What she considered odd was how quickly Lucien's writing had changed. And his entire way of phrasing things.

A sudden madness had crept into his usually cool words. Either he'd changed his handwriting or someone else was writing her contracts.

Her target was a Khajiit in Bruma called J'Bassa. He was good at hand to hand and had apparently snubbed a rich noble's daughter. Lucien advised her not to look at him. Once again, odd.

The contract gave her the location of the Khajiit's house and she set off.

She took Shadowmere up to Bruma and was about to ask for directions when she heard a voice calling her name.

"Minalri!"

She turned around, and saw an Imperial man waving at her. On closer inspection it was Belisarius Arius, out of his Shrouded Armour and smiling.

"What are you doing in Bruma?" he asked. "Ah, don't tell me – business, am I right?"

"Yeah," she muttered. "I'm after a Khajiit in Bruma."

Arius frowned.

"A Khajiit in Bruma? But the only Khajiit in Bruma is J'Ghasta," he began, confused. Minalri froze.

"Arius? Where does J'Ghasta live?" she asked slowly.

Belisarius pointed to a house down the street, ad Minalri sucked in a breath.

"J'Bassa. J'Ghasta," she whispered. It all made sense now.

Someone else really was writing her contracts.

"So you think someone is intercepting your contracts?" Arius asked, having fetched J'Ghasta. They were sitting in the local pub, eating, and considering what to do next.

"Yes," she stated. "The writing has completely changed." She pulled out her second and third dead drop notes. "Look."

It was true; Lucien's neat script had been replaced by something scrawled and rushed.

"This is not Lucien's writing," J'Ghasta muttered. "J'Ghasta knows Lucien's writing. This one cannot tell you whose writing the other's is."

"I'm sure I've seen this before," Arius muttered. "Someone I know writes like this."

"Who?" Minalri asked. "Because we could have just found the traitor."

"I can't remember," he admitted. "If I do, I'll tell you."

She sighed. Perfect. They had a lead and now the Imperial couldn't remember anything.

"I must return to Lucien," she informed them, standing up. "I think we need to hold another meeting."

"Sir."

Lucien turned to see his Silencer standing behind him.

"What is it?" he asked irritably. "We do not see each other unless I summon you."

She held up the papers.

"Your dead drops have been compromised, sir," she informed him, handing him the orders. "I went to every last one of them. I checked the leads. They all point to members of the Black Hand. The Silencers and the Speakers."

She held up her hand.

"J'Ghasta was renamed J'Bassa and framed for snubbing a noble's daughter." She ticked off a finger. "Shaleez was renamed Shi'Val and framed as being a psychopath." She ticked off the second finger. "Alval Uvani was renamed Drelas Uvalis and framed for being unfaithful. Havilstein Hoar-Blood was renamed Frodir the Cold and cited as being a barbarian warlord. Ungolim was renamed Glatho and framed for being an unwanted stalker. Arquen was renamed Eironwey and said to be a murdering prostitute. Belisarius Arius was cited to have been a traitor that needed destroying. And my last contract was supposedly from a replacement Speaker, informing me that you were the traitor and I was to meet up with another Silencer to take you down."

Lucien was silent.

"We're going to Bravil," he finally snarled.

A/N My friends, please don't expect this to be long and drawn out. It's short. Very short.