A/N: A special thanks to Nereverar, who is my only review so far. Thank you so much (:

When he first ran, Raido was unsure of where to go. Guards were posted at each entrance to another district, which left him few choices. There was, however, a large crowd up ahead, peering appraisingly into the window of the Three Brothers' Trade Goods, which had just gotten a new shipment in from the docks. He ran straight for the cluster of people, and within a few moments he had run straight into them. His scrawny elbows and shoulders collided with angles of bones and the softness of skin as the crowd exclaimed,

"Watch it!"

"Oi!"

"Rotten kid!"

As he collided with the mass of people, Raido grabbed a dark colored shawl off a Bosmer woman's shoulders, quickly securing it around his head and face before continuing out of the crowd, slowing his sprint to a painfully slow walk. As he managed his way out of the crowd, he head the guard behind him collide with the cluster of people, all of whom yelled again in frustration and pain. Raido quickly kicked off his sack cloth sandals, then wandered a bit further down the street until he reached a large barrel. There he finally sat down, his back pressed against a rotting crate, dirtying his toes as much as he could.

It took much longer for the guard to make it through the crowd than it did Raido; no doubt his armor made it much more difficult for him to manipulate his way through the cluster. Within a few minutes, however, he was out, peering about suspiciously for Raido. The guard cursed under his breath, thinking that he had lost sight of the murderer, then strode down the street. Raido swallowed nervously; the guard was heading straight for him.

"You, there," the guard called out.

Raido kept his eyes on the cobblestones of the streets, and hoped his feet were dirty enough to appear wrinkled; he knew his hands were.

"Have you seen a boy running? An Imperial, Waterfront sort. Dark hair, tied in windbraids. Around his twelfth year."

Raido raised his head slowly, narrowing his eyes until they were slits, and stretched out a hand towards the guard.

"Please, sir," he croaked. "Have pity on an old war veteran…"

The guard snorted in disgust, muttering something about the homeless dirtying the streets, and stalked off from Raido. The boy breathed out a sigh of relief, then allowed his head to fall back against the crate. His heart finally slowed down, the adrenaline leaving his body, and his eyes fluttered shut.

—x—

When Raido's eyes opened again, the sun was not visible behind the Imperial City walls, and the moons were beginning to become visible in the orange- and purple-streaked sky. His neck was stiff, and when he stretched out to work out the kinks in his joints, something clinked at his feet. He opened his eyes and peered down, astonished to find that someone had left him five septims. His family barely managed that in a week.

"Up ye get there, love. Time for us t' clear out."

Raido looked up to find an old Imperial man smiling down at him. The man's hair was gray and thinning, and his feet were bare. He wore sack cloth pants and shirt, and he looked as if the Imperial City had beaten him more than once. Nevertheless, he outstretched his hand kindly to Raido, who took the stranger's had. He was pulled soundly to his feet.

"Mus' be new t' beggin' 'round 'ere. Guards don' 'ppreciate us sleepin' in the District as well."

The man wrapped his arm around Raido's shoulders, waiting patiently for the younger Imperial to stoop down and shove the septims into his pocket before leading him out of the Market District and towards the City Arena. Raido's mind was in a fog, and he concentrated on keeping the shawl wrapped securely around his face as he let the old man lead him through the Arboretum and to the Temple District, then down to the Waterfront. Vaguely he wondered how the man knew where he lived, but when they crossed the walkway to the docks he realized that he was not being lead home; he was being lead to the Bloated Float Inn. The man paused outside the doors, and looked at Raido, who looked at the ground for fear of somehow being recognized.

"'Lright there, love. Let's ye 'and over two septims, and we'll buy ye an ale t' sor' this all out."

Feeling as if he had no choice in the matter, Raido dejectedly reached into his pocket and handed the man two gold pieces. Raido stood awkwardly on the docks while the man disappeared inside the Inn, and his heart willed him to wander up the stone steps to the little hill upon which the Waterfront shacks were built. He wanted nothing more to come home to his mother and younger sister, to sit with them at the dinner table and eat stale hunks of bread and listen to his mother's stories and curl up in his burlap sleeping sack in the corner near the dying embers in the makeshift fireplace. It was then, as he was drifting off to sleep, that he would hear his mother promise his sister that they would buy her a real book for her next birthday, and then a sweet lullaby would flow through the shack, urging the children to sleep…

Raido swallowed thickly, his eyes burning with tears that he fought back. He knew that he couldn't come back home. The guards would surely come to his shack, and they would check back frequently. Now that he was a murderer, his bounty was substantial enough that the guards would hunt him all throughout the Imperial City, and possibly expand their search to Bruma, or Cheydinhal, or even Chorrol. As Raido thought more, he knew that he would have to flee to the south—Bravil and Leyawiin were notorious for being a safe haven for the lowlife thieves and criminals that had to flee the northern areas of Cyrodiil. Perhaps even a twelve-year-old murderer would be safe there.

Knowing that spending time with this man could later lead to identification, Raido cut his losses of two septims and ran from the doors of the Inn towards the end of the docks. From there, he dove off the edge and into Lake Rumare, pushing the shawl from his face so that it rested around his neck.

The water was cold and somewhat slimy against his skin, as if it were saturated with seaweed. Pushing the uncomfortable feeling aside, Raido hurriedly paddled towards the opposite side of the Niben River, turning south as he went. He didn't look back at his home.