be any prisoners kept in this cell."

"It must have been the usual mix-up at the watch."

"Never mind that. We've got to get the Emperor out of here."

"You, prisoner!" I looked up, realizing that the guard slash knight was barking at me. "Back by the window. Now."

Glancing at their sheathed katanas, I withdrew quickly and sat in an old pile of bones under the window. The emperor came in, wearing a regal gown of fur and other valuable fabrics. A large pendant glittered around his neck, and my mouth watered with greed.

Okay, I'll be honest here (for once). I'm a cold-blooded criminal, bad to the bone. Really, you have no idea how fun it can be to break into someone's house just to scare the children! Not only do you have pride and self-confidence, but you can get free loot in return. How awesome is that, really?

Despite this, they passed me by without a single thought, although the Redguard locked the cell behind him. How…inconvenient. The guards walked past, giving me curt glares. I really hate them. The emperor, though, was nicer.

"You…you're the one from my dream!" My eyes leapt around the room, trying to find another source of entertainment other than hearing the old guy rant. I just gave him whatever answers I felt like. Uriel Septim, what a joke. As a child, I often made perverted jokes with his name.

Ah, youth. Ha. I still have it and there's no way I'm going to abandon it soon. After all, to me, old means being on the wrong side of twenty-four. I know for sure, I'm not twenty-four. Rather, I'm a teenager, a teensy little seventeen-year-old woman.

"It's must be your lucky day, prisoner."

"Huh?" By than, the guard had already left. I hadn't paid much attention to anything, all I knew was: escape from this stupid hole alive! A gaping hole in the wall was open to me now. With a flourish, I plucked out my lock pick and took off my wrist irons. Geez, those things really rubbed into my wrist. I took off after the guards, checking every little niche for a chest or a sack as we went along.

Upon entering the Imperial Subterrane, fearsome (and I do mean FEARSOME. You really should have seen the size of those axes) assassins jumped from every available foothold. There was at least four in counting, but I wouldn't know, as I was never taught my numbers. I was too busy cutting class to care, either.

I'm kidding. I know my numbers. I learned by counting the gold pieces I pick pocketed off the shopkeepers.

One of the guards fell to their knees as the last assassins were polished off. Her katana lay not twenty feet away from her limp body, and I inched towards the weapon. As soon as the other guard's backs were turned, I snatched it up and checked the guard's body. A few gold coins, not much. Obviously, this woman believed in traveling light.

I looked through the robes of the assassin's corpses as well. I found a few potions, not much, but enough to keep me alive if I suddenly had a stomachache. Sighing, I backed off just as a guard rushed to the dead guard's body to confirm his suspicion.

"Captain Renault…" He trailed off, and the other guard patted him on the shoulder.

"Come on, Glenroy. We must get the emperor to safety; it's what she would have wanted us to do without her."

They gathered up the emperor, who was sheathing an iron sword, looking about the room. With a nod in my direction, he muttered, "We'll meet up again later."

The guard known as Glenroy looked me in the eye. "Stay back, prisoner, this is Blades business." I narrowed my eyes as he walked behind the emperor, through the rusted iron gate. He had this annoying habit of locking my escape route, which really rubs me the wrong way. Now, they even left me alone in a secret underground portion of the dungeon. If the watch found me here, they'd have my tail for sure.

I wondered if Uriel knew what he had been saying before he left. How in the world could we meet up later, anyway?