Chapter 2: Catching Secunda

How much smoke from the fires of allies had touched Amestris' nostrils over the years? She remembered being quite young the first time she had awoken to a fire, finding one of her elders sitting on the other side.

She hadn't fallen asleep in the cleansing tent, so to a young child it was a wonder how she had gotten there. Not something she had approached with anger, as perhaps an adult would, but curiosity. "High Priestess Kaede…I didn't close my eyes to the walls of this tent. How is it I have come here?"

A High Priestess in Amestris' tribe lived in that position for six years before they ascended to the ranks of Hagraven. It was an honored position. Even the Briar-Hearts answered to the warnings and commands of the High Priestess', she was the only one privy to the knowledge of the Old Gods. However, not all High Priestess' were so gifted. If one were to misread a sign or direct the tribe wrong, they would be beheaded by whoever they wronged. Their blood would be drank by the Briar-Hearts and their dismembered parts fed to the wolves.

High Priestess Kaede was on her fifth year. She had guided the clan to spare Amestris' life as a baby and had advised her closely in her youngest years.

The smoke in that tent was heavy, strong, foreboding. Some amount of it, Amestris had always maintained, had stayed caught in her lungs.

"Amestris, as your High Priestess, I need your total and utter confidence. Swear by your belief in the Old Ways that you will not betray me and my words."

There was fear there, a sensation unfamiliar to the feisty orphan girl. "I swear, High Priestess."

Kaede had beautiful emerald eyes, unlike any that Amestris had encountered since. There was a sweetness to them that she never saw in another Forsworn's. "The Gods have graced me with a vision of my death, Amestris. Our people will misread an outcome and blame me for it. My blood will be drunk by the Briar-Hearts and my limbs given to the beasts as so many before me…"

Amestris sucked in a breath, falling forward on her hands. "Priestess, is there nothing you can do to stop this?"

"Nothing that I shall do." Her voice was hallowed, and deep, and feminine, and beautiful. "I tell you this to keep you from lashing out. You know the customs of our tribe. Being a part of this tribe means accepting those Ways no matter what your heart tells you." Her voice reminded Amestris of the silence of a forest, with all its life.

"I…"

"Quiet, sweet girl, I am not finished." Kaede picked up an abalone shell from before her, gathering the contents with her other hand before spreading it on the fire. The scent it let out was one of dried juniper—Amestris knew juniper to have concealment qualities. "My fate and its ramifications are great but yours are greater still."

Amestris straightened up, her palms now resting on her knees as she looked over the flames at her High Priestess. Every time she saw her, Amestris had a habit of counting the points on the great antlers she wore but, this time, she found that the points were blurred in the tent and though she knew there were seven she couldn't be sure that there were still seven.

"If the people of our tribe knew of the power your blood possessed then they should kill you just to drink of it. But they don't know and they will not know, your secret I will take to the grave." She reached for another abalone shell, the contents of which Amestris thought to be dried Deathbells. Deathbells were used for making binding agreements. "I cannot say when, but someday in the years to come you will see a vision of your own, Amestris. You will leave this tribe. Do not look back. Know that you have made the right choice in going. Know that, should you face your brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers in combat someday that they have earned the right to die by your hand."

Amestris allowed the silence to settle, wanting to be sure that her High Priestess had finished imparting her decree. The fear she had felt was only half that of what she felt in promising not reveal Kaede's words. Perhaps because she didn't know what it meant, or perhaps because Kaede spoke so confidently. "What is my purpose, High Priestess?"

The changing features on Kaede's face as she stood to lord above the fire would haunt Amestris' nightmares till her dying breath. The hallowed strong and serene voice Amestris had fallen in love with had lost all its qualities. Hi Daan Dinok Wah Alduin! She sounded like death incarnate.

"Hey! Living dead girl! It is time to wake up! All your screams of terror are scaring off my birds!"

Amestris' eyes opened and had she been able to gasp for breath she would've but the damage done to her lungs by that arrow made her hardly able to breathe at all. She looked around, confused by both the pain she felt and the unfamiliar surroundings. How had she ended up here? The last thing she recalled was…was…melting snow and the yowls of a cat.

"Over here, living dead girl!" The gray, striped Khajiit called to her. Amestris crooked her head in his direction. "Yes, it's alright. I am not mad but you did seem distressed. I don't think I've ever seen anyone so distressed in their sleep. Then again," he pondered his words for a moment, "this one has never seen anyone murdered by a Dark Brotherhood assassin either."

"Lady Dedlock!" Amestris cursed, the influx and efflux of air burning worse than any Hammerfell spice. She reached for her chest, laying her hand against it and closing her eyes—an action which made the Khajiit chuckle.

"Ah yes, that hurt. Didn't it?" He moved to the fire, pouring warm water into a mug that had rested on the stones beside it. "This Lady Dedlock does not sound like an enemy that this one would want to have." He sat beside her on the thinly padded floor mat, tilting her head up so that she could drink. She choked down the hot water. "That is it, drink and be warm."

After she had managed to get that down, the Khajiit stood once more. He took a seat near her makeshift bed, where she guessed he might've sat to watch over her. "I did what I could but I am no healer. I didn't think you would make it for a good long time. But, ah, here you are. Conscious and sane. You are sane, right?"

"I think so." She said in a tone just above a whisper.

"So, who are you? Why were you scaling the wrong side of the mountain?" He asked, leaning over with an elbow on one knee.

It was then that Amestris realized he was dressed in plain clothing and that they were, in fact, inside a home. She closed her eyes, her thoughts making her head spin. "My name is Amestris and I was trying to get home."

It seemed the Khajiit understood that Amestris was not any regular civilian—she was purposed. "Alright, Amestris on her way home, who is this Lady Dedlock that you mentioned?"

"I'm sorry but…first, can I know what happened and…not who you are necessarily, but a name?" She looked at him now, her face tense with pain.

The Khajiit smiled, his perfectly white teeth glinting off the day's light as it streamed through a window. "Yes, that is fair. My name is Lunirius and I killed a Dark Brotherhood assassin to save you. I live here in the Velothi mountains and, to be honest, I had started following you about a mile back before you were shot. The assassin knew that you were coming that way but they did not know that I was following you." He raised his hand as she went to speak. "There aren't many visitors that come through the Velothi mountains who aren't refugees. And certainly, very few of any kind that come through at night in the midst of winter. I only wanted to see what you were seeking. I was actually going to turn back when you stopped at the top of that ridge but…well, it's lucky for you that I didn't." He paused, "You're a lucky girl indeed."

"So I've been told," Amestris managed a smirk. She was, after all, the one who had spit in the face of Lady Luck and come out clean.

"Then I'm sure you have been told that luck can only get someone so far. Your wound needs to be treated, brought to a healer." Lunirius had a voice full of patience, she recognized a little bit of Inigo in him.

"I am a healer." His ears straightened at this, "I just don't yet have the strength to use any magicka."

"Well I am pleased to hear this. I do not like going into the cities and towns here. The Nords are…"

"Unfriendly?"

"To put it lightly, yes."

"Thank you, for saving me…but um…did you happen to find anything on the assassin? If you looked, I mean."

Lunirius chuckled, "She had a very handy blade, which I'll be keeping. But there was also a note. It only designated you as the target—Leader of the Thieves Guild—and someone by the initials K-N."

Amestris tried to sit up, making it to the halfway point in which she was propped up on her elbows. He had known and still asked her. "It's not exactly something I go advertising. You never know who admires thieves and who hates them." Usually the latter.

"I once found thieves to be, err, repulsive." His native tongue rolled the r's, a sound which Amestris liked well. "But now, I relate to them more readily than the moons."

The thought of how many Tamrielan's didn't know a Kahjiit's relation to the moon made Amestris question her own knowledge. Inigo had explained, on multiple occasions, the importance that Masser and Secunda's phases played in a Khajiit's birth. It ranged from affecting how human-like they were to their markings. Lunirius appeared fairly average for the Khajiit Amestris knew of—grey hair, some distinctive markings but nothing that compared to Inigo, and features that resembled a man's.

"I have to wonder whose initials they were…"

"Probably the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, no? Or mayhap the person who would have you dead."

Amestris shook her head not in disagreement but in thought. That was the closest she had ever come to death. She had been stuck with arrows, lightning, swords, daggers, axes…but never unexpectedly. "Maybe…"

"Sorry if my assumption appears as rude but…do assassins and thieves not associate?"

"Well…we used to have an agreement with the former leader of the Dark Brotherhood, Astrid. But she died about a year ago." Though Amestris had never actually met her, only known her name. The agreement had been long standing. "I'm not sure if you get much news all the way out…wherever we are…but the Dark Brotherhood was thought to be vanquished for a time. An attack on the Emperor was thwarted and they were nearly slaughtered. But there have been whispers that they had returned." And nothing more.

Amestris often paid some heed to rumors but rarely let them affect her decisions severely. Whether the Dark Brotherhood was in business or not didn't affect her way of life. Well, until now. "So what will you do once you are better?" Lunirius asked, bringing Amestris' mind into the present. He leaned back against the chair, putting an ankle over a knee.

"About the Dark Brotherhood being after me?"

"Naturally. They won't simply give up—a soul is owed to Sithis."

Amestris smirked but only a little, as though doing so would hurt her the same way laughter did. "Hunt them down, root out their new Sanctuary…kill their leader if he isn't willing to reason with me."

At this, Lunirius burst into laughter. His hand laid over his eyes as he continued to laugh. "You are an interesting dead girl!"

"Living dead girl, thanks."

"Naturally."

It was a week before Amestris was able to heal herself, her energy was too little and the wound was too extreme. The cold of the Velothi mountains didn't help either. If Amestris had thought the Northern edge of Haafingar to be cold and Winterhold to be freezing, then the Velothi mountains ranged somewhere down in the barren depths of Hell when put on that spectrum. She thought it quite funny that Lunirius actually liked the weather, as he was far more used to warmer weather than she.

"I may always look back on the sands of my birth fondly but they will always be just that. Skyrim is Lunirius' home." He had told her once when she had been strong enough to sit out with him. They had watched the birds chattering away the last of the days light many times over mulled wine and sweet treats.

"It's so strange up here," Amestris had commented once. "It's not lonely yet it's…"

"Not friendly either?" Lunirius was cleaning up their breakfast while Amestris stirred the fire—being the most she could do. "There's no senseless chatter up here. The only words spoken are words needed to be spoken."

Amestris thought she might like that—a quiet life without all the senselessness that she often found in her own life. But then, she wasn't done with the Thieves Guild.

Over the days that followed, Amestris wondered what had led Lunirius to decide he was done with his old life. What sign was it that told one they could be finished and move on?

As they lay on their beds drinking in the silence, Amestris' lung fully healed by her own magic, the question began to take shape in her mouth. "I've tried to keep my curiosity at bay for the sake of politeness…"

"How did Lunirius end up here, you are wondering?" He was really good at that.

She nodded, knowing that he would somehow know her response. He sat up in his bed on the floor beside the bed she occupied and looked towards the window.

"The way I lived had become tedious. I reached a point where slitting my throat would've been easier than looking at myself in the mirror." His pink nostrils flared and he turned his head to look at her. "I was near my breaking point, Amestris. This one could not take more of the life on the road, aiming at nothing. As so many of my kind, I was struggling with skooma addiction and it was winning the battle. Not in my taking it but in my want for it."

Amestris leaned over the edge of the bed, her bare face staring at him in anticipation for an ending or a happy conclusion which brought him here. Or, was here. His long silence twisted her heart, "And then what?"

"I sentenced myself to a life here and that is that. When I am here, watching the birds or the deer, or hunting to live, I cannot think of my own existence. I cannot think of skooma or how badly I want it."

"But what kind of life is that?" Amestris whispered, heartbreak in her throat.

"The kind of life that I have chosen for myself. It is my life."

A new day dawned, Amestris desiring to be its herald. "Thank you, Lunirius. For all that you've done."

"You would have done the same for this one, I do not doubt it."

"Well, even so," she opened a rift in the sky and reached in, pulling out a heavy sack of Septims. "I know you might not find—"

"No, Amestris. I do not want money." He said, putting a paw over the wrist that offered him the sack of coin. "I'd much prefer to think I did this out of goodwill and a sense of rightness."

Amestris had a flurry of emotions pass over her face but ultimately, she looked at him with understanding. No doubt, his old life had involved doing everything—or doing nothing—over coin. Maybe this was a way for him to further turn things around. "Alright…but I must pay you somehow." Her hand dropped the coin back into the rift, offering an empty palm out to him. "I'll pay you back in friendship."

Lunirius grinned, wide and sharp as his hand met hers. "That is a payment I am willing to accept."

"Find your way to the Ragged Flagon in Riften sometime. I'm not sure when I'll be taking a day hike up this way next…"

"We shall see."

Amestris had no doubts that they would see one another again. The bond they had created over the past couple weeks had been special. It wasn't made out of necessity but rather, a want to rely on the other for something. Lunirius gave her shelter of the physical, and she liked to think she had given some shelter to his heart.

She sank one foot into the snow and then the other. Back to Riften. Back to the life that she had chosen for herself.

Amestris remembered the silver circlet Elias had lent her a short way into her descent from the Velothi mountains. She donned it as soon as possible, hoping it might protect her from any more unexpected attacks. Lucky for her, there were no more attacks on her trip home and the walk was wholly uneventful.

When she lowered down the ladder into the Cistern, she hadn't expected much and she was unsurprised.

"Finally back from your vacation, eh?" Bynjolf called to her, shutting the book he was holding. "I think a few of our number were starting to place bets on whether you'd come back alive are not. I'm glad to see you in one piece, though."

Amestris couldn't help but laugh, she would've expected no less of her members. "If I weren't so lucky, a few of them might have earned a few Septims."

Brynjolf looked surprised. "Is that so, lass?"

"Ah-hah! So you bet against me?" She accused, meandering in the direction of her desk to dump off her weapons. She picked up the most recent log of goods.

Brynjolf shrugged, "Only because ya' put yourself in such awful situations. The odds are against you just based on your juxtaposition with danger."

Amestris couldn't argue there, she liked to ride the lightning a little more than her predecessors. She wondered who would be Guildmaster after her? But more importantly, "These numbers…they're even higher than last month's."

"That's because of that sweet little plot you set up with the Dawnguard. Thrynn's havin' the time of his life killin' vampires and heisting their leftovers and Tonilia's pointing us towards all kinds of untouched tombs. Our profits are more than quadruple the costs this month and they've been there only two weeks!"

Amestris set the papers down enthusiastically. "Nocturnal's graces! Karliah's going to have a fit! Perhaps she might want to join Thrynn and Tonilia…"

Brynjolf shrugged, "It wouldn't hurt to have someone watching their backs. Especially someone as skilled as Karliah." They needed to protect their investments—guild members being the most irreplaceable and expensive investment. "I'll head over to the Hall after I get done with business for the day."

"As long as it gets done." Amestris said, sighing with a lightened heart.

Brynjolf expected as much as a response. "Also, Delvin was looking for you."

"I could use some lunch anyway." She felt the inside pocket of her cloak, touching the letter that Lunirius had found on the assassin's body. Delvin would have some ideas about that.

It took Amestris half an hour to make it from one side of the Cistern to the other. Everyone had something to say to her and she had always been so open with talking casually to her guild mates that she couldn't say no now. And besides, she was happy to see them. Niruin and Sapphire did give her some lip, but she took it as well-meaning worry.

The Ragged Flagon was quieter than usual. One of the merchants was out, Tonilia was at Fort Dawnguard, and Vex was doing Amestris' job so there was no telling where she could've gone off to. But this suited Amestris' purposes well. "Delvin—Bryn said you were looking for me. Something happen in my absence?" She slid into a chair, leaning onto the table. "Hey! Vekel! Can I get your finest meal on your cleanest plate?"

Vekel waived her off, "I'll give it to you three weeks from now!" He yelled back at her.

"No greetin's after you ran off and died?"

"Oh, I do this every few months."

"Not without telling Inigo where you're going. He was worried half to death so be sure and find him before the day's over. Damn cat is doing a job an hour just to keep busy from thinkin' about your dead body rotting in some ditch." Amestris looked at Delvin with wide eyes, her face wrinkled in horror. "Anyhow…you had a visitor a few days ago. He's stayin' at the Bee and Barb."

"Who is it?" Delvin gave her a knowing look but nothing clicked. "Delvin, I'm tired and impatient."

"Some important mage with the College of Winterhold. I think he called himself Eola, Elgie, El—"

"Elias." She said as though it were a curse. "What did he say he was here for?"

"He didn't, only that he needed to speak with you in person and that he'd be waiting for you at the inn until you came back." There was a pause, Amestris' lips pursing. "He looked worried when I told 'im that you had been gone for almost a month."

"Ah, I'm sure you misread him. That's all." She thought about the note, about giving it to Delvin. But then…what if Elias really had appeared worried? And what information was so sensitive that he would wait here to tell her? She stood, tossing a few Septims onto the table. "Hey, Vekel—forget my order, I've got to run."

She started out but stopped just as quickly, "By the way, I may be back later for you so don't stray too far tonight." Just in case her hunch was incorrect or if it were perfectly correct. Delvin would be the best person to get her on a lead.

Amestris moved up to Honeyside, taking her time to enjoy the fresh night air. Riften was so peaceful…it was hard to believe the controlled chaos that lay below the city. Her home was all serenity though, hardly an ounce of thievery inside. Even her wardrobe was all purchased or found clothing.

The outfit she wore was enchanted fabric—green with gold embellishments. Gold detailing ran down a plunging neckline which revealed much of her chest and some of her midriff. A pleated white skirt ran underneath, short in the front as to allow her calves room to breathe. The green and gold that made up the most of the outfit draped around her heels. The long sleeves were clipped at the center with gold-amethyst clasps. Gloves that enhanced her Destruction powers complimented the outfit in light brown with deep brown vine-like detailing. The gloves hooked around her middle fingers and added to the alluring element of the dress. She pulled on a pair of sandals that wrapped all the way up to her knees. Ah but what could be done of her hair?

She tucked up into a messy bun—her usual style—completed with her favorite diamond clip. She was sure to leave the circlet behind, sitting atop her fireplace. She had taken a liking to the look of it.

At the Bee and Barb, Amestris spotted the thick back and wild brown hair of Elias. Not to mention, he was wearing College robes which stood out prominently in Riften's crowd of brown and green linen. "Keerava, I'll be taking a mug of mead." She said as she walked to the spot beside Elias.

He stared at her, his face pale and his eyes hollow. It was as though he thought himself to be looking at a ghost. A quick count of his cups told Amestris that he was a few deep and…probably not expecting her.

Keerava slid her the cup, Amestris slid her the coin. "Care to take your cup and bring it upstairs with me?" The Argonian barkeep who might've liked Elias before, now gave him a look of displeasure—having not known that he associated himself with those types.

Amestris thought Keerava a fine Argonian—objectively beautiful and a hard worker. And Keerava's dislike of her didn't bother Amestris by any means. She had, as one of her initiation tasks, squeezed a payment out of her and her husband. Though it wasn't a wholly sound way of considering things, Amestris liked to consider the dislike of the merchants in Riften as underlings challenging their Alpha's. It struck a balance which Amestris liked. Every city needed balance, after all. The very thought of an absence of such balance made Amestris uncomfortable. Riften was beautifully balanced—a thriving, lively city supported by a city beneath it both of which needed the other to survive.

There was only one example of a city more balanced than Riften—Falkreath, a town shrouded in death but surrounded by the life of the forest. The Dark Brotherhood's function there payed homage to that balance—killers resting in the most verdant land that Skyrim had to offer. Though the overall feel of Falkreath and the Black Door was cold, there were no warmer temperatures in Skyrim. People died and, in a way, it gave life to the forest. This balance had been kept for years, evident by the ancient and vastness the many tombstones of its great cemetery. This admiration had gone so far as to, in some small way, make Amestris regret building her primary home in the hold. What did she bring as contribution of balance?

Elias and her didn't exactly have a balance either. He was no criminal, as far as she knew, and yet he didn't do his work for honor. Perhaps getting recognized for his— "Where have you been?" He asked after a few minutes of them sitting silent.

"Just took my time getting home. Did I miss something?" She wasn't going to give away too much, not until she knew what he had come for. He did something strange, something which made Amestris' face contort into confusion. He laughed, only silencing himself by taking a drink. "By the Gods, you've lost it."

"No, no." He shook his head, leaning forward as though to conspire. "I thought for sure you were dead."

And this was what Amestris had come for. She cocked a brow, coolly, leaning in a little. "And what would make you think that?" His eyes met hers, tracing notably over her war paint or…something else? Amestris wondered if he were looking for a tell, trying to gauge whether or not she was lying.

"I don't want to get into the specifics here but, I was told that you had been killed by an assassin from the Brotherhood."

Now what had led him to believe that? Amestris took a drink—ah, she had missed mead and the chatter of the B and B. But her enjoyment of the inn's livelihood came in second to finding out about her own near-death experience. "Let's finish our mead and then take a walk."

The weather of the Rift was its usual even mix of warm and humid, comfortable but something one couldn't help but be aware of. They walked the path that came down the back of Honeyside, following the lake towards Heartwood Mill. This would be about as private as they were like to find. The land was fairly open, making enemies easier to spot. Even her own home in Riften wouldn't provide as much privacy.

"Lady Dedlock had a vision of you on a mountainside in the snow being shot down. She said that she had felt your lungs fill with blood. Her and I have both learned to rely on her visions but…I tried checking anyhow. We figured that it was unlikely that you would encounter any bandits somewhere so far off the road." They tended to stay near roadways, better robbing that way. "And we also didn't think it likely that the common mercenary could sneak up on someone so skilled in the same arts so it led me to believe that—"

"The Dark Brotherhood had been responsible?" Amestris asked, reaching for the note.

"Yes but, how—" She handed it to him, and he opened it to read the contents. "So it was true?"

"Sort of. I was saved by a Khajiit living out there."

"You're even luckier than I thought."

"So I've been told."

"That's why you were gone so long then?" He imagined that it would take some time to heal from a wound like that, even with healing arts and especially if she were performing them on herself. "You know that won't be their only attempt right?"

"Which is why I'm here with you now. Do you or Lady Dedlock have any idea who the current leader is? Finding he or she outside of the sanctuary is going to be how I find my way out of this. Not to mention, finding out who put the contract out on me." The task of finding who wanted her dead was going to be harder than finding the current leader. There were just so many people she had pissed off over the years.

Elias shook his head, "No idea. Lady Dedlock wasn't sure either." Which was an honest surprise to Elias, she was usually so thorough in her research of possible enemies. "And finding out where their current sanctuary is wouldn't do much in the way of anything productive. Those Black Doors are impenetrable by magic and the passwords are always nonsensical bullshit." Or so he had read.

"Elias, surely there's a reason you're here besides checking on my well-being." The thought had been bugging Amestris since Delvin told her he was here.

"Ah that. Lady Dedlock wanted to be sure that you were actually dead. And that, in the case you weren't, to tell you our findings. She had been sure her dream was real."

"And why in Oblivion would Lady Dedlock care that I know my enemies?"

He shrugged, "She didn't say. If I had to guess, because she wants the privilege of killing you herself. Or, continuing to beat you."

"Continuing!" Amestris shouted, looking at him wildly. "She hasn't beat me yet!"

Elias laughed, "I guess that outlook is more subjective than not. Either way, I think—on some level—she'll be glad you're not dead yet." Plus, as much as she wouldn't acknowledge it, Lady Dedlock had been impressed by what Amestris had done in the Thalmor Embassy. She didn't think many thieves would even attempt such a feat. Even Elias had walked away impressed by her dedication.

Amestris snorted, "She won't be so glad the next we cross paths." The two of them stopped, lining up to face the lake.

Their stances reflected that of Masser and Secunda, her petite person standing beside his massive frame. It was a peaceful moment, one of few for Amestris. And maybe, she thought, one of few for him too. The moons must live such peaceful lives without the constant roving of people. Nirn, the land which they stood on, might be so quiet one day. But as it was now, Amestris was glad that they only had to see a reflection of their future. She was content with this planet, unready for it to end.

"You say that but, I think the fights between you two are actually healthy. I mean, until one of you kills the other." Elias wasn't wholly sure it would be Lady Dedlock killing Amestris anymore.

"How so?"

"She doesn't often find someone who's a challenge for her. A real challenge, I mean. And I doubt you do either." Amestris shrugged at this explanation.

"I'm looking forward to finding out whose magic is stronger. That's for certain."

Amestris left Elias back at the inn, wishing him well on his journey home and warning him away from the Velothi mountains. She returned to the Flagon, finding Delvin in the exact same spot she had left him hours ago.

"I didn't think you'd take me literally, Delvin. It's nearly 4:00am, what are you doing up?" She remained standing, as she didn't plan on being there long.

Delvin snorted at her, "I didn't stay on account of you, boss. With Tonilia on duty, I'm managing her clients. It's damn hard work taking care of hers and my own. Not to mention, I'm helping to fence goods. Honestly, I'm not sure how much longer this old 'eart can take the stress."

Amestris rolled her eyes, "You're telling me you'd like another fence here in the Ratways."

"In a roundabout sense, yes. As it was, Tonilia was getting overwhelmed before she left by fenced loot. I don't think she'd be against having a litt'le help down 'ere."

"Alright, I'll have Brynjolf look into it. But in the meantime, I have something that needs to top your priority list." She drew out the assassin's note, handing it to him. "I have the Dark Brotherhood on my tail and it's only a matter of time before they send another agent after me. I need you to find out as much as you can about their current status—members, locations, the leader. And, if you can, anyone who's recently contacted them.

"Bloody hell! Why didn't you say something when you first came in? Is that why you've been gone so long?"

"Sort of. And it doesn't matter, the specifics anyway."

"Nocturnal damn me if I haven't come to think of you as family, Amestris. It does matter. Even for the Guild's business it matters."

Amestris stood silent but she relented, as she always did to her guild family. Taking a seat, she shot into exactly where she had been the last month. Starting from the incident at her attempted break-in to the College and all the way up to her meeting with Elias just a few hours ago.

But what had surprised Delvin most was not the kindness of a recluse living in desolation, rather Lady Dedlock's hiring her. "Are you telling me you don't think that Lady Dedlock did it?"

"No," Amestris shook her head. "Why would she have made Elias come tell me about her dream? I don't think she would've cared to cover her tracks that well. And besides, that uppity Dunmer never takes the easy route in things." Even asking Amestris to do a job for her wasn't the easiest way to get what she wanted from the Embassy—and that wasn't even to mention how she went about asking Amestris to do it.

"Hm, I'll trust your judgement on that. You know her better than anyone here. But as far as what I already have on the Dark Brotherhood…not much. They moved into their new Sanctuary in Dawnstar half a year ago. A different person came to me each time to give payment for fixing up the place and none of them were connected specifically to the Brotherhood. One of their members must be a powerful Illusionist. Nearly all their members died when Astrid…well, actually now that I think of it, those initials do fit a member of the Brotherhood."

Amestris nearly fell out of her seat as she leaned in.

"Kirinais-Ni. She was an Argonian that stirred up quite a bit of trouble when she joined them a couple years back. I couldn't say for sure that the initials belong to her but I do know that she was there when the Brotherhood failed and that Astrid tried to have her killed over a contract."

Amestris touched her chin thoughtfully. Kirinais-Ni probably believed the Guild didn't have her name, not many knew that Astrid had ties the Thieves Guild. "Do you think that the payment to have me killed was hefty?"

"Oh, most definitely. I'd wager the price on your head is upwards of, oh, 25,000 Septims." Amestris was impressed with herself. It did narrow down possible commissioners somewhat, certainly no one outside of the upper-class had put out the contract. She had heisted hundreds of thousands from wealthy merchants though but for them to contact the Dark Brotherhood would be a stretch. Doing the ritual alone required a vendetta to be struck, a personal element which her kind of burglaring just didn't have.

"Last question Delvin…what do you think it would take for me to have the contract thrown out?"

Delvin thought, "Well they're aligned with Sithis and since he's owed a soul, you'll have to give one in return. I'd guess you'd either have to kill whomever put the contract on your head…or the current leader."

"I guess it's decided then."