Aleyna's green eyes snap open in the dark room, her hand circling around the leather wrapped handle of the elven shortsword sitting flush along her headboard.
She extends her arm the sword coming to rest pressed against the shadow's neck that looms over her bed trying to shake her awake. The shadow gasps in surprise and fright.
"Wai-wait! Aleyna it's me-it's Martin!"
Aleyna leans up in bed, pulling the covers over her exposed breasts. She reaches over setting the small sword on her bedside table and turns the knob on the lantern beside it, letting more light come from the darkened lamp.
"Martin, you know that's a good way to end up dead? What are you doing here?" This was the first time Martin had seen Aleyna so...exposed and it catches him off guard. It was strangely funny to him, she had never really struck him as, well, a woman until this moment.
Her dark hair was loose for the first time, instead of the almost painfully tight ponytail she had sported before. It wasn't what he expected, darker than he remembered and a mane of silky ringlets that fell across her pretty face highlighting her green eyes twinkling in the lantern light.
Her skin was just barely kissed by the sun, clean, soft and supple not covered in blood and grime like before. Her body was toned, but not overly muscled or bulky like other female soldiers he had met. For the first time she struck him as incredibly beautiful.
"I needed to talk to someone about all this."
"How did you get in here?" Martin looks at her quizzically then hikes his thumb over his shoulder at the door to her quarters.
"Martin, I live in the wreckage of a two hundred year old pirate ship...in a cave...under a castle. How did you even find this place?"
"Oh, Jauffre told me, and Achille brought me here." Aleyna blows the air from her lungs in huff, her eyes rolling to the ceiling as she shakes her head.
"Damn him. Secret hideaway, the key word being secret." She mutters to herself as she sits up more with her back against her headboard.
"Ally? Who're you talking to?" A soft, sleepy voice comes from the other side of the bed as another attractive woman sits up, rubbing her brown eyes.
The woman's dark blue almost black hair cascades down her bare shoulders as she blinks in the light and pulls the covers over her naked body when she sees the uninvited guest. Martin's cheeks begins to turn to the color of a fresh apple and he stammers looking at the two of them.
"I-I am so sorry I didn't realize you had, um, company."
"Well that's what happens when you barge into someone's bedroom in the middle of the night. Martin Septim, Luciana Galena."
"Luci, meet Martin Septim."
"Ohh, so this is him?"
"This is him. Lack of common courtesy and all. Hand me that shirt over there Martin." Aleyna rests her arms on her bent knees that were covered by the blanket and yawns as she runs her fingers through her dark hair.
Martin hands her the large shirt and she slides out of bed Martin turning away trying to be modest, a trait Aleyna clearly lacked.
In the reflection of one of the half-broken panes of glass in the old ships Captain's Quarters he can see her lithe and agile frame, and he can just make out the many scars of battle and the purple of healing bruises defiling what he'd call near flawless beauty.
Aleyna drops the shirt over her body and flips her hair from the neckline, leaning down she kisses her equally lovely companion.
"Go back to sleep. You, come with me." Martin obliges as they exit the small cabin, Aleyna shuffling barefoot out onto the plank decking that bridges the caves various rock outcroppings.
He watches her long smooth bare legs as they walk across a small area of rock leading to another plank walkway that circles the large cavern surrounding the Black Flag.
They walk past several training aids, dummies and archery targets, a large stack of crates and chests, walking parallel above and alongside the large ship. It's masts broken and half submerged in the shallow water several dozen feet below. They take a right crossing above the bow of the ancient pirate ship, approaching a huge bonfire.
Aleyna brushes a few of her dark ringlets from her cheek behind one ear as she tosses several pieces of wood into the roaring fire. She picks up an iron kettle and sets it onto one of the large flat rocks bordering the massive conflagration.
She stands there for a moment, extending her hands warming them and her bare legs before she nods to a couple of chairs around a small square dining table.
Yawning, she plops down into one pulling the shirt further down her thighs, the long sleeves hiding her hands as she folds her arms across her chest.
"This place is unlike anything I've ever seen before, a little damp but I like it."
"I live with two idiots who fancy themselves pirates, a spy, a thief, a smuggler and a fletcher. It's not exactly White Gold Tower, Martin."
"And yet it's strangely you." Aleyna fights off another yawn.
"Want to tell me what's on your mind Martin?"
"It's all of this." Aleyna gets up from her seat and picks up the kettle from the rock, pulling her hand away shaking it in the air as it was hot to the touch.
She uses her sleeve over her hand and sets it onto the table between them. Taking two cups from a nearby chest tipping the lid closed and looking down into them, she blows the dust out and pours the hot tea, sliding one over to Martin.
"Being Emporer?" She cradles the steaming cup in both hands and leans back in her chair pulling both knees to her chest her toes curling over the lip of the seat.
"They tell me I'm a Septim, then they expect me to immediately know everything about how to run an Empire." Aleyna rubs one eye.
"I imagine it's pretty intimidating."
"You should have heard the Blades welcoming me after you left me at the Temple. All hail Martin Septim, all hail the Dragonborn, hail! It was a bit unnerving. They all looked at me like I would suddenly know how to lead them, how to save us all." Martin looks down into his cup picking out a speck of something that floated in it, he flicks it away.
Aleyna sips her tea in silence and nods, staring into the roaring fire.
"I was hoping you'd have some kind of advice for me, or I don't know, maybe I just wanted company." Aleyna snorts and sips from her cup again.
"What's so funny?"
"What advice could I possibly give you?"
"From what I've gathered from Jauffre and the Blades, you were the Emporer's right hand man well- in a manner of speaking." Aleyna's green eyes fall onto him.
"Martin. The Emporer was just that, my Emporer. Sure the man took me in, raised me like his own but he had three legitimate heirs to teach how to run an Empire."
"Then what did he teach you?"
"How to keep an Empire."
"I don't understand."
"An Agent of the Imperial Army is not simply an assassin or a spy, I do any job that's asked of me."
"When a Count has designs beyond his station he comes to his chambers to find me waiting for him, and we have a quiet conversation to remind of his place. If a King refuses to kneel to the Empire I personally walk him before the Ruby Throne and I make him kneel." Aleyna pauses as she looks back into the fire, sipping her tea for a long quiet moment. Her eyes reflect the flames like glassy pools of green water.
"I'm not a Kingmaker, Martin. I'm the monster under their beds."
"Jauffre says the Legion had a name for you, the oncoming storm." Aleyna doesn't reply as she drinks her steaming beverage, gazing into the crackling flames.
"That's quite a title to have earned for someone so young."
"You know what separates me as the best over the other Agents, or assassins, or even knights like the Blades? I'm still alive."
"You loved the Emporer very much didn't you?" Martin looks at her, not quite buying her strong and silent warrior routine.
"Yes I did Martin, I decimated entire armies for him. I beheaded their Generals, poisoned their rulers and murdered their advisors. I brought entire kingdoms to their knees...these aren't things you can do motivated by duty alone."
"I want you to be my advisor, not what you did for my father but help me be an Emporer." Aleyna downs the last of her tea in one gulp and slaps the cup down onto the table, rim down.
"You want advice? Put on the Amulet and relight the Dragonfires...while you still have an Empire to rule over." Aleyna pushes herself up from her chair and walks past him.
"Thanks for the tea."
Aleyna doesn't reply instead throws him a two fingered wave over her shoulder as she crosses the walkways circling around the cavern again, heading back to her quarters. Martin looks around then sits back in his chair downing the last of his tea as he looks into the fire.
"I'll just show myself out."
