I stared at Omazirr as he pulled me into his room. I asked him what was going on and he told me, "Take a seat."

I sat down on the edge of his bed and he stood at the doorway after he closed it, "I'm sitting. What now?"

He seemed to be contemplating something, but eventually he sat down on a chair near a desk in the room, staring at me, "How much do you know?"

I gave him a curious look, "About?"

"Us."

Us? Did he mean the Dark Brotherhood? My ears turned down a little.

"Can you explain what you mean?"

He sighed and motioned his hand back and forth between me and him, "Us. Khajiits."

"I... know enough considering I am one, I guess. Why?"

"Did you grow up in Elsweyr?"

Why did it matter where I grew up? My ears stayed back and my head tilted to the side, "Yes... why?" I emphasized the 'why' to get it through to him that I wanted an answer.

He shook his head and rubbed at his chin for a few minutes, "Nothing, never mind. Come with me and I'll take you to your room." He started to open the doors and when he walked out, I just sat where I was, so when he noticed I wasn't following, he came back, "Are you coming?"

"No." I shook my head and stared at him.

He stared back at me for a long minute.

"You have something to ask. Don't just stand there in your fancy, red armor trying to look good and strong. There's a reason you pulled me in here and I want to know what it is."

He shook his head and I saw his eyes roll, "Well, I don't want to tell you, so I'm not going to." He must have thought that speaking in a matter-of-fact tone of voice was going to change what I wanted to do.

"Well, I'll just stay in your room until you tell me then." I pushed myself back onto his bed so my back was against the wall and I crossed my legs, telling him I meant what I said. I was going to be comfortable if I was going to pry this out of him.

He growled at me softly, "Then I'll forcibly remove you," he started to step closer to me, raising his arms to grab at me when he could get close enough.

I hissed at him and raised my hand, "If you provoke me, I will be forced to unsheathe my claws," I pushed my claws out and he backed up.

He stared at me and his ears went back, "Seriously? You'd attack me?" He wasn't threatened, or anything like that, but he seemed more surprised.

"You saved my life, sure. But that doesn't mean I'm just going to let things go. I'm curious. I want to know what you had to say I'll stay until I find out."

"Curiosity killed the cat." He looked at me with stern eyes and I stared back with the same look.

"Well, it's a good thing this cat knows how to take care of herself. Spill your question!" I was starting to get antsy and annoyed.

He shook his head and closed the doors behind him again, "It's a secret, okay?"

I leaned back on his bed and crossed my arms, "Khajiits are known for secrecy, aren't we?"

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, well, this is a secret that I won't be able to keep from the Brotherhood for much longer."

My tail twitched a little, "Is it bad?"

"Bad enough, I guess."

"Okay... so if this is a bad secret, why are you telling me when you only met me?"

"Because," he said, "you're the only one who can help."

"I am? How?"

He pulled the chair over in front of me and sat down again and faced me, staring intently into my eyes for a moment, "They think I was born and raised in Elsweyr."

"And... you weren't?"

"No... well, maybe... I-I don't know!" he threw his hands up and sighed. "I was kidnapped at a young age, but everybody sees me as a Khajiit and they instantly think I'm full of Elsweyr knowledge. I don't know anything about our pantheon, and I don't know why but everyone else loves to talk about their gods and why they're so great."

"So?"

" 'So' is that they end up trying to bring me into the conversation and I don't know anything about the religion I follow."

"Can't you tell them that?"

"No," he said, "I want to know about my gods..."

I felt flustered for a minute, "Wait," I said, "Is that the whole reason you saved me?"

"No! Of course not! It's part of the reason, but also because I want a companion here and the others just aren't enough like me..."

I stared at him for a minute without saying anything. He wanted a companion? I had to wonder if he realized that having a companion wouldn't be easy if he was always going to be cold toward me and rude. I have to admit, though, he was actually being nice a little there.

"What?" he finally asked.

"You're always putting out a tough exterior, aren't you? You could actually be kind, you know." I smiled a little.

He rolled his eyes, "I'm not 'kind', okay. I'm an assassin. Assassins aren't kind."

"So why were you being kind to me then?"

"I'm not. This is a one-time thing. Don't get used it. I just want you to help me learn about our gods. Will you do it or not?"

"What if I say no?"

He seemed a little ticked off, "Would you really say no to helping your own kind?"

I sighed, "Why don't you just tell them you don't know anything about your gods?"

"I will not be the only one in here who doesn't know their own pantheon!"

I jumped when he raised his voice and felt my fur sticking up. "Okay! Okay! I'll help you..."

He stared at me, his eyes dark and cold, "Good," he said and opened the doors, "Now come on so I can show you to your room."

He led me down the hallway to a door and told me my room was inside, then he just walked away. He just walked away... so, something told me deep inside that he was going to be on of those people that made everything difficult, right?

I pushed the door open and walked inside. Stone wall and floor, old-looking bed with soft sheets on it, a wooden bookshelf that looked like it would only hold a few books before collapsing, a stone desk with papers strewn over it and a few books in a pile and an ink well with a feather. There was a chest in the corner with a padlock but no key (I'd pick that lock later), a six-drawer-dresser against the wall with a few candles on top of three books. There was an oil lamp on the desk, but I was doubtful that I'd need it. I noticed a few potions on the desk, too. Health and Magicka, it looked like. I looked a little more and found Stamina, too.

I was tired from the running, and all of the people-meeting, so I crawled in the bed without another thought and fell asleep.

"Is she dead?" a voice asked, as I was woken up by somebody poking me.

"I wouldn't doubt it," another voice asked.

"I'm not dead," I said as I sat up and turned to look at who was poking me. Babette. Gabriella was behind her.

"Oh, good. You've just been sleeping for the last three hours, then. Astrid wants you. Better go find her," Gabriella said, and the two of them started to leave my room.

"Wait," I said, "Any idea where I can find her?"

They laughed, "We just came to give you her message. We didn't come to show you the way to her."

I sighed as they left and I got out of the bed.

After a meaningless ten minutes searching, I finally found Astrid. She was in the first room I came to after Omazirr actually brought me into the Sanctuary.

"About time," she said as she looked up. I looked down and ground my teeth together. If somebody would have helped me, you wouldn't be waiting. Maybe you should teach them some manners.

"Sorry," I said, "Nobody told me where you were."
She laughed, "For the first week or two, you'll have to find out how to function around here by yourself. After you're officially brought in to the Brotherhood, everybody will open up. Anyways, Nazir is outside waiting for you. He has the first details of your contract and he will be the one there to watch you." She stood at a table with her hands on her hips.

I was confused, "I thought Omazirr was going to-"

"No. It would be a waste of time to have you trained when you probably already know what you're doing and we're getting more contracts than needed right now. Nazir will fill you in on the way, but as for right now, you need to get your move on."

I was still confused, but I shrugged my shoulders mentally. "Okay," I walked in to get my weapons.

I emerged from the Sanctuary with a bow, arrows, and a dagger just in case I got up and close. Nazir was leaning against the wall and he stood upright slowly when he saw me.

"I assume you're ready to go?"

"Of course," I said.

He walked up to me and inspected the weapons, "Bow and arrow? Nice choice. Now, follow me. I'll explain the mission on the way."

"We're on out way to Markarth to kill a woman by the name of Bernadette Hansley. She's a Nordic woman who needs to go. Our client is a Nordic man who needs the woman gone because she knows too much about his business and she could get him killed," Nazir explained.

"So, it's kill her before she kills him?"

"Yes," he nodded and handed me a paper. I stopped walking and unfolded it. There was a sketch of the woman.

She had blonde hair, average-pale skin and a medium build.

We were walking through the thick layer of dense trees. The wind was blowing, but not hard, and with it came a light shower of rain. It was getting closer to night, and Nazir suggested we stop to rest. I wasn't going to argue with him and make him think I was a difficult person to work with, so I agreed. We both sat down when we came to a small clearing. We worked together on making a fire and building something over it to keep the water from getting to and extinguishing it. We sat down near the fire across from each other and while we didn't talk much, he started to chuckle as he looked through some papers.

"Well, Ajivha, you're luck isn't very good, now is it?"

I gave him a curious look, my ear twitching, "What?"

"Your next killing is in Riften."

I felt a twist in my stomach, but I wasn't going to lose my cool, "OK?"

He looked confused, "That doesn't bother you?"

I looked away from him and pondered on his question. Did it bother me? Yeah, of course. I could feel my tail twitching nervously as I thought about what could go wrong with that. For one, the Thieves' Guild would be on me, most likely. They worked together, right? And I had no clue what, er, rank Delvin was, so who knew if everybody would help him get me?

"Will you be the one there with me?" I asked.

"Probably," he replied.

He was only one person. How many people were in the Thieves' Guild?

They weren't my only worry. There was, no doubt, a bounty on my head from escaping from the jail, so how was I even supposed to get into Riften? The gate would be guarded, so I had some contemplating to do.

"Worried?" Nazir asked.

I stared at him, and I felt my hands curling into fists, "No."

He nodded slowly, showing he obviously didn't believe me, "Of course not. You're mad. Why?"

I gave him a dirty look. He looked so relaxed, leaning against the tree. He didn't even seem worried, but then again, he didn't know about the bounty on my head, did he?

"Because," I said, "I know these first few killings are supposed to be of what I can do, but sending me to a place I'll get killed in isn't really fair."

Nazir laughed, "What makes you think you'll get killed?"

"What makes you think I won't?" I retorted.

"I'm not allowed to let you get killed."

I nodded slowly, "Okay, but you don't know that I was thrown in jail and now probably have a bounty on my head because I escaped."

Nazir laughed more, "Well, that sucks for you then. You have to find a way inside and I'm not going to be the one to help you."

I rolled my eyes, and although I could have figured he wasn't going to help me from the start, I still found myself thinking, "Jerk!" Oh well.

There had to be some way for me to get into Riften without being noticed by the guards...