Leila shifted, grimacing in disgust as the ash crunched underfoot. "I'm going to spend weeks cleaning my armor, Keira!" she complained to her companion, touching her fingertips to the Nightingale insignia over her chest.
Keira snorted, not looking up as she sharpened her dragonbone knife with a piece of dragon tooth. "You're the one who wanted to chase this 'Miraak' fellow all the way to Solstheim," she pointed out flatly. "I only followed to make sure you keep your foolish head on your shoulders."
Leila childishly stuck her tongue out at the assassin. "Whatever. Let's just go find that stone."
"I don't like this, Keira," Leila muttered, standing at the edge of the stone monument's pool. Even the Nightingale, who had once made her Archmage little sister cry over her sheer lack of magical ability, could feel evil intent coming from the stone monolith just a few feet away.
"I share your opinion, my friend," Kiera said quietly. Leila peered beneath the shadow of the assassin's hood and found more than a little fear in Keira's purple eyes. The thought that the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood was afraid made her swallow hard. Nocturnal, protect me, she prayed, briefly lifting her eyes to the red-orange sky.
"I can feel... something strange," Leila muttered aloud, turning back to look at the stone again. She hesitated, glancing for a moment at the Redoran guard kneeling in the water venerating, before she stepped into the shallow pool and sloshed toward the monolith. "It's like... a voice." Her own voice dropped almost to a whisper as she reached out toward the stone, her pale, unprotected fingers hovering a hair's breadth from the carven surface.
"Leila, don't...!" Keira's alarmed cry came too late. The moment the Dragonborn's bare skin touched the stone, a jolt of overwhelming presence blasted through her, smothering her unprepared mind. Emotion drained from her bright blue eyes as a foreign voice whispered to her, amused by its newest acquisition.
"Lei!" Keira jumped forward and snaked an arm around her shield-sister's waist, yanking her away from the stone. "Leila, are you alright?"
"...and when the World remembers..." the thief muttered in tandem with the rest of the dazed workers. Keira snatched her arm back as if burned and stepped away in alarm. Her expression twisted painfully.
"Lei...?" The Imperial watched in horror as Leila walked over to one of the arches and picked up a chisel and hammer. Her mindless chanting continued, grating in its monotony, as she became to work.
Keira's horror faded after a moment, and her eyes hardened; she marched through the water and roughly pulled her friend back, spinning the Nord around to face her. "Snap OUT OF IT!" she shouted, backhanding Leila viciously across the face.
"Wha-" Her crystal blue eyes sparked back to life, blinking away the dazed look. "Hey!"
Kiera released her friend, backing up a step and crossing her arms over her chest. "You were enthralled by the stone," she said flatly. The words you idiot went unsaid.
Leila rubbed her reddening cheek sulkily. "Did you really have to slap me that hard, Kie?" she asked.
Keira's lips twitched with amusement, the impassive-assassin equivalent of a grin. "You've had worse, you overgrown child." Her expression turned grave. "We should leave at once."
Leila nodded immediately, following Kiera out of the water and back onto the ash. "Yeah." She glanced back at the stone one more time and shivered. "Let's get out of here."