A/N: Sorry everyone for taking so long to get this update up. Life has been rather busy for me recently. I will try to get the update out more quickly from now on. Now let's get on with the aftermath of Cragslane Cavern.

"He's waking."

Sable jumped up at the sound of Astrid's voice and limped as quickly as she could after her matron upstairs. They had taken Sionis to The Bee and Barb Inn in Riften and had watched over him with Sable agreeing to go be treated by a healer at the temple of Mara only after making everyone promise to tell her if he woke from his slumber. Two days later he finally had. She didn't understand the sudden anxiety she felt for the mage's wellbeing and she rather disliked it, but for now she couldn't help it; resolving to deal with it later, once they were all safe in the Sanctuary.

As they opened the door to the room they had rented for the mage, Sionis was just sitting up on his elbows.

"Doing okay?" Sable asked the dirty blonde-haired man.

"No," he said quietly, exhaustion evident in his voice. "I don't know that I'll ever be okay ever again."

The white-haired assassin hadn't meant the question that way, but after his response it seemed such a stupid one to ask and her countenance fell.

Sionis just stared into the furs covering his lap and said no more. He was alive, but certainly not well as the despair over his sister was crushing him. But just below it a rage was still boiling and he knew it was a matter of time before it took over if he didn't do something about it.

Not wanting to make it any worse and not knowing what else to do, Sable sat down on the bed next to him and said nothing more. A long while passed before anyone spoke and it was Astrid that finally did so.

"I will not pretend to know your pain." She offered. "And I suspect what I'm about to offer will probably not help alleviate it much, but I would like to invite you to join our Family. You have a place within the Dark Brotherhood if you like."

"Help me." He replied barely above a whisper at first. "Help me take them down for what they did to her and I'll join you." His voice had gained some volume as he made the request out loud.

The two ladies remained silent for a moment in the confusion of his answer.

"But we did take them down." Sable offered. "Do you not remember? No one made it out alive."

"Someone must have." He answered. "A zombie like that can't be sustained beyond the life of the mage that reanimated it. If everyone there had been slain, we would've only encountered a pile of ash instead of the … the … the thing we did."

"It's not possible that anyone survived." Astrid countered, stepping back into the conversation. "Anyone that got passed us or went unnoticed and made it to the exit would have encountered my husband waiting for them. He dropped every person that made it out other than us."

"How can he be so sure he got everyone?" Sionis questioned back some irritation contaminating his tone. "What if someone slipped by while he was dealing with another?"

"Arnbjorn is a werewolf, Sionis." Sable answered him, remaining calm. "He had shifted to his wolf form. No one made it past him."

His gaze fell back to his lap at hearing that. Normally he might find it unsettling to learn about a "family" of assassins that not only housed a werewolf as well as a child, but with the sorrow of Clairiss' desecration gnawing at his very soul, it didn't even affect him.

"Is it possible that there was some mage that had been hiding out maintaining her corpse that was killed when you torched the caves?" She offered thinking – hoping – that the question had filled in all the holes.

"Didn't we ferret out every nook and cranny in there?" He asked, his voice taking on an aggressive tone. "She was literally in the last place to search in the caves. There was nowhere else to look."

"So that could only mean that there was a mage not present at Cragslane that had raised Clairiss and was sustaining her." Astrid supplied, saying out loud what Sionis was thinking.

"Does magic even work like that?" Sable asked.

"No," Sionis answered, losing the edge in his voice. "A mage must remain within a certain proximity of their undead servant."

"Then, how is it possible that your sister … " The younger woman trailed off unable to finish her thought.

"I don't know." Sionis replied, anger and resolve seeping back in. "But I intend to find out. And if you'll help me, I'll join you."

Astrid spoke before Sable could throw her support behind her newest friend. "I am sorry, Sionis," she said, genuine sadness heard in her dulcet tones, "but we cannot." Sable was about to protest her leader's decision, but again didn't get the chance before Astrid continued. "Needle in a haystack doesn't adequately describe what you hope to do. Tracking down a nameless conjurer that could be anywhere in Skyrim or even Tamriel, for that matter, would likely take far more resources and time than the Family can give. I would be glad to honor a request for help with just about anything else, but I fear the task you have set yourself upon can't be fulfilled."

Sable's gaze sank as she realized the truth of Astrid's statement. It simply was not reasonable to think it could be done. And while she wanted so much to help the mage obtain justice, she knew it was time to move on. Her foot was yet not fully healed and still needed the attention of a dedicated healer before she would be able to walk without a limp. There was also the matter of getting Babette to share the gift of vampirism with her before taking on whatever new contracts that came her way.

"Then, I can't join you." Sionis said solemnly. "I must find the bastard that so profaned the spirit of my sister and destroy him. There will be nothing else for me until that is finished." He then turned to the assassin he had decided to partner with in a warehouse on the docks of the very city in which he now lay. "Sable, would you at least join me. It was you that galvanized me to action to begin with. Please stay with me and see this through with me."

For her part, Sable so wanted to stay and finish it with him, but she simply couldn't. She steeled herself against those feelings, knowing that her place was with the Dark Brotherhood; with her Family. They had brought her in and accepted her and loved her. She would not turn her back on them for anything – even helping that darling mage find peace after a tragedy she was partially responsible for bringing about.

"I … I'm truly sorry, but I cannot." She answered with no emotion. It was the only way to keep her true feelings from overcoming her and that was something she would not allow to happen. "I must return with the Family." She wanted repeat Astrid's offer to join the band of assassins, but stopped short. She knew his answer wouldn't change.

His dark eyes shot to her. They were filled with the anger of one who had been betrayed. "You cannot!?" He spat at her. "If it hadn't been for you, Clairiss would still be alive and all you can give me is you're sorry but must go back to your wretched 'family'?" His chest now heaved as he fought his rage. "If this is all you've got to offer me, then leave!"

"Sionis, I …"

"Leave! Get out of here!"

Sable stood speechless, unable to move or speak. She knew that it had only been a short time ago that they had met, but she had shared the power of murder with him and hadn't expected his anger as a reaction.

"Come, sister." Astrid said pulling her from the room. "There is nothing more we can do for him." She gathered her younger sister under her arm. As Sable was led from the room leaving the man to his sorrow, she found herself wishing against all odds that he found the perpetrator and made him die painfully. So very painfully.

"For the last time, Sable," Babette snapped, "I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to turn you."

"Why not, Babette?" The white-haired assassin gasped. "This is something I want. Please, help me."

The child vampire didn't answer. She just stared at Sable, the look on her face pleading to let the matter drop. It was the fourth or fifth time her friend had brought it up.

Seeing that nothing was forthcoming and frustration from days of asking building up, pushed Sable over the edge of decency.

"I don't see why you keep refusing me this!" She pushed emphatically. "Why would my friend keep such a gift of power to herself? Why are you being so selfish?"

"Selfish!?" Babette screamed. "You think I'm being selfish? Sable, you don't know what you're asking for. Sure, there are benefits, but there is so much about it you don't know. It's not simply a blessing or gift or whatever you seem to think it is. It is an entirely different way of living and no one is fully prepared for it. And I don't know of any way of going back." The vampire had finally come down from her shouting. Now she was imploring Sable to give up her request. "Please trust me on this, Sable. It's because I'm your friend that I refuse you this. It's not what you think it is."

The tall Nord woman lost her will at that moment. Babette had always refused to elaborate on it, and the reasoning was always the same. But she had never been that emotionally driven in her responses before. Sable was done asking and nodded her concession to the vampire, mumbling an apology which Babette accepted before she walked away. The white-haired assassin left her friend in the alchemy room and headed straight for her room.

Once there, she closed the door and sat on her bed. Sable removed her boots and stared down at the spider web of pink scars that laced their way all over her foot. The healing at the Temple of Mara in Riften had been painful nearly beyond sanity. Now, with further healing courtesy of Gabriella's, the pain was finally starting to subside allowing her to walk with just a hint of a limp. She figured it was going to be about another week before she was ready to try running or sneaking. Probably a while after that before she could take on another mission.

She sighed wondering what it was that kept Babette from bestowing vampirism upon her. If Babette wouldn't help, there had to be some other way to become a vampire. She had heard that those that somehow survived an encounter with the creatures would sometimes become vampires themselves. However, she wasn't anxious to go searching them out and picking fights with them. Especially as her mind replayed the glorious carnage Babette had wreaked when they had come to her rescue.

Her contemplations turned eventually toward Sionis. She truly wanted to help him find peace, but she had agreed with Astrid that it would have been nearly impossible to do what he requested. Besides, in the condition she had been in, she wouldn't have been much help anyway. Still, the tone of betrayal in his voice haunted her and there didn't seem to be anything she could do to shake it. She questioned whether he was right – whether she was responsible for what had happened to his sister. With the uncomfortable feelings tearing their way through her thoughts, she figured to throw herself back into her contracts as soon as she was able. Keeping busy, the pale blue-silver eyed assassin hoped, would keep the disturbing thoughts of the mage at bay long enough for them to disappear altogether.

Sifting through the ashes that was all that remained of Cragslane Cavern, Sionis now deeply regretted his explosive outburst. The pain and despair had been so great that death and destruction had been all that he wanted. The sheer force of the fireballs and explosions along with the suddenly seemingly unfettered connection to magicka had surprised him. He had been completely drained; it should have been impossible for him to have cast again without a long rest or replenishment from a potion. But then, curiously, through the agony of what had been done to Clairiss, he had felt a surge welling up inside him. A moment later, it felt like it was nearly boiling over, threatening to overwhelm him if not released. And while he had enjoyed the punishment he had meted out on the cave system, the complete desolation left nothing for him to find. No evidence or clues as to who had really been behind the drug smuggling operation. Which meant there was no lead on the mage that had so blasphemed the pure and beautiful life of his sister.

Strangely enough, the only regret he had about his torching of the caves was that he hadn't thought to look around and investigate a bit first. Shoulders slumping, he once more muttered the incantation to detect life. He looked around, not really knowing why since he didn't expect it to show him anything. It hadn't revealed anything the countless times he had cast it as he moved throughout complex of tunnels and caverns. But then, there is was.

The pinkish glow was so faint he almost missed it, but there it was. He quickly took off at run to find the source. There had to be life still within the cave and he was going to find it, and then he would extract some answers.

As he ran through the tunnels, the telltale glow of a life force became brighter, but as he rounded a corner in the tunnel he came to a dead end. The pile of rocks, dirt, and boulders went from floor to ceiling. The collapse being yet another roadblock his destruction created. He felt the rage rising up within himself again. He would not be turned back – not when potential answers were so close.

Stepping back, he drew upon his magicka and chanted the words for a fireball. It seemed to cost nearly no effort. Ever since that fateful day, it seemed that drawing upon that mystic connection took far less of a toll on him, required less of his will. Once the flaming energy coalesced in his hand, he threw it at the cave in. The rock pile exploded forward giving way to the force of the missile. The tunnel opened only momentarily as there was still plenty of earth above to refill the cave in. The dark-eyed mage nearly growled audibly at the persistence of this obstacle. But he would not be denied and an idea formed.

On this second attempt, Sionis conjured the same fireball in one hand and readied frost magic in the other. As soon as he shot the fireball, he pushed a gusher of ice at the ceiling of the tunnel, hoping to form a shell to hold the ground above. It was tricky and he smiled when he saw a now mostly clear path into the tunnel beyond. He had pulled it off. The smile dissolved a bit when he heard the protective ice shield crack. There was apparently a lot of weight still up there and his impromptu awning was having trouble shouldering it. He would have to be quick. He needed to locate whoever was still here and drag them back through, before the ceiling gave way again.

He sprinted now as much as he could trying to be careful of the uneven ground. The spell had extinguished a while ago and he had been so focused that he only now remembered to re-cast it. He did so and the pink glow manifested itself it brighter than ever as he rounded a corner and found the source of life in the cave.

A large frostbite spider had found some way in and had made itself at home, quite content to feed upon the leftover bodies and the skeevers that had found their way in search of a carrion meal. Sionis cursed himself in his mind. He should've known better, should have realized that all sorts of vermin would have moved in after the massacre that had happened here a week before.

The spider noticed him almost immediately has it had probably heard him crashing through the tunnel a long way off. And now it a chance at live prey and it wasn't going to pass that up. It immediately charged him. The mage countered it by summoning flames in both hands and dousing the foul creature with the fiery invocation. It screeched loudly in pain as the fire began to singe and char its body, but still it came forward. If it could just get to him before it died. But it was not to be. Sionis backpedaled as quickly as he could as he kept pouring the flames all over the spider. And a moment later it crumpled to the ground dead. The acrid smell of burnt hair and charred spider forced Sionis back the way he had come before he vomited.

He left Cragslane Cavern without further incident aside from his ceiling of ice finally losing the battle with the earth above. It came down with a loud crack right after he had passed through it. It had startled him greatly since he had forgotten all about it. His mind had been filled with thoughts of what his next move might be and it had taken at least a few moments to get his breathing back under control after the roofed crashed back down behind him, sealing that section of the cave complex once again.

Outside he looked over the broken plains of The Rift, tears welling in his eyes. Every hope he had on getting a lead on his sister's murderer had gone up in smoke in what was now a den of spiders and skeevers. He had nowhere else to look now. He knew of no other bases of operation used by the skooma dealers nor of any other associates. The trail was now cold and he didn't know what the next step was. He only knew that he couldn't forget what had been done. He couldn't let it go. Somehow, someway he would find the mage responsible and he would end said mage as violently and as painfully as he possibly could.

He set toward Kynesgrove since he figured it was the closest town big enough to house an inn, not knowing how or where they would come, but determined to find answers.