The Keeper's Lullaby

Chapter Ten

After a brief trip to her room to wash her face, change, and gather supplies, Severia met the two waiting dark siblings in the large lobby of the sanctuary. She hoisted her small pack up into a more secure place on her back and pushed the large hood off of her face to address the pair.

"Have you two been waiting long?" she'd asked, not really caring too much about the answer. She'd gotten ready in less than an hour, and she wasn't too eager to go on a trip with two siblings who may or may not think she was a traitor.

Gabriella shot her a particularly bright smile, waving her hand dismissively. "Only a few moments, sister." She turned to address Veezara. "Are we all set?"

The shadowscale nodded, and the three made their way out the front door without passing any other members. Severia had half expected to see Astrid leaning against her place on the wall to taunt her before she left, but the nord woman was nowhere to be seen. It seemed that no one was going to see the trio off, not that she had expected or wished as much.

They walked silently, the fifteen minute trek into Falkreath slightly less awkward than Severia imagined it would be. It didn't seem like the two wanted to make much small talk, and she was secretly grateful for that. She was only mildly surprised when Gabriella led them straight to the carriage driver, paying for their transport to the city of Whiterun. She surmised traveling in a small group made them less conspicuous, and as none of them were in their trademark red and black armor she suspected that they seemed normal enough.

Only when they had boarded the carriage and were a good hour on the road did one of her siblings finally speak.

"To be quite frank, I'm really hoping he's there." said Gabriella, good-natured smirk in place. Veezara blinked and looked over at her with a blank stare as if wondering why the dunmer had to open her mouth at every inappropriate moment. Was she trying to put more strain on the three? She only huffed at the judging look, shaking her head nonchalantly. "Don't be like that, Veezara. We all know why we're here. There's no need to beat around the bush."

Severia didn't know if she wanted to crawl into a hole to avoid conversation, or if she was refreshed by Gabriella's blunt attitude. She supposed it was a mixture of both.

Veezara was looking particularly uncomfortable, so Severia reluctantly spoke up for his sake. "It's alright. I know I'm not trusted, and you have every right to be wary." She looked away from the two to gaze out at the serene sight of Lake Ilinalta. The water did look awfully pretty in the early light. "I wouldn't purposely do anything detrimental to the...family," she finished lamely, remembering the presence of their carriage driver. "I don't want to start trouble. But I suppose you'll just have to wait and confirm it for yourself. I understand."

Severia heard the shifting of the two assassins in their seats across from her. She wondered briefly if she'd said the right thing. Talking to people was so hard.

"We want to believe, sister." It was Veezara who spoke this time. "We're hoping."

The young imperial let a small smile grace her features. That was the best she could ask for at the moment.

The rest of the trip was spent in a more comfortable silence. Veezara closed his eyes and seemed to drift in and out of a fitful sleep. Gabriella pulled a leather-bound tome from her satchel, studying the contents intently while mumbling lists of alchemical ingredients to herself.

It would probably be another three hours before they passed through Riverwood, and then another three before they reached Whiterun. Severia spent a good chunk of her time wracking her tired brain for some kind of solution to the whole Astrid issue.

It was exhausting, really. If Gabriella and Veezara were at least wanting to be receptive to the idea of her being the Listener, then there really was hope for the sanctuary. Babette would almost definitely take the Night Mother's side, and Festus seemed like someone who could be convinced once her position was verified. She didn't have much hope for Nazir, however, and Arnbjorn would go where Astrid did.

So that only left Astrid as her one true adversary in this predicament.

She stumbled through ideas of co-leading with her, putting it to a vote, or just outright getting rid of her. None of those seemed like ideal situations and it pissed her off that she couldn't solve this. Severia had always been the calm and calculating type. As long as she took some time and thought about all of the scenarios, she could eventually choose the one with a higher pro to con ratio.

But the more she grumbled over the problem, the more she started to accept that this wouldn't be pretty. It would take every sibling in that sanctuary to turn on her leadership to have a chance at changing things peacefully, and she knew that wouldn't happen.

Chances were, she'd bait Cicero or herself with her insufferable blasphemy and they'd try to kill her. That could cause a miniature civil war among the remaining Brotherhood siblings.

By Sithis, if only the bitch wasn't so uptight and paranoid, this wouldn't have to be so damn complicated. She wondered why Mother had chosen someone as untalented in the ways of diplomacy as herself to reform the Dark Brotherhood.

Severia threw back her thick wool hood, pushing a small hand through her untamed curls with a groan. Gabriella glanced up briefly from her tome, smirking at the younger sibling's inner turmoil.

A deep rumble in the distance drew the two female assassin's attention, and they stared off into the direction it had come from. Thunder coming from the east? They might have to postpone their trip in Riverwood until the storm settled. Hopefully they could beat it there before the rain started to fall.

Another rumble echoed throughout the bright blue skies, and Severia thought it odd that there wasn't a single rain cloud in sight.

"Do you see that?" It was Veezara that spoke, wide awake and alert and pointing to something in the distance.

She and Gabriella followed the argonian's gaze, squinting against the bright sky. A dark shadow was making it's way towards them at an alarming pace, and with another screech it became apparent that it wasn't exactly thunder that they'd heard.

"That's a dragon," blurted Gabriella. "That's a fucking dragon."

And it was coming straight toward them.

Severia jumped to her feet, managing to balance herself easily on the still-moving carriage. Veezara called out to the carriage driver, letting him in on their discovery.

Dragons? Severia wasn't told that there were dragons in Skyrim. That was… ridiculous.

Almost as ridiculous as a dead woman talking to her via telepathy.

"We need to get off the road." insisted the tiny assassin. She shouted at the nervous driver from her position on the back cart. "You need to pull over! We can't outrun that thing on this. We need to hide! Leave the horse!" Veezara and Gabriella jumped off the moving cart, and Severia wasted no time in following them. She stumbled slightly on the dirt road, but her heart thumping loudly against her chest had her recovering quickly and running after her dark siblings. She glanced back over her shoulder, finding the big green and scaly beast dangerously close to the cart driver. It roared loudly, causing the driver to lose the grip on his reins and the horse to spook into a gallop. The man held onto the wagon for dear life, screaming as the horse turned too sharply and flipped the wagon onto it's side.

Before the man could pull himself from the ground, his entire carriage was enveloped in a blistering red flame, the dragon grounding itself and causing the earth around them to shudder.

"Go, go go, go!" shouted Gabriella at her companions, breaking into a sprint. "Fucking go!"

Veezara and Severia followed at an equally neck-breaking pace, pushing through thorns and foliage to conceal themselves in the nearby woods.

Severia was named Listener and then immediately killed by a fucking dragon? Nuh-uh, that's not how this shit was gonna pan out. She chanced a glance back over her shoulder, praying that the beast had been caught up in it's recent prey.

It wasn't there anymore. Where the hell was it?

The sun disappeared and she broke out into a second round of cold-sweats.

She glanced up, jaw to the ground, right before the dragon above them opened it's mouth to shoot out more of it's catastrophic flame. She was pulled roughly by the arm and was flung to the ground behind a large stone just as the scorching fire would've consumed her. Veezara quickly helped her up as quickly as he'd thrown her down, ready to take off again. And where was Gabriella?

Shit, this was too much to handle this early in the morning.

There in the distance, she saw Gabriella, furiously pushing out golden healing magic onto a sprained ankle.

And so did the rancorous beast.

As if forgetting two people had hidden behind a rock right in front of it, it began to beat it's massive leathery wings until it's clawed feet came off the ground.

Everything in Severia said to let it happen.

Everything in her screamed self-preservation. She should use this opportunity to get away. It was possible survival or possible death.

Think, Severia, fucking think.

She looked to Veezara for some kind of affirmation to either plan, but he simply watched in stunned horror as the over sized reptile moved it's heavy form through the air towards their comrade.

Guess that meant a shadowscale's extensive training didn't cover dragons.

The seconds ticked by in slow motion. What should she do? What would their success rate be? She didn't have time to weigh the pros and cons of a situation this dire. She needed to act- needed to act now-

"Fuck!" she grumbled, slamming her head into her palm, trying to force her brain to work. "Gah.. Veezara!" She pulled him down by the arm, forcefully pulling his gaze to hers and forcing him to listen.

"Get Gabriella out of here!"

With that, she gave him a terrified half-smile before sprinting headlong into the multi-ton monster's line of sight. Veezara shouted after her, but she was deaf to everything but the wind around her.

"Come and get me, you fucking lizard!" shouted the imperial girl, blood pounding so hard in her ears that she couldn't hear her own voice. She pulled her ordinary steel dagger from its place at her waist, skidding to a stop and aiming the weapon as best as she could with such little time.

Everything she was doing went against who she was. The tiny, cursed imperial child from Cheydinhal wasn't some kind of hero.

Severia would have run. Severia would have saved herself.

With quick and careful aim, the young assassin sent her blade whizzing through the air until it found it's mark in the back of the huge thing's neck. With a painful shriek, it dropped to the ground and shook its head around carelessly trying to dislodge the weapon. She could've cried in relief.

Severia would have run.

But the Listener had to fight for her family.

The Listener would make her Mother proud.

As soon as the beast turned to find it's attacker, The tiny assassin flew into another adrenaline-fueled sprint north, away from both Veezara and the wounded Gabriella.

She heard the beast stumbling loudly, roaring out it's pain in it's attempt to catch up with her. She managed to stay ahead, as the beast was much slower on ground that it was on land. When Lake Ilinalta came into view, her legs were burning so badly that she didn't know how she was still moving. She was almost to the water's edge when the dragon broke through the treeline, slowly, and angrily, scurrying after her. It's massive claws tore at the earth below it, rooting up massive clumps of dirt that were becoming soft with a mixture of blood and saliva falling from it's wounded and tired form.

Severia didn't hesitate before jumping into the water, praying to Sithis and the Night Mother that she wouldn't drown.


Cicero woke from his peaceful sleep with a sluggish yawn and stretch.

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes with the back of an ungloved hand, stomach grumbling for sustenance. Perhaps he would be lucky and find some nice and sticky sweetrolls in the kitchen.

He was quiet as he washed and dressed himself for once. The jester's mind was silent and empty, and not in an unpleasant way. He was unusually well-rested, and he assumed that his newfound peace had a lot to do with the appearance of a new Listener.

Cicero made his way to the sanctuary's kitchen, wondering idly how long he'd been asleep. It was awfully quiet, and he was momentarily caught off guard when the un-child appeared seemingly out of thin air as he descended the stairs.

"Good evening, Keeper." she had greeted him, toothy grin in place as always. Cicero still didn't quite know what to make of the ancient vampire, but she addressed him with all the proper respect his title deserved. That was enough to please him for now.

"Evening?" Cicero let out and over-exaggerated gasp. "How long has poor Cicero been asleep?"

The small breton pretended to mull over his question for a moment before speaking. "Oh, well through the night and most of the day. Our precious Listener has already departed with our siblings."

The Keeper had gasped for real at that. "Whaaat?" he questioned, bouncing up in down in a frantic hop. "Why didn't the Listener wake humble Cicero? Who is she with? WHY WASN'T CICERO INFORMED?"

The un-child had the audacity to giggle at poor Cicero's distress. "You were there when it was suggested that Siren would leave, accompanied by a sibling, to Volunruud. There was no reason to wake you, Keeper. You are technically a hostage, you know."

Cicero stood straight up and huffed. "The Keeper is no hostage," he spoke his title with a sense of superiority. "The only sister with the authority to keep Cicero hostage would be the Listener herself." he grumbled as he made his way to the food cupboard, fishing around in it for something sticky and sweet. "Humble Cicero couldn't leave if he wanted to," he mumbled more to himself than the un-child. "The Keeper must tend to Mother, you see." After finding what it was he'd been searching for, the Keeper pulled a wrapped, albeit stale sweetroll from the back shelf with a victory squeal.

As the Keeper stuffed his face, he missed the mischievous grin that pulled it's way across the vampire's lips. "Oh? The Keeper must remain here, you say?"

"Thafs righ." Cicero said between bites.

"Even if his Listener might be in danger?"

The little imperial man stopped mid chew and whipped around to shoot a glare at the tiny breton. "Ihn Daynther?" came out another sweetroll-filled question. Cicero swallowed his mouthful of pastry before speaking again. "The Listener will only be in harm's way if there is no client. But because our little Siren is the Listener, there will be a client. Therefore, she will be fine."

Babette was a little shocked to say the least. She had expected more of a reaction out of him. Or at least some kind of displeasure. Didn't this fool worship the ground their dark sister walked on? "It doesn't bother you that the two she's with may turn on her?"

Cicero thought for a moment, tapping his chin with slightly sticky, gloved fingers. "Who is the Listener with?"

"Gabriella and Veezara."

"Ah, the dunmer and argonian. Yes, those two seem honorable enough to wait for our sweet Listener to prove herself before attacking. And prove herself she shall. Cicero has the utmost faith in our little Siren!" He followed up the statement with a strained giggle, and only then did Babette notice that he did seem a little tense as he spoke.

Even as he went back to eating his frosted treat, the ancient breton girl concluded that, yes, the fool was worried about their Listener. She almost felt bad for trying to bait him. He obviously knew what was at stake during this little trip of theirs, and it would be a major deciding factor for how things were going to be after this.

If he seemed outwardly nervous, that would make it seem like he doubted that his "Listener" would succeed. He spent years looking for the Listener, and for her to leave the morning after finding her on a potential life-threatening mission? She couldn't blame him for being nervous.

Acting nonchalant about the whole thing was all he could do right now.

Maybe the fool wasn't as much of a fool as he made himself out to be.