-Delving Deep-
Cinna sighs as she notches back a steel arrow on Lightning's string, aiming for the vampire who was working the saw mill in the late hours of the evening. She had been waitng, perched behind a tree just so, with no witnesses and no obstructions to prevent her task. She releases the arrow and watches as Hern drops, then hurries to go collect the house key, gold, and lockpicks on his person before hurrying back to Cassius, who waiting just behind the saw mill, drinking from the stream. They head off to the Sanctuary, which was only a short ride away.
She climbs down the stairs to the Sanctuary, eager to turn in her contracts that were done in a week's time, when she finds Astrid approaching her.
"We need to talk."
"Oh, has the time come?" Cinna hums. "Will I now serve the Night Mother?"
"Look." Astrid sighs. "Something is happening here. I'm not sure entirely what that something it, but...well, we need to find out. If the Night Mother really did give you an order to talk to a contact, we'd be mad to ignore it. And I think we'd both agree, Cicero's brought enough madness to this Sanctuary." Cinna giggles at the mention of the jester, but settles down long enough to let Astrid finish. "So go, go to Volunruud. It's a crypt, pretty far to the northeast. Talk to Amaund Motierre, and let's see where all this leads. Hmm?"
"Alright!" Cinna chirps. "I'll turn my contracts in, lighten my load of goodies, store my collection additions, then I'll head on my way."
She scurries along, turning in her contracts to Nazir then making her way to her bed, emptying her collected bits into the end table drawer, which contained an assortment of keys, jewelry, enchanted cowls, and other small trinkets. She then moves to her chest, pulling out a steel mace she requested Festus to crafted in his spare time, seeing as her contracts stole most of her time already, and her skills in enchantment were very meager at best. The mace was enchanted with fire damage, specially crafted to deal with the draugr she would face in the crypts scattered across Skyrim, and one she blessed with the name Scorn. She exchanges it with her worn, bloody steel mace, and swaps her shield with an enchanted one she found during one of her raids of a bandit cave, made to deflect even the strongest of spells from the Drauger Wrights and their annoying frost magic. She also resupplies her arrows, restocks her poisons, and swaps out her cowl with a maskless cowl to have her own mask on, which she laced with tundra cotton soaked in lavender oil, as it helped block out the lingering scent of aged decay in the crypts. After making sure her armor was in good shape and her potions were in decent stock, she makes her way to the exit, but then makes a detour for the Night Mother's chambers, surprised to find Cicero was not there.
"Looking for me, dear Listener?"
Cinna jumps and turns, sighing in relief to find Cicero behind her. "Actually, I was." She chuckles, digging into her pocket. "I wanted to give you something, as a token of our friendship that has developed over these past few weeks." She pulls out an Amulet of Talos. "I'm not sure if you are a follower of any of the Aedra, but this amulet is one of my most precious possessions, and I'd only trust a close friend to hold onto it." She places the amulet in the smaller Imperial's hand and closes his hand around it. "Whether you're a follower or not, I want you to keep it, in case anything should happen."
"Of course, dear Listener." Cicero gleefully states. "Cicero shall guard this trinket as if it were his own, thank you for such a gift."
"It's no trouble at all." Cinna chuckles, patting the jester on the shoulder. "Just make sure not to lose it, alright? I know I've nearly lost that thing a couple of times myself."
"It shall not leave Cicero's person." Cicero promises.
"Good." Cinna sighs. "Now I best be off, I have a long ways to go for my next journey." She takes off down the corridor.
"Where is the Listener heading to?" Cicero inquires, turning to Cinna.
Cinna stops and turns back to the fool. "Volunruud, by order of our Mother."
With that, she takes off down the stairs at the end of the corridor, leaving Cicero to stand and examine the amulet of the hero-god that had been left in his care.
"Strange." He murmurs, running his fingers along the engraved patterns on the trinket. "This Cinna is a follower of Talos, and so was my Cinna, she believed that true power came from one's heart, not one's arm. That the will to fight, the strength to lead and follow, all came from within your very soul." He enters the Night Mother's chambers, slipping the amulet around his neck and tucking it underneath his armor with a heavy sigh. "I can't say she was wrong, not after everything that has happened."
Meanwhile, across Skyrim, Cinna finally arrives at the crypt, leaping off of Cassius and leaping down into the small indent of the crypt entrance before slipping into the underground graveyard. She easily slips through the first part of the corridor, coming to a way that split into three different paths. She slinks to one of them and follows it to a chamber, leading her right to her contact, an upstanding Breton.
Why would he want someone killed? She thought as she carefully entered the chamber and approached the Breton.
"By the almighty Divines, you've come. You've actually come." Amaund gasps. "This deadful Black Sacrament thing. It worked."
"The Night Mother heard your pleas, Motierre." Cinna states.
"Yes, um...so it would seem. Well, I won't waster your time." Amaund sighs. "I would like to arrange a contract. Several, actually."
"Several?"
"Yes." Amaund confirms. "I daresay, the work I'm offering has more significance than anything your organization has experienced in, well, centuries."
"Go on."
"As I said, I want you to kill several people." Amaund restates. "You'll find the targets, as well as their manners of elimination, quite varied. I'm sure someone of your disposition will probably even find it enjoyable."
"Well, I do enjoy a bit of variety when it comes to killing methods." Cinna hums, swinging her mace beside her as she spoke."Especially if it involves something new and strange."
"But you should know that these killings are but a means to an end, for they pave the way to the most important target, the real reason I'm speaking with a cutthroat in the bowels of this detestable crypt." Amaund states. "For I seek the assassination of...the Emperor."
Cinna releases her mace in surprise, sending it flying across the room, and allowing it to crash against the wall with a loud thud before complete silence dominates the room. "You want us to kill...the Emperor? Of Tamriel?" She gasps.
"That is correct." Amaund states. "What I ask is no small thing, of course, but you represent the Dark Brotherhood. This is...what you do? No?"
"Well, we do kill." Cinna sighs. "But this is quite a big-"
"You must understand." Amaund interupts. "So much has led to this day, so much planning, and maneuvering. Now, it's as if the very stars have finally aligned, but I digress. Here, take these, they need to be delivered to your, um...superior. Rexus!" He claps as he calls for his bodyguard nearby, who was hiding beside the doorway. How Cinna hadn't noticed him when she entered was beyond her. "The items." The guard dressed in Imperial armor approaches, handing Cinna a sealed letter and a strange jeweled amulet, she examines the amulet as Amaund continues. "The sealed letter will explain everything that needs to be done. The amulet is quite valuable, you can use it to pay for any and all expenses."
She tucks both items away and quickly exits the chambers, grinning mischeviously as the entrance leading further into the crypt seemed to call out to her.
"Well, I'm sure the Emperor isn't going anywhere for quite some time." Cinna sighs, pulling out Scorch from her waist. "I can probably do a bit of grave robbing and skull crushing while I'm still here, it wouldn't hurt a bit really. Just a bit of fun."
After about an hour or so of running around Volunruud, fighting draugr and retrieving some gold and new weapons, Cinna quickly retreats to Cassius and takes off for the Sanctuary.
Back at the Sanctuary, Cicero sits at the large table in his room, tapping his fingers on one of his older journals that lay sprawled across the table. He carefully opened the journal and pulled out a small, aged envelope from inside, the wax seal embezzled with the symbol of Hammerfell still in one piece. He carefully opens the envelope and pulls out the well-preserved letter from inside, sadly sighing as he read it to himself, as he had for the past five years or so since it was sent to him, following each stroke with his eye as the words formed together like pieces of a very ancient puzzle, coming together with the signature at the end of the letter that would be gibberish to most, but he knew the name best: Cinna.
"Cicero."
The fool jumps, dropping the letter as he turns, finding Babette standing in the entryway to his room, who was chuckling with delight.
"Sorry to scare you like that." The vampire chuckles.
"It's alright, un-child." Cicero cheerfully states as he recomposes himself. "Come in if you wish, it would bother Cicero not if you did."
"Thanks." Babette sighs. "But I just wanted to tell you that if you see Cinna, which I know you will since you're both such good friends, to let her know that the poison she requested me to make for her is done and to come find me if she still wants it." She notices the letter on the table. "Um, what's that you're reading?"
Cicero quickly covers the letter with his hand, making sure the words were unseeable by the vampire child. "It's nothing you need to worry about, nothing at all."
"Well, alright." Babette sighs as she shrugs, then turns and leaves, allowing Cicero to breath a sigh of relief as she disappears from view.
He picks up the latter again, glancing over it one last tme before placing it in the envelope and back it the book where it belonged, then stands and heads for the Night Mother's chambers as he hums merrily.
Cinna sighs tiredly as she climbs off Cassius and makes her way into the bowels of the Sanctuary, completely exhausted from the trip across the country that took nearly a week of her time to preform. She makes her way to Astrid, who was waiting by the stairway into the rest of the Sanctuary, sighing tiredly as she pulls her mask down to breath some fresh air, mentally noting to herself to replace the tundra cotton in her mask. It was beginning to absord the stench more than repel it.
"You're back, good." Astrid murmurs as Cinna slumps against the opposite side of the entryway. "So? Did you meet this Motierre? What did he want?"
"You won't believe this." Cinna sighs. "But Moltierre wants us...to kill the Emperor."
"You're joking." Astrid scoffs.
"I wish I was." Cinna admits, pulling up the letter and amulet and handing the items to Astrid.
"What's this?"
"The letter explains it all." Cinna explains. "And the amulet is for expenses."
Astrid opens the letter and begins to read it, allowing Cinna to make her way to the stone chair on the other side of the table and lie down in it in a way a child would upon returning home from a tiresome day of outdoor play, propping her legs up on the table and allowing herself to sink as far into the solid chair as possible.
"By Sithis, you're not joking." Astrid gasps as she finishes the letter. "To kill the Emperor of Tamriel...the Dark Brotherhood hasn't done such a thing since the assassination of Pelagius. As a matter of fact, no one has dared assassinate an Emperor of Tamriel since the murder of Uriel Septim, and that was two hundred years ago."
"Yeah, I remember my parents telling me about that." Cinna comments. "But surely the Night Mother wouldn't misdirect us like this."
"No, she certianly wouldn't." Astrid sighs. "And...for whatever reason, she chose to relay Motierre's information to you." She looks over the letter again then finally turns to Cinna, who was almost on the verge of falling asleep. "I don't know exactly what's going on here, if you're the Listener, or this is some fluke, or what, but what we now have before us..."
"So, are we gonna accept the contract or not?" Cinna tiredly inquires with a yawn.
"You're damn right we'll accept it!" Astird exclaims, slamming her fist on the stone table and startling Cinna from her semi-conscious state. "If we pull this off, the Dark Brotherhood will know a fear and respect we haven't seen in centuries. You think I'd abandon an opportunity to lead my Family to glory?"
"I guess not." Cinna murmurs.
"But this is all so much to take in." Astrid sighs. "I need time to examine the letter, and figure out where we go from here. And this amulet..."
"What are you thinking?" Cinna cautiously asks.
"I'm thinking we need that amulet appraised," Astrid explains. "I want to know where it came from, how much it's worth, and if we can actually get away with selling it. And, there's only one man who can give us what we need: Delvin Mallory. He's a fence, a private operator, works out of the Ratway, in Riften."
"Yeah, I've heard of him." Cinna states, groaning as she sits up. "I have some friends that work with the Thieves Guild down that way, and I think one of them is apprenticing Delvon."
Astrid hands the amulet back to Cinna. "Bring Mallory the amulet, find out everything you can, and sell it is he's willing. He'll offer a letter of credit, that's fine." Astrid explains.
"Or I could see if one of my buddies has the money for it down there." Cinna offers. "My friend Xahley has made a fortune working for them down there, earned enough to buy Proudspire in Solitude and support her two little girls and husband-to-be."
"Well, Delvin Mallory and the Dark Brotherhood have...history," Astrid explains. "He can be trusted, but get your friend involved if she's willing to keep a secret."
"You kidding?" Cinna chuckles. "This is the girl who could steal the Elder Scroll and not even utter a word about it, she'll keep any secret you tell her, despite being a Khajiit."
"Alright." Astrid sighs, chuckling as Cinna yawns, trying to cover it with her hand. "But you best get some rest before you head to Riften, you deserve it after all you've done so far."
Cinna nods and stumbles away, finding her way to her bed and flopping down on his, curling up and soon falling asleep as fatigue quickly took over. She wakes early the next morning, quietly putting her valuables away, switching her weapons around, and repairing a tear in her cowl from an arrow that nearly embedded itself in her head at Volunruud before switching it for her the masked cowl. She then goes to make a quick batch of lavender oil and prepare three bits of tundra cotton for soaking, unaware of the person behind her until a hand on her shoulder spooks her. She turns and pulls out her sharpened Orcish dagger, groaning under her breath when she finds Cicero behind her then quickly sheathes her dagger.
"Hey, Cicero." Cinna greets, still a bit groggy from her sleep. "How are you up so early?"
"Oh. Cicero is always up early to care for dear Mother." Cicero explains. "But what is the Listener brewing up this early in the morning?"
"Lavender oil." Cinna states, returning to the tundra cotton she was seperating from the stems. "I soak tuffs of tundra cotton in it to freshen my mask, helps to block out certain unwanted smells when you travel and spelunk in every underground domain, especially the crypts that still have aged decay lingering in the air that gets thicker as you make your way deeper into the bowels of the entire place. Almost makes your stomach tear itself apart."
"Ah, but why make it yourself?" Cicero inquires. "Cicero would have gladly given you a bit of his own, I have plenty of it on hand."
"That's sweet of you, Cicero." Cinna chuckles. "But my oil is a bit different from yours, I believe. You see, I mix in a bit of nightshade oil and snowberry juice so that it sticks to the cotton and preserves the scent for longer than usual. I practiced with many recipes, even a few of my own personal experimental mixtures, but an alchemist in Hammerfell taught me to make this lavender oil concoction, and I've never forgotten the recipe, or the process to make it, or that sweet old woman for teaching me the whole thing."
"You were in Hammerfell?" Cicero gasps.
"For a time, yes." Cinna admits with a chuckle. "I worked there a bit after escaping from my dreary life in Cyrodil. You know how it is down there: there's nothing really to do besides travel and hunt, unless you get into the darker depths of it."
"Cicero sees your point." Cicero sighs. "But why Hammerfell? Why not Elsweyr, or Valenwood? Or why not come straight to Skyrim?"
"Well, it felt right to travel to Hammefell at the time." Cinna explains. "I had dreams of becoming a warrior when I left home, and I went there to train in the Fighter's Guild. The guild there was said to be the toughest in all of Tamriel, so I went to see myself."
"So you wished to become a warrior? Interesting." Cicero murmurs. "But then why come to Skyrim? And futhermore, why join the Family?"
"Well." Cinna sighs, letting the cotton sit in the bowl of lavender oil as she sat down at the large table nearby. "I originally came to Skyrim because rumors of war rising here was passed to me down in Hammerfell from a friend that travelled through here, and some of our strongest were going to go and prove themselves in it, since there hadn't been a war in Hammerfell in many years. I waited until I finished my training before traveling here, but only just crossed the border when I ran into three Nords and a horse. I got knocked out by the horse's hoof leaving an impression on my skull, next thing I know, I wake up in the back of a wagon with the same three Nords and a Khajiit, on my way to Helgen to be excecuted."
"Helgen?" Cicero gasps. "The town attacked by a dragon? How did you escape?"
"With the help of the Stormcloaks and my Khajiit companion." Cinna states. "They let me loose, suited me up, and helped me escape. After that, I was free to live my new life in Skyrim, but that's a story that's not quite finished yet, I'm still trying to figure out the ending."
"Alright." Cicero sighs. "But then why did you join the Family? You've told Cicero how it all happened, but you could have easily ignored the invitation, so why did you sought out the Sanctuary, join the Family and become an assassin when you wish to be a warrior?"
"Well, dear Cicero." Cinna chuckles. "I didn't know at first myself, I wasn't even sure I was up to it when I first soughted out for this place, but I think I finally figured it out after my first contract from Astrid. After I killed that bandit leader, your words came back to me: Some become killers, some are born killers. I knew then why I went searching for Aventus, why I accepted his contract, why I played Astrid's choose-a-victim game, and why I came to join the Family. I wanted to become a noble warrior, to fight alongside my fellow soldiers and charge into heated battle, but I was born a killer, born with the ability to know how to slit someone's throat in a public place without being caught, born with the skills to sneak through lit corridors since I could walk, born to persuade people and lull them into a false security since my father taught me how to do so. I'm an assassin by soul, Cicero, that's why I joined the Family, and it only took your words to make me realize it." She chuckles dryly and rises from her seat, going to check on her cotton. "Kinda funny actually."
"Funny?" Cicero hums, rising from his seat as well. "How so?"
"Well." Cinna sighs, turning back to Cicero. "I have a brother back in Cyrodil who dreamed of being an elite assassin, and went after that dream after we escaped from home. Well, I escaped, he was of age to leave home at the time, and helped me slip out with ease. I last spoke with him when he was still in Cheydinhal, but that was so many years ago, he could be anywhere by now, probably gutting some poor farmer who crossed the wrong stall owner for some over-priced produce. It would be funny to write a letter to him now and tell him that I've joined the Dark Brotherhood here in Skyrim, he would be excited, but also very surprised. Then again, he's usually excited by anything I do."
"Sounds like you and your brother were close."
"We were." Cinna chuckles, pulling the cotton tuff out and carefully stuffing them into the mask. "Despite being my elder of two years, we acted almost like twins: we never went anywhere without each other once I learned to walk and talk, we would explore the entire city, we even tried to venture into the forests once, but our father caught us. And we promised each other that by the time we were of age, we would get away from our parents and pursue our own dreams. I was too impatient, of course, and he didn't want to leave me to be brain washed by our parents, so he snuck me out the night he left and took me all the way to Chorrol, gave me three hundred septims to start with, and headed to Cheydinhal. I never saw him after that day, and I only wrote a single letter to him, letting him know I made it to Elinhir, and that I had joined the Fighter's Guild there. We promised to only write a single letter to each other, that way our parents couldn't find me if they ever tracked him down to ask where I went. I was going to write him again after I came of age, but I was so busy doing jobs and such, that I lost track of time. A year seemed like a week, and seven years seemed like seven months, and when he didn't write me again, I figured he was busy as well. I wish I knew where he was right now though." She sadly admits, sewing the open seam of her mask closed as she turns to Cicero. "I'd give anything to hear word from him again."
"I'm sure you will hear from him in time." Cicero reassures Cinna. "If he does care for you as much as he does, he will try to find you. Who knows? He might be here in Skyrim right now, tracing your lines across Skyrim to try and locate you."
"Maybe." Cinna sighs, glancing up at Cicero before embracing the smaller Imperial. "Thanks. I really needed to get some of that off my chest, I've never told anyone about my past before, so it's relaxing to know someone is willing to listen."
"Of course, dear Listener." Cicero returns the embrace. "Cicero is always loyal to the Listener and her needs, just as he is to dear Mother."
"That's good to hear." Cinna states, soon breaking away from the fool. "But I best get going, I have business in Riften to take care of."
"Of course." Cicero sighs. Cinna walks past him and begins to make her way to the exit when a thought occured to him. "Listener, wait." Cinna stops and turns to the fool. "Babette wanted Cicero to tell you that the poison you requested has been finished."
"Oh, I completely forgot about that." Cinna gasps. "Um, tell her I'll get it from her when I return from Riften, I might use it in one of my next few contracts coming up. See if she can make some more if she's up to it, I have some important contracts that may need some more to ensure my job is done effectively. Can you do that for me?"
"Of course, Listener!" Cicero gleefully chimes. "Cicero shall deliver the message for you."
With that, Cinna takes off out of the Sanctuary yet again, leaving Cicero to ponder to himself yet again, this time over Cinna's entire past story.
"So many similarities." Cicero murmurs as he makes his way to the Night Mother's chambers. "This Cinna went to Hammerfell, looking to become a warrior, just like my Cinna did. She ran away from her parents in Cyrodil, just like mine did, and sent a letter to her brother when she was in Elinhir, just as mine did. And she said her older brother joined the Cheydinhal Sanctuary, just as I did." He stops just outside the iron doors, pondering over all the similarities between the two girls in his head, wondering how much of a coincidence it could be for two different people to match up like this. There was still a possibility, in the back of Cicero's mind, that could make sense of all this, but he had to see one more thing before he was sure. He sighs and enters the Night Mother's chambers, wondering when he'd be able to get a peek behind this mysterious Cinna's mask.
