Hey guys, as you've noticed, this is the third installment of my quick fic (even though it's currently longer than all of my other stories combined, I think), "Better Than The Night Mother".
So, from this point on, I'm almost totally winging it- You see, when I first started this, it was originally meant to be a one shot, probably not even the size of the first chapter, with a quick scene about the Innocence Lost quest, then a bit about the shack scene, then a few random but important moments about Dragon and Astrid, and finally a conclusion, which I can't tell you because I still plan to use that. So, from this point until the last scene of part four, I'm totally and completely making it up as I go. Just saying.
Warnings: Obviously this is femslash. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a synonym to any of the following terms: Yuri, girl/girl, lesbian, a romantic and/or sexual relationship between two homosexual or bisexual females. There, I said it- While I don't think it's really necessary to put a warning about that, someone messaged me and said that I should, just in case, so there, I did. Oh, and that remined me, they also advised me to do this-
Disclaimer: I, Inuyashagirl2015, do not, nor have I ever, own any of the Elder Scrolls Games, including Skyrim. They, and all of their characters, are owned by Bethesda. I do, however, own a copy of both Oblivion and Skyrim, and I also own Dragon. She's a character of my own creation, as you can all see from the fact that she's the main character in all of my other fanfics (Barring the original T'TNAN'NG, but we all know that, despite her different name and slightly altered appearance, I was thinking of Dragon, which I will easily admit too and fix if I rewrite that one, which I probably won't...)
Rating: M, just to be safe (for now)
Other:
"What... Is the music... Of life?" A raspy voice asked me slowly, and would have startled me, had I not been expecting something of the sort.
"Silence, my brother." I spoke back, and for a moment, I worried that, perhaps, I had somehow misheard the Assassin (whose name, I realised while on my way here, I still did not know), or perhaps she had just been toying with me, taunting me. It would seem, however, that my fears were in vain.
"Welcome... Home..." The same raspy, ancient voice replied, and large door with the skull carved into it slowly cracked open enough for me to pull it the rest of the way open. Freezing air flooded out of the foreboding entryway and washed over my body, replacing the slightly over-heated sensation that I had been experiencing for nearly since I had left Falkenreath- I think this may be the only area in Skyrim where it can, at it's highest temperature, nearly cook meat without any fire being necessary. Luckily, today was not nearly at it's highest, but after getting used to the normally below freezing climate of the rest of Skyrim, even the lowest temperature in this heated area felt uncomfortable.
I stepped hesitantly into the pleasantly cool passageway. I'm honestly pretty glad that no one had a view of me from where I was, because, when the door slammed closed behind me after I had stepped forward enough for me to do so, I jumped and let out an embarrassingly high-pitched, though soft, shriek of surprise that I really hoped no one heard.
I really need to stop being so jumpy all of the freaking time.
The whole passageway that I was standing in looked to be carved out of the stones that it was hidden under, and, as I walked down the cold, slightly steep stone steps, I suddenly realised that I had, literally, just walked into the den of murderers with barely a thought to this being, somehow, a trick of some sort- though why they would need to trick me into coming to them when they could have easily ended my life when I was unconcious after the legend-worthy battle between the draugrs, bandits and I, I had no idea. Well, too late to go back now, either way.
The small passage ended and turned into a larger room. There was a book case immediately in fron tof me. On my left there was another room, and I could tell by what I could see through the partially open door that it was a bedroom of some sort. As far as I could tell, the room was currently empty of whoever lived in it, but then, I could only see part of the room from this angle, so for all that I know, there could be twenty people in there waiting to ambush anyone who was stupid enough to go in there.
Next to the room was a large stone table. On it was a map, as well as a few place markers. As I stepped closer, curiously, I could tell that the map was definitely the most detailed map of Skyrim that I had ever come across, which said something compared to all of the map that I've seen in my many months here since I escaped Helgen. I was almost tempted to pull out my own rather detailed map (I had every notable location that I had been to since coming to Skyrim on it, and several locations marked for further investigation, so it was a pretty well marked map as it was) and copy a few of the locations on there to check out later, but then decided against it (for now).
I had no more time to admire the expansive map, though, as a familiar voice that had been the topic of most of my thoughts spoke. "You came."
I whirled to the right to face the owner of the voice, and nearly jumped back as I noticed that she was only a few feet away from where I was standing by the map table, looking at me with a very pleased expression not unlike a cat who just got the cream.
"Of course." I mumbled offhandedly, taking in her looks- I don't know how I expected her to look, but regardless, I wasn't disappointed.
She was obviously of Nordic decent, from the way her face and features were shaped and arranged and from her body structure, now that I actually though about it. She had a round face. Her eyes were a deep brown, almost black, and very sweet looking, and her lips were smooth, plump and lightly pink. Her hair, which was a darker shade of strawberry blonde, went about to her lower shoulders and was held out of her face by two braids, which more than likely connected in the back in a common style in Skyrim. She was sort of short as far as Nordic women went, but since I'm short as far as elves go... Well, she's still taller than me by a good few inches. Damn, I'm short.
"Good, I was almost worried that you wouldn't take me up on my offer." Her pleased smirk turned into an actual smile.
"I am Astrid, and I run this branch of the Dark Brotherhood here in Skyrim. Every family member in this branch answers to me above anyone else- And that, my dear sister, includes you now. Welcome to the family."
"I'm... I'm honored to be part of your family, Astrid." The name flowed smoothly and pleasantly off of my tongue, even as I remained slightly awed by the prospect of being a member of the Dark Brotherhood. I had always though that that would be really cool, since the first time I read my so-many-greats grandmother's journal, but, honestly, it wasn't something that I had ever thought would really happen. Somehow, though, it did. Honestly, I'm more than a little starstruck right now.
"Our family, dear sister, our family now." Astrid corrected in a tone that reminded me a great deal of silk, a product that is rather uncommon in Skyrim due to the fact that, while it is very strong and beautiful, offers little protection against the mostly frigid climate of the country.
"Of course." I offered a smile and ducked my head slightly in embarrassment. God, why the hell am I acting like this? I know that I'm pretty young as far as things go, you know, being 17 and all, but serious, you'd think that after killing dragons, stealing their souls, learning Thu'ums, joining the thieves guild, becoming archmage of the college of Winterhold, being a companion, dealing with an excessive amount f Daedric princes, and the endless amount of other shit that I've done, nothing could really phase me anymore, but no. It's the voice, I tell you, I swear to the Divine and every Daedric Prince in existence that if her voice wasn't that utterly sexy, I wouldn't be half ready to jump her right now. Man, and nothing she's said had been particularly provocative... Yeah, I'm too far gone for this to be normal. Whatever, I've never once claimed to be normal in any way, may as well embrace my strangeness.
"So, do you have something for me to do now?" I asked after a moment, half seriously asking that question, half just to keep her speaking right now.
"Not currently. Later, go speak to Nazir, he should have some work for you to do now, but first, I want you to go and meet your new family." She smiled encouragingly at me, but then her expression turned momentarily darker, and the last part was partially mumbled to herself, "They should embrace you with well opened arms." I wondered vaguely at that last part. should I take that to mean that some had not exactly been happy about my new recruitment? Hn... probably.
"Alright. Thank you Astrid." I smiled at her, she smiled back, then I headed past her to "meet my new family", boldly (sort of but not really, especially compared to how I normally am with women) brushing against her somewhat as we passed in the narrow walkway. Though honestly, I'm pretty sure she intended to do the same thing, and her smirk widened by a good bit as it happened, so I'm thinking it was a good move on my part.
Scene change, after the three contracts for Nazir are completed
I came back to the Sanctuary about a week and a half after I had left- It took me a while to get to the locations of all of the targets, and get them alone, in some cases, and I'm not gonna lie, I also did some other stuff too while I was out too- Planted a stolen ring and forged some business ledgers, so I would have to collect the pay for those next time I happened to be in Riften, and found Toldfir's Alembic when I went to make sure all was in order at the College since I was already in the area. Things like that, you know.
There was a lot more noise- several voices speaking at the same time some more loudly than others- than the first time I had been here. I debated with myself-only for a second or two- about whether or not it would be a good idea to go down there before deciding that my damnable curiosity would not allow me to leave without knowing what was going on.
As I made my way down the small set of steps, through the first chamber with that exquisite map and down another walkway towards what I considered the "main room"- My sensitive elven ears easily began to make out voices-not words, just voices. Astrid's, of course, was the first voice I recognized. Very soon after her, when I was about next to the map in the first room, my ears picked up on a high pitched, eccentric sounding voice, and it took me a moment, but soon I recognized it, and I stopped my descent for a moment.
It was that "Jester" that I had met on the road near that farm. I think his name was Cicero, but I could be wrong. He had been, supposedly, transporting his "Mother" to a new crypt in Skyrim from Cyrodill, but his wagon had broken a wheel by the house of some farmer. I, being in a rather charitable mood that day, had decided to convince that farmer to assist the almost definitely insane man- it truly hadn't been hard, just a few well placed words on Nordic Hospitality and he agreed (I have quite the silver tongue, if you haven't realised). The Jester payed me rather handsomely for my help and I left, and hadn't seen any hint of him since then (it would have been about a month and a half ago, it wasn't too long before I heard the first rumours of Aventus Aretino.
So, the real question is, why exactly is he here? (I won't deny, though, that some part of me is both unsurprise and slightly triumphant that it appears to be correct in it's statement of "I bet he's a murderer" We'll see, voice in my head, we'll see.
The words of the voices becoming louder and more clear came was slightly startling as I realised that I had actually unconciously began walking down the short, narrow path while I ramble to some stupid voice inside my head. Man, I've got problems.
"Of course Cicero, we will welcome you to our sanctuary, and we will award you the respect that your position entitles. But make no mistake, I am the leader of this sanctuary and what I say around here goes. Are we clear?" Astrid's voice threatened the Jester, calmly and firmly, leaving no room for arguement.
"Of course, of course, Mistress, you are the boss! Cicero is happy to serve under you, and Cicero is sure that the Night Mother is pleased to be here as well!" The eccentric, high pitched voice of Cicero agreed hastily to that just as the actual people came into sight. I saw Astrid first, of course, since she was closest to the door, who didn't glance at me when I came down, though I doubt that it was because she didn't know that I was there. She was a bit too busy staring the male imperial down. Cicero, for his part, seemed completely at ease and not at all intimidated by the nordic woman, as he promptly turned to me when I came into view and gasped rather theatrically.
"You!" He nearly shouted, "You are the one from the farm! You helped poor Cicero when his wheel broke! You convinced the nice farmer to help poor Cicero! Cicero never forgets a face, especially a pretty one like yours, especially one that has offered assistance!" The man bounced up and down on the ball of his foot as he spoke, very much in the same manner that a young child was, and I specifically had to focus on not raising my eyebrow at that.
"Yeah, and you're the guy who was transporting his "mother" to her new crypt." I threw back. The man- who I was almost beginning to think might just be an overgrow child, began hopping from foot to fit in a way that was very reminiscent of a small boy who had to "go", and replied excitedly, "You are a Dark Sister, are you not? Then that make her not only Cicero's mother but yours as well, for I, Cicero, have the undeserved honor of being the Keeper of our most unholy Matron, the Night Mother herself!" The ending was enhanced with a very dramatic arm sweep towards the large brown box that I recognized as the one from his wagon.
"Wait, so... the Night Mother... Is in there?" I looked for confirmation from the Jester.
"Yes, the Night Mother lies in her Crypt! Cicero is the Night Mother's Keeper, he washes her, preserves her body, cleans and upkeeps her crypt- well, until it was destroyed by those accursed Bravilian fools, thinking that they can do something so vile as to disrupt the Night Mother's very own crypt! But worry not, my sister, worry not," The jester's face slowly turned murderous as he spoke more, his voice getting softer and softer but also darker and darker, "Cicero took care of the, oh yes, he certainly took care of those fools... Oh, how Cicero still delights at the screams they made, but no, Cicero did not relent,Cicero will never, ever let anyone get away with DISTURBING THE NIGHT MOTHER'S PEACE!" I kind of felt stupid when I jumped as he suddenly screamed the last part, especially since I was in a room of assassin's, most of whom didn't even bat an eyelash at the exclamation. I could see Arnbjorn snickering to himself, at my reaction without a doubt- He hadn't liked me from the beginning, I honestly have no idea why, I was nothing but civil when I introduced myself, but whatever it is, it still pisses me off. I shot him my most murderous, slow-painful-death promising glare at him, but his only reaction was to roll his eyes and smirk to himself. I promptly ignored him as soon as Astrid began to speak.
"Well then, Cicero, we are glad that you and the Night Mother have both arrived relatively unharmed. For now, we'll leave her where she is while a room is prepared. You may go have a meal in the dining room if you wish, or you can simply roam, but please stay inside the Sanctuary for now, I assume that you'll want to oversee te transport of our Matron's coffin."
"Yes, mistress, Cicero definitely wants to be there, who knows what could happen to the Night Mother's body is Cicero were not there to advise of the careful handling of her precious corpse!" The Jester jumped eagerly at the chance.
"Good, I'll see you in a moment, for now I need to speak to our newest sister." All eyes in the room turned towards me, but the only set I could really focus on were Astrid's. They were just as I remembered them, yet somehow theywere different. They were still beautiful, but now I noticed a deadliness within them that was not there before, or perhaps I simply had not seen before. All I can say now is that the new shiver that trailed down my spine was not fully from lust or attractions as before...
She stared at me for a moment before she turned and brushed past me without another word, and though it took me a second longer than it should have, I realised that I was meant to follow her. So, I did, I followed her and trusted her, which I seem to be doing a lot of lately. Perhaps I will at some point regret it.
Rather than just stopping at the first chamber where the map was held, she walked straight past the map table and through the doorway leading into that room (which I'm still convinced is a bedroom, probably Astrid's, since she is our leader and all) that I had noticed on the first day here. Again, I followd without hesitation.
I'm really not the sharpest knife in the drawerm am I? I mean, sexy as hell though she may be, she is an assassin, the leader of a Sanctuary, for goodness sake.
A small gasp managed to escape my lips as the door was slammed behind me as soon as I was clear of it, which was quickly followed by all of the rest of the air in my body and I was slammed against said door, my head knocking painfully into it, causing my body to go numb for a second as black spots danced across my vision. My blood chilled when I came back to awareness to find myself with a dagger pressed against my throat, staring at a now obviously pissed off Dark Brotherhood assassin who was now keeping me immobile against the door with her own body and her cold, angry glare, and at this point I wasn't sure if the anger was directed towards me or not.
"Where do you know him from? Who is he and how did you meet him?" Astrid demanded the information from me, obviously without a care as if anyone could hear or not, and in the back of my mind, I figured that they probably that this was what would happen is they knew Astrid well, which they all did, at least better than I did. Thanks for the heads up guys.
The greater part of my mind, however, was focused on that fact that, as I said earlier, I was being pressed against a door by a very angry, very dangerous assassin and there was really no way for me to escape- First of all, she's physically stronger and faster and has a dagger pressed against my throat and I'm pinned to the door and probably won't be able to get out of this room unless she decides to let me. Secondly, even if I did manage to escape, well, it's the Dark Brotherhood, they found me once, they can do it again, and since it would probably count as some sort of betrayal, I would probably be hunted down like an animal and be screwed with by sadistic assassins whom I knew by name until they finally got tired of their games and killed me or, if I was lucky, I killed myself. Not exactly an appealing option by any means. My best bet would probably be to answer her honestly and hope she forgives whatever it is that I apparently did.
"I met him on the road outside of Whiterun," I internally winced as my voice shook, "His wagon had b-broken down and he asked me to get the farmer who lived there to come f-fix it and I did." Gotta love the nervous stutter. "I didn't even know about the Brotherhood before then, it was a month before I even heard of Aventus Aretino, that's it, I swear!" I finished fervently, hoping that I had said the right thing, and the strangest thing was that it wasn't even because she could kill me if I answered incorrectly- Somehow, I had become so infatuated with her in our few encounters that I was more worried about pleasing her than about the fact that I could die with less than a flic of her wrist is she chose. Something is definitely wrong with me, but that isn't anything new. Things tend to go better for me when I don't go against my pseudo-logical urgers anyway, so I won't fight against it, no matter what the small, logical part of my brain says.
"I see. And what is your opinion of him?" She asked me, her tone flat now, anger lessened but still present. The dagger was only a barely-there pressure on my neck now and the obviously insane part of me grinned on the inside and took this as a sign that I was diing well, though the significantly smaller, more grounded part which has been shrinking since this all start screamed at me that I shouldn't relax so soon, and other sane, annoying things that, at the moment, I didn't particularly care about.
"He is a jester and a fool, perhaps an assassin as well, but a fool none the less. He means nothing to me." The ice in her eyes melted a bit and I could almost see the unnervingly self satisfied smirk trying to creep onto her face.
"And what of the Night Mother, our Unholy Matron. What of our mistress?" She asked slowly, and despite the slight edge of mocking in her tone, her expression and tone of voice became unreadable, but I did feel the dagger press ever so slightly more firmly into my neck. I wasn't sure how she wanted me to answer this question, however. "Well, Dragon? What of her?" The dragger pressed firmly into my skin now as she asked again, obviously impatient with my lack of immediate answer. I replied with the first thing that I could think to say.
"You are the only mistress I serve. No other being in the world comes before you Astrid. To me, you are and will always be better than the Night Mother." She did not immediately react, no change in expression or movement, the dagger neither pushing more or less against my neck. The waiting was unbearable but the possessive, predatory smirk that unexpectedly materialized on her face was almost worth the wait.
"That is a very good answer, pet." She absolutely lathered the endearment with honey. The next thing I knew, the dagger disappeared back into wherever she hid it in her armor and I could finally breath again without the worry of accidently slitting my own throat on it. However, she did not move away, as I expected, and kept me pinned against the door and I didn't bother trying to escape. I won't lie and try to deny I that I found the position enjoyable without the immediate danger of the dagger.
"A very good answer indeed." She continued in a slow, low voice, drawing it out, obviously enjoying he power that she had over me. Her right hand, now free of the burden of the knife, slid up my arm from wrist to shoulder at an excruciatingly slow pace. I began to shiver, not from fear or chill but from a feverish desire that I had never experienced before as the deceptively gentle hand continued up my arm, over my shoulder and and around the curve of my neck and finally threaded itself into my hair and stopped and was completely still.
Then, unexpectedly, the gentle touch turned slightly harsher as her hand, with no warning, gripped a handful of my hair and yanked my head back a few inches, not far enough to cause more than a sharp sting that passed quickly or to do any real harm, just enough to get the message through, though I already knew what it was and I had already accepted it. And as I was forced to gaze up into her gloating brown eyes, I decided that she definitely knew that I had already known and I also realised that this may have been nothing more than a game or some sick powerplay for her. I also realised that I didn't care nearly as much as maybe I should have.
"Remember those words in the days to come, love, because there may come a time when you may have to chose between keeping your word and breaking it, and I will not be happy should you chose to break it." Her eyes narrowed dangerousl at me as she spoke her final words. "Know this- If you try to run or if you try to leave me, I will find you and you know I will with little trouble and you will not like the consequence," She gave another tug as a slightly painful reminder, "And always remember, my pet-" My breath caught in my throat as the look in her eyes held me frozen.
"Always remember that you belong to me." And with those final words, her lips, every bit as soft and infinitely more violent than I had ever hoped for, slammed roughly against my own submissive one, and her unique taste, slightly metalic yet strangely very similar to vanilla and cinnamon as well, mingled with the taste of my own blood, drawn by the violent and volatile nature of the kiss and the controlling, possessive, undeniably volatile nature of our new "relationship" or whatever it is that this could be rightly called.
She completely dominated me in the kiss, in such a way that I had no choice but to submit to her will. The scariest part is that I definitely would not have changed it if I could have.
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O.o ... Wow, just... Wow. Yeah, I definitely did not plan on that turning out like that... Basically, I saw that coming about as much as you guys did... Oh well. Now, I just have to figure out how to do the conclusion, since this completely throws out the plans that I did have. Clearly, it's not gonna be a feel-good-happy-ending sorta conclusion, if it's not downright depressing, horrifying or awful in some way. I'll sleep on it.
Anyway, since it's techinically morning, happy Easter guys, and I'll see you next upload.