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Chapter 65: Truths Bitter and Sweet
14th of Evening Star
The cave was dark and damp, and the two creatures said to live within it stood before him several feet away, a Winged Twilight and a Frost Atronach, shaped almost like an armored man. Between the odd couple and himself lay a body, the face pointed his way with the jaw slack, revealing two fangs.
'The vampire,'he figured. He knew what the undead had been after. Molag Bal had, essentially, put out a bounty on his own daughter and her lover, the very two Daedra before him at this moment.
He shifted his footing and looked to them both, both sides watching the other to see what they might do. Slowly, he let go of his hilt and let his hand sway by his side before reaching up.
Everything changed. A desolate landscape dotted with wicked-looking architecture and blue pyres stretched out in every direction. Screams echoed out across the land, rising and falling with such frequency that there was never a moment of quiet. A woman came into view, cloaked in white and giving off a sort of radiance even as her eyes burned with red rage. Some emaciated souls saw her coming and moved from her path, looking at her in a mix of awe and fear.
Lamae Bal barely paid them any heed, walking with purpose towards a goal. She passed by scenes of torture, where Xivkyn were doling out torment after torment to the mortal souls under their custody. One was having the skin peeled off his body, going from the fingers and toes and gradually being ripped away from his flesh. Another was being stretched from his hips and shoulders, tears in his torso speaking of the threat of his body being ripped in half. A woman was being shoved into a boiling cauldron, trying to rip herself free of them to no avail before a lid was slammed atop and locked on. The cauldron wobbled as her muffled screams reached out, but stayed on its feet. Other horrifying scenes were abound, but Lamae paid them no heed as she continued forward.
Within the entry chamber of a massive castle, mortals hung from the ceiling among a forest of chains in a way that seemed almost comfortable to the earlier goings-on. Vampires roamed among them, sniffing and taking bites, trying to draw out whatever vitae could be found lingering within the damned souls. Further in, more tortures were being applied by vampires and Daedra alike, ranging from common torments like flogging and beating to the most unspeakable of actions.
Past there, however, was a massive chamber in which a single device was restraining one being, which was being tended to by the monstrous form of Molag Bal. The Daedric Prince was setting the newest of several hooks with the precision of a tailor into the torso of a being with Aargin's face, which was somewhere between the normal look he once held and the shriveled visage he bore just before death. Molag noticed Lamae's entrance and paused in his actions for just a moment.
"Ah, my lovely bride!"he greeted her, making his way over to the vampire with a smile on his gruesome face. "Have you come to see how your child fares in the care of your lord?"
"You are not my lord," she denied with venom. Rather than seem angered or offended, Molag Bal laughed at the objection.
"I love that fight in you. Oh, I hope it lasts for many more millennia before…you…break,"he enunciated, leaning over and whispering the words into her ear. Lamae simply kept walking forward until she was at Aargin's side. He looked up at her, his eyes begging her for help. She reached out and caressed his cheek in a motherly fashion, which seemed to calm him, at least somewhat.
Molag reached over and pulled some sort of lever, activating pulley devices above, and the chains began clinking before they began pulling the hooks. Pain overtook Aargin as he screamed, his intestines being ripped out and slowly pulled from his body, trailing out of the holes ripped through his skin. Lamae looked up from him, her countenance cold even as the man next to her screamed himself hoarse.
"Must we suffer here for all of eternity?" She turned, and Weiss suddenly felt her gaze upon her as she saw crimson tears leaking from the Blood Matron's eyes. "Will you leave your family here, my child?"
Weiss awoke screaming.
Cold breath left her lips, going forward like a hazy mist and freezing the Altmer before her solid. The young woman took a few breaths, and then Jarmak stepped out of the ice, leaving behind a hollow shell shaped like him.
"Well done," he complimented her before turning back to look at the ice. "You grasped our freezing breath technique far more easily."
"I guess I did," Weiss agreed before wiping her mouth and gazing down. Jarmak looked back at her, and she tried to look up and meet his gaze.
"I… I had…a nightmare." Her eyes turned down again before she brought her face back up. "It… I thought you might have…heard about it."
"Hm, I did," he admitted. "Nightmares are not so uncommon for our kind. I wanted to see if you would be the one to bring it up."
"If I didn't?" Weiss quietly asked.
"Then I would have considered whether it was worth asking. After all, you may have not considered it worth mentioning for a reason."
"I suppose." She crossed her arms and leaned on her left leg. "Well, uh, I… It was about… It started as one of the…Nerevarine Dreams that I have. There was…a cave, where someone called Molag Grunda was."
"Molag Grunda. Said to be the daughter of Molag Bal," Jarmack said.
"How does… How would that work?" Weiss wondered, both disturbed and genuinely curious.
"Hm, it is nearly impossible to know of the goings-on in the minds of the Daedra, much less the Daedric Princes. But, if I were to guess, she once served as an extension of Molag Bal's will in a specific form that took on an identity of its own. This is mere conjecture, however." He hummed as he scratched his chin. "Molag Grunda was noted to be in Vvardenfel during the time of the Nerevarine's rise. Rumor had it that Molag Bal was offering a cure for any vampire that slayed her and her Frost Atronach lover."
"How does that wo- No, actually, I'd prefer to not know how that works." Weiss tried to shake the unbidden images of an Ice Atronach making love to a Winged Twilight. It was hard enough stopping herself from remembering what she once read about a man summoning a Fire Atronach… And now she was remembering that! She began smacking her head, then opened her eyes. "Wait… He was offering a cure…for anyone who would kill his own daughter?"
"Hm, well, as a Daedra, she would not so much die as be sent back to Oblivion, where she would be under his direct influence. A few of the Kindred tried to venture out to take advantage of this. A few returned, having been too late. She was whisked away under the protection of Azura, thanks to the Nerevarine. No one knows what deal passed between the refugee demi-prince and the Prince of Twilight, save perhaps those two and a select few witnesses." He hummed. "You said this was how it began?"
"Yes, well, everything…changed," Weiss continued on. "I began seeing some dark, gloomy world and…I just knew that it was Coldharbour. There were screams everywhere. Torture going on all over the place. The… The things that were being done… Jarmak, it was Hell. There's no other way to describe it." Weiss clenched her arms and rubbed them, as though trying to warm them back up as she shivered at the memory. "It was like how the Temple of Deus describes Tartarus and the Mountaineers' vision of Hel combined to create some cold realm of agony. But…" Weiss took in a deep breath before slowly, painfully describing the nightmare step by step to the elder vampire, who listened patiently. When it was over, he hummed and closed his eyes.
"Troubling," he concluded after a moment of thought.
"Troubling?" Weiss asked in disbelief. "What if… What if somehow by finding out what I am, what my original bloodline is, she's made a connection to me and is going to haunt me for the rest of my days?"
"Then that is what happens, and you must learn to live with it."
Most of her fear replaced with annoyance, Weiss managed to scoff. "Seriously?"
"I am sorry, child, but there is really nothing in my experience that could help us here," he explained. "It may be that this is how your nightmares have chosen to manifest. It is not unusual. In fact, that you have dreams that could be seen as pleasant is what's truly unusual. Most of us must suffer nightmares if we view anything in our sleep at all. Perhaps this is only you and not the actual Lamae Bal reaching for you."
"I'm not sure which is worse," Weiss admitted. "Part of me…doesn't want people to suffer so horribly. Even wicked vampires like some of them must have been. But a better part of me knows bringing them back to Nirn, no matter the way it's done, would be worse for so many more people."
"That is true," Jarmack agreed and hummed. "Even if the process of opening the way for them was harmless, letting them back would not be. Truly 'good' vampires are few and far between. I would chance that even most of the Kindred refrain from their more wicked tendencies simply out of self-interest rather than a wish to actually be good."
"A rather…cynical way to think about it," Weiss noted grimly.
"At least I should never be disappointed," he pointed out with a slight laugh. Weiss slowly shook her head when she felt her scroll vibrating. She took it out of her pouch to see that it was Yang calling, then answered it.
"Yes?"
"Hey, Weiss? Yeah, listen," the blonde began in a rushed tone.
"Yang? What's the matter? You sound like you're-"
"I think I found a cure."
Everything seemed to stop at that moment. Weiss' breathed hitched as all went silent. It seemed as though all of time had decided to cease as the heiress took in what her teammate just said and tried to process it. It seemed so simple a statement, yet something with far more meaning behind it.
"Weiss?"
"You mean…for vampirism?" she finally, slowly got out. Weiss' statement seemed to catch Jarmak's complete and undivided attention, and the old Altmer quickly began to realize that whatever this 'Yang' was telling his latest pupil, it was of great significance.
"Yes. I just learned about it."
Weiss turned toward Jarmak. "We need a Muffle over this room."
"Silence would do more, I believe," he said before casting the spell. Weiss felt the magic surround them, then set her scroll to speaker.
"Where did you hear about this?" Weiss practically demanded her friend.
"Uh, just learned about it from Isran." Video feed then popped on-screen, showing Yang's confused face. "Wait, who's that guy?"
"This is Jarmak. Don't worry, I trust him," Weiss explained to her. "Yang says she thinks she's found a cure."
"You do?" he inquired with a hum, stroking his thin beard. "It seems Azura's dream had purpose."
"Yeah, well, like I said, Isran just told me about it. You sure we can trust him Weiss? Not casting doubt on your judgement or anything, but this is some sensitive information."
"It's fine. He's been searching for a cure for millennia, Yang. We can trust him."
"All right." Yang nodded on the screen; an utmost serious expression plastered on her face as she regarded both vampires. "The guy who knows it is Falion, in Morthal. Don't have any real specifics, but I know the guy. He's a good man, despite the rumors."
"Rumors that he is a necromancer abound the Hold," Jarmak commented. "Of course, to us, that would hardly matter, but it seems he brings another sort of dead back to life."
"Are we sure this is right?" Weiss asked, practically pleading. "Isran is that vampire hunter, isn't he? Would he really want vampires cured?"
"Isran can be a huge ass, trust me, but he's not the kinda guy to lie. He was pretty genuine about it, and the conversation leading up to it could've been avoided if he made up basically anything else. Besides, if Falion isthe one with the cure, then you can bet he'll be good to you."
"He did act favorably towards you," Weiss commented as she remembered the brief visit to his shop back during her short time in Morthal. Yang had explained that he was just so thankful for not being immediately accused of anything within the range of Daedra worship, necromancy, or pedophilia that he warmed up to her almost instantly. Apparently, the number of people who had never looked down upon him could be counted on someone's fingers, and one of them was his sister.
"Yeah, so at the very least, it's worth checking on. Heck, isn't there like a couple dozen vampires looking for a cure there?"
"More like a couple hundred," Weiss mentioned off-handedly. "All right, well, we're fairly close to Morthal, and Ruby was about to head this way." She nodded. "Yeah, I think I could fly over there and regroup with Ruby while looking into it. If it turns out to be legitimate…" She lifted her hand and watched herself clench and unclench her fist. "Well, we know what happens next."
"I am…surprised," Jarmak admitted, the faint hints of hope filling his voice. "I never would have guessed that a cure was so close to us." He hummed and nodded. "We'll keep this quiet for now. We don't need all of the Kindred rushing into Morthal. That could…easily cause a misunderstanding."
"And if word gets out and someone who would rather vampires didn't get cured learns about it," Yang added, "they might try to stop it all."
"Who would do such a thing?" Weiss wondered aloud.
"Vindictive vampire hunters," Jarmak suggested. "Overzealous purists. Believers of predetermined punishment. Or, simply, vampires who don't want there to be a cure."
"…Oh," she slowly realized. If there was any one person who would've wanted a possible cure destroyed, Harkon would definitely be a candidate.
"You'll be wanting to ready yourself for travel," the elder vampire then stated.
"Yes, I will. Thank you for understanding." Weiss' eyes then widened. "Wait, if this works, then that will make all of this training…"
"It will not be pointless, trust me," he assured her. "While they are abilities of the Volkihar clan, they are not without their equivalents. Material phasing is a known, if advanced, Alteration spell. And freezing something solid is certainly not outside your range of abilities."
Weiss smiled and nodded. "You're right. Either way, thank you for everything." She stood up straighter and looked him in the eyes. "I'll let you know once I've confirmed whether or not this is a true cure. Until then, I suppose I'll be up on the surface."
"While you're at it, we still have your pig," Yang reminded her. "And you can bet Toggle misses you. You guys should be heading here after Ruby's stop at Winterhold, so you can get him then."
"Ah, yes." Weiss recalled how much she preferred riding the great boar compared to a horse. Sure, she could fly – actually fly now with how her wings developed – but being able to relax on a trip left her more time to think and do things. Plus, she actually did miss the beast a good bit. "I'll get him back from you, then."
"Please do." Yang stated plainly. "He's eating everything. Literally, everything."
Weiss covered up a laugh. "Don't worry. I'll take him off your hands."
Blake stirred the campfire as Glathriel, the small Bosmer woman she had met while traveling last night, came out and started to skewer some meat to warm over the flames. She happened upon the elf's camp just as the sun was setting the previous night, and she was willing to share her fire. Blake was cautious, of course, but the night was getting cold and she likely needed to stop and rest anyways. The Sepulcher was nearby, if Karliah's instructions were right, but she didn't want to go searching for it in the dark with hungry predators prowling about in the freezing cold. She ended up taking a few naps up in a tree, further from the fire than she would like, but secure in the knowledge that she was safe and hidden and that warmth was just a hop away.
It seemed she didn't need to worry, though. Glathriel was nice, if a bit quiet. Still, as the sun finally started peaking over the tree line, Blake was wondering about the Bosmer. She didn't tell the Faunus much, and what little she shared made more questions in Blake's mind.
"You're sure about those vampires?" she asked, her ears flicking around, trying to pick up any strange sounds.
"Yes. They're nice," Glathriel answered before sticking some apple on her skewers. Blake waited a moment before pressing further.
"It's not that I don't trust your judgement," she said, even though that was exactly what it was, "but I'd feel a bit better about it if you extrapolated a little."
The elf stopped and looked up for a moment in thought, then went back to adding to her meal. "There were other vampires that were bad. They got rid of them."
"…That works, I suppose." Blake figured they should be looked into just in case, but that was something for later. She could do it on her way back to Lakeview. As sunlight finally started to pour in and turn the frost it touched into mist, Blake prepared to set off.
"Well, thanks for letting me stick around. Hope you find what you're looking for."
Glathriel was still for a moment before nodding. "Thank you. Safe travels."
Blake took off towards the south, soon following the edges of the mountains as they turned in. Several wild goats and deer scattered as she came in, some of them heading up the mountainsides only to pause and look back at her as she continued on. The edges slowly came together to form a short ravine, at the end of which the animals that had gone forward were forced to turn and either rush past Blake or struggle up steep cliffsides. Where the feet of two mountains joined, Blake saw an ancient-looking door. The sigil on it seemed to glow to her before the door opened. She walked into the cavernous tunnel and into the winding way until she emerged into a massive chamber, the head of which had a wide set of stairs leading to a hallway entry that led further in, At the foot of the stairs stood a ghost, it's ephemeral attire an exact match for the Nightingale Armor.
"I don't recognize you," the spirit said as Blake approached, "but I sense that you're one of us. Who are you?"
"Blake Belladonna," she answered before tapping the symbol on her black vest, causing it to expand into the full Nightingale Armor in wispy shadows. "And who are you?"
"The last of the Nightingale Sentinels, I'm afraid," he answered. "I've defended the Sepulcher alone for what seems like an eternity."
"The last?" Blake asked in surprise. "What happened?"
"We were betrayed by one of our own kind. In fact, I'm to blame for what's happened here." The ghost hung his head at that. "I was blinded. Blinded by dark treachery masquerading as friendship. Perhaps if I had been more vigilant, then Mercer Frey wouldn't have lured me to my fate and stolen the Skeleton Key."
"Wait, hold on a second," Blake requested as she came to a realization. "You're Gallus?"
The ethereal being turned its head up, as though in deep thought and remembrance."I haven't heard that name in a long time. How do you know of me?"
"Well, first from Brynjolf and the others, then from Karliah," she explained.
"Karliah... She's still alive?" Gallus asked in disbelief. "I feared she'd befallen the same fate, ending up a victim of Mercer's betrayal."
"No, she managed to escape him." Blake reached into her pouch, the magic of the armor letting her hand do so, somehow, and pulled out the Daedric artifact nestled there. "We fought Mercer, and I've brought the Skeleton Key back."
"The Key!" he shouted in surprise and joy. "You have the Skeleton Key! I never thought I'd see it again. And Mercer Frey?"
"Dead," she said simply.
"Then...it's over and my death wasn't in vain." Gallus nodded gratefully, and despite the cowl covering his face, Blake knew he was smiling."I owe you a great deal, Blake Belladonna."
"Don't mention it. It was the right thing to do." She made to hand it over, but the ghost did not move to take it. "Um, do you want to return it?" she asked awkwardly.
"Nothing would bring me more pride than to return the Key, but I'm afraid it's impossible. From the moment I arrived here, I've felt myself... well... dying."
"But…you're already dead. How can you be dying?"
"The Sepulcher isn't merely a temple or a vault to house the Key," Gallus explained. "Within these walls is the Ebonmere...a conduit to Nocturnal's realm of Evergloam. When Mercer stole the Key, that conduit closed, severely limiting our ties to her."
"Ah great," she moaned before looking behind him at the beginning of the halls. "That means I've got to take it all the way there."
"I'm afraid so. I'm weakening, and I can feel myself slipping away. The years without restoration of my power have taken their toll. Whatever damage has been caused can only be corrected by following the Pilgrim's Path to the Ebonmere and replacing the Key."
"All right." She sighed and started moving her muscles around to limber up. "Anything you can tell me? Karliah said she's never used the Pilgrim's Path."
"I wish I could help you, but I've been a prisoner in this very chamber for the last quarter century. The only possible help I've come across are the remains of some poor fellow who was trying to follow in your footsteps." He looked over to the side of the cavern and Blake followed his sight, seeing a near-skeleton with shredded and decayed clothes and a sack. "Perhaps his journal can help?"
"Thank goodness for the Temple of Akatosh, right?" she joked while walking over and checking the body. Along with a journal that she leafed through to check the legibility of, there was a handful of coins scattered among now useless items like a weathered quill and dry inkpot. Next to the decomposing corpse was an old war axe, but she wasn't sure if it was his or the reason he died.
"'Shadows of their former selves, sentinels of the dark. They wander ever more and deal swift death to defilers,'" Blake read aloud when she reached the clues this apparent Nystrom had penned.
"The Nightingale Sentinels," Gallus said.
"Is something wrong with them, or is it like a test?"
"Normally they would be cognizant, and you could have been diplomatic as you passed through," Gallus explained, a regretful tone in his echoing voice."But with the Ebonmere closed, and their sudden severance from the realm of Evergloam, I fear they've undergone a drastic change. They're shadows of their former selves. They no longer remember their true purpose or their original identities."
"Every day I hate Mercer a little more," Blake groaned before closing the journal and putting it aside. "You didn't end up like that, though."
"My spirit didn't manifest itself in the Sepulcher immediately, so fortunately I wasn't present when the Ebonmere was sealed. However, ever since that day, I've felt my power waning... slowly draining away."
"I see. Don't worry, I'll get the key where it's supposed to go." She nodded to him and started heading towards the hall. "Wish me luck."
"I shall. Good luck, Nightingale."
Blake smiled as she entered the Path. Her veil began showing human-shaped glows behind walls and the like, and so she immediately began softening her steps and kept mindful of the height and width of her surroundings, ducking down when she left the walls and hid in the shadows of an urn. Below, she saw what looked like a small auditorium, with a strange podium at the head of it. A Nightingale-like ghost stood near the bottom, seeming to watch a hall entrance that likely led further into the Pilgrim's Path. Blake drew the Nightingale Blade quietly and slowly snuck up behind the spirit, driving it into his back while trying to grasp the ghost's mouth. It seemed to work, and the Nightingale Sentinel moaned in apparent pain before dissolving into ectoplasm.
"Sorry," she whispered before continuing on. Further in, she spotted a feminine form ahead of her with a bow in hand. The archer saw Blake approach and nocked an arrow.
"Who walks among the dea-" Blake dashed by, swiping the sword through the ghost's neck and leaving her to fall and dissolve.
Things changed significantly past the next door. The place was pitch black in places with braziers giving off bright light that seemed to be unable to fully illuminate the room. Blake saw a fresher body just outside the darkness close to her, so she went over and reached out to it. However, as the light washed over her arm, she began to feel burning as steam rose off of the limb. She screamed and drew back, the pain disappearing almost instantly, but not the sudden fright it had given her. She looked back at the light cast by the brazier and then pulled the journal back out to check it again.
Above all they stand, vigilance everlasting. Beholden the murk yet contentious of the glow.
"Stick to shadows," she mumbled to herself before looking forward. "I can appreciate poetic prose, but why couldn't he have just described the death trap warnings plainly?" She walked carefully, mindful of the light and how far it reached and staying in the darkness. It wasn't too much of a problem for her, but she knew that in a lot of the places where she was having a little trouble a human or elf would probably not see anything. She was able to see and step over some tripwires, likely connected to some traps, and stuck to the shadows all the way through, coming across another body out in the light just before she exited.
Further down Blake came up to yet another body and an old, bronze statue that she assumed was of Nocturnal. A plate was set before the statue with some septims and gems on it, but the place looked like a dead end. She may have even assumed it was the end and try sticking the Key in the statue somehow, but the journal still held more clues.
"'Offer what She desires most, but reject the material. For her greatest want is that which cannot be seen, felt, or carried.'" While Blake wasn't completely sure what that meant, she figured the answer was in the room itself. Looking around, she found a chain next to one of the large sconces and pulled it. The fire went out immediately, and so she looked at the one on the other side, found another chain, and pulled it as well. With the hall bathed in shadows, a secret door behind the statue opened up.
"I'd argue about not being able to see a shadow, but…"
As she walked into the next room, she recognized a flagstone that looked looser than its neighbors and avoided it. Unfortunately, the trigger to a narrow hallway of pendulum axes must have been a lot more subtle as they activated. Blake sighed and readied herself, jumping through immediately after one of the shorter swings, coming to stop just before she almost stepped on another loose flagstone. She sighed in relief, then opened the double doors next to it, only to have to drop onto her knees and back, watching as a ram trap passed over her, going through where her chest would have been. As it reeled itself back up, she got back to her feet from her limbo position and glared at the deadly trap before shaking her head and moving on.
As Blake snuck beneath the notice of another ghost, she came across a door and tried it to find it was locked. Deciding it wouldn't hurt, she took out the Skeleton Key and unlocked it. The door swung open, and she realized she was looking at the place right before the pendulums. She had somehow gone in a circle and not even noticed. As a few curses ran through her mind, she rechecked her steps and came upon another hallway, following it all the way until she reached a deep pit. A decayed corpse was at the bottom, in a similar state to Nystrom. Blake opened the journal again and looked at the last clue.
The journey is complete, the Empress' embrace awaits the fallen. Hesitate not if you wish to gift her your eternal devotion.
'For an average person, this would be a death trap,'
Blake figured. Even if they didn't break their legs after dropping down, few people she had in mind could hope to jump or climb out of a pit so deep. Of course, she was one of those few, so she hopped down. For a second, she waited, but when nothing happened she went over to search the other corpse. An old, frayed note was left nearby, so she read it.
I can't believe it. I came all this way, solved all of those ridiculous riddles just to end up here! After I memorized Nystrom's clues he'd collected from Lythelus, I slit his throat. Now I guess the joke's on me, because I'm stuck here and I don't see a way out. Hope someone comes by soon, I'm getting hungry.
Blake shook her head and stood up straight before looking around. The idiot got himself stuck in a religious test and was somehow surprised to find that he didn't pass. Well, she probably wouldn't have either, but she wasn't here for that. Blake took out the Skeleton Key again and looked over it before looking at the cracked surface of the stone beneath her. She held the Key tightly and crouched down before pressing its teeth to the center. The ground underneath her seemed to simply disappear, and she landed on her feet onto an iridescent indigo disk, encircled by gold plating, with a single brass slotted circle at the center. She gazed upon it for a moment, then took the Key and set it into the slot. The disk began to shift, going up from the center in a wave of circles that then came down, becoming enveloped by a liquid-like pool of glowing blue as three spikes came out equidistant from each other around the circle. Crows and ravens, or some facsimile of the creatures, practically poured forth from the portal, flying straight up through the skylight above before the shapely form of a beautiful woman rose out and hovered above the opened portal, a crow perched on one arm and a raven on the other.
"My, my. What do we have here?" Nocturnal began after she emerged. "It's been a number of years since I've set foot on your world. Or perhaps it's been moments. One tends to lose track. So…once again the Key has been stolen and a 'champion' returns it to the Sepulcher. It's almost strange. Were you not at all tempted to use the Key on yourself? To unlock your true potential as the betrayer did?"
"Honestly, the temptation was there," Blake admitted. She figured lying to the Daedric Prince wouldn't go over well. "I saw the things he was able to do. Hell, the handful of things I figured out with it were..." Unable to really find the words, she sighed. "But it wouldn't have done much in the end. I agreed to return the Key, and once it was back everything would have been locked again, all the potential powers included." She shrugged, feeling a little more comfortable now that the surprise of being in a literal god's presence had worn off. "Besides, I figure using something like a Daedric artifact on myself like that would have...unwanted consequences."
"Mm, how cautious. You presumed correctly, child. A deal was struck, and delaying the return of the Key for your own use would have been...unwise. Dear Mercer caused more than enough trouble on his own, and I will be visiting my displeasure upon him throughout his eternal stay in the Evergloam." Blake felt a shiver run up her spine at that. She had almost forgotten his connection as a Nightingale, and even then wasn't sure if it was still there. Now, she had just had it confirmed to her own ears. She had basically consigned the man to some sort of Hell.
'Not your fault,' she told herself.'He would have ended up there one way or the other. He could have stopped at any time, and you were defending yourself.'
"Such is the fate of those who would betray me. I have little patience for such foolishness. Ah, now that Ebonmere has been restored, you stand before me awaiting your accolades; a pat on your head...a kiss on your cheek."
"No," Blake cut in. "I don't need anything. I don't really want anything, either. I did this as a favor to a friend."
"Did you? Quite the favor it is, then. And yet, this would have occurred all the same. Whether you cared for a friend, for riches, or for yourself, there was still the Oath you struck, altered or otherwise. This was simply completing your end of the deal."
"Yeah, that's true I suppose," Blake admitted.
"And it is done. See to it that the Key stays this time, won't you?" the Daedric Prince said before sinking back down into the portal. Blake wondered for a moment if she could step into it herself, then decided that was definitely not a good idea, even as a hypothetical. She turned, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw another, corporeal Nightingale standing nearby.
"I'm glad you were able to bring the Key back safely," she said, Blake recognizing it as Karliah. "Nocturnal seemed quite pleased with your efforts."
"When the he- Never mind," she said in defeat as she just accepted that Karliah was a whole other level of stealthy. "Honestly, she didn't sound all that pleased to me."
"I wouldn't take that to heart. It's her way. Think of her as a scolding mother continually pushing you harder to be successful; outwardly sounding angry but silently content. I assure you, had she been displeased with you, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"Well, that's reassuring," Blake groaned before looking around, noticing three, magically glowing, doorway-shaped constructs around the room. "Portals?"
"Yes. Each can return you either to the entrance of the Sepulcher or to a portal connecting this place to Nightingale Hall."
"Convenient," she noted before thinking over something for a moment. "Don't suppose I can bring a friend through?"
"No. It is exclusively for the use of the Nightingales. Even if they were able to somehow enter one of these places, I would not risk Nocturnal's wrath by letting through the uninitiated. Only Nightingales or her priests may enter safely."
"Where are those guys, anyways?" Blake wondered aloud.
"Possibly fled. The Sepulcher has gone without its protections for many years. It may be a while before things return to normal."
"Yeah, probably." Blake walked over to one of the portals and looked at it for a moment. "So, how does it work?"
"Turn the dial to a half-moon for the Hall, and a full moon for the entrance."
With it set to a full moon, Blake poked her head through and looked around to see that she was looking at the large cavernous entrance of the Sepulcher.
"Huh, neat," she said after stepping back in. "So, what now?"
"Now, your life as a Nightingale begins," Karliah explained. "With the Ebonmere reopened, we will regain the full range of Nightingale powers, and luck will return to the Guild. Should the need arise, you'll be summoned to the Sepulcher in order to defend it."
"Okay, and how about you?"
"The Guild has welcomed me back with open arms." Blake could almost feel the smile on her face as she spoke. "I feel like a void in my life has finally been filled. I only hope that this isn't an ending to things, but actually the beginning."
"Beginning of what?"
"Why, perhaps the greatest crime spree Skyrim's ever known," she said with excitement. "There are pockets brimming with coin and coffers overflowing with riches ripe for the picking."
Blake couldn't help it. She burst out into laughter and received a glare from Karliah for it.
"What's so funny?"
"Sorry," the Faunus got through her winding down chuckles. "Just…normally, when you imagine making the last step in a grand quest like this, you don't imagine one of the heroes saying, 'welp, time to commit crimes.'"
"For shame, Blake," the Dunmer chided. "We may be Nightingales, but we're still thieves at the end of the day."
"Yeah, well, for me it's a bit different." Blake saw something out of the corner of her eye and turned to see a ghost stepping through one of the portals. He looked over to the Dunmer and went still.
"Karliah?" he asked in surprise
"Gallus!" she exclaimed before rushing towards him, pulling back her hood and taking his ghostly hands in hers. "I feared I would never see you again. I was afraid you'd become like the others."
"If it were not for the actions of this Nightingale, your fears would have come true," he said while nodding towards Blake. "She honors us all."
"What will you do now, my love?"
"Nocturnal calls me to the Evergloam." The ghost looked over to the Ebonmere as he said it. "My contract has been fulfilled."
"Will I ever see you again?" Karliah asked, mournful regret filling her voice.
"When your debt to Nocturnal has been paid, we'll embrace once again," he promised her. She shut her eyes, and then the two wrapped their arms around one another. Blake almost felt like she was intruding by being there for such a tender moment, and fought the urge to shuffle back. After they separated, Gallus walked over to the edge of of the portal, stopping to look back one last time.
"Farewell, Gallus. Eyes open... walk with the shadows," Karliah said, tears threatening to pour out of her eyes.
"Goodbye, Karliah." He stepped forward, and then he sank into the indigo light, disappearing from the mortal realm. Karliah walked over and looked down at the Ebonmere, remaining silent for a long moment.
"Gallus's Oath has been paid. His actions have satisfied the terms," she said, probably as much to herself as it was to Blake. "Now his spirit becomes one with the Evergloam, the realm of perpetual twilight and the cradle of shadow."
"He's gone."
"No, not gone." She turned back to Blake while replacing her hood and veil. "He's become one with the shadows. This is the greatest honor a Nightingale can possibly achieve. In death, he's become a part of that which we use to live."
"Wait, you mean…" Blake looked around herself. "They're literally part of the darkness?"
"Absolutely. When we say 'walk with the shadows', we are asking those Nightingales that have passed on to protect us. It's believed that they are literally what guides our uncanny luck...by placing their hands in ours." She looked at her own hands before dropping them back by her side. "That's why the Ebonmere needed to be reopened. Without it, there's no way Nocturnal was able to allow them through."
"That's good." It certainly wasn't the worst afterlife out of the ones she knew about so far. She didn't know all of the rules for it however, and it wasn't like she could change her mind on it anyways. Her ears dropped when she recalled what Nocturnal said before about the claim already staked upon her soul. "I…guess I'll go to Riften, now. The, uh… The Guild still have to straighten out their leadership."
"Are you sure you won't take it?"
"I'm not a career thief," Blake explained. "I joined for benefits and information. Not to be mean or anything, but most of this was circumstance. Honestly, if that whole thing at Snow Veil Sanctum had gone down differently, we wouldn't be here right now."
"Really? Well, not to say I'm glad he stabbed you…"
"I meant with the arrow," Blake pointed out. "Mercer stabbing me definitely convinced me to get a move on. I wouldn't have been so keen to help bring him down, but I would have helped if you proved the truth of the matter."
"In that case, I suppose I'm glad that I shot you," she offered instead. Blake shook her head and put her hands to her hips.
"All right. I'll head off, then. Yang should be in the Rift, and she expects me to be near Falkreath. Guess I'll give her a surprise." She nodded to her fellow Nightingale. "I'll see you later, Karliah."
"Farewell. Eyes open and walk with the shadows."
Weiss flew low, her pale skin blending in with the snow almost perfectly. Her wingtips brushed some of the fresh powder as she flapped them. The vampiric magic helped to keep her aloft, but her forward momentum was definitely a result of the natural air currents that most birds and bats used to fly. If she had to describe it, she was partially levitating and gliding forward with the slight falling she experienced, her wings picking her back up from time to time.
Morthal came in sight fairly soon, and she stopped at the designated meeting place she and Ruby had agreed to at the mouth of some cave just outside of the town. At this hour, only a few patrols were around, and she had been keeping track of them with Sense Life and some vampire blood magic equivalent. It was stronger sensing, but shorter ranged. It also made everything look blood red.
"Weiss?" she heard as Ruby turned and walked over to her. "Whoa! You're really white!" she exclaimed, then tilted her head and narrowed her eyes in confusion. "And you're…wearing a bikini?"
"It's something about the transformation," Weiss explained exasperatingly, Ruby quickly noticing that her voice was much lower and gruffer than normal. "Also, this is a tasset," she explained while indicating the lower garment.
"So, a fancy bikini. Still too cold for that. Also impractical, I don't know what that's supposed to protect."
"For the love of…" Weiss brushed her hair back, stopping a moment and pulling a lock in front of her eyes. She quickly changed back to human form and looked at her hair again, sifting the stands between her fingers.
"Uh, you okay, Weiss?" her partner asked in concern.
"I think so… Yes." She brushed her hair back and straightened herself. "Well, enough of that. Is Lydia around?"
"She's getting us set up at the inn," Ruby explained. "We only just got here. Oh, Vertina sold us a bunch of her shed feathers. I put a few around Qahpeyt," she pointed out the feathers now attached around the collar and shoulders of her armor. "But I had a lot and I already got Qahpeyt down to feeling almost like normal clothes, so I thought, 'Who else could use some magic Harpy feathers?', and then I remembered that you can fly, so…" Ruby reached into her pack and pulled out a rolled up cloak, unfurling it to reveal all of the feathers attached to its back, each one dyed white to match the white fur of the cloak, and sewn in a pattern reminiscent of her snowflake sigil. "Ta-da! Now we're cape besties!"
"Ruby… It looks wonderful." The Dragonborn handed over the cloak to her friend, and Weiss spun around and set it onto her shoulders. Immediately, she felt the effects. She simply felt lighter all around. She had to be careful with her first step, having almost jumped up into the air on accident. "This fur looks natural, too. Where'd you get it?"
"Capric had some lying around," she answered with a smile. "It's pretty cool how their feathers are magical, huh?"
"Well, it at least explains how they can fly," Weiss figured. "Going by what I've seen, their wings weren't big enough to give lift to something that big."
"Don't let Maarah hear that," Ruby warned her. "She'll beat you up."
"Would she, really?" Weiss asked while raising her eyebrow in amusement.
"She knows some kinda special Harpy kung-fu," Ruby explained while holding her arms up in some mock martial art style. "Vertina was messing with her, and she went watta-ta and then Verty was on her back and dizzy."
"I'll be cautious, then," Weiss promised as they headed into town. Lydia was still at the Moorside Inn as they passed through the main thoroughfare, going through most of the town before the street turned back and led them onto a dock, where Falion's house was situated over the pond. Weiss knocked on the door and waited. It swung open a moment later, the Redguard Conjurer there.
"Yes? Oh, good morning, Miss Schnee, and, uh… Sorry, I can't seem to recall your friend's name."
"This is Ruby Rose. She's Yang's younger sister," Weiss told him.
"Oh yes! Thane Yang's sister! I should've recognized her by the description. Yes, yes, come in where it's warm." The two Huntresses entered the man's abode, seeing the young Agni reading out of a small book in the corner while a few others were opened on the table nearby, cluing them in to what he'd been doing before they arrived. Falion closed the door behind them then walked around to get closer to the fireplace.
"So, how may I help you ladies today? Scrolls? Tomes? Some lessons on Conjuration?" he asked them jovially.
"Not so much today," Weiss answered. "You see…" Her eyes went over to Agni and then she cleared her throat. "I heard from a friend that you know a good deal about vampires."
Falion's smile slowly morphed into a serious expression. "Ah, I see. Uh, Agni. I think my sister was planning to make us breakfast today. Go ahead and tell her I'll be there shortly."
"Okay," the young girl answered as she set a piece of wood for a bookmark and stood up. Weiss looked back to Ruby, who nodded in understanding.
"I'll walk with you," Ruby offered the younger girl as Agni reached the door, the two walking out at the same time. "Hey, you ever meet a Centaur before?" she started just before closing the door. Weiss turned back to Falion, his expression having grown quite grim.
"I know many things," he admitted. "I have studied things beyond the reach of most humans, traveled the Oblivion planes, seen things that one should not see." He straightened up in his stance, meeting Weiss' eyes. "I have met Daedra and Dwemer and everything in between, and I know enough to see a vampire where others would see a man."
"You never said anything before," she informed him.
"About the friend of the newest and most popular Thane? The same one who had just rid us of vampires looking to enslave the Hold?" he proposed. "But not just that. I know what it's like to be accused of being something you're not. While I could rightly call you a vampire, could I call you a monster? A killer?"
Weiss closed her eyes, not too sure about the answer to that. "I came looking for a cure."
"I had guessed as much. Once I told you what I knew, you didn't grow angry or try to kill me. That's what the ones who would want it to…go away would have done." He was silent a moment, crossing his arms just below his chest. "Very well. It is possible. I know of a ritual, but, in order for it to work, you will require a filled Black Soul Gem."
Weiss' head whipped up as her eyes went wide, staring at Falion in disbelief.
"You… You mean…?"
"Yes. You will need to kill someone. When you have one, return to me and I will perform the ritual."
Weiss' mind spun around what she had just learned, trying to deny it had been real.
"What… What if I…"
"I…know what you're thinking," he cut in. "No, I'm afraid another vampire's soul will not work. It's been tried before. No, this soul will be the one to take your place in Coldharbour. The undead will not work for that, especially one whose soul Molag Bal has already laid claim."
"Oh…gods…" Finally faced with a cure, Weiss felt only cold and heavy with the knowledge. Falion noticed her distraught look and shook his head.
"I'm not telling you how you should go about things, but if you were to check the bounty board in Highmoon Hall, I'm sure you would find more than one soul with a price on their head whose sins are worth this sacrifice." The Conjurer turned around and opened a drawer in his cupboard, pulling out a dark crystal and handing it over to Weiss. As she took it, she could almost feel a hunger in the Black Soul Gem.
"So that's why Harpies don't like most Bretons," Agni finished explaining to a rather enraptured Ruby.
"Wow! I'm glad the Empire's laws were updated then." Ruby could only imagine how horrible it would be to constantly be on alert for something like that. The Iliac Bay in the Third Era was a truly awful place for people neither human nor elf to be.
The door opened and Weiss walked in, looking as though she had just seen some of the worst things imaginable. Given Ruby's imagination, that could be pretty bad.
"Weiss, everything okay?" she asked her partner in concern. "Did you get everything straightened out?"
"I'm all right, Ruby," she answered, definitely not looking it. "We… We should probably move on. There's plenty of daylight ahead of us."
"Really? I thought that would take longer." Ruby shrugged and hopped up to walk over to their room. "Hey, Lyd, Weiss wants to go ahead and leave."
"That's good, because I haven't actually gotten anything out yet," the housecarl said before standing up out of the chair. "And I was just about to. My legs were finally rested."
"Huh, caught you just in time then. So, ready to go?"
"We'll just have to re-saddle the horses," she explained while grabbing her pack from off of a chest.
"Good, good. Hey Jonna, we're gonna have to cancel that room."
"And here I was looking forward to hearing your friend show up Lurbuk again. All right, but I'm keeping one septim."
"Sounds fair. Sorry for the trouble." She went over to her friend, noting that she was still looking downcast. "Hey, ready to go when you are."
"…Thank you, Ruby. Sorry about this."
"Eh, it's fine. We were gonna stay for you, we'll leave for you." She patted her on the back. "So, let's go and save the Pale from dragons."
Weiss nodded, offering a slight smile that got Ruby moving. The three trailed out, and Agni and Jonna watched them go.
"Next time we can talk about Lamias if you want," the young girl called out.
"Ooh, that actually sounds cool," Ruby admitted right before she was gone. After the door shut, Jonna looked at her adopted niece with a smirk.
"Or maybe you should play tag?"
"Oh, sweet Mara, no!" Agni shivered, holding her body close while Jonna laughed. "I'd rather the Pale Lady take me away!"
Yang knew something was wrong when they entered Broken Helm Hollow and she smelled fresh death. It wasn't like she was surprised by death being there itself. She half-expected it. What she didn't expect was to find a few corpses laying on their sleeping mats and some scattered items, most of them of Dwemer make. If she had to guess, these three had been simple scavengers looking to make some money after managing to get in and out of a Dwemer ruin in one piece. Not a terrible idea, as far as she was concerned.
Unfortunately, the schematics she was going to get from them were nowhere to be found. It seemed whoever had robbed these people were better at gauging value and took all of the good Dwemer pieces that Yang remembered Weiss going on about while leaving the 'scraps'. Schematics would be pretty high up on there when it came to worth, so it wasn't surprising they were gone with all of the good stuff.
"Damn it," she cursed quietly while looking around. A few sniffs however, picked up something, and she focused in on the scent before shifting her face into a lupine muzzle. She sniffed again, this time picking up fainter scents.
"Vampires," she concluded after shifting back and standing up. Serana was already looking over one of the corpses and turned his head.
"Yep. Got fang marks," the vampire princess pointed out. "Looks like they were all drained dry. Someone was hungry…"
"Doesn't that bite look a little small to you?" Rumarin asked. "A vampire goblin, perhaps?"
"No, there'd be tusk punctures, and it's even smaller than that." Serana got up from the corpses and put her hands to her hips. "So…what now?"
"If vampires nabbed the schematics, then we definitely can't let them run off with them," Yang decided, slamming a fist into her palm. "I've got the scent. We should be able to follow it. Vampire is distinct from regular dead and tends to linger, if faintly."
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Rumarin asked. "Let's head into the danger I was trying to avoid."
"Not starting to regret coming with me, are you?" Yang asked him as they began leaving the cave.
"Not at all. While I do appreciate the way Yngvarr admires my rear, sometimes it's just a little more desirable to be in the company of two beautiful ladies fully capable of easily killing me."
"A High Elf with a sense of humor," Serana commented. "I like him."
"Good. Skyrim could use more of it," he answered. "Humor and sense."
Yang's nose led them to Riften, which worried them, as that meant the vampires had gotten inside the city. It seemed they had climbed down into the sewers or something, but they had left the rope behind that they'd used to climb down. Hoping that meant they were cornered, Yang started climbing down with Serana right behind her.
"Ugh, I can't stand this sunlight," the vampire complained.
"Ah, come on," Yang said to her. "You could use some rays. You're pale as death.
Rumarin made a few tiny claps from his position on the ground above them. Yang smirked, but Serana just groaned. The blonde figured she'd get in a better mood once they had sufficient shade.
Setting foot on the stone the three began to search. Some hungry vagrant, definitely not a vampire, tried to attack them, but she was quickly knocked out by Yang in an almost pitifully easy manner. Rumarin figured he would leave the woman with some rations, seeing as it was either hunger or madness that drove her to action. The werewolf led them on through the halls and tunnels, squinting in confusion as they came up to a section with a hint of something familiar.
"I think I smell Blake. Is this the Ratway?"
"Probably," Rumarin figured with a shrug. "It's not a place I frequent, so I couldn't tell you."
"Either way, I'm picking up a scent of death," Serana mentioned. "You smell it?"
"Yeah, but…" Yang wasn't sure how to describe what she was smelling, except that it didn't smell like vampire. "Let's take a look."
They walked up a short flight of stairs and stopped before something that looked almost like…a man, though his face was hidden by a hood. Not in that it cast a shadow over his features, but it was more as though there was no face underneath it for the darkness to hide. He was robed in black from head to toe, his wrists and fingers the only visible flesh on him, and they were white and pale. The hooded being turned his face towards him, or she was sure he did, and then spoke.
"Out with it, then."
Yang shivered at the unnatural voice. Whatever was standing before her couldn't have been human or elf. At least, not anymore.
"Uh, hi?"
"Why do you disturb me, mortal," the being complained. "I've nothing to discuss with you."
"Sorry, but we're pretty sure some vampires came this way," Serana butted in with a tone of mock apology. "Would you mind telling us if you've seen them come by so we can track them down before they kill more people? We'd appreciate it."
"Peh, those pests?" he scoffed. "They left last night after spending most of yesterday cutting down on the population of homeless vagrants. I was going to destroy them myself, but they left before I could muster up enough will to care."
"Any idea where they went?" Yang asked, hoping they could find them quickly. She also wanted to get out of the sewer sooner rather than later.
"Towards the cistern, I believe. They may have run into the Thieves Guild on their way out, unless they managed to somehow sneak past them. You would do better to ask the thieves, or you can just keep following their scent like a simple hound."
"Thanks," she said before turning and leaving, going towards the smell of a multitude of people. Serana looked at her and sighed before catching up.
"Well, wasn't he a ray of sunshine?" Rumarin joked as they left.
"Freakin' weird is what that was. What even…" Yang groaned.
"I've seen stranger things," Serana assured her. "Not even among the oddest."
"Ah come on," Delvin complained. "Why wouldn't you want the position, yeah?"
"Because I'm constantly on the road. Because I might travel to another country and not return for a while," Blake listed off. "Or maybe because I might disappear off the face of Nirn all of a sudden one day, and you guys will have to deal with that."
"From what I gathered, lass, wasn't that a big possibility for your friends and you?" Brynjolf asked while rubbing a thumb over the part of his shirt where the Nocturnal sigil was hidden.
"It is. Heck, we're kinda hoping for it. Long story," she told Delvin and Vex when they both looked like they were loaded with questions. "Point stands, my fame in the Guild is almost wholly coincidental. You need someone who's been here a long time, knows the ropes, and can help watch out for the footpads." Blake tossed something forward and Vex caught it by reflex. She then opened her hand to find that it was Mercer's key.
"Wait, hold on!" the woman objected. "You can't be-"
"I know you guys all probably each have your reasons, which is why I'm suggesting a solution," Blake explained. "It can be temporary, or you can keep it from here on, but I got the idea from your system with the keys. Three people with three keys, and at least two are needed to open the vault. Seems like the setup for a Triumvirate leadership."
The three senior thieves looked towards each other and then at the key in Vex's hand.
"Wait, so you're suggesting that we all be in charge?" Vex inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"That could get messy real fast," Delvin said. "Trust me. We don't agree on all that much."
"I'd say I agree with either of these boneheads only half the time at most," Vex added. "How are we going to get anything done?"
"That's part of the point. You guys won't agree on everything. No one always agrees with someone else all of the time. But you guys know each other. You know your strengths and weaknesses and each other's. You've already been practically running the Guild together as it is. All I'm saying is that you split the job of Guild Master until you either find someone who can claim the title or you settle into having it like this." She reached over and tilted up the key in Vex's hand. "Think of it like the vault. You need at least two of you to make a decision, and having all three is preferred. It'll keep anyone of you from having a bad idea without it being challenged, and it'll keep you all from being overwhelmed."
They looked at the situation again and seemed to mull it over. While Blake awaited an answer, her ears picked up familiar footsteps, and she turned to see Yang entering the Cistern.
"Yang!" she called out as she walked over to her friend, who was shocked to see her.
"Blake? I thought you were near Falkreath," the blonde said before the two wrapped each other in a tight hug. After a moment, they separated and looked at one another closely. "What are you doing here? How did you come over so fast?"
"Trade secret. Maybe I can tell you later. Right now, I was just straightening out Guild matters."
"Ah." Yang nodded in understanding. "Cool, but uh, did anyone see any vampires running through here lately?" she asked the thieves. "We're kinda tracking them and they apparently came down here."
"Oh, so that's why you're down here," Blake figured. "I was wondering. Not just anyone comes down to the Ratway. Mostly because of the smell. And the rats."
"There were a handful of vampires that showed up the other day," Brynjolf explained. "Looked like they were caught on the wrong foot. I suppose they didn't know where the Guild is and were just expecting beggars. Well, we ran them off. Killed one, but we've thrown out the body since. They ran out through the sewers, probably went from the channel and into the lake."
"Well, that's something, at least. Hopefully we can catch them soon. We've already found three bodies in their trail, and I'd rather find them before it gets worse." Yang sighed and put her arms behind her head. "Better get back on it, then."
"I'll go with you," Blake offered. "It sounds serious, and you could use an extra pair of ears."
"All right, but we're going to be moving and quickly," Yang warned her. "These vampires have at least a day on us, and I'd rather we close that gap ASAP."
"I can deal. How about you guys?" she directed towards the three senior Guild members. "You think you can work with this?"
"Only one way to find out," Delvin figured. "Well, I guess we can't make you, and you've got a good point about headin' off. If you're about to go help in vampire slaying, then there's not much else you wouldn't go out to fight."
"Well, I suppose this means I have something else to hold over the fresh bloods' heads," Vex said before hooking a belt through the key's hoop handle.
"I suppose we're fine as we can be, lass," Brynjolf told her with a nod. "We're already starting to scrape back everything Mercer stole. It's slow-going, but we should have everything back in a month or so. I imagine you'll be back by then."
"I should at least pass through." Blake nodded. "All right. I'll head off then. I'll see you all again another time."
"Take care, Belladonna. Shadows walk with you."
"And shadows walk with you, Brynjolf."
After leaving Riften and following the scent the vampires left behind at the lakeside, Yang walked over to her partner, trying to make sure they were out of earshot of the other two.
"So what gives?" she asked. "How did you…get here so fast?"
"There's a portal between Nightingale Hall and the Twilight Sepulcher," Blake explained. "It made getting here from Falkreath Hold practically instant, but…Nightingales only."
"Aw man," Yang groaned. "So, how do I become a Nightingale?"
"I'm fairly certain that there can only be three official Nightingales at a time. Besides, you're not exactly Nightingale material."
Yang grinned brightly. "Okay, I'm going to have to show you how stealthy I can really be when I put my mind to it, now. My Companion honor demands such slights be answered for."
"Yang, you cannot get the drop on me," Blake playfully objected.
"Oh, just you wait and see. Or not. Because you won't see it coming."
"What're they talking about?" Serana groaned, eyeing the backs of the two girls who had gone up ahead of her and Rumarin. The sunlight was making her feel irritable, and two young women yammering away just far enough for their words to be unintelligible yet close enough to be heard was definitely getting on more than a few of her nerves.
"Hm, If I were to guess, they're discussing who gets to sneak into whose tent tonight," the High Elf answered.
"Okay, seriously?" Serana shot him a look.
"Seriously," he defended with a cheeky expression. "Don't tell me you didn't notice the spark hanging between them this whole time?"
"I noticed it, but it's not that far along. You can tell by the way they were beating around the bush when we were getting supplies." The vampire groaned and pulled her hood further over her head.
"Oh, yes I see it now." Rumarin stroked his chin and hummed while tilting his head. "Do you think we can pretend to lose one of the tents and have them share so that they can-"
"No, we shouldn't be pushing them into anything," she said in opposition. "They need to figure this stuff out on their own."
15th of Evening Star