Just a little wrap-up that would have overflowed the last section. Enjoy.

Briavael Athellor stood at the upper floor window, slightly hidden behind the hanging curtains, watching the Penitus Oculatus soldiers march back toward Dawnstar. Their number upon departing was precisely the number that had entered. He'd counted them himself both times. And if he read their body language correctly, they were leaving confused and disappointed.

Ushag gro-Lumbak came into the room, his heavy treads distinct on the floor, "Did it work?"

Athellor remained unmoving and watched with his keen eyes until the soldiers were not only beyond the rocky outcrop, but ascending the steps of Dawnstar to the White hall of the Jarl. HE was likely the only one who could have picked them out at such a distance. Except perhaps Shy's-from-Sight. "No," he said. "But it worked well enough."

"Wait, it didn't work?!" The boys, Aventus and Samuel, ran in with Runa right with them.

The Altmer assured them, "It worked as it was supposed to. But if we had tried to convince them of our complete innocence, it would have come off as suspicious."

Samuel scratched his head, "So…it did work?"

Athellor sighed, but set into explain, "We succeeded in convincing them that we are not hiding the Black Door. They believe that our big secret is that there is Talos worship occurring in the house, and among our flaws is that we turn a blind eye to the ill doings of Maven Black-Briar. We gave them enough other things to think about that I do not believe they will have cause to come seeking the Brotherhood here again."

"Good thing, too." Mojen Rough-skin walked in with Shy's-from-Sight still under his arm and Baxe right behind them. "Shy was seconds away from clawing their faces off when I found them."

Athellor nodded to him in appreciation, "Good that you prevented it. That would not have worked in our favor."

Ushag asked, "Hey, why wasn't the Talos worship thing a bigger deal? I thought for sure I'd have to break out of jail or something."

The Altmer had an answer for that, "Because they worship Talos. Law or not, Concordat or not, without the Thalmor present, they had little motivation to arrest you for the shrine. In fact, it is all too likely that the emperor himself still holds to the belief of Talos and so stocks his personal guard with like-minded individuals. And as they were here looking for the Dark Brotherhood, they were even more willing to overlook the shrine. Be grateful. Retrieving you from a Thalmor jail would have been time consuming. Where is the bard?"

Baxe hopped up on the desk and started swinging her feet, "Out walking the shore looking for 'inspiration in the vastness'. By Sithis, I can't take much more of her. If I hear the Age of Aggression one more time from that nasally throat, I'm gonna tear it out." The Dunmer looked over at Mojen, "How do you even know she was gonna go all kitty-tears-a-lot on them. She looked scared out of her skin to me."

Mojen looked down at the fair Khajiit who was beaming up at him, "I can just tell." He leaned down and rubbed his roughly marked cheek against the soft fur of hers. Shy's-from-Sight nuzzled back and started to purr.

The little boys made gagging sounds and Baxe rolled her eyes, "Would you two get a room, already? I'm happy for you both but, by Sithis, that's disgusting!"

The gnarled faced Nord ignored her distaste. "Just wait until you find your kitten. Or you get to be someone else's."

Now it was Baxe's turn to gag. "Sithis will take me first."

Athellor spoke from where he was still looking out the window, "Careful what you say, Baxe. The Dread Father may take an interest in upsetting your plans. I understand it has happened before. And thank you, Shy, for restraining yourself."

The Khajiit purred louder against her Nordic lover.

Ushag interjected, "Hey, what about me? I had to let four of them sit on me. Don't I get any credit for not crushin' skulls?"

"Yes, Ushag. Thank you as well. I know that everyone did their part. I am certain Sharah would be quite proud."

At the mention of the name, Mojen asked, "So…does this mean…?"

Athellor nodded, "Yes. Astrid has betrayed us and our location. Or at least she believes she has. Now you know why no details of this Sanctuary were permitted to that in Falkreath."

Baxe whipped out a dagger from her boot, "So, that's a serious Tenet break. Do we get to go get her? Pleeeease tell me we get to go get her!"

"No. If Lady Sharah's assumptions are correct, then her punishment is already being meted out. Or soon will be."

The Dunmer groaned in disappointment and started flipping the dagger around in her hand.

Runa trotted forward, "If they found us, did they find Lady Sharah too?"

Athellor touched her head, "Likely, child. But Lady Sharah is resourceful and was expecting Astrid's betrayal. She will be fine."

"But she killed the Emperor, right?"

"If the Penitus Oculatus knew to seek us in Dawnstar and has Lady Sharah's name, then they will know about the contract against the Emperor as well. They will likely try to use a dummy in the Emperor's place to capture her. A body double." When Runa's expression became distressed, he assured her, "Lady Sharah knows what she is doing. She has anticipated most everything and she will return to us soon." He stood straight up, "While we wait, however, there is work to be done. Lady Sharah has sent us two contracts."

Faces lit up all around the room. Then Ushag's grew dark. "Did…did they see them?"

"Yes, but the latest love letter from Balgruff and the correspondence with Maven drew their attention. That, and the contracts were coded to appear as shipping requests. Ushag, if you would deal with the one in Windhelm. Use it as an excuse to look into another breeding stallion from their stables. Or rather, make the stallion the excuse for attending to the contract. And Baxe, you are going to Old Hroldan. While you are there, see if you can discover why the Reachmen have not sent a correspondence since Sun's Dawn. And if it is by intent, do not let them kill you."

She snatched the document from the Altmer, "Yes! I swear I was going nuts in here. Bard in the manor, Cicero in the Sanctuary…I don't know how the Listener puts up with him."

"Lady!" several voices corrected her.

Baxe cursed, "Right, right. Sorry. 'Listener' stays in the Sanctuary. 'Lady' everywhere else. Got it." She looked up, "Hey, if they're trying to weasel out of the arrangement, can I slit some veins? Send a message? Huh?"

Athellor looked sternly at her, "No. Complete the contract, gather intelligence, and report back. Lady Sharah will decide how to handle the Reachmen to suit her plans. And you tend to get…thirsty with that axe in hand."

The Dunmer grinned evilly. The children clustered forward eagerly.

"When do we get to go on contracts?"

"Yeah. How long do we have to wait for our turn?"

"It's been forever since Grelod."

Athellor looked down at them from his natural height. "Until you are tall enough to touch the top of my head without jumping. While I am standing and you are on the ground," the Altmer added, knowing the children could find loopholes anywhere. "Besides, you have cyphers to copy."

Aventus groaned, "You were serious about that?"

"Quite. Each of you, all four, twenty times. And what possessed you to shave poor Phoebe?"

Samuel grinned, "You said we were supposed to pick a role while the soldiers were here." The boys looped arms over each other's shoulders, "So we decided we'd be the rambunctious boys."

Athellor shook his head in exasperation, "In the future, beware of over-playing your part."

Runa declared, "I played a part too! And I got a souvenir without having to shave a cat." She flashed the imperial ring at her adopted siblings with a snooty grin. "I'm a Penitus Oculatus now, and you're not! Na-nana-nana-na!" she taunted them.

Samuel stuck out his tongue, "No, you're not."

"Yes, I am. The captain man said so."

Athellor bent down to look closer at the ring, "That is quite the souvenir, Runa. Keep a hold of that. It may prove useful in the future. And Mojen if you would move that Talos statue back into the Sanctuary. We do not need more attention if anyone else should stumble upon it. Some crate in the corner will be fine. And while you're down there check on Cicero. Make sure those wounds are healing up alright."

Mojen turned him and his partner toward the door, "That werewolf only bit him once, I'm sure he's fine. The little nutter's durable."

The family broke up. Ushag and Baxe to prepare for their contracts, Mojen and Shy's-from-Sight toward the stables, Samuel and Aventus to the library to find a way to put off doing their cyphers. Runa was about to go with them, but stopped at the door. "Athellor…Lady Sharah's gonna come back…right?"

He smiled softly, walked over and knelt to her level, "Lady Sharah is the daughter of Sithis. The Night Mother will guide and protect her as the Lady guides and protects us. Sharah is capable of much more than we can know. And if worse comes to worse, she has her husband to protect her. Yes, Runa, she is coming back. And we only need to be ready for when she does. Now, put that ring away somewhere secure and get to your cyphers."

Runa threw her arms around the Altmer's neck, "Thanks, Bria. I think you're the best Speaker ever." He hugged her back and then shooed the girl out of the door.

Then he went back to the window and looked out toward the sea. Lady Sharah had anticipated this and planned for it. Just like everything else. And even with the civil war heating up, the return of the dragons and rumors of a Dragonborn in the world, Lady Sharah was as she'd always been. As if she'd expected all of it. Or perhaps as if not a single occurrence could truly affect what she was contriving to do. He did not understand her. There were days he wondered if she was even human.

But he did not need to understand. She was their Listener. At first, Briavael had followed her merely because he had nothing else. Now, he followed because he knew he was a part of something great. A change that was spreading across the land, a little at a time with Lady Sharah at the center. And Briavael honestly did not know what the world would look like by the end.

Hahahaha! Now you must suffer as I suffer. For I shall not be writing any more on this story until the 'Wolf of Cyrodiil' is over. Muahahahahaha! I am an evil genius. Simply eeeeevil!

I do hope you guys enjoyed this. Seriously, it's cramped in my skull with two full storylines running around at full speed. Some little tidbits may change in this, and there is plenty of stuff that is not mentioned in here. But this is a taste to introduce you to some of your OC's and let you know that, yes I will be writing about Skyrim. Now I'll go back to writing The Wolf, so we don't have to suffer this suspense any longer than necessary.