It was like time had stopped when the collar reached the floor, it was like if they were waiting for something bad to happen the minute the collar was taken off. But nothing bad ever did happen, in fact nothing happened. Ruska was just in shock of not feeling a heavy weight on her neck and when Cicero let go of her she got off him. They watched her as she stood there looking at everyone then she took off running to the chapel where she turned back into her normal self and felt her neck. It felt so good be able to feel her neck again and she looked down at her locket and opened it, she smiled at her family but something caught her eye. The handprint in the back behind them looked like the ones in this cave place.
That's when she heard someone walking towards where she was so she hid in the shadows as much as she could to not be noticed. However, she seen Cicero coming into the chapel but he didn't see her. She stood quietly as she was gonna run for it "Now is your chance, tell him my child, tell him the words i have spoken to you"
With noticing that she wasn't gonna be able to run for it she sled down the wall again, this made Cicero turn around and see the black mass in the corner. Confused he walked over to the mass with his hand close to his blade when he sees two ears. He relaxed and bent down but soon realized that this wasn't the small little fox from before. Still he reached to her anyway making her flinch but soon relaxed after not being hurt.
"Come on out of the shadows so Cicero can see you little one" he said as softly as he could.
"Tell him" she sighed as the voice commanded again, she opened her eyes and could tell it shocked Cicero "Silence dies when darkness rises" she said with the most serious face she could muster.
Cicero was shocked, those are the sacred words but who was this person in the shadows, he thought they were the fox but foxes can't talk right? Ruska stands and towers over Cicero as he was still bent down, Cicero looked up and stood straight where he was a foot taller than her.
Now that she was standing he could see that they were a beast person with the tail and the ears, Ruska walked around him and into the light. Cicero looked her over as he had never seen someone like her before, his eyes went from her big ears down to her really fluffy tail but he seen that her legs were oddly shaped as if a dog or wolf standing on its back legs but still kinda human-like. She wasn't wearing any shoes which confused him until he looked at her feet and she seemed to walk and stand on the fronts of her feet but they were more like paws, just bigger so she would have better balance. She didn't have any hair on her head like the khajiit do as her fur was really fluffy but he could see the fur get shorter as it came to her chest and other front areas. He blushed a little thinking of what she would look like without her odd armor that seemed to only cover her chest and bottoms.
A snapping sound made it to his ears and he blushed a little more as he got caught staring and looked up at her face "Yes?" he croaked out.
"I asked you what that meant?" Ruska said.
Cicero shook his head "Yes!" he yelled happily as stood in front of her "That means you're the listener!" confused Ruska just listened to him babble on about her being some kind of listener. But what surprised her was him grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the room and back to the main room where they seen everyone left. So Cicero pulled Ruska with him to the dining room where they seen that Nazir was cooking. Cicero then let go of Ruska and clapped his hands "Everyone i have great news!" he yelled getting everyone to look at him.
"Cicero who is that?" Babette asked.
Cicero then looked to Ruska "Never did catch your name listener"
"Please don't call me that and my name is Ruska, i was born in Black Marsh where i had gotten kidnapped and brought here but i was able to get away" Ruska explained as Cicero led her down the stairs and to the others.
As they sat down at the table "Tell them what you told Cicero, about the voice"
"What voice?" Astrid asks crossing her arms.
"Miss Ruska is the listener, she said the sacred words and Cicero is guessing that Ruska was that little fox"
"Huh?" everyone said as this all confused them.
Ruska sighed "It would be better if i explained, you see i'm a limothiit"
"Wait you mean the mythical fox people of Black Marsh? That's so cool, i thought you guys were just a myth" Babette said with a happy smile on her face like she had just met her idol "Oh jeez i was so intrigued with how your kind can change shape and even species!"
Ruska nods with a sad smile "It's not like that, not anymore. I'm the last of my kind" this made everyone shut up "When i was born i was very rare as all black limothiits are very rare. My mother was even more rare as she was all white, all i know of them is what Master Shera had told me about them"
"Master Shera? The most talented mage of all time?" Festus asked.
"I don't know about the most talented part but he was a mage, he taught me everything that i know today. My family was the last remaining pack of limothiit as all the others were hunted down, i was lucky if not traumatized. I may have been just a pup when it happened but i remember it like it was yesterday, my father was killed in our own home and my mother took me and my brother away but we didn't get very far" everyone was just so into her story no one said a word "We had crashed into the mud and the wagon landed on my mother killing her instantly, my brother had broken his leg in the crash but he was much older than me at the time as i couldn't even speak. I was too upset to move and i didn't care if i was killed or not at that point so my brother carried me in his teeth as we couldn't stand on two legs yet. He carried me for a while or it felt like it but i remember him hiding me and the hunters finding him before he could hide. He fought them off for a few minutes but he too fell as he was too tired and broken, i watched a red argonian use an axe to chop off my brothers head right in front of me while he was still alive"
Veezara then understood why she was afraid of him or just didn't want anything to do with him "Ruska i am sorry for you" he said.
Ruska shook her head "It's not your fault, after i watched that happen i got scared and i ran and i ran as far as i could away from them. I ended up running into Master Shera and i hid in his robe, i was so happy that he took me in, that he lied to the hunters. I lived with him and he taught me about my own race, he taught me to speak and how to walk on two legs which is why i sound like a wood elf and not a limothiit because i did not grow up with any around"
"So where is this Shera now? And why did you come here?" Gabriella asked.
"Well because the voice told me to follow a scent and i did which led to me finding Cicero on the side of the road nearly frozen to death. I was also told to help him and stay with him, but this wasn't the first time the voice had talked to me, in fact she helped me with a lot of things, like getting over my fear of heights" Ruska then sighed "But the reason Master Shera is no longer around is because the hunters ended up killing him as well so i have no one left"
"Aww" both Babette and Gabriella said as they came over and hugged Ruska "Can we keep her Astrid please?" they both begged.
Ruska growled "I'm not some kind of pet you know" she mumbled.
"Ruska said the sacred words, she is listener there for she has to stay" Cicero said.
Astrid seemed to think on this for a while before looking at Ruska dead in the eye "Can you take an order to kill?"
"I don't need an order to kill just point me at someone" Ruska had no idea where that came from but she was glad that it seemed to do the trick to convince Astrid to let her stay which made her a little happy as she had nowhere to go.
She looked to Cicero who smiled at her which made her smile a little but soon everyone started going to bed as everyone was eating when Ruska was talking. Gabriella and Babette showed Ruska where she could stay to sleep which was up the stairs beside the dining room. Ruska didn't want to stay there as she would rather stay with Cicero, she glanced behind to see Cicero leaving the room and she wanted to follow him. Ruska felt like she had to be next to Cicero to protect him but she didn't follow him.
Gabriella then grabbed the dark brotherhood armour "Now Ruska do you think you'll be able to fit these?" she asked.
Ruska picked it up and looked at it, it looked too small as it was made for a human "Do you have anything bigger?"
"Well we could make a suit for you as you will be needing one. I can even make it like your current style" Babette said "But i will need to measure you"
Ruska nods and Babette gets a tool to measure her as she was gonna make something for her, she got her height minus the ears and the place where her tail started and her width. After she was done she left and Ruska looked at the empty bed before Babette came back holding a nightgown "Sorry but this is all i could find because i wanted to look at your armor more closely to get your suit just right" Ruska nods and takes the gown "You can change in my room, it's the smallest one just inside that hall"
Ruska takes the gown to the smallest room past the door to the hall where it led to other rooms. She noticed the room doesn't have a door but she just sighed and started undoing her hide jack and shorts with her leather leg knife holders. She pulled on the red nightgown and it was surprisingly very comfy and it came down to cover her lady bits. Her tail however pulled it up a bit in the back, it embarrassed her but she couldn't do anything about it as the gown was also made for a human. She shrugged her shoulders and picked up her other clothes with her bag, swords, and staff and then she quickly made her way back to Babette to give them to her.
Babette smiled at her "You look so cute in that" she said happily taking Ruska's clothes "Good, these will help with the new suit. It should be done by morning so you can go get some rest"
Ruska still had her bag and swords with the staff but she didn't wanna sleep with the other boys, she sniffed the air and followed Cicero's scent to a big room through the same hall she just came from. When she got there Cicero wasn't in there but she knew this was his room since his scent was all over the place. She yawned and placed her bag, swords, and staff on the table and laid down on the bed. She fell asleep again but opened her eye hearing someone come into the room, it was Cicero so she closed her eyes again and went back to sleep.
Cicero yawned walking into his room not noticing someone in his room as he placed his tools for the mother on his table. There he seen the bag, swords, and the staff he seen on Ruska earlier, curiosity got the better of him as he seen something pretty big inside her bag. When he opened it he pulled out a small stuffed fox or wolf along with a small coin purse, but the last thing he pulled out was the skull of an argonian.
He was confused but not concerned until he heard a small moan beside him, he froze and looked over and he nearly dropped the skull. He seen Ruska in his bed in a gown that barely came past her bottoms. Ruska had moved from her side to her back and Cicero watched her chest slowly rise and fall.
"Staring is rude you know?" Ruska said catching Cicero making him blush. Ruska opened her eyes as Cicero tried to come up with an excuse to leave but this made Ruska giggle a little but then seen that all her stuff was out of her bag which made her growl "Why are you in my bag?" she asked angrily.
"Cicero couldn't help himself but he must ask why there is a skull in the listeners bag" he said changing the subject.
Ruska showed her teeth "What's inside my bag does not concern you jester now put it all back" she growled out.
Cicero put all her stuff back in the bag "Cicero is sorry" he said but when he looked back over Ruska had her back turned to him "Does the listener know this is Cicero's room?" he asked.
Ruska's ears went down "Yes i do and don't call me that" she huffed out.
"And that is Cicero's bed"
"Yes i know"
"Well where is Cicero going to sleep?" he asked.
This made Ruska sit up and look at him like he was stupid "On the bed, where else? Not on the floor" Cicero went to open his mouth but Ruska just rolled her eyes and changed into her tiny form "Does this make it better? Now come lay down if you're tired, i heard you yawn coming in"
Well Cicero was tired but was he really going to sleep in the same bed as the listener? Well his body was but his mind was still going nuts as he went over and sat on the bed kicking off his shoes and gloves along with his hat. Ruska gave him a confused look "You're gonna sleep in that?" she asked.
"Well unlike you Cicero does not have sleep wear at the moment so this will have to do for now" he said ruffling his hair and he laid down on his back close to the wall. Ruska came up and laid beside him with the both yawning they fell asleep.
