The darkness hid Sylvi as she quickly made her way to the fighting pits. After returning to the castle from the blacksmith's shop, she had gotten dressed in the armor of a fallen member of the Dark Brotherhood. Stealth would be more important than protection as she needed to locate the children first. While making her blade, she had overheard the townsfolk whispering of children being held in cages. Due to the royal family banning the fighting of children in the arena, the townsfolk were worried that the children would be sold as slaves to Essos. Luckily for Sylvi, a couple of the women seemed eager to help once they read Sylvi's plan.

The sound of a slamming door made Sylvi step back into the shadows. A man had stepped out of the very door where Sylvi needed to go. He sat down on a bucket and crossed his arms in frustration. Sylvi briefly wondered if she should take him out from the shadows but decided that a dead body outside the building would lead to more trouble than it was worth. She took out her bow and aimed down the alley. The arrow knocked a bucket off of a window sill.

The man quickly sprung up and around the corner of the alley while Sylvi crept to the door. As Sylvi closed the door behind her, she could hear men chatting from one of the rooms. She crept to the doorway and peeked inside. They were playing cards and drinking. Creeping past the door, she made her way further down the hall until she found a dimly lit room. The sound of a man's voice getting closer made her take cover behind a barrel.

A man with a torch stumbled into the room. Sylvi watched as he moved toward the back of the room. Light reflected off of the cages' bars, and soon Sylvi could barely see small shapes in the back of the cages. The man threw scraps at the kids and laughed as they tried to scrape up as much food as they could. Small arms reached out toward the man. With a yell, the man kicked the cages, and Sylvi took aim. As soon as the man was out of the children's sight, Sylvi let an arrow fly.

The only sound the man made was a small wheeze as he hit the ground. Sylvi quickly dragged the body behind the barrel. With a sigh, she noticed that the torch's fire had gone out. After casting a candlelight spell, she ran over to the cages. The children seemed both terrified and fascinated by the glowing light above her head as she tried to pick the locks. Her lockpick broke, and Sylvi sighed. Unfortunately, most of her lockpicks were in a chest in Falkreath. She had only brought about a dozen to the Dwemer ruins, and those locks had broken all except two. Sylvi didn't want to chance it breaking just yet. To free the children, she would need a key. To get the key, she would need to find the person in charge.

Sylvi quickly looked through the pockets of the dead man but found no keys. A shout from down the hall made her cancel her candlelight spell. Sylvi ran and slid underneath a table as footsteps crept closer. Waiting for the man to come into view, Sylvi made sure her mask was still secure.

"Kris!" the man called out as Sylvi notched an arrow. "What–?!"

That was the man's last word as an arrow pierced his neck. The man stumbled down as though trying to create as much noise as possible before he died. Once again notching an arrow, Sylvi waited as she heard the clatter of chairs from the room down the hall. She was outnumbered, and her armor was made for stealth, not combat. However, perhaps she could use the doorway to her advantage. Only one person could enter at once. That meant that if she could shoot fast enough, they might not even know where the arrows were coming from before they hit the floor.

As soon as she saw a man walking through the doorway, Sylvi let go of the string. The arrow hit the man in the eye. As he fell to the ground with a cry of pain, Sylvi quickly fired another arrow at the man behind him. The second man was hit in the chest, and he fell on top of the first man. The third man threw a knife towards Sylvi. It hit the leg of the table with a thud. Sylvi let another arrow fly, but the man ducked and began using the other men as shields. Sylvi grabbed the knife from the table and left her hiding place. The third man stepped on the backs of his friends as he rushed Sylvi with a sword. Sylvi dropped the bow and rushed toward the men. The man with a sword swung at her, but she ducked before jumping on the back on the dying man to propel herself through the door. The two men chased after her. She had created enough distance from the children before she used the unbounded storms spell. The guard from outside rushed inside to join his crew only to meet the same fate as his companions.

Sylvi waited for a few moments to see if she could hear anyone else coming to fight. Luckily, the halls were silent. After checking each body, she dragged them over to the first body to hide them from view. With a huff of irritation, she slammed the last body on the ground. There was no key. Thinking back, she remembered that she had seen a staircase on the way inside. She walked back into the hallway and checked the room where they had been playing cards before she crept up the stairs. The stairs led to a hallway where most of the doors were open except the one at the very end. Checking each room as she went, she found no one until she reached the room at the end of the hall. A whimper from behind the door caught her attention.

The door was locked. With a steadying breath, Sylvi took out her last lockpick. If this didn't work, she would take whatever weapon she could find and bash the damn door down. She'd even use destruction magic if she had to. Luckily, the door unlocked. Sylvi smirked in triumph before entering the room. What she saw took the smile right off her face.

A man and a child laid in the bed together. The child's red, tear-stained face looked at her with wide eyes filled with terror. Sylvi held up a finger as she took a robe from a chair. The child froze before slowly turning to make sure the man was still asleep. Carefully, the child got out of the bed before Sylvi threw the robe around him. Naked, bruised, and afraid, the boy seemed to be more terrified of the sleeping man than a stranger dressed in the attire of an assassin. Sylvi led the boy out of the room and signaled for him to wait. The boy sat on the ground as Sylvi closed the door.

Twirling the knife in her hand, Sylvi approached the sleeping man. No, not a man, Sylvi thought to herself as she watched the monster sleep peacefully. Just trash that needed to be taken care of.

Sylvi woke the man and pressed the knife into his throat. The man sputtered before he froze in fear.

He whispered pleadingly, "The key to the cages is in the drawer. Please… take them. Take all of them. Just let me–"

The coward tried to grab the knife, but Sylvi quickly plunged it deep into the monster's throat and pulled it back out. Red covered the bed as the man wheezed out a final plea. Certain that the man was now dead, Sylvi walked to the dresser and pulled out the key. The building was now as silent as death itself. After wiping the knife on the bed, Sylvi walked to the door.

The boy was waiting where she had left him. His large eyes stared at her in amazement and fear as she offered him a hand. The boy hesitantly took it, and she gently lifted him up. Sylvi led him down the stairs and back to the room where the rest of the children were being held in cages. Sylvi let go of his hand to open the cage doors. As the cage doors clicked open, the children huddled as far away from the door as they could.

"Safe," the child beside Sylvi whispered. "Safe."

The other children slowly looked to Sylvi. Realizing that her height was scaring them, Sylvi got onto her knees and closed her eyes while pulling down her mask. Soon, a hand touched her face, and Sylvi slowly opened her eyes. The children had their nails filed to a point, but the child was taking care not to scratch Sylvi's face. Sylvi gently rested one of her hands on his and gave the child a gentle smile.

The other children reached out to her one by one, and Sylvi allowed each of them to touch her briefly before she pointed to the door.

After adjusting her mask, Sylvi stood and led the way outside, breathing a sigh of relief as the townsfolk that she had spoken to earlier opened the door. The children were quickly herded into a nearby house. Sylvi watched them leave before she felt a tug on her sleeve. One of the women had stayed back. She looked at Sylvi with tears in her eyes.

"Thank you… thank you so much. We'll take care of them. If only we had done something sooner…" the woman said as the tears fell.

Sylvi gently squeezed the woman's shoulder before giving her a nod. The woman left to take care of the children. Sylvi quickly crept back to the shadows before she made her way back to the keep. Avoiding the guards' sight, she made her way along the castle walls to the window of her room. Slipping back inside the room, she quickly changed into a servant's dress and hid her Brotherhood armor in her backpack.

The sounds of revelry greeted her as she walked down the hall. A woman with long, white hair paced while holding her hands over her ears. Queen Helaena stopped as she caught sight of Sylvi. Her face suddenly brightened as she closed the distance between them.

"I… It was too much. I needed a moment. I couldn't find you…"

Sylvi felt bad for lying as she wrote, "I wasn't feeling well. Took a walk. My apologies."

"No… that is… quite alright," Queen Helaena said as she glanced back towards the dining hall. "I suppose they will be looking for me now… I'll have to go back."

The Queen's voice shook a little as she tried to prepare herself. Sylvi shook her head in response.

"If the queen is not feeling well, then the queen should rest. You can dine another day."

Queen Helaena read her words with a sad smile. She looked as though she wanted to say something more but froze as Ser Cole appeared. He glanced at the two of them in confusion before Sylvi pointedly tapped on the page. Ser Cole read it with an amused look as Sylvi met his gaze with a look of stubbornness.

"Helaena… Your Majesty," Ser Cole corrected himself. "If you are not feeling well, I can inform your mother. The festivities are almost over anyway."

The queen thanked him and gave Sylvi a grateful smile. Sylvi excused herself from Ser Cole to escort Queen Helaena to her room. Before leaving, Sylvi took out one of the knives that she had made earlier and presented it to the queen.

As the queen took it with hesitation, Sylvi wrote, "I hope you will never need to use it, but I want you to have it."

The queen's fingers traced the butterfly carved into the handle as she looked at it thoughtfully. Queen Helaena smiled and thanked Sylvi before walking into her bedroom. Sylvi felt a little better as she walked back to her room. Now that the children were safe and Helaena had some reliable steel, Sylvi could focus on finding her friends. After Sylvi closed her door behind her, she flopped onto the bed. A large stretch helped her relax into the bed, and soon her eyes closed to embrace slumber.