After a conversation with the keeper of the inn, Sable found herself picking the lock to the Aretino house and making her way silently inside. Immediately in front of her was a set of stairs. The glow of light in another room on the second floor told her that the ritual that had aroused her curiosity lay upstairs. As she got to the top of the stairs she could hear a young boy chanting over and over.
"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear."
She silently crept across the small common room to a nearby bedroom from where the light was emanating. The shock of the scene before her stopped her dead in her tracks.
Inside, a boy of about ten years had created an effigy of a person. He had almost a complete skeleton along with a heart and some flesh which he was repeatedly stabbing while chanting. Both the "body" and boy were inside a circle of candles, the flames of which flickered and danced throwing elongated shadows all over the walls. Blood was flecked everywhere from the boy's stabbing at the heart of the effigy.
"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear." He paused. "So ... very tired.
"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear."
Sable just stood there watching the macabre scene wondering what horrors this boy must have gone through to put the effigy together. Worse yet, what evil was done to the boy that would cause him to carry this out? And who perpetrated such an evil?
The boy eventually must have felt her staring because he suddenly stopped and looked toward her.
"It worked! I knew you'd come, I just knew it! I did the Black Sacrament, over and over. With the body and the ... the things. And then you came! An assassin from the Dark Brotherhood!"
Sable, remained involuntarily silent. She just couldn't bring herself to respond.
"You don't have to say anything. There's no need. You're here, so I know you'll accept my contract."
At this, Sable finally managed to find her voice. "Contract?"
"My mother, she … she died." The boy replied. "I … I'm all alone now. So they sent me to that terrible orphanage in Riften. Honorhall. The headmistress is an evil, cruel woman. They call her Grelod the Kind. But she's not kind. She's terrible. To all of us. So I ran away, and came home." His voice now regained some of his earlier excitement. "And performed the Black Sacrament. Now you're here! And you can kill Grelod the Kind!"
"What happened to your mother?" The pretend assassin asked crouching down to face the boy. He looked exhausted. It was clear by the bags and dark circles under his eyes that he hadn't slept in quite a while.
"She got sick, last winter, when the snows came. And she just … she never got better. Not all year. One night she fell asleep and … never woke up. So now I'm all alone. And the Jarl said I had to go to Honorhall Orphanage. It's not fair!"
Sable was normally all for killing, but this was almost unbelievable. "Are you sure about this boy? Murdering this woman?"
"I've never been more sure about anything in my entire life. Someone like Grelod doesn't deserve to live one more day. She's a monster! And I can pay you. I have a family heirloom you can have. It's supposed to be sort of valuable. I hope that is all right."
Sable nodded and then stood up. "I'll come back when the job is done," she said and left the Aretino house.
Upon her return to Riften, Sable was determined to check out the boy's story and make sure it was actually true. She was rebuffed during a simple visit by the assistant headmistress, a woman calling herself Constance. While she didn't seem very cruel, she was in quite a hurry to usher Sable out of the orphanage.
"You really shouldn't be here." She had said. "I'm sorry, but the children aren't up for adoption right now. You should go."
When Sable, attempted to question her further, Constance tried to assure her while still pushing her out.
"Look, my only concern is for the children. The poor darlings have no one else. If there's nothing else, I really must ask you to leave."
Sable had thought Constance's responses to be quite interesting, but also knew she wouldn't learn anything new from her. She would have to use her thieving skills to do her own reconnaissance.
In the meantime, she decided to return to the Ragged Flagon and report the job finished. Both Brynjolf and Mercer were quite pleased. Especially that no one had been killed. As a bonus, they had received a note from Niranye commending the guild for the professionalism displayed by their agent. Sable smiled at that comment. The high elf had received the message loud and clear. That combined with her having finished the job on time, Mercer presented her with a new set of leathers. These had a slightly different arrangement of pockets and straps. Anyone within the guild would see the pattern as marking her a high ranking thief within the guild. It even got her a better discount from the local fence.
Later that night, Sable crept out of the guild house and went to the orphanage to look around. She silently entered through a window into a small room devoid of any furniture save a cabinet against the near wall. She picked the lock easily and discovered it was full of heavy iron manacles. Wondering what in the world an orphanage would need with several sets of manacles, she slowly inched the door open on the far side of the room. It opened to the common room. Sable snooped around for a bit.
Constance's room was rather Spartan as well. A bed, a simple wardrobe, and a desk were all that the room contained. Sable searched the wardrobe and desk and found nothing sinister. Grelod's room was only slightly more lavish with a chest at the foot of her bed. Sable did find a whipping switch on Grelod's desk, but those were fairly common in any household much less an orphanage. She, apparently, was going to have to try to observe the orphanage when it was more active.
Before leaving, Sable used a dagger to make a slight crack in the door of the room she had come in. She would use it to peer through into the common room and watch since it would afford her with an excellent view. She left through the same window she entered and was gone without anyone ever knowing she was there.
Over the next few days, the crack in the door allowed Sable to get to know the headmistress of the orphanage. Grelod the Kind was anything but. She was probably the oldest woman Sable had ever seen. Covered with wrinkles with a matte of gray hair, it seemed her advanced age only served to fuel her bitterness. She would routinely call them names as they went about their "chores" of cooking and cleaning the orphanage along with anything else she dreamed up for them. She also would fly off into a rage for even the smallest transgressions. Most of the time, she made Constance take care of issues with the children. She once ordered Constance to "talk the tears" out of a frightened child or they would be beaten. Another time she instructed Constance to retrieve some coins she figured were stolen from her purse by one of the children or she would have them thrown into the Jarl's dungeon. Constance did her best to protect the children and it was clear she really did care for them, but it seemed Grelod was too much to overcome, especially when she sent Constance out on various errands for the orphanage.
Sable had gone back to the orphanage and questioned Constance again. She got a bit more information from her when she asked about Grelod's treatment of the children.
"Sadly, yes." She had explained. "Even the townsfolk have taken to calling her 'Grelod the Kind.' Her very existence has become something of a running joke. Grelod runs this orphanage because she's old, and set in her ways, and doesn't know any other life. These children need love, and comfort. I try … But … I'm sorry, you should go. The children aren't up for adoption and it's cruel to get their hopes up. Besides, Grelod hates … visitors."
It was actually when Constance had been sent out shopping for supplies that Sable had decided, just like the Aretino boy, that Grelod had to die. After ending yet another lecture to the children explaining how they were good for nothing, Grelod went to her room. She slammed the door hard enough that the vibrations caused a plate on a nearby shelf to fall and shatter. All of the children stood still in fear. When Grelod the Kind's door swung back open a moment later, they scattered, trying to find places to hide. However, Grelod caught one of them and began hauling them to the "Discipline Room". Sable quickly realized that the room she was hiding in was the destination of Grelod and the poor child she had managed to catch. Sable made for the window and was on the roof of the building before they entered.
She hung her head from the roof and peeked in the window to watch what unfolded. Grelod's face was red with anger as she brought the child in. The young boy tried to free himself but made not a bit of progress against what must have been the old woman's iron grip. She made right for the cabinet and drew out a pair of the manacles. Despite the boy's struggles, she clapped them onto his wrists quickly, dragged him over to a wall to the left of the window and hung them over a hook in the wall so he couldn't flee. She then drew the switch Sable had seen in her room. As soon as he saw it, the boy turned his back to the old crone to protect himself from the beating as best he could. The boy screamed in pain with each blow, but it seemed that Grelod would never stop. When she began to see red stain the back of the boy's shirt, Sable flashed back to her childhood and the tortures she endured through her early teenaged years.
Like the Aretino boy, her parents had died when she was young and she was taken in by an innkeeper. At first, the arrangement was nice. She helped with cleaning and cooking and he gave her food and a safe place to sleep. However, as she entered her teenaged years, he turned on her. The abuses she suffered at his hands were not the same as this boy was getting, but she was no less enraged by it. The inn keeper had been her first kill. She had never looked back, eventually finding her way to the thieves guild.
Sable snapped out of her unexpected recollections. This couldn't go unpunished. In a silent flash, Sable was back in the room unnoticed by Grelod. Another second later, Sable was immediately behind her. A moment later, her blade bit the old woman's throat. She yanked her to the side so none of her blood would defile the innocent, nearly unconscious boy hanging limp against the wall.
"You're free of her evil now," she whispered to the boy, tears of sorrow and rage stinging her eyes. The boy only groaned in reply. "I'm sorry I did not act sooner. I will do what I can to help you."
Just then, she heard the main door to the orphanage creak open. Constance was back. She quickly forced her only healing potion down the boy's throat as best she could and once again exited using the window.
When Constance saw the door to the Discipline Room slightly ajar, she rushed over. Grelod would usually leave the children hanging after such a beating for her to take care of. When she threw open the door, she got the shock of her life. There was a boy hanging, his shirt soaked with blood. Lying next to him in a pool of blood was Grelod. Stone dead.