Bad Tidings
Astrid gave me an overview of the Dark Brotherhood and their operations as well as told me the location of the Sanctuary I was currently in. She then handed me the Dark Brotherhood clothes and told me to attempt to wear them whenever completing a contract, even if under my normal attire. They felt extremely light, even lighter than my Thieves Guild armor had been or my new glass armor though I felt the glass armor mentally made me feel more protected. I stored the outfit in a pack they gave me.
"See Nazir for some smaller contracts until I line up something larger for you. That is, assuming you still do not want to act on the contract from the Silver Hand," Astrid said. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. "This is yours you can choose whether to act on it or not. All other contracts we give you are expected to carry out. Understood?"
I nodded as she handed me the sheet of paper with the Companions' names on it. It looked like it was only one page of a longer set of instructions which she appeared to be keeping but I said nothing, not bothering to ask who Nazir was or why I wasn't being handed the rest of the Contract for fear of saying something I would regret. I had almost been in with the Thieves Guild before I had angered Mercer the first time we'd met.
I walked back down the stairs, looking for Veezara to ask him who this Nazir person was and where I could find him. The crowd that had been gathered earlier had departed and the only person I could see was Arnbjorn working a forge off to my left.
"So my sister's daughter is now my sister," said a voice just behind me.
I kept my mouth shut, mentally reprimanding myself for not spotting Nadine in my assessment of the room. She came up to stand in front of me with a smile of approval. Her black hair was held back in a ponytail, her mask tied with a black cord around her neck so that it hung behind her like a hood. Her eyes were a dark brown and I wondered if my birth mother's had been the same.
"I assume you are not taking up that contract?" the Breton woman continued, nodding at my hand.
I looked to the list which began with Vilkas's name and ended in mine. I wondered at the order. I assumed that it had begun with the three who had attacked the Silver Hand most recently but why was I last? Had my identity been hard to discover or did they have trouble deciding whether the price on my head as Dragonborn would be worth the coin or consequences of having the only person able to permanently kill a dragon eliminated.
I crumpled the paper up figuring if I ever got to ask one personally it'd be the last thing they would utter. I did not want war with the Silver Hand but that didn't mean they wouldn't pay for attempting to pit the two guilds against each other while keeping their hands free of the bloodshed. I took off my pack and stuffed the Contract inside.
"No," I said. "I don't plan on taking any Contract that ends in my suicide."
"The list doesn't necessarily have to be completed in its entirety, if you ever reconsider," Nadine said, smiling deviously. I didn't know whether she actually thought I would ever murder one of my fellow Companions or if she were joking. "Besides, we are not allowed to take a Contract against one of our own or to murder a member of our own family."
"I suppose that's what keeps you alive," I said, not interested.
"No, we are family," she said, her playful tone gone. "I know you cannot see that now, but you will in time."
"Looking forward to it," I said nonchalantly, looking around. "Who is this Nazir person?"
"He's a redguard, in the dining hall now I believe. I can show you the way," she said, leading me out of the open area.
I followed her in silence for awhile. I had given up on my quest and run from Riften in part because I wanted to avoid this scenario. I had told myself that if I stopped looking for who wrote me the letter, for who my father was, then I might never be forced to realize my birth mother was an assassin and I had a dark legacy laid out before me.
But all the reasons I had for avoiding why I had come to Skyrim were gone.
"Did you send the letter to me, telling me to go to Riften?" I asked.
Nadine stopped me in the hallway we had just entered to look at me. "No."
That was an unnaturally short reply for the woman so I pressed, "But you know who did?"
Nadine's face and posture remained relaxed but I could sense that she had become uncomfortable. "Yes, and I killed them."
"You killed them for telling me to come to Riften? Why?"
"It is dangerous for you to be here," she said. "A lot has changed since I smuggled you out of that orphanage. The person who sent you that letter is inconsequential, a person I thought I could trust, a friend. They broke my confidence and summoned you here on the orders of someone who may want you dead. I knew this person my whole life and they sold out my niece and betrayed my trust for coin."
"Were they a member of the Dark Brotherhood?" I asked.
Her dark eyes bored into mine, unblinking. "We are not allowed to murder one of our own and so I cannot answer that."
"Does Astrid know?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.
"Yes, she knows what happened. She also has the rest of that contract you stuffed away in your bag, so if you think you could use this as leverage against me, you should rethink that decision. That man, Vilkas, that I set free when you agreed to join - he is worth more than five average contracts alone," she said.
I continued to look at her impassively though my leg muscles tightened. I knew that my situation was precarious, that my friends' lives were only safe from the assassins as long as I joined and followed their rules. But apparently it could be used against me in more ways than the original deal entailed.
"Why exactly did you want me to join? I am not my mother," I said.
"You are more like her than you think. You didn't know her, don't presume what she was like," Nadine said. "But you are right. By rights when you stole our contract -"
"I didn't know Grelod was a contract."
"I am aware and it does not matter. By rights when you stole our contract, you owed us a life. Having recently lost one of our own, Astrid said you could repay this by joining or with your death. That is one reason. The other is Amalia. The third is personal to me. I know you think we are all cold hearted because our profession is one you do not understand but that is not the case. I took you from that orphanage, posing as your mother and I smuggled you out of Skyrim to keep you safe.
"I did this despite the fact that you were my sister's child, despite the fact that you were born under the sign of the Shadow, narrowly escaping death even as you entered this world. You were meant to be a part of my family. I risked my life to get you out of this land and kept your secret for twenty three years. I let you grow up with the most stereotypical normal Breton woman I could. And yet you still are nothing like her, like the person who raised you.
"But my confidence was betrayed and I knew you were coming to Skyrim, knew you would find some way to enter even with the borders closed. And you are not safe here. Yes, I know that you are capable, but you are only excluded from contracts if you join us. And with you close, I can keep a better hold of the situation," she said.
"If you are so concerned about my safety, then why are you being vague about everything? You say that there are those who want me dead, but who are they?" I asked, frustrated and letting it show.
"I cannot tell you that, not yet. Not until I know for certain what their motives are," she said. "You think you have no reason to trust me, but I kept your secret for twenty three years to keep you safe. Trust me enough to believe that I am doing what is best to keep it that way now."
"That's asking a lot," I said. "You forced me to join the Dark Brotherhood by threatening my friends and you want me to trust you to keep information from me that could get me killed?"
"Trust me or not, I am doing what I must, as I have since the day you were born," she said. She pointed to an entrance down the hall, "That is the dining hall, Nazir should still be inside. I have a contract to complete and I will be gone for some time, I suggest you do not look for me."
"Do you know who my father is?" I asked as she turned to leave. "Was he a member of the Dark Brotherhood?"
She turned to look at me but all she said was, "No."
Nadine left me alone in the hall and I wasn't sure whether she meant she did not know who my father was or if she had meant that he wasn't an assassin. I doubted that if I had run after her she would have given me any clarity on the matter so I sighed before continuing forward into the dining hall.
At the bottom of the steps I saw two figures with their backs to me at a dining table. The Redguard was sitting down at the edge of it. The other person I recognized as the Argonian Veezara who was standing at his side discussing something with him I couldn't hear. I made no effort to hide my entrance as I descended the steps as I was sure that Veezara would notice long before I got within hearing distance of whatever conversation they had been having.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs I went to stand beside Veezara who nodded to me in greeting. The Redguard's dark eyes turned to me, his full lips twisting into a smile.
"So you're the newest member of our dwindling dysfunctional little family? I've heard a lot about you," he said.
"I hear you have contracts for me," I said, not bothering to waste time wondering exactly what he had heard and from whom.
"Down to business then? It turns out I do have a few little assignments that need done. Perhaps not glamorous for someone quite so prolific at killing as the Dragonborn, but they will get you started until something bigger comes in," Nazir said.
"Just tell me what I need to know," I said.
"Your targets are the beggar Narfi, an ex-miller named Ennodius Papius, and Beitild, a mine boss. When you've completed all those, we'll see if I might have some more. Their locations are listed on their contracts. Return when you're done and you'll receive your payment. They're to be done at your leisure," he said, offering me three papers.
I reached out, my fingers folding around the papers slowly, my heart beating faster. There was something about this moment, the second I accepted my first contracts, that weighed immensely upon me. Once I had taken them, that was it, my last moment I would spend before officially becoming an assassin. I took the papers from him slowly, nodding at him, as my hand fell to my side.
I turned away, not wishing to spend more time with The Dark Brotherhood than I had to. As I began to walk up the stairs I raised the papers to my eyes to take a look at what was written. Each paper contained at least two things: the name of the contract and their location. There were some notes as to their haunts, their last known location, their profession as well as a couple of notes on one that implied she knew something of fighting.
It was little to go on and I found myself wondering about the people behind the names. I was about to take a life out of the world, not because we were in combat or I was under attack, not to save a life or via some terrible accident. I was about to take lives because I was told to, because at the end of it I would be paid.
"Everlee," a smooth voice said and I stopped without thinking as the argonian caught up to me. I said nothing, waiting for him to catch up with me. "It would perhaps be wise to get advice on some of your contracts before you leave. These first ones may not require much background, but future targets might, and it would be a chance for you to get to know some of the people you'll be working with."
I took note that he had not described them as family, perhaps already having noted how uncomfortable I was with that term.
"I – I would rather not," I said. "And I have much to do."
I began to walk away, but Veezara's arm caught mine, moving so fast I could not track it. His grip was surprisingly gentle.
"I know you do not feel as though you belong here and perhaps you never will. While we are family, there are those of us who still mourn the recent loss of our brother, Hahmish, and may not be so welcoming to you. It may be in your best interest to change that," he said, his voice calm despite the implied warning.
I stared intently into his eyes. "I am one of you now and from what I understand that means I should fear no harm from one of...our...guild."
Veezara finally let go of my hand, watching me steadily. "May you step silently past your enemies, sister."
With that he turned away from me and I once again looked at the contracts in my hand, his words going through my head. Did he really believe that I could get close to a group of assassins that had forced me to become one of them over some polite conversation? What would I even say to them? Or was he trying to tell me something else? That perhaps this Hahmish, who had betrayed Nadine and gotten killed had friends or supporters that would still see me dead, and it best I weed them out?
"Veezara," I called, and he stopped, turning back to me. For a moment I stared at him in silence before saying, "Thank you for the advice. I must go now, but I will make sure to make use of it when I return."
The Argonian once again nodded to me before walking off. I wasn't sure if I could trust him. Perhaps he really did wish to see me become part of his 'family' and was giving me friendly warning. Or maybe he was endeavoring to get my trust for some other purpose. Either way, since stepping into The Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, I had felt anything but safe.
Author's Note: I am quite off with my posting schedule again for which I apologize. Of as many of you can attest, I've never been quite good to keeping with set schedules in the past and I hope that this random updating is better than the multiple-month gaps I have had in the past. Anyway, I hope to try to post weekly (and have been attempting to post either on Saturday or Sunday) but this story is starting to catch up where I have written and this semester leaves very little time for writing unfortunately.