Fifth Tale: Nightingale

"To this day I have no idea what in Oblivion any of it was about..."

-Karliah, on the subject of a strange night-

"Could have sworn I saw a dragon last time the manor did its space time thing... huge black bastard, looked like it was falling through a tunnel."

-Mistaven Manor's head Chef-

If one were to look around the cellar with an untrained eye nothing out of place would be found. It was an ordinary room, the kind filled with barrels and crates and left to darkness when not in use. It wasn't untill they began talking that anyone would even know there were two people in the cellar.

"So then..." Gallus sighed from atop a stack of crates. He had been sitting long enough to feel his bottom slowly go numb.

"Yes?" Karliah's tone gave away little of her state of mind, though he guessed she was getting just as sick of waiting as he was. The two Nightingales had been in the cellar for the better part of five hours now.

"I can hear it now. Welcome back Gallus, how did the job go? Fairly well Mercer, sat in a dank hole in the ground for a night. Now excuse me while I remove the legion of splinters from my rear..." It got a small laugh from her, mission accomplished.

"I can't imagine we'll be kept waiting too much longer, there are only so many hours in a night." She spoke as though she were trying to convince herself more than him.

"Or perhaps our lady Nocturnal is having a grand old time watching us scratch our heads in the dark." He responded in a deadpan. Karliah shook her cloaked head slowly.

"Nocturnal has many things, but humor is not one of them." A good point, he had to admit. Still though, it wasn't like Nocturnal to leave them in the dark about a job. The few times the Daedric Prince had contacted them directly were for simple and to the point orders. Something felt off about this whole mess.

"There's only so long we can stay before someone," He was cut off suddenly by the voice of a child.

"Hello there!" Gallus and Karliah both nearly jumper from their skins in surprise.

"Blazes! Where did you come from!?" His heart was running a mile a minute. A little girl was standing in the room where a moment ago only emptyness had been. She was wearing what looked to be a smaller scale version of their own Nightengale armor, though the mask and hood were missing.

"Sorry mister," Her green eyes were wide with either surprise or amusment. "Aunt Noc didn't tell me how this thingy works..." She explained, holding out a small cube shaped device in the palm of her hand. "It kept putting me in the wrong places, first a forest, then a big house filled with angry people, then another forest... also back to my house a couple of times." He and Karliah approached the girl, neither sure what to expect.

"You shouldn't be here child," Karliah told her sternly, having recovered her composure first.

"This is no place for kids," Gallus added. The girl huffed and put the cube in her pocket.

"Aunt Noc said there would be birds... where are the birds?" Neither answered for a moment.

"I think she's talking about Nocturnal," Gallus whispered. His partner tilted her head at the girl.

"You were sent by Nocturnal?" The girl was almost too busy looking around the room to answer. When she did it answer was in a distracted way, not even looking at them.

"Uh hu, Aunt Noc said I could go an adventure with some birds since she was too busy with stuff to visit like she said she would." She lifted the lid of a box while she spoke, rifling through it until she reached the bottom.

"Please tell me she didn't call the birds Nightingales..." He was getting a sinking feeling in his gut.

"Ya she did," The girl bobbed her head and went around the room at random. "She also called them..." She paused, searching for the word. "Peons... I think that was it." The two shared a silent look.

"Now that sounds like Nocturnal," Karliah muttered. Ever the gracious patron, their lady was.

"And Nocturnal is your..." Gallus was at a loss.

"My aunt," She confirmed.

"Your aunt... well then." He looked to Karliah, not sure where to go from there. She merely shrugged and offered the girl a hand, which she shook with a grin. So he offered his and got the same. When in doubt... "So you know what we're here for right?"

"To take all the stuff out of the house, and not get caught?" Simplistic, but accurate.

"And you know what happens if we do get caught?"

"Bad stuff..." Her tone was as close to grave as he imagined it could be.

"If you're to go with us you'll have to be prepared for trouble," Karliah told the girl. "If we're spotted I don't expect your age to protect you from their wrath."

"I know, that's why I brought this!" She reached into another pocket and pulled out a funny looking leather cap. Before they could say more she placed it on her head and vanished.

"Very good," Gallus whistled. "Invisibility enchantments aren't cheap." He raised a hand and reached for where her head had been. When he felt nothing but air the confusion was palpable. "What the?"

"Eeeew!" The unseen girl cried. "You put your hand through my face!"

"Intangibility too?" Karliah was impressed. She had never in her life seen such a form of magic.

"Aw now that's just cheating," He groaned, then added. "Can I have one?"

Before the night was over a very unlucky home owner lost almost everything not nailed to the floor. The only thing the strange little girl took for herself when she left was a framed painting of a bird in flight.

Even twenty five years after Gallus's death the memory of that unusual night still brought a fond smile to Karliah's face.

Writer's note: While I know I promised the next chapter to be an origin story of Nessa's father I have been unable to shorten it to a single chapter, so I think for the time being I will put that on hold and continue with Nessa's tales. Once I have finished fleshing out the tale of her father I will most likely post it as a stand alone work. As alway I welcome reviews or questions, and if anyone has a location historic event or character they would like to see in the future feel free to message me the details.