Lucia slept better than she have thought, but woke up with tears and from a dream she couldn't quite remember what happened. All she remembered was that their father never came back for them. She forced herself to get dressed and ready for the day no matter what it might hold. She went downstairs in her new dress and shoes and wondered the seemingly empty halls to the mess hall where he brother was eating alone. She sat beside him. "Hi," she murmured.

"Hi." He handed her a piece of bread.

She looked at the bread.

"You should eat."

She took the bread and slowly ate it. "How did you sleep?"

"Not well. You?"

She swallowed her food. "Okay i guess. Do you…think Papa is going to come after us?"

Aventus looked at her with puzzled eyes. "Of course he will! Why wouldn't he?"

Lucia stared at the bread in her hand.

"Lucia, why are you doubting him?"

"I think had a dream that he left us here, but I don't remember. I just know it made me want to cry."

"No," her brother spat, shaking his head. "Papa would never do that!"

"My real papa did," she whispered. "He didn't want me anymore and he left the city. I think he may have even left Skyrim."

"Well, Papa isn't him," he spat, returning to his bread. He didn't have much of an appetite either because eggs and sausages were his favorite breakfast.

"I know, but he doesn't have Mama or his home anymore," she quietly explained. "He's the Listener and a vampire lord. He won't have time for us–"

He shot up to his feet and slammed his hands on the table. "Stop! Don't say that! We need him as much as he needs us!"

"I want him to come back for us!" She cried, staring at him with large eyes. "But I won't be surprised if he doesn't!"

"He's your father," a low voice stated, earning the children's attention to Isran. "Of course he'll come after you."

"You won't win!" Aventus screamed, spinning around to Isran and a coupe others.

"What I want you two to realize it's not healthy to have a vampire and an assassin as a parent," he calmly stated. "You want to be an assassin. Please. Like there is glory taking lives of the innocent!"

"Grelod the Kind was not innocent!" Aventus snapped.

Lucia stared at her brother, questioning his sanity. What in the world did he tell Isran?

"Naïve boy," Isran growled. "Murder does not solve problems unless it's in self-defense. You are angry. You have every right to be. Are you willing to channel that anger in the training room?"

Aventus curled his lip. "Fine."

He looked at Lucia, but she snapped her head away in defiance.

Accepting her choice, her brother and the leader walk away along with the others.

Forcing herself to finish the last two bites of bread, she wondered away, wanting to explore the fort more and hopefully a back way out of this fort. Finding another room of the castle, she was drawn to the alchemy lab with various ingredients that were neatly stacked on the shelves. She recognized many of the ingredients ranging from herbs to organisms. Her mother had taught how to make potions with herbs as a start. She sniffled at the memory of watching her mother picking herbs and berries from their garden. She quickly left the lab. Surely their father wasn't going to abandon them like how her real father did with her, right? Ryvren took them both in and she was just living on the streets in Whiterun. Ryvren loved them equally. He had to come back, right? Papa would pray to Sithis at times of need. Sometimes Aventus, too. Did her brother pray to Sithis last since the attack? Would Sithis heed such prayers? Their mother didn't believe much, but believed in Sithis or at least the Night Mother.

The Night Mother.

Aventus would know how to make the Black Sacrament!

Her shoulders sagged, finding herself in the center of the circular chamber. The only probably with that plan was that the Listener needed to be close to the Night Mother to hear the prayer. Who knows where their father was at this moment.

"What are you doing?"

She spun around to Freya, who was softly smiling by another hall.

Freya approached her, looking in the direction of the alchemy lab. "Are you into alchemy? I just saw you leave the room." She looked back at her.

"My mama taught me a little bit about plants," Lucia quietly admitted.

"I assume your father taught your brother to fight as your mother taught you alchemy?"

She shook her head. "Papa taught us both to fight. I just wanted to learn alchemy, too. Aventus prefers one-handed. I prefer duel-wielding like Papa, but he only trains us for self-defense. I promised him that." She narrowed her eyes at the woman. "I'm not going to tell you anything else. I'm not going to let you use my words against my father."

Freya shook her head. "No, I wouldn't manipulate you like that. I'm genuinely curious. How old are you and your brother?"

Lucia furrowed her brows. "We're both eleven, but he's a month older than me and we're both Imperials." She shrugged. "Well, he's half-Nord on his mother's side. Now if you excuse me, I'd rather be alone." She walked up the stairs before another word could be said. Her plan to search for a back door didn't work out right now, but maybe at night there night be a chance. She needed to get out here. Riften wasn't too far and Aventus knew Riften and then they could write a letter to the Sanctuary! Surely someone would get the letter, right? However, if their father attacked the fort while they were gone, he would go rampant– fearing that something had happened to his children. No, it was better if they stay no matter how much of a prison it was for them. She didn't know how much time she had spent sitting on her bed. What was Papa doing? Was he on the to get them? Was he with the Dark Brotherhood or the vampires? Her blood turned to ice. Or was he back dri–

"Lucia?"

She raised her head to her brother. "How was training?"

"Fine," he grumbled. He sat beside her.

She didn't look at him. "Have you cried yet?"

He looked at her. "What kind of question is that?"

"I almost cried this morning because of a dream and I cried last night…. I was just seeing how you were doing."

"I cried last night," he grumbled. "About Mama. I'm angry. More than anything."

"I feel…numb. Like I want to be angry, but I can't. Is that wrong?"

"I don't know," he growled. "I watched her die, Lucia."

She snapped her head to him. "What?"

Tears silently rolled down his cheeks. "I watched her die," he croaked. "She tried to help me get up the stairs to the door above their room just as the fire started. She was right behind me, but…one grabbed her by the shoulder and…." He bowed his head and began to shake with sobs.

Lucia held him close.

"He stabbed her," he cried.

"I should've went back," Lucia wailed as tears began to roll down her face. "I ran!"

He grabbed her shoulders, looking her in the eye. "You were supposed to run! The guard gabbed me and when I didn't see you I hoped you got away! Where were you?"

"I was hiding under the steps in that Nordic ruin just south of the manor. When I thought everyone was gone, I went out and I found Papa. He was in front of the manor. I shouted for him and he heard me! I tried running to him, but I was grabbed off the ground!" She sniffled back sobs as her throat was starting his sting. "He got on Shadowmere and was chasing after us! He was terrified, Aventus. He was so scared! I could hear it in his voice."

"And you think he's going to abandon us?" Her brother loudly questioned. "You heard the fear and you think he's going to leave us?" He was screaming, digging his nails into her shoulders. "He's not like your so-called father and I watched both my mothers die."

Lucia didn't know her birth mother. She bowed her head and sobbed. "I'm sorry, Aventus."

The siblings hugged each other, crying.

Crying exhausted them to the point they were just sitting on the bed, back to back for support.

"One of the guards taught me to use a crossbow," Aventus murmured. "I bet he was thinking the target was a vampire. I was picturing it as a Dawnguard. I want to kill them all. Papa would be so proud."

"If Mama taught me poison-making, I'd poison them," Lucia emotionlessly whispered. "No one would know…." She straightened her head, blinking. "Aventus?"

"Hm?"

"Do you know who it was that killed Mama?"

He shook his head. "No idea. Do you know what happened to Valdimar?"

She shook her head. "No. Aventus?"

"Yeah?"

"What if…they are right? That being the Listener and a vampire lord's kids isn't good for us."

He slightly turned his head to his shoulder. "What?"

"Mama hired Papa for contracts. That's how they met. We all know who Papa is and you want to be an assassin, too, and now I wish I could poison them."

"I wanted to be an assassin when I first met him," he spat. "And after what they did to us?" He scoffed. "They deserve it and we have a right to hate them."

"Yeah, but you wanting to become an assassin was before he became the Listener and everything else. Before he even adopted you." She took a breath. "They were after him, Aventus."

"So? They'll pay! Why are you still doubting him? First, you were afraid he was going to abandon us and now you blame him?"

"I don't blame him, but we know it's true. Papa doesn't even want you to become an assassin."

"How do you know that?" He turned his body to look at her as she did the same and there was a fire in his dark eyes. "Did he tell you that?"

"No! I just know he doesn't!"

Aventus shot up off the bed. "Fine! You stay here and become a vampire hunter and I'll actually at least try to find a way out of here or kill someone if I have to!"

"Aventus!"

He walked away.

Lucia curled her lip. "I didn't say anything about joining them, you mammoth head!" She crossed her arms and bowed her head as more tears threatened to come. More stupid tears?

"Hi," a soft voice spoke.

She gingerly raised her head to Freya, then slowly lowered it again.

"I heard shouting. Are you okay?"

"Fine," she grumbled.

"Can I come in?"

Lucia didn't know if she wanted the woman to walk away or not, so she stayed silent.

"Want to go on a walk outside of the fort?" She sounded like a mother trying to comfort her child. "I know Gunmar has been trying to work with Aventus and his anger. Riften isn't far if you want to go there."

"My father isn't a good man, is he?" She found herself suddenly asking and knowing what the answer will be.

Freya's breath hitched. "He is the leader of assassins and a vampire." Her voice was just as gentle as if trying not to sound hateful. "I'm sure he's killed many."

She didn't know her father's body count and didn't want to know. "He never hurt us. He never hurt Mama, either. He was always so loving with her. She was crazy about him. He was never hard on us, either. He never hit any of us. He did have a problem with skooma and alcohol, though. Mama was going to take us and leave just months after we were adopted. It was hard, but he pulled through and has been sober ever since. He always had a skooma and alcohol problem, but I guess it got worse at that point. That was a tough year for us, but he pulled through." A sickening thought knotted her stomach. What if he returned to bottle to numb the pain after his wife's death instead of looking for them? What if when he breaks down those doors, he's high out of his mind? "Aventus wants to be like him," she quietly continued to get the thoughts away. "An assassin. I know that's not what Papa wants for him. He never said it, but I know because he never encourages it. It worried Mama, too, but she wanted Papa to tell him instead of her." She looked at the warrior. "Should I love my father?"