I've mentioned one of Banus' hobbies as painting because I recall there being a fair bit of artist equipment lying around Uvani's house despite the fact that he's never home. Makes sense that they're set up for someone else to use.
Unfortunately Enthralled – chapter nineteen
For a time, it's quiet. Well, not precisely – the world is on the brink of something terrible, Oblivion gates opening up everywhere, encouraged by a bizarre daedra-worshipping cult. The traitor, as it turns out, did not die in Kvatch, as one or two minor assassins are found dead. Deducing that they must have at least passed through the Cheydinhal sanctuary, Ungolim orders a Purification, Lachance's protests falling on deaf ears. Even though he doesn't particularly like the Imperial, Banus feels sorry for him.
Beyond that, however, Cyrodil is in too much chaos to need assassins, and so the work dries up, leaving the days uneventful. Banus would normally be perfectly content with this, since he could just stay indoors with Uvani. Except the elder insists on not staying indoors; he goes from city to city in the guise of a travelling merchant, secretly delivering messages between the Black Hand that are too important to be trusted to a courier. Banus asks him not to go, tells Uvani that the reason they're short-staffed on reliable couriers is because they keep getting killed by daedra, but Uvani is stubborn as a mule and won't listen.
"It takes more than a daedric prince with bad taste in interior decoration to scare me into hiding," he says firmly. And then, after a beat, adds: "You, however, should stay inside. I don't want you getting hurt."
So he stays. He waits in a house too big for one person, filling his time with potion-making and painting, until each Fridas when Uvani returns from his travels. Sometimes he gets delayed and doesn't arrive home in time; Banus abandons all activity and sits rigidly by the door, unmoving, unthinking, because if he allows himself any thoughts they will tell him his Speaker isn't coming back.
He does come back, of course. Even if he's a day or two late sometimes, he returns to Leyawiin, to Banus. He tuts with a disdainful tenderness that is uniquely Uvani when Banus grabs and touches and pets him at every given opportunity, constantly affirming that the man is alive and well. And then come Morndas, ignoring all protests, he leaves again, and the cycle starts over.
He knows he shouldn't worry. Uvani is the strongest person he knows, hardened by a life spent fighting for survival, or at least that's the impression he gets whenever Alval mentions Morrowind in passing. He's never spoken of his past and Banus hasn't asked – that Uvani ended up in the Brotherhood is proof enough that it isn't a pleasant story. But the man that story has produced is tough and wilful, too proud to die at the hands of a dremora. He's the last person Banus should fear for, but still, he does.
His worries are not improved by Uvani coming home early one day, mouth set into a thin, grim line as he tells Banus of the urgent meeting in Bravil that they must both attend. When Banus asks why, the answer makes his stomach turn:
"J'Ghasta is dead."
He's only met J'Ghasta a few times, but he knows Uvani holds him in high regard, and that means Banus does too. A Khajiit, one who excelled in fighting with his bare, albeit clawed, hands. Someone who, even if taken by surprise, should have had no trouble defending himself. And yet Uvani found him dead in his Bruma home – nothing stolen, no attempts to clean up the signs of struggle. The traitor.
In Bravil, the tiny shack that serves as the unlikely hub of the Black Hand is filled with noise and flurry. The traitor has been silent ever since the Cheydinhal Purification, it was assumed that they had been eliminated, that the threat was gone. Now out of the blue a Speaker of all things has been murdered and everyone is panicking. Lachance demands help finding his Silencer – her contracts are going unanswered, he can't find her anywhere, what if she's dead? – but Ungolim firmly tells him that there are no resources to spare on a lone assassin. They argue until finally Lucien leaves, hissing about a debt the Black Hand owes for the unnecessary deaths of his sanctuary.
Uvani re-tells how he found J'Ghasta, answers endless questions about where he was at what time. They suspect him, Banus realises from their paranoid looks. He tries not to intervene since it isn't likely to help matters, only offering alibis for Uvani's recent presence in Leyawiin where needed.
"Like we can trust his word," sneers Havilstein Hoar-Blood, J'Ghasta's Silencer, now his successor. "Everyone knows about him and Uvani. How do we know he's not just covering for him?"
"Excuse me? Just because Banus happens to be my partner-" Banus blinks, startled. They are partners, but Uvani isn't the type to shout that from the rooftops. Hearing him mention it so unhesitatingly before the Black Hand is strange, yet warming. "-Doesn't mean he's a liar, and I will tolerate no such slander, ingrate."
"I'd say the fact that he's your whore makes him more likely to-" he never finishes, because Uvani's fist slams against the underside of his jaw with a resounding crack. The Nord recovers, snarls wordlessly, and everyone with quick enough reflexes intervenes before the two men can lunge at each other over the table.
"Calm dow– Sithis, Arquen, the curtains are on fire – can you please – will you just – stop!" Ungolim thunders at last, with surprising volume for a Bosmer. It shocks Uvani and Hoar-Blood, plus everyone else jeering or protesting, into silence. "Both of you, stand down. Now are you going to start acting like adults, or do I have to send you outside to sit on the naughty step?"
"...No Listener," they both mutter in unison.
"Good. Havilstein, I know you're angry about J'Ghasta, but Alval isn't our killer, the timing doesn't match up. Besides, he prefers setting people on fire, not... ah, mutilation."
Everyone discusses possible culprits. It's not that no-one comes to mind, quite the opposite. Violence is favoured by so many in the Brotherhood that the list of suspects is endless, and when the meeting ends no-one is any closer to knowing who the traitor might be.
Afterwards they walk home together, staying a little closer than they usually might, Uvani vigilantly electrocuting any wandering daedra, feral wildlife or bandits before they can pose a problem. Banus can feel the tension radiating off the man in waves; he knows how serious of a threat the traitor has become, how cautious they need to be from now on. And so when they reach their home in Leyawiin, away from anyone who might overhear, he once again pleads for Alval to lie low, at least for a while.
"I won't be house-bound by some two-bit upstart, Banus."
"He's not an upstart, he killed J'Ghasta," Alor points out, "You've said yourself about how capable a fighter he is – was. Who knows who'll be next?"
"Well it won't be me."
"But you're risking yourself every time you travel alone."
"What sort of message does it send, when the Black Hand is cowering away? We'd be the laughing stock of the Imperial guard and our own assassins. Hiding will only encourage the killer, we need to show him that we're not afraid."
"Is pride really worth dying over? Please Uvani, please-"
"Do you really think I'd let myself be killed by traitor scum?"
"I don't think you'd have much of a choice in the matter." He swallows back nausea, both at the concept of Uvani dying and the fact that they're arguing. He doesn't like bickering with anyone, least of all his partner. Although Alval is trying to be patient, his tone is still fierce and fiery, which would be highly attractive if it weren't so frightening. He's been excluded from the mer's short temper for so long, he'd forgotten what it was like to be on the receiving end of it. They hardly ever disagree because Banus tends to go along with whatever Uvani wants, but he has to make him see. "I know you're strong and capable, but you put yourself in so much danger... every time you leave Leyawiin, I get so scared that you might not come back."
The words are earnest, from the heart. He's aware that he doesn't have the same capacity for sentiment that most people do, but he cares for Uvani more than he ever has for anyone and anything else. He doesn't know how to say it, so he can only hope Uvani sees the conviction in his eyes. He cups the other man's jaw when he tries to turn his head away and break the gaze, forces him to acknowledge Banus' plight.
"I will-" Uvani starts, and Alor grows hopeful. "-I will always return to Leyawiin, I promise."
...And the hope abruptly dies. So he's going to leave again, then. "But-"
"You doubt my word, Banus?"
"...No," he mumbles, letting his hands drop from Uvani's face. He would never accuse the elder of lying or making false promises. That doesn't mean he's reassured, but this is a debate he isn't going to win even if he argued for the rest of his days.
Uvani leaves again on Morndas. He comes home Fridas, not any worse for wear. And their life continues.