I would like to bring to the attention of my readers that this is the first time i have ever published my work, so feedback is highly encouraged. Thanx and enjoy 3

Fralia stepped out into the cold, damp air and her attention was immediately turned to the fact that her dress and traveling cloak were soaked in blood from her initiation. She decided it would be in her best interest to step back inside the shack and dig through her bag of infinite forever in search of some fresh clothes. Much to her surprise, although in hindsight it shouldn't have been so shocking, Fralia found that Astrid had somehow left the shack without her noticing. She shrugged off her confusion and spared a glance at the bodies laying in the corner, a fleeting thought of taking their clothes passing through her mind, unattended when she reminded herself that she had already torn through them and they too would be soaked in blood. Instead she reached into her bag and felt around for any hint of dry cloth, eventually pulling out a necromancers robe which would serve well in keeping her warm.

She then set to the task of changing, setting her antlered crown upon the soiled bed to pull the cloak and dress over her head. Wearing only a pair of leather boots, she looked at herself and set it in her mind to bathe once she returned home. Her pale skin was tainted by dirt and dried blood (none of it was hers), and her hair was equally unattractive. She covered up in the black robe and place the antlers back on her head, repositioning Dawnbreaker for easy access before stepping back out into the swamp. She turned and looked at the shack and its surroundings and knew immediately where she was. Astrid had taken her pretty far north. How long had she been out? She was somewhere between The Pale and Hjaalmarch. To the west, she could just see the sillouhette of Solitude through the trees and fog. Meridia's shrine was just beyond. To the east she would find Dawnstar and, further on, Winterhold.

She remembered that she had wanted to visit the College of Winterhold to see if they would have any books that could teach her more about the Brotherhood.

Or at least things that Ri'saara had not already taught her...

She pondered a moment on whether she should fetch Jenassa before venturing out that way. Taking a quick look at her map and taking into account what her next move would be, she decided it would be best to go to the College first and hope Jen stayed put as she would rather be prepared to enter the Sanctuary before making her way back to Falkreath. She directed her steps eastward, picking up deathbells on the way to use later, and doing her best to avoid getting wetter than absolutely necessary as she made her way out of the broken land and into Hjaalmarch.

Inspiration struck when she finally reached the road and spotted a wood elf courier. She hailed him and made him wait as she extracted a quill and parchment from her bag to write a quick note for Jenassa.

Jen,
They made contact. I'm in. Will be at the College of Winterhold doing some research. Will return home when I can.
-Fralia

She folded up the parchment and handed it to the courier as well as a coin purse of 50 septims.

"I need you to get this to Jenassa, a dark elf. She should be in Lakeview manor just north of Falkreath but you may also find her on the roads. I'm not sure if she is searching for me... if she sends a letter back, i'll be in Winterhold," she instructed him.

"Yes ma'am. And thank you." The bosmer was quite pleased at the sum she had given him to deliver her letter. He bowed to her and continued on his way with renewed vigor. Fralia watched him take the road south then took in a deep breath of fresh, crisp Skyrim air before taking the east road.

~X-x-X~

"If i see you treating any of these books poorly, I'll skin you alive. Understand?" When asked if his expansive library held a few volumes that could tell Fralia about Sithis or the Night Mother, the orc at the counter asked no questions and gave no strange looks, only thought for a moment before scouring his shelves and coming back with five books, setting them down in front of her and warning against their mistreatment. She agreed to handle them with care and took them to a far corner of the room to look at them.

The first book she opened was simply titled Sithis and seemed to be very promising. She made herself comfortable by folding her legs up in the chair and pulling up her hood, avoiding strange looks she got from the Orsinium Curater and the Breton Scholar sitting on a bench on the other side of the room. She opened Sithis and began reading. The book was not very long but it was confusing to her. The theme was religious and philosophical and mentioned the Aedra. She had always been sort of lost on what was Aedra, Daedra or Phaedra. The books concept was very obscure and a little hard for her to follow as it would require further reading to fully understand, but what she got from it was that Sithis was of a higher power. He was the void before existence. "Sithis is the start of the house" the book said. It seemed that he was the mass of the universe before the universe ever was... a receptacle for ideas? This sounded right to her.

She read through it again and again trying to make sense of it all or see the connection between Sithis and the Dark Brotherhood, but gave up out of frustration and moved on to the next book: The Night Mother's Truth. This volume was a bit longer than the last but not by much. It outlined the legend of the Night Mother. The book said that she had once been a Dunmer woman in service to the Morag Tong, a much older organization of assassins. The woman had apparently been a survivor after the near eradication of the Morag Tong in the second era. The Night Mother's Truth mentioned Sithis at this point, referring to him as the Dread Lord, saying that Sithis allegedly spoke to the Dunmer woman, telling her of his displeasure with the Morag Tong and desire for more souls before impregnating her and, shortly afterwards, the Night Mother killing the five children in his name, sending their souls to the void.

The concept of Sithis seemed clearer to Fralia now with this additional information. A soul receptacle with a consiousness and hunger? Seems understandable... but is that really where all souls go when they die? But then what of Sovngarde? The nords claimed that, in the event of their honorable death, they would feast forever with Shor in Sovngarde. Do the dishonored dead go to the Void? Or do only nords go to Sovngarde and all other races to the Void? Fralia elected not to dwell on it too long just yet and perhaps look into that later. She continued reading.

The book went on to say that, upon murdering her children in cold blood, the village folk did not take too kindly to the action and murdered her before burning down her house. Later on the voice of the Night Mother reached the mind of one she called "Listener" (the first of many). The Night Mother's voice led this new assassin to create the Dark Brotherhood which would grow in wealth and power, killing in the name of Sithis and filling the void with souls. Fralia closed The Night Mother's Truth and set it on the table on top of Sithis and pondered a moment on what she had read. So Sithis was a sort of Death God that inhabited the Void... or he was the Void? And the Night Mother was once an assassin killing for Mephala in the Morag Tong before Sithis got ahold of her. And now she served as a messenger between Sithis and the realm of mortals through one she chooses as "Listener". Knowing this, and thinking back to A Kiss, Sweet Mother she saw now that by performing the ritual, the Night Mother would notice and the Dark Brotherhood would be told by the Listener to visit the one who set up the contract and set up an assassination.

It was all very clear to her now. She understood the religious aspects now. It made perfect sense to her and she gave a thought to Sithis and wondered if he had been watching her... pleased with the way she killed people... thinking back, she had sent many souls to Sithis... and Ri'saara...

She pulled out of her thoughts and went to grab the next book: A Kiss, Sweet Mother. As she had already read this one, she placed it in the other stack and picked up what was next: Sacred Witness. This book was quite a bit larger than the others so she adjusted her position in the seat and read on. The book was indeed longer but was a quick read and it read like a story, starting out as the author had seen a supposed member of the Dark Brotherhood in a skooma den. The mention of skooma brought Fralia back to thoughts of Ri'saara which she quickly had to dispell for fear of going into a rage and slitting the librarian's throat and letting him bleed out over his desk, books, a few scrolls and the floor...

The author wrote that he had stumbled upon what he assumed wasthe Night Mother after following the assassin he had seen in the Den. He chronicled a short interview he claimed to have had with her in which she revealed that she had once been in service to the thieves guild but went off on her own when they looked down on her idea that murder could bring in more gold. This view of the Night Mother didn't quite coincide with the image that The Night Mother's Truth had painted of her. Overall, she enjoyed the story and chuckled a bit at the end that said the author had been murdered upon revealing such secrets, but decided that books could not be entirely reliable on something so secretive as the assassins of the Dark Brotherhood and their sacred religion. She added the book to the out stack and picked up the last one. She looked upon the title lovingly: The Five Tenets. Although Ri'saara had neglected to teach her about Sithis and the Night Mother, he had schooled her in the tenets. She knew them by heart and ever since those days he had trained her, she vowed to follow them... and she now, likewise chose to devote herself to Sithis and the Night Mother.

She was nervous about joining the family, of course, but from what she had been taught, she could trust them...

"FRALIA!" the wood elf was pulled from her thoughts when a familiar voice filled the quiet library, disturbing the peace. She looked up to see her Dunmer companion, bursting through the doors and approaching her at a quick pace, panic on her face. The Orc at the counter looked her way, disapprovingly, from behind a rather large book he was working on. Fralia stood as Jenassa closed the distance between them and embraced her tightly. "Fralia! I was so worried! I saw them take you but I think they paralyzed me so i couldn't do anything about it! Are you hurt?! What did they do to you?! The courier found me on the road when I was searching for you and I came here as fast as I could-"

"Jen, hush! You're drawing attention!" Jenassa let go of her bosmer friend and looked around the library to see the Orc scowling at the two of them and the Breton had paused in his searching of shelves to listen to them. She looked back at Fralia apologetically, receiving a sigh as the bosmer set to picking up the books from the table and urging Jen to follow her to the counter. She placed the four books from her out stack on the desk and held up The Five Tenets before the librarian.

"How much to purchase this one?" she asked. The Orc's features softened a bit before he replied.

"Thirty septims and it's all yours." Fralia placed the gold on the table, said a quick thank you, and led them out of the library, down the stairs, and out of the college.

The sun was setting when they stepped out into the cold and windy town of Winterhold. Fralia led Jenassa into The Frozen Hearth, procured a room, and immediately pulled Jen into a tight embrace once the door was shut. She held her close for a few moments before speaking.
"Are you alright? She didn't hurt you, did she?" Jen pulled away to look at Fralia before answering.

"I'm fine... I woke up when they were taking you but they must have used some sort of paralysis spell because i couldn't do anything to stop them... I was panicked but otherwise unharmed. What happened?" Fralia sighed in relief and sank onto the bed with her back against the wall, the events of the day catching up with her. Jen pulled a chair up next to her, waiting patiently for her companion to speak.

"Well... the leader of the Dark Brotherhood... she knew about what I did, of course. The eyes of the Brotherhood seem to be everywhere... So she put me through... a sort of initiation, to repay the debt I owed her, I suppose. She had me kill someone else while she watched. She must have liked what she saw, because she invited me to join the Dark Brotherhood."

"Well i can imagine, bearing witness to your bloodlust, how could she refuse? You are quite merciless... they will be lucky to have you." Fralia smiled at the recognition. Jen returned the smile before her expression mellowed again. "This is very serious, Fralia. Are you sure this is the route you wish to take?" Fralia nodded immediately. There was no thinking about it. Because after all...

"It's the reason I'm here to begin with... It's not the reason I left Valenwood, but it's why I came to Skyrim... to become an assassin for the Brotherhood." Jen nodded in acknowledgement but then something occured to her.

"Well i am happy for you... but I won't be joining. And assassins usually work alone, do they not? I obviously cannot be present when you do business with them... so will you still be in need of my services?" Fralia stared at her in confusion, wondering how in Oblivion Jenassa could even think that Fralia would want to go anywhere without her dearest Dunmer friend. She took Jen's hand and pulled her onto the bed with her, making her sit in front of her and holding tightly from behind.

"Jen... no matter what happens, I will always need you. You are my dearest friend. I don't know how I could ever brave the wilds of Skyrim without you by my side..." she held her tighter and Jen smiled before responding.

"Will you tell me, then...?" Fralia's smile faltered as the red haze slowly returned to her vision and the screaming made itself known.

"I would... I want to tell you... but I fear what may happen if i put those memories into words." a scene flashed in her mind of the morning after she killed Grelod, waking to find herself covered in blood, holding Jen in her arms. She did not know what she would do if anything ever happened to her. Especially if that something was her fault. Jenassa simply chalked it up to another day not knowing about her friend's past and released herself from Fralia's grasp so she could sleep. Fralia pushed the dark memories away before she could do the same.

Kind of a weak ending and I apologize but THERE'S CHAPTER 4.