"Innocence! You've done it again!" I was met with Veezara's cool reptilian lisp as the door to the sanctuary.
"Done what?"
"Succeeded in yet another contract! Don't you ever rest? You look like you deserve a little rest and relaxation. Actually," he turned to Cicero. "Will you give us a moment?" Cicero, with a collected smile, simply turned and walked away. Very un-Cicero-like. "Innocence, I know that we do not know each other well but... I would like to. Maybe we could go somewhere outside the sanctuary and maybe, well I guess what I am trying to say is-"
"Don't be so nervous, Veezara. It's just me."
"I know, I know," he tucked my fingers into his taloned ones. "What I'm trying to say, Innocence is... could I possibly court you sometime?"
"Oh," I said, attempting to pull my fingers away and finding that I particularly didn't have the heart too. Veezara was sweet. Tame. Predictably so. I thought of a future with Veezara and could see the comfortability of it all just by the way he had approached me these past two occasions. Well, as comfortable as life as counting assassins would be, that is.
Cicero however... He was feisty. Wild. Ready to pounce at any second. Sure, he was obsessive and possessive and animalistic but... those were all the things I loved about him. I may have hated his constant "Listener" callings, but... what would I do if they stopped? Sure, I was the Listener, but more so, I was his Listener.
Veezara squeezed my fingers in anticipation, awaiting my response. I looked into his surprisingly soft reptilian eyes.
"Veezara, that's very sweet, but-"
"Ah, at last," Gabriella cooed, "I've been anxiously awaiting your return."
"G-gabriella," I sputtered, wishing that any of the people in this guild had some sense of privacy, "Gaius Maro is-"
"Dead, I know. As does Astrid. You have done well, and have earned both your reward, and a bonus, as I may have mentioned. But you should know that we have a more pressing matter to deal with. It's... Cicero." Gabriella looked flustered and as she ceased her talking, I could hear shouting and the clanging of blades in the other room.
"You're a fake! A phony! A copy of my Listener! No... worse. You are the scum on the bottom of her boot! You are-"
"Cicero!" I cried. Cicero and Astrid were intertwined on the floor, Cicero crushing her with his lean Imperial muscle. The tip of his dagger was pressed against her throat, a dollop of blood leaking into the crevice. It was a miracle that she was able to breath without slicing herself wide open.
Cicero's eyes quickly fluttered towards me, looking even more hurt and urgent.
"Innocence, you've got to listen! Astrid! She isn't good! She-" Arnbjorn took his moment of distraction to kick the fool off his wife and Veezara ran to grab. That was a mistake. The argonian grunted as Cicero's blade sliced diligently into the lizards chest. Gabriella cried out, catching Veezara as he slumped to the floor.
I looked at Cicero and he looked back, neither of us able to say a word. Neither of us able to know what the other was thinking.
"Protect yourself," he said, then sprinted from the sanctuary.
"You think you can run, damn fool?!" screamed Arnbjorn, surrendering care of his wife to Festus and running, on four hairy paws, at the jester.
"Wait, Arnbjorn!" Astrid shrieked followed by a series of harsh hacks. "Damn it, this never should have happened! We knew better. We knew better, and still we let our guards down."
"I'll admit," Festus said, using a healing spell, then wrapping Astrid's wound. "Even I'm having a hard time disagreeing with you..."
"The fool went absolutely berserk! He wounded Veezara, he tried to kill me, and then he fled. I knew that lunatic couldn't be trusted."
"It's true, I'm afraid. Cicero was a little whirlwind, slashing this way and that. It would have been funny, if he weren't trying to murder us all," Festus added.
"Don't forget the ranting and raving," Nazir added, who had run in with more supplies for our healers. "About the Night Mother, how she was the true leader of the Dark Brotherhood and Astrid was just a 'pretender.'"
Astrid stood shakily.
"Look, we've got to deal with this situation. You've got to deal with this situation. I want you to find that miserable little fool and end his life! But first...find my husband. Make sure he's all right."
"B-but," I stuttered, trying to think of any other words besides 'end his life.' "What about Veezara?!"
"He'll be okay," Gabriella said, fingers dancing across the wound with a red elixir, only slightly more cherry than his blood. "The cut was shallow, surprisingly so. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the fool actually cared about the rules of being keeper and tried specifically to spare his life." As soon as the words left her mouth, I knew that must be true.
"Search Cicero's room," Astrid said. "Maybe there's something in there that sheds some light on where he might have gone. Let me know the minute you find something. I've got to see to Veezara, and calm everyone down."
"Bested by a fool. Who's the fool now, hmm?" Veezara almost sung. I was sad to see him in such a state, but at least he was alive.
"Hush, Veezara. You were very brave. Astrid may well be dead if not for you," Barbette cooed.
"She's right. I'll be forever in your debt, dearest brother. Now be quiet. Just... just rest."
"When life gives you lemons," Nazir spat," go murder a clown."
...
I rummaged through the slightly familiar space of Cicero's living. Clothes, tapestries, and canvas paper littered the floor. Everything looked normal, not at all like he was planning on attacking or leaving.
I couldn't believe what had just happened. One minute, Cicero and I had just returned from a successful contract, then next, he had gone crazy. Slashing and stabbing at whoever angered him. I wonder what Astrid had done to upset him so.
In my hazardous search, I accidentally knocked all the papers off his desk. The mess fluttered effortless to the stone floor. All except four leather books. The cover of one of the tomes fell open and Cicero's messy cursive writing was visible.
30th of Sun's Dusk, 4E 215
I have arrived in Skyrim. After years of unsuccessfully trying to recreate the Night Mother's work, I have finally admitted defeat. Now it is time to bring Mother to a new home, so she can be at peace once more. Maddening... silencing... peace.
This must have been Cicero's journal. I quickly fished through the papers on the floor, scooping the other three hardbacks into my arms.
It has been a difficult twenty years, and even as my families faces fade from my mind, yours remains in all its purity. I find myself praying less and less for the deaths of the unworthy and more for your safety. How the years as keeper have turned me soft.
I flipped through the pages, forcing any questions that arose back into my throat. I knew I needed to find him. Quickly. I just didn't know what needed to be done after that.
5th of Evening Star, 4E 215
It seems that I have hit a bump in the road, both metaphorically and physically. One of my wagon wheels had hit a large rock in the middle of the path! And after walking quite a way back down the trail I originally came in search of help, I received a rather rude decline from a rather unhelpful farmer. But wait, could this be another traveler? There must be a kind soul in Skyrim. There must be.
The 5th of Evening Star? That was the day I met Cicero. The day my entire world turned upside down.
A kind soul indeed, a sight for oh so very sore eyes, with all the purity of a babe and all the maturity of a seasoned widow, it couldn't be, but it very well is... my Innocence! I cannot hear her, but I know the Night Mother is singing on this day!
Cicero knew? He knew my name, my face, who I was before I even knew? My head began to spin. I flipped through until the dates became recent, suppressing another load of confusion and curiosity.
22nd of Morning Star, 4E 215
So much joy and happiness have I acquired here. My Mother, my Innocence, and, always full of surprises, my Listener! And yet... no family. This Sanctuary still stood. Still operated before the Listener. But how? No Listener means no Black Sacrament, no Black Sacrament means no contracts. Her family can abandon the Old Ways, and still survive, still kill. But is that family still Brotherhood? Or something else? Something new. Something different. Something wrong?
Something wrong.
There was another Sanctuary once. A Dawnstar Sanctuary. Good, ancient and strong. Blessed by Sithis. Cicero will go there! No need of Astrid! The only thing Cicero needs is Mother, himself, and his Innocence.
23rd of Sun's Dawn, 4E 215
This sanctuary may be full of blasphemers, but it is also full of the riches of undiscovered knowledge. After hours of searching through books, scrolls, and tombs the passphrase is mine! I have found it, in a letter ancient as the Sanctuary itself. The Black Door will ask "What is life's greatest illusion?" I am to answer - "Innocence, my brother." How ironic. I now know where Yorgrim got the name; an answer to a Black Door just like her brother. But I belong with my beloved, whom would never leave her family. But one cannot blame her... after all she has endured... after all she has lost...
I swallow the lump of inquisition in my throat and press on to the last entry.
1st of First Seed, 4E 216
It is time. No longer will I wait for my Listener. She must understand. We must go, Cicero and Innocence. I am not the Listener, and never will be. But I am the Keeper and as Keeper, I must protect my own. It isn't about the error of Astrid's ways anymore, nor the beauty and necessity of the Old Ways. I hear her every night when she thinks everyone is asleep, plotting, pondering. I don't know what she's planning, but I know it can't be good and I know I cannot stop it. I can only hope to convince Innocence. She is oh so stubborn, especially when the truth lies in plain sight. But she must listen, she must understand.
"I know what you're thinking," said Veezara. I turned to find him leaning against the doorframe, barely able to support himself but still alive as ever.
"Veezara, you shouldn't be standing," I walk towards him and take him by the elbow. He rips it away instantly.
"Don't be an idiot, Innocence." Every ounce of comforting Veezara charm was gone, melted by harsh argonian ferocity. "I know how you feel about that bastard. Don't go ruin your life here because you think he's going to requite any of your feelings. He's a maniac, Innocence. He's incapable of love."
"You don't know him!" I wanted, no, needed to swallow the words as soon as they carelessly tumbled from my lips. Veezara smiled and shook his head.
"It's your call, Innocence. You have a chance to do the right thing. But if you make the wrong decision," he leaned in so close I could smell the healing elixirs on his tongue, "you better not show your face here again. Don't betray your family for a fool." He starts to walk away, leaving me in a daze before turning back to face me. "And by the way, Astrid's got a little gift for you outside. Maybe it will show you where your loyalties should lie."
Exiting the sanctuary, I was met with the fiery gaze of two red eyes resting in a midnight sea. The being was large, even for a horse, its legs meeting almost to my shoulders. His fur was so dark, the texture could not be determined. He huffed, scratching the dirt.
"What is it?" I ask Astrid in awe. She pulls a strand of mane out of the beasts' eyes. It nuzzles her gratefully.
"This is Shadowmere. Beautiful, isn't he? Let's just say he's... one of us. Take him. He's the fastest horse you'll ever have the honor to ride. Find Arnbjorn. Make sure my husband's all right. And then send that jester's twisted little soul to the Void, in as many pieces as possible."