The dream began to unfold in her mind, or perhaps a veil lifted, or clouds parted, allowing the images to come into sharp focus.
It was a very familiar face that stood at the alchemist bench, a very familiar bench in a very familiar cell of a very familiar cave in Haafingar, a day or so west of Solitude if one traveled by cart.

Narissa's wavy auburn hair was tied back into a simple ponytail that reached to her waist, the sleeves of her robes, the robes that Garreth said brought out the highlights in her eyes, rolled up to her elbows, her hazel colored eyes fixed on the mortar and pestle with which she was grinding dried brown leaves. The door to the cell was cracked open slightly for air flow, but not so much that either the small spirit lamp on the table in front of her or the candles in the wall sconces around her were in any danger of going out. From somewhere in the cave the sounds of her sister priestesses practicing the invocation that would eventually summon Potema Septim back to the world of the living could faintly be heard. It was an invocation that Nari did not know or, at least, had not been taught; she had heard it practiced enough times that she knew it by heart. But she would not be part of the group that would recite it when the time came; not possessing any discernible gift for Conjuration. Narissa's skills lay in Alchemy and Thaumaturgy and, were she to put aside her natural humility, she would acknowledge that those skills were considerable.

Narissa was quite content to be omitted from the Mysteries. Like Noxaura and Neve, Narissa had been whisked away in the dead of night from the Mother House of the Maetreum of Cybele in Bruma, too young to realize that a kidnapping was underway. Unlike Nox and Neve, Nari had made no efforts in the intervening years to incorporate any of the beliefs of the Wolf Queen into her personal beliefs. She loved the two women as if they were sisters of her own blood, but Nari did not share their interest in history and had even less interest in politics, the result being that Nari did not care in the slightest whether Potema ever set a corporeal foot in Tamriel ever again.

But Nari was very interested in alchemy and thaumaturgy, and as long as she played the part of the demur, devout priestess and stayed shrouded in the shadows of Reverend Mother Catilia's neglect she could continue her studies; studies aided occasionally by an ancient tome that Nox or Neve had unearthed on the subjects.
All of these things passed through her mind as she was working, but it was Garreth that Nari was thinking of as she hummed a soft tune when her thoughts were interrupted by a sound like something heavy falling and a man's angry voice. She began to move towards the door when the yelling became screaming, and the sound of something falling resolved itself into a clash of weapons and armor. Her progress towards the door stopped immediately, and as her face began to display the fear that she felt throughout her entire body she stepped backwards, bumping into the alchemy table.

The door open without warning. A scream of her own formed in her chest, but her fear, which had become outright terror, had rendered her mute.
"Stay here." Garreth said. "Put out the lights and conceal yourself."
"Is it bandits?" She asked him as her heart beat rapidly in her chest.
"No, it is worse." He replied before turning away.
"Where is Railius?" She asked his receding form.
"Catilia sent him off with Noxaura." He replied, before turning back one last time. "Hide."

Nari closed the door and quickly scanned the small room. There was a medium sized chest against the wall, that contained almost nothing. Nari opened the top of the chest before putting out all the sources of light, finally crawling back to the chest on hands and knees before climbing inside and closing the lid.
The sounds of violence, and the screams that followed, approached, and the shaking of Nari's entire body grew worse the closer the sounds came. When she could hear footsteps approach the room in which she hid she held her breath, clenched her arms around her legs, and prayed to the Divines to spare her.
The sounds of the door opening, and the labored breathing of the person standing in the doorway, nearly stopped her heart, but just as quickly the door closed, the footsteps receding just as quickly as they had approached. Nari held her breath for what seemed an eternity, until her lungs felt as if they would burst. Then, with much effort, she slowly began to release that breath, and to quietly take in another, repeating the process as her lips began to silently form The Prayer of Faith, a prayer that she had not uttered out loud for many years. Her arms began to relax finally, but she did not move from that fetal position. She willed her body into a rhythm of slow quiet breath as her mind recited the prayer that she had learned as a small girl, in a land far to the south.

She awoke with a start, for a moment not recalling where she was or how she came to be there. She lay still for quite some time, her entire being focused on detecting the slightest sound. There was no knowing how long she had been tucked away in this chest that smelled strongly of cedar, but not sounds could be detected. She began to unfold herself then, her entire body complaining of the unnatural position she had held for so long. She opened the top of the chest a crack, the hinges adding no sound in the vast silence. There was no light that she could detect; she could not tell whether the door to the cell was open or closed. She opened the top fully, quietly leaning the lid back against the wall before stepping out onto the cold stone floor.
Nari crawled until she found the door, which was indeed closed. She opened the door a crack, and peered into the short corridor that lead to the main room on the lowest level of the cave that was their home. She stayed like that for a short time, looking and listening. When she was certain that there was no sound or movement she opened the door just enough to enter into the corridor and she began to walk towards the light of the main hall.

The first body she discovered was Garreth's.

The left side of his skull had been crushed by a powerful blow. Resting on the floor near where he lay was a broken spear. Nari's eyes began to fill with tears, which quickly spilled out onto her cheeks and onto the floor; but her tears were silent.

Neve's body was next. Her slight form bore no visible mark or wound to tell the tale of what had killed her.

Nari found four more bodies. She knew all their names.