Chapter 11

*I do not own Skyrim, but I do own Juheena and Juheena owns Farkas.*

Juheena truly was quite brave. That Anja could see. She looked right in Irileth's eyes, and said, "The Dark Brotherhood." To Anja, this was no surprise. While searching through Juheena's things, she came across some interesting items of the darker nature, including A Kiss, Sweet Mother, dried Nightshade, and a hefty supply of iron daggers. But to Irileth…

At first she was silent, debating whether it was a poorly aimed joke. Once she had decided that it was indeed no joke, her mouth opened and didn't shut for quite some time.

"The….the Dark Brotherhood? I knew it! Is this where that infernal jester came from? Juheena, honestly, you should have left him there. Or at least killed him on 'accident' while carrying out a contract…"

"Cicero is insulted!" Came a cry from the treeline. The entire group shouted at him to be quiet, and they heard mumbling retreating into the forest.

"Juheena, I know you're a Dark Assassin. Festus Krex mentioned you to me on many an occasion when you were only a kitten." Juheena was stunned. "You…"

"Oh yes, I know him. We go way back… farther back than Balgruuf and I." She smiled at her Jarl's name on her lips, then waited for Juheena to gather her wits.

"I had a sneaking suspicion you wouldn't care, Irileth. You enjoy slicing people apart too much to care." Juheena hugged her Dunmer friend, much to the latter's surprise. She never received hugs. Except from her Jarl, and that was only in private. And mostly after long nights of…adventure. She awkwardly patted the Khajit on the back, not knowing what to do. She certainly couldn't do the same to Juheena as she did to Balgruuf…

"Awesome! So who do we kill?" Anja piped up.

"There's no stopping that little filly, is there?" Farkas commented, chunking a piece of stale bread at the girl's head.

"Of course not! You should know that by now, silly wolf." She retaliated by aiming a Giant's toe she had snuck out of Juheena's satchel at Farkas's head.

"If I were you, Id save that for the jester." He suggested, slightly grossed out.

"Good plan."

Juheena and Irileth had wandered down the path, talking while this transpired. Irileth seemed to be warming up to the idea of meeting Paarthurnax, if only a little. Irileth was young yet, as most Mer races had much longer lifespans than humans. Regular humans, that is. Non vampire or werewolf humans, that is.

"Juheena. How did you come about the friendship of….of a dragon?" Irileth waited while Juheena pondered the question.

"The Greybeards called me to High Hrothgar, as you know. Their leader is Paarthurnax, and he is a very wise, very kind old dragon. I say old… dragon's really don't age." She chuckled, then continued, "We spoke quite often. I stayed at the Throat of the World for days at a time when I would visit him, and we would speak and debate. He let me climb on his back, even. Showed me many things, he did."

"I suppose if my story is strange, I shouldn't judge a fellow odd being. You and I are alike, one in the same. I am glad to call myself your friend." Irileth drug her eyes across the sky, perhaps searching for the dragon to see him with new eyes. Farkas and Anja rushed up to meet them, arms full of bags.

Anja had Juheena's satchel resting on her head, and the Khajit lifted it off gently and placed it around her shoulders. The little band of warriors pushed forward, far past sundown. The moon shone brightly overhead, illuminating the Luna Moth's wings. Farkas pulled out a jar and captured one.

Giggling, Juheena accepted the bizarre gift from her love. She always kept odd little pets like bees, butterflies, and even a lizard once. When she was young, Veezara had assassinated a famous circus ringleader from Morrowind. He rescued a Sabrecat from a dilapidated cage, and bequeathed the sorry looking animal to Juheena for a pet. Within only a few weeks, the creature was fat, his fur shone brilliantly, and his eyes were dancing, glowing in admiration for his new family.

Sometimes, she thought, even Astrid enjoyed the cat's company. He wasn't an old sabrecat, perhaps only 10 or 15 years old. A healthy beast could outlive humans on occasion. Sadly, he must have picked up a long-term disease from the circus, and died when Juheena was only 16. It was her first taste of despair, heartbreak, and loss. She had been killing ever since she could properly wield a blade like an assassin, but she had never once lost someone she cared about. It was an event that really put things into perspective.

She didn't like losing loved ones. Not at all. That was why she fought so desperately for her family, and for Farkas, Anja, and Irileth. She loved them. And maybe even Cicero too. Occasionally. When he was quiet.

As they made camp, Juheena sat down and stared at the little glowing moth in the jar. "Your name is going to be Yaraiakh." She proclaimed, already becoming attached to the little creature. She then pulled a blanket over Farkas and herself, and fell asleep.

xXOoOXx

When Juheena woke up, she was alone at the campsite except for Cicero. "Cicero," she began, "where is everyone?"

"Oh, Listener! They have left you in Cicero's capable protection while they scouted a nearby bandit camp! Cicero would like to know if the Listener would enjoy a nice carrot? Or maybe a sweet roll?" He got up and offered two different food items from each hand, neither of them a carrot or a sweet roll.

"No thank you Cicero…" She didn't trust anything from the loony man.

"Cicero misses the Night Mother… Cicero wonders if she misses him too…" He sat down beside her and began to whittle at a bar of soap. Juheena idly wondered where he had even got it, as she tried to avoid getting close enough to find out if he bathed regularly or not. Within a few minutes, he produced a miniature Yaraiakh made of Thistleweed Soap. He then enchanted it, and it flew over and landed on the jar, as if communicating to its less clean twin.

Laughing, Juheena patted Cicero on the head and kissed his cheek before getting up and packing her things. She could see the others returning, and she wanted to be at the Sanctuary by the end of the day. It looked as if it were going to snow soon.

"Juheena, love. I brought you this." Farkas lumbered up, limping slightly, and placed a lovely Amulet of Lady Dibella around her neck.

"Thank you Farkas, my love! It's beautiful!" Irileth rolled her eyes, then pulled up her fur hood, blocking the snowflakes from hitting her face. Farkas did the same, as did Anja and Juheena herself. Cicero, however, held out his tongue and tried to catch them in his mouth. Irileth cursed at him when he bumped into her, and she grabbed his tongue violently,

"I'll pull it out you know." She said menacingly, and he promptly panicked and turned into a bunny rabbit. He hopped quite far ahead, before bouncing back at full speed. On his tiny heels was a pack of wolves. Irileth gasped and pulled her bow taught with two sharp arrows. Letting them fly at the same time, she caught one through the head, and another in the paw. She quickly pulled out a dagger and finished off the latter, but not before he could clamp his teeth down on bunny Cicero's tiny leg.

Irileth picked him up and put him in her jacket where he would be warm. He snuggled down and fell asleep quickly. Juheena smirked at Irileth, who huffed and stomped ahead.

"Someone feels sorry for the jester." Anja teased loudly.

"It's hard to refuse an injured bunny, you know. You try it sometime, I guarantee you will give in. Damn little things are too cute." She paused, then added, "Even if they are Cicero."

A few hours later, and they were past Falkreath. Juheena felt her heart start pumping excitedly. Her horse, Shadowmere awaited her at the gate, she just knew it. Technically he was Astrid's horse. But he hated the woman. She never fed him apples or scratched his belly like Juheena did. Horses were like giant dogs, Juheena thought to herself. Only her Shadowmere was no ordinary horse. He was an Assassin as well, a gift from Sithis himself. He was as intelligent, if not more so, than his human counterparts.

She wondered if Anja and Babette would get along. If Irileth and Gabby would get along… If Farkas, her love, and Arnbjorn, her father, would get along. The more excited she got, the more worried she got. But her wait was about to come to an end. Up ahead, she could see a large cluster of Nightshade.

Grinning, she ran up and plucked a bloom, and placed it in Anja's hair. She attempted to do the same to Farkas, but he laughed and fought her off.

"I'm already pretty enough… I don't need no decoration." Juheena pinched his nose playfully, then jumped off the small ledge leading into the forest.

"There's no path." Anja observed.

"I'm sure there's a reason for that little fairy." Farkas explained. Juheena nodded. "We don't want everyone finding the entrance to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, now do we?"

"Speaking of which…" Irileth nodded, indicating ahead. There it was. There was a clear pond, and a garden full of nightshade. There was even a bloom growing in a hollowed out alcove in a tree. Out of nowhere, a big, burly horse with fierce, glowing red eyes, ran up. Nobody moved. Except Juheena.

She ran up and threw her arms around the horse's neck, then kissing his muzzle. As she tickled his nose, the horse didn't look so frightening anymore. In fact, he looked quite silly scrunching up his nose. He batted his hoof at her, telling her to stop. He was a proud horse.

Anja approached the door. There was an intricate carving of Sithis gazing back at her. Instead of feeling fear, she felt thrilled. She was being enticed by the dark side, and she liked it. The others followed close behind her, and Juheena looked upon the door like an old friend. The horse poked his head in between them, sniffing at Irileth's cloak where Cicero was snuggled. Smelling the jester, Shadowmere snorted loudly, kicked up his heels, and disappeared in a puff of red smoke. Farkas chuckled, "Smart horse."

Juheena matched eyes with the slightly luminescent ones belonging to the avatar of Sithis. Slowly, a harrowing whisper sounded. "What is life's greatest Illusion?"

"The one where you saw a lady in half!" Cicero shouted.

Shaking her head, Juheena proclaimed, "Innocence, my brother."

"Welcome home."

Author's note:

Well Juheena is finally home! And she has grown closer to her friends while doing it!

I don't know about you, but I like bunny Cicero better.

Thank you to all of my lovely readers! I adore you all!

See you next time!