The Initiate finisher her cleaning and held out her blade for inspection. The ebony dagger glinted with satisfying thinness. She picked up the bloody rag and tossed it to Vlod. 'Hey, check this out.'

Vlod scowled as the rag landed neatly in the spine of his book, distracting him from the world of Dunmer art. 'Knock it off.'

'Come on, Vlod, look.'

Vlod picked up the rag, studied it, and threw it over his shoulder. 'Not impressed. Oh, and for Talos's sake, look what you've done to my book. I had to kill thirteen forsworn to get this, you know.'

Babette came wandering in, heading towards the cooking pot. 'Honestly, can you two behave? This is a sanctuary, not some common pigsty.'

'Look at the rag,' the Initiate said. 'He bled so much he filled the whole thing.'

'Really?' Babette approached the fire and lifted the lid, studying the raw rabbit. 'Why on earth did you stab him in the jugular, then?'

'I didn't,' the Initiate said at once, her voice growing quieter.

'Yes you did,' Babette's eyes flashed, consuming the rabbit with her gaze. 'No where else bleeds that much. Of course I would know. You've overcooked this rabbit.'

Vlod jumped up, slamming his book shut. 'What?'

'You overcooked this rabbit,' Babette said, hopping down. 'Again.'

'I didn't slash his jugular - well I wasn't trying to,' the Initiate murmured. 'I mean, I had to be quick - he was talking to this guard and I had to do it as fast as I could...'

Vlod rushed to put out the fire and scooped out the rabbit onto a plate. Using his dagger, he sliced out a chunk and nibbled it off the edge. 'What are you talking about?' he frowned. 'It's fine.'

'Exactly,' Babette said. 'It's fine. It's not perfect. Once you've lived for a few hundred years, you tend to get picky.'

'What the blazes is this doing here?' Nazir said, looking at the reddened cloth on the floor. 'This is a place to eat, not for some - '

'It's her's, sir,' Vlod said, reveling in his revenge even as he dished out the rest of the stew onto the plates. 'She was just showing off how she stabbed some guy in the jugular.'

Nazir sighed heavily, and the Initiate sank back further into her chair. It wasn't exactly a written law, but one of the conventions for assassinations was, never, ever, go for the jugular. Doing so would mean a slow death, a screaming target, and a stream of blood. Three absolute taboos for anyone walking the path of Shadow. Not stabbing someone in the jugular was the key distinction between a thug and an assassin, and a must for members of the Dark Brotherhood.

'How many came after you?' Nazir said.

'Er - two...or three...'

'More like six,' Vlod said, filling up the last plate. 'You always have to multiply the figure by two, sir, it's one of the things I've learnt living with her.'

'Never mind,' Nazir said. 'It's just a once-in-a-while, mistake, I'm sure. Just don't let it happen again.'

'I won't so.'

'Can we eat now?' Babette was already in one of the chairs, peering at her leg of rabbit, slowly flexing and unflexing her fingers.

'I suppose we can,' Nazir said. and Babette immediately started tearing into her meat. Vlod picked up his dagger and began to slice delicately; the Initiate was about to join in when Nazir laid a hand on her shoulder.

'I think you're forgetting something,' he said.

'What?'

Nazir sighed again, and pointed to the rag on the floor. 'May I remind you, the Dark Brotherhood isn't a gang of common bandits. They are emissaries of Sithis. Pick that up.'

The Initiate slumped her shoulders and plodded over the rag, picking it up. She could feel Nazir's eyes on her back, judging her every step of the way. Ever since the Listener had left, Nazir had started taking control, and although the Initiate couldn't deny he was a good leader, he just wasn't the Head. The Head was, and always would be, the Listener.

'So, Nazir,' she caught Vlod saying when she went back to the table, 'How come we've got so few contracts nowadays?'

'I thought I told you already,' Nazir said, 'It's because the Listener is gone.'

'Oh,' Vlod said, staring into his oily dagger.

'Does he really talk - use to talk to that body?' the Initiate said.

Nazir scowled. 'Refer to her as the Night Mother.'

'Sorry, erm, the Night Mother. She can really talk to him?'

Nazir laid down his knife. 'Yes, she can. But of course you don't believe it.'

He looked at Vlod, who was trying to avoid the conversation by stuffing as much rabbit into his mouth as he could. 'You too, Vlod. I'm no fool.'

'Guilty as charged, sir,' the Initiate said.

'One thing you have to know, both of you, before you ever lift your forks one more inch, is that the Listener, the Night Mother, and everything the both of them can do is central to the pillars holding up the core principles of the Dark Brotherhood. Simply put, if you do not pledge allegiance to the Night Mother, you shouldn't be sitting here eating our food.'

Vlod dropped his rabbit.

'But of course, it is never that simple is it?' Nazir laced his hands together and leaned forward. 'I was like that, once. All of us. Astrid, Babette, the whole gang. And then the Listener came, and...changed everything.'

The Inititate hung on every word. Nazir and Babette rarely, if ever, talked about the days before the Dawnstar Sanctuary.

'It is because of the Listener - and the Night Mother - that you too are even here today.' Abruptly, Nazir picked up his fork and began chewing again. The two apprentices waiting for him to finish.

'I do get carried away a bit, do I?' he said, almost to himself. 'I guess what I'm really trying to say is that you two won't believe it now, but you will, and you have to believe it. Now eat.'

After a while, he looked up and found the two of them staring at him. 'What? You can eat.'

Babette jumped off the table and walked out, her plate a pile of flawless bones. The others began picking at their food, hesitantly.

'Killed a Khajit yesterday,' Vlod said, in an effort to generate conversation. 'He was a tough one.'

'What, his neck too thick?' Nazir said.

'Yeah, something like that.'

But Nazir's deadpan monologue had just about set the tone for tonight's dinner. They continued to eat in silence.

Babette rushed in, and that was enough to make the Initiate jump. She had never seen the calm, collected Ice Queen Babette run. But she had.

'He's here,' Babette said.

'Who?' Nazir murmured, focusing on prying out the last few scraps of meat from a rabbit bone.

'The Listener.'

Nazir practically threw his bone across the room. 'What?'

'He's here. He's back.'

'What! Where?'

'I found him in the main hall - he's still - '

Nazir leapt up and dashed out, Babette jogging close behind. Without a moment's hesitation the Initiate got up and darted after them. The three of them burst into the main hall, where they found him standing at the bookshelf.

He was even bigger than the Initiate had remembered. Tall, broad shouldered, and with a cold, stony face that would have silenced an entire room of warriors, the Listener stood before them, moving his hands across the shelfs. For a while they did nothing but simply watched, watched as his hands just glided across the air, searching for what they knew not.

Nazir was the first to recover, leaping forward and clapping him on the back. 'Listener! it's been ages!'

The Listener turned around slowly, and allowed himself a slight smile. It was gone in under a second, as he turned back and continued scanning the shelves.

'Why - what are you looking for?'

'I left my amulet here,' the Listener whispered, his voice coming out in a hoarse breeze.

'I have it!' Nazir cried. 'I have it - kept it in my room, I'll get it for you...'

He disappeared into a chamber to the side. Babette was next, skipping up to the Listener and looking up at his face. 'It's been a long time.'

Again, that slight, almost indiscernible smile flickered across his face. He turned back to the shelf.

'Still the strong, silent, type, huh?' Babette grinned. 'One of the new inititates cooked a horribly overdone stew, you can have it if you like.'

She patted him on the back, twice, and went upstairs. The Initiate was left alone, with the Listener. He had his back turned to her.

'Er,' she said, and then cursed herself for producing such a banal sound. She didn't know how to deal with walking legends standing less than two feet away from her.

The Listener turned, and the Initiate jumped. He raked her over with his silent, blue eyes, evaluating her. After a moment, he started to turn away.

'Er,' the Initiate said again. He turned back.

'Hi,' she said.

The Listener looked at her, and then, impossibly, the right side of his mouth curled upwards ever so slightly. He turned back to the bookshelf, but the Initiate was more than satisfied. That one, single, half-smile that he had given her was enough to smash the tension in the whole room.

'Are you the Listener?' she said, and then cursed herself once again for the stupid question.

He humored her, nodding once without looking round.

'So...the Night Mother speaks to you?'

Another nod.

'Did she speak to you just now? I mean, she's near the entrance - '

Another slight nod.

'That's good - I mean - where have you been all this time?'

She didn't know where she was coming from, but she could guess. Many lonely lights a long, long time ago, Nazir would sit on his favourite chair and lament to nobody in particular on how the Listener had, one day, simply packed his things and left right after finishing a contract. He hadn't been heard from in years. And now, he had simply dropped out of the sky. entering their lives once again as mysteriously as he had left them.

The Listener didn't answer immediately. For a moment, she thought he hadn't heard her, but then he spoke.

'Long story,' he said in that soft whisper, and said no more.

Nazir re-entered, clutching a gold disk hanging on a chain. 'Here it is!'

The Listener nodded his thanks, and slung it around his neck. Meanwhile, beside him, Nazir released all the pent-up frustration he had festered for so long, since the moment the Listener had first gone out and left him.

'Work dried up since you just disappeared...the Night Mother's been silent as a grave and I had to walk from town to town to get the contracts - and I tell you, my feet hurt like Hell after everything was done, had to take off my socks and lay it by the fire everyday...and, the sanctuary, it, it hasn't been the same without you, you always had this presence, this air of authority, but when you were gone...why, Listener? Why did you leave?'

The Listener laid a hand on his shoulder, and it calmed him down immediately. 'Thanks for taking care of here.'

'My pleasure, Listener,' Nazir said, and then regained his senses. 'But you still need to explain - '

'I need someone.'

'Who?' Nazir started.

'I need someone to follow me.'

'Why?' Babette said, trouncing back in. 'What're you doing?'

'An assassination. I need help.'

'What? Did the Night Mother speak to you again?'

The Listener bowed his head as a response. 'I need someone to help me.'

As the Initiate looked at the ring of veterans discuss a conversation so removed from anything she'd ever seen, she sensed Vlod sidle up to her, licking the last of the grease off his dagger.

'You're late,' she whispered.

'Sorry. I was finishing my rabbit.'

'...I have a mark I've been stalking for weeks,' Babette said. 'Sorry, but I can't just drop weeks of hard work to go with you.'

'And, someone has to be taking care of the sanctuary,' Nazir said. 'Since no one else is,' he added a little softly. 'Listener, you can't just walk in here after two years and then just leave again, like last time! Stop being so damn mysterious and - '

The Listener swung his finger, and pointed at the two initiates standing by the side. Both of them jumped, Vlod dropping his dagger.

''The Initiates?' Babette said. 'They'd do, then?' '

The Listener walked towards them, his marble eyes leagues above their's. He stopped in front of Vlod first, who was hastily trying to jam his dagger into his sheath without making a fool of himself. He was failing.

'Ah, er, it's...it's an honor to meet you, sir,' Vlod stammered, dropping his dagger again.

The Listener turned away and stopped in front of the Initiate. She tried her best to keep her back ramrod straight, her hands firmly by her side, her body ready for inspection. Looking into his eyes was like looking down the end of a whirlpool, so she kept her gaze on his chin instead. Now that she had noticed though, he did have a very nicely shaped chin.

'I want you to accompany me,' she heard him say.

At once, without any hesitation, driven on pure instinct, she stared straight into his eyes and spoke. 'I am yours, Listener.'