Chapter 26

After returning her borrowed dress, Aria hurried to the Waterfront district. Faelian wasn't at the hotel, which meant he was probably still at this Lorkmir's house. However, she didn't know anything about Lorkmir. Thankfully, she knew someone who could tell her everything she needed to know.

She walked through the gates to the Waterfront and immediately slipped into the shadows. The guards here may not recognize her, but nearly the entire beggar population of the Imperial City lived in this district, many of whom Aria had known in her previous life. She kept her hood up and hurried toward her old neighborhood.

She found Branwen sleeping in a doorway at the edge of the buildings. She looked at the sleeping girl with pity. Aria remembered doing that herself many times and was glad that her life had changed when it had. So much had happened in the last year that it seemed like her life on the streets belonged to a different person.

She reluctantly reached out and touched Branwen's shoulder. The girl jumped and sat up abruptly. "I wasn't doin' nothin', I swear!"

Aria motioned for the girl to be quiet. "It's alright, Branwen," she said. "I need your help again."

Branwen looked hesitant, until Aria held up a coin. Then she nodded.

"Do you know a man named Lorkmir?" Aria asked.

Branwen nodded. "I've seen him in the Elven Gardens district."

Aria held up another coin. "Can you tell me where his house is?"

Branwen told her, then quickly added, "And I won't tell no one we spoke, milady."

"Good." She handed over the coins, then hesitated. After a moment, she held out several more. "Take this and buy some sturdy cloth. If you use dried driftwood, you can build yourself a shelter without too much trouble. Use what's left to buy some food."

Branwen looked up at her and saw that she understood. She knew the difficulties of living on the streets. When she reached out to take the money, Aria took her hand. "Things can change," she said. "Remember that." She placed the money in the girl's hand, then stood and slipped away.

Some time later, Aria climbed through a window at Lorkmir's house. Thanks to Branwen's directions, she'd been able to find the house with ease. She paused for a moment to look at her surroundings.

She was in a bedroom. The bed in the corner was unmade and unoccupied. The blankets were covered with a fine layer of dust. Aria took a closer look at the room. The bedside table and dresser were dusty, too. Everything was covered with dust, from the paintings on the wall to the rug in the middle of the floor. Apparently Lorkmir hadn't used this room for a while.

A sound in the next room froze her in her tracks. A moment later, the sound came again, some kind of tinkling, clunking noise. She crept to the door and opened it just enough to peek out. A fair-haired Altmer sat at a table across the main room, his back to her. Several small bottles littered the table in front of him. As she watched, he picked up one of them and gulped down the contents.

This had to be Faelian. The chances were slim that there would be two blonde Altmer with a skooma problem in the same city, even a city as large as the capitol. Now that she'd found him, Aria needed to deal with him quickly before Lorkmir came back.

She slipped into the main room and crept up behind him. The man didn't pay her any attention. Aria drew her blade and prepared to grab his neck. Suddenly, he stood up and turned around.

Aria jumped at the unexpected action. "Hey, whoa!" The Elf said. "You shouldn't...shouldn't sneak up on people like that..." His words were badly slurred. He squinted at her. "How...what are...what are you...doing here? You're not my...not my friend? What...you know, what do you want?"

Aria was so stunned at his apparent lack of fear that she didn't say anything. That seemed to amuse Faelian.

"You...you're kind of weird. You know that?" He said. "But...that's okay. I...I like crazy people. I like crazy people...and skooma!" He laughed.

Aria raised an eyebrow. This guy was completely crazy. Just to be sure, though, she asked, "You are Faelian, right?"

The Altmer stared blankly at her for a moment. "Faelian? Hey, that's my name! Yeah. I'm Faelian." He giggled again. "Oh, yeah...you want to...want to be my friend?"

"Not especially," Aria murmured.

"I'll tell you what," Faelian slurred, putting an arm heavily around her shoulders. "Skooma's the only thing...the only thing I want...you get me some...now listen up...sk...skooma. You know what that is? Get me some skooma and...and...we'll be good...good friends. Okay?"

Aria quickly pulled away. The motion threw Faelian off balance and he stumbled a bit, catching himself on the table. He looked down. "Hey, look! Skooma! Did you...did you bring it for me?" Before Aria could respond, he said, "Yeah...you're my friend now. Hey...now that we're...we're friends...you want to come with me? To my...my special place? Not...you know...very far...if you want...come to Lorkmir's house. I go there every day. Every day. I just go and...relax."

"Aren't we in Lorkmir's house already?" Aria asked.

Faelian looked around. "Are we? Yeah, I guess we are." He giggled. "Lorkmir ain't...he ain't around no more!" Faelian laughed. "I use his house. You come whenever you...you want!" His rambling ended with another giggle.

This guy was so different from her previous contracts that it was throwing her off balance. He didn't seem to realize where he was at the moment. He didn't even seem to care that he was alone in an abandoned house with a knife-wielding stranger. Aria shook her head. She just needed to get this done and go home.

She moved away and slipped around behind Faelian. The Elf was so out of his head that he seemed to forget about her as soon as she was out of sight. He simply saw back down and started gulping down skooma again.

Aria held up her Blade of Woe. With quick movements, she grabbed Faelian's hair, pulled his head back, and slid the blade across his throat. She dropped the body to the floor and cleaned her blade with a rag from the table. After a moment, she paused to consider her handiwork.

Faelian was dead, with no witnesses, thus fulfilling the terms of the contract. However, when the body was discovered, it would be easy to see that he had been assassinated. If this Adamus Phillida was as obsessed as Ocheeva claimed, he would immediately suspect the Dark Brotherhood. Aria needed to leave a false trail.

She found a chair with arms and set it next to the body. With some effort, she got the body positioned in the chair and tied the wrists to the arms. As an extra measure, she smashed a couple of figures with hilt of her dagger and punched him in the face a few times. For the final step, she placed a rug from another room over the pool of blood.

Aria wiped the excess blood from her hands and pulled her hood up. Her work was done. It was time to go home.