Raised in the Shadows
Disclaimer; Please see previous chapters.
A/N: We have way too much free time today. Here's our third chapter in two days!
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Six months later…
"Martin, I think it's time you came out of the closet." Kira said worriedly.
"Shh, I'm reading." Martin replied.
"What? No you're not. You're standing in your closet doing nothing. It's really creeping me out." Kira tried to drag her cousin out of the closet.
During the previous six months, Kira and Rain had been living happily in Bruma. But they soon realized that in order to survive the must have jobs to make money. Kira had started to work with a weapons master who taught younger warriors who were just starting to be adventurers. Most of the students were around 14 to 16 years old, just a little younger than Kira. Rain had started to work at an alchemy shop in town.
It was through these jobs that the Blades had found them. One day one of the Blades had stopped to watch the combat class Kira helped to teach. Kira was in a sparring match with the weapons master and actually managed to defeat him. Then Rain had run over to both of them to apply some potions she had made which were rather advanced.
The Blade had approached them and commented on how skilled they were. He had said the Blades could really use their help around Cloud Ruler Temple. So the girls had agreed, swearing to never tell the secrets of Cloud Ruler Temple. There they had met Martin. Kira and Martin had become friends fast. Eventually she had told Martin of their families being related. Martin was the only person in Bruma who knew Rain and Kira's last name was Azrael.
Rain got along alright with Martin but she spent most of her time with the other alchemist in Cloud Ruler: William. William was a Wood Elf like Rain and they got along great. William had been born in Morrowind and was raised there as a child. He had recently moved to Cyrodiil after his mother's death two years ago. He was just a few years old than Rain.
"What are you doing, anyway Martin?" Kira asked.
"I'm looking for something. There's supposed to be a secret spot in the wall in here. I'm looking for it. Previous emperors hid journals in it and it could help me once this crisis is over." Martin said.
"Well, you'll have to find it later. Your champions just returned." Kira said. Martin poked his head out from behind the closet door.
"Revan and Olaf are back? They survived the Mythic Dawn hideout?"
"Either they survived or I just had a lovely conversation with two ghosts. Now c'mon. You haven't eaten a decent meal in days and now is the perfect time to eat with Revan and Olaf." Kira started to drag Martin out of the closet.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming." Together they walked downstairs to the dining hall. Revan was a female Imperial. She had light brown hair that almost reached her shoulders. She was average height and had green eyes. She had apparently been in jail when she had met Emperor Uriel and was sent on a quest by him before his death. Olaf was a Dark Elf and a close friend of Revan's. He was pretty much a typical Dark Elf.
"Hello my friends. How did everything go at the Mythic Dawn hideout? Did you find the Amulet of Kings?" Martin asked as he sat down.
"I'm afraid not, Martin." Revan said sadly.
"But we did find this." Olaf held out a dark red book.
"What's that?" Rain asked as she walked into the room with William.
"It's the Mysterium Xarxes! How did you get that? It's a very dangerous book!" Martin said grabbing the book from Olaf.
"We found it at the Mythic Dawn hideout. Mankar Cameron used it to escape through some portal. He said he was going to Paradise." Revan explained.
"Can you use it for anything, Martin?" Olaf asked.
"I might be able to use it in order to get to Cameron's Paradise. But I'll have to translate it first. This is a very important book you've brought me. Good work you two." Revan and Olaf grinned triumphantly. Rain grabbed the book from Martin suddenly.
"But before you begin translating, you're going to eat dinner and get some sleep. You work much too hard, Martin." She said.
"You don't have to babysit me Rain." Martin said, taking the book back from her. Suddenly William yawned.
"I should probably be getting back to my house. I've had a long day. I'll see you all tomorrow." William said.
"Oh, do you want me to walk home with you, William?" Rain asked.
"Sure Rain, that'd be great."
"Kira, are you coming home too?" Rain asked.
"I will soon. There was some armor I was repairing that I should finish in the armory. I'll be home in an hour or so." Kira said. Rain nodded and she and William walked out of Cloud Ruler Temple. Kira walked slowly down to the armory.
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"Rain, we already talked about this. We can't get attached so attached to anyone here. You're getting too close to William." Kira said an hour later at home.
"I know, Kira. But why can't we get close to anyone?" Rain asked.
"Because, we can't risk anyone finding out about the Dark Brotherhood. Do you have any idea how much trouble we'd get in if someone found out?" Kira said angrily.
"But you're getting close to Martin!"
"Yes, but we don't have to worry about me telling him! I'd be the one who would get in trouble for telling someone. If you told anyone I'd still be the one who was punished."
"But you're boyfriend is part of the Black Hand. Couldn't Lucien bail you out of any trouble?" Rain asked.
"That'd only get Lucien in trouble too. Rain, just be careful of how attached you get to anyone." Kira sighed.
"I know…it's just, William's so nice. I really like him." Rain said.
"Rain," Kira sighed, "just be careful, alright? Maybe, after a long while, you decide that he can be completely trusted and we talk to Lucien about it, you can tell William. Until then keep your mouth shut and watch what you say." Kira warned.
"I will, I promise," Rain said before changing the subject, "Have you sent a letter to the sanctuary recently?"
"No, I haven't sent one in over a month. We should probably send another one or Vicente will start to worry." Kira said. Kira got up to grab two pieces of paper and two quills. She hand one quill and one paper to Rain.
"I'll write a letter to Lucien and you write one to Vicente." Kira said. They both started to write.
Kira wrote to Lucien about simple things. She told him how things were going with the weapons class she helped with. It was really just a simple letter telling him that she was staying out of trouble for once. She didn't mention Martin.
Rain wrote a letter to Vicente. She promised him everything was fine and she loved living in Bruma. She told him that she was doing great with her alchemy skills. She didn't mention William or Martin.
Rain and Kira had agreed that they shouldn't tell Lucien and Vicente about Martin until they see each other face to face if they ever do tell them about him. If they sent a letter now, telling about Martin and of his whereabouts it could be found by someone from Mythic Dawn which would put him in danger. Rain didn't want to tell Vicente about William in fear that he would come up to Bruma to threaten William like he did with Lucien.
"I'll send these off tomorrow morning before I go to the alchemy shop." Rain said.
"Alright, well I'm going to bed. Goodnight Rain." Kira got up and went upstairs. Rain waited a while until she was sure Kira was asleep. Then she got up and walked outside. She walked down to a small inn nearby and walked inside. She spotted who she was looking for sitting in the corner and sat down across from him.
"Hey, sorry if I'm a little late." Rain said.
"No problem. I haven't been her very long." William said. Rain smiled at him.
"You said you wanted some help on an experimental alchemy potion?" Rain asked.
"Yeah, I wasn't sure who else to ask. I wanted to start on a better quality strength potion to help the Blades when they have to fight Daedra." William said.
"Alright well then what ingredients did you think we should start with first?" Rain asked.
"Well, I brought some notes with me." William pulled some papers out of his pocket and they started to discuss where they should start. Later that night when Rain went home, she was in a very good mood.
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Two months later…
Rain continued to see William almost every night to work on the potion in secret. By now their meetings were more like dates than research. Sometimes they would hold hands or sit closer together than really necessary.
William knew that they had to keep it a secret from Kira and he never asked why. He just accepted the fact that Rain wanted to keep it a secret for a while. He didn't really mind anyway. He liked to spend time with Rain and that was all that mattered.
Today Kira was gone. Rain said that she had received a letter from a close friend from Cheydinhal saying they needed help with some sort problem. William was pretty sure someone was sick and they needed Kira's help to look after them.
William walked down the path to Rain's house. They were going to work on their potion there today. Today was their day off from helping out at Cloud Ruler Temple so they had plenty of free time. William walked inside the house.
"Hey, Rain. I'm here!" He shouted once he was inside. There was no response. William sighed and walked down the stairs to her room. He opened the bedroom door a little bit.
"Hey, Rain. Time to wake up." He heard Rain groan.
"It's too early, Will. Five more minutes." She complained.
"No Rain, we've gotta work out in the field today and look for ingredients. You need to get up and get ready." William heard Rain groan again but she started to get up.
"Fine. I'll be out in a minute." William grinned and walked back upstairs. A minute later Rain walked upstairs, fully dressed.
"What are we doing today?" She asked.
"We're going outside the area around the city and look for the needed ingredients." William answered.
"Alright then, let's go." They walked out of her house and down to the city gate.
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Kira sighed and leaned back against a branch in the tree she was hiding in. She had received a letter from Lucien saying that he needed her to kill someone for a contract. He said it would be simpler for her to kill the person because they travelled around a lot, especially near Bruma.
So there she sat, in a tree, waiting for the Khajiit she was supposed to kill. This was not one of her most exciting contracts but it would hopefully pick up once she attacked the Khajiit. Maybe he would have a companion who she could fight with too. The contract only said all she had to do was kill the Khajiit and then take the special sword he had with him, covered in his blood, and leave it in the house of his best friend in Skingrad.
Finally she spotted the Khajiit walking up the path. When he passed under the tree, Kira jumped down and quickly cut him down with her silver long sword. He didn't really put up much of a fight. Kira rummage through his bag until she found the sword. She also took all of his gold. Kira turned around and started walking towards Skingrad. She had to admit; it felt good to be back out doing contracts again.
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A couple hours later…
Rain and William walked tiredly back to Rain's house. They had found all of the ingredients they needed accept one. All they needed now was Nightshade. But neither of them was sure where to find it. They both sat down at the dining room table.
"By Sith…the Nine, I'm tired." Rain quickly covered up her mistake. She was mentally kicking herself for almost saying Sithis. Kira would kill her if she found out. William seemed too tired to notice.
"Yeah, me too." William sighed.
"Where do you think we'll find Nightshade?" Rain asked.
"I'll ask around the Mage's Guild. Someone's bound to have some they could spare." William sighed.
"Do you want to go get something to eat?" Rain asked hopefully.
"I can't. Sorry. My cousin is visiting and I said we'd go out to lunch. But I'll see you tomorrow." William leaned down to kiss Rain quickly on the cheek before getting up and leaving. Rain blushed and smiled a little bit. Then she got up and started to make lunch for herself.
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The next morning…
Kira sighed as she walked into her house. She had run most of the way back from Skingrad and was exhausted. She walked into the dining room to grab something to eat before falling asleep. On the dining room table she noticed some paper.
Curious, she looked at it. It definitely wasn't Rain's hand writing. The paper was extensive alchemy notes. After a moment of looking at it, Kira figured out whose handwriting it was. She ran down to Rain's room quickly.
"Rain, get up!" Kira practically shouted. Rain sat right up in bed.
"Wha…who…FIRE?" She gasped.
"I told you not to get too close to William." Kira said angrily.
"We were just working on a potion. By Sithis, Kira, you're worse than Vicente when he's having one of his moods." Rain complained.
"You're sure it's just working on that potion?"
"Well…we've kinda held hands…and kissed…" Rain said fearfully. Kira groaned.
"Rain…please at least telling me you're being careful. Do you realize how many secrets we really can't afford to tell?"
"I am being careful! I'm always watching what I'm saying. But it gets old, Kira. Will I ever get to tell him?" Rain asked.
"Maybe…one day if you're sure you can completely trust him after you've known him for years, okay? Until then be careful and all that. I'm tired. I'm going to bed." Kira walked back upstairs.
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Augh, I'm so tired.
Anyway, thanks for any reviews and all that stuff.
We'll probably update again in a week.